Articles by M

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What Does Gun Violence in the USA Really Cost? By the Numbers
Jaeah Lee and Julia Lurie – Mother Jones, 3 Aug 2015

The data below is the result of a joint investigation by Mother Jones and Ted Miller, an economist at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation.

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A Renegade Trawler, Hunted for 10,000 Miles by Vigilantes (Part 4)
Ian Urbina – The New York Times, 3 Aug 2015

28 Jul 2015 – The Thunder, a fugitive fishing ship considered the world’s most notorious poacher wanted for illegal fishing, was chased for 110 days and more than 10,000 nautical miles across two seas and three oceans, until it sank in April 2015. Its dramatic story.

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How the American Psychological Association Lost Its Way
Roy Eidelson & Jean Maria Arrigo – Los Angeles Times, 3 Aug 2015

In early July, a devastating independent report by a former federal prosecutor determined that more than a decade ago APA leaders — including the director of ethics — began working secretly with military representatives to craft deceptively permissive ethics policies for psychologists, which effectively enabled abusive interrogation of war-on-terror prisoners to continue.

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A Zen Master Explains Death and the Life-Force to a Child and Outlines the Three Essential Principles of Zen Mind
Maria Popova, Brain Pickings – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Aug 2015

“Zen practice … requires great faith, great courage, and great questioning.” If death is so enormous a mystery that we remain unable to wrap our grownup minds around it, despite comfort from our great poets and consolation from our great philosophers, how are tiny humans to make sense of it all?

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Musk, Wozniak and Hawking Urge Ban on Warfare AI and Autonomous Weapons
Samuel Gibbs – The Guardian, 3 Aug 2015

27 Jul 2015 – An open letter warning of a “military artificial intelligence arms race” and calling for a ban on “offensive autonomous weapons” was signed by Tesla’s Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Google DeepMind chief executive Demis Hassabis and professor Stephen Hawking along with over 1,000 AI and robotics researchers.

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Eliciting Memorable Spheres and Polyhedra from Hyperspace
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Aug 2015

Integrative Connectivity of Problems, Strategies, Themes, Groups or People – Much is made of the recognition that everything is now connected to everything, especially as reflected in patterns of links in cyberspace. The particular focus here is on using analytical data on triangles of relationships in such a way as to construct memorable networks of these triangles based on any shared edges.

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(Italiano) Dalla sicurezza alla pace: un cambiamento di paradigm
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Aug 2015

L’accordo è stato fra un Iran con 0 bombe e i 5 membri del Consiglio di Sicurezza ONU+1 + l’UE con 16,565 bombe (con altre 20 bombe USA in Germania, 240 nell’UE, e 80? in Israele). In un accordo c’è in genere un dare e prendere da entrambe le parti; l’Iran ha dato, dall’altra hanno smesso di picchiare con le sanzioni, dando nulla. Ci diranno che “le sanzioni funzionano” e ci proporranno altre dosi di quest’approccio molto negativo.

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Hiroshima Cover-up: How the War Department’s Timesman Won a Pulitzer
Amy Goodman and David Goodman – Common Dreams, 3 Aug 2015

What about the “deliberate deception” of William L. Laurence in denying the lethal effects of radioactivity? And what of the fact that the Pulitzer Board knowingly awarded the top journalism prize to the Pentagon’s paid publicist, who denied the suffering of millions of Japanese? It is long overdue that the prize for Hiroshima’s apologist be stripped.

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Revolting World
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Aug 2015

‘The World Order and Revolution! Essays from the Resistance’ – Using a combination of political, legal and economic analyses [in their new book], Vltchek, Black and Koenig carefully strip away the façade that the corporate media presents to us, and which the imperial elite wants us to believe, so that we can see some of the ugly, underlying truth about our world.

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Some Charity
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Aug 2015

After the church service a little boy told the pastor, “When I grow up, I’m going to give you some money.”

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The Tiger’s Whisker
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Aug 2015

A Korean Folktale – A woman came to seek help from a famous herbalist.

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This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Aug 2015

August 3–9 – QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “It’s never too late to start over. If you weren’t happy with yesterday, try something different today. Don’t stay stuck. Do better.” – Alex Elle

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Target Tokyo: US Spied on Japanese Government and Corporations Since 2006
WikiLeaks – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Aug 2015

Today, Friday 31 July 2015, 9am CEST, WikiLeaks publishes “Target Tokyo”, 35 Top Secret NSA targets in Japan including the Japanese cabinet and Japanese companies such as Mitsubishi, together with intercepts relating to US-Japan relations, trade negotiations and sensitive climate change strategy.

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Return to Ma’loula
Franklin Lamb – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Aug 2015

1 Aug 2015 – As of today, approximately 900 Christians and 50 Muslims from the pre-2011 population of 5000 have returned to Ma’loula, their 90 AD ancient village. Ma’loula, is among the nearly 7000 historic places in Syria that have been looted, burned, bulldozed or subjected to mindless jihadist iconoclasm as being ‘un-Islamic,” or which have sustained war damage from more than one source.

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Anti-Torture Reforms Opposed within Psychology Group after Damning Report
Spencer Ackerman – The Guardian, 3 Aug 2015

Before the American Psychological Association meets in Toronto next Thursday [6 Aug], former military voices within the profession are urging the organization not to participate in what they describe as a witch hunt. Tempers rise as association found complicit in brutal military and CIA interrogation.

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The Dublin-Doha Nexus: Ireland’s Key Role in the Muslim Brotherhood’s Global Jihad
Maidhc Ó Cathail, The Passionate Attachment – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Aug 2015

A CNN study published in September 2014 surprisingly found that Ireland is second only to Finland among countries with the greatest percentage of Muslims who have gone to fight in Syria.

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EU’s Greek Debt Austerity Plan Rejected by the IMF
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Aug 2015

I have maintained that the imposition of austerity on Greece could not possibly work and that the only solution was to write down the debt and introduce reforms that loosen the hold the oligarchs have on the Greek economy. The current Greek government has taken the same position, and now the IMF has joined us.

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The News Media as a Masterful Means of Multiple Meaning-Making
Francisco Gomes de Matos – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Aug 2015

A Rhymed Reflection

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Obama Walks Fine Line in Kenya on LGBTI Rights
Aruna Dutt, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

But LGBTI [Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex] Kenyans are not in agreement about whether Obama’s presence will help or hurt their struggle, according to the Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, Jessica Stern.

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Optimizing Web Surfing Pathways for the Overloaded
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

Polyhedral Insights from the Travelling Salesman Problem of Operations Research – If one is in the habit of visiting 5,10, 20, 50 websites (or more) at various frequencies, the issue is whether there are more fruitful ways to organize such a tour? Given the challenge of information overload, does this provide a more meaningful context to explore the increasing problem of “link fatigue” — namely exposure to yet another link one is encouraged to investigate?

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Israel Sees Nazism in Mirror it Mistakes for Window
David Swanson – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

27 July 2015 – Israel is trying to expel the population of a village for the crime of not being Jewish, the same crime for which Israel bombs the people of Gaza for a month or so every few years and blockades them in between these bursts of violence. Meanwhile, Mike Huckabee declares that making peace with Iran amounts to marching Israelis “to the door of the oven.” Guess which of the two stories will get more coverage!

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Israel, Iran and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

Any use of violence against Iran would be both insane and criminal. Such violence would violate both the UN Charter and the Nuremberg Principles. There is no hope at all for the future unless we work for a peaceful world, governed by international law, rather than a fearful world where brutal power holds sway.

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The Agenda behind ISIS’ Cultural Genocide
Maram Susli, New Eastern Outlook – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

So far ISIS has destroyed several sites across Iraq, which includes the destruction and looting of Mosul Museum, the destruction of the 3000-year-old Assyrian city of Nimrud and the bulldozing of the 2000-year-old fortress city of Hatra. Recently ISIS militants threatened to destroy Egypt’s Sphinx and pyramids.

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Myanmar [Burma]: How the Rohingya and Other Resident Minorities Became Disenfranchised
Luicy Pedroza, European University Institute – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

17 Jul 2015 – Over the past weeks, the plight of Rohingya refugees has caught the eye of the international media. They are emigrants from Myanmar (Burma) who were adrift for weeks in the seas of South-East Asia after having fled from appalling living conditions in their native Myanmar, only to be firmly rebuffed by neighbouring countries who refused to admit them on their shores.

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Fix You (MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Coldplay – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

From the Album Y&Y Ghost Stories, 2011

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BRICS Bank’s 1st Loan to Be Issued in Yuan Not Dollars
The BRICS Post – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

July 24, 2015 – The BRICS New Development Bank will name its first investment in April next year and the first loan will be issued in yuan not dollar, top officials confirmed.

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JPMorgan Chase Closes at All-Time High – As Financial Crises Sprout Like ‘08
Pam Martens and Russ Martens, Wall Street on Parade – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

JPMorgan Chase is a global bank with over $2 trillion in assets “serving corporations and individuals in over 100 countries.” In February, the U.S. Treasury Office released a report showing staggering levels of interconnected risk among global banks. JPMorgan had the highest overall score for systemic and interconnected risk.

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God’s Masterpiece or the Devil’s Bad Joke? Barbarians and Apes — From the Opium Wars to the Origin of the Species
Eduardo Galeano - TomDispatch, 27 Jul 2015

[The following passages are excerpted from Eduardo Galeano’s ‘History of Humanity’] – Origin of Freedom of Oppression

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(Português) A assombrosa previsão de Fidel Castro em 1973
Revista Forum – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

“Estados Unidos vão dialogar com Cuba quando tiverem um presidente negro e o Papa for latino-americano”, disse o líder cubano em um encontro com jornalistas relatado pelo jornal argentino Clarín.

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Sheldon’s Stooges
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

In japan in the good old days, Binyamin Netanyahu would by now have committed hara-kiri. In England at that time, the monarch would have appointed him governor of the most remote little island in the Pacific Ocean. In Israel, his popularity rating is bound to go up. Because in our country, the old adage is getting a new twist: Nothing Succeeds Like Failure.

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(Italiano) Estetica: una strada per la pace?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

La figura centrale è un sultano, Ibrahim Adil Shah II, del regno di Bijapur nell’India Centrale, tra Mumbai e Goa; stiamo parlando dell’inizio del 17° secolo. Il sultano è descritto come “uno studioso erudito, suonatore di liuto, poeta, cantante, calligrafo, maestro di scacchi ed esteta”. Quale differenza rispetto ai governanti occidentali dotati di abilità politico-militari; quale somiglianza con i sovrani cinesi, imperatori, mandarini con poesia, calligrafia e altre arti come parte indelebile della loro legittimità.

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Best Exercises for Strong Bones
Elizabeth Quinn, Sports Medicine Expert – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

Build Stronger Bones with the Right Exercises

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From Security to Peace: A Paradigm Shift
Johan Galtung, 27 Jul 2015 - TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

The deal was between Iran with 0 bombs and the UNSC 5+1 + EU with 16,565 (20 US bombs in Germany, 240 in EU, and Israel, 80? behind). In a deal there is usually give-and-take on both sides; Iran gave, they stopped beating with sanctions, and gave nothing. We will be told that “sanctions work” and get more of that very negative approach.

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Slavoj Žižek on Greece: The Courage of Hopelessness
Slavoj Zizek – New Statesman, 27 Jul 2015

The people of Greece are not being asked to swallow many bitter pills in exchange for a realistic plan of economic revival: they are asked to suffer so that others in the European Union can go on dreaming their dream undisturbed.

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Onward U. S. Soldiers
Tom Greening – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

Onward, U. S. soldiers, marching off to war,
with the lure of conquest worth the blood and gore.

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Rohingyas, the Victims of Sustained Genocidal Persecution for Nearly 40 Years
Amine Tuna Ertürk - İHH İnsani ve Sosyal Araştırmalar Merkezi (Turkey), 27 Jul 2015

Interview with Dr Maung Zarni – “Humanitarianism is all well and fine. It plays an ameliorative role. But the root cause is politically and racially driven genocide. In situations of genocide, humanitarianism is woefully inadequate. It is a band-aid, not a cure.”

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Earth’s Most Famous Climate Scientist Issues Bombshell Sea Level Warning
Eric Holthaus, Slate – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

20 Jul 2015 – In what may prove to be a turning point for political action on climate change, a breathtaking new study casts extreme doubt about the near-term stability of global sea levels —written by James Hansen, NASA’s former lead climate scientist, and 16 co-authors, many of whom are considered among the top in their fields.

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Tutu: The Slow Genocide against the Rohingya in Myanmar (Burma)
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Laureate – Newsweek, 27 Jul 2015

I would be more inclined to heed the warnings of eminent scholars and researchers including Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate in economics, who say this is a deliberately false narrative to camouflage the slow genocide being committed against the Rohingya people. There’s evidence, they say, that anti-Rohingya sentiment has been carefully cultivated by the government itself.

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International Election Monitors: Agents of Free Elections
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

The violent presidential election in Burundi highlights the need for UN election-monitoring services. The current UN-based election-monitoring services need to be strengthened. The UNGA should mandate a study on the means by which the UN could provide a universal election-monitoring service drawing upon the rich experience of the OSCE.

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A Chance for Arab-Iranian Reconciliation: An Opportunity in the Iran Nuclear Deal
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

Both Iran and its Arab foes could, in fact, see this as an opportunity. Instead of waiting for the cunning US to regroup and re-adapt to strike more division, Arabs and Iran should understand that it is, ultimately, their countries and peoples who will continue to suffer the consequences of war, sanctions, divisions and extremism.

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Noam Chomsky Says US Turned to Cuba Due to Increasing Isolation
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

The U.S. was on the verge of being completely isolated from its own ‘backyard,’ Latin America, in the 2015 Summit of the Americas.

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Iran Calls for Universal Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
Sputnik News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

21 Jul 2015 – Nuclear weapons should be completely eliminated worldwide as they are “detrimental to international peace and security,” the Iranian government said in a statement following a passage of the Security Council resolution endorsing the Iran nuclear deal.

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(Italiano) Il sistema della giustizia militare israeliano – una catena di montaggio per la detenzione di massa
Amira Hass – Centro Studi Sereno Regis, 27 Jul 2015

E’ anche parte integrante del meccanismo di annullamento dei desideri di un popolo e della capacità di prendersi la sua terra e la sua libertà.

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A Cuban Flag Flies Again in Washington
Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan – Democracy NOW!, 27 Jul 2015

The United States was the only country in the Western Hemisphere that didn’t have an embassy in Havana. And Cuba was the only country in the Western Hemisphere without an embassy here. This story began when the U.S. succeeded in isolating Cuba from the rest of the hemisphere, and now the first chapter has ended with the U.S. ending its isolation from the rest of the continent.

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Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: ‘Radiation Will Wash Down from Mountains, Forests into Other Lands’
Russia Today - TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

23 Jul 2015 – It’s impossible to even slightly decontaminate the area damaged by the Fukushima nuclear disaster because of the mountains and dense forests in that region, says Mycle Schneider, independent analyst on energy and nuclear policy.

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The New “Red Menace” and NATO’s Plans in the Arctic
Oriental Review – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

NATO’s military-political expansion in Europe is generally targeted to follow a trajectory running from Washington to the Northeast, and thus the Americans’ Arctic policy continues to grow more aggressive. Washington’s increasing pressure on the nonaligned Arctic states (Finland and Sweden) is intended to promote their further rapprochement with the alliance.

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(Português) União Europeia:Testes Fatais
Prof. Boaventura de Sousa Santos – Carta Maior, 27 Jul 2015

A Europa transformou-se num laboratório do futuro. O que nele se experimenta deve causar preocupação a qualquer democrata e a qualquer pessoa de esquerda. Será o epicentro de um novo despotismo ocidental, rivalizando em crueldade com o despotismo oriental estudado por Karl Marx e Max Weber.

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Desertion: A Long, Proud History
CJ Hinke, World Beyond War - TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

There are as many reasons to desert military service as there are deserters. All countries’ militaries like to snatch young men when they are uneducated, inexperienced, and unemployed. You can do no greater good than refusing to kill. If you are in the military, anybody’s military, do the right thing: RUN AWAY!

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(Italiano) TPP-TTIP-Tisa: la soglia critica per la democrazia
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

Questo editoriale vede i tre accordi come una soglia critica per la democrazia; ma, verso dove? Lontano dalla democrazia come processo del e da parte del popolo, e lontano dalla democrazia come società per il popolo, eccetto che nel senso di prezzi più bassi. Addio Lincoln.

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Alliance Blackmail: Israel’s Opposition to the Iran Nuclear Agreement
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

JCPOA imposes more restrictions on Iranian enrichment capabilities and stockpiles, and on inspection and monitoring of compliance, than has been imposed on any country in the course of the entire nuclear era. Left out of consideration altogether was the nuclear weapons arsenal of Israel acquired with Western complicity and by covert means, as well as through operations outside the Nonproliferation Treaty regime, which is used to tie Iran’s hands and feet.

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Mideast Arms Build-up Negative Fallout from Iran Nuclear Deal
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

Jul 23 2015 – The nuclear agreement concluded last week between Iran and six big powers, the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, is threatening to trigger a new Middle East military build-up – not with nuclear weapons but with conventional arms, including fighter planes, combat helicopters, warships, missiles, battle tanks and heavy artillery.

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For American Psychological Association, National Security Trumped Torture Concerns
Jenna McLaughlin – The Intercept, 27 Jul 2015

The report describes how repeated expressions of concern from within the CIA itself that psychologists had no place in the abusive treatment of detainees were brushed aside by leaders of what was supposed to be a highly ethical professional association. Psychologists with close ties to the CIA, in some cases even involving financial relationships, cited national security as the reason to ignore their fundamental oaths to do no harm.

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George Clooney Opposes War Profiteering—But only in Africa
David Swanson, World Beyond War – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

Of the top 100 weapons makers in the world, not a single one is based in Africa. Only 1 is in South or Central America. Fifteen are in Western allies and protectorates in Asia (and China is not included in the list). Three are in Israel, one in Ukraine, and 13 in Russia. Sixty-six are in the United States, Western Europe, and Canada. Forty are in the U.S. alone. Seventeen of the top 30 are in the U.S. Six of the top 10 mega-profiteers are in the U.S. The other four in the top 10 are in Western Europe.

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Breaking‬: Massive Pod of Pilot Whales Slaughtered in the Faroe Islands
Cole Mellino, EcoWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

23 Jul 2015 – The people of the Faroe Islands have a tradition of herding whales into a cove and slaughtering them for food and other uses, which, needless to say, draws condemnation from people worldwide who see the custom as archaic, cruel and unnecessary. GRAPHIC VIDEO

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Varoufakis: Troika Forced Syriza [and Greece] into Choice between ‘Suicide or Execution’
Lauren McCauley – Common Dreams, 27 Jul 2015

21 Jul 2015 – Former finance minister blasts EU, saying: “No one government should ever be treated that way in the context of a club of democratic nations. The very powerful Troika of creditors were not interested in coming to a sensible, honorable mutually beneficial agreement. They were far more interested in humiliating this government and overthrowing it.”

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(Português) Presente de Grego – a minha experiência
Quézia Queiroz – ANDA-Agência de Notícias de Direitos Animais, 27 Jul 2015

Cães não são mercadoria. Não tem prazo para troca. Não há devolução, nem garantia de qualidade. Cães ficam doentes, têm anomalias, engordam, são imperfeitos. Como nós. Mas eles são as melhores companhias não humanas que alguém pode ter nesta vida!

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Mystery of Kazakhstan Sleeping Sickness Solved, Says Government
Alec Luhn in Moscow – The Guardian, 27 Jul 2015

17 Jul 2015 – More than 140 people in two tiny villages were hit by the illness, with sufferers drifting off for up to six days – now scientists appear to have discovered the cause.

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(Français) Une étude allemande pointe les bénéfices économiques de la migration
Dario Sarmadi, EurActiv – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

22 juil 2015 – La République fédérale devrait repenser son aide au développement et sa politique d’asile, estime une nouvelle étude de l’université d’Osnabrück, appelant les responsables politiques à voir la migration comme une opportunité plutôt que comme une menace.

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Turning Enemies into Allies
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

At the 1919 Versailles peace conference after World War I, the French Prime Minister Georges Clémenceau insisted that Germany be held solely responsible for starting World War I, and be forced to pay huge reparations over the next fifty years, to bring Germany to its knees, so that it would never be able again to build up its industrial capacity and become a military threat to its neighbors.

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US and NATO Engage in Unprecedented Military Exercises in Europe
Niles Williamson, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

A review of the ongoing exercises in the run-up to Trident Juncture gives a sense of the size and scope of the war preparations being developed by the United States and its NATO allies.

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Accuracy
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

The following joke was circulating in Moscow in 1998:

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The Need for a New Economic System – Part 1: Limits to Growth
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

The unsustainable, power-worshiping, consumption-oriented values of western society are so strongly propagandized by television, films and advertising that they overpower and sweep aside the wisdom of older societies. The wisdom of our ancestors, their respect for nature and their hospitable traditions of sharing can help us create a new economic system founded on social and environmental ethics.

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Europe’s Vindictive Privatization Plan for Greece
Yanis Varoufakis, Project Syndicate – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

20 Jul 2015 – On July 12, the summit of eurozone leaders dictated its terms of surrender to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who, terrified by the alternatives, accepted all of them. One of those terms concerned the disposition of Greece’s remaining public assets.

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Ukraine: The Mess That Nuland Made
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 27 Jul 2015

Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland engineered Ukraine’s regime change in early 2014 without weighing the likely chaos and consequences. Now, as neo-Nazis turn their guns on the government, it’s hard to see how anyone can clean up the mess that Nuland made.

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Putin and Xi Plot the Future of Eurasia
John Batchelor – Al Jazeera America, 27 Jul 2015

There is nothing to be gained by Washington pretending it can continue to project military and economic power into an ambitious Eurasia. Strengthening ties between Moscow and Beijing are tipping the world’s balance of power eastward.

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(Italiano) T-tip, il nostro futuro greco
Francesco Martone, Comune Info – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

21 luglio 2015 – Per uno para­dosso o una signi­fi­ca­tiva coin­ci­denza lo stesso giorno nel quale pro­ces­sava Ale­xis Tsi­pras, il par­la­mento euro­peo avrebbe votato il rap­porto Lange sul Tran­sa­tlan­tic Trade and Invest­ment Part­ner­ship (T-tip). Raf­fi­gu­ra­zioni pla­sti­che ed evi­denti di come il pro­getto euro­peo di spa­zio di cit­ta­di­nanza comune abbia ceduto il passo a quello eli­ta­rio dell’austerity, e dell’ordoliberismo a tutti i costi, ed agli inte­ressi delle imprese e dei mer­cati anche a costo della soprav­vi­venza di uomini e donne in carne ed ossa.

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How Monsanto Wrote and Broke Laws to Enter India
Dr Vandana Shiva – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

21 Jul 2015 – Citizens of the United States are being denied the right to know what they are feeding their families despite the fact that 90% of American citizens want GMO labelling on their food. Decades before there was a “debate” over GMOs and Monsanto’s PR and law firms became the busiest of bees, India was introduced to this corrupting, corporate giant that had no respect for the laws of the land.

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(Français) Chronique de mots pervers : le “capital humain”
Elisabeth Beague, Investig’Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

20 juillet 2015 – Le « capital humain » fut précédemment appelé « ressources humaines » et, il y a plus longtemps encore, « personnel ». Pourquoi cette évolution ? Sans prendre le risque de se tromper lourdement, il est permis d’avancer que la transformation du lexique est au cœur d’un vaste travail politique de marchandisation de la relation salariale.

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Get Out of Your Own Light: Aldous Huxley on Who We Are, the Trap of Language, and the Necessity of Mind-Body Education
Maria Popova, Brain Pickings – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

What are we in relation to our own minds and bodies — or, seeing that there is not a single word, let us use it in a hyphenated form — our own mind-bodies? What are we in relation to this total organism in which we live? The moment we begin thinking about it in any detail, we find ourselves confronted by all kinds of extremely difficult, unanswered, and maybe unanswerable questions.

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This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

Jul 27–Aug 2 – QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” – Denis Waitley

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“Christmas in July” in Absurdityville, USA
Gary Corseri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

Why do they hate us? Americans wondered after 911. And, our Philosopher-King George W. Bush answered majestically: “They hate us for our freedoms!” And most goody-goody Americans went back to sleep. We pride ourselves on our “separation of Church and State,” but who ever proposed that we separate Morality and the State, or Wisdom and the State?

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Homosexuality Will Never Be Eliminated. How About Eliminating Homophobia?
Neela Ghoshal, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

Jul 17 2015 -A report published in June by the Academy of Science of South Africa, in collaboration with the Uganda National Academy of Sciences, could help reshape understandings of human sexuality – if African policymakers take the time to consider the report’s findings.

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Military Conscription Worldwide – Conscientious Objectors and Deserters
CJ Hinke, World Beyond War – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

Incredibly, in the 21st-century, roughly half of the world’s nation-states practice military conscription. The countries on this list may still be enforcing military conscription.

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With Pope Francis at the Helm, World’s Mayors Pledge to Fight Climate Change
Nadia Prupis – Common Dreams, 27 Jul 2015

‘His Holiness did not convene us here to ratify the status quo, but in fact to upend it,’ said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio at Vatican conference. At the Vatican on Tuesday [21 Jul 2015], mayors from around the globe pledged to fight climate change and help the world’s poor deal with the effects of a warming planet, an oath that came during a two-day conference with Pope Francis—himself a dedicated climate activist.

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The Social Economic Enslavement of Japan
WeAreChange – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

Luke Rudkowski interviews economist Marc Abela in Tokyo, Japan. Marc has lived in Tokyo for over 25 years and reveals amazing insights and info about the hidden true social economics in Japan.

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Photo of ‘Mutant Daisies’ Near Fukushima Goes Viral
Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

23 Jul 2015 – A recent photograph of less-than-perfect daisies near Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster site is generating headlines and is making the rounds on social media.

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Greece’s Other Crisis
Mark Hetfield – Al Jazeera America, 27 Jul 2015

Refugees crossing the Aegean face hostile conditions – and no-one is helping them out. The best way to keep refugees from making perilous journeys is to protect them from what they are fleeing in the first place.

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Better Sleep May Be Incredibly Important to Alzheimer’s Risk
The Associated Press – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

Disrupted sleep may be one of the missing pieces in explaining how a hallmark of Alzheimer’s, a sticky protein called beta-amyloid, starts its damage long before people have trouble with memory, researchers reported Monday [20 Jul] at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference.

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Bill Nye on Glyphosate: ‘We Accidentally Decimated the Monarch Butterfly Population’
Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

People developed this herbicide called glyphosate that kills all the weeds, and kills all of everything except the plants that have this cool gene in them that allows them to grow right through it. So we accidentally have decimated the monarch butterfly population, reduced it over the last two decades by 90 percent.

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Two Sea Shepherd Crewmembers Arrested in the Faroe Islands with Assistance of Danish Navy
Sea Shepherd News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

20 Jul 2015 – Two volunteer crewmembers from the Sea Shepherd ship, Sam Simon, have been arrested in the Faroe Islands. “I made multiple request of the Danish Navy today for information; about whether a grindadráp had been called; about whether our crew had been arrested; and about whether the Farley small boat had been confiscated. Each time, my requests went unanswered.”

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Dag Hammarskjold (29 Jul 1905 – 18 Sep 1961): Crisis Manager and Longer-Range World Community Builder
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

Dag Hammarskjold became an expert crisis manager, to the point that there was a common slogan in the UN- “Leave it to Dag”. He liked to work alone but had created a team of people working under him who were highly competent and totally devoted to him.

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(Français) Paraguay : Terre d’ eau, grandes propriétés rurales et injustice
Leticia Marinoni, Investig’Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

13 juillet 2015 – En guarani, le son humain le plus basique se réfère au son de l’ eau: « Y », une sorte de « i » latin fermé entre les dents, comme faisant référence à l’indispensable, l’élément capital pour la respiration, la simple réalité de la vie.

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Peace Journalism – A Global Debate
Meah Mostafiz – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

This research paper defines the peace journalism, the difference between traditional journalism and peace journalism, and analyses the factors why Peace Journalism is hard to practice in mainstream media.

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The Eurasian Big Bang: How China and Russia Are Running Rings Around Washington
Pepe Escobar – TomDispatch, 27 Jul 2015

From now on, any possible future attack on Iran would essentially be an assault on the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization), the EEU (Eurasian Economic Union), the AIIB (the new Chinese-founded Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank), and the NDB (the BRICS’ New Development Bank) — the emerging new order in Eurasia.

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Is the Ugly German Back? Flames of Hate Haunt a Nation
SPIEGEL Staff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

During the first six months of this year, right-wing extremists in Germany committed attacks against places housing asylum-seekers on an almost daily basis. Many refugees living in the country fear for their lives.

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It’s Official: New Zealand Recognizes Animals as ‘Sentient Beings’
Vegan Memo – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jul 2015

19 Jul 2015 – The bill also includes banning cosmetic testing on animals, which was recently put into law last month. It also provides for a penalty scheme to enable moderate offending to be handled more effectively, and gives animal welfare inspectors the power to issue compliance notices, among other capacities.

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Outside Psychologists Shielded U.S. Torture Program, Report Finds
James Risen – The New York Times, 20 Jul 2015

The report, completed this month, concludes that some of the American Psychological Association’s top officials, including its ethics director, sought to curry favor with Pentagon officials by seeking to keep the association’s ethics policies in line with the Defense Department’s interrogation policies.

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The Nuclear Agreement with Iran: A Nonkilling View
Francisco Gomes de Matos – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jul 2015

A Rhymed Reflection

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Five Reasons You Should Eat Probiotic-Rich Fermented Foods
Julia Westbrook, EcoWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jul 2015

7 Jul 2015 – The best way to prevent anxiety—and the stress-induced bellyache that comes along with it—may be to balance your gut bacteria. Eating probiotic-rich fermented foods is associated with less social anxiety, according to a new study published in Psychiatry Research.

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Dead Dolphins Found Stranded in Fukushima Have White Radiated Lungs
Neon Nettle - TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jul 2015

17 Jul 2015 – Japanese scientists are dumbfounded by the new discovery after conducting an autopsy on a large group of dolphins washed up on a beach close to the Fukushima Power Plant disaster site.

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The American Psychological Association, Torture, and the Nuremberg Doctors’ Trial
Tom Carter, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jul 2015

13 Jul 2015 – A 542-page independent report made public by the New York Times on Friday [10 Jul] implicates the American Psychological Association in the CIA torture program. The devastating report not only exposes the involvement of psychologists in torture, but also lifts the curtain on years of lies, conspiracies, and cover-ups reaching to the top of the APA and academia.

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Civilian Killings? West Literally Gets Away with Murder
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jul 2015

Jul 16 2015 – The United Nations continues to come under heavy fire for singling out mostly non-Western states for human rights violations while ignoring the misdeeds of Western nations or big powers.

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Third Industrial Revolution: In 10 Years, the Cumbersome Great Banks Will Have Disappeared
GEAB-Global Europe Anticipation Bulletin – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jul 2015

The crisis that we are currently experiencing is a systemic crisis. It is affecting and radically transforming the whole system, particularly banks. In political anticipation, it’s important to position these anticipations in the short to medium term within the landscape of long-term trends.

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Torture, Impunity and the American Psychological Association
Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan – Truthdig, 20 Jul 2015

The legal facade behind these heinous acts relied heavily on the cooperation of professional psychologists, who trained and advised the interrogators and supervised the progress of the “breaking” of prisoners. This cooperation was dependent on an official seal of approval from the American Psychological Association.

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Welcoming the Iran Nuclear Deal and Calling on Israel to Dismantle Its Nuclear Arsenal for a Nuclear-Free Middle East
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jul 2015

This Agreement is indeed to be welcomed, and it is a triumph for dialogue and diplomacy and proves that problems can be solved at the negotiating table instead of using the unethical, immoral and counter-productive method of military threats and attacks.

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The Problem of Greece Is Not Only a Tragedy. It Is a Lie.
John Pilger - TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jul 2015

13 Jul 2015 – An historic betrayal has consumed Greece. Having set aside the mandate of the Greek electorate, the Syriza government has willfully ignored last week’s landslide “No” vote and secretly agreed a raft of repressive, impoverishing measures in return for a “bailout” that means sinister foreign control and a warning to the world.

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The Treaty
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jul 2015

What if the wily Persians did not even dream of building an atomic bomb, but used the threat to further their real aims? One of Netanyahu’s arguments is that the Iranians can and will cheat the naive Americans and build the bomb. He is sure that this is possible. Well, he should know. We did it, didn’t we?

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Retired General: Drones Create More Terrorists Than They Kill, Iraq War Helped Create ISIS
Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 20 Jul 2015

“What we have is this continued investment in conflict,” the retired general says. “The more weapons we give, the more bombs we drop, that just … fuels the conflict.”

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A Review of ‘Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine’
Gary Corseri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jul 2015

GAZA WRITES BACK is one of those very rare books that depict war in slow motion. The 23 stories here, written by 15 young authors (from late teens to early 30s, all but three female) were compiled to commemorate the 5-year anniversary of “Operation Cast Lead.”

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Was the Batman Shooter a Victim of both Medical and Legal Malpractice?
Gary G. Kohls, MD – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jul 2015

How the Aurora Massacre Could Have Been Prevented

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