Headline February 15, 2018/ '' 'O' MANKIND' ''

'' 'O' MANKIND' ''

RESTORING THE PLANET to health is the major need of the time; together with a shift in lifestyles, this requires economic systemic change and a reorientation of political priorities.

Knowing there is an environmental crisis claiming to be concerned but doing little or nothing is pure hypocrisy.

To their utter shame the vast majority of politicians are nothing but environmental hypocrites; weak and devoid of vision, they constitute the very embodiment of complacency, they are indebted to big business and -

And have repeatedly shown that they cannot be relied on to initiate the the radical policies needed to keep fossil fuels in the ground and repair the environmental carnage mankind has caused .

The number one priority of governments around the world is ''the economy''.

This is the sacred cow which they tiptoe and to who they make their reverential offerings in the hope of being blessed by limitless economic growth, no matter the environmental cost.

Where they exist at all, Government policies to reduce GCE's are designed and limited by the impact they will have on economic development; as such they remain totally inadequate.

Developments take place within the constructs of the unjust system that is dependent on constant consumption, encourages greed, produces huge quantities of waste, and is maintained by the relentless agitation of desire.

These thoroughly negative elements work to the detriment of human beings and are the driving impulses behind behavior that has led to and is perpetuating the environmental crisis.

The system demands that irresponsible consumption not only continues, but deepens and expand into areas of the world hitherto relatively untouched by its poison.

It obstructs environmentally responsible policies and lacks the flexibility required to face the challenges, certainly within the time scale needed if the planet is to be restored to health.

Given these facts, the only sane rationale solution is to change the system to one that allows for an urgent meaningful response.

The Honor and Serving of the latest Global Operational Research on World and Mankind continues. The World Students Society thanks author and researcher Graham Peebles.

With respectful dedication to the Leaders, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all prepare for Great Global Elections and ''register'' on : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter - E-!WOW! - the Ecosystem 2011:

''' Evictions & Honours '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless

IRAN'S ECONOMIC WOES

IN the frigid air of Tehran winter, a mother of two stands in a long time line of shoppers waiting for the chance to buy discounted meat at a store supported by Iran's government.

''Yesterday, after nearly two hours in the line, the shopkeeper said : ''It is finished, try another day,''  Zahra Akram said recently. ''And now here I am here again.''

Her struggle represents the economic paradox that faces Iran as it marks the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

Despite holding some of the world's largest proven deposits of oil and natural gas, Iran has seen a return to long lines for food - a sight once seen during the 1980s, when it was at war with Iraq.

Inflation continues to rise as its currency, the rial  depreciates. University graduates are unable to find jobs.

Part of the economic challenges stem from the  re-imposition of US sanctions that had been lifted under the  nuclear deal  Iran stuck with world powers. Those sanctions have returned after President Donald Trump decided to pull America out of the accord.

But other problems persist, some dating back to policies instituted after the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

The revolt wouldn't have been possible without impoverished Iranians rising up against \shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.

His land reforms was poorer  rural residents  move to the cities and become fresh recruits for the revolution.

Ayatollah Ruhullah Khomeini's calls for supporting the poor struck a populist tone among the struggling masses, as well as with leftists who helped overthrow a regime that spent billions on US weapons.

Immediately after the revolution, Iran nationalised its oil industry, its main source of hard currency. Its new leaders also seized  industries tied to the Shah or companies of those who fled the country. Shiite charitable trusts, known as bonyads, as has Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. [Agencies]

The honor and serving of the latest global operational research on Iran and economy continues. 

SAUDI RESEARCH PAPER

A study by a Saudi research center is challenging the notion that jihadi fighters are necessarily disenfranchised and lacking opportunity, with its lead researcher saying on Thursday that-

That a new generation of Saudi militants are relatively well educated, not driven purely by religious ideology and show little interested in suicidal missions.

The 40-page study, published by the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in conjunction with the International Center for the Study and Radicalization at King's College of London, looked at 759 Saudi recruits who joined the Daesh group mostly between 2013 and 2014.

That's roughly a third of the overall number of Saudis who fought in Syria. The data was drawn from leaked Daesh group entry documents.

The Saudi Interior Ministry previously said that that 2,500 Saudis had gone to Syria in the years before the Kingdom criminalized fighting abroad in early 2014. Only Tunisia sent more foreign fighters.

Subsequently, the kingdom was the target of numerous Daesh attacks that killed dozens of people, as well as in Kuwait.

Researcher Abdullah bin Khaled Al Saud said the fighters were neither loners nor social outcasts but appear to have been motivated by the heightened sectarianism that began to color the 2011 Syrian revolution as it slid into armed conflict.

A turning point came when the Iranian-backed Shiite Hezbollah group decisively committed to join the conflict in May 2013 to defend the Syrian government against the mostly Sunni Muslim resistance.

''That actually was the point when the first wave of Saudis travelling to Syria started to happen,'' AI-Saud told the Associated Press.

''So, I think instability, war and violence certainly plays a major role when it comes to the specific Saudi context.''

In contrast, issues of disenfranchisement, poverty and criminal pasts factored heavily in IS fighters hailing from European countries like France, Belgium, and the UK to name a few.

An AP analysis of some 3,000 leaked Daesh documents had found that most of the recruits hailing from a range of nationalities, or around 70 percent, came with only the most basic knowledge of Islam - the lowest possible choice on the forms.

This created fertile ground for the indoctrination of the recruits in line with the group's extremist interpretation of Islam. [Agencies]

The honor and serving of the latest operational research on Millennial Jihadis, continues.

CRYPTO DEAR MARKET

CRYPTOCURRENCIES may be facing a prolonged bear market. Companies that issued tokens, or digital currencies, over the last two years through initial coin offerings [ICOs] may have to sell more of these assets to finance their operations.

There's just one problem. There are very few takers.

After the blockbuster success of ICOs in 2017, with funds raised at more than $6 billion, cryptocurrencies nosedived, wiping out about 85 percent of their total market value since hitting a peak of more than $800 billion in early 2018.

Bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency, has dropped more than 80 percent since hitting an all-time high of nearly $20,000 in December 2017.

A global regulatory authority led by the US Securities Exchange Commission has created fear about greater oversight and acceptance of the currencies for payments among the companies issuing the tokens and the investors that bought them, taking the wind out of the once red-hot digital assets.

Data from Dead Coins, which tracks crypto startups, showed that around 1,000 of these companies either failed in the last year or their projects have now been abandoned.

For digital currencies still in the market, the prospect of incoming supply some with a probe terminal schedule - could pose a challenge to their businesses given the current downturn in the market

''Most people don't fully understand the impact of the new supply on this market particularly when   there's low liquidity,'' said Ryan Selkis, co-founder of .Messari, a crypto data platform in New York.

''I don't think anyone has any idea how much hidden inflation  there is in the form of token reserves that are going to be unwound gradually.''

The honor and serving of the latest global operational research on cryptos and markets continues. [Agencies]

GIANT *HEROIN* SPOON ART

AN ARTIST has moved his giant sculpture of burnt spoon to a Rhode Island drugmaker's office to protest the opioid crisis.

The Providence Journal reports that 48-year-old Doemnic Espposito, of Westwood, Massachusetts,, and a partner placed the nearly 11-foot long, 800 pound  [3-meter long, 360-kilogram] spoon at the front gates of Rhodes Pharmaceuticals Coventry on Thursday.

Esposito, whose brother has struggled with addiction, says his sculpture is about ''exposing this web of influence that big pharmaceuticals has had on us.'' [Agencies]