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31 January, 2015

Gorbachev Warns Ukraine Could Ignite World War III
By Niles Williamson

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union, accused the United States Thursday of initiating a new Cold War with Russia and expressed fears that the conflict could escalate into a nuclear Third World War. Gorbachev made his comments as fighting escalated in Ukraine between forces directed by the US- and European Union-backed government in Kiev and pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Donbass region

Return Of The Israelites
By Dan Lieberman

A number of Jewish commentators have criticized a bill that could officially classify Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. Haaretz, the conscience of Israel, December 1, 2014, presented Five must-read opinion pieces about Israel 's nation-state bill. These opinion pieces, as others, focus on the bill as a betrayal of a functioning democracy, contradiction to the Zionist Declaration of Independence , and confirmation of Israel's racism and exclusivity

Mobilized And Winning, Now It’s TimeTo Escalate
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers

The ‘Movement of Movements’ against Fast Tracking the TPP has the power to win

Half Of Humanity Now Forms The ‘Resistance’
By Andre Vltchek

Were India not to betray the BRICS, were it not to jump into an horrific embrace of the West and Israel, as well as its own grotesque religious and cast-driven nationalism, at least one half of the planet would now be standing firmly against the Empire and its sinister design to fully control the world

Words Socialism And Secularism Missing In Constitution’s Preamble:
Attempt To Undermine Secularism, Testing Waters?
By Ram Puniyani

The fathers of Indian Constitution brought in the core values of India’s freedom movement. The ones, who are currently demanding a deletion or debate to on these words are the ones’ who are opposed to Indian Nationalism and want to march towards Hindu nationalism. They also don’t identify with India’s freedom movement. The battle is not merely around this or that word, its battle between upholding the spirit of Indian freedom movement versus nationalism in the name of religion #DefendIndianConstituion

Defend Perumal Murugan, Defend Freedom Of Speech, #DefendIndianConstitution
By Countercurrents.org

Recently Tamil writer Perumal Murugan declared himself 'dead' as a writer. He also withdrew all his books. He was silenced by a cabal of caste and communal forces for writing the novel ‘Madorubhagan', which upset powerful caste groups in western Tamil Nadu’. RSS extremists burnt his books in public and he was forced to flee from his home. The state agencies and officials, instead of offering protection to the author, violated his Constitutional right to freedom of speech by acting on behalf of the mobs that were threatening violent action against him #DefendIndianConstituion

30 January, 2015

EU Foreign Ministers Toughen Sanctions Against Russia
By Johannes Stern

At yesterday’s meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, the European Union avoided an open conflict over its aggressive course towards Russia and further toughened economic sanctions. The new Greek government under Alexis Tsipras, which had questioned the sanctions policy before the special summit, agreed to the new measure

Is Democracy Dead In The West?
By Paul Craig Roberts

We will find out the answer to the question posed in the title in the outcome of the contest between the new Greek government, formed by the political party Syriza, and the ECB and the private banks, with whose interests the EU and Washington align against Greece

‘Regulatory Cooperation' And The TTIP: Opening The Floodgates
Even Further For Corporate Plunder
By Colin Todhunter

A new leak concerning the talks around the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) indicates that the floodgates could be opened even further for corporate influence. The leak has been analysed by the corporate watchdogs CEO and LobbyControl and shows that corporate influence on EU and US policies might dramatically increase via the chapter on so-called ‘regulatory cooperation'

Property And Power
By Lionel Anet

Those wealthy ones are ignorant of the danger they are placing themselves in, because we have focused our concerns on the poor one who are in direct danger. This has little effect on the wealthy; they are wealthy (powerful) because they lack concern for the poor. Nevertheless, they must have interest in themselves to own so much. It’s their power or their life. They must choose, however, we must give them that option

Students Save Palestine
By David Swanson

In proposing that Congress Members boycott or walk out on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned speech to Congress, expected to push for sanctions if not war on Iran, activists are drawing on actions engaged in by college students in recent years, as they have boycotted or walked out on or disrupted speeches by Israeli soldiers and officials on U.S. campuses. Netanyahu's noodle-headed move -- oblivious, apparently, to the U.S. government's effective evolution into a term-limited monarchy -- may provide a boost to both the movement to free Palestine and the movement to prevent a war on Iran

Sirisena Can Take The Cue From Obama To Build Two Nations In Sri Lanka
By Dr C P Thiagarajah

The 13th Amendment seeks to create a Constitutional frame within which the Sinhala people may rule the Tamils of Eelam more effectively by creating and nurturing a class of Tamils dependent on the patronage of a Sinhala dominated Central Government for their political and perhaps, even their physical, survival. There is no rhyme or reason for introducing Amendment 13 at this point in time after all life sacrifices extracted from the Tamils by war criminals

Citizens’ Statement Against Capitulation To The US On Nuclear Liability
By Concerned Citizens

We are deeply disturbed by media reports that the Indian government has capitulated to aggressive U.S. demands and agreed to a deal that indemnifies American nuclear vendors from the consequences of accidents caused by design defects in their reactors #DefendIndianConstituion

Fight Against Hindu Nationalism And Stand Up For Secular India
By People's Alliance For Democracy And Secularism

The earlier brand of Hindutva murdered Gandhi. Its current brand in power appropriates a sanitised version of the man for its 'swachh bharat' campaign, while its politics is against the very principle of communal harmony for which he died. Central ministers of current Hindutva in power publicly abuse minorities, and its M.Ps exhort Hindu women to have four, or ten children to serve the Hindu nation. All these are creating a fertile ground for the ghost of Nathuram Godse to rise. It is not surprising that determined efforts are on way to celebrate the man on the anniversary of the day he killed Gandhi. The death of Gandhi in 2015 is as much an occasion to ponder over the kind of nation Indians want to make for themselves, as was the day of his murder sixty seven years ago #DefendIndianConstituion

An OPen Letter To Kiran Bedi- Homosecxuality, Privacy Rights
And The Forth-Coming Delhi Assembly Elections
By Dr. Paramjit Singh Sahni & Shobha Aggarwal

Ms. Bedi, do you still hold the same views on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) issues after a lapse of more than two decades?

Release Jaison Cooper And Thushar Sarathy
By Concerned Citizens

We, the undersigned, place the following demands before the Chief Minister of Kerala and call upon him to: 1. Release the activists Jaison Cooper and Thushar Sarathy unconditionally 2. Punish the police officers responsible for framing and defaming people’s activists 3. Prevent the torture and intimidation of Jaison Cooper and Thushar Sarathy as long as they remain in police custody and to protect their right to silence and dignity #DefendIndianConstituion

#DefendIndianConstitution Event Held In Calicut, Kerala
Press Release

On the 66th Republic Day in the context of increasing threat faced by India's constitution a meeting was organised at MBL Media School, Calicut. In this meeting about 60 students and staff members of MBL Media School participated. #DefendIndianConstituion

29 January, 2015

Gandhiji's Martyrdom Anniversary: Sardar Patel Held RSS
And Hindu Mahasabha Responsible For His Murder
By Shamsul Islam

Hindu Mahasabha and RSS were jointly responsible for the murder of Father of Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, this fact was corroborated by Sardar Patel in a letter to a prominent leader of Hindu Mahasabha, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee on July 18, 1948

How President Obama Could Take On And Defeat The Zionist Lobby
By Alan Hart

A longer version of my headline would be this. How President Obama could take on and defeat the Zionist lobby and secure for himself the freedom to put America's own best interests first in the Middle East and wider Muslim

Dear Syria: From One Refugee To Another
By Ramzy Baroud

Watching the destitution of the Syrian refugees is like rewinding the past , in all of its awful details. And watching Arab states clamor to aid the refugees with ample words and little action feels as if we are living Arab betrayal all over again

Where Are The South Asians?
By Romi Mahajan

What is harder to understand is why working-class South Asians seem also to be absent from so many social and political formations in the United States (with notable and laudable exceptions.) On this matter I am not even remotely an expert but I have some opinions that I’d love to be dissected by those more in the know than I am

There Is No Scientific Consensus On GMO Safety
By Colin Todhunter

The industry's claim that there is a 'scientific consensus' on the safety of GMOs is about as bogus as its claim that this technology is required to 'feed the world'. That too is a deception

28January, 2015

The Global Siginificance Of Greek Elections In 2015
By Jon V Kofas

The global significance of the election in Greece is the symbolism of popular opposition to: a) Western-imposed austerity that results in income redistribution from the bottom 80% the population to the top 20%; b) Blatant disregard for national sovereignty of debtor nations by the hegemonic creditor governments that represent finance capital; c) Popular democracy can prevail despite the massive propaganda by the mainstream media demonizing any political party or movement appealing for social justice; d) Contagion effect, as other political movements, PODEMOS in Spain for example, will follow the precedent set by the Greek election e) A major blow to the neoliberal model of development under globalization that the West has been presenting as “the only way” to conduct economic and social policy

Ukraine's Government Is Losing Its War. Here Is Why
By Eric Zuesse

The Ukrainian Government's problem is that there just aren't enough nazis, and there's also not enough money, to do the amounts of killing that need to be done in order to enable Obama's Ukrainian regime to retain the land in Donbass while eliminating the people there. The 90% of those people who had voted for the man (Viktor Yanukovych) whom Obama overthrew are far more numerous, and far more motivated, than are the vast majority of Ukraine's soldiers

Sustainability Over Growth: The Paradigm Shift At The Heart Of The UK 's "Green Surge"
By Richard Collie

With the leftist Green Party now polling at record levels in the UK , the predictable backlash from the conservative media arrived last week. The Tory press had fun spinning the Party's policies into sensationalistic drivel (see Matthew Holehouse's Drugs, brothels, al-Qaeda and the Beyonce tax: the Green Party plan for Britain for the Telegraph). There was vocal criticism from a number of Labour supporters too. While hostility from the conservative press was to be expected, I must say I have been quite taken aback by how many Labour commentators have completely failed to grasp the mentality of Green supporters or what the "Green Surge" is all about

Collective Efforts + Self-Education = Social Change
By Mickey Z.

We are on the brink of economic, social, and environmental collapse. What an extraordinary time to be alive. How lucky are we? We've been trusted with the most vital mission of all time: survival. This is the best time ever to be working towards collective liberation. Let’s join together to make sure it’s not the last

Some Contributions Of Islamic Culture
By John Scales Avery

At a time when the corporate-controlled media of Europe and the United States are doing everything that they can to fill us with poisonous Islamophobia, it is perhaps a useful antidote to remember the great role that Islamic civilization played in preserving, enlarging and transmitting to us the knowledge and culture of the ancient world

Peace or War: Global Political Quagmire
By Mahboob A. Khawaja

If living history is a valid reference point, Islamic civilization and diverse Western civilizations have co-existed for centuries in peace, harmony and productivity

The Truth About The Fight Against "Anti-Semitism"
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal

The Israeli movie maker Yoav Shamir documents in the film "Defamation" the fight of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) against "anti-Semitism". This "fight" has little to do with "anti-Semitism" but much with muzzling Israel critic. "Anti-Semitism" serves as a pretext to immunize the State of Israel against criticism

Series Sends Norwegian Fashion Bloggers To Observe Cambodian Garment Industry
By Robert Barsocchini

This series, “Sweatshop: Dead Cheap Fashion”, consists of four episodes, ten to twelve minutes each, and is well worth watching. It chronicles the reactions of three young Norwegian fashion bloggers when they go to Cambodia to see who is making the clothing they love to buy and talk about

Why Do We Fear Love?
By Robert J. Burrowes

Why do human beings fear love? That is, why do we fear loving ourselves and others, and why do we fear being fully loved ourselves?

Pakistan And its Multiple Tyrannies
By Iqbal Alimohamed

Pakistan must acknowledge it has serious governance problems and redress soonest its self-inflicted tyrannies. Only then will it restore its credibility within its own citizenry, and also abroad as a trusted nation and reliable ally with which to “ do business”, with confidence and, above all else, respect

Release And Re-arrest of Irom Sharmila A Mockery Of Judiciary By State
By Ravi Nitesh

It is the republic of world’s largest democracy where democratic parties are not fulfilling their promises, imports of arms and weapons are increasing by state, so many reports of state led violence upon people and human rights violations reported . But at the same time, I see the hope within people, like Irom Sharmila, who is till hopeful and continuing her fast in a peaceful protest to demand repeal AFSPA. And her hope in the democracy, gives me hope

Justice Delayed, And Denied Yet Again
By People's Union for Democratic Rights

PUDR urges Supreme Court to suo moto intervene in the Shankarbigha and other massacres

Kashmiri Pandits: What Happened To Them?
By Rayees Rasool

Kashmiri Pandits are as Kashmiris as we are, this nation belongs to them as much as it belongs to us

27 January, 2015

‘Secular’ And ‘Socialist’ Dropped From The Preamble Of
Indian Constitution In Republic Day Advertisement
By India Resists

We are shocked by the conspicuous absence of the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ from the Indian constitution’s preamble used in the customary advertisement in newspapers of 26th January, greeting people of India on the Republic Day. At the time when the people of India, and even the global community, have genuine apprehensions about the secular character of the Indian democracy, which stands threatened by a right-wing government formed with less than one-third of the popular votes, this omission is utterly condemnable #DefendIndianConstituion

The Collapse Of Europe?
By John Feffer

The European Union May Be on the Verge of Regime Collapse

New Documentary, “Censored Voices”, Offers Revelations
About Israel's 1967 War of Aggression, Conquest
By Robert Barsocchini

As a society where speech is heavily censored by the government and military, interviews with Israeli soldiers after the '67 war of aggression (the “six day war”) were locked away, until now, when they can be viewed to some extent in the documentary “Censored Voices”. However , “Israel forbids the filmmakers to reveal how much they were forced to change, and the military censor's office refused to discuss it.” The military is said to have “heavily edited” the footage

The Elephant In The Room: The Origin Of Modern Terror And Crumbling Western Values
By John Chuckman

Our press assiduously avoids much of the world’s horrors as it focuses on “Islamic extremism,” and politics are the only explanation for the bias. The press theme of Islamic terror and indeed real incidents of terror grow from a reality always taken for granted, never debated, and certainly never criticised: the elephant in the room, as it were, is Israel’s illegal and agonizingly long occupation of the Palestinians

Freedom, Where Are You? Not In America or Europe
By Paul Craig Roberts

When the former Goldman Sachs executive who runs the European Central Bank (ECB) announced that he was going to print 720 billion euros annually with which to purchase bad debts from the politically connected big banks, the euro sank and the stock market and Swiss franc shot up. As in the US, quantitative easing (QE) serves to enrich the already rich. It has no other purpose

Gaza In Arizona
By Todd Miller & Gabriel M. Schivone

How Israeli High-Tech Firms Will Up-Armor the U.S.-Mexican Border

“US, Ukraine And Russia : What Went Wrong?”
By Kim Scipes

A talk by John Mearsheimer and Rick Rozoff, Evanston , Illinois , January 10, 2015

New Media in 2015: In Conflict Areas It Plays An Active And Dynamic Role
By Kashoo Tawseef

Power of the people is paramount to the development and peace of any nation but in a conflict situation, this people’s power is always in jeopardy. Social media has a given new hope to the people to retain this power

Oppose And Resist The Undemocratic Land Acquisition, Rehab, Resettlement Ordinance
By Bhoomi

Bhoomi – a Forum for Protection of Land in India (FPLI) resolved on 22nd January 2015 at Visakhapatnam meet to call upon people of India to oppose and resist the undemocratic Land Acquisition, Rehab, Resettlement (LARR) ordinance to take away the democratic rights of the farmers, tribals given in the Act 2013

Niall Ferguson On Kissinger's World Order [Part Four]
By Thomas Riggins

Ferguson thinks Kissinger is a mixture of idealist and realist, and more similar to the idealism expressed in Kant’s essay Perpetual Peace than the realism of Machiavelli. I don’t think anyone reading Kant would conclude that Kissinger was anything other than the thug and goon type of statesman Kant was horrified by and who was portrayed so accurately by Christopher Hitchens in The Trial of Henry Kissinger

26 January, 2015

Defend Indian Constitution! Defend Diversity, Dialogue, Democracy!
By Forum for the Defence of the Indian Constitution

On 26 January 2015 as we mark the 65th anniversary of the adoption of the Indian Constitution and the declaration of the country as a Republic the time has come to ask, ‘How much longer will this entity called modern India last?’

Defend The Constitution Of India
By Major General S.G.Vombatkere (Retd)

The values of our sovereign socialist secular democratic Republic are under threat from within our own India. It is up to WE THE PEOPLE (each one of us) to understand our Constitution and pledge to defend it as our primary duty as citizens of the Republic of India. The fundamental duties of every citizen, defined in Article 51A are REPRODUCED here for immediate reference

Derailing The Constitution: A Threat To The Idea Of India
By Shehzad Poonawalla

The Indian Constitution has been modeled to allow a process of collective decision-making that safeguards us against the terrible outcomes of concentrating all power in one individual. For over 60 years, we have as a nation, built up democratic institutions that act as a safety valve. Today, a unilateralist approach and an almost dictatorial control over these institutions threaten the very foundations of our democracy

We The People @ 1950
By Cocerned Citizens

We the people request all Indians to give five minutes time to meditate on the great men of freedom struggle who fought to bring this republic into existence and absorb these great ethical values in our day to day life

People’s Historic Victory In Greece
By Farooque Chowdhury

A historic verdict has been announced in Greece. The people in Greece have achieved a historic victory. The just concluded election in Greece announces the victory. The cheering people’s smiling bright faces reflect the verdict: Death to Austerity, Assert People’s Sovereign Power. Europe is now waiting for an impact of the victory. It’s a victory against the bankers engaged with virtual criminal acts: stealing of people’s property with a constitutional coverage and instituting a regime change with a peaceful appearance. SYRIZA, the Radical Coalition of the Left, in Greece has shown the way people reject bankers’ crude cruelty

Close Guantánamo
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal

13 years of torture and lawlessness at Guantánamo should be enough for the self-proclaimed flagship democracy. This military camp has made a mockery of the US jurisdiction, which has lost its credibility. For the rest of the world, American democracy is no longer a role model because of its lousy judiciary and its criminal and despicable foreign policy. Wasn't the US founded, inter alia, on the basis of the rule of law? All American children cut their teeth on apple pie and the rule of law. As long as Guantanamo stays open, it's an insult to anybody who respects the rule of law, justice and fairness

The Banality Of 'American Sniper'
By Mickey Z.

All the “controversy” surrounding Clint Eastwood’s latest dose of propaganda -- American Sniper -- appears to ignore how predictable it all is. The United States of Corporate Power spends more money on war that all other nations combined and is the planet’s #1 arms dealer. Why is anyone surprised that films about snipers are made, lauded, and well-received? Of course Clint made American Sniper and of course it’s a box office smash and no, I won’t waste my time and money seeing it. I will, however, once again break down America’s sniper/military fetish

GMO Biotech Companies And Compliant Politicians:
Infiltrating India Using Baseless Claims And Deception
By Colin Todhunter

A study of GMOs over a four-year plus period by India's multi-party Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture recommended a ban on GM food crops, stating they had no role in a country of small farmers. The Supreme Court appointed Technical Expert Committee recommended an indefinite moratorium on the field trials of GM crops until the government devised a proper regulatory and safety mechanism. As yet, no such mechanism exists, but open field trials are being given the go ahead. GMO crops approved for field trials include rice, maize, chickpea, sugarcane and brinjal

Everyday Survival, Everyday Struggle: Fighting Against Hunger In South Asia
By Shalu Nigam

The Global Hunger Index Report, 2014 indicates that the hunger is highest in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia and the irony is that it is more rampant among people who are the producers of food. The report also noted that the `hidden hunger' or the deficiency of micro-nutrients, is much prevalent in Africa, South of the Sahara and the South Asian Continent. In the 21 st century when the civilization boasts of its technology, development, and fast paced advancements why so many people are starving?

Incendiary Politics In Bangladesh Mainstream
By Farooque Chowdhury

No political movement in any period in the subcontinent found commoners being turned victims of incendiary politics. These facts are known to political leaders. They are fully aware of possible impact of these incendiary incidents. They are fully aware that people don’t like incendiary politics. So there lurks a question: Is the incendiary politics an attempt to reach a dead-end, an attempt by interventionists to prepare a prelude to an intervention with a far-reaching geopolitical target?

23 January, 2015

'Doomsday Clock' Ticks Forward: Climate Change, Nuclear Weapons
Push Humanity Closer Towards Global Catastrophe
By Andrea Germanos

Runaway climate change and the ongoing threat of nuclear weapons have pushed the world closer towards irreversible catastrophe, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced Thursday, as the group pushed the symbolic Doomsday Clock forward to three minutes before midnight

A Future In Prison
By Kathy Kelly

The Bureau of Prisons contacted me today, assigning me a prison number and a new address: for the next 90 days, beginning tomorrow, I'll live at FMC Lexington, in the satellite prison camp for women, adjacent to Lexington's federal medical center for men. Very early tomorrow morning, Buddy Bell, Cassandra Dixon, and Paco and Silver, two house guests whom we first met in protests on South Korea's Jeju Island, will travel with me to Kentucky and deliver me to the satellite women's prison outside the Federal Medical Center for men

CNN Serves US Gov Policy, Casts Deceased Saudi Tyrant In Positive Light
By Robert Barsocchini

“ Reporting ” on the death of Saudi dictator Abdullah in an article titled “Saudi Arabia's ‘reformer' king Abdullah dies”, CNN notes that his dictatorship is a “key US ally”, and thus proceeds to paint an entirely sympathetic picture of his brutal regime, perhaps the world's most repressive. CNN expresses admiration for the dictatorship and hatred for the Saudi people, attempting to defend US policy of repressing those people by propping up the dictatorship since the 1930s, when Saudi oil was discovered

Federal Prison Sentence Begins For Anti-Drone Activist, Kathy Kelly
An interview with peace activist Kathy Kelly By Medea Benjamin

On January 23, Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a campaign to end U.S. military and economic warfare, will begin a three-month jail sentence in federal prison for a protest against drones (also known as “unmanned aerial vehicles”) at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. Medea Benjamin had a chance to interview her before she had to turn herself in

Drones And The New Ethics Of War
By Prof. Neve Gordon

This Christmas small drones were among the most popular gift under the tree in the U.S. with manufacturers stating that they sold 200,000 new unmanned aerial vehicles during the holiday season. While the rapid infiltration of drones into the gaming domain clearly reflects that drones are becoming a common weapon among armed forces, their appearance in Walmart, Toys “R” Us and Amazon serves, in turn, to normalize their deployment in the military

British Have Invaded 193 Countries: Make 26 January
( Australia Day, Invasion Day) British Invasion Day
By Dr Gideon Polya

In the last 2 millennia the British have invaded 193 out of 203 present-day countries (195 UN-recognized nations and 8 non-UN-recognized self-governing countries) as compared to the French 80, the US 70 and Apartheid Israel 12. However the British invasion of Australia on 26 January 1788 ultimately destroyed as many as 600 unique Indigenous Australian tribes and a comparable number of languages and dialects

Ukraine Stiffs China For Billions It Owes
By Eric Zuesse

China paid Ukraine $3B two years Ago for grain still not delivered, now demands refund. Another $3.6B that's owed to China, will probably also default

Lessons That Hollande Failed To Learn From W. Bush’s Plunders
By Ramzy Baroud

Francois Hollande is not a popular president. No matter how hard the ‘socialist’ leader tries to impress, there never seems to be a no solid constituency that backs him. He attempted to mask his initial lack of experience in foreign affairs with a war in Mali, after his country enthusiastically took on Libya. While he succeeded at launching wars, he failed at managing their consequences as the latest attacks in Paris have demonstrated

French President Promised Justice But Terrorists Seek
Real Justice For Muslim Millions Slaughtered
By Jay Janson

Meaningful justice, would be Europeans recognizing their legal responsibility to compensate the survivors of Muslim and non-Muslim millions slaughtered, maimed, impoverished, enslaved and exploited on three continents over the centuries of Europe’s rise via the plunder of three continents, including Muslim and other cultures and civilizations older, more advanced and wealthier than those of Europeans at that time. Patience!

Sri Lanka: Window Of Opportunity To Rebuild Damaged Legal Structure
By Asian Human Rights Commission

The 100-day reform programme of the new government is an opportune moment for rebuilding the legal structure of Sri Lanka, a precondition for achieving the “good governance” that has been promised

Saving Modi’s Image, The BJP Way
By Prof. Vivek Kumar

Narendra Modi has decided not to address rallies and campaign in Delhi with full vigor. BJP has also decided not to make these Delhi elections a fight between him and others. BJP is afraid that if BJP looses then Modi's image will take a beating

21 January, 2015

Our Renewable Future
By Richard Heinberg

What’s needed now is neither fatalism nor utopianism, but a suite of practical pathways for families and communities that lead to a real and sustainable renewable future—parachutes that will get us from a 17,000-watt society to a 2,000-watt society. We need public messages that emphasize the personal and community benefits of energy conservation, and visions of an attractive future where human needs are met with a fraction of the operational and embodied energy that industrial nations currently use. We need detailed transition plans for each major sector of the economy. We need inspiring examples, engaging stories, and opportunities for learning in depth. The transition to our real renewable future deserves a prominent, persistent place at the center of public conversation

Street Smarts, Ecocide, And The Pope’s Mother
By Mickey Z.

The only question left is whether or not anyone is human enough to stand up and defend their mother earth’s honor. Who knows, maybe the pontiff will take the first swing?

The Super-Rich Do Not Deserve Their Wealth
By Alan MacLeod

The implications of this obscene distortion of wealth on democracy are chilling. For to have one double decker bus full of people owning so much necessarily condemns billions of human beings to live in desperate, brutal poverty and misery. These findings make it crystal clear: we can either have billionaires or we can have democracy and freedom

Let Us Learn From The People Of France!
By S.R. Darapuri

Two days ago, 16 million people in France staged a protest march against the genocide of Charlie Hebdo in an exemplary peaceful manner. During the protest march neither any Muslim mosque was smashed nor was any Muslim attacked. The people pledged to protect the freedom of expression and to join hands to fight against the religious right

26th January! And This Time Obama Is Visiting
By Kashoo Tawseef

Right to live, that too in ones own place, is an inalienable, birth and basic human right as Nelson Mandela said, ‘to deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity,’ Jammu and Kashmir is an example of such challenge to humanity where this right is being violated day in and out

What Was Gandhi’s Evaluation Of RSS?
By Ram Puniyani

Today having occupied the seat of power, RSS is desperate to link itself to the legacy of freedom movement from which it had kept aloof. It had criticized the freedom movement as people from all the communities were part of It. RSS aims for Hindu nation, the way Muslim League’s goal was Muslim nation. Today treading a careful path it wants to appropriate Gandhi for which a ‘certificate’ is needed from Gandhi. So his sentence is being manipulated to highlight ‘hard disciplined work’ and to hide the rider that ‘so had been the ‘Nazis of Hitler and Fascists of Mussolini.’ The basic contradiction in the two types of nationalisms should guide us as what was Gandhi’s attitude was towards RSS, despite the well manicured claims from RSS combine

Resist Academic Fundamentalism And Uphold The Shrinking Of Democratic Spaces On Campus
By Concerned students of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

We condemn all the acts which are adding to the undemocratic nature of the Universities. On this we urge all students and faculty to support and join us in the endeavor to uphold the shrinking of democratic spaces in the Universities and create healthy spaces for academic discourses

Development And Dalits: Political Scenario In New Delhi
By Rahul Sonpimple

Once again Delhi is getting ready for political battle of the throne. This time all parties seem well informed about the present political scenario in the city and are taking calculated steps to influence all sections of voters, as the last assembly elections have been an eye opening episode. Dalit votes in the city are estimated to be around 25 lakhs, a significant fraction to change the game and ensure a soothing end for any political contender

A Historic Call For Uttarakhand
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

It is hoped that the state government of Uttarakhand will provide necessary details to the Court and show its inclination in distributing surplus land to Dalits and Aadivasis of the region. For us, it’s a struggle for more than 20 years, where we realize how difficult and frustrating is having faith in the rule of law and Constitution. If the Constitution fails here, it means people who are picking up arms to save their land and natural resources which their forefathers nurtured for years, are justified

20 January, 2015

Ukraine Opens Offensive Against Pro-Russian Separatists In The East
By Niles Williamson

The Ukrainian regime opened a renewed offensive against pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Donbass region over the weekend in an effort to solidify control over the Donetsk International Airport, which has been the site of months of intense fighting between government forces and pro-Russian separatists

How Western Policy Assists The Transformation Of Anti-Israelism Into Anti-Semitism
By Alan Hart

By their refusal to call and hold Israel to account for its defiance of international law, all the governments of the Western world are assisting the transformation of anti-Israelism into anti-Semitism

Netanyahu: Prime Minister of Israel or The Leader Of The "Jewish People"?
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal

Netanyahu's presence at the "march of the millions" in France protesting the Charlie Hebdo killings and the murderous assault on a Jewish supermarket, in which four French Jewish citizens were killed by the perpetrator, was not only an offence to the other heads of states gathered there but also to France and its political class. Netanyahu was not invited, but attended anyway and pushed himself in the first row to wave to his fans, as if on a campaign tour

Inside The Uniform, Under The Hood, Longing For Change
By Kathy Kelly

There's no reason to automatically exalt uniformed fighters as heroes. But a humane society will surely seek understanding and care for any person who survives the killing fields of a war zone. Likewise, people in the U.S. should be encouraged to see every detainee in Guantanamo as a human person, someone to be called by name and not by a prison number. The cartoonized versions of foreign policy handed to U.S. people, designating heroes and villains, create a dangerously under-educated public unable to engage in democratic decision-making

A Shadow War In 150 Countries
By Nick Turse

Special Ops Missions Already in 105 Countries in 2015

Murdering Journalists … Them And Us
By William Blum

Where has all this Islamic fundamentalism come from in this modern age? Most of it comes – trained, armed, financed, indoctrinated – from Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. During various periods from the 1970s to the present, these four countries had been the most secular, modern, educated, welfare states in the Middle East region. And what had happened to these secular, modern, educated, welfare states?

Rain Water Harvesting In Myanmar
By Marianne de Nazareth

There are several types of Rain Water Harvesting ponds in the villages of Myanmar , of which some are especially designed to handle storage only of drinking water. The pond walls can be as high as 6 ft., and are normally protected so that domestic animals cannot enter them and pollute them. This protection is crucial and needs to be adhered to strictly

Sri Lanka’s New Regime Have To Modernise Its Style
By Dr C P Thiagarajah

I wonder if the newly sworn in cabinet consider themselves rulers or servants of the public. That will be their first choice for change

19 January, 2015

Richest 1% Percent To Have More Than Rest Of Humanity Combined By 2016

By Jon Queally

In less than two years, if current trends continued unchecked, the richest 1% percent of people on the planet will own at least half of the world's wealth. That's the conclusion of a new report from Oxfam International, released Monday, which states that the rate of global inequality is not only morally obscene, but an existential threat to the economies of the world and the very survival of the planet. Alongside climate change, Oxfam says that spiraling disparity between the super-rich and everyone else, is brewing disaster for humanity as a whole

I'm Maurice Sinet - "I Like Charlie Coulibaly"
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal

The controversial French comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala posted on facebook "I like Charlie Coulibaly". An investigation by the Paris prosecutor's office followed immediately, and two days later, Wednesday 14 January, he was arrested for exercising his right of freedom of speech. His shows are banned because of being "anti-Semitic". With the approval of the French government freedom of expression can be utilized, but if it doesn't fit into the prevailing political concept of the ruling political and media class, one has a problem

Netanyahu And Europe's Far Right Find Common Ground
By Jonathan Cook

Israel has been having its own internal debate about the significance of the Paris killings this month, with concerns quite separate from those expressed in Europe. While Europeans are mired in debates about free speech and the role of Islam in secular societies, Israelis generally – and their prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in particular – view the attacks as confirming Israel's place as the only safe haven for Jews around the world

American Sniper: Nation's Pride – Slaying Savages And The Importance Of Education
By Robert Barsocchini

Had people like Chris Kyle, Bush Jr., and their contemporaries/predecessors been effectively reached, early and often, by information and logic, millions of people might still be alive and safe – that is, saf er . There is no such thing as total safety, but once the US invaded Iraq again in 2003, it dragged Iraq further and further down, further and further into chaos, until finally it was reduced to its current status as home of the “world's worst city”, as a UK research company put it

Uniform Civil Code: Do We Need One?
By S.G.Vombatkere

The Preamble to the Constitution assures social, economic and political justice, liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, and equality of status and of opportunity, to all citizens. Justice, liberty and equality are complementary, and not mutually exclusive. Therefore, a UCC will provide equality of status and opportunity which in turn will enhance social justice and equity, without in any manner impinging upon liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. It will bring wide social benefit. However, political leaders and civil society intellectuals have an important responsibility and role to proactively ensure that the process of formulating a UCC is not sullied by confusion caused inadvertently or deliberately, by those who may have a vested interest in hegemony within their own religion, or in communal disharmony

18 January, 2015

In Just 60 Years, Neoliberal Capitalism Has Nearly Broken Planet Earth
By Jon Queally

Humanity's rapacious growth and accelerated energy needs over the last generation—particularly fed by an economic system that demands increasing levels of consumption and inputs of natural resources—are fast driving planetary systems towards their breaking point, according to a new pair of related studies

A Population Perspective On The Steady State Economy
By Herman Daly

If our ethical understanding of the value of “sustainability” (longevity with sufficiency) is to “maximize” cumulative lives ever to be lived, subject to a per capita consumption level sufficient for a good life, then we must limit the load we place on the earth at any one time

On Finding Other Ways
By Vincent Di Stefano

The Cold War may have ended, but the US and Russia continue to harbour over 15,000 nuclear warheads between them. And a further 1,000 nuclear weapons are held by the UK, France, China, India, Pakistan and Israel. Does the thought of overkill come anywhere into the lexicon, let alone the imagination, of politicians and military planners?

Pope Francis, Salman Rushdie And Charlie Hebdo
By Richard Falk

I find myself siding with the abstract sentiments of Pope Francis, but with Rushdie's view of minimising the role of law and the state. In this respect, if we impose limits by way of government we are entering the domain of censorship. At the same time, we need to protect individuals and groups against malicious forms of defamation and hateful attacks on identities without confusing such protection with efforts to channel public awareness in certain prescribed directions

Five Facts That Prove Paris Massacre is A False Flag Terror Op
By Feroze Mithiborwala

Fact 1: ‘Terrorist Leaves ID CARD’ is part of an elaborate frame-up
Fact 2: The ‘Getaway car’ and the ‘Abandoned Car’ in which the ‘ID’ was found are two different cars of the same Citroen C3 model.
Fact 3: The 24x7 Police Security Provided to Charlie Hebdo had been withdrawn ~ Why? ~ When? ~ Who Issued the Order?
Fact 4: Eye-witness report from ‘France Info Radio’, Role of Police and suspicious character spotted 4 hours prior to the attack
Fact 5: All the four terrorists were police informers, terrorist recruiters known and working for French Intel

The Zionist Terror Is The Major Cause Of Islamic Fundamentalism, Wars And Terrorism
By Dr Salim Nazzal

Europe's busy at the moment inductively for answers about what can be done after the terror that hit the French capital. But all the comments and analyses do not seem that Europe has come to the key question, about the reasons of the Arab and Muslim hostility towards the west. And the Islamic fundamentalism is the irrational product of this hostile environment. This hostility did not come overnight, and did not come as well by parachute, but has a clear history, title and address

Paris, Peshawar And Boko Haram- Religion, Politics And Violence
By Ram Puniyani

Do we need to factor in the political forces, Kings of the past, the colonial masters of yesteryears and the ‘oil hungry’ global superpowers, behind promoting, abusing religions’ identity to understand the dastardly acts tormenting the humanity? The phrases joining any religion and terrorism are the biggest insult to the morality of religions to be sure!

'Uncaged Corporate Parrots' And The False GMO Narrative
By Colin Todhunter

British Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss has stated that genetically modified (GM) food should be grown in Britain because it is more ‘eco-friendly'. She adds that steps should be taken to speed up this development. Her statements come as little surprise to many because Truss's predecessor, Owen Paterson, was also a staunch supporter of GM technology

America Is Open for Business in Iraq (Psst... Wanna Buy an M1 Tank?)
By Peter Van Buren

Even as the Obama administration stumbles and bumbles along in search of a magical political strategy in Iraq that would make sense of everything, American weapons-makers can expect a bountiful future. In the meantime, Washington is putting forces in place that, by doing more of the same for the third time in a disintegrating Iraq in the middle of a fracturing region, guarantee more of the same. In that sense, you might say that American forces are partly in place to help promote the investment. If one needed an example of how the military-industrial complex works today, that might be it. Every mistake by Washington is a boon for future arms sales

Art Has To Fight For Justice
By Andre Vltchek

Why did I decide to write this essay? Why now? It is because the world appears to be facing yet another calamity, another great onslaught of fascism, this time conducted by the increasingly mad and brutal leaders of the Empire

#BlackLivesMatter, Veganism, & Intersectionality
By Mickey Z.

An Interview with A. Breeze Harper

Fascism Thrives In The Form Of Democracy
By Sukumaran C. V.

When a democracy doesn't listen to the words of the people like Ram Bai and doesn't stop creating large number of hapless people like the tribal man who says that it would be better for his baby to die, it ceases to be a democracy. And it seems that fascism thrives both in the ‘strongest' democracy in the world and in the ‘largest' democracy of the world too

Terrorism Beyond Charlie Hebdo, Terrorism Of Motorists
By Vidyadhar Date

The recent terrorist shooting of cartoonists in Paris and of school children in Peshawar needs to be strongly condemned. But if one looks at the numbers, far more people are killed by motor vehicles on roads in India than by Islamic terrorism. But few want to talk about the terrorism on the roads by private vehicles because it is inflicted by the upper class and in a way by the administration itself

The Right To Education: Rhetoric or A Reality?
By Shalu Nigam

Right to Education in India ensures that every child under the age of 14 years must be provided with free and compulsory education. However, to make this a reality, a continuous effort is required on the part of the state to ensure that both the quantitative and qualitative requirements are met. This means not only increasing availability of and accessibility to schools, classrooms, teachers and infrastructure facilities across the country but also there is a need to improve the quality of education

Time To Rebuild Sri Lanka: Basil Fernando
By DIGNITY

W. J. Basil Fernando is a Sri Lankan jurist, author, poet and human rights activist. Having been a lawyer engaged with human rights issues, he had to flee Sri Lanka decades ago. After that he became a legal adviser to Vietnamese refugees in a UNHCR-sponsored project in Hong Kong before joining the United Nations Transitional Authority (UNTAC) in 1992 as a senior human rights officer for Cambodia. He also served, later, as the Chief of Legal Assistance to Cambodia of the UN Centre of Human Rights (now the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights office). He is associated with Asian Human Rights Commission and Asian Legal Resource centre, based in Hong Kong since 1994. He was executive director of the organization for almost two decades. Here is an interview that DIGNITY (erstwhile RCT) of Denmark did with Basil Fernando on regime change in Sri Lanka

AHRC Writes To Minister Of Finance, Sri Lanka
By Basil Fernando & Bijo Francis

AHRC is writing this letter in order to draw your attention to two important components necessary for the establishment of good governance that if they are to be realized, would require budgetary allocations. The two major areas where such budgetary allocations would be required are: 1) Measures for the modernization of the Sri Lankan police, to progress from the primitive style of policing that exists in the country to one that is possessed of the qualities and capacities found in modern times in many countries; 2) The establishment of a commission against bribery and corruption that could genuinely implement a program of prevention of bribery and corruption, again, in terms of what has been achieved in many countries in modern times. One recognized example is the Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC) in Hong Kong

India: No One Killed 22 Dalits- Jehanabad Court
By Asian Human Rights Commission

Citing lack of evidence against those accused of killing 22 Dalits in Shankar Bigha of Jehanabad, the district civil court acquitted all of the suspects. Coming a full 15 years after the massacre on the eve of 26 January 1999 - ironically the Republic Day - the verdict is not a standalone case of justice being first delayed for the Dalits and then altogether denied to them. The denial did not come from the lower judiciary alone, the higher judiciary has also acquitted many of the accused as well; often by setting aside the convictions by lower judiciary

15 January, 2015

Crossroads On Global Infrastructure
By Brent Blackwelder

Massive Global Infrastructure Projects Could Prevent Achievement of a Sustainable Economy While Undermining Life Support Systems of the Earth

Private Property Versus Common Property
By Lionel Anet

For our descendants to survive we must be honest and fair but that’s not possible in civilisation as it built on the reverse of those values. The less value our private property is the more honest and fairer we can be. It’s either civilisation or our children that we attempt to persevere, but we can only succeed with the children

The Importance of Being Angry
By Robert J. Burrowes

Unfortunately, in many circles, anger has a bad reputation. Anger is a vitally important evolutionary gift and without it we are perpetual victims. Anger has two primary evolutionary functions: to let us know when we are being threatened or attacked (whether by a more 'subtle' abuse or in an explicitly violent manner) while also giving us the power to respond effectively to this threat/attack

An Australian Block To BDS
By Vacy Vlazna

The Australian government, Israel and its collaborator , the Palestinian Authority (PA) scored a victory over the Palestinian Boycott Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) Movement on November 29, 2014. This was the shameful day that the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN), at its AGM, voted for No.1 from the following options,
APAN not to actively engage in BDS
APAN to engage actively in all aspects of BDS
APAN to engage actively in BDS ‘across the green line'
APAN to engage actively on a settlement boycott

War Begets War: It's Not About Islam; It Never Was
By Ramzy Baroud

It is still not about Islam, even if the media and militants attacking western targets say so. Actually, it never was. But it was important for many to conflate politics with religion; partly because it is convenient and self-validating

Right Wing Domestic Terrorists Far More Deadly Than Islamic Extremists
By Garikai Chengu

Since September 11, extremists associated with various far-right wing ideologies, including white supremacists, and Jewish extremists, have killed far more people in the United States than extremists motivated by radical Islam

Disputes Flare Up In Iran Over A Nuclear Deal
By Akbar E. Torbat

The latest round of Iran's nuclear negotiations with the 5+1 group (the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany) failed to reach a final agreement by its second deadline on November 24, 2014. Consequently, the two sides agreed to extend the negotiations for seven more months until July 1, 2015. As the third deadline is now looming, the confrontation between President Hassan Rouhani and the opposition factions in Iran is heating up

Two Most Amazing Feats Of Mass Media Bias?
By Robert Barsocchini

1) Convincing a large percentage of the public that human-caused climate change is not happening. 2) Downplaying the role of the Saudi Arabian regime in the 9/11/01 attacks and overall global terror, and the USA's ongoing sponsorship of and collaboration with the Saudi regime

How Obama Lied About Obamacare
By Eric Zuesse

The first open enrollment period under Obamacare lasted from October 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014; and, so, there have now been a full 15 months, during which period, it's been up and running: Americans have been buying health insurance under the Act for 15 months now. Did it meet that basic promise he made? Is it even coming close? If it hasn't come close, is it likely ever to get there? The answers to all of these questions are uniformly and unequivocally no, and Obama knew that this would be the case, even back when he was running for the Presidency. All of this will be documented here

Poet-Journalists And Central Questions
By Gary Steven Corseri

A review of David Smith-Ferri’s Where Days Are Stones

Grief For France On A Scranton School District Bus
By Charles Orloski

Aconversation with an 8th grade female student in Scranton School District bus

56 Days Hungry: Activist Stays Steadfast For Human Rights
By Gurmeet Kaur

A human rights activist in North India just completed day 56 of his hunger strike in protest against the government’s mistreatment and illegal detention of political prisoners. His cause and the duration of his strike reminds one of Bobby Sands, the first of ten Irish Hunger Strikers to die in 1981. The ten protested against the British government on revocation of the prisoner-of-war like category for paramilitary prisoners. They survived without food for 46 to 73 days

Has The Ordinance Raj Come To Stay?
By Raghavan Srinivasan

In recent days, the central government has introduced a slew of ordinances related to land acquisition, raising cap on foreign investment in the insurance sector, coal and mineral mining license allocation, changes to the TRAI Act and so on. Several governments in the past, including the earlier UPA regime, have used the ordinance route to push through legislations which they have found difficult to get passed in the legislature. What is the ordinance route and does it benefit the people?

It’s Not Faith, But The Politics Of Conversion That Hurts
By Tanweer Fazal Delhi

Ghar wapasi is an ideological project to produce the loyal citizen for the Hindu nation-state

Stupid! This Happens Only In Kashmir
By Prof. Hameeda Nayeem

For the past two weeks a number of articles appeared in Various papers expressing anguish over BJP-PDP alliance. But Still there remain some points that need to be put together to make an argument

POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti Denounces Land Acquisition Ordinance
By POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti

POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti strongly condemn the Narendra Modi government’s decision for bringing a Presidential ordinance three days after the Indian Parliament ended its formal session with a clear and clandestine intention of turning the progressive Land Acquisition Act 2013 ineffective which had been designed to protect farmers’ interest from invading aggressive corporation

Piketty For Progressives (Part Six suite et fin )
By Thomas Riggins

The Theoretical and Conceptual Framework of Piketty's Book

14 January, 2015

European Powers Implement Police State Measures In Wake Of Charlie Hebdo Attack
By Ulrich Rippert

Governments throughout Europe have responded to the attacks on Charlie Hebdo in France by moving quickly to push through a raft of anti-democratic measures. They are exploiting the shock and confusion generated by the event in Paris to take actions that have long been prepared, but that have so far encountered resistance

JE NE SUIS PAS CHARLIE
By John Chuckman

The Extremely Dark and Unexamined Underside of the Charlie Hebdo Affair

Je Suis Ahmed Hebdo
By Mustapha Marrouchi

Like everyone else on the planet, I have been following the carnage that has been taking place in Paris; a carnage that has left nearly twenty people dead, including a black woman from Africa recently appointed a policewoman, a French policeman of Algerian descent, and three “terrorists,” also of African lineage. And while it is inhuman not to feel sympathy for all the victims who died in horrible conditions, we must remind ourselves of the stand that France has been taking vis-à-vis many issues concerning Muslims living inside its belly. For France, unlike the other colonial powers, has never faced up to its xenophobic past, especially when it has to do with those from The Maghreb

The Spectacular Media Failure On Charlie Hebdo
By Shamus Cooke

A core tenet of journalism is answering the question “why.” It’s the media’s duty to explain “why” an event happened so that readers will actually understand what they’re reading. Leave out the “why” and then assumptions and stereotypes fill in the blank, always readily supplied by politicians whose ridiculous answers are left unquestioned by the corporate media. Because the real “why” was unexplained in the Charlie Hebdo massacre, an obviously false culprit was created, leading to a moronic national discussion in the U.S. media about whether Islam was “inherently” violent

2015 A-to-Z Alphabetical List Of Actions And Advocacies For Climate Change Activists
By Dr Gideon Polya

In 2015 the World may have now run out of time to prevent a catastrophic 2 degree Centigrade temperature rise, but while there is life there is hope. Climate change activists must still try in every way they can to make the looming disaster less bad. Below is an alphabetical list of numerous actions and advocacies whereby science-informed climate activists can try to mitigate the consequences of man-made climate change driven by remorseless, neoliberal One Percenter greed

Freedom For Badawi
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal

Last May, the Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi was sentenced to ten years in prison, 190,000 Euro fine and 1,000 lashes. The latter should be enforced, spread across 20 Fridays, that is: Every Friday 50 lashes over a period of almost five months. 2008, Badawi founded the website "Free Saudi liberals"

Journalist Launches Online Archive To Document Diversity Of Rural India
By Robert Jensen

P. Sainath started building the People's Archive of Rural India http://www.ruralindiaonline.org/ only a couple of years ago. But the passion behind the innovative online project that mixes journalism and oral history, which was launched last month to overwhelming acclaim, goes back more than two decades

Why Narendra Modi Stole Christmas?
By India United Against Fascism

Christmas Day had been a public holiday throughout the history of independent India , so what changed in 2014? Obviously, the fact that it was the first Christmas with Modi in power as PM

Juvenile (In)Justice System
By Ajita Banerjie

“It would have been better if we had murdered someone. We could have gotten out of the jail much earlier than rotting in this place”, one of the girls had once said. Perturbed, I ask her, “Why do you say so?” I never received an answer for that. But I understood what she meant. In the next one month that I spent in the Rehabilitation home for Juvenile Girls I realized what our phenomenal system is doing to the youth of the country. Young, impressionable girls are being subjected to a life of confinement, boredom and frustration

Why Was Greenpeace Activist Prevented From Travelling To London?
By People's Union For Democratic Rights

Greenpeace came under scrutiny because of its support to Mahan Sangharsh Samiti, a grassroots organisation challenging coal mining license for Mahan Coal Ltd, a joint venture of Essar and Hindalco (Aditya Birla group). What is ominous is that the Home Ministry has purportedly stated that there is "no rule which allows restraining a citizen from travelling abroad....(because) he/she would express views in conflict with government's policies." (TOI, 13/01/2015)]. So if this is the case who ordered the 'lookout circular', and at whose behest? These are questions which remain unanswered

BSP’s Dalit Votes Shifting Towards BJP?
By Prof. Vivek Kumar

Rejoinder to Biased Article in Hindu: ‘When the Elephant disappears’ (The Hindu 5 January, 2015)

Sri Lanka: Will Rajapaksa Return?
By Nilantha Ilangamuwa

There are few possibilities of Rajapaksa regaining the leadership in the country again. To accomplish his desire first he has to win the struggle within the party while fuelling the internal crisis. Second, he will have to take the people into the streets, while instigating racism within Sinhalese sentiments. If he can do this he may set foot on the road of his return

"On King's Birthday BREAK the BLACKOUT! Facebook/Twitter King's
Condemnation of US Atrocity Wars for Predatory Investments." Ramsey Clark
By Jay Janson for Ramsey Clark

Social networking Facebook Twitter YouTube cellphone cameras Everyone everywhere especially in countries suffering US bombings or CIA covert deadly violence, starvation! BREAK 48 year BLACKOUT of King's condemnation of his gov."greatest purveyor of violence in the world," Don't let genocidal media sucker our eyes and ears Use King's 1963 "I have Dream' to erase his 1967'That Dream won't come true unless we end the Nightmare'

09 January, 2015

Euro Zone Officially Tips Into Deflation
By Stefan Steinberg

Figures released by Eurostat on Wednesday confirm that the euro area has fallen into deflation for the first time since 2009, when the region suffered the disastrous economic consequences of the 2008 financial crisis

Charlie Hebdo And Tsarnaev’s Trial: Cui Bono?
By Paul Craig Roberts

The Roman question is always: Who benefits? The answer is: Not France, not Muslims, but US world hegemony. US hegemony over the world is what the CIA supports. US world hegemony is the neoconservative-imposed foreign policy of the US

Charlie Hebdo: Who Is To Blame?
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal

In promoting the Islamic enemy image, "Charlie Hebdo" was not the real model of freedom of speech. It was rather one of many mouthpieces of a predominant trend all across Europe that is racist, islamophobic, xenophobic and exclusively Western value-oriented. This arrogant attitude is now bearing terrible fruit. Nevertheless, the question remains: Who benefits from it?

Charlie Hebdo And Politeness In Multi-Ethnic Societies
By John Scales Avery

Globally, we are in great need of a new ethic, which regards all humans as brothers and sisters, regardless of race, religion or nationality. Human solidarity will become increasingly important in the future, as stress from climate change and the vanishing of nonrenewable resources becomes more pronounced. To get through the difficult time ahead of us, we will need to face the dangers and challenges of the future arm in arm, respecting each other's differing beliefs, and emphasizing our common humanity rather than our differences

France Attack Reactions Include Citizen Calls To Kill All Muslims
By Robert Barsocchini

Responding to the terror attack against French journalists and in addition to government and media incitements to violence, private citizens are issuing incitements to commit genocide against Muslims. It will be interesting to see whether people using the #killallmuslims hash-tag and making these very serious incitements to genocide will be prosecuted, as is explicitly required by the highest law in the world

Paris: A Dastardly Act Of Terror
By Chandra Muzaffar

The Charlie Hebdo episode has underscored yet again the importance of exercising freedom with a deep sense of responsibility. Restraints are part and parcel of rights. It is by balancing rights with restraints that one ensures the well-being of the whole

Who Should Be Blamed For Muslim Terrorism?
By Andre Vltchek

From a peaceful and creative civilization, that used to lean towards socialism, the Muslim nations and Islam itself, found itself to be suddenly derailed, tricked, outmaneuvered, infiltrated by foreign religious and ideological implants, and transformed by the Western ideologues and propagandists into one ‘tremendous threat’; into the pinnacle and symbol of terrorism and intolerance.mThe situation has been thoroughly grotesque, but nobody is really laughing – too many people have died as a result; too much has been destroyed!

The Guardian Finally Starts To Report The Truth About Ukraine's War
By Eric Zuesse

Oleg Orlov headlined “Ukraine's Forgotten City Destroyed by War,” and he described a city in ruins from the intensive bombings during July and August

Palestinians At The Hague: Abbas’ Big Bluff On War Crimes Bid Against Israel
By Jonathan Cook

Intense pressure from Israel and the US last week on members of the United Nations Security Council narrowly averted Washington’s embarrassment at being forced to veto a Palestinian resolution to end the occupation. The Palestinians’ failure to get the necessary votes saved the White House’s blushes but at a cost: the claim that the US can oversee a peace process promising as its outcome a Palestinian state is simply no longer credible

Reproductive Sovereignty or Bust!
By Carol Downer

A radical feminist group's goal is reproductive sovereignty. Sovereignty means being independent or autonomous. A nation is sovereign when it has its own set of laws that it can enforce within its boundaries without interference. A woman is sovereign when she can decide her own destiny without State interference

Activism: Marathon or Sprint? ('Occupy this Book' excerpt)
By Mickey Z.

We need a loud radical alarm clock and we need it now. In fact, we could use a bunch of 'em -- tick-tick-ticking in every city and town on the planet to remind us humans that time is of the essence. Our eco-system is finite, there is a point of no return, and we could all kick things up a notch or three in terms of urgency and methods

Do Americans Hate Children?
By David Swanson

Here's one basic place we might start. Only three nations have refused to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child. They are Sudan, Somalia, and the United States of America, and two of those three are moving forward with ratification. My fellow Americans, WTF?

Political Realities Need To Be Tempered With Faith
In Human Rights:Lesson From Sri Lankan Election
By Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava

One important lesson for the world politics is that evilness can not survive and sustain beyond a certain limit. Political realities will be followed by every nation state and its political leaders but it can not be done at the cost of violation of human rights. The general will of the Sri Lankan people have proved it

No More ‘Religion-Hopping’ For Me!
By R. Wiote

If you ask me, stepping out of the prison of institutionalised religion and relating directly with God can do wonders for our spirituality. It could help us get along much better with our fellow beings (humans and others) and make us more peaceful and joyful people, more deeply in loving connection with God. That, and not dogmatic attachment to dogmas, creeds, communities, cults, laws, rules, regulations and rituals, is, I would like to think, what true religiosity must certainly be all about!

A Response To Decoding PK By Amish Tripathi
By Amritanshu Pandey

In the days since watching PK and observing the reaction to it, I felt like voicing my opinion as well, but a catalyst was lacking. Author Amish Tripathi’s article in the Hindustan Times, titled Decoding PK, proved to be that source. As I read it, I could sense that something in it seemed jarring, but only after another reading could I place it well. By using seemingly innocuous terms such as idol-worship, spiritual masters, and theology, the article gives the impression of objective critique. But dare I say, it misses the point at several places, and misleads at others

08 January, 2015

Attack In France And Casting The First Explosive
By Robert Barsocchini

While total security is nonexistent, we urgently need to continue to increase our efforts to protect and secure our fellows worldwide from the violent monsters among us and their creations and benefactors. To do this, we need to protest against violence by our criminals and arrest the perpetrators for their acts of industrial, targeted killing, including of countless journalists for whom justice has yet to be done. We should start by supporting safety and press freedom for all journalists, not just victims we pick and choose while ignoring/suppressing others, namely our own

Kerry, Murderer Of A Vietnamese Patriot,
Comments On Terror In Co-Terrorist France
By Jay Janson

Comes to mind US Secretary of State John Kerry's prestige for his 'heroic' Swift Boat killing of a Vietnamese in his own beloved country during the holocaust the US committed in Vietnam. A wounded Vietnamese freedom fighter, who had been aiming a rocket launcher at the Swift Boat Kerry commanded ran. ["KERRY leaped ashore, pursued the man behind a hootch and killed him"] Did millionaire Kerry ever contact the family offer?

Global Crises: Mankind Needs Peace Not Terrorism
By Mahboob A. Khawaja

Today's cold blooded massacre of French journalists of satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo” in Paris underlines the imperative of critical thought towards understanding the global affairs. Emerging crises are not being understood rationally and consequently large segments of humanity are in chains. Leaders around the world are quick to condemn the cruelty of the few against many innocents caught in the firing. But the same leaders fail to take initiatives to use dialogue and peaceful resolution of current one-sided aggressive wars. No matter where on planet, the daily killings of the innocents in France, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, The US or elsewhere, it demands fair and objective-oriented analysis to come to grip with the prevalent facts of human affairs

Groundbreaking Study Confirms: We Must Leave Fossil Fuels "In The Ground"
By Sarah Lazare

A groundbreaking new study is confirming what green campaigners have long argued: in order to stave off climate disaster, the majority of fossil fuel deposits around the world—including 92 percent of U.S. coal, all Arctic oil and gas, and a majority of Canadian tar sands—must stay "in the ground."

Paving Path Towards Climate Goal, Denmark Sets World Record For Wind Power
By Andrea Germanos

Marking what the country said was a global record, in 2014, nearly 40 percent of electricity in Denmark was generated by wind. At 39.1 percent, last year's amount of wind-generated electricity was more than double what it was a decade ago

Corporate Fiction In The Age Of GMOs
By Vandana Shiva

The US would like to force India to adopt a false science and laws that dictate that seeds have been created by Monsanto and are therefore Monsanto’s property. US President Barack Obama will be the chief guest at our Republic Day celebrations. It is time to start a planetary dialogue and a civilisational exchange based on us all being part of the Earth family; and based on our inalienable right to Swaraj, including “bija swaraj (seed democracy)

Carbon Counterattack 
By Michael T. Klare

How Big Oil Is Responding to the Anti-Carbon Moment 

Palestine WILL Become A Lost Cause Unless…..
By Alan Hart

The headline over my last post on 29 December was For the occupied and oppressed Palestinians UN means Useless Nations. The following day the Security Council itself confirmed my analysis by refusing to consider a resolution submitted on behalf of the Palestinians calling for an end to Israeli occupation within three years. Lawyer John V Whitbeck then hit the nail on the head with the statement that the Security Council had demonstrated that “it is as much of a whorehouse as the U.S. Congress.” In this post I am going to suggest what I think must now happen if Palestine is not to become a lost cause

MKO, Mossad Mortifying Ignominy In Iran
By Ismail Salami

In their abortive effort to assassinate another Iranian nuclear scientist, Israeli officials only sustained desperation and disgrace in their dastardly elimination campaign against Iran which was apparently in sync with ISIL inhumane brutalities inside Iraq and Syria. More alert than ever, security forces are diligently tasked with protecting the lives of the Iranian scientists wherever they are

High Technology, Weapons Of Mass Destruction, And Hazardous Communication Tools
By Shepherd Bliss

May 2015 be a year in which more of us closely examine high technology and the many risks that its consequences create. “Technology will fail. You can count on it,” Heinberg asserts. I hope that he is correct. But what then? Will many humans be left?

Soft Martial Law Is Being Imposed In Pakistan
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

Perhaps following the example of Egypt, the US-client government of Mian Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, has extend military courts jurisdiction all over Pakistan

Finale Sri-Lankan Presidential Elections: Slogans, Projections And Predictions
By Dr C P Thiagarajah

Democracy is at work in Sri-Lanka at least for the Sinhalese. Let us hope it works well so that one day the Sinhalese will wake up to the eternal truth that compassion is what is needed for man to live amicably. This is the essence of all religion and this is what Gautama Buddha gleamed out of his father’s religion Hinduism. Probably Tamils will get their rights one day through this awakening

Bihar’s Capital Should Be Shifted Out Of Patna
By Syed Ali Mujtaba

There is an urgent need to de-congest the Patna in order to bring sanity to the madness there. No amount of urban planning like building flyovers or artery roads or metro rail project or even creating satellite towns will de-congest Patna. The only remedy to ease the human pressure from Patna is to shift the capital elsewhere from its present location. The entire administrative paraphernalia has to be relocated. This could be the only way to make the people of Patna breathe easy

War: Who Benefits From This?
By Kashoo Tawseef

Time and again, it has been proved that war is not the solution to any dispute and we have many examples from this century be that from Middle East or in Asia, so it is high time that the best brains from India and Pakistan take the lead and advice the stake holders and policy makers from both sides of the border that resolve the disputes peacefully and end the hostilities for ever

What’s In Store For Kashmiris If BJP Is Part Of The Government?
By Ram Puniyani

Kashmir is standing on the cross roads. It has suffered a lot due to the militancy and the ways of army in the valley. In case the BJP is in the driver’s seat or in the driving seat, the plight of Kashmir will worsen. Surely the next Government must focus on addressing the issues of Pundits, issues of Kashmir youth and evolve a development model for the state where the youth can get employment, pundits’ grievances are addressed and a surge for peace to promote tourism and development should be top most on the agenda. The rising tide of communalism has to be checked, at the same time congenial situations are to be created where separatism, dies its natural death and the peace inside and peace from outside is enhanced by inclusive politics of the state government

07 January, 2015

Oil And The Economy: Where Are We Headed In 2015-16?
By Gail Tverberg

The price of oil is down. How should we expect the economy to perform in 2015 and 2016? Newspapers in the United States seem to emphasize the positive aspects of the drop in prices. I have written Ten Reasons Why High Oil Prices are a Problem. If our only problem were high oil prices, then low oil prices would seem to be a solution. Unfortunately, the problem we are encountering now is extremely low prices. If prices continue at this low level, or go even lower, we are in deep trouble with respect to future oil extraction. It seems to me that the situation is much more worrisome than most people would expect. Even if there are some temporary good effects, they will be more than offset by bad effects, some of which could be very bad indeed. We may be reaching limits of a finite world

Political Instability And Global Slump Intensify Financial Turmoil
By Nick Beams

The year has opened with turbulence on world financial markets, reflecting the interaction between deepening slump, heightened geo-political tensions and growing political instability in virtually every country

Ukraine Says $450 Million Was Stolen From Its Military In 2014
By Eric Zuesse

Yury Biryukov, an aide to Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, said on January 6th that during the year 2014, up to $450 million was stolen from Ukraine's military. This amount happens to be precisely the same maximum amount of money that the U.S. Government, in legislation that was supported by more than 98% of U.S. Senators and Representatives and that was signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama on December 18th, will donate to Ukraine's military for this year, 2015

Time To Move Out: The Problem With Mahmoud Abbas And His Authority 
By Ramzy Baroud

The problem with Abbas, however, is bigger than Abbas himself. The ailment lies in the very political culture and class that sustained and benefited from political corruption for over 20 years. Even when ‘President Abbas' is shoved aside, due to old age or whatever else, the malaise will persist; that is until the Palestinians challenge the very culture that Abbas has painstakingly constructed with US money, and an Israeli nod

The Government's Drive to Force GMOs into Britain Against the Will of the People Continues
By Colin Todhunter

The UK government and its associated bureaucracy is colluding with powerful global agritech corporations to get genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into Britain. Politicians and officials whose views of GMOs are based on ignorance or whose statements are distorted as a result of their conflicts of interest have been spearheading this campaign

This Is What War Does
By John Chuckman

A Canadian photographer named Bryan Adams (yes, the rock singer) has done something extraordinary in publishing a book of photographs of what war does to soldiers. The wounds of his subjects are not covered with gore as they would be on the battlefield. His pictures are clean studio shots. The subjects sometimes even are smiling

External Relations And Army’s Role In Politics Of Bangladesh
By M Mukhlesur Rahman Chowdhury

Bangladeshi politicians did not take lesson from history. As far as military intervention is concerned, it has been argued that history repeats itself in Bangladesh when it is inevitable

Modi’s Presents For Obama!
By Mohammad Ashraf

After having informed Obama about Pakistan’s role in terrorist activities during his US visit, Modi is allegedly now planning to authenticate the same through border fireworks and Kashmir elections

Whose Conversion?
By Sunil Kumar

Does the Modi government, which came to power on the agenda of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas want to divert attention from anti-people laws to conversion and ghar wapsi? Is the work of opposition to only highlight false issues and create ruckus over such issues in Parliament like that of conversion or do they also have the responsibility of disclosing to the people anti-labour, land acquisition dilution laws, and reduction in health-education allocations/expenditures?

06 January, 2015

Israel Blocks Funds Of Palestinian Authority
By Jean Shaoul

Israel has announced it will withhold $127 million in monthly tax funds, about 70 percent of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) budget that it collects on the PA’s behalf.It is considering a raft of other measures against the Palestinians. Israel’s vindictive action came hours after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas submitted an application to join the International Criminal Court

Land Concentration, Land Grabbing And People’s Struggles In Europe
By Staff, CIT

This report, involving 25 authors from 11 countries, reveals the hidden scandal of how a few big private business entities have gained control of ever-greater areas of European land. It exposes how these land elites have been actively supported by a huge injection of public funds –at a time when all other public funding is being subjected to massive cuts

A Grim Very Tale: The Kehoe Paradigm
By Jeff Berg

To the vast detriment of generations of humans and other animals to come the courts sided with the money. This has become known as the Kehoe Paradigm or the Kehoe Rule. A rule that states that the burden of proof is on those who claim harm is being done. This stands in stark contrast to the Precautionary Principle which says that when there is doubt about the safety of a product the burden of proof is on those who would profit

Presidents Are Gods
By David Swanson

A former Governor of Virginia is expected to be sentenced to a long stay in prison. The same fate has befallen governors in states across the United States, including in nearby Maryland, Tennessee, and West Virginia. A former governor of Illinois is in prison. Governors have been convicted of corruption in Rhode Island, Louisiana, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Connecticut, and (in a trumped-up partisan scam) in Alabama. The statewide trauma suffered by the people of states that have locked up their governors has been . . . well, nonexistent and unimaginable. Locking U.S. presidents up for their crimes is a different story

20 Activist Resolutions For 2015
By Mickey Z.

Since this is the time of year when so many of us choose to articulate goals and promise big changes, I say we transfer this concept to the realm of dissent. With that in mind, I offer an admittedly incomplete list of 20 activist resolutions for 2015

Time To Stand Up To The NYPD
By Kevin Zeese

Stop the NYPD Coup and Create the Police-Community Relationship We Want to See

05 January, 2015

Tropical Forests Key To Fighting Greenhouse Gases: NASA
By Nadia Prupis

Tropical forests have emerged as a crucial factor in the fight against climate change, according to a new NASA-led study published Friday which finds that they are absorbing carbon dioxide at a far higher rate than previously thought. As atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases have continued to rise, tropical forests, like those found in Malaysia, have been absorbing roughly 1.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide out of a total global absorption of 2.5 billion, NASA found. Those rates are not only higher than previously estimated, they are also higher than those of the vast boreal forests found in northern regions like Canada and Siberia—which are diminishing

All Forms Of Life Are Sacred
By Chris Hedges

The battle for the rights of animals is not only about animals. It is about us. Once we desanctify animals we desanctify all life. And once life is desanctified the industrial machines of death, and the drone-like bureaucrats, sadists and profiteers who operate them, carry out human carnage as easily as animal carnage. There is a direct link between our industrial slaughterhouses for animals and our industrial weapons used on the battlefields in the Middle East

Czech President Says ‘Only Poorly Informed People' Don't Know About Ukraine Coup
By Eric Zuesse

The Czech Republic's President Milos Zeman said, in an interview, in the January 3rd edition of Prague's daily newspaper Pravo, that Czechs who think of the overthrow of Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych, on 22 February 2014, as having been like Czechoslovakia's authentically democratic “Velvet Revolution” are seeing it in a profoundly false light, because, (as Russian Television translated his statement into English) "Maidan was not a democratic revolution.” He said that this is the reason why Ukraine now is in a condition of “civil war,” in which the residents of the Donbass region in Ukraine's southeast have broken away from the Ukrainian Government

The Death of American Democracy: The Rise of Inverted Fascist Democracy
By Garikai Chengu

Wednesday marks the anniversary of the first democratic election in America, held in 1789. Over the past half century, America has descended from a popular democracy into an inverted fascist democracy. An inverted fascist democracy is the new American system, because its self-proclaimed ideologies directly oppose its actual policies. The United States’ government may claim liberty and justice for all; however, in practice, it exhibits all four major characteristics of a fascist state: a one party government, extravagant economic inequality, a totalitarian police state at home and militarism abroad, and a strong reliance on propaganda

US Military Preparing New Generation Of Drones For Urban Combat
By Bryan Dyne

The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has established a research and development program, known as the Fast Lightweight Autonomy Program (FLAP) which aims to develop new types of unmanned aerial vehicles—more commonly known as drones—for urban combat operations, according to the Washington Times

Love Godse, Hate Tipu Sultan: Why The 'Tiger of Mysore' Still Troubles The Saffrons
By Subhash Gatade

The saffrons have done it again. They have once again showed utter contempt towards the legacy of legendary Tipu Sultan, (20 November 1750 – 4 May 1799) one of those rare kings who was martyred on the battlefield, while fighting the Britishers at the historic battle at Srirangpatnam and whose martyrdom fighting the colonials preceded the historic revolt of the 1857 by around 50 years. Not very many people even know that he had even sacrificed his children while fighting them

Political Activism, Democracy And Kashmiri Youth
By Imran Khan

Although there are other problems for Kashmiri youth to face but I feel that choked political and breathing space in their own land remains the biggest hurdle in their growth. This story of Kashmir’s youth is directly linked to the special version of democracy we are enjoying here

Love In The Time Of War
Book Review By Bilal Shaheen

Waheed Mirza's new novel "The Book Of Gold Leaves" and the lead character Roohi's exuberant romance and her forwarded journey into the landscape of loss is a heartbreaking love story which explains how social lives have been torn apart by the Kashmir conflict

Ani Choying: Singing For Freedom
Book Review By Roshan

This is definitely one of the best books I’ve read in recent years, the story of an intrepid woman triumphing over immense odds and coming out much stronger for it. Ani (which means ‘nun’ in Tibetan) Choying Drolma is a Buddhist nun of international fame, known specially for her amazing voice, which she puts to wonderful use—singing Buddhist chants across the world

Niall Ferguson On Kissinger's "World Order" [Part Two]
By Thomas Riggins

Ferguson tells us that Kissinger (whose ideas he seems to embrace) does not pay much attention to Obama’s “strategic incoherence” in his book. Ferguson, however, can read between the lines and detects that Kissinger was inspired by his “dismay” over “the amateurism of the past six years” of Obama foreign policy

04 January, 2015

Iran Denies Nuclear Deal With US
By Nadia Prupis

Iran denied on Saturday that it reached a deal with the U.S. to ship its extra enriched uranium to Russia as part of an effort to minimize nuclear power. Despite reports earlier in the week that a deal between Washington and Tehran had moved forward, Iran’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said Saturday that "no agreement on any nuclear topic" had been made

Institutional And Cultural Inertia
By John Scales Avery

Today we are faced with multiple interrelated crises, for example the threat of catastrophic climate change or equally catastrophic thermonuclear war, and the threat of widespread famine. These threats to human existence and to the biosphere demand a prompt and rational response; but because because of institutional and cultural inertia, we are failing to take the steps that are necessary to avoid disaster

The Atlantic Can't Figure Out Why U.S. Loses Wars
By David Swanson

The cover of the January-February 2015 The Atlantic asks "Why Do The Best Soldiers in the World Keep Losing?" which leads to this article, which fails to answer the question

Plachimada/Cola Compensation Bill: The Centre Seeks To Subvert The Constitutional Process
By S.Faizi

The letter from the central Home Ministry to the Kerala government ‘requesting’ it to withdraw the Plachimada Coca Cola Victims Compensation Claims Special Tribunal Bill, 2011 constitutes a glaring act of subversion of the Constitutional process. The reasons raised by the central Home Ministry are an outlandish repeat of the multinational company’s ‘legal opinion’ it had submitted to the UPA government

Once Upon A Mass Grave In Bhagalpur
Photo Essay By Javed Iqbal

In October and November of 2014, the 25 year anniversary of the communal violence in Bhagalpur went by like a whisper

03 January, 2015

2015: The Year We Build Power Together
By Kevin Zeese & Margaret Flowers

The Year Starts With the Potential of a Major Victory of the People Over Corporate Power, but We Must Unite to Win It

2015: Defending Humanity By Reason or Force
By Andre Vltchek

Fascism will be fought. Humanity will be defended! By reason or by force, the regime would have to yield to the interests of humanity. It will not be allowed to make that final, the most destructive step!

Dancing Cows And Scared Pigs
By Saumya Mohanty

With the punchlines of government dwindling common man aspiring for a happy year ahead with new punchline “ Merry Diwali Subh Idd Chistmas mubbarak”

Surabaya Mourning Air Asia Victims But Not Its Poor
By Andre Vltchek

For many years and decades and in the most vulgar manner, plane crashes have been exploited by mass media. As if lives lost at 30.000 feet above the ground or the surface of oceans were more valuable than those that were interrupted ‘on the surface’ by calamities, misery, hunger or preventable diseases, especially in the poor neighborhoods and in the slums. Like in a soap opera, even those who could never afford to buy an airplane ticket were now grieving over lives of those who could afford to fly to Singapore, one of the most expensive cities on earth, just for holidays. Entire tragedy was turned into an absolute pop event by turbo-commercialized and vulgar Indonesian media, especially by the television stations

Wealth Of World’s 400 Richest Billionaires Rose $92 Billion In 2014
By Andre Damon

The wealthiest 400 people in the world saw their combined net worth grow by $92 billion last year, hitting $4.1 trillion. The bonanza for the super-rich was underwritten by governments and central banks around the world, which fueled surging stock markets and record corporate profits by pumping hundreds of billions into the financial markets

US Imposes New Sanctions On North Korea
By Peter Symonds

US President Barack Obama yesterday raised the stakes in the confrontation with North Korea over unsubstantiated allegations that it hacked into Sony Pictures Entertainment, authorising a new round of economic sanctions affecting 10 government officials and three state entities

Russia Says Ukrainian Nazis Pay Blackwater For Training
By Eric Zuesse

The Russian Government's Tass ‘news' agency is alleging that “The US private military company Academi (formerly known as Blackwater) … has confirmed to the Kiev authorities its readiness to start training an experimental battalion of 550 men as of January at the request of Ukraine's General Staff,” according to an unnamed source, which source is probably one of the few remaining anti-nazi bureaucrats still remaining in the Ukrainian Government. The reported price of this Blackwater (a.k.a. “Xe,” a.k.a. “Academi”) training contract is $3.5 million

2015 Reminder: Government Word Is Worthless
By Robert Barsocchini

As US government figures and departments, such as the “FBI” (which, according to its own documents, tried to “destroy Martin Luther King, Jr.”), continue to make and act on “official pronouncements”, let's remember that these people have less than no credibility. They have used lies, extreme violence, and stolen property to build themselves the most massive garrison/exploitation/surveillance state in human history, and are thus the very last people who should be taken at their word

12 Cocaine Years A Community Service Slave
By Charles Orloski

An article on the experience of volunteering at Scranton's St. Francis of Assisi Soup Kitchen. The article provides compelling insights into a small city's suffering, and the goodwill that is latent in those who get in-line for a good "free" meal at a Soup Kitchen

A Stick In The Stocking: Santa’s Supply Shock
By Brian Czech

I propose that we stop calling these short-term fuel gluts “supply shocks” and instead call them “supply parties.” We all know the parties must end, and the longer we party, the bigger the real shock, the after-shock, will be. When the suite of resources such as oil, natural gas, minerals, timber, fisheries, soil, rangeland–and oh yes, that cheap thing called “water”–are at a collective all-time low, relative to demand, and when climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental unravelling are in full swing, and when our agriculture, extraction, manufacturing, and services are devastated by the loss of our natural capital, we’ll know we’re in the age of Supply Shock. We’ll have been naughty, and Santa will have known. What’s that going to get us?

02 January, 2015

2015 International Year Of The Soil: A Message Of Hope
By Jon Queally

Last year, the United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organization officially declared that 2015 would be celebrated as the International Year of the Soil citing the threat to one of the key ingredients to the planet's food and farming systems posed by "expanding cities, deforestation, unsustainable land use, pollution, overgrazing and climate change."Summarizing the issues at stake and the fight ahead, Dr. Vandana Shiva, has posted an impassioned New Years message to those battling on behalf of food sovereignty, economic egalitarianism, agroecology, climate action, and social justice

Xmas As Usual Killing Jesus In Afghanistan. Now Complete A New Year's Resolution!
By Jay Janson

As during thirteen previous birthday celebrations of Jesus, Americans shot, bombed and starved Afghani and the citizens of other nations, at the same time according to Jesus Himself shooting, booming and starving Jesus, for in Matthew 25:40: Jesus says, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." Readers invited to finish New Year's Resolutions begun for Americans in 2015

Terrorism “Insurance” Expires
By Buddy Bell

Something Ended January 1, But It Wasn’t the Afghanistan War

Defeat Of Resolution On Palestine Highlights The Real Issue
By Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava

Resolution of the Palestine problem needs to be resolved earliest and the defeat of the resolution should not be taken as the victory by Israel, USA but they must ponder in realistic terms to unravel the truth why is there so much unrest. A genuine efforts are immediately required by USA and other stakeholders in order to save the people of the Palestine with which many problems of the world are linked to

“Dos” And “Don’ts”: Things I Learned Writing About The Middle East
By Ramzy Baroud

Writing and reporting about the Middle East is not an easy task, especially during these years of turmoil and upheaval. Following and reporting on these constant changes without a deep and compassionate understanding of the region will achieve little but predictable and lackluster content that offers nothing original, but recycled old ideas and stereotypes. From my humble experience in the region, I share these “dos” and “don’ts” as to how the Middle East should be approached in writing and reporting

2014: Another Hard And Difficult Year For American Muslims
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

Relating all the hate attacks, discrimination, mosque vandalism, and other negative incidences related to the American Muslims are beyond the scope of this article

The Strategic Significance Of The Fight For $15
By Ann Robertson & Bill Leumer

The fight for $15 is a battle actually unfolding before us, the kind of battle we have not witnessed for decades. Right now it is the only battle on the horizon. The call for $15 has inspired low-wage workers and youth to act. To the degree that they achieve victories, they will open up the potential to change the course of history and trigger a resurgence of a working class movement

Postcard From The End of America: Passyunk Square, Philadelphia
By Linh Dinh

Writing this piece, I didn't have to get on any bus or train, but only walk five minutes to see Beth, someone I first met 28 years ago. Most lives are improbable, I know, but when I listen to Beth talk, I often find myself thinking, That can't possibly be true, but her facts have always checked out, and her stories consistent, even on a retelling many years later

Locked Doors: A Deserted Village
By Sumita Guru

Rampant Seasonal Migration from the village Khohar in Northern Rajasthan

Welcoming The New Year!
By Shu Shi

Thanks Tinky and Bala for those beautiful New Year’s gifts! Who knows, your example might be enthuse me to celebrate New Year’s Eve again—and in the manner that you did!

Kashmir: Governor’s Rule-Unavoidable Alternative?
By Mohammad Ashraf

To prevent further paralysis in the state administration urgently required to move on a fast track in the task of restoration of the flood damage, the Governor’s Rule seems only sensible alternative!

Importance of School Based Internal Evaluation As A Quality Assurance Mechanism
By Swaleha Sindhi

The Board of Education must take necessary steps to implement school internal evaluation as mandatory to bring improvements taking on local decision making first, followed by those who need more time to learn about and develop the necessary skills. Local decision making could provide direction and support for broader dissemination across the system

Dear Men! Women Too Have Strong Sex Drive Like You !
By Er.Yazhmozhi

Every day, we are witnessing reports of sexual violence against women. What we witness is only some of the instances which are brought out by media and some in the form of lawsuits. We also know that these instances are idiotically justified by saying that, “Men have strong sexual desires! So they are easily aroused by womenwith‘anti-traditional’ wear.This myth “Men have strong sexual desires!” is believed worldwide. This is one of the social constructs in a patriarchal society to subjugate women

01 January, 2015

New Year Wish List 2015
By Satya Sagar

2014 was an extraordinarily turbulent year around the world. The year saw the beginning of a new Cold War between the US and Russia over Ukraine; the birth of a new ‘Islamic state’ in Iraq and Syria; the brutal assault on Gaza by Israel; the exit of US troops from Afghanistan; a military coup in Thailand; the resurgence of the Tehrik-e-Taliban in Pakistan and the coming to power of the Hindu Taliban in India. Given these dismal trends, it is difficult to expect 2015 to be very different. And yet, since the term ‘Happy’ in ‘Happy New Year’ is only an expression of hope and not a statement of reality it is always to imagine a better world in the future

Paving Way For War Crimes Charges, Palestinians Move To Join International Criminal Court
By Deirdre Fulton

Following the defeat of a United Nations Security Council resolution that demanded an end to Israeli occupation and recognition of Palestinian statehood, Palestine's president Mahmoud Abbas signed a Palestinian request to join the International Criminal Court on Wednesday, a move that the Guardian wrote sets "Palestinians on a diplomatic collision course with Israel and the U.S."

Putin Approves New Russian Military Doctrine
By Clara Weiss

On December 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new military doctrine for the Russian armed forces. The document identifies the expansion of NATO and efforts to destabilise Russia and neighbouring countries as the biggest security threats

Ukrainian Soldier Explains Why He Enjoys Killing Russians
By Eric Zuesse

In an unusually lengthy video interview with a soldier of the Ukrainian Government, he states why he wants to kill as many residents in the (ethnically Russian) separatist area as possible. This soldier, named Nazar, was interviewed by Ukraine's Channel 5 TV, the current Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's television station until he became President on May 25th. Poroshenko, as Ukraine's President, no longer owns the station

Dumbo And Mule
By Mickey Z.

One Act, Two Parties - The action takes place in a NYC police station on a Saturday afternoon in the present day

U.S Wars Continue In New Year
By Jack A.Smith

It is certainly time for a revival of the mass antiwar movements. The two establishment parties are pro-war. Unless these movements get big enough to produce a multitude of truly mass protests and other actions including civil disobedience, the Washington warmakers will simply continue going from war to war

The Peak Oil Crisis
By Tom Whipple

Should US shale oil production actually fall next year, then global “all liquids” production could fall too. A few astute analysts are already mulling whether just perhaps 2014 will someday be recognized as the all-time high for global oil production or in other words “peak oil.” It is still years too early to pronounce that an all-time peak in what we now call “all liquids” has occurred, but it is an interesting thought. The situation may just be worse than it seems

Shame on University of Pennsylvania (U of Penn)
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal

As a former Graduate student of International Relations at the U of Penn I'm appalled by the disinvitation of Chris Hedges, a renowned newspaper correspondent and highly awarded writer, because of his courage to speak out against Israel's brutal occupation of Palestine. Hedges was supposed to speak at a conference in April on prospects of peace in the Middle East on campus

 

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