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31 October, 2014

Pentagon Claims “Russian Aggression” Against NATO
By Patrick Martin

The Obama administration and the Pentagon are stoking up military tensions with Russia in the wake of the October 26 Ukrainian parliamentary elections, claiming that flights by small numbers of warplanes over international waters Wednesday constituted “political saber-rattling” and even “Russian aggression.”

War Resumes In Ukraine
By Eric Zuesse

Ukraine's President Says All Ukrainians Who Reject His Government Should Die. Ukraine Violates Ceasefire Agreement w. Russia and OSCE, Re-Invades Its East

The Nazi-CIA Connection
By Mickey Z.

In what constitutes a corporate media “scoop,” the New York Times recently reported on how “newly disclosed records and interviews” broke [sic] this story: “In the decades after World War II, the CIA and other United States agencies employed at least a thousand Nazis as Cold War spies and informants and, as recently as the 1990s, concealed the government’s ties to some still living in America.”

Interrelated Threats To Humans And To The Biosphere
By John Scales Avery

We live in a time of crisis. We did not ask to be born at such a time, but history has given to our generation an enormous responsibility towards future generations. We must achieve a new kind of economy, a steady-state economy. We must stabilize global population. We must replace fossil fuels by renewable energy. We must abolish the institution of war. We must act with dedication and fearlessness to save the future of the earth for human civilization and for the plants and animals with which we share the gift of life

Preserve The 'Kiss Of Love'
By Kandathil Sebastian

On 2nd November, some youngsters from Kochi in the state of Kerala, India plan to organize a different kind of protest which they call ‘kiss of love’. These youngsters are protesting against the growing intolerance towards the Public Display of Affection in the state and they call likeminded couples to come out in large numbers to join them by hugging and kissing each other

The Colombian Peace Negotiations: Prospects And Continuing Horrors
By Justin Podur

It is now about four years since the unofficial initiation of the ongoing peace process between the FARC and the Colombian government (secret approaches were made starting in October 2010), and over two years since the official opening of talks based on a “General Agreement” signed on August 26, 2012. There have been thirty rounds of negotiations to date, which have brought negotiators from the government and the FARC to Havana

Are We Hard-Wired To Think We Can Grow Forever?
By James Magnus-Johnston

Humanity is an irrational lot, prone to denial and short-termism. If rational arguments were primary catalysts for social change, perhaps a steady state economy would already be a reality. Research in behavioural economics and cognitive psychology is beginning to help us understand why human beings don’t always make decisions that are in their best interests. Can we overcome our irrational, maladapted mental hard-wiring to thrive in a post-growth future?

Poetry And Politics: The Tough Relations
By V.I. Postnikov

The relations between poetry and politics have always been strained. Many great poets have deliberately stood outside politics, or even disdained it. Others subconsciously avoided the “mundane” topics. Yet, there are some that wholly embraced politics and fed upon it. The latest poet’s talk between Gary Corseri and Charles Orlovski has spurred my long-standing desire to try to probe these relations

Building Political Capital On Hate Propaganda
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

It is a reminder bell that rings every year which has not changed us to the core. The horrific crimes against humanity perpetrated by the political goons in the dark night of October 31st till a couple of days of November 1984 after the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was declared officially ‘dead’ and which remain unpunished till date is not just a matter of shame but absolute failure of our democracy

Jan Dhan Yojana: Ambitious But Ambiguous Plan
By Kavaljit Singh

Jan Dhan Yojana (People’s Wealth Plan) – an ambitious financial inclusion program – was launched amid much fanfare in India on 28th August, 2014. The initial target of Jan Dhan Yojana is to cover 75 million unbanked households by 26th January, 2015. The government claims that on the inaugural day, a record 15 million bank accounts were opened across the country under this initiative. Nowhere else in the world, such a large number of bank accounts have been opened on a single day. In less than a month, nearly 40 million accounts have been opened under this initiative

Safe Nuclear Power: Fact And Myth
By S.G.Vombatkere

The nuclear energy programs of many countries are either at a standstill or are actually declining. Prominent among these are USA, Sweden and Denmark, and most recently Germany. The reasons for this are to be found solely in public awareness of the dangers of catastrophic accidents and of long-term risks of continued low-level radiation from normal operation of nuclear installations

Trilokpuri Riots: Police have Targeted Muslims: Shabnam Hashmi 
An Interview with Social Activist Shabnam Hashmi by Mishab Irikkur and Abhay Kumar

Shabnam Hashmi believes that the rise of Modi poses an ever bigger challenge to secular forces as the incidents of communal violence have increased many times in the last few months, including the latest one in Delhi's Trilokpuri area and tension in Bawana earlier. Against the background of this, Mishab Irikkur and Abhay Kumar interacted with Hashmi at ANHAD's office in Nizamuddin, Delhi, on Tuesday afternoon, October 28 on a wide range of issues. The excerpts of the interview are as follows

Trilokpuri Ritot: Fact-Finding Report
By Concerned Citizens

A brief fact-finding report of communally instigated tension at Trilokpuri, Delhi

“Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” And The Filth Of Democracy 
By Samar

No, the man pictured here has not entered the gutter as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's much hyped Swachh Bharat Abhiyan , or “clean India campaign”. Unlike the ad rush that shows posing with the broom, he could not have entered the gutter to preach the country about the virtues of cleanliness. He is, in fact, indulging in a practice outlawed time and again by both the legislature and the judiciary of the country, most recently on March 27 this year

30 October, 2014

Europe Threatened With Deflationary Spiral
By Barry Grey

New data released this week on the German economy has intensified fears that Europe's euro zone is slipping into its third recession in six years and may have entered a downward deflationary spiral of the type that led to the Great Depression of the 1930s

Storm Surge: Hurricane Sandy
By Adam Sobel

On the second anniversary of Superstorm Sandy making landfall, we are running an extract from a new book by Adam Sobel “Storm Surge: Hurricane Sandy, Our Changing Climate, and Extreme Weather of the Past and Future”. It’s a great read covering the meteorology of the event, the preparation, the response and the implications for the future

Rise Up America, Rise Up! A Letter To An American Activist
By Mohammed Mesbahi

The time has come when America must rapidly transform its values through a more inclusive and spiritual vision, based upon a just sharing of the world's resources. It is up to you, the youth of America, to lead the way by organising a non-stop demonstration in every state, until that nationwide wave of peaceful protest eventually catches on globally

Google Survey: Majority of US Citizens Think US Gives Too Much To Israel
By Robert Barsocchini

The majority of US citizens, according to a Google Consumer Survey, think the US gives too much aid to Israel: Today 6 in 10 Americans believe the U.S. gives too much aid to Israel

Inequality: A Void For Youth
By Farooque Chowdhury

Inner-contradictions riddle capitalism. The system's hunger for profit prefers youth workforce as it tastes fine to swallow: young muscles, comparatively, bear more burdens, young brains easily adopt new technology, muscle and brain of the youth is lucrative for capital to exploit. But capital deprives the youth, pushes it out from job market

The Missing Women Of Afghanistan
By Ann Jones

After 13 Years of War, the Rule of Men, Not Law

Waking Up The American People Is The Most Important Thing
Mike Billington Interviews Dr. Chandra Muzaffar

We feel that that alternative has to emerge from the shared spiritual and moral values of the human family. We believe that the unipolar world, and hegemony in all its manifestations--political, economic, social, cultural, intellectual, spiritual--that this hegemony is a threat to the enduring perennial spiritual and moral values of the human family. Values of love, justice, and compassion, caring for one another, empathy for one another, kindness as a human trait. These are perennial values. And institutions that are part of this value system: the family, respect for the environment, for instance, as again a principle of living is part of that value system

In Search Of The ‘Chutzpah’: Haider, AFSPA, Manipur,
Irom Sharmila, Indian Army And The Unconnected Dots

By Shamim Zakaria

Along with the sufferers, the Malom Massacre changed the life of another young lady forever. Irom Chanu Sharmila fasted as part of her regular Thursday chores, which had been continuing from childhood. However, unlike every other Thursday, her fast never ended and continues till date stretching to 14 years now

29 October, 2014

UNICEF Report: 2.6 Million More Children
In Poverty In Developed Countries Since 2008

By Andre Damon

The number of children in poverty in developed countries has increased by 2.6 million since 2008, according to a report published Tuesday by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The report, titled Children of the Recession, states that there are 76.5 million children in poverty in the 41 countries surveyed by UNICEF

Violence Against Children: UN Gets It Wrong
By Robert J. Burrowes

The United Nations has just issued a report, 'Why Children's Protection from Violence should be at the Heart of the Post-2015 Development Agenda' This is a worthy ideal. Unfortunately, the UN Report does not identify the fundamental cause of violence. Hence, its recommendations, which obviously cannot and do not include addressing this cause, are effectively useless and this report will have as much impact as previous official attempts to reduce violence in our world. Given that human violence now has us on the brink of precipitating our own extinction, it is time we faced the truth and responded meaningfully to it

Some Justice At Last For Baby N-Finally!
By Enakshi Ganguly Thukral

Today the man who raped baby N was convicted. He was sentenced to life imprisonment based on the nature of the crime he committed and the gravity of the injuries that baby N had sustained. On the 29 th of October, baby N will be admitted into hospital for the fourth operation

Britain Spearheads The Campaign To Make European GMO Regulation Meaningless
By Colin Todhunter

As Washington's trusted lapdog, the UK is spearheading US agritech's drive to get genetically modified (GM) food into Europe. Officials, politicians, academics and media outlets have been co-opted by and are colluding with the GMO agritech industry. These people and institutions have been spewing out falsehoods, ignoring evidence pertaining to GMOs and are putting a one-sided positive spin on GM food with the aim of forcing it onto a public that does not want it

Some Hard Facts About Terror
By John Chuckman

We are having an outbreak of reports in the Canadian press about “home grown” terrorists, “radicalized” young men of Muslim faith traveling out of the country to participate in extremist groups abroad, a relatively insignificant phenomenon which has received inordinate publicity. In any event, if you give the matter some thought, you realize that this “news” is a kind of empty publicity, noise about something as old and familiar as human life itself, although it has been bestowed with a new name intended to frighten us into supporting measures outside the framework of a society of laws

Israeli Chooses "Honorable Life" Over Joining Military
By David Swanson

Danielle Yaor is 19, Israeli, and refusing to take part in the Israeli military. She is one of 150 who have committed themselves, thus far, to this position

How Israel Is Turning Gaza Into A Super- Max Prison
By Jonathan Cook

Where else in the world apart from the Palestinian territories would the international community stand by idly as so many people suffer – and not from a random act of God but willed by fellow humans? The reason for the hold-up is, as ever, Israel’s “security needs”. Gaza can be rebuilt but only to the precise specifications laid down by Israeli officials

“Poets Talk With Charles Orloski: Solzhenitsyn, T. S. Eliot,
Monica Lewinsky, Thomas Paine, Bertrand Russell, et. al.

By Gary Corseri

In Old Japan, Basho and others wrote “linked verse”—tankas interweaving their own and others' work. It's a practice I hope other artists will take to heart. Following, is the 3 rd “Poets Talk” between Charles Orloski and myself

Flashpoint In Ukraine. How The US Drive For Hegemony Risks World War III
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal

Review of "Flashpoint in Ukraine. How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III" edited by Stephen Lendman

Precariats In India: Globalization And Changing Employment Relations
By Shalu Nigam

The Prime Minister of India recently announced the paradigm shift in the labour laws to boost manufacturing and facilitate the ease of doing business. In the process, the plight of workers was blatantly ignored. However, this was not the first instance of an initiative to reform policies and laws relating to land, labour and capital. These have remained contentious issues since independence and there is clear division between interest of common masses and those of the government as well as of the business sector

Ghulam Azam : Death Of A War Criminal
By Subhash Gatade

Ghulam Azam, the once all powerful leader of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, who died recently, might have brooded over this old dictum, in his last days in detention. It was only last year that he was sentenced to 90 years of imprisonment for his crimes against humanity which he committed when people of the then East Pakistan - todays Bangladesh - had risen up against the occupation army of Pakistan in the year 1971

Modi Sarkar: Politics Through Culture
By Ram Puniyani

Where are we heading to becomes clear in the last few weeks of Modi Sarkar. The government will be trying to stick to the language which will be subtle while undertaking steps in Hinduization. Its associates, VHP-RSS will tell us bluntly about their agenda. Needless to repeat that this agenda, being unfolded is that of Hindu nation, where religious minorities will be relegated to secondary position and the Chaturvarnya system will be slipped in a subtle manner

27 October, 2014

The Kerry-Abdullah Secret Deal And An Oil-Gas Pipeline War On Iran, Syria And Russia
By F. William Engdahl

The details are emerging of a new secret and quite stupid Saudi-US deal on Syria and the so-called IS. It involves oil and gas control of the entire region and the weakening of Russia and Iran by Saudi Arabian flooding the world market with cheap oil. Details were concluded in the September meeting by US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Saudi King. The unintended consequence will be to push Russia even faster to turn east to China and Eurasia

The Plot Of Russian Liberals Against Putin
By Vasily Koltashov & Boris Kagarlitsky

Who will remove the head of the Russian President and offer it on a platter to the USA?

How Do Trees Change The Climate?
By Abby Swann

This past month, an op-ed by Nadine Unger appeared in the New York Times with the headline “To save the climate, don’t plant trees”. The author’s main argument is that UN programs to address climate change by planting trees or preserving existing forests are “high risk” and a “bad bet”. Numerous scientists have already replied to the original op-ed, highlighting the points above and adding others. But some of those responses made confusing arguments too, muddying things further

This Is Your Ocean On Acid
By Mickey Z.

The oceans aren’t dying. The oceans are being killed. More than 40 percent of the world’s oceans are heavily impacted by human activities with few areas -- if any -- left unaffected by anthropogenic factors. This means we humans (and what we deem civilization) have played a primary role in the despoiling of the waters of the earth

“Mankind Owes To The Child The Best That It Has To Give”
By William Hanna

In 1924, the League of Nations (LON) adopted the Geneva Declaration, a historic document that recognised and affirmed for the first time the existence of rights specific to children and the responsibility of adults towards children. Yet despite this Geneva declaration; despite the ensuing 1959 adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child (the first major international consensus on the fundamental principles of children’s rights) by the United Nations General Assembly; and despite The International Convention on the Rights of the Child (a treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989), the fundamental rights of children still hardly ever feature on a list of priorities that need urgent international attention

Ruminations Of A Holy Cow
By Satya Sagar

The truth is that like most poor Indians we cows are also there to be used and discarded. Calling us ‘holy’ and manipulating our public image is only meant to prevent the ‘domesticated’ human beings from revolting against the existing order of things. We will accept being ‘sacred’ only when all forms of life on this planet are also given the same status. Till then, stop bullshitting

Amnesty International Reports On Human Rights Abuses In Ferguson
By Mary Shaw

Amnesty International (AI) recently released a report on human rights abuses in Ferguson, Missouri, in the wake of the August 9th shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer

Love Jihad or Khap Yuddh
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

The killings of the Dalit family in Ahmednagar did not become a national issue because it did not have a ‘love-jihad’ angle. For media to become a main story for many days you need a Muslim character in it so that our ‘experts’ can discuss it endlessly for hours and hours. How many time this sick media discussed the carnage committed by upper castes against Dalits and Aadivasis? How many times did we hear discussion on such barbaric incidents that reflects how ‘tolerant’ we are?

26 October, 2014

Indigenous Communities Take Chevron To Global Court For 'Crimes Against Humanity'
By Sarah Lazare

Chevron's repeated refusal to clean up its toxic contamination of Ecuador's Amazon rainforest constitutes an "attack" on civilian populations and should be investigated by the International Criminal Court in the Hague, impacted indigenous and farming communities charged this week in a formal complaint to the global body

Stop Police Harassment Of Soni Sori
By Concerned Citizens

Since her return to Chhattisgarh, after being released on bail by the Supreme Court, Human Rights Defender Soni Sori has been subject to constant harassment by the Chhattisgarh state

Culture Of Fear: Globalizing Conformity
By Jon V Kofas

Self-awareness is important but so is collective action from the neighborhood up because society changes from the bottom up. The use of the web and various social networks make it possible to communicate with people across the street and across the world to pass on the message about fighting against the culture of fear that accounts for the absence of social justice

Mumia Abu-Jamal and Jeremy Hammond; Political Prisoners In The Sacrifice Zone Of Empire
By Nozomi Hayase

Recently, two cases concerning the constitutional rights of people in prison came to public light. They involve two U.S. political prisoners: Mumia Abu-Jamal who is serving a life sentence at a facility in Frackville, Pennsylvania and Jeremy Hammond, who is serving a ten year sentence at a federal prison in Manchester, Kentucky

Maharashtra Dalits Backed BJP Due To Frustration: Eknath Awad
Aishik Chanda Interveiws Eknath Awad

Fondly called as "Jija" or "The respected" (in Marathi) by his followers, one of the tallest Dalit activist of India, Eknath Awad works for economic empowerment of the most depressed communities of the fuedal region in Deccan Plateau. Through his "Manviya Haq Abhiyaan" or Human rights movement, Jija has secured land for over 50,000 Dalits in Marathwada, giving them social and economic freedom to a great extent. He speaks to TISS student Aishik Chanda at Manviya Haq Abhiyan HQ near Telgaon in Beed district of Maharashtra

The “Bananas” And The “Peanuts”!
By M.Ashraf

The J& K state government is in undue haste in shuffling and reshuffling bureaucracy and police rather than pursuing quick rehabilitation and restoration. Resentment is growing among the people against the dithering in restoration and rehabilitation on one hand and the attempts being made to continue the rule of corrupt and incompetent politicians on the other hand by holding hasty elections in a totally disturbed atmosphere. This anger is growing like molten lava which may erupt sometime in the future in the form of a revolution sweeping everything in its path in a more devastating manner then the recent flood!

24 October, 2014

Economics As If Future Generations Mattered
By Carolyn Raffensperger & Kaitlin Butler

If one accepts the incontestable truth that present generations inherit an Earth left from previous generations, and that we are all eventually ancestors, then our lives are a simultaneously defined by inheriting and bequeathing

Bring On The Revolution!
By Janet Surman

We each have our grievances and many of them are aired on a regular basis here on this blog. What can be added about the generally recognised injustices of the world, about the huge imbalances within and between societies on all continents? Let's take a look at some of the most pressing

Paul Krugman On Limits To Growth: Beware The Bathwater
By Brian Czech

Why the drama with Krugman’s column? Partly due to uncanny timing; partly due to the stark juxtaposition of opinions. Having delivered the keynote address–on limits to growth no less–at the Australian Academy of Science’s annual conference on environmental science, it struck me that decades of careful research could be undermined by the presumptuous pen of a well-placed economist. Something is wrong with that picture

Israel, The U.S. Congress And Treason
By Alan Hart

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has said he is open to the idea that UK citizens who are jihadists and travel to Iraq or Syria to fight with ISIS could be tried for treason. (My guess is that rather than spending a great deal of money on trials he and his cabinet colleagues would prefer jihadists to be blown to pieces by air strikes). The question provoked in my mind by what Hammond said was this. Is there a case for considering treason charges against those members of the U.S. Congress whose unconditional support for Israel right or wrong drives policy in a direction that is not in America’s own best interests and, more to the point, endangers those interests?

Avoidable Humanitarian Crisis at Lebanon Border Crossing : Sparking Anger in Syria
By Franklin Lamb

For Syrian and Palestinian refugees fleeing the continuing violence next door and trying to get into Lebanon the message is clear: Don’t come within 40 meters of the Immigration building, and don’t even dream about coming to the staffed counter with any documents. None of you is welcome. Ninety eight percent of you will not be allowed in, and those who are better leave within 24 hours and have a valid airline ticket to prove your intention to depart

Why Obama Rejected Peace With Iran
By Shamus Cooke

Peace with Iran and Syria could be achieved if Obama told the world the truth about the above dynamics in the region, and treated Iran and Syria with the respect that an independent nation deserves, while working to curb the power of Israel and Saudi Arabia, who both depend on U.S. financial, military, and political support

Count-Down To Indian Army Landing In Kashmir
By Abdul Majid Zargar

Whatever might have been Hari Singh’s earlier inclination regarding future dispensation of Kashmir, there is now abundant & credible evidence to suggest that following Gandhi’s personal visit to Kashmir and Poonch agrarian uprising on oppressive Tax system , he decided by the end of August 1947 to join India and was waiting only for an auspicious occasion to do so

23 October, 2014

Ottawa Terror Attack Triggers Massive Police-Military Mobilization
By Keith Jones

The Canadian state has enacted its National Anti-Terrorism Plan, which involves the coordinated mobilization of all sections of the national-security apparatus, including the military, in response to the shooting Wednesday morning of a soldier at the National War Memorial in downtown Ottawa and storming of the national parliament building by a gunman

Evo Morales’ Victory Demonstrates How Much Bolivia Has Changed
By Federico Fuentes

Predictions by pollsters and commentators that Evo Morales would easily win Bolivia’s October 12 presidential elections were confirmed when the incumbent obtained over 60% of the vote. However, to understand why Morales will soon become the longest serving head of state in a country renowned for its history of coups and rebellions, it is necessary to start with an acknowledgement of the profound changes that Bolivia has undergone during his presidency

Greens Support But Coalition & Labor Right Attack
Humane Legacy Of Former Australian PM Gough Whitlam

By Dr Gideon Polya

Courageous, anti-racist social humanist and former Australian Labor Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam died on 21 October 2014 at the age of 98. Gough Whitlam was a courageous, intelligent and visionary social democrat who transformed Australia in 3 short years (1972-1975) before his removal in a US-backed Coup

Inequality: The Unaccounted Surplus Value Women Produce
By Farooque Chowdhury

More burdens are put on women than men as exploiting women has been made easier in the present world system. The tricky arrangement, a make-belief “universal” fact, is part of status quo. Advanced capitalist economies fail to discard the arrangement as the surplus value women produce is a lot, at times and in lands it's trillions of dollars

The Coming Financial Crisis: A Harbinger of World Renewal?
By Rajesh Makwana

As the prospect of global financial crisis beckons once again, will our elected leaders finally accept the need for an entirely new economic approach that breaks away from the primacy of growth and profit – or will their hand be forced by a resurgence of mass public protest?

American Exceptionalism And Its Discontents
By David Bromwich

The Importance of Being Exceptional, from Ancient Greece to Twenty-First-Century America

War Culture
By David Swanson

I'm convinced that a culture that favors war is necessary but not sufficient to make a population as warlike as the United States is now. All sorts of circumstances and opportunities are also necessary

Planet of The Living Dead (Halloween 2014)
By Mickey Z.

Every year, as Oct. 31 nears, loyal consumers squander a small fortune to adorn their soon-to-be-foreclosed-upon abodes with Made-in-China images of tombstones, skulls, ghouls, goblins, monsters, zombies, and even the occasional bloody severed limb or two. But let's face it, none of these cardboard depictions remotely compare to the real-life horrors we passively accept as normal

Bury The Bomb Before It Buries Us
By Jack A. Smith

A quarter century after the Cold War ended, the people of the world are now entering a dangerous era of improved and more accurate nuclear weapons and faster, more precise delivery systems at a time of growing antagonism between Washington and Moscow and potential antipathy between the U.S. and China. All nine nuclear countries are upgrading their atomic weaponry, led by the United States and Russia

Britain’s Real Promise To Israel; “Symbolic” Vote on Palestine
By Ramzy Baroud

66 years after ending its “mandate” in Palestine, Britain remains a party in a bloody conflict where Israel is still carrying out the same policies of colonial expansion, using western - including British - funds, arms and political support. Only when Britain fully and completely ends its support of Israel and financing of its occupation, and works diligently and actively towards correcting the injustice it had imposed on the Palestinians a century ago, one could consider that a real change in British policies is finally taking hold

Will The Clean India Campaign Really Cleanse India?
By Kandathil Sebastian

The present essay will examine whether a fully clean India or even a cleaner India is a realistic possibility and if it is so, how easy or difficult it is, based on our experience of setting apart the ‘dirty’ and the ‘clean’ people. In order to deconstruct the idea of a ‘clean India’, a better understanding of what I describe as the ‘political economy of shit’ – an ideological construct by which the ruling regimes have effectively segregated, subjugated and controlled individuals is central. Shit in this article is a metaphor which represents not only human excreta but also all extreme forms of dirt created by man. The operational definition of ‘shit’ includes industrial waste too

22 October, 2014

We Have Under Two Months To Stop Ebola Virus
By Dr. Glen Barry

We have under two months to stop the deadly Ebola virus from – well, going viral. We must stop bickering, roll up our sleeves, and rush into the fire. Doing so will require massive amounts of aid, as only 1/4 of the initial $1 billion necessary to fight Ebola in Africa has been raised. Western democracies have plenty of money to wage perma-war but apparently meager funds and few doctors to avoid global pandemic. This is a shocking betrayal of international security by the world's nations, and must not be tolerated

Ebola: Are U.S. Bioweapons Labs The Solution, or The Problem?
By Institute For Public Accuracy

Professor Francis Boyle said today: “If, as some in the Liberian press are claiming, this outbreak of Ebola is from one of the labs in west Africa run by the CDC and Tulane University, it could be an unprecedented human disaster. That could mean it was GMOed into a ‘Fluebola.’ Recall that the 2001 weaponized anthrax attacks were traced to a U.S. government lab. It’s incredibly odd that this outbreak occurred 1,000 miles from past outbreaks and it is clearly more easily transmissible

Human Rights Watch Documents Ukrainian Military’s Use of Cluster Rockets
By Barry Grey

Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report Monday documenting the widespread use of banned cluster munitions rockets by the Ukrainian military against heavily populated civilian centers in eastern Ukraine, including central Donetsk city

The Brussels Bubble Remains Impervious To Public Opinion As A Corporate Agenda Is Voted For
By Colin Todhunter

The European Union's sham democracy has again been laid bare as a result of the plenary vote of European Parliament to approve the new Jean-Claude Juncker Commission. The previous Barroso Commission wholeheartedly served a corporate agenda. We may now expect more of the same

Census Report: Half Of Americans Poor or Near Poor
By Andre Damon

Forty-seven percent of Americans have incomes under twice the official poverty rate, making half of the country either poor or near-poor, according to figures released last week by the Census Bureau

Understanding And Defeating Resurgent Fascism
By Robert J. Burrowes

As fascism is being intruded more widely and deeply into key areas of world politics, it is important to identify this trend, to explain the psychology of fascism and to nominate key elements of any strategy to defeat it

Kashmir: The “Paradise” Lost!
By Mohammad Ashraf

These stark realities make one think that the flood has truly been a retribution for our wanton and senseless actions. Like John Milton one feels like justifying the ways of God to men! There is a saying making rounds that it has been only a warning and if we do not mend our ways, the worst would follow and then the Paradise may be permanently lost!

Opposing The 400 KV Double Circuit (D/C) HT Line Connecting Mysore With Kozhikode
By S.G.Vombatkere

When the State, consisting of the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary, fails the People, the people have to resist and uphold the Constitution of India. In opposing this 400 KV Double Circuit HT line, we are performing our fundamental constitutional duty

21 October, 2014

Will The U.S. Go To "War" Against Ebola?
By Karen J. Greenberg

While President Obama was sending at least 1,600 military personnel (and the drones and bombers) to fight ISIS, his first response to the Ebola crisis was also to send 3,000 troops into Liberia in what the media has been calling an “Ebola surge” (a reflexive nod to the American troop “surge” in Iraq in 2007). The Obama administration’s second act: to beef up border protections for the screening of people entering the United States (a move whose efficacy has been questioned by some medical experts), just as the authorities moved swiftly in the wake of 9/11 to turn airports and borders into massive security zones. The third act was to begin to trace points of contact for those with Ebola, which, while logical and necessary, eerily mimics the way the national security state began to build a picture of terror networks, establish watch lists, and the like

Ebola: Statement By RN’s at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital
By National Nurses United

This is an inside story from some registered nurses at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas who have familiarity with what occurred at the hospital following the positive Ebola infection of first the late Thomas Eric Duncan and then a registered nurse who cared for him Nina Pham

Homeopathic Vs. Ebola; Criminal Ignorance In The Medical Industry
By Thomas C. Mountain

As the deadly virus named Ebola continues to rage in west Africa there maybe homeopathic medicines that prevent and cure this disease but due to what would best be described as the criminal ignorance dominating the medical “industry” it is highly unlikely that we will ever know if this is possible

US Boosts Support For Kurdish Militia In Syria
By Peter Symonds

The Obama administration has stepped up its war inside Syria with air drops of military and medical supplies on Sunday to beleaguered Kurdish forces holding the town of Kobani against a sustained offensive by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militia. At the same time, the US is putting intense pressure on the Turkish government to assist in preventing Kobani, near the Turkish border, being overrun by ISIS fighters

My Father Was Killed By A Computer, Says 7 Year Old Afghan Child
By Dr. Hakim

Imal, a 7 year old Afghan student in the 2 nd grade, came to visit us in Kabul. As Imal grew up, he kept asking his mother where his father was. His mother finally told Imal that his father had been killed by a drone when he was still a baby. But, then, it seemed that he took on the understanding of an older person when his voice became serious . ”My father was killed by a computer.”

8 Facts About American Inequality
By Pierce Nahigyan

The problem is that we have let inequality advance in this country so gradually that its obviousness is masked by its familiarity. Below, I outline eight facts about inequality in America that every American should know

Giants On The Earth: A Review of Waging Peace By David Hartsough
By Winslow Myers

The fear that we citizens of the United States have been seduced into since 9/11 spreads across our benighted nation like a fog, inhibiting all policy alternatives not based in blind vengefulness. Special are those who have the spiritual clear-sightedness and persistence to make people-oriented global connections that pierce the fog of fear with the light of visionary possibility. One such giant is David Hartsough, whose vivid, even hair-raising, memoir of a lifetime of peace activism, Waging Peace: Global Adventures of a Lifelong Activist, has just been published by PM press. It ought to be required reading for every U.S. citizen befogged by the crude polarization between Islamic extremism and the equally violent, ineffective, but seemingly endless Western military reaction it has elicited

On Killing Trayvons
By David Swanson

This Wednesday is a day of action that some are calling a national day of action against police brutality, with others adding "and mass incarceration," and I'd like to add "and war" and make it global rather than national. This Tuesday, the Governor of Pennsylvania is expected to sign a bill that will silence prisoners' speech, and people are pushing back . A movement is coalescing around reforming police procedures and taking away their military weapons . And a powerful book has just been published called Killing Trayvons: An Anthology of American Violence

Relevance of Sir Syed’s Philosophy For Indian Muslims Today
By Dr. Faiza Abbasi

Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan is to be remembered by the people of India as a person who wanted education to be away from political dogma and by the world wide Alig community as someone who never cared about religious, nationalist or cast based differences when it came to improving the quality of education

20 October, 2014

Leaked Documents Expose Secret Contracts Between
NSA And Tech Companies

By Thomas Gaist

Internal National Security Agency documents published by the Intercept earlier this month provide powerful evidence of active collaboration by the large technology corporations with the US government’s worldwide surveillance operations. The documents give a glimpse of efforts by the American state—the scale and complexity of which are astonishing—to penetrate, surveil and manipulate information systems around the world

Edward Snowden And The Golden Age of Spying
Tom Engelhardt Interviews Laura Poitras

Laura Poitras, like reporter Glenn Greenwald, is now known almost as widely as Snowden himself, for helping facilitate his entry into the world. Her new film, the last in a trilogy she’s completed (the previous two being My Country, My Country on the Iraq War and The Oath on Guantanamo), takes you back to June 2013 and locks you in that Hong Kong hotel room with Snowden, Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill of the Guardian, and Poitras herself for eight days that changed the world. It’s a riveting, surprisingly unclaustrophic, and unforgettable experience

Netanyahu And Hitler: Uncanny Parallels In Character
By John Chuckman

I don’t know whether anyone else has noticed the fact that Benjamin Netanyahu and Adolph Hitler share uncomfortably similar personality and character traits. Certainly there are, and have been, other politicians who also share the same traits, but it is of particular concern today that a man of this nature dominates events in the Middle East

Once More On Transition -- Critical Thoughts On A Debate On Goal and Strategy
By Saral Sarkar

If readers of and participants in this discussion want to make some progress in finding the right strategy for the transition to, generally speaking, a better world, then it is necessary first to correct the mistakes in our understanding of the present situation, remove the contradictions in our own positions and, in general, create clarity about the matters being discussed. If we at the end still disagree, then we shall at least know on which points exactly we disagree. That too would be some progress in the discussion

Friend or Foe: Cooperation Creates Friends -Competition Creates Foes
By Lionel Anet

To survive we must gradually but quickly change from a growth economy of capitalism to an economy that can manage its shrinkage until we reach a sustainable life. This can only be achieved by progressing from the unfairness of a competitive economy to the fairness of a cooperative one. This would also improve our physical and mental wellbeing

A Tribute To Abdul Matin, Grand Hero In The History Of Bangladesh
By Dr. Peter Custers

With the demise of Abdul Matin, Bangladesh has lost a great son of the soil, - the garlanded hero of the historic language movement, the architect of the ‘red cap’ forces of the late sixties, and a committed Marxist

Strange Days Indeed!
By Timothy V. Gatto

More war, bombing campaigns, eventual "boots on the ground" and an ineffectual CDC allowing Ebola "mistakes" leading to more infections are on the short list of what is to come. Eventually we will show just how "exceptional" and "indispensable" we are by pushing either Russia or China into a corner and starting World War III. This is the path you people in Washington are leading us too. The sad part is that most people in America aren't really aware enough to notice

“A Lovely Piece of Real Estate”: 31 Years After the U.S. Invasion of Grenada
By Mickey Z.

As I’m sure everyone knows, we’re fast approaching the 31st anniversary of a truly momentous American victory -- a crucial military operation that not only warmed Ronald Raygun's cold, cold heart but was also deemed film-worthy by the former mayor of Carmel, California. Yes, of course, I'm talking about the Oct. 25, 1983, "liberation" of Grenada

19 October, 2014

Government Indifference Compounds Ebola Disaster
By Kate Randall

United Nations officials said Thursday that the UN trust fund for Ebola has only $100,000 on hand, a fraction of the nearly $1 billion the world body says is needed to contain the spread of the deadly virus. While the UN fund has received pledges of about $20 million from various governments, it has received only $100,000 in actual cash deposits, and that from only one country, Colombia

Will Serbia Turn To The East? The Real Significance of Putin’s Visit
By Joaquin Flores

All of this indicates a very real and growing shift, not only for Serbia, but for all of Europe. As the conflict between the CSTO and NATO intensifies, Russia is shoring up its traditional allies and reaffirming its support for the ‘Pink Tide’ Latin American allies in MERCOSUR. Russia does not oppose Serbia’s potential to join the EU, seeing it as another asset within the EU, which can help to maintain its position in bilateral relations. With all of this in mind, we know at least this: the pouring rain did not deter a single Serb from attending Thursday’s massive events, which caused traffic jams throughout Belgrade that, for the first time in a long time, were ones to be happy about

Libya: From Africa's Richest State Under Gaddafi, To Failed State After NATO Intervention
By Garikai Chengu

The fall of Gaddafi’s administration has created all of the country’s worst-case scenarios: Western embassies have all left, the South of the country has become a haven for terrorists, and the Northern coast a center of migrant trafficking. Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia have all closed their borders with Libya. This all occurs amidst a backdrop of widespread rape, assassinations and torture that complete the picture of a state that is failed to the bone

Stop The Killing
By Kathy Kelly

"I want to make a special appeal to soldiers, national guardsmen, and policemen: each of you is one of us. The peasants you kill are your own brothers and sisters. When you hear a man telling you to kill, remember God's words, 'thou shalt not kill.' No soldier is obliged to obey a law contrary to the law of God. In the name of God, in the name of our tormented people, I beseech you, I implore you; in the name of God I command you to stop the repression."

Venomous European Journeys! Send Me Back To Cuba
By Andre Vltchek

As I was approaching Stuttgart Airport, a huge military Hercules was taking off. Stuttgart is not only the home of the Porsche and Mercedes factories, but also of The United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM or AFRICOM). It is deadly; it is murderous. But of course, in Stuttgart, nobody really knows or cares what it really is!

Inequality And Imperialism
By Farooque Chowdhury

Imperialism emerges as one of the main actors behind inequality and its rise. Mainstream's discussions on inequality don't take into account the issues of imperialism and the world order that the imperialist powers run. It's mainstream's altum silentium , profound silence

Middle East: The Regional Chessboard
By G. Asgar Mitha

It remains to be seen in the future whether the NATO-Arab (excluding Syria and Lebanon) alliance will be successful in their efforts to reshape and dominate the Middle East. If it is successful in bringing about the regime change in Syria and then Lebanon (an undertaking by Israel), it is possible that the next move on the chessboard would be aggression against Iran and Pakistan. If that is the scenario that would be played out, China and Russia will become directly involved in the region resulting in a catastrophic war

Postcard From The End of America : New Orleans
By Linh Dinh

This time, I got to New Orleans on a bus named Mega, and it also dropped me off at Elysian Fields. In Nola, there's a street called Arts, so of course there has to be one named Desire, and Tennessee Williams clearly saw the two as intertwined, thrusting and plunging their bodies against each other. Of course, death will interrupt this coupling not just finally but every step of the way

The Politics of Empire. The US, Israel And The Middle East
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal

Whether the 21st century will be an American one, has to be seen, although, according to Petras, "there is no alternative imperial or modern anti-imperial tendency on the immediate horizon". Right now, the US makes more enemies than friends. Its new adventurism in Syria and Iraq may turn out to be even more disastrous for the US than the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Petras' book gives the readers an insight in the making of US foreign policy, which appears multifarious and determined by a power struggle between different elites

Vatican’s Changing Position on Homosexuals And
Its implications For Indian Sexual Minorities

By Kandathil Sebastian

A recently concluded synod meeting of Catholic bishops in Vatican has significant implications for sexual minorities all around the world. The synod meeting has seriously debated on the need for unconditionally welcoming homosexuals into the Catholic community by radically altering some of its intensely held catechisms on ‘family’ and ‘sexuality’. Initial reports of this meeting indicate Church’s willingness to accept cohabitation of homosexual couples as a fact of life, rather than a sin

Love, Jihad And Political Lust: Colonising India’s Muslims
By Farzana Versey

Hindutva can get away with marketing itself as an all-purpose karma and culture, the blandishment camouflaging despotism

Kashmir Elections: Misplaced Priority!
By M.Ashraf

The urgent need is to go in for massive restoration and rehabilitation programme with national and international assistance through dedicated and honest people rather than put the entire administrative machinery into election mode thereby leaving them in the lurch in view of the fast approaching winter. The elections could be held during June next year after regaining the lost “Paradise”. At the present moment these have the least priority notwithstanding the pleas from different quarters with vested interests!

17 October, 2014

Small Scale Food Producers Are The Solution
To The Global Food Crisis

By Kirtana Chandrasekaran & Martin Drago

The solution to global hunger is within our grasp, but it requires a fundamental reform of the global food system: a wholesale shift from industrial farming to agroecology and food sovereignty. It is Adolfo's knowledge, and that of millions of peasants like him that we want to celebrate today with the motto of World Food Day 2014: 'Family farming: feeding the world, caring for the Earth.'

The New Economy versus Today’s Flat Earthers
By Eric Zencey

Only madmen and economists, Kenneth Boulding once said, believe exponential growth can go on forever

The Islamist State
By William Blum

You can’t believe a word the United States or its mainstream media say about the current conflict involving The Islamic State (ISIS). You can’t believe a word France or the United Kingdom say about ISIS. You can’t believe a word Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, or the United Arab Emirates say about ISIS. Can you say for sure which side of the conflict any of these mideast countries actually finances, arms, or trains, if in fact it’s only one side? Why do they allow their angry young men to join Islamic extremists? Why has NATO-member Turkey allowed so many Islamic extremists to cross into Syria? Is Turkey more concerned with wiping out the Islamic State or the Kurds under siege by ISIS? Are these countries, or the Western powers, more concerned with overthrowing ISIS or overthrowing the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad?

US Boosts Air War In Syria
By Peter Symonds

In what points to an escalating US-led war inside Syria and Iraq, the US military has substantially boosted the number of its airstrikes, centred on the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane near the Turkish border. American war planes have carried out at least 54 strikes inside Syria this week, 53 of them on targets in Kobane. Since the bombing of Syria began last month, more than 180 air strikes have been carried out, more than twice the number in Iraq

“The CIA Owns Everyone Of Any Significance In The Major Media”
Eric van de Beek Interviews Udo Ulfkotte

The former editor of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which is one of Germany’s largest newspapers, was secretly on the payroll of the CIA and German secret service, spinning the news in a way that was positive for the United States and bad for its opponents. In his latest interview, Ulfkotte alleges that some media are nothing more than propaganda outlets of political parties, secret services, international think tanks and high finance entities. Repenting for collaborating with various agencies and organisations to manipulate the news, Ulkotte laments, "I'm ashamed I was part of it. Unfortunately I cannot reverse this."

Global Humanity In Search of Peace, Not War
By Mahboob A. Khawaja

Our jihadists—George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Perle, Thomas Friedman and Tommy Franks—who assured us that swift and overwhelming force in Iraq would transform the Middle East into an American outpost of progress, are no less demented than the jihadists approaching Baghdad. These two groups of killers mirror each other. This is what we have spawned. And this is what we deserve

The TTIP: A Brief History Of An Agenda For Corporate Plunder
By Colin Todhunter

The corporate jargon surrounding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal is about ‘protecting' investment', reducing ‘unnecessary' barriers and ‘harmonising' regulations that supposedly deter free trade between the US and the EU. In principle, the notion of trade that is free and fair sounds ideal. But, across the world, the dominant ideological paradigm allows little scope for either. Markets are rigged , commodity prices subject to manipulation and nations are coerced, destabilised or attacked [5] in order that powerful players gain access to resources and markets

Divided We Stand: Understanding The Vidarbha Question
By Atharva Pandit

A separate state of Vidarbha would be, one hopes, economically valuable for the region to develop, but politically it isn't- not in the least for the Congress, which boasts of 24 MLAs from the region, and would have to concede a Chief Minister’s position from the region if it was to break it up. That being said, a separate state would, indeed, benefit its embattled agricultural class that has long-suffered the onslaught of parties which have promised better future, a promise they have repeatedly failed in fulfilling

Haider – Conditioned Minds And Their Repercussions
By Harmeet Singh Dhillon

One thing movie Haider does to a Punjabi is that it brings back the memories of militancy period of Punjab(1984-1995). Clearly there are lots of similarities

16 October, 2014

World Food Day And The Family Farm: Celebrating The Bedrock Of
Global Food Production – By Destroying It

By Colin Todhunter

Today is World Food Day . This year's theme is ‘Family Farming: Feeding the world, caring for the earth'. Family farming should be celebrated because it really does feed the world. This claim is supported by a 2014 report by GRAIN, which revealed that small farms produce most of the world's food

We Need Medical Boots On The Ground Now
By Amy Goodman

The headlines shift hourly between Ebola and ISIS. The question is often asked, “Should we put boots on the ground?” The answer is yes—but not in the Middle East. We need tens of thousands of boots on the ground dealing with Ebola: boots of doctors, nurses, health professionals, dealing with this wholly preventable global health disaster

Seven Worst-Case Scenarios In The Battle With The Islamic State
By Peter Van Buren

The U.S. is again at war there, bombing freely across Iraq and Syria, advising here, droning there, coalition-building in the region to loop in a little more firepower from a collection of recalcitrant allies, and searching desperately for some non-American boots to put on the ground. Here, then, are seven worst-case scenarios in a part of the world where the worst case has regularly been the best that’s on offer. After all, with all that military power being brought to bear on the planet’s most volatile region, what could possibly go wrong?

Why Bush Censored Discovery of Chemical Weapons In Iraq
By Robert Barsocchini

Iraq having US and European weapons did not make an invasion legal in any way, which is why the highest authority in the UN stated that the invasion was illegal. Do US chemical weapons and other WMD stockpiles, the world's biggest, or the fact that the US has used them more than any other country, or the fact that the US was an accomplice in Saddam's worst crimes, mean other countries can invade the US?

The Missing Context: ‘Islamic State' Sectarianism Is Not Coincidental
By Ramzy Baroud

While the US-led coalition can indeed inflect much damage on IS and eventually claim some sort of victory, they will ultimately exasperate the sectarian tension that will spill over to other Middle Eastern nations

Why We Need To Celebrate ‘Mahishasur (or Ravana) Shahadat Diwas’
By V. Arun Kumar

Celebration of martyrdom of Mahishasur and Ravana is a symbol of resistance against the brahminical oppressions. It is a symbol of resistance of Shudras, Dalits, Adivasis and all subalterns against the oppression that is going on for thousands of years. We should support celebration of martyrdom of Mahishsur and Ravana till the time the system continue to celebrate the victory of Ram and Durga

Dalitbahujan Assertion In Red Soil: Recent Trends In JNU Student Politics
By Abhay Kumar

When the national media were reporting All India Students’ Association (AISA)’s victory of all four central panel posts, another equally important aspect was mostly left untouched to which Mandal hinted the previous night. All four winners for central panel were from Dalitbahujan social background--Ashutosh Kumar, a Yadav, for president, Anant Prakash Narayan, a Dalit, for vice-president, Chintu Kumari, a Dalit, for general secretary and Shafqat Hussain, a Kashmiri Muslim, for joint secretary

Denial Won’t Wish Away “Indian” Racism Against North Easterners
By Samar

This lack of redress to everyday racism is what sustains the discriminations against the North Easterners, citizens of India lest one forgets, and paves way for once in a while serious attacks that reaches the media. Till the state ensures that the community feels confident enough to report everyday violations and perpetrators get prosecuted the vicious cycle of violence will not stop. Racism is a serious crime not something to wish away by going in denial. Hope that begins with the justice to T Michael Lamjathang Haokip and his friends attacked in Bangalore

But We Are Friends… Racism Against Africans In India
By Ayodeji Aiyesimoju

The common Indian perspective of Nigerians and Africans at large formed by the media has been quite sensational making the black race look so terrible and causing a sense of justification to the good people of Incredible India to mete out any form of hostility against these black skinned people. The Nigerian High Commission in India puts the number of its nationals residing in India at about fifty thousand. It is unimaginable that such a number of people wake up to the fear of hostilities the day may have in store for them

Kashmir: The Pretence of “Normalcy”!
By Mohammad Ashraf

“Normalcy” is the most battered word in Kashmir. However, in the past its restoration has been exclusively used in regard to political turmoil and violence. Now it has been applied to the natural calamity. How can one call people who have faced the worst trauma in their lives caused by the most devastating flood in last 121 years be normal so soon?

Intermarriage Is Not Jihad, It Is India
By Saif Ali Khan

I don’t know what “love jihad” is. It is a complication created in India. I know intermarriages because I am a child of one and my children are born out of it. Intermarriage is not jihad. Intermarriage is India. India is a mix. Ambedkar said the only way to annihilate caste is intermarriage. It is only through intermarriage that the real Indians of tomorrow can be truly equipped to take our nation forward with the right perspective

15 October, 2014

The Disturbing Expansion Of The Military-Industrial Complex
By Mairead Maguire

We can turn our current path of destruction around by spelling out a clear vision of what kind of a world we want to live in, demanding an end to the military-industrial complex, and insisting that our governments adopt policies of peace, just economics and cooperation with each other in this multi-polar world

The House of Commons Palestine Vote: A Well Meant But Futile Gesture
By Alan Hart

For me the most depressing thing about the debate in the British House of Commons on a non-binding motion to recognise Palestine as a state alongside Israel was that all MPs who participated, including those who made informed and honest contributions, still seem to believe that a two-state solution is possible. It isn’t

USA And Regime Change In South Sudan
By Thomas C. Mountain

It is no longer a secret that the USA is attempting to carry out regime change in South Sudan. Why? It’s because South Sudanese President Salva Kiir is determined to continue supporting Chinese oil production in his country, China’s only majority owned energy project in Africa

Behind The Mask Of Altruism: Monsanto And The Gates Foundation In Africa
By Colin Todhunter

Since 2006, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has funded the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to the tune of almost $420 million. Activists from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Ethiopia recently attended t he US-Africa Food Sovereignty Strategy Summit in Seattle to argue that the Foundation's strategy for agriculture in Africa is a flawed attempt to impose industrial agriculture at the expense of more ecologically sound approaches

Nobel Prize: Hardly Noble Politics 
By Gouthama Siddarthan

Patrick Modiano's writings have captured in vivid details the sorrows of Jews, the atrocities perpetrated by Nazis and loss of social identity. He has reconstructed powerfully in his writings the events that led to the invasion of France by Germany during the World War II. The grief-stricken life and turbulent human emotions under the foreign occupation have been successfully and aesthetically metamorphosed into a mosaic of creativity. That is what the Nobel Committee says, justifying the honour for the French writer. What is the art that the committee speaks about? And what is the writing aesthetics that it puts forward?

Aryan Durga, Indigenous Mahisasura And Gagging Of A Perspective
By Aishik Chanda

The recent raid by Delhi police on the office of “Forward Press”, a bilingual magazine for ‘Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs’, based on a complaint lodged at Vasant Kunj police station, by two JNU students on the allegation of hurting religious sentiments, not only brings out the issue of gagging of subaltern voices but also suppression of the logical perspective to the religious festivities that are based on myth

Signature Campaign Against Denial Of Freedom Of Expression To Forward Press
By India Resists

PLEASE SIGN: Citizens’ Statement against denial of freedom of expression to Forward Press

Adivasis Can Save Planet Earth
By National Adivasi Alliance

12th October this year was observed as ‘Anti Columbus Day’ in Bangalore by the National Adivasi Alliance. The occasion also saw the release of ‘Forest, Earth, Water, Sky’, a book that gives a history of the Adivasi Sangama movement together with infographics depicting the socio-economic and cultural profile of Adivasi populations in the country

To Be Powerless Is Not To Be Defeated
By Priti Gulati Cox

This recent tragic episode of Indian history is symbolic of what's unfolding throughout the nation's religious, socio-economic, and ecological fabric. You have Hinduism and capitalism on one side and natural ecosystems and the country's poor on the other, and a continuous experiment in all imaginable combinations and permutations playing out between them. Both of these paired systems are dying, but one of them is dying faster than the other

Nirbhaya - Fearlessly For Men
By M.S. Sreerekha

how should we spend this Rs. 2000 crores in the Nirbhaya Fund? As the proposal cleared by the cabinet shows, should we spend it on CCTVs, GPS, Smart phones and self-defense classes for girls? Or should we at least at this point, do something more sensible with a long term vision? Isn’t it a luxury to be paid for the self-defense trainings which actually could be money given for thousands of women and girls raped or abused to fight for justice?

'Reforming' Islam?
By Maryam Sakeenah

A response to the trending article 'Open Letter to Moderate Muslims' by Ali A.Rizvi

The “Banana” Chief Minister!
By Mohammad Ashraf

After the recent floods devastated Srinagar, Omar Abdullah was shown on TV throwing “Bananas” to the marooned people from the state helicopter. One was reminded about the “Rise of the Planet of Apes”. He should thank God that the people did not pull down his chopper like in the movie! This “Banana” episode reminded one about the “Banana Republics” of South America

If I Were A Fazyaz Kaloo
By Abdul Majid Zargar

Following publication of an article on 3rd October 2014, captioned “Tragedy of errors” on Op-ed page of Daily “Greater Kashmir”, Of which I am the Editor, your law Department has among others, served me a notice threatening to stop the publication of newspaper. Being chief executive of the State & head of administration, I take it granted that the notice has been issued with your consent & prior approval. I, therefore, deem it prudent to reply you directly

Rip Van Winkle And Raman Singh Government
By Subhash Gatade

Can an elected Panchayat deprive a section of its own people belonging to a minority community its constitutionally granted right to practise its religion – e.g. organise prayers or engage in religious propaganda and have sermons? Or can it ever deprive them of their mandatory quota of grain under PDS (public distribution system) which is focused more on persons living below poverty line? Anyone conversant with rudimentary understanding of law would reply in the negative. It appears that in Chattisgarh they do it differently. In fact, Sirisguda, Kunguda and many other villages in Jagdalpur and adjoining areas in the state are in the news for similar reasons

Smart Cities, Gated Communities, Engels And The Way The Poor Live
By Vidyadhar Date

Kamu Iyer , a veteran Mumbai architect, is a mild mannered man and not at all known as a leftist. But he has posed a key question in his just published book Bombay from Precincts to Sprawl. The key point, which is rarely made by architects, is that you can judge a city by the way its poor live. A chapter is devoted to this theme

 

14 October, 2014

The Top 1% Own Half The World's Assets
By Jon Queally

The top one percent of the wealthiest people on the planet own nearly fifty percent of the world's assets while the bottom fifty percent of the global population combined own less than one percent of the world's wealth. Those are the findings of an annual report by the investment firm Credit Suisse released Tuesday—the 2014 Global Wealth Report (pdf)—which shows that global economic inequality has surged since the financial collapse of 2008

Before Columbus: How Africans Brought Civilization To America
By Garikai Chengu

Africans helped civilize America well before Europeans "discovered" America, and well before Europeans claim to have civilized Africa. The growing body of evidence is now becoming simply too loud to ignore. It's about time education policy makers reexamine their school curriculums to adjust for America's long pre-Columbus history

BOOKS: “An Indigenous Peoples' History Of The United States”
Mickey Z. Interviews Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is making certain we “never forget” the realities of Manifest Destiny. Born in rural Oklahoma to a tenant farmer and part-Indian mother, Dunbar-Ortiz has committed her life’s work to education and activism. Her path will inspire you and her latest book, An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (Beacon Press) will enlighten you. And anger you. And, best of all, educate and motivate you

By Recognizing “State of Palestine,” Sweden Could Harm Palestinians
By Ali Abunimah

Sweden led the way among European countries in opposing apartheid in South Africa. That included rejecting the regime’s bantustans which were designed to preserve apartheid by disguising it as “independence” for Blacks. It is also past time for Sweden and other countries to stop concealing their complicity with Israeli apartheid behind the so-called “two-state solution” and to openly support full rights and equality for all Palestinians throughout historic Palestine

October 13, 2014: A Sad Day In The Annals Of British Democracy
By William Hanna

The passing of this motion by a British parliamentary minority is of less significance than the recent announcement by Sweden that it is to “recognise the state of Palestine” and thereby become the first long-term European Union member country to do so. Though more than 130 other countries already recognise a Palestinian state, no one should hold their breath in anticipation of a British government doing so in the foreseeable future

The Politics Of Nobel Peace Prize
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

The Nobel Peace Prize has, more often than not, raised eyebrows and created controversies. The politics of the Nobel Peace Prize have been described as tragic, outrageous and sometimes cringe-worthy. While meant to recognize those whose work has greatly benefited or contributed to the advancement and unity of mankind, the Nobel Peace Prize has sometimes been given to those with violent pasts or who have been exposed for lying in the so-called factual work that earned them the award. In recent years the Nobel prize committee has made some controversial decision on those who were awarded the peace prize

Economists Express Concern About The Future Of NREGA
By Concerned Economists

28 leading Indian development economists wrote to the PM today to express their concern about the future of NREGA and urge him to "ensure that the programme receives all the support it requires to survive and thrive"

"Forward Press" Office Raided, Employees Arrested
By Countercurrents

On 9th October, the special branch of Delhi police brazenly attacked and vandalised the Delhi office of "Forward Press" magazine, a Hindi-English bilingual monthly of Dalits and Bahujans, and forcibly seized copies of their October special issue on Bahujan Sramana Tradition along with arresting four employees

Our Illinois Boys
By Francis A. Boyle

“Oh, I wish I was in Dixie…”
but not if I were Black.
Born, raised and living in Illinois
The Land of Lincoln
Who freed the slaves

10 October, 2014

Modi Government To Scuttle Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

By Concerned Citizens

An Open Letter To The Prime Minister, Stop The Dilution Of MGNREGA. We are very disturbed by impending moves of this government to undermine the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and the support it provides to crores of vulnerable rural families. We write this letter to seek your immediate assurance that these retrograde, anti-poor and anti-labour measures will be withdrawn, and that every attempt will be made by your government to implement the MGNREGA in its true spirit

US, Turkey At Odds Over Syria Intervention
By Patrick Martin

A top-level US delegation arrived in Ankara Thursday for talks with Turkish leaders amid a mounting crisis on the Syria-Turkey border, where Syrian Kurds are besieged in the town of Kobani by thousands of fighters mobilized by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)

Again The Peace Prize Not For Peace
By David Swanson

The 2014 prize has been awarded to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzay, which is not a person but two people, and they have not worked for fraternity between nations or the abolition or reduction of standing armies but for the rights of children. If the peace prize is to be a prize for random good works, then there is no reason not to give it to leading advocates for the rights of children. This is a big step up from giving it to leading makers of war. But then what of the prize for peace and the mission of ending war that Nobel included in his will in fulfillment of a promise to Bertha von Suttner?

Off-duty Cop Kills St. Louis Teenager
By Andre Damon

On Wednesday, the day before the two-month anniversary of the police murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, a St. Louis police officer shot and killed yet another teenager who family members say was unarmed

Israel And The G-Word: We Need A Better Word Than ‘Occupation’
By Jonathan Cook

One day doubtless, a historian will coin a word to describe Israel’s unique strategy of incrementally destroying the Palestinian people. Sadly, by then it may be too late to help the Palestinians

I Am For “New Democracy”: Varavara Rao
An Interview With Aishik Chanda

Visiting Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai for a talk on “Raging war against India: Deconstructing the notion of India”, revolutionary poet, Maoist ideologue and journalist from Telangana, Varavara Rao spoke to TISS student Aishik Chanda on the Maoist movement and the path ahead

'Forest, Earth, Water, Sky': A Publication On The Status Of Adivasi Populations Of India

On the occasion of ‘Columbus Day’ National Adivasi Alliance invite all of you to the launch of the book “Forest, Earth, Water, Sky”, edited by Satya Sagar, writer / activist. Impregnated with enormous official data and statistics it throws open to the world, the socio-cultural and economic realities of the Adivasi population of our country

09 October, 2014

Obama’s New Oil Wars: Washington Takes On ISIS, Iran, And Russia
By Michael T. Klare

Having tested out the oil weapon against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq with devastating effect back in the 1990s, Washington is now the key country brandishing that same weapon, using trade sanctions and other means to curb the exports of energy-producing states it categorizes as hostile. The Obama administration has taken this aggressive path even at the risk of curtailing global energy supplies

US Vice President Joe Biden Names The Real Terror-Supporting States
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal

What everyone knew already, who doesn't believe in the reporting of the corporate media, has now been confirmed by one of the highest US officials; U.S. vice president Joe Biden told students at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University that the main supporters of extremists and terrorists in Syria are close American allies. Listen to what Biden had to say

It's The Stupid, Stupid
By Bernard Weiner

The bombs raining down on Syria from the air are aimed at ISIS facilities and troops, but the actual goal is regime change in Damascus. (And, after that, maybe Iran.)

Nothing About Us Without Us: The Token Palestinian And Authentic Narrative
By Ramzy Baroud

In the post-Edward Said Palestinian intellectual landscape it is unfathomable that Palestinians are largely excluded from shaping their own discourse, or are used as convenient fodder in someone else's

ANOTHER DAYDREAM: How President Obama Could Earn His Nobel Peace Prize
By Alan Hart

A recent opinion piece in Ha’aretz by Gideon Levy, the beleaguered conscience of Israeli journalism, speculated about what Prime Minister Netanyahu would have said when he addressed the UN General Assembly if he was remotely interested in peace with the Palestinians. It was headlined It’s all a daydream. In this article I’m going to share my daydream about what President Obama would say in a prime time address to his fellow Americans, after the November mid-term elections, if he wanted to earn his Nobel Peace Prize

The GMO Biotech Lobby's Emotional Blackmail And Bogus Claims:
New Report Says Monsanto's GM Crops Will Not Feed The World

By Colin Todhunter

The claims made by Monsanto do not stack up. Issues pertaining to the weaponisation of food aside [2], GM food represents little more than a massive business opportunity, a way of enriching a handful of people, all carried out under the guise of altruism

Swach Bharat Abhiyan: Too Many Erasures
By Subhash Gatade

The inauguration of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, (Clean India Campaign) with much fanfare, with ministers, bureaucrats and others holding Jhadoos evoked an interesting reaction from a ragpicker Sanjay who lives in Mehrauli with his parents. “These are the same people from whose houses we pick up garbage every day. This is part of our life. We don’t really understand why they are making it such a big deal”

Can Caste Be Swept Away?
By New Socialist Initiative

The project of democracy in India, of forming an association of free citizens who have gotten rid of caste once for all, the one for which Dr Ambedkar fought tirelessly, is dangerously cornered. Yet, this precisely is the time to envision and etch outlines of a counter hegemony that will challenge the hierarchy and prejudices of caste. This vision should include democratic aspirations of all of the oppressed. It should assert the citizenship rights of all against an authoritarian state. It should create a humanist and secular popular culture that honours personal freedoms and liberties of everyone, irrespective of gender, caste, religion, language, or nationality

Kashmir Floods: Between State Failure And Hyrdo Politics
By Ubaid Mushtaq

The floods are a direct reminder that the participation of J&K as a main player in IWT has now become a need of the hour

08 October, 2014

Turkey Demands US Back War To Topple Syria’s Assad
By Bill Van Auken

As forces of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) appeared poised to overrun the predominantly Kurdish town of Kobani Tuesday, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spelled out demands that Washington back a ground war aimed at toppling the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad

America 's New War And Coming of The Age of Arab Discontent
By Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja

After failure of the bogus War on Terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq , America has embarked on a new war to support the war economy, re-enact failed global leadership imagery and destroy the entire Arab region to define unilaterally the fate of the people of Palestine . The Arab coalition leaders supporting the US war efforts to bomb ISIL positions in Iraq and Syria have no sense of reality and lack popular backing in their homeland. The authoritarian Arab leaders live in palaces, not with people to understand the outcomes of their political folly. Ironically, the US air strikes and killings of the civilians will instigate reactionary opposition and increased insurgency to topple the puppet regimes

ISIL: From Decapitation To Islamophobia
By Ismail Salami

With the ISIL terrorists mounting more gory adventurism in Syria and Iraq and capturing villages and towns, there seems to be no tangible impediment to stop this influx of terror. The ghastly images circulated freely by the cult on the internet from beheading to crucifying their victims in cold blood have incensed the international community on the one hand but on the other hand, they have regrettably conduced to Islamophobia, a plan long funded by the officials in Washington

Terror Hysteria - Draconian New Australian Anti-Terrorism Laws
Target Journalists, Muslims And Human Rights

By Dr Gideon Polya

Supported by US-inspired “terror hysteria” the extreme right wing Australian Coalition Government with the support of the right wing Labor Opposition has war criminally re-invaded Iraq and passed draconian anti-terrorism legislation that makes Australia a secret police state with detention without charge or trial and Australian Intelligence officers (e.g. of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization, ASIO) having criminal and civil immunity from prosecution, and reportage on any special intelligence operations criminalized with maximum punishments ranging from 5 years' to 10 years' imprisonment

Hillary Clinton Confirms Commitment To Democracy By Acknowledging
Role In Overthrow of Honduran Democracy

By Robert Barsocchini

As reported by Al Jazeera, Hillary Clinton now publicly acknowledges her globally isolated role in aiding a terrorist organization in the overthrow of Honduras's democratically elected president, Manuel Zelaya, in 2009

Awareness = Overrated
By Mickey Z.

My sincere question: When exactly does all this goddamned awareness translate into authentic solidarity, productive action, and tangible change?

Challenging Drone Warfare In A U.S. Court
By Kathy Kelly

On October 7, 2014, Kathy Kelly and Georgia Walker appeared before Judge Matt Whitworth in Jefferson City, MO, federal court on a charge of criminal trespass to a military facility. The charge was based on their participation, at Whiteman Air Force Base, in a June 1 st 2014 rally protesting drone warfare. Kelly and Walker attempted to deliver a loaf of bread and a letter to the Base Commander, encouraging the commander to stop cooperating with any further usage of unmanned aerial vehicles, (drones) for surveillance and attacks

A Long Walk For Palestinian Freedom
By Vacy Vlazna

The savage horror of Israeli war crimes in Gaza was wreaked for 51 days in full view of the unconscionable inertia of the US, UN, UK, China, Russia, Canada, Australia. The people of Palestine cannot trust in world powers to bring about peace, but they can trust people power; they can trust the hundreds and thousands of people who took to the streets in protest and solidarity, they can trust in the inexorable buildup of BDS, they can trust a lone man who joined them on their long walk to freedom

Postcard From The End of America : Jackson , Mississippi
By Linh Dinh

I wish I had more to report about Jackson , but my time there was short, though considering what's lurking beyond the horizon these days, having little time anywhere might not be a curse. Still, there are plenty who can't wait for the fireworks to begin, for they think their daddy of daddies will emerge from the red, white and blue smoke

Doing Mining Right In Africa
By Thomas C. Mountain

The small east African country of Eritrea has started a mining industry and is doing it right. To start with Eritrea is receiving 40% of the profits generated by its first gold/copper mine. Compare this to Tanzania where Anglo-American mining company operates one of the worlds largest gold mines and pays a whopping 4% royalty to the government

Writing My Epitaph : Of Prison Accounts And Articulations Against Injustice
By Sushmita

Book Review : Colours Of The Cage : A Prison Memoir, Arun Ferreira

Piketty For Progressives-- Part 4
By Thomas Riggins

But, "the heart of the book" Piketty says, is his second major result. This is that there are major forces at work that push both towards increasing inequality (divergence) and decreasing inequality (convergence). I will call these D-forces and C-forces

07 October, 2014

ISIS Gains Provide Further Pretext For US Ground Troops In Iraq And Syria
By Mike Head

Amid reports that nearly 350 US-led air strikes over the past three weeks have failed to stem advances by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militias, there are mounting signs of justifications being prepared, and plans made, for an escalating presence of US ground forces in the region

ISIS in Washington: America’s Soundtrack of Hysteria
By Tom Engelhardt

Amid the waves of fear and continual headlines about terror plots, we, the people, have now largely been relegated to the role of so many frightened spectators when it comes to our government and its actions. Welcome to the Terrordome

President Obama: Before Taking On ISIS, Topple The Saudi Regime
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal

The beheading of Western hostages by the terrorists of ISIS or the Islamic State (IS) is vicious but not an unusual practice in countries considered close Western friends or allies. Take Saudi Arabia as an example, which is nearing the status of the State of Israel as an "indispensable" US ally. There exists, however, a significant difference between the two: Israel is considered a Jewish democracy or a democracy sui generis, Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, is the most fundamentalist, radical and gruesome Islamic regime the world has ever seen. How can the US be on good terms with both regimes?

Hong Kong : Will History Be Re-Written?
Text And Photos By Nilantha Ilangamuwa

Hong Kong as the one of best territories in the continent has taught the great lesson of overcoming difficulties of humanity. From anti-corruption to maintaining the social order through the genuine policing system and the public justice system which were gifted by past generations. However, the present situation and emerging dangerous consequences can evaporate the basic norms and ethics in this society. All who involved in this remarkable event must act wisely before it get too late to make corrections

Can Hong Kong Trigger A Chinese Revolution?
By Shamus Cooke

All of China is watching Hong Kong closely, as is the whole of Asia. The entire region is affected by China’s economic-gravitational weight, and if the region follows in Hong Kong’s footsteps, it’s capable of dragging the rest of the world behind it

Syria Is Still The Main Target
By Dr. Elias Akleh

The fastest and most efficient method to finish off ISIS is for all member countries in this warmongering coalition to stop their flow of money and weaponry into Syria in support of foreign mercenaries. Unfortunately for Syria the hidden goal for this coalition is the destruction and the division of the country into at least three parts, and the installation of pro-Zionist collaborating leaders. This is Zionist order out of chaos !!!

Is The Face of Hinduism Changing?
By Ram Puniyani

Fali S Nariman recently made a very significant observation on the current political situation in India. The distinguished Constitutional jurist noted: “Hinduism has traditionally been the most tolerant of all Indian faiths. But, recurrent instances of religious tension, fanned by fanaticism and hate speech, have shown that the Hindu tradition of tolerance is showing signs of strain...my apprehension is that Hinduism is somehow changing its benign face...” There is no doubt that Mr Nariman’s observation came in reaction to recent outpourings from some organizations or establishments that subscribe to the ideology of RSS

05 October, 2014

US Exploiting West Africa Ebola Outbreak To Establish Military Foothold
By Niles Williamson

Under the guise of a humanitarian mission aimed at containing the spread of the Ebola virus, the Obama administration is exploiting the outbreak to establish a solid military footing on the African continent. West Africa continues to be ravaged by the worst outbreak of Ebola since the first case was identified in northern Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976

Ebola A Symptom Of Ecological And Social Collapse
By Glen Barry

The surging Ebola epidemic is the result of broad-based ecological and social collapse including rainforest loss, over-population, poverty and war. This preventable environmental and human tragedy demonstrates the extent to which the world has gone dramatically wrong; as ecosystem collapse, inequity, grotesque injustice, religious extremism, nationalistic militarism, and resurgent authoritarianism threaten our species and planet’s very being

Hong Kong Protests: Now The Hard Part, Kick Out The US, Build National Consensus
By Kevin Zeese & Margaret Flowers

When protests in Hong Kong exploded, knowledgeable people looked for US involvement. It was not hard to find. The overt intrusion of the US is available in budgets, documents and websites; the covert involvement has not yet been uncovered but is no doubt there. What does US involvement mean for the credibility of the protest movement and the future of Hong Kong? How should Hong Kong activists respond?

291 Days of ‘Islamic Justice’: Shell-Shocked Syrian Town Freed After Savage Massacre
By Franklin Lamb

Last week’s battle for Adra al-Omalia was a significant turning point. The town is now liberated but the story of what took place here over the past 291 days is presently emerging, and it is a horrifying one

Fundamentalist Theology Is Bleeding Us Dry:
Stop The Transatlatic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Agreement

By Colin Todhunter

If Cameron really does want to tackle fundamentalism and the assault on the values of ‘fairness' and ‘decency', those much touted ‘British values' he alludes to, he should forget about waging imperialist wars and look closer to home. He should question the interests he serves to protect. Those interests are plundering economies, destroying ordinary people's livelihoods and undermining their quality of life

David Cameron And Cristina Fernandez De Kirchner:
Diverging Voices On Terror And Extremism In The Modern World

By Colin Todhunter

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s recent speech at the UN was a breath of fresh air. She spoke about economic terrorism and the reasons why some people turn to violence and told the audience how a bankrupt Argentina managed to turn away from hard-line economic neoliberal orthodoxy and stimulate growth. She also discussed the need for multilateral approaches to solving the world’s problems as well as the need to regulate ‘vulture funds’ that cripple sovereign states’ ability to function

International Day of Nonviolence in Afghanistan
By Dr Hakim

We cannot wait. Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world!” So, I readily join the APVs' mission: to abolish war. We understand that ‘we are the ones we've been waiting for'. “Wake up! We are not the war generation. We are the generation of love!”

Beyond 935 Lies
By David Swanson

Charles Lewis' book, 935 Lies , would make a fine introduction to reality for anyone who believes the U.S. government usually means well or corporations tend to tell the truth in the free market. And it would make an excellent introduction to the decline and fall of the corporate media. Even if these topics aren't new to you, this book has something to add and retells the familiar quite well

Probibition: A Problem Or A Solution?
By Kandathil Sebastian

Governments should withdraw from selling and promoting alcohol, but should let private players to do their alcohol business while state sets rules of alcohol trade, just like state regulates other hazardous objects like ‘gun powder’. Prescribing what to eat and drink, based on moral positions is perhaps the job of religions and state may not encroach into their domain

Death Through The Window
By Tahir Ibn Manzoor

We will meet again in the schools, offices and on the day of Eid in ragged clothes, but hopeful. We suffered; we helped each other in the toughest of the times. I was born in the hospital, I slept in the half cracked submerged homes, I saw my homes collapsed while leaving for the safer area. I am a rich, poor, visitor and the storyteller who knows pain and at the same time what happiness mean to the labour who works hard – he earns for the day to feed his family. The calamity made it worst, but it’s not an end. The life is limping back to normalcy, but it will take more time after the catastrophe made the city literally a stagnant canal for weeks. We the sufferers will stand again

03 October, 2014

New Steps To Wider War In Middle East
By Patrick Martin

The US military has deployed a quick-reaction force of 2,300 Marines to the Middle East, the Pentagon revealed Wednesday, the latest step in a carefully planned escalation of American military power in the region

This War Is Not Aimed At ISIS, But At Assad
By Dan Glazebrook

Watching the debate in the British parliament last Thursday, over whether Britain should, yet again, launch aerial attacks against the long-suffering people of Iraq, it was striking just how much admission there was of the failure of Britain's policy in the region hitherto

Poverty Report Contradicts GDP Claims
By Paul Craig Roberts

It is amazing how the government manages to continue selling Brooklyn Bridges to a gullible public. Americans buy wars they don’t need and economic recoveries that do not exist

Palestinian-U.S. Relations Head For Stormy Times
By Nicola Nasser

Washington’s response to the speech that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivered at the UN General Assembly last September 26 confirms that the bilateral Palestinian-U.S. relations are heading for stormy times

The Downing Of Malaysia Airlines MH 17 Observed From Australia (PDF)
By George Venturini

The entire Australian political Establishment seized on the tragic deaths of 298 people in the crash of MH17 in Ukraine to ratchet up the escalating U.S.-led provocations against Russia. Before any investigation team reached the disaster site in eastern Ukraine, the Liberal-National Coalition government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott, followed by the Labor Party Opposition - the two wings of a decaying sub-tropical Westminster System - accused Russian-supported separatists in eastern Ukraine of shooting down the plane, and called for retribution against the rebels and Russia itself

Sharing a (not so) Living Planet
By Rajesh Makwana

As further evidence comes to light of how our economic systems are decimating the natural world, sharing is fast emerging as the central theme in the discourse on how to ensure prosperity for all within planetary boundaries

An Economics Fit For Purpose In A Finite World
By Herman Daly

Causation is both bottom-up and top-down: material cause from the bottom, and final cause from the top, as Aristotle might say. Economics, or as I prefer, “political economy,” is in between, and serves to balance desirability (the lure of right purpose) with possibility (the constraints of finitude). We need an economics fit for purpose in a finite and entropic world

'Haider' Review
By Iymon Majid

At the political level the director looks at the tragedy of Kashmir through a definite lens which is Indian. It is not ultra-nationalist but it is more akin to the view of Indian liberal academicians. They decry human rights violations but when it comes to overall Kashmir dispute they believe it is a part of India. Thus Haider becomes a revenge tale so becomes Kashmir

Contestation And Conflict of Ideas: Love-Jihad As A Challenge To Plural Society
By David Dani lal

Idea of love is essential to India of today similar to freedom, rights, justice and equality. Every individual of any gender, caste, religion, ethnicity, creed, race, colour, etc. should have right to choose partner. Love-Jihad hate campaign is no lesser to Manus social laws, fatwas of Taliban regime and diktats of Khap panchayat

02 October, 2014

What 35,000 Walruses Forced To The Beach Tell Us About Global Warming
By Sarah Lazare

As sea ice recedes amid warming oceans, Pacific walruses crowd onto beaches to rest and forage for food. The walruses are telling us what the polar bears have told us and what many indigenous people have told us in the high Arctic

As The Globe Warms, So Does The Climate Movement
By Todd Gitlin

Nature and history have talked back. In a few short centuries, the carbon-based fuels of the industrial breakthrough have come to threaten the entirety of a civilization they made possible. In the People’s Climate March is the suggestion that civilization might rise to the challenge, perhaps in time to avert total catastrophe. After the march, the four-letter word I heard most was: hope

Hong Kong: Obama And Occupy Share An Umbrella?
By Mickey Z.

This is not say that none of the protestors are sincere or have valid reasons to hit the streets but here’s how the “left” media is explaining all this: “Protesters are united around one central issue: They want to be able to choose their top leader, the chief executive, without interference from China.”Taken at face value, this motivation is hardly revolutionary so how can we additionally get global support from those who seek more than reforms? Easy… call it “Occupy Central” and you’ll have Twitter ablaze, Facebook pages gobbling up traffic, solidarity rallies in cities across the globe, and innumerable declarations of the inevitable Occupy rebirth. Give the proceedings a color (yellow) and a symbol (umbrella) and Instagram will do the rest!

Why Hong Kong Matters
By N. Jayaram

What is unfolding in Hong Kong now matters because it is a democratic challenge to the entirely undemocratic nexus between crony and monopoly capital and the cynical monarchs in Beijing, something that is also being witnessed in the United States, India and many other parts of the world

USA Illegally Shuts Off Water To Own People
While Illegally Spending 1 Trillion On Nuclear Bombs

By Robert Barsocchini 

Monday, a US federal judge ruled that water will continue to be cut off to disadvantaged residents of Detroit, Michigan. Water has been cut off to “50,000 low-income households since January 2013 and continues at the pace of 400 households a day.” Shutoffs will continue, the judge said, because there is no such thing as a “fundamental right” to water. He added that access to water is “based on ability to pay.”

What If ‘Islamic State’ Didn’t Exist?
By Ramzy Baroud

What if the so-called Islamic State (IS) didn’t exist? In order to answer this question, one has to liberate the argument from its geopolitical and ideological confines

The Futility of Asking Congress To Block The Next Gate
By Judy Bello

There are those who want to support emerging bills in Congress that would limit the administration's ability to put 'boots on the ground' and give Obama an authorization for the current air war with an expiration date. I very much disagree with this strategy and believe that even promoting it is counter productive. Sometimes, instead of supporting a new law that does not do the whole job, and which will cause the current 'status' to become 'quo' and to be taken for granted, we should encourage people to stand up and say 'no' 'no' 'no' to the whole initiative

The 3 Stooges of “Liberal Democracy”: Bill Maher, Obama, Netanyahu
By Gary Corseri

Let’s recall the words of Samuel Huntington, who wrote in the 90s, foreseeing our present “clash of civilizations”: “The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion […] but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.”

New European Commission Set To Serve A Corporate Agenda
By Colin Todhunter

In the images courtesy of Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) and Attac Austria, basic insight is provided into the backgrounds of some of the prospective members of the new Juncker Commission, which will be in office from November 2014 to 2019. The information reveals serious conflicts of interest

Creating a World Culture That Is Nonviolent
By Robert J. Burrowes

As we celebrate Mahatma Gandhi's birthday on 2 October, the International Day of Nonviolence, we have the chance to reflect on our progress in creating a nonviolent world

Mahatma Gandhi’s Ideals Are More Relevant Today Than Ever! Tribute To A Great Soul!
By George Abraham

On 15 June 2007, United Nations passed a resolution to observe International Day of non-violence each year on the birth anniversary date of Mahatma Gandhi who helped lead India to its Independence and inspired movements of civil rights across the world. What it shows is that UN recognizes that ultimately it is not discussion and dialogue but an inner awakening of the soul will only make a real difference from the impasse of scores of issues that are confronting the world today. Martin Luther King, a great follower of Gandhian method of non-violence once said “If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable; we may ignore him at our own risk”

How Power Holders Failed Gandhi
By Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava

The day of 2nd October is not the birthday of Gandhi. It is a day of fight between Gandhian values and Hobbesian truths. More responsibility lies on the political world. They must reflect what harm they have done to India. They must look inside and ponder over the vast masses which still live in deficiencies of many counts. Gandhian message was , when you have to decide anything ,look the poorest person as your benchmark, whether your decision and actions will help the destitute. That is main base of Gandhian decision making. Do political leaders pay heed to it?

Of Money-In-The-Blood And Blood-Money
By Ravi Sinha

Recently, the Indian Prime Minister had occasion to report to the Japanese on his genealogy and haematic chemistry. Addressing a house-full of corporate honchos in Tokyo he declared, “I am a Gujarati, money is in my blood”. One does not know what percentage of Gujaratis would feel insulted by such a description. It can be asked, perhaps more meaningfully, if great civilizations are created by money-in-the-blood types and one may wonder if Gujarati greats such as Narsi Mehta, Narmad, Govardhan Ram or Gandhi, too, had money flowing in their blood

Encourage Inter-Religious Marriages: An Open Letter To PM Modi
By Ankur Betageri

It is only by encouraging inter-religious marriages, that is, marriages between Hindus and Muslims, that we can create an atmosphere in which rational scrutiny of religions can take place. Inter-religious marriages will destroy the religious insularity of Muslims and Hindus and help them face the realities of a changing world with a rational and open mind. It will also create a new generation of youngsters who will be capable of inheriting the true syncretic culture of India

Gondi Adivasi Language To Be Standardised, To Get A Dictionary Soon
By Aishik Chanda

You may get to refer to a Gondi dictionary soon. That too in Devanagari script! Bhopal-based NGO CGnet (Swara) is working with top Gondi language specialists from 5 states to formulate a standardized Gondi language and bring out a dictionary


 




 

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