Alec Stockton sinks buzzer-beater, Converge stays alive

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September 30, 2024

What is the legacy of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador? | Andres Ma…

As Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador nears the final hours of his presidency, a debate is already raging over the legacy that the Mexican leader, widely known as AMLO, is leaving behind.

Limited to a single six-year term by Mexico’s Constitution, AMLO will leave office on Monday with an approval rating that never dropped below 60 percent.

Political parties that once dominated Mexico have been swept aside by the rise of his Morena Party, and his successor, President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, won a landslide victory in the country’s June elections.

“Lopez Obrador is leaving power with a very high level of popularity, which is very different from what happened in previous governments,” Pablo Piccato, a professor of Mexican history at Columbia University in the United States, told Al Jazeera.

But Lopez Obrador’s time in office has been more controversial than his widespread popularity implies, and his final weeks in power have seen protests against a number of reforms that his government has pushed forward.

While supporters credit AMLO with dramatic reductions in poverty through policies such as increasing the minimum wage, labour reforms, and welfare payments, critics accuse him of eroding democratic oversight and failing to address rights abuses and insecurity.

“AMLO has been saying all along that his government represents a break with the past, that it’s a new regime,” said Piccato, noting that Lopez Obrador also saw his administration as a break with the pro-market political philosophy of neoliberalism.

“But of course, things are not so simple.”

Reductions in poverty

Lopez Obrador often says that his government has ushered in a “fourth transformation”.

That effectively compares his tenure as president to previous periods in the country’s history – independence from Spain, an era of liberal reform, and the Mexican Revolution – that fundamentally transformed Mexico.

Supporters point to economic changes that have taken place during AMLO’s term as evidence that his administration ushered in another historic break with the past.

“The most positive area of AMLO’s administration has been labour reforms and poverty and inequality reduction,” Viri Rios, a Mexican academic and analyst, told Al Jazeera. “About 5.1 million people left poverty behind between 2018 and 2022, the most important reduction in poverty in more than 20 years.”

She also noted that the president ushered in a series of economic policies, such as doubling the country’s minimum wage and tripling it in areas near the border with the US where many companies set up manufacturing facilities. His government also instituted labour reforms that facilitated unionisation efforts.

But while AMLO has positioned himself as a champion of the poor who has challenged the country’s establishment and business interests, others in Mexico debate just how transformative his changes have been.

While Lopez Obrador has expanded programmes such as pension payments and cash transfers, Mexico’s social spending remains the lowest of all OECD countries. Fiscal policy in the country also remains relatively restrained.

“If you look at the amount of taxes Mexico collects as points of GDP, it’s about 16 percent. That’s a lower rate than the Bahamas,” said Rios. “There is not enough tax collection, and AMLO did not address that.”

People walk to listen to Lopez Obrador speak — People gather to listen to Lopez Obrador deliver his last State of the Union at the Zocalo, Mexico City’s main square, on September 1 [Eduardo Verdugo/AP Photo]

Ongoing security issues

On issues of crime and security, Lopez Obrador has defined his success in terms of continuity rather than change. While loved ones of the country’s disappeared continue to search for justice and Mexicans suffer from stunning rates of violence, AMLO argues that trends have remained mostly stable under his watch.

Data from the World Bank shows that the country’s murder rate fell from 30 per 100,000 people in 2018 when AMLO entered office, to 28 per 100,000 people in 2021. In 2022, Mexico recorded 32,223 murders, a nearly 10 percent drop from the previous year.

Those figures, however, still underscore an oppressive reality faced by many Mexicans.

A 2024 poll by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography found that more than 73 percent of people reported feeling insecure, with nearly 22 percent saying there were homicides in the area where they lived.

Accountability for the perpetrators of violence – by criminal groups and the state itself – is also rare, with nearly 95 percent of homicides going unsolved.

Protestors use graffiti — Students paint the words ‘AMLO you could not’ during a protest before the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of 43 teaching college students, in Mexico City on September 23 [Felix Marquez/AP Photo]

AMLO had initially campaigned on a promise to move away from the militarised approach to fighting crime that caused violence to skyrocket under previous governments.

But far from rolling back militarisation, Lopez Obrador has expanded the military’s power over public security and recruited the army to help with infrastructure projects and administrative tasks, even granting it control over ports and airlines.

Last Wednesday, Mexico’s Senate passed a controversial bill placing the National Guard, previously under nominal civilian control, in the hands of the military.

“Anyone in the National Guard will be subject only to military justice, with their own tribunals, the military justice system’s prosecutors, and decisions and sentences that will not be made public,” Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, a US-based think-tank, told Al Jazeera.

“The military, through its operational control of the National Guard, will likely have a certain degree of veto power over security decisions by civilian leaders,” he added.

A divisive style

The president’s growing ties with the military have also put him at odds with advocates for the country’s disappeared.

By the government’s conservative estimate, 113,000 people remain missing in Mexico, many of them victims of criminal groups, state security forces, or both.

As a candidate, Lopez Obrador had promised accountability for abuses, such as the disappearance of 43 students from a teacher’s college in Ayotzinapa in 2014. International investigators accused the military of obstructing investigations and playing a possible role in what happened.

But once in office, AMLO has disappointed activists and relatives of the missing by backing the military’s version of events – a position that has sparked widespread anger and protests.

He also announced that his government would reassess the official number of missing people in Mexico, calling the current figures implausibly high. Human rights groups and advocates say they are a likely undercount.

“The dispute over Ayotzinapa broke relationships between victims and the president. That was when this possible alliance was broken,” Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a professor of policy and government at George Mason University, told Al Jazeera.

Volunteers who organise efforts to search for the bodies of missing loved ones even came under attack by AMLO, who accused the searchers of being motivated by “a delirium of necrophilia”.

That remark is typical of Lopez Obrador’s combative style of speech, which critics say has contributed to a growing sense of polarisation in Mexican politics.

“AMLO constantly talks negatively about his opposition, the press, civil society, even human rights institutions,” said Rios, the academic. “He has a very vocal way of confronting whoever opposes his agenda.”

Contentious reforms

That polarisation has been on display during Lopez Obrador’s final weeks in office, as the legislature pushed through a series of reforms long sought by the president.

The most contentious by far was a constitutional change that will make judges stand for election.

Critics said the move will politicise the judiciary and erode democratic checks and balances, while supporters argued it will make judges more accountable to the people.

The final vote took place earlier this month after protesters broke into the Senate chamber, disrupting proceedings and chanting “the judiciary isn’t going to fall!”

The bill passed in the Senate on September 11 by a margin of 86 to 41, clearing what was seen as the reform’s most significant hurdle.

That was not the first time AMLO’s critics have accused him of consolidating control over independent institutions. Last year, protesters also took to the streets in opposition to changes to the National Electoral Institute (INE), which oversees Mexican elections.

But while critics see a trend of democratic backsliding and the destruction of institutional independence, AMLO and his supporters have pitched the reforms as part of a struggle against entrenched, powerful interests.

“The regime of corruption and privileges each day is being left farther in the past and a true democracy and true rule of law are being built,” Sheinbaum, Lopez Obrador’s successor, said in a social media post celebrating the passage of the judicial reforms.

Now, as AMLO prepares to leave office, both his fans and detractors believe Lopez Obrador’s vision of politics will continue to shape the direction of the country.

With his Morena Party securing supermajorities in Congress and Sheinbaum preparing to take his place, the outgoing president’s most enduring legacy could be the realignment of Mexican politics that has taken place under his watch.

“Previously, several parties were in power and no party had complete control of Congress. Now Lopez Obrador’s party has been able to establish a supermajority, ” said Piccato. “That’s something new, and a lot of people are very concerned about that.”

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Does Intuitive Eating mean eating whatever you want?

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September 30, 2024

Does intuitive eating mean eating whatever you want, whenever you want, as much as you want? That’s certainly what many people believe. The simple answer is, “No.” But I also want to give a disclaimer.

That disclaimer is that as an adult with body autonomy, you have the right to eat however you want. If you really want to eat loads of cupcakes and potato chips all day, every day, then I support your right to do that. If you really want to eat loads of salmon and broccoli all day, every day, then I support your right to do that.

However, few people would truly want to do that. If nothing else, it’s because eating that way would very likely leave you feeling blech or bored or both. And such a limited diet would set the stage for nutrient deficiencies.

Even when you’re eating a fairly nutritious diet, if eating as much as you want leaves you feeling uncomfortably full every time you eat, you probably don’t want to keep doing that. Or maybe you do, and that fact distresses you, because it puts your mind in conflict with your body. This is not an unusual situation, but it IS one that takes a while to untangle.

The importance of attunement

What Intuitive Eating is really about is eating in a way that is satisfying AND leaves you feeling good.

You eat because you’re hungry (as opposed to ignoring or denying hunger because you “shouldn’t be hungry” or letting yourself become ravenously hungry).

You stop eating when you’re a degree of fullness that feels comfortable to you (as opposed to not allowing yourself to eat until you’re full or eating to overfullness because you know your next “scheduled” meal is a looong time away).

You choose foods that taste good (as opposed to choosing “healthy” foods that you don’t really like.)

You’re also choosing foods that helps your body feel good and function well. You’re eating with attunement.

Intuitive Eating is also about letting go of external food rules and ideas about “good” and “bad” foods, instead learning to notice, listen to and honor what your body and your tastebuds tell you about what is authentically right for you.

It’s about having a salad because that sounds good, not because it’s “healthy.” It’s about eating ice cream because you want something sweet and that’s exactly what would hit the spot — without accompanying it with thoughts of “I really shouldn’t be eating this.”

It’s the uniting of unconditional permission (the “Make Peace With Food” principle) to eat with attunement. Unconditional permission to eat with attunement can feel like chaos. Unconditional permission to eat with attunement can feel like freedom.

What if you have trouble trusting yourself?

Is this easy? Not for everyone. If you’ve been operating under shifting sets of food rules for years, whether in the name of controlling your weight or pursuing “optimal” health, trusting yourself rather than those rules can feel hard.

If you have a history of physical or sexual trauma or are a member of a marginalized group due to your skin color or physical ability, and this makes it hard to feel safe in your body, it can also make it hard to trust your body and its cues.

If you are neurodivergent, it may make it hard to notice some of your body’s internal cues.

If you are recovering from an eating disorder, you may not yet be able to rely on hunger cues as a sign your body need food, and you might experience early fullness/satiety even when you haven’t had enough to eat to meet your nutritional needs.

And if you have a health condition that legitimately means you need to avoid certain foods and/or would benefit from adding others, integrating that with the unconditional permission to eat part and even with the attunement part can feel especially tricky.

But it’s doable. It’s all doable.

Intuitive eating is a journey, not a sprint

One speedbump on the road to true food freedom is the fact that we’ve been conditioned to want and even expect quick results. That’s true in many areas of life, but especially with when adopting a new diet or fitness regimen.

That’s why, when shifting away from dieting and towards Intuitive Eating, it’s easy to bring the diet mentality along for the ride. (Not for nothing is the first principle of Intuitive Eating “Reject the Diet Mentality.”)

But the work is worth it. Becoming an intuitive eater is an intensely personal journey, so it looks different for each person. But as you…

Practice new intuitive eating skills,
Experiment with new ideas,
And become more adept at noticing and sitting with your thoughts and feelings about food and eating…

…your relationship with food becomes easier, and you become more self-assured as an eater.

You gain clarity about which foods you love, which ones you just like, which ones you could take or leave, and which ones you will always say, “No, thank you” too.

You feel confident setting boundaries around food, whether that means gently but firmly saying “No” to food pushers or making sure you adequately feed yourself when on vacation with people who have a very different eating schedule.

You might find you become pickier (in terms of quality) while at the same time your food world expands (in terms of variety).

Now, being more confident about what you like to eat and what foods suit you doesn’t erase the work of doing some degree of meal planning so you can make sure you have those foods in the house when you need them. (Unless you are an improvisational cook who keeps a well-stocked fridge/freezer/pantry, I suppose, but even then you need to plan to defrost the chicken.)

Where did the “food free for all” idea come from?

So why do so many people think Intuitive Eating is a food free for all?

One reason is simple misunderstanding. Someone hears a little bit about Intuitive Eating, and draws the wrong conclusion. Or, maybe the person doing the explaining about Intuitive Eating wasn’t very clear (not all people are equally good at communicating unfamiliar ideas).

Or, maybe it’s willful misunderstanding. Some people believe we ALL need to be following a rules-based diet, whether for health or weight loss, so anything that disavows that must be the all-cupcake diet.

Or, maybe someone tried Intuitive Eating on their own, and missed the part about “unconditional permission to eat WITH attunement,” or found it hard to actually do the tuning in. Their eating felt chaotic, which lead to them not feeling good physically, and maybe experiencing a combination of fear and guilt. So they backed out of the metaphorical room as fast as they could, slammed the door, and told anyone who would listen is that Intuitive Eating is nuts and a sure path to nutritional destruction.

Or, maybe they’re grappling with significant emotional eating, and they’re frustrated that even though they are able to recognize hunger and fullness cues, and know which foods taste good while making them feel physically good, they continue to reach for foods that soothe them emotionally but leave them feeling physically unwell. So, clearly, Intuitive Eating doesn’t work.

Each of these examples unfortunately gets picked up on social media, in the mainstream media, and by good old-fashioned word of mouth. And sometimes the already flawed message gets twisted even more, like in a game of operator.

Sam Darnold’s evolution into a top QB is fueling the Vikings’ unbeaten start

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September 30, 2024

Sam Darnold’s evolution into a top QB is fueling the Vikings’ unbeaten start

The most surprising team in football through four weeks of the 2024 NFL season, Monday Night Football aside?

That is likely the Minnesota Vikings.

With Kirk Cousins moving to the Atlanta Falcons, and first-round selection J.J. McCarthy sidelined for the season with a knee injury, Minnesota turned to Sam Darnold to begin their season. Now, thanks to an imposing defense and Darnold’s play, the Vikings are 4-0. Depending on how the Detroit Lions perform Monday night against another surprising team, the Seattle Seahawks, the Vikings could hold a two-game lead in the NFC North when they travel across the pond to take on the New York Jets next weekend in England.

I’ll let the people much smarter than me, like my dear colleague JP Acosta, dive into Brian Flores’ defense and the chaos it creates. Today I’ll focus on Darnold and his feet.

Over the years much has been written and said about Bill Walsh, and how the legendary coach viewed and evaluated quarterbacks. Walsh firmly believed that very few could coach the position, and even fewer could evaluate it. Darnold and the rest of the members of the NFL Draft QB Class of 2018 — Baker Mayfield, Josh Rosen, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson — could be a testament to that fact.

However, a lot of what Walsh looked for could be found near the ground. As Michael Lombardi wrote:

Walsh let the rest of the football world focus on a quarterback’s arm. He was focused on the feet. It was a paradigm shift born from his lifelong love of boxing. Walsh often shadowboxed his way down the halls of Niners headquarters, and whenever he found a fitting boxing metaphor to motivate his team, he was happy. He broke down boxers as he watched fights: their footwork, their quickness, how they moved, timing, balance. Like a boxer who can throw a flurry of punches as he deftly shuffles his feet, Walsh’s quarterbacks needed their body parts to work in a similarly surgical unison. Quick feet, quick arm. Balanced feet, balanced arm. Coordinated feet, coordinated attack.

It is hard to watch Darnold this season and not have Walsh’s words echo through your mind.

On Sunday’s opening drive against the Green Bay Packers, Darnold spun away from pressure on a second-down play and forced a throw into coverage that was nearly intercepted. The pass fell incomplete, breathing new life into Minnesota’s opening drive. But if the Vikings wanted to extend that possession, they needed to convert this 3rd-and-14 situation.

Challenge accepted:

Darnold connects with Jalen Nailor on this crossing concept to move the chains, but pay particular attention to his footwork on this play. Working out of the shotgun, and from an empty formation, Darnold takes the snap and uses a five-step drop (along with a cheat step first with his left foot). Once he hits that final step he takes a slight hitch step, completely balanced in the pocket on the balls of his feet, and the ball is coming out. This play is part NFL quarterback, part professional boxer, and you might even say part musical conductor. Everything is in rhythm, the timing is precise, and the Vikings have a first down.

Then came Darnold’s next passing attempt, this 29-yard touchdown to Jordan Addison:

Again, take note of how the footwork synchs up with the route, leading to a big play for the Minnesota offense. Addison runs a vertical route, showing the cornerback a curl route at a depth of around nine yards downfield by chopping his feet before continuing deep on his vertical stem. As this unfolds Darnold uses a three-step drop from the shotgun and once he hits his drop depth, resets his feet in the pocket, all while completely balanced underneath him. He flashes his eyes to the middle of the field — one last glimpse to freeze the post-safety in Green Bay’s Cover 3 — and then completes the play with a perfect throw to Addison for the score.

Walsh would have loved these two plays.

In fact, Walsh would have loved most of what Darnold did on Sunday, showcasing the argument for the importance of footwork to a quarterback, and an offense. Walsh is often credited with the idea that to understand how a quarterback is playing you simply need to watch their feet, and that will give you the answer.

Darnold’s third touchdown pass of the game, this 14-yard back-shoulder throw to Justin Jefferson, is a prime example. He puts this throw in a perfect spot, but the footwork, and what you learn from it, stands out:

His feet are as calm as can be, as he works quickly to Jefferson in single coverage for this throw. This is a comfortable, confident quarterback who trusts those around him, the offense he is in, and ultimately, himself.

Minnesota built a 28-7 lead over the Packers by halftime, but their offense sputtered a bit in the second half, opening the door for a Green Bay comeback. That included Darnold’s lone interception of the day, which came on a corner route intended for Aaron Jones, which Xavier McKinney deftly stepped in front of. It also included a strip-sack of Darnold early in the fourth quarter, which gifted Green Bay incredible field position, which they converted into a touchdown to make it a one-score game.

Suddenly, the game was on the line, which leads us to another aspect of Walsh’s viewpoint on quarterbacks: How do they play under pressure? As set forth by former Stanford head coach (and current member of the Denver Broncos front office) David Shaw, who learned under Walsh: “That conversation [with Walsh about what he looked for in a quarterback] is still my basis for evaluating QBs. I have to see the QB have a ‘feel’ for moving in the pocket; he must have great anticipation for throwing the ball and be at his best in critical situations when the game is on the line.”

As the game approached crunch time, Darnold delivered perhaps his three best throws of the game.

First was this crossing route to Jefferson to begin Minnesota’s next possession, after Green Bay had cut their lead to 28-22:

Working from under center and off a deep drop with run action, Darnold hits that final step and immediately the ball is coming out, another example of perfect timing on a route concept.

Minnesota would finish that drive with a field goal, three critical points at that juncture of the contest.

Two drives later the Vikings faced a 3rd and 12 at the Packers’ 44-yard line, still holding a 31-22 lead. Another first down would be critical with just over four minutes remaining, and the Packers knew that, as they show pressure presnap. Darnold, flashing that anticipation Shaw noted above, makes a perfect throw to Jefferson on an out route, with a free runner bearing down on him in the pocket:

This is a three-step drop and immediately on hitting that final step, the ball is coming out. Darnold sees the cornerback playing off presnap and knows that Jefferson will have the leverage advantage when he breaks to the outside. He makes a perfect throw, the catch is eventually confirmed after a Minnesota challenge, and the Vikings have a fresh set of downs, and a chance to work the clock some more.

Head coach Kevin O’Connell put the ball in Darnold’s hands on the very next play, and you see more of that “feel” in the pocket, as the QB bounces and climbs away from pressure off the edges, sticking a throw into Addison on a curl route:

That drive eventually stalled out deep in the red zone, and the Packers added a touchdown late for the 31-29 final score.

But the focus here is Darnold, and the footwork he showed Sunday. The footwork of a confident quarterback, in command of the offense he is operating and with full trust in those around him. To crib from Walsh some more, if footwork is truly the window into how well a quarterback is playing, Darnold’s footwork is all you need to see just how well things are going for Minnesota right now.

Can it continue?

Right now, the footwork tells us that it can.

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East Africa Food Crisis 2011 — Global Issues

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September 30, 2024

East Africa Food Crisis 2011 — Global Issues

by Anup Shah
This page Created Sunday, July 31, 2011

This page: https://www.globalissues.org/article/796/east-africa-food-crisis.
To print all information (e.g. expanded side notes, shows alternative links), use the print version:

Introduction

Into mid-2011, the world’s worst food crisis is being felt in East Africa, in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya.

Despite successive failed rains, the crisis has been criticized as avoidable and man-made. This is because the situation had been predicted many months before by an international early warning system. Both the international community and governments in the region have been accused of doing very little in the lead up to this crisis. In addition, high food prices have forced food out of the reach of many people, while conflict in Somalia has exacerbated the situation.

As the international organization Oxfam describes: 12 million people are in dire need of food, clean water, and basic sanitation. Loss of life on a massive scale is a very real risk, and the crisis is set to worsen over the coming months, particularly for pastoralist communities.

Early warning systems had predicted this months earlier

As Inter Press Service (IPS) reported, despite the conflicts in the region,

The world had an opportunity to save thousands of lives that are being lost in parts of Somalia due to the famine, if only the donor community had paid attention to the early warning systems that predicted it eight months ago.

…

There has been a catastrophic breakdown of the world’s collective responsibility to act. 3,500 people a day are fleeing Somalia and arriving in parts of Ethiopia and Kenya that are suffering one of the driest years in six decades. Food, water and emergency aid are desperately needed. By the time the U.N. calls it a famine it is already a signal of large scale loss of life, Oxfam said.

Isaiah Esipisu, Horn Of Africa: Poor Attention to Forecasts to Blame for Famine in Somalia, Inter Press Service, July 21, 2011

Knowing about these things in advance is significant in terms of lives, costs and preparedness. The US government agency USAID’s Famine Early Warning System Network had predicted the crisis in November 2010, noting that

food security outcomes are likely to worsen, particularly among the poorest households whose coping capacity is the most limited.

In areas at‐risk of worsening food security, households may require livelihood support to prevent asset loss, household food deficits, and negative coping. Potential interventions in pastoral areas include rehabilitation of water points (boreholes), increased veterinary services targeting the dry season grazing areas, commercial off‐take programs, and nutrition support programs targeting poorer households. In the cropping southwest marginal areas of Kenya, and in Rwanda and Burundi, the scale‐up of resource transfer programs may be required to minimize the food security impacts of the La Niña event [that was observed at the end of 2010].

Pre-emptive livelihood support could mitigate likely La Niña impacts in the eastern Horn , East Africa Food Security Alert, FEWS.net, November 2, 2010

Massive funding shortfall — assuming anyone cares

As international humanitarian and development organization Oxfam explained, many (often simple) preventative actions could have been taken, assuming funds were available earlier:

Whenever there is an indicator of such a disaster, we must not only sit and wait for the emergency response. We can conveniently invest the funds by putting irrigation systems in place, vaccinating people, especially children, against anticipated diseases, and creating proper infrastructure to be used in case there is need for food supply, said [Anna Ridout, Oxfam’s spokesperson]

Isaiah Esipisu, Horn Of Africa: Poor Attention to Forecasts to Blame for Famine in Somalia, Inter Press Service, July 21, 2011

But, as Oxfam notes in another article, donors and governments fail to deliver on East Africa aid effort:

The overall humanitarian requirements for the region this year, according to the UN appeals, are $1.87 billion. These are so far 45 percent funded, leaving a gap of over $1 billion still remaining: gaps of $332m and $296m for the Kenya and Somalia UN appeals respectively, and $398m for the government-run appeal in Ethiopia

In the last two weeks there have been new pledges of $205m, leaving a gap of $800m still remaining.

The UK has pledged an estimated $145m in the past two weeks – almost 15 percent of what is needed. The EU has pledged around $8m so far, with more expected in the coming days. Spain has pledged nearly $10m, Germany around $8.5m. France has so far not pledged any new money, and Denmark and Italy have said no significant new sums are available.

Donors and governments fail to deliver on East Africa aid effort, Oxfam, July 20, 2011

But it is not just the international community. Various actors in the region also face criticism and question. For example, as the above IPS article had also noted, the effects of the drought were made worse by the Al Shabaab militia group in Somalia, which had blocked donor agencies from operating within its territories in 2009 — now the famine zones. Admittedly, the extremist group recently lifted its ban, as IPS also noted.

Another example is the governments of the affected countries as well as the African Union. Ugandan journalist, Rosebell Kagumire, writing for Oxfam, noted that the African Union had complained about lack of funds because governments have not put enough money in. Although Kenya opened its borders for an influx of Somalian refugees, Kagumire criticized the response as lacking urgency and not being effective.

One of the worst crises in recent history

The crisis is one of the worst in recent history:

Compared to previous famines, the current situation in Somalia compares or exceeds those reported during recent years in Niger (2005), Ethiopia (2001), Sudan (1998) and Somalia (1992). However, this is the most severe food security crisis in Africa since the 1991/92 Somalia famine, according to the U.N. Between January and June this year, 300,000 people in Mogadishu were given food assistance by humanitarian agencies on a monthly basis. Approximately 100,000 malnourished children were treated through some 418 nutrition centres in south Somalia from January to May 2011.

…

The current crisis in Somalia is expected to have an increasingly devastating effect on other countries in the region. However, generally, the Horn of Africa has 11.5 million people in crisis, including the 3.7 million in Somalia.

Isaiah Esipisu, Horn Of Africa: Poor Attention to Forecasts to Blame for Famine in Somalia, Inter Press Service, July 21, 2011

Somewhat predictably, media coverage seems spotty. At times there are detailed reports, often responding to government and other large international agency pushes to address the crises. Other times, the coverage vanishes from mainstream headlines and prime time viewing almost as soon as reporting has started.

On the morning of Sunday, July 31, during a review of British Sunday newspapers by the BBC, commentators noted how only one paper had a front page story about this crisis while almost all of them had something about a second Royal wedding. (It wasn’t necessarily ignoring Africa, either, as the also important story about the US debt crisis also barely featured on any papers headlines!)

And of course, most of the reporting has followed after the crisis has happened.

It is also interesting to note how quickly the international community mobilized against Libya with military and other actions, when far less people (in number) were affected.