Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Pope's Homily for Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul

"Teach prayer by praying, announce the faith by believing; offer witness by living!"

http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-s-homily-for-feast-of-sts-peter-and-paul

3 Ways to Talk to Your Children About the Supreme Court Ruling on 'Gay Marriage'

http://www.charismamag.com/life/women/23685-3-ways-to-talk-to-your-children-about-the-supreme-court-ruling-on-gay-marriage

The Court Follows Its Heart and Completes the Secularization of America

The Court Follows Its Heart and Completes the Secularization of America

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/gay-marriage-ruling-completes-secularization-of-america

http://www.nationalreview.com/gay-marriage-ruling-completes-secularization-of-america

Can We Still Make the Case that Mothers and Fathers Matter?

Can We Still Make the Case that Mothers and Fathers Matter?

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/420561/gay-marriage-supreme-court-children

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/420561/gay-marriage-supreme-court-children

The Supreme Court Ratifies a New Civic Religion That Is Incompatible with Christianity

The Supreme Court Ratifies a New Civic Religion That Is Incompatible with Christianity

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/420376/marriage-christians-religion-love

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/420376/marriage-christians-religion-love

The Next Gay-Marriage Battle

The Next Gay-Marriage Battle

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/will-gay-marriage-ruling-bulldoze-religious-freedom

http://www.nationalreview.com/will-gay-marriage-ruling-bulldoze-religious-freedom

Let Greece Leave the Eurozone

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ivan-eland/let-greece-leave-the-euro_b_7697854.html

Ivan Eland Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Peace & Liberty, The Independent Institute

Let Greece Leave the Eurozone

Posted: 06/30/2015

In withdrawing from negotiations with Greece's international creditors and holding a referendum on whether Greece should adopt the further austerity required by the lenders' financial aid package, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras figuratively pulled out a gun and threatened to blow a hole in the life raft that was given to his country in an attempt to get a nicer boat. The referendum may save his left-wing Syriza party but may cause Greece to default on its loans and exit the common Euro currency.
Greece has long been irresponsible financially -- originally having excessive pensions, early retirement ages, an over-regulated and corrupt economy, 20 percent of the workforce in the employ of a bloated government, and uneven tax collection. Although some progress on these categories was required by the international creditors to grant the two financial bailouts Greece has already received, more austerity and reform are needed to clear the still abundant deadwood out of the Greek economy so that it can resume normal economic growth. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ivan-eland/let-greece-leave-the-euro_b_7697854.html

The Sousse killings in context

| http://us7.campaign-archive1.com/?u=2820afb1fbae0c99e88fb6f52&id=9da4ecade2&e=672f0b89c4

The Sousse killings in context

Summary: British reaction to mass murder in Tunisia. Lessons to be learned about IS and about Tunisia.

Thirty-nine people including probably thirty British were killed on 26 June by an armed gunman at a holiday resort near Sousse on the Tunisian coast. The incident has pretty well dominated the British media, the Home Secretary has flown to Tunisia, and the Prime Minister told the BBC that IS posed "an existential threat" to the West and the UK must have a "full-spectrum response." His first phrase is an understandable exaggeration; IS does not, at present at least, pose a threat to the existence even of Tunisia, let alone UK or the West. His second phrase is helpful if it means that the response must take several forms including security at home, support for the Tunisian government, and a new look at the IS phenomenon both in Iraq/Syria and elsewhere with the determination to commit the necessary resources so that the UK can play its part in dealing with it. David Cameron reportedly said that the response would include continuing with airstrikes in Iraq; asked if British troops were needed on the ground, he added: "Our strategy is to build up local armies. It's much easier to just invade a country... it's easier and faster, but that has consequences."

The Tunisian incident was not of course the whole story. On the same day an attack on a Shi'ite mosque in Kuwait killed nearly thirty and there were incidents in Egypt and France which could have been as or more serious. Yesterday 29 June dozens were wounded in an attack on a Shi'ite mosque in Sana’a. All of these incidents have been plausibly claimed by IS, which has called for more action against enemies in Ramadan, although Ramadan is associated with peace rather than with war. It seems clear however that many or most of the perpetrators act more or less independently, not as agents of a quasi-state authority. That makes the problem of security more difficult.http://us7.campaign-archive1.com/?u=2820afb1fbae0c99e88fb6f52&id=9da4ecade2&e=672f0b89c4

Russia vs. China The Conflict in Washington Over Who Should Lead America’s Enemies List

http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176017/ (excerpt)

Russia vs. China
The Conflict in Washington Over Who Should Lead America’s Enemies List
By Michael T. Klare
America’s grand strategy, its long-term blueprint for advancing national interests and countering major adversaries, is in total disarray. Top officials lurch from crisis to crisis, improvising strategies as they go, but rarely pursuing a consistent set of policies. Some blame this indecisiveness on a lack of resolve at the White House, but the real reason lies deeper. It lurks in a disagreement among foreign policy elites over whether Russia or China constitutes America’s principal great-power adversary.

Knowing one’s enemy is usually considered the essence of strategic planning. During the Cold War, enemy number one was, of course, unquestioned: it was the Soviet Union, and everything Washington did was aimed at diminishing Moscow’s reach and power. When the USSR imploded and disappeared, all that was left to challenge U.S. dominance were a few “rogue states.” In the wake of 9/11, however, President Bush declared a “global war on terror,” envisioning a decades-long campaign against Islamic extremists and their allies everywhere on the planet. From then on, with every country said to be either with us or against us, the chaos set in. Invasions, occupations, raids, drone wars ensued -- all of it, in the end, disastrous -- while China used its economic clout to gain new influence abroad and Russia began to menace its neighbors.
Among Obama administration policymakers and their Republican opponents, the disarray in strategic thinking is striking. There is general agreement on the need to crush the Islamic State (ISIS), deny Iran the bomb, and give Israel all the weapons it wants, but not much else. There is certainly no agreement on how to allocate America’s strategic resources, including its military ones, even in relation to ISIS and Iran. Most crucially, there is no agreement on the question of whether a resurgent Russia or an ever more self-assured China should head Washington’s enemies list. Lacking such a consensus, it has become increasingly difficult to forge long-term strategic plans. And yet, while it is easy to decry the current lack of consensus on this point, there is no reason to assume that the anointment of a common enemy -- a new Soviet Union -- will make this country and the world any safer than it is today.http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176017/

Global Health: Ebola Returns to Liberia;

Ebola Returns to Liberia;

** EBOLA
------------------------------

------------------------------
A Setback for Liberia
A Liberian teen died of Ebola, upsetting hopes that Liberia could hang onto its Ebola-free status declared May 9. Deputy Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah said that contract tracing is underway.

The teenager was not tested for Ebola until after he died. Still, Nyenswah praised Liberia’s surveillance system for catching the case, and urged Liberians to avoid panicking and to go about normal business while the authorities investigate.

The authorities are working to determine how the teenager, who lived in Margibi County—far from Sierra Leone and Guinea—contracted the virus, and whether his case might be linked to travel.
Al Jazeera (http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/6/30/liberia-announces-first-ebola-death-since-country-declared-free-of-virus.html)

Survival Mission
While Ebola maintains its grip on West Africa, survivors could hold the key to knocking it down forever.

Researchers attempting to harness the immunity of survivors face almost unfathomable logistical challenges. This piece, by Ericka Check Hayden, describes the painstaking efforts of investigators like Lina Moses, an epidemiologist who collected samples and preserving the cells, and immunologists at Tulane University who are looking for effective ways to make antibody drugs from humans as opposed to mice.

The Tulane team hopes to unlock not only a new treatment for Ebola, but also a blueprint to make new treatments for any virus, from influenza to Lassa fever.
Wired (http://www.wired.com/2015/06/ebola-treatment/)

Related: Five Minutes With Alfred Paolo Conteh: "We Were Not Expecting Ebola to Return to Freetown" – Ebola Deeply (http://www.eboladeeply.org/articles/2015/06/8008/minutes-alfred-paolo-conteh-we-expecting-ebola-return-freetown/)

Related: Running A Business In West Africa After Ebola: A Lesson In Entrepreneurial Agility – Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/willyfoote/2015/06/29/running-a-business-in-west-africa-after-ebola-a-lesson-in-entrepreneurial-agility/)

Climate Change and the Pacific

It is likely that countries in the region will become uninhabitable long before they are submerged.http://thediplomat.com/2015/06/climate-change-and-the-pacific/

Why the gay marriage debate was over in 1950

http://blogs.ancientfaith.com/joeljmiller/why-the-gay-marriage-debate-was-over-in-1950/

Peter and Paul by Father Robert Barron

Peter and Paul

Cycle AOrdinary TimeWeek Sts. Peter and Paul

http://www.wordonfire.org/resources/homily/peter-and-paul/1033/

Beyond the Greek Impasse

By George Friedman

The Greek situation — having perhaps outlived the term "crisis," now that it has taken so long to unfold — appears to have finally reached its terminal point. This is, of course, an illusion: It has been at its terminal point for a long time.

The terminal point is the juncture where neither the Greeks nor the Germans can make any more concessions. In Greece itself, the terminal point is long past. Unemployment is at 26 percent, and more than 50 percent of youths under 25 are unemployed. Slashed wages, particularly in the state sector, affecting professions including physicians and engineers, have led to massive underemployment. Meanwhile, most new economic activity is occurring in the untaxable illegal markets. The Greeks owe money to EU institutions and the International Monetary Fund, all of which acquired bad Greek debts from banks that initially lent funds to Greece in order to stabilize its banking sector. No one ever really thought the Greeks could pay back these loans.

The European creditors — specifically, the Germans, who have really been the ones controlling European negotiations with the Greeks — reached their own terminal point more recently. The Germans are powerful but fragile. They export about a quarter of their gross domestic product to the European free trade zone, and anything that threatens this trade threatens Germany's economy and social stability. Their goal has been to keep intact not only the euro, but also the free trade zone and Brussels' power over the European economy.

Germany has so far avoided an extreme crisis point by coming to an endless series of agreements with Greece that the Greeks couldn't keep and that no one expected them to keep, but which allowed Berlin to...

Read more »
https://www.stratfor.com/weekly/beyond-greek-impasse?utm_source=freelist-f&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Gweekly&utm_campaign=20150630&utm_content=readmoretext&mc_cid=cb02e5b4b7&mc_eid=52511177bc

Monday, June 29, 2015

The Islamic State’s Strategy: Lasting and Expanding

http://carnegie-mec.org/2015/06/29/islamic-state-s-strategy-lasting-and-expanding/ib5x?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRojs6vBZKXonjHpfsX57uQsW6Sg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YYETsZ0aPyQAgobGp5I5FEIQ7XYTLB2t60MWA%3D%3D

The national government gives no dignity, but plenty of preference, tyranny, and death

http://non-intervention.com/1660/the-national-government-gives-no-dignity-but-plenty-of-preference-tyranny-and-death/

How the NSA Started Investigating the New York Times’ Warrantless Wiretapping Story

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/26/nsa-started-investigating-new-york-times-original-warrantless-wiretapping-story/

Public Mass Shooting a Persistent Threat (CRS)

Public Mass Shooting a Persistent Threat (CRS): Mass killings of the sort that took place yesterday in Charleston, South Carolina are a distressingly frequent occurrence. There were 78 public mass shootings in the United States between 1983 and 2013, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service. “According to CRS estimates, over the last three decades public mass shootings have claimed 547 lives and led to an additional 476 injured victims,” the report said.http://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/2015/06/mass-shooting-crs/

Insider Threat Program Advances, Slowly

Insider Threat Program Advances, Slowly : The Department of Defense recently demonstrated the “Continuous Evaluation” of approximately 100,000 cleared military, civilian and contractor personnel, in order to validate their eligibility for access to classified information on an ongoing basis.According to a new quarterly report on the Insider Threat program, the Department of Defense is on track to expand its Continuous Evaluation capability to 225,000 persons by the end of 2015, to 500,000 persons by the end of 2016, and to 1 million persons during 2017. http://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/2015/06/insider-2015-q2/

Stop the Knesset's avalanche of racism

A new bill designed to broaden the range of reasons used to disqualify candidates wishing to run for parliament is yet another assault on Israel's embattled democracy.

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.663322?utm_content=%2F1.663322&utm_medium=EMAIL&utm_source=SMARTFOCUS&utm_campaign=hdc+Opinions&utm_term=20150628-05%3A06

U.S. gay marriage ruling puts Orthodox Jews on collision course with American law

In Supreme Court's landmark decision, majority shockingly made no mention of the constitutional right to free exercise of religion - no wonder that religious Christian and Orthodox Jewish groups are worried.

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.663357?utm_content=%2F1.663357&utm_medium=EMAIL&utm_source=SMARTFOCUS&utm_campaign=hdc+Opinions&utm_term=20150628-16%3A06

Isis: A Year of the Caliphate

Isis: A Year of the Caliphate

The seven wars in Muslim countries where 'Islamic State' is powerful or growing in strength

Patrick Cockburn

• June 28, 2015 | http://www.unz.com/pcockburn/isis-a-year-of-the-caliphate-2/

There are seven wars raging in Muslim countries between the borders of Pakistan in the east and Nigeria in the west. In all seven – Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and north-east Nigeria – local versions of Isis are either already powerful or are gaining in influence. Key to its explosive expansion in Iraq and Syria since 2011 is its capability as a fighting machine, which stems from a combination of religious fanaticism, military expertise and extreme violence. In addition, its successes have been possible because it is opposed by feeble, corrupt or non-existent governments and armies.
The reach of the “Islamic State” was hideously demonstrated last week by near simultaneous attacks in Tunisia, France, Kuwait and Kobani in Syria. The first three atrocities received blanket media coverage, but the fourth, and by far the biggest massacre, was at Kobani, where at least 220 Kurdish civilians, including women and children, were massacred last Thursday by Isis fighters.http://www.unz.com/pcockburn/isis-a-year-of-the-caliphate-2/

Saudi Arabia’s Quagmire

http://www.lobelog.com/saudi-arabias-quagmire/#more-29854

Saudi Arabia’s Quagmire

by Thomas W. Lippman
Three months after Saudi Arabia rounded up a few allies and began an intensive bombing campaign against the rebels known as Houthis across the border in Yemen, a conventional wisdom has developed. “It has not worked,” as The New York Times put it in a front-page article, and it probably can’t work because the strategic goals are too murky, the factions are too entrenched, the rivalries are too intense, and the conflict is too complicated to be resolved by a simplistic solution.http://www.lobelog.com/saudi-arabias-quagmire/#more-29854

Sunday, June 28, 2015

A World Without Work The Atlantic

A World Without Work The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/07/world-without-work/395294/

A World Without Work

For centuries, experts have predicted that machines would make workers obsolete. That moment may finally be arriving. Could that be a good thing?

Americans Are Delaying Major Life Events Because of Money Worries

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/27/your-money/americans-are-delaying-major-life-events-because-of-money-worries.html?ref=business

The dark side of America’s reluctant part-time workers Market Watch

The dark side of America’s reluctant part-time workers Market Watch The dark side of America’s reluctant part-time workers
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-dark-side-of-americas-reluctant-part-time-workers-2015-06-25

9 sobering facts about California’s groundwater problem Reveal News

9 sobering facts about California’s groundwater problem Reveal News
https://www.revealnews.org/article/9-sobering-facts-about-californias-groundwater-problem/?utm_source=reveal&utm_medium=social_media&utm_campaign=twitter

ISIS Flag in London Gay Pride Parade

American illiteracy encounters British humor. Much ado about an ISIS flag in London's gay rights parade, with the usual sententious commentary on the national security implications of same.

Please look closely. It's a black flag covered in images of vibrators!

Video: (British humor?)ISIS Flag Spotted at London Gay Pride Parade - 3 days after ISIS Executes Gay Men? - YouTube

Perhaps someone should teach our electronic media how to distinguish sex toys from Arabic script and humor from terrorism.

Those Chinese hackers got into FBI files too

http://www.businessinsider.com/those-chinese-hackers-got-into-fbi-files-too-2015-6?utm_source=alerts&nr_email_referer=1

A Partnership with China to Avoid World War

George Soros

July 9, 2015 Issue

This article will appear in the July 9 issue of The New York Review.http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2015/jul/09/partnership-china-avoid-world-war/?pagination=false&printpage=true

Here's why Canada's oil is worse than America's

http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-canadas-oil-is-worse-than-americas-2015-6?nr_email_referer=1&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Business%20Insider%20Select&utm_campaign=BI%20Select%20Weekend%202015-06-28&utm_content=BISelect

America’s Got War

America’s Got War
Poverty, Drugs, Afghanistan, Iraq, Terror, or How to Make War on Everything
By William J. Astore
War on drugs. War on poverty. War in Afghanistan. War in Iraq. War on terror. The biggest mistake in American policy, foreign and domestic, is looking at everything as war. When a war mentality takes over, it chooses the weapons and tactics for you. It limits the terms of debate before you even begin. It answers questions before they’re even asked.
When you define something as war, it dictates the use of the military (or militarized police forces, prisons, and other forms of coercion) as the primary instruments of policy. Violence becomes the means of decision, total victory the goal. Anyone who suggests otherwise is labeled a dreamer, an appeaser, or even a traitor.
Click here to read more of this dispatch.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176016/tomgram%3A_william_astore%2C_%22hi%2C_i%27m_uncle_sam_and_i%27m_a_war-oholic%22/#more

White Americans bigger terror threat than Islamic extremists – study

http://rt.com/usa/270142-white-americans-terror-threat/

Fourth of July terror warning issued by FBI, Homeland Security

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/27/homeland-security-fbi-warn-of-possible-july-4-attacks/29389963/

The Pentagon Slush Fund By Mel Gurtov

The Pentagon Slush Fund

By Mel Gurtov
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article42259.htm

Make No Mistake: Absolute Evil Does Exist. By The Saker

Make No Mistake: Absolute Evil Does Exist.

By The Saker

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article42266.htm

Former Bush officials teaching course on Iraq War 'decision-making'

THE HILL

Former Bush officials teaching course on Iraq War 'decision-making'

By Kristina Wong - 06/27/15
Paul Wolfowitz and Scooter Libby, two key players in the George W. Bush administration, are teaching a course this fall on decision-making in the 2003 Iraq War.
The course, titled "The War in Iraq: A Study in Decision-Making", will examine some "key strategic decisions" during the war, according to a description by the Hertog Foundation in D.C., which will offer the week-long course.
Wolfowitz, who served as deputy defense secretary between 2001 and 2005, and Libby, who served as national security adviser to then-Vice President Dick Cheney and Bush during that time, both advocated for the war.
"History takes on a different aspect when viewed not from years removed and with the consequences of decisions taken known, but from the viewpoints of the actual policymakers as decisions approached and as unexpected events, rivalries, counter-moves, mistakes, and imperfect understandings intervened," a course description reads. http://thehill.com/policy/defense/246378-former-bush-officials-teaching-course-on-iraq-war-decision-making

These guys always land on their feet with zero accountability. The Hertog Foundation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Hertog

https://hertogfoundation.org/

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Detroit: A Case Study of Oligarchs and Vigilantes Taking Over Public Safety in a Big City

Posted: 27 Jun 2015 03:19 AM PDT

In Detroit, safety is a privilege enjoyed by the white and wealthy.http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/06/detroit-a-case-study-when-oligarchs-and-vigilantes-take-over-public-safety-in-a-big-city.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

Friday, June 26, 2015

Vatican signs historic accord with Palestine

http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-vatican-signs-historic-accord-with-palestine-2015-6

AFP More: AFP

Vatican signs historic accord with Palestine

Jun. 26, 2015

Vatican City (AFP) - The Vatican on Friday signed a historic first accord with Palestine, two years after officially recognising it as a state.
The accord, a treaty covering the activities of he Church in the parts of the Holy Land under Palestinian control, was the first since the Vatican recognised Palestine as a state in February 2013.
The product of 15 years of discussions, the agreement was finalised in principle last month and bitterly condemned then by Israel as a setback for the peace process.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Maliki, said at Friday's signing ceremony that it would "not have been possible without the blessing of his Holiness Pope Francis for our efforts to reach it."
The minister said the "historic" accord enshrined Palestine's special status as the birthplace of Christianity and the cradle of the monotheistic religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism).http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-vatican-signs-historic-accord-with-palestine-2015-6

WPR Articles Monday, June 22, 2015 - Friday, June 26, 2015

Kurdish Advances Can Contain the Islamic State, but Not Defeat It

By: Balint Szlanko | Briefing

The war of attrition between Kurdish forces and fighters from the Islamic State in northern Iraq illustrates the weaknesses of both sides. But that also is evident in northern Syria, where despite recent Kurdish advances, allegations of ethnic cleansing could serve as a potent recruiting tool for IS.

America’s Biggest National Security Threats Are at Home, Not Abroad

By: Michael A. Cohen | Column

The discordant U.S. responses to threats at home and abroad reflect a flawed delineation between domestic and foreign issues and their implications for national security. A definition of national security that focuses only on what happens “over there” is no longer relevant in today’s world.

Taiwan Tries to Play Mediator in the South China Sea

By: The Editors | Trend Lines

Last month, Taiwan proposed a peace plan to resolve territorial disputes in the South China Sea and reduce regional tensions. In an interview, Lynn Kuok, a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for East Asia Policy Studies, discussed Taiwan’s role in the South China Sea disputes.

Greece Deal Elusive, but EU Faces Even Tougher Battles Ahead

By: Frida Ghitis | Column

Like much of Europe, the Dutch have been keeping a close eye on talks to avert a Greek default whose consequences could range from very painful to catastrophic. Yet, the dilemma of how or whether to give another lifeline to Greece is only a prelude to a more divisive political battle looming ahead.

Cameron’s EU Referendum: Lucky Gamble or Mission Impossible?

By: Matthias Matthijs | Briefing

David Cameron’s unexpected re-election in May has put a British referendum on its EU membership firmly on the agenda. Assuming Cameron wants his country to stay in the EU, he seems to have picked the right time for a referendum, even though the outcome remains uncertain and could mean more decline in British influence.

South Africa’s Courts Have Become Key Constitutional Defender

By: The Editors | Trend Lines

Last week, South African authorities let Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir fly home and escape his ICC arrest warrant, after South Africa’s High Court tried to prevent him from leaving. In an interview, Pierre de Vos, professor of constitutional law at the University of Cape Town, discussed South Africa’s judiciary.

Technical Fixes Not Enough to Shore Up U.N. Peacekeeping

By: Richard Gowan | Column

Last week, the U.N. released a report by an expert panel on the future of peace operations that does not at first glance seem like an exceptionally enticing text. On closer inspection, it proves to be a subtly subversive summary of what is wrong with peace operations, and the entire U.N., today.

Aligning Justice and Security Interventions to Revamp the U.N.

By: Ellen Laipson | Trend Lines

As the U.N. turns 70, this grand edifice of mid-20th century geopolitics needs serious refurbishing to align its capabilities with the demands of the 21st-century world. One area in need of particular attention is the nexus between justice and security, especially in postconflict environments.

Decade of Exile: Syria and the Middle East’s Refugee Crisis

By: Michael Kagan | Feature

To understand the impact of forced migration in the Middle East today, it is artificial to focus only on the Syrian refugee crisis. Over the past 10 years, the region has seen two massive waves of forced migration that left 6 million people uprooted. Things may get worse before they get better.

EU’s Energy Dependence on Russia Hard to Kick

By: Richard Weitz | Column

Last week, Russia and Greece negotiated an agreement for Greece’s participation in the Turkish Stream gas pipeline that will transport Russian gas via Turkey to European markets. The deal highlights the difficulties the EU will face in efforts to reduce its dependence on Russian energy sources.

Uganda’s Museveni Succeeds Where Others Fail in Eluding Term Limits

By: Andrew Green | Briefing

Burundi’s Pierre Nkurunziza and other presidents trying to subvert term limits could all take a lesson from their neighbor, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. Having disposed of term limits a decade ago, Museveni is set to run for his fifth term next year, in a campaign that seems as much a coronation as a contest.

Russia Capitalizes on U.S. Missteps to Put Middle East Back in Play

By: Michael Kofman | Briefing

Russia’s joint naval exercises with Egypt in the Mediterranean this month put into sharper relief its resurgent ties in the Middle East, where it is steadily reviving a meaningful role for itself. Russia has walked through doors the U.S. left open, pursuing profit and opportunity, though not a grand strategy.

As Time Runs Out, All Sides Moving Toward Compromise on Greek Bailout

By: Maria Savel | Trend Lines

Another round of bailout talks between Greece and its creditors ended without a deal on Thursday, with a last-ditch effort scheduled for Saturday. While many observers are preparing for the worst-case scenario of a Greek exit from the eurozone, there are signs that both sides are slowly moving closer together.

Behind Latin America’s Anti-Mining Protests: Water Concerns

By: Lyuba Zarsky | Briefing

Mining conflicts are intensifying across Latin America, with 218 mining projects embroiled in conflicts with communities from Mexico to Argentina. One issue above all is driving the protests: water, which is heavily used and polluted in many projects. Without reforms, conflicts will only escalate.

U.S. Military Should Lead the Way in Disavowing Confederate Imagery

By: Steven Metz | Column

Over the past 75 years, the U.S. military has been used to advance the cause of expanding civil rights several times. Now the U.S. is again entering a great debate on rights that the military can and should play a major role in: expunging America of its sordid tradition of glorifying the Confederacy.

Supreme Court opinion on same sex marriage - The Washington Post

Supreme Court opinion on same sex marriage - The Washington Post

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf?utm_source=EmailDirect.com&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=6-26-15+weekly+update+Campaign

Roberts's dissent on Supreme Court same-sex marriage ruling

http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/roberts-dissent-on-supreme-court-same-sex-marriage-ruling/1606/

The Supreme Court has just ruled that gay marriage is legal nationwide.

The Supreme Court has just ruled that gay marriage is legal nationwide.
Justice Anthony Kennedy issued the 5-4 ruling, finding that the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex.
The justices explored two key questions about same-sex unions during their arguments in April:
1) Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex?
2) Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-state?
This was the second time America's high court took up same-sex marriage. The first time, in June 2013, the high court struck down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), allowing the US government to recognize same-sex marriages in states where they were already legal.
But the high court declined to rule on the broader question about gay marriage: Is there a Constitutional right to gay marriage?
The court's 2013 decision on DOMA has spawned battles across the country over same-sex marriage — including one in Alabama, where courts have issued conflicting rulings leading to an uncertain fate for gay couples.
That latest case reviewed a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to uphold same-sex marriage bans in Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and looked at whether those bans violated the Fourteenth Amendment.
That amendment guarantees Americans "equal protection under the law" and the right to "due process of law."
In their petition asking the Supreme Court to hear the case, same-sex couples argued that Kentucky's same-sex marriage ban "marks the same-sex relationships and the families they create as less valuable and less worthy of respect than opposite-sex relationships."
That mark creates a stigma, the petition continued, which is "incompatible with the bedrock Constitutional principles animating the Fourteenth Amendment."

SEE ALSO: The Supreme Court just granted a huge victory to women trying to have it all

How Russia Could Make or Break the Iran Deal

Washington wants to make sure the world will reimpose sanctions the second Tehran violates the terms of its agreement. But will Moscow surrender its treasured U.N. veto?

https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/24/how-russia-could-make-or-break-the-iran-deal/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Flashpoints&utm_campaign=New%20Campaign

CFR Update: EU Reaches Deal on Migration Crisis

TOP OF THE AGENDA

EU Reaches Deal on Migration Crisis

EU leaders reached an agreement (WSJ) for the relocation and settlement of forty thousand migrant asylum seekers in Europe over the next two years on Thursday. However, the bloc failed to agree on mandatory quotas amid deep divisions (EU Observer) among EU leaders, with France, Poland, and a dozen other members rejecting the possibility of binding intake quotas to address the migration crisis. According to the latest numbers from the UN refugee agency, 125,000 migrants have arrived (BBC) in Italy and Greece by sea this year. Earlier this week, the EU launched its first military operation against human smugglers in the Mediterranean.

ANALYSIS

"We are at a crossroads and we need to decide if events in the Mediterranean are everyone’s problem, or only that of the countries in the region. If solidarity and responsibility prevail, solutions can be found: from the number of people to be admitted, to identification and readmission operations, and funding. However, if selfishness and fear prevail, we risk losing the noble idea underpinning the European project," writes Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in the Guardian.

"A solution that is both humane and workable must necessarily include foreign policy and a better distribution of the burden among the 28 member states. Whatever the results, the fact that there is now an open conversation on migrations at the highest level of the EU should be welcomed as good news," writes Mattia Toaldo at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

"With this race to the bottom, EU countries appear to have abandoned solidarity, thereby jeopardizing one of the crowning achievements of European integration: free movement within the Schengen zone. Moreover, this response reflects a lack of awareness of the benefits that adherence to the principle of burden-sharing affords all EU countries. Short-term domestic political imperatives are trumping common sense," writes Peter Sutherland in Project Syndicate.

Vatican signs historic accord with Palestine

http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-vatican-signs-historic-accord-with-palestine-2015-6

Holy See and Palestine Sign Comprehensive Agreement

The Holy See has signed a Comprehensive Agreement with the State of Palestine today. The agreement defines the juridical status of the Catholic Church in the country as well as officially recognizing Palestine as a State. It also promotes a two-State solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In an address...

400+ ZENIT - The World Seen From Rome / by Junno Arocho Este... / 1h

http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/holy-see-and-palestine-sign-comprehensive-agreement

Washington National Cathedral dean: It’s time to remove stained-glass windows with Confederate flags

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/06/25/washington-national-cathedral-dean-its-time-to-remove-stained-glass-windows-with-confederate-flags/

Ebola Update

** EBOLA
------------------------------

------------------------------
Rebuilding Liberia’s Health Systems
In the wake of Ebola, Liberia is straining to rebuild its health systems. Taking a close look at how the outbreak affected one hard-hit hospital, Elaisha Stokes paints a vivid picture of how great the challenge is proving.

To be better prepared for the next outbreak, Liberia needs better lab facilities, a rapid response team, and people to staff facilities. Standing in the way, bureaucratic hurdles have kept hazard pay out of the pockets of doctors and health workers, while hundreds of thousands in donor funds are unaccounted for.
Al Jazeera (http://america.aljazeera.com/multimedia/2015/6/after-ebola-outbreak-liberias-health-care-system-struggles-to-rebound.html)

Related: Nearly instantaneous, finger-prick Ebola test could be a game-changer – Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/06/25/fast-ebola-diagnostic-test-could-be-a-game-changer/)

Related: Could Ramadan Help End Ebola in Sierra Leone? – Ebola Deeply (http://www.eboladeeply.org/articles/2015/06/7994/ramadan-ebola-sierra-leone/)

Related: Meager post-Ebola harvests worsen food insecurity in West Africa – MongaBay (http://news.mongabay.com/2015/0625-parshley-ebola-affects-west-african-harvests.html)

Global Health Update: Universal health coverage

** UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE
------------------------------

------------------------------
The State of Obamacare
With the Supreme Court’s ruling yesterday affirming that health insurance consumers can receive federal subsidies—a key pillar of Obamacare—the future of state-based exchanges may be in jeopardy.

States that started exchanges but are having difficulties may let the feds take over. For example, Hawaii’s exchange is collapsing while Vermont’s looks shaky. Even places like Washington and Minnesota, which are performing relatively well, may opt out in the face of technical challenges, according to the The New York Times.

“There is no new money now to build new infrastructure, and there are no grants available to fix these systems if they’re struggling,” said Heather Howard, the director of the State Health Reform Assistance Network at Princeton University, which was set up to advise states on exchange building. “So the only path forward may be to use HealthCare.gov.”
The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/26/upshot/obamacare-ruling-may-have-just-killed-state-based-exchanges.html?WT.mc_id=D-NYT-MKTG-MOD-51993-HD&WT.mc_ev=click&WT.mc_c=100000003763352&abt=0002&abg=0)

ACA Supporters Cheer
Jubilant consumer advocates celebrated the Affordable Care Act’s survival of its second Supreme Court test in 3 years.

The ACA still faces several lawsuits, although some believe Thursday's decision will discourage judges from advancing the cases.

Even if legal challenges to the law disappear, health insurers, doctors and hospitals face broad uncertainty. Among the top reasons: Signups for 2015 exchange coverage were lackluster.
NPR (http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/06/25/417431609/supreme-court-upholds-obamacare-subsidies)

Applesauce and Jiggery-Pokery
Sahil Kapur, a reporter for Bloomberg Politics, has collected the 8 best lines of the Obamacare ruling in The Fine Print column, summing up everything everyone needs to know in a colorful nutshell.

Among the highlights: Justice Antonin Scalia’s sardonic “Pure applesauce” dissent; the use of the word “jiggery-pokery” and the alliterative appeal of the phrase, “somersaults of statutory interpretation.”
Bloomberg Politics (http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-06-25/the-8-best-passages-from-the-supreme-court-s-huge-obamacare-ruling)

Related: 'We Doubt That Is What Congress Meant to Do'—The Atlantic (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/we-doubt-that-this-is-what-congress-meant-to-do/396839/)

Google Makes A Big Bet On… Alabama?

By Jacob Pramuk | CNBC, Thursday, June 25, 2015 2:00 PM

Google is rolling the dice on Alabama. (Tweet this) The Internet and technology giant plans to build a new data center in the state at the site of a former coal-fired power plant. In a blog post Wednesday, Google said the center—its 14th globally—will repurpose the plant’s existing infrastructure to run on renewable energy. Google… Keep reading →

http://breakingenergy.com/2015/06/25/google-makes-a-big-bet-on-alabama/?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=19592708&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9jHwjGe5NVWynP2hbPnzmBhwiakDSfoy4ob0PWBMs6BxvY3fsx08AR7t9jnrBRfAjTGXqvw83sVR4Mad6IL4b9L3-uhA&_hsmi=19592708

The Bankruptcy of America’s Elites

Posted: 26 Jun 2015 12:48 AM PDT

Why America's elites have failed.http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/06/the-bankruptcy-of-americas-elites.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

The Week With IPS 6/25

2015/6/25	Click here for the online version of this IPS newsletter


	Heat Wave Picking Off Pakistan’s Urban Poor Zofeen Ebrahim Over 950 people have perished in just five days. The morgues, already filled to capacity, are piling up with bodies, and in over-crowded hospitals the threat of further deaths hangs in the air. Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, home to over 23 million people, is gasping in the grip of a dreadful ... MORE > >

	Security Council Action on Gaza War Crimes a Non-Starter Thalif Deen When a U.N. panel released a 217-page report accusing both Israel and Hamas of possible war crimes committed during the 50-day conflict in Gaza last July, the chances of Security Council action were remote because of the traditional U.S. commitment to stand by Israel – right or wrong, mostly ... MORE > >

	Costa Rican Women Try to Pull Legal Therapeutic Abortion Out of Limbo Diego Arguedas Ortiz The lack of clear regulations and guidelines on therapeutic abortion in Costa Rica means women depend on the interpretation of doctors with regard to the circumstances under which the procedure can be legally practiced. Article 121 of Costa Rica’s penal code stipulates that abortion is only ... MORE > >

	Grenada Rebuilds Barrier Reefs Desmond Brown The Eastern Caribbean nation of Grenada is following the example of its bigger neighbours Belize and Jamaica in taking action to restore coral reefs, which serve as frontline barriers against storm waves. Coral reefs also play an extremely important role in the Caribbean tourism economy, as well ... MORE > >

	On Kenya’s Coast, a Struggle for the Sacred Miriam Gathigah Travel into the heart of Kenya’s southern Coast Province, nearly 500 km from the capital city of Nairobi, and you will come across one of the planet’s most curious World Heritage Sites: the remains of several fortified villages, revered by the indigenous Mijikenda people as the sacred abodes of ... MORE > >

	Studying and Working Poses New Challenges for Argentina’s Youth Fabiana Frayssinet Until not too long ago, youngsters in Argentina faced a choice: whether to study or drop out and go to work. But now most children and adolescents in Argentina who work also continue to study – a change that poses new challenges for combating school dropout, repetition and truancy, as well as the ... MORE > >

	Critics of World Bank-Funded Projects in the Line of Fire Kanya D'Almeida For an entire month beginning in February 2015, a group of between 40 and 50 residents of the Durgapur Village in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand would gather at the site of a hydroelectric power project being carried out by the state-owned Tehri Hydro Development Corporation ... MORE > >

	Take Good News on Afghanistan’s Reconstruction With a ‘Grain of Salt’ Kanya D'Almeida Since 2002, a year after it invaded Afghanistan, the United States has poured over 100 billion dollars into developing and rebuilding this country of just over 30 million people. This sum is in addition to the trillions spent on U.S. military operations, to say nothing of the deaths of 2,000 ... MORE > >

	Amazon Dam also Brings Health Infrastructure for Local Population Mario Osava Extensive public health infrastructure and the eradication of malaria will be the most important legacy of the construction of the Belo Monte hydropower dam in Brazil’s Amazon jungle for the population affected by the megaproject. In the six municipalities in the area of the dam, where an action ... MORE > >

	U.N. Takes First Step Towards Treaty to Curb Lawlessness in High Seas Thalif Deen The 193-member General Assembly adopted a resolution Friday aimed at drafting a legally binding international treaty for the conservation of marine biodiversity and to govern the mostly lawless high seas beyond national jurisdiction. The resolution was the result of more than nine years of ... MORE > >