World View: Human Rights Watch Says Syria Using Russian-Made Incendiary Weapons

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com:

• Lebanon tries to prevent widespread polio epidemic
• Human Rights Watch says Syria is using Russian-made incendiary weapons
• Zero Obamacare enrollments in Massachusetts

Lebanon tries to prevent widespread polio epidemic

Lebanon has launched a massive public health initiative in order tohead off a threatened polio epidemic. The threat comes from the floodof refugees that are coming from Syria, which is experiencing itsfirst major outbreak of polio in 14 years, because of the war. Thereare more than 800,000 Syrian refugees spread across Lebanon in nearly1,600 locations, and an attempt will be made to go “house by house,tent by tent” across Lebanon to vaccinate all children under 5 againstpolio. In Syria, about 10 children are already paralyzed. Reuters

Human Rights Watch says Syria is using Russian-made incendiary weapons

An investigation by Human Rights Watch finds that the regime ofSyria’s president Bashar al-Assad has been using incendiary weapons totorture and kill Syrian civilians. There has been limitedinternational condemnation because al-Assad has also been usingchemical weapons to kill civilians. 

“Incendiary weapons cause excruciating pain, they can burn to thebone,” explains Docherty. “Some models can re-ignite after beingtreated when exposed to oxygen. They also cause ong-term effects suchas disfigurement and ostracization. According to an HRW official: 

There should not be less concern about chemicalweapons, but there should be more concern about incendiaryweapons. They’re all problematic. We’re not asking for acomparative approach but we’re saying there should definitely bemore attention paid to the use of incendiary weapons… 

They are being used mostly in air strikes by the Syriangovernment. We haven’t heard any confirmations or denials by theSyrian government.

The incendiary weapons are all Russian made from the Soviet era.Human Rights Watch and Voice Of Russia

Zero Obamacare enrollments in Massachusetts

I had thought that if any state was going to do well underObamacare, it would be Massachusetts (where I live), for severalreasons. First, Massachusetts has had several years ofexperience with “Romneycare,” which supposedly servedas a model for Obamacare. Second, Massachusetts has hada “Health Connector” web site for years, so they know how toprovide health plans online. 

Well, it turns out that the web site had to be rewritten, since theold web site was not Obamacare-compliant. Anyone who had gotten aplan from the old web site would have to re-apply on the new web site,and the new web site is as much a mess as the Obamacare web sites inother states. 

There are 150,000 Massachusetts residents who are facing cancellationof their health insurance. As of this week, only 549 applicants haveselected plans without confirming them, and ZERO people have confirmedenrollment in a new plan. 

As I’ve written many times, the worst economic policy in my lifetimeup to a few years ago was President Nixon’s wage-price controls, whichwere an absolute disaster for the economy. (See “5-Jul-13 World View — Eurozone and Obamacare continue their parallel economic collapse”) 

Every day, the news about Obamacare gets worse. This is a much worsedisaster for the U.S. economy than Nixon’s wage-price controls. Thisis spiraling into a historic catastrophe, and what’s incrediblydepressing is that, at this point, there’s absolutely nothing that canbe done to stop the damage. This is a nightmare. Boston Herald

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