IS buried thousands in 72 mass graves

The Yazidi faith, one of the region’s oldest, has elements of Christianity and Islam but is distinct. Yazidis worship the Peacock Angel, fallen and forgiven by God under their tradition, and their shrines feature carved images of the birds and references to the sun. Muslim extremists condemned them as “devil worshippers” and over the centuries have subjected them to multiple massacres — 72, by the Yazidis’ count.

In its own propaganda, the Islamic State group made clear its intention to wipe out the Yazidi community. In an issue of its online English-language magazine Dabiq, it scolded Muslims for allowing the Yazidis to continue existing, calling their ancient religion a form of paganism. It quoted Quranic verses to justify killing the Yazidis unless they become Muslim.

Thwarted in their halfhearted attempt at conversions, the fighters separated about 35 teenage girls and young women from the rest, crammed them into a few cars and drove away. The militants herded the older women and young children into the farmhouse and locked the door.

The Yazidi faith, one of the region’s oldest, has elements of Christianity and Islam but is distinct. Yazidis worship the Peacock Angel, fallen and forgiven by God under their tradition, and their shrines feature carved images of the birds and references to the sun. Muslim extremists condemned them as “devil worshippers” and over the centuries have subjected them to multiple massacres — 72, by the Yazidis’ count. In its own propaganda, the Islamic State group made clear its intention to wipe out the Yazidi community. In an issue of its online English-language magazine Dabiq, it scolded Muslims for allowing the Yazidis to continue existing, calling their ancient religion a form of paganism. It quoted Quranic verses to justify killing the Yazidis unless they become Muslim. Thwarted in their halfhearted attempt at conversions, the fighters separated about 35 teenage girls and young women from the rest, crammed them into a few cars and drove away. The militants herded the older women and young children into the farmhouse and locked the door.

Turkish air strikes kill at least 35 civilians in Syria

There was no immediate comment from the YPG militia, but forces aligned with the Kurdish group had said on Saturday that no Kurdish militia had been in areas being targeted by Turkish troops. 

KARKAMIS - Turkey's army and its allies thrust deeper into Syria on Sunday, seizing territory controlled by Kurdish-aligned forces on the fifth day of a cross-border campaign that a monitoring group said had killed at least 35 villagers.

Turkish warplanes roared into northern Syria at daybreak and its artillery pounded what security sources said were sites held by Kurdish YPG militia, after the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported fierce overnight fighting around two villages.

Turkey's military said 25 Kurdish militants were killed in its air strikes. There was no immediate comment from the YPG, but forces aligned with the Kurdish militia have said it withdrew from the area targeted by Turkey before the offensive.

Turkey, which is also battling Kurdish insurgents on its own soil, sent tanks and troops into Syria on Wednesday to support its Syrian rebel allies. The Turkish-backed forces first seized the Syrian border town of Jarablus from Islamic State militants before pushing south into areas held by Kurdish-aligned militias. They have also moved west towards Islamic State areas.

Turkish officials have openly stated that their goal in Syria is as much about ensuring Kurdish forces do not expand the territory they already control along Turkey's border, as it is about driving Islamic State from its strongholds.

However, Turkey's offensive has so far focused mostly on targeting forces allied to the Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition that includes YPG, an Observatory source said.

The SDF has support from the United States, which sees the group as an effective Syrian ally against Islamic State. So Turkey's action against SDF-allied forces puts it odds with a fellow NATO member, adding a further twist to Syria's complex war that began in 2011 with an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and has drawn in regional states and world powers.

 The Observatory, a Britain-based monitoring group with a network of sources in Syria, said Turkish-allied forces had seized two villages south of Jarablus, Jub al-Kousa and al-Amarna, that were held by militias loyal to the SDF.

The fighting killed 20 civilians in Jub al-Kousa and 15 in al-Amarna, while scores more were wounded, the group said.

HEADING SOUTH

The Observatory said rebels backed by Turkish tanks fought until dawn against rival militias allied to the SDF around al-Amarna. SDF-allied militia damaged three Turkish tanks, it said.

Turkish security sources said warplanes and artillery had hit Kurdish YPG militia sites south of frontier town of Jarablus and towards Manbij, a city captured by Kurdish-aligned SDF this month in a U.S.-backed operation.

Colonel Ahmed Osman, head of the Turkish-backed Sultan Murad rebel group, told Reuters the force was "certainly heading in the direction of Manbij" and hoped to take it days. He also said Turkish-backed rebels were pushing west against Islamic State.

The Ankara government wants to stop Kurdish forces gaining control of an unbroken swathe of Syrian territory on Turkey's frontier, which it fears could embolden the Kurdish militant group PKK that has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey.

A Reuters witness in Karkamis, a Turkish border town, heard jets and artillery bomb Syrian targets. A Turkish official told Reuters even heavier air strikes could follow in coming hours.

Turkey said one of its soldiers was killed on Saturday when a rocket hit a tank that it said came from a YPG-controlled area. It was the first Turkish death reported in the campaign.

Turkey has suffered shock waves from the conflict raging in its southern neighbor, including frequent bomb attacks by Islamic State. The government suspects the jihadist group was behind a blast at a wedding this month that killed 54 people.

President Tayyip Erdogan was expected to visit the site of that wedding attack in Gaziantep, in southeastern Turkey, later on Sunday to pay his respects to families of the victims.

The New Divide: Drawbridges up

The new divide in rich countries is not between left and right but between open and closed

IS POLAND’S government right-wing or left-wing? Its leaders revere the Catholic church, vow to protect Poles from terrorism by not accepting any Muslim refugees and fulminate against “gender ideology” (by which they mean the notion that men can become women or marry other men).

Yet the ruling Law and Justice party also rails against banks and foreign-owned businesses, and wants to cut the retirement age despite a rapidly ageing population. It offers budget-busting handouts to parents who have more than one child. These will partly be paid for with a tax on big supermarkets, which it insists will somehow not raise the price of groceries.

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“The old left-right divide in this country has gone,” laments Rafal Trzaskowski, a liberal politician. Law and Justice plucks popular policies from all over the political spectrum and stirs them into a nationalist stew. Unlike any previous post-communist regime, it eyes most outsiders with suspicion (though it enthusiastically supports the right of Poles to work in Britain).

From Warsaw to Washington, the political divide that matters is less and less between left and right, and more and more between open and closed. Debates between tax-cutting conservatives and free-spending social democrats have not gone away. But issues that cross traditional party lines have grown more potent. Welcome immigrants or keep them out? Open up to foreign trade or protect domestic industries? Embrace cultural change, or resist it?

In 2005 Stephan Shakespeare, the British head of YouGov, a pollster, observed:

We are either “drawbridge up” or “drawbridge down”. Are you someone who feels your life is being encroached upon by criminals, gypsies, spongers, asylum-seekers, Brussels bureaucrats? Do you think the bad things will all go away if we lock the doors? Or do you think it’s a big beautiful world out there, full of good people, if only we could all open our arms and embrace each other?

He was proven spectacularly right in June, when Britain held a referendum on whether to leave the European Union. The leaders of the main political parties wanted to stay in, as did the elite of banking, business and academia. Yet the Brexiteers won, revealing just how many voters were drawbridge-uppers. They wanted to “take back control” of borders and institutions from Brussels, and to stem the flow of immigrants and refugees. Right-wing Brexiteers who saw the EU as a socialist superstate joined forces with left-wingers who saw it as a tool of global capitalism.

A similar fault line has opened elsewhere. In Poland and Hungary the drawbridge-uppers are firmly in charge; in France Marine Le Pen, who thinks that the opposite of “globalist” is “patriot”, will probably make it to the run-off in next year’s presidential election. In cuddly, caring Sweden the nationalist Sweden Democrats topped polls earlier this year, spurring mainstream parties to get tougher on asylum-seekers. Even in Germany some fear immigration may break the generous safety net. “You can only build a welfare state in your own country,” says Sahra Wagenknecht, a leader of the Left, a left-wing party.

In Italy, after the Brexit vote, the leader of the populist Northern League party tweeted: “Now it’s our turn.” Japan has no big anti-immigrant party, perhaps because there are so few immigrants. But recent years have seen the rise of a nationalist lobby called Nippon Kaigi, which seeks to rewrite Japan’s pacifist constitution and make education more patriotic. Half the Japanese cabinet are members.

There’s no we in US

In America the traditional party of free trade and a strong global role for the armed forces has just nominated as its standard-bearer a man who talks of scrapping trade deals and dishonouring alliances. “Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo,” says Donald Trump. On trade, he is close to his supposed polar opposite, Bernie Sanders, the cranky leftist who narrowly lost the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton. And Mrs Clinton, though the most drawbridge-down major-party candidate left standing, has moved towards the Trump/Sanders position on trade by disavowing deals she once supported.

Timbro, a Swedish free-market think-tank, has compiled an index of what it calls “authoritarian populism”, which tracks the strength of drawbridge-up parties in Europe. On average a fifth of voters in European countries back a populist party of the right or left, it finds. Such parties are represented in the governments of nine countries. The populist vote has nearly doubled since 2000 (see chart 1). In southern Europe austerity and the euro crisis have revived left-wing populism, exemplified by Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain. In Northern Europe the refugee crisis of 2015 has boosted the populists of the right.

http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21702748-new-divide-rich-countries-not-between-left-and-right-between-open-and?fsrc=scn/fb/te/pe/ed/drawbridgesup 

Jul 30th 2016  |

Transitional Justice in Colombia: a guideline

 

Victim Assistance and Reparations Unit  The Victim Assistance and Reparations Unit, known as the Victims' Unit, began to function in January 2012. This body, established under the Victims' Law, is in charge of formulating and implementing public policy on reparations as well as the coordination of the National System for Assistance and Reparations for Victims (SNARIV), comprising a group of national and regional public institutions. Amongst their activities, the Victims' Unit is in charge of the Victims Registry; the humanitarian aid measures; compensation to the victims; and individual and collective reparation plans.       Land Restitution Unit  The Land Restitution Unit started work in January 2012 as the institution charged with drawing up the legal procedure for restituting and legalizing the land of the victims of land theft and forced abandonment in the context of the internal armed conflict. Amongst its functions, the Land Unit is charged with creating a registry of stolen and abandoned land; of receiving victims' claims; studying each case; amassing evidence; and preparing the lawsuit which will be presented to a land judge. When restitution of the plot is not possible, the State will pay due compensation to the victims of land theft and displacement.    Land Judges  On June 15th, 2012, the first lawsuit was presented to the Land Restitution judges. These are civil circuit court judges, specialized in restitution of land in accordance with the Victims' and Land Restitution Law. In cases where there are no adversaries in the process, they hear and decide upon, in sole instance courts, the land restitution cases and the legalization processes of the land deeds of people whose lands have been stolen or who were forced to abandon their plots.    National Historical Memory Center  The National Historical Memory Center was set up at the beginning of 2012, in accordance with Law 1448, as the body charged with promoting processes that guarantee the right of victims and the whole of society to the reconstruction of historic memory. To do this, the Center, amongst other functions, must "gather together and recover all the documentary material, oral testimony, and any other material relevant to violations", and create and manage a human rights and historical memory program and a memory museum. The Center is also charged with developing the Agreements to contribute to clarification of the truth created by Law 1424.    Legislative Act 01 of 2012, or "Legal Framework for Peace"  After intense debate in the country, the constitutional transitional justice reform known as the Legal Framework for Peace was passed in the middle of 2012, through legislative Act 01 of 2012. On the basis of this reform the State possesses integrated transitional justice instruments geared towards facilitating negotiations and achieving a stable and durable peace. The proposal authorizes the creation of extrajudicial justice mechanisms, establishment of criteria for the prioritization and selection of cases, suspension of sentences, and relinquishing the right to prosecute the crimes that were not selected.    Law 1592 of 2012, or "Reform of Justice and Peace Law  In 2012 Law 1592, which reformed Law 975 of 2005, came into effect with the aim of increasing the efficiency of the processes that were taken under this transitional justice mechanism. This reform redirects the investigative focus in order to look at structures responsible for systemic crimes, relying on intelligence led investigations as opposed to more traditional atomized incident based investigation. The concept of victim is complemented by the concept of collective harm and the reparations hearing is modified, replacing it with the hearing to establish damages, according to which, the calculation of compensation will be undertaken by the Victims' Unit and will be made in conformity with Law 1448 of 2011. Amongst the changes, was the definition of the causes of exclusion from the Justice and Peace process, such as the failure of the postulados to hand over assets.

https://www.ictj.org/colombia-timeline/index_eng.html

Greve do Itamaraty tem adesão de mais de 60 postos no exterior, diz sindicato.

A greve dos funcionários do Itamaraty teve adesão de mais de 60 postos no exterior, entre eles os de Washington, Pequim, Londres e Tóquio. Foi o que informou nesta terça-feira (23) o sindicato da categoria, o Sinditamaraty.
Na capital federal, um grupo de grevistas participou de uma manifestação em frente ao Palácio do Itamaraty durante a tarde. Eles prometem um ato em frente ao Ministério do Planejamento, nesta quarta-feira (24).
A categoria iniciou a paralisação nesta semana, depois que fracassaram as tentativas de negociar um reajuste.
A proposta apresentada pelo Planejamento, um reajuste de 27,9% dividido em quatro parcelas, foi recusada em assembleia. Os grevistas alegam que recebem menos do que colegas de outras categorias de Estado, como fiscais da Receita e policiais federais. Dependendo da faixa funcional, a diferença chega a 31,88%.
A greve ocorre num momento em que o governo do presidente em exercício, Michel Temer, tenta barrar no Congresso Nacional reajustes salariais já negociados com outras categorias. A avaliação é que, diante da difícil situação das contas públicas, não há espaço para aumentar despesas.
http://noticias.uol.com.br/ultimas-noticias/agencia-estado/2016/08/23/greve-do-itamaraty-tem-adesao-de-mais-de-60-postos-no-exterior-diz-sindicato.htm

Pena de Morte no Iraque - Relativismo Cultural v. Universalismo

Depois da morte de centenas de pessoas em um ataque em Bagdá no mês passado, o primeiro-ministro Haider al-Abadi disse que queria tornar mais rápidas as execuções dos condenados por casos de terrorismo.
As Nações Unidas criticaram essas declarações.
"Acelerar o ritmo das execuções não vai fazer com que diminua a injustiça", afirmou, no início de agosto, o alto comissário da ONU para os Direitos Humanos, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein.
Segundo a organização de defesa dos direitos humanos Anistia Internacional (AI), que rejeita a aplicação da pena de morte, o Iraque procedeu mais de cem execuções desde o início deste ano, sem contar as mortes deste domingo.
Depois que as autoridades executaram 22 pessoas em maio, a Anistia Internacional disse que "a aplicação da pena de morte é deplorável em todas as circunstâncias".
O massacre de Speicher é considerado um dos piores crimes do Estado Islâmico desde o início de sua ofensiva, que levou ao estabelecimento de seu autoproclamado califado entre o Iraque a Síria.
http://noticias.uol.com.br/ultimas-noticias/afp/2016/08/21/iraque-enforca-36-integrantes-do-estado-islamico-por-matanca-de-recrutas.htm

ONU adverte para catástrofe 'sem precedentes' em Aleppo

"Em Aleppo se corre o risco de uma catástrofe humanitária sem precedentes nos mais de cinco anos do sangrento conflito e massacres na Síria", advertiu.

http://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2016/08/onu-adverte-para-catastrofe-sem-precedentes-em-aleppo.html

Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi pleads guilty to charges of destroying ancient cultural artefacts in Timbuktu.

A Malian fighter has admitted guilt at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the first ever case of a suspect charged with war crimes against a World Heritage site.
Ahmas al-Faqi al-Mahdi pleaded guilty on Monday at the ICC in The Hague where he is accused of intentionally attacking nine mausoleums and the Sidi Yahi mosque within the city of Timbuktu in Mali.
Mahdi asked for forgiveness and said he had been swept up in an "evil wave" by al-Qaeda and the Ansar Dine groups, which briefly seized control of the northern city in 2012.
"This is the first and last wrongful act I will ever commit," Mahdi told the court in a measured and grave opening address.
"I regret what I have caused to my family, my community in Timbuktu, what I have caused to my home nation Mali," he added.
"I would like to seek the pardon of all the whole people of Timbuktu."


http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/08/man-trial-icc-destroying-timbuktu-artefacts-160822100834765.html

'Un-Islamic' cultural heritage in jihadists' crosshairs

Brasil acumula polêmicas na OEA, esperança do PT contra impeachment

http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2016/08/1802598-brasil-acumula-polemicas-na-oea-esperanca-do-pt-contra-impeachment.shtml

Chemical weapons in Aleppo siege

"It was one week ago today, when rebel forces broke through the government siege of Aleppo. These rising death tolls could be an indication of the government fighting back and retaliating," Al Jazeera's Sayah said. 

Elsewhere, opposition activists in the town of Daraya on the suburbs of Damascus also accused the Syrian government of dropping barrel bombs containing napalm - an incendiary weapon made up of both fuel and a gel substance.

According to opposition activists, "government forces and helicopters have dropped about 12 [barrel bombs] today and another 24 yesterday", with one person killed and very few injured, Sayah said on Sunday.

The substance's use against civilian targets, or in areas densely populated with civilians, has been prohibited by the United Nations. The chemical is very flammable and difficult to remove from the skin.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/08/syria-war-150-civilians-killed-days-160814135759952.html

Air strike on Syrian hospital kills 10

Medical charity the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) said that July was the worst month for attacks on healthcare centers since the beginning of Syria's five-year-old conflict.
"There were 43 attacks on healthcare facilities in Syria in July - more than one attack every day," a SAMS statement said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idlib-idUSKCN10H0LA

10 Acts Of Anarchist Terrorism That Shocked The World

The Industrial Revolution and the rise of capitalism transformed the social structures of civilized society. The gap between the classes became a yawning chasm, and the poor regarded the government and their bosses as tyrants. Many turned to a philosophy called Anarchism, from the Greek meaning “no ruler.” Anarchism despised all authority and taught that humans can live in a society free from restrictive laws. One of its fathers, Pierre Proudhon, famously said: “What is property? Property is theft!”
Proudhon himself did not advocate violence, and few anarchists were bomb-throwers. But desperate individuals heard the propaganda and took it upon themselves to strike against entrenched privilege.

 The most deadly anarchist terror assault—72 dead or seriously injured—happened in Barcelona in 1893, at the Liceu opera house

http://listverse.com/2014/05/04/10-acts-of-anarchist-terrorism-that-shocked-the-world/

It’s five years since the English riots, but the rifts in society are wider than ever

In London young black men are still three times more likely to be stopped and searched than their white counterparts. Social housing has all but collapsed in the last five years, meaning that thousands of families are living in overcrowded and inadequate housing without any real prospect of improvement in their situation, never mind affording a home of their own.
Far from being unique to Tottenham or the capital, this a familiar tale across the country. Five years ago people tried to dismiss the riots as black v white, but the truth is far more complicated than a racial divide.
Despite the post-Brexit rhetoric about a north-south divide, across the length and breadth of the nation we are seeing the gap between an asset class and an underclass growing ever larger. Last year 38% of workers earned less than the amount the average homeowner “earned” from the increase in the value of their home. This chasm between the haves and the have-nots looks set to become increasingly vast for future generations.
When it comes to a “legacy”, I think of the people of Tottenham who have rebuilt our community, the businesses that have reopened and gone from strength to strength and the young people who have shrugged off the stigma and gone on to great things. But if millions still feel as though they have no stake in society, social order becomes fractured and the peace is fragile. A sense of hopelessness and powerlessness that spans generations and defines entire areas does not breed respect for society or its rules. When people have so little to lose, desperation can quickly turn to anger and violence. This was the lesson of the riots – let it not go unlearned.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/05/tottenham-riots-british-streets-burn-again-david-lammy?CMP=fb_gu

6 maps that could change your perspective on the world

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/05/6-maps-that-could-change-your-perspective-on-the-world?

Brazil reliance on commodities is untrue?

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/03/this-map-shows-every-country-s-major-export?

GRONZY RULES As Obama Dithers, Syrian Rebels in Aleppo Brace for Putin’s Onslaught

"A top official of the Syrian opposition said he’s convinced Russia’s intent is use the methods it deployed to destroy Grozny. The capital of the Chechen Republic was the scene of bloody combat in 1994-95, and then again in 1999-2000, early in Putin’s first presidency. At that point leaflets were dropped offering people safe passage out of the city, and after a brief pause the real devastation began. In 2003, the United Nations reportedly called Grozny “the most destroyed city on earth.” The war was over, and on Putin’s terms."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/08/01/as-obama-dithers-syrian-rebels-in-aleppo-brace-for-putin-s-onslaught.html

Chlorine gas dropped on Idlib town

Helicopters dropped containers of toxic gas overnight on a town in Syria's Idlib province, a rescue service operating in rebel-held territory said on Tuesday.
Raed Saleh, head of the Syrian Civil Defense group, told Al Jazeera that 33 civilians, including 18 women and 10 children, were brought to a local hospital after the attack in the town of Saraqeb.
"Just before midnight, helicopters dropped five explosive barrels containing cylinders of chlorine and shards of metal on neighbourhoods in Saraqeb," he said.
"We suspect it was chlorine because of the smell and the nature of the injuries - suffocation and burning, red eyes. Members of the civil defense brought them all to the nearby hospital."

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/08/syria-civil-war-chlorine-gas-dropped-idlib-town-160802083551947.html