30 December, 2009
Vanunu Arrrested Once Again
By Eileen Fleming
On December 29, 2009, Israel arrested nuclear whistle blower Mordechai Vanunu once again. Reuters reported, that his lawyer said he was detained over a romance with a Norwegian woman rather than for revealing nuclear secrets
Activists Reject Egypt's Gaza Offer
By Aljazeera
Members of an international group gathered in Cairo to protest against the siege of Gaza have rejected an Egyptian offer to allow 100 of them entry into the Palestinian territory
Gaza's Border Must Be Opened NOW
By Pam Rasmussen
As I write this, we are still being refused entry to Gaza, and even permission to travel to al-Arish and Rafah on the border. Thirty-eight of our marchers tried to get to al-Arish on their own, but 30 were then put under house arrest in their hotel and eight were detained at the bus station. Every peaceful vigil or protest we staged was met with an "iron wall" -- and sometimes, by violence
New Year Reopens Wounds Of The Old
By Eva Bartlett
For many survivors of the last Israeli war on Gaza, time has not healed their wounds, physical or emotional
Displaced And Desperate In Gaza
By Safa Joudeh
With the blockade in full force, those who lost their homes see no chance of rebuilding
Arresting Peaceful Protesters In Occupied Palestine
By Stephen Lendman
For decades, Israel has met peaceful Palestinian protesters disruptively with violence, arrests and at times unprovoked killings. It's no surprise that targeting them and their leaders is now common practice in cities and villages like Jayyous and Bil'in
Using False Accusations Of “Anti-Semitism”
As A Weapon To Silence Criticism Of
Israel’s Behaviour
By Ulli Diemer
Ulli Diemer argues that as world public opinion turns against Israel, its racist apartheid regime and its occupation, the Zionist state and its lobbies have turned to attempts to outlaw criticism of Israel by labelling it as “anti-Semitism” – attempts that need to be exposed and challenged as a serious threat to basic freedoms
Palestinian, Iraqi, Afghan & Aboriginal Genocides,
Copenhagen Failure & Climate Genocide
By Dr Gideon Polya
Peace is the only way but silence kills and silence is complicity. Please use this holocaust and genocide terminology and please inform everyone you can
Can There Be Hope After Copenhagen?
By Javier Sethness
Perhaps the only practical call that can follow is the slogan Günther Anders conceived of in the 1950s while reflecting on the prospect of humanity’s collective suicide by means of nuclear war: “Imperiled of all lands, unite!”
Looking Back In Retrospect
By Marianne de Nazareth
I sat alongside fellow hopefuls in ‘planes heading for Copenhagen, who were convinced that there would be a solid new global agreement on climate change. It was an upbeat feeling as discussions went as we converged at the venue. So why did the summit end without one? Why did the world accept a weak Copenhagen Accord, essentially a deal struck by five nations, led by the US? Did the delegates finally leave Denmark without a binding agreement because they were worn down by attrition?
Healing Transition Trauma In The New Decade
By Carolyn Baker
There is absolutely no place in the decade ahead for arrogance based on how much we know about collapse and how prepared we think we may be for it. Like veterans returning from combat, we are all the walking wounded, and our work is to hold onto each other and feel our own and the other's feelings, then join hands and transform our communities
Microfinance Is A National Shame
By Devinder Sharma
Devinder Sharma exposes the Shylock like practices of microfinance institutions
Unholy Politics In Jharkhand
By Gladson Dungdung
Jharkhand can be saved only through two ways – i) a new regional party emerges with the understanding of Jharkhandi culture, socio-economy and politics of the indigenous people and ii) the almighty God, who can throw light over the power hungry and corrupt politicians for resurrection of the state
29 December, 2009
Gaza: Love In Action And Global Conscience
By Eileen Fleming
Hundreds of activists who had already traveled on their dime and given up their time to bring some much needed humanitarian aid to the innocents in Gaza and to participate in the Gaza Freedom March have now also given up food. Because the Egyptian government has denied over 1,300 nonviolent international activists entry into Gaza, hundreds of them began a hunger strike on December 28, 2009
In Wake Of Airline Incident: Drumbeat For
US War In Yemen
By Bill Van Auken
In the wake of the abortive Christmas Day attempt by a 23-year-old Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, to detonate a bomb on a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam, there has been an escalating drumbeat for a wider US military intervention in Yemen
The Horrors Of Media Warfare
By Ali Jawad
During the last two months, the intensity of battle has taken a turn for the worst. With the advent of direct Saudi and US involvement in the war against Houthi ‘rebels’, the battlefront has seen relentless bombardment day after day. Still however, imagery out of Saada has been limited to rising smoke plumes from lifeless hills in a jagged terrain. Obvious questions arise on the intent of filters and newscasts by airing such images, which I leave to the reader
Climate Problem Is Really A Justice Problem
By Tom Athanasiou
Despite its disappointments, the climate summit in Copenhagen marks a turning point—the end of denial. What's next is recognizing that our climate problem is really a justice problem
The Economic Crisis Ends;
The Political Crisis Begins
By Shamus Cooke
First Iceland, then Ireland, now Greece. Much of Europe is mired in inescapable debt and bankrupt nations, the result of crashing banks, bank bailouts, and soaring unemployment. The U.S. and U.K. watch from a distance, knowing their turn is next
Cast Lead 2
By Uri Avnery
One can draw the conclusion that the war has ended in a kind of draw. Except for Goldstone. This war has dealt a fatal blow to Israel’s standing in the world
Israel Rules
By Paul Craig Roberts
America has been brought low, both morally and economically, by its obeisance to the Israel Lobby. Even Jimmy Carter, a former President of the United States and Governor of Georgia recently had to apologize to the Israel Lobby for his honest criticisms of Israel’s inhumane treatment of the occupied Palestinians in order for his grandson to be able to run for a seat in the Georgia state senate. This should tell the macho super-power American tough guys who really runs “their” country
Gaza One Year Later
By Stephen Lendman
A December 2009 report prepared by Oxfam International, Amnesty International UK, United Civilians for Peace, Christian Aid, and a dozen other international NGOs (called NGOs below) titled, "Failing Gaza: No rebuilding, no recovery, no more excuses" is hard-hitting and to the point
Gazan Children Bear 'Scars Of War'
By Phoebe Greenwood
Ahmed Awad, a child psychologist who worked as a counselling manager at the ministry of education until 2008, warns: "Every single child in Gaza is traumatised by what they experienced during the war. They all heard the aircrafts, the bombs and the shelling, they all feel unsafe. But around 60 per cent are still suffering from shock
In Search Of Mexico: Latin America’s Enigma
By Gaither Stewart
Who are these Mexicans who disturb the tranquility of the USA enough to necessitate a wall to separate the two North American peoples? Who are literally “dying” to get into fortress USA? What is their country like that they so readily abandon in order to work in Yankee supermarkets and California orchards, on New York skyscrapers and in households of the Atlantic seaboard? How is it possible that these two neighboring peoples are so dramatically different one from the other? In this essay I offer some personal answers
2009: Another Hard Year For American Muslims
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
The year 2009 brought no positive change to alleviate the plight of the seven-million strong American Muslim community which remains victim of guilt by association since 9/11
The Environmental Costs Of The Military
Book Review By Kim Scipes
Book Review: The Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of the Military By Barry Sanders—Reviewed by Kim Scipes
Sri Lanka: The Merciless Rajapaksha Regime
Must Find Its Way Out
By Nilantha Ilangamuwa
Sri Lanka failed to produce a statesman. All those ruled us were constrained stocks and worse is the present regime of Mahendra Percy Rajapaksha-an idiosyncratic nasty regime that is surviving on the sufferings of the people
Religion Does Not Unify A Country
By Kuldip Nayar
The BJP’s mentor, the RSS, should learn a lesson from our neighbouring country. Religion does not unify a country, pluralism does
28 December, 2009
Iran’s Growing Revolution vs.
The Democrat’s Intervention
By Shamus Cooke
On Sunday in Iran, mass protests were drowned in blood by government authorities; at least ten reportedly have been killed with hundreds injured. The events have been given ample coverage in the U.S. media, with the intention of further demonizing Iran’s repressive government. Absent in the American media are the deeper implications of the protests, which, to anyone paying close attention, constitute a powerful revolutionary movement
Humanity's Right To Life
By Fidel Castro
To carry on with the battle against climate change and to claim in every meeting, particularly in those of Bonn and Mexico, humanity’s right to life, with the morale and the strength that truth provides, is in my opinion the only way to proceed
Climate Change (Optimistic) Activism in 2010
By Bill Henderson
You and I who understand the serious dangers of climate change, especially the increasing possibility of crossing a tipping point to runaway warming, are in a very small minority and still involved in a wrap up and blame game while the 50% or so of the world's population that did tune in to the Copenhagen circus have moved on to the latest news. What do we do now?
Ever Expanding Wars: An Appalling
New Year Certainty
By Emily Spence
We can be assured that, eventually, the ongoing military rampage will lead to a third world war if Russian or Chinese leaders, finally, reach a limit to the threats that can be endured from western imperial hubris. In fact, how can anyone anywhere embrace an increasingly extensive war trajectory?
Disturbing Questions In Thwarted
US Plane Bombing
By Barry Grey
The nearly catastrophic attempt to blow up a US passenger jet during its final approach to Detroit Metro Airport on Christmas Day raises a number of serious questions
Israel Resembles A Failed State
By Ali Abunimah
One year has passed since the savage Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip, but for the people there time might as well have stood still. Since Palestinians in Gaza buried their loved ones -- more than 1,400 persons, almost 400 of them children -- there has been little healing and virtually no reconstruction
International Law And Israel's War On Gaza
By Francis A. Boyle
Even if Oslo had succeeded, it would have resulted in the imposition of a bantustan upon the Palestinian People. But Oslo has run its course! Therefore, it is my purpose here today to chart a new direction for the Palestinian People to consider
An International Crime Called Gaza
By Dr. Elias Akleh
A fully pre-meditated international crime of genocide has been taking place during the last 62 years in the heart of the Arab World. The victims are the Palestinian people especially those in the Gaza Strip. The assassin is the worst ever terrorist group deceptively called the Israeli Defense Forces
Palestine/Israel: A Single State,
With Liberty And Justice For All
By Susan Abulhawa & Ramzy Baroud
It is time for our shared land to be the inclusive and diverse country it had been. It is time for leaders to follow the people’s determined movement toward a single democratic state, with liberty and justice for all, regardless of religion
Gaza's Untold Story
By Mamoon Alabbasi
Review of Ramzy Baroud's book "'My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story"
The Occupied West Bank Latroun Villages
By Stephen Lendman
On June 6, 1967, when Israeli forces invaded Gaza and the West Bank, on the second day of the so-called Six-Day War (June 5 - 10, 1967), they entered three Palestinian villages in the Latroun salient - Imwas, Yalo and Beit Nouba, forcibly expelling the residents, numbering over 10,000 at the time. Forty-two years later, their former homes gone and land expropriated, the survivors remain displaced, unable to return in violation of international law and Article 11 of UN Resolution 194
Salute To The Indefatigable Spirit Of Struggle Of
Subedar Jasram
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Struggle of Subedar Jasram to get justice for over 150 landless Dalit families in Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar
Punjab Farmers Slide Deeper Into Indebtedness
By Devinder Sharma
Behind the facade of rural prosperity of Punjab is hidden the sordid saga of growing indebtedness. While the Punjab Agricultural University scientists are rewarded with 6th Pay Commission arrears and increase in monthly salaries, the virile farmers of Punjab have come under huge debt. This is certainly not fair. It is high time, PAU is held responsible for the Punjab farm crisis and some sort of punishment must be spelled out
27 December, 2009
Israeli Troops Kill 6 In West Bank, Gaza
By AFP
Israeli troops killed six Palestinians on Saturday in two separate operations, including a raid in the West Bank targeting members of president Mahmud Abbas' Fatah movement
One Year After Israeli Assault,
Gaza Is Still On The Brink
By Sharat G. Lin
On 27 December 2008, Israel launched “Operation Cast Lead” on the Gaza Strip with the announced objective of stopping Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, most notably in the town of Sderot close to the northern border between Israel and Gaza, and halting the flow of arms through tunnels from Egypt into Gaza
Israel: A Monster Beyond Control?
By Alan Hart
On the first anniversary of the beginning of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip – in my view it was a demonstration of Israeli state terrorism at its most naked – it’s not enough to say that the governments of the Western powers (and others) are complicit in Israel’s on-going collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians, 53% of whom are children. What is actually happening in the blockaded Gaza Strip, and less obviously on the occupied West Bank, is the continuation by stealth of Zionism’s ethnic cleansing of Palestine
Gaza’s Shrinking Borders:
16 Years Of The Oslo Process
By Sharat G. Lin
Forty-two years of military occupation and sixteen years of the Oslo Process have made Gaza a smaller place. Already one of the most densely-populated strips of land in the world, its population has grown during this period from less than 360,000 in 1967 to 1.5 million today. Meanwhile, its borders have not only become more impermeable, but they have been progressively closing in on what some have called “the world’s largest open air prison.”
Copenhagen Has Given Us The Chance
To Face Climate Change With Honesty
By James Hansen
Last weekend's minimalist Copenhagen global climate accord provides a great opportunity. The old deceitful, ineffectual approach is severely wounded and must die. Now there is a chance for the world to get on to an honest, effective path to an agreement
COP15 Copenhagen: A Road To Ecocide
By Ghali Hassan
The only way to avert the threat of ecocide is for the rich and developed countries to recognise that reduction in greenhouse gas emissions based on economic development and protection of the environment is of paramount importance for the future of humanity
Israel/Palestine And Global Warming,
Two Catastrophes In-The-Making:
What Do They Have In Common?
By Alan Hart
On both fronts, global warming and Israel/Palestine, our leaders could say and do what I have suggested, but they won’t unless and until enough of us citizens demand that they do
Oil And Environment: A Contradiction
By Peter Goodchild
The issue of peak oil and that of the environment are mutually exclusive problems. As oil and other fossil fuels disappear, the environmental problems will also go away, even if very slowly. By trying to raise the alarm about both issues at once, we are placing ourselves in a self-contradictory position, and our credibility is rapidly undermined
Where To Live In Tough Times
By Peter Goodchild
As various chunks of the planet collapse, one big question is, “Should I start packing my bags?” There is probably no perfectly rational way for choosing a place to live, and we may well end up choosing the same country in which we have spent the most years.Nevertheless, if we are brave enough, or if we have already done some traveling, the factors listed below may be those we want to consider
Healthcare Bill A Nightmare Before Christmas
By Billy Wharton
Call it the nightmare before Christmas or Santa’s lump of healthcare coal. Either title captures the disastrous qualities of the healthcare reform bill passed by Senate on Thursday
Gandhi, Guevara Fifty-Fifty
By Satya Sagar
Violence or non-vilence? Which is the most effective political tool in Indian context?
Mr. Chidambaram’s Poke-And-Feel Tactics
With The Maoists
By Trevor Selvam
Several Maoist leaders in interviews have clearly stated that they are willing to talk.. Even call a cease-fire. But they will NOT give up their arms. Previously, Mr. Chidambaram had demanded so, as a precondition. It is therefore a historic turning point that Mr. Chidambaram has recognized that these citizens of India have a right not to give up their arms, with which they have initiated a war of resistance
23 December, 2009
Time For Better Ideas: James Hansen
By Madeline Ostrander
Look at the sacrifices the public made in World War II. Climate change is harder, because it's less visible. But many of us had hoped that President Obama would help press the world to make the right decisions. Now in the next several months, climate change needs to come to the fore, and people need to understand the actions that are really required
World Looks Ahead Post-Copenhagen
By Jeff Tollefson
A weak international climate agreement leaves room for science to shape the next round of negotiations
Climate Accord Betrays The Vulnerable
By Bhaskar Goswami
The climate deal hastily put together by the BASIC countries and the USA gives license to the rich countries to continue polluting the planet, thereby rewarding them instead of imposing penalty for their climate crimes
India's Poverty Line Is Actually A Starvation Line
By Devinder Sharma
There is something terribly wrong with growth economics. After all, 18 years after India ushered in economic liberalisation, the promise of high growth to reduce poverty and hunger, has not worked. In fact, it has gone the other way around: the more the economic growth, the higher is the resulting poverty
Breaking Palestine's Peaceful Protest
By Neve Gordon
Palestinians have a long history of nonviolent resistance but Israel has continuously deployed methods to destroy it
Obama Year One: Betrayal And Failure (Part II)
By Stephen Lendman
Obama wants to do George Bush one better by continuing the worst of his policies, enact more of his own, and destroy the middle class to turn America into Guatamala with ruling elites governing a nation of serfs. Well on his way, he's got three more years to succeed unless mass public outrage stops him
22 December, 2009
Société Générale Predicts Global Economic Collapse
In Two Years Time
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Société Générale has advised clients to be ready for a possible "global economic collapse" over the next two years, mapping a strategy of defensive investments to avoid wealth destruction
Venezuelan President’s Speech
On Climate Change In Copenhagen
By Hugo Chavez
We are capable of not making this Earth the tomb of humanity. Let us make this earth a heaven, a heaven of life, of peace, peace and brotherhood for all humanity, for the human species
If You Want To Know Who's To Blame
For Copenhagen, Look To The US Senate
By George Monbiot
Obama's attempt to put China in the frame for failure had its origins in the absence of American campaign finance reform
Copenhagen: Things Fall Apart
And An Uncertain Future Looms
By Bill Mckibben
James Hansen refused to come to Copenhagen, predicting it would be a charade. He was correct. On Sunday he predicted a greater than 50 percent chance that 2010 would be the warmest year ever recorded. If you want to bet against him, you can. If you want to argue that this non-agreement will help Obama get something through Congress, it’s possible you’re right. If you want to despair, that’s certainly a plausible option
For Obama, No Opportunity Too Big To Blow
By Naomi Klein
If Barack Obama had come to Copenhagen with a transformative and inspiring commitment to getting the U.S. economy off fossil fuels, all the other major emitters would have stepped up
Beyond Ecological Imperialism
By Jayati Ghosh
The row over climate change isn't just a battle between rich and poor, it illustrates the futility of obsession with economic growth
We're All Eco-Warriors Now
By James Garvey
Our political leaders failed to do the right thing: now it's up to us to push them into action or get on with it without them
After The Catastrophe In Copenhagen,
It's Up To Us
By Johann Hari
The time for changing your light-bulbs and hoping for the best is over. It is time to take collective action. For some people, that will mean joining Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth or the Campaign Against Climate Change and helping them pile on the pressure. But those who can go further - by taking non-violent direct action - should do so. Every coal train should be ringed with people refusing to let it pass. Every new runway should be blockaded. The cost of trashing the climate needs to be raised
Some Positives About Copenhagen
By Marianne de Nazareth
By agreeing to extend the AWG mandates for a further year, the Copenhagen COP has set the stage for a proper agreement to a second Kyoto commitment period, as well as an agreement on a mechanism that could, and indeed probably will replace Kyoto
Zionist Power In American Politics
By James Petras
We should combat widespread Zionist hate propaganda, organized and publicized by the ZPC, against Muslin Americans and Arab American, their cultural foundations and charities. We should demystify Zionist claims that the Jews' ancestral homeland is Israel, rather then North Africa and Central Asia, and that there is no historic basis for the Right of Return
Obama Year One: Betrayal And Failure (Part I)
By Stephen Lendman
Obama is doing Bush one better by exceeding his harshness, lawlessness, and betrayal of the public trust. In Obama's America, only the privileged have rights, not people of color, the poor, and growing numbers going hungry, without jobs, and other life's essentials his budget allocations won't fund
A Murder Mystery: Who Killed
Medicare Advantage?
By Mary Lynn Cramer
If you want the “inside dope” on who done it, I strongly urge you to check it out for yourself. Call your Medicare Advantage HMO and ask them. But be nice. After all, they are just workers following orders, doing their job. If you want to call someone to account, write the CEO and the members of Congress who misrepresented you
Dead Right: Whose Euthanasia Is It, Anyway?
By Farzana Versey
The Supreme Court of India recently admitted a plea for euthanasia of a nurse who was raped 36 years ago and has been in coma all these years. No one seems to question how the hospital and the rapist, where the crime took place, have not been made answerable. She is now a mere symbol - for life and death
Bhagat Singh On Dalit Question
By Ashok Yadav
Bhagat Singh's article ‘Achoot Samasya’ (The Untouchability Problem) is very important because we get glimpses of his revolutionary thoughts on this basic problem of Indian society. Now when in the post-mandal phase caste and dalit questions have acquired paramount importance in socio-political discourse it has become relevant to understand his thoughts on this question
Christmas Beyond The Manger
By Madhu Chandra
Celebration of Jesus’ birthday is focused around the manger for centuries, while the world has changed to one end to another. “Look beyond the manger” is the intimation to all Christ loving followers. At far and near, beyond the manger, unheard, unreported and hidden stories exit around the world. Beyond the manger, Indian churches will need to look at the unreported, unheard and hidden stories
21 December, 2009
The Truth Of What Happened
At Copenhagen Summit
By Fidel Castro
It is important now that Cuba and the world come to know as much as possible of what happened in Copenhagen. The truth can be stronger than the influenced and often misinformed minds of those holding in their hands the destiny of the world
Judgment Days In Copenhagen
By Rebecca Solnit
Time is running out for climate action
Copenhagen: A New Beginnning?
By Marianne de Nazareth
Looking below the surface, the Copenhagen Accord of 18 December 2009 could be considered the start of waking the world up to the crisis of climate change, no matter how ‘weak’ the outcome has been dubbed. For the iconic Polar bear, that 350 ppm request might not be met, but the world has woken up to the crisis and national measures will definitely help to kick in a change
Global Warming Hike May Be Steeper: Research
By Agence France Presse
Global temperatures could rise substantially more because of increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than previously thought, according to a new study by US and Chinese scientists released Sunday
WInter Solstice: Working And Waiting
In Humanity's Back Ward
By Carolyn Baker
This winter solstice is particularly dark. I watch the blood drain from the faces of my progressive friends, disillusioned by their "yeswecan" poster boy who has accomplished little in his first term but the escalation of a despicable war for oil and drugs, and with the stroke of a pen, opened the floodgates for troops and military contractors to rape and pillage yet another piece of the planet. "Welcome to the Golden Arches of Kabul. May I take your order?" The "Hopium" wears off, and we're reminded that it's still winter, and it's still very, very dark
Gaza: A Christmas Remembrance
By William A. Cook
Herman Melville realized that the superior white Christian civilization epitomized absolute savagery and that cannibals treated others with more humanity than these self-identified enlightened men. That understanding of the civilized white man struck me with its absoluteness, its certainty, its expressive force the moment I opened my file of little four year old Kaukab Al Dayah, whose tender face rests on top of the rubble of her home, an unsuspecting victim of white Zionist brutality that delivered her family a missile as a Christmas gift just over a year ago
Gaza Must Be Rebuilt Now
By Jimmy Carter
We can wait no longer to restart the peace process. The human suffering demands urgent relief
On A Parent's Death And Minding Your Tongue
In The U.S.A.
By Emily Spence
Has America already become a police state? It seems so. But should we succumb to it?
Jennifer Jones Austin, Activist, Needs
Bone Marrow Donor
By Frederick Alexander Meade
Individuals in need of a bone marrow transplant essentially require a donor of the same ethnicity, as a transplant may only occur between parties in possession of matching genetic tissue. This reality however functions to present a challenge for most individuals of African descent, as this group is dramatically underrepresented within national and international bone marrow registries
The Passing Of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri
By Rannie Amiri
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri passed away at the age of 87 in the holy city of Qum, Iran on the night of Dec. 19. Maligned by the regime during the better portion of his life, he continues to be demeaned, even in death
Ram And Rahim As Good Neighbors
By Ram Puniyani
The leak and tabling of Liberhan Commission report has created a big turmoil in the country. While most of the sides have been shouting hoarse about their own position on the issue, not much has been talked about the future solution of this vexed problem
Obama’s Af-Pak War Is Illegal
By Marjorie Cohn
Many congressional Democrats are uncomfortable with Obama’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. We must encourage them to hold firm and refuse to fund this war. And the left needs to organize and demonstrate to Obama that we are a force with which he must contend
The Individual Mandate: An Unconstitutional
Exercise Of Congressional Power
By Sheldon H. Laskin
It is generally agreed, by both proponents and opponents of the Administration’s health reform bill, that the lynchpin of the legislation is the individual mandate requiring uninsured Americans to obtain health insurance, or pay a penalty on their tax return for failing to do so. It is somewhat surprising that little attention has been paid to the critical legal question of whether Congress has the constitutional authority to require Americans to purchase a commodity from a private, for-profit corporation
Senate Speech Heralds New Social Movement
By Margaret Flowers, Katie Robbins & Andy Coates
This week the sincere effort of millions of people across the nation once again proved effective in the face of determined opposition from the White House and Congress, as single payer health reform reached another milestone in its historic journey
20 December, 2009
Copenhagen - Historic Failure
That Will Live In Infamy
By Joss Garman
In a single day, in a single space, a spectacle was played out in front of a disbelieving audience of people who have read and understood the stark warnings of humanity's greatest scientific minds. And what they witnessed was nothing less than the very worst instincts of our species articulated by the most powerful men who ever lived
What Was Agreed At Copenhagen:
And What Was Left Out
By Jonathan Watts
National leaders and sleep-deprived negotiators thrashed out a text late last night that could determine the balance of power in the world and possibly the future of our species. The list below gives a breakdown of the key points
Weak Deal From Copenhagen
By Brooke Jarvis
Though some are defending the agreement as a first step, climate activists and residents of the Global South say that the precedent set by the agreement is a dangerous one
A Conference Without Compassion:
A Guarantee Of Mutually Assured Suicide
By John James
In the Copenhagen Accord there are no deadlines, no assurances, and talk of keeping below 2C makes no link between science and the reality of continued pollution. Nothing at Copenhagen gets even near what is needed if a meaningful attempt is to be made to avert runaway climate change. The IPCC states that this Accord guarantees that global temperature will in reality reach over 3 degrees. Even at 2 degrees the IPCC forecasts a 9m seal-level rise, and that could be in much less than the next 80 years
Do Something
By Derrick Jensen
If you love this world and want this world to be a better place, do something for it
Tibetan Glaciers Are Retreating
At An Alarming Rate
By James Hansen
Tibetan glaciers have been melting at an accelerating rate over the past decade. Glacier changes depend on local weather, especially snowfall, so glacier retreat or advance fluctuates with time and place. Thus it is inevitable that some Tibetan glaciers advance over short periods, as has been reported. But overall, Tibetan glaciers are retreating at an alarming rate
Oybama
By Uri Avnery
Obama’s observations deserve reflection. They invite, and indeed demand, debate. But it was odd to hear them on the occasion of the award of a peace prize. It would have more proper to voice them at West Point, where he spoke a week earlier
Net Around Israeli War Crimes Suspects Tightens
By Adri Nieuwhof & Ziyaad Lunat
Efforts by human rights organizations, lawyers and activists in Palestine and Europe to hold Israeli war crimes suspects to account have gained momentum over the past few years. Last week, former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni cancelled a visit to the UK over threats of a lawsuit under the country's universal jurisdiction laws
Crime In The Post Peak World
By Peter Goodchild
As humanity plunges ever more deeply into the age of declining resources, what will be the future of law and order? The particular problem of which I am thinking might be called, more specifically, "future violence," since other acts that are now deemed criminal may seem trivial in later days. Unfortunately all discussion of violence becomes an emotional issue, and a rational answer may be elusive
Did America Keep Mum On 26/11?
By Vir Sanghvi
Did the Americans have detailed advance information about the 26/11 plot which they did not share with India, only passing on a watered-down warning? And was there an American spy within the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba who kept Washington (or Langley) informed of terror acts planned against India — even if this information was never handed over to us? It is certainly beginning to look that way
PPP To Fight ‘Plots’ Against Mandate;
Make Or Break Point For Rule Of Law
By Juan Cole
A meeting of high officials of the Pakistan People's Party produced a resolution to remain in power, retain existing cabinet members, and simply fight each corruption case brought against PPP officials on a case-by-case basis. On the advice of the reformist wing of the party, headed by Aitzaz Ahsan, the party decided not to attempt to directly confront or tamper with the judiciary
Can Pakistan Win This War?
By Dr Shabir Choudhry
If Pakistan wants to win this war then they have to change their strategy. They must not only rely on use of F16 and helicopters gunship. They have to win minds and hearts of the people and that could not be won by use of brute force and making more people homeless, making more orphans and martyrs. Above all they seriously need to look for moles among their ranks. It is these people who are cause of so much death and destruction in Pakistan
Myriad Legal Meanings Of Domestic Violence
In South Asian Legal Systems
By Rukmini Sen
This article traces the different meanings of what constitutes violence within the domestic sphere in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The only reason why this legal regime is taken is because there is a similarity among the societies and cultures. It is an example of how societies which had even legally tolerated domestic violence a few years ago, are now changing
Fear Of Non-Violence As Well As Maoism
By Vidyadhar Date
The year 2009 marked the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi's important text Hind Swaraj in which he among other things spelt out the importance of non-violence as the creed for resistance. It is also a coincidence that during the same year the issue of armed resistance by Maoists in India and the issue of the Indian State's use of violence to quell people's struggles against injustice came to the fore
19 December, 2009
Climate Deal Not Accepted By All,
But Copenhagen Conference Makes It ‘Operational’
By Keith Schneider
Seven countries, led by the tiny Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, this morning declined to accept the Copenhagen Accord that was reached late last night. But in a procedural move designed to put the agreement into effect, the conference decided to “take note” of the accord instead of formally approving it
The Truths Copenhagen Ignored
By Johann Hari
The world's worst polluters – the people who are drastically altering the climate – gathered here in Copenhagen to announce they were going to carry on cooking, in defiance of all the scientific warnings
Copenhagen Ends In Failure
By John Vidal, Allegra Stratton &Suzanne Goldenberg
The UN climate summit reached a weak outline of a global agreement last night in Copenhagen, falling far short of what Britain and many poor countries were seeking and leaving months of tough negotiations to come. The so-called Copenhagen accord "recognises" the scientific case for keeping temperature rises to no more than 2C but did not contain commitments to emissions reductions to achieve that goal
Why Copenhagen Failed
By Shamus Cooke
To anybody interested in the future of the earth’s climate, the conclusion of the Copenhagen conference represents either colossal disappointment or profound rage. The financial pledges— if honored— that rich nations made to poor nations will do nothing to combat global warming. The few climate related agreements that were made were of zero substance, especially when compared to what the situation demanded
With Climate Agreement, Obama Guts
Progressive Values
By Bill McKibben
Obama has taken the mandate that progressives worked their hearts out to give him, and used it to gut the ideas that progressives have held most dear. The ice caps won’t be the only things we lose with this deal
Sea Level Rise May Exceed Worst Expectations
By Richard A. Lovett
Seas were nearly 10 metres higher than now in previous interglacial period
Who's Polluting The Climate Conversation?
By James Hoggan
Money, think tanks, and the scientists-for-hire behind the doubt and denial
Afghan Children Are Neglected Casualties Of War
By Cesar Chelala
Years of war, bad government, corruption and poverty have left Afghanistan with the highest infant mortality rate in the world, according to UNICEF. More than one out of every five children are dead by the time they are five
Plight Of The Stranded Pakistanis In Bangladesh
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
December 16 marks the 38th anniversary of the breakup of Pakistan when the Eastern wing of the country emerged as Bangladesh after an India-backed secessionist movement. The occasion calls for highlighting the plight of about 250,000 so-called Biharis or stranded Pakistanis still languishing in unsanitary camps in Bangladesh
Kevin Cooper - Victimized By American Injustice
By Stephen Lendman
On November 30, the US Supreme Court denied Kevin Cooper justice by not reviewing his wrongful murder conviction despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence. Cooper is Black and was framed for a multiple homicide he never committed. He's imprisoned on death row at San Quentin State Prison, Marin County, CA, a victim of American injustice
Uncivilized Practices Of The Civil Society
By Gladson Dungdung
India's NGO industry on behalf of dalits and adivasis
18 December, 2009
Obama Disappoints The World
By Suzanne Goldenberg & Allegra Stratton
US president offers no further commitment on reducing emissions or on finance to poor countries
Obama's Damp Squib
By Marianne de Nazareth
The speech of the President of the United States was looked forward to by many around the world, but it was disappointing to say the least
Over 100 Countries Call For A Decrease
By 1.5 Degrees In Copenhagen
By Marianne de Nazareth
At least 106 countries have agreed to positions submitted by the Africa Group, the Alliance of Small Island States, the Least Developed Countries Group and the Bolivarian Alliance (ALBA). These countries constitute more than half of the Parties to the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen
The Moment Of Truth
By Fidel Castro
Despite the maneuvers and deception of the leaders of the empire, their moment of truth is drawing closer. Their own allies are losing confidence in them. In Mexico, the same as in Copenhagen or elsewhere in the world, they will be met by the growing resistance of the peoples that have not renounced the hope to survive
Better To Have No Deal Than
One That Spells Catastrophe
By Naomi Klein
The only offer on the table in Copenhagen would condemn the developing world to poverty and suffering in perpetuity
No Delay At Copenhagen
By Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
Postponing hard decisions about the fight against global warming will only make an already tragic predicament worse
1431: Off To A Rocky Start
By Rannie Amiri
Today, Friday Dec. 18, is the first day of the first month of the Islamic lunar calendar; 1 Muharram, 1431 A.H. Unfortunately, the New Year shows all signs of being another troubled one in the Middle East , with multiple hot spots unlikely to cool anytime soon. A brief overview
Lebanon’s Ebenezer Scrooge
By Franklin Lamb
Things seemed to be going well for Lebanon this Christmas season. However, no sooner had the tree lighting crowd dispersed than the atmosphere literally changed and the following days brought sustained heavy rains and flooding with many Lebanese stuck in flooded homes and cars with heavy thunder and lightning. Some are blaming the foul weather on global warming. Others on the return of Jeffrey Feltman, the Assistant Secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, who last month announced from Washington that US officials, are staying away from Lebanon lest they be blamed for trying to interfere in Lebanon’s internal affairs by choosing its new government
The Indian GM industry In Panic
By Devinder Sharma
When the going gets tough, the loser's panic. And the desperation grows. Well, this is the story of the duo -- Dr Ron Herring (from Cornell) and Dr Shantu Shantaram -- doing the rounds across the country on behalf of the GM industry. After the New Delhi panel discussion organised by the Institute of Economic Growth on Dec 3, the duo went to Ahmedabad and from there to Thiruvanthapuram in Kerala
Liberhan Commission Report:
Will Justice Be Served?
By Mukul Dube
I do not think that those whom Justice Liberhan found to be guilty of planning and executing the demolition of the Babari Masjid will ever be brought to justice. A Congress government is in power, and all indications are that other governments headed by the same party will follow. In the matter of taking action against intolerant “Hindus”, the record of the Congress is execrable
Kristol Clear: The Source Of America’s Wars
By Maidhc Ó Cathail
in a recent Washington Post opinion piece, William Kristol described Obama’s West Point speech as “encouraging.” It was “a good thing,” he said, that Obama was finally speaking as “a war president.” But if the comments on the Post website are anything to go by, few ordinary Americans take Kristol’s armchair warmongering seriously anymore. After all, as one poster quizzically asked, “A column by William Kristol the neocon that was wrong about everything from 2000-2008?”
Delay This Health Bill
By Timothy V. Gatto
The current debate over health care has turned into something that is unlike anything that comes even remotely like what most Americans wanted. It would be easier to tell you exactly what is wrong with the bill, but it seems to be a secret, an all encompassing bill that the Democrats want to spring on the people of this country without telling them exactly what’s in it
17 December, 2009
New Climate Deal May Have To Wait
By BBC
The Danish presidency of the climate summit in Copenhagen has sought to play down expectations of a comprehensive deal emerging from the meeting. Officials said progress could be made, but an international agreement may have to wait until a 2010 meeting in Mexico
Developing Nations Must Urgently
Defend Themselves
By Gideon Polya
Developing Nations must urgently defend themselves from Australia-, US- and First World-imposed climate genocide
Copenhagen: The Price Of The Atmosphere
By Andrew Glikson
The EU pledges for fighting global warming US$10 billion is 0.5% of global entertainment and media spending, 0.7% of the US military expenditure for 2008 and 1.4% of the US banks bailout
Small Islands, Small Countries, Big Hearts
By Gillian Cook
The chief negotiator for Tuvalu choked back tears in the plenary session on Saturday. There was hardly a dry eye in the room when young Pacific islanders presented a side event called Pacific Voices, passionately urging negotiators ensure a deal for the survival of their people through dance, photos and poems
Mr Obama, Here's Your Copenhagen Speech
By George Monbiot
Only one person can now rescue these climate talks. This is the speech to turn shambles to triumph
Ian Plimer's Volcano Claims Vaporise
Under Questioning On Australian TV
By George Monbiot
Climate denier finally airs his weaknesses with inaccurate statements on science and 'bullying' among academics
Agreement On $3.5bn Initial Funding
For Deforestation At COP15
By Marianne de Nazareth
Australia, France, Japan, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States have collectively agreed in the context of an ambitious and comprehensive outcome in Copenhagen to dedicate USD3.5bn as initial public finance towards slowing, halting and eventually reversing deforestation in developing countries
Jairam Gets Hot And Cold At Copenhagen
By Bhaskar Goswami
Frequent change of stance and partners has not helped India's cause in the ongoing Copenhagen conference
Global Warming, The U.S. Media,
And The Impending Catastrophe
By Ann Robertson & Bill Leumer
Given the media coverage, one can only marvel that any people in the U.S. are convinced that global warming is a threat and want their government to act aggressively to combat it
The Potentially Widespread Contamination
Of The Soil Of Gaza Due To Israeli Bombing
By Professors Mario Barbieri, Maurizio Barbieri &
Paola Manduca
Summary of the findings of a study done by Professors Mario Barbieri, Maurizio Barbieri & Paola Manduca
Steel Walls Cannot Contain
The Struggle For Freedom
By Hasan Abu Nimah
As if the siege of Gaza were not already bad enough, Israel and Egypt are working even harder to tighten the prison which holds Gaza's 1.5 million people. Egypt is building a steel wall along its 10-kilometer-long border with the Gaza Strip, according to recent media reports. This wall apparently extends not only above ground, but deep into the ground in an attempt to prevent Palestinians digging the tunnels that have become a lifeline for the territory
Get The War Criminals Arrested Now
By Khalid Amayreh
The recent arrest warrant issued in London for former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is more than justified. This woman, along with two other Israeli leaders, Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak, stood at the helm of the Israeli government that ordered, supervised and charted the genocidal onslaught against the Gaza Strip this time last year
The Lobby Within
By Ramzy Baroud
Don’t be surprised when you hear that the US continues to block the path for peace in the Middle East. At least now you know why
Look Who Just Funded The Escalation
By David Swanson
The U.S. House of Representatives approved on Wednesday another $130 billion for the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and (it goes without saying) Pakistan, money that will be used to continue the wars and to escalate the war in Afghanistan
Targeting Lawyers: The Case Of Paul Bergrin
By Stephen Lendman
"My life is in crisis and I don't know where to turn....I really attempted to treat these soldiers and defend them like they were my own children." For that and threatening the powerful, Bergrin faces a possible life sentence if convicted in his 2010 trial. Until then, he's imprisoned without bail under a system rewarding high crimes while targeting lawyers who try to expose them
An Open Letter To Pacifica Radio's
KPFA Management
By Stephen Lendman
A "truth emergency" over censorship at Pacifica's flagship station
Capitalizing Calamity:
26/11 And The Jingoist Politics
By Anand Teltumbde
The hype around 26/11 succeeded in covering up all the ineptitude of governance and instead provided excellent means for our political class to deepen its jingoist politics
Sandwich Theory And Operation Green Hunt
By Radha D’Souza
The nation-state structure and constitutionalism makes it difficult for middle India to rationalise colonisation of her own people. What should middle India do? Launch a new freedom struggle? Forge a new social contract? These are difficult questions by any measure. How much easier to flog the Maoists using imperialist labels like ‘war on terror’ to mask their own inability to re-envision the nation? How much easier to ride the ‘globalisation’ wave on the moral high tides of non-violence? Middle India is wistful. If only the volcanic fault-line on which modern India is founded will go away; if only the Adivasis will put on hold their insistence on jal, jangal, jameen
Kerala's So Called Dalit Terror: How A Dalit Minister
Turns Against His Own Community
By B.R.P Bhaskar
Inquiries have revealed that Balan, who is himself a Dalit, turned down the proposal for a visit to Thoduve by a team headed by the chief minister, saying it was impractical. He termed the proposal for rehabilitation of the colony residents also as impractical. He effectively killed the proposal for an impartial inquiry into the police conduct by referred it to the DGP
Pakistan Supreme Court Orders Reopening Of
Money Laundering Case Against President Zardari
In Swiss Courts
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
In a major setback to the US-client government of President Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan’s Supreme Court has declared the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) as unconstitutional and ordered the government to reopen money laundering case against him in Switzerland
16 December, 2009
Hundreds Protest At Climate Talks
By Press Association
Hundreds of campaigners staged protests inside and outside the UN climate talks today as security was ramped up for the arrival of world leaders for the closing days of the negotiations
It's The Protesters Who Offer
The Best Hope For Our Planet
By Johann Hari
They've ensured the corporate lobbyists punching holes in the deal are shamed
The Acidification Of Oceans
By Marianne de Nazareth
Immediate and substantial reductions in green house gas emissions are needed to reduce the impacts of climate change on the oceans.. These impacts including warming ocean temperatures sea level rise, ocean acidification and changing ocean currents will lead to major shifts in the diversity abundance and distribution of life in the ocean
Outcry Against Ethiopia
By Marianne de Nazareth
The Africans attending the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, condemned the proposed appeal by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia with French President, Nicolas Sarkozy
Peak Oil, Peak Food
By Aetius Romulous
The single greatest challenge facing our modern economic food chain is the insanely unnatural low cost of food to the consumer, making the simple and necessary act of eating dependent on food that is almost free. The global edifice of cheap food rests on the volatility of a single input; the exponentially depleting supply of easy, cheap oil. We are gorging ourselves at the $1.99 all-you-can-eat oil buffet. Food is too cheap, a "correction" is coming, and there is not a damn thing anybody can do about it
What Really Is A Conspiracy Theory?
By Rand Clifford
America's plague of conspiracy-theory labeling subverts critical thinking; one of our least popular endeavors—critical thinking that is, has much to do with protecting one’s comfort zone and avoiding cognitive dissonance...much to do with choosing what to believe, regardless of evidence. A fine example is Americans’ attitude regarding official confessions that the anthrax attacks soon after 9/11 were false flag
Indian Parliament Misled By
Ministry For Environment On Bt Brinjal Issue
By Devinder Sharma
If you have followed the answers that the Ministry for Environment & Forests (MoEF) have time and again provided for questions asked in both Houses of Indian Parliament, you would have noticed that the responses look to be as if they have been copied straight from the ISAAA documents. That makes me wonder whether the MoEF has taken on a new responsibility of becoming a voice of the GM companies since ISAAA is an industry outfit (even though they call themselves an NGO)
Desmond Tutu On Cyprus
By Christiana Voniati
“I can smell the scent of peace here… I came to give it a little push, if I can"
Of Nations And Notions:
The Bangladesh India Forgot
By Farzana Versey
On December 16, a nation was cut off from a nation which was formed out of a larger nation. The second, Pakistan, was essentially a notion that took off from the larger idea that was India
Justice For Mumia Abu-Jamal
By Mary Shaw
Rights groups call for Justice Department probe into Mumia Abu-Jamal case
The Audacity Of Imperial Hubris: Obama In Oslo
By Billy Wharton
A revitalized anti-war movement in the US that reads deep into the inspirational wells of non-violent movements of the past could be next year’s nominee for nobel peace prize. What a righteous replacement that would be for a president committed to war and occupation, arrogant enough to attempt to play this off as a part of global security
Throwing Our Energy At Impossible Dreams
By P.F. Henshaw
Signs of cognition, maybe? In the haystack of contentious arguments at Copenhagen it seems only the occasional unofficial commentary pointed to the real solvable source of our monumental collision with the limits of the earth. Somehow in the process of growing ever bigger, mankind got "big", and continuing to grow still bigger is optional. Yes, it sort of "happened naturally", and is also natural for us to be a bit confused about the whole turn of events it precipitates, but it is still also definitely our own choice to be doing it too, and we're simply hiding from the problem it creates on the whole
Apology For Colonialism ! Impossible?
By Vineet Thakur
The West has never sought official apology for colonialism from the colonized. Should they?
President Obama Has Lost His
2012 Bid For Re-election
By Bernard Weiner
We must start thinking, and talking, about the alternatives open to progressives in the 2012 presidential race. Including joining with many other Americans who are turned off by the current stranglehood on power held by elite forces seemingly beyond our control. Among these options might well be the founding of a viable third party
Shopian: CBI On A Spree Of Manufacturing Lies
By Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal
It didn’t take a single stroke for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to demolish the allegations of rape and murder in Shopian as a figment of imagination. It took several months to concoct a suitable story in pursuit of a conclusion that was already being gradually and selectively leaked out to the media in the last few months. The new addition is simply the ‘scientific’ presentation of the medical examination post exhumations, that trashes even the few fragments of evidence pointing to rape and murder in Shopian and jumping to the conclusion of ‘drowning’
Alban Toppo Describes His Illegal Detention
By Alban Toppo
Note from Alban Toppo, Advocate, Human Rights Law Network
Ghettoes In The Making
By Ram Puniyani
As per the report in a section of media recently (November 2009) UK based Muslim charities have warned the Muslims living in the relief colonies set up in the wake of Gujarat carnage, must abide with a code of conduct, no TV, no music, education only in Madrassa, particular type of cap and beard for men, hijab for women, etc. If these are not adhered to the Charity threatened that they will stop supporting the relief work. At the same time the members of Tablighi Jamat insisted on the similar lines, ‘Islamic Behavior’ or else!
Udit Raj's Fast For Reservation In Private Sector
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Udit Raj on fast unto death against non implementation of reservation in private sector
15 December, 2009
Copenhagen Is Heading For Disaster
By Mark Lynas
The battle lines are drawn. The armies are lined up. The guns are loaded. But here in Copenhagen, a phony war is underway
This Is Bigger Than Climate Change.
It Is A Battle To Redefine Humanity
By George Monbiot
It's hard for a species used to ever-expanding frontiers, but survival depends on accepting we live within limits
No Time For Tears In Copenhagen
By Bill McKibben
Those damned shriveled ears of corn. I’ve done everything I can think of, and millions of people around the world have joined us at 350.org in the most international campaign there ever was. But I just sat there thinking: it’s not enough. We didn’t do enough. I should have started earlier
HowTo Break The Climate Stalemate Between
The Global South And The North
By Gopal Dayaneni & Mateo Nube
Rich and poor countries are in this together. If either fails to step up, the planet is in trouble. A climate deal must take into account the Global North’s responsibility for nearly 70 percent of greenhouse pollution and the Global South’s need to move out of poverty. The North must cut back sharply on emissions while the South leapfrogs over the industrial age to clean-energy prosperity
A Danish Police State
By David Rovics
The signs up all over the airport and various places elsewhere in town are calling it Hopenhagen, but everybody I know is calling it Cop-enhagen, which seems far more appropriate. The international media has been giving this lots of coverage, and rightly so. Of course much of the media is unable to walk and chew gum at the same time, so other things, such as the reason the protests are happening in the first place, can get lost
Sinking Islands In The Pacific:
1.5 Degrees Celsius To Stay Alive
By Marianne de Nazareth
The island nations' plea for help
Angst And Hope Amidst The Prospect Of
Climate Catastrophe
By Javier Sethness
A Review of James Hansen’s Storms of My Grandchildren
For Palestinians, Every Day Is Kristallnacht
By Paul Craig Roberts
“Settlers attack West Bank mosque and burn holy Muslim books” was a London Times headline on December 11, 2009. These attacks, together with the demolition of Palestinian homes, the uprooting of Palestinians’ olive groves, the innumerable checkpoints that prevent Palestinians from accessing schools, work, and medical care, the Israeli Wall that denies Palestinians access to the land stolen from them, and the isolation and blockade of the Gaza Ghetto, are part of the Israeli government’s policy of genocide for the Palestinians
“Saving Israel” Or Assisting It To Commit Suicide?
By Alan Hart
A Jewish friend in Canada drew my attention to an article in the Jewish Ledger, an independent weekly newspaper in Westport, Connecticut. The headline over it is “Saving Israel” Expert says American Jews key to Israel’s survival. I have rarely read such dangerous nonsense. It’s the voice of Zionism, deluded as ever, but with more than a hint of panic
Can India And Pakistan Fight Terror Together?
By Pervez Hoodbhoy
Let me make an apparently outrageous proposition: in the coming years, India's best protection is likely to come from its traditional enemy, the Pakistan Army. Therefore, India ought to now help, not fight, against it
14 December, 2009
Developing Countries End Boycott At Climate Talks
By Associated Press
Poor countries ended a boycott of U.N. climate talks Monday after getting assurances that rich nations were not conspiring to soften their commitments to cutting greenhouse gases
Climate Talks Suspended After Mass Walkout
By Kirsty Donald
The main sessions of the UN conference were halted after the protest, which was led by African countries and backed by the G77 group of developing nations.They accused developed countries of trying to back out of the Kyoto Protocol on carbon emissions
Five Days To Final Climate Count Down
By Marianne de Nazareth
As the final week of the UN climate summit opens in Copenhagen, the world’s eyes are on world leaders to listen to the revelations of science and agree to a fair, ambitious and legally binding climate deal the world is waiting for
Pachauri Meets The Youth In Copenhagen
By Marianne de Nazareth
At a specially convened meeting of a hall full of young people from around the world in the Bella center, Dr. RK Pachauri said he was happy to be among the youth of the world
Protesters In Seattle Warned Us
What Was Coming, But We Didn't Listen
By Madeleine Bunting
Copenhagen must face up to the decade lost in curbing volatile finances, corporate power and the pillage of resources
December 12th Was A Tipping Point
By Saleemul Huq
I believe we have reached a tipping point. I truly believe that Copenhagen will be remembered in years to come, not for what happens on 18 December when world leaders meet here, but for what just happened on 12 December
Real Solutions To The Energy And Climate Crises
By Chris Nelder
Why has our economic theory failed us? Why is the reality of climate change so hard to accept? Why does climate change dominate public dialogue while the more proximate threat of peak oil remains far off the radar? Why do we have such resistance to change? Why would anyone ever think Dubai World was a good idea? Why is talking about population control — arguably the only real way out of our predicament — taboo?
Is "Clean Coal" A Dead End?
By Richard Heinberg
As time goes on, the US will need to burn more coal, while the coal itself will be more scarce and costly. And the technology used will be far more expensive and complex, both to build and to operate, than the system of power plants we have today. Taken together, these factors read like a recipe for cost overruns and spiraling electricity rates
The Human Ecology of Collapse
Part One: Failure Is The Only Option
By Michael Greer
Failure is always an option; when trying to prevent it will lead to highly unpleasant personal consequences, without actually having the least chance of preventing it, a strong case can be made that the most viable option for anyone in a leadership position is to enjoy the party while it lasts, and hope you can duck the blame when it all comes crashing down
Recent And Current Economic Costs Of
Climate Change To Australia
By Barrie Pittock & Andrew Glikson
Climate change impacts are already costing lives and billions of dollars. These costs will increase rapidly if we do not act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
US Firms Lose Out In Bidding For Iraq Oil Fields
By Patrick Martin
In a clear signal of the declining influence of American capitalism, even in a country conquered and occupied by the US military, companies from China, Russia, Malaysia and Angola, along with several European oil giants, won most of the rights for exploration and development of Iraq’s oil fields
Are Crippling Droughts
The Next Great Threat To Iraq?
By Martin Chulov
Until the oil money kicks in or its neighbors turn on the taps again, success in the salt pans is likely to be a rare high-water mark for Iraq. In the short term, it would appear that divine intervention is Iraq’s best hope. The means to address water management effectively seems decades away
Guantanamo Detainee Deaths
By Stephen Lendman
A report titled, "Death in Camp Delta," covers three simultaneous detainee deaths on June 9, 2006 in the maximum security Alpha Block. Yassar Talal Al Zahrani, Mani Shaman Turki Al Habardi Al Tabi, and Ali Abdullah Ahmed were found dead shortly after midnight on June 10
How Monsanto Takes Control Over Seed
By Devinder Sharma
The Associated Press has done quite a good expose on how Monsanto is trying to expand its Empire
Is Pakistan A Failed State?
By Dr Shabir Choudhry
If one examines situation of Pakistan impartially then one reaches the conclusion that most of the criteria for a failed state are clearly visible in Pakistani society today. I leave it to the judgement and wisdom of the readers to decide if Pakistan is a ‘failed state’, ‘successful state’, a ‘fort of Islam’ or a state struggling for its survival. However one thing is clear that Mohammed Ali Jinnah did not dream this kind of Pakistan
A Night Of Horror: Isolation Of A Disabled
In The Family
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
A tale of ignorance and insensitivity in an Indian family
Savarna Terror Erupts In Kerala
By J Devika
Dalits are on the receiving end in Kerala, be it from the police, sangh parivar or the so called saviours of the downtrodden, Communist Party of India (Marxists)
13 December, 2009
Copenhagen Police Continue Acts Of
Unprovoked Violence On Protesters
By Climate Justice Action
Around 200 demonstrators are currently being forcefully held in the street by Danish police near the American Embassy in Copenhagen
Tens of thousands Stage World's Largest
Climate March In Copenhagen
By Ben Ferguson & Jonathan Owen
Tens of thousands of climate activists marched in Copenhagen yesterday as part of a worldwide "Day of Action" to urge negotiators at UN talks to agree a strong treaty to fight global warming
Hope In 100,000 Flavours
By Terna Gyuse - IPS/TerraViva
The midpoint of a conference on climate change in which tremendous hope has been invested; unsurprising then that demonstrations of popular desire for decisive action against global warming took place around the world
We'll Win At Copenhagen
By Madeline Ostrander & Kumi Naidoo
Forget the cynicism. The activists who made Copenhagen possible are ramping up the pressure for a strong and binding deal on climate change
The Curious Case Of Vikram Buddhi
By Dr. Shah Alam Khan
On December 11, 2009 Vikram Buddhi was handed a four years nine months prison sentence. So much for posting hate messages against the then President George W Bush and his team of gangsters. I suppose if this was his crime, then at least half the world’s population would be behind bars! We all know how popular the butcher of Baghdad was
Spot The Difference
By Uri Avnery
After the fall of the Third Reich, the four occupying powers decided to break up Prussia and divide its territories between several German federal states, Poland and the USSR. That happened in February 1947 – only 15 months before the founding of the State of Israel. Those who believe in the transmigration of souls can draw their own conclusions. It is certainly food for thought
Obama's Cynical Action Was Uncalled For
By Fidel Castro
Why did Obama accept the Nobel Peace Prize if he had already decided to fight the war in Afghanistan to the very end? His cynical action was uncalled-for
What Did The Palestinian Say To The Policeman?
By Liz Galinovic
Before Liz Galinovic travelled through Palestine, she didn't expect to find the locals laughing
Why ACORN Won
By Bill Quigley
On December 11, 2009, a federal judge ruled that Congress had unconstitutionally cut off all federal funds to ACORN. The judge issued an injunction stopping federal authorities from continuing to cut off past, present and future federal funds to the community organization
Are You A Democrat?
By Timothy V. Gatto
Are you a Democrat? Well, if you are, I have some questions for you. It occurs to me that somewhere in the last decade (maybe longer),the differences between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party have been blurred. I'm going to try to break down why I believe the two political parties find themselves not only similiar to each other, but in all acuallity, mirror images. Let me begin by bringing up a few points about our touted two-party system
Paying The Price Of A Propaganda Coup/
Who Pays For This Propaganda Coup?
By Neerja Dasani
Several newspapers and magazines in India, recently gave the multinational mining corporation, Vedanta Resources, a full page to proclaim its piety. Taking money from a company that has been accused of ethnicide would in itself be hard to justify but the timing and content of this advertisement makes it particularly problematic
Direct Action, Liberation And The Need To Persist
By Frank Joseph Smecker
An interview with Jason Miller exploring radical dissent and animal liberation
12 December, 2009
Copenhagen Comes Down To A Numbers Game
By Michael McCarthy
Michael McCarthy on the battle over emissions cuts that is dividing the world
New Draft Agreements Released
By Osman Faruqi
Yesterday the two Chair’s of each negotiation “track” released new draft negotiation texts
Overview Of Key Party Positions
By Marianne de Nazareth
In a press conference held to brief journalists,Negotiator Dasgupta from India, Quintai Yu from China, Karl Falkenberg representing the EU, Bruno Sekoli representing AOSIS and Ambassador Chowdhury from Bangladesh gave an overview of key party positions at the moment in the negotiations
India 'Ditches' The Developing World
At Copenhagen
By Devinder Sharma
India today stands isolated at Copenhagen. No wonder India’s Chief Negotiator, Shyam Saran, had to rush back to New Delhi to seek counsel and fresh instruction on how to get out of this mess. He is expected back at Copenhagen along with Minister Jairam Ramesh tomorrow
We Hold The Key To Copenhagen
By Sarah van Gelder
"We the People" will have to act up if we want a global agreement that averts climate chaos
Climate Change? Well, We'll Be Dead By Then
By Ben Goldacre
We're predisposed to undervalue adverse outcomes which are a long way off, especially if we might be old or dead soon. We're inherently predisposed to find cracks in evidence that suggests we should do something we don't want to do, hence the enduring appeal of stories about alcohol being good for you
Rescuing A Planet Held Hostage
By Frank Joseph Smecker
I urge people to follow what is happening in Copenhagen right now. The past week has proven that the world's elected officials are not going to be making any decisions that are in the best interests of the people and communities of the planet, human and nonhuman. The solutions presented thus far have included market-based mechanisms and more discourse. Clearly, our future is in the hands of powerful elite and private institutions unless we rescue it. And I believe we can, if only we awake from the nihilistic and apathetic haze of our times to act together
'Just War' Is Just Words
By Ralph Nader
President Obama, the Afghan war escalator, received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, and proceeded to deliver his acceptance speech outlining the three criteria for a "just war" which he himself is violating
Resisting An Underlying Moral Vacuum
By Emily Spence
Is our species, overall, mentally ill in some way? How could this not be the case when we, continually, have, along with many constructive ones, the same sorts of unconscionable, dysfunctional and destructive behaviors happening again and again through the centuries?
Hindus And Sikhs In NWFP Threatened By
The Taliban And Sharia
By Salman Mehdi
Members of minority groups must either pay ‘jizya’ for protection or leave. All women, even the elderly, cannot go out alone and have to wear a burqa. Men must wear a beard and a head cap. Hundreds of Sikh and Hindu families have already emigrated
Outrage In Palestine
By Salim Nazzal
The disgusting view of the fundamentalist Jewish colonizer driving his car several times over the Palestinian young man Wasim muwasada has invoked extreme rage among Palestinians
In Praise Of Fallen Leaves — Let Them Be!
By Shepherd Bliss
This November a City Council member in the small Northern California town of Sebastopol proposed a ban on leaf blowers, which the community and Council are currently discussing. Bans have been passed in many cities around the United States and proposed elsewhere. Though some dismiss this issue as minor, others consider it important
An Indigenous Change In The Offing In Pakistan
By Gul Jammas Hussain
Anytime there is a shift of power in Pakistan, it is widely believed that the U.S. is behind the scenes, which in fact, has been quite true in the past, but this time the situation is different. Zardari is likely to emerge as a mere ceremonial president, like the one in India. This current transition is due to gradually increasing pressure from the people of Pakistan themselves and not as a result of overseas Machiavellian machinations
11 December, 2009
Obama's Nobel Speech, Just Wars And Just Stop It!
By Eileen Fleming
In Oslo, President Obama espoused the first heresy of Christianity in his Nobel speech when he cited the concept of a "just war" furthering the fallacy "that war is justified."
Alfred Nobel Is Turning Over In His Grave!
By Ammar Abu Arqoub
President Barack Obama disappointed the Nobel Peace Prize givers on Thursday. Instead of talking about peace and forgiveness, the man of peace delivered a war speech in which he borrowed quotes from the so-called just war theory in order to justify the current US warfare
Full Text: Obama's Nobel Speech
By President Barack Obama
Full text of the speech given by Barack Obama, the US president, at the Nobel award ceremony in Oslo
Leaders Of The Rich World
Are Enacting A Giant Fraud
By Johann Hari
The first week of this summit is being dominated by the representatives of the rich countries trying to lace the deal with Enron-style accounting tricks that will give the impression of cuts, without the reality. It's essential to understand these shenanigans this week, so we can understand the reality of the deal that will be announced with great razzmatazz next week
Three Tracks In Copenhagen
By Liam Phelan
The big question in Copenhagen is to ditch the Kyoto Protocol or not to ditch it
End Monopoly Capitalism To Arrest Climate Change
By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
To arrest climate change, we need to put an end to this systematic plunder of the environment for the superprofits of corporations in industrialized countries. To arrest climate change, we need to organize and defend our future against this parasitic and moribund system. To arrest climate change, we need to end monopoly capital's dominance over our lives and build a socialist future
Australia's Contrary Climate Plans
By Jacqueline Head
In a country that has suffered years of devastating droughts, catastrophic bushfires and soaring rates of skin cancers due to a gaping hole in the Ozone layer, one might expect a rising tide of popular and political pressure for the government to take steps to tackle climate change. But the country is home to the world's first Climate Sceptics party
The Silence Of The North
By Ingmar Lee
The Silence of the North is a memoir by pioneer trappers-wife, Olive A. Fredrickson, as told to author Ben East. Here, I quote a poignant and alarming passage from her book, which documents a massive, destructive ice-jam which tears down the Athabasca River, creating destruction and havoc right into Fort McMurray. I shudder to think that a similar catastrophe today will tear apart the flimsy, earthworks ramparts which shore up the massive and totally poisonous tailings ponds which contain the by-products of dirty-oil production
The Voice Of The Earth
Book Rreview By David Sparenberg
Theodore Roszak’s THE VOICE OF THE EARTH is a big book. Big not only in actual volume, chapter to chapter, page by page, but big in scope and containing a largess, as in abundant wealth; for THE VOICE is rich in perspective and reflective depth
Shopian: Manufacturing A Suitable Story
Fact Finding Report By The Independent Women's Initiative for Justice
The Nine Surges Of Obama’s War
By Tom Engelhardt
What follows is my own attempt to make sense of the nine fronts on which the U.S. has been surging, and continues to do so, as 2009 ends. Think of this as an effort to widen our view of Obama’s widening war
When Our Leaders Fail To Lead
We Have To Make Them
By David Korten
President Obama's decision to increase U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan was a tragic error. He specifically said that to compare Afghanistan with Vietnam is a misreading of history. In a way, I would have to agree. We ultimately left Vietnam in humiliation. Afghanistan is not comparable, because our prospects for success there are even worse
Our Murderers In The Sky
By Scott Ritter
The war in Afghanistan by whatever name you call it, is in reality murder
Obama’s Second Af-Pak policy:
A Fallacy In Composition
By Ramtanu Maitra
One can reasonably conclude from the goings-on in Washington before and after the speech that the United States has realized that the Afghan war cannot be won. If Washington chooses to stay in Afghanistan with the motto we will defeat you, American troops will remain there for decades, if not forever
Another EU Policy Statement Will Not
Stop Israel's Colonization
By Hasan Abu Nimah
Despite the usual hype, the document, a version of which was published by the Israeli daily Haaretz on 2 December, does not contain much that should cause Israel any undue worry. It is no more than a fine tuning of long-stated, and ineffectual EU positions. The statement is of course "balanced" -- meaning it goes out of its way not to offend the Israeli occupier and lawbreaker -- and it is strewn with cliches and contradictions
Decrypting The Palestinian Political Crisis:
Chile 1970-73, Palestine 2006-09
By Emilio Dabed
A historical analysis and comparison of Chile in the period 1970-1973 and Palestine in the period 2006-2009. The article also offers a contextual analysis of the current internal Palestinian crisis
Humanism
By Aleksandar Sarovic
An alternative, political philosophy
Ground Zero’s New Heroes? Hawks And Hawkers
By Farzana Versey
A mosque near Ground Zero and guilt and Obama's lack of guilt
10 December, 2009
High Drama In Copenhagen
By Stephen Minas
The spectrum of "developing" countries has long been stretching. The implications of this for climate negotiations are becoming apparent. The solidarity of the G77 and China bloc is set to be tested as never before
Will We Save Ourselves?
By Kofi Annan
At stake is whether our leaders can work to help us save ourselves from … well, from ourselves. The legacy of today's politicians will be determined in the weeks to come
Normalising The Crime Of The Century
By John Pilger
The purpose of the Chilcot inquiry is to normalise an epic crime by providing enough of a theatre of guilt to satisfy the media so that the only issue that matters, that of prosecution, is never raised. When he appears in January, Blair will play this part to odious perfection, dutifully absorbing the hisses and boos. All “inquiries” into state crimes are neutered in this way. In 1996, Lord Justice Scott’s arms-to-Iraq report obfuscated the crimes his investigations and voluminous evidence had revealed
Germany In Black And White
By Jayati Ghosh
A recent documentary film made by one of Germany’s most renowned investigative reporters, Gunter Wallraff, has once again created a public debate about racism in Germany
Who’s Afraid Of The Taliban Wolf?
By Trevor Selvam
Obama's balls are in a knot. While sounding extraordinarily statesmanlike, inspiring and concerned, Obama is essentially a figure head in the hands of the often competing lobbies of the Pentagon-military-industrial complex, the large oil and gas corporations and the Wall Street financial mafia. He cannot outdo them, just as he could not trash the pharma-lobby on Health Care. In fact, he is now living out a soft coup d’état engineered by Petraeus and McChrystal
Yeswecanistan
By William Blum
All the crying from the left about how Obama "the peace candidate" has now become "a war president" ... Whatever are they talking about?
The Hypocrisy of Al-Demoqratia
By Ramzy Baroud
Muslims escaping to the West, physically and figuratively, only to find double standards, self-negation and, at times, pure hypocrisy. For now, however, a new consensus is forming: democracy can be invoked and used against Muslims only, and not for Muslims. It can be manipulated to deny them their identity in Europe and their freedom in Palestine, to ensure their subjugation in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and to meddle in their internal affairs everywhere else. Al-demoqratia, indeed
Israel’s Notorious Hannibal Procedure
By Jonathan Cook
The fatal shooting by Israeli soldiers of an Israeli man earlier this week as he tried to scale a fence into the Gaza Strip was reportedly part of a drastic procedure the army was supposed to have phased out several years ago. The Israeli media reported that Yakir Ben-Melech, 34, had bled to death after he was shot under the "Hannibal procedure", designed to prevent Israelis from being taken captive alive by enemy forces
Why Is Lloyd Blankfein
By Aetius Romulous
Lloyd Blankenfein's lineal ancestor created private property, picked up a weapon, and announced that this land was no longer common, but his alone. Since that moment all of history has been a defence or rationalization of that singular act - the violent appropriation of the free and unbounded by a few, at the expense of the many. And the rest, as they say, is history
The Lobby Versus Science
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
It is incomprehensible that even though Washington has full knowledge that Iran's pursuit of nuclear program is for civilian purposes, and the two countries have cooperated in medical research, the lobby had demanded that Iran be hauled to the UNSC, and it is now calling for further sanctions to be imposed on Iran. Is there any doubt that they are pushing for an eventual war?
Who’s At ‘Jihad’? : ‘Love Jihad’
And The Judge In Kerala
By J Devika
It looked as if the controversy over ‘Love Jihad’ ( ‘jihad defined as ‘war by other means’) had blown over with state authorities in Kerala and Karnatake denying that such a threat ever existed.The Central Government informed the Kerala High Court early this month that there was no such thing and that the term ‘love jihad’ was being used by the media.However, today, the Kerala High Court openly voiced its scepticism of police reports, claiming that the reports were inconsistent and citing various technical flaws
How Long Casteism?
By Garda Ghista
The Times of India on December 7 reported that Dalits in Gujarat are banned from Hindu temples. Yet, they are Hindu, isn’t it? If they are banned from their own Hindu temples, then why on earth should they remain Hindus? Better they become Buddhist, Christian or Muslim. Tragically, even by converting to one of these other religions, they remain Dalits. We have here in India such a thing as Dalit Christians and upper caste Christians. Is it not mad? If I tell this to friends back in America, their jaws will drop in disbelief
Seeking Mandate For Operation Jharkhand Hunt
By Gladosn Dungdung
The mandate of the Assembly Election 2009 would not be for engineering the destiny of Jharkhand but it would be for the operation Jharkhand hunt, no matter whether it would be in the form of operation green, white or red hunt
Hail The Decision For A Separate Telengana State
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
It is December 10th today, the day of Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And co-incidentally, it became the day of a new dawn for Telenagana people. So definitely, a day of victory of people’s right. Hail it
09 December, 2009
Cold Spell In Copenhagen
By Marianne de Nazareth
Suddenly freezing Copenhagen has become even colder now for developing nations across the world. At a press briefing where HE Ambassador Lumumba Stanislaus Di- Aping the lone speaker on the dais representing G77 and China spoke in measured sepulchral tones stating that the Danish proposed text is a ‘dangerous document’ for developing countries
Interview With Michel Jerraud,
World Meteorological Organization Chief
By Marianne de Nazareth
The World Meteorological Organization has been instrumental in facilitating and coordinating the contributions of the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services to assist Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to fulfill their obligations under the Convention. In an interview with Marianne de Nazareth during the Climate Change negotiations being held in Copenhagen, Michel Jerraud the secretary general of the WMO responds to questions on the problems of Climate Change
The West Bank Wall: Living
By The Gate From Hell
By Ellen Cantarow
Much is heard of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but the story of the determined, long-term nonviolent resistance of many Palestinian villagers to the loss of their lands, striking as it may be, is seldom told. Here’s my report from just one village on the West Bank
Does Israel’s Ambassador
To The U.S. Have A Point?
By Alan Hart
I am giving notice of the one question I will ask and to which only a “Yes” or “No” answer is required. The question is this. Prime Minister, in exchange for peace with the whole Arab and wider Muslim world, is your government prepared to withdraw from all Arab land occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem but on the understanding that if all the parties agreed, it would remain an undivided city and the capital of two states?
Targeting Civilians In Gaza
By Stephen Lendman
For over six decades, targeting civilians and inflicting collective punishment have been standard Israeli practice. But after the 2006 Lebanon war, it was named "Dahiya" after the Beirut suburb the IDF destroyed in the conflict. Dahiya tactics were central to the overall war strategy to inflict mass civilian deaths, injuries, destruction, and human suffering on 1.5 million Gazans
Who Will Save Gaza's Children?
By Victoria Brittain
Never mind Copenhagen, an environmental catastrophe is going on right now – contaminated water is poisoning babies in Gaza
Copenhagen: Waiting In Anticipation
By Marianne de Nazareth
Difficult to speculate if COP15 will deliver at the end of 2 weeks
Take Me To Your Climate Leader
By Amy Goodman
Between sessions at the Bella Center, in the cafe area packed with thousands, a group of activists dressed as space aliens, in white spacesuits and with green skin and goggles, walked in. “Take us to your climate leaders!” they demanded. “Show us your binding treaty!” In the rarified diplomatic atmosphere of the summit, such antics stand out. But the calls from the developing world, both inside and outside the summit, to cut emissions and to compensate countries, from Africa to Asia and Latin America, for the devastating effects of global warming they did not cause are no laughing matter
Time To Refocus The C02 Battle
By Allan St Denis
We must use all the cards at our disposal to move people away from fossil fuels.The deniers are using anything they can to create doubt to confuse people. It is time to present to people all the reasons why we need to move away from the status quo. Focusing on one thing is allowing the deniers to control the debate, because all they have to do is continue to create doubt. If we loose this battle, it could mean the end of this civilization and the eventual end to the habitability of this planet. It is time to start fighting like our lives depend on it
Report Documents Widespread Frustration,
Alienation Of Pakistan’s Youth
By Ali Ismail
A new report commissioned by the British Council reveals widespread dissatisfaction and frustration among Pakistani youth. Based on interviews with 1,500 18-29 year-olds from across Pakistan, the report also sheds light on the bleak socio-economic prospects facing the vast majority of young people due to unemployment and underemployment and the lack of basic public services, including quality schooling
The Curse Of Living In ‘Interesting Times’
By Beena Sarwar
The roller coaster ride of Pakistan continues, with many passengers unsure whether the seat belts and the mechanisms are in working order. As I write this, speculations are rife about the ‘expected’ change of face in government. But then, if one were to believe the forecasts of newspaper and television pundits, this would have happened months after the first elected government in 12 years took over power in March 2008
Bad Timing
By Guy R. McPherson
It seems the evil empire will keep chugging along, despite my wishes to the contrary. How long is anybody’s guess. And, despite my record of bad guessing, I’ll toss out some more guesses here
The GM Denial Industry: Cornell University,
GM Companies And Agricultural Scientists
By Devinder Sharma
I am framing below four arguments emerged from the proponents of GM technology supporting it
Dialogue In Democracy: Challenges For
Government-Maoist Talks
By Manoranjan Mohanty
Public opinion in India seems to be building up strongly in favour of a dialogue among the government and the Maoists. This is despite the clear indications that the Central Government is going ahead with its preparations for launching the armed offensive in the Naxalite movement areas. Yet there are signs from both the government and the Maoists that they were amenable to the idea of talks
First Mission Accomplished: War President Seizes
Key 'Hearts And Minds'- Inhabiting Beltway Elites
By Robert S. Becker
President Obama's Afghan speech named a date certain when troops not yet shipped out may start home. Unsurprisingly, Obama fudged the bigger issues, bypassing any timetable, benchmarks, end dates, exit strategy, even if there will be another surge - indeed, whether we're talking 5-10 years and $500 billion. Did I miss clear assurances we're closer to the finish than the kick-off?
Light Bulbs And Free Markets
By Case Wagenvoord
According to the Chicago School of Economics, we have nothing to worry about. The market is a self-regulating organism that automatic cleans up the shit left by the financial retards who run it. So, let the boys have their fun; the invisible hand will pat them on their asses and send them on their way
08 December, 2009
Climate Summit In Disarray
After 'Danish Text' Leak
By John Vidal
Developing countries react furiously to leaked draft agreement that would hand more power to rich nations, sideline the UN's negotiating role and abandon the Kyoto protocol
Why We Left Our Farms To Come To Copenhagen
By La Via Campesina
Speech of Henry Saragih, general coordinator of Via Campesina at the opening session of Klimaforum
The Manufactured Doubt Industry
And The Hacked Email Controversy
By Jeff Masters
The fossil fuel industry outspent the environmental groups by $36.8 million to $2.6 million in the second quarter, a factor of 14 to 1. To be fair, not all of that lobbying is climate change lobbying, but that affects both sets of numbers. The numbers don't even include lobbying money from other industries lobbying against climate change, such as the auto industry, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, etc
The Climate Denial Industry Is Out To Dupe
The Public. And It's Working
By George Monbiot
Think environmentalists are stooges? You're the unwitting recruit of a hugely powerful oil lobby – George Monbiot presents the proofs
ClimateGate Is Watergate Redux
By Richard Graves
Most journalists seem content to play into the false balance trap that has served the opponents of climate action so well over the years, by looking only at cherry-picked quotes and disinformation turned out by the climate denial industry. While the surface parallels between Watergate and ClimateGate may be strong, to uncover the truth will require a serious investigation by media, law enforcement, or even international security organizations
Rampaging Climate Deniers' Losing Battle
By Lorna Salzman
The recent tempest in a teapot over leaked emails in the UK that purportedly proposed silencing climate deniers has succeeded admirably in advancing the agenda of the deniers, who, absent any substantial credible evidence for their viewpoint, have moved into the realm of personal slander
Competition Will BeThe End Of Us
By Lionel Anet
For the sake of our children, the first change we need to make is to see competition as destructive; this will release our real nature of cooperative activity and compassion to thrive
Seven Answers To Climate Contrarian Nonsense
By John Rennie
Evidence for human interference with Earth's climate continues to accumulate
IEA Forecasts Stir Debate
By Saadallah Al Fathi
The most important question regarding the oil forecast is the alarming view of the IEA that the majority of oil production in 2030 will be coming from "fields yet to be developed or found".The IEA goes on to say "sustained investment is needed mainly to combat the decline in output at existing fields, which will drop by almost two-thirds by 2030"
Apology To The Native American Indians
By Dr. Mary Hamer, M.D
This essay is an Apology to the Native American Indians for 500+ years of domination, oppression & genocide by invading, occupying & colonizing people & governments – for a time span extending from Columbus’ discovery of America in 1492 up until the present day
Bomb, bomb McCain Turns Boom Box!
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
It is extraordinary that the presidential candidate who hoped to occupy the White House by showing no qualms about 'bomb, bomb, bombing Iran' is now singing a different tune. The man who wanted to bury the voices of men, women, and children under the debris of bombs, has decided that he should not 'just bombard Iran with messages from America' but become their boom box - VOICE for Iranians
Lebanon: An End To Sectarian Politics?
By Rannie Amiri
A clarion call has been issued for Lebanon to advance beyond its sectarian nature and adopt a political framework which eschews sectarianism and instead implement one based on equitable, and proportional, representation. It is time for Lebanon to embrace it
The Legacy Of Criminal Tribes Act
In The Present Context
By Goldy M. George
How long the criminal tribes or denotified tribes are supposed to face the brute inhuman demeanour of the state and society? Do they have any rights of claiming to be citizens of this free nation? It is time to find answers to these persisting questions; or one has to turn to be a fatalist and keep dreaming of the day when everything would be fine automatically
Time To Listen The Painful Cry Of Telengana
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Telengana’s current upsurge reminds me of Uttarakhand’s mass protest against Uttar-Pradesh government
07 December, 2009
Copenhagen: Seize The Chance
The World Editorial
Today 56 newspapers in 45 countries took the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice through a common editorial. But curiously, just one paper from USA and no paper from Australia featured this unique voice of humanity
Why Copenhagen May Be A Disaster
By Bill McKibben
Why politics-as-usual may mean the end of civilization
Remembering Seattle During Copenhagen
By Patrick Bond
Patrick Bond, author of Looting Africa: The Economics of Exploitation and director of the University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Civil Society in South Africa, explains why what happened in Seattle a decade ago matters for the movement today
Cap And Fade
By James Hansen
The plans in Copenhagen and Washington have not been finalized. It is not too late to trade cap and trade for an approach that actually works
India Needs To Act, Atleast For Its Own Sake
By Suhail Masoodi
If India wants to meet first Millennium development goal “to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger,” it has to leave its static position and take a leadership in Copenhagen to combat Climate Change. At least for its own sake
Chris Hedges Warns Of Pageantry's Perils
By Brad Buchholz
Chris Hedges, who wrote 'Empire of Illusion,' examines America's identity crisis in an age of consumerism and spectacle
Chomsky Half Full
By Joel Whitney & Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky discusses his forthcoming book, the hypocrisy of neoliberalism, where he feels hopeful about democracy despite U.S. terrorism, and his friendship—okay, passing acquaintance—with Hugo Chavez and other “pink tide” presidents
America The Immaculate
By James Rothenberg
The state makes policy. The people have to live it out. Alert! State to people! Don’t trouble your consciences when we’re off obliterating foreign countries and the foreign lives in them. Just remember to cough up some of that good old-fashioned patriotism, support the troops, and go to sleep thanking God for blessing America with freedom and democracy
Israel’s Bedouin Denied Right To Elections
By Jonathan Cook
Some 35,000 Bedouin residents of Israel’s southern Negev have been denied the right to hold their first local council election after the Israeli parliament passed a law at the last minute to cancel this month’s ballot
A Christmas Guide To Washington’s
New Lebanon Policy
By Franklin Lamb
As the twelve days of Christmas rapidly approach, it’s not clear exactly who the Obama Administration is going to be able to talk and engage with here in Lebanon. According to one Embassy staffer, “That’s what the American taxpayers pay their Beirut Embassy and State Department to figure out”
Jews Against Zionism
By Stephen Lendman
They're numerous, outspoken, and range from secular to orthodox to one group calling itself "True Torah Jews Against Zionism." They believe that "traditional" Jews don't support Zionism, an ideology they call "contrary to Jewish law and beliefs and the teachings of the Holy Torah."
The Year 2010 Is Declared As Year Of The Lung
By Bobby Ramakant
The Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) convening at the 40th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Cancun, Mexico, declared the year 2010 as the Year of the Lung. This was done to recognize that hundreds of millions of people around the world suffer each year from treatable and preventable chronic respiratory diseases
Bangladesh: The Race For Education
By William Gomes
Bangladesh's three-tiered and highly subsidized educational system has failed in different ways, being dictated by the different political regimes that have ruled Bangladesh over the last four decades. One of the biggest causes of this massive failure is the absence of an effective education policy and its implementation
Liberhan Commission: Painful Wait For Justice
By Ram Puniyani
How does RSS evaluate its future role in Indian political chessboard? Indications are RSS will stick to Hindutva and Ram temple type of issues, come what may. One only hopes in despair that people concerned have honesty to own up their acts and face the legal consequences for their commitments!
06 December, 2009
An Open Letter To Congress From US Scientists
On Climate Change And Recently Stolen Emails
By Climate Experts
As U.S. scientists with substantial expertise on climate change and its impacts on natural ecosystems, our built environment and human well-being, we want to assure policy makers and the public of the integrity of the underlying scientific research and the need for urgent action to reduce heat-trapping emissions. In the last few weeks, opponents of taking action on climate change have misrepresented both the content and the significance of stolen emails to obscure public understanding of climate science and the scientific process
A Direct Tax On Fossil Fuel Is
What The World Needs Urgently
By Devinder Sharma
A direct tax on fossil fuel will reduce the indiscriminate manner in which agricultural goods are being traded. I don't see any justification in importing Washington apples from America, while the US imports Chinese apples. I don't see any economic justification in importing oranges to India all the way from Chile, while the Indian oranges go rotting
The Height Of Kitsch
By Uri Avnery
While the German friendship with Israel is a moral imperative, does it have to include support for immoral actions?
Obama—Israel’s Puppet
By Paul Craig Roberts
It didn’t take the Israel Lobby very long to bring President Obama to heel regarding his prohibition against further illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land. Obama discovered that a mere American president is powerless when confronted by the Israel Lobby and that the United States simply is not allowed a Middle East policy separate from Israel’s
The Choice For Israel – Civil War For Peace
Or The End Of Zionism?
By Alan Hart
Any Israeli leader even thinking about taking on the settlers, and probably triggering a Jewish civil war, would need to be empowered by a referendum in which all Israelis were asked one question: In exchange for a real and lasting peace with the Arab and wider Muslim world, are you in favour of Israel withdrawing to its borders as they were on 4 June 1967, with Jerusalem an open, undivided city and the capital of two states?” If a majority of Israelis answered “Yes”, the leader could take on the settlers
Walled In By Myth And Deceit
By William A. Cook
There is a wall around this President. It is a wall created out of myth twisted into history, taught repetitively as truth till it becomes truth, deceptively designed to drag this once free nation into the depths of darkness and despair that allow the few to control the multitude and in the process to enslave the minds that would be repulsed by what they support if they knew the truth behind the myths
Italy: The End Of An Epoch
By Gaither Stewart
“Where did it go?” Italians ask each other, they themselves sometimes stunned at the disappearance of an archaic Italy they believed they once knew
Iran: Time To Leave The NPT?
By Nader Bagherzadeh & Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
Article IV of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) acknowledges the "inalienable right" of non-nuclear weapons states (NNWS) to research, develop, and use nuclear energy for non-weapons purposes. The NPT also supports the "fullest possible exchange" of such nuclear-related information and technology between nuclear weapons states (P5) and non-nuclear weapons states. Iran, a NNWS has been denied its "inalienable rights" while support and the exchange of nuclear-related information has been withheld. This begs the question why Iran should continue to honor the NPT?
Democracy Encountered:Rights Violations
In Manipur
By Fact Finding Team
Independent citizen's fact finding report to the nation
Chidambaram’s Miracle Of 72 Hours
By Gladosn Dungdung
Obviously, Chidambaram’s miracle of 72 hours is not really miracle to redress the grievances of the Adivasis but it is a strategy to get the sympathy of the civil society for the operation green hunt. He is essentially batting for the corporate with the intention to get the Adivasis’ land clear and hand it over to the corporate houses
Remembering Baba Saheb Ambedkar
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Demolition of Babari Mosque : An assault to democratic principals of Ambedkar
Is It A Time For Integration?
By Aakanksha Mohan Sharma
This twenty- minute journey showed me the chaotic picture of Indian sub continent- An Imbroglio of identities, borders, citizenship, human relationships, politics. Kashmir is one of the most volatile territorial disputes of south Asia.Is it a time for integration for sub continent? Is looking towards European Union an answer to the problem?
05 December, 2009
Abolish The Fed And Return
Money Creation Power To Congress
By Stephen Lendman
According to US constitution only the Congress has the authority to create money. But a private bank, the Federal Reserve is printing money in direct violation to the US constitution and goes on bankrupting America, taking the whole world with it
The Secret US War In Pakistan
By Jeremy Scahill
At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, "snatch and grabs" of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help direct a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus
Dead Palestinian Babies And Bombed Mosques:
IDF Fashion 2009
By Uri Blau
Dead babies, mothers weeping on their children's graves, a gun aimed at a child and bombed-out mosques - these are a few examples of the images Israel Defense Forces soldiers design these days to print on shirts they order to mark the end of training, or of field duty
Israel’s Impunity For War Crimes
By Ghali Hassan
Does the death of a Palestinian worth the same as that of a Jew? For six decades, Israeli Jewish leaders with utter impunity have been killing defenceless Palestinians and justifying their crimes as “self-defence” of Israel and all Jews. Absolving the Israeli regime of culpability of war crimes has always been a U.S.-Western ritual. The message is: Jews are above the law and killing Palestinians is Israelis’ right to commit war crimes
Will Congress Criminalize Anti-Semitism
And Israeli Criticism?
By Stephen Lendman
Ending "America's last taboo" is the way forward toward a viable, sustainable Middle East peace, possible only when 42 years of occupation end and Palestinians are again free - so far, what Israel and Washington won't allow or even consider
Australia Hosts War Criminal Ehud Olmert
By Sonja Karkar
The news that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was in Australia and was welcomed by the honorable members of our parliament came as somewhat of a shock. It is one thing to have allowed a man charged with corruption and suspected of war crimes into Australia at all; it is another thing that he was listed as a distinguished guest in Hansard -- the official record of parliamentary proceedings -- and received a resounding "hear, hear" from our elected representatives
Horrendous Carnage In Nobel Peace Laureate
Obama’s Afghan War
By Dr Gideon Polya
How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal? Seven hundred and fifty thousand ? More than enough, I would have thought. Therefore it is just that Obama be arraigned before the International Criminal Court of Justice for his war crimes in Occupied Afghanistan alone
The Politics Of Minaret
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
In a referendum on November 29 the Swiss voters approved a ban on the construction of new minarets on mosques. Under Switzerland’s system of direct rule, the referendum is binding. Switzerland’s 400,000 or so Muslims, most of whom come from Kosovo and Turkey, are legally barred from building minarets as of now
Arundhati Roy Disturbs Democratic Daydreaming
By Trond Øverland
A radical analysis of democracy runs through the book’s fiery chapters, like a river running from its mountainous source towards the ocean. Roy’s conclusion is disquieting: she is forced by the rationale of her facts and arguments to approve of violence as a means of people’s resistance to injustice. She observes with understanding that many of the poor are “crossing over … to another side; the side of armed struggle.”
Corporations Out Of My Hair! or ‘Mairay Pochchu!’
By Satya Sagar
How would it be if the hair on our head can be converted into high grade fuel? A satire, in the context of the "Operation Mineral Hunt"
Stop War Against The People
By Satnam & Buta Singh
What the state wants to destroy is the alternate development model An appeal to thinkers, intellectuals, artistes, and writers
Concepts Of Reservation
By Ashok Yadav
The creamy layer concept is nothing but a ploy to protect upper caste hegemony in job and education. It is not without reason that the BJP and the Congress like forces support the creamy layer concept. The democratic forces of India have yet to realise the importance of reservation in job and education to the SC/ST/OBC in their struggle for democratising the Indian polity
03 December, 2009
War Is Peace; Escalation Is Withdrawal
By Kevin Zeese
If I ever get cancer, I want Barack Obama to tell me I’m dying. He could probably convince someone like me who does not believe in the supernatural that death is life. He certainly did his best on Tuesday night to convince the American public that war means peace, and escalation means withdrawal
Meet The Commanded-In-Chief
By Tom Engelhardt
You may not think so, but on Tuesday night from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, in his first prime-time presidential address to the nation, Barack Obama surrendered. It may not have looked like that: there were no surrender documents; he wasn’t on the deck of the USS Missouri; he never bowed his head. Still, from today on, think of him not as the commander-in-chief, but as the commanded-in-chief
Obamathink On Afghanistan: Escalate To Exit
By Stephen Lendman
The die is cast. Escalation is now fact by a man promising change, delivering betrayal, and seeing his approval rating fall from a 68% late January high to 47% according to the December 1 Rasmussen Report, a number steadily falling because growing numbers of supporters are losing faith. Heading into 2010, the combination of economic hardship, eroding civil liberties, and wasted billions on futile wars promises to raise public discontent and disapproval of a president and Congress they no longer trust. What's disturbing is why they did in the first place
More War But Still No Jobs
By Mary Shaw
It sounds as though President Obama plans to keep us in Afghanistan through most, if not all, of his first term. Is he gambling with his own political future even as he is gambling with our tax dollars and -- more importantly -- our soldiers' lives?
Why Obama’s Surge In Afghanistan?
By Shamus Cooke
Mass demonstrations do not organize themselves. It will take ordinary people working together to make it happen, while collectively demanding:"Bring all the troops home now!"
Pity Poor Nancy
By Case Wagenvoord
We must pity poor Nancy. It’s hard work getting her spineless charges to vote against their principles. ‘Tis a task she describes as a “heavy lift.” But, by God, this true, blue liberal from San Francisco does her damndest to make sure House doves act like hawks whenever Obama comes begging for more money to fund his Afghan enterprise
Mr. Obama: A Word In Your Ear
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
By now it has become clear why you were awarded the Nobel Peace prize -- a prize which was named after Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. Is it any wonder that Gandhi did not receive the prize, and the likes of Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini were nominated? Mr. Obama, your Afghan announcement and your position on Iran has made you one dynamite war president
Canada Is Now To Climate
What Japan Is To Whaling
By George Monbiot
Putting all caution to the winds canada is frantically developing the tar sands mines
Arroyo Regime In The Philippines Crowns
Its Rule Of State Terror With Barbaric Show
By E. San Juan, Jr.
After the feasting, the bloodletting. Only a few months has passed since de facto president of the Philippines Gloria Arroyo was publicly criticized for wanton spending of thousands of dollars in her dinners in New York City and Washington DC when another political “scandal” explodes, this time a political mass slaughter of defenseless Filipino civilians
“Un- Hindu Babri Masjid Demolition And Buddhists”
By R.B. Sreekumar
Unlike the Babri Masjid, the Buddhist shrine at Bodh Gaya (Bihar) is an Undisputed site known to be the place where prince Siddhartha attained enlightenment and became Lord Buddha, through spiritual sadhana of self-transcedence. Strangely, even today the Buddhist institutions in Bodh Gaya are in the control of the Hindus. There is neither a politician led mass movement for its “liberation” by the Buddhists nor the Hindus are in a mood to voluntarily give up their authority therein
