Obesity in China, particularly in children, has become an important health concern that will seriously affect the health of future generations but also place a heavy economic burden on the country. While China’s GDP increased from US$2.75 trillion in 2005 to US$4.99 trillion in 2009, the number of obese people increased from 18 million to 100 million people, more than five times that amount, during the same period. “China has entered the era of obesity,” Ji Chengye, a leading child health researcher told USA Today.

In addition, to make the situation even more serious, China, as well as Vietnam, India, and many other developing countries, has to shoulder a “double burden”: the persistence of malnutrition, particularly among children in rural areas, and a rapid rise in overweight, obesity and related diseases such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, Type II diabetes and certain forms of cancer.

“What we are seeing in developing countries undergoing rapid economic transition is undernutrition, overnutrition and infectious and chronic diseases coexisting over long periods of time,” stated Gina Kennedy, from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Although the terms obese and overweight are sometimes used interchangeably, they have different meanings. Overweight is having a weight closer to normal than obese, and the difference between both terms is made using the body mass index (BMI), which is a way of determining the amount of body fat based on a person’s weight and height.

Overweight is not only a problem in developing countries but in industrialized countries as well. In the USA, the number of overweight children has doubled and the number of overweight adolescents has tripled since 1980, according to the US Surgeon General.

In Chinese cities, according to official statistics, 8 percent of children between ages 10 and 12 are considered obese and an additional 15 percent are overweight. A University of Southern California study carried out in 2006 found that the average body fat of Hong Kong children was 21 percent, an extremely high number.

The basic cause of obesity in children and adolescents is the energy imbalance between the calories they consume and the calories they expend through activity. But the increasing number of overweight and obese children and adolescents respond to many different causes.

There are several reasons to explain the increase in obesity in China. Traditionally, the Chinese diet included mainly cereals and vegetables, with few animal foods. As a result, the fat and sugar intake of the Chinese population remained low for a long time. However, as the country experienced an explosive economic development, fatty and sugary food became much more widely available.

Due to the lack of knowledge in the general population of what constitutes proper nutrition, and about the harmful effects of fatty and sugary foods, their consumption has increased significantly in the last decades, and so did the problems associated with it. Because of past famines in the country, different foods, but particularly high fat foods, are now seen as a very attractive item. At the same time, consumption of cereals, fruits and vegetables has decreased.

Eating in fast food places, particularly American franchises of chains such as McDonald’s, Pizza Hut or Starbucks, where food is particularly high in fats and sugar, is becoming very attractive and is considered a status symbol. Although food in those places is expensive for Chinese standards, they offer an atmosphere of relaxation and luxury that attracts many Chinese, particularly young business people.

Attraction to fast foods is not going to disappear. Instead, a new trend is developing regarding these places. It started in Hong Kong, where McDonald’s restaurants offer what has been called “McWeddings” where they provide wedding receptions for young couples. McDonald's will open a total of 250 new restaurants this year and expects to have 2,000 restaurants across China by the end of 2013. China's fast food industry is now the fifth largest in the world.

Another important factor in the increase of obesity levels in the general population is inadequate physical activity levels as a result of increased use of TV, computers and passive leisure activities, lack of safe and adequate spaces for physical exercise, and increased motorized mode of transportation, among other factors. Cars have become not only symbols of wealth, but have led to drastically lower levels of physical activity.

To confront this problem that has so many serious implications, it is necessary to increase programs in schools aimed at cultivating healthy eating practices and teaching healthy lifestyles in children. It is also important to increase nationwide social and health programs on public nutrition through the mass media and the creation of community-based nutritional education programs.

Several countries have been experimenting with the use of fiscal measures to limit the consumption of foods high in fat, sugar and salt. Higher taxes on unhealthy foods can help improve health by changing eating habits, while at the same time generating important revenues that can be used for prevention efforts. The challenge for policy makers is how to develop effective programs and policies aimed at preventing and controlling what is fast becoming a serious public health problem, while at the same time allowing the population to enjoy the benefits of the country’s remarkable economic growth.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant for several UN agencies and international organizations. He is also a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America Award.

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The latest report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) shows that, considering some data uncertainties, the world military spending in 2012 dropped slightly (0.5 percent) when compared to 2011. It is the first decline in military spending since 1998. This could be a cause for celebration, except that it is still a perverse use of funds, which could be better diverted to improve people’s health and to promote peace.

According to SIPRI’s estimates, world military spending in 2012 was $1,75 trillion, of which $682 billion were spent by the US, $166 billion by China and $90.7 billion by Russia. There was a slight decline in spending by the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, and Western and Central Europe. Reductions in those countries, however, were upset by increased spending in Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America.

In perspective, military expenditures were several hundred times the World Health Organization (WHO)’s annual budget of $3,95 billion for the 2012-2013 period. Programs funded by the organization include: addressing the global AIDS pandemic; controlling resurgent tuberculosis; dealing with the global disease burden among women and children; addressing accident and trauma victims’ needs; responding to emergency and humanitarian crises, and developing effective health systems, among many other tasks.

World military spending is also several hundred times higher than the annual budget of the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) of over $10.0 billion, and the Gates Foundation, which in 2012 donated $1.3 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Efforts by these agencies have succeeded in eliminating diseases or minimizing their negative impact on people’s health.

It is difficult to assess whether the recent leveling of military spending represents a long-term change. Although some countries have diminished their disbursements, others have maintained or even increased them. This slight decrease may be temporary, mainly due to the current economic crises and will resume as soon as these crises end. For example, most European countries’ dire economies may mean that spending will continue to fall for the next 2-4 years.

In the US, military spending fell six percent, mainly because of the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq and the diminished number of troops in Afghanistan. In these cases, reduced spending on the additional war budget, also known as Overseas Contingency Operations, will probably continue falling if plans to end combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014 are fulfilled, and if the US doesn’t get involved in another major war. The US still spent more than the next 10 biggest military spenders in 2012.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has stated that redirecting just one quarter of developing countries’ military expenditure would allow for many drastic improvements in people’s health and well being. Funds could be better used to immunize children, eliminate severe malnutrition, provide safe water and universal primary education, and reduce illiteracy.

However, distorted priorities remain, and the leading industrialized countries share the responsibility, since they are the main arms suppliers. The top five arms exporters to developing countries are the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

The leading world powers devote astronomical sums to activities aimed at destroying life in detriment of the paltry sums spent on improving people’s health (particularly of the most vulnerable.) This is a sad commentary about the possibilities of creating a peaceful, harmonious world.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant and a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award. He is the author of Violence in the Americas, a publication of the Pan American Health Organization.

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The deteriorating global economic outlook for some countries is increasing concern in the general population about the effects that the economic crises will have on people’s health. The crises now taking place in several European countries raise the possibility that a “cascade effect” of unpredictable but mostly negative consequences may affect people’s health and well being.

The economic crises affecting many countries have been exacerbated by additional factors such as an increasingly aging population, unhealthy lifestyles, rising costs of health care and public health policies aligned more toward providing acute rather than chronic care.

Not only governments, however, determine how to respond to economic crises. The cases of Greece and Cyprus, for example, show that the countries are at the mercy of funding from the “Troika”: The European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. According to experts, Cyprus needs now not only loans but grants from these institutions, given the country’s sharp deterioration in creditworthiness.

Economic crises, particularly in low and even middle-income countries, usually lead to reduction in demand for imports — including medicines and medical supplies and technology — and falling remittances from family members working outside the country. In addition, there is less government revenue to finance health and social services.

The Lancet highlights the situation in Greece, one of the European countries most affected by the ongoing global economic crisis. As a result of the economic crisis in that country, there has been a significant increase in unemployment, which rose from 6.6 percent in May 2008 to 16.6 percent in May 2011. Even more troublesome, youth unemployment rose in the same period from 18.6 percent to 40.1 percent.

Several studies have shown that unemployment increases both the risk of psychiatric and somatic disorders. For example, a strong correlation has been found between job loss and clinical and subclinical depression, substance abuse, anxiety and antisocial behavior. In addition, several studies have shown that prolonged unemployment increases mortality rates.

Although the case of Greece is paradigmatic, a study in the United Kingdom found that a mass rise in unemployment was associated with an increase of 4.45% in suicide rates and a 28.0% increase on deaths due to alcohol poisoning. Also, a study conducted in Denmark in 2011 found a significant association between unemployment and poor self-rated overall health and high levels of perceived stress.

In Greece, the inability to pay high levels of personal debt may be one of the explanations behind the increase in the number of suicides, which increased by 40 percent increase in the first six months of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010. During that same period, homicide and theft rates almost doubled, and among callers to a national suicide help line 25 percent reported financial difficulties in 2010.

A surge in intravenous drug use explains a rise of more than 1000 percent in HIV infections among drug addicts. In addition to intravenous drug use, prostitution and unsafe sex are also responsible for the increase in HIV infections in the general population, estimated to be 52 percent higher in 2011 than in 2010.

Another example of the effect of the economic crisis in Greece on vulnerable groups is the increased use of street clinics run by nongovernmental organizations like the Greek chapter of Médecins du Monde, which reports an increase in the percentage number of those seeking medical attention at its street clinics — from 3 to 4 percent before the crisis to about 30 percent now.

That the health situation has worsened as a result of the crisis is demonstrated by the number of Greeks who consider their health status as “bad” or “very bad”, an increase of 14 percent from 2007 to 2009. This is not surprising when one considers that in 2012 an estimated 10 percent of elementary- and middle-school students suffer from “food insecurity, facing hunger or the risk of it. As a result of budget cuts, a third of the country’s outreach programs have been eliminated, as Ministry of Health’s total expenditures fell by 23.7 percent between 2009 and 2011.

It is possible that the financial crisis many countries are now experimenting will lead to bigger income inequalities which are linked to differential health outcomes, including different rates of communicable diseases. For example, tuberculosis rates have the potential to increase in several European countries as a result of a deteriorating economic situation.

In Portugal, winter deaths in people older than 75 years increased by 10 percent in 2012 compared to 2011. Although some experts question the significance of this finding, others believe this increase may be due to reduced access to health services and poor diet.

In Spain, as a result of the current crisis there has been an increase in the prevalence of patients with mental health and alcohol abuse problems.

The situation in Greece may be an omen of things to come in other countries with similar social and health care systems that risk going through difficult times, as is the case of Cyprus, Portugal, Italy and Spain. It is up to the governments in those countries to rationalize resources, increase efficiency and protect the health of its citizens.

Dr. César Chelala is an international public health consultant.

“US forces, in many instances, used interrogation techniques on detainees that constitute torture. American personnel conducted an even larger number of interrogations that involved ‘cruel, inhuman, or degrading’ treatment. Both categories of actions violate US laws and international treaties. Such conduct was directly counter to values of the Constitution and our nation.”

This strong assessment is in the just-released report of the Task Force on Detainee Treatment, written by the members of the Constitution Project, a nonpartisan research and advocacy group. It is, up to now, one of the strongest criticisms of actions by US officials after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. This statement comes just days after a similar assessment of US officials’ actions by Navi Pillay, the U.N. Commissioner for Human Rights.

“We must be clear about this: the United States is in clear breach not just of its own commitments but also of international laws and standards that it is obliged to uphold,” declared Navi Pillay. She said that in reference to the behavior of US officials in Guantánamo and called on the US government to close that facility.

Ms. Pillay’s statement came shortly before guards at the Guantánamo Bay facility had fired “four non-lethal rounds” at prisoners, to force them into isolated one-man cells in an attempt to end their hunger strike. Lawyers for the inmates at Guantánamo have said that most of the 166 prisoners presently held at Guantánamo are staging a hunger strike to protest their indefinite detention and other human rights violations.

One of the main arguments for denying constitutional protection to the Guantánamo prisoners rests on the allegation that Guantánamo is in Cuba, off American soil. Yet, respect for basic human dignity fostered by the Bill of Rights is not limited by nationality and territory. And if the US Constitution were not enough, international humanitarian law (customary and treaty-based) extends such protection.

While legal condemnation awaits the final word of a Supreme Court or supranational tribunal with enforcing capabilities, the inhumane treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo has been repeatedly condemned by international human rights organizations. The UN Commissioner for Human Rights pronouncement confirms once more that prisoners were subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment.

Many of the responses to allegations of torture at Guantánamo from commanding officers of the US army have been ethically suspect. Equally troubling from the medical and ethical perspective has been the collaboration of US Army doctors and other health personnel in the torture and mistreatment of prisoners.

Already in 2004, Dr. Robert Jay Lifton had warned that there has been "increasing evidence that doctors, nurses and medics have been compliant in torture and other illegal procedures in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay." The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) charged that US interrogators engaged the participation of medical personnel in what the committee called "a flagrant violation of medical ethics."

In an article published in April 2011, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) experts stated that medical doctors and mental health professionals at the Guantánamo facility neglected or concealed evidence of torture and ill treatment of prisoners including bone fractures, lacerations and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Doctors and medical personnel aiding or abetting torturers challenge the medical profession with one of its most crucial ethical dilemmas. The Declaration of Tokyo - agreed to in 1975 by the World Medical Association - has a firm ethical prescription: "The doctor shall not countenance, condone or participate in the practice of torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading procedures, whatever the offence of which the victim of such procedures is suspected, accused or guilty, and whatever the victim's beliefs or motives, and in all situations, including armed conflict and civil strife."

The moral and legal challenge confronting the United States is to continue its war on terrorism while adhering to international human rights standards, which are not in conflict with the protections offered by the US Constitution. As Ms. Navi Pillay stated, “When other countries breach these standards, the U.S. – quite rightly - strongly criticizes them for it.”

The United States government should seriously investigate and prosecute all allegations of torture and cruel and inhumane treatment of Guantánamo inmates – not because of the international outcry it has provoked, but because it is the right thing to do.

Addressing the moral issues that Guantánamo presents offers the United States an opportunity to live up to the ideals of respecting and ensuring human dignity as they are framed in the Bill of Rights and the US Constitution.

Dr. César Chelala is an international public health consultant and a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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The renewed political landscape in Washington and Havana offers a long overdue opportunity to reverse a U.S. decision that has been maintained for more than half a century. It has also caused considerable and unnecessary suffering to the Cuban people: the embargo against Cuba.

Remarkably, the embargo has benefited no one except its presumable target: the Castro brothers. It has allowed them to maintain a strong grip on power, to use it as a rallying point against the United States, and as a scapegoat for the deprivations Cubans have endured since the embargo was imposed in 1962.

The efforts of those supporting the embargo — mostly the Cuban exile community in Florida — have proven to be counterproductive. They have neither weakened the Castros’ power nor turned the population against them. In addition, the changing demographics in Florida have made the younger generation there less obsessed with the Cuban regime, and eager to see better relations between the two countries.

As a result of the embargo, there have been severe restrictions in the export of medicines from the United States to Cuba. In the past, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the autonomous branch of the Organization of American States) informed the U.S. government that such activities were a violation of international law, and requested that the United States take immediate action to exempt medicines from the embargo.

According to the Cuban delegation to the United Nations, restrictions on medical products are “so extensive that they make such imports practically impossible.” Presently, American medicines are allowed in Cuba under a humanitarian exemption.
On one of several UN-sponsored health-related missions to Cuba, I was able to see the punishing impact of the embargo on people’s access to vital medicines.

In spite of these difficulties, Cuba has one of the best public health care systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Kaiser Family Foundation, a U.S. non-governmental organization that evaluated Cuba’s health care system in 2000-2001, described the island as “a shining example of the power of public health to transform the health of an entire country by a commitment to prevention and by careful management of its medical resources.”

In its last report on children’s health, State of the World’s Children 2012, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) stated that Cuba is the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean without child malnutrition. Ordinary Cubans enjoy good health care and education — but none of the advantages of living in an open society.

The embargo has been roundly condemned worldwide through several United Nations General Assembly annual votes. The embargo was overwhelmingly condemned in the last November 13, 2012 UN vote for the 21st year in a row by a final tally of 188-3. Only Israel and Palau joined the United States in rejecting that measure.

Now is the perfect time to implement a diplomatic approach that could lead to lifting the embargo and establishing normal relations between both countries. The process should consist of several steps to allow the development of trust, trade, and lead to the free movement of people between the United States and Cuba.

All the Cubans I spoke with on the island are eager for normal relations with the United States. They feel emotionally closer to the Americans than they were to the Russians at the time they were receiving their help.

The embargo is hurting not only Cubans but also limiting the commercial exchange between the U.S. and Cuba. Total agricultural exports from the U.S. to Cuba since 2001 had reached $3.5 billion as of February 2012. This amount could be substantially higher should there be normal relations between both countries.

Lifting the embargo on Cuba is a much less complex endeavor than ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Putting an end to the embargo would improve Cubans’ health and create an atmosphere of good will worldwide — of unpredictable, but certainly good consequences for world peace.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant and a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

A new UNICEF report, “Children in Israeli Military Detention,” is sharply critical of Israel’s treatment of detained Palestinian children. According to UNICEF, 700 Palestinian children aged 12-17, most of them boys, are arrested and harshly interrogated by the Israeli military, police and security agents every year in the occupied West Bank.

In some cases, stated UNICEF, it had identified practices that “amount to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention against Torture (CAT). The UNICEF report confirms what many human rights activists (including Israeli individuals and organizations) have been denouncing for years.

The UNICEF report is the result of several years of information gathering by the UN agency related to grave violations committed against Palestinian children in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, including the arrest and detention of children. The information gathered is regularly reported to the United Nations Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict. Mounting allegations of ill treatment of Palestinian children held in the Israeli military detention system prompted this review.

According to Article 37 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, State Parties shall ensure that “No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment," and, “Every child deprived of his or her liberty shall have the right to prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance, as well as the right to challenge the legality of the deprivation of his or her liberty before a court or other competent, independent and impartial authority, and to a prompt decision on any such action.” These provisions have been repeatedly violated by the Israeli authorities.

As UNICEF states, “In addition to Israel’s obligations under international law, the guiding principles relating to the prohibition against torture in Israel are to be found in a 1999 decision of the Supreme Court, which is also legally binding on the Israeli military courts. The Court concluded that a reasonable interrogation is necessarily one free of torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment, and that this prohibition is absolute.”

What makes the conclusions of this report particularly relevant is that Yigal Palmor, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, stated that officials from the ministry and the Israeli military had cooperated with UNICEF in the work carried out for this report, and that the aim of the Israeli government was to improve the treatment of Palestinian minors in custody.

Ill treatment of Palestinian minors begins with the arrest itself, which is carried out usually in the middle of the night by heavily armed soldiers, and continues through prosecution and sentencing. Most minors are arrested for throwing stones; however, they suffer physical violence and threats, many are coerced into confessing for acts they didn’t commit and, in addition, many times they don’t have access to a lawyer or family during questioning.

UNICEF’s findings are based on more than 400 documented cases gathered since 2009, as well as on legal papers, governmental and non-governmental reports, and interviews with Palestinian children and their families and with Israeli and Palestinian officials and lawyers.

Israeli government abuses against Palestinian children are not limited to the West Bank. In the past, UNICEF has also reported that one baby in three risks death because of medical shortages in Gaza. Israel’s government also prohibited the distribution of special food to about 20,000 Gazan children under age 5, resulting in anemia, stunted growth and general weakness as a result of malnutrition.

On October 20, 2011, Richard Falk, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories had urged the Israeli Government to adopt guidelines for the protection of Palestinian children in line with international humanitarian principles and human rights standards. In his report, Falk notes the case of a three-year old girl who was taken from her home at 3 a.m. and threatened at gun point: “She was told that she would be shot and her family home destroyed unless she revealed the whereabouts of her brother,” said Mr. Falk, “and now, her mother explained, she can’t sleep through the night and bedwets.”

Treatment of children and adolescents under detention contravenes Israel’s democratic principles and contributes to the perpetuation of the Middle East conflict and the search for peace in the region.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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Ten years later, we are all aware of the damage caused in Iraq by the war: the thousands of civilians killed, including women and children, the destruction of infrastructure, the millions now living under the poverty line, the high levels of corruption that make Iraq one of the countries in the world where corruption is less pervasive. Less known, or acknowledged, are the terrible effects the war had on American soldiers – those now lacking access to medical services, those traumatized by war for life or left with incapacitating sequela.

A letter sent to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney by Thomas Young, a 33-year-old American soldier who participated in the war, and who was initially featured in the movie documentary “Body of War,” is one of the most damning criticisms of a war that has destroyed so much, and created so little.

April 4th, 2004, was a fateful day for Thomas Young. That day, as he sat in the back of a two-and-a-half-ton Army truck with 20 other soldiers in Sadr City, Iraq, insurgents attacked the truck and opened fire on the soldiers. Two bullets reached him: one from an AK-47 cut his spinal column; the second one destroyed his knee. He felt dizzy, but tried anyway to pick up his M16. When he couldn’t, he realized that something had gone terribly wrong.

In a talk with Chris Hedges, he gave the details of his situation. Knowing that he was going to be paralyzed, he wanted to ask somebody to shoot him. No words could come out of his mouth because his lungs had collapsed. Staff Sgt. Robert Miltenberger, his squad leader, bent over him and told him that he would be all right in words that Miltenberger would later recount with anguish.

Young was initially sent to an Army hospital in Kuwait and later to the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, from where he was transferred to the Walter Reed hospital in Washington, D.C. His situation steadily deteriorated. Now, close to dying, he wrote a letter to the former President and his Vice President which says in part:

“I write this letter on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq war on behalf of my fellow Iraq War veterans. I write this letter on behalf of the 4,488 soldiers and Marines who died in Iraq. I write this letter on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of veterans who have been wounded and on behalf of those whose wounds, physical and psychological, have destroyed their lives. I am one of those gravely wounded. I was paralyzed in an insurgent ambush in 2004 in Sadr City. My life is coming to an end. I am living under hospice care.”

“I write this letter on behalf of those veterans whose trauma and self-revulsion for what they have witnessed, endured and done in Iraq have led to suicide and on behalf of the active-duty soldiers and Marines who commit, on average, a suicide a day. I write this letter on behalf of the some 1 million Iraqi dead and on behalf of the countless Iraqi wounded. I write this letter on behalf of us all – the human detritus your war has left behind, those who will spend their lives in unending pain and grief.”

“I write this letter, my last letter, to you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. I write not because I think you grasp the terrible human and moral consequences of your lies, manipulation and thirst for wealth and power. I write this letter because, before my own death, I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds of thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know fully who you are and what you have done. You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans – my fellow veterans – whose future you stole.”

“Your positions of authority, your millions of dollars of personal wealth, your public relations consultants, your privilege and your power cannot mask the hollowness of your character. You sent us to fight and die in Iraq after you, Mr. Cheney, dodged the draft in Vietnam, and you, Mr. Bush, went AWOL from your National Guard duty. Your cowardice and selfishness were established decades ago. You were not willing to risk yourselves for our nation but you sent hundreds of thousands of young men and women to be sacrificed in a senseless war with no more thought than it takes to put out the garbage.”

“My day of reckoning is upon me. Yours will come. I hope that you will be put on trial. But mostly, I hope, for your sakes, that you find the moral courage to face what you have done to me and to many, many others who deserved to live. I hope that before your time on earth ends, as mine is now ending, you will find the strength of character to stand before the American public and the world, and in particular the Iraqi people, and beg for forgiveness.”

When asked recently about the Iraq war, former Vice President Dick Cheney said that he would do it all over again.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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As he laid out his agenda for his new term, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his government was ready to make a “historic compromise” with the Palestinians, if they were willing to return to the negotiating table in good faith.

“Israel has proven time and again that it is ready for concessions in exchange for real peace, and the situation today is no different,” he remarked. Netanyahu’s actions, however, betray his lofty words.

New buildings in two new apartment blocks in Jerusalem, Maalot David and Beit Orot, which are both privately owned and developed, cut into the very fabric of Arab East Jerusalem, and undermine the concept that the area could be the capital of a Palestinian state. According to Palestinian leaders, constructions in Maalot Daid and Beit Orot create an area around the so-called Holy Basin of religious sites for Jews, Christians and Muslims that in effect undermines the two-state solution with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.

Originally, Beit Orot had been planned as a Palestinian school. Teddy Kollek, then Jerusalem mayor, opposed the purchase of the land for a Jewish school, or yeshiva. When Kollek was voted out of office the purchase could be concluded. Today, this issue continues to provoke controversy, as Palestinian and international authorities consider illegal the building of Israeli settlements in Palestinian neighborhoods.

“It is all part of the plan, part of the scheme, to undermine the two-state solution and East Jerusalem being the capital,” stated recently Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, during a tour of the area for foreign diplomats aimed at stressing the issue ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit.

Palestinians’ refusal to negotiate with Netanyahu during his last term in office was provoked by Israel’s continuing to build homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Netanyahu has refused to halt settlement construction, arguing that negotiations should proceed without preconditions. Palestinians argue, however, that to conduct negotiations while settlement construction continues is equivalent to conducting negotiations under attack of Palestinian missiles into Israeli territory. In addition, ceasing those attacks hasn’t led to any significant concession from the Israeli government.

Today, more than 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Writing in Haaretz, one of the leading Israeli newspapers, Aluf Benn, a columnist for the newspaper, stated that Netanyahu’s third government has one clear goal in mind: to expand the settlements towards achieving his long time objective to have one million Jews living in Judea and Samaria.

Almost universal condemnation for his expansionist policies doesn’t deter Netanyahu. He continues to threaten an attack on Iran or Syria as a way to gain the acquiescence of the United States for his policies. His ploy has given him good results. The U.S. is ignoring Israel’s actions in the territories as long as it can get Netanyahu to postpone his attacks on both countries.

An indication of Netanyahu’s real aims can be glimpsed by statements of one of his key partners, Avigdor Lieberman, who recently declared that anyone who thinks that peace with the Palestinians can be achieved is “delusional.” In addition, Lieberman, as he waits for a judicial resolution on his case, has reiterated his long-standing opposition to any freeze in settlement construction.

It is clear that President Barack Obama will find an inauspicious atmosphere for his peace efforts when he visits Israel. As reported in Haaretz, during a meeting with Arab-American leaders, when Obama was asked if he was planning to launch a new peace initiative for the Middle East, he responded: “The government of Israel is not ready to make concessions,” he said, “and so there is no point in bringing pressure to bear at this time.” As things stand now, the “Middle East peace process” looks increasingly like a “Middle East peace hindrance.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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Sometimes even great writers can be wrong. Jorge Luis Borges, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, argued that “The fight between Argentina and Great Britain for the Malvinas is like two bald men fighting for a comb.” Borges probably ignored the existence of substantial oil and gas deposits located close to the islands which largely account – Argentine sovereignty claims aside – for the current hostilities between both countries.

The recent referendum in the islands (March 10th and 11th) whereby 99.8 percent of those who voted chose to remain as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom goes against 10 resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly and more than 30 resolutions of the UN Special Committee on Decolonization. The resolutions emphasize that only through negotiations between the conflicting parties can an appropriate settlement be reached.

Similar resolutions were put forth by the Organization of American States (OAS), as well as by the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), which includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. These countries have banned Falklands-flagged ships from docking at their ports. In addition, member countries of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and MERCOSUR have signed a Special Declaration where they maintain that the referendum neither changes the essence of the Question of the Malvinas Islands nor does it put an end to the sovereignty dispute.

The issue can be traced to January 2, 1833, when Captain James Onslow of the brig-sloop HMS Clio reached the Spanish settlement at Port Louis. Onslow requested that the Argentine flag be replaced with the British one, and the Argentine administration was deported to Montevideo. Because he was under numerical disadvantage, Argentine Lt. Col. José María Pinedo chose to depart without fighting. Despite Argentina’s protests, the colony was established with nationals of the occupying power, and the islands continue under British administration.

The illegality of the seizure of islands was recognized even by British officials. In October of 1936, John Troutbeck, head of the American department at the British Foreign Office stated, “The difficulty of the position is that our seizure of the Falkland Islands in 1833 was so arbitrary a procedure as judged by the ideology of the present day. It is therefore not easy to explain our possession without showing ourselves up as international bandits.”

The United Kingdom thus shaped a made-to-measure community in the islands in a process that Argentina firmly and repeatedly rejected while at the same time stating its willingness to resume bilateral negotiations to resolve the dispute in accordance with the United Nations mandate.

The international community shares the Argentine position, declaring itself in favor of resuming negotiations through several regional and bi-regional forums such as the Ibero-American Summit, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the Arab and South American Countries Summit (ASPA), the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), the Rio Group (an international organization of Latin American and some Caribbean States), the Group of 77, and the African and South American Countries Summit (ASA).

The unilateral activities the United Kingdom conducts in violation of a UN resolution in the area under dispute exacerbate an already delicate state of affairs since they involve exploitation of renewable and non-renewable resources. These activities are contrary to the letter and spirit of the United Nations' relevant resolutions on the Question of the Malvinas Islands, in particular resolution 31/49. This UN General Assembly resolution calls upon both parties to refrain from taking decisions that would imply introducing unilateral modifications to the status quo while the islands are going through the negotiating process recommended by the General Assembly.

The segment of the population born in the islands is a minority, and the electoral body consists essentially of British citizens. Paradoxically, while Great Britain insists on the right to self-determination of the inhabitants of the Falklands, there was no claim of self-determination when Great Britain returned Hong Kong to China.

Asking British citizens if they want to remain British is a futile exercise that undermines the essence of the dispute about which the United Nations has issued resolutions time and again, which have been systematically ignored by Great Britain. The referendum does not put an end to the sovereignty dispute of the islands. It merely assures the perpetuation of the conflict between Great Britain and Argentina.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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Domestic violence is part of the wider issue of gender violence, which the majority of the time is violence against women, a phenomenon that affects women of all races and all social conditions.

As an example, the statistics of the most serious consequences of gender violence in Mexico are staggering: Over 400 women and girls have been killed in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua in the last 14 years. According to the Mexican health ministry, about one in three Mexican women suffer from domestic violence.

In addition, thousands of women have become ‘desaparecidas,' or missing. Most women who were missing were raped and beaten before they were killed.

The phenomenon affects not only individuals but has a wide-ranging impact on the family and society as a whole. According to Noeleen Heyzer, former executive director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), “violence against women devastates people’s lives, fragments communities, and prevents countries from developing.”

UNICEF Mexico reports that in Mexico, four in 10 women report acts of spousal violence carried out against them, but only one in three commence legal proceedings. This violence against women is part of the culture and is one of the reasons female victims of domestic violence face serious obstacles when they try to denounce it.

In Mexico, as in many other countries, domestic violence is considered to be a ‘private matter,' part of the ‘normal’ behavior in a relationship, a fact reflected in many Mexican soap operas that show scenes of violence against women.

In addition, an aspect of ‘macho’ cultures such as the ones not only in Mexico but also in practically all Latin American and Caribbean countries is that many men consider themselves to be superior to women and believe that women should, therefore, be subject to the whims of men.

In addition, various cultural, economic and social factors, including shame and fear of retaliation from their partners, contribute to women’s reluctance to denounce those acts.

Violence can affect women in different ways, not only physically but also psychologically. For many of them, the psychological violence can be as devastating or even more than physical violence. Psychological violence can take several forms, such as calling a woman derogatory names, withholding money, forbidding her to work or to see her family, ridiculing a woman or insulting her in front of family or friends.

There is also a wide range of health problems that can be caused by domestic violence. They include organ damage, gynecological problems, miscarriage and exacerbation of chronic illness that can lead a woman to commit suicide in the most extreme cases.

Because of these effects, and particularly because of the extent of the problem, many experts believe that domestic violence should be treated as a public health issue, and apply an epidemiological approach to its assessment and consequences.

Domestic violence as a critical public health issue has been recognized by organizations such as the Pan American Health Organization and the Inter-American Commission of Women of the Organization of American States.

As Carmen Barroso, director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation’s Western Hemisphere recently stated, “Health systems should be the main door for detection, treatment and support for victims of violence against women.”

As a response to the lack of resources normally devoted to this problem, the Inter-American Development Bank has encouraged member countries in the region to invest two percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) to address the effects of domestic violence on its victims.

Domestic violence is obviously not limited to Latin American and Caribbean countries. In China, according to a national survey, one-third of the country’s 270 million households cope with domestic violence, both physical and psychological.

A survey carried out by the China Law Institute in Gansu, Hunan and Zhejiang provinces found that one third of surveyed families had witnessed family violence, and that 85 percent of victims were women. Because not only men but many women consider violence a normal part of family life, only five percent among those surveyed said that their marriage was unhappy.

In recent years, there has been some progress regarding this issue in China. Among those efforts to call attention to the situation are some roadside and subway advertisements stressing the scourge that domestic violence represents to society.

At the same time, special refuges and community support groups for victims of domestic violence are becoming more numerous.

The All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF) has been playing a significant role in bringing domestic violence into legislation and policy-making processes. In addition, an alliance of civil society organizations has been established under a project called "Domestic Violence in China: Research, Intervention and Prevention," which has carried out some innovative actions towards the elimination of domestic violence.

In Russia, more than 14,000 women are killed every year in acts of domestic violence.

Natalya Abubikirova, executive director of the Russian Association of Crisis Centers, drew a dramatic parallel to capture the scope of the problem: “The number of women dying every year at the hands of their husbands and partners in the Russian Federation is roughly equal to the total number of Soviet soldiers killed in the 10-year war in Afghanistan.”

Although there are some shelters, hotlines and crisis centers for female victims of violence in a number of cities, nothing close to an adequate, systematic approach to the problem exists. More stringent laws have yet to be enacted and enforced in the Russian Federation that criminalize all forms of violence against women, including marital rape.

Domestic violence is also rife in most African countries. According to a United Nations report, in Zimbabwe, domestic violence accounts for more than six in 10 murder cases in court. In Kenya and Uganda, 42 percent and 41 percent respectively of women surveyed reported having been beaten by their partners. Although some countries, such as South Africa, have passed legislation against domestic violence, that legislation is not fully implemented.

Domestic violence is also a serious issue in the United States where, according to the FBI, one out of every four women is a victim of domestic violence at least once in her lifetime. Also according to the FBI, domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between ages 15 and 44 – more than car accidents, muggings and rapes combined.

At a U.S. Senate Judiciary hearing on the issue of violence against women it was reported that there are three times as many animal shelters as there are shelters for battered women and their children.

Although the proportion of cases varies in different countries and even among regions of the same country, new laws are needed to curb what is a worldwide phenomenon of tragic consequences for women’s lives and health.

Cesar Chelala, MD, PhD, is the author of the Pan American Health Organization publication Violence in the Americas.

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In early February, new U.S. Sanctions against Iran went into effect despite the growing sentiment that Washington is discreetly moving towards a more nuanced policy with respect to Iran. To wit, the selection of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense, whose views on the Middle East in general and Iran in particular are characterized as moderate in American terms. In addition to which, a report just released by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), the Washington think tank whose purpose is to develop unambiguous U.S. security policy, fears that an Iranian nuclear weapon would trigger a arms race in the Middle East are grossly exaggerated.

The three countries in the region interested in eventually developing their own nuclear devices are said to be Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey. However, as the authors of the report indicate, Saudi Arabia is a signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and “…would more likely pursue a more aggressive version of its current conventional defense and civilian nuclear hedging strategy while seeking out an external nuclear security guarantee.”

With regard to Egypt, not only does that country not see Iran’s nuclear ambitions as an existential threat but is besieged by internal political and economic problems, rendering it unlikely to embark on such an adventure. In addition, due to Egypt’s economy and military forces being heavily dependent on U.S. largesse, it would probably hesitate antagonizing Washington by developing a nuclear weapon. Finally, Turkey already possesses a nuclear deterrent through its NATO security guarantees.

It has been stated repeatedly that an aggressive Iranian government would represent a danger for the region and for the U.S. Historical fact. To the contrary, Iranians have been witness to a number of acts of foreign intervention against their country.

Who can forget that it was foreign intervention, by the British and American governments, that destroyed democracy in Iran? In 1953, the CIA was instrumental in overthrowing the democratically elected government of Iran’s Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh following his nationalization of Iranian oil and in bringing the Shah back to power.

The U.S. staunchly supported the Shah of Iran’s regime, despite its brutal repression of the Iranian people. According to Stephen Kinzer, author of "All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup And the Roots of Middle East Terror," the Iranian fear of more U.S. intervention in the internal affairs of their country was what prompted the occupation of the U.S. embassy in 1979.

In 1988, toward the end of the Iran-Iraq war, the U.S.S. Vincennes shot down an Iranian civilian airliner over the Strait of Hormuz. Two hundred ninety passengers were killed, including 66 children, ranking it seventh among the deadliest airliner fatalities. According to the U.S. government, the U.S.S. Vincennes crew misidentified the Iranian Airbus A300 as an attacking F-14 Tomcat fighter. Although a settlement was reached between Iran and U.S., the Vincennes’ captain received the Legion of Merit, and the crew was awarded Combat Action Ribbons.

Last September Efraim Halevy, head of the Mossad from 1998 to 2000, declared in an interview with Haaretz, “What we need to do is to try and understand the Iranians. The basic feeling of that ancient nation is one of humiliation. Both religious Iranians and secular Iranians feel that for 200 years the Western powers used them as their playthings…Thus, the deep motive behind the Iranian nuclear project –which was launched by the Shah – is not the confrontation with Israel, but the desire to restore to Iran the greatness of which it was long deprived.”

Both the U.S. and Israel, however, have repeatedly threatened military action against Tehran in flagrant violation of the UN Charter whose Article 2 states, “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.”

As President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have repeatedly stated, diplomacy should be pursued in dealing with the Iranian government. Such an approach should include important verification concessions on the Iranian government’s nuclear energy program, as well as security assurances to the Iranian government that it will not be attacked by the US or Israel.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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To know if tobacco is the equivalent of the opium wars in China it is useful to briefly review its history. When Christopher Columbus explored the New World in 1492, he found the natives smoking a native plant, tobacco, which they did both for medicinal and ceremonial purposes, and was the first to introduce it in Europe.

From 1617 to 1793, tobacco was the most widely used and valuable staple export from the English American mainland colonies and the United States. Columbus would have never imagined that shortly after its introduction in Europe tobacco would become one of the main threats to health in several Latin American and Asian countries, as opium did in the XIX century, particularly in China.

Tobacco, one of the most addictive substances in the world, was introduced to China via Japan or the Philippines in the 1600s. In 1643, Fang Yizhi, a Chinese scholar, was one of the first to alert on the dangers of tobacco when he wrote that smoking tobacco for too long would “blacken the lungs” and lead to death. Chongzhen, the emperor at the time, outlawed growing tobacco and smoking its leaves.

In 1858, the Treaty of Tianjin (Tientsin) which ended the first part of the Second Opium War (1856-1860) not only legalized the import of opium but allowed cigarettes to be imported to China duty-free. By 1900, China was almost entirely permeated by foreign companies.

In 1929, Fritz Lickint, a German scientist from Dresden, published the first statistical evidence linking tobacco use and lung cancer, a finding that was confirmed in 1950 in an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Only in 1999 the Philipp Morris tobacco company acknowledged that, “There is an overwhelming medical and scientific consensus that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema and other serious diseases in smokers.”

Today, while its use has diminished considerably in industrialized countries, it is having a devastating effect on the health of the Chinese population. As Dr. Bernard Lown, a famous cardiologist and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, already indicated in 2007, “The struggle against tobacco is not being won, it is being relocated.” He also denounced that cigarettes are becoming more addictive and more lethal because of the higher tar and nicotine content.

The state-owned China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC), trading as China Tobacco, founded in 1982, accounts for roughly 30 percent of the world’s total production of cigarettes, and it is the largest manufacturer of tobacco products. China National Tobacco Corporation falls under the jurisdiction of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, or STMA.

The STMA has been under constant pressure from the World Trade Organization (WTO) to loosen its monopoly. Since 2001, increased access has been granted to foreign companies. Today, although CNTC dominates China’s market, foreign brands can still be found in large cities in China. In 2007, it was estimated that CNTC had 32 percent of the world tobacco market.

Tobacco smoking still continues to place a heavy toll on the Chinese people’s health. It is estimated that every day roughly two thousand Chinese die due to smoking. China has now approximately 360 million smokers – a number greater than the U.S. population- who consume 37 percent of the world’s cigarettes. In addition, almost 800 million people suffer the consequences of second-hand smoke. According to the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, smoking will be responsible for approximately 3.2 million deaths annually by 2030.

Tobacco is also costly to the country’s economy. Although tobacco firms paid 864.9 billion yuan in taxes in 2012, when the combined health care costs of those made sick by tobacco plus the loss of productivity they represent the cost is probably much higher. The increased health costs as a result of smoking are part of the tragic legacy of tobacco.

Paradoxically, while the US government has been extremely successful in discouraging smoking at home, it has successfully put pressure on Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Thailand to break their domestic tobacco monopolies, at the same time flooding them with American cigarettes. This led former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop to state, “People will look on this era of the health of the world, as imperialistic as anything since the British Empire – but worse.”

Through its issuing of the China Tobacco Control Plan (2012-2015) the Chinese government has indicated its intention to lower the negative impact of smoking on the Chinese people. The plan, however, has been widely criticized by its lack of concrete proposals.

To effectively combat smoking it is necessary to mobilize communities, educate the people about the health risks and high costs of smoking, impose punitive fines in class action suits and increase tax on cigarettes. Unless these measures are implemented, tobacco will end up causing more damage to the Chinese people than the Opium Wars did in the XIX century.

Cesar Chelala, MD, PhD, is an international public health consultant and the author of “Tobacco or Health,” a publication of the Pan American Health Organization.

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A report just released by the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) states that there were 2,754 civilian deaths and 4,805 civilian injuries in that country during 2012. Unmentioned in the report, however, is what may be considered a side effect of the conflict: the high number of opium-addicted children in Afghanistan.

The number of opium-addicted Afghan children has increased systematically in the last few years. The situation is not limited to Afghanistan. Children are being affected in Pakistan as well. In Karachi alone, there are tens of thousands of child addicts, most of whom receive no care or support. New and more effective policies are needed to address this situation.

According to a study conducted in Afghanistan, in 25 percent of homes where adult addicts lived, the children tested for drug addiction –some as young as 14 months old - showed signs of significant drug exposure. The children exhibited typical behavior of opium and heroin addicts: if the drug was withdrawn, they experienced withdrawal.

Not only were opium products found in indoor air samples but the concentrations were extremely high. This suggests that, as happens with secondhand cigarette smoke, contaminated indoor air and surfaces pose a serious risk to children's health.

The extent of health problems in children as a result of such exposure is not known. What is known is that the number of adult drug users has increased from 920,000 in 2005 to over 1.5 million in 2010, according to Zalmai Afzali, spokesman for the Ministry of Counter-Narcotics in Afghanistan. A quarter of those users are thought to be women and children. If current trends continue, Afghanistan could become the world's top drug-using nation on a per capita basis.

According to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC), no other country in the world produces as much heroin, opium and hashish as Afghanistan, a sad distinction for a country already ravaged by war. Control efforts so far have been concentrated on poppy eradication and interdiction to stem exports, while less attention has been paid to the rising domestic addiction problem among children.

Among the factors leading to increased levels of drug use in adults are the high unemployment rate throughout the country, the social upheavals caused by this war and those that preceded it, and the return of refugees from Iran and Pakistan who became addicts while abroad. In both of those countries, the high number of opium-addicted children is also a serious problem, particularly among street children.

Although the government has opened several shelters for street children in Tehran, many more centers are still needed to care for them. According to some estimates, there are between 35,000 and 50,000 children in that city who are forced by their parents or other adults to live and beg in the streets or to work in sweat shops for very low wages.

These children are subject to all kinds of abuse, and many among them end up in organized prostitution rings and become part of the sex trade. Children are often transported to other countries where they are obliged to work as prostitutes, while others simply disappear.

In Karachi alone, where there are tens of thousands of hashish-addicted children, children addicted to stronger drugs present other problems. Due to the increase in the number of street children, street crime is also on the rise as children become involved in drug trafficking in the city.

Those who inject drugs face the additional risk of HIV-infection by sharing contaminated syringes. "Drug addiction and HIV/AIDS are, together, Afghanistan's silent tsunami," declared Tariq Suliman, director of the Nejat's rehabilitation center to the U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs.

The distinction between producing and consuming countries has now changed. “Traditionally, consuming countries have become producers of synthetic drugs. In turn, producing countries have become consumers. What remains is a shared international responsibility. No country should be left alone,” said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, the UNODC country representative.

There are about 90 drug treatment centers dispersed throughout the country, but most are small, poorly staffed and under-funded. The U.S. and its allies have the resources to rapidly expand and adequately fund and resource such treatment and rehabilitation centers throughout the country. The great number of opium-addicted children in Afghanistan is one of the darkest legacies of an ill-fated war.

César Chelala, M.D. Ph.D., is an international public health consultant and a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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President Barack Obama has indicated that the Middle East situation will be one of his priorities in his new term in office. An essential component in moving towards a peace agreement is to overcome the barriers of distrust based on ignorance of the other among Israelis and Palestinians. A first step is to increase cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian professionals in the health area and expand those contacts to other areas of common interest.

While health initiatives alone cannot secure peace, particularly where political, cultural psychological and religious tensions abound, they often serve as a useful point of contact between conflicting parties. Bi-national health programs have served to expand cooperation between divided peoples, demonstrating the power of citizens’ communication in hostile political environments.

During the 1980s, violent clashes between Nicaragua's Contras and Sandinistas roused the interest of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the regional office of the World Health Organization (WHO). As a result, PAHO implemented the “Health as a Bridge for Peace” strategy aimed at providing health care to populations living in war-torn areas in Latin America.

Their work resulted in so-called “Days of Tranquility” in El Salvador and Peru, during which thousands of children were vaccinated against polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and measles. Most notably, PAHO’S activities enjoyed the backing of government officials and rebel guerrilla forces. Concern for public health was a common ground.

The same approach has been used in the Middle East. Since its founding in 1988, the Association of Israeli-Palestinian Physicians for Human Rights has created two funds to address the medical neglect of Palestinian migrant workers' children: The Palestinian Children's Medical Care Fund and The Children of Foreign Workers Medical Fund. The organization also conducts training activities for Palestinian health professionals, and has become a leading advocate for health and human rights in the region. Since the 1993 Oslo Accords, several new health groups were created, which provided health services to the Palestinians.

In 1995, the late King Hussein of Jordan invited officials from the Canada International Scientific Exchange Programme (CISEPO) to conduct a series of activities to foster better collaboration between Arab and Israeli doctors. The high incidence of hearing loss shared by Jordanians and Israelis was the basis of a project to provide audiology tests for infants, which to date has screened and rehabilitated more than 180,000 infants. The program was later expanded to promote youth health, maternal nutrition, and infectious disease management.

Canada, Israel and Jordan have enjoyed a good amount of academic exchange, and Israelis and Palestinians have worked together on publications and scientific symposiums.

Cooperation is not limited now to the medical field. In music, two orchestras formed by Arab and Israeli musicians have been performing in several countries: one, the Orchestra for Peace, created by the Argentine musician Miguel Angel Estrella, and the other, the West-Eastern Divan orchestra co-founded by Daniel Barenboim, the Argentine born Israeli conductor and Edward Said, the late Palestinian-American professor. In addition, several individuals and small groups have been tirelessly trying through their work to increase the understanding between the two peoples.

To these actions, now should be added the exchange of popular musicians and other artists as well as teachers and students, technical personnel of different disciplines and sports idols playing on mixed teams of Israelis and Palestinians. I am proposing nothing short of a massive effort by both governments - which will surely find wide international support - to break down the psychological barriers separating their citizens. So much money has been spent on trying in vain to hurt the other side that a smaller effort could be devoted to creating an atmosphere conducive to peace.

Peace between Israelis and Palestinians will not be achieved overnight, but it is only through a massive effort involving the citizenry that reconciliation and cooperation can occur between both peoples. In a region plagued by mistrust, deep-rooted fear and violence, building citizen’s bridges is the best antidote to war. The proposed actions, by themselves, will not bring a permanent solution to the conflict, but they will create the conditions that will make peace inevitable between Israelis and Palestinians.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

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One of the worst tragedies of post-Soviet Russia has been the increase in child abuse, particularly child prostitution. Besides the moral and ethical implications, the impact that sexual exploitation has on children's health and future development demands urgent attention. It is a problem that shows no signs of abating.

Sexual abuse of children takes several forms. They are used in pornographic publications and films and exploited as prostitutes. They are also trafficked to other countries, particularly in the Middle East.

Victims of child sexual abuse are often lured by the fake promise of being published in mainstream fashion magazines. Some victims believe that prostitution and contact with rich businessmen will allow them the kind of lifestyle that they could not have otherwise.

Russia is now one of the main producers of child pornography in the world, and it registers significant incidences of child prostitution and child trafficking for sexual purposes, according to the Russian National Consultation on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children.

St. Petersburg and northwestern Russia report a high incidence of sex tourism, which is widely advertised on the Internet and is aimed at people from neighboring Scandinavian countries. Child prostitution is the most common form of child exploitation in that region.

Those who recruit children for sexual exploitation frequently target street children or children from dysfunctional families. They initiate a vicious circle of entrapment and, as they become older, children end up in brothels. The recruiters prey on these children's needs and deceive them into a life of dependency.

In Russia, many of the young prostitutes are from the provinces or from the former Soviet republics. They come to Moscow or to St. Petersburg hoping to hide in the anonymity of huge cities. Sometimes pregnant or with children, and with scant education or skills, children turn to prostitution as an essential tool for survival.

Children engaged in prostitution frequently belong to families at risk -- those in extreme poverty or with alcohol and drug addiction. In other cases, they are orphans who have made the street their homes.

Many adults who sexually abuse children believe that by engaging with children, they are protected against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Children are less prone to practice safe sex, however, either because they don't think they need it or because they are unable to oppose the pressure or intimidation from adults.

Because of the transnational character of transactions involving children, it is imperative to strengthen international collaboration to counter the sexual abuse of children. Although Russia has signed and ratified important international conventions, such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, it has not yet developed a national plan of action against commercial sexual exploitation of children.

The Angel Coalition, one of the few Russian nongovernmental organization working solely to combat human trafficking, has produced a video called "Inhuman Traffic," with the participation of actress Angelina Jolie. The documentary gives a shocking view of the tragedy of trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation in Russia and all across Europe. Moreover, it gives an insight into the trafficking chain and how it can be broken. It should be required viewing for all government officials who are involved in combating this scourge.

On May 11, 2011, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, called on lawmakers to consider “chemical castration” for pedophiles, following an unprecedented wave of sexual crimes against minors in the country, including the violent death of child victims. In October 2011, the Russian parliament approved a law on pedophilia, according to which those found guilty of sex crimes against children under 14 will face chemical castration, while repeated sex offenders will face a life sentence.

Child abuse in Russia is an issue that demands concerted and long-term actions to prevent it. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is clear in the need to respect the rights of children, and by following its directives Russia can take an important step in the battle against the abuse of society’s most vulnerable members.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant and a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights. He is the author of "AIDS: A Modern Epidemic."

Two recent rapes of young women in India, one of which was murdered by her rapists, provoked worldwide condemnation. It is difficult to equate India’s rapid economic and technological development with such barbaric practices. The problem of systematic abuse of women, however, will only be solved by changing entrenched cultural norms that allow the abuse and degradation of women, of which girls' feticide is a clear example.

Female feticide is the earliest and most brutal manifestation of violence against women. Researchers for The Lancet estimate that more than 500,000 girls are being lost annually through sex-selective abortions. Female fetuses are selectively aborted after prenatal sex determination. Sometimes, the elimination of women occurs even after they are born. This situation of female infanticide has existed for centuries in India.

Feticide began in the early 1990s, when ultrasound techniques became widely used in India. Many families continuously produce children until a male child is born. The reason is that boys are deemed more useful than girls. Boys have the exclusive right to inherit the family name and properties, and have the advantage of being allowed to be more productive in agriculture. Religious practices for their parents' afterlife can only be performed by males, so they are also a status symbol for their families.

The Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, passed in 1994, making selective abortion illegal, has been poorly enforced. In 2003, the PCPNDT was modified holding medical professionals legally responsible for abuse of the test. These provisions, however, have not significantly deterred their abuse.

Although gender-based discrimination against female children is pervasive in developing countries, India is one of the worst culprits. Female discrimination, which starts in the womb, continues throughout women’s lives. A survey by the Thomas Reuters Foundation found that India is the fourth most dangerous place in the world for women.

In India, violence against women can take several forms. Women of any class or religion can be victims of acid-throwing, a cruel form of punishment that can disfigure women for life and even kill them. According to perpetrators, it is an action meant to put women in their place for defying cultural norms. The U.N. Population Fund reports that up to 70 percent of married women aged 15-49 in India are victims of beatings or coerced sex.

Dowry traditions, according to which parents must often pay large sums of money to marry off their daughters, is claimed as one of the reasons why parents prefer boys to girls. In 1961, the Government of India passed the Dowry Prohibition Act, which makes dowry demands in wedding arrangements illegal. Although some kinds of abuse, such as “bride burning,” have diminished among the educated urban populations, many cases of dowry-related domestic violence, suicide and murders are still occurring.

Since the first census of 1871, India has shown an abnormal sex ratio, the number of boys compared to girls steadily increasing. According to the Decennial Indian Census, the sex ratio in the 0-6 age group went from 104.0 males per 100 females in 1981, to 105.8 in 1991, to 107.8 in 2001, and to 109.4 in 2011. This ratio is even higher in certain states such as Punjab and Haryana.

Among the consequences of female feticide is the increase in human trafficking. According to some estimates, in 2011 15,000 Indian women were sold as brides to areas like Haryana and Punjab to compensate for the lack of women resulting from feticide. This shows a significant change in women’s social status. In the Vedic age (1500-1000 BC), women were worshipped as gods while in modern times some are declined the basic right to life.

The recent rape cases in India are not isolated incidents. They are just a manifestation of a discriminating situation that starts in the womb, in a society that persists in treating women as second class citizens. Unless this fact is accepted by Indian society, and appropriate laws are enforced, any measures to overcome this situation will only be palliative, and will not solve this fundamental problem facing the country.

Cesar Chelala, MD, PhD, is an international public health consultant and author of “Maternal Health."

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John Kerry once lost the opportunity to become President of the United States. As a war hero, he was derailed of that goal by an uneducated bully whose closest participation in war was to dress as a war pilot in a Halloween costume. As Secretary of State, Kerry has now the uniquely difficult opportunity to contribute to peace in the Middle East.

At his confirmation hearing Kerry said, “We need to find a way forward, and I happen to believe that if we can’t be successful, the door, window… to the possibility of a two-state solution could shut – and that would be disastrous for all concerned.” He wasn’t too clear about how to confront this unique challenge, saying that he didn’t want to prejudice any new effort by being too explicit about what he would do.

In a recent interview with Roger Cohen from The New York Times, Amos Oz, the noted Israeli novelist, aptly characterized both positions. “Building settlements in occupied territories was the single most grave error and sin in the history of modern Zionism, because it was based on a refusal to accept the single fact that we are not alone in this country,” he said. And added, “The Palestinians for decades also refused the fact that they are not alone in this country. Now, with clenched teeth, both sides have recognized this reality and that is a good basis.”

Unlike Hillary Clinton, who, after being confirmed as Secretary of State chose to visit Asia, John Kerry is expected to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories in February. As he stated, “I want to emphasize we are not turning away from anywhere else. Whatever we do in Asia should not come, and I hope will not come, at the expense of relationships in Europe or in the Middle East or elsewhere. It can’t.”

This is the right time to give some credibility to that so much abused notion of “Middle East peace process.” The possibility that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may tap Yair Lapid, of the centrist Yesh Atid party, to be his next foreign minister could dramatically change the status of the negotiations. The Yesh Atid party favors a two-state solution.

What is now required is a new kind of thinking that avoids the pitfalls that have hindered previous efforts. As Kerry himself acknowledged during his confirmation hearings, “Perhaps this can be a moment where we can renew some kind of effort to get the parties into a discussion to have a different track than we have been on over the last couple of years.”

Talks could restart now after they broke down in 2010 within weeks of resuming. Many believe that for them to succeed now, rather than a grandiose approach, a more circumspect, gradual approach is needed, considering how far apart are both sides in conflict.

To overcome the atmosphere of distrust, this gradual approach could start almost immediately with an exchange of artists, technical personnel and doctors between both sides, something that is taking place now in a very limited way. This can contribute to the creation of an atmosphere conducive to peace.

Perhaps no other conflict in recent history has had as many missed opportunities as the Middle East conflict. And both sides are to blame, since at one time or another they both showed scant interest in making the necessary and difficult compromises to achieve real progress.

“Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity,” stated in 1973 Abba Eban, Israel’s Foreign Minister, after the Geneva Peace Conference with Arab countries. By adopting an assertive and balanced stand on the conflict, one that can be agreeable to both parties, John Kerry’s determination and patriotism can prove him wrong.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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On January 23, 2013, The Jerusalem Post reported on a meeting held by Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama’s defense secretary nominee, in which Hagel stated his strong commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and to maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge. In addition, Hagel’s office stated, “Hagel appreciated the opportunity to have a constructive, informed and wide-ranging discussion.” What is wrong with this picture?

At the meeting were present US Vice President Joe Biden, and leaders of the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). This meeting followed a previous one held by Hagel with top Jewish Democrats in which he apologized for a 2006 comment in which he described the “Jewish lobby” as intimidating”. During the meeting, he reassured them that despite his past critical stance on war with Iran to prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon, he was now on board with President Obama’s stand on this issue.

And the inevitable question is why does a nominee for defense secretary of an independent country have to explain his intentions to anybody, least of all to people who advocate an aggressive policy against another independent country? And why does the United States Vice President have to be present to give additional authority to his statements?

And the obvious answer seems to be that these organizations, widely known as the pro-Israel lobby, are the ones that through their influence could derail Hagel’s confirmation as secretary of defense. What is the meaning of all of this? Let me bring the voice of Uri Avnery, one of the most honest, lucid and courageous observers of the US and Israel political scene, a former member of the Knesset and a staunch peace activist.

“Americans must be race of angels,” he writes, “how else to explain the incredible patience with which they suffer the fact that in a vital sphere of US interests, American foreign policy is dictated by a foreign country? For five decades, at least, US Middle East policy has been decided in Jerusalem. Almost all American officials dealing with this area are, well, Jewish. The Hebrew-speaking American ambassador in Tel Aviv could easily be the Israeli ambassador in Washington. Sometimes I wonder if in meetings of American and Israeli diplomats, they don’t sometimes drop into Yiddish.”

If anyone one doubts the accuracy of Avnery’s characterization, it would be a good memory exercise to remember Netanyahu’s last address to the US congress, where practically all senators and congressmen wildly applauded Netanyahu’s every single sentence, while at the same time jumping up and down like children at a “piñata” party. Is this the behavior one should expect from representatives of an independent country? Why are they so subservient to the interests of a foreign country?

Lawrence Davidson, a professor of history at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania, offers an explanation through a process that he calls “lobbification.” According to him, at some point in time every single Congressman or Senator has been approached by a lobbyist, in the case of the Middle East, by one representing AIPAC.

The lobbyist offers the representatives financial campaign assistance, good media coverage, briefings on the Middle East and even trips to Israel. All that he is asked in return is that they consistently vote in a pro-Israel way. Should they refuse this offer the lobbyist group will probably support the opponent party, making sure that those who refuse the offer are defeated in the next election.

As a result, Davidson points out, “…the national interest is replaced by the parochial interests of lobbies that are successful at suborning Congress and the White House-Zionists pushing support for a racist and expansionist foreign power, Cuban-Americans carrying on a 53 year old vendetta against the government in Havana, the NRA striving to protect the right of every American to own a submachine gun, and the like.” Is this the kind of foreign policy we want our country to have? Is this how we want our democracy to work?

Cesar Chelala, MD, PhD, is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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On December 28, 2012, Judge Miguel Vásquez charged eight retired army officers with the murder of popular songwriter, guitarist and theater director Víctor Jara. Jara was killed days after the 1973 military coup against Chilean President Salvador Allende. One of those charged is Pedro Barrientos Núñez, reportedly the one who fired the final shot that killed Jara. Barrientos is now living in Deltona, Florida. His extradition to Chile could help properly try all those involved in Jara’s death.

The most recognizable voice of Chile’s dispossessed, Jar was one of the founders of a new genre of Latin American song, and one of its best known practitioners. Jara was closely identified with the leftist social movement led by the late Chilean President Salvador Allende. Jara composed “Venceremos” (We Will Triumph), which became the theme song of Allende’s Unidad Popular (Popular Unity) movement. Jara and his wife, Joan Turner, were among the main participants in the cultural renaissance movement that swept the country after Allende’s victory.

September 11, 1973, is a day that will live in infamy for the people of Chile, when General August Pinochet’s troops mounted a coup against the Allende government. Jara was taken prisoner on September 12, 1973 from Chile’s Technical University and later taken to the Estadio Chile, a large sports stadium, which was later renamed Estadio Víctor Jara.

Jara was held at the stadium for four days where he was repeatedly tortured. His torturers had no mercy with Jara’s hands and hit them with their rifle butts while mockingly challenging him to continue playing his guitar with his broken hands. According to the testimony of his companions who were also in prison Jara remained undaunted and sang part of his song “Venceremos” as he was being tortured.

Other prisoners later testified that even during those difficult times for them Jara was only concerned about the welfare of his companions. Four days after being taken prisoner he was taken to a deserted area in the country where he was shot 44 times. His body was dumped on a road on the outskirts of Santiago from where he was taken to the city’s morgue. His wife was allowed to retrieve his body only after she promised that she wouldn’t publicize the event.

Shortly after Jara’s death a Chilean television technician surreptitiously played an excerpt of Jara’s song “La Plegaria a un Labrador” (Prayer to a Laborer) over a Hollywood film soundtrack. Despite this isolated tribute, however, for several years Jara’s recordings went unheard in Chile.

After Pinochet’s death in 2006, Jara’s wife and other human rights activists stepped up their efforts to find Jara’s killers, despite apparent delays by prosecutors and the army. On December 28, 2012, Appellate Court Magistrate Miguel Vasquez ordered the arrest of two former military officers, Hugo Sanchez Marmonti and Pedro Barrientos Nuñez as the material authors of the crime, and named other six former military officials as accomplices. All of them have been detained with the exception of Pedro Barrientos Nuñez.

According to School of America Watch reports, four of the eight officers accused of murdering Jara were trained at the School of the Americas which at that time was located in Panama. These reports indicate that Barrientos Nuñez took courses at that school in the 1960s and 1970s. Barrientos Nuñez has strongly denied any participation in Jara’s murder, despite strong testimonies condemning him.

According to international law, the US now has the legal duty to prosecute Barrientos Nuñez or, to complete Judge Vasquez investigation of Jara’s murder, to extradite him to Chile. This is mandated by the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and by the Geneva Conventions. Extraditing Barrientos Nuñez back to Chile will be a miniscule compensation for the tragedies that the CIA-sponsored coup against Allende unleashed on the Chilean people.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for “Missing or Dead in Argentina: The Desperate Search for Thousands of Abducted Victims,” a cover story for The New York Times Magazine.

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Statistics released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) show that in the last 10 years, 237 soldiers killed themselves. That number represents an average of 24 soldiers taking their own lives every year. The release of the IDF statistics was prompted by information about suicides published anonymously by a blogger known as “Eishton," a combination of Hebrew words for “man” and “newspaper."

After he released information about suicides in the military, Eishton was investigated by Israel and the Military Police. What makes those suicides troubling is not only the number of deaths, but what prompted these young soldiers to take their own lives. Because the blogger found a significant disparity between the official death statistics published by the security forces and the number of “remembrance” pages on the official commemoration website “Yizkor," he believed that the number of suicides was much higher than the one shown in official statistics.

One reason for the discrepancy may be the way in which a death is described. It is known that families of those dead soldiers don’t want them categorized as suicides. That may be the reason, according to IDF sources, why the Israeli army refuses to publish the exact numbers, including the circumstances of each soldier’s death.

One psychiatrist quoted in a Haaretz article states that there is a significant difference in the profile of an army suicide as opposed to other suicide victims. According to him, while most suicides in the general population are committed by individuals who are clinically depressed, most soldiers who commit suicide are people who are physically and mentally healthy but go through an acute life crisis.

Eishton says that the rate of suicides among soldiers is higher than the rate among army-age citizens who are not serving in the military. He is requesting that the army release the name of each soldier with the real cause of death and says, “It’s not only suicides that are the problem; it’s the problem that they [the army] want us to think that every fallen soldier died in the service of his country.”

What explains soldiers’ suicides? One explanation may be that they are obliged to carry out actions that go against their own moral principles and beliefs. Breaking the Silence, an organization founded in 2004, published in 2009 a book of controversial testimonies on Operation Cast Lead, the three week invasion of the Gaza Strip that prompted Israel’s Foreign Ministry to call Spain, the Netherlands and other foreign governments to cut off funding for the organization.

This organization has now a book of soldiers’ testimonies called Our Harsh Logic: Israeli Soldiers’ Testimonies From the Occupied Territories, 2000-2010 that contains 145 interviews gathered by the Israeli NGO. These testimonies offer clues about how soldiers feel about the occupation and the tactics used to quell Palestinians’ opposition to it.

One testimony, by a staff sergeant from the Nahal Brigade in Hebron, describes how they dealt with two school children throwing firecrackers on their way home after school. When asked if he had seen the kids throwing firecrackers and how old they were he answered:

“No, no, no. We didn’t see them throwing. We just saw them passing by. They may have been running. I don’t remember, but I do remember we stopped them to search them. One of them was really small…Maybe four or five years old. A really little kid, with his brother…Perhaps even in kindergarten or first grade…And you are giving him a body search. Him and his brother, who’s just a bit older.

“Naturally you don’t point your gun at him so as not to frighten him, but this is another tough issue for me, another confrontation with Hebron. You’re suddenly searching a little kid. Incredible. I did the search, and I was shocked. I felt so, I can tell you, I felt so immoral at the time, I felt so inhuman. Okay, so the weapon wasn’t pointed at him, and you’re not threatening him, you’re not yelling at him. You are just searching him…Is this something that you can put an end to? I don’t know. It hurts. As I said earlier, I’m an education person. I’ve worked with youth, with children. I’ve been with first graders in my pre-army service. Suddenly you imagine doing this to a kid you worked with in class, you tutored in arithmetic. Just such a little kid, the same height, the same age, and you are searching him. It is not human.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America Award for an article on human rights.

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Looking at the back and forth shuffling of our politicians, trying to decide what is good for them and not necessarily for the majority of Americans, I came across these lines written by Walt Whitman in a book by the late poet Stanley Kunitz (Next to Last Things). I believe they accurately describe the state of the Republic today, as Gore Vidal would have probably said:

“Never was there, perhaps, more hollowness of heart than at present, and here in the United States. Genuine belief seems to have left us…We live in an atmosphere of hypocrisy throughout…The depravity of the business classes of our country is not less than has been supposed, but infinitely greater. The official services of America, national, state, and municipal, in all their branches and departments, except the judiciary, are saturated in corruption, bribery, falsehood, maladministration; and the judiciary is tainted. The great cities reek with respectable as much as non-respectable robbery and scoundrelism…The best class we show is but a mob of fashionable dress’d speculators and vulgarians…I say that our New World democracy…is, so far, an almost complete failure…”

“In vain have we annex'd Texas, California, Alaska, and reach north for Canada and south for Cuba. It is as if we were somehow being endow’d with a vast and more and more thoroughly-appointed body, and then left with little or no soul.”

Amen.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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In a world used to evil, the Katyn massacre, in which 21,857 Polish officers, soldiers and civilians were captured by the Red Army after it invaded Eastern Poland, stands among the brutal and degrading acts of inhumanity of the Second World War. Although Russia has accepted in 1990 its responsibility for that criminal act, Poland still deserves a formal apology from the Russian government.

In a 5 March 1940 letter from secret police chief Lavrenty Beria to then Soviet leader Joseph Stalin he stated: “In prisoner-of-war camps run by the USSR NKVD and in prisons in western Ukraine and Belorussia there is currently a large number of the Polish police and intelligence services, members of Polish counter-revolutionary parties, members of unmasked rebel counter-revolutionary organizations, defectors and others. They are all sworn enemies of Soviet power filled with hatred towards the Soviet system.”

The letter then proceeds with the recommendation to impose on them the sentence of capital punishment – execution by shooting, and states, “The cases are to be handled without the convicts being summoned and without revealing the charges; with no statements concerning the conclusion of the investigation and he bills of indictment given to them…” The letter has the approval of Joseph Stalin and Politburo members.

The Soviets seized thousands of Polish men as prisoners. The victims were mostly officers of the Polish army but among them were also university professors, priests, physicians, and teachers. There were 900 Jews among them. The People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) created a Directorate of Prisoners of War and took custody of all prisoners.

Following Stalin’s orders, the Polish prisoners were shot in the back of the head, and their bodies dumped in mass graves in Katyn, Mednoye and Piatykhaty. The executions were carried out every day, except for the May First (International Workers’ Day).

German soldiers discovered the first mass graves in the Katyn forest, 12 miles west from Smolenk, Russia, in April 1943 and accused the Soviets of mass murder. The Soviet government denied any responsibility and retaliated by accusing the Germans of the massacre, a policy that was followed by successive Soviet governments.

Both American and British POWs who had been taken by the Nazis against their will to witness the scene at the mass graves stated that they were convinced that the crimes had been carried out by the Soviets. However, both the US and the United Kingdom initially covered up the massacre, fearful that their disclosure would antagonize Stalin at a time when they needed his total cooperation in the war effort.

In 1952, the final report of a U.S. Congressional committee to investigate Katyn stated that there was no doubt of Soviet guilt, and called the Katyn massacre “one of the most barbarous international crimes in world history.”

Only in 1990 Mikhail Gorbachev admitted Soviet guilt. Later, an investigation conducted by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Soviet Union (1990-1991) and the Russian Federation (1991-2004) confirmed Soviet responsibility for the massacres.

In a poem entitled “Remembering Katyn” Anne Kaczanowski, whose father had been held prisoner in Kherson, not far from prisons where many Polish soldiers were kept during 1939-1940, wrote,

We were a threat to the cowards who silenced us with guns
But our legacy will survive through our daughters and our sons.
Our heavy hearts ached as we silently whispered goodbye
And hope someday that our destiny would emerge from the twisted lie.

Although more than 70 years have passed since the massacre, which has considerably soured relations between Poland and Russia, an official apology from the Russian government is still needed, including the total declassification of all documents related to the massacre, plus the complete identification of all the victims and the names of all the perpetrators.

An official apology from the Russian government to the Polish people will not bring the dead back to life. But it will close the circle for the victims of Katyn and their families, who still clamor for justice and truth.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America Award for an article on human rights.

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Anybody brought up in a different culture wonders, with considerable uneasiness, what is in American culture that allows such an easy ownership of guns in the United States. And although violent incidents occur in other countries, they are not as frequent – or as lethal - as in the US.

The recent shooting rampage in an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, that resulted in the deaths of 20 children between the ages of 5 and 10, and 7 adults – including the gunman’s mother - should be the last wake up call to a country ravaged by civilian violence. According to the police, the gunman, Adam Lanza, a young man believed to be 20 years-old, had two handguns and an M4 carbine.

The issue of gun ownership is particularly relevant in the United States where civilians own an estimated 300 million guns, making Americans the most heavily armed people in the world on a per capita basis. Florida announced recently that it will soon be the first state to have issued one million permits allowing people to carry concealed guns.

The issue of gun ownership in the U.S. centers on the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Opponents of gun control emphasize the last part of the sentence: "the right of people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." They neglect to give much weight to the first part, which names a "'well-regulated militia" as the holders of this entitlement.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) has become one of the country’s most powerful political groups. According to the Washington Post, the NRA has helped elect four out of five candidates it has endorsed in a congressional election, and is actively trying to overturn gun-control laws in the courts of justice.

At the same time, landmark Supreme Court rulings in 2008 and 2010 dramatically curtailed the authority of state and local governments to limit gun ownership. In addition, approximately half of the 50 states in the US have adopted laws that allow gun owners to carry their guns openly in most public places.

Although self-defense is often cited to justify the people's right to bear arms, research has shown that a gun kept in a home is 43 times more likely to kill a member of the household or a friend than an intruder. Resorting to firearms to resist a violent assault has shown to increase the victim's risk of injury and death.

In a study by Dr. Arthur Kellermann published in The New England Journal of Medicine, it was found that, excluding factors such as previous history of violence, class, race, and other factors, a household where there is a gun is 2.7 times more likely to experience a murder than a household without one. It has been found that the number of teenagers who die from gunshot wounds in the U.S. is greater than for all other causes combined.

It is estimated that the gun market of $2 to $3 billion a year has had an extraordinary boom since the 2008 election of Barak Obama. According to a recent Gallup survey, 47 percent of American adults keep guns, a figure which is the highest since 1993. According to Peter Dreier, Distinguished Professor of Politics at Occidental College, among modern democracies the US is the one that has more guns per capita and weaker gun control laws. In addition, there are more gun dealers than McDonald’s restaurants in the US.

Groups opposed to gun control in the U.S. spend enormous sums of money lobbying elected and government officials. It is estimated that the National Rifle Association, one of the most powerful groups advocating gun ownership, has spent more than ten times as much as gun control interest groups on its lobbying efforts in 2011 and the first three quarters of 2012.

A recent incident in China, just hours before the massacre in Connecticut, shows how tougher, better laws, can avoid this kind of tragedies. In Henan Province, a man wielding an 8-inch knife viciously attacked 22 children. Unlike the incident in Newtown, however, all children survived their injuries.

After this last tragedy, there is no excuse for lawmakers not to enact laws that control gun ownership by private citizens. The "right" to bear arms argument is a step backward from controlling violence. Now free from reelection concerns, it is up to President Barak Obama to promote the passing of laws that will contribute to lower the criminal impact of widespread and easy gun ownership in the US.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant and the author of the Pan American Health Organization publication "Violence in the Americas."

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Rice’s withdrawal of her name from consideration as the next Secretary of State, allows the post to be filled by Senator John Kerry. Nobody indentified the problems with her nomination than Ms. Rice herself. “If nominated, I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly – to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities,” wrote Rice in a letter to President Barack H. Obama. And she also wrote, “That trade-off is simply not worth it to our country.”

In contrast, it is highly possible that Senator Kerry’s nomination will find fewer obstacles than Ms. Rice’s nomination would have encountered. Mr. Kerry is highly regarded not only among his colleagues at the Senate but in the political spectrum.

Not the least among his qualities are his diplomatic skills. Following Ms. Rice’s withdrawal from consideration Kerry wrote, “I’ve known and worked closely with Susan Rice not just at the UN, but in my own campaign as President. I’ve defended her publicly and wouldn’t hesitate to do so again because I know her character and I know her commitment. She is an extraordinary capable and dedicated public servant. Today’s announcement doesn’t change any of that.”

More than ever, President Obama will need those skills in a person dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conundrum, Syria’s political transition, and conducting serious negotiations with Iran. Because he is widely respected, he is uniquely capable of engaging America’s adversaries at a moment when it is necessary to improve the U.S. relations with Russia and China, particularly after their disagreement over Syria.

Because the nominating process is done by the Senate Foreign Relations committee, Kerry has high chances of an easy nomination. He is a long time member and now a chairman of that committee, and has a friendly relationship with all members of that committee. That position has made him extremely well versed in international issues.

At a time of big climate disruptions around the world, Kerry would bring to his position his long time interest and expertise on climate change issues. In addition, he is an expert on national security matters, and many anticipate that, if he becomes Secretary of Sate, he will probably be an advocate of the position that climate change is a national security issue.

In a Senate floor speech last August, Kerry compared the threat of climate change to the threat posed by war, and stated, “I believe that the situation we face [regarding climate change] is as dangerous as any of the sort of real crises that we talk about” when we talk about Iran, Syria, and other of the world’s trouble spots. Together with his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, he co-authored a book, This Moment on Earth: Today’s New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future.

Unlike many other political leaders, John Kerry had a distinguished performance in the military. Although he was an opponent of the Vietnam War, he reported for duty and won two Purple Hearts and a Silver Star for his performance during the war.

During his Senate tenure, a few months after taking his Senate seat on April 18, 1985, he traveled to Nicaragua with Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa. They met there the country’s president, Daniel Ortega, in a move that was much criticized but that showed, nonetheless, his essential flexibility to deal with all political actors, no matter how removed they could be from his own political beliefs.

Although he is not as close to President Obama as Ms. Rice, he played an important role in helping Obama become a significant national political figure. President Obama may have been responding to friendship in his initial preference for Susan Rice. However, both he, and the country, will be better served with Senator John Kerry as Secretary of State.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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By beating Gerald (“Torpedo”) Müller’s record of goals during a year, Lionel Messi only confirmed what many until now believed to be the truth: he doesn’t belong to planet Earth but is, in fact, an extraterrestrial being. Gerard Piqué – famous because he is one of the best players in his team, FC Barcelona, and also because his partner is Shakira, the widely known Colombian singer - believes that Messi is probably the best player ever.

Messi has already won three times FIFA’s Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball), given to the best player of the season. After beating Gerald Müller’s record, Messi will probably win the award for the fourth time. His close competitor, Cristiano Ronaldo has only won it once, and few people are betting on him.

“I respect those that believe Cristiano Ronaldo deserves the Golden Ball, but I interact with Leo, I see he is an extraterrestrial, and Cristiano, is the best of humans. I was also [Ronaldo’s] teammate in Manchester United. He is a hard worker, very good, but he is nowhere next to Messi,” Pique declared in an interview with the radio station RAC1.

One of the few that believes that Ronaldo may be this year’s winner is Jose Mourinho, Real Madrid’s manager. “It would be a crime if Cristiano didn’t win the Ballon d’Or,” Mourinho told A Bola, A Portuguese sports newspaper. “If Messi is the best in the world, it’s only because Cristiano is from another planet. He wasn’t born in Madeira [a Portuguese archipelago, Ronaldo’s birthplace] but on Mars.”

Although one may disagree with Mourinho about who is a better player, one should agree with him when he says about Ronaldo, “If Cristiano doesn’t win it this year [the Golden Ball], it will be because of his image. He doesn’t sell himself well and he isn’t always a nice guy.” And indeed, while Ronaldo is often arrogant and boastful, Messi is quiet and takes things in stride.

What explains Messi’s unique abilities, the fact that he became the world’s best player and the one that beat Gerald Mueller’s record of goals in a year? The best explanation may be an article written by the Argentine journalist Hernán Casciari, published in his blog and ironically titled “Messi is a dog."

Casciari, who doesn’t hide his admiration for Messi, tells how, after watching in YouTube several of Messi’s goals, he realized that Messi plays as if in a trance, hypnotized. His only wish is to see the ball in the opposing team’s goal. And he continues, “We must look well into his eyes to understand this: he looks cross-eyed at the ball, as if reading an out-of-focus subtitle; he focuses on it and does not lose sight of it even if they knife him.

“Where had I seen that look before? In whom? I knew that gesture of supreme introspection. I pressed the pause key in the video. I zoomed in Messi’s eyes. And then I remembered it: those were the eyes of Totín when he became crazy for the sponge.

“I had a dog in childhood which was called Totín. Nothing moved him. He wasn't a smart dog. Thieves came in and he just watched them carry the TV. The buzzer sounded and he didn't hear it. I vomited and he did not come to lick it.

“However, when someone (my mother, my sister, myself) grabbed a sponge - a particular yellow sponge for washing dishes -Totín became mad. He wanted this sponge more than anything in the world; he wished with all his heart to take this yellow rectangle to the doghouse. I showed it to him holding it in my right hand and he focused on it. I moved the sponge from one side to the other and he never stopped looking at it. He couldn’t stop looking at it.

“No matter how fast I moved the sponge, Totín’s neck moved with equal speed through the air. His eyes took a Japanese look, attentive, intellectual; like the eyes of Messi, who ceased to be those of a reckless teen and, for a fraction of a second, had the searching look of Sherlock Holmes.

“I discovered this afternoon, watching that video, that Messi is a dog. Or a man dog. That's my theory. I regret your having read up to here with better expectations. Messi is the first dog ever who plays soccer.” And this is the best explanation of Messi’s talent.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an Argentine writer.

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The announcement that Israel will construct 3,000 new homes in settlements in Jerusalem and in the West Bank has been followed by the usual international outcry against it. Despite protests by leading industrialized nations Israel will probably build them as planned. Those that claim that Palestine recognition at the United Nations is a threat to peace will, again, miss the obvious point. The real threat to peace is the construction of illegal settlements in Palestinian land.

The location of these settlements is particularly relevant. It will make the two-state solution practically impossible to be achieved, since it would close off East Jerusalem from the West Bank. As UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement, “If implemented, these plans would alter the situation, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, increasingly difficult to achieve. They would undermine Israel’s international reputation and create doubts about its stated commitment to achieving peace with the Palestinians.”

Settlement construction is controversial issue on which most nations, except Israel, agree: they are illegal under international law. On May 14, European Foreign Affairs Ministers stated, “The European Union expresses deep concern about the marked acceleration of settlement construction following the end of the 2012 moratorium, the recent decision of the government of Israel regarding the status of some settlement outposts as well as the proposal to relocate settlers from Migron within the occupied Palestinian territory…”

Last July, however, a report by an Israeli government appointed committee led by Retired Supreme Court Judge Edmond Levy recommended legalizing West Bank outposts and easing settlement restrictions. The committee claimed that settlements do not breach international law.

Several United Nations resolutions have stated that both the building and existence of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights are a violation of international law, particularly UN Security Council resolutions in 1979 and 1980. UN Security Council Resolution 446 refers to the Fourth Geneva Convention as the appropriate legal instrument. It calls upon Israel to desist from transferring its own population into the territories or changing their demographic makeup.

Although Israel maintains that the Fourth Geneva Convention does not apply to the territories occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War because of a lack of a legal sovereign of these territories, the United Nations Security Council, the United Nations General Assembly, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Court of Justice and High Contracting Parties to the Convention have all stated that the Fourth Geneva Convention does indeed apply.

In 2004, an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice determined that Israel had breached its obligations under international law by establishing settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It also concluded that Israel cannot rely on a right of self-defense or on a state of necessity in order to preclude the wrongfulness of imposing a régime which is contrary to international law. The Court also determined that the Israeli régime violates the basic human rights of Palestinians by impeding the liberty of movement of the inhabitants of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (with the exception of Israeli citizens) and their exercise of their right to work, to health, to education and to an adequate standard of living.

Furthermore, Article 8(2)(b)(viii) of the International Criminal Court Rome Statute defines “the transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies” as a war crime. Although Israel initially signed the statute, it later declared its intention not to ratify it.

According to the UN, Israeli governments have built about 150 settlements in the West Bank –including East Jerusalem- since 1967. During that same period, more than 100 ‘outposts’ have been erected by the settlers without official authorization. Between 2002 and 2012, the Middle East Quartet, which includes the European Union, United Nations, United States and Russia, has made 39 joint statements calling on Israeli governments to halt the expansion of settlements. Yet, during that period, the number of settlers living in settlements has risen by more than one third – from approximately 377,000 to 500,000.

To pretend that Palestine incorporation into the United Nations is a threat to peace is to ignore these facts, that have caused so much damage to all those involved. This wrong assumption is a perverse use of language that makes a travesty of justice and basic human rights.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America Award.

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After an overwhelming vote in her favor, Palestine has finally returned home. Sixty-five years after the United Nations General Assembly voted for the partition of Palestine into two states (one Jewish and one Arab), Palestine was granted a non-member observer State status in the United Nations, reaffirming thus “the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to independence in their State of Palestine on the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.” This historic vote recognizes Palestine as a state and gives Palestine the right to join U.N. agencies, including the International Criminal Court, and allows Palestine to bring cases against Israel.

According to Palestinians, Israel has consistently violated international law by conducting “targeted assassinations," home demolitions, expanding the building of settlements in Palestinian land and continuing its blockade of Gaza, in manifest violation of Articles 33, 55, and 56 of the IVth Geneva Convention. Collective punishment of civilians is strictly prohibited by international law, according to which the occupying power has the duty to ensure that food and medical supplies reach the population under siege (Israel controls Gaza’s borders, air space and sea-lanes).

The U.S. rejected the resolution granting observer status to Palestine, yet several prominent Israelis such as former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert favored it. In a letter to Bernard Avishai, Adjunct Professor of Business at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, made public by him, Olmert wrote: “I believe that the Palestinian request from the United Nations is congruent with the basic concept of the two-state solution. Therefore, I see no reason to oppose it. Once the United Nations will lay the foundation for this idea, we in Israel will have to engage in a serious process of negotiations, in order to agree on specific borders based on the 1967 lines, and resolve the other issues. It is time to give a hand and encourage the moderate forces amongst the Palestinians. Abu-Mazen – an alias for Abbas - and Salam Fayyad need our help. It’s time to give it.”

Much has been made of the antagonism between Fattah and Hamas. Abbas, however, as the Palestinian president and head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, went to the U.N. with Hamas’s blessing. This places an enormous pressure on Palestinians to stop their futile internal squabbles and constitute a united front.

To deny that the Palestinians are less interested in peace than the Israelis is to take short, petty view of the conflict. As Graham Peebles, director of Create Trust, a human rights and education organization working for the disadvantaged of the world has stated: “The people of Palestine are desperate for peace and no doubt most decent Israelis share this desire. Is there the will amongst the politicians whom the innocent rely on, have Israel’s allies the courage to do what is right for the people; observe and implement International law, remove the diplomatic support and stop funding the occupation. Is there the will to go beyond platitudes and act, for as a wise man has explained, "nothing happens by itself, man must act and implement his will." Let that be the will of the people for peace, for the ending of death and suffering, for the chance to live together free from fear. To this end the parties must now work. Let an atmosphere of hope be created, for enough pain and suffering has been wrought on the Palestinian people, enough death and heartache, enough anger and insecurity sown into the Israeli people by hateful ambitious leaders.”

A New York Times editorial stated before the vote, “But even if the Palestinians win the vote, the price may be high. After membership in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was granted last year, Israel withheld millions of dollars in tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority – which is in financial distress - and the United States halted financing to UNESCO and withheld millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians.” Whereas this withholding of funding is likely to happen, it should be a matter of concern for the international community rather than a justification for continuing to deny Palestine’s right to exist.

Sixty-five years after the United Nations declared its creation, Palestine has achieved the world body’s recognition it long deserves. It has been a long and arduous way. Yet, finally, Palestine has returned home.

César Chelala, MD, PhD, is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America Award.

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Dear President Obama:

Like many people around the world, I am heartened by your reelection, which I see as an opportunity to continue and improve on your social policies. As you know, relations among nations many times have a psychological connection, aside from their obvious historical one. Because of that, relations among or between nations can contribute to the creation either of a climate of antagonism and war or of cooperation and peace. Nowhere is this truer than in the relationship between the United States and Cuba.

Mainly because of internal political considerations, both countries have chosen the path of antagonism. While the influence of the Cuban lobby in Florida dictates US policy towards the island country, keeping alive the antagonism with the US agglutinates the Cuban people’s support for the Castro brothers.

The commercial, economic and financial embargo imposed by the US on Cuba has been the US response to Cuba’s nationalization of US citizens and corporations’ properties in that country. The US, which now holds $6 billion worth of financial claims against the Cuban Government, states that this is the appropriate response to these claims. This is a position that is not universally accepted.

As you know, Mr. President, the trade embargo against Cuba, the most enduring in modern history, has been strongly criticized not only by those sympathetic to the Cuban regime but also by many leading US officials and legislators. In 2005, George P. Schultz, Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan, called the continuing embargo “insane.”

Reflecting on what is now widespread sentiment, former US Senator Gary Hart stated in March 2011, “Future students of American history will be scratching their heads about this case for decades to come. Our embargo and refusal to normalize diplomatic relations has nothing to do with communism. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have had diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War, with China since Nixon, and with Vietnam despite our bitter war there. No, Cuba was pure politics. Though it started to be a measure of an administration’s resistance to Castro’s politics, it very soon became a straightjacket whereby first-generation Cuban-Americans wielded inordinate political power over both parties and constructed a veto over rational, mature democracy.”

By overwhelming majority, the United Nations General Assembly has repeatedly condemned the embargo as a violation of international law every year since 1992. On November 13, 2012, for the 21st time, that same Assembly again condemned the embargo, 188 to 3 with 2 abstentions. Only Israel and Palau sided with the US.

The embargo against Cuba has proven to be one of the most inefficient political measures ever taken by the US against any country. It has only gained the US universal condemnation and has not forced the Castro brothers to change any of their policies. At the same time, the new generations of Cuban-Americans see the embargo as an anachronistic measure that brings them no positive return.

During one of my visits to Cuba on UN-sponsored health-related missions, I had the opportunity to talk to a 22-year-old Cuban who opposed the Castro regime. “Americans don’t get it,” he told me, “they can get much more with Levi jeans than with the embargo or with the military invasion of our country.”

This, I found later, is the opinion of many Cubans who, despite the embargo, are very fond of Americans. They consider the embargo a political measure that doesn’t respond to the wishes of the American people. I found their attitude very surprising, because they didn’t seem to be equally fond of Russians, even at the time the Soviet Union was substantially helping them.

Mr. President, with your renewed mandate, this is the time to change paradigms, too. Your administration could spearhead a movement to reestablish normal relations with Havana. The world today, besieged by violence and war, will welcome a change of policy that until now has only hurt the Cuban people, alienated US allies, and drastically curtailed US commercial opportunities with that island nation.

César Chelala, MD, PhD, is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America Award.

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The Israeli attack on Gaza is another act in the human tragedy playing out on Palestinian land. This military extravaganza designed to appeal to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s electoral audience, is replete with the usual off-stage catcalls to “starve them out”, “kill them off”, etc. However, we are not simple spectators at a Broadway play but witnesses to a drama of the basest variety. The recent cease-fire deal between Israel and the Palestinians can be permanent or just a temporary interval until the basic causes of the conflict are resolved.

The background to the strike against Gaza, to quote Jonathan Cook, winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism, is once again an Israeli-engineered confrontation “as pretext for a ‘retaliatory’ attack”.

As Cook states, “On November 12, as part of efforts to calm things down, the Palestinian militant factions agreed a truce that held two days – until Israel broke it by assassinating Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari. The rockets out of Gaza that followed these various Israeli provocations have been misrepresented as the Casus Belli. But if Netanyahu and Barak are responsible for creating the immediate pretext for an attack on Gaza, they are also criminally negligent for failing to pursue an opportunity to secure a much longer truce with Hamas.

We now know, thanks to Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin, that in the period leading up to Jabari’s execution Egypt had been working to secure a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas. Jabari was apparently eager to agree to it. The peace activist had already met Barak to alert him to the truce, but it seems the defence minister and Netanyahu had more pressing concerns than ending the tensions between Israel and Hamas.”

President Obama is one of the main actors in this drama. He has repeatedly emphasized that Israel has the right to defend itself from the barrage of missiles thrown by the Palestinians, stating that any country has the right to do so under these circumstances. Perhaps it escapes the US President that the US has been raining missiles in other countries’ peoples, decimating families and killing hundreds of children in the process.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also one of main people responsible for the ongoing conflict. In a recent speech he stated, “There is no moral symmetry, there is no moral equivalence between Israel and the terrorist organizations in Gaza. The terrorists are committing a double crime: they fire at Israeli civilians and they hide behind Palestinian civilians. By contrast, Israel takes every measure to avoid civilian casualties.”
Amira Hass, an Israeli journalist and Haaretz correspondent in the Occupied Territories, recently wrote: “Farmers on their way to sell vegetables in the marketplace, vendors of purified drinking water and people who just happened to live too close to the targets of Israeli air strikes were among the 34 Palestinians estimated to have been killed in Israel Defense Forces attacks in the past two days alone.

Just six of those casualties have been confirmed as members of militant groups.

Among the Palestinians killed in Gaza this week are the 12 members of the Daloo and Manzar families, including four small children, who died when an Israel Air Force pilot bombed their home by mistake, according to the IDF.

Between 94 and 96 Palestinians are estimated to have been killed between the beginning of Operation Pillar of Defense and 6 P.M. Monday [November 19], at least 58 of them civilians and at least 18 of them children.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is a stoic player, and tends to follow the line set by her boss, the President.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, also known as Special Envoy to the Middle East, is only a secondary character, although he firmly believes that he is one of the main ones. He only acts when a handshake with a powerful politician is needed. His actions have not yet yielded any positive result. His frequent flyer miles, however, have increased substantially during this long process.

Although a cease-fire was achieved, there will probably be many more acts in the Israeli-Palestinian drama. We can only hope that it will end up with peace and justice for all. The power of justice has myriad ways of overcoming the power of might.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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We are inside our home in downtown Manhattan suffering the consequences of Hurricane Sandy. We have no electricity (and therefore no working computers) no telephone, no heat and just a drip of running water. Discouraged, I sit at my desk and I find a piece of paper in front of me. It contains a poem (“At last, no longer”) sent to us some time ago by our friend Arthur Bergida Binder, who died in April, 2011, after a long illness.

Arthur was one of the first friends I made when I came to New York with my wife and daughter 40 years ago. Arthur was, and remained to his last days, passionate about his art, which he expressed in many ways. He was a very good flute player and composer, a play write and a novelist and, always at heart, a poet. That he was rarely published didn’t faze him; he continued writing his poems as long as he was physically able to do so.

Close to his death, learning that all his writings were going to be archived at Adelphi University seemed to fulfill his greatest aspirations. When he died, my wife, who had been visiting him that same day, was able to hold his hand to his last breath. He died in peace. The poem by him I found, printed below, was accompanied by a few lines expressing his desire to get together with us soon again. In the poem’s last lines, he seemed to have been foreshadowing his own death.

At Last, No Longer

Cheering each other on,
sharing recent works,
news of late accomplishments,
prospects, plans, doubts, wishes…
admiring each other’s good looks –
sharing space, watching each other eat –
little communal bits celebrating
life and hope – before one gets to be
over the hill – seeing the far sea
(not the “Pharsee” [Farsi]; nor the “Pharisee”)
The farce, see? and the FAR SEA –
And the dim sunset – greening, greeting –
when one gathers about
family and friends - when one –
tired and alone – still questioning –
gathers (all about oneself) skin and bones –
curls up somewhat like a fetus (like a farting dybbuk) –
waiting – wanting – to close one’s eyes.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an award-winning writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

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I'm sitting at a McDonald's, drinking cappuccino and eating a delicious croissant with a spectacular view of one of the most famous monasteries in the city, and probably in the country. This situation would not be unusual except that it takes place in St. Petersburg and the monastery is not a common one but the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, named in honor of the most important and admired hero in Russian history. Nor is it common that two countries’ icons are facing each other. A commercial icon, represented by the
McDonald's, here called Mac KaΦé, and an historical icon, the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. In the monastery are buried prestigious Russian writers, musicians and artists. In addition, the croissant is a French culinary icon and the cashier at Mac KaΦé doesn’t look Russian but rather she looks as if she is a native of one of the former Soviet republics. This scene is one more example of the scope of globalization and how it affects the world today.

The Impact of Communism

The years of communism have left their mark on the character of many Russians. They seem introspective and disillusioned, perhaps due to lack of certain freedoms at the time of the Soviet Union, a situation I also observed in Armenia several years ago. As some young Armenians told me at the time, and as I was also told by several Russian friends, during the years of the Soviet Union, although their basic needs were covered, there was enormous pressure not to be different and creative, thus giving the people a sense of oppression that eventually influenced their character. After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia went through a period of great ferment.

Angela Sem (not her real name), a young Russian who now lives in New York, said, “After the destruction of the Soviet Union there was a period of confusion, of lack of rules and lack of business ethics where people with strong personal initiative took advantage of the situation to start building huge fortunes. Those people close to power were obviously the most favored.” The result is that today Russia is developing as a “bipolar” society, where a small minority has enormous wealth and the vast majority of the population lives with lower middle class standards. According to some economists, the middle class will grow steadily in the coming years, and so will its demands for greater political freedom and fair elections.

The Historical Meaning of Moscow

Moscow has great historical and political significance. The consolidation of Russia as a world power accelerated between 1800 and 1830, although it had lost several battles against the French forces. Even today, the Russians seem to remember with relish the invasion of Napoleon's Grande Armée in 1812 and its subsequent defeat. At that time, Napoleon was at the height of his power, and no European country dared to confront him. For Russians, the victory over Napoleon and the defeat of Germany in the Second World War helped forge their national identity, the pride of knowing that they could overcome any external threat and become victorious.

The Louse That Defeated Napoleon

Although it is generally accepted that the combination of Russian forces, hunger and the harsh winter were the main factors in the defeat of Napoleon, a new hypothesis emerged in recent years to explain it. According to French researchers led by Dr. Didier Raoult of the University of Marseille, more than half of the French deaths were probably due to an epidemic of typhus, transmitted by the vulgar louse called Pediculus humanus corporis. Although epidemics of this type are now rare, they still occur in times of war, natural disasters or also in prisons, where people live in conditions devoid of basic hygiene.

Researchers led by Dr. Didier recovered dental pulp, pieces of bones and fragments of military uniforms in a tomb in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, which was at that time part of the Russian Empire. Examination of the dental pulp revealed Rickettsia prowazekii, the causative agent of epidemic typhus. When the DNA of the pathogen is in the dental pulp, it is likely that the agent is responsible for the death of their hosts, according to the researchers. The hypothesis of Dr. Didier serves to review and reinterpret history. Moreover, that a humble microbe contributed to defeat the strongest army in Europe at that time, is cause for serious reflection.

The Allure of Exile

The lack of opportunities and growing economic difficulties entice many young people (among them many artists) to emigrate, particularly to Europe and to the United States. Those that emigrate are all those young people who want to broaden their horizons and have better opportunities and who see them now curtailed by the prevailing climate of corruption in the country. For example, those merchants who refuse to pay bribes are visited by fire inspectors, tax auditors or the police until they give up and pay the bribe demanded of them or have their business closed. It is estimated that between 2008 and 2011 more than 1,250,000 Russians emigrated, an even greater number than those who emigrated after the collapse of the Soviet Union. A survey conducted in 2010, for example, found that 21 percent of Russians want to emigrate, compared with 5 percent who wanted to do so in 1991, the year the Soviet Union collapsed.

I walk through a suburb of Moscow where, despite good weather, I find few people walking on the streets. Suddenly I feel disoriented, unable to find the entrance to the subway I was looking for. I stop a woman walking with her young daughter and ask her, in my basic Russian, for directions. She quickly replies in Russian. When I asked her to speak more slowly she tells me, now in perfect English, where the subway entry is. We have a brief chat and I ask her for her view on the current situation in Russia and she explains the difficulties faced by young people who want to have a job and a salary that allows them to live well. According to the government, she tells me, Russia has a very good economic situation. And then she says, in a tone of irritation and almost of despair in her voice, "If we are so rich, why then are we so poor?" She also complains about the great immigration from the former Soviet republics to major Russian cities. "Pretty much we are being crowded out," she says sadly. She was responding politely to what many Russians seem to be intolerant to: the growing immigration of people from neighboring countries. Russian authorities are particularly concerned about Chinese immigrants which they see as part of “Chinese infiltration” into Russia and which they try to counter with very restrictive immigration policies.

Racism in Russia Today

I had an inkling of continuing anti-semitism in Russia after talking to my guide in St. Petersburg. He was an older man of Jewish descent, very knowledgeable about Russia, and particularly St. Petersburg’s history. When I asked him if there was anti-Semitism in Russia he told me that there wasn’t any. My question made him feel uneasy and his eyes told me otherwise.

Antagonism in Russia, however, is not limited to people of Jewish descent. It includes practically all foreigners, particularly those that, for whatever reason Russians see as affecting their interests and those people who are not considered ethnic Russians. This is particularly the case of people from the Caucasus, who increasingly flock to Russia’s main cities in search of better work opportunities. They are faced, however, with intolerance and outright violence, incidents of which seem to be increasing in recent years.

In 2006, Amnesty International stated that racism in Russia was ‘out of control’ and in 2008 estimated the number of Russian neo-Nazis at around 85,000. According to Galina Kozhevnikova, from the SOVA Center in Russia, an organization devoted to information and analysis on racism and xenophobia, in 2009 there was a manifest reduction in the number of victims of racist and neo-Nazi motivated violence, which she ascribes to the suppression of the largest and most aggressive ultra-right groups by law enforcement agencies.

Demographic Threat

During the past two decades, an aging demographic and its effect on Russian society has been the focus of debate. There is now universal agreement that unless Russia resolves this serious problem, its status as a world power will be seriously compromised. Russia has recently experienced a phenomenon similar to that of several developed countries, a rapidly aging population with steadily declining birth rates. However, while people living in most industrialized countries have increased life expectancy, in Russia this is seriously compromised by the relatively low health status of its population.

Nicholas Eberstadt, an American demographer says, "Post-Soviet Russia has become a net mortality society, steadily registering more deaths than births." These factors, in addition to restrictive immigration policies and low fertility rates, have led Russia to a constant process of depopulation. It is estimated that between 1993 and 2010 the population in Russia was reduced from approximately 149 to 142 million people. If current trends continue, Russia's population in 2050 will be between 100-107 million, which would be a disaster for such a big country.

In 2000, Putin tried to counter this decline, giving priority housing and a special allowance of 7,000 rubles (about $ 250) per month per child to families with more than three children. He also tried to implement policies to encourage immigration, particularly of Russian-speaking people from the former Soviet republics. These policies did not produce the expected results. In 2008, a United Nations report, "Demographic Policy in Russia: From Reflection to Action", highlighted that the main causes for low fertility are the financial difficulties experienced by young families, associated with the perception that conditions in the country are not the most conducive to raising children. This situation is exacerbated by the poor health support services, and widespread abortions and infertility.

The Public Health Crisis

In 2010, Putin acknowledged that Russia needed to reform its health system on a large scale, and pledged to allocate $10 billion in the next two years to modernize medical institutions in the country. Serious health problems among Russians are the result of high rates of smoking and alcohol consumption, as well as high numbers of people living with HIV/AIDS. It is now estimated that more than two million men are HIV positive, and the epidemic doesn’t show any signs of abating.

According to the World Health Organization, heart disease, aggravated by alcohol and tobacco, is responsible for over 1.2 million deaths each year. HIV/AIDS is a growing concern, especially because 80 percent of those infected with HIV are under 30, and the epidemic is closely associated with high levels of intravenous drug use. In addition, many experts believe that Russia has one of the fastest growing HIV/AIDS epidemics in the world. Programs to reduce damage caused by this infection have not been able to control the epidemic.

Russia as an Economic Power

The Russian economy is the ninth in the world, and it is considered the sixth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). It is estimated that the country holds 40 percent of natural resources worldwide. The Ural Mountains are full of minerals, gas and oil reserves, and there is plenty of coal and timber in Siberia and Russia’s Far East. However, most of these reserves are located in remote, harsh weather regions far from Russian ports, a situation that makes their exploitation very expensive and demands large capital investment. In addition, widespread corruption and lack of investment in infrastructure negatively affects the economy.

Following an economic recession in late 2008 and early 2009 Russia is experiencing continuous growth. In 2011, its GDP grew by 4.2 percent, one of the highest among the world’s leading economies. Oil and gas continue to be the country’s main exports, which makes Russia highly vulnerable to world energy prices.

Growing state capitalism is having a negative effect on Russia’s economic development. Government-owned companies are eliminating private enterprise. This is the case of Rosneft, the state-controlled oil giant and Gazprom, the natural gas monopoly, which became two of the largest energy companies in the world after eating up private energy companies, per Michael Schuman, a TIME magazine correspondent in Moscow.

The Reaches of the Kremlin

The Kremlin represents the mythical heart of Russia, a series of palaces, armories and churches, and a crucial stage of the once magnificent and tragic history of the czars. Even more than in Soviet times, power in Russia is concentrated in President Vladimir Putin and his friends. According to Masha Gessen, a Russian journalist who lives in Moscow, at the time of the Soviet Union, the Communist Party and the KGB competed for leadership of the country. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party, and Putin’s subsequent rise to power, Russia is probably the first case in the world of a country led by its secret police.

After his initial encounter with the Russian president, former U.S. President George W. Bush said he could intimately understand Putin and establish good contact with him just by looking into his eyes. Bush’s comments caused great hilarity around the world, particularly in Russia, since it reflected his limited understanding of the Russian character, particularly Putin’s.

An Enigma called Putin

In the nineteenth century, Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev, considered one of the last three Russian romantic poets wrote:

Who would grasp Russia with the mind?
For her no yardstick was created:
Her soul is of a special kind
By faith alone appreciated.

This difficulty in understanding applies particularly to Russia’s Putin, one of its most enigmatic personalities. In Russia, words and symbols are more important than reality. Putin, either as President or as Prime Minister has repeatedly tried to use symbols to rally support for its policies. One of these symbols has been the idea of Russia as an isolated fortress, surrounded by powerful enemies, particularly the United States. However, despite the use of these symbols, I have noticed a great deal of antagonism against Putin, particularly among young people and intellectuals of all ages. Many people believe that although there has always been corruption in Russia, it has never been as great as now. This is compounded by Putin's maneuvers to stay in power indefinitely, which causes tremendous concern among Russians.

The Future of Russia

Proud of their past, the Russians are more anxious than ever to express freely their political desires, and to grow and thrive in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility, something not possible with Putin in office. Since taking power, Putin has exacerbated the negative aspects of his regime: consolidation of power, strict control of the media and the economy, electoral manipulation, and persecution of political opponents and of industrialists and merchants who oppose his regime.

According to Vladimir Ryzhkov, a State Duma deputy from 1993 to 2007, there are five areas which will be Putin’s undoing in the next six years: electoral fraud and manipulation, corruption, judicial and police abuse, censorship and propaganda in the state-controlled media and destruction of historical sites. I was able to test the veracity of this assessment during my recent trip to Russia, and I believe that it touches upon the main issues confronting the government.

At the same time, the public seems less willing to endure government abuse, and protests against the current regime are constant, despite the huge fines set by the government for any kind of popular demonstration. And there is no doubt that Putin will face increasing criticism of his iron-hand polices. Given these circumstances, it is impossible to predict with certainty the direction events will take. It is clear, however, that Russian leaders face a wide and complex range of problems. How they respond to these challenges will determine the kind of country that Russia will become.

Dr. Cesar Chelala writes extensively on foreign policy and human rights issues. He is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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At the fiftieth anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, everybody remembers how close was the world to nuclear disaster as a result of the nuclear missiles installed in Cuba by the Soviet Union. The world was saved from that horrific scenario by the agreement between President John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

It is possible that the world came even closer to annihilation, however, due to related events that began to be publicly known in 2002. Those events culminated in what is known as Black Saturday, and made US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara state that the US came “very close” to nuclear war, “closer than we knew at the time.” The hero behind those events referred by McNamara was Vasili Arkhipov, a Soviet naval officer.

As politicians discussed how to solve the Cuban Missile Crisis four Soviet submarines were sent on a mission known only to a few top officials at the Communist party. The destination was unknown, to be revealed once the commanders of the submarines were at sea. The order was for the four submarines to travel 7,000 miles, leaving from a secret base in the Arctic Circle. They would cross the Atlantic Ocean and remain at Mariel, Cuba, where they could serve as vanguard for Soviet forces close to mainland United States.

Probably because communication with Moscow wasn’t always easy, the submarine commanders had orders to act without superiors’ orders if they deemed it necessary. Those orders involved even firing a nuclear torpedo of terrifying power called a ‘special weapon’ by the Soviets, carried by each one of the submarines.
There was, however, a very strict safety protocol that required that three persons within the submarine be in agreement to launch an attack: the captain, the political officer -both of whom had half a key to activate the release mechanism- plus the Commander of the fleet, Vasili Arkhipov. He was one of the few men who knew about the mission’s objectives in advance. The events are strikingly dramatized in the PBS TV documentary The Man Who Saved the World.

The four submarines, among them the B-59, where Arkhipov was stationed, were diesel-powered and, according to the Americans, totally unfit for the mission. The Americans had deployed the most up-to-date and sophisticated submarine detection mechanisms which included destroyers, helicopters and surveillance planes. At that time, President Kennedy had ordered US ships to form a ring around Cuba to stop further flow of Soviet weapons. 40 destroyers, four aircraft carriers and 358 aircraft were ordered to patrol the area.

The crew of the B-59 had been away from home for three and a half weeks, in trying conditions and cut off from communication with Moscow. The Soviet diesel electric subs had to surface to recharge their batteries but, afraid of being spotted by the Americans, the B-59 had to dive further down with only enough charge in their batteries to last for six hours.

In the meantime American planes had spotted three submarines in the area, the B-59 among them. Kennedy, however, had given strict orders not to attack, but that once spotted the submarines should be driven to the surface. Unable to communicate with Moscow the men in the B-59 were frightened and disconcerted.

The aircraft carrier USS Randolph had trapped the B-59 near Cuba and started dropping depth charges, a kind of explosives used to force the submarine to come to the surface for identification. Because the B-59 was stationed too deep to monitor any radio signals, those on board didn’t know if war had broken out.

The captain of the B-59 submarine, Valentin Grigorievitch Savisky, thought that the war had started out and wanted to launch a nuclear attack. A harsh argument broke out among the captain, the political officer Ivan Semonovich Maslennikov and Vasili Arkhipov, second in command in the submarine but Commander of the fleet of four submarines that included, in addition to the B-59, the B-4, B-36 and B-130.

Arkhipov’s position finally prevailed; he persuaded Savitsky to surface and await orders from Moscow. Thanks to his determination a nuclear war of devastating consequences had been averted. A single man’s valor had saved the world from annihilation.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America Award.

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I am looking at a photograph of a crying man, holding in his arms the bloodied body of his son, a child, among the rubble of Aleppo. The man is kneeling down, his left foot diverging from the right foot towards the left, giving additional pathos to an already disturbing image. The pain of the world is on the man’s shoulders.

Human rights organizations estimate in between 18,000 and 80,000 the number of those killed in Aleppo. The U.N. estimates that 700,000 have already left the country. This brutal war has led to the destruction of whole neighborhoods in cities like Homs and Aleppo. I also see the photograph of an apartment building almost totally destroyed by bombs from government plains, and can easily imagine the following scenario as narrated by a 10-year-old child.

“We were all huddled up in a back room of our house. We had been asked to leave, since most of our neighbors had already left, but my Grandma yelled at what she thought were intruders, “How can I leave when my husband is unable to move!” The intruders (those men fighting outside our house) realized that they could win a battle but they would lose the war against my grandmother’s determination. Now, even if we wanted, we couldn’t leave.

I looked at my grandfather, sitting in his wheelchair, looking beyond into space not understanding what was going on. He made a signal to my sister and asked for milk. She just moved her head until my older brother came to her rescue and told Grandpa, “Wait a little, Grandpa, I will bring it to you later.”

In the meantime the noise became deafening. The front of our house was almost destroyed and plaster continued falling down in chunks from the walls. My father was nowhere to be found, so my Mother became the reluctant head of the family. Since she wasn’t used to that role, she found it difficult to manage my brother, who is 11-years-old and my two sisters, four and two years old. Since I am ten-years old, I try to help them as much as I could. Without my brother’s help, however, I wouldn’t have been able to do it.

While I am thinking about what was going, we heard an awful noise. I look through one of the doors towards the front of the house. Part of the ceiling has fallen down, totally crushing the piano, which in normal times my brother used to play in his free time after school.

I say to myself ‘normal times’ and realize that I may never know again what those times were really like anymore. Times when we said good by to our father at the door when he was going to work in the morning, and then my brother leaving for school; the times when we all came back, getting together for lunch, lovingly prepared by my mother and my grandmother. Only Grandpa was absent, I mean, not physically, just mentally, living in his own world.

After a few days, I saw how the naturally sweet nature of my mother had totally changed from a good humored, optimistic person, always singing or humming an Arabic song to a person I almost didn’t recognize. What was once a proud woman, carefully dressed, now she seemed disheveled, speaking harshly not only to us, but even to her own mother, something that she had never done before.

As I was having those thoughts we heard the steps of someone running towards our house and then a big noise against the front door. We were paralyzed with fear, all of us except my brother who run towards the door, slightly opening it and seeing a young man totally covered with blood, screaming with pain. Seconds later the man fainted and fell on the floor. My brother immediately closed the door and came back to the back room where we were all sitting, terrified.

He described what he saw but my Mother refused to do anything for the young man at the door. Grandma, however, wouldn’t stand still. At first she asked and then she yelled to my Mother that they couldn’t leave somebody, anybody, to die all alone, like an abandoned animal. I couldn’t contain my tears.

Finally, seeing that she would be unable to contain Grandma, my Mother relented and went with my brother to the door, where they both pulled the young man in. Grandma brought a wet towel, and cleaned him. He finally opened his eyes, painfully, full of terror.”

This is a fictional account based on true events. Looking at what is happening in Aleppo is very painful to me. Two of my Grandparents came to America from that hapless, ravaged city.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America Award.

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She was an obviously mentally challenged and aggressive woman. Following an unpleasant incident in which she was involved, I together with a group of children, were disrespectful to her. That we were children behaving silly or that the incident happened almost 65 years ago doesn’t diminish my responsibility, or my sense of guilt. If anything positive came out of that experience, however, it is that it made me more aware of the suffering of others, particularly in cases of mental illness.

I thought about this incident that happened so long ago in my hometown, during a recent visit to my family still living there. I had gone with my brother and two sisters for a short trip out of the city, just to relax and reaffirm our family bonds, so necessary after living apart for almost 50 years, although with yearly visits to my country.

My brother had taken us to a dam located not far from the city, surrounded by beautiful hills where we could have our afternoon tea and chat at leisure. I treasured those moments because they are so rare as to make them very special to me.

We were walking towards a restaurant located on the side of a lake when I saw a young man – probably in his late twenties - sitting on a mound next to a woman, whom I assumed was in her early fifties. My attention was drawn to him, since he was obviously mentally incapacitated. He had the look of a lost person and was constantly and aimlessly moving his arms around, as if chasing invisible flies.

I thought about the tremendous weight that mental disease places on all societies and how there is practically no family that is not – directly or indirectly - affected by it. At the family level, as well, mental illness also places a heavy burden, particularly on the caregivers, who have to devote considerable time and energy to the care of those affected. In this regard, several studies have shown how the long time stress of care-giving results in increased rates of depression, alcoholism, medication and substance abuse particularly among family members, who care for relatives affected with mental illness.

Despite the high frequency of those affected with some kind of mental illness, which can be roughly estimated to be between 15 to 25% of the population in most countries, there is still considerable prejudice against them, even in the most developed countries.

A study commissioned by the Time to Change campaign, an umbrella group of charities and the Institute of Psychiatry in England which surveyed 2,000 across the country, showed that admitting to a mental health condition was harder than admitting to having a drinking problem or going bankrupt.

According to the World Health Organization, stigma, discrimination and neglect prevent care and treatment from reaching people affected with mental disorders. Looking at the disheveled young man with his odd behavior I could see why people find it difficult to accept.

Mental illness, however, is not the result of personal weakness, and no matter how much people may try to ignore it, it is not going to go away or be resolved by itself. Like cardiovascular problems or diabetes, mental illness is a response to genetic and biological causes, and requires understanding and treatment. Many of these diseases can be treated effectively.

We continued on our way to the restaurant where we had a most pleasant afternoon, sharing family news, jokes and talking about our respective activities. It was getting late in the afternoon and, although it had been an unusually mild winter day it was becoming a bit chilly, so we retraced our steps and went to fetch our car.

As we were going back I could again see the young man and the woman sitting beside him. She was sitting quietly looking out into the horizon; her whole presence irradiated peace. It seemed as if there was a protective current that went from her and enveloped him. I felt the need to tell her something, anything, thinking that there was a connection between her and the young man sitting close to her. I couldn’t think of anything special to tell her so I just said, “You have a lot of patience.” She looked at me, and then she looked at the young man and responded, “I have to. He is my son.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

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In its last meeting in New York, the Russell Tribunal, also known as the International War Tribunal, strongly condemned Israeli policies towards Palestinians, particularly in the Gaza Strip. In addition, the Russell Tribunal criticized the U.S. and the UN complicity in allowing Israel to carry out its policies.

The Russell Tribunal on Palestine was created in March 2009, and held its first three sessions in Barcelona (2010), London (2010) and Cape Town (2011.) The New York session was held in New York from October 6 to October 8 of 2012.

The Tribunal was composed of major international figures working for human rights, such as Mairead Corrigan Maguire, a former Nobel Peace Laureate from Northern Ireland, and Stéphane Hessel, who is its honorary president.

Hessel has had a remarkable life. He was born in Germany and emigrated to France and joined General de Gaulle’s group of Resistance fighters. He was later captured by the Gestapo and deported to the Buchenwald and Dora concentration camps were he suffered water boarding torture. He escaped to Hannover, where he met US troops. He participated in the editing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and received prestigious awards.

The noted philosopher Bertrand Russell explained the creation of the tribunal by quoting Justice Robert H. Jackson, Chief Prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial, who had stated, “If certain acts and violations of treaties are crimes, they are crimes whether the United States does them or whether Germany does them. We are not prepared to lay down a rule of criminal conduct against others which we would not be willing to have invoked against us.”

The Tribunal discussed Israeli actions established in previous sessions that constitute violations of international law, treaties, resolutions of the political organs of the UN, and the Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Based on its analysis of the situation in the Middle East with regard to the Palestinians, “The Tribunal finds that ongoing colonial settlement expansion, its racial policies, as well as its violent militarism would not be possible without the US’s economic, military and diplomatic support. Following World War II, and since then, the US has demonstrated a commitment to Israel’s establishment and viability as an exclusionary Jewish state at the expense of Palestinian human rights. While the US Administrations initially offered moral support, since the Six Day War in 1967, the US has provided unequivocal economic, military, and diplomatic support to Israel in order to establish a qualitative military superiority over its Arab neighbors in violation of its own domestic law.”

With regard to the UN, the Tribunal established that, “The lack of concrete UN action against Israel constitutes an international wrongful act, which prejudices Palestine and implicates the Organization’s responsibility. The unlawful nature of the UN omissions is acute due to their exceptional gravity under international law.”

The formation and conclusions of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine has been strongly criticized. After the third session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine which took place in Cape Town in 2011, a group of Jewish South Africans protested against the court, and the organizer of the protest called it a “Kangaroo Court.”

Although the jury of the Tribunal is composed of internationally recognized human rights activists, Richard J. Goldstone, a former justice of the South African Constitutional Court who led the United Nations fact-finding mission on Gaza in 2008-2009 stated in a New York Times article, “The “evidence” is going to be one-sided and the members of the “jury” are critics whose harsh views of Israel are well known.” Goldstone obviously saw no conflict in having a Jewish background and heading a delegation whose aim was to investigate the Israeli government crimes against the Palestinians.

The aim of the Russell Tribunal was aptly expressed by Stéphane Hessel. When I asked him in New York, “Why are you so interested in the fate of the Palestinians?” he responded, “Because I am interested in the fate of Israel.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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“Now you see it, now you don’t!” In the astute way of the street “Monte” card players, and for many months, Mitt Romney had been threatening to show his tax returns. Now, finally, he has fulfilled his promise. He has just presented his 2011 tax return. It shows that he paid 14.1% of his income in taxes. Are we supposed to feel proud for the Republican presidential candidate? With a joint income several hundred times less than that of Mr. Romney my wife and myself paid almost 30% taxes on our income.

Democrats stated that Romney had claimed fewer deductions than he was entitled to so as to keep his rate at such a level since, had he taken the full charitable deduction he was allowed to, he would have pushed his tax liability to below 13%. But he still refuses to release his tax returns from before 2010, particularly those years when he worked at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he co-founded. He has only released a statement on the overall federal tax rate paid for the previous 20 years.

There are several ways businessmen have to lower their taxable income. Romney takes advantage of loopholes and tax shelters that allows private equity managers to treat their income as capital gains, and thus be taxed at only 15 percent. As Robert Reich has indicated, this is a loophole that only exists because those managers have considerable political clout as a result of the huge amounts of money donated to political candidates of both parties.

In addition, Romney’s investments in offshore accounts in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands had not been made public. Romney’s campaign insists that these offshore accounts are taxed at the same rate as if the share were held in the U.S. What they don’t say, however, and as has been stated by Timothy Noah in The New Republic, “…the Romneys aren’t evading income taxes by putting their money in the Caymans. The fund they put their money into is evading taxes by parking itself in the Cayman Islands. As a result, that fund (and therefore the Romneys) get to keep more of their profits. Why evade taxes when you can get somebody to do it for you?”

With the cunning ability of an oily weasel, Romney has refused to release his tax returns previous to 2010. George Romney, his own father, however, released 12 years of tax returns before his presidential campaign. He thus established a precedent that was followed by nearly every presidential candidate since, as remarked by Nicholas Shaxson, writing for Vanity Fair.

Romney’s tax proposals include making the Bush-era income tax cuts and capital gains tax cuts permanent, cutting all income tax rates by an additional 20 percent across the board, and repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax (which affects primarily upper-income tax payers) as well as the estate tax (which applies to estates valued at $5 million or more.)

Mitt Romney has stated that he would offset the loss of personal tax revenue by lowering tax deductions and credits, while making sure that those with higher incomes will continue paying the “same share of the tax burden they are paying now.” In the opinion of the non partisan Tax Policy Center, however, what he promises is not possible. The Tax Policy Center is a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution.

According to the Tax Policy Center, an analysis of Romney’s corporate, individual and estate tax plan would cost $480 billion a year, or $4.8 trillion over 10 years, beginning in calendar year 2015. Furthermore, Romney’s plan would result in an average tax cut of $256,603 for 99.97 percent of those making $1 million a year or more, while further down the scale the benefits would be considerably less. Mr. Romney stressed, however, that “he is not looking for a tax cut to the very wealthiest.”

Still, Mr. Romney’s taxes leaves many questions still unanswered. He has stated that further releases of his tax returns would just give his opponents “hundreds of thousands of more pages to pick through, distort and lie about.” If he doesn’t have anything to hide, however, an analysis of his returns over the years can prove that he is the truthful candidate that he claims he is. Mr. Romney has proven to be an astute Monte card game player. Let’s see what other tricks he has up his sleeve.

Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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It was an unusual event in July at the Libertad (Freedom) prison in Uruguay. Miguel Angel Estrella, an Argentine pianist, was giving a concert in the same prison where he had been imprisoned and tortured 32 years earlier. He dedicated the concert to the 50 inmates now in that prison. After he was liberated, Estrella had testified against Dolcey Britos, a psychologist who had masterminded the psychological torture of prisoners at that prison.

Estrella was liberated thanks to an unprecedented international campaign on his behalf. A friend since my youth, he told me in New York about the ordeal he went through while he was a prisoner in Uruguay. A professional pianist, he was subjected to a most unusual and frightening punishment. He was beaten repeatedly on his hands and threatened with amputation, a spiritual death for a pianist.

He told me, “They [the torturers] concentrated on my hands like sadists. They applied electricity under my nails, without stopping and later they hung me from my arms. After two days of torture I hurt all over, and didn’t have any sensation left in my hands. I touched things and didn’t feel anything. The last time I was tortured they threatened to cut off my hands with an electric saw saying, ‘We are going to chop off your hands, finger by finger, and then we are going to kill you, as the Chileans killed Víctor Jara [a famous Chilean folk singer and guitar player who was killed after being tortured, his hands repeatedly smashed before his death]’.”

The torture of Estrella was carried out so as to lower his defense, his self-esteem, his hope. Such a carefully orchestrated torture raises the question of the involvement of health professionals –including psychologists and psychiatrists- in its design. When questioned by Dr. Maxwell Gregg Bloche, an American physician and lawyer who investigated the role of Uruguayan military doctors for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Britos claimed that his role was only that of “diagnostic consultant” to the psychiatrist in the prison.

Estrella, despite all his suffering, was a lucky prisoner. He survived and is now an internationally known pianist, humanitarian and Argentina’s Ambassador to UNESCO. This is not the case of thousands who are still tortured while in prison, in some cases with the collusion of medical personnel.

It is now known that both German and Japanese doctors killed thousands of people under the excuse that they were conducting medical research. The Nuremberg tribunal of war crimes brought to trial twenty-three German defendants, some of them physicians, who were accused of crimes involving experimentation on human subjects.

“There is increasing evidence that U.S. doctors, nurses and medics have been complicit in torture and other illegal procedures in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay,” wrote Robert Jay Lifton, a noted American psychiatrist in a 2005 article for The New England Journal of Medicine.

Aside from using human beings to conduct experiments, there are several ways in which medical personnel participate in torture. They range from assessing the prisoner’s health status before initiating torture to determining how much longer it is possible to continue with torture without endangering the prisoners’ survival. It also involves reviving prisoners who have been made unconscious by pain and punishment, and actively participating in the interrogation process.

A new report by Human Rights Watch, “Delivered Into Enemy’s Hands: U.S-led Abuse and Rendition of Opponents of Gaddafi’s Libya,” describes how a Libyan man, Mohammed Shoroeiya, who was detained in Pakistan in 2003 and then transferred to Libya, was subject to waterboarding while an American man who seemed to be a doctor was present during the torture sessions.

That professionals who are trained to do everything in their power to alleviate suffering would instead contribute to carrying out torture is one of the most tragic perversions of the medical mandate. It is a fundamental problem in medical ethics. In the case of physicians, their participation in torture is one of most blatant violations of basic tenets established circa 2,500 years ago by Hippocrates.

What are the psychological mechanisms behind doctors’ participation in torture? Richard Goldstein and Patrick Breslin offered an explanation, “But most physicians involved in torture seem to be caught up in vast government machines and to descend gradually into the torture chamber, propelled by a combination of fear, weakness, and self-delusion that is all too depressingly human.”

Norberto Liwsky, an Argentine physician who had been abducted by the Argentine military and who was tortured with the complicity of a colleague named Héctor Jorge Vidal, told me, “No one participates in torture without first going through a process of justifying unethical values, even before he enters the torture chamber.” Whatever the explanation, however, it doesn’t diminish its terrible consequences or the horror of the act itself.

Dr. César Chelala is an international public health consultant and a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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“It is difficult to overestimate the risks that Benjamin Netanyahu poses to the future of his own country. As Prime Minister, he has done more than any other political figure to embolden and elevate the reactionary forces in Israel, to eliminate the dwindling possibility of a just settlement with the Palestinians, and to isolate his country on the world diplomatic stage,” wrote recently David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker.

This comment was written before Netanyahu accused the US of being unable to draw a red line whose crossing would be reason enough to launch an attack on Iran, and following a statement by US Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey, that he won’t be “complicit” in an Israeli attack against that country.

Remnick’s comments have been lent additional credence by a just released report, “Weighing Benefits and Costs of Military Action Against Iran,” written by almost three dozen former notable U.S. national security advisers (Brent Scowcroft, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Sandy Berger), intelligence and military officers (among them Gen. Anthony Zinni and Adm. William Fallon,) and diplomats (among them former U.N. Ambassador Thomas Pickering). Prominent Republicans included former Nebraska Se. Chuck Hagel, former Trade Representative Carla Hills and former Deputy Secretaries of State John Whitehead and Richard Armitage.

The report is highly critical of a possible attack against Iran, carried out either by Israel or by Israel and the U.S., a course of action that has been repeatedly advocated by the Israeli Prime Minister. According to the authors, the report is not an advocacy document, but rather an effort to “depoliticize discussion of a highly charged issue,” and provide informed analysis and opinion on which aspects should be taken into consideration before launching and attack on Iran.

The bipartisan group who wrote the report emphasizes that military force should be a last resort, and that “…it will be impossible to make a rational assessment of the role of military force in any overall Iran strategy, without first carefully assessing the likely benefits and costs of military action.”

Among the possible benefits of s strike against Iran are the following: damage or destroy Iran’s declared major enrichment facilities; damage Iranian military capabilities; demonstrate U.S. seriousness and credibility, and help deter nuclear weapons proliferation.

Although the authors make clear that most uranium conversion facilities could be destroyed by a US attack, they also indicate that it would be considerably more difficult to damage or destroy the Fordow enrichment facility which is buried under 200-300 feet of rock. Should Israel and no the US carry out the attack, “Israel could not do great damage to the deeply buried Fordow enrichment facility, without resorting to riskier ground attacks.”

Should the US have as its aim regime change in Iran, however, a considerable commitment of force could be required to occupy part or all of the country. Given the size and population of the country, the US would need more resources and personnel than what the “…U.S. has expended over the past 10 years in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined.”

The costs of an eventual attack on Iran are carefully analyzed in the report which establishes that there would be near-costs associated with Iranian retaliation as well as long-term costs with serious consequences for regional and global stability, including economic stability.

Among the costs associated with an attack on Iran described in the report are those resulting from Iranian retaliation against the US; Iranian strikes against Israel; indirect retaliation by Iran; breakdown of global solidarity against Iran’s nuclear program; increased possibility of Iran becoming a nuclear state; global political and economic instability, provoking disruptions in security and in energy supply; and damage to the United States’ global reputation.

It doesn’t escape to the authors of the report - nor to anybody who has been following events in the region closely - that US and/or Israel military strikes will more likely unify the population behind the government rather than generate resistance against the regime.

The bi-partisan group which authored the report, leaders in the US, UK, Russia and China and Israel’ former security and intelligence chiefs have been clear in their opposition to an attack against Iran which could bring devastating consequences to the region and to the world. In these circumstances, nobody is obliged to follow Netanyahu’s messianic, unrealistic project of attacking Iran.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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In what is the latest of many calls for the trial of former US president George W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner has demanded that both leaders be tried for their role in the Iraq war. Given the tremendous loss of lives and the perversion of international law that war has caused, Tutu’s recommendations should be seriously considered.

According to Tutu, the decision to invade Iraq has had major costs. More than 110,000 Iraqis have died since the beginning of the conflict and millions of Iraqis have been displaced. In addition, by the end of last year, nearly 4,500 American soldiers had been killed and more than 32,000 wounded and left with serious injuries. Tutu says that those responsible, notably Bush and Blair, should tread the same path as some of their Asian and African peers who have been made to answer for their actions in the Hague.

Tony Blair tried to refute Tutu’s assertions, and claimed that Iraq was now a much more prosperous country than under Saddam Hussein. “I have a great respect for Archbishop Tutu’s fight against apartheid – where we were on the same side of the argument – but to repeat the old canard that we lied about the intelligence is completely wrong as every independent analysis of the evidence has shown,” said Blair. In his response to Tutu, however, Blair doesn’t address the charge of the essential illegality of the Iraq war and the consequences it has had on the international rule of law.

In February 2006, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court stated that he had received 240 communications related to the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, which alleged that various war crimes had been committed. US and UK officials, however, argued that existing UN Security Council resolutions after the first Persian Gulf War had authorized the invasions.

Critics of the invasion of Iraq claimed that it was necessary to have a special UN Security Council resolution authorizing the invasion. In September 2004, then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan stated, “From our point of view and the UN Charter point of view it [the war] was illegal.

The UN Charter is considered the foundation of modern international law. Because it is a treaty that was ratified by the US and its main coalition allies in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, they were therefore bound by its terms. Article 2(4) of the UN Charter bans the use of force by states except when very specific conditions are met. It says, “All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.”

Therefore, in the absence of an armed attack against the US or the coalition members, any use of force, or the threat of a use of force had to be supported by a specific UN Security Council resolution authorizing such an exceptional course of action. In 2003, Louise Doswald-Beck, Secretary-General of the International Commission of Jurists, deplored the moves toward a war of aggression on Iraq. Even Richard Perle, one of the main architects of the war, conceded in November 2003 that the invasion was illegal but still justified.

Benjamin Ferencz, one of the chief prosecutors for the US at the Nuremberg trials and a former law professor said that not only Saddam Hussein should be tried, but also former president George W. Bush, because the Iraq war was waged without authorization from the UN Security Council. Such a move was also supported by Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei.

Bush’s responsibility is even greater when one considers that both he and his advisers were planning a premeditated attack on Iraq to secure ‘regime change’ even before he took power in January 2001. The plan is included in a document entitled Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources For A New Century, written in September 2000 by the neo-conservative think-tank Project for the New American Century (PNAC).

It can be argued that such a drastic step as trying a former US president and a former British prime minister for war crimes is not practical and would probably cause significant unrest both at the national and global level. However, three Latin American countries, Argentina, Chile and Peru, have tried and sent their former leaders to prison for crimes of much less magnitude that those involved in the Iraq war. Perhaps the US and the UK could follow on their steps.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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On two occasions during El Salvador’s terrible war years, I had an inkling of being in front of an unusual experience. One was visiting El Salvador’s Cathedral, where Archbishop Oscar Romero officiated mass. He had been assassinated by one of the country’s death squads. I could almost feel, although he was already dead, that he was still present there. The other experience was meeting a Spanish priest, Ignacio Martín- Baró, who had also been assassinated by death squads for his work with the Salvadoran poor. He was the closest I have ever experienced to a saintly figure. Recently, uncovered evidence ties presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s search for funds to those death squads.

Investigations by The Los Angeles Times and Huffington Post showed that over a third of the $37 million raised by Mitt Romney to launch his highly profitable Bain Capital enterprise in the mid-1980s came from rich Salvadorans linked to the country’s death squads. Former Bain executive Harry Strachan introduced Romney to those investors. “I owe a great deal to Americans of Latin American descent,” said Romney at a dinner in Miami in 2007.

Some, among El Salvador ruling class, supported the death squads during the country’s civil war to crush left-wing guerrillas and social reformers such as Martín-Baró. According to Strachan, Romney had asked him to make sure that none of the new investors in Bain Capital had ties to illegal drug money, right-wing death squads or left-wing terrorist groups in El Salvador. After Strachan assurances that those investors didn’t have questionable ties, Mitt Romney met with the investors at a Miami bank and approved the investment.

While investing in the U.S., though, some of those families were financing Salvadoran death squads, groups that were responsible for almost 35,000 civilian deaths between 1979 and 1984. The groups’ atrocities provoked international condemnation. In 1982, El Salvador’s independent Human Rights Commission, confirmed that most of the 35,000 civilian killed died at the hands of the death squads. Robert D’Aubuisson Arrieta, a major in the Salvadoran army and founder of the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party was considered to be the leader of those right-wing death squads. He was known as “Blowtorch Bob” because of his frequent use of a blowtorch during interrogation sessions.

In a book entitled “The Country Between Us,” the noted US poet Carolyn Forché writes about the brutality in El Salvador during those years. In a short vignette called The Colonel, Forché tells of being invited for dinner at a Colonel’s house. “What you have heard is true. I was in is house, “writes Forché. “…The parrot said hello on the terrace. The colonel told it to shut up, and pushed himself from the table. My friend said to me with his eyes: say nothing. The colonel returned with a sack used to bring groceries home. He spilled many human ears on the table. They were like dried peach halves. There is no other way to say this. He took one of them in his hands, shook it in our faces, dropped it into a water glass. It came alive there. I am tired of fooling around he said. As for the rights of anyone, tell your people they can go fuck themselves. He swept the ears to the floor with his arm and held the last of his wine in the air. Something for your poetry, no? he said. Some of the ears on the floor caught the scrap of his voice. Some of the ears were pressed to the ground.”

There is conclusive evidence that Archbishop Oscar Romero was killed on D’Aubuisson’s orders. There is also clear evidence that several of the leading families in El Salvador were closely connected to D’Aubuisson’s ARENA party and to the death squads who killed thousands of innocent civilians.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Mitt Romney knew about the investing Salvadoran families’ relationship with that country’s death squads. However, given their terrible record of killing and maiming those groups had in El Salvador, it also meant that not enough efforts were made to know the origin and connections of their blood money.

Cesar Chelala, MD, PhD, is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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The high cost of treating certain diseases, most notably HIV/AIDS, when coupled with the indirect costs resulting from lost worker productivity, is having a serious negative impact on African economies. More effort needs to be made to increase primary care, especially in rural areas, accompanied by health promotion, disease prevention and improved education for all ages.

The African continent is the region of the world most affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which is reversing decades of improvement in life expectancy, educational progress, and economic growth. For example, in Lesotho , where life expectancy was 60 years in 1995, life expectancy had plummeted to 35 years in 2010. In Sub-Saharan Africa, where life expectancy was 62, because of HIV/AIDS it is now 47.
Because teachers in rural areas in developing countries have better salaries than the local population they travel more and tend to develop sexual relationships with students and local women, some of whom are already HIV infected. As a result, HIV/AIDS is killing teachers at a faster rate than replacements can be trained.

In Zambia , it has been found that two teachers die for every one that graduates from training school. The pandemic affects not only the supply of teachers but the quality and management of education at local, regional and national levels.

A World Bank report estimates that HIV/AIDS may reduce growth in GDP by 1% a year in some sub-Saharan African countries, due to the continuing loss of skilled and unskilled workers in the prime of life. In South Africa HIV/AIDS may depress GDP by as much as 17% over the next decade. In addition, HIV/AIDS is estimated to have decreased agricultural output by as much as 20 percent in many African countries. According to experts’ predictions, by 2015 South Africa will have 50 million fewer people than in a no-HIV/AIDS scenario.

Public health officials still have to deal with the stigma of AIDS that persists in most African countries. Progress in raising AIDS awareness has been slow despite the efforts in education and the work of non-governmental organizations. In addition, progress has been hindered, particularly in rural areas, because health services and infrastructure are inadequate and the lack of trained medical personnel is widespread. If health care systems are to be effective, resources must be redirected from curative care in urban settings with high tech equipment to primary and preventive care.

HIV/AIDS is not the only concern. South Africa has the highest tuberculosis death rate per capita worldwide, followed by Zimbabwe and Mozambique . There is concern about the increasing number of cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR) as well as extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis in several countries.

Many diseases affecting both children and adults could be addressed with minimum resources if they were employed strategically. Diarrhea and respiratory infections, measles, malaria and malnutrition represent the greatest threats to children's health. Malaria is the leading cause of death among African children under five years old. It is estimated that African women are approximately 175 times more likely to die during childbirth and pregnancy than women in industrialized countries.

Health problems are made worse by the lack of health professionals, which is due in part to the continuing exodus of doctors and nurses to industrialized nations. In addition to problems directly related to the health sector, corruption drains critical resources needed to improve people's health and education.
It has been estimated that corruption costs the African economies more than 148 billion dollars a year. As a comparison, Sub-Saharan countries received $15 billion in development aid in 2011. The widespread practice of bribing government officials by foreign companies must be curtailed. With this goal in mind, industrialized nations should enforce national and international laws that deal with this issue.

In the last few years, emphasis has been placed on economic aid to Africa . African countries, however, need a different kind of aid. They need their human resources to be trained in their own countries, they need more help in preventing major diseases, they need more education for all age levels, and they need better conditions of trade for their products. African countries do not need more monetary aid given irresponsibly, which ends up in the pockets of government officials and members of the countries’ elites.

César Chelala is an international public health consultant. He has carried out health-related missions in 50 countries worldwide, many of them in Africa.

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The recent conviction of two former Argentine dictators for their role in baby thefts brings to my mind a meeting I had in 1991 with Adriana Calvo de Laborde, an Argentine physicist who in 1977 had been imprisoned by the military while she was six and a half months pregnant. I asked her to tell me her story and after some initial refusal to do so
- on the grounds that she had been luckier than most of her friends in prison - she told me what had happened to her and the role that one of my medical colleagues, Dr. Jorge A. Bergés, had had in her mistreatment.

“I was in prison when my daughter Teresa was born,” Laborde told me. “The day that happened – it was April 15, 1977 - in spite of the cold weather, the fear, the pain I was having, and also in spite of the filth surrounding me, I had felt the need to wash myself up. This was ludicrous, since I had already been in prison for more than two months and during all that time I had been unable even to take a shower.

“That day, however, I pulled off my dress and began to sew it. I then washed my underwear and began to pull the hairs off my legs. Since I didn’t have the means to do it properly, I scratched my fingers against the cement walls so that they would become rough enough to pull out the hairs in my legs. As soon as I finished, I started having labor pains.

Prior to delivering her baby, Laborde had been sharing her prison cell with four other women who, seeing her in pain, called the guard on duty. He refused to come for a long time, but five hours after the contractions began, she was put, blindfolded, with her hands tied behind her back, into the back seat of a car that drove towards Buenos Aires City.

“In the middle of the trip I again had painful contractions and the policemen stopped the car by the roadside. There, in spite of having my hands tied behind my back, I gave birth to Teresa. In the back of the car, sitting next to me, there was a woman named Lucrecia, who had been collaborating with the police. She tried to help me but she was so nervous that instead she hurt me with her nails. Lucrecia asked the men in the front of the car to give her a rag from the glove compartment. They gave her a piece of cloth with which they tied my umbilical cord, but they were unable to cut it. These policemen were taking me to Buenos Aires Province where Dr. Bergés was working at the time.

“When I delivered Teresa I was unable to hold her in my hands because they were still tied up behind my back, so she slipped, crying between my legs, to the floor of the car. When we reached our destination it was late at night and it was very cold. In spite of that, I was kept in the car for almost an hour until Bergés was ready to see me.

“Bergés cut the umbilical cord and ordered the policemen to take me inside the building. I was taken up the stairs to a room where there was a stretcher. At that moment Bergés took off my blindfold and told me, ‘Now you don’t need this.’ He then asked me to lay down in the stretcher, took out the placenta and gave me an injection. He asked the other men for a bucket and a brush and made me clean the stretcher and the floor while my baby –naked and dirty with meconium- was crying on a table with white tiles. I washed myself up and they gave me my little girl, whom I also cleaned. In the meantime, Bergés was smoking quietly while the men who were with him insulted me. At one point I couldn’t stand any longer, lost my temper, and insulted them back.

“Shortly afterwards they left me alone with my daughter. Since I had been imprisoned, that was the first time I could sleep on a bed with a mattress and a cover. I slept soundly until I was awakened by the noise of my baby trying to get rid of the secretions in her nose, something that made me feel tremendously guilty. At dawn, they took me to a cell where I saw friends I had lost track earlier.

“I spent thirteen days without medicines, without clothes, without soap. The only thing I had –but the most important- was the solidarity and help of my friends. We were fed only once every three days, but always one of my cell companions gave me half of her ration. The guards wanted to take my daughter away but I didn’t allow them to do it. I had to fight like a lioness not to let them take her away from me. I had lost all hope of being released when, on April 28, 1977, a group of men came for us in a car and, together with my daughter, we were left in the area of Temperley, Buenos Aires Province, close to my parents’ house.”

After her liberation, Laborde became an ardent advocate for human rights in Argentina, and repeatedly denounced Dr. Bergés’ participation in the torture of detainees. Laborde was the first survivor of the clandestine detention centers who declared against the military in the Trial of the Military Juntas in 1985. In 2004, Dr. Bergés was condemned to seven years in prison.

Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for “Missing or Dead in Argentina: The Desperate Search for Thousands of Abducted Victims,” a cover story for The New York Times Magazine.

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For at least two years before Yasser Arafat’s death in 2004, Uri Avnery, a leading Israeli peace activist, had been warning of the possibility that the Palestinian leader could be assassinated and on the negative effect this would have on the peace process. Now, an investigation carried out by Al Jazeera reveals that Arafat’s final personal belongings had abnormal levels of polonium, a rare, highly radioactive element, and that this was probably the cause of his death.

“While I am writing this, Yasser Arafat is still alive. But his life is hanging on a thread. When we visited him in his bombed out Mukata’a compound in Ramallah, I warned him that Sharon is determined to kill him…Now Sharon believes that he can achieve his aim. He needs only Bush’s approval. Not necessarily a formal confirmation. A subtle hint will suffice. Half a word. A wink.” wrote Avnery in 2001 in Media Monitors Network. Future findings and events would prove him correct.

In 2006, Uri Dan, who had been Sharon’s longtime confidant, published a book in France entitled “Ariel Sharon: An Intimate Portrait,” in which he accused the former Prime Minister of Israel of assassinating Palestinian Authority (PA) President Yasser Arafat by poisoning him. According to Uri Dan, Sharon got President George W. Bush’s approval to proceed with his assassination plan in 2004. At the time, Sharon told President Bush that he was no longer committed to “not” liquidating the Palestinian leader.

Writing for Global Research in 2007, Stephen Lendman, a recipient of a 2008 Project Censored Award from the University of California at Sonoma, stated that Dr. Ashraf Al Kurdi, Arafat’s personal physician for 25 years, believed that Arafat had been poisoned. When Dr. Al Kurdi saw Arafat before he was taken to Paris, where he died on November 11, 2004, he saw a man who had los half of his body weight, had red patches on his face and a metallic yellow color all over his body.

Arafat’s French doctors were unusually evasive about the cause/s of his death. They described a very serious disorder called “Disseminated intravascular coagulation,” (DIC) a pathological activation of the blood clotting mechanism that happens in response to a variety of diseases. It leads to the formation of small clots inside the blood vessels in the body, resulting in the disruption of normal blood flow to critical organs such as the kidneys.

DIC can occur in an acute way or chronically as a result of multiple organ failure leading to death. There are no effective treatment options. An interpretation of its acronym “death is coming” probably refers to this circumstance and to the high mortality associated with this condition. Arafat’s French doctors refused to acknowledge what was the underlying cause of Arafat’s death. Dr. Francois Bochud, director of the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Swizerland, where the analysis of Arafat’s clothes took place confirmed that unexplained, high amounts of polonium-210 had been found in his belongings.

Arafat has not been the only political figure apparently killed by radioactive polonium. The most notorious victim was Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian spy who later became a dissident and who died in London of a lingering illness. An inquiry conducted by British intelligence later proved that he had been poisoned with polonium slipped into his tea.

There are so few recorded cases similar to these, however, that there is still no consensus about the typical symptoms. However, both Litvinenko and Arafat suffered from severe diarrhea, weight loss and vomiting in the days and weeks previous to their deaths. An American study conducted in 1991 found that the poison probably acts by activating the “vomiting center” in the brainstem.

Uri Avnery’s writing in 2002 was premonitory. “The murder of Arafat is the murder of all chances for peace. That is a crime against the Israeli people. It will condemn us to making war for decades, perhaps for generations to come, perhaps forever. The moral, social and economic decline that we are experiencing now everywhere in Israel will drag Israel down to new depths and to the emigration of many.” So far, events have proven him right.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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Burma’s electoral commission told opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to stop calling the country Burma and instead to call it Myanmar, its official name. In a statement published in The New Light of Myanmar, the electoral commission chided Aung San Suu Kyi stating, “As it is prescribed in the constitution that ‘the state shall be known as The Republic of the Union of Myanmar’, no one has the right the call the country Burma.” Aung San Suu Kyi is in her right, and should continue to do so, to express what has been worldwide condemnation of Burma’s military regime.

Disagreement on how to call the country follows Aung San Suu Kyi high-profile trip to Europe, where she continuously called the country Burma. Observers believe that authorities are trying to assert themselves after Aung San Suu Kyi, who leads the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, was widely praised during her trip.

While the electoral commission informed the NLD “to address the name of the state as prescribed in the constitution…and respect the constitution,” Nyan Win, NLD spokesman responded by stating that calling the country Burma “does not amount to disrespecting the constitution.”

There is a long history behind this disagreement. In 1989, the then ruling military junta decreed that the country should change its name from the “Union of Burma” to the “Union of Myanmar.” The move, apparently, was intended to appease minority non-Burman ethnic groups. Later the name was modified to the “Republic of the Union of Myanmar”. However, those opposing the military, including Aung San Suu Kyi, ignored the modification and continued to call the country Burma, to the evident irritation of the military.

Anthropologist Gustaaf Houtman, an expert on Burma’s politics, wrote, “There is a formal term which is Myanmar and the informal, everyday term which is Burma. Myanmar is the literary form, which is ceremonial and official and reeks of government.” Local opposition groups prefer to use the ‘old’ colloquial name, at least until Burma has a legitimate government.

Undaunted by her country’s government criticism, Aung San Suu Kyi has continued using the name Burma during her visit to Britain and Norway. Several Western countries, including Britain and the United States, continue to call the country Burma in unofficial statements of support for the democracy movement in the country.

Some people, such as Derek Tonkin, Britain’s former ambassador to Thailand and chairman of the Network Myanmar group, suggest that both Britain and the US should now call the country Myanmar, to acknowledge the country’s progress to democracy.

However, as the daughter of Aung San, considered the father of modern-day Burma and a tireless fighter for democracy and human rights in her country, nobody has greater moral authority than Aung San Suu Kyi to call the country by its former name.

There is a strong emotional and moral connotation in the name Burma. It should continue to be called that way until effective democracy returns to the country and a national referendum is conducted on how to call it. If this enrages the military, it will still be a small price to pay for the brutality that for decades they have unleashed on the country.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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It happens every day, and with alarming frequency. Adolescent suicide is a serious problem in every country. In the United States, teen suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers. A U.S. survey found that almost one in five high school students had seriously considered attempting suicide, and more than one in six had already made plans to commit suicide. Although it is a most serious problem it can, to a large extent, be prevented with appropriate interventions.

Several environmental and social situations can have an impact on adolescents' health. Among those situations are the following: extreme poverty; an unfavorable family situation; factors related to employment possibilities and those that result from a clash between the new life values acquired by the youth and traditional family values.

When adolescents do not adapt to new and challenging situations, they may develop or manifest mental and psychological disturbances that can lead to serious psychiatric problems, such as depression, that may end up in suicide. In the United States, male adolescents commit suicide at a rate five times greater than female adolescents.

Suicide is a tragic but potentially preventable public health problem. In the case of adolescents, they may be prone to "suicide contagion," where the exposure to suicide or suicidal behavior within one family, one's peer group or through media reports of suicide can result in an increase in suicide and suicidal behavior. It is estimated that there may be between eight and 25 attempted suicides for every suicide death.

Although there are no tests to identify those that are going to commit suicide, there are risks factors that should be taken into consideration by parents, friends and teachers. Among those risk factors are the following: a previous history of depression, a family history of psychiatric disorders (particularly depression or suicidal behavior), family disruption, a history of physical or sexual abuse, alcohol and drug abuse, poor self-esteem, household financial problems, victimization from bullying, social rejection, sexual abuse and drug abuse, among other problems.

There are some signals that may alert that adolescents may be attempting to commit suicide. These clear danger signals include sudden changes in behavior, withdrawal from friends, suicide threats, increased irritability and self-destructive behavior, school difficulties or failure, and giving away treasured possessions. Suicidal comments by adolescents should never be considered unimportant.

Parents and educators should be always aware of the psychological needs of adolescents, since their peculiar behavior may indicate that they are going through a difficult period in their lives. They should create conditions (in the family, in the school and in the community) that will adequately respond to the emotional needs of young people.

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention stresses that suicide threats should be taken seriously, particularly since 75% of all suicides give some warning of their intentions to friends and family members.

Suicide-prevention programs should be carefully planned, tested and monitored to make sure they are safe, effective, and worth the effort and the cost of implementing them. Parents and teachers should be aware of danger signals in adolescents, and take appropriate measures when they appear. Schools should increase the number of trained counselors, and teachers should be trained in spotting emotional distress among their students.

The World Health Organization has developed four basic steps as suicide prevention guidelines: limiting accessibility to the means of suicide such as pesticides, toxic drugs and guns; treating mental illness; enhancing social support networks and changing social norms.

They should be complemented by health promotion campaigns focused on mental health and suicide prevention. Through combined efforts it is possible to lower the loss of adolescents’ lives.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant and the author of "Adolescents' Health in the Americas."

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For the last two decades, demographics and its effect on Russian society and future development prospects have been at the center of the discussions on that country. There is now universal agreement that unless Russia solves this most serious problem, its status as a world power will be seriously compromised. A new government offers the possibility of properly addressing this issue.

Demographics has been called the king-maker of countries, and some say of civilizations, but it can also be their downfall. Russia’s experiencing over the last decades is similar to that of several rich countries; a rapidly aging of population couple with falling birthrates. However, while the rich industrialized countries have rising life spans, those in Russia are seriously compromised by the relatively low health status of its population.

Following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russia underwent a significant drop in births and a spike in deaths. As Nicholas Eberstadt, a political economist and demographer indicated, “Post-Soviet Russia has become a net mortality society, steadily registering more deaths than births.” These factors, plus a restrictive government immigration policy and low fertility rates have led Russia to a steady process of depopulation.

It is estimated that between 1993 and 2010 Russia’s population decreased from 148.6 million to 141.9 million people. If existing trends continue, Russia’s population will be between 100-107 million by 2050, a looming disaster for such a large country, a country with 40 percent of the world’s natural resources.

When he first came to power in 2000, Putin tried to counteract the country’s depopulation by giving housing priorities and a special allowance of 7,000 rubles ($250) per child monthly to families with more than three children. In addition, Putin tried carrying out policies to stimulate immigration, particularly of Russian-language speakers from former Soviet republics. Those policies didn’t produce the expected results.

For the last 40 years, fertility rates in Russia have been unable to provide for the replacement of its population. Although fertility rates have increased from about 1.2 children-per-woman in 2002 to approximately 1.6 in 2011, those numbers are still short of the 2.15 level which experts estimate is needed to sustain the population.

A 2008 UN report, “Demographic Policy in Russia: From Reflection to Action,” stressed that among the main causes of low fertility are financial difficulties associated with the perception that conditions in the country are not the most favorable for raising children. That situation is worsened by poor reproductive health support services, widespread abortions and infertility.

The number of ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking people migrating from outside the Russian Federation have not compensated so far for the decreasing population trends. These migrants, in addition, tend to have low-paying jobs and as such, do not have a significant input in the economic growth of the country.

The Russian government’s plans to encourage immigration are at odds with Russians’ opposition to this policy. Xenophobia is on the rise and Russians tend to strongly favor a Russia for ethnic Russians only. Should economic conditions deteriorate, resentment against immigrants will also grow and this will in turn contribute to keeping population levels low.

Equally important as Russia’s demographic crisis and coupled to it is the crisis in its public health system and the health status of its population. In 2010, Putin acknowledged that Russia needed to start a large-scale health care reform in 2011. He promised to allocate $10 billion over the next two years to modernize medical institutions in the country. However, Russia needs to address other serious issues that have a negative effect on people’s health, such as the high rates of smoking, alcohol consumption, and HIV/AIDS. These health problems have a direct effect on the country’s high level of premature mortality. In Russia, the probability that a 15-year-old boy will die before he reaches 60 is more than 40 percent.

Russia and China are world leaders in smoking, but while in Russia women are heavy smokers by world standards only 2% of Chinese women smoke. It is estimated that between 350,000 and 400,000 people die each year in Russia due to smoking-related diseases.

Alcohol consumption continues to be extremely high, despite some government efforts to curb it. Each year, 500,000 Russians die due to alcohol-related illnesses, accidents and crimes. In addition, it is estimated that more than 10 million children aged 10 to 14 drink alcohol.

According to the World Health Organization heart disease, aggravated by alcoholism and tobacco, accounts for more than 1.2 million deaths every year. HIV/AIDS is a growing concern, particularly because eighty percent of those HIV-infected are under the age of 30, and the epidemic is closely associated with high rates of intravenous drug use. Further, many experts believe that Russia has one of the fastest growing HIV/AIDS epidemics in the world, with new cases doubling every year. Harm-reduction programs have not yet been able to control the epidemic.

New migration policies must be implemented together with a wide range of public health actions. It is equally important to develop new policies aimed at increasing fertility levels, taking into account that financial incentives, by themselves, are not effective.

Russian leaders have to confront a wide range of problems that affect Russians’ health status and quality of life, and that require a multifaceted but coordinated approach to be solved. How the Russian authorities respond to these challenges will determine the kind of country that Russia will become.

Cesar Chelala, MD, PhD, is a public health consultant for several international organizations.

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Some of my ancestors came from Syria, which may be one more explanation for the unrelenting horror I feel at the tragic events at Houla, where 108 Syrian villagers, including 34 women and 49 children were massacred. Who are responsible for these terrible actions?

As both sides, the rebels and the government, blame each other, the decision by the United Nations Human Rights Council to conduct an independent investigation is a positive step. The Council called for a team of investigators led by Brazilian Paulo Pinheiro to conduct an investigation and “identify those who appear responsible for these atrocities and to preserve the evidence of crimes for possible future criminal prosecutions.”

Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated that those responsible could face prosecution for crimes against humanity, and called for the UN Security Council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo.

The Houla tragedy resists any attempt to oversimplify it. As rebels blame the Assad regime, the President and its allies deny any responsibility for the indiscriminate killings.

Syria’s delegation accused antigovernment rebels of carrying out the killings, and said that its own investigation was under way. Russia and China called the resolution “unbalanced” and indicated that UN observers were already investigating the massacre and there was no need for an additional investigation.

Russia has issued particularly harsh comments on those on the West that blame the government for this tragedy. “This is, above all, unwillingness of some leading international and regional actors to act on the Syrian track in accordance with the logic of peace. Preference, as we have seen, is still given to their own agenda, the main point of which is a change of regime in Damascus. Tragedy in Houla has shown the consequences of financial assistance and supplies of smuggled advanced weapons to the militants, the recruitment of foreign mercenaries and flirting with all sorts of extremists,” said Alexander Lukashevich, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman.

On May 31, Human Rights First issued a report stating that a Russian cargo ship had delivered heavy weapons to the Syrian port of Tartus probably aimed at Bashar al-Assad’s security forces. However, during a visit to Germany for a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Vladimir Putin said that “Russia doesn’t provide weapons that could be used in a civil conflict.”

Many believe that Syria is just a proxy between Russia, China and Iran on one side and the Western powers on the other. Some Western governments, including Canada, have expelled their Syrian diplomats and threatened to strengthen sanctions. These moves have not resulted in any change in the pace of destructive actions in Syria.

Russian and American diplomats are considering what some call the “Yemenskii variant”, a proposal modeled in the transition in Yemen which got rid of President Ali Abdullah Saleh but kept many of his supporters in place. This idea will probably be in the agenda for the coming meeting between Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama.

In the meantime, Russia and China would certainly veto any international military intervention such as the one which occurred in Libya, presaging an intensification of the conflict which is claiming big numbers of civilian deaths, notably children, a loss that doesn’t seem to faze, or faze enough, those fighting in Syria. For the killers in Syria children seem only to be “expendable futures”.

On June 3, speaking before the Syrian Parliament, President Bashar-Al-Assad said that not even monsters could have carried out such an “abominable” massacre. However, as reported in the press, Houla residents have insisted that those that carried out the massacre came from a local militia loyal to the Al-Assad regime called Shabiha, from a neighboring Allawite village. Knowing who the perpetrators were, however, doesn’t diminish the horror of the act, it only signals direct responsibility.

Those bloody killers of children should be reminded of a poem by Pablo Neruda, arguably one of the world’s great poets, who ends his poem “I explain a few things” related to the Spanish civil war with the lines,

Come and see the blood in the streets,
Come and see
The blood in the streets,
Come and see the blood
in the streets!

Those “jackals the jackals would despise” to use, in a different context, Pablo Neruda’s words, deserve the world’s contempt.

Dr. Cesar Chelala, a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award, writes extensively on human rights and foreign policy issues.

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The rapid changes now taking place in Burma are creating the conditions for renewed support to the country’s precarious public health system, the right way to improve the Burmese people’s dismal health status. This could be one of the most helpful measures foreign governments and organizations can give to the Burmese people.

Burma’s public health system has been underfunded for several years with public spending on health less than 0.5% of the country’s GDP. As a result, in 2000 Burma ranked as the second worst country in terms of ‘overall health system performance,’ according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition, there were wide inequities between urban and rural areas, and health services failed to cover the most peripheral regions in the country.

However, starting this year the government has quadrupled its health budget and has addressed lack of supplies and poor hospital conditions. At the same time, the government intends to improve doctors’ education and increase technical exchange programs with other countries. This is a welcome change for a country that for decades has followed an isolationist policy.

Such policy has turned the country into the second poorest in Asia-Pacific. In 2008, the UNDP’s Human Development Index, which measures progress in terms of life expectancy, adjusted real income and educational achievement, ranked Burma 133 out of 177 countries.

The new measures are badly needed by a population with a poor health status, reflected in tens of thousands of deaths from malaria, tuberculosis, AIDS, dysentery, cancer and respiratory infections. Every year, tens of thousands of Burmese travel to Thailand to seek medical care at the 120-bed Mae Tao Clinic, where services are free and nobody is turned away. Those reaching the clinic are looking for attention to a host of diseases now common in Burma.

The best assessment of the health situation in the country has been provided by the WHO Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) which presents the direction and priority areas for the organization’s work in Burma.

Malaria continues to be the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the country. What makes the situation even worse is that a majority of malaria infections are now highly resistant to anti-malaria drugs. In addition, Burma is also one of 22 countries globally with the highest burden of tuberculosis (TB). Increasingly, TB patients are showing multi-drug resistance to available treatment.

Although some progress has been made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, international sanctions have hampered efforts to curb the spread of the infection. One quarter of a million people has been infected with HIV according to UN statistics. However, only a small percentage has access to antiretroviral therapy. Among those most likely to contract the virus are intravenous drug users, sex workers and men who have sex with men.

Burma has one of the highest adult HIV prevalence rates, following Cambodia and Thailand. According to a Doctors without Borders’ report entitled “Preventable Fate,” 25,000 Burmese died of AIDS in 2007. These deaths cold have been easily prevented with anti-retroviral therapy (ART) drugs and proper treatment.

Dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) are now seasonal epidemics in some parts of the country and leprosy, although no longer a serious public health problem in Burma, still needs more leprosy control activities and improved services aimed at those affected by the disease.

Non communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases (including hypertension) and cancers are increasingly becoming serious public health problems as a result of widespread risk factors in the population such as smoking. At the same time, malnutrition, including several micronutrient deficiencies, continues to be a serious health concern in Burma.

The public health-care system in the country is seriously under-resourced, which has had a negative consequence in terms of access to and coverage of health services. It is estimated that the government in Burma spends the smallest percentage of its GDP on health care than any other country in the world, and international donor organizations give less to Burma, per capita, than to any other country except for India.

If political conditions continue to improve in the country it will be an opportunity to re-assess the role of international aid. To be effective, aid will have to be aligned with national programs and policies, be closely monitored and respond to the technical demands suggested by the donor countries. The Burmese people’s better health will be the best achievement of these actions.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant.

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Removing Muammar el-Qaddafi from power is widely considered to have resulted in Libya’s way to creating a democratic country. However, some North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) actions against Libyan civilian are receiving strong condemnation form Human Rights Watch (HRW), one of the leading US human rights organizations.

The just released HRW report (Unacknowledged Deaths: Civilian casualties in NATO’s Air Campaign in Libya) comes shortly after three distinguished jurists chosen by the United Nations Human Rights Council conducted an investigation whose results were released last March. As a result of that investigation, while acknowledging the serious human rights situation previous to the NATO actions, the jurists accused the anti-Qaddafi forces of war crimes and breaches of international law that continue after the fall of the dictator.

The UN group accused the anti-Qaddafi militiamen of Misrata of practically wiping out the neighboring town of Tawergha off the map, and of hunting down and killing many of its residents, regardless of where they had fled across the country. The UN group suggested at the time that according to some evidence the militiamen who captured Qaddafi beat him and killed him with gunfire.

During a trip to Libya on a health-related mission in 2006, I became aware of the oppressive nature created in the country by the Qaddafi regime. And one cannot ignore the serious difficulties facing the revolutionaries after removing Qaddafi from power. However, the creation of a democratic environment demands that basic respect for human rights are followed from the beginning.

The UN group report had acknowledged some important steps taken by the interim government aimed at improving the human rights situation in the country, such as the creation of the National Fact-Finding and Reconciliation Commission. But the new Human Rights Watch report shows that some basic precautions not to hit civilian targets were not followed during the NATO campaign.

According to international law, attacks such as those carried out by NATO in Libya should be directed only at military targets. It is a widely accepted fact that attacks such as those conducted by NATO in Libya cannot be indiscriminate nor cause disproportionate loss of civilian lives. However, as the HRW report stresses, NATO has failed to acknowledge civilian casualties and how and why they happened.

NATO claims that all its targets were military objectives, and that it took extensive measures to minimize civilian casualties. However, HRW states that despite repeated requests, NATO failed to provide information about those claims. NATO air strikes caused at least 72 civilians deaths, including 20 women and 24 children, and left dozens of wounded civilians.

The most serious incident investigated by HRW occurred in Majer, a village located 160 km east of Tripoli, Libya’s capital. NATO air strikes hit two family compounds, killing 34 civilians and wounding more than 30. Dozens of displaced people were living in one of those compounds. A second strike outside the compounds killed and wounded several civilians who were searching for victims, according to family members and neighbors.

What makes HRW findings relevant is that at seven sites documented in the report, it hadn’t uncovered any strong indication that Libyan government forces, weapons, hardware, or communications equipment were present when the attacks happened. At the eight site investigated, where three women and four children died after the NATO attack, the target could possibly have been a military officer.

Although civilian casualties occurred during the NATO campaign against Qaddafi, they were relatively few during the seven-month long campaign. Still, according to HRW, NATO should compensate the victims’ families and address this issue at the NATO heads of state summit which will take place in Chicago on May 20-21.

Fred Abrahams, the principal author of the HRW report, says, “The overall care NATO took in the campaign is undermined by its refusal to examine the dozens of civilian deaths. This is needed to provide compensation for victims of wrongful attacks, and to learn from mistakes and minimize civilian casualties in future wars.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

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The latest report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) shows that taking some data uncertainties, the world military spending in 2011 was essentially unchanged when compared to 2012. This breaks a 13-year run of continuous military spending increases. It could be a cause for celebration, except that it is still a totally objectionable spending of people’s funds.

It is difficult to assess if this leveling of military spending represents a long-term change, since although some countries have diminished their spending others have kept it as usual or even increased it. On the other hand, the leveling must just be due mainly to the countries’ economic crises and will resume as soon as these crises end.

For example, most European countries’ dire economic situation may mean that spending will continue to fall for the next 2-4 years. This is probably the case of countries such as Greece (down 26 per cent since 2008), Spain (18 per cent), Italy (16 per cent) Ireland (11 per cent) and Belgium (12 per cent), whose economies have been ravaged by the recent crisis. In contrast, the United Kingdom, France and Germany –the top three spenders in Western Europe- have made only cosmetic cuts amounting to less than five per cent.

Lower military expenditures didn’t follow the same pattern in both Western and Eastern Europe. While in Western Europe military spending didn’t begin to fall until 2010, following the government’s stimulus measures in 2009, in most Central and Eastern European countries military spending began to fall in 2009, because their weaker economies couldn’t sustain high budget deficits, among them those due to military expenditures.

In the case of the US, military spending is likely to fall, due mainly to the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq and diminished number of troops in Afghanistan. In these cases, reduced spending on the additional war budget, also known as Overseas Contingency Operations, will probably continue to fall if plans to end combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014 are fulfilled, and if the US doesn’t get involved in another major war as could be the case with Iran.

Military spending continues to increase in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. If the Middle East conflict continues to deteriorate, it could change the expenditure situation significantly. If this doesn’t happen, though, SIPRI believes that the rapid increases of the last decade are probably over for now.

Despite its 2009 severe recession, Russia has increased its military spending by 16 percent in real terms since 2008, which includes a 9.3 percent increase in 2011. Russia has now overtaken the UK and France, and is now the third largest military spender worldwide, following the US and China. Further increases in military spending are planned in Russia, according to some experts.

In Asia, increased military spending by China in 2011, estimated in 6.7 per cent in real terms, accounts for the total regional increase. In the rest of Asia and Oceania, total military spending slightly decreased by 0.4 per cent, reflecting a mixed pattern of increases and decreases.

Although China has increased its military spending by 500 percent since 1995, and is now the second highest military spender in the world, its spending ($143 billion in 2011) has remained very stable as a share of China’s GDP, at approximately two percent since 2001. Thus, China’s increase only reflects the country’s rapid economic growth.

According to SIPRI’s estimates, the world’s military spending in 2011 was $1,738 billion, of which $711 billion are by the US. To put this number in perspective, it is several hundred times the World Health Organization (WHO)’s annual budget. In 2010, WHO’s annual budget was $5 billion. World military spending is also several hundred times higher than the annual budget of the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) which at $10.8 billion has nearly twice the budget of the entire WHO, and the Gates Foundation, whose annual budget for global health is $2 billion.

That leading world powers would devote astronomical sums to activities aimed at destroying life in detriment of paltry sums to improve people’s health (particularly the most vulnerable) says volumes about the possibilities of creating a more peaceful, harmonious world.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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You will never know how much I love you
Because you sleep and have slept in me.
I hide you weeping, pursued
By a voice of penetrating steel.

Thus wrote Federico Garcia Lorca, the noted Spanish poet, in a poem entitled “The Beloved Sleeps on the Breast of the Poet” one of many poems in a series entitled Sonetos del amor oscuro (Sonnets of dark love). Lorca was a poet and theater director, murdered in 1936 by nationalist soldiers during the Spanish Civil War because of his outspoken liberal views. In that poem, Lorca was probably referring to Juan Ramírez de Lucas, a journalist and art critic who died in Madrid in 2010, and with whom he had a passionate relationship.

Ramírez de Lucas hid in a wooden box the drawings, letters, a poem, his diary: they were his memories of a tragic love affair with the poet. Because he refused to take his secret with him to his grave, Juan Ramírez de Lucas, one of Lorca’s great loves, gave one of his sisters all documents related to his affair with Lorca so that his legacy could be made public. And slowly new details are emerging about their relationship. Ramírez de Lucas’ relatives are conducting initial talks with some editorial houses for the publication of his legacy.

At a the time of increasing interest in Lorca’s life, president Obama declared his support for same-sex marriage, the first US president to do so. Acknowledging that his views on this issue had evolved over time, he said on ABC’s program ‘Good Morning America,’ “I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don't Ask Don't Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married."

Lorca and Ramírez de Lucas had met in Madrid, hiding their affair from their families, who probably would have been opposed to it. Ramírez de Lucas wanted to become an actor, and Lorca wanted to take him to many theaters around the world, a promise he was unable to fulfill.

At the time they met Lorca’s situation had become very dangerous, since he was one of the most hated figures by extreme right-wing groups in Spain. Lorca’s friends advised him to leave the country. Lorca wanted to leave for Mexico with his lover, who was then only 19 years old and who needed the permission of his parents to leave. As Ramírez de Lucas traveled to Albacete to meet his parents, Lorca took the train to Granada to say goodbye to his family before the trip.

Ramírez de Lucas’ father violently opposed his son’s decision, and threatened to denounce his son to the Guardia Civil should he try to leave the country without his permission. One of his brothers, Otoniel, a member of the Socialist Youth, tried to mediate on his brother’s behalf, but to no avail. At the time, Lorca phoned him from Granada and asked Juan to be patient with his family, thinking that perhaps with time they would accept their relationship.

On 19 August 1936 Garcia Lorca was shot and killed by the Nationalist militia. According to Leslie Stainton, Garcia Lorca’s biographer, his killers made disparaging remarks about his sexual orientation, suggesting that it was another motive for his murder. Another biographer, Ian Gibson, suggests that Lorca’s assassination was part of a campaign of mass killings aimed at supporters of the Marxist Popular Front.

Dark Loves, a novel by Manuel Francisco Reina to be released at the end of May, deals with Lorca and Ramírez de Lucas’ affair. According to Reina, Ramírez de Lucas was the true recipient of Lorca’s sonnets of dark love. The last stanza in Lorca’s “The Beloved Sleeps on the Breast of the Poet,” says,

But, my beloved, keep on sleeping.
Hear my shattered blood in the violins!
Beware lest they still lie in wait for us!

Perhaps without knowing this poem, President Obama is trying to avoid the immense pain conveyed in these verses.

Dr. Cesar Chelala, a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award, is a writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

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The recent Israel High Court of Justice decision ordering the demolition of illegally-built structures in the Ulpana neighborhood will have wide ranging consequences on the status of settlements in Israel. Although hotly contested by the Netanyahu government, the Court’s ruling does justice to the legal owners of Palestinian land.

On May 4, the state had appealed to the High Court, asking it to reconsider its ruling for Jewish settlers to evacuate the Ulpana neighborhood, which is part of the West Bank settlement of Beit El. In their ruling, Supreme Court President Ahser Grunis, together with Justice Uzi Fogelman and Justice Salim Joubran rejected the state request and stated that structures built there on private Palestinian land should be torn down and the structures evacuated by July 1.

According to the justices involved in the decision, it was particularly important that the state honor its obligations to the High Court stating that “…accepting the state’s position, according to which the need to revisit policy is a reason to reopen a finalized process, may lead to difficult consequences.”

The justices also said that “the authority to reopen a finalized legal procedure, assuming that it exists, is reserved for unusual situations and extraordinary circumstances,” and added, “Those circumstances have not been presented in this case, even if it does raise difficult questions of public and social policy.”

Initially, the state had pledged to implement the demolition orders, but last month it requested 90 days to reevaluate its policy to enforce demolition orders for illegal buildings in the West Bank, as it reassesses strategic and operative elements in the court’s decision. Legal experts believe that the government’s request could alter the delicate relationship between the executive and judicial branches, with serious consequences for the country.

During the past decade, an annual average of 10,000 people has settled in disputed territory, a significant proportion of which are babies born to growing families. According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, only from 2006 through 2008 an annual average of over 14,000 new residents of West Bank settlements were registered at the bureau.

Since Lyndon Johnson, every US president has asked Israel not to build or expand settlements in the territories occupied in the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict, to no avail. There are now more than 300,000 settlers living in some 120 settlements and Mr. Netanyahu has exempted nearly 3,000 housing units from a six-month freeze. International observers and organizations believe that this illegal settlement growth is one of the most serious obstacles to bring about a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Some observers believe that Netanyahu’s belligerent stand towards Iran is a smoke screen to pursue unimpeded settlement construction, at a time when President Obama is gearing up for reelection and the international community is desperately trying to avoid a strike against Iran which could have dire consequences for the whole world.

These considerations don’t seem to faze Netanyahu, who last April 4 instructed the government to authorize three legal outposts in the West Bank, despite Israel’s commitment in the “road map” to dismantle them. At the same time, tenders were issued to build a new neighborhood in Har Homa, a settlement in annexed East Jerusalem, and almost 200 new housing units in Givat Zeev, north of Jerusalem.

Although officials in his government insist that Netanyahu is open to discussing the future of settlements with the Palestinians, his voracious appetite for developing new settlements continues to be one of the main obstacles to peace in the region. He refuses to see that you cannot preach a desire for peace while implementing actions to maintain conflict in the region.

Cesar Chelala writes extensively on human rights and foreign policy issues.

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“I don’t believe in either the prime minister or the defense minister. I don’t believe in a leadership that makes decisions based on messianic feelings,” said Yuval Diskin, former Israeli intelligence chief in a meeting with residents of the city of Kfar Sava. He was talking about Israel’s policy towards Iran. And he added, “Believe me, I have observed them from up close…They are not people who I, on a personal level, trust to lead Israel to an event on that scale and carry it off.”

Predictably, his strong criticism provoked a strong rebuke from Israel’s leading officials. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, talking to Israel’s Chanel Two television, suggested that Diskin was probably angry at being passed over for the job as head of the Mossad, apparently a last minute decision by Benjamin Netanyahu. Officials in both Netanyahu’s and Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Bark group called Diskin’s comments “irresponsible and motivated from personal frustration.”

Shortly before Diskin’s comments, Israel’s Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz told Haaretz that Israel should leave the door open for international negotiations with Iran and indicated that economic sanctions against that country were beginning to bear fruit. And he dismissed the idea that the Iranian leadership is irrational. “I think the Iranian leadership is composed of very rational people,” he said. And added, “But I agree that such capability, in the hands of the Islamic fundamentalists who at particular moments could make different calculations, is dangerous.”

Both Diskin and Gantz’s comments come shortly after Meir Dagan, a former chief of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, declared that attacking Iran was the stupidest thing he ever heard. In an interview with Lesley Stahl from “60 minutes” in March 2012, he indicated also that a military attack could only halt the Iranian nuclear project, not stop it, particularly considering that Iran has dozens of nuclear facilities dispersed across the country.

Dagan, as well as other Israeli leaders believes that there is still time for negotiation, a position clearly at odds with Netanyahu’s, who insists that Iran represents an “existential threat” to Israel. Netanyahu’s position disregards the obvious US support for Israel in case of conflict with Iran.

Criticism of Netanyahu is not limited to military officials. Speaking last Sunday at a Jerusalem Post conference in New York City, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert urged Netanyahu not to rush into unilateral action against Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program. When he was booed loudly by the audience he boldly stated, “As a concerned Israeli citizen who lives in the state of Israel with his family and all of his children and grandchildren, I love very much the courage of those who live 10,000 miles away from the State of Israel and are ready that we will make every possible mistake that will cost lives of Israelis.”

Last November, at a presentation to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Andrew J. Shapiro, Assistant Secretary at the State Department Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, stated the several ways in which the US will help Israel maintain its Qualitative Military Edge over all other regional states, “while sustaining minimal damages or casualties.”

“Israel is a vital ally and serves as a cornerstone of our regional security commitments. From confronting Iranian aggression, to working together to combat transnational terrorist networks, to stopping nuclear proliferation and supporting democratic change and economic development in the region – it is clear that both our strategic outlook, as well as our national interests are strongly in sync,” he said.

It is evident to many that negotiations with Iran should continue apace. That is Catherine Ashton’s position. As the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, she has considerable input on this issue. She invited Iran to continue previous talks and the first meeting of Iran with the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) which took place in Istanbul on April 14 gave reason for optimism. Ashton called the discussions with the Iranians “constructive and useful.” Both sides agreed to continue the Istanbul meeting with a meeting in Baghdad on 23 May.

Netanyahu has long been critical of any talks between Iran and the international community, a position on which he is becoming increasingly isolated. The stakes are too high to pursue a policy of confrontation. Not only the region but the whole world should be spared the consequences of his intolerance.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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The creation in Brazil of a Truth Commission to investigate crimes committed from 1946 to 1988 opens the possibility of learning what happened to hundreds of forcibly “disappeared” persons during the country’s recent past. The findings of the commission, which are to be released two years from now, will allow their families not only to know the fate of their loved ones but also to bring closure to their lives.

Even though the commission’s mandate is to investigate crimes committed by military regimes during their ruling from 1964 to 1985, it also includes an investigation of the crimes perpetrated before and after the military dictatorship. It is estimated that between 1964 and 1985, 475 people were forcibly disappeared, 50,000 imprisoned and 20,000 were tortured.

A 1979 Amnesty Law passed when the military were in power protected those accused of torture and other criminal acts from facing prosecution for their crimes. According to Jarbas Passarinho, a former army colonel, senator and justice minister during the dictatorship, the amnesty’s intention was to leave the past behind. “When we made the amnesty and I was the leader for President Figueiredo, our idea was to forget – it was not a pardon,” he told the BBC.

Despite Passarinho’s assertion, however, the amnesty law hindered any attempts to bring to justice those accused of human rights abuses. The creation of the Truth Commission doesn’t circumvent that law, something that had provoked concern among the military. The amnesty law authorized the release of political prisoners, the return of exiled opponents, and gave amnesty for all political crimes and “connected crimes,” interpreted as torture.

The enactment of the 1979 Amnesty Law has been severely criticized by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In 2010 that court condemned Brazil, declared that the law was invalid and incompatible with the American Convention on Human Rights -to which Brazil is a signatory- and urged the Brazilian government to provide the victims the right to memory, as well the right to justice and to reparations.

In 2009, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva tried to create a truth commission in the country. He desisted of doing so, however, when the heads of the army, navy and air force plus the defense minister threatened to resign.

Following President Dilma Rousseff’s decision to create a Truth Commission, the Clube Militar, the association of retired members of the military, has been sharply critical of the commission. It claims that the commission will not be impartial and that it will try to rewrite history.

The military’s fears were increased when Maria do Rosario Nunes, Minister of Human Rights, declared that in the future the military could be brought to justice to answer for the torture, disappearances and killings that took place in Brazil in the 60s and 70s.

President Rousseff wasn’t swayed by pressure from the military and gave official sanction to the Truth Commission. “Learning the truth will be essential to later generations in ensuring that this stain in our country’s history will never occur again,” she said. Although the commission’s mandate doesn’t allow that its findings be used for prosecution, they could still create the political will necessary for those abuses to later be brought to justice.

“There is a need to prosecute the perpetrators of grave violations of human rights as well as establish a truth commission, because both work in different ways. A Truth Commission is focused on the institutions’ responsibility to explain to the whole country what happened, and how to move forward. The criminal process, on the other hand, focuses on the individual’s responsibility,” said Marlon Weichert, a prominent Brazilian human rights advocate, in an interview with the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ).

The trials and imprisonment in Argentina, Chile and Peru (among other countries) of former military and civilian leaders responsible for human rights violations show that it is possible to try those accused in a democratic environment. The decision by President Dilma Rousseff, although an important step towards truth-seeking, should be followed by actions aimed at ending impunity by those guilty of human rights abuses. Only when that happens will Brazil bring truth with justice.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for “Missing or Dead in Argentina: The Desperate Search for Thousands of Abducted Victims.”

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At the Summit of the Americas, Latin American governments’ have roundly condemned the U.S. embargo on Cuba. This happens only days after Pope Benedict added his voice criticizing the embargo. Speaking at his departure from Havana airport Benedict said that Cuba could build “a society of broad vision, renewed and reconciled,” but indicated also that it was more difficult “when restrictive economic measures, imposed from outside the country, unfairly burden its people.”

Despite universal criticism, however, the U.S. government has persisted in a policy that has brought it only derision, not only in Latin America but throughout the world. The lack of benefits of such a policy has been of no concern to several U.S. administrations.

Except for the U.S., Israel and the Marshal Islands –who normally are in agreement on this issue- the whole world condemns U.S. policies on Cuba, perceives that they have remained unchanged in more than 50 years and that the embargo has brought enormous hardships to the Cuban people. It has allowed the Castro brothers to exert tighter control on the population.

Much can certainly be blamed on the Cuban government, such as repression and imprisonment of political dissenters and failed economic policies. Those policies have only exacerbated the Cubans' difficult situation, many of whom are living from remittances of relatives overseas.

Despite its shortcomings, the Cuban government has already participated in more than 200 joint ventures with foreign corporations. In Havana, there are also offices and representatives of over 500 companies from around the world. U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba, which reached a peak of $710 million in 2008, declined six percent in 2011 on top of a 31 percent decline in 2010, according to the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council.

Although this is a manifestation of the island financial difficulties, diminished trade with Cuba affects also the U.S. which losses the possibility of placing its exports on the island. The younger Cuban Americans don't share the older generation’s opinion of the conflict with Havana. Should the administration take steps to end the embargo it could earn the President some significant support from those young Cuban Americans, once the advantages of such a measure become clear.

Cubans would not be the only ones to benefit. At a time of scarce and expensive energy resources, Cubapetróleo (CUPET) estimates oil off its shores in 20 billion barrels of oil in Cuba's northern coast. Even a smaller amount could contribute to alleviate U.S. energy needs. Several oil companies from Spain, Norway, Russia, India, Vietnam, Malaysia, Canada, Angola, Venezuela and China are lining up to hire a $750m Chinese-built oil rig to search what they believe are important oil deposits.

While the U.S. persists in its policy of animosity towards the Cuban government, last July China signed 13 agreements of cooperation with Cuba and strengthened its economic ties with the island. Thos e agreements expanded China’s traditional investments in Cuba like energy resources to new areas such as tourism, infrastructure and finance.

Over the past decade, bilateral trade between Cuba and China increased from $440 million in 2001 to over $1.8 billion in 2010. At the same time, Cuba is China’s more important trade partner in the Caribbean region, while China is Cuba’s second-largest partner after Venezuela.

To persist on a policy that hasn't produced any positive results in 50 years is following a sophomoric, destructive course of action. It is a policy that has caused unnecessary suffering to the Cuban people and hurt American exporters. To continue the embargo which is roundly rejected by all Latin American nations is to do a disservice to the U.S. long term interests in the region.

Dr. Cesar Chelala, a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award, writes extensively on foreign policy issues.

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China’s economy has developed significantly in the last decades, lifting millions of people out of poverty and improving their health. One of the consequences of the nation’s economic progress has been the increase in life expectancy, to 72.5 in 2010. Despite this progress, however, many health issues remain unresolved. While the wealthier portion of the Chinese population has benefited from advanced health technologies, many among the poor do not have adequate access to even the most essential services.

It is estimated that approximately 80 percent of health and medical services are concentrated in cities, which means that timely medical care is not available to more than 100 million people in rural areas. In addition, although almost half of the population lives in rural areas, government expenditures in health tend to heavily favor those living in urban areas.

Although some progress has been made in underdeveloped rural areas, there is still a lack of safe water and sanitation, and widespread under-nutrition, vitamin and mineral deficiencies and indoor air pollution, all of which affect children’s health in particular. It is estimated that 80 percent of rural households have no access to a sanitary lavatory and 20 percent of rural households lack safe drinking water.

The government has to address several challenges in healthcare provision, such as the need to improve quality of services, making the healthcare system more equitable, reducing costs by improving efficiency, and improving the health insurance system and making it comprehensive.

It is estimated that China has a highly mobile population of approximately 252 million rural-to-urban migrants, a number that will probably increase in the coming decades. They tend to work in high-risk jobs, such as construction and industries where health and safety are not properly regulated.

These migrant workers have special health needs that have to be adequately addressed, particularly since they usually do not qualify for public medical insurance, which usually depend on locally based household schemes. Rural migrants working in the cities constitute a population whose health status and needs are usually not monitored by either the rural or the urban health systems.

Migrants tend to suffer from different diseases than the non-migrant urban population. Migrants tend to have more communicable diseases, such as sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis. In addition, migration is a source of stress and stress-related diseases such as depression, as a result of isolation and the lack of family support. Stress can exacerbate physical health problems and have a negative effect on people’s quality of life.

Doctors and health personnel need to be better prepared to respond to people’s needs. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, almost half of the nation’s doctors have no better qualifications than a high school degree. Many rural doctors have less experience and education than their urban counterparts. The education of rural healthcare workers needs to be upgraded. They should also receive economic incentives so that their salaries are on an equal basis with urban doctors.

There are still large disparities in access to services and the quality of care available to urban and rural populations as well as between the poor and the more affluent. Many among the poor limit their use of medical services for purely financial reasons, since the cost of treating serious illness can wipe out a family’s life savings.

New measures proposed by the State Council, which will increase insurance payments to cover a significant part of medical costs will contribute to lower the impact of high out-of-pocket payments. But, in this regard, it is also important to simplify the diversity of schemes paying for health services.

A great proportion of medical costs are due to unnecessary tests and prescriptions. Chinese hospitals’ reliance on profits from the sale of drugs has led to the over-prescribing of unnecessary medication in order to increase profitability and some pharmaceutical companies offer under-the-table inducements for prescribing drugs. The resulting high costs of treatment cause many patients to avoid going to hospitals, even for treatment that might be critical.

By some estimates, by 2035, about 25 percent of China’s population will be aged 60 or older. Medical costs can increase dramatically with age while at the same time the share of individuals who contribute to government revenues will decline. There has to be a commitment to increase prevention efforts for this sector of the population to improve their health and limit the costs of healthcare.

Although the government has stated that building a “safe, effective, convenient and affordable” health service will not be easy, these are commendable goals. To achieve them, the government should prioritize the promotion of healthy lifestyles and the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases. Health education should be given priority among government-funded interventions.

The government has taken actions to improve the health of the population, but although millions of people have benefited, millions are still lagging behind. The great challenge for China is how to strengthen its healthcare system to reduce disparities and improve the quality of health care for the majority of the population.

Cesar Chelala, MD, PhD, is an international public health consultant.

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After a Land Day (March 30) statement in which Marwan Barghouti called on Palestinians to launch a popular resistance campaign against Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land, the popular Palestinian leader (who was already in prison) was placed in solitary confinement. To ignore his warning is the wrong decision, one that can prove costly for the cause of peace in the region.

Barghouti’s imprisonment has been sharply criticized by Haaretz, one of the leading Israeli newspapers. A recent Haaretz editorial states, “We can understand him. If Israel had wanted an agreement with the Palestinians it would have released him from prison by now. Barghouti is the most authentic leader Fatah has produced and he is one of the few who can lead his people to an agreement.”

Barghouti, a stocky 53 year-old man, has an influence on Palestinians which is inversely proportional to his short stature. Born in the West Bank, since he was a young man he has been a fighter for Palestinian rights and for an end to the occupation of Palestinian land. He joined Fatah when he was 15 years-old and when he was 18 he was arrested by Israeli authorities for his involvement with Palestinian militant groups. He is fluent in Hebrew, which he learned while he was in prison.

In 1987, Barghouti was one of the leaders of the First Intifada, a Palestinian popular uprising against Israel in the West Bank and Gaza. It was a bloody uprising that resulted in the deaths of 1,100 Palestinians and 164 Israelis. In 1998, Barghouti earned an M.A. in International Relations from Birzeit University (BZU), and is married to Fadwa Ibrahim, a lawyer and a passionate advocate for Palestinian’s rights.

Barghouti had also a leading role in the Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, which started after Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount, an area highly sacred to both Jews and Muslims. It began in late September of 2000 and ended roughly in 2005. The death toll was brutal: 5,500 Palestinians, 1,100 Israelis and 64 foreigners lost their lives. Barghouti was arrested during the uprising and deported to Jordan, where he stayed for seven years until he was allowed to return under the terms of the Oslo accords of 1994.

Disenchanted with the lack of progress of the Oslo accords, he advocated for a more militant approach in the conflict with Israel. In November of 2000 he declared, “We tried seven years of intifada without negotiations, then seven years of negotiations without intifada. Perhaps it is time to try both simultaneously.” In 2002 he wrote in The Washington Post, “The lack of Israeli security is born of the lack of Palestinian freedom. Israel will have security only after the end of occupation, not before.”

Barghouti has an unrivaled reputation for personal honesty. Because of that, he was in serious conflict with Yasser Arafat. He accused Arafat and the Fatah party of corruption and his security forces of human rights violations. Although Arafat remained silent about his conflict with Barghouti, Barghouti was highly regarded among Palestinians of all factions.

Barghouti has never hidden his opposition to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. To the accusation that he was a terrorist he answered, “I am not a terrorist, but neither I am a pacifist. I am simply a regular guy from the Palestinian street advocating only what every other oppressed person has advocated – the right to help myself in the absence of help from anywhere else…I don’t seek to destroy Israel but only to end its occupation of my country.”

After Barghouti was put on trial, Uri Avnery, one of the leading Israeli peace activists who calls Barghouti ‘The New Mandela,’ wrote, “His trial was a mockery, resembling a Roman gladiatorial arena more than a judicial process.” Despite Israel’s misgivings, Barghouti may still represent the best chance for peace in the region. As the Haaretz editorial stated, “We should listen to him before it’s too late. If a third uprising breaks out, Israel will not be able to feign surprise. Barghouti warned us.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala, a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award, writes extensively on foreign affairs and human rights issues.

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Japan’s decision to hang three prisoners after nearly two years without executions has been severely criticized by Amnesty International, which calls it a “retrograde step.” Justice Minister Toshio Ogawa authorized the executions of three men, stating that this was his “duty” as Minister. “Justifying acts which violate human rights as a ‘Minister’s duty’ is unacceptable. Rather, it is the responsibility of leaders to address crime without resorting to the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment,” said Catherine Baber, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Deputy Director.

In the Group of Eight leading economies only Japan and the U.S. carry out the death penalty. Capital punishment has a long history in Japan. In the fourth century, under the influence of the Chinese judicial system, Japan adopted a system of different punishments for different crimes, including the death penalty. During the Muromachi period which run from 1337 to 1573 extremely cruel methods of execution were used. Among those were methods were upside down crucifixion, impalement by spear, sawing, and dismemberment with oxen or carts.

In 1871, following a major reform of the penal code, the list of the kind of crimes that were punishable by death was reduced and cruel torture and flogging were abolished. In 1873, the list of crimes punished by execution was further reduced and methods of execution were limited to beheading or hanging.

Presently, the typical stay of prisoners on death row is between five and seven years. For some, however, this period is much longer. A prisoner, Sadamichi Hirasawa, died of natural causes at the age of 95, after being in death row for 32 years. According to Kyodo, a Japanese news agency, there are 132 death row inmates in Japan.

There has been considerable debate in Japan about the death penalty, and the public has overwhelmingly supported it. In the late 1980s, four high-profile acquittals of death-row inmates after retrial shook public confidence on this measure. This case “shook public confidence in the system and profoundly embarrassed the Ministry of Justice, which until then had believed that the execution of an innocent person was all but impossible,” stated Charles Lane, a reporter for The Washington Post who studied the Japanese criminal justice system.

However, a government survey in 1999 showed that 79.3 percent of the public supported this measure. At a 2003 trial in Tokyo, a prosecutor presented the court a petition with 76,000 signatures requesting the death sentence on his case. A 2009 government survey showed that 86 percent of the public in Japan supported the death penalty.

In the United States, there have been 1289 execution since 1976, most of them by lethal injection. In 34 states, the death penalty is legal, and in 16 states it has been abolished. In the U.S., over 130 people have been released from death row after their innocence was proved.

Both in the case of Japan and the U.S., there is the widespread perception that the death penalty can be a deterrent to further crimes. However, according to a 2009 study conducted by Professor Michael Radelet and Tracy Lacock, both at the University of Colorado-Boulder, 88% of the country’s top criminologists do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent to homicides.

In addition, 87% of leading criminologists think that abolition of the death penalty would not have any significant effect on murder rates. More pointedly, 75% of the respondents believe that “debates about the death penalty distract Congress and state legislatures from focusing on real solutions to crime problems.”

All European countries except Russia, Belarus, Serbia and Latvia have abolished capital punishment. According to Amnesty International, 95 countries, including Canada and Australia, have abolished the death penalty, while nine other countries have it reserved only for extraordinary cases of espionage or treason. It is now time for Japan and the US to heed Amnesty International’s suggestion and join the more than two-thirds of countries worldwide who have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, and declare a moratorium on executions as a first step toward abolition.

Dr. Cesar Chelala, a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award, writes extensively on human rights issues.

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In Afghanistan, there were expectations that ten years after the fall of the Taliban women’s rights –which had been systematically abused during the Taliban’s rule- would be respected. A recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), “I Had to Run Away” The Imprisonment of Women and Girls for “Moral Crimes” in Afghanistan, shows that this is not the case.

The HRW report is based on 58 interviews with women and girls accused of “moral crimes,” and were conducted in three prisons and three juvenile detention facilities. These crimes often involved flight from a forced marriage or different degrees and kinds of domestic violence. In addition, some of the women and girls were convicted of zina, as sex out of marriage is called, after being raped or forced into prostitution.

There have been several initiatives aimed at improving the human rights situation in Afghanistan .In 2001, the Bonn Agreement established the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) as a national human rights institution in charge of protecting human rights and investigating human rights abuses and war crimes. Its existence was solidified by the Afghanistan Constitution of 2004.

This current Afghan constitution, approved by consensus in 2004 after the 2003 loya jirga, promised equal rights for women and men, allowing women to work outside the home and engage in political activity.

Despite some advances, however, in late March 2009, Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed into law an internationally repudiated “Shia Family Law.” This law apparently condones spousal rape, child marriage, and imposes purdah on married Afghan women. Purdah is the social system that determines sexual propriety and manages inter-gender interaction and relationships.

That same year, the Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women banned and set serious penalties for underage and forced marriage, domestic violence, rape, forced prostitution and other abuses against women. However, discrimination and violence against women continues, and those that try to flee abusive situations face apathy and criminal sanctions for what are vaguely defined as “moral crimes.” Although reliable statistics are not readily available, HRW estimates that in January 2012, there were approximately 400 women and girls imprisoned in Afghanistan for “moral crimes.”

Thus, although there has been an increased participation of women in Afghanistan’s social, educational and political life, prejudices and ineffectual application of laws continue to exact a heavy toll on women, as the HRW report shows. While women who flee abuse often end up incarcerated, the men responsible for those abuses frequently enjoy impunity from prosecution.

Many women and girls are still forced into marriage, often at a very young age and to a much older man. As a result, it is estimated that every two hours an Afghan woman or girl dies of pregnancy-related causes, in part because they are forced to marry immediately after puberty and they give birth when their bodies are not fully developed.

When facing such difficult circumstances, many women leave those unhappy relationships. Their enraged relatives then track them down and accuse them of running away from their marriage or of zina, which is defined by Islamic Law as unlawful sexual intercourse between a man and a woman not married to each other.

Even if charges are not proven, women suffer from invasive medical examinations and severe damages to their credibility and reputation. Only rarely do the police and the justice system investigate claims of abuse cited by women as their reason for fleeing home, and even more rarely are men prosecuted for those crimes.

The Supreme Court of Afghanistan has instructed the country’s judges to treat the “running away” as a crime, despite the absence of this offense in Afghan law which only exacerbates the discrimination against women. Prosecutors often argue that women and girls detained for “moral crimes” are of bad moral character and probably “fabricate” their stories of abuse.

Afghanistan’s justice system should investigate all crimes against women, determine if women’s actions were in response to abuse and prosecute those presumed guilty. Until Afghanistan’s justice system treats all its citizens equally, the country will continue to be a pariah among those that respect justice and women’s rights.

Cesar Chelala, a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award, is an international public health consultant who has written extensively on women’s health and human rights.

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In recent decades, the islands, water and resources of the South China Sea have been increasingly contested, particularly after some recent finding of important energy sources.

Several countries stake their claims to part of the sea, China being the most relevant. Interested countries confront two options, increase their belligerent claims or try to develop policies for the joint exploration of resources according to international norms. The choice is clear if we want to maintain peace in that contentious region of the world.

The South China Sea, which has an area estimated in 3,500,000 square kilometers (1,200,000 sq mi) is one of the world’s most important shipping transit areas, and it is believed to have huge oil and gas reserves beneath its seabed. It is estimated that the South China Sea has 7 billion barrels in oil reserves and 900 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Presently, Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam claim maritime rights over this area.

Since China is the stronger country, it is inevitable that conflicts exist with the other countries involved. These conflicts will only tend to increase, as energy demands will augment substantially, with energy consumption expected to double by 2030. In addition, China considers the Sea of China as an obvious extension of her regional power.

Among all the countries involved it is perhaps China with the Philippines and Vietnam where the possibilities for conflict are stronger. The conflict of China with the Philippines arises over whose country has the authority to allow local and foreign companies to exploit valuable oil and gas reserves in a disputed zone of the South China Sea.

The dispute was recently triggered when Manila stated that it was preparing to issue exploration licenses for 15 petroleum blocks. Three of those blocks are in the South China Sea. Beijing protested, claiming that two of the auctioned blocks were under its jurisdiction, and are part of the disputed Spratly Islands. Philippine officials insist that the two blocks do not belong to the Spratlys.

The Spratly Islands are important for several reasons: they have important reserves of oil and natural gas, it is a productive area for world fishing and commercial shipping, and coastal countries could benefit for an extended continental shelf. China (PRC), Taiwan (ROC) and Vietnam have made claims to the islands based on historical sovereignty over them.

At the core of the problem between China and Vietnam is the dispute over the Paracel Islands, also called Xisha Islands now under the administration of Hainan Province, in The People’s Republic of China. Both China and South Vietnam controlled part of the Paracel Islands before 1974. However, following a brief confrontation where 71 soldiers were killed China controls the whole of Paracel, and now considers it an issue that is closed. Vietnam, however, still questions China’s control over the islands.

The archipelago is roughly equidistant from the coastlines of China and Vietnam. Although the islands have limited military value, geological surveys indicate the presence of significant gas and oil reserves in the surrounding waters. In addition, the archipelago is surrounded by rich fishing grounds.

To stimulate progress on the issues related to rights over the South China Sea islands a Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea was signed in November of 2002. Although the declaration contributed to ease tensions on this issue, it fell short of establishing a binding code of conduct.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) effective since November 16, 1994, established procedures for countries with coastlines to submit claims for their continental shelf to be extended 200 nautical miles of their shores. In May 2009, both Vietnam and Malaysia submitted claims which were immediately contested by China, which called on the United Nations not to consider them.
Given the multiplicity of parties and the intricacy of the issues involved, it seems that only multilateral agreements for development will end the present status quo on issues of sovereignty and control of resources. The choice is between confrontation or development for all countries involved in such a critical area of the world.

Cesar Chelala, a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award, writes extensively on human rights and foreign policy issues.

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Parallel to its economic development, China is facing the challenge of a rapidly aging population. This is happening at a time when urbanization and industrialization is quickly increasing in the country. It is a trend which has weakened traditional family support networks, particularly for the elderly. New policies are necessary to face this situation.

In 1979, China adopted a one-child policy to limit population growth and ensure economic stability. As a result, with fewer children and better living standards, the proportion of the elderly in the population has grown substantially and will continue to do so in the coming years. According to one study, within 20 years China will have 350 million citizens over the age of 60, more than the current U.S. population.

This situation will present special problems but also unique opportunities. This century’s leading countries will be those that consider their aging population not as dependent and disabled, but that will empower them to still be active participants in the country’s economic growth. This is what some people now call “active aging.”

In this regard, the IMF reported last year that China’s economy should surpass the U.S. economy in real terms in 2016. In spite of this, one of China’s greatest fears is that the country will grow old before it grows rich. As stated in UNFPA’s The State of World Population 2011, Professor Jiang Xiangqun, a gerontologist at Renmin University in Beijing has argued that when developed countries initially entered a period of significant population aging they had a much higher level of per capita income.

The situation of older people was also affected when state-owned enterprises trimmed their ranks of tens of millions of old workers who were let go with small pensions and were replaced by younger ones. The vast majority of retired older workers now have extremely low pensions which are almost irrelevant and, in many cases, make them unable to meet some basic needs. As a result, the vast majority of older Chinese live with their families, a situation that responds not only to the Confucian tradition of respect for age and experience but also to a law that was passed in 1996 making it a legal obligation to take care of the elders in the family.

According to some estimates, 98 percent of old people in China remain in their homes, or try to do so. Many remain mostly by themselves in “empty nests,” as their children migrate to cities for work or to start their own families in single-generation homes. Some researchers have called this phenomenon the 1-2-4 problem: one child taking care of two parents and four grandparents.

However, as China’s population ages rapidly, the young workforce available for economic growth diminishes. This may hinder not only the development of the country but also the quality of life for its senior citizens, since the young will be less able to support their elders. This is happening while the ratio of elderly dependants to people of working age will rise sharply. It is estimated that over the next few decades this ratio will rise from 10% in 2012 to 40% by 2050.

As the numbers of caregivers fail to keep pace with the growing elderly population more of them, particularly those with poor health, will seek care in specialized institutions. The proportion of elderly who develop diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and different kinds of dementia will increase. It has been estimated that the total medical cost for treating these diseases could reach almost nine percent of China’s domestic product by 2025.

The government has responded to the challenge of elders’ care by constructing more nursing homes. However, most of these homes are located mainly in big cities, and their quality varies widely. Also, they only provide basic health care and services, and mostly lack trained social workers.

As things stand now, the Chinese government has to devise new strategies to deal with the demographic challenge of a rapidly aging population. It is necessary to improve a social security system to cover both rural and urban areas, improve the overseeing of welfare institutions and address old people’s special needs, not only physical but also provide them with mental health support. China’s health care system will have to address the shifting disease burden of an older population, such as the rising tide of non-communicable diseases.

At the same time, it is critical to increase the training of social workers through special courses that teach them to understand and deal with the needs of older people. It is also important to increase the retirement age, which is now 60 for men and 50 for women, taking into account that today’s life expectancy is now 73. With medical advances, people now can still be productive at later ages. How the government meets this challenge will be a measure of the kind of society China intends to build in the future.

Cesar Chelala, MD, PhD, is an international public health consultant.

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China’s advances in public health have resulted in a significant increase in life expectancy, which has gone from under 60 years in the 1950s to 74 today. However, this improvement has also resulted in increasing number of people older than 60 years-old and some of the diseases prevalent at that age such as different kinds of dementias, notably Alzheimer.

Although Alzheimer’s is the most common type, there are also other types of dementia such as vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies and fronto-temporal dementia. They are all progressive disorders characterized by altered memory, thinking, behavior and the ability to carry out everyday activities. Although they can start before the age of 65, after that age the likelihood of developing one of them roughly doubles every five years, exacting considerable personal, financial and social costs.

In the World Alzheimer’s Report 2009, Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) estimated that there were 35.6 million people worldwide living with dementia, with numbers doubling every 20 years to 66 million by 2030 and 115 million by 2050. According to that report, China now has 5.3 million people living with Alzheimer’s. Those numbers make Alzheimer’s and other kinds of dementia one of the most significant health and economic crises of the 21st century.

The economic impact of the dementias on the countries is not sufficiently appreciated. According to statistics from Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI), the estimated worldwide total costs of dementias were US $604 billion in 2010. It also estimates that if dementia were a country, it would be the world’s 18th largest economy, ranking between Turkey and Indonesia. Those costs will soar in the next few decades. ADI estimates that by 2030 there will be an estimated 85% increase in costs, based in the predicted number people with dementia at that time.

The China’s Alzheimer’s Project (CAP) estimates that 75% of urban patients have not been diagnosed in a timely way. The proportion of those not diagnosed in rural areas is probably higher. This is happening despite the fact that there is increasing awareness about these diseases.

Presently, only the top-quality hospitals (of which there are approximately 700 in the country) can provide comprehensive diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
The CAP reports that there are only approximately 1,000 physicians experienced to deal with this kind of diseases. The CAP also estimates that China is short of 10 million senior caregivers.

Several situations hinder more rapid progress to deal with this disease. Among those, are the low level of public health education and the lack of state-public health research projects for the prevention of Alzheimer’s. The CAP, however, also notes that some local governments are encouraging the creation of Alzheimer’s Care institutions.

Access to and affordability of health care is a serious problem, particularly in rural China. In addition, sick people have the added problem of diminishing care by relatives, many of whom have to migrate to urban areas in search of better economic conditions. Although those living in urban areas have better access, the sick and disabled are also the poorest groups in urban societies.

The Chinese government is now educating the public about dementia and big cities like Shanghai have developed plans to build new facilities to take care of the sick there. However, there are still serious problems related to the care of the sick and the still inadequate social support system in the country.

Among the main challenges is who will pay for professional care, particularly since in the 1990s China has dismantled the system of financial support by the state. The nation’s social safety net is weak, and commercial insurance does not cover the disease nor non-hospital nursing care. In addition, community health service centers do not have the possibility of providing screening and special nursing care for patients with dementia.

Alzheimer’s Disease International recommends that every country should have a national dementia strategy, promoting early diagnosis and intervention, while at the same time developing the capacity of primary care services to have the basic competency for making a provisional diagnosis of dementia and take initial management measures.

Because of its impact, Alzheimer’s, and dementias in general are personal, family and social diseases the demand urgent, new and innovative ways of addressing them. In China, which has one of the fastest aging populations, the number of people with different kind of dementias will only increase. The sooner the challenge is faced, the better and more caring the Chinese society will become.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant.

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For the past few years, there has been an explosion of ways in which countries can engage in destructive behavior. The use of cyberspace as a tool of war has changed the nature of conventional warfare. This not only poses problems in terms of how to respond to those threats but also how to develop agreements among countries to curtail its use.

Richard A. Clarke, former counterterrorism adviser on the National Security Council defined “cyberwarfare” in his book Cyber War as “actions by a nation state to penetrate another nation’s computers or networks for the purpose of causing damage or disruption.”

The Lipman Report, which offers insights from private sources on national security risks, warns that several sectors of the U.S. economy are seriously endangered, including cyber threats to public and private facilities, banking and finance, education and government, and other operations which depend on computers for daily operations.

In February 2010, several U.S. lawmakers stated that “the threat of a crippling attack on telecommunications and computer networks was sharply on the rise.” To underscore those dangers even more, the former Director of National Intelligence, Vice Admiral Michael McConnell (Ret.) stated bluntly before the U.S. Senate in 2010, “If we were in a cyberwar today, the United States would lose.” His testimony, however, may represent a conflict of interest considering his participation as director of defense programs in Booz Allen Hamilton, a firm which provides technology services to the U.S. government.

It is evident, nonetheless, that cyber attacks can wreck havoc in a country’s defense system and on its economy. For example, in July 2011, the South Korean company SK Communications was hacked. As a result, important personal details of up to 35 million people were stolen, a part of what seems to have been a broader, concerted hacking effort.

The best well known -the mother of all attacks- was perhaps the one caused on Iran’s centrifuges by the Stuxnet worm in its Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, which probably delayed its nuclear development activities by several months. Many consider this worm the most advanced piece of its kind, one that significantly increases the profile of cyberwarfare.

“We have entered into a new face of conflict in which we use a cyberweapon to create physical destruction, and in this case, physical destruction in someone else’s critical infrastructure,” declared Ret. Gen. Michael Hayden to the CBS news magazine “60 minutes.” Hayden, who served as CIA director under President George W. Bush, acknowledges that he knows more about the attack on Iran that he is willing to discuss publicly.

There are also potential problems with this kind of warfare, however. Malware modeled after Stuxnet could also be used to target critical infrastructure in the U.S. such as electrical power grids and water-treatment plants, in addition to Department of Defense facilities and banks. All these actions could adversely affect security installations and cause enormous economic damages.

According to Defense officials, Pentagon computers are targeted about 5,000 times per day. Although so far the extent of the damage has been controlled, there are no assurances that in the future this kind of activities may not cause devastating effects. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has alerted in a public notice that the U.S. electrical grid is exposed to cyberattacks, which could cause enormous damage.

In this regard, Richard A. Clarke stated to National Public Radio (NPR) in 2010, “We’re probably doing things on lot of networks around the world to get ready for cyberwar, and yet we don’t have a military strategy that has been shared with the Congress or the public. And I suspect we don’t really have a military strategy at all.” And he added, “We have extremely good cyber-offensive capabilities – and almost nothing in the way of cyberdefense.”

The real dilemma is how to reach international agreements to limit military attacks in cyberspace. A Ukrainian professor of International Law, Alexander Merezhko, has developed a project, the International Convention on Prohibition of Cyberwar in Internet, and an American General, Keith B. Alexander believes that talks should be carried out between the U.S. and Russia on ways to avoid military attacks in cyberspace.

Together with unparalleled technological advances, human beings are constantly developing new and original ways to destroy each other. If only that energy and creativity were used for more constructive purposes.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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To understand Greece’s recent travails and how the country got there it is useful to quote what Mikis Theodorakis, the famous Greek songwriter and composer wrote about it. Recently, in his home page, Theodorakis said:

“Until 2009, there was no serious economic problem. The major wounds of our economy were the enormous expenses related to the purchase of war material and the corruption of a part of the political and economic-journalistic sector. For both of these wounds, foreigners are jointly responsible. Germans, for instance, as well as French, English and Americans, earned billions of Euros from annual sales of war material, to the detriment of our national wealth. That continuous hemorrhage brought us to our knees and did not permit us to move forward, while at the same time it made foreign nations prosperous. The same was true of the problem of corruption. The German company Siemens, for instance, maintained a special department for buying off Greek stakeholders in order to place its products in the Greek market. Hence, the Greek people have been victims of that predatory duo of Greeks and Germans, growing richer at their expense.”

In 2001-2002, Argentina went through a similar economic crisis affecting Greece today. But after a few difficult years Argentina resumed growth, prompting many to wonder whether Greece should follow Argentina’s path in order to restore its economic health. What did Argentina do and can it be applicable to Greece?

Argentina’s most serious economic woes began in the mid-1990s, reaching full recession in 1999-2002. In December 2001, too avoid wider and more punishing social unrest, the Argentine government declared that it could no longer honor its debts and the country went into default. At US$ 93 billion, Argentina’s bankruptcy amounted to the largest default in history turning the country into a pariah in international markets.

Although its creditors placed all blame on Argentina’s government, Argentina’s decision was praised by several economists. Christine Rifflart, an economist expert on Latin American economics at the Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Économiques (OFCE) stated that Argentina’s decision “was probably the best thing the country could have done at the time.”

The Argentine economic crisis unleashed, as is now happening in Greece, widespread social protests and unseated five presidents within a year, taking the country several years to recover. One of the main causes of the crisis, however, remains largely ignored. Argentina accumulated an unpayable debt because loans were unwisely taken and even more unwisely offered, a situation which is pathetically similar to what is happening now in Greece.

Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, DC, stated last October, “Argentina recovered quickly because it freed itself not only from an unsustainable debt burden, but also from the destructive policies imposed by creditors and their allies.” It is now time for the Greeks to think along the same lines, demanding a drastic restructuring of its debt. Any other measure would only relieve some of the symptoms without curing the underlying disease.

It may be more difficult for the Greeks than it was for the Argentines to overcome this difficult situation. Argentina’s recovery benefitted to a large extent by the dramatic increase in international prices of some key agricultural products such as wheat and soybeans, as the demand for these products continued to increase from countries such as China and India. This is not the case of Greece, still heavily dependent on tourism. But there is a limit to Greece capacity to pay back its debts without provoking unrelenting chaos in the country.

In 2005, when Argentina’s Finance Minister Roberto Lavagna announced the government’s decision to restructure $88 billion in defaulted debt with a 75% “haircut”, he was accused of “not playing by the rules.” Lavagna’s response, which could be Greece’s today, was that the country wouldn’t repeat past mistakes, “…when the government ignored its own limited ability to pay in order to secure rapid bondholder acceptance.”

As events in Greece continue to unfold rapidly, Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s new prime minister, has told his counterparts that his budget deficit this year would be 5.8% rather than the 4.4% he is pledged to deliver. Also, the International Monetary Fund has cast doubt on whether Ireland, which has received an EU and IMF bailout in 2010, will be able to return to the international credit markets by 2013.

Greece is at a most critical time as an independent nation. The problem is not how banks will minimize their losses but how Greece will survive as a modern democracy. Greece’s response to this crisis will determine its future as a country and its citizens’ ability to maintain a decent quality of life.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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Every year, blood transfusions save millions of lives, but still millions of patients needing transfusion do not have access to safe blood because of insufficient donations. Among the countries suffering this problem is China, where insufficient amounts of donated blood continue being a problem despite efforts to raise people’s awareness about this need. The problem in China will be solved not only when technical issues are addressed, but when people’s cultural beliefs are also taken into consideration.

In spite of the fact that China’s Blood Donation Law was enacted in 1998, encouraging all citizens between the age of 18 and 55 to donate blood, only 84 out of 10,000 people donate blood in China. This is far below the 454 people out of every 10,000 people who donate blood in high-income countries. Hospitals in Beijing, and in the provinces of Shandong, Shanxi, Yunnan and Jiangxi suffer from acute blood shortages which provokes delays in surgical procedures.

The concept of blood (xue) as it is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is different than the way the term is commonly used in western medicine. According to Chinese medicine, blood is a dense form of body fluids that has been energized by Qi, and has a synergistic relationship with it. That is why the Suwen, also known as Basic Questions, a text that covers the theoretical foundation of Chinese medicine and its diagnostic method, states, “Blood and Qi are the spirits of man.” This is one of the reasons that explain why many people in China are reluctant to donate blood.

According to TCM, one can donate blood once every two years without adverse effects, and this may even enhance the body’s ability to produce more blood. According to Western medicine theory, however, a person can donate blood every 56 days without fear of adverse reactions. The blood lost can be completely recovered 10 days after transfusion took place.

In addition to the belief that donating blood may drain a person’s energy, other misunderstandings related to blood donation are that it can undermine men’s fertility, it may lead to gaining weight or it can lead to dangerous changes in blood pressure. None of these beliefs has been proved to be true. The only drawback of blood donation, however, is that if proper precautions are not taken it may lead to the recipient acquiring infections from the donor.

Fear of transfusion transmissible infection, notably HIV, is one of the most important factors discouraging people from donating blood. Many people remember the spreading of HIV by contaminated blood in Henan province. It is estimated that, in central Henan Province alone, more than one million people contracted HIV from selling their blood in unsanitary collection stations. To overcome the problem of contaminated blood transfusion, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that, at a minimum, blood should be screened for HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis.

Because of public concern of risk of infection from donation, it is still necessary to overcome popular fear that donating blood is deleterious to a person’s health. According to some researchers, in one region in Western China, almost 70% of the people who were interviewed, said that fear of becoming infected with transfusion transmitted infections (TTIs) prevented them from donating blood.

A complicating factor in the need for donated blood is that several studies have shown that blood transfusions are often given when there is no urgent need, when simpler, less expensive treatments can provide equal or greater benefit. The need for more blood donations, however, is still critical in China, which has made considerable progress in convincing many Chinese to eliminate blood selling and increase voluntary blood donation as a way of stemming transmission of TTIs.

During a couple of visits I made to China’s rural areas in the 1990s, I was able to assess their greater needs when compared to the population in the urban areas. More information and resources should be brought to those and to marginal areas in the big cities.

The World Health Organization has stated some basic conditions to increase access to blood transfusions and to promote blood safety. It has four main elements: establishment of a nationally coordinated blood transfusion service, collection of blood from exclusively voluntary donors from low-risk populations, testing of all blood for compatibility and transfusion-transmissible infections, and reducing all unnecessary transfusions.

In addition, it is important to secure the government’s commitment and support for the national blood program and continue public health campaigns aimed at educating the population, particularly in poor, marginal and rural areas. Blood is a gift of life, and should be treated as such.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant.

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Dementia is a general term to describe the decline in mental activity severe enough to interfere with daily activities. There are several types of dementia, although Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type, accounting for an estimated 60 to 80 percent of cases.

Although some medicines are palliative, none is able to cure the disease. Fortunately now a recent discovery may change the outlook of this disease and eventually to its cure.

It is estimated that 5.4 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s today, and their care involves approximately 15 million people at an annual cost of 183 million dollars. While deaths by HIV/AIDS, stroke and heart disease have diminished in the last several years, deaths due to Alzheimer’s have steadily increased and now every 69 seconds somebody in the U.S. develops the disease.

When in 1901 Dr. Aloysius “Alois” Alzheimer, a German Psychiatrist and neuropathologist observed some unusual behavioral symptoms on Auguste Deter, a patient at the Frankfurt Asylum, he didn’t realize that later he would give his name to a devastating disease: Alzheimer’s disease. Until he died in 1906, Mrs. Deter would become Dr. Alzheimer’s obsession. He could not forget the bizarre symptoms exhibited by her, such as behavior changes, disorientation, confusion and impaired judgment.

Soon after Mrs. Deter’s death, and with the help of two Italian physicians, Dr. Alzheimer used staining techniques to identify two crucial findings in the brain of people affected by Alzheimer’s: some abnormal clumps of protein fragments called beta-amyloid plaques, and disordered neurofibrillary tangles (twisted fibers composed largely of the protein called tau that build up inside nerve cells) which are two of the main features of the disease.

On November 3 of 1906, in a speech in front of medical colleagues, for the first time he presented together the symptoms and the pathology of the disease. A critical chapter had been opened in the search for its understanding. Regrettably, his contribution to the study of Alzheimer’s disease stopped in December of 1915 when he fell ill on his way to the University of Breslau, Silesia, where he had been professor of psychiatry since 1912.

The high levels of beta-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles make it hard for the brain cells to communicate with each other. Although both substances are hallmarks of the disease, there is no agreement among scientists if they are a byproduct or if they cause the disease. The cells of the hippocampus, which is the center of learning and memory in the brain, are the first to be damaged, and that is why memory loss is one of the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

Fortunately since Alzheimer’s original studies there has been steady progress. A recent finding has considerably raised expectations for a cure. A group of researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio found that a cancer drug they have been testing in mice was able to destroy the plaques found in the brains of people affected with Alzheimer’s. Although many drugs that are successful in mice fail to work when tried on people, this finding is reason for optimism.

Normally in the body, the removal of beta-amyloid is carried out by a substance called apolipoprotein E, or ApoE. However, people have many different versions of this protein, one of which, called ApoE4, is one of the biggest risk factors for developing Alzheimer’s. Using a drug called bexarotene, the scientists were able to reduce the levels of beta-amyloid in mice.

After a single dose, the levels of beta-amyloid in the brain were rapidly lowered within six hours, and a 25% reduction was sustained for 70 hours. In older mice with more established beta-amyloid plaques, after seven days of treatment the number of plaques was reduced to a half. What makes this experiment particularly interesting is that after treatment the mice showed improvements in brain function, nest building, maze performance and remembering electrical shocks.

One of the researchers, however, cautioned that although the study had been particularly rewarding and offered great promise, the drug had been tested in only “three mouse models” which simulate the early stages of the disease but are not Alzheimer’s. For a disease like this, which has caused so much damage and concern over the years, even these preliminary news are already good news.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant.

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Khader Adnan’s hunger strike as protest by his administrative detention by Israeli authorities is not only placing him in serious danger of losing his life but is also a heroic protest against the unlawful condition of his detention. Unless international concern is manifested soon, he will be one more unnecessary victim of the occupation of the Palestinian territories by Israeli forces.

The Israeli government claims that he is a security threat. Even if that were so, he has the right to be informed of any charges against him, and be subject to a fair trial. According to international law, this procedure can be us only in the most exceptional cases, as the only mean available for preventing danger that cannot be stopped by less harmful means.

Mr. Adnan, a 33-year-old baker and student is the father of two girls. On December 17, he was arrested for the eighth time and placed under administrative detention, which essentially means that a prisoner can be held indefinitely without trial or charges if he is deemed to be a security threat. However, as stated by B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights organization, “Israel’s use of administrative detention blatantly violates these restrictions.”

Charlotte Silver, a graduate of Stanford University and current editor of The Palestine Monitor has stated that, “In its very essence administrative detention is dehumanizing; its effects are to homogenize the Palestinian population and strip each man, woman and family that encounters it of his or her singularity and personal identity. Each person who enters administrative detention is the same as the one who came before, and the one who will follow. This endless cycle of incarceration paints all those who pass through it with the same brush, rendering the Palestinian population indistinct.”

The legal basis for Israel’s use of this procedure is the 1945 British Mandate Law on Authority in States of Emergency, as amended in 1979. Although it is generally applied to Palestinian militants and their accomplices, it is also applied occasionally to Jewish Israeli citizens. According to figure that B’Tselem received from the Israel Prison Service, there has been a sharp increase in 2011 in the number of administrative detainees held by Israel, from 219 in January to 307 in September. Statistics on those held by the IDF were not available.

In the meantime, Mr. Adnan, who has refused food since December 19 and has agreed to take glucose and mineral infusions, is shackled to his bed, according to a group of doctors from Physicians for Human Rights and has lost almost a third of his body weight. His wife Randa and his young daughters have described his appearance as “shocking.”

In a letter quoted by Ms. Silver that he wrote from an Israeli hospital on day fifty-six of his strike, he stated, “The Israeli occupation has gone to extremes against our people, especially prisoners. I have been humiliated, beaten, and harassed by interrogators for no reason, and thus I swore to God I would fight the policy of administrative detention to which I and hundreds of my fellow prisoners fell prey.”

In the meantime his wife Rada, who is five-months pregnant, continues taking care of their daughters and her in-laws, who share the house with her. She also continues selling the bread in the same bakery to keep the family. The Israeli authorities recently allowed
the visit of her wheel-chaired mother as a way of pressuring him to end the strike.

On February 9, 2012, B’Tselem made an urgent demand to Minister for Intelligence Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor, for the release of Khader Adnan stating that, “If he is not released, he must be charged and tried in a manner that respects his rights to due process.” Last Wednesday Jawad Boulus, his lawyer, filed a petition to Israel’s High Court of Justice. His request has been accepted and the hearing will take next Thursday.

Although the European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, has stated that she was following Adnan’s case with great concern, this concern has not yet translated in a clear voice of protest for the conditions of his detention. Mr. Adnan has now carried out the longest strike in Palestinian history, but at a tremendous risk to his health and survival. That the international community has kept so quiet on his fate is a cause for shame.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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The trial of Guatemala’s ex-leader Gen Efrain Ríos Montt is the most significant human rights event in the recent history of that nation. By many accounts, Ríos Montt is responsible for the worst human rights abuses committed by the military in Latin America. His trial and eventual punishment can change the political panorama in Guatemala, and be redemption for its military rulers’ cruel past.

Ríos Montt’s trial is only possible now because, as a congressman, he had enjoyed immunity from prosecution for 12 years. He was the head of a military regime (1982-1983) that carried out the worst atrocities of Guatemala’s 36-year civil war that ended with a peace treaty in 1996. It is estimated that at least 200,000 Guatemalans were killed during the conflict.

I became aware of the Guatemalan military’s human rights abuses in the early eighties, when I interviewed Nobel Peace laureate Rigoberta Menchú in New York. During our conversation she told me about the terrible things happening in her country. Although some people tried to discredit her testimony saying that it was fabricated, it was proved to be correct in its essential details.

Her testimony of the military’s genocidal policies was later amply confirmed by two important Truth Commissions, the REMHI report (Proyecto Interdiocesano de Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica) sponsored by the Roman Catholic Church in Guatemala and the CEH report (Historical Clarification Commission) conducted by the United Nations.

Both reports extensively deal with how the military conducted its operations in the countryside, particularly the “scorched earth” policy that caused the indiscriminate death of thousands of civilians, among them a substantial proportion of women and children. That campaign was to a large extent directed against the nation’s Mayan population, whom the military had associated with the insurgency.

At the most critical time during Ríos Montt’s rule there were more than 3,000 killings and disappearances per month. Based on the number of people killed or made to disappear, Ríos Montt was the most brutal dictator in Latin America’s recent history, surpassing even Augusto Pinochet in Chile, Hugo Banzer in Bolivia or Jorge Rafael Videla in Argentina.

What made Ríos Montt’s policies particularly ludicrous was that they were justified on religious beliefs. Ríos Montt, who was a Pentecostal priest, said that a true Christian had the Bible in one hand and a machine gun on the other. Although not all military leaders who followed him claimed the same beliefs as basis for their actions, they were all equally brutal in the characteristics of the repression of popular dissent.

That Ríos Montt was supported by the United States at the time of the repression in Guatemala in no way diminishes the extent of his responsibility. While paying a visit to Guatemala City in December of 1982, Ronald Reagan stated, “President Ríos Montt is a man of great personal integrity and commitment…I know he wants to improve the quality of life for all Guatemalans and promote social justice.”

In March 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton apologized for the U.S. support for the Ríos Montt regime, declaring, “For the United States, it is important I state clearly that support for military forces and intelligence units which engaged in violence and widespread repression was wrong and the United States must not repeat that mistake.”

Although guerrilla popular forces confronting the military were also responsible for some human rights violations, an investigation by the Historical Clarification Commission found that Guatemalan state forces and related paramilitary groups were responsible for 93% of the documented violations, including 92% of the arbitrary executions and 91% of forced disappearances.

Years later after our first encounter, I met Rigoberta Menchú again by chance near the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan. She was standing in front of a cash machine by a bank next to the UN, surrounded by several women. I greeted her and asked how she was doing. She replied that she had been doing well until she tried to get money from the cash machine. Her frustration was evident as she kept trying and was unable to withdraw cash from the machine.

Trying to make light of the situation I said to her: "You know, Rigoberta, that machine was probably made by a witch doctor." Without missing a beat, she retorted: "No, Cesar, this machine was made by the white man." Bringing to trial General Ríos Montt is perhaps a way for fate to make a white man pay for his barbaric behavior against the Guatemalan Indians.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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When Michal Kadlec and Manuel Friedrich, two Bayer Leverkusen players, squabbled over Leo Messi’s shirt after the game against the Barcelona team they only confirmed what many suspect: even Messi’s shirt has magical powers. The players’ behavior was severely criticized by Rudi Voeller, the German team’s coach who declared, “What the pair did was over the top.”

Kadlec, who scored his team’s only goal in the 3-1 defeat to Barca, later said, “When you play against such a player, then you always want his shirt.” Voeller declared to the German newspaper Bild that he was truly disappointed with the players’ behavior, particularly when “90% of the team was fully concentrated on the game.” And Voeller also said that the two players will auction off their Messi’s shirts for a good cause.

This is not the first time that members of the opposing team show their admiration for the Argentine player. During many games, after Messi performs one of his brilliant moves, opposing players pat him affectionately on the head, almost acknowledging, “It was a shame that you couldn’t make a goal after this beautiful play.”

Jose Delbo, an 87 year-old Argentinean fan of Messi who follows every game from his home in Florida told me recently, “I have never before been so moved seeing a player’s game as I am so now with Messi. After some of his beautiful plays I almost feel like crying.”

Many claim that Messi is the result of Pep Guardiola’s teachings in Barcelona. They seem to forget that as a child in Argentina Messi was already a brilliant player. Ernesto Vecchio, a coach from his youth, declared recently, “As a player, he is very similar now to how he was as a youngster.” And he added, “He decides in milliseconds what he is going to do with the ball at his feet.”

Because of this spectacular speed and brilliance in making decisions, how Messi’s brain works is now being studied by a Dutch physician, Pieter Medendorp at Radboud University of Nijmegen to know “how people make split-second decisions and know how to prioritize.”

Dr. Medendorp is fascinated by how people make quick decisions, particularly when moving. It is Messi’s ability to concentrate opponents in front of him and then almost effortlessly weave through them that particularly interests Dr. Medendorp. As he declared, “In the field, Messi knows where to find the others [players] and then decide not only how to escape from a marking or where to go but also what to do with the ball.”

Guardiola, who carefully nurtured Messi’s talent, said of his ability to concentrate several opponents to mark him and stop his game that “Messi plays even when he doesn’t play.” Realizing Messi’s unusual skill, Guardiola has been determined in his decision to make other players have supporting roles to him in the game. Even Barca’s new signings were made taking into account the new player’s compatibility with Messi. The Swedish player Zlatan Ibrahimovic expensive contract was cancelled after he didn’t get along with Messi.

In a poem by British commentator Ray Hudson entitled “Vintage Messi” he says,

How many angels
can dance on the head of a pin?
How magnificent
is Messi?
There is no answer
It’s like counting the bubbles
In a bottle of Champagne.

Recently in London, when asked about Messi, the retired Brazilian soccer player Pele, said, “I would love to play with Lionel Messi. But Messi is an incomplete player because he can not use his head.” It is an opinion not shared by the Argentinean Maradona who once stated, “He is at a select level, being the best in the world and a star in Barcelona. Leo is playing a kick-about with Jesus.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a New York consultant and writer.

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I, Borges

By Carlos Duguech

I look like those others whom I do not see.
They are so many that I lose count.
Only voices, voices only, a fleeting
life, sounds. I just think

I am as vital as a fluttering bird.
I wander in an unknown and badly injured
vastness of the heavens in a defeated combat
of distant stars, the zenith

of a dance that ignores my sleepless nights:
navigator of languages, ignorant
at once of the color of those skies,

of the meanings, of what is real,
I fumble blindly calling myself "the wanderer"
until the day that Borges will be "the corpse".

Carlos Duguech is an Argentinian poet. The poem was translated by Fortuna Calvo-Roth.

I was returning by taxi to the hotel I was staying in Tripoli with an Argentine friend when, unexpectedly, I understood the characteristics of the regime of former Libyan dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi. We had started talking to the driver who, in perfect English, answered our questions. When he heard we were Argentines his face lit up and he started talking excitedly about the Argentine former soccer player Diego Maradona. Undoubtedly, the soccer star's name, with its tinsel achieved as a player and despite his personal chiaroscuro, remains a magnet around the world.

At one point, as we passed by a military barracks, my friend asked the driver if Khadafy lived there. Immediately our driver had a marked change of mood: his apparent friendliness transmuted into an awkward nervousness and he became almost hostile to us. Stunned, we tried to return to the conversation about Maradona, but were unsuccessful.
More effective than a lesson in politics, this incident highlighted the unpredictable terror the Libyan dictator was able to cause in the population and explains that under a calm exterior, a climate of oppression and terror was reigning then in Tripoli.

With the fall of the Libyan dictator and his replacement by a National Transitional Council (NTC) headed by Mustafa Abu Jalil, there were expectations that the terror and abuses of the Qaddafi era had finally ended. Not so, say Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, whose statements are corroborated by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an organization which has decided to stop its operations in Misrata, due to the torture of detainees being carried out there.

This organization claims that several of the patients that had been treated for torture were sent again to interrogation centers where they were tortured again. MSF general director stated, “Our role is to provide medical care to war casualties and sick detainees, not to repeatedly treat the same patients between torture sessions.” MSF claims of torture in Misrata have been confirmed by Human Rights Watch, which has been monitoring prison conditions in Misrata since last April.

In a 25 January presentation to the UN Security Council Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that the human rights situation in Libya “…remains of concern and requires increased vigilance and sustained assistance from the international community.” According to Mrs. Pillay, the fact that the Interim Government doesn’t have effective control over the revolutionary brigades has human rights effects in several areas.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been most active in overseeing the conditions of detainees in Libya. Between March and December of 2011 the ICRC visited over 8,500 detainees in approximately 60 detention centers. Although the majority of detainees were Qaddafi loyalists, the ICRC found that there were also large numbers of detainees from Sub-Saharan countries who acted as mercenaries for the Qaddafi regime during the revolution.

According to Amnesty International, torture is carried out by official military and security units and by numerous armed militias operating outside of any legal framework. Many detainees died while in custody, after being subjected to different kinds of torture including beatings, use of electro-shocks with live wires and being hit with metal chains and bars. As Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International Senior Crisis Adviser in Libya recently stated, “After all the promises to get detention centres under control, it is horrifying to find that there has been no progress to stop the use of torture.”

Amnesty International states that both the police and the judiciary remain dysfunctional in the country, with several unofficial groups carrying out interrogations in detention centres outside the control of the judiciary, a situation that needs to be urgently addressed.

Although Libya’s new government is facing considerable challenges on all fronts, unless it ensures that rule of the law and respect for human rights, it runs the risk of descending into chaos. And a possible return to the dire conditions that Libyans thought they had already overcome.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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The recent death in Cuba of 31-year-old Wilman Villar Mendoza - who was on a hunger strike as a protest for having been sentenced to four years in prison - is a severe indictment of the Cuban regime and of its avowed respect for human rights. Villar Mendoza’s death follows that of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, another Cuban dissident, who died in 2009 following an 80-day hunger strike.

Villar was arrested last November for disrespecting authority and resisting arrest. He protested the sentence going on a hunger strike. His wife, Maritza Pellegrino, said that initially Cuba’s state security hadn’t allowed her to see the body of her husband. Villar’s death was mourned by all freedom loving Cubans. Berta Soler, a spokeswoman for the Ladies in White stated, “We lost a young man of 31-years because the Cuban government is not interested in the lives of its citizens or those men who protest inhumane conditions.”

Villar’s death shows that, in spite of freeing several political prisoners as a result of an agreement brokered by the Catholic Church and the Spanish government, the Cuban government is not willing to allow new and peaceful protests against the regime.

I became aware of the omnipresent pressure of the Cuban state during my first trip to Cuba in 1982, to attend a health-related meeting. As I walked with a friend into Bodeguita del Medio – a traditional restaurant known by the number of famous visitors who had dined there over the years (Hemingway was a frequent patron) – a young Cuban man was discreetly asked to leave.

When the man saw us and realized that we weren’t Cubans, he began ranting against the government restrictions on Cubans. “I have money to spend here,” he told us. “But they prefer that foreigners eat and spend their money here. I am just fed up with this regime.”

He then asked us, “Do you see something in that corner?” “Yes,” we said. “there is a man standing there.” “You are wrong,” he said. “He is not a man. That’s a gigantic ear listening to everything I say to you. But I don’t care any longer. I am sick and tired of this situation.”

Instantly, I got a first-hand sense of the problem besieging Cuban society: the need for foreign money, the oppressive nature of the regime and the dissatisfaction of the country’s youth. These impressions were later confirmed during other visits to the island. Highlighting those shortcomings, though, is in no way to deny the Cuban government’s achievements, particularly in health and education.

Cuba, for all its faults and drawbacks, is in the forefront of both fields when compared not only to other Latin American countries but also to the United States. This progress, however, has been hindered by an unnecessary and ineffective embargo that has exacted a tremendous cost not only to Cuba but also to the U.S.

Paradoxically, the Castro regime remains in power and is allowed to abuse its citizens precisely by an embargo that most Cubans feel is an attack on their country’s sovereignty. The limited isolation provoked by the embargo enables the regime to act with total impunity in the abuse of dissident Cubans.

Although political pressure from the powerful Cuban exile community in Florida has been a key factor in maintaining the embargo, the descendants of that immigrant generation have a more nuanced view of the Cuban regime. They have seen the damage caused by decades of antagonism between both countries – and are eager for better relations between them.

President Barack Obama has eased some restrictions on travel to the island by Cubans and their descendants. However, scientists, doctors, artists and ordinary citizens from both countries still face constraints. Easing those restrictions could have a dramatic effect in neutralizing the atmosphere of antagonism and should lead to a lifting of the embargo and the normalization of relations between both countries.

An important condition for lifting the embargo, however, should be the release of all political prisoners in Cuba and an agreement with the Cuban government to open to the free exchange of ideas both inside and outside the country. No government should be allowed to let its own citizens die of hunger because they are protesting their arbitrary detention.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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In its latest outlook of the global economy, The World Economic Forum Global Risks 2012 report paints a gloomy panorama of the future if world’s institutions –governments, private industry, academic institutions and social organizations- don’t make some radical changes. The report was prepared as a prelude to the Davos, Switzerland, meeting later this month.

Increasing number of unemployed young people, growing number of elderly people dependent on the states and the expanding gap between the rich and the poor are sowing ‘seeds of dystopia’. This term was originally coined by the British philosopher John Stuart Mill as a contrast to utopia. Social critics use the term ‘dystopian’ to condemn negative trends in post-industrial societies.

The findings in the report are based on surveys of 469 experts and industry leaders, and show a shift of concerns from environmental risks to socioeconomic risks which were the focus of the report a year ago. “For the first time in generations, many people no longer believe that their children will grow up to enjoy a higher living standard than theirs,” stated Lee Howell, the World Economic Forum Managing Director and responsible for the report.

This situation exists not only in industrialized countries, beset by economic crises, but also in developing countries that also suffer the effect of those crises. The recent downgrading of France’s sterling credit rating by Standard & Poor’s Corp. followed by a similar measure on other European countries, underscores the seriousness of the situation affecting the countries’ economies. Meanwhile, as the second Greek bailout is looking more complicated, the country’s pharmacies are running out of basic medicines. In addition, some families, unable to take care of their children are abandoning them to be cared for in youth centers.

The report analyses 50 global risks and divides them in three different sets of risk cases to the world’s prosperity and security. The three risk cases describe the links across a selection of global risks, their interplay and how they are likely to develop over the next 10 years.

The first case, called Seeds of dystopia, describes what happens when efforts to build a better world do not go as anticipated. This case deals with how formerly wealthy countries can descend into lawlessness and unrest as they are unable to meet their social and fiscal obligations. In that regard, it warns that developed economies such as those of Western Europe, North America and Japan are in danger of being destroyed. As a result, workers near retirement fear that cutbacks in social entitlements, mainly access to quality health care, will seriously affect their quality of life.

The challenges in emerging economies such as Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Mexico, Peru and the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are different since these countries are trying to take advantage of a demographic window of opportunity of a young and large labor force before this population also ages. Rapid growth among these emerging economies has created expectations that improved conditions will benefit all of them, a premise that recent economic developments is unable to sustain. As stated in the report, “…social contracts may not be forged quickly enough to rectify increasingly visible economic inequalities and social inequities.”

The second case discussed in the report is called, How Safe are our Safeguards? In it, the analysis of the Global Risks Survey stated that “…the risk of unintended negative consequences of regulations was tightly connected with many other global risks.” The report stresses that to be effective the safeguards have to strike the right balance on topics such as global finance, transportation networks, emerging science and new technologies, scarce resources, the climate and biodiversity.

One of the main problems is that, frequently, safeguards are inadequate, over-complicated, fragmented and slow to respond to the rapid pace of global change. A change of mentality is necessary, states the report, “…so that policies, regulations or institutions can offer vital protection in a more agile and cohesive way.”

In the third case, called The Dark Side of Connectivity, the report analyses how our daily lives depend on hyper connected online systems, and underscores that new mechanisms are now required to finance private investment in exploring existing system vulnerabilities before they can be abused.

In the last few years, the increasing popularity of the Internet has changed the ways in which we communicate, conduct business and even amplify popular uprisings, as recent events have shown in several countries worldwide. Communication techniques have touched areas such as human rights and made it possible to forcibly prosecute some human rights abusers.

At the same time, recent progress has dramatically increased the possibilities for cyber attacks whose consequences may affect from petty crime to shutting down critical government systems and even potentially triggering physical armed warfare. Cyber espionage, for example, has reached now a high level of technical sophistication and although now is believed to be restricted to major corporations, government agencies and elite hackers, it can have a wider use in the future.

What makes this report particularly valuable is that it stresses the need to develop new thinking regarding private and public responsibilities, and alerts on how some specific risks, if not properly addressed, can be a serious threat to peace and economic progress in the world.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a New York writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

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Recently, as we discussed international political events, a friend told me, “Countries are like people: they react in the same manner.” I didn’t quite realize the full import of her words until now that I view the seemingly inevitable path to war between the United States/Israel and Iran.

There are abundant historical examples to prove that an effective weapon in creating antagonism between countries as a prelude to war is by dehumanizing the enemy. Although the Holocaust during World War II and the Rwandan genocide are extreme cases of enemy dehumanization, a similar process exists almost every time there is war.

This is also true in the case of Iran, whose leaders have described their enemies pejoratively. However, that same language has also been used in describing Iranians, which further exacerbates an extremely delicate situation.

Anthropologists Ashley Montagu and Floyd Matson wrote that dehumanization could be considered the “fifth horseman of the apocalypse” because of the damage it has caused society and wrote, “The possible attainment of full humanness –the transformation of the species from Homo sapiens to Homo humanus- rests upon our recovery of the lost world of fellow feeling, the source of all human connection.”

In a beautiful poem entitled “How to Create an Enemy” Sam Keen, an American former professor of philosophy and religion, expresses similar feelings:

Start with an empty canvas
Sketch in broad outline the forms of
men, women, and children.
Dip into the unconsciousness well of your own
disowned darkness
with a wide brush and
strain the strangers with the sinister hue
of the shadow.
Trace onto the face of the enemy the greed,
hatred, carelessness you dare not claim as
your own.
Obscure the sweet individuality of each face.
Erase all hints of the myriad loves, hopes,
fears that play through the kaleidoscope of
every infinite heart.
Twist the smile until it forms the downward
arc of cruelty.
Strip flesh from bone until only the
abstract skeleton of death remains.
Exaggerate each feature until man is
metamorphosized into beast, vermin, insect.
Fill in the background with malignant
figures from ancient nightmares – devils,
demons, myrmidons of evil.
When your icon of the enemy is complete
you will be able to kill without guilt,
slaughter without shame.
The thing you destroy will have become
merely an enemy of God, an impediment
to the sacred dialectic of history.

Is there, one wonders, some other way to face what seems to be an inevitable rush to widespread destruction and death? I believe there is. Untested diplomatic approaches could be applied in the current situation with Iran.

A possible first step before time runs out is to declare a moratorium on confrontational actions from both sides, while making an effort to know the other better. This could be achieved through a series of exchanges of scientists, doctors, artists, students, and sportspersons among the countries in conflict.

The recent rescue at sea from Somali pirates of 13 Iranian fishermen by American sailors shows what these kinds of actions can do to improve relations among people in conflict. Iranian fishermen could not hide their appreciation to the Americans for their rescue. We can make a conscious effort to create an atmosphere for peace with the same steadfast determination we use to create an atmosphere for war.

This approach will probably be dismissed as hopelessly naïve by many learned pundits. It does not conform to their idea that Iran is a devious power which will only respond to force. However, there can be no peace if an atmosphere of peace is not created among the common people. All other options have so far been ineffective. This is the moment to give a constructive proposal a try.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

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The deteriorating global economic outlook is increasing worries among health experts on the effects that the economic crises will have on people’s health. As the World Health Organization stated in 2009, “It is not yet clear what the current financial crisis will mean for low-income and emerging economies, but many predictions are highly pessimistic.”

In low-income countries, economic crises lead to a reduction in the demand for imports – including medicines and medical supplies and technology - tighter access to capital and falling remittances from family members working outside the country. In addition, there is less government revenue to finance health and social services.

A recent article in Lancet, highlights those effects in Greece, one of the European countries most affected by the ongoing global economic crisis. As a result, there has been a significant increase in unemployment, which rose from 6.6% in May 2008 to 16.6% in May 2011. Even more troublesome, youth unemployment rose in the same period from 18.6% to 40.1%.

Several studies have shown that unemployment increases both the risk of psychiatric and somatic disorders. For example, a strong correlation has been found between job loss and clinical and subclinical depression, substance abuse, anxiety and antisocial behavior. In addition, several studies have shown that prolonged unemployment increases mortality rates.

In Greece, there has been a 17% increase in suicides between 2007 and 2009. During that same period, homicide and theft rates almost doubled. 25% of callers to a national suicide help line reported financial difficulties in 2010. The inability to pay high levels of personal debt may be one of the explanations behind the increase in the number of suicides, which had a 40% increase in the first six months of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010.

Also, a surge in intravenous drug users may explain a rise of more than 1000% HIV infections among them. In addition to intravenous drug use, prostitution and unsafe sex are also responsible for the increase in HIV infections in the general population, estimated to be 52% higher in 2011 than in 2010.

Although in Greece patients with social insurance may visit general practitioners (GPs) free of charge or attend outpatient clinics for a very low fee, there was a reduction of those visits in 2009 compared to 2007. At the same time, there was a 24% rise of public hospital admissions in 2010 compared to 2009 while admission to private hospitals declined by 25-30% during the same period. This situation may be a result of a 40% cut in hospital budgets causing understaffing and occasional shortages of medicines and medical supplies.

Another example of the effect of the economic crisis in Greece on vulnerable groups is the increased use of street clinics run by NGOs, such as the Greek chapter of Médecins du Monde, which report an increase on those seeking medical attention from their street clinics from 3-4% before the crisis started to about 30% now.

That their health situation has worsened as a result of the crisis is demonstrated by the number of Greeks who consider that their health is “bad” or “very bad”, which has increased by 14% from 2007 to 2009. To make matters worse, a third of the country’s outreach programs have been eliminated as a result of budget cuts in 2009 and 2010.

By many accounts, Greece’s public health care system is riddled with corruption and inefficiency. Oftentimes, patients offer doctors informal payments to receive treatment, particularly when they are not covered by their social insurance fund. In addition, hospitals frequently face shortages of materials and equipment.

The situation in Greece may be a harbinger of what may happen –or is happening- in countries with similar social and health care systems and which may go through similarly difficult economic situations. And it is up to the governments in those countries to rationalize resources, increase efficiency and protect their most valuable asset: the health of its citizens.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant.

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Russia cannot be understood with the mind
Or measured with a common yardstick,
She has a peculiar character-
In Russia, one can only believe.

Thus wrote Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev (1803-1873) considered one of the last three great Romantic poets in Russia. Perhaps Prime Minister Vladimir Putin should have remembered those words, when he dismissed the reaction of the Russian people to the last parliamentarian elections in the country, which the people widely considered to have been rigged.

Although Russia under Mr. Putin, and his designated successor Medvedev, has achieved progress in several areas –incomes were raised, there were more consumer goods available and people were free to travel- the tens of thousand of people demonstrating in the street were doing so against what they rightly believe was Putin’s intentions to remain indefinitely in power through rigged elections.

People were also reacting to what they saw as widespread corruption under Putin. Over the past decade, one in six businessmen in Russia has been prosecuted for an alleged economic crime. In addition, people feel that the state has failed to provide ordinary citizens adequate health care, good education, security and justice.

In Russia, words and symbols often count more than reality. And Putin has repeatedly tried to use symbols to gather support for his policies. One of those symbols has been the use of Russia as an isolated and besieged fortress surrounded by powerful enemies. One of the most powerful enemies was the U.S. through its anti-missile system, which he portrayed as an existential threat to Russia, a point of view that was strengthened by Dmitry Medvedev’s bellicose statements.

Two important factors seem to have been the trigger that led to people’s fury. One was the acknowledgment by Putin that his job swap with Medvedev had already been planned long ago, and the other, the obviously manipulated elections. Interestingly, the popular demonstrations against Putin and the government are taking place not only in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also in smaller cities around the country.

Putin tried to dismiss the significance of the demonstrators saying that they lacked a program, a leader and specific demands. He may have misinterpreted them. People were clear in asking for the removal of Vladimir Churov, head of the electoral commission, the release of imprisoned political activists, registration of all political parties and clean elections.

In addition, some among the demonstrators seem to have special clout. One of them is Alexei Navalny, a popular blogger, who has extensively used the power of social networking to confront Putin and Medvedev’s power. Navalny acquired widespread notoriety when as a response to being asked about his opinion of the United Russia party he answered, “I think very poorly of United Russia. United Russia is the party of corruption, the party of crooks and thieves.” Few words resonated as much among protesting Russians as these two last nouns.

There was ample reason for that. According to a recent article in the New Yorker magazine, Russia is one of the few countries in the world to slip consistently in Transparency International’s annual rankings of corrupt countries, and is now in a rank similar to Cambodia, Guinea-Bissau and the Central African Republic. As a confirmation of this fact, last October President Dmitry Medvedev stated that a trillion rubles –roughly thirty-three billion dollars (equivalent to three percent of the country’s G.D.P.) disappears annually on government contracts.

In the meantime, the situation in Russia continues to deteriorate. Inflation and unemployment are close to eight percent, and there is low purchasing power and increased capital flight. In addition, while the economy grew by a yearly average of around seven percent between 2000 and 2007, it has declined since then and it is estimated that it will have grown by four percent at the end of 2011. In addition to corruption, Russia is beset by high rates of crime and widespread unemployment.

Nobody can predict where the present demonstrations against the government will take Russians. So far, the government has made only minor moves as a response. One of them was making Vladislav Surkov, who had been deputy chief of the presidential administration and a man with wide ranging powers, deputy prime minister in charge of economic modernization But opposition forces believe that proposed reforms are too little too late.

Proud of their past, Russians are also eager to be able to express freely their political wishes. It is highly improbable that Vladimir Putin will relinquish his grip on power and allow for a repeat of the parliamentary elections. However, it was also considered unlikely a year ago that the Arab Spring would engulf the Arab world as a ball of fire in the way it did so far.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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Perhaps one of the most important questions in the United States now is who the real Barack Obama is, and what can we expect from him from now on, as we move towards next year's presidential elections facing unrelenting opposition of the Republicans in Congress.

Many people, disillusioned with the Obama administration, insist on the little enforcement of his campaign promises and on his lack of principles. No one can speak of the achievements or failures of President Obama, however, without mentioning the factors and groups that brought him to power and which continue to influence his actions.

Perhaps the most notorious among those groups is the so-called military-industrial complex, about which General Dwight D. Eisenhower had already warned in his farewell address as president of the Unites States. Today, more than before, the military-industrial complex has a marked influence on the decisions of the U.S. president.

Similar to the nightmare that Iran was for Carter, Obama had to face the tremendous challenge posed by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although theoretically the Iraq war has ended its aftermath remains, including sectarian violence that costs the lives of tens of people weekly and has left a country still in chaos. In Afghanistan, only the total withdrawal of U.S. troops could eventually lead to a state, if not of peace, at least of less chaos and bloodshed.

Other factors, however, influence the actions of the U.S. president. To the enormous power of the military-industrial complex one must be add the power of Wall Street and that of the international financial institutions.

Among the groups of influence there is also the exclusive and secretive Bilderberg Club, whose members are politicians, government ministers, international financiers, bankers, and leaders of the most powerful media in the United States and Western Europe. This group helps define the international economic agenda and has considerable political influence.

Thus, although theoretically U.S. power is in the hands of the President, he is under the influence of the real factors of power that can be called the military-industrial-financial complex (MIFC).

These factors can, in turn, act directly and indirectly on the three branches of U.S. government. Different "lobbies" such as the pharmaceutical industry, farmers, national and multinational corporations, and groups that respond to foreign interests exert their pressure on these branches of government. This represents, therefore, a veritable "spaghetti bowl" of influences that partly explains the difficulties that President Obama faces in carrying out the government agenda that he originally proposed.

One can see how difficult it is for President Obama to eliminate government subsidies to oil companies, whose current earnings are skyrocketing, or his inability, particularly when the House of Representatives is in Republican hands, to increase taxes on the richest people in the country. As he tries to do so, Republicans in Congress threaten to eliminate or lower the most basic social benefits to the most vulnerable sectors of the population.

Despite the difficult situation he inherited and the stark opposition not only from Republicans, but also from some Democratic lawmakers, President Obama has had significant achievements. These include increasing health care coverage for the majority of the population; overcoming, at least partially and temporarily, the economic crisis; signing a nuclear arms treaty with Russia, and withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. Taking into account the difficult circumstances that he has to face, these results show Obama to be a pragmatic and realistic individual who prefers the incremental achievement of his policies and wants to avoid unnecessary confrontations.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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As critical Republican elections are approaching, so are increasing shrill statements by Republican contenders over the Middle East situation. Republican candidates are so forcefully trying to show their support for Israel –without even mentioning the Palestinian people and their rights-- that leading Jewish peace activists and academicians have felt the need to give their opinion about the candidates and their position regarding Israel and the conflict with the Palestinians.

Uri Avnery, one of Israel’s leading peace activists and a former member of the Knesset, comments on Newt Gingrich’s assertion that the Palestinians are an “invented” people. Avnery explains that at some point after the founding of the State of Israel, Golda Meir famously said, “There is not such thing as the Palestinian people!” To which Avnery replied in the Knesset, “Mrs. Prime Minister, perhaps you are right. Perhaps there really is no Palestinian people. But if millions of people mistakenly believe that they are a people, and behave like a people, then they are a people.”

In an interview with Haaretz, Deborah Lipstadt, the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Atlanta’s Emory University, says, “You listen to Newt Gingrich talking about the Palestinians as an ‘invented people’ –it’s out-Aipacking AIPAC, it’s out-Israeling Israel,” she said. And she added, “There is something about it that is so discomforting. It’s not healthy. It’s a distortion.”

When referring to the Republican candidates’ assertions regarding Israel Professor Lipstadt described them as “pandering,” “embarrassing” and “unhealthy.” “There is no nuance, no middle ground, it’s taking any shade of grey and stomping on it --and it’s dangerous, for your support of Israel to become a litmus test,” she said.

Equally egregious is the misuse of historical facts such as the Holocaust (Shoah) for contemporary political purposes. When asked about this Professor Lipstadt replied, “It’s a use and abuse of the Shoah. That doesn’t mean there aren’t political lessons to be learned from the Shoah – from anything - but it’s a use and abuse that I think is dangerous, just plain dangerous. Not only dangerous, because that can be debated, it’s a distortion of what Israel is all about, what Zionism is all about.”

When asked about the use of the Holocaust in describing Israel’s present situation, and if this is a form of Holocaust denial Professor Lipstadt answered, “I wouldn’t call it that. I would call it a form of Holocaust abuse or instrumentalization of the Holocaust. That you take these terrible moments in our history, moments that deserve to be treated truthfully, and exactly, without exaggeration, in which the facts should speak for themselves. And you use it for contemporary purposes, and in so doing, in order to fulfill your political objectives, you mangle history, you trample on it.”

In criticizing President Obama’s policy on the Middle East, Michelle Bachmann, one of the Republican contenders said, “It seems as if lately, our President has forgotten the importance of Israel to America and thinks of our relationship only in terms of what we do for Israel. The President is more concerned about Israel building homes in its own land than the threats that Israel and America face in the region…Our policy has confused engagement with appeasement and has inspired Israel’s enemies.”

Framing the conflict in the region as if Israel were the threatened country by the much weaker and still stateless Palestinians doesn’t allow for a fair and balanced discussion of the conflict. History has amply shown that both sides have rights to an independent state where people live side by side with each other. Only recognizing the rights and the humanity of the other will lead to a solution of the conflict. Failure to recognize the existence of the Palestinian people and ignoring their legitimate aspirations does nothing for peace in the region.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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Children in foster care are taking psychotropic drugs at a rate much higher than non-foster children in Medicaid. According to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO,) children in foster care in five US states are taking powerful mind-altering drugs at a rate two to almost five times higher than non-foster children. Overmedicating children with powerful drugs may alter their quality of life and psychological development.

The investigation by the GAO was prompted by a request from both Republican and Democratic United States senators, led by Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), concerned by numerous reports of waste and abuse in treating foster children with psychiatric medications.

Although all children can be affected by overmedication, foster children are particularly vulnerable, since they lack the family and social support that other children usually have.
In addition, they tend to have more serious medical and mental health conditions than children in different situations.

The GAO report analyzed the situation of 609 foster children and 1,100 non-foster children in Oregon, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan and Texas, and found that at least one-third of foster children were prescribed one or more psychiatric drugs. The cost of this policy is staggering: the five states in the study spent $375 million for psychotropic prescriptions for children covered by Medicaid, $200 million of which was spent in Texas alone.

As indicated in the report, although hundreds of children -both foster and non-foster- were given five and in some cases even more medications, there is no evidence that such a medication regime can really benefit the children but can, instead, give rise to serious side effects. In addition, thousands of infants under one year old were given psychotropic drugs which could have serious adverse effects such as metabolic and cardiovascular problems.

Even though the actual percentages of children receiving several psychiatric drugs at the same time were relatively low in the five states analyzed, the chances of this happening among foster children are a cause for concern. In Texas, for example, foster children were 53 times more likely to be given five –and sometimes more- psychiatric medications at the same time than non-foster children.

The GAO report also found that almost 4,000 foster and non-foster care infants under a year old who were on Medicaid were taking those drugs. In addition, foster children were nine times more likely than non-foster children to be given medications for which there was no FDA-recommended dose for their age, according to an investigation carried out by Rutgers University among 300,000 children in 16 states.

Among the so-called psychotropic drugs are medications such as anti-depressants, anti-anxiety, antipsychotics and mood stabilizers that act by altering chemical levels in the brain, and as a result provoke altered mood and behavior. Among those medications, antipsychotics are the most prescribed psychiatric medications, particularly among foster children on whom they are used as chemical restraints.

Although psychotropic drugs have proven to be effective in treating a variety of mental disorders and have been approved for use in adults by the Food and Drug Administration, they have not necessarily been approved for use in children of all ages. The report found that thousands of foster and non-foster children were given high doses of medications with potentially serious side effects.

Antipsychotic medications may cause tremors, muscle spasms, restlessness and tardive dyskinesia, a serious condition in which patients have involuntary movements of the tongue, lips, and arms and legs. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, each year five percent of people on antipsychotics will develop tardive dyskinesia.

Elizabeth J. Roberts, a psychiatrist in California wrote, “Using such diagnostics as bipolar disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Asperger’s, doctors are justifying the sedation of difficult kids with powerful psychiatric drugs that may have serious, permanent or even lethal side effects.”

A critical recommendation of the GAO report is that HHS considers endorsing guidance for states on best practices for overseeing the prescription of these drugs to all, but particularly to foster children. Unless stricter procedures are followed, the quality of life and health of thousands of children will continue to be negatively affected.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant.

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Displacement and survival are two branches of a same tree. Following the Second World War, many Jewish survivors of forced labor camps, concentration camps and death marches sought to rebuild their lives far from the countries of their birth. Those who found shelter in the Displaced Persons (DP) camps, called She’erit ha-Pletah in Hebrew (meaning 'surviving remnants'), eventually began anew in North and South America, in Western Europe, in what is now Israel. Today in the latter country Palestinians are the victims of forced displacement at an alarming rate.

An international coalition of twenty leading aid agencies and human rights groups - among them Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam International - has issued a statement condemning the forced displacement of Palestinians from their homes and has called upon the Middle East Peace Quartet (the U.S., U.K., European Union and Russia) to demand that the Israeli government reverse its settlement policies and freeze all demolitions carried out in violation of international law.

The situation has been deteriorating rapidly, the aid groups indicate. Since the beginning of 2011, more than 500 Palestinian homes, wells, rainwater harvesting cisterns and other basic structures have been destroyed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. According to statistics published by the United Nations, more than one thousand Palestinians have been 'displaced' doubling the numbers for the same period in 2010.

The psychological and physical effects of house demolitions and displacement are dire. Families must face the economic consequences of the loss of property, shelter and employment. More than half of the displaced are children are subjected to poverty and are unable to resume normal schooling.
At the same time, there has been an accelerated expansion of settlements on Palestinian land. Over the past 12 months, plans for approximately 4,000 new settlement housing units in East Jerusalem have been approved, the highest number since 2006.

The approval for new settlement construction was announced just as mediators from the Middle East Peace Quartet began efforts to revive peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Last Monday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that he was “deeply concerned” about the Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank and called on the Israeli government to “freeze all settlement activity.”

At the same time, there has been a significant increase in settler violence against Palestinians. The number of aggressions in 2011 has doubled since 2010 and increased by over 160 percent compared to 2009. Settlers have destroyed some 10,000 Palestinian olive and other trees during this year, trees that were providing a livelihood for hundreds of Palestinian families. Between 2005 and 2010, ninety percent of the complaints against settler violence have been closed by the police without indictment.

In addition, if reported plans for 2012 proceed, up to 2,300 Bedouins living on Jerusalem's periphery will be forcibly and unlawfully relocated, their houses and livelihoods destroyed. One is reminded of the words in a James Fenton poem about WWII,

It is not what they built. It is what they knocked down.

It is not the houses. It is the spaces between the houses.

It is not the streets that exist. It is the streets that no longer exist.

Unless the Israeli government adopts a more active policy to stop the unlawful demolition of Palestinian homes and contain settler violence, it risks becoming hostage to the settlers’ delirious violence. As Gideon Levy writing in Haaretz has so aptly stated, “It is not only the government, as important as that is, that hangs in the balance, but also the very character of the state.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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December 10 is Human Rights Day. On December 12, 2011, Saudi Arabian authorities ordered the execution of a woman convicted of practicing magic and sorcery. Although the Saudi Interior Ministry didn’t give details of the woman’s crime, the London-based al-Hayat newspaper quoted Abdullah al-Mohsen, chief of the religious police, who stated that the woman had tricked people, making them believe that she could cure them of a variety of ailments. It was an outrageous response to a serious crime.

“Despite the fact that I hate violence against women, when it comes to God’s will, I have to carry it out,” said Muhammad Saad al-Beshi, Saudi Arabia’s top executioner, during an interview with the Saudi daily Arab News. And with remarkable calm he added, “It doesn’t matter to me: two, four, ten – as long as I am doing God’s will, it doesn’t matter how many people I execute.”

Beheadings of women in Saudi Arabia didn’t start until the early 1990’s. Before then, they were shot. Up to the end of 2011, forty-nine women have been publicly beheaded, mainly in major cities such as Riyadh, Jeddah and Dahran. Executioners are proud of their job, which is handed down from one generation to the next. In Saudi Arabia, executioners use a traditional Arab scimitar approximately 44 inches long.

Many people consider the government headed by King Abdullah as reformist. After all, he was behind the decision to allow women to vote and in local elections, albeit in 2015. However, the World Economic Forum 2009 Global Gender Gap Report ranked Saudi Arabia 130th out of 134 countries when considering gender parity issues. That same report ranked several Muslim countries such as Kyrgystan, Gambia and Indonesia significantly higher than Saudi Arabia on issues of women’s equality.

At the U.N. Third Millennium Summit in New York City in 2010, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Abdulla bin Abdul Aziz defended his country’s human rights conduct, stating that “It is absurd to impose on an individual or a society rights that are alien to its beliefs or principles.” However, his position is difficult to accept if one takes into account that Saudi Arabia has ratified the International Convention against Torture in October 1997, and has created the Human Rights First Society in 2002 and the Association for the Protection and Defense of Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia in 2007.

Beheadings such as the one just carried out in Saudi Arabia don’t happen in that country alone. Similar ones have been carried out in countries such as Iraq, Yemen, Kuwait, Iran and United Arab Emirates. In no way, however, can it justify the use of a practice that has been severely criticized by several international human rights organizations.

Amnesty International, for example, has criticized Saudi Arabia not only for its execution but also for trials that are considered a mockery and don’t allow victims to properly defend themselves. Saudi Arabia, however, has consistently justified this behavior reminding critics of Saudi Arabia’s tradition and the humanity of its courts.

Beheading people, however, easily falls into what is widely considered as “cruel and unusual punishment,” a phrase that describes unacceptable punishment due to the suffering or humiliation it inflicts on the condemned person. These are the words that were used in the English Bill of Rights in 1689 and that later also appear in Article Five of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1948 and in several other international conventions.

The 345 executions carried out in Saudi Arabia between 2007 and 2010 were all conducted by public and humiliating beheadings. Giving women the right to vote is an important measure. Giving women the right to their life and dignity is a much more significant one.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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Madre de Dios, the name of a region in southeastern Peru bordering Brazil and Bolivia, is a very common designation for the Virgin Mary, meaning Mother of God in Spanish. In real life, however, the name exemplifies what intense and unregulated gold exploration and extraction are doing to this up to now privileged area in Peru.

Madre de Dios is a region rich in cotton, coffee, sugarcane, cacao, Brazil nuts and palm oil. However, plentiful gold has attracted tens of thousands of illegal miners whose activities are having a deleterious effect not only on precious species in the environment but also on the health and quality of life of both native and new populations in the region.

Alluvial gold mining in Peru’s Amazon rainforest has rapidly spread in recent years, driven by the high price of gold. Although many jungle mining concessions have been granted by the energy and mines ministry, the informal sector has grown out of control, and it is estimated that almost a quarter of the gold produced in Peru, the world’s sixth largest producer, is illegal. The majority of this illegal gold comes from the Madre de Dios region. Local non-governmental organizations believe that there are up to 30,000 miners in the area.

Gold deposits are mined by both large-scale operators and small-scale miners who use hydraulic mining techniques and heavy machinery to expose potential gold-yielding gravel deposits. Gold is extracted by a sluice box, a piece of gold prospecting equipment that has been in continuous use for over a hundred years. The sluice box is used to separate heavier sediment and mercury is also used for amalgamating the precious metal.

Several studies have shown that small-scale miners are less efficient in their use of mercury than industrial miners. As a result, 2.91 pounds of mercury is released into waterways for every 2.2 pounds of gold produced. It is estimated that more than 40 tons of mercury are absorbed into the rivers of Madre de Dios, poisoning the food chain.

Mercury not only contaminates waterways and becomes a serious threat to human health but is also a dangerous toxin to fish. Fish in the area contain three times more mercury than the safe levels permitted by the World Health Organization. According tot the World Wildlife Fund, “After fossil fuel burning, small-scale gold mining is the world’s second largest source of mercury pollution, contributing around 1/3 of the world’s mercury pollution.”

Mercury contamination is not the only draw-back of small scale mining, however. Another significant problem is the significant amount of deforestation it produces while clearing forests for the construction of roads to open remote areas to transient settlers and land speculators. In addition, deforestation is the result of cutting trees to obtain building material and fuel wood.

The enormity of the damage has been documented in a study by American, French and Peruvian researchers published in the peer-reviewed magazine PLoS ONE. According to the study, Using satellite imagery from NASA, researchers were able to assess the loss of 7,000 hectares (15,200 acres) of forest due to artisanal gold mining in Peru between 2003 and 2009. This is an area larger than Bermuda.

Jennifer Swenson, the lead author of the study, says that such enormous deforestation is “plainly visible from space,” and suggests that Peru should limit the importation of mercury.

In addition to these problems, illegal gold mining has significantly increased the number of 12 to 17 year-old girls and young women drafted by prostitution rings. These young women are brought from all over the country to brothels that have sprung up in mining camps. Many of the women that fall into these prostitution rings eventually disappear, and are never seen again. Miners also bring diseases to local indigenous populations.

While Peruvian authorities have sent almost 1,000 security forces to destroy river dredgers used by illegal gold miners in the Madre de Dios region even more drastic measures are needed, such as stricter vigilance and regulation. At stake is the survival of what has been recognized as one of the most biologically rich areas in the world.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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Landmines continue to exact pain and loss of lives, mostly of children and civilians. In Afghanistan, for example, all deaths by landmines are on those under 18. In an attempt to eliminate forever the use of landmines, Handicap International calls for the universalization of the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty.

The Ottawa Treaty, officially known as the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, intends to eliminate anti-personnel landmines around the world.

As of September 2011, there were 158 States Parties to the treaty and 38 states which are not party to it. Among the countries which have not signed the treaty are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (People’s Republic of China, Russia and the United States) and, among others, India, Israel and both Koreas, where landmines remain active in the Demilitarized Zone.

A party to the treaty must not only cease the production and development of anti-personnel mines, but must also destroy its stockpile within four years, although it may retain a small number of mines for training purposes. The treaty also calls on States Parties to provide assistance to mine-affected persons in their own country, and to assist other countries in meeting the Mine Ban Treaty obligations.

In its last annual report, recently released in Bangkok, Handicap International found that at least three States which are not party to that treaty used anti-personnel landmines in 2011. According to this organization, Libya, Burma and Israel used these weapons in 2011. Also, independent armed groups in Afghanistan, Colombia, Burma and Pakistan also used landmines between 2010 and 2011. Paul Vermeulen, Head of Advocacy and Institutional Relations at Handicap International calls the persistent use of landmines “unacceptable and extremely worrying.”

In addition to the countries still using landmines, other countries such as Belarus, Greece, Turkey and Ukraine have not yet met the deadline for destroying their stockpiles, in violation of the treaty. The Landmine Monitor 2011 reports that during this year there have been thousands of new victims of anti-personnel landmines. According to Handicap International, “79 countries and territories are still contaminated by these weapons.”

It is estimated that more than 500,000 survivors of accidents caused by landmines and unexploded remnants of war still need lifelong assistance, and the funds allocated for this provision fall short of meeting the victims’ needs. It is estimated that only 10 percent of funding is allocated to victims’ assistance.

There has been some progress, however. Since the treaty’s entry into force in March 1999, signatory nations have destroyed more than 44 million mines. In 2010, decontamination of mined land reached an unprecedented level: Almost 177 square miles of land were demined and more than 1.6 million unexploded remnants of war were destroyed, according to Landmine Monitor 2011. On December 2, 2009, Rwanda was declared free of landmines. On June 18, 2010, Nicaragua was also declared free of landmines and on June 14, 2011, Nepal became the second country to be landmine-free in Asia.

In addition to the treaty, there are two basic clauses of international humanitarian law that prohibit the use of landmines: the first, all means and methods that “fail to discriminate between those taking part in the fighting and those, such as civilians, who are not, the purpose being to protect the civilian population, individual civilians and civilian property,” and second, those means and methods that “cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering.”

From November 28 to December 2, the 11th Meeting of States Parties to the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty will be held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, one of the most affected land-mine countries in the world. This meeting will be a special occasion to remind States of their obligations, particularly in terms of victims’ assistance. It will also be useful to remind people of the barbaric nature of the use of these mines.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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Increasingly, there are calls for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to release taxes Israel owes to Palestinians. Unless Netanyahu releases those funds, Israel runs the risk of confronting another Palestinian intifada, warn several international groups.

Taxation in the Palestinian territories is a complex issue. It may involve payment to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and/or Israel within the context of Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians. On other occasions before, Israel has withheld Palestinians taxes, in retaliation for actions by the Palestinians.

For example, in June 2008, Israel withheld taxes owed to the Palestinian Authority. This action was apparently taken as retaliation for what the Israeli government interpreted as Salam Fayyad’s (the PA Prime Minister) attempt to undermine relations between Israel and the European Union.

The more than $100 million now withheld by the Israeli government’s express its opposition to the Palestinian Authority’s policy of pursuing United Nations membership, renewing power-sharing with Hamas and as a “punishment” for the Palestinian Authority recent incorporation into UNESCO.

The transfer by the Israeli government of money to the Palestinian Authority is made up of custom duties, taxes on Palestinian purchases of Israeli goods and other taxes on Israeli fuel bought by the Palestinians. The money is critical to pay tens of thousands of people, among them the Palestinian Authority security forces who work on preventing attacks on Israelis and whose professionalism has won praise both from Israel and the United States.

Although Prime Minister Netanyahu has fully backed Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz on this move, in the past Defense Minister Ehud Barak had described this kind of delay as “capricious.” He indicated that these were Palestinian funds and that if the Israeli government refused to transfer those funds it was a violation of international agreements.

While other Israeli defense officials said that cutting funds to the Palestinians threatens’ Abba’s moderate Palestinian Authority, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that he vehemently opposes the release of Palestinian funds, and stated that Palestinians use the money from tax revenues to fund housing for terrorists. He also threatened to dismantle the governing coalition if the funds are released.

UN Middle East peace envoy Robert Serry warned the Security Council that freezing the transfer of Palestinian funds undermined the PA’s state-building gains and the security forces in charge of upholding law and order in the West Bank. According to Oussama Kanaan, the International Monetary Fund’s mission chief in the West Bank and Gaza, unless the transfer of funds proceeds normally before December 1, up to one million Palestinian workers would go unpaid.

In addition, in recent days, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and senior American officials urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to release the funds, as did Tony Blair, the representative of the Middle East peace quartet.

In a recent editorial, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz stated, “None of Netanyahu’ reasons are relevant or legitimate. The money is Palestinian money, and it must go to the Palestinians. The fact that Israel collects these funds is a technicality, and doesn’t justify acts of abuse and revenge. Concern for the Likud primaries and the struggle with Lieberman over right-wing votes are putting Israel’s national security at risk and making a third intifada more likely.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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A widespread perception that Congress people respond increasingly to special interests has received additional support from a person who knows something about it. In a cynical interview with Lesley Stahl, from “60 minutes” Jack Abramoff, one of the most notorious lobbyists in recent times, explains the tactics that he used in dealing with people in Congress. In addition, he gives a chilling assessment of recent reforms intended to change this situation.

In 2011, it was estimated that there were over 13,000 registered federal lobbyists based in Washington, DC. They spend huge amounts of money on their work, up to $3.5 billion in 2010 according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Their competence as individuals, groups or corporations to lobby the government is protected by the right to petition clause in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

For his illegal activities, in 2006, Abramoff pleaded guilty to defrauding Indian tribes of tens of millions of dollars on issues associated with Indian gaming, and corruption of public officials, in a Washington, D.C., federal court. He served most of a six-year sentence after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy, honest services fraud, and tax evasion.

He was deft at influencing legislation, and one of his strategies was to make some Indian tribes make substantial campaign contributions to select members of Congress. In addition, Abramoff spent large sums of money providing congressmen with free flights to the world’s best golf destinations such as St. Andrews in Scotland. He also provided them with free meals at his upscale Washington restaurant Signatures, and the best tickets to all the area’s sporting events. He said that he spent a million dollars a year on those tickets and on different other venues.

When asked by Ms. Stahl if he could state how much it costs to corrupt a congressman, he answered, “I was actually thinking of writing a book –“The Idiot’s Guide to Buying a Congressman”- as a way to put this all down.

According to Abramoff, the best way to get a congressional office to be responsive to his demands was to offer a staffer a job that could triple his salary saying, “You know, when you are done working on the Hill, we’d very much like you to consider coming to work for us.” At that moment, said Abramoff, we owned them. They were going to do everything that he requested. Neil Volz, one of the staffers Abramoff was referring to said in that program, “Jack Abramoff could sweet talk a dog off a meat truck, that’s how persuasive he was.”

It is not a memory Abramoff now feels proud of. As he said, “Look. I did things and I was involved in the system I should not have been in. I’m ashamed of the fact that I was there, the very reason why now I am speaking about it. And now I am trying to do something, in recompense, is the fact that I thought it was – it was wrong of me to do it.

After these events, Congress passed what many consider the most sweeping new ethics rules since Watergate. Although the bill regulating lobbyists’ activities incorporated the Lobbying Transparency Act of 2006 legislation which governs lobbyists’ activities, some senators and a coalition of good-government groups stated that the bill was too weak. It is an opinion that Abramoff would certainly agree with.

Abramoff doesn’t believe in the least that these reforms are going to be effective. As he stated, “The reforms efforts continually are these faux-reform efforts where they’ll change, they’ll tweak the system. They’ll say, ‘you can have a meal with a congressman if they are standing up, not sitting down”.

For Abramoff, the system has not been cleaned up at all. As he said, “But the people who are actually in the system are the people who are making reforms. That is why he says that the most important measure to be taken is to prohibit members of Congress and their staff from ever becoming lobbyists in Washington.” According to the online disclosure site LegiStorm, 5,400 former congressional staffers and almost 400 former lawmakers have become lobbyists over the past decade.

When considering how to limit the power of lobbyists, former congressman Lee Hamilton, Director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University, wrote, “I’d even go further. I favor the radical steps of prohibiting members of Congress from accepting contributions from firms that lobby them, and banning lobbyists from contributing to members they lobby.”

In addition, Hamilton believes that Congress needs an institution, similar to the Congressional Budget Office, to give it “unbiased and unvarnished analysis of pending issues each week. But the last word on this is Abramoff’s, “If you make the choice to serve the public, public service, then serve the public, not yourself. When you’re done, go home. Washington is a dangerous place. Don’t hang around."

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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A new study based on the practical application of stem cell research offers hope for the treatment of heart disease. In addition, if the initial results of this study are confirmed, its findings can be applied for the treatment of several other serious diseases. In the study, heart failure patients who were given adult stem cells taken from their own bodies showed dramatic and lasting improvement of their condition.

Embryonic stem cells are cells that have the ability to divide for indefinite periods in culture, and to give rise to specialized cells (such as heart muscle cells, blood cells or nerve cells) under certain physiologic or experimental conditions. Adult stem cells, also called somatic stem cells, can be found in many organs and tissues in the body.

The study involved 16 patients, and used adult cardiac stem cells which had been collected from the patients’ hearts during coronary bypass surgery. The cells thus obtained were purified and prepared for infusing them back into the damaged tissue.

Although bone marrow stem cells --which are much easier to extract and prepare-- had been used in other studies to reverse the damage caused by heart attacks, they were not as effective as cardiac stem cells.

Fourteen patients in the study who showed a good response to the treatment had an increase in their heart blood-pumping capacity from 30.3 percent before the treatment to 38.5 percent afterward the treatment. Seven patients out of those 14 underwent also magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which showed that there was less dead heart muscle tissue one year after the treatment than before.

Dr. Roberto Bolli, director of cardiology at University of Louisville and lead author of the study published in The Lancet, considers this one of the biggest advances in cardiology in his lifetime. What is particularly important in this study is that the positive results are caused by the fact that it addressed the fundamental problem, replacing dead tissue with new cardiac muscle, according to Bolli. Seven control patients in the study who didn’t receive the stem cell treatment showed no improvement in their condition.

Dr. Bolli also indicated that this procedure may also benefit patients whose heart damage was up to three and a half years old. Another advantage of this procedure is that the quantity of cells need for the procedure - estimated in between one to two million - can be prepared from a heart biopsy, eliminating the need for surgery.

The cells obtained from biopsy can then be re-infused back into the heart through a catheter while the patient is awake. Another advantage of the use of adult stem cells is that they are less likely to be rejected by the immune system of the patient. This is a considerable benefit since immune rejection needs to be circumvented by immunosuppressive drugs which may cause serious side effects on the patients.

Mike Jones, who suffered a massive heart attack in 2004, and who was the first patient to receive this treatment in July 2009, stated that the procedure not only gave him more years to live but also a better quality of life.

Although there was considerable optimism with these results some experts expressed caution. One of them, Dr. Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, told the BBC that although these results were encouraging they still need to be confirmed in the final completed trial, and that it was still necessary to understand the mechanism that is producing the effect.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), which includes hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke and congestive heart failure, has ranked as the number one cause of death since the early 1900s. It is estimated that approximately 2,600 Americans die of CVD each day. Given the aging of the population and the dramatic increases in other diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, CVD will increasingly become a serious health concern. In this context, the benefits of this new procedure should not be underestimated.

Cesar Chelala, MD, PhD, carried out research in molecular genetics at The Public Health Research Institute of the City of New York.

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The killing under torture in a maximum security prison in Cairo of Essam Ali Atta Ali, a 24-year-old Egyptian, raises concern on the role of the Egyptian military in the “New Egypt.” His death was likened to that of Khalid Said, who was beaten to death by the police in Alexandria last year. What Atta’s death show is that the same abuses that were perpetrated under former president Hosni Mubarak continue, and that true democracy and respect for people’s rights are still a long way off in Egypt.

Atta was arrested last February, convicted of “thuggery.” He was sentenced to two years in prison. According to the Interior Ministry, he was also carrying an unlicensed weapon. He is one of 12,000 cases who, according to human rights activists in the country, have been tried by military, instead of civilian, courts. In contrast, Mubarak and his cronies are being tried in civilian courts and their trials are expected to last for months or even years.

“The military justice system should never be used to investigate or prosecute civilians. Military courts are fundamentally unfair, as they deprive defendants of basic fair trial guarantees,” states Amnesty International. One may recall, in this regard, George Clemenceau’s statement that, “Military justice is to justice as military music is to music.”

What makes his case special, however, is that it proves that torture and assassination continue to be practiced in Egyptian jails. Atta was sodomized to death by prison guards who used hoses to inject water into his mouth and anus which produced profuse bleeding leading to his death. A statement from the military government attributed Atta’s death to “unknown poisoning” and said that prison guards tried to save him.

According to his father, however, after being tortured for more than an hour other prisoners pleaded with the prison guards to stop torturing him. When the guards stopped, he was transferred to Kasr El-Aini hospital where he died an hour later. After seeing Atta’s bloodied body for a short time at the morgue, where she was verbally abused by the guards, Aida Seif al-Dawla, an official at the El-Nadim Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, called Atta “the second Khalid Said”.

When the military adopted a calming behavior during the revolt in Tahrir Square many thought, or hoped, that this event signaled a change in the military’s policy towards its former associates. They also thought that the military was going to open the way for the creation of authentic democracy in Egypt. History shows, however, that once the military assume direct power, they only relinquish it by force or after a serious national crisis, as has been proved in Argentina, Chile and in many other countries worldwide.

The continued practice of torture in Egyptian jails is only one of many Tahrir activists’ complaints against the ruling military junta. Activists are concerned that the military would like to perpetuate their rule, either holding power for as long as possible or by opening the way for one of their own to become president.

Recently, several hundred posters appeared in Cairo and Alexandria, calling on Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to run for president, feeding people’s fears that the military may want to indefinitely remain in power. Two members of the military council recently stated that the military plans to retain full control of government after the election of Parliament begins in November and until a new president is elected, a process that could well extend into 2013 or even longer.

In the meantime, and following the attack on the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, the SCAF not only kept the state of emergency but has broadened the law’s mandate, including now “aggression against freedom to work, sabotaging factories and holding up transport, blocking roads and deliberately publishing false news, statements or rumors.” The law gives security forces wide powers of search, arrest and detention and shows the big divide between people’s demands and actions by the military, which in 2010 had promised that it would use the law only to combat terrorism and drug trafficking.

The evidence of systematic torture, expanding the reach of the emergency law and the military’s heavy hand in quelling civilian protests such as the one on October 9 in which 27 people –mostly Christians- were killed raises serious doubts about the military allowing peaceful dissent and allowing democracy in the country. Slowly, and surely, the Egyptian military is lifting its democratic mask.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

Two Israeli human rights organizations, the Public Committee Against Torture (PCAT) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) have released a report, Doctoring the Evidence, Abandoning the Victim, in which they claim that medical professionals in Israel fail to document and report injuries caused by the ill-treatment and torture of detainees by security personnel. The report states that the doctors’ behavior is a violation of their ethical code.

The report, based on 100 cases of Palestinian prisoners brought to PCAT since 2007, “reveals significant evidence arousing the suspicion that many doctors ignore the complaints of their patients; that they allow Israeli Security Agency interrogators to use torture; approve the use of forbidden interrogation methods and the ill-treatment of helpless detainees; and conceal information, thereby allowing total immunity for the torturers.”

Although the Israeli government denies torturing or ill-treating prisoners, included in the report are evidence of beatings, being held for long periods in stress positions, sleep deprivation and threats. In addition, doctors are accused of not keeping proper medical records of injuries caused during interrogations. In this regard, the report notes “countless cases wherein individuals testified to injuries inflicted upon them during detention or in interrogation, and yet the medical record from the hospital or the prison service makes no mention at all.”

The report deals with medical professionals who have witnessed, participated in or been in contact with prisoners who have been interrogated by the Shin Bet internal security service, which has often been accused of inflicting physical or psychological violence on Palestinian prisoners. Either through direct action or through their silence, medical professionals were complicit with what goes on in the interrogation places, says the report. It also says that medical staff in prisons “approves the use of forbidden interrogation methods and the ill-treatment of helpless detainees; and conceals information thereby allowing total impunity for the torturers.”

“Palestinian political prisoners and detainees incarcerated by Israel are subject to harsher pre-trial detention laws (e.g., lengthy prohibition on meeting with lawyers), interrogations and conditions of confinement than other prisoners and detainees held in Israel. In Israel Security Agency (ISA or shabak) facilities, testimonies taken by human rights organizations in past years indicate clear patterns of torture and/or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of Palestinian detainees,” stated in 2010 the Public committee against torture in Israel.

According to this committee, detainees being held in the Ashqelon, Jalameh, Petakh-Tikva and Moscobiya facilities are routinely subjected to inhuman and degrading detention treatment during their interrogation by the ISA. It is mainly Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinians from the OPT who are detained and interrogated in these facilities. However, only the new report deals with medical personnel participation or acquiescence in torture.

“In Israel it is illegal to abuse inmates, including security prisoners,” stated Israel government’s spokesman Mark Regev. “Guidelines have been passed to the relevant authorities. If years ago the guidelines were not clear, they are today. And if there are allegations of wrongdoing against people in custody, they are investigated thoroughly,” he added.

However, the evidence cited in the new report by PCAT and PHR Israel, indicates that abuses continue. As Dr. Ishai Menuchin and Ran Cohen, Executive Directors of the PCAT and PHR Israel respectively state, “We are hopeful that this report will help the medical system change its ways and those of the doctors who ignore their ethical obligations. The world will be a better place if the doctors conduct themselves in a moral fashion.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

Christopher Johnson’s execution by the State of Alabama creates serious doubts about the justice of a measure that is widely criticized by human rights advocates throughout the world. According to the group Equal Justice Initiative, the Alabama Supreme Court planned the execution without even engaging in a meaningful review of the case.

Christopher Johnson was convicted of killing his son in 2005. Johnson’s attorneys claimed that he wasn’t guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. However, during the trial, Johnson asked the trial judge for permission to represent himself. Despite ample evidence that Johnson had a long history of mental illness, the judge allowed him to do so. Although during his detention Johnson showed destructive behavior associated with mental illness, the trial judge sentenced Mr. Johnson to death. He was executed on October 21, 2011.

There were several mitigating circumstances for Johnson’s behavior. He was sexually molested by an uncle from age seven to twelve; he started taking drugs at sixteen, and throughout his childhood he was placed in programs for children with severe behavioral problems. Death sentences imposed without consideration for mitigating circumstances are inherently unreliable, held the U.S. Supreme Court.

An even more egregious case is the execution of the mentally retarded. Such was the case of Milton Mathis, 32. Despite considerable body of evidence showing that Mathis was clearly retarded, the Supreme Court denied his appeal for clemency and he was executed in Texas last June 21st. He became the 470th individual put to death in Texas in modern times.

According to Amnesty International, executing the mentally ill –those who don’t understand the reasons for their punishment- violates the U.S. Constitution (Ford v. Wainwright, 1986). In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the common law rule that the “insane” cannot be executed.

In a 1986 opinion by Justice Thurgood Marshall, he reasoned that executing them didn’t serve any punitive goals and that Florida’s procedures for determining competency to stand trial were inadequate. After he was reevaluated, Alvin Bernard Ford was transferred to Florida State Hospital for treatment and found to be incompetent to be executed. There is widespread international criticism of the death penalty. Carlos Duguech, Director of the radio program Peace in the World in Argentina told me, “The death penalty is the failure of the social order, is the worst scourge that contaminates society.”

In reference to minors and the mentally ill, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions said that, “Governments that continue to use the death penalty with respect to minors and the mentally ill are particularly called upon to bring their domestic legislation into conformity with international legal standards.” And in 2000, the UN Commission on Human Rights urged all states that maintain the death penalty “not to impose it on a person suffering from any form of mental disorder; not to execute any such person.”

Since 1983, over 60 people with mental illness or retardation have been executed in the United States. A striking case was that of Viet Nam veteran Manny Babbitt. Because of his heroism during the war, he had been awarded a Purple Heart for his heroic behavior during the war. After returning from Vietnam, Babbitt’s life revolved around drugs, medications and mental institutions. He also suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He screamed for help, saying, “I am going to hurt somebody.”

During what seemed to be a burglary attempt, he struck a woman in the head and she died of a heart attack. The details of his crime seem to indicate that he had a flashback to his actions during the war. He wrapped his victim in a blanket and tagged her as if she were a captive soldier on the battlefield. Manny’s brother turned him into the police, and was promised counseling and support for his brother. Instead, he was tried by an all-white jury (Manny Babbitt was black) and was executed on May 4, 1999. After he was executed for his crime, he received a funeral with military honors.

The American Bar Association passed a 2006 resolution calling for the exemption of those with serious mental illness from imposition and execution of the death penalty. The National Association of Mental Health estimates that five to ten percent of those on death row have serious mental illness.

One of those in death row is Scott Panetti, convicted for the murder of his parents-in-law Joe and Amanda Alvarado on September 8, 1992, in Texas. He was sentenced to death in 1995, although he had a long history of mental illness. He was hospitalized, both voluntarily and involuntarily, for mental illness 14 times before his arrest for capital murder in 1992.

After his conviction, Sonia Alvarado, Panetti’s former wife and daughter of the victims filed a petition stating that he should have never been tried for his crimes, since he was suffering from paranoid delusions at the time of the killings. And Panetti’s mother said, “He did a terrible thing, but he was sick. Where is the compassion? Is this the best our society can do?”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

It was an unprecedented event in Guatemala, and perhaps in all of Latin America. Alvaro Colom, Guatemala’s President, issued an official apology to the family of former Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz. The apology was made 57 years after the US backed a coup d’état by Guatemalan officers that removed him from power. “As head of state, as constitutional president of the republic and as the military commander in chief, I hereby wish to request the forgiveness of the Arbenz Vilanova family for this great crime,” said Colom.

Among new measures announced by president Colom to redress this crime is the redrafting of school textbooks to add a new and more accurate version of the events that took place in the country and of Arbenz’s legacy, and the renaming of a national highway in his honor. “It was a crime against him, his wife, his family, but also a historic crime for Guatemala. This day changed Guatemala, and we still haven’t recovered,” added Colom.

Arbenz was elected President of Guatemala in 1950 to implement a process of socioeconomic reforms that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) called “an intensely nationalistic program of progress colored by the touchy, anti-foreign inferiority complex of the ‘Banana Republic.’” Both the CIA and the intelligence community in the U.S. feared that Guatemala and the Arbenz government were rapidly falling under the sway of the Communists. Those fears were later proven to be unfounded.

Arbenz was overthrown in 1954 in a coup led by Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas which was planned and funded by the CIA and that opened the way for a 36-year civil war, according to President Colom. Arbenz died in Mexico in 1971, leaving his widow, children and later grandchildren to fight for his reputation and to try to gain back their confiscated property.

What the coup against Arbenz demonstrates is the complicity of not only the CIA but also of the highest levels of the U.S. government. According to declassified information on Guatemala, the first CIA effort to overthrow Arbenz was a collaboration of that agency with Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza to support a frustrated Guatemalan general named Carlos Castillo Armas in an operation codenamed PBFORTUNE which had been authorized by President Harry Truman in 1952.

When that operation was blown, a new operation, codenamed PBSUCCESS was authorized by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1953. The operation had a budget of $2.7 million for “psychological welfare and political action” and “subversion”, among other components. According to a CIA study, up until the day that Arbenz was forced to resign “the option of assassination was still being considered.” The operation lasted from late 1953 to 1954.

According to Kate Doyle and Peter Kornbluh, senior analysts at the National Security Archives, “Although Arbenz and his top aides were able to flee the country, hundreds of Guatemalans were rounded up and killed.” More than two decades later, Director of Central Intelligence William Colby prohibited any CIA involvement in assassination, confirmed later by an Executive Order.

Arbenz had raised fear in the U.S. because of a series of new policies such as the expropriation of unused, unfarmed land belonging to private corporations such as the United Fruit Company (UFC). Those policies were considered communist in nature. The United Fruit lobbied several levels of the U.S. government to take strong action against Arbenz (both CIA Director Allen Dulles and his brother were shareholders of that company.)

Land redistribution advocated by Arbenz intended to remedy the unequal situation in the country. In 1945, it was estimated that 2.2% of the country’s population controlled 70% of the arable land in the country, only 12% of which was being utilized. In March 1953 uncultivated lands owned by the UFC were to be expropriated under a compensation plan based on the company’s declared taxes and what the company said was the real value of the land. The government’s move triggered the U.S. government’s response.

An invasion led by Castillo Armas was mainly designed to provoke panic in the population and give the impression of insurmountable odds in order to bring Guatemalans to their side, including the military. Arbenz was particularly concerned that the military would strike a deal with the invading forces. When this proved to be the case he resigned.

Most historians agree that this was a serious blow to Guatemala’s democracy and the start of a civil conflict in the country that caused up to 250,000 deaths, according to some human rights activists’ estimates. It was also proved that the socialist movement that had gained influence during Arbenz’s presidency had no ties to the Soviet Union. The coup against Arbenz not only toppled a democratic government. It caused serious damage to Guatemala’s democracy and to the country’s chances for sustained development.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

At an October 2011 meeting at the United Nations in New York, Korea demanded that Japan take “legal responsibility” for Korean women who were coerced to provide sex services to Japanese soldiers. “This systematic rape and sexual slavery constitute war crimes and also, under defined circumstances, crimes against humanity,” said Shin Dong-ik, Korea’s deputy chief envoy to the United Nations, to the Third Committee of the U.N. General Assembly. On the eve of his trip to Seoul, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said that war compensation issues regarding Korean “comfort women” had already been “legally resolved.”

Amnesty International, in a 2005 report titled "Still Waiting After 60 Years: Justice for Survivors of Japan's Military Sexual Slavery System," calls on the Japanese government to accept full responsibility for crimes committed against women condemned to sexual slavery by their Japanese recruiters. These so-called comfort women were recruited from several countries, mainly Korea, during World War II, and forced to serve as sexual slaves for the Japanese soldiers.

Among the estimated 100,000 to 200,000 women recruited from different countries, 80 to 90 percent were from Korea. Girls as young as 11 years-old were forced to serve between 5 and 40 soldiers a day, and almost 100 soldiers on weekends. Those who resisted were often beaten, burned or wounded. During the Japanese retreat many were left to starve or were executed to eliminate any trace of the atrocities they were subjected to by the Japanese military.

For many years after the end of World War II, the government of Japan had insisted that the "comfort stations" were in fact private brothels that had been administered by private citizens. Only in 1993 did the government admit that the Japanese military had been "directly or indirectly" involved in establishment and operation of "comfort stations" and in transportation of the women. The Japanese government also said that private citizens, at the request of the military, had been mainly involved in recruitment of the women.

The first Korean former comfort woman to tell her story was Bae Bong Ki, in 1980. After her, Kim Hak Soon, who died in 1997, related in 1991 how she was abducted by Japanese soldiers when she was 17 years old, and forced to carry ammunition by day and serve as a prostitute by night. Her testimony sparked several other testimonies by women who were obliged to work as sexual slaves in military comfort stations. Evidence of such stations has already been found in the Koreas, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, New Guinea and Okinawa.

Illustrative of the ordeal comfort women went through is the testimony of Chung Seo Woon in the book titled "Making More Waves" (Beacon Press, Boston, 1997). Chung was an only child born in Korea to the family of a wealthy landowner. Because of his activities against colonial rule, her father was sent to prison and badly tortured. When she was 16 she was allowed to visit her father. The same Japanese official who allowed her to see her father came later to her house. He told her that if she went to work in Japan for two years her father would be released. Despite strong objections from her mother, she agreed to do so.

Chung was placed on a ship with many other girls and women. She was hopeful that at the end of the two years her father would be released from prison, as she had been told by the officer. After being taken to Japan, the women were sent to several other countries and a group of them left in each country. After reaching Jakarta, the group that included the young Chung was taken to a hospital where she was sterilized.

The group was then taken to Semarang, a costal city in Indonesia, and placed on a row of barracks. From then on they were obliged to perform sexual intercourse every day with dozens of soldiers and officers. In the process, she was forced to become an opium addict. Chung attempted to commit suicide, by swallowing malaria pills.

Two of her friends reported her to the authorities, she was revived, and, she remarks, "It was then that I made up my mind to survive and tell my story, what Japan did to us." When the war ended and she returned home, she found her house deserted. From neighbors who came to help her she learned that her father had died while in prison. Her mother, humiliated by the Japanese soldiers' attempt to rape her, committed suicide.

Chung decided to rid herself of the opium addiction. She managed this after eight months, and she worked hard to regain her dignity as a human being. She was never able to attain a normal sex life, but found companionship and care from a physician who had had a nervous breakdown after serving in the Japanese Army.

In November of 1994, an International Commission of Jurists stated that, "It is indisputable that these women were forced, deceived, coerced and abducted to provide sexual services to the Japanese military . . . [Japan] violated customary norms of international law concerning war crimes, crimes against humanity, slavery and the trafficking in women and children . . . Japan should take full responsibility now, and make suitable restitution to the victims and their families."

In 1995, the Japanese government introduced the Asian Women's Fund as a response to strong international criticism. The fund is widely perceived by the survivors as a way for the Japanese government not to fulfill its legal responsibilities toward those women. Still unresolved, however, is a formal, clear and unambiguous apology to the victims of sexual abuse by Japanese soldiers.

There is an important symbolic meaning related to the issue of monetary compensation. During her testimony at the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995, Chung declared, "I might be poor, but not that poor. I demand the compensation that is rightly due to me, even if I would burn the money after it is in my hand. It is not a matter of money but of principle. The Japanese have defiled my body but not my spirit. My spirit is strong, rich, and proud."

As the Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues stated in a letter to the Emperor and Empress of Japan last July, “You are recognized around the world as moral and spiritual leaders of the Japanese people, as well as for your efforts to advance world peace. This letter is a heartfelt appeal to you to exercise your moral and spiritual leadership to speak clearly to your people about one of the cruelest offenses perpetrated during World War II. This offense remains unresolved today.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

I am sitting at a coffee place in San Cristóbal de las Casas, a misty town in Chiapas, in southern Mexico. I am told that occasionally Sub Comandante Marcos, the famed leader of indigenous people in the region, used to come here. I wonder if I will see him, although he has not made a public appearance in more than two years. He doesn’t come –or may be I didn’t recognize him without his signature ski mask— so I spend my time reflecting on the consequences or legacy of his movement.

Sub Comandante Marcos' movement, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) took its name from Emiliano Zapata, the commander of the Liberation Army of the South during the Mexican revolution which broke out in 1910. The EZLN has largely defied political classification, being mainly a movement seeking to redress the unjust treatment by the government -largely in response to the new world economy- of the country’s indigenous people.

The movement went public in 1994. On January 1st, 3,000 armed insurgents briefly took several towns in Chiapas, including San Cristóbal de las Casas, the residence of the late Chiapas Bishop Samuel Ruiz, an almost legendary figure widely respected by the indigenous people in the state. The goal of the insurgents was to dramatize the harsh living conditions, poverty, and lack of governmental response to Mexico indigenous population’s serious situation, which had deteriorated markedly as Mexico rushed to become a player in the global economy.

In an essay written for Le Monde Diplomatique, Sub Comandante Marcos said that neo liberalism and globalization constitute the “Fourth World War,” since he called the Cold War the “Third World War.” “If the Third World War saw the confrontation of capitalism and socialism on various terrains and with varying degrees of intensity, the fourth will be played out between large financial centers, on a global scale, and at a tremendous and constant intensity,” he wrote.

The violent revolt and capture of Chiapas’ towns was met with fierce government response and ended 12 days later thanks to a ceasefire brokered by Bishop Samuel Ruiz. The Zapatistas took heavy losses and retreated to the jungle where they had come from.

Although the Mexican government allowed Bishop Ruiz to mediate its conflict with the Zapatistas, the government accused the Bishop of being the driving force in the rebellion. Bishop Ruiz, however, always advocated non-violence as a way of resolving conflicts, and repeatedly stated that a spiral of violence, once started, cannot be easily resolved once the weapons stop firing.

“This war was not carried out to shed blood and take power but to be heard. When they [the insurgents] were heard they laid down their weapons and chose the pathway of dialogue,” said Bishop Ruiz in a movie called “A Place Called Chiapas.”

After the clashes with the much superior forces of the Mexican army, the EZLN decided to stop using their weapons, and to put special emphasis on the political solution of the conflict with the Mexican government. Ina 2009 article for Le Monde Diplomatique Sub Comandante Marcos stated, “We don’t want to impose our solutions by force, we want to create a democratic space. We don’t see armed struggle in the classic sense of previous guerrilla wars, that is, as the only way and the only all-powerful truth around which everything is organized. In a war, the decisive thing is not the military confrontation but the politics at stake in the confrontation. We didn’t go to war to kill or be killed. WE went to war in order to be heard.”

Sub Comandante Marcos made it clear that he wanted the government respond to what he saw as legitimate indigenous people’s claims for better education, more and better health services, equal work opportunities, and better roads to the indigenous communities. After the government sent an unprecedented amount of funds to Chiapas, and for what I saw during my visit there, most of these goals have, to an important extent, been accomplished.

However, there are still in Mexico 3.3 million indigenous people still unable to satisfy their basic nutritional needs, according to figures from the Ministry of Social Development. And the 2010 infant mortality rate in 2010 among indigenous people was 22.8 per 1,000 live births, compared to 14.2 per 1,000 live births for the population at large, according to the government’s National Population Council (CONAPO).

Although the Zapatista movement doesn’t have the same goals as the “indignados” in Europe who are now becoming every day more numerous in many U.S. cities, they share the aim for a more egalitarian society, where the greed of the few shouldn’t take precedence of the rights of the many. According to the U.S. Census Bureau one in six Americans were living in poverty last year, a situation that is hitting children the hardest.

“Here in Chiapas we have to speak of before and after Sub Comandante Marcos,” said Gustavo Flores Alfaro, a building engineer from this area. When analyzing the beginning of the Twenty First century perhaps historians will also talk of the situation before and after the “indignados” movement that is taking the world by storm.

Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

In 1999, a study called the Rotterdam Study uncovered the strong association between diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. In this landmark study carried out in the Netherlands, 6,370 elderly men and women were followed for an average of two years. In what was perhaps one of the first reports on this issue, they found that having diabetes almost doubled the risk of dementia. Since then, several studies have confirmed these findings, and threw light on the probable mechanism for this connection.

A nine year study published in 2004 followed 842 older Catholic nuns, priests and brothers. Although none of them had any signs of Alzheimer’s at the beginning of the study, at the end of it, 151 of them had developed Alzheimer’s. A statistical analysis found that those who had type 2 diabetes had a 65% increased risk of getting Alzheimer’s. Later, it was also found that this increased risk applies to both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes frequently occurs before the age of 20. It is caused by antibodies destroying the pancreas, the organ that produces insulin. This type of diabetes occurs in 10 to 15 percent of diabetics. In type 2 diabetes, which occurs in 85 to 90 percent of diabetics, the cause is primarily a condition called ‘insulin resistance’ where insulin just doesn’t work as it is supposed to do. Type 2 diabetes has a strong genetic component but, initially at least, can be prevented with changes in diet and lifestyle.

In the U.S., Alzheimer’s disease affects one in 10 Americans over 65 years of age, and almost 50 percent of those over 85. Almost 26 million Americans have diabetes and close to 80 million are pre-diabetic, that is, haven’t developed all the symptoms of the disease. While care for diabetics represents $174 billion in health care costs, the cost for the estimated 5.4 million Americans who have Alzheimer is over $180 billion.

A Swedish study published in 2008 found that men with low insulin production at age 50 were nearly one-and-a-half times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than people without insulin problems. That study also found that the strongest association between diabetes and risk of Alzheimer’s was strongest in people who did not have the APOE4 gene. That gene has been found to increase the risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

Diabetes may also lead to people developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is a transitional stage between the cognitive characteristics of normal aging and the more serious problems resulting from Alzheimer’s or other kinds of dementia. For example, because diabetes damages the blood vessels, it has long been known as a serious risk factor for vascular dementia, manifested by cognitive and memory problems.

What explains the association between these two serious diseases? Studies carried out over the last several years show that both diabetes and Alzheimer’s share some very damaging molecules known as advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Once produced, these substances affect the structure and functions of important proteins in the body.

The connection between diabetes and Alzheimer’s begs the obvious question. Is it possible to affect Alzheimer’s by altering insulin levels? By mimicking high insulin levels in healthy adults ranging in age from 55 to 81, researchers were able to elevate some markers of Alzheimer’s in the brain.

But, how about lowering insulin levels? Would that also have an effect? Researchers from the Boston University School of Public Health reported that individuals who used thiazolidenedione (TZD) drugs to lower their blood sugar levels had lower rates of Alzheimer’s disease. In 142,328 patients who received a first prescription for TZDs or insulin without previous prescription for either medication had up to 20% fewer cases of Alzheimer’s than patients who hadn’t received them.

These important studies suggest that preventing or effectively treating diabetes may lower the risks for Alzheimer’s disease. The positive effects on diabetes of dietary changes, exercise, nutrients and drugs are well known. Now there is an additional reason to put them to use.

Dr. Cesar Chelala carried out research in biochemistry, molecular genetics and pharmacology.

The increasing war on words between Turkey and Israel not only threatens to deprive Israel of an important ally, but, more ominously, it threatens to engulf the region in an arms race and wider conflict. It is time for both former allies to conduct serious negotiations before the situation reaches a point of no return.

In remarks recently in Cairo and in an interview with TIME magazine on September 26, 2011, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was extremely critical of Israel’s actions with the Gaza convoy. He was also critical of Israel’s refusal to pay compensation to the families of the victims and to apologize for the death of nine Turkish activists when the Gaza flotilla was intercepted by Israeli commandos.

After that incident, in November of 2010, Ankara’s National Security Council named Israel as a central threat to Turkish security for the first time since 1949. “The region’s instability stems from Israeli actions and policy, which could lead to an arms race in the Middle East,” said the report.

During his visit to Cairo, in a 30-minute speech to the Arab League, Prime Minister Erdogan said that Israel had undermined its legitimacy by irresponsible behavior. “It [Israel] acts irresponsibly and without hesitation in smashing human dignity and international law by carrying out assaults on international convoys, which carry nothing but food and toys for children,” said Erdogan.

Israel expressed regret for the loss of lives aboard the flotilla, and said that it was time for the two countries to restore their former close ties. However, the Israeli government has refused to apologize for its actions or to pay compensation to the families of the activists killed during the raid on the Mavi Marmara going to Gaza.

In addition, Israel’s recent announcement approving the building of 1,100 housing units in the Gilo neighborhood in east Jerusalem will not help to improve relations between the two countries, particularly since Erdogan has been a strong advocate for Palestinian rights. “It is time to raise the Palestinian flag at the United Nations. Let’s raise the Palestinian flag and let that flag be the symbol of peace and justice in the Middle East,” said Erdogan.

During a recent interview with CNN, Erdogan accused Israel of using the Holocaust to justify its actions against the Palestinians, as well as to convey the idea that “they are the victims all the time.” Erdogan also said that there were no accurate statistics on the number of Israelis killed in the conflict with the Palestinians, suggesting that there were approximately 200, while hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had been killed as a result of Israeli attacks on the citizens of Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly reacted to these allegations saying that, “These are outrageous charges against Israel that have nothing to do with the facts.” And Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called Turkey’s leadership radical, extremist and terror supporting. “We certainly respect the Turkish nation and Turkey as a state. Our problem is first and foremost with the current Turkish leadership – the radical and extremist Islamist leadership that supports and nurtures terror,” said Lieberman.

During a recent interview with TIME magazine Erdogan was also extremely critical of the Middle East Quartet. “…you need to take a sincerity test before you even think of accomplishing this: [Ask yourselves the question], do we really want to resolve this issue or not? Unfortunately, I do not see even the traces of this within the Quartet,” said Erdogan.

His point of view may be shared by those who see the Quartet’s biggest achievement as having provided Mr. Tony Blair with free flyer miles during his frequent trips to the Middle East. “He is useless to us,” said Nabil Shaath, senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, assessing Blair’s contribution to peace negotiations in the Middle East.

The situation between Israel and Turkey is now at a stalemate. It is to the benefit of both countries to overcome the issues separating them and renew friendly relations. The alternative could be an escalation of the hostilities and more unrest in that volatile region.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

Despite increasing bans on tobacco use, smoking cigars had, and will continue to have, universal appeal. As trade embargo on Cuban cigars in the U.S. is still in place, it is good to remember one of Cuban cigars’ greatest fans, the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy. And we can reminisce of an historic moment in US/Cuba relations when President Kennedy almost broke his own embargo against the Caribbean country. We know the details from Kennedy’s former press secretary, the ebullient Pierre Salinger.

President Kennedy is just one of many famous historical figures who loved to smoke cigars. Sigmund Freud was a big addict, smoking up to 20 cigars a day, which probably was the reason for the mouth cancer that led to his death. In a conversation with Carl Gustav Jung, where they were probably discussing the allegoric meaning of cigars, Freud is supposed to have said, “You know, Carl, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”

Winston Churchill, who loved to dunk his cigars in port wine or brandy, dressed an iconic figure during WWII holding a cigar in his hand. In more recent times, former president Bill Clinton was known to have enjoyed smoking cigars, although this is a pleasure now denied him out of concerns for his health.

At the other end of the political spectrum, Karl Marx was also a passionate smoker. However, both for theoretical and practical reasons he only smoked the cheapest cigars. As Guillermo Cabrera Infante, the famous Cuban writer, says in his book “Holy Smoke,” “All of them [were] of the ‘cheap and nasty’ variety; therefore the cigars Marx smoked were feared by all his friends.”

Aside from Cuban cigars, President Kennedy is known to have enjoyed Philippine cigars, probably the Alhambra brand, one of the mildest cigars made by the Philippines’ largest cigar maker, La Flor de la Isabela. President Kennedy’s favorite Cuban cigar was the Petit Upmann, also considered a mild to medium kind of cigar.

In an article published in 1996 in Cigar Aficionado, entitled “Cigars & Che & JFK” Richard Goodwin who served in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and who was instructed by Kennedy to draw up the executive order invoking the Trading with the Enemy Act against Castro’s Cuba, tells of a little know incident involving Che Guevara and President Kennedy.

In August of 1961, there was a meeting of all the American nations at Punta del Este, a seaside resort in Uruguay. It was there that Richard Goodwin met Che Guevara. Aware of Kennedy’s preference for Cuban cigars, Guevara gave Goodwin two cigar boxes, one for him and the other for Kennedy.

The cigar box for Kennedy was inlaid with the Cuban seal, and had a note to Kennedy in Spanish which said, “Since I have no greeting card, I have to write. Since to write to an enemy is difficult, I limit myself to extending my hand.” The note was signed “Che” over the typewritten “Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara.”

Further details of Kennedy’s predilection for Cuban cigars are detailed by Salinger in an article published in 2002 in Cigar Aficionado. Several months after the Bay of Pigs fiasco in April 1961, President Kennedy called Pierre Salinger to his office and told him that he needed some help. Always solicitous, Salinger asked him what he wanted. “I need a lot of cigars, Pierre,” Kennedy told Salinger.

“How many do you need, Mr. President,” asked Salinger. “About 1,000 Petit Upmanns,” said Kennedy. When told that Kennedy needed them by next morning Salinger shuddered, knowing how difficult it would be to get them. However, being a cigar aficionado himself, Salinger knew of places where he could obtain them. So next morning, as soon as he arrived in his office he was called by Kennedy who asked him how he had done on his errand. “Very well, Mr. President,” answered Salinger. He had gotten 1,200 Petit Upmann, among the best of Cuban cigars which he handed to Kennedy.

Kennedy smiled, opened his desk and took a long paper which he immediately signed. It was a decree by which he broadened all trade restrictions originally imposed by President Dwight Eisenhower to a ban on all trade with Cuba. The embargo on Cuban cigars has been effective since February 7, 1962.

Dr. Cesar Chelala, a New York writer, is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

There was not a happier person in Barcelona last Saturday than an 11-year-old boy from Morocco, called Soufian. He saw his hero Lionel Messi, the Argentine soccer player, slapping his thighs after scoring the first goal against the team called Osasuna. Following Messi’s goal, he lifted his hands in a characteristic gesture and immediately started slapping his thighs, a way he had agreed beforehand with Soufian so that he would know that this goal was dedicated to him.

Lionel Messi, considered the best soccer player in the world, had met Soufian last January and for some unforgettable minutes had played soccer with the Moroccan boy, a fan of his. When he met again the boy last Friday, he promised him that his first goal would be dedicated to him. And he kept his promise. It was a characteristic gesture of generosity by the most uncharacteristic, and talented, of all soccer players.

Soufian had lost both of his legs to Laurin-Sandrow disease, an extremely rare genetic condition. Set with artificial legs, he hadn’t lost his passion for soccer. And he feverishly followed Messi’s performances in Barcelona’s team. The Moroccan boy was never disappointed. Nor was the Spanish sportscaster disappointed either, aware of that promise, who kept yelling after that goal, “Messi is huge, Messi is huge!” When the game was finished, Messi’s team had defeated Osasuna 8-0, with two more goals from Messi, one of them a hat-trick.

The Moroccan boy is such a fan of Messi that he has his artificial legs painted with the colors of Messi’s team, called Barça. And he has also painted in them the number 10, Messi’s shirt number, usually given to the best player.

Since he was 19 Messi had decided to use part of the earnings from soccer to good causes. In 2007, he established the Leo Messi Foundation, a charity aimed at helping vulnerable children to gain access to better health and education opportunities. It was, perhaps, the way of expressing gratitude for overcoming his childhood health problems.

In a fan site interview Messi stated, “Being a bit famous now gives me the opportunity to help people who really need it, particularly children.”

Messi came to Barcelona when he was 13-years-old, after being diagnosed with growth-hormone deficiency, which made him unable to grow at the same pace as children his age. He was then only 4 feet 7 inches. His soccer team, called River Plate, could not afford at the time the medical costs for treating his condition.

Barça’s sporting director, Carlos Rexach, aware of the boy’s talent, offered him a contract which included payment for treating his hormone deficiency. Since at the time he had no other paper at hand, Rexach drew the contract in a napkin, probably the only such contract in soccer’s history.

Although Messi now stands at 5-7, he uses his relatively short size to full advantage. He can easily dribble among three or four opponents with unstoppable speed until he can reach the opponents’ goalkeeper whom he usually also dribbles to score a goal. Because he is short, Messi’s nickname is The Flea, as he is widely known.

Messi’s foundation supports sick Argentine children (mostly from his hometown of Rosario) to allow them to get paid treatment in Spain, covering hospital, round-trip transportation from Argentina and recovery costs. In March 2010, Messi was also named Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, where he has been able to continue his work in support of vulnerable children.

Throughout his 24 years Messi has proven to be unique. He is unique as a soccer player and remarkable as a human being. He not only is the most recognizable face of soccer worldwide, he is a kind young man who brought hope and a brilliant smile to a young Moroccan boy.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a New York writer.

The issue of food safety is important in China, particularly in rural areas, that lack the controls and supervision that can be better done in cities. In the first four months of this year, there have been government supervisions on more than 8.5 million sellers of food products and over 180,000 trade markets. Although the government has stepped up the supervision of food, dairy and liquor products sold in markets in rural areas at all points in the supply chain, more needs to be done to ensure food safety.

It is estimated that 1.8 to 3.1 billion people are infected each year by microbiological contamination of the food and water supply. In addition, large numbers of people become sick as a result of the intentional contamination of food or due to careless and unsupervised practices. The addition of some prohibited substances to foods is done to mask poor quality, to extend their shelf life past their expiration date and to make them look more nutritious to the consumer.

Two years after a national health scare over melamine-tainted milk products shocked China’s dairy industry there has been a new wave of reports of adulterated food. Melamine is a substance used in concrete, fertilizers and plastics which mimics protein in food-quality tests. This substance, that some Chinese manufacturers added (and some still do) to infant food, chocolate and other products to make them more appealing can, if consumed in excess, lead to permanent kidney damage.

In recent weeks, there have been reports of pork adulterated with the drug clenbuterol, which can cause heart problems; rice contaminated with cadmium, a metal discharged by smelters; soy sauce laced with arsenic; noodles mixed with ink and wax; bean sprouts contaminated with an animal antibiotic; and artificial eggs made up of chemicals, gelatin and paraffin, among other adulterated food.

Rather than diminishing, the problem of contaminated food seems to be increasing, particularly in rural areas. What explains this situation? The lure of making money at any cost is too tempting to many food producers. They see that by using additives they boost profit margins, and they don’t consider the serious effects adulterated food can have on consumers.

In addition, China’s rapid growth in recent times has given rise to an estimated half a million food producers, most of whom employ 10 or fewer workers. Because these producers are scattered throughout the country, oversight is difficult. This situation is aggravated by the fact that there are not enough qualified supervisors in the country and that the great number of food suppliers makes it difficult to enforce national standards, monitor food production and trace problems to their source.

Since adulterated food can bring considerable economic benefits to localities, such as increased government income and employment opportunities, many local officials tolerate these activities. To make things even more complex, adulterated products are not sold around the places where they are produced but instead they are transported to other localities, thus reducing the incentives of local authorities to crack down on these counterfeiting illegal businesses.

Many adulterated food products are sold in rural areas. Such is the case of fake milk powder, whose victims tended to be mainly villagers. Some analysts attribute the prevalence of adulterated foods in rural areas to the low purchasing power of many villagers and to their lower educational level. In addition, there is a regulatory chasm between urban and rural areas.

Many experts consider that the most evident feature of China’s food safety regulatory system is the fragmentation of regulatory authority among several government agencies. There is a difference with the United States, where except for meat and poultry, which are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates almost the entire food chain.

In 2003, in an attempt to solve this situation, the Chinese leadership created the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), in charge of food regulation and comprehensive food supervision. However, soon after it was created, it was evident that this new agency was going to confront some serious criticism, particularly from other regulatory agencies.
Following years have shown that SFDA does not have enough authority to exercise complete supervision over food safety, and that its authority remains divided among different government agencies.

Some progress on this issue, however, has been achieved. In 2009, China adopted a comprehensive food-safety law, bringing hundreds of standards in food production in line with international norms. As a result, almost half of dairy food companies have been ordered to stop production after failing to meet new licensing requirements. In addition, the Ministry of Health is planning to update and make public a list of legal food additives and publish a black list of illegal additives by the end of the year.

It is important to increase consumer food safety education, particularly in rural areas, which will give them the knowledge and confidence to demand better and safer products. At the same time, the government should accelerate the training of more enforcement agents, since there is now less than one food inspector for every 10,000 people.

China’s food regulating agencies should be streamlined and their responsibilities should be clearly established. A clear division of duties will give the Chinese citizens the sense that their health and well being are being effectively protected by the government.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant.

Experiments carried out in the last several years indicate that some viruses can help in the fight against cancer. Scientists have been experimenting with genetically engineered vaccinia, measles and reovirus, and have found that they can have a negative effect on several kinds of cancers. Further studies may well demonstrate viruses offer the best chance to fight against this disease.

Scientists found that a genetically modified vaccinia virus – used to develop a smallpox vaccine - named JX-594, when injected into the blood can selectively target cancer cells in the body. Although previously some viruses had proven to have a strong effect when injected directly into tumors, this is the first time that a virus has been shown to replicate in cancer tissue after intravenous infusion in humans, according to Prof John Bell, a lead researcher from the University of Ottawa.

The modified vaccinia virus was injected at different doses into the blood of 23 patients. They all had cancers which had spread to several organs in the body. What made this experience particularly important is that in eight patients who were receiving the highest dose, seven of them had the vaccinia virus replicating in their tumors but not in healthy tissue. This modified virus has proven to be effective even against mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that develops from the protective lining that covers many of the body's internal organs, which is particularly difficult to treat.

It is important to state, however, that the virus didn’t cure cancer. The experiments with modified vaccinia virus are significant because they showed that the virus multiplied only in tumor cells, leaving normal cells intact. This finding could be used in the future to deliver them directly into cancerous cells in high concentrations so as to be more effective.

“This new study is important because it shows that a virus previously used safely to vaccinate against smallpox in millions of people can now be modified to reach cancers through the bloodstream -even after a cancer has spread widely through the patient’s body,” Prof. Rick Lemoine, director of London’s Barts Cancer Institute was quoted as saying.

An additional advantage of this kind of treatment is that other treatments such as chemotherapy attack not only cancer cells but also normal cells, and as a consequence its side effects are much more pronounced. Treatment with the modified vaccinia virus only produced minor side effects such as flu-like symptoms that lasted for less than a day and could be treated with over-the-counter medications.

Reovirus, a kind of virus that can cause coughing and mild diarrhea, has also been used experimentally to kill cancer cells. Using a mutated virus, scientists have been able to accentuate the positive traits of the virus and attenuate the negative ones and have been experimenting in several kinds of cancers.

Scientists were able to show that there are synergistic anti-tumor effects of the modified reovirus when used with radiation therapy or with chemotherapy. Because of it slow toxicity, reovirus is an attractive anti-cancer option for ongoing clinical tests. In addition, infection with the mutated reovirus only produces minor flu-like symptoms.

In one set of experiments, patients with prostate cancer were injected with the mutated reovirus directly into their prostate tumors previous to having their prostate glands removed. When the prostates were analyzed, it was found that cancer cells around the site of injection were killed, but normal cells were unharmed. It was a significant discovery.
However, scientists also found that the virus didn’t spread to the rest of the prostate, thus limiting its efficacy. Different approaches are being tried at the moment, aimed at overcoming those obstacles.

Initial results with these and other viruses are important enough to raise hopes that these new approaches can be successful. It is interesting that while some viruses can cause cancers, other viruses, when properly modified and used, can be the answer to a most devastating disease.

Dr. Cesar Chelala conducted research in molecular genetics at the Public Health Research Institute of the City of New York.

I remember vividly the terrible day when our lives (our world) changed forever. I was listening to the radio in my apartment, a few blocks away from Ground Zero, when the plane hit the first Twin Tower and I heard the cries from the street below: "Oh, no, no, no!" "Oh, my God!" I ran downstairs just in time to see the second tower crumble like a sand castle. It was 9:59 am.

I joined others rushing to the spot when a large group of people came running back shouting: "Go back, go back, for God's sake, go back!" We rushed back only to discover later that it was a false alarm and that there would be no more attacks on the towers after the second plane hit. Without fully understanding the significance of events, I felt - like so many others - that a relatively peaceful way of life had been replaced by a darker, more sinister one. A great sadness came over me.

Soon after, we learned the details of what had happened, and heard stories and saw pictures of those who had thrown themselves voluntarily to their certain deaths rather than remain trapped inside an inferno. Richard Drew, who photographed one of the iconic images of that fateful day, the "Falling Man," where you see the lonely image of a man falling to his death with one of the towers in the background, said recently that for him that was the image of the Unknown Soldier. An estimated seven percent of those killed in the attack of September 11 did so by jumping into the void from their offices.

We also learned of the heroic conduct of hundreds of firefighters who risked and lost their lives. One of the firefighters was a 34 years-old Argentine man named Sergio Villanueva. That day, about an hour before the attack on the Twin Towers, he had finished his shift. But, like so many other days, he had stayed to have breakfast with his peers. When they heard news of the attack, he decided to join his fellow squad members and went with them to the towers to help in rescue efforts. Neither he nor his fellow brigade members ever returned.

We also heard heartbreaking stories about people we knew who were killed in the towers. One, the son of friends, had just enough time to call his brother and tell him, "Please tell Mom and Dad that I love them a lot as I love you," before the line went dead. To this day his parents have not regained their joie de vivre. Or the employee of a large company who left the towers, called his wife to say he was fine after the first tower had been hit, then returned to retrieve documents from his office and died shortly afterwards when the atrocious fire ravaged his office.

What promised to be a peaceful September morning turned into a nightmare. As usual, that day (a beautiful sunny day with a very clear sky) we woke up with my wife around 7 am and, after having breakfast, she had left for her work on Long Island, a distance of about 45 minutes from home. I was planning to have a working lunch at the United Nations headquarters.

After the second attack on the towers I hastily tried to contact my wife at work. It was impossible to communicate by phone with my wife on Long Island. However, I learned that it was possible to communicate by telephone with Queens, where a medical colleague, Dr. Juan Rivolta, lived. I called him immediately to see if I could communicate with my wife through him. I quickly summarized what had happened. He initially thought that I was joking but changed his mind when he heard the desperation in my voice and finally was convinced when I told him to turn the TV on and see what was happening.

Juan was able to communicate with my wife and told me that she was safe. When we spoke later that day she explained that soon after arriving at her college someone had called the office and they quickly turned the television on and were able share the horror of what was happening. Since virtually all roads leading to the New York City were closed, my wife went to a colleague’s house and stayed there until three days later when was able to return to our home.

Once satisfied that my wife was safe but still in a state of shock, I went to a nearby square and sat on a bench watching people hurrying to the scene. That state of shock was with me, like with many other New Yorkers, for at least three months after the attacks. During that time we could smell the pungent odor of burned materials, some of which certainly came from the incinerated bodies of thousands who had perished there.

One was Sean Rooney, whose last moments were described by his wife, Beverly Eckert, in a story published in New York magazine in a special issue on September 2011. Beverly described how her husband called her while he was trapped on the 105th floor, unable to find an escape route as the flames approached ominously towards him and how, during his last minutes of life could only manage to say "I love you, I love you." Then when the smoke almost prevented him from speaking, Beverly heard a terrible noise of something cracking, followed by the sound of an avalanche and a groan, probably from her husband when he felt the ground crumbling beneath his feet.

When George W. Bush later visited the scene of the tragedy, Karl Rove, one of his closest advisers, saw a fire truck completely destroyed in place. Rove then asked two firefighters to jump repeatedly on the truck to make sure that it would hold the weight of the U.S. president. When he made sure there would be no problem, Rove suggested to Bush to get on top of the truck with a megaphone and address the firefighters gathered there.

It seems impossible that someone who had been trapped inside the towers could have survived. Yet that is what happened to 20 people, including firefighters and police officers and an administrative secretary of the Port Authority called Genelle Guzman-McMillan.

As Matthew Shaer tells in New York magazine, Genelle followed a group of colleagues to the smoke-filled stairways. As they descended, Genelle was certain that she would survive and could go down and meet with her boyfriend, as they had planned to do. However, she suddenly lost her balance as a result of the collapse of the building and was dragged to the ground floor surrounded by tons of cement and steel. Finally she stopped, and felt something soft and warm under her – it was a dead person. She remained silent for 27 hours, praying and asking God for her life. After that time a German Labrador named Trakr managed to find her.

The shock people experienced as a result of the attacks may mirror the shock that Americans felt after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Such was the state of fear after the attack on the towers that the noise of the few aircraft that crossed the air afterwards was enough to frighten New Yorkers.

Such fears led to unexpected reactions. A friend, an art teacher at a university in New York, told me recently, talking about that fateful day: "Although I am a total agnostic I must confess that after the attacks I felt something strange, as if my house was invaded by ghosts whose steps I seemed to hear at night. I was so afraid, that I had to ask a Buddhist priest to make an exorcism ceremony of my apartment to feel that I was not going crazy. "

The attacks on the Twin Towers caused the most concentrated response to an emergency in the history of the United States. It is estimated that at least 100 units of emergency and dozens of private ambulances headed toward the scene from which they took the injured to nearby hospitals. At the same time, more than 2,000 police officers searched the towers and rescued survivors. But the weight of the response fell to the Fire Department of New York whose members had a truly heroic response to the events.

Will we be ever be able to eliminate terrorism? Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the Security Council of the United Nations on September 27, 2010, "Stopping people from becoming terrorists," Clinton said, "requires addressing the political, economic and social conditions that make people vulnerable."

On the 10th anniversary of the tragedy one of the main lessons to be drawn is: Violence begets violence, and intolerance breeds intolerance. Unless there is a new approach to preventing terrorist acts we will continue to live under the threat of preventable terror.

Political confrontation is not the answer. It's easy to create an enemy. It's much harder to understand "the other", a necessary approach if we want to eliminate misunderstandings, while honoring the desire for peace and security of all peoples of the world.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

The growing worldwide demand for resources is threatening the world's environmental health to an unprecedented extent. Unless new policies are set in place, this situation could have devastating implications for human development. In this context, women and children can be very active participants in the defense of the environment and stop, or even reverse, the degradation of our natural resources.

At a worldwide level, there is a growing awareness of the need and importance of making women contribute to the identification of environmental problems, as well as in the planning of activities geared at the sustainable development of their communities.

Over the past 200 years, industrial processes have been responsible for increasing levels of pollution and for the degradation of air, water, and land. In addition to unrestricted exploitation of natural resources, unsound agricultural practices have had devastating effects on the environment and on people's health and quality of life. Women and children have been particularly affected.

Women, especially those pregnant, are particularly susceptible to several environmental threats, particularly women living in rural or marginal suburban areas in developing countries. Until recently, women had few choices about the kind of lifestyle they wanted to lead and fewer opportunities to change unsatisfactory conditions and improve their families and their own health.

Because of their roles as home-managers, economic providers, and their role in reproduction, women are susceptible to health problems and hazards in several situations. The reproductive system of pregnant women is especially vulnerable to environmental contaminants. Every step in the reproductive process can be altered by toxic substances in the environment. These toxic substances may increase the risk of abortion, birth defects, fetal growth retardation, and peri-natal death.

Although for a long time women have been considered passive recipients of aid rather than active participants in development, their role is crucial both to the economies of developing countries and to the future of the environment. In that regard, as environmental educators and motivators for change, women are key agents in the processes leading to a more sustainable and healthy development of the planet.

Women are traditional protectors of the environment. A world survey on public attitudes on the environment sponsored by the United Nations Environment Program showed that women, when compared with men, are more likely to choose a lower standard of living with fewer health risks rather than a higher standard of living with more health risks.

Perhaps the best example of women’s participation in environmental activities is represented by the work of Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai, the founder of the Green Belt movement. Through her efforts, more than 30 million trees have been planted by participants in this movement in public and private lands. Her work has led to the restoration of Kenya’s rapidly diminishing forests and has empowered rural women in environmental preservation techniques.

In Nepal, Saraswoti Bhetwal has been able to survive as a farmer thanks to techniques learned at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), such as roof water harvesting, drip irrigation, composting and leveling terraces. In Latin America, indigenous women have become more active in the use of poverty reduction and sustainable development strategies.

In addition, the increasing participation of women in think tanks and in environmental training activities is allowing them to educate both the public and policy makers about the critical link between women, the use of natural resources, and sustainable development.

In that regard, women have better access to local environmental issues and how to approach them than men. Women have often had a leadership role in reducing unnecessary use of resources, promoting an environmental ethic, and recycling resources to minimize waste.

There is growing evidence that women in several countries around the world are taking central roles in the grass-roots environmental movement. And there is increasing belief that development policies that do not involve women and men alike will not, in the long run, be successful.

As stated by Diane Reed, President of the Cree Society for Communications "Now the women are rising up. And when the women rise up from a nation, they are the strongest voice that can be heard and it's a voice that cannot be silenced."

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international medical consultant and the author of the Pan American Health Organization publications ''The Impact of the Environment on Children's Health'' and “Maternal Health.”

In Chile, a 23-year-old woman has been leading students protests against the government of President Sebastian Piñera. Her high-profiled actions are posing a serious challenge to the government and may lead to a significant overhaul of the country’s education system.

Until a few months ago, Camila Vellejo Dowling was almost unknown in Chile. But recently she became the second female leader in the 105-year history of the University of Chile’s student union. When students protests gradually started last May, she quickly became their face and voice, and has led popular protests and cacerolazos – a kind of popular protest during which participants bang pots and pans.

The student leader said that the government strategy of violent students repression only aggravated the situation, cancelled dialogue and worsened the political climate in the country. Students’ demonstrations provoked a drastic fall in popularity of the government of Chilean billionaire Sebastian Piñera, whose positive image came down to 26% among respondents and obliged him to take emergency measures to confront the crisis.

Although Vallejo preaches non-violence, she has received several death threats and has been given police protection. Vallejo is demanding better salaries and work stability for teachers and for the government to assume responsibility for education at the universities which, according to her, are no longer accessible to the general population. She acknowledged, however, that it is very difficult to obtain structural reforms with a rightist government, saying that what they want is a long term political and educational reform in the country.

Students are demanding a new framework for education in Chile, and an end of the Chilean school voucher system and its replacement by a public education system managed by the state. Presently in Chile, only 45% of high school students are in traditional public schools. Most universities are in private hands.

The majority of Chileans (estimated in 72 to 80%) support the student movement, which has been energized by a 48-hour nationwide strike by the Workers United Center of Chile (CUT). Although Deputy Interior Minister Rodrigo Ubilla stated that the strike was a “great failure,” the CUT released a press statement saying that 82 social and labor union organizations had joined the strike.

As a response to student demands, President Piñera said that the government would improve education financing, cutting interests rates on students’ loans from 6.4% to 2%, would help indebted students and would provide fellowships. But the government promises did little to control the uprising.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, education costs in Chile make it the country with the most expensive higher education. According to Chilean economist Marcel Claude, student’s debt is close to 174% of their annual salary and 50% among them are heavily indebted.

President Piñera’s response to new demonstrations was to announce a US $4000 millions in education through a new proposal called GANE (Great National Accord for Education) which was also rejected. Should popular demonstrations gather momentum, the government may confront a situation very difficult to deal with, particularly after workers joined the student protests.

When Camila was recently asked about the effect on people of her striking good looks she responded, “I am attractive and don’t have any problems in acknowledging it, but I didn’t decided when I was born how I was going to look like. What I decided is which was going to be my political project and my work with the people.” In the unstable political situation of Chile now, the leadership of a 23-year-old woman can help chart a new course for her country.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant and writer.

by Cesar Chelala and Alejandro M. Garro

Several NGOs have filed an amicus brief urging the United States Supreme Court to review the ruling of an appeals court that corporations, under international law, cannot be held liable for damages on account of serious human rights violations. The Supreme Court should accept the case and hold that, if supported by the evidence, civil damages is an available remedy against corporations for aiding and abetting international wrongs.

Kiobel vs. Royal Dutch Petroleum is a lawsuit filed in 2002 by members of the Ogoni community complaining of human rights violations that took place in the 1990s. The Ogoni are approximately half a million people who live in a 650 square kilometers region in Rivers State, Nigeria. Traditionally, they made their living by fishing and as subsistence farmers, a way of life threatened when Shell discovered oil in 1958.

The environmental effects of oil exploitation in Ogoni territory have been dire. Major oil spills have caused serious damage to the ground and jeopardized the livelihood of the Ogoni people. Gas flares produce a constant noise near Ogoni villages. Polluted air from the flairs produces acid rain and causes respiratory problems in the surrounding communities. These damages are underscored in the lyrics of an Ogoni song:

'The flames of Shell are flames of Hell,
We bask below their light,
Nought for us to serve the blight,
Of cursed neglect and cursed Shell.'
The Ogoni people have seen their livelihood threatened by rapacious oil exploitation in their land. In 1998, the United Nations Rapporteur accused both the Nigerian government and Shell of abusing human rights and failing to protect the environment in the Ogoni Region. However, both Shell and the Nigerian government have been unresponsive.

The survivors of serious human rights violations resorted to the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) as a way to seek civil compensation in U.S. Courts. The ATS allows non-U.S. citizens to bring civil suits in U.S. federal courts for wrongful acts that in violation of international law, regardless of the country where the wrong was perpetrated or the harm was suffered. Whereas criminal liability of legal entities remains a controversial issue under international law, corporate civil liability for egregious wrongs is a widely accepted principle of international law.

In September of 2010, a split panel decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the ATS does not apply to corporations but only to individuals. As indicated by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in New York, this view is at odds with previous decisions of other federal courts, such as a relatively recent by the Seventh and District of Columbia circuit courts of appeals, holding that corporations can be held liable under the ATS. As recalled by the CCR, the majority of a panel in the District of Columbia case, held that corporations (such as EXXON Mobil on account of operations conducted in Indonesia), are not immune “for torts based on heinous conduct allegedly committed by its agents in violation of the law of nations.” As stated by Katherine Gallagher, a Senior Staff Attorney at the CCR: “The Second Circuit’s decision undermines fundamental concepts of accountability and leaves victims of the most serious human rights violations without a remedy.”

Making corporations immune from suits resulting from human rights violations will only ensure that these violations will continue to occur, unimpeded by any legal constraint. The Supreme Court should take the case, opening up the possibility, in cases where the evidence supports such a finding, to hold corporations liable for damages under international law.

Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of the Overseas Press Club of America award for "Missing or Dead in Argentina: The Desperate Search for Thousands of Abducted Victims," which was a cover story for The New York Times Magazine.

Alejandro M. Garro teaches comparative law at Columbia Law School and sits on the advisory boards for Human Rights Watch/Americas, the Center for Justice and International Law, and the Due Process of Law Foundation.

Doctors and medical personnel have become regrettable victims of the uprising taking place in several Arab countries. Attacks on doctors violate the principle of medical neutrality that ensures that doctors and medical personnel should be free to treat those in need –regardless of politics, race or religion. Rule 26 of the List of Customary Rules of International Humanitarian Law states that, “Punishing a person for performing medical duties compatible with medical ethics or compelling a person engaged in medical activities to perform acts contrary to medical ethics is prohibited.”

Violation of this rule has been particularly evident in Bahrain, were doctors, nurses and other medical personnel have been viciously tortured and set on trial in military court. Among the allegations against them is that doctors and nurses stole blood so that protesters could fake serious injury, and also of being part of a militant Shia clique that had taken control of Manama’s biggest hospital and used it as a base for overthrowing the royal government. The Sunni rule a majority-Shia populated country.

Unlike his serious protests against government abuses in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, the U.S. government has been extremely cautious in criticizing the government in Bahrain. This reluctance can be explained by the fact that Bahrain is host t the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. As stated by Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s director for the Middle East and North Africa, “North American and European Governments, so vocal recently in espousing the cause of human rights in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt, also need to speak loudly about what is going on in Bahrain.”

Unlike those governments, human rights organizations such as Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International (AI) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have been extremely vocal in their concern about abuses against doctors and other medical personnel. The Bahraini authorities stated that they were just taking necessary measures to prevent destabilization in the country provoked by foreign forces.

Many convictions of medical personnel are for political reasons such as having participated in unauthorized demonstrations and “incitement of hatred against the regime.” Human Rights Watch has urged the Bahraini government to stop special military court proceedings against those arrested during the country’s antigovernment protests.

In Syria, there is an underground network of medics, who call themselves the “Damascus Doctors” who want not only to save lives but to expose the crimes of the Syrian regime. The group is made up of approximately 60 medical professionals who provide on-the-ground care and help the wounded. The Syrian secret police has ordered doctors and other medical personnel not to treat wounded protesters threatening retribution. It is a sad paradox that doctors are afraid of reprisals by a government ruled by Dr. Bashar al-Assad, a medical colleague.

In Libya, doctors are also in the frontline, in many cases working in extremely hard conditions and under constant threat of government forces. Some of the doctors in the frontline have been trained overseas and have returned to their country to help during the civil war. Last March, government troops attacked the main hospital in Misrata that had at the time 400 patients and medical personnel inside.

In Yemen, medical workers set up a field hospital in a local mosque, providing care as security forces and the regime supporters opened fire on thousands of mostly unarmed civilian protesters.

Across North Africa and the Middle East, medical personnel have been courageously treating the wounded at great personal risk. Legal protections do not seem to work in authoritarian regimes under threat. The international community should continue to exert pressure to ensure that they are safe and able to fulfill what doctors and other medical personnel believe is their professional responsibility.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant.

In these times of so much civil strife, internecine wars and racial and political intolerance, it is good to remember an episode involving Turkey, Australia and New Zealand. It shows the power of words to console the grieving, and to bring closure to a painful history.

Last April thousands of people from Australia and New Zealand gathered in northwestern Turkey to render homage to their ancestors, brave young soldiers, who lost their lives on the fields of Çanakkale 96 years ago in what is known as the Gallipoli Campaign during World War I.

The Gallipoli Campaign took place on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey between April 1915 and January 1916. A joint British and French operation had been conducted to capture the Ottoman capital of Istanbul, and secure a sea route to Russia. The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, or Anzac, formed the foundation of a 200,000 British-led army that landed at Gallipoli. The operation failed with thousands of casualties on both sides.

To each of the ANZAC soldiers one could apply the words of William Butler Yeats,

I dreamed that one had died in a strange place
Near no accustomed hand

Painful as the losses of young soldiers’ lives were, however, this episode fostered the creation of national identities and also laid the foundations of friendly relations among the people from Turkey, Australia and New Zealand. The battle was also a defining moment in the history of the Turkish people, laying the grounds for the Turkish War of Independence.

It was during that campaign that Mustapha Kemal, who would later be known as Kemal Ataturk, counterattacked the heroic Anzac soldiers’ advance and reached unparalleled prestige among his compatriots. Mustapha Kemal, then a 34-year-old Lt.-Col., had been familiar with the Gallipoli Peninsula from his operations against Bulgaria during the Balkan War.

The prestige this military leader gained during the Gallipoli Campaign allowed him to create the Republic of Turkey as a secular nation with Western values, revitalizing it from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. After the Gallipoli campaign he proved to be as generous in peace as he had been daring in war.

Dr. Bülent Atalay, president of the Ataturk Society, recounted last May at the Turkish Embassy in Washington D.C. how in 1930, 14 years after the Gallipoli Campaign, and as president of Turkey, Kemal Ataturk was given a letter by his aid-de-camp. In the letter, the mothers of the Anzacs fallen at Gallipoli were requesting permission to visit the graves of their sons.

Ataturk pondered how to respond. His aid told him, “Warn them if anyone invades us again we’ll break off their legs.” Ataturk responded, “I cannot do that.” Instead he sat down and wrote to the mothers,

“Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives... you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours... You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.”

The words are now inscribed in the Memorial of Anzac Cove, which commemorates the loss of thousands of Ottoman and Anzac soldiers who gave up their lives at Gallipoli. They reveal that Kemal Ataturk wasn’t only an excellent politician. He was a great statesman as well.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

A new study carried out in Stanford University found that environmental factors may play an even more important role than genetics in causing autism. Autism is a neuro developmental disorder –an impairment of the growth and development of the brain or central nervous system- characterized by defective social interaction and communication, and by restrictive and repetitive behavior. It first appears during infancy or childhood, and generally follows a steady course without remission. Autism is one of three recognized disorders in what is known as autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).

The number of children diagnosed with autism has increased considerably since the early 1980s. Although the explanation for this increase can be improved diagnosis, the rate of increase is so dramatic as to disregard this as the only cause. Although worldwide the prevalence of autism is estimated in about 1-2 per 100,000 children, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that approximately one on 110 children in the U.S. have some form of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Although there is no cure for this condition, there are a few reported cases of children who recovered. Some autistic children have continued to lead highly successful professional lives.

Until a few decades ago, many psychiatrists thought that autism was caused by lack of maternal warmth, a belief that did a lot of harm to the mothers of children affected with this condition. More recently, it was believed that autism had a very strong genetic component. This happened until this new study, that stresses the important of a wide variety of environmental factors.

According to the study, conducted in 192 pairs of twins in California, genetics accounted for approximately 38 percent of autism cases, while different environmental factors were responsible for about 62 percent. The results, which contradict previous studies that suggested that genetic causes were far more important, offer hope for a better control of this condition once specific causes are better defined.

In this new study researchers looked at both identical and fraternal twins drawn form California databases. While identical twins share 100 percent of their genes, fraternal twins share only 50 percent of them. Comparing the rates of autism on both types of twins allowed the researchers to measure the importance of genes versus environment as causing this condition.

The study found that autism or autism spectrum disorders occurred more frequently in identical twins when compared to fraternal twins. Surprisingly, however, a mathematical study of the results strongly suggested that environmental factors were responsible in a greater percentage of cases than genetic ones. This new study confirms similar results reported by University of California scientists in 2009.

Probably dozens if not hundreds of chemicals in the environment are neurodevelopmental toxins, that is, they affect the growth of the brain or central nervous system. Among these environmental toxins are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), brominated flame retardants, pesticides, mercury, lead and several other substances.

In addition to these environmental factors, another recent study has shown a potential association between use of antidepressants during pregnancy and risk of developing autism. The study of more than 1800 children found an adjusted 2-fold increase risk for ASD among mothers who used a type of antidepressant during the year before delivery and a 3-fold increased risk when the antidepressant was taken during the first trimester of pregnancy.

However, as the authors of the study were quick to state, these findings should be taken with extreme caution, since further studies are needed to determine if these studies represent a causal and not a coincidental connection.

These studies on the effect of drugs and environmental factors are extremely important since they show that eliminating those factors can also lead to a dramatic reduction in the number of children affected by autism, a disorder that has serious effects not only on the children but also on the whole family as well.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant.

Many things can be said about the U.S. policy towards Cuba except that the long-standing embargo is an intelligent way of solving the problems with that country. After the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 was passed in the U.S. Congress prohibiting aid to Cuba and authorizing the President to create a “total embargo upon all trade” with Cuba, the policy has been a resounding failure. Lifting the embargo and normalizing relations with Cuba is now more imperative than ever if we want to create a more peaceful world.

Paradoxically, the only ones who have benefited from the embargo are the ones it was meant to punish, the Castro brothers. They have intelligently used the embargo to cover their own shortcomings, maintain their grip on power and keep Cubans railing against the U.S.

The embargo on Cuba has been criticized both at the international level and by national political leaders. Last October, the 192-member United Nations General Assembly adopted a draft resolution in favor of lifting the embargo; 187 countries voted in favor, 2 voted against and 3 abstentions. This pattern has been the same for the last 19 years.

As early as 1963, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy referred to the embargo as “inconsistent with traditional American liberties” and difficult to enforce. In 1975, Senator Edward M. Kennedy said, “I believe the idea of isolating Cuba was a mistake. It has been ineffective. Whatever the reasons and justifications may have been at the time, they are now invalid.”

More than hurting the Castro brothers the embargo has hurt the Cuban people’s health and quality of life. Because of the embargo Cubans don’t have easy access to all medications and some food items are in short supply. The lack of essential medicines have led to some medical crises and heightened levels of infectious diseases.

“We must recognize the ineffectiveness of our current policy and deal with the Cuban regime in a way that enhances U.S. interests,” said in 2009 Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. George P. Schultz, who served as Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan has called the continued embargo “insane.”

Lugar’s words are particularly relevant considering that Cuba has begun exploratory drilling for oil in its territorial waters. According to some estimates Cuba could become a major oil producer, a fact to take into consideration as traditional sources of oil for the US have become less reliable. And while the US continues its policy of antagonism to Cuba, the Chinese government has developed closer relations and vowed to increase its military relations with that country.

Cuba is still on the State Department’s state sponsor of terrorism list along with Syria, Iran and Sudan. However, US counterterrorism experts like Richard Clark, former National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism claims that Cuba is on the list only for political reasons.

Support for the US position on this issue is that Cuba supports groups such as the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) the Basque nationalist organization in Spain. However, last April, after talking with the Ambassadors of Spain and Colombia in Havana, former president Jimmy Carter said, “And so, the American allegations, the affirmation of terrorism, is a premise which is completely unfounded, and that is another aspect that the President of the United States could address.”

In June of 2010, 74 Cuban political dissidents signed a letter to the US Congress in support of a bill that would lift the US travel ban for Americans wishing to visit Cuba. “We share the opinion that the isolation of the people of Cuba benefits the most inflexible interests of its government, while any opening serves to inform and empower the Cuban people and helps to further strengthen our civil society,” stated the dissidents.

Normalization of relations with Cuba could also benefit the US which is, even now, Cuba’s largest food supplier. A 2010 Texas A&M University study found that increase trade and travel between the US and Cuba could result in $365 million in increased sales of US goods in Cuba and create 6,000 new jobs in the US. More significantly, though, it would benefit the Cuban people, who have suffered the most from the antagonism between Washington and Havana.

Cesar Chelala, MD, PhD, is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

A 12-year-old boy committing suicide in Paktika province in Afghanistan last May in a crowded marketplace, killing four people in the process and wounding dozens, is just one the latest incidents of children’s participation in deadly acts of war. The act is in itself a severe indictment of adults using children for such actions, and the need to further control children’s participation in war, thus depriving them of a normal childhood.

That same month, Afghan security forces arrested three boys, all under 14, as they attempted to cross into Afghanistan from Pakistan to carry out suicide attacks. Using children as suicide bombers is a new and dangerous act by the insurgents in Afghanistan -aimed at both Afghan and American forces- where children are used as pawns in acts of war.

Many children may ‘voluntarily’ take part in warfare, probably not realizing the dangers involved in this participation. Most children, however, are forcibly recruited. They are driven to join in other cases by poverty and abuse, and in some cases to seek revenge for violence carried out against their families.

Using children as soldiers is probably as old as war itself, which doesn’t make it less regrettable. It was customary for youths in the Mediterranean basin to act as aides, charioteers and armor bearers to adult warriors, examples of which can be found in several writings and artistic features.

In more recent times, the Khmer Rouge exploited thousands of children to commit mass murders and other inhuman acts during the Cambodian genocide. During the conflict in Sierra Leone (1993-2002) thousands of children were recruited and used by all sides involved in hostilities. In Uganda, stating that he had “received a message from God” Joseph Kony organized the Lord’s Resistance Army in 1987 that forcibly recruited thousands of children and forced them to commit criminal acts.

Although it is difficult to assess the real numbers, it is estimated that some 300,000 children –both boys and girls under 18- are involved in more than 30 conflicts worldwide. Africa has the largest number of child soldiers, who are used in armed conflicts in Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Sudan.

There is important legislation against children’s participation in war. In 2002, the Optional Protocol on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in conflict entered into force. The Protocol outlaws the participation of children under 18 in hostilities, raising the previous standard of age (15 years) set by the Convention and the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 Additional Protocols.

In addition, in July 2002, the Statute of the International Criminal Court entered into force, making a war crime the conscription, enlistment or use of children under 15 in hostilities by national armed forces or armed groups. Important as these laws are, however, violations of the laws of war regarding children need to be properly monitored and reported. This will allow that perpetrators can be held accountable before appropriate tribunals.

The US Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 prohibits governments using child soldiers from receiving US military financing, military training and several other ways of US military assistance. Last October, President Barack Obama issued national waivers to allow Chad, Congo, Sudan and Yemen to continue receiving military aid despite their use of child soldiers.

Issuing those waivers is to send those countries the wrong signal on an issue of critical humanitarian importance. As long as countries continue receiving military assistance, they will not feel any constraint in recruiting children. As Jo Becker, children’s rights advocate at Human Rights Watch stated, “Last year the administration gave these governments a pass. It shouldn’t do so again.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

It was one of these days where everything seemed to be going wrong. After a grueling winter we had enjoyed a brief spat of good weather until today, when it was extremely hot and humid and clothes hang immitigably to my body.

An unpleasant man who usually sits on the steps next to my building was more unpleasant than usual. He asks passersby for money and when they don’t give it to him he yells and curses at them. He is, by all regards, a bad addition to our otherwise wonderful neighborhood.

I had been feeling down for several weeks with some vague pain and other unusual symptoms. Earlier, I had gone for another visit to a doctor carrying the results of some tests. I was obviously concerned that I could have some very serious health condition.

I traveled uptown to see a doctor at a place with which I am not familiar. I took the wrong turn and was late for my appointment. While waiting to see the doctor I had difficulty breathing, something generally provoked by my allergy to pollen. The problem is usually resolved by taking my anti-allergy medication, which I usually carry with me; usually, that is, except for today.

After carefully reviewing the tests, and after a thorough physical examination, the doctor told me that I had a kidney problem, although not life-threatening. It is the kind of news I prefer to be spared of.

On my way home I witnessed a horrible traffic accident. A man on a bicycle was coming on a big avenue at full speed when he had a collision with a car that unwisely was crossing the avenue on a yellow/red light. As a Brazilian traffic code states, “When crossing on a yellow light do anything you want, but do it quickly.”

This is precisely what the driver at the car didn’t do, since he was crossing the light going at a very slow speed. I was a bit distracted but still I heard the tremendous noise of the thump of the cyclist against the car and saw him flying over it and falling on the street on the other side of the car. With some difficulty the cyclist got up, and started rubbing his legs and arms, which probably hurt a lot after the collision.

“What were you thinking, man, what were you thinking?” he repeatedly asked the car driver. “This is a $20,000 bike, man, this is a very expensive bike,” he said, not even complaining about how painful the collision had been for him. I felt very sorry for him, his bike destroyed and who knows what happened to his body.

I was wondering what else could go wrong. I started crossing the avenue when I saw coming from the opposite side a most beautiful young woman. She was tall, had very long legs, an attractive face with full lips and a small, perfectly shaped nose. She was dressed in white, a summer skirt loose on her body. She looked like a young Marylyn Monroe.

As she started to cross the avenue there was a sudden, strong wind coming in front of her. Her dress gave way and the skirt jumped all over her face. Her legs were indeed beautiful, and reminded me of the iconic Marylyn Monroe photograph when her skirt is lifted by a breeze coming from a vent placed underneath her.

Perhaps the only advantage of being an older man is that young women will never misinterpret a remark done in good will. As she was passing me by I told her, “You have a beautiful body.” As if reading my mind she answered with a smile, “But I am no Marylyn, you know….” Her quick and good humored riposte changed my mood for the rest of the day.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a New York writer.

Ayat al-Qarmezi, a 20-year-old woman poet in Bahrain, recently condemned to one year in prison, has become the human face of defiance against the regime ruling the country. Her crime, to have spoken at a pro-reform rally in Manama’s Pearl Roundabout in February. Unless the government changes its approach and accepts peaceful dissent, the seeds of resistance will flower in Bahrain.

Speaking at a rally, Ayat al-Qarmezi recited a poem among whose lyrics were, “We are the people who will kill humiliation and assassinate misery.” She was arrested after the police raided her parents’ house and threatened to kill her brothers if Ayat didn’t give herself up. During her detention she was whipped across her face with electric cable, held for days in a small cell with near-freezing temperatures and forced to clean lavatories with her bare hands, the same hands that wrote other beautiful verses.

One of her poems, translated from the Arabic by Ghias Aljundi, says:

We don’t like to live in a palace
And we are not after power
We are the people who
Break down humiliation
And discard oppression
With peace as our tool
We are people who
Do not want others to be living in the Dark Ages.

Ayat is one of many women – doctors and medical personnel among others - who have been targets of repression by Bahrain’s regime. Her detention has been harshly condemned by Amnesty International and other human rights organizations.

“By locking up a female poet merely for expressing her views in public, Bahrain’s authorities are demonstrating how free speech and assembly are brutally denied to ordinary Bahrainis,” stated Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Smart asked that the Bahraini authorities drop all unfair charges against Ayat al-Qarmezi, and release her immediately and unconditionally. His request follows President Barack Obama’s statement during the visit to Washington of Bahrain’s Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa that stability of the Gulf Kingdom “depends upon respect for universal human rights.”

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has joined the protests against the Bahrain regime’s actions, particularly regarding special military court proceedings against those arrested during the country’s anti-government protests. “Bahraini authorities should immediately halt all proceedings before the special military court and free everyone held solely for exercising the rights to free speech and peaceful assembly,” stated HRW, while at the same time demanding that all those charged with criminal offenses be tried in independent civilian courts.

The young Bahraini poet joins the ranks of other women in history who have written forcefully against brutality and oppression. In the book “Women Against Tyranny: Poems of Resistance During the Holocaust,” edited by Davi Walders, Marianne Baum, one of the creators of the Baum Group, a resistance group opposing the Nazis from 1937 until 1942 when most were arrested and sent to concentration camps, wrote,

They hunted us. Retaliation everywhere.
Then the Sondergericht –‘special court.’
They carried me there, my shattered legs
dangling. No one talked. A hundred
Berliners rounded up for each of us.
Five hundred –most shot there and then;
The rest, slower deaths at Sachsenhausen.
This, too, our burden, but…would they
Have died anyway? You must understand.

We had to do something.

Changing a few circumstantial details, those words could have been written by Ayat al-Qarmezi today in Bahrain.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

The discovery that two new drugs can control melanoma offers hope for the treatment of this cancer that has devastating consequences in humans. Melanoma is cancer of the pigment cells in the skin. Although it accounts for only 4% of all skin cancers, it is responsible for almost 80% of the deaths, particularly because it tends to spread early in its course. This recent finding can revolutionize the treatment not only of melanoma but of other cancers as well.

Melanoma kills by spreading through blood and lymph nodes into the internal organs of the body. This is what makes it more dangerous than other skin cancers which don’t metastasize as easily. A melanoma the size of a dime on the skin has a 50% chance of having already spread. In addition, melanoma is spreading faster than any other kind of cancer in the United States. It is estimated that at least one person in the country dies of skin cancer every hour.

One study focused on an experimental drug called Vemurafenib. The drug was given to 675 people worldwide who had late stage metastatic melanoma. The drug acts by targeting a mutated gene that tells cancer cells to grow rapidly in 50 percent of melanoma patients who carry this mutation. In patients with this mutation, the drug not only killed cancer cells but shrunk the size of tumors as well. Vemurafenib, which is taken orally, has fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy.

Tumors result from cell growth that gets out of control. Those patients who were responsive to Vemurafenib had a mutation in a gene called BRAF, which results in a protein being produced which makes the cells multiply out of control and form tumors. Vemurafenib acts by neutralizing the effects of the mutation in the BRAF gene. What makes this finding particularly important is that a similar approach may be tried on other cancers whose origins can be traced to a genetic mutation.

The role of the BRAF mutation in the production of melanoma had been discovered in 2002 by scientists at the Sanger Institute in Britain. Since then, researchers both in Britain and in the US have been working to see whether drugs targeting the mutation might interfere with tumor growth. Although initial trials were disappointing, a new formulation of the drug under study increased its penetration in the target cells and allowed to obtain better results.

Prior to this study there were no treatment options for dealing with metastatic melanoma resulting from the BRAF mutation. “Until now, available therapies [for metastatic melanoma] were few and unreliable, so these findings can really change the outlook for patients whose tumors are fueled by this mutation,” stated Keith Flaherty, MD, director of Development Therapeutics at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, lead and corresponding author of the article describing the effects of the new drug.

In a second study, a drug called Ipilimumab, sold under the trade name Yervoy, was tested for its effects on melanoma patients with advanced disease. Yervoy acts differently than Vemurafenib since it does not target cancer cells but instead stimulates the patients’ immune system response. The study with this drug showed that 21 percent of patients treated with Yervoy were alive after three years compared to 12 percent of patients who had received traditional chemotherapy or a placebo.

Because Ipilimumab acts by stimulating the patients’ immune system it can have serious side effects. An important side effect observed was liver damage. An additional disadvantage in the use of both drugs is the elevated cost of treatment. However, given the promising results so far, efforts are underway to see the effects of both drugs used in the same patients. If initial results are improved, we may be facing a radically new and effective treatment not only of melanoma but of other cancers as well.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant. He conducted research in molecular genetics at the Public Health Institute of the City of New York.

The United Nations Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, has issued a very critical report of the U.S. on its policies on women’s rights. The report is based on a trip of the Special Rapporteur to the US from 24 January to 7 February 2011. During that trip, Ms. Rashida Manjoo broadly examined issues of violence against women in different settings. Her recommendations should provide fruitful material for the U.S. to improve its policies towards women.

As indicated in the report, “Violence against women occurs along a continuum in which the various forms of violence are often both causes and consequences of violence.” Domestic violence or Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is one of the most critical expressions of violence. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) 552,000 violent crimes by an intimate partner were committed against women in the U.S. in 2008.

Their husbands or intimate acquaintances are responsible for the majority of crimes against women. The Violence Policy Center states that the number of women shot and killed by their husbands or intimate acquaintances was four times higher than the total number of women murdered by male strangers using all weapons combined, according to an analysis of 2008 data.

Rape and sexual assault continue to be prevalent forms of violence against women in the country. According to the NCVS, 182,000 women were raped or sexually assaulted in the U.S. in 2008, i.e. approximately 500 women per day. In addition, there were 3.4 million persons who were victims of stalking, most of them women. One in 12 women and one in 45 men have been stalked in their lifetime in the U.S.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics, the cost of intimate partner violence exceeds $5.8 billion each year. $4.1 billion of that amount is for direct medical and mental health services. Intimate partner violence incidents result in more than 18.5 million mental health care visits each year.

Children are also victims of violence carried out against their mothers. It has been shown that 30% to 60% of perpetrators of intimate partner violence also abuse children in the household. Witnessing violence between one’s parents or caretakers is the strongest risk factor for transmitting violent behavior among generations. In that regard, it has been shown that boys who witness domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners and children when they become adults.

Domestic violence offenses are one of the most chronically underreported crimes. It is estimated that only approximately one-quarter of all physical assaults, one-fifth of all rapes, and one-half of all stalkings carried out against females by intimate partners are reported to the police.

There are several reasons for these crimes not being reported. Among those reasons are: fear of retaliation from their abuser, the perception that the police will not respond adequately to the complaint or the belief that these are issues that should be privately addressed. According to a 2009 Department of Justice report, only 56% of intimate partner violence cases filed with the courts resulted in a conviction.

Women victims of domestic violence suffer a wide array of negative consequences, aside from the physical and psychological. Women victims of domestic violence face serious consequences in terms of economic instability, loss of employment and homelessness. In addition, violence against women is frequently seen among women in the military, women in detention, and among immigrant and undocumented women.

The extent of the phenomenon has made that violence against women is now recognized as an issue that belongs not only to the private sphere but that requires State intervention. According to the U.N. Rapporteur, the U.S. Government has taken positive legislative and policy initiatives to reduce the prevalence of violence against women.

Among those steps is the enactment and subsequent reauthorizations of the Violence against Women Act, as well as the establishment of dedicated offices on violence against women at the highest levels of government. However, according to the UN Rapporteur, more U.S. government actions are needed to curb a phenomenon that continues to cause tremendous harm to women’s health and quality of life.

Dr. Cesar Chelala, an international public health consultant, has written extensively on women’s health issues.

Will Hamza al-Khateeb, the 13-year-old child tortured and killed by the government become Syria’s equivalent of Tunisia’s Mohamed Bouazizi whose immolation sparked a revolution that swept several Arab countries? Although the circumstances are different, the anger provoked by little Hamza’s torture and assassination will have serious consequences in the events now taking place in Syria. With Hamza’s cruel death, the Syrian government has crossed the Rubicon.

When Bashar al-Assad became Syria’s president in 2000, after the death of his father Hafez al-Assad, who had brutally ruled Syria for 29 years, there was hope that he would introduce drastic changes aimed at improving the human rights situation in the country. Those hopes were reinforced when soon after taking office he stated that he saw democracy as Syria’s tool to a better life, shut down the notorious Mezzeh prison, and released hundreds of political prisoners.

However, such hopes were soon dashed. Security crackdowns and the arrest of political opponents started again within a year of assuming power. Although in 2007, during an interview with ABC News he said that Syria didn’t have any political prisoners, it was reported in December of that year that 30 political opponents had been arrested.

In addition, several human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International have documented how Bashar’s regime and its secret police routinely torture, imprison and kill political opponents and those who dare to speak out against the regime. After more than a decade in power, Bashar has led a repressive government, oblivious of the population’s most basic human rights. As stated by HRW, “Syria is still a de facto single-party state with only the Ba’ath Party holding effective power."

This situation has become even more evident following the last wave of protests which started on January 26. Although the Syrian government has ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment on July 1, 2004, torture has been widespread since the last uprising and, more ominously, has even included children, as Hamza’s torture and assassination demonstrate.

As indicated in HRW recent report "‘We've Never Seen Such Horror: Crimes against Humanity in Daraa," based on more than 50 interviews with victims and witnesses to abuses in Daraa governorate, security forces have killed hundreds of protesters and arbitrarily arrested thousands, subjecting many of them to brutal torture in detention. Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has strongly criticized Syria’s government actions, calling them an “outright disregard for basic human rights.”

In addition, Pillay states, “[the government’s] resort to lethal or excessive force against peaceful demonstrators not only violates fundamental human rights, including the right to life, but serves to exacerbate tensions and tends to breed a culture of violence.” As a response, Syria’s deputy foreign minister accused Western powers of seeking a return to the “colonial era” by initiating action against his country at the UN.

In an unusual move, UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, called on Syria to investigate report of “horrific acts” of violence against children detained during the current wave of unrest in the country. According to UNICEF, the use of live ammunition against demonstrators had reportedly killed at least 30 children, although it said it could not independently confirm that figure or circumstances of their death.

UNICEF stated that it was “particularly disturbed by the recent video images of children who were arbitrarily detained and suffered torture or ill-treatment during their detention leading in some cases to their death.

One of those children, Hamza al-Kateeb, whose case has drawn strong international condemnation against the actions of the Bashar regime, may become the iconic figure the protest movement needs to help overthrow this vicious regime.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

With Messi’s performance against Manchester United still fresh in soccer fans’ minds, an inevitable question rises again: Who is a better soccer player, Messi or Maradona at their best? To answer that question it might be useful to seek help from a Greek oracle, since both are, or were, in Maradona’s case, exquisite players. Or perhaps -as the saying goes- only time will tell.

Maradona came from the humblest of homes to become the most talked about soccer player of his generation. His two goals against the British team in the World Cup in Mexico City are now the stuff of legend. The first, the famous (or, more properly infamous since it was scored with the help of his hand,) became the now iconic “Hand of God” goal. For Maradona, it was revenge after Argentina’s defeat by the British in the Malvinas/Falklands war. Talking later about that goal he declared, “Not even the photographers managed to capture what really happened. And Shilton, [the British goalkeeper] jumping with his eyes shut, was outraged! I like this goal. I felt I was pick pocketing the English.”

His second goal, however, after he dribbled several opponents –including the goalkeeper- was considered by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) the best goal of the century.

In my native Argentina Maradona was revered, at least until he became the coach of the Argentine team in the last World Cup where Argentina lost to Germany in a dreadful performance. Maradona, who even has a religious movement named after him, The Church of Maradona, lost some of the prestige he had had until then.

Both Messi and Maradona share similar ways of playing. A great speed, a wonderful dribbling capacity as well as the capacity to send the ball to the best placed team mate. What is evident in Maradona, however, is his street urchin savvy. An Italian friend told me that when Maradona was playing for Napoli, during a game, while holding the ball he feigned that he was going to fall forwards. On seeing this, those from the opposing team that were closing on him moved slightly aside. What Maradona was doing, instead, was trying to see who was the best placed among his companions, sent him the ball and it was easy for his team mate to score. According to my friend, the Napoli fans went crazy with enthusiasm and for two minutes applauded Maradona.

In Napoli, Maradona is as revered as in Argentina and portraits of him are placed in many places in the city as if he were a saint, even placing candles under his figure. The Napoli soccer team never won as many championships as when Maradona was playing for it.

Cesar Luis Menotti, who managed the Argentine team that won the 1978 World Cup thus defined Maradona’s talent, “I am always cautious about using the word ‘genius’…The beauty of Diego’s game has a hereditary element –his natural ease with the ball- but it also owes a lot to his ability to learn: a lot of those brushstrokes, those strokes of ‘genius’, are in fact a product of his hard work. Diego worked hard to be the best.”

The physical characteristics of both players are similar; they are both short, sturdy, and have a demoniacal speed which allows them to easily overcome their opponents. Actually, Maradona’s goal of the century against the British team was rivaled, even in its minor details, by a wonderful goal Messi scored against the Spanish team Getafe in 2007.

But it is perhaps in their personal characteristics where one can find the real differences between them. While Messi is quiet, Maradona is boastful. While Maradona was a fighter against the world, Messi seems to have a natural timidity, even modesty.

They are both strategists and team players, and they are both highly technical with the ball, which seems attached with Velcro to their feet, only to be shot with force when circumstances are favorable. Who is the best, Messi or Maradona? The comparison is perhaps not fair. They are both equally talented, each a great player and both of them a glory to the game.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a New York-based writer.

The decision by Egypt’s military rulers to open the Rafah border with Gaza will not only allow the movement of people and goods across the border. Perhaps more importantly, it will end the feeling of isolation the Gazans have had since the blockade was imposed by Israel –with Egypt’s collaboration- more than three years ago.

The blockade on Gaza has had a devastating effect on Gazans’ health and quality of life, despite a partial easing of the restrictions by Israel in recent months. “The situation in Gaza remains very serious from a humanitarian perspective. The blockade has been eased in some respects but it has been maintained in other respects, and it continues to put the population there under great psychological and physical stress,” stated last October Professor Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Professor Falk added that Israel’s continued refusal to allow export of goods from Gaza has destroyed its internal economy, and young people from Gaza continue to be denied the right to visit their families in the West Bank and East Jerusalem or attend universities in other parts of the territories.

The most vulnerable -old people and children- are the ones who suffer the most. Even the supply of paper is limited, for fear it may be used to print propaganda, making children unable to play and draw pictures with crayons.

Lacking raw materials and the chance to export, Gaza’s businesses are unable to compete with cheaper, imported goods. At the same time, inflow of construction materials is only 11% of pre-blockade levels. “What I see in Gaza is a reversal of development,” stated Joyce Dalgliesh, a Scots charity worker after a visit to Gaza.

The blockade has predictably had a detrimental impact on the health of the people living in the Strip. On average, two patients die every month waiting for Israeli permits so the sick can leave Gaza for treatment, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO also stated that a shortage of required medicines poses a threat to the working of hospitals in the Strip.

According to the WHO, 38 percent of basic medicines in the Strip were out of stock in early 2011, while 40 percent of primary health care services and 80 percent of general services offered by hospitals suffered as a result. Out of 260 cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy in Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital, 100 are not able to receive treatment because several medicines are required and are not available.

Many times, several basic illnesses such as diarrhea, pneumonia and skin infections cannot be treated due to lack of antibiotics. Even drugs needed for asthma treatment are not easily available in the Strip’s central warehouses.

Former UK Prime Minister and United Nations envoy to the Middle East Tony Blair stated in June of 2010, “The policy of Gaza is counter-productive and what [Israel] should be doing is allowing material in to rebuild homes and sanitation and power and water systems and allow business to flourish. Nor do we in fact do damage to the position of Hamas by harming people in Gaza. People are harmed when the quality of service is poor and people cannot work.”

The permanent opening of the Rafah border crossing by Egypt will bring new hope to Gazans of surviving a brutal occupation. In the poem “Silence for the Sake of Gaza” Mahmoud Darwish, Palestine’s greatest poet, said:

The enemy may defeat Gaza. (The stormy sea might overwhelm a small island.)
They may cut down all her trees.
They might break her bones.
They might plant their tanks in the bellies of her women and children, or they might toss her into the sand, into the sea, into blood.
But:
Gaza will not repeat the lies.
Gaza will not say yes to the conquerors.
And she will continue to erupt.
It is not death, it is not suicide, it is Gaza’s way of announcing she is worthy of life.

Dr. Cesar Chelala, a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights, is a contributing editor for The Globalist.

by Cesar Chelala and Alejandro M. Garro

For a relatively slight margin, the US Congress rejected an amendment by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D) to declassify files on Argentina’s 1976-1983 military dictatorship. The refusal to declassify files on Argentina is likely to have momentous consequences on the fate of hundreds of babies stolen or “disappeared” during those years. Many of those babies were born in clandestine torture centers, while others were adopted or given in adoption by the same members of the military or police personnel responsible for their parents’ disappearance.

It is not altogether clear whose interests are sought to be protected, but one can hardly imagine that national security, or the work of US spies fighting Al Qaeda, as suggested by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R), may be put in jeopardy by keeping these files in secret. It is not even clear whether President Cristina Kirchner’s administration is interested in having these files in the open. However, if an official request from the Argentine government were submitted, the U.S. government would be hard pressed, as a matter of international comity, not to reveal at least a redacted text of those files.

Aside from governmental interests and politicians’ desires to keep secrets, what is at stake are human lives, victims, and the administration of justice. In 1999, during the Clinton administration, Rep. Hinchey presented a similar amendment for declassifying documents related to General Augusto Pinochet’s administration. Declassification resulted in the publication of 24,000 documents that proved to be crucial in the prosecution of crimes committed during the Chilean dictatorship. It provided clear evidence of Pinochet’s connections to the 1976 assassination, in Washington, D.C., of Chilean foreign minister Orlando Letelier, along with his secretary Ronni Karpen Moffitt. Also disclosed was Pinochet secret police’s plans to assassinate former Chilean president Patricio Aylwin, the presidential candidate of the coalition that ultimately defeated General Pinochet in 1988.

In December of 2009, President Obama signed an executive order entitled “Classified National Security Information,” stating: “I expect that the order will produce measurable progress towards greater openness and transparency in the Government’s classification and declassification programs while protecting the Government’s legitimate interests, and I will closely monitor the results.” Failure to disclose information on Argentina’s brutal reign of terror cannot be in the interest of the U.S. Government and, to the extent that it may in the interest of some members of the Argentine Government, it is unlikely that those interests may qualify as “legitimate”.

Both the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo and the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo have been searching for decades for their disappeared children and grandchildren. This decision by the U.S. Congress only adds to their difficulties in finding their loved ones. As Representative Hinchey stated, “The United States can play a vital role in lifting the veil of secrecy that has shrouded the terrible human rights abuses of the despotic military regime that ruled Argentina.” It is about time.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for “Missing or Dead in Argentina: The Desperate Search for Thousands of Abducted Victims,” a cover story for The New York Times Magazine.

Alejandro M. Garro teaches Comparative Law at Columbia Law School and sits at advisory board of Human Rights Watch/Americas, the Center for Justice and International Law, and the Due Process of Law Foundation.

Better education, particularly among mothers, is widely associated with better health. Experiences in several countries have shown the power of education to increase the nutritional levels and the health status of the poor. Girls’ education is one of the most effective investments a nation can make toward development and better health.

In urban India, for example, it has been found that the mortality rate among the children of educated women is almost half than that of children of uneducated women. In the Philippines, primary education among mothers has reduced the risks of child mortality by half, and secondary education reduces that risk by a factor of three. A study in rural Ghana on health-protective behaviors related to HIV/AIDS infection among adults found that individuals with more education practiced more protective health behaviors, thus decreasing the risk of contracting the infection.

In addition, those living in poverty and suffering from malnutrition have an increased propensity to a host of diseases, a lower learning capacity, and an increased exposure and vulnerability to environmental risks. Poor children frequently lack stimuli critical to growth and development.

Poverty cannot be defined solely in terms of lack of income. Little or no access to health services, lack of access to safe water and adequate nutrition, illiteracy or low educational level and a distorted perception of rights and needs are also essential components of poverty. Poverty is one of the most influential factors for ill health, and ill health –in a vicious cycle — can lead to poverty. Education has proven to be critical to breaking this cycle.

There is a two-way link between poverty and health. Illness impairs learning ability and quality of life, has a negative impact on productivity, and drains family savings. Poor people are more exposed to environmental risks (poor sanitation, unhealthy food, violence, and natural disasters) and less prepared to cope with them.

Because they are also less informed about the benefits of healthy lifestyles, and have less access to them as well as to quality health care, the poor are at greater risk of illness and disability. It is estimated that one third of deaths worldwide –some 18 million people a year or 50,000 a day- are due to poverty-related causes.

More than 1.5bn people in the world live in extreme poverty, 80% of which live in developing countries. Poor people have little or no access to qualified health services and education, and do not participate in the decisions critical to their day-to-day lives.

Those who live in extreme poverty are five times more likely to die before age five, and two and a half time times more likely to die between 15 and 59 than those in higher income groups. The same dramatic differences can be found with respect to maternal mortality levels and incidence of preventable diseases. Level of education in relation to health is particularly important among women. In addition, education for women is closely associated with later marriage and smaller family size.

Increased income alone cannot guarantee better nutrition and health because of the impact of other factors, notably education, environmental hygiene and access to health care services, which cannot necessarily be bought with increased income in the developing world.

Several strategies can be used to improve the access of mothers and children to educational opportunities as a way of improving their health status. At the national level governments, particularly in developing countries, have to establish education -– including the education of the parents — as a priority, and provide necessary resources and support. Interventions should be targeted to vulnerable groups such as those with lower income or with less access to adequate food.

At the international level, lending institutions have to implement debt-reduction policies for those countries willing to provide increased resources for basic education.

Although an important goal is to reduce economic inequity to improve the health status of populations, emphasis on education can provide substantial benefits in the health of populations even before reducing the economic gap between the rich and the poor.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a public health consultant for several international organizations.

By practically any criteria it is now time to end Gilad Shalit’s ordeal. Although both Hamas and the Israeli government are to blame for the delay in the negotiations, a new Egyptian initiative should be embraced by both sides and stop punishing the Israeli soldier and his family. Freedom for Shalit would not only be a needed humanitarian action. It would contribute to bring hope to a hopeless region.

According to Al Jazeera television, there is a new Egyptian initiative aimed at bringing an agreement from both Israelis and Palestinians for Shalit’s release. At the same time Netanyahu has recently appointed David Meidan as his negotiator on this issue. He will be presented with a new Egyptian draft for an agreement in the next few days.

Hamas’s leader, Khaled Meshaal, has indicated that he hoped to see soon the release of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, which could be a roundabout acknowledgement of Hama’s willingness to reach an agreement on Shalit based on new terms.

Speaking at a special Memorial Day address, Israel’s prime minister said that efforts are constantly being made to return kidnapped and missing soldiers, including actions that may be hidden from view. “We will not rest until they are returned,” he stated.

Netanyahu has two main objections to demands Hamas made in the past. One objection is that the most dangerous among the Palestinians should not be allowed to return to the West Bank, where they could send out attacks against Israel, but instead should go to Gaza or abroad. However, three former heads of Shin Bet, Israel’s security service, declared, “Israel is strong enough, both from an intelligence perspective and a military perspective to deal with murderers who decide to return to their bad habits.” Netanyahu’s second objection is that “arch murderers” should not be released.

It is possible that Hamas may now agree to the first point. As regards the second, included in those called arch murderers by Netanyahu is Marwan Barghouti, who is regarded as a leader of the First and Second Intifadas. It is difficult to think that the Palestinians will agree on Barghouti not being part of the agreement.

Marwan Barghouti has been accused by Israeli authorities of directing numerous attacks and suicide bombings against civilians. He was tried and convicted on charges of murder, and he was sentenced to five life sentences. He refused to present a defense to the charges against him, claiming that the trial was illegal and illegitimate. His detention and transference from an occupied territory to the territory of the occupier violates the tenets of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

He is one of the most admired Palestinian leaders, and has been called “Palestine’s Mandela” by Uri Avnery, a leading Israeli peace activist. In an op-ed piece in the Washington Post Barghouti stated, “Let us not forget, we Palestinians have recognized Israel on 78 percent of historic Palestine. It is Israel that refuses to acknowledge Palestine’s right to exist on the remaining 22 percent of land occupied in 1967. And yet it is the Palestinians who are accused of not compromising and of missing opportunities.”

As with the peace process, where Netanyahu refused to stop the building of settlements for peace talks to resume, Netanyahu has been firm in refusing Palestinian’s demands that could lead to Shalit’s release. He may find out that buying time doesn’t lower the price.

Writing to Netanyahu last April Zvi Shalit, Gilad’s grandfather, stated, “A year ago a deal to secure Gilad’s release was all but signed but you thwarted it in a last minute decision….Your refusal then and today to comply with the request of former defense officials to free Gilad at the said price is tantamount to Gilad’s death sentence.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

He has been called “a real Jew hater” and a “real anti-semite” by former Israel’s Minister of Education Limor Livnat. However, few musicians have done as much for peace between Israelis and Palestinians as Daniel Barenboim, the noted Argentine-born Israeli orchestra conductor. It is only through efforts like his that peace can eventually be reached in the Middle East.

On May 3, 2011, Barenboim conducted a concert in the Gaza Strip. The orchestra, that had musicians from European countries such as Germany, Austria, France and Italy, played the concert “…as a sign of our solidarity and friendship with the civil society of Gaza,” said Barenboim in a statement released by the United Nations, which coordinated the concert.

In 1999, together with the Palestinian-American professor Edward Said, one of the most prominent Palestinian intellectuals worldwide, Barenboim founded the West-Eastern Divan orchestra, a youth orchestra based in Sevilla, Spain, with musicians from countries in the Middle East of Egyptian, Iranian, Syrian, Lebanese Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian background.

Talking to The Guardian about the ensemble Barenboim said, “The Divan is not a love story, and it is not a peace story. It has very flatteringly been described as a project for peace. It isn’t. It’s not going to bring peace, whether you play well or not so well. The Divan was conceived as a project against ignorance. A project against the fact that it is absolutely essential for people to get to know “the other,” to understand what the other thinks and feels, without necessarily agreeing with it. I am not trying to convert the Arab members of the Divan to the Israeli point of view, and I am not trying to convince the Israelis to the Arab point of view. But I want to –and unfortunately I am alone in this now that Edward [Said] died a few years ago-…create a platform where the two sides can disagree and not resort to knives.”

Barenboim is certainly no stranger to controversy. On July 7, 2001, Barenboim led the Berlin Staatskapelle in part of Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde at the Israel Festival in Jerusalem, despite the fact that Wagner’s music had been unofficially taboo in Israel’s concert halls.

Originally, Barenboim had been scheduled to perform the first act of Die Walküre. However, facing strong opposition from Israel Festival’s Public Advisory board, which included some Holocaust survivors, Barenboim agreed to substitute Wagner’s music by music by Robert Schumann and Igor Stravinsky.

At the end of the concert he regretted his initial decision and decided to play Wagner as an encore, inviting those who opposed it to leave the concert hall. After a strong debate, 50 attendees walked out and 1,000 remained, applauding enthusiastically after the performance.

Barenboim has performed before in Palestinian territory. In 1999, he performed at Palestinian Birzeit University. In January of 2008, after a concert in Ramallah, Barenboim accepted honorary Palestinian citizenship, a decision strongly criticized by Israeli authorities. Following these events, the leader of the Shas party stated that Barenboim should be stripped of his Israeli citizenship. Barenboim, however, declared that it was a big honor for him to have been given the Palestinian passport.

Barenboim’s visit to Gaza had been conducted in clear defiance of Israeli law, which bans Israeli citizens from visiting the Strip. With this concert, Barenboim and his orchestra had done more than bring hope to hundreds of thousands of people who felt neglected by the world. They have proved the power of music to triumph over war, the power of music to exalt life.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

As the transition from a harsh winter to a still reluctant-to-appear spring is on the works, I feel the need to visit Washington Square Park. The park is the Village’s lung, its historic frame of reference, a tourists’ Mecca, a place of encounter for lovers, musicians, gymnasts and equilibrists.

• Washington Square Park, New York. Photograph by flickr user fussy onion and used under Creative Commons licenses. •

In his just published memoirs, The Age of Deception, former chief United Nations nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei asks that George W. Bush and officials in his administration face international criminal investigation for the war in Iraq. One thing he learned from the Iraq war, he says, is that deliberate deception is not limited to small countries ruled by ruthless dictators.

ElBaradei is harshest in his comments when criticizing the 2002-2003 drive for war with Iraq, when he and Swedish inspector Hans Blix led UN missions looking for signs that Saddam Hussein’s government had revived nuclear, chemical or biological weapons programs. They found no evidence that Saddam Hussein actually did so.

The Egyptian nuclear expert tells about a meeting he and Blix held with leading Bush administration officials. In that meeting, held in October 2002, they met with, among others, Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. They tried to convert the UN mission into a cover for what Bush officials wanted to be a United-States directed inspection process.

Both he and Blix resisted, and their teams carried out some 700 inspections of potential weapons sites in Iraq, and found no evidence supporting the U.S. claims. Former president Bush and his team rejected ElBaradei and Blix’ findings, and continued to insist on Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction to justify the war against that country. The unfortunate result is that the US orchestrated a war in which hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed as well as several thousand U.S. soldiers.

ElBaradei’s demand for Bush’s prosecution is in line with several previous actions by individuals and legal and human rights organizations. In the book The Prosecution of George W. Bush, former U.S. prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi argues that former president Bush intentionally misled Congress and the American people about the evidence that he claimed justified going to war with Iraq.

The strongest evidence against Bush is a speech he gave on October 7 of 2002 in which he claimed that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the security of the U.S. and was capable of attacking America at anytime with his stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, according to Bugliosi. In addition, says Bugliosi, leading officials in former president Bush’s administration edited a declassified version of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) released to Congress and the public in a way that made the Iraqi threat look more ominous than what it really was.

Bugliosi also asserts that far from making serious efforts to avoid going to war, former president Bush considered the possibility of starting a war by sending U2 reconnaissance aircraft falsely painted in UN colors on flights over Iraq along with fighter escorts. If Saddam ordered them shot down, that would constitute ground for war.

In their seventh annual convention in Austin, Texas, Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) stated that the growing body of evidence, including testimony from British officials in the Chilcot Inquiry, shows that Bush officials could be charged with criminal offenses against the U.S. and violations of international law for making false claims about national self-defense.

Although there are formidable legal barriers that may rule out such an investigation, ElBaradei cites the war-crimes prosecution of Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic as showing that, indeed, it should be possible to do it. As the IVAW stated, “It is time for America to hold the officials responsible for this war to account for their decisions.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

The Government of Bahrain has been conducting a systematic attack on doctors and other medical personnel, ostensibly because of care they are providing to protesters attacked and maimed by government forces. The United States, which has been quite clear in its criticism of repression in Syria, should make it clear now where it stands with regard to human rights abuses in Bahrain.

The Bahrain regime of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa started its last round of repression following protests last February 15, and hasn’t stopped since then. As of the middle of April more than 400 people had been arrested. Twenty-seven political opponents and protesters are reported dead and dozens are missing.

On March 16 the government imposed a state of emergency. Its security forces, backed by troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, cleared protesters from Pearl Square in Manama, the kingdom’s capital.

Government soldiers have taken control of Salmaniya Medical Complex, Bahrain’s largest public hospital. According to the government, both the hospital and local clinics are nests of radical Shiites intent on destabilizing the country. The result is that many sick people have nowhere to go.

The government’s crackdown on doctors and medical personnel is probably intended to instill fear in doctors so that they will not take care of wounded demonstrators. However, many doctors still respond to the mandate of their Hippocratic Oath and manage to care for those wounded, in many cases taking them to the hospital or neighborhood clinics in their own cars rather than in ambulances to avoid being stopped by the police.

Bahrain’s campaign of intimidation and persecution of doctors runs counter to the Geneva Convention rules about guaranteeing medical care to people wounded in conflict. A series of email messages between a surgeon in Salmaniya hospital and a British colleague obtained by The Independent shows the extent of the abuse. “It has been a long day in the [hospital] theatre with massively injured patients equivalent to a massacre. Things are still volatile and I hope that there will be no more death,” wrote the Bahraini doctor to his colleague in Great Britain.

The government has repeatedly denied that it is targeting doctors or medical personnel. However, the opposition claims that plainclothes policemen target medical personnel at checking points if they suspect that they have been treating injured protesters. In addition, the government is accused of having turned away a Kuwaiti medical delegation which was coming to the aid of injured civilians.

“Now we are seeing security lockdowns and attacks against hospitals, tampering with medical records, beating of patients and arrests of doctors. This represents a serious escalation of violence against the medical community,” states Human Rights Watch, which has been closely following the situation in Bahrain.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has denounced that armed security forces have abducted three doctors, one of them from the operating room while he was performing surgery, and their whereabouts are still unknown. PHR has also found flagrant abuses against patients and detainees including torture, beating, verbal abuse, humiliation, and threats of rape and killing.

The government’s repression is not only targeted at doctors, however. According to Human Rights Watch, unknown assailants threw teargas grenades at the home of Nabeel Rajab, head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and a member of the Human Rights Watch Middle East Advisory Committee.

The grenades were identified as Triple Chaser CS 515 grenades, manufactured by Federal Laboratories in Saltsburg, Pennsylvania. According to Human Rights Watch, only Bahrain’s security forces have access to this type of grenades.

“In two decades of conducting human rights investigations in more than 20 countries, I have never seen such widespread and systematic violations of medical neutrality as I did in Bahrain,” wrote Richard Sollom, deputy director of Physicians for Human Rights in The Independent. Given its close relationship with the Bahrain government, the U.S. has the right, and the responsibility, to help put a stop to these abuses.

Dr. Cesar Chelala, an international public health consultant, is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

“For the next six months, no walking!” the doctor warned my friend Robert (not his real name), a well known architect in Manhattan. To say that my friend was thunderstruck by the news is an understatement. Not to be able to walk for six months meant altering his normally heavy work schedule in Manhattan, plus canceling travel plans abroad scheduled for the next few months. For a man devoted to his students and a key participant in professional meetings overseas the blow was incalculable.

Although he is no longer that young, Robert keeps in extremely good physical shape. On weekends he plays soccer with neighborhood friends. During one game, he suddenly felt intense pain after making a rough movement and had to be taken home in his friends’ arms.

He had broken his Achilles tendon, and for it to recover, he required total rest. In addition, the doctor prescribed sessions with a physiotherapist several times a week.
Even with the rehabilitation process in full swing, he remained dependent for the most basic chores at home. He was barely able to move around nor cook for himself. A group of old friends met and decided to visit him regularly to supply him some home-made food, something that he would probably miss during the prolonged stay at home.

One day, anticipating that he would be by himself, I decided to visit him in the evening, and bring him a dish that I knew he liked: spinach with tahine (sesame seeds) sauce, an Arab dish that my mother had taught me how to prepare and whose recipe I am usually quite selfish to share.

When I arrived at Robert’s apartment, I knocked on the door and was surprised not to have any response. I knocked again and since there was no answer nor any noises emanating form inside -slightly worried- I decided to go in, concerned that something may have happened to him.

As soon as I entered, however, I was relieved. On a couch in the living room was Robert joined in a passionate embrace with a young, attractive woman, his leg with a cast dangling precariously in the air.

Surprised as he was at this unexpected visit he eminently gracious and welcomed me in. I, however, felt as out-of-place as a fishmonger in the Sahara. I said hello to his companion, had a brief conversation with them and, after leaving my spinach dish in the kitchen, was ready to exit. Robert wouldn’t hear of it so heeding his insistent request I stayed for dinner determined to leave as soon as we finished eating. While waiting for them to finish preparing dinner, I could hear their romantic exchanges...

Although it was an awkward moment, we managed to have a rather pleasant dinner with abundant good wine. Aside from the spinach dish, my friend (or the woman visiting him) had prepared some very good appetizers followed by Chilean sea bass with vegetables and a terrific dessert with ice cream, chocolate truffles, and Grand Marnier. From Robert’s Soho apartment, we had a stunning view of downtown Manhattan.

Since I assumed they both wanted to continue their unfinished business, I told them that I had to prepare some classes and left my friend’s apartment. Finally! they probably thought, eager to make up for lost time. I was happy to see my friend in good company but frustrated about what had happened. As soon as I was leaving Robert’s apartment, however, I found myself face-to-face with another mutual friend, a big smile on his face. Over his arm was a bag containing a bottle and several containers of ice cream…

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

One of the stanzas in the Argentinean epic poem “Martin Fierro,” by José Hernandez, says, “He who is born with a fat belly will not be helped by a cummerbund.” The concept could very well apply to the Egyptian military, which is now facing a special dilemma: Are its members going to respond to the Egyptian people’s demand for change or are they continuing to be the same powerful class as before, inured to the needs of the majority of Egyptians?

The question is quite pertinent today, as the military high command faces people’s demands to try former President Hosni Mubarak, his family and cronies and all those who committed serious abuses during Mubarak’s term in office. The Egyptian military are known to possess considerable –and diverse- economic interests in the country.

“Based on my financial disclosure report that confirms that I do not own any assets abroad, I agree to present any documents, reports or signatures that would help the Prosecutor General ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reveal any assets owned by me or my wife abroad,” stated Mubarak in a recorded audio message.

What Mubarak failed to mention is that it took the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) a long time to freeze assets, thus allowing Mubarak to hide any evidence to support accusations of foreign investments, as indicated Nabil Abel-Fattah, a researcher in Al-Ahram Institute for Political and Strategic Studies.

In the meantime, Egypt’s Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud has notified the United States and other governments around the world that Hosni Mubarak and his sons Gamal and Alaa may have hidden hundreds of billions of dollars worth of cash, gold and other state-owned valuables, according to information obtained by The Washington Post.

Egypt’s Prosecutor wrote that Mubarak and his sons may have violated laws prohibiting the “seizing of public funds and profiteering and abuse of power.” They may have done this using complicated business schemes that allowed them to divert the assets to offshore companies and personal accounts in banks overseas. According to some preliminary estimates, Mubarak’s family fortune may be as high as or even higher than $70 billion.

Despite these actions, it is not known how far the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces under the leadership of Field Marshal Muhammad Hussein Tantawi will support these investigations and the proper punishment of those guilty. Tantawi was, after all, appointed defense minister by Mubarak, was part of Mubarak’s inner circle and, according to WikiLeaks documents he is very much a conservative, reluctant to embrace change or reform.

During last Friday’s demonstrations in Tahrir Square, called “Friday of Purification and Trial” because of the protesters’ demand to cleanse the government of corruption, hundreds of soldiers beat protesters with clubs and fired into the air, reportedly killing two protesters and injuring at least 10. Many protesters trying to flee were blocked by soldiers, who hit them and dragged them away.

This is critical time for Egypt’s budding democracy, one in which the army can show that it is willing to answer to people’s demands for justice and for choosing a new way out of the present interlude in the country’s history. It is a difficult –but not impossible- call for an organization which has been no stranger to corruption itself.

Former International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief, Mohamed ElBaradei indicated that the road to stability consists of: quick responses to legitimate demands, power sharing with civilians during transition, a clear road map and the need to start a national dialogue. These are important aims, ones that the Egyptian military should keep in mind if they are willing to chart a new course towards democracy and development for the country.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

Somalia can be considered one of the most troublesome countries in the world, one frequently called a “failed state,” ravaged by violence and instability. But in such unfavorable place a valiant woman has quietly emerged as a presence of dignity and hope. Dr. Hawa Abdi Dhiblawe has, for years, been taking care of thousands of Somalis and is a voice of peace in the war-torn land.

A physician trained in the Ukraine, the 63-year-old Dr. Abdi returned to Somalia in 1983 and opened her own one–room clinic in the outskirts of Mogadishu, a city lacking in government health facilities. Since then, that one room has grown into a huge 400-bed hospital surrounded by 1,300 acres of farmland where 90,000 now make their home.

In Somalia, fighting between rival warlords and an inadequate response to famine and disease have marked the life of this nation and led to the deaths of up to one million people in recent decades. Presently, almost a third of the population depends on food aid and the country hasn’t had an effective government since 1991.

The country, divided into clan fiefdoms, is in desperate need of a working government and the rule of law. In January of 2009, a moderate Islamist and former rebel, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was elected president of a transitional government. His government, however, only controls a few blocks of the capital with the support of the United Nations and African Union troops.

Most of the country is controlled by insurgent groups, particularly by Al-Shabab, which means “youth” in Arabic and which wants to impose a strict version of Islam throughout Somalia. Mr. Ahmed had been elected by the Somali parliament which was sitting in neighboring Djibouti to be safe from the violence back at home.

With very few exports and living mainly through remittances from Somalis living abroad (they sent an estimated 20 million dollars a month to Mogadishu alone) and a climate of lawlessness in the country it should not surprise that piracy has become a serious threat to international shipping.

In the meantime the country, with an estimated 1.2 mn displaced in South-central Mogadishu alone, is undergoing one of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Added to these severe social challenges is the Somalis’ lack of access to adequate heakth care. It is in this context that Dr. Hawa Abdi and her two daughters are working to address not only the health needs of tens of thousands of internal refugees in the country but also other social and educational needs.

Dr. Abdi achieved international notoriety in May of 2010 when 750 armed militias from the group Hizbul Islam surrounded her hospital, held her at gunpoint and demanded that she stop her work. They also allowed dozens of adolescents to ransack the hospital, destroy anesthesia machines, tear up medical records and destroy hospital infrastructure.

Undeterred, Dr. Abdi confronted her assailants and asked them to explain their behavior. When they threatened to kill her she calmly responded, “If you want to kill me, kill me, no problem. Someday I have to die.” When the incident was known internationally there was widespread outrage. Dozens of Somalian women stormed the hospital in a show of solidarity and insisted on the departure of the militia.

Facing strong condemnation for their actions, and after keeping her under detention for seven days, the leader of Hizbul Islam, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys ordered her release. When the militia left, Dr. Abdi was able to resume her work. She had won an important battle.

In 2010, the U.S. magazine Glamour named Dr. Abdi and her two daughters, Dr. Amina Mohamed Abdi and Dr. Deqa Mohamed Abdi “Women of the Year,” and called them the “Saints of Somalia.” As they continue their work, these valiant women represent a ray of hope in a bleak land.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

The health and well being of Yemen’s children, which has never been adequate, is even less now with the conflicts raging throughout the country. On March 8, UNICEF stated that the violent protests now taking place in Yemen are affecting children’s well being, who should be protected at all costs. UNICEF also said that a number of schools in al-Mansoura and al-Mu’alla districts in the Aden governorate were being attacked by demonstrators and putting children’s lives at risk.

The seven-year-long war in Northern Yemen has produced a generation of children grown in violence. It is estimated that children make 60 percent of the roughly 300,000 people who have been displaced and had to flee their homes in terror. As a result of this, many children bear the scars of war and have manifested in a variety of psychological symptoms and threatened their proper development.

Because of the situation of abject poverty, many children are trafficked to Saudi Arabia, often with the support of their parents who are promised a bright future for their children by intermediaries. They end up, in many cases, being abused and some fall prey to adults who involve them in prostitution, drug-trafficking and other illicit activities. Some escape and go back to Yemen only to become “street children” in the country’s main cities and where many continue a cycle of abuse and lawlessness. A UNICEF study showed that there are more than 30,000 street children in Yemen.

The phenomenon of street children in Yemen can be traced back to 1990s, when the economic situation in the country deteriorated. Today, the number of street children is rapidly increasing and includes children of other governorates who came to live in Sanaa city, children from poor families living there and children from refugee families coming mainly from Somalia.

Although the rights of children are enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Yemen is a signatory, the situation of the children in Yemen is shameful, according to the Director of the Democratic School for Human Rights, Mr.Jamal al-Shami. According to Mr. al-Shami, children are exposed to violence in homes, in schools and on the streets, and about 60 percent among them are exposed to torture in refuge homes and prisons.

Due to lack of economic resources and poverty in the families children often work in difficult and dangerous jobs and may end up exploited by gangs and subject to abuse. “The ministry has carried out a number of projects dealing with child labor, and it is preparing a project to monitor the worst forms of child labor in a number of Yemeni governorates,” said Mona Ali Salem, chairwoman of the Child Labor Unit in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour.

The situation is even worse for Yemeni girls, who are worse off than boys in almost all social indicators. Poverty and lack of awareness has discouraged many poor parents from having their children, particularly girls, educated. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) approximately 52 percent of girls attend primary school, compared to 86 percent of boys. In rural areas, where 72 percent of Yemen’s population lives, fewer than one in three girls go to school. Despite some recent improvements in enrollment, education statistics in Yemen are among the worst in the Arab world.

Violence throughout the country affects everybody, including children, who grow up in an atmosphere of danger and lawlessness. In Yemen, there are three times as many guns as there are people, and boys learn to carry out an AK-47 from an early age. 500-600 children are killed or wounded every year through direct involvement in tribal combat in the country, according to some estimates.

Disruptions caused by conflict have a negative impact on children and youngster’s health, education and well being. As Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF’s Yemen representative stated, “Ignoring the plight of Yemeni youngsters short of food, education and security is not only cruel but dangerous.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala, an international public health consultant, is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

China’s economy has developed significantly in the last decades, lifting millions of people out of poverty and improving their health. One of the consequences of economic progress has been the increase in life expectancy at birth from 69 in 1990 to 74.51 in 2010. Also notable have been the decreases in infant mortality rate (expressed as per 1,000 live births) which declined from 37 in 1990 to 17 in 2009, and under-five mortality rate (also expressed per 1,000 live births) which declined from 46 in 1990 to 19 in 2009.

Despite this progress, however, many health issues remain unresolved. While the wealthier portion of the Chinese population has benefited from advanced health technologies, many among the poor do not have adequate access to even the most essential services. It is estimated that about 80 percent of the health and medical care services are concentrated in cities, while timely medical care is not available to more than 100 million people in rural areas.

Although some progress has been made in underdeveloped rural areas there is still lack of safe water and sanitation, under-nutrition, vitamin and mineral deficiencies and indoor air pollution. It is estimated that 80 percent of rural households have no access to a sanitary lavatory and 20 percent of rural households lack safe drinking water. A 2008 Report on Chinese Children Nutrition and Health Conditions concluded that 7.6 million children in West China lack adequate nutrition.

New threats related to the environment, workplace and lifestyle are also becoming more widespread. Emissions from motor vehicles have increased considerably in the major Chinese cities. Today, 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in China. Coal burning, however, continues to be the number one source of air pollution in China and conditions in the workplaces are an important source of disease, injury and death.

In addition, smoking is a serious problem throughout China and it is estimated that more than half of children in China are exposed to second-hand smoke which may explain increased rates among them of respiratory tract infections and sudden infant death syndrome. Presently, tobacco causes 13 percent of deaths among men. Alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems have also increased steadily in the last decades.

Obesity is increasingly becoming a serious problem. It is estimated that over 25 percent of urban children are overweight. In addition, diseases associated with obesity such as diabetes and cardiovascular problems are on the increase. According to a study by Tulane University researchers 92.4 million adults in China age 20 or older have diabetes, and 148.2 million have pre-diabetes, a risk factor for developing diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease. Recent studies have shown that people who have diabetes live an average of six years less than people not affected by the disease.

Like other nations with migrant and socially mobile populations, China has experienced increased incidence of HIV/AIDS, and the stigma against this syndrome remains prevalent in Chinese society. Although the Chinese government has adopted a much more proactive attitude toward the infection, efforts are still hindered by poor baseline data necessary for properly assessing the problem and earmarking needed resources.

The problem is compounded by the fact that in traditional Chinese culture sex and sexuality are not openly discussed. Many young people lack information on sexually transmitted diseases and HIV transmission. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, only 10% of Chinese who have HIV/AIDS know that they are infected.

Mental illness is an underestimated problem in China. According to a recent study 17 percent of the population has some kind of mental illness. In 25 percent of the cases, the severity of their disability causes them to be unable to work. Because of its impact on society, new ways of addressing this problem have to be developed.

The Chinese government’s 850 billion yuan (US $125 billion) health care reform plan is being implemented to help solve some of these problems. According to this plan, primary health care facilities will be improved, an essential drug system will be introduced, there will be equitable access to basic public health services and there will be a pilot reform of state-run hospitals. Public non-profit hospitals will continue to be the main providers of health care services, but more priority will be given to grassroots-level hospitals and clinics.

Although the government has admitted that building a “safe, effective, convenient and affordable” health service will not be easy, these are commendable goals. The government should prioritize the promotion of healthy lifestyles and the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases.

A critical aspect stressed by WHO and the Social Development Department of China State Council Development Research Center is the need to create a better system of information, accountability and enforcement of health laws and regulations.

With the assistance of the World Health Organization and other international agencies, the Chinese government has improved the health of its population. Although millions have benefited, millions are also lagging behind. The great challenge for China is how to strengthen its health care system to reduce disparities and improve quality health care for the population at large.

As Wagstaff and Claeson from the World Bank have remarked, “It is vulnerable populations in China who need to be empowered, protected from risks, informed and educated, and encouraged to participate in health activities…Public health regulations need to be established and enforced…Public health infrastructure needs to be in place to reduce the health impact of emergencies and disasters. All this needs to be done through a public health system that is transparent and accountable. Thus, the government has responsibilities beyond the provision and financing of health services to improve health outcomes.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant.

Facing greater restriction in the USA and other industrialized countries, transnational tobacco companies are increasingly marketing their products in developing countries, particularly among women and adolescents.

While smoking rates in some industrialized countries are decreasing at about 1% a year, those in developing countries are increasing at around 3% per year. It is estimated that, if current trends persist for the next 30 years, seven million people from developing countries will die every year from smoking-related diseases.

For the past several years, corporations such as Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, and British-American Tobacco have been expanding rapidly in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Tobacco-provoked deaths can only add to the inequities in health of ethnic and minority populations. Jeanette Noltenius, an expert on tobacco and alcohol abuse issues, stated, “In the US, minorities such as Hispanics have been specifically targeted by the tobacco companies since the early 1960s, and have received a double dose of advertising (in Spanish and English).”

According to data from the Bureau of Census, US Department of Commerce, Latino smoking youth will triple in size in 2020 in the U.S., increasing from 9% of the national youth population to 19%.

Since the early 1980s, US trade officials, with help from the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), have led a sustained campaign to open markets in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand among the Asian nations.

In Taiwan, US officials' efforts to force Taiwan to open its markets to US tobacco products have resulted in increased smoking, particularly among women and children. Talking about US government support for American tobacco companies, a corporation executive remarked, ‘We expect such support. That's why we vote them in.’

These actions have prompted the Asia-Pacific Association for the Control of Tobacco to protest strongly at what they consider an invasion of their countries by US companies targeting Asian women and children. The Association has complained about the strong-arm tactics used by US government officials in their countries. A report from the US General Accounting Office established that ‘US policy and programs for assisting the export of tobacco and tobacco products work at cross purposes to US health policy initiatives, both domestically and internationally’.

Several studies have shown that in the poorest households in developing countries 10 percent or more of the total household expenditure is on tobacco. As a result, there is less money to spend on some basic items such as food, education and health care needs, thus increasing malnutrition, illiteracy and premature death.

In China, tobacco companies have been moving steadily inland with intense promotional campaigns. It is estimated that of the world's 1.71 billion smokers, more than 350 million are in China, where lung cancer has been increasing at a rate of 4.75% a year.

The Chinese government is facing the dilemma of promoting tobacco cessation policies while it is heavily dependent on earnings from the state-run monopoly tobacco company. However, researchers with the School of Public Health at the University of California state that raising the tobacco tax fifteen cents per cigarette pack could save more than 13 million lives and generate $9.5 billion in revenue for the Chinese government.

Lured by financial gains from growing tobacco, millions of hectares in China are presently under cultivation. Gains from the sale of tobacco, however, may be just short-term, since the costs of treating lung cancer and other related diseases amply exceed the tobacco profits. According to experts, those excess costs are $200 billion annually on a global scale, one-third of which is incurred by developing countries.

While anti-smoking efforts gather momentum in the USA, those efforts are far less effective in developing countries. Such countries' policies will not be as effective unless transnational tobacco firms are made to limit their aggressive advertisements.

Countries in Asia and Latin America are conducting health-education campaigns and have passed legislation to control smoking. Up to now, several countries worldwide have enacted legislation to control tobacco consumption. Although in general this legislation has been passed at the national level, in the USA, Canada, and in several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean these laws are being enacted by state or local bodies.

Despite increasing condemnation by public health officials and the World Health Organization (WHO), international companies continue with their indiscriminate tobacco-promotional efforts in developing countries, at a high human cost. As things stand now, only a multidisciplinary strategy including education, taxation, legislation, and regulation of trade practices of transnational corporations will be able to control this pandemic.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant.

Every evening, at the end of the PBS News Hour, one of the most respected news programs in the U.S., one can see the images of the U.S. soldiers killed the previous day. They usually are young men, generally between 20 and 25 years of age. Even the most hardened person cannot but feel a pang of anguish looking at these young people whose lives were cut short by an irrational war. And one can imagine how many vibrant lives were lost and will be lost until the war in Afghanistan ends.

Awful as these losses are, another reality should be considered – the photos of these same soldiers degrading Afghan prisoners. Through these photos we can see that these soldiers’ lives have been compromised by war but, equally terrifying, that war has changed them, has made them lose that essential humanity that makes us respect other people at their most basic level. And thus we suddenly have a vision of the essential evilness of war.

These thoughts are brought to mind after looking at three photographs recently released by the German newspaper Der Spiegel, part of 4,000 photos and videos taken by the soldiers. The photos are among a number seized by U.S. Army investigators investigating the deaths of three unarmed Afghan civilians during 2010.

Twelve soldiers from the Bravo company unit of the Fifth Stryker Combat Brigade in Kandahar province are accused of serious crimes against Afghan civilians. Those accused include Special Sergeant Jeremy Morlock, 22, and three other men who were allegedly following orders from Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs, 25. These soldiers are accused of killing Afghan civilians for sport and collecting their body parts –including a human skull- as trophies.

The first photograph shows Morlock holding the naked corpse of an Afghan civilian named Gul Mudin by his hair and grinning proudly at the camera. The second photograph shows another soldier, Pfc. Andrew Holmes, posing with the same man, whom he is holding by his hair with one hand while holding a cigarette with his other hand. The third photograph shows two Afghan civilians murdered by these soldiers. The victims’ dirty clothing suggests that they were dragged by a vehicle and possibly tortured before being killed.

As reported by Afghans for Peace (AFP) an investigation shows that the military ignored the warnings of a soldier, Spc. Adam Winfield, whose father persistently tried to inform the military commanders of the atrocities only to be turned away. “They planned everything out. I knew about it…I want to do something about it, but I don’t have the courage…” wrote Adam Winfield.

Although many critics have compared these events to those that happened at Abu Ghraib, AFP states that while those incidents occurred with prisoners, the events now described, including murder, occurred publicly in broad daylight.

In another incident described by Der Spiegel, the team apprehended a mullah who was standing by the road, was asked to kneel down in a ditch and a grenade was thrown at him while an order was given for him to be shot.

The army apologized for the distress caused by the photographs which, according to a statement, “depict actions repugnant to us as human beings and are contrary to the standards and values of the United States.”

No amount of apologies, however, can bring back to life these Afghan civilians who were killed. No amount of apologies can give back to these soldiers the humanity they lost in this terrible war. No amount of apologies can eliminate the essential evilness of war.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

It happens every day, and with alarming frequency. Adolescent suicide is a serious problem in every country. In the United States, teen suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers. A U.S. survey found that almost one in five high school students had seriously considered attempting suicide, and more than one in six had already made plans to commit suicide.

Several environmental and social situations can have an impact on adolescents' health. Among those situations are the following: extreme poverty; an unfavorable family situation; factors related to employment possibilities and those that result from a clash between the new life values acquired by the youth and traditional family values.

When adolescents do not adapt to new and challenging situations, they may develop or manifest mental and psychological disturbances that can lead to serious psychiatric problems, such as depression, that may end up in suicide.

Suicide is a tragic but potentially preventable public health problem. In the case of adolescents, they may be prone to "suicide contagion," where the exposure to suicide or suicidal behavior within one family, one's peer group or through media reports of suicide can result in an increase in suicide and suicidal behavior. It is estimated that there may be between eight and 25 attempted suicides for every suicide death.

Although there are no tests to identify those that are going to commit suicide, there are risks factors that should be taken into consideration by parents, friends and teachers. Among those risk factors are the following: a previous history of depression, a family history of psychiatric disorders (particularly depression or suicidal behavior), family disruption, a history of physical or sexual abuse, alcohol and drug abuse, and poor self-esteem.

There are some signals that may alert that adolescents may be attempting to commit suicide. These clear danger signals include sudden changes in behavior, withdrawal from friends, suicide threats, increased irritability and self-destructive behavior, school difficulties or failure, and giving away treasured possessions. Suicidal comments by adolescents should never be considered unimportant.

Parents and educators should be always aware of the psychological needs of adolescents, since their peculiar behavior may indicate that they are going through a difficult period in their lives. They should create conditions (in the family, in the school and in the community) that will adequately respond to the emotional needs of young people.

Suicide-prevention programs should be carefully planned, tested and monitored to make sure they are safe, effective, and worth the effort and the cost of implementing them. Parents and teachers should be aware of danger signals in adolescents, and take appropriate measures when they appear. Schools should increase the number of trained counselors, and teachers should be trained in spotting emotional distress among their students.

The World Health Organization has developed four basic steps as suicide prevention guidelines: limiting accessibility to the means of suicide such as pesticides, toxic drugs and guns; treating mental illness; enhancing social support networks and changing social norms.

They should be complemented by health promotion campaigns focused on mental health and suicide prevention. Through combined efforts it is possible to lower the impact of this most serious threat to adolescents' lives.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant and the author of "Adolescents' Health in the Americas."

The great number of Afghan women who commit self-immolation (burning oneself to death) is one of the most tragic responses to gender violence in that country. Aside from the horror of dying, surviving this act makes its victims unfit for a normal life. They are often permanently maimed, disfigured, and shunned by their communities. Unless present laws regarding the protection of women are fully implemented, the consequences of gender violence will continue to exact a punishing effect on Afghan women’s lives.

Self-immolation seems to be the only response available to women who want to escape domestic abuse, forced marriage and other misogynistic social customs. Although many Afghans –including some religious leaders- reinforce these social customs based on their interpretation of Islam, these practices are inconsistent with Sharia law as well as with Afghan and international law since they violate women’s basic human rights.

Reliable national statistics on this phenomenon are not available, since many families cover up these acts because of shame. At the same time, lack of good medical care and adequate government services means that such events are never officially recorded. According to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), 106 cases of self-immolation were registered in 2006, 184 cases in 2007 and it is feared that the phenomenon has continued to grow.

What makes the situation even more troublesome is that the police and judiciary do not conduct any formal investigations to determine the causes of suicide and self-burning by women, according to the AIHRC. “There is a culture of impunity for those who push women to self-immolation and suicide,” remarks Homa Sultani, a researcher on women’s rights at the AIHRC.

Women’s self-immolation in Afghanistan is a reflection of their disadvantaged situation in the social and health areas. Some statistics are telling: 87 percent of Afghan women are illiterate, more than one in three women experience physical, psychological or sexual violence, and 70 to 80 percent of women face forced marriages.

Some people feel that marriage in Afghanistan is, in some cases, like a form of sale in which women are traded to solve family disputes or strengthen family bonds. In this context, forced marriages with under age girls often occur in defiance of national law, which stipulates that women must be 16 to be eligible. Some girls are married off to men who are as much as five times their age.

The majority of Afghan women are victims of mental and sexual violence, which compels them to commit suicide or engage in drug abuse. Most of the recorded cases occur in Afghanistan main cities, while those that occur in rural areas remain unrecorded.

There is a way to lower these tragic incidents. In August 2009, the Afghan Government enacted the Law on Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW), which criminalizes many harmful traditional practices. However, although the passing of that law was a significant achievement, the Human Rights, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA HR) found that law enforcement authorities are often unwilling or unable to apply laws that protect women’s rights. Such inaction is one of the main factors that allow these practices to continue.

What is urgently needed is for the Government of Afghanistan to create the conditions for the full implementation of the EVAW law. As the UNAMA HR has indicated, “Convictions under the EVAW law can result in deterring perpetrators of violence against women.” At the same time, Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai should indicate that respect for women’s rights is at the core of the government’s human rights policy.

Dr. Cesar Chelala, an international public health consultant, is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

I became aware of the nature of Mr. Qaddafi’s regime during an HIV/AIDS professional visit to Libya in 2006. I was in a taxi with a friend when the driver, as he learned that we were from Argentina, started talking enthusiastically about Maradona and Argentine soccer. As we were passing some military barracks my friend, rather naively, asked the driver if these were Qaddafi’s living quarters. The driver’s facial expression, a genuine friendly one until then, immediately changed to a hostile, fearful look.

Realizing that he had made a faux pas my friend immediately resumed his talk about Maradona. In spite of that, the driver never resumed his friendly way with us again. Although this was a small incident, we became aware of the climate of fear reigning the country, and of the obsessive nature of its ruler.

The way things are going in Libya, where he is massacring his own people with the help of mercenaries, indicates that the time has come to exert the greatest international pressure and make him go.

Qaddafi thinks that the present people’s rebellion is not the result of his abusing them for more than 40 years, leading a tyrannical and corrupt government and antagonizing many countries with his erratic, criminal behavior. Rather, he believes that it is the result of a flare-up of tribal rivalries bent on destroying what he considers is the people’s power in Libya. Since he took power in 1969, he has been able to maintain control of the population through the use of an omnipresent security apparatus.

Recent admissions from his own former officials throw necessary light on his regime, as African mercenaries are descending on Tripoli to help quell the rebellion. How miserable can a person be to use foreign soldiers to kill his own people? “We are sure that what is going on now in Libya is crimes against humanity and crimes of war,” said Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations.

And now we have an even more striking revelation regarding Qaddafi’s role in the Lockerbie bombing, as a result of which 270 people were killed in southern Scotland
in a Pan Am flight bound for New York. “I have evidence that Qaddafi ordered the Lockerbie bombing,” stated Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, Libya’s recently resigned justice minister.

During my stay in Libya I would learn about other incidents that profoundly troubled me, as was the case of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who had been in detention for many years, falsely accused of spreading AIDS in Libya. I realized that Libya’s ruler wouldn’t stop at anything to get revenge for what he thought was his unfair portrayal in the Western press.

The six health workers had been accused of infecting 426 children with the HIV virus. Many in Libya, and most of the international community, believed that they were trumped up charges. According to E.U. and U.S. officials and human rights advocates the six health workers were charged of these crimes to cover up poor hygiene conditions at the hospitals where infections took place (some of the children had been infected even before the health workers arrived). The six health workers were tortured to extract confessions.

Finally, a deal was reached under which Bulgaria, the United States, Britain and the European Union agreed to set up a nongovernmental organization to financially help the families of the infected children. Although the six health workers were eventually released, the incident showed once more that Qaddafi had no restraints in using false information for his own, devious goals.

With an increasing number of Libyan officials now abandoning his government, it is fair to assume that Qaddafi’s days are numbered. The United Nations and international community should continue to exert strong pressure to force Qaddafi to step down. To allow such a dangerous person to be in power is to risk the survival of thousands of Libyans.

Dr. Cesar Chelala, an international public health consultant, is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

As protests increase in several countries in the Middle East, it is becoming more obvious that a final agreement between Israelis and Palestinians is one of the most critical issues facing policy makers in the region. For the U.S., which is steadily losing control of events, it is also the time to help Israel define its real strategic interests in the area.

If one lesson can be learned from the tumultuous events in Egypt, it is that people cannot be held submissive forever while being denied their most basic rights. Dismissal of this lesson can bring harsh consequences, something that former president Hosni Mubarak refused to admit.

Until now, the Mubarak regime had played a stabilizing role in the region, and had been a key player in mediating negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). It is not yet clear what role Egypt will have now in this process, particularly after the September elections the military junta promised to hold.

The events in Cairo have thrown the Israeli leadership into turmoil. The greatest fear is that Egypt’s new government could terminate the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel signed in 1979. “The Israeli government is freaking out,” remarked Shmuel Bachar, of the Israel Institute for Policy and Strategy. That same fear is echoed by many in the U.S. “Things are about to go from bad to worse in the Middle East,” warned Richard Cohen in the Washington Post.

Those responses are obviously based on the concern that if the Islamic Brotherhood would take power it would develop a more confrontational attitude toward Israel. Those concerns ignore that the Islamic Brotherhood is a mosaic of different ideas and trends, whose positions have changed over time. Although nobody can predict how the movement will evolve, many among its members remain committed to a position of gradual reform.

There is a gap between the older, more radical generation and the younger one, more open to the world and eager to follow the Turkish example of democratic participation in their country’s political life. In addition, the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood had decided to support Mr. ElBaradei’s position in the recent upheaval shows a new, more flexible leadership in the movement.

Israel’s fear about Egypt’s adopting an aggressive attitude ignores the fact that Egypt, particularly after recent events, will need more than ever billions of dollars from the U.S. and the international community. In this situation, violating the peace agreement with Israel would work against its most basic interests.

Although Egypt’s peace agreement with Israel will probably not be abolished, it is possible to think of a scenario where new authorities in Egypt become more assertive in demanding respect for Palestinians’ rights. Continual denial of those rights will do more to stimulate the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood than the political situation in Egypt itself. Unless an agreement is reached in the near future, Israel – although it may continue to win territory - runs the risk of losing the peace.

Speaking recently at the Herzliya Conference in Israel Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO secretary-general said, “…The Israeli-Palestinian conflict may no longer be perceived as the only problem in the region, but it still constitutes a major impediment in addressing other issues that threaten regional stability. The lack of a solution to the Israeli – Palestinian conflict continues to undermine the stability of the region.”

And Uri Avnery, the Israeli leader of the peace movement Gush Shalom recently stated, “Peace with the Palestinians is no longer a luxury. It is an absolute necessity. Peace now, peace quickly. Peace with the Palestinians, and then peace with the democratic masses all over the Arab world, peace with the reasonable Islamic forces (like Hamas and the Muslim Brothers, who are quite different from Al Qaeda), peace with the leaders who are about to emerge in Egypt and everywhere.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

Negative stereotypes have been a constant source of friction and misunderstanding between Muslims and Jews. Can a level of understanding be reached between them that would make peaceful relations possible? It believe so. An almost forgotten episode during World War II could bring light to this issue.

During World War II, as Jews were being persecuted by the Nazis, they found refuge in Northern Albania. More than 2000 Jews were protected by the locals, who risked their own lives to do so. Although the Germans demanded that the Albanians provide them with lists with names of Jews in the country, the Albanians didn’t comply and instead sheltered them from the Nazis. According to the International School for Holocaust Studies, the Albanians didn’t turn over a single Jew to the Germans.

This episode was again brought to light by Norman H. Gershman, an American photographer, who has included photos of the Albanians’ descendants still living in the country in a book called BESA: Muslims Who Saved Jews in World War II. According to Gershman, only two countries in Europe refused to cooperate with the Nazis: Denmark and Albania.

Besa is an Albanian cultural concept that means “to keep the promise” and “word of honor.” The word has its origin in the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini, an assembly of customary codes and traditions compiled by the 15th century chieftain and transmitted verbally over succeeding generations.

Besa means also taking care of those in need, protecting them and being hospitable. Both Catholics and Muslims participated in this effort. Since 70% of Albanians are Muslims it is safe to assume that it was they who were primary in aiding the Jews. Rather than hiding them in attics or in the woods, Albanians gave them Muslim names, gave them clothes and treated them as members of their own families.

Gershman tells the story of an Albanian man called Ali Pashkaj who received the visit at his store of a group of German soldiers surrounding 19 Albanian prisoners. Among the Albanians was a young Jew whom the Germans planned to assassinate.

Since Pashkaj spoke excellent German, he invited the soldiers into the store and gave them food and wine. While he was distracting the German soldiers, he gave the young Jew a melon containing a message instructing him to jump out of the truck at a certain location and run and hide in the woods. The young man followed the instruction and was able to escape.

The German soldiers were furious. They returned to the town and threatened to shoot the man and set the town on fire if the Albanians didn’t return the young Jew. The Albanians refused and the Germans finally left town. Pashkaj went to the woods where he found the young man and brought him back to his house and protected him. The young man, whose name is Yasha Bayuhovio later went to Mexico and became a dentist. In protecting him, Ali Pashkaj was practicing Besa.

As Gershman told the Jewish Chronicle, “Look, you are not talking to someone who is pro-Arab. It is really quite simply that there are good people in this world. I found Muslims who saved Jews. The perception of the religion of Islam as crazy is nonsense. I am a Jew to my core. I would lay down my life for Israel…However, we have objectified Muslims. They are just people. And in this little people (Albanians) they have a message for the world. I defy anyone to look at these people and say these are terrorists or terrorist sympathizers.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

Events rapidly unfolding in Egypt may signal that this is President Mubarak’s hour of truth. The riots taking place in Cairo, where some policemen took off their uniforms and joined the protesters, indicate that President Mubarak may be unable to stand the pressure of long-contained popular demands.

Although Egypt’s Interior Ministry said the protests were the work of “instigators” led by the Muslim Brotherhood, demonstrators come from all social and political classes. This is, perhaps, the clearest demonstration of people’s power in decades in Egypt. Confronted with these massive popular demonstrations, the Interior Ministry stated that “No provocative movements or protest gatherings or organizing marches or demonstrations will be allowed.”

For the U.S., that has been backing the Mubarak government since it assumed power in 1981, this is a difficult situation to confront. The U.S. has provided military aid to Egypt to the tune of 1.5 billion per year. As a consequence, the U.S. has more leverage than any other government in what is happening now in Egypt.

While Secretary of State Hillary Clinton initially said that the Mubarak government was stable, she then stated that the U.S. is “deeply concerned” about the violent crackdown on demonstrators and asked the Egyptian government to respect the protesters’ rights to free expression. “As a partner, we strongly believe that the Egyptian government needs to engage immediately with the Egyptian people in implementing needed economic, political and social reforms,” said Clinton at the State Department.

Talking to “Fox News on Sunday,” as if anticipating what may really happen in Egypt Secretary Clinton stated, “We want to see an orderly transition so that no one fills the void, that there not be a void, that there be a well thought out plan that will bring about a democratic participatory government.” Since President Mubarak will clearly not be the leader of such a government it seems clear that Secretary Clinton is anticipating a change of government.

At the same time, there is concern that more radical elements may be gaining ground in the country, notably the Muslim Brotherhood. So far, however, the Muslim Brotherhood has been playing a cautious role, and has even asked Mr. ElBaradei to negotiate on behalf of the protesters. This should allay Mrs. Clinton's fears when she stated that the U.S. wants to avoid a situation that would allow “radicals, extremists, violent elements to take over.”

President Mubarak’s TV address to the nation in which he said that he had dismissed his cabinet but that he will remain in power, as well as his promise of social, political and economic reforms didn’t quell people’s demands for a complete overhaul of the government. People have continued defying the government and asking for Mr. Mubarak to step down, a step Mr. ElBaradei said is not negotiable.
The harsh repression by the Egyptian police may be delaying the inevitable: Mr. Mubarak should resign. Talks now being conducted between Mubarak and the military are critical for Egypt’s future.

The best role for the military to play would be to withdraw its support for Mr. Mubarak and replace him with a transitional government which could include Mr. ElBaradei or be led by him. Such a government should call for elections in six months to allow the country to return to a normal life.

President Obama has told Mr. Mubarak that the government should refrain from using violence against peaceful demonstrators and allow for free expression of ideas. Perhaps this is a diplomatic way of telling Mr. Mubarak that it is time to go.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

The theory that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine was responsible for causing autism has, since it was first elaborated, been a hindrance to a proper assessment of the autism problem. The theory, based on a study led by Dr. Andrew Wakefield, published in The Lancet in 1998, purported to have found a link between the vaccine, gastrointestinal problems found in many autistic children and autism. New evidence has now put that theory finally to rest.

A recent report published by the British Medical Journal, based on a study conducted by British investigative journalist Brian Deer, concluded that the medical histories in the Wakefield study had been misrepresented to make the vaccine responsible for autism in children. According to Deer, the flaws in Dr. Wakefield paper were not honest mistakes but an “elaborate fraud.”

The Deer study is particularly relevant since the erroneous link between vaccines causing autism has led thousands of parents to withhold the MMR vaccine to their children, making them susceptible to illness and provoking hundreds of deaths. In February of 2010, The Lancet retracted the original Wakefield article, stating that its authors had made false claims about how the study was conducted and leading to wrong conclusions. In May of 2010, Britain stripped Wakefield of his medical license.

Mr. Deer’s study showed that time lines in the Wakefield study were altered to make it seem as though autism-like symptoms had developed soon after vaccination, while in reality problems had developed before vaccination and in other cases months after vaccination.

Autism is a complex developmental disorder that begins in early childhood and that has three defining main features: Problems with social interactions, impaired verbal and nonverbal communication and a pattern of repetitive behaviors. They present themselves with a wide range of symptoms and varying degrees of problems. This group of disorders is called autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that an average of 1 in 110 children has ASD in the US. If one assumes that the prevalence rate has been constant over the past two decades, one can estimate that about 730,000 individuals between the ages of 0 to 21 have an ASD. Studies in Asia and Europe have identified individuals with ASD with a prevalence of approximately 0.6% to over 1%.

The MMR vaccine’s effect on autism is one of the most controversial theories regarding the origin of this disorder. Many believers in this theory state that the use of Thimerosal (Ethylmercury) as a preservative in the vaccines could be responsible for the symptoms developed by many children after vaccination. However, rates of autism and ASDs continued to increase even after Thimerosal was no longer used as a preservative in vaccines in 2001

In 2004, the interpretation of a causal link between the MMR vaccine and autism was formally retracted by ten of Wakefield’s twelve collaborators in the study. In addition, in 2007, a CDC study didn’t support any association between early exposure to Thimerosal in vaccines and nervous system disorders in children between the ages of 7 and 10 years.

In spite of this evidence, many parents didn’t allow their children to be vaccinated increasing the likelihood of disease outbreaks. In 2008, according to the CDC, more measles cases were reported than in any other year since 1997. More than 90% of those infected had not been vaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown.

The Wakefield fraud shows the considerable damage that this kind of event can have on children’s health. It also renews the urgency to find the cause/s of autism, taking into consideration that diagnosis is essential for appropriate treatment at an early age, when it can do most good, and help autistic children integrate effectively into their community.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant.

Some people’s lives are marked by their concern for others. That is the case for my friend Janet Brof, whom I have known for many years. She is the equivalent of any heroine from old times. There is in her an ingrained love for those less favored in life, an unbending urge for justice, and an unparalleled generosity.

We met through friends in common during the 1970s, when both of us were trying to understand and bring a sense of fairness to the wars then ravaging Central America. I remember one of the projects to which she gave all her enthusiasm: to teach poetry writing to adult Spanish speakers who immigrated to New York from Latin America.

Most of her students at the school in the Upper West Side neighborhood where the classes were taking place had only the most basic education, and some had never attended school formally. But that didn’t deter Janet from putting all her energies into the project. If anything, it encouraged her even more.

At one of her classes I met Olga Rodriguez, a charismatic 65-year-old woman from the Dominican Republic, who never went to school and learned how to write through informal classes with friends.

Olga had lived in her country until her late 20s, and then moved to New York where she worked in a factory to earn a living and help her family. Only recently had she had the time to study English. When she decided to take Janet’s poetry workshop she never missed a class.

Although her written Spanish frequently has spelling errors, it doesn’t matter. She is keen to express herself through poetry. When I met her she told me, “With these classes I am living the kind of experience I want to live. This is like therapy for me. I feel comforted, happy, isolated from problems of everyday life. Now, out of anything I can write a poem. I feel that this belongs to me.”

The following is one of her poems in translation by Janet Brof.

My old age
by Olga Rodriguez

What will become of me in my old age?
says the palm tree that blooms at the edge of the beach.
I am young.
All the world comes to me and embraces me.
Oh how good I feel
Surrounded by some many lovely people and trees! What greenery!

Oh warm sand, you comfort me with your going and coming.
I am young.

Time goes by.
Already I no longer have so much greenery
And I don’t give shade anymore.
What will happen to me in my old age?

Oh brilliant sun, with your silver rays
Oh breeze, you no longer sustain me as before.
You move me around at will
I can only await
death.

Cesar Chelala is a writer on human rights issues.

Cuba’s announcement that its scientists have developed a vaccine to improve the lives of lung cancer patients is reason for optimism. It should, however, be cautious optimism since previous claims have been made before by several scientists in dealing with this disease which were later proven to be unfounded.

In 1991, I headed a UN mission to Cuba of Latin American physicians. We were asked to evaluate Cuba’s production of interferon, an anti viral substance, and its applications. We were gladly surprised at the excellent technical level of Cuban scientists and of the progress they had made on producing interferon.

During a visit that Fidel Castro paid to our group, he showed considerable enthusiasm on Cuba advances on public health projects, so it didn’t surprise me the reported advances Cubans have made on a lung cancer vaccine. Since the late 1980, following visits by doctors from the MD Anderson Hospital in Houston, Texas, to Havana, the Cuban government had chosen biotechnology as a priority area for development.

Lung cancer is the most common cause of death due to cancer in both women and men throughout the world. It is estimated that lung cancer causes the death of over one million people a year worldwide. According to statistics from the U.S. National Cancer Institute, approximately one of every 14 men and women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer of the lung at some point in their lives.

Until now, treatment of lung cancer involved surgical removal of the cancer, chemotherapy or radiation therapy, as well as a combination of these three procedures. The decision about which treatment to choose depends on the location and extent of the tumor as well as the overall health status of the patient.

Cuba’s biotechnology industry plans to launch the vaccine developed by the Cuban scientists in the international market in the near future. Dr. Gisela Gonzalez, head of the team that researched and developed the vaccine cautions that it is not a miracle drug, although it provides relief in treating terminally ill patients, with fewer side effects than conventional treatments.

The Cuban vaccine against lung cancer, CimaVax-EGF, is composed of a protein, the Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF), linked to another protein that stimulates the patient’s immune system to develop the desired immune response against the EGF. Normally, when the EGF binds to its receptor on the cell membrane it triggers the cell proliferation mechanism, which is increased in the case of tumors.

Following the administration of the vaccine the patients produce antibodies that recognize and specifically bind to the EGF, stopping its binding to a receptor and the beginning of cell proliferation. The consequence is a decrease in tumor growth, the extent varying according to the patient’s individual response.

According to Dr. Gonzalez, this is the first vaccine against cancer to be registered anywhere in the world. CimaVax-EGF has already been patented in Cuba, Peru, Canada, Japan, South Africa and the United States, and there are plans to patent it in other countries. In addition, the vaccine has undergone several clinical trials in Cuba, Canada and the United Kingdom and plans are underway to try it also in China and in the U.S.

Although this vaccine offers considerable promise, one should be cautious in analyzing its potential to treat lung cancer. Several products have been tried in the past that initially looked very promising and later showed no benefit. However, if larger trials confirm the initial findings, an important milestone against lung cancer would have been achieved.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant.

The collapse of former Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s government was a crisis waiting to happen. Those that followed the corruption and ruthlessness of the regime knew that sooner or later the situation would explode. And WikiLeaks may have provided the necessary push.

Already in 1993, in a report on Ben Ali’s first six years in office: “Promise Unfulfilled: Human Rights in Tunisia Since 1987,” Human Rights First (then the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights) stated, “Tunisia has seen the independence of the judiciary undermined by the encroachment of military courts into civilian matters; freedom of expression has been severely constrained and freedom of association tightly reined in; lawyers have been subjected to harassment and intimidation, and discouraged from representing unpopular clients. Thus, safeguards that are the bedrock of any society in which basic human freedoms are upheld and protected have been undermined…”

Since that time, things continued to get worse, repression increased and corruption reached high levels, particularly among those close to the president, particularly his wife and other relatives from the notorious Trabelsi family. They all left Tunisia in a hurry, when they realized that their reign of corruption and terror had come to an end.

Tunisia’ economy went from bad to worse in recent years, with unemployment rates of 14 per cent according to official figures -widely considered lower than reality- and rates of up to 50 per cent in some parts of the interior. While these rates worsened, the government reduced or eliminated subsidies for food and gasoline, probably as a response to pressures form the IMF and the World Bank.

Deteriorating economic conditions for most of the population was manifested by sharp inequality, with 20 percent of the population controlling nearly half of the national income. While the masses went impoverished, the two ruling groups, the Ben Ali and the Trabelsi families attained considerable economic power, mainly through abusive practices, some of them denounced by WikiLeaks.

Since assuming power in 1987, Ben Ali ruled with an iron fist, quelling any intent of criticism to his regime through massive human rights violations. The final straw probably came after an incident between the police and a young vegetable street vendor named Mohammed Bouazizi.

When the young man refused to leave the market because, according to the police, he lacked a street vendor license, the policeman beat him up and slapped him on the face. Afterwards, Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest these actions in the central town Sidi Bouzeid, in central Tunisia.

Bouazizi’s self-immolation spurred public protests all over Tunisia expanding from Sidi Bouzeid to other cities such as Tunis, Qasrain, Qabis, Binzert, Sousa, BinQairowan, Gafza, Qarqena, elKalf, Baga and Qibly. These protests were violently suppressed and increased the anger in the population leading to more popular riots that toppled Ben Ali’s government.

The Arab world is watching with considerable interest what is happening in Tunisia. Already in Jordan there are demonstrations against increased costs of living and government in other countries are fearful that anti government demonstrations similar to those in Tunisia may spread to their countries.

There is already a positive sign in Tunisia. Its acting president, Fouad Mebazza, asked Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi to form a coalition government. Although the future is unpredictable, one thing is certain. Things won’t be the same as before in Tunisia. What form this situation will take will depend on the measures the new government of national unity will take and its commitment to democracy that the Tunisian people fought so hard to see realized in their country.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an award-winning writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

Millions of children, particularly in developing countries, die every year as a result of environment-related diseases. Their deaths could be prevented by using low-cost and sustainable tools and strategies for improving the environment.

A 2007 World Health Organization (WHO) study showed that 13 million deaths worldwide could be prevented by improving the environment. In some countries, more than one-third of the disease burden could be prevented by environmental changes.

Information collected in this study is crucial to letting countries select appropriate intervention methods. According to the WHO study carried out in 23 countries, more than 10 percent of deaths are due to unsafe water (including poor sanitation and hygiene) and indoor air pollution, particularly from solid fuel used for cooking.

Children make up almost half the population of developing countries. Most of the deaths are among children under 5, and are attributable mainly to intestinal and respiratory infections. That is why, in addition to addressing environmental factors to save children’s lives, it is important to use low-cost interventions such as immunization, better delivery and newborn care practices, treatment of common infections and investments in local health workers.

People living in industrialized countries are also affected by environmental factors such as pollution, occupational factors, ultraviolet radiation, and climate and ecosystem changes.

The integrity of the global environment is being increasingly compromised by the deterioration of the atmospheric ozone layer and an ever-higher concentration of gases responsible for the greenhouse effect. To the degree that these factors intensify, the health of populations will be seriously affected.

Environmental factors affect children's health from the time of conception and intra-uterine development through infancy and adolescence. These factors can even exert an influence prior to conception, since both ovules and sperm can be damaged by radiation and chemical contaminants.

It has been widely demonstrated that children are more susceptible than adults to environmental factors because, among other reasons, they are still growing and their immune systems and detoxification mechanisms are not yet fully developed.

Interventions both at the community and the national level can significantly improve the environment, including promotion of safe-water treatment and storage, and the reduction of air pollution. The last measure by itself could save almost a million lives a year.

A series of measures being taken at the local level are having a significant impact on improving the environment. For example, in an overcrowded and unsanitary inner-city building housing several hundred people in South Africa, conventional environmental health control measures had failed. So, a democratically elected tenants committee initiated a series of measures to deal with the main problems affecting the building and its inhabitants. This project has laid the foundation for a participatory way of dealing with environmental problems in inner-city buildings.

In Vietnam, a project to make schools cleaner and safer through the efforts of teachers and members of the community resulted in extremely positive outcomes as measured by field visits and evaluations.

Last April in China, 2.6 million Chinese schoolchildren took part in a painting contest organized by the Luo Hong Environmental Foundation and the United Nations Environment Programme, as a way of increasing children’s awareness of environmental problems.

In Abu Dhabi, universities are embracing environmental improvement, and taking actions to turn both curricula and campuses “green.” The Abu Dhabi Education Council and the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi reached an agreement to encourage learning about environmental conservation through special projects and activities which the agencies plan to develop jointly. In Jordan, Queen Rania has been involved in programs dealing with community empowerment and environmental sustainability.

In Egypt, Dr. Laila Iskandar Kamel has implemented innovative social and environmental projects working with garbage collectors or Zabbaleen. These projects have helped garbage collectors break the cycle of exploitation and receive proper compensation for their work. In addition, she has organized girls from the community in reviving the most ancient of Egyptian crafts, weaving on a handloom using discarded cotton remnants and using the profits for improving their education and providing them with a livelihood.

Also in Egypt, the organization Hope Village Cairo is conducting a wide range of activities with children, aimed at the most vulnerable, providing them with education and skills and teaching them how to improve the environment.

In Qatar, fewer natural resources, climate change and the quality of the air are serious challenges faced by the authorities. The Ministry of Environment has taken a series of measures to improve the environment. Among those measures, creating awareness in the population, particularly among the mothers, is an important task. At the same time, a new school curriculum has been completed, placing emphasis on environmental issues.

In the countries in the Americas, an outstanding series of environmental activities are carried out by Ecoclubs, nongovernmental organizations made up basically of children and adolescents who coordinate their activities through several community institutions.

In Ecuador, the city of Loja was afflicted with dumping yards in inhabited areas, which led to outbreaks of infections and contagious diseases. Through an intensive sensitization and education campaign in which community members played a key role in establishing a sanitary landfill and a means for properly disposing of recyclable materials, there was a manifest improvement in the quality of life for Loja residents. Children, in particular, increased their awareness about the environment and their role in improving it.

Such initiatives are taking place worldwide with the aim of improving the environment and, as a result, people's health. In addition, the planning, design, monitoring and management of the physical environment have proven to be an ideal terrain for children's participation.

Cesar Chelala, M.D., Ph.D., is an international public health consultant and the author of "Environmental Impact on Child Health," a publication of the Pan American Health Organization.

The publication of “Occupation of the Territories: Israeli Soldier Testimonies 2000-2010,” a decade after the Second Intifada, is a necessary volume that reveals the truth of the occupation of Palestinian land, and of the brutal methods used by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to carry it out. It should be food for reflection for those who deny the basic inhumanity of war, and a call for justice for Palestinians.

The book, based on hundreds of testimonies of Israeli soldiers, exposes the operational methods of the Israeli military in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the impact of their actions on both Palestinians and on the soldiers themselves. What makes this book particularly valuable is not only that it denounces the methods used by Israeli soldiers on unarmed Palestinian civilians. It also shows that the Israeli military’s actions are aimed at Israel’s de facto annexation of large areas of the West Bank to Israel done through the dispossession of Palestinian residents’ land.

After the second Intifada in September 2000 in which more than 1,000 Israelis and 6,000 Palestinians were killed, the IDF developed even more aggressive ways of action, aimed at stifling Palestinian opposition and prevent attacks on Israelis. However, as the book indicates, the “preventive” methods developed by the IDF were, in reality, intended to punish, deter and exert tighter control over the Palestinian population. In addition, the IDF obscured the distinction between using force against terrorist and using force against civilians.

Although the IDF has repeatedly claimed that its policy of assassinations is used against those who plan or carry out terrorist attacks, the soldiers’ testimonies reveal that this principle was not always followed, even when there were other options available, such as arresting and trying the suspects. After invading Palestinian cities and villages, mass arrests were used to instill fear in the Palestinian civilian population and tighten Israeli military control. According to the soldiers’ testimonies, arrests were accompanied by the abuse of bound detainees, who were beaten and degraded by both Israeli soldiers and higher officials.

These and several more instances of basic human rights abuses by the IDF have left a terrorized Palestinian population, intent on keeping the land that rightfully belongs to them. The IDF actions constitute a brutal policy of dispossession, with surprisingly little international outcry shown in meaningful actions for justice.

A study entitled “Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid?” by the Middle East Project of the Democracy and Governance Programme of the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa is also a re-assessment of Israel’s practices in the occupied Palestinian territories under international law. This study found that “the State of Israel exercises control in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) with the purpose of maintaining a system of domination by Jews over Palestinians and that this system constitutes a breach of the prohibition of apartheid.”

According to this study, “The conclusion that Israel has beached the international legal prohibitions of apartheid and colonialism in the OPT suggests that the occupation itself is illegal… The legal consequences of these findings are grave and entail obligations not merely for Israel but also for the international community as a whole.”

In summary of the present situation the study states, “Israel bears the primary responsibility for remedying the illegal situation it has created. In the first place, it has the duty to cease its unlawful activity and dismantle the structures and institutions of colonialism and apartheid that it has created. Israel is additionally required by international law to implement duties of reparation, compensation and satisfaction in order to wipe out the consequences of its unlawful acts. But above all, in common with all States, whether acting singly or through the agency of inter-governmental organisations, Israel has the duty to promote the Palestinian people’s exercise of its right of self-determination in order that it might freely determine its political status freely pursue its own economic policy and social and cultural development.”

Dr. César Chelala is an award-winning writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

I have Malawi in my mind, a country I visited several years ago. As a public health consultant, I had visited an official at an international development agency in New York and had left his office in total frustration. Although the man I met there was very pleasant, I couldn’t see how this meeting could lead me anywhere professionally. I was wrong.

• Arable Land with Mulanje Mountains in the background. Photo courtesy of the author. Copyright Cesar Chelala. •

Two weeks later, I received a call from another official at the same agency. He offered me the opportunity to be part of a mission to evaluate the health status of Mozambican refugees in Malawi, a country I had some difficulty placing on the map. When I asked him who had told him about me, he said it was the official I had initially met there. Although I had never been to Africa before, I eagerly accepted.

On arriving to Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital city, I found out that my only piece of luggage had been lost in transit. Since I like to travel light, I only had with me a satchel with some toiletries, a book and the clothes I had on. To say that I was annoyed is an understatement, since I couldn’t see how I would manage the four weeks’ mission in these conditions. I was wrong again. I managed well.

I washed my underwear every night at the hotel, bought another pair of pants and was relieved not to have to carry my heavy luggage every time we visited the interior of the country. My colleagues looked at me with envy every time we had to move. Never before had I been so happy to have so few things.

• Students at Malawi's Vocational School. Photo courtesy of the author. Copyright Cesar Chelala. •

On one of the trips to the interior we passed through beautiful tea plantations that had as a backdrop a wonderful view of Mount Mulanje. Shortly afterward, our hosts wanted us to visit a vocational school, mainly for adult Malawians. I was very interested in the visit, because my wife has been involved in adult education for several years.

At the school, we went through several rooms where we saw people, mostly women learning different skills -young women learning to weave on looms, another group learning how to make wooden furniture, and a third group working on basic reading and writing in English. In this last group, I became fascinated at how adults of different ages went through the rudiments of language, despite the obvious difficulties that the tasks represented.

• Students at Malawi's Vocational School. Photo courtesy of the author. Copyright Cesar Chelala. •

While I was entertained looking at the students in this group, my companions had gone to see another class. A short time afterward, I followed them but, since I had come late, I was unable to get close to the students and remained outside the room. Still, I was able to see that this was a music class and that the adults were singing to the visitors.

The song was a wonderful melody of how beautiful their country was, how powerful its rivers, how green its mountains and how plentiful their tea plantations. It was a song full of longing and appreciation of the beauties of their country. Their voices were so well attuned, and they carried the melody so well that it seemed obvious to me that they had been practicing that song for a long time.

When the song ended, and as my companions were leaving the entrance to the room I was finally able to see the singers. Only then did I realize that I had been listening to a choir of blind men.

César Chelala is an international public health consultant and a writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is among the strongest armies in the world. According to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, it is also one the most moral ones. One wouldn’t know that for its treatment of Palestinian children. On December 13, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) stated that the Israeli military and police were violating Israeli law by detaining Palestinian children, some as young as seven years old, and interrogating them. This last denunciation follows an equally serious one of Palestinian children being sexually abused by Israeli police officers.

“They [the police] hit me and dragged along the floor. They handcuffed me with these plastic handcuffs which are very tight. I was very scared. Only when my father came they stopped,” Muslim Odeh, an 11-year-old Palestinian, told the BBC. His charges were strongly denied by the Israeli police.

According to the Geneva-based Defence for Children International (DCI) they have 100 sworn affidavits from Palestinian children who said that they were mistreated by their Israeli captors. Fourteen among them say that they were sexually abused or threatened with sexual assault to pressure them into confession.

In 2009 alone, Defence of Children International (DCI) reviewed 100 sworn affidavits which showed 81% of them were coerced into confessions, 14% were kept in solitary confinement and 4% were sexually assaulted. DCI believes that these figures may understate the extent of the problem. Many parents don’t complain to the authorities, since they feel that they cannot rely on the same system that abuses their children.

There are currently 340 children in Israeli jails, most of them convicted of throwing stones at the Israeli soldiers and police. Children’s complaints of violence are disregarded, and no proceedings are taken against those responsible.

Israel’s policy towards children detainees has been sharply criticized by human rights organizations since it denies them access to their families, although their families’ presence during some of the proceedings is allowed by Israeli law. In addition, children can only see their lawyers when they are in court.

“The ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian child prisoners appears to be widespread, systematic and institutionalized, suggesting complicity at all levels of the political and military chain of command,” according also to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization.

Inside the occupied territories the Israeli military considers any Palestinian who is 16 years old or older as an adult, while inside Israel and in most other countries adulthood is reached at 18. Mistreatment of children is against the tenets of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by Israel in 1991.

In Israel, the rules related to rights of minors in criminal proceedings are contained in Amendment 14 to the Youth Law, enacted in July of 2008, which took effect one year later. This amendment’s goal is meant to incorporate the rules of international law into Israeli legislation, particularly those related to the treatment of juveniles in criminal matters and the obligations derived from them.

At he same that these abuses are taking place, Palestinian children’s education has been sharply affected by the situation in the occupied territories. Thousands of Palestinian children in East Jerusalem are unable to attend school since there is no room for them in the state school system, while the drop-out rate is the highest in the Israeli school system. There is a shortage of approximately 1,500 classrooms in East Jerusalem. This means that only about half of all Palestinian children in the city attend state schools, according to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

As Palestinian children’s abuse continues, so does the construction of settlements in Israeli occupied Palestinian land. One cannot but wonder at the international silence to these systematic abuses of Palestinian’s basic human rights.

Cesar Chelala, MD, PhD, is an international public health consultant and an award-winning writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

Inequality and unequal access to education holds millions of girls and women back over the world. While the "gender gap" in education has narrowed over the past decade, girls are still at a disadvantage, particularly in their access to high school education. Women still constitute two-thirds of the world’s illiterate population.

This gender gap is generally wider at higher levels of schooling. According to some estimates, women in South Asia, for example, have only half as many years of education as men, and female enrollment rates at the high school level are two-thirds of those of males.

Within countries, gender disparities are also greater among the poor, and in some countries those disparities continue among the poor even after they have disappeared among the wealthier sectors of the population. To be a girl from a poor family thus becomes a double disadvantage. In addition, gender bias -- approaches to teaching and the degree of attention from teachers -- puts girls at a further disadvantage.

Overall access to basic education has risen markedly over the past decade in many developing countries. In spite of that, however, poor children are still less likely to attend school, less likely to be enrolled in school and more likely to repeat grades than those who come from wealthier families.

There is widespread agreement that primary school should become universal early in this century, but the differences in educational attendance and attainment according to economic status show that the poor are much further away from achieving this goal than those better off economically.

There are several reasons to explain this gap. It is harder for poor children to have easy access to schools, since schools tend to be concentrated in cities and areas where only better-off families reside. The physical availability of schools, though, is not the most critical factor in most developing countries. It is important to consider not only national averages but also how poor girls in rural areas are faring.

Although expenditures in education have increased over the past few decades in many countries, unless these resources are specifically addressed to those most vulnerable, they will tend to increase disparities rather than decrease them.

Attainment disparities have been attributed to ineffective school systems. Governments tend to spend less on public primary and high school education -- the type of schooling that tends to benefit the poor most -- during economic crises. Wars, civil conflicts, economic disruptions and epidemics alter services and affect school attendance. All of these problems are likely to have a greater effect on the poor.

Elimination of gender bias in education is particularly important when the level of education of parents is linked to their children's educational attainment. Several studies have shown that the education of the mother is more important than that of the father in terms of children’s success. In addition, a great deal of evidence shows the benefits of women's schooling not only for their children's educational attainment but also for their health, nutrition and survival. Immunization rates among children of educated mothers, for example, are consistently higher than those of uneducated mothers.

Educated girls can develop essential life skills, including self-confidence, the ability to participate effectively in society, and the capacity to better protect themselves from HIV/AIDS and sexual exploitation. In addition, several studies have shown that educated women not only have fewer children but also have better economic prospects themselves.

Girls’ education not only empowers them, but is considered the best investment in a country’s development.

Several factors indicate that special attention must be paid to the poor. Poor women are far more likely to die as a result of pregnancy and childbirth. Investments in education for the poorer sectors of the population yield better returns in productivity, income and economic growth. Inequality in the distribution of education holds down growth and per capita income in many countries.

Attacking poverty has become an urgent global priority. And one of the best ways to attack poverty is to increase the educational level of the poor, particularly the girls among them.

Cesar Chelala, MD, Ph.D., is an international public health consultant. He writes extensively on health and human rights issues.

“I heard a thundering sound and saw darkness all around me. I spent three months in the hospital –and lost my leg and my son. I had stepped on a landmine and the world as I knew it had come to a halting end,” wrote Monica Piloya, chairperson of the Gulu/Amuru Landmine Survivors’ Network in northern Uganda. She is one of the thousands of women who have been maimed by landmines.

On November 30, 2010, Fifteen Nobel Peace Prize recipients sent a letter to President Barak Obama urging him to join the ban on antipersonnel landmines. The U.S. is still one of 39 states that remain outside the treaty. The Tenth Meeting of the States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty is being held at the United Nations in Geneva from November 30 to December 3, 2010. The U.S. is attending as an observer delegation.

Mrs. Piloya’s ordeal didn’t end with those losses. “I returned to live with my husband, but everything had changed. He verbally abused me, telling me I was useless, helpless. My in-laws told him, ’Monica is disabled; get another woman.’ After a year, my husband left. I was four months pregnant at the time and struggling to care for my older child as well.”

Traumatic as her losses had been, however, Mrs. Piloya was able to overcome her difficulties. Slowly, she rebuilt her life. She started selling fish in the local market, which covers hers and her child’s expenses and has become the leader of a landmine survivor organization in northern Uganda.

Not all landmine victims, however, are able to reorient their lives. For those who are not killed, the disabilities left as sequelae of the landmine explosion are difficult to overcome and leave permanent scars in their lives, particularly in the case of children. UNICEF estimates that 30-40 percent of mine victims are children under 15 years old.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) estimates that 15,000-20,000 people are injured or killed by landmines every year, and that millions more suffer from the economic, physical and psychological consequences of the weapon. The U.S. State Department estimates that fewer than one in four landmine amputees is fitted with an adequate prosthesis.

There are presently millions of landmines and other unexploded ordnance in the ground in more than 80 countries. From 1969 to 1992 the U.S. has exported an estimated 4.4 million antipersonnel mines to countries such as Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Somalia, and Vietnam.

The U.S. military has not been immune to the dangers of landmines. These weapons have killed thousands of U.S. and allied troops in every U.S.-fought conflict since World War II, including hundreds of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, in addition to civilian and soldiers from those countries. In the 1991 Gulf War, landmines caused 34 % of U.S. casualties. In spite of that, the U.S. is one of only about 14 countries that refuses to agree that it will never again produce the weapon.

The arguments in favor of the usefulness of landmines use are not valid. In 1996, an International Committee of the Red Cross study, “Antipersonnel Landmines –Friend or Foe?” concluded that they are not indispensable weapons, and that they do not necessarily offer a military advantage.

In addition, because they are indiscriminate and inhumane weapons, their use goes against international humanitarian law. Among the provisions of the Additional Protocol I (1977) to the Geneva Conventions, there are rules that seek to protect civilians by limiting the “means and methods of warfare.” Although the Additional Protocol I does not deal with specific weapons, it provides a general framework of rules applicable in international armed conflicts.

In 2009, Ian Kelley, State Department spokesman, declared that the U.S. wouldn’t join its NATO allies and many other countries in formally banning landmines. By insisting on this policy, the U.S. is complicit in the unnecessary suffering and maiming of thousands of civilians worldwide.

Dr. César Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

For a long time it has been one of Nicaragua most guarded secrets. But a new Amnesty International report, “Listen to their Voice and Act: Stop the Rape and Sexual Abuse of Girls in Nicaragua,” brings it to light. Rape of teenagers in Nicaragua is widespread, and nothing is being done to stop it.

It doesn’t help that Nicaragua’s president, Daniel Ortega, was accused by his own step-daughter that he had been sexually abused by her. In 1998, Zoilamerica Narvaez Murillo accused Ortega of having abused her since she was 11, a situation that started in 1979 and lasted for 19 years.

Both Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, repeatedly denied the charges and said that they were politically motivated. Although a judge dismissed Narvaez’s charge, the Movimiento Autónomo de Mujeres de Nicaragua (Nicaragua’s Women Autonomous Movement) stated that history would not absolve Ortega politically or morally despite the ruling.

At the time, the case could not proceed in Nicaraguan courts because Ortega had immunity from prosecution as a member of parliament, there was a five-year statute of limitations for sexual abuse, and rape charges in that context fall under the proviso of statute of limitation.

Regrettably, Narvaez’s case is far from unique in Nicaragua. Between 1998 and 2008, more than 14,000 cases of rape among girls under 17 were reported, according to official statistics. Experts believe, though, that this is just a small percentage of the total; the number would be much higher if the number of cases also included incest.

Two-thirds of rape victims in Nicaragua are under the age of 17, according to Amnesty International. Information is difficult to find for those at risk or suffering sexual violence. In many cases, the stigma associated with sexual crimes blames the victims, not the perpetrators. “Every day, girls in Nicaragua are suffering the horror of sexual violence in silence, rather than risk the rejection that many suffer when they speak out,” stated Esther Major, Amnesty International Central America researcher.

Many victims of rape or sexual abuse rarely go as far as demand prosecution for those crimes, because the legal process is too traumatic or too expensive for them. For those who proceed with the charges, failures in the justice system mean that the attackers frequently walk free. Because most perpetrators are relatives of the victims or people in a position of power, victims are under heavy pressure not to denounce the abuse.

In Nicaragua, the situation is even more serious because of the ban on abortion, regardless of circumstance, which compels incest and rape victims to bear children and thus contributes to the increase in maternal deaths, a fact that had been denounced by Amnesty International.

According to the 2008 penal code regulations abortion is criminalized, with prison sentences for women who undergo the procedure and criminal sanctions for doctors and nurses who help them. “Children are being compelled to bear children. Pregnant women are being denied essential life saving medical care,” stated Kate Gilmore, Amnesty International’s UK Director, at a press conference in Mexico City. I can think of almost no worst fate for a young girl than having a child from the man whom she detests.

The Nicaraguan government needs to provide economic help and psychological assistance to victims of rape, to allow them to rebuild their lives, and the judicial system should be open to allow that the girls’ complaints are heard and properly addressed. At the same time, laws on abortion should be modified so that the victims of rape will be better able to overcome the ordeal they went through.

Nicaragua overcame a bloody civil war to enjoy the fruits of democracy. An essential component of this process is to guarantee gender equality and to eliminate the most brutal forms of abuse and discrimination.

Dr. César Chelala is an international public health consultant and an award-winning writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

As a writer on human rights issues I don’t lack reasons for concern. There are not too many countries nowadays where human rights in some form are not abused, where violence does not strike in one of its multiple forms. Although writing topics are plentiful, this situation is especially upsetting. At such moments, I visit one of the many neighborhoods outside Manhattan, where I live, and where the change of locale can do wonders for my mood.

One of my favorite places is Brighton Beach, a community in Coney Island in the borough of Brooklyn, a subway ride away from Manhattan. In summer, I go to the boardwalk, sit in front of the sea and the salt breeze energizes me. When it gets colder, I then visit one of the plentiful ethnic stores and delight in their variety. When my appetite is in full force I go to one of the many restaurants in the area to savor food unlike what I eat at home every day.

The area is populated mainly by Jewish immigrants that left the former Soviet Union starting in the 1970s and whose influx continues today. Years ago, the area was dubbed “Little Odessa,” since many of its residents came from Odessa, a city in the Ukraine. I remember the welcome surprise of a friend -with whom I was having dinner at one of the local Russian restaurants- when he realized how many patrons came from his parents’ hometown.

More recently, new waves of immigrants have joined the Russians: Chinese, Vietnamese, Armenian, Turkish, Mexican and Pakistanis make of this an even more cosmopolitan neighborhood. During the summer, they come in throngs to enjoy the beach.

Reading the news today has been particularly disheartening: the continuous impasse between Israelis and Palestinians, with no hint of an effective rapprochement between them. And the sustained violence in Afghanistan and Iraq, countries whose sores never heal. Bombs planted in Baghdad in 12 cars and detonated by remote control killed 122 people and hurt 360, throwing Iraqis into further desperation. “No one knows who is who. Nobody knows when something will happen. Bombing after bombing. Killing after killing. It is a mess,” an Iraqi man was quoted with desperation in his voice.

A few days later a bomb in a Pakistani mosque killed 66 people and wounded more than 80. The attack was carried out by a suicide bomber and may have been aimed at village elders who had formed a militia to resist incursions by the Taliban. Life has become a cheap commodity.

I want to forget about these events. I take the subway and after almost an hour I am in another world. I am sitting by the sea in Brighton Beach. Today is a relatively cold day so there are few people around. A young woman comes with her child and sits next to me. The child is sent to play on the sand. By the occasional remarks the woman makes to him I take her to be of Russian origin.

The child is happily playing with a ball. Suddenly he leaves the ball. Seeing a line of giant ants moving along the sand, he takes a couple of them and crushes them with one hand. Putting her knitting aside, his mother beckons him, puts her hand on his shoulder and in heavily accented English quietly but firmly says, “Don’t do that. You don’t hurt nobody - do you hear me? - you don’t hurt nobody.” The child looks at her with a mixture of fear and surprise and slowly drops the dead ants on the sand. The incident taught me, quite unexpectedly, that some of life's earliest and most valuable lessons do seem to get lost along the way. And gave me a reason for hope.

Dr. César Chelala is an award-winning writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

Several human rights groups are united in their demand that former president George W. Bush face prosecution following his open admission that he authorized the use of waterboarding, one of the cruelest forms of torture. Former president Bush made his admission during interviews publicizing his book, Decision Points. Bush’s admission of having authorized torture, however serious the claim is, is just one of the reasons for which the former president could be prosecuted.

During an interview with NBC News Bush said, “Three people were waterboarded and I believe that decision saved lives.” And he added, “My job was to protect America. And I did.” This is not the opinion of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch, three of the most prestigious human rights organizations.

“The Department of Justice has made clear that waterboarding is torture and, as such, a crime under the federal anti-torture statute.18 U.S.C. 2340 (c). The United States has historically prosecuted waterboarding as a crime. In light of the admission by the former President, and the legally correct determination by the Department of Justice that waterboarding is a crime, you should ensure that Mr. Durham’s current investigation into detainee interrogations encompasses the conduct and decisions of former President Bush,” says the ACLU in a letter addressed to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

According to Human Rights Watch, the U.S. government’s conduct on alleged torture of its detainees sends an “ugly message” to the international community. “It sends the ugly message that there are no legal consequences in the United States for committing the most heinous of international crimes,” said in a statement Joanne Mariner, a counter-terrorism program director at Human Rights Watch.

While the U.S. has so far taken a lenient attitude towards those that committed or ordained human rights abuses such as torture, both Argentina and Peru have shown that it is possible to indict and punish the highest officials in the land.

In Argentina, more than 30 high ranking officials, including several members of Argentina’s military juntas, were prosecuted and sent to prison on long sentences following their indictment for human rights abuses committed while the military were in power. Among those crimes were the torture and enforced “disappearance” of prisoners.

In Peru, in 2009, former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in jail for ordering killings and kidnapping by security forces. Mr. Fujimori was already serving a six-year term after being found guilty in 2007 on separate charges of abuse of power.

“Under international law, the former President’s admission to having authorized acts that amount to torture are enough to trigger the USA’s obligations to investigate his admissions and if substantiated, to prosecute him,” said Claudio Cordone, senior director at Amnesty International. And he added, “His admissions also highlighted once again the absence of accountability for the crimes under international law of torture and enforced disappearance committed by the USA.”

Regarding its request to prosecute former President Bush the ACLU stated, “The ACLU acknowledges the significance of this request, but it bears emphasis that the former President’s acknowledgment that he authorized torture is without parallel in American history. The admission cannot be ignored. In our system, no one is above the law or beyond its reach, not even a former president.”

During his recent visit to Indonesia, President Barak Obama urged the leaders of that country to acknowledge the human rights abuses of the Suharto regime. Among those abuses is the 1991 killing of over 200 East Timorese civilians in Dili, East Timor. The same principles should be applied to the conduct of former president George W. Bush. As stated by the ACLU, “A nation committed to the rule of law cannot simply ignore evidence that its most senior leaders authorized torture.”

César Chelala, MD, PhD, is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

In his recently published memoirs called Decision Points, and in interviews publicizing those memoirs, former President Bush makes it clear his stand on what many consider a basic human rights violation: the use of waterboarding as a torture technique. With characteristic insouciance, Mr. Bush expresses his unqualified support for torture.

Waterboarding is one of the most cruel torture techniques, used in many countries worldwide. The technique has been practiced, among others, by the Spanish Inquisition and by the French paratroopers in Algeria. It has been also used by American soldiers in Vietnam and by the British Army in Northern Ireland.

During waterboarding, the subject is immobilized keeping his back with the head inclined downwards. Water is then poured over the face and then it goes into breathing passages and triggers a reflex causing the subject to experience the sensation of drowning. CIA officers who volunteered to experience the technique have lasted an average of 14 seconds before capitulating.

Although there is some discrepancy on the legality on the use of this technique, there is no discrepancy on its consequences. “Waterboarding or mock drowning, where a prisoner is bound to an inclined board and water is poured over his face, inducing a terrifying fear of drowning clearly can result in immediate and long-term health consequences. As the prisoner gags and chokes, the terror of imminent death is pervasive, with all the physiologic and psychological responses expected, including an intense stress response, manifested by tachycardia (rapid heart beat) and gasping for breath. There is a real risk of death from actually drowning or suffering a heart attack or damage to the lungs from inhalation of water. Long term effects include panic attacks, depression and PTSD,” declared Dr. Allen Keller, director of the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture, at the Hearing on U.S. Interrogation Policy and Executive Order 13440, to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

There are also questions about the effectiveness of waterboarding as a torture technique. “It is bad interrogation. I mean you can get anyone to confess to anything if the torture is bad enough,” said former CIA officer Robert Baer. Several other former CIA officers have the same point of view.

Former President George W. Bush and officials in his administration such as former vice-president Dick Cheney and former attorney general John Ashcroft have stated, since leaving office, that they don’t consider waterboarding to be torture. However, Senator John McCain, who has some personal experience on this issue, has stated unequivocally that he considers waterboarding to be torture.

Evan Wallach, who teaches the law of war at Brooklyn Law School and New York Law School wrote in 2007 that a the Tokyo War Crimes Trials after World War II, leading Japanese officers were charged, among many other crimes, with torturing Allied military personnel and civilians. The critical proof upon which their torture convictions were based was conduct now called waterboarding.

“I would have no problems with describing this practice as falling under the prohibition for torture,” stated Louise Arbour, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. And she also stated that violators of the UN Convention Against Torture should be prosecuted under the principle of universal jurisdiction.

Former president George W. Bush insists in his book that waterboarding is not torture, but it is just one of a number of “enhanced interrogation techniques.” This point of view is not shared by officials within the British government, who agree with President Barak Obama that water boarding constitutes torture, and has banned the used of such practice.

Former president Bush said that waterboarding is “highly effective” and added that its use provided “large amounts of information.” Although former president Bush has no regrets in having authorized the use of torture, Douglas Johnson, executive director of the Center for Victims of Torture, declared, “This cavalier attitude by the President who authorized torture in violation of US and international law not only damages our nation’s credibility throughout the world, but also discourages global cooperation to combat terrorism.”

César Chelala, MD, PhD, is an award-winning writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

During the last few years, Palestinian olive trees -- a universal symbol of life and peace-- have been systematically destroyed by Israeli settlers. “It has reached a crescendo. What might look like ad hoc violence is actually a tool the settlers are using to push back Palestinian farmers from their own land,” stated a spokeswoman for Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organization monitoring incidents in the West Bank.

The tree and its oil have a special significance throughout the Middle East. It is an essential aspect of Palestinian culture, heritage and identity, and has been mentioned in the Bible, the Qur’an, and the Torah. Many families depend on the olive trees for their livelihood.

Olive oil is a key product of the Palestinian national economy, and olive production is the main product in terms of total agricultural production, making up 25% of the total agricultural production in the West Bank. Palestinians plant around 10,000 new olive trees in the West Bank every year. Most of the new plants are from the oil-producing variety. Olive oil is the second major export item in Palestine.

For the last forty years, over a million of olive trees and hundreds of thousands of fruit trees have been destroyed in Palestinian lands. The Israel Defense Forces have been accused of uprooting olive trees to facilitate the building of settlements, expand roads and build infrastructure. The uprooting of centuries-old olive trees has caused tremendous losses to farmers and their families. At the same time, restrictions to harvesting have come through curfews, security closures and attacks by settlers.

The uprooting of olive trees by the Israel Defense Forces and by settlers are done to protect the settlers, since they are supposedly used to protect gunmen or stone throwers. “The tree removals are for the safety of settlers…No one should tell me that an olive tree is more important than a human life,” declared IDF army commander, Colonel Eitan Abrahams.

As a result of the attacks on farmers by the IDF and by settlers, the farmers “can’t get to their lands and work them. The settlers chase the farmers, shoot in the air, threaten their lives, confiscate their ID cards and damage the crops,” declared B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization.

Yesh Din has declared that not even one of 69 complaints filed during the past four years on damage to Palestinians trees in the West Bank has resulted n an indictment. The toll includes thousands of trees from several areas from Susya in the southern Hebron Hills to Salem in northern Samaria.

Rabbis for Human Rights has declared that, in recent weeks, the olives from about 600 trees near the settlement of Havat Gilad were stolen before their Palestinian owners could harvest them.

In a review he wrote on this issue, Atyaf Alwazir, a young Muslim American, stated that the uprooting of trees from Palestinian lands violates the Paris Protocols, The Hague and Geneva Conventions and the Covenant on Economics, Social and Cultural Rights. According to Sonja Karkar, founder of Women for Palestine in Melbourne, Australia, uprooting olive trees is contrary to the Halakha (the collective body of Jewish religious law) principle whose origin is found in the Torah, “Even if you are at war with a city….you must not destroy its trees.”

What do settlers actually want? To destroy Palestinians’ livelihood with impunity? To create a barren land, unfit for trees and people? Perhaps they should be reminded of the A.E. Housman verses,

Give me a land of boughs in leaf,

A land of trees that stand;

Where trees are fallen there is grief;

I love no leafless land.

César Chelala is an award-winning writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

Gender violence, manifested essentially as violence against women, is one of the most significant epidemics in the Arab countries today. This kind of violence occurs in practically all countries in the region and affects families of all backgrounds, religions and social spheres. It affects not only families but societies as a whole.

Worldwide, violence is as common a cause of death and disability as cancer among women of reproductive age. It is also a greater cause of ill health than traffic accidents and malaria put together. Public health experts increasingly consider violence against women a public health issue, one requiring a public health approach.

Various cultural, economic and social factors, including shame and fear of retaliation from their partners, contribute to women’s reluctance to denounce these acts. The lack of effective judicial response to their accusations contributes to their discouragement.

The experience of violence makes women more susceptible to a variety of health problems such as depression, suicide, and alcohol and drug abuse. Sexual violence increases women’s risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, including VIH/AIDS (through forced sexual relations or because of the difficulty in persuading men to use condoms). It may also lead to various gynecological problems.

The World Organization Against Torture has expressed its concern regarding the high levels of violence against women worldwide. Although provisions related to domestic violence are included in several national policies and laws, there are difficulties in implementing them. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “nearly half of women who die due to homicide are killed by their current or former husbands or boyfriends.”

Studies carried out in the Arab world show that 70 percent of violence occurs in big cities, and that in almost 80 percent of cases those responsible are the heads of families, such as fathers or eldest brothers. Both fathers and eldest brothers, in most cases, assert their right to punish their wives and children in any way they see appropriate.

In recent years, there has been some progress regarding this issue. Tunisia, for example, continues to raise the bar for Arab women’s rights in the 21st century. In 1993, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who succeeded Habib Bourguiba as president of the country, improved the Code of Personal Status to give more rights to women. Article 207 in the penal code reducing the penalties for honor crimes was also abolished.

In Lebanon, there are no statistics about domestic violence, a subject that still remains a taboo in Lebanese society. In 2009, however, a photographer and women’s rights activist, Dalia Khamissy has produced, with nine other women, an exhibition of photographs, “Behind the Doors: Through the Eyes of Women Survivors of Violence,” which has served to highlight the problem in the country.

In 2009, the second Arab Regional Conference for Family Protection took place in Jordan. It was held under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania, chairperson of the National Council for Family Affairs (NCFA). The conference formulated a unified strategy for safeguarding families from domestic violence, with the attendance of family experts and sociologists from the Arab world,.

In Morocco, the Union of Women’s Action (UAF) has organized forums to raise public awareness of violence against women, and to lobby local groups to protect victimized women. At the same time, counseling centers have been set up to allow women to talk about their problem and to receive help. In Egypt, where the phenomenon is pervasive in society, Beit Hawa (The House of Eve) has been founded as the first comprehensive women’s shelter in Egypt and the Arab world.

But more work has to be done if this epidemic of violence is going to be controlled. Government and community leaders should spearhead an effort to create a culture of openness and support to eliminate the stigma associated with this situation.

The problem of domestic violence will be eliminated through both education and the widespread use of mass media. Through education, by instilling in the younger generations the concept of equality between men and women and the need for mutual respect to have an harmonious relationship between them. And by the use of mass media, to insist that it is a cowardly act for men to abuse women taking advantage that they are physically stronger, as suggests Carlos Duguech, a peace activist from Argentina.

Furthermore, it is necessary not only to enact but also to enforce legislation that criminalizes all forms of violence against women, including marital rape. Laws should be followed up with plans for specific national action.

The 2009 report by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) stated that women’s lack of social participation “is primarily attributable to the existence of discriminatory laws, failure to implement the non-discriminatory legislation that does exist and a lack of awareness by women of their rights in such matters.”

There cannot be true development in the Arab world without women’s progress and the recognition of their rights. As the last Human Development Report stated, “The rise of Arab women is in fact a prerequisite for an Arab renaissance and causally linked to the fate of the Arab world and its achievement of human development.”

César Chelala, MD, PhD, is an international public health consultant and the author of the Pan American Health Organization publication Violence in the Americas.

Perhaps there is no better observation of the government of Mrs. Cristina Kirchner, Argentina’s President, than the one given by Mario Vargas Llosa, the latest Nobel laureate in Literature. When asked about it, Mr. Vargas Llosa said that Mrs. Kirchner was leading a government riddled by corruption. “I love Argentina,” he told me recently in New York, “and it hurts me to see what is going on in your country.” The death of former president Néstor Kirchner will only make things more difficult for Mrs. Cristina Kirchner.

Mrs. Kirchner has made serious mistakes on several fronts. Among them, using rough tactics, government officials have dismantled the INDEC (National Institute of Statistics and Censuses) of its technical personnel and replaced them with those loyal to the government. As a result, that institution has lost all credibility. According to Argentina’s government, inflation in 2009 was below 8%. However, according to independent economists and consumer groups inflation ranged between 15 and 18% during that same year.

This doesn’t faze the president, who continues to insist that Argentina has a phenomenal economic growth rate. The astronomical raise in subsidies for poor families, however, belies her assertions. In a country’s usual paternalistic culture Mrs. Kirchner has taken that paternalism to extremes. Work ethics, an essential component of the social fabric necessary for a country’s development, is rapidly being eroded.

Mrs. Kirchner has also developed a confrontational style of government. As with many authoritarian leaders, she states that he who is not with her is against her and is to be treated accordingly. She has surrounded herself with a coterie of sycophants who seem to isolate her of reality. One of her ministers attends some meetings with a gun, which he ostentatiously places on top of a table before starting the discussion. She doesn’t seem to realize that people are increasingly against her policies and condemn her imperious behavior.

While Mr. Lula, Brazil’s president, incorporated 30 million poor into the middle class through his economic policies, more than 25% of Argentines live below the poverty line, a situation that has been sharply criticized by Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, Buenos Aires’s Archbishop, the Catholic Church’s highest authority in Argentina.

“We are noticing a situation of dramatic poverty and unemployment,” said Cardinal Bergoglio in 2009. “More and more people are sleeping in the streets, and they have become disposable materials,” he added. Cardinal Bergoglio’s words followed a message by Pope Benedict XVI to the Argentine government demanding action to combat “scandalous poverty.”

“There is no other country with such social regression, such social shame,” stated Bernardo Kosakoff, director of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in Argentina. I can easily believe this statement. As I write this, I am seated at a popular restaurant in Buenos Aires. Through the window I see a very old woman bent under the weight of the largest plastic bag I have ever seen full with garbage, which she collects from garbage cans placed on the street.

This is happening at the same time that the Kirchner’s personal fortune is increasing at outrageous levels. The Anti Corruption Bureau is conducting an investigation into alleged malfeasance by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, after a sworn statement by the president and her former husband stated that their assets had grown 158 percent in a year.

While quite efficient in their own financial affairs, the Kirchner’s have failed to create the conditions for Argentina’s future development. With the death of former president Néstor Kirchner, whom many people believed was the real power behind the throne, Mrs. Kirchner has the opportunity to change policy and exert her own mark in Argentina’s government. The country desperately needs it.

César Chelala is a writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

President Barack Obama should investigate US’ forces involvement in human rights abuses in Iraq, declared Manfred Novak, the UN’s chief investigator on torture. A failure to investigate them would also be a failure of the Obama administration to recognize its obligations under international law, added Nowak. Nowak’s demands follow WikiLeaks' massive release of military documents that detail torture, summary executions and war crimes.

According to Nowak, if the files released through WikiLeaks indicate a clear violation of the UN Convention Against Torture, the Obama administration has a clear obligation to investigate them. He added that UN human rights agreements oblige states to criminalize every form of torture, conducted either directly or indirectly, and to investigate any allegations of abuse.

Although both US and UK officials have insisted that no official record of civilian casualties exist, the Wikileaks logs show 66,081 non-combatant deaths out of a total of 109,000 fatalities. Although these are high figures, they do not include many more deaths from other causes during the Iraq conflict.

Information contained in the released information by WikiLeaks detail how the US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers. According to the Pentagon, however, when reports of abuse by the Iraq police or Iraq soldiers were received, the US military notified the responsible government of Iraq agency or ministry for investigation and follow-up.

In addition to Nowak’s demands, Phil Shiner, a human rights specialist at Public Interest Lawyers in the UK, declared that some of the deaths in the Iraq war logs could have also involved British forces and would be pursued through British courts. Shiner also demanded a public inquiry into allegations that British troops were responsible for Iraqi civilian deaths during the war.

Article 2 of the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment establishes that, 1. Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction. 2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture. 3. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.

Already in 2006, Manfred Novak had declared that the situation in Iraq, including the torture of prisoners, was “out of control”, with abuses being committed by security forces, militia groups and anti-US insurgents. “Torture may be worse now than under former leader Saddam Hussein,” he added.

Article 3 of the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment states that “No State Party shall expel, return (“refouler”) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.” The US, according to Nowak, had therefore an obligation “whenever they expel, extradite or hand over any detainees to the authorities of another state to assess whether or not these individuals are under specific risk of torture.” These conditions were not probably followed by US authorities.

Reacting to this new wave of leaks the Pentagon stated, “Our enemies will mine this information looking for insights into how we operate, cultivate sources and react in combat situations, even the capability of our equipment.” Unless there is a thorough investigation of abuses, however, we cannot expect an effective closure of this tragic chapter in US history.

Dr. César Chelala is an award-winning writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

The rapid spread of the HIV infection in China is having a devastating impact on the country's children, and threatens to become an epidemic with significant social and public health repercussions due to the rapid rise in AIDS orphan population. The increased number of AIDS orphans in China parallels the increasing number of AIDS orphans worldwide, and is one of the most serious consequences of the AIDS epidemic today.

In rural China, many villages that up to now have had very few orphans have seen their rates soar following AIDS' deaths of their parents as a result of blood transfusions with contaminated needles. Until recently the remaining relatives used to take care of the children. Because in many cases those relatives are now affected by HIV/AIDS, they have become unable to provide basic support to children in their families. The toll on children has become so serious that UNICEF has included a new indicator related to the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in its "child risk measure."

In 2003 it was estimated that worldwide more than 13 million children under 15 had lost one or both parents to AIDS. Although Thailand has the largest number of AIDS orphans —usually defined as children under 15 who have lost their mother or both parents to AIDS—their number is increasing fast in other Asian countries.

In Cambodia, Malaysia and India, the number of AIDS orphans has increased by 400 percent from 1994 to 1997. This rate of increase is similar to that of countries such as Namibia, South Africa and Botswana. Although proportionally the number of AIDS' orphans in Asia is much lower than in Sub-Saharan Africa, in absolute numbers there are more orphans due to AIDS in Asia than in Africa.

Orphaning is a worldwide problem. It is estimated that by 2010 106 million children will lose one or both parents, and 25 million of them will be orphaned because of AIDS. According to estimates of China's Ministry of Health there are at least 100,000 AIDS orphans in China. UNICEF's China Office estimates that over the next five years 150,000 to 250,000 additional children will be orphaned by AIDS.

Since 2003, UNICEF has worked with local health authorities and workers, the Women's Federation and communities to provide both psychological and social support to children affected by AIDS. It has also provided support to Summer Camps for Children Affected by AIDS, helping raise awareness about their needs.

Children orphaned because of their parents' death by AIDS are likely to be malnourished and unschooled, and are at greater risk of becoming HIV-infected themselves. At the same time, because they are emotionally vulnerable, when they grow up they may tend to engage in risky sexual behavior that may lead to a vicious cycle of abuse and exploitation.

What makes this situation particularly worrisome is that the number of orphans will continue to rise for at least the next decade. Orphans due to HIV/AIDS are part of a much larger problem, since countries that have high rates of AIDS' orphans also have high number of children directly affected by the epidemic, and who are often just as vulnerable. Although their total number is difficult to assess, it has been estimated that over 3 million children worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS.

It is necessary to develop a major educational campaign to make people aware of the dangers of the infection not only to them but also the risks it poses to their children. The majority of people in China still don't know how HIV is transmitted. According to a survey carried out in 2004 by the Futures Group Europe and the Beijing-based Horizon Research Group, only 8.7 of Chinese knew how HIV is transmitted and 25 percent of rural residents hadn't even heard of the infection.

To help AIDS' orphans in a more immediate and practical way it is necessary to strengthen the capacity of extended families to protect and care for orphan children by providing them with financial aid by local councils or provincial governments. Orphan children's special needs should also be addressed through community-based responses and by increasing the capacity of local orphanages.

It is also necessary to support the work of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) such as the China AIDS Orphan Fund who have been working in collaboration with other NGOs to improve Chinese orphans' health, education, and quality of life.

It is critical to diminish the stigma surrounding the HIV infection. Often times, children who have lost their parents to AIDS are assumed to be also infected with HIV, which further stigmatizes them. It is critical to develop new government policies including legal, education and labor frameworks, and to make sure that these policies will be followed.

Dr. César Chelala is an international public health consultant and the author of AIDS: A Modern Epidemic, a Pan American Health Organization publication.

With hopes for a successful outcome to the peace negotiations initiated by the Obama administration rapidly evaporating, where do the Palestinians go from here? The leading Israeli peace organization, Gush Shalom, has proposed that the Palestinian people declare statehood. It would welcome the declaration of the Free State of Palestine, says Gush Shalom. And the Arab League is prepared to request recognition from the UN General Assembly of a Palestinian State.

The Netanyahu government in lifting the floodgates of Israeli construction in East Jerusalem has in fact condemned the negotiations to failure: more Israeli settlements will be built on Palestinian land, more expulsions of Palestinians. In 2008 alone, 4,600 Palestinians were shorn of their residence papers and banished from their homes.

The Palestinians have made considerable concessions over the years in accepting a territory limited to the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, an area significantly smaller than that awarded them under UN resolution 181. At the time of that resolution, which recommended the division of the British Mandate of Palestine into two provisional states--one Jewish and one Arab--the General Assembly also recommended that the City of Jerusalem be administered by the United Nations, an option that certainly remains valid today.

There is little doubt that the Israeli government would condemn and reject a unilateral declaration of statehood, as it did back in 1978 at Camp David when Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian president, called for the creation of a Palestinian State in Gaza and the West Bank. The status of Jerusalem, however, is another matter: a precedent exists with the proposal made in 2007 by then Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that East Jerusalem become the capital of the future Palestinian state.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has stated that he favors a two-state solution to the Palestinian problem although the decisions of his government belie that position. A unilateral declaration of statehood is fraught with complications and Mr. Netanyahu has warned the Palestinians that such a declaration would prompt Israeli counter-measures including annexation of more of the occupied West Bank. From the standpoint of international law and UN Security Council Resolution 465, any further annexation of Palestinian land would be illegal. Moreover, installing Israeli citizens on occupied land would constitute a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and a crime of war.

A declaration of statehood would provide the Palestinian people with a much needed sense of belonging to each other and to the community of nations, at the same time redressing one of the greatest injustices of recent times. Palestinians cannot forget that they once occupied the land from which they are now forcibly ejected. As the poet said, “There is no more cruel prison than memory.”

Dr. César Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

Tucumán, Argentina

Coming home to my native Tucumán, a city in the North of Argentina, has become almost a ritual for me. And, predictably, it has its bittersweet moments.

My native town and New York, the city where I have lived for the last 40 years, are quite different. Relatively small and gregarious the former, the latter is big and anonymous.

Bitter moments are learning the loss of loved ones, whose impact is greater when living far away. The loss is compounded by a feeling of nostalgia (nostalgia is not what it used to be, as the saying goes). It happens when realizing that the city one has left is now a totally new city, a totally new and different urban landscape.

Pablo Neruda, the noted Chilean poet, poignantly expressed this feeling. Coming back to Chile, after a long stay overseas he wrote in the poem “Return to a city” (translated by Alastair Reid):

I come back not to return;
no more do I wish to mislead myself.
It is dangerous to wander
backward, for all of a sudden
the past turns into a prison.

These unsettling feelings are balanced by seeing old friends and relatives again, and by the pleasures of the unexpected.

I travel with my wife to Salta, a town further north. On the way we stop at Amaicha del Valle, a small town in the mountains reputed —at least by the natives— to have the best climate in the world. Remembering that a cousin whom I haven´t seen in more than 45 years lives there, I ask several people about him. Nobody knows him. I am disappointed. We have lunch at a popular restaurant. I ask the owner, a jovial 80-year-old who I discover later is a very good poet: “Of course I know him,” he laughs. “He lives just across the street.” I cross the street and knock on the door. My cousin and his wife come out. He doesn´t recognize me. I take my dark glasses off. He still doesn´t recognize me so I tell him who I am. Our eyes moisten, we join in a long embrace. Afterwards, we go back to the restaurant where the owner regales us with some of his wonderful poems. Life is beautiful.

We are back in my hometown. Today is a cool day in a normally torrid town. I go to the city´s main square, which looks like most town squares in Latin America, from Mexico in the North to Argentina and Chile in the South, to listen to the State Symphonic Band. The program includes music by Cole Porter, Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin.

Although the concert is at noon, the 60 musicians in the orchestra are all formally dressed in black. Their suits are old, and so are the rumbling loudspeakers which occasionally interrupt the performance. But the noises don´t bother me. I am captivated by the scene.

I am sitting near a bass player. My attention is drawn to the strange shape of his instrument. The bridge belongs to another bass and its cords (2 made of steel and 2 of nylon) are held together by a series of knots. And… it has a big hole on the side. None of this fazes the musician, who handles it lovingly, as if it were the best bass in the world.

In the meantime, a couple dances under the shadow of a big and beautiful tree, as one of them holds their dog by the leash. I see the face of a woman who reminds me of the mother of a friend, both of them now dead. I feel another pang of nostalgia for what I believe were better, happier times.

After the concert I ask the bass player how he manages to play an instrument in such bad shape. He answers that the instruments are state property and that sometimes the handlers are careless. “But I love music,” he tells me sadly, “and I have to make do with what I have.”

César Chelala is a writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

Rape as a weapon of war continues to take a heavy toll on women’s lives in today’s conflicts around the world. A high proportion of the women who are victims of rape end up infected with sexually transmitted diseases and infections, including HIV. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is experiencing an almost perpetual state of internal strife and lacks medicines and basic health-care services, particularly in rural areas. As a result, becoming HIV-infected is virtually a death sentence for many women.

Rape happens on a wide scale in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Sudan. In the DRC, where more than 3 million people have been displaced by war, rape victims are counted in the tens of thousands. According to some estimates, up to 60 percent of combatants in the DRC are HIV-infected, and can transmit the infection to the women they rape. As Anne-Christine d’Adesky, executive director of Women’s Equity in Access to Care and Treatment stated, “Rape is an engine of HIV infection.”

In Uganda, soldiers from the Lord’s Resistance Army have raped and mutilated women during their struggle to replace the government in the country. Despite the cessation of hostilities the situation in the country remains grim. “The horrific violence committed during the many years of conflict in northern Uganda continues to aggravate discrimination against women and girls in the area today,” stated Godfrey Odongo, Amnesty International’s researcher in Kampala.

While rape in Rwanda has stopped, in Sudan and the DRC human-rights activists say girls as young as 3 years old have been raped with knives, sticks and guns. In the DRC, gang rape has become so common that thousands of women suffer from vaginal fistulas, which leave them unable to control bodily functions and lead to lifelong debilitating health problems.

Rape as a way of humiliating women, their families and their communities is frequently conducted in public, in front of husbands and children. It is, in essence, a brutal way to show or maintain dominance over the women and their families.

There are many other consequences of rape aside from the obvious physical and psychological violence of the act and the high risk of HIV. Many women get pregnant after being raped. In many cases raped women are later killed by their attackers. Among those that survive a high proportion are forced to become sex slaves.

Many men view the rape of their wives as a form of humiliation not only against them but also against their ethnic, tribal or religious group. Many husbands and communities reject rape victims and even their children. The women, having endured the brutality of the rape itself and its physical and psychological consequences, afterwards find themselves denied their most basic human rights.

Even when pregnancy does not occur, men in patriarchal societies still may reject their wives, mothers or daughters after they have been raped.

Is it possible to do something about a situation that causes so much harm to women? Many non-governmental organizations are working with victims of rape, trying to re-integrate them into society, despite the strong social stigma against them. But their efforts should be supported by other actions.

It is imperative to do educational work with men in the military to make them aware of the consequences on women of their atrocities and the importance of stopping this kind of violence. “I actually believe out of many interviews with hundreds of men that this is possible,” declared recently in a TV interview Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International.

At the same time it is crucial to find and punish the perpetrators. “It is of the utmost importance that the Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to pursue its efforts to fight impunity,” said a recent U.N. Security Council statement following the mass rape of more than 200 women and children in Congo by Rwandan and Congolese rebels.

Rape of women during conflicts, particularly now in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and its impact on the spreading of HIV/AIDS has been one of most neglected areas of intervention in recent times. It is time to bring this knowledge to the fore and improve a situation that has such devastating consequences on women’s lives and well being.

Dr. César Chelala, an international public health consultant, is an award-winning writer on human rights issues. He is the author of “AIDS: A Modern Epidemic,” a publication of the Pan American Health Organization.

“To me it means that it will bring life back to that horrible, horrible, tragic site. All we think about when we see Ground Zero is death and destruction. Except for tomorrow, when we’ll talk about life, renewal, and rebirth,” said Ronaldo Vega, design director for the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. He was referring to a group of trees (400 swamp white oaks and sweet gums) that were planted at that tragic place.

Since I live a few blocks away from Ground Zero I still remember that terrible day, when all our lives were changed forever. I was inside my apartment when I heard shouts and cries from the street below. “Oh, no, no, NO!” “Oh my God!” were repeatedly being said. I rushed downstairs (I had been watching on TV what happened after the first plane hit the towers when I heard the cries) and heard that a second plane had hit the towers.

Together with other bystanders I rushed towards the site when we saw a large group of people rushing back shouting “Go back, go back, for God’s sake go back!” We run back only to learn that it had been a false alarm and no further attacks were happening. Without exactly understanding what was going on I still remember the feeling that a relatively peaceful way of life was being replaced by a darker, more sinister one. A feeling of tremendous sadness invaded me.

Shortly afterwards we learned the details of what had happened, and we heard the stories and saw the images of those jumping voluntarily to their certain deaths rather than being trapped in a tramp of fire inside their offices. And as we learned of the heroic behavior of hundreds of firefighters who had risked --and many of them lost-- their lives, we also learned personal harrowing stories of some of those who died there.

One of them, the son of a friend, who just had enough time to call his brother and tell him, “Please tell Mom and Dad that I love them a lot as I love you,” before the communication was cut off. Or the employee of a big firm who left the towers, called his wife to tell her that he was OK after the first plane hit, came back to retrieve some documents from his office and died shortly afterwards by the inclement fire that ravaged his office.

On a new anniversary of the tragedy I wonder about what can be learned from it? One of the main lessons is that, as has been shown many times before, violence begets violence. And intolerance begets intolerance. Unless there is a new approach to terrorist actions we will continue to live under the threat of avoidable acts of terror.

To stop terrorism it is important to address the root causes rather than what we imagine is behind those actions. To pretend that terrorists attack us because they are envious of democracy or of the American way of life is nothing short of naïve.

Terrorists attack us because of the shortcomings of Western powers’ (notably the U.S.) foreign policy. Just as we would not admit foreign troops into our country, people from other countries do not willingly accept the presence of foreign troops in their country. This has been repeatedly demonstrated in the case of Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.

In New York, intolerance is shown by the widespread reaction to building a community center, including a mosque, near Ground Zero. A recent fire (reportedly arson) at a planned Islamic Center in a Nashville, Tennessee, suburb is an expression of a climate of hatred and intolerance that will increase animosity among religious groups and unnecessarily increase fear, fueling new terrorist acts.

It is critical to develop approaches that increase goodwill among nations and opposing groups. President Barack Obama has wisely refused to continue the vocally aggressive approach of his predecessor. But more than that is needed. Dialogue is a pre-condition for understanding. We have hardly begun to explore opportunities for civil conversation with other nations, particularly Islamic nations.

Unless Americans show tolerance and a willingness to listen, the dark cloud of misunderstanding and violence will continue to exert its negative presence in our lives. American acceptance of an Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero, the current graphic symbol of hatred and violence born of misunderstanding, would be a positive, visible proof that we want to move beyond pain, hatred and the cycle of violence. Ground Zero would then become not a self-defeating shrine to the memory of terrorism, but a testament to the willingness to rebuild a new reality based on religious and cultural tolerance.

Dr. César Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

Every 24 seconds, a motor vehicle is stolen in the United States. Contrary to popular belief, thieves not only target expensive cars, but most frequently, the cars more often stolen are in the middle price range. Cars are stolen not for their value but for the resale value of their parts particularly valuable when they are no longer manufactured or are too difficult or too expensive to obtain.

Stolen cars transported across frontiers have become common features in many countries, an almost inevitable consequence of globalization.

Recently in Albania, I was amazed at the high number of Mercedes Benz cars in Tirana, Albania’s capital city, until a friend explained to me that many among them were stolen cars that came originally from Germany. A similar sight can be observed in many Central American countries where stolen cars from the U.S. make their way south of the Mexican border.

I was recently talking to a policeman, and when I told him that I lived in Soho, in downtown Manhattan, he asked me what type of car I had. When I told him it was one of the leading Japanese models, he told me, “You are a prime candidate to have your car stolen.” When I asked him the reason, he explained that Japanese cars have a very good resale price and that living in downtown Manhattan, I was near the Holland tunnel. It is thus very easy for the robbers to go to New Jersey, out of reach of the New York police. From New Jersey, the car can be transported to other States. Since the policeman’s comment, I decided to use a parking garage rather than keeping the car in the street, although garage prices in New York can run into several hundred dollars a month.

Recent research from the Netherlands found that thieves are less likely to steal brightly colored cars because they have a lower resale value. They can also be more easily detected. Of 109 pink cars in the study, none were stolen.

In former times, when thieves didn’t steal the car, they would break the window and take the portable radio or CD player. For a very long time, parking the car in the street used to be a rather annoying experience, particularly when one was liable to find the window broken and the interior of the car vandalized.

My wife had this unpleasant experience when she left the car in a suburban parking lot. The car was stolen by some adolescents for a joy ride, and when the police returned it, the interior had been totally vandalized --probably by the police looking for hidden drugs.

A physician friend of mine had apparently solved this problem. When he parked his car in the street, he used to put a note in the window saying, “NO RADIO, NO CD PLAYER, NO VALUABLES INSIDE.” For a long time his car was safe and my friend was very happy at having fooled potential robbers. Until one day, he came back to his car and found a note in the back window saying, “NOW, NO SPARE TIRE”.

Dr. César Chelala is a writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

The return of U.S. forces from Iraq in what is euphemistically called the end of the Iraq war is anything but the end of the conflict. The consequences of the war will be felt for many years to come. Former President George W. Bush and his advisers should be blamed for engaging in a war that has ravaged Iraq and cost the United States not only economically but also the lives and well being of hundreds of thousands of its soldiers.

As of February of 2010, approximately $700 billion had been spent in the war. This figure is based on current expenditure rates from figures from the Congressional Research Service (CRS), and estimates by the Nobel Prize economist Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes from Harvard University.

According to Stiglitz and Bilmes, the total cost of the Iraq war will probably exceed three trillion dollars in a moderate scenario. As Stiglitz has stated, “This number represents the cost only to the U.S. It does not reflect the enormous cost to the rest of the world, or to Iraq.”

A major contributor to the war’s final cost is the medical care and disability benefits provided to veterans. Since medical consequences don’t become immediately apparent, in addition to present costs, claims are likely to be filed for years after the end of the war.

It is estimated that 20 percent of survivors have suffered major head or spinal injuries, 18 percent have suffered serious wounds and an additional six percent are amputees. More than 7,000 veterans with severe brain, spinal and other injuries will require very expensive round-the-clock care. Presently, government medical facilities in the U.S. are overwhelmed by the needs of soldiers who served in Iraq.

In addition to the economic costs described are the high number of suicides among the veterans, the mental health impact of those that survived and the costs to the families’ economies and well being. These costs also do not include the waste of resources or the cost to the Iraq treasury of theft and corruption both by Iraqi officials and by U.S. contractors.

As Iraqi civilian casualties continue to mount –a reflection of internecine conflicts exacerbated by the U.S. occupation, the effects on Iraqi children are staggering. More than half a million children have been traumatized by the war, according to UNICEF. “Iraqi children, already casualties of a quarter of a century of conflict and deprivation, are being caught up in a rapidly worsening humanitarian tragedy,” warned that organization in 2007.

28 percent of children suffer from some degree of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), according to Dr. Haithi Al Sady, Dean of the Psychological Research Center at Baghdad University. How could they not, when they still are being affected by daily explosions, killings, abductions and turmoil in Iraq’s main cities?

More than 2 million children have been displaced from their homes as a result of the war. Children and their families have become refugees in neighboring countries. The sudden influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees has overburdened the recipient countries’ health and social services. In addition, the “brain drain” of doctors and other professionals forced to leave the country has had a negative impact in the quality of services in Iraq.

“Iraqis are suffering from a growing lack of food, shelter, water and sanitation, health care, education and employment,” according to a 2007 report compiled by OXFAM and the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq (NCCI). The continuing violence since then has only made matters worse.

Hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths, a ravaged infrastructure, a non-functioning and corrupt government and a society terrorized by unending violence is the sad result of a greedy war, in flagrant violation of international norms and treaties. To call the Iraq war a “Pyrrhic victory” is an understatement.

Dr. César Chelala is an international public health consultant and a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

There is no denying that big cities have a special attraction to most people. And New York, being one of the biggest cities in the world, has many qualities that make it unique. Not so for me at the beginning.

I came to New York in 1971 with my wife and daughter to do research in microbial genetics, a new field of research for me. Despite my having lived previously in Buenos Aires, another big city, for five years, the culture shock was tremendous for me (my wife had been here before). And it didn’t help that when we arrived we were sent to the wrong place.

The hotel our hosts –lovely people- had reserved for us had two different wings that couldn’t have been more different: one new, the other old and unattractive, full of sour, strange characters. Out hosts were unaware of this disparity and we ended up in the old wing. Not only was our room old but it was foul-smelling to boot, inhabited by roaches and other insects that terrified my daughter and unnerved my wife and me.

My English was extremely poor. I could manage at reading and writing it but had almost no experience speaking it. My wife, on the other hand, was an English professor who had spoken the language since childhood. These difficulties with the language, together with an unwelcoming and strange environment made me want to take a plane back home soon after I arrived in the city.

Fortunately, my wife’s common sense prevailed and we stayed, felt more used to our new surroundings and soon some friends of friends lent us an apartment before we finally rented our own. From then on we felt totally at ease with the city. New York, so harsh for me at the beginning, has become our home for almost 40 years.

The possibility to meet unusual people is one of the great attractions of a cosmopolitan city like New York which I particularly treasure. I recently had brunch with a friend at an old, wood-paneled restaurant located in the basement of a Greenwich Village hotel. The place at one time had probably seen the likes of Mary McCarthy, Allen Ginsberg, and Edmund Wilson.

As we talked about what makes New York such an interesting place I told my companion an anecdote about the city. I was returning home from dinner at a friend’s house on a frigid winter evening. There were only two people in my subway car sitting close to each other and near an end of the car: an older woman and myself.

We were both silent. She was reading a magazine and I was lost in my own thoughts when we heard a loud, repetitive noise coming from the other end of the car. Suddenly, we saw a young man coming through the door. Despite the extremely cold weather he was only dressed in shorts, a T-shirt and a huge Mexican sombrero with small hanging trinkets in it playing with a basketball as he walked from car to car. My fellow passenger and I looked at each other. Then, she said quietly “Only in New York, only in New York.”

Not to be outdone, my friend told me his favorite subway incident. After shopping the whole afternoon, he and his wife took the subway home. In front of them sat a rather disheveled man, in itself not an unusual sight in New York.

What caught my friend’s attention, however, was that the man was reading a book intently and completely oblivious to his surroundings, without bothering to lift his gaze even for a second, so enthralled was he by his book. What also surprised my friend was this man’s hostile and angry expression, which caused unease in both his wife and himself.

What could that man be reading, my friend wondered, that made him fix his attention on the book in front of him? No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t read its title. Finally, my friend’s curiosity was rewarded. Just before getting off, he was able to look at the man’s source of attention. Disheveled and angry-looking as he was, the man was reading “How to Win Friends and Influence People”.

César Chelala is a writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

The recent statements by Gen James Jones, President Obama’s national security adviser that the door is open for President Obama to meet with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad if the Iranians agree to resume talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding their nuclear program could break the impasse in the situation with that country. President Ahmadinejad should eagerly take this opportunity to present Iran’s position to President Obama and improve relations with the U.S.

“There is no point in a theatrical meeting,” stated Gen Jones in an interview with CNN. “One thing they must do is return our three hikers. That would be an important gesture. It could lead to better relations.” Improved relations are now more necessary ever, given the controversy created by the start-up of the Bushehr nuclear power plant. The conditions under which the plant will start providing energy to Iranian cities could become a model for other nuclear plants in the country devoted to peaceful purposes.

Russia has pledged to safeguard the site and prevent spent nuclear fuel to make nuclear weapons and the U.S. State Department released a statement indicating that it does not see the fueling of Iran’s first nuclear power plant in Bushehr as a “proliferation risk.” The Obama administration, hoping to lower the prospects for an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, has assured Israel that it would probably take a year or even longer for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

That is not Israel’s position, however. “World powers must strengthen pressure against Iran to comply with international decisions, stop its activities in uranium enrichment and heavy water plants, and respond to the criticism against it,” said a statement issued by Israel’s foreign ministry. However, Israel itself has refused to sign the Non Proliferation Treaty and is widely assumed to have an arsenal of between 100 and 200 hundred nuclear weapons.

In September of 2009, the General Conference of the IAEA called on Israel to open its nuclear facilities to IAEA inspection and adhere to the non-proliferation treaty as part of a resolution on “Israeli nuclear capabilities.” “Israel will not co-operate in any matter with this resolution,” declared the chief Israeli delegate to the conference.

As a signatory of the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran has a right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful use. Iran’s officials have stated that Iran will accept that monitors from the IAEA have access to the fuel shipments at Bushehr, located 745 miles south of Tehran. IAEA officials were at the site last Saturday as the first truckloads of fuel were moved from a storage site to a “pool” inside the reactor, part of the agreement with the Iranian authorities.

This happens at the same time that international media and neoconservative figures in the U.S. continue beating the drums for a war against Iran. That is the case of former U.S. ambassador to the UN John Bolton. In what can only be described as an irresponsible statement, Bolton stated that Israel had a window of opportunity of eight days to attack Bushehr’s nuclear reactor. What Bolton and other neoconservatives in Washington refuse to acknowledge are the tremendous consequences that such a move by Israel would entail, including dragging the U.S. into the confrontation.

Ahmadinejad’s ranting against Israel cannot be a justification for a war against that country. At the same time, he cannot afford to lose this opportunity and take Gen James Jones offer by immediately releasing the three U.S. hikers it is keeping under detention and engaging in serious diplomatic talks with the U.S. At stake is not only Iran’s nuclear program, but a safer world as well.

Dr César Chelala, a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award, writes extensively on human rights and foreign policy issues.

On one of my visits to Cuba on UN-sponsored health-related missions I received one of my most useful foreign policy lessons from a young Cuban. On learning that my group came from the U.S., he told us, “Americans don’t understand Cuban reality. They can get more changes in Cuba with Levi jeans than with an armed invasion.”

His commonsensical reflection is in stark contrast with the U.S. government Cuban policy. The election of president Obama raised hopes that there would be a dramatic change of policy towards Cuba. After all, in April of 2009 he had said that it was time to end “old ideologies and stale debates.”

The recent release by Havana of 20 political prisoners and its promise that it would release 32 more hasn’t elicited a commensurate reaction from the U.S. At the same time, Ricardo Alarcón, the president of the Cuban Parliament, declared that Cuba would later release all political prisoners not guilty of criminal acts. This had been one of the most critical demands of the U.S. government.

However, with the same passion that an old person still feels for a youthful love affair, the U.S. government has persisted in a policy that has brought it only derision, particularly in Latin America. The lack of benefits has been of no concern to several U.S. administrations.

Except for the U.S., the whole world perceives that Cuban policies have remained unchanged in the face of the 50 year-old embargo; nor has the embargo improved the quality of Cuban lives. Instead, it has brought enormous hardships to the Cuban people and allowed the Castro brothers to exert tighter control on the population.

Much can certainly be blamed on the Cuban government, such as repression and imprisonment of political dissenters and economic policies that have only exacerbated the Cubans’ difficult situation, many living from remittances of relatives overseas. But these policies are not worse than similar or even more punishing policies on countries such as China, with which the U.S. has normal trade relations.

Miguel Angel Moratinos, Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, recently declared in Madrid that the release of Cuban prisoners may very well lead to a significant change of the European Union’s policies towards Havana. He also stated, “We will change the European Union shared position on Cuba and we expect that this will lead to a lifting of the U.S. blockade of that country.”

The Cuban government has already participated in more than 200 joint ventures with foreign corporations, although none of them is American. At the same time, there are also offices and representatives in Havana of over 500 companies from around the world. U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba reached a peak of $710 million in 2008 a small amount compared to potential sales under regular conditions. Representative Collin Peterson, chairman of the House Agricultural Committee is supporting a bill, now making the rounds in Congress, which would normalize trade with Cuba and end the embargo.

Arguably, Florida anti-Castro community would be incensed by such a change and the president would lose support of some important legislators. However, the younger Cuban Americans don’t share the older generation opinion of the conflict with Havana. Should the administration take decisive action to end the embargo it may gain the President some significant support, once its advantages become clear.

Cubans would not be the only ones to benefit. At a time of scarce and expensive energy resources, a new estimate by Cubapetróleo (CUPET) raises the oil off its shores to 20 billion bbl. in Cuba’s northwest coast. Even a smaller amount could contribute to alleviate U.S. energy needs.

To persist on the wrong course of action, one that hasn’t produced any significant results in 50 years is like following a sophomoric policy regardless of the suffering it has caused the Cuban people. It is an inexcusable policy for a superpower.

César Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

This has been in New York, as in many other cities around the world, a punishing summer. On one of the first nights the weather gave us a respite, I went to a new place for dinner, a Turkish restaurant a friend had enthusiastically recommended to me. I had intended to go for several weeks but the weather didn’t help me to make a decision about it.

An Adana Kebab plate looked particularly enticing, among other things because my maternal grandmother had been borne in that city. The dish was as delightful as I hoped it would be, a real treat. I mentioned my connection to Adana to the restaurant’s owner. “Oh, Adana,” he said, “what wonderful food they have there!”

After a short walk, I was in Washington Square Park, perhaps the most famous and active park in the city, visited every day by thousands of people. Here come tourists, neighborhood folks, misfits, artists of every kind and (including con artists), and a modern curse, drug dealers and buyers. It is a truly strange but wonderfully attractive mixture of people.

I had started walking towards the center of the park when I heard some wonderful jazz music coming from an alley. As I approached, I saw a trio of a drummer, a double bass player and a saxophonist performing. There was a relatively small, but appreciative audience.

A cool breeze coming through the tall trees, a full moon and an old-fashion looking street lantern made it all look like a Magritte painting, an additional bonus to a beautiful night.

As I was listening enraptured to the music, I saw in the scant evening light a beautiful black woman slowly passing by, dancing with incredible grace to the music being played. She was followed by her companion, who was offering one dollar cold water bottles in a hush voice. She interrupted her dancing to handle the water bottles to the customers and to receive payment.

The person sitting next to me bought a bottle and paid her with a $20 bill. She took the money and handed it to her companion who continued walking without giving her back the change. “Hey,” she said to him, “it is a $20 bill!” In what seemed like a well-rehearsed act he answered laughing, “Well, everybody has to make a living, isn’t that so!”

He handed her the change, took her by her waist and now the two of them were dancing to the jazz tunes, this time to music by the legendary Brazilian musician Antonio Carlos Jobim. They danced and laughed, danced and laughed, their erotic vibes filling the atmosphere. In the meantime, the cold water bottles were waiting on the side. Beautiful music, beautiful dance, good humor. It was a moment to treasure. It was another summer evening in New York.

César Chelala is a writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

In 2003, several weeks before the start of the Iraq war, I wrote an article on the impending war in which I warned against the terrible humanitarian consequences that a war against that country would unleash. I never imagined that they would be much worse than the nightmarish scenario that I painted in my article.

A recent article by Drs. Busby, Hamdan and Ariabi in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health describes the consequences on the civilian population of the coalition forces’ attack on Fallujah in 2004. Their conclusions are based on a study they conducted in January and February of 2010, in which a team of researchers visited 711 houses in Fallujah and obtained responses to a questionnaire in Arabic on cancer, birth defects and infant mortality.

Among their findings are dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukemia years after the attack on that city. The infant mortality rate was 80 per 1,000 live births, more than 4 times the rate in Egypt and in Jordan, and some 9 times the rate in Kuwait. After 2009, the infant mortality rate increased even more markedly, to 136 deaths for 1,000 live births.

Already in 2005, Iraqi doctors in Fallujah stated that they were being overwhelmed by the number of babies born with serious defects, and they also reported on the high number of cancer and miscarriages suffered by the city’s population. The rate of babies born with heart defects is said to be 13 higher those born in Europe.

Professor Chris Busby, an expert in the effects of radiation on humans said that uranium particles can alter the DNA of sperm and eggs from contaminated adults and cause a multitude of birth defects in any baby they conceive. A doctor in Fallujah quoted by Inter Press Service stated, “I can say all kinds of toxic pollution took place in Fallujah after the November 2004 massacre.”

The U.S. military, which at first denied it had used white phosphorus as an anti-personnel weapon in Fallujah, later retracted that denial and admitted using it. However, the Pentagon argues that white phosphorus doesn’t poison people but burns them. In consequence, it is covered by the protocol on incendiary weapons, which the U.S. hasn’t signed. While Saddam Hussein’s use of white phosphorus against the Kurds was severely criticized, the same criticism should apply to the use of white phosphorus against civilians in Fallujah.

In addition to white phosphorus, depleted uranium (DU) munitions, which contain low-level radioactive waste, were extensively used in Fallujah. According to the Pentagon, 1,200 tons of DU have been used thus far in Iraq.

Reports covering the U.S. offensive on Fallujah state that widespread human rights abuses were committed, including indiscriminate violence against civilians and children.

Writing for The Independent Patrick Cockburn says, “In the assault US commanders largely treated Fallujah as a free-fire zone to try to reduce casualties among their own troops. British officials were appalled by the lack of concern for civilian casualties.”

A documentary produced by RAI, the Italian state TV, shows a series of photographs from Fallujah corpses with the flesh burnt off but clothes still intact, a finding consistent with the effects of white phosphorus on humans. I am reminded of a poem by Yusef Komunyakaa “You and I are Disappearing,” whose first stanza says,

The cry I bring down from the hills

belongs to a girl still burning

inside my head. At daybreak

she burns like a piece of paper.

Dr. César Chelala is an international public health consultant.

It cannot be denied that the recent World Cup helped focus on one of the world’s most popular sports. And it cannot also be denied that psychology plays an important part on who is going to be the winner.

During the World Cup, the Algerian team prepared for its matches by watching the legendary movie “The Battle of Algiers.” The movie, which depicts the fight of Algerians against the French ruling their country, perhaps helped them to a reasonable performance during the Cup.

The Brazilian team, which was on the way to what the players thought was a certain victory, particularly after the first goal against the Dutch, saw their hopes crushed after the Dutch tied the game and went on to win it at the end. Here psychology played against the Brazilians.

Psychology also played against the Argentinians, who, led by the legendary Diego Armando Maradona were convinced they were going to be among the finalists. An early goal by the Germans, a couple of minutes after the start of the game, was a factor in their poor performance and the ultimate 4 to 0 defeat of their team.

Thinking about that psychological effect brought to my mind an event that happened years ago. My town’s basketball team had been on a losing streak, and the players’ mood could be said to be underground. Never before in the history of the club had they had such ruinous performances.

The officials at the club were desperate. They talked to the players, they offered them incentives, they threatened to fire them, all to no avail. The team continued losing. This happened until finally one of the officials had a brilliant idea on how to improve the situation. Why not use the services of a psychologist to better the team’s morale?

The one finally chosen was a friend of mine, known to all by the nickname “Rabbit” obviously because of his uncanny resemblance to that animal. My friend was a hardworking but down to earth professional. I knew he was going to do his best to improve the team’s performance.

In effect, during a long holiday the players were called back to work with my friend. He used several techniques to lift the players’ spirits. Movies, music, pep talks, role playing, everything was tried and nothing seemed to work. When the season resumed, the team continued losing every single game. The fans were disappointed and the club officials were furious with my friend.

One day, I was doing errands downtown when I met the Rabbit. I couldn’t help asking him how things were going. “Terrific,” he answered. “Come on, Rabbit,” I told him, “what do you mean, terrific? Your team has continued losing every single game since you became their psychologist.” “That is correct,” he answered, unperturbed, “but now my job is done. Now, when they lose a game, they at least feel good about themselves!”

César Chelala is a writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

Russia has one of the world’s most serious epidemics of injection drug-use, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS. It is estimated that Russia has two million injecting drug users (IDUs), 60-70% of whom have HIV-related illnesses. In the past decade, the number of HIV-infected people has increased from an estimated 100,000 to over one million.

Sharing syringes by injecting drug users is the most prevalent cause of HIV transmission in Central Asia and Eastern Europe, where it is responsible for more than 80 percent of all HIV infections.

The Russian authorities have come under strong, widespread criticism for their policies aimed at dealing with the IDU/HIV epidemic. Education to control drug abuse has focused primarily on the promotion of drug abstinence. In addition, officials have relied on criminalization as the main deterrent. That approach has created obstacles to effective addiction treatment and HIV prevention.

Another policy, which has proven effective in other countries, is “harm reduction.” This approach, one dismissed by the Russian authorities, puts prevention of HIV infection and transmission first and features needle exchange programs and treatment with substitute drugs taken orally.

It is estimated that eighty percent of those Russians who are HIV positive became infected by using contaminated needles and syringes. However, despite the proven efficacy of harm reduction strategies in HIV prevention, the Russian authorities have failed to take advantage of them. A 2004 UNAIDS survey found that funding for needle and syringe exchange programs in Russia fell by 29 percent between 2002 and 2004 while the incidence and prevalence of infection and numbers of IDUs was on the rise.

Harm reduction strategies involve providing access to the drug methadone, needle exchange program and addiction counseling. While detoxification is widely available throughout Russia, more comprehensive, longer term treatment remains unavailable in many parts of the country. This failing is critical because research has shown that detoxification by itself is not effective treatment.

Russian law prohibits opiate-substitution therapy (OST) employing oral dosing with methadone or buprenorphine. Use of these drugs, however, has been shown to be the most effective approach for dealing with opiate dependence among IDUs. Although UN agencies strongly support their use in prevention and treatment, these substitute drugs are effectively banned by Russian health and law enforcement officials, despite the fact that OST with them has been shown to reduce HIV prevalence and the risk of HIV transmission. It also has proven to reduce the numbers of IDUs, according to the World Health Organization.

Although it has been proved that appropriate psychosocial counseling is essential for a successful drug addiction treatment, Russian officials also fail to offer such counseling during and after detoxification treatment.

The close relationship between injecting drug use and HIV infection stresses the need for effective drug addiction treatment strategies. As stated by Human Rights Watch, “If Russia doesn’t take steps to address the problems of its drug dependence treatment system it runs the risk of continued and increasing spread of HIV, and even drug resistant HIV strains, due to lack of access by drug users to antiretroviral treatment and their suboptimal adherence due to poor quality drug dependence treatment programs.”

Dr. César Chelala is an international public health consultant and the author of “AIDS: A Modern Epidemic,” a publication of the Pan American Health Organization.

On May 23, 2010, Mordechai Vanunu, whom Amnesty International calls a “prisoner of conscience,” was again sent to prison for a new three-month sentence, accused of violating the terms of his previous release. Previously, he had been in prison for 18 years, and spent the first 11 years in solitary confinement. According to Amnesty International, the restrictions placed on him were not parole, since Vanunu had already served his full term. “They arbitrarily limit his rights to freedom of movement, expression and association and are therefore in breach of international law,” said Amnesty International.

Vanunu is a former Israeli nuclear technician who, in 1986, revealed details of Israel’s nuclear program to the British press. While working as a technician at the Negev Nuclear Research Center, he became increasingly concerned about Israel’s nuclear weapons program and possible Israeli nuclear strategies in case of war. The information he revealed was published by the Sunday Times. In it he estimated that, at the time, Israel had produced more than 100 nuclear warheads.

He was afterwards lured to Italy by a Mossad agent, where he was kidnapped by Israeli operatives. He was transported to Israel where he was tried on charges of treason and espionage, and condemned to 18 years in prison, in a trial conducted behind closed doors.

Although he was released from prison in 2004, he was subject to several restrictions on his speech and movement. He was arrested several times for violating those restrictions. According to Israeli officials, his last prison sentence is the result of his violating the conditions of his 2004 release from prison.

Acknowledgment of possession of nuclear weapons has considerable practical importance for Israel. By denying possession of such weapons, Israel avoids a US legal restriction of funding countries which have a rapid increase of weapons of mass destruction. Presently, Israel receives more than $3 billion a year in military and other aid from Washington.

Although Vanunu is widely reviled in Israel and by many Jews living overseas, he is vastly admired by peace loving people throughout the world. In 1987, he received the Right Livelihood award and in 2001 was given an honorary doctorate by the University of Tromso, in Norway. In 2005, he was awarded the Peace Prize of the Norwegian People.

Daniel Ellbersg has called him “the preeminent hero of the nuclear era.”

Despite his ordeal Vanunu remains defiant. In a poem he wrote entitled “Buried Alive,” in which he compares solitary confinement to living in a grave he wrote, “...Now iron gates, doors, grills, cement in this concrete world solidifying me. Only my mind, my spirit is free- free to remember why I am in prison but not prison for my spirit, they cannot chain my mind.”

Writing in Haaretz, Yossi Melman, its intelligence and military affairs correspondent, stated, “In a proud country that is celebrating its 60th anniversary, which purports to observe the judicial and moral norms of the enlightened world, one might have expected it to take courage and allow Mordechai Vanunu to be free, once and for all.”

Dr. César Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

In recent times, China has greatly improved the health status of the majority of its population — while also maintaining a sustained economic expansion. Some of these achievements have been a model for developing countries worldwide. Gains in the health sector, however, are being curtailed by the environmental consequences of the rapid economic expansion of the country. To continue the country’s economic growth — while at the same time protecting people’s health — is one of the main challenges facing Chinese authorities today.

In the last two decades, China has had average economic growth of 9.4%. For the last 50 years, it has also made impressive advances in public health by improving access to health care and tackling infectious diseases with remarkably good results.

The average life expectancy is now 71.8 years, up from 35 in 1949. Immunization coverage is over 95% for those under age one.

From 1960 to 2003, China’s infant mortality rate fell from 150 to 30 per 1,000 live births, and the under-five mortality rate dropped from 225 to 37 per 1,000 live births. Both rates are used as indicators of access to basic health services. At the same time, there has been a sustained increase in the number of community service networks, which provide basic health services to the population.

UNICEF has found that since 1978, the number of health facilities in China has increased by 82% and the number of health staff by 88%. In spite of these improvements, significant challenges for maternal and child health care remain. For example, emergency obstetric and newborn care is deficient, particularly for people living in remote areas. Child mortality rates in remote areas are several times higher than those in urban areas. Also, many poor rural families and migrants in China’s urban areas simply cannot afford health services.

Gains in the health sector are being curtailed by the environmental consequences of the rapid economic expansion of the country. Progress on environmental issues has not been as sustained, particularly the effect of environmental pollution on children. Children's vulnerability to pollution stems from differences in their physiology, growth characteristics and diet.

Vulnerability to environmental hazards is also related to their developmental stage. Children differ from adults in their degree of exposure to those environmental hazards, on how contaminants are absorbed and distributed in the body, and in their capacity to transform and eliminate different chemicals.

Water pollution is a serious environmental concern. Sewage and agricultural wastes contaminate water supplies and provoke a host of waterborne illnesses. In addition, rivers that are used as a source of drinking water are contaminated with heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and arsenic from industrial discharges.

UNICEF reports that China is one of the countries in the world most seriously affected by arsenic contamination. Several studies carried out on the effects of drinking arsenic-contaminated water show serious effects on children’s intelligence and intellectual development.

Toxic compounds in air and water affect the health of children and adults alike. However, because children are still growing and their immune system and detoxification mechanisms are not fully developed, toxic agents have a more serious impact on them than in adults.

Exposure to high levels of lead at an early age, for example, is responsible for children’s low intellectual development. Lead poisoning is probably the most serious chronic environmental illness now affecting children.

Chinese authorities have been trying to limit the damage caused by environmental pollution and have set guidelines in a document entitled "Priority Activities for Sustainable Development." However, despite new policies and regulations, compliance remains low.

It is estimated that 40% of Chinese cities suffer from medium to high levels of air pollution. According to a World Bank assessment, projected health effects of air pollution in urban China by 2020 will include: 600,000 premature deaths in urban areas, 20 million cases of respiratory illness per year, 5.5 million cases of chronic bronchitis and health damages valued at 13% of Chinese GDP.

To overcome the effects of pollution and a contaminated environment, China needs to continue developing energy-efficient technologies and implementing cheap and environmentally responsible transportation systems.

Even more critically, China needs to enforce its own environmental regulations. Its future generations — and future prosperity — are at stake.

Dr. César Chelala, MD, PhD, is an international public health consultant.

On April 9, 1948, 120 fighters from the Irgun and Lehi Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin, near Jerusalem, a Palestinian-Arab village of approximately 600 people. During the assault, around 107 villagers were killed, including women and children. In addition, several villagers were taken prisoner, and were later jeered, spat at, and stoned.

According to most accounts, those villagers lived in peace with their Jewish neighbors from nearby villages. Some of them, from the Givat Shaul Orthodox community just across the valley, tried to help the Deir Yassin villagers during the Irgun-Lehi combined attack. After the attack, the Irgun and Lehi troops began pillaging the houses and corpses, stealing money and jewelery from the survivors, reported the Israeli historian Benny Morris.

“I saw the horrors that the fighters had created. I saw bodies of women and children, who were murdered in their houses in cold blood by gunfire, with no signs of battle and not as the result of blowing up the houses…I have seen a great deal of war, but I never saw a sight like Deir, Yassin,” declared Eliahu Arbel, Operations Officer B of the Haganah’s Etzione Brigade, who arrived at the scene on April 10.

The news of the massacre sparked terror among the Palestinian-Arabs and were an important factor in encouraging them to flee from their towns and villages afraid of the Jewish troop advances. “They ended up expelling people from all of Palestine on the rumor of Deir Yassin,” declared later Mohammad Radwan, a survivor of the massacre.

Haganah and the area two chief rabbis condemned the killings and the Jewish Agency for Israel sent Jordan’s King Abdulla a letter of apology, which the King rebuffed. At the time of the attack Menachem Begin was a leader of the Irgun, although he wasn’t personally involved in it.

On December 4, 1948, Albert Einstein was the most prominent signatory of a letter to the New York Times by a group of Jewish intellectuals on the occasion of Begin’s visit to the United States. Part of the letter reads as follows “…It is inconceivable that those who oppose fascism throughout the world, if correctly informed as to Mr. Begin’s political record and perspectives, could add their names and support to the movement he represents.”

“…The public avowals of Begin’s party [The Freedom Party] are no guide whatever to its actual character. Today they speak of freedom, democracy and anti-imperialism, whereas until recently they openly preached the doctrine of the Fascist state. It is in its actions that the terrorist party betrays its real character; from its past actions we can judge what it may be expected to do in the future.”

“A shocking example was their behavior in the Arab village of Deir Yassin…Most of the Jewish community was horrified at the deed, and the Jewish Agency sent a telegram of apology to King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan. But the terrorists, far from being ashamed of their act, were proud of this massacre, publicized it widely, and invited all the foreign correspondents present in the country to view the heaped corpses and the general havoc at Deir Yassin. The Deir Yassin incident exemplifies the character and actions of the Freedom Party.”

In the Deir Yassin massacre 107 Palestinian-Arabs villagers, including women and children, were killed. Four of the attackers died during the attack. During Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, that took place during the winter of 2008-2009, 1385 Palestinians were killed, among them 762 non-combatants, 107 women and 318 children. 13 Israeli were killed, 10 combatants and 3 Israeli non-combatants, according to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization.

In September 2009, a UN mission headed by Justice Richard Goldstone conducted an investigation of the Israeli offensive and its consequences. The Israeli Government denied him any collaboration to carry out its task, as I heard him personally state this in New York. In his report, Judge Goldstone accused both Palestinian militants and Israeli Defense Forces of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.

Given that the Israeli forces conducted the Cast Lead Operation attack in clear disproportion of forces and against unarmed civilians, what would Albert Einstein have said about it?

Dr. César Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

One can fight oppression with violence or one can fight oppression with education. Hema Konsotia, a 32-year-old Indian woman, has chosen the latter. She is helping to change a situation affecting an estimated 165 million Indian Dalits. Also known as “untouchables”, they are a mixed population of numerous caste groups all over South Asia. Although the caste system has been abolished under the Indian constitution, there is still widespread discrimination and prejudice against Dalits, particularly women.

Dalits are frequently denied such basic rights as education, housing, property, freedom of religion, choice of employment and fair treatment before the law. This situation led Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to draw parallels between “untouchability” and apartheid in 2006. As a result of discrimination, Dalits are denied full participation in Hindu social and political life.

In rural India, where caste origins are more apparent and Dalits often remain excluded form local religious activities, many upper caste members believe that Dalits will pollute the temples if they go into them.

Every 20 minutes a crime is committed against Dalits, according to a 2005 government report. Although distressing in itself, this figure probably represents a fraction of all crimes against Dalits, since most of them remain unreported for fear of reprisals from the police or from member of the upper castes.

For several years now, Hema Konsotia has been working to change that situation. She is a union activist and college graduate, leader of Delhi’s sewage workers and their wives. For the last 10 years she has been working to empower them and make them aware of their rights while improving their education through mobile education centers she created in Delhi.

A woman of strong character (when a worker was repeatedly disrespectful to her she held him by his collar and slapped him in the face) she has the unwavering support of her mother, who had been through an abusive marriage herself. “My mother is my secret guru,” she told a reporter. Hema is determined that Dalits, particularly women, will not suffer what women of previous generations did.

And they certainly need her help since a situation of centuries of discrimination has affected theirs and their children’s health and quality of life. For most Dalits, good health care is unaffordable and inaccessible, and generally their experience of health care is limited to emergency care.

The maternal mortality rate is a reflection of accessibility and quality of health services. Prenatal and neonatal care is extremely limited. As a result, complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age. Because most Dalit women are poor, their health status is usually worse than statistics suggest.

The maternal mortality rate is 560 deaths per 100,000 live births (that same rate for industrialized countries is 13 per 100,000.) But for every woman who dies during pregnancy and childbirth, approximately 20 more suffer injuries, infections and disabilities that may seriously affect their health. Anemia, which is frequent among poor women, predisposes women to sepsis and hemorrhage during delivery.

Child statistics are equally distressing, since 56 children per thousand who are born alive die before reaching the age of five, a rate that compares with five children per thousand in industrialized countries. In addition, both women and children, particularly among the poor, experience an alarming rate of physical and sexual abuse.

In January of 2007, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women concluded that Dalit women in India suffer from “deeply rooted structural discrimination.” Proud and determined, Hema Konsotia’s work with Delhi’s poor has already made a difference.

César Chelala is an international public health consultant and a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

George W. Bush is among the five least accomplished U.S. presidents, according to a new survey by the U.S.’s top 238 leading presidential scholars. They have been polled by the Siena College Research Institute’s (SRI) annually for the last 28 years. While president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who led the country from 1933 until his death in 1945, ranked first in overall accomplishments, former President Bush ranked worst among modern presidents –and the fifth worst in history.

According to the Survey of U.S. Presidents the top five, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, are Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

The presidential scholars ranked the U.S. Presidents on six personal attributes (background, imagination, integrity, intelligence, luck and willingness to take risks); five forms of ability (compromising, executive, leadership, communication and overall abilities); and eight areas of accomplishment including domestic affairs, economic, working with Congress and their party, appointing supreme court justices and members of the executive branch, avoiding mistakes and foreign policy.

If one analyzes just the Bush administration approach to foreign policy, health care and human rights one may consider among the biggest foreign policy blunders the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The Bush administration blatantly ignored the advice from Gen. Eric Shinseki, who had estimated that several hundred thousand troops would be required to secure Iraq. Even more seriously, the war against Iraq was based, from the beginning, on false premises.

Vice President Dick Cheney repeatedly stated that Iraq was “the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault for many years, but most especially on 9/11,” in spite of the fact that there was no evidence for such assertion. The bipartisan 9/11 Commission itself found that Iraq had no involvement in the 9/11 attacks and no collaborative operational relationship with Al Qaeda.

Compounding the wrongness of the approach towards Iraq is the right to initiate a preemptive war, flaunting international law. The 2006 updated National Security Strategy of the United States had established that, “….The greater the threat, the greater is the risk of inaction –and the more compelling the case for taking anticipatory action to defend ourselves, even if uncertainty remains as to the time and place of the enemy’s attack. There are few greater threats than a terrorist attack with WMD.”

As was clearly demonstrated not only did the government of Iraq not have any WMD, but at no point it could have been considered a threat to the United States, given the obvious difference in military capability between both countries. This was no impediment for former President Bush and his closest associates to continue using that rationale for the war against that country. That war and the justification for engaging in preemptive wars are among the most serious and damaging foreign policy decisions of the Bush administration.

If one analyzes the Bush presidency regarding its approach to health care one can find a policy of disregard for people’s health and support for corporate interests, which is, after all, only a reflection of the Bush administration decisions on almost all economic matters.

The Bush administration blocked efforts to allow Medicare to negotiate cheaper prescription drugs for seniors thus negatively affecting their health and quality of life, while simultaneously depriving American taxpayers of savings from the very marketplace competition touted by White House economists. The administration also went to court to block lawsuits by patients who had been injured by defective prescription drugs and medical devices. In addition, the General Accounting Office conducted a study that concluded that the Bush administration created illegal, covert propaganda to promote its industry-supported Medicare bill.

The Bush administration record on human rights is dismal. Who can forget the photos of prisoners’ abuse in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq carried out by the U.S. Army and other U.S. governmental agencies and that have tainted forever the image of the U.S. as a defender of human rights? To compound the magnitude of the abuse, Janis Karpinsky, a commander at Abu Ghraib estimated later that 90% of the detainees in the prison were innocent.

Recently Physicians for Human Rights has uncovered evidence that indicates the Bush administration conducted illegal and unethical human experiments and carried out research on detainees in CIA custody. In addition, medical personnel engaged not only in torture of prisoners but also in the crime of illegal experimentation, activities in clear violation of the Nuremberg Code.

It would be naïve to think that all negative aspects of the Bush administration are the responsibility of former President Bush himself. He obviously is the face for members of his administration and others who were influencing policy decisions. But the ultimate responsibility falls on him. And he is the one that will have to respond to history for his actions.

Dr. César Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

It is fair to say that the more we love our country the more we want it to be a better, more honorable country. Using this criterion, we can say that few people loved the U.S. as much as former senator Robert Byrd did. And only death could finally silence him.

Nobody was more vocal than Byrd in the opposition to the Iraq war, which he considered a disgraceful course of action that would have negative effects on the country. And he was one of the few to state that opposition as strongly on the Senate floor.

On March 19, 2003, addressing the nation soon after the bombing of Baghdad had begun, former president George W. Bush stated, “The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder. We will meet that threat now, with our Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Marines, so that we do to have to meet it later with armies of fire fighters and police and doctors on the streets of our cities.”

Thus was the beginning of one of the most costly wars, both economically, in the number of lives lost and in the U.S. social standing in the world that this country has ever faced. Senator Robert Byrd reacted with predictable horror to this course of action, and was one of the few to vote against the war.

Speaking from the floor of the Senate on the afternoon of March 19, Senator Byrd said, “…today I weep for my country. I have watched the events of recent months with a heavy, heavy heart. No more is the image of America one of strong, yet benevolent peacekeeper. The Image of America has changed. Around the globe, our friends mistrust us, our word is disputed, our intentions are questioned.”

“Instead of reasoning with those with whom we disagree, we demand obedience or threaten recrimination. Instead of isolating Saddam Hussein, we seem to have isolated ourselves. We proclaim a new doctrine of preemption which is understood by few and feared by many. We say that the United States has the right to turn its firepower on any corner of the globe which might be suspect on the war on terrorism. We assert that right without the sanction of any international body. As a result, the world has become a much more dangerous place.”

“We flaunt our superpower status with arrogance. We treat UN Security Council members like ingrates who offend our princely dignity by lifting their heads from the carpet. Valuable alliances are split.”

“After war has ended, the United States will have to rebuild much more than the country of Iraq. We will have to rebuild America’s image around the globe.”

In his address to the nation on the evening of March 19 former president Bush outlined the purpose of invading Iraq, “to disarm Iraq, to free its people, and to defend the world from grave danger.” Earlier that afternoon, on the Senate floor, Senator Byrd had stated, “The case this Administration tries to make to justify its fixation with war is tainted by charges of falsified documents and circumstantial evidence. We cannot convince the world of the necessity of this war for one simple reason. This is a war of choice.”

And while former president Bush and vice-president Dick Cheney insisted on finding lame excuses for the war against Iraq, Senator Byrd said in his speech, “The brutality seen on September 11th and in other terrorists attacks we have witnessed around the globe are the violent and desperate efforts by extremists to stop the daily encroachment of western values upon their cultures. That is what we fight. It is a force not confined to borders. It is a shadowy entity with many faces, many names, and many addresses.”

The Iraq war has proven to be an unrelenting tragedy not only for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi that were killed but also for the occupying forces soldiers killed and maimed. It is estimated that the total costs of veterans’ health care and disability may be higher than $700 billion. And Senator Byrd has been one of the earliest and strongest voices against this nightmare. His is a heroic voice that could only be silenced by death.

Dr. César Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

I still seem to be hearing the Mexican sportscaster shouting in the radio for more than one minute, “Dieguitooooo, Dieguitoooooo, Diego Armando Maradonaaaaaaa!” after the Argentine soccer player scored his second goal against the British during the 1986 World Cup that Argentina won beating West Germany in the final game. He had good reason to shout. Diego Armando Maradona (now Argentina’s coach at the World Cup) had scored his second goal after dribbling six British players (including the goalkeeper) in what is commonly known as “The Goal of the Century.”

Never mind that his first goal during that game was also the most infamous in soccer’s history since it was made striking the ball with his left hand. Maradona was initially evasive about that goal saying that it had been scored “a little with Maradona’s head and a little with the hand of God.” Since then that goal is known as the “Hand of God,” or “la mano de Dios.” Only in 2005 did Maradona acknowledge that he had used his hand on purpose and that he knew the goal was invalid but the goal stood, to the dismay of the British players.

As a special tribute to him, the Mexican officials at the Aztec Stadium where the game took place built a statue of him scoring the second goal and placed it at the entrance to the stadium. That helped ensure that he would always be remembered as one of the greatest players in soccer’s history. In March of 2010, The Times of London chose him as number 1 among The Greatest 10 World Cup players of all time.

For decades Diego Maradona has been the most admired (and for many the most reviled) sportsman in the world. But whether one likes him or not, nobody can deny that he is a unique character in the world of sports. In trips I took to several countries around the world I always found the same reaction after saying that I was an Argentine. Maradona! Maradona! people shouted. It could be a small city in China or a remote town in Africa. Everybody knew Maradona. And now, as the coach for the Argentine team in the South African World Cup, people are still talking about him.

He was an unlikely soccer star, since he is extremely short, although very sturdy. His two strong legs seemed to anchor him to the ground. He could start dribbling his opponents with maniacal speed and dexterity, as he did during the 1986 World Cup. He was a generous player, always sending the ball to a better placed teammate.

But great as his gifts as a player were, so were his personal shortcomings. While playing in Italy for the Napoli team he made it the most successful in its history leading it to winning its only two Italian Championships in 1986/87 and 1989/90 and the Coppa Italia in 1987. At the same time, however, he intensified his cocaine habit for which he was given steep fines and was suspended from soccer for 15 months in 1991. In 1994 he was sent home from the World Cup in the USA for using ephedrine. He retired from soccer in 1997.

He has suffered from serious health problems and gained considerable weight, in addition to continuing use of cocaine. In 2005, a stomach stapling operation helped him overcome his weight problem and after stopping his cocaine addiction he became a popular TV host in Argentina. In 2008, despite his lack of managerial experience, he was named head coach of the Argentine soccer team. Several defeats of the team in international games made many doubt his technical capacity as a coach.

But Maradona continues to be well… just Maradona. He is still his same defiant, arrogant self. Much as I dislike his antics I am still thankful to him. Years ago I was traveling in several Asian countries when I arrived in Bangladesh. After finishing my work there I was at the airport when a customs officer asked me if I had any cash with me. I told him that I had $2,000. The officer then asked me, “Where is the form that you have to fill?” Surprised I responded “What form?”

Upon hearing this, the officer started yelling at me, saying “You damned foreigners are all the same. You come to this country, make money, don’t pay taxes and then just leave, without caring about anything!” Startled, I started mumbling a response when he asked me, “Where are you from?” After I answered “Argentina” he said, obviously overwhelmed, “Oh, Argentina, Maradona, Maradona, just continue, Sir, please, there is no problem, no problem at all!”

César Chelala is a writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

I can remember my friend’s face when he told me that his daughter had been born with a severe mental disability. “It was as if somebody had pointed a gun to my head,” he told me. For as long as they have been known, mental disabilities (also called mental retardation) have been the cause of profound unhappiness in the parents of children born with them, as well as in the children themselves. But now there is hope.

An experimental drug made by Novartis, a Swiss pharmaceutical firm, has been shown to improve behaviors associated with mental retardation and autism in people affected with fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited cause of these mental disabilities. Although the results have been obtained in a small clinical trial involving only a few dozen patients, this finding offers the possibility that further advances could be obtained in the near future.

If further trials in larger populations produce equally good or better results, they could offer hope in the field of autism research, since between 10 to 15 percent of autism cases result from fragile X syndrome or another kind of genetic defect. Also, even though Novartis tested the drug only in adults, experts believe that it could be even more effective in young children, whose brains still in development are more likely to respond positively to the drug.

It is estimated that as many as one in 35 people in the U.S. are mentally retarded, which amounts to approximately 3% of the population. Also, every five minutes a child is born with mental retardation. The annual cost to the country is over $6 billion in special services and lost wages.

Mentally retarded children have impaired or incomplete mental development, and are limited in their ability to learn and also in their capacity to apply learning. Most of those affected have mild or moderate mental disability and with proper education, training and understanding they can become productive members of society. However, the limitations in cognitive functioning will cause them to learn and develop more slowly than children who are not affected by this condition.

Fragile X syndrome is caused by a genetic mutation in chromosome X in which part of the instructions in the gene are repeated several times. When that section of the gene is repeated 200 or more times, the body shuts off the gene. As a result, the protein that is normally produced by that gene is not produced any longer or if produced is defective. This is what causes the wide variety of symptoms among those afflicted with Fragile X syndrome.

The protein normally produced by chromosome X acts as a sort of coordinator of information among brain synapses (connections between nerve cells), helping to stop or slow down brain signaling at critical intervals. Regulating the flow of information among brain cells is crucial for the brain’s ability to learn and develop normally.

Until recently many researchers believed that the right and perhaps only approach to dealing with mental retardation was rehabilitation, not medication. The improvement in some patients’ behavior after administration of a drug opens a totally new panorama of possibilities. The new studies confirm some previous studies in mice with the fragile X mutation, that show that the drug was able to reduce some abnormalities such as seizures, atypical rates of protein synthesis and other molecular defects. If further authenticated these findings will show that however hard the steel wall of mental retardation is, it can still be broken.

Dr. César Chelala was a researcher in microbial genetics at the Public Health Research Institute of the City of New York.

Predator drones are equipped with large and powerful cameras that beam real-time images to their operators. Last February, a Predator crew operating out of Creech Air Force Base, Nevada, asked for an air strike against three vehicles with males supposed to be insurgents. An OH-58D Kiowa helicopter fired Hellfire missiles and rockets which destroyed the three vehicles. Instead of insurgents, 23 innocent men, women and children were killed and 12 more were seriously injured.

In a scathing report released on May 29, the American military blamed the “inaccurate and unprofessional reporting” by a team of Predator drone operators that led to the strikes. This episode illustrates the serious risks involved in the use of drones, whom many law experts consider violate rules of war. Predator drones are extensively used in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where they track and kill suspected insurgents, sometimes with their own missiles.

A report by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, makes a thorough assessment on the effect of drones, whose use has provoked significant controversy.

Drones’ proponents argue that since they have significant surveillance capacity and great precision, they are able to avoid collateral civilian casualties and injuries. They also state that since drones may provide the ability to conduct aerial surveillance and to gather “pattern of life” information, they may allow operators to distinguish between peaceful civilians and those engaged in direct hostilities. The above episode is a clear demonstration of the fallacy of this argument and of the dangers to civilians of using such lethal weapons.

According to the Alston report, the main concern about drones is that they make it easier to kill without any risk to a State’s forces. I believe that an even greater risk is the process of trivializing war, making it thus a deadlier, more dangerous activity since it affects not only those who are target but also those who direct the operation and for whom war becomes no more significant than a video game.

An additional complication to the use of drones is that in many cases international forces are too often uninformed of local practices, or too credulous in interpreting information, to be able to arrive at a reliable understanding of a situation, wrote Michael N. Schmitt, a Professor of International Law at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, in Germany.

According to Schmitt, precision warfare such as the one carried out by drones intersects (or has the potential to interact) with international humanitarian law in four specific areas: the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks; the principle of proportionality, the requirement to take precautions in attack; and perfidy and other misuses of protected status.

Precision attacks as carried out by drones may violate international humanitarian law’s tenet of distinction, as stated in Articles 48, 51 and 52 of Additional Protocol I. As indicated by Schmitt, distinction has been cited as a “cardinal” principle of international humanitarian law by the International Court of Justice.

CIA officers are concerned that the use of drones will backfire and may help Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders recruit more militants. “Some of the CIA operators are concerned that, because of its blowback effect, [the drones’ program] is doing more harm than good,” said Jeffrey Addicott, former legal adviser to U.S. Special Forces in an interview with Inter Press Service.

Presently, several countries including China, France, India, Israel, Iran, Russia, Turkey and the United Kingdom either have or are seeking drones with the capability to shoot laser-guided missiles. If the use of these dangerous weapons becomes more frequent, so will the safety of innocent civilians and violations of international humanitarian law.

César Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

A friend of mine, a prestigious physician who works the longest hours of anybody I know makes only one exception from her demanding schedule in New York. Once a week, she returns home early to watch a new episode of her favorite soap opera. I cannot think of a more unlikely fan. It goes to show that soap operas appeal across a broad spectrum, from the most intellectually sophisticated to people with little or no formal education.

Increasingly, soap operas, or telenovelas, are being used throughout the world to disseminate messages about health issues such as the need for contraception, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, how to achieve peace between countries in conflict and how to elevate the status of women in developing countries. By identifying themselves with the protagonists’ dreams and problems the viewer establishes an immediate connection with them.

In Colorado, State officials have developed a telenovela called “Crossroads: Without Health, There Is Nothing,” specifically aimed at conveying health messages to the population. One of the producers’ aims was to increase the number of health-insured kids in the State, since almost half of the 150,000 uninsured children were eligible either for Medicaid or the Child Health Plan Plus program. Following airing of the telenovelas, there was a substantial increase in the number of children applying for insurance.

In Niger, Africa, Niger’s Broadcasting Corporation (ORTN) and UNICEF have joined forces and produced a serial drama entitled ‘Soueba’ which focuses on the lives of young people in Niamey, Niger’s capital. By following their journey into adulthood, the program explores the realities of love and sex and the dangers posed by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. “Soueba is more than an entertainment. Our aim with Soueba is to stop the taboo around HIV/AIDS, decrease the stigma towards people living with the disease, encourage positive attitudes and improve prevention behaviors,” declared Director Mahaman Souleymane.

In Ethiopia, the characters in the soap opera Yeken Kignit (“Looking Over One’s Daily Life”) have kept millions of Ethiopians glued to their radios for two and a half years. In the process, they may also have changed their lives. Following both Yeken Kignit and a similar soap opera called Dhimbibba (“Getting the Best Out of Life”) male listeners sought to be tested for HIV at four times the rate of non-listeners, while the demand for contraceptives rose 52 percent among married women who listened to the programs.

In Nicaragua, PATH, an international nonprofit organization based in Seattle, working with a Nicaraguan non-profit group called Puntos de Encuentro (“Meeting Points”) has inserted health-related messages into one of the country’s most popular soap operas. The aim of those messages is to change some cultural assumptions that lead to domestic violence and sexual abuse among adolescent girls and young women.

In Vietnam, the Ministry of Agriculture and several partners used entertainment education concepts to communicate pest management and environmental protection techniques to rice farmers. The soap opera project won several awards for its effectiveness in communicating science to people.

Latin American countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela have become active exporters of these products, which are eagerly watched in countries as far away from Latin America as Russia, Albania, China and several countries from the former Soviet Union.

There may be other advantages to soap operas. I was recently in Albania, a country that had suffered from intense isolation during Enver Hoxha’s regime. While in Tirana, I was running late for a dinner appointment since I couldn’t find the restaurant where the meeting was to take place. I decided to ask a couple of young women who were walking in my opposite direction. Graciously, they told me that it was easier for them to accompany me than to try to explain to me how to go there. They asked me where I was from and when I said that I was from Argentina they said to me in Spanish, “Then we can speak in Spanish!” with flawless Argentine accent. Surprised, I asked them where they had learned to speak it so well. “In the Argentine soap operas, of course,” they answered laughing.

Dr. César Chelala is an international public health consultant and a writer on human rights and foreign policy issues.

One of tango’s best definitions is that of expert Horacio Ferrer, “Tango is music, a dance, a way to see the world, a philosophy, a feeling, a sensitivity, an emotion. It is the mythical dimension of reality, nostalgia, abandonment. It is lovers’ separation, the sadness of lost love, the indifference of the world to pain, the poetry of neighborhoods, the value of friendship…”.

To those themes one should add those tangos that were devoted to a particular street or neighborhood. One of the first tangos dedicated to a street is the one called Caminito (Little Walk), a street located in the neighborhood of La Boca, in Buenos Aires. Although it was created in the decade of the 1920s, Caminito is still one of the most popular tangos of all times.

La Boca is one of the first areas the original Spanish conquerors came to in Buenos Aires. Since the 1880s, Italian immigrants -particularly those from Genoa- who came to Buenos Aires, lived there. That neighborhood was also inhabited by gauchos, creoles and country people. La Boca is now one of Buenos Aires' poorest neighborhoods. Only the street called Caminito, whose houses are now being repainted, retains something of its older allure.

The birth of the tango Caminito is an unlikely story of a musician and a poet, both of them tango experts, and how their friendship with an artist, a painter who gave the name to the street, sparked the creation of that tango. It is also the story of how the street called Caminito became one of the most visited streets in Argentina, an obligatory stop for all tango lovers worldwide.

The creator of Caminito’s music was Juan de Dios Filiberto, a native of La Boca. The writer of the lyrics was the poet Gabino Coria Peñaloza, born in Mendoza, a province in Argentina bordering Chile. And the artist was Benito Quinquela Martín, also a native of La Boca. Quinquela Martín has immortalized that area in a gigantic collection of paintings characterized by their bold colors.

The history of the tango Caminito is still shrouded in mystery. According to some, the name comes from a small road in the town of Olta, in the province of La Rioja. For other tango enthusiasts, the name of the tango is related to the street in La Boca, the neighborhood where the musician Filiberto was born and grew up. Both sides seem to have part of the truth.

The composer Filiberto didn’t achieve his musical expertise very easily. When he was young he worked in different trades. Talking about his musical beginnings he used to say, “When I entered the musical Conservatory I was over twenty-five, and my shoulders were used to the work of the stevedore, blacksmith, metal fitter and caldron maker. My fingers were stiff and clumsy for the keyboard and the fingerboard.” He was, however, passionate about tango and when he became famous he used to say, “My music is many things put together but, overall, it reflects my feelings. In art it is not enough to feel, but to know how to express that feeling.”

He studied violin and music theory in a musical academy in Buenos Aires. Later, Filiberto was given a scholarship to study with a well-known musician, Alberto Williams, and took lessons in counterpoint, piano and guitar. But it was in Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires’ most prestigious classical music theater, where he worked as a technical assistant, where he had a shattering musical experience. In Teatro Colón, Filiberto heard for the first time Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which opened new musical horizons in his life. “Beethoven,” he used to say, “was my musical God.”

Filiberto frequently walked through one of La Boca’s narrow roads to meet his friends. They were frequently greeted from a window by a young woman living in that area. Some believe that he created the music of Caminito as an homage to that little walk and to that woman. Filiberto later formed his own orchestra, continued composing and his music became known all over the world. Ten