The European Union has announced that it will no longer allow the sale of goods or services produced in Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories. The settlements violate most interpretations of international laws governing Occupied Territories (most specifically the Geneva Convention which prohibits the Occupying Power from transferring its population to the occupied territories). The ruling affects only a mall part of the international trade between Israel and the EU–the ruling only refers to those things produced within the settlements. But it is a clear message to the Israelis that there are consequences to systematically violating international law. We will have to see if US Secretary of State Kerry raises the issues in his current negotiations with the Israelis and the Palestinians.
This photograph is of the Zaatari refugee camp in northern Jordan. It is home to about 115,000 refugees from Syria. One can only imagine how difficult the circumstance of life must be for the residents.
The world of the 1% is incredibly complex. Trying to capture this complexity visually is very difficult, but an amazing website, OpenCorporates, succeeds in blowing one’s mind. Through interactive maps, it shows how corporate structures are disguised, hidden, and designed to stupefy. It is overwhelming at first glance, but stick with it and things become very obvious.
World Politics News 
Leave a comment