ccarchive-july2006

31 July, 2006

'How Can We Stand By And Allow This To Go On?'
By Robert Fisk

In all, there were 56 corpses brought to the Tyre government hospital and other surgeries, and 34 of them were children. When they ran out of plastic bags, they wrapped the small corpses in carpets. Their hair was matted with dust, most had blood running from their noses

Qana Massacre...
By Baghdad Burning

The UN is beyond useless. They’ve gone from a union of nations working for the good of the world (if they ever were even that), to a bunch of gravediggers. They’re only good for digging mangled bodies out of the ruins of buildings and helping to identify and put them into mass graves

US Media Alibis For Qana Massacre
By David Walsh

As the news broke Sunday morning of the Israeli massacre in the southern Lebanese village of Qana, the American media swung into action to provide alibis and excuses for the horrific war crime

Arab States Must Repudiate Ties With Israel Now
By Ali Abunimah

After Qana, Jordan's foreign minister Abul-Ilah al-Khatib urged the international community "take a firm stand against the aggression." Amman and Cairo should lead the way with more than words

Israel's Latest Massacre In Qana:
Racist Jewish Fundamentalism A Factor
By Omar Barghouti

Israel's latest bloodbath, which claimed the lives of dozens of children and women hiding from the relentless bombing in what they hoped was a secure basement in Qana, betrays not only Israel's criminal disregard for the value of Arab human life, a typical colonial attitude towards natives, but also its increasingly fundamentalist perception of Gentiles in general as lesser humans

Why Do They Hate Us? Listen To Qana (again)
By Jonathan Cook

If Israel wanted to widen its war, it could not have chosen a better way to achieve it than by sending its war planes back to the mixed Muslim and Christian village of Qana in south Lebanon to massacre civilians there, as if marking a morbid anniversary

Why Must The Right Wing Sound
So Brutally Stupid?
By John Chuckman

Just when I thought he had shown a glimmer of statesmanship, Stephen Harper, Canada's prime minister courtesy of just over one-third of the vote, reverted to character. Following Israel's apparently-deliberate targeting of four UN observers in Lebanon, including one Canadian, Harper thought it appropriate to ask, not why Israel killed them, but why the observers were there?

"If You Haven't Left, You're Hezbollah"
By Dahr Jamail

Large numbers fled the south after Israelis dropped leaflets warning of attacks. Others have been unable to leave, often because they have not found the means. The Israelis have taken that to mean that they are therefore Hezbollah

Oil Spill Hits Lebanon
By Dahr Jamail

More than 15,000 tons of oil have hit the coast after the bombing of five of six storage tanks at the plant in the coastal village El-Jiye, 30km south of Beirut. The northern winds have taken the massive oil slick to beaches and ports a long way up the coast

The New Middle East
By Ali Quli Qarai

When the dusts of the war have settled, the world will see a Hezbollah and Hamas that have not been weakened but grown in strength and stature several times. The new Middle East was born in 1982 when Israel invaded Lebanon. Now it is coming of age

What Exactly Is An "Existential" Threat, Mr. Olmert?
By Am Johal

The past few weeks have seen dozens of non-violent protestors arrested, aggressively pushed and detained for simply questioning Israeli policy in Lebanon. Security officials have attacked protestors without provocation. Israel is the clearest example of a state where security matters precede the importance of human rights

Imperial Rulers And The Deadly Games They Play
By Jason Miller

The militant Neocon and Zionist leaders in the United States and Israel are deaf to lamentations and blind to scenes of carnage. As long as they remain in power and have pawns to sacrifice, the “War on Terror” will continue to escalate

Islam, Madrasas And Cultural 'Arabisation':
Insights From India
By Yoginder Sikand

Mindless berating of the madrasas for allegedly being actively engaged in promoting 'Arabisation', without looking at the phenomenon as, at least in part, a reaction to Hindutva and to the homogenising agenda of the Indian state that defines itself in Brahminical Hindu terms, is hardly fair and can only further reinforce the insular, exclusivist character that most madrasas are today identified with

29 July, 2006

Humanitarian Disaster Unfolding In Palestine
By Anne Penketh

A 12-year-old boy dead on a stretcher. A mother in shock and disbelief after her son was shot dead for standing on their roof. A phone rings and a voice in broken Arabic orders residents to abandon their home on pain of death. Those are snapshots of a day in Gaza where Israel is waging a hidden war, as the world looks the other way, focusing on Lebanon

The Lies Israel Tells Itself
(and we tell on its behalf)
By Jonathan Cook

How many many of us believe that our values demand that we fall in behind a new world order in which Arab deaths are not real deaths because “they” are not fully human?

Lebanon: Trauma Of A Nation
By Iftikhar H. Malik

In 1982, while going beyond his cue cards, President Reagan, during his meeting with Prime Minister Menachem Begin, had described the then Israeli devastation of Lebanon as a Holocaust, but a quarter of century later, Bush and Blair would not agree even to the inclusion of the prefix such as ‘immediate’ or `urgent’ to forestall brutalisation in Lebanon and Gaza

Death Toll Could Be Twice The Official Figure
By Dahr Jamail

Lebanese doctors, aid workers and refugees are all reporting that the official number of dead in Lebanon is far lower than the actual."I think that the real number is at least 750 dead so far," Dr. Bachir el-Sham at the Complex Hospital in Sidon city told IPS in a telephone interview

Israelis Accused Of Using Illegal Weapons
By Dahr Jamail

The Israeli military is using illegal weapons against civilians in southern Lebanon, according to several reports. U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said this week that Israel had used cluster bombs in civilian areas of Lebanon, in clear violation of international law

Israel's Superiority Isn't Moral
By Jeff Berg

Until Israel and America cease their occupations and rejoin the international community, both America and Israel no more have a right to claim moral superiority over Hamas or Hizbollah than the British had a right to consider themselves morally superior to Michael Collins and the Sinn Fein or George Washington and the Continentalist Army

The Pathology Of Israeli Power
By Issa Khalaf

As we witness the unfolding spectacle of ferocious, indiscriminate violence, destruction, and brutality in Gaza and Lebanon, it’s difficult to resist the conclusion that there is something terribly wrong with the Israeli state and society

Who Is Winning?
By Uri Avnery

Questions And Answers About the War in Lebanon

In This War - Nobody Wins
By Brita Rose

The international community, including Iraqi Prime Minister, Jawad al-Maliki, proposes an immediate ceasefire to end the bloodshed, but a conspicuous three nations oppose it - Israel, U.S., and Britain. Once again their solution is the terror of hard power - bomb them into our image whatever the cost. This is an avoidable, immoral and counterproductive war

Hashimpura : Not Just The Name Of A Massacre
By Subhash Gatade

The court of Additional Sessions Judge, Delhi has finally framed charges of murder, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy, abduction, unlawful confinement, assault and unlawful compulsory labour against these PAC men charged with killing Muslims during curfew in Meerut on May 22, 1987. And the trial has started on 15 th July after an agonising wait for 19 years

28 July, 2006

Israel Prepares Major Escalation Of
Lebanon Aggression
By Patrick Martin

The Israeli government issued orders Thursday to mobilize as many as 40,000 additional reserve soldiers in preparation for an escalation of its war of aggression against Lebanon. The action was taken by the security cabinet of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in response to mounting demands from the military brass and the media for a full-scale invasion of south Lebanon

Significance Of Al-Zawahiri Video:
Is Hezbollah Winning?
By Taj Hashmi

An unlikely al-Qaeda breakthrough in winning over sections of the Lebanese population, Sunni Palestinian refugees in the country for example, does not bode well for Israel and its allies. If further pushed against the wall, Hezbollah might extend its hand towards al-Qaeda against their common enemy

The War On Lebanon And The Battle For Oil
By Michel Chossudovsky

Is there a relationship between the bombing of Lebanon and the inauguration of the World's largest strategic pipeline, which will channel more than a million barrels of oil a day to Western markets?

On A Red Cross Mission Of Mercy When
Israeli Air Force Came Calling
By Robert Fisk

The Israeli attack on the Qana ambulances - their missiles plunging through the red crosses on the roofs - had contaminated even our own vehicles. He was just one man. But for him, the Israelis had turned the Red Cross - the symbol of hope on our roofs and the sides of our vehicles - into a symbol of danger and fear

Alienating The Beating Heart Of Middle East
By Nicola Nasser

The Bush administration's approach to the “New Middle East” is doomed to failure because it rules out addressing Syrian national strategic concerns and Syria as a regional key player, irrespective of who rules in Damascus

Delusional Expectations
By John Chuckman

Israel could not be destroyed by anyone, but there is an important exception to that statement: Israel could well be destroyed by itself

"War Is The Total Failure Of The Human Spirit."
By Dahr Jamail

"The bombs are everywhere, and there are thousands of families there with nothing and nowhere to go," she tells me. She was clearly traumatized after seeing bodies scorched by white phosphorous, and others cut to shreds by what were most likely cluster bombs

Another Act In The Mizrahi-Palestinian Tragedy
By Reuven Abarjel & Smadar Lavie

The Mizrahim, Palestinians and foreign guest workers will resurrect Lebanon, Palestine and Israel from under the rubble, at near-slavery wages and with no social benefits. The US will provide the funding. As long as Mizrahi communities fail to understand that these wars commemorate their disenfranchised poverty, as long as there is no insistence on organized, popular Mizrahi resistance, no just peace will be achieved in our region

Sabra And Shatila And The Brave Woman
Who Awoke The Press To The Massacres
By Maher Osserian

An interview with the woman who told the world about the massacres at Sabra And Shatila

China As The Next Honest Broker?
By Farzana Hassan-Shahid

As a permanent member of the Security Council, China is not forceful enough to present its vision for a lasting peace in the historically holy lands of the Middle East. It must press the United Nations to enforce an immediate ceasefire and to negotiate the immediate exchange of prisoners in addition to urging all concerned to come to the negotiating table once again to make a clean breast of things

Mumbai Blasts: Hindutva Lobby
Launches Anti-Muslim Tirade
By Yoginder Sikand

Even as scores of Indian Muslim organizations have forcefully denounced the recent Mumbai train blasts and called for an impartial investigation into the carnage, the Hindutva lobby, ever on the prowl for an excuse to hound Muslims, has launched a massive anti-Muslim tirade

"An Iron Harvest" By C.P. Surendran
Reviewed By Vinod K. Jose

This is the debut novel of C.P. Surendran, a Resident Editor with The Times of India. The novel is set in Wayanad, Kerala and its Naxalite movement of 70s

27 July, 2006

Is Israel Losing Its War In Lebanon?
By Robert Fisk

Is it possible - is it conceivable - that Israel is losing its war in Lebanon?

Babies Among Dead On Gaza Front Line
By Anne Penketh in Gaza and Daniel Howden

Only the bloodstains on their white shrouds spoke of the tragedy that had unfolded. Two Palestinian girls, one just eight months old, were dead. They were killed when an Israeli tank shell struck a house near Jabalya in the besieged Gaza Strip

Is Beirut Burning?
By Uri Avnery

From this war nothing good will come - not for Israel, not for Lebanon and not for Palestine. The "New Middle East" that will be its result will be a worse place to live in

The Crime Of Lebanon And Palestine -
Are Iran And Syria Next?: Part II
By Stephen Lendman

The world is holding its collective breath with no clear idea yet what may unfold or what will result if the worst happens - a nuclear terror-war against Iran

Israel's "New Middle East"
By Tanya Reinhart

As I argued in Israel/Palestine, already when the Israeli army left Southern Lebanon in 2000, the plans to return were ready.But in Israel's military vision, in the next round, the land should be first "cleaned" of its residents, as Israel did when it occupied the Syrian Golan Heights in 1967, and as it is doing now in southern Lebanon

Empire: War And Propaganda
By John Pilger

The US role in supporting Israel’s military assault on Lebanon falls into a pattern of imperial tyranny, where history is rewritten to suit America’s needs while Europe stands cravenly by

A Road To Peace In Lebanon?
By Jeremy Brecher & Brendan Smith

Virtually all the governments of the world publicly support an end to the Israeli attacks on Lebanon – a.k.a. an immediate ceasefire. The demand that they immediately initiate a Uniting for Peace resolution in the U.N. General Assembly could serve as a very concrete way for their citizens to pressure them to walk the walk as well as talk the talk

Crisis Brings Rice, Not Peace
By Dahr Jamail

U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has come and gone, but the conflict in Lebanon continues. Most Lebanese believe she had little to say for them through her talks with leaders of the region

Hezbollah Could Be Gaining Strength
By Dahr Jamail

The continuing Israeli bombing of south Lebanon and south Beirut might just have strengthened the Hezbollah. The bombings appear particularly to have strengthened the hand of Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the charismatic Hezbollah leader

Fractured Govt Leads Devastated Country
By Dahr Jamail

Amidst the rapidly worsening situation in Lebanon, the government finds itself too weak and divided to deal either with the Israel or with Hezbollah

"Everything In My Life Is Destroyed Now,
So I Will Fight Them."
By Dahr Jamail

"I am in Hezbollah because I care," the fighter, who agreed to the interview on condition of anonymity, told me. "I care about my people, my country, and defending them from the Zionist aggression."-An interview with a Hezbollah fighter

What Are The Root Causes,Mr. Bush And Ms. Rice?
By Am Johal

The Middle East is a mess entirely created by US and European foreign policy negligence and weak leadership in the region itself. Without these factors, there would be no Hassan Nusrallah or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Hindu Extremists Disguised As Muslims
Behind Mumbai Blasts?
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

In an edit-page article “Bomb Blasts do not Prove Muslims Terrorists” (the Rashtriya Sahara, July 18), journalist Zafar Agha has come down heavily on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for strangulating the voice of reason raised by Union Ministers Arjun Singh and A.R. Antulay. Citing Indian Express of July 13, he reveals that in a Cabinet meeting discussing Mumbai blasts these Ministers held the Hindu extremists, who want to defame Muslims, responsible for these blasts

25 July, 2006

Earth On Verge Of Major Biodiversity Crisis
By Haider Rizvi

Mindful that life on Earth is seriously threatened by the continued loss of thousands of plant and animal species, an international group of scientists is calling for the creation of a global forum to help officials craft plans to preserve biodiversity on the planet

Global Warming:Signed, Sealed, And Delivered
By Naomi Oreskes

Climate-change deniers can imagine all the hypotheses they like, but it will not change the facts nor "the general induction from the phenomena."

A Dying Planet
By Chris Flavin

Weather-related disasters like Hurricane Katrina—or the intense heat wave now hitting the United States—are on the rise. The toll of these catastrophes is exacerbated by growing ecological stresses and the future health of the global economy. The stability of nations will be shaped by our ability to address the huge imbalances in natural systems that now exist

Kidnapped In Israel Or Captured In Lebanon?
By Joshua Frank

Official Justification for Israel’s Invasion on Thin Ice

Five Myths That Sanction Israel’s War Crimes
By Jonathan Cook

Five minutes of listening to Horowitz speak, and the sympathy with which his arguments were greeted by Laura (“The Professors -- your book’s a great read, David”), left me a lot more frightened about the world’s future

Rice begins Mideast Tour To
Promote US-Israeli War Aims
By Patrick Martin

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Beirut, Lebanon Monday, the first stop in a trip whose purpose is to shore up the joint US-Israeli military campaign against Hezbollah and give more time for the Israeli military to use American bombs and weapons to devastate Lebanon

A War Crime?
By Robert Fisk

For the second time in eight days, the Israelis committed a war crime yesterday. They ordered the villagers of Taire, near the border, to leave their homes and then - as their convoy of cars and minibuses obediently trailed northwards - the Israeli air force fired a missile into the rear minibus, killing three refugees and seriously wounding 13 other civilians

The Frankenstein Monster And Frankenstein
By William C. Carlotti

Israel's messianic military absorption of Palestine and parts of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt to create the Eretz (Greater) Israel of Ezekiel's proportions and the United States drive for hegemony over the oil of the Middle-East and the Caspian Sea produce a symbiotic relationship that makes it clear that those that devise and carry out the combined Israeli and United States policies in the Middle East transform Israel into a Frankenstein monster and the United States into theFrankenstein that produced it

Steady Game Of Brinkmanship In Lebanon
By Mathew Maavak

If Iraq - once a top exporter of oil - can be reduced to a heap of rubble and bones, why not Lebanon? After all, it too was once reduced to a mangled heap through nearly two decades of civil war and an earlier Israeli invasion. The past and present are hardly ruffling global "consumer sentiments."

The Lobby Or Not The Lobby?
By Issa Khalaf

Israel and its lobbying friends have managed to subvert and avoid a balanced, rational system of American relations with and support for Israel, the Palestinians, and the Arab states, thereby generating a persistent environment for potential conflict, terrorism, and political upheaval. These chronic, ever worsening conditions are good for no one

100 Hours In The Holy Land
By Am Johal

Establishing a just peace is not rocket science. It could be done within 36 months. It is a matter of whether the leaders and the international power brokers truthfully want that or whether there is a bigger regional game being played

That Dog Don’t Hunt
By Annie & Buddy Spell

An insiders view of Bush's NAACP speech

Decline Of Islamic Civilizations -
Causes - Time For A New Paradigm
By Mirza A. Beg

It is time for a new paradigm to aspire and work for - a complete universal freedom of religion as enshrined in the UN charter and was the demand of the nascent Islamic polity when others were trying to suppress it

Muslim Reactions To Mumbai Blasts
By Yoginder Sikand

Muslims from a wide cross-section of society I have been interacting with in Delhi in recent days are visibly upset about the way in which the Mumbai blasts have been used to tarnish the image of the community

Killing Of Innocent People In Balochistan
An Appeal from Asian Human Rights Commission

Urgent help is needed for 200,000 displaced victims of military operations in Balochistan province

24 July, 2006

Israel Prepares To Launch Ground War In Lebanon
By Mike Head

With Washington’s backing, Israel is preparing to launch a ground invasion of Lebanon, having called up thousands of army reservists and massed tanks and armoured personnel carriers on the border

The Crime Of Lebanon And Palestine:
Are Iran And Syria Next?
By Stephen Lendman

It's clear at this time of great potential danger, a lot more than that is needed. The Arab street in the region and Muslim one around the world may be ready to explode if two more of its states are attacked by the US and/or Israel with support or compliance of the West and its own leaders

More To Lebanon War Than Meets The Eye
By Ramzy Baroud

Hizbollah cannot lose if it wishes to survive as a formidable political force in Lebanon. If Hizbollah is disarmed, it is feared that Israel will go back to its full scale meddling in Lebanese affairs, isolating Syria even further, and gaining a strategic battle in its looming showdown with Tehran

Lebanon Massacre Will Live In Infamy
By Ghali Hassan

Like major historical war crimes against innocent civilians, the complicity of major Western powers, particularly the U.S., in Israel’s war crimes against Lebanon and the Lebanese civilian population will live in infamy. Israel’s terror will fail to achieve its intended goal

A Gripping Diary Of One Week In
The Life And Death Of Beirut
By Robert Fisk

We watch the warships sliding into Beirut port. "What will happen when all the foreigners have gone?" he asks. That's what we are all asking. We shall find out this week

Lebanese Devastated In All Sorts Of Ways
By Dahr Jamail

"How many Hezbollah have they killed," Mothman said. "Maybe just a few, while they've killed over 350 Lebanese civilians. What kind of war are they waging against my country?"

The Road To Destruction: Israel
Confronts The Middle East
By Dan Lieberman

Israel’s similar actions in Gaza and Lebanon, in reaction to the seizure of its border guards, demonstrate that Israel is on a well-calculated strategy; control nations without occupying them – simply destroy them - which is a sinister forecast to the future of the Middle East

All Are Equal, Middle East Included
By Sonia Nettnin

The fundamental problem behind the crises in the Middle East is that not all the people who live there are viewed as equal. The US-Israel political, military and financial alliance protects the human rights and dignity of Israeli-Jews, but qualifies and selects the human rights and dignity of the Middle East’s indigenous and multifarious ethnic, religious and sectarian peoples

Another 9/11 Anniversary Is Just Around The Corner
By Vincent L. Guarisco

For me, the 5th anniversary of 9/11 is just like the four previous ones -- a shrill, never-ending scream of what should never have been allowed to happen. The horror of 9/11 will forever remain embedded in all of us as an evil lesson of what can happen -- what will surely happen -- to a nation's people when they lose control of their leaders' actions

Ghost In The Machine
By John Mackenzie

Hegemonic dominance cannot be sustained, empires rise and fall. Ours may end up the quickest round trip in history

Quit India: Hindutva Goons
By Subhash Gatade

And now when life is becoming normal and people want to move ahead has come the news that Hindutva people won't let the people do so. Under a 'public awareness campaign: ‘‘Chhodo Hindustan,’’ a series of banners urging Muslims who are ‘‘supporters of terrorism’’ to leave the country. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad which has put these banners all over the city has also decided to 'urge our people to stop buying anything from Muslims.'

21 July, 2006

Britain And US Defy Demand
For Immediate Ceasefire
By Anne Penketh, Ben Russell, Colin Brown and Stephen Castle

Two countries, the US and Britain, defiantly refused to back the international clamour for an immediate ceasfire between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas. Their ambivalence about civilian deaths in Lebanon has given Israel a powerful signal that it can continue its attacks with impunity

Bringing On "World War III"
By Bill Berkowitz

During the past week or so, with the Israeli/Hezbollah crisis in full swing, Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the United States House of Representatives, is using any platform available to him to convince the public that the U.S. is engaged in World War III

The Long, Hot Summer Has Already Begun
By Robert Rosenberg

So, the Israeli air war over Lebanon continues and the Hizbollah's missile war against Israel continues. The outlines of a solution are becoming clear -- a ceasefire, a prisoner exchange, a Lebanese Army or multinational force led by Americans or British deployment in south Lebanon and some form of disarmament of Hizbollah - but how the sides will get there remains a mystery

And After The Attacks In Lebanon And Israel?
By George E. Bisharat

Yet Israel will harvest the future of conflict and violence it has sown, facing foes of ever-increasing sophistication and determination. Some Lebanese may resent being dragged into a firestorm by Hezbollah. But they know who their real tormentor is, and who has thwarted their country's march toward peace and prosperity

Collectively Punishing Lebanon
By Dahr Jamail

"A friend of mine just called and told me of a massacre: civilian building destroyed in Tyre by Israeli aggression. There, Zouhair Edde's mother has been killed. Rayaan Qudsi has been killed along with her two daughters. This is a conservative number of martyrs thus far. This building is where refugees typically hide."

Context Of Israeli Wars In Lebanon,
Palestine: Back To Roots
By Nicola Nasser

The ongoing Israeli wars on Arabs in Palestine and Lebanon are just the latest rounds of the cycle of violence that has raged in and around Palestine since 1917, and are vivid and bloody evidence that imposition of political realities by military means won’t last and that “Whoever takes by the sword, by the sword will be taken."

Hezbollah Confronts Israel
By Dan Lieberman

It’s not often that one antagonist helps the other antagonist to accomplish its objective. Nevertheless, Hezbollah stumbled into giving Israel an excuse for accomplishing a long sought objective – the destruction of Lebanon

Did Hizbullah Do The Right Thing?
By Joshua Frank

One thing goes without question; Hizbullah’s response was bold and timely. Given that most Arab countries have failed to lift a finger against the nuclear-armed nation of Israel, they have not backed down and have proven they are far more prepared to challenge Israel than intelligence operatives in the US and Israel had expected

The Iraq War Is A Huge Success
By Aseem Srivastava

Is there reason to believe that the war, far from being a disaster, has actually proceeded quite well from Washington’s point of view? That the view that the war has been a fiasco is merely a convenient smokescreen of innocence helpful to keep in check public perceptions of the monstrous crimes of leaders in Washington and London?

The Great Divide: Gated Communities
And Street Children
By Joseph Grosso

A look at the city of Sao Paulo in wake of the ongoing gang violence there the past two months as well as the more violent police response through the extremely wide gulf between the metropolis' rich and also at the phenomenon of child soldiers enslaved in the civil wars of failed states

Betrayal Of the Empire Or Fealty To Humanity?
By Jason Miller

Confessions and Reflections of a Recovering White Middle Class Hegemon

Indian Dalits: Law As Paper Tiger!
By Subhash Gatade

Thus India, a country of billion plus people, which is itching to get a superpower status, which takes pride in its ancient tradition and culture and whose elite goes gaga over the booming sensex, rather presents a strange spectacle of a nation. But a close look at the goings on within the society makes it clear that there is a disjunction between the world of economics and the lifeworlds of its people. The core of the society bears its encounter with barbarism in abundance

Kashmiri Sufism: Theological Resources
For Peace-Building
By Yoginder Sikand

Kashmir provides some of the clearest instances of shared religious identities, remnants of which are still to be found, in however attenuated forms, today. As numerous writers have noted, the Kashmiri Muslims and Pandits shared several customs and beliefs in common, and the numerous Sufi shrines that dot the Valley attracted Hindus as well as Muslims in large
numbers

20 July, 2006

Why Hezbollah Is Winning... So Far
By William S Lind

So far, Hezbollah is winning. As Arab states stood silent and helpless before Israel’s assault on Hamas, another non-state entity, Hezbollah, intervened to relieve the siege of Gaza by opening a second front

Hezbollah An Emerging Political Force
By Dahr Jamail

As through its chequered history, Hezbollah is again winning praise and support from the Arab and Muslim world, while it is accused of terrorism by the West. Hezbollah is about the most prominent division points at present between the two worlds

"Stop That shit!"
By Uri Avnery

Palestine is the key to ending the bloodshed in Lebanon

The Child Lies Like A Rag Doll -A Symbol
Of The Latest Lebanon War
By Robert Fisk

The child whose dead body lies like a rag doll beside the cars which were supposedly taking her and her family to safety is a symbol of the latest Lebanon war

Paradise Lost
By Robert Fisk

Fisk's elegy for Beirut

Notes From Northern Israel
By Jonathan Cook

Similarly oblivious to the ironies, the Israeli and foreign media have been running heart-warming stories about how “Israelis” are opening their homes and hearths to their compatriots fleeing the north. Again for “Israelis” substitute “Israeli Jews”

"Open War" In The Middle East
By Dahr Jamail

Both Hezbollah and the Israeli government have their "open war." As usual, while the politicians and the UN wring their hands and twiddle their thumbs, those bearing the brunt are the civilians on both sides, whether they live in Israel, Lebanon or Palestine

Lebanese Refugees Crowd Damascus
By Dahr Jamail

Syrian capital Damascus is being flooded with refugees. The devastation in Beirut is beginning to show in another capital

President Bush Uncut
By Joshua Frank

If the Bush administration and their Democratic enablers were truly serious about ending the violence in the Middle East, the first honest step would be for the US to cut off all funding to Israel. But I think we are more likely to see Syria step in than for that to happen

The Politics Of Proportionality
By Remi Kanazi

In the US, the sense of outrage from the Lebanese and Arab community has been unlike anything I’ve ever seen. People are angry, disgusted, and enraged by these recent events

For Patriotism SMS At ....
By Sorit Gupto

Now it is the turn of the TV anchor. She is raising a question, whether India should follow the path of Israel and bombard the Terrorist training camp of PoK and other cities of Pakistan? According to the poll survey of the SMSs some ninety percent of viewers says 'yes'. We should follow the Israeli way!

Peace In Kashmir: Engaging Creatively With Religion
By Yoginder Sikand

While the political and economic roots of the Kashmir conflict cannot be ignored, the religious dimension is of central importance, but this is often missed out even in serious analyses of the question

18 July, 2006

Lebanon Toll Passes 200
By Aljazeera

At least 23 people have been killed in the latest air strikes by Israeli warplanes in Lebanon, raising the toll there to more than 220

Fleeing Lebanese Speak Of Indiscriminate Bombing
By Dahr Jamail

People fleeing the bombing of Lebanon say the Israelis are targeting civilian neighbourhoods and vital infrastructure, and not just Hezbollah centres

Today's War In Lebanon: The Latest Chapter
Of The Original 1948 Conflict
By Raja Halwani

Fouad Siniora, the levelheaded Lebanese Prime Minister, has said the truest thing so far. In an interview with CNN two days ago, he stressed that all the conflicts in the region are due to the fact that the original conflict with Israel that started in 1948 has not been resolved. We need to solve this problem, he said, and then and only then will we reach a lasting peace. How right he is. But those who have the ability to do something about this are not listening

Israelis Are Dying:It Must Be An Escalation
By Jonathan Cook

Here we go again -- another “serious escalation” has begun in the Middle East, or so BBC World was telling audiences throughout Sunday. So what prompted the BBC’s judgment that the crisis was escalating once more?

The BBC: A Zionist Propaganda?
By Ghali Hassan

A study by Greg Philo and Mike Berry of the Glasgow University Media Unit in Scotland reveals that the British media, including the BBC denying the public an opportunity to understand the rights of the Palestinian people resistance to Israel’s terror and Israeli occupation of Palestinian land

Operation Change Of Direction: Toward Israeli
Military Action In Syria And Iran
By Ira Glunts

The massive military response in Gaza and Lebanon by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his Defense Minister Amir Peretz, may be influenced by a desire to counter the criticism that they lack the military experience necessary to effectively defend the country

From Haifa To Jerusalem
By Am Johal

Make no mistake - we have now collectively crossed the Rubicon in to dangerous times. The question is not if there is going to be a war with Iran - the question is when?

Why Is Israel Back In Gaza?
By Ramzy Baroud

It’s not clear where this Israeli experiment is heading. But what is hardly unmistakable is that by maintaining low intensity warfare in Gaza, Israel is creating the perfect cover up to its army bulldozers to partition the rest of the West Bank and Jerusalem in accordance with the second phase of Olmert’s Disengagement Plan which intends to slice up the West Bank into various enclaves with no physical continuity

The Power Of Arrogance
By Niranjan Ramakrishnan

Notwithstanding cries of outrage and shock over the events in the Middle East, is there really any difference between the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and the Israeli attacks on Lebanon? A parody of the Cartesian mindset of recent vintage is in play once more -- I (think I) can get away with it, therefore I do

Demand Destruction - Stadium
By Bill Henderson

So far rising gas prices have had little effect on North American consumption patterns. But high fuel prices are seriously exacerbating basic survival problems in those many developing countries with limited oil reserves. Some countries are already having a very hard time keeping their economies from drowning in the rising tide of fuel prices

G8 Ignores Mounting Problems In World Economy
By Nick Beams

The scant attention to the global economy, let alone any discussion of co-ordinated economic policies, is remarkable given the fact that, despite continued economic growth, the world economy is facing a series of problems as serious as any since the so-called Asian economic crisis of 1997-98

Understanding Jana Gana Mana
By Shumon Sengupta

A friend of mine recently forwarded me an email chain that aims at mobilizing support to substitute Jana Gana Mana with Vande Mataram as India’s National Anthem. And as far as the contrived Jana Gana Mana controversy is concerned, I would urge everyone to study Tagore more extensively before jumping on the bandwagon or making unsubstantiated pronouncements

17 July, 2006

The Real Aim Is Regime Change
By Uri Avnery

The real aim is to change the regime in Lebanon and to install a puppet government.That was the aim of Ariel Sharon's invasion of Lebanon in 1982. It failed. But Sharon and his pupils in the military and political leadership have never really given up on it

'If Our Prime Minister Is Crying,
What Are We To Do?'
By Robert Fisk in Beirut

Why isn't Hariri the son on his private jet to the G8 summit in St Petersburg to demand of President Bush that he protect the democratically-elected government and the nation he praised for its "cedar revolution" last year? Or doesn't democracy matter when Israel is smashing Lebanon? Answer: no, it doesn't

Shia Crescent Pierces Heart Of Arab World
By Nicholas Blandford

Sunni governments are nervously eyeing a militant alliance capable of taking on Israel

The Final Say
By Eric Margolis

Israel and its enemies will talk eventually, the only issue is how many civilians on all sides will have to die before it happens

Eyewitness Reports From Israel's
Assault On Lebanon

Around 60,000 refugees from the south of Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut have arrived in the capital. Schools have been opened for them to shelter in and activists are organising relief. Many schools are now full

Thinking The Unthinkable
By Norman Church

Oil depletion is just the first of a series of resource crisis humanity is about to face because there are just too many of us! This century we will face peak resources, period

How The Kyoto Protocol Was Gored
By Joshua Frank

Seems as if Al Gore's part-documentary part-campaign flick is reaching quite a few people this summer. Environmentalists and skeptics alike. Perhaps the ol’ VP is repenting for some of the dirty deeds he supported during his compliant years in Washington

Limit To Tolerance, But Options Are Limited Too
By Siddharth Varadarajan

Despite the Musharraf regime's equivocation on terrorism, India will gain nothing by allowing the authors of the Mumbai blasts to disrupt the peace process with Pakistan

A Day In Gandoh: Hindu-Muslim Relations In Doda
By Yoginder Sikand

Like the rest of Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district, the Gandoh tehsil has been wracked by fifteen or more years of ongoing conflict

16 July, 2006

Only One Man Stands Between Israel
And World War III
By Geov Parrish

There is one man, and one man only, who can prevent what is otherwise rapidly going to escalate into at minimum, a messy and destructive regional war; at worst, World War III. That man is, unfortunately, George W. Bush, who in five years has never shown the slightest inclination for doing what he must now do at a time of great provocation and crisis: rein in Israel

Hizbollah's Response Reveals Months Of Planning
By Robert Fisk

The original border crossing, the capture of the two soldiers and the killing of three others was planned, according to Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbollah leader who escaped assassination by the Israelis on Friday evening, more than five months ago

When Civilians Become Targets: The Israeli
Destruction Of Lebanon and Gaza
By Remi Kanazi

In the last two weeks, Israel has sent a chilling message to the Palestinian and Lebanese people: civilians and infrastructure are legitimate targets in their war of aggression. The Geneva Conventions have been fragrantly violated and humanitarian law has been thrown into the garbage can

Refugees Speak Of Catastrophic Bombing
By Dahr Jamail

"Both Syrian and Lebanese people are leaving now," he said. "There is no more food, not even bread. There was no electricity or water in our area. If this situation continues, it will be a giant catastrophe."

"This Is A Big Disaster For The Lebanese."
By Dahr Jamail

Interviewing people at the border who had fled the bombs in Beirut, I felt like I was back in Iraq by what people were telling me

The Bamiyan Buddhas And The WTC:
Two Perspectives Enlightenment vs. Entitlement
By Ingmar Lee

Only by the immediate destruction of this greed-fuelled Bush American empire, that the beings of this beautiful Earth are offered any glimmer of hope. The Buddha's great and enduring message which rings true for all time, is that greed is the root cause of all suffering. This is alas, the antithesis of the George W. Bush version

Nightmare's Children
By Sorit Gupto

Just imagine yourself as an individual of Iraq or Kashmir. Your sister or mother is raped, your brother or father is murdered or imprisoned, you are living under constant fear, your home is bombarded. The humiliation ,cold blooded murder, rape and above all the immunity provided to the criminals has virtually transforms the places like Kashmir and Iraq as breeding ground for counter attacks, the revenge

Terror Tales
By Ram Puniyani

The two previous blasts in Mumbai showed in a clear-cut manner correlations to these episodes of violence. In the current one the additional aspect of Nanded blasts and their implications have to be thought of, more so in the light of the fact that Mumbai blasts did not use the dreaded RDX

15 July, 2006

Beirut Waits: Is Damascus The Key?
By Robert Fisk

By nightfall, Israel's air raids had begun to spread across the country--the first civilians to die were killed when an aircraft bombed a small road bridge at Qasmiyeh--but would they go even further and include a target in Syria? This would be the gravest escalation so far and would have US as well as UN diplomats appealing for that familiar, tired quality--"restraint"

Lebanese Tremors Rock Syria
By Dahr Jamail

People in Damascus also fear that a regional war may spread to Syria. "The entire region is now involved," said Emad Huria, a 45-year-old literary critic. "All Arabs should raise their voices against the Israeli invasion of Lebanon."

Beautiful Madness
By Am Johal

Living in Haifa, Israel, and well within the missile range of Hezbollah, Am Johal writes a personal note on the madness that is engulfing region

Israel’s Latest Bureaucratic Obscenity
By Jonathan Cook

Israel’s interior ministry has been quietly implementing a new rule since April that allows it to refuse entry to Palestinians holding foreign passports to Israel and the occupied territories. Most of those affected are Palestinians who today have citizenship in America or Europe

PLO-U.S. Connection: Time To Make or Break
By Nicola Nasser

Several indicators have shown recently how fragile has been the “connection” between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the United States. And because Washington could deliver but won’t and the Palestinian people could not be held forever hostage to waiting for the American Godot, time seems ripe to make or break this futile connection

Middle East: Cradle Or Graveyard Of The Empire?
By Ardeshir Mehrdad

There is no doubt that worldwide protests against Bush' war mongering policies have the potential of becoming an influential power capable of changing the course of events in the Middle East. However the realization of such an aim demands that such protests take place not only against imperialism's war efforts but also in protest against the dictatorial, repressive policies of corrupt reactionary regimes in the region

Nuclear Cement For US Imperialism's "Strategic Partnership" With India: A Case Of A Carrot And A Rod
By Hari P. Sharma

Keynote address given at the World Peace Forum in Vancouver

The SIMI Story
By Yoginder Sikand

Whether or not the SIMI was behind the blasts in Mumbai will be known only after a fair and impartial investigation. Yet, the fact remains that groups like the SIMI, although representing a tiny fringe of the varied landscape of Islam in India, do pose a grave threat not only to the country as a whole but, equally, to the Indian Muslims as well

14 July, 2006

Mumbai Bombings:A Requiem For The Victims
By Mirza A. Beg

The train bombings in Mumbai India, the attacks of 9/11 in the US, the Madrid and London bombings the suicide bombings on Middle East, Sri Lanka and many other places are not isolated incidents, but a pattern of deadly causes and deadly effects

Racism Plagues Western Media Coverage
By Ramzy Baroud

By not challenging the Israeli narrative in any meaningful way, the uncritical media has become a tool in the hands of Israel's war strategists and their eternal concoctions

Global Warming 'Will Cancel Out Western Aid
And Devastate Africa'
By Andrew Grice

Climate change could have a devastating impact on Africa, wiping out all the benefits from the measures to help the continent agreed by the world's richest nations last year

13 July, 2006

Fact Finding Report On The Attack
On RSS Head Quarters
Fact Finding Report

All these confounding happenings lead the team to question the veracity of the Commissioner of Police's narration of the encounter. The 'Cock and Bull' story of the encounter thus compels the team to infer that the encounter appears to be fake and requires, at the interest of the nation society, a fair probing

Terror Attacks: More To It Than Meets The Eye
By Ram Puniyani

The claim to unearth the arms and ammunition, the projection of terrorist activity in nearby areas, the probable stage managed attack on Nagpur Head Quarter of RSS, are these meant to hide, the Nanded blasts and involvement of RSS affiliates in the ghastly crime, under the carpet?

Another Face, Another Raid
By Dahr Jamail and Ali Fadhil

Sinan Abdul-Ilah al-Mashadani, who was a student at al-Mustansiriya University and the sole supporter of his mother and younger brother and sister, was killed in the raid, apparently by a special operations team supported by the U.S. military, according to witnesses. "They are a special force of Americans that assassinates more people than it arrests."

Atrocities...
By Baghdad Burning

Rape. The latest of American atrocities. Though it's not really the latest- it's just the one that's being publicized the most. The poor girl Abeer was neither the first to be raped by American troops, nor will she be the last

“Nobody Is safe”
By Mona El-Farra

MONA EL-FARRA is a physician and human rights activist living in Gaza. She has been writing a blog from her home since the beginning of Israel’s assault--when the flow of electricity permits. Here, we reprint excerpts from her blog entries

12 July, 2006

Seven Blasts Rock Mumbai, 183 Feared Dead
By Agencies

Seven major explosions rocked the western Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) on Tuesday. The serial blasts occurred at Borivili, Khar, Meera Road, Matunga, Jogeshwari, Bhayander railway stations and a seventh on the Khar-Santacruz subway. 183 people have been killed in the blasts. About 350 people have been injured

Zidane And The ‘War On Terror’
By Gabriele Zamparini

If the ‘war on terror’ played a role in the 2006 World Cup, Zidane’s answer is not a disgrace but an act of courage that deserves to be acknowledged for what it is. If Italian football player Materazzi really called Zidane ‘a terrorist’, FIFA should strip Italy of the World Cup and leave the 2006 tournament without a winner

Iraq: Raped
By Raed Jarrar

What is happening in Iraq is a rape of a nation, not just a rape of a 12-year-old girl, and it has to be stopped as soon as possible

My Life In Gaza
By Mona El-Farra

Most Gazans also believe that Israel's latest assault was pre-planned, that the soldier's capture is merely a trigger. Israel dropped thousands of shells on Gaza, killing women, children and old people, long before his capture

Democracy, Mexican Style - Part II
By Stephen Lendman

There's much happening in Mexico in the aftermath of the nation's most contentious election ever, but it began many months before the first vote was cast

Ned Lamont And The Progressive Democrats:
Not Ready For Prime Time
By Stanley Rogouski

For someone who supports an end to the war in Iraq, the Connecticut Senate debate between the pro-war incumbent Joseph Lieberman and his Daily Kos endorsed challenger Ned Lamont was painful to watch

Why This Axis?
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich

It is extraordinary to what lengths this Administration will go to halt Iran’s progress. Its paranoia at Iran becoming independent lends one to believe that Iran is a far greater adversary than common sense dictates. A developing nation striving to meet the energy demands of 70 million

India: UPA Government Forced To
Put Disinvestment Plans On Hold
By T. Kala and Arun Kumar

India’s United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government announced the temporary suspension of its disinvestment/privatisation programme last Thursday, after a member of the Congress Party-led coalition threatened to quit the government if it proceeded with the sale of a 10 percent interest in the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC)

Kulhand: A Month After The Massacre
By Yoginder Sikand

Early last month, unidentified gunmen shot dead 22 Hindus in Kulhand, a remote mountain village in Doda in Jammu and Kashmir. The massacre is an indication that the situation in Doda district, racked by conflict over the last fifteen years, continues to be volatile

11 July, 2006

Iraq Civilians: 50,000 Dead-But Who's Counting?
By Juliana Lara Resende

After famously telling reporters that they "don't do body counts," Pentagon officials now say that they have in fact been keeping a record of civilian casualties in Iraq for one year. And while that number remains classified, independent estimates suggest that at least 50,000 people have died in the country since the 2003 invasion

Iraq's Civil War Turns More Violent
By Joshua Frank

No matter how many troops the US and its allies shovel at the ever-growing sectarian flames, the fighting is sure to spread. The US military is only fueling the fire. And if there were ever a reason why the troops should be brought home immediately, this would be it

"Packing It In"
By Dahr Jamail

So while Iraqis are being killed or fearing death as they suffer through the daily hell that is the US occupation, Cheney, the real force behind this "administration," tells CNN, "No matter how you carve it - you can call it anything you want - but basically, it is packing it in, going home, persuading and convincing and validating the theory that the Americans don't have the stomach for this fight."

Electoral Fraud And Rebellion In Mexico
By Roger Burbach

Over half a million people took to the streets of Mexico City on Saturday to protest the fraudulent election of Felipe Calderon. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the real winner of the presidential election, told the huge crowd, “the elections were fraudulent from the start,” adding the incumbent president, Vincente Fox “has betrayed democracy.”

A One-Sided War
By Uri Avnery

The world cup is over and now the public can return to less important matters, such as the daily killing and destruction, the captured soldier, the launching of Qassam rockets and everything else connected with the invasion of Gaza

Bush's Mental Illness Screening
Squad On the Move
By Evelyn Pringle

The tax dollar funded mental health screening programs popping up in every corner of the nation represent an enormous gift to Big Pharma from the Bush administration. After all, drug companies can't push drugs without a lucrative customer base, so the screening programs are a great solution for that little problem

Gyrations Of Indian Stock Market Point
To Future Economic Instability
By Parwini Zora and Kranti Kumara

The wild fluctuations in Indian share prices over the past two months point to the increasing power foreign finance capital is exerting over Indian equity markets and indirectly the Indian economy

Was Ziaur Rahman Responsible For
Islamic Resurgence In Bangladesh?
By Taj Hashmi

Of late, Ziaur Rahman is held solely responsible for the Islamization of politics and the polity of Bangladesh. Even the recent surge in “Islamic” terrorism, including suicide bombing in the country, is imputed to Zia and his political successors and allies. This essay aims at analyzing facts and differentiating those from fiction with regard to Islamization of Bangladeshi politics and society

Ghettos Of A New Kind-Autonomy And Discrimination
By Subhash Gatade

The heated debate revolving around ‘autonomy’ of AIIMS ( All India Institute of Medical Sciences) and its alleged ‘intrusion’ has papered over the quantum jump in the discrimination faced by the reserved category students there. ‘Parts of AIIMS hostels are turning into SC/ST ghettos. Reserved category students said they were being “hunted out of the remaining rooms” by upper-caste students and driven to two floors of the hostels.’

10 July, 2006

The ‘Roadmap’ To Palestinian Ghettos
By Ghali Hassan

Just as the civilised world stood together against Fascism and Apartheid, so it today must join to condemn Israel and call on it to stop committing crimes against the Palestinian people

Global Powers Failing Palestinians Once Again
By Jamal Juma

This year the 9th of July is a bitter day for Palestinians. The Occupation Army besieges Gaza, massacres its people and attacks its infrastructure. The ghettos of the West Bank take shape as the Apartheid Wall edges closer to completion and the Palestinian exodus from Jerusalem has begun

It’s Time To End The "Last Taboo"And
Hold Israel Accountable For Its Actions
By Stephen Lendman

Will the world community finally take note and act to stop a likely impending slaughter. The past record indicates it won’t. It’s the purpose of this writing to demand it does so and quickly and to hold a criminal Israeli leadership accountable for its war crimes and crimes against humanity

The Reoccupation Of Gaza:
Israel And The Big Lie
By Chris Marsden

There is arguably no modern state that more shamelessly employs the propaganda technique of the Big Lie than Israel. Since July 6, Israel has been deploying its military forces in an operation to reoccupy Northern Gaza, killing dozens of Palestinians, including civilians, and injuring many more

Save Our Oceans
By Ralph Nader

Just a few days ago, another foreboding peril was documented connecting global warming with the accelerating deterioration of coral reefs around the world

The Rendition Of Christ
By Jason Miller

Were Jesus Christ incarnate today and living in America, what would he think of a nation inhabited by many who claim to be followers of the spiritual movement he founded? And how would the ruling elite of the United States receive him?

Witless: Ann Coulter's Junk Science
By Jennie and Phillip Lightweis-Goff

In her book Godless: The Church of Liberalism right-wing pundit Ann Coulter devotes two chapters to a bizarre attempt to disprove the theory of evolution

The Myth Of The New India
By Pankaj Mishra

It was not so long ago that India appeared in the American press as a poor, backward and often violent nation, saddled with an inefficient bureaucracy and, though officially nonaligned, friendly to the Soviet Union. Suddenly the country seems to be a "roaring capitalist success story"

Racism And Castiesm
By Jai Birdi & Indira Prahst

“Racism and Castiesm discussed at the World Peace Forum” By Jai Birdi Chair, Ending Racism Casteism Working Group for World Peace Forum and Indira Prahst, Race and Ethnic Relations Instructor, Department of Sociology, Langara College

09 July, 2006

Democracy, Mexican Style
By Stephen Lendman

What do these presidential elections all have in common: Mexico, 1988, US, 2000, US, 2004, Colombia and Peru, 2006 and the just concluded Mexican election on July 2? In each case, the outcome was "arranged" and known in advance before voters went to the polls

Mexico's Surreal Elections
By John Ross

Mexican elections are stolen before, during, and after Election Day. Just look at what happened in the days leading up to the tightest presidential election in the nation's history this past July 2nd

Last Stand
By Seymour M. Hersh

The military's problem with the President's Iran policy

Israel's Experiment In Human Despair
By Jonathan Cook

If this experiment in human despair works in the small Gaza Strip, its lessons can be applied to much bigger effect in the West Bank ghettoes left behind after convergence. This is how ethnic cleansing looks when it is designed not by butchers in uniforms but by technocrats in suits

Summer Rain Over Gaza
By Alice Gray

Only when the Gazans are given the opportunity to experience emotions other than impotent fury and crushing grief will the infrastructure of terrorism be torn down. The current Israeli strategy of communal punishment in reality strengthens that infrastructure, with every missile that falls, with every death

Afghanistan Is No One's War
By John Chuckman

There is no reason to feel hopeful or idealistic about anyone’s role in Afghanistan. Afghanistan and Iraq are neither wars in the traditional sense nor humanitarian projects. They are foreign occupations of people who do not want to occupied

A Motorbike Trip To Little Tibet- Part 1
By Ingmar Lee

Ladakh, is a wonderous desert moonscape of a land, set amidst the Earth's most spectacular mountain ranges, where an ancient culture strives to preserve its timeless way of life

08 July, 2006

End Of Cheap Oil, The Global
Energy Crisis And Climate Change
By Vandana Shiva

While the political parties protest against the hike in oil prices, society also needs to start taking a long-term view of the ecological, economic and social costs of our growing oil addition

An Inconvenient Principle
By Jules and Maxwell Boykoff

With Al Gore's recently released book and film on global warming - "An Inconvenient Truth" - the former vice president has managed to deliver a one-two punch that is both staggering and, well, chilling

The Anti-War Movement Needs
The Right Policy And The Right Message
By Kevin B. Zeese & Bill Curry

An Interview with Bill Curry, former director of Freeze Voter

The Second Palestinian Intifada:A Chronicle
Of A People’s Struggle
Book Review By Jim Miles

A chronicle is a “continuous register of events on order of time” and within that framework, Ramzy Baroud recounts the reality of the Intifada as seen from inside the wall, through the distorted lenses of the western media, as well as a more analytical view of politics

State Secrets
By William Fisher

As demonstrated by last week's landmark Supreme Court ruling on the legality of military tribunals to try "enemy combatants," the administration of President George W. Bush has consistently sought to expand the power of the presidency in the name of the "Global War on Terror."

Merck Legal Team Makes A Killing
Off Losing Vioxx Strategy
By Evelyn Pringle

Not much has changed at Merck since Vioxx was pulled off the market. The only difference for shareholders is that instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year to promote Vioxx, the attorney's fees are now costing hundreds of millions of dollars a year

Farewell Sleater-Kinney
By Joshua Frank

I’m shocked to say that when Portland, Oregon based trio Sleater-Kinney announced last week that they were taking an “indefinite hiatus”, I was crushed

My Reminiscence Of Taj Mahal
By Mirza A. Beg

I have been to Taj Mahal many times since. I have seen its unbelievable beauty in the evocative pale light of the harvest moon, its reflection in the waters of River Jamuna and in the blazing heat of June at high noon. Every time I see it, I feel the tug of the ultimate love incarnate in stone and discover new hidden aspects of its beauty. It beckons me to come again and again

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