31 December, 2011
The Threat Of War Against Iran And Syria Is Real
By Shamus Cooke
For those who think that the United States wouldn't possibly instigate another war in the Middle East, think again. Empowered by his "success" in the bombing of Libya and consequent assassination of Muammar Qaddafi, Obama is now seeking to use the exact same strategy against Syria, while using alarming military threats against Iran
Arab League Mission To Syria Becomes
Focus Of Demands For Military Intervention
By Chris Marsden
The visit by Arab League observers to Homs, Hama, Idlib, Deraa , the Damascus suburb of Douma and other conflict zones has become the focus of concerted demands for the Western powers to intervene militarily into the ongoing civil war in Syria
Understanding The Occupy Movement
By Kim Scipes
Some reflections, thoughts and suggestions
How The People Got Their Groove Back:
What A Bunch Of Farmers Can Teach
A Bunch of Occupiers About How To Keep On Going
By Ashley Sanders
What do a bunch of century-dead farmers have to do with the Occupy movement? Well, quite a lot, actually
The Lion And The Ox:
The Winter Of Our Discontent
By Gary Steven Corseri
In this winter of our discontent, the war clouds gather and austerity miseries grind the souls of those who have no homes, or broken homes. We're in a poisoned mine shaft and the canaries are singing. … Can we interpret their varied notes in time?
Unsustainable Israeli Politics Of
Exclusion In Jerusalem
By Nicola Nasser
While the history of the world is moving decisively toward a culture of inclusion, diversity and pluralism, Israeli politics seems to challenge history by moving in the opposite direction of exclusion and unilateral self - righteous monopoly of geography, demography, history, archeology and culture, especially in Jerusalem
Year Of Government’s Contempt Towards
Parliament, CAG, Environment And Health
By Toxic Watch Alliance
Journey from Paid News to Paid Legislation Underway. Nuclear Liability Rules, UID Bill, Home Ministry’s Guidelines for NPR, Companies Bill, LARR Bill, NFS Bill, BRAI Bill, MMDR Bill etc reveal it
Dire Need For Doctors As POSCO Stir Intensifies
By Newzfirst
POSCO protesters are in dire need of medical help
Caste And Politics In Regard To Anna Hazare
By Gail Omvedt
Hazare is perhaps the major figure on the Indian political scene to have as his base such a traditionally run village. It is the internal secret of its politics – and it rests on the maintenance of the caste hierarchy. It is thus not accidental that Dalits (and many OBCs) are firmly opposed to the Lokpal
Global Capital, Compliant Nation-States
And Totalitarian Communities : Three Formidable
Barriers To The Advance of Democracy
By Ravi Sinha
Key Note Address to the Allahabad Convention of Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy on Global Hegemonism and Challenges to Democratic Rights
30 December, 2010
US Menaces Iran Over Strait Of Hormuz
By Peter Symonds
The Obama administration has issued what amounts to a threat of war against Iran following comments by senior Iranian officials that Tehran would close the Strait of Hormuz in response to an embargo on its oil exports. To reinforce the point, the US navy sent two of its warships—the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis and the guided-missile destroyer USS Mobile Bay—on a “routine transit” through the strategic waterway where the Iranian navy is currently holding exercises
Who Is Pure And Impure In India?
By Dr.Shura Darapuri
In India, we are proud to have a woman as our President, lady Chief Ministers and quite a few women ministers, they might not have left any stone unturned in ruling the country or the state with utmost efficiency and dexterity. Yet in their own country that too in the 21st century they should not at all be surprised if they are labelled as ‘impure’ and denied entry into the temple called "Sabarimala" which houses a bachelor God called Ayyappa
Murder Of Dr Shah Highlights The Insurgency
In Pakistan’s Restive Balochistan Province
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
In an apparent attempt to erase key forensic evidence in the Kharotabad, killing of five unarmed foreigners by Army led para-military force, Dr Baqir Shah was gunned down Thursday in Quetta, the capital of the strife-torn Balochistan province where a nationalist insurgency is underway
Israel Killed 180 Palestinians,
Including 21 Children, in 2011
By Middle East Monitor
The State of Israel killed 180 Palestinians in 2011, including 21 children. These shocking figures were given in a report issued by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation entitled, "A People under Occupation". The year also saw 3,300 Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem detained by the Israeli occupation authorities
A Nightmare That Lasted Three Weeks;
Memories Of Gaza Massacre
By Rafat Abushaban
Until today, a number of families that were left homeless by the massacre have not yet managed to find permanent housing. The infrastructure is still damaged and the reconstruction process is moving inefficiently and very slowly due to the banning of construction materials. In the meantime, the Israeli siege remains in place
"Muslim Societies: Rise And Fall"
Book Review By Saiyid Hamid
In a little over 200 pages, the author has condensed the highlights of Islam ever since its beginnings. One can imagine admiringly the vast canvas that has been covered and the exacting selection to which the copious material has been subjected. What impresses the reader even more, although very expectedly, is the scrupulously scientific approach
29 December, 2010
Israel Threatens Another Gaza Invasion
By Mark Weiss
Israeli officials are stepping up their rhetoric, warning that another invasion of Gaza is just a matter of time
Call For US Intervention Into Iraqi Crisis
By James Cogan
It cannot be ruled out that if the Shiite factions do not accept Sunni demands, which now include calls for new elections and Maliki’s removal as prime minister, the political crisis and rising sectarian violence could be used as the pretext for direct American military intervention. Tens of thousands of American troops are still stationed in Kuwait and other Gulf states
Confessions Of A Recovering Environmentalist
By Paul Kingsnorth
I withdraw from the campaigning and the marching, I withdraw from the arguing and the talked-up necessity and all of the false assumptions. I withdraw from the words. I am leaving. I am going to go out walking
The Future Needs An Attitude Adjustment
By Tom Murphy
The adult in me wants less whining, fewer temper tantrums, realistic expectations, a willingness to sacrifice where needed, the maturity to talk of the possibility of collapse and the need to step off the growth train, and adoption of a selfless attitude that we owe future generations a livable world where we can live rich and fulfilling lives with another click of the ratchet. Otherwise we deserve a spanking —sorry — attitude adjustment. And nature is happy to oblige
Rio+20 Needs To Address The Downsides of Growth
By Herman Daly
Since growth now makes us poorer, not richer, poverty reduction will require sharing in the present, not the empty promise of growth in the future
Food For Fuel, A Sure Way Of Creating
A Hunger Crisis
By Jean Ziegler & Siv O'Neall
Jean Ziegler, in his recently published book 'Massive Destruction – the Geopolitics of Hunger', is denouncing the brutal arms the neoliberal masters of the world are using in order to annihilate resistance to their senseless attempt to run the world as they see fit
Palestine: Those Who Inspired Us In 2011
By Ramzy Baroud
2011 had its share of tragedy. Human lives were lost in Palestine. But hope was also sustained by the sacrifices of numerous ‘ordinary’ people who collectively managed to achieve many hard-earned feats. It is these numerous small victories that will make it difficult for Israel to continue with its futile campaign to occupy and dominate a people so determinately entrenched in their land - from the small village of Nabi Saleh to the proud Palestinian city of al-Quds
Population Growth: The Problem In Real Terms
By Jason G. Brent
If clean water is not supplied to the current 7 billion humans inhabiting the Earth plus the additional 1 million of our species that will be added every six days starting November 1, 2010 and continuing to July 1, 2050, many humans will suffer horribly and many will die horrible deaths due to lack of clean water
No Political System Can Function
Without A Free Press: Mark Kingwell
By Kourosh Ziabari
An interview with Prof. Mark Kingwell is a world renowned Canadian author and philosopher
Lokpal Legislation Debate Require
Calmer Consideration
By Justice Rajindar Sachar
The debate in Parliament on the proposed Lokpal legislation has unfortunately touched a low nadir; instead of discussing the legislation in a sober atmosphere and with conscious effort to arrive at as much consensus as possible, the parties instead indulged in mutual attacks
Kashmir: Curbing The Academics
By Burhan Majid
There have been a series of attempts when we saw the academics being interfered with by the State police. So besides the usual high handedness and meddling, the State’s police force has jumped into action in yet another field. In a way the Police in the State have become too ubiquitous marked by its arbitrary interferences which are more often uncalled for
Imran Khan: Change Has Taken Place
By Dr Shabir Choudhry
Imran Khan’s apparent popularity has made some positive changes too. People are coming to public meetings; and it has forced leaders of the both big parties to pay more attention to their workers and leaders. It may even force them to come to some arrangements on certain seats to keep the Captain and his big boys out of the race
28 December, 2010
Three Years Ago: The Horror Of Gaza Remembered
By Mohammed Suliman
The memory of Israel’s 22 days of bombing in Gaza evokes sadness, anger, pain and inexplicable pride
Confronting Intimidation,
Working For Justice In Palestine
By Ilan Pappe
If we had a wish list for 2012 as Palestinians and friends of Palestine, one of the top items ought to be our hope that we can translate the dramatic shift in recent years in world public opinion into political action against Israeli policies on the ground
American Presidents: Romancing A Stone
By Clive Hambidge
An American past in an Israeli future for an ever present and brutal occupation
A Tale Of Two Squares And Two Movements
By Franklin Lamb
Franklin Lamb spent a good part of Christmas Eve divided between two main Cairo Squares, Tahir and Abassiya, while waiting for a Visa from the Libyan Embassy
Australian ABC Censors Anti-racist
Jewish Intellectuals Opposing
Racist Zionist “Law Of Return”
By Dr Gideon Polya
We are Jews from Australia , who, like Jewish people throughout the world, have an automatic right to Israeli citizenship under Israel 's “law of return.” While this law may seem intended to enable a Jewish homeland, we submit that it is in fact a form of racist privilege that abets the colonial oppression of the Palestinians. We renounce this “right” to “return” offered to us by Israeli law. It is not right that we may “return” to a state that is not ours while Palestinians are excluded and continuously dispossessed
Crushing Vladimir Putin
By Dan Lieberman
Those who continue crushing Vladimir Putin are tending to bring back the era of Yeltsin and the oligarchs, a time when Russia was a paradise for five to ten persons and a weak antagonist to U.S. military adventures. Could that be what the disparagement of Prime Minister Putin is all about?
My New Year Wish List For 2012
By Satya Sagar
A few new year wishes that may bring semblance justice to world
Let Us Salute Those Who Wrote
The Poetry Of Revolution
By Pankaj Prasoon
A poem in tribute to the global democratic revolution
Saving Gas: A New Look At
The Oil-Economy Connection
By Peter Goodchild
What effect, if any, does a "debt crisis" have on the weakening of the middle class, and specifically on middle-class access to resources such as fossil fuels? The connection between oil and money can be complicated, and even economists seem mystified. One theory is that it is global oil depletion, directly or indirectly, that leads to credit collapses
26 December, 2010
Israel Will Not Negotiate With Palestinians
Should Hamas Join Government
By Barak Ravid
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented Sunday on the recent moves by Fatah and Hamas to set up a unity government, saying that Israel would not negotiate with the Palestinians should such a government be established
US Admits Partial Blame In Deaths Of
Pakistani Soldiers, But Defends Airstrikes
By Keith Jones
In a yet to be released report, the US military has grudgingly conceded its mistakes played a role in the November 25-26 NATO attack that killed 26 Pakistani soldiers stationed in Pakistan’s Mohmand tribal agency. But the Pentagon and Obama administration continue to defend both the violation of Pakistani sovereignty and the deadly airstrikes themselves
Bradley Manning: A Hero, Not A Traitor
By Marjorie Cohn
The end of U.S. military involvement in Iraq coincided with Bradley Manning’s military hearing to determine whether he will face court-martial for exposing U.S. war crimes by leaking hundreds of thousands of pages of classified documents to Wikileaks. In fact, there is a connection between the leaks and U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq
Manning Prosecution Lays Basis For Terror Charge
Against WikiLeaks Founder Assange
By Naomi Spencer
In pre-trial proceedings against Army Private Bradley Manning at Fort Meade, Maryland this week, the Army’s lead prosecutor presented evidence purportedly linking Manning directly to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and alleged that by publishing documents leaked by Manning, WikiLeaks and Assange had aided terrorists, including Al Qaeda
“ America 's Chickens Are Coming Home to Roost”
By William A. Cook
An end of year lament caused by NDAA Act 2012
A Doomsday View of 2012
By James Petras
The economic, political and social outlook for 2012 is profoundly negative. The almost universal consensus, even among mainstream orthodox economists is pessimistic regarding the world economy
Uniting Occupy And Labor Over Health Care
By Shamus Cooke
Politicians are using the national and state budget crises to implement drastic austerity measures-- destroying public jobs and services from libraries and health care to roads and education. In Europe the fight against austerity has aroused the entire working populations of several countries, including Greece, England, Italy and Spain. The working people of the U.S. are facing the same austerity crisis and need to unite in the European fashion
The Commonwealth Of Nations:
An Uncommon Wealth (PDF)
By George Venturini
The British monarchy still epitomises conservative values and the status quo. It is a bastion against change, the living embodiment of a hierarchical society, reinforcing the notion that there is an established order: people should know their place and accept it. The monarchy is a ‘pyramid scheme’
From Babri Demolition To Supporting
Anna Hazare: Changing Strategies Of RSS Politics
By Ram Puniyani
Now the RSS-BJP politics is entering the new phase. Having reached the acme of anti minority polarization, it has found the Anna Hazare movement as the new vehicle for its politics of undermining democratic institutions to bring in a parallel authoritarian structure where the Lok Pal plays the big brother
New Friends of Iskcon ? On The Gita Controversy
By Subhash Gatade
The Tomsk controversy over Bhagwad Gita was not about about the text of the book proper as about the author's comments. Could it be then said that the whole case was misrepresented by some vested interests or in their overenthusiasm to get noticed in the Parliament, members of both the houses did not pay enough attention to the issue
23 December, 2010
Bombings Heighten Sectarian Tensions In Iraq
By Joseph Kishore & James Cogan
Bombings ripped through sections of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 63 people and injuring nearly 200. The attacks, which mainly targeted Shiite Muslim areas, took place in the midst of intensifying sectarian conflicts, as different factions of the Iraqi elite battle over political and economic power in the wake of the departure of US combat troops
Fallujah Remembered By A US Marine
Who Helped Destroy It In 2004
By Ross Caputi
US Marine Ross Caputi reflects on Fallujah in Iraq, where he was deployed in the 2004 attack that killed thousands, displaced hundreds of thousands more and poisoned the city with chemical weapons
Embellishing The Iraq War: Moral Victory,
And Selective Body Counts
By Ramzy Baroud
Someone ought to let mainstream news producers know that the nearly 4,500 US soldiers killed in the Iraq war were not the only victims. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have also been killed as a result of the unwarranted US invasion, and many more have been wounded and/or forever maimed
Rising Demands For Military Intervention In Syria
By Jean Shaoul
The United States and France are intensifying their demands for action against the government of Bashar al-Assad through their proxies—the Syrian National Council, the Free Syria Army (FSA), the Arab League and the United Nations
Bahrain: Last Night It Rained Tear Gas
By Enduring America
Last night there were scenes of repression against the Bahraini people. Many of them were not on the streets. They were inside their homes, shoving wet towels under the doors and the nooks and cranniees of windows and ventilators to stop tear gas from entering. Those who did protest were soon beaten back into their houses. Security forces followed them and started tear-gassing entire neighbourhoods
Orphans On The Rise In Gaza
By Eva Bartlett
Gaza Strip has 53,000 orphans. Over 2,000 children more were orphaned during the 2008-2009 Israeli war on Gaza. An orphan here is defined as a child who has lost his father or both parents, as men are traditionally the income-generators in Gaza
Gilad Atzmon : “The Wandering Who?”
By Silvia Cattori
Gilad Atzmon talks about his latest book “The Wandering Who?”
America’s Growing Isolation
By Alan Hart
America’s growing isolation is because of the Obama administration’s unconditional support for Zionism’s monster child
U.S Threat To Attack Iran
With Nukes Is "Criminal"
By Sherwood Ross
The U.S. today is threatening to attack Iran “under the completely bogus pretext” that it might have a nuclear weapon, a distinguished American international legal authority says
India's Shameful Paradox Of Plenty
By Devinder Sharma
It's a paradox of plenty. At a time when India ranks 67th among 81 countries in the 2011 Global Hunger Index prepared by the International Food Policy Research Institute, mountains of grain continue to rot in godowns while more recently, irate farmers spilled tonnes of potatoes on the streets in Punjab
Kandhamal Survivors Apprehensive Of
Bandh Call On Christmas
By Jugal Kishore Ranjit & Bipracharan Nayak
A bandh-call has been given by Sangh Parivar from 24th to 27th December in Kandhamal district. Since 2007, these people have been giving bandh-calls during the Christmas season
Ghalib, Bharat Ratna And Lost Memories Of
The Indian Republic
By Farzana Versey
The highest Indian civilian honour is become a joke, not only because of the names being bandied about but due to the so-called reasoned responses to those names. There is a cultural, philosophical and atavistic leap from Sachin Tendulkar to Mirza Ghalib
22 December, 2010
Secrets From The Past Point To Rapid
Climate Change In The Future
By Patrick Lynch
At the Earth’s current rate of carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere, the planet is likely to experience several degrees increase in average temperatures and large-scale changes such as ice sheet loss that could lead to several meters of sea level rise this century, NASA’s James Hansen said in a recent paper.
Iraq Lurches Toward Sectarian Warfare
By James Cogan
Just four days after the official withdrawal, the always tense relations between the Shiite- and Sunni-based factions within the country’s government have led to an open split along sectarian and geographical lines, raising the prospect of a civil war that could draw in neighbouring states or be exploited to justify the return of US forces
The U.S And Iraq After The War
By Jack A. Smith
President Obama bid farewell to the Iraq war after nearly nine years of conflict in a Nov. 14 speech to troops of the 82nd Airborne at Ft. Bragg, N.C. He virtually damned the war with the faintest of praise. The problem was that he couldn't claim victory and had to conceal an historic defeat — but at least it wasn't his war, as Afghanistan has become. Meanwhile in Iraq, a perhaps inevitable major political crisis is brewing between the Shi'ite-led government and Sunni ministers in the regime
The Peak Oil Crisis: 2012 – Apocalypse Now?
By Tom Whipple
A case can be made that some very bad things might be coming in the next year or so
The Infinite-Planet Approach Won’t Solve
The European Debt Crisis
By Eric Zencey
The ecological footprint of the global economy is currently larger than the globe it inhabits. But you don’t have to believe that we’ve reached the limits to growth in order to see that the basic problem behind the European Debt Crisis is the mismatch between our rate of debt creation and the rate at which we can grow real wealth in order to pay that debt off
Food Security And The WTO
By Karen Hansen-Kuhn
Developing countries need rules that provide the policy space to determine the best mix of agriculture and trade policies to support rural livelihoods and food security. It will also be important for developed countries to create the right agricultural policies to prevent dumping and create an enabling environment for a transition to sustainable agriculture and strong rural economies
Christ Under Occupation:
Christmas In The Holy Land
By Eileen Fleming
This weekend millions of cultural Christians throughout the world will flock into churches and sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and hear stories of Nazareth and Jerusalem. Too few know the 21st century realities about the land where Jesus/AKA The Prince of Peace promised that the Peacemakers are the children of God. The indigenous Christian population in the Holy Land has shrunk from 20% in 1948 to less than 2% in Israel and the West Bank today
Palestine Celebrates Hope
By Dr Salim Nazzal
The Palestinian child watches the tanks go around Bethlehem, as all Palestinians do on a daily basis, but today we need to remind the world yet again on this Christmas eve when millions of humans chant for peace on earth, there is still no peace in Palestine. The apartheid state of Israel is still terrorizing a whole nation and is still escaping international punishment
Compassion Is Our New Currency
By Rebecca Solnit
In the most immediate sense, Occupy may have weakened the climate movement by focusing many of us on the urgent suffering of our brothers, our neighbors, our democracy. In the end, however, it could strengthen that movement with its new tactics, alliances, spirit, and language of truth
Thomas Friedman- The Imperial Messenger
By Jim Miles
Book Review- Imperial Messenger - Thomas Friedman at Work. Belen Fernandez
Medical Self Defense And The Black Panther Party
By Angola 3 News
An interview with Alondra Nelson
Punjab Makes An Effort To Bring
Environment In Political Discourse
By Devinder Sharma
On December 14, more than two dozen environmentally conscious groups and individuals have formed a "Save Environment and Society Morcha". So as to protect health, environment, agriculture and the society from any further deterioration, the Morcha aims at making it mandatory for the political parties to present a time bound programme to improve the state of polluted environment, water, deteriorating health and at the same time take appropriate steps to prevent farming from turning poisonous
Parliamentary Committee Rejects UID Project
And Biometric based NPR- Vindicates
Citizens Demand For Reviewing UID And NPR
By Toxic Watch Alliance
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance considering the National Identification Authority of India (NIDAI) Bill, 2010 presented its report to the Parliament on December 13, 2011. The report rejects biometric data based identification of Indians. The report is a severe indictment of the hasty and `directionless' project which has been "conceptualised with no clarity of purpose"
21 December, 2011
Land Rights And The Rush For Land
By Ward Anseeuw, Liz Alden Wily,
Lorenzo Cotula & Michael Taylor
The report, ‘Land Rights and the Rush for Land’, involved the collaboration of over 40 different organisations in the research process – the biggest study to date. It says rural livelihoods have been put in jeopardy by the land grabbing deals, with the promise of jobs not, as yet, materialising
Fukushima's Lone Hold Out
By Christopher Johnson
Naoto Matsumura is the only person still living in the evacuation zone around the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant
How Much Dam Energy Can We Get?
By Tom Murphy
’m a fan of hydro power, and I’m glad nature does most of the work for us. Nonetheless, my mind is not much eased by the joint facts that it falls far short of our current demand and that it’s yet another way to make electricity. It’s a gift from nature, but much like getting yet another tie for Christmas to add to the pile, I’m not getting excited about the prospect of more dams
How To Occupy The World
By Jason Hickel
A truly global movement is not out of reach. Indeed, it has never been more possible than it is today. This is our opportunity to occupy the world. We dare not miss it
Thousands Of Women March In Cairo
Against Military junta
By Barry Grey
As many as 10,000 demonstrators, mostly women, guarded by a cordon of male protesters, marched from Tahrir Square to the Press Syndicate, chanting, “Egyptian women are a red line” and “Down with military rule.” Many carried pictures of soldiers attacking women, particularly one of a veiled woman being dragged by soldiers who had half-pulled off her clothes and were about to stomp on her
Antonio Gramsci And Rosa Luxemburg:
Leading Thinkers On Socialist Democracy
By Dr. Peter Custers
Dr. Peter Custers discuss the views of two European theorists, Antonio Gramsci and Rosa Luxemburg. Both were leading thinkers of the European workers’ movement in the beginning of the 20th century
20 December, 2011
The Indian Land Grab In Africa
By GOI Monitor
Joining the neo-colonial bandwagon, Indian companies are taking over agricultural land in African nations and exporting produced food at the cost of locals
The Case Against Alleged WikiLeaks Supplier
Bradley Manning Takes A Strange Turn
By Alexis Madrigal
The military hearing that will determine whether Bradley Manning will receive a court martial for his alleged role in leaking documents to WikiLeaks took a strange turn. In a courthouse in Fort Meade, Maryland, a prosecution witness testified that he found thousands of State Department cables on Manning's computer, but those cables did *not* match those released by WikiLeaks
Chinese Village Protest Gains Wide Support
By John Chan
Heavy-handed police-state responses to protracted protests by thousands of farmers at Wukan village in China’s Guangdong province have increasingly made the 20,000 villagers a national symbol of resistance
Climate Cynicism At The Santa Fe Conference
By Mark Boslough
One thing I have long suspected was strongly reinforced: there is no common scientific understanding amongst contrarians. Many of them are just as critical of one another’s ideas as they are of conventional science
Classic Cinema And Our Future
By Brian Kaller
For movies to help us prepare for our real future, though, it has to show us what such a world could look like, and neither Star Trek nor Zombie Apocalypse fiction help us show people struggling to pay the mortgage, irrigate the crops and hitch a ride to town. We do have thousands of movies that do show us this more limited future, though, because they were made in a more limited past
The Drone That Fell From the Sky
By Nick Turse
What a Busted Robot Airplane Tells Us About the American Empire in 2012 and Beyond
How An American Born Outside The U.S.
Responds To The NDAA
By Pubali Ray Chaudhuri
It should be superfluous to belabour the point that I do feel outraged by the new NDAA, but not any more outraged than I feel when the U.S attacks, occupies, and reduces to smoking rubble other countries like Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya or when it props up murderous dictatorships in Latin America or foments Islamic terrorism in Saudi Arabia
India: The Nuclear Safety Question
By A Gopalakrishnan
Hearing a recent PIL against India’s current nuclear policy and the need for an independent nuclear regulator, the Supreme Court wanted to know about a few examples of an independent regulatory mechanism. Top nuclear expert A Gopalakrishnan presents the French , the Canadian, and the U.S.models
How Does Government Justify ‘Aadhaar’
When Its Foundation Has Crashed?
By Mathew Thomas
The rejection by the parliament’s standing committee (PSC) of both the NIA bill to ‘regularise’ UIDAI’s actions and the UID scheme itself, has brought the Aadhaar foundation crashing down to earth
19 December, 2011
A Proposal For Wellbeing Of
The Entire Earth System
Proposals developed by the Plurinational State of Bolivia
The proposals developed by the Plurinational State of Bolivia bring together and build upon the progress made in the World Charter for Nature (1982), the Rio Declaration (1994), the Earth Charter (2000), and the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth (2010)
The Four Occupations Of Planet Earth
By Tom Engelhardt
As the fifth occupation of planet Earth -- when they stand their ground and chant “We exist!” in anger, strength, and wonder, maybe then we can really tackle climate change and hope it isn’t too late
‘Brutal Logic’ And Climate Communications
By David Roberts
"When the number of committed opinion holders is below 10 percent, there is no visible progress in the spread of ideas. It would literally take the amount of time comparable to the age of the universe for this size group to reach the majority. Once that number grows above 10 percent, the idea spreads like flame.”
New Photos Released Of Iraq Atrocity,
With Documents And Video
By David Swanson
U.S. Army Ranger John Needham, who was awarded two purple hearts and three medals for heroism, wrote to military authorities in 2007 reporting war crimes that he witnessed being committed by his own command and fellow soldiers in Al Doura, Iraq. His charges were supported by atrocity photos which, in the public interest, are now released in this video. John paid a terrible price for his opposition to these acts. His story is tragic
Must We Adore Vaclav Havel?
By Michael Parenti
Havel called for efforts to preserve the Christian family in the Christian nation. Presenting himself as a man of peace and stating that he would never sell arms to oppressive regimes, he sold weapons to the Philippines and the fascist regime in Thailand. In June 1994, General Pinochet, the man who butchered Chilean democracy, was reported to be arms shopping in Czechoslovakia – with no audible objections from Havel
OPEC Says, 'Don't Count On Us' For More Supply
By Gail Tverberg
The results of OPEC’s latest meeting to set oil production quotas were announced this morning. Instead of production targets for individual countries, a group production ceiling of 30 million barrels a day was set. This amount is a bit less than OPEC produced in November 2011
Real Wealth: Howard T. Odum’s Energy Economics
By Rex Weyler
An introduction to Howard T. Odum’s Energy Economics
Christmas Is No Time To Talk About
War And Peace
By Jim Rigby
Maybe stopping the frenzy of Christmas long enough to really hear the song the angels sang to the wretched of the earth, would give us the humanity to stop hanging our Christmas lights until we no longer kill our brothers and sisters for the fuel to illumine them
Migrants’ Rights Are Human Rights!
Take Local Police Out Of Immigration Enforcement
By Bill Quigley & Sunita Patel
Unfortunately, this year the United States’ treatment of migrants has been dismal. Nearly 400,000 people have been deported, often without adequate due process. Anti-immigrant and xenophobic laws have been passed in state legislatures of Alabama, Arizona, South Carolina, and Utah. The US has increased fear and isolation in our migrant communities
Once Vidal's Dauphin, Now Cosmic Stardust!
By Sean Fenley
An obituary for Christopher Hitchens
2011, A Year Replete With Revolts,
Uprisings And Occupation
By Farooque Chowdhury
Uprisings, revolts and occupation are keeping their undeniable marks on 2011. In recent times, a year with so much and so wide protests from periphery to world metropolis are rare. In this crises-ridden period, the competition-charged, tumultuous year saw status quo questioned and challenged
Memogate Scandal Escalates In Pakistan
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
President Asif Ali Zardari returned to Pakistan Sunday apparently after assurances from the Army Chief General Ashfaq Kiyani that he will not be implicated in the so-called Memogate scandal that has destabilized Zardari’s US-installed government
Fear Of Police Killed Many In Hooch Tragedy
By Sukant Khurana, Ph.D. & Brooks Robinson
Poor people are afraid to seek police help or report a crime, leave alone go to them when they have actually broken the law. The recent hooch tragedy in West Bengal in which 171 people died is a glaring example of the sorry state of the police force
Global Movement To Create A
Nonviolent World Launched
By Robert J. Burrowes
On 11 November 2011, the 93rd anniversary of the armistice of World War 1, a new movement to end human violence was launched around the world. 'The People's Charter to Create a Nonviolent World' was launched simultaneously in Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines and the United States and has already gained signatories in eighteen countries
17 December, 2011
Army Hearing Begins Against Bradley Manning
By Naomi Spencer
The persecution of Bradley Manning entered a new phase on Friday, with pretrial military proceedings. Manning, a US Army private, is accused of leaking evidence of war crimes and other government secrets to whistleblower organization WikiLeaks
The Trial of Bradley Manning: Rule of Law or
Rule of Intimidation, Retaliation And Retribution
By Ann Wright
The military's contention that it took 19 months to figure out how to try him while protecting classified materials reeks of intimidation, retribution and retaliation
The Durban Package:
“Laisser Faire, Laisser Passer”
By Pablo Solón
In 2020 a new legal instrument will come into effect that will replace the Kyoto Protocol and will seriously impact the principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The result will be the deepening of the “Laisser Faire, laisser passer” regime inaugurated in Copenhagen, Cancun and Durban which will lead to an increase in temperature of more than 4°C
Set Your Doomsday Clock To 11:51
By David Swanson
The National Defense Authorization Act is not a leap from democracy to tyranny, but it is another major step on a steady and accelerating decade-long march toward a police state. The doomsday clock of our republic just got noticeably closer to midnight, and the fact that almost nobody knows it, simply moves that fatal minute-hand a bit further still.
Democracy In 2012
By Frank Scott
65% of the planet’s 7 billion people are poor, bringing the 21st century still closer to Marx’s words of the 19th. Humanity’s call for another world is growing louder and more insistent. The forces of reaction are working to smother that voice through their private governments and media but also through supposedly public and even progressive political circles
Anatomy Of A NATO War Crime
By Franklin Lamb
NATO’s bombing, which far exceeded earlier estimates ,killed or wounded 90,000-120,000 Libyans and foreigners, and the displacement of more than two million Libyans and foreign workers
Why Do They Hate Us?
By Dave Lindorff
Even as President Obama and War Secretary Leon Panetta announce the “end” of the Iraq War, the National Journal December 4 article, a US “covert war” against Iran has already begun
Mornings In Palestine
By Eva Bartlett
A chronicle of daily life in Palestine
No Walmart, Please
By Justice Rajindar Sachar (retd)
The Government of India's claims are questionable
A Surfeit Of Politics
By Maryam Sakeenah
Studying political intrigue, conflict, conspiracies, power struggles, war and peace, human motivations, aspirations and errors, I only find my own nature magnified onto the chasm of History
Only Reacting, Not Acting
By Mukul Dube
If Hindutva, as expressed in hatred towards other religions, has come to permeate the very thinking of the bulk of Indian society, that must be called at once the victory of unreason and the defeat of our humanity
Activists Occupy Coca-Cola Factory In Kerala
By NAPM
About twenty two members of Plachimada Coca-Cola Virudha Samara Samithi and Plachimada solidarity forum including Vilayodi Venugopal, Sri N. P. Johnson, N Subramanyan, Fr. Augustine, M N Giri, Sahadevan and ors, walked in to the premises of the Coca Cola Factory in Kerala state, India and courted arrest
16 December, 2011
Why Is It So Easy To Save The Banks,
But So Hard To Save The Planet ?
By George Monbiot
Agreements to bail out banks happen in days – but despite some good progress at Durban, we still don't have a legally binding deal to bail out the planet
US Withdraws And Australian ABC Censors
4.6 million Iraqi Holocaust War Dead
By Dr Gideon Polya
The Americans have almost completed their withdrawal from war-devastated Iraq that since 1990 has suffered 4.6 million war-related deaths, 1.7 million violent deaths, 2.9 million avoidable deaths from war-imposed deprivation, 5-6 million refugees and 2.0 million under-5 infant deaths, 90% avoidable. However the Mainstream media have resolutely refused to report the carnage
Can Tides Turn The Tide?
By Tom Murphy
We need a few solid, scalable, reliable solutions to fall back on. And tidal is not one of those. It’s more like a decoration than a foundation. Let’s use it where we can
The Daily Ordeal of Getting To School In Hebron
By Ben Lorber
The Qurduba School in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron is once again a target for harassment by Israeli occupation forces, as new restrictions on freedom of movement bring a wave of settler attacks and soldier violence
McJournalism: The Unbearable Lightness of
Thomas Friedman
By Cyril Mychalejko
Belén Fernandez's The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work is a meticulously researched book, written with wry wit and an unrelenting critical eye, that should be read by both Friedman's fans and critics alike; not just for what it reveals about his journalism or the New York Times , but for what it says about the state of American journalism as a whole
Governed By Machine
By Robert Wise
To "get money out of government" will take many new initiatives, but most will be aimed at eliminating corporate influence. The ideal will never be completely achieved; we will need, as Jefferson warned, "eternal vigilance." But the biggest advance we could achieve at one stroke would be a Federal law to abolish corporate personhood
Companies Bill for Corporate Funding of
Political Parties And NGOs Introduced
By Gopal Krishna
Companies Bill, 2011 was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Dr Moodbidri Veerappa Moily on December 14, 2011 that makes provision for corporate funding of parties
15 December, 2011
Obama Administration Backs Bill Authorizing Indefinite Military Detention Of US Citizens
By Joseph Kishore
The Obama administration declared Wednesday afternoon that it was abandoning its nominal threat to veto a military authorization bill that explicitly authorizes the indefinite military detention of anyone the federal government declares to be a terrorist or supporter, including US citizens
Obama's Most Fateful Decision
By Jim Garrison
What is a stake is nothing short of the basic fundamentals of western jurisprudence. Central to civilized law is the notion that a person cannot be held without a charge and cannot be detained indefinitely without a trial
Congressional Tyranny, White House Surrender
By Ralph Nader
Paraphrasing Shakespeare, something is rotten in the state of Capitol Hill. A majority of Congress is just about to put the finishing touches on an amendment to the military budget authorization legislation that will finish off some critical American rights under our Constitution
Methane Time Bomb In Arctic Seas:
Apocalypse Not
By Andrew C. Revkin
Scientists who track methane in the atmosphere in the Arctic and elsewhere around the planet see no big surge that can be pinned on such releases. Based on what we see in the atmosphere, there is no evidence of substantial increases in methane emissions from the Arctic in the past 20 years
Need To Revisit The Role Of Nuclear Power
For India 's Energy Security
By Buddhi Kota Subbarao Ph.D
A critical analysis of the Indian nuclear industry in the light of Dr. A.P.J. Abudul Kalam & Mr. Srijan Pal Singh's recent essay “Nuclear power is our gateway to a prosperous future.”
Deploying Renewable Energy To Protect Us
From Nuclear Accidents
By Shankar Sharma
Is there no alternative but to consider it as the major part of the future energy policy? In view of the huge opposition going on in the country w.r.t the Koodankulam nuclear power plant, and all the proposed nuclear power parks in the country, a rational look at much benign alternatives to nuclear power has become urgent
Masked In Gaza: The Untold History Of
Palestinian ‘Militancy’
By Ramzy Baroud
Chances are, the ‘militants’ – or fedayeen, or even ‘terrorists’ by the standards of Israel and its supporters – will continue to exist as long as the conflict remains unsolved per the necessary standards of justice and fairness
Recovering From Authoritarian Simpatico
Syndrome (ASS): "Because The Cops Don’t
Need You And Man They Expect The Same"
By Phil Rockstroh
Witnessing the acts and utterances of Republican presidential candidates can be regarded as a helpful psychological exercise, a type of “exposure therapy” involving the development of methods used to bear the presence of unbearable people who insist on evincing the history of human ignorance, duplicity and insanity
The Making Of The American 99%
And The Collapse Of The Middle Class
By Barbara Ehrenreich & John Ehrenreich
If the “99%” is to become more than a stylish meme, if it’s to become a force to change the world, eventually we will undoubtedly have to confront some of the class and racial divisions that lie within it. But we need to do so patiently, respectfully, and always with an eye to the next big action -- the next march, or building occupation, or foreclosure fight, as the situation demands
How Doctors Die
By Ken Murray
If there is a state of the art of end-of-life care, it is this: death with dignity. As for me, my physician has my choices. They were easy to make, as they are for most physicians. There will be no heroics, and I will go gentle into that good night. Like my mentor Charlie. Like my cousin Torch. Like my fellow doctors
The Bush Administration Was An Ongoing
Criminal Conspiracy Under International Law
And U.S. Domestic Law
By Professor Francis A. Boyle
Speech given by Professor Francis A. Boyle at Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal , November 17-20, 2011
War In WANA: A Threat To Humanity
By Chandra Muzaffar
Any conflict in West Asia and North Africa (WANA) is a threat to world peace. For WANA is of tremendous strategic, economic, political and religious significance to the whole of humanity. This is why it is the responsibility of the entire human family to ensure that war does not break out in that region
Jiten Marandi And Three Others Acquitted
By PUDR
Jharkhand High Court has acquitted Jiten Marandi and three other adivasi poor peasants, earlier convicted and given the death sentence by District and Sessions Court, Giridih in Chilkari Firing of October 26, 2007 in the Girdih District, in which 19 persons were killed and many injured
14 December, 2011
Retreat Of Arctic Sea Ice Releases Plumes Of Methane: Climate Feedback Catastrophe?
By Steve Connor
Dramatic and unprecedented plumes of methane – a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide – have been seen bubbling to the surface of the Arctic Ocean by scientists undertaking an extensive survey of the region. The scale and volume of the methane release has astonished the head of the Russian research team who has been surveying the seabed of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf off northern Russia for nearly 20 years
How Not To Tackle Climate Change
And Call It A Success: The Durban Package
By Nele Marien
Climate scientists are advising us insistently: the world just has a few years to start acting on climate change, if not we may enter in an irreversible spiral of climate disaster. So the most urgent issue is to start acting NOW on real mitigation. Unfortunately, the Durban package doesn’t attend this at all. During the whole Durban negotiation, there hasn’t even been a real discussion on the issue
What Does Canada's Withdrawal
From Kyoto Protocol Mean?
By Adam Vaughan
Canada has shown that a legally binding deal does not guarantee countries won't walk away from their commitments
Just How Far Gone Is Putin's Government?
By Dmitry Orlov
Just how far gone is Putin's government? The evidence so far is that they are still feeling invincible, and are willing to resort to repression in order to make the election results stick. But the Russian people want to express themselves; they want to be heard; they want those who hear them to make the required changes in response
NATO Dreams Of Civil War In Syria
By Pepe Escobar
By adopting this pincer movement, NATO in Syria is now actively diversifying into an Iraq-in-the-1990s strategy; to submit Syria to a prolonged state of siege before eventually going for the kill
Soaring Oil And Food Prices Threaten
Affordable Food Supply
By Richard Heinberg
The current global food system is highly fuel- and transport-dependent. Fuels will almost certainly become less affordable in the near and medium term, making the current, highly fuel-dependent agricultural production system less secure and food less affordable. It is therefore necessary to promote food self-sufficiency and reduce the need for fuel inputs to the food system at all levels
Exploring Humanity's Place
In The Journey Of The Universe
By Roger Cohn
Mary Evelyn Tucker has been one of the innovators in the study of the connections between ecology and religion. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, she talks about her work and about a new film she co-produced that points to the spiritual dimension of responding to the world’s environmental challenges
Permaculture Pioneers:
Stories From The New Frontier
By Kerry Dawborn & Caroline Smith
Permaculture Pioneers: Stories from the New Frontier tells the very personal stories of 25 Australian permaculturists, male and female, old and young, who are inspired by permaculture to work for a more sustainable world
Reform vs. Revolution Within Occupy
By Shamus Cooke
Is Occupy a real social movement or one still struggling to be born? The answer to this question helps determine what strategy the Occupy movement should take, what demands it should fight for and the level of confrontation of its actions
Stories From Harlem
By Li Onesto
One of the things that keeps coming through in all these stories is how the police not only brutalize you, but they seem to make a sport of really trying to do everything they can to humiliate the people, especially the youth. And the people know it and deeply feel this
Celac: Is This The Mayan Prophecy?
By Sean Fenley
If Celac achieves its goals — and its ambitions — then that is when we can expect, probably the most virulent, and infernal opposition from its “keeper” and “overseer” from the north
The Horribleness Of Enforced Disappearances
By Iqbal Alimohamed
It is time for governments everywhere to ponder the absolute necessity to end the phenomenon of Involuntary Disappearances through a global campaign. Cases must be brought before international Human Rights courts and bodies
Attack On POSCO Protesters
By Prashant Paikary
An attack on POSCO project protesters by private goons leave at least eight villagers injured and one of them has got serious injury. One of the attackers also was killed by an explosion of their own bomb
Policy Recommendation On Mullaperiyar Dam
By Suhas Paranjape, S.Janakarajan, K.J. Joy, & A. Latha
Here is a well-reasoned-out policy recommendation that proposes a solution to the Mullaperiyar Dam Conflict. Drawn up at a conference of dam and water resource experts, it proposes a fresh solution to the dispute
Open Letter To Mahathir
By Siddharthya Roy
A couple of days back I woke up to Indian newspaper reports which quoted you as saying that India’s democracy is a hindrance to its development and if we did away with the nuisance of democracy we will be become developed . But you see Sir, your (apparently) good intentions notwithstanding, your advise to Indians is, well how should I put it...ill-advised
Peoples March In Bangladesh:
Voices Against Corporate Grabbing
By Anu Muhammad
Main demands of this long march included peoples ownership over natural resources, prohibition of disastrous open pit mining and export of mineral resources, strengthening national capability
13 December, 2011
Canada Pulls Out Of Kyoto Protocol
By AlJazeera
Canada has pulled out of the Kyoto protocol on climate change, one day after an update was agreed on, saying the accord won't work
Canada's Exit From The Kyoto Protocol:
Selling Dirtiest Oil At All Cost
By Dr. Peter Custers
Vulnerable countries of the Global South have no other option than to join the choir of Canadian indigenous people and environmentalists who warn that any extraction of tar sands oil is off limits, i.e. should be stopped
The Top Five Takeaways From
The Durban Climate Talks
By David Roberts
The "remarkable" "landmark" agreement is less than meets the eye. The world is still on course to 4 degrees C (7.2 degrees F) and higher, i.e., disaster. Nonetheless, there has been an important shift in climate geopolitics
The Verdict On Durban – A Major Step Forward,
But Not For Ten Years
By Mark Lynas
Over the next decade we all have a lot of work to do; both in terms of designing the new system and getting on with the all-important business of real-world mitigation. Durban delivered that mandate, and there is no time to lose on implementing it
The Frog And The Polar Bear: The Real Reasons
Americans Aren’t Buying Climate Change
By Tony Davis
Most people think "It's the polar bear's problem, not mine -- and as long as it's not my problem, I frankly have more pressing things to worry about."
Occupy Is Not Just About Occupying
By Kevin Zeese
The elites are foolish to think they will stop this movement by closing occupations. The Occupy Movement will evolve in new and unpredictable ways that will make the elites wish for the days of mere public encampments. The 1% should know they will be held accountable. The people have found their voice and will not be silenced. The era of the rule of money is nearing its end
Small Town Sebastopol Contributes To
Occupy Movement
By Shepherd Bliss
Occupy is still a baby. This infant is not even three-months-old yet. Patience and nurturing, so that it may grow during the coming year, into toddlerhood, and perhaps beyond, would help it. Winter is likely to be a hibernating time of reflection, followed by bursts of energy in the spring
The Washington - “Moderate Islam” Alliance:
Containing Rebellion Defending Empire
By James Petras
The dynamic of democratic, nationalist and class struggles throughout the Moslem world has set in motion a new constellation of alliances between the imperial West (US and European Union) and Islamist parties, leaders and regimes, dubbed “moderate” by US officials, propagandists and academics
Did The Pentagon Help Strangle The Arab Spring?
By Nick Turse
The Pentagon’s Secret Training Missions in the Middle East
Newt Unleashes His Tetrodotoxin
At The Palestinians
By William A. Cook
The plight of the Palestinians that began so ruthlessly in 1947, and is now called the Nakba, was an intentional, calculated campaign to force the Palestinian Arabs out of Palestine, a systematic genocide of a people as defined by the United Nations in its adoption of Genocide Convention, Article II” ( The Plight of the Palestinians ). Now that Gingrich knows what to read, will he?
Wall Street Is At It Again! This Time It's France!
By Timothy V. Gatto
Now the banks in United States are inundating France with credit default swaps. France has more credit default swaps was than it ever had in its history. This is being caused by investors from America and the UK
The Pretext For A North American
Homeland Security Perimeter
By Dana Gabriel
While the perimeter agreement is being sold as vital to the safety and prosperity of Canadians and Americans alike, there is little doubt that it will mean a tradeoff between sovereignty and security. A North American Homeland Security perimeter goes well beyond keeping people safe from any perceived threats. It is a means to secure trade, resources, as well as corporate interests and is a pretext for control over the continent. Ultimately, the U.S. wants the final say on who is allowed to enter and who is allowed to leave
Protest Song Against Koodankulam Nuclear Plant
By Pedestrian Pictures
Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power station currently under construction in Koodankulam in the Tirunelveli district of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. A people's movement is on a heroic struggle against the setting up of the plant
The Marriage from Hell: Jane Harman
And The Woodrow Wilson Center (PDF)
By David Boyajian
Woodrow Wilson, the 28th American president, is looking down in horror at what the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWC) is doing in his name
Potato Glut: Looking Beyond The Markets
By Devinder Sharma
In the past few days, newspapers are again full of reports of the massive potato glut that is forcing farmers to dump the harvested crop on roads in Punjab. Saddled with 2.5 lakh tonnes of unsold harvest from the previous season, and in anticipation of a bumper crop this fortnight, the market has slumped. Against Rs 800 per quintal last year, farmers are able to realise merely Rs 100-150 this year. Such steep fall in prices has brought gloom in the potato belt
10 December, 2011
Behind The Durban Blame Game
By Richard Heinberg
Why did the Durban climate talks fail? Ultimately, the culprit is the near-universal pursuit of economic growth. All the major players want growth: the US, because it’s still pulling out of a recession; China, because it knows 10 percent annual growth can’t go on forever, but is trying to avoid a hard landing; Europe, which is trying to pull out of its sovereign debt spiral. The US and China, in particular, know that fossil fuels have given them growth in the past, and are especially reluctant to give them up now
The Durban Babel
By Leo F. Saldanha
As for the money to fix a planet in crisis, there seems to be none as yet. In Durban's Hilton tower of Babel, there are plenty of noises, and voices, and loads of confusion. No one knows where the “money” is. It's not talking, at all
Recipe For Nuclear Winter
By Tim Murray
Has the prospect of global temperature rises between two and six degrees centigrade got you down? Don't worry, for the world might well be in for a cooling trend. The kind that comes after the planet is enveloped in a canopy of ash and debris following a thermo-nuclear war
Brussels Summit Ends With Isolation Of
Britain Inside The EU
By Stefan Steinberg
The exclusion of Britain from new structures and decision-making bodies marks a nodal point in the disintegration of the European Union itself. Under the blows of the crisis, the capitalist integration of Europe that began more than fifty years ago is rapidly unravelling
Aggression Is Closing On Syria
By Ghali Hassan
With powerful forces gathered against them, the Syrian people are facing violent aggression to destroy and plunder their nation. There is no excuse to remain on the sideline, complicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity. The struggle to uphold international law and oppose aggression must continue
Qatar's Delirious Ambitions
By Sean Fenley
Although, Qatar would appear to be a Lilliputian micro-petrostate, it would seem to be one with Napoleonic delusions of grandeur
Jeff Feltman Delivers His Annual
Yuletide Gifts To Lebanon
By Franklin Lamb
Over the past few years, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman has sledded into Lebanon bearing gifts during the Yuletide season more regularly than Santa Clause. Yet, as happened yesterday, he somehow manages to finish his gift giving and lift off to continue his rounds as The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
No To Military Intervention In Syria,
No To Military Strikes Against Iran
By Dr Chandra Muzaffar
The International Movement for a Just World (JUST) invites citizens of the world to join a global campaign aimed at averting a colossal catastrophe in West Asia
09 December, 2011
The Brutal Logic Of Climate Change Mitigation
By David Roberts
We're currently mitigating for 4 degrees C and planning for 2 degrees C. That is ass backwards. It is, almost clinically, insane. We need to be doing the opposite -- mitigating for 2, planning for 4 -- as soon as possible
Is Terminating The Industrial Economy
A Moral Act?
By Guy McPherson
Many people argue that the industrial age is coming to a close, so no further action is needed on our part. These people are seriously out-numbered by those who think the industrial age will never end. Both groups are imperial lackeys, unwilling to ensure a better future for humanity by taking courageous action
JStreet President Speaks In Upstate New York
Amid Tight Security
By Ira Glunts
Jeremy Ben-Ami told those gathered at the Jewish Community Center of Syracuse that Israel must take security risks in order to achieve peace. Looking around at the police presence and the security-conscious audience, I wondered if many of these people would agree with him
Australian ABC Censors Australia-
And UK-Complicit WW2 Bengali Famine
(6-7 Million Dead)
By Dr Gideon Polya
The neocon-infested, taxpayer-funded ABC (the Australian equivalent of the UK BBC) has an appalling record of censorship, lying by omission and lying by commission. The ABC has censored reportage of the Australia-complicit 1942-1945 Bengal Famine (Bengali Famine, Bengali Holocaust) in which the British, with Australian complicity, deliberately starved 6-7 million Indians to death in 1942-1945
08 December, 2011
Parliamentary Panel Rejects UID Bill
By Moneylife Digital Team
The Standing Committee on Finance has rejected the UID Bill, which was aimed to enforce bio-metrics enabled Aadhaar identification system on all residents of India. In a major set-back to the Manmohan Singh led government, the Planning Commission and Nandan Nilekani, the former chief of Infosys
Saudi Prince Calls For Kingdom To Acquire WMDs
By John Daly
On 5 December Prince bin Turki al Faisal, speaking at the “The Gulf and the Globe” conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh urged the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to become a powerful regional bloc by establishing a unified armed force and defense structure and also acquire nuclear weapons
Declaration Of The Indigenous Peoples
Of The World To COP17
By IIPFCC
Statement to the United Nations climate change meeting (COP17), adopted by the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC), December 3, 2011, Durban, South Africa
Pass The Buck And Ignore The Problem
By Marianne de Nazareth
From being the eye of the storm, the global climate conference has fizzled into a pleasant draught of ritualistic yearly media attention and noone expects the 2011 Durban Summit to be anything but ineffectual. As the world’s leaders exercise their muscles in a healthy game of passing the buck, time might be running short for those who cannot participate
What Peak Oil Looks Like
By John Michael Greer
One of the perennial themes of peak oil discussion over the last decade or so has been what the world will look like once the age of cheap abundant energy comes to a close. While the arguments are ongoing, the answer may already have arrived. With a tip of the hat to green economist Herman Daly, the Archdruid explains
Iran: Possible Implications Of An Oil Embargo
By Euan Mearns
If armed conflict spreads, compromising oil exports through the Straights of Hormuz, oil exports from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Iraq and Iran will be affected. Data is not available for Iraq, but exports from Saudi, Kuwait, UAE and Qatar stood at around 12,805,000 bpd in 2010. The global net export market stood at around 35,173,000 and so these 4 countries alone account for around 36.4% of the global export market (excluding Iraq and Iran). Should these exports cease, albeit temporarily, the oil price will go through the roof, causing severe trauma to the global economy, including China
L.A. And Occupy L.A. Agree: It's Time To End
Corporate Personhood
By Brooke Jarvis
On December 3, just two days before Occupy L.A. was evicted by police, the General Assembly of the occupation passed a unanimous resolution calling for a constitutional amendment to end corporate personhood. Today, the City Council of Los Angeles also voted, also unanimously, for a resolution making the same appeal
By Imbeciles Who Really Mean It":
Lost Verities And Dirty Hippies
By Phil Rockstroh
At this point, the situation comes down to this: paradigm shift or perish. The hour is amenable to reevaluate, reorganize and re-occupy. Doing so will prove helpful in withstanding false narratives
Obama Raises The Military Stakes:
Confrontation On The Frontiers Of
China And Russia
By James Petras
The Obama regime has learned nothing: Instead he has turned toward greater military confrontation with global powers, namely Russia and China. Obama has adopted a provocative offensive military strategy right on the frontiers of both China and Russia
Towards A True Paradigm Shift In Palestine
By Ramzy Baroud
It requires a generation of leaders with clean slates, revolutionary in their thinking, motivated by the single belief that no freedom can be achieved without true national unity, under a single flag. The allegiance must not lie with any particular faction, but to Palestine itself, and the only unifying slogan should be ‘Freedom’
Defense Authorization Act Will Destroy
Bill of Rights
By Sherwood Ross
The grim face of totalitarianism is emerging in the National Defense Authorization Act(NDAA) now before Congress. This bill is the last mile post on America’s sad, well-traveled road to the butcher shop of dictatorship
A 'Thappad' (Slap) For Mr Subramaniam Swamy !
By Subhash Gatade
The Harvard University faculty recently delivered its own 'slap' for one of its ex students who also happened to be its visiting faculty. In its recent meeting for the approval of the 2012 summer school course catalog it was decided to exclude Mr Swamy's Economics S -110 and Economics 1316 from the catalog and thus effectively removing him from the faculty
Arrest And Harassment of
Pastor C.M Khanna in Srinagar
Fact Finding Report
Report Of The Fact Finding Team To Srinagar And Jammu [ 29 November- 3 December 2011 ] Regarding The Arrest And Harassment Of Pastor C.M Khanna Of All Saints Church, Srinagar
Corporate Lobbying Gaining Strength In India
By Devinder Sharma
It is important for us to also know how much money has been spent by companies on influencing the Prime Minister’s office and also on parliamentarians. After all, it is our future that is at stake
FDI Policy In Multi-Brand Retail
Favors The Big Multinationals
By Shekar Swamy
The minimum amount fixed for foreign investment is $100 million (nearly Rs 500 crores). Only the big players in the retail business have this kind of capital. The Commerce Minister said that the big foreign retailers will invest not in millions but in billions. This is precisely the danger. Money power will take over a ready market, as it has happened in other countries
PUDR Denounces State Suppression Of
Democratic Organizations In The Name Of Maoism
By Harish Dhawan & Paramjeet Singh
Minister Jitendra Singh stated that left-wing organizations like CPML-New Democracy and CPML-Liberation have an active presence in Delhi. Besides, Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), People’s Democratic Front of India (PDF), Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) and Democratic Students Union (DSU) were also named as front organizations for Maoists
06 December, 2011
Assange Given Permission To Appeal
By Robert Stevens
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is to be allowed to make an appeal to the UK’s Supreme Court against his extradition to Sweden on trumped-up sex charges
The Most Important News Story Of
The Day/Millennium
By Bill McKibben
The most important piece of news yesterday, this week, this month, and this year was a new set of statistics released yesterday by the Global Carbon Project. It showed that carbon emissions from our planet had increased 5.9 percent between 2009 and 2010
Saudi Arabia - Headed For A Downfall?
By Gail Tverberg
Saudi Arabia recently announced that it had halted a $100 billion oil production expansion plan to raise capacity to 15 million barrels a day by 2020. At this point, the country claims to have capacity of 12 million barrels a day. What does this mean for its future? Let’s take a look behind the figures
Obama’s Risky Oil Threat To China
By Michael T. Klare
When it comes to China policy, is the Obama administration leaping from the frying pan directly into the fire? In an attempt to turn the page on two disastrous wars in the Greater Middle East, it may have just launched a new Cold War in Asia -- once again, viewing oil as the key to global supremacy
America's Biggest Threat Revealed!
By Frank Rummel
The greatest theat to the future of the United States is the apathy of its citizens. I learned this first hand by participating in Occupy Phoenix. We are holding up placards and we broadcast this message loud through bullhorns
Labor’s Choice In 2012
By Mark Vorpahl
Working people need to discuss the possibility of forming their own independent party, a labor party
War Preparations You Can Bank On
By Thomas Dean Harter
Now, as the world’s economy lies in ruins, a new war has been planned. The players are China, Russia, and Iran against the NATO alliance. As a provocation designed to start the war, there’s been an expansion of U.S. missiles in Europe, Turkey, and Iran on the border with Russia. Just two days ago, Russian President Medvedev spoke scathingly of this recent escalation on Russia TV
Summit In Venezuela Opens 'New Phase In History'
By Federico Fuentes
A summit of huge importance was held in Venezuela on December 2-3. Two hundred years after Latin America’s independence fighters first raised the battle cry for a united Latin America, 33 heads of states from across the region came together to form the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC)
Roadies In Reverse Gear: Advani’s Rathyatra
To Nowhere
By Samar
My heart weeps for Jaiprakash Narain though, whose native place Advani audaciously used for kickstarting this failure called a yatra
Social Connectors Imperative To Kashmir Solution: A Perspective From Kargil
By Javed Naqi
It is vital that Kargil should have Zojila tunnel to be connected with people beyond Zojila pass throughout the year. The Zojila tunnel will act as social connector not only between Kargilities and beyond but it will also connect the larger population of Ladakh to rest of the valley and Jammu
05 December, 2011
Fukushima Plant Leaks Radioactive Water
By Justin McCurry
Radioactive water might have found its way into the Pacific ocean and experts believe it could contain strontium
When Media Is Nuked!
By PK Sundaram
On the recent upsurge of mass protests against nuclear energy projects across India, media is playing the official tune where people challenging these projects are reduced to illiterate crowd, foreign-funded groups, religious identities and even anti-nationals
COP17: Why The ‘Kyoto or Bust’ Positions
Much Change
By Mark Lynas
As ministers arrive in Durban for the all-important second week of COP17, the vexed issue of whether a Kyoto Protocol second commitment period (KP2) will ever see the light of day is no closer to being resolved
Is Climate Change An Emergency?
By Bill Henderson
Those of us who recognize the danger have to step up while there is still time. We must do what we can using whatever tools or opportunities we have. There is still time. There is still hope. But if you care for your children and the species with which we presently share creation on this small blue planet we need real action now
The Age Of Thirst In The American West
By William deBuys
And here’s the bad news in a nutshell: if you live in the Southwest or just about anywhere in the American West, you or your children and grandchildren could soon enough be facing the Age of Thirst, which may also prove to be the greatest water crisis in the history of civilization. No kidding
An Interview With Jeremy Leggett
By Countercurrents.org
Jeremy Leggett speaks on Peak Oil, Renewable energy and financial crisis
The Lesson That Pearl Harbor Should Teach Us
By Tim Murray
If we could manage the descent in a graduated fashion, we might avoid the conflict which would ignite Armageddon. I know it is a faint hope, but I rather like civilization. I'd like to hang on to it as long as possible. That is the lesson that Pearl Harbor teaches me. What about you?
Arrest George W. Bush For Crimes Against Peace,
War Crimes And Crimes against Humanity !
By Dirk Adriaensens
The Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War is serious about getting George W. Bush and Tony L. Blair arrested and prosecuted, after the milestone verdict of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal, where they were found guilty of Crimes against Peace, Crimes against Humanity and War crimes on 22 November 2011
The Commonwealth Of Nations:
An Expensive Provincial Theatre
By George Venturini
The monarchy still epitomises conservative values and the status quo. It is a bastion against change, the living embodiment of a hierarchical society, reinforcing the notion that there is an established order: people should know their place and accept it
Book Review: “The Politics Of Genocide”
By Edward Herman And David Peterson
By Dr Gideon Polya
“The Politics of Genocide” is a very important book that exposes Mainstream media, politician and academic lying about gross human rights abuse and genocide
The Slap That Failed To Shake The Nation
By Devinder Sharma
I want you to think, and think deeply, as to why this democracy finds nothing disturbing when farmers kill themselves in order to draw the attention of powers that be to their plight. “The slap’ and the chappal cannot be simply dismissed as the work of a mentally unstable person. It is an expression of growing anger among the masses
Troy Davis's Sister Succumbs To Cancer
By Mary Shaw
On December 1, Martina Davis Correia lost her long battle with breast cancer. Correia was the sister of Troy Davis, who was executed by the state of Georgia on September 21 amidst worldwide protest
03 December, 2011
S 1867: Killing The Bill of Rights
And Declaring War On Americans
By Tim Gatto
Under the cover of darkness, the United States Senate virtually declared war on the people of this nation by passing the darkest piece of legislation ever passed in America. If the House of Representatives passes its version and the President then puts his signature on it and turning it into law, almost every right under the Bill of Rights will be stripped away from the people of the United States. This will be the final nail in the coffin of democracy in America. We will become a military police state and cease to be a democracy or a representative republic or whatever else it has been called
Deranged Senate Votes For Military Detention Of
All Terror Suspects And A Permanent Guantánamo
By Andy Worthington
Yesterday the shameful dinosaurs of the Senate — hopelessly out of touch with reality, for the most part, and haunted by specters of their own making — approved, by 93 votes to 7, the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act, which contains a number of astonishingly alarming provisions — Sections 1031 and 1032, designed to make mandatory the indefinite military detention of terror suspects until the end of hostilities in a “war on terror” that seems to have no end
Lawmakers Push Disastrous Legislation
On Keystone XL
By Center for Biological Diversity
The House Subcommittee on Energy and Power held a hearing today on legislation called the “North American Energy Security Act,” which would require President Barack Obama to issue a permit on the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline within 60 days of the law’s enactment or determine the pipeline is not in the national interest
After Fukushima: Enough Is Enough
By Helen Caldicott
True green, clean, nearly emission-free solutions exist for providing energy. They lie in a combination of conservation and renewable energy sources, mainly wind, solar and geothermal, hydropower plants, and biomass from algae. A smart-grid could integrate consuming and producing devices, allowing flexible operation of household appliances
I Am A Doctor, Being Victimized
For Telling Radiation Truth
By Dr.V.Pugazhenthi from Kalpakkam
Dr. V. Pugazhenthi is acclaimed for his rigorous and credible studies on health impact of radiation around Kalpakkam nuclear site. He is one of the members of people’s expert committee in the ongoing anti-nuclear movement in Koodankulam. It is unfortunate that he is being victimized to this extent
Some Thoughts That OCCUPY My Mind
By William Blum
Those young people, and the old ones as well, keep surprising me, with their dedication and energy, their camaraderie and courage, their optimism and innovation, their non-violence and their keen awareness of the danger of being co-opted their focusing on the economic institutions more than on the politicians or political parties
Once Again, War Is Prime Time
And Journalism’s Role Is Taboo
By John Pilger
The role of respectable journalism in western state crimes — from Iraq to Iran, Afghanistan to Libya — remains taboo
Social Democracy And The Economic Crisis
By John W. Warnock
The financial/economic crisis which broke in 2007 has demonstrated the failure of the neoliberal model. But with the traditional social democratic parties of the left, and then the Greens, generally supporting this model, what is the alternative?
Francis Khoo Kah Siang (1947-2011):
A Tireless Advocate Of Justice For Palestinian
By Franklin Lamb
Francis Khoo Kah Siang passed away on November 20, 2011. In addition to the countless reasons Francis will be sorely missed by his friends and loved ones, he will be missed because he leaves a void for many of us who were and remain inspired by his work for Palestinian rights
02 December, 2011
Fukushima Fuel Rods May Have Completely Melted
By Justin McCurry
One of the plant's nuclear reactors was close to being breached as fuel rods bore through its concrete floor, says Tepco
Breivik Declared Insane
By Jordan Shilton
This decision has nothing to do with concern over Breivik’s mental state. Rather, it is motivated by the fear in ruling circles that even a limited investigation of the events leading up to July 22, which a trial would undertake, would raise uncomfortable questions for those with connections to Breivik
Climate Justice Requires A New Paradigm
By Vandana Shiva
To protect the planet, to prevent climate catastrophe through continued pollution, we will have to continue to work beyond Copenhagen by building Earth Democracy based on principles of justice and sustainability. The struggle for climate justice and trade justice are one struggle, not two
Common Ground: Securing A Future For All
Who Share Our Planet’s Resources
By Dr. Mark Everard
Commitment to practical action to secure a better future for all, supported by the ecosystems that we now know to be vital in providing for our continuing needs, is currently the only generation-defining ‘big decision’ of any import. We must not fail in this audacious endeavour
Obama And Israel’s Security
By Alan Hart
The problem with the American presidential fixation with Israel’s security is that it is based on a myth – that poor little Israel has lived in constant danger of annihilation, “the driving into the sea of its Jews.” As I document in detail in my book, the truth of history is that Israel’s existence has never, ever, been in danger from any combination of Arab force
Further Destruction Of Iraq's Higher Education:
Blazing Fires, Forged Degrees And Silencer Guns
By Dirk Adriaensens
This article is yet again proof of the doublespeak by the Iraqi puppet government and of the dangers the current situation presents for the Iraqi academic community
“Muddy Spirituality” By Jon Owen,
Tamil Australian Ministering To Australia 's Poor
By Dr Gideon Polya
“Muddy Spirituality. Bringing it all back down to earth” by Jon Owen (UNOH, Melbourne 2011) is an inspiring book by an inspiring young Indian Australian who works among the poor and marginalised people of the needy suburbs of Melbourne and Western Sydney. The important message of the book to all people, whether theists, atheists or agnostics, is effective service to our fellow man through empathy, cohabitation and practical assistance
Pakistan Protests Mount As Obama Rejects
Apology For US Strike
By Bill Van Auken
Even as popular outrage against the raid by US warplanes against Pakistani installations continues to mount, it was reported that President Obama has rejected a proposal from the US State Department that he issue a formal apology for the massacre
01 December, 2011
Ticking Greenhouse Gas Time Bomb:
Melting Permafrost
By Seth Borenstein
The permafrost scientists predict that over the next three decades a total of about 45 billion metric tons of carbon from methane and carbon dioxide will seep into the atmosphere when permafrost thaws during summers. That's about the same amount of heat-trapping gas the world spews during five years of burning coal, gas and other fossil fuels
Syrian Crisis Draws In Regional And Major Powers
By Jean Shaoul
The Arab League’s announcement of economic sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has set in motion a rapidly escalating crisis that is drawing in both the regional and major powers. The offensive being mounted against Syria now threatens a wider conflagration in the region
Pepperspraying The Future
By John Michael Greer
During the years immediately ahead of us, unless I’m very much mistaken, the political, economic, and cultural institutions of the industrial world can be counted on to do just about anything other than a meaningful response to the crisis of our age, and any meaningful response that does happen is going to have to come from individuals, families, and community groups
Amid The Architecture Of Declining Capitalism:
Memes, Death Genes And Real Estate Schemes
By Phil Rockstroh
The recent pepper spraying "incident" at the University of California at Davis represents more than an opportunity to create a cleverly photoshopped, viral meme. The act is part and parcel of a larger collective mindset--a proclivity towards authoritarian overreaction now deeply internalized in daily life in the U.S
Israel’s Grand Hypocrisy
By Jonathan Cook
As protests raged again across the Middle East, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, offered his assessment of the Arab Spring last week. It was, he said, an “Islamic, anti-western, anti-liberal, anti-Israeli, undemocratic wave”, adding that Israel’s Arab neighbours were “moving not forwards, but backwards”
The Ridiculous Burdens Borne
By Gaza Medical Patients
By Rami Almeghari
Some medical patients in Gaza must go to great lengths (literally) to receive treatment
The Kishenji Cover-up: The Media
And The Indian State
By Trevor Selvam
A detailed interview of Poet Varvara Rao by a CNN IBN reporter was removed by them from You Tube, very quickly after it was put up, possibly because the young woman interviewing him, repeatedly referred to Azad and Kishenji (two Central Committee members of the CPI (Maoist) killed recently by the Indian State) as "comrade" each time she brought up their names
Nuclear Dichotomy
By M V Ramana & Suvrat Raju
The country has witnessed a strange display of double standards over the past few weeks. The fears of the locals at Kudankulam that the reactors there might undergo an accident were dismissed by the Government : “The probability of an accident … is one is to infinity,” the Chairperson of the Atomic Energy Commission is reported to have said. However, the fears of international nuclear suppliers— that if a major accident were to occur, the Indian nuclear liability act might force them to pay large sums in compensation —were treated as serious and the Government has just come out with rules that almost completely indemnify them
Does India Rock?
By Rajesh Kumar Sharma
Has the spirit of the 60s finally arrived in India ? Is the new economic order set to liberate our libidinal economies too? Are we at last graduating into the freedom which Nietzsche, Marx and Freud foreshadowed? Imtiaz Ali's Rockstar , released this November, tempts you to wonder
Celebrating Life In A Positive Way
By Shobha Shukla
As we once again commemorated World AIDS Day on 1st December 2011, it is time to share the joys and sorrows of people living with HIV (PLHIV) with a positive attitude
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