The problem with the new locks became apparent this past August and since then the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has maintained an imperfect news blockade. The information controls, along with some details that have slipped through, suggest a worse problem than has been admitted.
The Panama Canal’s multifaceted funk
by Eric Jackson
The problem of the moment — the one that appears in Google News — is dissipating. That the delays for ships seeking to transit the canal, and most probably the Panama Canal Authority’s method of reducing them, have driven business away from the Panama Canal is something that you won’t hear from canal officials. THAT you hear from shipping industry sources. CMA CGM, for example, abandoned its Manhattan Bridge Service route between China and the US East Coast, telling the Journal of Commerce that it was “due to operational issues resulting from delays in transiting the Panama Canal.” And although the ACP’s ban on ships less than 390 feet long was quickly lifted, it would be reasonable to suppose that some of the owners of such vessels — and their customers — will take that incident into account when making future business plans.
The issues causing the delays might be ephemeral, largely having to do with maritime problems in California, some of them drought-related, and rainy season fog slowing transits here. But the problem of the canal’s customers switching to other routes is structural and in large part flows from steep toll increases enacted after the ACP’s 2006 referendum campaign projections of ever-rising canal usage (and thus toll revenue) were spectacularly disproven by the 2008 economic crash. The revenue shortfall was resolved by the toll increases, but those drove many shippers to routes that don’t use the Panama Canal. A two-lane Suez Canal, expanded port and rail multimodal systems in many parts of the world and thawing Arctic ice mean that regardless of whether the Nicaragua Canal ever happens, we are not the only way to go and the competition is going to grow.
There may be some visible problems with the new locks, but the big problem with the Panama Canal expansion is economic. Canal management has never acknowledged this, but the search for new businesses to generate non-toll revenue for the ACP allows for no other reasonable explanations. The quest makes sense for the institution, at least. The ACP wants to go into the ports, fossil fuel power generation and oil and gas pipeline businesses. One can go back to the days of the old Canal Zone, which was a company town of the US-owned Panama Canal Company conglomerate, to find a history of the canal business encompassing these things. But why, from the institutionally disinterested perspective of the Republic of Panama and its citizens, does it make sense for the ACP to get into a ports industry that is and has been the busisness of the Panama Maritime Authority? Why should the power generating companies already in business here — or environmentalists — look kindly upon a new ACP power plant that burns bunker oil? Why would those who don’t view Gatun Lake as an environmental lost cause not object to a new oil pipeline alongside the lake?
The ACP website features gushy news about all of the international port operators interested in the proposed Corozal / Diablo port. But they could only get one vote for the project in the legislative committee when it came up for a vote last April. Now La Estrella reports that only three of the ACP’s 11 board members unambiguously back the port proposal. We don’t know precisely why, because the authority’s rules provide that the board speaks through the minister of canal affairs and individual board members can’t talk to the press about canal matters. We do know, however, about some of the conflicting business and family loyalties both represented on the board and with mostly indirect but real stakes in the port scramble. What makes institutional sense for the ACP is not necessarily reasonable for Panama’s squabbling rabiblanco families or political factions, or for that matter for the general public. Blurring those distinctions is a daunting public relations task.
Are the premises on which the port proposal’s economics are based all that certain in the first place? Heaven help Panama if they are totally wrong, but our opportunities for expansion as a transshipment center have been questioned.
The leaking new locks? At the moment PanCanal pilots are more concerned with maintenance issues on the present Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks. The measures to ease the delays at canal entrances include putting off locks maintenance said not to be urgent. Beside the apparent leaky gate seals at Miraflores we are told that regularly scheduled maintenance at Pedro Miguel ran into some problems and was abandoned unfinished.
The incontinent lock sill at the new Cocoli Locks made worldwide news. The discovery of new cracks in that and another sill have only been reported in Panama. Stuff that has been kept out of the news might — or might not — be the worst of all. For example, the last time that the ACP mentioned the leaks in the national language on its website was in an August 27 report about experts from Panama Technological University (UTP) making a field visit to evaluate the problem and give a technical opinion about the GUPC construction consortium’s report on the leak. But even though what is billed as GUPC repair work is ongoing, neither the consortium’s report on the problem nor the UTP professors’ evaluation of the GUPC analysis have been forthcoming to the public. Minister of Canal Affairs Roberto Roy and Canal Administrator Jorge Luis Quijano have maintained silence on the technical issues. Quijano has, however, assured foreign ship owners that the new locks will be open for business next April. But GUPC’s José Peláez told the Cuban Prensa Latina news agency that it’s too early to know whether the new locks will be open by that time.
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Plenty of plastic and paper along the footpath. Photo by Eric Jackson.
Varela commissions a new study of
(part of) our solid waste problem
by Eric Jackson
The objective of these studies is to define guidelines to establish a national strategic plan to clean up the country through an integrated system with its objectives and the main lines of action necessary for the sustainable management of waste generated in Panama.
Presidential statement
President Varela is spending $4,354,000 via the Urban and Household Sanitation Authority (AAUD) to hire the Spanish consulting firm Ingeniería y Economía del Transporte SA (INECO) to develop a solid waste management system for Panama. We certainly need such a thing. But the thing is, INECO is primarily a transportation infrastructure engineering firm. Their website briefly mentions recycling, but all of the projects of which they boast are related to rail, highway, airport or seaport systems. They don’t seem to have any waste management system experience to show us. Perhaps they have just acquired a company that does solid waste planning, or hired some experts who are really good at that sort of thing. And surely there is an engineering component to any systematic approach to what we are going to do with all of that refuse.
The way that the problem is stated belies a conceptual problem that runs from the least educated Panamanian citizen to the sophisticated individuals at the top of our government. Does a nuts and bolts plan for sufficient modern landfills with a collection and transportation system to fill them, plus a recycling plan to divert the more valuable garbage, solve our problem? Or might we power our homes and put up with the stench of burning plastic with waste-to-energy incinerators, or better yet advanced plasma burners that just give us glassy bricks and water vapor? Not enough.
Oh, that’s right, it’s a cultural problem. The waste disposal people, the Ministry of Health and IDAAN have been saying that for years and better educated Panamanians have heard it. Dispose of trash in proper receptacles, not by throwing it by the side of the road or down storm drains. A lot of people haven’t assimilated the message and this time of the year it aggravates urban flooding problems and all that trash collects water where disease vector mosquitoes like to breed. But those sophisticates who see it as this problem of bad manners, mostly of those arrived in the city from the Interior in recent decades also tend to have a conceptual problem.
If solid waste management is looked at as a matter of convincing people to put it in the can so that the collectors can come take it away. It’s even so if one figures that some of that stuff should be separated out and recycled. The bigger part of the problem is creating and distributing all that throwaway stuff in the first place.
So has our industrial engineer president hired a company to give Panama an engineering solution to our solid waste problems? To the extent that the company gets into recycling, might they give us a market solution too? It doesn’t work without a cultural solution and a public policy solution.
Education campaigns have made small dents on the cultural front. We had a mayor of Panama City who was married into the ad cartel, who went after that problem with television ads. We might want to study how well that program, long discontinued, really went.
Mandatory beverage bottle and can deposits have shown in many places around the world how they dramatically decrease the volume of solid waste strewn along roadsides. We are not going to save our coral reefs or get the upper hand against dengue until we remove all the plastic shopping bags from the environment by prohibiting their free distribution at stores, as is done in China.
Also on the public policy front — and let’s be frank about it, the political patronage front — is the relationship among municipal, provincial and national levels of government. For example, Chame’s private garbage pickup contractor has just called it quits, so does the AAUD now add that sprawling district to its political bailiwick? And how do we avoid the tawdry turf battles of the previous two administrations, in which contracts and jobs were more important than keeping things clean?
It could could be that INECO is a competent cultural and public policy consultant, too. It could be that the president has some comprehensive cultural and public policy approaches in mind, and is just hiring INECO to study the particulars of our situation and present him with some options for the engineering parts of the solution.
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Soldado francés en la República Centroafricana. Foto por el Ministerio de Defensa Francés.
Pronunciamiento sobre los atentados de París
por el Polo Ciudadano
1. El Polo Ciudadano repudia los horrendos atentados ocurridos en la ciudad de París el pasado viernes 13 de noviembre en el que murieron más de cien de civiles, siendo la mayoría jóvenes, y varios centenares de personas fueron gravemente heridas y traumas severos.
2. Desde este espacio, expresamos a las víctimas, sus familiares y al pueblo francés nuestra completa e incondicional solidaridad.
3. El Polo Ciudadano sostiene que es necesario acabar con los métodos del terrorismo que convierte en víctimas a civiles inocentes en nombre de falsos objetivos políticos, y que el terrorismo que practican grupos como el llamado “estado islámico” (ISIS) no es más que la otra cara de la moneda del terrorismo que practican las potencias occidentales, incluyendo a Francia en Oriente Medio y África.
4. Erradicar el terrorismo falsamente llamado “islamista”, al cual repudian cientos de millones de musulmanes en todo el mundo y los principales jerarcas de las iglesias islámicas, requiere erradicar la política de las potencias capitalistas occidentales, que para saquear sus recursos naturales, imponen la violencia masiva contra pueblos enteros (bajo falsos objetivos disfrazados de “democracia”) con sus millones de muertos, heridos y refugiados en Afganistán, Irak, Libia y Siria.
5. El terrorismo “islámico” y el terrorismo imperialista son dos caras de la misma moneda. Por esa razón repudiamos las palabras de los jefes de estado de la OTAN, quienes alegan ser representantes de una supuesta “civilización occidental” (basada en una democracia e igualdad inexistentes), atacada por los “bárbaros medievales”. Los métodos políticos, económicos y militares que emplean las potencias capitalistas para imponer la globalización neoliberal también son bárbaros y han causado muchas más víctimas en todo el planeta. En ese sentido repudiamos la hipocresía de la OTAN, cuando cada día es más evidente que ellos y sus aliados financian grupos como ISIS, para imponerse por la fuerza contra Siria e Irán.
6. Nuestro repudio al terrorismo practicado por las potencias imperialistas occidentales, como el terrorismo de grupos como ISIS, viene desde lo más profundo de un pueblo como el nuestro (el panameño), que ha sido múltiples veces víctima del terrorismo genocida de Estados Unidos que en nombre de la “democracia” nos invadió y masacró. El último ataque terrorista norteamericano del que fuimos víctimas como Panameños, ocurrió el 20 de Diciembre de 1989, causando más de 500 muertos, más de 2000 heridos e incalculables daños a la propiedad estatal y privada valorados en miles de millones de dólares.
Así que en Panamá sabemos cómo se siente el dolido pueblo francés en este momento, pero también sabemos cómo se sienten los pueblos de Palestina, Siria, Libia, Irak, Afganistán, entre otros que siguen siendo víctimas del terrorismo imperialista de los Estados Unidos y de sus principales aliados.
7. Como Polo Ciudadano cuestionamos la innecesaria decisión del gobierno panameño presidido por Juan Carlos Varela, de formar parte de la “Coalición internacional” contra los yihadistas del Estado Islámico (EI), ya que de acuerdo a analistas internacionales y locales, es un ‘error lamentable’ de la política exterior del Gobierno, que sin lugar a dudas pondrá en extremo peligro a toda la nación y por ende al canal; por pretender actuar con gesto complaciente con los intereses y presiones de EEUU.
8. Como ciudadan@s, aspiramos por un mundo de Paz, sin terrorismo, sin explotación económica, sin saqueo a las naciones; que incluya a todos los seres humanos de todas las culturas y credos; un mundo que no puede ser el actual e inhumano mundo de la globalización neoliberal capitalista e imperial.
Panamá, 17 de noviembre de 2015
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El último tramo del Corredor Norte. Foto por la Presidencia.
Don Juan Carlos Varela simplemente no da la talla para administrar un país — ¿o habrá alguna otra razón?
Después de los pavos
por Kevin Harrington-Shelton
¡OTRA chambonada más!
El mundo que nos mira escasamente sale de su asombro de el ridículo cuando, finalizado un mes de postergar la entrada en funcionamiento del último tramo del Corredor Norte, el presidente Juan Carlos Varela suspende INDEFINIDAMENTE el cobro que debió entrar en vigor ayer –para AHORA efectuar consultas con los usuarios.
Especialmente tratándose de moradores de las áreas menos privilegiadas de los suburbios cuyos presupuestos familiares materialmente no les permitirían pagar el peaje más caro de todo el país, por aquel tramo. Esto ya era patente hace 10 años cuando cuando fungí –gratis– como Administrador Judicial de PYCSA Panamá SA.
El problema creado por incompetencia tiene solución. Reducir a la mitad el peaje (para incentivar el uso de los corredores, como manera de economizar en la factura petrolera del país) y extender el plazo de los bonos hacia futuro. Los bonohabientes estarían muy de acuerdo.
Esto resulta fácil entender porque, entre las prioridades del mandatario, la tasa de intereses leonina (en relación al riesgo de bonos garantizados implícitamente garantizados por el Estado y que se liquida a diario y en efectivo mediante el cobro de los peajes), el presidente de manera consistente prioriza el interés de los donantes a su campaña –por encima de nuestro bien-común. Al punto que (en 2009) el entonces Vicepresidente Varela aprobó un financiamiento similar– regalándole a ICA $240 millones más y en efectivo– más de lo que valía nuestro Corredor Sur. Justo en el momento en que enfrentaba un cataclismo financiero en México.
De que hay gato-encerrado en aquella transacción pareciera confirmarlo el hecho que el presidente Varela rehusa hacer públicas las actas del Gabinete que documentan su aprobación de aquella irregularidad.
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The disappearance of securities analyst Vernon Ramos and the stabbing of the man who took over the Financial Pacific case after his disappearance, plus testimony and other evidence of prosecutorial and judicial misconduct to suppress a probe of criminal activity in that brokerage house, suggest murder committed with an expectation of impunity.
Former police chief testifies in Vernon Ramos probe
by Eric Jackson
On November 16, three years to the day after the disappearance of Securities Markets Superintendency (SMN) senior analyst Vernon Ramos, former police chief and national security director Julio Moltó testified before special organized crime prosecutors for more than three hours. Moltó was not charged with anything and left after giving his testimony.
Ramos was investigating wrongdoing at the Financial Pacific brokerage house, which is now in the process of liquidation, when he disappeared. The most controversial of the matters he was looking into were allegations that then-president Ricardo Martinelli was using the brokerage for insider trades in Canadian stock shares of the parent company of the now closed Petaquilla gold mine. Shortly after Ramos disappeared the corrupt former Supreme Court magistrate Alejandro Moncada Luna cut off the investigation with a spurious ruling that notwithstanding Panama’s money laundering laws, illegal transactions with respect to shares not traded on Panama’s Bolsa de Valores are legal here. That not only stopped the investigation into Martinelli’s transactions, but paved the way for a sale to a group formally headed by Brazilians but including silent shareholders that included both Martinelli and former tourism minister Salomón Shamah. Just the Martinelli administration was voted out of office in 2014 the analyst who succeeded Ramos in the Financial Pacific investigation, Gustavo Gordón, was stabbed on the street near the brokerage’s office but the investigation was closed when Gordón survived, an assailant could not be identified and a judge treated it as a simple assault with no possible obstruction of justice component. Investigations since then have uncovered a vast criminal enterprise at Financial Pacific, along with the now intervened Banco Universal a clearinghouse for crimes and particularly the laundering of the proceeds of public corruption, both foreign and domestic. One man, Ignacio Fábrega, is in prison for acting as a mole inside the SMV, reporting to Financial Pacific management about the ongoing investigations. There is a related insider trading and money laundering investigation of Ricardo Martinelli pending before the Supreme Court.
So, if one goes by the indicia of means, motive and opportunity is there a strong circumstantial murder case? Probably not. No body has been found or identified and all along people aligned with Martinelli have suggested that Ramos was corrupt and fled into hiding. Earlier this year a purported witness claimed knowledge of Ramos’s death and how the body was disposed of, but the claim could not be verified. Thus for more than three years now the SMN analyst’s family waits with dread and uncertainty for word of what happened.
If Moltó’s interrogation is a set of messages rather than a sign of a break in the case, the two clearest messages would be that the matter has not been forgotten and that it’s being treated as a part of the financial crimes investigation against the brokerage house. Considering that there is no statute of limitations for either murder or forced disappearance and that for a middle aged adult the maximum sentence would in effect imprison somebody for the remainder of his or her life, this case may be one of the stronger reasons why Martinelli remains in Miami.
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Widespread misunderstanding about antibiotic resistance
by the World Health Organization
As the World Health Organization (WHO) ramps up its fight against antibiotic resistance, a new multi-country survey shows people are confused about this major threat to public health and do not understand how to prevent it from growing.
Antibiotic resistance happens when bacteria change and become resistant to the antibiotics used to treat the infections they cause. Over-use and misuse of antibiotics increase the development of resistant bacteria, and this survey points out some of the practices, gaps in understanding and misconceptions which contribute to this phenomenon.
Almost two thirds (64 percent) of some 10 000 people who were surveyed across 12 countries say they know antibiotic resistance is an issue that could affect them and their families, but how it affects them and what they can do to address it are not well understood. For example, 64 percent of respondents believe antibiotics can be used to treat colds and flu, despite the fact that antibiotics have no impact on viruses. Close to one third (32 percent) of people surveyed believe they should stop taking antibiotics when they feel better, rather than completing the prescribed course of treatment.
“The rise of antibiotic resistance is a global health crisis, and governments now recognize it as one of the greatest challenges for public health today. It is reaching dangerously high levels in all parts of the world,” says Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, in launching the survey findings today. “Antibiotic resistance is compromising our ability to treat infectious diseases and undermining many advances in medicine.”
The survey findings coincide with the launch of a new WHO campaign ‘Antibiotics: Handle with care’ — a global initiative to improve understanding of the problem and change the way antibiotics are used.
“The findings of this survey point to the urgent need to improve understanding around antibiotic resistance,” says Dr. Keiji Fukuda, Special Representative of the Director-General for Antimicrobial Resistance. “This campaign is just one of the ways we are working with governments, health authorities and other partners to reduce antibiotic resistance. One of the biggest health challenges of the 21st century will require global behaviour change by individuals and societies.”
The multi-country survey included 14 questions on the use of antibiotics, knowledge of antibiotics and of antibiotic resistance, and used a mix of online and face-to-face interviews. It was conducted in 12 countries: Barbados, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, the Russian Federation, Serbia, South Africa, Sudan and Viet Nam. While not claiming to be exhaustive, this and other surveys will help WHO and partners to determine the key gaps in public understanding of this problem and misconceptions about how to use antibiotics to be addressed through the campaign.
Some common misconceptions revealed by the survey include:
Three quarters (76 percent) of respondents think that antibiotic resistance happens when the body becomes resistant to antibiotics. In fact bacteria — not humans or animals — become resistant to antibiotics and their spread causes hard-to-treat infections.
Two thirds (66 percent) of respondents believe that individuals are not at risk of a drug-resistant infection if they personally take their antibiotics as prescribed. Nearly half (44 percent) of people surveyed think antibiotic resistance is only a problem for people who take antibiotics regularly. In fact, anyone, of any age, in any country can get an antibiotic-resistant infection.
More than half (57 percent) of respondents feel there is not much they can do to stop antibiotic resistance, while nearly two thirds (64 percent) believe medical experts will solve the problem before it becomes too serious.
Another key finding of the survey was that almost three quarters (73 percent) of respondents say farmers should give fewer antibiotics to food-producing animals.
To address this growing problem, a global action plan to tackle antimicrobial resistance was endorsed at the World Health Assembly in May 2015. One of the plan’s five objectives is to improve awareness and understanding of antibiotic resistance through effective communication, education and training.
Key findings of the survey by country
Barbados (507 face-to-face interviews)
Only 35 percent of respondents say they have taken antibiotics within the past six months — the lowest proportion of any country included in the survey; of those who have taken antibiotics, 91 percent say they were prescribed or provided by a doctor or nurse.
Fewer than half of respondents (43 percent) have heard of the term ‘antibiotic resistance’; and fewer than half (46 percent) — less than any other country in the survey — believe that many infections are becoming increasingly resistant to treatment by antibiotics.
Only 27 percent of respondents agree with the statements ‘Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest problems the world faces’ and that ‘Experts will solve the problem’ — the lowest proportion of all participating countries for both questions.
China (1,002 online interviews)
57 percent of respondents report taking antibiotics within the past six months; 74 percent say they were prescribed or provided by a doctor or nurse; 5 percent say they purchased them on the internet.
More than half (53 percent) of respondents wrongly believe that they should stop taking antibiotics when they feel better, rather than taking the full course as directed.
61 percent of respondents think, incorrectly, that colds and flu can be treated by antibiotics.
Two thirds (67 percent) of respondents are familiar with the term ‘antibiotic resistance’ and three quarters (75 percent) say it is ‘one of the biggest problems in the world’. 83 percent of respondents say that farmers should give fewer antibiotics to animals — the highest proportion of any country in the survey.
Egypt (511 face-to-face interviews)
More than three quarters (76 percent) of respondents say they have taken antibiotics within the past six months, and 72 percent say they were prescribed or provided by a doctor or nurse.
55 percent of respondents incorrectly think that they should stop taking antibiotics when they feel better, rather than taking the full course; and more than three quarters (76 percent) wrongly believe that antibiotics can be used to treat colds and flu.
Less than one quarter (22 percent) of respondents have heard of the term ‘antibiotic resistance’ — the lowest proportion of any country included in the survey.
India (1,023 online interviews)
More than three quarters (76 percent) of respondents report having taken antibiotics within the past six months; 90 percent say they were prescribed or provided by a doctor or nurse.
Three quarters (75 percent) of respondents think, incorrectly, that colds and flu can be treated with antibiotics; and only 58 percent know that they should stop taking antibiotics only when they finish the course as directed.
While 75 percent agree that antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest problems in the world, 72 percent of respondents believe experts will solve the problem before it becomes too serious.
Indonesia (1,027 online interviews)
Two thirds (66 percent) of respondents report having taken antibiotics in the past six months; 83 percent of respondents say they were prescribed or provided by a doctor or nurse.
More than three quarters (76 percent) of respondents know that they should only stop taking antibiotics when they have taken all of them as directed, but 63 percent incorrectly think they can be used to treat colds and flu.
84 percent of respondents are familiar with the term ‘antibiotic resistance’ and two thirds (67 percent) believe that many infections are becoming increasingly resistant to treatment by antibiotics.
Mexico (1,001 online interviews)
Three quarters (75 percent) of respondents report having taken antibiotics within the past six months; 92 percent say they were prescribed by a doctor or nurse; and 97 percent say they got them from a pharmacy or medical store.
The majority of respondents (83 percent) accurately identify that bladder/urinary tract infections (UTIs) can be treated with antibiotics, but 61 percent wrongly believe that colds and flu can be treated with antibiotics.
89 percent of respondents in Mexico say they have heard of the term ‘antibiotic resistance’ and 84 percent believe many infections are becoming increasingly resistant to treatment by antibiotics — a higher proportion than any other country included in the survey on both questions.
Nigeria (664 face-to-face interviews)
Almost three quarters (73 percent) of respondents report taking antibiotics within the past six months; 75 percent of respondents state they were prescribed or provided by a doctor or nurse; 5 percent say they bought them from a stall or hawker.
More respondents in Nigeria than any other country included in the survey correctly identify that antibiotics do not work for colds and flu (47 percent), however 44 percent of respondents think they do.
Only 38 percent of respondents have heard of the term ‘antibiotic resistance’ — the second lowest proportion of all the countries surveyed.
Russian Federation (1,007 online interviews)
A little more than half of respondents (56 percent) report having taken antibiotics within the past six months; the same proportion (56 percent) say their most recent course of antibiotics was prescribed or provided by a doctor or nurse — the lowest proportion of any country included in the survey.
Two thirds (67 percent) of respondents incorrectly think colds and flu can be treated with antibiotics, and more than one quarter (26 percent) think they should stop taking antibiotics when they feel better rather than taking the full course as directed.
Awareness of the term ‘antibiotic resistance’ was high among respondents at 82 percent.
71 percent think antibiotics are widely used in agriculture in their country and 81 percent say that farmers should give fewer antibiotics to animals.
Serbia (510 face-to-face interviews)
Fewer than half (48 percent) of respondents say they have taken antibiotics within the past six months; 81 percent say they were prescribed or provided by a doctor or nurse.
The majority of respondents (83 percent) accurately identify that bladder infections/UTIs can be treated with antibiotics, but more than two thirds (68 percent) wrongly believe that colds and flu can be treated with antibiotics.
Only 60 percent of respondents in Serbia have heard of the term ‘antibiotic resistance’ and only one third (33 percent) think it is one of the biggest problems the world faces.
81 percent of respondents say that farmers should give fewer antibiotics to animals.
South Africa (1,002 online interviews)
65 percent of respondents say they have taken antibiotics within the past six months; a higher proportion of people than any other country included in the survey (93 percent) say their last course of antibiotics was prescribed or provided by a doctor or nurse, and 95 percent say they had advice from a medical professional on how to take them.
87 percent of respondents know they should only stop taking antibiotics when they finish the course of treatment — a higher proportion than any other country included in the survey.
The same proportion (87 percent) of respondents — and again more than any other country in the survey — recognize that the statement ‘It’s OK to use antibiotics that were given to a friend of family member, as long as they were used to treat the same illness’ is false. It is a practice which can encourage the development of resistance.
Sudan (518 face-to-face interviews)
More than three quarters (76 percent) of respondents report having taken antibiotics within the past six months; 91 percent say they were prescribed or provided by a doctor or nurse.
62 percent of respondents incorrectly think they should stop taking antibiotics when they feel better — more than any other country included in the survey — and 80 percent think antibiotics can be used to treat colds and flu. Both of these statements are incorrect. These are practices which encourage the development of antibiotic resistance.
94 percent of respondents agree that people should use antibiotics only when prescribed, and 79 percent believe that antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest problems the world faces — the highest percentages on both questions of any of the countries where the survey was undertaken.
Viet Nam (1,000 online interviews)
71 percent of respondents state they have taken antibiotics within the past six months; three quarters (75 percent) report they were prescribed or provided by a doctor or nurse.
86 percent of respondents think that the body becomes resistant to antibiotics (whereas in fact it is bacteria) — a higher proportion than any other country included in the survey.
83 percent think that many infections are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics.
70 percent of respondents think that antibiotics are widely used in agriculture in their country and almost three quarters (74 percent) agree that ‘antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest problems the world faces’.
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The hatred is not a figment of someone’s imagination, although some of the explanations for it are.
Why do they hate us?
by The Global Observer
I have read a number of articles since 9/11 centered around the question “Why do these terrorists hate us?” Now in light of the Paris bombings this week, it once again elicits the question.
Instead of quoting many good articles I have read on this, I summarize with my own reactive thoughts.
My first observation is that humanity still consists of core animalistic principles of running in packs and living in groups or communities. Most of these groupings are based on core survival instincts where we have learned to not only live for self, but live to protect our families, friends and communities from those dangerous “others.” Since prehistoric ages, when one group has insufficient “anything,” they start looking to attack or join other groups to sustain life. These are core drives in our existence — “survival of the fittest” if you will.
Second, we are brought up by our families and communities to conform our individualities to the norms of our group and our identities as humans become totally absorbed into “what’s best for the majority.” Of course, the “majority” are usually driven by “leaders” since humans taught to conform all their lives will rarely have an original thought or action of their own.
Thirdly, when a “leader” is challenged to explain that which is unexplainable — which is a lot of things in our universe — he or she is expected to have an answer better than “I don’t know.” So, religions and sciences are devised by these leaders to help center the masses around “reasonable” explanations which are often great fantasies of the leaders minds to give the people the answer they want and erase their natural fears of the enemy or nature’s unknowns.
Finally, it should be noted that the human ego needs a lot of stroking and attention. We need something to believe in, and we have to FEEL that what we believe in is THE right thing. We grow up learning to categorize people by race, creed or economic levels. In most cases, those different from us are perceived as threats, not “someones” to be embraced or included. We learn to hate and despise those who threaten us and our egos. Even in melting pots like America, society quickly starts labeling others as dagos, wops, nazis, japs, honkys, niggers, etc etc. These names are not usually meant to be endearing.
After a few millennia of this in societies around the globe, is it really any wonder that we have extreme differences and conflicts, even in the light of education and science? The sad reality is that a great majority of humans on this planet are NOT educated — at least at any secular meaning of the word. A large majority of people are still learning “in the street,” within their family or religious circles, or via whispered rumors and texting false information world wide. People don’t read books anymore. They prefer to read snippets of information sent to them by huge media conglomerates who profit by manipulating human mentality into buying their sponsors products or accepting the common perceptions that governments or global corporations want the masses to believe or think.
As bad as global “terrorism” has become, I feel like I have a pretty good idea why these people “hate us.” It really should come as no surprise when the majority who are poor and uneducated are manipulated and fed by fundamental religionists whose specialty is to divide and conquer all of humanity. The “sheeple” really have no choice. They will die alone if they do not follow. So at least now they will die WITH thousands of their co-conspirators, while serving the ego needs of their supposed or tyrant leaders as well as their own mini-egos.
When so many of these hordes, like millions of American Christians I think I know pretty well, believe in a “holy book” more than a “scientific book” or national constitution there becomes very little difference between “jihadists” of the Muslim persuasion and the Zionist or fundamentalist Christian varieties on a global basis. All are trying to overcome the other, even within the borders of the most successful experiment in democracy. The only unity you have in America is within the poor majority or the super-rich minority. Nothing in between.
So, unfortunately, until we all come to grips with our own hypocritical worldviews everyone can expect to be hated by someone else nearby. Believers despise the un-believers. Intellectuals despise the ignorant. Radicals despise the vapid. Basically, we have lost all trust in the humanity of others. While actions and examples of charity, kindness and giving still exist, these human traits are now in the minority and in continued decline. Most religions or governments do not practice them without subservience to their cause.
I really don’t believe radicals hate Americans or Westerners because of our “freedoms,” as some of our past leaders have tried to convince us. They are simply tired of us usurping what is theirs, asserting our “freedoms” over THEIR lands, religions and cultures. The pressure for “them” to conform to our norms of dress, arts and cinema — and consumerism most of all — is extreme. If the “West” had simply stayed more pure to its ideals of democracy, free enterprise and caring for its own at home instead of 100 years of military and cultural invasions, we would have seen a more natural adoption of our way of life versus today’s terroristic rejection of our meddling. If we had a stronger military defense — versus all the offensive power brokering and history of military and economic support for tyrannical governments — “they” might not hate us quite so much.
We westerners have followed our governments and corporate elites into attempts to dominate all other cultures. Most of us didn’t mean anything by it, but we are now living with the results of our blind following of power-hungry, ego-driven elitist politicos. These leaders send men and women into battles that they are not ready to win, for causes that are questionable. We have voted these same type of people into office for centuries now. How is it that we are surprised that terrorists hate them when many of us are starting to hate them as well? These are what the world sees as “Americans,” and I have spent over 16 years living outside of my country apologizing for my government’s actions and attitudes. NOT a pleasant experience.
I am not being “un-American” to place some blame where it belongs. I am saying that we need to change our role in these global divisions. We can’t change THEM, we can only change or control ourselves. Lead by examples of fair trade and less corruption. Lead with humanitarian aid not extended at the point of huge guns. Quit being the biggest supplier of armaments — which so often end up pointed back at us — worldwide. Let’s quit fighting everyone else’s battles and win the fights we have within our own borders. Let’s truly become that “beacon on a hill” of life, liberty and economic success that Reagan and other previous leaders have presented as the goal yet never really acted on.
We might be able to bomb those who hate us into submission for a while, but we still have to win the war at home, against religious and class warfare that leads to hate and mistrust among ourselves. Only then will those on the outside learn not to hate us so much. You don’t have to be religious to believe in these principles of peace and prosperity. In fact, it is easier to do so being a humanitarian.
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The announcements below are interactive. Click on them for more information
The 2006 canal expansion referendum was a PRD project, in conjunction with the banks and construction companies, and also a major exercise of a Panama Canal Authority information control game that was created when Ricardo Martinelli was Minister of Canal Affairs. Street graffiti photo by Eric Jackson.
Archives of an infamous campaign: redemption in search of volunteers
links to 2006 articles that hackers wanted to erase
Whodunnit? We don’t know, but a series of hacker attacks that began to shut down the old website of The Panama News in December of 2014 has by and large destroyed easy access to our archives. Did Ricardo Martinelli make a big international campaign of wanting to erase online archives of the things that he did, and did he have Israeli hacking equipment, Italian programs and US-trained “security personnel” capable of doing it? He had all of these things, and more. But the the hacker(s) might also have been somebody else. In any case, after the final collapse of our old website in the middle of last March, we were left with a bunch of fragments of years of online records of what The Panama News has done, and restoring our archives is a work that had been put on the back burner while we set about the as-yet unfinished task of rebuilding the website and carrying on with our coverage. If you want to volunteer your labor for this project, send us an email.
These links are to the stories that we published in 2006 about the referendum campaign on the Panama Canal expansion. You don’t truly understand the problems and corruption that have come to that project since then if you know nothing of this story.
Can we render this links into headlines rather tn Internet addresses? Can we copy the stories and store them in places beyond our enemies’ easy reach? Can we begin to restore The Panama News as an online historical resource? Might we go even farther and restore archives of much more of Panama’s English-language journalism, by other people over many decades, and thus reclaim part of Panama’s history? It’s a matter of labor and to a lesser extent money.
