28 February, 2007
Melting
Ice Gives Birth To A Strange New World
By Steve Connor
Marine biologists made a unique inventory of lifeforms
on a part of the seabed that had been sealed off for thousands of years
by massive ice shelves before they suddenly broke up. Waves of colonising
plants and animals quickly moved in to exploit the new habitat which
had opened up after a region of ice a third of the size of Belgium had
disappeared and let in daylight and oxygen
Congressional
Democrats Rule Out
Iraq War Fund Cutoff
By Patrick Martin
Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the Democratic
chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, flatly rejected Sunday
any attempt to cut off funding for the US war in Iraq, calling such
an action “immoral” and declaring his party’s commitment
to the “success” of the American occupation of Iraq
The Imperfect
Sex. Why Is Sor Juana Not A Saint?
By Jorge Majfud
We can understand in the same way the political
and religious factor in two women as different as Saint Teresa and Sor
Juana. Perhaps this is one of the reasons for which one of them has
been repeatedly honored by the religious tradition and the other reduced
to the literary circle or to the Mexican two-hundred peso notes, symbol
of the material world, abstraction of sin
The Coming
Fascist Surge
By Thomas Riggins
How often have we been told that when fascism comes
to the USA it will be wrapped in the American flag and spouting patriotic
slogans and speeches? I don't want to suggest that that day is near.
If anything the center-left victory in the midterm elections shows that
the American people are turning their backs on the the ultra-right and
neoconservative extremists. These ultra-right forces are not, however,
about to give up without a struggle and the left must not be lulled
into thinking that fascist ideology has no chance to gain formidable
support from elements in the ruling class
The Growth
Engine Of The American Prison Gulag
By Glen Ford
The U.S. prison system is projected to suck up
200,000 additional bodies between now and 2011, half of them African
American. The burden of the Gulag, which has grown eightfold since 1970,
is unbearable for Black America, whose institutions and dreams have
for two generations been ravaged by a public policy of mass Black incarceration.
The very existence of the American Gulag - the largest and most pervasive
prison system in the history of mankind - presents a clear and present
threat to U.S. society at-large
They
Are Baack. The USA Returns
By David Truskoff
Today the resources of the Middle East are just
as essential to the empire builders in Washington D.C., but coupled
with the threat of the loss of the value of the dollar via Tehran’s
new policy of switching the currency in oil sales, makes military action
almost a necessity
Hindutva's
Uncivil Society In Eastern UP
By Subhashini Ali
The Hindu Mahasabha-BJP MP from Gorakhpur, Yogi
Adityanath, makes no attempt to mask his intentions with civilities
and double-talk. He calls upon the majority community to recognize Muslims
as the enemy and to utilize every opportunity to attack them. He has
created his own organization, the Hindu Yuva Vahini, which has branches
in almost every village, small town and district headquarter of Eastern
UP
Parzania
: Cinema That Questions The Spectator…..
By Anita Ratnam
We all know that Secularism, sanity, safety cannot
become real, if we remain "spectators". But how many movies
remind us of this, and so poignantly?
27 February, 2007
US
War Drums Beat Louder
By Peter Symonds
The Bush administration is intensifying the pressure
on Iran following its refusal to abide by last week’s UN deadline
to suspend its uranium enrichment and other nuclear programs. While
publicly pushing for a new UN Security Council resolution with tougher
economic and diplomatic sanctions against Tehran, the US is also pressing
ahead with preparations for a military attack on Iran
The Redirection
By Seymour M. Hersh
In the past few months, as the situation in Iraq
has deteriorated, the Bush Administration, in both its public diplomacy
and its covert operations, has significantly shifted its Middle East
strategy. The “redirection,” as some inside the White House
have called the new strategy, has brought the United States closer to
an open confrontation with Iran and, in parts of the region, propelled
it into a widening sectarian conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims
A Preface
To Peace In Sri Lanka:
Tamil Self-Rule? Part II
By BJ Alexander
Freedom and liberty should be guaranteed to ALL
because realistic peace is interdependent: The emancipation of the Tamils
would be an unshackling of the Sinhalas too – a true recovery
of the meaning of common humanity
In The world Of
Racism,Is Brown The New Black?
By Mary Shaw
10 years ago, when we thought about racial profiling,
we would think about the unfair, prejudicial suspicion of people who
were caught "driving while black". These days, however, "breathing
while brown" appears to be a much more suspicious activity
One Year Of Evo:
Economic Boom, The Threat Of
Balkanisation And The Role Of The Military
By Alberto Cruz
The first year of Evo Morales has bright and dark
spots, but it is necessary to support an experience that has rescued
the sovereignty and dignity of Bolivia, at the same time as pushing
forward a multicultural and participative democracy never before seen
in this Andean country, even despite the rejection of the oligarchy
and US. Maybe more and better things could have been done, but what
has been done until now is nothing small
Activists Take
on Eli Lilly Over
Off-Label Sale Of Zyprexa
By Evelyn Pringle
On February 23, 2007, a new grass roots advocacy
group issued a press release to rally support for attorney, Jim Gottstein,
in his legal battle with Eli Lilly over his role in providing secret
company documents obtained in litigation to the media to alert the public
about the health risks associated with Zyprexa that were kept hidden
since the mid-90s
Economic
Inequality Is Real (Bad)
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
Rising American economic inequality has received
attention by Senator Jim Webb, presidential candidate John Edwards,
CNN’s maverick Lou Dobbs, and others. The middle class has not
shared in rising national prosperity, because the nation’s wealth
has been siphoned off to the richest Americans. Some elites are nervous.
They have attacked what are pejoratively called “neopopulists”
– people who say the middle class is under siege
Maternal Deaths
In Madhya Pradesh
Denial Is The Best Policy
By Sachin Kumar Jain
The Madhya Pradesh Government (GoMP) had in 2003
pointed out through the State Family Health Evaluation made it clear
that in the rural areas of the state, the Maternal Mortality Rate is
as high as 763, which clearly tells that the situation is far graver
than the analysis by the union government. This study by the GoMP was
done on 25 percent populace of each district and not only a selected
group yet the union government is releasing contradictory figures for
the same period
Democracy-
A Muse
By Atreyee Majumder
Even when the judiciary, inasmuch as it is manifest
through decisions of judges, is ready and willing to redress their grievances,
independent of executive pressures, the real roadblock for the Common
Man, is really the question of how to get to the judge, in haste, and
without being choked in bureaucratic and systemic bottlenecks
Terrorism
And The Quest For A Colour Blind Cat
By Jawed Naqvi
The quest for a colour blind cat would be essentially
incomplete if Pakistan doesn't heed its own call to pursue mice of all
hues. In that case, there is this pending issue of terror camps which
even the most neutral observers say do exist in the territory under
Pakistan's control. It must now quickly unleash the cat there to make
the March 6 meeting purposeful
26 February, 2007
The
Rape Of Sabrine
By Baghdad Burning
Sabrine Al-Janabi might just be the bravest Iraqi
woman ever. Everyone knows American forces and Iraqi security forces
are raping women (and men), but this is possibly the first woman who
publicly comes out and tells about it using her actual name. Hearing
her tell her story physically makes my heart ache. Some people will
call her a liar. Others (including pro-war Iraqis) will call her a prostitute-
shame on you in advance
Market
Fundamentalism Versus
Sustainable Development:
A Titanic Struggle To Save The World
By Dr Zeki Ergas
I will confess: I am pessimistic about the future
of the planet. I think that NLG and MF are like a train that has left
the station and cannot be stopped. In the following years, and even
decades: China, India, Russia and Brazil – not to mention the
other medium-sized ‘powers’ -- will continue to industrialise
at neck-breaking speed. The thousands of billions of tons of carbon
dioxide that will have accumulated in the atmosphere probably cannot
be removed. Neither is the bridging the great divide between the rich
and the poor in the cards. Extreme poverty will persist. It is probable
that the no-holds-barred competition between the great powers for natural
resources and standards of living will end in a world war. I agree with
the British scientist who predicts that we have a 50 per cent chance
to reach the end of the century
Markets
Hate Farmers
By Devinder Sharma
Farmers in United States, Europe and for that matter
in other rich and industrialised countries are quitting agriculture.
That makes me wonder. Why? After all, they get huge subsidies. They
have the advantage of being literate and techno-savvy. They can take
benefit of future trading and commodity exchanges. Linked to supermarket
retail stores, they supposedly get a bigger share of the consumer price
A Preface
To Peace In Sri Lanka:
Tamil Self-Rule? Part
By BJ Alexander
Therefore, now what is the most positive and practical
move? Do we simply close our eyes to the Sri Lankan ‘genocide
in slow motion’? No would be the answer.Nevertheless, what is
the point of having a right, right to self-determination, if one has
no right to actually use it?
Mutuvalla
And Sinhapura: Sri Lankan
Villages On The Edge
By Roshan Kissoon
The problems of villages like this are not only
a Sri Lankan problem; many villages all around the world in Asia, in
Africa, and in Latin America face similar and related problems. It is
also clear that NGOs are an effect of Neo Liberalism, an attempt to
stop any political solution from arising
The
Other Side Of Globalization
By Paul Buchheit
Corporate leaders are driven by the profit motive,
and from a business standpoint they're unmoved by the plight of the
50% of the world's population that can't take advantage of capital gains
Foreign
Devils In The Iranian Mountains
By M K Bhadrakumar
In a rare public criticism of Pakistan, the Tehran
Times commented last week that an exclusive Islamabad-Washington nexus
is at work manipulating the Afghan situation. The daily, which reflects
official Iranian thinking, spelled out something that others perhaps
knew already but were afraid to talk about publicly
Can Hillary Be
Trusted?
By Kevin Zeese
It only takes 41 votes to stop the $93 billion
supplemental requested by President Bush for Iraq. If Senator Clinton
were to lead a filibuster to end the war then she would be doing more
than making election year promises and telling the voters what she thinks
they want to hear. She would actually be leading the U.S. out of a quagmire
and correcting the error of her pro-war votes. Can Senator Clinton convince
41 out of the 51 Democrats to join her in ending the war? If she can
then she will really be showing leadership and will become a legitimate
anti-war candidate for 2008. Otherwise the inevitable nomination may
be lost to the power of the anti-war voter in 2008
Baglihar
And Other Chestnuts
By Zafar Choudhary
Baglihar is not a case in isolation, there are
at least 27 power projects being built or already operational on Indian
side which have been objected to by Pakistan. Quite often, Pakistan
uses its logic of objections on these projects, under the ambit of Indus
Water Treaty, to halt progress on Kashmir issue resolution
Madhya Pradesh
May Not Achieve MDG Goals
By Loveleen
Madhya Pradesh is the state in heart of India and
is laden with major social developmental challenges. If India needs
to achieve the millennium development goals states which fall in category
of states with human development challenges like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Orissa, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkand need to reach
them first. All of them lag behind
25 February, 2007
Cheney
Menaces Iran With Military Aggression
By Peter Symonds
Military action against Iran may not have featured
in US Vice President Dick Cheney’s keynote speech in Sydney yesterday,
but it is certainly on his mind. In two interviews published today—in
Murdoch’s Australian and on the US-based ABC News website—he
confirmed that the Bush administration was willing to go to war against
Tehran on the pretext of halting its nuclear programs
One Woman,
Fighting To Save Her
People From Extinction
By Andrew Gumbel
If Nobel Peace Prizes could refreeze the polar
ice caps, then Sheila Watt-Cloutier would be a very happy woman indeed
because her people are, "defending the right to be cold"
Another
Small Indignity At An Israeli Checkpoint
By Jonathan Cook
The checkpoints have made potential warriors of
Palestine's grandfathers at the price of emasculating their sons and
grandsons
The Neurontin
Suicides: Risks
Kept Hidden For Years
By Evelyn Pringle
When caught red-handed promoting drugs for unapproved
uses, drug makers always feign ignorance of the high rate of off-label
prescribing. However in this instance, company documents show that Warner-Lambert
regularly obtained detailed information on the number of prescriptions
written for Neurontin and what indication they were written for
Arroyo Regime
Under International Scrutiny
By Brian McAfee
The Arroyo administration and the Armed Forces
of the Philippines increasingly resemble the defunct right wing military
dictatorships of Latin America, with the same Washington backers. Hopefully,
for the sake of the Philippine people, this nightmare will end and a
new "People Power" will emerge
Status
Of Manual Scavengers
In Gorakhpur, Uttar-Pradesh
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat, Ram Bhuvan & Kirti Singh
Scavenger community has all along been living in
the urban areas serving the middle classes, upper elites, feudal lords,
Hindus and Muslims every one alike, yet none of them ever bothered whether
they have cared and bothered about those who clean their shit, enter
deep into the sewage pit to continue the sewage line. In the coming
days, we are going to cover a large part of Uttar-Pradesh and bring
reports on this aspect
Kashmiri
Separatist Seeks End To Armed Struggle
By Michael Deibert
When Kashmiri political leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq
told a crowd in Islamabad, Pakistan, last month that he was calling
for an end to armed struggle as a means to bring the region out from
under the yoke of Indian rule, he did so at no small personal risk
24 February, 2007
All
Roads Lead To Checkpoints
By Remi Kanazi
There may have been a period when all roads led
to Rome, but for the Palestinian people, all roads lead to checkpoints.
The latest checkpoint Palestinians find themselves at is not manned
by Israel but rather the ostensible mediator of the Israeli-Palestinian
peace process, the Quartet (which is comprised of the US, Russia, the
European Union and the United Nations)
The Final Punch:
Removing Iran From
The New Middle East Equation
By Ramzy Baroud
The configuration of the New Middle East —
as envisaged by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during the Israeli
war against Lebanon in July-August 2006, most certainly has no place
for more than one regional power broker, namely Israel
Rice Jerusalem
Summit More About
Regime Change Than Peace
By Ira Glunts
Despite the grand and hopeful proclamations of
Condoleeza Rice in which she pledged a major US commitment to promoting
a two-state solution in the region, the real reason for her visit to
Jerusalem this week was to continue the relentless pressure on the Palestinians
to replace the democratically- elected Hamas government with one led
by Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party
Another
U.S. Military Assault On Media
By Dahr Jamail & Ali al-Fadhily
U.S. soldiers raided and ransacked the offices
of the Iraq Syndicate of Journalists (ISJ) in central Baghdad Tuesday
this week. Ten armed guards were arrested, and 10 computers and 15 small
electricity generators kept for donation to families of killed journalists
were seized
Fallujans
Defiant Amidst Chaos
By Dahr Jamail & Ali al-Fadhily
Resistance attacks against U.S. forces have been
continuing in Fallujah despite military onslaughts and strong security
measures
Hugo Chavez's
Social Democratic Agenda
By Stephen Lendman
In Venezuela, people live freely in peace and their
lives are enhanced. In the US they're threatened by state-sponsored
terrorism and harsh repression against anyone challenging state power
Italian Prime
Minister Resigns After
Losing Foreign Policy Vote
By Stefan Steinberg & Barry Grey
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi tendered his
resignation Wednesday night after losing a Senate vote on his center-left
coalition government’s foreign policy. The collapse of the nine-month-old
Unione government came amidst growing popular opposition to its right-wing
policies, both domestic and foreign
The Risks
Of Climate Change Are Unacceptable
By John James
In many scenarios based on recent research there
is an approximate ten percent risk that we will pass an irreversible
tipping point in the next five years. While debate circles around the
costs of climate change, the risks of sudden and catastrophic change
grow
Climate
Change, Peak Oil And Nuclear War
By Bill Henderson
The Bush Admin appears to want to play double or
nothing with war in Iran to try again at enforcing their neocon vision
for the Middle East. Valuable time is wasting as we drift along down
to energy shortage and, at the same time, increasing greenhouse gas
emissions
100,000 Demonstrate
Against
Expansion Of US Base In Vicenza
By Marianne Arens
On February 17, some 100,000 protesters marched
in the north Italian city of Vicenza against the planned expansion of
the US Ederle military base
Right
To Self-determination,
A Key To Kashmir Solution
By Syed Ali Safvi
India and Pakistan must show a positive approach,
if Kashmir dispute is to be solved amicably. Without that everything
done will be an exercise in futility. Confidence Building Measures are
just slogans if they don't bring a positive change in the ground situation,
comments Syed Ali Safvi
22 February, 2007
BBC
Reports On US Military
Plans To Strike Iran
By Peter Symonds
A BBC report on Monday made clear that the Pentagon
has completed contingency planning for extensive air strikes on Iran
that go “beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country’s
military infrastructure”. The article continued: “It is
understood that any such attack—if ordered—would target
Iranian air bases, naval bases, missile facilities and command-and-control
centres.”
Lebanon Will
Be First Victim Of Iran Crisis
By Robert Fisk
Every threat, every intransigence uttered in Washington
and Tehran now burns a little bit more of Lebanon. It is not by chance
that the UN forces in the south of the country now face growing suspicion
among the Shia Muslims who live there
U.S.
Diplomacy Misses Opportunity,
Shuns Peace Prospects
By Nicola Nasser
Instead of building a diplomatic momentum on the
political breakthrough mediated by their Saudi Arabian ally who succeeded
in developing an Arab and Palestinian consensus on going along with
the U.S.-steered Quartet efforts to revive the deadlocked peace process,
the American diplomacy has turned their sponsored Palestinian –
Israeli summit meeting in Jerusalem on Monday from a promising event
into a missed opportunity
Ecuador's President
Embraces Bolivarianism
By Stephen Lendman
Ecuador is now poised to change its method of governance
the same way Venezuela did it eight years ago. Raphael Correa promised
it, and he's now moving ahead to give his people the same kind of 21st
century socialism Venezuelans now have and embrace
Cleaning Up
Exxon's Greenpoint Oil Spill
By Joshua Frank
It happened over 57 years ago when Exxon Mobil
leaked at least 17 million gallons of oil in the Brooklyn neighborhood
of Greenpoint. The 55-acre spill, which is estimated to have been larger
than the Exxon Valdez catastrophe, went undiscovered until the late
1970s. Since then little has been done to hold the guilty parties accountable.
But on February 8, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo finally
filed notices of intent to sue Exxon Mobil and several other companies
to force a massive clean up of the polluted neighborhood
The
Developer’s Model Of Development
Or The Economist’s?
By Aseem shrivastava
Two competing notions of development are increasingly
at war in the Indian economic landscape. Development according to developers
must be restrained, while the old idea of development must be awakened
from its slumber in the minds of the policy-making elite. A failure
to achieve this is likely to prove economically costly, quite apart
from generating a political derailment of the growth process, with worse
outcomes to follow in the shape of rising social tensions, political
violence and crime
Whither
Globalisation?
By Bal Patil
Even after more than half century of freedom in
India the gulf between rich and poor is ever widening and with all the
glitter of globalisation hunger, starvation and suicide deaths are increasing
amidst agricultural surplus, and sometimes fifty million tonnes of grain
in godowns rots but cannot be sold at subsidised prices for fear of
pushing the market prices down. That is the harsh economic reality!
21 February, 2007
US
Troops Terrorize Baghdad
By Kate Randall
Thousands of US troops went house to house through
mostly Shiite areas in northeastern Baghdad February 13 in the opening
phase of Operation Law and Order, the “surge” plan announced
by the Bush administration January 10
Now It
Is Lack Of Food Security
By Dahr Jamail & Ali al-Fadhily
The lack of security in Iraq is leading now to
a collapse in food supplies.The security situation and lack of petrol
mean that local farmers are often unable to get their food to the markets
US “Coerced”
India Over Iran
By Kranti Kumara
In a public speech Stephen G. Rademaker, a former
US Assistant Secretary of State for Nonproliferation and International
Security, boasted in New Delhi last week that the United States “coerced”
India into voting against Iran at recent International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) meetings and warned that Washington may soon present India
with an even starker choice
Manufacturing
Islamophobia
By Ram Puniyani
We need to work on intercommunity relations, on
spreading the words of harmony and peace, to look at religions as a
set of moral values and not just a set of rituals or identities. We
need to have the humane spirit prevail over the machinations of the
interests of those out to grab the global and local resources for their
own selves
Genesis
Of The Kashmir Dispute
By Syed Ali Safvi
India and Pakistan must keep the interest of Kashmiri
people paramount and take serious and resolute initiative in order to
make things better for the common mass of Kashmir and settle the Kashmir
issue once and for all
"Neoliberal"
Leninism In India
And Its Class Character
By Pratyush Chandra
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPIM)-led
Left Front government in its endeavour to industrialise West Bengal,
admittedly within the larger neoliberal framework of the Indian state's
economic policies, is ready to scuttle every act of popular vigilance
in the manner which Lenin would have called "bureaucratic harassment"
of workers-peasants' self-organisation
Self-Extinction
Is Very Repugnant To Some
By Bill Henderson
Runaway climate change is an increasingly probable
risk of self-extinction. A 90% reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
by 2030 is the prudent risk averse self-governance required but so far
necessary change of this scale is very repugnant to some
Compassionate
Oppression: Subjugating
Your Inferiors With A Human Touch
By T.D. “Daddy” Rice
An Open Letter to Ehud Olmert
Some Footage
From Another "Reality Show"
By Sorit Gupto
Racism is supposed to be a thing of the past for
other countries but as far as India is concerned it is much more than
a reality
18 February, 2007
Scientists
Sound Alarm Over
Melting Antarctic Ice Sheets
By Steve Connor
The long-term stability of the massive ice sheets
of Antarctica, which have the potential to raise sea levels by hundreds
of meters, has been called into question with the discovery of fast-moving
rivers of water sliding beneath their base
Greenhouse
Gases Hit New High,Rise Accelerates
By Alister Doyle
Concentrations of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse
gas emitted largely by burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories
and cars, had risen to 390 parts per million (ppm) from 388 a year ago
Is The
Bush Administration
Behind The Bombings In Iran?
By Peter Symonds
Two bombings this week in Zahedan in southeastern
Iran are the latest in a series of incidents involving armed opposition
groups based among the country’s ethnic minorities. The most recent
attacks again raise questions about the activities of the US military
and CIA inside Iran as the Bush administration intensifies its preparations
for war
Mulakat Afzal
By Vinod K. Jose
An interview with Mohd Afzal Guru, the man on deathrow
in connection with India's Parliament attack
Facing
Mecca
By Uri Avnery
After 60 years of the existence of Israel, and
after we have become a regional power, we are still so unsure of ourselves
that we crave for constant assurance of our right to exist--and of all
people, from those that we have been oppressing for the last 40 years.
Perhaps it is the mentality of the Ghetto that is still so deeply ingrained
in us
Lawmakers And
Lawyers Challenge Bush
Administration Military Commission
By William Fisher
In the face of multiple legal and legislative challenges,
President George W. Bush this week issued an executive order to allow
cases against prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to move forward to
trials by military tribunals
The Numbers
Just Don't Add Up
(And "They" Still Have The Guns)
By Mickey Z.
In my youth, I took solace in the whole "we
got the numbers" thing. The very idea filled with me hope...but
little did I know, the ones with the guns have had it all figured out
for a very, very long time
Any Apologies
For Paddars!
By Subhash Gatade
It remains to be seen who will seek apologies from
Paddar's near and dear ones ? Who would gather the courage to stand
before Paddar's widow and children with folded hands and say 'On behalf
of the Government of India, I wish to apologize to you ..?
Blackened Friday
By Farzana Versey
A critique of the film "Black Friday"
17 February, 2007
US-North
Korean Nuclear Agreement:
Clearing The Decks For Iran
By John Chan & Peter Symonds
The deal reached between the US and North Korea
at six-party talks in Beijing on Tuesday has been variously described
in the international media as a “landmark” and an “historic
agreement.”Nothing could be further from the truth. Far from marking
a fundamental change in the militarist course of the Bush administration,
the deal represents a temporary and tactical shift that conveniently
sidelines a potentially explosive issue as the US prepares for war against
Iran
Mourning A Secret
Australia
By John Pilger
John Pilger describes another 'day of mourning'
for the first inhabitants of his homeland, Australia, which for many
whites remains a secret country behind the neo-conservative bluster
of John Howard's government
The
Mecca Agreement: What Should We Expect?
By Ramzy Baroud
The next a few weeks will reveal the potency of
the Mecca agreement, as opposing interpretations of what it in fact
means and how such meaning should be implemented will determine the
next step for all parties involved. Its failure, however, which remains
a dreadful possibility, shall have detrimental affects on the Palestinian
people, any prospect for their coveted future unity and will further
undermine their national agenda for years to come
It's
Time To Visit Gaza
By Miko Peled
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one area where
liberals and neo-conservatives in America find common ground. From Nancy
Pelosi and Hillary Clinton all the way to George Bush and Condoleezza
Rice one and all are united in supporting Israel's assault on the Palestinian
people and their land
'One
Step At A Time'
By Peter Hallward
An Interview With Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Global Warming:
It’s All About Energy
By Michael T. Klare
Global warming is an energy problem, and we cannot
have both an increase in conventional fossil fuel use and a habitable
planet. It’s one or the other. We must devise a future energy
path that will meet our basic (not profligate) energy needs and also
rescue the climate while there’s still time. The technology to
do so is potentially available to us, but only if we make the decision
to develop it swiftly and on a very large scale
Revolution
Just Ain't What It Used To De
By Mickey Z.
If you were to publicly declare your discontent
with the U.S. government and your subsequent desire to abolish that
government, the land of the free would likely reward you with an orange
jumpsuit and a one-way ticket for an all-inclusive vacation at Guantanamo
Bay
Golwalkar
Guruji: Superhuman Or Less Than Human?
By Subhash Gatade
Whatever may be the ideas of every justice loving
person about the anti-human core of Golwalkar, his continued valorization
in the Sangh circles reminds one of a Sanskrit proverb : Nirastapadapedeshe
Erandopi Drumayate! (In a treeless country even castor counts for a
big tree!)
Thought For
Food
By Atreyee Majumder
The urban economy of a country such as India runs
only partially from inside banks, government offices, or corporations.
A large part of this economy creates opportunities out of nowhere in
a desperate attempt at survival. This very visible street economy routinely
faces harassment from rent-seekers, police, muscle-powered businessmen.
And it seems our governing authorities and our judges are also unhappy
with the thriving economy on our streets, which survives simply on desperation
15 February, 2006
Bush
Escalates War Threats Against Iran
By Joe Kay
At a White House press conference Wednesday morning,
President George Bush laid out the administration’s pretext for
military action against Iran
US “Diplomacy”
On Iran: Thuggery And
Threats Of Military Aggression
By Peter Symonds
The long string of accusations against the Iranian
regime are simply a convenient cover for US ambitions to establish its
dominance over Iran as part of broader plans for American hegemony throughout
the resource-rich regions of the Middle East and Central Asia. That
is the real purpose behind the Bush administration’s diplomacy
and the reason for its gangster character
More Troops,
And More Violence
By Dahr Jamail & Ali al-Fadhily
Violence and bombings have only increased after
the proposed "surge" of 21,500 U.S. troops in Iraq
UN Peacekeeping
Paramilitarism
By Stephen Lendman
Far too often Blue Helmets end up either creating
more conflict than its resolution or being counterproductive or ineffective.
In the first instance, peacekeepers become paramilitary enforcers for
an outside authority. In the second, they do more harm than good because
they've done nothing to ameliorate conditions or improve the situation
on the ground and end up more a hindrance than a help
It's Only Iraq
And Roll(But We Seem To Like It)
By Mickey Z.
In 1972, anti-war activists like Jane Fonda and
Ramsey Clark traveled to North Vietnam and in the process, helped shine
a light on the American tactic of bombing Vietnamese dikes. In 2006,
rocker-rapper Kid Rock traveled to Iraq because, he says, he wanted
"to see exactly what the soldiers are going through ... and let
them know they're in our hearts." The times, they have a-changed
America Is
The Craziest Place On The Planet
By David Truskoff
One presidency after another for the last forty
years has been rocked with one kind of a scandal or another. They have
taken our moral structure down with them. Bush, of course, has escalated
that slide downward
Trail Of Paxil
Suicides Leads
To GlaxoSmithKline
By Evelyn Pringle
On January 29, 2007, BBC-One broadcasted, “Secrets
of the Drug Trials,” a Panorama program based on an investigation
by reporter, Shelley Jofre, which revealed how GlaxoSmithKline misled
doctors into prescribing Paxil off-label to children, even after its
own clinical trials found that kids could become suicidal when taking
the drug
House Debates
Iraq Surge As Their Popularity Drops
By Kevin Zeese
The House is in the midst of debate over the Iraq
War – three days of debate on the floor of the House of Representatives
over whether the Congress supports the surge. The outcome is pre-ordained
– the House will oppose the surge. The questions are two-fold,
first, how many Republicans will join the Democrats? And, second, what
comes next, will the House threaten continued funding of the war? The
Democratic leadership seems split on this second issue
Dr.
B.R.Ambedkar’s Contribution
To Buddhist Education In India
By Nishikant Waghmare
Buddhism makes enlightenment the sole aim of life.
This was the philosophy that Ambedkar accepted and tried to revive.
Besides this there was another reason. Buddha, whose life and movement
Ambedkar had studied, was a believer of the educatability and the creativity
of the people. Under the influence of those teachings, the most rejected
peoples of India has once risen and uplifted their life as well as that
of the whole society. If that was once possible in India, it must be
possible again. He had a solid historical basis to trust India’s
ordinary folk as India’s future democrats
Contemporary
Times-Role Of Religions
By Ram Puniyani
Religions have to raise the issues of human rights
of all people of the World. It is this alliance which will ensure that
the focus of world policies has to be brought back to the issue of Human
rights of weaker sections of society. Nothing short of a genuine dialogue
amongst people of different faiths can overcome the obstacles created
by the political forces misusing the religious identity for their political
goals
14 February, 2006
Halt
Bush’s Crimes By Dumping The Dollar
By Paul Craig Roberts
If the rest of the world would simply stop purchasing
US Treasuries, and instead dump their surplus dollars into the foreign
exchange market, the Bush Regime would be overwhelmed with economic
crisis and unable to wage war. The arrogant hubris associated with the
“sole superpower” myth would burst like the bubble it is
Bush Administration
Concocts
A “Dossier” For War Against Iran
By Peter Symonds
The Bush administration stepped up its propaganda
war against Iran with a press briefing in Baghdad on Sunday, setting
out claims that the Iranian regime is supplying arms to anti-US militias
in Iraq. While the “dossier” fails to prove a case against
Tehran, its release demonstrates that the White House is intent on manufacturing
a justification for a military confrontation with Iran
Israeli
Politics Of ‘Archeology’ In Jerusalem
By Nicola Nasser
Israeli bulldozers embarked on Thursday on an eight-month
excavations project some 50 meters from the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa
mosque, but on the grounds of the Islamic Haram al-Sharif, Islam’s
third holiest site, amid clashes that wounded scores of Palestinians
and hopeless prayers they would not develop into bloodletting
The UN And
The Principle Of Sharing
By Mohammed Mesbahi & Dr Angela Paine
In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted
the Universal Declaration of Human rights. All the world’s nations
agreed that every human being in the world had the right to adequate
food, water, housing, healthcare, education, political participation
and employment. Almost sixty years later, a global economic system based
on competition and profit has failed to provide these essentials for
the majority of the world. 800 million people are still starving to
death in a world of plenty and the gap between the rich minority and
the poor majority has increased and continues to increase
Chimps In A
Zoo Cage
By Sheila Samples
Molly Ivins was right -- it's time we hit the streets,
beating on pots and pans and take our country back. Our first stop should
be at the source of our country's problems -- the shallow and destructive
corporate media
Barack Obama And
The war In Iraq
By Tom Eley
Because of the overwhelming antiwar sentiment of
Democratic voters, Obama has attempted to strike a critical pose toward
the war in Iraq—as have the other putative frontrunners, Hillary
Clinton and John Edwards. Like his counterparts, however, he is a tried
and true defender of the geo-political interests of corporate America.
If elected, he would not hesitate in using military force to secure
US domination of the Middle East, Central Asia and the world
Sorrow Tale
Of Jajjal: The Village
Cursed By Cancer
By Umendra Dutt
Jajjal needs a new start for life. Let us hope
the new government in Punjab takes care of this and evolve a strategy
and action plan for cancer free, toxicity free, debt free and suicide
free Jajjal. That should be light of hope for thousand of other villages
facing the same doom. So, that there should no more Manish and Kartar
Kaurs not only in Jajjal but whole of Malwa region. But there is a question
- Who has time for this?
Dr Yunus’s
Open Letter: My Response
By Taj Hashmi
I have got two suggestions for you: a) create a
pressure group with intellectuals, students and working class people
so that the present Caretaker Government take drastic action against
all the corrupt elements, arrest hundreds of Raghab Boals and Rui-Katla,
beyond this paltry number of twenty-odd politicians; and b) ask the
government to appoint you as the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission
13 February, 2006
Washington
Sets Stage For A New Confrontation
By Patrick Cockburn
The United States is moving closer to war with
Iran by accusing the "highest levels" of the Iranian government
of supplying sophisticated roadside bombs that have killed 170 US troops
and wounded 620
The Bush
Administration’s Economic War On Iran
By Peter Symonds
Amid the continuing US military build up in the
Persian Gulf, the Bush administration is already conducting an economic
war against Iran aimed at bringing the country to its knees. The most
overt element of this campaign is the attempt by the Treasury Department
and other US agencies to force governments, major banks, oil corporations
and other businesses in Europe and Asia to cut off investment, loans
and financial arrangements with Tehran
Iraq:Iran
'Fooling' U.S. Military
By Dahr Jamail & Ali al-Fadhily
"I really admire the way Iranians are dealing
with the situation in a professional way while the Americans are walking
with their eyes closed. They are losing the last Iraqi fort they were
hiding behind, and that was the peaceful way Arab Shias were dealing
with occupation."
Bush’s
Plan For Iraq And The Middle East
By Abid Mustafa
Over the past few months, the Bush administration
in the backdrop of the Iraq Study Group’s (ISG) report has announced
its plan for Iraq—apart from the Presidents refusal to formally
engage Iran and Syria— the plan broadly concurs with the recommendation
laid out by the ISG. Furthermore, the US has mobilised its surrogates
in Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the gulf countries to
implement this plan and prepare the ground for the emergence of a new
middle east. What follows is a brief summary of what America is planning
to achieve in Palestine, Iraq and Iran
Special Economic
Zones: Lessons From China
By Bhaskar Goswami
While single-minded pursuit of exports has helped
China touch record growth figures, millions have been left behind, besides
incurring huge environmental costs. And without even the limited dose
of welfare that China offers its poor farmers, India must wary of copying
China's SEZ-approach, writes Bhaskar Goswami
The Method In
The Madness
By Uri Avnery
When a Prime Minister has just lost a war, is dogged
by corruption allegations and sees his popularity ratings in free fall
- what can he do? Why, he can initiate provocations.PROVOCATION NO.
1: The northern frontier.PROVOCATION NO. 2: The Temple Mount
An Open
Letter To Indian Cricket
Team Captain Rahul Dravid
By Shamsul Islam
I am sorry to write that by participating in the
birth centenary programme of M. S. Golwalkar (Guruji), the ideologue
of the RSS, in Nagpur on January 20, 2007, you have not only violated
the trust which this country has put in you but also saddened large
sections of your fans who love and adore you because you and your team
represent a Secular-Democratic India
Hate As
A Weapon To Gain Power
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
BJP's manifesto for Uttarakhand reflects the bankruptcy
of its ideology. That Sanskrit will be the state language and the government
would pass anti conversion laws shows that BJP has not learnt the methods
of governance at all. It also shows how the saffron party does not talk
of governance but only hate formula to win an election
12 February, 2007
Conspiracy
Of Silence In The Arab world
By Robert Fisk
Where are the sheikhs when the Iraqi dead are fished
out of the Tigris?
Scientists
Conclude Global Warming Is “Unequivocal”
By Mark Rainer
The IPCC report predicts a greater frequency of
heat waves, more intense tropical cyclones (typhoons and hurricanes),
the possible disappearance of summer Arctic sea ice, increasing acidification
of the ocean, and changing patterns of precipitation that will cause
an increasing number of draughts for some portions of the world
'Doomsday
Vault' To Resist Global Warming Effects
By Penny MacRae
An Arctic "doomsday vault" aimed at providing
mankind with food in case of a global catastrophe will be designed to
sustain the effects of climate change, the project's builders said as
they unveiled the architectural plans
Why Saddam
Was Killed?
By Ghali Hassan
If Western media and Western leaders are telling
you that; “Iraqis executed President Saddam” and that “the
U.S. had nothing to do with his murder”, they lied. This act of
murder and violation of International Law are parts of U.S. barbarism
in Iraq. The aim is to escalate the violence against the Iraqi people
and justify ongoing U.S. Occupation and colonial dictatorship
A Pox Upon Mr.
Armstrong’s Wonderful World:
Of Illusory Democracies, Rogue States,
And Accelerating Humanity’s Demise
By Jason Miller
India, the world’s largest democracy and
a haven for the free market economics of Capitalism, is forging a deep
alliance with the United States
“You
Cannot Oppose The War And Fund This War”
By Kevin Zeese & Anthony Arnove
An interview with Anthony Arnove
War: It's
Just A Pretext Away
(Lessons From Yugoslavia)
By Mickey Z.
Anyone viewing international events with even a
shred of objectivity knows that the U.S. government is just a pretext
away from bombing Iran. American history, after all, is teeming with
convenient provocations that created an opening for military intervention
The Forgotten
Issue Of Environmental
Crisis In Punjab Elections
By Umendra Dutt
It is the high time to take up the issue of environmental
health crisis, depleting water resources, prevalence of high pesticide
residues and subsequently the ecological and agricultural sustainability
of Punjab. Elections are providing an opportunity for this. Those who
want to save Punjab from an offing environmental and agricultural chaos
should ask political parties to spell out their agenda for the same
HEC's Unconvincing
Mega Projects
By Pervez Hoodbhoy
The on-going efforts at reforming higher education
are turning into a disaster. Billions are being spent on mindless mega
projects. The 15-fold increase in the funding of Pakistani universities
over the last six years may have delivered a marginal improvement, but
it is superficial and likely to be temporary
10 February, 2007
Iraqi
Insurgents Offer Peace
In Return For US Concessions
By Robert Fisk
For the first time, one of Iraq's principal insurgent
groups has set out the terms of a ceasefire that would allow American
and British forces to leave the country they invaded almost four years
ago
Iraq And Darfur:
The Politics Of War Crimes
By James Cogan
The international response to two cases of mass
killing—the civil war in the Darfur region of Sudan and the US-led
occupation of Iraq—demonstrate the sheer hypocrisy of the claims
by the major capitalist powers and the United Nations to defend human
rights and uphold international law
Iran: The
War Begins
By John Pilger
The United States is planning what will be a catastrophic
attack on Iran. For the Bush cabal, the attack will be a way of "buying
time" for its dis aster in Iraq
Countdown
For Iran
By Ramzy Baroud
The US naval military build up in the east Mediterranean
and the Gulf, conjoined with an intense and sinister propaganda campaign
that is being drummed up at home, among other signals, are all pointing
to one ill-fated conclusion: the Bush administration, entranced in its
foolishness, has decided to discard, and in its entirety, the Baker-Hamilton
recommendations; instead of engaging Iran politically, the US is opting
to engage it militarily
Is The Big Ship
America Sinking?
Contradictions and Openings
By Sam Gindin
These are historic 'openings' that challenge us
to create a new politics that can lead to radical new political alignments.
The real issue is not whether 'the system' will fall apart, but whether
a new kind of left can come together
Ramzy
Baroud Interviewed
By Munish Nagar & Ramzy Baroud
An interview with Ramzy Baroud
Civil
Liberties In India
By Teesta Setalvad
Nani A Palkhivala Award 2006 Acceptance Speech
From Corporate
Land Grab To
Land Sovereignty (Bhu Swaraj)
By Vandana Shiva
The future of the Indian people and Indian democracy
rests on the land question. While the Government is forced to pause
in its inhuman project of land grab, let the farmers and the democratic
forces of the country join in evolving charter and an agenda for land
sovereignty - Bhu Swaraj
Rock Democracies,
Paper Freedoms, Scissors Securities
By Jorge Majfud
Because they imposed a culture by force the Spanish
conquistadors are remembered as barbaric. Those who do the same today
are motivated, this time for sure, by good reasons: democracy, freedom
– our values, which are always the best. But just as the heroes
of yesterday are today’s barbarians, the heroes of today will
be the barbarians of tomorrow
Pakistani
Education Reform - Signs Of Hope
By Pervez Hoodbhoy
There is good news: the "White Paper"
to "debate and finalize national education policy", distributed
in December 2006 by the Ministry of Education, though incomplete and
flawed, is an enormous step forward. So is the new school curriculum
- which somewhat mysteriously and improperly preceded the White Paper.
These may persuade even hardened cynics that the country's school education
system still has a future
It Only Takes
41 Senate Votes To End The War
By John V. Walsh
The present authorization for defense funding in
the coming fiscal year can be stopped cold if it contains funds for
the war on Iraq. And this can be done by just one courageous Senator,
backed by 40 colleagues
09 February, 2007
Iranian
Diplomat Kidnapped:
Another US Provocation?
By Peter Symonds
The abduction of an Iranian diplomat in Baghdad
on Sunday evening has further heightened tensions between Washington
and Tehran, amid a continuing US military buildup against Iran in the
Persian Gulf
From
Mega Surge To Dual Rollback
By Siddharth Varadarajan
The U.S. will not leave Iraq without first militarily
weakening Iran. Washington has scuttled every initiative that could
have provided a diplomatic solution to the troubles with Tehran
Civil
War Or Coup D’état In Palestine?
By Agustin Velloso
Interview with Professor Agustin Velloso in the
“11th Week of the Popular School Jose Luis Garcia Rua: The outcomes
of fundamentalism”, Gijon, Spain
A Review
Of The Ethnic Cleansing Of
Palestine By Ilan Pappe
By Stephen Lendman
Ilan Pappe is an Israeli historian and senior lecturer
at Haifa University. Pappe has also authored, contributed to or edited
nine books. His latest is the one this review covers in detail so readers
will know about its powerful and shocking content, unknown to most in
the West and in Israel, that hopefully will arouse them enough to get
the book and learn in full detail what Pappe documented
Carter
Enters Lions' Den
By Paul Findley
At the age of 82, Jimmy Carter entered the lion's
den. With the publication of his latest book, "Palestine: Peace
not Apartheid," he did what a patriot would do: rally Americans
to vigorous debate of a critical issue that affects our future. He deserves
a hero's praise. Instead, he has been attacked and defamed
The conspiracy
Of Silence On Climate Change
By Ashwin Gambhir
A review of George Monbiot's book - Heat: How to
stop the planet burning
Delusion
Destroys Democracy
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
Let’s not delude ourselves that all will
be well after Bush is gone. As awful as Bush is, he is a symptom of
what ails our nation. Our nation will remain in need of deep reforms.
Millions of dissidents must wake up to what is really needed and rally
around a revolutionary strategy
Immigrants In
Detention
By William Fisher
Suspected illegal immigrants held in detention
by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are failing to receive timely
medical treatment and adequate food, being subjected to frequent sexual
harassment, and having their access to lawyers, relatives and immigration
authorities improperly limited
Making The
HPV Vaccine Mandatory
Is Bad Medicine
By Lucinda Marshall
Governor Rick Perry’s decision to sidestep
the Texas legislature and issue an executive order mandating that girls
entering the 6th grade receive the new HPV vaccine raises troubling
questions about the influence pharmaceutical companies wield on the
crafting of public health policy
Neoliberalism
And Primitive Accumulation In India
By Pratyush Chandra & Dipankar Basu
Recent events in Singur indicate the extent to
which capitalist-parliamentarianism can regiment a counter-hegemonic
force once it agrees to play by the rules. At the least, it clearly
shows that the Communist government, which boasts of being the longest-running
democratically elected Marxist government in the world, is hopelessly
caught in the neoliberal project
Across
LoC: Gujjars In Identity Crisis
By Zafar Choudhary
Apart from the economic disparities, the main problem
faced by the Gujjars across LoC is the marriages of their children.
On this account, the sufferings of Gujjars are so enormous that they
are considered a sort of social outcaste and members of other communities
do not enter into wedlock with the Gujjars
08 February, 2007
It
Is No Use Blaming Iran For
The Insurgency In Iraq
By Patrick Cockburn
It is striking how swiftly Washington is seeking
to escalate its confrontation with Iran. Its rhetoric has returned to
the strident tone so often heard when the US was accusing Saddam Hussein
in 2002 and 2003 of hiding weapons of mass destruction that threatened
the world
Tensions
Mount Between US And Europe
Over War Threat Against Iran
By Stefan Steinberg
As Washington steps up its campaign of propaganda
and aggression against Iran, some leading European politicians and sections
of the media have expressed their concern during the past week over
the increasing danger of a US military provocation plunging the entire
Middle East into chaos
Gaming
For The Fiery Tomorrow
By Mathew Maavak
As the US-Iran standoff escalates toward its inevitable
denouement, analysts are busily gaming scenarios that may lead to the
commencement of hostilities
It's
Infinite, Not Zero Tolerance
By Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal
How easy it has become for the state to purge the
very existence of healthy young men in a conflict zone like Kashmir.
This has been a common thread binding one conflict to another across
the globe. But when a democratic country like India, which believes
in justice, equality and democracy resorts to the same tradition without
questioning the logic of such tyranny, it appalls everyone. Does India
today exercise what it actually stands for?
Huge
Blind Spot, Only For J & K
By Bharat Bhushan
Has Kashmir become a blind spot for Indian human
rights activists and the media?Kashmiri civil society activists certainly
believe so. The serial killings in Noida, near Delhi, they point out,
occupied the nation's attention for days on end. But Indian civil society
and media did not get agitated in the same way with the exhumation of
bodies of innocents killed by the security forces in Kashmir
Arabia In
Disarray
By Mustapha Marrouchi
Saudi Arabia–a vulgarly rich country–is
the ally par excellence of the West in the Middle East, the vital link
between the US and its oil supply–appears to be sliding steadily
toward disaster. This cannot of course be said in Saudi Arabia but a
number of Saudi writers, intellectuals, and artists have traveled out
of their country in order to be able to speak of the mess in safety
Neo-Liberal
Economic Policies In The United States:
The Impact On American Workers
By Kim Scipes
While more and more people are looking at the impact
of neo-liberal economic policies on the peoples of "developing
countries," very few consider the impact on working people in the
developed countries--and this is the most detailed look published so
far. Basically, economic conditions are deteriorating rapidly, while
social inequality is escalating drastically
Words Of War
By Lila Rajiva
Private contractors - like Rendon - who now perform
half of the CIA’s work - run half the nation’s most secret
military operations and they don’t have to say a word about what
they do to the people who foot the bill and face the fire. There you
have your free and fair press. As one wag remarked - freedom of the
press is limited to those who own one
Gujarat
: Lengthening Shadows Of Swastika
By Ram Puniyani
The processes going in Gujarat are a definite pointer
towards "Hindu Rashtra in One state", an Indian variant of
Fascism. While looking forward to the change in the turn of the tide
in anticipation of the fifth anniversary of the genocide, one hopes
the worst is over and the society at large will not only welcome Perzania
with open eyes and mind but will also revive the humane spirit of the
Indian nationalism
Ferreting
Out The Bible Of Hindu Fascism (Hindutwa)
By I.K.Shukla
Golwalkar's We or Our Nationhood Defined: A Critique
by Shamsul Islam
07 February, 2007
US
Iraqi Holocaust And One Million Excess Deaths
By Dr Gideon Polya
As of February 2007 the accrual cost has been $2.3
Trillion; there are 3.7 million Iraqi refugees; the post-invasion excess
deaths (avoidable deaths, deaths that did not have to happen) total
1.0 million
Carbon
Dioxide Rate Is At Highest Level
For 650,000 Years
By Steve Connor
Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
are at their highest levels for at least 650,000 years and this rise
began with the birth of the Industrial Revolution 250 years ago, according
to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
‘Quartet’
Corners PLO, Hamas Into Critical Options
By Nicola Nasser
In Washington on February 2, the Middle East Quartet
of peace mediators promised the Palestinian people more of the same
devastating status quo, perpetuating their 40-year old Israeli occupation,
prolonging the international siege imposed on them, exacerbating their
internal divide
The
American Proxy war In Gaza
By Ali Abunimah
The policy of supporting a quisling group to fight
as a proxy on behalf of empire, colonizer and occupier will only increase
the bloodshed. But it will ultimately fail in Palestine as it did before
in Northern Ireland, Southern Africa and Central and Southern America,
and as it is failing in Iraq
Silencing
Critics Not Way To Middle East Peace
By Joel Beinin
Last Sunday in San Francisco, the Anti-Defamation
League sponsored "Finding Our Voice," a conference designed
to help Jews recognize and confront the "new anti-Semitism."
For me, it was ironic. Ten days before, my own voice was silenced by
fellow Jews
For Black History
Month: Lessons Not Learned
By Mary Shaw
February is Black History Month in the U.S. It
gives us an extra reason to ponder the journey of African-Americans
from the early days of slavery, through Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation,
an on through the present day
Forgotten February
By Mickey Z.
A brief peek at America's unrestrained brutality
Clinton, Edwards
And Obama: Strike Iran
Why The Democrats Won’t Save Us
By Joshua Frank
None of the front running Democrats are opposed
to Bush’s dubious “war on terror” or his bullying
of Iran. They support his aggression in principle but simply believe
a Democratic presidency could handle the job more astutely. All put
Israel first and none are going to fundamentally alter U.S. foreign
policy in the Middle East
About Cuba
And The U.S.
By Paul Buchheit
Cuba sends doctors to countries in South America,
to hurricane and earthquake sites, and even as far as Pakistan.The U.S.,
on the otherhand, exports guns
A
short Film On RSS
By Ian Mcdonald
Watch
the Film here
Debating
Discrimination, Differences
And Dissent In Our Part Of The World
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
The issue of racial discrimination has been in
the news for quite some time. Some Indian pretended that they have been
discriminated against in Britain while rarely speaking that India does
not have its own house in order. Despite 60 years of independence India
has not been able to transform itself into a modern state
03 February, 2007
Humans
Blamed For Climate Change
By Richard Black
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
said temperatures were probably going to increase by 1.8-4C by the end
of the century. It also projected that sea levels were most likely to
rise by 28-43cm, and global warming was likely to influence the intensity
of tropical storms
Scientists
Offered Cash To Dispute Climate Study
By Ian Sample
Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute
(AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration,
offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of
a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Global Warming
Is Being
Seriously Underestimated
By John James
A number of simply gigantic reserves of greenhouse
gasses that nature has stored for our benefit are now beginning to flood
back into the atmosphere
US Energy
Experts Announce Way
To Freeze Global Warming
By Brad Collins
As scientists sound daily alarms about the dire
consequences of global warming, Americans are asking one question: What
can we do about it? The American Solar Energy Society (ASES) has an
answer: Deploy clean energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies
now!
The War
On Iran
By Stephen Gowans
The war has already begun and it has nothing to
do with nuclear weapons and threats against Israel and everything to
do with who rules America
Iraq: Who
Did The US Military
Massacre Near Najaf?
By James Cogan
Many aspects of what transpired last Sunday on
the outskirts of the southern Iraqi city of Najaf are confused and unclear.
But one thing is certain: American and British jets and helicopters
killed hundreds of men who were resisting an assault by Iraqi government
troops on the village of Zarqa. Who the men were is still the subject
of controversy
King George: George
Bush,
Divine Right And Majority Rule
By Linda Ford
As an historian, I’m compelled to say that
we are in a major constitutional crisis. Recently, on “60 Minutes,”
President George Bush grinned boyishly as he responded to the (gently
phrased) charge that perhaps he was ignoring the wishes of a large majority
of the American people by persisting in a war that they adamantly oppose.
Well, …sometimes he had to be “educator in chief”
as well as “commander in chief.” He leads and we follow.
We’re to have no choice
The Illusion
Of Democracy USA
By David Truskoff
On February 2/007 we hear that Exxon Mobil has
surpassed their own record and reached $39 billion in Profits. Why is
that relevant? Because on the same day we learn that the next presidential
race in the US may result in candidates or their supporters spending
upwards of a billion dollars to get elected. It speaks loudly to the
fact that money interprets the Constitution any way it suits those who
own it
On Coming
To Terms With Society
By Doug Soderstrom
Each of us must figure out how to best cope with
society; to become an obedient slave like that of the conservative or
to challenge the status quo like that of the liberal, but, of course,
with a realization that either heading taken to the extreme would be
detrimental for society. Therefore, it is imperative that each of these
forces be accorded their rightful place in society
What I Heard
On The W Train
By Mickey Z.
We are being asked-check that-we're being told
to not only view desperate humans as law-breakers but also to ignore
them. No one flinches
A Tribute
To M A Khan
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Remembering a man who committed his life for the
tribals of Sonbhadra
02 February, 2007
Official
Lies over Najaf Battle Exposed
By Dahr Jamail & Ali al-Fadhily
Iraqi government lies over the killing of hundreds
of Shias in an attack on Sunday stand exposed by independent investigations
carried out by IPS in Iraq
US 'Victory'
Against Cult Leader Was A 'Massacre'
By Patrick Cockburn
There are growing suspicions in Iraq that the official
story of the battle outside Najaf between a messianic Iraqi cult and
the Iraqi security forces supported by the US, in which 263 people were
killed and 210 wounded, is a fabrication. The heavy casualties may be
evidence of an unpremeditated massacre
Stepped
Up US Preparations
For War Against Iran
By Peter Symonds
A relentless and unmistakable American buildup
for war against Iran is currently underway. Military preparations are
being accompanied by a daily barrage of propaganda against Tehran issuing
from US sources and relayed uncritically via a compliant media
Israel's
Kafkaesque "Matrix Of Control"
By Stephen Lendman
Organized actions ended the oppressive South African
apartheid regime that once had full support of the US and the West.
They can achieve the same result with Israel if enforced long enough
with teeth, and they must be. Eventually this will happen in one form
or other, and it'll work because repression can never be sustained forever
and won't be. The sooner Israel accepts that, the quicker real peace
will come to the Middle East, and it can't happen any too soon
Yes, There
Is Apartheid In Israel
By Shulamit Aloni
The US Jewish Establishment's onslaught on former
President Jimmy Carter is based on him daring to tell the truth which
is known to all: through its army, the government of Israel practises
a brutal form of Apartheid in the territory it occupies. Its army has
turned every Palestinian village and town into a fenced-in, or blocked-in,
detention camp
Zyprexa Judge
Sends Invite
To New York Times Reporter
By Evelyn Pringle
The judge in the Zyprexa secret document case has
sent a New York Times reporter an invitation to attend a hearing in
the on-going Eli Lilly fiasco in the US District Court for the Eastern
District of New York
Power And The
Intellectuals
By Jorge Majfud
But this contempt that arises from a power installed
in the social institutions and from the inferiority complex of its actors,
is not a property of "underdeveloped" countries. In the United
States they don't listen to their intellectuals either. In fact, it
is always the critical intellectuals, writers or artists who head the
top-ten lists of the most stupid of the stupid in the country. Intellectuals
are stupid, and those who make these lists, who are they?
De-Addiction
From Westoxication
And The Recovery Of The Self
By Shajahan Madampat
Westoxication is a kind of obsessive-compulsive
neurosis, exacerbated by smug self-righteousness and pretensions to
refinement and sophistication. Worse; it is a malady that the elite
of all developing societies wear on their sleeves with pride. Ask yourself:
are you an exception? The answer can hardly be in the affirmative!!
Gohana
Nay Gujarat
By Subhsash Gatade
If Congress Party and its leaders would never be
able to absolve themselves from their complicity in the carnage of Sikhs
in 1984, the name of RSS and its affiliated organizations would ever
remain itched in the public psyche for the crimes, which were committed
against innocent citizenry in the year 2002 in Gujarat
Molly
By Leigh Saavedra
A poem in memory of Molly Ivins
01 February, 2007
US
Holocaust Commission And Holocaust Denial
By Dr Gideon Polya
The US recently successfully put a Resolution to
UN General Assembly rightly condemning Holocaust Denial. However the
Resolution ignored huge non-Jewish Holocausts e.g. the US-driven Iraqi
Holocaust and thus was Holocaust Ignoring, something even worse than
Holocaust Denial because it is Passive Holocaust Denial that admits
of no refutation – who does one refute something that has not
even been asserted?
Violence
Escalates Against Students
And Teachers In Iraq
By Sandy English
The kidnapping of three law professors and a student
on Monday and the deaths on Sunday of five students at a girls’
secondary school underscores the collapse of the Iraqi educational system
brought on by the American invasion
Are You The Terrorist
Next Door
By Charlotte Laws
I was an ordinary American until November 27, 2006
when I became a terrorist or more accurately what I call a “stand-by
terrorist.” Perhaps I cannot truly own this newfound nickname
until the government decides to prosecute me for word crimes, if that
day ever arrives. Until then, I just think of myself as being on stand-by,
just as are most--if not all--Americans, whether they realize it or
not
Shameless
In Gaza
By Ramzy Baroud
The most recent fighting in the Gaza Strip, which
has left many people dead, confirms that the internal strife plaguing
the Occupied Territories since the advent of Hamas to power in January
2006 was not entirely the outcome of outside meddling in Palestinian
affairs
Future
For Palestinian Christians
By Sonia Nettnin
If Jewish, Muslim and Christian extremists run
the world, then there will be no room for moderates, who practice mutual
respect and tolerance
Only Humans Should
Suffer:
The End-of-Life Double Standard
By Mary Shaw
When a pet (or a racehorse) becomes ill to the
point where it is near death or suffering uncontrollably, a veterinarian
will not think twice before recommending that the animal be euthanized,
to put it out of its misery. In our society, this is regarded as the
kind thing to do.So why do we treat our dying animals with more mercy
than we give our dying people?
Healthy Political
Faith
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
It comes to this: Be a proud dissident. Find a
third party to believe in
Nader Still
In The Crosshairs
By Mickey Z.
Take-home message: If all those Gore voters had
pulled the lever for Ralph, we all would've been spared both the Bush
administration and the Nader witch-hunt...plus, David Edelstein could
to stick to writing about film
Thackeray's
'Hairy' Encounter
By Farzana Versey
Instead of asking Bal Thackeray to apologise to
the President of India for saying, "His hair is falling over his
eyes and blinding him, or perhaps he is seeing stars or the moon before
his eyes", we ought to thank him
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