Countercurrents Archive -August 2007

31 August, 2007

Pakistan’s Musharraf –Bhutto Deal
By Javed I. Chaudry

During the last several months, Musharraf – Bhutto deal has been in the air with all kinds of speculations to explain what it means and how would it impact Pakistan. Apparently all charges against the exiled ex. Prime Minister of Pakistan are being dropped. Also, it seems that General Musharraf is ready to give up the uniform and the control of the armed forces. Now this is a big change and one wonders who or what is behind this grand plan?

A Mother Of Seven Prisoners
By Hekmat Bessiso

Latifah Naji Abo Homeed, 61 years old, lives in Al Am’ary Refugee Camp in the city of Ramallah – Palestine . Of her 10 children, one killed during 1994 by Israeli military and seven have been imprisoned by Israel . She longs to see them but has only their photos for comfort. She has asked to be taken to prison herself so that she can live with them

Green Voices: Some Aspects Of Ecological Criticism
By Dr. Murali Sivaramakrishnan

Introducing ecocriticism into our hard-core curriculum would thus mean a rereading of our intellectual and cultural inheritance. Perhaps we could reintegrate our value systems and regain our sense of balance and harmony. Not through a strategy of homogenisation and universalisation but through a recognition of difference and an understanding of the many. Passion and compassion are at the core of ecocriticism

Two Years Post-Katrina
By Jordan Flaherty

Two years after the devastation of New Orleans highlighted racism and inequality in the US, the disaster continues. New Orleans’ health care and education systems are still in crisis. Thousands of units of public housing sit empty. Nearly half the city’s population remains displaced

The Social Toll Of The US Home
Mortgage Crisis - Part 1
By Andre Damon

Predatory lending practices, speculation and widespread fraud cannot, however, fully account for the scale of the foreclosure crisis. Rather, the ultimate causes lie in long-term trends; the stagnation of wages, the lack of affordable housing and the growing indebtedness of American households

Families Of Detainees Losing Hope
By Ali al-Fadhily

Hopes are fading for early release of the large number of Iraqis detained under the so-called surge.The number of detainees held by the U.S. military has increased by more than 50 percent since the U.S. administration announced the surge six months ago, bringing the detainee population to at least 24,500, according to U.S. military officers in Iraq. The officers have said the detainee population was 16,000 in February of this year

Labor Day Hypocrisy
By Stephen Lendman

On the first Monday each September, USA "remembers" working Americans with a federally-mandated holiday in their "honor." Who's celebrating when it's disingenuously commemorated at a time worker rights are threatened, ignored, forgotten, and uncared about by heartless governments beholden to capital

What Does Labor Day Mean Today?
By Mary Shaw

On Monday, September 3, Americans will celebrate Labor Day. This annual national holiday was created more than 100 years ago as a tribute to the American worker. To most Americans these days, however, Labor Day seems to be more about end-of-summer picnics, beach excursions, and an extra day off from work

Bt Cotton And Economic Drain In Punjab
By K Jayaram

The much hyped Bt Cotton and increased yields, reduced plant protection costs were fall flat with the Mealy bug infestation on Bt Cotton in Punjab. There is a huge economic drain from Punjab due to cultivation of Bt Cotton. The honeymoon of Bt Cotton was over and trouble started now

The Fight To Save The Rocky Mountains
By Joshua Frank

The battles rage on by a courageous few to protect the freedom of the wild in these desolate, iconic parts of the Rocky Mountains. If the courts don't side with the legally-inclined environmentalists who want to preserve this wilderness for black bears and not for vacationers, Red McCombs and his investors can be certain that other radical activists will take to the Forest Service roads to confront the development of our untrammeled public lands

Punish The Criminals In Khaki
By Harsh Dobhal

Bhagalpur is back in news again. Same Bhagalpur where in a barbaric act, policemen had poured acid in the eyes of 31 undertrials in 1980, blinding them tortuously. The incident had shaken the nation's conscience then. Twenty-seven years later, television sets grabbed our eyeballs with shocking images of a 20-year-old man being dragged by a policeman riding a motorcycle, with his hand and legs tied

29 August, 2007

US Military Bombards
Targets Inside Pakistan
By Peter Symonds

In an aggressive new step, the US military shelled and destroyed targets across the Afghan border inside Pakistan on Sunday. While it has received scant coverage in the American and international media, the attack foreshadows more extensive US cross-border operations that have the potential to further destabilise Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s uncertain grip on power

On Market Predictions In The Current
Chaotic Environment
By Richard C. Cook

No one can predict how deep the decline in Western economies that is underway will go, because there is so little transparent information. Within the U.S., the government is hiding the severity of the crisis in order to prevent a collapse of consumer confidence

The War On Working Americans - Part II
By Stephen Lendman

Organized labor is struggling to remain relevant and claw its way back. The enormous obstacles it faces are reviewed below as well as the condition of working Americans today in a globalized world affecting their lives and welfare heading "south" in the "land of opportunity" offering pathetically little

The Forgotten Holocaust
By Robert Fisk

The killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks during the First World War remains one of the bloodiest and most contentious episodes of the 20th century. Robert Fisk visits Yerevan, and unearths hitherto unpublished images of the first modern genocide

Fallujah Finds A False Peace
By Ali al-Fadhily

Fallujah is quiet these days. After all the fighting and destruction of 2004, U.S. and Iraqi forces call this success. Many residents are not so sure

America And Violence
By David Truskoff

US Children are ten times more likely to die from gunfire than in 25 industrialized nations combined. For young black males in the US guns are the leading source of death…In 1995 one in 12 students reported carrying a firearm or some other weapon. In 2004, 81 people were shot dead every day in the US according the US center for decease control. 29,569 were killed by firearms that year.. Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reveals that every day; nearly eight children or teens are killed by gun violence in America which adds up to about 235 each month

'Jesus:The Guantanamo Years'
By Beena Sarwar

Meet Abie Philbin Bowman a.k.a. Jesus returned to earth in his controversial, provocatively titled one-man political satire 'Jesus:The Guantanamo Years'

28 August, 2007

What's Happening To Our Weather?
By Michael McCarthy

The pattern of increasing heat and wet weather has been visible all around the globe, with temperature and rainfall records broken in many other countries, from Australia (record drought) and India (record monsoon rains) to Greece (record forest fires)

Two Years Of Katrina
By Bill Quigley

The Ten Most Important Lessons Learned

How the Bush Administration Is Turning
The USA Into A Subprime Borrower
By Heather Wokusch

Much in the same way that US investors were "steered" into rip-off mortgage loans, the entire country has been "steered" into an economic crisis. The question is how to get out of it

The Great Iraq Swindle
By Rolling Stone Magazine

How Bush Allowed an Army of For-Profit Contractors to Invade the U.S. Treasury

What Do Palestinians Really Think?
By Ali Abunimah

Nevertheless, whatever doubts there are, this poll merely confirms that Palestinians under occupation remain united on the fundamentals of their cause. Despite the conspiracy they face to starve and brutalize them into giving up their rights, the Palestinian people are steadfast in defending them

The Language Of Force
By Uri Avnery

In order to accommodate President Bush's request, Olmert is now ready to cooperate with Abbas in writing something like a "framework agreement" that will lay down the principles of an agreement that may be achieved later on - but without details or a time-table. According to the leaks, the agreement will repeat more or less Ehud Barak's proposals at Camp David, including some of the bizarre ones, such as Israeli sovereignty "beneath" the Temple Mount. The Palestinian state will have "temporary" borders, with the "permanent" borders to be fixed some time in the future

Identity For Kashmiris
By Dr Shabir Choudhry

A look into the identity crisis that Kashmiris living in Britain face

27 August, 2007

Punjab In Ecological And Health Devastation
By Umendra Dutt

There is not a single village in Punjab which has not witnessed cancer deaths in last five years.Every village has faced cruelty of deaths- young, old, married, single, man, women, rich, poor, farmer, laborer – there is no distinction. Even children are not spared. No discrimination at all. The death count starts from 4-5 and goes upto 60 or even more in a single village and one can find same number of cancer patients too

Grave Crisis Over India-US Nuclear Deal
By Praful Bidwai

The confrontation between the United Progressive Alliance and the Left over the India-United States nuclear deal has ballooned into a major crisis, which could potentially dislodge the government

A Few Great Parliaments And
A Few Un-Elected MPs
By Jawed Naqvi

In his zeal to clinch a controversial nuclear alliance with the United States, which though not mandatory lacks a majority support in India's parliament nevertheless, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has staked everything which should be dear to him — his reputation as a supposedly sagacious leader, his government's stability, his party's future and, of course, his country's sovereignty. His spin-doctors have tried every trick in the business to prove the parliament wrong and incompetent

The War On Working Americans Part I
By Stephen Lendman

As Labor Day approaches, what better time to assess the state of working America. It's under assault and weakened by decades of eroding rights in the richest country in the world once regarded as a model democratic state

Profit Of Doom
By Jason Miller

Capitalism, as Malcolm X suggested, is in its twilight. Under this egregiously malevolent and brutal system of economic organization, we have “evolved” to a point where corruption is so pervasive, the divide between the “haves” and the “have nots” is so vast, and the imperial wars for resources are so frequent and destructive that as it is imploding, capitalism may take most of us with it

Why Has Congress Failed Americans?
By Joel S. Hirschhorn

Why has Congress failed Americans? Because Americans have allowed it to fail them. Now is the time for Americans to assert their sovereign constitutional power and take back their country. That means YOU!

The Resurrection Of The Trojan Horse
By David Truskoff

Today in 2007, people like Soros, Murdock, and Bertelsmann of Germany are all still vying along with the Russian oligarchy for the minds of the people of Eastern Europe. The effort today is to keep the masses from slipping back to socialism. Gorbechev opened the doors and mind spinners poured out of the Trojan Horse and stole the minds of the people of Eastern Europe. And so, it is now on to China. Who controls the media rules

Made Love, Got War
By David Swanson

"Made Love, Got War" is the title of Norman Solomon's latest book, an autobiographical account of the peace and disarmament movements in the United States over the past half century. The value of the book lies in the lessons it provides for current and future activism, the accounts of pitfalls and seductive detours encountered in the past, the insights gained, and the analysis of how one can push on without hope or optimism or the desire for them, all as told by one of the most morally decent people we are privileged to live alongside today

In Defense Of Pluralism
By Ram Puniyani

A debate has been raging in the society about secularists being anti Hindu. Numerous examples are cited, their stance on the culprits of Godhra train burning, culprits of Bane family burning in Radhabai chawl, and to cap it all their insensivity to the plight of Kashmiri Pundits and security of Hindus in Kashmir. What is the truth?

Straight Lines: Muddy Water's Murky Politics!
By Firdous Syed

Whom should one believe: Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir who has day-in and day-out tirelessly been emphasising near-total return of normalcy and people "defeating the nefarious designs of militants", or the Governor who wants us to believe that there are thousands and thousands of Kashmiris waiting in the wings to pick up the gun again?

26 August, 2007

Even I Question The 'Truth' About 9/11
By Robert Fisk

Why have the officials involved in the United 93 flight (which crashed in Pennsylvania) been muzzled? Why did flight 93's debris spread over miles when it was supposed to have crashed in one piece in a field?

Kashmir: Struggle For Independence
Or A Proxy War?
By Dr Shabir Choudhry

It was never our struggle. We people of Jammu and Kashmir never had any control or say over it. Be it talks with India or militancy, control has always been in hands of Pakistan; and this causes anger and frustration in minds of even most pro Pakistan Kashmiris.Evidence shows that it was a proxy war and not a war of liberation; and lesson from history is that you cannot win a war of liberation by becoming a proxy for another country, especially when that country also has territorial interest in that state

Opportunism Trumps In Palestine
By Ramzy Baroud

The rash and self-defeatist behaviour emanating from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his close circle in the West Bank cannot possibly be intended for the benefit of the Palestinian people or for their internationally sanctioned struggle for human rights, freedom and equality. Abbas, and his self-serving Palestinian elites seem hell-bent on exploiting the unfolding Palestinian drama to further cement their status and position, even if such an attitude will lead to the total decimation of any little hope of recovering Palestinian rights

Obstacles To Counter Global Warming
And Climate Change
By Abdul Basit

If we postpone and continue to debate, we will reach a stage were the only viable topic to debate will be whether we are headed for the end of the modern civilization or we are passing through sunset of human existence on the face of the earth

“Scheherazade” Painting, Heroines
And The Bush War On Women
By Gideon Polya

The War on Women and Women’s Rights continues. Peace is the only way and the Pen is mightier than the Sword - but words having failed, I have asked the question: is the Brush mightier than the Pen?

We Can't Get No Educashion:
A Critique Of US Public Schools
Part I
By Emily Spence

We are a land that supposedly supports "liberty and justice for all". In practice, though, we have an educational caste system of the worst sort imaginable. It is just one more scandal (along with the treatment of the victims from Hurricane Katrina, our military invasion of Iraq without sufficient provocation and evidence of myriad other woes) plaguing our so-called great country

Down In The Trenches, Anecdotal
Evidence From The Classroom
By Emily Spence

We Can't Get No Educashion: A Critique Of US Public Schools - Part Two

The Elvira Arellano Endgame
By David Howard

Elvira Arellano’s deportation is a wake-up call for America. It’s time to say, ¡Basta ya! We’ve had enough exploitation, abuse and exclusion. It’s time to say “Sí, se puede” – We can do it!” to working families’ rights to healthcare, education, liberty and legalization

What Freedom? What Democracy?
By Siv O'Neall

The idea that the United States is the freest and most democratic country on the planet has forever been force-fed into the minds of Americans. Where is the democracy in a country and in a world that is being run by transnational corporations? Where even the Congress is tied down by bonds of dependency to Corporate America, Republicans and Democrats alike. Where the rulers have not even been freely and honestly elected by the people?

The Shrinking Space For Dissent
By Nighat Gandhi

The Hyderabad incident accorded yet another victory to Taslima in the worlds’ eyes and plummeted the global perception of muslims as an intolerant, violent, and reactionary community a notch or two lower than it already is. I hang my head in shame because Indian and South Asian muslims are resigned to accepting the leadership of men like the Owaisis. Where is the alternative, enlightened, egalitarian leadership for muslims?

24 August, 2007

Why We Are Against India-US Nuclear Deal
By Sandeep Pandey, Aruna Roy & Medha Patkar

While US Congress took a year and a half to discuss the proposed change in the US laws, permitting nuclear commerce with India, the process in India has been totally undemocratic

Credit Crunch Fallout Begins To spread
By Nick Beams

While stock markets have stabilised—at least for the time being—the effects of the credit crunch sparked by the crisis in the US subprime mortgage market are now working their way through the banks and financial institutions and the economy as a whole

Britons' Personal Debt Dxceeds Britain's GDP
By Martin Hickman

Britons have racked up so much debt on loans and credit cards that the total borrowed now exceeds the entire value of the economy, new research shows today. The financial consultant Grant Thornton is forecasting that gross domestic product (GDP) will hit £1.33 trillion this year, less than the £1.35trn which was outstanding on mortgages, credit cards and personal loans in June

Market Efficiency Hokum
By Stephen Lendman

Astute observers continue to speculate and comment that the housing bubble and resultant current financial market turmoil came from deliberate widespread malfeasance aided by considerable cash infusion help from the Federal Reserve in the lead on the scheme

Subprime Loans = Primetime For Vampire Lenders
By Jim Hightower

Let's recognize that the need for "subprime" mortgages is driven by our low-wage/no-benefit economy and by our country's growing scarcity of affordable housing. It's not merely a low-income mortgage system that must be fixed -- our leaders' pursuit of a low-income America must be stopped

A Boycott Of Israel:Something Has Changed
By John Pilger

The courageous Israeli historian, Ilan Pappé, believes a single democratic state, to which the Palestinian refugees are given the right of return, is the only feasible and just solution, and that a sanctions and boycott campaign is critical in achieving this. Would the Israeli population be moved by a worldwide boycott?

Why Cheney Really Is That Bad
By Scott Ritter

“Bush’s Brain” may be gone, but his “Soul” lives on. It is high time all of America put Dick Cheney fully in the spotlight of collective accountability, purging our nation of this scourge which has harmed us in so many ways. If there is any case for impeachment to be made against any member of the Bush administration today, it can be made against a vice president who has shamed our nation, destroyed our moral standing and broken our laws

Haitian Prisoner Of Conscience Returns
By Bill Quigley

Pere Gerard Jean-Juste, an outspoken Haitian voice for human rights, economic justice and democracy, returned to Haiti last weekend for the first time since being hustled out of a prison cell by heavily armed guards and put on a waiting plane to Miami in January of 2006

Will U.S. Be Final Victim Of Its Global Dance Macabre?
By Gul Jammas Hussain

With a huge economic, democratic, and moral deficit since World War II and a tainted conscience, ironically the United States may lose its superpower status while trying to pull off another 'democracy promoting' project

Ah, Democracy, We Hardly Knew Ye...
By Sheila Samples

It is madness to stand upon the precipice of a Constitutional crisis and even consider for one moment plunging into the abyss by giving Bush additional time to spy on Americans, to torture and kill innocents abroad, and to abandon an exhausted and ill-equipped military on the killing fields of a nation embroiled in the spiraling violence of civil war

A Climate Change Wiki
By Bill Henderson

Building a wiki could be the democratic innovation we need to finally adequately address the climate change problem - a wiki could at least put us all on the same page - and may be a very useful tool in managing man so that a sustainable future is possible

Book Review: Fair Trade For All –
How Trade Can Promote Development
By Jim Miles

A book with major flaws that reveal much truth

Prisoner Of Its Own Doing
By Firdous Syed

Only an honourable settlement for Kashmir, amicable for India and Pakistan, has the potential to usher not only an era of peace and stability in the region but also a process of reconciliation between the people of Kashmir, India and Pakistan. And who knows, even the dream of borderless South Asia could become a reality in future

22 August, 2007

Pakistan Under Siege
By Zia Mian

Military rule and puppet politicians have brought Pakistan to its present dreadful state. Rather than keeping Musharraf in power, the world must demand that Pakistan’s army yield control over government and economy once and for all. Only a freely elected and representative government that can actually make decisions can pursue economic development as if people mattered, confront the Islamists, and make peace with India

War Psychiatry And Iraq Atrocities:
How Killing Becomes A Reflex
By Penny Coleman

The values, standards and behaviors they have absorbed over a lifetime from their families, schools, religions and communities are scorned and punished. Using cruelty, humiliation, degradation and cognitive disorientation, recruits are reprogrammed with an entirely new set of learned responses. Every aspect of combat behavior is rehearsed until response becomes reflexive

The Struggle To Free The Jena Six
By Jordan Flaherty

The case in Jena is textbook proof that there are still two systems of justice functioning in this country, one for Black people, and one for white

Another U.S. Military Operation,More Unrest
By Ali al-Fadhily

New U.S. military operations across Iraq appear to be worsening the situation

Why Iraqis Oppose U.S.-Backed 'Oil Law'?
By David Bacon

The USA said it went in to liberate Iraq. The ‘oil law’ they seek to ram down the Iraqi throats proves the intent all along was to control its oil

America And Venezuela: Constitutional Worlds Apart
By Stephen Lendman

Although imperfect, no country anywhere is closer to a model democracy than Venezuela under President Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias. In contrast, none is a more shameless failure than America, but it was true long before the age of George W. Bush

The Power, But Not The Sense?
By Rand Clifford

Government of, by and for corporations (CorpoGov) is closing the noose, while recourse for The People in post 9-11 America lie eviscerated to the point of simple dissent becoming a crime. So how might we temper CorpoGov’s assault on our Constitution, us, the world’s people—even the natural systems that support life on Earth?

Taslima, Hussein And Liberal Ethos
By Ram Puniyani

The reaction to the attack on Taslima Nasreen in Hyderabad, where she came for release of Telugu version of her book Lajja, (9th August 2007), led by three MLAs of MIM party of Owaisi came as a jolt to the liberal human values, to the values which Koran preaches and to the democratic liberal values which we cherish

21 August, 2007

North American Integration And
The Militarization Of The Arctic
By Michel Chossudovsky

The Battle for the Arctic is part of a global military agenda of conquest and territorial control. It has been described as a New Cold War between Russia and America

Peru: The earthquake And The vultures
By Hugo Blanco

We recommend to those who are donating that they directly watch over the destiny of their donations. Those who can utilise the route of some NGOs should do so, in general they are guaranteed routes. What is certain is that the governmental route is full of vultures who will devour the large part of the aid

Starving Gaza
By Chris Hedges

Gaza has become the Sarajevo of the Middle East. Israel, in an action similar to that of the Serbs in Bosnia, has surrounded and cut off nearly a million and a half Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the Islamic militant group Hamas took control in June. Electric fences and watch towers manned by Israeli soldiers keep the Palestinians trapped inside the strip

Political Fallout Of Indo-US Nuclear Deal Turns Severe
By Praful Bidwai

The United States-India nuclear cooperation agreement, tabled in India’s Parliament on Monday, has precipitated the worst-ever political crisis for the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government since it was formed a little over three years ago

Stumbling Toward Another War
By Uri Avnery

The miscalculation spoken of is not a beauty queen, but a queen of ugliness: a war between Israel and Syria that may break out any minute - not because Israel wants it, nor the Syrians, but because one side misjudges a provocative act that will push the other into war

Oil Wars: Fueling Both U.S. Empire And Ecocide
By Dan Brook

The war will end. U.S. troops will return home. The empire is running on fumes and will eventually stall out. The only questions are: How many more people will have to die before that happens? How many more billions of dollars will have to be wasted?

Want To See Change In The Country? Don’t Vote!
By James Rothenberg

You may feel that you vote freely, but ask yourself why you don’t feel free to vote for a minor party candidate. Ask yourself why you don’t want to “waste” your vote, yet instead reward with it the very parties responsible for this state of futility

Padilla Jury Opens Pandora’s Box
By Paul Craig Roberts

Jose Padilla’s conviction on terrorism charges on August 16 was a victory, not for justice, but for the US Justice (sic) Department’s theory that a US citizen can be convicted, not because he committed a terrorist act but for allegedly harboring aspirations to commit such an act. By agreeing with the Justice (sic) Department’s theory, the incompetent Padilla Jury delivered a deadly blow to the rule of law and opened Pandora’s Box

John Doe Padilla Convicted Of Conspiracy
By Bob Higgins

The government on Thursday convicted "John Doe" of three counts of conspiring to participate in terrorist acts. They can do the same to me, more importantly, they can do the same to you

Mealy Bug Infestation In Punjab : Bt. Cotton Falls Flat
By Umendra Dutt

Pesticide Companies, who had practically closed shop, are upbeat in Punjab right now. They have sold pesticides worth Rs 500 crores in last two months. The intense attack of mealy bugs has demolished the infallibility of Bt cotton in just three months. With thousands of acres of Bt cotton in Malwa region facing attack, desperate farmers are resorting to intensive pesticide sprays

Talk-shop In The Name Of Assembly!
By Firdous Syed

For the past 11 years, the Assembly has not worked for more than 100 days [in Srinagar].Now if it is not a joke in the name of democracy then what is it? Can a legislator do justice to his job in such a little time? Does this genuinely not cast shadow on the working of this all-important democratic institution in the state?

20 August, 2007

Brutal Lessons From An Antarctic Summer
By Meredith Hooper

What can dying penguins tell us about the future of the planet? Meredith Hooper spent a 'ferocious' summer in Antarctica and discovered a living experiment going horribly wrong

The Worth Of The Individual
By Emily Spence

The options that individuals elect to take, in an irrevocable fashion, change the way that the future unfolds. Nothing would quite be the same without each and every one of us contributing whatever we foist into the world at large, regardless of whether these affect offspring or create change on some larger scale

Old America Is Sinking
By David Truskoff

We are producing less and less product and stealing more and more. We are sending more jobs out of the country every day

The UN: An Instrument Of Terror
By Ghali Hassan

On 10 August 2007, the United Nations Security Council has voted to give the UN an “extended role” in U.S.-British occupied Iraq after more than four years in which the UN was ignored and considered irrelevant by the U.S. and its few willing allies. The new UN Resolution, sponsored (as usual) by the U.S. and Britain, is a propaganda designed to manipulate the public and legitimise ongoing U.S.-British terror in Iraq

Iraq Progress Report: A Time To Assess And Reflect
By Stephen Lendman

In the end, Iraq may surrender as Vietnam did and lose everything now being fought for. How this plays out will only be known in the fullness of time. Millions of Iraqis hope equity and justice will triumph over greed and are betting their lives on it. May their struggle not be in vain

Iraq, The Unavoidable Global Trauma
By Pablo Ouziel

So while as westerners we count the number of "our" soldiers wounded or dead as a measurement of success or failure in this immoral war, we tend to ignore the fact that all those Iraqis dead, injured or displaced are having a long-term impact on our everyday life. If we wait for our governments to decide when the killing has gone on long enough, I cannot help but wonder whether in the not so distant future, we as westerners will be facing a moral trial and the subjugate trauma attached to it

Caught Between The U.S. And Al-Qaeda
By Ahmed Ali

The major U.S. military operation in Baquba city north of Baghdad has ended, but it has left continuing suffering for residents in its wake

Dutiful Daughters...
By Layla Anwar

And there are also, dutiful daughters lingering in overcrowded prisons with no trials, waiting for their names to be called to the gallows. And of course there are dutiful daughters being hunted down.One of them is Raghad Saddam Hussein Al Majid. The daughter of the legitimate President of Iraq

The White Man’s Burden
By Jim Miles

Book Rview: The White Man’s Burden: Why The West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good. William Easterly. Penguin Books, New York, 2006

Penetrating The Retail Sector In Bengal -
The Reliance Juggernaut
By Partho Sarathi Ray

The latest neo-liberal onslaught on the lives and livelihoods of working people in India is taking place in the retail sector

Genetic Engineering Approval Committee's
Poor Record Of Regulation
By Bhaskar Goswami

How does one countenance a regulator that does not adhere to the law of the land and is also unable to protect the interest of one group against another? The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee itself needs to be regulated to ensure it plays a balanced role

19 August, 2007

The “Crash Of 2007-8” Is Underway
By Richard C. Cook

As the house of cards comes tumbling down, the leading question on financial websites and blogs is how deep will the decline go. Will it stop at the level of the recessions of previous decades, including 2000-2002, with a decline that is reflected in the DJA of somewhere around thirty-five percent from its peak? Or will it be the “Armageddon” scenario which would take us to depression-level conditions? Of course there are multiple possibilities based on a decline somewhere between a recession and a depression that would share some of the characteristics of each

Corporate Capitalists: Government
Comes To The Rescue
By Ralph Nader

The corporate capitalists’ knees are shaking a bit. Their manipulation of the sub-prime housing market has led to a spreading credit crunch and liquidity crisis. So it is time for them to call on Uncle Sam – the all purpose bailout man.Only don’t call it a bailout yet. It is just an injection of over $200 billion in the past week to stabilize the heaving financial markets by the European Central Bank and our Federal Reserve. Governments to the rescue – again.

Entering The Tough Oil Era
By Michael T. Klare

A spate of high-level government and industry reports have begun to suggest that the original peak-oil theorists were far closer to the grim reality of global-oil availability than industry analysts were willing to admit. Industry optimism regarding long-term energy-supply prospects, these official reports indicate, has now given way to a deep-seated pessimism, even in the biggest of Big Oil corporate headquarters

On Behalf
By Gunther Ostermann

The race is on, to claim and exploit the Earth’s treasures, by many nations in the northern hemisphere, May I suggest a resolution by ALL nations, ON BEHALF of future generation, who cannot speak for themselves, to declare the whole region beyond the 85th latitude a legacy, off limits to all gas, oil and mineral exploitation

The Empire And The Independent Island
By Fidel Castro

The history of Cuba during the last 140 years is one of struggle to preserve national identity and independence, and the history of the evolution of the American empire, its constant craving to appropriate Cuba and of the horrendous methods that it uses today to hold on to world domination

The Ghost of Pinochet Haunts
The Campaign Against Chavez
By John Pilger

In Washington, the old Iran-Contra death squad gang, back in power under Bush, fear the economic bridges Chavez is building in the region, such as the use of Venezuela’s oil revenue to end IMF slavery. That he maintains a neoliberal economy with a growth rate of over 10 percent, allowing the rich to grow richer, and described by the American Banker magazine as “the envy of the banking world” is seldom raised as valid criticism of his limited reforms

Censoring Pearl Jam: A Call Of Save The Internet
By Joshua Frank

Last week Seattle based Pearl Jam accused AT&T of censoring lead singer Eddie Vedder during a live webcast of the band's Lollapalooza show on August 5, which was provided online as part of AT&T's "Blue Room" concert series. Vedder, performing a cover of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall", included the following substitute lyrics that he repeated a number of times:
"George Bush, leave this world alone."
"George Bush find yourself another home."

Rethinking The Development Of Latin America
And The Caribbean For The 21st Century
By James Petras

The specific transformative packages of measures and the timing should be reflective of the specificities of each country — but the immediate goal is to hasten the transition from a pre-national to a national economy. This involves transforming a speculative real estate market to a socially based public housing program and a rent, interest, royalty and profit remittance economy based, on overseas payments, to a self-financing, domestic market linking local resources and regions. Export sector windfall profits should lead to strengthening domestic production and exchanges which expand productive sectors and local consumption based on egalitarian norms which equalize popular political participation

Looking Back At Lebanon
By Robert Fisk

The conflict in Lebanon ended a year ago this week. Robert Fisk reflects on the human misery and destruction inflicted on the country – and on how lucky he is to be alive after more than 30 years of reporting from some of the most dangerous places in the world

Managing Consent: The Art Of War,
Democracy And Public Relations
By Ramzy Baroud

Edward Bernays's direct influence is long gone, but his ideas continue to define the relationships between the corporations, the American state, and the consuming citizen, and even the relationships between the state-corporations' union and the rest of the world. The carefully managed relationships have undermined democracy and unleashed sadistic wars and uncontrollable violence, of which Freud had warned, but which his nephew shamelessly exploited

Of Taufel, Howard And An Apology
By Salil Kader

On the same day that Simon Taufel issued an apology for handing out Sachin Tendulkar a faulty decision we had another Australian, the continent’s Prime Minister John Howard, ruling out an apology to the Indian doctor Mohammad Haneef who was detained on charges of “recklessness” and “providing support to a terrorist organisation.” These charges were subsequently dropped as they were found to be false

16 August, 2007

Why ‘Peak Oil’ May Soon Pique Your Interest
By David R. Francis

World oil production peaked in 2005, says one expert, and that presents serious problems in the future

The Second Lebanon War, A Year Later
By Jonathan Cook

Many significant developments since the war have gone unnoticed, including several that seriously put in question Israel's account of what happened last summer. This is old ground worth revisiting for that reason alone

Boycott Movement Targets Israel
By George Bisharat

Our leaders, from the executive branch to Congress, have dithered, or cheered Israel on, as it devoured the land base for a Palestinian state. Their collective irresponsibility dooms both Palestinians and Israelis to a future of strife and insecurity, and undermines our global stature. If politicians cannot lead the way, then citizens must. That is why boycotting Israel has become both necessary and justified

Two Legs Good, Four Legs Equal
By Jason Miller

Treating non-human animals as objects for our convenience (hence subjecting them to horrendous suffering and abuse) is certainly one of our most shameful misdeeds. It is also one for which each of us can readily begin making amends. One simple step we can take is to refuse to consume meat or products from the fast food industry, a hideous manifestation of capitalism that catalyzed and necessitates factory farming

Hide And Seek...Again !
By Layla Anwar

I maintain that the Iraq Body Count figure of 70'000 is shameful to say the least.I have also said on numerous occasions, that even the Lancet figure of 655'000 Iraqis dead is obsolete by now. I was slightly relieved to see that some websites did publish the more accurate figure of 1 million +. I reiterate yet again, the figure is greater than 1 million+.

Runaway Climate Change : 20 Attempts
To Model The Emergency
By Bill Henderson

I'm no expert and this modeling of possible reaction to the emergency is by no means definitive - just an attempt to get past denial to action

Shaping A Child's Gender Identity: The Role Of School
By Simon Bhuiyan

Looking at the whole system of functioning of schools, it seems like schools are the factory of creating patriarch. When are talking of equality among genders, creating policy and law to uphold quality, how can we talk about all these without looking at our present: the children and their social process of learning. Can we really bring equality among genders through laws and policy without looking at changes in the basis of learning?

15 August, 2007

Manifesto To Counter Global Warming
By Abdul Basit

As we move recklessly forward with the so called economic progress ignoring the signs of nature and the writing on the wall, its time to address some basic questions about the goals and objectives set by ourselves as individuals and nations. We must also reconsider whether the present way of economic growth and development will lead to our true progress or to the total destruction

A Day Of Reckoning For Americans
Who Lived Beyond Their Means
By Joseph Stiglitz

The pessimists who have long forecast that the US economy was in for trouble finally seem to be coming into their own. Of course, there is no glee in seeing stock prices tumble as a result of soaring mortgage defaults. But it was largely predictable, as are the likely consequences for both the millions of Americans who will be facing financial distress and the global economy

A "Slow Motion Train Wreck"
By Stephen Lendman

Jeremy Grantham's persuasive evidence suggests we're watching an unstoppable "very slow motion train wreck" likely to be pretty ugly on "impact." By his reckoning, it's probably too late to undue the enormous damage done no one will escape from. His advice is that to be forewarned is forearmed to prepare as best as possible although for most people it's practically impossible

Bush’s War Czar Floats Call For Military Draft
By Bill Van Auken

The senior military officer tapped by President Bush to serve as his “war czar” declared in a radio interview last Friday that Washington should consider the reimposition of a military draft to relieve the extreme pressure that the ongoing wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan are inflicting on the US military

Lebanese Militants Vow To Take
Battle Outside Camp
By Robert Fisk

It was a familiar routine. Just as the Lebanese army boasted of another "victory" amid the wreckage of the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian camp - its al-Qa'ida-style rebels still holding out against the state authority - one of the Islamists' spokesmen announced in an audiotape that some of the gunmen had escaped and were planning a "black day" for the government

Deconstructing The Jordan Option
By Osamah Khalil

Resurrecting the Jordan option, in which the West Bank and possibly Gaza would be united in a political and economic confederation with Jordan, demonstrates not just the poverty of ideas in Washington and Israel, but their desperation as well

Sans Brain, Bush Will Be A Better President
By Gul Jammas Hussain

The brouhaha raised by political commentators, columnists, and editorialists over the news that George W. Bush is going to lose his "brain" at the end of this month when Karl Rove retires is unwarranted

South Asia Monsoon Crisis Presents An Opportunity
To Learn And Prepare For Future Crisis
By Brian McAfee

Is the South Asia monsoon a harbinger of things to come and will we be ready next time around?

August 14, 2007: Beginning Of The 61st Year Of
The Slavery Of Salves In Pakistan
By Abid Ullah Jan

You are a slave of the salves. When you live under a government that serves not you but its foreign masters; that takes your wealth and your children to serve the interests of Washington, and lies to you to keep you docile and terrorise you to keep you obedient, how can it be otherwise?

Menacing Mail
By Aftab Alexander Mughal

Christians, Hindus and Sikhs of Peshawar city of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Pakistan are living under constant fear after the latest threatening event in which they were asked by the militants to convert to Islam. For last three months, Christians of Peshawar, Charsadda and Shantinagar have been receiving threatening letters from militants in which they were asked to leave their religion or ready to face the dire consequences

14 August, 2007

Arctic Sea Ice Set To Hit New Low
By Mark Kinver

Arctic sea ice is expected to retreat to a record low by the end of this summer, scientists have predicted. Measurements made by the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) showed the extent of sea ice on 8 August was almost 30% below the long-term average

Naive Or Cynical: Terminator Tactics
In Fighting Climate Change
By Bill Henderson

Arnie's whole climate change program is completely within the presently configured economy; incremental change is carefully spun as good for business, as a growing future economy. How naive can a leader, can a politician, can a general public be?

The Ugly Face Of Capitalism: A Blight On The World
By Emily Spence

We cannot expect our governments to provide for us the necessary changes to improve the quality of life for the majority of humanity. It is up to us to do so and, as Eleanor Roosevelt so rightly points out, doing so IS an ethical imperative!

Bush's Brain Goes Missing As Karl Rove Retires
By Leonard Doyle

To Republicans, he is a brilliant strategist who kept their man in power. To Democrats, he is a ruthless manipulator whose machinations banished them to the sidelines. Now Karl Rove is retiring

Iran Ties Weaken Government Further
By Ali al-Fadhily

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's increasing ties with Iran have triggered a splintering of his government.Several groups, both Sunni and Shia, have followed the Sunni al-Tawafuq bloc (Iraqi Accord Front) in quitting the U.S.-backed government. But Maliki refuses to make the concessions necessary to bring his "unity" government back together

Bush's Booming Economy For The Rich
By Sheila Samples

"The economy is good -- if you're rich. For the rest of us, there's not much to write home about."

Attack On Taslima:Love Of Islam Or Love Of Power?
By Asghar Ali Engineer

It was shocking that three MLAs of Ittahidul Muslimin in Hyderabad gatecrashed into the book release function of her book Lajjai translated into Telugu on 9th August and tried to beat up Taslima and shouted slogans using unbecoming words, even using abusing language. And all this in the name of Islam as if Islam stands for such hooliganism

Education In Madhya Pradesh
By Sachin Kumar Jain

If one wants to get equity and respect in life, then education is the basic requirement, but in Madhya Pradesh, education itself has turned into a challenge for the children

13 August, 2007

India's Agrarian Martyrs: Are You Listening?
By Jessica Long

In 2003, 17,107 farmers committed suicide. In the last few years, the number of documented suicides in India's rural areas has skyrocketed. These suicides have become so commonplace that they are mystifying a nation and polarizing the debate over biotechnology

A Palestinian Miracle At The UN?
By Ramzy Baroud

The miracle was of course no miracle at all; Palestinians had clearly utilised the same mechanism that Israel had used for years to block the mere possibility of bringing attention to the plight of Gaza. One hates to invoke the proverbial idea of Palestinians being their own worst enemy, but very few terms can describe the unfolding travesty, compounded by the fact that the Zionist lobby at the US Congress is now actively lobbying on behalf of Abbas

Oslo Revisited
By Uri Avnery

Fourteen years after the signing of the Oslo agreement, it is again the subject of debate: was it a historical mistake?

Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
By Layla Anwar

I just read in the Observer, the Guardian's sister, that the US army in Iraq is crippled by fatigue. The article says that those poor soldiers are suffering from sleep disorders, the proverbial PTSD, conjugal problems, exhaustion, lassitude and bouts of acute superstition... They also live on "Red Bull" and "Rip it"

A Disneyland Of Militant Ignorance:
The American Normalization Of Mass Murder
By Phil Rockstroh

Given the nation's tottering infrastructure, imperial overreach abroad and vandalized constitutional process by a lawless executive branch, what will it take to scare the general public, mainstream press and political classes into immediate action to bring about meaningful change?

No Nukes For Peace
By Praful Bidwai

August 9 was the 62nd anniversary of the atomic devastation of Nagasaki. It is an appropriate, if sad, occasion to look at the military as well as energy implications of the India-US nuclear agreement

Route Map Of Imperial Army
By Ram Puniyani

Despite the claim of Pakistan establishment, George Bush did not rule out military strike in Pakistan. This clarification was issued by the White house officials in the aftermath of the phone call by Bush to Musharraf

Need For An Uncensored History From 1857 To 1947
By Jawed Naqvi

The 60th year of our independence is as good an occasion as any to take stock of our mistakes and dream about a better future

'The Disappeared'
By Zia Ur Rehman

As the world commemorates August 30 as the International Day of the Disappeared, we too must remind the government of the hundreds of missing people in Balochistan and elsewhere

Tsundur : A New Milestone In
The Movement For Dalit Emancipation
By Subhash Gatade

As rightly noted by an analyst the victory ( albeit a partial one) at Tsundur has come as breath of fresh air in the already smouldering world of dalit oppression. And it is high time that its fragrance is spread far and wide, so that people are told that oppressed people united would always be victorious

Make Children’s Dream Come True
By Sachin Kumar Jain

Even after 60 years of independence, one can not have joyful celebration of Independence Day, remember 6 out of 10 children in Madhya Pradesh are malnourished and 7 out of 100 children under the age of one year die without enjoying their first birthday due to various causes

12 August, 2007

Bush And DU: A 4.5 Billion Year Legacy
By Jeff Berg

The result of the use of thousands of tons of DU munitions in Gulf Wars I and II has been to spread trillions of micron sized particles of Depleted Uranium into the sands and air of Iraq. At least that is where it started its life or rather better said its death march. The Middle East is after all rather well known for sands and dust and winds and so where it will stop its 4.5 billion year journey nobody knows

The Cracks In Saddam's Dam
By Patrick Cockburn

As world attention focuses on the daily slaughter in Iraq, a devastating disaster is impending in the north of the country, where the wall of a dam holding back the Tigris river north of Mosul city is in danger of imminent collapse

Myths Of Mideast Arms Sales
By William D. Hartung

The Bush administration’s proposal to send $20 billion worth of arms and $43 billion in military aid to U.S. allies in the Middle East has been promoted by repeating a series of time-worn myths that should have long since been abandoned. With a shooting war in Iraq and a war of words with Iran well under way, the last thing the region needs is a new influx of high tech weaponry

La Trobe University, “Bundoora Arabesque”
And Australian Aboriginal Genocide
By Gideon Polya

The World should be watching. Tell everyone you know about the horrendous, continuing Aboriginal Genocide and the resurgent, bi-partisan-backed, politically correct racist (PC racist) New Racist White Australia

Beijing Olympics: To boycott Or Not
By Mary Shaw

One year from now, the 2008 Summer Olympics will be taking place in Beijing, China. The media have already started covering the preparations and glamorizing the whole affair. But, hidden away from the eyes of the world, far away from the glitz and the pageantry, is a much uglier side of China - its long and horrible record of human rights abuses

Politics Unmercifully Trespass
Humanitarian Borders In Gaza
By Nicola Nasser

The major political players who are involved in sealing off 1.5 million Palestinians into an open air prison in the world’s most densely populated 360-square-kilometre area of the Gaza Strip are unmercifully trespassing humanitarian borders there; they perceive in the collapsing economy of the Mediterranean coastal strip, which is rapidly developing into a humanitarian crisis, a political “window of opportunity.”

Left's Volte-Face Will Stoke Public Wrath
By Harsh Dobhal

The Left spouts anti neo-liberalism slogans in public rallies, but practices that very strategy at home. West Bengal, Orissa, Chattisgarh, and now Khamman in Andhra Pradesh: the political colour of the rule in these States might differ, but across the political spectrum, neo-liberalism has been embraced unconditionally. Mass uprisings are inevitable if the State continues to allow industries to grab agricultural land

US Hegemony Spawns Russian-Chinese
Military Alliance
By Paul Craig Roberts

The US has not been able to occupy the Iraqi city of Baghdad despite 5 years of efforts; it most certainly cannot occupy Russia or China. That means the conflict toward which the neocons are driving will be a nuclear conflict

Welcome To The Jungle: US Military
Psychological Operations And You
By Heather Wokusch

We must become more vigilant about the ongoing use of military PSYOP and misinformation - the Pat Tillman case is a perfect example. Holding the Defense Department and media accountable for every mislead regarding the Bush administration's military adventurism is more important than ever

Straight Lines: Crisis Of credibility And Hope!
By Firdous Syed

Even when the separatist leadership of all hues and colours has lost much of its appeal today, the cause of Azadi (freedom) is as popular as it used to be. In fact given the immense sacrifices including indignities braved by the common people in the Valley, the sentiment of Azadi is more deep-rooted today than ever before

What About Bombay 1992?
By Aijaz Zaka Syed

Getting back to Bombay, action against those responsible for the 1993 outrage is welcome, even if it's done under a draconian law like Tada under which you are guilty until proven innocent; and even if questions have been raised about the justness of the system under which they have been prosecuted. But bring those responsible for the shame of 1992 to account too. You do not have to look far to find them. They are right there in Bombay and everyone, including the powers that be, knows them. For justice, as Eleanor Roosevelt argued, cannot be for one side but must be for both

11 August, 2007

Iraqi Government On Brink Of Collapse
By James Cogan

The political survival of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is in doubt following the withdrawal from his cabinet of two political blocs that derive the bulk of their support from Iraq’s Sunni Arab population. A variety of sectarian and ethnic cliques in Baghdad are reportedly involved in discussion with the Bush administration over ousting Maliki and forming a new government when the Iraqi parliament resumes in September

Subprime Or Subcrime? Time
To Investigate And Prosecute
By Danny Schechter

The "subprime" credit crunch is really a sub-crime ponzi scheme in which millions of people are losing their homes because of criminal tactics by financial institutions

China's Threat To The Dollar Is Real
By Paul Craig Roberts

The Chinese made no threats. To the contrary, one of the officials said, “China doesn’t want any undesirable phenomenon in the global financial order.” The Chinese message is different. The message is that Washington does not have hegemony over Chinese policy, and if matters go from push to shove, Washington can expect financial turmoil

Why The Government Tests Few Chinese Imports
By Joel S. Hirschhorn

Massive amounts of Chinese imports are threatening public health and safety. Many food and consumer products pose risks. Lead in children’s toys and jewelry. Toxins in foods for pets and humans, and in toothpaste. Unsafe automobile tires. Many prescription drugs made with few safeguards. The list is endless. The federal government is not safeguarding American citizens through thorough testing of imports. Why? Simple: The Chinese have us by our budget-deficit balls

Mahmoud Abbas' War Against
The Palestinian People
By Ali Abunimah

Abbas' policy of colluding with Israel to starve his own people is having its effect. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA issued a desperate appeal for the borders of the besieged strip to be reopened.All 600 garment factories in Gaza have shut down because they cannot import raw materials and 90 percent of factories involved in the construction industry have closed

Can’t Possibly Get Any Better
By Rand Clifford

A CorpoMedia masterpiece has recently been published by Michael Barone, senior writer for U.S. News and World Report. The title: New global study points to hope. The study in reference is the Pew Global Attitudes Project’s poll of 47 nations. The Pew Resource Center, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, likes to call itself a Washington Fact Tank

Muslims Demand An Apology From MIM
By Mike Ghouse

“We were all set to kill her”, said Majidullah Khan about Taslima Nasrin. It is an atrocious condemnable statement. it is time to reflect and figure out how to prevent this from happening now and in future. The incident happened in Hyderabad, India on August 9th

In Defense Of Taslima Nasreen
By Michael Deibert

On the deplorable attack on Taslima Nasreen

Magic Seeds
By Harsh Dobhal

A farmers' collective revives traditional farming systems and hundreds of varieties of grains and pulses

10 August, 2007

Focus On Carbon 'Missing The Point'
By Eamon O'Hara

Focusing on the need to reduce CO2 emissions has reduced the problem to one of carbon dioxide rather than on the unsustainable ways we live. Is it not time to recognise that climate change is yet another symptom of our unsustainable lifestyles, which must now become the focus our efforts?

A Perspective On Global Warming
By Jean-Louis Robert Turcot & Emily Spence

The solution might be, in the end, quite simple It just may be that 'The more we take care of each other, the more the Earth will take care of us,' or, to put it more succinctly, the more that we allow more life to live with a reasonable prospect for survival, the more Gaia may tolerate our presence and work with us to continue our individual species, a species that is just one of ever so many currently at peril from our all too human inhumane actions

Credit Fears Spark Stock Market Plunge
By Patrick Martin

Stock markets worldwide slumped Thursday amid mounting fears that the crisis in the subprime mortgage lending market is leading to a more generalized credit crisis. The Dow-Jones Industrial Average, the most widely followed stock index, ended down 387.18 points, its largest loss in six months and the fourth triple-digit movement in five days, an indication of the increasing instability in financial markets

The Empire Shudders And Shakes
By David Truskoff

When people can not afford to make their mortgage payments and are taking money out of their children’s education fund to pay their bills, When they can no longer afford to buy houses, no intervention by the Government can save the market or the empire

Those Summertime Blues
By Layla Anwar

Fridges, freezers, air coolers, AC, fans, ventilators, forget it...only in the Green zone. Only in the comfort zone of the Brothel.Thirst, infants dying of thirst and the river still eaten up by the brothel holders...

European Hypocrisy
By Saifedean Ammous

Europe's policy with regard to Palestine/Israel is so racist, short-sighted, counter-productive and hypocritical that it could almost pass for American policy

Between The Lines
By Jim Miles

Review of "Between the Lines – Readings on Israel, The Palestinians, and the U.S. War on Terror” Edited by Tikva Honig-Parnass and Toufi Haddad

Democracy Lives!
By Adam Engel

Our Masters will vote on when and where the next WAR will be, and THEY will vote on when to finally withdraw any semblance of democracy from the masses as surely as they’ll vote on how much sugar to pump into your kid’s breakfast cereal. The masses never would have known (or cared about) “democracy” in the first place if not for a few do-gooder meddlers in the Courts and Congress rewriting the Constitution to include, of all people, the PEOPLE

Putting Your Foot Into Your Mouth!
By Firdous Syed

Addressing a public meeting at Langate in Kupwara district on Tuesday the 24th of July, Syed Ali Shah Geelani said "majority of non-state subjects were professional criminals and they should be driven out of Kashmir in a civilised and dignified manner". As if taking a cue, militant organisations also joined the fray, and taking a step further, issued dead-lines and ultimatums to the migrant labourers to leave Kashmir

Park Of Pollution
By K A Shaji

The residents of a Dalit village in Kerala's Kanjikode industrial belt have been dying a silent death

09 August, 2007

Wild Weather A Taste Of Things To Come
By Marc Kaufman

The year still has almost five months to go, but it has already experienced a range of weather extremes that the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation says is well outside the historical norm and is a precursor to much greater weather variability as global warming transforms the planet

Asia By DU, Africa By AIDS
By Hamid Golpira

Asia by DU, Africa by AIDS, and we can add South America by hunger and poverty. If this is not a world depopulation program, what is it?

Uncle Sam, Your Banker Will See You Now
By Paul Craig Roberts

If Western financial markets are sufficiently intelligent to comprehend the message, US interest rates will rise regardless of any further action by China. At this point, China does not need to sell a single bond. In an instant, China has made it clear that US interest rates depend on China, not on the Federal Reserve

Iraqis Oppose Oil Privatization
By Aaron Glantz

A new public opinion poll has found nearly two thirds of Iraqis oppose plans to open the country’s oilfields to foreign companies.The poll found a majority of every Iraqi ethnic and religious group believe their oil should remain nationalized. Some 66 percent of Shi’ites and 62 percent of Sunnis support government control of the oil sector, along with 52 percent of Kurds

Sectarianism Splits Security In Diyala
By Ahmed Ali

Militia from the Shia organisation Badr have taken over the police force in Diyala province north of Baghdad. The government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is believed to have backed such infiltration, and this has reportedly led to clashes with U.S. military leaders

America's Shame: Two Years
After Hurricane Katrina
By The Sacramento Area Black Caucus

Two years have gone by, and Black America has failed to respond in any coherent fashion to the catastrophe that we call Katrina: the death of a Black city. It was in that place that the United States proved, once and for all time, that Black life had no value, and that the loss of Black life was considered an improvement of the social condition

Reviewing Marjorie Cohn's "Cowboy Republic"
By Stephen Lendman

Marjorie Cohn's latest book just published, and subject of this review, is titled "Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law." It provides a thorough, impressive and incisive account of the most important ways the Bush administration defied, defiled and weakened the rule of law and by so doing hurtled the nation toward tyranny. This book is an essential guide to their lawless record, its threat to the nation and world, and the desperate need to confront it, challenge it and remove it from office before it's too late

Nandigram Violence A 'State Sponsored Massacre'
By People's Tribunal On Nandigram

In its final report the People's Tribunal on Nandigram has called the violence of 14 March 2007 a 'pre-planned, state-sponsored massacre' carried out 'to teach a lesson' to people opposing the SEZ project on their land. It has strongly recommended continuation of the CBI investigation, initiated by the Calcutta High Court on 15th March but wound up in just a week

Sixty Years Of Fake Freedom: The South Asian Story
By Partha Banerjee

Moreover, in sixty years of a fake freedom, we South Asians ourselves have been successful to raise an apolitical, apathetic generation wilfully ignorant of our own history and way of life -- political, economic and cultural.Thanks to the freedom 60 years ago, we are now completely colonized

'Whose Law And Whose Order?'
By Mubasshir Ahmed

Justice is not a word but a complete sentence. The Indian Muslim has only heard the word 'justice' and yet to see the completion of the sentence. Time and again, he has been promised by the so-called 'secular' Congress party that the sentence will be completed by implementation of the Sri Krishna Commission report

Xenophobia, Kashmiri style!
By Arjimand Hussain Talib

Kashmiris have always been thought as the last ones to be chauvinists. But why are today flocks of migrant laborers being driven out from the Valley? How did a people who are celebrated and cherished throughout the world for their warmth and hospitality are today feeling insecure and reacting?

07 August, 2007

US Arms Sales Preserve Israel’s Edge
By Thalif Deen

When the United States sells state-of-the-art weapons systems to Arab nations, it invariably provides even more lethal and sophisticated arms to its steadfast ally, Israel, in order to help counter the firepower of its neighbours

White Elephants : Bush's Middle East Arms Deals
By Uri Avnery

Saudi Arabia is unable to maintain the weapons that are flowing to it. It does not have enough pilots for the airplanes it is buying, nor crews for the tanks. The new weaponry will collect sand in the desert, like all the expensive weapons it has bought in the past. So what is the sense in buying more weapons to the tune of 20 billions?

A Reflection On Hard And Obvious Realities
By Fidel Castro

Commercial advertising and consumerism are incompatible with the survival of the species. After all possible calculations, you will realize that natural resources, space, climate, weather, and the system cannot yield any other outcome, given their pace and the direction in which they are moving

Concerning Catastrophes And Cooperation
By Emily Spence

In the end, we, all of us, have to ask ourselves whether we wish to have more of everything (manufactured goods, vacation homes, holidays in far away locations and so on) in the short term or do we want to stretch out our use of resources to give the Earth a break to heal and to try to help ensure that future generations can more easily survive

Reviewing Ferdinand Lundberg's
"Cracks In The Constitution"
By Stephen Lendman

Lundberg's book was published twenty-seven years ago, yet remains as powerfully important and relevant today as then. Simply put, the book is a blockbuster. It's must reading to learn what schools to the highest levels never teach about the nation's most important document that lays out the fundamental law of the land in its Preamble, Seven Articles, Bill of Rights, and 17 other Amendments. Lundberg deconstructs it in depth, separating myth from reality about what he called "the great totem pole of American society."

Geopolitical Concerns Behind United Nations
Intervention In Darfur
By Chris Talbot

There is certainly a worsening humanitarian disaster in Darfur—a recent UN report stated that more than half a million people out of a total of 4.2 million affected were cut off from humanitarian aid. But the driving force behind the proposed intervention is the interest of the United States and the Western powers in taking more control over this strategic region and its oil wealth

Fighting For The Right To Learn
By Bill Quigley

The Public Education Experiment in New Orleans Two Years after Katrina

Do Not Cry For The Bombay Riot Victims!
By Subhash Gatade

The conspiracy of silence over the Bombay riot victims is nothing surprising

Charging Anti-Semitism To Silence Dissent
By Ida Audeh

Can Israel's supporters support a state in which Jews, Muslims, and Christians have equal rights as citizens? Surely the goal of equality among all Semites in Mandate Palestine is worth pursuing by those who claim to be appalled by anti-Semitism

Defending Human Rights In Palestine
By Sonia Nettnin

There are an estimated 100 unrecognized Arab villages inside Israel. In this context, unrecognized means the Israeli Government does not recognize these villages on any Israeli maps. Even if the people in these villages pay taxes, most of the villages do not have paved roads and/or access to electrical services and water

Ecuador: The Indigenous Movement And Correa
By Federico Fuentes

Today the indigenous movement faces some real challenges. However forging unity between this process of change and the indigenous movement to help push forward and defend Correa as his government comes under heavy attack from imperialism will have an important impact on Ecuador's destiny

A Response To Maxwell's Silver Hammer: Syracuse University Enlists In The Global War On Terror
By Katherine Hughes

Thank you for publishing "Maxwell's Silver Hammer: Syracuse University Enlists in the Global War on Terror" by Linda Ford and Ira Glunts. The concern expressed in this article is well founded

04 August, 2007

The End Of Cheap Food
By John James

It looks like the era of cheap food is over. The price of maize has doubled in a year, and wheat futures are at their highest in a decade. The food price index in India has risen 11%, and in Mexico in January there were riots after the price of corn flour went up fourfold. The floods in England and India have devastated crops. In nearly every country food prices are going up, and they are probably not going to come down again

What Would The World Be Like At 2°C?
By John James

That's when the biosphere begins to absorb less of the CO2 that we produce, and that is a point beyond which we can't do anything more about it. 2°C global warming leads automatically to 3°, because of positive feedbacks. 3° leads automatically to 4°. Once we get to that point, we wash our hands of it. There's nothing more we can do. So we must not get to that point. That is critical. We can't allow 2°C of warming to happen

Alberto Gonzales And Coup Against Democracy
By Ramzy Baroud

The name of Alberto Gonzales is rapidly becoming synonymous with all that has gone wrong under the Bush administration

Bush And Bridges
By David Swanson

Bush is visiting the site of a bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis . He and Cheney and Congress have spent $488 billion on the illegal occupation of Iraq, which works out to $10.7 billion from Minnesota, or $1.2 billion from Minneapolis and St. Paul. Think you could fix a bridge with that?

Addling Us Not So Softy
By Rand Clifford

The first thing people think when something happens like the bridge collapse in Minneapolis the other day: TERRORISTS! Later, when ragheads with long scraggly beards have been ruled out as a cause, we can sheepishly approach the reality of our infrastructure decaying all around us while we lack funds to address the hyper-overdue problem because there are so many foreigners with resources we covet that we have to blow to bits

The Minnesota Bridge Collapse:
One More Indictment Of The Profit System
By Barry Grey

Occurring during the run-up to the second anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe, the bridge disaster has once more left people in the United States and around the world wondering in shock and horror how it is possible that the richest nation in the world enters the twenty-first century with a social infrastructure that is thoroughly decayed

Bravery, Tears And Broken Dreams
By Robert Fisk

Mount Ararat will never return to Armenia - not to the rump state which the Soviets created in 1920 after the Turkish genocide of one and a half million Armenians - and its presence to the west of the capital, Yerevan, is a desperate, awful, permanent reminder of wrongs unrighted, of atrocities unacknowledged, of dreams never to be fulfilled

Obama Calls For US Attack On Pakistan
By David Walsh

Speaking to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Obama called for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan, threatened unilateral attacks against Pakistan and pledged to strengthen the US military and intelligence apparatus

British Woman Watches In Shock As Israeli Bulldozers
Raze Her Home West Of Occupied Jerusalem
By Jennie Matthew

Six months pregnant and exhausted, British mother Jessica Barhoum is still shocked that Israeli authorities ordered her, her husband and their baby out of bed at daybreak and pulverized their home

Double Standards: Punishing The Culprits Of Violence
By Ram Puniyani

We seem to be heading for two sets of justice system as a whole. The ones belonging to minority community, suffer maximum in the communal carnage. They get killed, their properties are destroyed. The guilty in these cases are generally not punished. Those aiding and abetting these crimes get away with it and sometimes even promoted

03 August, 2007

Russia Claims North Pole
By Anne Penketh

Russia has taken a giant leap for the Kremlin by planting its flag on the ocean floor under the North Pole in a politically charged symbolic gesture to claim the rights to the sea bed which could be rich in oil and gas

A Nail In Maliki Government's Coffin?
By Ali al-Fadhily

The recent resignations of Iraq's Army Chief of Staff and several of his council military leaders underscore a continuing decomposition of Iraq's U.S.-backed government

Israel’s Jewish Problem In Tehran
By Jonathan Cook

More important than the welfare of Iranian Jewish families, it seems, is the value of Iranian Jews as a propaganda tool in Israel’s battle to persuade the world that coexistence with the Muslim world is impossible. For those who want to engineer a clash of civilizations, the 3,000-year-old Jewish legacy in Iran is not something to be treasured, only another obstacle to war

Return Of The Robber Barons
By Paul Craig Roberts

As the Bush Regime outfits B-2 stealth bombers with 30,000 pound monster “bunker buster” bombs for its coming attack on Iran, the US economy continues its 21st century decline. While profits soar for the armaments industry, the American people continue to take it on the chin

Maxwell's Silver Hammer: Syracuse University
Enlists In The Global War On Terror
By Linda Ford & Ira Glunts

My alma mater now informs me that to be a citizen of Syracuse University Maxwell School is to support continual and all-out war against a vaguely defined “terrorist” enemy, to condone lethal collateral damage to civilians, and to team up with Israeli military institutions in order to learn the methods that they have found “successful” against the Palestinians, a people they have occupied and suppressed for over 40 years

Why Does Saudi Arabia Need Military Aid?
By Mark Steel

Here's something they sneaked out this week with hardly anyone noticing - the Americans have announced a "military aid package" of sixty billion dollars for their allies in the Middle East. This is $250 for every living American, $10 for everyone on the planet. Are they taking each weapon out individually for a meal at the Ivy? And $13bn of this is for Saudi Arabia. Because if there's one family on this earth in need of financial aid, it's the Saudi royal family

Demand Destruction - Market Failure
By Bill Henderson

Demand destruction will occur in those countries that can't afford oil.Demand destruction will occur in farmers fields and Third World slums. America will eat turkey, watch football and give thanks to the Lord while millions starve, while millions starve outside a privileged world where oil is still fungible

Migrant Workers: Slaves Of The Twenty-First Century
By Abdol Moghset Bani Kamal

As soon as Murad Bux arrived, his 13-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter were introduced to him. He hugged them and wept. He was a servant of an Arab Shaikh in Qatar and his master had allowed him to visit his family after 12 years for a duration of two months. When he was asked how his life had gone in Qatar. His reply was: “For me, each day has been as long as a year. As if the time was hanged and the globe had stopped revolving around the sun”.This is the story of thousands of Pakistani migrant workers in the Arab Sheikhdoms

Little Dreams In Young Eyes
By Anil Gulati

Children like Rohit, Nadeem, Kanchan and Rajni do add to the income of their respective families but they have left their childhood far behind. They have their own little dreams in their eyes. Many of them may not want to sell vegetables and have an ambition of doing something big. But the big question here is who will provide them the opportunity—opportunity to study, opportunity to grow, opportunity to get jobs and the list is long one. Or they would end up doing what their parents are doing and will never be able to realize the dream, their little eyes see

Debates In Education In Rural Tamil Nadu
By Vrunda Prabhu

Tsunami-affected community and Arunthatiars Of SathyaMangalam

02 August, 2007

A Metallurgist’s Insights Into
The Minneapolis Bridge Disaster
By Joel S. Hirschhorn

The incredible collapse of the Minneapolis bridge will send a message to the nation that has been repeatedly sent for decades, but that our political system has refused to effectively respond to. America’s physical, engineered infrastructure has been in desperate need for massive spending to repair and replace, but the multi-trillion-dollar cost has been rejected by local, state and federal politicians

Climate Criminals And Climate Genocide
By Gideon Polya

The Western world is dominated by lying, racist, Bush-ite media who are still giving the climate criminals a free run to pollute the planet at the expense of the Developing World. The words of the world’s most eminent scientists, technologists and economists are failing under the weight of corporate Mainstream media lies and spin

An Appeal To America's Jewish Leaders
By Thomas Daly

You hold the key to world peace in your hands and I urge you to act now to bring about the needed changes to accomplish this goal. Throughout the Middle East there is one, and only one prominent problem which affects the entire region. The resolution to this problem will bring peace to the region and greatly enhance worldwide peace efforts. The problem is the ongoing, unresolved Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

Time To Run For Change, America
By Pablo Ouziel

On July 25th the International Herald Tribune ran a piece titled; "Teens march across America in lonely opposition to war." The article talked about nineteen year old Ashley Casale and eighteen year old Michael Israel who started their 3,000-mile walk from San Francisco to Washington opposing the war in Iraq and hoping that others would join them. The pair did pick up a third marcher, nineteen year old Tom Garrett, but the masses were absent; What happened to them? What happened to all those Americans opposing the war?

In Our Name
By Rand Clifford

Iraq is such a perfect example of CorpoGov’s style: Based on lies we annihilated their infrastructure, perpetually poisoned their environment with depleted uranium (DU) projectiles, killed outright 1 out of every 45 of their population that weren’t among the lucky millions to flee the country, and branded Iraqis who fight the invasion and occupation as "insurgents" or "terrorists". Now we are piggishly trying to charge them for restoration of infrastructure we destroyed—even while demanding they surrender 75% of their oil revenues to Big Oil for at least 30 years

Bursting Of credit Bubble Underlies
Stock Market Turbulence
By Barry Grey

The sudden volatility on stock exchanges resembles the fever chart of a delirious patient. It reflects fears that the near-collapse of credit markets linked to subprime US home mortgages is spreading more broadly and leading to a major contraction of credit throughout the economy

US War On Terror And Muslim Response
By Usman Khalid

The US war on terror is indeed unprecedented. It is unprecedented in its scale which is global. It is unprecedented in the intensity of the slaughter it entails. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. The narrative of the resistance is simpler, more viable and sustainable almost indefinitely. The narrative of America has run into sand already. Without an exit strategy, it is doomed

Lal Masjid Storming: A Beginning To Musharraf's Exit
By Jaspal Singh Sidhu

The Lal Masjid crackdown has already triggered a bloodbath in NWFP while the Interior Ministry sounds a warning for armed forces that hundreds of 'suicide bombers' are stalking around to avenge the 'sacriledge' of the masjid

An Open Letter To Dr. Manmohan Singh,
Prime Minister Of India
By Nishikant Waghmare

The Government of India must hand over the management of one of the Holiest Shrines of world the Mahabodhi Temple, amending the Management Act of 1949. Millions of Buddhists across the world are upset as non-Buddhists have the control over the Holiest Shrine of Buddhists. We Buddhist must have control over the management

01 August, 2007

US Unveils Huge Arms Package
By Patrick Martin

The Bush administration dispatched Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to the Middle East Monday after announcing plans to funnel a staggering quantity of US military aid to various client regimes in the region. A total of $63 billion in arms will be sold or supplied to Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and five Persian Gulf sheikdoms

Reclaiming Palestine
By Osamah Khalil

Today, Palestine and the Palestinians are divided as never before. The West Bank and Gaza are geographically and politically separated, and Israel's Apartheid Wall is carving the West Bank into isolated cantons. These divisions are exacerbated by the political rift between Fatah and Hamas and the specter of civil war

One Week In July
By Sonja Karkar

It is the ordinary people who are suffering nearly every human rights violation imaginable at the hands of Israel's army, the fanatical Jewish settlers and Israel's policy makers and spin doctors who have never seen the Palestinians as human beings

Why My Landlord Is Expecting The Worst
By Robert Fisk

The news is all bad. Across the Middle East, it is all bad. From the Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan to the hell-disaster in Iraq, from the mini-civil war in the Pakistani north-west frontier to the chaos of Gaza and the occupied West Bank. This is not a time for a "sense of possibilities". My landlord is right. Weld the iron door to the entrance of our homes

The Resort To Indiscriminate Killings
By Ghali Hassan

Thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians were killed every day in one of the most premeditated and unprovoked acts of aggression in history. Why the U.S. is resorting to indiscriminate killings of Iraqi civilians?

A Little Easier To Occupy From The Air
By Ali al-Fadhily

Many Iraqis believe the dramatic escalation in U.S. military use of air power is a sign of defeat for the occupation forces on the ground

Reviewing Linda McQuaig's "It's The Crude, Dude"
By Stephen Lendman

Her book is divided into 10 tantalizingly titled chapters. It was written in 2004, updated in 2006, and is just as relevant now as when first published. Some of the story is known, but much information covered isn't common knowledge and key parts aren't discussed at all in the mainstream

Do We Want A President Pelosi?
By Alex Wolfson

We must not repeat the same mistakes over, of which the drive for impeachment is one. We must not loose sight of our real goal, which is to end as much suffering in which we are complicit as we can, not the removal of one or two specific men. We must continue to fight against Bush and Cheney as tools of U.S. hegemony without ever forgetting that the problems go far beyond any one person, one administration, one party. The fight isn’t against them; it is against the system of oppression itself

Wither Kashmir: Short-Term Glory
Or Long-Term Solution
By Ather Zia

The UN Resolution albeit updated with a third option, is the only means to pave way for a permanent solution for Kashmir

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