31 October, 2007
Israel
Chokes Gaza Some More
By Peter Hirschberg
Israel has begun limiting fuel supplies to Gaza
as part of punitive measures it is implementing in an attempt to stem
the firing of rockets by militants from the coastal strip into Israel.
But Palestinian leaders and human rights groups are warning the move
could spark a humanitarian crisis
Why Did We Invade Iraq
Anyway?
By Michael Schwartz
As worldwide demand for hydrocarbons soared, the
United States was left with three policy choices: It could try to combine
alternative energy sources with rigorous conservation to reduce or eliminate
a significant portion of energy imports; it could accept the leverage
conferred on OPEC by the energy crunch and attempt to negotiate for
an adequate share of what might soon enough become an inadequate supply;
or it could use its military power in an effort to coerce Middle East
suppliers into satisfying American requirements at the expense of everyone
else. Beginning with Jimmy Carter, five U.S. presidents chose the coercive
strategy, with George W. Bush finally deciding that violent, preemptive
regime change was needed to make it work. The other options remain unexplored
A Family Tree
By Layla Anwar
I console myself with the thought that I, at least,
have the memory of a Tree. Something to give me strength, verticality,
and a sense of belonging even if it is on some fictional, imaginary
level...I have serious doubts that the increasing number of Iraqi orphans
can console themselves with that same thought
Deliberate Hypocrisy
By Ghali Hassan
The primary aim of U.S.-Western deliberate hypocrisy
is to control the public, induce moral bankruptcy and justify the use
of violence to further U.S.-Western imperialist agenda, using “democracy”
and “human rights” as political tools. Thus, as long as
U.S.-Western leaders continue to ignore their own war crimes and their
complicity in war crimes, they have no moral authority or credibility
to judge other countries or interfere in the affairs of other countries
Civilization
Ends With A
Shutdown Of Human Concern.
Are We There Already?
By George Monbiot
A powerful novel’s vision of a dystopian
future shines a cold light on the dreadful consequences of our universal
apathy
Criminal Justice
Meltdown In New Orleans?
By Bill Quigley
Some say crime causes a city to be under siege;
others say crime is the symptom of a city under siege. Either way, New
Orleans is in serious trouble. Our criminal justice system is in unprecedented
crisis
The True Cost
Of War For Oil
By Bonnie Bricker & Aadil E. Shamoo
"We have to decide, as a nation, whether our
need for Middle Eastern oil is more important to our future than our
conduct as a moral and ethical people." Which brave presidential
candidate would lay it on the line so clearly? None yet. And that's
the problem with the national debate on the war in Iraq, and possibly,
our foray into Iran as well
An Open Letter
To The Christian Right
By Robert Weitzel
If you’re on board, we’ll need to act
quickly and decisively. Every indication is that the “faith-based”
administration you’ve supported these last seven years is about
to expend more of our gold and our children’s lives on a new round
of bloodletting in Iran
Is God Running
For President?
By Mary Shaw
The religious right and their supporters in Washington
have brainwashed the American public into believing that Christianity
is patriotic. In fact, according to a recent survey by the First Amendment
Center, 65 percent of Americans believe that the nation's founders intended
the U.S. to be a Christian nation and 55 percent believe that the Constitution
establishes a Christian nation
Plot Against
Bhutto Bodes Ill For Pakistan
By Gul Jammas Hussain
Those who want to kill Bhutto should know that
people die but ideologies do not. The Zulfikar Ali Bhutto legend is
an ideology that can not be killed. At this critical juncture, those
who are seeking to assassinate Benazir Bhutto should reflect upon the
repercussions of their plot, since it would further polarize Pakistani
society if it succeeded
Public Statement
On The Gujarat Carnage 2002
By Concerned Citizens
We therefore call upon the Central government and
the Supreme Court, whose duty it is to enforce the rule of law and protect
the Constitution, to immediately take the above steps. We also call
upon all right thinking people of Gujarat to come out in support of
these demands. What is at stake is not merely the survival of Constitutional
values and the rule of law but the survival of civilisation itself in
this country
Custodial Murder
Of Mutahir Ali Tapader And
Subsequent Police Atrocity In Barak Valley Of Assam
By Wali Laskar
It was reported in local media that an innocent
citizen was killed by police on 21st September, 2007 at Kalain in the
district of Cachar, Assam. The police tortured the victim to death in
full public view, allegedly for refusing by the victim and his relatives
to pay a gratification of rupees ten thousand to sub-inspector Narain
Tamuli, in-charge-officer of Kalain Police Patrol Post under Katigorah
Police Station
30 October, 2007
New
York Times And Bush’s Threat Of World War III
By Bill Van Auken
With the US military already mired in two colonial-style
wars with no end in sight, the Times indicates that there exist no grounds
for believing that the White House will not pursue the seemingly insane
course of launching yet a third war, which—far more than those
already underway—carries with it the danger of spreading into
a global conflagration
Turning Truth
On Its Head
By Abbas Edalat & Mehrnaz Shahabi
The US has opened up a new front in its now sharply
accelerated war drive on Iran. The announcement last week by Condoleezza
Rice, branding Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps a terrorist organisation,
and imposing the strongest sanctions yet since 1979 Iranian Revolution,
alarmed several democratic presidential candidates who described it
as an indication that the White House had begun its "march to war"
On Track For
U.S. Collapse
By Michael S. Rozeff
Bush and Cheney are steering the U.S. into a collapse.
Only strong public voices by influential people can prevent the coming
disaster. We desperately need for men and women who are known to the
public and have credibility to speak up in the critical period ahead
to avoid catastrophe
When Blackwater
Kills,No Questions Asked
By Ali al-Fadhily
The Iraqi investigators said Blackwater should
be expelled from the country, and demanded eight million dollars compensation
for the family of each victim. Officials decided last week to establish
a committee to find ways to repeal a 2004 directive issued by L. Paul
Bremer, head of the former U.S. occupation government in Iraq, which
placed private security companies outside Iraqi law, making them immune
to prosecution. Many Iraqis are angry that Blackwater enjoys special
rights
The Catastrophic
Military Occupation Of Iraq
Is Rarely Described Accurately In The U.S. Media
By Kevin Zeese & Dahr Jamail
An Interview with independent journalist Dahr Jamail
“The bogus idea that if the U.S. leaves things will worsen is
both inherently racist and ignorant.”
Engaging
Hamas And Hizballah
By Ali Abunimah
Nothing could be easier in the present atmosphere
than to accuse anyone who calls for recognition of and dialogue with
Hamas, Hizballah and other Islamist movements of being closet supporters
of reactionary "extremism" or naive fellow travelers of "terrorists."
This tactic is not surprising coming from neoconservatives and Zionists.
What is novel is to see it expressed in supposedly progressive quarters
Uncertain Outcomes:The
Israeli-Palestine Question
By Jim Miles
Now with events in Iraq and Afghanistan becoming
predominant within the newscasts, Israel-Palestine has not seemed to
be central to the picture. Unfortunately it still is, as the Jewish
lobby in America has the ear – and foremost its wallets –
of many Americans in its thrall, and those same groups are now clamouring
for an attack on Iran because of Iran’s alleged desire to completely
destroy Israel and Israel’s self-willed fear of Iranian nuclear
power. Regardless of that global centrality, even if it were not there,
the question of what will happen in Israel-Palestine remains
Janadesh For
A National Land Policy
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Thousands of tribal and Dalits who started their
march under the banner of Ekta Parishad, from Gwalior on October 2nd,
2007, were not allowed to step out of the Ramlila grounds in Delhi.
It was unfortunate that the government did not allow them to vent their
voice at the parliament house, the Panchayat of our democracy
Kashmir's 'City
Of Bunkers'
By Wajahat Ahmad
Recently there were news stories regarding the
Indian military's impending plans to induct around 12000 more troops
in Kashmir. It seems quite likely that Srinagar would receive a fair
share of these new troops and by extension the population of new military
camps and bunkers is bound to grow. Soon, it wouldn't be an exaggeration
to call Srinagar, ''The city of bunkers''
Can We Resist
Fascism With Indignation Alone
By Jawed Naqvi
Suppose Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat,
is called a fascist, which he is, and it translates into more votes
for him in the coming state elections. How does one respond to this
possibility, which, as many have concluded, is in fact the bitter truth?
This is the backdrop we have to keep in mind about Tehelka's otherwise
skillful and daring expose with concealed cameras of the manic Hindutva
hordes that raped and killed at will in Gujarat in 2002, and their cheerleader,
the chief minister himself
29 October, 2007
More
Warnings Of A US War On Iran
By Peter Symonds
The Bush administration’s unprecedented decision
last week to brand the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a
weapons proliferator and its Quds Force as a “supporter of terrorism”
has heightened tensions with Tehran and undermined European efforts
at negotiations, setting the stage for a US attack on Iran
'War On Terror'
Is Now War On Iran
By Pepe Escobar
Scores of middle-aged, mild-mannered, bearded gentlemen
- the technocrats of the Iranian military bourgeoisie - are now officially
enjoying the status of "terrorists", at least from a Washington
point of view
The Devil’s
Playground
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
I make an effort to understand this President turned
dictator and his reasons for planning genocide. Given Russia’s
stark warning and Europe’s precarious stance in that 25% of it’s
oil and 40% of its natural gas is supplied by Russia, a military confrontation
with Iran would likely drag in other nations. What reason other than
sheer madness would he have for doing this?
Peak Oil
And Famine:Four Billion Deaths
By Peter Goodchild
Population growth is soaring, whereas oil production
is plunging. If, at the start of any year, the world’s population
is greater than its carrying capacity, only simple arithmetic is needed
to see that the difference between the two numbers means that mortality
will be above the normal by the end of that year. In fact, over the
course of the 21st century there will be about 4 billion deaths (probably
about 3.6, to be more precise) above normal
The Prophet
Of Climate Change: James Lovelock
By Jeff Goodell
One of the most eminent scientists of our time
says that global warming is irreversible — and that more than
6 billion people will perish by the end of the century
Rapid Global
Warming Will Create
Famine And Drought, Lovelock Warns
By Steve Connor
Climate change is happening faster than anyone
predicted and its consequences could be dire for the survival of civilisation
in the 21st century because of the chaos it will cause in terms of famine,
drought and mass migration
Freedom Writ
Large
By John Pilger
We who care for freedom in Burma should not be
distracted by the posturing and weasel pronouncements of our leaders,
who themselves should be called to account as accomplices – unless
and until their fine words are matched by deeds that make a genuine
difference and they themselves stop destroying lives. We owe that vigilance
and that truth to Aung San Suu Kyi, to Burma's writers and to all the
other bravest of the brave
The Bank Of
The South: An Alternative
To IMF And World Bank Dominance
By Stephen Lendman
Small signs of change are emerging, the Bank of
the South may be one of them, and a new generation of leftist leaders
may in the end break Washington's weakening (but still strong) hold
on the region. That's the hope, and every step forward means more power
to the people and another possible world
Israel's Military
Court System Is The Model To Avoid
By Lisa Hajjar
If we learn anything, then, from the Israeli experience,
perhaps it should be that torture and arbitrary or indefinite detention
exacerbate a conflict and endanger civilians
On Tehelka's Gujarat
Sting
By Mukul Dube
Over five years after the Gujarat genocide, it
looks as if a beginning has been made to bring to book those who were
responsible for it. It would be premature, though, to think that the
battle is won. Our legal system is well known for its slow functioning.
Worse, while the recorded admissions of criminals damn them personally,
the evidence that Tehelka's work has brought out against Modi, for example,
must be described as hearsay
Moving From
Moditva To Sanity:
The Stakes In Gujarat
By Praful Bidwai
The Congress has a historic chance to inflict a
stinging defeat on the BJP. To do this, it must offer an alternative
vision, take a strongly secular line, build alliances with other anti-communal
parties/groups, and run a spirited campaign with a wise choice of candidates,
while keeping the BJP dissidents at an arm's length. The fight is winnable-and
certainly worth winning
26 October, 2007
Humanity's
Future Is At Risk
By Steve Connor
A landmark assessment by the UN of the state of
the world's environment paints the bleakest picture yet of our planet's
well-being. The warning is stark: humanity's future is at risk unless
urgent action is taken. Over the past 20 years, almost every index of
the planet's health has worsened. At the same time, personal wealth
in the richest countries has grown by a third
Creating
Our Own Hell On Earth
By Tom Turnipseed
To save this planet we must each do our part and
we must demand that our leaders lead. As we watch the fires in the west,
can’t we see that we are destroying our beautiful country by our
own hand and creating a fiery hell on earth?
Truth Matters
By Charles Sullivan
It is not coincidental that professional journalists,
those who write for profit in the mainstream media, are the least likely
to tell us the truth, the whole truth; whereas, free-lance writers,
who operate under a different set of rules and out of the mainstream,
are more likely to serve the public interest, and tell us what we need
to know in order to be a free people, and good world citizens
One Step Closer
To War
By Bill Van Auken
In an act unprecedented in the history of international
relations, Washington on Thursday unilaterally imposed harsh and potentially
crippling economic sanctions against Iran’s main uniformed security
force, as well as against more than 20 Iranian companies and the country’s
three major banks.The sanctions, announced by US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, represent a deliberate
provocation aimed at precluding any negotiated settlement to the dispute
over Iran’s nuclear program and making a US war against the country
all but inevitable
Gaza:
The Auschwitz Of Our Time
By Khalid Amayreh
Israel is now incarcerating nearly a million and
a half helpless Palestinians in the Gaza Strip into a hell similar in
nature to the Warsaw Ghetto. The Gaza concentration camp is not only
fitted with a wall, but also with every conceivable tool of repression,
such as electric fences and watch towers manned by Gestapo-like trigger-happy
Jewish soldiers who shoot first and ask questions later
Shuttle Lunacy
By David Truskoff
Comics and cartoonists are having a field day with
the woman who seems to believe that she is doing something important.
The poor befuddled Secretary never appears to have a reference point.
Even during her many Trips back and forth the Israelis mock her. Israel
announced on October 2,2003 it would build 565 new homes in Jewish settlements
in the West Bank. Should that not have been her reference point?
Marxism, Darwin,
And Jerry Fodor's Flying Pigs:
In Defense Of Natural Selection
By Thomas Riggins
The philosopher Jerry Fodor is rightfully upset
with some of the nonsense coming out of Academia disguised as science
and dressed up in arguments purportedly derived from Darwin’s
theory of evolution. Lots of nonsense put forth under the guise of “evolutionary
psychology” is a good example. Here complex behavioral patterns
of humans today are explained as inherited traits from our animal past
or traits that we evolved when we were hunter gathers on the African
savannah
The Baiga (the
medicine man)
By Kunal Sharma
Of the few remaining tribes in the central highlands
of India that still hold own to their ancient ways and exhibit primitiveness
in the anthropological sense, the Baiga are among the last remaining
inhabitants. Their culture, the association with the forest, low levels
of literacy and close bonding with nature make them a special people.
Though no longer associated with the term ‘hunting savage’
nevertheless they still follow many ancient traditions
25 October, 2007
Turkey
Begins Bombing In Iraq
By Patrick Cockburn
in the Qandil mountains, Iraq
Turkey used its helicopters and artillery to attack
Kurdish guerrillas inside northern Iraq yesterday as the Turkish army
massed just north of the border. The helicopter gunships penetrated
three miles into Iraqi territory and warplanes targeted mountain paths
used by rebels entering Turkey
Iraqi Refugees
Turn To prostitution
By Omar Sinan
This club in northwest Damascus represents one
of the most troubling aspects of the Iraqi refugee crisis — Iraqi
women and girls who are turning to prostitution to survive in countries
that have taken them in but won't let them or their families work at
most other jobs
Ill-Equipped
Soldiers Opt For "Search And Avoid"
By Dahr Jamail
Iraq war veterans now stationed at a base here
say that morale among U.S. soldiers in the country is so poor, many
are simply parking their Humvees and pretending to be on patrol, a practice
dubbed "search and avoid" missions
The California
Wildfires And
The American Social Crisis
By Patrick Martin
Once again, the world watches as a natural disaster
in the United States threatens to become a social catastrophe. Once
again, a million Americans are forced from their homes by a long-forecast
calamity, with little planning or preparation by the local, state and
federal governments. Once again, tens of thousands of refugees seek
shelter at a football stadium in a major American city—this time,
San Diego
Torture, Paramilitarism,
Occupation And Genocide
By Stephen Lendman
On October 5, George Bush confronted a public uproar
and defended his administration claiming "This government does
not torture people." Again he lied. Once secret US Department of
Justice (DOJ) legal opinions confirm the Bush administration condones
torture by endorsing "the harshest interrogation techniques ever
used by the Central Intelligence Agency." It also condones paramilitary
thuggery, oppressive occupation, and genocide. This unholy combination
is the ugly face of an imperial nation run by war criminals
Bush Threatens
Escalation Of
Aggression Against Cuba
By Bill Van Auken
The question posed by Bush’s provocative
speech is whether, as part of this war, the administration in Washington
is preparing to launch a “preemptive” attack on Cuba
Ann Coulter:
Nuke Them!
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
I have always been able to separate the ordinary
Americans from the government. Tonight was the first time that the two
became inseparable. For the first time in 21 years I witnessed hate
in America – and what an ugly spectacle
When Can India
Raise Its Head High !
By Anjali Sinha
Don’t know how many are aware of the fact
that as an orthodox Christian Bobby Jindal opposes abortion.; talks
about Intelligent Design rather than the scientifically proved Darwinian
Theory of Human Evolution
The Marked People
By Harsh Mander
The latest to join this global assault on democratic
rights — in the wake of the three bomb blasts that hit Hyderabad
this year — is the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh. The
state Minorities Commission has reported the abduction and illegal detention
and torture by the police of a large number of Muslim youth within days
of the blasts on August 25, 2007
Is It Emancipation
Or Elimination Of
The Scavengers In Laar Town (Deoria)
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
In the eastern Uttar-Pradesh, they do not use the
term Balmikis/Valmiks for the sweeper. Instead there are people from
the communities of Rawats, Bansfors, Helas, Mehtars who are engaged
in scavenging work. Many of the women narrated their plight and how
they wish to get out of the scavenging hell
24 October, 2007
US
Plans Military Strikes On PKK Bases
By Peter Symonds
With the Turkish military poised to strike the
guerrilla bases of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern
Iraq, Washington and London are engaged in frantic diplomatic activity
to prevent a Turkish intervention that would further destabilise the
US occupation of Iraq. However, as the Chicago Tribune reported yesterday,
the Bush administration is also drawing up plans for military attacks
on the PKK, either by US forces or jointly with the Turkish army
The Imperial
Presidency
By Ralph Nader
To what level of political insanity has this Washington
Caesar descended? Only two countries can start World War III-Russia
and the United States. Is Bush saying that if Russia, presently opposed
to military action against Iran, persists with its position, Bush may
risk World War III? If not, why is this law-breaking warmonger, looking
for another war for American GIs to fight, while his military-age daughters
bask in the celebrity lime light?
The Nuke Deal
Is Dead
By Vijay Prashad
The short-term battle was won by the Communists,
who led the opposition to the deal and winnowed regional parties away
from the Congress and toward their position. The Communists' stance
is that the nuclear deal (set in motion in 2005) is only one part of
a wider embrace between the Indian and US governments, and between Indian
and US-based corporations
Christian/Jewish
Fascism Awareness Week
By Margaret Kimberley
Right wing propagandist David Horowitz has declared
October 22nd through October 26th Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week.The
current Horowitz obsession is focused on Islam and on keeping Americans
whipped into a frenzy of fear and hatred against all Muslims. The very
term Islamo-Fascism is a cynical creation of neoconservatives, designed
to insure blind adherence to the Bush war on terror scheme
Freedom Struggle,
Violence And State
By Firdous Syed
"Freedom struggles" all over the world
are facing a typical predicament today, a Catch-22 situation put forth
by the fact that a monolithic modern state which understands the language
of violence only, is, at the same time, helped by a violent campaign
to obliterate the legitimacy of a "freedom struggle"
The Israel/Palestine
Question
By Jim Miles
Ilan Pappe’s highly revised second edition
of The Israel/Palestine Question offers the reader a very instructive
read on changing historical perspectives about Israel/Palestine within
one over-riding theme – land tenure and population control
Foreclosure
USA
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
We the people once owned our democracy. We elected
“representatives” to run it for US. Have you noticed? Somewhere
along the way we lost our democracy
Peace Is A
Force That Gives Us Meaning
By David Swanson
Maybe it's time that we grew up as a nation. Maybe
it's time we joined hands, locked elbows, and forced our Congress to
impeach, not for oral sex, but to restore our Bill of Rights. Maybe
it's time we made proper use of the positive force of nonviolent action.
Maybe it's time we stopped pledging to flags, praying to lords, saluting
commanders, obeying authorities, and bowing before our televisions.
Maybe it's time we shut down the Washington crime machine under the
banner "No War, No Warming"
Needs And
Aspirations Of Ethnically Cleansed
Northern Muslims Of Sri Lanka
By Shahul Hasbullah
The highlights of the Fact Finding - 2007
23 October, 2007
Cheney
Raises The Rhetoric Against Iran
By Jim Lobe
In the harshest speech against Iran given by a
top George W. Bush administration official to date, Vice President Dick
Cheney Sunday warned the Islamic Republic of "serious consequences"
if it did not freeze its nuclear programme and accused it of "direct
involvement in the killings of Americans"
On The Eve Of
Destruction
By Scott Ritter
Pundits have raised their eyebrows and comics are
busy writing jokes, but the president’s reference to Armageddon,
no matter how cavalierly uttered and subsequently brushed away, suggests
an alarming context
US Army Lures
Foreigners With Promise Of Citizenship
By Cordula Meyer
More than 30,000 foreign troops are enlisted in
the US Army, many of them serving in Iraq. Their reward for risking
their lives for their adopted country is US citizenship
Bloggers Without
Borders...
By Baghdad Burning
By the time we had reentered the Syrian border
and were headed back to the cab ready to take us into Kameshli, I had
resigned myself to the fact that we were refugees. I read about refugees
on the Internet daily… in the newspapers… hear about them
on TV. I hear about the estimated 1.5 million plus Iraqi refugees in
Syria and shake my head, never really considering myself or my family
as one of them
It Is Our War
By Pervez Hoodbhoy
The war in Pakistan's tribal areas is being fought
by Pakistan's army under America's gun and on its orders. Many innocents
have tragically died from bombardment from the skies. Therefore, not
surprisingly, Pakistanis are angry and most feel it is not their war.But
Pakistan, for its own sake, urgently needs to battle the flames of religious
fanaticism lest they consume the rest of the country. This must, however,
be done in a manner that is intelligent and principled
Uncommon Grace:
Biology And Economic Theory
By Charles Sullivan
Ecology and biology are the natural capital upon
which nature works. They are the underpinning of all social and economic
paradigms—bar none. Impair and denigrate them and everything in
them, including us, is diminished. Damage them excessively, and everything
falls, including our precious ownership society
Vilifying Islam
By Ida Audeh
When a religion is vilified, those who believe
in it can be disposed of without creating a domestic uproar. That seems
to be the real purpose for using the Islamofascist label. We must reject
the bogus excuses given by the US government to wage perpetual war on
third-world nations for the sole purpose of securing US and Israeli
hegemony over the region
Blatant Double
Standards
By Jyoti Punwani
With Islamic groups “not being ruled out’’
as culprits in the Ludhiana bomb blast, and Bangladeshis being interrogated
for the Ajmer blast, it is clear that in India’s fight against
terrorism, one group of terrorists is being completely excluded
Forced For Veil
By Aftab Alexander Mughal
The valley of Swat once used to be called Pakistan's
Switzerland and would draw a large number of tourists, especially from
within the country, but that has all changed. It has fallen to the extremists
and large swathes of it seem as if they are in the control of Taliban
sympathizers
Anuradhapura:
Air Farce Reflects
By Satchi Sithananthan
The LTTE is certainly having the Sri Lankan forces
in a spin and at what cost? Are there some maneuverings and machinations
behind this attack that serve the arms cartels with the support of corrupt
elements within the government?
22 October, 2007
Fears
That Seas Soak Up Less Greenhouse Gas
By Andrew Woodcock
The oceans’ ability to act as a “carbon
sink” soaking up greenhouse gases appears to be decreasing, research
shows, leading to new fears about global warming
US Raid On Baghdad’s
Sadr City Leaves
Many Dead And Wounded
By Bill Van Auken
A violent US assault on Baghdad’s Sadr City
Sunday left many people dead—49 according to the military’s
own count—and scores more wounded. The foray into the crowded
and impoverished Shia neighborhood, home to an estimated 3 million people,
was launched before dawn and quickly escalated as American forces called
in air strikes that left houses, stores and cars destroyed and in flames
It’s The
Oil
By Jim Holt
Iraq is ‘unwinnable’, a ‘quagmire’,
a ‘fiasco’: so goes the received opinion. But there is good
reason to think that, from the Bush-Cheney perspective, it is none of
these things. Indeed, the US may be ‘stuck’ precisely where
Bush et al want it to be, which is why there is no ‘exit strategy’
Freedom's
Watch Targeting Iran
By Bill Berkowitz
After successfully holding the line on Congressional
support for the surge in Iraq, wealthy Bush backers are turning their
attention and money to drumming up support for military action against
Iran
What Will It
Take To Hasten The Revolution?
By Harold Niver
Wake up, nation, and rise up. The "terrorists"
are not the enemy – the system that grinds you down in really
at the root of your pain and suffering. Overthrow the dictatorship that
is planning to destroy you, the one that has already purchased you like
you're a common commodity
UAW Sellout
At GM And Chrysler
By Stephen Lendman
The September and October United Auto Workers (UAW)
GM and Chrysler agreements are just the latest examples of union leadership
surrender and betrayal. It's an ominous sign of labor's plight and clear
indication of what's ahead - more for business, less for workers, and
no relief in sight with union bosses out for themselves and more allied
with business and imperial interests than their own rank and file
Does Larry
Sabato Really Want
A Constitutional Convention?
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
Why would a prominent law professor supposedly
in favor of having the nation’s second constitutional convention
organize a symposium where the keynote speaker is dead set against a
convention? And why pack the three subsequent panels with people against
a convention? I kept asking myself these questions as I attended the
recent symposium that Larry Sabato had the audacity to title “National
Constitution Convention
Palestinians'
Lives Invisible To Israelis
By Edward Mast
On a visit to Tel Aviv last month, I asked some
Israeli friends what people in Israel were saying about the Palestinian
situation. Not much, they told me. Israelis are more concerned about
the corruption charges against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, coming on
the heels of corruption charges against previous governments. Palestinians
and their issues, my friends told me, are becoming more and more invisible
to the Israeli people
Modi Won't Talk
Godhra, Walks Out Of Interview
By Karan Thapar
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi walked out
of an exclusive interview with Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN's Devil's Advocate
because he was questioned about Godhra. Narendra Modi walked out of
the interview less than five minutes after it started in Gandhinagar
Special Economic
Zones: Profits At Any Cost
By C.R. Bijoy
These capital driven enclaves have all the bearings
of impending economic crisis and the concomitant political and legal
turmoil. SEZs are not simply about land-based displacement-inducing
projects driven by the nexus of capital and state. It is also about
the replacement of democracy by governance by corporations, the new
form of governance by capital supplanting people. It is also about growth
with inequity, and social and environmental injustice. It is also about
democratization of control over and governance of resources by people
in response, as a matter of right and struggle
19 October, 2007
Bomb
Blasts Hit Bhutto’s Return
To Pakistan
By Peter Symonds
The bomb blasts in Karachi are a reminder that
Bhutto’s return, far from bringing peace and democracy, is likely
to open up a new chapter of political crisis and instability
Wi-Fi, The
Death Of Us All
By Mark Morford
You are going to die. Wireless gizmos are devouring
your brain, right now. Very sorry
Assassination
Of Sheikh Shakes US Claims
By Ali al-Fadhily
Resistance to occupation seems to have risen after
the assassination last month of Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, head of the
al-Bu Risha tribe. Abu Risha had begun to cooperate actively with U.S.
forces
Bush Invokes
Threat Of “World War III”
By Patrick Martin
Referring to the Iranian regime, Bush declared, “I believe they
want to have the capacity, the knowledge in order to make a nuclear
weapon. And I know it’s in the world’s interests to prevent
them from doing so. I believe that the Iranian—if Iran had a nuclear
weapon, it would be a dangerous threat to world peace. We’ve got
a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel.
So I’ve told people that, if you’re interested in avoiding
World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing
them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.”
U.S. Will Tip
Its Hand Before Attacking Iran
By David Swanson
If Bush and Cheney attack Iran, we will almost
certainly know it's coming. For months prior to the invasion of Iraq,
even while the corporate media bombarded us with the pretense that Bush
and Cheney had not yet decided on war, other stories further back in
the pages of newspapers and on the internet informed us, or should have
informed us, that an attack was coming
Why They're
Afraid Of Michael Moore
By John Pilger
With this new independence apparent, Moore's deftness
and dark humour in Sicko, which is a brilliant work of journalism and
satire and film-making, explains – perhaps even better than the
films that made his name, Roger and Me, Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit
9/11 – his popularity and influence and enemies. Sicko is so good
that you forgive its flaws, notably Moore's romanticising of Britain's
National Health Service, ignoring a two-tier system that neglects the
elderly and the mentally ill
Review: “My
Brother’s Keeper.
Documentary Photographers And Human Rights”
By Dr Gideon Polya
“My Brother’s Keeper” is a powerful
and moving book that deserves a place in everybody’s personal
library as a continual reminder of Man’s continuing active and
passive inhumanity to Man and that we cannot walk by on the other side
18 October, 2007
Nuclear-Armed
Iran Risks World War:Bush
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
President Bush issued a stark warning on Iran
on Wednesday, suggesting that if the country obtained nuclear arms,
it could lead to “World War III.”
Daughter
Of East Returns -With West's Backing
By Beena Sarwar
The much bruited ‘deal’ between Pakistan’s
twice-elected, twice-deposed former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has cast a shadow over her triumphal
homecoming on Thursday, after nine long years of self-imposed exile
A Genetic Disaster
By Kate Mucci
By deploying DU weapon's, we have forever altered
the genetic structure of not only the human race, but of all life on
earth. This travesty has been completely ignored by mainstream media
in favor of nonsense about spoiled pop stars and self-aggrandizing politicians.
The military has refused to acknowledge its part in what could well
be the genetic destruction of the human race and has largely left its
own American military victims to suffer and die without compassion or
treatment. And of course the current presidential candidates have completely
denied any knowledge of this issue
Nobel Hypocrisy
By Stephen Lendman
In point of fact, throughout his political life,
Gore's actions betrayed the public's trust and still do. He and his
wife live in two large energy-consuming homes: a 10,000 square foot,
eight bedroom one in Nashville and a 4000 square foot one in Arlington,
VA. The Gores also own a third home in Carthage, TN. In both Washington
and Nashville, utility companies offer a wind energy green alternative
to customers for a small per kilowatt hour premium. Gore can easily
afford it, but public records show no evidence he's does it in either
residence
Formalizing
Apartheid Packaged As Peace Initiative
By Neta Golan & Mohammed Khatib
Olmert, Bush, Blair and their accomplices in the
"Quartet" have vast, sophisticated and boundlessly resourced
PR machinery that, through unlimited access to an uncritical media,
can put a compelling "peace spin" on an apartheid process.
During the November meeting they will assure the world of their commitment
to a Palestinian state (with the appropriate Abbas/Olmert/Bush photo
ops). They will promise to commit millions of dollars, funding Palestinian
"institution building" and humanitarian aid and arming troops
in order to "keep the peace" inside the Bantustans. Arab states
will normalize relations with Israel, strengthening the "moderates"
of the entire region, thus softening the Arab street as a prerequisite
for an American-led strike on Iran
The Show Goes
On ... And On
By Ali Abunimah
Unlike a few hours of theatrical escapism the producers
of the Middle East Peace Process hope that the audience will actually
believe that what they are viewing on stage, whether performed in Madrid,
Oslo, London, Washington or Sharm al-Sheikh is real-life and even has
the potential to end the conflict caused by a century of western-supported
Zionist colonization in Palestine
Academic Freedom
At Risk On Campus
By Saree Makdisi
The attack on intellectual freedom intended to
shield Israel from criticism, not only threatens academic privileges
on college campuses, it jeopardizes our capacity to evaluate our foreign
policy. With a potentially catastrophic clash with Iran on the horizon
and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict spiraling out of control, Americans
urgently need to be able to think clearly about our commitments and
intentions in the Middle East. And yet we are being prevented from doing
so by a longstanding campaign of intimidation that has terminated careers,
stymied debate and shut down dialogue
King Hemp
V: Industrial Disease
By Rand Clifford
American prohibition of hemp was ushered in on
the tawdry ruse of "Refer Madness", but corporate profits
were the real issue then, as they remain. Instead of protecting people
from "The Evil Weed From Mexico", hemp prohibition was engineered
to "protect" The People from sharing in corporate profits
Judging Your
Judges
By Subhash Gatade
A study about the subordinate judiciary covering
six states, sponsored by the UNDP, has not received the attention it
deserves.Interestingly Jharkhand, which is one of the six states, has
come out with its report first. Monitored by a high court judge, the
aim of the study was to find out barriers if any in providing access
to justice for the underprivileged sections of our society
17 October, 2007
The
Iraqi Genocide
By Paul Craig Roberts
One can only marvel at the insouciance of the US
Congress to the current Iraqi Genocide while condemning Turkey for one
that happened 90 years ago
The Forgotten
Refugees Of The U.S. War On Iraq
By Lee Sustar
More refugees than Darfur. A humanitarian disaster.
The largest displaced population in the Middle East since the mass expulsion
of Palestinians with the formation of Israel in 1948. That’s the
reality of the Iraqi refugee crisis--denied by the U.S. government and
routinely ignored in the mainstream media
US And Israel
Maintain Menacing Silence
Over Air Raid On Syria
By Peter Symonds
The real purpose of the raid and the subsequent
tight-lipped official silence was to send a menacing message throughout
the region that the Israeli state can and will strike without warning
against any target as it sees fit
Controlling
The Debate On Palestine, Israel
By Ramzy Baroud
My latest talks in the US have made me realize
that the witch hunt on intellectuals that escalated rapidly since September
11, 2001 is nowhere near over
Nandigram:State
Sponsored Mayhem
By Nilanju Dutta
A people's tribunal held in the wake of March 14
police firing and State vendetta at Nandigram avers that the West Bengal
government has mainly been responsible for the ghastly incidents targeting
villagers. A review of tribunal's final report
Hamas:
Islamic Democracy And National Liberation
By Sukant Chandan
People around the world are developing their own
political identities from their own cultural and political roots. Morales,
Chavez, Lebanese Hezbollah and Hamas are a few such examples. In the
process of developing these indigenous movements, there is a move away
from the uniform cultural and political forms of Western secular and
Marxist models
The Difference
Between Black Brazil And Black U.S.
By Italo Ramos
Reading all this news about race in the US, more
than just to learn about American racial complexity, I could make sense
of how big the differences are between Brazil and the US, in terms of
racial questions. Here are some of them
Anti Neo-Liberal
Victory In Poland
By Bronislaw Czarnocha
Bus drivers of the regional city Kielce, Poland,
had won their two weeks long Polish strike and obtained the permission
from that city to form a worker self-governing enterprise where they
will have decisive majority of the action package
Ten Silent
Senators
By David Swanson
On June 22, 2005, Democratic Senators Kerry, Johnson,
Corzine, Reed, Lautenberg, Boxer, Kennedy, Harkin, Bingaman, and Durbin
sent the following letter to the Republican Chairman and Democratic
Ranking Member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The letter stressed
the urgent need for an investigation that over two years later has not
been done. Only, now the Democrat is Chairman of the committee, and
the other 10 Democrats have gone as silent as the dead
16 October, 2007
Genocide
And Sexual Terrorism In Congo
By Christine Schuler Deschryver & Amy Goodman
In a war that has already killed over 4 million
people, Christine Schuler Deschryver describes how women continue to
be the victims of "sexual terrorism" in the Congo. John Homes,
the UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, called the sexual
violence in the Congo “the worst in the world.”
Why Are Americans
So Fearful?
By Dave Eriqat
Observing our relentless march toward war abroad
against Iran and looming dictatorship at home, it’s obvious to
me that our “leaders” are getting away with this agenda
because Americans are so fearful. But why? What are they afraid of?
Answering this question is important because I think this irrational
fear is finding an outlet in anger, which is evident in the police brutality
we see domestically and wars we launch abroad
In The Kingdom
Of Fear
By Sheila Samples
It's them against us -- a greedy corporate cabal
protected by a cruel and sinister Dick Cheney and Bush, a vicious, brainless
jackass who endowed himself with "wonder-working" masturbatory
power to torture and kill at will. I once read that the Constitution
is our birth certificate. If we are to remain a legitimate republic
and escape this Kingdom of Fear, we must impeach both of these illegitimate
warmongers. We must resist being fatigued into compliance with murder
and into relinquishing our freedoms
Peak Moment
For Peak Oil In Queensland
By Stuart McCarthy
Until recently the peak oil debate in Australia
has been largely confined to internet forums. Those who have dared elsewhere
make the obvious point that production of the finite resource upon which
our entire economy is based will soon peak and decline, have usually
been labeled as doomsayers, conspiracy theorists, socialists or rabid
greenies. That situation has changed dramatically in recent weeks with
the release of the Queensland Government’s long-awaited Oil Vulnerability
Taskforce Report. World oil production is peaking – it’s
official, at least here in Queensland
1947 And Its
Place In History
By Rajesh Tyagi
The local bourgeois, joined hands with international
capitalism to avert the possibility of a successful social revolution
in India. Capitulating to the British colonialists, the Indian bourgeois
with support of landlords, shamefully accepted the blueprint for peaceful
transfer of power, with partition of India on religious lines, as its
core scheme, wherein 27 lakh people perished in violence
Climate Change
Threatens The Fight To End Poverty
By Rajendra Pachauri
The possibility of large numbers of people becoming
environmental refugees is not only a humanitarian problem of serious
proportions but also has the potential for social disruption that needs
to be avoided
Escaping
BAU - 450ppm, 2 Degrees C, Change Now
By Bill Henderson
Last week Tim Flannery revealed that the next IPCC
report will reveal that greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere have
passed the 450( E)ppm level a full decade ahead of earlier IPCC prediction.
450ppm is the precautionary ceiling to keep temperature rise below a
2 degree C increase above the pre-industrial mean. Limiting the temperature
rise to less than 2 degrees has long been considered the bottom line
for avoiding dangerous climate change: for avoiding possible latent
positive feedback that could lead to runaway climate change, for avoiding
an apocalyptic situation where climate change was no longer within our
control
U.S. Too Often
Follows Israel's Lead
In Diplomatic Situations
By Paul Findley
America badly needs a civilized discussion of the
damaging role of Israel in U.S. policy formulation
Israel
Has Turned The Gaza Strip Into A Zoo
By Amira Hass
Since 1991, Israel has been using the partial or
total imprisonment of the Gazans in their cage, for longer or shorter
periods, as a political strategy: Sometimes it is depicted as punishment,
sometimes as a deterrent action and always as a preface to a political
plan. Until not long ago, it seemed as though the terms of imprisonment
could not be any worse. The past four months have proven that there
is always "worse."
Love And Be
Damned
By Ram Puniyani
In India this process of secularization, transformation
in caste and gender relations towards the one of equality, was fairly
well on its way till the decades of 80s, when the rise of communalism
has put severe brakes on this process. What is surprising is that even
in West Bengal, which is ruled by the Left front Govt., the matters
don't seem to be much different. In Rizwans case while the human tragedy
is of mammoth scale, the intolerance of high and mighty is very intimidating
15 October, 2007
'The U.S., Not
Iran, Is The Terrorist'
By Ed Kinane
In the last two centuries has Iran... invaded any
other nation?
US
Air Strikes Kill 34 Iraqis
By Naomi Spencer
On October 11, US forces killed 34 Iraqis during
air strikes on a home northwest of Baghdad. The military has acknowledged
that at least 15 among the dead were civilians, including nine children,
making the civilian toll one of the largest admitted by US forces since
the 2003 invasion
It’s
Insanity, Stupid! - Al Gore
And That Nobel Peace Prize
By Gabriele Zamparini
The Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore opened a heated
debate: was it right to award a mass murderer and war criminal? This
is a curious question that certainly would have a meaning in a sane
world, certainly not in ours
'Swimming
Up The Tigris'
By Felicity Arbuthnot
Book Review: 'Swimming Up The Tigris' By Barbara
Nimri Aziz."Barbara Nimri Aziz opens many gates, to unique, astute
and eye misting, insights. Every American and British politician should
read this book and sink to their knees in shame."
Stop Domestic
Violence Now!
By Nasiruddin Haider Khan
The Prevention of Domestic Violence Act is a historic
step towards a gender sensitive law in India. However, the big question
remains, how is it different from other existing laws of the land? Why
is this law unique? Most importantly, what are the benefits an aggrieved
person can get from this law?
The Kurdish Case
Against Turkish Military Actions
By Martin Zehr
Recent activity by the Turkish military and government
presents a real danger of invasion by Turkey against the Kurdish Autonomous
Region. Next week the Turkish Parliament will be voting to approve military
action against the Kurdish Autonomous Region
Guru Of Greed:
The Cult Of Selfishness
By Leonard Doyle
Fifty years after it was first published, Ayn Rand's
most influential book offers a vital clue to why so many Americans vote
against their economic and social interests
A Three Way For
The Real Third Way
By Jeff Berg
If we fail again and let consumption manage us
and not us it, I’m guaranteeing here and now that energy fascism
is the jackboot that we will all be ground under. Most of the rest of
the world gets this already. They do not hate us for our freedoms they
hate us for the insane recklessness and abuse of freedom that our everyday
fossil fuel lifestyle screams at them. And who can blame them?
Promised Social
Change In Ecuador
By Stephen Lendman
Raphael Correa was elected Ecuador's president
last November and took office January 15 promising social change. Correa
must now deliver and just got a boost from his governing Movimiento
Alianza Pais' landslide Constituent Assembly election victory to rewrite
the nation's constitution for the 177th time in Ecuador's history hoping
to get it right this time
American Tears
By Naomi Wolf
In Germany, according to historian Richard Evans,
in 1931-1932, if enough Germans of conscience had begun to say No --
history would have had an entirely diferent outcome.If we go any further
down this road the tears will be those of conservatives as well as progressives.
They will be American tears.The time for weeping has to stop; the time
for confronting must begin
The Realpolitik
Of Article VI: Religious
Test Required For Public Office
By Robert Weitzel
To illustrate the deleterious effect religious
tests have on the secular democracy envisioned and codified by the Founding
Fathers, consider that three of the first four presidents of the United
States, all of whom where instrumental in drafting either the Declaration
of Independence or the Constitution, would be unelectable today if certain
of their thoughts on religion were worn on their sleeves
Obama Blows It
With "Kingdom On Earth" Comment
By Mary Shaw
On October 7, Obama disappointed me, big time.
I know he's a religious man, but he overdid it this time. In my opinion,
he crossed the line re: separation of church and state when he told
the congregation at an evangelical church in South Carolina: "I
am confident we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth."
13 October, 2007
Nobel
Prize For Al Gore
By Patrick Martin
The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to former
Vice President Al Gore is a political statement by the European bourgeoisie
about the policies of the Bush administration and the politics of the
United States. Rarely has there been such an open intervention by the
European ruling elite in the internal politics of America
The Pain Of Caring
Too Much
About The Earth's Death
By Dr. Glen Barry
I am unwilling and unable to sit by stoically and
impassively as the Earth, her creatures and humanity suffer and die;
no matter how much it hurts emotionally, and you should not either
RAW: An Instrument
Of Indian Imperialism
By Isha Khan
RAW over the years has admirably fulfilled its
tasks of destabilising target states through unbridled export of terrorism.
The India Doctrine spelt out a difficult and onerous role for RAW. It
goes to its credit that it has accomplished its assigned objectives
due to the endemic weakness in the state apparatus of those nations
and failure of their leaders
Is American Capitalism
Doomed To Fail
By G Asgar Mitha
All it will take is a disastrous war that America
might start on some pretext. That would surely end capitalism. The process
of moral wastage is on-going. That one ideology, democracy, on which
the United States was founded, is dead. It exists only in name and not
form. It has been the victim of American capitalism. Likewise demise
of capitalism might be at the hands of the war it fabricates. Iraq and
Afghanistan were cake walks but will every other country be thus?
Genocide Commission
And Genocide Denial
By Armenian Genocide-Denying US, Turkey And Israel
By Dr Gideon Polya
A great victory for truth over repugnant Genocide
Denial has just been achieved in Washington - with a vote of 27 to 21,
the US Congress House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has
adopted House of Representative Resolution 106, the Armenian Genocide
Resolution that acknowledges the World War one Armenian Holocaust as
an Armenian Genocide. This was achieved in the face of intense lobbying
by the Bush Administration, Apartheid Israel, the Racist Zionist (RZ)
Lobby and the Turkish Government
Gitmo At Home:
DV Courts In America
By David Heleniak
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Domestic
violence is a very real and significant problem in America. This month
would be a good time to address the attempt of state governments to
combat domestic violence through the issuance of temporary and permanent
restraining orders
Tortured State
By Gladson Dungdung
A study on custodial torture is revealing of what
is wrong with Bihar's governance
Iftar Party?
By Mubasshir Ahmed
Come Ramadan and every political party –
be it right-wing, left-wing or middle-wing – float a new (political!)
party with a limited life: Iftar party
12 October, 2007
455
PPM And Counting...
By John Blair
Recent reports from Australia saying that the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) final Assessment due out Nov. 7 will
show that we have already eclipsed the CO2 concentration of 450 PPM
CO2, that we had previously hoped to remain under. The report will show
that we have played the waiting game for too long. It will show that
the politicians introducing mediocre measures for hopeful mitigation
that will take decades to accomplish is simply too little too late
Surviving The
Century
By Chris Goodall
At its root, climate change is not a scientific
or technical problem, but an issue of the use of power
Divide And Rule
By Galal Nassar
US plans to partition Iraq have been on the back
burner for almost two decades. Now the future of the Arab world for
generations to come hangs on whether or not they succeed
2008: Safari
Tourism In Iraq
By Pablo Ouziel
I wonder if the publicised incident of Blackwater
USA will serve as the wakeup call for western nations to realise what
we have become, or it will pave the way towards an eventual Iraqi Safari
Park for those westerners who flourish in capitalism to indulge themselves
in the 'pleasure' of shooting Iraqi civilians
Hated, Humiliated,
Butchered
By Mahasweta Devi
The mob murder of Nats in Bihar was no accidental
atrocity, writes an outraged Mahasweta Devi. It was the consequence
of preserved brutalities
Why Burma Is
Not Iraq
By Ramzy Baroud
If Iraq has been a lesson of any worth it is that
the Burmese are much better off without American bombing raids or British
napalm in the name of intervention. True reforms and democracy can only
come from within, from the closed fists of the determined dispossessed.
Indeed, Burma is not Iraq, and Thank God for that
Tibetans: Exiled
For Life
By Suzan Okar
Escaping from China has never been without risk
for scores of Tibetans who had little option but to make India their
abode. Settled in India, they continue to suffer because New Delhi is
not signing the international treaty for refugees. Besides, India does
not want to annoy China any more
Hindutva —Terrorism's
New Signature
By Subhash Gatade
While nobody can deny the role of jihadi terrorists
belonging to the likes of Lashkar-e-Toiba or Jaish-e-Mohammad in many
such bloody and inhuman incidents, one feels pertrubed over the mono-chromatic
presentation of such a complex phenomenon where green tends to dominate
the rest. The conspiracy of silence over the phenomenon of what is known
in popular parlance as 'Hindutva terrorism' needs to be questioned and
confronted. ...The fanatics who spread violence in the name of religion
are worse than terrorists and more dangerous than an alien enemy
The Pain Of
Instant Justice
By Gladson Dungdung
Though Kerala state in India is known for total
literacy, it was a horrible experience of the ‘instant justice'
for 40-year-old pregnant woman Jyoti and her two kids, who were stripped
and beaten up by a mob accusing them of stealing a golden anklet of
a child in the vicinity
11 October, 2007
Our
Drinkable Water Supply Is Vanishing
By Tara Lohan
Thanks to global warming, pollution, population
growth, and privatization, we are teetering on the edge of a global
crisis
Mud, Fog,
And Blackwater
By Rand Clifford
CorpoMedia is simply the propaganda arm of CorpoGov,
who won’t stop until the realization of CorpoWorld. A privatized
world where the essentials of life will be available only to those who
can afford them, and the idea of commonwealth is safe, deep in some
landfill patrolled by Blackwater. A two-class world where the elite
own virtually everything, live in self-contained fortresses patrolled
by Blackwater, and travel only with Blackwater escorts. What’s
to stop them now, other than Mother Nature? For a sneak preview of sorts,
research what has really happened in New Orleans
Pakistan In Peril
By K. Hussan Zia
Pakistan has very little water storage capacity.
The United States and Australia have over 5,000 cubic metres of storage
capacity per inhabitant and China has 2,200 cubic metres, while Pakistan
has only 150 cubic metres of storage capacity per capita.Pakistan can
barely store 30 days of water in the Indus basin. If something wrong
happens with the Indus basin, Pakistan has no alternative to feed its
agriculture. There is no latitude for error
The Hydra
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
The reality we live in is that a far worse creature
than the legendry hydra is terrorizing the global village. As one head
is de-commissioned, another replaces it; Rumsfeld with Gates, Casey
with Petraeus, and so on. Its contemptuous greed unfulfilled, the Iraqi
devastation only vetted the appetite of the ungodly creature; and so
venomous lies spew out in preparation for an attack on the next country
– Iran, with 72 innocent lives waiting to be annihilated
Seymour Hersh
On Bush's Plan For Iran
By Thomas Riggins
Everyone should try to get a copy of Hersh's article
to read. I have only presented a few of its high lights. The article
itself gives ample evidence that the case against Iran is very weak
and mostly contrived. Pressure has to be increased on the Congress to
try and rein Bush and his generals in before they can create an even
bigger catastrophe in the Middle East
How The Military
Can Stop An Iran Attack
By Jeremy Brecher & Brendan Smith
Is there a basis for cooperation between the military
brass and citizens who believe an attack on Iran would be criminal and/or
suicidal? Perhaps. The brass can go public with the truth and ask Congress
to provide a platform for explaining the real consequences of an attack
on Iran. They can call for a national debate that is not manipulated
by the White House
Only One Congress
Member Gets It
By David Swanson
For almost a year Congressman Dennis Kucinich has
been saying that the Democratic leadership in Congress should end the
occupation of Iraq by not bringing up for a vote any more bills to fund
it. For all these months, he has been the only member of Congress willing
to say this
Open Letter
To Bolivian President
Evo Morales Ayma
By David Truskoff
My question is what are you doing in terms of education
for the young in Bolivia to prevent the same cycle that realist my age
have seen happen again and again. The fuel of Capitalism is greed. Greed
can only be controlled with early education. The west waits for Castro
to die hoping that will end the growth of socialism in your part of
the world? Right wing Cubans in America are preparing for that day.
Are you?
"We
Need More 'Punk-Ass Kids'"
By Dan Glazebrook
An interview with Moazzam Begg who was recently
released from Guantanamo Bay
Mush Was Right.
But Who Can Trust Him Anymore?
By Abid Ullah Jan
Musharraf was right in his analysis, statements
and promises. However, his deeds proves him to be part of the same corrupt
league. The story in today’s newspapers about Musharraf being
one of the 499 owners whose farmhouse spread over 2500 acres of land
worth Rs 75 billion in the suburbs of Islamabad simply confirms this
conclusion. Other than those who have some personal or global totalitarian
axe to grind, with this proven track record of glaring contradictions
and brazen lies no one can trust General Musharraf anymore
10 October, 2007
Contractors
Kill Two Iraqi Women
By Kate Randall
Two Iraqi women were killed Tuesday afternoon when
their vehicle was fired on by a private security convoy in central Baghdad.
The guards were from the Unity Resources Group, an Australian-owned
company
It’s Not
About The Carbon
By Jim Miles
It is now recognized that global warming is happening,
that it is happening faster than expected, that in order to reduce carbon
output we need to make changes to our usage of carbon consuming compounds.
I have argued here that carbon is not the cause, it is simply the scapegoat.
The real cause, the real culprit is you and I, those of us within the
huge consumptive and unsustainable free market economy that obsessively
quests for growth in a finite world. The changes that need to be made
need to occur at all levels of society, from personal actions broadening
out to civic, federal and international actions that create a radically
less consumptive world with significantly more freedom and societal
health for all humanity
Oil, Israel,
And America: The Root Cause Of The Crisis
By Scott Ritter
There are many factors involved in what one might
term the “root cause” of Iranian-US animosity. But the reality
is all of the points of friction between Iran and the US could be readily
resolved with viable diplomacy save two: Israel’s current level
of unflinching hostility towards Iran, and America’s addiction
to global energy resources
Ahmadinejad's
Visit – A Diplomatic Debacle
By Brita Rose
After the theater and hyperbole surrounding Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent visit to New York, there are
more sinister developments that are not getting their rightful attention
Depleted Uranium:
Enduring Risk
By John W. Warnock
After the 1991 Gulf War, birth defects and leukemia
rose dramatically in the areas around Basra where these weapons were
used. By 2003, the U.S. Defense Department admitted that over 200,000
Gulf War veterans had filed for compensation for death, illness or disabilities.The
veterans refer to this as “Gulf War Syndrome.” In the first
Gulf War, the U.S.-led coalition suffered 148 deaths.Since then 8,000
veterans of this war have experienced early death
Favored Nation
By Mahir Ali
At the time of writing, it isn’t clear whether
Anglo-American efforts towards a Bhutto-Musharraf deal have produced
results. It’s conceivable that the military ruler’s strictly
conditional offer to discard his uniform in the event of his “re-election”
is part of the package
Reviewing James
Petras' "Rulers And Ruled
In The US Empire"
By Stephen Lendman
The book is information rich on a core issue of
our time. It discusses the US empire's "systemic dimensions,"
evolving changes in its ruling class, its corporatist system, myths
about its coming collapse, contradictions in the current debate on immigration
and market liberalization policies, the use of force and genocidal carnage,
corruption as a market penetrating tool, the Israeli Lobby's power and
influence, Latin American relations and events in the region, social
and armed resistance, and much more in four power-packed parts under
17 subject chapter headings
Secularism
And Islamism In The Arab world
By Sukant Chandan
The end of the strife between the Islamists and
what remains of the secularists in the anti-imperialist struggle, is
not just attributable to the weakness of the secularists but is a sign
of the strength of the independence movements in the Arab world. Furthermore,
the Islamists’ leadership in this struggle — such as that
of the Iraqi resistance — lacking support that the secularists
enjoyed from the Socialist Bloc, is indicative of the strength of their
ideology’s roots in the history, culture and identity of the masses
in the region
Book Review -
' The India Doctrine'
By Isha Khan
The book comes complete with a foreword written
by esteemed scholar, Professor Ataur Rahman of Dhaka University who
sets the theme of the book. We are reminded by Prof. Rahman that while
India might have its own rationale for framing its regional policy compatible
with its national interests, the fact remains that constant apprehensions,
mistrust and tensions between India and the smaller neighbors including
Bangladesh had its negative effects on any meaningful cooperation and
security in the region
Wailing Woes
By Aaliya Anjum
Women in Kashmir suffer rape, molestation, kin's
disappearances, psychological trauma and torture, while the much-hyped
slogan of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh proclaiming 'zero tolerance'
towards human rights abuse stares him in the face!
09 October, 2007
Washington
Lauds Pakistan’s Sham Election
By Keith Jones
The Bush administration has lauded the sham election
Pakistan’s military regime staged Saturday to extend General Pervez
Musharraf’s presidential mandate till the fall of 2012
Pakistan Political
Drama: So Far So Good - For US
By M B Naqvi
The Americans pretty much behave as if they own
the place. Whether the Americans will finally succeed in rescuing Pakistan
from the threat of Islamic extremism is a question for which there is
no clear answer
We Are In A
Bad Fix
By Mathew Maavak
What began as sub-prime woes in the US housing
sector may ripple into something we cannot yet imagine. Will there be
a severe global recession, or worse? If wars are yet contained, bidding
wars will yet emerge over wheat, water, fish, medicines and oil. What
will the future hold in this ecology of crises?
The Big Lie:
‘Iran Is A Threat’
By Scott Ritter
A careful fact-based assessment of Iran clearly
demonstrates that it poses no threat to the legitimate national security
interests of the United States. However, if the United States chooses
to implement its own unilateral national security objectives concerning
regime change in Iran, there will most likely be a reaction from Iran
which produces an exceedingly detrimental impact on the national security
interests of the United States, including military, political and economic
Unrepentent, Bush
Denies Torture
By Marjorie Cohn
Torture is a war crime. Those who commit or order
torture can be convicted under the U.S. War Crimes Statute. Techniques
that don't rise to the level of torture but constitute cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment also violate U.S. law. Congress
should provide for the appointment of a special independent counsel
to fully investigate and prosecute all who are complicit in the torture
and mistreatment of prisoners in U.S. custody
Darfur: Why Should
We Care?
By Mary Shaw
A symbolic Olympic torch relay is making its way
around the world to call attention to the ongoing genocide in Darfur,
in western Sudan, and to call on China, host of the 2008 Summer Olympics,
to use its considerable influence with Sudan to end the violence there
1776.0 Americanistic
Personality Disorder - A Satire
By Jason Miller
The essential features of Americanistic Personality
Disorder include pervasive patterns of extreme self-absorption, profound
and long-term lapses in empathy, a deep disregard for the well-being
of others, a powerful aversion to intellectual honesty and reality,
and a grossly exaggerated sense of the importance of one’s self
and one’s nation. These patterns emerge in infancy, manifest themselves
in nearly all contexts, and often become pathological
FDA Industry
Insiders Derail Approval Of
New Cancer Treatments
By Evelyn Pringle
George W Bush's FDA, stacked with insiders from
the industry that literally carried him to Washington, has stooped to
a new low to protect the obscene profits of the multi-billion dollar
cancer industry by blocking the approval of a new class of immunotherapies
that can extend the lives of dying cancer patients with minimal side
effects
The Muslim Question In
Gujarat
By Vidya Subrahmaniam
By an unspoken consensus, Muslims have been excluded
from the election debate in Gujarat
08 October, 2007
Blackwater
Mercenaries
Fired Without Provocation
By Kate Randall
An official Iraqi investigation into the deadly
shooting involving Blackwater USA found that the security contractors
opened fire without provocation on September 16 in a main square in
Baghdad, killing 17 Iraqis and wounding 22
Bush
Awards Congressional Medal To
IBC Czar - A Satire
By E.B. Patton
President Bush
announced today he was awarding Iraq Body Count (IBC) co-founder John
Sloboda the Congressional Medal of Honor. Bush said, “It’s
very important to every person in America that we continue to minimize
the true costs of the Iraq War. Mr. Sloboda has done important work
in this regard, by giving us tolerable Iraqi casualty figures to promote,
instead of the Godless crap you see in the Lancet or Opinion Business
Research. Every single one of the American people owes Mr. Sloboda a
debt of gratitude, which is why I’m awarding him this medal.”
Iraq's National
Liberation Front
By Ibrahim Ebeid & Husayn Al-Kurdi
On September 22 Iraqi Resistance groups convened
a Unification Congress in a liberated area of Baghdad. The Congress
resolved to unite all the groups who were in attendance on the basis
of achieving the total liberation of Iraq, however long that may take.
The Congress also decided that membership in the unified Resistance
Front would be open to other groups or fighters wishing to join. A Supreme
Command of the Jihad and Liberation Struggle was created and Izzat Ibrahim
al-Douri, Ba'ath Secretary-general and President of Iraq, was elected
the Supreme Commander of the Front
US/Indo Nuclear
Agreement:Derailing A Deal
By Noam Chomsky
This Indo-US agreement richly deserves to be derailed.
The threat of nuclear war is extremely serious, and growing, and part
of the reason is that the nuclear states - led by the United States
- simply refuse to live up to their obligations or are significantly
violating them, this latest effort being another step toward disaster
Invisible Genocide
Of The Poor
By Parshuram Rai
The number of people who fell prey to Hitler's
insanity was 6 million and the "silent holocaust of hunger"
is killing over 13 million people every year. Every year more than two
genocides of Nazi scale. But unlike the victims of Nazi gas chambers,
the victims of hunger die unnoticed, unmourned and in the backyards
of vibrant democracies
Columbus Day:
American As Apple Pie
By Max Kantar
Columbus: a hero? Yes, for Slavery, Colonization,
Genocide, Racism, Religious Fanaticism, and Human and Environmental
Exploitation. Yet we do not only condone Christopher Columbus in the
United States of America, we honor his life by celebrating and observing
a holiday in his name. On second thought though, slavery and genocide
are as American as apple pie
Stalemate On
The South American Chessboard?
By Federico Fuentes
It has been a year of political tours and counter-tours
for Latin America, principally by the two figures who dominate the regional
political landscape: Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez and
US President George W. Bush. While Bush embarked on a tour in March
of Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, El Salvador and Mexico, Chavez made his
move by visiting Argentina, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Haiti. At each stop,
the warmonger who presides over the US empire was met with mass protests;
the firebrand revolutionary proclaiming the need for a new socialism
of the 21st century was met with mass outpourings of support
ANC Policy
Statement On The Peoples Of Arakan
Shows Lack Of Foresightedness
By Dr. Habib Siddiqui
There is too much suspicion and animosity between
various races and ethnicities within Burma, including Arakan. Burma
needs integration, trust-building, equity and justice for all, and not
failed assimilation attempts that disrobe, dispossess, and dehumanize
minorities at the altar of the majority
Playing "Patty
Cake" With E. Coli Amid
Hygienic Anarchy In US Slaughterhouses
By Martha Rosenberg
E. coli contamination in meat is the ultimate example
of "crap in; crap out." Not only can Escherichia coli 0157:H7
make you violently sick or kill you, it is a grim reminder of where
the beef you ate came from and the fact that the cow didn't die voluntarily.
That's why big meat and the government agencies that protect it want
to keep the focus on beef packagers like Topps Foods and Cargill Inc
The Attack
On Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
By Dan Lieberman
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, arrived
in the United States with a baggage of alleged demagoguery. He didn't
have to bring demagoguery here; the U.S. media showed it has enough
to stock the world
07 October, 2007
Climate
Change And Entire Landscapes
On The Move
By Stephen Leahy
The hot breath of global warming has now touched
some of the coldest northern regions of world, turning the frozen landscape
into mush as temperatures soar 15 degrees C. above normal. Entire hillsides,
sometimes more than a kilometre long, simply let go and slid like a
vast green carpet into valleys and rivers on Melville Island in Canada’s
northwest Arctic region of Nunavut this summer, says Scott Lamoureux
of Queens University in Canada and leader of one the of International
Polar Year projects
Two Million Iraq
Deaths, Eight Million
Bush Asian Holocaust Deaths
And Media Holocaust Denial
By Dr Gideon Polya
The following analysis reveals that the total VIOLENT
and NON-VIOLENT post-invasion Iraqi excess deaths now total 1.5-2.0
million and that the total excess deaths in the Bush I and Bush II Asian
Wars now total 8 MILLION. Mainstream media ignoring of this horrendous,
ongoing mass murdering of ethnically or culturally SEMITIC Indigenous
peoples amounts to near-comprehensive anti-Semitic Holocaust Denial
The Paid (and
Protected) Terrorists
By Ghali Hassan
On Sunday 16 September 2007, at least 28 innocent
Iraqi civilians, including women and children, were murdered by Blackwater
mercenary army. The cold-blooded massacre was an unprovoked violence
designed to terrorise and strike fear among the Iraqi population living
under murderous Occupation
Haider
Abdul-Shafi: Passing Undefeated
By Ramzy Baroud
The recent death of Haider Abdul-Shafi could not
have come at a worse time. Bearing in mind the grim shortcomings of
the Palestinian leadership and the lack of any serious attempt to rectify
the situation, the loss of this unique and iconic leader feels all the
more acute
Divestment: Solution
or Diversion?
By Kevin Funk & Steve Fake
Evoking memories of global activism against apartheid
in South Africa, the Save Darfur movement is aiming to address the humanitarian
crisis in the beleaguered region by campaigning for divestment from
certain companies operating in Sudan
The Third Global
Revolution
By G. Asgar Mitha
Empires expand only to contract in the end. The
American goliath like the Roman or the pre-Islamic Arabian tribal goliath
stands alone and, is waiting for the David with a simple but deadly
sling
The Fraud Of
American University Accreditation
By Dominic Jermano
There is a major problem in the United States with
Accreditation. They claim they are legitimate but our current social
condition and results have proven how really false that is
Equatorial
Guinea: 40 Years Of independence
By Agustin Velloso
almost forty years after the country achieved independence
(October 12, 1968) and more than ten years after the start of the oil
industry, Equatorial Guinea’s position in the Human Development
Index is quite far from what is expected for a country with the world’s
highest GDP growth in 1995-2001
Dalit Theology
By Sathianathan Clarke & Yoginder Sikand
Sathianathan Clarke talks about what Dalit Theology
means to him in an interview with Yoginder Sikand
Where Have
The Narmada Waters Gone?
By Himanshu Upadhyaya
Forget about the larger debate on the gigantic
Narmada dam which has displaced tens of thousands, the government has
failed to keep its own promises. The truth of the scam is that too many
people have been promised drinking water and too many people have been
duped
05 October, 2007
Iraq
Body Count: “A Misleading Exercise”
By Media Lens
The mainstream media are continuing to use figures
provided by the website Iraq Body Count (IBC) to sell the public a number
for total post-invasion deaths of Iraqis that is perhaps 5-10% of the
true death toll
Global Climate
Change: Threat To
Nature And Human Society
By Sanjeev Ghotge & Ashwin Gambhir
Kyoto II will probably represent the most important
collective negotiations in world history, though too few citizens of
the world recognize it as such. These negotiations will probably be
more important to the future of both humanity and nature than all the
previous treaties on security, trade, finance, terrorism or disarmament
Of Ants And
Humans
By Jean-Louis Turcot & Emily Spence
We may not be as smart as ants, one might conclude.
Nonetheless (if we can wisely imitate them to at least some degree),
the longevity of our species may yet far outstretch the time span of
the infamous Dodo birds
King Hemp
IV: Rope And Dope
By Rand Clifford
The King could be a fantastic boon for The People
and the environment—similarly fantastic are his threats to status
quo profits. The profit shift would typically be from elite corporations,
to The People. Also, hemp being a natural plant rules out patents so
coveted by the elite
Entire State
Of Jammu And Kashmir Is Disputed
By Dr Shabir Choudhry
Kashmir dispute, whether you call it India and
Pakistan problem or give it any other name, is essentially related to
national identity and future of people of Jammu and Kashmir. To make
it further clear it is an issue of right of self – determination,
which is our birthright and doesn’t have to be granted by anyone
The American
Empire And The Commonwealth Of God
By Jim Miles
Book Review: The American Empire and the Commonwealth
of God – A Political, Economic, Religious Statement. By John Cobb,
Richard Falk, David Griffin and Catherine Keller
Burma’s
Struggle For Democracy -
What Needs To Be Done?
By Dr. Habib Siddiqui
Last month, we saw protests inside Burma. Dozens
of people were killed. On September 25, 2007 President Bush announced
“new” sanctions against the military government of Burma,
symbolically joining hands with tens of thousands of protesters in the
streets of Yangon and challenging the United Nations to join him in
a broader "mission of liberation."However, as I see it, the
older sanctions imposed by the USA and some western countries did not
really bite deep into the skin of the SPDC regime that is ruling Burma
Bush Chooses War
And Tobacco Company Profits
Over Children's Health Care
By Mary Shaw
As promised, George W. Bush has vetoed a highly
popular bipartisan bill that would provide health care for uninsured
low-income American children
Gandhi, Religion
And Indian Nationalism
By Ram Puniyani
Today sixty years down the line, the world has
come far. The increase in violence all over the world, the politics
wearing the clothes of religion has intensified the 'Hate other' ideology.
Can we look up to Gandhi to confront the misuse of religion for political
agenda of the mighty at global as well as local level? Can we pick up
some of the values from him rather than just bypass him or merely pay
lip service to his ideals?
Caste Manages
Sports
By Amit Chamaria
In India athletics, hockey, football and some others
are physically intensive but deglamourised sports that invariably secure
the participation of the people mainly from the under-privileged section.
As situation prevails in the country, only upper class people can, truly,
enjoy sports
04 October, 2007
Advanced
US Preparations For War On Iran
By Peter Symonds
A lengthy article by veteran journalist Seymour
Hersh published in the New Yorker on Sunday provides further confirmation
of the Bush administration’s well-developed military and political
preparations for attacking Iran. According to Hersh, the Pentagon has
drawn up new war plans, the CIA has allocated substantial extra resources
and the White House has already sounded out US allies, including Israel,
Britain and Australia, for support in any military strike
Shifting Targets:
The Administration's Plan For Iran
By Seymour M. Hersh
In a series of public statements in recent months,
President Bush and members of his Administration have redefined the
war in Iraq, to an increasing degree, as a strategic battle between
the United States and Iran
So What About
Iran?
By Uri Avnery
It is no secret that the Pro-Israel lobby and its
allies - the (mostly Jewish) neo-cons and the Christian Zionists - are
pushing America into this war, just as they pushed it into Iraq
My Last Conversation
With Aung San Suu Kyi
By John Pilger
"What I am saying is that, no matter the regime's
physical power, in the end they can't stop the people; they can't stop
freedom. We shall have our time."
"Capitalism
Is The Worst Enemy Of Humanity"
By Evo Morales
Speech by Bolivian President Evo Morales Ayma during
the United Nations meeting on Climate Change, New York, September 24,
2007
"Capitalism
And Freedom" Unmasked
By Stephen Lendman
An era ended November 16, 2006 when economist Milton Friedman died.
Rarely had so much praise been given anyone so undeserving in light
of the human wreckage his legacy left strewn everywhere
Economic Sharing:
A Shift In Global Values
By Rajesh Makwana
A growing body of progressives within the global
justice movement, including environmentalists, economists and policy
makers, broadly agree that a significant overhaul of the world’s
economic and political systems is long overdue, and that without significant
restructuring our most pressing problems will never be tackled
Dissenting
At Your Own Risk
By Cecilie Surasky
Pundits will surely argue for years about professors
Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer's explosive new book, The Israel Lobby,
which blames poor U.S. policy in the Middle East on a loose network
of individuals and pro-Israel advocacy groups.But the book, and the
response to it, opens up another controversy: the stifling of debate
about unconditional U.S. support for Israeli policies
Godhra, Gujarat:
POTA-Affected Families
Struggle To Survive
By Yoginder Sikand
Almost six years after a deadly wave of genocidal
attacks that targeted Muslims in Gujarat, the victims of the state's
worst case of anti-Muslim violence still wage a tough battle for survival.
In one of the worst-hit parts of the Gujarat, the Panchmahals district,
scores of Muslim families have been reduced to penury after having lost
their homes and possessions and with their male earning members still
languishing in jails
Mahatma Gandhi
Today
By Mike Ghouse
Mahatma Gandhi probably would have endorsed my
view that, if we can learn to accept and respect the God given uniqueness
to each one of seven billion of us, then conflicts fade and solutions
emerge. That is the mission of the foundation for pluralism
02 October, 2007
UK-US
Iraqi Holocaust And Iraqi Genocide :
3.9 Million Deaths
By Gideon Polya
Authoritative estimates of violent and non-violent
Iraqi excess deaths now show that the post-invasion excess deaths in
Occupied Iraq total 2.0 million the 1990-1990 Gulf War violent deaths
totalled 0.2 million and the 1990-2003 Sanctions War was associated
with 1.7 million excess deaths. The total 1990-2007 excess deaths in
Iraq now (September 2007) total 3.9 million
Dogs Under Glass
By Adam Engel
Don’t be too surprised to meet a violent
death within the next few decades. Just because the concentration camps
in America aren’t “active” yet doesn’t mean
‘we’ aren’t Nazis
Global
Hypocrisy On Burma
By Satya Sagar
As the Burmese military brutally cracks down on
a popular uprising of its citizens demanding democracy the question
on many minds is – so what is the world going to do about it?
From the trend visible so far the answer is simple- nothing at all
Political Tensions
In Lebanon Threaten Civil War
By Jean Shaoul
The massive car bomb in Beirut on September 19
that killed Antoine Ghanem, a leading Christian Maronite MP from the
far-right Phalange, and five others has further eroded the slim majority
of Fouad Seniora’s government and delayed the selection of the
next president.It has intensified longstanding political tensions that
threaten to erupt into all out civil war in Lebanon
The Folly, Egoism
And Dangers Of
Climate Geo-Engineering
By Glen Barry
Is humanity so resistant to change that we will
tamper with the biosphere's workings to construct a "Frankensphere";
rather than reducing population, consumption and emissions?
Ahmedinejad
V Bollinger
By Mike Ghouse
When President Ahmedinejad visited the United States
in September, he was asked by the Columbia University to speak (speech
link included below) to the students, he did. Prior to his speech, President
Bollinger of Columbia University introduced him in derogatory terms.
As an academic, he made us Americans look bad
A Q and A
For The People Of A Forsaken Republic:
Addressing The Origins Of The Whose-Your-Daddy Nation
By Phil Rockstroh
Over the last three decades, the authoritarian
right has risen to create the nation they have been longing for since
their humbling by the Watergate scandal. After being subdued and humiliated
by the mechanisms of a free republic, the right has turned the tables
-- and subdued and humiliated the republic. If the trend continues,
all but unchallenged and unabated, we might as well replace the torch
held aloft by Lady Liberty with a taser
A Very Expensive
Quagmire
By Mary Shaw
Last week, the White House sent Defense Secretary
Robert Gates to Capitol Hill to lobby for increased funding to keep
the killing going on in Iraq for another year. The updated price tag:
over $190 billion. For one year. And for what?
Women Not Warned
About SSRI-Related
Lung Birth Defect
By Evelyn Pringle
A study of nearly 500,000 women by researchers
at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, in the September 18,
2007, Annals of Internal Medicine, found that nearly 50% of women taking
a prescription drug that could cause birth defects did not receive warnings
to avoid pregnancy. The authors note that the pregnancy risks of a drug
should be discussed with women before they begin taking it
In Conversation
With Mr Bhagwan Das
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
'It is good to break and bad to continue with a
tradition that has subjugated the Dalits'
The Electronic
Sting
By Farah Aziz
There have been numerous other instances where
either wrong information has been aired, or the aired visuals and commentaries
have been sensational.In the absence of a regulating authority inside
or outside the television media in India, this is becoming a routine
affair, with editors and owners washing their hands off the crass reportage,
while nobody seems to be held accountable
01 October, 2007
Forgetting
Gandhi On International
Non-Violence Day
By Pablo Ouziel
October 2nd will mark the birth anniversary of
Human Rights Activist, Mahatma Gandhi and for the first time, the United
Nations is officially proclaiming this day to be the International Day
of Non-violence. Hopefully, on this day we can all spare a little of
our time to reflect on how little we have all understood Mahatma Gandhi's
message, after all everyday we seem to plunge into a worse state of
affairs and drift away farther from Gandhi's respectable message; "I
object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only
temporary; the evil it does is permanent."
A Global Satyagraha
Against Imperialism
By Rohini Hensman
Gandhi's birth anniversary on October 2 provides
a fitting occasion to launch a global satyagraha against imperialism.
Such a struggle is urgently needed today, given the carnage being inflicted
by imperialism in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, and the threat of
even greater carnage in Iran. Support for the people of these countries
needs to be stepped up to a higher level globally if the continuing
holocaust is to be halted
From Iraq To
Burma: Hypocrisy Rules The West
By Paul Craig Roberts
Shame has vanished from Western "civilization."
Hypocrisy has taken its place. On September 28, British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown could be heard on National Public Radio decrying the use
of violence against democratic protesters by the government in Burma.
Brown declared the British people's revulsion over the violence inflicted
by the Burmese government on its people. But Brown said nothing about
the violence the British government was inflicting on Iraqis and Afghans
One More Argument
For The U.N
By Fidel Castro
Four weeks before the Iraq invasion which happened
in the night of March 19 to 20, 2003, George W. Bush publicly sustained
his demands of Saddam Hussein in the following terms: disarmament or
war. In private, Bush acknowledged that war was inevitable. In a long
private conversation with the then Spanish president, José María
Aznar, held on Saturday, February 22, 2003 at the Crawford Ranch in
Texas, Bush made it clear that the moment had come to get rid of Saddam.
‘We have two weeks. In two weeks our military will be ready. We
will be in Baghdad at the end of March', he told Aznar.The moment has
come to get rid of Saddam
Greenspan's
Dark Legacy Unmasked
By Stephen Lendman
The new book of Greenspan's memoirs "The Age
of Turbulence" is just out for which his reported advance exceeded
$8.5 million (second only to Bill Clinton's $10 for his memoirs) plus
additional royalties if sales exceed 1.9 million copies. They may given
the amount of high-impact publicity it and he are getting nonstop. And
that's not all. He's in great demand on the lecture circuit at six figure
fees
Lebanon And
Syria: The Politics Of Assassination
By Ramzy Baroud
The assassination of Lebanese politician Antoine
Ghanem on September 19 is likely to be used, predictably, to further
US and Israeli interests in the region
Left Triumphs
In Ecuadoran Elections,
Country’s Institutions To Be Transformed
By Roger Burbach
On Sunday the political coalition President Rafael
Correa heads won an overwhelming majority of the seats in the Constituent
Assembly of Ecuadore that is tasked with “refounding” the
nation’s institutions. Rafael Correa's government marks the emergence
of a radical anti-neoliberal axis in South America, comprising Venezuela,
Bolivia and now Ecuador
Don't Be A
Blind Follower
By David Truskoff
Would I join Doctor King again and demonstrate
against a "white only tree" in front of a school? Yes I would.
Would I object to unfair racist court proceedings? Yes I would. Would
Doctor King support teen-age thugs who beat a boy senseless, kicked
him in the head and risked killing him before he was taken to the hospital?
I know he would not and neither will I
US Military:
Setting The Moral Bar Too Low
By Stan Moody
I would agree with Gen. Pace that all types of
sexual misconduct are destructive not only to United States defense
but to our nation's vitality. Would that our military were all strong,
upstanding people who did not drink much, were faithful to their wives
(or husbands) and treated prisoners of war with dignity
Saffron Terror
By Subhash Gatade
Militant Hindutva is on the rise, but there is
a conspiracy of silence that seeks to hide this reality
Leave
A Comment
&
Share Your Insights
Comment
Policy
Digg
it! And spread the word!
Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands
of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page
of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an
vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So,
as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.