The Children of Syria: Hunger in a War Zone | Thirdeyemom 10/3/2013.  Already reblogged here, it’s a great article (sorry I missed it when it published) and it may be signal of what’s coming out of the “absolutism” valued by warring parties in the Syrian theater, i.e., they’re playing with guns and power and this suffering is invisible to them and perhaps in their heads unrelated to the mess they’re making.

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Iraq: Wave of Car, Suicide Blasts Kill at Least 61 – ABC News – 10/17/2013.  Some holiday (Eid al-Adha) with these Sunni fanatics offing their Shiite counterparts.  Sadly, our temporal sense of separation has been diminished with near yesterdays passing for old history.  Notes this article, “It was the deadliest day in Iraq since Oct. 5, when a suicide bombing targeting Shiite pilgrims and other attacks left at least 75 dead.”  For pete’s sake, that was less than two weeks ago (13 days).

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Taliban’s ban on polio vaccine in Pakistan puts global eradication at risk | Fox News – 10/18/2013:

“The risk is that as long as the virus is still circulating, and as long as we have no means of reaching these children and immunizing them to interrupt virus transmission, it could jeopardize everything that has been done so far – not only in Pakistan, but also in the region and around the globe.”

Most are familiar with the racist charge that one sort of immigrant or far away people bring with them corruption and disease, but this may be the first time in history that a documented movement and sect interfere consistently and deliberately with public health efforts to spare children and their parent from the ravages of an awful scourge.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe sabotaged the sanitation facilities within a rival’s district to facilitate his own political gain, and that move reintroduced cholera to Zimbabwe, but I’ve not read reports of the dictator continuing to derail sanitation operations.

Also in the news, the scourge of the Taliban: British queen meets Pakistan schoolgirl Malala who survived Taliban assassination attempt | euronews, world news – 10/18/2013.

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Boko Haram fighters attack Nigeria military | News24 – 10/15/2013.

Boko Haram suspects allegedly dying in military detention | Africa | DW.DE | 15.10.2013:

Amnesty International said more than 950 people died in military custody in the first six months of this year, according to “credible information” from a senior Nigerian army officer.

If true, that would mean that Nigeria’s military has killed more civilians than the extremists during the first half of 2013.

The wars for detectives and poets (and a few police) now being fought by armies seem to promote in the Africa part these massive government responses, rather like chasing fleas with a hammer, that add their share to the injustice of the whole business.  Syria’s Assad flying jets against commercial and residential real estate without discrimination between combatant and noncombatant targets seems the worst we’ve seen in this category, but the lack of administration and consideration elsewhere involving persons off the field of battle would seem to reflect poorly on and undermine confidence in what would be otherwise the the good soldiers in the Islamic Small Wars (ISW).

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Uganda alert for Kenya-style mall attack | News24 – 10/18/2013.

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Libya’s military police chief shot dead | News24 – 10/18/2013.

I think that’s enough advertising for News24.

I haven’t wanted to pull out the “C” word, but the manner in which these events get around resemble the eruption and dissolution of tumors.

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