countercurrents archive april05

29 April, 2005

The Rise Of Legitimate Resistance
By Ghali Hassan

The rise of the Iraqi Resistance took the Western world by surprise, not only because of its effectiveness against a militaristic 'superpower', but also because the West distorted and fabricated image of the Iraqi people

Arrogant Nation
By Doug Soderstrom

A psycho-social analysis of United States

27 April, 2005

Coca-Cola Refused Licence
By Karthika Thampan

The Perumatty grama panchayath (local council) yesterday refused to renew the licence of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverage Limited at Plachimada, in the Indian state of Kerala

More Evidence Of US Military’s
Culture Of Torture In Iraq
By James Cogan

Material obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), under Freedom of Information, provides further evidence of the culture of torture and abuse that has prevailed among US military personnel involved in the interrogation of Iraqi prisoners

When Che Became A Market God
By V.B.Rawat

None of us would have thought that Che would become a Christian God in his village. He could never have dreamt that the western market led forces would make use of his name for ‘helping’ the native people

The Question Of Dalit Human Rights
By Goldy M. George

The question of Dalit Human Right is not just a matter of addressing the atrocities, but at large it corroborates to the affirmation of land rights of Dalits, resisting the forces of globalisation, communalism, casteism, patriarchy and so on. This paves the way for collective action

The River Interlinking Project:
Another Disaster Waiting To Happen
By Kuldip Nayar

A still bigger disaster is awaiting us on the river interlinking project. I thought it was only at the concept stage, but apparently it has become a project without any discussion in the country. The very idea of a “surplus” or a “deficit” basin needs another look

26 April, 2005

Peak Oil: The Twilight Zone
By Jeremy Leggett

We've been warned about 'peak oil'- the day that heralds the end of cheap energy. It's the biggest threat to our lives and livelihoods, but no one is listening. Former industry insider Jeremy Leggett outlines the six reasons why we need to act now

Indo - US Military To Military Relations:
Who Will Benefit?
By Admiral vishnu Bhagwat

We now have a situation where the US Armed forces , a hitherto highly professional institution has turned itself deliberately and openly into a killing machine to impress the world with diabolical cruelty. What must be squarely faced , is whether military to military relations, will generate a similar psyche in the Indian Armed Forces?

Fear: A Political Tool
By Ghali Hassan

The rise of the politics of fear has become central to US imperial agenda.In order to sell its "war on terror" and the war on Iraq, the Bush administration turned to fear to manipulate the public

Abbas Kiarostami- Not A Martyr
By Stuart Jeffries

Jean-Luc Godard has said: "Film begins with DW Griffith and ends with Abbas Kiarostami." According to Martin Scorsese, "Kiarostami represents the highest level of artistry in the cinema." But in Iran, at least in official circles, Kiarostami worship is not on the agenda

Hindutva Undivided Family
By Ram Puniyani

Recent statement of K. Sudarshan that Vajpayee and Advani should retire created a lot of storm in the tea cup. As matters shaped up, in due course the storm was brought under control and the storm in the tea cup is showing the signs of subsiding

23 April, 2005

Climate Change! Britain To Go Nuclear
By Marie Woolf and Andrew Grice

The British government is drawing up secret plans to create a new generation of nuclear power stations as the centrepiece of the Government's drive to combat climate change

Antarctic Glaciers In Retreat
By AFP

Scientists have issued a fresh warning about the effect of climate change on Antarctica, saying that more than 200 coastal glaciers are in retreat because of higher temperatures

Our People's War Is A Totally
New 21st Century War
By Prachanda & Alex Perry

An interview with Prachanda,Chairman of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)

The Secret Of Islamic Film-Makers
By Tariq Ali

Islamic film-makers have always had to subvert the rules of clerics and censors. It's what makes them some of the world's best directors

The Dumbing Down Of The American Mind
By Doug Soderstrom

There is a very dangerous phenomenon that seems to be occurring in the United States of America; something that I refer to as “the dumbing-down of the American mind,” a nearly willful tendency for Americans to forgo reality in favor of believing what they want to believe

From “Grand Inquisitor”To Pope
By Peter Schwarz

With the selection of Josef Ratzinger as the new pope, the Roman Catholic hierarchy has placed at its head a hard-line enforcer of Church dogma, and one of the Vatican’s fiercest opponents of not only Marxism, but liberalism, secularism, science and virtually all things modern

Pope Benedict XVI’s Political Resume:
Theocracy And Social Reaction
By Joseph Kay

The selection of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the new pope is a clear sign that the Vatican will seek to use its influence to promote the most reactionary political forces within the ruling elites of countries around the world, particularly in Europe

A President To Be Proud Of
By Mari Marcel Thekaekara

Interviewing the former President of India, K.R. Narayanan, was an experience. One wanted his personal story to be incorporated into the school syllabus, for Dalit children to have a role model. So that they would be able to dream dreams beyond buckets and brooms...

Narmada: Where Terror And Hope Collide
By Angana Chatterji

At least 65 people died in Dharaji village, near Bhopal, and many remain missing from flash floods as waters were released on April 7 from the Indira Sagar mega-dam on the Narmada river

19 April, 2005

Who Is Ibrahim al-Jaafari?
By James Cogan

The history of Daawa, and the past two years in particular, underscores the venality of the Shiite elite represented by Jaafari. At every turn its political manoeuvring has been guided by an ambition for a greater share of Iraq’s resources and wealth, at the expense of the needs and aspirations of ordinary Iraqis

The Senseless Death Of Marla Ruzicka
By Patrick Cockburn and Andrew Buncombe

Marla Ruzicka, who had been working tirelessly in Iraq to help the victims of the Bush war has been killed in a suicide car bomb attack

The Hostage Crisis
By Baghdad Burning

We have an Iraqi government that bans news channels and newspapers because they *insist* on reporting about such routine things as civilian casualties and raids, yet the Puppets barely flinch over media sources spreading a rumor as dangerous and provocative as Madain hostage taking

Apologizing To Torturers
By John Pilger

Simon Wilson, the correspondent who did an important and long overdue interview with nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu was made to apologize to a regime Nelson Mandela described as “the greatest moral issue of the age”

World Markets Expecting Further Falls
By Nick Beams

World stock markets are bracing themselves for further turbulence following the sharp decline on Wall Street last week which saw the Dow Jones index close at its lowest level for the year.The sell-off was sparked by adverse reports from some of America’s biggest companies, coupled with fears that the US economy could be sliding into a recession

Display Dalit Power
By Chandrabhan Prasad

Compared to the American Blacks, the Dalits have nothing but small grocery shops or manufacturing units here and there which don't find any mention even in the community's media

The Tale Of Two Mothers
By Sorit

The tale of two courageous mothers who decided to take on the establishment

Decoded At Last: The 'Classical Holy Grail'
By David Keys and Nicholas Pyke

Scientists begin to unlock the secrets of papyrus scraps bearing long-lost words by the literary giants of Greece and Rome

18 April, 2005

A Planet On The Brink
By Rowan Williams

The Archbishop of Canterbury warns that the price of our continued failure to protect the earth will be violence and social collapse

Tarmiya: The Silent Agony
For security reasons the name of the writer
of this article can not be revealed

"The other one kicked me, threw me to the ground and put his boot on my neck. The arteries were cut and dropping. His boot went into the open wound. He began pushing very hard. The other one, who killed B., came and stood over me. They were both over me, and then he stabbed me here"

The Rise Of Disaster Capitalism
By Naomi Klein

Colonialism is dead, or so we are told; there are no new places to discover.There is, however, plenty of destruction--countries smashed to rubble, whether by so-called Acts of God or by Acts of Bush (on orders from God). And where there is destruction there is reconstruction, a chance to grab hold of "the terrible barrenness"

War: The Great Unknown Among Election Issues
By Jonathan Freedland

Iraq war may not be the issue on which UK election turns, but it is having a deep impact. Labour is feeling it most keenly - among its activists, but also among what party tacticians call its "intelligentsia" vote, among students and among Muslims

How Coca-Cola Gave Back To Plachimada
By Alexander Cockburn

An on the report of the water theft done by Coca Cola company at Plachimada, Kerala, in India, with institutional and judicial support

India Adopts WTO Patent Law
With Left Front Support
By Kranti Kumara

In a move designed to make India’s patent legislation conform with the World Trade Organization’s Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) patent regime, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has pushed a patent amendment bill through India’s Parliament with the support of the Left Front

RSS And The Gender Question
By Ram Puniyani

RSS Supreme leader K. Sudarshan pointed out recently that women are barred from RSS as Indian society did not accept, and does not accept even now, young boys and girls working together because it could have consequences on the society. One wonders which Indian society Mr. Sudarshan is talking about !

14 April, 2005

Saudi's Top Field In Decline?
By Adam Porter

Speculation over the actual size of Saudi Arabia's oil reserves is reaching fever pitch after the analyst of Bank of Montreal warned that the kingdom's - and the world's - biggest field, Gharwar, is in irreversible decline

End Of Cheap Oil Is A Blessing
By Mitchell Anderson

Artificially low gas prices have long stifled conservation efforts and alternative technologies, while fuelling a boom in vehicles so grotesquely inefficient that I suspect our children will someday marvel at them in a museum

Food That Changed My Life
By Paul Tergat

Over 100 million children do not attend school and 300 million are chronically hungry. With a collective commitment to school feeding, the international community could help to reduce these numbers quickly. Doesn't every child deserve the chance to achieve his or her dreams? The world marathon record holder Paul Tergat writes

Iraq's Northern Capital Stalked
By Suicide Bombers
By Patrick Cockburn

Anybody who believes Iraq has turned the corner and violence is diminishing should pay a visit to its northern capital, though they must be extremely careful when doing so

Rumsfeld’s Mission To Baghdad
By Bill Van Auken

Rumsfeld’s intervention reveals in a nutshell the utter hypocrisy of Washington’s democratic pretensions. It points to the real aims and methods of the US occupation of Iraq, and the real nature of the relationship between the “sovereign” transitional government and its American overseers

The State Of Women In Iraq
By Hanna Dahlstrom

Deteriorating politcal and economic crisis of women in Iraq under US occupying forces - A briefing paper of international educational development . Presented to The United Nations Commission on Human Rights 2005

Behind The Smoke Screen Of The Gaza Pullout
By Tanya Reinhart

Sharon travelled to the USA as a hero of peace, as if he had already evacuated Gaza and only the follow-up remained to be worked out. What has completely disappeared from the public agenda is what is happening meanwhile in the West Bank

Russian Cinema Takes On Hollywood
By Nick Paton Walsh

The phenomenal success of Nochnoi Dozor, or Night Watch, one of a new wave of homegrown blockbusters sweeping Russian cinemas is being touted as proof that Russian film can make money domestically and perhaps abroad

13 April, 2005

Oil, Geopolitics, And The Coming War With Iran
By Michael T. Klare

As the United States gears up for an attack on Iran, one thing is certain: the Bush administration will never mention oil as a reason for going to war. As in the case of Iraq, weapons of mass destruction (WMD) will be cited as the principal justification for an American assault

Don't Be Fooled By The Spin On Iraq
By Jonathan Steele

The weekend's vast protest shows that opposition is still growing, in spite of US and British government claims to have Iraqis' best interests at heart

12 April, 2005

Let Them Eat Bombs
By Terry Jones

Far from improving the quality of life for Iraqi youngsters, the US-led military assault on Iraq has inexplicably doubled the number of children under five suffering from malnutrition. Under Saddam, about 4% of children under five were going hungry, whereas by the end of last year almost 8% were suffering

More US Troops Questioning Iraq Duty
By Christian Henderson

As the tally of Americans killed and wounded in Iraq continues to rise, so does the number of soldiers uneasy about serving in the two-year-old war.US army figures indicate that since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, about 5500 military personnel have absconded

Imperial Reach
By Michael T. Klare

Of the dozen or so locations mentioned in Pentagon or media accounts of new basing locations, a majority--including Algeria, Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Gabon, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Qatar, Romania, São Tomé and Príncipe, Tunisia--either possess oil themselves or abut major pipelines and supply routes

India Joins The Scramble For Oil
By Parwini Zora and Daniel Woreck

Through diplomatic manoeuvres aimed at securing transnational pipeline routes and overseas crude oil and natural gas production deals, India is seeking to lay claim to a larger share of the world’s energy resources

House Of Saud Re-Embraces Totalitarianism
By John R. Bradley

In the two years following the September 11, 2001 attacks, when reformist voices were in the ascendancy and pressure from Washington meant the al-Saud had to at least pretend to behave like civilized rulers. But at least 40 people have been publicly beheaded this year alone, more than during the whole of last year

Global Financial System Faces Growing Risks
By Nick Beams

The International Monetary Fund’s semi-annual assessment of the state of global financial markets is devotes considerable space to outlining the growing dangers posed by the increasing complexity of the entire structure

Growing Discontent Of Adivasis In Assam
By Kirti Mishra

Across Assam, the Adivasis face multiple deprivations which have their root in the historic exclusion and denial of tribal status to the community

11 April, 2005

Democracy ! Or Colonial Dictatorship?
By Ghali Hassan

After two months of wrangling and haggling over the forming of the new Iraqi "government", the US got what it wants, a US government. The Bush administration is using this farce as a model of colonial dictatorship, in which few (Iraqi) expatriates or natives are allowed to manage their own affairs, while the Occupation and US control of Iraq's oil resources will continue

A Black Cat In A Dark Room
By Malcom Lagauche

When one looks back at statements and articles by Iraqis during the period of 1991 to 2003, it is uncanny how accurate they were. On the other hand, much of what the U.S. put forward has been shown to be nothing less than outright lies. Here is an op-ed written in by Nizar Hamdoon, former Iraqi ambassador to UN for the New York Times called "A Black Cat in a Dark Room "

John Paul II, HIV/AIDS And Global Mass Mortality
By Gideon Polya

Pope John Paul II banned contraception and abortion, arguing for the "right to life" of the unborn - but he evidently failed to effectively insist on the "right to life" of "born" infants. JPII did appeal for global humanity but failed to address First World passive genocide in the Third World

When Catholic Women Are Equal Partners
By Mary E. Hunt

Catholic history is measured in centuries, not decades, and Catholic women have been an integral part from the beginning.One would never know that from observing the funeral, conclave, and plans for a new papacy following the death of Pope John Paul II. A visitor from Venus would think that men gesture, genuflect, and guard, while women pray silently under their mantillas with candles and rosaries in hand

"The Only Good Indian Is A Dead Indian"
By Owatica

If the human race is to survive at all, we absolutely must understand how we, the people of the world, are being manipulated into war by others who wish to enrich themselves through our blood. They prey on our fears and prejudices to manipulate us

Global warming: Nuclear Power No Solution
By Jim Green

Claims that nuclear power is “greenhouse free” are nonsense. Substantial greenhouse gas generation occurs across the nuclear fuel cycle

10 April, 2005

Iraqi Marchers Say No To Occupation
By Baghdad Burning

Thousands of Iraqis were demonstrating against the occupation yesterday. But the mainstream media turned a blind eye to it

A Day Of Infamy
By Malcom Lagauche

"I know a day will come when I will celebrate with the People of Iraq when the last invader leaves Iraq"

Israeli Troops Kill Palestinian Teenagers
By Aljazeera

Israeli occupation troops have fired at a group of Palestinian youths who were playing foot ball in the southern Gaza Strip, killing three teenagers

The Price Of Oil And The Bush Dollar
By Dave Lindorff

Some Wall Street oil industry analysts are now predicting that oil could, before too long, hit $100 a barrel. What they are saying really is that the dollar is likely to fall in value by 50 percent

Crossing A Bridge Of Peace
By Ghazi Salahuddin

When 49 passengers of two buses crossed a bridge in Kashmir in both directions on Thursday, the world watched the spectacle with a great sense of relief. After all, what are bridges for if we do not keep crossing them?

09 April, 2005

What's Behind The New Iraq
By Pepe Escobar

It took more than nine weeks, fiery haggling and backroom deals for Iraq's politicians to compose a new government. The big question now is how the Shi'ites and Kurds will deal with marginalized Sunni Arabs - paying close attention to their political grievances or clobbering them with peshmergas, Badr Brigades and Iraqi security forces. It's politics or civil war

Oil For Dollars, And Dollars For US Deficit
By Richard Benson

As the price of oil goes up, extra money floods into the Gulf kingdoms. With the US secretary of defense putting troops all over the ground in the Middle East, and those nimble aircraft carriers nearby and ready to deliver the "shock and awe of sudden democracy" to the Gulf monarchs, it's a sure bet that America's OPEC buddies will stash their newly found Asian lucky bucks into good old American Treasury notes

My Name Is Rachel Corrie
By Katharine Viner

Two years ago Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American protester, was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza. Since then she has become a potent symbol for both sides of the conflict. But who was the real Rachel? Katharine Viner has edited her writings for a new play "My Name Is Rachel Corrie"

Youth Of The World, Arise!
By Eye Qureshi

An impassioned plea from a young student from Pakistan to fellow youth around the world, for world peace and political action for a world of peace and harmony where the old and the young live with hope

A Road To Revolution
By Li Onesto

Many tens of thousands of people are engaged in building the Nuwagaun-Thawang-Chunwang roadway to be known as the Sahid Marg, the Martyr's Highway in Rolpa, a district in Western Nepal where the people hold political power, a famous revolutionary base area for the people's war led by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) that has driven the Royal Army out of most of the countryside

Time To Commemorate The End Of
Lebanese Civil War
By Robert Fisk

That Lebanon's war did not restart with Hariri's murder is a sign of the people's maturity and of their wisdom, especially the vast sea of young Lebanese who were educated abroad during the conflict and who do not - and, I suspect, will not - tolerate another civil war

06 April, 2005

Our Food Is So Dependent On Oil
By Norman Church

The fuel crises of 1973 disrupted the distribution of food and industry leaders warned that their stores would be out of food within days. The lessons of 1973 have not been heeded.Today the food system is even more reliant on cheap crude oil. Virtually all of the processes in the modern food system are now dependent upon this finite resource, which is nearing its depletion phase

The Great Phase Transition: The Post-Oil Era
By Jorge Figueiredo

The beginning of the end of oil contributes to exacerbating imperialist drive and underlying rivalries, to lay hands upon the remaining oil resources of the planet

Chavez's Gambit
By Nikolas Kozloff

Even before Chavez was first elected he was explicit in describing his views about petroleum. "Oil is a geopolitical weapon," he declared, "and these imbeciles who govern us don't realize the power they have, as an oil-producing country." The evidence suggests that Chavez is now trying his best to follow through on this rhetoric

Oil-For-Food Scandal: Washington’s
Preemptive Strike On The UN
By Peter Symonds

The stench of hypocrisy and cynicism that surrounds the oil-for-food inquiry underscores the fact that it has little to do with allegations of corruption against Annan and other UN officials. Like other multilateral international institutions, the UN has become a battleground where the US is seeking to assert its unchallenged supremacy over its imperialist rivals

Mechanisms Of Dispossession
By Ghali Hassan

The practice of Palestinians dispossession is continuing with the full support of the Israeli government and its institutions in Israel and funded by Jewish organisations abroad, such as the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and the World Zionist Organization (WZO)

Politics In Red Robes
By Sidney Blumenthal

Bush's attendance at the Pope's funeral merely masks White House exploitation of Catholic division

Burma Visit Highlights India’s “Look East” Strategy
By Sarath Kumara

India's attempts to woo the Burmese generals are based on several considerations. Not only is India keen to gain access to Burma’s oil and gas, but a land route through the country to South East Asia is an essential component of its broader “Look East” policy

Twenty Five Years Of Bharatiya Janata Party
By Ram Puniyani

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) completes twenty five years on sixth April, 2005. Founded in 1980 on the plank of Gandhian Socialism it has traveled a long journey

05 April, 2005

3,500 New Homes On West Bank
By Donald Macintyre and Eric Silver

Ariel Sharon, Israel's Prime Minister, has defied international and Palestinian objections to go ahead with a bitterly controversial plan to expand the largest Jewish settlement on the West Bank by 3,500 homes

Is Israel A Safe Haven For Jews?
By Adri Nieuwhof and Jeff Handmaker

There are clear and growing signs that many Jews do not see Israel as a "safe haven" and therefore seek refuge elsewhere

The Pope Has Blood On His Hands
By Terry Eagleton

The greatest crime of John Paul II's papacy, however, was neither his part in this cover up nor his neanderthal attitude to women. It was the grotesque irony by which the Vatican condemned - as a "culture of death" - condoms, which might have saved countless Catholics in the developing world from an agonising Aids death

A Reactionary In Shepherd's Clothing
By Barry Healy

John Paul II's preferred saintly role model was the Spanish fascist Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei, one of the reactionary and weird Catholic secret societies that the pope has used as weapons against progressive

It's Too Late Now For John Paul II To Repent
By Michael Dickinson

Pope John Paul was the man who condemned 'liberation theology' - the man who declared: "The church cannot approve of this idea of Christ as a political figure, a revolutionary." He was also the man who declared that the Church "has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that all the faithful are definitively bound by this judgment."

I'm With Wolfowitz
By George Monbiot

Liberal handwringing over the World Bank simply reflects a failure to recognise the role it exists to fulfil

USA, Whose Hostage?
By Ghali Hassan

There is little doubt that the current US Government and its ideologues will continue to inflict harms not only on defenceless people outside the US, but also on the US and on the Americans people for the next few decades. The challenge is not whether the US will decline as an imperial power but whether the American people can prevent their country from becoming a permanent hostage of a foreign power and slow its decline

04 April, 2005

US In Race To Unlock New Energy Source
By David Adam

Locked in mysterious crystals, the sediment beneath the seabed holds enough natural gas to fuel America's energy-guzzling society for decades, or to bring about sufficient climate change to melt the planet's glaciers and cause catastrophic flooding

Taking Care Of Ma Earth
By Tom Teepen

We cannot produce more oceans in our labs if we poison the ones we have. We can't manufacture a new atmosphere if we degrade today's irreparably. There's no fairy dust for bringing back dead species. If not panic, care at least is called for

'Shoot For Fun'
By Mark Townsend

One of the biggest private security firms in Iraq has created outrage after a memo to staff claimed it is 'fun' to shoot people

Prisoners In Their Own Fortresses
By Robert Fisk

Sitting behind that loophole in the castle at Tripoli, I could even see new meaning in Osama bin Laden's constant reference to the Americans as "the Crusader armies"

Superspike Report Deconstructed
By Adam Porter

A widely reported briefing by US investment house Goldman Sachs alerted markets to the possibility of an oil price superspike - a spike as high as $105 per barrel. Yet the full report, paints a more complex and volatile picture

Don't Let The Warmonger Off The Hook
By Scott Ritter

The voters should seize their opportunity to punish Blair for his breach of international law, writes Scott Ritter

Sleepwalking Towards Danger, F16s And All
By Praful Bidwai

The F-16 deal will give a fresh lease of life to the Lockheed Martin factory in Fort Worth, Texas, which has reduced its workforce by 800 to 5,000 over the past year

03 April, 2005

Home Fires In India Melt The Arctic Ice
By Geoffrey Lean

Poor women cooking family meals in India are helping to melt the Arctic icecap, startling new studies show. Soot from their fires gets wafted into the atmosphere to fall out on the ice thousands of miles away, hastening its disappearance

American Media Everywhere
By Baghdad Burning

Two years ago, the major part of the war in Iraq was all about bombarding us with smart bombs and high-tech missiles. Now there’s a different sort of war- or perhaps it’s just another phase of the same war. Now we’re being assailed with American media. It’s everywhere all at once

Girl Blog From Iraq Speaks
By Firas Al-Atraqchi

Baghdad Burning Blogger who was one of the first to start a blog on conditions in the wake of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, in an interview with Aljazeera speaks how life has changed since the first bombs started falling and martial law was imposed

Witnessing War Crimes
By Paul Rockwell

Aiden Delgado, an Army Reservist, was a witness to widespread, almost daily, U.S. war crimes in Iraq. His story contains new revelations about ongoing brutality at Abu Ghraib, information yet to be reported in media

Middle East Democracy That The US Fears
By Simon Assaf

A movement is growing in Egypt that will terrify the warmongers in Washington

02 April, 2005

Iraqi Children: On The Brink Of Disaster
By Ghali Hassan

Since the US invasion and occupation of Iraq every aspect of life in Iraq has deteriorated. A new report released to the UN Human Rights Commission found that malnutrition among Iraqi children under the age of 5 years have doubled to nearly 8 percent since the US invasion of Iraq as a result of lack of clean water, food, and adequate sanitation

The Gates Of Hell Are Open In Iraq
By Jawad al-Khalisi

Public opinion in the occupying countries, such as the US and Britain, needs to understand that the continuation of this unjust and dangerous situation in Iraq will create the conditions for a new and more general uprising which threatens truly to open the gates of hell in the region and beyond

Whitewashing War Based On Lies
By Bill Van Auken

Like those earlier investigations, the WMD panel’s document serves up recommendations promoting an intensification of militarism abroad and police-state measures at home

Adapting To Global Warming: A Modest Proposal
By Gar Lipow

The carbon lobby (mainly the coal and oil companies) when they don't deny that human cause global warming exists, suggest that it would be less expensive and more humane to do nothing about it. Here are a few modest proposals for life in a green house

Israeli Rampage
By Khaled Amayreh

Settler violence against Palestinians is burgeoning at an alarming rate

Rajiv Gandhi’s Mother
By Satya Sivaraman

A heartrending story of a tsunami victim family

01 April, 2005

Rocketing Oil Price Predicted
By Tom Incantalupo

Analysts at Goldman Sachs predict that there is a good chance crude oil would nearly double in price in the next two years, topping $100 a barrel

Carbon Dioxide Continues Its Rise
By David Shukman

The atmospheric concentration of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide has reached a new high

Despots, East And West
By Satya Sagar

Western Despots(WDs) kill because they love people, Eastern Despots kill (EDs) because they hate them! A comparative analysis

“Life In Falluja Is A Horror Story”
By Eric Ruder & Dahr Jamail

Daily, there are many, many air missions being flown, and huge amounts of bombs being dropped. In fact, the vast majority of Iraqi civilians killed have died as a result of U.S. warplanes dropping bombs. In Falluja, it’s pretty safe to say that a large percentage of the estimated 3,000 people killed there were killed by U.S. warplanes

The End Of A Viable Palestinian State
By Jeff Halper

American support for Sharon's settlement project destroys forever the possibility of a viable Palestinian state, dooming the peoples of Israel-Palestine to perpetual conflict. How this squares with American interests in a stable Middle East is anybody's guess

New Cases Of Bird Flu Underscore
Dangers Of A Global Pandemic
By Dragan Stankovic

The appearance of new cases of the bird flu virus HIN5 among poultry and humans in Asia has prompted urgent warnings about the potentially catastrophic consequences of a deadly worldwide pandemic

Move On And Get Modi Tried
By Subhash Gatade

The US denial of Visa and the cancellation of Modi's visit to UK is indeed a victory. But activists must move ahead and get Modi tried in Indian and International courts

Bt Cotton In Punjab: Lesson
In Effective PR Exercise
By JatinderPreet

The sleek PR machinery of the U.S. chemicalgiant Monsanto aided by spineless and misinformed media and the statecollusion assured India officially joined the GM community on March 26,2002, when it was first given the green signal for the commercial cultivation of genetically engineered crops

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