Articles by RD
We found 3631 results.
Musk, Wozniak and Hawking Urge Ban on Warfare AI and Autonomous Weapons
Samuel Gibbs – The Guardian,
3 Aug 2015
27 Jul 2015 – An open letter warning of a “military artificial intelligence arms race” and calling for a ban on “offensive autonomous weapons” was signed by Tesla’s Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Google DeepMind chief executive Demis Hassabis and professor Stephen Hawking along with over 1,000 AI and robotics researchers.
→ read full articleAnti-Torture Reforms Opposed within Psychology Group after Damning Report
Spencer Ackerman – The Guardian,
3 Aug 2015
Before the American Psychological Association meets in Toronto next Thursday [6 Aug], former military voices within the profession are urging the organization not to participate in what they describe as a witch hunt. Tempers rise as association found complicit in brutal military and CIA interrogation.
→ read full articleA Moment That Changed Me – Ditching the Diets and Embracing My Plus-Size Body
Callie Thorpe – The Guardian,
27 Jul 2015
I was disgusted by my own body, and dieting only made things worse. But then a chance Google search changed everything. I was a serial dieter. You name the diet and I’ve done it
→ read full articleGod’s Masterpiece or the Devil’s Bad Joke? Barbarians and Apes — From the Opium Wars to the Origin of the Species
Eduardo Galeano - TomDispatch,
27 Jul 2015
[The following passages are excerpted from Eduardo Galeano’s ‘History of Humanity’] – Origin of Freedom of Oppression
→ read full articleAlliance Blackmail: Israel’s Opposition to the Iran Nuclear Agreement
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jul 2015
JCPOA imposes more restrictions on Iranian enrichment capabilities and stockpiles, and on inspection and monitoring of compliance, than has been imposed on any country in the course of the entire nuclear era. Left out of consideration altogether was the nuclear weapons arsenal of Israel acquired with Western complicity and by covert means, as well as through operations outside the Nonproliferation Treaty regime, which is used to tie Iran’s hands and feet.
→ read full articleMystery of Kazakhstan Sleeping Sickness Solved, Says Government
Alec Luhn in Moscow – The Guardian,
27 Jul 2015
17 Jul 2015 – More than 140 people in two tiny villages were hit by the illness, with sufferers drifting off for up to six days – now scientists appear to have discovered the cause.
→ read full articleYour Ancestors Didn’t Sleep the Way You Do – Are You Sleeping Correctly?
Dr. Edward F. Group III – Global Healing Center,
27 Jul 2015
Historical records, centuries-old literature, and ancient references to sleep are all revealing a completely new way we should be looking at how we slumber. -Before Reaching for That Sleeping Pill, Consider The Following-
→ read full articleTwo Sea Shepherd Crewmembers Arrested in the Faroe Islands with Assistance of Danish Navy
Sea Shepherd News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jul 2015
20 Jul 2015 – Two volunteer crewmembers from the Sea Shepherd ship, Sam Simon, have been arrested in the Faroe Islands. “I made multiple request of the Danish Navy today for information; about whether a grindadráp had been called; about whether our crew had been arrested; and about whether the Farley small boat had been confiscated. Each time, my requests went unanswered.”
→ read full articleDavid Graeber Interview: ‘So Many People Spend Their Working Lives Doing Jobs They Think Are Unnecessary’
Stuart Jeffries – The Guardian,
20 Jul 2015
The anarchist author, coiner of the phrase ‘We are the 99%’, talks about ‘bullshit jobs’, our rule-bound lives and the importance of play.
→ read full articleThe End of Capitalism Has Begun
Paul Mason – The Guardian,
20 Jul 2015
Without us noticing, we are entering the postcapitalist era. At the heart of further change to come is information technology, new ways of working and the sharing economy. It’s time to be utopian. Marx imagined something close to our information economy. He wrote its existence would blow capitalism sky high.
→ read full article3 Great Supplements for Gut Health
Dr. Edward F. Group, Global Healing Center – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jul 2015
There are so many easy ways that you can support and maintain your gut health. Whether it’s eating healthy, taking probiotics, or even meditation. Cutting out gluten and sugar are helpful steps you can take to support the health of your gut, and consuming more raw, living foods are also great measures.
→ read full article‘Anarchism Could Help to Save the World’
David Priestland – The Guardian,
20 Jul 2015
State socialism has failed, so has the market. We need to rediscover the anarchist thinker Peter Kropotkin.
→ read full article(Italiano) Alcune riflessioni teoriche a partire dalla Grande guerra
Antonino Drago - Centro Interdisciplinare Scienze per la Pace,
20 Jul 2015
La guerra è un flagello [sociale] fatto da mano d’uomo. In realtà si fanno la guerra e la rivoluzione [violenta] perché si subiscono la miseria e la servitù [anche culturale].
→ read full articleYemeni Genocide Proceeds Apace, Enjoying World’s Silence
William Boardman - Reader Supported News,
13 Jul 2015
If any of the umpteen candidates for president of the United States has said anything humane, useful, or even dimly relevant about Yemen, it is hard to find (and I have found nothing). And nowhere have I found any call to establish the appropriate International War Crimes Tribunal to judge the illegality of the multiple, heinous predations of the United States, Saudi Arabia, and their sundry allies, all members in good standing of the world peacekeeping authority.
→ read full articleWind Power Generates 140% of Denmark’s Electricity Demand
Arthur Neslen – The Guardian,
13 Jul 2015
Unusually high winds allowed Denmark to meet all of its electricity needs – with plenty to spare for Germany, Norway and Sweden too.
→ read full articleYanis Varoufakis: Germany Won’t Spare Greek Pain – It Has an Interest in Breaking Us
Yanis Varoufakis – The Guardian,
13 Jul 2015
Debt restructuring has always been our aim in negotiations – but for some eurozone leaders Grexit is the goal. The answer cannot be found in economics because it resides deep in Europe’s labyrinthine politics.
→ read full article
Johan Galtung on the Greek Drama Unfolding
Naakow Grant-Hayford and Johan Galtung,
13 Jul 2015
11 Jul 2015 – Naakow Grant-Hayford’s Skype interview with Johan Galtung: OXI, NAI, Tsipras, Varoufakis, IMF, Troika, Financial Crisis, Conflict Resolution…
→ read full articleUN Gaza Report Part I: War Crimes during Israel’s 51-Day Assault on Gaza
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jul 2015
Exactly a year ago, for 51 days between July 7 and August 26 Israel carried out its third major military assault on Gaza in the past six years. This last one, code named Operation Protective Edge, was the most vicious, killing 2,251 Palestinians, of which 1,462 were civilians, and included 299 women and 551 children, as well as injuring 11,231, a number that includes 3,436 children, 10% of whom have permanent disabilities, and another 1,500 have been orphaned.
→ read full articleUN Gaza Report Part II: Israel’s Counterinsuurgency Apologist, Colonel Richard Kemp
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jul 2015
On June 25, 2015 the New York Times published an opinion piece by Kemp assessing the UN Report. What I find scandalous and perverse on the part of this self-claiming authoritative media source, is to publish such a harsh and partisan dismissal of a prudent and overly balanced report without any kind of offsetting piece.
→ read full articleThe Emergence of Orwellian Newspeak and the Death of Free Speech
John W. Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jul 2015
From this point on, we have only two options: go down fighting, or capitulate and betray our loved ones, our friends and our selves by insisting that, as a brainwashed Winston Smith does at the end of Orwell’s 1984, yes, 2+2 does equal 5.
→ read full articleReading Claudia Rankine on Race
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jul 2015
What Claudia Rankine shares and teaches is that every African American citizen must live with the existential concreteness of racism while even the most liberal of American white citizens live with only an abstract awareness of their own unconscious racism or, at best, their rather detached empathy with the historical victimization of our African American co-citizens.
→ read full article3 Artificial Sweeteners to Avoid
Dr. Edward F. Group, Global Healing Center – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jul 2015
I always suggest that everyone, including healthy individuals, remove added sugars from their diet, including artificial sweeteners. Organic coconut sugar or, better yet, raw organic honey are much better alternatives to satisfy sweet cravings within the confines of a healthy diet.
→ read full articleJoseph Stiglitz: How I Would Vote in the Greek Referendum
Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Economics Laureate – The Guardian,
6 Jul 2015
A no vote would at least open the possibility that Greece, with its strong democratic tradition, might grasp its destiny in its own hands. Greeks might gain the opportunity to shape a future that, though perhaps not as prosperous as the past, is far more hopeful than the unconscionable torture of the present. I know how I would vote.
→ read full articleThis Dome in the Pacific Houses Tons of Radioactive Waste – And It’s Leaking
Coleen Jose, Kim Wall and Jan Hendrik Hinzel – The Guardian,
6 Jul 2015
3 Jul 2015 – The Runit Dome in the Marshall Islands is a hulking legacy of years of US nuclear testing. Now locals and scientists are warning that rising sea levels caused by climate change could cause 111,000 cubic yards of debris to spill into the ocean.
→ read full articleConfederate Flag Down, Rainbow Flag Up: This Is the American Pride We’ve Been Waiting For
Steven W Thrasher – The Guardian,
29 Jun 2015
It may not be hope and change, but isn’t it amazing how much grace there is in Barack Obama’s United States right now?
→ read full article(Português) Preservar a Perspectiva Singular do Papa: A Ecologia Integral
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Jun 2015
22 junho 2015 – O Papa Francisco operou uma grande virada no discurso ecológico ao passar da ecologia ambiental para a ecologia integral. Esta inclui a ecologia político-social, a mental, a cultural, a educacional, a ética e a espiritual.
→ read full articleHalf of Europe’s Electricity Set to Be from Renewables by 2030
Arthur Neslen – The Guardian,
29 Jun 2015
Leaked EU paper predicts fast renewables growth to around double current levels if countries meet climate objectives.
→ read full articlePost-Capitalist Solutions: How Worker-Owned Tech Co-ops Are Boosting the Solidarity Economy
Matt Stannard, Occupy – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Jun 2015
23 Jun 2015 – Many now agree that corporate capitalism needs to go away. But we differ about the methods of replacing it. Worker ownership is about alienation versus empowerment. For human beings to be able to be their full selves, they need to have a say in their own affairs.
→ read full articleSaudi Arabia Tells Citizens to Ignore Latest WikiLeaks Release
Ian Black – The Guardian,
29 Jun 2015
21 Jun 2015 – Saudi Arabia has warned its citizens to ignore the 61,000 diplomatic documents leaked by the transparency site WikiLeaks, which give a rare insight into the kingdom’s habit of buying influence and monitoring dissidents.
→ read full articleCIA Torture Appears to Have Broken Spy Agency Rule on Human Experimentation
Spencer Ackerman – The Guardian,
22 Jun 2015
A previously classified CIA document, made public by the Guardian on Monday [15 Jun], empower the agency’s director to “approve, modify, or disapprove all proposals pertaining to human subject research”. The director has never in the agency’s history been a medical doctor.
→ read full articleThe Undisclosed Second Paradox in Michael Walzer’s ‘The Paradox of Liberation’
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Jun 2015
My contention is that Walzer’s paradox dissolves as soon as the claim to categorize Zionism as a mode of ‘national liberation’ is deconstructed while the second paradox, which dwells on the moral and political interplay of what transpires when the liberation of the self is organically linked to the dispossession of the other, remains to be explained.
→ read full article(Castellano) La era de las grandes trasformaciones
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Jun 2015
Vivimos en la era de las Grandes Trasformaciones. Entre tantas, destaco apenas dos: la primera en el campo de la economía y la segunda en el campo de la conciencia.
→ read full articleThe Polio Vaccine: A Global Scourge Still Threatening Humanity
Richard Gale and Dr. Gary Null - Global Research,
22 Jun 2015
This horribly simplistic belief that polio and smallpox are exemplary models for all other vaccines is both naïve and dangerous. Vaccinology does not follow a one-size-fits-all theory. Among some of the more alarming discoveries since the discovery of the SV40 in Salk’s and Sabin’s vaccines and its carcinogenic footprint in millions today are:
→ read full articleThat Which Is Right vs. the Political Right
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Jun 2015
I think that in trying to overcome the present crisis (if that is possible) two factors must be seriously considered, otherwise we risk losing everything that we hope for: the collapse of the capitalist order and the limits of the Earth that cannot be exceeded.
→ read full articleIs the Middle East America’s to Lose?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Jun 2015
I was appalled by the embedded colonialism of a recent issue of The Economist [June 6-12, 2015], “Losing the Middle East.” Any doubt about the intent of the magazine is removed by displaying a bedraggled American flag on the cover accompanied by the sub-title “Why American must not abandon the region.”
→ read full articleRecord Boost in New Solar Power Continues Massive Industry Growth
Arthur Neslen – The Guardian,
15 Jun 2015
UK leads European solar energy expansion to help renewables overtake output of nuclear power as industry leaders hail ‘tipping point’ for the technology.
→ read full articleTobacco Companies Ordered to Pay C$15.6 Billion to Quebec Smokers
Richard Smallteacher, CorpWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Jun 2015
4 Jun 2015 – Over one million people in the Canadian province of Quebec will receive a total of C$15.6 billion ($12.5 billion) in damages for smoking related diseases from three of the biggest tobacco companies in the country. The settlement is the result of a 17-year long court battle.
→ read full articleTurkish Elections: It’s Not Just Erdoğan!
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Jun 2015
9 Jun 2015 – The Turkish general election on June 7th ended more or less as the polls predicted. Turkey has been put back on the shelf and yet relieved that the AKP was again supported by a significant plurality of Turkish citizens in an impressively free and fair electoral process.
→ read full article(Português) A Era das Grandes Transformações
Leonardo Boff - TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Jun 2015
A reflexão ecológica se complexificou. Não se pode reduzi-la apenas à preservação do meio ambiente. A totalidade do sistema mundo está em jogo. Vivemos na era das Grandes Transformações. Entre tantas, destaco apenas duas: a primeira no campo da economia e a segunda no campo da consciência.
→ read full articleEdward Snowden: The World Says No to Surveillance
Edward J. Snowden – The New York Times,
8 Jun 2015
Two years ago today, three journalists and I worked nervously in a Hong Kong hotel room, waiting to see how the world would react to the revelation that the National Security Agency had been making records of nearly every phone call in the United States.
→ read full article(Italiano) Un avvertimento contro l’argomentazione di Kaplan per cui “È tempo di riportare l’imperialismo in Medio Oriente”
Johan Galtung e Naakow Hayford – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Jun 2015
Piuttosto li si aiuti a creare un califfato con le migliori qualità del suo predecessore ottomano: la tolleranza, i millet per le minoranze, addirittura la saldatura potenziale dello squarcio fra sunniti e sciiti. Si usi il peacekeeping militare per proteggere, difensivamente, le minoranze esposte e minacciate. Si negozi uno spazio per Israele. Ma non ci si perda in sterili rivalità di potere militari; già perse dagli USA.
→ read full articleNo Progress on Nuclear Weapons Control – As Planned
William Boardman - Reader Supported News,
8 Jun 2015
US Leadership Vetoes Steps toward Nuclear Weapons-Free World
→ read full articleFIFA Scandals Are Worse Than Bribes
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Jun 2015
The Palestinian Soccer Association was persuaded by Blatter to drop its charges, with a renewal of previously empty pledges to ameliorate conditions confronting Palestinians coupled with a surely ironic plea to keep ‘politics’ from intruding on ‘the beautiful game.’ As if the humiliations and constraints imposed on the Palestinian teams were not political!
→ read full articleThe Era of the Great Transformations
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Jun 2015
We live in the Era of the Great Transformations. There are many, but I will mention just two: the first relating to the economy and the second to the realm conscience.
→ read full articleHSBC Pays Out £28m over Money-Laundering Claims
Juliette Garside – The Guardian,
8 Jun 2015
4 Jun 2015 – HSBC has been ordered to pay a record 40m Swiss francs (£28m) (US$43m) (€38m) for money laundering in the bank’s Swiss subsidiary. The settlement means the Swiss will not prosecute HSBC or publish the findings of their investigation into alleged aggravated money laundering.
→ read full articleWikiLeaks Releases Documents Related to Controversial US Trade Pact
Sam Thielman in New York and Phillip Inman in London – The Guardian,
8 Jun 2015
WikiLeaks on Wednesday [3 Jun 2015] released 17 different documents related to the Trade in Services Agreement (Tisa), a controversial pact currently being hashed out between the US and 23 other countries — most of them in Europe and South America — day after organization put $100,000 bounty on documents from series of US trade treaties.
→ read full articleDaniel Ellsberg Credits Edward Snowden with Catalysing US Surveillance Reform
Ewen MacAskill in London, and Dan Roberts and Ben Jacobs in Washington – The Guardian,
8 Jun 2015
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden should be thanked for sparking the debate that forced Congress to change US surveillance law, Daniel Ellsberg, the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers, said Monday [1 Jun 2015].
→ read full articleIn Myanmar [Burma], Muslims Arrested for Joining Terror Group That Doesn’t Exist
Carlos Sardiña Galache and Veronica Pedrosa – The Intercept,
1 Jun 2015
The crackdown is part of a wave of anti-Muslim persecution in the Buddhist country, this time under the cover of the U.S. war on terror.
→ read full articleAgainst Kaplan “Bring Imperialism Back to the Middle East”
Johan Galtung and Naakow Hayford,
1 Jun 2015
Rather, help them create a Caliphate with the best qualities of its Ottoman predecessor: tolerance, minority millets, even potentially bridging the Sunni-Shia gap. Use military peacekeeping to protect, defensively, exposed and threatened minorities. Negotiate space for Israel. But do not get lost in sterile military power rivalries; already lost by the USA.
→ read full articleAmerica at Its Best Is Strange
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Jun 2015
America even at its best is a strange place, alive with contradictions, a Teflon political culture that has an unshakable faith in its innocent and virtuous national character and its overall impact on the world, impervious to the ghosts of slavery and of ethnic cleansing of native Americans that should be tormenting our sleep and darkening our dreams, comfortable with its robust gun culture, and with its promiscuous reliance on rogue drones engineered to kill on command and on the brutal happenings that take place in black sites immorally situated in countries whose leaders agree to avert their gaze from the dirty work taking place.
→ read full articleIndia´s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Jun 2015
Today “governability” is standardly defined as the overall capacity for governance of any societal entity or system. This definition has the defect of being somewhat circular since it uses the word “governance” to define the word “governability.” But before busying ourselves with improving the definition of the word, let us instead look at some of the important issues at stake in governability-talk.
→ read full articleLatest Guilty Pleas Prove Big Bank Criminality ‘Rampant,’ But Jail Time Non-Existent
Deirdre Fulton – Common Dreams,
1 Jun 2015
In announcing settlement, Attorney General Loretta Lynch calls the crimes ‘a brazen display of collusion’ that caused ‘pervasive harm’. First, criminality is rampant on Wall Street. Second, the era of too-big-to-jail is alive and well. Even as they beat their chests announcing how tough they are, government regulators refuse to apply to the giant banks the same rules that apply to everyone else.
→ read full articleThe Years Since I Was Jailed For Releasing the ‘War Diaries’ Have Been a Rollercoaster
Chelsea E Manning (formerly Bradley Manning) – The Guardian,
1 Jun 2015
It can be difficult, sometimes, to make sense of all the things that have happened to me in the last five years… It didn’t help that a few of the Navy guards delivering meals would tell me that I was waiting for interrogation on a brig on a US cruiser off the coast of the horn of Africa, or being sent to the prison camps of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. At the very lowest point, I contemplated castrating myself.
→ read full articleWith Schizophrenia, My Thoughts Can Be like Pieces of a Mismatched Jigsaw Puzzle
Joshua Gliddon – The Guardian,
25 May 2015
I have schizophrenia but I’m determined not to be a victim of my illness. It’s part of me, and I have come to accept that fact and the limitations it entails, but it doesn’t define me. Schizophrenia, I’ve learned, might be misunderstood, but with the right treatment and support, it’s nothing to be feared.
→ read full articleSaudi Arabia Advertises For Eight New Executioners as Beheading Rate Soars
Reuters in Riyadh – The Guardian,
25 May 2015
• Jobs classified as ‘religious functionaries’ at lower end of civil service scale
• 85 reported executed so far this year, rivalling total for whole of 2014
(Português) A polêmica ferrovia que a China quer construir na América do Sul
Gerardo Lissardy – BBC Brasil,
25 May 2015
Uma ferrovia que começa no Rio de Janeiro banhada pelo Oceano Atlântico, atravessa a Floresta Amazônica e a Cordilheira dos Andes e termina na costa peruana em pleno Oceano Pacífico: este é o ambicioso plano que a China quer consolidar na América do Sul.
→ read full article[Banksters Mafia Orgy] Major World Banks Hit by Record Fine for Rigging Forex Markets
Jill Treanor in London and Dominic Rushe in New York – The Guardian,
25 May 2015
The reputation of the banking industry took another hammering on Wednesday [20 May 2015] as record fines imposed on Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Citi, JP Morgan and UBS, which pleaded guilty for rigging foreign exchange markets and over collusion by traders in several countries, topped [£6.3bn.] [€ 8.8bn.] [US$ 9.86bn.].
→ read full articleIsrael’s New Deputy Foreign Minister: ‘This Land Is Ours. All of It Is Ours’
Associated Press – The Guardian,
25 May 2015
Tzipi Hotovely gives speech to Israeli diplomats in which she says she will try to achieve global recognition for West Bank settlements. On Thursday [21 May 2015] she delivered a defiant message to the international community saying that Israel owes no apologies for its policies in the Holy Land and citing religious texts to back her belief that it belongs to the Jewish people.
→ read full article‘They Hit Us, with Hammers, by Knife’: Rohingya Migrants Tell of Horror at Sea
Kate Lamb – The Guardian,
25 May 2015
Up to 8,000 are believed to be stuck off Thai, Indonesian and Malaysian coasts, and those who made it to shore describe violence and starvation.
→ read full articleEdward Snowden: NSA Reform in the US Is Only the Beginning
Alan Rusbridger, Janine Gibson and Ewen MacAskill – The Guardian,
25 May 2015
In an exclusive interview from Moscow, Snowden cautions that more needs to be done to curb NSA surveillance two years after his disclosures.
→ read full articleNew Missions for the UN and a Secretary-General to Fit
Rene Wadlow – Toward Freedom,
18 May 2015
What should be the role for the UN in dealing with the changing scene of world politics? What qualities should the Secretary-General and the leadership team around him possess? The UN system is operating in a world of much greater complexity today than when it was founded. Thus to be effective, the UN, its program and Specialized Agencies need leadership which can promote world interests without undue influence of individual states.
→ read full articleA Picture of Loneliness: You Are Looking At the Last Male Northern White Rhino
Jonathan Jones – The Guardian,
18 May 2015
The image of Sudan the rhino, surrounded by the armed guards who protect him from poachers, shows how little humans have learned since the ice age. Today, immense love is invested in rhinos, yet they are being slaughtered in ever greater numbers.
→ read full articleIsraeli Soldiers Cast Doubt on Legality of Gaza Military Tactics
Peter Beaumont – The Guardian,
18 May 2015
Testimonies of Israeli combatants about last year’s war show apparent disregard for safety of civilians.
→ read full articleArgentina Sues Citigroup over Debt Repayments
Agence France-Presse – The Guardian,
18 May 2015
Bank says some employees of Citi Argentina could face criminal charges due to court battle between South American nation and US hedge funds.
→ read full articleParodies of Parity: Israel & Palestine
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 May 2015
Peace will come to Israel and Palestine, and be sustained, if and only if the oppressor becomes ready to dismantle its oppressive regime by withdrawing, not merely by disengaging Gaza style. So long as this is not so, direct negotiations and these periodic calls issued by Washington to resume direct talks have one main effect–to free Israel to realize its ambition to establish ‘Greater Israel’ while keeping the Palestinians in chains.
→ read full articleGeopolitics Is a Fluid Game: Negotiations and Their Enemies
Immanuel Wallerstein – Toward Freedom,
18 May 2015
We must always remember that geopolitics is a fluid game, and most particularly in this time of structural crisis of the modern world-system with its chaotic and rapid swings in all arenas, not least in geopolitical alignments.
→ read full articleThe Capitalist Culture Is Contrary to Life and Happiness
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 May 2015
Where is the genius of capitalism found? In the exacerbation of the ego to the maximum possible extent, of the individual and of self-affirmation, neglecting the greater whole, integration and the “we”. In this way it has thrown off balance all of human existence, due to the excess of one force, ignoring the other.
→ read full articleThe Semantics of Struggle
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 May 2015
What is not helpful, actually diversionary, is to respond as if the struggle was between good and evil, and that is what happens as soon as the insurgent challenger is labeled ‘a terrorist.’ Such language exempts the defenders of the status quo from self-criticism and considering accommodationist tactics, proscribing negotiation and assessment of grievances.
→ read full articleThe Day After: The Israeli Defense Forces’ New Tactics
Neve Gordon – London Review of Books,
11 May 2015
Turning Civilians into Legitimate Targets
→ read full article3 Reasons Healthy Gut Flora Are Important
Dr. Edward F. Group III, Global Healing Center – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 May 2015
Your gut should be home to over 100 billion bacteria, but antibiotics, pesticides, stress, and genetically-modified foods are just a few of the things that can weaken that diversity. Your gut’s bacteria needs to stay healthy or problems like irritable bowel syndrome, gluten allergies, and even obesity can be more likely. Let’s look at just 3 reasons that healthy gut flora are so important.
→ read full articleWe’re Citizens, Not Subjects. We Have the Right to Criticize Government without Fear
Chelsea E. Manning (formerly Bradley Manning) – The Guardian,
11 May 2015
The American public needs more access to what the government is doing in its name. That requires increasing freedom of information and transparency.
→ read full articleCIA’s Torture Experts Now Use Their Skills in Secret Drones Program
Trevor Timm – The Guardian,
4 May 2015
There are many similarities between CIA’s use of drones and torture: Secrecy, lack of oversight and yes, even some of the people overseeing the programs.
→ read full articleWho Counts? Body Counts, Drones, and “Collateral Damage” (aka “Bug Splat”)
Tom Engelhardt - TomDispatch,
4 May 2015
In the twenty-first-century world of drone warfare, one question with two aspects reigns supreme: Who counts? In Washington, the answers are the same: We don’t count and they don’t count.
→ read full article(Italiano) Volti, sguardi, voci dall’India… ci invitano a una difesa comune della Terra
Elena Camino e Silvano Folco - Istituto di Ricerche Interdisciplinari sulla Sostenibilità (IRIS),
4 May 2015
La perdita di suolo, e più in generale la distruzione dei sistemi naturali dai quali tutta l’umanità dipende, è in larga misura la conseguenza della realizzazione pratica di un ‘immaginario’, cioè di una visione del mondo che è nata e si è sviluppata in Occidente, basata sulla convinzione che l’uomo possa ‘dominare’ la natura.
→ read full articleUN Aid Worker Suspended for Leaking Report on Child Abuse by French Troops
Sandra Laville – The Guardian,
4 May 2015
29 Apr 2015 – A senior United Nations aid worker has been suspended for disclosing to prosecutors an internal report on the sexual abuse of children by French peacekeeping troops in the Central African Republic. Anders Kompass said to have passed confidential document to French authorities because of UN’s failure to stop abuse of children in CAR.
→ read full articleSouth African Airways Bans the Transport of Hunting Trophies on All Their Carriers
Gerhard Jacobs – The South African,
4 May 2015
No more lion heads and leopard-skins for those who seek to plunder Africa’s eco resources as SAA takes a hard line against hunters. It’s a leap in the right direction and conservationists have hailed SAA as a beacon of action among major corporations.
→ read full article
Galtung Book Launching
Perdana Global Peace Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia, launches Johan Galtung’s two new books at the closing of the International Conference The ‘New World Order: A Recipe for War or Peace!’ in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
→ read full articleApartheid and the Palestinian National Struggle
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
American citizens have a special responsibility for the long ordeal of the Palestinian people. The Jewish philosopher, Abraham Heschel observed “[f]ew are guilty, but all are responsible.” The Legitimacy War scenario gives each of us ample opportunities to exercise our individual responsibility. We owe the Palestinian people and ourselves nothing less.
→ read full articleIsrael’s Early Nuclear Deceit Damages Iran Nuclear Talks Today
Richard Silverstein – Middle East Eye,
27 Apr 2015
Instead of demonising Iran and treating it as a pariah state, wouldn’t there be more to gain from collaboration and cooperation? American Jewish money built Israel’s bomb.
→ read full articleThe Geopolitical Right of Exception at the United Nations
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Apr 2015
Overcoming the geopolitical right of exception would require its repudiation by the United States, in particular, through a recognition that it is incompatible with a peaceful, just, sustainable, and more participatory world order. This geopolitical right is also a vehicle of influence by private sector corporate and financial interests contrary to the global public interest.
→ read full articleWeakening and Discrediting the UN: The Mission of Israeli QGOs [Quasi-Government Organizations]
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Apr 2015
This is the full text of my presentation at the conference “The Israeli Lobby: Is it good for US? Is it good for Israel?” National Press Club, April 10, 2015. Although there were many illuminating presentations during the day, I would call particular attention to the memorable remarks of two highly informed Israelis, Gideon Levy and Miko Peled.
→ read full articleThe Harm of Regulatory Disharmony in Global Finance
Howard Davies – Project Syndicate,
20 Apr 2015
The problems caused by the global financial system’s new legal uncertainties.
→ read full article(Português) Como Reproduzimos a Cultura do Capital
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Apr 2015
Quem não tem, quer ter, quem tem, quer ter mais e quem tem mais diz: nunca é suficiente. E para a grande maioria, a competição e não a solidariedade e a supremacia do mais forte prevalecem sobre qualquer outro valor, nas relações sociais, especialmente, nos negócios.
→ read full articleThe Bank of International Settlements: Meet the Secretive Group That Runs the World
Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Apr 2015
When it comes to the historic record, nothing comes closer to the stereotypical, secretive group determining the fate of over 7 billion people, than the Bank of International Settlements, which hides in such plain sight, that few have ever paid much attention. -This Is Their Story-
→ read full articleArmenians 1915: The Genocide Controversy
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Apr 2015
According to the great American novelist William Faulkner, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” This year being the centenary of the contested events of 1915 makes it understandable that was simmering through the decades has come to a boil, with the anniversary day of April 24th likely to be the climax of this latest phase of the unresolved drama.
→ read full articleClimate Change: At Last a Breakthrough to Our Catastrophic Political Impasse?
Julia Powles and Tessa Khan – The Guardian,
13 Apr 2015
30 Mar 2015 – Today a group of eminent jurists accuse governments and enterprises of being in clear and flagrant breach of their legal obligations on climate change – under human rights law, international law, environmental law, and tort law.
→ read full article(Português) Transgenicos, Glifosato e Cancro
Sílvia Ribeiro – Diário Liberdade,
13 Apr 2015
6 Abr 2015 – A Organização Mundial da Saúde confirmou que o glifosato, o agrotóxico mais difundido no mundo, que se usa em 85% dos cultivos transgénicos, é causa provável de cancro. Comunidades e famílias afetadas na Argentina, Paraguai e outros países vinham denunciando esta relação há anos, por sofrê-la diretamente. Agora a ONU confirmou-o.
→ read full article(Castellano) “La filosofía europea no es universal”
Steven Navarrete Cardona – El Espectador,
13 Apr 2015
3 Abr 2015 – El filósofo Enrique Dussel explica la apuesta a la descolonización del conocimiento en América Latina como una salida a la crisis medioambiental actual.
→ read full articleDoes Coffee Harm Your Gut?
Dr. Edward F. Group III – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Mar 2015
We know that coffee is full of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, plant-compounds, fats, and carbs. In small amounts, coffee can actually be beneficial for most healthy individuals. The main downside to coffee is that it’s highly acidic, and this acidity can have possible repercussions on the gut.
→ read full articleAmerican Sniper and America’s “War on Terror”
Richard E. Rubenstein – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Mar 2015
The issue I want to emphasize here is how extreme focus, eliminating both breadth and depth, historical context and psychological motivation, afflicts our general approach to the “War on Terror” and effectively rules out conflict resolution.
→ read full articleChange versus Continuity in the Philippines
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Mar 2015
When I asked how was it possible that the Marcos past has been so cleanly erased from the contemporary blackboard of Filipino awareness, I received various answers: “They have lots of money” “They never lost popularity in their home province where lots of development took place while Marcos governed ” “The past no longer matters; it is the present that counts” “the oligarchy still rules the country and includes all leading families regardless of their political affiliations.”
→ read full articleMonsanto Asks World Health Organization to ‘Retract’ Cancer Link
Anthony Gucciardi, Natural Society – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Mar 2015
25 Mar 2015 – Just days after the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer released a report publicly declaring the well-known link between Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide and cancer, the GMO leviathan is already calling on the entire agency to issue a ‘retraction.’ Will the WHO Make the Change?
→ read full articleUniversities and the Challenge of Climate Change
Harvard President Drew Faust – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Mar 2015
There is a proverb that the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago—and the second best time is now. When I first visited Tsinghua seven years ago, I planted a tree with President Gu in the Friendship Garden… Universities have the unique capacity and a special responsibility to fulfill the promise of that dream. Let us not waste a moment. It is already the second best time to plant a tree.
→ read full articleTwitter Puts Trillions of Tweets up for Sale to Data Miners
Juliette Garside – The Guardian,
23 Mar 2015
Company plans to make content generated by users available to commerce, academia and even police involved in crowd control.
→ read full articleThe NSA’s Plan: Improve Cybersecurity by Hacking Everyone Else
Trevor Timm – The Guardian,
23 Mar 2015
The NSA’s plan to protect America by starting cyberwars is absurd. Their argument that they need more power to do it is more so.
→ read full articleBuddhist Nationalists Stoke Hatred in Myanmar
Richard Bennett – Al Jazeera,
23 Mar 2015
Myanmar’s Proposed ‘Race and Religion Laws’ Fuel Hatred and Fear – Authorities should work for reconciliation between religious and ethnic groups – not play into hatred and fear, and seek to cement already widespread discrimination.
→ read full articleIran’s Nuclear Program: Diplomacy, War, and (In)Security in the Nuclear Age
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Mar 2015
Iran is expected not only to forego the option to acquire nuclear weapons, but to agree to a framework of intrusive inspection if it wants to be treated as a ‘normal’ state after it proves itself worthy. As indicated, this approach seems discriminatory and hypocritical in the extreme.
→ read full articleStalking Netanyahu’s Victory: Palestine and Iran
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Mar 2015
My immediate reaction to the outcome of the Israeli elections is that for Palestinian solidarity purposes, it was desirable for Netanyahu to receive this electoral mandate. It exhibits as clearly as possible that the long discredited Oslo ‘peace process’ is truly ‘discredited.’
→ read full articleOligarchy and Climate Change: A Catastrophic Coincidence
Naomi Klein - The Guardian,
16 Mar 2015
It is our great collective misfortune that the scientific community made its decisive diagnosis of the climate threat at the precise moment when an elite minority was enjoying more unfettered political, cultural, and intellectual power than at any point since the 1920s.
→ read full articleWhy Are White People Expats when the Rest of Us Are Immigrants?
Mawuna Remarque Koutonin – The Guardian,
16 Mar 2015
Surely any person going to work outside their country is an expatriate? But no, the word exclusively applies to white people. Africans are immigrants. Arabs are immigrants. Asians are immigrants. However, Europeans are expats because they can’t be at the same level as other ethnicities. They are superior. Immigrants is a term set aside for ‘inferior races’.
→ read full article