Tea at Trianon: Starvation in South Sudan

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Starvation in South Sudan

From AP News:

But once she gets her rations, Mar said, she'll go back to the swamps. Her home county, Leer, has been one of the worst affected areas since South Sudan's civil war broke out three years ago. To add to the hardships, the United Nations and South Sudan's government last month declared a famine in Leer and Mayendit counties. Authorities say about 100,000 people there face starvation, with 15,300 of them in Padeah town alone. Yet even though people are starving, many from Padeah still prefer live in the bush for their safety.

"The government soldiers come and they kill us and steal our food," said John Chol, who lives just outside of Padeah. He said people would rather live in the swamps than risk being attacked or raped.

Lulu Yurdio's family escaped to the river several months ago. A ripped shirt hung over the 12-year-old's tiny frame. It had been five days since he last ate. "I'm hungry," he said, his eyes full of pain. "I never have food and I'm always hungry." Tasked with picking up rations for his two siblings and parents, he had walked two-and half hours to reach WFP's food distribution site. He said his family was afraid to come out. (Read more.)