01 December 20
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01 December 20
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Robert Reich | January 20th Can't Come Soon Enough
Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Facebook Page
Reich writes: "Trump has pardoned his former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn."
Flynn had previously plead guilty twice to lying to F.B.I. agents and had cooperated with investigators during the Mueller investigation, before completely reversing his position and engaging in a months-long attack against prosecutors and the F.B.I. earlier this year. Trump’s Attorney General William Barr repeatedly intervened in Flynn’s case, in a blatant attempt to provide legal cover for a Trump ally.
There you have it. Thanks to Trump, Michael Flynn will face no consequences for lying to the F.B.I, undermining prosecutors, and betraying the country — while countless Americans are dying of coronavirus in prison because they were jailed on technicalities or parole violations. This is how Trump is choosing to spend his last months in office: letting the coronavirus rip across the country unabated, spreading wild conspiracy theories about the election, and handing out political favors to his criminal friends. January 20th can’t come soon enough
Voters at a polling precinct. (photo: Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)
Wisconsin and Arizona Make It Official as Trump Fails to Stop Vote Certification in All Six Contested States
Amy Gardner, Emma Brown and Rosalind S. Helderman, The Washington Post
Excerpt: "Wisconsin and Arizona on Monday became the last two of six states where President Trump has contested his defeat to finalize their vote counts, dealing a fresh blow to his quest to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory as a chorus of Republicans and Democrats offered support for the election's integrity."
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A patient hospitalized with COVID-19. (photo: BioSpace)
California Hospitalizations From COVID-19 Surging; ICUs May Be Overwhelmed in Weeks
Reese Oxner, NPR
Oxner writes: "As of Monday, 8,578 people are in California hospitals with COVID-19."
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Demonstrators rallying last month in support of the measure in Washington. Lobbyists have argued that the act's requirements could wreak havoc on supply chains that are deeply embedded in China. (photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Nike, Coca-Cola and Apple Lobby Against Uyghur Forced Labor Bill
Ana Swanson, The New York Times
Swanson writes: "Business groups and major companies like Apple have been pressing Congress to alter legislation cracking down on imports of goods made with forced labor from persecuted Muslim minorities in China."
ike and Coca-Cola are among the major companies and business groups lobbying Congress to weaken a bill that would ban imported goods made with forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region, according to congressional staff members and other people familiar with the matter, as well as lobbying records that show vast spending on the legislation.
The bill, which would prohibit broad categories of certain goods made by persecuted Muslim minorities in an effort to crack down on human rights abuses, has gained bipartisan support, passing the House in September by a margin of 406 to 3. Congressional aides say it has the backing to pass the Senate, and could be signed into law by either the Trump administration or the incoming Biden administration.
But the legislation, called the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, has become the target of multinational companies including Apple whose supply chains touch the far western Xinjiang region, as well as of business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Lobbyists have fought to water down some of its provisions, arguing that while they strongly condemn forced labor and current atrocities in Xinjiang, the act’s ambitious requirements could wreak havoc on supply chains that are deeply embedded in China.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts arrive to hear President Donald Trump deliver the State of the Union address. (photo: Getty Images)
This Supreme Court Puts Religious Freedom Over COVID-19 Public Health Measures
Laurence H. Tribe and Michael C. Dorf, USA TODAY
Excerpt: "Balancing public health against the right to free exercise of religion poses a difficult challenge amid the COVID-19 pandemic."
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Emmerson Mnangagwa. (photo: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg)
Zimbabweans Regret Replacing Mugabe With Brutal New Leader
Andrew Mambondiyani, The Daily Beast
Mambondiyani writes: "Three years after a military coup that toppled Zimbabwe's long-time dictator Robert Mugabe, many people in the country have come to a conclusion they can scarcely believe: they regret replacing the old despot."
Mugabe was a hated despot whose ouster in 2017 was celebrated across the country, but many Zimbabweans are now saying their new president is even more brutal and corrupt.
hree years after a military coup that toppled Zimbabwe’s long-time dictator Robert Mugabe, many people in the country have come to a conclusion they can scarcely believe: they regret replacing the old despot.
Though many people in Zimbabwe are glad Mugabe was ousted before he died last year, they have deep regrets about Emmerson Mnangagwa. His ascent to power was greeted in 2017 with jubilant street parties in Harare and promises from the new leader that: “We are witnessing the beginning of a new unfolding democracy.”
As the economy and human rights in the country continue to nosedive, Mnangagwa has proven to be ruthless and corrupt.
“Mnangagwa is worse than Mugabe,” said Lovemore Muradzikwa, a Zimbabwean pro-democracy and human rights activist.
In recent months, scores of people have been arrested, some brutalised or killed as Mnangagwa’s regime mounts an unprecedented clampdown on pro-democracy campaigners, opposition political party members, journalists, and ordinary citizens daring to voice disquiet over rising corruption, the failing economy and a human rights crisis.
In 2018, six people were brutally killed when soldiers opened fire on opposition supporters who were protesting against attempts by the ruling ZANU-PF party to steal a tightly contested general election. And last year, 17 more people were killed when soldiers openly fired shots at citizens protesting over massive fuel price hikes.
Western countries that had warmed to Mnangangwa’s leadership after the November 2017 coup are backing down and expressing frustration over his deteriorating human rights record.
“I can say the only mistake we made was to accept a coup. We never thought Mugabe will be replaced by Mnangagwa,” Muradzikwa told The Daily Beast. “We wanted [the ruling party] ZANU-PF to go as a whole system, not Mugabe alone,”
Muradzikwa said many people in the country thought a transitional arrangement was going to be formed after Mugabe’s unceremonious exit.
“But ZANU-PF and the army disregarded the will of the people. We are in this mess because of the military,” he said.
The removal of Mugabe from power by the army showed how deeply the security forces are embedded in the country’s domestic politics, and the military has only solidified its dominance within the ruling party under Mnangagwa. There are already fears within ZANU-PF that the army could remove Mnangagwa amid reports that the military is no longer satisfied with his performance.
Nicholas Mukundidza, a resident of Mutare district, eastern Zimbabwe, said after more than three decades of Mugabe’s iron fist many people thought the coup was a reprieve from oppression but the new regime has proved to be a nightmare.
“We have thrown ourselves deep into a crisis by supporting a clueless person as an alternative; the country has completely collapsed. The only success [Mnangagwa] has achieved is promoting corruption, increase in human rights violations, massive self and family enrichment which we never experienced under Mugabe,” Mukundidza told The Daily Beast.
Mnangagwa’s administration is struggling under a collapsing economy: national debt is ballooning; the agricultural sector, which was once thriving, is on its knees; teachers, nurses and doctors are constantly on strike over salaries. Corruption is also rampant in all sectors of the economy, particularly gold and diamond mining, the oil industry, and government tenders. The country is reportedly losing billions of dollars a year through the pilfering of gold and diamonds by companies or individuals linked to senior politicians and government officials. At the same time, business people with strong connections to senior politicians and government officials have control of the country’s lucrative oil sector.
Mukundidza said Mugabe got all the blame as the leader of ZANU-PF and head of the government but he was sitting on a destructive system over which he did not have much direct control by the end of his decades in power. Many senior members in his party had become involved in corrupt schemes.
“Out of suffering and desperation for another leader other than Mugabe, we blindly supported his removal. It’s like someone who has been confined to darkness over a long period of time; when you get exposed to a ray of light you celebrate for finally seeing the light, which turns out to be a small light from a melting candle and does not last long before darkness comes back again,” he said.
While Mnangagwa has maintained that he will contest the next presidential election in 2023, some experts believe he might be pushed out of power before then as public resentment continues to grow. There have been reports of plots to remove Mnangagwa through a vote of no confidence within his party or another military assisted intervention.
David Panganai, a spokesman for the MDC Alliance opposition party, told The Daily Beast that Mugabe had not been a better leader, but life under Mnangagwa had become worse.
“Under Mugabe, people were disappeared and tortured; human rights were never respected, and nothing has changed, if anything, it’s worse. The populace is now living in extreme fear from those who are supposed to defend and protect them; the economy has taken a serious knock since the coup,” Panganai said.
He said many Zimbabweans had given Mnangagwa the benefit of doubt when he spoke of his intention to fight corruption, which has been one of the major sources of the country’s economic decay, but instead corruption is getting worse.
The leader of the MDC Alliance has vowed to block the 2023 general elections if Mnangagwa has not implemented necessary political and electoral reforms for a free and fair election. At the same time, Mnangagwa is reportedly courting minor political parties to try to form a coalition government and forego the 2023 election. It is alleged that the coalition and the ongoing “Political Actors Dialogue” is meant to hoodwink the international community into believing that there are political reforms underway in Zimbabwe.
“While Mugabe had overstayed his welcome, the truth is there was, and there still is, no one from his party, Mnangagwa included, who has any clue on how to resolve the crises which are affecting the country,” Panganai said.
“Zimbabweans are their own liberators; we need reforms and to freely choose our own visionary leaders without blood on their hands.”
A firefighter in a burned portion of the Amazon basin in Sorriso, Brazil. (photo: Mayke Toscano/Getty Images)
International Lawyers Draft Plan to Criminalize Ecosystem Destruction
Owen Bowcott, Guardian UK
Bowcott writes: "International lawyers are drafting plans for a legally enforceable crime of ecocide - criminalising destruction of the world's ecosystems - that is already attracting support from European countries and island nations at risk from rising sea levels."
Plan to draw up legal definition of ‘ecocide’ attracts support from European countries and small island nations
The panel coordinating the initiative is chaired by Prof Philippe Sands QC, of University College London, and Florence Mumba, a former judge at the international criminal court (ICC).
The aim is to draw up a legal definition of “ecocide” that would complement other existing international offences such as crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.
The project, convened by the Stop Ecocide Foundation at the request of Swedish parliamentarians, has been launched this month to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Nuremberg war crimes trials of Nazi leaders in 1945.
Several small island nations, including Vanuatu, in the Pacific and the Maldives, in the Indian Ocean, called for “serious consideration” of a crime of ecocide at the ICC’s annual assembly of states parties in December last year.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has also championed the idea and the Belgian government has pledged support. The shadow justice secretary, David Lammy, has also called for ecocide to be incorporated into law.
The international criminal court, which is based in The Hague, has previously promised to prioritise crimes that result in the “destruction of the environment”, “exploitation of natural resources” and the “illegal dispossession” of land.
An ICC policy paper in 2016 said it was not formally extending its jurisdiction but would assess existing offences, such as crimes against humanity, in a broader context. There have been no formal investigations or charges of this type so far.
Sands said: “The time is right to harness the power of international criminal law to protect our global environment … My hope is that this group will be able to … forge a definition that is practical, effective and sustainable, and that might attract support to allow an amendment to the ICC statute to be made.”
Mumba, a judge at the Khmer Rouge tribunal and former supreme court judge in Zambia, said: “An international crime of ecocide may be important in that individual/state responsibility may be regulated to achieve balance for the survival of both humanity and nature.”
Jojo Mehta, the chair of the Stop Ecocide Foundation, told the Guardian: “In most cases ecocide is likely to be a corporate crime. Criminalising something at the ICC means that nations that have ratified it have to incorporate it into their own national legislation.
“That means there would be lots of options for prosecuting [offending corporations] around the world.”
Mehta said one challenge for the drafting panel would be to define at what point an ecocide offence would come into force. Chopping down a single tree on a village green would not be sufficient, she explained.
“It would have to involve mass, systematic or widespread destruction,” she added. “We are probably talking about Amazon deforestation on a huge scale, deep sea bottom trawling or oil spills. We want to place it at the same level as atrocities investigated by the ICC.”
The 13-strong legal panel of experts from around the world include Tuiloma Neroni Slade of Samoa, who is also a former ICC judge. They are planning to complete their work early next year.
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