Month: July 2018

No Picture

Trump Has Found a Way to Make Enemies of Breastfeeding Mothers

Vijay Prashad July 27, 2018 Vijay Prashad

Source: Common Dreams

In May, the government of Ecuador came to the World Health Organization (WHO) assembly with a resolution on breastfeeding. What worried the government of Ecuador, and many other governments of the Global South, is the behavior of large corporations—Nestlé in the lead. These corporations that sell infant formula have wanted to promote the use of substitutes to breast milk, especially in places such as Ecuador.

The month before—in April 2018—the WHO and UNICEF jointly put out guidelines to support breastfeeding in health facilities. These “Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding” assist health care workers to encourage breastfeeding rather than to encourage the use of infant formulas. Breastfeeding babies in their first two years, say these UN agencies, would save the lives of more than 820,000 children under the age of five. “Breastfeeding saves lives. Its benefits help keep babies healthy in their first days and last well into adulthood,” said UNICEF’s executive director Henrietta H. Fore. read more

Photo credit: AP/Kevork Djansezian

Trump’s Grand Plan: A Foreign Policy Strategy of Perpetual War

Michael Klare July 24, 2018 Michael Klare
Photo credit: AP/Kevork Djansezian
Photo credit: AP/Kevork Djansezian

Source: Tom Dispatch

The pundits and politicians generally take it for granted that President Trump lacks a coherent foreign policy. They believe that he acts solely out of spite, caprice, and political opportunism — lashing out at U.S. allies like Germany’s Angela Merkel and England’s Theresa May only to embrace authoritarian rulers like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. His instinctive rancor and impulsiveness seemed on full display during his recent trip to Europe, where he lambasted Merkel, undercut May, and then, in an extraordinary meeting with Putin, dismissed any concerns over Russian meddling in the 2016 American presidential election (before half-walking his own comments back). read more

People carry water tanks at the site of a Saudi-led air strike, north of Yemen’s capital Sanaa, March 8, 2018. (Reuters / Mohamed al-Sayaghi)

“God Knows If He’s Alive”: Report Sheds Light on US-Backed Atrocities in Yemen

Kathy Kelly July 24, 2018 Kathy Kelly

A new Amnesty International report documents the plight of dozens of families in southern Yemen whose loved ones have been tortured, killed, or forcibly disappeared by Yemeni security forces reporting to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE is part of the Saudi-led coalition that, with vital US support, has been bombarding and blockading famine and disease-ravaged Yemen for three brutal years. The disappearances, and torture, can sadly be laid at the doorstep of the United States.