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After nearly 27 months of turmoil, the public opinion pendulum is markedly shifting back in support of the current regime. One international political result was registered at the United Nations this past week when a US-Qatari-Saudi drafted General Assembly Resolution that was designed to increase pressure on the Assad government stumbled badly and fell far short of what the Saudi Ambassador to the UN and other US allies predicted would be an overwhelming vote in favor

Guatemala's Ríos Montt Genocide Conviction
Omen For US Presidents And Their Hired Assassins
By Jay Janson

Presiding Judge, "he knew about everything that was going on and he did not stop it, despite having the power to stop it from being carried out." US President Ronald Reagan also had the power, greater power, to stop the massacres being perpetrated by dictator General and President Ríos Montt. Instead visited him in Guatemala City and praised Rios Montt as “a man of great personal integrity and commitment. Who was more guilty?

Crime and Punishment : Torturers Face Trial
By Farooque Chowdhury

A tyrant or a torturer facing trial was unimaginable in the 1950s and ‘60s and ‘70s. But trials of tyrants are not strange now. Efrain Rios Montt, a former Guatemalan general, has been found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity. The 86-year-old's serving term of 80 years in prison has already begun

Himalayas Among The Biggest Ice Losers
By Countercurrents.org

While 99 percent of Earth's land ice is locked up in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, the remaining ice in the world's glaciers contributed just as much to sea rise as the two ice sheets combined from 2003 to 2009, says a new study led by Clark University and involving the University Colorado Boulder

Keep The Arctic Cold
By Subhankar Banerjee

A letter from Subhankar Banerjee

Inspiring And Courageous: Popular Resistance Percolates Throughout The Land
By Kevin Zeese & Margaret Flowers

Every week we are inspired by the many people throughout the country who are doing excellent work to challenge the power structure and put forward a new path for the country. The popular resistance to plutocracy, concentrated wealth and corporatism is decentralized, creative and growing

Postcard From The End Of America : Scranton
By Linh Dinh

In our media, working class people are endlessly caricatured as ignorant and racist buffoons, so they only have themselves to blame if they're struggling. Too stupid, lazy, drunk, drugged up, spoiled and fat, they deserve to have their jobs taken by illegal immigrants, though of course even American engineers, computer technicians and doctors are deliberately being displaced by foreign imports. Our ruling class has employed this strategy for a very long time

Al Nakba And Canada
By Mazin Al Nahawi

It is a shame that John Baird and his boss Stephen Harper haven't learned yet from Canada's colonial past

Breaking The Rules Of The Gender Game
By Neerja Dasani

The voices of change are gradually getting louder and louder. An inspiring instance of this is the ‘Who Needs Feminism?’ campaign that began at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, but has since caught on in many other places, including some close to home, like Lahore. A student-led initiative, the campaign consists quite simply of a series of photographs of people holding up signs stating their reasons for supporting feminism

Greenpeace Activists Take Solar Power To Delhi Power Minister Haroon Yusuf
By Green Peace India

Delhi’s Power Minister Haroon Yusuf was in for a shock on the morning of May 15 when Greenpeace activists decided to deliver a powerful message to him. To make their point that clean energy can solve Delhi’s energy deficit, they wheeled in a set of solar panels in front of the Minister’s residence and then chained themselves to it

Mainstream Media Acrostic
By Gary Corseri

A poem by Gary Corseri

16 May ,2013

US-Backed Opposition Fighter Cannibalize Syrian Soldier
By Alex Lantier

A gruesome video posted on YouTube shows Khalid al-Hamad, the leader of the opposition Farouq Brigade, desecrating the corpse of a Syrian soldier, cutting out his internal organs and biting into one of them. The video makes clear the barbaric character of the Sunni Islamist militias Washington has mobilized in its proxy war against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The video was made to terrorize Syria’s Shiite Alawite community, from which most of the Assad government is drawn, and to encourage donations from the Farouq Brigade’s financial backers in the Persian Gulf oil sheikhdoms

European Parliament Resolution On Guantánamo: Hunger Strike By Prisoners

Full text of the resolution

The Collapse Of Journalism And The Journalism Of Collapse
By Robert Jensen

We have no choice but to deal with the collapse of journalism, but we also should recognize the need for a journalism of collapse. Everyone understands that economic changes are forcing a refashioning of the journalism profession. It's long past time for everyone to pay attention to how multiple, cascading ecological crises should be changing professional journalism's mission in even more dramatic fashion

The Corporate Enclosure Of Seeds Intensifies
By David Bollier

In a sign of how far the forces of enclosure have come, the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday that re-using seeds that are patented, knowingly or not, amounts to an act of piracy. Of course, re-using seeds has been the tradition in agriculture for millennia, just as re-using songs and text is an essential element of culture

Why I’m Marking Passing 400 ppm By Getting Back On An Aeroplane
By Rob Hopkins

What haunts me every day, and no doubt will for the rest of my days, is what I will reply to my grandchildren when they ask me what I did during the time when climate change could have been brought under some sort of control, when the necessary changes could have been put in place to create a low-carbon, resilient and thriving culture that nurtured healthy human cultures. Was I as effective as I could have been? Did I do everything I could have? Having reflected on this for some time, it feels churlish to decline an opportunity that could potentially have a far greater positive impact than the negative impact of the flight

Climate Crisis Is Man Made, Scientists Nearly Unanimous
By Countercurrents.org

More than 97% of peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals agreed that climate change is caused by human activity. A survey analyzed the evolution of the scientific consensus on anthropogenic global warming (AGW) in the peer-reviewed scientific literature examining 11, 944 climate change related papers by 29,000 scientists from the period of 1991–2011. It found 97.1% agreed that climate change is caused by human activity

Rich- Poor Gap Widens In Rich Countries, Finds OECD
By Countercurrents.org

The gap between rich and poor widened more in the three years to 2010 than in the previous 12 years, said OECD, the group of industrialized nations. According to an OECD report released on May 15, 2013, the richest 10% of society in the 33 OECD countries received 9.5 times that of the poorest in terms of income, up from nine times in 2007

Israel, Hawking And The Pressing Question Of Boycott
By Ramzy Baroud

It is an event “of cosmic proportions”, said one Palestinian academic, a befitting description regarding Stephen Hawking’s decision to boycott an Israeli academic conference slated for next June. It was also a decisive moral call which was communicated on May 8 by Cambridge University, where Hawking is a professor

15 May ,2013

100th Day Of Guantanamo Hunger Strike This Friday
By Green Shadow Cabinet , Justice Branch

As the hunger strikers at Guantanamo Bay approach their 100th day of refusing to eat this Friday, May 17, we urge President Obama to take specific steps now to release or transfer prisoners and close the prison

Climate Change’s ‘Evil Twin’: Ocean Acidification
By Carol Smith

The primary driver of this acidification is the ocean’s uptake of carbon dioxide. When carbon-rich materials such as coal or oil are burned, some of the CO2 is absorbed by the oceans, slowing its build-up in the atmosphere and the pace of human-induced climate warming, but at the same time increasing seawater acidity. As a result of this process, the average acidity of surface ocean waters worldwide is now about 30 percent higher than at the start of the Industrial Revolution, say the experts

Moronic Oxymorons In The Age Of Climate Change
By Rob Dietz

It’s tempting to accept the clever slogans and magical “solutions” that bombard us all the time. After all, it sounds like “clean coal” is just the resource to power “sustainable growth.” You can have your cake and eat it too! But at 400 parts per million, the time for self deception and denial has passed. So has the time for buying moronic oxymorons

Extensive Glacial Retreat In Mount Everest While World Enters Danger Zone
By Countercurrents.org

Mount Everest is shedding its frozen cloak while the historic peak level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will soon become the global annual average as the world enters danger zone in terms of CO2

The Economy Of Wastefulness: The Biology Of The Commons
By Andreas Weber

There is an all-enclosing commons-economy which has been successful for billions of years: the biosphere. Its ecology is the terrestrial household of energy, matter, beings, relationships and meanings which contains any manmade economy and only allows for it to exist. Sunlight, oxygen, drinking water, climate, soil and energy – the products and processes of this household – also nourish the Homo economicus of our time who, despite all his technological and economical progress, still feeds on products of the biosphere

Bangladesh Factory Disaster: Why Garment Factories Turn Into Killing Field?
By Anu Muhammad

The garment industry must be confronted within its global context. After all, when workers are victims of a global, blood-thirsty system where vampires rule the world, a global alliance of resistance is desperately needed

The Reformist As Pacifist: Asghar Ali Engineer’s Islam
By Farzana Versey

Let not the fact that they buried him in the Sunni graveyard, where his Leftist friends are interred, mislead anyone into believing that Asghar Ali Engineer was a Communist. It was a pragmatic wish upon which the decision was taken. He died on May 14. The Dawoodi Bohra community to which he belonged would not have accepted his last remains, much as they did not acknowledge him in life. He was excommunicated. However, he was much more than a nemesis of the Syedna, the spiritual head of the community

Uniting The Nation: Asghar Ali Engineer’s Struggle For Preservation Of Plural Ethos
By Ram Puniyani

Engineer was a student when Jabalpore riots took place. It clearly left a deep mark on him. The imprint of this tragedy got reflected in his social engagement with the issues related to communal violence and communal politics all through. His talks and articles reflect about the impact of Jabalpur violence, its impact on nation and its influence on the conscience keeper of the nation, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru. Engineer’s work on the issue of communal violence, communal ideology and communalization of society spans on a vast canvass and will easily fill volumes

A Cracked Pot
By Rev’d Barnabas J Alexander

The Christian gospel has empowered the downtrodden. Sadly, however, the power of the gospel has been impotent to decouple caste and faith. Ambedkar was accurate in his analysis. Indian Christianity is yet to be born again from its caste prejudice

14 May ,2013

Nakba: Then And Now
By Dr Salim Nazzal

These days Palestinians are commemorating the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. It is a hard time for those who lived the ethnic cleansing campaign in 1948 to recall its tragic events. However, when we talk about the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, we do not only refer to the huge ethnic cleansing which took place in 1948 .We also refer to the continuous campaign of land grab, and current occupation and oppression

Uri Avnery's Specious Attack On The One State Solution
By John Spritzler

Uri Avnery may be the most sophisticated defender of Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. He defends this ethnic cleansing while posing as a great friend and sympathizer of Palestinians, supposedly proven by his opposition to Israel's occupation of the West Bank and support for a "two state solution."

Racism And Sexual Violence In Indonesia
By Andre Vltchek

For almost 50 years now, the daughters of Indonesia, Chinese and of other races, are walking on very thin ice; a bizarre image for this hot and tropical country. They still seem to be fragile, uncertain and thoroughly unprotected

Bye-Bye Baby Boomers
By Carolyn Baker

A May 2 article in the New York Times “Suicide Rates Rise Sharply In US” informed us that not only have suicide rates increased in the past decade among teens and the elderly, but more surprisingly, they have surged among the baby boomers. Ten days later, an article on the Alternet website asks, “Is Cutthroat Capitalism Pushing A Growing Number Of Baby Boomers To Suicide?” Certainly, we might expect adolescents and the elderly to take their own lives, but why baby boomers—people in the 35-70 age bracket?

Burma: Lest We Don’t See, A Genocide Is In The Making
By Bonojit Hussain

Since the summer of 2012 Burma has seen pogroms, massacres, riots of unprecedented scale against religious minorities, the latest being on the 30th April. Few hundreds have been killed and few hundred thousands have been rendered homeless

Hefazat-e-Jamaat , Nothing Else ! On the Recent Developments in Bangladesh
By Subhash Gatade

Despite all their tantrums - raising the bogey of 'Islam being in danger' through Hefazat-e-Islam and other similar desperate acts, whether the Jamaatis would be ever able to obfuscate their crimes which they committed during B'desh's war of independence? It seems impossible. In fact, as far as their gory past is concerned it would come back to haunt them again and again as the latest judgment by the War Crimes Tribunal demonstrates

Jeremy Scahill; Other Side Of The Barrel Of The Gun
By Nozomi Hayase

Who are these independent journalists who go behind the lines to bring the uncomfortable truth of the moral bankruptcy of war? The depth of Jeremy's integrity reminds us how the foundation of such a profession must be grounded in one's identity as an ordinary citizen who responds to others in recognition of our common humanity. Dirty Wars brings us the voices of those who are innocent victims of America's declared global battlefield. Jeremy Scahill said that journalism needs to speak from the other side of the barrel of the gun. That evening, I saw one of America's finest journalists do just that

Where Can I Save My Money? Please Tell Me, My Lord!
By Nisha Biswas

This is a true story. And like, every true story, this story is of many Kamalas, Suchitras and Kavitas who labor in our homes for pittances. All these Kamalas, Suchitras and Kavitas are born in families that are above Sarkari poverty line, but do not have the skills of Ms Sheela Dixit, Chief Minister of Delhi, to live happily in meager income of Rupees six hundred per month. Therefore, they start laboring from an early age in our homes. The age can be as young as five, but surely below eighteen

Allah Baksh: Unsung Hero Of India's Freedom Struggle
By Shamsul Islam

On this May 14, 2013 falls the 70th anniversary of the martyrdom of one of the greatest freedom fighters of India, Allah Baksh. He lived and sacrificed his life for a free and all inclusive India

Indo-Pak Talks: The Fresh Initiative
By Abdul Majid Zargar

And for once Prime Minster Manmohan Singh deserves kudos for taking a bold initiative by inviting Nawaz Sharief, Prime Minster –in-waiting of Pakistan to Visit India at a mutually convenient date. That gesture has been well reciprocated by Nawaz Sharief. In a media interview he said that a new round of talks will be resumed with India on the issue of Kashmir, and that ties with neighboring countries will also be strengthened

Pakistan Elections Do Not Augur Well For President Zardari
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

Many surprises sprung by May 11 elections in Pakistan will have grave repercussions for the political spectrum with the Pakistan People's Party confined to Sindh, the Awami National Party facing a split and President Asif Ali Zardari denied a second term in office, says Shaheen Sehbani of The News

13 May ,2013

Nuclear Terror In The Middle East
By Nick Turse

Iranian cities -- owing to geography, climate, building construction, and population densities -- are particularly vulnerable to nuclear attack, according to a new study, “Nuclear War Between Israel and Iran: Lethality Beyond the Pale,” published in the journal Conflict & Health by researchers from the University of Georgia and Harvard University. It is the first publicly released scientific assessment of what a nuclear attack in the Middle East might actually mean for people in the region

Syria Endgame Approaching Fast
By Shamus Cooke

The tempo of events in Syria has accelerated in recent weeks. The government forces have scored significant battlefield victories over the rebels, and this has provoked a mixture of war provocations and peace offers from the U.S. and its anti-Assad allies

Does The American Jewish Community Really Want
A Large-Scale General War In The Middle East?
By John Scales Avery

A large-scale general war in the Middle East would be a catastrophe for everyone involved. It would be a catastrophe for Syria. Iraq and Iran; a catastrophe for the other Islamic states of the Middle East; a catastrophe for Pakistan and Russia, should they become involved; and a catastrophe for Israel and the United States. In fact, all of the peoples of the world would suffer

Antiwars Belatedly Cry Meaninglessly "Hands Off Syria!"
Never “Nuremberg Trial For Americans!”
By Jay Janson

Antiwar leaders do not call for the prosecution of US homicidal crimes against humanity ALREADY committed in Syria, nor of crimes committed in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan, Grenada, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Cuba, Lebanon, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Guatemala, Congo, Korea and Greece. Crimes committed without arrest, arraignment, indictment, punishment, imprisonment, or hanging

The Samson Complex: Israel Again Rebuffs Peace With The Arab World
By Jonathan Cook

Washington's reputation as an "honest broker" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is in tatters after four years of indulging Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's intransigence. The Obama administration desperately needs to resurrect a credible peace process

Lebanon Greets The Special Rapporteur For Palestine, Richard Falk, With An Ear Full
By Franklin Lamb

If Professor Falk was weary as he left Lebanon from all the data, visits, and wrenching experiences he was presented with, it would be understandable. But the humanitarian and scholar he showed no signs of fatigue but rather appeared to be energized by the experience. Given his history as a supporter of resistance to occupation and oppression, Richard Falk's assurances that he will continue his work armed with the above sampling of data offers new hope for Palestinian and Syrian refugees from Syria and to those who support their Right and Responsibility to Return to Palestine

Woman Worker Rescued Alive 17 Days After The Bangladesh Building Collapse
By Countercurrents.org

Reshma, a woman garments worker, has been pulled alive from the ruins of a building that collapsed in Savar, a suburb of Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, 17 days after the disaster

Why We Allow The Destruction Of Our Planet
By David Swanson

People's influence on their governments is much more powerful than we usually imagine. It's weakened primarily by people's failure to do anything. Impotence is a self-fulfilling loop. Those longing for the end of the world are far from alone in imagining that we don't have the power to make the world over ourselves. Nonetheless, among the things we should be doing right now is explaining to our neighbors that Jesus isn't coming back

Robinson Jeffers: America's Neglected-At-Our-Peril Poet-Prophet
By Dr. Gary Steven Corseri

My “bridge over troubled water” is Literature and the Arts. But, these days, with the exception of a few cherished authors and websites, I am apt to get more sustenance from re-reading the Classics—even 20th Century Classics--than from reading the frothy outpourings of identity-poets and lauded, establishmentarian shills. A much-thumbed Vintage Book is one I’ve held dear since my 20s, by a poet I’ve introduced to university students surfeited on too much Frost in high school and too much Yeats and Eliot beyond that

Bill Clinton: The Unimportance Of Being Earnest
By Joseph Grosso

In keeping with its absurd mantra of All the News that’s Fit to Print, on March 25th, 2013 the New York Times decided to dedicate a section of its front page to the declaration that former president Bill Clinton now supports the rights of gay people to be married. This of course being the same Bill Clinton who as president signed the Defense of Marriage Act which defined marriage in federal law as a union between a man and woman only

Vijaya Mehta, NCPA And People’s Culture
By Vidyadhar Date

True, the NCPA plays an important role in our cultural life but the point is all the huge corporate profits and government funds ultimately flow from the labour of ordinary people.Resources can be used more imaginatively by democratising our culture, setting up smaller units in all parts of the country. That would really help promote culture, nurture talent that remains suppressed, unrecognised, unseen