Countercurrents Archive November 2006

29 November, 2006

Carbon Emissions Show Sharp Rise
By Richard Black

The rise in humanity's emissions of carbon dioxide has accelerated sharply, according to a new analysis.The Global Carbon Project says that emissions were rising by less than 1% annually up to the year 2000, but are now rising at 2.5% per year

The Methane Curse
By Cameron Hunt

One of the more obscure outcomes of any large-scale switch to LNG use in transport, might just be that the downtrodden peoples of the Middle East get to witness the final exorcism of the ‘oil curse’, and its associated foreign occupations. I can see them now, at their celebrations, nodding sagely as Australia’s rulers boast to the world of its vast uranium reserves

Making Sense Of A Mad World
By Gabriel Kolko

We are right to fear anything, particularly a war with Iran, that would immediately reel out of control and have catastrophic consequences not only to the region but globally

Ghosts Of Massacred Armenians Could Haunt
Turkey’s Chances To Join European Union
By Sherwood Ross

Turkey’s bid to join the European Union could suffer by its refusal to admit the genocide of its Armenian Christian population nearly a century ago

Nominee For US Defense Secretary
Advocated Bombing Of Nicaragua
By Joe Kay

In December 1984, Robert Gates, the Bush administration’s nominee to replace Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary, advocated military strikes against Nicaragua in response to what he considered to be a growing threat to US interests in Central and South America. Gates was then deputy director of intelligence at the CIA

War Chic
By Lucinda Marshall

The November issue of the magazine Marie Clare did an outstanding job of in remedying the media’s woeful lack of coverage of the impact of war on fashion. With several hard-hitting articles and a photo spread, MC gives this aspect of war reporting it’s proper due

Lawyers File War Crimes Charges Against
Rumsfeld And Others In German Court
By Michael Ratner

Revolution Interview with Attorney Michael Ratner on the Case vs Rumsfeld

Irom's Iron In The Soul
By Kavita Joshi

A rare interview with Irom Sharmila, the iron lady of Manipur, who is on a fast-to-death for over six years now. Six years without food, without a drop of water touching her lips. Six years of being held under arrest repeatedly on charges of “attempted suicide” by the government, and being forcibly nose-fed

28 November, 2006

Slaughter House Iraq
By Patrick Cockburn

Iraq is rending itself apart. The signs of collapse are everywhere. In Baghdad, the police often pick up more than 100 tortured and mutilated bodies in a single day. Government ministries make war on each other

Cut And Run, The Only Brave Thing To Do ...
By Michael Moore

We demand the Democrats listen to us and get out of Iraq now

"Kill Them! Kill Everyone! All Of Them!"
By Uri Avnery

There is only one way to win a war in Lebanon--and that is to avoid it

Israel Between Rhetoric And Reality Over Iran
By Abid Mustafa

The recent American overtures to induct Iran in any political settlement over Iraq have immensely troubled the Israel. So perturbed has been the government in Tel Aviv that she has mounted a concerted campaign in America to keep alive the notion that Iran poses a grave danger to the US and must be thwarted at any cost

Impeachment Hearings For Bush & Co.?
How About War Crimes Tribunals
By Heatherwokusch

The administration has taken pre-emptive action against future war crimes charges, including pushing through the scandalous Military Commissions Act, which provides them retroactive domestic protection from prosecution regarding prisoner abuse cases

Conspicuous Consumption Comes Out Of The Closet
By Mickey Z.

"Today's consumption is undermining the environmental resource base. It is exacerbating inequalities," United Nations Development Program (UNDP) declared in 1998. "If the trends continue without change ... today's problems of consumption and human development will worsen." The UNDP concludes: "Runaway growth in consumption in the past 50 years is putting strains on the environment never before seen." So...what's in your closet?

The Pill
By Peter Rost

Just sit back for a moment and think . . . do you think any man would risk any of this? And do you think he would feel comfortable having his sperms destroyed by a pill?

Hugo Chavez Gains An Ecuadoran Ally
By Stephen Lendman

The people have spoken, and the Washington-directed election-riggers failed for the second time this month to arrange for their man to steal what the people of Ecuador voted en masse to deny them - the same way it turned out on November 7 when Nicaraguans reelected Daniel Ortega despite strong opposition to his candidacy from Washington

A Nazi in the United States Senate
By David Truskoff

Almost the entire country voted against the war in Iraq, but Connecticut sent the leading warmonger and blind faith Israel supporter back to the senate. They knew who and what he was. They voted for him anyway just as they did in 1952 for Prescot Bush,the grandfather of our President. Most people the world over are only what the media makes them and the media in Connecticut supported Prescot Bush and recently. Lieberman

Razzle-Dazzle Time In Washington
By Kevin B. Zeese

The Democrats reaped the benefit of voter anger at the Iraq war and occupation on November 7 and regained control of both chambers of Congress. Will the Democrats satisfy the desire to end the Iraq War? Sadly, the initial signs are that voters are likely to get a lot of razzle-dazzle in Washington, but not much change in policy

Golwalkar- The Guru Of Hate
By Ramachandra Guha

Golwalkar's book disparages democracy as alien to the Hindu ethos and extols the code of Manu

27 November, 2006

Three Cheers For Nepal's New Democracy
By Praful Bidwai

This past Tuesday, a guerrilla movement in Nepal did something unprecedented: it signed a comprehensive peace agreement with the government, and pledged to disarm itself and join the democratic mainstream

Chavez Holds Commanding Lead
Eight Days Before Election
By Stephen Lendman

Hugo Chavez holds an insurmountable lead in two late November polls - one by Ipsos Venezuela/the AP-Ipsos Poll and the other by Zogby International-University of Miami. Both were released on November 24 and are the most current and reliable data available and are consistent with most independent poll results for months

Some Things You Need To Know
Before The World Ends
By William Blum

The good news is that the Republicans lost.The bad news is that the Democrats won.The burning issue -- US withdrawal from Iraq -- remains as far from resolution as before

Blind Obedience To The Canons Of Capitalism:
Of Sick Societies, American Dalits, and a Nation of Lady Macbeths
By Jason Miller

While millions of children are starving to death, we in the United States grapple with afflictions born of over-indulgence. Obesity is reaching epidemic proportions as we wantonly indulge our edacity. As a result, the United States is facing an alarming rise in cases of Type-2 diabetes and a significant decline in life expectancy

The Lives And Deaths Of Iraqi Gays
By Peter Tatchell

Another five gay men were abducted at gun-point by Iraqi police in Baghdad on 9 November. Nothing has been heard of them since then. It is feared that they may have been murdered.These disappearances are the latest "sexual cleansing" operation mounted by Islamist death squads who have infiltrated the police. They are systematically targeting gays and lesbians for extra-judicial execution, as part of their so-called moral purification campaign

The American Thanksgiving: Rejoicing
In Genocide And White Supremacy
By Glen Ford

No Halloween of the imagination can rival the exterminationist reality that was the genesis, and remains the legacy, of the American Thanksgiving. It is the most loathsome, humanity-insulting day of the year – a pure glorification of racist barbarity

Is Jain Minority Right In India
Receiving A Fair Deal?
By Bal Patil

In view of the unimpeacheable constitutional, judicial evidence and the views of the most illustrious leaders and the sitting members of the Government of India I submit that the Government of India should take an expeditious decision on issuing a Notification declaring Jains as a national minority on par with Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians

Is someone Holding India Hostage?
By Jawed Naqvi

Why did the most crucial file on Rajiv Gandhi's assassination disappear from Prime Minister Rao's office? Is it outlandish to suspect that India's lurch to the right was plotted with the help of key assassinations?

25 November, 2006

Coup d'État In Venezuela: Made In The USA
By Chris Carlson

The U.S. has already set up camp in Venezuela, and all the original cast members are here. We've got NED, USAID, and yes, once again, Penn, Schoen & Berland. Just like in Serbia, or Ukraine, the objective of the U.S. forces is to remove Chavez from power.Two weeks from now, we'll see how all of this plays out. Will the popular Chavez continue to rule as the president of the masses?

US Could Bomb Iran Nuclear Sites In 2007: Analysts
By AFP

President George W. Bush could choose military action over diplomacy and bomb Iran's nuclear facilities next year, political analysts in Washington agree

Empire's Ally: Canadian Foreign Policy
By Greg Albo

The Bush doctrine and the imperial interventions across the Middle East, supported by Canada and the other Western powers, is the most visible symbol of this geo-political strategy. One of capitalism's most powerful fictions is - not for the first time - being laid bare for what it is: naked self-interest

Reclaiming America: Democrats Must
Truly Change Course
By Ramzy Baroud

To prevent the exodus of Empire-driven neo-conservative ideologues from being replaced by self-deceiving, Israel-comes-first Democrats, the American public must not be satisfied with its democratic revolution of early November. Americans must continue to push for a truly equitable, sensible and revolutionary foreign policy

Dragons Of Lebanon's Past Emerge
For Gemayel Funeral
By Robert Fisk

Old political enemies embraced each other beside priests and sweating paramilitary police while the huge crowds applauded and roared their approval of Messrs Jumblatt and Hariri and, especially, Dr Geagea, but booed with derision Ali Hassan Khalil of the Shia Amal party and a sinister Christian ex-militiaman who once hurled his equally Christian civil war prisoners into the Mediterranean with concrete tied to their legs

UN Report Documents Huge
October Death Toll In Iraq
By James Cogan

The human rights report released on Wednesday by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) describes a nation that has been plunged into barbarism since the US-led invasion in March 2003. The Bush administration’s illegal war for oil and world power, cynically code-named “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” has turned Iraq into a slaughterhouse and mass graveyard

India's Veneer Of Religious Integration
By Praful Bidwai

Media stories based on official data being gathered by a government-appointed committee have shockingly disclosed that Muslims, India's largest religious minority, face systematic exclusion and serious discrimination at multiple levels

How Are The Minorities In Pakistan
By Amit Chakraborty

" Unhe Chiro Maat, Hindu Hai, Larr Padenge." – 'don't ridicule him, he is a Hindu, will start fighting'. Who said this? She is a lady teacher in an English medium school at Lahore, Pakistan. Let's not name the school or the teacher for obvious reasons

Death Penalty: Night Editors Word Of Caution
By Jawed Naqvi

Contemporary Indian media is uncritical and prejudiced and cares two hoots for professional standards of yesteryears. A cursory look at the coverage of a few sensitive issues of recent times, including those of Afzal Guru and the Mumbai blasts

24 November, 2006

Iraq:Death Toll Rises And Rises
By Mohammed A. Salih

More than 150 people died in the Shia Sadr area of Baghdad in a spate of car bombings and mortar attacks Thursday morning

Iraq:Medical System Becomes Sickening
By Dahr Jamail & Ali Al-Fadhily

After three and a half years of occupation, Iraq's medical system has sunk to levels lower than seen during the economic sanctions imposed after the first Gulf war in 1990

Iraq's Fate Hanging On A New Axis
By Kaveh L Afrasiabi

While the US is actively exploring alternative options to salvage its intervention in Iraq, regional realities are dictating their own dynamic, not necessarily in tune with the United States' objectives. Slowly but surely, a new realignment is shaping up that is making Washington nervous - a Tehran-Baghdad-Damascus axis

Fasten Your Seat Belts For Global Warming
By Mickey Z.

"It's not just down the road somewhere. It is just hurtling toward us. Anyone who is 10 years old right now is going to be facing a very different and frightening world by the time that they are 50 or 60."

Syria Is A Convenient Fallguy
For Gemayel's Death
By Jonathan Cook

Unlike my colleagues, I do not claim to know who killed Gemayel. Maybe Syria was behind the shooting. Maybe, in Lebanon's notoriously intrigue-ridden and fractious political system, someone with a grudge against Gemayel -- even from within his own party -- pulled the trigger. Or maybe, Israel once again flexed the muscles of its long arm in Lebanon

Behind The Governments Veil Of Deceit
By Ridwan Sheikh

Never before has such a small percentage, of an estimated 1.6 million Muslims living in the U.K, seen to be the root cause for the failures in integration. Yet, Muslim women wearing the veil, (niqab), are increasingly blamed for the apparent social dysfunction in society. But is this really about community ‘separation’? Is the niqab responsible for the ‘difficulty’ in fostering positive community relations? Or is there a real danger for the nation to fall in line with the vision of a secular ‘apartheid’ Europe?

A Beacon Of Hope In NYC
By Farzana Hassan-Shahid

Is there room for women's equality within Islam's ideological framework? Is secularism the answer to the rights of minorities so often violated in Muslim countries? Would Sufi Islam and its colorful manifestations occupy a genuine place within Islam?

India's Roads Becoming Killing
Fields For The Homeless
By Vidyadhar Date

The media is full of reports of promotion of new car brands glorifying speed, how a car picks up speed of over a hundred km in just a few seconds and so on. But the elite is totally unconcerned with the immobility of the vast majority of people who are crammed like sardines in overcrowded trains

Viewer Or Voyeur?
By Amrita Nandy-Joshi

Welcome to Indian Schadenfreude telly, where, as per the channel’s webpage, “The celebrities have to entertain themselves for 100 days whilst the public take pleasure in their pains

23 November, 2006

Sectarian Rifts In Iraqi Government Intensify
By James Cogan

The kidnapping on November 14 of dozens of Sunni Arab employees at Iraq’s higher education ministry and government threats to arrest a leading Sunni cleric have sparked another bloody escalation in sectarian violence across the country. Sunni political parties are under pressure to walk out of the “national unity” cabinet of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad

Gemayel's Mourners Know That In Lebanon
Nothing Is What It Seems
By Robert Fisk

If only the Lebanese stopped putting their faith in foreigners - the Americans, the Israelis, the British, the Iranians, the French, the United Nations - and trusted each other instead, they would banish the nightmares of civil war sealed inside Pierre Gemayel's coffin

Thanksgiving: The National Day Of Mourning
By Wampsutta

Text of 1970 speech by Wampsutta an Aquinnah Wampanoag elder and Native American activist

America Has Left The Building:
An Open Missive Of Anger And Hope
By Phil Rockstroh

I want you to realize this: There are hidden reservoirs of hope within us: reservoirs as boundless as the reach of your ruthlessness. These waters are as deep and potent as you are, at present, shallow and shameless. Yet, they're inaccessible to you -- as long as you insist your drink of choice will continue to be oil and blood, mixed with the runoff of melting Arctic glaciers

Pimping Mike Tyson
By Dave Zirin

Young Tyson, despite all the menace, also showed a real compassion for the people he knocked out. He exhibited smarts, charisma, and concern. Now he is just an exhibit

Eva Golinger's New Book - Bush vs. Chavez
By Stephen Lendman

In her new book, Golinger picks up from her first one chronicling the Bush adminstration's focused efforts at illegal intervention in Venezuelan affairs attempting to destabilize the Chavez government leading up to another scheme to overthrow it that may be only days away following the December 3 presidential election Chavez is virtually certain to win impressively. The book documents the usual kinds of mischief directed out of Washington

To P.C. Roberts On The Death
And Legacy Of Milton Friedman
By Jeff Berg

So yes I understand how Paul Craig Roberts could admire the work of Milton Friedman. I understand how a mind as fine as his became trapped inside an ideological framework utterly disconnected from physical reality. I understand it but I can no longer forgive it and we can no longer afford it

22 November, 2006

Civil war In Lebanon
By Robert Fisk

Civil war - the words on all our lips yesterday. Pierre Gemayel's murder - in broad daylight, in a Christian suburb of Beirut, his car blocked mafia-style by another vehicle while his killer fired through the driver's window into the head of Lebanon's minister of industry - was a message for all of us who live in this tragic land

Nepal Peace Accord Signed
By Press Trust Of India

Nepal's Government and Maoist rebels on Tuesday signed the landmark peace accord to end the decade-old insurgency that has claimed over 15,000 lives and bring about lasting peace

No Peace, No Place For Palestine
By Sheila Samples

The last Palestinian standing will be waiting for Israel's bombs and tanks and bulldozers. And he'll have a rock clenched in each hand

Rumsfeld’s War And War Crimes
By Dr. Habib Siddiqui

With U.S. laws protecting its government officials that are at variance with international laws, Rumsfeld’s war crimes case may eventually go to the UNSC. But there, the USA will veto such resolutions further isolating herself from the rest of the civilized world

Iraq: “At A Minimum Negligence In
The Commission Of A Fraud”
By Kevin Zeese

Interview with Michael Isikoff co-author of Hubris

Big Pharma Hits On Pregnant Women
By Evelyn Pringle

If Big Pharma cared one iota about the unborn fetus, at a bare minimum, it would call off its hired-guns traveling around the country peddling SSRI antidepressants to pregnant women by convincing doctors to prescribed the drugs and ignore the studies and FDA warnings that say SSRIs are associated with serious birth defects

Limiting Family Planning For The Poor
By Gene Gerard

Last week President Bush appointed Dr. Eric Keroack to serve as the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Population Affairs. But Dr. Keroack has a long-standing opposition to contraception and abortion. Through this appointment, President Bush will severely limit contraceptive information and choices to many of America’s poorest women

Women And Poverty
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Dalit women suffer from double disability in our society. The first disability of being woman is doubled with the caste tag over head. Women remain the most 'sought after' 'object' in our society and 'honour' of our families. Her honour is a subject of contention between warring brothers, avenging communities and destroying civilization. From Gujarat to Kashmir, the honour of women became the major issue in our uncivilized world

Democracy Besieged
By Ram Puniyani

Rajinder Sachar Committee, on the basis of thorough inquiry has not only confirmed what Gopal Singh Commission found but also that trends are in the direction of further worsening of the socio-political indices of Muslim minorities. The data shows that Muslim community is at the bottom of economic indices, being worse than even the SCs, STs. They are worse off in education, and are far behind OBCs in employment. Their representation in judiciary, bureaucracy is very poor compared to their percentage in population, and more so in class I and II jobs, they are very low down in landholdings, and much worse in employment in private sector

21 November, 2006

Saddam Trial Fundamentally Flawed: HRW
By Human Rights Watch

The trial of Saddam Hussein and seven other defendants before the Iraqi High Tribunal for crimes against humanity was marred by so many procedural and substantive flaws that the verdict is unsound, Human Rights Watch said in a 97-page report

Support Gathers For Sunni Leader
By Dahr Jamail & Ali Al-Fadhily

The arrest warrant issued last week by the Iraqi government for Sunni leader Dr. Harith al-Dhari has sent shockwaves through the government, and galvanised much of the Sunni population

King Of Nepal Faces 'Punishment'
By Justin Huggler

Nepal took a step closer to democracy yesterday when, for the first time, a government inquiry said the King should be punished. A government commission found King Gyanendra responsible for the brutal crackdown on massive protests which forced him to give up absolute power this year

Rumsfeld Should Be Indicted
By Mahmood Khattak

Most of the people defending Rumsfeld would take the alibi that he was not personally torturing those people. Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death for killing 182 people, even though he did not pull the trigger himself. Hitler did not kill all the six million Jews in Holocaust himself

Democrats Seek Accommodation With Bush
Administration To Continue Iraq Occupation
By Joe Kay

Over the weekend, leading Democrats pledged their eagerness to work closely with the Bush administration in forging a bipartisan policy to continue the occupation of Iraq, and voiced their support for a substantial increase in the military budget and the recruitment of more Army troops

Third Parties Fight For American Democracy
By Joel S. Hirschhorn

A great democracy offers citizens sharp political choices. That’s what gives political freedom meaning. With two-party control of America’s political system, political options and discourse are stifled. We badly need more visible third-parties that can fully participate and reach the public with information about their platforms and candidates. In a nation that so worships competition it is hypocritical that there is so little political competition

Milton Friedman On Liberty And Drugs
By Kevin Zeese

Milton Friedman’s view of the harms from drugs was not only the wasted money – now about $1 billion per week – but more so the destruction of inner cities, racially unfair incarceration, corruption of the police, wars in Colombia, Mexico and other countries that cost thousands of lives and the corruption of foreign economies as well as our own

Questioning The Concept Of ‘Nationalism’
By Arnab Roy Chowdhury

Singing ‘Vande-Mataram’ may be an exhilarating experience for many of us, but it can’t be the scale to gauge ‘Nationalism’. The saffron Brigade has time and again come up with various ploys and designs to put various questions framed in ‘game-theoretical’ situations to the minorities, which are infact done to rejuvenate their waning influence in their heartlands

20 November, 2006

Signs Of Warming Continue In The Arctic
By Randolph Schmid

Signs of warming continue in the Arctic with a decline in sea ice, an increase in shrubs growing on the tundra and rising concerns about the Greenland ice sheet

Runaway Climate Change - A Frightening
Lack Of Leadership
By Bill Henderson

We need leaders to free us from the present unsustainable economy and motivate and empower us today to make the changes necessary to save us from extinction

Iran: The Next Act
By Seymour M. Hersh

Is a damaged Administration less likely to attack Iran, or more?

The Outsmarting Of Karl Rove
By Ralph Nader

Bush's Brain, Karl Rove, outsmarted himself and lost a chance to keep control of the Senate in Republican hands. It started and ended in the Connecticut Senate race with Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman as his "fatal attraction."

Education Under Siege
By Dahr Jamail & Ali Al-Fadhily

The recent kidnapping of scores of academics in Baghdad highlights the desperate situation of the educational system in occupied Iraq

Milton Lost: Can We Regain Paradise?
By Jason Miller

This article is dedicated to the untold millions who suffered as a result of Milton Friedman’s creation of an intellectual bulwark for economic brutality. On 11/16/06, Friedman died of heart failure, an ironic cause of death for a heartless individual

Fast Food Nation Makes Headlines
By Mickey Z.

If you were to release a movie that directly addressed the standard American diet and animal consumption, every wiseass writer would be poised and ready to get glib and trivialize the message. It's all part of the subtle, daily conditioning we endure. If you don't believe me, check out some of the headlines for Fast Food Nation² reviews

What About Women’s Lib?
By Peter Rost

It is only sad that in 2006 so many men still feel emasculated by a relationship with a smart woman and so many women still feel they have to submit to a man to survive

Avoid Farmers Suicide In Ladakh
By Stanzin Dawa

The Government while advocating in the WTO to protect the due interest of the Indian farmers also need to act locally by reforming its own distorting policies and programmes, so that farmers in Ladakh can also be pride of their own production, their own wisdom, their own economy which is based on organic, cooperation and compassion. This way we can avoid 'Farmers Suicide' in Ladakh

18 November, 2006

Massacre In Ramadi
By Dahr Jamail & Ali al-Fadhily

U.S. military tank fire killed scores of civilians in Ramadi, capital of Al-Anbar province, late Monday night, according to witnesses and doctors. Anger and frustration were evident at the hospitals and during the funerals in the following days

Farmers In Dire Straights
By Dahr Jamail & Ali al-Fadhily

Despite the Iraqi prime minister's optimism for the agricultural sector, the farmers who are struggling to survive tell another story

Killing Hope In Beit Hanoun
By Ramzy Baroud

“God is greater than Israel and America,” was the echoing cry of tens of thousands of Palestinians, who descended into the graveyard in grief stricken Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip. They congregated in yet another familiar scene to bury their loved ones, killed by Israel’s brutal war against the Palestinians

Peace Will Need More Than
David Grossman -- Or Uri Avnery
By Jonathan Cook

But fortunately, whatever Avnery claims, his peace camp is not the only alternative to the sham agonising of Peace Now. Avnery is no more standing at the very edge of the abyss than Grossman. The only abyss Avnery is looking into is the demise of his Jewish state

Banking On Indian Umbilical Cords
By Scott Carney

An Indian blood bank plans to take advantage of the country's booming birth rate by opening a repository for blood taken from umbilical cords

A Prescription For Peace
Teaching Tommy During an Era of Fascism
By Doug Soderstrom

In looking back at that of my own education, I have come to the conclusion that much of what I learned was a matter of propaganda.Then, after having spent forty years as a psychologist teaching at the college level, my sentiments have not changed; we, as teachers, have done a terrible thing. We have chosen to mislead our students. We have led them to believe things that are simply not true

Saving Condi's Life
By Mickey Z.

Let's say I'm on such a corner as a pedestrian pushes past me-too harried to realize that she is stepping directly into the path of an oncoming SUV. I reach out, grab hold of her jacket, and yank her back to safety...only to realize it was none other than Condoleezza Rice. I wonder: How might that make me feel?

Khairlanji : All Nero's Brethren
By Subhash Gatade

Looking at the fact that a militant mass movement has arisen to protest the killings, one can surmise that the legal wranglings in the Kherlanji massacre would not lead us to a blind alley and the perpetrators of the massacre would receive exemplary punishment. But there is no guarantee that it would be the case

17 November, 2006

The Price Of Imperial Arrogance
By Stephen Lendman

Hitler just called for the people to support him and used his anointing to unleash a reign of terror across the continent. It now remains to be seen how much more damage George Bush will do with his power and what the newly elected Democrat congress will do about it that early-on doesn't look like much of anything. Dare we imagine the price to be paid for more of the same ugly business as usual and a president given the power of a dictator to act as he pleases without restraint and a willingness to use it

Democrats Must Offer A New Blueprint For Iraq
By Scott Ritter

It is imperative that the Democratic Party stake out a position on Iraq before the Iraq Study Group publicly announces its findings and recommendations

Impact Of The U.S.-Indian Nuclear Deal On India's
Fissile Production Capacity For Weapons
By Daryl G. Kimball

One of the central issues about the proposal is how the supply of U.S. and other foreign nuclear fuel to safeguarded Indian nuclear power reactors would allow India to use more of its existing domestic supply of uranium to produce fissile material (plutonium and highly enriched uranium) for nuclear weapons

Meat The Press
By Mickey Z.

For at least five years, I've been writing a media column for Veg News magazine. A media column? In a veggie mag? Well, while reading Derrick Jensen's latest book, "Endgame," I came across a passage that effectively explains this curious arrangement

Bolivia: The Indomestizo Victory
By Andres Soliz Rada

In Bolivia MAS (Movement Towards Socialism) is a reality, but it is also a hope that could be frustrated. For that not to occur, it needs to learn from the errors of others, that is to say, it must not abandon a staunch anti-imperialist line, it must be firm in the struggle against corruption and not forget that it is the head of an oppressed nation

Bush Is No Lame Duck For Moscow
By M K Bhadrakumar

The mainstream opinion of Russian analysts, experts and influential public personalities is that downstream of the victory of the Democrats, negative consequences are in store for Russian-US relations. What dramatizes the drift of thoughts is that a triple entendre is in play

Irom Sharmila Chanu's Epic Satyagraha
By Harsh Dobhal

Six years of satyagraha. Sharmila continues her fast, in custody, confined to a room in AIIMS,New Dehli writing poetry, reading books, doing yoga. The struggle against AFSPA continues. In Manipur and in Delhi

Will India-Pak Peace Process Bring
Peace To Indian Muslims?
By Aleem Faizee

Tired of the harassment, trauma and shock, the Muslims in India are now banking on Indo-Pak peace initiatives. But the question that remains to be answered is, will India-Pak peace process bring peace to the Indian Muslims as well?

16 November, 2006

Depleted Uranium, Another Gift From The Imperialists
By Pauline Paulinson

With now over 10 trillion doses of DU in Iraq and Afghanistan, it comes as no surprise that widespread field studies in Afghanistan point to the existence of a large scale public health disaster. UMRC is the first independent research organization to find DU in the bodies of US, UK and Canadian Gulf War I veterans and following ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’, they found DU in the water, soils and atmosphere of Iraq as well as in Iraqi civilians

Stern, Worm And The Special Committee
On Sustainable Aquaculture
By Bill Henderson

Two new reports - one by an economist looking at climate change and the other by fisheries scientists looking at declining biodiversity in the world's oceans - have both captured the world's attention predicting humanity threatening disaster by mid-century without an immediate change of human behavior

Global Warming: Don't Ignore The Risks
By Joseph Stiglitz

We have but one planet, and should treasure it. Global warming is a risk that we simply cannot afford to ignore anymore

To Hell With Centrism: We Must
Reclaim The Inspired Edge
By Phil Rockstroh

Rumsfeld is gone. Mehlman is gone. Delay is gone. Yet -- let's not have our progressives' version of a strutting on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier moment. Because mission has not been accomplished

The Death Sentence ForMohammed Afzal Guru
And The Future Of Barbarism
By Aseem Shrivastava

Even if Afzal’s guilt is established, the Indian state must find the maturity to learn from countries like South Africa – which abolished capital punishment 11 years ago – rather than the US, where so many states, including Texas, send criminals to the gallows every year

Nepal's Break Through Agreement

Full Text Of Agreement Between Communist Party Of Nepal (Maoist ) And SPA Led Government Of Nepal

How The Republicans Could Win It All Back in 2008
By Heather Wokusch

So what would help the Democrats in 2008? Serious investigations into the US electoral system, for one. Victory doesn't mean the voting was free or fair - to think otherwise is both hubris and a trap. The systematic disenfranchisement of African-Americans and Hispanics, the lack of integrity of voting machines and the multiple dirty tricks demand justice between now and 2008

Interview: Tariq Ali
By Talat Ahmed

'The history of the development of Islamic civilisation is one of adaption and intermingling. It is one of both influencing the non-Islamic world and being influenced by it.' Tariq Ali challenges the myth that Islam is incompatible with the West in his four novels about the Muslim world and Europe.

What To Do With The War Criminals Of
The Myanmar’s SPDC Regime
By Habib Siddiqui

A compromise is necessary where they will be promised to be unharmed provided they relinquish their grip of power peacefully to the elected reps of Burma. Without that mechanism in place, I am afraid that the junta will stick to its grip, bringing more calamities to the people

15 November, 2006

In India, The Wages Of Distrust
By Sudha Ramachandran

India's intelligence and security services adhere to an unwritten code not to recruit Muslims on grounds that they can't be trusted. This exclusion mirrors other sectors of professional life, and the country is poorer for it

The Persecution Of Muslims In Australia
By Ghali Hassan

The situation has become so bad for Australian Muslims; it forced the Federal Police Commissioner to intervene and speak out against the persecution and alienating of the Muslim community, and the policing tactic of Muslims racial profiling and victimisation

Lebanon Faces New Crisis After Walkout By Hizbollah
By Robert Fisk

The Shia, the largest community in Lebanon, are no longer represented in the Lebanese government. It could be just part of Lebanon's bloody-minded politics - or it could be a most dangerous moment in the history of this tragic country

Conflict In The Middle East Is Mission Implausible
By Robert Fisk

The UN troops claim they are in Lebanon to protect the Shia. The Shia think they're there to protect Israel from Hizbollah. Is this because the peacekeepers are really a Nato army in disguise?

To the Victors Belongs Impunity
By Jason Miller

Baghdad’s kangaroo court has issued a verdict that virtually guarantees that Saddam Hussein will launch his journey into the hereafter from the platform of a gallows.Yet to ensure public furor against Hussein (and to distract the hoi polloi from focusing upon those guilty of similar crimes), the corporate media have conveniently jettisoned several important aspects of history down the Memory Hole

Lieberman And Israeli Apartheid
By Saree Makdisi

The only thing that distinguishes Avigdor Lieberman from run of the mill politics in Israel is that he is willing to take Israel’s vision of itself to its logical conclusion. Rather than tolerating non-Jews as second or third class citizens, he wants them out altogether

Sir Vidia's Shadow-Boxing
By Farzana Versey

Sir Vidia has done it again. Speaking in Brussels at the Belgian Festival of India, he took on an almost Huntington-like language when he said about a country he has never lived in, that there "could be a very radical kind of revolution — village against city"

Kashmir: A Year After The Quake
By Yoginder Sikand

Forgotten by the media and quickly abandoned by the state their own fate, one year after the deadly quake that struck this part of Kashmir last October the denizens of this region struggle to rebuild their lives

14 November, 2006

Call It What It Is: A Massacre
By Uri Avnery

News from America pushed aside the terrible reports from Beit Hanoun. Instead of making the headlines, they were relegated to the bottom of the page

South Africa seen As Model For Palestine
By Ali Abunimah

Palestinians and Israelis would not simply be able to take the new South Africa as a blueprint. They would have to work out their own distinct constitution, including mechanisms for ethnic communities to have autonomy in matters that concern them, and to guarantee that no one group can dominate another

Here come The Odious Excuses
By Robert Fisk

The philosophers behind the bloodbath in Iraq are now washing their hands

Bechtel Departure Removes More Illusions
By Dahr Jamail & Ali al-Fadhily

The decision of the giant engineering company Bechtel to withdraw from Iraq has left many Iraqis feeling betrayed. In its departure they see the end of remaining hopes for the reconstruction of Iraq

New Faces, Same Agenda
By Stephen Lendman

Pelosi made it clear the Democrat victory will be just another betrayal of the electorate that sent her and the Democrats a strong message it voted for a mandated populist anti-Bush, anti-war agenda it won't get

Direct Democracy Lost In Florida And Colorado
By Joel S. Hirschhorn

With all the hoopla about the big Democratic win, little attention has been given to the assault on direct democracy. Sadly, Florida voters caved in and passed Amendment 3 that requires 60 percent to pass ballot initiatives instead of the present simple majority

The Only Way Out Of Iraq
By Mirza A. Beg

The failure is evident to all who can reason. As predicted our bungling leader has not only landed the sole super power in an un-winnable quagmire in Iraq, but now even Afghanistan is on the skids, spiraling towards chaos

Liar Liar Pants On Fire
By David Truskoff

In 1952 Hanson Baldwin wrote, about the war in Vietnam, "The people of France are becoming more and more Weary of conflict that brings them no return at a cost known to every tax payer" In November 2006 the American taxpayers said the same thing with their vote against the Bush War. There will be many investigations and subpoenas that will now lead to chaos and turmoil in American politics. but In the end greed will prevail. It always does. The liars will see to it

Khairlanji's Dalit Victims Want
Justice With Dignity
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

The fire of Khairlanji in Bhandara district of Maharastra refuse to recede and has now entered in Delhi also

11 November, 2006

Israel Carries Out Deliberate Massacre
By Chris Marsden

Israel’s November 8 massacre of 19 civilians at Beit Hanun in Gaza has sparked angry protests throughout the Palestinian territories and within Israel itself

We Overcame Our Fear
By Jameela al-Shanti

Yesterday at dawn, the Israeli air force bombed and destroyed my home. I was the target, but instead the attack killed my sister-in-law, Nahla, a widow with eight children in her care. In the same raid Israel's artillery shelled a residential district in the town of Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip, leaving 19 dead and 40 injured, many killed in their beds

Treacherous Road To Oslo Begins Here
By Ramzy Baroud

The Hamas goverment in palsetine is facing a siege from within and without, aided by occasional, but determined Israeli onslaughts - the latest in Beit Hanun in northern Gaza that has already killed scores, including peaceful women protestors - is pressuring the government to desperately seek alternatives

A Beacon Of Hope For The Rebirth Of Bolívar's Dream
By Tariq Ali

A shadow of his former self, Ortega's victory is still an expression of the wider demand for change sweeping Latin America

The Return Of Daniel Ortega
By Mark Engler

Despite Ortega's many flaws, the return of the Sandinistas to power creates the possibility of change that can genuinely benefit Nicaragua's poor

Myth Of The Brave Soldier
By Mickey Z.

There are many who identify themselves as "anti-war" who will vigorously defend the troops. Even when faced with documented evidence of criminality, Americans still cannot summon the bravery to condemn the military

Russia And China Create Their Own Orbit
By M K Bhadrakumar

The Sino-Russian alliance is becoming a vital component of the policies of the two great powers, based on substantive strategic, diplomatic and economic considerations. Russian diplomatic and economic policy that has been traditionally anchored in the West is unmistakably turning east

Sri Lankan Military Bombards
Refugee camp, Killing Dozens
By K. Ratnayake

Dozens of displaced civilians were killed yesterday when the Sri Lankan military unleashed an artillery barrage on a refugee camp at Kathiraveli near Vakarai in the eastern Batticaloa district. Among the dead and injured were women, children and elderly

10 November, 2006

Outlaw Empire Meets The Wave
By Tom Engelhardt

The wave -- and make no mistake, it's a global one -- has just crashed on our shores, soaking our imperial masters. It's a sight for sore eyes

A Hint Of Possibility In The Air
By Garrison Keillor

So now we have thrown some rascals out and left some rascals in power and sent some new folks to Washington to learn the art of rascality, and what in the end, after all the hoopla, will really change? Or will the town drunk continue to run the municipal liquor store?

Mid-Term Election Post Mortem
By Mickey Z.

So, the Democrats have a majority in Congress. The bad times are over. The evil ones have been vanquished. Let's go ahead and declare world peace, an end to global warming, and O'Reilly Factor. I mean, what could be better, right?

Anatomy Of The Midterms: Bye-Bye Coke, Hello Pepsi
By Joshua Frank

From the Blue Dog take over of the House to the Democratic saturation of the Senate, Election Day 2006 may have brought change to Washington. Sadly it was only in name, not in policy

As I Lay Dying
By John Chuckman

The greatest horror Bush has inflicted on humanity, the suppurating body of Iraq, is unlikely to be attended by Democrats. They want the White House in two years, and they do not want to be left holding Bush's "tarbaby." Instead, they will scrutinize and highlight every twist and turn of Bush's bumbling, murderous efforts as he struggles to leave Iraq. American politics are just that brutal. No wonder there are so many wars

Saddam’s Trial In Context: Episode Of Victors’ Injustice
By Nicola Nasser

American and European official and public opinion reactions to Saddam Hussein’s guilty verdict on Sunday artificially removed both the trial and the death sentence out of context and focused instead on “flaws” in the legal technicalities of a fair trial and on death penalty as a punishment

N.G.Uke: Remembering A True Humanist
By V.B. Rawat & N.G.Uke

N.G.Uke, a great Ambedkarite, a friend and guide died on November 4th, 2006 at his Vasant Kunj residence at the age of 82. Uke Saheb, as I would fondly call him was among the rare breed of Ambedkarite who saw Baba Saheb and was selected by him as a scholar though he had already got the same

09 November, 2006

The Real Election Winners And Losers
By Joel S. Hirschhorn

Americans who thought their votes would bring much needed change to our political system also lost. They just don’t know or admit it yet. As usual, the third-party movement lost, because the two-party duopoly maintained its stranglehold on our political system. Populists and true progressives lost. Who or what was the biggest winner? The short-term and delusional tactic of lesser-evil voting won big

America Votes And The Spin Masters Wobble
By Michael J W Stickings

The realities on the ground in Iraq and in other global hotspots like Iran and North Korea aside, the American political landscape over the next two years is likely to be dominated by a battle for control of the dominant political narrative in preparation for the presidential election in 2008. Even the races within both parties for the 2008 nomination will be battles for narrative control

Angry Voters Punish Bush
By Tim Harper

Angry American voters have handed control of the U.S. House of Representatives back to the Democrats for the first time in 12 years, punishing President George W. Bush and his Republicans over ethics scandals in Washington and a failing war in Iraq

Why Americans Should Organize To Stop The War
By Luciana Bohne

Reading Mike Ferner's book, "Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran for Peace Reports from Iraq" (Praeger, 2006), makes one realize how vital it is for Americans to organize a stop-the-war/troops-out-now movement, made more urgent by the fact that both ruling parties, Democrat and Republican, offer Americans only one choice: support the war

Would Tom Paine End Up
In An orange Jumpsuit Today?
By Mickey Z.

The coast-to-coast mall known as America just loves to sing the praises of its revolutionary heroes-the land-owning white slaveholders affectionately called "Founding Fathers." But America, the land of denial, would rather ignore the revolutionary roots and spirit behind its birth. In other words, if pamphleteer Tom Paine were around today, well, he might not be around today. Can you say "enemy combatant"?

Protecting Neither Facilities Nor People
By Dahr Jamail & Ali al-Fadhily

The Facilities Protection Service (FPS) created after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 has become the principal set of death squads in Iraq

A Trial Giving Kangaroos A Bad Name
By Stephen Lendman

This proceeding should only have taken place in the sole independent venue constituted for this purpose - the International Criminal Court. Saddam wasn't sent there because allowing him a legitimate trial might have exposed the culpability of US administrations and the West in his crimes and would also have denied the Bush administration the ability to have the show trial it wanted and not a fair one according to international laws and norms

The Bigger Thugs To Hang The Smaller Thug
By Javed I. Chaudry

Why Saddam Hussain trial was not taken to the Hague? The answer to the question is self evident. The proceedings of an international court could mean the exposure of the involvement of well known, powerful international forces. The complicity of these forces would no doubt bring Washington to the fore front

War on Iran: Unleashing Armageddon
In The Middle East
By Dr. Elias Akleh

The war against Iran will engulf the whole Middle East and may overflow to its neighboring countries. Controlling Iran is a very important strategic move to assure American global hegemony. This war is scheduled to start between February and April of 2007, and it seems that there is nothing to stop it

Ghettoes Reserved For Muslims?
By Farzana Versey

The mainstream in contemporary India is not a stagnant pool of historical rights and wrongs. Therefore, no one community can define it or circumscribe it for others. It is time for everyone to get out of the ghettoes of their minds

08 November, 2006

Saddam Verdict Could Tear Iraqis Apart
By Dahr Jamail & Ali al-Fadhily

The death sentence for former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein could deepen a divide that threatens to tear Iraqis apart.Iraq is being ripped apart by sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias, and many fear that if Saddam Hussein is executed Iraq could slide into civil war

Saddam's Unindicted Co-Conspirator:
Donald Rumsfeld
By Norman Solomon

Saddam Hussein has received a death sentence for crimes he committed more than a year before Donald Rumsfeld shook his hand in Baghdad. Let's reach back into history and extract these facts

Victor's Justice: The Trial Of Saddam
By Paul Wolf

The Iraqi high tribunal has just announced the death sentence of Saddam Hussein. This should surprise no one. In fact, no other outcome was ever possible. From the moment he was captured in his underground hideout, Saddam's fate was sealed

Saddam Hussein Verdict: US Politicians,
Media Applaud The Gallows And The Noose
By David Walsh

It is, in its own way, entirely fitting that a show trial followed by a hanging should be hailed by the US media and both major parties as symbols of Washington’s “democratic” mission in Iraq

European Inaction And Complicity As Gaza Burns
By Ali Abunimah

I wholeheartedly agree with that part of your statement which says, "Violence will only aggravate an already grave situation in the region." But violence will not be ended by empty condemnation of the victims and craven appeasement of the occupier. It will end when governments like yours take action to make Israel, as the occupying colonial power, accountable

The Conflict Cannot Wait
By Roni Ben Efrat

As long as America is paralyzed, very little can change here. In Lebanon, to be sure, the recent war damaged Hezbollah's autonomy. But on the major question, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we can only see years of deep freeze ahead

Pummeling The Victim
By Rima Merriman

The terrible imbalance of power between the Israelis and Palestinians makes it impossible for Israel, regardless of which government is in power, to deal with the Palestinians in any way except through a lens of assumed moral, cultural, and racial superiority, as though military prowess equates with civilization and home-made rockets equate with savagery and a sub-human status

Dollar Poised For A Dip
By Axel Merk

When we say the dollar may weaken after the election, we know as little as anyone what will happen to the dollar in the days that follow the election. But we believe that the focus will shift to what is ahead. Given that timing currency moves is extremely difficult, investors may want to consider taking a long-term approach by broadly diversifying into a basket of hard currencies, that is, those currencies backed by sound monetary policy

Give Us The Word
By Sheila Samples

We must not allow our glorious Flag to become our funeral shroud by cynically refusing to vote. We must not give the jackals in the White House carte blanche to establish martial "order" or to destroy our freedoms

What Value Carbon Offsets?
By John James

Even if we stop emitting now many forests will quite soon begin to emit more CO2 than they absorb. We have to go beyond the comforts of Kyoto to full governmental regulation that will penalise poluters (including car owners and airlines) and reward low impact technology

Political Sabotage In Telangana:
Some Unanswered Questions
By Dr.K.Vidyasagar

The two invisible entities, bogus bureaucrats and political parasites seem to be responsible for manipulating the Telangana politicians and elected representatives for the past 50 years! This is the crux of the whole problem that delayed the process of state formation. Thus, it is time we realise how this problem is to be solved at once, if at all democratic demand of state formation is to be achieved in the days to come

07 November, 2006

Saddam's Death Sentence: A Note From Baghdad
By Riverbend

It’s not about the man- presidents come and go, governments come and go. It’s the frustration of feeling like the whole country and every single Iraqi inside and outside of Iraq is at the mercy of American politics. It is the rage of feeling like a mere chess piece to be moved back and forth at will

This Was A Guilty Verdict On America As Well
By Robert Fisk

If Saddam's immorality and wickedness are to be the yardstick against which all our iniquities are judged, what does that say about us? We only sexually abused prisoners and killed a few of them and murdered some suspects and carried out a few rapes and illegally invaded a country which cost Iraq a mere 600,000 lives. We can't be put on trial. We can't be hanged

Saddam Hussein’s Death Sentence:
A Travesty Of Justice
By James Cogan

The entire process has been a shameless show trial. The Iraq Special Tribunal was established by an edict issued by US proconsul Paul Bremmer in 2003. Its judges and prosecutors were selected by American officials and instructed by American advisors

Karl Rove's Last-Minute "Robocalling" Tactic
To Steal The Election
By Bernard Weiner

On an automatic-redial system, registered Democrats are called again and again and again and again, at any time during the day or night, to hear what appears to be a message from the Democratic Party in support of the local Democratic Senate or House candidate. The object is to harass and annoy the hell out of these voters, to the point that they'll take out their anger on the Democratic candidate by not voting for him or her, or maybe deciding not to vote in the election at all

Eve On Election: Women’s Electoral Wisdom
By Lucinda Marshall

Before you go out and celebrate Tuesday night/sink into the depths of depression depending on how this goes down, sit yourself down and watch these films that document the work of these two courageous women. Until we understand the extent to which our democracy has been stolen, we will not be able to reclaim it

All You Need Is Love
(...and a small, well-trained army)
By Mickey Z.

Warning: This article has not been approved by the Department of Homeland Security. Read at your own risk

Agitprop Capital Of The World (The USA)
Exports Its Poison To Venezuela
By Stephen Lendman

With the December election less than a month away, events are building toward a climax when Washington-orchestrated fireworks are sure to erupt. Expect them to be even uglier than the tactics used in the previous three failed attempts to oust Hugo Chavez

Unleashing the Christ Within:Last Hope
For The Moribund Soul Of A Nation?
By Jason Miller

In a collective sense, the soul of the United States is writhing in the agony of spiritual asphyxiation. Trapped in an overflowing cesspool of its own making, the nation’s élan vital desperately needs freedom and an infusion of spiritual oxygen. Sans significant change, its odds for survival equal those of an under-sized fish carelessly tossed ashore by a heartless angler

For The Religious Right And All Christians
By Doug Waterman

What is disturbing about the religious right is not their certainty about their faith or the word of God, that I would say is their asset, but what is very disturbing is the certainty with their interpretation as to how that connects to this world, this life and government, that is, their ideology. Faith in an infallible word of God is one thing but to transfer that faith in the Word or faith in God to one's political ideology can be deceptive and disastrous

Seeing Globalization From The Other Side
By Bob Wise

Here was the industry we would have seen in the northeast and around the great lakes half a century ago. It has migrated to the other side of the planet, while the US builds little more than houses and weapons

Malegaon Bomb Blast Trail: Whatever
Happened To The 'Fake Beard?'
By Subhash Gatade

Can it be now said that the truth is finally out as far as Malegaon bomb blast is concerned ? And the real perpetrators of the gory carnage have been apprehended ? Or there are still loose ends which are to be met

RSS Run Schools: Indoctrinating In Sectarianism
By Ram Puniyani

RSS run schools are coming under a scanner, with MHRD minister contemplating action against them (Oct 2006). In last three decades thousands of schools of different variety have mushroomed, Ekal Vidyalaya, Sarswati Shishu Mandirs, and Vidya Bharati, run by RSS combine

06 November, 2006

Saddam Hussein Sentenced To Hang
By Aljazeera

Saddam Hussein, the former president of Iraq, has been sentenced to death by a Baghdad court after being found guilty of crimes against humanity

Amnesty International Deplores Death Sentences
In Saddam Hussein Trial
By Amnesty International

Amnesty International deplores the decision of the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal (SICT) to impose the death sentence on Saddam Hussein and two of his seven co-accused after a trial which was deeply flawed and unfair

Apocalypse No! Part II
Christian Fascism And The Nazi Legacy
By Juan Santos

If Life on Earth is to survive, if we and millions of other species are to survive, human society will have to undergo the deepest of transformations on a global scale. Stopping Christian Fascism will only be the beginning

Lieberman On Lieberman
By David Truskoff

It is ironic that the elections in Israel and the elections in the US will involve two similar political characters named Lieberman. Joe Lieberman and his namesake are similar in that they are both blind faith right wing Zionists

Blood And money
By John Pilger

If I have learned nothing else from witnessing numerous bloody contrivances, it is never to underestimate the stamina of rampant, rapacious empire and the dishonesty of its "humanitarian interventions". Millions of us, who are the majority, need to raise our voices again, more urgently now than ever

The Case For Engagement
By Scott Ritter

The Iran that I witnessed was far removed from the one caricatured in the US media. I left with the frustrating realization that, as had been the case with Iraq, America was stumbling toward a conflict, blinded by the prejudice and fear born of our collective ignorance

NATO Fighting The Wrong Battle In Afghanistan
By M K Bhadrakumar

The pre-dawn attack on the Zia-ul-Uloom madrassa in Pakistan's Bajour tribal region on Monday killing 80 people, mostly students, is bound to impact on the course of the Afghan war. No matter the repeated assertions by Islamabad to the contrary, widespread suspicions of US involvement in the attack have arisen

It’s The Culture, Stupid! Burying Slogans
And Honoring The Dead
By Gary Corseri

Inspired by this “funny season” of electioneering, here are some hard truths from a self-confessed cynic that most inculcated Americans will not like to hear

Pombo Must Go
By Robert Becker

A poem

Malegaon's Date with Terror: 9/8
By Mubasshir Ahmed

It took 40 innocent lives to highlight the sheer governmental apathy and the neglect which has persisted for decades in Malegaon. The bomb blasts have exposed the vulnerable underbelly of 'two Indias' — The India of Mumbai and the India of Malegaon

My Tryst With Right To Information Act
By Amrita Johri

The RTI has become an effective tool for our participation and empowerment in India and the proposed amendments to the RTI Act need to be strongly opposed by all sections of society, especially the youth to protect this lone tool in the fight for transparency and accountability in the way our Government works!

05 November, 2006

All Wild Seafood Will Disappear In 50 Years
By Steve Connor

All wild seafood will have disappeared from the world's menus within 50 years if current trends in overfishing continue according to one of the most comprehensive studies of marine life

Palestine As A Foil For People’s Unconnected Dreams
By Ramzy Baroud

Thousands of people recently marched in London to commemorate Quds Day, an annual day of solidarity with the Palestinian people that emanated from Tehran some 26 years ago.However, the scene in London was too surreal, and brought into question the usefulness of such displays of solidarity with the Palestinians

U.S. Corporate Mafia Fighting Chinese
Efforts To Help Workers
By Joel S. Hirschhorn

Greedy and powerful American companies not content with using economic inequality to devastate working- and middle-class Americans are now using their clout to fight efforts in China to combat economic inequality there. They want to keep wages low there so they can drive wages down here and everywhere else

Botched Or Not, The Joke's On Us
By Mickey Z.

Every now and then, a series of events (and the reaction to those events) converge to effectively illustrate just how deeply the indoctrination runs in the home of the brave/land of the free. Senator John F. Kerry was the catalyst for the most recent such convergence. His "botched joke" laid bare the passionate cult of the soldier, America's enduring military fetish

It’s 2004 All Over Again...
By Joshua Frank

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has promised there will not be a change of course in Iraq if the Democrats take back Congress. Potential House leader Nancy Pelosi has assured voters that impeachment is not in the cards for Bush, either. Yet the liberal establishment is beaconing antiwar voters to clamor for the Democratic Party next Tuesday. It seems like 2004 all over again

Jesus And George Break Bread
By Ed Howes

A fantasy

Ohio Governor Race -Fox Guarding Henhouse
By Evelyn Pringle

Ken Blackwell is ready to cash in on the Republican promise of putting him in the Governor's mansion in 2006 after he proved that he was indispensable in the successful plot to rig the 2004 Presidential election in Ohio for George W Bush

Positively Neglected
By Preetu Nair

Women in commercial sex work are seen as agents of HIV and their clients unwitting victims. But in the absence of any economic rehabilitation or community based services, the HIV positive trafficked victim, the marginalized section of the society, continues to be commercially sexually exploited

03 November, 2006

U.S. Military Adopts Desperate Tactics
By Dahr Jamail & Ali al-Fadhily

Increased violence is being countered by harsh new measures across the Sunni-dominated al-Anabar province west of Baghdad

Iraq: The Program Of Liberation And Independence
By Ibrahim Ebeid

To arrive to an honorable solution for an exit from Iraq, as stated by the Program, the United States must accept serious, honest and constructive negotiations with the Resistance leadership or with any one representing the Resistance based on the rights and the non-negotiable principles of the homeland and liberation, in order to reach an agreement of the total liberation and independence

Relations Between US And Iraq
Government At Breaking Point
By James Cogan & Peter Symonds

Tensions between the US and Iraqi governments further intensified this week. In an unprecedented action, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a press release on Tuesday afternoon stating that he had “ordered” the US military to end the cordon it had maintained around Sadr City for close to seven days

Lieberman And The Decline Of Israeli Democracy
By Uri Avnery

Perhaps Liberman will also turn out to be a scarecrow. But I would not bet on it, if the Israeli public does not wake up in time

Israeli Left-Right Divide Unmasked As Phony
By Nicola Nasser

Avigdor Lieberman’s ascent to a strategic executive role in Israel has unmasked the artificial divide between left and right and revealed the mainstream ruling elite as still in consensus on the Zionist goals

America The Temporary
By Mickey Z.

America the Beautiful. The Declaration of Independence. The Statue of Liberty. Baseball, apple pie, and internal combustion engines built by Chevrolet. All of these are nothing more than the castles made of sand Jimi Hendrix sang about

The Great White Hunters Bwana Dick And Don
By Rana Bose

Do Bwana Dick and Bwana Don really think that the people of the world outside the United States are really scurrying around without any heads above their shoulders, waiting for justice to arrive from the Bible belt via the Great White Hunter?

Dick Cheney Fitted For New Halliburton
Uniform - Striped Jumpsuit
By Evelyn Pringle

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting a formal investigation into whether Halliburton made improper payments to government officials in Nigeria in connection with the construction and expansion by TSKJ of a natural gas liquefaction complex and facilities at Bonny Island in Rivers State, Nigeria

Innovation, Experimentation Marks Azad's Year
By Zafar Choudhary

The lasting peace though still continues to be elusive for this restive state, one year of Ghulam Nabi Azad as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister saw a vital focus on 'administrative discipline and infrastructure development' as innovation and experimentation marked the central theme of his action plan

Lessons from History, Tranquil Ripples
To Convulsive Tides
By Mirza A. Beg

A Poem

02 November, 2006

NATO Behind The Attack On Madrasa?
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

Although Pakistani officials claim that Monday's operation was conducted by the Pakistani military, there are compelling evidence that foreign forces were also involved, including US unmanned Hellfire Predator aircraft

Missile Strike On Pakistani Islamic School
Slaughters 80
By Peter Symonds

Musharraf and the Pakistani military have gone to great lengths to deny claims that US forces carried out the attack. Locals told the media that unmanned US Predator drones, which are capable of firing missiles, were flying above the village before the attack

Midterm Elections 2006:It's Always Darkest,
Right Before ...It Goes Completely Black
By Phil Rockstroh

I believe, at this late hour, the second best thing that could come to pass in our crumbling republic is for the total destruction of the Democratic Party -- and then from its ashes to rise a party of true progressives

Apocalypse No!
An Indigenist Perspective -Part I
By Juan Santos

Science has given us until roughly 2012 to take radical action to change the course we’re on. In the next six years, they tell us, we will determine the fate of the Earth.With the US and its white colonial puppet Israel on a nuclear collision course with Iran and Syria, we may have less time than that

Drastic Action On Climate Change Is
Needed Now - And Here's The Plan
By George Monbiot

So how do we do it without bringing civilisation crashing down? Here is a plan for drastic but affordable action that the government could take

Threats To Hugo Chavez As Venezuela's
December Presidential Election Approaches
By Stephen Lendman

Things are certain to heat up in Venezuela between now and December 3 as the Bush administration tries to impose on the Venezuelan people what's it's already done here at home, and it will be relentless and ruthless about the way it does it. And if covert efforts are afoot, as almost for sure they are, we'll likely see them unveiled during the election period and they may be ugly

Baghdad Is Under Siege
By Patrick Cockburn

Sunni insurgents have cut the roads linking the city to the rest of Iraq. The country is being partitioned as militiamen fight bloody battles for control of towns and villages north and south of the capital

Dubya Writes To God
By Ra Ravishankar

A satire on George Bush

Poverty And Its Impact On Children – A Wake Up Call
By Loveleen

Though, one part of India is shining while India still has large population which is below the poverty line. India still faces a major challenge of livelihood and food security. These issues have huge impact on malnourished children which affects their learning abilities and development especially the ones under three years of age

01 November, 2006

The Day That Changed The Climate
By Colin Brown & Rupert Cornwell

Future generations may come to regard the apocalyptic report by Sir Nicholas Stern, a former chief economist at the World Bank, as the turning point in combating global warming, or as the missed opportunity

So What Does The Stern Report
Mean For The world?
By Michael McCarthy

We've heard a thousand calls to action, to stop global warming happening. But what would that cost the world? And what would doing nothing cost us? Hitherto, no one had any real idea. But now Sir Nicholas Stern and his team have come up with concrete numbers

Terrorism: Facts Versus Myths
By Ram Puniyani

When I look
At the purple blue sky
At night,
I want to see stars,
Not bombers, circling the moonilight

The Forgiven: Clint Eastwood's Good War
By Mickey Z.

In the midst of our current, perpetual war against evil, America is yet again reflecting upon the "good war." If Clint Eastwood is allowed to recycle those images in ³Flags of Our Fathers,² as the author of an alternative history of WWII, why shouldn't I state my case yet again?

Iraq Is Burning? Enjoy The show!
By Gabriele Zamparini

Numbers and winners of the so-called Iraq war

Sri Lankan Peace Talks Collapse Amid
Intensifying Civil War
By K. Ratnayake

Talks between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Geneva last weekend broke up without agreement on any issue, including the convening of another round. The collapse of talks will inevitably lead to a further expansion of a war that has already cost thousands of lives this year

European Islamophobia
By Lee Sustar

European politicians from London to Moscow are bashing Islam and immigrants, legitimizing politics previously limited to the anti-immigrant extreme right

Unmasking The Second Palestinian Intifada
By Remi Kanazi

A principal impediment facing the Palestinian struggle today is the constant reaffirmation that the Palestinian people—deemed by Israel and the US—are “terrorists,” “militants,” or animalistic beings lesser than those of the “civilized world.” In Ramzy Baroud’s new book, The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of People’s Struggle, this myth is shattered

For An Independent Foreign Policy
By M.K.Bhadrakumar

Ninan Koshy's book comes in the best traditions of the moribund Great Indian Debate on foreign policy issues. It is refreshing to see Koshy audaciously barging into the cosy little circle of one-dimensional men in Delhi who form the foreign affairs experts' team within our strategic community

Leave A Comment
&
Share Your Insights

Get CC HeadlinesOn your Desk Top

Join
Discussion Forum

Search Our Archive