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26 Feruary, 2015

US-Iran Negotiations Inch Toward A Nuclear Agreement
By Peter Symonds

Talks this week in Geneva between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif appear to have taken a step toward a long-term agreement over Iran’s nuclear programs. The prospect of a deal to end the protracted US confrontation with the Iranian regime has already fuelled considerable tension between Washington and its allies in the Middle East, particularly the Israeli government

Netanyahu Admits Sabotage Of Iran Talks His Primary Mission
By Sarah Lazare

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged on Tuesday that the purpose of his upcoming visit to Washington, D.C. is to do "everything I can" to prevent a nuclear deal between global powers and Iran—an admission that critics say reveals he is pushing for military escalation and potentially war

Obama Is Luring The World Over The Nuclear Threshold In Ukraine
By Peter Chamberlin

For those with eyes to see, it is plain to see that Obama is pushing one European country after another into dispute with Russia, with the intention of forcing Putin’s hand and pushing Russia into open warfare with its former satellite nations. This is being done with obvious malice, under a design which risks igniting nuclear war in Europe, which could never be contained just to Europe and Russia. Obama is gambling with all of our lives, risking nuclear war over oil, nuclear and natural gas markets…and that is really all that ALL OF THIS is about…Who will provide the gas to heat European homes…who will supply nuclear power to light European homes

Top Ukrainian Nazi Visits U.S. Congress, Pentagon, Seeks Weapons for Ukraine
By Eric Zuesse

The Deputy Speaker of Ukraine's parliament, Andriy Parubiy, who had been the co-founder of the Nazi-inspired Social Nationalist Party of Ukraine, met in Washington on Wednesday, February 25th, with members of the U.S. House and Senate who support his request that the U.S. Government donate weapons to his virtually bankrupt Government. Parubiy also visited with the Pentagon. Weapons are needed by his Government because his Government is engaged in a civil war against the residents in the area of Ukraine that had voted 90% for the former Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych, whom Parubiy himself (when he was called “the Mayor of Maidan”) led to overthrow in a violent February 2014 coup

'Pariah' Putin On Post-MH17 Cover Pages
By Eric Zuesse

In the wake of the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, widely attributed to Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, many magazines and newspapers around the world issued damning indictments against Russian President Putin, portraying him on their covers as a bloodthirsty fiend, a pariah, a liar, and a murderer

Libya: War-Torn Country Becoming New Hub For IS Activities
By Serge Jordan

The idea often propagated in the media of a battle between an ‘Islamist’ and a ‘secular’ government is over-simplistic. The Saudi and Emirati monarchies, who are backing the Tobruk-based government and General Haftar’s campaign, are not models of secularism themselves. Libya has become the scene of a bloody battle between rival power centres backing competing militias, supported by various outside players using the country as a stage for a new version of the proxy wars engulfing the region. Oil wealth and weapons have become much more important bargaining chips for these militias and their political backers than principled considerations of any sort

The Great Game In The Holy Land 
By Michael Schwartz

How Gazan Natural Gas Became the Epicenter of An International Power Struggle 

“Defying Extremism: Gendered Approaches To Religious Violence”
By Basil Fernando

The possibility of democracy means also possibility of developed legal systems within which grievances can be dealt with by just legal processes and ultimately any problem could be resolved through the expression of the consent of the people through the use of the ballot. Displacement of the use of bullet and the possibility for the use of the ballot to achieve change should in fact be the discussion on the ways to displace extremism

Not A Bug Splat, Not Chattel
By David Swanson

U.S. drone "pilots" refer to people they burn to death in places like Pakistan as "bug splat" because they look like bugs being squished to death on the pilots' video monitors and because it's easier to murder bugs than humans

Meeting Lila
By William T. Hathaway

"The world can only be changed by people who don't like it," wrote Bertolt Brecht in explaining why radicals have a negative attitude about the society we live in. We don't like the way things are. Sometimes our dislike can even become loathing. It was in just such a fit of loathing that the idea for my new novel, Lila, the Revolutionary, came to me. I was appalled by how capitalism has become so pervasive and aggressive, a globalized madness. In despair, I saw all these predatory men and women in dark suits commanding us, marching us resolutely towards war and poverty. They're so powerful and blind...and they're everywhere. What's the way out of this? How can we overthrow this murderous system? Then a phrase from the Bible in the came to me: "A little child shall lead them."

13th Anniversary Of Gujrat Pogrom: When Bharat Lost To Bharatiya Janata Party
By Abdul Majid Zargar

Tomorrow, the 27th day of February, is the thirteenth anniversary of Gujrat pogrom in which more than 1OOO Muslims were massacred mercilessly under a communal & partisan administration headed by then Chief Minster Narendra Modi

Surya Namaskar: A Walkover To Superstition
By Abdul Rashid Agwan

Firstly in Madhya Pradesh and now in Rajasthan, Surya Namaskar has been made obligatory in schools. While in the former state this peculiar form of Yoga has been prescribed only for government schools, in the latter the move has gone beyond by asking private schools as well to observe it. Accordingly, millions of children of 48,000 schools in Rajasthan including 20,000 private schools and a large number of institutions in MP are officially instructed to hold the so-called sun salutation at the beginning of school activities every day

Capacity Building Of Teacher Educators:
A Harbinger Of Quality Education At School Level
By Ms. Swaleha A. Sindhi & Adfer.R.Shah

Teacher educators are the ones who are responsible for pre service teacher training. The vicious cycle of poor quality in-service teacher development begins with the absence of high quality teacher educators. To enhance the existing capacity of teachers in schools there is a dire need of enhancing the capacity of teacher educators as well trained teachers and teacher educators are crucial to bring quality improvement in schools. There is a change in educational demands in India; this has led to a change in teaching as a profession as well teachers and their profiles. Therefore there is need to reflect upon the teachers role as professionals who bring a change in the life of students

25 Feruary, 2015

Dust Bowl Conditions Spreading Over Africa And Asia
By Jon Queally

On the verge of retirement, noted environmentalist and celebrated systems analyst Lester Brown has a dire warning for the world he has spent more than half a century advising on issues of food and energy policy: there is no end in sight for the interrelated scourge of climate change, global poverty and hunger. In fact, according to Brown, in several vulnerable areas around the world, the situation may be about to go from very bad to much worse

Rightist Mayor Faces Coup Charges As Venezuela’s Crisis Deepens
By Bill Van Auken

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has faced widespread international condemnation, but only scattered and minor right-wing protests in the country itself, over the arrest last week of Antonio Ledezma, the mayor of metropolitan Caracas, on charges of conspiracy to overthrow the government

Release Human Rights Defenders Thushar And Jaison
By Asian Human Rights Commission

Such a witch-hunt of human rights advocates and activists, under the guise of battling extremism, is unacceptable in a functioning democracy. The AHRC calls upon the government of Kerala to intervene in this case, release Thushar Sarathy and Jaison Cooper unconditionally, and stop the police vendetta against the human rights defenders

Stephen Hawking And Nuremberg Tribunal vs… The American Sniper Movie
By Robert Barsocchini

The American Sniper movie, which Professor of International Affairs Sophia A. McClennan finds to be “a terrifying glimpse” of a “mind-set that couples delusion with violence”, has rallied countless would-be“sand-nigger” killers and “sand-nigger-killer” cheerleaders with the religio-philosophical pronouncement that groups that commit vicious, illegal, near-universally opposed attacks against much smaller, weaker groups have been “blessed with the gift of aggression”

What's Behind Ukraine's Secret Weapons-Deal With UAE
By Eric Zuesse

On Tuesday, 24 February 2015, in Abu Dhabi, the capital of United Arab Emirates, Poroshenko placed the finishing touches on the purchase of Western, mainly U.S., weapons, via the UAE, from Western firms such as, perhaps, Lockheed, GE, Krupp, Euromissile, etc., which will be paid for by Western taxpayers, via IMF ‘loans' to Ukraine

Is Russia A Kleptocracy?
By Thomas Riggins

Many anti-Russian commentators today have no problem with classifying Vladamir Putin's government as kleptocratic but Richard Sakwa, a Russian expert at the University of Kent, is not one of them. He gives his reasons in "Grey - area Gold," an analysis of Putin's Keleptocracy: Who Owns Russia a book by Karen Dawisha, published in the TLS of February 6, 2015. What follows are some comments and observations on Sakwa's article

Four Kinds Of Intelligence; And How America Fails
By Gary Corseri

In this ice-cold winter of our discontent, it seems that Nature itself is crying out against the depredations of the human race—what we’ve done to our fracked-up, bombed-out Mother Earth, and to ourselves; how we’ve wasted the seeds in our intellectual storehouse. Can the beleaguered citizens of the most militarily powerful nation on the planet have the power to restore sanity, rationality and intelligence?

The Grand Illusion
By John Chuckman

The truth is that the risk of an American being killed by terrorism is close to zero, having been calculated at 1:20,000,000

Obama’s Admission Not Enough: US Spin On Middle East Violence Must Change
By Ramzy Baroud

Truly, US President Barack Obama’s recent call to address the root causes of violence, including that of the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) and al-Qaeda was a step in the right direction, but still miles away from taking the least responsibility for the mayhem that has afflicted the Middle East since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003

Why Do We Fear Challenging Authority?
By Robert J. Burrowes

A key factor in the elite strategy to maintain social control is to endlessly disparage, and try to frighten people out of considering for themselves, the evidence on any given issue. So next time you are reading, watching or listening to a presentation of the 'official' view, ask yourself 'What is the truth here?' and, when you judge it really matters, check out the evidence for yourself

Louis Althusser's 'Ideological State Apparatus' In The context Of Kashmir
By Sheikh Shahid

We all know that Sheikh Nazir is no more and we also know that he was the longest-serving General Secretary of National Conference and he never applied for an Indian passport. Well, that's quite true, but what we're currently being fed through various media outlets is that he was an Anti-Indian to the point that he seems to fall just short of Syed Ali Geelani and thus finishing up as a proxime accessit. What makes this claim rather crabby & peevishly perplexing is that how 'not applying for an Indian passport' makes him 'Anti-Indian' & how 'being longest-serving General Sec. of a pro-Indian party' doesn't make him an Indian!

Need For Creating Successful Teacher Entreprenuers In Education
By Ms. Swaleha A. Sindhi

Teachers play a significant role in the improvement of living standard of society by creating successful entrepreneur. Teachers highlight co-operation between the subjects essential when aiming to develop the working community to act more entrepreneurial. Finding concerns the aims and practices: teachers seem to have difficulties arguing their aims for entrepreneurship education.Thus, what needs to be stressed is; the development of teachers’ learning in terms of their reflection, developing practical tools for their self-reflection, realizing changes of education, like curricula reforms, from the point of view of teachers’ learning and realizing the links between aims and results in the context of entrepreneurship education

24 Feruary, 2015

No Weapons To Ukraine: An Open Letter To The U.S. Senate
By Concerned Citizens

Reject S. 452, "A bill to provide lethal weapons to the Government of Ukraine." Signature campaign. Please add your signature

Financial War: US Wants To Trigger Wave Of Russian Bankruptcies
By German Economic News 

The US government insists on a tightening of sanctions against Russia, and demands that the EU follow suit. Washington now wants sanctions that will have a "devastating” effect, which Russia must “suffer.” Financial measures are planned to trigger a wave of bankruptcies in Russia

Washington Has Resurrected The Threat Of Nuclear War
By Paul Craig Roberts

Former US Ambassador to the Soviet Union (1987-91) Jack Matlock cautioned against the crazed propagandistic attack against Russia in his speech at the National Press Club on February 11. Matlock is astonished by the dismissal of Russia as merely “a regional power” of little consequence to the powerful US military. No country, Matlock says, armed with numerous, accurate, and mobile ICBMs is limited to regional power. This is the kind of hubristic miscalculation that ends in world destruction

The Real American Exceptionalism 
By Alfred W. McCoy

From Torture to Drone Assassination, How Washington Gave Itself a Global Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card 

Slick Tricks From US Assassination Instruction Manual
By Robert Barsocchini

The US definition of assassination in a 1953 instruction manual includes that assassination is “the planned killing of a person who is not under the legal jurisdiction of the killer”, “whose death provides positive advantages” to the organization that performs the killing. All conceivable methods for carrying out and hiding or publicizing assassinations, depending on the situation, have long been conceived by US militants. The following is a brief sample of tips and tricks advised by the US

U.S. Army Claims To Be Full of Liars
By David Swanson

"Lying to Ourselves: Dishonesty in the Army Profession" is the title of a new paper by Leonard Wong and Stephen Gerras of the U.S. Army's Strategic Studies Institute. Its thesis: the U.S. Army is full of liars who habitually lie as part of a lying culture that has internalized and normalized lying to the point of unrecognizability. Finally a claim from the Army I'm prepared to take seriously!

The Greek Tragedy: Some Things Not To Forget, Which The New Greek Leaders Have Not
By William Blum

Will the United States, Germany, the rest of the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund – collectively constituting the International Mafia – allow the new Greek leaders of the Syriza party to dictate the conditions of Greece's rescue and salvation? The answer at the moment is a decided “No”. The fact that Syriza leaders, for some time, have made no secret of their affinity for Russia is reason enough to seal their fate. They should have known how the Cold War works

Israel's New Asian Allies
By Jonathan Cook

Longer term Israel hopes to convert Chinese and Indian dependency on Israeli armaments – based on technology it tests and refines on a captive Palestinian population – into diplomatic cover. One day Israel may be relying on a Chinese veto at the UN, not a US one

Social Justice via Social Media?
By Mickey Z.

Is there a single person reading this article who would posit that two hours of flame war bullshit is time better spent than two hours of reaching out to those incarcerated within the Prison-Industrial Complex and letting them know they are not alone?

Maldives Former President Nasheed Must Be Released
By Asian Centre For Human Rights

The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) today called upon the President of Maldives Mr Abdulla Yameen to immediately release former President Mohamed Nasheed, who has been in illegal detention on what can credibly be described as trumped up terrorism charges since 22 February 2015

Expression of Concern Over Disruption of Discussion on a Book by the Author Noor Zaheer
By People’s Alliance for Secularism and Democracy

People’s Alliance for Secularism and Democracy (PADS) is alarmed to learn that the short story writer and novelist Noor Zaheer, who is the author of a new book titled ‘Denied by Allah’ faced a disruption of a discussion on her book at the World Book Fair in Delhi on 22 February 2015; We condemn any attempts to threaten and to silence an exponent for women’s rights in India. We fully defend her rights to publically signal how religious laws, injunctions and practices impede on women’s rights

23 Feruary, 2015

Turkish Troops Enter Northern Syria
By Patrick Martin

A force of 600 Turkish troops entered northern Syria Saturday in the first-ever incursion by Turkey since the Syrian civil war began in 2011. The convoy of nearly 200 military vehicles, including 39 tanks and 57 armored cars, evacuated 40 Turkish soldiers guarding the tomb of Suleyman Shah, an ancestor of the Ottoman dynasty that ruled Turkey for 500 years

Obama Blocks Making TTIP Trade-Deal Terms Public
By Eric Zuesse

Should it start now, by all Presidential candidates being asked their view of TTIP? Would that perhaps defeat Obama — and Hillary Clinton, and Jeb Bush, and … all the boosters of American Empire? Would that defeat the international aristocracy, and their political agents (such as those) for the very first time, and so start our world back on the road toward democracy, and away from the very dangerous imperial path it's now on?

So You Want To Help Africa Mr Paterson? Then Stop Promoting
Ideology And Falsehoods To Push GMOs
By Colin Todhunter

According to Mathew Holehouse in the UK's Telegraph newspaper (here), former UK Environment Minister Owen Paterson will this week accuse the European Union and Greenpeace of condemning people in the developing world to death by refusing to accept genetically modified crops. Speaking in Pretoria, South Africa, on Tuesday, Paterson will warn that a food revolution that could save Africa from hunger is being held back and that the world is on the cusp of a green revolution, of the kind that fed a billion people in the 1960s and 1970s as the world's population soared

Fidel Castro And The Cuban Role In Defeating Apartheid
By Matt Peppe

American officials would, no doubt, prefer that Cuba’s heroic role in defeating apartheid and the U.S.’s shameful role in enabling it be relegated to the ash heap of history. But the historical and documentary record speaks for itself, despite Washington’s attempts to bury it. Like Castro, one has to wonder: why keep hiding the truth?

Introducing The Malcolm X Movement
By SUkant Chandan

Building towards a new wave of Global South decolonial anti-imperialist Resistance in Britain

Genocide In Sri Lanka: "It's A Question That Certainly Needs To Be Litigated"
By Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah

There are two related issues currently of critical consequence to Tamils: 1) The deferment of the release of the OISL report (the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka report) initially fixed for March 25, 2015. 2) the question of whether or not it was Genocide and the Dire need for it to be litigated

Kashmir At Cross-Roads
By Mohammad Ashraf

It is a tragedy that whenever Kashmir has been at the cross roads of history, its leaders have taken the wrong turn because of some deficiencies in the basic character of its people among whom these leaders rose!

TB Alliance Advances Next-Generation TB Drug Candidate Into Clinical Testing
By Shobha Shukla

The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) announced on February 19, 2015 the start of the first human study of a new TB drug candidate TBA-354--the first new potential TB drug to begin a Phase 1 clinical study in 6 years since 2009. “There is a critical gap of new compounds for TB,” said Mel Spigelman, MD, President and CEO of TB Alliance. “The advancement of TBA-354 into clinical testing is a major milestone, not only because of the potential it shows for improving TB treatment, but because it is the first new potential TB drug to begin a Phase 1 clinical trial in six years.”

Condemn Murder of CPI leader Govind Pansare
By People's Union For Democratic Rights

The shocking similarity between the murder of Dr. Dabholkar in Pune in August 2013 by gunmen while he was on his morning walk and that of Govind Pansare has been remarked upon in the press – it needs to be remembered that eighteen months after Dabholkar's murder none of the culprits have been caught

22 Feruary, 2015

Radical Democracy: Reclaiming The Commons
By Carlos Declós

Over the coming months, Radical Democracy: Reclaiming the Commons will act as a microphone for the voices involved in all of these local struggles. By doing so, and by offering a common framework for interpreting what these apparently local struggles mean at a more global level, the project hopes to lower the volume on the noise that currently dominates the media sphere to offer the clarity needed to take steps towards making radical democracy a common reality

“Biochemical Targets Of Plant Bioactive Compounds”: Moral & Utilitarian Reasons
To Stop Ecocide, Speciescide, Omnicide & Terracide
By Dr Gideon Polya

Man is causing mass extinction of species and massive ecosystem destruction in our present Anthropocene Era. However in addition to aesthetic arguments about respect for irreplaceable complexity, there is a powerful utilitarian argument for preserving natural ecosystems in that they contain a wealth of bioactive plant compounds of potential pharmaceutical utility as documented in my huge 860-page book “Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds”

Corporate Power Grab: The Wild Claims And PR Spin Of The Pro-GMO Lobby
By Colin Todhunter

A recent report by US Right to Know (‘Seedy Business: What Big Food is Hiding with Its Slick PR Campaign on GMOs’) outlines how agrichemical firms have spent more than $100 million since 2012 on political and PR campaigns to shift the media narrative on GMOs. The non-profit food research group is now calling on media to accurately report that the science on GMOs is contradictory and has been largely controlled by corporations that profit from GMO seeds and the pesticides that go with them

On the First Anniversary Of Ukraine's Maidan Coup:
Obama's War-Policies Show A Pattern
By Eric Zuesse

Any nation that considers itself to be “the one indispensable nation” needs to be dispensed with. Germany, Italy, and Japan, each declared themselves to be the one indispensable nation, before the world almost exhausted itself in defeating them. Perhaps the solution this time around won't need to be so violent. But continued inaction certainly will be. The choice is thus stark, and delay would be disastrous

Dailykos's Cover-Up of Obama's Ukrainian Atrocities
By Eric Zuesse

Generally speaking, the falsely-called ‘liberal' (some even call it ‘progressive') website dailykos has ignored President Barack Obama's coup a year ago in Ukraine, which violently overthrew that country's unpopular but democratically elected President and replaced him with a racist-fascist (i.e., ideologically nazi) anti-Russian regime

Does The US Have A Left, Left
By JP Miller

There are many groups, parties, news outlets, and unions in the US which claim to be socialist and I cannot deny them that. Many of them do good work and inform us of the duplicity of our government. They do good work in calling attention to the imperialism of the US state, the duplicity of politicians, and the US crimes abroad. Yet, many are more anti-US than anti-Capitalism. Some are more indignant than effectual. Also, some are more divisive than inclusive. The very magnitude of their existence, the history of their failures, and their separation from each other reduce the opportunity of a genuine socialist party emerging in the US

A Jolly Good Sort Of An Extremist American Day
By Charles Orloski

A pretty slick bastion of Wall Street-Christianity we are – and how many self-righteous soldiers can President Obama's pro-war/peace campaign deliver? Indeed, no country in the 21st Century has become uniquely messianic & hostile as the U.S.A, and the Supreme Court made sure we get decadent leaders, supported by Koch Brothers, Adelson, and Soros, who shall ”empower” Average Joes to ark alongside The Golden Calf Banquet, feast upon leftover scraps in the snow

The Murder Of Comrade Pansare And The Cultural Scene
By Vidyadhar Date

The widespread demonstration of solidarity displayed by various sections of people in Maharashtra in support of the murdered veteran Communist leader Govind Pansare has been most encouraging. It sows that there is silent admiration for leaders who are dedicated, simple, secular and honest

Ideologies, Beliefs In Indian Politics-Opportunities And Challenges For AAP
By Mousumi Roy

Delhi election verdict has become eye opener for all political parties in India. Lots of introspections are to be done by both sides, the winning side to analyze and plan to deliver in time and for the loosing sides it should be how to improve their performance and to remain connected with the people. So a new era, no doubt, has begun

The Unending Confusion Of PDP, BJP Marriage
By Rayees Rasool

It will be interesting to see how BJP will respond to the 11 point agenda of PDP where they have strictly maintained there stand on few controversial issues with BJP like, Talks with Hurriyat, Removal of AFSPA in one year, No fiddling with article 370, return of Power Projects, Status quo on west Pakistani Refugees etc. Though BJP had already took their call on the said issues before and during elections. It will be very interesting to see how the both partners fool the people in both the regions

21 Feruary, 2015

US Preparing Major Ground Offensive Against Iraqi City Of Mosul
By Thomas Gaist

The US military will direct a major military offensive against the Iraqi city of Mosul beginning as early as April, an official with the Pentagon’s Central Command (CENTCOM) told reporters in a conference call Thursday. The plan calls for the US military forces in Iraq to prepare air, artillery and ground attacks against the densely populated city of 1.4 million, where an estimated 2,000 fighters affiliated with Islamic State in Iraq and Syria are reported to be entrenched

How, Really, To Contain And Defeat Perverted And Violent Islamic Fundamentalism
By Alan Hart

If perverted and violent Islamic fundamentalism (PVIF) in all of its manifestations is to be contained and defeated there's one thing above all others that must happen - Western leaders, starting with President Obama, must open their minds to the fact that consequences have causes and then address the causes

US And UK Intelligence Agencies Hacked Cell Phone Encryption Keys
By Nick Barrickman

Beginning in 2010, a previously undisclosed unit of the British GCHQ acting with support from the NSA, the Mobile Handset Exploitation Team (MHET), penetrated the internal networks of cell phone SIM card manufacturing companies in order to steal encryption keys before the phones came to market, according to documents revealed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and published this week on the Intercept

Crimea: Was It Seized By Russia, or Did Russia Block Its Seizure By The U.S.?
By Eric Zuesse

Anyone who says that Russia “seized Crimea,” is clearly lying or else is fooled by people who are

Kerala's Maoist Question
By Aishik Chanda

The state should immediately start considering Adivasis as very-much residents of Kerala. Then Forest Rights Act, Panchayati Raj Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA), distribution of “cultivable land” to Adivasis and reduction of malnutrition deaths will follow automatically. As far as the Maoists are concerned, experiences of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh have shown that they can be flushed out of a state, but they will continue returning back till they find fertile grounds for “revolution”

An Open Letter To Prime Minister Of India On His ‘Action For Auction’
By Ravi Nitesh

I am writing this letter to you as citizen of India, who is witnessing the leading media reports about the ‘auction’ of your suit. It is also said in these reports that the suit is controversial one as it attracted criticism for its high cost, while you wore it during your meeting with USA president Mr. Obama

Advice For School Teachers: Dare To Be Strict
By Ms.Swaleha Sindhi

The corporal punishment is a regular affair in thousands of schools in India. Children not only carry overload of text books and note books on their tender backs, but bear the brunt of canes for silly reasons like socks. Shoes, shoe laces, ribbon color, plating hair, oiling hair, putting nail paint, 'kneel down' under hot sun, to complete the assigned writing work in kneel down position (kneeling down on the earth is painful). The time has come to re-examine the saying 'spare the rod and spoil the child'. Children are at receiving end both at their own homes and schools from parents, teachers and non-teaching school authorities. Almost all schools inflict corporal punishments on students for various reasons. However, law basically does not agree with any excessive punishment to beings, which would be definitely a violation of personal right

20 Feruary, 2015

US-Backed Kiev Regime Faces Military Debacle In East Ukraine War
By Alex Lantier

Reports of the fighting in the strategic east Ukrainian city of Debaltseve make clear that the US-backed Kiev regime sustained a humiliating defeat this week. Late Wednesday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko claimed that six soldiers had been killed and 100 wounded in a hurried evacuation of Debaltseve. He justified the evacuation by claiming that 2,475 soldiers and 200 military vehicles had been pulled out in time from the encirclement maneuver launched by Russian-backed forces of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR)

Who Is Destabilizing The EU? Greece or Germany?
By Jon V Kofas

Does Greece with just 2% of EU GDP have the ability to destabilize the EU simply by refusing the IMF-EU imposed austerity program, or does Germany have such power because it has been trying to impose its economic hegemony over the rest of Europe?

The Front Page Rule
By Kathy Kelly

As drone warfare proliferates, as the stings of the drone become more lethal and terrifying, the peace activists hold a newsworthy message. I'm glad Code Pink members continually interrupt high level hearings. I hope their essential questioning will plant seeds that germinate, take root and gather underground strength

Freedom For Shaker Aamer
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal

Shaker Aamer, a Saudi-born British citizen, has been incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay with no trial or charge for the last 13 years. He has never been accused of any wrongdoing. He has been tortured and mistreated like all of the detainees. Anyone who believes in the rule of law should be appalled by the fact how the U. S. trample on human rights and Habeas Corpus

Egypt Is Calling The West's Bluff Over Its Phony War On ISIS
By Dan Glazebrook

Western states are trumpeting ISIS as the latest threat to civilisation, claiming total commitment to their defeat, and using the group’s conquests in Syria and Iraq as a pretext for deepening their own military involvement in the Middle East. Yet as Libya seems to be following the same path as Syria – of ‘moderate’ anti-government militias backed by the West paving the way for ISIS takeover – Britain and the US seem reluctant to confront them there, immediately pouring cold water on Egyptian President Sisi’s request for an international coalition to halt their advances. By making the suggestion – and having it, predictably, spurned – Sisi is making clear Western duplicity over ISIS and the true nature of NATO policy in Libya

White House Hosts Anti-Terrorism Summit
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

The White House held a three-day anti-terrorism summit dubbed as "Countering Violent Extremism Summit," from Tuesday to Thursday (Feb. 17-19)

UN Peace Coordinator Unwelcome By Palestinians
By Nicola Nasser

The PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation) did not object to the appointment of new UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process Nikolay Mladenov, although he was described by Tayseer Khaled, a member of the PLO’s Executive Committee, as “persona non grata” — not trusted by the Palestinians and nor qualified for the job

The Transformer: Sabotage For Peace
By William T. Hathaway

"The Transformer" is a chapter from Radical Peace: People Refusing War, which presents the experiences of peace activists who have moved beyond protest into direct action: helping soldiers to desert, destroying computer systems, trashing recruiting offices, burning military equipment, and sabotaging defense contractors

Trouble In “Wine Country”
By Shepherd Bliss

A movement against the expansion of rural wineries is growing and could lead to more calls for a moratorium on all new wineries, especially those wanting to be industrial, commercial event centers, located away from urban centers. They spoil pastoral splendor and quality of life in our beautiful semi-rural county

War And The Lightness of Being Adivasi: Security Camps And Villages In Bijapur, Chhattisgarh
By People's Union For Democratic Rights

Between December 26th and 31st 2014, a PUDR fact-finding team visited 9 villages of Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh to ascertain reports of arrests, intimidation and harassment, including sexual abuse by security forces who are stationed there to fight the Maoists. Predominantly Adivasi villages, the residents of Basaguda, Kottaguda, Pusbaka, Lingagiri, Rajpeta, Timmapur, Kottagudem, Korsaguda and Sarkeguda, narrated the daily acts of violence and violations committed by armed personnel residing in security camps

Stale Food, Naked Body And Torn Tents Over Head
By Ruman Sutradhar & Debasish Dey

To live the life of a refugee means to live a pathetic life exposed to varied forms of ill treatment, but to be a woman refugee means to get exposed to not only the ill treatments of society but also to that within their own community

Solving Important Educational Problems Through Effective Classroom Interactions
By Ms.Swaleha Sindhi & Sayed Mukhtar Sadat

Non verbal communication is not only crucial in a plain daily communication; it is also equally important for class room situations as which takes various forms, illustrates or replaces certain aspects of listeners’ brain that deals with the emotional part of the message. Along with verbal behaviour if teachers become aware of their nonverbal communication skill also, it certainly helps them to become more proficient at receiving students’ messages as well as more proficient at sending accurate messages

19 Feruary, 2015

US Steps Up Threats Against Russia As Ukrainian Troops Retreat From Debaltseve
By Niles Williamson

The retreat Wednesday of Ukrainian soldiers from the city of Debaltseve was a major defeat for the Kiev regime in its military offensive against pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Donbass. It was also a blow to US policy in Eastern Europe. The loss of Debaltseve has underscored the bankruptcy of the US puppet regime in Kiev and the lack of popular support for military operations against ethnic Russians in the east

Russia's Outrageous Treatment Of A Right-Wing Ukrainian Film Director
By Eric Zuesse

Oleg Sentsov is an anti-Russian Ukrainian nationalist who also happens to be a screenwriter and director of Ukrainian-language movies. Because he hates Russia and refuses to accept Crimea's being again a part of Russia (which it was between 1783 and 1954, and which the vast majority of Crimeans wanted it to return to being), he is now treated by Vladimir Putin's Russia in the same way that Barack Obama's America treated Osama bin Laden's bookkeeper Zacarias Moussaoui in a federal penitentiary until recenly

What’s Happening To Canada? An Open Letter To Stephen Harper
By Ralph Nader

Many Americans love Canada and the specific benefits that have come to our country from our northern neighbor’s many achievements (see Canada Firsts by Nader, Conacher and Milleron). Unfortunately, your latest proposed legislation—the new anti-terrorism act—is being described by leading Canadian civil liberties scholars as hazardous to Canadian democracy

Greece Is Taking Back Its Democracy, What About The U.S.?
By Nozomi Hayase

The Greeks are fighting to take back their country. So can Americans take back the electoral arena that is now occupied by corporate elites and crony bankers. Only then can the power of We the People become the bullet that can manifest a true governance of the people, by the people and for the people

Parking Space Terrorism: Time For Action After Killing Of Three US Muslims
By Ramzy Baroud

The murder of three American Muslims at a University of North Carolina condominium on Tuesday, 10 February, was no ordinary murder, nor is the criminal who killed them an ordinary thug. The context of the killings, the murder itself and the media and official responses to the horrific event is a testimony to everything that went wrong since the United States unleashed it’s long-drawn-out “war on terror”, with its undeclared, but sometimes declared enemy, namely Islam and Muslims

Arab Leaders Count Dead Bodies But Peacemaking Is Not The Aim
By Mahboob A. Khawaja

Al-Qaeda and ISIS are distraction from the real issues of Arabian dictatorial regimes. The Western proponent of animosity view it blessing in disguise for opportunities carved-up by collapsed Arab leadership lacking courage and intellectual vision for change and political development to serve the interest of the deprived masses. There is no righteous cause and harmony between the rulers and the ruled

UK Zionist Historian Sir Martin Gilbert (1936-2015)
Variously Ignored Or Minimized WW2 Bengali Holocaust
By Dr Gideon Polya 

British Zionist Sir Martin Gilbert (1936-2015) was an eminent UK historian in the areas of Jewish history, Zionism, Churchill, WW1, WW2 and 20th century history. He was one of very few UK historians who actually mentioned the 1943-1945 Bengali Holocaust (6-7 million Indians killed by Churchill ) but must be criticized for hugely under-estimating this atrocity, excusing the British, eliminating any mention of this from his histories of Churchill, ignoring other holocausts and grossly exaggerating deaths in the WW2 Jewish Holocaust

War Porn 
By Peter Van Buren

Hollywood and War from World War II to American Sniper 

E-Books, Activism, And The Future Of Publishing
By Mickey Z.

An Interview with Deborah Emin of Sullivan Street Press

Removing The Roadblocks To Quality In Indian Higher Education
By Ms.Swaleha Sindhi

The suggestions for quality improvement in higher education include; first and foremost to motivate and guide the students towards their goals with the use of dynamic methods and approaches in the teaching learning process. To motivate young students to use the library, this would help the students to do self learning, self evaluation and self improvement. Teacher capacity building is crucial for both the school education and higher education, attending the refresher courses, participating in conferences, presenting papers, involving in creative and innovative researches must be a part of their job. This will help teachers to create a healthy classroom climate and make use of Information Technology in classrooms

Two-Way Learning Of Languages Needed For Assimilation Of Indians
By Aishik Chanda

At a time when the Narendra Modi-led BJP government is initiating programmes and schemes for the development of North East region, utmost care should be taken not to impose the “Hindi form of nationalism” on the region for the agenda of “assimilation” that many influential Hindi-speaking BJP leaders in the higher echelons of power may suggest. Instead, the learning of languages should be a two-way process

Kashmir: Enemies Overwhelmed By Irrational Love
By Imran Khan

We kashmiries are not enemies of India at all; we don’t swear death to India, we don’t want India to be destroyed, we have no problem with common Indians. We are known as hosts and we would love to have them as guests in our homes. I truly believe that we kashmiries want India to progress, prosper and grow, but the harsh reality is that India cannot progress and prosper unless and until it does not stop the military occupation of Jammu and Kashmir, unless and until it does not recognize the rights of kashmiries to breathe in a free space, unless and until it does not give kashmiries the much promised right to self determination

18 Feruary, 2015

Minsk Cease-Fire Verging On Collapse As Fighting Continues In East Ukraine
By Niles Williamson

Fighting escalated in the eastern Ukrainian city of Debaltseve on Tuesday, as the cease-fire negotiated last week in Minsk has failed to take hold. There was street-to-street fighting in Debaltseve, as pro-Russian separatist militias moved to consolidate control over the city, where at least 5,000 Ukrainian troops are trapped. The separatists aim to reinforce their strategic position by seizing the city—a key rail hub connecting the rebel-controlled cities of Donetsk and Luhansk—from the NATO-backed Kiev regime

Iraq: Uranium Contamination, War Crimes And U.S.Troops
By Joseph R. Spencer

ISIS is not alone in their brutality. There is overwhelming evidence that the United States military has committed unimaginable acts of violence that not only constitute war crimes, but that if examined closely, could be described as acts of genocide

The Fundamental Unethicality Of Being Hindu
By Ankur Betageri

If this tragic crisis in the life of the Indian nation is to be resolved with any degree of permanence the 19th century Brahmanical nationalistic religion of Hinduism must be dismantled once and for all, and accepted for what it is—a collection of diverse religious sects, each with its own set of rituals and practices. This is the only way to ensure a life of dignity and self-respect for the Dalits, Muslims and Adivasis of India. It also seems to be the only way to create a society where everyone is judged by his or her actions, and not by his or her birth

Stop Persecution, By False Prosecution, Of Teesta Setalvad And Javed Anand!
By People's Union For Civil Liberties

The PUCL welcomes the Supreme Court granting an immediate stay on the Gujarat High Court order permitting the custodial interrogation of journalists and Human Rights Defenders, Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand, while refusing to grant them anticipatory bail. The Gujarat High Court passed its order on the 12th of February in the FIR of alleged misappropriation of funds collected for building a memorial for the 2002 and other riot victims of the Gulbarg Society in Ahmedabad. In the same matter it also granted bail to three other accused of the same charge

17 Feruary, 2015

US-NATO War Games Prepare Massive Military Escalation In West Africa
By Thomas Gaist

US and NATO forces launched massive war games Monday in West Africa, in tandem with a slate of African militaries. The exercises, known as Operation Flintlock 2015, are to serve as the spearhead for a comprehensive military escalation by the US and European powers and their client regimes throughout the resource-rich Lake Chad Basin. The war simulations will focus on “interoperability and capacity-building among African, Western and US counterterrorism forces,” according to a Pentagon press release

Another Year, Another Coup Attempt In Venezuela
By Andre Vltchek

Another year, another set of coups that we can expect to be administered by the West. This year, it is all beginning in February. First the onslaught against Argentina and following that comes yet another coup against Venezuela, and its democratically elected, progressive government. The coup has been thwarted. Venezuela prevailed!

Cyber-Security Firm: NSA-Linked Spyware Found In Hard Drives Worldwide
By Lauren McCauley

A top technology security firm announced on Monday that they have uncovered evidence that sophisticated spying software, likely linked to the National Security Agency, was implanted in the hard drives of personal computers across the globe

Gallup: Americans' Fear of Russia Soars
By Eric Zuesse

Gallup headlined on February 16th, "Americans Increasingly See Russia as Threat, Top U.S. Enemy,” and reported that whereas back in 2011 only 3% of Americans answered “Russia” when asked “What country anywhere in the world do you consider to be the United States' greatest enemy?” 18% cite “Russia” today, which is 3% more than the #2-cited threat, “North Korea,” cited now by 15% (which had been 16% back in 2011, when the top-cited threat of all was then Iran, at 25%, which is now cited by only 9% of Americans, as being America's “greatest enemy.”

American Officials Silent On Israeli Abuse Of Palestinian Children
By Matt Peppe

Six weeks after being abducted on her way home from school in the occupied West Bank, 14-year-old Malak al-Khatib was released on Friday from the jail where she was being imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces. The youngest Palestinian girl ever to be incarcerated, Malak is one of hundreds of children to be prosecuted through the Israeli military court system each year. As of December 2014, there were 156 Palestinian child prisoners, 17 of which were under 16 years old, according to the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association

Stop All The Horror!
By Jack A Smith

Watching the horror of the Islamic state on TV is sickening. It must be stopped. But we should never justify, devalue, ignore or forget the far greater horrors that continue to be perpetrated by our own country, for they, too, are sickening and must be stopped!

Demonizing Scientists And Opponents Of GMOs: The Cheap Propaganda Of The Pro-GMO Lobby
By Colin Todhunter

When GMO supporters mount personal attacks and accuse prominent anti-GMO campaigners of being liars, we must question what credibility they themselves have

Food Deserts + Solidarity = Food Justice
By Mickey Z.

Embracing a life of activism means being a teacher and student at the same time. I was recently reminded of this while re-watching a talk I gave last year at the NYC March Against Monsanto. In that speech, I told the several thousand attendees how the first step in the fight against GMOs is to “not buy them.”

The Economy Is Wasteful, Unfair, But It Suits The 1%
By Lionel Anet

Most of us who have a satisfactory job or super are mainly concern in maintaining and improving ones position. We probably see global warming mainly a threat for the poor people of the third world and a few who are losing their island. As well the feelings that it’s not possible to do much about our carbon emissions, or it’s impossible for the 1% to be concern for anyone else as they’ll be OK. That feeling is what the 1% managed to allow circulating. Today’s children will be the unfortunate victims

In Whose America? 
By Tom Engelhardt

Machine Guns, MRAPs, Surveillance, Drones, Permanent War, and a Permanent Election Campaign 

Revisiting The Vietnam War
By Ron Forthofer

Amazingly, the history of the Vietnam War is still being fought over in the United States. There seems to be an effort to reframe that horrific and shameful campaign into some honorable intervention. For example, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008 authorized the U.S. Secretary of Defense to conduct a program to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. In 2012, President Obama signed a proclamation stating that the commemoration would begin on Memorial Day (May 28th) 2012 and would continue until Veterans Day (November 11th) 2025

The European Union: Current Status And Future Prospects
By Jon V Kofas

EU Political Polarization, Downward Socioeconomic Mobility and Core-Periphery Division

Poetic Resistance: An Interview With Dominique Christina
By Vincent Emanuele

Dominique Christina is an award-winning writer, performer, educator, and activist. She holds five national poetry slam titles in four years, including the 2014 & 2012 Women of the World Slam Champion and 2011 National Poetry Slam Champion. Her work is greatly influenced by her family's legacy in the Civil Rights Movement and by the idea that worlds make worlds. Her first full-length poetry book, The Bones, The Breaking, The Balm: A Colored Girl's Hymnal, published by Penmanship Books, is available now. Her second book, This Is Woman's Work, is set for publication in October 2015

Intergrity: Casting Aspersions
By Chandra Muzaffar

Like many other Malaysians, I am deeply concerned about allegations in the media hurled at the Malaysian Prime Minister and his family which have cast serious aspersions on their integrity. Some of these allegations have been circulating for a while but they have now re-surfaced in a more trenchant form. The New York Times has played a big role in this

Northeast: India’s Other?
By Parvin Sultana

The region of Northeast continues to be in the headlines for the wrong reasons. The latest being the Vision Document published by BJP on the eve of Delhi elections which claim to provide special security for people from Northeast who move to the capital city. But the document called such people “Immigrant”. While the BJP leaders were too quick to make amends and called it a typing error, the damage was already done. What such a statement did is reinforce the alienation that the region has faced since ages

Review: The Book of Gold Leaves Is A ‘Melancholy’ Story
By Kashoo Tawseef

It’s about art, it’s about love, it’s about culture, it’s about nostalgia and it’s about Kashmir. The Book of Gold Leaves is the second book by the author after The Collaborator. At the very outset, it takes you to Kashmir with Papier Maché art as its cover page. The book is set in early 90’s of Kashmir; the book revolves around a heartbreaking love story between Roohi, a young Sunni woman, and Faiz a Shia Papier Maché artist, set in the heart of the downtown, Srinagar

Understanding Aam Admi Party’s Mega-Victory In Delhi
By Adfar Shah

Now what remains to be seen is how AAP carries its challenging and apparently difficult manifesto forward to meet the peoples huge aspirations.BJP on the other hand, needs a serious introspection on over confidence (what people see as arrogance) and relying upon the subsided Modi Wave, while the already surrendered Congress needs to rise from the ashes and see how to restructure especially its Delhi unit which is devoid of any visible leadership and lacks ample marketing

14 Feruary, 2015

US And Ukrainian Officials Seek To Torpedo Minsk Cease-fire Agreement
By Niles Williamson

American and Ukrainian officials issued provocative threats and accusations against Russia less than 48 hours after German, French, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators reached a cease-fire agreement following marathon talks in the Belorussian capital of Minsk

The Minsk Peace Deal: Farce Or Sellout?
By Paul Craig Roberts

As Washington is not a partner to the Minsk peace deal, how can there be peace when Washington has made policy decisions to escalate the conflict and to use the conflict as a proxy war between the US and Russia?

Putin Wins, Obama Loses, In Draft Plan For Ukraine
By Eric Zuesse

The only way that U.S. President Barack Obama can win in Ukraine now is by negotiating subsequent details to become deal-breakers to the February 12th draft agreement, such that for Russian President Vladimir Putin not to accept Obama's proposed details would mean that no deal will be signed. This could happen, because the prestige of both leaders is on the line in this new draft deal on Ukraine

Remember Your Humanity
By John Scales Avery

This year, 2015, marks the 60th anniversary of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, which contains the following words: “There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise. If you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death.”

Beyond The Market-State: Decentralizing Power In A Sharing Society
By Rajesh Makwana

At a time when governments are failing abysmally to mitigate climate change, reduce inequality or end poverty, the key to creating a more equal and sustainable world is establishing participative forms of political engagement at all levels of society—from the local to the global

Solon To Iceland To Greece: Adventures In Democracy
By Robert Snefjella

And so we turn back to Greece, once again, with social and economic dysfunctions and debt problems and oligarchs. Are there shades of Solonic inspiration in the 'we're not going to take it any more' reformist rebellion playing out right now, February 2015?

Mending ‘Axis Of Resistance': Hamas Returns To The Start
By Ramzy Baroud

Despite its success of rebelling Israeli military advances in Gaza, Hamas's regional political maneuvers of recent years are not bearing fruits. Jointly isolated by Israel and other Arab parties, unaided by the Palestinian Authority (PA) of Mahmoud Abbas, the Islamic Resistance Movement is once again facing difficult choices, and it seems to be choosing a cautious return to its old camp of Iran and Hezbollah. The maneuver this time is particularly risky

Time To Honor Lucy Parsons For Black History Month
By A D Hemming

Why was Lucy Eldina Gonzales Parsons whitewashed, and that’s the right word for it, for so long out of US history and black history as well with all her high profile activism across a whole range of issues over a rather long time and thus denied her due in recognition of the tremendous number of actions she took on behalf of those without a voice and honoring her for same? Was any truth in the notion that it had to do with the reference to her by the Chicago Police referring to her as “more dangerous than a thousand rioters”? The FBI? Maybe some of of all this?

Cuba Through The Looking Glass
By David Swanson

In other unusual Cuban phenomena, the U.S. government is allowing tourists to bring home $100 worth of rum and cigars. And the U.S. State Department is working on a forthcoming list of products that Cubans can export to the United States. The list will not include numerous life-saving medicines currently unavailable in the United States, and not apparently because the U.S. government believes rum and cigars are better for its people than life-saving medicines. No, the reason is bizarre yet predictable. Stop and guess for a minute before reading on

When Terrorism Is Not Terrorism
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

The execution-style of the three students at Chapel Hill and the environment of hate warrants a moment of national reflection: What is it that we are doing to create such a toxic atmosphere? Where does this anti-Muslim sentiment stem from? Who are the individuals and groups who are peddling this hate?

Delhi: A World Class Smart City or An Inclusive And Equitable Capital?
By Shalu Nigam

An integrated coordinated approach to urban management is recommended keeping in mind the diverse needs of people from different background. The task of building an inclusive city is also predicated on meaningful participation on the part of disadvantaged and disenfranchised women and men. This implies facilitating people to organize their everyday lives and to engage in a planning process where they can negotiate on their own terms. An inclusive and equitable city is about accountability of those who are in governance and about dignity of inhabitants of the city and is possible by striving towards holistic approach that is possible through social equity and creating just and fair society, environment sustainability, economic growth with equitable distribution and political empowerment of disempowered

A “Popular” Government In J & K ?
By Mohammad Ashraf

In the present context of a fractured mandate, can a government formed by two ideologically incompatible groups be called a “Popular” government? Half of the government would be popular in the valley while the other half would be popular in Jammu! In reverse, the Kashmir part would be unpopular in Jammu and vice versa. The popularity would have to be redefined in case of J & K. It would be region wise popular government

The Murky Politics Of West Pakistan Refugees
By abdul Majid Zargar

While the world is slow in resolving the long outstanding dispute of Kashmir, India is fast widening its scope of intervention in the state to strengthen its hold. The latest is its bid to accord citizenship rights to West Pakistan refugees(WPR) so as to change the demographic character of the state. And local collaborators & facilitators to help it in redeeming this objective are in abundant supply. Another Palestine is in the making, If the Indian attempt goes unchallenged

Lucknow Declaration
By Annual Convention of Uttar Pradesh Land Alliance

Landless agricultural labourers, Khet Mazdoors, Dalits, Adivasis, most backward communities, Pasmanda Muslims, women, activists working on land and livelihood issues from different parts of Uttar Pradesh gathered here on February 13, 2015 for 11th Annual Convention of Uttar Pradesh Land Alliance (UPLA) in Lucknow and resolved to continue to work for the rights of the most marginalized communities in different parts of the state and request the government to put a moratorium on further land acquisition of poor marginalized communities who need state protection from growing alienation from their livelihood and natural resources

Arvind Kejriwal’s Victory In Delhi Is A Sign Of India’s Vibrant Democracy
By Mohammad Behzad Fatmi

The Indian electorate’s ever growing impatience on delivery of the promises made in the election campaigns must be a lesson for politicians to achieve what they promise or at least make effort in that direction. The Indians have also time and again proved that no election in India is like an India-Pakistan cricket match in which they would always support the Indian side, no matter who plays better. No political party or leader is invincible and it literally takes less than a year to decimate the non-performers

Stop Harassing Teesta Setalvad And Javed Anand
Press Relese

People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) expresses alarm at the Gujarat Police move to arrest Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand

12 Feruary, 2015

Ceasefire Agreement For Eastern Ukraine Announced After Minsk Summit
By Alex Lantier

Thursday morning the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine reportedly reached a ceasefire agreement in eastern Ukraine. The deal came after 17 hours of negotiations in the Belorussian capital, Minsk. It is supposed to come into effect on Sunday

Obama's New National Security Strategy Is Rabidly Anti-Russian
By Eric Zuesse

U.S. President Barack Obama's just-issued National Security Strategy 2015 uses the term “aggression” precisely 18 times, all but one of which are either explicitly, or else possibly, referring to Russia, as allegedly doing the alleged “aggression” — never the U.S., and on only one occasion is he identifying North Korea with that term of opprobrium. Presumably, he thinks that Russia is by far the most “aggressive” country

A Proposed Meeting: Kathy Kelly And Pope Francis, In The Name Of Peace
By Gary Corseri and Charles Orloski

We would like to get this idea “out there”—for good Catholics, and conscientious Americans, and peace-loving citizens of the world to mull over…

Keystone XL, Cold War 2.0, And The GOP Vision For 2016
By Michael T. Klare

How Energy Coordination on One Continent Could Bring the Planet to Its Knees 

Potential New Allies In The Effort To Achieve A Sustainable True Cost Economy
By Brent Blackwelder

Those who want a true cost, steady state economy need some new, powerful allies. We need allies that stretch across the political spectrum, from liberal to conservative. We need allies that can speak from a values perspective to bring moral considerations to bear on the discussion

How America Screws Up The World Without Ever Letting Its People Know What Is Happening
By John Chuckman

Brian Williams, American television network anchor caught telling his audience a fantasy version of his experience on a foreign assignment, has unintentionally provided us with a near perfect allegory and tale of caution about American journalism and the role it plays in politics and foreign affairs

Death By A Million Contradictions: Trying To Understand Tibetan Self-Immolation
By Tim Robertson

Self-immolation, specifically by fire, is the de jour form of protest in Tibet these days. According to the advocacy group the International Campaign for Tibet, 136 Tibetans have self-immolated since February 2009. The most recent, a monk named Kalsang Yeshe, set fire to himself and died in the Tibetan area of Kham on 23rd December

Oil Zapper Magically Restores Denigrated Areas 
By Marianne de Nazareth

Different climatic conditions require different bacteria. But what is amazing is that once the bacteria eat up the oil, they become protein and completely mix with the soil and the soil in the area is completely restored. Infact as Dr Banwari Lal explained that the recovered oil which they collect they are able to run the machines which they need for their work with it

Cuba Is Our Family
By David Swanson

Cuba and the United States have a great deal in common, but of course it all means nothing because their president is always a Castro and ours is changed every 4 or 8 years from one advocate of crazy militarism, consumption, and wealth concentration, to a nearly identical advocate of crazy militarism, consumption, and wealth concentration. When will Cuba catch up?

Monsanto On The Menu: Science, Knowledge And GMOs 
By Colin Todhunter

Coming from the GMO biotech industry, or its political mouthpieces, the term “sound science” rings extremely hollow. The industry carries out inadequate, short-term studies and conceals the data produced by its research under the guise of ‘commercial confidentiality', while independent research highlights the very serious dangers of its products. It has in the past also engaged in fakery in India, bribery in Indonesia and smears and intimidation against those who challenge its interests, as well as the distortion and the censorship of science

Discarded Laptop Batteries Can Help Light Up India
By Syed Ali Mujtaba

Many of the estimated 50 million lithium-ion laptop batteries discarded every year could provide electricity storage sufficient to light homes of the poors in the country. In India alone, about 400 million people lack grid-connected electricity. Millions of batteries discarded with computers have more than enough life to solve the problem of lighting home in the country

Demand Action Against Special Cell Personnel In Liaquat Shah Case
By People's Union For Democratic Rights

The recent chargesheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) absolving former Hizbul Mujahideen militant, Syed Liaquat Shah, of all charges, has yet again exposed the Special Cell of the Delhi Police for planting false evidence and for framing Shah

11 Feruary, 2015

Three Young Muslims Killed In USA; Mainstream Media Silent
By Middle East Monitor

Three young Muslims were killed by a gunman in the US state of North Carolina on Tuesday. Local media reported that the victims were 23-year old Deah Shaddy Barakat, his wife Yusor Mohammad, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19.Activists on social media shared pictures of the victims and criticised US media for its lack of coverage of the murder

Fighting In Ukraine Intensifies Ahead Of Minsk Talks
By Niles Williamson

Fighting between Ukrainian armed forces and pro-Russian separatists escalated on Monday and Tuesday, ahead of cease fire talks being held today in Belarus. Each side has pushed to make strategic territorial gains ahead of today’s meeting

Al Qaeda's Bookkeeper Spills The Beans
By Eric Zuesse

Zacarias Moussaoui was the bookkeeper for Al Qaeda, but the U.S. intelligence services have been keeping this fact secret as much as they can, because what he knows about the crucial financial backers of Al Qaeda can be very damaging to the U.S. aristocracy, which is heavily oil-based and closely allied with the Saudi royal family, which created Al Qaeda in order to please the Saudi clerics, who are Wahhabist Muslims who constantly threaten the royals with exposure of their economic and sexual corruption unless the royals finance the spread of the Wahhabist sect (such as by Al Qaeda), and thereby finance the spread of those clerics' own international influence and power

Our Addiction To Fossil Fuel Is Taking Us On The Road To Nowhere
By Kumi Naidoo

Four months from now, Chancellor Angela Merkel will welcome Barack Obama and the other Heads of G7 Governments to Germany to discuss future climate and energy policy. I call on Mrs. Merkel to use this unique opportunity. The G7 summit must give the world a vision for a future energy system without nuclear power, without coal power, based 100% on Renewable Energies

Quick Action Is Needed To Save The Long-Term Future
By John Scales Avery

All of us have a duty to act quickly, with dedication and urgency. We must save the long-term future of our beautiful planet, not only for ourselves, and our children and grandchildren, but also for all future generations of humans, and for the dazzlingly diversity of plants and animals with which we share the gift of life

Planetary Suicide
By Joel S. Hirschhorn

Every so often a nonfiction book comes along that, because of its objective, comprehensive coverage of a hot topic, should be carefully read with a highlighter in hand by everyone. That new book is “Unprecedented” by David Ray Griffin. Be warned, this book will probably bum you out. It presents the most readable treatment of the global warming and climate change issue that anyone could wish for. It is not an emotional rant, but rather a carefully organized and detailed discussion. Most significantly, with carefully documented sources, it allows a reader to fully appreciate the compelling and overwhelming scientific evidence supporting a negative view of our planet's and civilization's future

Terrorism: Ultimate Weapon Of The Global Elite
By Robert J. Burrowes

Terrorism is intended to frighten and kill fellow human beings. Those who conduct terrorism and those who endorse it are badly psychologically damaged

Brian Williams Is Not The Only One
By Rosemarie Jackowski

Why is Brian Williams held to a different standard than those who lied us into an unjust war where many thousands were killed? Remember the WMD lies and lies about babies being thrown from incubators. Back then was it Judith Miller who led the litany of lies?

Towards The Dictatorship Of ‘Aam Admi’
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Lawmakers will have to think how can a party with 54% of votes get 95% of seats? Is it not highly disproportionate of their vote percentage? BJP with 32% of votes could manage with 5% while Congress with 9% vote did not get anything. India will pay a heavy price with this when elections are becoming joke and highly ‘personalised’ and personality based and those who have capacity to pay will be able to manage otherwise ordinary activists and workers have no place in such a ‘democracy’. We must shift to Proportionate Electorate System so that diverse groups have representation in our Parliament and Assemblies and we will be saved from such a situation when a ‘democratic’ mandate does not become threat to ‘democracy’ itself

Delhi People's Wise Verdict
By T. Venkateshwarlu

People verdict reflects the anger on mainstream ruling and opposition parties and their aspiration to the alternative parties. People have lot of hopes and aspirations on AAP. It is critical to AAP fulfill the aspirations of the people. AAP particularly Kejriwal has to change his work style and learn from people, organizations and experts to practice good governance

Jammu And Kashmir Police: A Need Of Paradigm Shift
By Imran Khan

There is need to educate and train cops from J&K Police in police & public safety psychology, human psychology, interpersonal relations, communication skills, social skills, emotional intelligence, management of stress, negotiation, crowd control (without lethal weapons) mob behavior, crisis management, community policing etc. To win community's trust and bring peace a sincere paradigm shift is a must, such a paradigm shift may in no way mean cessation of police efforts to control crime, it just means a new and more humane way of dealing with people

Kashmir: Sadhbhavna At Stake
By Saqib Hassan

21st century is an era of human rights, digital revolution and information sharing. In this era if they have to make a place as a respectable organisation within Kashmiri society, they need to impart behavioural training to their men, follow Retd. General Hasnain’s doctrine “Heart as Weapon”, understand local culture and sensitivities, accepting past mistakes sincerely and most importantly keep Human Right violations in check. If they have to transform society then they need internal transformation also

Jammu And Kashmir In Search Of Sincere Leadership
By Masood Ali Mir

People in Jammu and Kashmir are yet to see a sincere political leader who would serve this piece of land mostly known as the paradise on earth. The land has never been served by anyone except the saints most importantly Sheikh of Sheikh’s Sheikh-ul-Alam and Lal Ded, who by their pure actions created a sense of common brotherhood, a sense of belonging and a sense to serve the needy by the concept of Kashmiriyat others be it political leadership or the social workers always played the role of impure selfish politics and deconstructed the much cherished Kashmiriyat

10 Feruary, 2015

BJP Routed In Delhi; End of "Modi Wave"?
By Countercurrents

It seems that BJP president Amit Shah's tactics of dividing and polarising socieity to win elections didn't pay off rich dividents in Delhi. Modi's charisma that won BJP so many elections in the past failed to impress the Delhi voters. Does it mean that the "Modi Wave" has finally subsided?

Is Peace or War At Hand?
By Paul Craig Roberts

Perhaps Putin's patience is finally paying off. There are reports that Germany and France oppose Washington's plan to send weapons to Ukraine. French president Hollande now supports autonomy for the break-away republics in Ukraine. His predecessor, Sarkozy, said that Crimea chose Russia and we cannot blame them, and that the interests of Americans and Europeans diverge when it comes to Russia. Germany's foreign minister says that Washington's plan to arm Ukraine is risky and reckless. And on top of it all, Cyprus has offered Russia an air base

The Shift
By Kathy Kelly

'Our society barely recognizes the futility of imprisoning people for onerously long sentences,' writes Kelly who is now serving a 3-month sentence for protesting the use of armed drones overseas by the U.S. military

A Truth Most Jews Don't Want To Know About Anti-Semitism
By Alan Hart

The only people who can stop the transformation of anti-Israelism into anti-Semitism gathering momentum are the Jews themselves, with those who are citizens of the European nations and America taking the lead. How could they do it? Short answer - by declaring that Israel does not speak for or represent them and that they condemn its defiance of international law and denial of justice for the Palestinians. If they don't do that there will most likely be a final Zionist ethnic cleansing of Palestine followed at some point by a wide awake giant of anti-Semitism going on the rampage again

The US Police And Surveillance State
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal

After 40 years in the United States of America, Palestinian-American Professor Sami al-Arian was deported to Turkey. He was born in Kuwait. His parents were Palestinian refugees. He had tenure at the University of South Florida. His ordeal began after a contentious interview with Bill O'Reilly on the right-wing channel "Fox News " and lasted for twelve years

Cuba Uncensored
By David Swanson

This evening, February 9, 2015, a handful of visitors from the land to the north asked an assistant (or "instructional" which I take to be a step below "assistant") professor of philosophy about his studies and his teaching experiences here in Cuba. One of our group made the mistake of asking whether this philosopher thought of Fidel as a philosopher. The result was an almost Fidel-length response that had little to do with philosophy and everything to do with criticizing the president

Burning Truth: Fire As U.S. Policy
By Mickey Z.

Obviously, there's nothing positive to say about ISIS, their behavior, or how/why they came to be. But we'll never address and end such atrocities while operating within the confines of a mindset fueled by willful, nationalistic denial

Alan Greenspan, Greece And The Media
By Jon V Kofas

Germany and the Western EU banks have been using the public debt of the periphery EU countries as leverage to impose neoliberal policies and maintain their economic dependence on the core countries of northwest Europe. Why would they want to slaughter these cows that have been providing and will be providing milk for decades to come?

Saying No To Torture: A Gallery of American Heroes 
By Rebecca Gordon

Some of those who rejected torture, like CIA official John Kiriakou and an as-yet-unnamed Navy nurse, directly refused to practice it. Some risked reputations and careers to let the people of this country know what their government was doing. Sometimes an entire agency, like the FBI, refused to be involved in torture. I'd like to introduce you to six of these heroes

Niall Ferguson On Kissinger’s World Order (Part Five)
By Thomas Riggins

This is the fundamental question. Until the American people unite around their interests, the interests of the 99% (metaphorically speaking) and arrive at a consensus about the sort of country and world they want to live in— one that fosters the well being of all working and laboring peoples and not just the tiny group at the top of society, until then the US will have a foreign policy geared towards war and domination as it has at least since 1945, and the Kissingers of the future will ensure that there will be no chances of a world order based on human dignity and peace

Perumal Murugan's Right To Freedom Of Expression: A Tip Of The Iceberg
By Maharathi

The Tamil writer episode is just a tip of the larger iceberg. The name of the iceberg is Hindutva

Kashmir: The Azadi Illusion
By Bilal Shaheen

Just as individuals do nations too should take stock of their lives. We must ask ourselves as a society, and as a nation, is Azadi the only viable and ultimate solution to the "complex state-of-affairs" in Kashmir we were attested to?. Is there any alternative to it? If yes, what is that noble Idea and what should be done to cherish it?

Why AAP Government In Delhi Should Abandon Biometric Aadhaar
To Reverse Congress & BJP's Legacy Of "Intrusive Bullying"?
By Gopal Krishna

I seek your urgent intervention even as the biometric profile of every current and future Indian political leader and official is being stored by foreign governments and companies, yet another act of belittling state legislatures and parliament has been performed with impunity

AAP Ki Dilli: A Sweeping Drub of Political Stereotypes
By Sazzad Hussain

The non-visibility of the development dream promised by Narendra Modi in the last eight months, his government’s pro-market policies and centralized structure failed to impress the Delhi voters as the anti-incumbency factor was absent this time. For the Congress, the party was completely out of the contention, never seemed to be in the fray. Thus the common men in Delhi have gone for an alternative

Landslide Victory Of AAP Has Many Meaning :A Corruption Free, Coercion Free India
By Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava

There may be many interpretations of AAP’s victory but its one major fallout can be seen in the field of administrative efficiency where issue of corruption may take place precedence over other ones

09 Feruary, 2015

Uphold Rule Of Law, Peace And Harmony; Demands Conference Of The Catholic Bishops Of India
Press Release

140 Bishops from across the country attending the 27th Plenary Assembly of the Conference of the Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) during February 3–9 in Bangalore, India, expressed their deep anguish and concern over increasing threats to peace and communal harmony in India. They said,it is high time for the Government - that has the bounden duty of protecting its citizens and their rights - to enforce the rule of law and curb the belligerence of the outfits defiling peace and communal harmony in the nation

Obama's Provocative Remarks At The National Prayer Breakfast
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

President Obama personally added a reference to the Crusades in his speech this week at the National Prayer Breakfast hoping to add context and nuance to his condemnation of Islamic terrorists by noting that people also committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ, the New York Times quoted presidential aides as saying on Friday. The White House has defended President Obama's remarks after he was widely lambasted by conservatives for bringing up acts done in Christianity's name amid a discussion of modern-day terrorist threats, The Hill reported

New Video Evidence Of America's Coup In Ukraine — And What It Means
By Eric Zuesse

New video evidence has been added to the already-conclusive video evidence which shows that the U.S. Government was the controlling power behind the extremely violent and illegal 18-27 February 2014 Ukrainian coup, which overthrew the democratically elected and never legally removed-from-power Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych

As UK Lackeys Or US Lackeys Australians Have Invaded
85 Countries (British 193, French 80, US 70)
By Dr Gideon Polya

As UK lackeys or US lackeys Australians have invaded 85 countries as compared to the British 193, France, 80, the US 70 and Apartheid Israel 12. History ignored yields history repeated and look-the-other-way Australia is consequently now into its Seventh Iraq War of the last 100 years

Burying Vietnam, Launching Perpetual War: How Thanking The Veteran
Meant Ignoring What Happened 
By Christian Appy

From the Vietnam War, the Pentagon and its apologists learned fundamental lessons about how to burnish, bend, and bury the truth. The results have been devastating. The fashioning of a bogus American tragedy from a real Vietnamese one has paved the way for so many more such tragedies, from Afghanistan to Iraq, Pakistan to Yemen, and -- if history is any guide -- an unknown one still emerging, no doubt from another of those 133 countries

The Rise Of The Islamic State - ISIS And The New Sunni Revolution
Book Review By Jim Miles

In clear concise language and format, Patrick Cockburn presents a more realistic story of the rise of ISIS in his latest work, The Rise of the Islamic State. Rather than being a sudden event, it is seen to be a logical progression of events backgrounded by the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan

Don't Trust The US, Says Fidel
By Farooque Chowdhury

Amidst weeks of mainstream media-gossip about Fidel the world again heard the voice: “I do not trust the policy of the United States, nor have I exchanged one word with them …” 

Cuba Is Hot
By David Swanson

The buildings, the cars, the sidewalks look as if time stopped in 1959. But did Cuba choose to stop time on purpose? Or to stop it in certain ways? Or is it something one is not supposed to say or think? We'll be meeting with many Cubans in the coming week, those the government perhaps wants us to meet and those it perhaps doesn't

America's Counter-Terrorism Culture
By Jon V Kofas

The core issue of my article was really very simple: Can a society with counterterrorism as a core political and cultural value widely practiced be democratic, given that counterterrorism necessarily leads toward undemocratic practices at home and abroad? Moreover, even if we accept counterterrorism as a necessary evil, has it been effective inn the last 15 years? Studies show that terrorism has been rising not declining, while the political and economic costs to society have been immense

Deworm To Not Lose Gains Made On Child Health And Nutrition
By Bobby Ramakant

Government of India is observing National Deworming Day on 10th February to control infections in children caused by Soil-Transmitted Helminths (STH) or intestinal worms, which are among the most common infections worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 241 million children between the ages of 1 and 14 are at risk of STH infection in India. These worms live in human intestines and consume nutrients meant for the human body

08 Feruary, 2015

Meeting In Moscow Fails To Produce Agreement As US Plots Escalation In Ukraine
By Niles Williamson

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande met for approximately five hours with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday in an attempt to hash out what has been described as a last-ditch effort to resolve the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. The talks concluded Friday evening without any agreement, and the two European leaders left Moscow late at night without making a press statement. There were pledges of further discussions this weekend on a ceasefire between Ukrainian armed forces and pro-Russian separatists in the country’s eastern Donbass region

Report On Putin Shows Poor Thinking Level Of USA
By Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava

The Pentagon report that Vladimir Putin is having Asperger’s syndrome having autistic features come out as a great surprise and shock to the world. More appalling is that Putin’s mother too have linked with the disease. This shows how much decline in the diplomacy has taken place from US side that even those who have no relations with the contemporary politics are used to justify the decided objectives. This is antifeminist approach of US diplomacy

Genocide In Kashmir: India’s Shame
By Andre Vltchek

Welcome to Kashmir! It is deep winter. The mountains are covered with snow and the naked trees above the lakes at sunset, look melancholic and magnificent, precisely like a completed Chinese brush painting. Welcome to a nation overrun by the 700,000-strong security forces of the occupying power – India. Welcome to the continuous presence of barbed wire, of military columns, and ‘security checks’. Welcome to a brutality unimaginable almost anywhere else on earth!

War Is The Failure Of Humanity
By Gary Corseri

Every war is a failure of humanity—a triumph of prejudices and ignorance; the innocents caught in the vises and machinations of the more clever, the more manipulative, the more immoral; the more “savage.” As Pete Seeger used to sing, “When will we ever learn?”

Prince Charles: The Ceremonial Pimp Of British-Saudi Venality And Hypocrisy
By Nu’man Abd al-Wahid

Conducting business with the Saudis and the other Gulf nepotistic despots today is just as important to British prosperity as piracy, the slave trade, imperialist military conquest and colonialism was in the past

Hezbollah: The Global Footprint Of Terror or A Pretext For War Against Iran?
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal

The Zionist lobby uses Hezbollah as a scapegoat but it's real target is Iran. At this point, Mathew Levitt, who works for WINEP, comes into play. He has not only cartooned Hamas in 2006 as a "Terrorist Organization" but also Hezbollah in his latest book. What he and his buddy Adam Goldman from the Washington Post had to say about Hezbollah was just beyond the pale. Levitt was quoted several times in the Post

Postcard From The End of America: Bridesburg, Philadelphia
By Linh Dinh

One of the oldest white settlements in the Philadelphia area, this bend in the river was populated by Swedes, Germans then Poles, who came in the early 20th century to work in the tannery. It was shit work, literally, for dog shit was used to cure hides. Rohm and Hass and AlliedSignal, two chemical companies, then moved in to add cancers and birth defects to the stomach turning aroma. In fact, for several years Bridesburg was ranked as the most toxic zip code in all of Pennsylvania. Locals could also make bullets or forge steel for a living. Mike, a 57-year-old Pole, recounted the good old days, “With the Arsenal, Rohm and Hass and the Foundry, you didn't have to leave the neighborhood to work. You could walk to work!”

06 Feruary, 2015

German, French Leaders Fly To Russia Amidst Warnings Of “Total War” Over Ukraine
By Alex Lantier

As fighting between pro-Russian separatists and the NATO-backed Kiev regime escalates in east Ukraine, and as NATO foreign ministers announced a massive troop deployment throughout Eastern Europe, France and Germany have suddenly announced plans to travel to Russia to propose a new “peace plan.”

Chomsky And Kissinger Agree: Avoid The Historic Tragedy Of Ukraine
By Kevin Zeese

The views of Henry Kissinger and Noam Chomsky on this conflict are quite similar, though it's difficult to find two more polar opposites regarding U.S. foreign policy. Indeed, Chomsky has been a long-time critic of Kissinger for the bombings in Southeast Asia and the various coups against democratic leaders that occurred during his tenure. Yet when it comes to Ukraine, Chomsky and Kissinger essentially agree with each other. They disagree with the more hawkish Obama administration and the even more extreme Sen. John McCain — who are both escalating the conflict in their own ways

US, Ukraine And Russia: What Went Wrong?
By Kim Scipes

Two widely recognized authorities on big power politics and NATO recently gave a public talk on the current situation in the Ukraine at the Evanston (Illinois) Public Library. Organized by the Evanston Neighbors for Peace, John J. Mearsheimer, the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, and Rick Rozoff, a long-time activist who maintains the "Stop NATO—Opposition to Global Militarism" web site , spent three hours recently trying to cut through the lies and obfuscation that the US public has been fed around the current developments in Ukraine

Ukraine: Hypermasculinity And World-Ending Weapons
By Winslow Myers

Escalating tensions in the Ukraine raise the concern that the “firebreak” between conventional and the tactical nuclear weapons potentially available to all parties in the conflict could be breached, with unforeseen consequences

A Tale Of Two Movies
By John Reuwer

As a student and teacher of nonviolent action, I was disheartened last week to wake up and read of the box office success of what I thought was yet another shoot-em-up action film, the American Sniper, while the same day noting that a film about my field, Selma, though successful, was not even in the same ballpark with the money. It made me wonder why, so I went to see them

The ‘Great War’ of Sinai: How To Lose A ‘War On Terror’
By Ramzy Baroud

The Sinai Peninsula has moved from the margins of Egyptian body politic to the uncontested center, as Egypt’s strong man - President Abdul Fatah al-Sisi - finds himself greatly undercut by the rise of an insurgency that seems to be growing stronger with time

Activist Anger: Is Your Aim True?
By Mickey Z.

What motivates any human -- especially one living in relative privilege -- to embrace the unpopular and challenging path of activism? Of course, there are many particular/specific reasons but I’ll posit that the underlying emotion is most often anger

Sustainability Is The Key To Beat Climate Change
By Marianne de Nazareth

What came out very strongly from the conference which had hundreds of businessmen present is that developing countries can still look at a development trajectory without having to compromise the planet by using fossil fuels. Green is the way to go and clearly it is a win- win situation for all

Writing The War On Terror: Language, Politics And Counter-Terrorism by Richard Jackson
A Book Review By Gola Traub

A prominent feature of the War on Terror is the set of vivacious terms and phrases coined and deployed by the US political elites. In this book Richard Jackson uses discourse analysis to show how these expressions are used to securitize - to describe, interpret and prioritize a potential danger or provocation as an existential threat

Behind Sangh Parivar’s Ghar Wapsi, The politics Of Power And Profit
By Ajaya Kumar Singh

A series of attacks and forced conversion of Christians are taking place in the Bastar region of Chattisgarh state of India. A few concerned citizens visited the region on a fact finding mission. This report is based on that visit

Indian Democracy At The Crossroads
By Ram Puniyani

What is required is a multi pronged movement based on the rights and concerns of Dalits, women, workers, Adivasis and minorities in particular. We need to form alliances and platforms to coordinate our campaigns for the defence of our democratic rights. All those standing for democracy and secularism need to come together in solidarity. We have to hold hands and march together to protect our democracy. We need to work towards isolation of communal forces by pushing for alliance of non communal political formations

‘Adivasi Campaign’ Demands Rejection Of The Land Acquisition Ordinance, 2014
By Adivasi Campaign for Human Rights

The present BJP led National Democratic Alliance government introduced an ordinance on 31st December 2014 to amend the LARRA. The Ordinance set aside the five major safeguards – social impact assessment, mandatory consent of the affected people, provisions to safeguard food security of the communities, punishment to the government officials and returning of unutilised land to the original land owners. These amendments effectively reintroduced the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 and ought to be rejected for the following reasons

Seat Chodo Activist: Control By Any Means
By Arshie Qureshi

Since the choice of clothing should be utterly personal bearing in mind the setting, the dissent here has the potential of becoming the main arena of societal disharmony. Dressing up based on choice and not having to be shamed would represent a critical marker of social identity of the women for a human ceases to be so when he/she cannot chose and relaxing them from exercising their choice is freeing them from a larger responsibility

04 Feruary, 2015

ISIS Releases Video Of Barbaric Execution Of Jordanian Pilot
By Will Morrow

The execution by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) of captive Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh, depicted in a video published by the terrorist outfit and widely circulated on social media on Tuesday, is a barbaric and heinous act. The grisly 22-minute video, which shows al-Kasasbeh doused in gasoline kneeling in a cage then set alight, has provoked revulsion among ordinary people around the world

Six Live Cremations The West Wants You To Ignore
By Robert Barsocchini

While ISIS has now used live cremation as a weapon of terror, the United States' cremation tactics, exhibited through today in continual bombings, build on its foundation of using live cremation as both a weapon of terror and a method of exterminating targeted populations. US colonists would burn indigenous women, children, men, and the elderly alive in closed off camps and structures and shoot, stab or bludgeon to death anyone who managed to to try to flee. Countless thousands were thus exterminated to create the United States. US/Western tactics, as seen in examples above, have since been expanded around the globe

US Loses Its Grip On Israel And Palestinians
By Jonathan Cook

For 20 years, the White House stood guard over the peace process, reserving for itself the role of stewarding Israel and the Palestinians to a resolution of their conflict. Like some Godfather, the US expected unquestioning loyalty. But Washington’s primacy in the relationship with both the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships is unravelling at astonishing speed

The Western Intervention In The Middle East:
From The Campbell-Bannerman Recommendations To The Current Situation
By Dr Salim Nazzal

The current situation in the region is somehow similar to the situation of the 1916. The states are disintegrating, and the super powers and Israel are active in reshaping the region to fit their interest following Julius Ceaser’s principle of divide and rule. The Middle East has entered a dark stage of its history, which may last for many years

Detroit After Bankruptcy: From The “Zen of Emergency Management”
To The Sinn of Ausnahmezustand
By Frank X Murphy

So this is where we stand today.The Sinn of Detroit's intense, all-consuming Ausnahmezustand in the wake of the “Zen of emergency management”. Our reality exposes all the Chamber of Commerce's “happy talk” as the bullshit it is. A community in this shape might be on its way to a brighter future.But only if and when its People fight back against bankrupting corporate forces calling the shots

It's The Blind Partisanship
By David Swanson

Why did the peace movement grow large around 2003-2006 and shrink around 2008-2010? Military spending, troop levels abroad, and number of wars engaged in can explain the growth but not the shrinkage. Those factors hardly changed between the high point and the low point of peace activism

Monsanto's Shares Surge As Its Drive To Force GM Crops Into India Gathers Pace
By Colin Todhunter

Responding to the decision to sanction the field trials in Maharashtra, Monsanto India shares jumped 18 percent on Monday 2 February and the company was headed towards its biggest daily gain since September 2014

Zakaria's Story: Listen To The Sighs From Indian Jails!
By K.P. Sasi

Zakaria is completing six years in prison on February5, 2015. On this day, we must not only listen to the sighs of thousands of innocent people like Zakaria who are languishing in Indian jails, but also the sighs of their dearest ones, struggling to gather justice for their kith and kin. Justice in this country will not be received as a charity. It is something that the people of this country will have to struggle for!

03 Feruary, 2015

Peak Oil: After The Peak
By Richard Heinberg

Just as the rate of the world’s liquid fuels production may be about to crest the curve, we’re hearing that warnings of peak oil were wrongheaded all along. The world is in the midst of a supply glut and prices are declining, tireless resource optimists remind us. Surely this disproves those pessimistic prophets of peril! However, as long-time peakist commentator Ron Patterson notes: Peak oil will be the point in time when more oil is produced than has ever been produced in the history of the world, or ever will be in the future of the world. It is far more likely that this period will be thought of as a time of an oil glut rather than a time of an oil shortage

Malcolm X Was Right About America
By Chris Hedges

Malcolm X, unlike Martin Luther King Jr., did not believe America had a conscience. For him there was no great tension between the lofty ideals of the nation—which he said were a sham—and the failure to deliver justice to blacks. He, perhaps better than King, understood the inner workings of empire. He had no hope that those who managed empire would ever get in touch with their better selves to build a country free of exploitation and injustice

Why Washington Post Gives Low Iraq Death Estimate
By Robert Barsocchini

A recent Washington Post article states that the US invasion of Iraq caused “well over 100,000 deaths”. Undeniably true. However, the careful phrasing is a way of printing the lowest possible number of deaths caused by the illegal invasion, and is intended to foster an environment conducive to continued US militarism and international criminality

Remembrance of Wars Past 
By Tom Engelhardt

Why There Is No Massive Antiwar Movement in America 

Born At War
By David Swanson

Foreword to America's Oldest Professions: Warring and Spying

The Authoritarianism Of The American Police State
By Matt Peppe

As with the killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and many others, laws are not applied equally to police. Crimes by police are rationalized and distorted by the criminal justice system to shield state authorities from accountability for their actions. The corporate media defends their ideological position and translates it into the narrative portrayed to the public. In this way, the police and the elite media work together to maintain the legitimacy of the authoritarian system upon which their privileged position in society - and that of the wealthy who benefit from it - rests

American Sniper: Humanizing And Glorifying A Mass Murderer For The Empire
By Larry Everest

Many who are praising the film say the movie is about him, not about the politics of the Iraq war. Bullshit. American Sniper humanizes and glorifies an unrepentant mass murderer, demonizes and dehumanizes Iraqis as evil terrorists and “savages,” and weaves a fable about the U.S. invasion of Iraq and its role in the world -- whipping up ideological and political support for America’s ongoing crimes against the peoples of the Middle East and world

Slow Death, Fast Profits: Pesticides And Chemical Conflicts In Europe
By Colin Todhunter

A report released last year by the watchdog body Corporate Europe Observatory revealed huge conflicts of interests in the Scientific Committees under DG SANCO, the European Commission's department in charge of consumer issues

Shia Killing And Pakistan Demonic Dogma
By Ismail Salami

The Shia Muslims in Pakistan are victims of a demonic dogma called Wahhabism and as long as the Pakistani government turns a deaf ear and eye to the plight of this persecuted population, there is little hope for them and this irresponsibility on the part of the government will categorically turn into a tragedy of epic proportions

Russian Revolution? What Revolution?
By Alan Johnstone

A number of classic Marxists have described the Russian Revolution as a bourgeois revolution without the bourgeoisie. The Bolsheviks, finding Russia in a very backward condition, were obliged to do what had not been fully done previously, i.e. develop capitalism and they proceeded to perform the task of setting Russian capitalism on its feet

The West Pakistani Refugees
By Masood Ali Mir

A big portion of these refugees in 1947 migrated to the Jammu region of the Jammu and Kashmir state from the Western Pakistan. As per unofficial records the number of these refugees is over 17 lakh that is why this region ( Jammu) has of late earned the distinction of being called as Refugee Capital of Asia. Although these refugees have been give equal status and full citizenship rights in the rest of India by the Indian constitution but in Jammu and Kashmir these refugees could not get the same status and rights given the complex and conflict nature of Jammu and Kashmir within the Indian Union. The Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir do not recognize them and their descendants as ‘state subjects’ or permanent residents of the state till date .These Refugees cannot buy and own properties in the state as per the Article 370. The eligible voters among them figure in the voter list for Lokh Sabha but for the state of Jammu & Kashmir they are not voters. They cannot vote or contest Panchayat and state assembly elections

02 Feruary, 2015

Arundhati Roy And Hundreds Of Others Demand Unconditional
Release Of Prominent Social Activists Arrested In Kerala
By Concerned Citizens

Arundhati Roy and several other intellectuals, writers, social activists and common citizens from around the world demand the release of Jaison Cooper, a well-known social activist and blogger who actively engaged in a variety of people’s struggles in Kerala and Thushar Nirmal Sarathy, a civil rights activist in the forefront of people’s struggles, arrested under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act

As Ukraine Spirals Again Into Violence, US Contemplates Pouring Fuel On Fire
By Jon Queally

With reporting from the New York Times revealing new consideration by the Obama administration to send $3 billion worth of weaponry and military equipment to Ukraine, concerns over a deepening civil war between the Ukraine Army and the eastern rebel factions who reject the authority of the government in Kiev are rising rapidly

Ukraine: “We Target Civilians.” Separatists: “Their Targeting Maps Prove It.”
By Eric Zuesse

The only beneficiaries of today's NATO are the West's arms-merchants and other military suppliers. For everybody else, it's catastrophe waiting to happen. So: that's the reason why the United States has been supporting (and, until now, even demanding) an ethnic-cleansing campaign in the former Ukraine. It's part of the evil and supremely dangerous insanity that is NATO

Kurdistan: ‘Islamic State' Driven Out Of Kobanê
By Serge Jordan

Will the end of Kobanê's siege turn the tide against IS?

When Kathy Kelly Went To Jail
By Gary Corseri

Kathy Kelly is the co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. She has traveled to Iraq and Gaza during wartime--to bear witness and give comfort. The author of “Other Lands Have Dreams," she has been arrested more than sixty times at home and abroad, and written of her experiences among targets of U.S. military bombardment and among inmates of US prisons. In December, 2014, she was sentenced to 90 days in federal prison after she and Georgia Walker had attempted to deliver a loaf of bread and a letter to the commander of Whiteman Air Force base, asking him to stop his troops from piloting lethal drone flights over Afghanistan from within the base. She began serving her sentence on January 23, 2015

Keeping It In The Human Family
By Alan Johnstone

If you still need to be convinced and want to see an example of socialism in action, simply visit your local public library. Anyone can use the public library for free. The same model can be applied to every aspect of society. The library shows people on a daily basis that there is another way to do things besides relying on the private-owned for-profit capitalist market. Libraries are a model that must scare those powerful men and women who cannot abide the idea of a common public good not built on the profit model. Libraries are highly subversive. Perhaps that is why they are endeavouring to shut as many as possible down and a reason why we should all resist these closures

Rosewater: Hollywood’s Morbid Obsession With Iran
By Ismail Salami

Rosewater, a film marking the directorial debut of ‘The Daily Show’ host Jon Stewart, and the showman-turned-director’s first attempt to stoke up flames of Iranophobia in America and the world came to waste due to the inefficiency of the filmmaker on the one hand and the poorly-written scenario on the other

Vintage Churchill
By Robert Barsocchini

Churchill was born into British wealth and prestige. With innumerable avenues open to him, he chose to treat the world as children sometimes treat insects, so he put ruthless effort into the maintenance of Britain's international dictatorship, on which “the sun never set”. A typical example of the Churchill method was the use of terror, mutilation (ripping off mens' testicles), and rape as a weapon to suppress a Kenyan uprising against British tyranny in the 1950s

Forgotten February In The United States Of Aggression
By Mickey Z. 

Since it appears so many folks need reminding that “USA” has always stood for “United States of Aggression,” here are a forgotten few from February's Files

War Is the New Normal 
By William J. Astore

Seven Deadly Reasons Why America's Wars Persist 

Towards A "Newer" World Order?
By G. Asgar Mitha

Muslims should learn from the words of wisdom and the legacy of Desmond Tutu. They must pray with their eyes open for sincere leaders like Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela who will not come from the west but from within their ranks

Republic Day Advertisement: A Blatant Corruption Of The Constitution Of India
By Maj Gen S.G.Vombatkere, VSM (Retd)

An open letter to the President and Vice President of India

“Gandhi’s Assassins
By Subhash Gatade

India seems to be standing on very weak foundations, and the possibility of a Hindu State is far stronger than it was half a century ago, in 1963

Imagining Nehru- An Essay In Two Parts
By Romi Mahajan

My Nehru is in many ways simply described in noun-form: Freedom fighter, socialist, statesman, rationalist, author, prime minister, aesthete, and democrat. So too in adjective-form: revolutionary, secular, rational, democratic, fair, sensitive, empathetic, intelligent, and hard-working

Better To Prevent Rather Than Treat Lung Cancer
By Shobha Shukla

Every 30 seconds, someone, somewhere in the world dies of lung cancer. According to the World Cancer Report 2014, more people die from lung cancer than from any other type of cancer. In 2012 lung cancer was the most commonly diagnosed cancer, with 1.8 million cases worldwide, accounting for 13% of all cancer cases. It also resulted in 1.6 million deaths (19.4% of total cancer deaths)

Kashmir Under AFSPA: Modify or Annul
By Adfar Shah

Amendment or replacement of AFSPA is acceptable to all and given the fact that the Modi Government is annulling certain old laws and Acts, it should include this one too. Politics and rhetoric apart, branding apart, there has to be a middle ground and a basic consensus to tackle this contentious issue. At least the Kashmiris are hopeful about redressal from the Modi government regarding this controversial law so that some sense of a ‘feel secure psyche’ is engendered among the unfairly treated people of Kashmir besides Northeast India. Definitely partial revocation or amendment in AFSPA can bring good will in both Kashmir and Northeast India

September 7, The Day That Forced Us Out Of Our Individual Shells
By Nisar Ahmad Dharma

A story of courage and hope from the floods in Kashmir

Lessons Learned: Jammu And Kashmir Floods Aftermath
By Kashoo Tawseef

It is still not late, that the best brains in the higher echelons of the state approach some professional international organizations and get their assistance to at least establish a disaster management team and how to recover the state from the destruction and at least common people will have some better life

Religion And The Culture Of Intolerance
By Devika Mittal

Religious intolerance is increasing. Charlie Hebdo case is considered to be the latest evidence of it. This case, according to me, is way more complex than it is being seen. It is not just a case of freedom of expression. There is much more to this case. It is debatable. It is true that the cartoons were or can be seen as disturbing but so was the reaction. It is true that a cartoon or art is not for art’s sake. There is a certain ideology behind it. The ideology underlying these cartoon may have been Islamophobia. The objective may have been to clearly disregard Islam but was the reaction justifiable?

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