30 September , 2015
India's Beef Ban Turns Bloody, Consumes A Man's Life
By Countercurrents.org
A fifty year old Muslim man was beaten to death, and critically injured his 22 year old son by a mob of about 100 people alleging that the family ate beef in the house, in a bizarre incident near the capital city of India, New Delhi. The Indian Express reported that the incident took place on Monday night at around 10 PM in Dadri village, North Western Uttar, around 45 km from New Delhi
Malcolm X: His Philosophy In The Struggle Against Racism And Injustice
By Douglas Allen
Recently we marked the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X (February 21, 1965), and this occasion brought some media focus to his life and significance. This was in contrast to the earlier, U.S., mass media’s stereotyping, vilification, and dismissal of Malcolm X as some hate-filled, violent madman during his lifetime and the overwhelming marginalization and silencing of his message during the past fifty years
“Iraqis Are The Saddest And One Of The Angriest Populations In The World”
By Eric Zuesse
The 2015 Global Emotions survey from Gallup finds that, “Iraqis Are Among the Saddest and One of the Angriest Populations in the World.”
Rumblings of Discontent in Saudi Arabia
By Thomas C. Mountain
Discontent is brewing in Saudi Arabia, that bastion of reaction on the Arabian Peninsula, with the Saudi Royal Family seeing some of its worst internal dissent in decades. The new King has endowed his favorite son with command of the Saudi military, amongst other major responsibilities, and now the Saudi people find themselves in a Vietnam style quagmire in Yemen, something new to the Saudi people
Gandhi Jayanti, Gandhi's Dream
By Robert J. Burrowes
Gandhi's dream of a world without violence might be fanciful. But, as John Lennon once sang, he is 'not the only one'. Many of us share this dream. Are you a dreamer too?
Shankar Guha Niyogi: The Man Who Showed Us
How Development Should Look Like
By Lalit Shukla
Niyogi struggled throughout his life for an alternative development under the rule of law. His work is a great example to learn how development should look like. In present conditions, when thinking of alternative development makes you threat to national security, state is protecting only corporate interests and justice is not available to poor and underprivileged, people are bound to revolt. An open war is going on between a powerful state equipped with modern arm technologies and poor people struggling for their survival. We have to take side and clear our politics. There is no other way
An Unusual Dialogue On Kashmir
By Ghulam Mohammad Khan
As I left the shop, the owner laughed. My legs lurched as I walked. I scampered back to my room. I sobbed as I reclined on the bed. After a short silent contemplation I asked myself, ‘When I crossed Lakhanpur, I lost my identity there and then.’
29 September , 2015
Supreme Court Dismisses Govt.of MP’s Application Denying Right
To Land To Thousands Of Adult Sons Of Sardar Sarovar Oustees
By Narmada Bachao Andolan
In a significant Order, the Social Justice Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Jst. Madan Lokur and Jst. Uday Umesh Lalit dismissed an Application filed by the Government of Madhya Pradesh (GoMP) / Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) seeking a ‘modification / clarification’ of the Apex Court’s previous judgements of 2000 and 2005, thereby denying right to land of a few thousand adult sons of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) affected farmers
Pope Francis Set To Canonize Islamic Missionary Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of ISIS
By Robert Barsocchini
All the sources and quotes in this article are accurate, but were made about Junípero Serra (who was just canonized by Pope Francis) and the Euro/Christian genocide against and enslavement and conquest of the Native people of what are now known as the USA and the Americas. In this piece, Junípero Serra, Christianity, Churches/Missions, Natives/Indigenous Peoples, and the USA/Americas have been replaced with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Islam, Mosques, the Yazidis (who have been particularly brutalized by ISIS), and locations in the Middle East
The Relevance Of Gandhian Political Economy
By Sukumaran C. V.
Arundhati Roy, the greatest critic of Gandhiji, quotes his sentences (‘God forbid that India ever took to industrialization after the manner of the West. The economic imperialism of a single tiny island kingdom is today keeping the world in chains. If an entire nation of 300 millions took to similar economic exploitation, it would strip the world bare like locusts’) and says in The Doctor and the Saint: Ambedkar, Ghandhi and the battle against caste: “As the earth warms up, as glaciers melt and forests disappear, Ghandhi’s words have turned out to be prophetic.”
Obama Deifies American Hegemony
By Paul Craig Roberts
Obama justified all of Washington’s violence against millions of peoples on the grounds that Washington is well-meaning and saving the world from dictators. Obama attempted to cover up Washington’s massive war crimes, crimes that have killed and displaced millions of peoples in seven countries, with feel good rhetoric about standing up to dictators
Violently Extremist, Climate Criminal Australian Coalition Government
Aims To Prevent Science-based Radicalisation Of Greens
By Dr Gideon Polya
The extreme right-wing Coalition Australian Government has issued an anti-Green document called “Preventing violent extremism and radicalisation in Australia”. However an Open Letter sent to new Australia PM Malcolm Turnbull sets out how radicalisation is actually vital for science-based social advance and how successive pro-war, US lackey, climate criminal, war criminal, human rights–abusing and child-abusing Australian governments are committed to state terrorism, nuclear terrorism and violent extremism
Arab World: Authoritarianism Is Menace To Peace And Conflict Management
By Mahboob A Khawaja
If the Arab leadership lacks the capacity to imagine a new future of their own, out of their own originality of thoughts and priorities, none of the super powers have strategic abilities and capacity to change the overwhelming culture of sectarian killings, insane bombing and displacement of refugees and continuing madness of bogus wars
America’s Muslim Obsession
By Taj Hashmi
Inviting Ahmed Mohamed to the White House will not permanently appease Muslims anywhere. It is high time America stops supporting autocrats and human rights violators like Saudi Arabia, the Gulf Sheikhdoms, Egypt, Israel, and anti-Assad forces in Syria. It must stop demonizing Iran too. Washington must realize – sooner the better – not only Muslims but also others have started believing in the conspiracy theories about 9/11, and the enigmatic rise of the so-called Islamic State. As Muslims in America deserve dignity and equal opportunities, so do Muslims abroad
Narenddra Modi, Myth Making And The Medical profession
By Vidyadhar Date
A more philosophically-inclined Prime Minister would have given a completely different interpretation of Ganesha . The recently concluded Ganapati festival reminded me of the controversial remark made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year about Ganesha. He was subjected to a lot of criticism in the media for his remark that the elephant head on the lord showed that ancient India had developed expertise for major transplants
Kashmir’s “Internet Curtain”!
By Mohammad Ashraf
Blocking internet, suspending mobile services, confining people to their homes remind one about the infamous “Iron Curtain” of the former USSR
28 September , 2015
Silicon Valley Protesters Enact Symbolic "Die In" To Protest Modi's Visit
By Alliance for Justice And Accountability
Protesters enacted a “die in” to dramatize the attacks against Muslims, Christians, Dalits, women, and other communities that are occurring with increasing frequency under the Modi administration. As in India, Modi die-hards threatened and attacked protesters, including Dalit and LGBTQ Indians, leaving them shaken
#ModiFail Silicon Valley Protester Assaulted
By Pieter Friedrich
"While peacefully protesting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, September 27 in San Jose, CA based on his orchestration of genocide of minorities, criminalization of religious liberty, and other human rights violations, I was assaulted twice"- here is a first person account
A Plea From The Women of Munnar
By Sisters of Munnar
We are the women of Munnar who have been coming to your kitchen and drawing rooms as a hot cup of tea – the dried powder that awakens you and makes your meetings and life lively has the stamp of our fingers and lives in it. So there is no need for a lengthy introduction. Please listen to our story and show your support and solidarity
France Launches Bombing Campaign In Syria
By Alex Lantier
On Sunday, the Elysée Palace released a statement from President François Hollande declaring that French fighter jets had bombed targets inside Syria. Initial media reports suggested that the targets were training camps of Islamic State (IS) militia near Raqqa, and that the strikes were an extension of the bombing campaign launched by the NATO powers, including France, against IS targets in neighboring Iraq. Six Mirage-2000 jets based in Jordan and six Rafale jets based in the United Arab Emirates reportedly carried out the attacks
Time For UN To Shift Mission In Yemen
By Nicola Nasser
Peace in Yemen will continue to be elusive unless the United Nations shifts its mission from sponsoring an inter-Yemeni dialogue to mediating ceasefire negotiations between the actual warring parties, namely Saudi Arabia & allies and the de facto representatives of Yemenis who are fighting to defend their country’s territorial integrity and independent free will, i.e. the Huthi - Saleh & allies
China, Global Recession, Oil And War
By G. Asgar Mitha
Trillions of US dollars generated by QEs from the 2008 recession funded development of Asian countries. Its homecoming time for the US dollars and the Republican & Democratic cheerleaders are lined up with the guns. Will it be Trump? Not a chance as he is just the clown brought in for entertainment. Or will it be Jeb Bush? Excellent choice as many of the GOP contenders will drop out before the 2016 Cleveland convention. The 2016 Democratic convention will be held in Philadelphia. Will it be Hillary Clinton? She is another excellent choice. Both have Israel's blessings which could mean even bigger trouble for Shias and Sunnis getting engaged in a civil war accruing to the benefit of US, UK, France, Russia and China lined up to sell their military hard wares and realising economic gains
How Henry Kissinger Helped Create Our “Proliferated” World
By Greg Grandin
The only person Henry Kissinger flattered more than President Richard Nixon was Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. In the early 1970s, the Shah, sitting atop an enormous reserve of increasingly expensive oil and a key figure in Nixon and Kissinger's move into the Middle East, wanted to be dealt with as a serious person. He expected his country to be treated with the same respect Washington showed other key Cold War allies like West Germany and Great Britain. As Nixon's national security adviser and, after 1973, secretary of state, Kissinger's job was to pump up the Shah, to make him feel like he truly was the “king of kings.”
Workers Abroad: The Repatriation Problem
By Mateo Pimentel
Generally speaking, a good deal of the research performed on expatriating workers does not entail the repatriation phase of their international assignment, or “reentry.”How communication technologies effect this particular phase receive seven less attention .Many international firms fund the research related to this topic, which is perhaps the most significant reason for it having been conducted.Nevertheless, firms do not always consider the repatriation phase of sojourning workers (reentry) to be critical to their business after the fact
The Demise Of God
By Sourav Banerjee
Pained by the acute feeling of having been abandoned in a precarious worldand in search of meaning, direction, and purpose,the need to believe far exceeds the need to expose spiritual debauchery and profligacy. Therefore the human gods will only sprout in ever increasing frequency till the existing theology and its modus operandi are vehemently challenged, not as a theoretical construct, but as a life practice
27 September , 2015
At Last Bernie Sanders Gets A Foreign Policy
By David Swanson
After 25,000 people asked, Senator Bernie Sanders added a few words to his presidential campaign website about the 96% of humanity he'd been ignoring. He did not, as his spoken comments heretofore might have suggested, make this statement entirely or at all about fraud and waste in the military. He did not even mention Saudi Arabia, much less declare that it should "take the lead" or "get its hands dirty" as he had been doing in interviews, even as Saudi Arabia bombs Yemeni families with U.S. cluster bombs
30,000 Murdered In Argentina While Pope Francis Was Top Jesuit ,
Millions While Pius XII Was Pope
By Jay Janson
Pope’s visit, blown up to super large proportions, a media inculcated impression that God’s representative on planet Earth is blessing America as its investors in profitable use of US Armed Forces go on destroying nations and peoples. Article not intended merely to unmask the Pope we are being hyped about, but to show the Papacy has long been an instrument of the wealthy who brutally misrule most of humanity
Brace Yourself, New York! The Annual Anti-Iran
Terrorist Freak Show Is Back in Town!
By Caleb T. Maupin
You would think that individuals claiming to be “Islamic Marxists” -- former members of an illegal Zionist terrorist organization -- and Republican elected officials would generally not associate with each other. However, once a year for the last decade or so, they all gather together in front of the United Nations during its General Assembly to display their insanity to the world by calling for greater hostility between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran
Indian Prime Minister Modi To Face Mounting Protests In Silicon Valley Visit
By Sharat G. Lin & Kaleem Kawaja
At least six independent groups and political coalitions have announced plans to stage protests at the SAP Center arena in San Jose and at some high-profile tech companies that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to visit. These include the Alliance for Justice and Accountability (AJA), Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), and the Organization for Minorities of India (OFMI). Scores of buses from across California are set to converge on SAP Center, bringing what is expected to be thousands of protesters with a wide range of grievances against the Prime Minister
Munnar: Distasteful Truths And Hidden Sorrows
By Anitha.S
All the voices we heard on a rainy afternoon in Munnar may sound apolitical and emotional, but it seemed truly apolitical not to listen and create a space where the voices of women do become heard and taken with all the gravity of the issues they raise. This is a reflection of the unpalatable, distasteful truths that the lives of women workers who support multiple lives with their hardship filled livelihood. The occupational hazards and health problems that breathing of pesticides, drinking contaminated water, living in unhygienic circumstances and neglecting the subtle health needs of the feminine body creates remain unspoken and unsaid
Environmental Activist Rigoberto Lima Choc Murdered In Guatemala
By Jeff Conant
Last week, environmental activist Rigoberto Lima Choc was murdered in northern Guatemala. This happened just after a court upheld charges he filed denouncing massive pollution caused by a palm oil company called Reforestadora de Palma de Petén
10 Easy Ways For Men To Smash Gender Roles
By Mickey Z.
Now, I’m not here to rant about guyliner but I’d like to strongly propose that revolutionary gender non-conformity should involve addressing, challenging, and changing the most common -- and most dangerous -- male behaviors
Civic Sense
By Fayaz A. Soomro
I feel shame, worried, unwired, mentally disturbed, perturbed, confused, amazed and fraught with a number of questions seeking prompt answers, but still unresolved. Day in day out the situation is getting bad to worst leaving no hope for betterment. Despite uncountable bounties and blessings, our environment is murky with unbelievable habits and practices cultivated by people around us. Unfortunately, civic sense is not common in common men
26 September , 2015
26 September: International Day For
The Total Elimination Of Nuclear Weapons
By Rene Wadlow
26 September serves as a reminder of the avenues proposed for nuclear disarmament, but disarmament diplomacy has stalled too often and inconsistent policies by governments have made the goal of complete elimination seem unreachable in the short term. Nevertheless we, as non-governmental peacebuilders, must continue to work creatively to generate the groundswell of opinion that will create a momentum of political will to move to a world without war and without nuclear weapons
Peace Boat Arrives At Berkeley Marina On International Day
For The Total Elimination Of Nuclear Weapons
By Gerry Condon
The historic sailing vessel Golden Rule will arrive at the Berkeley Marina on Saturday, September 26, which the United Nations has designated International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. In 1958, the Golden Rule and her crew of Quaker peace activists ignited an international movement to stop atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, when they attempted to sail into a nuclear bomb test zone in the Marshall Islands. Five years ago, after the historic sailboat was discovered at the bottom of Humboldt Bay on the north coast of California, local members of Veterans For Peace launched a national campaign to restore the Golden Rule and her mission to sail for a nuclear free world
Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant Failed In The Commissioning Test
Seven Times And Is Ready For Decommissioning
By VT Padmanabhan & Paul Dorfman
From the history of the plant so far, it does appear that the next vital event of the plant will be decommissioning. The history also proves that Kudankulam is the safest nuclear power plant in the world, because it is not going to work
Adam Smith’s “Hidden Hand”: Veneration of Another False God ?
By David Anderson
In Pope Francis’ recent environmental encyclical and in his many pronouncements since them, most notably his address to the US Congress and at the United Nations, he was in effect telling the world that the time has come for all of us to take a long hard look at a false god that has, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution been and continues to be venerated by so many
Bolivian Coca Cultivation Declines After US Kicked Out
By Robert Barsocchini
In 2008, Bolivian President Evo Morales kicked out the US ambassador and the DEA. Since then, reports HuffPo, Bolivia, a traditional coca-growing region, “has … managed to reduce coca leaf cultivation, especially over the past five years. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, total production of dried coca leaf fell 11 percent from 2013 to 2014, and has fallen by an average of nearly 10 percent each year since 2011.”
No Brains In Washington
By Paul Craig Roberts
Washington’s IQ follows the Fed’s interest rate — it is negative. Washington is a black hole into which all sanity is sucked out of government deliberations. Washington’s failures are everywhere visible. We can see the failures in Washington’s wars and in Washington’s approach to China and Russia
How AIPAC-OFAC Are Working To Maintain Sanctions
Targeting Iran And Her Students
By Franklin Lamb
Every American visitor to Iran, one imagines, quickly comes to realize not just how much Americans have in common with Iranians which is a whole lot. But how beneath the thin skin of political rhetoric occasionally from both people’s leaders we can achieve a special relationship based on shared values and mutual respect. This will be to the profound benefit of both peoples
Undoing India 'The Familial Way'
By Shamsul Islam
Ram Madhav a senior RSS ideologue and the BJP general secretary while defending interactions between RSS and BJP makes two important points. Firstly, he argues that such interactions are normal. According to him organizations interact with the governments in democracy 'then why an objection in this case?' But the issue of growing linkages between RSS and PM Modi and his ministers is not that simple
Hindutva And Minority Rights
By P Victor Vijay Kumar
The texture of Indian polity has been seeing several despotic developments , especially, post 2000 period. Before, we understand that it is “sanghi” force which is picking up the momentum, we need to go a level higher and see how hindutva’s inerent nature of intolerance and self-centric development agenda is steering this momentum against culture preservation and rights of minorities in this country
Greek Antikythera Shipwreck Yields The Antikythera Mechanism
By Marianne de Nazareth
There is exciting news. News that makes swashbuckling stories of adventure become real. Where treasures can still be found in the mysterious depths of the ocean. Archaeologists excavating the famous ancient Greek shipwreck that yielded the Antikythera mechanism have recovered more than 50 items including a bronze armrest (possibly part of a throne), remains of a bone flute, fine glassware, luxury ceramics, a pawn from an ancient board game, and several elements of the ship itself
25 September , 2015
By Togeer for Global Justice
We, world citizens unite in a common call to all governments of the world gathering in New York for the United Nations Summit to adopt new universal goals for sustainable development, just 70 days before the critical 21st Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) in Paris later this year
Sustainable Development: Something New or More of The Same?
By Charles Eisenstein
Switching from chemical to herbal growth stimulants (“green” or “sustainable” development) isn’t going to solve the problem. If development equals growth, then “sustainable development” is an oxymoron. Poverty and ecocide are baked into the cake. It is time to transition to a world in which wealth no longer means more and more
Reversing The Tide: Cities And Countries Are Rebelling
Against Water Privatization, And Winning
By Tom Lawson
Known as remunicipalisation, more and more communities and governments are choosing to resist and reverse private water contracts. According to a 2014 report by the Transnational Institute, around 180 cities in 35 countries have returned control of their water supply to municipalities in the past 15 years. To highlight this trend, here are some of the most significant examples of resistance to water privatization
EU Summit Reinforces Fortress Europe
By Peter Schwarz
A special summit of European Union heads of state on Wednesday evening adopted a series of measures to stop the flow of refugees into Europe. One day earlier, a summit of interior ministers argued fiercely over the distribution of refugees throughout Europe. After the majority of interior ministers decided on the redistribution of 120,000 refugees, against opposition from Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico declared his refusal to comply with the “diktat.” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban accused Germany of “moral imperialism.”
Gallup: 60% of Americans Want A New Political Party.
But, Why? A Crisis of Legitimacy
By Eric Zuesse
A Gallup poll issued on September 25th is headlined “Majority in U.S. Maintain Need for Third Major Party,” and it opens: "A majority of Americans, 60%, say a third major political party is needed because the Republican and Democratic parties ‘do such a poor job' of representing the American people.”
India's Rural Economy Hobbled By Poor Governance
By Moin Qazi
Poor governance has become the albatross that is aiming to virtually strangulate the system. The poor and the illiterate are the worst sufferers because corruption and nepotism has seeped deep into the system
24 September , 2015
Is UGC Turning Higher Educational Institutions Into Prisons?
By Ambrose Pinto S J
If the recent University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines for security of educational institutions are followed across the country, one can be sure we will turn institutions of higher education into prisons of slavery and subordination than centres of thought and freedom
Pope Tells World's Top Arms Dealers To End Arms Trade
By David Swanson
"Being at the service of dialogue and peace," he said, "also means being truly determined to minimize and, in the long term, to end the many armed conflicts throughout our world. Here we have to ask ourselves: Why are deadly weapons being sold to those who plan to inflict untold suffering on individuals and society? Sadly, the answer, as we all know, is simply for money: money that is drenched in blood, often innocent blood. In the face of this shameful and culpable silence, it is our duty to confront the problem and to stop the arms trade."
U.S. Special Ops Forces Deployed In 135 Nations
By Nick Turse
2015 Proves to Be Record-Breaking Year for the Military's Secret Military
Freedom For Ali Muhammed Al-Nimr
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal
The Wahhabite dictatorship of Saudi Arabia belongs to the most despicable regimes on the face of the earth. The US Empire and its Western allies are bosom buddies with this brutal regime. At any time, the 21-year-old Ali Muhammed al-Nimr could be beheaded and then publically crucified. What "crime" did Ali al-Nimr commit?
You Call This Progress?
By Tom Murphy
To me, this is all the more reason to raise awareness that we ought not take our future for granted. I believe that the narrative we have elected to believe—that progress is an unstoppable force and ever-accelerating technology will save us—is ironically the very attitude that can bring “progress” crashing down
The West Suppresses Report On Ukraine’s Suppression of Journalists
By Eric Zuesse
At a 21 September 2015 meeting of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), which is run by the Western powers and which is the leading organization concerning security and cooperation in Europe, a couragous speech against Ukraine’s imprisonment and killing of independent journalists was made by Alexey Tarasov, the Chairman of the All-Ukrainian Commission on Human Rights. Nearly halfway through the prepared text of his intended 6-minute summary description of the main cases, his speech was terminated by the Chairperson
Russia’s False Hopes
By Paul Craig Roberts
Russia so desperately desires to be part of the disreputable and collapsing West that Russia is losing its grip on reality. Despite hard lesson piled upon hard lesson, Russia cannot give up its hope of being acceptable to the West. The only way Russia can be acceptable to the West is to accept vassal status
The “Polar” Bear Hug
By Mohammad Ashraf
The “Bear Hug” between PDP and BJP which resulted in a coalition government in J & K seems to have become one sided with the South Polar Bear from Delhi mauling the Northern one right, left and centre!
Burhan Muzaffar Wani- The Robin Hood of Kashmir
By Imran Khan
To bring Burhans of Kashmir back to their homes and not let the phenomenon to get cyclic, there is the need of conflict resolution and empowering people, (particularly youth) by strengthening democratic institutions, providing political space, justice and equality and most importantly letting the people to live with dignity and honour
Kashmir’s Unidentified Gunman
By Iqbal Sonaullah
When I look back and remember some people killed by the brave-unidentified gunman, I wonder why this unidentified person hasn’t ever been powerful enough to hit the henchman. Are these commandments only meant for weak and defenseless? Not every unidentified killing has been genuine. Some such killings occur due to sheer confusion, some because of personal animosity, some because of the arrogance of power. Some, of course, because of one’s disloyalty towards a particular political idea. A dead body, unfortunately, cannot prove its innocence
23 September , 2015
The Munnar 'Green Blood Women's Revolution':
Sweat, Blood And The Bitter Cup Of Tea
By Binu Karunakaran
The 'sweet' 20 per cent bonus offered to agitating tea workers of Kanan Devan Hill Plantations Ltd in Munnar, at the behest of the Kerala state government, should be seen as a ploy to contain the seething labour discontent ahead of Assembly polls and limit damages to the brand image of Tata rather than a serious attempt to address concerns raised by them
Occupy This Question: What’s Changed In 4 Years?
By Mickey Z.
The United Nations estimates 29,158 children under the age of five die each day from preventable causes. Four years = 42 million. Please read that again: 42 million children under the age of five have died from preventable causes since the first “mic check” echoed across Zuccotti Park
Serious Journalism? Paying For “Nothing” Is Paying For Something
By Romi Mahajan
We all hate “being advertised to” but we invite that fate by being unwilling to part with a few dollars to support the authors and publishers of serious content so that indeed we can avoid being advertised to. This is an abdication, both an economic and a philosophical one. And it’s self-destructive to boot
Middle Eastern Conflicts Spill Onto Spanish Soccer Pitch
By James M. Dorsey
Inevitably, the mass exodus of refugees from conflict areas was going to provoke the spilling into Europe of multiple disputes in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. Spanish soccer is the first to feel the weight of the baggage that has turned vast numbers into destitute refugees. Kurdish rebels have accused a Syrian coach who was hired earlier this month by Real Madrid after having been tripped on camera by a Hungarian camera woman as he was running towards the border a child in his arms of being an Al Qaeda fighter and the instigator of a deadly anti-Kurdish soccer brawl
“Lipstick On A Pig” Malcolm Turnbull Heads War Criminal And Climate Criminal
Australian Coalition Government After Parliamentary Coup
By Dr Gideon Polya
In Australia's Third Coup against a popularly elected Prime Minister in a bit over 5 years, a deeply unpopular Australian Coalition PM Tony Abbott was replaced by his Liberal Party MP colleagues with his charming, articulate and popular colleague Malcolm Turnbull. However as a part payment to the Coalition Right for the Coup, a “lipstick on a pig” Malcolm Turnbull immediately adopted hardline rightist anti-marriage equality, climate change inaction, ecocidal and pro-war US lackey policies
Socialism Vs Capitalism : Past, Present, And Future
By Jon Kofas
A new synthesis of Marxism and Existentialism rooted in each country's culture, traditions, and needs of workers and not just the bourgeoisie may produce successful leftist regimes in the future. Socialism in some form, which has been around before civilization, will eventually prevail
#Enough!
By Dr Hakim
We may not have experienced war as Zarghuna has, but we’ve each had enough of different severe frustrations; of being treated as less than others, discriminated against, insulted, looked down upon, disrespected, exploited, and violated in various ways
Subduing al-Quds: Israel’s High-Stake Game In al-Aqsa
And Why Netanyahu May Prevail
By Ramzy Baroud
The fact that plans to conquer even the remaining symbols of Palestinian nationhood and spirituality have finally reached al-Aqsa is particularly alarming. Considering the turmoil throughout the Middle East region and the ineffectual Palestinian leadership of Mahmoud Abbas, Netanyahu is likely to push forward with his plan, no matter the price or the consequences
Wise Up, President Obama!
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal
What kind of values are the American politicians talking about, while defending Zionist zealots in the Occupied Palestinian Territories? At the end of his term in office, President Obama should be doing the Palestinian people a great favor and recognize the State of Palestine. He can be sure that all the European vassals will follow suit, even the Germans
GM Mustard In India: A Case of Monumental Fraud
And Unremitting Regulatory Delinquency
By Colin Todhunter
The approval and planting of large-scale field trials of genetically modified (GM) mustard in India is currently taking place. According to environmentalist Aruna Rodrigues, this is completely unconscionable. It is occurring even as the Supreme Court-appointed Technical Expert Committee (TEC) Report awaits adjudication in India’s Supreme Court, which expressly recommends a bar on herbicide-tolerant (HT) crops. As a result, Rodrigues is mounting a legal challenge as the lead petitioner in a Public Interest Litigation
Disaster Capitalism: Outsourcing Violence And Exploitation
By Robert J. Burrowes
In his just-released book, 'Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing out of Catastrophe', Antony Loewenstein offers us a superb description of the diminishing power of national governments and international organisations to exercise power in the modern world as multinational corporations consolidate their control over the political and economic life of the planet
Why Bihar Election Is Important For The Country
By Syed Ali Mujtaba
Bihar poll is a referendum on the politics of secularism and inclusive development and those of communalism that excludes minorities. It’s Bihar that upheld the flag of secularism when the entire country was burning in Ayodhya Fire. The elections results may have impact on the nature of direction of change on the political outlook of the country
Flood of Schemes: Revisiting The Adivasi Schemes on World Indigenous Day
By Dr. Abhilash Thadathil
Declaring a new scheme on World Indigenous Day without comprehending the web of myriad issues evolve in and around the contemporary adivasi livelihood would be counterproductive and dysfunctional
This And That of History: The Concern of Contemporary
By Parvez Alam
In case, if tomorrow one sees Nathu Ram Godse Road, Godse Bhawan and Godse Club or whatever manifestation of the name, it should not surprise us. The syncretic culture of this land is under threat and the narratives of venom and hatred are celebrated in open place. I am quite amazed that the literate masses are also supporting in the name of this issue and that. The civil society is worried about their own interests of losing fund, this and that. Instead of cherishing little histories, we are aligning with mega histories which are always exclusive
22 September , 2015
U.S. Will Station New Nuclear Weapons In Germany Against Russia
By Eric Zuesse
Germany's ZDF public television network headlines on Tuesday September 22nd, “New U.S. Atomic Weapons to Be Stationed in Germany,” and reports that the U.S. will bring into Germany 20 new nuclear bombs, each being four times the destructive power of the one that was used on Hiroshima. Hans Kristensen, the Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, says, "With the new bombs the boundaries blur between tactical and strategic nuclear weapons.”
Privatizing The Apocalypse
By Richard Krushnic and Jonathan Alan King
How Nuclear Weapons Companies Commandeer Your Tax Dollars
True Direct Democracy, The 3rd Nemesis Of The Cabal
By John Reid
With the instant communication and information we have today, we have the capability to run and manage the nation without the self-serving treasonous politicians who do next to nothing for the people. True Direct Democracy would enable us to enjoy the greatest freedom we have ever known and, just as importantly, free us from the tentacles of the cabal
The Black Panthers: Revolutions And Dinner Parties
By Fritz Tucker
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution opens with a metaphor, where three blind men touch different parts of an elephant and alternately conclude that it is a wall, a spear, and a snake. Like these blind men touching an elephant, seeing this movie will not make you fully understand the legacy of one of America’s most polarizing mass organizations, operating during one of America’s most politically significant decades. Still, the film delivers what it can in–what was for me a riveting–two hours. Plus, any film that pisses off in equal measure dogmatists on both sides of the equation is a success to me
US Labor Law At 80: The Enduring Relevance of Class Struggle Unionism
By Immanuel Ness
By embracing collective bargaining through the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935, or Wagner Act, organized labor deprived workers of their capacity to contest private and state power. This compromise closed out any possibility of building a mass-based labor movement for decades. Rather than advancing the interests of workers, the NLRA circumscribed workers’ aspirations for democratic syndicalist and autonomist unions
Why Arab Refugees Are Dehumanized at European Borders?
Humanitarian Darkness Renewed
By Mahboob A Khawaja
All the Arab States are deteriorating and could fade away with the passage of time. The refugee crisis is one of the important factors indicating the failure and complete disarray of the Arab culture and moral obligations. Foremost of obligations, it should have been the Arab leadership responsibility to manage the refugee episode as it has blown out of proportion for the West Europeans. The Arab leadership insanity embodies complete failure of moral, political and intellectual values for the wellbeing of the masses
The Real Beneficiaries Of ISIS Are The Anti Islam Forces
By Shakeel Mohammed
Baghdadi's Khilafat is hurting Islam and its human values the most. For the same reason this movement is gladdening the hearts of Islamophobes. Netanyahu's statement that supporting ISIS is good should be read along with this
Modi And Monsanto: A Wake Up Call For India
By Colin Todhunter
In the style of the late Hugo Chavez, perhaps it’s time for someone to publicly recommend William F Engdahl’s book ‘Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation’ to Narendra Modi. Like Chomsky’s book, it too discusses threats and domination. It locates the GM issue and the 'green revolution' firmly within the context of empire via the destruction of indigenous agriculture and its replacement with a model dominated by US agribusiness. Engdahl also locates the Rockefeller-Gates hand behind the great GMO project to a sinister eugenicist strategy of depopulation
Can Muslims And Christians Live In Peace?
By Thomas C. Mountain
Wouldnt it be great if there was somewhere on this planet where Muslims and Christian respect each other, and dwell together in peace and harmony? I live in Eritrea and have seen this all existing for years now, first hand, many, many times
As Europe Closes Borders, Ecuador Says 'No One Is Illegal'
By Federico Fuentes
Governments across the world are erecting walls and tightening laws to keep refugees out, but one country is taking a radically different approach based on the simple premise that “no one is illegal”. The Andean nation of Ecuador, with a population of 15.7 million people, is no stranger to the challenges of dealing with refugee crises. Ecuador houses about 50,000 refugees seeking asylum within its borders. This is the largest refugee population in any country in Latin America. The vast majority of these refugees want to become permanent residents
Mann Ki Baat at The Trump Tower?
By Raju Rajagopal
When Prime Minister Modi visits New York this week, will he take the opportunity to call on candidate Trump? After all, the Republican front-runner has been a vocal supporter of his government, and Modi could return the favor with some timely tips on campaigning, governance, and fashion! Who knows, ‘President Trump’ may join him at the Republic Day Parade in Delhi, come January 2017
The Inadequacy of Human Cognition And Cultural Politics
By Ghulam Mohammad Khan
RSS’s All India Prachar Pramukh Manmohan Vaidya’s opinion, ‘secularism is irrelevant in India’ is a newly designed software by the majoritarian culture, all set to be forcefully programmed on the collective hardware of Indian sensibility. Vaidya believes that saffron ought to have been the one colour on national flag because different colours represent a ‘communal thought’. My question to Vaidya is how saffron stands out as the only non-communal colour? How can colours represent communal thoughts when India had celebrated these colours for ages?
The Persistent Plight of Settlers in Assam
By Aayush Anand
The dead kid in blue shorts and red t-shirt has become the ideogram of the Refugee crisis in Syria and in UK. Enough wrath has been generated by the national and international media infuriating the righteous human inside each, to come forward and raise a concern about the depleting humanity in the pretext of foreign policy and political rivalries.But the noteworthy irony is the same media's ignorance towards our own government's policy as a result of which thousands and lakhs of people are at risk of being abandoned by the country they have considered their homeland for decades
21 September , 2015
100% Renewables By 2050 Is Possible
By Jon Queally
100% renewable energy for all is achievable by 2050, and is the only way to ensure the world does not descend into catastrophic climate change. Dynamic change is taking place in the energy sector. Renewable energies have become mainstream in most countries, and prices have fallen dramatically. The report shows we could transform our energy supply, switching to renewables, which would mean a stabilization of global CO2 emissions by 2020, and bringing down emissions towards near zero emissions in 2050
Syriza Voted Back Into Office Amid Mass Abstention In Greek Election
By Bill Van Auken
With over 93 percent of the vote counted early Monday, Greece’s Syriza had returned to power in Sunday’s snap election called last month by the party’s leader, former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras
Predators, Near And Far
By Kathy Kelly
Young people gathering at the Afghan Peace Volunteer’s Borderfree Center long to embrace innumerable people afflicted by war who share Jamila’s seemingly insoluble problems. Thoughtfully, carefully, they’ve designed a campaign that they call #Enough! – a simple yet compelling call to abolish wars and instead work to meet human needs. We asked Jamila if she thought her problems were connected to war. “Yes,| she said. “War leads to poverty and because of that poverty I have had so many problems. I hope the war will end so that I can find enough food.”
How To Censor Yourself Before The Government Even Has The Chance
By Rebecca Gordon
I've quietly chosen not to carry a particular book, or wear a particular T-shirt or button, when travelling by air. No reason to give the Transportation Security Administration any more excuses to pay me special attention. It's easier, safer, just to conform. So did my partner and I win our suit? When so many of us become frightened enough of our own government to do its censoring for it, I'd say that we've all lost
Initiatives For Transforming The Global Economy
By Chandra Muzaffar
A number of important initiatives linked largely to the economy made public in the last few years may have a huge impact upon the future of humankind. ASEAN and China have played a pioneering role in some of them
Trade Union Women
By Jane LaTour
Walking with eyes wide open into the ranks of labor is a necessity. An informed approach is critical. Learning about the history, the limitations and the possibilities of a revitalized labor—or labour—movement becomes part of the tool kit for workers crafting novel approaches to challenge their working conditions. Knowledge is a form of power
Sorry Bantu- This Happens Only In India!
By Shah Alam Khan
The twelve year old had defeated cancer but failed to defeat a disease, which shouldn’t have risen to such epidemic proportions in the first place; definitely not in the times of Swach Bharat! Bantu became a statistics in Delhi’s Dengue epidemic. His breath, his heartbeat and his courage were sacrificed at the altar of a nation that has recently started romanticizing with the idea of cleanliness! A disease, which has direct bearing to unhygienic, unclean surroundings, was to become the undoing of Bantu and those who loved him and that too at a time when we have a government, which talks of Swach Bharat and in the same breath slashes the expenditure on health by a cruel 20 percent in it’s first budget
Children Are Developing Smokers’ Lungs Thanks To Motor Cars
By Vidyadhar Date
Children are developing smokers’ lungs because of intense pollution caused by motor vehicles, says Gurgaon’s joint traffic police commissioner Bharti Arora. She deserves support for her sensitivity and for organizing a car-free Gurgaon on Tuesay to coincide with the World Car Free day to be observed on September 22. Sadly, there has been no intiative from other metropolitan centres in the country though vehicular pollution and congestion are becoming horrendous
Empowering Power or Capturing Control-The Ways of Naxalism
By Suparna Banerjee
It is regrettable that there is a serious dearth of academic engagements in this field of subaltern studies. The history of the indigenous groups are being re-written either by the Naxals or the government thereby once again creating a dangerous chasm between viewpoints that becomes difficult to bridge. In the name of empowerment the marginalised are stupefied to enter from one structure to the other
19 September , 2015
FTII Strike 100th Day:A Battleground To Preserve The Secular Polity Of India
By Binu Mathew
Today is the 100th day of the heroic strike of the Film and Television institute of India (FTII), Pune students. For the last nine days three students are on hunger strike. Their hunger strike is now on for 200 hours. Lives are at stake, yet the Government of India doesn’t move. The strike started by 200 odd students of FTII has spread far and wide, to every nook and corner of India and has become a movement against saffronisation of India’s secular polity
A Question From Afghanistan, “Can We Abolish War?”
By Dr Hakim
Hadisa, a bright 18 year old Afghan girl, ranks as the top student in her 12th grade class. “The question is,” she wondered, “are human beings capable of abolishing war?”
Sometimes A Clock Is Just A Clock
By Rosemarie Jackowski
"They arrested me and accused me of making a hoax bomb." That is what 14 year old Ahmed Mohamed said. He was handcuffed and arrested because of an innocent high school project. Irving, Texas Police Chief Larry Boyd commented: "We live in an age where you can't take things like that to school." This is Islamophobia gone wild. In case you missed it - Ahmed made a clock. He took the clock to school to show his teachers. Then someone mistook the clock for a bomb. "Paranoia runs deep..."
Stop The Illegal Separation Barrier!
By Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum Jerusalem Inter-Church Centre
Recently the shocking situation in the Cremisan valley and Bir Ouna has come to the attention of the world. Israeli forces have been uprooting hundreds of olive trees in order to clear space for a new section of the Separation Barrier. This new effort to annex occupied Palestinian territory directly affects Palestinian wellbeing. These developments have been distressing for the entire Palestinian community. It has a direct impact especially on Palestinian Christians, who are made more vulnerable by these actions from the Government of Israel. This is a clear violation of international law
Chasing The Expert Committee Along The Narmada Canal
By Ananyaa Gaur
ON 8th September villagers of Mundla (a village, 25 km from Indore) sat and protested in front of the cars by blocking the way of the Expert Committee which was appointed by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, to monitor the environmental aspects of the Indira Sagar (ISP) and Omkareshwar (OSP) canals
Ethnic Unrest Over, Wails Refuse To Die In Assam
By Aishik Chanda
More than nine months have passed since the latest ethnic violence in the westernmost district of Assam and Bodo Territorial Administrative Districts (BTAD), but still residents of New Angthaibari relief camp near Kochugaon in Kokrajhar district refuse to go back to their village, less than a kilometer away from the camp
Change Through Education Among Endangered Toto Tribe
By Aishik Chanda
An interview by Aishik Chanda of Sanchita Toto, the third graduate from the endangered Toto tribe in the Indo-Bhutan border in Totopara, West Bengal. Totos number around 1,500 and blood cancer is prevalent in the tribe due to strict endogamy. Sanchita, who aims to be a civil servant, is working on ways to revive the almost lost script of Toto language that has speakers in only one village – Totopara. The Totos have linguistically and culturally no resemblance with the neighbouring peoples like Bengalis, Adivasis, Nepalis and Rajbongshis. They are a separate people altogether and reside only in Totopara
Review: ‘Time of Exile’ Is A Classical of Its Own Category
By Onkar Sharma
‘Time of Exile’ proves to be a tale of our times where the governments are conspiring and hatching conspiracies…
18 September , 2015
Japan’s Credit Rating Cut As Economy Contracts
By Ben McGrath
Standard and Poor’s downgraded Japan’s sovereign debt rating on Wednesday from AA- to A+ due to growing concerns over the Japanese economy. It is the third such move by the global credit ratings agencies, following similar ones by Fitch in April and Moody’s in December. In the latest blow to Abe, his government announced last month that Japan’s economy had shrunk in the second quarter of 2015 by 1.6 percent on an annualized basis
Don’t Take Your Innovative Science Project To School If You Are Muslim!
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
To understand why a Texas school would arrest a 14-year-old student for bringing in a homemade clock, it helps to understand what came before: the TV news hosts who declare Muslims "unusually barbaric," the politicians who gin up fear of Islam, the blockbuster film that depicts even Muslim children as dangerous threats, and the wave of hatred against Muslims that has culminated several times in violence so severe that what happened to Mohamed, while terrible, appears unsurprising and almost normal within the context of ever-worsening American Islamophobia
Jeremy Corbyn's Leadership Victory A New Era For The 99%
Editorial of the Socialist
The most important single consequence of Jeremy Corbyn's victory is that these issues - how can inequality be ended and austerity be defeated and, above all, what is socialism and how can it be achieved are now being discussed widely. A new generation is hearing about socialist ideas for the first time. This is a great step forward which must now be built on
Iran Is Standing!
By Andre Vltchek
Iran is roaring and it is also logically explaining where it stands. It has both guts and big heart.I report that Iran is standing! And it will not succumb to vicious and senseless attacks. It will never kneel, because it knows – surrendering would lead directly to slavery
Morton Biskind: The Connecticut Physician Who Warned The World About DDT
By Andy Piascik
Though he was largely ignored and often reviled, Biskind continued to spread his message of warning. In 1950, he testified before Congress about the harmful effects of DDT, and in 1953, he published another important article, “Public Health Aspects of the New Insecticides,”in the American Journal of Digestive Diseases. Though resistance from powerful quarters continued, the message began to get through. More and more studies showed the destructive impact DDT spraying had on all forms of wildlife as well as direct links to cancer and other diseases in humans
America's News Is Heavily Censored
By Eric Zuesse
Both mainstream, and ‘alternative news,' media are selling audiences to their advertisers. People who think that news-media are selling ‘news' instead of selling audiences (“eye-balls”), don't understand the news-business
Antibiotic Use Is Driving Antibiotic Resistance...
By Shobha Shukla
... So suggests the new data released today by the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP) via its ResistanceMap, an interactive online tool that allows users to track the latest global trends in drug resistance in 39 countries, and antibiotic use in 69 countries. CDDEP also issued the first-ever report on The State of the World's Antibiotics, 2015, that looks at the current state of global antibiotic use and documents alarming rates of bacteria resistant to last-resort antibiotics that can lead to life-threatening infections across the world
What Ails India’s Poverty Eradication Programmes
By Moin Qazi
The poor are yet to find their voice, even as the media (for that matter, the entire establishment) have become the megaphone of the classes that are prospering. The preference for growth over social justice, indeed, the argument that economic growth is the road to social justice, is advocated over and above increased spending, is required for accelerated growth to translate into inclusive growth? The answer, I fervently believe, lies in inclusive governance. In the absence of Inclusive governance, the people at the grassroots, that is, the intended beneficiaries of poverty alleviation programme are left abjectly dependent on a bureaucratic delivery mechanism over which they have no effective control. The alternative system would be participatory development, where the people themselves are enabled to build their own future through elected representatives responsible to the local community and, therefore, responsive to their needs
17 September , 2015
Massive Earthquake Triggers Tsunami In Chile
By Countercurrents.org
A powerful earthquake has hit central Chile. The 8.3-magnitude tremor was centred off the coast, about 232kmnorth-west of the capital Santiago. The Weather.com reported that "The gauge in Coquimbo, Chile, recorded three tsunami waves of at least 4 meters (13 feet) each, including a maximum tsunami wave height 15.1 feet above normal tide levels. Several other Chilean coastal cities have recorded tsunami waves as well, though none nearly as dramatic as those in Coquimbo."
What Is Wrong With A Zero Interest Rate?
By Herman Daly
The stock market took a dip, so the Fed will likely continue to keep the interest rate at zero, in conformity with its goal of supporting asset prices by quantitative easing. What is wrong with a zero interest rate? Doesn’t it boost investment, growth, and employment?
UN Urges Sri Lanka War Crimes Court
By The Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released its long awaited report into human rights violations in Sri Lanka 2002-2011. It calls for a war crimes court
Sri Lankans Disabled By War, Forgotten In Peace
By Amantha Perera
Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war ended six years ago, but it’s not over for many victims who suffered permanent injuries during the conflict. Government soldiers can receive assistance packages for injuries sustained in service, including the continuation of salaries for those able to work at desk jobs, or long-term care in military-run facilities for those severely disabled. But there is no programme to help civilians and former Tamil Tigers who remain permanently affected by injuries during the war
Polls Show Syrians Overwhelmingly Blame U.S. For ISIS
By Eric Zuesse
The British polling organization ORB International, an affiliate of WIN/Gallup International, repeatedly finds in Syria that, throughout the country, Syrians oppose ISIS by about 80%, and (in the latest such poll) also finds that 82% of Syrians blame the U.S. for ISIS
Benign State Violence vs. Barbaric Terrorism
By Matt Peppe
One day in the not too distant future, the skies across the world may be full of drones from every country dispensing justice from Miami to Mumbai via Hellfire Missiles, relegating the rule of law and its method of trial by jury to the ash heap of history. And it will not be because of terrorist groups like ISIS that governments and the media are so forceful to condemn, but because of governments themselves and their lapdogs in the media who refuse to apply the same standards when judging violence to states that have their own Air Forces
How Yarmouk Came About: Israel’s Unabashed Role in The Syrian Refugee Crisis
By Ramzy Baroud
Over 3,000 Palestinians were killed, tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees fled Syria, thousands more became internally displaced and the hopeless journey away from the homeland continued on its horrific course. Yarmouk - a refugee camp of over 200,000 inhabitants, most of whom are registered refugees with the UN agency, UNRWA - was reduced to less than 20,000. Much of the camp stood in total ruins. Hundreds of its residents either starved to death or were killed in the war. The rest fled to other parts of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Europe
Monsanto's ‘Hand of God': Planned Obsolescence of The Indian Farmer
By Colin Todhunter
While the West tries to impose its neoliberal agenda of cutting subsidies to agriculture and dismantling price support mechanisms and the public distribution system that if effectively run would allow Indian farmers to receive a decent stable income, farmers are unsurprisingly leaving the sector in droves as agriculture becomes economically non-viable. Forcing farmers to leave the land is a deliberate strategy. Just like it is a deliberate strategy to give massive handouts to industry and corporate concerns who are not delivering on jobs. It's all about priorities. And farmers are not a priority. They are being driven from farming, while all the advantages are being given to a failing corporate-industrial sector
Rape And Diplomacy In India
By Zeeshan Hyder
They came from the wrecked homes of Nepal, desperate for money. One was a divorcee, who lived with her two daughters and was the breadwinner of her family working as a laborer in Nepal. Another had lost her house to the catastrophic Earthquake in April this year and had come to Delhi to support her husband, who is fighting with cancer. Both came to Delhi in search of jobs, rather ‘respectable jobs’ but they had been sent by their recruiting agency to the new employer, Majed Ashoor, a Saudi Arabian, who enjoys a diplomatic status in India, who repeatedly raped them
The Proverbial“Red Rag”!
By Mohammad Ashraf
The invoking of the cow slaughter ban through public interest litigation in the state high court appears to be a deliberate proverbial red rag to provoke the Kashmiris!
School Education In J & K Needs Urgent Reform
By Masood Ali Mir
In order to have better results and to be purely and perfectly authentic to its purpose for which it has been created, there is a dear need of attention and reforms in certain areas of school education department if not the whole reformation and restructuring. To be up to the expectations of students, teachers, parents and the society of 21st century, the department has to re- adjust itself otherwise it will become irrelevant and obsolete. To be relevant it needs the immediate reforms in certain areas
The Failure of Development Programmes In India
By Moin Qazi
It is time we respect the wisdom of the villages .Panchayat Raj is just one of the ways of involving and empowering the grassroots to participate in the development agenda .The people are keen to climb their way out of the poverty tap .They don’t want handout ,they want handup
16 September , 2015
Wars, Refugees And The Complete Lack Of Leadership Everywhere
By Alan Hart
Containing and hopefully defeating perverted, violent Islamic fundamentalism was as much a priority for Russia as it was (ought to have been) for America and Western Europe, my speculation is that Putin's response would have been positive. The prospect of it being positive would have been improved if Obama had also said to Putin that the U.S. was not seeking to use the crisis to end Russia's influence in Syria. In other words... If Obama had demonstrated real leadership in such a way, I think the countdown to catastrophe for Syria, the region and possibly the whole world could have been stopped
An End To American – And Global Oligarchy
By David Anderson
All the evidence points to the fact that the wealthy “elite” in America – and the wealthy “elite” in the rest of the world, want to keep it this way and then ultimately grab the final prize; total control over all society to assure genomic perpetuation so that for generations to come their offspring will be able to find themselves ensconced safely in the finest prep schools and universities and in guarded estates and multimillion dollar city apartments, and be able to continue to buy, as this generation is now doing, the politicians, media interests, think tanks and university trusteeships. But it will not continue. A look at world history, revolution after revolution, shows that it never has
Our Refugee Future
By Linh Dinh
The West violates borders, then cringes when its own are ignored. Of course, no one wants to see his society turned upside down. This upheaval could be arrested if only the West would stop wrecking other peoples' homelands, but this won't happen. On a planet of exploding populations, dwindling resources and contracting economies, war will only become more pervasive. Many players, Western or otherwise, will instigate it in all corners of this exhausted earth. Massive refugee flows will be the wave of our near future. The mess in Europe is only a preview, so you better get used to it, and you should also consider the likelihood that you yourself will become a desperate escapee who must risk death to start all over in a strange land
33 Years After The Sabra-Shatila Massacre Takfiri
Calls For “Intifada!” Waft From Lebanon’s Camps
By Franklin Lamb
There is not a lot of hope in Lebanon’s Palestinian camps this week as foreigners arrive in solidarity, as many do annually; and pay tribute to the more than 3000 victims of the September 1982 Israeli facilitated Sabra-Shatila Massacre
Blaming Africans
By Thomas C. Mountain
Blaming Africans is what its all about, whether in revising the history of the Rwandan genocide and absolving French crimes against humanity to the ongoing conflict in South Sudan, to further its national interests the USA or the French will provoke murder and mayhem, tribal violence in all its horrifying stereotypes. The west blaming Africans for western crimes is in vogue once again
Monsanto’s Sealed Documents Reveal The Truth
Behind Roundup’s Toxicological Dangers
By Richard Gale & Gary Null
The year 2015 hasn’t been kind to Monsanto. In March, the World Health Organization declared that the company’s flagship product, its herbicide glyphosate or Roundup, is a probable human carcinogen. Increasingly, national health ministries are taking a hard second look at glyphosate’s health and environmental dangers and efforts are underway to ban the herbicide.[1] To protect its citizens, last year the Netherlands, Bermuda and Sri Lanka have either banned or imposed strict limits on Roundup. Last June, France banned its use in gardens. Brazil, Germany and Argentina are considering legislative bans. And this month, California’s environmental protection agency launched plans to label Roundup as a carcinogen
Obama's Geopolitical Strategy For Containing China
By Alfred W. McCoy
In ways that have eluded Washington pundits and policymakers, President Barack Obama is deploying a subtle geopolitical strategy that, if successful, might give Washington a fighting chance to extend its global hegemony deep into the twenty-first century. After six years of silent, sometimes secret preparations, the Obama White House has recently unveiled some bold diplomatic initiatives whose sum is nothing less than a tri-continental strategy to check Beijing's rise. As these moves unfold, Obama is revealing himself as one of those rare grandmasters who appear every generation or two with an ability to go beyond mere foreign policy and play that ruthless global game called geopolitics
“Don’t Owe. Won’t Pay.” Everything You’ve Been Told About Debt Is Wrong
By Charles Eisenstein
Positive money refers to money created directly without debt by the government, which can be given directly to debtors for debt repayment or used to purchase debts from creditors and then cancel them. Negative-interest currency (which I describe in depth in Sacred Economics) entails a liquidity fee on bank reserves, essentially taxing wealth at its source. It enables zero-interest lending, reduces wealth concentration, and allows a financial system to function in the absence of growth
How Our Energy Problem Leads To A Debt Collapse Problem
By Gail Tverberg
Usually, we don’t stop to think about how the whole economy works together. A major reason is that we have been lacking data to see long-term relationships. In this post, I show some longer-term time series relating to energy growth, GDP growth, and debt growth–going back to 1820 in some cases–that help us understand our situation better
Subversion Against Cuba Continues Uninterrupted Amidst Normalization
By Matt Peppe
It is clear that the U.S. continues to act towards Cuba with utter disregard for mutual respect and sovereign equality despite the formalities uncritically accepted by mainstream media as true normalization. By looking beyond the face value of the words of American officials, one can't help but recognize that relations are anything but normal. Until the U.S. government recognizes that normal cannot include sanctioning, illegally occupying, and spending tens of millions of dollars on subversion and interference in another country's internal affairs, "normalization" remains nothing more than a vacuous abstraction
On The Continuing Assault On Rationalists And Free Speech
By Parvin Sultana
The rising intolerance is scuttling every voice of dissent. Academicians, scholars and educationists are being targeted for their views and ideas. Be it the rationalists who were murdered, the activists who continue to be threatened, the writers like Wendy Doniger and Perumal Murugan whose books were pulled off the market, democracy has failed them every time
Women: The Invisible Burden Carriers
By Moin Qazi
It is an image of resilience: women bending over rice fields, women bending over to lift sacks, bending over to tend children, bending over to draw water from wells, bending over a patch of embroidery, bending over all the time. A woman’s work is never done. The most vivid image of village women is that of a woman as a daily wage farm labour, or on a family plot, legs straight, her body forming a V as hour after hour she is bent over double, hoeing, sowing, weeding, day in and day out, under clear skies and hot sun. Sometimes this work is done with a baby on her back and the only rest might be when the infant cries in hunger and mother finds a place at the edge of the field to nurse her child
Stop Raising The Dam Height of Sardar Sarovar Project
And Rehabilitate The Affected People Urgently
By Narmada Bachao Andolan
Petition campaign. Please sign the petition
Dalit Consumer, With A Purchasing Power, Has Arrived
By Ravikiran Shinde
Peaceful Dalit protesters had forced largest circulated Marathi newspaper Lokmat to issue 'clarification' for its highly prejudiced and offensive editorial of 31st August against caste based-quota. The paper had to backtrack it’s stand, after decision of Dalits to boycott the newspaper.The Dalits had demonstrated their buying power while democratically protesting malicious article as part of a smear campaign
Eroding Civil Rights! Is India's Democracy In Danger?
By George Abraham
As the Indian entrepreneurs in the Silicone Valley are gearing up to give a grand reception to the Prime Minister, I hope they would also be cognizant of the fact that the freedom they enjoy here in the United States should empower them to enhance freedom elsewhere. As Mahatma Gandhi once said "Commerce (Business) without morality (ethics) and science without humanity could prove to be detrimental to everyone's long term interests!”
15 September , 2015
Germany Closes Its Borders To Refugees
By Peter Schwarz
Just two weeks after Chancellor Angela Merkel declared Germany was ready to accept refugees and was celebrated internationally for “Germany’s Willkommenskultur (welcoming culture)”, the government has closed the borders for refugees. At a hastily called press conference at which no questions were allowed, Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière announced on Sunday night that Germany was again introducing border controls “in the next minutes”. To this end, he said he had dispatched hundreds of border guards to Bavaria, which shares frontiers with Austria and the Czech Republic. Rail traffic between Germany and Austria had been temporarily suspended on the instructions of the Austrian government, he said
Which Side Are We On?
By Kathy Kelly
Our young friends have had enough of war, displacement, trauma and hunger. 60 million people, worldwide, now seek refuge, many of them fleeing war and violence. Shameful warlords and war profiteers, such as those who commandeered U.S. wars against Iraq and Afghanistan, destabilize defenseless populations. The wars lead to massive refugee crises. Anyone called upon to support wars or warlords should learn the priorities embraced at the Borderfree Center -- and switch sides
Can Jeremy Corbyn Stem The Tide of Neoliberalism And Militarism?
By Colin Todhunter
At 66, Corbyn has tapped into deeply held sentiments that exist across all age groups: that something is fundamentally wrong in Britain and needs addressing. The fact he is appealing to young people suggests Corbyn might not be the final setting of the sun from a bygone era but hopefully the beginning of a dawn
The Real Significance Of Jeremy Corbyn And Bernie Sanders
By John Spritzler
Neither Sanders nor Corbyn articulate a vision of HOW to remove the rich from power to have real not fake democracy with no rich and no poor. They don't even advocate removing the rich from power; they only advocate making the rich pay a bit more and ease up on regular people. In other words, they don't identify the Big Problem and how to solve it
Why The Veto Must Be Abolished From The United Nations Security Council
By Abdul Muheet Chowdhary
Technically, the word ‘veto’ does not exist in the Charter of the United Nations. Article 27 (3) of the Charter states that decisions on non-procedural matters shall be ‘made by an affirmative vote of nine members including the concurring votes of the permanent members.’ The key term here is ‘concurring’, which has been translated in common parlance into the veto. Broadly speaking, there are three main reasons why the veto should be abolished: 1) It is an anachronistic and undemocratic privilege 2) Prevents timely and decisive action 3) Limits negotiations and compromise
Obama’s Response To The Refugee Crisis: Regime Change In Syria
By Shamus Cooke
One drowned toddler has shifted global politics. The picture demanded action in response to the largest migration crisis since World War II, itself caused by the longest series of wars since WWII. These wars have dragged on and new ones started-- Libya and Syria -- under the Nobel Prize winning U.S. President. Obama could end the refugee crisis by brokering peace in Syria, but instead he’s pushing hard and fast for war. Few U.S. media outlets are reporting about the critical war resolution that the Obama Administration is trying to push through Congress
What If UNICEF’s Djokovic-Novak Said Survivors of US Bombings
Deserve Justice And The Guilty Punished?
By Jay Janson
What a bombshell when MLK called his government the greatest purveyor of violence in the world! Author believes if world famous celebrities would feel a roll model’s responsibility to set a good example and call for the prosecution of Americans for bombing tens of millions in their own beloved countries, there would be a world reaction of appreciation, relief and personal shame for having remained silent for so my years
Has Aylan Kurdi Died In Vain?
By Taj Hashmi
Although hundreds of nameless refugees from Africa and Middle East have perished in the Mediterranean in the last one-year, the world will never forget the image of the three-year old, cute and well-dressed Aylan Kurdi in a red shirt and blue pants, whose body was lying facedown in the sand of Bodrum in Turkey. He died last week along with his mother and five-year old brother. Everybody seems to have said everything possible on this tragic death. Don’t we have anything new to add to the story? Of course, we have
From Academia To Hackademia: Hamid Dabashi As Native Informer
By N. Wahid Azal
Halfway through his 11 September 2015 Al Jazeera op-ed, Dabashi asserts: “There is one glaring case of a Muslim country that is heavily involved in Syria but has yet to accept a single Syrian refugee, and that is the Islamic Republic of Iran… not a single refugee has been admitted to Iran. Why not?” Contrary to Dabashi's categorical claim, the truth of the matter is that Iran has in fact accepted Syrian refugees –- and since 2011
Where Farmers Are Committing Suicides, Women Are scripting Success Stories
By Moin Qazi
While handling microfinance operations in Vidarbha for several institutions I could observe an excellent credit culture among poor women who have pooled their resources and talents to form Self Help Groups. In remote crannies , poor women are pooling their talents and resources to build a new synergy of collective empowerment to transform their lives. These small clusters or collectives of women are known as Self-Help Groups
The Story of Pategaon : May Be A Story of Every Indian Village
By Sarosh Ali
These eddies keep sucking life out of the place. Hopefully, they still have not crossed the point of no return. Of-course there are technological advances. There are motorbikes and TV sets and mobile phones. The ground is higher than before. The juggernaut of subsistence, however, is still crushing them hard. The quality of all of life's aspects has deteriorated. The food is not as nutritious as before. Water, a very down-to-earth thing till a few years ago, has been turned into a economic commodity. It's not just health but the overall quality of life that has gone down
Why This Inaction on Kandhamal? Brinda Karat Asks Naveen Patnaik
In A Strongly Worded Letter
By Countercurrents.org
Brinda Karat, former Member of Parliament and Polit Bureau member of Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI-M) has sent a strongly worded letter to Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister Odisha, asking why he ignores the plight of the victims of anti-Christian communal violence in Kandhamal. In her letter, Brinda Karat asks why he has refused a hearing to the victims of the violence, even when the President of India gave them a patient hearing. She also raises the issue of total failure of the criminal justice system in relation to the Kandhamal violence
Institutionalizing The Politics of Discord
By Ghulam Mohammad Khan
Banning the sale of beef and annihilating the intellectual and rationalistic voices (interpreting them as dissent by a strange logic) one by one clears the xenophobic intentions of the government. In a country like India, where people speak hundreds of different languages, follow as many beliefs, and live in as many diverse socio-cultural settings, administering the system in accordance with a specific religion, culture or belief would not only jeopardize the functioning of the system, but also incite what James Davison Hunter calls ‘culture wars’ in the public sphere
The Dimensions of Veterans' Disillusionment And Ire
By S.G.Vombatkere
Government of India (GoI) finally announced its version of One-Rank-One-Pension (OROP) for military Veterans. This was welcomed only in part by the Veterans, because there were important sticking points which were not included or inadequately included in the announcement. Fortunately, the Veterans who were on fast-unto-death were persuaded to end their fast, but the Veterans' resolve to remain on protest until outstanding points were settled to their satisfaction, resulted in planning a “Sainik Ekta Rally” on 12th September at Jantar Mantar
Silver Linings For Muslim Women In India
By Moin Qazi
Women working against the talaq law received good news: a government committee set up in 2013 to look into women’s status recommended that the government should outlaw it.In a similar development a woman won a major law suit for provision of maintenance after divorce. In a landmark ruling, the Kerala High Court, the highest provincial court in India, ordered a man to pay his former wife Rs 3.6 lakh compensation for her medical expenses, despite divorcing her 12 years ago. Similarly the court held she was entitled to maintenance expenses for 10 years
Questioning A Legal Practice In Bangladesh
By Nava Thakuria
Should a responsible judge of the Highest Court in a democratic country meet the family members of a condemned criminal even as the trial continues? Can the interaction between them ultimately influence the verdict over the case? Finally should the mainstream media comment on such issues, which might create confusion among the people about the credibility of the legal system? These and many more similar questions are lately being asked, raised and debated in Bangladesh, a secular Parliamentary democracy of South Asia, following a recent judgment from it’s Highest Court convicting two editors of an influential Bengali daily for contempt of court for a critical commentary over the ongoing war crime trials
Moneypurr: Who Will Bell The Cat?
By Dennis Misao
In this cat and mouse game, volleys of allegations, counter-allegations, clarifications and counter- clarifications were exchanged as if there was nothing else to do. No choice of word, adjective or expletive was spared. No theory was left unattended - from the theory of the evolution of cats, to the theory of the origin of mice. Even the internet shut down in sheer distress. The mighty Indian Galactic Federation looked at the unfolding drama in stoic silence
Law or Lawlessness of The Land? How Banks Have Been
Exploiting Home Loan Borrowers
By Professor P Radhakrishnan
The manner in which banks hoodwink customers to take home loans while, at the same time, creating provisions to escape responsibility of accidental damages to the mortgaged property by forcing the borrowers to go for insurance cover at their own cost and keeping the policies in bank's custody failing which the banks themselves taking policies and debiting the premium amounts to the borrowers' home loan accounts is a new exploitative trend without any legal basis, an unfair trade practice which needs to be stopped
14 September , 2015
Saudi-Led Coalition Pours Troops Into Yemen
By Patrick Martin
The Saudi-led coalition which has invaded Yemen over the past two months is now poised to make a direct assault on the country’s capital city, Sanaa, according to press reports Sunday. An estimated 12,000 troops launched an offensive in Marib province, directly east of the capital
Garrisoning The Globe
By David Vine
How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Undermine National Security and Harm Us All
US, Australia, Canada, Apartheid Israel & 4 Pacific Island States
Opposed Palestine Flag At UN But 119 Nations Voted Yes
By Dr Gideon Polya
The US, Apartheid Israel and 6 US lackey states - Australia, Canada, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, and Tuvalu – invite comprehensive global Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against their citizens, institutions, goods and services by voting against a UN General Assembly motion, passed with 119 in favour and 45 abstentions, allowing for the raising of the State of Palestine flag at the UN Headquarters and offices
Journalists Kicking Refugees: It’s Not Just Physical
By Christian Christensen
When images of Hungarian TV photographer Petra László kicking and tripping Syrian refugees—including Osama Abdul Muhsen and his 7-year-old son, Zaid—began to flow across our computer screens, my thoughts went back to Alan Kurdi. If the picture of Alan reminded us of our collective responsibility, what did the picture of Laszlo humiliating desperate Syrians tell us?
Book Review of “Green Economics” by Robin Hahnel
By Raghav Kaushik
“Green Economics” is a book by an avowed market abolitionist that unabashedly proposes an approach to addressing climate change within the market framework. To be sure, being a market abolitionist, Hahnel holds back no punches in recognizing the well-known problem with free markets
The Ambiguity: The Case Of Democracy
By Farooque Chowdhury
The Great Financial Crisis, the Occupy Wall Street rising, Wikileaks and Snowden exposure, imperialist interventions in Iraq-Libya-Syria, the economic-political developments in Greece, and the on-going string of revelations in the US politics take away all ambiguities related to democracy, development and state. With broad and fundamental connections and character the incidents and processes – parts of democracy and development – being witnessed by the contemporary world are significant with far-reaching implications, and helpful to comprehend issues of democracy, development and state
Abuse And Death Threat To John Dayal: Is Democracy Dying In India?
By All India Secular Forum
The threats of abuse and death to Dr. John Dayal are one more disturbing events in recent times. He received phone calls, which are abusive and threatening. #ShameOnJohnDayal was trending on twitter in India on 13th September and worst type of abuses have been tweeted and his personal details where revealed on Twitter
11 September , 2015
A Green Blood Women’s Revolution In Munnar
By Binu Mathew
On 2nd September, 2015, these tears turned into a flood of anger and that shook the very foundation of political structure of Kerala state, India. In Kerala, which boasts that it elected through the ballot, for the first time in the world, a communist party government to power, where everything from birth to death are unionized, emerges a workers’ movement, that too led by thousands of women, literally driving away trade union leaders, as they term it, “A Green Blood Revolution”. What is happening? Why this unique political movement?
Remembering Ramaswamy Iyer: A Visionary Who Deeply Cared About Water Issues
By Association For India's Development
Ramaswamy Iyer, former union secretary of Water Resources for the government of India, and professor at the Center for Policy Research, passed away yesterday in Delhi. His contributions to research and policy in the public interest, and steadfast solidarity with people's movements gave hope to many in difficult times
Independent People’s Tribunal of Four Judges Visit Sardar Sarovar Project Areas
By National Alliance of People’s Movements
A Panel of three retired and well-known Justices of various High Courts including Jst. P.C Jain (Rajasthan High Court), Jst. Nag Mohan Das (Karnataka High Court) and Jst. V.D. Gyanai (Madhya Pradesh High Court) visited numerous villages in the Dharampuri, Manavar, Kukshi and Badwani Tehsils of the Sardar Sarovar Project affected areas today and received a large number of complaints / representations of violations of law and policy in the rehabilitation process, corruption and submergence of properties as well as atrocities on the poor, dalits and adivasis by the State
Practicing Untouchability Is A Crime, ‘Not A Social Evil’
By Samar
The practice of untouchability being a criminal offence did not deter ‘upper caste’ villagers in Sigaranahalli in Holenarsipur Taluk of Karnataka from mercilessly driving out four Dalit women who dared to enter a local Hindu temple. It did not deter them from fining the women with 10,000 rupees (about $150 USD) for a crime they, not the women, had just committed
11 September , 2015
Beef Ban In Jammu And Kashmir: A Dangerous Political Game
By Imran Khan
After Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Rajasthan, now beef is being banned in the only Muslim majority (so called state) of Jammu and Kashmir. Neither the collective conscience, nor the fundamental rights (particularly the right to freedom of religion) were cared while pronouncing such an unjust and biased decision. Though Kashmiries will not accept and follow any such beef ban, but it is time for our society and leaders to unite together and protect our religious rights and at the same time show tolerance and stick to communal harmony and treat an issue like beef ban as a handiwork of few communal elements only
Indian PM: Remotely Controlled By Communal Group And Acting Against Nation
By Ravi Nitesh
When Government of India (through BJP) and RSS sat together officially for three days in their so called ‘coordination’ meet, it is like an open truth that who is who. This ‘coordination meet’ is a slap on the face of millions of youths who preferred their vote for development but feeling cheated now. This coordination meet is an insult of democratic values and constitution of India
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Says Refugee Crisis Is Putin's Scheme. The Backstory
By Eric Zuesse
And European nations take this leadership as their own, instead of abandoning the U.S., abandoning NATO, and abandoning the U.S.-controlled EU; abandoning all the mega-corporate, U.S.-aristocracy-controlled, international-corporate fascist system — and now they willingly take in the millions of refugees from the bombs that the U.S. had dropped in Libya and Syria, and that the U.S.-installed rabidly anti-Russian government in Ukraine is dropping onto the areas of the former Ukraine that have rejected the U.S.-imposed (in February 2014) government in Kiev. And the next target is Putin. So: that's the backstory behind the lie that Putin instead of Obama caused those millions of refugees pouring into Europe
Where Are The Musim States When Muslims Need Them The Most?
By Mirza Arif Beg
For decades, Muslim apologists and scholars from across the world have recognized the role played by imperialistic powers such as France and Britain which helped create fake borders on the Middle-eastern territory . However, what has been completely sidelined is the role played by Muslim states like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran in further intensifying the deeply entrenched sectarian schism within Islam
Mounting Refugee Crisis
By Gazi Hassan
Countries/nations across the globe should soften migration laws. It is necessary because it is need of the hour, laws should not be confined to the civilians only but it should have a wide scope for accommodating refugees, migrants and all those people in dire need of humanitarian assistance.And organization such as ICRC should make every possible effort to make sure that countries abide by the International Humanitarian Law. Saudi Arabia guardian of two Holy Mosques of Islam and other wealthy nations of Muslim world should come forward with open handsand safe guard to the affected people. India and other South Asian Nations should also come forward to help and start accepting the refugees for the cause of humanity
US Destabilization Policy Toward The Middle East:: A Historical Perspective
By Jon Kofas
The current crisis convergence in the Ukraine and the Middle East poses challenges for US foreign policy. However, it also demonstrates glaring contradictions and credibility gap not just today, but as a historical phenomenon that has been evident since the early Cold War
Melting Permafrost, Deadly Viruses, Male Scientists:
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
By Mickey Z.
Patriarchy has ruled and ruined for far too long. The result is homicide, genocide, femicide, ecocide, omnicide. The result is widespread necrophilia from which we just may have a chance to recover…if only we’d choose biophilia. If only we’d name the fuckin’ problem: Male Pattern Violence
When It Comes To America's Endless War: Nothing Succeeds Like Failure
By Nick Turse
Will episodic training with militaries regularly implicated in human rights abuses, militaries that overthrow their governments, and militaries that have consistently failed to defeat local terror groups turn them into professional, successful armies when longer-term, more intensive, bigger-budget U.S. efforts to build-up national armies from South Vietnam to Afghanistan and Iraq have been so ineffective? “It's not difficult to make the case that we are viewed as aliens,” says Bacevich. “Therefore the prospects of being able to effectively transmit whatever the magic is that makes an army into an effective force is not likely to be in the offing. But still, we're always disappointed and surprised when it turns out we can't pull that off.”
Aadivasi’s Cultural Identity In Jharkhand’s Under Assault
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
The lush green region of the Santhal aadivasis is under the assault of money bags with huge concrete structures are being built around the area of Madhuban, the town where Parasnath hills are located. It is not just huge ashrams, temples, religious universities but townships are also being built around the area ignoring completely the environmental norms as well as the feelings of the local aadivasi communities. Their lands are being grabbed illegally violating all the rules and laws of the state
10 September , 2015
Three FTII Students Begin Indefinite Hunger Strike
By Countercurrents.org
Three students of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) today began an indefinite Hunger Strike, demanding that the ensuing crisis be resolved. The students are on a 91 day long strike against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan, a ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member and TV actor, as chairman of FTII, India's premier film institute, in an effort to saffronize it by Hindutva forces
US Now Has Over 1,400 Foreign Military Bases Spread Over 120 Countries: Assange
By Robert Barsocchini
In an interview about his new book detailing cables published by Wikileaks, Julian Assange makes the following key points: Cables show current US policy on Syria is essentially an extension of the policy of the W. Bush regime, which made plans in 2006, five years before the Syrian revolt, to overthrow the government
How America Double-Crossed Russia And Shamed The West
By Eric Zuesse
The conditionality of the Soviet Union's agreement to allow East Germany to be taken by West Germany and for the Cold War to end, was that NATO would not expand “one inch to the east.” Russia kept its part of the bargain. The United States did not; the U.S. instead lied through its teeth and so has since expanded NATO to absorb former member-nations of the Warsaw Pact into NATO as being, now, an anti-Russian military alliance — exactly what the U.S. had promised would never happen
Huffington Post Arabic And The Absurdity of ‘Liberal’ Expectations
By Ramzy Baroud
‘Huffington Post Arabic’ should open an equitable platform for ideas and encourage debate, bringing the arguments of all sides to the fore, allowing its readers to decide for themselves, not to appease any particular definition of what a liberal is or is not; but to espouse urgently needed dialogue at a time of senseless wars and protracted conflicts
Peaceful Waters for Our Future
By Concerned Citizens
Appeal to the Peoples and Leaders of this Planet from Peace Boat's 88th Global Voyage
A Church That Has Become A Cow Shed!
By Binu Mathew
As I enter this ramshackle building a pungent smell of cow dung and urine pierces my nostrils. Cow dung is lying everywhere. Pools of urine are formed here and there. The walls are collapsing. This was once a Roman Catholic Church. Now the place has become a resting place of grazing cows. On the wall, which once formed the backdrop of the Sacred Altar, local Romeos have drawn love signs and written messages for their Juliets. Come to Gunjabadi, Kandhamal district of Odisha, India any believer in any God of any religion would be shocked out of their wits
Srinagar, The “Smart” (-ing) City!
By Mohammad Ashraf
Srinagar, the historical City of the Sun, instead of becoming a “Smart” City is smarting under the mess which its denizens have heaped on it!
Hunger Strike In The Government Tribal Hostels Panvel, Mumbai , Maharashtra
Fact Finding Report
We got to know from some local contacts, that the students at the Government hostel in Panvel are on a hunger strike because of they are not getting the facilities that government is suppose to provide and the department has filed complaint against the students and FIR has been registered against the students who protesetd demandings their rights. We met the students both boys and girls and also had talk with the hostel warden and other employees at the Panvel hostel and on the basis of which this report is being prepared
Manipur: Separation Anxiety
By Dennis Misao
The current crisis is more emotional than political. Take away the raw emotional undercurrent, and what you see are two sides of the same coin, each justifying and presenting its own side of the story
People’s Tribunal In Narmada Valley, Rajghat, Badwani, M. P.
By National Alliance of People’s Movements
Four Eminent Judges of India to receive petitions for Sardar Sarovar Affected on Development, Displacement and Rehabilitation on 12th September
09 September , 2015
Washington Threatens Confrontation With Russia Over Syria
By Bill Van Auken
The Obama administration has ratcheted up tensions with Moscow over unsubstantiated claims of a Russian military buildup in support of the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad. Any expanded Russian presence on Syrian soil could lead to a “confrontation” with Washington’s “coalition,” which has been bombing Syria, supposedly with the aim of countering the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), US Secretary of State John Kerry threatened in a phone call to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov over the weekend
It’s Time To Reopen The American And Iranian Embassies
And Promote Reconciliation
By Franklin Lamb
Last month's historic nuclear agreement breakthrough, following nearly two years of grueling, frequently contentious negotiations, manifests the efficacy of diplomacy conducted in an atmosphere of mutual respect to solve shared challenges among states that were formerly enemies
Pro-Kurdish HDP Party Offices Attacked Across Turkey
By Sosyalist Alternatif (CWI Turkey)
Tuesday 8 September, some 126 offices of the HDP across the country were attacked, burnt or ransacked by mobs, mainly linked to the far-right MHP (Grey Wolves) nationalists and to the ruling AKP. Many Kurdish people and activists have also been under attack, in an apparent lynch campaign. The Turkish police, which has dramatically stepped up its repression against the activities of the left in recent weeks, took hardly any action against the assailants
West Ignores 11 Million Muslim War Deaths & 23 Million Preventable
American Deaths Since US Government's False-flag 9-11 Atrocity
By Dr Gideon Polya
The 9-11 anniversary approaches but the Western Mainstream media and politicians memorializing the 3,000 killed will utterly ignore the realities that (1) 9-11 was a Zionist-complicit US Government false-flag operation , (2) US Governments lied and obstructed post-9-11 investigations, (3) 11 million Muslims have been actively or passively killed in the $7 trillion post-9-11 US War on Terror, and (4) 23 million Americans have died preventably since 9-11
Global Poverty And The UN Millennium Development Goals Program
By Jon Kofas
One must also see through UN MDG as an effort to camouflage the growing inequality capitalism is creating and the growing lack of social justice. One could also argue that the UN MDG program is a Trojan Horse of imperialism on the part of the richest countries laying the groundwork the largest corporations to penetrate the less developed regions where most natural resources are available for exploitation and where labor costs are the lowest on the planet
Elites Want More Refugees: Why?
By Robert J. Burrowes
Elites generate one crisis after another as an inevitable outcome of their insane actions to perpetuate, consolidate and expand their control over the rest of us. If we are not sufficiently aware, we can become preoccupied in just dealing with one or more symptoms of their insanity. Elites want more refugees partly because it helps to distract us from analysing and resisting what they are doing overall. While we must act in solidarity with those they victimize, like the refugees fleeing their war zones at the moment, we also need to expose and strategically resist the global elite itself or, eventually, suffer the same (or an equivalent) fate as today's refugees
The Predicament That Is Whistleblowing In India
By Aayush Anand
The war against corruption can not be won by passionate speech making or radio shows. For complete annihilation of corruption from the deepest cranny of this country, judicious policy making is required. India has already lost many meticulous individuals who could have brought significant change in the ever deteriorating scenario of governance in India, had their life not been cut short by the unscrupulous and amorals, deep rooted in the system, to protect their selves
Academics In Danger
By Umer Jeelanie Bnaday
State power is not the only threat to academia’s freedom. In accepting endowments universities must insist on “their freedom from the promptings of private interest”. Also, academics must “renounce their ambition to play a part in partisan political controversy”. It is the freedom by which truth can be pursued. The battle of separation in India from the states has yet to begin in earnest
Victims of Churachandpur, Manipur State Brutality Remembered
Press Release
On 08 September 2015, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Students’ Union in collaboration with Manipur Tribal students from TISS, Mumbai has organised condolence service for the victims of Churachandpur incident in Manipur whose innocent lives were taken away by the State brutality
Statement of Condemnation of Prof. Kalburgi's Murder
By Academics for Democracy
As a group of academics and scientists who are involved in various ways towards promotion of democratic values, we wish to condemn the murder of Prof. M. M. Kalburgi, who was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on August 30th , in strongest possible terms
08 September , 2015
Amid Refugee Crisis In Europe, NATO Powers Prepare War
Escalation In Syria
By Alex Lantier
Even as hundreds of thousands of refugees stream into Europe from the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans, the NATO powers are preparing to escalate the war in Syria, which has already driven millions to flee their homes. On Monday, Paris and London both announced plans to step up the bombing of Syria, with French President François Hollande calling for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
Refugees or Humanity Marching Under Razor Wires
By Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja
International institutions of peace and security are fraught with indifference and incapacity to deal with the emerging humanitarian crises. What led to the making of Two World Wars is happening again to repeat the history. Humanity is victimized and its freedom is barbed wired to seek help. With marked difference, refugees are often identified as “economic migrant” as if Europeans were the glittering gold mines of the 21st century economic prosperity. The EU has policies and practices but not for the Arab-Muslim refugees to come to Europe
Kandhamal Communal Violence Victims Demand
Legal Intervention By Supreme Court
By Countercurrents.org
A delegation of the Kandhamal Committee for Peace and Justice comprising of the victim-survivors of the 2008 anti-Christian carnage, met the Presientof India on September 7. The members were accompanied by Brinda Karat, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Kavitha Krishnan. They demanded that a sitting Supreme Court judge should head a panel to look at the failure of the criminal justice system in Kandhamal and make the required legal intervention so as to ensure justice to the victims of violence
Mantra for 9/11 : Fourteen Years Later, Improbable World
By Tom Engelhardt
Fourteen years later and do you even believe it? Did we actually live it? Are we still living it? And how improbable is that?
Netanyahu Aims His WMD At Obama
By Jonathan Cook
Netanyahu’s current bluster starts to look like it is aimed less at the nuclear deal than at President Obama himself. Is Netanyahu hoping to turn the Iran issue into a doomsday electoral weapon against the Democrats, helping to clear the path into the White House next year for a Republican. That way, Netanyahu may believe he can still emerge the victor, with a hawkish new president prepared to push Iran back into the US line of fire
The Imprudent Serpent: A Short Fable On
The Amnesic Hypocrisy of The Republican Party
By Mateo Pimentel
Only one coyote howled about it. He reminded some of the animals surrounding the unfortunate scene that there was once an appealing leader much like Donald, but who called himself Ronald. Coyote recounted how Ronald was a bit of a contentious figure, just as many old forest elephants are wont to be. How interesting, mused coyote, that one bald little snake could vex so many toxic critters and command them with the silly prospect of walling-off an arroyo while, on the other hand, a lumbering and clumsy elephant had garnered so much acclaim for wanting to tear a wall in the forest down
Ecuador: Behind The 'Indigenous Uprising' Against Correa —
Divided Left Weakens Struggle For Change
By Federico Fuentes
Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa is facing the most important challenge yet to his self-styled “Citizens' Revolution”. A range of indigenous groups, trade unions and leftist parties mobilised across the country on August 13. Their long list of demands included calls for land reform, opposition to mining, support for bilingual education and the shelving of the government’s proposed water and labour laws. In Quito, the “Indigenous Uprising” — as protest organisers dubbed it — lasted nine days, with organisers vowing to return this month
Remembering Dedon Kamathi
By Thomas C. Mountain
Dedon Kamathi, a former Black Panther and Central Committee member of the All African Peoples Revolutionary Party (AAPRP) passed away at the end of August after suffering a stroke
And Quiet Flows The Jhelum!
By Mohammad Ashraf
We spent five days and nights marooned in the top floor of the house. It was feeling as if we were staying in a house boat! Luckily we had water in the overhead tank and some rations. But the scariest thing was the continuous boom of the collapsing house. Finally, we were rescued by Army Engineers from the second floor of our house and taken “ashore” in a motorised assault craft. I lost everything I had collected for 50 odd years
Why Kashmir Needs A Literature Of Its Own?
By Ghulam Mohammad Khan
Kashmir, given its vulnerable political environment, a convoluted political history, and tough living conditions, desperately needs a strong independent architecture of literary accomplishments, which would survive as the perfect apotheosis of the collective Kashmiri memory of anguish and affliction, of distress and deceit, of death and disappearance, of pain and protest, of beauty and the beast
07 September , 2015
One Of History's Greatest Mass Migrations Of Peoples
By Gaither Stewart
Let’s be clear: the direct, primary, basic, fundamental cause of the migration of peoples of Africa and Middle East is imperialist USA- sponsored, instigated, backed, prompted when not directly conducted wars in Iraq, Syria AND Libya and throughout most of Africa
The Refugee Crisis: It Has Been A Long Time Coming
By Kieran Kelly
The world has suddenly realised that there is a “refugee crisis”. There are more refugees now than at any time since World War II. The number has grown three-fold since the end of 2001. The problem is treated as if it arose just recently, but it has been a long time coming. The pressure has been building and building until it has burst the dams of wilful ignorance
Palestine: The End or A New Beginning?
By Alan Hart
There is a strong case for saying that Palestine is a lost cause. And it, the case, is summarised here
Bernie Sanders And The Other America …
By Ed Martin
According to Harrington’s insights, this clearly explains why major media outlets such as MSNBC, FOX News, CNN, ABC, NBC, and CBS refuse any significant exposure to Bernie Sanders and the critical underlying issues that he represents - specifically that class conflict is an inherent dimension of market capitalism – is completely disregarded; that real human beings are expendable in market economies. What do the major media outlets care as long as their profit margins and their massive financial investments are performing for their shareholders?
Edward Snowdon Should Leave Russia For Germany
By Ludwig Watzal
Edward Snowdon should take the chance to come to Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel can't dare to extradite him to a country where he faces the death penalty. Only in this case, the United States is no better than Saudi Arabia and Iran
Sanctioned Terrorism
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
Who is a terrorist? Undoubtedly, what comes to mind is Daesh (ISIL), al-Qaeda, MKO, Boko Haram, etc. What is terrorism? The events of 9/11 and the gruesome beheadings carried out by Daesh shape our visual perception of terrorism. What is left unmentioned and unrecognized in our collective psyche is the kind of terrorism that has been deliberately obfuscated: sanctioned terrorism or terrorism with a license – sanctions
Everything You Know About 'Sex Work' Is Wrong
By Mickey Z.
Mickey Z.'s Conversation with Rachel Moran author of "Paid For: My Journey Through Prostitution"
The Misinterpretation: Microfinance, NGOs And Neoliberalism
In Bangladesh - Part 4: Two Trends
By Farooque Chowdhury
There are steps that strengthen neoliberal approach in Bangladesh. Capital virtually moves unbridled. With unimaginable speed and skill, public enterprises were thrown into virtual loot-market. Years-old “story” says: A setting was constructed to make appear public enterprises unworthy. A part of trade union leadership was usurped by lumpens, a part of media joined them, and they facilitated creating a setting to shut down and sell out public enterprises at prices equivalent to a few pennies. Health and education, two soft areas in public mind, were made areas for private capital’s free ride. Energy sector has also been made a profitable area for private capital
Manipur Chaos: Lost In Translation
By Linda Chhakchhuak
Some folklore say that Manipur is land of the three brothers. They are the Meitei, Naga and the Kuki communities. But as most brotherhood stories go they inevitably ended up disagreeing and quarrelling over the inheritance left by their fathers. This myth seems to sum up the history of this troubled northeastern state of India which is once again engulfed in blood, soot and tears
Odisha Police Bill, 2015 Is Undemocratic
By Concerned Ctizens
A petition to the Governor of Odisha in the matter of Odisha Police Bill, 2015 passed by the Odisha Legislative Assembly – Contravention of the Supreme Court’s Directives and adverse to democratic aspirations of the Citizens
06 September , 2015
Food Fight 2015: Taking Down The Degenerators
By Ronnie Cummins
To reverse global warming and restabilize the climate, we will need not only to slash CO2 emissions by 90 percent or more, taking down King Coal and Big Oil and converting to renewable sources of energy, but we must also simultaneously remove or draw down 100-150 ppm of the excess (400 ppm) CO2 and greenhouse gases that are already overheating our supersaturated atmosphere. How do we accomplish the latter? Through regenerative agriculture and land use
Google: Your Latest Ad Also Moves Us South Asians To Tears
By Simran Kaur
In true Google spirit, that first protest against Modi’s visit should come from none than Google’s CEO. He now has an opportunity to truly represent what it means to be an Indian at Google, what it means to practice Google’s “Leadership that Empowers.” If he still isn’t sure about what message Google’s advertisement of Modi will send to those victim-survivors who have been silenced and tarnished in Modi’s India, he knows what to do. Google It
05 September , 2015
As Yemen Assault Continues, US Announces
Billion-Dollar Arms Deal With Saudi Arabia
By Niles Williamson
The Pentagon is in the process of finalizing a $1 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia for the delivery of a cache of weapons, consisting primarily of missiles to arm the fleet of F-15 fighter jets it had previously purchased from the US. While this latest weapons transfer, first reported by the New York Times, is being presented in the media as part of a bid by the administration of President Barack Obama to assuage the Saudi monarchy’s concerns over the US-Iran nuclear deal, it also facilitates the continuation and escalation of the bloody assault on Yemen that Saudi Arabia has been carrying out along with its allies since March
Japan: Protesting For Peace
By Chandra Muzaffar
On Sunday, 30 August 2015, more than 100,000 Japanese protested in the vicinity of the Japanese parliament against new security bills tabled in the upper legislative chamber by the Shinto Abe government. About 300 similar rallies were held in different cities all over the country. One television station estimated that perhaps a million people had participated in the mass protests. There is overwhelming opposition to the bills which allow the Japanese armed forces to engage in overseas combat if that was required to protect Japanese interests
Media's Refugee Activism And Topless Girls
By B. F. Firos
For a change those rightwing leaders in Europe may read history books. Europe has benefitted from migration immensely: when the continent was ravaged by war seven decades ago, rest of the world embraced the refugees with open arms. After the Second World War, Australia, New Zealand and rest of Americas accepted huge refugee population that emanated from Europe
The Misinterpretation: Microfinance, NGOs And Neoliberalism In Bangladesh -
Part 3: NGOs
By Farooque Chowdhury
There are instances of a group of NGOs began organizing a part of the poor in Bangladesh; but that initiative was targeted to fill in the space a part of the left camp discarded. Its aim was to take away initiatives from the anti-imperialist, progressive forces
The Authoritarian Militarization Of The Ethnic Croats:
An Alternative View Of The Destruction Of Yugoslavia
By Vladislav B. Sotirovic
The internal and much more external destruction of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s is being observed in 2015 its 20th year of anniversary. However, this historical and much more geopolitical event still needs a satisfactory research approach in regard to the true geopolitical reasons and political-military course of the destruction of this South Slavic and Balkan state
Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Eighth Book: Writing On The Wall
By Carolina Saldaña
A review of Writing on the Wall: Selected Prison Writings of Mumia Abu-Jamal
The condition of Government Tribal Hostels in Maharashtra are very pathetic, in December 2014 around 200 students from Palghar district government tribal hostel had gone on a hunger strike demanding basic facilities like toilets and library in their hostel and against the sexual harassment by some locals. Their hunger strike had lasted few days and number of girls students had collapsed and were hospitalized. Though they were given assurances by the police no one was booked. Once again tribal students have started an indefinite hunger strike in front of the Government Tribal Hostel at Panvel, Mumbai
04 September , 2015
Time To End The Refugee Shame
By Gauri van Gulik
A solemn moment of silence. The world over, this is the traditional response when lives are cut short by tragedy. It has also been a common response to tragedies in Europe and off its shores which have ended the lives of thousands of refugees and migrants. Not killed by bombs in Syria, but killed while making terrifying journeys in search of safety and better lives in Europe. But the scale and rapid succession of these tragedies calls for breaking the silence
Europe's Refugee Crisis and the Warped Morality of David Cameron
By Colin Todhunter
UK Prime Minister David Cameron this week said "as a father I felt deeply moved" by the image of a Syrian boy dead on a Turkish beach. As pressure mounts on the UK to take in more of those fleeing to Europe from Syria and elsewhere. Cameron added that the UK would fulfil its "moral responsibilities." On hearing Cameron’s words on the role of ‘morality’, something he talks a lot about, anyone who has been following the crisis in Syria would not have failed to detect the hypocrisy
When Brinda Karat Became Emotional In Kandhamal
By Binu Mathew
Why such a strong woman like Brinda Karat became so emotional in Kandhamal? It is a story that needs to be told and it will tell the the state of Criminal Justice System in Kandhamal
Teaching Torture In The Homeland
By Elizabeth Hayes
We need to find a way to teach our children, and each other, because the corporatocracy has taken over the state schools from kindergarten on, and all too few are strong enough to pass through without being deformed into their oh-so-useful cogs
U.S. Has Now Retrospectively Joined Fascist Side in WW II
By Eric Zuesse
At a commemorative celebration in Beijing on Thursday September 3rd, marking the 70th Anniversary of China's freedom from the aggressor Japan ending World War II in China, the United States conspicuously avoided siding with its former WW II ally China, which had been one of the pro-democracy Allies during that war, and instead retrospectively switched sides, to the former fascist Axis powers, Japan itself, and also Germany
Our Supposed Democracy
By Steve Dustcircle
In this country, we really don't have open choice. All choices are closed, the choices those in charge have given us. It's like parents who would ask would the kids in the back seat rather be grounded or abused. Of course, the kids would prefer neither, but if the choice had to be made, they'd choose the lesser of the two evils
NYT Not “Descending” Into Propaganda
By Robert Barsocchini
The New York Times says in an article today that, although the US won’t join the majority of the world by signing the treaty banning cluster bombs, it has “abided by its provisions”. Glenn Greenwald published an article in response documenting that, in fact, the US “continually violates all” of the provisions of the cluster bomb treaty, “systematically and as a matter of policy doing exactly that which the treaty expressly bans.”
The Sheena Bora Murder In The Context of A Culture of Free Market Greed
By Vidyadhar Date
The sensational murder case concerning Indrani and Peter Mukerjea, corporate figures, needs to be seen in the wider context of a society created by neoliberalism. A culture of free market greed and neoliberalism has created a world in which psychopathic personality traits are rewarded, says Paul Verhaeghe, a widely respected psychologist and professor of psychology at the university of Ghent
03 September , 2015
Aylan Kurdi: The Toddler Who Has Become
A Symbol Of The Refugee Crisis In Europe
By Countercurrents.org
Aylan Kurdi has become the symbol of the refugee crisis in Europe. He was washed up dead on the shores of Bodrum in southwest Turkey. The three year old toddler drowned in the Mediterranean Sea along with his five-year-old brother Galip and mother Rihan. The father, Abdullah, survived. The pictures of Aylan lying dead on the beach went viral on social media and now he has become a symbol of refugee crisis in Europe
Thousands Of Refugees Held At Budapest Train Station
By Markus Salzmann
More than 3,000 refugees—the majority of them families with children—have been held at the Budapest East Train Station in miserable conditions since the Hungarian government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban blocked the access of refugees to the station. Hundreds of refugees participated in a demonstration Wednesday demanding the right to continue their journey to Germany. They shouted slogans such as “freedom, freedom!” Jeering could be heard outside the station as angry refugees shouted at the hundreds of heavily armed police blocking the main entrance
European Police ‘Scarier Than ISIS Terrorists’
By Finian Cunningham
Go back to their countries? Yes, that’s right. You know the war zones that haughty European states like Britain and France have ignited and inflamed in Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere in Africa. Which makes you wonder: who are the real fascists? The anti-immigrant mobs on the streets, or the coiffured politicians in fancy suits and plush government offices?
In Syria, Putin Calls Obama's Bluff, Joins War Against ISIS
By Eric Zuesse
According to German Economic News (September 1st, based on reports from ynetnews and others), Russia's President Vladimir Putin has apparently decided to establish in Syria a military base with thousands of soldiers and sufficient air power to do in Syria what the Obama Administration won't, which is to defeat ISIS and the other jihadists
US Empty Rhetoric In GLACIER Conference
By Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava
Not only the USA but all the countries having stake in the Arctic region must ponder with true spirit to understand the adverse consequences of the exploration and exploitation of the region. All nation states are in the same boat in which USA has boarded; future awaits for human civilization where such boats will capsize in the ocean of disasters, not in remote future but in the years to come
The Rise Of The Inhumanes
By Paul Craig Roberts
America’s descent into totalitarian violence is accelerating. Like the Bush regime, the Obama regime has a penchant for rewarding Justice (sic) Department officials who trample all over the US Constitution. Last year America’s First Black President nominated David Barron to be a judge on the First US Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. Barron is responsible for the Justice (sic) Department memo that gave the legal OK for Obama to murder a US citizen with a missile fired from a drone
The USA Needs Disruptive President Trump
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
We must imagine something akin to electric shock therapy applied forcibly to the political system. Many urgently needed reforms will never be pushed by any conventional Republican or Democrat. In our delusional democracy ordinary elections can no longer produce the cleansing that our filthy, corrupt system needs
Root Causes Of The Cleavages In The Ecological Left
By Saral Sarkar
There indeed are some cleavages in, generally speaking, the ecological left movement. That does not necessarily mean that any group is sectarian. The differences are genuine and they might be overcome through further thinking, reading, discussion, and joint activities. I have identified four root causes of the cleavages
The Problem Of Labor And Democracy
By Jon Kofas
The value system of the bourgeois society is reflected in our daily institutional dealings. This issue was perfectly captured when Pope Francis wondered why it is that media goes into a hysteria mode when the stock market drop by a couple of percentage points, but never mention that a homeless woman dies on a park bench in the middle of winter in New York city? What does it say about society when its entire focus is on markets that benefit the small percentage of the rich, while the many problems of the many are ignored?
Palestine’s Crisis Of Leadership: Did Abbas Destroy Palestinian Democracy?
By Ramzy Baroud
The crisis of leadership throughout Palestinian history did not start with Mahmoud Abbas and will, regrettably, be unlikely to end with his departure. Although Abbas has, perhaps, done more damage to the credibility of the Palestinian leadership than any other leader in the past, he is also a by-product of a process of political fraud that started much earlier than his expired Presidency
Financialization & Microcredit: The Misinterpretation- Microfinance,
NGOs And Neoliberalism In Bangladesh Part II
By Farooque Chowdhury
Does the capital involved with financialization enter into the business of small-scale, household-level production and petty trading, cow-goat-duck rearing, rickshaw pulling? Data related to these are available, and that provides the answer to the questions raised here
The Dark Side Of Aadhaar Card
By Aayush Anand
The seemingly innocuous intent of the governing body of India to envisage a centralised database of Indian residents has repercussions which have continually been highlighted and denounced since the very inception of the project, by individuals and media likewise.But, it is hard to advance claims of privacy, autonomy and liberty in the context of large e-governance identity projects like Aadhaar: they earn one the labels of elitist, anti-progress and privacy fascist
Withdraw False Charges Against Debaranjan
By Concerned Citizens
Arundhati Roy and other concerned citizens condemn the foisting of a false case on Debaranjan, member of the Ganatantrik Adhikar Surakhya Sangathan (GASS) in Odisha
India-Pakistan Proxy Wars
By Abdul Majid Zargar
India & Pakistan are once again engaged in war of words & bullets at Borders. After the aborted meeting between National security adviser of India & Pakistan’s adviser to PM on foreign affairs pursuant to Modi - Nawaz Joint statement in Russian city of Uffa , both the Countries appear as distant as ever. Even after 68 years of their independence, neither nation has learnt to live in peace, leave alone harmony.Innocent civilians are increasingly becoming fodder to their guns
Northern Provincial Council of Sri Lanka Passes A Resolution Demanding
International Investigation Into War Crimes Against Tamils
By Countercurrents.org
Questioning the credibility of Sri Lankan state agencies to investigate war crimes against Tamils C.V. Wigneswaran, the Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council (NPC) on 1st September passed a resolution rejecting the domestic inquiry process being proposed by the USA and other powers. In the new resolution, the NPC has once again demanded a credible international investigation mechanism. Mr Wigneswaran, the NPC chief minister, who was a former Supreme Court Judge of Sri Lanka, cited previous examples of domestic failures including the earlier commissions that had international participation. Explaining the nature of crimes and legal circumstances prevailing in the island, the suggestion of domestic mechanism would be a ‘travesty of justice’ the CM proclaimed in the resolution
Public Institutions And Instances of Sexual Harassment
By Parvin Sultana
Few days ago a news item in a popular local news channel caught my attention. A distinguished professor of a college who works also as the Co-ordinator of the IGNOU study centre made an indecent proposal to a student in exchange of high grades in assignments. The entire telephonic conversation between the Professor and the student was being played on the news channel. While the Professor misusing his office should be shamed but merely shaming him will not minimize the repeat of such offence
Muslim Institutions Of Higher Education: A Growth Story
By Abdul Rashid Agwan
With the declaration of Aligarh Muslim University as the 4th best universities of India by the India Today-Nielsen Survey 2015, the Muslim institutions of higher education in the country are about to touch the acme of their long drawn struggle of almost two hundred years in serving the community and the nation through modern education. Exultant on the AMU’s achievement, its vice chancellor Lt. Gen. Zameer-Uddin Shah has vowed that the AMU will further go up in excellence and become the best one among all Indian universities by 2017
Do The Schools In India Reproduce Social Inequalities?
By Dr.Swaleha Sindhi
There exist differential educational attainments in many regions in India and the traditional caste based social disparities are transformed into class inequalities. One portion of population in India has attained universal literacy long ago while a major portion of population still striving to achieve it, this leads to harmful economic disparities, resulting in perpetuating the cycle of inequality across generations
02 September , 2015
Saudi Arabia And UAE Prepare For Major US-Backed Ground Offensive In Yemen
By Niles Williamson
The Saudi-led, US-backed assault on Yemen, now entering its sixth month, continues to take a devastating toll on the country’s civilian population. At least 36 workers were reported killed Sunday after a Saudi-led coalition jet fighter bombed a water -bottling factory in the Abs District of Hajjah Governorate
Golwalkar: How The Breed Of Kerala Hindus Was
Improved By Namboodiri Brahmins
By Shamsul Islam
M. S. Golwalkar cited in Organizer, January 2, 1961, p. 5. : "Today experiments in cross-breeding are made only on animals. But the courage to make such experiments on human beings is not shown even by the so-called modern scientist of today. If some human cross-breeding is seen today it is the result not of scientific experiments but of carnal lust. Now let us see the experiments our ancestors made in this sphere. In an effort to better the human species through cross-breeding the Namboodri Brahamanas of the North were settled in Kerala and a rule was laid down that the eldest son of a Namboodri family could marry only the daughter of Vaishya, Kashtriya or Shudra communities of Kerala. Another still more courageous rule was that the first off-spring of a married woman of any class must be fathered by a Namboodri Brahman and then she could beget children by her husband. Today this experiment will be called adultery but it was not so, as it was limited to the first child."
Political “Dementia” In Kashmir
By Mohammad Ashraf
Most of the politicians especially from the so called mainstream in Kashmir seem to be suffering from a severe memory loss medically known as “Dementia”!
State of Emergency: Murder Epidemic Hidden in Plain Sight
By Mickey Z.
What if I were to to tell you about a genuine state of emergency, a lethal epidemic of which the exact numbers will never be fully known? I’m pretty sure you’d have a few guesses as to what I mean… but I’m also pretty sure those guesses would be inaccurate. What I’m talking about here is Male Pattern Violence. Sex-based violence. The global terror war being waged by males against females for centuries. What I’m talking about is femicide
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