US Sweden immigration Panel in Washington D.C. 19 March 2013 (Courtesy photo GMF)

(Webpublivapress/New York) – The Swedish Embassy partnered with the German Marshall Fund (GMF) hosted host the latest installment in GMF’s Immigration Embassy Event Series.  The topic of discussion was “How to Create a “We”?  Welcoming Immigrant Integration in Sweden and the United States,” looking at immigrant integration from a transatlantic perspective.  Erik Ullenhag, the Swedish Minister for Integration, represented Sweden and took the opportunity to explain the history of immigration to Sweden and the current integration situation in the country.  Alejandro Mayorkas, Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), supplied the U.S. perspective.

Susan Martin, Director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, was able to provide insights on the success of integration in the U.S., as well as make comparisons between the European and American contexts.  Martin Klingst, the Washington Bureau Chief for Die Zeit, moderated the discussion.

Sweden only became a destination for migrants in the 1950s, but now 15% of the Swedish population is composed of foreign-born individuals.  Integration has been quite successful in Sweden, but challenges still remain.  Far-right parties pose a challenge in Sweden and in many other European countries, threatening to shift the political map and put a negative spin on the immigrant and integration discourse.  The issue of identity is also an important topic of concern.

People often have many different identities, but migrants in Europe are often given only one identity, that of “immigrant.”  Whereas the U.S. has adopted the concept of dual identities, this is not yet possible in Sweden.

In the U.S., a number of factors have contributed to successful immigrant integration in the country.  This includes an immigration policy that requires sponsorship, ensuring that there is someone who looks out for the migrant and wants them to succeed.  Other features include birthright citizenship, a strong set of anti-discrimination policies, flexible labor markets, and and the public education system, which teach American values, civics and history.

The U.S. has a different immigration history and identity, but faces similar integration questions and challenges as Sweden, especially as the U.S. grapples with the current question of legalization for undocumented migrants.  One important takeaway form the event included the need to focus on an immigrant’s future (where they are headed) rather than their history (where they are from).

Dee Dee Myers (Courtesy photo – CNN)

of science fiction. But in an essay to mark International Women’s Day, political analyst and former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers argues it’s now a topic that can be seriously discussed.

Women clearly lacked the intellectual capacity and emotional fortitude to make the difficult decisions that leadership required. It wasn’t bias, it was biology – it was just the way women were made.

But that was then. In recent decades, attitudes and ideas have changed – and fast. That’s not to say that every corner of the world has welcomed women moving from the traditional and private into the modern and public. But move they have.

So what’s changed? A lot. As a huge and growing body of research and experience makes clear, empowering women makes things better. Not perfect. But better.

Business is more profitable. Governments are more representative. Families are stronger, and communities are healthier. There is less violence – and more peace, stability and sustainability.

Why? Well, it starts with the simple fact that women often experience life differently. And that experience affects the way we see problems – and think about solutions.

“Diversity is absolutely an asset,” says Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

“With diversity you bring different ways of looking at the world, different ways of analysing issues, different ways of offering solutions. The sheer fact of diversity actually increases the horizon and enriches the thinking process, which is critical.”

Both women and men often say that women communicate differently, that they listen, encourage dialogue, and build consensus.

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Christine Lagarde: ‘Women should not imitate men’

Studies also show that women also lead differently than men. They’re more likely to be collaborative, inclusive and team-oriented, all characteristics that tend to be effective, particularly in today’s less-hierarchical, fast-paced, innovation-driven world.

“I think it’s fair to say that women are a little more collaborative in their approach overall, and a little less driven to conflict as opposed to driven to working out problems,” says Janet Napolitano, the US Secretary of Homeland Security.

Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, says that women also bring an inter-generational perspective to their work. “We need to take decisions now that will make for a safer world for our grandchildren and their grandchildren, and I think women are more likely to do that when they come into positions of leadership.”

Acknowledging that men and women bring different qualities and different skills to public life is critical. For too long, women were expected to think like men and act like men if they wanted to succeed.

But increasingly their differences are seen as a source of strength rather than a weakness to be overcome.

Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to serve as Speaker of the US House of Representatives, tells women to simply be themselves. “You are the only person who can make your unique contribution. Your authenticity is your strength, be you.”

That’s not to say there aren’t obstacles, there are. Women have long been judged by a double standard. Study after study shows that their accomplishments are just a little less valued – and they have less margin for error.

Sometimes it’s women who hold themselves back – they don’t own their own value, raise their hands for promotions or ask for more money.

Despite these ongoing challenges, the benefits of empowering women are undeniable. Women are the engine driving global economic growth.

Cannot play media. You do not have the correct version of the flash player. Condoleezza Rice: ‘Societies need women to prosper’

Last year, women were responsible for $20tn (£13.3tn) in spending, and by 2014, that number is expected to increase to $28tn (£18.6tn). And when women have more cash, they spend it differently. They feed their families healthier diets and send their children to school. They invest in clean water, better schools, education and health care. They start businesses and hire other women. The entire community prospers.

As a result, investing in women has become more than good public relations. It has become a strategic imperative for companies around the world.

Women are also essential to building and sustaining peace. Today, nearly half of peace agreements fail within five years in no small measure because half the stakeholders are excluded.

When women are at the table, they help bridge the gap between different groups and ensure that a broader range of issues, from food security to sexual violence, are addressed. As a result, peace is more likely to take root.

Former US Secretary of State Dr Condoleezza Rice says she has learned first-hand that you need women to participate in the peace process.

“First and foremost women are often the guardians of the village, the family, and are therefore the ones who suffer most in conflict zones. They’re often the target of marauding forces, the target of those who would rape and maim and if you can engage them in the process, then they also can help the society to heal.”

So empowering women isn’t about political correctness, it’s about improving outcomes. It’s about investing in stronger economies and healthier communities – it’s about ending conflicts, and sustaining peace. It’s about improving the quality of life for people all over the world.

Empowering women isn’t just the right thing, it’s the necessary thing. And because women are increasingly ruling, the world is changing for the better.

(Source: BBC)

Hugo Chavez is gone March 5 – 2013 (Courtesy news photo)

(Webpublicapress/New York) – The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was saddened by the death of H.E. Mr. Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, a written statement said from United Nations in New York sent to media including Webpublicapress. Mr. Ban offered his condolences to the family of the President, the Government and the people of Venezuela.

“President Chávez spoke to the challenges and aspirations of the most vulnerable Venezuelans.  He provided decisive impetus for new regional integration movements, based on an eminently Latin American vision, while showing solidarity toward other nations in the hemisphere. His contribution to the current peace talks in Colombiabetween the Government of President Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed   Forces of Colombia (FARC) has been of vital importance”, Ban Ki-moon was quoted to say.

Space Tourist Dennis Tito Eyes 2018 Mars Mission That Would Send Crew On 501-Day Round Trip (Courtesy photo — Hff.post)

(Webpublicapress/New York) – A foundation seeks a man and a woman, preferably married, for a roundtrip to Mars in a capsule outfitted with a life-support system to recycle air, water, urine and perspiration. The journey would take 501 days.The United States currently has no human spacecraft in operation, but several should be up and flying by 2017, just in time to catch a tight planetary alignment that would allow a ship to comes as close as 150 miles (240 kilometers) to Mars.

The launch window opens on Jan. 5, 2018. The next opportunity would not arise until 2031.

Area farming community gathers in Awash (Ethiopia) for observance of World Food Day 2006 (UN photo)

cutting by half by the year 2015 the number of people living in extreme poverty – people whose income is less than one dollar a day. The German “philosopher of justice” Prof. Thomas Pogge  talks about the relations between poverty and education and the responsibility of industrial countries in the interview for Deutsche Welle (DW) brought to you by Webpublicapress.

Thomas Winfried Menko Pogge (born 1953) is a German philosopher and is currently the Director of the Global Justice Program and Leitner Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs at Yale University (Leitner Programwww.yale.edu). Pogge’s World Poverty and Human Rights is one of the most prominent and controversial books in contemporary political philosophy.

DW: You are labelled in the media as one of present days’ most radical philosophers of justice. What do you criticize?

TP: Our present supranational order is surely in need of improvement. But one might put this point more sharply: this order maintains a world in which still one third of all human beings, some 18 million each year are dying from poverty-related causes. It does so by cementing and even aggravating extreme inequality: while today the average income is nearly $10,000 per person globally, it is only $550 in the poorer half of humanity and only $300 in the poorest quarter. Although severe poverty is entirely avoidable today, the number of chronically undernourished people has recently exceeded 1 billion — for the first time in human history.

DW: You raise awareness of global injustices and point to the “negative duties” that industrial countries have to live up to in order to overcome this situation. What do you propose?

TP: When we think of poor people in the less developed countries, we typically see ourselves as potential helpers and benefactors. This view overlooks, however, that we are deeply implicated in the misery of the poor: through our participation in global markets, through our contributions to climate change and resource depletion and through the contribution our country makes to the design and imposition of unjust supranational rules and practices. Our moral responsibility thus arises not merely from our helping too little, but much more strongly from the fact that we — along with many other wealthy people worldwide — do far too much harm to the global poor.

DW: One of your claims is that only strong bottom-up movements will be capable of making change happen. But these movements depend on education and information. What is the role for the media in this context?

TP: The media must become aware of their responsibility to be the conscience of citizens or at least to inform and stimulate their conscience. When in 2001 the Millennium Declaration of the UN General Assembly was falsified — so that the number of extremely poor people still permissible in 2015 was raised by 335 million and the permissible number of chronically undernourished people by 127 million — I tried hard to get the media interested in this fraud at the expense of the poor. But only one medium-sized newspaper, in Germany, gave me 800 words for this topic. With the help of the media, this crime could have been prevented. But the media condoned the fraud; and so we find Western citizens joining the celebrations when they are told that the Millennium Development Goals have — at least approximately — been achieved.

DW: Campaigns against poverty are frequently linked to efforts to increase education and public health – for good reasons, it seems. But how do you make sure that these efforts do not remain limited to punctual interferences and single projects? What about the overarching strategy?

Even in America – The Poor Just Aren’t News (Photo from Change.org)

TP: The world economy is structured by the rich for the rich, and development assistance then mitigates some of the worst suffering so caused. It would be much better if the interests of the great majority were taken into account already in the structural design decisions. In the present system, for example, new medicines are rewarded through patent-protected mark-ups with the foreseeable result that few poor people can gain access through charitable subsidies. It would be much better if states collaborated to support a different reward system, the Health Impact Fund, which I have been working on for several years alongside a fabulous interdisciplinary and international team.The HIF would enable pharmaceutical innovators to register their best new products for ten years of reward payments based on each medicine’s real health impact. In return, the innovator would agree to sell the product everywhere at cost.The HIF proposal exploits the fact that current rules and practices are not merely grievously unjust but also inefficient and self-undermining. This has its good side insofar as one can design reforms that would bring substantial moral gains without requiring significant financial sacrifices from the wealthy elites. The HIF would greatly enhance the cost-effectiveness of the worldwide provision of medicines.

Source: RDW

Saint Louis MO (Courtesy photo – St.Louis Bosnian)

Bosnian community in his office at the City Hall. The delegation visited the mayor with the intention of presenting project “Sebilj” and inquiring about final approval for the building of this traditional monument in the heart of St. Louis. The proposed location for the monument is at the intersection of Gravois Avenue and Morganford Road, in an area better known as “Little Bosnia”. This area, for more than twenty years now, houses the heart of the Bosnian community in this city.

The delegation that met with mayor Slay was represented by Sadik Kukic—president of the Bosnian Chamber of Commerce, Samir Niksic—president of the United Bosnian Association, along with Anela Barbanell, Adnan Omeragic, Lejla Dudakovic, Sukrija Dzidzovic, Anel Mujkanovic, Robert Porter, Dan Marsh and Carol Howard (The 14th Ward Alderwoma, where the “Sebilj” will be built).

Niksic, Slay, Dudakovic and Omeragic

After a brief welcome in the mayor’s office, the meeting resumed at the conference hall, where Sadik Kukic spoke about the significant growth of the Bosnian community in St. Louis, emphasizing a wish to mark the community’s existence with a monument that will remind future generations of the existence and successful integration of Bosnians in this city.

Samir Niksic highlighted the importance of the existing businesses in the area that are owned and operated by Bosnians. He emphasized the close collaboration between the Bosnian Chamber of Commerce and the United Bosnian Association during the planning of the monument. The “Sebilj” monument is meant to be not only cultural, but also functions as an aesthetic gift to the city of St. Louis and all of it’s citizens. During his presentation, Niksic notified mayor Slay of the expected cost of the building project, which stands at $90,000. It is hoped that part of the funds will come from the city and part from upcoming donations within the Bosnian community.

Adnan Omergaic, the architect who designed the project, emphasized that the future monument will be surrounded with a beautiful park and that water from the “Sebilj” will continuously flow as it does at the original “Sebilj” site, located in Bosnia, at Sarajevo’s Bascarsija.

Adnan Omeragic, architect

Expressing his admiration for the shown project of the Bosnian “Sebilj” and satisfaction that such a beautiful monument will decorate the city of St. Louis, mayor Slay offered his outmost support to the building efforts and instructed a few members of his staff (Stephen Gregali and Angelo Sita) to coordinate further with the representatives of the Bosnian community.

Alderwoman Carol Howard explained the current legal state of the proposed location and advised including in the project city counselors who will establish the basic legal clauses needed for the project to move forward.

Anela Barbanell, working as secretary of the Bosnian Chamber of Commerce, noted that the bank account for the building donations is already opened.

“We have our Bosnian construction companies, whose efforts will significantly reduce the cost of the construction”, said Barbanell and added that collecting of necessary funds should not represent a problem for the Bosnian community, which is known for its charity.

The Bosnian community representatives with mayor Slay

In an attempt to answer alderwomen Howard’s question, as to when the collection of funds will begin, Barbanell said that until this point the collection of the funds did not represent a logical move, since the community did not have official support from the city government and mayor Slay.  “Now that we have the support and approval from the city of St. Louis, we can start soliciting funds,” added Barbanell. Mayor Slay was vocal during the presentation expressing his full support for the project, adding at the end:

“ Our wish is for as many as possible Bosnians to remain and live in the city of St. Louis. This project will certainly contribute to our wish.  In addition we strive on the daily basis to increase safety of our city as well as the quality of education.”

Snow over New York City’s trains (Photo by Hajat Avdovic – Webpublicapress)

February, so we still, according to calendar and beside Global warming have a winter in the north hemisphere. Yet, media is reporting as it is from the point of view that this wether already caused traffic delays.

So, “massive snowstorm has descended over the US northeast”, although Webpublicapress (WPP) wouldn’t characterize it as a “snow of the decade”, since we had bigger snow in this part of America in last decade or so. It is true though that there is a widespread travel disruption as airports close down.

 

Airlines do not like the snow

 

Not more than 20 centimeters of snow in New York City 9. February 2013 (Photo by Webpublicapress © 2013)

According to the US TV media reports many Airlines already cancelled more than 3,500 flights for Friday and Saturday. One can check that on the tracking website FlightAware. New York City’s three main airports and Boston’s Logan shut down from Friday afternoon.

Boston was forecast to get a meter (3.3 feet) of snow, which would far exceed the city’s record snowfall of 70 centimeters (2.3 feet) in 2003, the National Weather Service reported. It would place the storm among the 10 worst in US history.

The warnings were issued by city officials in New York and Boston: “Stay off the roads. Stay home.” However, it is weekend, and kids do not go to school, so there will be some white snow pleasure for children and their parents.

 

It is not like in Europe in 2012

 

In the meantime – the rail network Amtrak suspended its train service from New York to Boston on Friday afternoon. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said “We hope forecasts are exaggerating the amount of snow, but you never can tell,” he said. Bloomberg advised households to stock up on supplies, including medicine, a German Radio Deutsche Welle reported back to the concerned Europeans.

Driving conditions were treacherous. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced a ban on most car travel starting Friday

The snow is being removed from the paths (Photo by Webpublicapress © 2013)

afternoon. Fuel shortages were reported from Connecticut to New York City as motorists queued at petrol stations to fill up their vehicles, generators and snowblowers.

The heaviest snowfall was expected Friday night and into Saturday, with winds up to 121 kph (75 mph). On Saturday morning we had not more then 20 centimeters (unofficial figure; see Webbpublicapress’ photos) of snow in New York City. All together and comparing with the flooding in coastal areas (still recovering) from Superstorm “Sandy” in October 2012 – this “Nemo” storm was not that dangerous as predicted somewhere. And there were not widespread power failures like during “Sandy” four months ago.

 

Bad but not that bad

 

But, “this one doesn’t come along every day. This is going to be a dangerous winter storm,” said Alan Dunham, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Taunton, Massachusetts, as he was quoted in news agencies reports.

Yellow cabs are running in New York City 9. February 2013 (Photo by Webpublicapress © 2013)

In eastern Canada, more than 350 accidents due to the weather conditions were reported in Ontario province on Friday, along with at least four weather-related fatalities. Toronto experienced its biggest snowstorm since 2008. About 800 flights, or nearly half of those scheduled, were cancelled at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.

Reporting live from New York, where you can fill a real breath of the real winter storm, first in 2013, a Webpublicapress reporter exclaimed: we will survive!

(E.A. WPP/Agencies)

 

 

 

* Video (Courtesy BBC)