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Between the Lines
"Between the Lines" is a national, half-hour program that provides a platform for individuals and spokespersons from progressive organizations generally ignored or marginalized by the mainstream media.
Threat of Wider War Looms Over Ukraine as U.S. and NATO Accuse Russia of Intervention in Civil War
Posted Aug. 27, 2014
Interview with David Kotz, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, conducted by Scott Harris
An offensive by Ukraine’s military in recent weeks has succeeded in recapturing territory once held by pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine. According to the United Nations, the country’s civil war has claimed the lives of more than 2,000 people and wounded 5,000 in eastern Ukraine since the conflict began in April. Civilian casualties have increased in recent weeks as Kiev’s army has advanced into the region’s major cites. Two hundred-ninety-eight people died in mid-July when a Malaysian airliner was shot down over the region, allegedly brought down by pro-Russian rebels who may have accidentally targeted the passenger jet with a Russian-made ground-to-air missile.
Tensions have recently increased with charges by Ukraine’s government, the U.S. and NATO that Russia has fired artillery from both inside and outside Russia’s border targeting Ukrainian soldiers. Moscow has also been condemned for sending in hundreds of trucks carrying humanitarian aid destined for civilians caught in the war zone without Kiev’s authorization. Ukraine’s leaders charge that the aid trucks have covertly delivered military equipment to the rebels, an accusation that Moscow denies.
Just before inconclusive peace talks got underway on Aug. 26 between Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Belarus capital of Minsk, Ukraine reported that it had captured 10 Russian paratroopers on Ukrainian territory, which they said was proof of Russia’s interference in the conflict. Russian state media stated that the soldiers had crossed the border by mistake. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with David Kotz, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who assesses the rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and the danger that the U.S. and NATO could be drawn into the nation’s escalating civil war.
For more analysis on the crisis in Ukraine, visit people.umass.edu/dmkotz/KotzPapers.html.
Related Links:
- “Selective Outrage over Ukraine POWs,” Consortium News, Aug. 25, 2014
- “Russia’s Deployment of Troops to Crimea Demands Diplomacy, Not Threats or Escalation,” interview with David Kotz, Between The Lines, March 5, 2014
- “The New Cold War and the Necessity of Patriotic Heresy,” The Nation, Aug. 12, 2014
- “Behind Obama’s ‘Chaotic’ Foreign Policy,” Consortium News, Aug. 21, 2014
- “The Powerful ‘Group Think’ on Ukraine,” Consortium News, Aug. 18, 2014
- “Ignoring Ukraine’s Neo-Nazi Storm Troopers,” Consortium News, Aug. 13, 2014
- “How the US and Russian Media Are Covering the Ukrainian Crisis,” The Nation, Aug. 6, 2014
- “Understanding Ukraine in 15 Minutes,” Counterpunch, Aug. 22, 2014
- “Why Is Washington Risking War With Russia?” The Nation, June 30, 2014
After two weeks of protest, militarized police response and street violence in Ferguson, Missouri, the body of Michael Brown, the unarmed 18-year-old African American shot to death by a white police officer, was laid to rest after an emotional funeral ceremony attended by thousands. Among those speaking at the funeral were civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton and family members who called for justice in the case, expressing the desire by many in Ferguson for the police officer who shot Brown, Darren Wilson, to be indicted for murder. A grand jury is now weighing evidence in the case, and a federal investigation is also underway.Eric Davis, Michael Brown’s cousin, urged those attending the funeral to vote in local elections and push for change, declaring that the community has had “enough of the senseless killings.” While Ferguson’s population is two-thirds African American, the mayor and five of the six members of the City Council are white. The town’s 53-member police department employs only three African-American officers.
New evidence in the case emerged on Aug. 25 when an audio recording was produced by a man who lives in an apartment building near the site of the shooting. The audio recorded in a video chat reportedly captures the sound of as many as 11 gunshots being fired in the Aug. 9 incident. An independent autopsy found that Brown was shot six times, twice in the head. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Vernellia Randall, emeritus professor of law at the University of Dayton, Ohio, who discusses the divisive issues laid bare in the police shooting death of Michael Brown – and the possibility that this latest incident in a pattern of police abuse in minority communities could inspire a new civil rights movement.
Find links to more news and commentary on the Michael Brown shooting by visiting Vernellia Randall’s website, “Race, Racism and the Law,” at racism.org.
Related Links:
- “Hands Up. Don’t Shoot,” handupunited.org, national organizing website
- “CNN plays chilling audio recording allegedly from Michael Brown shooting: ‘At least 11 shots,'” Salon, Aug. 26, 2014
- “Attorney: New audio reveals pause in gunfire when Michael Brown was shot,” CNN, Aug. 26, 2014
- “Here’s Why the Feds Are Investigating Ferguson,” Mother Jones, Aug. 22, 2014
- “Ferguson’s Next Rally: Justice for Michael Brown,” Truth Dig, Aug. 24, 2014
- “The Coming Race War Won’t Be About,” Time, Aug. 17, 2014
- “The Major Problem With Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Powerful Essay on Ferguson,” The Nation, Aug. 18, 2014
- “Racial Repression and the Murder of Mike Brown,” Counterpunch, Aug. 20, 2014
- “Exactly How Often Do Police Shoot Unarmed Black Men?” Mother Jones, Aug. 15, 2014
After 3-Year Protest Campaign, Swiss Banking Giant UBS Pulls Back from Investments in Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining
Posted Aug. 27, 2014
Interview with Tom Torres, organizer with the group Hands Off Appalachia, conducted by Melinda Tuhus
In November 2013, 14 activists were arrested for challenging the role financial services company UBS plays in mountaintop removal coal mining. Their protest action took place at the U.S. headquarters of UBS in Stamford, Connecticut. One group of activists scaled a crane and unfurled a banner which read, “UBS Stop Funding MTN Top Removal,” while others locked themselves to a railing inside the headquarters’ main entrance.Over the past few years, UBS has moved away from its earlier unqualified support for companies engaged in mountaintop removal coal mining that blows the tops off mountain ridges and dumps the debris into valley streams below. The mining method results in massive air and water pollution, and several studies have shown a significantly higher incidence of some cancers and birth defects among residents of communities located in coal mining areas where this extreme energy extraction practice is in use.
The Swiss banking giant’s actions over the past several months make it clear that UBS no longer thinks investment in mountaintop removal is a good business decision, apart from ethical concerns. In a statement to the local Stamford Advocate newspaper, Karina Byrne, a spokesperson for UBS Americas, said the company “fully acknowledges the importance of mining to the global economy. At the same time, it also recognizes the potential environmental, social and human rights impact of this industry sector.” Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Tom Torres, an organizer with Hands Off Appalachia, the group which organized the UBS protest actions in Stamford last November. Here, he describes his group’s ongoing campaign to stop mountain top removal coal mining and his reaction to the recent UBS announcement.
For more information on Hands Off Appalachia, visit handsoffappalachia.com.
Related Links:
- “UBS pulls financing of companies engaged in controversial coal-mining practice,” Stamford Advocate,
- “Melinda Tuhus’ Free Speech Radio Network Reports on Campaign Targeting UBS Investments in Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining,” Free Speech Radio News, Aug. 14, 2014
- “UBS Backs Away From Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining!” Hands off Appalachia, Aug. 13, 2014
- “Stamford 14 Head to Court for Standing Up to UBS,” Hands off Appalachia, Jan. 18, 2014
- “America’s Biggest Bank Moves Away From Mountaintop Removal,” Appalachia’s Voices, Aug. 14, 2014
- Hands off Appalachia Facebook Page at Facebook.com/HandsOffAppalachia
- Hands off Appalachia UBS Campaign at Handsoffappalachia.com/about-the-hof-campaign
This week’s summary of under-reported news
Compiled by Bob Nixon
- Clashes erupted in a Monrovia, Liberia slum as police enforced a mandatory quarantine of the capital city’s West Point neighborhood. Angry youths threw rocks at the police, who reacted by firing live rounds into crowds of residents.
- Despite criticism from right-wing think tanks, criminal justice experts believe the expansion of Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act will lead to lower rates of prison recidivism as ex-offenders gain access to mental health services. A 2010 study by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy found arrest rates fell by 33 percent when former inmates enrolled in Medicaid and received substance abuse treatment. Today, more than one million prisoners suffer from mental illness and substance abuse impacts three-quarters of all inmates.
- Sexual assault is chronically under-reported by most police departments, as a result of poorly trained emergency phone dispatchers misclassifying initial reports of assault and law enforcement management downgrading rape cases. According to a detailed report by University of Kansas Law School professor Corey Rayburn Yung, over a million rape cases went unreported to the FBI from 1995 to 2012. But Yung believes that number is likely much higher.
