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31 August , 2012

80 Yanomami People Massacred As Shell Gets
Arctic Drilling Permit

By Subhankar Banerjee

Two pieces of news came in this morning: one about the massacre of up to 80 Yanomami people at a settlement in the Amazon, and the other about Obama green lighting Shell’s drilling in the Arctic Ocean. Both are about resource wars that lead to killing—humans and/or animals, fast or slow, one to get gold, and the other to get oil

Obama Ignores Huge Dangers In Approving Arctic Drilling Permit For Shell
By Center For Biological Diversity

The Obama administration today gave Shell Oil the initial approval to begin controversial and dangerous oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska, despite the fact that a critical oil-spill containment vessel is still awaiting certification in Bellingham, Wash

World War: Nobody Had The Slightes Idea What It Would Be Like
By John Scales Avery

The First World War was a colossal mistake. Today, the world stands on the threshold of an equally enormous disaster. Must we again be lead into a world-destroying war by a few blind individuals who do not have the slightest idea of what such a war would be like?

This Is Not America
By Timothy V. Gatto

The genocidal wars against the Native Americans, the overthrow of legitimate governments by our military and the CIA, the wars of Imperialism against nations like Spain and Mexico, the list goes on. Yet today I am proclaiming that we no longer live in America

The Albany Speech Police
By Stephen Downs, Esq.

Knowing that the police are not protecting you, but instead are following, profiling, and targeting you unfairly, as they do in police states, raises genuine fears. If we are fighting the war on terrorism by terrorizing our own citizens through unjustified surveillance, profiling, bogus police stops, secret evidence, and violations of free speech and free association, the war is already lost

Memorials
By Judy Bello

Our Memorial on August 4th commemorated the loss of Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hussain to their families and their community. But we should not forget the other hundred plus people removed from their lives- A story of racial profiling of Muslims in America

How Unions Could Do Much Better
By Ann Robertson & Bill Leumer

The International Association of Machinists just succeeded in negotiating a humiliating defeat with Caterpillar after a 15-week strike. Workers lost considerable money by striking, and then lost even more with the new contract, accepting almost every concession the company demanded despite the fact that the company was sitting on a record $4.9 billion in profits. The union let scabs cross the picket line and failed to stop production, almost guaranteeing defeat

Tiger Reserves: The Realities Behind A Controversy
By Campaign For Survival and Dignity

The ongoing saga around "tiger tourism" has unleashed a great deal of media commentary, but most of this commentary is beside the point. The issue is not tourism alone. The key problem is that these reserves are not being managed in any rational, accountable or even legal way. The system that controls our tiger reserves is basically broken, and it is so broken that it has resisted every effort to fix it - even those that are required by law

Green-washing “Sustainability”
By Shepherd Bliss

“Sustainability” has become a buzzword for grenn-washing. But what does “sustainability” really mean? You'll get the meaning if you know what's happening in the small town of Sebastopol, Northern California

30 August , 2012

Don't Worry, There's Plenty Of Oil
By Richard Heinberg

In recent months we've seen a spate of articles, reports, and op-eds claiming that peak oil is a worry of the past thanks to so-called "new technologies" that can tap massive amounts of previously inaccessible stores of "unconventional" oil. "Don't worry, drive on," we're told. But as Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg asks in this short video, what's really new here? "What's new is high oil prices and … the economy hates high oil prices."

The End Of Gasoline Warfare
By John Michael Greer

The contemporary American way of war can only continue if huge amounts of relatively cheap energy can be provided, not only to fuel planes and tanks and ships, but to support the immense infrastructure that makes modern war possible. As that surplus of energy wanes, so will gasoline warfare, and the successful military powers of the future will be those that can figure out ways to project power and win battles with less of an outlay of energy and raw materials than their rivals

Stop The Persecution Of Rohingyas of Burma
By Mairead Maguire

The UN and International community have a moral and legal responsibility to act now and step up diplomatic and nonviolent methods to stop the persecution and suffering of the Rohingya people and to end the Burmese government led abuse of human rights and repression against the Rohingyas

Calling All Pessimistic Optimists (Activist FAQ)
By Mickey Z.

I can think of no better mantra for activism. Don't shy away from learning the ugly realities of industrial civilization but never let these brutal truths prevent you from taking urgent action and believing you can create change and save lives -- human and non-human lives. It's a delicate balance but our ability to walk this fine line could literally make all the difference in the world

Kenya Is In Trouble, Serious Trouble
By Thomas C. Mountain

Faced with a combination of body blows ranging from spiking prices for maize, import dependent Kenya’s staple food, IMF mandated food subsidy cuts, a foolhardy USA instigated invasion of Somalia, election triggered ethnic warfare and a simmering independence movement by the Muslims in the Mombasa coastal region Kenya is in trouble, serious trouble

Arrigoni’s Murder Trial In Gaza: Answers Not Just A Verdict
By Ramzy Baroud

Justice for Vittorio Utopia Arrigoni is paramount, but we expect the Gaza government to hand down more than a verdict, but answers to those trying to kill Vittorio’s dream – along with our humanity

The Injustice Meted Out To Rachel Corrie
By Mazin Qumsiyeh

It is hard to believe that we lost Rachel Corrie in March 2003. Our pain makes it feel like only yesterday especially when this week a consistently biased lying Israeli judge justified his unjust verdict exonerating her killers by vilifying the International Solidarity Movement

Glimpse Of Freedom At Rafah Crossing
By Eva Bartlett

With no clear border procedure yet defined by Egyptian authorities, Palestinians in Gaza are wondering whether the border crossing will remain less restrictive, as it became after Mohammed Mursi was elected Egypt’s new president, or whether it will devolve to the Mubarak days of heavy restrictions and constant closures

Freedom Sailors
By Jim Miles

It is difficult to imagine the thoughts and feelings of the people who are forcing the hypocrisy and lies of the Israeli government out into the open by sailing small boats through international waters to Gaza. Freedom Sailors is a collection of anecdotal recollections of the first and ultimately successful attempt by two small boats to break the siege, the S. S. Liberty and S. S. Free Gaza

Global Peace And Security: President Obama And Mankind At Crossroads
By Mahboob A. Khawaja

Mr. President, you are killing people all over the globe - the large scale massacres of the innocent civilians in Afghanistan, daily drone strikes and killing of innocent civilians in Waziristan-Pakistan, US planned militarized and sectarian divided Iraq, insanity overtaking rationality, and a war without rational meaning and purpose, you are a war president, not a peace president. Time and opportunities lost are never regained. History will judge you by your actions, not by your claims

Pakistan Forms A High- Level Committee To Look Into Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s Case
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, has constituted a four-member committee headed by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to look into the case of Dr Aafia Siddiqui who is serving 86 years imprisonment in US on charges of trying to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan

29 August , 2012

US Drone Attacks Escalate Inside Pakistan
By Peter Symonds

The US is intensifying its drone attacks in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan, as the Pakistani army prepares a major military operation against Islamist militants in North Waziristan

A Frenzy Of War Talk— Israel 's Outrageous Threats To Attack Iran
By Larry Everest

The solution to this madness is not siding with either of the reactionary outmoded forces now at each other's throats, but fighting to bring forward a whole other, liberating way—including here in the U.S. by actively opposing the threats and crimes of this government—election or no election, no matter who's in office

Can Animosity Sustain America And Israel For Ever?
By Mahboob A. Khawaja

Peace requires new THINKING and New VISIONS that American President and Israeli PM do not have except the WAR agenda. Both are victims of egomaniac politics. Would Peace and Security grow out of the nowhere? Threatening rhetoric of pre-emptive war strikes on Iran nuclear’s centers and the nuisance of individualistic political indoctrination do not articulate rational and responsible opportunities for rational and intelligent leaders to engage in peaceful dialogue or conflict resolution

Social Innovations For Economic Degrowth
By Andreas Exner & Christian Lauk

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, we find ourselves in a peculiar situation: although hardly anyone would deny the deep ecological crisis facing humankind, we seem to be caught in a net of assumptions that impede a practical solution. Having acknowledged that we need to reduce consumption of energy and materials drastically, we still often think that adjustments within the current system of production and consumption will accomplish this formidable task

The Maternal Instinct Versus The Realities Of Unwaged Labor
By Hadley Suter

To allow for the workplace’s colonization of the domestic sphere is to repaint even the most explicitly “productive” work. The happy mommy-slave is as ripe for exploitation by her office as she is by her home

The ‘Maoists’ Of Manesar
By Anand Teltumbde

Predictably, the government insinuated a Maoist connection with the violent incident in the Maruti Suzuki plant at Manesar in Haryana on The militant expression of the new genre of workers, interestingly in the industrial backyard of Delhi, since the Honda workers were publicly battered by police seven years ago and the Maruti workers’ exemplary struggle since last year, appear to be becoming ‘the greatest internal security threat’ of the prime minister Manmohan Singh’s making

What Does "Independence" Mean For Labor?
By Mark Vorpahl

The unions remain the only organizations in USA built by and for workers to be a collective fighting force to defend and improve the members’ standard of living. While only a minority belongs to unions, all workers' fate depends on their strength. Unfortunately they have been taking a serious beating. How has the leadership of Labor been responding?

Learning To Hate Longhorn Football
By Robert Jensen

The opener of the 2012 Longhorn football season is Saturday, Sept. 1. In this essay, a University of Texas at Austin professor reflects on the downside of the team that is so beloved in Austin and around the state

Growing OppositionTo The Canada-EU Trade Agreement
By Dana Gabriel

With the final rounds of negotiations sessions planned for September and October, Canada and the EU are closing in on a free trade deal that would go far beyond the reach of NAFTA. Meanwhile, there is growing opposition to the agreement as the whole process has lacked openness, transparency and any public consultations

28 August , 2012

Rachel Corrie Death Ruled An Accident
By Common Dreams

A district court in Haifa has rejection a civil lawsuit that the state of Israel and its armed forces were at fault in the death of American human rights activist Rachel Corrie, who was crushed by an Israeli Defense Force bulldozer in 2003 while trying to prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip. "I reject the suit," Judge Oded Gershone said in the briefly worded verdict. "There is no justification to demand the state pay any damages."

Impressions From Gaza On A Few Hot August Days
By Eva Bartlett

When they bomb in Gaza, life goes on somehow. People either don’t notice, if it is not right in their faces, or if they notice they just continue on with what they were doing. Can’t blame them, as bombing can happen at any moment, and does, but they have to continue on with their lives

French President Hollande Calls For Formation Of Syrian Opposition Government
By Alex Lantier

Yesterday, at a conference of France’s ambassadors held in Paris, newly-elected French President François Hollande called for the US-backed Syrian opposition parties to form a government, which he said France would recognize

Along With The Arctic Ice, The Rich World's Smugness Will Melt
By George Monbiot

What we are seeing, here and now, is the transformation of the atmospheric physics of this planet. Three weeks before the likely minimum, the melting of Arctic sea ice has already broken the record set in 2007. The daily rate of loss is now 50% higher than it was that year. The daily sense of loss – of the world we loved and knew – cannot be quantified so easily

Our Hunger Games
By Vandana Shiva

Hunger and malnutrition are man-made. They are hardwired in the design of the industrial, chemical model of agriculture. But just as hunger is created by design, healthy and nutritious food for all can also be designed, through food democracy

America Preparing For A Post-Israel Middle East?
By Franklin Lamb

A paper entitled: Preparing For A Post Israel Middle East, an 82 page analysis concludes that the American national interest in fundamentally at odds with that of Zionist Israel. The authors concludes that Israel is currently the greatest threat to US national interests because its nature and actions prevent normal US relations with Arab and Muslim countries and, to a growing degree, the wider international community

The Diamond Jubilee Of The Queen Of Diamonds And The Great Poverty Of Little Britain - Part I
By George Venturini

The past five years have been a reality check. The Queen once famously asked economists why none of them saw the crash coming. As she was celebrating her Diamond Jubilee, she should have been asking her prime minister how a nation - which has not run a manufacturing trade surplus since Michael Foot was Leader of the Opposition, where North Sea oil has come and nearly gone, and where consumer debt hit saturation point some years ago - is going to earn a living in the years ahead

A Jubilee Celebrated On The Back Of Millions Of Conquered People - Part II
By George Venturini

The Diamond Jubilee celebrate a history of aristocratic rule and excess built on the backs of millions of conquered peoples who were subjugated and exploited all their lives for centuries to provide a privileged few to live in luxury

Tax The Rich or Privatize The State?
By Shamus Cooke

Labor and community groups need to put forward a completely independent demand to tax the rich and corporations, including the demand of NO CUTS to social services. There is enough money in the United States to fully fund a national jobs program, Social Security, Medicare, public education and all vital social programs. But this money has accumulated in the hands of the top 1%, who must be taxed at 70 percent or higher for the benefit of all working people

Riot With Many Contrasts
By Ram Puniyani

The recent riot in Mumbai 12th August, 2012, does not fit into any of the prevalent notions of riot so far. It is a total contrast to all this and at times also shows the ray of hope about the possibility of positive forces being awakened to quell the violence

Remembering A..K. Hangal And Balraj Sahni
By Vidyadhar Date

It is perhaps just as well that Bollywood superstars did not attend the cremation of Mr A.K. Hangal, the grand old of films, theatre and the Left movement, on August 26 though it was in Juhu, fairly close to their luxury homes. They did not deserve to be dignified by his last presence on earth

Should Banks Be Allowed In Commodity Futures Trading?
By Kavaljit Singh

Given the ground realities in the country where 80 percent of farmers are small farmers, not even 0.1 percent of farm borrowers in India trade in the commodity futures exchanges. Further, there is no rationale for allowing non-banking financial players such as mutual funds, insurance companies and FIIs in the agricultural commodity markets since they have no direct exposure to farm loans and farming community in India

Political Power As A Tool To Suppress The Marginalized
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

18 Mushahar huts in the Mushahar basti of Lakshmipur in Kushinagar district were demolished by a rampaging crowd belonging to Yadav community of the same village on July 30th. The people are living in open and eating in community kitchen. A constant fear exist among them with uncertain future as they live in makes shift tents and face the fury of nature too. Caste violence against Dalits is on the rise in Uttar Pradesh and must be stopped

Sufi Balm For Troubled Times
By N. Jayaram

Baba Bulleh Shah’s poem, Bulla, ki jaana maen kaun , has particular resonance in the context of a great deal of xenophobia and distrust of the other that we are witnessing in many parts of the world, and especially in India

27 August , 2012

Arctic Sea-Ice Melt Record Just Not Being Broken, It’s Being Smashed
By Rasmus E. Benestad

Arctic sea-ice melt record is broken almost a month before the annual sea-ice minima usually is observed, and there is probably more melting in store before it reaches the minimum for 2012 – before the autumn sea-ice starts to form

IAEA Talks With Iran Break Down
By Peter Symonds

Talks between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iran broke down on Friday over IAEA demands for access to a sensitive military site. The failure of the negotiations, ahead of a quarterly IAEA report expected this week on Iran’s nuclear programs, has prompted new threats from Israel

Greece Faces French-German Pressure And Mounting Human Crisis
By Farooque Chowdhury

Casting away all confusion related to “socialist” stance the French and German bankers’ interests unite to press down Greece while the Greek people face human crisis

India Must Respond To UN Call For The Repeal Of AFSPA(PDF)
WGHR Statement On AFSPA

With just a few weeks to go for Government of India to response to the UPR recommendations to repeal/review AFSPA, the final report of which will be adopted in the UN Human Rights Council on 20 September 2012, this statement of the civil society groups is quite significant

Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant Has An Incomplete Emergency Operating Procedure - AERB
By VT Padmanabhan, R Ramesh & V Pugazhendi

Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant is going to be commissioned with an incomplete Emergency Operating Procedure

Kudankulam Reactor: Criticality Now And Safety Six Months Later
By VT Padmanabhan, R Ramesh & V Pugazhendi

If one goes by a counter affidavit submitted in the Madras High Court by Dr Soumen Sinha, senior scientific officer at the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, NPCIL would need a minimum of 20 months to construct a water tank with a capacity of storing 8,000 cubic meters of water. The tank will be completed only six months after the commissioning of the plant

Romney’s Dirtier, Deadlier Energy Future: Is There Another Way?
By Sarah van Gelder

The oil-dependent economy Romney supports is a step toward an unstable, costly future. Renewables and energy efficiency offer real hope

Commons: Alternatives To Markets And States
By Derek Wall

The struggle practically and intellectually has to be about rolling back commodification and regrowing a gift economy. Commons economies don’t abolish injustice or guarantee sustainability but we can do better than being slaves to an economy which marches to the beat of the bond markets. Whether Syriza in Greece, the work of ecosocialists, the experiments of workers control and solidarity economies in Latin America or a thousand other examples alternatives to a bought and sold world are emerging

Resilience In suburban Anchorage
By Mary & Todd Logan

An alternative story of resilience from Alaska

How Quickly Will The U.S. Leave Afghanistan?
By Tom Engelhardt

You would, of course, have been considered a first-class idiot, if not a madman, and yet this is exactly the U.S. “hearts and minds” record in Afghanistan to date. Welcomed in 2001, we are being shown the door in the worst possible way in 2012. Washington is losing it. It’s too late to exit gracefully, but exit in time we must

Dark Aftermath Of The U.S./Colombia Free Trade Agreement
By Fred Hirsch

Colombian worker's union leaders William Mendoza and Juan Carlos Galvis are implicated in false cases and threatened with assassination

America's Global Terrorism Against Peace
By Ghali Hassan

The U.S. cannot pretend to be preaching peace, democracy and human rights while continues sponsoring and practising terrorism. Only a non-violent America governed by democratic principles and abides by international law and treaties can contribute to world's peace. It is time America stopped the practice of terrorism

Kandhamal Communal Violence: Four Years Later
A Fact Finding Report

A synopsis of the fact finding report on the situation of violence affected people in Kandhamal after four years

26 August , 2012

Arctic Sea Ice Shrinks To Smallest Ever: Satellite Data
By Common Dreams

Arctic sea ice coverage shrank to a record low 4.21 million square kilometers as of Friday, declining below the previous record low of 4.25 million sq. km marked in 2007, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Saturday, citing satellite data

Flight Of The Bumblebee: From India To Europe, Are We Poisoning Our Future?
By Colin Todhunter

Have you heard the buzz lately? Billions of bumblebees have been dying off, and, as a result, the entire global food chain may be in danger. Along with other insects, such as moths and hoverflies, bees pollinate around a third of the crops grown worldwide

Iran And The Brunt Of Nuclear Crucifixion
By Ismail Salami

In a recent report, the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) has published satellite imagery which it claims indicates ‘pink colored material’ covering a building at a sensitive military site in Iran which UN inspectors wish to visit. They claim the tarp at the Parchin military complex may be an effort to hide clean-up work. This think tank institute is run by David Albright who garnered extreme notoriety over the lies he spread about Iraq’s alleged WMDs

Tehran NAM Summit: The Failure Of Anti-Iranian Plots
By Kourosh Ziabari

The NAM summit in Tehran, however, will demonstrate that the term "international community" cannot be exclusively used to refer to the United States and its allies. There are other countries in the world that are entitled to the right of self-determination and maybe are not willing to be entrapped in the neo-conservative war propaganda against Iran

The Apocalypse Of The Teacher (The Book of the Great Divide)
By J.H. Marten

A parable for our future

Achieving Just Peace In Bodoland
By Tanweer Fazal

The ethnic homeland model of resolving violent conflicts has collapsed and any further pursuance of this would only end up in colossal human tragedies of the kind we are witnessing today

The Witch-Hunt Of Workers In Maruti Suzuki
By Sumati Panikkar

With 500 sacked, how many more to go at Maruti? If might is right, what about the rule of law?

25 August , 2012

Norwegian Mass Murderer Breivik Sentenced To 21 Years
By Jordan Shilton

The Oslo District Court yesterday ruled that fascist mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik was sane and handed down the maximum sentence of 21 years imprisonment for his twin terrorist attacks on July 22, 2011. A mass shooting of social democratic youth on the island of Utoeya and an earlier car bomb led to the deaths of 77

Building Resilience In A Changing Climate
By Richard Heinberg

By cutting our reliance on fossil fuels, by reducing energy requirements in general, and by eliminating our economic system’s need for perpetual growth (and hence for perpetually increasing energy consumption), we can make our way of life less vulnerable to energy shortages and price spikes while also reducing carbon emissions

Talking Wikileaks, Assange, Manning, Occupy, And More:
My Conversation With Mark Hand

By Mickey Z.

Mickey Z. in conversation with Mark Hand, editor of Press Action

 

Video: The Hidden Costs Of Hamburgers
By Carrie Ching, Sarah Terry-Cobo & Arthur Jones

Americans eat on an average 3 hamburgers a week. Now this may appear to be nothing big and serious, but the damage it does to environment is something that has rarely been understood. Cows on the other hand release more greenhouse gases than the 22 million cars in the United States. What is the relationship between the two?

The Pursuit Of Julian Assange Is An Assault On Freedom And A Mockery Of Journalism
By John Pilger

Threatening to abuse a law designed to expel murderers from foreign embassies, while defaming an innocent man as an "alleged criminal", Foreign Secretary William Hague has made a laughing stock of Britain across the world, though this view is mostly suppressed in Britain

Caste And The Tyranny Of Capitalism In India
By Braj Ranjan Mani

The tyranny of capitalism in India cannot be grasped, let alone resisted, in isolation from its wider social context. Capitalism is far more dangerous in India than in the Euro-America because of the culture and economics of caste

24 August , 2012

Gauging The Impact Of Warming On Asia’s Life-Giving Monsoons
By Christina Larson

In Mongolia, U.S. scientists are studying climate clues in ancient tree rings to help answer a crucial question: How will global warming affect Asia’s monsoon rains, which supply water for agriculture and drinking to half the world’s population?

US War Threats Against Syria As Fighting Intensifies Across Near East
By Alex Lantier

Fighting is intensifying in Syria and throughout the Near East, as US and NATO officials escalate threats against Syria after US President Barack Obama’s statement Monday night that Washington is planning for a US invasion of Syria

Katrina Pain Index 2012: 7 Years After
By Bill Quigley & Davida Finger

Seven years after Katrina, New Orleans tops the charts in world prison rate, homelessness, income inequality and many more

The End Of The Industrial Revolution
By Paul Gilding

Now we shift to the third great wave, the world post the industrial revolution. To an economy designed to last, that is built around the present and nurtures the future. This will be an era where we…… well, that’s the exciting bit. We get to decide what comes next. We get to decide what the third great phase of human progress looks like

Eid In Gaza
By Eva Bartlett

Gazans celebrate Eid with their indomitable spirit amidst want and suffering

Bangladesh Elections 2013: Why Voters Are Not Enthusiastic?
By Badrul Islam

It is imperative that both, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the 0pposition adopt a positive attitude and vow to sit down, for a dialogue to discuss and sort out all their personal and political differences. However, they must sit alone, with the objective for finding solutions, be unconditionally constructive, respect the right to differ and be receptive to consider alternatives

India: Lucky Baby! Protecting Daughters In Patriarchy’s Heartland
By Alka Pande

Story of a few courageous women who, against all odds, protect girl childs

23 August , 2012

Iraq: The Children Are Still Dying
By Ramzy Baroud

Iraq’s desolation continues. On August 16, 90 people were killed and more were wounded in attacks across the country. Media sources reported on the bloodbath (nearly 200 Iraqis were killed this month alone), but without much context. Are we meant to believe that violence in Iraq has transcended any level of reason? That Iraqis get blown up simply because it is their fate to live in perpetual fear and misery?

Iraq: Mission Accomplished For Big Oil?
By Greg Muttitt

How an American Disaster Paved the Way for Big Oil’s Rise -- and Possible Fall -- in Iraq

Preparing The Public For The Attack On Hezbollah
By Dan Lieberman

Commentators smirk at U.S. administration accusations against Hezbollah, but don't seem to realize these accusations predict the preparation of a combined U.S./Israeli attack against the Party of God. Why? Because these nations expect Hezbollah to react militarily to the attack on Iran

When Gods Come Down To Be Sold- Analysing The Politics Of Tourism
By K.P. Sasi

Tourism expansion in its present form violates the human rights of a large section of people in India , predominantly fishing communities, adivasis and farmers. It threatens the right to livelihood and causes displacement of local communities. It strips the environment to make money and destroys local culture. It steals the very dignity of women and children

Video: "The Big Blackout: Debunking The Myths of Power Privatisation"
By Daniel Chavez & Satya Sivaraman

"The Big Blackout: Debunking the Myths of Power Privatisation" is a video released in late 2003, produced by TNI Fellow Daniel Chavez and Indian filmmaker Satya Sivaraman. The film gives a global perspective on power reforms from India to Colombia and Brazil to South Africa. With plenty of empirical evidence on the negative impact of privatisation and deregulation on consumers, workers and society as a whole, the film suggests ways to create democratic and sustainable alternatives

American Militarism And Its Short- And Long-Term Implications
By Taj Hashmi

Is there a way out of the foreseeable mega wars in the names of the “War on Terror” or “Islam-in-Danger”? We know the answer, which might sound very sophomoric, that is the American people should force their government to restrain the Military-Industrial Complex from promoting wars and conflicts; make the Israeli Lobby accountable to US laws and regulations

Accomplice In Genocide; UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay
By Thomas C. Mountain

The UN’s Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has spent her entire time in office as an active accomplice in the genocide being conducted by the western funded Ethiopian regime against the people of the Ogaden

22 August , 2012

Obama Threatens To Invade Syria
By Johannes Stern

Yesterday US and NATO officials discussed plans for a US military invasion of Syria to bring down Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, after US President Barack Obama announced that the US was contemplating a direct attack on Syria at a press conference Monday night

Transition Movement Meets Sacred Economics
Rob Hopkins interviews Charles Eisenstein

In this fascinating conversation between Rob Hopkins co-founder of Transition Network and Transition Town Totnes and Charles Eisenstein , the Author of 'Sacred Economics’, an economic theory based on gift economy both assess each other's theory and practice and brings out the strength and weakness both systems

Occupying For Sustainability
By Winnie As Told To Stacy Lanyon

Winnie an Occupier tells why she is Occupying

More Costs Of War: Suicides And Mental Trauma Of Military Family Members
By Ann Wright

Seven months ago, in December, 2011, Brian Arredondo, age 24, hanged himself in a shed in his mother’s backyard. Brian was the brother of US Marine Corps Lance Corporal Alexander Arredondo, who was killed in Iraq in 2004. For seven years Brian had had difficulties dealing with the death of his brother. Brian, like so many military brothers, sisters, spouses, children and parents, fell into the depths of depression following the death of his brother

Do US Prisons Violate European Human Rights Law?
By Angola 3 News

An interview with Hamja Ahsan and Aviva Stahl

Fall Of The Fanatic: Is Advani The New Rakhi Sawant Of Indian Politics?
By Samar

Advani, evidently, has lost the plot. Worse, even for him, is that he has no clue where or that he has lost it in the first place. The politics he has decided to be part of stands defeated by the very ones he has handpicked as his successors, especially Narendra Modi, the chosen one. No one stands for the ideals – i.e. if you can call a belief in subjugating women, dalits, minorities and all others as ideals

Globalisation, Development And Tribals Of Kerala
By Mr. Ajmal Khan

The present paper argues that It is been accepted that the celebrated kerala model of development has not mademuch changes for the socio-economic life of the tribals of kerala, by using different secondary data sets the paper argues that after the sixty years of formation of the state tribals continues as one of the most marginalised community within the state

Poaching Push Rhino’s To The Brink Of Extinction
By Marianne de Nazareth

In Johannesburg, South Africa, 21st August 2012, a comprehensive new report into the rhino poaching crisis in South Africa documents how poor compliance over rhino horn stockpile management, loopholes in sport hunting policy, and surging demand for horn in Vietnam created ideal conditions for the involvement of sophisticated criminal networks, leading to a dramatic escalation in poaching in southern Africa

21 August , 2012

Warm Seawater Forces Connecticut Nuclear Plant Shutdown
By Countercurrents.org

Associated press reports that Connecticut’s nuclear power plant shut one of two units on Sunday because seawater used to cool down the plant is too warm. This is a scary scenario for the future. When the sea water gets warmer due to global warming, most of the nuclear power plants located near the sea will face similar situation, and may even lead to accidents

German Government Aids Anti-Assad Forces In Syria
By Christoph Dreier

The German military and related intelligence agencies are playing a far greater role in supporting anti-Assad forces in Syria than previously reported. On Sunday the Bildzeitung published a report on German army and Federal Intelligence Service (BND) operations on the Syrian border, where they are providing military aid to the Free Syrian Army (FSA)

The Protection Racket
By John Scales Avery

How much is it exactly that we pay today for “protection”? The total world military budgets cost us 1.7 trillion dollars each year ¨C that is to say, 1,700,000,000,000 dollars, an amount of money almost too large to be imagined. What do we get for this? We do not get anything useful. We get war, a universal source of poverty, destruction of infrastructure, and human suffering

Occupying For The Future
By Linnea M. Palmer Paton As Told To Stacy Lanyon

An inspiring Occupy story from the front line

The Resilience Imperative And Civil Disobedience
By Michael Lewis

The tasks of transition are many. The challenges are daunting. The outcomes are uncertain. Our courage remains untested. But we are a resilient species. We are not alone; there is “blessed unrest” all about. If we but open our eyes, we will SEE change is possible. If we act in ways that recognize we are interdependent, we will continue to innovate cooperative transitions to a steady-state economy

Report From Iron Mountain: Peace Would Be All Hell
By Rand Clifford

"The Report From Iron Mountain" is considered as a satiric spoof. But the way USA conducts itself now a days, make us believe that the book may be speaking the truth

America’s Iran Obsession: Is It All About Israel?
By Taj Hashmi

America needs a major war every ten years or so for reasons known to those who understand the dynamics of the American Military-Industrial Complex

British Policy Towards The Arab Spring Has Been Entirely Consistent
By Dan Glazebrook

Over the past year, the British government have bombed rebels into power in Libya – and are desperately hoping to do the same in Syria –whilst simultaneously aiding and abetting the crushing of rebel forces in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Some commentators have called this hypocritical. In fact, there is no contradiction: the British government is engaged in a vicious, region-wide attack on all independent, anti-colonial forces in the region, be they states or opposition movements

The Missing Option To Defuse Iran Threat
By Nicola Nasser

Giving priority to making peace with Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian people on the land – for – peace basis, which is the essence of the Arab Peace Initiative proposed by the 22 – member states of the Arab League in 2002, would disarm Iran of its Arab, Palestinian credentials and create a new regional environment that would in turn render any Arab alliance with Iran unnecessary and would uncover Iranian regional expansion as an endeavor sought per se by Tehran

Iran Is Not Isolated: When The Olympics Make Iranians Proud
By Kourosh Ziabari

The 2012 Olympics was a dramatic event for the Iranian people to regain their sense of dignity and honor in view of the increasing pressure on their country over its nuclear program. While the country's politicians face a daunting job in resisting the mounting economic and political pressures, the Iranian athletes performed fantastically, proving that it's not too easy to take Iran off the international equations

Hope And Despair For Lebanon’s Palestinians
By Franklin Lamb

The hope of Palestinian refugees to achieve the basic civil right to work and to own a home is not extinguished in the camps this holiday season by the impotence of Lebanon’s big talk but do nothing Parliament

Custodian Of The Custodian Of The Custodian
By Chandra Muzaffar

The mainstream media in most Muslim majority states have not highlighted these aspects of the Syrian conflict. Neither have they subjected to scrutiny the authenticity of the news they carry on the conflict and the sources of the news items

Revolutionary Changes At The Community Level:
Love, Compassion And The Vision Of Miriam Hyman

By Colin Todhunter

This is a story of how love can overcome hatred and compassion can overcome despair. It is also a story of a spirit of unity and fellowship that transcends national identity, culture or politics. It is an inspiring tale of how ordinary folk can work to bring about tangible change for the betterment of others who may be less fortunate

Forbesganj Struggle Continues: People Construct Bhajanpur-Sheetalpur Road
By Kunal

Thousands of villagers armed with traditional utensils offered ‘shramdaan’ and volunteered as labourers in order to construct the Bhajanpur-Sheetalpur road at Forbesganj, Bihar, on 16 August. This is a victory for the people’s struggle, which has braved the severest repression and communal encirclement

20 August , 2012

Non-Aligned Movement Urged To Step Up To Prevent A War On Iran
By Veterans For Peace

With the Non-Aligned Movement meeting this week in Tehran, Veterans For Peace is urging the organization of 120 nations not formally allied with any major power bloc to take steps to deter the Israeli-American threats of war against Iran over its nuclear enrichment program

Thousands Mass Outside Ecuadorean Embassy To Support Assange
By Daniel O’Flynn and Rick Wilson

Two thousand protesters massed outside the Ecuadorean embassy in support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Homemade placards spelt out the international legal conventions being trodden on by the British, US, and Swedish governments

My Visit To A London Embassy Under Threat
By Jeff Cohen

At the door of the rather small embassy, I was met by cops who interrogated me about who I was and why I sought entry. I had to wonder if the embassy was under siege by Britain on behalf of Washington, which reportedly stands ready to prosecute the WikiLeaks founder. Again, that's for the "crime" of publishing -- not sexual assault

Washington Eyes Iran Proxy War through Israel
By Ismail Salami

The Israeli narrative of launching an attack on Iran's nuclear plants has been so overpoweringly hyped up and taken for granted by Israeli media that one achieves certitude that such an attack will happen and that Iran will sit idly in the manner of a befuddled, thunderstruck and petrified nation. Strangely, western and Israeli media aggrandize the military prowess of Israel to the skies and underestimate that of Iran

America’s Syria Obsession Explains Its Rendezvous With Al Qaeda
By Taj Hashmi

It is unbelievable but true that America, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, al Qaeda and other Western, Arab and Islamist allies have been sponsoring and arming the “Free Syrian Army” and other militants with a view to staging another regime-change in Syria

You Say You Want A Revolution of Values?
By David Swanson

When someone tells you to stop imagining that you're having an impact, ask them to please redirect their energy into getting 10 friends to join you in doing what needs to be done. If it has no impact, you'll have gone down trying. If it has an impact, nobody will tell you for many years

Corporate Ecocide. It’s Much More Than Monsanto
By Mickey Z.

Occupy Wall Street has changed the global conversation, but it’s just a start. We need holistic justice not single-issue activism

Crops, Cancer And Climate Change: The Corporate Hijack Of Science
By Colin Todhunter

When rich companies with well-positioned, politically-connected lobbyists fund their own research and distort outcomes for their own ends, like some giant pharmaceutical company tinkering with our food or using poisonous pesticide, we are in serious trouble. Due to the corporate takeover of science, our rights and freedoms are currently in the process of being destroyed

Libya And The Western Left
By Dan Glazebrook

An interview with Brian Becker of the ANSWER Coalition

Koodankulam: A Call For Justice
By People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy

We would very much like to request you, Madam, to turn the KKNPP into a pro-people and Nature-friendly project, bring about solar power policy and projects all over our State, rectify the transmission and distribution issues, protect the interests of the Tamil people, and leave a wonderful legacy of visionary leadership and compassionate development with the people of Tamil Nadu and India.

Wimpish In America
By William A. Cook

Can anyone doubt that Capitalism is a failed economic system? How many times must it fail for people to accept that fact? Yet our press and our representatives and our schools keep a thundering drum beat of regurgitation to keep it afloat when its very existence has been made possible by taxpayer buyouts of their failed policies. But, like Ayn Rand, one needs to keep living and pushing to that objectivistic end, self-gratification at any price, even if it means living off the dole. How utterly ironic

Is Conflict Creeping in? Who The enemy? German Army’s Widened Role At home
By Farooque Chowdhury

Deepening problems push the German judiciary to empower army with widened role at home: use its weapons on German streets. Who the enemy is? Whom the European economic giant and one of the world’s six top military spenders apprehends to confront?

Workers Must Take Control
By Mark Vorpahl

In order for workers to have a national independent political voice they must build a broad united effort around demands that can galvanize the majority such as "Jobs not cuts," "Medicare for all," "Tax the rich," and "Fully funded education and social services." To make sure that voice is heard the support for these demands must be demonstrated with the largest mobilizations possible as well as other organizing tactics

New Book Exposes Violent Role Of Paramilitaries In Haiti
By Judith Scherr

Haiti’s brutal army was disbanded in 1995, yet armed and uniformed paramilitaries, with no government affiliation, occupy former army bases today. President Michel Martelly, who has promised to restore the army, has not called on police or U.N. troops to dislodge these ad-hoc soldiers

Festive Psychological Torture In Gaza
By Eva Bartlett

Israeli war planes are constantly flying over Gaza. In Gaza, when one hears a plane’s engines, it is never that of a passenger plane. What’s going to happen, and when? This time? Here again? It's a psychological torture

The Year 2002: The End of "Enough"
By Peter Goodchild

"The Great Recession was caused by a permanent ecological (geological) phenomenon -- ever-increasing global NNR [non-renewable natural-resource] scarcity. The Great Recession marked the permanent transition from our old normal of ever-increasing, NNR-enabled prosperity to our new normal of ever-increasing, geologically-imposed austerity."

Phoolan Devi: A Forgotten Heroine…
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Phoolan Devi has many images. Many feel she was a criminal while for numerous others she was a rebel who avenged the humiliation meted out to her. Whatever you portray her but the fact was that Phoolan was a very simple yet determined woman who did not accept to life of ignominy after so many violations. Phoolan definitely was not an ordinary woman and need a fair appraisal

19 August , 2012

"Unite Against Oppression"
By Julian Assange

"There is unity in the oppression. There must be absolute unity and determination in the response." Official Statement by Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy

Do The People Have A Right To Know What Their Governments Are Doing?
By John Scales Avery

We do not know what will happen to Julian Assange. If his captors send him to the US, and if he is executed there for the crime of publishing leaked documents (a crime that he shares with the New York Times), he will not be the first martyr to the truth

Australian Government Will Issue Overdue Apology To 1968 Olympic Hero Peter Norman
By Dave Zirin

In an act as appropriate as it is overdue, the Australian House of Parliament is issuing an official state apology Monday to the country’s late, great sprinter Peter Norman. Norman who won the 200-meter silver medal at the 1968 Olympics and in one of the defining images of the 20th century and a symbol of the struggle for human rights and racial equality showed solidarity with two black American athletes at the medal ceremony. For this Peter Norman became a pariah in Australia

Israel Delivers “Or Else” Demands To Obama
By James M. Wall

A former Israeli national security adviser said Wednesday that the prime minister and the defense minister told him this week they had not yet decided to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities and could be dissuaded from a strike if President Obama approved stricter sanctions and publicly confirmed his willingness to use military force

Austerity – Our “New Normal” (PDF)
By Chris Clugston

Our “old normal” – prosperity – was enabled by abundant and cheap nonrenewable natural resources . Our “new normal” – austerity – is being thrust upon us by increasingly scarce and expensive resources

Vladimir Putin And The Crime Of Dissent
By Mary Shaw

Russia may have made some steps forward towards social progress since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, but it seems that President Vladimir Putin is doing everything he can to crack down on political dissent. And the new poster girls for this oppression are members of the feminist punk rock group Pussy Riot

America’s Quest For Friendly Regimes In the Muslim World
By Taj Hashmi

This paper appraises the role of America in intensifying world conflicts – directly or indirectly – through invasions or benign neglect of smaller countries. It aims at answering the questions a) Is the Muslim-West conflict a derivative of American imperialism? b) Are there better options for America? c) Can America be a dependable friend and partner-in-peace-and-progress of the Muslim World, not an adversary?

Oh Woman! Tell Me, Are You A Woman?
By Nisha Biswas

Life of a woman, since the time of her birth, identified as one on the basis of absence of a penis, is a story of struggle, irrespective of the cast, class or country to which she belongs. She is required to prove her womanhood, has to follow the pattern that society sets for her, while she aspires for an identity other than being the daughter, wife or mother of someone in the big man's world. This happens at home as well as in the profession that she chose for herself. Nisha Biswas narrates this ordeal through the lives of a few athletes

Status of Minorities: A Tale Of Two Neighbors
By Ram Puniyani

In India there is an urgent need to reform our electoral system to reflect our social and political needs. Communal violence and discrimination against minorities is an immense loss to our national ethos and humanism. Time to check it and reaffirm in practice, those values which made us India! And for Pakistan high time to come back to the values outlined in the speech of Jinnah on 11th August 1947, decline in the percentage of minorities and their exodus from Pakistan is a great insult to the founder of Pakistan!

Phoolan Devi's Mother And Sister Languishing In Hunger And Poverty
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Interview with Ramkali, younger sister of Phoolan Devi, who is suffering from ailment and yet unable to go to a doctor. Both mother and daughter are languishing in hunger and poverty at their ancestral home in Shekhpurgudha, Kalpi, Uttar-Pradesh and depend on daily labour work for their survival

18 August , 2012

US Proxy War In Syria Spreads To Lebanon And Iraq
By Eric London

The intensifying proxy war in Syria is causing increased anxiety throughout the Middle East, where the specters of sectarian war and Western military intervention loom large. A series of kidnappings threatens to drag Lebanon deeper into the 17-month-long civil war in neighboring Syria, while 93 people were killed in Iraq on Thursday

US Court Allows Patents On Human Genes
By Amanda Wilson

In a ruling that largely upheld the status quo in a biotech industry that has been patenting genes for decades, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled Thursday that “isolated” human genes are patentable. Methods of “comparing” or “analysing” DNA sequences are, however, not patent eligible, it ruled

South African Police Massacre Striking Miners
By Bill Van Auken

The mass killing came on the sixth day of a strike by miners at Marikana operations of the British-owned Lonmin Plc, the world’s third-largest platinum mining company. Thousands of rock drillers walked out of the mines last Friday to press their demand for a doubling of salaries. The platinum mines are among the lowest paying in South Africa, and miners charge that little has changed in their conditions since the end of apartheid nearly two decades ago

St. Nelson’s Legacy; Neo-Apartheid And The South African Miners Massacre
By Thomas C. Mountain

This past thursday saw black South African blood spilled once again but at least this time it was spilled by Africans standing up as men, in the open air, not dying an ignoble death deep in the bowels of the earth. Fighting for a future for their children, fighting against the racially mixed agents of violent enforcement of the neo-Apartheid legacy of St. Nelson, former President Mandela, the first black president of a “free, democratic” South Africa

"The World Is Improving Better Than Pessimists Know,
But Dangers Are Worse Than Optimists Indicate"

By Jerome C. Glenn

What’s happening that will change the world for better or worse? What do we need to know now to build a better future? The Millennium Project releases the 2012 State of the Future report – the annual “Report Card on the World.”

From Denmark To Bhutan: The Policies Of Happiness
By Colin Todhunter

Various surveys have indicated that while wealthy western nations use up vast quantities of the world's scarce resources, many of their citizens are not much happier, or are indeed less happy, than those who belong to poorer countries that use far fewer resources

The Noble Children Of Idinthikarai: Tomorrow's Hope For A Peaceful India
By S.G.Vombatkere

Governments would be well advised to take careful note of Idinthikarai's noble children. They will be the real leaders of tomorrow's India that lives by the Constitution, which today is shamefully being violated by governments' various acts of commission and omission

Running On Empty: Big Airlines In Big Trouble
By Andrew McKay

Most people living in our modern industrial society take air travel for granted. We think very little about hopping on a plane and travelling around the world for little more than a couple of weeks wages. As jet fuel prices bounce along with the price of crude however many airlines are increasingly struggling to break even. Fuel prices now account for 35 percent of operating costs compared to 15 percent a decade ago. The future of the global aviation industry is in big trouble

An Honest Letter To Al Gore
By Timothy V. Gatto

I faxed you a letter yesterday about making Current TV into a News Show. This nation desperately needs a venue where the truth is told instead of "sanitized" news that bolsters the government's agenda. I'm serious about this and I'm not the only one that thinks this way

Panicking Indians Fleeing India!- A Satire
By Satya Sagar

A satirical take on the current socio-political situation in India

Top Academics Rebel Against State Capture In Favor Of Truth And Ethical Human Rights
By Anthony Ravlich

More top academics are breaking the long silence of academia regarding the rights omissions, such as children’s rights, and the new ethical human rights approach which includes all the rights

Do Not Reward Israeli Apartheid!
By Palestinian Collective

An Open Letter from Gaza to EU

Violence In Kokrajhar
By Walter Fernandes

Uncontrolled immigration in Assam has not only angered locals, but also provided them an excuse to mistreat all immigrants: illegal, Muslims, Bangladeshis or otherwise

17 August , 2012

UK Threatens To Storm Ecuadorean Embassy To Seize Assange
By Robert Stevens

The threat by the UK’s Conservative-Liberal Democrat government to storm the Ecuadorean embassy to arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange shows contempt for international law and a colonial-style disregard for Ecuadorean sovereignty

Climate Change And The Syrian Uprising
By Shahrzad Mohtadi

The drought in Syria is one of the first modern events in which a climactic anomaly resulted in mass migration and contributed to state instability. This is a lesson and a warning for the greater catalyst that climate change will become in a region already under the strains of cultural polarity, political repression, and economic inequity

Weapons For The Weak In The Climate Struggle
By Walden Bello

As the last two years have made very clear, climate has become the No. 1 national security issue for developing countries. When diplomacy fails, the threatened nations have no choice but to resort to strategies like anti-diplomacy to safeguard their national security and national interest. Our weapons are few, and often they are only mechanisms of moral suasion, but we must use them and hope for the best

How President Obama Created Paul Ryan
By Shamus Cooke

No one deserves more credit for Ryan's rapid rise into stardom than President Obama, who opened heavy political doors for the aspiring Republican vice president, none more weighty than that Pandora's box of "entitlement reform" — cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and other social programs

Demonic David Rockefeller Fiends Dulles Kissinger Brzezinski -Investor Wars Korea thru Syria
By Jay Janson

History of David Rockefeller led global arrangements of financial-political control thru public information management culminating in ‘The International Community' (formerly, ‘The Free World', earlier The Colonial Powers), arraying covert agencies and military of US-NATO-UN, Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, in war on Syria and Iran. China and Russia's pathetic resistance after having acquiesced to the destruction of Libya

More On The Obsolete Reactor Pressure Vessel At The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant
By VT Padmanabhan, R Ramesh and V Pugazhendi

Our report on the Reactor Pressure Vessel at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, published in Countercurrents "Is The Reactor Pressure Vessel At Koodankulam Safe?" has been commented and criticized by several friends. That paper was a summary of a bigger document and there were probably some ambiguities crept in the process of shortening. Here, we give the following clarifications

Rumour Mongering About Threat To Northeast People: A Vicious Communal Agenda
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

The dirty tricks department of the communal mind is in operation and must be investigated. All those SMSes being send anywhere must be investigated and people behind them should be charge-sheeted

The Drawback Of Nepal’s Revolution : The NGO’s Harvest
By Saba Navalan

Saba Navalan rues that Nepal’s people has been betrayed and the revolution sold out to international donor organizations

Dr. B.R.Ambedkar : The Greatest Indian
By Bhagwan Das

This is an extract from the Introduction to the book titled “Thus Spoke Ambedkar, Vol. I” edited by Late Sh. Bhagwan Das which was first published in 1963 in the series of four volumes

India Is Not For Sale !
By Janmorcha

In opposition to the New Land Acquisition Bill, For Land Rights and Consent of Gram Sabha in Development Planning , Jantar Mantar, New Delhi | 21-22-23 August . Various Programmes, Marches, Demonstrations Across the Country too ...

Back To school
By Sharon Astyk

If we have to live locally again, live mostly with the people around us, education for citizenship, for self-improvement, so you have some poems and stories and ideas in your head, so you can talk to others, argue, write a letter, stand for council or congress, or even simply build a barn, this is what school should teach us – and why it will persist

My Outside Classrooms
By Yoginder Sikand

Whatever education I've received that I consider valuable and useful, has been from outside, rather than within, the classroom

16 August , 2012

Ecuador Grants Asylum To Julian Assange
By Al Jazeera

The government of Ecuador says it has granted political asylum to Julian Assange, the country's foreign minister has announced. Ricardo Patino, foreign minister, made the announcement during a press conference in Quito on Thursday

India's Panopticon: Mankind's Biggest Database Of Biometric Data And
Unfolding Surveillance Regime

By Gopal Krishna

Letter to President of India concerning the illegal collection of citizens’ biometric data for National Population Register and Aadhaar card

Memo Exposes Israeli War Plan Against Iran
By Bill Van Auken

A leaked memo that surfaced Wednesday provides a detailed blueprint for an unprovoked Israeli war against Iran. The publication of the memo coincides with multiple Israeli media reports indicating that such an attack may be imminent

US Coordinates With Turkey In Proxy Syria War
By Chris Marsden

US efforts to bring down the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria focus on collusion with Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Turkey is the only regional power that could successfully front a proxy war with Syria, behind which Washington could call the shots. The AKP is also viewed as the best political force to head a Sunni-based regional alliance movement incorporating Saudi Arabia and Qatar

Our Cooperative Darwinian Moment
By Richard Heinberg

Darwin tells us we must evolve or die, and current circumstances bring that choice into stark relief. A lot of people evidently think that fitness and selfishness are the same...Yet it is our abilities to innovate socially and to cooperate in order to increase our collective fitness that have gotten us this far...

Destroying The World For Profit
By John Scales Avery

Our incredibly beautiful world is our common heritage; we must cherish and protect it. It is the only place where we can live, and no amount of profit or personal advantage can make the risk of damaging the earth worthwhile

Occupy Empathy
Text & Photo By Mickey Z.

The big picture of holistic justice must never be forgotten and in this case, that means reaching out in solidarity to our sisters and brothers who remain daily -- hourly -- targets of State repression. It means recognizing and assisting the efforts of the grass roots activists in these communities, learning from them, and when necessary, offering on-site support and sheer numbers in the areas most in need

The Qatari Role In Syria
By Ismail Salami

There are reports that indicate the regime of Qatar has allocated USD 300 million as political incentives for Syrian officials to defect. Defection is indeed a very significant move and can gravely tarnish the image of any government and question the very legitimacy of it

India And Pakistan: Communal Violence And Peace
By Pritam K. Rohila, Ph.D.

A proposal for peace communal harmony in India And Pakistan

The Left Has No Voice
By Timothy V. Gatto

What this nation needs is a truly left leaning news show that tells the unvarnished truth. We have cable news that purport to be left-leaning but are really not. When push comes to shove, they always support the Democrats. That happens for two reasons. First, we only have two political parties in this country, The Democrats and Republicans and secondly, because their sponsors will only let them go so far

How Not To Reconstruct Iraq, Afghanistan -- or America,
A Guide To Disaster At Home And Abroad

By Peter Van Buren

Reconstruction in Iraq has failed. Dismally. The U.S. couldn’t even restore the country’s electric system or give a majority of its people potable water. The accounts of that failure still pour out

Ambedkar And Communists
By Anand Teltumbde

Contrary to the commonplace notion, Ambedkar’s was class politics, albeit not in Marxian sense

Sixty-Five Years After Independence, India Needs All-Round Renewal
By Lok Raj Sangathan

Sixty five years of independence have thrown up fundamental flaws in the existing system of representative democracy and economic orientation. They have brought to the centre-stage the question of vesting sovereignty in the hands of people. The immediate steps outlined here will constitute that momentous first step towards vesting sovereignty in the people

Women Suffer More With Rising Trade Globalization
By Shobha Shukla

In an increasingly globalised world, the impact of trade and investment liberalisation is an important area of policy focus. With the emergence of bilateral free trade and investment agreements and clamour for more and more foreign direct investment, all in the name of economic growth, the gender impact of these policies is changing and impacting women’s roles in society

15 August , 2012

Arctic Sea Ice Could Vanish In 10 Years: Study
By Common Dreams

Arctic sea ice could completely vanish within 10 years, a rate much faster than previously thought, according to new measurements from the European Space Agency

Record Temperatures And Forest Fires In Russia
By Clara Weiss

Broad swathes of forest and dried-up bog land have been burning fiercely in large parts of Siberia since the beginning of June. The fires are raging out of control due to the region’s decrepit infrastructure. The fires were caused by the hottest summer in Siberia since the beginning of weather records 170 years ago. Temperatures have averaged around 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit) for weeks and are expected to remain high in the coming period

Demilitarization Is Not A Dirty Word
By Jody Williams

Human security for global security: Demilitarization is not a dirty word, nonviolence is not inaction, and building sustainable peace is not for the faint of heart

Charles Eisenstein Wants To Devalue Your Money To Save The Economy
By Erik Curren

Author Charles Eisenstein has a modest proposal to keep rich people from hoarding all the cash and free up capital for the rest of us

“Common Sense Revolution” Needed To Tackle Climate Change
By Rolly Montpellier

To ignite the forces of revolution you need to light a match. Occupy Wall Street provided that spark. But to sustain a revolution, you need to build a fire. Fear of climate change may just be the fuel that feeds that fire. When fear is present, common sense solutions are sure to follow. One can either be immobilized by fear or motivated to take action. And a growing number of people are recognizing that the warming of the planet is caused by human activity. Fear can be quite paralyzing but can also lead to extraordinary courage in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds

“Can A “Bank Fair” Be A Useful Tool For Increasing Socially Responsible Banking?”
By Don Lathrop & Brian Trautman

Berkshire Citizens for Peace and Justice recently organized a Bank Fair . It was just the sort of initiative that could provide individuals who were interested in moving toward a more just and equitable society the opportunity to move one step closer by becoming informed about how their choice of banking institution compared to competitors in the treatment of and commitment to customers, community, and the planet

The Global 1%: Exposing The Transnational Ruling Class
By Peter Phillips & Kimberly Soeiro

This study asks Who are the the world’s 1 percent power elite? And to what extent do they operate in unison for their own private gains over benefits for the 99 percent?

Money For Mars, Protest And Chaos
By S.G.Vombatkere

Indian scientists and politicans who encourage space missions and other such hi-tech projects, evidently believe that human scientific curiosity needs to not only be encouraged but encouraged at any cost. Most recently, in a effort to “keep-up-with-the-Joneses”, the Indian scientific-political establishment has made a proposal to send a spaceship to Mars. Will it matter anything to millions of starving Indians whether or not there was and is, water on that planet?

Beaten Down, Isolated, Angry, And Distracted
By Phil Rockstroh

"Awake we share the world; sleeping each turns to his private world."

The Sinai Joins The Axis Of Resistance
By Franklin Lamb

With the Sinai Peninsula returning to the era and culture of Resistance the liberation of Palestine draws every nearer and more certain, perhaps sooner than later

Shifting Truths In Sinai: Who Stands To Gain From The Carnage?
By Ramzy Baroud

Before embarking on a wild goose chase in Sinai, urgent questions must be asked and answered. Haphazard action will only make things worse for Egypt, Palestine and Sinai's long-neglected Bedouin population

Children Are In The Front Line Of Israel’s Blockade Of Gaza
By Stephen McCloskey

The Gaza Strip is inching toward a humanitarian crisis as Israel’s five year blockade of the territory has been exacerbated by a dispute over fuel supplies. Gaza’s young people are on the front line of this crisis as failing utilities like water and electricity and an inadequate diet have seen rampant rates of anaemia and diarrhoea

The Olympic Scandal You Never Heard About
By Michael Robeson

A satirical take on the hypocrisy of political correctness at the Olympic Games

The Problem Of Unnecessary Humans
By Ravi Katari

Throughout history, ruling classes employed a variety of strategies to shrink the surplus pool. The European empires exported them to colonies like Australia and the Americas. Other alleviating mechanisms include sending them to prison, war enlistment, extreme poverty resulting in death, or illness resulting in death

Revolutionary Acts At The Community Level: The Bindu Leprosy Project
By Colin Todhunter

The story of a simple act for the dignity of living in Bindu Art School in South India

The Independence Day Speech They Would Never Deliver!
By Samar

This article looks into the claimed seriousness of UPA regarding eradication of hunger by looking into promises made by the Prime Minister in his annual Independence Day Speeches as against situation on the ground

Oh Munni, Why Were You Born In India To Face The Curse Of Widowhood?
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

A visit to Behmai village which came to news for massacre of 20 upper caste people by Phoolan Devi’s gang in 1981. A crime does not reduce its importance simply because it was committed by backward community women and the killers were upper castes. Behmai’s women were killed twice. Once when Phoolan gang made them widow and second when the Thakur community did not have the courage to challenge primitive socio-cultural practices that comes along with widowhood

14 August , 2012

Israel’s ‘Bomb Iran’ Timetable
By Ray McGovern

More Washington insiders are coming to the conclusion that Israel’s leaders are planning to attack Iran before the U.S. election in November in the expectation that American forces will be drawn in. There is widespread recognition that, without U.S. military involvement, an Israeli attack would be highly risky and, at best, only marginally successful

Will 2012 Be The Final Election of Lesser Evilism?
By Shamus Cooke

Just when the Obama campaign couldn't appear any less inspiring, Paul Ryan was put forth as the Republican vice presidential candidate. Suddenly team Obama was supplied with enough political munitions to scare every last American over the possible destruction of Medicare, Medicaid, cuts to Social Security and the various other evils inherent in Ryan's proposed national budget. Consequently, many Liberals and Leftists across the spectrum are now focused on preaching the horrors of a Republican presidential victory and thus the necessity of re-electing Obama

Is The Reactor Pressure Vessel At Koodankulam Safe?
By VT Padmanabhan, R Ramesh & V Pugazhendi

Case study shows that the Reactor pressure vessel (RPV) a key equipment at Kudankulam, is obsolete and unsafe as per the standards prevalent since the 90’s. This old-design vessel may causes chronic outages and have higher risk for premature retirement and for accident like Chernobyl. Scheduled for commissioning in 2007, KKNPP has been delayed by 57 months, mainly due to the defects in the equipments. This is a simple case of a corrupt deal and collusion by suppliers, buyers and regulators. Besides the loss of public money, millions of people are under the threat of contamination in case of an accident

A Degree By Degree Explanation Of Global Warming
By John James

Even if greenhouse emissions stopped overnight the concentrations already in the atmosphere would still mean a global rise of between 0.5 and 1C. Six thousand years ago, when the world was one degree warmer than it is now, the American agricultural heartland around Nebraska was desert. The effect of one-degree warming, therefore, requires no great feat of imagination

Family Success Story On The Household Carbon Footprint Front
By Tim Newcomb

The success story of an American family in reducing household Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Sizeable household reductions in a household Carbon Equivalent footprint usually cost money and sometimes a lot of money. This household has succeeded to a considerable extent over the past 5 years, by budgeting carefully and picking projects which have multiple benefits to counter the costs

Forsaking Meat Can Save The Planet
By Colin Todhunter

According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation, livestock is responsible for 18 per cent of greenhouse gases, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together. It could well be the case that going vegetarian may be the easiest and quickest way to lower your carbon footprint, reduce pollution, and save energy and water

Re-Occupy Innocence (Calling All Dreamers)
By Mickey Z.

Let’s collectively re-occupy our innocence and work to create an ever-evolving culture -- a culture that is both inspired by dreams and the inspiration for more dreams. To be naïve is to remain asleep. To be innocent is to dream while awake

Impunity At Home, Rendition Abroad
By Alfred W. McCoy

How Two Administrations and Both Parties Made Illegality the American Way of Life

Quit India Movement And INA vs. Hindutva
By Shamsul Islam

Most of us know that the then Communist Party of India opposed the Quit India Movement thus betraying a great phase of mass upsurge in the history of the freedom struggle. However, what role the then Hindutva camp consisting of Hindu Mahasabha and Rashtriya Sawayamsevak Sangh remains in wrap for reasons unknown. The Hindutva camp together not only opposed both the QIM and INA but also provided multifaceted and multi-dimensional support to the British rulers in suppressing these movements. In this connection shocking documents are available to be read and believed

Celebrating With The People Of Pakistan
By N. Jayaram

India and Pakistan has so much common heritage. N. Jayaram calls for a common celebration of Independence day of both countries

Compassion In Action
By Yoginder Sikand

Story of Ramesh who works as an assistant at a centre for mentally retarded people

13 August , 2012

Clinton Visits Turkey To Step Up Syrian Proxy War
By Niall Green

Visiting Istanbul, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that Washington and the Turkish government would work together on a “range of contingencies” to back the armed Syrian opposition and prepare for the ouster of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad

Egyptian President Mursi Claims Military Junta’s Dictatorial Powers
By Alex Lantier

On Sunday, Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi moved to concentrate in his own hands the dictatorial powers of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) junta that has ruled Egypt since mass working class protests forced President Hosni Mubarak to resign last year

The Real Deficits That Are Killing Us
By David Korten

Replacing cultures and institutions that value money more than life with cultures and institutions that value life more than money is a daunting challenge. Fortunately, it is also an invigorating and hopeful challenge because it reconnects us with our true nature as living beings and offers a win-win alternative to the no-win status quo

The Triumph Of Fantasy Over Science
By Rob Dietz

From reframing to organizing, from protesting to storytelling, there’s a lot of work to do to get past the collective mental block and start walking a sustainable economic path. For decades, we’ve shown ourselves to be incapable of accepting facts, unable to modify failing social institutions, and unwilling to adjust our lifestyles. But now is the time to overthrow the academic programs and economic institutions that got us into this mess in which we undervalue our most important assets. Now is the time to tell the story of ecological economics — the hopeful story of long-term prosperity on a healthy planet. Now is the time to demand the economy that we want and that the planet needs

From Fukushima To India: A Future That's Renewable
By Colin Todhunter

At a time when the anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have just past, it is apt that questions be asked of the nuclear industry. With proper commitment and investment in renewable energy and sustainable low impact development, humanity could have a future. The future could be renewable

Stand Together As Friends Of 30 Million Afghans
By Hakim and Kathy Kelly

Here is a simple, reachable step towards peace in Afghanistan : build international relationships by befriending the Afghan Peace Volunteers Ali and Abdulhai and bringing their forgotten, alternative voices of non-violence to the United States - support their U.S. visa re-applications

Global Warlords – Menace To Humanity
By Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD

The historical record clearly demonstrates that whenever great powers went haunting the large segments of the mankind in farfetched lands, it is usually the end game of their role-play in global affairs. America and its allied European warmongers live in constant FEAR that soon they will be replaced by others - the natural course of history. All the great political powers have met the same end. America and its bribed–coerced European allies are at the top of waiting list to reach the end game

Africa Loses A Friend; The Passing of Alexander Cockburn
By Thomas C. Mountain

With the passing of Alexander Cockburn, journalist extraordinaire, Africa has lost a friend, a really good friend

Justice For All: Alexander Cockburn, Palestine, And U.S. Media
By Alison Weir

Longtime journalist Alexander Cockburn passed away on July 21st, an enormous loss. Cockburn was a brilliant, witty, and courageous opponent of falsehoods and injustice. He stood on the side of the oppressed, the weak, and the victimized – even those victims that many writers and human rights defenders chose to ignore

US Mass Murders Smack of Social War
By Ismail Salami

The ongoing brutal mass killings which have recently begun to erode the very fabric of American society are to be seen in the light of a deeply felt hatred infused by the US ruling elites within the souls of the young white supremacists in America

Sixty-Five Years After Independence From British Colonial Rule – The Revolt Continues!
By Communist Ghadar Party of India

Sixty five years after independence from the British colonial empire, it is clear that the Indian Republic guarantees only a privileged elite the freedom and independence to pursue its aims. This is the class of private owners of factories, mines and other means of large-scale production, headed by the capitalist monopoly houses. It is they who control the Indian Republic , make and break governments, and even decide which member of the ruling party or coalition should be allocated particular ministerial portfolios

Sexual Assault By CRPF Personnel On A Woman In Odisha
By Preeti Chauhan and Paramjeet Singh

PUDR condemns growing incidents of sexual assault by CRPF personnel on young women in Paikmal block of Bargarh district in Odisha. On July 24, a few CRPF personnel placed in the same block assaulted a 20-year-old woman of the Vindhyabasini colony of Paikmal

Tim Gatto, Uncut And Uncensored
By Timothy V. Gatto

Tim Gatto on his radio show and his writings

12 August , 2012

Countercurrents For "Counter Solutions"
By Binu Mathew

Countercurrents is launching a platform for Counter Solution. It is already happening all around the world. Come join us. Take action by joining in one of these local actions. Throw in your ideas. Alert your friends. Spread the word. Write about these actions in your area and let the whole world know. Encourage your friends to write about them. Document it on video and share it with us. Let us join hands for a "Counter Solution"

USA And Its Comrade-In-Arms, Al Qaeda
By William Blum

Afghanistan in the 1980s and 90s ... Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s ... Libya 2011 ... Syria 2012 ... In military conflicts in each of these countries the United States and al Qaeda (or one of its associates) have been on the same side. What does this tell us about the United States' "War On Terrorism"?

The War On Iran Is Already Underway
By Kourosh Ziabari

Economic sanctions, psychological warfare, media propaganda, threats and assassinations; what other sort of evidence one may need to believe that the United States, Israel and their European allies have already started their much liked war against Iran and that this unjustifiable war is taking its toll on the innocent, ordinary Iranian citizens?

Iran War: Will It Be An Armageddon?
By Dr. Ismail Salami

“Why on earth is the Zionist regime making threats against Iran? How many missiles have they prepared themselves for? 10,000? 20,000? 50,000? 100,000? 150,000 or more?" These words were expressed in full force on November 27, 2011 by Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi

AERB And Regulatory Capture In India: Conflict of Interest?
By Buddhi Kota Subbarao. Ph.D.

There are valid grounds to question the legality and propriety as well as the professional satisfaction of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) of India for granting clearance on August 10, 2012 for ‘Initial Fuel Loading’ (IFL) and ‘First Approach to Criticality’ (FAC) of Unit-1 of Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project. Several analysts looked at what happened at Fukushima in Japan and concluded that the nuclear regulator in Japan was “captured” by the industry and was no longer an effective independent regulator. Stunning similarities exist between the Indian Nuclear Establishment and the Japanese nuclear power industry and the regulators of both countries

American Debt And Collapse
By Guy McPherson

Don’t blink now, but U.S. debt just grew by $11 trillion. If you’re keeping track, that amount exceeds the financial value of all currency in the world plus all the gold mined in history. Americans respond with the usual indifference

India: The Growth Model Has Come Undone
By Mritiunjoy Mohanty

Unsustainable import competition and the end of the investment subsidy that the sale of under-priced resources provided to Indian companies are the main reasons why the economy has slowed down

Incarcerated Inside Israel Palestinians Tortured And Isolated
By Graham Peebles

Detention without trial, the presumption of guilt, denial of family visits, solitary confinement, torture, violent interrogation, and denial of access to appropriate health care, such is the Israeli judicial system and prison confinement experienced by Palestinian men, women and indeed children

Overpopulation And Depopulation
By Peter Goodchild

When the inhabitants of any geographic area begin to "suffer" from the scourge of "depopulation," they start to shout, "Repent! The end is nigh!" Much more constructive, though, would be to ignore the narrow-minded capitalist outlook of the local newspapers, and consider instead how to re-invent the economy of earlier times: smaller-scale but more self-sufficient

Australian ABC Absurdly Re-writes Indian History,
Claims Ashoka “Lost” For 2,000 Years, Censors Rebuttals

By Dr Gideon Polya

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (the ABC, Australia 's equivalent of the UK BBC) has, like the BBC, built up an appalling record of Anglocentric censorship and malreportage by omission and commission. However in recent weeks it has exceeded itself in terms of hubris and insistence on publishing the absurdly incorrect. Ashoka is one of India 's most famous rulers but the ABC Late Night Live (LNL) radio program insists that he has been “lost” to the world for 2,000 years and has deleted 6 successive posts on its websites attempting to correct this absurdly incorrect assertion

Democracy By Candlelight: Living In Fear And Kept In The Dark
By Colin Todhunter

If the ordinary folk turn their attention away from glossy sports events, premiership football, cheap knockabout BBC political debate shows or all other forms of comatosing infortainment for one minute, they might well realise that the billionaire elites that dictate national and foreign policy are little better and in many cases a good deal worse than any number of the regimes they seek to demonise

One Of The Boys, After All!
By Niranjan Ramakrishnan

A fellow Wodehouse fan remembers Alexander Cockburn

What’s Wrong With This Picture?
By Timothy V. Gatto

So now the only way I can vote for the person I choose to vote for is to bring suit against the State of South Carolina. That will probably take a certain amount of time and money. Most people would probably be put off at the idea of bringing a lawsuit against the State for voter infringement, but I don’t

Songs of Freedom on August 14th in Bangalore
By K.P Sasi

Freedom Songs – A Get together of Activist Singers in Bangalore. On August 14, 2012 at UTC, Miller Road, Bangalore from 5.00 to 8.30 pm

Anti-Labour Offensive To Attract Capital Is To Blame For The Trouble In Manesar!
By The Communist Ghadar Party

Following the unfortunate death of a senior manager of Maruti-Suzuki's Manesar plant on 18 th July, 2012 , state terror has been unleashed against workers in the Manesar industrial belt in Gurgaon District of Haryana. Section 144 has been imposed in the entire area. The Haryana police have arrested over a hundred workers and their leaders and locked them up indefinitely

10 August , 2012

Spiking Grain Prices Raise Specter Of Global Food Crisis
By Naomi Spencer

Global food prices rose 6.2 percent in July, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization reported Thursday. The FAO said it released its Food Price Index ahead of its regular publication schedule as a warning against the impact of such price rises

A Critical Mass For Real Food
By Anim Steel

The old logic of the slave plantation is still the logic of our industrial food system, 500 years in the making. There’s a new way of thinking taking off

US, European Powers Press For Intervention As Syrian Army Retakes Aleppo
By Alex Lantier

Politicians and the media in the United States and Europe stepped up demands for direct military intervention in Syria yesterday, as the Syrian army fought to expel US-backed forces from the city of Aleppo

"The World As It Is, And The World As It Could Be"
By John Scales Avery

A look at the world as it is and a world as it could be

Not Even A Spoonful Of Sugar Could Help
By Guy McPherson

Climate chaos is only a small part of the big story, though it is among the phenomena poised to cause our extinction within a single human generation. In addition to triggering climate chaos, we’ve initiated the Sixth Great Extinction, and we revel in its acceleration as one more sign of progress

Soldiers Who Refuse To Kill
By David Swanson

One of the most inspiring events thus far at the Veterans For Peace National Convention underway in Miami was a presentation on Thursday by several veterans who have refused to participate in war. Typically, they have done this at the risk of significant time in prison, or worse. In most cases these resisters avoided doing any time. Even when they did go behind bars, they did so with a feeling of liberation

Resolving The Budget And Debt Crises 
By Ron Forthofer

There is a looming double whammy threatening the economy beginning in 2013. These two threats are: 1) the expiration of the Bush tax cuts; and 2) implementation of $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts over a ten-year period, an outcome of the 2011 debt ceiling debacle. These threats raise the specter of driving the U.S. back into recession or depression. Many people might question the phrase 'back into recession' since they feel we are still in the Great Recession

Fear None, Frighten None
By Mallika Kaur

The continued ignorance of the history and belief system of the over half a million Sikh Americans remains deathly dangerous, as was demonstrated in Oak Creek, Wisconsin on Sunday morning. The attack and six murders, in the post-9/11 context, are traumatizing for those directly involved, and for all peoples targeted since 9/11

A Paradigm Shift In Development Planning And Land Reforms
Is Need Of The Hour Not Further Acquisition And Cash Compensation

By Medha Patkar, Roma, Dr. Sunilam, Rupesh Kumar

Amidst all the controversies and conflicts related to Lokpal and Jan Lokpal politics, a very major enactment (in Bill form) is to be tabled before the Cabinet this week for approval and there after tabled in the Monsoon session of the parliament

India: Greeting Every New Born Daughter With Fruit Trees
By Saadia Azim

For years now girls in the village of Dharhara in Bihar have been welcomed into the world in the most novel way: By the local community planting at least 10 fruit trees - traditionally mango - in celebration

Abdul Nazer Maudany Is Not The Only One
By K.P Sasi

Perhaps, the Kerala opinion makers are waiting for his death so that he can be projected as a hero, the way he came back after nine and a half years innocent existence in Coimbatore jail. But one thing is certain. The inteligentsia, activists, political parties and media with vested interests are responsible for this gravest fabricated case. Perhaps we can all sing a line from John Lenon's `imagine': I am not the only one. If John Lenon dealt with dreams in this song, we will have to deal with guilt in our song. And strangely, Maudany is also saying: `I am not the only one'

Sri Lanka : Truth And Myth
By Nilantha Ilangamuwa

Yet another prisoner died whilst in custody at Vavuniya prison in Sri Lanka this week. Sadly the death happened in the same day when a meeting organised by the Secretary Defence and Minister of External Affairs was underway at the national capital

09 August , 2012

Orwellian Ramifications Begin To Unfold In Syria
By Dr. Ismail Salami

There is a horrible speculation that the insurgents in Syria may have seized hold of chemical weapons. Apart from the catastrophically unthinkable havoc the rebels can wreak in Syria and in the region with the WMDs, the rhetorical question which remains is how these weapons of mass destruction have fallen into the hands of the insurgents who are chiefly composed of Wahhabi al-Qaeda mercenaries of different nationalities

Neocons vs. The ‘Arab Spring’: Back On The Warpath
By Ramzy Baroud

The neoconservatives are back with a vengeance. While popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and other Arab countries had briefly rendered them irrelevant in the region, Western intervention in Libya signaled a new opportunity. Now Syria promises to usher a full return of neoconservatives into the Middle East fray

Egypt Launches Sinai Crackdown In Collusion With Israel
By Jean Shaoul

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood government has launched a crackdown after an armed raid at the Rafah checkpoint near the border with Gaza and Israel killed 16 Egyptian soldiers and wounded eight more. The action testifies to how closely the Brotherhood now works with Israel and the United States

Where Will The US Strike Next In Africa?
By Glen Ford

Under the direction of the United States, the UN Security Council recently extended sanctions for another year against the northeast African nation of Eritrea. The country of 6 million people, nestled against the Red Sea, is on America’s hit list

Washington Puts Its Money On Proxy War
By Nick Turse

Right now, the U.S. is once again training, advising, and conducting joint exercises all over the world with proxy war on its mind and the concept of “unintended consequences” nowhere in sight in Washington. Whether today’s proxies end up working for or against Washington’s interests or even become tomorrow’s enemies remains to be seen

Tony, It's Just Chalk
By Federica Lorca

Unless Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa stops it, Occupy Los Angeles is going to get beat down by Chief Charlie Beck's demons on Thursday evening for writing with chalk on the sidewalks, all at taxpayer expense, all because Occupy Los Angeles spurned the Democrats who run the city

Conscious Peace: World Peace Depends Upon Our Collective Consciousness
By William T. Hathaway

"Conscious Peace" is a chapter from RADICAL PEACE: People Refusing War, which presents the experiences of war resisters, deserters, and peace activists in the USA, Europe, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Recently published by Trine Day, it's a journey along diverse paths of nonviolence, the true stories of people working for peace in unconventional ways

Worldwide Movement To End Violence Gathers Momentum
By Robert J. Burrowes

On 11 November 2011, a new movement to end human violence was launched around the world. Simultaneous launches took place in Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines and the USA. This worldwide movement, which invites individuals and organisations to sign a pledge to work to end human violence in all of its manifestations, has already attracted individual signatories in 40 countries and organisational endorsements in 15 countries

Mutant Modernities, Socialist Futures (PDF)
By Ravi Sinha

Past socialisms cannot be presented as models for future socialisms. The conditions which shaped the twentieth century socialisms have long expired. The vision that inspired the designs of those socialisms needs reworking in the light of the lessons of the past century. It is in this context that the insights gained from revisiting the issues of modernity and freedom will prove immensely important for envisioning socialist futures

Earthly Plunders In Space?
By Arun G. Mukhopadhyay

In the neoliberal unipolar world, there is a very important additional incentive for more and better comsats to sustain the treadmills of production and consumption. Thus the renewal of “limits to growth” argument is often coupled with a vision for overcoming those limits by going into outer space

India-Pakistan: Visa For Trust And Friendship
By Devika Mittal

Can you imagine the situation where we can meet a stranger who looks very different from us, speaks a different language and has different beliefs and values easily but can’t meet our own brother? Or when we are allowed to travel thousands of kilometers without much hassle but to travel mere 50 kms, we have to give a thousand reasons, documents of all kinds and wait endlessly but without any assurance of success? Such is the relationship between India and Pakistan.

Of Hotel Jantar Mantar And Irom Sharmila’s Prison Cell!
By Samar

Arvind Kejriwal's 'private' room is a first in the history of politics of resistance in India

Anna: Beyond The Encounter As An Absolute
By Tripta Chandola

It was constantly reiterated by the speakers on the last day that the 'political alternative' will involve giving a platform to candidate 'right' for the country so that the Anna supporters can elect them. The democratic electoral system precisely functions on this premise: multiple parties, multiple candidate, voter's choice. How then is Team Anna's 'political alternative' really an alternative, except perhaps in their over-determination that their choice is the right choice. What is the locus standi of this 'alternative' envisioned by Team Anna within the broader politics of the country, except perhaps to take turns to run it?

Education Is The Talk Of The Day In Manipur – India’s Forgotten State
By Madhu Chandra

Though education is the talk of the day, it remains a challenge for the state of Manipur until the government run schools are rectified and develop higher educational infrastructure to meet the needs of the students

Mitt Romney's Gaffes Abroad Show That His Numbers Just Don't Add Up
By Mamoon Alabbasi

US presidential candidate Mitt Romney ended a three-country world tour of Britain, Israel and Poland without appearing to have learned much from his overseas trip. Even in his attempts to water-down the impact of some of his gaffes, following an influx of negative press, he seems to have stuck to the flawed logic behind them, especially when it comes to the economy

08 August , 2012

Syrian Army, US-Backed Opposition Militias Clash In Aleppo
By Alex Lantier

Fighting continued yesterday in the escalating US proxy war in Syria, as Western-backed militias hostile to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fought Syrian Army forces in the northern city of Aleppo, near the Turkish border

Climate Change Action Is Not Hopeless
By Stuart Staniford

So maybe it takes us to mid-century to get to a near carbon-neutral society. The point is that it's not hopeless. As the weather gets worse - the droughts, the storms, the melting ice - the denialists will look sillier and sillier and the pressure for action will rise. And as it does, the solutions will increasingly be in place. So don't be discouraged if electric car sales are tiny right now, or solar power is a very small fraction of total energy use. This is a long game

Africa Disappointed US Does Not Intend To Achieve 2C Climate Goal
By The African Group

The African Group of countries at the United Nations climate negotiations reacted with disappointment at the latest statements by the Obama administration on the global climate talks. President Obama's Climate Envoy, Todd Stern, made a speech questioning the value of guaranteeing the internationally agreed (and reaffirmed) goal of limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius (2C)

“Green” Economy, Greed Economy
By Omar Rashid Chowdhury

Our planet faces a two-fold crisis. The dominating system itself is a crisis to the planet and in its throes of survival the system is creating more crises. “Green” economy, the model now being sold by the mainstream, is one of many “survival techniques” of the system. Conditions of “green” economy’s own structural existence limit its capability to resolve the ecological and employment crises. We need a new system with conditions controlling unchecked accumulation, exploitation and expansion

There Are No Shortages
By Jeff Berg

We need to dramatically alter our food system. Loss of topsoil, the inherent fragility of monoculture, fossil fuel dependence for both growing our food and distributing it. The nascent epidemics of obesity and diabetes. On all of these fronts both Mother Nature and our own natures are telling us that we cannot go on this way without great risk to our quality of life, social cohesion, and cost of living

Rio+20: A Move Towards More Sustainable Transportation
By World Watch Institute

Implementation monitoring of Rio+20 voluntary commitments will be vital

Obama More Sympathetic To Israelis Killed In Bulgaria
Than To Sikh Americans Murdered In Wisconsin

By Ali Abunimah

Obama strongly condemned "barbaric terrorist attack on Israelis" in Bulgaria. Why has Obama so far refused to condemn in equally strong terms Wade Michael Page’s murderous rampage that killed six people at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin yesterday?

A Temple And A Mosque: Worship In America
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich

Who will persecute those who taught army officers to kill Moslems - the Commander-in-Chief hopefuls and their advisors who promoted hatred and persecution of Moslems, and the neoconservatives who planted the seeds of hatred among us? Will their deeds be buried with Page? As Jonathan Swift said: “I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed.”

Revolutionary Democracy In The Economy? Venezuela’s
Worker Control Movement And The Plan Socialist Guayana

By Ewan Robertson

In this in-depth investigative analysis, Ewan Robertson evaluates the advances and setbacks of the worker control movement in Venezuela, and what Venezuela's experience in worker control means for the Bolivarian revolution and movements for radical social change worldwide

Truth And Revolution: A History of The Sojourner Truth Organization
By Kim Scipes

Book Review: Truth and Revolution: A History of the Sojourner Truth Organization, 1969-1986 by Michael Staudenmaier

Slow Democracy
By David Swanson

Susan Clark and Woden Teachout's new book, "Slow Democracy," offers the civil equivalent to slow food. The goal of both is not slowness for its own sake, but quality, health, sustainability, and the pursuit of happiness

Rejoinder To Story On #SoniSori In Indian Express
By IADHRI

On August 5th, The Indian Express published a disturbing, supposedly investigative story on Soni Sori, implying both that she was guilty of the charge of being a Maoist as well as casting doubt on the activists in India and outside who support her, and who are mainly responsible for bringing into the open the fact that she was and continues to be tortured in prison. The International Alliance for Defence of Human Rights in India (IADHRI) has written this response to the story, rebutting it point by point

Soni Sori Story: Where The Reporter Got It Wrong
By Himanshu Kumar

Himanshu Kumar's response to the Indian Express story on Soni Sori

Anna, Media And The ‘Movement’
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

A movement need not to be built up to change laws, which we have so many, but to make a mass awakening against social evils. India is in dire need of a social movement against such evils so that we can proudly claim to be a nation without hidden apartheid in the form of untouchability, which is the biggest corruption in society

07 August , 2012

Turkey Attacks Kurds, Threatens Military Action Against Syria
By Chris Marsden

On the eve of an expected major offensive in Aleppo by the Syrian regime, Turkey has threatened to invade Syria, using the pretext of Kurdish groups seizing control of northern border areas. Such a move could pitch Ankara directly into war against Syria, after it has long sought to dictate events through control of the opposition Syrian National Congress and Free Syrian Army

Obama Trumps AIPAC, Romney, Republicans With Yet More Iranian Sanctions
By Franklin Lamb

H.R. 1905 is a catch all frenzied election year gimmick that lumps together legislative initiatives of all sorts in order to corral votes for Romney immediately after his Israel trip which left little doubt that Israeli leaders believe that Israel will have less leverage to squeeze the US to take on yet another big military action if Obama is re-elected than if Romney wins

Iran Sanctions: US War Of Nerves
By Dr. Ismail Salami

In continuation of the US-led illegal sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran, Congress passed on Wednesday night a bill, which imposes more embargoes on the country including those on the parent companies of foreign subsidiaries violating sanctions as well adding penalties for those that help Iran’s petroleum, petrochemical, insurance, shipping and financial sectors

US Gunman Alleged To Have Killed Six At Sikh Temple Was A Neo-Nazi
By Barry Grey

The ample information about Wade Michael Page’s fascist sympathies has been downplayed by the mass media and US officials, and the general theme of media commentary is “the search for a motive.” The evidence, however, strongly indicates that Page’s homicidal rampage against ethnic Indians was driven by a racist and fascist political agenda, defining his crime as an act of right-wing domestic terrorism

The Sikh Temple Shooting: The Question Of Mistaken Identity
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

The Sikh temple shooting is touted as a case of mistaken identity. Really? If the victims were Muslims and not Sikhs, then how would have the media described the incident? Will it justify the killings of Muslims simply because Osama Bin Laden was a Muslim?

The Dark Heart Of The Libor Scandal
By Mark Vorpahl

Though, for most, the London Inter-Bank Offer Rate (Libor) interest rate fixing scandal appears to be distant and far too complex to understand, its potential consequences may be as economically devastating as a world war

Heat, Drought, Rising Food Costs, And Global Unrest
By Michael T. Klare

This is just the beginning of the likely consequences: if history is any guide, rising food prices of this sort will also lead to widespread social unrest and violent conflict

The Science Of Genocide
By Chris Hedges

It was science, industry and technology that made possible the 20th century’s industrial killing. These forces magnified innate human barbarity. They served the immoral. And there are numerous scientists who continue to work in labs across the country on weapons systems that have the capacity to exterminate millions of human beings. Is this a “rational” enterprise? Is it moral? Does it advance the human species? Does it protect life?

Nagasaki And My Father
By Francis A. Boyle

I grew up to believe that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had saved my Father’s life and thus had made my life possible. Curiously, my Father never told me that Hiroshima and Nagasaki had saved his life. Another Deafening Silence. I just bought into this commonly accepted myth while growing up in post-World War II America

Beyond The Two-State Solution
By David Swanson

A review of Yehouda Shenhav's new book, "Beyond the Two State Solution: A Jewish Political Essay"

Thomas Berry Dreamer Of The Earth
By David Sparenberg

Book Review: Thomas Berry Dreamer Of The Earth : The Spiritual Ecology of the Father of Environmentalism, edited by Ervin Laszlo and Alan Combs

August 'Riots' One Year On: A Black Power Perspective
By Sukant Chandan

The Uprising as a Framework for Contemporary Black and Poor Resistance

The Russian Revolution: An Essential Condition Of Success
By Thomas Riggins

In the second chapter of his 1920 work "Left Wing" Communism an Infantile Disorder, Lenin discusses what he considers to have been an essential condition for the victory of the Bolsheviks. My question is: is the Bolshevik model still viable and does it apply across the board to all societies transitioning from capitalism to socialism?

Claiming The Commons That Capital Consumes
By Farooque Chowdhury

Encountering the commons robbers, national and international, is a political fight. A cultural fight also. An informed, aware, organized and politically active people, the owners of the commons, can successfully claim the commons

Meles Goes Missing; Ethiopian Dictator M.I.A.
By Thomas C. Mountain

Long time Ethiopian dictator Meles Zenawi, missing in action for almost 2 months now, is reported to be in a coma leaving the Obama White House’s Crisis Team for Africa scrambling to find a replacement. Officially, Ethiopian “Prime Minister” Meles Zenawi has taken “sick leave” and “getting better”, end of story

Has Team Anna's Foray Into Politics Served
A Death Warrant For Social Movements?

By Devinder Sharma

It may take some time for the implications to sink in. More than whether the decision by Team Anna to go political is correct or not, what worries me is the dangerous fallout it will have on social movements in future. Is it the beginning of the end of social movements and peoples' struggles? Will it lead the powers that be to exercise the same contempt and rudeness towards citizen protests?

The Politics of Amarnath Yatra And Neglect of Public Transport
By Vidyadhar Date

Impressions of a participant in the Amarnath Yatra

05 August , 2012

Climate Change Is Here— And Worse Than We Thought
By James Hansen

NASA's James Hansen, the 'Godfather of Global Warming,' says earlier predictions "too optimistic"

Failure And Hope From Rio+20
By Jules Peck

For the time being, we may have to give up hope for action from governments. After all, the best our political “leaders” were able to come up with at Rio+20 was “green growth” and its love-child “sustained growth.” How many more moronic oxymorons can they think up?

The Criminality Of Nuclear Deterrance
By Francis A. Boyle

Every citizen of the world community has both the right and the duty to oppose the existence of nuclear weapons systems by whatever non-violent means are at his or her disposal. Otherwise, the human race will suffer the same fate as the dinosaurs, and the planet earth will become a radioactive wasteland. The time for preventive action is now!

Syria's "Liberated" Future: Ethnic-Religious Cleansing And Genocide
By Shamus Cooke

A fascinating shift has happened in the U.S. mainstream media: After a year of anti-Syria war propaganda and lies, glimmers of truth are making their way into the public's view. After non-stop war mongering, The New York Times took a second to wipe the blood off its hands to report the true state of things in Syria

US, Pakistan Appear To Make Little Headway In Intelligence Chiefs Talks
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

Pakistani and US intelligence chiefs held their official meeting in Washington on Thursday but it was unclear if the two uneasy allies made any progress to end deep divisions on militants living in Pakistani tribal areas or on US drone strikes

Drought, Dignity And Development: Field Findings
By Dr. Gadadhara Mohapatra

The study explored the tribal households face acute shortage of food in the post-sowing monsoon period (July-September) and again around March when the kharif harvest has been exhausted. Malnutrition is fairly common, especially debilitating young children and women in their physical condition and lowering resistance to disease. Therefore, a multi-pronged approach for sustainable livelihood coupled with improvement in the literacy levels would certainly lead to social development and dignity

04 August , 2012

UN General Assembly Targets Syria As US Proxy War Escalates
By Alex Lantier

The UN General Assembly voted 133-12, with 31 abstentions, to endorse a resolution denouncing the Syrian government yesterday, as fighting escalated in the US-led proxy war in Syria. The vote was the focus of a massive propaganda campaign, aiming at placing blame for the bloody proxy war waged by the US and its European and Middle Eastern allies on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

In Hiroshima's Shadow
By Noam Chomsky

August 6, the anniversary of Hiroshima, should be a day of somber reflection, not only on the terrible events of that day in 1945, but also on what they revealed: that humans, in their dedicated quest to extend their capacities for destruction, had finally found a way to approach the ultimate limit

Remembering Hiroshima. Thomas Merton And The Original Child Bomb
By Vincent Di Stefano & Chaz Kilmer

An audio production of Thomas Merton's anti-nuclear poem "The Original Child Bomb"

Sanctions: Diplomacy's Weapon of Mass Murder
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich

Unlike the shock and horror which accompanied the atomic bombs dropped on Japan , there were no images of the 500,000 Iraqi children whose lives were cut short by sanctions to jolt the world into reality. Not only has America taken pride in the mass killing of innocent children, but encouraged by silence and the surrender to its weapon of choice, it has turned diplomacy's weapon of mass murder on another country – Iran

Why Are Human Beings Violent?
By Robert J. Burrowes

In essence, human beings are violent because of the 'invisible' and 'utterly invisible' violence that we adults unconsciously inflict on children. And this is in addition to the 'visible' violence that we inflict on them consciously

The Taboo Question: What Were The Brain-Altering Psych Drugs That
The Batman Shooter Might Have Been Taking or Withdrawing From?

By By Gary G. Kohls, MD

The now infamous, and roundly hated James Holmes was probably just another one of many brain-altered, and then gun-wielding, mass murderers who shot into an innocent crowd after making impressively bizarre plans to do so. There are many similarities with the 1999 Columbine shootings that happened only a few miles away

Maruti Manesar: Chronicle Of A Disaster Foretold?
By Rahul Varman

40% of the Maruti Manesar workforce are contract or casual workers with a take-home of around Rs 6,000, and no paid leave. All structures for dialogue between management and workers had been disrupted, writes Rahul Varman, resulting in the unforgivable violence of July 18

03 August , 2012

Towards A "Soft Invasion"? The Launching Of A "Humanitarian War" Against Syria
By Prof. Michel Chossudovsky

The Obama administration, in liaison with London, Paris, Tel Aviv and NATO headquarters in Brussels, is mulling over various military "intervention options" directed against Syria, including the conduct of both naval and air operations in support of "opposition" rebel forces on the ground. The US and its impervious British ally are on a "humanitarian war footing"

US And Its Allies Setting Stage For Syria Invasion
By Dr. Ismail Salami

The sudden resignation of UN peace envoy Kofi Annan from the peace efforts circle in Syria which evidently materialized under duress from the US government has caused extreme joy in Washington officials who now see this as a sign that the international community is prone to accept that Syrian President Bashar Assad had to go and that the peace efforts would eventually reach a cul-de-sac

Syria And The Dismembering Of The Arab World
By Dr Makram Khoury-Machool

The behaviour of the NATO-aligned, anti-Syrian bloc is now blatant enough for us to better understand what is happening in Syria. On the one hand, we find political operators such the ad-hoc group ‘Friends of Syria’, and on the other, two Arab personalities, both ministers of two Gulf sheikhdoms

Cold-Blood Mass Murder In Syria By The West’s "Pro-Democracy Opposition"
By Finian Cunningham

New video footage obtained by Agence France Presse shows a gruesome scene of cold-blooded murder of unarmed Syrians in Aleppo, the northwestern commercial city. It provides a glimpse of the Jihadi armed groups in Syria that are being funded, trained and directed by Washington, London, Paris and Berlin along with their Turkish, Israeli and Arab allies

Independence In The Pocket Of The US: "Mera Pyara Bharat?"
By Colin Todhunter

As 15 August approaches when people will wrap themselves in the national flag and chant "Mera pyara Bharat", India's role in the world is worth considering because, for some, ‘independence’ for India is almost becoming a euphemism for living in the pocket of the US. Depending on the nation's ability to switch track, however, it could yet positively influence the future of humanity after all

Ordinary Citizens: The Silent Victims Of Anti-Iranian Sanctions
By Kourosh Ziabari

The sanctions have devastated the daily life of ordinary Iranian people by bringing the price of goods to a skyrocketing height. The lives of tens of thousands of children are being endangered by the lack of proper drugs

Beware The Nuclear Rogue State (Hint: Not Iran)
By Mickey Z.

Today, with the United States once again howling about "evildoers" potentially nuking innocents, Obama claims he is "leading the fight against nuclear dangers." Let's call bullshit on the Pope of Hope and remind the planet that we -- the activists -- are the only ones leading the fight against nuclear dangers

Inequalities, Taxes, And More Inequalities
By Ann Robertson & Bill Leumer

It is time for the union movement to reclaim its historic role as the defender of working people and rise up to create a movement —independent of the politicians — by organizing huge demonstrations to demand higher taxes on the rich. This movement could then serve as the first step in the creation of an independent labor party that would represent not just union members but all the 99%

Outlaw The Anti Sedition Law
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Many of the colonia laws have been changed but one such law which need a complete change is the Sedition law in India and it is being used to harass activists, writers, protesting groups

Globalization And Changing India
By Dr. Gadadhara Mohapatra

The economic liberalization, privatization and globalization model of development in India is depriving the tribal people of their traditional means of sustainable livelihood by establishing the mineral-based industries in the tribal regions of India. The mining and other industries that are taking over the resources of the ecosystems of these people and poor peasants fail to provide them with an improved and sustainable means of making a living

Baluchistan In Crisis
By Jahanzeb Hussain & Jannat Majeed

The purpose of this paper is to inform the readers, especially non-Baluch Pakistanis, why there have been five armed insurgencies by the people of Baluchistan; what is the recent political and social history of Baluchistan in light of which we might be able to appreciate Baluch concerns about their status in the country; what are the roots of Baluch resentment and nationalism; to what extent are the Baluch concerns and the demands justified; what has been the institutional response to the Baluch crisis, as well as the role of the ordinary, non-Baluch Pakistani citizen so far

Is That An Archive In Your Basement... or Are You Just Hoarding?
By Connexions

Are you an ‘accidental archivist’? Have you been saving the publications and documents produced by the social justice projects you’ve been involved in? Have those materials you collected grown into a daunting accumulation of stuff in your basement, garage, or storage locker? Are you looking for a solution? Then Connexions would like to hear from you

02 August , 2012

With Secret Order,Obama Enters US In Syrian Civil War
By Common Dreams

US President Barack Obama has signed a secretive order authorizing US financial and military support for Syrian rebel forces, effectively taking sides in what many observers say has become a full blown civil war between the opposition forces such as the Free Syria Army and the ruling government of President Bassar al-Assad and its military

We're In Another War And We Weren't Asked
By David Swanson

A blow by blow deconstruction of Reuters report "Obama authorizes secret support for Syrian rebels"

Bloody Fighting In Syria As US-Backed Forces Slaughter Prisoners
By Patrick Martin

US-backed forces opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are stepping up their offensive in Aleppo, the country’s largest city, amid with reports Wednesday that the rebels had engaged in summary execution of dozens of captured loyalist police and soldiers. A gruesome video of one such slaughter was widely distributed on the Internet

The US-NATO War On Syria: Western Naval Forces Confront Russia Off the Syrian Coastline
By Michel Chossudovsky

Allied forces including intelligence operatives and special forces have reinforced their presence on the ground in Syria following the UN stalemate. Meanwhile, coinciding with the UN Security Council deadlock, Moscow has dispatched to the Mediterranean a flotilla of ten Russian warships and escort vessels led by the Admiral Chabanenko anti-submarine destroyer. Russia's flotilla is currently stationed off the Southern Syrian coastline

Who Benefits From Nuclear Power Plants In India?
By Buddhi Kota Subbarao. Ph.D.

The rest of the world is moving towards renewable energy and away from nuclear power. But India is pouring most of its energy budget into establishing more and more nuclear power plants. It raises two compelling questions. Why is the present Union Government of India committing an enormous portion of its energy budget to imported nuclear power plants? Who benefits from these nuclear power plants?

Shell Game In The Arctic
By Subhankar Banerjee

How to Bring the Major Oil Companies Ashore and Halt the Destruction of Our Oceans

Reformed Teaching Of History
By John Scales Avery

Today the world urgently needs a new global ethic, - an ethic where loyalty to family, community and nation will be supplemented by a strong sense of the brotherhood of all humans, regardless of race, religion or nationality

The Militarization Of Education
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich

A warning about the militarization of the American educational system

Dangerous Mischaracterization In NDAA Ruling—And The Need To Resist
Government Repression On The Right Basis

By Raymond Lotta

The most recent example of the expansion of illegitimate government powers of repression is the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012. The NDAA, in particular Section 1021 of the law, gives any President the power to detain people, including U.S. citizens, indefinitely in military prisons, without charge or trial. It is a very ominous development that threatens dissent and opposition to the government and status quo

Nothing ‘Accidental’ In Mali – More Misery Awaits
By Ramzy Baroud

Northern Mali promises to be the graveyard of scores of innocent people if African countries don’t collectively challenge Western influence in the region. The Republic of Mali is fast becoming the Afghanistan of Africa

12 Innovations To Combat Drought, Improve Food Security, And Stabilize Food Prices
By Worldwatch Institute

Worldwatch Institute highlights 12 ways to make the U.S. agriculture system more resilient to drought and, in the long run, more sustainable

Pune Terror 01/08/12 And The Ongoing Maratha-Bahujan vs Chitpawan Brahmin
Caste War Across Maharashtra

By Feroze Mithiborwala & Kishore Jagtap

Low intensity crude bombs have exploded in 4 locations in Pune, though no causalities have been reported. But again, why have these blasts occurred at this very moment and what is the underlying political context of this terror attack, is the moot point and hence this analysis after conferring with our Dalit-OBC activists friends in Mumbai and in Pune. In our analysis this is a Chitpawan Brahmanical-Manuwadi reaction to the restoration of the true Samadhi-Burial Shrine of Saibai, the first wife of Shivaji Maharaj

Decoding The Assam Riots
By Garga Chatterjee

With more than 40 people reported dead and over 1.5 lakh displaced in a week, the Kokrajhar riots between Bodos and Muslims have again brought into focus certain issues that are not limited to Kokrajhar district, or for that matter to Assam

01 August , 2012

Grain Markets Soar On Worldwide Crop Downgrades
By Naomi Spencer

Downgraded harvest outlooks in the US, Russia and Australia sent grain markets soaring upward Monday. As US crops wither under the most severe drought and heat wave in more than half a century, droughts in Canada and the Black Sea growing region, a below average Indian monsoon, and a massive downgrade of the Australian wheat harvest threaten a global food crisis

From Hiroshima To Fukushima
By Mordechai Vanunu

My 2012 Hiroshima, Fukushima Message is: End all nuclear weapons in the world including the Middle East, also in Israel. What Israel wants for itself all the M E. want. End Nuclear weapons everywhere including in Israel. Dimona or all the M E.will have Nuclear weapons exactly like in Dimona. So 2012 from Japan to all the world End Nuclear Energy, and all the Atomic Bombs .Freedom to every one freedom Now,!!!!!!.

Remembering The Brutal Acts Of Nuclear Terrorism
By Eileen Fleming

This August 6th and 9th mark the 67th anniversaries of the most brutal acts of terrorism upon innocent people: America's atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Are Fast-Breeder Reactors A Nuclear Power Panacea?
By Fred Pearce

Proponents of this nuclear technology argue that it can eliminate large stockpiles of nuclear waste and generate huge amounts of low-carbon electricity. But as the battle over a major fast-breeder reactor in the UK intensifies, skeptics warn that fast-breeders are neither safe nor cost-effective

The Syrian Intelligence War: A Tale Of Two Security Headquarters
By Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya

There is much more to the conflict in Syria than meets the eye. Syria is currently the scene of a cold war between the US, NATO, Israel, and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on one side and Russia, China, Iran, and the Resistance Bloc on the other hand. Amidst the fighting between the Syrian government and anti-government forces, an intense intelligence war has also been taking place

The Role of CIA-Pampered Saudi Spymaster In Syria
By Dr. Ismail Salami

An enigmatic personality who has periodically vanished from the scene of politics in different junctures in time, Prince Bandar bin Sultan was appointed as the Director General of Saudi Arabia’s main intelligence agency on July 19, an appointment which took place at a critical time, namely when the unrest in Syria was growing gravely worrisome thanks to the influx of the Saudi-funded rebels infiltrating the Syrian soil

Assam Violence: A Wake Up Call
By Ram Puniyani

What is required today is to disarm those having arms of various types, to rehabilitate the refugees and to ensure that they are able to go back to their own areas to catch up with the sowing season. If this is not met, surely a bigger disaster of food deprivation is waiting

 




 

 


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