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Libya: Ailing Infrastructure and Poor Preparedness Exacerbated Devastation

Why did Libya floods result in such a large loss of life? كان من الممكن تفادي سقوط معظم القتلى  The BBC: A Libyan politician says the country's deadly flooding was a disaster waiting to happen Guma El-Gamaty, head of the Taghyeer Party, says budgets to repair the dams were not allocated properly after Colonel Gaddafi was overthrown Most of the thousands of deaths in the Libya floods could have been avoided, the UN's World Meteorological Organization says Warnings should have been issued, leading to evacuations, "and we could have avoided most of the human casualties"

A Classic Speaks About Those Longing for a Better Life

Meaning of Salma ya Salama In French with English subtitles

Art: What Does the ‘Global South’ Even Mean?

“As ill-defined as the term might be, in the cultural sphere the real value of the Global South is to open a space for decolonising conversations, articulating the kind of hybridity and complexity of modern identity that a nationality cannot, a conversation held far from the old imperialist orders of the Northern hemisphere. A utopian geography that may never be real but can serve a purpose.” A series of upcoming biennials promise to explore the art of the ‘Global South’

Forecasting China?

For years the main Western media outlets and well-known analysts of China have been speaking and writing about the coming Chinese economy big trouble, if not collapse. Nathan Sperber provides an interesting account 

Mat Nashed on the War in Sudan

Summary “Western diplomats privately accused the pro-democracy movement of not being pragmatic. This on account of its slogan, ‘No Negotiation, No Partnership, No Legitimacy’, which accurately sums up the movement’s position towards the junta that was killing its members on the streets of Khartoum.  The Western attempt to restore a civilian-military partnership also gave Dagalo the opportunity to reposition himself as a supporter of ‘democracy’.” The Western regimes’ old-new tradition of supporting ‘stability’. “An estimated twenty-five million people – more than half of Sudan’s population – are in desperate need of relief due to a humanitarian crisis made worse by the fighting.  But rather than safeguard the integrity of relief, the global aid response has elected to administer its operations from SAF-controlled Port Sudan. This has predictably led to bureaucratic impediments, visa denials, and the acute diversion of aid by the SAF, as well as by the RSF.” “Neither Washi...

The Intercept Got Zucked

Earlier this year, we noticed something strange about our website traffic:  The number of people coming to The Intercept from stories shared on Facebook had fallen off a cliff. In a single year, our Facebook traffic dropped by a whopping 53 percent. The number of visitors  from our own Facebook page  dropped by 83 percent. This drop-off is being felt across the industry, confirming what we’ve long suspected:  Facebook has changed its news feed algorithm to suppress links to legitimate news sources like The Intercept.  Fewer readers means fewer donations — and for a nonprofit news outlet like us, that’s a serious issue. Our ongoing investigations of corporate corruption, government malfeasance, and the dark money pouring into 2024 elections simply depend on reader support… Facebook has been gradually throttling hard news for a while — replacing it with content that’s upbeat and advertiser-friendly.  But what we’ve seen this year is unprecedented.  In th...

The War on Migrants: Senegal

Nobody in Fass Boye seemed to blame the migrants for taking the risk. More than a third of the country lives in poverty, according to the World Bank. The young see few opportunities at home. "Macky Sall sold the ocean," said Assane Niang, a 23-year-old fishing captain, referring to the Senegalese president. Fishermen in Fass Boye say the government has granted too many licences to foreign trawlers, which overfish their waters and deplete the catch. “Barcelona or death”

The War on Migrants: The Mellila Massacre

Official figures from that day indicate that of the roughly 1,700 migrants who attempted to cross the border, 133 were able to claim asylum; 470 individuals, like Basir, entered Spanish territory, but were forcibly returned to Morocco. At least 37 people died, and 77 people remain unaccounted for. The event quickly came to be known as “ the Melilla massacre ”. “I suppose we weren’t human any more, we were just like animals.” —Basir, a 24-year-old Sudanese man