30 May, 2009
Sri Lanka’s Hidden Massacre
By Catherine Philp
More than 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final throes of the Sri Lankan civil war, most as a result of government shelling, an investigation by The Times has revealed. The number of casualties is three times the official figure
Sri Lanka: Ten Questions
By Satya Sagar
As the gory details of what the Tamil population of northern Sri Lanka have been subjected in recent weeks emerge - bit by bloody bit - there is need for a full accounting of every act of barbarity committed against them by the Sri Lankan government
Sri Lankan Government Prepares
Broad Attack On Democratic Rights
By S. Jayanth
Having declared victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Sri Lankan authorities are intensifying their attacks on fundamental democratic rights. The government has flatly ruled out any lifting of the country’s state of emergency and the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), which allows security forces to continue their arbitrary detention without trial of “LTTE suspects”
Sri Lanka: The Politics Of Peace
By Chandi Sinnathurai
The international community and the corporate media must exert lot of pressure on the Sri Lankan state. First the culture of impunity must be rooted out. The building blocks for sustainable peace cannot be neglected at this crucial moment. South Africa's model of a TRC [Truth and Reconciliation Commission] ought to be explored now that the war is officially over
Mr. Abbas Goes To Washington
By Ali Abunimah
If the Oval Office guest list is an indicator, President Obama is making good on his commitment to try to revive the long-dead Arab-Israeli peace process. On May 18 President Obama received Israel's new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu; today he met with Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah
Netanyahu’s New Quest: The Game Is On
By Ramzy Baroud
If Obama hesitates in confronting the new Israeli agenda, and if the Congress continues to treat Israel’s security obsessions as top American priorities, there is no telling what the Middle East will look like the next time Netanyahu arrives in Washington to meet the new American president
Why The Torture Photos Should Be Released
By Mary Shaw
Obama campaigned on a promise to repair this nation's reputation in the world. In order to do that, we must own up to what happened, apologize to the world for it, and enforce strict policies against repeating our mistakes going forward
“Historical Amnesia”: Reporting
The Conflict In Somalia
By Stephen Roblin
Any claim that the U.S. has tried to “stanch” the “violent morass” is difficult to make considering the U.S. role in driving Somalia back into a familiar state of violence, terror, and humanitarian crisis
Draconian Laws, Delete Them
By Dr. Mookhi Amir Ali
If the legal fraternity and the Delhi High Court Bar Association can stop this amendment to Section 41 of the Criminal Procedure Act from being notified why can they not protest against the anti-people draconian laws being enacted or being misused? Why can we not revise our books to get rid of laws which violate human rights and right to liberty?
Elections 2009 Verdict: Whither Communalism?
By Ram Puniyani
Despite RSS instructions to BJP to ‘return to Hindutva’, Nation has to guard against such deviations and stick to the ethos of the country which thrive in diversity and inclusiveness
29 May, 2009
Torture Photos: US Soldiers Raped,
Sodomized Iraqi Prisoners
By Tom Eley
In an interview with the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph published Wednesday, former US General Antonio Taguba said that photographs the Obama administration is seeking to suppress show images of US soldiers raping and sodomizing Iraqi prisoners. Taguba, who conducted the military inquiry of prisoner abuse at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in 2004 after some photos of US soldiers torturing prisoners became public, said that among the photos are images of soldiers raping a female prisoner, raping a male detainee, and committing “sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and phosphorescent tube,” according to the Telegraph
Obama’s Animal Farm: Bigger, Bloodier
Wars Equal Peace And Justice
By James Petras
Now President Obama has elevated the most notorious of the psychopaths, General Stanley McChrystal, to head the US and NATO military command in Afghanistan. McChrystal’s rise to leadership is marked by his central role in directing special operations teams engaged in extrajudicial assassinations, systematic torture, bombing of civilian communities and search and destroy missions. He is the very embodiment of the brutality and gore that accompanies military-driven empire building. Between September 2003 and August 2008, McChrystal directed the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations (JSO) Command which operates special teams in overseas assassinations
Global Warming Causes 300,000 Deaths a Year
By John Vidal
Global Warming is already responsible for 300,000 deaths a year and is affecting 300m people, according to the first comprehensive study of the human impact of global warming.The report comes from former UN secretary general Kofi Annan's thinktank, the Global Humanitarian Forum. By 2030, the report says, climate change could cost $600bn a year
How To Save The Planet
By Gideon Polya
The World is acutely threatened by man-made global warming and many scientists now doubt that we can avoid further damaging temperature increases to over 2C above that in 1900. However resolute global action via an Accountability, Badge and Credo (ABC) protocol may yet save Man and the Biosphere
Pakistan’s War On Civilians
By Paul Rogers
The extension of war in Pakistan - from the Afghan border regions to Lahore - is inflicting a terrible toll on the country's poor and displaced
Behind The Nightmare In Swat
By Ashley Smith
An Interview With Saadia Toor , an assistant professor of Anthropology and Social Work at Staten Island College and part of the group Action for a Progressive Pakistan, talked to Ashley Smith about the situation in Pakistan today
Manipulation: How Markets Really Work
By Stephen Lendman
Wall Street's mantra is that markets move randomly and reflect the collective wisdom of investors. The truth is quite opposite. The government's visible hand and insiders control markets and manipulate them up or down for profit - all of them, including stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies
What Is The Fetishism Of Commodities?
By Thomas Riggins
Towards the end of the first chapter of Das Kapital, after having established the validity of the labor theory of value, Marx has a section on the Fetishism of Commodities. To understand this section is to understand the whole first chapter and also to see why socialism is necessary. This article is an attempt to explain the meaning of this section and to apply its lessons to our times
India’s Shame
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Caste purity could not allow a Brahmin to touch and save two Dalit ( Balimiki) boys cleaning his ‘shit’. Deaths in the Soak pits in Gazipur village, Fatehpur District, Uttar Pradesh
28 May, 2009
Agony, Uncertainty For Sri Lanka's
War Displaced
By Mel Gunasekera
Locked up in army-run displaced person camps are countless Tamil civilians, with no freedom of movement and separated from their loved ones. Up to 300,000 people have been put in what the government calls "welfare villages," which are ringed by barbed wire and Sri Lankan troops.
Millions Displaced As Pakistani Military
Extends Its Offensive
By James Cogan
The Pakistani military is deepening its assault against Islamist militants in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) district of Swat Valley and beginning to extend its operations into other ethnic Pashtun-populated areas. The Obama administration insisted that the Pakistani government launch the offensive as part of US efforts to crush the anti-occupation insurgency over the border in Afghanistan
Tree Of Life
By David Sparenberg
The obsessions of fundamentalism and outdated political reactions notwithstanding, gender is not an issue, sexual preference is not an issue. Even race, on this small Earth, cannot continue to be an issue. War is an issue, more so in this era of stockpiled weapons of mass destruction with capacity to transform Earth into death’s inferno and ultimately obliterate the entirety of planetary populations
U.S. Threat To Atom Bomb North Korea
Never Forgotten
By Jay Janson
On November 30, 1950, President Truman at a press conference, remarked that the use of the atomic bomb was under active consideration. Koreans heard this as menacingly foreboding apocalypse, for U.S. forces were in retreat and had suffered some serious losses subsequent to China sending ‘volunteer’ forces to help the North Koreans defend as U.S. forces neared the Chinese border some 45 days earlier
Colonizing Culture
By Dahr Jamail
It is not difficult to see that the extent of devastation caused by the invasion and occupation of Iraq goes beyond loss of life, livelihood and property. The historical and cultural roots of the nation have been destroyed
300.org Urges Reduction Of Atmospheric CO2
To 300 ppm
By Dr Gideon Polya
Australia-based 300.org was launched in May 2009 and will hopefully expand throughout the World. 300.org exists to inform people about the Climate Emergency and the need to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 ) concentration to a safe and sustainable level of about 300 ppm
Ending Today's Economic Crisis Simply And Easily,
In America And Globally
By Stephen Lendman
Some of the best ideas are often the simplest. When applied to the global economic crisis, the solution is easier than imagined. What's hard, in fact a Gordian Knot, is the political will to embrace it. But even matters that great can be solved by a bold stoke, and according to legend, Alexander the Great's "Alexandrian solution" was achieved with one stroke of his sword, cutting the Knot in half. Applied to the global economic crisis, it means addressing it with effective policies, not ones wrecking America and other troubled nations worldwide
Against The Tortured Logic Of
Obama's Placebo Presidency:
A Call For The Audacity Of Hopelessness
By Phil Rockstroh
Rather than addressing the core issue, the deterioration of the rights and liberties granted by the U.S. Constitution, President Obama is wallpapering over the rot wrought by the national security state's termite hive mind of authoritarian appetites, that has been, silently, and hidden by darkness, gnawing the house of state to sawdust
Fire At Vienna Exposes Ugly Realities Of
Caste Discrimination In Punjab
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Punjab is burning. The Dalits are at the street. The government is seeking peace and every one is amused why the Dalits have taken to the street. Some are amused as why attack on Sant Niranjan Dass, head of Dera Guru Ravidas Sachkhand Balan and death of Sant Ramanand could spark such violent protest in Punjab. Unfortunately, they forget to understand the first question itself as why such Deras face attack by the fundamentalist Sikh groups. Is it because these Deras have provided a glimpse of hope and identity to a massive Dalit population in Punjab? Is it also not true that these Deras are also giving the upper caste Sikhs a run for their money and power?
Identity And Religious Conversion
By Tomichan Matheikal
Put an end to the discriminatory caste system. This would engender a sense of respectability among the adivasis and the lower castes. Then there would be no need for religious conversion as a means of attaining respectability. Give economic independence to the adivasis and the lower castes. This would put an end to the Maoist violence as well as the charm held out by poverty to Christian missionaries
Homeland Security Targets Nobel
Peace Prize Laureate Who Fired Back
By Eileen Fleming
Mairead Maguire was shot by Israeli forces during a nonviolent demonstration in Bil'in in 2007, but it was USA Homeland Security who judged her a criminal in May 2009. After hosting and attending the Nobel Womens' Conference in Guatemala, to discuss, 'Redefining Democracy, Human Rights and Peace' the Nobel Peace laureate was detained for two hours, questioned, fingerprinted and photographed by Homeland Security at Houston Airport causing her to miss her flight home after the three day conference which was attended by over 150 feminist activists
26 May, 2009
A Small Step For Indian Justice,
A Giant Leap For Binayak!
By Satya Sivaraman & Anivar Aravind
The granting of bail is the first sweet victory in a much bitter battle ahead- a battle that will need all the creative energies, enthusiasm and motivation that has sustained the campaign so far. We need to see this story to its only possible end- the complete withdrawal of the false charges foisted on Dr Sen or his acquittal by the Indian courts of these charges and - may we demand -even compensation for the injustice done to him
Activism 101
By Mickey Z.
How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight? I don't wanna die without any scars
The Road To Two Degrees Celsius
By Andrew Glikson
Ongoing global warming may lead to the release of methane from permafrost, collapse of the North Atlantic Thermohaline current, high-energy weather events and yet little-specified shifts in atmospheric states
‘The Pity Of War’
By Chandi Sinnathurai
The Sri Lanka War effort has annihilated lives, destroyed livelihoods, and left a deep open wound in the psyche of both the Sinhalas and the Tamils. The Tamil struggle has understandably reached a new phase. Enough is enough. From now on, there is no need of blood sacrifices of young human lives...Both sides can hopefully find a way of settling National Question through political means
Chalmers Johnson On The Cost Of Empire
By Chalmers Johnson
Review of “The Bases of Empire: The Global Struggle Against U.S. Military Posts” an important collection of articles on United States militarism and imperialism, edited by Catherine Lutz
Obama And Bibi: Political Divergence,
Strategic Symbiosis
By Yacov Ben Efrat
From the meeting between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on May 18, 2009, no wide-ranging agreement was to be expected. To judge from the public news conference, the encounter was a porcupine tango
Nepal's Revolution At Crossroads
By Walter Smolarek
The events of the last month have laid bare the dictatorial character of both the feudalists and the proponents of traditional parliamentarianism. It has become even clearer that if the impoverished and exploited majorities are to live a life with dignity, a fundamentally different society under a fundamentally different system is required. This society is called New Nepal; this system is called socialism
Is Obama The Circumspect President
or Circumstantial Politician?
By Robert S. Becker
Who has a clue whether the circumspect president we elected will attain greatness or go down as a good but circumstantial politician, like Bill Clinton, whose achievements never quite matched the great promise?
25 May, 2009
Binayak Sen Released On Bail
By Bobby Ramakant
Bail was granted to the paediatrician Dr Binayak Sen who was jailed in Raipur prison since more than two years now, on alleged false charges of abetting maoist activities in Chattisgarh, sedition and waging war against the state
New Reign Of Terror
By David Sparenberg
There can be no doubt that humanity is a family in crisis. Earth is in crisis too. There can be no doubt that hatred is spreading faster than love, fueled by the black liquid apostles of reptilian memories. Will we go down as victims of the dinosaurs' revenge? We will go down despite the tenacity of forgotten, common ancestors? There can be no doubt that we are going down
Two Million Rendered Refugees By Fighting
In Pakistan
By Vilani Peiris
The Pakistan military offensive against pro-Taliban militia in the country’s North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) has produced a massive humanitarian crisis. More than one-and-a-half million people have fled their homes during the past month—the largest number of people to have been displaced by violence since the Rwandan genocide of 1994, reports the United Nations High Commission for Refugees
Human Rights Situation In Occupied Palestine
By Stephen Lendman
At its tenth session this year, UN Human Rights Council (HRC) prepared a report titled: "Human Rights Situation in Palestine and other Occupied Arab Territories" and delivered it on March 20. It deals mainly with grave human rights violations in Occupied Palestine, especially due to Operation Cast Lead against Gaza
Rethinking The Costs Of Peace
By Josh Ruebner
By asking earlier this month for $2.775 billion in military aid to Israel in his FY2010 budget request, it would seem that on this important policy issue President Obama’s commitment is more rhetorical than substantive. Since 1949, according to the Congressional Research Service, the United States has provided to Israel more than $100 billion in military and economic assistance
A Time To Remember: Memorial Day, 2009
By Carolyn Baker
As I contemplate the deeper meaning of a day of remembrance on this Memorial Day weekend, nothing for me is more important to remember than this reality. That we are the earth, and the earth is us, is the consummate, primal truth that has been forgotten by the human species. We have absolutely no possibility of tempering or minimizing the devastation of civilization's collapse if we do not regain this memory and live it every day for the rest of our lives
Adivasis Fighting Against Nuclear Terror
In Jharkhand
By Gladson Dungdung
Thousands of Adivasis of Talsa village near Jamshedpur entered into the office premises of the Deputy Commissioner of East Singhbhum at Jamshedpur on May 19, resisting against the land acquisition drive by the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) for its new tailing pond project near Turamdih mill
24 May, 2009
Police Brutality Against The Poor
Baloch People Of Iran
By Reza Hossein Borr
The Baloch people in Iran are going through the hardest time in their history. They have been systematically oppressed, discriminated against and deprived of proper education
Balochis Intensify Rebellion In Iran
By Chris Zambelis
While concerns regarding the spread of radical Sunni Islamist ideologies within the Baloch nationalist movement in Iran will continue to receive attention, there is no conclusive evidence linking Jundullah to al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or affiliated groups. By all accounts, the trajectory of Jundullah's militancy will continue to emphasize the plight of the Baloch as a disaffected minority within Iran
Beyond The Wall: Sources Of Iran’s
Terror Campaign In Balochistan
By Belaar Baloch
Facing state-led ethnic cleansing by both Iran and Pakistan, the Baloch demand protection from the international society. While moral rhetoric in the foreign policy of civilized nations rarely overrides strategic interest, in this case, it is in their own interest to save the secular and tolerant Baloch, who are at present besieged in a heartland of extremists and fanatics
UK BBC Holocaust Denial
By Dr Gideon Polya
The UK British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has produced a book and a lavish, 6-part TV series called “The Story of India.But it ignores major British atrocities in India
Provoking The Inevitable
By Dahr Jamail
The results of attacks against the Sahwa are already evident in an escalation in violence that has taken two forms - a dramatic increase in spectacular attacks against Iraqi civilians and increasing attacks against occupation forces
GM’s Turn On Obama’s Chopping Block
By Shamus Cooke
The alarm bells should be ringing day and night about what’s being prepared at General Motors — the ripple effects could produce tidal waves
Leadership Training
By Case Wagenvoord
All of our presidents, CEOs, CFOs, , congressfolk, mid-to-senior level bureaucrats and managers, everyone who is making the decisions that impact on our fate and well-being grew up watching westerns, sitcoms, cop shows, cereal commercials and “Gilligan’s Island.” That’s something to keep you awake nights!
The Left And Electoral Politics in India
By Deepankar Basu
In the recently concluded 2009 general elections to the lower house of the parliament, the Social Democratic Left (SDL henceforth) in India, composed of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), the Communist Party of India (CPI) and a bunch of smaller left-wing parties, has witnessed the severest electoral drubbing in a long time
Freedom Denied: The Crushing Of
Sri Lanka's Tamils
By Mike Cowie
So, with the war in Sri Lanka now over and the Tamils having been crushed and brought to their knees, I'd like to ask just one question: Are we happy now? With the Tamils' decades-long struggle for self-determination quashed and their dreams of an independent homeland shattered, are we fully satisfied? Should we give ourselves a pat on the back?
Looking Forward For Peace And Progress
By Ram Puniyani
The defeat of divisive forces in the recent elections (May 2009) is a matter of great relief. The rule of BJP led NDA (1999-2004) had created a situation whereby the norms of Constitution were given a go by and two set of norms, one for majority community and other for minorities started becoming visible. The worst of this is seen today in Gujarat where the minorities have been reduced to the status of second class citizens, bereft of the citizen’s rights which are their due
The Follower As Leader: The Myth Of
Manmohan Singh
By Farzana Versey
History is often about a play of words. The man of the moment who has taken the oath of office for the second term is an actor in search of ‘no character’. It is the invisibility of the persona that is his trump card
Hope For Change
By Dr. Shah Alam Khan
It was hope that kept Nelson Mandela alive and it was hope which energized Varun’s great grandfather to build a secular and pluralistic India even when we were plagued by the scourge of partition. It’s time for the common Indian to hope. Hope for a change from politics of hate to politics of inclusiveness. Hope for a change from oratory of hate to a language of healing. Hope for a change from repugnance to esteem. Hope for a change from saffron to white, the color of peace
22 May, 2009
Internet Threatened By Censorship
By Stephen Lendman
At a time of corporate dominated media, a free and open Internet is democracy's last chance to preserve our First Amendment rights without which all others are threatened. Activists call it Net Neutrality. Media scholar Robert McChesney says without it "the Internet would start to look like cable TV (with a) handful of massive companies (controlling) content" enough to have veto power over what's allowed and what it costs. Progressive web sites and writers would be marginalized or suppressed, and content systematically filtered or banned
Sri Lanka: After War, Justice
By Luther Uthayakumaran
The long war in Sri Lanka is, it seems, finally at an end. The prolonged siege in the northeast pocket, the shelling, the further loss of life, the vanquishing of the enemy - all this means that the conclusion of this twenty-six-year war is likely to be defined in terms of military victory alone, with no reference to a political solution and the return of democracy. This too is a tragedy
Man-Made Catastrophe In Swat
By Pervez Hoodbhoy
Swat refugees told us that they had fled both because of Taliban atrocities and army action (F-16's, tank and mortar shellings). Many blamed the Taliban for their predicament, but said they actually fled because of the military action. Nevertheless, perhaps out of fear of talking to strangers like us, they were not prepared to condemn either side
Horrific UN And US Death Statistics Expose
Obama’s Fake War On Terror
By Dr Gideon Polya
The Bush (now Obama) War on Terror has been described by sensible and humane observers of the carnage as a "fake anti-terror war". The following statistics derived from authoritative UN, US and medical literature sources bear out the racism, dishonesty and criminality of the genocidal US Alliance (the US, UK, NATO and racist White Australia)
Who Is To Blame For The Tent People?
By Garda Ghista
Why should anyone, why should even a single person, be relegated to living in a tent, to living without a bathroom, without running water nearby, to keep themselves clean? Who is to blame that people live in tents? In America I was saying that it is the *&^%$ bankers and speculators who have robbed the country blind and are hence directly responsible for the tent people. But what about India where tent people have lived for decades if not longer?
Biden Does Beirut
By Franklin Lamb
Biden’s first words, shouted to some journalists outside the Baabda Presidential Palace were, “I am happy to be in Libya…I mean Lebanon…this morning!”
Wake Up Obama: We The People
Already Know The Truth
By Eileen Fleming
On May 21, 2009, Reuters reported that "The U.S. administration of President Barack Obama will not force Israel to state publicly whether it has nuclear weapons, an Israeli official said on Thursday. He said Washington would stick to a decades-old U.S. policy of "don't ask, don't tell"
India Polls: What A Difference A Day Made!
By Raju Rajagopal
The Indian voters had stepped up to the plate to decisively defeat the Prime Ministerial ambitions of a man who had spear-headed the BJP’s politics of hate and division
Long Live India! Long Live Crown Prince Rahul!
By Partha Banerjee
The fact of the matter is, India and her 80 percent unfortunate will remain poor; terrorism, pollution, overpopulation, health crises, environmental destruction and massive corruption will thrive, and the rich will be richer. Female infanticide and dowry deaths will go on. "Untouchables" and other minorities will be denied of basic human rights. Police and military brutality and silencing dissent will remain unchanged
21 May, 2009
India Opts For Continuity, Stability
By M K Bhadrakumar
India's parliamentary election, held over a month across the far-flung country of a billion-plus people, has produced dramatic but sophisticated results
Sri Lanka: A Time To Build
By Chandi Sinnathurai
The Tamils will be careful in their decision making because the Rajapaksha regime is yet to win hearts and minds of the Tamils and must be openly seen to be doing what they say, and to be saying what they really mean. To put it simply: Can the Tamils trust his words?
Sri Lanka: Distant Voices, Desperate Lives
By John Pilger
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have spilt their share of blood and perpetrated their own atrocities. But they are the product, not the cause, of an injustice and a war that long predate them. Neither is Sri Lanka's civil strife as unfathomable as it is often presented: an ancient religious-ethnic rivalry between the Hindu Tamils and the Buddhist Sinhalese government
Why Dalits Have Slammed Mayawati’s
Sarvjan Formula?
By S.R.Darapuri
The recent election results show that dalits have rejected Mayawati’s much trumpeted up “Sarvjan Formula” and she needs to do a serious introspection and learn from her mistakes otherwise it will prove to be a missed opportunity
Two Funerals And A Wedding
By Niranjan Ramakrishnan
There were three significant happenings this week up and down the vertical axis of the Indian Subcontinent
Netanyahu Adviser Moves Out Of The Shadows
By Jonathan Cook
As might be expected of a former senior official with Israel’s spy agency Mossad, Uzi Arad -- the most trusted political adviser to Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister -- has got used to being in the shadows as he exerts influence. But that is fast changing. Mr Arad was prominent in preparing Mr Netanyahu’s tough positions as he headed for Washington this week to meet Barack Obama, the US president, who is seeking to advance a Middle East peace plan
The Torture Memos And Historical Amnesia
By Noam Chomsky
Historical amnesia is a dangerous phenomenon, not only because it undermines moral and intellectual integrity, but also because it lays the groundwork for crimes that still lie ahead
Reviewing Ellen Brown's "Web of Debt:" Part V
By Stephen Lendman
This is the fifth of several articles on Ellen Brown's superb 2007 book titled "Web of Debt," now updated in a December 2008 third edition. It tells "the shocking truth about our money system, (how it) trapped us in debt, and how we can break free." This article focuses on taking back our money power
15 May, 2009
Sri Lankan Military Again Shells Hospital
In No-Fire Zone
By Sarath Kumara
In another cold-blooded war crime, the Sri Lankan military shelled the only remaining hospital in the “no-fire zone” on the north-eastern coast on Wednesday, killing dozens of people. A government doctor told Agence France Presse that three shells hit the makeshift hospital. The attack was the second on the hospital in two days
Winning The Peace In Sri Lanka
By Ravi Nair
The LTTE has lost the war on the battlefield, thanks to the absence of a political strategy for the negotiating table. Now the Sri Lankan Tamils, Indian Tamils, Tamils elsewhere and democrats everywhere will need to craft a new pragmatic strategy if they are to ensure that the Sri Lankan Tamil does not become the Palestinian of the 21st century, living perpetually in the diaspora, as the poor cousin in India, in the twilight zone of statelessness, or in Bantusans soon to be created by the Sri Lankan government
Who Rules America?
By Paul Craig Roberts
Why is the US making itself impotent fighting wars that have nothing whatsoever to do with its security, wars that are, in fact, threatening its security? The answer is that the military/security lobby, the financial gangsters, and AIPAC rule
Changing Obama's Mindset
By Howard Zinn
Wherever progress has been made, wherever any kind of injustice has been overturned, it’s been because people acted as citizens, and not as politicians. They didn’t just moan. They worked, they acted, they organized, they rioted if necessary to bring their situation to the attention of people in power. And that’s what we have to do today
Dr. King Spanks Obama: Part 2
By David Kendall
While Dr. King's work might have helped make it possible for a black man to become President of the United States, Barack Obama is in no way a fulfillment of Dr. King's dream
The Drones Are Coming: New War On Civilians
By Ramzy Baroud
There are an estimated one million Pakistanis already on the run in the northern and eastern parts of the country. They are threatened by fighting, hunger and all sorts of predators, including US drones circling overhead
The Paradigm Of Freedom
By David Sparenberg
Rilke said it when he wrote in his Archaic Torso of Apollo, “There is no place that does not see you/you must change your life,” and Einstein inferred the same in the context of the advent of the terror of nuclear holocaust, “The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything except our way of thinking. Thus we are drifting toward a catastrophe beyond comparison. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if the human is to survive.” Together these quotations can be equally applied to the ecology as well as polity of this planetary polis we inhabit in the swirling grandeur of cosmic space
A Childhood Lesson For The President
By James Rothenberg
The release of the photos will inflame anti-American sentiment – BECAUSE – we are not prosecuting the people responsible for the torture, involving generals and high level Bush administration officials leading all the way to Pennsylvania Avenue. If we were prosecuting, the photos, instead of being inflammatory, would be a sign to the Muslim world that in facing these terrible truths about ourselves and in bringing justice, we have demonstrated some right to ask for their trust
Constitutional Rubbish
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
Americans need a civics lesson. And so do politicians. Of all the wrong and delusional thinking about the US Constitution the one that is most thoroughly incorrect and routinely used for political propaganda purposes is that there are three coequal branches of the federal government
Reviewing Ellen Brown's "Web of Debt:" Part IV
By Stephen Lendman
This is the fourth in a series of articles on Ellen Brown's superb 2007 book titled "Web of Debt," now updated in a December 2008 third edition. It tells "the shocking truth about our money system, (how it) trapped us in debt, and how we can break free." This article focuses on America's "web of debt" entrapment
On Politics, Popes And Reasons To still HOPE
By Eileen Fleming
Two thousand years ago, from the Mt. of Olives overlooking Jerusalem, Jesus wept over the city, under occupation and torn apart by violence and dissent. “You do not know the things that make for peace!” That cry resonates in Jerusalem to-day, still under occupation and shattered by the absence of tolerance, respect and love…Only then can Christians, Muslims and Jews live in freedom and in harmony in the promising land for all
Choosing The Coalition Leader:
Is It Devil And The Deep Sea Choice?
By Ram Puniyani
Surely India deserves a better party, which is a synthesis of values and actions of the likes of Bhagat Singh, Ambedkar and Gandhi. In the current circumstances we are riddled with a rank communal-anti poor party BJP, and pragmatic communal Congress, which can occasionally also think about poor and weaker sections of society. The point is there can be a space to strengthen the polity in this direction. Hope the regional parties keep this in mind while making their choice
14 May, 2009
Free Binayak Sen
By Priyamvada Gopal, Dwijen Rangnekar and Aditya Sarkar
Today is the second anniversary of Binayak Sen's incarceration
Pope’s ‘Pilgrimage’ Mired In Politics
By Jonathan Cook
Many Palestinians appreciate that the Pope -- with his unfortunate, if apparently involuntary, connections to Nazi Germany -- has been especially careful not to offend Israeli sensitivities, even if his speech at Yad Vashem failed to live up to the country’s high expectations. But some also conclude that he has done too little to let the world know of their own plight
Army’s War Crimes Continue In Northern Sri Lanka
By Wije Dias
The Sri Lankan army was responsible for a further atrocity on Tuesday as it intensified its offensive against the remnants of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. At least 49 people were killed and more than 50 injured when a shell struck the only remaining hospital in the so-called no-fire zone on the north east coast of the island
Sri Lanka: A Tragedy Foretold
By Rohini Hensman
Once a forest fire is raging, putting it out is difficult, and an enormous amount of destruction is inevitable. The same is true of the war in Sri Lanka. Even over the past fifteen years, there were several chances to prevent this tragedy, but only a tiny minority of those who are now grieving over the dead and injured were arguing then that a failure to take these chances would lead to a bloodbath
Obama And The Denial Of Genocide
By Mickey Z.
Writer-activist David Boyajian’s investigative articles and commentaries have appeared in Armenian media outlets in the U.S., Europe, Middle East, and Armenia and the Newton Tab and USA Armenian Life newspapers named him among their "Top 10 Newsmakers of 2007." So, when Barack Obama paid a visit to Turkey last month, it seemed like a good time to ask Boyajian for his take on the new president's approach to the issue of the Armenian genocide
Does Religious Fervour Kill Compassion?
By Jim Taylor
I suspect that torture is endorsed by fervent Christians precisely because they are so fervent. Probably “white evangelical Christians” who support torture, and government officials who authorized torture, are both standing too close to their subject to step back and take a sober second look at their attitudes
We’ve Lit A Fire, Now We Need To Fan It
By Kevin Zeese
A Populist Health Care Rebellion is Brewing
Ajmer Sharief Blasts: Breaking
The Conspiracy Of Silence
By Subhash Gatade
Abhinav Bharat, the Hindu extremist group, involved in the Malegaon blasts may also be the hidden hand behind the Ajmer blasts. The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Rajasthan police says investigations into the blasts that shook the Ajmer Dargah in 2007, have led them to members of the Abhinav Bharat. In an exclusive interview to NDTV, the ATS Chief in Rajasthan, Kapil Garg, has admitted that Abhinav Bharat is now actively under their scanner
12 May, 2009
How The U.S. Empire Contributed To
The Economic Crisis
By Ivan Eland
A few—and only a few—prescient commentators have questioned whether the U.S. can sustain its informal global empire in the wake of the most severe economic crisis since World War II. And the simultaneous quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan are leading more and more opinion leaders and taxpayers to this question. But the U.S. Empire helped cause the meltdown in the first place
Unfit For Combat
By Dahr Jamail
This Monday at 2 PM Baghdad time, a US soldier gunned down five fellow soldiers at a stress-counseling center at a US base in Baghdad
A K-5 Curriculum For Students In
The Post-Carbon Era
By Sarah Rios & Jaime Campos
Will education be important in the post-carbon era? What will need to be taught? What skills need to be acquired? We hope to provide one alternative for educating students, after the fall of empire
Indigenous Genocide, Climate Genocide
And Holocaust Denial By White Australia
By Dr Gideon Polya
Australia has an over 2 century history of involvement in genocide. However this appalling genocide history is kept hidden by a sustained process of Australian holocaust denial and genocide denial
Getting Personal
By Gaither Stewart
Maybe President Obama hesitates on exacting justice against the Bush regime because he is indeed dodging bullets and because of the real or perceived threat of an insurrection by the BASE. Not an insurrection in favor of the social justice Dr. King dreamed of, but in the name of hate and prejudice. Therefore, if the unthinkable does happen it will be violent and bloody. For, as Martin Luther King also noted, the line between defensive violence and aggressive violence is very thin
Reviewing Ellen Brown's "Web of Debt:" Part III
By Stephen Lendman
This is the third in a series of articles on Ellen Brown's superb 2007 book titled "Web of Debt," now updated in a December 2008 third edition. It tells "the shocking truth about our money system, (how it) trapped us in debt, and how we can break free." This article focuses on global debt entrapment
What Lebanon’s Palestinian Refugees Need
From The June 7th Election - Part I
By Franklin Lamb
Will the Political Parties honor their Planks?
To Defeat The Taliban,
Pakistani Feudalism Must die
By Gul Jammas Hussain
Feudalism and the Taliban are Pakistan’s evil twins. Pakistan has to finally eradicate feudalism to end extremism and enter the modern world
Before The Taliban: Memories of Peshawar
By Farzana Versey
As the city is on edge, and friends are being seen as enemies, I want to share recollections of the times I spent in the capital of the frontier province on the trips I made to Pakistan since 2000
Background On Nepal's Revolution
By Walter Smolarek
As the people of Nepal continue to fight against oppression and for democracy and socialism, it is absolutely essential that we reciprocate with solidarity. Their revolution is one of the least known despite being one of the most harrowing and inspiring. It is essential that all people who believe that more just and democratic world is possible educate and inform their friends and comrades of the struggle for New Nepal and participate in solidarity demonstrations so that the rebellious masses of this Himalayan nation can go forward knowing that they have the support of progressive people the world over
11 May, 2009
War Crime In Sri Lanka
By Bill Van Auken
In what constitutes a blatant war crime by the Sri Lankan government, the army’s merciless bombardment of a so-called no-fire zone, a small strip of land on the country’s northeast coast, killed and wounded thousands of Tamil civilians over the weekend
Tamil Civilians: UN Brands It A "Bloodbath"
By Chandi Sinnathurai
The UN security Council must not treat this as a side issue, but for the sake of humanity, the Tamil civilian matter ought to be on top of the agenda. All these civilians have gone through untold sufferings. It is so tragic, that these innocent human beings, are so very exposed to danger and are being used as mere political tools
Summer Winds Augur Ill For The Sri Lankan Tamil
By Ravi Nair
The Rajapakse brothers are devious but also farsighted. The Indian, and the Tamil in particular, is more emotion-driven. The Sri Lankans are not merely looking at the military defeat of the Tigers; they want to write a new and final chapter of the Mahavamsa, which will conclude that the Sinhalese finally settled the 2000-year struggle with the Tamils under the Rajapakse brothers by sending the Tamils back in boats to where they originally came from
When, Where The Pope Inspires No Hope
By Nicola Nasser
The itinerary of his pilgrimage could be described as anything but being apolitically balanced when Gaza is ruled out
War Without Context: Fatah, Hamas
And Flawed Language
By Ramzy Baroud
President Abbas is reportedly assembling a new government, which is expected to, once again, exclude the majority-party in the parliament
Fallout, Swine Flu, And A Pandemic Of Awareness
By Andrew Kishner
No one knows with any certainty how many fatalities - some estimate in the many millions of persons - will be attributed in the long run to our past and current atomic mistakes. As details continually emerge surrounding the secret nuclear activities during the Cold War, estimates keep on growing: a Japanese physicist last month estimated that 190,000 persons may have died from the legacy of Chinese atomic testing. The question is Will Cold War-bred ‘Andromeda Strains,’ radiation-influenced new influenzas and diseases, wreak even more harm on humans and the animal kingdom?
Seeds Of Truth
By Sheila Samples
We must stand up and support Europe's attempt to organize a ban on genetically modified crops and food. It is the way -- the only way -- out of this mess
Justifying Child Abuse In The Name Of Shariah
By A. Faizur Rahman
About a month ago the world media reported a shocking decision by a Saudi judge in which he refused to annul the marriage of an 8-year old girl to a 47-year old man. But to those who are already familiar with the so called Islamic laws of Saudi Arabia this ruling was merely the latest in the sequence of several such cases of human rights abuse in the name of the shariah. The question is: does the Islamic law really uphold child marriage?
Taliban’s Terror-Jizya On Sikhs
By Ram Puniyani
Pakistan is going through dangerous turmoil. The Taliban’s capturing of Swat valley (April 2009) and other parts of Pakistan are accompanied by the news of their atrocities in the region, which not only include the brutal killings of innocent citizens, mostly Muslims, on the ground of their belonging to different sub-sect of Islam, but also there has been imposition of Jizya, on non Muslims, Sikhs
Reviewing Ellen Brown's "Web of Debt:" Part II
By Stephen Lendman
This is the second of several articles on Ellen Brown's remarkable book titled "Web of Debt....the shocking truth about our money system, (how it) trapped us in debt, and how we can break free." It's a multi-part snapshot. Reading the entire book is strongly recommended
06 May, 2009
US Airstrikes Kill Scores Of Civilians In Afghanistan
By Bill Van Auken
On the eve of a tripartite summit in Washington which the Obama administration has organized with the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan, reports from Afghanistan indicate that US air strikes in western Farah province have killed and wounded scores of civilians, many of them women and children
Pakistan’s American Problem
By Anatol Lieven
A suspicion of the United States in Pakistan outweighs opposition to the Taliban. Understand this and much else becomes clear, says Anatol Lieven
Forming A Stable And Better Government
From A Hung Parliament
By Dr. Satinath Choudhary
Much has been made out regarding likely instability of the government out of hung parliament or fractured or fragmented mandate, which can actually give us a better, fairer and even more stable democracy than the ones obtained from a single party majority, lopsided or otherwise
Turmoil In Nepal: Interpretation Of
‘People’s Democracy’ Of Prachanda
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Time for all those who believe in democracy to come together and find a solution. Nepal can not afford another round of instability and killing of the innocent people. Again the monarchy is gone but the monarch is still witnessing. The Hindutva’s champions are sitting there and if the democratic polity fails in Nepal, the forces of patriarchy and monarchy will come through democratic mandate. Prachanda should visualize this and show more maturity and negotiating skills rather than mobilizing his rabble rousers in the street
Israeli Activist To Be Jailed For Caring
By Neve Gordon
Ezra Nawi was ridiculed and arrested for trying to protect people's homes. Only international attention can help him now
Reviewing Ellen Brown's "Web of Debt:" Part I
By Stephen Lendman
This is the first of several articles on Ellen Brown's superb 2007 book titled "Web of Debt," now updated in a December 2008 third edition. It tells "the shocking truth about our money system, (how it) trapped us in debt, and how we can break free." Given today's global economic crisis, it's an appropriate time to review it and urge readers to digest the entire work
Pay To Play Politics Is Unacceptable For
Health Care Reform
By Kevin Zeese
We have the power to ensure health care for all in a national single payer health care program that ends the corruption of the health insurance industry, the HMO’s and the pharmaceutical industry. We can do it . . . together. Let’s make it happen
We Were Only Following Orders
By Timothy V. Gatto
We have a golden opportunity to right the wrongs that the Bush Administration committed. We know that the American people have rejected the Republican Party by the way they cast their vote last November. That isn’t the end, it’s just the beginning. We must hold all the people accountable that participated in torture and violations of the Geneva Conventions. We need to uphold the basic tenents of a moral civilization. The German people were complicit in the crimes’ of Adolf Hitler. History has already made that judgment. Let us not be thrown into the same category
Not An Act Of Faith
By Sultan Shahin
Gandhiji started this move to impose Wahhabi Mullahs on us in 1920s, supporting the anti-national Khilafat movement. Mulayam Singhs and Mayawatis plus the media's love for dramatic beards and burqas, have finally succeeded, in no small measure with American and Saudi help. Am I too complaining, blaming others? Perhaps I can't escape the impact of the surrounding ambience for too long. It's time I too succumbed to the desert culture that has already forced most Muslims to say Allah Hafiz in place of the user-friendly and closer to home Khuda Hafiz
04 May, 2009
Unreported or Underreported Real Pandemics,
Not Fake Ones Like AvianAnd Swine Flu
By Stephen Lendman
In his April 29 Global Research.ca article, F. William Engdahl discussed "Flying Pigs, Tamiflu and Factory Farms" and shed light on the current swine flu hysteria - hyped by the same folks who engineered the 2006 (H5N1) Avian Flu scare that had more bark than bite. But it proved hugely profitable for drug makers like Roche and Gilead Sciences, the company Donald Rumsfeld led as chairman from 1997 - 2001 and remains a major shareholder. Although he won't discuss his "private finances," he's likely benefitting handsomely from the current panic
Aporkalypse Now—Finding The Real Swine
In The Pandemic Pandemonium
By Lucinda Marshall
We KNOW that 31.5 million people will die each year from causes that in large part could be prevented, but 7 deaths a pandemic makes?
It's The Flu People!
By Timothy V. Gatto
There are more pressing problems than the swine flu virus. There is the question of whether the Bush administration will get away with torture. There is the fact that the Israeli Defense Force used white phosphorus in their recent genocidal foray into Gaza (which our government aided and abetted in). There is the use of depleted uranium sickening veterans and their families along with people that live in Iraq, Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia
New Evidence of Sri Lankan Army Atrocities
By K. Ratnayake
Despite the government’s denials, the Sri Lankan army offensive against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is continuing with criminal indifference to the toll on the estimated 50,000 civilians trapped in the fighting
Combat Operations in Fallujah
By Dahr Jamail
All is not well in Fallujah and al-Anbar province. The US military, having met the fiercest resistance throughout their occupation of Iraq in these areas, is once again conducting combat operations there
European Airs: Unity of The Left,
Chimera or Reality?
By Gaither Stewart
Four parties and movements of the quarrelsome and divided Italian Left have allied for the European parliamentary elections next June. That is good news. Communist Refoundation, Party of Italian Communists, Socialism 2000, and United Consumers have agreed to unify their meagre forces in order to surpass the 4% electoral barrier so that Communists, with their red flag with the hammer and sickle emblem, can again sit in the Assembly of the European Union
A Moralistic Doublespeak Of Man Mohan Singh
By Anand Teltumbde
Binayak Sen’s case ought to nibble at our national conscience for long time to come!
Echoes From The Mountains
By Manshi Asher
On 9th April 2009, almost 2000 people affected by dams, mines, urbanization and destructive 'development' projects in the state of Himachal Pradesh gathered and held a historical rally in the streets of Bilaspur shouting slogans of “Aaj Himalaya Jagega – Loootne wala bhagega” and “Vikas chahiye vinash nahin”
The March of The Taliban:
Lessons From Muslim History
By Yoginder Sikand
The fall of large swathes of territory in Pakistan’s lawless north-west to the marauding Taliban, who, through an agreement reached with the Pakistani authorities, are now forcibly imposing what they regard as shariah laws in the region, has added a new dimension to the convoluted politics of Pakistan, making that country’s problems even more intractable. At the same time, this worrisome development also highlights the continued and unresolved crisis of traditional Muslim political thought and its fundamental inability to come to terms with the demands of the modern age
02 May, 2009
USA Seeks Extraordinary Military Powers
In Pakistan
By Bill Van Auken
The Obama administration is increasingly treating its growing intervention in Pakistan as a separate counter-insurgency war for which it is demanding the same kind of extraordinary military powers obtained by the Bush administration in Afghanistan and Iraq
Gujarat Carnage: Role of Narendra Modi
By Ram Puniyani
The direction of the Supreme court of India to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the role of Modi, his cabinet colleagues and other top functionaries of state and those involved in violence, has come as a sigh of hope
Ajmer Blasts: Revisiting Hindutva Terror
By Subhash Gatade
Few days back, Ajmer blasts suddenly reappeared in a section of the press, with Maharashtra ATS alongwith Rajasthan ATS making startling revealations about the perpetrators of this act. It was worth noting that the mainstream media largely ignored this news which had important ramifications for the secular fabric of the country. The crux of the revelations was that the Ajmer blasts were the handiwork of the same Hindutva terrorist group 'Abhinav Bharat'
Fake Faith And Epic Crimes
By John Pilger
The Brussels War Crimes Tribunal and the newly established Blair War Crimes Foundation are building a case for the former British prime minister’s prosecution
Occupying Hearts And Minds
By Dahr Jamail
By the end of 2007, American scholars in these fields were embedding with the military in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of a Pentagon program called Human Terrain System (HTS), which evolved shortly thereafter into a $40 million program that embedded four or five person groups of scholars in the aforementioned fields in all 26 US combat brigades that were busily occupying Iraq and Afghanistan
Clinton’s Unpromising Start
By Ramzy Baroud
It behoves Clinton and the Obama administration to abandon the tired slogans and the old, belligerent policies of their predecessor. If they are indeed interested in a just peace, for its own sake, then luring Israel to engage Abbas only to trick the Arabs and isolate Iran cannot be a promising start
Obama And The Crisis Of The U.S. Auto Industry
By Shamus Cooke
The employers are using this recession to take back what was taken from them in previous decades, starting with the autoworkers. GM already has plans to cut 47,000 jobs internationally — they will certainly ask for concessions similar to that of the Chrysler workers. A U.A.W. rank and file upsurge could easily push aside the Gettelfingers within the union, while inspiring workers everywhere in the process
Misunderstanding Marx: Brad Delong
And The Collapse of Neoliberalism
By Thomas Riggins
The blogosphere has lately witnessed some interest in a lecture, "Understanding Marxism" posted by Professor Brad Delong of the University of California and a former Clinton administration official. Delong calls himself a neoliberal economist and his lecture is such a confused jumble of misrepresentations and misunderstandings of even the most elementary rudiments of Marxism that its refutation will serve the two fold purpose of clarifying some elementary ideas of basic Marxism 101 and of exposing the absolute insipidity of neoliberal thinking
Putting An End To 'Stale Debates':
Obama And The CIA In The Americas
By Michael Galvin
Despite critical studies of US war crimes in the recent past appearing in increasing number, Obama’s moderate tone on the problematic history in the hemisphere seems to try to sweep this past under the rug. In other words, how can the Americas move forward together without fully acknowledging the crimes of the past and their roots in colonialist and reactionary ideology?
Gujarat: An Ecological Nightmare
By S Faizi
The business bosses are rightly grateful to the Gujarat government for the massive corporate welfare benefits they receive at the expense of the tax paying public. But the hapless public has little recourse as the state has been turned into an ecological nightmare by the avaricious corporates and an authoritarian government. This tragedy is compounded by the virtual absence of a political opposition; and the civil society has either been silenced or co-opted, with just a few remarkable exceptions
Why Codification Of Muslim personal Law?
By Asghar Ali Engineer
Rethinking Muslim personal law as prevalent in India is certainly not to violate divine injunctions as often maintained by some people but to bring in much closer to divine injunctions i.e. to infuse in them really divine spirit. Well it may not always be possible to achieve complete unanimity but certainly we will attempt to create a broad consensus around codification so that Muslims women really enjoy equal status as they are entitled to according to Qur’anic injunctions and also in accordance to modern laws
Whom To Vote?
By M Shamsur Rabb Khan
In the decayed political system, I, like millions of other voters, am one vote that legitimizes the incompetent candidate to walk down the corridor of power. Isn’t it a tragedy that I am going to select a ruler whom I don’t like at all? But I have no option. Then there is no negative voting system whereby voters might have rejected the candidates whom they would think incompetent to rule this country
