31 May, 2008
How
The Oil Crisis Has Hit The World
By Andy McSmith, Jerome Taylor & Nigel Morris
British pensioners who cannot afford to heat their homes. European hauliers and fishermen whose livelihoods are under threat. Palestinians forced to fill up their cars with olive oil. Americans asked to go down to a four-day week. All around the world, in a multitude of ways, the soaring price of oil is hurting rich and poor alike
Is
Water Becoming ‘The New Oil’?
By Marc Clayton
Population, pollution, and climate put the squeeze on potable supplies – and private companies smell a profit. Others ask: Should water be a human right?
Manufactured
Reality:
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
By Peter Chamberlin
The American people must rise-up in outrage to the terrorists who rule over us and stop the planned escalation, as a first step to de-escalating the war. It is time for us to take our own two steps forward, to force the aggressors to take one step back and begin to tear-down their manufactured reality
Crunch
Time For President Musharraf
And Pakistan Politics
By Safdar Jafri
In an interesting but anticipated move, the ruling coalition of Pakistan seems to have reached an agreement to remove President Musharaf from power. The move was anticipated after Asif Zardari, the leader of majority party PPP, suddenly decided to drop his backing for President Musharaf in the wake of growing public demand to unconditionally restore the sacked judges of the Supreme Court, whom President Mushraf had removed
Bangladesh:
Hold The Elections
By Saleem Samad
Nation should hold military Generals responsible for flouting election schedule, breach of constitution
Need
For Electronic Waste Laws In India
By Dr.Md.Zafar Mahfooz Nomani & Anis Ahmad
A digital lifestyle in contemporary India may emerge as one of the most lethal hazards for enviro- health sustainability in the near future. The millions of pieces of electronic waste and electrical equipment ranging from personal computers, optical disc players, mobile phones and other portable devices containing toxic chemicals such as lead, cadmium, mercury, brominated flame retardants, and leaching plastics are being dumped on us by the developed world
30 May, 2008
What's
Really Driving The High Price Of Oil?
By Ralph Nader
Oil was at $50 a barrel in January 2007, then $75 a barrel in August 2007. Now at $130 or so a barrel, it is clear that oil pricing is speculative activity, having very little to do with physical supply and demand. An essential product—petroleum—is set by speculators operating on rumor, greed, and fear of wild predictions
What
To Do About The Price Of Oil
By Robert Weissman
Current pricing arrangements are generating profit gushers for the large, integrated oil companies — ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco and the like. While the price of oil is going up, these companies’ drilling expenses are not. Oil can trade at $40 a barrel, $90 a barrel, or $130 a barrel. It still costs ExxonMobil and the rest of Big Oil only about $20 to get a barrel of oil out of the ground
Pain
And Conscience
By Charles Sullivan
Revolution begins by altering consciousness. We stand at the brink of a multitude of possible futures, many of them tragic. The failure to act and rebel when the conditions demand it is a betrayal not only of our own humanity; it is a crime of great magnitude. The world’s foremost thinkers and visionaries have always understood this. Can we?
American
Complicity
By Timothy V. Gatto
The blame cannot be shifted solely onto the shoulders of our political leaders. The American people cannot claim that they were “misled” by their leaders and don’t know the truth. While they were indeed misled, the truth wasn’t long behind the lies. Whether it its the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, the food crisis, the loss of our civil liberties or the sinking of our economy, the American people have been informed and apprised of everything. We know who the people behind the curtain are. We know how they did the things that they did. There are no great secrets that the American people don’t have access to. Everything is in plain sight
Reality
Check
By Pablo Ouziel
Without assuming that I know what you think, I can however share with you what I am seeing, with the personal hope that we will all wake up to the folly which through our collective collaboration, we are allowing our governments, banks, corporations and the military to perpetrate
Sharp
Increase In Mental Illness
Among US Troops During 2007
By James Cogan
American military personnel deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan are being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in rapidly increasing numbers, according to statistics released on Tuesday by the US Army Surgeon-General
U.S.
Soldiers Launch Campaign To Convert
Iraqis To Christianity
By Jason Leopold
Some U.S. military personnel appears to have launched an initiative to covert thousands of Iraqi citizens to Christianity by distributing Bibles and other fundamentalist Christian literature translated into Arabic to Iraqi Muslims
Updating
Yassin Aref's Struggle For Justice
By Stephen Lendman
Yassin Aref is an Iraqi Kurd and political prisoner in Police State America. In the post-9/11 climate of fear, Aref was targeted for his faith and ethnicity and victimized by a willful FBI frame
The
Other Criminal War
By Max Kantar
As we have recently eclipsed the five year anniversary of the illegal occupation and unlawful aggression in Iraq, there is very little discussion or attention given to the 'other' war in Afghanistan. There seems to be widespread acceptance within the United States that our war in Afghanistan is nothing more than a just retaliation for the horrific attacks of September 11th. A closer look may tell us otherwise
A
Dream Deferred: Activism And The Arts
By Gary Corseri
We refuse to be quiet any longer. We refuse to numb ourselves to corporate crime, the military-industrial complex, the pollution of mainstream media, the theft of our ballots, the dumbing-down, the bastardization of our arts and culture. We are gathering and telling our stories. We are listening and painting and shaping the wood and inserting the grace notes. Poets are collaborating with composers and musicians. We no longer buy the tripe of “art for art’s sake.” We do not wait for the professors to sanction what we do. Politics is too important to be left to politicians
Pens
And Swords
By Jim Miles
Book Review: Pens And Swords : How the American Mainstream Media Report the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
The
End Of President Musharraf:
How Soon, How Bad?
By Murtaza Shibli
According to some reports, the new Army Chief General Kayani has also asked Musharraf to leave the Army House and wait for his fate in the Presidential House. Indications are that the President Musharraf is leaving the Army House, but his move into the Presidential Palace is highly uncertain. As the whole country is gunning for his blood, the distance between the Musharraf and his new seat of power is getting wider. It seems his career may be extinguished soon and he may never reach the Presidential Palace
Bush,
Toilet-Scientists
And ‘Heavy-Eating’ Indians!
By Rajkumar
The mechanism of unholy trinity the World Bank, IMF and World Trade Organization has succeeded in taming the sustainable agriculture system of India by converting it into ‘corporate backyard farm’ and ‘extended market’. This truth is comfortably being buried underneath the propaganda of the Uncle Sam and their scientific community. We need to put forth our argument based on scientific facts and analysis not only to expose the treacherous game plan of Uncle Sam but also their cronies here in India who sincerely buttresses the propaganda
Gambling
In Agri Goods Couched
As Futures Trading
By Jaspal Singh Sidhu
The agricultural futures trade became a 'paper based derivatives trade' keeping prices of food items soaring globally. And, as a part of the price manipulation, a projection of shortage in production and supplies of wheat and other farm goods was made. It led to a worldwide hue and cry over the looming threat to food security. Consequently, some poor countries even witnessed food riots and millions made to suffer severest bout of malnutrition
29 May, 2008
Peak
Food And Peak Water
By Shepherd Bliss
The pace quickens. The signs are more numerous. We need even more than food security; we need food sovereignty. Who controls your food? Growing at least part of one's own food--and having something to trade--will be essential to survival
Case
Against Climate Change
Discredited By Study
By Steve Connor
A difference in the way British and American ships measured the temperature of the ocean during the 1940s may explain why the world appeared to undergo a period of sudden cooling immediately after the Second World War
Poisonous
Plutocracy Pushes
Economic Inequality
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
The biggest political issue receiving no attention by the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates is the powerful plutocracy that has captured the government to produce rising economic inequality
Nepal:
The April Uprising
And The Constituent Assembly
By Rajesh Tyagi
Unfortunately, in Nepal, the Communist leadership, mis-educated in the schools of Stalinism and Maoism, neither has any perspective nor is ready to lead the proletariat to take to power. It instead, seeks the power in collaboration with bourgeois-landlords. Its failure to comprehend the true mechanics of revolution in Nepal has resulted in missing the great opportunities to accomplish the revolution, which had presented themselves, again and again
Iraq’s
Occupation: A Form Of Terrorism
By Ghali Hassan
The responsibility remains for the U.S. and its allies to pay reparations for the damage and the unimaginable suffering they have caused to the Iraqi people. Moreover, it is not too late for George Bush, his gang and his accomplices to be held accountable for a war of aggression, terrorism and crimes against humanity
Disturbing
2008 Global Peace Index Report
By Stephen Lendman
By GPI's criteria, scoring Venezuela high and America lowest should be no-brainers. The US hands down is the world's most violent nation and primary reason for Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel's bottom rankings. The same holds for Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, Colombia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Uganda, the Philippines and a host of other nations
27 May, 2008
The
Capitalist Ground Shaken
By Earthquake In China
By Li Onesto
Many things about the nature of China have been revealed by this catastrophe. Most people around the world watching this heartbreaking tragedy think China is a socialist country, run by a communist government. But in fact, since the reactionary coup led by Deng Xiaoping after Mao Tsetung’s death in 1976, China has been a capitalist country, dependent on and subordinate to global imperialism. And some stark things about the exploitative and oppressive nature of capitalist China have been revealed in the aftermath of this devastating earthquake
Nepal's
Revolutionary Impasse
By Harsh Dobhal
The election results have upset the old order that monopolised power in Kathmandu with the Maoists emerging as the single largest party, representing the national mood for change. As the vested interests, domestic and international, continue hampering government formation, nobody should forget, including the Maoists, that the spirit of the April revolution is still lingering in the hearts of the Nepali people
War
Immemorial Day
By Bill Quigley
The U.S. has the most powerful and expensive military force in the world. The U.S. is the biggest arms merchant. And the U.S. has been the most aggressive in world-wide interventions. If Memorial Day in the U.S. is supposed to be about praying for peace, the U.S. has a lot of praying (and changing) to do
How
I Spent My Memorial Day
By Mickey Z.
Perhaps I could’ve spend my day in quiet contemplation of the valiant heroes who unselfishly risk the agony of carpal tunnel syndrome as they push the buttons and/or computer keys to launch those cruise missiles into crowded Third World cities. The same goes for America’s many courageous snipers and fearless bomber pilots…all of them using their fingers and eyes to preserve our way of life. I owe my liberty to them…
Fascism:The
Night Of Broken Glass In Rome
By Gaither Stewart
On Saturday last Fascist goon squads armed with wooden clubs carried out a “punitive expedition”, that is, an organized raid on shops of Asian immigrants in Italy’s capital. TV newscasts showed broken windows and glass along the sidewalks recalling similar events in the 1938 pogroms in Nazi Germany which came to be called Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) for the shattered store windows along city streets of Germany
Rome
Diary: Italy's Leap Into The Dark
By Gaither Stewart
Smells, Signals and Symptoms of Fascism:Anatomy of a “Sugary Sweet Dictatorship”
23 May, 2008
Is
The world About To Be Running On Empty?
By Stephen Foley
In France, fishermen are blockading oil refineries. In Britain, lorry drivers are planning a day of action. In the US, the car maker Ford is to cut production of gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles and airlines are jacking up ticket prices. Global concerns about fuel prices are reaching fever pitch and the world's leading energy monitor has issued a disturbing downward revision of the oil industry's ability to keep pace with soaring demand
Rapid
Unraveling And The Demise Of
Adolescent America
By Carolyn Baker
I'm traveling, yes on the road, across this country. I was going to
wait until arriving at my final destination before writing about my
experience, but with oil rapidly heading for $200 a barrel, it feels
important to do so sooner rather than later because our lives have
just changed more dramatically than we can imagine, and we will only
be able to comprehend to what extent as the repercussions of the end
of the age of oil reverberate through what is left of industrial civilization
How
The American Imperial Dream
Foundered In Iraq
By Michael Schwartz
It is past time for the rest of the world to shoulder at least a small share of the burden of resistance. Just as the worldwide protests before the war were among the upstream sources of the Iraqi resistance-to-come, so now others, especially Americans, should resist the very idea that Iraq could ever become the headquarters for a permanent United States presence that would, in the words of Bush speechwriter David Frum, "put America more wholly in charge of the region than any power since the Ottomans, or maybe even the Romans." Unlike the Iraqis, after all, the citizens of the United States are uniquely positioned to bury this imperial dream for all time
A
“Holey” Instrument Of Peace In Iraq
By Robert Weitzel
On October 23, 2006 a U.S. soldier or marine peered through the telescopic sight of his M24 sniper rifle and trained it on the face of Nora, a five-year-old Iraqi girl. Her pretty face was close enough to kiss. Instead, he squeezed the trigger and sent a 7.62 round slamming into her skull. The medical report read, “Nora sustained an explosive bullet injury to her head that smashed the skull bones and ruptured her cerebral membrane.” Nora survived the sniper’s bullet
The
World Must Die So That Israel Can Be Saved
By Peter Chamberlin
As a result of the Israeli government's reluctance to order attacks which would bring massive retaliation upon Israeli citizens, Bush has apparently realized that if he is to eliminate the enemies of Israel in the time allotted him, then he will have to take the bold actions required to protect the "Chosen People" from reasonable retaliation which they bring upon themselves. Towards this end, Bush has employed his loyal Democrat "blue dogs" (three Zionist Jewish Democrats and two Lebanese-Christian Republicans) to introduce legislation that is, in effect, the early stages of a Lebanese war resolution
The
Saudi Exception
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
While the Saudis are being rewarded for their cooperation, they must remember that prior to the 1979 Iranian revolution, the Shah was an ally who cooperated with the United States and Israel. His oppressive regime was given nuclear technology too. Today, in spite of its peaceful use, the civilian technology is being used to declare war on Iran. The Saudis who are fond of $5 million diamond covered Mercedes while the Palestinians are being incarcerated and starved, should be mindful their friendship will not be for long. After all, they are sitting on top of the world’s biggest oil reserve; and Mr. Bush is not the idiot we think he is
Berlusconi
Government Incites Racist Pogroms
By Stefan Steinberg
On Wednesday, May 21, at an extraordinary sitting in the city of Naples the recently nominated cabinet of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi passed harsh new laws directed against immigrants. The new decrees follow several weeks of state organised raids and violence directed against Italy’s immigrant community
With
Friends Like These
By Uri Avnery
Lately we are flooded with friends. The Great of the Earth, past and present, come here to flatter us, to fawn on us, to grovel at our feet. "God, save me from my friends, my enemies I can deal with myself!" says an old prayer. They disgust me
Acknowledging
The Tragedy
By Raja Shehadeh
By continuing its four-decade-old settlement policy Israel, is, in effect, seeking to make our lives so intolerable that we would be driven away from our land, albeit at a slower pace than was the case during the Nakba, 60 years ago
Naxal
Threat
By Radhika Menon
A fact finding team that visited Haldwani to meet a jailed journalist was turned away by muscle flexing state administration that swears to stamp out Maoist threat from Uttarakhand despite no evidence of its existence. Radhika Menon from Forum for Democratic Initiatives, who was part of the team, points to a sinister move by the state government to rob the people of the little freedom they may have while wooing the likes of Tatas
22 May, 2008
A Tale Of
Two Storms: Myanmar And New Orleans
By Bill Fletcher, Jr.
What is striking here is not only the hypocrisy of the Bush administration but that few commentators have even noticed. A global chorus of outrage has been expressed with the Myanmar junta, but a significant silence surrounds any comparison with the failures of the Bush administration's approach in the Katrina disaster
American
Crass
By James L. Secor
The height of crassness spewed forth from the lips of none other than Naomi Klein. Basically, as with the Dalai Lama and New Orleans, Klein's judgment for the massive destruction and loss of life--now at 50,000 and counting--was that it was their fault
Curtain
Time For Barack Obama: Final Chapter
By Evelyn Pringle
For reasons discussed in Parts I through V of Curtain Time, Obama's downfall will be what he claims was a "boneheaded" mistake in entering into real estate deal with Rezko in June 2005, less than a month after Rezko received a $3.5 million loan from the Iraqi-born billionaire, Nadhmi Auchi, who ended up with Riverside Park, a $2.5 billion 62-acre development project in Chicago
A
Visit To Google
By Ralph Nader
Google is a gigantic information means, bedecked with ever complex software, to what end? Information ideally leads to knowledge, then to judgment, then to wisdom and then to some action. As the ancient Chinese proverb succinctly put it — “To know and not to do is not to know.” But what happens when a company is riding an ever rising crest of digitized information avalanches without being able to catch its breath and ask, “information for what?”
Restoration
Boulevard
By Niranjan Ramakrishnan
With great admiration for her spirit and tenacity, a fraction of which if either Al Gore or John Kerry had he would have become President, I still refuse to support Hillary Clinton. My reason: no senator who helped start the Iraq War deserves to be elected
"Immoral
Hazard"
By Stephen Lendman
Direst forecasts have it in its early innings with the worst of things ahead. Only in the fullness of time will we know, but some things are clear. None of this happened by chance. Nor should it have in the first place. A combination of financial malpractice, outright fraud, and greed are to blame. The same mistakes keep getting repeated. The costs keep going higher. Sooner or later they matter, and some day it'll be too late to fix them. Some day may be closer than smart money folks think. Stay tuned, be cautious, and ignore Fed Chairmen and politicians promising miracles
Review
Of `We Want Freedom:
A Life In The Black Panther Party'
By Mumia Abu-Jamal
By Sukant Chandan
Having read many if not most of the books that have come out by or about former members of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defence, We Want Freedom is one of the best. This review cannot cover the many angles from which Mumia approaches his experience in, the ideology, practice and legacy of the Panthers. There are a few things that stand out are worth highlighting in this book, more so than perhaps other books on the same subject
Terrorism:
A Political Cancer
By Ram Puniyani
The blasts in Jaipur (13th May 2008), have once again brought to fore the grim reality of global and local political scenario. In a short span of time close to hundred innocent lives were lost. What was heartwarming was the calm with which the society handled this grim tragedy. The amity with which the post blast situation was handled certainly needs million respectful salutes
21 May, 2008
Food
Crisis Rippling Out Like A “Tsunami”
By Nergui Manalsuren
“A rolling tsunami of social unrest is underway as we speak — hungry people are desperate people capable of taking desperate actions. This tsunami is rapidly enveloping the global South, and it won’t take much longer before it knocks at the door of the global North,” warned Vicente Garcia-Delgado, the U.N. representative for CIVICUS, the world alliance for citizen participation
Lebanon
Gets A President
By Franklin Lamb
Lebanon will have General Michel Suleiman as its new President, possibly within hours. But no later than Sunday May 25, in order to allow time for the international community to send representatives
Violent
Attacks On Immigrants In South Africa
By Ann Talbot
At least 32 people have been killed in violent attacks on immigrants in South Africa. It is reported that upwards of 6,000 people have sought shelter in police stations and churches
Jaipur
Serial Terror Attack: A Political Analysis
By Feroze Mithiborwala & Kishore Jagtap
The Government of India should insitute an Independent Commission of inquiry to investigate the terror attacks that are devouring the Indian people. The commission should comprise personalities of an impeccable and honest track record and we believe that we do have people with such credentials
"The
"New" Left In Latin America:
What Chomsky Didn't Tell You
By Lorna Salzman
What Noam Chomsky, referring to the new leftist governments in Latin America, recently described in the International Herald Tribune as a "promising sign of deliverance from the (American corporate) demons of the past" is turning out to be a Business As Usual policy of full speed ahead on resource exploitation and economic growth regardless of the ecological consequences
Myanmar:
“Humanitarianism” As Fig Leaf
By Ghali Hassan
While disasters are difficult to prevent, they are short lived, imperialism-made disaster are deliberate, long-lasting and must be resisted. We now know that Western humanitarianism is a fig leaf for Western-made disasters. It is Myanmar vast natural resources and geostrategic position that the U.S.-led Western imperialism cares about, not the people of Myanmar
The
Failure Of Public Opinion
By Maryam Sakeenah
The paradox in today's world is that alongside the loudly professed commitment to democracy, public opinion still does not 'have a say', especially in the domain of international affairs
Too
Little, Too Late For
Bangladesh Democratic Roadmap
By Saleem Samad
Monday's speech to the nation By Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed was too little and too late for restoration of democracy in Bangladesh. Though the election has been planned days after the Victory Day celebration in mid-December, the chief adviser deliberately avoided any commitment about the deadline to withdraw the dreaded emergency rules
Borders
Block 104 Year Old Civilian's
Meet With Daughters
By Ashutosh Sharma
Borders and religions may marginalize human beings but they can not cut apart relations. Despite having an age of 104 years, time could not lessen Ishar Singh’s love for his first family, which got separated from him during partition of country and later embraced Islam. His daughters are settled in Pakistan and sons in US. Presently living in Digiana with second family, Ishar Singh remains equally concerned about his first family also
20 May, 2008
Cyclone
Nargis And The Human Tragedy Of
Global Capitalism
By Li Onesto
When a terrible natural disaster strikes a country like Myanmar, millions of people are affected; many lives hang in the balance. Humanity’s knowledge and resources need to be brought together. People need to be mobilized to save lives, provide medical care and deliver food. But in the world today—dominated by the global system of capitalism—the driving interests of profit, not the needs of the people, are put first and foremost
Terrorism,
And The New World Order
By Rand Clifford
Back to shining examples of mainstream truth: "We are in Iraq for honor, and to bring freedom to the Iraqi people"...as long as enough Americans believe such fantastically obvious lies, believe even small wettings of the daily tsunami of propaganda from corporate media, believe federal elections are not rigged, America is doomed. As long as people disregard evidence in favor of what they want to believe, and are told by career liars...that smell of rotting flesh wafting from just around the corner? It’s the New World Order
Praying,
Not Playing
By Maki al-Nazzal & Dahr Jamail
In the struggle now just to stay alive, everyone has forgotten that Iraq has lost, among other things, its tradition in sports. Some of its best sportsmen are now refugees
When
Free Speech Doesn’t Come Free
By Remi Kanazi
This week, Palestinians across the US commemorated 60 years of displacement. Yet, the lens the Palestinian people are expected to look through under the pragmatist vision is one that sees a dispossessed people as necessary victims for a righteous state to take form. Unfortunately, waves of writers and commentators continue to adopt this line in fear of retribution, in exchange for nicer houses and comfortable livings, or a combination of both. That is their free will. Free speech is not without consequence. Nonetheless, losing piece of mind is the only repercussion a writer should fear
One’s
Independence Is Another’s Occupation
By Dr. Elias Akleh
Zionist founders expected old generation Palestinians to give up their right of return, and the new generations to forget their historic villages and town. The exact opposite is taking place; old generation Palestinians are telling their history to the new generations, handing them the keys to their old homes in order to continue the struggle
Stop
Glorifying The Damned Hell
By David Truskoff
"Yes. I killed innocent people for our government. For what? What did I do? Where is the good coming out of it? I feel like I've had a hand in some sort of evil lie at the hands of our government. I just feel embarrassed, ashamed about it."
What
Are We Waiting For?
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
Long before the disastrous George W. Bush administration, I had been waiting for profound, systemic changes in our political system. Perversely, I saw the upside of Bush as motivating more Americans to demand political change. And that happened. But the national yearning for change was co-opted by Ron Paul on the right and Barack Obama on the left while John Edwards with the most authentic populist change message fizzled out early
McCain
Defends 'Enron Loophole'
By Jason Leopold
Sen. John McCain says he opposes the $307 billion farm bill because it would dole out wasteful subsidies, but his chief economic adviser Phil Gramm also wants to stop its proposed regulation of energy futures trading, a market that was famously abused when Enron Corp. manipulated California’s electricity prices in 2001
Spinning
The News - The FARC-EP Files,
Venezuela And Interpol
By Stephen Lendman
Colombia's belligerency, the FARC-EP files, Fourth Fleet reactivation, continued funding of Venezuela's opposition, CIA's covert mischief, disruptive street violence, and other planned schemes are troublesome. They're to reassert regional control and rid Washington of its leading hemispheric antagonist. No guessing who, and no telling when the next attempt will come or in what form
No,
George, Diplomacy Is Not appeasement
By Mary Shaw
On May 15, George W. Bush gave a speech to the Israeli Knesset in which he took an apparent swipe at Barack Obama's promise of diplomacy in foreign policy
Nepal:
Towards A New Beginning
By Mritiunjoy Mohanty
In Nepal, democratic renewal has happened through a revolutionary movement that has finally empowered those that have been marginalised and discriminated against. If questions about the economy can be addressed, and I agree it is a very big if, because the renewal is led by the poor and the marginalised, it is Nepal that affords the greater possibility of a fairer, more plural and more just society. After all not for nothing did the CPN-Maoists wage an armed struggle
BJP
Seizes On Jaipur Bombing To Promote Communalism And Social Reaction
By Deepal Jayasekera
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has seized on the recent terrorist atrocity in Jaipur, the capital of the northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan, to promote anti-Muslim and anti-Bangladeshi prejudice and to press for a further strengthening of the repressive powers of the state
17 May, 2008
Manufacturing
A Food Crisis
By Walden Bello
The diversion of corn from tortillas to biofuel was certainly one cause of skyrocketing prices, though speculation on biofuel demand by transnational middlemen may have played a bigger role. However, an intriguing question escaped many observers: how on earth did Mexicans, who live in the land where corn was domesticated, become dependent on US imports in the first place?
Israel
At 60: An Ongoing Disaster
By Ida Audeh
Israel has ruled over the indigenous Palestinian population for 59 of its 60 years: imposing military rule on the Palestinians who remained in Israel from 1948 to 1966 and ruling since 1967 over the Palestinians in the occupied territories, who now number 3.7 million. And in these 60 years, Israel has demonstrated irrefutably that it is a disaster on every level that really matters -- for the Palestinians; for its own citizens; and for its neighbors
Terror
Most Imperial
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
Today, one of the more subtle tools of imperialism is the use of value-laden language that seeks to define the Arab and Muslim world. With labels such as ‘terrorists’ and ‘Islamofascism’, they wish to establish an ‘Orientalist’ perspective of otherness denoting barbarism as set apart from Israel and the West which represents admirable qualities. It is imperative to reject this imperial imposition of characterization and for each state, individually and collectively, to self-rule, foremost through self-definition
Another
Ominous Bush Bash
By Ira Glunts
US President Lashes Out Against “Terrorists,” Snubs Palestinians, Pleases His Israeli Audience In Knesset Speech
Curtain
Time For Barack Obama -Part IV
By Evelyn Pringle
The solution to the problems arising from the unsuccessful attempts to shut down Operation Board Games would be for Barack Obama to become president and issue a bipartisan pardon to all members of the “Combine” who funded his seat in the US Senate. The scam worked when Scooter Libby took the fall for the Bush administration. However, that might not be so easy
Hunters
And Soldiers: Brothers In Arms
By Mickey Z.
Thanks to the Associated Press (AP), I recently learned about an innovative new method in psychological therapy: killing. Thanks to the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), wounded American soldiers are now attempting to “recover” from their violent trauma by, well, imposing violent trauma onto defenseless animals
Grow
Them Young, Pay Them Well -
Anti-Chavistas, That Is
By Stephen Lendman
The Washington-based Cato Institute is all about "Individual Liberty, Free Markets, and Peace," or so says its web site. It's been around since 1977 preaching limited government and free market religion with plenty of high-octane corporate funding for backing. It better have it for the award it presented on May 15. It was to a 23 year old fifth year Venezuelan law student at Universidad Catolica Andres Bello. Yon Goicoechea was the fourth recipient of the "Milton Friedman Liberty Prize" in the amount of $500,000. For what? What else. For serving the interests of capital back home and leading anti-Chavista protests
Vanunu:
Almost Free And At Home In Norway
By Eileen Fleming
The wind of opportunity for Israel to get some good PR, blows from Norway in The Norwegian Lawyer's Petition for Vanunu: Norway should grant Vanunu asylum and demand that Israel allows him to leave the country
Liberia:
'The Love Of Liberty Brought Us Here'
By Maryam Sakeenah
The proud façade of Liberia's historical monument overlooks war-ravaged Monrovia, reading, in bold white lettering: 'The Love of Liberty Brought Us Here.' The city around struggles to keep a tenuous peace after decades of a civil war that ravaged the country. The irony of the words painted on the interface is stinging
Twenty
Nine Reasons People Need To
Pull Their Heads Out Of The Sand
By Wanda Marie Woodward
The informed, compassionate, and active are tasked with daunting and overwhelming challenges. It is imperative for us to build bridges and remain connected during these profoundly troubling times. Let us persevere, stay informed, remain sober and realistic, and act with moral conscience on the scientific information that is available to us. And let us keep hope alive
Everybody
Knows
By Sheila Samples
Cheney, Bush and their co-conspirators throughout the three branches of government must be removed. Indicted. Convicted. Imprisoned. Voting records of the 435 members of Congress and 33 Senators up for re-election in 2008 must be vetted, and those who do not reflect the will of the people must go. No exceptions. The remaining 17 Senators must either stand or fall on their voting records. If those who are guilty of the same breach of trust as their cohorts refuse to budge, they must be impeached and removed from office
'The
Pirates Of Rubbish'
By Loretta Napoleoni
The garbage crisis in Naples is but the tip of the iceberg of a global rogue phenomenon of which we, wealthy consumers in the global village, are unwitting business partners. We should stop ignoring this reality
Blazing
Punjab: Flaming Fields
By Umendra Dutt
Every day I pass through villages and see fires in the just harvested fields. An absolutely avoidable ecological destruction and environmental violence is going on at the hands of brainwashed farmers
A
Jumbo Tragedy
By K A Shaji
The failure to enforce rules and stressful use at temple events are forcing elephants in Kerala to run amok
16 May, 2008
Remembering
1948 And Looking To The Future
By Ali Abunimah
This month Israel marks the 60th anniversary of its founding. But amidst the festivities including visits by international celebrities and politicians there is deep unease -- Israel has skeletons in its closet that it has tried hard to hide, and anxieties about an uncertain future which make many Israelis question whether the state will celebrate an 80th birthday
60
Years Of Denial
By Ramzy Baroud
As Israel celebrates its 60th birthday, nothing is allowed to blemish the supposed heroism of its founding fathers or those who fought in its name. Palestine, the Palestinians, and an immeasurably long relationship between a people and their land hardly merit a pause as Israeli officials and their Western counterparts carry on with their festivities
The
Nakba March
By Jonathan Cook
It has been a week of adulation from world leaders, ostentatious displays of military prowess, and street parties. Heads of state have rubbed shoulders with celebrities to pay homage to the Jewish state on its 60th birthday, while a million Israelis reportedly headed off to the country's forests to enjoy the national pastime: a barbecue
Resisting
The Nakba
By Joseph Massad
One of the most difficult things to grasp in the modern history of Palestine and the Palestinians is the meaning of the Nakba. Is the Nakba to be seen as a discrete event that took place and ended in 1948, or is it something else? What are the political stakes in reifying the Nakba as a past event, in commemorating it annually, in bowing before its awesome symbolism? What are the effects of making the Nakba a finite historical episode that one bemoans but must ultimately accept as a fact of history?
The
Solution To The Conflict Originated
By Israel Is A Palestinian State
By Agustin Velloso
If the core of the Palestinian problem is the robbery of a people's land, plus the expulsion of its owners, justice is not achieved by allowing the thief to keep half of it, as the two States solution implies. Much less is justice served by forcing the victims to share it with the thief, making them forget the past and abandon hope of a future free from oppression
Did
Hezbollah Thwart A Planned
Bush/Olmert Attack On Lebanon?
By Franklin Lamb
According to US Senate Intelligence Committee sources, the Bush administration
initially green-lighted the intended May 11 Israel 'demonstration
of solidarity' with the pro-Bush administration militias, some with
which Israel has maintained ties since the days of Bashir Gemayal
and Ariel Sharon.In the end, "the Bush administration got cold
feet", a Congressional source revealed. So did Israel
George
Bush's Power To Inspire
By Peter Chamberlin
The failure of the Bush/Bandar/Olmert axis to ignite a prolonged shooting war between the Lebanese resistance forces and their hired guns Hariri and Jumblatt is a clear declaration to the world that the glorious neocon policies of Bush have been proven complete failures on the battlefield. Yet, he and Cheney keep pushing for new openings to ignite a new conflagration
Lebanon:
Choufeit's Bloody Pentecost
By Franklin Lamb
The reality in West Beirut today is that even if every Hezbollah member but one withdrew, Hezbollah would still be in control of Lebanon's capitol. He does not even need to have a weapon. All that is necessary is for it to be known that he is present. The Lebanese Army is increasingly deployed but its role is determined by the Bay Rocks barricade
Re-igniting
Lebanon's Internal Fire
By D. Elias Akleh
Reports about the latest Lebanese conflict talked only about the symptoms of the conflict and ignored its root causes. The Lebanese political infrastructure was deliberately formed, since its independence in 1943, to set up the country for perpetual political conflicts. One also needs to consider the global and regional political dynamics to understand the Lebanese dilemma
Europe’s
Roots In Social Justice:
The European Idea
By Gaither Stewart
The European idea is thus alien to the union of Europe’s market economies. The direction of the European Union of today is instead the final step toward its social decadence. Neoliberlism’s triumph would be Europe’s defeat. Today Europeans are cutting social programs as no authoritarian, right wing Mexican government could ever do. That path would end the European cycle. Europe would cease to be a model. Big or small, United Europe in imitation of the USA will not work
Nature
Adds To Occupation Blows
By Ahmed Ali & Dahr Jamail
Farmers in the Diyala province in Iraq have been hit by just about every crisis possible. First the security disaster dried up supplies and markets, then lack of electricity cut irrigation, and now comes a drying up of water resources
Curtain
Time For Barack Obama - Part II
By Evelyn Pringle
If the Combine's plot with the Bush administration to shut down Operation Board Games had worked, Obama would be home free. But it failed and the Republicans are just waiting to air the roadmap of dirt pieced together from Fitzgerald's investigation if Obama is nominated. McCain is in the clear because there is no sign of his involvement anywhere
Curtain
Time For Barack Obama -Part III
By Evelyn Pringle
When the news surfaced that Auchi had made a loan to Rezko a month before Obama and Rezko entered into a real estate deal to buy a mansion and lot for over $2 million in June 2005, rumors started flying about a dinner held in Chicago at the exclusive Four Season’s Hotel in April 2004, for Auchi and other investors from the Middle East, attended by many top Illinois officials and Alsammarae
15 May, 2008
Huge
Cost Of 60 Years Of Apartheid Israel,
War And Palestinian Genocide
By Dr Gideon Polya
After a century of this racist, colonialist obscenity it is timely on this 60th anniversary of Zionist Unilateral Declaration of Independence to assess what has been the economic cost of Apartheid Israel and the human cost of Apartheid Israel
Celebrating
60 Years Of Israel’s Terror
By Ghali Hassan
As the U.S. and other Western governments began celebrating Israel’s 60th anniversary of colonisation in Palestine, little attention is given to the unimaginable suffering of the Palestinian people. Instead Israel’s daily terror against the Palestinians has been normalised as a relief of guilt feelings
The
Church Of The Nativity In The Little Town of
Bethlehem: Today, 2007 And 2002...
By Eileen Fleming
The Palestinian fighters who were deported from the West Bank after the 2002 siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem appealed to Palestinian leadership on Saturday to "end their suffering and return them to their home city of Bethlehem."
Disturbing
Stirrings - Ratcheting Up For War on Iran
By Stephen Lendman
Led by Dick Cheney, Bush administration neocons want war on Iran. So does the Israeli Lobby, but it doesn't mean they'll get it. Powerful forces in Washington and the Pentagon are opposed and so far have prevailed. Nonetheless, worrisome recent events increase the possibility and must be closely watched
A
Last Chance For Civilization
By Bill McKibben
All of a sudden it isn't morning in America, it's dusk on planet Earth. There's a number -- a new number -- that makes this point most powerfully. It may now be the most important number on Earth: 350. As in parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
Ecological
Seeing: Walking In A Sacred Manner
By Charles Sullivan
Over consumption and waste and the endless economic expansion they cause are the governing principle of capitalism and over population; and, like it or not, they fundamentally conflict with the natural order of things. This ideology is counter to the organizing principle of life and it has the effect of diminishing biodiversity and the ecological processes upon which all life depends
Lucky
Us?
By Jeff Berg
This welcome change of pace has come about as a result of the following very small number of words: "Liquids production will significantly decline after a likely bumpy plateau 2010-2020 and likely chaotic oil prices. 30 years from now, production of easy oil will be 35% less than to day but production of all liquids (including from coal and biomass) only 5% less than today."
Gravediggers
Of The World Unite!
Capitalism Must Die….
By Jason Miller
capitalism is the bane of the Earth. It is a linear system premised on infinite growth. Corporate media whores love to crow about “the growth of the economy” as if the further expansion of our highly toxic, industrialized, and consumption obsessed society on a planet that is already on life support is a “good thing.” Let’s celebrate! We drove another 100 species to extinction, increased the toxicity of the air and water, and eliminated 5% more of the rain forests!
Hilary
Clinton: Anything For The White House
By Suzanne Baroud
Nothing seems to work right for Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton in her attempts to once more dwell in the White House. Senator Barack Obama, despite inflated controversies continued his glide to the Democratic nomination with a landslide victory and a marginal defeat in the North Carolina and Indiana primaries, respectively
Curtain
Time For Barack Obama - Part I
By Evelyn Pringle
Republicans have enough damaging information against Barack Obama to knock him off the ballot before the November election. Those at the top of the Democratic Party know this by now and voters need to recognize that if they nominate him they are throwing the election. Nothing else can explain why they would allow this disaster to happen
US
Terrorism Report: Selective Data,
Wrong Lessons
By Ramzy Baroud
The data provided in the US State Department's annual terrorism report for 2007 points to some interesting if puzzling conclusions. The much publicised document, made available 30 April via the State Department's website, makes no secret of the fact that Al-Qaeda is back, strong as ever. It also suggests that violence worldwide is nowhere near subsiding, despite President Bush's repeated assurances regarding the success of his "war on terror"
Torture
Policies Undermine 9/11 Case
By Jason Leopold
The Pentagon’s decision to drop war-crimes charges against Mohammed al-Qahtani, the alleged “20th hijacker” in the 9/11 attacks, again underscores the consequences of the Bush administration’s descent into torture and other abusive treatment of “war on terror” detainees
Food
Crisis Hits Fallujah
By Ali al-Fadhily & Dahr Jamail
Sharp increases in food prices have generated a new wave of anti-occupation and anti-U.S. sentiment in Fallujah
09 May, 2008
Lebanon
On Brink Of Civil War
By Chris Marsden
Lebanon stands on the brink of all-out civil war. A general strike by the leading trade union to protest rising prices and demand an increase in the minimum wage has led to armed conflict between the pro-Western Sunni and Druze-based government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the Shia-based Hezbollah and its ally, Amal
Lebanon
Descends Into Chaos
By Robert Fisk
What is it about Lebanon that creates these crises? Maybe at heart, it is the same old problem: to be a modern state, Lebanon must abandon confessionalism – the system which provides a Maronite for the presidency, a Sunni for the prime minister's seat, a Shia for the speaker of parliament, and so on. But if Lebanon abandoned confessionalism, it would no longer be Lebanon, because sectarianism is its identity; a fate which its children do not deserve but whose country was created by French masters on the ruins of the Ottoman empire
Nasrallah
Opens With A Knight,Next move, Bush
By Franklin Lamb
Street Notes and Findings from Beirut's Hamra District
Lebanon
On The Brink
By Franklin Lamb
Blindsided Hezbollah mulls its response
Bush
Says Starving India Eats Too Much
By Kavita Krishnan
The global policeman Bush, in the time-honoured traditions of backyard bully, has long harboured the habit of dictating to nations who their friends and enemies should be. Now, he has taken to telling nations how much they should eat, and of wagging a disapproving finger at poor nations whose middle class has made some improvements in its diet
Dalits In
U.P. Face Hunger Deaths And Suicides
By S.R.Darapuri
When George Bush is admonishing India for eating too much, Dalits in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh face hunger deaths and suicides
Portrait Of
An Oil-Addicted Former Superpower
By Michael T. Klare
How Rising Oil Prices Are Obliterating America's Superpower Status
Conversation
With Dahr Jamail
By Stephen Moss & Dahr Jamail
Texas-born Dahr Jamail was outraged that the US media were swallowing the Bush administration's line on Iraq and so, with just $2,000 and no previous journalistic experience, he set off to find out what was really happening in the country
12
Stepping Our Way To Armageddon
By Carolyn Baker
While I do not feel optimistic about survival in the abyss into which we appear to be descending, I believe that the principles inherent in the Steps can facilitate our planting seeds that may ultimately germinate and flourish as a new paradigm lived out by some of us and our descendents who are committed to creating lifeboats of localized, sustainable living that serve the entire earth community
Common
Sense Regarding
The Middle East Conflict
By Roger Tucker
The viral madness that is Zionism, the most virulent form of fascism in today's world, can only be defeated by the spiritual weapons of wisdom and compassion, wielded by people of good will around the world, and the considerable hard work required to cut through the fog of confusion
Beyond
Media Revolutions:
Is Arab Media Truly Free?
By Ramzy Baroud
The Arab foreign ministers communiqué can be understood as a call for a truce between various Arab governments: you hold your journalists back from attacking me, I’ll hold mine. It’s neither a call for the suppression of civil society nor the gagging of free expression: the former is largely suppressed and truly free expression never fully existed
Ramzy
Baroud's "The Second Palestinian Intifada"
By Stephen Lendman
Ramzy Baroud's "The Second Palestinian Intifada" is poignant and masterful. It blends his personal experience with a gripping narrative of his peoples' struggle for justice
Democracy:
Inclusion Or Exclusion?
By Asghar Ali Engineer
True test of our democracy would be when any deserving citizen of India, be he/she tribal, dalit, Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Sikh can become prime minister of India. It is true a Muslim, dalit and Sikh have risen to the office of President and a Sikh is now Prime Minister but President's post is decorative one, not executive one. True test lies in making a dalit or Muslim or Christian Prime minister of India
Muqtada
By Jim Miles
Book Review: Muqtada – Muqtada al-Sadr, The Shia Revival, And The Struggle For Iraq By Patrick Cockburn
AIDS
And The Contradictions Of Spanish Development Cooperation In Equatorial
Guinea
By Agustin Velloso
Despite the sonorous propaganda about international aid, more resounding still is the silence about the Obiang family's corruption and the results of Spanish development cooperation in Equatorial Guinea
Justice
Must Be Served In Bangladesh
For Two Ex-PMs
By GM Solaiman
Justice must be served to Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia along with others who are accused. If the court ruled that they are innocents, by all means, they should be free. If the court ruled that they are guilty, they must serve prison time like every body else. We must see that law has been followed. We must see that justice has been served. Only then we need to elect more law makers to make yet more laws. If we do not need any law to execute, we do not need any law makers either
When
Lawyers Masquerade As Judges
By Subhash Gatade
Ismail Jalagir, a senior counsel from Hubli (Karnataka) and Mohammad Shoaib, a senior advocate from Lucknow (U.P.) might not have heard about each other. But even their strongest critics would admit that they are made of the same mettle.If there are rewards meant for lawyers who are ready to go the extra mile to defend rigths granted to citizens under the constitution then both these worthy citizens of the country would be the first on the list
Sri
Lanka! Armed Resistance Or Terrorism?
By Thulasi Wesley Pillai
State terror is a reality in Sri Lanka. That is something that the international community has chosen to ignore. When a state is hell-bent on ‘secret’ ethnic cleansing, head-hunting human rights activists, journalists, intellectuals, parliamentarians, vocal clerics and witnesses of state crimes then what is the duty and responsibility of the citizens?
06 May, 2008
U.N.
Bodies Under Fire For Food Crisis
By Thalif Deen
As the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) readies for a summit of world leaders next month, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Monday defended the Rome-based U.N. agency, which has come under fire for its failure to help meet the growing challenges of hunger worldwide
Insurrection
Of The Famished – Causes And Possible
Remedies Of The World Hunger Crisis
By Siv O'Neall
The rich people in the world have to be made aware of this daily massacre that is taking place right under our eyes, in the third-world countries and even in the United States. It is strictly criminal. It is a question of crimes against humanity. The awareness of having the means to act against these crimes must make us impose radical change on our governments against the interests of the transnational institutions. Without these radical changes even the multinational institutions can do nothing. It's up to us, the people, to rebel and by means of reasoned and democratic political acts practice international solidarity
How
To Make Mud Cookies
By Maurice Dufour
Mud cookies are all the rage in Haiti today. The “rage” in this case, though, has been sparked by soaring food prices. The cookies have become a staple in poor households across the country because food is simply unaffordable. Everyone, it seems, is dying to get their hands on the biscuits
The
Gospel Of Consumption
By Jeffrey Kaplan
If we want to save the Earth, we must also save ourselves from ourselves. We can start by sharing the work and the wealth. We may just find that there is plenty of both to go around
Hospital
Struck As US Military Tightens
Siege Of Baghdad’s Sadr City
By Peter Symonds
US missile strikes on a small building adjacent to a major hospital in Baghdad’s Sadr City on Saturday left more than 20 people injured, destroyed ambulances and shook the entire neighbourhood. The incident provides a glimpse of the hellish conditions created for residents of the huge working class slum through the month-long siege by American and Iraqi government forces
Israel
At 60
By Uri Avnery
One of our national peculiarities is a form of discussion where all the participants, whether from the Left or from the Right, use the clinching argument: "If we don't do this and this, the state will cease to exist!" Can one imagine such an argument in France, Britain or the USA? This is a symptom of "Crusader" anxiety
Sixty
Years Of Palestinian Displacement,
Occupation And Suffering
By Stephen Lendman
On May 14, Israelis will commemorate the 60th anniversary of their "War of Independence" and founding of the Jewish State. It also marks 60 years of Palestinian Nakba suffering
Austrian
Atrocity Horrifies But Media Ignore
US, UK And Australian Mass Infanticide
By Dr Gideon Polya
Simple quantitative assessment of the “Fritzl horror” with child abuse horrors being perpetrated by the US, the UK, NATO and Australia in Occupied Iraq and Occupied Afghanistan tell us that this is a very serious and obscenely exaggerated case of “the Pot calling the Kettle black”
The
Winds Of The Right Over Europe
By Gaither Stewart
As I write these lines, Berlusconi’s pfalange is occupying every nook and cranny it can get its hands on in the country people of the world so love. First Berlusca swept the elections to become the new Leader. Then, on the heels of his Blitzkrieg, the Fascist heirs of the old Fascist Party—who now call themselves post-Fascists, collected the magnificent capital city of Rome and ancient capital of Europe
How
Our System Works
By Thomas Riggins
Imagine, a company lies to the Patent Office to get a patent because if the truth were known it would not qualify for the patent. The truth comes out. Our senators and representatives are actually debating a new law which says its ok for the company to keep the patent; it cannot be revoked just because it was obtained by lying to the government. Remember if you as an individual lie to the government, i.e., the FBI or the IRS, it’s off to jail
Haj's
Release Revives Gitmo Closure
By Ismail Kamal Kushkush
The release of Aljazeera cameraman Sami Al-Haj from the Guantanamo Bay after spending six years without charge has aroused high hopes of bringing the curtains down on the notorious US detention camp
The
Ordeal Of Al Jazeera Cameraman Sami Al-Haj
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
After six and a half years of imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay military prison, Al Jazeera cameraman, Sami Al-Haj, was released on May 2, 2008 in a very bad shape. He was carried off a US air force jet on a stretcher when he arrived in Khartoum, Sudan, and immediately taken to hospital. Al-Hajj's case symbolizes the policy of torture and human rights violation of the Bush Administration
Ashamed
To Be American
By Mickey Z.
Even if the man who was beaten was death was proven-beyond a reasonable doubt-to be personally responsible for 9/11, how can anyone but a sociopath justify such treatment? Can anyone but a sadistic criminal justify the existence of "Gitmo"? How much more will it take before everyday Americans collectively hang their heads in shame over this ongoing crime and the many other examples of their nation's contemptible conduct?
25
Civilians Killed In America For Each
GI Killed In Iraq
By Sherwood Ross
Preoccupied with the fighting in Sadr City, it may have escaped President Bush’s notice that millions of African-Americans live in blighted neighborhoods, some of which, like Sadr City, also appear to have been ravaged by bloodshed and violence
Barack
Obama's REAL Albatross
By Leigh Saavedra
The real problem is that in addition to having his opponent wage war on him, as is expected, he has the Republican party out en masse campaigning for Hillary Clinton. A year ago, I would have said, "Huh?" to such a statement, but it proves itself more true every day
Al-Qa’ida
Murder Inc.
By Mustapha Marrouchi
A follower of Salafi Sunnism, bin Laden does not express absolute solidarity with all Muslims. The assassination of two devout Muslims, Ahmad Shah Massoud and Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, meant nothing to him. Nor does he claim to have the support of the regime in Iran, which is Shi’ite. The religious intensity lies in the millenarian beliefs underlying his statements; politics play a poor second role
Conversion:
A Political Weapon
By Ram Puniyani
The realization that to impose Hindu rashtra in this country the electoral majority is needed as a starting point, the process of co-opting Adivasis into Hindu fold has been stepped up. And this 8% population can be the wonderful addition to electoral base for the right wing politics. The second advantage is that by indoctrinating them they can be unleashed against the other enemies of Hindu nation, like Muslims, as witnessed in Gujarat, where they were used as ideal foot soldiers for the agenda of Hindu Rashtra
03 May, 2008
Americans
Ditch SUVs
By Leonard Doyle
America's love affair with sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and pick-up trucks is finally over.With petrol now selling for almost $4 (£2) a gallon, consumers are trading in their Humvees and Ford Explorers so fast that for the first time, one in five cars sold in the US is now a compact or subcompact. In another first, sales of six-cylinder vehicles were bypassed by smaller four-cylinder, mostly Japanese, cars in April
Iraq:
Corruption Eats Into Food Rations
By Ali al-Fadhily & Dahr Jamail
Amidst unemployment and impoverishment, Iraqis now face a cutting down of their monthly food ration – much of it already eaten away by official corruption
Is
Sadr City Becoming The Next Gaza?
By Rannie Amiri
The ripples of the March 25th Basra offensive-turned-fiasco initiated by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki have been transformed into waves of bloodletting, crashing rhythmically northward onto Sadr City. According to one governmental official, more than 900 people were killed and 2600 wounded in the teeming slum of three million in April
Who
Gets Totally Obliterated, Iran Or The US?
By Michael Nolan
Mrs. Clinton is so desperate to play the tough guy card that she’s had herself photographed throwing shots and beers back with the boys. Now, with her nuclear threat, she proves that she’ll say anything, do anything in order to win what Ken Silverstein of Harper’s calls “the frenzied bidding war to be the most ‘pro-Israel.’” There’s no indication, as yet, that she’s ready to explain the monstrous consequences of a war with Iran to the American people
The
Harsh Reality Of The Middle East Conflict
By Dan Lieberman
A century old conflict between the state of Israel and stateless Palestinians, many of whom have been disposed from lands that created the Israel state, has precipitated a argument: Is it preferable to have two states living side by side or have one state from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River that includes Jews and Palestinians without prejudice and with equal rights for all?
How
Many Deaths Will It Take?
By Rohini Hensman
Given the radical undermining of the rule of law by the government, the only way to break this vicious circle is to invite a UN human rights monitoring mission to help with the task of investigating both crimes by the LTTE and crimes by the state, and bring the perpetrators to justice
Are
You Ready?
By Lech Biegalski
I don't know, if people have enough strength, wisdom, and intrest to build a massive grassroots movement in order to defend their freedom, their rights, and their lives. This would require a great deal of solidarity, time, hard work, and coordination. What I see around is rather discouraging. But I believe that promoting and preserving a culture of liberty and humanitarian values within small grups of people and within families will work as seeds for a better future. When the time is right, the seeds will grow branches and deliver fruits
How
To Get Universal Health Care
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama say they believe in giving Americans universal health care. I don’t believe them. Anyone who takes the time to understand universal health care should conclude that only a simple single payer system will reform the current outrageous system that benefits the insurance and pharmaceutical industries
Where
Is The "Follow-Up"To The FLDS Raid?
By Timothy V. Gatto
The lead story in April was the raid on the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints compound in Texas. The story was that a woman (in this case a sixteen year old girl), called the authorities and claimed that she was being held against her will and was being forced to have sex with older men. The details from that point on are a little bit confusing. The truth is that this entire saga is, and continues to be, so confusing that the mainstream media has seemingly dropped it
Children
Of Pleasure: A Sad Story Of Afghanistan
By Rakesh Kumar Meena & Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharjee
Trafficking amongst children has turned into one of the major menaces of a developing society amongst which Afghanistan, a war torn and socio-economically dilapidated nation, has turned into one of the major breeding grounds of such menace after illegal narcotics trafficking
Bullets
And Bananas: The Violence Of
Free Trade In Guatemala
By Cyril Mychalejko
The ongoing violence against workers in Guatemala makes it clear that talk of free trade improving human rights in developing countries is lost in translation. Free trade has done nothing but exacerbate poverty and inequality, while rewarding governments for sustaining repressive conditions that allow corporations to exploit vulnerable, and often powerless workers
02 May, 2008
No
Mercy
By Najwa Sheikh
In their simple house made of metal sheets, Myassar Abu Me'teq was sitting next to three of her children having breakfast and holding her one-year-old baby in her arms. She listened to their daily complaints and loving quarrels, trying to comfort them and keep them away from the sound of the Israeli shelling close to their home in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. This mother did not know that their clock would soon stop ticking, not by their creator but by their enemy
Blockade
Puts Gaza On Brink Of Serious Food Crisis
By Donald Macintyre
Destitution and food insecurity among Gaza's 1.5 million residents has reached an unprecedentedly critical level, according to unpublished UN findings that they now need "urgent assistance" to avert a "serious food crisis" in the occupied Palestinian territories
The
Bomb Squads: How To Survive
A Gaza Refugee Camp
By Ramzy Baroud
Excerpts from Baroud’s upcoming book, “101 Ways to Survive a Refugee Camp.”
India/Iran:
Course Correction
By Praful Bidwai
Relations between India and Iran, which deteriorated over the past three years from traditional friendship and warmth into mutual suspicion and tension, have started looking up again. This development has significant implications for India’s role in West Asia and Central Asia as well as ties with its new 'strategic partner', the United States
Iraq
After Basra
By Ashley Smith
The assault on Basra has ended the false calm of the surge and sparked both increasing resistance to the occupation as well as ethnic and sectarian conflict between and among Iraq’s three great communities
Pop
Goes The Race-Neutral Campaign!
By Glen Ford
The relationship between Rev. Wright and Sen. Obama has undergone “great damage,” says Obama, understatedly. But the break was inevitable and is no tragedy, because it reveals the incompatibility of Obama’s adapted world view with the body of knowledge amassed by African Americans since before the landing of the Mayflower. The truth is always a revelation
Since
I Gave Up Hope, I Feel Better
By William Blum
Food riots, in dozens of countries, in the 21st century. Is this what we envisioned during the post-World War Two, moon-landing 20th century as humankind's glorious future? It's not the end of the world, but you can almost see it from here
The
U.S. Role In Indigenous Exploitation
By Max Kantar
While the United States continues to block efforts in the international arena to include native peoples in important political and economic decision making that holds unwavering implications for their continued existence on this planet, it is the job of the people to stand in solidarity with the struggling indigenous masses to assure that the power structure of government and corporate tyranny will not finally complete their historic genocide of native people everywhere
Five
Ways To Think About Iran Under The Gun
By Pepe Escobar
What a disaster in the making, and yet, now more than ever, Vice President Dick Cheney's faction in Washington (not to mention possible future president John McCain) seems ready to bomb. Perhaps the Mahdi himself -- in his occult wisdom -- is betting on a U.S. war against Asia to slouch towards Qom to be reborn
The
Passing Of Nirmala Deshpande
By Mirza A. Beg
Nirmala Deshpande, 79, a veteran Gandhian, died in her sleep at her home in Delhi, Thursday morning. It is natural to mourn the passing of a dear friend. Though I did not know her personally, I mourn her passing as if she was a close friend. We knew of her great sacrifice and struggle to keep the flame of humanity and justice alive against powerful winds of hatred and strife around the world, particularly in her homeland, India, the land of Gandhi
01 May, 2008
The
Fed Sinks The Dollar
By Michael Hudson
Against the recommendations of most economists and even the Financial Times of London, the Federal Reserve Board yesterday cut its discount rate by yet another quarter-point, to just 2%. Ostensibly, the intention is to try and spur economic “recovery” – as if a cut in the interest rates would do this
A
Barrage Of US Threats Against Iran
By Peter Symonds
During a press conference on Tuesday, US President George Bush spelled out the threat to Iran contained in last week’s release of CIA intelligence on an alleged Syrian nuclear reactor. As well as warning Syria and North Korea, which purportedly helped construct the building, he declared that the US was “sending a message to Iran, and the world for that matter, about just how destabilising a nuclear proliferation would be in the Middle East”
Denying
Palestinians Free Movement
In The West Bank
By Stephen Lendman
This article summarizes an August 2007 B'Tselem report now available in print. It's one of a series of studies it conducts on life in Occupied Palestine to reveal what major media accounts suppress. This one is titled: "Ground to a Halt - Denial of Palestinians' Freedom of Movement in the West Bank."
May
Day 1939
By David Truskoff
Thanks to the excellent work of the surgeons, I am well again. That is they saved my body, but my mind now views the sinking America and it angers me. The labor movement has given way to outsourcing. The civil rights movement that I was so involved in has deteriorated to the horrendous high school drop out rate among minorities and the constant reports of black children shooting each other in the streets
US
Military Coordinated Day Of Prayer Events
With Christian Right Group
By Jason Leopold
At least half-a-dozen active-duty military officials have been working closely with a task force headed by the far-right fundamentalist Christians planning religious events at military installations around the country to commemorate Thursday’s National Day of Prayer
The
Missed Message Of Reverend Wright
By Bill Noxid
It’s more than a little unfortunate that Obama does not recognize this age old tactic to divide the Black populous. Repeatedly Obama has been asked to renounce one thing ( or person ) after another, and Obama continues to oblige… Whittling away at the people who are truly on his side
The
World Is As Dangerous As We Think It Is
By James Rothenberg
The longer the occupations go on, the more we will seem to be “past” the point of our motivation’s original relevance. All the really “serious” talk now is restricted to the narrow confines of today’s “responsibilities” toward these countries. But how one even defines responsibility in this case is determined by one’s worldview. It can be put in the form of a simple question. Do we have a right to be in these countries?
"The
Challenge Of Modern Slavery"
By Loretta Napoleoni
Slavery is in our refrigerators. From fruit to beef, from sugar to coffee, slave labor brings food to our tables. “Miguel,” a Mexican slave freed by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a US human-rights organization, may have harvested the apples we eat at breakfast. Miguel picked fruit under guard in the United States. He had traveled to el norte to earn the money to pay for treatment for his six-year-old son who has cancer; instead, his employer enslaved him
Confessions
Of A Renegade Christian
By Case Wagenvoord
The first order of business for Progressives must be to challenge this atmosphere of fear and trembling. Those of us who dissent from our national paranoia must find the spiritual strength to stand up and proclaim that there is nothing to fear. For myself, I draw my strength from The Way of the Christ, and from the Liberation Theology of Latin America. This is not for everybody, nor should it be. But it could well be that at some future date; it may be missionaries from Latin America who will teach us how to live a life in harmony with creation
Negotiable
Or Not, The American Way Of Life
Must Be Extinguished….
By Jason Miller
Is the Western consumerist culture that we inflict upon the rest of the world truly the pinnacle of our evolution? If it is, I resign my membership in the human race. Though I don’t fear that I’ll be compelled to tender my resignation any time soon because our so-called “non-negotiable American Way of Life” is a piece of shit, for myriad reasons
