GLOBALink|Largest container consolidation center in China’s Greater Bay Area starts trial operation

New China TV– Jul 1, 2021

The largest container consolidation center in China’s Greater Bay Area has started trial operation. Check out how it works and why it matters to global trade

Demonization of Iran Is a “Mistake” That Has Trapped the U.S. in Perpetual Middle East Confl ict

Democracy Now!

Published on Jul 1, 2021

After the Biden administration launched airstrikes targeting an Iranian-backed militia in Syria and Iraq, military historian Andrew Bacevich says the United States needs to reassess its decades-long hostility toward Iran. “The demonization of Iran is now a well-established reality of our contemporary politics. It’s a mistake,” he says. “Over the past 40 years or so, we’ve decided that Iran needs to be classified as an evil power, and I think that that inclination makes it very difficult for us to come to a reasoned understanding of how we got so deeply enmeshed in the Persian Gulf and how it is that we end up basically in the pocket of the Saudis.” Bacevich also discusses the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and warns that a Taliban takeover of the country could spark another refugee crisis.

“He Was Defeated”: Ethiopian PM Withdraws from Tigray After Months of Civil War, as Famine L ooms

Democracy Now!

Published on Jul 1, 2021

The Ethiopian military has withdrawn its forces from Mekelle, the capital of the war-torn Tigray region, after the government declared a ceasefire. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed denied reports his military was defeated by Tigrayan forces, and said he had successfully pacified the city. Ahmed, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, launched the offensive against Tigray separatists in November. Since then, thousands have been killed, over a million civilians have been displaced, and some 350,000 people are now on the brink of famine. Alemayehu Fentaw Weldemariam, a constitutional law scholar, political theorist and conflict analyst, says Prime Minister Ahmed’s “unilateral” ceasefire hides the reality of what happened. “He was defeated,” he says. We also speak with Stanley Chitekwe, chief of nutrition at UNICEF Ethiopia, who says the organization is seeing “very high levels of malnutrition” in Tigray, including among children under 5. “This malnutrition situation may deteriorate into famine,” he warns.

“He Was a Disaster”: Ret. Col. Andrew Bacevich on Donald Rumsfeld’s Legacy as Archit ect of Iraq War

Democracy Now!

Published on Jul 1, 2021

Donald Rumsfeld, considered the chief architect of the Iraq War, has died at the age of 88. As defense secretary for both Presidents George W. Bush and Gerald Ford, Rumsfeld presided, his critics say, over systemic torture, massacres of civilians and illegal wars. We look at Rumsfeld’s legacy with retired Colonel Andrew Bacevich, whose son was killed in Iraq. Bacevich is the president of the antiwar think tank the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He says the Iraq War should be the most important item inscribed on Rumsfeld’s headstone. “He was a disaster,” Bacevich says. “He was a catastrophically bad and failed defense secretary who radically misinterpreted the necessary response to 9/11, and therefore caused almost immeasurable damage to our country, to Iraq, to the Persian Gulf, more broadly.”

Climate change-induced heat dome in B.C. melting alpine snow

CBC News: The National – Jul 1, 2021

The heat dome is melting alpine snow in B.C., causing floods that are endangering wildlife. Scientists say climate change has created a new kind of heat dome.

Exxon Just Exposed the Senators They “Own” (w/ Richard Wiles)

Thom Hartmann Program – Jul 1, 2021

Channel 4 in the UK has published a startling exposé on an ExxonMobil lobbyist who revealed the U.S. senators who he say are key to opposing legislation that might harm the oil industry. Exxon are lying about what they do on climate change. For decades, they distorted their role in climate change through the use of fossil fuels. Richard Wiles joined Thom to discuss what fossil fuel producers have hidden for profit, irrespective of the damage done to the planet. Richard Wiles is a Paris-based journalist covering labor, culture & politics – Contributor-NY Times, Jacobin and other news outlets / Writer & producer-France 24 (international news network)

Exxon CEO disavows remarks from top lobbyists on climate change

CNBC Television -Jul 1, 2021

Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods apologized Wednesday and disavowed statements made by two of the company’s top Washington lobbyists. CNBC’s “Squawk Box” crew discusses.

Planning for Food Secure African Cities

https://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/5/2/8/528e65ba45cb8516/210610_UCT_African_Centre_for_Cities_Podcast_Episode_1.mp3?c_id=106456460&cs_id=106456460&preview=1625193148&no-libsyn-stats=true&expiration=1625194108&hwt=92caf4309c5ebbad75a9c4696e436915

This is a podcast series designed to help African planning scholars and urbanists to think through how and why food can be incorporated in urban planning and governance.  If you’re not a planner, don’t tune out. If you listen along you will find out how looking at a city through the lens of food gives us a unique understanding of the histories, current realities and potential futures of our cities.

The podcast, presented by Associate Professor Jane Battersby, is based on the work of the ESRC/DfID funded Consuming Urban Poverty Project, which used food as a lens to understand and alleviate poverty in secondary cities in Africa, and the IDRC-funded Nourishing Spaces project, which argued that the rising rates of diet-related non-communicable disease in African cities should be addressed, in part, through food sensitive urban planning and governance and community scale action.

Over the course of six episodes, the series looks at how historic food planning fundamentally shaped the economies, geographies and processes of inclusion and exclusion in our cities. We examine the ways in which the global development agenda is creating new opportunities to incorporate food into urban planning and governance. We think about the politics of food planning and food governance and talk about dealing with conflicting rationalities in practices. We also introduce the idea of food sensitive planning and urban design and wrap up with reflections on lessons learned from elsewhere.

Throughout this podcast series, please refer to Consuming Urban Poverty publications such as Tomatoes and Taxi Ranks, Urban Food Systems Governance and Poverty in African Cities and, the Incorporating Food into Urban Planning: A toolkit for planning educators in Africa.

Dr Jane Battersby

Senior Lecturer,

Department of Environmental and Geographical Science,

University of Cape Town.

Jane.Battersby.Lennard@gmail.com
tel: +27 21 650 5749
fax: +27 21 650 3456

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jane_Battersby/

Video Reveals Oil Lobbyist Go-To List Of Senators To Undercut Climate Action

MSNBC – Jul 1, 2021

In an undercover video, a lobbyist for ExxonMobil revealed his go-to list of senators for undermining climate action—and who he considers the “kingmaster.”

Michael Cohen On Trump Org CFO Indictment: ‘Allen Has To Understand. He’s By Himself’

MSNB – Jul 1, 2021

The Trump Organization, and its longtime money man, Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, have been formally indicted. Former attorney to Donald Trump Michael Cohen joins Joy Reid with his analysis, sharing what he views as his experience as parallel to Weisselberg’s.