Posted on February 3rd, 2010 by Marian Houk
On Sunday (January 31) at the high-powered 10th annual Herzliya Conference in Israel, the IDF Deputy Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Benny Gantz recently denounced the Goldstone report on last winter’s war in Gaza by saying that “The Goldstone report is a Trojan horse; it gives terrorist organizations legitimacy to fight us from urban populations [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Gaza, Haiti, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on January 27th, 2010 by Marian Houk
In the wrap-up stories, two weeks after the enormous destruction caused by a devastating earthquake in Haiti, the AP is reporting that “UN experts estimate there may be 1 million unaccompanied or orphaned children or youngsters who lost at least one parent in the Jan. 12 quake. Some young Haitians are even being released [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Haiti
Posted on January 26th, 2010 by Marian Houk
Haaretz newspaper is reporting today that the earthquake disaster which recently hit Haiti can — indeed, will — also inevitably happen in Israel.
Avi Shapira, chairman of the National Earthquake Preparedness Committee, who just returned from Haiti and addressed a special Knesset (Parliament) committee on Tuesday, said that “An earthquake of the same magnitude as the [...]
1 Comment »
Filed under: Haiti, Israel
Posted on January 25th, 2010 by Marian Houk
The McClatchy newspaper group published an article yesterday from Port au-Prince, the earthquake-devastated capital of the Carribean nation of Haiti (one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere) reporting that a “Lack of construction codes sealed Haitian capital’s fate”.
Actually, this story is repeated nearly every time there has been a major, catastrophic urban earthquake.
Living [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Haiti, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on January 17th, 2010 by Marian Houk
UN SG BAN Ki-Moon has confirmed — days after the event — the death of the head of the UN misson in Haiti, Hedi Annabi, following a devastating earthquake.
Photo from Matthew Lee’s Inner City Press here showing the collapsed hotel that the UN rented as its HQ in Haiti
No Comments »
Filed under: BAN Ki-Moon, Haiti
Posted on January 13th, 2010 by Marian Houk
According to a statement made by the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, the French Ambassador to Haiti has visited the “devastated UN headquarters building in Port-au-Prince and said ‘everyone who was in the building is apparently dead’.” The Associated Press (AP) picked up reported Kouchner’s remarks to RFI (or perhaps to RTL, or both) [...]
1 Comment »
Filed under: Haiti, UN Peacekeeping
Posted on August 16th, 2008 by Marian Houk
It really gets on your nerves, sometimes.
At a checkpoint this morning, the soldier took my passport, then barked: “Where are you from?” he asked.
“You mean where was I born? That’s different than where I am from. It’s written on my passport — New York”, I said.
[Huda reported that she was stopped at [...]
1 Comment »
Filed under: BAN Ki-Moon, Gaza, Haiti, Iran, Israel, Japan, Journalism and Journalists, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians, UN Secretary-General, United Nations Agencies and Programmes
Posted on January 30th, 2008 by Marian Houk
This is front-line journalism: “A reporter sampling a cookie found that it had a smooth consistency and sucked all the moisture out of the mouth as soon as it touched the tongue. For hours, an unpleasant taste of dirt lingered”.
The Associated Press article reports that these dirt cookies are “a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger [...]
1 Comment »
Filed under: Haiti, Journalism and Journalists, Millennium Goals
Posted on November 3rd, 2007 by Marian Houk
If these “allegations” are true, concerning activities in Haiti by UN Peacekeepers from Sri Lanka “of a transactional sex nature”, then sending home those caught is just not enough.
The whole Sri Lankan battalion should leave.
It doesn’t matter if, as the UN spokesperson told journalists on Friday, “Sri Lanka is a longstanding and important troop-contributing [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Haiti, Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment, UN Peacekeeping
Posted on May 8th, 2007 by Marian Houk
The UN Security Council is the highest organ of the international system, responsible for maintenance of peace and security in the world. So, what is it doing in Haiti? It has authorized blue-helmeted UN peacekeepers to go after gang leaders. This has been going on for months, and there’s one more victory [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Haiti, UN Peacekeeping, UN Security Council
