15 May, 2004
The Globe Grows Darker
By Kenneth ChangIn the second half of the 20th century, the world became, quite literally, a darker place diminishing sunshine 10% to 37%
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
By Geroge MonbiotThe latest disaster movie from Hollywood "The Day After Tomorrow" has Earth ravaged by a flood and an ice age caused by climate change. Environmentalist George Monbiot gives his verdict on the controversy it has stirred
The Crash Of Civilizations
By Satya SagarBetween the torture, rape, murder of Iraqi prisoners by the US army and the gruesome beheading of an American hostage by Al Qaeda what we have is the very CRASH of Civilizations
1600 Abuse Pictures Shown In Secret
By Associated PressThe unreleased pictures of prisoner abuse in Iraq include images of corpses, military dogs snarling at cowering prisoners, women commanded to expose their breasts and sex acts, including forced homosexual sex
Who Cares If Iraqi Prisoners Die - US Soldier's Diary
By Mark SageAn American soldier's video diary shows her saying coldly about two Iraqi prisoners who died in custody: "Who cares? That's two less for me to worry about."
14 May, 2004
BJP Defeated In India
By Harish KhareThe Indian electorate has decisively rejected the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance and has voted in a Congress-led coalition spearheaded by Sonia Gandhi
Rural India Humbles Vajpayee
By Edward Luce"This is a cry of impatience for corrupt and self-serving politicians to finally start delivering the goods."
Mass Media vs Mass Reality
By P. SainathElections 2004 brought back to the agenda the issues of ordinary Indians
Sonia's Journey From A Small Town In Tuscany
By Randeep RameshSonia Gandhi's rise from small-town, postwar Italy to the whitewashed British Raj bungalows of Delhi is a story of love and death in India's political cauldron, culminating in the most sensational victory since India became independent in 1947
Let Us Hope The Darkness Has Passed
By Arundhati RoyFor many of us who feel estranged from mainstream politics, there are rare, ephemeral moments of celebration. Today is one of them. The rightwing BJP-led coalition has not just been voted out of power, it has been humiliated
13 May, 2004
International Energy Agency Warns Of Crisis
By Bruce Stanley"If you don't start going out to explore for and produce new resources, (then) 3 to 5 years from now when you need them they're not going to be there."
Addicted To Oil And Violence
By Kurt VonnegutHere’s what I think the truth is: We are all addicts of fossil fuels in a state of denial, about to face cold turkey. And like so many addicts about to face cold turkey, our leaders are now committing violent crimes to get what little is left of what we’re hooked on
'They Abused Me And Stole My Dignity'
By Rory McCarthySaddam Salah al-Rawi, 29, who was held for four months at the Abu Ghraib jail describes how he spent 18 days naked alone in a cell, often with his hands and feet bound together, and was frequently beaten, urinated on and occasionally photographed hooded and naked by American troops
The story of Nick Berg - A Tale That Haunts America
By Andrew BuncombeOne senses that Nick Berg's murder has shocked America in a way perhaps more powerful even than the 700 US soldiers who have been killed in Iraq
Do You Know Why They Hate USA?
By Roshnisen GuptaAn open letter to the president of the United States of America
12 May, 2004
American Beheaded On Live Video
By Andrew Buncombe and Justin HugglerA group linked to al-Qa'ida released a video showing five of its members beheading an American businessman in Iraq, in what it said was revenge for the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib jail by US troops. The man's body was found dumped in Baghdad
British Army 'Killing Civilians'
By Sanjay SuriThe British army has been killing civilians in areas of southern Iraq that it controls, says a report by Amnesty International
Accounts Of Atrocities Emerge
From The Rubble Of Falluja
By Dahr JamailAlong with the daily publication of photos documenting the atrocities occuring in Abu Ghraib, stories like these underscore what most people in Iraq now believe -- that the liberators have become no more than brutal imperialist occupiers of their country
Across America, War Means Jobs
By Jonathan WeismanFrom the manufacturers of armoured vehicles to apparel manufactures are doing great business. But it wasn't President Bush's tax cuts, Federal Reserve interest rate policies or even a general economic turnaround that did the trick. It was war
More Land Grab For The Wall
By Nick Pretzlik in the West BankTwo weeks ago 176 dunums of land (176,000 square meters) were stolen from the beautiful hilltop village of Beit Jalla. Five thousand olive trees, together with orchards of apricots and apples, have been confiscated
11 May, 2004
Fallujah Celebrate As Marines Leave
By Dahr JamailAfter the Marines left, thousands upon thousands of residents of the defiant city, joined by mujahideen fighters and US-trained Iraqi police and soldiers, poured into the streets to celebrate what Fallujans saw as their "victory" over US forces in the battle for their city
10 May, 2004
Bush's Rape And Torture Rooms
By Seymour M. HershMore revalations on the Abu Ghraib torture chambers and pictures published on the New Yorker Mag
Imposing A Flag With Tanks And Guns
By Dahr Jamail"I have yet to see the new “flag” anywhere, aside from seeing it burned in Fallujah. Anywhere it is flown, it is promptly torn down. Nobody would dare hang one in their car"
Support The Iraqi ResistanceMovement!
By James PetrasSince the resistance began a year ago…not a single US intellectual, of the dozens of progressive, critical thinkers ("Not in My Name") has dared to declare their solidarity with the anti-colonial struggle. "But", they protest, "we oppose the war" while they scramble to endorse candidate Kerry who does support the war and even calls for 40,000 more troops to pour missiles into crowded neighborhoods
A Baghdad Love Story
By Toufic HaddadTaking pictures of themselves smiling at hooded Iraqi prisoners' genitalia, arranging them in naked pyramids, or putting dog leashes around their necks.... This is the story of Lynndie England and Spc. Charles Graner.The occupation of Iraq's first love story
Two-Nation Theory...
By Sheela ReddyIn Gujarat new boundaries segregate the Muslim and Hindu communities dividing the neighbourhoods virtually into two nations
09 May, 2004
More Horrific Pictures To Follow
By Andrew BuncombeThe Bush administration is bracing itself for the release of new pictures and video footage from Abu Ghraib which show US soldiers having sex with an Iraqi woman prisoner, troops almost beating a prisoner
The Pornography Of Pain
By Joanna BourkeThe pictures of American soldiers humiliating Iraqi detainees are reminiscent of sadomasochistic porn
Just Go...
By An Unknown Iraqi GirlI sometimes get emails asking me to propose solutions or make suggestions. Fine. Today's lesson: don't rape, don't torture, don't kill and get out while you can
Savages Of The 21st Century
By Robert FiskThe American torturers in Iraq are creatures of our century. For if you are taught to despise your enemy as inhuman, you will - if you get the chance - cease to be a human yourself
Six Pakistanis And One Indian Were
Gunned Down to Impress America
By Greg BearupSix Pakistanis and one Indian migrant workers who were trying to get to Greece to find work on the Olympic sites were picked up Macedonian officials and they were shot in a stage managed encounter
Another One Falls in Kashmir,
But What's The Point?
By Bashir ManzarLeaders like Yasin Malik and Shabir Ahmad Shah owe an explanation to Kashmiris and will have to answer, if not today but sometime in future, that what they actually stand for. If they really believe in non-violence and peaceful means of struggle, why don't they take the same message to those Kashmiri boys
08 May, 2004
The Fresh Graves Of Falluja
By Dahr JamailRows and rows of fresh graves fill the football stadium in Falluja. Many of them are smaller than others. My translator Nermim reads the gravestones to me: “This one is a little girl.” We take another step. “And this one is her sister. Next to them is their mother.”
The Immoral war
By Robert FiskThe Abu Ghraib pictures have the status of those most damaging snapshots of the Vietnam war: the police chief in Saigon executing his Vietcong prisoner, the naked girl burnt by napalm, the pile of bodies at My Lai. For Arabs, read Deir Yassin and the corpses piled in the Palestinian refugee camp of Sabra and Chatila in 1982
Nothing New, It's Racism
By John PilgerIn boasting openly about killing "rats in their nest," US marine snipers, who in Falluja shot dead women, children and the elderly, just as German snipers shot dead Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, were reflecting the racism of their leaders
Panic In Bangkok
By Satya SagarThe massacre at Pattani's Krue Se Mosque could be a turning point in the history of Thailand with the heightened possibility of retaliation and real (as opposed to the hitherto imagined) terrorism in different parts of Thailand including the capital city Bangkok
Irshad Manji: Islam's Marked Woman
By Johann HariIrshad Manji is a lesbian Muslim who says her religion is stuck in the Middle Ages. The outspoken author tells how she became a target for assassination
Bhopal's Legacy
By Mark HertsgaardAs the twentieth anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy approaches, Bhopal is back in the news. On April 19, two poor women, Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla, survivors and advocates for the victims won the most prestigious environmental award given in the United States
A Guiding Light Falls On Ramallah
By Sam BahourTonight the deafening silence of Ramallah was broken, not by the frequent Israeli tanks and jeeps that now enter and exit the city at will, but rather by the music of the distinguished Daniel Barenboim, one of the great musicians of our time
07 May, 2004
The Oil Crunch
By Paul KrugmanBefore the start of the Iraq war his media empire did so much to promote, Rupert Murdoch explained the payoff: "The greatest thing to come out of this for the world economy, if you could put it that way, would be $20 a barrel for oil." Crude oil prices in New York rose to almost $40 a barrel yesterday, a 13-year high
Toward The Petro-Apocalypse
By Yves CochetIn a few years, the global production of conventional oil will fall, while the global demand continues to rise. The resulting shock of this structural oil famine is inevitable.The alternative is chaos
The couple At The Centre Of A Scandal
That Horrified The World
By Andrew BuncombeA journey into the backyard of the couple Lynndie England and Charles Graner who gained notoriety by the torture pictures of Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq
Hellish Scenes From A Suicide Bomb Explosion
By Dahr Jamail"A leg was found 200 meters from the blast site. Broken glass covers the grass near the line of blasted cars.Ambulance sirens blared, soldiers yelled at people who got too close, and the overall feeling of doom and sadness pervaded the hellish scene."
Pictures Of Wounded Men
Being Shot Censored By TV
By Robert FiskAs a wounded Iraqi crawls from beneath a burning truck, an American helicopter pilot tells his commander that one of three men has survived his night air attack. He received the reply: "Hit him, hit the truck and him." As the helicopter's gun camera captures the scene on video, the pilot fires a 30mm gun at the wounded man, vaporising him in a second
World Food Prices Set To Rise
By Jim LobeU.S. and global consumers, already hit hard by sustained high oil prices, may be looking at increases in food prices as well over the coming year, according to an independent Washington-based research group, the Earth Policy Institute
The Right To Conversion
By Nivedita MenonWhy is religious conversion any different from other conversions?
06 May, 2004
A torture Victim Recalls The Humiliation
By Andrew Buncombe and Justin HugglerHayder Sabbar Abd, the man in the hood, who was stripped, humiliated, beaten and abused by American reservists and interrogators at Abu Ghraib prison speaks of his humiliation
Ali Baba's Of Iraq
By Dahr JamailDaily life is a struggle for most Iraqis, and it isn't helped by the brutal occupation or by the corrupt police department who act like Ali Babas (thieves) of the street
Biddu: The Struggle Against The Wall
By Yediot AharonotA unique struggle is going on the Palestinian village of Biddu. Israelis and Palestinians jointly protest against the building of the separation wall dividing the village
Gujarat-Lengthening Shadows Of Trident
By Ram PuniyaniThe tragic affairs of Gujarat are just a mirror to our democracy. How if unguarded, the fascist tendencies can grow and engulf the democracy lock sock and barrel. Gujarat is very close to 'Fascism in one state' as far as Indian nation is concerned
Tharu Autonomy: When The Slaves
Rise Up On The Nepal Plains
By A World to Win News ServiceThe Tharus, an aboriginal people who inhabit the western plains of Nepal are asserting themselves and winning back their lost under the programme of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
Killings At Pattani's Krue Se Mosque
And A Cover Up EnquiryThe commission of inquiry inquiring into the killings at Pattani's Krue Se mosque is restrictive, unrepresentative and inconsistent with international standards on independence and impartiality for holding such inquiries
05 May, 2004
Global Warming's Bottom Line
By Mindy LubberGlobal warming is a reality that is already putting the financial pinch on weather-dependent businesses. Despite mounting scientific evidence, most of the world's largest companies have been operating as if global warming is fiction
The Horror Story Of Sadiq Zoman
By Dahr JamailAmerican soldiers detained Zoman at his residence in Kirkuk on July 21, 2003 when they raided the Zoman family home.More than a month later, on August 23, US soldiers dropped Zoman off, already comatose, at a hospital in Tikrit where he is still lying in coma
Abu Ghuraib Prisoners Speak of 'Torture'
Ex-detainees say acts of abuse were too immoral to talk about
Washington Fields Mercenary Army In Iraq
By Harvey ThompsonAccording to recent estimates there are around 15,000 private bodyguards and security personnel operating inside Iraq, of which at least 6,000 are believed to be armed—making them the second biggest military presence after the US Army
Chinese Capitalism:Industrial Powerhouse
Or Sweatshop Of The World?
By John ChanThe combination of plentiful labour, low wages, low taxation and brutal police-state repression made China one of the most attractive investment sites for transnational corporations
Prawn Farms Destroying The Life of Fishworkers
By Goldy M. George"The prawn farms have ruined our lives. Since the prawn farms are built the water is poured into our farms and villages. Our crops are destroyed. Even we are unable to fish properly since they destroy the fishes "
Bhopal Gas Tragedy Lives On
By Scott BaldaufNearly 20 years after an accident at a Union Carbide chemical plant killed thousands here, there are signs that a second tragedy is in the making. New environmental studies indicate that tons of toxic material dumped at the old plant have now seeped into the groundwater, affecting a new generation of Bhopal citizens
Outsourcing Religion
By Siddharth SrivastavaA mix of economics and a shortage of priests in Western Europe and the United States have fueled the outsourcing of the "holy mass" to parishes in the south Indian state of Kerala
04 May, 2004
Psychodynamics Of Occupation
By Stephen SoldzWhat happened at Abu Graib prison is the direct consequence of the logic of occupation and the planners and organizers of that occupation bear primary responsibility
Living In A Bubble
By Uri AvneryPalestine and Israel each live sealed in its closed bubble, cut off from the other, and, indeed, from the world at large. Inside its bubble, each people cultivates their grievances, the conviction of being the ultimate victim, the memory of the injustices done to them, the anger at the other, cruel, murderous and detestable people
A History Of Racial Tension
By Pius Kamau"In Aurora, we run into each other in corridors and the past is unfurled before us. But there's no bitterness in me, only a wish they would open their minds to a world that's fluid and not always divided into rigid castes." The personal account of an African American doctor, how uppercaste Indian Hindu's treat Africans
Criminal Case Against Modi Launched in Gujarat
Gujarat Chief Minister to face Genocide, Torture and Crimes
against Humanity charges from UK family03 May, 2004
Subcontracting The War
By James ConachyOperating behind a veil of state and corporate secrecy military work is being subcontracted to private security firms. It is one of the most outrageous forms of war profiteering taking place under the auspices of the Bush administration
Indians Back Home From Iraq After
Ordeal In U.S. Camp
By Ignatius PereiraAfter facing great difficulties, four natives of Velichakala, Kerala state, India, who worked as kitchen assistants at U.S. military camp in Iraq, escaped from there and reached home today
Torture At Abu Ghraib
By Seymour M. HershAmerican soldiers brutalized Iraqis. How far up does the responsibility go?
02 May, 2004
Antarctica Will Soon Be The Only Place To Live
By Geoffrey LeanAntarctica is likely to be the world's only habitable continent by the end of this century if global warming remains unchecked
Iraqis Declare Victory Over U.S. In Falluja
Many returning Falluja residents found their homes damaged or destroyed, but saw the absence of American soldiers in their city as a victory over the U.S.-led forces occupying Iraq
1,361 Iraqis Killed In April
By Lee KeathA count by The Associated Press found that around 1,361 Iraqis were killed from April 1 to April 30 _ 10 times the figure of at least 136 U.S. troops who died during the same period
Apportioning The Blame Of Communal Riots
By Ram PuniyaniThe argument that during BJP regime only Gujarat riots have taken place while during Congress regimes thousands of riots have taken place is totally misplaced
01 May, 2004
Lured By Dollars Indian Soldiers Are In Iraq
By Siddharth SrivastavaIn a very discreet operation, US and British security sub-contractors are seeking out Indian ex-servicemen known for their professionalism and discipline for deployment in Iraq
Bush Can't Count On The Saudis
By Marshall AuerbackThe hope that Saudis would try to fine-tune oil prices to prime the U.S. economy for the election -- a move that would favor Bush's reelection could be very misplaced
Mutiny In Iraq
By Naomi KleinThe last month of inflammatory US aggression in Iraq has inspired what can only be described as a mutiny: Waves of soldiers, workers and politicians under the command of the US occupation authority are suddenly refusing to follow orders and abandoning their posts