Articles by UN
We found 3962 results.
A Sunni-Salafist-Zionist Coalition Changing Middle East?
Jan Oberg - Transnational Foundation for Peace & Future Research,
4 Apr 2016
Countries that do something good for themselves and for the world – positive sum – will win even where others are playing win-lose – zero sum – games. In today’s world the paradigm of security against others is only for intellectual, political and moral losers. What was meant to secure us all has turned into the greatest threat to us all.
→ read full articleHow Ought We Treat Each Other?
Johan Galtung,
4 Apr 2016
Receiving Gandhi-King-Ikeda Community Builder Prize – Atlanta, 31 Mar 2016
→ read full articleThe Great Ponzi Scheme of the Global Economy
Michael Hudson and Chris Hedges – CounterPunch,
28 Mar 2016
We’re going to be discussing a great Ponzi scheme that defines not only the U.S. but the global economy, how we got there and where we’re going. With economist Michael Hudson, a professor of economics who worked for many years on Wall Street, where you don’t succeed if you don’t grasp Marx’s dictum that capitalism is about exploitation. And he is also, I should mention, the godson of Leon Trotsky.
→ read full articleWorld Economy, What Next?*
Johan Galtung,
28 Mar 2016
“The speculative-derivatives market has increased to-over $ 1 quadrillion-twenty times more than the world economy-US driving the expansion of this great bubble of wealth-global inequality between rather than within countries has become even worse than for any one country. Just 250 individuals have more money than half the world”.
→ read full article(Italiano) USA, e poi?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Mar 2016
Nessuno lo sa, ma nel regime presidenzialista USA i presidenti contano; non così diversi da una dittatura per un turno di governo. È lì che entra in gioco la democrazia – almeno riguardo ai delegati, a quanto pare; con un sofferto procedimento di nomina, come in nessun altro paese.
→ read full articleBlood on the Tracks: Yellowstone Buffalo Atrocities
Louisa Willcox – CounterPunch,
28 Mar 2016
The Yellowstone buffalo atrocities. Co-existence with buffalo is not rocket science. It is largely about compassion.
→ read full articleFukushima Radiation: A Killer
Robert Hunziker – Dissident Voice,
28 Mar 2016
Today, the radiation at the Fukushima plant is still so powerful it has proven impossible to get into its bowels to find and remove the extremely dangerous blobs of melted fuel rods, weighing hundreds of tonnes. Five robots sent into the reactors have failed to return. It’s killing robots!
→ read full articleCelebrate Boycotts on St. Patrick’s Day
Rivera Sun, PeaceVoice – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2016
There is hardly a nonviolent movement around the world, out of hundreds of case studies, that has not used some form of a boycott! Think of Gandhi’s spinning wheel and concurrent boycott of British cloth imports, the American Independence movement’s boycott of tea, the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the United Farm Workers’ Grape Boycott, the boycott of white-owned stores in South African townships during the anti-apartheid struggle: the examples are numerous.
→ read full articleUSA, What Next?
Johan Galtung,
21 Mar 2016
Nobody knows. But under US presidentialism presidents matter; close to a dictatorship for one administration. That is where democracy–for, by if not of the delegates, it seems–enters; with a painstaking nomination process, like nothing in the rest of the world.
→ read full article(Italiano) Sahara Occidentale: una vision
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2016
Ai due estremi del Mediterraneo si combattono due guerre molto simili contro due popoli arabo-musulmani: i palestinesi in Palestina – ex-colonia inglese – dal 1948; e i sahrawi nel Sahara Occidentale – ex-colonia spagnola e tuttora tale, dal 1975, mentre moriva Franco.
→ read full articleRussian Withdrawal from Syria: Could It Be the Beginning of the End?
Farhang Jahanpour - Transnational Foundation for Peace & Future Research,
21 Mar 2016
One of the reasons for the negative and cynical comments about the Russian move is that in five months President Putin has achieved more in halting the advance of the terrorists in Syria than the West had achieved in five years, if indeed it had been the West’s real intention to defeat the terrorists.
→ read full articleMyanmar’s New President Might Not Be Aung San Suu Kyi, but He Does Represent Progress
Maung Zarni – The Guardian,
21 Mar 2016
For the first time in decades, the Burmese people have a civilian president. Now they must weather the clash of military and opposition proxies to come.
→ read full articleThe US Role in the Honduras Coup and Subsequent Violence
Stephen Zunes - National Catholic Reporter,
21 Mar 2016
Clinton’s role in supporting the coup in Honduras is a reminder that the Middle East is not the only part of the world in which she is willing to set aside principles of international law and human rights to advance perceived U.S. economic and strategic interests.
→ read full articleWill the EU Become a Criminal Union Tomorrow?
Jan Oberg - Transnational Foundation for Peace & Future Research,
21 Mar 2016
We live in times where little shall surprise us anymore. The answer to the question – will EU become a criminal in international law terms? – will be answered on March 17 and 18 when the EU Council meets to decide whether or not to carry through the agreement with Turkey about how to handle refugees.
→ read full article(Italiano) Un papa, un patriarca, una rivoluzione spirituale
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2016
Il promo editoriale, “50 anni di Fidel Castro” del 3 marzo 2008, celebrava una rivoluzione politica che cambiò il mondo, e significò la fine dell’imperialismo USA-Occidentale. Questo editoriale celebra una rivoluzione spirituale che può cambiare anch’essa il mondo, significando la fine del materialismo Occidentale, e diffondersi da lì. Nuovamente, Cuba ci ha avuto un ruolo preminente, come luogo d’incontro fra due parti principali del cristianesimo, cattolici e ortodossi.
→ read full articleWestern Sahara Occidental: A Vision
Johan Galtung,
14 Mar 2016
At the two ends of the Mediterranean very similar wars are fought against two Arab-Muslim peoples: Palestinians in Palestine-a former English colony-since 1948, and Sahrawis in Western Sahara-former Spanish colony and still is, since 1975; when Franco was dying.
→ read full articleNo Bliss in This Ignorance: The Great Fukushima Nuclear Cover-Up
Linda Pentz Gunter – The Ecologist,
7 Mar 2016
Once you enter a radiation controlled area, you aren’t supposed to drink water, let alone eat anything. The idea that somebody is living in a place like that is unimaginable.
→ read full article(Italiano) Imparare dalla matematica
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2016
Rendere noiosa la Regina è un crimine contro l’umanità. Smettetela.
→ read full article(Italiano) Spagna: uno Stato, due, o cinque in alternativa?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2016
Costruire una rete di relazioni verso altre nazioni all’interno e all’esterno, in una comunità di nazioni, è nello spirito dei nostri tempi. Imporre nazioni dominanti su altre in uno stato pretendendo l’unità, non lo è. Né lo è il potere ereditario.
→ read full article10 Things to Know about Nonviolent Struggle
Rivera Sun, PeaceVoice – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2016
4. There are more than 200 methods of nonviolent action, including marches, demonstrations, rallies, boycotts, strikes, sit-ins, blockades, noncooperation, civil disobedience, work stoppages and slowdowns, refusal to provide services and much more.
→ read full articleCan We Give Meaning to the Destruction of Syria?
Jan Oberg - Transnational Foundation for Peace & Future Research,
7 Mar 2016
In 2011 when it all began, an educated conflict analyst or otherwise conflict competent person would have said about the conflict in Syria that it was a very complex thing, caused by history, environment, traumas, external factors, the economic situation, etc. And that al-Assad and his government was certainly an important reason but far from the only one.
→ read full articleMarch: This Month in Nuclear Threat History
Jeffrey W. Mason – Nuclear Age Peace Foundation,
7 Mar 2016
March 11, 2011 – After a large magnitude earthquake and a powerful tsunami struck northeast Japan, three of the six nuclear reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO) Fukushima Dai-chi facility suffered partial meltdowns resulting in the evacuation of tens of thousands of nearby residents. Five years later, the disaster which has claimed more than 15,000 lives so far is an ongoing catastrophe.
→ read full articleA Pope, a Patriarch, a Spiritual Revolution
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2016
The first editorial, “50 Years of Fidel Castro” 3 March 2008, celebrated a political revolution that changed the world, and spelt the end of US-Western imperialism. This editorial celebrates a spiritual revolution that may also change the world, spelling the end of Western materialism, and spread from there. Again, Cuba played a major role, as meeting place between two major parts of Christianity, Catholic and Orthodox.
→ read full articleMajor American Jewish Leader Changes His Mind about Israel
Rabbi Michael Lerner - Tikkun,
29 Feb 2016
The Israel of today is very far from anything I dreamed of and worked for throughout my career. I can clearly remember the day in 1948 when the State of Israel was established. I was in the fourth grade at the Yeshivah of Flatbush in Brooklyn. The entire school was summoned to the schoolyard in celebration of the momentous occasion.
→ read full articleLearning from Mathematics
Johan Galtung,
29 Feb 2016
To make the Queen boring is a crime against humanity. Stop it.
→ read full articleHollywood’s Grotesque Animal Abuse
Michael Howard - CounterPunch,
22 Feb 2016
Exposing Hollywood’s sordid history of animal cruelty.
→ read full article(Italiano) I diritti umani: una sfida permanente
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Feb 2016
La Dichiarazione Universale dei Diritti Umani del 10 dicembre 1948 fu redatta da un comitato di Uomini, Bianchi, Anziani, Borghesi, Avvocati, Francesi. Nulla sui diritti di donne e bambini. Non ci sono diritti di accesso a servizi igienici, né alla sessualità: i borghesi di buone maniere certe cose le fanno ma non ne parlano-scrivono.
→ read full articleFinancial Oligarchy vs. Feudal Aristocracy
Ismael Hossein-Zadeh and Anthony A. Gabb - CounterPunch,
22 Feb 2016
On oligarchies and aristocracies. The Marxist term wage-slaves refers to those who, lacking capital or means of production, have only their labor power to sell to make a living. This describes the vast majority of people in today’s capitalist societies whose sole means of subsistence is the sale of their capacity to work.
→ read full articleThe Mad Violence of Casino Capitalism
Henry Giroux - CounterPunch,
22 Feb 2016
American society is morally bankrupt and politically broken, and its vision of the future appears utterly dystopian. As the United States descends into the dark abyss of an updated form of totalitarianism, the unimaginable has become imaginable.
→ read full articleThe Making of a Socialist
Arnold August - CounterPunch,
22 Feb 2016
A riveting read, How I Became an American Socialist by Garry Leech will be a page-turner for people from all walks of life. Its title is very timely, given there is so much debate today in the US about “socialism” and “capitalism.” Today, more than ever, the book is a must-read for Americans, especially the younger generation.
→ read full articleSpain: One State, Two, or Five In-Betweens?
Johan Galtung,
22 Feb 2016
To spin webs of relations to other nations inside and outside, in a community of nations, is in the spirit of our times. Imposing dominant nations on others in a state pretending unity is not. Nor is hereditary power. Nor is “independence” in an ever more connecting, globalizing world. They are abstractions from the past.
→ read full articleHow Humanitarian Imperialism Led to Europe’s Refugee Crisis
Jean Bricmont and Maidhc Ó Cathail – CounterPunch,
22 Feb 2016
What I call the moral left wants to force the population to be altruistic with respect to the refugees. But the population who is never consulted on the issue of refugees and who is constantly asked to make sacrifices because “there is no money” understandably does not accept this moral discourse.
→ read full article(Italiano) Fondamentalismo-Estremismo-Violenza Religiosi
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Feb 2016
Si può avere fondamentalismo senza estremismo. Si può avere estremismo senza fondamentalismo. La gran parte delle persone che fanno violenza non credono in alcunché, oltre al “fare il proprio lavoro”. Ci sono due criteri per l’”estremismo religioso”: la violenza e la legittimazione religiosa. E per quanto riguarda le controparti secolari delle religioni, le ideologie, gli ismi?
→ read full articleResearch Paper: ISIS-Turkey Links
David L. Phillips – Columbia University Institute for the Study of Human Rights,
15 Feb 2016
Is Turkey collaborating with the Islamic State (ISIS)? Allegations range from military cooperation and weapons transfers to logistical support, financial assistance, and the provision of medical services. It is also alleged that Turkey turned a blind eye to ISIS attacks against Kobani.
→ read full articleThe Human Rights: A Permanent Challenge
Johan Galtung,
15 Feb 2016
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948 was edited by a committee of Men; Older, White, Bourgeois, Lawyers, French. Nothing about women’s and children’s rights. There are no rights to access to toilet, nor to sexuality: well- mannered bourgeois do such things but do not talk-write about it.
→ read full articleThirty States Ratify Establishment of African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights
African Union – Human Wrongs Watch,
15 Feb 2016
Chad becomes 30th AU Member State to ratify the Protocol on the establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
→ read full articleThe Lady and the Boat Rides [in Burma/Myanmar]
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Feb 2016
Brother, be kind, she is in a bind…
Experts say the Silence of the Lady is owing to the election maths
Her soul isn’t really dead, yet.
Religious Fundamentalism-Extremism-Violence
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Feb 2016
We can have extremism without fundamentalism. Most people exercising violence believe in nothing, beyond “doing their job”. There are two criteria for “religious extremism”: violence and religious legitimation. How about the secular counterparts to religions, the ideologies, the isms?
→ read full articleThe Rise of ISIS and Other Extremist Groups: The Role of the West and Regional Powers
Bouthaina Shaaban - CounterPunch,
8 Feb 2016
This essay examines the attempts to break up Syria’s civilian and military institutions, the delegitimization of the Syrian government, the attempts to procure a UN mandate for a military intervention in Syria, the imposition of suffocating economic sanctions on Syria, and most importantly the support that Western and regional powers gave to a plethora of armed groups, including al-Qaeda and ISIS, to fight the Syrian government.
→ read full articleWhy Our World Needs Peace Literacy
Paul K. Chappell, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Feb 2016
Peace literacy is the next step in the development of our global civilization, because peace literacy is necessary in an interconnected world where the fate of every nation is tied to the fate of our planet. Because of the dangers posed by nuclear weapons, war, and environmental destruction, being preliterate in peace puts humanity and our planet at great risk. During an era when humanity has the technological capacity to destroy itself, peace literacy means survival literacy.
→ read full articleNorth Korea: How Many Wake-Up Calls Will It Take?
David Krieger, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Feb 2016
North Korea has been roundly condemned for its nuclear tests, including this one. To put this in perspective, however, the U.S. has conducted more than 1,000 nuclear tests, continues to conduct subcritical nuclear tests, has not ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, is in breach of its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, regularly tests nuclear-capable missiles, and plans to spend $1 trillion modernizing its nuclear arsenal.
→ read full articleThe Russell-Einstein Manifesto [on Nuclear Weapons]
Student Pugwash University of Michigan– TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Feb 2016
“In view of the fact that in any future world war nuclear weapons will certainly be employed, and that such weapons threaten the continued existence of mankind, we urge the Governments of the world to realize, and to acknowledge publicly, that their purpose cannot be furthered by a world war, and we urge them, consequently, to find peaceful means for the settlement of all matters of dispute between them.”
→ read full articleSeeing Flight as a Nonviolent Option
Erica Chenoweth and Hakim Young – CounterPunch,
8 Feb 2016
Why we must challenge the conventional refuge narrative. Seeing flight as a nonviolent option will better equip the informed public to contest exclusionary rhetoric and policies, elevate a new discourse that empowers more moderate politicians, and widen the range of policy options available to respond to the current crisis.
→ read full articleThe Trans-Pacific Partnership Fraud
Jomo Kwame Sundaram – Inter Press Service-IPS,
8 Feb 2016
The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement privileges foreign investors while imposing substantial costs on partner countries. The TPP has, in fact already been used to try to kill the Doha ‘Development’ Round of multilateral trade talks, but may well also undermine multilateralism more broadly in the near future.
→ read full articleIndia Steps Up Pressure on Nepal
W. A. Sunil, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Feb 2016
5 Feb 2016 – A continued Indian-backed blockade of supplies to Nepal, a small landlocked country wedged between India and China, has escalated tensions between Kathmandu and New Delhi… The Nepal crisis is another expression of the aggressive US moves against China, and the harnessing of India as Washington’s partner. This drive is deepening geo-political tensions and increasing political instability throughout South Asia.
→ read full articlePharaoh
Author Unknown - TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Feb 2016
Pharaonic attraction.
→ read full articleWhy Biology Is Beyond Physical Sciences?
Bhakti Niskama Shanta, Ph.D. and Bhakti Vijnana Muni, Ph.D. - Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Institute, Scientific & Academic Publishing,
8 Feb 2016
In the modern era, to study an organism, scientists have mainly adopted Descartes’ ontological view of the organism as a complex machine. The continued usage of physicalist science to comprehend biological systems is the biggest hurdle in the path of understanding life. The materialistic understanding of reality depends on natural laws, mathematics, determinism, and reductionism. This materialistic science has continually failed to provide a theory for biology.
→ read full articleVW, GM and Takata: The Case for Jailing Corporate Executives
Russell Mokhiber – CounterPunch,
8 Feb 2016
2 Feb 2016 – The Center for Auto Safety’s Clarence Ditlow wants executives at VW, Takata and General Motors jailed for corporate crime. Ditlow says that the Volkswagen diesel case, for example, is one of the most egregious corporate crime cases in history.
→ read full articleWant Peace in Syria? Put Women at the Negotiating Table
Matthew Rycroft and Swanee Hunt, Defense One – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Feb 2016
That’s what the Balkan experience tells us, say current and former British and US ambassadors. Women are often best placed to spot signs of radicalization and to counter it, given their central role in the family and the community.
→ read full articleOrientalisation and Manufacturing of ‘Civil Society’ in Contemporary Burma (Myanmar)
Maung Zarni - TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Feb 2016
After two decades of post-Cold War hostilities between Burmese generals and their former Cold War ‘friends’ in London, Berlin, Washington and Tokyo, a danse macabre is set in motion. The backdrop this time is the West’s need to contain an increasingly powerful China in Burma’s eastern neighbourhood and the worsening economic decay in Europe and North America. In this new geopolitical drama both the generals in Naypyidaw and the liberals in Western capitals have found a new role for iconic Aung San Suu Kyi.
→ read full articleJulian Assange Arbitrarily Detained by Sweden and UK, UN Expert Panel Finds
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Feb 2016
In a public statement, the expert panel called on the Swedish and British authorities to end Mr. Assange’s deprivation of liberty, respect his physical integrity and freedom of movement, and afford him the right to compensation.
→ read full articleEurope Is Built on Corpses and Plunder
Andre Vltchek - CounterPunch,
8 Feb 2016
Speech given in Rome at the Italian Parliament on January 29, 2016. I grew up on your films, on Fellini and de Sica, Rossellini, Antonioni and others. They had tremendous influence on my work, and on how I see the world. But your heart, it seems, is not an internationalist heart. It does not believe that all people are equal. It is because your country is a member of NATO, and NATO is behaving like a fascist thug with some clear mafia behavioral patterns.
→ read full articleFebruary: This Month in Nuclear Threat History
Jeffrey W. Mason, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Feb 2016
February 1, 1958 – As part of the U.S. strategy of massive (nuclear) retaliation, the UK agreed to station 60 nuclear-armed Thor intermediate-range ballistic missiles at four U.K. military bases. Royal Air Force personnel staffed the bases, but all the nuclear weapons that were provided remained in full U.S. ownership, custody, and control. These same missiles were put on high-alert status during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
→ read full articleJohan Galtung Replies to Prof. Ada Aharoni’s Critique
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Feb 2016
There are two drawbacks that bother me in TRANSCEND and mars it from making it a true PEACE JOURNAL.
→ read full article(Italiano) Nel frattempo in giro per il mondo: problemi – rimedi
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Feb 2016
Diamo un’occhiata, e vediamo che cosa si può fare.
→ read full articleSigning Polluter-Friendly TPP Trade Deal Is Gambling Away Our Future
Michael Brune, EcoWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Feb 2016
For years, the Sierra Club has reported on and campaigned against the TPP’s threats to our air, water, climate, families and communities. The U.S. Trade Representative is gambling away our jobs, our clean air and water, and our future by pushing the polluter-friendly Trans-Pacific Partnership, so it only makes sense that it was signed in a casino and convention center.
→ read full article(Italiano) Mediazione di polizia: un’idea ormai d’attualità
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Feb 2016
Il sistema statuale emerse nel 17° secolo, con istituzioni per l’uso della forza: una era adibita all’uso interno e un’altra per l’uso esterno, rispettivamente la polizia nazionale e l’apparato militare nazionale, intendendosi per nazionale quello della nazione dominante nello stato.
→ read full articleThe Deeper Reason Syria Negotiations Are Doomed
Jan Oberg - Transnational Foundation for Peace & Future Research,
1 Feb 2016
Governments are still so much more professional and resourceful when it comes to wars and militarism than they are when it comes to conflict-resolution and peace. The main reason everywhere is the vested elite interests in MIMAC, the Military-Industrial-Media-Academic Complex – a cancer that kills hundreds of thousands of people, create refugees and work against both democracy and peace.
→ read full articleNuclear Weapons and Nuclearism: Abolish or Be Abolished
Jan Oberg - Transnational Foundation for Peace & Future Research,
1 Feb 2016
The nuclear age is an age of terror. Nuclear weapons are the ultimate weapons of terror. You can’t use them without killing millions of innocent people. Targetting innocent people, people who are not part of a conflict, is a central defining characteristics of terrorism.
→ read full articleMeanwhile Around the World: Problems-Remedies
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Feb 2016
Let us have a look, and see what can be done.
→ read full articleMyanmar Nazi Monk Wirathu, TIME Magazine’s “Face of Buddhist Terror”
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Feb 2016
Myanmar’s “Nazi monk” Wirathu (and networks), plot to unleash new Islamophobic waves of violence against Myanmar’s Muslims and Rohingya.
→ read full articlePolice Mediation: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Johan Galtung, 25 Jan 2016 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Jan 2016
The state system emerged in the 17th century, with institutions for force. One was for internal and one for external use: the national police and the national military, national standing for the dominant nation in the states… May police mediation take roots and blossom. For more peaceful societies. For peace in general.
→ read full article(Italiano) Venti pii desideri per il 2016: prestare attenzione alle menti
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Jan 2016
Empiricamente, l’Occidente è sovente sul versante sbagliato. Tuttavia, come ogni cosa empirica, è soggetto alla legge del cambiamento. Gli occidentali non sono schiavi delle mentalità dell’Iliade e di Beowulf che si estendono per l’Europa. La liberazione è attesa da troppo tempo. Prestando attenzione alle menti.
→ read full article(Italiano) Migliorare la democrazia
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Jan 2016
La gente può creare e riconquistare con lotte nonviolente un processo decisionale democratico. Rafforzare il livello locale. Riflettere le differenze etniche. Boicottare i deputati comprati. Più referendum. Più decisioni con dialogo-consenso, da continuarsi in coalizioni. Più decentramento. Più diversità. E molta più creatività.
→ read full articleRelationships – Reflections on Refugees
Dr Hakim, Afghan Peace Volunteers – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Jan 2016
As relationships are built on various aspects of love, they are powerful. If we build more and more relationships, they will be an alternative power to the abusive power of governments and corporations, and that’s when governments and corporations will become more obvious in their efforts to sabotage relationships.
→ read full articleGates Foundation’s “Corporate Merry-Go-Round”: Spearheading the Neo-liberal Plunder of African Agriculture
Colin Todhunter – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Jan 2016
Global Justice Now’s analysis of the BMGF’s programmes shows that the foundation’s senior staff are overwhelmingly drawn from corporate America. As a result, the question is: whose interests are being promoted – those of corporate America or those of ordinary people who seek social and economic justice rather than charity?
→ read full articleHumanitarian Aftershocks in Haiti
Mark Schuller - CounterPunch,
25 Jan 2016
Foreign imperialism in the form of NGOs. As Gina Athena Ulysse has powerfully demonstrated, Haiti needs new narratives. Maybe the earthquake story has run its course, in the foreign memory at least.
→ read full article(Italiano) Siria (Prestare attenzione alle menti, II)
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Jan 2016
La Siria ha offerto una scelta povera fra una dittatura di minoranza provvista di tolleranza e una dittatura di maggioranza – la democrazia – sprovvista. Così ha prosperato la violenza, resuscitando vecchi sospetti di guerre per procura. “Bombardiamo la Siria” è stata la panacea, dopo “bombardiamo la Libia”. Che vergogna. Fatela finita.
→ read full articleCan Targeted Killing Work as a Neutral Principle?
Jeremy Waldron, New York University School of Law - Social Science Research Nework,
25 Jan 2016
Abstract. This paper casts doubt on the prospects for legitimizing what is known as “targeted killing” – the use of assassins, death squads, or other murderous techniques – against identified civilians whose continued existence is thought to pose a serious threat of some kind to a given community and its members.
→ read full articleImproving Democracy
Johan Galtung,
18 Jan 2016
People can through nonviolent struggle create and reconquer democratic decision-making. Strengthen the local level. Reflect ethnic differences. Boycott bought deputies. More referenda. More decisions through dialogue-consensus, to be continued in coalitions. More decentralization. More diversity. And much more creativity.
→ read full article
‘O Mio Babbino Caro’ (Music Video of the Week)
Amira Willighagen & André Rieu, Talented Young Musicians - TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jan 2016
11-year-old Amira Willighagen performs ‘O mio babbino caro’ with André Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra at a concert in Maastricht, The Netherlands. 10 thousand standing ovation…
→ read full articleWelcome to Israel’s Version of Apartheid
Jonathan Cook - CounterPunch,
18 Jan 2016
Moments before an Aegean Airlines flight was due to take off from Greece, three Israeli passengers demanded that two fellow passengers, from Israel’s Palestinian minority, be removed from the plane. Like a parable illustrating Europe’s bottomless indulgence of Israel, Aegean staff caved in to the pressure and persuaded the two Palestinian men to disembark.
→ read full articleThe Lady and the Generals
Soe Lin Aung & Stephen Campbell – Jacobin Magazine,
18 Jan 2016
Aung San Suu Kyi’s electoral victory could bring political reform to Myanmar. Economic justice is another story.
→ read full articleSpecial Rapporteur on Occupied Palestinian Territory Resigns Due to Continued Denial of Access by Israel
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jan 2016
4 Jan 2016 –The independent expert expressed deep regret that, throughout his mandate, Israel failed to grant him access to the Occupied Palestinian Territory. “Unfortunately, my efforts to help improve the lives of Palestinian victims of violations under the Israeli occupation have been frustrated every step of the way,” said Makarim Wibisono.
→ read full articleSuu Kyi Govt Must Not Continue State Persecution of Rohingya
Dr. Maung Zarni, DVB – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jan 2016
As Aung San Suu Kyi prepares to take over the reins of the new government [Burma/Myanmar], the international community – of diplomats, world leaders, journalists, human rights researchers and world citizens – needs to press the Burmese leader to reflect critically on her stances on the Rohingya.
→ read full articleAttacks on Hoffman Report from Military Psychologists Obfuscate Detainee Abuse
Stephen Soldz and Steven Reisner - CounterPunch,
11 Jan 2016
In the wake of the July 2015 Hoffman Report, which found that the American Psychological Association colluded with the Department of Defense to ensure that no APA policy would constrain psychologists’ participation in DOD’s “enhanced interrogation” program, the APA passed an historic ban on the involvement of psychologists in national security interrogations and at detention sites that operate outside or in violation of international law, including Guantánamo Bay Detention Center.
→ read full articleBlame Capitalism for Doping in Sports
Bhaskar Sunkara – Al Jazeera America,
11 Jan 2016
Players who take performance-enhancing drugs are only responding to the incentives of the free market. When it comes to corruption in sports, don’t hate the players—scapegoats for capitalism; hate the game.
→ read full articleWe Are Living at the Edge of a Nuclear Precipice
David Krieger, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jan 2016
With nuclear weapons, what could possibly go wrong? The short answer is: Everything. The ever-present dangers of nuclear proliferation, nuclear accidents and miscalculations, nuclear terrorism and nuclear war. Instead of nuclear deterrence and modernization of arsenals, we need to negotiate in good faith for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons. That is, we need to break free of our acidic complacency and commit ourselves to achieving a nuclear zero world.
→ read full articleThis Month in Nuclear Threat History
Jeffrey W. Mason – Nuclear Age Peace Foundation,
11 Jan 2016
January 9, 1987 – Dean Rusk (1909-1994), a former Secretary of State (1961-69) under presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson who received many awards during his career including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, spoke out against nuclear weapons with a statement that, “Nuclear war not only eliminates all the answers, but eliminates all the questions.”
→ read full articleSyria (Minding the Minds II)
Johan Galtung, 11 Jan 2016 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jan 2016
Syria offered a poor choice between a minority dictatorship with tolerance and a majority dictatorship–democracy–without. Violence flourished, attracting old suspects for proxy wars. “Bomb Syria” was the panacea, after “bomb Libya”. What a shame. Bring it to an end.
→ read full articleTwenty Pious Wishes for 2016: Mind the Minds
Johan Galtung, 4 Jan 2016 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jan 2016
Empirically, the West is often on the wrong side. Nevertheless, as anything empirical, it is subject to the law of change. Westerners are not slaves of the violent mind-sets in the Iliad and Beowulf spanning Europe. The liberation is overdue. By minding the minds.
→ read full articleThe Origin of Jihadism
Eric Zuesse – Strategic Culture Foundation,
4 Jan 2016
There is nothing unique about Islam in its providing a basis for ‘holy war’: look, for example, at Christianity’s Crusades, and at the Thirty-Years War in Europe. What’s unique is the Saudi-U.S. petrodollar alliance, which is spawning wars for both god and greed. When a nation’s aristocracy and its clergy are supporting one-another, it’s like the flame that ignites the fuel. That’s what’s igniting the world.
→ read full articleVenezuela Passes Law Banning GMOs, by Popular Demand
William Camacaro, Frederick B. Mills and Christina M. Schiavoni – CounterPunch,
4 Jan 2016
1 Jan 2016 – The National Assembly of Venezuela, in its final session before a neoliberal dominated opposition takes the helm of legislative power on January 5, passed one of the most progressive seed laws in the world on December 23, 2015; it was promptly signed into law by President Nicolas Maduro.
→ read full articleA Secret History of the Monarch: How the Biotech Industry Conspired to Knock Off One of the World’s Rarest Butterflies
Jeffrey St. Clair and Alexander Cockburn - CounterPunch,
4 Jan 2016
On May 20 1999, Nature magazine sounded what might have been the death knell of the biotech food industry. John Losey, a professor of entomology at Cornell University, reported the ominous results of his laboratory study: Monarch caterpillars fed on milkweed leaves dusted with genetically modified corn pollen ate less, grew more slowly and suffered a higher mortality rate than those fed on leaves with normal pollen, or with no pollen at all. Nearly half of the GM pollen-fed caterpillars in the study died.
→ read full article(Italiano) Anglo-America, UE, Occidente: una prognosi
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jan 2016
Grazie, cari studenti di Oxford, per il regalo di Natale, sfidare il culto di Cecil Rhodes – colonialista, classista, razzista. Sa di TV Reality. Gli USA reclamano il monopolio sulla “leadership” concedendo “un rapporto speciale” al Regno Unito. E la Paura dei Tedeschi divenne Paura dei Rossi, divenne Paura dei Cinesi, divenne Paura dell’Islam, divenne Paura della Russia. La paura del giorno divenne paranoia; di facile combinazione col narcisismo UK-USA.
→ read full articleDying of Neglect: The Indigenous Peoples of Ayutla, Mexico
Kau Sirenio Pioquinto - CounterPunch,
4 Jan 2016
La Concordia, an indigenous ñuu savi town, lacks virtually all basic necessities: medicine, potable water, transit, phone service, food. The inhabitants must make the trek down to Ayutla to buy their basic needs. They leave at five in the morning and come back at two in the afternoon. Those are the only times they can get a ride on the trucks that go down to the plaza.
→ read full articleComments to Paris Atrocities Editorial – A Reply
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jan 2016
I grew up in Norway, forced into Christianity, dedicated to Western colonialism to spread Christianity, and fought both. Against the same from Islam, I favor using the military to defend the many exposed to IS brutality. But not to kill and escalate by using their approach. And in favor of negotiation based on understanding both.
→ read full article(Deutsch) Dabeisein ist alles!
Jürgen Wagner - Informationsstelle Militarisierung (IMI),
4 Jan 2016
Deutsche Syrien-Interessen und der erste Hauptsatz internationaler Machtpolitik
→ read full articleRenewable Energy Soars in 2015
Nathanael Greene, Natural Resources Defense Council, EcoWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Dec 2015
With Tax Incentives’ Renewal, Expect More of the Same in Years to Come – The truth is, 2015 has been one in a series of very good years for these pollution-free, renewable resources—years that are helping us get on track for the low-carbon future we need and need now.
→ read full article(Italiano) Cina vs. Russia vs. USA; Xi vs. Putin vs. Obama
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Dec 2015
Cina, il più popoloso; Russia, il più vasto; USA, il più militarizzato. E qui c’è l’ipotesi chiave, presumibilmente più giusta che sbagliata: Cina-Xi: pace positiva; Russia-Putin: pace negativa; USA-Obama: guerra. Ci vogliono almeno due per fare la guerra, e due per fare la pace. La domanda è: chi cederà all’altro, Cina-Russia a una guerra estesa, o gli USA a una pace estesa?
→ read full articleA Perfect New Year Gift: A Calendar Dedicated to the Rohingya Victims of Myanmar’s Slow Genocide
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Dec 2015
Here is a perfect gift for this holiday season, especially for those with a social conscience. And Myanmar authorities will arrest you if it is found in your possession!
→ read full articleAnglo-America, EU, the West: A Prognosis
Johan Galtung, 28 Dec 2015 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Dec 2015
Thanks dear Oxford students for the Xmas gift, challenging the cult of Cecil Rhodes–colonialist, classist, racist. Sounds like Reality TV: The USA claims monopoly on “leadership” granting “special relation” to the UK. And German Scare became Red Scare became China Scare became Islam Scare became Russia Scare. The scare of the day paranoia; easily combined with UK-US narcissism.
→ read full articleGot Fascism? The 1942 Norwegian Teachers’ Nonviolent Resistance to Nazis Has Answers
Rivera Sun, PeaceVoice – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Dec 2015
In April 1940, the Nazis invaded Norway and occupied the country. In 1942, as part of an attempt to implement a fascist curriculum in the schools, Minister-President Vidkun Quisling, a Norwegian collaborator, disbanded the existing teachers’ union and required all teachers to register with the new Norwegian Teachers’ Union by February 5.
→ read full articleSpain Says “No”
Conn Hallinan - CounterPunch,
28 Dec 2015
Following in the footsteps of Greek and Portuguese voters earlier this year, Spaniards soundly rejected the economic formula of the Troika. The game is changing, and Spain is a new piece on the board, one that the Troika will not be able to bully quite as easily as Greece and Portugal.
→ read full articleThe First Christmas without Our Santa Claus: Remembering Dietrich
Nirmanusan Balasundaram – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Dec 2015
He was a thoughtful human being born to strengthen a shared future that would uphold nonviolence, humanity and peace. Either ordinary life problems or peace building studies, Dietrich had answers to most situations, not through complex political theories but rather through simple short stories or jokes.
→ read full articleTurkish-ISIL Oil Trade: Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Russia All Accuse Turkey of Smuggling Oil (Part 1)
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya - Strategic Culture Foundation,
21 Dec 2015
Russia is not alone in accusing Turkey of being involved in the theft of Syrian and Iraqi oil. Turkish opposition politicians, Turkish media, and various governments in the Middle East have also raised their voices about the role of Turkish officials in smuggling from the conflict zones in Syria and Iraq.
→ read full articleFukushima Amplifies Murphy’s Law
Robert Hunziker - CounterPunch,
21 Dec 2015
Murphy’s Law has found a permanent home in Fukushima: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” Why nuke plants are as dangerous as nuclear weapons.
→ read full articleTurkish-ISIL Oil Trade: Did the Turkish Military Enter Mosul to Protect Its Oil Trade? (Part 2)
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya – Strategic Culture Foundation,
21 Dec 2015
The move can be seen as a compensation for the weakening of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL / ISIS / IS / DAESH) and the ISIL’s oil smuggling infrastructure. It can also be viewed as a Turkish preparation for the aftermath of the future defeat of the ISIL in Iraq.
→ read full articleAs the World Debates Syria, Palestine’s Ignominy Continues in Silence
Ben Morris – CounterPunch,
21 Dec 2015
17 Dec 2015 – As the prophetic Orwellian concept of perpetual war is made manifest in Syria and Iraq, and the attention of the planet is understandably diverted towards the apocalyptic scenario currently being played out there, the subjugated and forgotten nation of Palestine limps quietly on under the curse of a media blackout.
→ read full article(Italiano) Il clima contro il pianeta
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Dec 2015
Hanno commesso un grosso errore a Parigi, anzi a Le Bourget: un gran parlare a proposito della struttura legale, ben poco rispetto al come. Le innovazioni non arrivano da sole; già molte ne esistono, si utilizzino; si chiedano innovazioni specifiche da condividere con l’umanità; per favore, niente brevetti, niente “forze di mercato” – che in genere rendono i ricchi ancora più ricchi.
→ read full article