Articles by M
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Who 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 articleSome Notes on the New WikiLeaks Next-Generation Submission System Beta
Julian Assange, WikiLeaks – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
WikiLeaks will continue publishing, as it has since its foundation, full archives of suppressed documents in strategic global partnerships. The 2.0 public-facing submission system is an important new method in our arsenal for recovering subjugated history.
→ read full article(Castellano) 40 Años de Vietnam: Kissinger, Retrato de un “Nobel de la Paz”
Fernando Montiel T. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
“No veo por qué debemos quedarnos cruzados de brazos y contemplar cómo un país se hace comunista debido a la irresponsabilidad de su propio pueblo.” – Kissinger. Para el Nobel a la Paz de 1973, estos riesgos de la democracia se conjuraban con sangre. Bajo el mismo padrinazgo, a Chile siguió Timor Oriental en 1975 con 200 mil muertos; luego, Argentina en 1976 con 30 mil desaparecidos…. y más.
→ read full articleDeutsche Bank Pays $2.5 Billion Fine for Interest Rate Rigging
Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
27 Apr 2015 – Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay out a record $2.5 billion fine to settle U.K. and U.S. government investigations into allegations of fixing global interest rates, just months after six other banks paid out $4.3 billion on similar charges. Activists say that the banks should have faced criminal charges.
→ read full articleMy Second World Press Freedom Day [May 3] in an Egyptian Jail
Abdullah Elfakharany – Middle East Eye,
4 May 2015
3 May 2015 – Egyptian journalist Abdullah Elfakharany, founder of the online Rassd News Network, was jailed in Egypt last year and sentenced to life last month. He wrote this letter, smuggled from prison, to observe today’s World Press Freedom day.
→ 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 articleWhat Makes a Hero: Joseph Campbell’s Seminal Monomyth Model for the Eleven Stages of the Hero’s Journey, Animated
Maria Popova, Brain Pickings – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
“It has always been the prime function of mythology and rite to supply the symbols that carry the human spirit forward.”
→ read full articleComprehensive Ban on Nuclear Testing, a ‘Stepping Stone’ to a Nuke-Free World
Kanya D'Almeida, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
29 Apr 2015 – Interview with Lassina Zerbo, executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation. With the four-week-long review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty underway at the UN, hopes and frustrations are running equally high, as a binding political agreement on the biggest threat to humanity hangs in the balance.
→ read full articleClosing of the World Social Forum: Citizens of the World versus Terrorism and Oppression
Sihem Oubraham, El Moudjahid – Culture of Peace News Network,
4 May 2015
6 Apr 2015 – The 13th edition of the World Social Forum 2015, which took place over four days in the Tunisian capital, completed its work under the slogan of “all-out solidarity with all oppressed peoples.”
→ read full articleWake up! by David Krieger
Bill Bhaneja – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
Santa Barbara, Calif: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Book, 2015 – How does one write a review of such a collection where each poem stands out drawing the reader into a vortex of inhumanity of man by man and at the same time wanting to make sense of existential themes like Truth, War, Peace, Nuclear Weapons, and even a section called Imperfection?
→ read full articleThe Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
28 Apr 2015 – The NPT Review Conference is taking place from now until May 22 in New York City. Adam Mount explains what it is and how this year’s conference is likely to be a dismal failure.
→ read full article(Français) La guerre du Vietnam n’est pas finie : les séquelles de l’Agent Orange
Hai Quang Ho, Investig’Action – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
Certes, la guerre du Vietnam s’est terminée il y a 40 ans. Mais elle continue à tuer aujourd’hui. Selon la Croix Rouge, 3 à 4 millions de Vietnamiens sont actuellement handicapés ou présentent de graves maladies liées à l’Agent Orange.
→ read full articleThis Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
May 4-10 – QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “This day will never come again and anyone who fails to eat and drink and taste and smell it will never have it offered to him again in all eternity. The sun will never shine as it does today… But you must play your part and sing a song, one of your best. ” – Hermann Hesse
→ read full articleAP: Americans Strongly Support Different, Imaginary Drone Program
Dan Froomkin and Jon Schwarz – The Intercept,
4 May 2015
1 May 2015 – The headline on the Associated Press story is unambiguous: “AP Poll: 60 percent of Americans approve of drone strikes on terrorists.” Strangely enough, if you get to the story’s ninth paragraph, you learn that the AP’s own reporters have a pretty good hunch that the previous eight paragraphs were bullshit.
→ read full articleDrones, Cops, and the Unaccountable Machinery of Death
Editorial, The Nation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
From signature strikes in Pakistan to police violence in Baltimore, the state is seemingly uninterested in even counting how many people it kills.
→ read full articleThose Damned Migrants [Refugees]: Blame It All on Them!
Steve Weissman - Reader Supported News,
4 May 2015
“It is sickening to see thousands of refugees drowning on the doorstep of the world’s wealthiest continent,” declared actress Angelina Jolie, the UN’s Special Envoy for Refugees. “No one risks the lives of their children in this way except out of utter desperation.”
→ read full articleA Century of Women Working for Peace
Amy Goodman – Truthdig,
4 May 2015
One hundred years ago, more than 1,000 women gathered here in The Hague during World War I, demanding peace. Britain denied passports to more than 120 women, forbidding them from making the trip to suppress their peaceful dissent. Now, a century later, nearly 1,000 women have gathered here again, this time from Africa, Asia and Latin America, as well as Europe and North America.
→ read full articleNine Things You Might Want to Know about the Massive Pacific Trade Deal
E. Tammy Kim – Al Jazeera America,
4 May 2015
All this trade talk can seem an impenetrable thicket of arcane economics and alphabet soup. Here we provide answers to some basic questions.
→ read full articleMoving Indigenous Land Rights from Paper to Reality
Valentina Ieri, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
Speaking at U.N. Headquarters on Apr. 27 as part of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues – which started last week and lasts through Friday [1 May 2015] – the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz expressed disappointment with the scant efforts to enshrine Indigenous People’s rights in the post-2015 development agenda.
→ read full articleANZAC Day 2015
Kevin Clements – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
Please let me be what I was;
A man of my time,
A man who knew no better,
A man killed for no purpose,
A man who died hopeful
That others
will refuse to do the same.
Please do that in my name.
→ read full articleSaudi Arabia: Lost in the Sands of War
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
The constant violation of the minimum standards of the laws of armed conflict has had some impact on the perception of the conflict with a few in the USA and Western Europe. As the weapons used by Saudi Arabia are largely of foreign production, supplier States have a responsibility − at least morally − in the way the arms are used.
→ 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 articleCampaign against Glyphosate Steps Up in Latin America
Fabiana Frayssinet, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
“We can no longer accept the use of these poisons because they destroy biodiversity, aggravate climate change, destroy the soil’s fertility, and contaminate the water and even the air. And above all, they bring more illness, such as cancer. “
→ read full articleThe Day after Damascus Falls
Robert Parry – Consortium News,
4 May 2015
The Saudi-Israeli alliance has gone on the offensive, ramping up a “regime change” war in Syria and, in effect, promoting a military victory for Al-Qaeda or its spinoff, the Islamic State. But the consequences of that victory could toll the final bell for the American Republic.
→ read full articleMarrying Strategic White Holes with Problematic Black Holes
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
Produced in celebration of the encounter of 28 April 2015 between Ban Ki-moon (Secretary-General of the United Nations) and Pope Francis (of the Catholic Church) to discuss climate change and Mediterranean migration.
→ read full articleWomen, Conflict Resolution, and Peacebuilding
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
Given the many forms that violence takes as well as the many different cultures in which armed violence is now ongoing, we can learn from the experience of each peace activity. In particular, we can be encouraged by the past 100 years of peace and conflict resolution efforts.
→ read full articleMaputo Declaration of African Civil Society on Climate Justice
TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
In line with the above and through other considerations, the conference demands as follows:
13. The right to clean water should be enshrined in the constitutions of all African countries.
14. Governments must halt the privatisation of water and restore public control in already privatised ones.
The Rendition Project
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, et al. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
The Rendition Project is a collaborative research initiative by the University of Kent, Kingston University, the legal action charity Reprieve, and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism aiming to bring academic expertise to research the CIA’s rendition, detention and interrogation programme.
→ 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 articleDiscussing Islam: Western Logic Is Flawed
Sufyan Bin Uzayr – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
I decided to dig deeper, and reflect on what exactly such viewpoints are trying to convey. Is Islam really at war with everyone? Or is Islam having a crisis within itself? Do Muslims need to react?
→ read full articleEinstein on the Common Language of Science in a Rare 1941 Recording
Maria Popova, Brain Pickings – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
“Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem — in my opinion — to characterize our age.”
→ read full articleWhere Is the World… ?
Imani Michelle Scott, Ph.D. – The Huffington Post,
4 May 2015
I love the black men in my life. They are my brothers, my nephews, my cousins, my best friends. The politics of distraction successfully leads attention away from what occurs in the U.S. to focus on inhumanity in those nations beyond America’s borders. Where is the world when the collective of humanity is so needed to help end police violence against blacks in America?
→ read full articleA Hole in the [Capitalist] System
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
The outrageous, untold story of how big business dumps its costs on us. Corporations ream the land with giant holes, extract a stack of money, then clear out, leaving other people with the costs. There’s a briefer description: legalised theft.
→ read full articleBolivia: 15 Years after the Cochabamba Water Revolt, Echoes in New Cases of Corporate Abuse
Philippa de Boissière, Upside Down World – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
27 Apr 2015 – Fifteen years ago this month the people of Cochabamba, Bolivia were victorious in their now-famous showdown with one of the most powerful multinational corporations in the world, in what has come to be known as the Cochabamba Water Revolt. Fast forward to South America 2015.
→ read full articleIdiots of the World, Unite!
Robert C. Koehler – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
“Sir, you are an idiot.” Wow, an insult wrapped in such old-fashioned politeness. I let the words hover and reach, as I always do, for peace: that is to say, for clarity, connection, common humanity. Last week I raised the idea of unarmed policing [in the US], as practiced in half a dozen countries around the world.
→ read full articleThe Kingpin Strategy – Assassination as Policy in Washington and How It Failed: 1990-2015
Andrew Cockburn - TomDispatch,
4 May 2015
Barack Obama’s aides considered the news that the White House had a “kill list” a point of pride well worth leaking to the press. Think of it as plausible undeniability in twenty-first-century Orwellian Washington. Key figures in the U.S. government now openly, publicly, discuss what the exact limits (and legal authority) might be for the assassination of American citizens and others abroad; and no one even flinches.
→ read full articleAnimals: The “Personhood” Issue
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey - Pravda,
4 May 2015
29 Apr 2015 – A recent case in the USA concerning the personhood of chimpanzees and therefore bringing into question the legality of their detainment in a laboratory follows on from a ruling in India two years ago about the status of dolphins as “non-human persons” enjoying specific rights. To what extent should this apply to other animals?
→ read full article
Against the Wind (MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
Against the Wind is a composition of Bob Seger from 1980 “about trying to move ahead, keeping your sanity and integrity at the same time.”
→ read full articleToo Proud?
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
Most American politicians talk as if they had been born in a log cabin…
→ read full article(Français) Hymne a l’Amour Humain [Un Poème]
Guy Crequie – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
Pour L’harmonie De Nos Vies
→ read full articleDoonesbury Cartoonist Attacked for Criticizing Charlie Hebdo
Patrick Martin, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
27 Apr 2015 – Garry Trudeau, the creator of the Doonesbury comic strip, has come under attack for publicly criticizing anti-Muslim cartoons appearing in Charlie Hebdo, calling them a form of hate speech. The central point made by Trudeau is that Charlie Hebdo was engaged, not in satirizing the powerful, but in vilifying the most oppressed section of the French population, Muslim immigrants, who face the highest levels of unemployment, poverty, police harassment and imprisonment.
→ read full articleAustralia: The Secret Country Again Wages War on Its Own People
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
Australia’s Racist Assault on Aboriginal People – They are to be driven from homelands where their communities have lived for thousands of years. In Western Australia, where mining companies make billion dollar profits exploiting Aboriginal land, the state government says it can no longer afford to “support” the homelands.
→ read full article
Introducing “Liberate Hawai’i”
Jon D. Olsen – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
A focused examination of the unfounded US claim to the sovereignty of Hawai’i.
→ read full articleOklahoma Mysterious Iron Cup Embedded in Million-Year-Old Coal
Universe Explorers – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
It’s a perfect piece of metal and it was discovered in 1912 in a mine in Wilburton, Oklahoma. The coal that originated from those mines is estimated to be around 300 million years old. This is where the story ignites and goes cold according to some.
→ read full articleGlobal Capitalism and the Global Police State: Crisis of Humanity and the Specter of 21st Century Fascism
Prof William I. Robinson - Global Research,
27 Apr 2015
The world capitalist system is arguably experiencing the worst crisis in its 500-year history. World capitalism has experienced a profound restructuring through globalisation over the past few decades and has been transformed in ways that make it fundamentally distinct from its earlier incarnations.
→ read full article(Castellano) Honrando a Eduardo Galeano
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Premio Nobel de la Paz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
Cuando un amigo se va… Nos deja su abrazo solidario y la alegría de la resistencia en construir nuevos amaneceres junto a los pueblos. Así partió Eduardo Galeano hacedor de la palabra que camina, abriendo sendas de luces y esperanza a contrapelo del sistema de dominación.
→ read full article5 Shockingly Advanced Ancient Buildings That Shouldn’t Exist… Even If Built Today
Eric Yosomono, Welldone Quibranza & Alaric Penname – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
The achievements of ancient cultures tend to be woefully unappreciated — we think of the people as loincloth-wearing savages, and when we’re proven wrong by some impressive feat of engineering, we just make a bunch of documentaries about aliens. But the engineers of times past were nothing to sneer at, and some of their accomplishments make ours seem slightly embarrassing.
→ read full article
Chopin “Fantasie” Impromptu (MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Yundi Li – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
Li Yundi, born Oct 7 1982 in China, was the youngest pianist to win the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition in 2000 at the age of 18. He resides in Beijing.
Did you know that Chopin disliked this piece? He composed it when he was 24 years old and regretted it.
War Journalism and News Distortion
Michael Krona – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
For example: what do you think is the conflict from its inception in 1998 has had over five million dead, has had involvement of military forces from nine countries and played out in an area the size of Western Europe, but few in the West even noticed?
→ read full articleFreedom in Martyrdom
Dr. Alon Ben-Meir – The Huffington Post,
27 Apr 2015
Reconciliation must begin by recognizing and admitting to past mistakes. Regardless of the extent of the West’s abuse and exploitation of Arab resources and people, acknowledging its long history of misguided policies is critical to establishing a dialogue that is still largely missing in the strategy of countering violent extremism.
→ read full articleMillay’s “Epitaph for the Race of Man”
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
The beautiful red-haired American poet, Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950), is known for her lyric poetry. In “Epitaph” she speculates on what will be the final cause of the extinction of the human race and concludes that Man will die by his own hand since nothing has persuaded humankind “to lay aside the lever and the spade, and be as dust among the dusts that blow”.
→ read full articleThe West against Itself
Johan Galtung, 27 Apr 2015 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
Take the 70th anniversary demarcation of the victory over nazism… Poland lost 20% of its population; the Soviet Union 27.1 million, 16%, with 1,710 cities and 70,000 villages erased; UK 1.1%; USA 0.4%; Norway 0.32%.
→ read full articleThe Word That Cannot Be Uttered (It’s Drones)
Dan Froomkin – The Intercept,
27 Apr 2015
Over and over again, Obama called the drone strike that killed two al Qaeda hostages a “counterterrorism operation.” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest: Q: How will this incident affect specifically the U.S. policy, government policy on usage of drones?MR. EARNEST: Well, Jeff, there are certain aspects of this specific operation that I’m not going to be able to discuss, including how this specific operation was carried out … If they cannot even say the word, how can they even begin to tell the truth?
→ read full articleThe Effects of Marijuana on the Body
Healthline – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
When you smoke marijuana, there’s an almost immediate effect on your brain, sense of perception, and heart rate. There may be long-term effects as well.
→ read full article(Italiano) Mare nostrum è di tutti
Silvia Berruto – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
Aosta 20 aprile 2015. Fiaccolata per le/i migranti morte/i in mare
→ read full articleBritain’s Colonial Shame: Slave-Owners Given Huge Payouts after Abolition
Sanchez Manning - The Independent,
27 Apr 2015
The British government paid out £20m to compensate some 3,000 families that owned slaves for the loss of their “property” when slave-ownership was abolished in Britain’s colonies in 1833. This figure represented a staggering 40 per cent of the Treasury’s annual spending budget and, in today’s terms, calculated as wage values, equates to around £16.5bn.
→ read full articleThe Least We Can Do for Syria
Lakhdar Brahimi, Project Syndicate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
In a conflict as bitter, protracted, and complex as the war in Syria, it is all too easy to become overwhelmed by despair. And yet, however grim or upsetting the situation becomes, people around the world, rather than tuning out the war, should pressure their governments to protect and shelter Syria’s refugees.
→ read full article(Deutsch) Ukrainekonflikt und kein Ende?
Andreas Zumach, Blätter - TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
Mit dem Abschluss von „Minsk II“ ist es, wenn auch unter großen Schwierigkeiten, zu einem höchst fragilen Waffenstillstand in der Ostukraine gekommen – inklusive einer Entzerrung der Frontlinien, des Abzugs schwerer Waffen und weiterer Deeskalationsschritte.
→ read full articleGaleano Died. But the Revolution Goes On!
Andre Vltchek – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
Eduardo Galeano died. My eyes are full of tears. Personally, I feel devastated. But Revolution is spreading all over the world and that is what matters. Thanks to him, and to others like him, fewer and fewer people will betray the cause. And more and more will dream and fight for the survival of our Planet, more and more will “keep walking”!
→ read full articleEurasia as We Knew It Is Dead
Pepe Escobar – Asia Times,
27 Apr 2015
Move over, Cold War 2.0. The real story, now and for the foreseeable future, is a new, integrated Eurasia forging ahead. China’s immensely ambitious New Silk Road project will keep intersecting with the Russia-led Eurasia Economic Union, a booming trade/commerce axis stretching from St. Petersburg to Shanghai.
→ read full articleEurope Should Protect People, Not Borders
Maximilian Popp – Der Spiegel,
27 Apr 2015
The EU registers everything that happens near its borders. In contrast to the claims that are often made, they do not look away when refugees die. They are watching very closely. And what is happening here is not negligent behavior. They are deliberately killing refugees.
→ read full articleGirls, Not Brides
Graça Machel and Mabel van Oranje, Project Syndicate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
Urging governments to combat child marriage by setting the minimum age for marriage at 18.
→ read full articleNobel Women Initiative’s Conference – Building Global Support for Women Human Rights Defenders
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
Breaking the silence on Israel’s human rights abuse of Palestinians is the best way to help Palestinian women human rights defenders and peacemakers.
→ read full articleMediterranean Migrant Crisis: ‘EU and US Have to Own Up to What They Have Done in Libya’
Abayomi Azikiwe - Russia Today,
27 Apr 2015
The West should recognize that the situation with African migrants trying to escape to Europe is a serious crisis which needs to be addressed on an international level, Abayomi Azikiwe, editor, Pan-African News Wire, said.
→ read full articleAsian, African Nations Challenge ‘Obsolete’ World Order
Eveline Danubrata and Charlotte Greenfield, Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
Leaders of Asian and African nations called on Wednesday [22 Apr 2015] for a new global order that is open to emerging economic powers and leaves the “obsolete ideas” of Bretton Woods institutions in the past at the opening of a meeting in Jakarta to mark the 60th anniversary of a conference that made a developing-world stand against colonialism and led to the Cold War era’s non-aligned movement.
→ read full articleHindu Rashtra and Two-Nation Theory
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
A debate has recently gained momentum in India around the idea of Hindu Rashtra or Hindu nation-state… Hinduism is not dogmatic; it embraces pluralism. It believes in coexistence with other religions. Mahatma Gandhi was a proponent of this coexistence.
→ read full articleSide Effects: Popping Pills and Pop-Up Politicos
Gary Corseri – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
Used to be, when I flipped channels, I’d go from one movie to another, one drama to another, one news show to another, etc. These days, I’m more likely to go from one commercial to another—and more likely than not, it’s a prescription pill commercial! Every third time I flip, I land on a “news” program where there are yakking heads (used to be talking, now they just yak—kind of like real yaks!)—giggling, oohing, ah-ing, laying odds on latest announcements by Hillary Shrillary, Jeb the Bush, Rand the Paul, Ted the Harvard-Hispanic guy, and Marco the Cuban-American guy.
→ read full articleChurch Pushed to Place Itself within BDS Movement
Jews For Justice For Palestinians – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
The Episcopal church in the USA (nearest relative, the Church of England) has been asked by its new group, the Episcopal Committee for Justice in Israel and Palestine, to adopt a policy of divestment from ‘companies that profit from Israel’s illegal occupation and colonization of Palestinian lands’. This is premised on the fact that Netanyahu has rejected the two-state solution and thus there is a new political landscape.
→ read full article(Português) Um Amigo Que Se Foi
Dr. Pedro A. Ynterian - ANDA Agência de Notícias de Direitos Animais,
27 Apr 2015
19 de abril de 2015 – Durante várias horas, em silêncio, um grupo de chimpanzés, com aspecto sombrio e olhar entristecido, circula em volta de corpo de um querido amigo que acaba de morrer inesperadamente, fulminado por um ataque cardíaco.
→ read full articleYouTube at 10: The Archive of Now
Mark Little – Al Jazeera,
27 Apr 2015
Ten years on, YouTube has put the power in our hands: eyewitnesses and journalists. Before YouTube, you needed a journalist, a satellite dish, and a TV network to spread news. Today, all you need is a camera-phone and internet connection, a YouTube account and a social network.
→ read full articleIPRA 2016 Global Peace Conference to Be Held in Freetown, Sierra Leone
International Peace Research Association – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
The 26th biennial conference of the Interna¬tional Peace Research Association (IPRA) is billed to take place in Freetown, Sierra Leone in November 2016, marking the second time Africa has hosted the conference since the founding of IPRA in 1964.
→ read full articlePowerful Nonviolent Resistance to Armed Conflict in Yemen
Stephen Zunes and Noor Al-Haidary – Open Democracy,
27 Apr 2015
As with the initial uprising against the Saleh regime four years ago, an unarmed civil society movement rises up to challenge the Huthi militia.
→ read full articleThe Heart of the Hawaiian Peoples’ Arguments against the Telescope on Mauna Kea
Doug Herman, Smithsonian – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
23 Apr 2015 – Native Hawaiians are not protesting science, but instead are seeking respect for sacred places, and our planet. At this moment all over the Hawaiian Islands, but especially atop Mauna Kea volcano, there are protests against the building of a new Thirty-Meter Telescope on this sacred mountain.
→ read full articleA Trade Rule That Makes It Illegal to Favor Local Business? Newest Leak Shows TPP Would Do That and More
David Korten - YES! Magazine,
27 Apr 2015
The leaked text is full of dense legal jargon. But a close reading makes its corporate agenda crystal clear.
→ read full articleMigrants´ Right to Live Should Not Be Killed
Francisco Gomes de Matos – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
Humankind may boast of many a life-saving technological invention,
but does it succeed, when challenged by migrant death prevention?…
The Now Show – Dr Seuss at Copenhagen
Marcus Brigstocke – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
HILARIOUS! Read as you listen to podcast. A Dr Seuss-style take on events at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
→ read full articleThe Oslo Conference to End Myanmar’s Persecution of the Rohingyas
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor - TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
Venues: The Nobel Institute and Voksenaasen
Oslo, Norway
26-28 May 2015
At this Oslo Conference, global leaders including George Soros and Desmond Tutu will call on the international community, both international investors, European Union and governments with close ties to Myanmar, to help end Myanmar’s Rohingya persecution.
Legacy of War
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
Sometimes when we reflect on war, we talk about sacrifice for a good cause. Other times, we talk about the cost, in lives or liberties lost. Occasionally, we talk about the horror. Sometimes we talk about the gains, nationally or internationally, for freedom and democracy. And rarely, we analyse the causes of war and lament that one day we might end it.
→ read full articleThe Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Death of the Republic
Ellen Brown, Web of Debt – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
On April 22, 2015, the Senate Finance Committee approved a bill to fast-track the TPP, a massive trade agreement that would override our republican form of government and hand judicial and legislative authority to a foreign three-person panel of corporate lawyers. The TPP would elevate the rights of investors – also called the rights of “capital” – above the rights of the citizens.
→ read full articleIf Writers Are Necessarily Right…
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
Who Are the “Rongers”, So Necessarily Wrong? The focus of this reflection is on the curious phonetic relationship in English between “writer” and “right”. Is the exercise of “writing” surreptitiously assumed to be one which endeavours to make “right”? Can it be readily assumed to have this purpose, as in the sense of “setting things right” — “putting the world to rights”?
→ read full articleA New Deal for Greece
Yanis Varoufakis, Project Syndicate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
None of this means that common ground cannot be achieved immediately. The Greek government wants a fiscal-consolidation path that makes sense, and we want reforms that all sides believe are important. Our task is to convince our partners that our undertakings are strategic, rather than tactical, and that our logic is sound. Their task is to let go of an approach that has failed.
→ 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 article(Norsk-Norwegian) Johan Galtung, verdens første fredsforskar om konflikten mellom Vesten og Islam
Jonas Sætre, Uten Filter – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
14 Apr 2015 – Nyheitsdekninga det siste året har i svært stor grad vore prega av konflikt mellom Islam og Vesten. Frå terrorangrepa i Paris og København og terrortrugsel på norsk jord, til framveksten av IS, norske framandkrigarar og Vestens krigføring i Midtausten. Sjølv for den verdskjende norske professoren og fredsmeklaren Johan Galtung er dette dramatiske tider i tilhøvet mellom Vesten og Islam.
→ read full articleOn the Historic Role of the Peace Movement
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
One can distinguish between four forms of power: military, economic, cultural and political. Military power says, “If you don’t do what I want, I will hurt you.” Economic power says, “If you do what I want, I will reward you.” Cultural power says, “If you do what I want, I will praise you, and if you don’t do what I want, I will criticize you.” Political power manipulates the other three forms of power to achieve goals.
→ read full article(Deutsch) Günter Grass: Was gesagt werden muss
Günter Grass (Literatur-Nobelpreisträger) – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
Günter Grass (16 Oktober 1927-13 April 2015) warnt in der “Süddeutschen Zeitung” vor einem Krieg gegen Iran. In seinem Gedicht mit dem Titel “Was gesagt werden muss” fordert der Literaturnobelpreisträger deshalb, Israel dürfe keine deutschen U-Boote mehr bekommen. Dieses Gedicht hat eine hitzige Debatte in Deutschland und Israel.
→ read full articleWhat’s Obama Up to, with His TPP & TTIP?
Eric Zuesse, Washington’s Blog – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
It is instead to transfer political power away from the public in a democracy. The global aristocratic stockholder votes of the international aristocracy who elect the corporate directors of international companies will then be selecting the members to the international-trade-panels which, in TPP and TTIP, will, in their turn, be determining the rules and enforcements regarding especially workers’ rights, product-safety, and the environment.
→ read full articleThe Myth of ‘Value-Free’ Social Science or The Value of Political Commitments to Social Science
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
For many decades, mainstream social scientists, mostly conservative, have argued that political commitments and scientific research are incompatible. Against this current of opinion, others, mostly politically engaged social scientists, have argued that scientific research and political commitment are not contradictory. For the serious critical academic, in answering the question of ‘knowledge for whom?’: they would do well to follow Karl Marx’s wise adage, ‘The object of philosophy is not only to study the world but to change it.’
→ read full articleMost Europeans ‘Totally Distrust’ Mainstream Media Coverage of Ukraine Crisis – Poll
End the Lie – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
21 Apr 2015 – The majority of Europeans – UK, French, German and Greek residents among them – distrust mainstream media coverage of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, a recent poll conducted by the British ICM Research agency for Sputnik News, targeting over 4,000 people, reveals.
→ read full articleSomething’s Happening in Latin America – A Review
Kim Scipes, New Politics – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
Apr 21, 2015 – With the Middle East in flames, NATO trying to start World War III in Ukraine while the European Union’s economy stagnates, Africa torn by low-level wars, and China re-entering the world stage in an assertive manner, there’s one region of the world that is relatively quiet: South America.
→ read full articleSolution
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
One reverend complained to the other, “I have no people coming to listen to my sermon.”
→ read full articleA Tale of Two Atomic Cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Kazumi Matsui and Tomihisa Taue, Project Syndicate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
On April 27 [2015], the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty’s 190 member countries will meet in New York for a review of the 45-year-old pact. The attendees would be wise to consider the important fact that a wide legal gap still remains when it comes to eliminating nuclear weapons: disarmament negotiations. This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6 and 9.
Kazumi Matsui is the mayor of Hiroshima, Japan.
Tomihisa Taue is the mayor of Nagasaki, Japan.
This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
Apr 27–May 3 – QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Good morning… this is God. I will be handling all of your problems today. I will not need your help. So, have a good day.” – Unknown
→ read full articleSex, Drugs, and Dead Soldiers: What U.S. Africa Command Doesn’t Want You to Know
Nick Turse – TomDispatch,
27 Apr 2015
Six people lay lifeless in the filthy brown water. It was 5:09 a.m. when their Toyota Land Cruiser plunged off a bridge in the West African country of Mali. For about two seconds, the SUV sailed through the air, pirouetting 180 degrees as it plunged 70 feet, crashing into the Niger River.
→ read full articleAustralia to Authorize Guards to ‘Beat Asylum Seekers to Death’ – Report
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Apr 2015
The new powers, applying to immigration officers, would let them use “reasonable force against any person” to maintain order and security, which in fact could lead to “beating asylum seekers to death.” The immunity from civil and criminal liability will include private contractors – people, who are less trained than police officers.
→ 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 article[Physics Nobel Laureate] Professor Peter Higgs Backs Anti-Trident Call
Edinburgh News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Apr 2015
12 April 2015 – Nobel Prize winner Professor Peter Higgs has joined leading figures in music, the arts and science to call for the UK to scrap its nuclear deterrent.
→ read full articleScholar Maung Zarni Defines Genocide in ‘Holocaust and Human Rights Project’ Lecture
David Reich - Boston College Law School Magazine,
20 Apr 2015
15 Apr 2015 – The word genocide calls to mind events like the Jewish and Armenian holocausts, but according to Maung Zarni, a Burmese scholar affiliated with Harvard and the London School of Economics, smaller-scale killing can also fit the definition “if done in an attempt to destroy a people.”
→ read full articleSafety—The Overlooked Crucial Issue in Iranian Nuclear Negotiations
Ariane Tabatabai – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,
20 Apr 2015
Nuclear safety is about preventing and mitigating accidents, and making sure that nuclear facilities operate properly and don’t pose a radiation hazard to people or places. It is not a sexy topic. But along with proliferation, it is one of the most pressing issues to consider in the context of any nuclear program.
→ read full article(Português) Por que e a quem Paulo Freire incomoda?
Ana Luiza Basílio – Pragmatismo Político,
20 Apr 2015
“Ao invés de ‘basta de Paulo Freire’, precisamos de mais Paulo Freire para um país mais decente”. Especialistas explicam por que o patrono da educação brasileira incomoda conservadores e desavisados.
→ read full articleThis Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Apr 2015
Apr 20-26 – QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.” (Quoted from Desiderata) – Max Ehrmann
→ read full article