28 February, 2008
The
Global Water Crisis And The Coming Battle
For The Right To Water
By Maude Barlow
The three water crises – dwindling freshwater supplies, inequitable access to water and the corporate control of water – pose the greatest threat of our time to the planet and to our survival. Together with impending climate change from fossil fuel emissions, the water crises impose some life-or-death decisions on us all. Unless we collectively change our behavior, we are heading toward a world of deepening conflict and potential wars over the dwindling supplies of freshwater
God
Bless Ralph Nader
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
Because he wants to salvage American democracy and help Americans, Ralph Nader is running for president again. He deserves the support of all Americans that see themselves as progressives, dissidents, independents, and patriots who want to remove the stranglehold of the two-party plutocracy on our political system
Campaign
2008: The Things They Won't Discuss
By Dave Lindorff
While Democratic candidates for the presidential nomination debate and compete over whose healthcare reform plan is best, and over whether or not it’s okay to talk with “America’s enemies,” and while Democrats and Republicans lob attacks over whose foreign policy is more muscular, there is a lengthening list of global catastrophes all of which are simply being ignored
The
Washington Cesspool
By David Truskoff
The more one gets immersed in the political machinations of the so called two party system in America, the more one yearns for a hot shower with a strong bar of soap. It is one thing to shrug and say we all know it is a cesspool, but can we sit by and watch the destruction of the post war dream of those often referred to as the "Greatest Generation?" Their dream was of the maturing of America into a real democracy. The new crop of presidential candidates dashes all hope of that dream ever coming true
Francis
A. Boyle's "Protesting Power -
War, Resistance And Law"
By Stephen Lendman
Boyle explains the urgency in his final paragraph that's a powerful message for everyone: The causes of both world wars "hover like the sword of Damocles over the heads of all humanity." Civil resistance is our only hope "to prevent WW III and an (inevitable) nuclear holocaust....Toward that end this book has been written." Read it and act. Apathy isn't an option
NY
Phil Plays In A Korea Once Destroyed
By U.S. Invasion, Flattened By U.S. Bombers
By Jay Janson
Ideally this wonderful concert might mellow American thinking about North Korea as well as soften the North Korean view of Americans
Pakistan's
Post-Election Scenario
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
According to the plans about 15 Afghan, Pakistani, and American officials will meet daily at each center to share intelligence about militant activities on both sides of the porous, mountainous border, which extends about 1,560 miles between Afghanistan and Pakistan's tribal areas.The United States hopes the initiatives will spread to dozens of border posts and eventually evolve into a form of military cooperation. The Nation, a leading Pakistani newspaper says that President Musharraf's endorsement of the plan sends a shock wave through the entire nation
Abuse
On Women- Whose Fault?
An Open Letter Legal Luminaries
By Stree Mukti
Shri S R Nayak, State Human Rights Commission Chairperson speaking on "Human Rights and Lawyers' Role" at a programme organized by the Vakeelara Sangha, said (as reported in Indian Express dated 9th Feb 2008), "…. yes men are bad … but who asked them (the women) to venture out in the night... the women should not have gone out in the night and when they do, there is no point complaining that men touched them and hit them. Youth are destroying our culture for momentary satisfaction…"
27 February, 2008
Feed
The World? We Are Fighting
A Losing Battle, UN Admits
By Julian Borger
The United Nations warned yesterday that it no longer has enough money to keep global malnutrition at bay this year in the face of a dramatic upward surge in world commodity prices, which have created a “new face of hunger”
Confessions
Of A Gitmo Guard
By Debbie Nathan
A psychiatrist who has treated former military personnel at Guantánamo prison camp is telling a story of prisoner torture and guard suicide there, recounted to him by a National Guardsman who worked at Guantánamo just after it opened
US
Military Announces 10,000 More
Post-“Surge” Troops In Iraq
By Naomi Spencer
On Monday, the US military announced that the number of troops in Iraq following the “surge” begun last year will be some 10,000 more than pre-surge levels. What was originally presented as a temporary increase of US occupation forces will result in the indefinite presence of 140,000 US soldiers in Iraq
Baquba
Losing Life – And Hope
By Ahmed Ali & Dahr Jamail
Life has been bad enough in Diyala province north of Baghdad after prolonged violence, unemployment and loss of all forms of normal living. What could be worse now is the loss of hope that anything will ever be better
The
Most Wanted List
By Noam Chomsky
If, for a moment, we can adopt the perspective of the world, we might ask which criminals are "wanted the world over."
To
Hang Or Not To Hang?
By Bal Patil
In India death penalty is awarded in the rarest of the rare cases. As a protagonish of the abolition of capital punishment I would like to reproduce my comments in my article “To Hang or Not To Hang” published in The Illustrated Weekly of India, dated. 18.02.1979 which I venture to think are still relevant originally published about three decades back because judicial perspective or the lack of it has not changed over the course of three decades
Taming
The Chameleon
By Mir Adnan Aziz
The United State's George Walker Bush, Japan's Shinzo Abe, Spain's Jose Mario Anzar, Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, Britain's Tony Blair, Australia's John Howard and our very own Caudillo, Pervez Musharraf. It would be hara-kiri for those recently elected not to learn from the immense political capital floundered by these seemingly unflappable and larger than life 'warriors'. This so because they forgot that they derived strength from their very own people and not an unquenchable personal hubris
26 February, 2008
The
Oil Factor In Kosovo Independence
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Kosovo does not have oil but its location is strategic as the trans-Balkan pipeline - known as AMBO pipeline after its builder and operator the US-registered Albanian Macedonian Bulgarian Oil Corporation - will pass through it
Kosovo
And The Question Of Palestine
By Ali Abunimah
Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence has produced a range of reactions among Israeli and Palestinian observers that reveal their anxieties about their respective situations
Still
No Justice For October 2000 Killings
By Jonathan Cook
Late last month, after a seven-year battle for justice, Asleh's parents and those of another 12 Palestinian demonstrators killed inside Israel at the start of the intifada heard that the policemen responsible for the deaths would almost certainly never stand trial. Israel's attorney-general, Menachem Mazuz, told the families that the investigations were being wound up. In most cases there was a lack of evidence, he claimed, and in the cases where there was evidence the policeman had acted in the belief that their lives were in danger
The
Israeli Agenda And The Scorecard Of
The Zionist Power Configuration For 2008
By James Petras
The Israeli Agenda openly defended, publicly practiced and aggressively pursued by the Zionist power configuration (ZPC) has greatly influenced the US Presidential elections and the likely future course of Washington’s Middle East policy
Gaza:
Where The Children Are Forbidden Happiness
By Eileen Fleming
The conditions in Gaza are grim and miserable and are not in accordance with the standards of human dignity…These victims here are innocent civilians. There is no time to lose in putting an end to this vicious circle of violence
Israel,
“Guest Of Honour” In Paris And Turin,
Does Not Deserve To Be Invited
By Silvia Cattori & Aharon Shabtaï
An Interview with Aharon Shabtaï
Potential
Health Hazards Of
Genetically Engineered Foods
By Stephen Lendman
This article discusses the potential health risks of genetically engineered foods (GMOs). It draws on some previously used material because its importance bears repeating. It also cites three notable books and highlights one in particular - Jeffrey Smith's "Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods." Detailed information from the book is featured below
Questions
Remain About Rove's CIA Leak Email
By Jason Leopold
It's been nearly five years since former White House political adviser Karl Rove sent an incriminating email to then Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley indicating that Rove had a candid conversation with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper about covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson, and her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, a critic of the Bush administration's prewar Iraq intelligence
John
Bolton: Boisterous Bully Of Bloviation
By Thomas Riggins
There is an excellent review of John Bolton's new book, "Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad" by Brian Urquhart (a former UN under-secretary general) in the March 6, 2008 issue of The New York Review of Books ("One Angry Man")
Could
Gandhi Be Saved: RSS Role
In Gandhi Assassination
By Bal Patil
There was something seriously amiss with the protection measures accorded to the Mahatma. What cannot be denied is that the Government plainly failed to appreciate the grave implications of the situation that had arisen in the wake of the bombing attempt on January 20, particularly in the light of prior information given by Dr. Jain
Gangrape
In Modirashtra: How Sanghparivar
Itself Stands Indicted
By Subhash Gatade
The latest case of gangrape in a Primary Teachers Training College (PTC) in Patan, 130 kms from Ahmedabad, by her own teachers is a case in point. It is being reported that the high profile CM of Gujarat did not deem it necessary to meet the victim because of his otherwise 'busy schedule'
What
Reservation Implies?
By Amit Chamaria
"Caste reveals work or work reveals Caste"-these seem to be different in writings but are still carrying a similar message for the prevailing complex realities in a country like India. This fact is clearly reflected when the Central government and the Haryana state government associate the caste identity closely with work or vice- versa. It means - if some one belongs to a lower caste, he/she is bound to work as Safai Karamchari or very similar to this avocation
25 February, 2008
Washington
v. Cuba After Castro
By Stephen Lendman
Cuba now begins a new era, its challenges are huge, and consider the biggest of all - Washington's relentless pressure the way Deputy Secretary of State (and veteran state terrorist) John Negroponte put it: Castro stepping down means nothing, US policy won't change, "I can't imagine that happening any time soon."
What
I Wrote On Tuesday 19
By Fidel Castro
Change! But, inside the United States. Cuba changed long ago and will now follow a dialectical path. We will never go back to the past! Cries our people. Annexation! Annexation! Annexation! Responds the adversary. That is what it really means when it speaks about change
The
Failure Of Human Rights Watch
In Venezuela And Haiti
By Joe Emersberger
The way Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on Haiti and Venezuela in its 2008 World Report reveals an underlying assumption that the US and its allies have the right to overthrow democratic governments
The
Enduring Trap In Iraq
By Adil Shamoo
A showdown is brewing between Republicans and Democrats over the Iraq War once again. The Bush administration is stirring the pot once again by negotiating an agreement with the "sovereign" Iraqi government to place U.S. military troops and bases permanently on Iraqi soil despite strong objections from many Democrats
The
Door To Iraq's Oil Opens
By M K Bhadrakumar
As can be expected, Washington is keen to exploit the vastly improved security situation in Iraq. The Bush administration is leaning on Shahristani not to wait for the fractious Iraqi Parliament to approve the Iraqi oil law that would have provided a legal framework for foreign investment in the oil industry. As the first step, the executives of some of the world's oil majors have been meeting with Iraqi Oil Ministry officials since January 24 in Amman, Jordan, for discussing the terms of technical support contracts, which are in the nature of shorter-term deals
From
Lebanon With Hate
By Franklin Lamb
The Maid of Darkness from Lebanon's 'Meadow of Springs' imports extreme Islamophobia Stateside
Delusional
Hope: The Obama Rapture
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
Obama hoped that he could tap into the national desire for change from the awful conditions produced by the Bush administration by selling hope to voters rather than his experience and accomplishments. Like a political medicine-man he has succeeded as a compelling seller of hope, better than the best infomercial charlatan
India
And China: Conflict, Competition,
And Cooperation In The Age Of Globalization
By Dr. Aqueil Ahmad
India and China are two of the world’s most ancient civilizations. For centuries they shared advanced ideas, inventions, religious and philosophical traditions. But their economies and societies stagnated during the colonial period. In the post-colonial era mutual relations suffered a setback due to political and boundary disputes. In contemporary times they have reemerged as leading techno-economic nations. It is high time for them to move beyond conflicts and start cooperating politically, economically, and technologically for mutual benefits
A
Nation With A Heart
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
Once again the Bush administration is leading the pack to impose a third round of sanctions on Iran although Tehran has cooperated with the IAEA. However, they have failed to prove a negative to the satisfaction of Mr. Bush as reported to him by his informants, the MEK, a terrorist cult who had a hand in the US embassy takeover in Iran and the murder of American civilians . Nor has Tehran been able to satisfy Washington of their ‘future intentions’
Hezbollah
And The ‘Unknown Knowns’
By Ramzy Baroud
We know well who killed the top Hezbollah commander, Imad Mugniyah on Feb 12th in Damascus. While in the US media, only journalists like Seymour Hersh will have the nerve to point out the obvious, the Israeli media has not shied away from evidence of the Israeli intelligence’s involvement in this well-calculated assassination
Waterboarding
Is Just Very Unpleasant . . . Right?
By Robert Weitzel
A society that accommodates itself to the idea of torture, be it torture of minutes or hours or months or years, forfeits the right to think of itself as moral or humane. That nation is not the beacon light of liberty and justice shinning on less enlightened countries. It is the umbra
21 February, 2008
The
Recession's Human And Environmental Impacts
By Emily Spence
The coalescence of a recession, mounting population, peak oil, mass extinction, urgent water shortages, climate change and other disastrous environmental impacts challenge us to take immediate action. Our doing so need not be disastrous if we collectively begin to make the essential changes on the scale needed. If we do not, the results could likely be catastrophic on a scope barely imagined by any of us. With firm resolve, let us all begin to undertake the critical modifications at once
Climate
Code Red - The New Denial
And The Failure Of Democracy
By Bill Henderson
A new report based upon state of the art science argues convincingly that climate change is a much more serious and immediate problem than previously perceived by even informed publics - climate change is an emergency that requires urgent mitigation measures not presently possible in our political and economic systems. No major media outlet acknowledges let alone critiques or comments upon or otherwise covers the report
Iraq:
Unemployment Too Becomes An Epidemic
By Ahmed Ali & Dahr Jamail
For a few, salaries have soared. For the rest, unemployment has. Many Iraqi workers enjoyed huge salary increases following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. But unemployment rose more sharply under policies introduced by the Coalition Provisional Authority
Risk
Of Cholera Multiplied By
Sewage Collapse In Baghdad
By Oscar Grenfell
Five years after the illegal invasion of Iraq, the absence of adequate sewerage treatment, clean water and reliable power supplies are glaring exposures of the lie that the US occupation has any concern for the well-being or rights of the population. Every death and illness that is caused by the infrastructure crisis is the responsibility of the Bush administration
Americanism:
'The Good,The Bad And The Ugly'
By Gaither Stewart
A close analysis and dissection of the American values that constitute Americanism will be necessary in order to create a new set of values. A new mindset that will include a basic conception of social justice to counteract and replace the pervasive and visible sense of gloom and hopelessness in the obesity of consumerist America
Movement
28 And The Health Of
The American Republic
By Case Wagenvoord
The short answer to this mess is public funding of elections campaigns. On the surface it seems to offer much. By freeing the congress from the multiple snares of corporate purse strings, Congress might start representing the public interest. As it stands now, every time an elected official speaks of our national interests or national security, “national” is simply a code word for “corporate”. The system is gamed to minimize public influence on policy
Suharto
And The Address Unknown
By Dr.Auswaf Ahsan
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a Suharto loyalist general, praised Suharto the dead dictator as "a loyal fighter, a true soldier and a respected statesman". World political leaders and international media showered tributes to this 'Pol Pot' of Indonesia who was responsible for not less than one million deaths
Juno:
Fact And Fiction
By Mirah Riben
The comedic fictional movie Juno has garnered praise, awards and nominations. It also created uproar among those of us for whom adoption is not a comedy, but our life
Failed
Fascist States
By Pablo Ouziel
During the rise of the short-lived Nazi empire, criticizing Hitler and his party to the average German civilian would have undoubtedly received strong rejection. Today the same holds true to critics of the mighty ‘democratic’ empire, built by the U.S. with the submissive support of its ‘client states’
The
Last Testament Of Benazir Bhutto
By Thomas Riggins
I don't know who killed Benazir Bhutto: the radical anti-western so-called "Islamists", the Musharraf government, or the Bush government. All three groups have shown that they won't hesitate to use murder and political assassination to gain their ends. It seems that the ideas put forth by Ms Bhutto, as presented in the New York Times review of her last book which she completed writing just before she was killed, would not please the Taliban, Al-Quaeda, Musharraf or Bush and his followers
20 February, 2008
Pakistan
Rejects Musharraf
By K. Ratnayake & Keith Jones
The Pakistani people overwhelmingly repudiated the US-backed, military-controlled regime of Pervez Musharraf in national and provincial elections held Monday
CIA
Makes Unilateral Strike Inside Pakistan
By Joby Warrick & Robin Wright
A missile strike on January 29 killed Abu Laith al-Libi, a senior al-Qaeda commander and a man who had repeatedly eluded the CIA’s dragnet. It was the first successful strike against al-Qaeda’s core leadership in two years, and it involved, U.S. officials say, an unusual degree of autonomy by the CIA inside Pakistan. Having requested the Pakistani government’s official permission for such strikes on previous occasions, only to be put off or turned down, this time the U.S. spy agency did not seek approval
The
Moment Has Come
By Fidel Castro
The moment has come to nominate and elect the State Council, its President, its Vice-Presidents and Secretary
Large
Potential Albanian Oil And Gas Discovery Underscores Kosovo's Importance
By Stephen Lendman
Unilateral western-supported independence mocks the 1999 UN Security Council Resolution 1244; it only permits Kosovo's self-government as a Serbian province; the resolution recognizes the "sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia;" only a new UN resolution in compliance with international law can change that legally
A
Balcony Seat To Our Own Balkanization?
By Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Imagine a day in the future, when something like this might come to pass in the American Southwest: Votes will have been cast, referenda held, promises, pleas and threats all made and disdained. A new flag will have been run up, the Stars and Stripes brought down one final time. When that day might come one cannot say. But if it does, it doesn't take an astrologer to predict that Serbia will be the first country to recognize the new state
Making
Iraq Disappear
By Tom Engelhardt
How Never to Withdraw from Iraq
Vanunu:
A Man Without A Country
Has A Local And Global Community
By Eileen Fleming
Everyone who talks with Vanunu on the street, on the phone or by email understands that they are being monitored by cogs in the industrial security-surveillance complex
Balfour’s
Deceit
By A.G. Noorani
International recognition of Israel as a state cannot wipe out the facts of history
2008
A Year Of Opportunity For Peace Advocates
By Kevin Zeese
The peace movement needs to be ready to make this election a real debate on the future of American militarism. The year is an opportunity to educate the public about the cost U.S. militarism, the ineffectiveness of the approach and more effective alternatives to achieving national security. It needs to be a time to organize peace voters and get them ready to be a “pressure force” in U.S. politics that cannot be ignored no matter who is elected president in November
Terrorism's
'Tenkasi' Moment
By Subhash Gatade
There are reports that the Tirunelveli Police have indicated that the explosives used in Tenkasi are similar those used in the Makkah Masjid blast at Hyderabad. It is incumbent that in the light of the revelations in the Tenkasi blasts , the CBI should reinvestigate the Makkah Masjid Blasts and other Blasts which took place in different parts of the country
Mobile
Office Ramkali
By Farah Aziz
Twenty-seven-year old Ramkali wears many hats. Apart from being a construction worker and a mother of five children, she is a diligent citizen. She is also her community's point person because she is a veritable reservoir of information about her community, which has earned her the title of chalta phirta daftar (mobile office)
19 February, 2008
X-Rated
Iraq: A Tortured Story
By Captain Eric H. May
An anonymous man wearing a US Special Forces T-shirt is a war criminal, if his three-minute YouTube interview is to be believed. In it, he claims to have taken part in routine torture of Iraqis — Hajji’s in soldier slang — in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison, and to have been part of a scheme with other guards to prostitute a 15-year-old Iraqi girl who later hung herself
The
Lights Have Gone Out, Who Cares
By Ahmed Ali & Dahr Jamail
Lack of electricity in Baquba has shattered businesses, and the lives of families. Months of power failures has darkened morale everywhere
A
New Force Called Sahwa Shows Its Muscle
By Ahmed Ali & Dahr Jamail
The Awakening Councils in Diyala province are stepping up their protests against the government in Baghdad. The Awakening Councils, or the Sahwa as they are called, are a mostly Sunni Muslim force set up by the U.S. to draw in resistance fighters into their ranks, and then to help U.S. forces fight other anti-U.S. groups
Bush
And ExxonMobil v. Chavez
By Stephen Lendman
Reuters on February 7 announced: "Courts freeze $12 billion Venezuela assets in Exxon row." Call it the latest salvo in Bush v. Chavez with ExxonMobil (EM) its lead aggressor and the long arm of the CIA and Pentagon always in the wings
F.
William Engdahl's "A Century of War" (Part II)
By Stephen Lendman
Part II continues the story of "A Century in War" in Part I. It's breathtaking in scope and content, and a shocking and essential history of geopolitics and the strategic importance of oil. Part I covered events from the late 19th century through the end of the 1960s. Part II completes the story to the present era under George Bush
The
Machine Gun Of Capitalism
By Mark Morford
Dead soldiers, peak oil and mind-boggling profits; praise Jesus, the machine's still working
Not
If -- When
By Shirley Bianchi
A review of actions taken by this Administration that point to a possible declaration of martial law
Australian
Aboriginal Genocide Continues
Despite Historic Apology
By Dr Gideon Polya
PM Rudd’s speech and Apology was largely confined to the Stolen Generations – indeed the word “Aboriginal Genocide” was NOT used even though what happened to the Indigenous Australians has been recognized as an Aboriginal Genocide
US
Elections: The Iraq Factor
By Ramzy Baroud
As the race for the United States presidential nominations progresses, the stances of and attitudes towards both Republican and Democratic candidates continue to bring up causes for concern, in terms of their past behaviour, current appeal and general trustworthiness
A
Children’s Story
By David Truskoff
Once upon a time, about two years ago, a balding bespectacled man who had an office in the White House in the USA. and was known as one of the most powerful man in the US, called a meeting of the Presidents top advisers
SEZs:
The Problem
By Aseem Shrivastava
It is nothing but hubris to imagine that humanity can replace ten million naturally growing trees concentrated in an ecologically sensitive area. In blindly adopting the destructive template of industrial modernity with incomparably poorer safeguards than the West, India is exposing itself to terrifying dangers in the future. Acquisition of land for SEZs is to be understood in this sobering perspective
An
Invisible Refuge
By Vinod K. Jose
Military excesses in Myanmar are forcing thousands of ethnic Chins to flee to Mizoram, but India won't accept
12 February, 2008
A
Tidal Wave Of Misery Is
Engulfing Iraq
By Michael Schwartz
A tidal wave of misery is engulfing Iraq—and it isn't the usual violence that Americans are accustomed to hearing about and tuning out. To be sure, it's rooted in that violence, but this tsunami of misery is social and economic in nature. It dislodges people from their jobs, sweeps them from their homes, tears them from their material possessions, and carries them off from families and communities. It leaves them stranded in hostile towns or foreign countries, with no anchor to resist the moment when the next wave of displacement sweeps over them
Iraq:
The Road To Learning Can Be Dangerous
By Ahmed Ali & Dahr Jamail
The Road To University professors now enjoy increased pay, but in the face of threats and isolation, there is little they are able to do in the world of academics
More
Bombing Creates New Enemies
By Ali al-Fadhily & Dahr Jamail
Many Iraqis view the attack Jan. 10 by bombers and F-16 jets on a cluster of villages in the Latifiya district south of Baghdad as overkill
Barack
Obama And The “End” Of Racism
By Juan Santos
With respect to Black interests, Obama would be a silenced Black ruler: A muzzled Black emperor. A Black man at the head of the White Amerikkkan State – one who’s unwilling to speak truth to power, but more than willing, like a Condi Rice or a Colin Powell, to become that power and to launch wars of aggression against other people of color
F.
William Engdahl's "A Century of War" - Part I
By Stephen Lendman
The book is a sequel to Engdahl's first one and subject of this review - "A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order." It's breathtaking in scope and content, and a shocking and essential history of geopolitics and strategic importance of oil. The book is reviewed in-depth so readers will know the type future Henry Kissinger had in mind in 1970 when he said: "Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control people." Engdahl recounts the story in his two masterful books, both critically essential reading
US
Contributes To Humanitarian Crisis In Gaza
By Chris Gelken
PressTV discusses the human cost of Israel’s collective punishment
How
Neo-Liberalism Has Created
The World's Immigration Crisis
By Jerry D. Rose
We like to think, of course, that we are more "enlightened" than the religious fanatics who carried out the Salem witch trials. That remains to be seen, as he have yet to see whether an "enlightened" path can be found from witch-persecution to the recognition of the common humanity of the earth's peoples
Geopolitical
Rebirth
By Pablo Ouziel
Until recently, watching CNN used to anger me, I could not cope with the fact that it was one more tentacle of the huge propaganda machine elaborated to misinform the majority, in benefit of a small yet powerful minority. Today I realize that CNN is our closest ally, every image that it shows, every speech that it airs, every conclusion that it draws, calls one more human to civil disobedience. Past acts of civil disobedience regained for us our stolen rights and determined our present, today¹s acts are shaping our future
The
Limits Of Individual Morality
By James Rothenberg
If we as individual citizens are to remain allegiant to the abstraction known as the United States of America, do we have to alter our innate sense of morality where it seems at variance with the morality of the state? Or, in a weaker version, to what extent do we have to alter our innate sense of morality in order to bring it into line with the morality of the state?
Global
Warming Contrarians Exposed -
Must See Free Video
By Denny Burbeck
An extremely informative, in-depth account of four of the major global warming "confusionists" is available free-online
Will
John McCain Have The Decency To Apologize?
By Mike Ghouse
I expect Senator McCain to drop the hate rhetoric and apologize to Muslims in America, or at least have the decency not to use the words "Islamic Terrorism" or "Muslims Terrorism". Call Terrorism for what it is, do not suffix or prefix or hang my religion to the evil acts; fear mongering is also evil. I am a Muslim and all the Muslims that I know in America are working hard to keep us safe and secure. If you do not have moral courage to apologize, the least you can do is restore decency in your language
The
Mockingbirds Of Gujarat
By Jawed Naqvi
This is a tribute to just four
of Gujarat's countless mockingbirds
that were humiliated or killed by the people they sang for. Every
year in February, when newspapers begin to chatter about the arriving
budget, the memory of Rasoolan Bai, Fayyaz Khan, Ehsaan Jaafri and
Wali Dakhani begin to haunt me. It was on a budget day when helpless
women were being raped and murdered across Gujarat on Feb 28, 2002,
with the approval of the state
Towards
Corporate City-States?
By Aseem Shrivastava
While the details are unclear, the broad political consequences of SEZs are fairly clear. By shifting the very mode of governance towards the corporate sector, they will render unaccountable and opaque decision-making which will have long-lasting and widespread consequences for the citizens of the country. Not only will the formal success (and consequent expansion)of SEZs threaten more lives and livelihoods in the countryside, they will institute an autocratic labour regime in the workplace. In this and other ways already explored in the essay, they will undermine democracy in India in profound respects and might well pioneer a full-scale transformation of the political system in the direction of formal corporate totalitarianism through the via media of autonomous corporate city-states
Pakistan:
A Parting Of Ways?
By Mir Adnan Aziz
Today we live in an era of the 'imperative'. We must either reform our system of governance or watch it fall. We have to build a movement of reform not around the unlimited failings and infinite limitations of an individual but around the basic hope and premise that our country was found on
Musharraf
And Bush: Conjoined Legacies
By Mir Adnan Aziz
It would bode well for the country and President Musharraf himself would he, in the wake of his 'friend', walk mercifully away into the twilight
11 February, 2008
Time
To Declare Global Climate Emergency
By Dr Gideon Polya
The World urgently needs a Declaration of Climate Emergency to meet the huge threat from accelerating and catastrophic polar ice melting. Climate scientists have recently discovered that the rate of polar ice loss is accelerating unexpectedly and that the current atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) has reached a tipping point for complete loss of Arctic sea ice in as little as 5 years
Climate
Code Red And The Crucial 08 Election
By Bill Henderson
Climate Code Red is a pdf that takes about an hour to read. More important than Stern, more up to date than last years IPCC reports, it should be front page news globally, but of course it isn't because, heretically, it is brutally honest about the scale of mitigation necessary and the need to escape BAU. What can we do? This is an emergency
The
Great Bust of '08
By Mike Whitney
So, what does it all mean? It means that people who want to hold on to their life savings are going have to be extra vigilant as the situation continues to deteriorate
Status
Quo Sideshow ‘08
By Rand Clifford
For those still thinking independently, global warming offers a glimpse of the very essence of Sideshow ‘08. This is an issue with the power to trivialize virtually every other issue, a global catastrophe in the making, and it’s being all but ignored—to what lengths?
Ambivalent
Views Over Gandhi Killer
By Rajesh Joshi
As India observes the 60th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's death, Hindu nationalist groups still grapple with the question whether to reject or appreciate his killer
America's
Top Exports: Grief, Sorrow, And Loss
By Mickey Z.
Remember: every two seconds, somewhere on the planet, a child starves to death. Meanwhile, the US spends one million dollars per minute on war. Do the math: How much of our money was spent on war and how many children starved to death while your read this article? We often hear the question: "Why do they hate us?"
The
Strangulation Of Gaza
By Saree Makdisi
Working together, Hamas and the people of Gaza have forced Egypt's hand and made much more visible than ever before the role it had been playing all along in the Israeli occupation and strangulation of Gaza; now that its role in assisting Israel has been revealed, it will be difficult for Egypt to go back to the status quo
House
Resolution 888: A Beast Of Apocalyptic Stature
By Robert Weitzel
House Resolution 888, introduced in December 2007, purports to be about nothing more than a recognition of America's history of religious faith. In reality, it is an attempt by the Christian Right to rewrite the history of the United States along the same biblical slant as their revision of the history of life on earth
Respect
Vietnamese Patriots Gunned Down
By "Beloved" Swift Boats
By Jay Janson
The world, watching satellite TV, notices that the general American public, indifferent to its government policies, nevertheless seems to enjoy hearing of the U.S. killing record and body counts in the many small nations its always heroic military invades
Arab-Americans
And Obama’s False Hope
By Remi Kanazi
Our current predicament underscores the limitation of the two-party system: small voices have no voices. The only way to build a better future for the Arab-American community and positively impact policy toward the Arab world is to invest in ourselves, and begin to build coalitions, where smaller voices can come together to effectively change society
Whither
Justice: Trajectory Of Srikrishna Report
By Ram Puniyani
The state Congress leadership thinks it can fool the victims all the time. But the question is how long can Congress sustain policies which betray the victims, which are against the promises and oath which they take while grabbing the seats of power?
Stuck
In A Hole
By Ashok Bharti
Despite committees, schemes and five-year plans, manual scavenging thrives in India. Ashok Bharti tells the story of failed reforms
08 February, 2008
Biofuels
Make Climate Change Worse
By Steve Connor
Scientists have produced damning evidence to suggest that biofuels could be one of the biggest environmental con-tricks because they actually make global warming worse by adding to the man-made emissions of carbon dioxide that they are supposed to curb. Two separate studies published in the journal Science show that a range of biofuel crops now being grown to produce "green" alternatives to oil-based fossil fuels release far more carbon dioxide into the air than can be absorbed by the growing plants
Slumping
Sales Signal US Recession;
Slowdown Spreads To Europe
By Barry Grey
Extremely weak retail sales reports on Wednesday and Thursday provided additional evidence that the US economy is sliding rapidly into recession. The indicators of falling consumer spending were joined by reports that the US housing slump continues to deepen. At the same time, the downturn that began in the US is spreading inexorably to Europe, where housing sales and prices are falling in most Euro Zone countries and the United Kingdom, and service industries grew last month at the slowest rate in four years
Top
US Lawyer And UNICEF Data
Reveal Afghan Genocide
By Dr Gideon Polya
What is happening in Afghanistan is an Afghan Holocaust. One sees that post-invasion under-5 infant deaths in Occupied Afghanistan (2.3 million) vastly exceeds the number of Jewish children murdered by the Nazis in World War 2 (1.5 million). The upper estimate of post-invasion violent and non-violent excess deaths in Occupied Afghanistan (6.6 million out of an average 2001-2008 Afghan population of about 25 million) exceeds the number of Jews murdered by the Nazis in World War 2 ( 5.6 million out of 8.2 million Jews in German-occupied Europe in the period 1941-1945
Going
Bankrupt: The US's Greatest Threat
By Chalmers Johnson
Some of the damage done can never be rectified. There are, however, some steps that this country urgently needs to take. These include reversing Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for the wealthy, beginning to liquidate our global empire of over 800 military bases, cutting from the defense budget all projects that bear no relationship to the national security of the United States, and ceasing to use the defense budget as a Keynesian jobs program. If we do these things we have a chance of squeaking by. If we don't, we face probable national insolvency and a long depression
Some
Of The Outrageous Lies About 9/11
By Joseph A. Lopisi
We must not vote for anyone who does not speak out about the lies and deceptions regarding 9/11, the removal of all electronic voting machines from the election process and the termination of the Federal Reserve Bank. Of course, there must be term limits and only public financing of national elections
Lies,
Damn Lies And The Murdoch Empire
By Stephen Lendman
Corporate media control is the core issue of our time along with overall corporate dominance with governments as their handmaiden. Democracy and a free society are impossible unless that changes. It's we the people vs. the Murdochs of the world, and we've only just begun fighting back
Life
In Occupied Gaza
By Stephen Lendman
The plight of Palestinians won't change as things continue lurching from one crisis to another the way they have for decades. It won't end until world leaders buckle to growing world sentiment that no longer will injustices this grave be tolerated. How much more suffering must be endured, how many more deaths are acceptable, when will justice finally be served? People of conscience want answers. It's about time they got them
The
Illusion Of The ‘Palestinian State’
By Ghali Hassan
As people stood in the way of Hitler’s colonial project, so are the Palestinian people. The day will come when Jabotinsky’s “Iron Wall” will fall and with it Palestinians dispossession and victimisation will end, and Palestinian liberation will be achieved
People’s
Power In Gaza
By Ramzy Baroud
Palestinian people have succeeded where politics and thousands of international appeals have failed. They took matters into their own hands and they prevailed. While this is hardly the end of Gaza’s suffering, it’s a reminder that people’s power to act is just too significant to be overlooked
Jonathan
Cook's "Israel And The Clash Of Civilisations"
By Stephen Lendman
Jonathan Cook's newest book, just published, is called "Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East." It's the subject of this review in the wake of advance praise. Noted author John Pilger calls it "One of the most cogent understandings of the modern Middle East I have read. It is superb, because the author himself is a unique witness" to events and powerfully documents them. This review covers them in-depth along with some of this writer's reflections on the region from America
Compromise
And Commitment
By Gaither Stewart
Ignorance of politics that conditions everything in life is lethal for a writer, but in that context her words, “They pay me,” were vile. She did not comprehend that journalism is compromised when it loses its autonomy and is subjugated to political power
"Why
The Myth Of The Model Minority
Is Harmful To The Oppressed"
By Max Kantar
The model minority argument is one based on ignorance, not evidence, in a nasty attempt to negatively classify Blacks and Latinos as products of their own unwillingness to work hard or assimilate. This false classification has far reaching consequences that threaten to keep black and brown people economically impotent and politically disintegrated for several more generations
The
Threat Of Section 1222
By James Rothenberg
The President is claiming that Section 1222 could inhibit his ability to defend the Constitution, so he claims the right to ignore it. The drafters of the bill were also sworn to defend the Constitution. What are the requirements in 1222 that the White House finds so inhibiting?
Mukasey
Evasive On Waterboarding
By Chris Gelken
Attorney General effectively protects Vice President Cheney from war crimes charges
Five
Years Later, Direct Action
To Stop The War Reemerges
By Scott Campbell
With the fifth anniversary of the war and occupation of Iraq looming, several Bay Area activists began having informal conversations about creating an action that was something more than what much of anti-war activism in the U.S. has been reduced to - a police-facilitated march and rally. These conversations quickly turned into a packed, 50+ person meeting at AK Press in Oakland on January 6, where the group decided to take on the name Direct Action to Stop the War
The
Evolution Of Evil
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
Perhaps a global political apocalypse has already arrived
Set
Pervez Free
By Kim Sengupta
A young man, a student of journalism, is sentenced to death by an Islamic court for downloading a report from the internet. The sentence is then upheld by the country's rulers. This is Afghanistan – not in Taliban times but six years after "liberation" and under the democratic rule of the West's ally Hamid Karzai
India
Alarmed As Chinese Built
Gwadar Port Of Pakistan Becomes Operational
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
The Chinese role in the Hambantota project is not just about influence in Sri Lanka, it is about China's presence close to Indian shores, which has implications for India's security. With Hambantota, Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean has been further consolidated
Good
Water, Bad Cola?
By C.R. Bijoy
A TERI reports says water used to make Coke is free of pesticides. CR BIJOY puts the report under the scanner
An
Excess Of Civility
By James Rothenberg
“The Iraqi people quickly realized that something dramatic had happened. Those who had worried that America was preparing to abandon them instead saw tens of thousands of American forces flowing into their country.” (On the recent “surge” of American forces into Iraq) These words were uttered by Bush with a marked degree of solemnity. Nobody laughed, even if they got the joke