Year of the Immigrant | Missile Proliferation & Military Preparations | Sweet Land of Prisoner Fees

“Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.”

“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.”

“Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation.”

― Viktor E. Frankl

We Are The World: Six days ago we reported on the 2016 pact approved by all 193 members of the UN General Assembly to create a more humane global strategy on migration. President Trump withdrew the US from the pact in December 2017. Ultimately Austria, which holds the EU presidency, Australia, Chile, the Czech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Latvia, Slovakia and the Dominican Republic followed Trump’s lead and pulled out. But on Monday, delegates from the remaining 164 nations signed the first ever Global Compact for Migration at a UN conference in Marrakech, Morocco. The historic, non-binding agreement on safe, orderly and regular migration followed 18 months of debate and negotiation and was approved over vociferous, US-led objections.

German chancellor Angela Merkel called it an “important day”. In 2015 Merkel accepted into her country a million refugees from war-torn Syria and Afghanistan; that humanitarian gesture hurt her politically. On Monday she gave an impassioned speech in which she spoke of the UN’s founding after the second world war, and of the “incredible suffering on humankind” wrought by the Nazi regime. Marta Foresti, director of the human mobility initiative at the Overseas Development Institute, described the accord as “very significant” and “remarkable”, given the current political landscape. Just because the accord wasn’t legally binding didn’t mean it wouldn’t work, Foresti said, citing the Paris climate agreement. “Over the last few years we have seen just how badly governments all over the world have failed to put in place policies that protect the lives of migrants and allay public concerns over messy and incoherent approaches to border management. [This compact] will help governments work together to better manage migration and ensure that people making cross-border journeys can do so in a legal, orderly and safe way.”

Additional read: “Belgium’s ruling coalition collapses over U.N. pact on migration. The controversy over the United Nations Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration revealed the degree to which the issue has become politically poisonous in the era of President Trump and rising far-right leaders in Europe.” (WaPo)

Some Serious Help Wanted: Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe forced a controversial new immigration law through the parliament on Saturday that aims to attract some 345,000 foreign workers over the next five years. Those opposed to the new legislation said it was vague and hastily drawn up, and failed to address critical issues such as social inclusion and protecting the foreign workers’ rights. Regardless, the decision was necessitated by an inescapable demographic reality: an aging population and births far below replacement rate means an economy with fewer taxpayers and more dependents. The legislation is designed to attract “semiskilled workers” where shortages are most severe, including construction, the hotel industry, cleaning and elderly care. (WaPo)

Additional read: “EU obsession with migration is shameful, racist and fatal: Italy’s harassment of MSF’s efforts to rescue migrants at sea is a stain on Europe.” (Guardian) As Europe faces its demographic decline it might be a matter of time before it follows Japan’s path. There’s no (national, economic, or military) power if there are no people.

Should I Stay Or Should I Go: Monday UK Prime Minister Theresa May called off the vote on her Brexit withdrawal deal that had been scheduled for Tuesday. May told MPs in the packed uproarious House of Commons that it was clear the Irish backstop proposals would have led to (her plan) being rejected “by a significant margin”. (By “Irish backstop proposals” May was referring to a compromise in her withdrawal deal that concerned the two halves of the island of Ireland, about which virtually everyone was upset.) Then there’s Monday morning’s emergency ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that the UK could unilaterally halt the Article 50 withdrawal process and remain in the EU, period. The Pnut previously reported on the ECJ’s preliminary ruling suggesting the withdrawal process could be stopped. Andy Wightman, the Scottish Green party MSP who led the legal challenge, said it was a momentous ruling which now meant the UK could stay in the EU and keep all its existing benefits, including its rebate, its opt-outs and the pound. “MPs now know that stopping Brexit altogether is an option open to them before the end of the article 50 period,” he said. (Guardian, BBC)

Additional read: The Far-Right Rise In Britain: “Revealed: the hidden global network behind Tommy Robinson: Guardian investigation shows how cash, legal support and millions of tweets underpin anti-Islam activist” (Guardian) And “How US billionaires are fuelling the hard-right cause in Britain: That Spiked magazine’s US funding arm received $300,000 from the Charles Koch Foundation suggests a hidden agenda” (Guardian)

There Go The Neighborhoods: The 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty agreed upon by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev was widely thought to be one of the most successful arms control treaties ever negotiated. In the 1980s, America and Russia had a monopoly on land-based intermediate-range missiles, both nuclear-tipped and conventional. In fact Russia had such missiles aimed at several European cities since the late 1970s. The INF treaty was preponderant — it banned all missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers, or 310 to 3,420 miles; resultantly Washington demolished 846 missiles, Moscow destroyed 1846, and Europe breathed a sigh of relief. But countries that did not sign the INF were free to amass their own arsenals. Today, 95 percent of China’s ground-based fleet are missiles like those the INF forestalled. Iran, India, Saudi Arabia, North Korea and Taiwan are among another 10 nations with similar fast-growing arsenals.

In 2013 former president Obama charged Russia with violating the INF. Moscow obfuscated, denied, counter-accused. President Trump’s focus is not on Russia, but on China; in Trump’s view the INF has constrained the US from building a new class of weapons to counter Beijing’s growing influence in the Pacific. Vladimir Putin’s reply was predictable: “It seems our American partners believe the situation has changed so much” that the Trump administration wants to build its own arsenal of intermediate-range nuclear weapons. “What’s our response?” President Putin asked rhetorically in a televised address. “It’s simple…we will also do this.” Trump is not interested in expanding the INF and attempting to get other missile-rich nations to join an updated arms control treaty. Thus, the stage is set for unraveling any pretense at exercising diplomacy over engaging in a new-era, Cold War-style arms race.

Additional reads: “Russia sends 2 nuclear-capable bombers to Venezuela.” (WaPo) And “Russia ‘paved way for Ukraine ship seizures with fake news drive’: EU’s security commissioner says Moscow spread false claims for at least a year before last month’s seizures.” (Guardian)

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings In Hindsight: Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York on Friday declined to suggest to the judge considering the sentence for President Trump’s former lawyer and ‘fixer” Michael Cohen that Cohen receive any special leniency. In their sentencing memorandum prosecutors denounced Cohen as devious and greedy, and said he was less useful to their investigation because he would not fully cooperate and tried to ‘game the system’. Cohen had pleaded guilty in August to an array of campaign finance and business crimes brought by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. (NYT)

My Country, ‘Tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Prisoner Fees: A new study by criminal justice non-profit FWD.us and Cornell University of families touched by the prison system says the numbers point to a nationwide “incarceration crisis”, with minorities being the most impacted. Researchers found that nearly half of all US adults have had an immediate family member incarcerated at some point in their lives, and one in seven adults have seen immediate family incarcerated for over a year. One in five US adults has had a parent incarcerated, resulting in serious financial and emotional consequences. The report estimates 64% of US adults have had someone in their family spend at least one night in jail or prison. Over two million Americans are currently imprisoned in the US. (BBC)

– “Fugitive Sees ‘Wanted’ Post Of Himself, Makes Date To Turn Himself In:‘Calm down, im going to turn myself in.’” (NPR)

– “For One Rural Community, Fighting Addiction Started With Recruiting The Right Doctor” (NPR) And “What These Medical Journals Don’t Reveal: Top Doctors’ Ties to Industry” (NYT) When unbridled capitalism and greed meets health, people and health lose. Additional read: “Why Hospitals Should Let You Sleep: Frequent disruptions are more than just annoying for patients. They can also cause harm.” (NYT) A writer at Mother Jones agress: “Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?”

The Keys To Immortality (Kind Of): “You have two ages, chronological and biological. Here’s why it matters” (CNN) “Gardening could be the hobby that helps you live to 100: Many of the world’s centenarians share one common hobby: gardening. Could you extend your life and drop your stress by taking up the pursuit, too?” (BBC) “Exercise Wins: Fit Seniors Can Have Hearts That Look 30 Years Younger” (NPR)

Royal Nuts: “‘Bye!’: Young boy drops to his knees and crawls out of meeting with Queen Elizabeth II” (WaPo) “Meghan v Kate: why we all love a good family feud: The nation is gripped by the rumours of royal sisters-in-law at war. But you, too, can enjoy the benefits of bickering relatives” (Guardian)

– “Bowel movement: the push to change the way you poo: Are you sitting comfortably? Many people are not – and they insist that the way we’ve been going to the toilet is all wrong.” (Guardian)

– “Why women have less power than you think: The discovery that more men than women hold positions of power rarely comes as a surprise. What may be more unexpected is that things are not always as they seem when women appear to have equality.” (BBC)

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