Eritrea Is a Prison State — No Wonder So Many Are Desperate to Escape.

The description reminds me of the Soviet Union under Stalin, but even more so.

Does anyone know whether the US loves and supports the dictator of Eritrea?

The neighboring countries, Egypt and Ethiopia, are US-supported dictatorships. Ethiopia remains hostile to Eritrea. I wonder if it is possible for Eritrean activists to get Ethiopian sponsorship to organize to overthrow the dictator.

Everyone: call for dropping charges against Amy Goodman.

We should not let the squabble for resources under the Arctic Ocean distract us from the magnitude of the global heating disaster that makes the squabble possible.

It is more important than ever to prevent oil extraction in the Arctic. To the risks of drilling for it and pumping it have now been added the certain disaster of burning it.

If someone can find a way to collect and ship the methane that will increasingly bubble out of the sea bottom, that would be a good fuel to use. It would cause less global heating (for the first several decades) burned as CO₂ than in the air as methane.

A refugee imprisoned on Nauru by Australia has severe heat disease and needs medical care he cannot get in Nauru. Australia decided to make him stay on Nauru.

A dog or cat in a wealthy country uses a lot of resources.

Of course, having a pet is less long-term ecological burden than making another human being. But why not have a parakeet or cockatiel? They are delightful and sweet, eat only plants, and not a large quantity of those.