Countercurrents Archive January 2006

31 January, 2006

Climate Poses Increased Threat, Admits Blair
By Michael McCarthy

Tony Blair has admitted that the risks of climate change may be more serious than previously thought

Sea Warming Hits Japan's Fisheries
By Suvendrini Kakuchi

Japan, a voracious consumer of marine resources, is now discovering that the drastic depletion of its own fish stocks is linked to the loss of underwater seaweed colonies -- caused, in turn, by rising sea temperatures

War Crimes And Human Rights Violations
In Balochistan
By Dr Wahid Baloch

On behalf of Baloch Society Of North America (BSO-NA) USA, I would like to bring your urgent attention to the deteriorating situation and gross human rights violations in Balochistan where Pakistani dictators have started the 5th military operation against the innocent Baloch people, using US gunship helicopters and F-16 jets, to crush theirpeaceful struggle against the occupation of their land and exploitation of their resources by Pakistan

Trading Oil In Euros – Does It Matter?
By Cóilín Nunan

Is the threat of an Iranian oil bourse trading oil in euros the real reason for the possible military attack of Iran? First, we must understand exactly why central banks keep foreign exchange reserves

The Only Democracy In The Middle East
By Remi Kanazi

These elections have proven the failure of unilateralism. An occupier cannot force the occupied into concession by pretending they don't exist. In this case, the occupied shifted towards a conservative movement that does a better job feeding Palestinian children, sending them to school, and rebuilding bulldozed houses. Hamas chose to fight against injustice, rather than give into it

The Hamas Victory: Democratization –
But Not what The US Expected
By Laurie King-Irani

Wednesday’s landslide victory for Hamas over Fatah in the Palestinian legislative elections should surprise no one. More than a dozen years after the Oslo accords, Palestinians have passed a public verdict on the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the old guard that it represent

The Second Childhood?
By Niranjan Ramakrishnan

Where do people who start wars, poison the environment for immediate gain and gratification, hock their country to keep interest rates low, plan to move? Mars? Unless that is their plan, their actions make no sense

Bad Blood On The Border
By Laura Carlsen

Guillermo Martinez was only 20 years old when he was shot in the back at close range by an agent of the U.S. Border Patrol in the state of California

For A Genuine South Asian Parliament
By Jawed Naqvi

Popular leftist icon Tariq Ali was speaking in Delhi this past week to audiences of slum-dwellers, academics, factory workers and communist leaders

30 January, 2006

Chavez Calls For ‘Socialism Or Death’
By Jim McIlroy & Chris Kerr

“Time is short. If we do not change the world now, there may be no 22nd century for humanity. Capitalism has destroyed the ecological equilibrium of the earth. It is now or never!”

The Psychopathology Of 'Armageddon' Theology
By Michael

The most extreme perversion imaginable of the Doctrine of 'resurrection' taught by Jesus is the development of a fundamentally bigoted, psychopathic 'Armageddon' theology which, insists, on the contrary, that we have nothing to fear from even a nuclear war inasmuch as we will no longer be on the face of the earth at all, having been 'Raptured' for having said 'yes' to Jesus Christ as our 'L'ord and 'S'avior

Blair In Secret Plot With Bush To Dupe U.N.
By Simon Walters

A White House leak revealing astonishing details of how Tony Blair and George Bush lied about the Iraq war is set to cause a worldwide political storm. A new book exposes how the two men connived to dupe the United Nations and blows the lid off Mr Blair's claim that he was a restraining influence on Mr Bush

Beating Around The Bush By The Bourse
By Ingmar Lee

The latest Neocon ramp-up rhetoric for attacking Iran is a dreary fearmongering rerun of the same old lies that launched Bush's disastrous Iraq-attack. The same old WMD drumbeat is now rattling to attack and destroy Ahmadinejad's nascent civilian nuclear program

Hamas Success
By Ghali Hassan

Hamas had won the elections so overwhelmingly and fairly should encourage the West, and the U.S. in particular, to reach out to the Palestinian people, and act as honest brokers for a just and lasting peace in Palestine

New Paradigm After The Victory Of Hamas
By Sam Bahour

The US and Israel shouldn't set pre-conditions on duly elected leadership

France's Colonial Blowback
By Bernard Chazelle

The riots that convulsed France for 3 weeks last fall,the roots of the crisis go back to the labor shortage of the sixties. Boatloads of North African immigrants landed on France's shores to provide the transient workforce needed to sustain an unprecedented economic boom. The transient part of the plan took a hit when the guests got the bizarre idea of having—gasp—children

Who Will Tell The People
By Sheila Samples

And who will tell the people
that free speech is a ruse;
The corporations run the country
and then they make the news.
Is it media or mind control
heroic victories or crime?
Who will tell the people...
that we are living in these times.

Saint Patrick’s Four
By Dahr Jamail

“What human being would sit silently by, listening to the screams of a child who is being bludgeoned to death, and do nothing? The people of Iraq were, and are being bludgeoned by our policies.”

Dawn Of Dalit?
By Ashok K Singh

A three-day seminar held recently to debate and deliberate on introducing Dalit Studies in universities provided fascinating insights into the space this emerging but exciting area of research could occupy in higher education

27 January, 2006

Hamas Election Victory: A Vote For Clarity
By Ali Abunimah

Hamas' success is as much an expression of the determination of Palestinians to resist Israel's efforts to force their surrender as it is a rejection of Fatah. It reduces the conflict to its most fundamental elements: there is occupation, and there is resistance

The Hamas Victory
By Uri Avnery

Many of the votes given to Hamas had nothing to do with peace, religion and fundamentalism, but with protest

President Jonah
By Gore Vidal

Jonah, who, like Bush, chats with God, had suffered a falling out with the Almighty and thus became a jinx dogged by luck so bad that a cruise liner, thanks to his presence aboard, was about to sink in a storm at sea

The Nuclear “Threat” At the End Of
The Age Of Petroleum
By Zbignew Zingh

Barely three years after America invaded and occupied Iraq on the false pretense that it was developing atomic weapons, the Administration, once again, is clanging the nuclear alarm bells

Osama's Secret Weapon
By Neal Brandvik

Osama says he is patient and willing to wait for USA's demise as long as it takes. Is he crazy? Where does he get the idea that a group of rag tag thugs who live in caves is going to defeat the greatest superpower nation in history?

Iraqi Journalist Murdered By US Troops
By Truth About Iraqis

Yesterday, news emerged that an Iraqi journalist was killed by US troops in Ramadi. The journalist's body was riddled with bullets - some 20 of them

2005 Was Warmest Year On Record: NASA
By Deborah Zabarenko

Last year was the warmest recorded on Earth's surface, and it was unusually hot in the Arctic

Nepal Shuts Down
By Justin Huggler

Police in Nepal opened fire on pro-democracy demonstrators with live ammunition yesterday for the first time in almost a year, wounding at least three, in the resort town of Pokhara

Double Effect Or Double Standards?
By Joshua Hergesheimer

The village of Damadola in Northwestern Pakistan felt the earth shake. Houses collapsed and men, women and children were killed. When it was over, the US air strike had killed 18 local people, sparking outrage.Architects of US foreign policy might argue that such deaths, while tragic, are unavoidable in the War or Terror

26 January, 2006

Peak America:Is USA's Time Up?
By Pat Murphy

Is the American Century over? When the impact of Peak Oil really hits, how will we deal with it? Will we cooperate with the rest of the world in sharing scarce resources, or will we rely on our status as the only Superpower to try to bully the world? And if the latter, would we survive?

Iran's New Bourse May Threaten The Dollar
By Linda S. Heard

In March 2006, Iran is scheduled to open its own oil bourse that will trade in euros. But even before it can open its doors, Iran is being accused of harbouring a clandestine nuclear weapons programme and is being threatened with sanctions or worse

Iran’s Oil Exchange Threatens The Greenback
By Mike Whitney

The Bush administration will never allow the Iranian government to open an oil exchange (bourse) that trades petroleum in euros. If that were to happen, hundreds of billions of dollars would come flooding back to the United States crushing the greenback and destroying the economy

India, China, And The Asian Axis Of Oil
By Siddharth Varadarajan

In less than a year, India and China have managed to confound analysts around the world by turning their much-vaunted rivalry for the acquisition of oil and gas assets in third countries into a nascent partnership that could alter the basic dynamics of the global energy market

What Al Gore’s Speech Reveals About
The State Of US Politics
By Patrick Martin

The substance of Gore’s speech was the most sweeping indictment of the Bush administration by any significant figure within the US ruling elite since Bush took office in 2001

Killing The Messenger: The Silencing
Of Journalism In Iraq
By Ghali Hassan

The Occupation has many ways to silence independent journalists, distort the images of the Iraqi Resistance, and tarnish the name of Islam. In the unprovoked U.S. aggression against Iraq, truth continues to be the deliberate casualty

Prosecutor Probing Niger Forgeries,
Possible Conspiracy In CIA Leak
By Jason Leopold

Over the past few months, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has been questioning witnesses in the CIA leak case about the origins of the disputed Niger documents referenced in President Bush's January 2003 State of the Union address, according to several current and former State Department officials who have testified in the case

Why I Now Genuflect To Charles Krauthammer
By Jason Miller

Driven by my renewed sense of purpose, and my blazing passion to follow my new-found inspiration, mentor, and idol, Charles Krauthammer, I elected to compile a compelling (yet succinct) detail, an accounting if you will, of the world's debt to America

The Other Side Of Pakistani Islam
By Yoginder Sikand

'This doctrinaire, ideological and exclusivist form of Islam has a certain appeal in some circles but it does not have mass acceptance and there is also much resistance to it from various quarters. Projecting Islam as completely distinct from other religions and equating Muslim culture with Arab culture goes completely against our cultural traditions and history

25 January, 2006

War With Iran: It's More Than Nuclear
By Joshua Frank

The majority of Iran's crude oil is located in Khuzestan, which borders Iraq and the Persian Gulf which is the home to two of Iran's largest untapped oil fields -- Yadavaran and Azadegan. So it really shouldn't be a surprise that the oil boys in Washington want dibs on Iran's oil-rich land

The Life And Death Of An Iraq Veteran
Who Could Take No More
By Andrew Buncombe and Oliver Duff

By his own admission Douglas Barber, a former army reservist, was struggling. For two years since returning from the chaos and violence of Iraq, the 35-year-old had battled with his memories and his demons, the things he had seen and the fear he had experienced. Last week after a brief stand-off with officers he shot himself in the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene

Bolivia: Bush’s New Nightmare?
By Federico Fuentes

After the crushing victory of Morales’ MAS with 53.7% of the votes, Bolivia has become the newest member of the growing ‘‘axis of good’‘ in Latin America, and the US’s latest headache. Morales’ victory represents the continued loss of control of the US over Latin American governments, including in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay

How Hot Does It Have To Get
By Lucinda Marshall

It is time to make peace with our planet, to apologize for the damage done and to humbly ask for a chance to tend our hearth with mercy, even if we can no longer make amends

Destruction Easier Than Reconstruction
By Brian Conley And Isam Rashid

While politicians deliberate over Iraq’s future, Iraqis are dealing with the reality of the present. They are looking at the debris of a country where reconstruction has come to a standstill

Illusion Of Democracy: The Palestinian Elections
By Saree Makdisi

With about 80 percent of eligible voters registered, and more than 700 candidates running in a hotly contested campaign for 132 seats on the Palestinian Legislative Council, the stage is set for what is being packaged as an impressive exercise in democracy when Palestinians in the occupied territories go to the polls on Wednesday

Let History Judge
By Scott Ritter

When historians look back on the policies enacted by the Bush administration in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, starting off with the decision to invade Iraq in March 2003, they will be passing judgment on a United States that has violated international law as egregiously as any power in modern history

Homeless Suffer In Indian Cold Wave
By Deepal Jayasekera

A cold wave with freezing temperatures has taken over 300 lives in northern India and Bangladesh so far this winter. Those who froze to death in the first three weeks of 2006 were mainly poor and malnourished people, particularly the homeless, who have no shelter, let alone heating facilities

23 January, 2006

Oil, Conflict And The Future Of
Global Energy Supplies
By Courtenay Barnett

The Bush administration has chosen the path of unending war (not so much against terrorism) but by pursuing a path of energy acquisition reliant on aggression that stirs global reactions that lead to terrorism

Echoes Of War
By Ghali Hassan

If one compares the engineering of the crisis which led to the war of aggression against Iraq with the current engineering of crisis to justify aggression against Iran, one is not likely to identify differences. The lies and the language are the same

My challenge For Steven Spielberg
By Robert Fisk

'Munich' suggests for the first time on the big screen that Israel's policy is immoral

Stroke Is Brain Attack.
Lessons From Sharon’s Stroke
By Shaik Ubaid, MD

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel suffered a catastrophic Stroke. He is still in a coma and is reported to have exhibited some movement in his left limbs in response to painful stimuli. One good thing that can come out of the high profile coverage of Mr. Sharon’s stroke and the course of the disease is an increased awareness of this serious, common and debilitating condition

India: Cultural Nationalism Or Secular Democracy?
By Ram Puniyani

After going through the turmoil created by Advani's 'Secular Jinnah' statement, its controller, RSS decided to get rid of him and finally appointed Rajnath Singh, a regional leader, and hardcore hindutwa fanatic as the President of BJP

Compassionate Development
By Stanzin Dawa

Empowerment of all Indians is only possible if the fundamental principle of our development is based on compassion. The seed of sustainable and equitable development lies in compassion

21 January, 2006

Bechtel Vs Bolivia: The People Win
By Democracy Center

The Cochabamba water revolt - which began exactly six years ago this month - will end this morning when Bechtel, one of the world's most powerful corporations, formally abandons its legal effort to take $50 million from the Bolivian people

What They Don't Want You To Know
About The Coming Oil Crisis
By Jeremy Leggett

Soaring fuel prices, rumours of winter power cuts, panic over the gas supply from Russia, abrupt changes to forecasts of crude output... Is something sinister going on?

Avoiding A War With Iran
By Mike Whitney

The march to war with Iran is continuing apace despite skyrocketing gold prices, a jittery oil market, and the unrelenting chaos in nearby Iraq

A Town Becomes A Prison
By Dahr Jamail and Arkan Hamed

"Our city has become a battlefield," 35 year-old engineer Fuad Al-Mohandis told IPS at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the city. "So many of our houses have been destroyed, and the Americans are placing landmines in areas where they think there might be fighters, even though most of the time it is near the homes of innocent civilians.

""Munich": Spielberg's Thrilling Crisis Of Conscience
By Maureen Clare Murphy

An appreciation of Spielberg's new film "Munich"

ChiracThreatens Nuclear Retaliation
In The Event Of Terrorist Attacks
By Peter Schwarz

The French president, Jacques Chirac, has threatened states which support terrorist attacks on France and its strategic interests, or which contemplate the use of weapons of mass destruction, with retaliatory nuclear strikes

God Bless Canada!
By John Chuckman

I hadn't realized until recently that Stephen Harper was using "God Bless Canada!" as a tagline for his speeches. Some may think this a harmless, or even beneficent, expression for a politician to use, but for those with knowledge of history, nothing could be a more frightening

Winter Multiplies Quake Survivors' Woes
By Shaheen Chughtai

As survivors mark 100 days since the calamity, aid workers are warning that a second humanitarian disaster is looming. Plummeting temperatures have caused a rise in cold-related illnesses - especially among children and the elderly

Pakistan, Islam And Indian Media Stereotypes
By Yoginder Sikand

Contrary to Indian media representations, the average Pakistani is just about as religious or otherwise as the average Indian. The average Pakistani is certainly not the wild-eyed fanatic baying for non-Muslim blood or waging violent jihad to establish global Islamic hegemony that our media would have us believe

Sex For Sale? The Argument Doesn't Sell
By Remya Mohan

Decriminalisation of prostitution, as suggested by the Planning Commission of India, institutionalises the abuse of human beings and is an obstacle to women’s emancipation

20 January, 2006

Phantom Osama Groomed For A Return
By Kurt Nimmo

After a long and suspicious hiatus, Osama bin Laden has resurfaced with new threats against the Great Satan.The latest incarnation of Osama was vetted by the CIA, the spook agency responsible for promoting the original Osama’s illustrious career, that is before he died of kidney failure in December, 2001

'We Are Past The Point Of No Return'
By Michael McCarthy

The world has already passed the point of no return for climate change, and civilisation as we know it is now unlikely to survive, according to James Lovelock, the scientist and green guru who conceived the idea of Gaia - the Earth which keeps itself fit for life

The Earth Is About To Catch A Morbid Fever
By James Lovelock

The climate centres around the world, which are the equivalent of the pathology lab of a hospital, have reported the Earth's physical condition, and the climate specialists see it as seriously ill, and soon to pass into a morbid fever that may last as long as 100,000 years

Warmer Seas Will Wipe Out Plankton
By Steve Connor

The microscopic plants that underpin all life in the oceans are likely to be destroyed by global warming, a study has found

Imperialism And Infinite Guilt
By Asim Srivastava

Last Saturday (January 14, 2006), an unmanned drone, apparently operated by the CIA, bombed the village of Damadola in Northwestern Pakistan, apparently in an attempt to assassinate the Al-Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahri. He was not among the 18 people who were killed in the attack. There were 8 women and 5 children among those killed. Collateral damage in the global war on terror

Spreading War, Not Democracy
By Joshua Frank

The Bush administration and their Democratic allies believe that the war in Iraq and now Iran is in Israel’s interest

The Proposed Iranian Oil Bourse
By Krassimir Petrov, Ph.D.

The proposed Iranian Oil Bourse will accelerate the fall of the American Empire

How Dick Cheney Used The NSA
For Domestic Spying Pre-9/11
By Jason Leopold

In the months before 9/11, thousands of American citizens were inadvertently swept up in wiretaps, had their emails monitored, and were being watched as they surfed the Internet by spies at the super-secret National Security Agency, former NSA and counterterrorism officials said

19 January, 2006

A World Lit By Energy Warfare
By Mathew Maavak and S. Rowan Wolf

Energy warfare may benefit energy corporations in the short-term but the biggest winner under any situation will be the global armaments and surveillance industry. Expect a more militaristic world if this nightmare unfolds

Peak Oil: Aids, Addiction And Opportune Infections
By Bill Henderson

We need justice in Iraq - acknowledgement that war in Iraq was a criminal mistake - in order to get back off the resource war path so that a cooperative, peaceful solution to the end of cheap oil is possible

We Could Be Ignoring The Biggest
Story In Our History
By David Ignatius

"It may seem impossible to imagine that a technologically advanced society could choose, in essence, to destroy itself, but that is what we are now in the process of doing."

A Tribute To Iraqi Ingenuity...
By Baghdad Burning

Now, nearly three years after this war, the buildings are still piles of debris. Electricity is terrible. Water is cut off for days at a time. Telephone lines come and go. Oil production isn’t even at pre-war levels… and Iraqis hear about the billions upon billions that come and go

How The West And The West Bank Were Won
By Jason Miller

US imperialists conquered the West and now employ their proxy in Israel to justify conquering their next "frontier" inhabited by "savages" who possess the coveted resource of oil

Despair Plagues Exiled Palestinians
By Sam Bahour and Michael Dahan

The 38-year Israeli military occupation of Palestine and 57 years of ongoing Palestinian dispossession at the hands of the State of Israel has brought us to a point of total despair. Today, in 2006, Palestinians have been condensed into pockets of caged-in communities, taking on varying shapes and forms

Pakistan: Anger Mounts Against Musharraf
In Wake Of US Air Strike
By James Cogan

Outrage in Pakistan over the US air strike on the border village of Damadola, which killed as many as 18 men, women and children, has been aggravated by the reaction in Washington

The Wounds That May Not Heal….
By Sudhir Pattnaik

The unfolding of the Kalinga Nagar tragedy continues shocking the sense and sensibilities of any one who has got a mind to think

13 January, 2006

China, India Urged To Shun Western-Style Waste
By Emad Mekay

The rising economic powers of India and China, and their appetite for raw materials, could pose the "gravest threats" to the world's ecological health if they fail to follow a conservation-based development model, warn two studies released here

My Lai Massacre Saviour Dies -
US Hero And Moral Example
By Gideon Polya

The New Year has seen the death of an extraordinary hero of humanity. Hugh Thompson, the American helicopter pilot who courageously intervened to save Vietnamese civilians from massacre by US troops at My Lai, Vietnam in 1968, has died of cancer, aged 62

Thank You For The Music...
By Baghdad Burning

All I knew was that a journalist had been abducted and that her Iraqi interpreter had been killed. Theysay he didn't die immediately. It is said he lived long enough to talk to police and then he died. I found out very recently that the interpreter killed was a good friend- Alan, of Alan's Melody, and I've spent the last two days crying

“Freedom in action”
By Dahr Jamail

In the shady, smoke and mirror filled world of Mr. Bush where violence is progress and Iraq inches ever closer to their elusive “democracy,” truth remains ever distant from the rhetoric of his speech writers. Mr. Bush referred to “a good deal of political turmoil” in Iraq as “freedom in action.”

Ariel Sharon
By Robert Fisk

Extracted from The Great War For Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East, by Robert Fisk

Israeli Army Uprooting Olive Groves
By Khalid Amayreh

"They uprooted the huge olive trees with the jackhammers, trimmed the bigger branches with large electric saws and then lifted the trees aboard awaiting trucks apparently in order to replant them elsewhere in Israel."

Energy Security And The Future Of Canada
By Jeff Berg

Here we Canadians are in the middle of a national election and yet not one of our political parties is speaking word one to us about energy security

12 January, 2006

Is Washington Losing Latin America
To Democracy?
By Ed Nelson

Is Washington Losing Latin America? This is the title of an article from the Jan. / Feb. 2006 issue of Foreign Affairs, an important journal for policy wonks around the world. But the real title should have been: Is Washington Losing Latin America to Democracy?

Where Is Latin America Headed?
By Annibal Arrate Dutilh

Over the last five years, the situation of Latin American republics has changed substantially both in economic and political terms, due to the push and growing awareness of the peoples. From North to South, progressive governments have come to power by popular decision

Massacre Survivors Want Sharon To suffer
By Cilina Nasser

Nawal Abu Rodaina does not want Ariel Sharon to die. At least not yet. Not before the Israeli prime minister is punished for his role in the massacre of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon more than 23 years ago

More "Unnatural Disasters"On The Horizon
By Stephen Leahy

As the new year begins, extreme weather continues to plague the United States, and experts warn this may be the "new normal" under climate change

Rapidly Shrinking Arctic Ice Could Spell Trouble
For The Rest Of the World
By Robert S. Boyd

If present trends continue, as seems likely, the sea surrounding the North Pole will be completely free of ice in the summertime within the lifetime of a child born today. The loss could point the way to radical changes in the Earth's climate and weather systems

Major Polluters Launch Controversial
Global Warming Talks
By AFP

Some of the world's worst polluting nations have launched a controversial conference with international business chiefs here to seek high-tech solutions to global warming

Nuclear Clouds Gather Over The Asia Pacific
By Praful Bidwai

From Iran and Israel in West Asia, through India and Pakistan in South Asia, to North Korea and Japan in the East, the region exhibited, in 2005, unprecedented activity in the nuclear field that can only intensify in the coming years

Porn Fiesta
By Remya Mohan

The rampant proliferation of pornography has a definite role to play in the numerous cases of internet and camera-phone sex-scandals unearthed periodically across India. The convergence of technology has made it easy to distribute pornography while enabling peddlers and users to maintain their privacy and dodge the law

11 January, 2006

Sedition, Subversion, Sabotage
By William T. Hathaway

Capitalism, although resilient, is willing to change only in ways that shore it up, so before anything truly different can be built, we have to bring it down

“Violent Insurgency”
By Ghali Hassan

The 2003 U.S. aggression against Iraq has taken Western “progressive” élites, particularly those on the Left by surprise, not because of the violent and criminal nature of U.S.-orchestrated terror against the Iraqi people, but because of the instant rise of the Iraqi Resistance against the unprovoked military and economic against Iraq

'Democracy' Brings Bleak Days
By Dahr Jamail and Arkan Hamed

Many Iraqis see dismal days ahead in the face of rising violence and the decision by the U.S. administration not to seek any further funds for reconstruction

Should God Bless America
By Craig Etchison

Is it not time for us to declare that our government will have only one special interst--treating all people and the environment with decency? Is it not time for us to decree that all decisions will be made in a single context--people and planet before profit? Maybe then we'll be worthy of God's blessing

The Post-Sharon Landscape
By Uri Avnery

Israeli politics now resemble the three fingers of a hand: Likud, Kadima and Labor. Three fingers instead of a fist.It is quite possible that on election day, the three will get almost identical results--something around 25 seats each. If one of them does better than the others, its leader will probably be called upon to form the next government

China And The Dollar
By Mike Whitney

On Thursday, The People’s Republic of China fired off the first volley in what could turn out to be economic Armageddon. China announced that it would begin to diversify its foreign-exchange reserves away from US dollar

Some Hard Questions About World Social Forum
By Jai Sen

This note is to ask some hard questions about the World Social Forum, with the aim of raising some debate on it in the run-up to the world meetings that are coming up later this month

Climate Fears, Water Shortages Haunt Europe
By David Evans

France and Spain are ringing alarm bells over the climate, fearing a repeat of last year's drought that sparked deadly forest fires, costly crop failures and widespread water rationing in southern Europe

10 January, 2006

Ten Million Girls Aborted As Indians
Seek Male Heirs
By Jeremy Laurance

At least 10 million female foetuses have been aborted in India over the past two decades by middle-class families determined to ensure they have male heirs

US Propaganda vs. Iraqi Reality
By Dahr Jamail

The reality in Iraq is the opposite of that generated by the Cheney administration as the carnage and chaos in Iraq worsens each day

Advice From An Old Man
By Doug Soderstrom

Due to a craze of events around the world, the United States may find it necessary to reinstate the draft; that is, the U.S. government might be forced into telling our nation’s youth that they have no choice but to honor the call of Uncle Sam, don a military uniform, and go to war

How Bush Will Interpret The Omens
Before His State Of The Union Sermon
By Abullisan wal-Qalem

2006 has started on a disastrous note for President George Bush, the man who has a hotline to God. It will be interested to analyze how our evangelical-fundamentalist President will read these strings of bad omens. We will soon be enlightened on the new revelations he has received through the hotline, when the President delivers his upcoming State of the Union Address

One Morning In Baghdad...
By Sabah Ali

Baghdad streets, and Iraq highways, are private properties now of the American troops. to pass, you need their permission, which is not easy at all

A Passage To Palani
By Niranjan Ramakrishnan

India - Information superhighway or Information-scuppered-highway?

08 January, 2006

Whitewashing Of Ariel Sharon
By Saree Makdis

The 'man of courage and peace' story ignores his bloody and ruthless past

The Dying Of Ariel Sharon
By Andrew Wilsom

What if he was reincarnated in the womb of a Palestinian woman?

You Can't Go Home Again
By Sheila Samples

January 5th was the bloodiest day in Iraq since Bush's illegal invasion. As many as 140 were killed, including 11 US servicemen, and many more injured. Bush responded by suddenly summoning all living secretaries of state and defense to the White House for a skull session and photo op on what to do in the Middle East before he is completely overtaken by even more catastrophic success

America Is Going To Lose This War
By Sandy Shanks

The writing is on the wall. The American people are already being prepped for withdrawal, which equates to defeat for Americans and Iraqis alike any way you look at it

NSA Destroyed Evidence Of Domestic Spying
By Jason Leopold

The National Security Agency, the top-secret spy shop that has been secretly eavesdropping on Americans under a plan authorized by President Bush four years ago, destroyed the names of thousands of Americans and US companies it collected on its own volition following 9/11, because the agency feared it would be taken to task by lawmakers for conducting unlawful surveillance on United States citizens without authorization from a court

Now, Hindu Nationalists Rewriting
California Textbooks
By Angana Chatterji

The attempts of diasporic Hindu nationalist organizations in the United States to intervene in revising segments on India, Indian history, and Hinduism in 6th grade textbooks in California State schools is disturbing

The Execution Of Nguyen Tuong Van
By Sebastian De Brennan

The recent execution of convicted Australian drug trafficker, Nguyen Tuong Van, has forced many to reconsider the rationale of ‘punishment’ in our society

I Owe This To Mukhtar
By Shabnam Hashmi

Social activist Mukhtar was arrested on the eve of the New Year by the Modi government on a false and bogus rape case

07 January, 2006

Sharon’s Stroke Plunges Israel
Into Political Turmoil
By Chris Marsden

Behind the hypocritical eulogies for Sharon and the attempts to unite the disparate factions within Israel’s ruling circles lay grave concerns over the political stability of Israel and the entire Middle East

Axis Of Fanatics - Netanyahu And Ahmadinejad
By Norman Solomon

Now, with Netanyahu campaigning to win the Israeli election for prime minister in late March, he’s cranking up rhetoric against Iran. His outlook seems to be 180 degrees from the world view of Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Yet in tangible political ways, they’re well-positioned to feed off each other’s fanaticism

Ready, Aim, Cease-Fire
By Remi Kanazi

birds living in Gaza are collectively punished. The "promised" bombardment of Gaza began the last week of December,striking a Fatah office and ten roads. But it's ok because Israeli forces dropped leaflets, in Arabic and English, to warn Gazans that "Israel is on the attack."

Three wishes For The New Year
By Hasan Abu Nimah

The new year is a moment to wish and campaign for meaningful change in the way the world is. And despite the breathtaking enormity of human progress, there remains too much to wish for still in terms of ending violence, injustice and poverty. For our region I have three specific wishes which if realised, would contribute substantially to a safer and better-managed world

Peak Oil And The Politics Of Global Solutions
By Gareth Doutch

As people become aware of sustainability issues (and especially with peak oil) they almost immediately begin to look at reducing the fossil fuel dependence in their lives, learning to grow their own food, creating forward-looking networks etc. For all of the good work being done by folk, the fact cannot be escaped that government action needs to be taken at the nation state and, more importantly, global levels

2006...
By Baghdad Burning

I guess the Iraqis who thought the US was going to turn Iraq into another America weren’t really far from the mark- we too now enjoy inane leaders, shady elections, a shaky economy, large-scale unemployment and soaring gas prices

The Quiet Death Of Freedom
By John Pilger

The former senior CIA analyst Ray McGovern, who once prepared the White House daily briefing, told me that the authors of the PNAC and those now occupying positions of executive power used to be known in Washington as "the crazies". He said, "We should now be very worried about fascism"

06 January, 2006

Israel: Political Hemorrhaging
By Remi Kanazi

Sharon was running a one man show going into the March elections with his new Kadima (forward) party. Major polls showed the premier was a shoe-in, but now the question becomes which direction Israel will be headed politically

Cricket & Iraq – Exposing Politically-Correct Australian Racism
By Gideon Polya

Apart from record temperatures, huge bushfires and the death of a media mogul, major stories in Australian media in the current holiday season have been beach-side racist race riots, racial taunting of the South African cricketers touring Australia and Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean

Terror And Resistance
By Ghali Hassan

Since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, there have been three elections and one “transfer of sovereignty”. However, the situation on the ground in Iraq has further deteriorated. What have changed are the pretexts for ongoing terror and occupation

People's Version Of Kalinganagar Firing
By Independent Media

At a protest in Kalinganagar, Orissa,on 2nd January, 2006 the State police opened fire on a protest by local tribals against the takeover and seizure of their land by a Tata Steel plant. Sixteen people died on the spot, four more died in the hospital, and a police constable was also killed in the clash

03 January, 2006

UNHCR Blamed For Sudanese Refugee Deaths
By Emad Mekay

Arab and Middle East civil society groups are accusing United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of collaborating with Egyptian police in action which caused the deaths of at least 25 Sudanese refugees in a downtown Cairo park on Friday

Oil Market Analysts Issue Dire Warnings
By Humberto Márquez

While this year's record high oil prices are unlikely to come down in the near future, analysts are warning the world's traditional and emerging economic powers to curb consumption, saying that at the current rate, proven reserves will only meet demand up to 2030

The Guerilla War For Iraq’s Oil
By Mike Whitney

A war is raging in Iraq that will determine the outcome of the present occupation as well as the shape of future conflicts. It is the war for control of Iraqi oil

Open Letter From Baghdad
By An Iraqi citizen

A letter from an Iraqi citizen who lives in Baghdad. It is written as an open letter to Mr. Bush

War Without End
By Robert Fisk

Only justice, not bombs, can make our dangerous world a safer place

After The War
By Howard Zinn

The war against Iraq, the assault on its people, the occupation of its cities, will come to an end, sooner or later. The process has already begun. The first signs of mutiny are appearing in Congress

Torture: The Israeli Denial
By Ghali Hassan

As the U.S. methods of torture are exposed around the world, Israeli methods of systematic torture on the Palestinians remain unbroken taboo

Go To The light!
By Sheila Samples

Truth doesn't just radiate light -- it IS light. If Americans would raise their heads and look around, they would see there are flashes of light everywhere -- especially on the Internet

A Visit To Europe
By Cindy Sheehan

By just meeting with me, the officials of each country are showing a minor tear in the fabric of support with the illegitimate residents of the "Casa Blanca." Each little sign gives hope

On Father's Day, Send Your Cards
To Tom Instead Of George
By Jason Miller

As Sinclair Lewis warned in It Can't Happen Here, tyranny can arise in highly unexpected places. And it has. If enough of us join together, exhibit fortitude and patience, and take action, we can put an end to this nightmare

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