Certainly there are similarities between where the United States is,
and where the German government was back in the early and mid 30's.
Of course I was too young to have any awareness, first hand. And even
though I was not yet born, I wonder what life was like in Rome as that
Republic morphed into an Empire, under Augustus. A brief peek at the
politics of the day back around 100 B.C. shows us that there was about
as much turmoil in Rome as there is today in the USA.
*****
Julius Caesar
was born 12 July 100 BCE (though some cite 102 as his birth year).
His father, also Gaius Julius Caesar, was a Praetor who governed the
province of Asia and his mother, Aurelia Cotta, was of noble birth.
Both held to the Popular ideology of
Rome, which favored democratization of government and more rights for
the lower class as opposed to the Optimate factions’ claim of the
superiority of the nobility
and traditional Roman values which favored the upper classes. It
should be understood that the Optimate and the Popular were not
political parties in conflict with each other
but, rather, political ideologies which many people shifted toward and
from, regardless of class in society. The concept of appealing to the
people for
support, rather than seeking approval from the Roman Senate or the
other Patricians, would work well for Caesar later in life.
--------
Taken from: Julius Caesar - Ancient History Encyclopedia
Carl Jarvis
On 3/28/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
There's a whole lot of stuff going on that he would have much to comment
about. Note all these pro Trump rallies throughout the country. Isn't that
reminiscent of the Nazi rallies in Germany before Hitler took complete
power? The pro Trump demonstrators are like the Brown Shirts.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2017 6:33 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Mosul Residents Were Told Not to Flee Before
Airstrikes That Killed Civilians
This article is one of several that brought to mind Howard Zinn's comments
which I posted earlier today.
Carl Jarvis
On 3/28/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Displaced Iraqi children who fled their homes in western Mosul due to
fighting between government forces and Isis fighters. (photo: Ahmad
Gharabli/AFP/Getty)
Mosul Residents Were Told Not to Flee Before Airstrikes That Killed
Civilians
By Guardian UK
28 March 17
Pentagon opens investigation into reports that more than 150 civilians
died in US-led bombings to retake Iraqi city from Isis
Residents in Mosul were instructed not to leave their homes ahead of
airstrikes last week that are reported to have killed more than 150
civilians, Amnesty International has said.
The recent spike in civilian casualties suggests the US-led coalition
in Iraq is not taking adequate precautions to prevent civilian deaths
as it battles Isis alongside Iraqi ground forces, according to a
report by the human rights group on Tuesday.
The coalition has acknowledged that the US military was behind an
airstrike on 17 March that hit a western Mosul neighbourhood.
Residents have said at least 150 civilians were killed. US officials
have not confirmed that there were civilian casualties but have opened an
investigation.
The Pentagon said on Monday it was reviewing more than 700 video feeds
of coalition airstrikes on west Mosul. Amid rising concern over a jump
in civilian casualties in fighting in Iraq and Syria, Colonel JT
Thomas, a spokesman for the US central command, said it was putting a
high priority on investigating the Mosul reports.
Donatella Rovera, senior crisis response adviser at Amnesty
International,
said: "The fact that Iraqi authorities repeatedly advised civilians to
remain at home, instead of fleeing the area, indicates that coalition
forces should have known that these strikes were likely to result in a
significant numbers of civilian casualties.
"Disproportionate attacks and indiscriminate attacks violate
international humanitarian law and can constitute war crimes."
Evidence gathered on the ground in Mosul "points to an alarming
pattern of US-led coalition airstrikes which have destroyed whole
houses with entire families inside", the Amnesty report stated.
Iraqi forces began the assault on Isis-held Mosul in October after
months of preparation and buildup. In January, Iraq declared east
Mosul "fully liberated" and government forces are now battling to
retake the city's western half.
Civilians, humanitarian groups and monitoring officials have
repeatedly warned of the possibility of increased civilian casualties
in western Mosul due to the higher density of the population and the
increased reliance on airstrikes and artillery. Faced with their
toughest fight yet against Isis, Iraqi and coalition forces have
increasingly turned to airstrikes and artillery to clear and hold
territory in Mosul's west.
In previous battles for Fallujah and Ramadi, those cities were
entirely emptied of their civilian population as Iraqi forces battled
Isis. In Mosul, the Iraqi government said it had asked civilians to
remain in their homes to prevent large-scale displacement.
When the operation to retake Iraq's second largest city was launched,
more than a million people were estimated to still be living in Mosul.
Today, the United Nations estimates about 400,000 remain trapped in
what is now the last major Iraq stronghold for Isis.
Amnesty International's report quoted survivors and eyewitnesses of
airstrikes that have killed civilians: "They did not try to flee as
the battle got underway because they received repeated instructions
from the Iraqi authorities to remain in their homes."
On Monday, Iraqi forces said they had launched new assaults in Mosul's
Old City after the high civilian death toll appeared to prompt a
change in tactics.
Iraq's federal police chief, Lieutenant General Raed Shakir Jawdat,
said new advances, supported by air power, were being aided by
"precise targeting of selected positions" provided by intelligence.
"Our advance aim is to protect civilian lives, infrastructure and
private properties," he was quoted by state TV as saying.
Iraqi parliament speaker Salim al-Jabouri suggested on Monday that
operations should be suspended if more civilian casualties occurred.
"Should
civilian casualties continue, the trend will be to cease operations
until necessary plans can be found that ensure civilian safety," he
was cited by Al Arabiya news as saying.
Thomas declined to discuss questions raised in the media on whether
President Donald Trump's administration had eased controls on
coalition air strikes against jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq,
possibly leading to the surge in civilian deaths.
But he called examining what happened in west Mosul "the priority at
this time" for US central command, saying reports of a heavy civilian
toll could represent several days of bombing.
"In Mosul, there are multiple days of strikes," he told journalists in
Washington in a Pentagon conference call. "The numbers of civilian
casualties that have been reported variously - one of the things we're
looking at is if some of those numbers are cumulative from different
incidents, different engagements, in this highly contested, very
ferocious battle that's going on in Mosul.
"We know that we were dropping bombs in the immediate vicinity," he
said, noting that the bombs used are "quite precise".
US investigators are also looking at the apparent bombing of a school
in Mansura near Raqqa, Syria on 21 March, and a building next to a
mosque on
16
March in Al-Jineh, in Aleppo province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said that 33
people were killed in the Mansura bombing and 49 in Al-Jineh, where
the US target was a meeting of Al-Qaida officials.
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