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A Publication
on The Status of
Adivasi Populations
of India

"Shah Commission Report -
Lost And Regained":
The Dark History Of
'The Emergency'
Republished

The Metastasizing US
Military Drone Program
By Judith Bello

It was never in doubt that the US has expanded its military drone program continuously, at least since 2001, and continues to do so. Not only have the numbers of active, armed Predators and Reapers increased, but continuing research and development have yielded larger, faster drones capable of carrying more armaments, better video feeds, and more security. Smaller drones that can go unnoticed with the capacity to obtain visual or audio information, or deliver a small weapon, say a poison dart are also under intensive development

The Latest Science on Global Warming
By Eric Zuesse

Because of the prejudiced coverage of the global warming issue that's common in much of the press, I have decided to present highlights from one of the most comprehensive articles that's now being considered by one of the world's top scientific journals on the topic: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. This is the latest scientific knowledge on the subject. The paper is titled: “Ice melt, sea level rise and superstorms: evidence from paleoclimate data, climate modeling, and modern observations that 2 ◦C global warming is highly dangerous,” by J. Hansen et al

Is Russia A Threat To America's National Security?
By G. Asgar Mitha

The past five years have seen a chorus of American neo-cons levelling charges that Russia poses a national security threat. But exactly how and why remains an enigma. Is the threat military, geo-political, economic (including energy) or social or a combination? It is certainly strange that Russia should be a threat when it has been America that has an undisputed record of being national security threats to just about every country on this planet

19 August, 2015

The Sanjiv Bhatt Saga: Honesty & Integrity Sacked In Modi's India
By Countercurrents.org

In another vindictive action on those who implicated then Chief Minister of Gujarat and present Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi in the Gujarat Pogrom of 2002, suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt was sacked on Wednesday on the ground of "unauthorised absence" from service. Sanjiv Bhat said in a Facebook post that the sacking is after a "sham inquiry" on "completely fabricated charges"

“The Iranian Threat” : Who Is The Gravest Danger To World Peace?
By Noam Chomsky

According to the leading western polling agencies (WIN/Gallup International), the prize for “greatest threat” is won by the United States. The rest of the world regards it as the gravest threat to world peace by a large margin. In second place, far below, is Pakistan, its ranking probably inflated by the Indian vote. Iran is ranked below those two, along with China, Israel, North Korea, and Afghanistan.

The Cooperative Movement
By John Scales Avery

For most of human history, our ancestors lived in small, cooperative village communities. Our inherited emotional nature is especially adapted to such a life, where helpfulness and social reciprocity are natural, and where close life-long friendships are the norm. Humans of today may well feel lost in a cold commercial society, where everything is given a monetary value, and where all human actions are assumed to be based on greed and competativeness. In the future, small cooperative communities, like the Ghandian villages or Transition Towns, may be able to give us not only a more sustainable way of life, but also increased happiness, based warm life-long friendships and the pleasure of doing good to others

The Myth of Modernity: Contemporary Prophets, Ecosystem Degradation,
And The Looming Global Depression
By William Hawes

The “modern” world of capitalism is slowly receding: it has always been based on a series of illusions designed to exploit and control segments of society. As that world recedes, unpredictable cultural disruptions and economic volatility are bound to occur. As the emerging culture of freedom, social justice, and ecology rises, and the phantoms of global tyranny and chaos swirl about us, we should keep in mind the metaphor of the humble seed: carrying all the potentiality for greatness within us, not lamenting the small size of the growing movement, but to be watching and waiting vigilantly, ready to sprout, grow, and flourish at any moment

Insouciance Rules The West
By Paul Craig Roberts

The European governments and their insouciant populations are themselves responsible for their immigrant problems. For 14 years Europe has supported Washington’s aggressive militarism that has murdered and dislocated millions of peoples who never lifted a finger against Washington. The destruction of entire countries such as Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan, and now Syria and Yemen, and the continuing US slaughter of Pakistani civilians with the full complicity of the corrupt and traitorous Pakistani government, produced a refugee problem that the moronic Europeans brought upon themselves

Western Mainstream Media Censor Green Left Pope Francis' “Laudato Si'”
Message For Urgent Action On Climate Change
By Dr Gideon Polya

Mainstream media lie as no better exampled by the extraordinary censorship of the powerful and radicalizing climate change action message of Green Left Pope Francis' Encyclical “Laudato si'” by US, UK and Australian Mainstream media, most notoriously by the UK BBC, the US CBS, the US Murdoch Media Empire's Fox News and The Australian, and the taxpayer-funded Australian ABC. Censorship, lying by omission and lying by commission will doom the planet

US College Costs In 2030 And Its Significance For Society
By Jon Kofas

The cost of higher education has been rising steadily in the past four decades, essentially doubling in real terms from 1970 to 2010, and it is expected to skyrocket by 2030. This will not be limited to the US, but it is expected to be a global phenomenon. Moreover, the high cost of college education will coincide with a massive surplus of college graduates and very difficult economic conditions

Living Life With A Purpose
By Roshan

Just as we cannot survive without food and water, we humans cannot survive without a sense of the meaning or ultimate purpose of life—of life in general, and of our own life in particular. Human beings are meaning-seeking creatures. Starved of a sense of ultimate purpose in life, we are doomed, sooner rather than later, to fall prey to alienation, cynicism, anarchy and even worse—to madness and suicide

Ranveer Sena, Cobrapost And The ‘Eerie’ Political Silence In Bihar
By Medha Deo

In these days of high profile political campaigning and mud slinging in Bihar, it is ironic how no political party, worth its salt, has raised any concern on the blatant and unapologetic confessions made by members of the Ranveer Sena (“Sena”) in the videos released by Cobrapost. Whilst popular opinion in urban elite circles and social media has already discredited the revelations as ‘politically motivated’, the eerie political silence that exists around the issue, clearly indicates the discomfort of all political leaders, some of whom have posed as messiahs of the dalits, in addressing issues of dalit assertion of rights

Of Caging Kashmiris, Forcing Nationalism And Imposing Patriotism
By Imran Khan

For India Caging of Kashmiries, forcing nationalism and imposing love and patriotism time and again will lead to nothing. For peace, prosperity and development accepting of ground realities and a peaceful resolution of Kashmir conflict is a necessity. Both India and Pakistan need to move beyond Kashmir and focus on other important problems which both the countries are facing. And above all they should not leave their humanity

The Politics of Shivaji , Caste And History Writing
By Vidyadhar Date

This day, August 20, marks the second anniversary of the gunning down of a leading campaigner for rational thinking Dr Narendra Dabholkar in the heart of Pune city. The previous day the Maharashtra government conferred the Maharashtra bhooshan award on Babasaheb Purandare who has built myths around Shivaji . No two persons could be more unlike each other

19 August, 2015

Police Raid FTII Campus At Midnight, Arrest Five Students
By Countercurrents.org

A Police raid was conducted at midnight at Film And Television Institute of India ( FTII) against striking students and five students were arrested on false charges. The complaint was filed by the director of the institute , Prashant Pathrabe, after students gheraoed him on Monday protesting “irrational and unjustified” assessment of the incomplete diploma projects. Acting on a complaint filed by Mr. Pathrabe, police lodged an FIR against 15 students. The arrested students face charges of rioting under Section 353 of the IPC. Section 353 is non-bailable which means that students will be lodged in jail

Branding Adivasis And Activists As Maoists The Government
Has Declared A War On Its Own People
By Arundhati Roy

Here is the text of a note by writer-activist, Arundhati Roy, which she read out during a press conference at Press Club of India, Delhi, to express solidarity with Soni Sori & Linga Kodopi and the People of Bastar

Replanting
By Kathy Kelly

Speaking on behalf of indigenous people in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, earlier this summer, Pope Francis apologized for the role the Catholic Church played in oppressing Latin America’s indigenous people. He called for a worldwide grass roots movement that would shatter global corporate abuses of “the new colonialism.” Political elites in the U.S. should follow his lead and apologize for the genocidal destruction U.S. people waged against indigenous peoples. They should look toward indigenous people for guidance about ways to make reparations

Minsk Agreement Has Failed: Will The Failure Lead To Putin’s Failure?
By Paul Craig Roberts

It appears that the Russian government has made a mistake with regard to its approach to the breakaway Republics consisting of Russian peoples in former Russian territories who reject being governed by the anti-Russian coup government installed in Kiev by Washington. The Russian government could have ended the crisis by accepting the requests of these territories to be reunited with Russia. Instead, the Russian government opted for a diplomatic approach—hands off Donetsk and Luhansk—and this diplomacy has now failed. The coup government in Kiev never had any intention of keeping the Minsk agreement, and Washington had no intention of permitting the Minsk agreement to be kept. Apparently, even the realistic Putin succumbed to wishful thinking

Is The New U.S. 'Law of War Manual' Actually ‘Hitlerian'?
By Eric Zuesse

The Obama U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has quietly issued its important Law of War Manual, and, unlike its predecessor, the 1956 U.S. Army Field Manual, which was not designed to approve of the worst practices by both the United States and its enemies in World War II, or after 9/11, this new document has been alleged specifically to do just that: to allow such attacks as the United States did on Dresden, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, and in Iraq, and elsewhere

Jimmy Carter's Blood-Soaked Legacy
By Matt Peppe

A few days ago former President Jimmy Carter announced that he has cancer and it is spreading. While it would be premature to assume this spells the end for the 90-year-old, it does present an opportunity to take stock of the tenure of a President who, like the current occupant of the White House, entered office with a promise to respect human rights, but failed miserably when given the opportunity to do so

Jimmy Carter: Just Like All The Rest
By Mickey Z.

If you think Jimmy Carter was once the answer or you believe Bernie Sanders is now the answer, you’re asking the wrong questions

Altered Genes, Twisted Truth: Monsanto's Silence Is Deafening
By Colin Todhunter

In his book ‘Altered Genes,Twisted Truths’, US public interest attorney Steven Druker exposed the fraudulent practices and deceptions that led to the commercialisation of GM food and crops in the US. Not long after the book’s release, he wrote an open letter to the Royal Society in Britain calling on it to acknowledge and correct the misleading and exaggerated statements that it has used to actively promote GMOs and in effect convey false impressions and the other to Monsanto. He followed this up by delivering a challenge to Monsanto’s headquarters on May 20, 2015 calling on the company to address the evidence presented in the book

War Begets War Refugees: The Moral Bankruptcy of Italy And NATO
By Ramzy Baroud

On April 26, 2011, a meeting that can only be described as sinister took place between the then Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and French President, Nicolas Sarkozy. The most pressing issue discussed at the meeting in Rome was how to deal with African immigrants

US Coerces Iran To Capitulate Its Nuclear Program
By Akbar E. Torbat

By conceding to the nuclear agreement in Vienna, the Islamic regime in Tehran has granted a very shameful capitulation to foreign powers. The clerics have sacrificed Iran’s national security and sovereignty in return for survival of their regime. By imposing the JCPOA, the US has forced the clerical regime to accept the most shameful capitulation in Iran’s contemporary history. Rouhani and his foreign minister Zarif must be ashamed of imposing such a capitulation on the Iranian people

Race, Crime And The Media
By Jon Kofas

There is a multi-billion dollar industry in America profiting from the fear the public has about crime, so these corporations have no problem with the status quo. Everything from home detection and spy cameras to insurance plans and private security officers account for a very profitable industry that could be cut down to size if the country did not have a social, economic and political system based on social injustice

Over Forty Percent of U.S. Children Are Living in Poverty
By Thomas Riggins

A January 2015 report from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health reveals that forty four percent of children (those under 18) are living in de facto poverty

Review Of The Novel “Butterfly Prison” By Tamara Pearsen
By Andre Vltchek

Now a Latin American writer, or more precisely “an internationalist” writer, a socialist realist, a revolutionary, Tamara Pearsen, returned home, on the wings of imagination, through her powerful novel “Butterfly Prison”, uniting several realities into one. She demands change and she does it determinedly but affectionately. And the result is stunning

What Did Colonialism Do To India?
By Ram Puniyani

The major point which is unseen in these perceptions is one which had dangerous consequence on the social-political scenario and that was- British planted the seeds of divisive politics. As such broadly speaking the colonial-imperialist rule sows the seeds of ‘divide and rule’ and in this subcontinent they did it with gay abandon

Origins Of The Dalits Revisited
By Oliver D’Souza

There is an eternal debate as to what led to the formation of the Sudra Varna and the Avarnas (outcastes), with various theories being put forth, suggesting that it was the end result of invasion by foreign aggressors. It was common practice then and is so even now (ISIS) for aggressors and invaders to subjugate all conquered populations and make them adhere to the invaders social, economic and often religious system. Scholars generally concur that prior to the Aryan invasion, Indian society was a horizontal one, rather than the vertical one of caste

Will Islam ‘Liberate’ Dalits of Bhagana ?
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

How will Dalits of Bhagana get justice by converting to Islam, when Muslims in Muzaffarnagar and Gujarat are waiting for the same, is a million dollar question. However one fact is simple, that Bhagana’s Dalits who embraced Islam may not know many things but the only thing they know is that perhaps through Islam they can fight back both at the personal level as well as at the constitutional level

Jamia Millia's Role In The Freedom Struggle
By Abdul Rashid Agwan

Jamia Millia Islamia is one of the few educational institutions which came into being in response to the nationalist call of freedom struggle to boycott educational institutions supported or run by the British colonial rule. It became a dream project of such stalwart national leaders as Mehmud-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Mahatma Gandhi, Hakim Ajmal Khan and the like; and its mentors, teachers and students played a vital role during the Indian struggle for independence

30 Years of Narmada Struggle: Jeevan Adhikar Satyagraha,
Badwani, Madhya Pradesh
By National Alliance of People’s Movements

The Narmada Bachao Andolan has begun an indefinite Jeevan Adhikar Satyagraha amidst thousands of oustees at Rajghat, Badwani against the illegal displacement and destruction by the Sardar Sarovar Dam. They have resolved not to move even in the event of rains and a rise in the reservoir level, until the key questions raised by the Andolan on the displacement and rehabilitation of 2.5 lakh people are answered

E-Curfew In Kashmir
By Mohammad Ashraf

On every Indian Independence Day and Republic Day, Kashmiris have to face E-Curfew apart from the normal Curfew restricting physical movements!

Removal Of Article 35A-Part Of An Agenda
By Abdul Majid Zargar

A writ petition challenging Article 35A of Indian constitution has been filed before Supreme Court of India by a RSS backed think tank. It may be recalled that this article was inserted in the Indian constitution through a presidential order promulgated under clause (1) of article 370 effective from 14th day of May 1954 to afford a protective shield to various rights bestowed by our own constitution on permanent residents of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) state in matters of acquisition of immovable property, employment in State services, voting rights etc. etc. Once this shield is removed, these rights will become susceptible to many legal & political assaults which will ultimately pave way for entry of non State subjects into the state putting in motion a second demographic change, the first having been engineered by Sangh Parivar in Jammu region in 1947

Water Grab By Sonoma County, California’s Wine Empire
By Shepherd Bliss

An overflow crowd spilled into the lobby at California State Senator Mike McGuire’s August 13 promised Town Hall. Many were alarmed by an article at the top of the front-page of the prior day’s pro-wine industry local daily newspaper. "Wine Industry’s ‘Water Grab’" headlined the Press Democrat (PD) story. It described legislation being drafted that would secure unfair water rights and control of water for the wine industry in the Russian River watershed

18 August, 2015

Japan Contracts As World Economy Lurches Toward Depression
By Barry Grey

The Japanese government announced Monday that the country’s economic output declined by 0.4 percent in the second quarter, or 1.6 percent on an annualized basis. Private consumption, business investment and net exports all fell, primarily as a result of the rapid deceleration of the Chinese economy and continued stagnation in Europe and the United States

The Coming Global Food Crisis
By John Scales Avery

There is a danger that just as global population reaches the unprecedented level of 9 billion or more, the agricultural base for supporting it may suddenly collapse. Ecological catastrophe, possibly compounded by war and other disorders, could produce famine and death on a scale unprecedented in history, a disaster of unimaginable proportions, involving billions rather than millions of people

Beyond The Present Societal World View
By Lionel Anet

Without looking beyond our present perceptions of civilised life we are impotent, we know we are in for terrible times ahead, but we can’t do much about it, especially in the time required, so, we carry on. People of goodwill have tried for centuries to have more equitable world relations, to no avail. One can’t improve social relationships for its sake, but for human survival, only the best social relationships achieve that. Otherwise, wealthy or poor, we will perish; we need each other to survive this century

How The Government Fast-Tracked Shell’s Arctic Drilling
By Kamil Ahsan

The protests in the Pacific Northwest, along with protests by the Iñupiat community of the Alaskan Arctic, underscore just how much the Obama administration’s approval of Shell’s Arctic drilling plans has incensed environmental and indigenous groups

Japan PM Abe's WW2 Anniversary Speech: No Apology &
No Details Of Japan, UK, Australia & US War Crimes
By Dr Gideon Polya

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe gave a speech on the occasion of the 70th Anniversary of the end of WW2 in the Pacific, a conflict in which 60 million people died. However PM Abe's speech offered no apology for Japanese atrocities and, while carefully quantitating Japanese military losses, gave no quantitative details of horrendous Japanese, British, American and Australian war crimes in WW2

Europe's Forgotten History: From Human Zoos
To Human Trophies Displayed In Museums Today
By Garikai Chengu

Global outrage was sparked when the Zimbabwean lion, Cecil was killed as a trophy; but to this day, Britain and America continue to display in museums human remains that are human trophies of their massacres and subjugation of indigenous populations

Postcard From The End of America: Woodbury, NJ
By Linh Dinh

Nearly all the whites have fled Camden. Today, blacks and Hispanics make up 95% of its population. Camden is surrounded by towns that are mostly white, however, and the contrast between decaying Camden and charming Collingswood, for example, borders on the bizarre. Cross a single wide street and you enter an entirely different world

We The People Of India….
By Shalu Nigam

This Independence Day, the need is to review and address the prevailing situation from the viewpoint of countless citizens like Sona, Ganesh, Komal, Annama, Mahesh, Aisha, Sahila, all leading anonymous lives yet struggling hard and live across the length and breadth of India. It is essential to rewrite and redefine the freedom and democracy from the perspectives of those who have been excluded and oppressed for ages. What is required is to keep aside faux patriotism and imagine the future where common people are free and empowered to build a sustainable, just society, reclaim their rightful entitlements, question the power structures, voice their opinions and speak up for collective concerns. It is this freedom that we need to protect and celebrate; the freedom where everyone is included, the freedom to live with dignity, for all

Acharya Pralhad Keshav Atre: Making Of A Dreaming Humorist
By Anil Gokhale

Why do we laugh? The answer, argued Freud in this groundbreaking study of humor, is that jokes, like dreams, satisfy our unconscious desires. The Joke and Its Relation to the Unconscious explains how jokes provide immense pleasure by releasing us from our inhibitions and allowing us to express sexual, aggressive, playful, or cynical instincts that would otherwise remain hidden. In elaborating this theory, Freud brings together a rich collection of puns, witticisms, one-liners, and anecdotes, which, as Freud shows, are a method of giving ourselves away

Citizen's Trust: Independence Day 2015, Before And After
By S.G.Vombatkere

A report titled “Democracy in India: A Citizens’ Perspective”, mentioned that: ”As in 2005, political parties were the least trusted political institutions, and the police the least trusted unelected institution. Trust in Parliament, while low, rose between 2005 and 2013, while the Army continued to be the most trusted institution. The civil service was perceived as the most corrupt, more so than local, State and Central governments“. Thus, citizens' opinion in relative terms, of the trustworthiness of the institutions of government, specifically, the political parties, the police, the army (meaning, of course, the Armed Forces) and the civil service (bureaucracy), is unequivocal

Out of Their Shadow And Into Our Consciousness
By Priti Gulati Cox

I show up sometimes as the spirit of unity and solidarity in Declaration of Empathy petitions, but I am still the more than 300,000 defeated hearts of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, which failed to recognize me as a victim of descent-based discrimination. Maybe my place is at the back of those 'I Am' signs, scribbled in invisible ink: Nobody is Me, There Are Many Like Me

17 August, 2015

The Threats And Costs Of War
By John Scales Avery

The costs of war, both direct and indirect, are so enormous that they are almost beyond comprehension. Globally, the institution of war interferes seriously with the use of tax money for constructive and peaceful purposes. Today, despite the end of the Cold War, the world spends roughly 1.7 trillion (i.e. 1.7 million million) US dollars each year on armaments. This colossal flood of money could have been used instead for education, famine relief, development of infrastructure, or on urgently needed public health measures

Adverse Effects Of Globalization
By John Scales Avery

The present situation is that agriculture, trade and industry have become global, but the world still lacks adequate institutions at the global level to watch over what is happening and to ensure respect for human needs and respect for the natural environment. Today’s global economic interdependence, instantaneous worldwide communication, and the need for peaceful resolution of international conflicts all call for strong governmental institutions at the global level, but the United Nations today lacks many things that would be necessary if it is to perform such a role: It lacks a legislature with the power to make laws binding on individuals and corporations. It lacks mechanisms for enforcing such laws. And it lacks a large and dependable source of income

Amnesty International: Protecting The ‘Human Rights’ Of
Johns, Pimps And Human Traffickers
By Chris Hedges

The decision by Amnesty International’s decision-making forum, the International Council Meeting, to call for the decriminalization of prostitution is another in a long line of triumphs for heartless neoliberal economics and the grotesque commodification of human beings that defines predatory capitalism

The Refugees Are Coming!!!
By Andre Vltchek

Almost no one in the West is wondering aloud: “How did the people on other continents manage to endure those long centuries of colonialism and neo-colonialism, of shameless plunder, of slavery, of constant locust-like onslaught of corporate and neoliberal cannibalistic hordes? Wouldn’t a set of keys issued to each and every citizen of robbed, formerly or presently colonized country, be the tiniest, the most basic token of justice?” Is it morally acceptable that a thief, an arsonist, a rapist, a liar, a serial killer, all in one, would be allowed to live in a mansion, surrounded by slums housing his victims?

Entering The Mega-Drought Era In America
By William deBuys

On the U.S. Drought Monitor's current map, a large purple bruise spreads across the core of California, covering almost half the state. Purple indicates “exceptional drought,” the direst category, the one that tops both “severe” and “extreme.” If you combine all three, 95% of the state is covered. In other words, California is hurting

Cleaning Your Teeth With White Phosphorus?
By Dr Vacy Vlazna

One year ago, on 15 August - 40 days into Israel’s 51 day monstrous assault on Gaza that was clocking up 1800 innocent Palestinian deaths - Adrian Orr, the CEO of the New Zealand Superfund (NZSF) took a cheap shot, a morally cheap low shot, at concerned young protesters who chained themselves in the NZSF office demanding that the NZSF immediately divest from Israel Chemicals (ICL) - a supplier of lethal white phosphorus to the US army for the manufacture of munitions sold back to Israel to barrage fire and death on Gaza. In response to spokesperson Nadia Abu-Shanab’s passionate urging for divestment, Adrian Orr’s smug retort was, “Do you brush your teeth? ( Nadia: “Sorry?) “Do you brush your teeth? White phosphorus is used in many places”

Meet The ‘Moderates' The U.S. Is Supporting In Syria: They're al-Qaeda
By Eric Zuesse

Increasing evidence is coming in that the groups the U.S. is trying to install into power in Syria are actually contending groups of Sunni Islamic jihadists who seem to agree on only one thing: they want to replace the secular government of the Shiite Bashar al-Assad, who is supported by Russia and by Shiite Iran. They want to replace it with a Sunni Islamic government. Some of these groups have perpetrated terrorist attacks (some including beheadings) against Americans, and one such group is even al-Qaeda, the Sunni Islamic organization that, of course, perpetrated the 9/11, 2001, attacks and others

Materialism And Consumer Culture
By Jon Kofas

Some scholars believe that the US is the most materialistic society in history. The Papacy under the current and previous pope has criticized the US for its devotion to material possessions and its general orientation toward wealth accumulation and hedonistic lifestyle. Despite public opinion polls indicating a large percentage of Americans believing God, there is an apparent absence toward spiritual matters in a society where wealth is the measure of all things and where collectivism and collectivist endeavors are absent from the social fabric

Establishing Peace In Conflict Zones: Need For A
Paradigm Shift In The Total Transaction Of Education
By Dr.Swaleha Sindhi

Schools are potential nurseries for peace as school education involves the formative years in a person’s life, and help to build a strong foundation. Due to rising conflicts it is very important that there is a growing awareness today that propagating a culture of peace through education. Since education for peace is to be integrated into the curriculum, much depends on the availability of adequate instructional time to teachers to practice this integration. Education for peace calls for a vastly different approach to teaching as compared to what is in practice now

13 August, 2015

Big Oil In Retreat:Why An Oil Glut May Lead
To A New World of Energy
By Michael T. Klare

All of this is bad news for Big Energy, but unexpectedly good news for the planet. As a start, those “unconventional” projects like tar sands require more energy to extract oil than conventional fields, which means a greater release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Heavier oils like tar sands and Venezuelan extra-heavy crude also contain more carbon than do lighter fuels and so emit more carbon dioxide when consumed. If, in addition, global oil consumption slows or begins to contract, that, too, would obviously reduce carbon dioxide emissions, slowing the present daunting pace of climate change

Whistle-Blower Chelsea Manning Facing “Indefinite” Torture In Prison
By Robert Barsocchini

Chelsea Manning is now facing indefinite solitary confinement for the alleged harrowing misdeeds of “swep[ing] food on the floor in the dining area”, having some books, and having “outdated toothpaste”

Occupy, Black Lives Matter, Activism: On Demand
By Mickey Z.

It’s time to channel all our pain and alienation and fear into new forms of dissent. It’s time to smash the archaic activism archetype right down to its foundation and rebuild a more flexible structure under the guidance of new architects and artisans. It’s time

Shifting Priorities: The Rise And Fall Of Arab Revolutionary Discourse
By Ramzy Baroud

Strange how intellectual discussion concerning the so-called “Arab Spring” has almost entirely shifted in recent years - from one concerning freedom, justice, democracy and rights in general, into a political wrangle between various antagonist camps

Equip Ideologically To Challenge The Anti-National RSS
By Shamsul Islam 

Friends from India and abroad who are concerned about the increasing threats to the democratic-secular Indian polity from the Hindutva organizations have been writing to me for preparing a concise document on the anti-national game-plan of the RSS and other like-minded offshoots. The need of such a document is rightly felt for countering the Hindutva propaganda at all levels. The following document is an attempt to accomplish this objective. It is hoped that equipped with this document all those who love India as a democratic-secular nation would be able to challenge the fountain-head of the Hindutva politics. This document is based solely on the documents drawn from the RSS archives

Fearing The Dead
By Shah Alam Khan

It is baffling that a corpse as lean as that of Afzal Guru and as feeble and old as of Yakub Memon could actually push a government into prohibitory and preventive mode. This necrophobia of the Indian state, which boasts of one of the largest armed forces on the planet, is shameful to say the least. On a closer scrutiny, the present sarkar and its agenda of “hope” appears to flow through the corporate barrel. Be it the land bill, the new drug policy, or the venomous comments of its own members, the government in power appears to have yet another psychiatric disorder. It suffers from cherophobia, the fear of happiness (of its own people)!

Which Mahabharata Character Are You? A Micropolitical Analysis
By Gouthama Siddarthan

Facebook has been abuzz with a viral celebration for the past one week. That is the App that has been hogging the attention of all. It poses a question where you stand among the Mahabharatha characters and in the process, christens everyone after the name of this or that epic character. For their part, the Facebook aficionados take part in the App game with gusto, basking in the epic memories. This social media sport has been deeply penetrating and devouring all buffs cutting across caste, creed, credo, race and language. On the surface, it all looks like an innocuous sport. But tearing open the camouflage and going deep down inside, one can perceive a psychologically deep micropolitics operating subtly

Tribals In Jammu And Kashmir: A Need For Forest Rights Act
By Zubair Nazeer

There is definitely a need of Forest Rights Act in Jammu and Kashmir. It is one step in the development process of tribal communities in the State. However, tribal communities and their leaders have to realize that just a mere enactment of an act won’t suffice. In India, despite the Forest Rights Act, not much has changed. There is a need for a broad tribal policy to ensure development of tribals in Jammu and Kashmir. There is also a need for proper implementation of existing policies and programmes for tribal development

12 August, 2015

With Wind Prices At A Record Low, Is The Clean Energy Revolution Upon Us?
By Lauren McCauley

With the amount of wind-generated power in the United States reaching record highs and its cost dropping to new lows, two Department of Energy reports released Monday suggest that the renewable energy revolution might be upon us

The U.S. Is Now #2 Worldwide In Wind Power With 66 GW
By Michael Graham Richard

Lately, most of the attention in the clean energy sector has been directed at solar, and for good reason. We're literally in the middle of an energy revolution, and I believe that solar will take over the world over the coming decades. But wind power keep chugging along, with prices falling over time - though not as dramatically as solar - and installed capacity going up. Every new turbine that goes up will keep producing clean power for decades to come at very little cost (basic maintenance, no fuel costs unlike fossil fuel power plants). In a manner of speaking, we are planting the seeds of tomorrow's greener future

COP 21: The No Hope Climate Summit
By Alex Scrivener

Climate change is already hitting the world’s poorest people hardest and it needs to be stopped. The responsibility for the climate crisis lies squarely on the shoulders of the rich, whose consumption and greed has driven us to the brink of disaster. This makes it a problem of social and economic justice. Some groups consider the upcoming Paris climate summit to be the answer. The bad news is that the Paris Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) won’t work because it will not be dealing with the underlying problem – the unfair economic system that puts the interest of fossil fuel addicted corporations above those of the people

Risk, Climate Change, And Black Swans
By John Atcheson

The amount of energy we’re trapping with greenhouse gasses is equivalent to setting off 400,000 Hiroshima-sized nuclear bombs per day, each day, 365 days per year

How Economic Growth Fails
By Gail Tverberg

The economy operates within a finite world, so at some point, a problem of diminishing returns develops. In other words, it takes more and more effort (human labor and use of resources) to produce a given quantity of oil or food, or fresh water, or other desirable products. The problem of slowing economic growth is very closely related to the question: How can the limits we are reaching be expected to play out in a finite world? Many people imagine that we will “run out” of some necessary resource, such as oil, but I see the situation differently. Let me explain a few issues that may not be obvious

Palestine: One State For All or Final Zionist Ethnic Cleansing?
By Alan Hart

I think there is a much more likely scenario. To prevent the Palestinians becoming the majority in the territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and thus to kill even the most remote prospect of a one state solution, Israel’s leaders resort to a final round of ethnic cleansing

Why Was A Palestinian Toddler Burned To Death?
By Nizar Visram

The murder of Ali Dawabsheh should be regarded within the context of Israeli society where Palestinian babies are routinely called a “demographic threat,” and where many Israelis ecstatically rejoice their slaughter. Such society cannot claim innocence and cannot be “shocked” when settlers torch to death a Palestinian toddler. Today, more than ever, it is important for all who care about justice to declare that we are all Palestinians

The Social Cost of Capitalism
By Paul Craig Roberts

Currently 3 million gallons of toxic waste water from a Colorado mine has escaped and is working its way down two rivers into Utah and Lake Powell. At least seven city water systems dependent on the rivers have been shut down. The waste was left by private enterprise, and the waste was accidentally released by the Environmental Protection Agency, which might be true or might be a coverup for the mine. If the Lake Powell reservoir ends up polluted, it is likely that the cost of the mine imposed on third parties exceeds the total value of the mine’s output over its entire life

Where Did The Antiwar Movement Go? 
By Tom Engelhardt

What It Means When You Kill People On the Other Side of the Planet and No One Notices

US vs China In Djibouti
By Thomas C. Mountain

Djibouti, home to the only US permanent military presence in Africa, has recently notified the American military that they have to vacate Obock, a small secondary base which will see the installation of some 10,000 Chinese troops in their place. The announcement, made the day after US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Djibouti last May is deeply worrying for Pax Americana

Nobel Peace Laureates Endorse Violence
By Robert J. Burrowes

In a recent letter to US President Barack Obama twelve Nobel Peace laureates declared their support for the long history of US elite violence against Native Americans and enslaved Africans, as well as the US imperial violence around the world that has butchered tens of millions of people over the past 200 years. See 'US: An End to Torture: Twelve Nobel Peace Prize laureates write to President Barack Obama asking the US to close the dark chapter on torture once and for all. Obama responds'

Immigrants, Xenophobia And Racism In America
By Jon Kofas

Undocumented workers are not so much an issue about economics but rightwing populist and often racist politics. Throughout history immigrant labor had very solid benefits to the US economy and society and informed critics know this to be the case. Nevertheless, politicians and the media present the immigrant issue as a problem in the economy, though after 9/11 they link it to terrorism. Some rightwing analysts link undocumented workers who are nothing more than economic refugees to security and by implication terrorism, although there is no empirical evidence of such linkage. The following excerpt is typical of how rightwing analysts are using terrorism to instill fear in politicians and the public when it comes to undocumented workers

The Iran Non Deal
By David Anderson

A very dangerous game is being played by certain members of the American Jewish community. They are throwing their weight against the President in consort with those of the powerful anti-Obama Christian evangelical far right

Dear Mr. Narayanmurthy, Stay Away From Nukes!
By Anuj Wankhede

Look at renewables and energy efficiency. Think out of the box and society Sir, as you once thought for Infosys. Please get the bigger picture clear about energy and climate issues cleared in your own mind first before rushing into such debates. And finally Sir, if you can come up with a credible solution to the radioactive nuclear waste issue, you might even get a Nobel Prize. And while you may ponder about that, please also figure out a way so that nuclear proliferation and weapons are not deployed using these reactors as a front

Kashmir Tourism In Correct Perspective
By Mohammad Ashraf

Tourism obsession bordering on paranoia of some people requires putting the Tourism scenario of Kashmir in a realistic and correct perspective

Flag of Paradox In Kashmir
By Sazzad Hussain

The spurt in Kashmir valley of waving anti-India flags by separatist has been on since the formation of the PDP-BJP government in the state. It has increased following the initiatives by Chief Minister Mufti Mohd. Sayed to bring back the separatists to the mainstream as promised in his poll campaigns. This policy of Sayed will continue as the separatists had a role in holding the assembly polls peacefully. But the anti-Indian forces in the valley are taking advantage of this policy and waving the flags of Pakistan and IS in every Fridays while demonstrating against India. The weaving of the Pakistani flag in Kashmir valley is nothing new, but that of IS in recent times is a matter of great concern. But above all the waving of the Palestinian flag there seems paradoxical so far as the problem of Kashmir vis-à-vis the west Asian conflict is concerned

Cold Blooded Murder of A Couple By (CRPF/SOG)
Security Forces In Kandhamal, Odisha
Fact Finding Report

Joint Fact Finding Report on Killing of Innocent Couple in Pangalpadar (Kotagada), Kandhamal, Odisha

States And Other Agencies Must Unsign Their MoUs With Illegal And Illegitimate
UIDAI And Submit Their Comments On Human DNA Profiling Bill
By Gopal Krishna

Taking note of the recent Supreme Court order it is high time states and other agencies unsigned the MoUs they have signed with illegal and illegitimate Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). To begin with states ruled by opposition parties should pave the way instead of waiting for the court to tell them. Countries where rule of law prevails, MoUs are subservient to law of the land

10 August, 2015

Greece: Raped, Humiliated, Frightened But Standing!
By Andre Vltchek

In Greece, it all feels like a calm before a huge storm. People are being fired from their jobs, we are told. Hospitals are overcrowded and local doctors are overstretched, but working, heroically, with low, unrealistically low budgets and deeply reduced salaries. But they are working! No matter what the mainstream Western mass media “reports”, Greece is suffering, but it is not collapsing. Pensioners are now barely surviving on amounts lower than those in Thailand and in most of Latin America. But they are surviving, due to the strong (un-European) family structure and solidarity of Greek people

The US Economy Continues Its Collapse
By Paul Craig Roberts

The claimed payroll jobs for July are in the usual categories familiar to us month after month year after year. They are domestic service jobs—waitresses and bartenders, retail clerks, transportation, warehousing, finance and insurance, health care and social assistance. Nothing to export in order to pay for massive imports. With scant growth in real median family incomes, as savings are drawn down and credit used up, even the sales part of the economy will falter. Clearly, this is not an economy that has a future

Green Left Pope Francis Demands Climate Action
“Without Delay” To Prevent Climate “Catastrophe”
By Dr Gideon Polya

In stark contrast to the terracidal One Percenters, Pope Francis recognizes a looming climate catastrophe and millions of premature deaths from carbon burning pollutants, demands massive decarbonisation and conversion to renewables starting without delay in the next few years, rejects Carbon Trading as a dishonest ploy, advocates a fully borne Carbon Price (Carbon Tax) on polluters, proposes boycotts of polluters, condemns loss of biodiversity and advises intergenerational solidarity

A Plea To Pope Francis: Name United States Foreign Policy Genocide
By Brian Terrell

Whether or not the pope gives the proper name to U.S. war policies (as we sincerely hope that he will) it is also important that we in the United States, the Christians among us especially, do not neglect to call genocide by its right name. Our plea to Pope Francis ends with an exhortation from the French existentialist, Albert Camus, “What the world expects of Christians is that Christians should speak out, loud and clear, and that they should voice their condemnation in such a way that never a doubt, never the slightest doubt, could rise in the heart of the simplest person.”

Hiroshima & Nagasaki: Seven Decades And Counting
By Jim Hickey

I’ve written about Hiroshima in general for forty odd years, and I’ve composed something tangible for every annual commemoration of the bombing for plus or minus a decade-and-a-half. Thus, again, I proffer ideas about this event and the even more egregious slaughter that followed three days hence at Nagasaki

10 Unmentionables At The Republican Non-Debate
By Gary Corseri

1. Global Climate Change. 2. The Mal-distribution of Wealth. 3. Pollution. 4. The Militarization of the American Police. 5. NAFTA. 6. Occupy Wall Street. 7. Mental Illness.8. Contextualization. 9. The Degradation of Culture. 10. Overpopulation

In Defense Of The Political Novel And Review of Gaither Stewart’s "Time of Exile"
Book Review By Kendall Mercer

Although this is a story of dangerous adventure and fiery romantic love, which takes the reader to exotic locations across the face of Europe from Bulgaria, to Belgrade in Serbia, to Rome, to Istanbul and finally Berlin, Time of Exile is also a political story: the political awakening of Elmer, the 19-year old genius who leaves MIT and joins the army to see the world. His political education begins there

#BlackLivesMatter Not Intended To Include 'Black' Lives Taken By GI's Overseas
By Jay Janson

#BlackLivesMatter movement operates in blatant disbelief of Martin Luther King's moral and entirely logical warning; 'will be no progress on social justice issues at home while we go on killing the poor overseas at a such an enormous expenditure of social and financial resources that makes such progress at home impossible.' Another example of American exceptionalism is Occupy Wall St. diverting attention from US wars

American Workers And The Welfare State
By Jon Kofas

Are American workers “inefficient” (producing more at a lower cost to their counterparts around the world) or are they the cause for the lack of “competitiveness”? Are US wages too high and productivity too low, and is efficiency measured only in terms of maximum profits to the exclusion of all other factors? Are workers the reason that US companies relocating to Mexico, Vietnam, China, Brazil and other countries as part of the de-industrialization process in the last forty years?

Biometric Data Collection, Aadhaar Number And Related Programs Is A Black Act
Public Statement By Concerned Citizens

Right to privacy is an inalienable birth right & fundamental right. Open war against sensitive personal information like biometric data through aadhaar and Human DNA Profiling Bill 2015 is condemnable

Manufacturing Islamophobic Consent
By Ghulam Mohammad Khan

Though the term ‘Islamophobia’ only entered into the common English usage in 1997 with the publication of a report by the Runnymede Trust (a left-wing think tank), the history of the unfounded hostility of the West towards Muslims, their politics, culture and religion, is as old as the history of the expansion of Islam to the Iberian Peninsula, located in southwest corner of Europe, in eighth century

Telangana Wants To Have Its Own Karamchedu
By Anand Teltumbde

Telangana region unlike Rayalseema and coastal Andhra, did not have history of caste atrocity. It was deceptively attributed to radical movements the region had since colonial times. But as Patapally revealed it is the terrible power asymmetry between the dominant castes and Dalits that perhaps thwarted any big flare up of caste conflict. As KCR fails to fulfill his electoral promises he made to the people, particularly Dalits, he might be wanting to have his own Karamchedu in Telangana to deflect attention

Screen Patti's Spoof Of The New FTII Chairman And His Ideology Is Hilarious

Screen Patti's new talk show "Daaru Pe Charcha" features actor Rajesh Sharma in its first episode as Gajendra Chauhan, the newly appointed chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), and he is hilarious! He speaks about his appointment as the chairman of the institute and why he is the right person for the designation. He also shares his ideology behind cinema and his vision about the film institute

Born Free But....
By Mallika Kaur

Even the most well meaning, highly educated, seemingly liberal among us reinforce stereotypes that fuel gender discrimination

09 August, 2015

Why Are They Hounding Teesta Setalvad Now?
By K.P. Sasi

Today, Teesta Setalvad has become a symbol of human rights in India. For if Teesta Setalvad is imprisoned, any human rights activist or group can be imprisoned on any grounds. And if human rights activists are silenced, justice for the minorities, Dalits, Adivasis and other marginalised communities and thousands of people’s movements will become a distant dream. It is so apparent that the Indian State is in a conscious effort to clean up: To build a `Swatch Bharat’ where there is no dissent! Watch your doorstep!

The Need For A New Economic System, Part 4 Neocolonialism And Resource Wars
By John Scales Avery

Present economic system produces an endless series of resource-motivated wars. In addition to the enormous suffering, waste, injustice and ecological destruction produced by modern wars, we must recognize that in an era of thermonuclear weapons, war has become prohibitively dangerous. Therefore we need a new economic system

70 Years of Korean War
By David Swanson

It was the day after the death blow to Nagasaki, 70 years ago, that the victors of the most awesomest war ever chose to create a division of Korea along the 38th parallel -- a line that would be revered as a holy thing when North Korean troops later came across it, but dismissed as "imaginary" when U.S. troops crossed it heading north

Ukraine Bans 14 ‘Artists,' Mainly Russians, As ‘Threat To National Security'
By Eric Zuesse

On Saturday, August 8th, Ukraine's Interfax News Service announced that the Security Bureau of Ukraine had just issued, on Friday, a list of 14 ‘artists' (mainly Russian actors) who ‘pose a threat to Ukraine's national security.' The Ukrainian State Film Agency is, under Ukrainian law, now prohibited from authorizing or allowing distribution of their films or other works. These artists are thus officially banned

Youth In America, Russia And China
By Jon Kofas

While 93% of Chinese believe their country has a bright future, 67% believe they will become businesspeople. This level of optimism is the highest in the world, while Russia lags China in optimism but it is well ahead of the US with about 70% of Russian youth indicating they will be about the same or better off in the future. Whether for or against Putin youth organizations have a greater sense of shaping their future from within or outside the system. The Chinese are also optimistic about controlling their destiny within the new system. Similar trends are absent among American youth have yielded to resignation or conformity with only small groups defying the institutional structure at the root of injustice in society. Considering the US has a long tradition of believing it is in charge of its own destiny and that of the world, we see that trend in decline across the board and among America’s youth

Observe Kandhamal Day! Preserve Justice, Peace And Harmony!
Protect Indian Constitution!
By National Solidarity Forum

We appeal to all secular, democratic and peace loving citizens of this country to remember August 25, 2008 as a day which the largest democracy called India should not have witnessed. We appeal to you to organize public meetings, seminars, protests and other forms of campaigns so that `No More Kandhamal’ will be repeated in Indian History. We appeal to you to organize events for one week around August 25, 2015 to mark the memory of Kandhamal. We appeal to you to express solidarity to the struggle of the people of Kandhamal, in order to provide adequate pressure on the governmental institutions to provide justice for the victims and survivors

Perpetuating Deprivation And Injustice:
Plantation Programs In Violation Of Forest Rights Act
By Sanghamitra Dubey

In parts of Khammam district in Telengana, massive plantations are being carried out on podu (shifting cultivation) fields under the Haritha Haraam Afforestation scheme of the state government without recognizing the rights of the cultivators under the Forest rights Act (FRA). This is in violation of FRA by the plantation and forestry departments of the state. There are some specific cases found in Kandhamal and Bolangir districts of Odisha where massive plantation program(Teak, rubber, tissue culture banana , etc) is carried out by the forest department convergence with MGNREGA over the forest land and podu land. The plantations are done in cultivable land of the right holders

Sufism: Positive And Negative Dimensions
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

In order to promote love and understanding between Muslims and others and to remove the misunderstandings about Islam that abound, it is important to highlight the spiritual and humane aspects of Islam. This spiritual dimension of Islam is called Sufism, or Tasawwuf

08 August, 2015

Father Of Slain Palestinian Infant Dies From His Wounds
By Ma’an News Agency

Saad Dawabsha, the father of 18-month-old Ali Dawabsha who was burned alive in an arson attack by Israeli settlers on July 31, died from his injuries early Saturday morning

Strange Remembrance: From Hiroshima To Baghdad - What Have We Learned?
By Mahboob A. Khawaja

We live on One Earth and indeed embody One Humanity, shall we not ask for immediate Rethinking to what cruelty is happening in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Egypt and most of the Arabian peninsula engulfed with tragic warfare and increased weapon sales by the US and West European nations. Arab leaders are incapacitated on their own by greed and fear to think intelligently. There are reportedly 3500 US marines stationed in Iraq supporting the Shiite-led government of PM Al-Abaidi but 6,300 defense contractors are operating in Iraq. Are we perpetuating peacemaking or warmongering to besiege the humanity? Who is lying under international law that cannot be defined? Have the transgressors learned anything useful from the living history?

The Bravenhearts Of Wadi Al Nasera, Syria
By Franklin Lamb

Wadi al Nasera (Valley of the Christians) encompasses approximately 40 picturesque Christian hamlets in western Syria, located amidst the green plush rolling hills between Homs and the Lebanese border. Thirty of its villages are Christian, four are mainly populated by Alawi Muslims and one, Al Qalaa (aka Hosn village), just under the Crak des Chevaliers medieval fortress, was Sunni Muslim. It was literally pulverized by heavy and sustained government forces aerial bombardment once it became a supply base in 2013 for rebels inside the medieval crusader fortress. I spent the past week visiting some of the oldest Wadi al Nasara Christian villages

Pornography: The Propaganda of Patriarchy
By Mickey Z.

Perhaps the only chance we have to stop the damage and create the drastic social change we need is to recognize and address the source: Male Supremacy. A major step in that direction would be to address one of its most cunning branches: pornography

A Modern-Day Classical Greek Tragedy:
A Contribution Toward Understanding The Greek Crisis
By Saral Sarkar

In this article I take it for granted that all my readers have been following in the media the details of the story of the current five years long crisis in Greece. So I shall limit myself to some analytical remarks on some aspects of the story, which lay bare some EU ideologies (in the sense of false consciousness) cherished by many EU citizens and some grand delusions (Lebenslügen) of the present-day Greeks. In the process it will become clear why the present tragic outcome of the whole story was inevitable, almost like destiny (fate) in classical Greek tragedy

EU Leaders' Big Lies To The Public
By Eric Zuesse

EurActive reported on Friday, August 7th, that, "Jean-Claude Juncker has responded to the public outcry over the immigration crisis by urging European leaders to show solidarity and resist the message of populist parties.” However, Juncker isn't blaming the Obama Administration in Washington, which caused this crisis, and to which Europe's aristocrats adhere

“Grapes Versus Eggs”—Sonoma County’s Goliath vs. David Story
By Shepherd Bliss

“Grapes versus eggs,” reports an excellent August 6 article in Sonoma County’s daily Press Democrat (PD). The Windsor Oaks Vineyard and Winery, seeking to expand its events, forced the closure of the popular Wise Acre Farm’s egg stand, disappointing many local food customers. Selling eggs directly to people for years, Wise Acre owners Bryan Boyd and Raina Brolan were forced to shut down their operation by the winery that owns the road to the stand. A growing backlash against the wine industry erupted on YELP’s social media platform, supporting the food farmers. Many criticisms of the winery were posted online at the PD’s website; the most frequent description of the winery was “bully.”

Shimla Agreement: Victory In War And Defeat In Diplomacy
By Abdul Majid Zargar

Noted columnist Zahid G. Mohammad has written an incisive article on Shimla agreement reached between India & Pakistan in July 1972 after the latter’s defeat & dismemberment in 1971 war with India. It was published in a local English daily on 6th July 2015 and disseminates much of the information surrounding this international agreement. However, there is still some information on this agreement which is not widely known. My endeavor in this article would be to put this least known information in the wider public domain for a better understanding & analysis of the issue

Broken Promise: Disdain For A Trusted Institution
By S.G.Vombatkere

While there is no copyright on the term “OROP”, the irony is that in just 18 months, government is amending the law to grant OROP to the judiciary, while even 18 years after coining the phrase, disillusioned Veterans are staging satyagraha with no light at the end of the tunnel of arrogant bureaucratic malfeasance over a supposedly decisive PM

Makkal Mandram Commune Invites Volunteers
Press Release

Makkal Mandram Commune is looking for volunteers to join us in our work. We welcome both long term and short term volunteers. The duration for short term volunteers is 15 days to one month, while persons who are willing to stay for a longer duration of 3-4 months are equally welcome

07 August, 2015

Hundreds Dead As Refugee Boat Sinks In Mediterranean
By Martin Kreickenbaum

Up to 700 refugees were on board a fishing boat that capsized 15 nautical miles off the Libyan coast on Wednesday. More than 200 are feared drowned. According to the Italian coast guard, around 400 people were rescued, while 26 bodies were recovered from the sea so far. One hundred refugees were below deck at the time and likely went down with the ship

Beyond Extinction - Transition To Post-Capitalism Is Inevitable
By Nafeez Ahmed

The meteoric accumulation of scientific data over the last few decades has increasingly brought home the fact that the climate crisis is a symptom of a deeper, civilizational problem. It is not just that we are completely and utterly dependent on fossil fuels, oil, coal and gas, to do literally anything and everything in our societies—from transport and food, to art and culture. Climate change is merely one symptom of a wider Crisis of Civilization

10 Steps To Wean US Foreign Policy Off Militarism
By Medea Benjamin

US progressives are delighted to see the US administration making some progress on the diplomatic front with Cuba and Iran. We should now clearly define what a progressive foreign policy looks like, and push presidential candidates and other officials to move US foreign policy towards one based on respect, cooperation and diplomacy

Bernie Talks Militarism But Says Nothing New
By David Swanson

RootsAction's petition asking Sanders to talk about the military has nearly 14,000 signatures. It's produced a number of claims that Bernie in fact does talk about the military, and has a great record on it, etc. Following up on each of these claims thus far has led to virtually nothing new. If you go to Bernie's website and click on ISSUES and search for foreign policy or war or peace or overall budget priorities (militarism now actually gets 54% now), you'll be searching forever -- unless he adds something. His "issues" page acts as if 199 nations and 54% of the budget just don't exist

Obama's Clean Power Plan Will Only Cut 2030 US Greenhouse Gas Pollution By 5%
By Dr Gideon Polya

Obama recognizes the seriousness of man-made climate change and pollution-based premature deaths (avoidable deaths) but he deceptively and mendaciously offers too little too late by 2030 – in effect, a derisory 5% reduction in overall greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution, a 9% reduction in premature deaths from coal-fired power plant pollution and a 1% decrease in child asthma attacks

Will The Greek Bailout Deal Work?
By Kavaljit Singh

As things stand out, the prospects of an economic recovery in Greece appear bleak. Many forecasts have predicted that Greece will be unable to break the vicious cycle on the current path and its debt-to-GDP ratio will rise over 200 percent by 2018. Without rapid economic recovery, Greece's debt burden will remain unsustainable. The growing public debt and its servicing costs will burden economy further. And if Greece continues to remain in the eurozone, a fourth bailout cannot be ruled out in future

Brian Terrell: US Drone Campaign Needs To Be Acknowledged A Failure
By Kourosh Ziabari

According to the 58-year-old Brian Terrell, the US government is not only claiming innocent lives through drone attacks, but endangering its own security and undermining its public stature. “The reality that US drone strikes are a recruiting tool for Al-Qaeda is good news for war profiteers, even as it is alarming to anyone who is interested in the security of the US and the peace and stability of the counties where they are occurring,” he said

A Scribbling On Passive Communalism in Kerala
By Anvar Ali

Here I will tell the desperate story of an adolescent Muslim boy who is not only the victim of Islamophobia but of the passive communalism the so-called Kerala model nourished along with its modernity

06 August, 2015

Obama Administration Finalizes Climate Rules
By Daniel de Vries

The Obama administration released Monday final rules governing climate pollution from the power sector, the nation's largest source of greenhouse gas emission. The rules, known as the Clean Power Plan, establish state-by-state goals for carbon emissions in 2030. Despite claiming to reduce greenhouse gases from power plants by 32 percent, the plan will do next to nothing to forestall climate change

Would The Steady-State Economy Be A Miracle?
By Herman Daly

The longevity of a steady-state economy is a metaphysically humble goal appropriate for limited creatures in the face of ignorance and mystery

Hiroshima-Nagasaki: 70-Year Nuclear Explosions Not Done Yet
By David Swanson

The dropping of those bombs and the explicit threat ever since to drop more is a new crime that has given birth to a new species of imperialism. The United States has intervened in over 70 nations -- more than one per year -- since World War II, and has now come full-circle to the re-militarization of Japan

Largest Bombing Raid In History Was Perpetrated
Against Japan AFTER The Atomic Bombings
By Robert Barsocchini

The largest bombing campaign in history, at that point, was perpetrated by the US against Japan after the atomic bombings of civilians on August 6th and 9th, 1945

The Deceit About Being A ‘Republic' versus A ‘Democracy'
By Eric Zuesse

Jimmy Carter challenged America to restore democracy. And he was right to do so. But can it be done? And, if so, then how? It's the great issue in 2016. Because if it's not dealt with then, the dictatorship, the aristocracy that controls it, will become so deeply lodged that it won't be able to be dislodged without great violence

Confer Phalke Award To Gajendra Chauhan And Solve The FTII Crisis Immediately
By Ajithkumar B.

We request the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the Government of India to confer the highest national honour in cinema - The Dadasaheb Phalke award for outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema - to Sri. Gajendra Chauhan and shut the mouth of striking students of FTII who question the eminence of Sri Gajendra for the prestigious post of the Chairmanship of the institution

State Must Not Organize Religious Festivals
By Ram Puniyani

After staging the Yoga on 21st June 2015 on Raj Path, Delhi, Modi Sarkar has planned to celebrate Rakhi, Raksha Bandhan at a grand scale in late August. This plan has full approval of its parent organization, the RSS. Now a Hindu religious festival will be given the status of a national festival so blatantly. It surely is indication of the type of deeper agenda of narrow nationalism this Government has in mind

American Muslims Launch An Organization In Washington DC
Press Release

"American Muslims of the Washington, DC area are pleased to announce the formation of a nonprofit organization to provide reliable information and advice to public and policy makers on Islam and Muslims. We need constructive solutions to current and emerging problems emanating from wrong perceptions and misinformation about Islam and Muslims in America." said Dr. Islam Siddiqui, President of the newly formed American Muslim Institution

05 August, 2015

America's Hiroshima And Nagasaki 70 Years Later
By Christian Appy

Here we are, 70 years after the nuclear obliteration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and I'm wondering if we've come even one step closer to a moral reckoning with our status as the world's only country to use atomic weapons to slaughter human beings. Will an American president ever offer a formal apology?

Nagasaki: The Unimaginable Had Become Acceptable
By Mickey Z.

If the Hiroshima bombing was pure Schrecklichkeit, who then could explain the purpose of bombing Nagasaki three days later?

Imperialist Powers Prepare Another Military
Intervention In Libya
By Jean Shaoul

A joint US-European mission to Libya involving soldiers from six countries is being hatched under the pretext of combating Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and with the aim of establishing a pliant pro-Western government and “stabilising” the country

Renewables And Carbon Pricing Are New Climate Denial
By Bill Henderson

Renewables and carbon pricing are essential to effective mitigation but advocating for renewables and carbon pricing without regulation to keep fossil fuels in the ground is denial ( implicatory denial instead of the now untenable flat-earth, out right denial of climate change scientific cause and effect). Do we need a plan for a slow transition to renewables or a plan to get off fossil fuels? Building renewable capacity is not emission reduction if there is no regulated reduction of fossil fuels. Rules for power generation that do not include regulated reduction of fossil fuels just displace fossil fuel use to other jurisdictions

Erdogan’s Duplicity, ISIS, Kurds, And America
By Taj Hashmi

Turkish air force’s latest bombing of ISIS positions in Syria, and its simultaneous bombing of Kurdish positions in northern Iraq, and its asking for a no-fly zone for Syrian air force in the border region between Turkey and Syria are both enigmatic and counterproductive for a durable peace in the subregion. As these attacks and their specious justifications are grossly unwarranted, so are they neither surprising nor unexplainable

Why Won't Bernie Talk About War?
By David Swanson

Bernie Sanders was asked a while back about the military budget and was essentially accused of wanting to cut it by 50%. Oh no, he replied, I wouldn't do that. He ought to have replied that doing that would leave the United States far and away the world's biggest military spender, and that doing that would take U.S. military spending back to roughly 2001 levels. He ought to have mentioned that the savings of hundreds of billions of dollars could transform the United States and the world for the better, that tens of billions could end starvation and provide clean water worldwide, and end poverty at home, and fund projects like free college, and invest in green energy beyond the wildest dreams of its advocates

Jimmy Carter Is Correct That The U.S. Is No Longer A Democracy
By Eric Zuesse

Was this former President's provocative allegation merely his opinion? Or was it actually lots more than that? It was lots more than that

The Need For A New Economic System
By John Scales Avery

Part III: Climate Change and the urgent need for renewable energy

The Right To The Truth About The Mass Killings Of 11 September 2001
By Elias Davidsson

A gross violation of human rights gives rise to a set of state obligations, including that of providing remedies to the victims. Among such remedies is the duty to establish the true circumstances surrounding the violation and ensuring the identification and punishment of those responsible for it. The mass killings of 9/11 were, apart of being a huge crime, also a gross violation of the right to life of approximately 3,000 people. Yet legal literature has not dealt with this event from that perspective. Thus, the right of the victims to have the truth established and the perpetrators identified and punished has not been subject to scrutiny. This study is meant to remedy this failure by applying existing human rights norms to the investigation of 9/11 by the U.S. authorities and assessing, more generally, the adequacy of these norms

A Letter From Africa To #BlackLivesMatter
By Thomas C. Mountain

When you say Black Lives Matter do you mean just Black American lives? What about the tens of thousands of black lives in Cuba that have been lost due to the covert war and the economic embargo still being waged against Cuba by the US government? Or what about the black lives that were lost when the UN over saw the starvation deaths of 250,000 “black” Somalis during the worst drought and famine in 60 years from 2010-2012, deaths that were predicted when UNICEF, headed by former senior foreign policy advisor to Barack Obama, Anthony Lake, budgeted less than 10 cents a day to feed the Somali refugees under their care?

Croatia Owes Two Billion Euros To The Expelled Serbs
By Srdjan Misljenovic

Serbs who were expelled from Croatia during Croatia’s “Operation Storm” have not yet collected compensation for their seized and destroyed property. They now want to give what they are owed to Obama and Merkel

Washington’s Fifth Columns Inside Russia And China
By Paul Craig Roberts

It took two decades for Russia and China to understand that “pro-democracy” and “human rights” organizations operating within their countries were subversive organizations funded by the US Department of State and a collection of private American foundations organized by Washington. The real purpose of these non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is to advance Washington’s hegemony by destabilizing the two countries capable of resisting US hegemony

“Israel Has Not Changed For The Worse, It’s Always Been Bad”
By Alan Hart

“Israel Has Not Changed For The Worse, It’s Always Been Bad”. This quote is from a Mondoweiss article by Avigail Abarbanel with the headline It’s time for American Jews to recognize that they have been duped (by Zionism)

The Hilltop: A ‘Comic’ Zionist Lie
By Vacy Vlazna

The day after the savage firebomb murder by zionist settlers of Palestinian toddler Ali Dawabshe, 18 months, and while his young parents, Saad and Reham, and 4 year old brother, little Ahmed, struggle to survive severe burns to 75% of their bodies, the pro-Israel Australian national radio broadcast an interview with Israeli Assaf Gavron, author of The Hilltop, a novel about zionist settlers ‘made into a comedy’. Comedy?

The Palestinian Bubble And The Burning of Toddler, Ali Dawabsha
By Ramzy Baroud

One-and-a-half year old Ali Saad Dawabsha became the latest victim of Israeli violence on July 31. He was burnt to death. Other members of his family were also severely burntin a Jewish settlers’ attack on their home in the village of Duma, near Nablus, in the West Bank

Gaza: Our Child’s Shattered Face In The Mirror
Book Review By Gary Corseri

The book tells a story that is almost impossible to tell: the victims’ view of the 51-day, 2014 War on Gaza, euphemistically called, “Operation Protective Edge” by Israel

Introducing Three Seminal Books In Mappila History
By Countercurrents.org

We are introducing three seminal titles in Mappila history that Other Books, Calicut published at two different points of time

A Mask Of Democracy And Sustained Violence Of State Through AFSPA
By Ravi Nitesh

Recently when AFSPA was repealed from Tripura, there was much happiness and celebration among people. While now, Ministry of Home Affairs extended AFSPA in Nagaland for another term by declaring that the whole state is disturbed area. Also on Arunachal Pradesh, government denied to provide information about AFSPA when it was asked by a RTI activist. Moreover, recent launch of Amnesty International India report called Justice Denied on Jammu and Kashmir, reported many stories of victims where people faced extra ordinary powers granted to soldiers

Yakub Memon's Hanging Proves Once Again, Death Penalty Is Cruel
By Committee for the Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR)

CPDR condemns the hanging of Yakub Memon by the Indian state, which seems to have been motivated by the Hindutvavadi desire for revenge. It is tragic that such brutality seems to have become this state’s eternal law. Death penalty is a cruel and inhuman punishment and we demand its abolition, and pending the fulfilment of that demand, a moratoria on all such executions

02 August, 2015

Clashes Erupt On West Bank After Child Is Murdered By Zionist Settlers
By Thomas Gaist

At least one Palestinian teenager was fatally shot Friday as thousands demonstrated throughout the West Bank in outrage over a terrorist attack by Zionist settlers that burned to death an 18-month-old Palestinian toddler, Ali Saad Daobasa. The attack left his parents and four-year-old brother in critical condition. According to the Jewish Journal, the four-year-old suffered burns over more than 60 percent of his body

Israeli Leaders Lit The Match That Burned Baby Ali Dawabsha
By Rania Khalek

It is difficult to find a single Israeli cabinet minister who has not encouraged or perpetrated racist violence against Palestinians, largely because this kind of incitement – and worse – gets them elected. Ali was killed in the middle of the night, early Friday, when persons, later seen by witnesses fleeing back to the settlement of Maaleh Efraim, smashed the windows of the child’s family’s home and threw Molotov cocktails and flammable liquid inside. His parents and 4-year-old brother barely survived the attack – they are fighting for their lives with burns covering almost their whole bodies

U.S. Tries To Stir Ethnic Division In Crimea
By Eric Zuesse

On Saturday, August 1st, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, sent greetings to an international conference of supporters of Tatars in Crimea, at the Second World Congress of the Crimean Tatars. He charged the current Crimean government (the government that Crimeans elected on 16 March 2014, rejoining Russia) of discriminating against Tatars. His message attacked the "torn imperial policies of the Kremlin,” and the “temporary occupation of Crimea by Russia.” He said that, “The Crimean Tatar people are again experiencing terror, and tens of thousands are thus forced to flee.” He thanked America's Sunni ally Turkey for hosting this conference of pro-Saudi, Sunni Muslim, Crimeans

Alternate Views Of World War II- A 5-Book Reading List
By Romi Mahajan

A great reading list

Sustainable Banking
By Umer Jeelanie Banday

‘Sustainability’ appears to be the new Panacea for banks, but asset quality worries amid an uncertain macroeconomic environment. It is essential to bring together both private and public funding if we have to secure the investment needed to address the problems created by climate change. Some banks have started appointing environmental specialists and social experts to appraise proposals before sanctioning big loans

01 August, 2015

Worst Flood In 200 Years Hits India’s Troubled State Manipur
By Madhu Chandra

Neither the national media nor state media reported the worst flood that affected in one of India’s most troubled states, Manipur. Entire Thoubal district and parts of Chandel district are submerged. The state’s print media and television news channels, mostly based in the state capital Imphal,ignored the floods, while covering the a month long public strike demanding the Inner Land Permit law. This is said to be the worst flood in 200 years. The state government is in total chaos and unprepared to tackle the situation

Kos, Bodrum, Desperate Refugees And A Dying Child
By Andre Vltchek

This little Iraqi boy, fighting for his life in the hospital in Kos, should be a rallying cry for the Greek humanists. He should be helped by all means, instead of being abandoned to his terrible fate. But until now he is receiving very little help! He should be assisted especially now, when the Greece itself is in distress. Solidarity is the most precious during the most difficult times! Wake up, people! The boy is not just some “Iraqi refugee”: he is a fellow human being. He is just 3 years old boy, damn it, and he is suffering from terrible pain, and soon he may die. Battle for his life would be the real battle for great Greece; a country that could show how big is her heart, elevating herself well above that morally declining West! Remember, this “Iraqi” boy in the hospital, he is your child too, Greece. But if you don’t act, he will turn to your specter!

Greece Is Not The Major Problem – Europe Is
By Siv O'Neall

The Greek crisis is very much the work of the so-called ‘free market’ where anything goes. Big banks, led by Goldman Sachs and other vicious speculators pounced on unhappy Greece already in crisis situation due to slack governments, tax evasion and a high level of corruption. The unscrupulous vultures had now secretly stored away booties at the expense of the Greek people

Return To Ma’loula
By Franklin Lamb

Ma’loula, Syria: As of today, approximately 900 Christians and 50 Muslims from the pre-2011 population of 5000, of whom 80% were Christian and 20% Muslim, have returned to Ma’loula, their 90 AD ancient village that many consider the second most historic Christian village, after Jerusalem. Over the past five weeks, this observer has been surveying and updating data as part of an archeological research project, on a modest selected number of the 152 archeological sites here in Syria that have been severely damaged over the past four years. Ma’loula, is among the nearly 7000 historic places in Syria that have been looted, burned, or bulldozed or subjected to mindless jihadist iconoclasm as being ‘un-Islamic,” or which have sustained war damage from more than one source

Left Progressives Collaborated As Investors In Genocide Owned
CNN CIA US Gov & NATO Destroyed Libya
By Jay Janson

Gaddafi overthrew a British installed King, brought Libya from Africa's poorest nation to be its wealthiest with a UN Quality of Life Index higher than 9 European countries. A million Libyans out of a total population 6, desperately demonstrated for their Green Book Democracy and beloved Gaddafi outside Tripoli as Britain & France bombed. Left Progressives either collaborated with or were silent re lies used to destroy Libya

Postcard From The End Of America: Jack’s Famous Bar In Philadelphia
By Linh Dinh

I’ve depicted Jack’s in a Kensington Postcard, two poems and even a Vietnamese article. In business since the end of Prohibition, Jack’s is the last bastion of a Kensington that existed before all the factories moved out and the heroin came in. Old timers on a shrunken budget can mosey in to get buzzed for under five bucks. Though a pitcher of Yuengling is only $3.75, I once saw a woman sit for at least an hour drinking nothing. She just lifted an empty mug to her lips every few minutes

Is It "Now Or Never" For India's Left Forces? Innovate To survive
By S.G.Vombatkere

In view of the foregoing, all big and small Left parties would do well to: (1) Sense and accept the existential threat to the Left as a whole, (2) Haul themselves by their own bootstraps out of inapplicable dogma and organizational rigidity, (3) View revolution as ideology-free engagement with PEOPLE and People's Movements on the ground, (4) Arrange to jointly manage their inter se affairs in a non-confrontational, non-antagonistic atmosphere, so as to jointly move towards convergence and unification, and (5) Chart a course for the 2019 general elections including panchayat, ULB and state elections along the way

Selective Conscience And The Death Penalty
By Salina Wilson

I personally disagree with death penalty in principle not only because of the arbitrary way in which it is allotted, not only because of the levels of inconsistencies as demonstrated above compounded by the influence of the executive over the judiciary, not only because I support restorative justice over retribution, not only because I do not associate with the culture of barbaric blood thirst; I disagree because it is fundamentally wrong to kill. In my analysis, it does not serve any purpose other than demonstrating to the general public that something has been done about an instance of violence thereby excusing the state of the responsibility and accountability to resolve or address the structural factors underlying that violence

Yakub Memon Hanging And The Shindig of ‘Public Conscience’
By Muhammad Naved Ashrafi

Based on imbroglio of ‘public-conscience’, Yakub Memon was hanged on 30th of July in what later turned out to be an episode of cold-blooded murder convened by the state itself. The so called notion of public-conscience, mooted whether in heydays of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) or in days of ‘development-utopia’ of ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), keeps a lethal etiology. This public-conscience i.e. Jan-Chetna—to call it in vernacular parlance—has compelled the largest democracy to metamorphose in to a living graveyard through a continuum of regressive events

Secularism, Democracy, Justice And Human Rights Were Hanged With Yakub Memon
By Countercurrents.org

Solidarity Youth Movement of Kerala held symbolic hanging all over Kerala against the execution of Yakub Memon. Four protesters symbolizing Secularism, Democracy, Justice and Human Rights were symbolically hanged to highlight the fact that by hanging Yakub Memon to death, these cornerstones of Indian democracy also died. Symbolic hangings were held in all district headquarters of Kerala

Sardar Sarovar Project: Water Tourism or Watery Grave ?
By Narmada Bachao Andolan

Lives of Lakhs at Stake: Large scale submergence at doorstep. “Special” Saturday Hearing on 1st August for Narmada Oustees in Supreme Court

A Critical Appraisal Of Tourism Industry In Kashmir
By Umer Jeelanie Banday

The present form of tourism is going to be a matter of concern for rapid change in environment which is going to be a cause of drastic change in climate seen now a days in Kashmir. The government has to develop appropriate policies, legislation and plans and instituted mechanism to apply strict standards, threshold limit and regulations for sustainable tourism

Feeling Insecure, Millionaires Are Leaving India In Hoards
By Abdul Rashid Agwan

Whereas successive Indian governments are striving to promote FDI since economic liberalization in 1991 by attracting overseas capital with investment and technological transformation in view, India is facing a ‘reverse osmosis’ of Indian billionaires and millionaires who are leaving the country in huge numbers to settle anywhere in the developed world. It has been reported that 61,000 millionaires have left India during the last 14 years in search of peace for themselves and quality education for their children

Mourning Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam
By S.G.Vombatkere

Dr.Kalam was undoubtedly an unusual person, who rose to nationally and internationally accepted greatness by dint of his hard work, and was awarded India's highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna. The critical comments offered here do not detract from the essential simplicity and honesty of this son of India who came from the deep south to sit at the commanding heights of the nation, and charm many of its millions, nor detract from the genuine mourning of his death by many people

Great Victory For 'Delhi State Anganwadi Workers And Helpers Union'
By Shivani Kaul

Anganwadi workers movement forces the Kejriwal Government to accept all demands