THE G-20 IN PITTSBURGH
by Tom Over 9-23-09
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On Tuesday, Sept 22, activists from Philadelphia, New York City, Pittsburgh and other cities held a mock funeral procession to demand better policies for addressing the AIDS pandemic, a day ahead of the arrival of delegates for the G-20.
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The approximately 50 participants in the New Orleans-style funeral march drew a mix of interest, irritation, and amusement from onlookers in the business district of downtown Pittsburgh.
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At the head of the funeral march where pallbearers carried a cardboard coffin, a man shouted into a microphone while someone else carried a portable amplifier, “when people with AIDS are under attack, what do we do ?” and marchers shouted in unison, “fight back!”
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Amidst the early afternoon bustle of an weekday, the demonstrators repeated this call-and-answer and similar chants as the funeral march made its way around the perimeter of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the site of the G-20 Summit later this week.
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Erica Goldberg works with ACT UP Philadelphia. She said global health is not on the agenda of the G-20 Summit.
“One of the things that some of the G-20 nations have promised us is funding for the global fund to fight, TB, malaria, and HIV/AIDS. This is all really important, especially if we want to meet the United Nations’ Millennium goal of eradicating these diseases by 2015. As of right now, this won’t be met. We have to hold our leaders accountable. They are the ones making decisions for the poorer countries,” Goldberg said.
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She commented on the timing of the demonstration. “We wanted this to be the first thing they (the G-20 delegates) see. They’re coming here tomorrow. We’re holding them accountable. This needs to be on the agenda.”
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She said AIDS activists chose Sept 22, two days before the official start of the G-20 Summit, and one day before the arrival of the delegates, so as to not have to compete with other protests. Also, she said the AIDS activists figured there would be less of a chance of conflict with police if they staged their protest earlier in the week.
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“We hope that this will hit the papers tomorrow, that it’s the first thing they see when they walk in, that they have this on their conscience and know we’re not going away,” Goldberg said. She urges people to contact legislators about supporting the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
“President Obama, as much as I love him, went back on his promise to fulfill the funding,” Goldberg said.
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She commented on how drug companies factor into all of this. “ Medication does not need to be this expensive. They can definitely lower their prices. We have big drug interests lobbying to prevent AIDS medication from getting” to developing nations.
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Goldberg said debt cancellation for developing nations is a factor that comes into play.
“When you don’t cancel debts of nations and they have to pay back loans to the IMF and the World Bank, they won’t have the funds necessary for getting AIDS medication, or they might get the medication but can’t pay the health professional because of their debt.
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She said vested interested motivated by huge profits stand in the way of doing a better job of addressing tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS. “We have the power, the ability, and the medication.”
World News
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Cambodia's fugitive opposition leader Sam Rainsy
says he will return from France on November 9 to his Southeast Asian
homeland, where he faces at least 15 years imprisonment.
Not many people expect Mr. Rainsy, 70, to arrive in the capital Phnom
Penh after authorities warned they have "prepared handcuffs" for him.
"I don't see how Sam Rainsy braves the risks on his own and returns to
Cambodia unless he is well-protected diplomatically and well-escorted
physically, like a puppet to someone," Chhang Song said in an
interview.
Mr. Chhang was former Washington-backed President Lon Nol's
information minister before they fled together to America in 1975 when
the U.S. lost its wars in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
"Though having been initially strongly popular, Sam Rainsy is an
aristocrat to the teeth and is losing considerably his support from
the Cambodian people as he has failed many of his promises," said Mr.
Chhang, who recently retired as advisor to Cambodia's authoritarian
Prime Minister Hun Sen.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Unwilling to allow the public to get zonked or
profit from recreational marijuana, Thailand has instead produced its
first pharmaceutical THC and CBD oils, tablets, oral sprays, chocolate
wafers and traditional potions after recently legalizing medical
cannabis.
This first line of weed-based products puts Thailand on the cutting
edge of Southeast Asia's legal marijuana industry, a lucrative
advantage if allowed to flourish.
If recreational marijuana is legalized and freely grown, it would
create an extremely profitable domestic and international market
possibly bigger than this mostly agricultural country's rice, sugar
cane, or tapioca crops.
South Korea is ahead of Thailand in producing legal medical cannabis
products for domestic use.
India offers relatively small, decades-old legal "bhang" sales for
recreational use solely within that country and made from otherwise
illegal marijuana.
Proud of the tiny amount they created, the government organized a
visit for journalists on August 2 to Rangsit University's new,
BANGKOK, Thailand -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's August 1-3
appearance at a Southeast Asian foreign ministers' conference occurred
alongside his rival Chinese and Russian counterparts, with all three
trying to woo Thailand's authoritarian government which is shopping
for foreign weapons and inviting business investments.
During his three-day visit, Mr. Pompeo discussed with Thai and
regional ministers the U.S.-China trade war, denuclearization of North
Korea, disputes in the South China Sea and other concerns.
He told Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, "to maintain the sanctions
that spurred diplomacy with North Korea, to speak out against Chinese
coercion in the South China Sea, to advocate for the voluntary, safe
and dignified return of the Rohingya to their homeland [Myanmar], and
to confront Iranian aggression."
After shaking hands with Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, Mr. Pompeo
tweeted that the two men discussed "ways to advance democracy" and
regional issues.
Mr. Pompeo also met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on August 1. They
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Coup leader Prayuth Chan-ocha ended his
five-year-long junta and took over the defense ministry when his new
government was sworn in on July 16, nearly four months after an
election to reaffirm him as prime minister.
President Trump's support during Prime Minister Prayuth's military-led
regime is expected to continue amid Thailand's increasing closeness
with neighboring China which supplies diplomatic, economic and
military support.
The U.S., a treaty ally, trains Thailand's military which remains
under Army Chief Gen. Apirat Kongsompong, son of a 1991 coup leader
former supreme commander Sunthorn Kongsompong.
"After the coup in Thailand, we severed a significant amount of
mil-to-mil [military-to-military] engagement," said Army Command Sgt.
Maj. Eric Curran. "We lost a lot of traction."
Some new Thai military captains have "no desire to come to the United
States. They want to go train in Russia and China. That's one of the
impacts we notice on the ground level," he said according to Army
Times.
January 25, 2001 - Imagine Columbus Alive's surprise last week when Nigel Rosser, a British journalist and reported confidant of the royal family, contacted us to inquire about Prince Andrew's central Ohio connection. Rosser had read two award-winning Alive stories--"The Shapiro Murder File" and "Spook Air"--and wanted to chat about our own Leslie Wexner and his top aide, the mysterious Jeffrey E. Epstein.
Rosser's article, published in the London Evening Standard on January 22, described Prince Andrew's recent behavior as "erratic" and "greatly upset[ing]" the royal family. The Prince has been so busy partying with his new American pals, even his ex-wife Fergie is complaining.
Who's to blame for Andrew's failure to babysit for his daughters Beatrice and Eugenie, according to Rosser's article? None other than Ghislaine Maxwell, who has been spotted in the Prince's company at hotspots-of-the-rich-and-famous around the world. Ghislaine is the daughter of the infamous financier Robert Maxwell, who died after falling overboard from his yacht in 1991.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Tourists, gamblers, traders and residents can now
travel by train between Bangkok and the Thai-Cambodian border for the
first time after tracks were cut 45 years ago, when U.S. and Cambodian
forces began losing their war against Pol Pot who later unleashed
Cambodia's "killing fields" regime.
The new rail link ends one of the last disruptions caused by the
regional U.S.-Vietnam War and tightens the peacetime economies of
former enemies Thailand and Cambodia.
The two countries recently extended an existing Bangkok-Aranyaprathet
railway line which crosses eastern Thailand. They repaired its final
3.5-mile (5.7-kilometer) link between Aranyaprathet and Ban Klong Luk
Border Station on the Thai side of the frontier.
On July 1, the State Railway of Thailand's trains began scheduled
departures from each station twice a day -- two at dawn and two at
lunch time -- for a total of four trips.
Each journey takes about five hours to complete 134 miles (216
kilometers). Tickets cost less than $2.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Israel has taught the Philippine Army for the
first time how to fight Muslim separatists and communist guerrillas,
the latest tightening of relations between the two nations which
includes Israeli weapons sales and sharing intelligence about
international Islamist extremists.
Even though Israeli boots were on the ground just in the capital
Manila, it risked alienating some of the Philippines' nearly six
percent Muslim population who live mostly in the south.
They are already battered by years of increasing Islamist demands for
independence and the subsequent worsening violence in a country that
is more than 80 percent Roman Catholic.
Perhaps to dampen any controversy, only about 10 Israeli Defense Force
(IDF) soldiers trained 180 Philippine Army troops who can now then
teach those lessons to other soldiers.
The June 26-July 4 Counter-Terrorism Trainer's Training (CTTT) focused
on how to fight an insurgency in urban and rural zones and use combat
technology.
"The CTTT is the first training collaboration between the Philippines
Category
Nonprofits & Activism The Free Press Network presents; [ S01:E01 ] WASSERMAN Nuclear activist Harvey Wasserman stops by the Free Press Network studios and The Other Side Of The News with Dr. Bob Fitrakis and Dan Dougan to discuss Ohio's House Bill 6, the status of the Davis-Bessie Power Plant, and Solartopia. Copyright © 2019 Free Press Network. All Rights Reserved by their respective owners.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- The U.S. government's media and a Dalai
Lama-supported campaign to liberate Tibetan political prisoners have
published two portraits of what the Panchen Lama's face could now look
like on his 30th birthday and are demanding to know his fate after
China took him into custody when he was six years old.
"Despite China's sporadic claims that he was attending school and
leading a normal life, no one has seen or heard from the 11th Panchen
Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima since May 17, 1995, the day Beijing took him
away as a six-year-old boy and rendered him disappeared ever since,"
said the Tibetan Bulletin published by Tibet's India-based
government-in-exile which also represents the Dalai Lama.
Mr. Nyima was born in Chinese-controlled Tibet on April 25, 1989.
If alive, the now 30-year-old man would be the second-most prominent
religious figure in Tibetan Buddhism, a position endorsed by the top
religious leader, the Dalai Lama.
"The panchen lamas and the dalai lamas play a significant role in the
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's army chief has warned a state of emergency will be declared if post-election violence degenerates into "civil war".
The military-led government is meanwhile trying to imprison a new, wildly popular, anti-army politician for "sedition" while the junta enjoys legal immunity for their 2014 coup and subsequent acts.
Officials are also deciding how to count the votes from last month's election amid allegations of manipulated ballots, "ghost voters," and a baffling, complex system invented by the regime. Critics say it is biased against pro-democracy candidates.
The junta filed the sedition charge -- punishable by nine years in jail -- plus other cases against Future Forward party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, 40, on April 6.
The case dates back to 2015 when Mr. Thanathorn allegedly "provided assistance" to an anti-coup protest leader. Mr. Thanathorn reportedly gave a walking protester a ride in his car.