On The Angle

Live life with joy

587 notes

theatlantic:

The Women of Mexico’s Drug War

U.S. photographer Katie Orlinsky moved to Mexico in 2006, just after graduating from college. The drug war surrounded her, and she quickly realized that women — not just men — were serving as its weary warriors, ferrying contraband and kidnapping kingpins. Between 2007 and 2011, the number of women incarcerated for federal crimes rose 400 percent. Orlinsky began to wonder: Who are these women? Innocent victims of a broken system? Cold-hearted criminals? Both?

In 2010, she entered the female prison in Ciudad Juárez and began photographing the convicted women inside. 

See more. [Images: Katie Orlinsky]

(via reportagebygettyimages)

8 notes

crisisgroup: from 10 Conflicts to Watch in 2013 | Foreign Policy by Louise Arbour And now, for some good news — Colombia Finally, a political solution to Colombia’s long and bloody guerrilla war may be in sight. Following a year of secret contacts, formal peace talks between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas opened in October 2012. The broader dynamic of the conflict also encourages a political settlement. The FARC has been weakened militarily, and this generation of leaders have possibly their last opportunity to vindicate decades of struggle by signing a peace deal that allows the guerrillas to participate in building peace. The government operates from a position of strength — its military advantage, if not decisive, appears irreversible. The success of the talks is not assured. Differences over policy issues on the agenda are substantial, skepticism toward the FARC remains widespread among many in Colombia, and — even though a majority of Colombians back the process — support for the negotiations has been falling. But mainstream political forces remain committed to the talks, and opponents have so far failed to make much headway. The security forces are also better aligned with the civilian leadership than in the past and have a seat at the negotiation table, reducing risk of the coordination failures between political and military agendas that have marred previous peace attempts. A decade of intense counterinsurgency warfare has greatly weakened the combat strength of the guerrillas and pushed them into ever more remote rural hideouts, substantially reducing their impact on the major urban centers. But the conflict still costs lives on a daily basis, holds back socioeconomic development, and impedes the consolidation of a truly inclusive and pluralistic democracy. The road ahead will not be short or smooth, but Colombia cannot afford to miss this chance for peace. FULL ARTICLE (Foreign Policy) Photo: xmascarol/Flickr

crisisgroup:

from 10 Conflicts to Watch in 2013 | Foreign Policy

by Louise Arbour

And now, for some good news — Colombia

Finally, a political solution to Colombia’s long and bloody guerrilla war may be in sight. Following a year of secret contacts, formal peace talks between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas opened in October 2012.

The broader dynamic of the conflict also encourages a political settlement. The FARC has been weakened militarily, and this generation of leaders have possibly their last opportunity to vindicate decades of struggle by signing a peace deal that allows the guerrillas to participate in building peace. The government operates from a position of strength — its military advantage, if not decisive, appears irreversible.

The success of the talks is not assured. Differences over policy issues on the agenda are substantial, skepticism toward the FARC remains widespread among many in Colombia, and — even though a majority of Colombians back the process — support for the negotiations has been falling. But mainstream political forces remain committed to the talks, and opponents have so far failed to make much headway. The security forces are also better aligned with the civilian leadership than in the past and have a seat at the negotiation table, reducing risk of the coordination failures between political and military agendas that have marred previous peace attempts.

A decade of intense counterinsurgency warfare has greatly weakened the combat strength of the guerrillas and pushed them into ever more remote rural hideouts, substantially reducing their impact on the major urban centers. But the conflict still costs lives on a daily basis, holds back socioeconomic development, and impedes the consolidation of a truly inclusive and pluralistic democracy. The road ahead will not be short or smooth, but Colombia cannot afford to miss this chance for peace.

FULL ARTICLE (Foreign Policy)

Photo: xmascarol/Flickr

14 notes

crisisgroup: from 10 Conflicts to Watch in 2013 | Foreign Policy by Louise Arbour Central Asia This region provides a laundry list of countries on the brink. Tajikistan lumbers into 2013 with nothing good to show for 2012. Relations with Uzbekistan continue to deteriorate, and internal domestic disputes threaten to foment separatist ambitions in Gorno-Badakhshan. This mountainous and remote eastern province had little time for the central government in Dushanbe — even before government troops clashed with local fighters, many of them veterans of the Tajik civil war, whom they described as members of an organized crime group. Some of the fighters, including one of their leaders, were members of Tajikistan’s border forces. Additionally a number of residents of Khorog, described at one point as youth who had been misled by anti-government propaganda, also participated. (The area has long been deeply suspicious of the central government).  Kyrgyzstan is no better. It continues to ignore festering ethnic tensions and rule-of-law issues in the south while a long-anticipated ethnic policy languishes unadopted in the office of the president. The central government’s reach in Osh grows progressively weaker, and the international community again seems to have little or no interest in all the early warning signs. Widespread and systematic human rights abuses, meanwhile, are still the norm in Uzbekistan. To make matters worse, there are no plans for political succession once President Islam Karimov, 74, leaves the stage — a recipe for regional upheaval. Until the United States clears the last of its troops and materiel from Afghanistan, however, the issue is not likely to get much traction in Washington. If trends continue, Kazakhstan faces another violent year ahead — 2012 saw a record number of terrorist attacks in western and southern parts of the country by previously unidentified jihadist groups. Astana’s attempt to cast itself as a stable ship in a regional sea of unpredictability is undermined by the fact that this is a country where protesters are shot dead and activists jailed. Socioeconomic grievances may yet be the undoing of the Kazakh state. FULL ARTICLE (Foreign Policy) Photo: Javier Martin Espartosa/Flickr

crisisgroup:

from 10 Conflicts to Watch in 2013 | Foreign Policy

by Louise Arbour

Central Asia

This region provides a laundry list of countries on the brink. Tajikistan lumbers into 2013 with nothing good to show for 2012. Relations with Uzbekistan continue to deteriorate, and internal domestic disputes threaten to foment separatist ambitions in Gorno-Badakhshan. This mountainous and remote eastern province had little time for the central government in Dushanbe — even before government troops clashed with local fighters, many of them veterans of the Tajik civil war, whom they described as members of an organized crime group. Some of the fighters, including one of their leaders, were members of Tajikistan’s border forces. Additionally a number of residents of Khorog, described at one point as youth who had been misled by anti-government propaganda, also participated. (The area has long been deeply suspicious of the central government). 

Kyrgyzstan is no better. It continues to ignore festering ethnic tensions and rule-of-law issues in the south while a long-anticipated ethnic policy languishes unadopted in the office of the president. The central government’s reach in Osh grows progressively weaker, and the international community again seems to have little or no interest in all the early warning signs.

Widespread and systematic human rights abuses, meanwhile, are still the norm in Uzbekistan. To make matters worse, there are no plans for political succession once President Islam Karimov, 74, leaves the stage — a recipe for regional upheaval. Until the United States clears the last of its troops and materiel from Afghanistan, however, the issue is not likely to get much traction in Washington.

If trends continue, Kazakhstan faces another violent year ahead — 2012 saw a record number of terrorist attacks in western and southern parts of the country by previously unidentified jihadist groups. Astana’s attempt to cast itself as a stable ship in a regional sea of unpredictability is undermined by the fact that this is a country where protesters are shot dead and activists jailed. Socioeconomic grievances may yet be the undoing of the Kazakh state.

FULL ARTICLE (Foreign Policy)

Photo: Javier Martin Espartosa/Flickr

11 notes

crisisgroup: « Les rebelles du M23 souhaitent forcer le gouvernement congolais à des négociations, des négociations directes avec le président Joseph Kabila.  Ils ne les ont pas obtenues, et la mise sous pression de la ville de Goma fait partie de leur stratégie, comme elle avait fait partie de la stratégie de Laurent Nkunda en 2008. »  —Thierry Vircoulon parle au sujet des rebelles du M23 avec RFI (L’INTERVIEW COMPLET) Photo: EU Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection/Flickr

crisisgroup:

« Les rebelles du M23 souhaitent forcer le gouvernement congolais à des négociations, des négociations directes avec le président Joseph Kabila.  Ils ne les ont pas obtenues, et la mise sous pression de la ville de Goma fait partie de leur stratégie, comme elle avait fait partie de la stratégie de Laurent Nkunda en 2008. » 

—Thierry Vircoulon parle au sujet des rebelles du M23 avec RFI

(L’INTERVIEW COMPLET)

Photo: EU Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection/Flickr

113 notes

unicef: CAN YOU SEE ME? Tariq (age 7) has rickets – a bone-softening disorder that is caused by chronic malnutrition. It has already killed two of his siblings. “I was afraid Tariq would die just like my other children,” his mother (left) said. “But now that I know what has been killing [them], I am relieved. I try to follow the advice I receive in nutrition sessions. Tariq has already improved.” A field health monitor examines Tariq during a home visit, on the island of Moheshkhali, Bangladesh. ©UNICEF/Shehzad Noorani To see more: www.unicef.org/photography

unicef:

CAN YOU SEE ME?

Tariq (age 7) has rickets – a bone-softening disorder that is caused by chronic malnutrition. It has already killed two of his siblings. “I was afraid Tariq would die just like my other children,” his mother (left) said. “But now that I know what has been killing [them], I am relieved. I try to follow the advice I receive in nutrition sessions. Tariq has already improved.”

A field health monitor examines Tariq during a home visit, on the island of Moheshkhali, Bangladesh.

©UNICEF/Shehzad Noorani

To see more: www.unicef.org/photography

0 notes

Always fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, always fight demagogues of all parties, never belong to any party, always oppose privileged classes and public plunderers, never lack sympathy with the poor, always remain devoted to the public welfare, never be satisfied with merely printing news, always be drastically independent, never be afraid to attack the wrong, whether by predatory plutocracy or predatory poverty.
Joseph Pulitzer.