The Iranian Conflict.

2020 has started as a year of controversies. Now, after Trump has been impeached by the House, Trump has attacked an Iranian foreign leader. Trump has tried to justify the strike, but there is a debate on whether such an act was a violation of U.S. plus international law. We know that the strike was provocative and made the situation worse in the Middle East. We know that the assassination of Qassem Suleimani was wrong and a form of American imperial aggression. Suleimani isn't perfect, but he was on a peace mission to make a resolution among Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. A new war involving the U.S. and Iran is total reckless insanity. Now, dozens of missiles have been launched by Iraq in Erbil and at the Iraqi Al-Asad airbase (that have 1,500 U.S. plus coalition troops) that houses U.S. troops. The New York Times reported that the killing of General Suleimani have caused even some some top Pentagon officials to be stunned. Over 5,000 troops are in Iraq. As American citizens, we do have the responsibility to know about the sign of the times. There are 14,000 troops in Afghanistan and thousands more in Bahrain, Kuwait, and in other nations of the Middle East.The Iraqi Parliament voted to allow American troops to go out of Iraq. Iraq's outgoing Prime Minister said that U.S. troops must leave Iraq too. General Mark Milley refuses to allow U.S. troops to leave Iraq.

There are a lot of news not known by many in the general populace. Recently, many Iranian Americans were detained at the U.S./Canada after the assassination of Suleimani. This comes after the Department of Homeland Security had built up security at military bases and border crossings. War mongering has been increased by neo cons and Trump. More than 60 travelers were detained by the CBP or the Customs and Border Protection. They were Iranian American citizens or green card holders. They were held fro many hours. Their detention was illegal, and they were interrogated before being allowed to return to their own country. Their passports were taken while they waited. They were asked by CBP agents about their relatives, where they live, or if they served in the Iranian armed forces. This is fascism. There is no other way to put it. One woman detained was 38 year old interior decorator and U.S. citizen Negah Mekmati. She was born in Iran. Negah said that her family was detained and questioned multiple times. These are U.S. citizens. This is not new. One of FDR's greatest mistakes was his support for the illegal internment of Japanese Americans. After 9/11, many Muslims were spied upon regardless if they were innocent.


There are a lot of news in the world. Gabriela de Matos has a project that show visibility of black women architects. Brazil is one large epicenter of black humanity. It has only been a decade in Brazil since Afro-Braizlians were able to enter institutions of higher learning in larger numbers. Affirmative action in Brazil has transformed education in the nation in many positive ways. There are more black professors, graduates, and scholars. Matos developed her publication called Revista Arquietas Negras as a means for her to bring more visibility to Afro-Brazilian architects. Many Afro-Brazilian architects involved in this project are Minas Gerais, Gabriela de Matos, and Barbara Oliveira. These women want to eliminate racial and gender discrimination involving the field of architecture. The magazine focuses on urban design, interior design, and other aspects of architecture. Much of the magazine's content has information shown by invited architects like Stephanie Ribeiro (from Sao Paulo), Taina de Paula (from Rio de Janeiro), Joice Berth (from Sao Paulo), and Patricia Silva (from Bahia). The movement for justice continues, and these Afro-Brazilian women are doing great work in shining their lights in expressing their contributions to humanity.

One of the most important news of this time is the wildfires going on in Australia. A record 8.4 million hectares of bush and prime agricultural hand has been burned. About 1,600 homes have been destroyed. At least 25 people have died, and hundreds of millions of wild animals have been killed. Some have reported on the near mass extinction of animal species. Ecological damage is real in that nation. The fire season has only started since it lasts from January to March. People live in hazardous conditions of smoke. Many smell toxic particles too. The smoke from the fires of Australia has reached New Zealand and places as far as South America. Pollution has existed in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, etc. The oligarchy in Australia hasn't done enough to try to rectify this disastrous situation. Many heroic people in Australia has saved lives in Australia too. Prime Minister Morrison is rather overt in advocating tax cuts on corporate and personal income taxes (he said the ignorant comment of: "...the harder [people] work, the more they earn, the more they keep of what they earn..."), cutting social programs, and slashing wages. Global warming has altered the world's climate including areas of Australia. Morrison criticized a tweet made by the teenager Greta Thunberg, because Morrison wants to protect economic interests like banks and mining companies. This is not new. Trump has disrespected the victims of the hurricane that hit Puerto Rico by throwing towels at people last year.

Ebro Darden is once again wrong. He said the lie that African don't understand what happened to us (or African Americans) involving the Maafa and slavery. When I was in college, I had African professors who knew about the Maafa and African American history fully. There are tons of African people who sympathize with the plight of black Americans. It is truly a shame that some radio commentator spews ignorance instead of facts. The Pan African movement includes tons of Africans, African Americans, and other black people who know of the struggle. King Leopold exterminated millions of black Congolese. Also, more black people were forcibly sent to Brazil and the Caribbean than into North America during the Maafa. Ebro's generalizations of Africans is wrong. I'm not others who will be a xenophobe or call black people the n word with a in it like some NYC radio station host while lecturing black people on slavery. He is is no position to lecture Africans on African culture or African American history when he makes it duty to falsely stereotype black African people. These sellouts are getting bold now. First, that sellout Judge Joe Brown is disrespecting Harriet Tubman, then that sellout Tariq mocked the physical appearance of Esther Rolle, and now Ebro is talking slick. Yet, real people will refute their lies. People like Drake (who wore blackface and disrespects black people, since many black people won't bow down to him) and Ebro are known for this. Ebro wants to exploit the plight of black people by throwing black people from another continent under the bus. That is disrespectful. Black lives matter means that black lives matter worldwide.


By Timothy