Articles by M

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Alright then…
Submitted by Robin Poulton – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

Bloke comes down to breakfast and says to his wife, “Honey, what would you do if I won the lottery?”

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Israeli Army Launches Limited Incursion into Blockaded Gaza
The Palestinian Information Center – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

9 Dec 2015 — Four Israeli army bulldozers raked through the area and leveled Palestinian lands amid intermittent discharge of gunfire. The incursions are the latest in a series of Israeli violations of the Cairo-brokered ceasefire accord signed in the wake of the 2014 offensive on the besieged coastal enclave.

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Latin America: The Aborted Neo-Liberal Offensive
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

Progressive social legislation has come to a virtual halt even before the recent political advances of the US-backed right-wing parties with their neo-liberal economic agenda. Any attempt to ‘unmake and reverse’ the social advances of the past decade will be met with (1) militant resistance, if not open class warfare; (2) institutional and political constraints; (3) and low commodity prices drastically limiting export revenues.

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Reinventing Banking: From Russia to Iceland to Ecuador
Ellen Brown, Web of Debt – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

11 Dec 2015 – Global developments in finance and geopolitics are prompting a rethinking of the structure of banking and of the nature of money itself. Among other interesting news items:

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Corporations Will Never Solve Climate Change
Naomi Oreskes and Auden Schendler – Harvard Business Review, 14 Dec 2015

The facts about VW — combined with recent revelations about Exxon-Mobil’s long history of misrepresenting what they understood about climate change, as well as BP’s failure to get “Beyond Petroleum” — spell the end of the old notion of green business, the idea that a big piece of the environmental fix might come voluntarily from the corporate world.

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Extinction is Forever
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

it is two things that drive species over the edge: our systematic destruction of land habitat – forests, grasslands, wetlands, peatlands, mangroves… – in our endless effort to capture more of the Earth’s wild places for human use (whether it be residential, commercial, mining, farming or military) and our destruction of waterways and the ocean habitat by dumping into them radioactive contaminants, carbon dioxide, a multitude of poisons and chemical pollutants, and even plastic.

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Five Years since the Arrest of Julian Assange
Robert Stevens, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

8 Dec 2015 – On December 7, 2010 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was detained in London under a European Arrest Warrant issued by Sweden. His sole crime was to bring to global attention the heinous war crimes committed by the US and other imperialist powers in Iraq and Afghanistan—crimes authorised at the highest levels of government.

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Pentagon Announces Worldwide Expansion of US Military Bases
Thomas Gaist, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

11 Dec 2015 – The US Defense Department is preparing to expand its global network of military bases by establishing a new “string” of bases in countries stretching from Africa to East Asia, unnamed Pentagon officials told the New York Times Wednesday [9 Dec].

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How U.S. Interventions Dismembered the Middle East
Adil E. Shamoo – Foreign Policy In Focus, 14 Dec 2015

Despite everything, hawks are still pushing President Obama to send ground troops to Syria. He would be wise to reject their advice.

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100 Years of General Relativity (Part 3 of 3)
Bryan Dyne, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

The History, Science and Implications of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity

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Banksy’s ‘Steve Jobs the Son of Syrian Migrant’ Pops Up in Calais Camp
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

11 Dec 2015 – The picture of the late pioneer of the microcomputer revolution, Steve Jobs, carrying a rucksack appears on the wall in infamous Jungle refugee camp in the French port of Calais. “The son of a migrant from Syria,” the description under the picture reads.

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My Way (MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Frank Sinatra – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

Celebrating 100 Years of Frank Sinatra, Born 12 Dec 1915 – The Voice of the 20th Century!

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Pyotr Kropotkin (9 Dec 1842 – 8 Feb1921) Sociability as a Law of Nature
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

In 1902, Kropotkin published his most lasting book, Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution. “We may safely say that mutual aid is as much a law of animal life as mutual struggle, but that as a factor of evolution, mutual aid most probably has a far greater importance, in as much it favors the development of such habits and character as insure the maintenance and future development of the species.”

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While Left Governments in South America Face Setbacks, Gains of Progressive Period Likely to Endure
Benjamin Dangl, Upside Down World – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

The gains of South America’s progressive period, won in the halls of power and in the streets, won’t likely be swept aside anytime soon.

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‘We Are Human Beings; We Are Not Dogs’
Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan – Democracy NOW!, 14 Dec 2015

On the outskirts of the northern French town of Calais, a massive, makeshift refugee camp called “The Jungle” grows daily, swelling with asylum-seekers fleeing war in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Sudan and beyond. Their countries of origin are a map of the targets of U.S. bombing campaigns. More than 6,000 people here.

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The Art of Self-Culture and the Crucial Difference between Being Educated and Being Cultured
Maria Popova, Brain Pickings – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

“In order to be cultured and not to stand below the level of your surroundings it is not enough to have read ‘The Pickwick Papers’ and learnt a monologue from ‘Faust,’ Anton Chekhov wrote in an 1886 letter to his brother, outlining the eight qualities of cultured people — among them sincerity, “no shallow vanity,” and a compassionate heart that “aches for what the eye does not see.”

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(Italiano) Le nubi stanno diventando più nere
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

Come fa notare Robert Savio, “combattono tutti fino all’ultimo siriano”. La sola speranza fra le grandi potenze: la Russia. Bombardando e reagendo con moderazione, potrebbe far sì che gli sciiti Assad-Iraq-Iran-Bahrain arrivino a una tregua, aprendo a negoziati. Putin l’ha già fatto in passato. Cionondimeno, l’Occidente può preferire la guerra per far sì che sia Putin a risolvergli i problemi.

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The Climate vs. the Planet
Johan Galtung, 14 Dec 2015 - TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

They made a major mistake in Paris, or Le Bourget rather: much about what to do and the legal framework, too little about how. Innovations do not come by themselves; many already exist, use them; demand specific innovations to be shared with humanity; no patents, no “market forces”–generally for the rich to become richer–please.

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Rearranging the Deck on Capitalism’s Sinking Ship
Andrew Smolski - CounterPunch, 14 Dec 2015

We need to consider that any perceived incorporation of ecological rationality is “partially attributable to the growth of carbon-intensive manufacturing in less developed countries via the transnationalization of production.” We are just moving our problems around.

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Rationalism and Piety
Dr Ravi P Bhatia – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

There are contrasting views about rationalism and empiricism. Indian Rationalist Association is as the name suggests an Indian institution that tries to expose the so-called godmen and other superstitions.

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Frank Sinatra (12 Dec 1915 – 14 May 1998)
Encyclopædia Britannica – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

Francis Albert Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey and died in Los Angeles, California. Frank is often hailed as the greatest American singer of 20th-century; nicknamed The Voice.

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(Português) Nossos Amigos Animais
Olisomar Pires - ANDA Agência de Notícias de Direitos Animais, 14 Dec 2015

Ninguém é obrigado a ter um animal doméstico, porém se o tiver, aja com honradez para com ele, a paga recebida é muito maior que qualquer “enorme” sacrifício da nossa parte, se um dia constatar que já não tem condições de cuidar bem, procure alternativas pensando no bem estar do seu amigo, não o abandone jamais à própria sorte, eles são como crianças.

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(Français) Les Israéliens tuent les civils palestiniens dans une totale impunité
Mazin Qumsiyeh – Info-Palestine, 14 Dec 2015

Les assassinats par les Israéliens de civils palestiniens se répètent dans l’impunité. 108 Palestiniens ont été tués depuis le premier octobre [2015].

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How to Be an Anticapitalist Today
Prof. Erik Olin Wright, Ph.D. – Jacobin Magazine, 14 Dec 2015

Anticapitalism isn’t simply a moral stance against injustice — it’s about building an alternative.

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What Stinks in Saudi Ain’t the Camel Dung – ISIS Is a “Saudi Army in Disguise”
F. William Engdahl, New Eastern Outlook – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

The Saudi monarchy of King Salman and his hot-headed son, Prince Salman, for decades have financed terrorism under a fake religious disguise to advance their private plutocratic agenda. It has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with money and oil.

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British Amputee Soldier Bold Statement Defending Muslims
Chris Herbert – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

Point is, fuck off. I know who I dislike, and I know who I don’t. I know who I appreciate, and I know who I don’t. If you want to hate an entire race of men and women for the actions of a few dickheads feel free, but don’t push your views on me, thinking I am an easy target because one douchebag decided it was my day to die. Blaming all Muslims for the actions of groups like Daesh and the Taliban, is like blaming all Christians for the actions of the KKK or Westboro Baptist Church.

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Back to Basics: Clearing the Fog of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
Sami Al-Arian – CounterPunch, 14 Dec 2015

Oftentimes Israel and its enablers in the political and media arenas try to obfuscate basic facts about the nature and history of the conflict. Despite these attempts, however, the conflict is neither complicated nor has it existed for centuries.

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Gerry Spence on America Menaced by Impending Police State
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

The book pertains to the situation here in America, but as recent events in Paris, San Bernardino, and Colorado Springs confirm, we are in danger of moving without realizing it toward some kind of ‘global police state,’ all in the name of security, trampling on the rights and self-esteem of billions of people and extinguishing the freedom of all. Such a devastating scenario cannot be separated from the predatory features of global capitalism in its present neoliberal phase.

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Arms-Control Lessons from the Volkswagen Scandal
Moritz Kütt – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 14 Dec 2015

Volkswagen got away with this legerdemain for years because, like most carmakers, it uses proprietary software to control its engines and other systems, software that still is not available to vehicle inspectors or independent analysts. Arms-control verification relies on similarly complex combinations of software and hardware, and verification tools often use proprietary or export-controlled technology that prevents transparency and independent scrutiny.

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The Destroyer
UNILAD TV - TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

Powerful 1m47s message on the world environment. The video speaks for itself…

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Paris and the Long-Term Future
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

The ultimate fate of human civilization and the biosphere is in our hands. What we really have to fear, for the sake of our children and grandchildren and their descendants, is reaching a tipping point, beyond which uncontrollable feedback loops will make catastrophic climate change inevitable despite all human efforts to prevent it.

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Four Examples of Mainstream Media Fabricating News to Push for War
Dylan Charles, Waking Times – The Conscious Reporter, 14 Dec 2015

As we inch further into the future and evermore closer to the next, and certainly last, world war, it seems proper to give pause and consider the significance of the fact that much of the information provided on world events is dreadfully compromised by corporate and political propagandists.

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This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

Dec 14-20 QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Don’t let fear or insecurity stop you from trying new things. Believe in yourself. Do what you love. And most importantly, be kind to others, even if you don’t like them.” – Stacy London

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Destroying Syria to Create Sunnistan
Mike Whitney - CounterPunch, 14 Dec 2015

What is the connection between the US bombing of a Syrian military base in Ayyash, Syria, and the Turkish invasion of northern Iraq? Both of these seemingly isolated events are part of a larger plan to Balkanize the Middle East, to strengthen Washington’s grip on dwindling resources, to draw Russia into a costly and protracted war, and to ensure that ME oil remains denominated in US dollars.

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(Italiano) “Da Piazza Fontana a Piazza della Loggia. Tra violenza e verità”
Silvia Berruto – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

Preciso, dettagliato, senza inutili orpelli e divagazioni, pregno di aspetti sociologici, culturali, ideali e quotidiani di quegli anni e delle due stragi fasciste di Piazza Fontana (Milano) e di Piazza della Loggia (Brescia), è stato il contributo che Milani e Sinicato hanno regalato, con grande generosità, anche al pubblico presente in biblioteca regionale di Aosta la sera prima, per una testimonianza di raro ed alto impegno umano, civile, intellettuale e professionale.

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“Truth”
Gary Corseri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

He had a little truth;
He held it with his might.

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How Our Naive Understanding of Violence Helps ISIS
Paul K. Chappell, PeaceVoice – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

During the era of the Internet revolution, it is naive to believe that we can use violence to defeat the ideologies that sustain terrorism. ISIS and Al Qaida are global movements, and with the Internet and social media, they can recruit people from all over the world, including people on American and European soil. And they only have to recruit a tiny amount of Americans and Europeans, initiate a single attack, and kill a few people to cause the huge overreactions that they want from their opponents.

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Obama, like Bush, Just Makes It All Worse
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 14 Dec 2015

Fear, doubt, uncertainty, confusion, and secrecy all conspire to defeat confidence, calm, proportionality, and reason. Leadership and populace alike embrace a zeitgeist of agitation and over-simplification, lashing out in one-dimensional military responses to misperceived threats that are not even fundamentally military. Anti-terrorism, as practiced by the US, is an oxymoron.

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Duty to Warn – Radicalizing the Oppressed, Humiliated and Marginalized: There Must Be 50 Ways
Gary G. Kohls, MD – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

Understanding “radicalization” isn’t rocket science, but in order to understand it, one needs more information than what is spoon-fed to us consumers of inadequate, censored, canned and often fake (“faux”) news. That is fine with the National Rifle Association, the gun lobby, the weapons manufacturers, the Pentagon and Big Pharma, all of whom are beneficiaries of the half-truths with which we are force-fed.

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The Nobel Foundation Taken to Court on the Peace Prize
Jan Oberg – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

“We are not going to court for our own financial benefit,” says Fredrik Heffermehl, “but to get a court order on Nobel’s purpose and the limits the peace prize must keep within. To this end, we had to sue the board of the Nobel Foundation to restitute to the Foundation the €1 million paid to the EU in 2012. The money was paid to the EU against protests from Peace Prize recipients Desmond Tutu, Mairead Maguire, Perez Esquivel and the International Peace Bureau.”

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Peace Researchers Urge Caution over Bombing in Syria
Kevin Clements, Feargal Cochrane and Hugh Miall – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

Trying to stop ‘terrorism’ with ‘air strikes’ is like trying to stop a seeding dandelion by hitting it with a golf club. Bombing Syrian towns is likely to increase recruitment to ISIS, both in the Middle East and in Europe. We need more creative and imaginative solutions to the problems we are confronting than those currently on the table.

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(Français) Contrecarrer le changement démocratique: Etre Palestinien en Israël
Ben White, Investig’Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

Quelques morceaux choisis du livre de Ben White, ‘Etre Palestinien en Israël’. Edité par La Guillotine, cet ouvrage indispensable traite d’une question clé ignorée par le “processus de paix” officiel et par les commentateurs les plus influents : celle de la minorité palestinienne à l’intérieur d’Israël.

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Frank Sinatra Centennial – TMS Editor’s 7 Picks: Kick Back and Enjoy…
Frank Sinatra – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

New York New York, Got You under My Skin, You Make Me Feel so Young, It Was a Very Good Year, Frank Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim, Come Fly with Me, Young at Heart.

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An Open Letter to Myanmar’s Leaders
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

May I, from the bottom of my heart, urge you to use your most precious time, while alive, to endeavor to end the hell of a slow genocide of the Rohingya and to bring about the cessation of all armed conflicts and wars against our own ethnic brethren in Eastern Myanmar, namely the Kachin, the Shan, the Pa-Oo, the Kokant, etc. May the Rohingya be free from the State’s genocidal persecution.

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Responding to Megaterrorism after Paris
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

6 Dec 2015 – The post below is based on an opinion piece published by Middle East Eye on December 1, 2015 under the title “A Different Response to ISIS after Paris.” My modified text places its focus on the originality of megaterrorism and its distinctive challenges, suggesting that the choice of response needs to be extended beyond the iron cage of militarism and vengeance.

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How to Deal with Mass Shootings in the USA
Doc Jazz – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

Satirical strip

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The Dynamics of Compassion
Robert C. Koehler, Common Wonders – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

We invented written language. The human species is now in the process of inventing something just as crucial: how to love itself, how to engage with itself nonviolently. We’ve been organized for far too long in a state of only partial connection, relying on the presence of enemies to stay in solidarity with our neighbors.

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(Português) Testes em animais: como as novas tecnologias podem evitar?
Carlos Eduardo Matos - ANDA Agência de Notícias de Direitos Animais, 7 Dec 2015

3 dez 2015 – Há cerca de dois anos uma notícia repercutiu em toda a imprensa nacional e tomou conta das postagens e comentários em diversas redes sociais: a invasão de ativistas dos direitos animais ao Instituto Royal, na cidade de São Roque, em São Paulo. O grupo resgatou no local animais que eram utilizados como cobaias para testes de medicamentos, incluindo cerca de 200 cachorros da raça Beagle.

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The Dark Alliance of Global Philanthropy and Capitalism
William G Moseley – Al Jazeera, 7 Dec 2015

It’s a problem if endowment investments generate the very poverty foundations are trying to alleviate.

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Impeachment against Rousseff Might Be a Matter of Personal Vengeance
Sputinik News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

Impeachment proceedings against Brazil’s President launched by speaker of the lower house Eduardo Cunha is a matter of his personal vengeance, Deputy Leader of the Workers Party in the Brazilian parliament Margarida Salomao told Sputnik Thursday [3 Dec 2015].

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More Pilot Whales Slaughtered on the Shores of the Faroe Islands
Sea Shepherd – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

1 Dec 2015 – Yesterday, a pod of 11 pilot whales was slaughtered at the killing beach of Fuglafirði in the Faroe Islands. It is the sixth grindadráp in the archipelago this year, and brings the total number of pilot whales slaughtered in the 2015 drive hunts to 501.

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The Over-Written, Under-Reported Middle East – Part I: Of Arabs and Muslims
Baher Kamal, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

Egyptian-born, Spanish-national, secular journalist Baher Kamal tries to demystify some of the most common stereotypes circulating around the Middle East region.

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The Over-Written, Under-Reported Middle East – Part II: 99.5 Years of (Imposed) Solitude
Baher Kamal, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

Baher Kamal tries to demystify some of the most common stereotypes circulating around the Middle East region. Here he explains some of the roots of its drama.

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(Italiano) Il clima con occhi diversi
Elena Camino – Centro Studi Sereno Regis, 7 Dec 2015

Sara Flaunders, in un articolo del 2009, sosteneva che “il Pentagono è il maggior consumatore istituzionale di prodotti petroliferi e di energia in generale. Ma il Pentagono gode di una implicita esenzione in tutti gli accordi internazionali sul clima”.

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It Figures…
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

Johnny and Billy, who sat next to each other at school, both had 17 mistakes in their dictation, and all in the same places.

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What Next After Paris? Nonviolent Solutions to Violent Politics
Kevin Clements – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

Bettelheim said that, “Violence is the behaviour of someone incapable of imagining other solutions to the problem at hand.” And Gandhi said, “I oppose all violence because the good it does is always temporary but the harm it does is permanent”. So what might be some nonviolent solutions to Paris? There are some short, medium and long-term things that we could contemplate.

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This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

Dec 7-13 QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “One day you’re seventeen and planning for someday. And then quietly and without you ever really noticing, someday is today. And that someday is yesterday. And this is your life.” – One Tree Hill

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Paris, India, and Coal
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

The MIT Technology Review recently published an important article entitled “India’s Energy Crisis”. Have India’s economic planners really thought about the long-term future? Have they considered the fact that drastic climate change could make India completely uninhabitable?

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A Big Win for Cheap, Clean Energy
Bill Gates – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

30 Nov 2015 – I’m in Paris. Two related initiatives are being announced at today’s COP21 event. One is Mission Innovation, a commitment by more than ten countries to invest more in research on clean energy. The other is the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a global group of private investors who will support companies that are taking innovative clean-energy ideas out of the lab and into the marketplace.

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Local Engagement with Armed Groups in the Midst of Violence
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

It is certain that insider mediators can play a key role in informal peace processes if they have “space” for action. Local populations are not just passive actors, simply coerced by armed actors. Yet the violent tactics of armed groups can overwhelm and silence voices for peace.

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(Deutsch) Weshalb ein überstürztes Eingreifen in Syrien falsch ist
Deutschen Fachschaften Friedens- und Konfliktforschung an der Philipps-Universität Marburg – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

eine Antwort der deutschen Fachschaften Friedens- und Konfliktforschung auf das Vorhaben des Militäreinsatzes der Bundesregierung.

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600 Refugees Detained by Australia Say They Want to Die
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

3 Dec 2015 – Six hundred refugees and asylum seekers detained by the Australia government on Manus Island, part of Papua New Guinea, have written a letter to the Australian prime minister saying they want assistance to die.

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Haitians Denounce US-Funded Denial of Democracy
Marilyn Langlois – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

If you happen upon one of the few international news articles about the October 25 first round presidential election in Haiti, and it fails to mention Fanmi Lavalas, Haiti’s largest and most popular political party, and its candidate, Maryse Narcisse, you can be sure the report is part of a well-orchestrated media black-out.

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Conflict and Cooperation
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

During World War I, Muzafer Sherif from Turkey was in a group of civilians who were massacred by enemy soldiers. He was the only survivor, because he lay motionless under a pile of bodies and the soldiers thought he was dead. After that horrible experience, he decided to do everything he could to understand better the sources of hostility and ways to overcome them.

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Why Did the “Retired” Senior General Than Shwe Meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi?
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

5 Dec 2015 – The prevailing view is that the Old Man wants to ensure that he is safe from any form of retribution, that his extended family are safe and that their ill-gotten gains – estimated at US$ billions – remain intact. And for the Rohingya, the deal excludes their genocide.

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The Entire ‘War on Terror’ Has Been a Lie – And These Charts Prove It
Rebecca Sumner – The Canary, 7 Dec 2015

We were told long ago that the “war on terror” would make the world a safer place. But after 14 years of permanent warfare, terrorist attacks around the world have escalated by a staggering 6,500%. See charts.

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Message to Menkind by the Great Lao-Tzu
TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

“It is only when you see a mosquito landing on your testicles…

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The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Is a Marketing Tool, Not a Charity
Emily Baselt Steiger – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

2 Dec 2015 – This week, the internet exploded with news stories that Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan pledged to donate 99% of their wealth to charity through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

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(Italiano) Giornalismo di pace: funziona?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

In breve: No. Gli avvenimenti di Parigi hanno innescato un giornalismo di guerra; non si è osservato alcun giornalismo di pace. Dubitare che la violenza anti-IS funzionerà non è giornalismo di pace, solo giornalismo di guerra con degli interrogativi.

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Crossing Cultural and Linguistic Boundaries: International Volunteer Day
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

5 December has been selected as the International Volunteer Day by a 1985 UN General Assembly resolution. This year 5 December comes as government representatives and volunteers of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are meeting in Paris to develop a new international climate agreement, COP 21.

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Unearthing America’s Deep Network of Climate Change Deniers
Eric Roston - Bloomberg, 7 Dec 2015

A new study attempts the first tally of those driving the peculiarly American strain of climate change denial.

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Compassion, Humanity Better Resolve Conflicts
Kristin Christman – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

Constructive Intelligence a Smarter Choice to Finding Peace in the World – Alienated murderers may stand at the tip of an iceberg of countless people who are alienated but who react, not with homicide, but with depression, anxiety, callousness, misbehavior, or suicide, or who get murdered themselves. Constructive intelligence illuminates nonviolent actions critical for peace.

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We Must Stop the Madness of Brinkmanship
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

Brinksmanship is an insane and immoral game played by our arrogant and power-mad leaders. It is a game that the world could all too easily lose. We know from histories of the start of World War I how easily a small incident can escalate uncontrollably into a catastrophic global conflict. With thermonuclear weapons, the stakes are much higher today. The future of humanity and the biosphere are at stake.

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The Clouds Are Getting Dark
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

As Robert Savio points out, “They all fight to the last Syrian.” Only hope among the Big Powers: Russia. Bombing and reacting with moderation, it could get Shia Assad-Iraq-Iran-Bahrain to arrive at a cease-fire, opening for negotiations. Putin has done it before. Nevertheless, the West may prefer war to have Putin solve problems for them.

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Huge: Monsanto Going to Trial for Crimes against Humanity
Christina Sarich, Natural Society – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

3 Dec 2015 – In The Hague, Netherlands, International Criminal Court. If you’ve been waiting to finally see Monsanto – one of the most hated companies in the world – to pay for its ecocide, knowing harm of human life, and devastation of our pollinators, then you won’t have to wait much longer.

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Wampis Nation of Peruvian Amazon Declares Creation of First Autonomous Indigenous Government in Peru
Forest Peoples Programme - Global Research, 7 Dec 2015

The Wampis nation of the Peruvian Amazon declares the creation of the first autonomous indigenous government in Peru to defend the totality of their ancestral territory covering 1.3 million hectares of tropical forest.

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Does Eleven Plus One Equal Sixty?
Nick Turse - TomDispatch, 7 Dec 2015

The U.S. military has built an extensive archipelago of African outposts, transforming the continent into a laboratory for a new kind of war.

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Trade in Services Agreement TiSA – Secret Documents Revealed
WikiLeaks – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

Today, Thursday, December 3, WikiLeaks releases new secret documents from the huge Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) which is being negotiated by the US, EU and 22 other countries that account for 2/3rds of global GDP.

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No to War! Call for Peaceful Nonviolent Resistance to United Kingdom’s Air Strikes against Syria
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

On 2nd December, 2015 the United Kingdom Parliament voted to bomb Syria and the world watched as British planes, equipped with the latest bombs aptly named ‘Brimstone’ were dropped on Syrian targets.

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When Psychologists Deny Guantanamo’s Abuses
Roy Eidelson, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

It’s now time to discard the carefully crafted fiction that these psychologists have a legitimate, ethical role to play in supporting the interrogation and detention operations there. Until they are removed, psychologists remain key actors in an environment that was aptly called “the gulag of our time” a decade ago, and where abuses still persist today.

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Insurgents East and West
Tom Greening – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

We’re having a problem here
with the occupiers sent
by a foreign ruler named George.

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Confessions of a Terrorist Sympathiser
Richard Jackson – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Dec 2015

Recovering sympathy for the terrorist, recognising their humanity, their politics, their suffering, their aspirations, their sense of self in this particular historical epoch, is essential for understanding the roots of their violent actions. It is also essential for reconstituting our own shattered sense of collective morality, and for recognising and acknowledging our own role in the constitutive violence of the current system.

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(Português) Biografia de Fernando Pessoa (13 jun 1888 – 30 nov 1935)
Antonio C. S. Rosa | Editor – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Nov 2015

Fernando Pessoa foi um poeta português, um dos mais importantes da língua portuguesa. Teve diversas profissões: foi editor, astrólogo, publicitário, tradutor técnico, jornalista, empresário, crítico literário e crítico político.

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(Français) 40ème anniversaire du Plan Condor : globalisation et terrorisme d’état (I)
Alex Anfruns & Martin Almada, Investig’Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Nov 2015

Le professeur Almada a été victime de la torture et de la répression militaire dans le cadre de l’ « Opération Condor » en Amérique du Sud. Malgré cela, Martin Almada n’a jamais renoncé à ses idéaux et il a été celui qui, en 1992, a découvert au Paraguay les « Archives de la Terreur », mettant au jour les preuves de l’existence d’un vaste réseau et d’un système de répression coordonné à l’échelle internationale entre les dictatures militaires, appuyé par la CIA.

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(Français) 40ème anniversaire du Plan Condor : globalisation et terrorisme d’état (II)
Alex Anfruns & Martin Almada, Investig’Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Nov 2015

C’est pourquoi il est urgent de mondialiser les luttes contre l’Impunité du Terrorisme d’État. Le capital prédateur s’est mondialisé ces dernières années. Maintenant, c’est à notre tour de mondialiser nos convictions en faveur d’une citoyenneté active, d’une authentique démocratie adaptée à nos réalités. Il nous faut surtout vivre solidairement pour empêcher que la moribonde ALCA ne ressuscite.

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Chem Trails, Etc.
Gary Corseri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Nov 2015

And they’re laughing all the goddamn way
to their bank accounts in foreign lands
(probably some Switzerlands!)

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2016: The Year of India… And the Last Chance for an Organized Systemic Global Transition
Global European Anticipation Bulletin-GEAB – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Nov 2015

The central argument is as follows: in 2016 India will combine the characteristics which should enable it to interconnect with two other “major” BRICS – Russia and China – and tip the scales towards a multi-polar world irresistible to Western eyes, with Europe in the front row.

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Forget ‘Fighting Demons’. We Must Learn How to Talk Properly about Alcoholism
Liam Byrne – The Guardian, 30 Nov 2015

My dad was an alcoholic – and what every child of someone with this disease learns is that we can’t change things for our parents. But we can for our children.

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Education for Environment and Peace
Surya Nath Prasad, Ph. D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Nov 2015

On the eve of Paris 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference

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Paris: A Sense of Proportion Is Urgently Needed
John Scales Avery, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Nov 2015

For more than a week after the terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November, every television news program of any kind was completely dominated by non-stop day-and-night coverage of the “breaking news”. Let us hope that attention of the world and the focus of the delegates at the Paris Climate Conference will not be distracted by pseudo-threats, and will instead look seriously at the real threats that the world is facing. We urgently need a sense of proportion.

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(Castellano) Producción de heroína en Afganistán aumenta 50 veces desde invasión liderada por EEUU
HispanTV – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Nov 2015

La producción de heroína en Afganistán ha aumentado 50 veces desde el comienzo de la invasión extranjera liderada por EE.UU., que supuestamente tenía como objetivo combatir el terrorismo.

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Raqqa’s Rockefellers: How Islamic State Oil Flows to Israel
Al-Araby al-Jadeed – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Nov 2015

Oil produced by the Islamic State group finances its bloodlust. But how is it extracted, transported and sold? Who is buying it, and how does it reach Israel?

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Forget Daesh: Humanity Is at Stake
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Nov 2015

When the Americans and their allies claimed that they had left the region [M.E.], they left behind bleeding, impoverished nations, licking their wounds and searching for bodies under rubble in diverse and macabre landscapes. Yet, the Americans, the British, the French and the Israelis, continue to stage their democratic elections around the debate of who will hit us [Arabs] the hardest, humiliate us the most, teach the most unforgettable lesson and, in their late night comedies, they mock our pain.

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Cleanliness and Sanitation
Dr Ravi P Bhatia – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Nov 2015

India has a lot of poverty and environmental pollution. This is caused by several factors such as development activities of the government, production of electric power and not least by peoples’ attitude of polluting the atmosphere. It is also caused by lack of toilets in the homes of poor people which results in people defecating in the open.

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Portugal Goes Left
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey - Pravda, 30 Nov 2015

After four years of austerity, or better, social terrorism, with pensions slashed, salaries reduced, taxation increased and no hope of anything better for the future, the Left Parties united and said a resounding NO! and refused to accept the Government presented by the PP-PSD, which fell in a vote of no confidence with the majority of Parliament against.

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Dreamables, Deniables, Deliverables and Duende
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Nov 2015

Global Dynamics “At the Table” Inspired by Dining and Wining in Practice – Produced on the occasion of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (Paris, 2015)

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How the Gates Foundation Reflects the Good and the Bad of “Hacker Philanthropy”
Michael Massing – The Intercept, 30 Nov 2015

A new book by Linsey McGoey reveals the influence over public policy that a massive philanthropy can wield.

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Peace Journalism: Is It Working?
Johan Galtung, 30 Nov 2015 - TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Nov 2015

Short answer: No. The Paris event triggered war journalism; no peace journalism was observed. To doubt that anti-IS violence will work is not peace journalism, only war journalism with question marks.

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I Have Never Punished My Child – Parenting for a Nonviolent World
Anahata Giri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Nov 2015

The reason I have never punished my child is that it does not help me achieve my main aim as a parent. My mission as a parent is to maintain a loving, respectful, empowering and clear relationship with my son, so that he can have a relationship with himself based on self-love, self-respect, self-empowerment and self-understanding.

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The Reign of Absurdiocy
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Nov 2015

Terrorism is a weapon. Like cannon. We would laugh at somebody who declares war on “international artillery”. Terrorism is a method of operation often used by oppressed peoples, including the French Resistance to the Nazis in WW II. We would laugh at anyone who declared war on “international resistance”. Carl von Clausewitz might have said: “Terrorism is a continuation of policy by other means.”

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