Very quietly, without fanfare, in a story that went by almost unnoticed, the U.S. State Department website posted a report this week on the Rohingya massacres and atrocities. Based on…
There is an image engraved in our minds of a stoic, reserved, elegant Aung San Suu Kyi unbending in her struggle against Burma's generals for democracy, and we assumed for…
Hurricane Florence downgraded to Category 1 but still huge in moisture content will continue to pour rain on Georgia and the Carolinas over the weekend. At the same time,…
The sensation this week is Bob Woodward's book on the Trump White House titled, "Fear: Trump in the White House." It shows a President Trump universally disparaging his own White…
Behavior acculturated to ancestral norms, originally necessitated by occupation, is the focus of a new study in China with interesting ramifications for climate change. In general, farming requires more stable…
The phenomenon of a random pattern of winds coalescing into a hurricane may not be caused by global warming, but warmer ocean temperatures powering it up is entirely possible. Hawaii…
Within a week we have suffered floods in France, Toronto, and now a record-breaking monsoon season in Kerala, India which has flooded or endangered 12 of its 14 regional areas. …
To be rational is to know that weather events cannot be causally related to climate change, although exacerbation is another issue. Yet when the news is full of record setting…
In a few weeks time, school will resume in many countries, and quite a few parents now worry about the dangers of vaccination. Are they real or false? What are…
Pakistan has a new prime minister. A remarkable man: a remarkable history-making career in cricket leading to numerous awards and records; a remarkable politician, mocked when he started, who after…
To say that US foreign policy is delusional is not an exaggeration. It seeks political hegemony and a relationship with China and Russia akin to what it has had with…
The US celebrated the glorious Fourth, the nation's independence day and the myths going along with it. As with most wars, the elite prospered, the poor shed blood, and most…
After several tit-for-tats with Russia in 2001, relations were at a low ebb like during the cold war. That was when a Russian initiative led to a meeting between the…
There is something charming about a first lady making media bloopers; however, one cannot say the same for those born very rich who are often obtuse to the sufferings of…
The prominent journalist and editor, Shujaat Bukhari was leaving work when he and his two bodyguards were shot and killed. Suffice to say newspapers are the lifeblood of democracy and…
As birds become fewer, wildflowers vanish, butterflies disappear, and animals in the wild are threatened, extinction and a grim future haunts. How often does Rumi write about birdsong ... there…
Is there a celebrity brotherhood? Kim Kardashian, the reality TV star, turned celebrity, visits the White House and promptly there is clemency for a grandmother serving a life sentence…
A sad and distressing anniversary slipped by this week almost unnoticed -- the centenary of the first use of a premier killing machine. On May 31, 1918, the Renault FT…
A week ago on May 18, 10 students were killed and 13 wounded at Santa Fe High school just south of Houston, within its metropolitan area. The shooter was a…
International treaties and agreements are between countries -- not between leaders or governments, for if that were the case they would not be worth the paper they were written on. …
When Corinth and Megara, both allies of Sparta went to war, Athens sensed opportunity and soon formed an alliance with Megara. It precipitated the First Peloponnesian War (c 459…
It has been noted, principally by the Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner, that people who display empathy and fairness towards others often reach the top; once there however, they lose…
This piece is unusual in that it is either going to end up as a fiasco or a scoop. If the latter, then, as they say ... remember you…
Animals can be beautiful; they can be sleek, graceful, powerful, or just plain adorable, even cuddly. A field of wild flowers chanced upon can take your breath away. Wordsworth so…
When hate invades the human mind, there is no limit to brutal atrocity. On April 10, a Guardian story showed a video in which there is cheering as an Israeli…
Man's inhumanity to man reached new levels of odium. The generally trigger-happy Israeli army fired at unarmed demonstrators on the other side of the fence cordoning Gazans into a prison. …
Kim Jong Un and his sister conclude their visit to China continuing a relationship once described by Chairman Mao as closer than 'lips and teeth'. Whatever conclusions political gurus might…
March 20 went by nearly unnoticed. It was the 15th anniversary of the Iraq war. Exactly one week earlier seven marines lost their lives in western Iraq in what was…
A politician on center stage calls Mexican immigrants rapists and killers for those people send their bad guys here; says Syrian refugees are snakes and they and other Muslims could…
Another departure from the White House, but then it is almost a weekly affair now. This time it is Gary Cohn his chief economic adviser. A former president of Goldman…
Why does a President Trump lay himself open to mockery? Simply because his behavior is not only unlike a dignified president but his policy tweets are quite outrageous. From 'my…
That there is a change in the air is evident this time. Since the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida on February 14, there have been demonstrations by school kids,…
The scene is the House of Commons; the date May 7, 1940. A simple motion to adjourn for the ten-day Whitsun recess is of little concern to Prime Minister Neville…
It is the optimism of the young that is infectious, drowning out the cynicism of the old: the smiling faces, their enthusiasm, their energy, their sheer delight in being…
If a headline for the State Of the Union (SOTU) address was expected to be: "A Truculent Trump Traduces Democrats", it now could be "Trump Triumphs -- Credits American People…
A few days ago Oxfam reported on wealth inequality: The richest one percent wrapped their hands around 82 percent of the wealth created last year. Worse the 3.7 billion people…
The presidential tweet scorning climate change, namely "We could do with some of that climate change here," after severe blizzards hit the U.S. east coast, could not have been more…
War, namely, the use of actual force hovers in the background, while warfare, which is really all other means in relations between states, remains the Trumpian leitmotif. Contumely for…
Schoolyard name calling by an American president might be unusual, it might be undiplomatic, it might even be childish, yet it had the world riveted -- if only for…
What has stood out this year as 2017 draws to a close, is the "globalization of indifference," a term coined by Pope Francis. An indifference first of all to…
Delegates to the UN are generally referred to as diplomats. But, in the wake of the vote condemning the U.S. decision on Jerusalem, one has to wonder. The permanently…
We live in a world of denial: The Burmese deny the Rohingya; they call them Bengali even though they have lived in Burma for centuries -- some say as…
Is climate change aiding the demise of the Koala bear? The koala is an engaging, docile, cuddly and lovable animal. It is also, tragically, undergoing a rapid decline in…
The Jerusalem story is the centerpiece of news this week. Donald Trump and Mike Pence, an evangelical, in favor of moving the embassy and Rex Tillerson and John Mattis…
Pyongyang tested another intercontinental ballistic missile on Wednesday. Fired nearly vertically, it reached an altitude of 4500 km (2800 miles). That means it could travel 13,000 km (8150 miles)…
If there was a striking theme in the Trump Asian trip, it was a clearly less muscular policy towards China. U.S. naval patrols to reinforce freedom of navigation rights…
The UN has announced record average levels of CO2. So states the annual flagship report released October 30 by its World Meteorological Organization. The average levels measured using ships, aircraft…
It is a year since Donald J. Trump's election as president on November 8, 2016, and a couple of months less since his inauguration. In that time the bombast has…
Four US soldiers died in Niger on October 4, and the president’s insensitive phone call to the widow of one has brought the subject of the military in every corner…
Tales of exaggeration and outright lies by this president are not new. In 1974, the New York Times did a profile on the young Trump. He claimed he was…
It has been a week of repeated insults to U.S. adventurism and Donald Trump's ill-defined Middle East policy. In Iraq, thanks to Iranian backing and astute negotiation, Kirkuk province…
A uniquely wayward president, Donald Trump, has managed to isolate the United States equally uniquely, and contrary to the stated position of his Secretaries of State and Defense and…
If there is a mass shooting and anyone is asked where, the answer is likely to be the United States. The reason of course is the easy availability of…
The UN Security Council held its first meeting on Rohingya in nine years last Thursday (September 28, 2017). The language was harshly critical of Myanmar. Secretary General Antonio Guterres…
To say Donald Trump's UN speech last week was an embarrassment for his country is to understate the case; to say it made the U.S. a laughing stock is…
When the German transatlantic liner the St. Louis set off with 900 German Jews seeking refuge, it was 1939 and they were trying to escape what became one of the most despicable events in European history.…
REASON #1: Consider the category 4 and 5 hurricanes that have developed in one season -- the intensity attributed to climate change. The latest, hurricane Maria devastated Dominica lost some…
Gauri Lankesh was shot to death on September 5, 2017. A consistent critic of Hindutva politics and right-wing Hindu extremism, the journalist-activist edited Gauri Lankesh Patrike her own weekly. …
For those living in the northern climes of our great country, the season is just beginning to change. Summer has lost its worst heat. The air smells and tastes…
So frequently is the word 'freedom' employed in the political vernacular, it has come to mean whatever the listener desires. For Mr. Trump, it is one word in the…
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