Home

Follow Countercurrents on Twitter 

Support Us

Popularise CC

Join News Letter

CC Videos

Editor's Picks

Press Releases

Action Alert

Feed Burner

Read CC In Your
Own Language

Bradley Manning

India Burning

Mumbai Terror

Financial Crisis

Iraq

AfPak War

Peak Oil

Globalisation

Localism

Alternative Energy

Climate Change

US Imperialism

US Elections

Palestine

Latin America

Communalism

Gender/Feminism

Dalit

Humanrights

Economy

India-pakistan

Kashmir

Environment

Book Review

Gujarat Pogrom

Kandhamal Violence

WSF

Arts/Culture

India Elections

Archives

Links

Submission Policy

About CC

Disclaimer

Fair Use Notice

Contact Us

Search Our Archive

Subscribe To Our
News Letter



Our Site

Web

Name: E-mail:

 

Printer Friendly Version

31 January, 2012

US Military Preparations For War On Iran
By Peter Symonds

Despite claims that its focus is on diplomatic and economic sanctions against Iran, the Obama administration is making barely disguised preparations for military strikes to back its threat to use “all options” to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran

Hormuz-Mania
By Michael T. Klare

Why Closure of the Strait of Hormuz Could Ignite a War and a Global Depression

Human Family's Ecocidal Death Wish
By Dr. Glen Barry

The human family's shared survival depends upon passionately defending Earth using all means necessary

Liberia: Plenty “Democracy”, No Electricity
By Thomas C. Mountain

While Liberia could afford an election in which the President Ellen Johnson ran unopposed the people of the country have neither electricity or running water

Anti-Koodankulam Nuclear Plant Agitation Leaders And Women Supporters Attacked
By PMANE

The representatives of Peoples Movement Against Nuclear Energy (spearheading the campaign to stop the Koodankulam Nuclear Plant ) Pushparayan and Jesuraj and 20 women accompanying them has been attacked by hired thugs near Tirunelveli Collecotrate on their way to attend talks with the Central Government Expert Panel

To Ask or Not To Ask: A Few Thoughts
On The Garhwa Landmine Blast

By Ranjana Padhi

On the landmine blast by Maoists on Jan 21, the consequent state repression unleashed on CPI (ML) and the abduction of Sushma Mehta and 3 others by the Maoists

30 January, 2012

US, Arab League Push For UN Action Against Syria
By Jean Shaoul

The United States is working with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other members of the Arab League to push through a resolution for the United Nations Security Council to lay the basis for military intervention along the line of last year’s NATO war against Libya

Proxy War In Syria Threatens Catastrophe
For The Middle East

By Shamus Cooke

In an effort to undermine Iran by overthrowing its strategic ally, Syria, western nations are using their Middle East client states to conduct a multi-pronged attack against Syria through the media, the Arab League, the United Nations and now through military proxy forces

Another War For Oil With Iran?
By Sherwood Ross

Over and over again in the Middle East, we see the same pattern repeating itself: An oil-rich country takes control of its own oil fields and cuts out the Western oil companies. Right now, the U.S. is threatening Iran with war on grounds that it is making a nuclear weapons

Social Justice Quiz 2012: Thirteen Questions
By Bill Quigley & Sam Schmitt

Question One. The combined pay of the 299 highest paid CEOs in the US is enough to support how many median salary jobs?

Durban: Supplications of A Dead Man's Hand
By Vincent Di Stefano

Let us continue individually and collectively to work towards the creation of enduring communities, to cut through the destructive effects of greed and ignorance, and strive to preserve and perpetuate those sources of wisdom that will enable future generations to avoid the tragic errors that presently unfold around us

Unsettled, Unlawful, Unresolved: Israeli Settlers
In A Foreign Land
(PDF)
By Graham Peebles

Violence, abuse, non-accountability, hate, such is communal living today within the occupied West Bank, where some 518,974 colonisers sit within “200” illegal settlements

30 Years After The Massacre At Sabra-Shatilla
Lebanese Politicians Still Block Palestinian Rights

By Franklin Lamb

We all know it is not just American and Lebanese politicians who use Palestinian refugees as political footballs during electoral campaigns. But they are currently the two most egregious apart from most Zionist politicians in temporarily occupied Palestine

Humanize or Euthanize
By Rosemarie Jackowski

The health care topic seems to be getting a lot of attention these days. In Vermont the Death with Dignity Bill was to be considered by the Legislature during the current session. It is now reported that the Bill will be put on hold. Physician assisted suicide is a controversial topic. Moral, philosophical, and scientific considerations are included in the debate

Booming Crisis And Bullish Profit
By Farooque Chowdhury

Capital is pocketing bullish profit in a period of booming crisis! Among others, a number of auto makers announce this fact of capitalist economy

Chronicling The Hindutva Threat
By Ram Puniyani

Book Review: "The Saffron Condition, Politics of Repression and Exclusion in Neo Liberal India" by Subhash Gatade

29 January, 2012

Cowards In Our Democracies
By James Hansen

Leading climate scientists have given their support to a Freedom of Information request seeking to disclose who is funding the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a London-based climate sceptic thinktank chaired by the former Conservative chancellor Lord Lawson. James Hansen, the director of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies who first warned the world about the dangers of climate change in the 1980s, has joined other scientists in submitting statements to be considered by a judge at the Information Rights Tribunal on Friday. Hansen has posted “Cowards in Our Democracies: Part 1" — his submitted statement and an explanatory intro

James Hansen Risks Handcuffs
To Make His Research Clear

By Douglas Fischer

James E. Hansen never thought his decision to study atmospheric models would lead to his arrest. But there he was in handcuffs last summer, protesting at the White House against a pipeline that would carry crude oil from Alberta's oil sands to the Gulf of Mexico

Climate Change Movements: Where Are We Going?
By Elaine Graham-Leigh

Since 2009, the climate change movement has been losing momentum. But failure should not be taken as the whole story of Copenhagen and its aftermath, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

Attacks On Iran, Past And Present
By John Scales Avery

Any use of violence against Iran would be both insane and criminal. Why insane? Because the present economy of the US and the world cannot support another large-scale conflict. Why criminal? Because such violence would violate both the UN Charter and the Nuremberg Principles

The Global Worth of Human Life
By Jahanzeb Hussain

It is culturally accepted that when an innocent Iraqi, Palestinian, Afghan and a Pakistani dies they are not automatically accorded the same human right that Westerners and whites are. They are not viewed as valuable lives, but they are looked down upon as “collateral damage”

Demanding Justice For Yousef, A Quiet Boy
Killed By Israeli Settlers

By Bekah Wolf

The murder of Yousef Ikhlayl, the impunity with which the settlers acted and the military’s behavior at the funeral are common occurrences in the occupied West Bank. The death of a Palestinian, even a child, is rarely noted and quickly forgotten in much of the world

The Genius of Chavez
By Fidel Castro Ruz

Fidel Castro's take on President Chavez's annual report on activities carried out in 2011 and his program for 2012

Coming Downhill From Kashipur
By Deba Ranjan

Police firing and encounter deaths for corporate development in Odisha/India

"The Anti-Nuclear Movement Wants India
To Develop More Sustainably And Equitably"

An Interview with Lalita Ramdas

Lalita Ramdas has inspired a generation of activists working for social and environmental justice. Through her engagements with Greenpeace and other prominent organisation, she has provided immense help and direction to a wide-range of social causes. She is a leading member of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace and has visited the Koodankulam movement recently. Dianuke.org interviewed her recently about the ongoing grassroots movements against nuclear energy in India

Analyzing The ‘OBC-Minority' Sub-Quota--Part IV
By Khalid Anis Ansari

4.5% Sub-Quota for OBCs within Minorities: The ‘Political' Dimension

Letter To President Ahmadinejad: Regarding
Mr. Hekmati, Islamic Mercy And Rahmah

By Mary Hamer, M.D. U.S.A.

Dear President Ahmadinejad, The Islamic Revolutionary Court & the Iranian people: Please have Islamic mercy on Mr. Hekmati; Please offer the United States & Mr. Hekmati a gesture of Reconciliation & healing; & Please free Mr. Hekmati to the United States for an education in Peace & International Conflict studies

28 January, 2012

Bahraini Government’s Use of Tear Gas
Claims Several Lives

By Abdulrazzaq al-Saiedi

The police have been targeting the Shi’a neighborhoods of Iker, Sitra, Nuwadrat, and Ma’ameer. Victims of such attacks describe the police using tear gas inappropriately – including firing into homes and other closed spaces. Since the start of the unrest in February 2011, at least 13 civilians have died from exposure to the tear gas

Four Deaths In Bahrain On The 25th of January,
Situation Rapidly Deteriorating

By Bahrain Center for Human Rights

Four people were killed by security forces on the 25th of January . Total of deaths in January has now reached 9, making it the highest number in one month since March 2011

Iran: The Price of Resistance
By Chandra Muzaffar

The demonization of Iran proves yet again that regardless of whether the target adopts a confrontational or conciliatory approach, the hegemon will continue to pursue its agenda. It is an agenda that has a power and potency of its own. In the context of WANA, Israel , it is so apparent, is the driving force behind US hegemonic power

Washington Wages War of Sanctions Against Iran
By Ismail Salami

Washington's double-edged sword of policies towards the Islamic Republic is not only exhausting the patience of the Iranian nation but it is provoking the ire of international conscience as well

Activist Priest, 83, In Solitary Confinement
By Abby Zimet

Jesuit priest and peace activist Father Bill "Bix" Bichsel, 83, is in his second week of a hunger strike to protest solitary confinement at Washington's SeaTac Federal Detention Center, where he'd been held for an earlier action against a proposed nuclear power plant in Tennessee

Waking In The Half World
By Peter Goodchild

Most estimates indicate that by 2030, more or less, annual global oil production will be about half of the peak rate. "Half" the oil with occur at the same time as "half" of everything else. How will it be waking up in a world where half of everything is spent

Analyzing The ‘OBC-Minority' Sub-Quota--Part III
By Khalid Anis Ansari

4.5% Sub-Quota for OBCs within Minorities: The ‘policy' and ‘technical' dimensions

27 January, 2012

Israel Prepares For War Against Iran
By Peter Symonds

A lengthy article, “Will Israel Attack Iran,” published in this week’s New York Times confirms that Israel has made advanced preparations for military strikes on Iran. The author—Ronen Bergman, a well-connected political analyst with the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth—concluded: “After speaking to many senior Israeli leaders and chiefs of the military and the intelligence, I have come to believe that Israel will indeed strike Iran in 2012.”

Human Beings With Feet of Clay
And Self-Proclaimed Masters of the Universe

By Steven Earl Salmony

Humankind could soon come face to face with an incredible and unprecedented situation. We are spectacularly successful at doing something potentially ruinous of all we claim to be protecting and preserving as we ever more rampantly increase our exploitation of natural resources and continually increase our food production and distribution capabilities. Stupidly we hold fast to a wicked idea that, if we do not do these things, a catastrophe will follow

The Struggle Continues: US vs. Genuine Reforms
At The United Nations

By Ramzy Baroud

The country that has long been known to abuse its powers and privileges in the United Nations is now leading a campaign to reform the same organization. While UN reforms are welcomed, if not demanded, by many of its member states, there is little reason to believe the recent US crusade is actually genuine. Rather, it seems a clear attempt to stifle any semblance of democracy in the world’s leading international institution

Eyewitness To Israel's Ethnic Cleansing
By Bill Mullen

Purdue University professor Bill Mullen traveled to Palestine with a delegation of academics to find out about the obstacles facing Palestinian students and educators

Can Occupy Save Labor?
By Kevin Zeese

The uniting of union militancy with Americans in revolt seems to have turned this conflict into a victory for workers

Misuse Of Intelligence: Right To Dissent
By S.G.Vombatkere

The national and state intelligence agencies have advised the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that “ some rights organisations ” that decry state violence are purposefully or at least effectively taking sides with Maoists and “ actively helping spread the Maoist ideology ”. They have suggested that “ the Union government take steps to limit the activities of leading human rights organizations ”

Open Letter by The Victims of
Police Surveillance in Kerala

Press Statement

The Government elected by people like us has a duty to protect the privacy of the citizens of this country. We are shocked to see that the same Government is in reality infringing upon our privacy. We consider this as an open violation of one of our basic human rights enshrined in the Indian Constitution

Analyzing The ‘OBC-Minority’ Sub-Quota--Part II
By Khalid Anis Ansari

The recent lower caste movements within the non-Hindu religions like Islam, Christianity and Sikhism have foregrounded the presence of caste-based differentiation and discrimination within these communities in the public sphere

Nothing Special about Special Economic Zones
By Devinder Sharma

By October 2011, ministry of commerce had approved 583 SEZs. As per news reports, one-third of these – approximately 202 -- have been already withdrawn. A majority of those who are still struck are known to be looking for better escape options

26 January, 2012

Why Climate Change Will Make You Love
Big Government

By Christian Parenti

In the face of an unraveling climate system, there is no way that private enterprise alone will meet the threat. And though small “d” democracy and “community” may be key parts of a strong, functional, and fair society, volunteerism and “self-organization” alone will prove as incapable as private enterprise in responding to the massive challenges now beginning to unfold

Green Economy And Growth:
Fiddling While Rome Burns?

By Manu V. Mathai

A truly green economy must be a revolution of democracy and equality as manifest in the technology infrastructure that is shaped by society, and which, in turn, is shaped by it

Turkey Threatens Intervention Into Iraq
By James Cogan

Relations between the Turkish and Iraqi governments have deteriorated sharply. In a speech to parliament on Monday, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, the head of a Sunni Islam-based religious party, accused his Iraqi counterpart, Nouri al-Maliki, the leader of a Shiite-coalition, of promoting sectarian violence against the Sunni minority in Iraq

Comparing India And Australia On 26 January:
India 's Republic Day
And Australia 's Australia Day (Invasion Day)

By Dr Gideon Polya

26 January is the Republic Day of India and Australia Day. It is salutary to compare India , Australia and their considerable interactions, of which most - notably excepting those on the cricket field - have been kept from public perception

Analyzing The ‘OBC-Minority’ Sub-Quota—Part I
By Khalid Anis Ansari

The recent announcement of a 4.5% sub-quota for backward sections within minorities in the overall Central OBC quota by the UPA government on 22nd December, 2011 in the wake of elections in five states, including the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, has drawn in a number of reactions, some valid and others not

25 January, 2012

The Truth Behind The Coming
"Regime Change" In Syria

By Shamus Cooke

The United States appears to be using a strategy in Syria that it has perfected over the years, having succeeded most recently in Libya: arming small paramilitary groups loyal to U.S. interests that claim to speak for the native population; these militants then attack the targeted government the U.S. would like to see overthrown — including terrorist bombings — and when the attacked government defends itself, the U.S. cries "genocide" or "mass murder,” while calling for foreign military intervention. This is the strategy that the U.S. is using to channel the Arab Spring into the bloody dead end of foreign military intervention

IMF Warning On Global Downturn
By Nick Beams

The International Monetary Fund has added its voice to those of the World Bank and the United Nations in warning of a global slowdown and increased financial risks flowing from the eurozone crisis

Capital's Globe Wide Risks
By Farooque Chowdhury

Under the darkening shadow of capital's crisis hundreds of world capital bosses are meeting in Davos, a snow covered Swiss mountain village. On the eve of this annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), capital's salvation-searching convention, the Global Risk 2012 report “reveals a constellation of fiscal, demographic and societal risks signalling a dystopian future”

Killing Iraqis Makes Us Safer --
And Other SOTU Lies

By David Swanson

A deconstruction of Obama's State of the Union speech

Occupying Libido: Negotiating A Landscape Of
Hypocrisy And Hungry Ghosts

By Phil Rockstroh

Show your face to the world. Occupy libido by acts large and small, public and private

Is The Ocean An Alternative?
By Tom Murphy

As I cast about looking for reasons why I should not worry about our energy future, I find little solace when I look to the sea

Need Of The Hour: Green Investments
In The Marine Sector

By Marianne de Nazareth

The UNEP report, Green Economy in a Blue World, argues that the ecological health and economic productivity of marine and coastal ecosystems, which are currently in decline around the globe, can be boosted by shifting to a more sustainable economic paradigm that taps their natural potential - from generating renewable energy and promoting eco-tourism, to sustainable fisheries and transport

Declare Cold Wave As Disaster
By S. Mohammed Irshad

Cold Wave should be declared as a disaster to ensure at least bare minimum support to save lives. The people are exposed to extreme weather just because of being homeless

Confuse And Deceive – Email Interception In Kerala And The Formula For Political Survival
By Yaseen Ashraf

The issue of email snooping by the Kerala Special Branch CID has been distorted out of its true meaning by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and his Government. The Government is now playing the good old trick of “confuse and deceive”

24 January, 2012

European Union Imposes Oil Embargo On Iran
By Peter Symonds

European Union (EU) foreign ministers meeting in Brussels yesterday imposed far-reaching economic sanctions on Iran, including an embargo on Iranian oil imports that will come into full force in July. The embargo is an act of economic war that heightens the danger of a slide into military hostilities in the Persian Gulf

Country By Country Analysis Of Fossil Fuel
Burning-Based Carbon Debt And Carbon Credit

By Dr Gideon Polya

A simpler and comprehensive analysis of Carbon Debt (Climate Debt) for all countries of the World is presented here that reports Carbon Debt in millions of tonnes of CO2 from fossil fuel burning alone (and ignores GHG pollution deriving from land use (agriculture and forestry), methane, nitrous oxide (N2O) and other GHGs

Shale Shocked: Fracking Gets Its Own
Occupy Movement

By Ellen Cantarow

This story isn’t about tragedy. It’s about a resistance movement that has arisen to challenge some of the most powerful corporations in history

Local Economies For A Global Future
By Jason F. McLennan

This article is about a simple, singular idea, yet the significance of the idea to modern society is profound and far-reaching. Here it is: In the near future anything heavy will become intensely local while at the same time the limits to things that are ‘light’, ideas, philosophies, information will travel even further than today—literally and figuratively. This is a new paradigm for humanity and it has huge implications for the complete reordering of society

Weapons ‘R’ Us
By William J. Astore

Sixty years ago, it was said that what’s good for General Motors is good for America. In 1955, as Bob Seger sang, we were young and strong and makin’ Thunderbirds. But today we’re playing a new tune with new lyrics: what’s good for Lockheed Martin or Boeing or [insert major-defense-contractor-of-your-choice here] is good for America

The Misadventure of Ron Paul
By Billy Wharton

The idea that Ron Paul offers a kind of alternative to mainstream politics falls apart quite easily upon inspection. There are three primary reasons for this – two relate to Paul himself and the other is a function of mainstream politics more generally. In the end, it is more accurate to say that Ron Paul is mainstream politics unmasked, a raw version of what both Democrats and Republicans desire to become if left to their own devices

A New Year Of Tough Times Ahead
By Jack A. Smith

The new year has dawned upon a deeply troubled America. Times are not good in the best of all possible nation states, which has suddenly discovered that the seven-league boots with which it is accustomed to stride the globe have become ill-fitting and down at the heels

Terror Error: Breakthrough in
13/7 Mumbai Blast Exposed

By TCN Staff Reporter

Hours after the Maharashtra ATS chief Rakesh Maria on Monday claimed to get a breakthrough in the July 13, 2011 Mumbai serial blasts by arresting three culprits, the Union Home Ministry said the Maharashtra ATS caught wrong men

Some Questions For The Maharashtra ATS Chief
By Jamia Teachers' Solidarity Association

The Maharashtra ATS claims to have cracked the 13/7 blasts case. Its chief has revealed in a press conference that Indian Mujahideen was behind the Mumbai blasts. And yet, the Ministry of Home Affairs remains far from impressed—indeed, it appears rather irritated. And the press, also unusually, has been circumspect about his revelations

An Ode To The Women Who Became Statistics
By Samar

New Delhi, the capital of the biggest democracy of the world witnesses a rape every 18 hours, and an incident of sexual harassment takes place here every 14 hours

23 January, 2012

Protests In Romania Enter Their Second Week
By WSWS

As protests in Romania enter their second week, workers are facing increased pressure and threats from the ruling elite

Ten Steps For Radical Revolution In USA
By Bill Quigley

If those in government and those in power do not help the people do what is right, people seeking change must together exercise our human rights and bring about these changes directly. Dr. King and millions of others lived and worked for a radical revolution of values. We will as well

Are Wars Inevitable?
By William T. Hathaway

New research shows that war is not inevitable but rather a function of the stress a society is under. Our biological nature doesn't force us to war, it just gives us the potential for it. Without stress to provoke it, violence can remain one of the many unexpressed capacities our human evolution has given us

On Prospects Of Eco-Socialism
In Russia And The World

By Victor Postnikov 

What is needed is neither capitalism, nor socialism, but a nature-based philosophy and democracy, where all creatures and plants have equal rights to flourish. Humanity badly needs a revival of its animistic roots, and luckily these have been preserved in the remaining aboriginal cultures

Israel Needs Blockbusters
By Uri Avnery

Five blocks dominate Israeli society. There are (1) the old Ashkenazim (Jews of European origin); (2) the Oriental (or “Sephardi”) Jews; (3) the religious (partly Ashkenazi, partly Oriental); (4) the “Russians”, immigrants from all the countries of the former Soviet union; and (5) the Palestinian-Arab citizens, who did not come from anywhere.Our first job is to break the barriers between the blocs, change reality, create a new Israeli society. We need blockbusters

China: Wukan Protest Shut Down
By John Chan

In a move to end 15 weeks of protest in Wukan village, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on January 15 appointed protest leader Lin Zuluan as the village’s new party secretary. He replaces Xue Chang, a local businessman who had run the village for four decades but is now under investigation for corruption

Lebanon's Maid of Darkness Facing
US Hates Crimes Investigation

By Franklin Lamb

Ms. Brigitte Gabriel has attracted the attention of the FBI investigating her organization, “Act for America!” for possible hate crimes and financial irregularities, according to US Congressional Judiciary Committee sources

The Plow And The iPhone: Conservative
Fantasies About The Miracles Of The Market

By Robert Jensen

Throughout history, the political projects of the wealthy have been driven by propaganda. There is no reason to expect that to change anytime soon, which means popular movements for economic justice and ecological sustainability not only have to struggle to change the future but also to tell the truth about the past

The Long Climb Up Hubbert's Peak
By Peter Goodchild

How much planning has been done, for example, to deal with the massive global famine that is approaching? None

22 January, 2012

Australian Report Predicts Peak Oil Around 2017
By Matt Mushalik

Australian Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics study predicts peak oil around 2017, followed by permanent decline

Transport Energy Futures: Long-Term
Oil Supply Trends And Projections
(Australian Peak Oil Report)

By Dr David Gargett

The modelling is forecasting what can be termed ‘the 2017 drop-off’. The outlook under a base case scenario is for a long decline in oil production to begin in 2017, which will stretch to the end of the century and beyond

Keystone XL | The Ivory Towers Crushing
The Last Remnants Of Climate Justice

By Cory Morningstar

Our climate justice movement has been co-opted by the plutocrats themselves. They own it. Yet no one even notices

Radical Environmentalists
By Michael A. Lewis

Lately, over the past five years or so, opponents of environmentalism have stepped up the ante at the table of public opinion. There is now an orchestrated effort to discredit environmentalists and environmentalism by calling us "radical environmentalists" and associating this appellation with "ecoterrorism."

The Sham And Shame of Slavoj Žižek's
“Honest Pessimism”

By Raymond Lotta

The December 2011-January 2012 issue of The Platypus Review features an interview with philosopher and cultural theorist Slavoj Žižek. It is a fusillade of distortion of the historical experience of revolution and socialism in the 20th century, accompanied by an egregiously uninformed and unprincipled attack on Bob Avakian's new synthesis of communism

21 January, 2012

Governments Spend $1.4 Billion Per Day
To Destabilize Climate

By Lester R. Brown

Worldwide, direct fossil fuel subsidies added up to roughly $500 billion in 2010. Of this, supports on the production side totaled some $100 billion. Supports for consumption exceeded $400 billion, with $193 billion for oil, $91 billion for natural gas, $3 billion for coal, and $122 billion spent subsidizing the use of fossil fuel-generated electricity. All together, governments are shelling out nearly $1.4 billion per day to further destabilize the earth’s climate

How The Pipeline Died And How To
Bury It For Good

By Jamie Henn

This Wednesday afternoon, the Obama administration rejected the permit for Keystone XL, a 1,700 mile oil pipeline that would have run from the tar sands of Alberta to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. The announcement is a huge victory for the grassroots climate movement

Ecology And The Pathology Of Capitalism
By Charles Sullivan

We are literally sacrificing the Earth’s life support systems and mortgaging the future, while attempting to satiate the greed of a few grotesquely wealthy individuals. Through lifelong indoctrination, Americans are persuaded that self-interested greed is in their best interest

Have Israel’s “Inner Circles” Discussed
Assassinating President Obama?

By Alan Hart

What is happening in America on the Republican side of the fence has about it the smell of what happened in Israel in the countdown to the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin by a Zionist fanatic. What do I mean?

World Peace Hanging By A Theread
By Fidel Castro Ruz

News is not only coming out of Iran and the Middle East, but also from other parts of Central Asia near the Middle East. These reports show the great complexity of the problems that can arise from this dangerous region

Iran War: US Eyes Mideast Gendarme Role
By Dr. Ismail Salami

The temptation of attacking Iran long entertained by Washington and Israel is gradually crystallizing into a reality of fear and angst and has already become an alarmingly worrisome idea even for those who are wont to see the glass half full

Human Rights Groups Charge NATO With
War Crimes In Libya

By Bill Van Auken

There is strong evidence that NATO carried out war crimes in its eight-month war for regime-change in Libya, according to a report released Thursday by Middle East human rights groups

King Who Condemned US Wars Again Betrayed
By War-Supporting Clergy’s Praise

By Jay Janson

We have just witnessed the annual birthday highlighted betrayal of Rev. KIng, with clergy leading the way, a betrayal of what King taught and was dedicated to when he was assassinated, namely, exposing the US overseas crimes against humanity for predatory investments, that were draining away men, money and resources. A review of clergy support of all US Wars no matter how blatantly unjust as the 1967 King had never existed

The Dilemma of Cow Slaughter in India
By Anshul Kumar Pandey

The Madhya Pradesh government's recently passed ‘GauVadhPratishedh (Sanshodhan) Act 2012' is a ridiculous piece of legislation and should be thoroughly criticized and debunked for its innate communal overtones. As a piece of legislation, it has set up new standards of intellectual and legislative bankruptcy of the political class of Madhya Pradesh and has exposed its obsession with injecting communal poison into the society

20 January, 2012

2011 Was Ninth-Hottest On Record
By Matthew McDermott

NASA has released data on Earth's global average surface temperature for 2011 showing that last year was the ninth-warmest since records began, in the late 1800s. Nine of the ten warmest years on record have occurred since 2000—and the other warmest year was in 1998

US, Israel Coordinate Strategy Against Iran
By Peter Symonds

US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey arrived in Israel yesterday for talks on Iran with top military and political leaders. As the Obama administration escalates its confrontation with Tehran, the obvious purpose of Dempsey’s visit is to coordinate hostile moves by the two countries against Iran

Spain’s Judge Baltasar Garzón On Trial
For Investigating Franco Crimes

By Vicky Short

Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón appeared in court January 17 in the first of three cases aimed at silencing him and thwarting his investigations. Garzón is accused of ordering illegal wiretaps of suspected members of the infamous “Gürtel” corruption network, many belonging to the Popular Party (PP), which won elections last November, and their lawyers to discover whether they cooperated in money-laundering operations

Blood On Whose Hands?
By Chase Madar

The “grave risks” involved in the publication of the War Logs and of those State Department documents have been wildly exaggerated. Embarrassment, yes. A look inside two grim wars and the workings of imperial diplomacy, yes. Blood, no

Working And Poor In The USA
By Bill Quigley

Millions of people in the US work and are still poor. Here are eight points that show why the US needs to dedicate itself to making work pay

Whiteness And The 99%
By Joel Olson

The key obstacle to building the 99% is left colorblindness, and the key to overcoming it is to put the struggles of communities of color at the center of this movement. It is the difference between a free world and the continued dominance of the 1%

Hunger Is A ‘Weapon of Mass Destruction’,
Says Jean Ziegler

By Siv O'Neall

In his latest book “Mass Destruction – the Geopolitics of Hunger”, Jean Ziegler talks about the current state of the world and the neoliberal politics of starvation of the poor, which has led to a crisis situation amounting to calculated murder. What we are witnessing today is the worst hunger crisis in human history is. And it is all because of human greed, colossal mismanagement for profit

Open Letter To Children Everywhere
By Steve Salmony

The Rio 20 Conference will occur in June 2012. Where are the scientists who are ready, willing and able to discuss openly, objectively and honorably the "mother" of all emerging and converging, human-induced global challenges looming before the human family on our watch: human overpopulation?

Basking In The Sun
By Tom Murphy

The low-tech nature of solar thermal makes it especially robust in tough times. I can imagine personally designing and building a passive solar home, flat-plate thermal collectors for hot water, and even a parabolic trough to create steam. I can’t say the same about a PV panel, a nuclear reactor, or geothermal wells kilometers deep. It gets my vote

What Is Our Eventual History?
By David Anderson

Could our insouciance soon drag us into a tragic period of human history referred to by those same French historians as a period of “histoire événementielle”, translated into English; “eventual history”, a period that could lead to the eventuality of a series of irreversible ecological tipping points leading to human survival in some meager form of existence or even the possibility of extinction?

The Torture of Mumia Abu-Jamal Continues off Death Row -- Supporters Demand Transfer to General Population

An interview with Bret Grote of Human Rights Coalition By Hans Bennett of Prison Radio

Madhya Pradesh: Path Way To Hindu Rashtra
By Ram Puniyani

Recently (December 2011) Madhya Pradesh. Government’s Gau-Vansh Vadh Pratishedh (Sanshodhan) Act (Bill for Protection of Cow Progeny) got the Presidential clearance. As per this act punishment for slaughtering the cow or its progeny, transporting them to slaughter house, eating and storing beef, is punishable with a fine of RS 5000 and prison term up to seven years

19 January, 2012

World Economy Set For Another Major Downturn
By Nick Beams

The World Bank has issued a grim forecast on the outlook for the world economy, with the potential for a crisis worse than that which followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. The warning was contained in the Bank’s Global Economic Prospects report, issued yesterday

Western Oil Firms Big Winners In Iraq
By Sherwood Ross

Western oil producers have emerged as the big winners of the Iraq war. A group led by BP will receive $2 billion per year to develop Iraq’s Rumalia field and a Shell-led group is to get $913 million per year. An Exxon-led group is to get $1.6 billion per year

Why I’m Suing Barack Obama
By Chris Hedges

I suspect National Defense Authorization Act passed because the corporations, seeing the unrest in the streets, knowing that things are about to get much worse, worrying that the Occupy movement will expand, do not trust the police to protect them. They want to be able to call in the Army. And now they can

The Myth of “Isolated” Iran
By Pepe Escobar

Following the money in the Iran crisis

U.S.-Israeli Assault On Iran Escalates –
Danger of War Grows

By Larry Everest

Ground is being laid daily in the headlines and statements by politicians of every stripe in mainstream U.S. politics calling for aggression against Iran—all justified by unsubstantiated assertions that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons

Dancing On History’s Edge: Why This Is
An Amazing Time To Be Alive

By Dianne Monroe

We live in a time when each of our voices and visions are vitally needed for earth’s and humanity’s future. It is a time when the question is not so much how we survive the demise of what has been, as how we each contribute to what is new and arising. Rooting ourselves in what we bring to these times and share with the future is much more than a way to anchor ourselves through the storms of this great crumbling

Global Energy And Resources
By Peter Goodchild

Modern industrial society is composed of a triad of fossil fuels, metals, and electricity. The three are intricately connected and all three are hitting peak availability

Censorship In The Green Mountains
By Rosemarie Jackowski

Will the First Amendment ever be restored in Vermont ? I'm not holding my breath. Vermont has become the land of book-banning, censorship, and the arrest of those who try to make a difference. When any candidate is silenced, when any book is banned - every citizen should react

Israel As World's First Bunker State
By Jonathana Cook

The wheel is turning full circle. Last week the Israeli parliament updated a 59-year-old law originally intended to prevent hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees from returning to the homes and lands from which they had been expelled as Israel was established. The purpose of the draconian 1954 Prevention of Infiltration Law was to lock up any Palestinian who managed to slip past the snipers guarding the new state’s borders

Waiting For False Prophets: The Puzzling
Matter Of The Israeli Liberals

By Ramzy Baroud

To hold hope in the new election cycle in Israel is like waiting for false prophets. No salvation will be heralded by some imagined center-left party that will bring “an end to the ultra-rightist frenzy,” as hoped by Avnery

UK TV Series “The Promise” Elicits
Zionist Defamation Of Anti-Racist Jews

By Dr Gideon Polya

Decent anti-racist humanitarian Jews and indeed all decent people are obliged to speak out against the genocidal crimes of racist Zionist-run Apartheid Israel . The false defamation of anti-racist humanitarian Jews as “anti-Semites” can be seen as anti-Semitism itself as can the utterly false conflation of the genocidal atrocities of Apartheid Israel with decent, anti-racist Jews

21st Century Racism
By Mary Shaw

Bigotry has its roots in insecurity, and in fear of the unknown. Might does not make right. But I continue to shudder at the possibilities of what can happen as these frightened white men - the 1% - continue to control our country's wealth and power

Extreme Inequality or Democracy?
By Ron Forthofer

Given the dire straits – high levels of unemployment and underemployment, homelessness, lack of health insurance, home foreclosures, huge credit card debts and college loan debts, shortages of food - that many Americans face today, our extreme inequality is intolerable. The current situation demands a drastic overhaul of our corrupt political/economic system to end and to prevent future extreme inequality. Unless we act now, control by the wealthy and powerful will be solidified

Managing Disasters And Displacement
By S.G.Vombatkere

The article presents the political and economic impacts of various kinds of natural and man-made disasters and associated displacement of populations, and argues for a wider and more inclusive definition of disasters in the interest of human rights, social justice and equity for the victims of disasters

Can We Afford Another Unquestionable Mahatma?
By Sukant Khurana, Ph.D.

A critique of the Anna Hazare movement

Tweeting Troubles: Why Kapil Sibal
Is Not An idiot!

By Samar

Kapil Sibal's rants against the social networking sites opened a new debate. They hinted of an Orwellian return into the dreaded days of emergency. What they did not hint at though was the fact that the world has changed a lot. So much so, that even an all pervasive state like China cannot effectively censor the internet. Think of that, and of the efficiency of Indian officialdom and you know what would be the future of censorship

15 January, 2012

Why Is Obama Sending 12, 000
U.S. Troops To Libya? 

By Cynthia McKinney

It is with great disappointment that I receive the news from foreign media publications and Libyan sources that our President now has 12,000 U.S. troops stationed in Malta and they are about to make their descent into Libya

Will A Pro-Gadhafi “Green Revolution”
Topple The NTC?

By Franklin Lamb

The signs from Libya are that this country remains volatile and that contrary to NATO claims that it put into place a “new democratic Libya” that the predictable next chapter is starting to unfold that may bring the end of the NTC before the coming June elections when it is scheduled to be replaced

US Doubles Aircraft Carriers Near The Persian Gulf
By Peter Symonds

The Obama administration has reinforced the threat of American military strikes against Iran by doubling the number of US aircraft carrier groups in the region. The provocative decision heightens the danger of war in the Persian Gulf as the US moves aggressively to impose a de facto embargo on Iranian oil exports

And Who, By the Way, Is John C. Stennis?!?
By Toby O’Ryan

Who, you might ask, is John C. Stennis? What are the boons and benefits for humanity accomplished by this John C. Stennis such that he came to have his name emblazoned on a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier?

What Does Ken Ford Know? And Who Put Him
In Prison To Keep Him From Telling?

By Cynthia McKinney

Ken Ford, Jr. wrote an intelligence report on the Iraq War which contradicted the Administration's reason for going to war against Iraq

The American Spirit: The War Of Urination
By Dr. Nath Aldalala'a

The recent release of the video of the U.S.Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters tells us much about the temporality of the War on Terror

Voters Choice: Ron Paul or Bibi Netanyahu
By William A. Cook

What we know truly is that America is no longer the nation of the free citizen, since we are now subject to the fear that resides in the gut when threatened by unsubstantiated allegations of suspicion as a terrorist that can result in indefinite detention without trial or due process. Such is the decline of the once proud and free experiment that was the United States of America

King Would Have Demanded Nuremberg Style
Indictment Of US Leaders And We Will!

By Jay Janson

When a gang robs a bank, depositors don't go into the street to protest, expecting the criminals to be arrested, tried and jailed. King condemned the massive crimes against humanity that most Americans were not seeing as such. Knowing from experience that the financial element ruling society owned judges on the courts, he limited himself to "everyone must protest!" Why King would have called for indictments is explained

1948
By Dr Salim Nazzal

What would be the picture of Palestine and the region without 1948, or without the transplantation of Zionist state?

Jaypee And Mahyco As Indian Express Sponsors:
There Is Conflict Of Interest Here, Sir

By Concerned Citizens

On January 10 and 11, 2012, half page advertisements in the Indian Express newspaper announced that on Jan 16, 2012 the IE Excellence in Journalism awards will be given. The advertisement also said that the main sponsor is Jaypee Group and among other sponsors include the Mahyco Monsanto. This raises questions about journalistic ethics

13 January, 2012

India To Pay For Iran Crude In Rupees
By Press TV

In the wake of the US decision to impose fresh sanctions against the Islamic Republic that would target its oil exports, India announces plans to pay for the Iranian crude it imports in rupees

Nuclear Assassinations Just The Tip Of The Iceberg
By Dr. Ismail Salami

Central to the circle of the prime suspects in the nuclear assassinations is the IAEA itself. About two weeks ago, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan had reportedly met the agency inspectors. Isn't it strange that the nuclear scientist was killed only two weeks after his meeting with the IAEA inspectors? Another point which actually strengthens the speculation is that the names and identities of Iranian nuclear scientists who have so far been assassinated have been published in the list of sanctions issued by the IAEA

Obama’s New War Doctrine Fuels Debate In China
By John Chan

Last week’s announcement by President Barack Obama of a new strategic focus on China has intensified a debate already underway in Chinese ruling circles over how to respond to Washington’s confrontational stance and threat of military conflict

Americans can Choose Between Being American
Or Human but Not Both Presently

By Jay Janson

Some day in the perhaps not so distant future, after Americans are humiliated by the defeat of their government's attempt to control and exploit every bit of the planet and its inhabitants, they will be finally free to rehabilitate themselves as the Germans did after suffering through their Nazi era

The Perils of 2012
By Joseph E. Stiglitz

As a result, global economic rebalancing is likely to accelerate, almost inevitably giving rise to political tensions. With all of the problems confronting the global economy, we will be lucky if these strains do not begin to manifest themselves within the next twelve months

Honeybee Problem Nearing A ‘Critical Point’
By Claire Thompson

Colony Collapse Disorder is a myth, neurotoxic pesticide causes bee deaths

How Much Is An Earth, And Do You Have
One In Extra Large?

By David Swanson

A new book suggests that "It's the economy, stupid," may be more than political strategy; it may also be the key to environmental sustainability. The book is "Green Washed: Why We Can't Buy Our Way to a Green Planet," by Kendra Pierre-Louis. The argument developed is not just that the consumer choices of an individual won't save the planet without collective action, but also that the only collective action that will save us is abandoning the whole idea of consumer choices

When The World Outlawed War:
David Swanson's New Book

By Bruce Levine

In his previous book War is a Lie, Swanson made the case for the abolition of war as an instrument of national policy, and his new book, When the World Outlawed War, provides an historical example of just how powerful war abolitionism can be

Only Lip-Sympathy For The Malnourished
By Devinder Sharma

Although Prime Minister Manmohan Singh termed malnutrition a national shame, it appears as if only the legislators and the parliamentarians are the ones who are affected

AIDS in India: What Can The Indian Government
Do Different?

By Dr. Sukant Khurana & Dr. Gaurav Sharma

As another world AIDS day passes by and the epidemic shows no sign of end, we need to evaluate the status of AIDS in India

Kashmir Saga 2012
By Abdul Majid Zargar

Mohammad Altaf Sood, 22, was mercilessly killed in CISF firing at Boniyar providing a grim reminder of the reality that human life in Kashmir continues to be dispensable. And dust had barely settled when another soul was demolished at Sopore. An innocent civilian, again a young man, was brutally done to death while crying for help in an injured condition

12 January, 2012

Genetically Modified Mosquitoes'
Survival Rate Concealed

By Friends of the Earth

A confidential internal document obtained by civil society groups shows genetically modified mosquitoes described by their manufacturer, UK company Oxitec, as “sterile” are in fact not sterile and their offspring have a 15 percent survival rate in the presence of the common antibiotic tetracycline

Video Emerges of Marines Urinating On Corpses
By CommonDreams

A video posted online Wednesday shows four U.S. Marines urinating on three corpses in Afghanistan

Nigerian General Strike Escalates
As Government Steps Up Repression

By Robert Stevens

Hundreds of thousands have demonstrated throughout Nigeria over the past three days in an escalating indefinite general strike against the government of President Goodluck Jonathan

Warm And Fuzzy On Geothermal?
By Tom Murphy

The Earth started its existence as a red-hot rock, and has been cooling ever since. It’s still quite toasty in the core, and will remain so for billions of years, yet. Cooling implies a flow of heat, and where heat flows, the possibility exists of capturing useful energy. Geysers and volcanoes are obvious manifestations of geothermal energy, but what role can it play toward satisfying our current global demand? Following the recent theme of Do the Math, we will put geothermal in one of three boxes labeled abundant, potent, or niche (puny). Have any guesses?

Aljazeera Coverage: The Revolution
Will Be Televised, And Also Manipulated

By Ramzy Baroud

In the final days of the Libyan conflict, as NATO conducted a nonstop bombing campaign, an Aljazeera Arabic television correspondent’s actions raised more than eyebrows. They also raised serious questions regarding the journalistic responsibility of Arab media – or in fact any media - during times of conflict

Occupy Enters 2012
By Shepherd Bliss

During December the local Occupy movement did not receive much corporate media attention, especially when compared to its regular front-page autumn coverage. Yet Occupy groups were quite active behind the scenes preparing for an expected spring flowering

Frederick Engels on Dühringian vs.
Marxian Socialism: Production

By Thomas Riggins

In the antepenultimate chapter of his book Anti-Dühring Engels explains the differences between the "socialism" espoused by Professor Eugen Dühring and the socialism of Karl Marx and himself. Dühring thinks the ideas of Marx are "bastards of historical and logical fantasy" and he seeks to replace them with his own views which are, naturally, the true historical and logical ideas which socialists should adopt

Growing Sino-Pakistan Military Ties
Ring Alarm Bells In India

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

The Chinese intervention carries a significance beyond the immediate dispute. Pakistan considers China to be its closest ally and an alternative partner to the West, while both governments oppose US plans to have bases in Afghanistan beyond the 2014 date for ending the coalition's combat operations there

Bihar Government Should Put A Stay
On The Execution Of The Aadhaar Projects

By Gopal Krishna

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had signed a MoU with Bihar Government on August 20, 2010 without any legal and constitutional mandate

11 January, 2012

Another Nuclear Scientist Killed In Iran
By Al Jazeera

A nuclear scientist who supervised a department at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility has been killed by a magnetic bomb placed on his car by two assailants in northern Tehran

US Renews Military Threat Against Iran
By Peter Symonds

The US administration responded to Iran’s announcement last weekend that its Fordo uranium enrichment plant was operational with renewed threats of military action. The sharp rise in tensions in the Persian Gulf follows steps by the US and Europe to impose an embargo on Iranian oil exports that would ruin the country’s economy

The Letter That Won Liberty Plaza Back
By New York Civil Liberties Union

NYPD officers removed barriers tonight at Zuccotti Park, just one day after the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the New York City chapter of the National Lawyers Guild put New York City on notice that its arbitrary and inconsistently applied rules and security measures restricting the public’s access to the park violated city zoning laws

The Peak Oil Crisis: Gasoline In 2012
By Tom Whipple

Although rarely admitted, it is obvious in hindsight that the $2.40 a gallon plunge in gasoline prices during the second half of 2008 played a major role in keeping the recession relatively mild as compared to what happened in the 1930s. It is difficult to see prices falling this much after the spring run-up this year. There is simply too much Arab Spring in the air that will continue to add risk premiums to oil prices even if the various confrontations do not worsen

Geopolitical Implications Of “Peak Everything”
By Richard Heinberg

From competition among hunter-gatherers for wild game to imperialist wars over precious minerals, resource wars have been fought throughout history; today, however, the competition appears set to enter a new--and perhaps unprecedented--phase. As natural resources deplete, and as the Earth's climate becomes less stable, the world's nations will likely compete ever more desperately for access to fossil fuels, minerals, agricultural land, and water

Theory And Practice In Occupy
By Shamus Cooke

Ultimately Occupy needs to organize for power; we need a greater power to displace the current power of the 1%. This doesn't mean that we must adopt the same forms of power utilized by the state, but that new ones must be created, while using EVERY opportunity within the existing structure to organize, educate, and mobilize working people

Hindutva’s Ugly Face Again Unmasked
By Syed Ali Mujtaba

The news of Pakistani flag being hoisted by some miscreants in Sindhagi town, some 60 kilometer from Bijapur in Karnataka, was shocking. The mystery was unraveled when six members of a right-wing Hindu group were arrested

Maida And Diabetese
By Dr.C.L.A. Rahiman

Maida is made from wheat flour after removing the fiber rich bran. Then it is bleached with the chemical alloxan to make it white and fine. This chemical is toxic to Pancreas in our body. Pancreas is responsible for regulation of glucose and sugar in our body and blood. Pancreas is producing insulin in our body. Actually Insulin is responsible for the control of blood sugar. Once Pancreas is damaged, one will become diabetic

10 January, 2012

General Strike Over Fuel Hike Paralyzes Nigeria
By Bill Van Auken

Tens of thousands of Nigerians took to the streets Monday at the start of an indefinite nationwide general strike against the government’s lifting of fuel subsidies, which led gasoline prices to double overnight. By Monday evening, at least three protesters were reported killed and many wounded as security forces responded to unarmed demonstrators with live ammunition, tear gas and baton charges

Energy Wars 2012
By Michael T. Klare

The Three Top Hot Spots of Potential Conflict in the Geo-Energy Era

What’s Really Going On In The Straits Of Hormuz
By David Malone

I think the stand-off with Iran in the Straits of Hormuz over sanctions is as much to do with the moves to replace the dollar as anything else. The stand off is as much with China and its allies as it is specifically with Iran. The US is testing China’s nerve and the solidity of its network of bilateral currency settlement agreements. We are seeing military power deployed to counter economic power. I think the US will lose. Depending on the nature of its loss we could see a precipitate decline in the standing of the dollar as global reserve currency

CIA Spy Conviction Gives Iran
Chance To Boost Relation

By Sherwood Ross

Sparing Hekmati's life would be an act of grace on the part of Iran in accord with the inspired teachings of the world's great religions. It would be visible proof that Iran adheres to a higher standard than the CIA. It would also provide an opportunity for restorative justice---allowing Hekmati to get to know the common humanity of the people of Iran while working off his debt to Iran in a constructive way

The US Plan To Destabilize Sudan
By Thomas C. Mountain

As South Sudan implodes in a growing mass insanity of ethnic violence and once again tens of thousands have to flee for their lives the warning signs all point towards the US plan to destabilize Sudan having begun to hit its stride

Afghanistan Signs Oil Contract With Chinese Giant
By John Chan

China’s state-owned National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a $700 million oil exploration contract with the Afghan government last week, the first foreign company to do so in many decades. The agreement will intensify geopolitical rivalries in Central Asia as the major powers compete for access to vast mineral and energy resources

No Free Press In Iraq
By Dahr Jamail

Attacks on both local and international journalists across Iraq have not stopped to this day

As Fukushima Cleanup Begins,
Long-Term Impacts Are Weighed

By Winifred Bird

The Japanese government is launching a large-scale cleanup of the fields, forests, and villages contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear disaster. But some experts caution that an overly aggressive remediation program could create a host of other environmental problems

Whither Environmentalism?
By Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez

There is so much to do, and so little time. Let's get out there, each bearing our own gifts and energies, and turn this Earthship around

An Arctic Methane Worst-Case Scenario
By David Archer

The methane worst case does not suddenly spell the extinction of human life on Earth. It does not lead to a runaway greenhouse. The worst-case methane scenario stands comparable to what CO2 can do. What CO2 will do, under business-as-usual, not in a wild blow-the-doors-off unpleasant surprise, but just in the absence of any pleasant surprises (like emission controls). At worst comparable to CO2 except that CO2 lasts essentially forever

Boom And Doom: Revisiting Prophecies Of Collapse
By Debora MacKenzie

Forty years ago, a highly controversial study , The Limits to Growth, warned that we had to curb growth or risk global collapse. Does the prediction still hold, asks Debora MacKenzie

Irrelevant Squared
By Jacob Levin

A critique of Tom Friedman's latest op-ed "So Much Fun. So Irrelevant"

A Culture Of Resistance Is Born in 2011:
The People United In An Independent Movement

By Kevin Zeese & Margaret Flowers

In 2012, the Real Conversation will be in the Occupations, while Corporate Candidates have a False Conversation

No Regrets, No Tears: Bidding Farewell To Iraq
By George Capaccio

The focus of so much discussion these days is the Occupy Movement and the anticipated collapse of the US economy. A clear and present silence prevails, however, when it comes to the fate of the Iraqi people and the culpability of US officials in launching a war of aggression

Labor And Poverty: A House Divided
By Joseph Grosso

The essay argues that a main cause of poverty in the U.S. has been the division of the working class, mainly into religious and ethnic hostilities as well as the division between the working class and the poor. This creates a hold for a nasty strain of producerism that keeps the working class as a tool for conservative politics, limits solidarity movements, and thereby further marginalizes the poor. The essay attempts to give both historical and present-day perspectives

Sodastream's Reply Fails To Convince
By Stop Sodastream - Italy

The Italian Stop Sodastream campaign exposes the Israeli company's deceptions

BJP: Hypocrisy On Political Chessboard
By Ram Puniyani

This year 2011 was very eventful as far as the political arena is concerned. This year also exposed the duel attitudes of BJP on most of the issues yet again. The various issues, Anna Hazare’s movement, Government trying to bring in FDI in retail, bill for rationalization of fuel price and the deletion of Ramanujam’s essay in the University text, showed its real colors

09 January, 2012

Iran Not Building A Nuclear Weapon:Panetta
By Common Dreams

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta appears on CBS' Face the Nation this morning and declared, despite enormous public rhetoric among pundits and many US government officials - not to mention GOP presidential candidates, that Iran is not currently trying to build a nuclear weapon

Strikes Erupt In China’s Sichuan Province
By John Chan

Thousands of workers from the state-owned company Pangang Group Chengdu Steel & Vanadium (known as Chengdu Steel) went on strike on January 4 over low wages in Chengdu, the capital of the inland province of Sichuan

The Myth Of Renewable Energy
By Dawn Stover

There are now seven billion humans on this planet. Until we find a way to reduce our energy consumption and to share Earth's finite resources more equitably among nations and generations, "renewable" energy might as well be called "miscellaneous."

The March Towards The Abyss
By Fidel Castro

The idea of a Last Judgement is implicit in the most practiced religious doctrines among the inhabitants of this planet, without anyone classifying them for that as being pessimistic. On the contrary, I think it is a basic duty of all serious and sane persons, who number in the millions, to fight to postpone and perhaps to prevent that dramatic and imminent event in today’s world

A Fresh Indo-US Deal, To Subvert
The Nuclear Liability Act

By P K Sundaram

The United States and India have formed a Joint Working Group tasked to find ways for the US corporates to avoid nuclear liability in case of an accident. It is deeply disturbing to see the two countries, that are never tired of boasting their democratic credentials, blatantly undermining the constitutionally mandated suppliers liability provision for the nuclear companies.This is the third such attempt to get away with the liability clause

Koodankulam Diary
By Admiral Ramdas & Lalita Ramdas

This is Admiral Ramdas and Lalita Ramdas’ diary after their recent visit to Koodankulam (Dec. 4 – 5 2011). Besides underlining the strengths and resilience of the movement on the ground, this diary has also highlighted the larger questions of sustainability, livelihood and dignity that the struggle in Koodankulam has come to symbolize

One Small Step Towards
Chemical-Free Agriculture

By Devinder Sharma

While on the one hand I can count a sizable number of progressive farmers in different parts of the country who discarded chemical-based farming system and opted for more sustainable farming practices, there is quite a significant proportion of the farming community which has moved away from the Green Revolution approach to farming

Death Of Dinesh Das, A Third Or
Fourth World Journalist

By Farooque Chowdhury

Again there is another death on a Dhaka street. The latest victim is Dinesh Das, a Third or Fourth World journalist. And, it is almost the same tale of a Third or Fourth World city, its traffic management system, and of a part of a society with its indifference, brutality and callousness

08 January, 2012

US Obligated To Take Iran Dispute To International Arbitration
By Sherwood Ross

As members of the United Nations, both Iran and the U.S. are obligated to go to arbitration, not to come out shooting. If the U.S. sought to prevail by military force, however, it would be in contravention of at least three historic treaties the U.S. has signed pledging itself to the peaceful resolution of disputes

Western Oil Firms Remain As US Exits Iraq
By Dahr Jamail

While the US military has formally ended its occupation of Iraq, some of the largest western oil companies, ExxonMobil, BP and Shell, remain

Tareq Aziz: Life Hanging In The Balance
By Felicity Arbuthnot

As the US occupiers leave Iraq the fate of former Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq Tareq Aziz's fate hangs in the balance

Wholesale Approval Of Genetically Engineered Foods : Obama Administration Angers Public
By The Cornucopia Institute

Over the holidays, the United States Department of Agriculture announced its approval of a novel strain of genetically engineered corn, developed by Monsanto, purportedly being “drought tolerant.” Despite receiving nearly 45,000 public comments in opposition to this particular genetically engineered corn variety and only 23 comments in favor

Obama Unveils War Strategy Focused On China
By Bill Van Auken

In its blunt and provocative portrayal of China as an enemy, the defense strategic guidance document reflects the steady buildup toward a confrontation over dominance of the Asia Pacific region, the scene of the world’s greatest economic growth

Ron Paul's Strange Bedfellows
By Katha Pollitt

In a Ron Paul America, there would be no environmental protection, no Social Security, no Medicaid or Medicare, no help for the poor, no public education, no civil rights laws, no anti-discrimination law, no Americans With Disabilities Act, no laws ensuring the safety of food or drugs or consumer products, no workers’ rights. How far does Paul take his war against Washington? He wants to abolish the Federal Aviation Authority and its pesky air traffic controllers. He has one magic answer to every problem—including how to land an airplane safely: let the market handle it

Rethinking The Growth Imperative
By Kenneth Rogoff

Instead of focusing on increasing economic growth, shouldn't the focus be on long-term sustainability and durability?

Muslim Brotherhood Strongest Contender
In Libya’s Coming Elections

By Franklin Lamb

It appears, from interviews and discussions with a wide range of Libyans including students, lawyers, judges at the Ministry of Justice, shopkeepers and casual acquaintances that the Muslim Brotherhood currently has very little popular support among this pious conservative, Sunni Muslim society

Hamas Has Stolen Our War
By Uri Avnery

The reasons for Cast Lead II are more serious. Hamas is being accepted by the international community. Their Prime Minister, Isma’il Haniyeh, is now traveling around the Arab and Muslim world, after being shut in Gaza – a kind of Strip-arrest – for four years. Now he can cross into Egypt because the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas’ parent organization, has become a major player there. Even worse, Hamas is about to join the PLO and take part in the Palestinian government

Global March To Jerusalem: 30th March, 2012
By Feroze Mithiborwala & Sandeep Pandey

National Meeting At the Gandhi Peace Foundation , Deendayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi 23rd of January, 10 am to 2.00 pm

Washington Recalibrating Iran War Plan
By Dr. Ismail Salami

It is apparent that Washington and Tehran are at crossed swords now and one cannot recall a time when Tehran was so boldly defiant in the face of the US cudgel-brandishing policies

The Working Class Begins To Fight Back
By Bill Leumer & Ann Robertson

After decades of losing ground and feeling helpless, working people are beginning to fight back. This development has emerged in part because the Occupy Wall Street movement has thrown a national spotlight on the growing inequalities in wealth and the mainstream politicians who have enabled this trend to continue for decades

Heroes
By Gary Steven Corseri

The man and woman who will kill and injure
because some fool tells them to
are just little spin-off fools.
No act born of ignorance is heroic.
Heroes are sensible, not imbeciles.
Heroes dispel myths; they neither create
nor perpetuate them

Of Laws, Cows And People’s Mutinies:
Will The Beef Ban In BJP-Ruled States
Fuel A New Mutiny?

By Cynthia Stephen

The Gau-Vansh Vadh Pratishedh (Sanshodhan) Vidheyak (Prohibition of slaughter of cow-progeny Bill) just passed in Madhya Pradesh empowers the government to prosecute any person found slaughtering a cow or even transporting the calf for the purpose of slaughter. Anyone found guilty of this act would face seven years of imprisonment and a minimum fine of Rs 5000. In March 2010, the Karnataka assembly passed the The Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill 2010 by voice vote

The Case For 4.5 Percent OBC
Religious Minority Sub-quota

By Ashok Yadav

Creation of an MBC quota within the overall 27 percent OBC quota is not to create a division within OBC quota or, one may say, OBC unity, but striking a balance within the social justice movement which is poised to result in greater OBC unity. This is vital to ensure synergy among social justice, secularism and democracy. Can India meet political-economic challenges of 21st century without this synergy?

06 January, 2012

EU Oil Embargo Heightens Tensions In The Gulf
By Peter Symonds

The European Union’s (EU) in-principle decision on Wednesday to impose an embargo on oil imports from Iran has further escalated the danger of military conflict in the Persian Gulf. The EU move dovetails with President Obama’s signing on Saturday of US legislation designed to cripple the Iranian banking system and cut the country’s oil exports

US-Israel Getting Ready For Largest Ever
Missile Defense Joint Exercise

By Eileen Fleming

This spring, Israel and US will showcase the largest ever missile defense exercise and establish US command posts in Israel and Israeli Forces will occupy EUCOM headquarters in Germany. As the West was adopting more sanctions against Tehran claiming Iran is manufacturing WMD, Iran responded in a 10-day war game naval exercise near the strategic Strait of Hormuz

Why Not Attack Iran?
By David Swanson

The cases of Iraq and Iran are not identical in every detail, of course. But in both cases we are dealing with concerted efforts to get us into wars, wars based, as all wars are based, on lies

From Our Archive
Can You Pass The Iran Quiz
By Jeffrey Rudolph

The quiz is an attempt to introduce more balance into the mainstream discussion of Iran

Washington Pressures Arab League
To Move Against Syria

By Chris Marsden

The Obama administration dispatched Jeffrey Feltman, assistant secretary of state for Near East Affairs, to Cairo yesterday for talks with the Arab League about Syria. His mission is to ensure that a negative verdict is rendered on the Arab League observers’ mission to Syria—paving the way for a push for a United Nations Security Council resolution legitimising military intervention to depose Syrian President Bashir al-Assad

Fallujah Babies: Under A New Kind Of Siege
By Dahr Jamail

Doctors and residents blame US weapons for catastrophic levels of birth defects in Fallujah's newborns

12 Reasons You'll Be Hearing More About
The Commons In 2012

By Jay Walljasper

The continuing economic crisis shows the foolishness of promoting selfish individualism as the chief operating principle for our society

Greeting 'Tashi Delek' In Mumbai
By Priyanka Borpujari

The story of how Tibetans surive in Mumbai

'Why Is Narendra Modi Afraid Of Sanjiv Bhatt?'
By Priyanka Borpujari

Meeting IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt's family who brought Narendra Modi's wrath upon himself by filing an affidavit in Supreme Court of India against the Chief Minister Narendra Modi about his role in the 2002 Gujarat pogrom

05 January, 2012

A Mistaken Case For Syrian Regime Change
By Aisling Byrne

What is happening in Syria is a calculated campaign to bring down the government of President Bashar al-Assad to replace it with a regime "more compatible" with United States interests. The most important component of this struggle has been the deliberate construction of a largely false narrative that pits unarmed democracy demonstrators being killed in their hundreds and thousands as they protest peacefully against an oppressive, violent regime, a "killing machine" led by the "monster" Assad

Much Ado About Methane
By David Archer

There have been observations of bubbles emanating from the sea floor in the Arctic and off Norway. David Archer examines whether this will create significant changes in the climate system

How The Oil Industry Intends To Attack Obama
Over The Coming Year

By Steve LeVine

Jack Gerard, chief Washington lobbyist for the oil industry as CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, unveiled the campaign yesterday. The spearhead is a push for Obama to approve the Keystone Pipeline, a proposed 1,600-mile line that would double the flow of Canadian oil sands to Houston-area refineries

"Game Over" For Planet If XL Oil Pipeline Is Built
By Sherwood Ross

One of America’s foremost climate scientists says that if the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline is built to tap the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, the impact on the Earth’s climate will be devastating

Seven Years After Sieges, Fallujah Struggles
By Dahr Jamail

With their city largely destroyed by two US military assaults, residents of Fallujah continue to suffer

Santorum vs. Romney: The Climate Is
Screwed Either Way

By Lisa Hymas

Rick Santorum, who surged at the last minute to give Mitt Romney a real run for his money in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses, is less green than his rival, and decidedly nuttier when it comes to climate change. But let's not split hairs here. Both men will staunchly defend fossil fuels, and neither is likely to do much of anything to fight global warming

Anwar And Haneen: Two Beautiful Girls
Murdered By Israel

By Sarah Ali

I am living in a world whose concepts are no longer clear to me. A world where the criminal walks free and the victim is called a terrorist. A world where killing a five-year-old kid is permissible. A world that has left me baffled about what is right and what is wrong. I have always thought that we could figure out who the terrorist was simply by looking at who died on whose side. I was wrong. Israel has the ability to kill Palestinians at night and call them terrorists the next morning

The Peak Oil Crisis: Closing Out The Year
By Tom Whipple

The returns are in and we now know that world price of a barrel of oil averaged $111 in 2011. This was up 14 percent from last year and well above the previous high of $100 set in 2008

Waiting For The Great Pumpkin
By John Michael Greer

At the beginning of every year, the peak oil blogosphere sees a flurry of predictions for the coming year. A surprisingly large number of these predictions are the same ones that were offered in previous years, and didn't happen. Is this simply a matter of impaired collective memory, or is something deeper involved? The Archdruid considers the question

Nuclear Options
By Tom Murphy

Nuclear is likely to play an increasing role in our energy story. Energy hardship will trump concerns over waste, proliferation, and safety. As long as such hardship does not bind us in an Energy Trap or plunge us into dysfunction, we will likely build more plants. But because nuclear does not smack the primary problem right on the kisser (fossil fuel substitute), I doubt it will be heralded as the answer to our prayers, and imagine that its role will be correspondingly modest

Buying Congress In 2012
By Bill McKibben

Time to Stop Being Cynical About Corporate Money in Politics and Start Being Angry

Secrets Of Empire And Self-Deceptions Of Partisans
By Phil Rockstroh

A howling defiance into the darkness of the corporate state night

Hamas And The Brotherhood:
Reanimating History

By Ramzy Baroud

By venturing out of Gaza, Haniyeh is hoping to expand the diameters of the Palestinian Islamic movement into Egypt and beyond – thus reclaiming what Hamas once considered ‘the strategic depth’ of the Palestinian cause. While such a push failed to attain its objectives in 2006, 2012 is a brand new year

Obama Crowned Himself On New Year's Eve
By David Swanson

The National Defense Authorization Act is not a leap from democracy to tyranny, but it is another major step on a steady and accelerating decade-long march toward a police-and-war state

Obama: Drones And Change
By Sean Fenley

Not only is Obama shredding and flouting the Constitution with his ardor and affection for the mass immolating drone, but in his recent signing of the National Defense Authorization Act, he’s also doing the same! The United States government is now capable of indefinitely detaining citizens, and without ever having to give them a (previously) necessary trial!

Why has President Sarkozy Revived
The Alleged Armenian Genocide?

By Dan Lieberman

Is denial of an Armenian genocide a polarizing issue in France ? Do citizens of La Patria openly debate Ottoman Empire responsibility for an alleged genocide that happened one hundred years ago? Does French jurisprudence need this bill to prevent a significant offense? The necessity to pass a law that makes it a crime to deny the alleged Armenian genocide is baffling. To whom is it directed and what is its purpose?

Déjà vu All Over Again
By Ron Forthofer

We are seeing a repeat of the ploy used against Iraq and its nonexistent weapons of mass destruction. Our leaders lied repeatedly and the subservient corporate media were complicit in building support for the U.S. attack on Iraq

Rethinking Social Justice
By Yogendra Yadav

The first part of the article defends the assertion that the policies and politics of social justice have reached a dead end. It identifies five signs or characteristics of the current impasse of social justice. It then looks at how and why we have reached this impasse. This leads, finally, to some concrete proposals for a second wind of policies and politics of social justice. The essay proposes five directions for rethinking social justice

The Riddle Of Representation:
Issues in The Caste Census Debate

By Cynthia Stephen

The question is, will those who suppressed the fact of Dalits and OBCs backwardness succeed in keeping the veil over the numbers and let the riddle of representation continue into the 21 st century? Or will the veil be drawn aside, the numbers gathered and crunched and the long-neglected OBCs, and specially the OBC women of India finally get their rightful share and voice in the affairs of the nation?

04 January, 2012

China’s Property Bubble Is Imploding
By John Chan

There is mounting evidence that China’s massive real estate speculation “bubble” has begun to burst. The result will destabilise the country’s banking system, slow its economic growth and impact heavily on the world economy

Europe Plunging Into Recession
By Stefan Steinberg

The first economic statistics for Europe issued in the new year show that manufacturing across the euro zone declined in December, the fifth consecutive month of decreased output. Overall economic growth in the 17-nation euro zone was anemic throughout the second half of 2011, increasing by just 0.2 percent between July and September

“ America 's Chickens Are Coming Home To Roost”
By William A. Cook

Prophets anticipate truth; they review a nation's past history and can predict its future. Witness America 's past as the Reverend Wright did that Sunday morning, and what America is doing now repeats its ugliness

Iraq. Began With big lies.
Ending With Big Lies. Never Forget

By William Blum

More than half the population either dead, wounded, traumatized, in prison, internally displaced, or in foreign exile ... The air, soil, water, blood, and genes drenched with depleted uranium ... the most awful birth defects ... unexploded cluster bombs lying anywhere in wait for children to pick them up ... a river of blood running alongside the Euphrates and Tigris ... through a country that may never be put back together again

Climate Change, Migration And Conflict:
Addressing Complex Crisis Scenarios
In The 21st Century

By Michael Wertz & Laura Conley

It is difficult to fully understand the detailed causes of migration and economic and political instability, but the growing evidence of links between climate change, migration, and conflict raise plenty of reasons for concern. This is why it’s time to start thinking about new and comprehensive answers to multifaceted crisis scenarios brought on or worsened by global climate change

Why The Govt’s Assurances On
Koodankulam Are False

By P K Sundaram

Koodankulam has raised some important questions for our democracy and the growth-driven development dreams. The larger society must stand in support of the masses struggling for a nonviolent, equitable and sustainable India

03 January, 2012

Watch Out : USA's Long Arm Has Reached You!
By Patrick Martin

President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law on New Year’s Eve. The bill provides a massive $662 billion for the US war machine and makes unprecedented inroads into democratic rights, authorizing the US military to seize individuals anywhere in the world and hold them in a military detention facility indefinitely, without a trial or any other legal recourse

China, Oil And Ethnic Cleansing In Horn Of Africa
By Thomas C. Mountain

We are receiving gruesome reports that an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Ogadenis living in the Chinese oil exploration license area is being carried out by the Ethiopian army

Lessons From Lost Wars In 2012
By Tom Engelhardt

After an almost 9 year debacle, Washington was sent packing from Iraq, but few were stunned

Haiti: Seven Places Where The Earthquake Money
Did And Did Not Go

By Bill Quigley & Amber Ramanauskas

The UN estimated international donors gave Haiti over $1.6 billion in relief aid since the earthquake (about $155 per Haitian) and over $2 billion in recovery aid (about $173 per Haitian) over the last two years. Yet Haiti looks like the earthquake happened two months ago

Upcoming Book Reveals The Irish Potato Famine
Was A Genocide

By Mike Morley & Prof. Francis Boyle

Prof. Francis Boyle in his book proves that the British intended to reduce and eliminate the number of Irish living in Ireland, either because they were Irish or because they were Catholic, or both. The potato famine starved to death one million Irish and forced another two million to leave Ireland

Obama Signs Indefinite Detention Into Law
By Mary Shaw

The world will now see that even Obama - a former Constitutional law professor - cannot be trusted to uphold universal human rights standards and the rule of law

Humanocide: A New International Crime
And Human Rights Violation

By Mary Hamer

The purpose of this paper is to define a new Legal term: Humanocide. Humanocide is a new International crime & Human rights violation. Humanocide is a word derived from the basic Human rights terms: Genocide & Crimes against Humanity and the Psychological concepts of: Zerzetzen Psycho-Terror & Bullying/Mobbing. Mary Hamer define Humanocide simply: as 2 or more People in power who conspire to destroy a targeted person, either mentally &/or physically

A ‘Smart Legal Coup D’état’ Is
Underway In Pakistan?

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

For the two years a rift between the Army and the US-client government of President Zardari was widening and the latest Memogate scandal has brought it to an open confrontation

Social Movements And Social Change
By Ram Puniyani

All protests in India should have awakened our conscience but unfortunately, only one of these, the Anna movement, has been given primacy. We need to do course correction and give due importance to other protests also, which is their due

02 January, 2012

There’s Hope For A New Economy
In The New Year

By Brent Blackwelder

As we enter 2012, we should redouble our support of those groups pushing for an economic paradigm shift based on sound governance and the principles of a just democracy

A Greeting For 2012: Looking Back At
Durban And Other Progressive Failures,
And "Occupying" Ourselves

By Nicholas C. Arguimbau

Things might be different if we decided to "occupy" ourselves without abandoning the occupation of Wall Street, and having done so, to implement the Golden Rule, the central teaching of every major religion on earth, and the principle that conservation is empowerment, not self-sacrifice

R.I.P. Bill of Rights 1789 - 2011
By Mike Adams

One of the most extraordinary documents in human history -- the Bill of Rights -- has come to an end under President Barack Obama. Derived from sacred principles of natural law, the Bill of Rights has come to a sudden and catastrophic end with the President's signing of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a law that grants the U.S. military the "legal" right to conduct secret kidnappings of U.S. citizens, followed by indefinite detention, interrogation, torture and even murder

If You Liked The A-Bomb:
You'll Love The Smart Grid

By Rosemarie Jackowski

Some things should be uninvented - DES, HRT, GMOs, hexachlorophene in infants' soap, nuclear power plants, nuclear weapons… Now a new threat, the Smart Grid and Smart Meters. If these are good ideas, why is the free market not providing them? Why the need for taxpayer funding? The fact that this industry must depend on taxpayer money is just one of many reasons it is suspect

One Hundred And Thirty-Eight In The Shade
By Guy McPherson

According to every significant macroeconomic index, the US hit its peak in 2000. We’ve been in the midst of an economic recession since then. We’ve been mired in an economic depression since 2008, when the industrial age came within an eyelash of reaching its overdue terminus

ICG Report On Tamil Women Is Woefully Wrong
By Janani Paramsothy

The ICG report, although acknowledging some important truths is fundamentally flawed. In an attempt to wash over their own mistakes, they have wiped under the carpet, the most important issue of all- the genocide of Tamils, in which process sexual violence against Eelam Tamil women is part and parcel- and in doing so, have produced a severely constricted view of how to deal with the issue

01 January, 2012

Obama Signs Defence bill: Fresh Iran Sanctions / Indefinite Detention Legalised
By Al Jazeera

Barack Obama, the US president, has signed a wide-ranging defence bill into law, putting into place new provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation and prosecution of those suspected of terrorism, as well as imposing fresh sanctions on Iran

The President Who Signed Indefinite Detention
Without Charge or Trial Into Law

By American Civil Liberties Union

President Obama's action today is a blight on his legacy because he will forever be known as the president who signed indefinite detention without charge or trial into law

The 12 Most Hopeful Trends To Build On In 2012
By Sarah van Gelder

2011 was full of surprises, many of them the good kind. But which ones will matter in the coming year? Here's Sarah van Gelder's pick of trends to watch

Will 2012 Bring Tribal War To Libya?
By Franklin Lamb

During a meeting in a nearby country one Gadhafi loyalist explained: “We know which tribes worked with NATO and sold out their birthrights. We will fight to restore a path for the Libyan people.”

Australian Mainstream Media Ignore US Alliance
War Carnage In Reviewing 2011

By Dr Gideon Polya

Peace is the only way but silence kills and silence is complicity. We are obliged to inform everyone we can about horrendous crimes against humanity. A key resolution for everyone for 2012 is to do exactly that

Corporate Personhood:
Rights Without Responsibilities

By Rahul Varman

Why is the Occupy Wall Street movement protesting corporate personhood? How and why did corporations come to enjoy – and exploit -- the legal rights and freedoms granted to individual citizens, even while they are exempt from the social responsibilities that go with those freedoms?

Anti-Dam Movement In Assam:
Are Maoists From Jupiter?

By Trevor Selvam

The Anti-Dam Movement in Assam is in an important phase. It has been shaping up for a while and is beginning to assume significance. Recently however its prominence has been accelerated and upgraded by the State to pre-empt the movement from growing, by mischievously assigning Maoist vectors to it

 

 



 


Comments are not moderated. Please be responsible and civil in your postings and stay within the topic discussed in the article too. If you find inappropriate comments, just Flag (Report) them and they will move into moderation que.