13 August, 2004
Iraq's Phase II: Deadlier Than Ever
By Youssef M. IbrahimFrom Iran's perspective, there is little question what happens in Najaf is its business. Any damage there cannot leave a single Iranian ruler the option of remaining neutral, regardless of whether they are among moderates or hard-liners
Withdraw The Troops
By Tariq AliThe Withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq is the only solution. The media-hyped fiction of a handover of Power in Iraq is designed for US voters
From Inside The Imam Ali Shrine
By Rory McCarthyThe guadian's Rory McCarthy reports the Najaf battle from inside the Imam Ali Shrine
12 August, 2004
World Bank Undermines Efforts On Global Warming
By George M. Woodwell and Kilaparti RamakrishnaThe World Bank recently met to consider continued support for development of new sources of fossil fuels. The action calls attention once again to the growing discrepancy between what the scientific community is saying about the state of the world and what the political and economic communities are willing to hear
Sadr's Men Wait For Martyrdom
By Rory McCarthyOn his chest was a green ammunition belt, filled with loaded magazines and rusted hand-grenades. Written neatly on the belt was his name, address and telephone number. "In case I die, so they can reach my family"
Venezuela Gets The Florida Treatment
By Greg PalastWill the gang that fixed florida fix the vote in caracas this Sunday?
From Israel To Abu Ghraib: Globalisation Of Torture
By Ghali HassanThe horror of abuse, torture and executions of Iraqi prisoners by the Anglo-American occupation soldiers are not "few isolated incidents" by "few bad apples". It is the tip of the iceberg of a wide spread systemic torture and violation of human rights of Iraqi citizens, including women and children, all over Iraq. The system is modelled on Israel's vicious system of Palestinians torture
The Myth Of Palestinian Development
By Sam BahourThe Myth of Palestinian Development By Khalil Nakhleh reviewed by Sam Bahour
11 August, 2004
Climage Change: Greatest Threat To Civilization
By Ross GelbspanClimate change is not just another issue. It is the overriding threat facing human civilization in the twenty-first century, and so far our institutions are doing dangerously little to address it
Hiroshima Cover-up
By Amy Goodman and David GoodmanOr how the War Department's Timesman Won a Pulitzer
The Balochistan Issue
By Rashed RahmanThe clash in Balochistan is between aggressive modernisation (backed by military force) and the Baloch people's demands for their rights. Force has not yielded good results in the past. It is unlikely to do so in future
Funding For Vanuatu’s Rural Electrification
By Chin Ching SooWho can provide the investment for an energy supply for small communities who do not have significant cash incomes, who are dispersed over mountains and seas, usually without local experience in technical and financial aspects of an energy system and largely without the economic linkages for exploiting electricity-based small enterprises?
10 August, 2004
Oil Profits Behind West's Tears For Darfur
By Norm DixonWhile US and European governments' goal is renewed access by their countries oil corporations to Sudan's oil wealth, Washington's latest threats against Sudan are part of a “carrot and stick” approach that it has pursued with Khartoum since the 9/11 attacks
Goodbye, Kind World
By George MonbiotPeople choose to believe the climate change deniers because the truth is harder to accept
De-development Israeli Style
By Sam BahourJust as Israeli tanks and gunships continue to militarily occupy and batter Palestinian cities and towns, there is another facet of this illegal Israeli occupation that is not apparent to the casual observer. Israel refuses to abide by the provisions in the Oslo Peace Accords which gave Palestinians full control over their telecommunications sector
Sardar Sarovar - Flood Of Fears
By Lyla BavadamYear after year, hamlets and villages in the valley vanish forever under the waters. Some resurface when the floods recede, with their farmland irrevocably lost on account of waterlogging
09 August, 2004
Oil Eyes $50: Where Will It End?
By Andrew MitchellAs oil hits fresh highs, bringing $50 crude firmly into view, it will take a sea-change - a recession, an abnormally mild northern winter or perhaps a change in U.S. President - to end the rally
Manipur Burns
By Biswajyoti DasManipur, a remote northeastern state of India, has been simmering for nearly a month with hundreds of people demanding the withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which gives sweeping powers to security forces
Some Order In The Mess
By Uri AvneryAriel Sharon’s “disengagement” plan has already made a mess on all levels. It has sparked a continuing cabinet crisis, an upheaval in several parties, a disorientation of public opinion, confusion in the security establishment and armed confrontations between Palestinian organizations
Miyasar's Fear
By Shirabe YamadaIsrael has been using the house demolition as a means of collective punishment to families whose member was involved in armed resistance. The policy, illegal by international human rights and humanitarian laws, has made countless families homeless across the occupied territories
08 August, 2004
Iraqi PM Bans Aljazeera
By Donald MacintyreThe Arab satellite TV network Aljazeera was banned from operating in Iraq for 30 days.Aljazeera has vowed to continue its Iraq coverage
Who Will Dig The Mass Graves Now?
By Girl Blog from IraqIn Najaf it has seen a rain of bombs and shells for the last few days. Twenty years from now who will be blamed for the mass graves being dug today?
Iyad Allawi-Saddam Sans Mustache
By Greg GumaBefore the invasion we heard that the United States needed to oust a tyrant and establish a democracy. Now the argument is that the unruly country needs a tough guy ready to impose martial law, ban protest, and use secret police to "annihilate" opponents. In other words, a tyrant
The BBC: Occupation? What Occupation?!
By Sharif Hikmat NashashibiBBC's coverage of Arab-Israeli conflict is consistent in one aspect, its inability to see the Palestinian suffering, its inaccuracies and the blatant lies reported as facts
To Die For A Mistake
By Dr. Trudy Bond“How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?” John Kerry, 1971. Vietnam Then Iraq Now
The Wall Will Fail
By Steve NivaThe belief that security can be provided by walls and physical barriers is best illustrated by the ancient walled city of Jericho, and any Israeli schoolchild can tell you what happened to its great defensive walls once the ancient Israelites emerged from their desert exodus. They came tumbling down
To Gain 10, Dalits Must Score 12.5 Points
By Chandrabhan PrasadIn societies all over the world, many individuals, in moments of crises, may sacrifice societal, national interests in favour of their own existence. In sharp contrast, in India, individuals sacrifice their own interests in favour of the caste order
07 August, 2004
The Greenland Ice Cap Is Melting Fast
By Hamish MacdonellNewly published research shows an alarming rise in the rate of collapse of the massive Greenland ice-sheet as a result of global warming. Scientists now believe the ice-sheet is shrinking at the rate of ten metres a year, not the one metre previously thought
Fear, Not Fortitude, Propels American Empire
By Franz SchurmannWhy is democracy failing? A simple explanation is that Jews, Christians and Muslims used to have only one primary fear, and that was fear of God. Instead, all three now fear each other, or fear their own peoples. To work, democracy has to be optimistic. But fear is the antithesis of optimism
06 August, 2004
Uprooted Trees, Razed Houses
By Eric Silver and Sa'id GhazaliThe Palestinians of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip began to count the cost of a month-long Israeli invasion.More than 42,000 olive, citrus and date trees had been uprooted, 4,405 acres of orchards, vineyards and vegetable fields were flattened. 21 houses demolished and 314 damaged
Palestinian Cement Scandal
By Khalid AmayrehIt is claimed that two Palestinian companies imported Egyptian cement and diverted it to Israel where it is believed it was used in the building of Israel's separation wall
The Tale Of Saddam's Cameraman
By Robert FiskMouffak Daoud's story is extraordinary. For eight years, he was the Iraqi army's top wartime cameraman in the Somme-like conflict against Iran. He was even filming when the Americans stormed into Baghdad in April 2003. He still films for the Iraqi Ministry of Interior
Israel The Real Winner
By Mohamed ElmasryIf we rank those countries which have benefited most, and are still benefiting, from the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, Israel heads the list
Censor Board Bans 'Final Solution'
By Kalpana SharmaThe Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has refused to pass Rakesh Sharma's award-winning film on the Gujarat violence - "Final Solution"
05 August, 2004
The Death Of Cheap Oil
By Adam PorterWhat we are seeing could be that the long awaited peak in oil production is either here or about to arrive. We are seeing that nowhere has the capacity to increase production
Monsanto Prevails In Patent Fight
By Kristen PhilipkoskiThe Canadian Supreme Court upheld a ruling against a farmer who used genetically modified canola seeds patented by Monsanto while replanting his field. The farmer maintained that he inadvertently used seed that had blown into his field
Overturning Transaction Tax
By Kavaljit SinghUnder pressure from powerful lobby of brokers, speculators, arbitrageurs and "noise traders," Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, diluted several important provisions of the proposed securities transaction tax (STT)
All For The Cow
By T.K.RajalakshmiOn July 10,32-year-old Abdul Waaris Khan was done to death in full public view in a crowded weekly market of Barghat, in Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh for trying to sell his bull
04 August, 2004
The Oil War Moves To Sudan
By Doug LorimerIn July 1998 the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that a Chevron representative estimated “Sudan had more oil than Iran and Saudi Arabia together”
Over 37,000 Civilians Killed In Iraq
By Ahmed JanabiThe People's Kifah, or Struggle Against Hegemony, an Iraqi political group says more than 37,000 Iraqi civilians were killed between the start of the US-led invasion in March 2003 and October 2003
Unmasked - War Against Iraqi Children
By Ghali HassanWhat rights do Americans have to commit such heinous crimes against the history of humanity and the Iraqi people?
More Stories From Guantánamo Bay
By Vikram Dodd and Tania BraniganQuestioned at gunpoint, shackled, forced to pose naked. British detainees tell their stories of Guantánamo Bay
As The World Looked On - Seoni Gang Rape
By T.K.RajalakshmiGowlis, numbering around 150 broke open the door the women through the streets of Bhomatola. The women were taken behind the Panchayat Bhawan and gang-raped
Drowned And Out
By Medha PatkarAmidst this season of destruction, with the Sardar Sarovar and Narmada Sagar dams immiserating thousands of families, it is necessary that Indians stand up and respond to these injustices
03 August, 2004
Muslims Did Not Blow Up The Churches
By Sam HamodThis is another American cover-up to create more chaos in Iraq, just as America did in Viet Nam to keep us in that war. In this case, it is to rally the Christians of America against Iraq and to justify more attacks on Muslims groups in Iraq
Iraq Is About To Explode
By Robert FiskWatching any Western television station in Baghdad these days is like tuning in to Planet Mars. Doesn’t Blair realize that Iraq is about to implode? Doesn’t Bush realize this? The American-appointed "government” controls only parts of Baghdad — and even there its ministers and civil servants are car-bombed and assassinated
India Faces A Severe Drought
By Radha ViswanathAll hopes of a normal or near normal rainfall have receded. With barely a month to go before the monsoon takes its formal bow, as many as 28 of the 36 meteorological sub-divisions in India have recorded 'below average'rainfall and the nation is staring straight into a drought year
The Oil Factor About Sudan
By John LaughlandOil will be the driving factor for military intervention in Sudan
02 August, 2004
Heat, Death, Abduction In Iraq
By Girl Blog From IraqIs there sympathy with all these abductees? There is, but for every foreigner abducted, there are probably 10 Iraqis being abducted and while we have to be here because it is home, truck drivers, security personnel for foreign companies and contractors do not
The Oligarchs
By Uri AvneryOligarchy and democracy are incompatible. As a Russian commentator said about the new Russian democracy: “They have turned a virgin into a whore.”
Measuring Merits, And Its Apologists
By Chandrabhan PrasadDalits students better their performance when they enter urban centres, hostels and relatively comfortable educational environments. Once there, they discover the material basis to explore their latent energies. On being recruited, they better their performance, and, given a chance, even excel over non-Dalits
01 August, 2004
An Empire Of Torture
By Pelayo MellaThe pictures of American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners made me relive what I, and many thousands of other Chileans suffered under the Pinochet’s dictatorship. What they did and do with Iraqis is exactly the same as they did with Chileans, Argentineans, and its is the same that occupying Zionists do with the Palestinians
Falluja- Documenting death
By Frank WallisThe Iraqi city of Falluja continues to be the target of US forces strikes which claim the lives of many innocent civilians. Frank Wallis looks back at the massacre which took place in April and argues that President George W Bush went to Falluja to destroy an enemy which did not really exist
Kerala - Loss Of All Hope
By Saji P. GeorgeThe student community has joined the farmers in seeking the 'final solution' in the economically and socially ravaged state of Kerala, a classic case study of neo-liberal globalisation
31 July, 2004
The Secret File Of Abu Ghraib
By Osh Gray DavidsonNew classified documents implicate U.S. forces in rape and sodomy of Iraqi prisoners
Iraq And The Dollar
By John ChapmanThere were only two credible reasons for invading Iraq: control over oil and preservation of the dollar as the world's reserve currency. Yet the government has kept silent on these factors
Seabird Breeding Crisis Spreads To England
By Michael McCarthy
England's biggest seabird colony is suffering from the global warming-induced severe food shortage that has devastated the birds of the Northern Isles of ScotlandThe Pathology Of George Bush
By Fidel CastroFidel Castro answers President Bush's accusation that Cuba promotes sexual tourism and child pornography
Projects Of Mass Destruction And
Floods In Bangladesh
By Anu MuhammadThree fourth of Bangladesh is now under water. About 50 million people are thrown from bad to worse conditions. Not everybody is suffering; there is a small section of people who feel joy with the rising water. They find their business (from alu-patal to fund stealing to huge (re)construction potential to flood control consultancy) booming
30 July, 2004
The Rise Of Global Resistance
By Omar BarghoutiThe rest of the world truly hopes that Americans may themselves rise up to the occasion and renounce the empire from within; that they may opt for the status of relatively less privileged citizens of a more just and peaceful world, rather than the loathed masters of a bludgeoned, bullied, and oppressed world
Oil And Gas In Abundance In Washington
By Eli CliftonAccording to a recent report by a Washington-based group, the Center for Public Integrity, the oil and gas industry has spent more than 440 million dollars since 1998 on campaign contributions and lobbying
Powell And My Grandmother
By Sam BahourIf U.S. interests in the Middle East continue to be hijacked and jeopardized by a rapacious Israeli state, then maybe not only the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza are occupied territories. Maybe we need a peacekeeping force immediately sent to Capital Hill
On Comprehensive Law On Communal Riots
By Asghar Ali EngineerThe United Progressive Alliance Government has promised, in its Common Minimum Programme that a law will be enacted to prevent communal riots but what is stated therein seems post-riot measures like special courts to punish the guilty, to pay uniform compensation to the victims etc
29 July, 2004
Aid Agencies Desert Afghanistan
By Nick MeoAid workers who remained in Afghanistan throughout the years of Soviet occupation, tribal anarchy and Taliban rule are preparing to flee the country because US military tactics have made it too dangerous to operate there
Bush Floats War Against Iran
By Ted RallFailing to stamp passports is commonplace. Yet the Bush Administration, operating on the assumption that most Americans don't know that, is floating the possibility of war against Iran based on that innocuous practice
Baghdad Reeks Of The Stench Of The Dead
By Robert FiskThe smell of the dead pours into the street through the air-conditioning ducts. Hot, sweet, overwhelming. Inside the Baghdad morgue, there are so many corpses that the fridges are overflowing. The dead are on the floor. Dozens of them
Humanitarian Disaster In Sudan
By Samson MulugetaThousands of villages in the Sudanese region of Darfur have suffered in a war that is, by most measures, the worst humanitarian disaster in the world today
Religion, Power And Violence
By Ram PuniyaniIt is time that the people associated with religion realize the abuse to which religion has been put
Body Of The Nation: Why Women
Were Mutilated In Gujarat
By Martha C. NussbaumThe woman functions as a symbol of the site of weakness and vulnerability inside any male, who can be drawn into his own mortality through desire. The Muslim woman functions doubly as such a symbol. In this way, a fantasy is created that her annihilation will lead to safety and invulnerability The paranoid anxiety that keeps telling every man that he is not safe and invulnerable feeds the desire to extinguish her
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