Articles by Editorial

We found 154 results.


The Empire’s New Clothes
Socialist Worker, editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

Obama’s nominees to run the Pentagon and CIA underline how a Democratic president, once seen as antiwar, has rebranded U.S. imperialism.

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Justifying Assassination
Los Angeles Times, editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2013

U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon eloquently lamented that “I can find no way around the thicket of laws and precedents that effectively allow the executive branch of our government to proclaim as perfectly lawful certain actions that seem on their face incompatible with our Constitution and laws.” This page has made the same point in urging the administration to release the Office of Legal Counsel memorandum. If it is going to act as judge, jury and executioner, the least it can do is divulge its legal reasoning.

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What Will UN Recognition Mean for Palestine?
Socialist Worker, editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Dec 2012

The upheavals across the Middle East have helped the cause of Palestinian liberation. The potential for Palestinians to achieve much more than “nonmember observer status” at the UN is much clearer today–and should inspire all our struggles for justice and freedom, in the Middle East and around the world.

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No Crime, No Punishment
The New York Times, editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Aug 2012

When the Justice Department recently closed its criminal investigation of Goldman Sachs, it became all but certain that no major American banks or their top executives would ever face criminal charges for their role in the financial crisis. The shameless pursuit of Wall Street campaign donations by both political parties strengthens this perception, and further undermines confidence in the rule of law.

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A Political Blow to Austerity in Europe
Socialist Worker, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 May 2012

Europe’s political situation has become more volatile as the economy deteriorates. The rejection of austerity by voters in Greece and France and the deepening turmoil of Spain’s unraveling banks are two faces of Europe’s political and economic crises–and they point to new potential for resistance.

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(Castellano) Planeando Dominación Mundial
Socialist Worker, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 May 2012

Aquellos manifestándose contra la cumbre de la OTAN presentarán una visión diferente para nuestra sociedad. En las calles de Chicago este fin de semana [20-21 mayo 2012], activistas anti-bélicos, el movimiento Ocupa, sindicatos y grupos comunitarios tendrán la oportunidad de exigir otras prioridades, en lugar del gasto militar y la rebaja de los niveles de vida.

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In West Bank, Israel’s Rule is that of the Jungle
Haaretz, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Jan 2012

In the hands of this government, which mainly involve moving buildings built on private lands to ‘state lands’, have become instruments to deepen the occupation and obstruct the two-state solution. Defense Minister Ehud Barak has likened Israel to a “villa in the jungle.” Nothing is closer to the law of the jungle than a system of distorted laws and procedures that make it possible to build villa neighborhoods in the settlements and legalize wildcat outposts like Ramat Gilad.

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In Israel, the Life of a Palestinian Is Cheap
Haaretz, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2011

When it comes to shooting a Palestinian, pulling the trigger does not come with a real fear of having to answer to the law.

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China Not Obliged To Besiege Iran
Global Times (China), Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2011

The US Senate approved tougher economic sanctions against Iran on Thursday [1 Dec 2011], vowing to penalize any financial institutions that do business with Iran’s central bank. Consequently, other countries such as China, Japan and India are prohibited to conduct oil trade with Iran. Under such an arrogant bill, it is hard to imagine how the US would borrow money from the central banks of its creditors to make up its bleak budget in the future. China need not pay attention to it.

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(Castellano) La Promesa de Ocupa
Socialist Worker, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Oct 2011

Un movimiento comenzado por algunos cientos en Nueva York está transformando el debate político en todo el mundo–y sentando las bases de las luchas por venir. OCUPA ES el movimiento de una nueva generación–pero también es la voz del pueblo obrero, de todas las edades, harto del incesante descenso de su calidad de vida y del aumento de la desigualdad económica.

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(Castellano) Todos contra Wall Street
Socialist Worker, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Oct 2011

Los sindicatos están entrando en el lado de las protestas en Ocupa Wall Street–una creciente alianza entre la izquierda y el movimiento laboral que puede llevar la lucha a una nueva etapa.

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The Extreme Israeli Right’s Alliance With Lunatics
Haaretz, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Aug 2011

In recent years, the extreme Israeli right has developed an alliance with heads of the evangelical movement, who define themselves as Christian Zionists, some of whom believe that another Holocaust of the Jews will ensure the resurrection of Jesus.

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Flotilla Passengers Are Today’s Freedom Riders
Truthout, Staff Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Jul 2011

It has been widely reported that 25 percent of the activists on the US boat that was to sail in the Gaza flotilla are Jewish. Six of those 35 activists are Truthout friends, many of long date: Chairman of the Truthout Board Robert Naiman and contributing authors Medea Benjamin, Kathy Kelly, Ray McGovern, Gabriel Schivone and boat leader Ann Wright. Knowing that these friends are putting their lives on the line for what they believe in fills us with pride and anxiety. Our hearts are locked up with their boldly christened boat, The Audacity of Hope.

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A Newspaper’s Closure Does Not End the Hacking Scandal
The Independent, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Jul 2011

The management team that repeatedly covered up evidence of wrongdoing remains in place. Even in the depths of a crisis, Rupert Murdoch’s flair for the dramatic never deserts him. No – the sound that could be heard yesterday [7 Jul 2011] was not of an empire crumbling, but an empire attempting to shore up its defences and protect its key personnel. The purpose of this move is to prevent the rest of the sprawling Murdoch media organisation from contamination.

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Imperial War behind a Humanitarian Charade
Socialist Worker, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jun 2011

The UN-sanctioned intervention, at first supposedly focused on imposing a “no-fly zone,” quickly–and predictably–transformed into what Western leaders now openly say is a war to topple Qaddafi. Rather than a mission that promotes democracy and freedom for the Libyan people, the Western war is about the plan of the U.S. and its allies to put in place a new regime that serves their interests.

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A Report That Dares to Tell the Truth to Power
The Independent, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Jun 2011

Global commissions normally tell international leaders what they want to hear. But the Global Commission on Drug Policy – which has called on the services of distinguished names such Paul Volcker, Kofi Annan, Mario Vargas Llosa and Javier Solana – has done something very different. Instead of telling world leaders what they want to hear, the commission has, instead, told them the truth.

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Israel and Palestine: Here Comes Your Non-Violent Resistance
The Economist, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 May 2011

Will we even bother to acknowledge that the Palestinians are protesting non-violently? Or will we soldier on with the same empty decades-old rhetoric, now drained of any truth or meaning, because it protects established relationships of power? What will it take to make Americans recognise that the real Martin Luther King-style non-violent Palestinian protestors have arrived, and that Israeli soldiers are shooting them with real bullets?

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The Guantánamo Papers
The New York Times, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 May 2011

Innocent men were picked up on the basis of scant or nonexistent evidence and subjected to lengthy detention and often to abuse and torture. Some people were released who later acted against the United States. Inmates who committed suicide were regarded only as a public relations problem. There are seriously dangerous prisoners at Guantánamo who cannot be released but may never get a real trial because the evidence is so tainted. Hampered by ideologues and cowards in Congress, President Obama has made scant progress in healing it.

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An Opportunity for Peace That Must Not Be Squandered
The Independent, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 May 2011

The EU made a serious mistake five years ago when it refused to recognise Hamas.

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How the Wheels of This Misadventure Were Oiled
The Independent, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Apr 2011

Tony Blair has always maintained that Iraq’s oil reserves did not cross his mind in the run-up to the 2003 invasion. But Iraq’s abundant oil supplies had certainly crossed the minds of the British energy giant BP. As this newspaper reported yesterday [19 Apr 2011], documents reveal that the oil company discussed Iraq’s fossil fuel reserves in considerable detail with government officials in late 2002.

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Fukushima: Openness Can Be the Only Policy
The Independent, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Apr 2011

Panic and nuclear technology go together. But that does not mean the nuclear authorities in Japan, as elsewhere in the world, should withhold information. It means the opposite. The more educated public opinion becomes, the less purchase alarmist scares and inaccurate comparisons will have. Honesty and openness is the best long-term strategy for the nuclear industry if it is to stand any chance of playing a major part in meeting the world’s future energy needs.

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Europe Has an Obligation to These Desperate African Refugees
The Independent, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Mar 2011

If Italy needs assistance to deal with migration flows, other EU states should provide it. Fortress Europe has closed its gates.

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Libya and the Dilemma of Intervention
The Nation, Editorial - TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Mar 2011

Our natural tendency is to want to help end Qaddafi’s despotic rule and to save the lives of those bravely resisting his onslaught. But it is a difficult challenge to take action that has a reasonable chance of success but that does not arouse popular—and well-founded—suspicions of neoimperial intervention.

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The U.S. Is no Friend to Libya’s Uprising
Socialist Worker, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Mar 2011

The U.S. was perfectly happy to do business with Qaddafi, in spite of his regime’s record of violent repression–for the same reason it’s now posing as Qaddafi’s enemy.

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Mubarak’s Dictatorship Must End Now
Guardian-Observer Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 31 Jan 2011

Sun Jan 30 2011 – Fittingly, Egypt’s youth led the way against the old order, using not guns or bombs but the arsenal of 21st-century information technology: social media, mobiles, texts and emails. The Paris mob of Bastille notoriety became, through peaceful evolution, the flash mob of Tahrir Square. They espoused no leaders. They wrote no plans. In fast-moving, separate but interconnected street offensives, they out-thought, outfoxed and outran the police.

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Are Corporations People?
Los Angeles Times, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Jan 2011

In a case that could erect new barriers to public access to government information, the Supreme Court this week was asked to hold that corporations have a right to “personal privacy.” Fortunately, justices from across the ideological spectrum appeared skeptical that such a counterintuitive concept could be found either in the law or in a dictionary.

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Soldier’s Inhumane Imprisonment
Los Angeles Times, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Jan 2011

For five months, Pfc. Bradley Manning is confined to his cell for 23 hours a day, with no sheets and without exercise, while he awaits trial on charges of providing documents to WikiLeaks…. The conditions under which he is being held at the Marine detention center at Quantico, Va., are so harsh as to suggest he is being punished for conduct of which he hasn’t been convicted.

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The Hiroshima Peace Summit
The Asahi Shimbum, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Nov 2010

Winners of the Nobel Peace Prize gathered in Hiroshima over the weekend [Nov 12-14, 2010] for an international conference held under the theme: The Legacy of Hiroshima: A World Without Nuclear Weapons.” The participants issued a declaration that called for popularizing the view that the use of nuclear weapons is immoral and illegal, immediately ratifying the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty by the United States and Russia, and deeply cutting the nuclear arsenals of nuclear powers…. The organizers of the conference and the city of Hiroshima invited U.S. President Barack Obama, who won the prize last year, to attend, but to no avail…. The U.S. government’s moves to increase the nuclear arms budget and conduct a subcritical nuclear test in September have caused deep disappointment in Hiroshima, leaving many citizens feeling “betrayed” by Obama.

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Defend Julian Assange
WikiLeaks Staff Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Nov 2010

18 November 2010. Why Our Editor-in-Chief Is Busy and Needs to Be Defended.

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Haiti Was Forgotten Too Soon
The Independent, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Nov 2010

It was only 10 months ago that the international spotlight was focused on the misery of Haiti after an earthquake killed at least 200,000 people. But 10 months is a long time in the aid world. Recent reports of an outbreak of cholera, which has already killed more than 250 people, are a reminder that once the spotlight of attention shifts, disaster-stricken countries are too often left more or less to their own devices. That this contagious disease has already moved into the overcrowded capital, Port-au-Prince, claiming several lives there, is another ominous development.

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Israel’s Loyalty Oath: Discriminatory by Design
The Guardian, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Oct 2010

New pledge requires future citizens declare their loyalty to an ideology, one intended to exclude Palestinians.

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Torture Is a Crime, Not a Secret
The New York Times, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Sep 2010

All too often in the past, the judges pointed out, secrecy privileges have been used to avoid embarrassing the government, not to protect real secrets. In this case, the embarrassment and the shame to America’s reputation are already too well known.

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Three Degrees Is At Least One Too Many
The Independent, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Sep 2010

It is fittingly ominous that 2010, year of the next big climate change conference, has been the hottest in recorded history. The heat rises inexorably yet the world dithers and looks away. None of the excitement that surrounded the opening stages of the climate summit at Copenhagen last year looks like materialising this November at Cancún in Mexico.

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Pakistan – A Disaster of Daunting Magnitude
Miami Herald, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Aug 2010

The eyes see. The ears hear. Yet, somehow, the mind struggles to grasp the full dimension of this catastrophe. Almost 20 million people need shelter, food and emergency care. That is more than the entire population hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami, the Kashmir earthquake, Cyclone Nargis and the earthquake in Haiti — combined.

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A Prison That Stains US Moral Authority
The Independent, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 16 Aug 2010

The first case to be tried under the new commissions is that of child soldier Omar Khadr, who was 15 years old when he was accused of throwing a grenade which killed a US serviceman in Afghanistan in 2002. Mr Khadr’s trial has been condemned by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, who stress that it is America which has led the world in recognising that children caught in war zones in Africa must be treated as victims and not combatants. The Khadr case serves only to confirm the alternative legal universe in which Guantanamo exists.

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(Portuguese) Palestina, um Povo em Marcha pela Libertação
Editorial, Brasil de Fato – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jun 2010

Não se derrota 62 anos de colonialismo israelense com duas semanas de mobilizações, mas as lutas de agora vão se transformando numa onda.

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Keeping a Finger on the Nuclear Trigger
Editorial, Socialist Worker – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Apr 2010

The U.S. has repackaged its strategy–but the terrible threat of nuclear war remains.

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VANITY OF VANITIES: THE IRAQ WAR SEVEN YEARS LATER
Truthout Staff Editorial, 20 Mar 2010

We are still shocked. We were never awed. We have not adjusted. The senseless waste of our blood and treasure, our honor and our reputation continue. Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom – the latter unleashed seven years ago today – have morphed into a single Operation Enduring Occupation, set to bankrupt this country […]

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COMMON ACTIVIST ERRORS AND SOME PROPOSALS TO RECTIFY THEM
Yousef Abudayyeh, Mohamed Khodr, Mary Rizzo, Haitham Sabbah and Saja – Palestine Think Tank editorial, 20 Feb 2010

Activism and activists for Palestine have been getting some media attention recently. This is absolutely great news. It is an opportunity that we need to take advantage of, especially since Palestinians themselves are denied space in almost all mainstream mass media. Reflecting on this fact, we at PTT have decided to express some of our […]

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COMMON ACTIVIST ERRORS AND SOME PROPOSALS TO RECTIFY THEM
Yousef Abudayyeh, Mohamed Khodr, Mary Rizzo, Haitham Sabbah and Saja – Palestine Think Tank editorial, 20 Feb 2010

Activism and activists for Palestine have been getting some media attention recently. This is absolutely great news. It is an opportunity that we need to take advantage of, especially since Palestinians themselves are denied space in almost all mainstream mass media. Reflecting on this fact, we at PTT have decided to express some of our […]

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(ITALIAN) HAITI VA AIUTATA O ANNESSA?
Gianni Minà – LatinoAmerica, Editoriale, 21 Jan 2010

A meno di 24 ore dalla catastrofe che ha disintegrato la già poverissima isola caraibica di colonizzazione francese, i 344 medici e specialisti della salute cubani che, in 227 dei 337 comuni del paese aiutano e curano da tempo, quotidianamente, quella martoriata umanità, erano già intervenuti in più di mille emergenze. Solo tre di loro […]

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(ITALIAN) I CONTRACTORS SONO MERCENARI?
Gianni Minà – LatinoAmerica, Editoriale, 21 Jan 2010

Un giudice federale di Washington, Ricardo Urbina, ha rifiutato l’incriminazione per strage di alcuni mercenari nordamericani, dipendenti della famigerata Blackwater, accusati di aver ucciso, senza motivo, 17 civili iracheni a Baghdad nel 2007. Le ragioni con cui Urbina ha motivato la sua decisione sono una vera e propria caricatura del garantismo più estremo e capzioso: […]

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FAILURE IN COPENHAGEN: GUNNING FULL THROTTLE INTO THE GREENHOUSE
Markus Becker in Copenhagen – SPIEGEL Editorial, 20 Dec 2009

What a disaster. The climate summit in Copenhagen has failed because of the hardball politicking of the United States, China and several other countries — and because people just can’t seem to fathom how catastrophic climate change will be. They probably won’t have long to wait before things become a bit clearer.The global climate summit […]

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BOLIVIA: REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE
The Guardian – Editorial, Dec 8 2009, 10 Dec 2009

President Evo Morales won a stunning victory in Bolivia yesterday, taking 63% of the popular vote and guiding his party to win control of congress. Bolivia’s first indigenous president has won the biggest popular mandate in recent memory, destroying three political parties that rotated the presidency between them for the last two decades. In doing […]

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(PORTUGUESE) HONDURAS, UM ALERTA PARA TODA A ESQUERDA!
Brasil de Fato – Editorial, 27 Nov 2009

O resultado das ilegais e ilegítimas eleições de 29 de novembro poderá alterar de maneira significativa o quadro das lutas sociais e políticas naquele país.Diante da possibilidade de legitimação do golpe civil-militar, através de uma iniciativa comandada pelo governo dos EUA, com apoio dos governos da Colômbia, Perú e México, se aproxima a resolução da […]

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A FIASCO
Le Monde – Editorial, 12 Nov 2009, 15 Nov 2009

It’s time to stop the verbal pretense. In the Near East, there is no negotiation "process" underway. Furthermore, there is also no prospect for peace. The situation is nonetheless not in a state of status quo: it is regressing. Dangerously. The United States bears the primary responsibility. Several months ago, Barack Obama had placed the […]

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TAMIL CAMPS
NY Times Editorial Jul 15 09, 17 Jul 2009

More than two months after declaring victory over Tamil Tiger guerillas, Sri Lanka’s government is continuing to hold hundreds of thousands of displaced Tamil civilians in what it calls “welfare villages,” but what increasingly look like military internment camps. The civilians, many of whom were held hostage by the guerrillas in the bloody last stage […]

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UNPUNISHED MASSACRE
Le Monde – Editorial 1/Jun/09, 2 Jun 2009

    The Sri Lankan regime is exultant. It’s about to get away scot-free with the massacre of thousands of civilians on its country’s northeastern beaches. According to a UN estimate, close to 20,000 people could have perished in the Sri Lankan army’s end of January to end of May offensive against the ultra-violent Liberation Tigers […]

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JUDGING THE ICC
The Los Angeles Times – Editorial, Mar 16 2009, 18 Mar 2009

The cases for and against US participation in the International Criminal Court.     The Nuremberg trials at the close of World War II were controversial in their day. Advocates saw civilized nations imposing just retribution for acts of depravity; critics saw an exercise of victors’ justice, with rules of warfare imposed after the fact. From […]

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GAZA: FAILED SIEGE
The Guardian, UK - Editorial (Mar 3), 4 Mar 2009

Pledging aid for Gaza is the easy bit. Getting it delivered to Gazans living in tents after Israel’s three-week bombardment is another matter. The $3bn that donors promised in Sharm el-Sheikh yesterday will have to penetrate a labyrinth of barriers and conditions, the complexity of which King Minos of Crete would have been proud. The […]

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GADDAFI’S CALDRON AND OUR COCKTAIL
The Gambia Journal - Editorial, 9 Feb 2009

The Heads of State Summit of the African Union ended Wednesday 4th February leaving a bitter after-taste in the mouths of many proponents of a new African Renaissance.  In his inaugural speech as new African Union (AU) chairman, Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi said that multi-party democracy in Africa leads to bloodshed. Speaking at the AU […]

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ISRAEL CONTINUES STARVATION OF GAZANS DESPITE UN PLEAS
The Irish Sun - Editorial, 22 Nov 2008

In what the UN has described as collective punishment, the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip continues. Notwithstanding 56% of the 1.5 million Gazan population consists of children, Israel has shut down access to the region refusing to allow desperately needed food trucks to reach their destination. UN food agencies in Gaza that have had […]

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SELF-EVIDENT TRUTHS
The Guardian - Editorial, 14 Nov 2008

If there is a truth which the world now holds to be self-evident, it is that the US prison camp in Guantánamo Bay should close. Four prosecutors at the camp have resigned, and the last one to do so, Darrel Vandeveld, could become a defence witness. He claimed the US government was not providing lawyers […]

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SUFFERING WITHOUT END
The Guardian - Editorial, 31 Oct 2008

    If the words humanitarian catastrophe and eastern Congo have a familiar ring to them, it is because the fundamental causes of a conflict that has claimed five million lives and continues to kill 45,000 a month through starvation and disease remain unaddressed. And this despite the world’s largest peacekeeping force, with the strongest mandate […]

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