Articles by Richard Falk

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Pursuing Justice through Law: Edward Said, the Gaza ‘War,’ and Advocacy Jurisprudence
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Mar 2024

9 Mar 2024 – This paper is devoted to several of my recent central concerns. Comments and conversation warmly invited. Adapted from annual Edward W Said Memorial Lecture, the American University in Cairo, 4 Nov 2023.

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The Legacies of David Krieger and Robert Oppenheimer: Iconic Signatures of the Nuclear Age
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Mar 2024

I stress the comparison between Oppenheimer, the film, and Krieger, the civil society star anti-nuclear activist as well as the personae of these two extraordinary individuals.

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Scientists form a Global Anti-War, Anti-Genocide Network: From Hiroshima to Gaza
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Mar 2024

7 Mar 2024 – This is a slightly edited text of a keynote address to an organizational meeting for establishing a worldwide network of Scientists against War and the Destructive Use of Science as stimulated by the Israeli genocide against the civilian population of Gaza.

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Gaza: The Wider Context
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Mar 2024

In Gaza, the West Is Enabling the Most Transparent Genocide in Human History

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Suzanne Hammad on Embedded Palestinian Resistance in Bil’in in West Bank: Rooted in Land and Home
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Feb 2024

6 Feb 2024 – I wanted to share a foreword that I wrote to an exceptional ethnographic study of everyday resistance by residents of the Palestinian village of Bil’in, quite near Ramallah, based on the Suzanne Hammad three years of residence and informed observation.

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Emergency London Conference to Stop Genocide in Gaza
Richard Falk | Middle East Eye - TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Feb 2024

27 Jan 2024 – Prof. Richard Falk Discusses ICJ Ruling and Implications for Israel

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Why International Law Matters even if Israel Refuses to Comply with ICJ Provisional Measures Ruling
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century - TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Jan 2024

17 Jan 2024 – How should we interpret the South Africa allegation that Israel’s military operations in Gaza violate the country’s obligations under the United Nations Genocide Convention and that its actions constitute genocide?

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In Gaza, the West Is Enabling the Most Transparent Genocide in Human History
Richard Falk | Common Dreams – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Jan 2024

17 Jan 2024 – This is extraordinary because the states supporting Israel, above all the United States, have claimed the high moral and legal ground and lectured the states of the Global South about the importance of the rule of law.

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The Barbaric Conduct of the Israeli State Must Be Stopped
Richard Falk, Chandra Muzaffar, Joseph Camilleri | SHAPE – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jan 2024

14 Jan 2024 – The genocidal violence unleashed by Israel in Occupied Palestine has produced unspeakable tragedy and suffering for the Palestinian people. Such barbaric behaviour places the State of Israel outside the bounds of a civilized world. Israel has become a pariah state and must be treated as such by the international community.

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Gaza Webinar: Is Israel Cornered?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jan 2024

Wed, 10 Jan, 7 PM Eastern: The Gaza War, Short & Long-Term Diplomatic Imperatives and Implications for the Middle East and Geopolitics, with panelists Richard Falk, Irene Gendzier, and Assaf Kfoury

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Declaration of Conscience and Concern of Global Intellectuals on Gaza Genocide
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Dec 2023

20 Dec 2023 – This Declaration calls not only for the denunciation of Israel’s genocidal assault but also for taking effective action to permanently prevent its repetition. The urgency of the moment obliges global intellectuals to stand against the ongoing horrific ordeal of the Palestinian people and, most of all, to implore action by those who have the power, and hence the responsibility, to do so.

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David Krieger (27 Mar 1942 – 7 Dec 2023): A Life of Dedication to the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Dec 2023

Although David Krieger devoted his professional life to anti-nuclear scholarship and activism, his underlying motivations were for a world anchored in dignity for all, respect for international law, and a robust UN. Remembering my long, close, cherished friendship reinforces my sense of loss resulting from David’s death. RIP

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Israel’s Genocide: Hate Speech or Truth-Telling?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Dec 2023

The violence unleashed since 8 Oct is only partially directed at Hamas although for credibility reasons this is what Israeli spokespersons emphasize and receives most of the attention… We are left with the imperative of protecting free speech, especially in calling genocide genocide, and with a challenge to take all responsible action to end this scourge.

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Gaza: After Genocide What Future?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Dec 2023

29 Nov 2023 – My responses waver between fears of a resumed Israeli military operation and hopes of confronting day-after issues of post-genocidal economic reconstruction and scenarios of political transformation.

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The Enduring Legacies of Edward Said
Richard Falk | AUC, School of Humanities and Social Sciences – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Dec 2023

21 Nov 2023 – The Department of English and Comparative Literature hosted the Edward Said Memorial Lecture given by Dr. Richard Falk, public intellectual and professor of international law.

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Justifying Genocide, a Shameful Transparent Spectacle
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Nov 2023

Revised version of an interview by Mohaddeseh Pakravan of Mehr News Agency published in the Tehran Times on 16 Nov 2023.

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Interrupting Genocide: Humanity Challenged as Never Before
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Nov 2023

25 Nov 2023 – The ‘pause’ or ‘truce’ as it frequently called in Western media, is detached from the genocide that preceded and closely linked to the Hamas Attack of 7 Oct, which is characterized as ‘terrorism’ whereas Israeli genocidal violence is treated as Israel defending itself on target inflicting massive casualties on Palestinian civilians.

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What Israel Wants? Why Genocide?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Nov 2023

16 Nov 2023 – As the genocidal assault on Gaza continues, Israel remains defiant and the US stands firm in support of its supposed goal of destroying Hamas as a presence in Gaza, but also intent on mounting an ethnic cleansing crusade with a West Bank focus but a Gaza subtext.

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Can Crimes of Resistance Ever Justify Genocide? The Tragic Reality of Gaza
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Nov 2023

3 Nov 2023 – Israel has seized this opportunity to fulfill Zionist territorial ambitions amid “the fog of war” by inducing one last surge of Palestinian catastrophic dispossession. Whether it is called “ethnic cleansing” or “genocide” is of secondary importance; it qualifies as the predominant humanitarian catastrophe of the 21stcentury. 

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Slaughter in Gaza: The Failures of International Law and Responsible Statecraft
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Nov 2023

2 Nov 2023 – Israel’s bloodlust shows international law is ‘a manipulated series of norms.’ International Law Professor Richard Falk says Western leadership becomes “self-righteous” to enforce international law “when it’s in their interest” while in other cases, they remain silent.

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Gaza in Real Time: Geopolitics vs Genocide
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Nov 2023

31 Oct 2023 – Israel has long been a master of what is called in Hebrew hasbara–the spinning, manipulating and distorting of public discourse so that it either justifies what Israel is doing or diverts attention from the message of critics and skeptics to the supposedly questionable credibility of the messenger. ‘The weaponizing of antisemitism’ is a cynical example of the deployment of hasbara.

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Operation Al-Aqsa: Middle East Scholars Weigh in on Gaza–Israel Conflict
Daniel Falcone interviews Richard Falk and Stephen Zunes | CounterPunch - TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Oct 2023

13 Oct 2023 – International relation scholars Richard Falk and Stephen Zunes comment on the politics of Hamas, the role of the press, how international law is applied in the region, human rights for civilians, the nature of terrorism, and the prospects of a Third Intifada.

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Ralph Schoenman: Unsung Hero of Progressive Thought and Action (RIP)
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Oct 2023

30 Sep 2023 – Ralph Schoenman is a member of a trinity of forgotten heroes of US progressive politics, airbrushed from collective memory by mainstream media and even infrequently notice by online, independent publications. The other two are Tony Russo and David Ray Griffin.

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How to Think about the Ukraine War after 18 Months
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Sep 2023

20 Sep 2023 -This text addresses various aspects of the global political setting that has crystallized since the Russian attack of 5 Feb 2022 on Ukraine. The repudiation of diplomacy as an alternative to war, despite the costs and dangers of continuing the Ukraine War, are quite striking.

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Empowering Populism Worldwide
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Sep 2023

Modern Populism: Weaponizing for Power and Influence, by Deepak Tripathi (2023) – Foreword by Richard Falk

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G-7 and BRICS Visions of the Future: Coercive Geopolitics or Multilateral Cooperation?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Sep 2023

17 Sep 2023 – A modified version of this post was published in CounterPunch on 8 Sep 2023, which itself is a reconfigured version appearing earlier on TMS (Transcend Media Service) on 4 Sep. Neither version considers the relevance of the Delhi meeting of the G-20, which represents a weaker and somewhat overlapping grouping compared to either G-7 or BRICS.

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(Italiano) Niger: il calvario del colonialismo perenne
Richard Falk | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Sep 2023

Da allora sono successe molte cose che riguardano il Niger e il modo in cui intendiamo la sua relazione con quel Paese, con la regione del Sahel dell’Africa occidentale, con l’Africa in generale e con la guerra geopolitica di posizione che mette in primo piano la rivalità degli Stati Uniti con Russia e Cina.

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Niger’s Ordeal of Forever Colonialism
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Sep 2023

27 Aug 2023 – A lot has happened since the coup, which affects Niger and how we understand its relation to that country, to the Sahel region, to Africa generally, and to the U.S. rivalry with Russia and China in the foreground. I have taken ‘liberties’ with my answers to address this awareness of the broader context.

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Roads Taken and Not Taken: Two Visions of the Future
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Sep 2023

When the Cold War ended in 1991, the West, and particularly the United States, found itself at a fork in the road. One road led to peace, justice, cooperation, nuclear disarmament, a revitalized UN, inclusiveness, pluralism, human rights, multilateralism, fair trade, regulated markets, food security, sustainability, and humane governance. The other road led to militarism…

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(Italiano) Vietnam e Palestina/Israele: un confronto tra legge e guerra
Richard Falk | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Sep 2023

31 Agosto 2023 – Il testo che segue è la mia prefazione a un confronto di conflitti di eccezionale valore: Vietnam e Palestina/Israele. Queste due regioni mi hanno preoccupato per tutta la mia carriera professionale e nel corso della mia vita di cittadino attivista.

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Law & War: A Comparison of Vietnam and Palestine/Israel
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Aug 2023

26 Aug 2023 – The text below is my foreword to an exceptionally valuable comparison of conflicts: Vietnam and Arab-Israeli.

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Quran Desecration and Freedom of Expression
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Aug 2023

The harder efforts are made to stop this highly objectionable behavior by Islamophobic and right-wing extremists groups, the greater is their temptation to persist in such action. In the short-term what these groups seek is public recognition and media attention, not power or authority.

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Innovative Regional Dialogue: Iran, Iraq, and Six Gulf Countries
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Aug 2023

7 Aug 2023 – The regional dialogue scheduled for Sep 2023 is a notable breakthrough, by diplomatic initiatives, to replace tensions with stability in the Middle East, and in the process gaining political independence from U.S./Israel hegemony. This development also reflects the increased involvement of China in the region.

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Why Is the West Bank Under Assault by Settlers and Netanyahu Government?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 31 Jul 2023

24 Jul 2023 – While the media focus has been on ‘the judiciary overhaul’ confrontation between antagonistic Jewish factions as to the ‘democratic’ character of Israel, the unifying themes in apartheid Israel remain the further marginalization of the Palestinians in their own homeland.

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Asia-Pacific NATO: Fanning the Flames of War (SHAPE Webinar)
Richard Falk, Joseph Camilleri and Chandra Muzaffar | SHAPE - TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Jul 2023

“I encourage attendance at this webinar on July 4 or 5, depending on time zone, devoted to encroachment of NATO on Asia-Pacific security, with excellent speakers.”
— Richard Falk

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Daniel Ellsberg: A U.S. Hero
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Jun 2023

25 Jun 2023 – If democracy survives the digital age with its scary newly appreciated AI dimensions, it will be thanks to brave whistleblowers starting with Ellsberg and continuing with Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and Jack Teixeira, individuals currently hounded as criminals by the U.S. government.

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(Italiano) Dar retta al ‘grido accorato’ di Cornel West
Richard Falk | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Jun 2023

La reazione di Biden all’attacco russo all’Ucraina non è stata di quelle che cercano quanto prima una tregua e un compromesso diplomatico. Ha optato piuttosto per armamento e assistenza tali da sostenere una guerra protratta in Ucraina come dimostrazione del la rinascita della NATO a guida USA, a quanto pare non tanto motivata per la difesa dell’Ucraina ma per un incontenibile interesse ad umiliare Putin e sconfiggere la Russia. E non solo.

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Heeding Cornel West’s ‘Cri de Coeur’
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Jun 2023

Biden’s response to the Russian attack on Ukraine was not for a ceasefire and diplomatic compromise but for weaponry and assistance to sustain a prolonged war as a demonstration of US-led NATO resurgence; not motivated by the defense of Ukraine but by an overwhelming interest in humiliating Putin and defeating Russia. Not only this.

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Assessing Big History at a Time of Global Crisis
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 May 2023

27 May 2023 – To achieve positive forms of change at a time of multiple converging crises imperiling the human species and its natural habitat is the ‘crisis of crises’ facing humanity at this time.

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War Prevention Depends on Respecting Invisible Geopolitical Fault Lines
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 May 2023

18 May 2023 – ‘Rule-governed’ seems to be a synonym to international law. But Blinken makes no such claim to rationalize U.S. international behavior as ‘law-governed,’ but rather believe, following Thucydides, ‘that strong do as they will, while the weak do as they must.’

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Ambiguous Geopolitical Fault Lines Endanger World Peace
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Apr 2023

The idea of ‘geopolitical fault lines’ is not well established in the practice or theory of international relations, but their existence is profoundly relevant to the maintenance of peace and security because of the failure of international law to set consistently respected limits on the behavior of political actors, granting them impunity for acting beyond the limits of the law.

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Democracy at Risk for Jews in Israel, Bare Survival for Palestinians
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Apr 2023

7 Apr 2023 – Israeli police violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque directed at Palestinian worshipers in the midst of Ramadan on the nights of April 5 and 6 is a serious violation of international arrangements in Jerusalem to protect Muslim holy sites, none more sacred than Al-Aqsa.

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In Homage to David Ray Griffin: Indispensable Public Intellectual
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Feb 2023

I think it was the successful branding of the 9/11 skeptics as ‘wacky’ that proved more useful in squelching their influence than by labeling them as ‘dangerous,’ ‘subversive,’ and ‘radical’ or ‘socialist.’ It might be understood as the advent of a more advanced, more sophisticated version of McCarthyism, a discrediting ploy that George Orwell would have immediately understood.

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Saint Valentine
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Feb 2023

14 Feb 2023 – A whimsical poem to celebrate the love legacy of Saint Valentine, written by Marianne Moore 63 years ago, published in The New Yorker on 13 Feb 1960, dedicated by me to all of us who love poetry and dare to love love on Valentine’s Day 2023.

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Biden’s Misplaced Optimism: 2023 State of the Union Address
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Feb 2023

18 Feb 2023 – The national situation is far too deeply challenged for us to be content with presidential bromides. What is most needed are policies and practices that embody compassion, and are dedicated with the fullness of being to responding to the imperatives of human security at all levels of social interaction.

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Ukraine, Rethinking Global Security—Webinar
Richard Falk, Chandra Muzaffar, et al. | SHAPE – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Feb 2023

Our second webinar on 23 Feb 2023 draws lessons from the Ukraine war and sets new pathways to global security. An initiative to address the multiple crises that brought us to the brink of the precipice. Doomsday Clock: 90 seconds to midnight.

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Antony Blinken Plays the ‘Two Sides Game’: Getting Netanyahu/Israel off the Hook
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Feb 2023

31 Jan 2023 – Antony Blinken is the most lightweight Secretary of State, a fitting complement to the overweight Mike Pompeo. Together they could do a late night TV comedy routine on the ‘arrogance of decline’ when it comes to US foreign policy in the Trump/Biden years.

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Ukraine: Rethinking Global Security–Saving Humanity and Planet Earth
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century - TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Feb 2023

Saving Humanity and Planet Earth (SHAPE) is an initiative to address the multiple crises that have brought us to the brink of the precipice. This, our second webinar to be held on 22/23 February 2023, draws lessons from the Ukraine war and sets new pathways to global security.

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Lifting the Curtain: Barbara Walters
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Jan 2023

21 Jan 2023 – This post is a departure from my usual focus on current political concerns. It attempts a mini-exploration of the public/private interface of a news and entertainment celebrity, especially known for her ability to go ‘persona,’ and even enter intimate terrain with some of the most famous political leaders of our time.

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Israeli Settler Colonialism and Apartheid: Poised for Victory or Defeat?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 16 Jan 2023

13 Jan 2023 – Anyone with but half eye open during the last several decades should by now be aware of the existence of an undisclosed Zionist Long Game that preceded the establishment of Israel in 1948,  and remains currently very much alive. It aims at extending Israeli sovereignty over the whole of Occupied Palestine.

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Harvard University Succumbs
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Jan 2023

7 Jan 2023 – Harvard University Withdraws a Fellowship from Kenneth Roth & Human Rights Watch

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Toward Justice for Kashmir
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Jan 2023

18 Dec 2022 – Among the self-determination struggles of our time, Kashmir is at risk of being forgotten by most of the world (except for Pakistan), while its people continue to endure the harsh crimes of India’s intensifying military occupation that has already lasted 75 years.

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(Italiano) Elezioni israeliane 2022: una vittoria per i “coloni” colonialisti o per la lotta di Liberazione Palestinese?
Richard Falk | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Nov 2022

Non c’è dubbio che le elezioni israeliane 2022 del 1°novembre [U.S..] saranno d’importanza durevole. I mesi e gli anni a venire riveleranno se Israele consolida il suo status di stato coloniale di coloni o se la lotta palestinese aumenta la sua resistenza al dominio israeliano rafforzata da un crescente movimento di solidarietà globale.

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What to Expect from Netanyahu & Religious Zionism
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Nov 2022

A Preliminary Appraisal

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2022 Israeli Elections: A Victory for Settler Colonialists or for the Palestinian Liberation Struggle?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Nov 2022

There is no doubt that the November 1st Israeli elections will be of lasting significance. The months and years ahead will reveal whether Israel consolidates its status as a settler colonial state or the Palestinian struggle increases its resistance to Israeli rule reinforced by an intensifying global solidarity movement.

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Call on the Future of Humanity
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Oct 2022

A webinar to build a global community of endorsers to work for a better future for this lonely endangered planet.

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(Italiano) Guerra in Ucraina: la scalata verso l’oblio
Richard Falk | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Oct 2022

Washington non solo ha mobilitato il mondo per denunciare l’aggressione della Russia, ma ha fornito armi avanzate in grandi quantità agli ucraini per resistere all’attacco russo, e ha fatto tutto il possibile all’ONU e altrove per costruire una coalizione punitiva ostile alla Russia, accompagnando il tutto con una serie di sanzioni e la demonizzazione di Putin. Questa prospettiva di propaganda di Stato è stata fedelmente veicolata da un filtro mediatico occidentale autocensurante.

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Ukraine War: Climbing the Escalation Ladder to Oblivion
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Oct 2022

Not only did Washington mobilize the world to denounce Russia’s ‘aggression,’ but supplied advanced weaponry in great quantities to the Ukrainians doing all it could at the UN and elsewhere to build a punitive coalition hostile to Russia, coupled with a variety of sanctions and the demonization of Putin. This perspective of state propaganda was faithfully conveyed by a self-censoring Western media.

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Will Saudi Leadership of OPEC Clash with U.S. Strategic Partnership?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Oct 2022

Reevaluating US Relations with Saudi Arabia after OPEC+ Oil Production Cut

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On Loving the ‘Vietnam Syndrome’
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Oct 2022

2 Oct 2022 – Never, in my opinion, is the country and world more in need of a second coming of the Vietnam Syndrome than at present, with pressures building for an existential nuclear confrontation more menacing to contemplate than was the Cuban Missile Crisis 60 years ago.

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Please Endorse Our Call for Global Peace
Chandra Muzaffar, Richard Falk and Joseph Camilleri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Oct 2022

26 Sep 2022 – This call prepared by the undersigned has been endorsed by 38 individuals from a wide array of nationalities across the globe. They are mainly public intellectuals and activists who have been involved in a variety of causes over the years. We have shared our call with the U.N Secretary General, as well as with other leaders involved directly in the Ukraine and Taiwan Crises, and with those who have tried to mediate.

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What Makes Ukraine Different from Serbia? Why Kosovo? Why Not Donbas?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Sep 2022

Defying Serbian Territorial Sovereignty in Kosovo, Upholding Ukrainian Territorial Sovereignty in the Donbas Region – The blind eye turned toward denials of the right of self-determination to the Palestinian people in what had been their own country of Palestine represents a flagrant example of international double standards.

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Ukraine: War, Statecraft, and Geopolitical Conflict—the Nuclear Danger
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Sep 2022

14 Sep 2022 – The risk of nuclear escalation in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a subject of considerable debate in the United States among scholars, policy analysts and media commentators. These debates reveal a broad spectrum of views from those who dismiss Russian references to nuclear capabilities as mere saber rattling to those who worry that if Russian President Vladimir Putin finds his back to the wall in Ukraine, he may resort to tactical nuclear strikes.

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Appraising Mikhail Gorbachev
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Sep 2022

6 Sep 2022 – Mikhail Gorbachev had the greatest historical impact of any public figure since WW II. It is a bitterly polarized legacy of admiration and historical achievement in the West and one of contempt and almost total disrepute in Russia.

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Is It Time to Stop Bullying Iran? Washington Should Restore the Nuclear Program Agreement with Iran Now
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Sep 2022

4 Sep 2022 – It is time for the morally attuned public to awake to the reality that a nuclear Israel has neither security justifications nor political grounds for its continuing bullying of Iran. Iran’s political solidarity with some movements in the region pales in its gravity compared to the U.S. and Israel’s discretionary bombing, political assassinations, interventions, and violations of the basic sovereign rights of countries in the Middle East.

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(Italiano) Il come ricordiamo Hiroshima e Norimberga riflette il potere non la giustizia
Richard Falk | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Sep 2022

I pacifisti del vasto mondo sovente scelgono l’8 agosto ogni anno per provare di nuovo la sofferenza umana e la devastazione causate dallo sgancio di bombe atomiche sulle città giapponesi inermi di Hiroshima e Nagasaki.

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The Nuclear Agreement (JCPOA, 2015) Should Be Renewed
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Aug 2022

25 Aug 2022 – Undoing the human and diplomatic harm of Trump’s international legacy is a complex matter that not only exhibits the persisting influence of unrepentant Trumpists but the passivity of the Democratic Party leadership, particularly when it dares to disagree with Israel on a matter of foreign policy concern.

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Movements to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons and to Establish Geopolitical Accountability
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Aug 2022

16 Aug 2022 – Go to the links given connecting you with the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, the NGO that has the longest record of commitment to establish a global security system without nuclear weapons and with geopolitical accountability.

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Donation Politics: Worse than Hypocrisy
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Aug 2022

1 Aug 2022 – We need to ask ourselves with a sense of urgency, ‘where is the outrage?’ and ‘why are the streets empty?’ Bob Dylan’s message of the sixties rings truer than ever: ‘The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind.”

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How We Remember Hiroshima and Nuremberg Reflects Power Not Justice
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Aug 2022

This year the remembrance of the atomic bombings of Japanese cities is especially poignant. The world, as the UN Secretary General noted, is just one miscalculation away from nuclear war. I was also reminded that 8 Aug was the day in 1945 that the Allied Powers had the unfathomable insensitivity to sign the London Agreement setting up the Nuremberg Tribunal to prosecute German war criminals–two days after the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and one day before the second one incinerated Nagasaki. Sad to note, times have not changed.

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Biden’s Middle East Visit: An Orgy of Cynicism, Hypocrisy, and Erasures
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Jul 2022

21 Jul 2022 – This piece criticizes the dual tracks of Biden’s ill-executed trip in mid-July to Israel and Saudi Arabia. It faults Biden for the extreme cynicism of pursuing a realpolitik approach in Riyadh and an approach in Israel that mixed silences about apartheid, Shireen Abu Akleh, and the Palestinian ordeal with fanciful claims about shared values and democratic affinities.

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The Worst Is yet to Come: When the Center Cannot Hold
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Jul 2022

15 Jul 2022 – This is an attempt to connect my despair about developments in the USA with wider global systemic tendencies. It is not hopeful about the future, yet its central message is that we should continue to struggle for a future we can believe in given that we live at a time of radical uncertainty.

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A European Call for an End to the Ukraine War
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Jul 2022

5 Jul 2022 – This piece appeared in the prominent German weekly, ZEIT, last week. It is written from a European perspective, calling for a ceasefire followed by bilateral negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.

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Human Rights and Confronting China Geopolitically
Richard Falk and Alfred de Zayas | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jun 2022

16 Jun 2022 – Breakthrough success of Bachelet’s HRC mission to China. We decry those who distort such an achievement to continue to rationalize confronting China coercively. Opportunism in relation to human rights is not a path to peace and justice. Rather than provoking a critical storm the mission, in our judgment, should have been applauded with a sustained shout of BRAVO!

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Ukraine and the Risk of Geopolitical Conflict — A Reawakening to Nuclear Dangers?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Jun 2022

11 Jun 2022 – The risk of nuclear escalation has been subject of debate in the US. These debates reveal those who dismiss Russian references to nuclear capabilities as mere saber rattling to those who worry that if Putin finds his back to the wall in Ukraine, he may resort to tactical nuclear strikes.

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Westphalian Logic and Geopolitical Prudence in the Nuclear Age
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 May 2022

24 May 2022 – The Ukraine War, its complexities and global spillover effects, have not been adequately depicted by either political leaders or the more influential media. Most commonly, the Ukraine War has been narrowly and reductively depicted as a simple matter of defending Ukraine against Russian aggression.

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The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 May 2022

28 May 2022 – The USA Must Demand a Credible Investigation into Shireen Abu Akleh’s Killing – The assassination sent shock waves throughout the Middle East as Shireen was known and respected as a trusted journalist. We keep waiting for a ‘Sharpville Moment’ with respect to Palestine and Israeli impunity. When will it come?

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(Italiano) Tribunale dei Popoli sulle Guerre Ucraine
Richard Falk | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 May 2022

È ormai tempo d’iniziative della società civile per opporsi al disastroso confronto globale che sta ora mettendo in pericolo il mondo, anzi prospettive di sopravvivenza di specie, perseguendo obiettivi politici degli Stati Uniti camuffati con una certa dose di complicità dei media che continuano a trasmettere l’impressione che la guerra in Ucraina concerna la difesa dell’Ucraina.

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The Second Level Geopolitical War in Ukraine Takes Over
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 May 2022

30 Apr 2022 – The recent acknowledgement that U.S. goals are secondarily related to the wellbeing of Ukraine, and primarily by the dangerously regressive goals of taking on challengers to the unipolarity, which has guided U.S. grand strategy since the end of the Cold War.

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Toward a Peoples Tribunal on the Ukraine Wars
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 May 2022

The time has come for civil society to counter the global confrontation endangering the world for U.S. geopolitical goals disguised, with media complicity, in a Ukraine War for its own defense. This is a false and dangerous image… I hope some readers throughout the world will feel motivated to make the Peoples Ukraine Wars Tribunal a reality!

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Al-Aqsa Violence during Ramadan
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Apr 2022

21 Apr 2022 – Once more Israel strikes hard against Palestinian rights when the world has its attention fixed elsewhere, with a mainstream media posture of indifference and inattention compounding the problem . The pro-Palestinian solidarity movement is being seriously challenged not to let this happen.

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Renounce the Geopolitical War between the U.S. and Russia
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Apr 2022

18 Apr 2022 – Stopping the Geopolitical War being waged by the United States against Russia is a precondition for ending the aggressive war initiated by Russia against Ukraine and also a return to semi-responsible statecraft, which is the most we can expect or hope for in the present. Diplomacy seeking a ceasefire and a political compromise is the only sane path.

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Complexities of the Ukraine War
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Apr 2022

15 Apr 2022 – This war can be characterized thus:
– Level One: Russia vs. Ukraine
– Level Two: USA vs. Russia
– Level Three: Ukrainian nationalism vs. Russian-oriented separatism

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This Geopolitical War Is a ‘Geopolitical Crime’
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Apr 2022

9 Apr 2022 – There is no doubt that atrocities have been committed in Ukraine, seemingly yet not exclusively by Russian attacking forces, and in a perfect world those who so acted would be held responsible. But the world is highly imperfect when it comes to accountability for international crimes.

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Make Peace, Not War, in Ukraine
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Apr 2022

31 Mar 2022 – There were a series of provocations by NATO that aroused security concerns in Moscow, including the expansion of NATO after the Cold War was over, the threat from the Soviet Union had disappeared, and promises were made by Western leaders to Gorbachev of no further NATO expansion. Such geopolitical behavior amounted to imprudent statecraft by the West,

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2022 Global Policy Institute Book Award to Richard Falk
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century - TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Apr 2022

Dr. Falk is now a Santa Barbara resident. After four decades at Princeton, he has served as Visiting Distinguished Professor in Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and has lectured widely around the world as one of America’s most recognizable and relentless crusaders for international justice.

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(Italiano) Guerra in Ucraina: una prospettiva geopolitica
Richard Falk | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Mar 2022

18 Marzo 2022 – Ripresa modificata di una conferenza tenuta il 9 marzo 2022 a una sessione dei Colloqui su Studi Globali all’Università di California – Santa Barbara convocata dal professor Jan Nederveen Pieters, purtroppo priva di una serie di domande impegnative a seguito del mio intervento, fra cui da vari partecipanti in Europa.

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Ukraine War: Three Academic Perspectives
Daniel Falcone interviews Richard Falk - TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Mar 2022

17 Mar 2022 – The following discussion resulted from three separate interviews. There was no interaction among the three of us. I wonder whether this war is best described as ‘Russo-Ukrainian War’ or simply as ‘Ukrainian War’ or ‘Russo-U.S. Proxy War.’ It seems an amalgam of all three.

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The Ukraine War: A Geopolitical Perspective
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Mar 2022

Talk on 9 Mar 2022 at the Global Studies Colloquium, UCSB. When we agreed on a theme for my presentation, we were in a pre-Ukraine world. Interim developments: the imprudent US-led provocations, Russian aggression against a sovereign state of over 44 million people, the confrontational Western sanctions, and a surging Russophobia produced a win/lose calculus rather than partial win/win political outcomes.

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The Paused Quest for Humane Governance in the Arab World: Is It Time ‘to fail better’?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Feb 2022

The acceleration of history foreshortens our memory of past events, especially when disillusionment displaces hope. This happened a decade ago when uprisings were celebrated as ‘the Arab Spring.’ The role of activist youth, the spontaneous displays of populist strivings for a better political future, created the feeling that something irreversible, and for the better, was taking place. Yet it was not to be.

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On Israel as an Apartheid State: An Interview with Richard Falk
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Feb 2022

19 Feb 2022 – An interview David Falcone originally published in CounterPunch on 11 Feb prompted by the Amnesty Report but extending beyond it.

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‘Politics as Usual’ Will Never Be a Solution to the Current Climate Threat (or to Nuclear War)
C.J. Polychroniou interviews Richard Falk | DWF News - TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Feb 2022

17 Feb 2022 – There is an ever-growing consensus that the climate crisis represents humanity’s greatest problem. Indeed, global warming is more than an environmental crisis — there are social, political, ethical and economic dimensions to it. (Commentary added by Roger Kotila)

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Is the Amnesty International Report an Israeli ‘Sharpeville Moment?’
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Feb 2022

10 Feb 2022 – This interview followed the release on 1 Feb of the explosive Amnesty International Report finding Israel guilty of the continuing crime of apartheid. How much longer can governments, the UN, and liberal Zionist close their eye in face of the mounting consensus in the international human community on the question of Israeli apartheid?

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The Problematics of Middle Eastern Diplomacy: The Case of Iran
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Feb 2022

2 Feb 2022 – In relation to both Iran, Israel, and Palestine, the essential message sent by the new leadership is continuity when it comes to substance combined with a resumption of the pre-Trump pretension of equi-distance diplomacy when it comes to the search for a sustainable peace.

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Will the Iran Nuclear Agreement Be Restored?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 31 Jan 2022

26 Jan 2022 – An interview with Mojtaba Majidi of the Mehr News Agency (Tehran) on the Vienna Talks that are seeking to restore the Iran Nuclear Agreement of 2015 reached during the Obama presidency.

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Dangerous Gaps: Knowledge, Action, and Justice
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Jan 2022

16 Jan 2022 – This essay was published on 13 Jan 2022 on This View of Life, which brings to bear the views of science and evolutionary biology on a series of global challenges increasingly overwhelming the capabilities of civilizational modernity.

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(Italiano) L’ascesa sorprendente della Cina
Richard Falk | Centro Studi Sereno Regis - TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Jan 2022

4 Gennaio 2022 – L’ascesa sorprendente della Cina: dovuta a un ‘socialismo con caratteristiche cinesi’ o a un ‘capitalismo con facciata cinese? O a un po’ di entrambi?

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January 6th: A Year Later
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Jan 2022

6 Jan 2022 – In retrospect, the attempted insurrection at the Capitol was about a great deal more than an angry expression of disappointment by the populist side of gun culture America. The coup attempt of January 6th failed, yet it succeeded in undermining the unwritten, yet vital, social contract that brought high levels of stability to United States since the republic was established in 1789.

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What’s Ahead for Palestine in 2022
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Jan 2022

2 Jan 2022 – To begin with, we will witness a growing awareness that traditional diplomacy will not bring stability, much less peace with justice to this struggle that has gone on for more than a century.

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Private Prescriptions for a Better Life in 2022
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Jan 2022

1 Jan 2022 -A thoughtful Indian friend in Paris sent this list as her prescription for a better life in 2022. I adopted her list and added to it. I invite readers to propose their own additions and subtractions.

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