31 March, 2006
Security
Council Bows To US Pressure
By Peter Symonds
After three weeks of behind-the-scenes US bullying,
the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a statement on Wednesday
calling on Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program and giving the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 30 days to report back
Nuking
Iran?
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
Philip Giarldi, A former CIA officer, in an August
1, 2005 issue of The American Conservative warns that Dick Cheney has
issued a request for using tactical nuclear weapons against Iran
The Israeli
Elections - What The Hell Has Happened?
By Uri Avnery
The most dramatic and the most boring election
campaign in our history has mercifully come to an end. Israel looks
in the mirror and asks itself: What the hell has happened?
Cheney And
Halliburton Hold Title -
Top Earners In Iraq
By Evelyn Pringle
A study released in June 2005, originating from
the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), revealed that overall, Halliburton
had received roughly 52% of the $25.4 billion that has been paid out
to private contractors since the war in Iraq began
9/11 - Eliminating
The Impossible
By Sheila Samples
Americans are waking up. They have been told one
-- or one hundred -- too many lies. They instinctively know there are
only three areas of questions about 9-11 whose answers, however improbable,
reveal the truth
On Cheaper
Cars In India
By Girish Mishra
The finance minister, P. Chidambaram, has proposed
to reduce excise duty on cars from 24 to 16 per cent, i.e., by one third.
It is needless to add that this proposal intends to encourage foreign
direct investment in the automobile sector, which is at present controlled
largely by the foreigners and induce the neo-rich to buy their own vehicles.
This will ultimately lead to further worsening of the public transport
system
Fake Dalits,
Bogus Tribals?
Whither Affirmative Action
By Subhash Gatade
While one is aware of the non filling of seats
meant for scheduled castes and scheduled tirbes in various institutions
of education and other employement opportunities, the filling of such
seats with fake dalits or bogus tribals is a phenomenon which has rarely
received the attention it deserves
Agrarian
Crisis In Punjab: Groping In Dark
By Jatinder Preet
The exhilaration of green revolution has given
way to the despair of suicides.The Indian state of Punjab,which reaped
the benefits of the Green Revolution in the 80s has come to fight a
failing battle with farmer suicides
30 March, 2006
The
New Israel: Plans To Redraw
Border On West Bank
By Donald Macintyre
Election victory gives Ehud Olmert a mandate to
implement his controversial plan to redraw border and annex Palestinian
territory
Narrow Victory
For Kadima In Israeli Elections
By Chris Marsden and Julie Hyland
The victory of Kadima in Israel’s general
election has been hailed as a popular mandate for the unilateral redrawing
of the country’s borders by 2010 and the creation of a new “political
centre-ground.” In reality, the vote reveals a deeply fractured
society that is politically, economically and socially unstable
The Suffering
Palestinian
Women Undergo Every Day
By Nurit Peled-Elhanan
Speech Nurit Peled-Elhanan delivered at the European
Parliament, Strasbourg, on March 8 on the occasion of International
Women's Day
France's Politicized
Students -
Capitalism Under Fire
By William Pfaff
The protests' ostensible purpose is to force withdrawal
of a minor change in this French government's employment policy, but
they have taken on a radically different significance. The crowds in
the street contest a certain form of capitalist economy that a large
part, if not the majority, of French society regards as a danger to
national standards of justice and, above all, to "equality"
An "Alliance"
Of Violence
By Dahr Jamail
A disturbing trend noticeable in Iraq for quite
some time now is that each aggressive Israeli military operation in
the occupied territories results in a corresponding increase in the
number of attacks on US forces in Iraq
Another
Day, Another Sorrow
By Fayrouz In Beaumont
Two years ago, my friend and fellow Iraqi blogger
Al-Baghdadi packed his bags and moved his family to Jordan. The least
he knew at the time is that sadness will follow him to Jordan. Last
June, thugs roaming streets of Baghdad kidnapped and later killed his
younger brother. Yet, that wasn't the end of his sorrows
A Fictional
Representation Of Our Future
Year 2070 a power point representation
Freshwater
Rights
By Arun D Ahluwalia
To be retaining our rights for safe drinking water
even within cities, we need to launch a mass communication programme
in effective and thoughtful ways to enforce Freshwater Rights. Those
who may consider these to be a joke will find themselves on the receiving
end not very far off in the future
Apostasy Laws –
An Injury To Islam By Muslims
By Mirza A. Beg
It is important and valid to oppose all the encroachments
by others on the Muslim lands and Islam, but it is suicidal to use it
as an excuse to cover the festering wound intolerance. The more grievous
fault is lies within
Which Soldier
Will Be The Last
To Die For Bush's Mistake?
By Evelyn Pringle
The war in Iraq is a mistake. No its worse than
a mistake. Lets quit pussy-footing around and call it like it is. The
war in Iraq is a grand profiteering scheme gone awry and Americans need
to take off their blinders and face the truth
29 March, 2006
Uncertainty
In Iraq
By Baghdad Burning
“The Ministry of Defense requests that civilians
do not comply with the orders of the army or police on nightly patrols
unless they are accompanied by coalition forces working in that area.”That’s
how messed up the country is at this point
Mosque Massacre
Deepens Occupation’s Crisis
By Bill Van Auken
The massacre of as many as 40 unarmed worshipers
in a northeast Baghdad mosque Sunday has triggered a political crisis
that threatens to accelerate Iraq’s descent into civil war while
sharply intensifying the hatred of millions of Iraqis for the three-year-old
US occupation of their country
A War In Search
Of A Justification
By Joshua Frank
Supporters of Iraq war still looking for a smoking
gun
Wage War
On Poverty, Not Immigrants
By Jesse Jackson
We can spend billions trying to lock immigrants
out and hold those that come in down. Or we can devote energy and resources
now wasted on a civil war in Iraq to help lift our neighbors up, gain
real trading partners and significantly reduce the misery that drives
people from their homes
Hobson's
Imperialism And The Desperate
Uncle Sam As Naked As Ever
By Pratyush Chandra
What else do all these abuses demonstrate about
the state of the American youth pushed into the war, if not that imperialism
necessarily dehumanises its own citizens? They are transformed into
Full Metal Jacketed soldiers
Are
Israel’s Interests In Americas’ Interests?
By Ghali Hassan
The war against the Iraqi people proves to be a
carbon copy of the war on the Palestinian people. In the same way Israel
is destroying Palestine, US illegal war on Iraq has destroyed the entire
nation. Why a premeditated mass murder of innocent civilians is good
for the Jewish people or the American people?
It's The Media,
Stupid
By Ramzy Baroud
Israel's decades-long quest to bolster its media
image has done wonders as American public opinion either sees Israel
as a lone defender of democracy amid uncivilized Arab polities or not
at all aware of the facts, basing its inane understanding of Middle
East politics on media half truths that see Arabs as irrational, lazy
and inherently violent, with the Israeli being the embodiment of the
complete antithesis
Galilee
Bishop Speaks For Justice,
Friendship And Peace
By Sonia Nettnin
Rev. Dr. Abuna Elias Chacour spoke about the need
for security and peace between Israelis and Palestinians. He said people
need to take responsibility for one another by befriending people they
consider their enemies
Fitzgerald
Will Seek New
White House Indictments
By Jason Leopold
The second part of the federal investigation into
the leak of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson is nearly complete.Special
Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has started to prepare the paperwork to
present to the grand jury seeking an indictment against White House
Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove or National Security Adviser Stephen
Hadley
Ball In The
Supreme's Court
By William Fisher
The U.S. Supreme Court this week heard arguments
in what will almost certainly be one of the landmark cases of the past
fifty years. Their decision will determine whether the Supreme Court
will continue to assert its authority to review and check the executive’s
power to detain and try individuals caught up in the “war on terror”
Introspection,
The Key To Understanding
By Mirza A. Beg
It is the duty of truly religious people to raise
their voices against the individual terrorism, but even more so the
state terrorism, because it is done in our name. Because of the hold
of religion on average populace, it becomes imperative to not let our
faith be enlisted by the state to harm others
28 March, 2006
Uranium
Bombing In Iraq Contaminates Europe
By Bob Nichols
Nine days after the start of the American president's
2003 "shock and awe" uranium bombing campaign in Baghdad,
an invisible radioactive uranium oxide gas cloud swept through Britain's
towns and countryside and throughout Europe
Iraq Told
To Rebuild Itself
By William Fisher
Last week’s announcement that Iraq will now
have to pay for its own reconstruction has left some observers wondering
whether the yet-to-be-formed government there will be up to the task
Women And
War: A First-Hand Perspective
By Sonia Nettnin
At the Chicago-Kent College of Law, Dr. Rashad
Zayadan spoke about the situation in Iraq since the US-led invasion
over three years ago. She asked a group of lawyers and law students
to inform their families and friends about Iraqi suffering because of
the war. She talked about justice and peace by ending the military occupation
in Iraq
Remembering
Jesús
By David Howard
On March 27, 2003, a week after President Bush
began the Iraq War, Jesús Suárez, a 20-year-old Marine,
went on reconnaissance patrol near Baghdad. He stepped on a cluster
bomb and died, becoming one of the first casualties of our catastrophic
occupation of Iraq
Reflections
On Karachi World Social Forum
By Ingmar Lee
I did get the sense that there are a lot of people
there, who unlike me, have some kind of hope that we can turn the world
around from the very brink of disaster through the existing political
processes, like in the event that the left should prevail against the
right, that Peace and Justice will prevail again
America: Made
In China
By Dave Eriqat
The results of my very unscientific poll were even
more surprising than I expected. Eight or ten items I examined were
Made in China. One or two were Made in Taiwan, which I pretty much regard
as China. One was Made in Thailand. An electrical extension cord was
Made in Indonesia. A single item, a can of compressed air for blowing
away dust, was Made in USA
Transdnestra Blockaded
By Moldova, Ukraine
Moldovan and Ukrainian authorities have blockaded
the small nation of Transdnestria on all borders, bringing about criticism
from Russia and requests for humanitarian aid from Transdnestria's leftist
government
Sorry, Mr.
Prime Minister, Afghanistan
Is Not Our War
By John Chuckman
Afghanistan is not our war, Mr. Prime Minister.We
are not threatened by voices in the Middle East opposing American policy,
unless you believe one reference in a recording of bin Laden mentioning
Canada along with other countries
Geopolitical
Audit Of Asian Tsunami
By Arun D. Ahluwalia
Nearly 430 nuclear reactors across the world are
all in coastal areas and these cannot always be shut down in time because
not all floods can be predicted. Relocation from coastal areas looks
impractical but it is unavoidable. It is high time we start focusing
on this logistical challenge
Apostasy In Islam
- Sharia Vs Islam
By Rehman Faiz
The Abdul Rahman case is considered to be a test
for Afghanistan's path towards secularism and democracy, the system
strongly promised by president Hamid Karzai
25 March, 2006
Iraq
A Move Toward Open Dictatorship
By James Cogan
The announcement on March 19 that steps are being
taken to form an extra-parliamentary “National Security Council”
(NSC) is a warning that the Bush administration is moving toward an
openly dictatorial regime in Iraq
Bush Didn't
Bungle Iraq, You Fools
By Greg Palast
On the third anniversary of invasion, we can say
the attack and occupation is, indeed, a Mission Accomplished. However,
it wasn't America's mission, nor the Iraqis'. It was a Mission Accomplished
for OPEC and Big Oil
It's Criminal
By Scott Ritter
Impeachment is the only recourse that can bring
a halt to the madness in Iraq, and the insanity being planned in Iran
and elsewhere
Death
For Apostasy And The Draconian
Shariah Law: Afghanistan And Beyond
By Taj Hashmi
The latest spine chiller from Afghanistan is the
revolting news about sentencing one Abdul Rahman to death for converting
to Christianity, a capital crime as per the obscurantist Shariah law
The Pollution
Gap
By Andy McSmith
Over 70 million Africans and an even greater number
of farmers in the Indian sub-continent will suffer catastrophic floods,
disease and famine if the rich countries of the world fail to change
their habits and radically cut their carbon emissions
Climate Data
Hint At Irreversible Rise In Seas
By Andrew C. Revkin
Within the next 100 years, the growing human influence
on Earth's climate could lead to a long and irreversible rise in sea
levels by eroding the planet's vast polar ice sheets, according to new
observations and analysis by several teams of scientists
Fiddling
As The Earth Burns
By Captain Paul Watson
This week the United Nations issued a 92 page Biodiversity
Outlook Report. Like every other U.N. previously released report, this
warning will be predictably filed and ignored. The report states that
humans are responsible for the worst spate of extinctions since the
dinosaurs and urges nations to make unprecedented extra efforts to reach
a goal of slowing losses by 2010
Israeli Consensus
Shows Its True Colors
By Jonathan Cook
Kadima appears to be on a winning streak. Separation
of the crudest and most ruthless kind is now, as the polls all too clearly
demonstrate, precisely what the Israeli consensus demands
India’s
Pro-Investor Plans For Urban Renewal
By Jake Skeers
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched an
“urban renewal” program last month designed to attract private
investment to 63 of India’s largest and most important cities.
However, the plan is not directed at ameliorating the terrible conditions
facing ordinary working people, but at satisfying the long-standing
demands of business
Christian
Country With Huge Aggressive Military?
By Bill Henderson
The peak of oil production should also be the
peak of globalization and almost certainly the once expanding ethical
framework will contract or relocalize, probably to sub-nation state
locality
Russia
Plays China Energy Card
By Vladimir Radyuhin
Russia has made a new move to assert itself as
a global energy broker and make other countries play by its rules. On
a visit to China this week, President Vladimir Putin pledged to build
two natural gas pipelines to China, as well as jointly develop Russian
offshore gas fields
24 March, 2006
Glacial
Earthquakes Warn Of Global Warming
By Steve Connor
Dramatic new evidence has emerged of the speed
of climate change in the polar regions which scientists fear is causing
huge volumes of ice to melt far faster than predicted
Australian
Web Site Forced To Shut Down
By Richard Phillips
One week before the third anniversary of the criminal
invasion and occupation of Iraq, the Australian government forced the
closure of a satirical web site that powerfully exposed several key
lies told by Prime Minister John Howard to justify participation in
the US-led war
War Making
101 - A User's Manual
By Stephen Lendman
What's at stake is nothing less than saving the
republic (again what's left of it) and our sacred Constitutional rights.
Unless enough of us are willing to fight for both and do it soon, there
may be nothing left to fight for
The War Lovers
By John Pilger
For me, one of the more odious characteristics
of Blair, and Bush, and Clinton, and their eager or gulled journalistic
court, is the enthusiasm of sedentary, effete men (and women) for bloodshed
they never see, bits of body they never have to retch over, stacked
morgues they will never have to visit, searching for a loved one
Democratizing
The World: One Torture
Victim At A Time
By Jason Miller
Analysis of the Long, Repulsive History of the
United States Inflicting Torture on Its "Suspected Enemies"
(in Conjunction with a Review of A Question of Torture by Alfred W.
McCoy)
Israel
Announces Plans To Annex
More Palestinian Land
By Jean Shaoul
Ehud Olmert, Israel’s acting prime minister,
whose Kadima party is expected to win the national election on March
28, recently announced that Israel would unilaterally redraw its borders
by 2010, annexing Palestinian land without negotiations with the Palestinians
A Disgusting
Exercise
By Uri Avnery
Many Israelis believe that the Jericho action was
a brilliant exercise. I found it simply loathsome
23 March, 2006
US
Nuclear Hypocrisy
By Doug Lorimer
While pushing for international sanctions against
Iran for pursuing its legal right under the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty to research the production of nuclear fuel (low-enriched uranium),
US President George Bush has agreed to provide India with access to
US civilian nuclear technology, even though India has nuclear weapons
and is not a signatory to the NPT
Against The
Indo-US Nuclear Deal
By Sharbani Banerji
If India goes the US way, we would soon see Indian
Universities actively participating in the research and production of
nukes, just like the Universities in US, and in the near future, we
would be teaching students from other countries who would come to study
here, to do the same. Can that be our goal?
US
Media Bias: Covering Israel/Palestine
By Remi Kanazi
I understand why The New York Times and CNN reports
the way it does. They are media hacks run by the corporate dollar. Injustice
is injustice. Murder is murder. While Palestinian suffering goes on
unreported children like Ragheb Al-Masri remain dead and forgotten,
and the American press remains biased and forgiven
The Power
Of Saying No
By Jeff Halper
The vote for Hamas was not a closing of the door
at all, but a rational, intentional and powerful statement of non-cooperation
in a political process that is only leading to Palestinian imprisonment.
Hamas, if anything, stands for steadfastness, sumud, the refusal to
submit
Depleted
Uranium For Dummies
By Irving Wesley Hall
More than 1,000 tons of Depleted Uranium have been
used in Afghanistan and more than 3,000 tons in Iraq, the results of
which will affect victims generations to come
The Democratic
Quandary -
War Opposition or Party Allegiance?
By Joshua Frank
Can you really oppose the occupation of Iraq and
still call yourself a Democrat? I’m not so sure. The majority
of Washington Dems continue to applaud Bush’s invasion of Iraq
as well as his debauched crusade against terror. A few antiwar voices
have echoed though Democratic corridors, but none have produced any
genuine shifts in ideology, let alone direction. Nor will they
Nepal And Venezuela
By Pratyush Chandra
Chavez-led Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela apart,
the Communist Party (Maoist)-led movement in Nepal – popularly
known as People’s War – is undoubtedly the most significant
popular struggle for freedom and democracy in the world today
The Oxycops
By William Fisher
Wheelchairbound multiple sclerosis patient Richard
Paey is serving 25 years in a Florida prison for “trafficking”
1/2 gram of OxyContin, even though the prosecutor concedes that Paey
never sold any of his medications. In prison, he now receives more pain-killing
drugs than he was convicted of having
Punjab State
Policy On Organic Farming
By Umendra Dutt
The Indian State of Punjab is going to have a state
policy on organic farming very soon. The Punjab Chief Minister Capt.
Amarinder Singh has announced this in current session of the assembely.Though
announcements made are always political but, policies always drafted
without any political vision.This lack of vision takes policies always
away from the very people on whose name and welfare the policies were
declared
22 March, 2006
The
Nuclear Madness Of George Bush
By Jon Lamb
On February 6, US President George Bush confirmed
his intention to commit the US to a program of reprocessing nuclear
fuel. Touted as a key measure in the ''Advanced Energy Initiative’‘,
outlined in Bush’s January State of the Union speech, the plutonium
extracted from spent fuel is allegedly to be used as a fuel source for
a new generation of nuclear power plants across the US and elsewhere
Bush Says
US Troops To Remain In Iraq Indefinitely
By Jerry White
At a White House press conference Tuesday morning
President George W. Bush suggested that the US would continue the occupation
of Iraq for years, if not decades, to come
The Iraq
War: Three Years On
By Robert Fisk
Even today the occupation powers tell awesome lies.
Democracy is taking hold when the "Iraqi" government controls
only a few acres of Baghdad greensward. The insurgency is being crushed
when 40,000 armed Iraqis are ripping into the greatest army on Earth;
freedom is taking hold when thousands of Iraqis are dying each month
Operation
Swarm Of Lies
By Dahr Jamail
Operation Swarm of Lies is part of yet another
Cheney administration media blitz to put a happy face on this horrendously
failed misadventure in Iraq. All too aware of the plummeting US public
support for the war effort, and with approval ratings for the so-called
president at an all time low, Bush had been sent out on the campaign
trail to apply fresh gloss to the tattered sheen of the US occupation
of Iraq
India And
UK-US Bush Wars
By Gideon Polya
On the occasion of the Third Anniversary of the
Anglo-American invasion of Iraq it is timely to note the human and economic
cost of the Bush Wars – 2.7 million excess deaths and a cost to
the US of US$1-2 trillion
The
Jericho Prison Raid
By Ramzy Baroud
Could it be possible that the Israeli army raid
on a Jericho prison on March 14 was done without careful coordination
between Israel, the United States and Britain?
Woodward's
Plame-Leak Deep Throat
By Jason Leopold
White House officials who are sympathetic to I.
Lewis “Scooter” Libby say "official one" is former
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. But numerous senior officials
at the State Department, the CIA, and the National Security Council
have said that "official one" is National Security Adviser
Stephen Hadley
WSF Towards
Karachi And Nairobi
By Tord Björk
WSF is built on an intriguing balance to be able
to practically and politically organise the huge events and the process
it carries forward. Whether this cooperation will be able to become
relevant to the masses participating in international protests against
oppression and to politicize the global polarisation between rich and
poor is still an open question
Give Us Your
Huddled Masses - Or Not
By William Fisher
The mantra of just about everyone who speaks on
this subject has become “America’s immigration system is
broken and must be fixed”. But that’s about where the agreement
ends. As to what do about the problem, there are almost as many “solutions”
as there are immigrants
20 March, 2006
Three
Years Of Occupation And Bloodshed
By Baghdad Burning
Three years later and the nightmares of bombings
and of shock and awe have evolved into another sort of nightmare. The
difference between now and then was that three years ago, we were still
worrying about material things- possessions, houses, cars, electricity,
water, fuel… It’s difficult to define what worries us most
now
Death
Squad Democracy
By Mike Whitney
The notion that Iraq is now consumed by civil war
depends on a number of assumptions that are inherently false
Libby Attorney
Identify CIA Officials In Plame Leak
By Jason Leopold
The identity of intelligence officials who are
thought to have passed information about covert CIA operative Valerie
Plame Wilson to Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff,
I. Lewis "Scooter"
America's Best-Kept
Secret
By Robert S. Becker
“War is the health of the state” declared
Randolph Bourne and our “state” is capitalism and New York
is the capital
The Age Of Anxiety
Redux
By William Fisher
One of the public’s responses to that post
9/11 environment is popping pills. Since that dreadful day, there has
been a rapid and dramatic increase in sales of anti-anxiety, anti-depressant,
and sleep aid drugs
Verichips: An
Invasion Of Privacy?
By Stephanie Puder
Although it sounds like science fiction, microchips
meant to be implanted into human beings are here, they are being marketed
world wide, and have even been approved by the FDA, and yes people have
already begun to get them implanted
Some Thoughts
About Jesus,The Church,
My Country, And The War
By Doug Soderstrom
And I am convinced our country is under attack
(not from without, but rather from within) by that of a rising tide
of fascism threatening to consume everything that we, as a nation, once
held dear, a neoconservative campaign eerily similar to that which occurred
in Germany as Adolph Hitler rose to power
Humanity
Suffers The Savagery Of The American
Empire’s Post 9/11 Worldview
By Jason Miller
It is easy to lapse into deep cynicism, but our
democracy is on life support, not dead. If We the People exercise what
is left of our Constitutional rights, there is a chance we can reclaim
our nation. If we don’t, we have thrown in the towel and lost
Why
Do India's Dalits Hate Gandhi?
By Thomas C. Mountain
As Dalits organize themselves and begin to challenge
caste based rule in India, it behooves all people of good conscience
to start to find out what the Dalits and their leadership are fighting
for. A good place to start is with M.K. Gandhi and why he is so hated
by Dalits in India
17 March, 2006
Are
You About To Nuke Iran?
By Ingmar Lee
The ramp-up rhetoric to an Iran attack now issuing
from the White House is reaching an all too familiar fever pitch. Can
anybody doubt that BushCo. is preparing to attack Iran? This attack
may well include a nuclear component for which they have been preparing.
Two weeks ago, British and American physicists detonated a brand new
kind of nuclear blast, "Operation Krakatoa" in Nevada
Siege Of Jericho
Prison: US, Britain
Complicit In Israeli War Crime
By Bill Van Auken
The lawless attack launched against the Palestinian
prison in Jericho Tuesday marks a further provocative escalation in
the offensive launched by Israel against the Palestinian people in the
wake of last January’s election victory for Hamas
Coalition Mobilizes
For Man’s
Rights In US Courts
By Sonia Nettnin
A US citizen for almost 30 years and a resident
of Bridgeview, IL Salah has been charged in both the State of Israel
and the US for allegedly funneling money to the Palestinian Occupied
Territories and into Israel for Hamas military operations in 1993. The
US prosecutors want to use the 1993 Hebrew statements signed by Salah
while he was in Israeli custody as evidence. Salah’s lawyers have
filed a motion to suppress the statements. They say Salah was tortured
into signing the 1993 confessions and that the confessions are in a
language Salah does not understand
Media Lies And
Hypocrisy In
Wake Of Milosevic’s Death
By Bill Van Auken
The death of former Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic in his jail cell at the Hague on Saturday has unleashed a
torrent of historical distortions and outright lies that echo the propaganda
campaign waged more than seven years ago to justify the US-NATO war
against the country
16 March, 2006
The
US Gulag Prison System
By Stephen Lendman
The US prison system, with no exaggeration about
as shockingly abusive as the gulag abroad. It qualifies for that label
by its size alone - more than 2.1 million as of June, 2004 and growing
larger by about 900 new inmates every week. Blacks (mostly poor and
disadvantaged) especially are affected. While they make up just 12.3%
of the population, they account for half the prison population, and
their numbers there have grown fivefold in the last 25 years. Hispanics
(also poor) account for another 15%
Israel's
Attack On Jericho: Palestinians
Remain Without Protection
By Ali Abunimah and Arjan El Fassed
The Israeli attack on Jericho and kidnap of a number
of Palestinian prisoners, including the leader of the Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) demonstrates once again the fiction
that there is a functioning Palestinian "government" in the
occupied territories
India: One Country,
Two Worlds
By Girish Mishra
Two reports have appeared simultaneously. One report
has been carried by the American magazine Forbes and the other by the
German journal Der Spiegel’s English version. These two reports
underline that India, despite being one country, is getting divided
into two worlds, which may have disastrous consequences
Terrorists
Or Resistance Fighters:
America’s Dilemma In Iraq
By Gerald Rellick
But now after three years, and the recognition
that the war was a fraud, theses brave soldiers in Iraq know the difference:
70- 75% of them want the war to end and want to come home to their families
rather than fight George Bush’s personal war
President
Bush’s Ken-Doll Performance
An Insult To Women
By Lucinda Marshall
President Bush’s fawning attempt to frame
himself as a champion of women is not only delusional, his remarks on
International Women’s Day were an affront to women everywhere
How To Lose
Friends And Encourage Extremists
By William Fisher
When this year's Human Rights report appeared last
week, I e-mailed it to six of these old friends and asked them for their
reactions "off-the-record". They had a lot to say, but it
all came down to this consensus: The United States had forfeited its
right to report on abuses committed by others by committing its own,
failing to correct them, and then holding no one in authority accountable
With Friends
Like These
By Sheila Samples
Most Americans are critically aware of the importance
of security in the wake of 9-11. But with best friends and partners
like the United Arab Emirates, the Carlyle Group and Halliburton controlling
the house -- we have little time to worry about enemies at the gate
15 March, 2006
Iran:
Where Do We Go From Here?
By Mike Whitney
The US administration knew from the beginning that
the UN Security council would not support sanctions or military action.
The intention was simply to increase suspicion about Iran’s nuclear
programs and mobilize public support for a war
Deja
Vu All Over Iran
By Robert Dreyfuss
In the past few weeks, we’ve seen the Bush
administration create a brand-new Office of Iranian Affairs at the State
Department, which looks suspiciously like a step toward creating the
Iraq war planning office at the Pentagon called the Office of Special
Plans. No word yet on whether the Department of Defense plans to create
a parallel Office of Iranian Affairs, but it can’t be far behind.
So that’s déjà vu, for sure
The Middle East
Muddle:Is Peace Still Possible?
By Bernard Weiner
The run-up to the impending war against Iran --
and make no mistake, the foundations are being laid daily by the Bush
Administration -- bears a remarkable resemblance to the propaganda barrage
before the U.S. attacked Iraq
Mass
Starvation And Democracy Prevention
By Ghali Hassan
Nothing has displeased the US and its allies more
than free and fair democratic elections. The recent Palestinian elections
are just a case in point. While Hamas won the Palestinian legislative
elections freely and fairly, the next step for the US, Israel and their
European vassals is to demonise Hamas, undermine democracy and continue
the violence and the destruction of the Palestinian society
Accepting
Reality: America Lost The War In Iraq
By Remi Kanazi
America has lost the war in Iraq. The chance for
victory vanished long ago with the hearts, minds, arms, legs and lives
of the Iraqi people. The insurgence hasn't won; rather the American
government never obtained the formula to win
Remembering
A Valiant Journalist: Atwar Bahjat
By Ramzy Baroud
According to Reporters Without Borders, a total
of 82 journalists and media assistants have been killed since the start
of US war on Iraq and the subsequent invasion and occupation in March
2003. Seven of those were killed this year alone. One of the seven is
Al-Arabiya correspondent, Atwar Bahjat, a young Iraqi journalist and
most certainly one of the best
US India Alliance
And Global Equations
By Ram Puniyani
The changing dynamics of development is seeing
that China is coming up strong and fast as a potential super power.
US will undertake every possible move to create and alliance which is
formidable and can take on the other superpower in case it comes in
the way of US designs on the political and economic control of the World.
The new found love of US for India is based on this practical calculation
14 March, 2006
Arctic
Sea Ice Fails To Re-form
By Steve Connor
Sea ice in the Arctic has failed to re-form for
the second consecutive winter, raising fears that global warming may
have tipped the polar regions in to irreversible climate change far
sooner than predicted
Bush's Nuclear
Madness
By Stephen M. Osborn
The latest information I have had from the followers
of Bush is that he has demanded and received permission to use nuclear
“bunker busters” in Iran in a preemptive strike. As a nuclear
veteran I can affirm that this is absolute madness
Iraq: Permanent
US Colony
By Dahr Jamail
US policymakers have replaced the Cold War with
the Long War for Global Empire and Unchallenged Military Hegemony. This
is the lens through which we must view Iraq to better understand why
there are permanent US bases there
Bush’s
Roadblock At The Security Council
By Mike Whitney
The Bush administration has no proof that Iran
has violated the terms of its treaty. The IAEA has no proof that Iran
has violated the terms of its treaty. The UN Security Council has no
proof that Iran has violated the terms of its treaty. The whole fiasco
has been orchestrated to deceive the public and pave the way for war
From Green Beret
to Peace Activist:
William T. Hathaway and His Books
By Daniela Rommel
By overcoming his Special Forces indoctrination,
William T. Hathaway became a defector from the warrior corps and an
opponent of militarism. His books shine light into our civilization's
heart of darkness and show us ways out of the violence
Quoth The Craven
Evermore
By William Fisher
For those who enjoy the political theater of the
absurd, the Dubai Ports World soap opera was the only show in town last
week.And it was a hoot! The actors came straight out of Central Casting
13 March, 2006
The
British Companies Making
A Fortune Out Of Iraq
By Robert Verkaik
British businesses have profited by at least £1.1bn
since coalition forces toppled Saddam Hussein three years ago, the first
comprehensive investigation into UK corporate investment in Iraq has
found
Iraq: A
Cluster Of Torture Prisons
By Ghali Hassan
The $20 billion initially appropriated by the US
administration to “reconstruct” Iraq were a gift to US corporations
and the Bush cronies. The only visible construction in Iraq today is
the rise in the construction of prisons
The End Of Civilization
By Dave Eriqat
I believe that what we’re witnessing today
is the inception of a titanic and protracted competition for survival:
between countries, between civilizations, between governments and their
people. Moreover, I believe the Bush administration is the first to
recognize this competitive future, which explains its fundamentally
different – seemingly feckless – behavior compared to past
administrations
Gandhi In California
By David Howard
On March 12, 2006, the seventy-sixth anniversary
of the Salt March, as the world suffers the intended and unintended
consequences of a hideous war of aggression against Iraq, Latino conscientious
objectors and parents of fallen soldiers begin their own two-week march
of nonviolent protest
Bush's Ports
Affair
By Pratyush Chandra
The rhetoric war around the ports deal allows the
US rulers to stabilise their global hegemony and imperialism - by homogenising
the domestic citizenry by heightening fear and paranoia, while "reaching
out to the world", assuring the world that they are conscious of
the "white man's burden"
Western Double
Standards And
The New United Nations Human Rights Council
By Anthony Ravlich
While the United States is holding up the formation
of the new United Nations Human Rights Council because it wishes to
exclude States with poor human rights records the double standards of
many Western democracies are overlooked
The
European Union Dilemma: Israel,
Palestine And The Geneva Initiative
By Am Johal
The European Union, as well as other parties, will
need to utilize their economic arrangements with Israel and the Palestinian
Authority to meet the stated obligations both nations have committed
themselves to under the Roadmap to Peace process and earlier agreements
Move
Over Intelligent Design,
Here Comes Bhartiya Creationism
By Ra Ravishankar
A fictional account of a tete-a-tete between Swami
Prakashanand Saraswati, the spiritual leader of the Texas-based Vedic
Foundation and a Hindutva activist
11 March, 2006
The
48 Hour Media-blitz For War With Iran
By Mike Whitney
In the last 48 hours all the major players in the
Bush administration have issued statements warning of the impending
danger of Iran
What The
Iran 'Nuclear Issue'Is Really About
By Chris Cook
The realpolitik is of course that those in power
in the US and Iran have the reason they give - and the real reason -
for what they do: and for the US, the real reason is and has been for
many years energy security above any other consideration
New World Relationships
By Noam Chomsky
The prospect that Europe and Asia might move toward
greater independence has troubled US planners since World War II. The
concerns have only risen as the ‘tripolar order’ —
Europe, North America and Asia — has continued to evolve. Every
day, Latin America, too, is becoming more independent
Realpolitik
Gone Nuclear
By Joseph Grosso
It appears that the Bush administration is covering
its bets in one of the world's hottest spots with two nuclear-armed
states who have already been near the brink of nuclear war and have
fought three other wars since their inception
The Nonsense
Of Nation-Building In Afghanistan
By John Chuckman
Canadians today are asking what is the purpose
of the mission in Afghanistan. The answers offered include that empty
term, nation-building
Kartoon- Krieg:
Politics As War By Other Means
By Lila Rajiva
The rash decision to publish the cartoons of Mohammed
cannot be defended as freedom of speech for a simple reason - these
cartoons are not speech but acts. Acts of provocation and belligerence.
They are the opening - or perhaps continuing - rounds of war
Advani's
(W)rath Yatra For
National (Dis)integration
By V.B.Rawat
Lal Krishna Advani is back to what he has been
an 'expert' for the past 15 years. After the bomb blasts at the Sankat
Mochan temple in Varanasi, he hurriedly organized a press meet and informed
the hungry journalists that he along with Rajnath Singh would embark
on 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' (India integration Yatra) against the policies
of the United Progressive Alliance government which have resulted in
the blast at Varanasi
10 March, 2006
The
Secret War Against The Defenseless
People Of West Papua
By John Pilger
Indonesia's brutal occupation of West Papua, a
vast, resource-rich province -- stolen from its people, like East Timor
-- is one of the great secrets of our time.An estimated 100,000 Papuans,
or 10 percent of the population, have been killed by the Indonesian
military. This is a fraction of the true figure, according to refugees
Rene
Preval's Impossible Mission
By Stephen Lendman
The way things are now, Rene Preval
may be lucky just to stay alive and keep his sanity and blood pressure
under control. On day one in office he'll be virtually alone trying
to govern a country still run by criminals under the aegis and with
full support of the US
US
Pushes For Larger UN
Intervention In Western Sudan
By Brian Smith and Chris Talbot
The newfound interest of the Bush administration
in western Sudan has nothing to do with humanitarianism, however, but
is bound up with the geo-political interests of US imperialism. There
is growing concern about China’s influence in the region. For
several years the main recipient of oil from Sudan, China has now increased
investment and is developing its political relations with Khartoum
Stopwatch Ticking
For Darfur
By David Morse
Joey Cheek, the 26-year-old speedskater from Greensboro,
N.C. shattered the world's record, when he streaked through the men's
500-meter race in 34 seconds.But when he stood up to receive his gold
medal, Cheek accomplished something just as extraordinary. He broke
the silence surrounding the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan
See Dick
Loot
By Dahr Jamail
Halliburton and its subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and
Root (KBR) have been making hay in the burning Iraqi sun for years now.
It is, of course, no coincidence that the man sitting as vice president
played a key role with his influence in obtaining the lion's share of
contracts in Iraq for the company he was CEO of prior to his self-appointed
position. Yet none of this is news
Middle
East Democracy And The Hamas Factor
By Ramzy Baroud
While Israel sees little harm in making Palestinians
a 'whole lot thinner' as a result of its economic sanctions policy,
the US' rash response in chastising Palestinians will likely scar US
credibility, or whatever remains of it
How the Green
Party Slays Their Own
By Joshua Frank
An Interview with John Murphy
M.S.
Golwalkar: Conceptualizing Hindutva Fascism
By Ram Puniyani
Beginning this twenty Fourth February, RSS combine
has undertaken programs in different parts of the country to celebrate
the centenary year of RSS second Sarsnghchalak (supreme dictator), Madhav
Sadashiv Golwalkar, known in Sangh circles as Shri Guruji. What are
going to be the implications of this celebration?
09 March, 2006
CIA
Leak Path: Cheney, Libby, Woodward
By Jason Leopold
In mid-June 2003, when former Ambassador Joseph
Wilson's criticism against the White House's use of pre-war Iraq intelligence
started to make national headlines, Vice President Dick Cheney told
his former chief of staff and close confidant I. Lewis "Scooter"
Libby to leak classified intelligence data on Iraq's nuclear ambitions
to a legendary Washington journalist in order to undercut the charges
made against the Bush administration by the former ambassador
Lying And
Deception As The Government Policy
By Ramzy Baroud
What is even more imprudent than the invasion of
Iraq and the 'war on terror' is the Bush administration's determination
to interpret the tragedy of that stricken nation in a way that lays
blame on just about everyone else but itself. And yet this is just one
thread within an elaborate web of lies and deceit initiated by the Bush
administration years ago
Bush Is Herding
Cats In The American
Jewish community
By William Fisher
On the heels of the surprise victory of Hamas in
the Palestinian parliamentary elections, President George W. Bush is
discovering just how difficult it is to try to herd a bunch of cats
Dick Cheney's
Time-Release Poison
By Irving Wesley Hall
Defense Secretary Cheney first used depleted uranium
munitions in the 1991 Gulf War. Result? Almost 2/3rds of the vets are
sick. Will this happen to the troops returning from Afghanistan and
Iraq? Read on and judge for yourself
Liberty - Use
It Or Lose It
By Niranjan Ramakrishnan
If we are really serious about our outrage, we
can start by helping roll the impeachment ball up the (Capitol) Hill:
Rep. Conyers has a resolution calling for a select committee to explore
impeachment, complete with subpeona powers. Twenty eight House members
have signed on. Has yours? Why not knock on your Representative's door
to ask that he join Conyers in this effort?
Satan Is Resting
Easy: The Power Of
Christ "Propels" Them
By Jason Miller
Remember, Big Brother is watching, listening and
reading. In light of the illegal surveillance they are conducting at
the behest of their incompetent, rogue, and murderous Commander-in-Chief,
I am dedicating this essay to the NSA
Indo-US
Nuclear Deal- Some Unexplored Angles
By Buddhi Kota Subbarao
Indo-US civilian nuclear collaboration may ultimately
lead to promoting US business interests and the inevitable media spin
would make it much more difficult for the people of India to guard themselves
against nuclear safety violations
Pesticide Lobby
Launches Offensive
On Environmental Groups
By Umendra Dutt
The Pesticide Industry has now gone on an all out
war cry, not against the Pests, as is their mandate but against public
science, concerns of health and the ensuing public opinion that is growing
against their products
Best Bakery Jessica
Lal And The Cake Of Justice
By Sorit Gupto
It is just a mere coincidence that nine persons
has convicted in Best bakery and nine has been acquitted in the Jessica
lal murder case but the recent judgments on both the cases presents
some typical characteristics of the criminal justice system of India
04 March, 2006
Bush
Visit To Pakistan Will Intensify
Musharraf's Crisis
By Peter Symonds
US President George Bush arrived
in Pakistan last night amid heavy security and a series of anti-US protests
in cities across the country. While the main purpose of the one-day
trip is to help shore up the shaky regime of President Pervez Musharraf,
the Bush administration is directly responsible for much of the political
turmoil confronting the Pakistani military strongman
03 March, 2006
The
Reality Of India-US Nuclear Deal
By Binu Mathew
The nuclear deal with India is not
a benevolent gift from the emperor to a client state. It was a clever
move to put India out of the competition for fossil fuels
Bush
Secures Nuclear Accord With India
By Keith Jones
Unquestionably, there are economic
motivations behind the agreement. For one thing, the US nuclear industry
hopes to cash in
Somebody
Is Trying To Provoke A Civil War In Iraq
By Robert Fisk & Tony Jones
I'd like to know what the Americans
are doing to get at the people who are trying to provoke the civil war.
It seems to me not very much. Something is going wrong with the Administration
The
Brinkmanship Of Energy Geopolitics
By Mathew Maavak
The Persian Gulf crisis can indeed
escalate into an extreme, maximalist scenario. The decisive factor -
as always - depends on the energy reservoir of the protagonists
Details
Emerge In Latest Round Of
Plame Emails ‘Found’ By The White House
By Jason Leopold
The White House confirmed Tuesday
that it recently turned over to Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald
250 pages of emails from the Office of Vice President Dick Cheney related
to covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband, former
Ambassador Joseph Wilson, a vocal critic of the Bush administration's
pre-war Iraq intelligence
Crisis
And Disintegration Of The Arroyo
Fascist Regime In The Philippines
By E. San Juan, Jr.
The end of the Arroyo fascist regime
is fast approaching. It is bound to implode in one big catastrophic
upheaval that will unleash violence and murderous abuses symptomatic
of the decay of the bankrupt neocolonial system
Melting
Antarctic Raising Sea Levels
By Steve Connor
More evidence has emerged indicating
the Antarctic ice sheet is melting so fast it is contributing to a rise
in global sea levels
Wheat
Imports: Will India Reverse To
A Ship To Mouth Existence?
By Vandana Shiva
On February 2, 2006, a mere two
months before the rabi harvest of wheat, the government announced duty-free
import of five lakh tonnes of wheat
02 March, 2006
Widespread
Protests Against Bush's India Visit
By Nirmala George
Tens of thousands of Indians waving
black and white flags and chanting 'Death to Bush!' rallied on Wednesday
in New Delhi to protest a visit by US President George W Bush.More protests
are planned for today
Bush
In Pakistan
By Faheem Hussain
Tomorrow the most hated man in the
world will be in town and will be welcomed by our President
Son
Of Guantanamo
By William Fisher
Legal, diplomatic, religious and
human rights authorities are struggling to be heard on what many consider
to be the "Son of Guantánamo" -- a secret prison in
Afghanistan where the U.S. military is said to have been holding some
500 "enemy combatants" for as long as three or four years
without access to lawyers
American
Youth Counter Recruitment
By Sonia Nettnin
The militarization of America’s
youth is the U.S. military’s strategic device for recruitment
into the armed forces
Iraq:
A Solution To Nothing
By Scott Ritter
As the United States and Iraq approach
the third anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, it might
do all Americans well to take some time out and reflect on how we got
where we are, as well as where we are going in Iraq and the Middle East
as a whole
Caught
In The Crossfire
By Mike Whitney
It’s going to be "militia-rule"
for quite a while in the new Iraq. America can either withdraw now or
prepare to get caught in the crossfire
United
Iraqi Protests Against US
Divide And Rule Policy
By Dahr Jamail and Simon Assaf
The recent killings in Iraq are
not due to entrenched divisions between Sunni and Shia. Dahr Jamail
and Simon Assaf explain what’s fuelling hatred – and the
battle for unity
Atwar
Bahjat: A believer In Iraq
By May Ying Welsh
A tribute to Atwar Bahjat, the Al-Arabiya
correspondent who was shot and killed in Samarra the day al-Askari shrine
in Samarra was destroyed
Sponge
Bath Nation
By M Rajshekhar
The Indian state of Maharashtra
has taken a step towards using water more sustainably. Will the rest
of India follow? Unlikely
Kosovo
Since 1999
By Am Johal
Seven questions with Kosovo democracy
activist Delfin Pllana
Nepal’s
Deep Crisis
By David Seddon
The scene is set for a deepening
crisis as the Maoists and the conservative forces renew the armed conflict
that has torn Nepal apart. The political parties appear unable to develop
a coherent and effective strategy to bypass the palace and create the
basis for a return to an inclusive, democratic regime
Execution
Debacle:Two Families Suffer On
By Helen Keeler
It’s fair to say that no one
enjoyed the chaos that ensued from the scheduled execution of Michael
Morales last month. Two families watched the unfolding events with fraught
emotions, hardly able to take it in
01 March, 2006
Bush
In pursuit Of Key strategic
Partnership With India
By Keith Jones
US President George W. Bush travels
to South Asia this week with the aim of cementing a strategic and “global”
partnership with India. According to his aides, the trip is among the
most important that Bush has made in his entire presidency
Ahead
Of Bush’s Visit, Chirac Pushes
French Interests In India
By Sarath Kumara
A three-day visit by French President
Jacques Chirac to India last week highlighted the growing competition
of the major powers for influence in New Delhi
The
India That Can (No Longer) say No
By Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Today, when India is an expanding
power, exporting not just food but steel, with rising incomes, foreign
acquisitions and a nuclear bomb, she is often viewed as nothing more
than 'a country with a middle class of 400 million'. And the moral voice?
it hasn't been heard from in years
Iraqi
Blogs Tell Of Violence, Hope
By Firas Al-Atraqchi
A new force in Iraq news coverage
is coming of age – the Iraqi blogosphere
Iraq:
The Wages Of Chaos
By Mark LeVine
As Iraq spirals deeper into chaos
and perhaps civil war in the wake of the attack on the Golden Mosque,
critics of the US-led invasion and occupation will no doubt refocus
attention on the role of Israel in the march to war and the conduct
of the occupation
Imperial
Conquest, Torture, And
A Little Matter Of Genocide
By Jason Miller
Americans are not an evil lot, but
we are culpable for having allowed a string of truly despicable human
beings to perpetrate the Iraqi genocide that has been taking place since
the Reagan Regime. The monstrous psychopaths now infesting the White
House have taken malevolence to a whole new level. Let us remind ourselves
that The White House belongs to us and that Bush serves us
The
Water Wars
By Ben Russell and Nigel Morris
Across the world, they are coming:
the water wars. From Israel to India, from Turkey to Botswana, arguments
are going on over disputed water supplies that may soon burst into open
conflict
Feinstein
Family War Profits
By Joshua Frank
Senator Dianne Feinstein's husband,
Richard Blum, could well be called the Democrats' Daddy Warbucks. He's
scored bundles from war contracts. He has recently purchased a $16.5
million crib in San Francisco and along with his wife has handed hundreds
of thousands of dollars over to fellow Democrats
Citizen
Healer, Do No Harm
By David Howard
March 1, International Death Penalty
Abolition Day
Let
Us Consider Repossession Of What Is ours!
By Ted Bohne
This is a call to action. It is
addressed to every American who can read, most especially Veterans of
any sort. We can and must now consider the option of relieving the regime
of George Walker Bush of his command. This includes ALL of his associates.
We cannot, and MUST not let this situation degenerate any further
Eco-Crisis
In Punjab And Governmental-Toxicity
By Umendra Dutt
This is election year in Punjab
. Therefore, it is indeed very useful time for the civil society. The
society must ask questions to every political party about their agenda
and plans for environmental health crisis and sustainable life systems
in Punjab