Category Archives: Oceans

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A Cautionary Tale and an Inspiration? The “Life of Quaker Service” of Annice carter

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Finishing the new book Annice Carter’s Life of Quaker Service, my first query was: What if Annice Carter had ever learned to make bagels? Could that have changed history in the Middle East?

Annice in Middle Eastern dress.

She had the training and experience. With her college degree in Home Economics, cooking, including for large groups, was one of her many skills. And she was well aware of the implications of food for building community in diverse cultural settings.

Besides being a cook, Annice was a teacher, then Jill-of-(almost) all-trades, and later Principal of the Friends Girls School in Ramallah Palestine (started by New England Friends in the 1880s, and established as an elite  school for Palestinian students).

Continue reading A Cautionary Tale and an Inspiration? The “Life of Quaker Service” of Annice carter →

Accountability?, Africa, China: Peace or War?, Empire, India, Justice?, Military Matters, New Cold Wars, Oceans, Signs of the Times, Southeast Asia, The Military Industrial Complex, Torture & Human Rights, UK -Britain, War & Peace

U. S. & China are new Competitors in an old, obscure, but important island dispute

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A tug of war between China and America in the Indian Ocean

Saltwire: Atlantic Canada News Service — Sept. 6, 2023

The Chagos islands, with Diego Garcia, Indian Ocean

Most of the international community regards the Chagos Islands as belonging to Mauritius, from which they were detached in 1965.
Henry Srebrnik, a professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island, provided the following opinion article.

Is the sun about to set on Britain’s control of the Chagos Islands? This archipelago of around 60 islands can be found halfway between East Africa and Southeast Asia. They are over 1,500 kilometres south of India, and even further from Mauritius, from which they were detached in 1965.

The Chagos group is currently governed by London as the British Indian Ocean Territory, but most of the international community regards it as belonging to Mauritius.

Also at stake is the future of the indigenous population, the Chagossians, who were expelled from their homes in the 1960s and 1970s. For decades, Britain has blocked them from returning to their islands. For what reason? And why has this become the centre of a power struggle between the United States and China?

Unlawful occupation Continue reading U. S. & China are new Competitors in an old, obscure, but important island dispute →

“New Normal”, Africa, Climate, Disasters, Oceans, Signs of the Times, Water, Weather

OMG! Hurricane Hilary Is Coming; and She’ll Soon Have Company

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Hurricane Hilary’s path as of early Saturday morning August 19, 2023. It looks so harmless in these mellow pastel shades. But don’t be fooled!

It’s late Saturday night and I’m feeling lots of solidarity & concern for friends & family in the far southwest. Just days ago we faced a severe thunderstorm that produced flooding and widespread power outages in just an hour of fierce wind, flooding rain, and explosive lightning.

That was then. Since Tuesday, there’s been horrible wildfires in Maui (& elsewhere), and now a hurricane is making its way up Baja California over the Mexico-U.S. Border, the first such in 84 years.

Hurricane Hilary was a Category 4 behemoth some hours ago. It has weakened, but is till expected to produce flood dangers over a wide interstate swath of the west. Continue reading OMG! Hurricane Hilary Is Coming; and She’ll Soon Have Company →

“New Normal”, Climate, Disasters, Drought, Fire This Time, Oceans, Weather

Dyer- Climate Tipping Points Are In Sight & Near

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Gwynne Dyer  — Climate Crisis Speeding Up

“What we’re seeing is climate impacts that scientists thought would accompany certain temperatures happening far more rapidly, with far more devastating effects than had been forecast,” said Dr. Simon Nicholson of the Forum for Climate Engineering Assessment at American University.

“We didn’t think that the Arctic would crash by now, and yet it’s almost gone. We didn’t think we’d be seeing these wildfires in Australia and the United States and elsewhere with the frequency and severity that they’re being seen.

Continue reading Dyer- Climate Tipping Points Are In Sight & Near →