CC Archive March 2005

31 March, 2005

IEA Proposes Brakes On Fuel Consumption
By Adam Porter

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is to propose drastic cutbacks in car use to halt continuing oil-supply problems. Those cutbacks include anything from car-pooling to outright police-enforced driving bans for citizens

Global Warming Of Atlantic Could Hit Fish
By Jeremy Lovell

The potential shutdown due to climate warming of the key Atlantic Conveyor current that warms northern Europe could have a major impact on fish stocks in the region

Children Starving In New Iraq
By BBC

Increasing numbers of children in Iraq do not have enough food to eat and more than a quarter are chronically undernourished. Malnutrition rates in children under five have almost doubled since the US-led invasion - to nearly 8% by the end of last year

US Money And Personnel Behind
Kyrgyzstan’s “Tulip Revolution”
By Andrea Peters

The interim government established in Kyrgyzstan in the aftermath of the overthrow of the regime of President Askar Akayev is largely the product of US intervention

The Bush Administration Initiates An Arms Race
By Amitabh Pal

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

Much Ado About F-16s
By Ahmad Faruqui

Who will gain from the sale of the F-16s? Clearly, Lockheed Martin that builds the plane in Texas. And, who will lose from it? The people of Pakistan, for whom the prospect of democracy has been pushed further off in the future. Millions will go hungry to bed and remain illiterate since their government thought it better to spend $60 million a copy on the F-16s

Palestinians Also Sleep In The Day
By Amira Hass

East Jerusalemites are "trapped" when they leave the Bethlehem area through that checkpoint, and receive a summons to report to the police so they can be questioned about their violation of the order prohibiting their travel

Palestinian Women 'Have Suffered Most In Intifada'
By Donald Macintyre

Palestinian women have borne the brunt of the pain inflicted by four-and-a-half years of conflict but their plight has been largely ignored

30 March, 2005

Two-Thirds Of World's Resources Used Up
By Tim Radford

The human race is living beyond its means. A report backed by 1,360 scientists from 95 countries warns that the almost two-thirds of the natural machinery that supports life on Earth is being degraded by human pressure

Sleepwalking To Disaster In Iran
By Scott Ritter

Based upon history, precedent, and personalities, the intent of the United States regarding Iran is crystal clear: the Bush administration intends to bomb Iran. Whether this attack takes place in June 2005, when the Pentagon has been instructed to be ready, or at a later date, once all other preparations have been made, is really the only question that remains to be answered

US Scatters Bases To Control Eurasia
By Ramtanu Maitra

The United States is beefing up its military presence in Afghanistan, at the same time encircling Iran. Washington will set up nine new bases in Afghanistan in the provinces of Helmand, Herat, Nimrouz, Balkh, Khost and Paktia

New Documents Confirm Widespread
Torture In Iraq
By Joseph Kay

A new series of documents released over the weekend provides fresh evidence of the pervasive US military abuse of prisoners in Iraq.An additional document posted on the ACLU’s web site on Tuesday provides evidence that the former top military official in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, directly authorized illegal interrogation techniques

Iraqi Women's New Battle Ground
By Rory Carroll

After decades of oppression the Shia majority is now in the ascendant and free to express its version of Islam. Female students say the incidence of intimidation by classmates connected to Shia parties and militias is increasing

Indian Army Intervenes Against
The Nepal People's War
By Li Onesto

On February 28, Nepal's Royal Army, backed up by the Indian army, inflicted serious losses on a contingent of the Western Division of the Maoist People's Liberation Army. This involvement of Indian soldiers in a major battle against Maoist guerrillas in Nepal represents a new and alarming development in the war

Last Refuge Of The Scoundrel
By Praful Bidwai

When India demanded to withdraw Brigadier-General Paul Tibbetts, the pilot who had dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, from the United States embassy in New Delhi nobody then thought that issues of diplomatic protocol,come prior to the moral-political imperative of preventing, protesting and punishing grave crimes against humanity. By contrast, the US denial of a visa to Narendra Modi has caused a great outpouring of crude nationalistic anger in India

29 March, 2005

The Dawn Of A New Oil Era?
By Robert J. Samuelson

Anything could now happen to oil. Prices could drop, if the immediate fears behind today's buying don't materialize. But the long-term trends are unpromising. Global demand is rising inexorably; global supply seems less expansive

Iraq's Parliament: New Farce
By Ghali Hassan

A farce parliament produced by illegitimate elections in the shadow of war of aggression and occupation does not make a nation democratic, free and sovereign. It makes a colonial dictatorship

A Message From Falluja ToThe American People
By Mark Manning

All of the people I talked to had messages to the American people. They said: "We did not attack you! We have done nothing to the Americans. Why have you done this to us?"

Forgetting Afghanistan...Again
By Sonali Kolhatcar

In the past two years the US media have drastically reduced their coverage of Afghanistan. What little is published focuses mostly on feel-good stories, superficial change and unopposed reportage of the Bush administration's claims. There is little to no critical coverage of the effects of the on-going US military and political presence

What Will Be The Sharon Legacy?
By Am Johal

As Sharon prepares to meet President Bush next month, his government is continuing to change the facts on the ground. Under the cover of the Gaza withdrawal, the plan for continued settlement expansion is moving ahead

The Jurisdiction Dilemma
By Ali Dayan Hasan

Nearly three years after she was raped by four "volunteers" on the order of a village panchayat, Mukhtar Mai still awaits justice. The release and re- arrest of the four and the events surrounding the progress of the case raise yet larger questions about the sorry state of Pakistan's legal system

Et Tu George?
By Ra Ravishankar

A fictional account of LK Advani's letter to US President George Bush on the denial of Visa to Gujarat Chief Minsiter Narendra Modi

28 March, 2005

Weaponizing The Indian Subcontinent
By Christopher Brauchli

United States decision to deliver 25 F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan will only destroy the peace initiatives between India and Pakistan and once again push the two nations into an arms race from which USA will benefit economically

The Long Emergency
By James Howard Kunster

Carl Jung, one of the fathers of psychology, famously remarked that "people cannot stand too much reality." What you're about to read may challenge your assumptions about the kind of world we live in, and especially the kind of world into which events are propelling us. We are in for a rough ride through uncharted territory

Same Shit, Different Hemisphere
By Malcom Lagauche

While most of the eyes of the world are on the Middle East, Washington is already drawing plans to combat Chavez

When Weeping For Religious Martyrs Leads
To The Crucifixion Of Innocents
By Robert Fisk

Passion and redemption were part of our parents’ religious experience. It would be wiser to reflect on the sins of our human gods,those evangelicals who also claim we are fighting for "good" against "evil"

Visa Denial Hurt National Pride?
By Harsh Mander

Nehru once refused a request by Mussolini to meet him, because he was a fascist. This was widely admired as a principled stand based on democratic and humanist traditions, and never an affront to the people of Italy. Similarly, most nations refused diplomatic relations with the apartheid regime of South Africa, which was an act not of insult but of solidarity of the international community with large sections of the South African people

27 March, 2005

More Torture Stories From Iraq
By David Randall and Andrew Buncombe

Damning evidence of how prisoners were "systematically and intentionally mistreated" at a military base in Mosul, culminating in the death of one. Nobody was court-martialled over the abuse

Genocide In Fallujah
By Brussells Tribunal

Report on the current situation in the city of Fallujah presented to the 61st session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights For the period of 1st January to 25th March 2005 by Studies Center of Human Rights and Democracy - Brussells Tribunal

Hot Air And Global Warming
By Derrick Z. Jackson

Every time the world calls for action on climate change, the United States emits more White House gases. The latest puff came from James Connaughton, the director of environmental quality, during last week's conference of 20 nations that met in London to attempt once again to make global warming a global priority

The Israeli Left Is Opting For Suicide
By Tanya Reinhart

Of the 100,000 people who showed up for the demonstration of the Left parties a year ago, that demanded a pullout from Gaza, 90,000 stayed home in this week’s demonstration. Could it be that many of them feel in their heart of hearts that they are being deceived?The Israeli Left chose to commit suicide. It is no longer beholden to its voters. It is beholden only to Sharon

24 March, 2005

The Iranian Threat: The Bomb Or The Euro?
By Dr. Elias Akleh

Iran does not pose a threat to the United State because of its nuclear projects, its WMD, or its support to “terrorists organizations” as the American administration is claiming, but in its attempt to re-shape the global economical system by converting it from a petrodollar to a petroeuro system

Two Years...
By Baghdad Burning

Two years ago this week.
We've completed two years since the beginning of the war. These last two years have felt like two decades, but I can remember the war itself like it was yesterday

A Dozen Questions For Dahr Jamail
By Dahr Jamail &Douglas Herman

An interview with Dahr Jamail

Hijacking Democracy In Iraq
By Scott Ritter

The American 'cooking' of the Iraqi election is, in the end, a defeat for democracy and the potential of democracy to effect real and meaningful change in the Middle East. The sad fact is that it is not so much that the people of the Middle East are incapable of democracy, but rather the United States is incapable of allowing genuine democracy to exist in the Middle East

New Indian Patent Law, A Sell Off
By Alternative Law Forum

The Bill permits generic manufacturers to continue producing generic version of new drugs which are in the mailbox. However, this only applies where the generic producer has made a significant investment provided they were producing and marketing the generic version prior to 1 January 2005

Remembering Ram Manohar Lohia:
The Che Of Non-Violence
By Niranjan Ramakrishan

Rammanohar Lohia was regarded by friend and foe alike as an honest, brilliant, and profound man. He inspired deep loyalty and enormous respect.He lived and died in simplicity, owning nothing. His death was a huge loss to India, for she had lost her one of her finest political minds. He was only 57

23 March, 2005

Cuba And Venezuela Face The US And Colombia
By James Petras

The US strategy against Cuba involves a joint US-Colombian attack of Venezuela backed by internal terrorists and the ruling class

Schiavo Case Quantitates Genocidal US Racism
By Gideon Polya

The Schiavo Case continues to excite the US and indeed the World. The US Congress, Senate and President are setting a new, radical, high level of respect for human life, but only if this new respect were to be applied to everyone! But in the US-conquered Afghanistan a life is at about 20,000 times cheaper than that of a brain-damaged, white American woman

Nepal: The Royal Regression And
The Question Of Democratic Republic
By Baburam Bhattarai

The need of the hour is unity of all democratic forces of the country on the common minimum programme of a democratic republic. If anything is lacking so far it is the real democratic vision and will power on the part of the leadership of major political parties

Journalists Tell Of US Falluja Killings
By Aljazeera

All is quiet in Falluja, or at least that is how it seems, given that the mainstream media has largely forgotten about the Iraqi city. But independent journalists are risking life and limb to bring out a very different story

Indian Patent Law: A Death Blow To Cheap Drugs
By Randeep Ramesh

The days of cheap treatments for millions of Aids patients around the world are coming to an end, after the Indian parliament passed a bill that makes it illegal to copy patented drugs

God And The Good Earth
By George Monbiot

amid the cracking of Easter eggs and the murmur of prayer, there can still be heard the small, faint voice which reminds us that our ecological hubris must eventually be greeted by nemesis

No Land Even For Burial
By C.K Janu ,Jaison Chacko & Subhash Gatade

"Adivasis are the real owners of land. Our lands were snatched away from us. None of the governments came into power in the state took any serious initiative to provide this land back to these real owners." An interview with C.K. Janu, leader of the indigenous people of Kerala

22 March, 2005

Glass Half Empty For Fifth Of World’s Children
By i-Newswire

According to UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children 2005, 21% of children in developing countries are severely water deprived, living without a safe water source within a fifteen minute walk of their homes. In addition, a staggering 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. Today is World Water Day

Rock Dust Fights Global Warming?
By Paul Kelbie

A scottish couple claim the technique of spreading rockdust may play a significant role in the fight against climate change as calcium and magnesium in the dust converts carbon in the air into carbonates

Damning Verdict On GM Crop
By Paul Brown and David Gow

Final report on world's most comprehensive field trials says oil seed rape varieties would harm wildlife and environment

Iraqi Invasion Reverberates Across The Middle East
By Robert Fisk

The idea that "regime change" would bring new-found stability to the countries of the Gulf - another of President George Bush’s excuses for the 2003 invasion - now appears to be a myth

Shocked And Awed Into 'Freedom'
By Pepe Escobar

Two years after being shocked and awed into "freedom", freedom on the ground is a meaningless concept for large swathes of the Iraqi population

Sects And Solidarity In Iraq
By Dahr Jamail

Despite talk of civil war, Sunnis and Shiites seem more united than divided

Opec Loses Control
By Adam Porter

This week Opec repeatedly assured the world they would pump more oil to bring prices down.Yet immediately the 11-country group closed the doors on its 135th conference in Isfahan, Iran, prices surged to new all-time record highs

Remember What? Remember How?
By Uri Avnery

Sixty years after the end of the Holocaust, it is time to grow out of all this.The time has come to turn the memory of the Holocaust from an exclusively Jewish property into a world-wide human possession.The mourning, the anger and the shame must be turned into a universal message against all forms of genocide

How We Made U.S.Deny Visa To Modi
By Angana Chatterji

That Narendra Modi was denied a visa, that his active involvement in crimes against humanity has been officially noted, is something to celebrate. The larger task remains to hold accountable Narendra Modi, who has committed genocide

18 March, 2005

Oil Prices To Reach Record Highs
By Bloomberg

Crude oil prices in New York, which rose above $57 a barrel for the first time yesterday, are likely to increase on speculation demand will expand faster than supply

Secret U.S. Plans For Iraq's Oil
By Greg Palast

The Bush administration made plans for war and for Iraq's oil before the 9/11 attacks sparking a policy battle between neo-cons and Big Oil

Why Wolfowitz?
By Jim Vallette

Occupied Iraq represents Paul Wolfowitz's main “development” experience—where he ensured billions of dollars of oil export revenues flowed into the Bush administration’s favored corporations. Jim Vallette of the Institute For Policy Studies reviews Wolfowitz's resumé and sees that all his paths have led to oil

No Stopping Global Warming
By Maggie Fox

Even if people stopped pumping out carbon dioxide and other pollutants tomorrow, global warming would still get worse

Naming The Real Killers
By John Pilger

The US and UK government finds it convenient to blame Colombia's huge murder rate on the drugs trade. The reality is that most of the killings are being done by a regime it supports

The Media, The Entertainment
Industry And Michael Jackson
By David Walsh

The Jackson trial has become the latest media extravaganza, given saturation coverage and endlessly hyped as part of the effort of corporate-controlled “news” outlets to coarsen and corrupt public sensibilities. The sordid character of the trial should come as a surprise to no one

Kerala's Silent Revolution
By Rajaji Mathew Thomas

It was the participation of huge masses in public action and political decision making that transformed Kerala. At present a silent revolution driven by hundreds of thousands of women is in the making. The women self-help group’s, especially the state supported ‘Kudumbasree’ project are turning the poor women of Kerala into small time entrepreneurs

17 March, 2005

Wolfowitz For World Bank President
By Adam Entous

President Bush selected Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, a magnet for controversy as one of the leading architects of the Iraq war, as his choice for World Bank president

Bush's Hitman At The World Bank
By Jude Wanniski

It doesn’t really matter that Wolfowitz doesn’t know the first thing about banking or the economics of development projects. He will sit behind the biggest desk at the Bank and take the telephone calls from the Big Banks and the Multinationals, telling him what to do.When the White House needs a big favor for one of its big hitters, it need only put in a call to Wolfie, who will throw the right switch

Independent Media: Enemy Target
By Ghali Hassan

Since the start of the 2003 War on Iraq, there have been 13 incidents involving the killing of journalists by US soldiers. All the journalists who have been killed were "unembedded" journalists. Were they accidents or intentional?

'How Sgrena Forced Italy's
Withdrawal From Iraq'
By Mike Whitney

Yesterday, without notice, Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi announced that Italy was planning to draw down its troop levels in Iraq. Did "Bush loyalist" Berlusconi discover something about the attack on Sgrena and Calipari that forced him to take pre-emptive action by ordering an early withdrawal?

China’s “Anti-Secession Law”
By John Chan

At the final session of China’s National Peoples Congress on Monday, the handpicked delegates assembled in the Great Hall of the People passed an “anti-secession law” that outlaws any declaration of independence by Taiwan. The legislation formalises China’s longstanding threat to use military force in the event of any Taiwanese breakaway

Dollar Catching Asian Flu
By Alan Boyd

They may be telling a different story to money markets, but Asian central banks have been quietly switching their dollar holdings to regional currencies for at least three years, confirm global banking data

Fear And Loathing Across The Middle East
By Hasan Abu Nimah & Ali Abunimah

The Bush administration is eager to weave recent events in Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon into a narrative that "democracy is on the march" across the region. Even some of Bush's critics seem impressed lately. Underlying the turmoil, however, is a heavy dose of old-fashioned power politics and manipulation rather than the outburst of "people power" that the US media is revelling in. And where people power is strongest, it isn't marching in the direction Bush wants

The Dark Side Of Australia's Palm Island
By Andrew Boe

Tensions between police and locals continue to run high on the troubled indigenous settlement of Palm Islan, Queensland, Australia following last November's death in custody of Cameron (Mulrunji) Doomadgee. It also raises questions about Australia's racial prejudices

16 March, 2005

Italy To Pull Out Of Iraq
By Peter Popham

Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, will begin withdrawing Italian troops from Iraq in September

Brainstorming On Climate Change
By Jeremy Lovell

As the ministerial conference of 20 of the biggest polluters on earth got underway in London the need for action to avert a looming climate catastrophe was rammed home by graphic images of melting glaciers and makeshift sea defences displayed at the venue of the meeting

Racing To Extinction
By Hill Henderson

"I am afraid the atmosphere might get hotter and hotter until it will be like Venus with boiling sulfuric acid," said Stephen Hawking. "I am worried about the greenhouse effect."If we go over this cliff no more humanity; the extinction of almost every existing species except some bacteria; the end of life on Earth as we know it

Coming To Terms With China
By Chalmers Johnson

Can the United States and Japan, today's versions of rich, established powers, adjust to the reemergence of China -- the world's oldest, continuously extant civilization -- this time as a modern superpower? Or is China's ascendancy to be marked by yet another world war

On Empire And Those Who Fight It
By Tariq Ali

Two years after the invasion of Iraq, writer and activist Tariq Ali spoke to Socialist Worker about US strategy in the Middle East and the growth of the Iraqi resistance to the occupation

The Brutality Of Occupation
By Dahr Jamail

Even the ancient city of Babylon has been turned into a US military base, and thousands of years of history and priceless artefacts are being crushed under the tracks of US tanks.On so many different levels Iraqi society and culture have been shattered by the occupation, and continue to be as it drags on

We Won't Forget Rachel Corrie
By Alison Weir

There is a quiet battle going on for the memory of a young woman who could have been my daughter, or perhaps yours.On one side are those who would like to erase her from history her actions, her beliefs, her murder.On the other side are those who feel her shining principles should be praised, her courage honored, her death grieved

Fuelling The Arms Race
By Praful Bidwai

The rise in India's defence budget has evoked a hostile response from Pakistan. This could soon translate itself into acquisition of new weapons to blunt India's superiority and higher military spending. The likely second- and third-order responses spell a disastrous South Asian arms race, which will accelerate further as New Delhi and Islamabad acquire more nuclear weapons and missiles

15 March, 2005

Himalayan Glaciers Retreat Fast
By WWF

Himalayan glaciers are among the fastest retreating glaciers globally due to the effects of global warming, and this will eventually result in water shortages for hundreds of millions of people who rely on glacier-dependent rivers in China, India and Nepal

Mount Kilimanjaro Photo Wake-Up Call For
Action Against Global Warming
By Jeremy Lovell

A photo of Mount Kilimanjaro stripped of its snowcap for the first time in 11,000 years will be used as dramatic testimony for action against global warming as ministers from the world's biggest polluters meet today

The Checkpoint Experience
By Annia Ciezadlo

As a Westerner working in Iraq, Annia Ciezadlo has to brave military checkpoints just to get around town. It's an ordeal that never gets any less confusing or terrifying

In Bad Faith
By Salman Rushdie

The exception to European secularism can be found in Britain, or at least in the government of the devoutly Christian and increasingly authoritarian Tony Blair, which is presently trying to steamroller parliament into passing a law against "incitement to religious hatred", in a cynical vote-getting attempt to placate British Muslim spokesmen, in whose eyes just about any critique of Islam is offensive

The People Make A Stand Over
The Lies Of Lebanon
By Robert Fisk

Never before have we seen anything like it in Lebanon. Never before have we seen anything like it in the Arab world.Almost a third of the population of Lebanon was there; they walked many miles through the city to Martyrs’ Square, they arrived by bus from the far north and from Sidon in the south, most of them young, many of them children

Extreme Cinema Verite
By Louise Roug

American soldiers shoot Iraq battle footage and edit it into music videos filled with death and destruction. And they display their work as entertainment

Baghdad's Streets Now A Deadly Gantlet
By Patrick Quinn

Adnan Shalaal left the Sheraton with his two sons, aged 3 and 6, and his 12-year-old daughter.Shalaal never made it down the tunnel of flying lead."He'll be forgotten in five minutes," one man murmured in Arabic after looking at Shalaal's bullet-riddled white compact car. "That's Iraq today."

Kerala's Sex Industry
By Amrith Lal, P K Surendran & K.Ajitha

K.Ajitha was a revolutionary communist who later turned into a crusader for women's rights in Kerala state of India. Here is an interview with her on the violence against women in Kerala

14 March, 2005

US Report Acknowledges Peak-oil
By Adam Porter

It has long been denied that the US government bases any policy around the idea that global oil production may be in terminal decline.But a new US government-sponsored report does exactly that!

"Fore!"Indigenous Women In A Hole As One
By Richard Oxman

"Not only has the land been raped, our Mother has been raped." -- Haunani-Kay Trask, Hawai'ian resident

What The Lebanese Fear Most
By Robert Fisk

Assad’s troops are pulling back, but who will replace them in Lebanon?

One Month On In Lebanon
By Laurie King-Irani

As the Lebanese prepare to mark one month since the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, they could best honor his memory by pledging never again to destroy Beirut through internally generated or externally manipulated conflicts

Why Kasparov Quit Chess
By Stephen Moss

"I wouldn't say that I'm entering Russian politics, because politics doesn't exist in Russia in the terms you use here," he explains. "I will be trying to help Russia to get back into normal political life and to make sure my country lives in a civilised way."

13 March, 2005

Are We Past Our 'Extinct By' Date?
By Robin McKie

Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice, wrote Robert Frost. But whatever is to be our fate, it is now overdue. After analysing the eradication of millions of ancient species, scientists have found that a mass extinction is due any moment now

Bird Flu Could Kill Millions
By Geoffrey Lean

Pandemics occur when a new virus, to which no one is immune, spreads rapidly among people. Experts are unanimous that this will inevitably happen with bird flu, though they are unable to predict when

"Are You The Journalist That Was Kidnapped?"
By Giuliana Sgrena

They were all young Americans. I couldn't breathe, my lungs were tightening up, I was constantly asking for water. Only then did they ask my name and nationality. Then whispering in my ear, one of them asked me: "Are you the journalist that was kidnapped?"

Rape: As An Instrument Of state
Repression In Nepal
By Peoplesmarch

In Nepal women, suspected to be Maoists or sympathisers of Maoists, have been marched nakedly in front of the public, subjected to repeated rape with all forms of sadistic torture on their private parts while in custody

Women's Rights Eroding In Latin America
By Laura Carlsen

Domestic violence claims the lives of 14 women a day in Mexico, but the law in 8 states does not consider domestic violence a crime and 12 do not penalize rape in marriage. It is often the custom to consider a rape case resolved if the rapist offers to marry the victim

Middle East And Afterlife
By Robert Fisk

In a part of the world where a person’s religion is part of their life, the end of life does not appear so terrible or so final

Syria And Lebanon: Big Time Double Standards
By Kurt Nimmo

If you were a Palestinian, you might be angry with this European bureaucrat for taking the Palestinian Authority to task while Israelis settlers and soldiers murder Arab school children, bulldoze homes (with people still inside), and assassinate your leaders. If you were Syrian, you might wonder why the hell some European white man is threatening your country. The last time the United Nations talked like this against Arabs, 500,000 Iraqi children died

Cinema And Secularism
By Mahesh Bhatt

The first rotten phase that Bollywood saw was when, under the name of demonising Pakistan, a lot of movies actually took perverse delight in mocking and ridiculing the Muslim community. It was a phase after which the public, having made one odd film into a big hit, themselves boycotted such films. And it is unlikely now that any such films will be made since they do not run at the box office anymore

12 March, 2005

The Mystery Of The Second Sgrena Video
By Dave Fryett

In a second video the kidnappers angrily charge that there is an "army of occupation in Iraq under the name of Al Zarqawi" and that it was sent there to destroy the Resistence by causing a fratricidal war among them. They did not actually say, but certainly left open the idea, that Al Zarqawi was Washington's man.Is the video genuine? Or in whose interest was this video produced?

Violence: A Universal Threat For Women
By Pat Orvis

Thirty years ago--when the first U.N. World Conference on Women was held in Mexico--it was mostly men who came, especially from the more tradition-bound "third-world" cultures, to debate the issues for women. But for the past two weeks for the Beijing Plus +10, conference rooms have been filled to standing-room capacity with women. A report

Sexism And Science
By R Ramachandran

Remarks made by the President of Harvard University on the under-representation of women in the fields of science and engineering bring the issue of gender discrimination to the forefront once again

Haiti: The Forgotten Milestone In
Bush’s Crusade For “Freedom”
By Bill Van Auken

With its death squads, political prisoners and abject poverty, Haiti stands as a showcase for Bush’s crusade for freedom. Anyone harboring illusions about Washington’s aims in countries like Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Iran should turn their eyes to Haiti to see the real face of American imperialism’s “democratizing” mission

Apartheid Targets Palestinian
Home-Owners Inside Israel
By Jonathan Cook

Ali Zbeidat is a palestinian.Ali's problem is that he is also a citizen of Israel and Israel is threatening the demolition of his home terming it as illegal. Ali's plight is far from unique. There are tens of thousands of other Palestinians in the same desperate situation as Ali, living in homes Israel defines as illegal

11 March, 2005

Planet Faces Nightmare Forecasts
By Abid Aslam

The worldwide pursuit of prosperity and material luxury--long dubbed 'the American dream'--will lead to global nightmares unless China and other nations like India retool their economies to rein in consumption and generate growth without doing so much harm to the planet

Democracy In The Middle East? Where?
By Ted Bohne

There certainly isn't one in Afghanistan. Karzai might be president in his house depending on his wife's mood, but past that, it's business as usual. What about Iraq? Why there's still a shooting war going on there. Threatening Syria makes little sense

Homecoming
By Richard Oxman

By any standard of measurement, the numbers of unnecessary, unconscionable deaths we have caused --through bombing, banking and betrayal-- far exceeds Hitler’s wildest dreams of devastation

Chalabi For The Nobel Peace Prize
By Baghdad Burning

I got an interesting email today telling me about an internet petition to nominate Sistani, of all people, for the Nobel Peace Prize. That had me laughing and a little bit incredulous. Is that what the Nobel Peace Prize has come to?

Passive Genocide In Iraq
By Gideon Polya

The Coalition funding of medical services in Occupied Iraq is miniscule and the consequence is a huge avoidable mortality that amounts to what bio-ethicists would call "passive genocide"

The Resort To Torture
By Ghali Hassan

The new documents and other documents received by the ACLU reveal that the illegal practice of abuse and torture of Iraqi men, women and children took place immediately after the US-led invasion of Iraq. Iraqi POW and Iraqi detainees not only at Abu Ghraib, the West’s convenient propaganda, but also throughout Iraq were imprisoned, abused, tortured and murdered by British and US soldiers

Defusing Israel's "Demographic Bomb"
By Hasan Abu Nimah

Israeli Jews thought the day they would become a minority was perhaps still twenty years away, the evidence is increasing that the bomb has already exploded and Palestinians are already a majority in historic Palestine, as they were until Israel was created

Bush's Guru
By Uri Avnery

When Israelis heard for the first time about Bush citing Natan Sharansky as his guide and mentor, they gasped in disbelief. Sharansky? Our Sharansky?

Syrian Ally Returns As Lebanese Prime Minister
By Robert Fisk

The most pro-Syrian prime minister of Lebanon - his cabinet was dubbed "made in Syria" by the US administration - was reappointed by one of the country’s most pro-Syrian presidents

Masks Unlimited:Vajpayee, Babri Demolition
And Gujarat Riots
By Ram Puniyani

Vajpayee's association with RSS and his loyalty to the agenda of RSS, the one of Hindu Nation and Hindutva politics remained the central point of his politics and gave him the craftiness and ability to pretend moderation and double speak, a role which suited him perfectly

10 March, 2005

Malaria Hits One In 12 Of World Population
By Steve Connor

More than half a billion people are suffering from malaria today, twice as many as scientists thought had been affected by one of the biggest killers in the developing world

Iraq Elections And The Liberal Elites:
A Response To Noam Chomsky
By Ghali Hassan

To describe the Iraqi people resisting this violent and illegal Occupation of their nation as simply "bomb-throwers" is to ignore the gross atrocities committed against the Iraqi people by US forces

"Falluja Was Wiped Out"
By Rüdiger Göbel, Mahammad J. Haded and Mohammad Awad

An interview with the physician Mahammad J. Haded and Mohammad Awad, director of a refugee center, who were in the besieged and bombarded Iraqi city of Falluja during the large U.S. offensive called "Dawn" in November 2004

After The War Comes Cancer
By Jürgen Hanefeld

After two wars where oil wells were torched, chemical factories bombed and radioactive ammunition fired, the first thing Iraqi women ask when giving birth is not if it is a boy or a girl, but if it is normal or deformed. The number of cancer cases and children born with deformities has skyrocketed after the two Gulf Wars

The Heroic National Guards
By Baghdad Burning

It’s difficult to consider National Guardsmen as heroes with the image of them beating doctors in white gowns in ones head. It’s difficult to see them as anything other than expendable Iraqis with their main mission being securing areas and cities for Americans

It Is Not Democracy On The March
By Seumas Milne

The claim that democracy is on the march in the Middle East is a fraud. It is not democracy, but the US military, that is on the march

Half A Million Gather For Pro-Syrian Rally
To Defy Vision Of US
By Robert Fisk in Beirut

This was an inventive piece of history. Israel certainly killed many thousands of Lebanese - more than the Syrians, although their soldiers took the lives of many hundreds - but the half million roared their approval

A State Terrorist Visits American Hoteliers
By Vijay Prashad

For a business sector that likes to call itself the "hospitality industry," it is painful that the chief guest at its March 2005 gathering will be Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat, who presided over the genocide of over 2000 muslims in March, 2002

Sustaining The Mutuality Of Life
By Goldy M George

An enquiry into the sustainable life style practices of the dalit and tribal population in the Indian state of Chattisgarh

09 March, 2005

Massive Rally In Beirut
By Nadim Ladki

Hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Lebanese flooded central Beirut Tuesday for a pro-Syrian rally called by Hizbollah that dwarfed previous Lebanese protests demanding that Syrian troops quit Lebanon

Lebanese Respond To Bush, Chirac, And Sharon
By Kurt Nimmo

As well, as in Iraq, sectarian and ethnic violence in Lebanon works in the favor of Israel and the United States - once again imposing, as the French did before them, the colonial rule of divide and conquer.Millions of Lebanese know this and that is why they poured in the streets in record numbers, demanding Israel and the United States keep their hands off Lebanon

Gorbachev's Lost Legacy
By Stephen F. Cohen

The most important event of the late twentieth century began twenty years ago this month. Perestroika, as Gorbachev called his reforms, officially ended with the Soviet Union and his leadership in December 1991

The Last Of The Utopian Projects
By Eric Hobsbawm

Perestroika plunged Russia into social ruin - and the world into an unprecedented superpower bid for global domination

Wangari Maathai Speaks
By Wangari Maathai & Amy Goodman

Nobel peace laureate Wangari Maathai speaks on the environment, the war in Iraq, debt and women's equality

Reign Of Terror In Kasipur
By Statesman News Service

The People's Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) which went on a fact finding mission to the Kasipur area of Raygada district in the Indian state of Orissa where the Utkal Alumina International Limited (UAIL) plans to establish an alumina plant reports of a "reign of terror"

The Good News From Islamabad
By Radha Kumar

After a depressing lull in the India-Pakistan talks, during which the two governments appeared to be stuck on niggling technical details, Foreign Ministers Singh and Kasuri have given us an enormous breakthrough

08 March, 2005

Women Still Are Second-Class Citizens
By Dian Harrison

Today is International Women's Day, a worldwide celebration of women's fight for equality and human rights. Let us remember that in much of the world women are still second-class citizens

Women Against Fundamentalism
By Dolores Chew

Repeatedly we see that intrinsic to fundamentalist thinking and operating is the control of women, their autonomy, their sexuality, their choices. That is why women are often the primary or exclusive targets of fundamentalist forces. Control the women, control the community

Victims Of Abuse
By Mita Kapur

Violence against women is the most persuasive human rights violation in the world today. Opening the door on the issue is like standing on the edge of a deep ravine vibrating with collective anguish. Where there should be outrage, there is denial and largely passive acceptance

In The Shadow Of Violence
By Mari Marcel Thekaekara

Despite the celebrations on March 8, the incidence of violence against women is rising. A look at what can be done to change attitudes

Empower Women
By Praveen Dalal

The plight of the women cannot be improved till they are duly represented in the "power structure". In a democratic country the voice of women can be heard only to the extent they are sharing the power structure in the governance of the country

Is Lebanon Walking Into Another Nightmare?
By Robert Fisk

As the Syrian army begins its withdrawal from Lebanon, after mounting pressure from President George Bush - whose anger at the Syrians has been provoked by the insurgency against American troops in Iraq - there are growing signs that the Syrian retreat is reopening the sectarian divisions of the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war

Ripples In The Middle East?
By Mahir Ali

Nothing can change the fact that the war was a criminal act. And wishful thinking alone cannot transform a silver lining into a rainbow

Video Shows More US Iraq Abuse
By Aljazeera

US Army soldiers in Iraq have filmed themselves kicking a gravely wounded prisoner in the face and making the arm of a corpse appear to wave.The video, made public on Monday, was shot by Florida National Guard soldiers

Did The US Military Target Guiliana Sgrena?
By Peter Symonds

The incident highlights the ruthless methods employed by the US military in the face of continuing armed resistance and widespread hostility to the US occupation. But the reality could be even more sinister:that Sgrena, who had been held hostage for a month by a little known Islamic group, was deliberately targetted either to send a warning or to silence her

07 March, 2005

My truth
By Giuliana Sgrena

"At that point a rain of fire and bullets came at us, forever silencing the happy voices from a few minutes earlier. Nicola Calipari dove on top of me to protect me and immediately, and I mean immediately, I felt his last breath as he died on me".The Italian hostage who came under fire from the Americans writes about her horrific exeprience

What Iraq's Checkpoints Are Like
By Annia Ciezadlo

The checkpoint experience perfectly encapsulates the contradictions and miseries and misunderstandings of everyone's common experience - both Iraqis and Americans - in Iraq

Atrocities Continue To Mount
By Haifa Zangana

Despite the election, ordinary Iraqis face a daily struggle to survive attacks, kidnappings and killings

An Evening With P. Sainath
By Niranjan Ramakrishnan

Fluent in his subject and familiar (rather too well, it appeared at times) with the American lecture circuit, Sainath sprinkled his talk with interesting factoids about the rich-poor divide, the politics of SARS, why he stopped drinking Coke and Pepsi, and a host of other gems

RSS In Action In Rajasthan
By Nalini Taneja

If anybody needs convincing that every election is important, they should look at the chain of events in Rajasthan since the BJP came to power in the state

06 March, 2005

Ozone Layer Could Develop Hole Over Britain
By Geoffrey Lean

Scientists will tomorrow fly a spy plane high into the world's protective ozone layer, amid increasing fears that it may be about to develop a hole over Britain and northern Europe

US Attack Against Italians In Baghdad
was Deliberate: Companion
By AFP

The companion of freed Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena on Saturday leveled serious accusations at US troops who fired at her convoy as it was nearing Baghdad airport, saying the shooting had been deliberate

Promoting Democracy In Middle East
By Noam Chomsky

'Where democracy appears to fit in well with US security and economic interests, the United States promotes democracy. Where democracy clashes with other significant interests, it is downplayed or even ignored.'

The Next Crusades
By Uri Avnery

The US government's posturings to bring democracy and freedom to Lebanon , disregarding its complexities and history can only push that country into civil war and with it the whole of Middle East

An Economic Hit Man Speaks
By Kathyayini Chamaraj

One of the exciting events at the World Social Forum (WSF) at Porto Alegre in Brazil this year in the last week of January, was a dialogue with John Perkins, the author himself, who, from being an economic hit man, has now crossed over to the "other side" and joined those who have all along believed that "Another world is possible"

Target: Al Jazeera
By Christopher Brauchli

It's easy to get crosswise with the United States. Just ask Qatar. In 1988 it was Stinger missiles-today it's Al Jazeera

From Manu To Manav
By Chandrabhan Prasad

There is a conflict brewing between the OBCs and the Dalit in North India. But will it lead it to a historic alliance between Brahmins and Dalits, asks Chandrabhan Prasad

04 March, 2005

Forests Could Be Key To Curbing Global Warming
By Alister Doyle

Effective control of forest fires may prove crucial in the fight against global warming since blazes from Alaska to Indonesia spew out vast amounts of heat-trapping gases

There is No More Time
By Lucinda Marshall

All evidence suggests that our lives and that of our planet are in grave peril.It is our refusal to face the realities of global warming and our continued illegal use of Depleted Uranium that are the true terrors of our time

Oil Prices Confound Experts
By Adam Porter

One quote from Shihab-Eldin,secretary-general of Opec , is the most pertinent for the man in the street in 2005. A quote we may hope does not bare true."When we look at the future," he said "we find ourselves facing a wall of uncertainty."

'Sharon Is 'War Criminal'
By Ken Livingstone

"Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, is a war criminal who should be in prison, not in office", says Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London

Unilateral Give, Unilateral Take
By Roni Ben Efrat

If, in order to get back Gaza, which Israel doesn't want at all, the Palestinians have had to make four years of Intifada, imagine what kind of World War they would have to wage to retrieve the West Bank!

Who is AIDS? There's No One
By That Name In This Village
By Preetu Nair

While India took the lead by conducting clinical trials for the AIDS vaccine recently, in rural Goa, AIDS can be anything A name, a plant or an "anti-deficiency something"

03 March, 2005

Arctic Ozone Loss Raises Concern
By Associated Press

Ozone levels over the Earth's far north dipped sharply early last year when polar winds trapped nitrogen pollutants

Chronicles Of Kyoto
By Renato Redentor Constantino

The Kyoto Protocol is not based on science, said George W. Bush. We will meet the challenge of climate change with clean coal, said John Howard. "The only difference between genius and stupidity," said Albert Einstein, "is that genius has its limits."

The Oil Factor In Bush's 'War On Tyranny'
By F William Engdahl

A world oil price of US$150 a barrel or more in the next few years would be joined by chokepoint control of the supply by one power if Washington has its way

Iraq's Crop Patent Law
A Threat To Food Security
By GM Free Cymru

Aid agencies and NGOs across the globe have been reacting with horror to the news that new legislation in Iraq was carefully put in place last year by the US that will effectively bring the whole of the country's agricultural sector under the control of trans-national corporations

Former President Narayanan Speaks Up
By Manava Samskriti

"If the military was given powers to shoot at the perpetrators of violence, recurrence of tragedies in Gujarat could have been avoided. However, both the state and central government did not do so"

Three Years After Genocide In Gujarat
By Asghar Ali Engineer

Gujarat genocide keeps us reminding what to expect when communal and fascist forces come to power. The fight against communal forces should go on through democratic methods. They must be isolated and weakened

02 March, 2005

US Companies Seek Dismissal
Of Agent Orange Lawsuit
By Christine Kearney

Attorneys representing major US chemical companies asked a US District Court judge in Brooklyn, to dismiss a civil suit that seeks class action status claiming that up to 4 million Vietnamese people suffered from dioxin poisoning due to Agent Orange

Finger After Finger
By Uri Avnery

Seven words uttered by President Bush in Brussels have not been paid the attention they deserve.He called for the establishment of “a democratic Palestinian state with territorial contiguity” in the West Bank, and then added: “A state on scattered territories will not work.” It is worthwhile to ponder these words. Who did he point the finger at?

Darfur, Another Failure Of
The International Community
By Arjan El Fassed

The debate on Darfur is in danger of sounding like a historical exercise. No one should forget that people are still being killed, still being forced to flee their homes, still suffering each and every day

Disharmony In Kurdistan
By Seb Walker

The most obvious Shiite-Kurd clash could be over the role of Islam in Iraqi society. Some senior figures in the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), the winning Shiite bloc that secured nearly 50 percent of the national vote on January 30, have insisted that Islam be inscribed as the only source of legislation in the new Iraqi constitution

Australia: Palm Island’s Dark History
Of Aboriginal Repression
By Erika Zimmer

Conditions on Palm Island have steadily worsened. The disaster that has been created by a succession of governments, state and federal, is now being used to justify further inroads into the social position of Aborigines

Poverty And Social Misery In Afghanistan
By Joanne Laurier

A recent United Nations report on social conditions in Afghanistan provides a glimpse of the social reality behind the American media’s talk of a “new democracy” and the supposedly benevolent role of the US government in that country

Country Visa, City Visa
By Beena Sarwar

Breakthroughs like the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service are important. But what's needed to really normalise relations between India and Pakistan is to make cross-border visits easier for each other

01 March, 2005

Bloodbath In Iraq
By Patrick Cockburn and David Enders

In the bloodiest single attack since the fall of Saddam Hussein, a suicide car bomber killed at least 115 people and wounded 132 when he blew himself up yesterday in the city of Hillah

Is peace In Palestine About To Break Out?
By Ali Abunimah

Behind the photo opportunities and historic handshakes, however, the evidence on the ground is that Israel is taking advantage of the new mood not to build peace, but to build more settlements

Militant Settlers Put Sharon On Notice
By Jonathan Cook

While the aggressive language of many among Gaza's 7000 Jewish settlers is making Israeli officials nervous, the government is far more fearful of the response of the wider settler population of the West Bank and East Jerusalem

"Powerless" Bedouin Village
Still Seeking Health Care
By Am Johal

Volunteer Built Solar-Powered Medwed Medical Clinic in Wadi el Na'am Sits Empty as Public Health Crisis from Toxic Industrial Site Worsens

The Questions That Dieudonne Raise
By Dave Fryett

Even if Dieudonne is guilty of ugly hyperbole, and he may very well be, he, like Professor Norman Finkelstein and others, has done a thing immensely brave. He has pointed out that there are those who want to spin our civilization into retrograde motion. And we cannot let this happen!

Remembering The Gujarat Genocide
By M Hasan Jowher

The victims of post-Godhra riots await for justice done, security strengthened and compensation awarded. For three years to this week they have waited for truth to prevail

Expressions In Freedom
Documentary film festival by Asian women in Delhi

This International Women's Day, Delhi will witness a unique celebration of women & the ways in which they express themselves. 'Expressions in Freedom' is a festival celebrating documentary films by Asian women

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