Articles by RD

We found 3662 results.

Framed: The Politics of Stereotypes in News
Edward Said – Al Jazeera English, 4 Feb 2019

Palestinian-American literary historian Edward Said showed how the West had the power to represent the colonial ‘other’ – while simultaneously leaving them silent.

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The CIA Then and Now: Old Wine in New Bottles
Edward Curtin – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2019

When the CIA’s dirty tricks were made public in the 1970s, it is not hard to imagine that the intellectual pimps who do their long-range thinking were asked to go back to the drawing board and paint a picture of the coming decades and how business as usual could be conducted without further embarrassment. By that time it had become clear that intellectual or high culture was being swallowed by mass culture and the future belonged to electronic screen culture and images, not words.

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A Talel of Two Speeches: Marc Lamont Hill on Palestine, Martin Luther King, Jr., on Vietnam
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2019

21 Jan 2019 – In my last post I criticized the news approach of CNN, and by indirection, that of the MSM. I complained that by being Trump-obsessed CNN ever since 2016 helps pacify the American political scene, making us view demagogic politics as nothing more serious than ‘a reality show.’ Beyond the obsession itself, is the inexplicable redundancy in which successive news programs cover the latest episode from virtually identical viewpoints, while ignoring the whole panorama of major developments elsewhere in the world.

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Destroy ‘Period Huts’ or Forget State Support: Nepal Moves to End Practice
Rojita Adhikari – The Guardian, 28 Jan 2019

After the custom of consigning menstruating women to outdoor sheds claimed three more lives, a new system of penalties offers hope of change.

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Good News at Last: The World Isn’t As Horrific As You Think
Hans Rosling – The Guardian, 28 Jan 2019

Training yourself how to put the news into perspective – practising ‘factfulness’ – will change your outlook for the better.

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1,500 Private Jets Fly into Davos for World Economic Forum Climate Talks–Oxymoron?
Rebecca Ratcliffe – The Guardian, 28 Jan 2019

22 Jan 2019 – David Attenborough might have urged world leaders at Davos to take urgent action on climate change, but it appears no one was listening. As he spoke, experts predicted up to 1,500 individual private jets will fly to and from airfields serving the Swiss ski resort this week.

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James W. Douglass Talks about Gandhi and the Unspeakable: His Final Experiment with Truth
Introduction by Edward Curtin – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2019

Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948 but the spirit of his nonviolent experiments with truth live throughout the world in individuals and groups. The writer and peace-activist James Douglass, a guide to such experiments with truth and author of many books on nonviolence and the meaning of political assassinations, recently travelled to Gandhi’s home district in India and delivered the following talk. It begins at 26:58 minutes into the video.

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The Guardian View on Israel’s Democracy: Killing with Impunity, Lying without Consequence?
Editorial – The Guardian, 28 Jan 2019

22 Jan 2019 – In the last nine months of 2018, according to the UN, hundreds of Palestinians – many of them children – were killed and many thousands injured. They included medics and journalists. Most of the dead were unarmed and posed no danger to anyone, with little more than rocks in their hands and slogans on their lips. Yet Israel continued with an immoral and unlawful policy that sees soldiers of its military teargas, shoot and kill protesters, including those who pose no credible threat. Hospitals in Gaza, which already struggle under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade, have been stretched to breaking point in dealing with the flood of patients ferried in from the protests.

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Meu Pedacinho do Céu [My Little Corner of Heaven] (Music Video of the Week)
Waldir Azevedo, Vinicius Sete Cordas, Ivo do Cavaco – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2019

Players: Vinicius Sete Cordas and Ivo do Cavaco – Brazilian Youth Talent
Homemade Facebook Video

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News Avoidance
Antonis Kalogeropoulos | Univ. of Oxford – Reuters Institute, 21 Jan 2019

The issue of news avoidance is a matter of concern if it means that citizens are not sufficiently equipped to take decisions in elections or referendums. There are also concerns that the abundance of other types of media (e.g. entertainment) may be squeezing exposure to news for less interested news consumers.

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Martin Luther King Day and the Unspeakable
Edward Curtin – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2019

21 Jan 2019 – “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous,” warned Dr. King, “than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” How true those words. For the government that honors Dr. King with a national holiday killed him. This is the suppressed truth behind the highly promoted day of service. It is what you are not supposed to know. It is what Thomas Merton, as quoted by James W. Douglass, called The Unspeakable.”

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Academic Who Defined News Principles, Galtung Says Journalists Are Too Negative
Ulrik Haagerup – The Guardian, 21 Jan 2019

18 Jan 2019 – The academic paper concluded with a warning on the consequences for society if news organisations continued to promote confrontation, tension and sensation over collaboration, resolution and compassion. “The consequence of all this is an image of the world that gives little autonomy to the periphery but sees it as mainly existing for the sake of the centre,” the paper said. “Conflict will be emphasised, conciliation not.” “And this is exactly what has happened,” Galtung said. “News media give a total biased picture of reality. The perception of reality in the public becomes overly negative.”

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What’s Wrong with CNN?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2019

16 Jan 2019 – CNN presents itself as the most ‘trusted name in news’ available to the TV viewing public. Of course, this claim of integrity is to be greatly valued if the news channel lives up to such a standard when fairly scrutinized.

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What Is the Question?
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2019

“The question is whether finance will promote economic growth and rising living standards or create unproductive credit and use government to enforce creditor claims by imposing austerity and reducing large swathes of the population to debt peonage.” This précis of the pickle that is our prison was written by Michael Hudson but could have been written by Yanis Varoufakis, Joseph Stiglitz, Robert Reich, Bernie Sanders’ advisor Stephanie Kelton, or any of the distinguished scholars which I shall call “the Economists on the side of the Angels.” (EA)

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(Português) A Estupidez Social e Ambiental Condena Toda a Vida: Eduardo Gudynas
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2019

8 jan 2019 – Eduardo Gudynas, uruguaio, é um dos grandes ecólogos mundiais. Está entre os primeiros a formular uma ecologia social.Este artigo é um balanço de 2018 sobre os dramas ecologicosocias que se aproximam, se não mudarmos a nossa relação para com a Mãe Terra -tema central da encíclica do Papa Francisco “sobre o cuidado da Casa Comum – e para com a natureza em geral.

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Toward Geopolitical Disengagement: Uncertain yet Desirable
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2019

13 Jan 2019 – For a region that has endured so much suffering and abuse, I offer fervent wishes that we will be surprised by hopeful developments during coming months. Already the shakeup of regional politics and perceptions due to the Trump withdrawal move is ambiguous in its implications, but seemingly leading in the positive direction of U.S. political disengagement, and an end to the delusions of being ‘a force for good.’

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Palestinian Aspirations versus Zombie Geopolitics
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2019

8 Jan 2019 – The mental processes that infuse zombie geopolitics with political vitality long after their viability has vanished is partly mysterious, and partly a calculated effort to deny a changed reality. More concretely, I have in mind the afterlife of ‘the two-state solution’ to the long Israel-Palestine confrontation. It retained its status as the only practical solution for years after it became crystal clear to even semi-informed observers that it would never happen.

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What Are We Working for “At Eternity’s Gate”?
Edward Curtin – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2019

Vincent, responding to Gauguin, a former stock broker, when he urged him to paint slowly and methodically, said, “I need to be out of control. I don’t want to calm down.” He knew that to be fully alive was to be vulnerable, to not hold back, to always be slipping away, and to be threatened with annihilation at any moment. When painting, he was intoxicated with a creative joy that belies the popular image of him as always depressed.

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When the Ice Melts: The Catastrophe of Vanishing Glaciers
Dahr Jamail – The Guardian, 14 Jan 2019

8 Jan 2019 – As global temperatures rise, shrivelling glaciers and thawing permafrost threaten yet more climate disruption. How should we confront what is happening to our world? While western colonialist culture believes in “rights”, many indigenous cultures teach of “obligations” that we are born into: obligations to those who came before, to those who will come after, and to the Earth itself.

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Reflections for the New Year: 2019
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2019

31 Dec 2018 – My private commitment for 2019 is to nurture humility, while trusting the formation of identities that link a progressive vision for our nation to a cosmopolitan embrace of humanity, with a major infusion of empathy. And as citizens, we need to be rooted in our particular personal and public experiences, while reaching out to the world and to the future.

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Jerusalem and Foreign Embassies: Legal, Political, and Diplomatic Implications
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2019

6 Jan 2019 | Interview with Rodrigo Craveiro, Correio Braziliense – It seems obvious that Israel is trying to induce enough governments to move their embassy to Jerusalem so as to weaken the legal, political, and diplomatic weight of the UNGA Resolution that declared such an initiative by the USA to be ‘null and void’ by a vote of 128-9, finding the proposed move unlawful and lacking any political effect.

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Will 2019 Bring Opportunities to Change the System?
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2019

1 Jan 2019 – Some of us think 2008 was a lost opportunity. Humanity had a chance to change course to save itself and the biosphere. We blew it. Could 2019 be a second chance? The reason why 2008, instead of some other recent year, stands out as a change opportunity is that toward the end of that year investors were losing money.

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(Português) A Revolução Cubana Completa 60 Anos: Frei Betto
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2019

4 jan 2019 – Frei Betto é muito conhecido e não preciso apresentá-lo. Publico este seu texto por amor à verdade contra todos os preconceitos imperantes em nosso país, reforçados pelos muitos que elegeram Jair Bolsonaro e pelo governo que montou propondo desmontar o socialismo e a cultura marxista. Seguramente nunca leram nada sério sobre Cuba. Aqui há um relato sumário, poderia ser muito mais detalhado sobre a situação daquele país.

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Afghanistan in 2019: Fewer US Troops, More CIA Torture and Killings
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 7 Jan 2019

3 Jan 2019 – Perhaps it’s just another sign of American psychic numbing, but the Times story seems to have provoked little response from other media, from politicians of any stripe, or from the public. More American war crimes in some Muslim country? Well, Happy New Year!

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In Praise of the Syria Withdrawal
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 31 Dec 2018

29 Dec 2018 – Trump’s withdrawal of American troops from Syria that defied the bipartisan consensus that has shaped U.S. foreign policy since 1945 poses the biggest challenge to the Trump presidency, especially as it shook Israel’s confidence and coincides with woes of Wall Street. In coming weeks it should become clear whether the American version of the deep state remains asleep or perceives this ‘watershed moment’ as the opportunity to restore confidence in the pre-Trump version of world order.

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A Major Win for the Whales
Captain Paul Watson | Sea Shepherd – TRANSCEND Media Service, 31 Dec 2018

27 Dec 2018 – Despite bribing nations and insidious tactics, the proposal by Japan to overturn the 31-year moratorium on commercial whaling has failed by a vote of 41 to 27 with 2 abstentions. Following yesterday’s most welcome Florianopolis Declaration, this defeat of the Japanese Proposal has made the 67th meeting of the International Whaling Commission an awesome historical event for the world’s whales.

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Continued Debate over the Crime of Aggression: A Supreme International Irony
Donald M. Ferencz | Harvard Int’l Law Journal – TRANSCEND Media Service, 31 Dec 2018

Notwithstanding the fact that it took the U.N. only seventy-one days to affirm aggression as a customary law offense, today, almost seventy-one years later, it remains a crime in legal limbo. Though the International Criminal Court (ICC) is technically vested with jurisdiction over the crime of aggression, it is, as yet, powerless to exercise such jurisdiction.

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Can Yemen Be Saved?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Dec 2018

23 Dec 2018 – The people of Yemen have been experiencing devastating civil strife for several years. This ordeal was greatly intensive by a massive and sustained Saudi-led air attacks and other belligerent tactics that have targeted civilians, even hospitals. Several recent events hint at the possibility of restoring peace to the country, thereby averting the worst effects of a threatened mass famine, risks starvation for more than 75% of Yemen’s population of over 22 million.

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A Spiritual Special Ops Team’s Christmas Gift
Edward Curtin – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Dec 2018

24 Dec 2018 – “It happened that a fire broke out backstage in a theater. The clown came out to inform the public. They thought it was a jest and applauded. He repeated his warning, they shouted even louder. So I think the world will come to an end amid general applause from all the wits, who believe that it is a joke.” — Soren Kierkegaard, Either/Or

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Chickens Freezing to Death and Boiled Alive: Failings in US Slaughterhouses Exposed
Andrew Wasley and Natalie Jones – The Guardian, 24 Dec 2018

17 Dec 2018 – Chickens slowly freezing to death, being boiled alive, drowned or suffocating under piles of other birds are among hundreds of shocking welfare incidents recorded at US slaughterhouses, according to previously unpublished reports.

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Google’s Earth: How the Tech Giant Is Helping the State Spy on Us
Yasha Levine – The Guardian, 24 Dec 2018

20 Dec 2018 – We knew that being connected had a price – our data. But we didn’t care. Then it turned out that Google’s main clients included the military and intelligence agencies.

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U.S. Commits to “Indefinite” Occupation of Syria; Controls Region the Size of Croatia
Tyler Durden | Zero Hedge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Dec 2018

15 Dec 2018 – Like the “forever war” in Afghanistan, will we be having the same discussion over the indefinite occupation of Syria stretching two decades from now? A new unusually frank assessment in Stars and Stripes bluntly lays out the basic facts concerning the White House decision to “stay the course” until the war’s close.

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(Português) A tolice do Anti-globalismo
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Dec 2018

9 dez 2018 – Está ocorrendo pelo mundo afora uma onda anti-globalista. Talvez haja poucas coisas mais regressivas e disparatadas no mundo atual do que esta. Por que se trata de um disparate dos mais insensatos? Porque vai diretamente contra a lógica do processo histórico irrefreável. Alcançamos um patamar novo da história da Terra e da Humanidade.

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(Italiano) I Rohingya a Montecitorio
Emanuele Giordana | Lettera22 – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Dec 2018

Le prove raccolte dal Tribunale Permanente dei Popoli andranno all’Aja alla Corte penale internazionale.

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Thomas Piketty’s Proposal to Remake Europe: Three Comments and a Suggestion
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Dec 2018

13 Dec 2018 – In the midst of more than one crisis, a stellar group of left-leaning intellectuals led by Thomas Piketty has written a proposal to remake Europe. It includes a manifesto, a treaty establishing what would amount to a new European legislature, and a budget. As its authors say, the greatest merit of their proposal is that it exists. Everyone is invited to comment on it and to suggest improvements. Taking them at their word, here are three comments and one suggestion.

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On the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Dec 2018

10 Dec 2018 – This Declaration was a notable step in the direction of asserting that persons by virtue of their humanness are entitled to protection in the exercise of a broad spectrum of rights, and hence, that sovereignty is subject to certain constraining limitations. Much progress has been made since 1948, although we live in a period of mounting pressure on human rights deriving from a surge of right-wing populism combined with the effects of an insufficiently regulated capitalism.

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The Foolishness of Anti-Globalism
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Dec 2018

15 Dec 2018 – An anti-globalist wave is breaking out around the world. This is perhaps one of the most regressive and absurd things in the world today. Why is this a senseless blunder? Because it contravenes the logic of an uncontrollable historical process. We have reached a new phase in the history of the Earth and Humanity.

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(Português) Esperança: Indignação e Coragem
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Dec 2018

3 dez 2018 – Vivemos no Brasil nos últimos dois anos dois grandes golpes: o primeiro, o impeachment e a deposição de Dilma Rousseff e neste ano de 2018 a ascensão da extrema-direita com a eleição de Jair Bolosonário a presidente do Brasil. Não foi Bolsonaro que ganhou. Foi o PT que perdeu e com ele o Brasil.

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Sometimes a Pair of Pants Can Give You Vertigo
Edward Curtin – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Dec 2018

6 Dec 2018 – Between my desire for a changed world and the world that seemed to change only for the worse lay the desolation Berger identified. Many people feel it, I know, especially dissidents who fight in various ways against the powerful. But we prefer not to go there, to see what it consists of and how we may transmute it into acts and words that might make a difference.

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We All Buy Slave-Made Products: Here’s How We Avoid Feeling Guilty
Michal Carrington, Andreas Chatzidakis and Deirdre Shaw – The Conversation, 10 Dec 2018

3 Dec 2018 – Hidden slavery is a growing global problem but we continue to turn a blind eye and embrace a seemingly insatiable demand for fast, cheap goods and services.

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Genome-Edited Baby Claim Provokes International Outcry
David Cyranoski & Heidi Ledford | Nature – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Dec 2018

26 Nov 2018 – He Jiankui, a genome-editing researcher at the Southern University of Science and Technology of China in Shenzhen, says that he impregnated a woman with embryos that had been edited to disable the genetic pathway HIV uses to infect cells. The announcement has provoked shock and outrage among scientists around the world.

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We Shouldn’t Rush to Save the Liberal Order – We Should Remake It
Yanis Varoufakis and David Adler – The Guardian, 3 Dec 2018

1 Dec 2018 – From Viktor Orbán in the north to Jair Bolsonaro in the south, Rodrigo Duterte in the east to Donald Trump in the west, a coalition of nationalist strongmen are cracking down on civil rights, scapegoating minorities and facilitating widespread corruption for their family and friends. The UN Security Council, the IMF, the World Bank and the ILO were conceived as agencies of change – they can be again.

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The G20 Meeting and U.S./Russia Relations
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Dec 2018

2 Dec 2018 – What follows are my responses to questions addressed to me by Sputnik News Agency in Moscow. Although the focus was on the ongoing G20 meeting in Buenos Aires, the real concern was the future of U.S./Russia relations and how these relations should be managed to avoid arms races, geopolitical rivalry, and ideological tensions.

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Why We Stopped Trusting Elites
William Davies – The Guardian, 3 Dec 2018

The credibility of establishment figures has been demolished by technological change and political upheavals. But it’s too late to turn back the clock.

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The New New Anti-Semitism
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Nov 2018

Hiding Israel’s Crimes of State behind False Claims of Victimization

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My 88th Birthday
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Nov 2018

-13 Nov 2018-
To be almost 90
And happy
With good health
Feels criminal

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John F. Kennedy 55 Years On: Casting Light on the JFK Assassination, 9/11 and Other 21st Century Crimes
Prof. Graeme McQueen | OffGuardian – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Nov 2018

22 Nov 2018 – Fifty-five years ago, on November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Although there has been a great deal written about this event over the years, I want to draw attention to one exceptionally important article. Vincent Salandria gave this talk in Dallas at the invitation of the Coalition on Political Assassinations.

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Solidarity Economics: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Prof. Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Nov 2018

When we are dealing with socially created realities we should bear in mind that the ways people think about the problems create them. If people are going to solve the problems, they need to think differently. Solidarity economics redefines the problems. The Roman Law iron cage of European “civilization” has got to go. Europe must demote itself to the status of a peninsula of Asia whose savants are no wiser than Gandhi, Confucius, Julius Nyerere, Nelson Mandela or Paulo Freire. Many pioneers are developing alternative economies.

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The Famine Facing Yemen Is a War Crime – It Must Be Investigated
Emily Thornberry – The Guardian, 26 Nov 2018

22 Nov 2018 – The Saudi-led coalition has deliberately targeted civilians. The UN must press for answers–not be complicit in a cover-up.

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(Français) Nicaragua : fin de régime ?
Bernard Duterme | CETRI – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Nov 2018

13 nov 2018 – Depuis avril 2018, le Nicaragua traverse une profonde crise de régime. Fortement contesté, le couple régnant – le président Daniel Ortega et la vice-présidente Rosario Murillo, épouse du premier – s’accroche au pouvoir.

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System Error: Japan Cybersecurity Minister Admits He Has Never Used a Computer
Justin McCurry – The Guardian, 26 Nov 2018

15 Nov 2018 – A Japanese minister in charge of cybersecurity has provoked astonishment by admitting he has never used a computer in his professional life, and appearing confused by the concept of a USB drive. Yoshitaka Sakurada, 68, is the deputy chief of the government’s cybersecurity strategy office and also the minister in charge of the Olympic and Paralympic Games that Tokyo will host in 2020.

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On My 88th Birthday: A Reflection
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Nov 2018

13 Nov 2018 – I post a poem that I wrote earlier today, and read at the end of my talk, perhaps a self-indulgent conceit on my part, but I share it here as a way of thanking so many friends near and far who sent me the most moving birthday greetings throughout the day, which made me feel that we who are supporting the Palestinian struggle are part of a growing community that will prevail at some point, and the two peoples now inhabiting Palestine can finally live in peace, and with dignity and equality.

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Costs of Post-9/11 U.S. Wars to 2019: $5.9 Trillion
Neta C. Crawford | Watson Institute, Brown University - TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Nov 2018

14 Nov 2018 -The United States has appropriated and is obligated to spend an estimated $5.9 trillion on the war on terror through Fiscal Year 2019, including direct war and war-related spending and obligations for future spending on post-9/11 war veterans.

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Phil Ochs and the Crucifixion of President John F. Kennedy
Edward Curtin – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Nov 2018

Whatever the truth in this age of “not knowing,” I think his story is a parable for our times. Whenever you think you’re getting the straight scoop, think again, and then again. The CIA’s Operation Mockingbird is still singing its siren song to convince us that the crucifixion was a one-time event, when Phil knew otherwise, right from the start and right to the end. I think he tried to warn us and wouldn’t be silenced, even in death.

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Khmer Rouge Leaders Found Guilty of Genocide in Cambodia’s ‘Nuremberg’ Moment
Hannah Ellis-Petersen – The Guardian, 19 Nov 2018

16 Nov 2018 – The two most senior Khmer Rouge leaders still alive today have been found guilty of genocide, almost 40 years since Pol Pot’s brutal regime fell. Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea were leaders of a regime that presided over deaths of at least 1.7 million in Cambodia.

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(Italiano) Trascendere le regressioni nell’ordine mondiale
Richard Falk | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Nov 2018

“In contrasto con i poteri governativo ed economico — del Principe e del Mercante — c’è un potere immediato e autonomo, talora evidente, talaltra latente: quello della gente. Alcuni ne sviluppano consapevolezza, si associano e agiscono con altri, divenendo così davvero cittadini. Essi e le loro associazioni, quando non cerchino il potere governativo o quello economico, costituiscono il Terzo Sistema”.

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Accountability Alone Will Not Solve Myanmar’s Rohingya Crisis
Bill Richardson - TIME, 12 Nov 2018

5 Nov 2018 – At long last, momentum is building to hold the perpetrators of the gruesome atrocities against the Rohingya in Myanmar to account. A U.N.-mandated fact-finding mission concluded that senior military officials should be investigated and prosecuted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. But a singular focus on accountability risks overshadowing the need to bring about tangible improvements in Rohingyas’ lives now.

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Stop Saying ‘Migrant Caravan’: They’re Asylum Seekers Escaping a Conflict That the US Created
Kelli Korducki | Yahoo – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Nov 2018

There is no migrant crisis. There is, however, a refugee crisis. That crisis is the effect of at least a half-century (and, arguably, twice that) of calamitous US political intervention in Central America, and not — as President Trump would have us believe — the inevitable byproduct of “bad hombres” who may as well be “animals.” US-funded military coups, resource exploitation, and American policies of economic neoliberalism in El Salvador have destabilized the entire region, and effectively created a climate where paramilitary-aligned drug cartels can thrive.

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(Português) Brasil: Grande Frente de Valores Ético-Sociais
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Nov 2018

1 nov 2018 – Estamos vivendo tempos política e socialmente dramáticos. Nunca se viu em nossa história ódio e raiva tão difundidos, principalmente através das mídias sociais. Foi eleito para presidente uma figura amedrontadora que encarnou a dimensão de sombra e do recalcado de nossa história. Ele contaminou boa parte de seus eleitores. Essa figura conseguiu trazer à tona o dia-bólico (que separa e divide) que sempre acompanha o sim-bólico (o que une e congrega) de uma forma tão avassaladora que o dia-bólico inundou a consciência de muitos e enfraqueceu o sim-bólico a ponto de dividir famílias, romper com amigos e liberar a violência verbal e também física.

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Rohingyas to Be Repatriated Despite UN Genocide Warning
Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Shaikh Azizur Rahman – The Guardian, 5 Nov 2018

30 Oct 2018 – Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed to start the repatriation of Rohingya refugees next month, less than a week after UN investigators warned that a genocide against the Muslim minority was continuing.

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The Seafloor Is Dissolving Because of Climate Change
Caroline Haskins | Motherboard – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Nov 2018

1 Nov 2018 – According to a new study, ocean acidification is setting off a dangerous feedback loop that’s dissolving the very bottom of the ocean. Carbon emissions are acidifying the ocean so quickly that the seafloor is disintegrating.

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Facebook Must Do More to Prevent 21st-Century Genocide
Editorial Board – The Washington Post, 5 Nov 2018

28 Oct 201 – In Myanmar, Facebook is more than a website. For many residents, it is the entire Internet. So when the nation’s military used the site as a conduit for a campaign against Muslims, there were no guardrails to stop the hatred from spreading — except the company itself. The grim reality on the ground in Myanmar, from which more than 700,000 members of the Rohingya minority have now fled, shows Facebook failed.

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Why Vote on Tuesday: The Menacing Challenges of Trump and Trumpism
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Nov 2018

4 Nov 2018 – World Order in the Age of Trump and Trumpism – This piece is based on a lecture given at West Chester University in Pennsylvania on 24 Oct. I have no great expectations about improvements in American foreign policy of Congress if it is fully or partially controlled by Democratic majorities after the November 6thmidterm elections. Nevertheless, I share the widely held anti-fascist view that any show of opposition to Trump and Trumpism at this time deserves priority on an urgent basis.

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Humanity Has Wiped Out 60% of Animal Populations since 1970, Report Finds
Damian Carrington – The Guardian, 5 Nov 2018

30 Oct 2018 – Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970, leading the world’s foremost experts to warn that the annihilation of wildlife is now an emergency that threatens civilisation.

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The Apocalypse Not Now
Edward Curtin – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Oct 2018

“When they will sell you even your rain,” he said sadly. “They sold me a bill of goods. The American dream! What a bad joke, here I am, a college graduate, not a drunk or drug addict, and I’m living in a tent in the woods in a ravine by a golf course. Some nights I think they make it rain on me for fun, as if to say: here’s your free water, you loser.”

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Transcending World Order Regressions
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Oct 2018

Without even attempting to offer reassurances, Trump champions a law-free sovereignty that is unapologetically dedicated to maximizing its national wealth and influence, backed up by escalating government investments avowedly designed to producing an all-powerful, globally capable military dominance that will last forever.

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What the Closure of the US Consulate in East Jerusalem Means
James J. Zogby – The Jordan Times, 29 Oct 2018

22 Oct 2018 – This month’s prize for dangerous moves and disingenuous announcements goes to the US State Department. The statement by Michael Pompeo that the US consulate in East Jerusalem was being closed was the dangerous part. The disingenuous part was the secretary’s claim that this move had no political meaning since it was merely a cost-saving measure.

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Single-Use Plastics Ban Approved by European Parliament
Lucy Purdy | Positive News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Oct 2018

25 Oct 2018 – The European parliament has voted for a sweeping ban on a wide range of single-use plastics in a bid to tackle pollution of oceans and waterways.

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Trump Says US Will Withdraw from Nuclear Arms Treaty with Russia
Julian Borger and Martin Pengelly – The Guardian, 22 Oct 2018

21 Oct 2018 – Experts warn of ‘most severe crisis in nuclear arms control since the 1980s’ as Trump confirms US will leave INF agreement. “We’ll have to develop those weapons,” the president told reporters in Nevada after a rally. “We’re going to terminate the agreement and we’re going to pull out.”

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The Loss of Two Unsung Heroes of International Relations: A Tale of Two ‘Bobs’
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Oct 2018

21 Oct 2018 – Two giants of International Relations scholarship died, leaving behind a corpus of work and a legacy of influence. I was fortunate to have enjoyed the friendship of both Robert Gilpin and Robert W. Cox, learning from both of these masters of the field despite their seemingly divergent worldviews.

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Brazil: Even These Rough Winds Will Lead Us to a Safe Harbor
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Oct 2018

15 Oct 2018 – The Brazilian people are still being birthed. We inherited Brazil the Enterprise, with an enslaving elite and destitute masses. But from the core of the masses, leaders and social movements with consciousness and organization were born. Their dream? To reinvent Brazil. The process began from below and no longer can be stopped, either by the successive coups, such as the civic-military one of 1964, and the parliamentary-juridical-mass communications-media coup of 2016.

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Yemen on Brink of ‘World’s Worst Famine in 100 Years’ if War Continues
Hannah Summers – The Guardian, 22 Oct 2018

15 Oct 2018 – Yemen could be facing the worst famine in 100 years if airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition are not halted, the UN has warned. Famine could overwhelm country in next three months, with 13 million people at risk of starvation.

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Yemen Is Not a Wedge Issue, It’s an Ongoing Nexus of War Crimes
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 22 Oct 2018

20 Oct 2018 – Political assassination is a common and useful tool for tyrants. The US assassinates people all the time, most ruthlessly by remote drone killings with little care for collateral damage. That’s one reason the US has special forces deployed in more than a hundred countries. This was most recently illustrated by the BuzzFeed News report of American mercenaries assassinating “undesirables” in southern Yemen, the part of Yemen the Saudis are not bombing.

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Trump’s Idea of World Order Endangers the Human Future
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Oct 2018

This is an interview with Daniel Falcone that was published in slightly modified form in Counterpunch on October 4, 2018. Question: What are your general thoughts on Trump’s recent UN talk and how world opinion received it?

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(Português) Brasil: A democracia diante do abismo
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Oct 2018

10 out 2018 – Há momentos na vida em que temos que escolher de que lado politicamente nos colocamos. Ou do lado da democracia que respeita as liberdades, permite a manifestação dos cidadãos. Ou do lado de quem a nega, exalta a ditadura militar de 1964, magnifica seus torturadores, que, segundo ele, nem deviam torturar, mas simplesmente fuzilar, …

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My Grandfather Nelson Mandela Fought Apartheid. I See the Parallels with Israel
Nkosi Zwelivelile – The Guardian, 15 Oct 2018

It took an international effort to end institutionalised racism in my country – now it must happen again, for Palestinian people.

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Rethinking Nuclearism
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Oct 2018

6 Oct 2018 – More than thirty years ago I applied the term ‘nuclearism’ to the association between the hardware dimensions of the weaponry and their various software dimensions ranging from strategic doctrine to the infatuations of powerful men with their awesome destructive capabilities.

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‘They’re Drug Dealers in Armani Suits’: Executives Draw Focus amid US Epidemic
Chris McGreal – The Guardian, 8 Oct 2018

30 Sep 2018 – As the pharmaceutical industry fights off a flood of lawsuits, there’s an increased call to investigate the roles of executives pushing opioid painkillers. “The more drugs they sold, the more money they made, and the more people in Massachusetts suffered and died.” — Maura Healey

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While Nestlé Extracts Millions of Litres from Their Land, Indigenous Residents Have No Drinking Water
Alexandra Shimo – The Guardian, 8 Oct 2018

Just 90 minutes from Toronto, residents of a First Nations community try to improve the water situation as the beverage company extracts from their land.

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Symposium on Global Environmental Law
Richard Falk | Univ. of Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law & Governance – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Oct 2018

The symposium aimed to discuss whether and to what extent emerging concepts in global environmental law can help shed new light on the evolution and challenges of environmental law across different levels and sectors.

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Weaponizing the ‘New Anti-Semitism’
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Oct 2018

22 Sep 2018 – This post consists of an opinion piece developed by several members of California Scholars for Academic Freedom.

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(Português) O Eclipse da Ética na Atualidade
Leonardo Boff | Opinion Sur – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Oct 2018

28 Set 2018 – A meu ver, dois fatores atingiram o coração da ética: o processo de globalização e a mercantilização da sociedade. A justiça não vale apenas entre os humanos mas também para com a natureza e a Terra que são portadores de direitos e por isso devem ser incluídos em nosso conceito de democracia sócio-ecológica.

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Bolton’s Red Sky Worldview: ICC, International Law, and Iran
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Oct 2018

Bolton’s Game: Not Sovereignty, Not International Law—Clearing the Path for U.S., Geopolitical Primacy

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From Hero to Pariah, [Nobel Peace Laureate] Aung San Suu Kyi Dashes Hopes about Myanmar
Richard C. Paddock – The New York Times, 1 Oct 2018

29 Sep 2018 — “Rarely has the reputation of a leader fallen so far, so fast,” the International Crisis Group said of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Myanmar’s civilian leader, once a democracy icon, has become known as an enabler for the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims and a foe of the free press.

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What Does a Nuclear Bomb Explosion Feel Like?
Motherboard | Vice – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Sep 2018

29 Aug 2018 – On the International Day against Nuclear Tests, August 29, we met up British atomic veterans who were present at test sites in Australia and the Pacific, to find out what it’s like to experience a nuclear bomb explosion up close.

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Is Genocide a Controversial International Crime?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Sep 2018

Why ‘Genocide’ is still a Controversial Crime? In this strikingly original, strange, and brilliant book, Philippe Sands raises a haunting question among a tangle of other intriguing issues discussed throughout East-West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes against Humanity.

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“The Present Crisis of Western Democracy Is a Crisis of Journalism”
Eduardo Suárez | Nieman Foundation at Harvard – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Sep 2018

What Walter Lippmann’s early writings say about some of journalism’s most urgent contemporary challenges

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(Português) Um aborto a cada quatro grávidas: A cidade em que o agrotóxico glifosato contamina o leite materno e mata até quem ainda nem nasceu
Nayara Felizardo – The Intercept Brasil, 24 Sep 2018

17 Set 2018 – O mesmo veneno que garante a riqueza dos fazendeiros da cidade está provocando uma epidemia de intoxicação em mães e bebês. Estima-se que uma em cada quatro grávidas da cidade tenha sofrido aborto, que 14% dos bebês nasçam com baixo peso (quase do dobro da média nacional) e que 83% das mães tenham o leite materno contaminado. Os dados são do sanitarista Inácio Pereira Lima na sua tese de mestrado em saúde da mulher pela Universidade Federal do Piauí.

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Human Rights, State Sovereignty, and International Law: An Interview
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Sep 2018

20 Sep 2018 – The interview below conducted by my friend, journalist and author C.J. Polychroniou was initially published in the Global Policy Journal, on 11 Sep 2018, the 17thanniversary of the World Trade Center attacks and the 45thanniversary of the Pinochet coup in Chile that assassinated the elected president of the country Salvador Allende.

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The Empire-Lovers Strike Back!
Richard E. Rubenstein – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Sep 2018

Trump, Putin, and the Anti-Russian Coalition in the U.S. – Looking a bit more closely at what holds the anti-Trump foreign policy coalition together, one discovers a missing reality that virtually no one will acknowledge directly: the existence of a beleaguered but still potent American Empire whose junior partner is Europe. What motivates a broad range of the President’s opponents is not so much the fear that he is anti-American as the suspicion that he is anti-Empire. Of course, neither liberals nor conservatives dare to utter the “E-word.”

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(Castellano) Educación Moral para el Cambio Estructural
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Sep 2018

Se proponen tres principios educativos respaldados por hallazgos científicos para orientar la educación moral: la comprensión, la participación, y la empatía. Tomando como ejemplo la ‘trampa estructural’ por la cual la buena intención de cumplir con los DDHH sociales, como la salud, termina desincentivando la inversión económica, se sugiere que la buena y masiva educación moral es capaz de facilitar la resolución de obstáculos estructurales que traban las soluciones a los problemas sociales y ecológicos

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Chile: Remembering September 11 1973
Tito Tricot – The Guardian, 24 Sep 2018

Were the lives of those killed at the World Trade Centre more valuable than the innocents murdered in Chile’s US-backed, Kissinger engineered coup?

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(Português) Um problema nunca resolvido: o sofrimento dos inocentes
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Sep 2018

14 Set 2018 – Sejamos sinceros: até hoje não identificamos nenhuma resposta satisfatória por mais que grandes nomes, desde Agostinho, Tomás de Aquino, Leibnitz até Gustavo Gutiérrez entre nós, tentassem elaborar uma teodicéia, quer dizer, um esforço de não ligar Deus ao sofrimento humano. A culpa estaria apenas do nosso lado. Mas em vão, pois o sofrimento continua e a pergunta permanece irrespondível.

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Decoding the Pipes/Trump/Kushner ‘Deal of the Century’
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Sep 2018

True, Oslo diplomacy was a failure that worked to the political benefit of Israel, and was rightly abandoned. But the Trump response to this failure amount to the criminalization of diplomacy that violates the most basic precepts of international law, as spelled out in the UN Charter. It amounts to waging an aggressive war against a vulnerable and helpless people. If the UN and the leading governments watch this dismal spectacle in stony silence it can only be fervently hoped that the peoples of the world will recognize the need for radical reform to avoid a catastrophic future, not just for the Palestinians, but for all of humanity.

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In Praise of Serena Williams
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Seervice, 17 Sep 2018

13 Sep 2018 – In this time of Trump and Trumpism, we should seize the opportunity to celebrate the luminous presence of Serena Williams in our midst: a champion, a warrior for women and against racism, a woman of great charm and warmth, and a beacon of decency.

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The Story of Stuff
Annie Leonard | The Story of Stuff Project – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Sep 2018

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns.

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The Current Demise of Ethics
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Sep 2018

10 Sep 2018 – In 1944, Karl Polanyi called the phenomenon of transitioning from a market economy to a society of pure commerce, “The Great Transformation”. Everything is transformed into merchandise, which Karl Marx already foresaw in his 1848 text The Poverty of Philosophy, where he noted that the most sacred things, such as truth and consciousness, would be commercialized; and this would be the “time of great corruption and universal venality”. We are now living in that time. The economy, especially the speculative sector, dictates the path of politics and of society as a whole. Competition is its trademark and solidarity has practically disappeared.

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Oslo Accords: The Morning After
Edward Said | London Review of Books – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Sep 2018

Edward Said wrote in Oct 1993 a remarkably accurate portrayal of the level of capitulation that was done via the so-called Oslo Accords. This piece is remarkable and still worth reading. Oslo II of 1994 was even worse and we saw the ramification of all of this in the past 25 years. No wonder the Trump administration cut all aid to Palestinians except the money for the “Vichy style” Palestinian Authority security services–the Dayton Forces.

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Investigation Exposes Animal Abuse at US Supplier to World’s Largest Meat Company
Reynard Loki | Mercy For Animals - Independent Media Institute, 17 Sep 2018

13 Sep 2018 – An undercover investigator with Mercy for Animals witnessed extreme animal abuse at Tosh Farms in Kentucky, where workers ripped out the testicles of piglets without providing any pain relief, and smashing their heads against the ground to kill them. Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions and images of animal abuse.

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The Fakest Fake News: The U.S. Government’s 9/11 Conspiracy Theory
Edward Curtin – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Sep 2018

If you want to fathom today’s world, absolutely nothing is more important than to understand the truth about the attacks of September 11, 2001… 9/11 Unmasked is the definitive book on the defining event of the 21st century.

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