Taking a swipe at the Billionaire class in Davos: by Donovan Reynolds, Independent Writer.

A yearly event for the Business, Government, Academia and International organizations is held at the World Economic Forum high in the showy Swiss resort of Davos-Klosters.  These organisations aim to shape the global, regional and industry agendas and address pressing global challenges. This year’s theme is 'Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution'. However, the meeting has been overshadowed by fears of China's trending down of growth and plummeting oil prices on the world market. China's Vice President, Li Yuanchao, countered by remarking that China would address the recent slowdown in its economy. With the global financial market in a cautious mood it is expected that about ten central bank Governors will descend on the upmarket ski resort. It is hoped that the forum will provide them with a platform to lay out their ideas on requirements to help the global economy this year.

 France's Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, started off the European session by remarking that security and terrorism are one of the biggest challenges currently facing the European region. He called for a pooling of resources and also sharing more information, including a common programme of oversight of flights and airports. Wolfgang Schauble, Germany's finance Minister, called for a new Marshall Plan to tackle Europe’s refugee crisis, saying billions must be spent. Meanwhile, his boss Chancellor Angela Merkel, remains below the radar, smarting from a refugee sex scandal backlash from opposition parties at home in Germany. US Treasury Secretary, Jack Lew, has hinted in the opening session that markets have over-reacted to the oil price slump and China’s slowdown. While the contribution from HSBC boss warned that it is hard to raise money for green energy right now. Alexis Tsipras, Greece’s current Prime Minister, appeared sombre in his presentation he called for a new co-ordinated growth strategy and for Europe to diminish the inequalities between North and South.

High on the agenda at Davos will be the future of the European Union and the Schengen Agreement. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has told Davos that Europe business and community leaders should campaign in the upcoming referendum for Britain to remain in the European Union; recent polls show that 52% Britons opting for leaving the EU has placed the future of the union in doubt. With a UK referendum expected this year on its political relationship with Europe, whether to remain in or opt out Europe, nerves can hardly be calmed. However, David Cameron is wooing the doubters in Davos by insisting that he is 'confident' the UK will remain in a reformed European Union if he achieves the deal he is seeking for a new relationship with Brussels.

It is expected that some of the world’s influential charities such as Oxfam as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Trust will be there; they will rub shoulders with Hollywood heart-throbs, Political powerhouses and the growing billionaire class. This year the guest list is a little less white than the Oscars; the impressive guests include Rachel Whetstone, Justin Trudeau, Will.i.am, Sheryl Sandberg and Leonardo DiCaprio. Yet, missing from the Davos  list are the pied political pipers of the squeezed middle such as Bernie Saunders, Jeremy Corbyn and Russel Brand who will not get a foot in to embarrass the money grabbing capitalist billionaire class present at Davos.

As to the volunteers of Kingston- Mouth, we will be watching the drama unfold on our couches from afar, on television and social media, clutching our Poundland crisps and drinking organic carrot juice. However, our lower middle class voices will not be silenced.   Statistics from Oxfam bear testament to the fact that the squeezed middle class numbers and quality of life are evaporating rapidly from the planet.

Since the last economic crisis, the billionaire class has ridiculed the poor, so it’s time to return the favour to the Davos cavorting class. According the Oxfam Charity that examines global poverty, this year the richest 1% in the word will own more than all of us.  Yes I, will repeat: the cumulative wealth of us the 99 % will not match the wealth of a handful of mostly tax evading billionaires. Subsequently, the middle class among us are dwindling rapidly. Luckily, Winnie Bynyiami, Oxfam’s CEO, will have a voice at the table at Davos. Although it is likely that her voice will be drowned out by the greedy billionaire class worried about her dwindling oil stocks and shares on the Capital market.

Wealthy moneybags such as George Soros, Warren Buffett and the Kotch Brothers won’t choke on their glasses of champagne when Oxfam breaks the news to them that 62% persons like themselves wealth is equal to half of the world’s population wealth. They will be engrossed in scientific lectures about how robotics can lower the cost of labour and increase their already incredulous bottom-line.  I hope that whenever the first sets of robotics are delivered they resemble Bill Gates, Will I Am, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. While I am at it, might I take a swipe at British Billionaire Richard Branson who is busy in the American desert blowing up Space crafts in the American desert? He is fixated on landing millionaires on space stations in the stratosphere while the poor are starving in UN refugee camps as a result of terrorism, civil wars, drought and famines. Neither is he interested in the fact that most of the world’s poor are living on an income less that US 1.25, down from $2 a day before the last economic recession. His focus is solely to grow the Virgin Empire. The trump change that is left on his aircrafts goes to charity and he is very noisy about it.

 The Russian property grabbing billionaire class, such as Roman Abramovich and Yuri Milner, have an open yearly invite to sit cosily at the table at Davos and they might have one eye on the table and another on the lucrative property market in London. A word of advice to them, if they are bothered to make it to Davos, stick to property acquisition and refrain from criticising President Putin openly.  They really don’t want to get on his wrong side or they might end up sipping a glass of expensive vodka laced with plutonium by the KGB. We strongly advise that you confine your criticisms to your expensive yachts moored on the Chelsea Harbour or the French Riviera. As you swan around Europe laundering billions, remember those Russians living on less than 9,662 roubles ($169) a month. Please also remember that the number of Russians living on the official poverty line surged to nearly 23 million at the end of March 2015.

The Qatari Royal Family and the House of Saud are also in for it. Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani of Qatar and H.M King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia have a combined wealth of 80 billion dollars. Their idea of a good charity is to spread Wahhabism (radical Islamic ideology) across the world. While they are buying expensive F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets at a cost of $94 million each from the US, these oil rich Middle East Royal families invest in high end sky scrapers in Europe, forcing up the price of real estate in London making it almost impossible for the Middle class to own a home . Turning up at Davos is beneath them as it’s too cold and definitely too high up in the hills of Switzerland to moor their luxurious yachts. Their version of human rights is to publically behead its citizens who oppose their exclusive rule by dictatorship and prevent women from driving in public. Despite this, they are the darlings of Europe and the US, the two main pillars of Capitalism and democracy in the word. They defiantly don’t have to turn up in Davos as they have the entire EU and US envoy doing the bidding on their behalf. Even with oil plummeting to an all-time low of $32.26 dollars a barrel, they are so rich that they won’t break into a sweat no matter how hot the desert gets.

You might be wondering why Kingston-Mouth has stooped so low to berate the Billionaire classes who turn up at the Word Economic Forum in Davos. These forums do not improve the lives of the poor and squeezed middle class from Beijing to Bangladesh. We see the gap between the rich and the poor getting wider; there is no trickle-down effect.  We emphatically do not believe that there is a tremendous passion to end poverty when billionaires and world leaders meet; based on the legacy of deception that Adam Smith has left us. We do not expect the likes of Christine Lagarde, President of the IMF who receives a tax free salary of US $467,940  to close the gap between rich and the poor; the best she can achieve during her tenure  is a face lift and an expensive hair extension. If we had a choice between wiping out poverty or wiping out billionaires which one do you think we would choose?

This article was written by Donovan Reynolds CEO and edited by Ann Smith Managing Editor of Kingston-Mouth .com.  Donovan Reynolds is an Independent Blogger and Human Rights Activists who is of a Jamaican descent and a legal academic that has an interest in Human Rights, Culture and International Development Issues.

Turkeys Arrest of 12 University Academics& It’s Dubious Human Rights Violations against the Kurds: by Donovan Reynolds Independent Writer

Yet another busy week on the international scene:  Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) killed 28 people and a further 56 were injured in Burkina Faso after Islamist militants attacked a hotel in the capital of Ouagadougou, frequented by foreigners. Then there was pleasing news that Jason Rezaian, an American Journalist employed by the Washington Post, and four other Americans were released by Iranian authorities in a prisoner swap. Rezian was arrested in July 2014 on alleged charges of espionage. On the 14th of January a major shopping and business district in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, close to foreign embassies and the United Nations offices, was bombed by terrorists; two civilians and five of the attackers were killed. The week ended with a good item of news on Saturday with the US and the EU announcing the lifting of economic sanctions against Iran.

This week’s blog focuses on the current situation in Turkey where its President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has ordered the detention of twelve academics over allegations of involvement in “terror propaganda”. These academics, together with 1,400 others, signed a petition calling for the end of a massacre and deportation of Kurdish people. Two academics of international notoriety, American Noam Chomsky and the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, had been severely criticised by the Turkish President. He accused them of not paying attention to the true picture in Turkey   and labelling them as ignorant terrorist sympathisers. The war of words ratcheted up this week when the UK Guardian quoted that Chomsky accused Erdoğan of operating double standards on terrorism.

The arrests prompted a flurry of reactions from Rights organisations who accused the Turkish President of violating academic freedom by rounding up innocent university teachers.  They were concerned about the welfare of these academics that did not deserve to be incarcerated on the basis of assisting the Kurds to assert their human rights. Among them is Amnesty international asserting that the current military campaign against the Kurds, conducted by the Turkish government, involves a breaching international law. These Rights organisations also accuses Turkey of targeting staff from 90 Turkish universities (calling themselves “Academicians for Peace”) who signed the petition last week calling for an end to the acts of state oppression against the Kurds.

 Further pressure was brought to bear on the Turkish President on Wednesday when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov opportunistically announced that he is set to hold talks with the co-chairman of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtas on the matter. There were further developments on Friday, reported by local media, when Turkey’s main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) also chided President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for ordering arrests of dissident academics.  With such pressure mounting we expect the UN to at least make a statement shortly on the matter.

The Kurdish people’s quest for an independent state and self-rule can be traced back to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. During that period the Allies contrived to split Kurdistan (as detailed in the ultimately unratified Treaty of Sèvres) among several countries, including Kurdistan, Armenia and others. However, the recapture of these areas by the forces of Kemal Atatürk (and other pressing issues) caused the Allies to accept the renegotiated Treaty of Lausanne and the borders of the modern Republic of Turkey, leaving the Kurds without a self-ruled region.

Turkey's human rights record against the Kurds has unremittingly attracted scrutiny, both internally and from external Rights organisations. Furthermore, its close association with the US, NATO and the European Union has been criticised by international commentators. It is open secret that Turkey has exploited its strategic relationship with the west by flouting human rights openly against the Kurds. This history of abuse against the Kurds has been well catalogued by the European Courts of Human Rights (ECtHR). We know for example that the ECtHR in 2005 awarded Kurdish deputy Leyla Zana 9000 € from the Turkish government for a landmark Human Rights breach. The court ruled that Turkey had violated her rights of free expression. Zana, who had been recognized as prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International and had been awarded the Sakharov Prize by the European Parliament, was jailed in 1994, allegedly for being a member of the outlawed Kurdish based PKK. The court found that she was treated high-handedly by the Turkish court for having spoken Kurdish in public during her parliamentary oath.

In their quest for an independent state the Kurdish people have endured a long history of oppression; in the last century they have fought the Ottomans, the British, and the Baathists. Apart from the Jewish Holocaust and the enslavement of Africans in the Caribbean and North America, I would suggest that no other group of people in the world has endured pain and suffering like the Kurds.  They are sandwiched between four countries in a large Geographic area spawning eastern and south eastern Turkey (Northern Kurdistan), Northern Syria (Western Kurdistan), Northern Iraq (Southern Kurdistan) and North Western Iran (Eastern Kurdistan). According to CIA Fact book, Kurds formed approximately 18% of the population in Turkey (14 million) in 2008. One Western source estimates that up to 25% of the Turkish population is Kurdish (approximately 18-19 million). Kurds constitute approximately 17% of Iraq's population and 7-10 %of Iran's overall population (6.5–7.9 million).

The Kurds are not without natural resources in the region that they occupy and as a result attracted the attention of resource grabbing developed countries and multinational Corporations. Prominent companies active in Kurdistan include Exxon, Total, Chevron, Talisman Energy, Genel Energy, Hunt Oil, Gulf Keystone Petroleum, and Marathon Oil. As you may well imagine, these large multinational corporations are not in the business of liberating people - their main aim is to extract profits and forming strategic business alliances.

Turkey is a founding member of the United Nations (1945) the model of government is a parliamentary representative democracy. Since its foundation as a republic in 1923, the country has developed a strong tradition of secularism. Human rights in Turkey have been the subject of some controversy and international condemnation. Between 1998 and 2008 the European Court of Human Rights made more than 1,600 judgements against Turkey for human rights violations, particularly regarding the right to life, and freedom from torture. Other issues, such as Kurdish rights, women's rights, and press freedom, have also attracted disagreement from the international community and rights based organisations.

 Turkey's human rights record continues to be a significant obstacle to future membership of the EU,  yet the country is one of the most important allies to the US and the European Union based on its geo-political interest and the war on terrorism. In recent time there has been a falling out of relations between Turkey and the Russia. On Monday 25^th November 2015 Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet on the Syrian border, alleging that Russia had violated its airspace. Since then there has been a showering of relations with Turkey and as a result the Russian Government, through its associated news network has accused Turkey of secretly buying gas from ISIL and leaving its borders to Syria pours for ISIL to recruit foreign fighters and conduct Terrorist Training camp in Turkey.

This week the English Based version of Russian Television (RT) reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is planning a meeting with the co-leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas , according to sources in the Foreign Ministry. We at Kingston Mouth view this as a sinister move, mainly because of the souring relations recently with Russia and Turkey. Russia’s attempt to woo the Kurds is indeed opportunistic as they are on opposite sides of the proxy war in Syria. Meanwhile, it is not expected that President Obama or the European Union to castigate the Turkish President over Human Rights breaches, as Turkey is a major air base from which the US and its allies launch attack on ISIL in Syria and Iraq. Many Rights group in Europe have chided the EU for agreeing to fund the Turkish Government to the tune of 2 billion EU dollars to manage and house the flood of refugees fleeing war in the region. The Kurdish issue aside, it is fair to suggest that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's rule in Turkey is rapidly becoming an embarrassment to the West and NATO, and Turkey’s international credibility  and record on human rights is diminishing. It seem as if the Turkish President is hell bent on becoming the “two faced Janus” of the Middle East. Nevertheless, he is an untouchable based on the Geo Strategic location in that region and his powerful allies on the UN Security Council have to treat his friendship cautiously.

Surely, the present approach to the Kurds and the Academic Sympathisers has gone the wrong way and it is now time for the UN to send a special envoy to that country to resolve the very complex issues involved in that dispute. A failure to act quickly can only lead to the “Putinisation” of Turkey and Balkanisation of the already troubled Kurdish Region. The Kurds in Iraq have a Regional Government that seems to be working although it’s not perfect. Turkeys hostility towards is Kurdish population can be less belligerent if some arrangement can be brokered. In the interim, Kingston-Mouth condemns the action of President Erdoğan. We urge release of the twelve academics and other journalists held in Turkey and a toning down of the bellicose rhetoric by all parties involved. Now that the Iran deal is more settled it would be advisable for the Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, to focus his attention on events in Turkey.

This article was written by Donovan Reynolds CEO and edited by Ann Smith Managing Editor of Kingston-Mouth .com.  Donovan Reynolds is an Independent Blogger and Human Rights Activists who is of a Jamaican descent and a legal academic that has an interest in Human Rights, Culture and International Development Issues.

Understanding the Current Conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran: By Donovan Reynolds-Independent Writer

The beginning of the year was expected to be quiet on the International scene.  Last year the international community attention was unavoidably focused on a preoccupation with ISIL expansion of territory in the Levant. That crisis forced the coming together of an international diplomatic consensus to containing the infamous terrorist assemblage. The historic  Iran nuclear deal that followed seventeen days of almost uninterrupted negotiations was heralded as a good thing .It involved foreign ministers from seven countries – Iran, US, UK, Russia, China, France and Germany – along with the EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. The agreement was supposed have signalled a thawing of tense relationships within the Middle East. However, before the ink dried on the deal there were uncomfortable utterances from Israel and the Sunni influenced Saudi Arabia about the agreement. In fact Israel Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, moved pre-emptively to criticize the deal even before the final details had emerged.

While Saudi Arabia is one of the US major allies in the region, it has been a relationship purely of strategic necessity. It is for that reason why Saudi Arabia’s King Salman reluctantly sought assurances from U.S. President Barack Obama about the Iran nuclear deal shortly after it was inked. Historically, the relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia has never been a peaceful one, mainly because of the ongoing Shia /Sunni ethnic spat that has divided the region for centuries. Most recently, Saudi Arabia accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism and using Hezbollah to interfere in the conflict in Yemen and Syria.  Iran has always been uncomfortable with the cosy relationship that the Saudi’s share with the West. Especially, its expensive arms purchases from the US. Meanwhile, Iran has countered this relationship by forging strategic ties with Russia and President Assad in Syria.

The hatred between both Saudi Arabia and Iran recently deepened with the arrest and execution of prominent Iranian religious Cleric Nimr al-Nimr. He was among those put to death last week in Saudi Arabia on charges of terrorism. Recently, as an act of revenge an angry mob of Iranians vandalised the Saudi embassy   in Tehran: it was set ablaze during the protests against the execution of the popular Iranian cleric. Members of the diplomatic mission hastily evacuated the Embassy and headed for the airport in Tehran as it became apparent that the Iranian security force had not done enough to protect them. At the Airport there were further allegations that they were temporarily held up before they were allowed to leave for Saudi Arabia- a claim that Iranian officials denied; in a hastily held press conference chaired by its Foreign Minister. On Sunday, the immediate severing of relations with Iran was announced by Saudi Arabia after the storming it’s Embassy in Tehran. The Saudi Government alleged in a press briefing that the Iranian Government was a behind the attack on their Embassy. Shortly after the press conference, the Iranian government put out a press release denying any involvement. In the Times of Israel they were quoted as saying that Iran had regretted the attacks on Saudi embassy. The conflict has thrown the region into a Geo-Political frenzy and by Monday Bahrain and Sudan both announced that they severed relations with Iran and the UAE  had also downgraded its diplomatic mission to Iran.

The road to peace in the Middle East has always been a slippery diplomatic slope for the UN, US and Russia. It is worsened by Russia’s and the US involvement backing client states and correspondingly as a result several episodes of inaction by the UN. The ratcheting up of a divisive conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran does not argue well for lasting peace in the Middle East, let alone the diffusion of two major civil wars in that region.. It is quite understandable therefore why the US, the UN and Russia have remained almost silent on the matter. As the diplomatic manoeuvres take place quietly behind the scene, one sobering narrative by the Saudi Foreign Minister emerged. Adel al-Jubeir was quoted by Al-Jazeera on Tuesday that the dispute will not hinder political negotiations over the Syrian conflict expected later this month.

The international community and the peaceful community of nations aligned to the UN   await nervously a speedy diplomatic outcome before this international discord deepens. Central to the thawing of this is the bellicose relationship is President Obama- as he is still welling up his tears and mulling over the difficult but necessary US domestic gun control issue involving armed white ranchers- who have overtaken a federal wildlife building in Oregon.

The Middle East, for a long time, has stretched the interpretation margins of realist foreign policy analysts. The geopolitical manoeuvres in that region have led to an insolvable international security dilemma as it is a region where even political differences and alliances are difficult to describe. For example, the only thing that Iran and Saudi Arabia have in common is a hatred for Israel. We know too that the only thing Israel and Saudi Arabia have in common is a dislike for Hezbollah and Iran. The picture becomes more of a conundrum when you factor in the Palestinian issue and the historical Shia/Sunni ethnic divide. It is a region where the three largest religions in the world coverage and battle over ideas and religious shrines. Making peace in the region is a never ending cat herding exercise. The idea that two of its most powerful actors could descend into war conjures up thoughts of an Armageddon that the world cannot afford to experience.

World War Two was a horrific reminder of how conflicts can damage the planet if left without a speedy resolve. It was estimated that during that period 40,000,000 - 72,000,000 persons died as a result of negligent dithering. The existing League of Nations at the time failed to live up to its mandate of preventing the Second World War atrocities from happening. It is for this reason that, in 1945, fifty one countries signed the UN’s charter to dedicate to maintain international peace and security. Currently the United Nations have 192 members and many peacekeeping operations across the globe. It has a 15 member security Councils in place which include five permanent members.  Most of the five permanent members are involved in proxy wars in the Middle East and have client states that they protect and are beholden to. It is for this reason why it is difficult to have peace in the region as there is always a conflict of interest.

It is absurd to expect the permanent security members fighting proxy wars who have veto powers to adjudicate against their national interest, especially when large oil and arms deals are under the table. It is for this reason why we firmly believe that the Security Council needs to be reformed urgently. Rwanda was rude awakening for all of us and it is   a strong reminder why we should have a credible UN security council. In 1994 the UN Security Council stood with its arms folded over half a million Rwandans that were killed within a hundred days in that country. More recently thousands have been killed in Syria and Yemen in the two current civil wars, and last year we saw the greatest flood of refugees arising from conflicts in the Middle East. The amount of refugees that could emerge as a result of an additional war in that region is unimaginable. This is why Kingston –Mouth, along with other Rights organisations, call for a speedy UN led diplomatic action on this very urgent and risky security matter. The idea that these two powerful oil rich nations in the Middle East could let slip the dogs of war is a scary proposition.

On a more sober note we at Kingston -Mouth expect that the members of the UN Security Council act speedily to resolve this matter. The UN should be reminded in this matter of its mandate under resolution A/53/243 which calls for the promotion of increased understanding, tolerance and cooperation among all peoples, inter alia, through appropriate use of new technologies and dissemination of information.  In this regard, we urge that the UN should not remain silent. The resolution also calls for the supporting of actions that foster understanding, tolerance, solidarity and cooperation among peoples and within and among nations.

In closing, I would like to thank the many readers of Kingston –Mouth who have supported our blog over the past four years. It is our commitment to bring quality commentary on Political and international issues, focusing on themes of Human Rights and global Justice.  Kingston-Mouth is a charitable publication committed to the adherence of principles of freedom, justice, democracy and tolerance. We promote solidarity, cooperation, pluralism, cultural diversity, dialogue and understanding at all levels of society and among nations. We are keen to spread the doctrine of Human Rights to non-traditional spheres and to bring understanding of Political issues facing Europe, North America, the Middle East and the Caribbean free of cost at the point of delivery. We are grateful for the invaluable contribution of our past editor Kevton Foster and our current editor Ann Smith; both editors have held us to a high standard of quality control and consistency. We wish all our readers a happy New Year as we aspire to broaden our audience and improve the quality of our service delivery.

This article was written by Donovan Reynolds CEO and edited by Ann Smith Managing Editor of Kingston-Mouth .com.  Donovan Reynolds is an Independent Blogger and Human Rights Activists who is of a Jamaican descent and a legal academic that has an interest in Human Rights, Culture and International Development Issues.