CC Archive February-2005

23 February, 2005

End Of Empire, End Of Civilization?
By Kirkpatrick Sale

All empires collapse eventually! The present American empire also will end for sure, but will that be the end of civilization too?

Market Failure: Global Warming And Peak Oil
By Bill Henderson

If the history of denial and greenwashing of global warming is any indication, and the peak oil pessimists are right, it is probably too late for even a wartime economy government to do anything but try and keep order and save memes needed for the birth of a future society

Doomed To Fail
By Scott Ritter

North Korea and Iran concluded from events leading to the U.S. invasion of Iraq that the Bush administration did not regard nonproliferation as an endgame but a tool designed to weaken a target state to the point that it could succumb to the grander U.S. policy objective of regime change

Amnesty: Iraqi Women No Better Off Post-Saddam
By Jeremy Lovell

Nearly two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, women there are no better off than under the rule of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein

The Politics Of Hariri's Assassination
By Naseer H Aruri

Hariri's death, no matter who arranged it, is the perfect opportunity to implement the Israeli/US strategy, and revisit Israel's frustrated plans of 1982. What better circumstances could enable Israel to reap the benefits of Hariri's murder?

Nepal: Two Futures, Two Roads
By Li Onesto

The situation continues to intensify in Nepal, with two futures posing themselves very sharply--on the one side, the brutal monarchy and a whole oppressive and corrupt system; and on the other side, the People's War which is struggling to liberate Nepal from the grip of foreign domination and establish a new revolutionary government

Savarkar: The Whole Truth
By Ram Puniyani

Review of the book "Savarkar: Myths and Facts" by Shamsul Islam

22 February, 2005

Chavez Says US Is Plotting To Kill Him
By Cleto A. Sojo

Chavez explicitly said that the U.S. government is considering his assassination as one of the options to get rid of him."If these perverse plans succeed, Mr. Bush can forget about Venezuelan oil... Forget about it Mr. Bush "

Beware Of The Dog!
By Uri Avnery

If Iran does not submit to the orders of the US (and, perhaps, even if it does) Israel will attack it with American help, much as it attacked the Iraqi nuclear reactor some 24 years ago

Nothing Real
By Noam Chomsky

The cease-fire is to be welcomed: better no killing than killing. But take a careful look at the terms. The framework is entirely that of US-Israeli rejectionism: Palestinian resistance, even against the occupying army, must cease

The Law For Food Facism
By Vandana Shiva

The Food Safety Law 2005 p is a dismantling of the PFA. It is in effect the legalizing of adulteration of India's entire food system with toxic chemicals and industrial processing

Honoring Narendra Modi!
By Coalition Against Genocide

The Asian American Hotel Owner Association's (AAHOA) has created a storm in US by inviting the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi,who is accused of sharing responsibility in the massacres, sexual mutilations and rapes of Muslims and persecution of Christians, indigenous tribes and moderate Hindus

De-Brahminise The Dalit
By Prem Pati & Yoginder Sikand

"Well, I would strongly urge de-Brahminisation or de-Sanskritisation of the Dalits, so as to liberate them from the trap in which 'upper' caste religious practices and beliefs have ensnared them"

21 February, 2005

The Final Proof: Global Warming Is Man-Made
By Steve Connor

Scientists have found the first unequivocal link between man-made greenhouse gases and a dramatic heating of the Earth's oceans. The researchers have found a "stunning" correlation between a rise in ocean temperature over the past 40 years and pollution of the atmosphere

Mounting Concerns Over Fate Of
Tsunami Victims In Aceh
By John Roberts

Poor coordination, disorganised logistics and the militarisation of resettlement camps have created a potentially dangerous situation for the survivors of the December 26 earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia’s Sumatran province of Aceh

U.S. Dominates World Bank Leadership
By Alex Wilks

There is a vacancy for the most senior post in official world development circles, a job that is of direct interest to billions of people across the globe. The process and candidates are shrouded in secrecy and the only candidates in the running are U.S. citizens

Saudi Oil May Have Peaked
By Adam Porter

Energy investment banker Matthew Simmons, of Simmons & Co International, has been outspoken in his warnings about peak oil before. His new statement is his strongest yet, "we may have already passed peak oil"

Who Pulled The Trigger... Didn't We All?
By Arundhati Roy

Must we in our hypernationalism take a man who has already suffered enough and reduce him to fish bait? Can we-and our media-stop judging S.A.R. Geelani

Fresh Light On 1984 Riots
By Kuldip Nayar

Riots were "organized", some Congressmen instigating the anti-social elements to "target the Sikh community" without any "meaningful intervention" by the police. This is the import of the report by former Supreme Court judge G.T. Nanavati on the 1984 riots

19 February, 2005
New Data Point To Man-Made Global Warming
By Seth Borenstein

New measurements from the world's oceans, announced Thursday, give the most compelling evidence yet that man-made global warming is under way and hint at a more dramatic and sudden climate change in the future

Negroponte Becomes The Spy Chief
By Bill Van Auken

Bush names John Negroponte, a veteran of US subversion and dirty wars, as national intelligence director

Learning Lies
By John Pilger

How many more innocent people have to die before those who filter the past and the present wake up to their moral responsibility to protect our memory and the lives of human beings?

Groceries And Election Results...
By Baghdad Burning

It’s not about a Sunni government or a Shia government- it’s about the possibility of an Iranian-modeled Iraq. It’s not just Sunnis- it’s moderate Shia and secular people in general who have been marginalized

A Subcontinental Turning Point
By Praful Bidwai

India and Pakistan have agreed to laun a bus service between the two divided parts of Kashmir from April 7. The bus agreement raises hopes that able leaderships in both countries could help India-Pakistan relations soar sustainably to lofty heights

India Through Pakistani Eyes
By Pervez Hoodbhoy

Observations of a senior pakistani professor on Indian society

18 February, 2005

Dramatic Changes In Southern Ocean
By AFP

Scientists have discovered dramatic changes in the temperature and salinity of deep waters in the Southern Ocean that they warn could have a major impact on global climate

Greenhouse Gases 'Do Warm Oceans'
By Paul Rincon

Scientists have "compelling" evidence that ocean warming over the past 40 years can be linked to the industrial release of carbon dioxide. US researchers compared the rise in ocean temperatures with predictions from climate models and found human activity was the most likely cause

How The U.S. Murdered Fallujah
By Salam Ismael

Doctor Salam Ismael took aid to Fallujah last month. This is a report of his visit

Regaining My Humanity
By Camilo Mejia

Camilo Mejia spent more than 7 years in the military and 8 months fighting in Iraq. On a furlough from the war, he applied for Conscientious Objector status, and was declared a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International. He was convicted of desertion by the U.S. military for refusing to return to the war in Iraq and was imprisoned. Mejia was released from prison on February 15th

Iraqi Prisoner Died In CIA Interrogation
By Aljazeera

An Iraqi whose corpse was photographed with grinning US soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison died under CIA interrogation while being suspended by his wrists, with his hands cuffed behind his back

Mahmoud Abbas And The Degeneration Of
The Palestinian National Movement
By Jean Shaoul And Chris Marsden

Although Abbas has sought to cultivate Washington’s support by carrying through measures against his own people that Yasser Arafat balked at, his present course nevertheless expresses the degeneration of the Palestinian nationalist movement as a whole

Original Potemkin Beats The Censors After 79 Years
By Ronald Bergan

A new and uncensored version of one of cinema's classics, Battleship Potemkin is shown at the Berlin film festival

After Nepal's Royal Coup
By Praful Bidwai

King Gyandendra has probably had tacit or covert support from a major Power. In all likelihood, the power backing the King is China. On January 21, he closed down two offices of the Dalai Lama, active in Nepal for 45 years. Beijing lavished praise on him for this. China refused to deplore the coup

17 February, 2005

Who Benefits From Al-Hariri's Death?
By Ahmed Janabi

Al-Hariri's death is part of the plan to divide the region into tiny helpless sectarian states. This plan has started in Iraq and it will continue to hit all other Arab countries

On The Beirut Bombing & Iraq
By Robert Fisk & Amy Goodman

There's a kind of unwritten alliance of opponents of enemies of a person which needs to exist before events like this to take place in Lebanon

Iraq Election Results Reflect
Broad Hostility To US Occupation
By Peter Symonds

Far from resolving the democratic and national questions that were suppressed by the Baathist regime, the US occupation has opened up and exacerbated longstanding sectarian and ethnic grievances in the Iraqi ruling elites

Why The Children In Iraq Make
No Sound When They Fall
By Bernard Chazelle

"Blessed are the children whom the sea swallows, for they shall tug at our heartstrings. / Cursed are the children whom our bombs blow up, for they shall roam the dark alleys of our indifference."

Kyoto - A Crucial First Step
By Tony Juniper

Kyoto is to be welcomed, but it must be followed by broader and more radical action

Another Long March In Nepal
By Gary Leupp

On February 1 King Gyanendra, sacked the prime minister and his cabinet, declared martial law, cut phone and internet lines to Kathmandu, arrested dozens of political leaders and announced he was assuming direct rule for three years. Nearly all political commentators believe this move will only strengthen the insurgency

The Logic Of Affirmative Action
By Sarbeswar Sahoo

Those who have been victimized in history have to be compensated through assured educational opportunities and income; so that the social injustice and inequality imposed by the caste system could someway be reduced

16 February, 2005

Can Kyoto Really Save The world?
By Hamish McRae

If Kyoto encourages the hunt for the new technologies that is worth something. If it makes us think a little more about our own use of energy that is worth something too. If it is the start of a wider global process of co-operation in conservation, then it is worth a huge amount. A good day for the world

Kyoto Is Not Enough
By Stephen Byers

Today, we should give a single cheer for Kyoto but recognise that there needs to be a fresh injection of political will if we are to achieve a new global consensus that will provide the world with the means to meet the challenge of climate change

Mocking Our Dreams
By George Monbiot

The reality of climate change is that the engines of progress have merely accelerated our rush to the brink

Media Held Guilty Of Deception
By Dahr Jamail

A peoples tribunal has held much of Western media guilty of inciting violence and deceiving people in its reporting of Iraq

The Killing Of 'Mr Lebanon'
By Robert Fisk

Anyone setting out to murder Hariri would know how this could re-open all the fissures of the civil war from 1975 to 1990. Were the ghosts of the civil war to be reawoken from their 15 years of slumber?

The Republican War
By Am Johal

George W. Bush and his Republican administration should have to wear the war in Iraq when it's all over. He has divided the nation and the world in a way that has not been seen since Vietnam

Halliburton Contracts Illegal -
Bush & Cheney Say So What
By Evelyn Pringle

After millions of tax dollars were spent investigating how Halliburton ended up being awarded billions of dollar worth of no-bid contracts in Iraq, the Government Accounting Office determined that the company should never have been awarded the contracts in the first place. In response to those findings, Cheney and Bush both, as much as thumbed their noses at tax payers as if to say "so what, what are you going to do about it?"

White Australia Imprisons Refugees
By Gideon Polya

White Australia has been imprisoning thousands of innocent, non-European refugee men, women and children behind razor wire in privately-run detention camps in remote deserts and on remote Pacific islands

Needed A Tsunami To Destroy
The Ugly Relic Of Varna System
By V.B.Rawat

This Tsunami, on whose destruction we all are crying, have not been able to demolish the most powerful and destructive system of caste in India. Perhaps, we need a stronger Tsunami to destroy the ugly relic of caste system and racial discrimination from our society

Recognize Dalit Muslims
By Anand Bharat

A clear identification of Dalit Muslims and recognition their political and social needs will help bring together Dalit Muslims and Dalits, which can prove strong bulwark against the fundamentalist force working against them

15 February, 2005

Post-Election Iraq: What Next?
By Gary Leupp

Does this election in any way validate an invasion justified as needed to rid Iraq of its nonexistent weapons of mass destruction, and to sever its nonexistent ties to al-Qaeda? Some preliminary questions for consideration

Iraqi Election Catapults Critic Of U.S. To Power
By T. Christian Miller

The triumph of a Shiite Muslim slate in Iraq's national elections is a victory for one of the nation's most enigmatic figures and a consistent critic of U.S. policy: senior cleric Abdelaziz Hakim

Hiroshima Mon Amour
By John Chuckman

The total loss and devastation in Iraq are comparable to America's dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and likely exceed it. Those who say Bush was right are telling us that it was a sound decision to drop an atomic bomb just to change the government of Iraq

The Indian Seed Act And Patent Act:
Sowing The Seeds Of Dictatorship
By Vandana Shiva

In India two laws have been proposed – a seed Act and a Patent Ordinance which could forever destroy the biodiversity of our seeds and crops, and rob farmers of all freedoms, establishing a seed dictatorship

Sex Choice As Advertisement,
Rape As infotainment !
By Subhash Gatade

The process of sanitising violence against women to enhance one's business prospects can be said to be a effective marketing strategy the world over and media has been a party to this

Woman And Social Class
By Sarabjit K.

A Critical Study of Roopa Bajwa's "The Sari Shop"

14 February, 2005

Global Warming Requires A Global Solution
By Linda McQuaig

Greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere aren't a national problem; they affect the Earth's entire climate system. This is a global problem requiring a coordinated global solution

Global Warming:
"Tragedy Of The Commons" Revisited
By AFP

Even if the land becomes overgrazed, people will continue to put their animals on the damaged fields and even add to their herd. Swap the common land for Earth's atmosphere and overgrazing for greenhouse gases and you have the greatest environmental challenge of the early 21st century: how to tackle climate change

India Under Pressure To Cut Emissions
By Sugita Katyal

India, with a billion people, is one of the world's bigger polluters and is projected to account for a larger share of global carbon emissions as its economy expands. But it has no obligation to cut emissions under Kyoto's first phase to 2012

And Life Goes On...
By Baghdad Burning

At the end of the day, it’s not about having a Sunni or Shia or Kurd or Arab in power. It’s about having someone who has Iraq’s best interests at heart- not America’s, not Iran’s, not Israel’s

Fake Peace Festivals
By Tanya Reinhart

Just as in the days of the Aqaba summit, the majority of Israeli society is euphoric with expectations for change and calm. As always before, there is an absolute lack of collective memory. It is the media's responsibility to remind the readers of recent history

'Dalit Voice' Speaks Out
By V.T Rajshekar & Yoginder Sikand

An interview with V.T.Rajshekar, the editor of the Bangalore-based English fortnightly 'Dalit Voice'. Here he speaks to Yoginder Sikand on various aspects of the Dalit movement and about Dalit-Muslim Relations

Social Implications Of Tsunami Relief: Reflections
By Medha Patkar

The collection centres, are still functioning, day and night. The newspapers are still appealing. The NRIs are pouring in - money and big NGOs writing their proposals for more and more and more.Where is all the money going? What has it been spent on? Who have spent on what and who all on the same items and at what rate? Who has benefited? Who will build the houses and temporary apartments?

12 February, 2005

Sleep walking To The End Of The Earth
By Geoffrey Lean

Floods, storms and droughts. Melting Arctic ice, shrinking glaciers, oceans turning to acid. The world's top scientists warned last week that dangerous climate change is taking place today, not the day after tomorrow

Stories From Fallujah
By Dahr Jamail

These are the stories that will continue to emerge from the rubble of Fallujah for years. No, for generations…

02 February, 2005

Climate Change Already Here
By AFP

Evidence is growing that global warming is already starting to disrupt the world's delicately-balanced climate system, and the damage will reverberate for generations

What They’re Not Telling You
About The “Election”
By Dahr Jamail

Thus, one might argue that the Bush administration has made a deal with the SCIR: Iraq's oil for guaranteed political power. The Americans are able to put forward such a bargain because Bush still holds the strings in Iraq

The Violence Of Hypocrisy
By T. Patrick Donovan

If we are to ever move beyond the violence that permeates America, and with which America is attempting to recreate the world in its own image, then we must take a long, hard look at the sticky web of hypocrisy that holds this country in thrall

The US And Iran: Questions That
Still Need To Be Answered
By Am Johl

With the Bush Administration's penchant for unilateralism, there will no doubt be an escalation of tensions between the US and Iran over the next eighteen months

01 February, 2005

Some Voted For Food
By Dahr Jamail

Many Iraqis said Monday that their names were marked on a list provided by the government agency that provides monthly food rations before they were allowed to vote

The Vietnam Turnout Was Good As Well
By Sami Ramadani

No amount of spin can conceal Iraqis' hostility to US occupation

Triumph And Tragedy For Iraq
By Robert Fisk

If this election produces a parliamentary coalition which splits the Shi'ites and turns their largest party into the opposition, then the Sunni insurgency will become a national uprising

Undermining Iraq’s Food Security
By Ghali Hassan

The US Occupation Authority has imposed legislation, which could have detrimental and lasting impact on Iraqis farmers and Iraq’s ability to produce food for the Iraqi people

The Tsunami And The Brandt Report
By Mohammed Mesbahi and Dr. Angela Pain

Ecological and human disasters such as the 2004 tsunami will continue to occur as long as the current Global Economic system is allowed to exist in its present form

Copyright/Copyleft: Myths About Copyright
By Lawrence Liang, Atrayee Mazmdar and Mayur Suresh

An enquiry into the myths about copyright

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