Articles by TRANSCEND Media Service

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The Real Invasion of Africa Is Not News And a Licence to Lie Is Hollywood’s Gift
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

It is as if Africa’s proud history of liberation, from Patrice Lumumba to Nelson Mandela, is consigned to oblivion by a new master’s black colonial elite whose “historic mission”, warned Frantz Fanon half a century ago, is the promotion of “a capitalism rampant though camouflaged”.

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Grimsson: IMF Learned New Lessons in Iceland
Deutsche Welle – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

The global financial crisis brought Iceland to the brink of collapse in 2008. Since then, the country has recovered well by doing many things differently from the rest of the world, President Olafur Grimsson tells DW.

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Reciprocity and Karma
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

Reciprocity is the basis of non-market economies, and also the basis of social interactions between family members, friends and colleagues. In hunter-gatherer societies, it is customary to share food among all the members of the group. However, the concept of karma has a broader and more abstract validity beyond the direct return of actions to the actor. When we perform a good action, we increase the total amount of good karma in the world. If all people similarly behave well, the world as a whole will become more pleasant and safer.

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Court: Iceland Doesn’t Need To Repay UK and Dutch Depositors
Agence France-Presse – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

Iceland was entitled to refuse to pay immediate deposit guarantees to savers with failed online bank Icesave in Britain and the Netherlands, a European court said Monday [28 Jan 2013]. The Court of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which covers economic and trading relations between non-EU countries that are a part of the European Economic Area (EEA) single market and their European Union partners, was ruling on Reykjavik’s response to the collapse of the Icelandic banking sector in 2008-9.

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Criminals Use Webcams for Spying
Rossen Reports, NBC – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

Authorities are saying criminals can now hack into your webcam remotely, using it to watch your most intimate moments without you ever knowing it.

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Anti-Semitism: What It IS and Is NOT
Alan Hart – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

“An anti-Semite used to be a person who disliked Jews. Now it is a person who Jews dislike.” Today much (meaning not quite all) of what supporters of Israel right or wrong claim to be anti-Semitism is actually anti-Israelism, which in my view is best described as anti-Zionism. And contrary to the assertions of Zionism’s spin doctors, anti-Zionism is not by definition anti-Semitism. Short or long, any discussion of anti-Semitism should include the fact that Zionism needs it.

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Gandhi’s Death Anniversary: Reflections
Dr. Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

On 30 January 65 years ago Mahatma Gandhi was shot while attending a prayer in New Delhi. Every day he used to attend prayers, which served two purposes: to pray to God for well being of mankind, and to meet visitors and interact with them.

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(Português) Islândia Não Tem de Reembolsar Reino Unido e Holanda
Público – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

A Islândia venceu na segunda-feira [28 jan 2013] a batalha legal com o Reino Unido e a Holanda em torno da falência do Icesave, uma delegação online do banco Landsbanki, e não terá de reembolsar os dois países pela falência.

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Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on a Draft United Nations Declaration on the Right to Peace
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

First Session 18-21 February 2013. Informal discussion on 7 February 2013. Reference is made to the Note Verbale dated 17 January 2013, concerning the establishment of an Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group with the mandate of progressively negotiating a draft United Nations Declaration on the Right to Peace.

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Israel Must Remove All Jewish Settlers from Occupied West Bank – UN Inquiry
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

31 Jan 2013 – A UN human rights inquiry has called on Israel to remove all Jewish settlers from the West Bank and cease expansion. The report said the settlements violate international law, and are an attempt to drive out Palestinians through intimidation.

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Israel Boycotts UN Human Rights Council
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

Israel has become the first country to boycott a UN Human Rights Council review of its rights situation, sparking heated debate among diplomats on how to respond. Its absence on Tuesday [29 Jan 2013], however, came as no surprise as it cut all ties with the 47-member state council last March after the body announced that it would probe how Israeli illegal settlements may be infringing on the rights of the Palestinians.

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Transitional Security
Bishnu Pathak, PhD – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

Prime Minister of Nepal said, “Peace process is ended completing the integration of the Maoist Army (MA)” . PM counted it as a major achievement. Same sentence was also said by Nepali Congress, CPN (UML), and other political parties every day previously. Such speaking raised several questions.

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The Plan to Invade Seven Countries: U.S. General Wesley Clark (Ret.)
Democracy NOW! – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

In an interview with Amy Goodman on March 2, 2007, U.S. General Wesley Clark (Ret.), explains that the Bush Administration planned to take out 7 countries in 5 years: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran.

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An Economic Alternative to Exploitative Free Market Capitalism
Thomas Hedges, Center for Study of Responsive Law – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

The commons movement protects large resources from privatization and allows collectives to regulate extraction. Exploitation is avoided because no one individual has more of a right to the source than any other.

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On a Draft UN Declaration on the Right to Peace
Francisco Gomes de Matos – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

Of all the many political documents in which Humankind may excel
there is one in which universal human intent is expressed well:

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Evils of Liquor
Editor – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

A professor of chemistry wanted to teach his fifth grade class a lesson about the evils of liquor, so he produced an experiment that involved a glass of water, a glass of whiskey, and two worms.

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Good Terrorist, Bad Terrorist
Chandra Muzaffar, Countercurrents – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

There is terrorism that is condoned and terrorism that is condemned by Western powers and other states. If violence serves their interests, it is acceptable. If it doesn’t, the militants are targeted. In other words, there are ‘good terrorists’ and ‘bad terrorists’.

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Mystery of Consciousness: Life versus Non-life
Gaurachandra Das, B. Tech, M.Tech, Electrical Engineer - TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

Albert Einstein says-“I sense these things deeply…the most beautiful and profound religious emotion that we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. And this mysticality is the power of all true science. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power which is revealed in the comprehensible universe forms my idea of God.”

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Belgian MP Laurent Louis Talks against War in Mali and Exposes International Neo-Colonial Plot
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

Jan 17, 2013 – 32-year old Belgian MP Laurent Louis, one of the country’s most controversial and demonized political figures, explained why he voted against the Belgian support to the military intervention in Mali.

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General and Complete Disarmament in 50 Years on the Basis of Global Harmony
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

A Global Harmony Association (GHA) Constant Petition to the UN to Collect 1 Million Signatures by September 21, 2013 – International Peace Day

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Tell the Nation the Truth about the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant
People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

Angered by moral and political corruption, disturbing developments and the overall mismanagement of the body politic, Marcellus tells Horatio in utter disgust and disappointment in Shakespeare’s classic play Hamlet: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”
We, the people of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, who have been fighting against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) are feeling very much like Marcellus.

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Burnies versus Greenies ?
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

The variant “Greenies” is notably employed as a term of deprecation that carries implications of innocence and ignorance to frame the Greens as misinformed and misguided. The question here is facilitating the promotion of Green policies through identifying such a term in relation with such attitudes. The term of deprecation proposed here is “Burnies” — as a variation of “Burn”, analogous to the deprecatory use of “Greenies”. This gives a focus to what Burnies stand for — effectively naming the problem, from the Green perspective.

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‘Assange Effectively Denied Opportunity to Enjoy Asylum’ – Ecuadorian FM
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

By not allowing passage to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from London to Latin America, where he was granted asylum, Britain infringes same international documents it vigorously lobbied for, Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino tells RT.

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The Arab-Muslim Awakening – And USA-Israel
Johan Galtung, 28 Jan 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

The Soviet Union and Yugoslavia were divided into 15 and 7 states respectively, some now members of NATO and/or EU. States seen as islamist-terrorist are in for the same: Sudan-Somalia broken into 2 and 3 parts. They are both on the list of 7, which the White House ordered the Pentagon to “take out” right after 9/11 (General Wesley Clark, Democracy Now, 2 March 2007): Iraq, Iran, Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan and Somalia; seen as hostile, with state, not private central banks blocking market globalization.

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Storm over the Sahara: US, France Creating another Osama?
Eric Margolis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

Belmokhtar was known as a “man of honor,” one of the western-financed jihadists who battled the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980’s and 90’s. He returned to his native Algeria, minus an eye lost in combat, and, with his fellow “Afghani,” sought to overthrow Algeria’s western-backed military regime, a major oil and gas supplier to France. Belmokhtar’s particularly violent Islamist guerilla group, formerly GIC, reformed itself into AQIM – al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, but had nothing to do with Osama bin Laden.

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Cornel West on Obama vs Luther King
MoxNews – TRANSCEND Media Services, 28 Jan 2013

C-SPAN 19 Jan 2013 – At George Washington University, Washington-DC. Cornel West is a professor at the Union Theological Seminary.

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The Gift
Susan Carew – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

My highest wish is happiness,
It is the gift I give to all,
To see the smiling faces,
To catch them before they fall.

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(Italiano) Il Cambiamento Avviene – Ma Come, Perché, Quando, Dove?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

Un secolo fa l’umanità, particolarmente in Occidente, era all’inizio di una grande rivoluzione, dalla cultura del cavallo a quella dell’automobile. Oggi ci sono ancora (FAO-Organizzazione per il cibo e l’agricoltura dell’ONU, 2008) 59 milioni di cavalli, ma (2010) più di un miliardo di auto (nel 1986 solo la metà). In altre parti del mondo, come in Giappone e Cina, c’è stata una rivoluzione verso le auto, ma partendo dalle biciclette – Pechino è passata da 6 milioni di bici a 4 milioni di auto nel giro di 20 anni, solo dal 1990. Dal 1970 al 2010 la quota USA di iscrizioni universitarie su base mondiale è calata dal 26 al 12% mentre la quota cinese è salita da 0 al 18%.

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What is Peace? International SPEAK UP Award
Susan Carew – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

For the author of this proposal, teaching peace as a World Peace Sustainability Clown was a dream and that came true. As a World Peace Sustainability Clown travelling the World in 2010, peace was experienced as service when connecting with people on the streets, teaching in schools, healing in hospitals and communicating with many diverse audiences.

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The Second Anniversary of Tahrir Square Rising
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

What inspired the world was the spontaneous spirit of unity, a movement guided by exhilarating visions of democracy and freedom and hope, generating a new kind of populism that dispensed with ideology and leaders, a sense that the people of Egypt had acted creatively and bravely to recover their country from the clutches of neoliberal predators and their domestic collaborators.

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Using Material Goods for Social Competition
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

There is something ethically wrong with using material goods for the purpose of social competition at a time when excessive consumption is destroying our planet. The voice of Henry David Thoreau is a useful and wise one. “Most of the luxuries”, Thoreau wrote, “and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. With respect to luxuries, the wisest have ever lived a simpler and meager life than the poor.

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[Official Video] Anonymous Operation Last Resort
Aarons ArkAngel – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

Jan 26, 2013 – Anonymous takes down US Dept of Justice and US Sentencing Commission websites.

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Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant’s Leaks and Repairs: More Questions and No Answers
People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

Jan 23 2013 – Since the NPCIL and DAE authorities are tight-lipped about the current condition of the KKNPP, recurrent rumors are making rounds here in our area that that there have been some 40 deaths, that the contract workers at KKNPP have been asked not to report for duty, and that KKNPP-1 has been completely sealed.

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Anonymous ‘Operation Last Resort’ Hacks US Gov’t Websites
CNN, MoxNews – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

26 Jan 2013 – “Sounds like they want a war” in retaliation for Aaron Swartz’ s death.

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(Português) A Maior Ameaça à Paz Mundial
Noam Chomsky – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

Recentemente, a Assembleia Geral da ONU aprovou, por 174 votos a seis, uma resolução na qual convida Israel a aderir ao Tratado de Não Proliferação Nuclear. Os Estados Unidos votaram contra. Washington, que tanto fala da ameaça de um Irão nuclear, nada faz para estabelecer uma zona livre de armas nucleares no Médio Oriente.

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Profiting Off Hunger: Wall Street Makes Big Gains over Food Price Spikes
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

Powerful firms like Goldman Sachs have made hundreds of millions of dollars in food future trades. Critics accuse them of profiting off starvation and market manipulation, while traders claim their profits are due to increasing consumption in China.

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List of Children Killed by Drone Strikes in Pakistan and Yemen (Age & Gender)
Drones Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

Compiled from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reports.

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Biking to Success in Mozambique
Peace is Profitable – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

The start-up Mozambikes has uncovered an interesting niche market with considerable social impact. By selling high quality bicycles at low prices (999 meticais, or just over $30) it has given the country’s rural population a cost-efficient way of overcoming the scarcity of transportation in this vast country. The firm’s founders describe how the rural population had previously needed to walk several kilometers each with “massive containers of water or bundles of firewood on their heads.”

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NO Violence Please – A Word to Muslims
Dr. M. Ashaq Raza – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

You are oppressed
You are depressed
You are stressed
You are distressed
But… NO violence please

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The Science of Spiritual Biology
Bhakti Madhava Puri, Ph.D., Science and Scientist - TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

Applied mathematician, Samuel Arbesman, is an expert in scientometrics, the science of science, or metascience, and he has written a very recent book, The Half-life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date, (Sept. 2012), in which he investigates the frequency of changes in scientific facts, paradigms or theories. Knowledge in different fields of science evolves in systematic and predictable ways, and such changes have a powerful impact on our lives.

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Beer Festival
Editor – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

After the Great Britain Beer Festival, in London, all the brewery presidents decided to go out for a beer.

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“Cyberazzi” – Data Mining Companies Investigated for Invasion of Privacy
Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

The paparazzi hide in bushes and use telephoto lenses to snap pictures of celebrities. The “cyberazzi” parachute into web browsers and sneak up behind mobile phones to spy on ordinary people. Nine such data mining companies must report to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission by Feb 1, 2013 what personal information they gather for sale.

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The Republic, Sedition, and Koodankulam: An Interview with Dr. S P Udayakumar
Dianuke – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

As the missiles and tanks are geared up to be paraded at the India Gate on the country’s 64th Republic Day, people’s faith in the promise they did to themselves is missing. Last year, people in Koodankulam marked 26th January as Black Day. With more than 10 thousand people booked under sedition and war against the Indian state in Koodankulam, it is time we as a country face the issue head-on. We interviewed S P Udayakumar, leader of the massive nonviolent protest in Koodankulam.

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When I was seven, Jesus cried…
Nahida, the exiled Palestinian – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

I used to play
Where Jesus used to pray
I ran up the hills
Where he used to walk

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On Syria: What to Do in 2013
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

19 Jan 2013 – I took part last week in an illuminating conference on Syria sponsored by the new Center of Middle East Studies that is part of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. This Center has been recently established, and operates under the excellent leadership of Nader Hashemi and Danny Postel, who previously together edited the best collection of readings on the Green Revolution in Iran published under the title THE PEOPLE RELOADED.

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Operation Gladio: The Cold War ‘Black Op’ Continues
Darrin McBreen, InfoWars – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

15 Jan 2013 – What is NATO? What is the CIA? Author Richard Cottrell tells the story of mayhem, murder and subversion behind the “alliance for peace.” The CIA as the major terrorist organization on the planet.

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International Essay Contest for Young People
Goi Peace Foundation, Japan – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

Organized by The Goi Peace Foundation and UNESCO – Theme: “The Power of Culture to Create a Better Future”

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All Lawyers Are Crooks
Editor – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

A guy in a bar stands up and says, “All lawyers are crooks.”

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The World’s Deadliest Drone: MQ-9 REAPER
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

The MQ-9 Reaper (originally the Predator B) is an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) also known as a Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV)) developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) for use by the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, Italian Air Force, and the Royal Air Force. It is the first hunter-killer UAV designed for long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance (see photo).

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What Is Anti-Semitism?
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

Just how strongly are Germans allowed to criticize Israel? Accusations of anti-Semitism against SPIEGEL columnist Jakob Augstein have brought the question to the fore. He debates the issue with Dieter Graumann, the leader of Germany’s Jewish community.

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(Português) Cuba Tem a Menor Taxa de Mortalidade Infantil nas Américas
Caros Amigos – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

Após 54 anos de revolução e quase 53 de embargo, o índice cubano é melhor que o de países como os Estados Unidos, Canadá e Brasil.

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(Italiano) Collettivamente Memoria 2013_l’idea e l’impianto
Silvia Berruto – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

Dedicato a Italo Tibaldi e Ida Desandré deportati politici e a Anna Dati staffetta partigiana.

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“It’s the culture, stupid!”
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

I would like to build on this iconic utterance, that captures so much in so few words, by calling attention to the dominate sources of continued mass violence that exists in the USA today. Even as well intentioned public and private response to the Sandy Hook massacre seek solutions in highly specific policies, laws, and practices (e.g., background checks, gun registration, armed guards), these will ultimately prove insufficient, and acts of mass violence will continue. “When you go forward for revenge, dig two graves.” It “trickles down.”

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Sanctions as Collective Punishment
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

At present, we treat nations as though they were persons: We punish entire nations by sanctions, even when only the leaders are guilty, even though the burdens of the sanctions fall most heavily on the poorest and least guilty of the citizens, and even though sanctions often have the effect of uniting the citizens of a country behind the guilty leaders.

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(Castellano) VI. La Democracia de Altares
Fernando Montiel T. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

En el Cáucaso las guerras del pasado y del futuro vuelven a todos geopolitólogos: en Bakú todos saben que sus compatriotas al sur de la frontera –los 35 millones en los que Fakhrinur deposita su esperanza– podrían ser la infantería de un ataque estadounidense contra Irán a cambio de que la “comunidad internacional” –es decir, Washington y sus amigos– consienta una ofensiva azerí contra Armenia por Nagorno-Karabaj.

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(Português) Bhakti Yoga: Em Busca de Um Amor Perdido
Radhanath Swami – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

O aroma de almíscar é tão sedutor que quando o nariz sensível do cervo-almiscarado macho o sente no vento, ele percorre a floresta dia e noite em busca da sua fonte e esgota-se numa busca infrutífera, sem perceber a ironia amarga: a doce fragrância que ele estava perseguindo não residia em nenhum lugar, mas dentro de si. O almíscar é produzido por uma glândula no umbigo do próprio veado: ele estava procurando fora, o que estava sempre dentro de si mesmo. Os sábios da Índia encontraram no cervo-almiscarado uma descrição apropriada da condição humana.

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Time to Say Goodbye (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Katherine Jenkins – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

No comment necessary. Just watch… and be touched.

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MEPs Agree Credit Rating Agency Crackdown
Benjamin Fox, EUobserver – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

The European Parliament on Wednesday (16 Jan 2013) voted in favour of a cross-party compromise text agreed in November which is aimed at preventing conflicts of interest, increasing competition, and reducing the reliance of businesses and governments on credit ratings.

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Eritrea: Hear No Evil
Human Rights Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

Eritrea is a pariah state that crushes repression. It even sends its many people into a forced labor system, often for years. The government attracted international investors with its mineral reserves and its first mine, a joint venture with the Canadian firm Nevsun Resources, has produced hundreds of millions of dollars’ in gold since 2011. Other companies from Canada, Australia, and China are also developing projects in Eritrea. We uncovered evidence that some mine construction workers – supplied by Segun, a government-owned company – were forced laborers.

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UNESCO Recognizes Brazilian Friar’s Contribution to Social Justice in Latin America and Caribbean
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

11 Jan 2013 – The United Nations has recognized a Brazilian Dominican friar, Frei Betto, with a leading international prize for his “exceptional contribution” to building a universal culture of peace, social justice and human rights in Latin America and the Caribbean. The author of more than 50 books, Frei Betto was born in 1944 and joined the Dominican Order at the age of 20 while studying journalism, and during the time of military dictatorship in Brazil, he was imprisoned twice, in 1964 and again from 1969 to 1973.

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The Doomsday Clock
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

21 Jan 2013: IT IS FIVE MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT – The Doomsday Clock conveys how close humanity is to catastrophic destruction–the figurative midnight–and monitors the means humankind could use to obliterate itself. First and foremost, these include nuclear weapons, but they also encompass climate-changing technologies and new developments in the life sciences that could inflict irrevocable harm.

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Change Happens – But How, Why, When, Where?
Johan Galtung, 21 Jan 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

A century ago humanity, particularly in the West, was at the beginning of a major revolution, from horse culture to car culture. Today there are still 59 million horses, but more than 1 billion cars (in 1986 only half of that). In other parts of the world, like Japan and China, there was a revolution to cars, but from bicycles–Beijing went from 6 million bicycles to 4 million cars over a period of 20 years, only from 1990. From 1970 to 2010 the US share of world college enrollment dropped from 26 to 12 percent whereas the Chinese share went up from 0 to 18 percent.

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[Which version do you choose to believe?] The Happiest (and Saddest) Countries in the World
Christopher Helman, Forbes – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

[From TMS Editor: Forbes bias is toward developed countries; the ‘saddest’ ones are the poorest.]
British philosopher John Stuart Mill: “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, is of a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question.”

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(Italiano) Contro la Rivoluzione Mondiale – Costruttivamente!
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

Un paese che reagisce con mini-rivoluzioni, nonviolenza, disobbedienza civile contro tali smaccate ingiustizie. Un paese dove la lotta di classe è sospesa per il momento; ha vinto il capitalismo e più specificamente i banchieri e i loro servitori, i politici, e ancora più specificamente il capitale finanziario-speculativo. E questo in una Spagna prossima a 40 anni di democrazia dopo 40 anni di dittatura di Franco. Costituzione + democrazia + elezioni + diritti umani (anche immobiliari) + parlamento contro il capitalismo finanziario. Deboli contro forti.

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Boo of Democracy
Udaya R. Tennakoon – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

Lament of booing
Jackals in the jungle…

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NASA Finds Long-Term Climate Warming Trend
Dr. Tony Phillips, NASA – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

NASA scientists say 2012 was the ninth warmest of any year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures. With the exception of 1998, the nine warmest years in the 132-year record all have occurred since 2000, with 2010 and 2005 ranking as the hottest years on record.

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The Religious and Social Crises and Political Consequences
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

The opening long decade of the 21st century (2000-2012) has been a period of repeated and profound economic and social crises, of serial and prolonged wars and declining living standards for the vast majority of Americans. How have people responded to this crisis?

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Self-Immolations in Tibet
China Central TV – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

Facts about the Self-Immolations in Tibetan Areas of Ngapa

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Going Nowhere through Not-knowing Where to Go
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

Whether for the individual, for factional interests, or for global governance, it is becoming increasingly clear that many experience a sense of “going nowhere”. Part of the issue lies in not knowing “where to go” in quest of whatever might have been imagined as desirable. The issue has been highlighted with respect to the young — as challenged by unemployment in an increasingly complex society — and with the long-term unemployed. It is also implicit in the situation of the terminally ill and the elderly, especially those confined to hospice care.

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Accidents at Nuclear Power Plants in India
Greenpeace – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

India currently has twenty nuclear reactors in operation and their safety record is far from clean.

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(Italiano) Il Dirupo, la Palude, il Pantano USA
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

C’è altro oltre il dirupo fiscale che risalta a occhio nudo… Introduciamo la sofferenza della gente, la crescita mancante e il fardello del debito, espandendo il discorso per visioni nuove… Potrebbe invece far prodigi un enorme programma ingegnoso che faccia sì che quel 16% si tiri su da solo (bootstraps), con crediti per piccole società-cooperative progettate per produrre cibo e acqua, vestiario e alloggi, sanità e istruzione, tutto a prezzi alla portata.

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Be Human
M. Ashaq Raza – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

Sip by sip
Drop by drop
Drink we life’s wine…

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The Empire’s New Clothes
Socialist Worker, editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

Obama’s nominees to run the Pentagon and CIA underline how a Democratic president, once seen as antiwar, has rebranded U.S. imperialism.

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Against World Revolution – Constructively!
Johan Galtung, 14 Jan 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

A country rapidly de-developing, into low Third World levels, even in health. A country not only saving banks rather than people but also letting the banks get away with crimes. A country reacting with mini-revolutions, nonviolence, civil disobedience against such glaring injustices. A country where the class war is over for the time being; capitalism won and more particularly the bankers and their servants, the politicians, and even more particularly the finance-speculation capital. And this in a Spain close to 40 years into democracy after 40 years of Franco dictatorship. Constitution + democracy + elections + human rights (also to property) + parliament vs finance capitalism. Weak vs strong.

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Scientist: Top Selling Weed Killer – Monsanto’s Roundup – Linked to Infertility
Lisa Garber, Natural Society – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

Roundup’s key ingredient glyphosate has ravaged the earth, our food chain, and our bodies, and is even causing infertility among the masses.

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Sorry, Darwin: – Chemistry Never Made the Transition to Biology
Bhakti Niskama Shanta Swami, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

At various times in its history, ‘spontaneous generation’ has been identified by two different concepts. They are: (a) abiogenesis, and (b) heterogenesis. Abiogenesis is the field of science dedicated to study how life might have arisen spontaneously for the first time from inorganic chemicals. On the other hand, the notion that life can arise from dead organic matter, such as the appearance of maggots from decaying meat is known as heterogenesis. For a long time major western thinkers like Newton, Harvey, Descartes and von Helmont accepted heterogenesis with full confidence.

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Oil and War
Robert Newman, Brasscheck TV – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

Robert Newman gets to grips with the wars and politics of the last hundred years – but rather than adhering to the history we were fed at school, he places oil centre stage as the cause of all commotion.

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Democracy and the Secret State: The Deception and Terrorisation of Populaces from the Era of Gladio to the War on Terror
Adeyinka Makinde – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

“You had to attack civilians, the people, women, children, unknown people far from any political game. The reason was quite simple – to force the people to turn to the state for greater security.” — Vincenzo Vinciguerra
The nature, necessity and scope of the miscellany of powers exercised by the state over the nation is in one sense arguably as contentious in the contemporary circumstances of the Western world as it was in the distant pre-democratic medieval past.

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Optimum Population in the Future
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

What is the optimum population of the world? It is certainly not the maximum number that can be squeezed onto the globe by eradicating every species of plant and animal that cannot be eaten. As we strive to achieve peace throughout the world, and to eliminate the suffering caused by poverty, hunger and preventable disease, we should remember that all these goals will be more attainable with a global population of moderate size.

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Mali: Hijacked Autonomy, Outsized Ambitions, French Intervention
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

It may be fairly easy for the French forces to take the three major cities of the north, much of whose population has already fled. North Mali is roughly the size of France. Much of the rural areas have little or no population. It has always been difficult, even during the colonial period, to create an infrastructure and an administration. There are fears that the Islamic groups will move toward Niger or Burkina Faso, both fragile States. One knows how an armed conflict starts but rarely how it ends.

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On my Soul
Francisco Gomes de Matos – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

Rhymed Reflection

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1st International Active Nonviolence Film Festival
Pressenza Int’l Press Agency – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

30 Cities around the World to Take Part – Promoted by the humanist organisation World without Wars and Violence, the festival aims to create a space of coming together, of free creation committed to the culture of nonviolence.

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Role of Religion in the World Community
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

As the saying goes, there are two sides of a coin. On one hand, Religion could be viewed as a blessing and a source of inspiration. On the other hand, Religion could be seen as a source of trouble and confusion that may turn many into becoming prejudiced and skeptical. A careful analysis of this conclusion will enable us to see why Religion is viewed as having one side that is positive and constructive and another other side that is negative and destructive.

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War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death
Institute for Public Accuracy – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

A Media Education Foundation production. Featuring Norman Solomon. Narrated by Sean Penn. War Made Easy cuts through the dense web of spin to probe and scrutinize the key “perception management” techniques that have played huge roles in the promotion of American wars in recent decades. This guide to disinformation analyzes American military adventures past and present to reveal striking similarities in the efforts of various administrations to justify, and retain, public support for war.

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(Português) Países Ricos Perdem a Maioria no PIB Mundial em 2013
José Eustáquio Diniz Alves, EcoDebate – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

O ano de 2013 vai marcar um acontecimento histórico. Pela primeira vez na história, o Produto Interno Bruto (PIB) dos países em desenvolvimento vai ultrapassar o PIB dos países desenvolvidos, segundo dados do Fundo Monetário Internacional (FMI).

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Seeing Light: The Blogger’s Delight
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

While reflecting on my prior blog lamenting the challenges of sustaining civility amid tumult and controversy, I came to appreciate my own partial captivity in realms of darkness. The negativities I tried to discuss are the shadow land of my blog experience, which is more essentially lived in the sunshine of new and renewed friendship, solidarity, mutuality, and the new emotional and spiritual resonances of our era, what I would call, in the absence of greater precision, the emergence of ‘digital love.’

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Sri Lankan Buddhist Chauvinists Provoke Violence against Muslims
Gamini Karunasena and Wasantha Rupasinghe, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government is again giving tacit support to communal provocations against Sri Lanka’s minorities in a bid to divide working people amid the country’s deepening economic and social crisis. This time, Muslims have become the main target of chauvinist groups.

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Flatulence Is a Problem Aired
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

The third edition of the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential (1990) was reviewed for The Guardian by John Vidal under the title Flatulence is a Problem Aired (The Guardian, 7 February 1992). The review was introduced by the phrase: John Vidal finds the authors of a definitive guide to all the world’s ills treading an ever thinner line between the sublime and ridiculous. At that time the review could be seen as a highly skillful journalistic exercise in what has since been recognized as characteristic of negative campaigning.

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Remembering Lasantha: Now They Come For “Everyone”
Nirmanusan Balasundaram, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

Now, more than ever, with the current state of affairs in Sri Lanka, the vacuum left by Lasantha’s death and his importance can be felt by anyone who is concerned about human rights, democracy, rule of law, and, of course, the independence of the judiciary. The Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Sunday Leader newspaper Lasantha Wickrematunge , better known as Lasantha, was brutally assassinated four years ago. Lasantha noted in his last editorial, “I hope my murder will be seen not as a defeat of freedom but an inspiration”.

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2012 Summary of the Cultural Boycott of Israel
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

The year 2012 was an amazing year full of many successes in the campaign for the cultural boycott of Israel. This summary focuses on the cultural boycott with an emphasis on musical artists and groups. The fall of South African apartheid was preceded by the movement by artists of conscience to boycott “Sun City.” A similar anti-apartheid movement is rapidly growing; and musicians increasingly do not want to perform in Israel.

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(Português) Brasil É Segundo Maior Consumidor Mundial de Ritalina
Globo News - TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

Chamada a ‘droga da obediência’ para ‘curar’ crianças hiperativas ou com débito de atenção, pode causar morte súbita ou torna-las predispostas à dependência de drogas no futuro. Provoca um ‘efeito zumbi’ nas crianças e não é uma solução mas sim um paliativo com consequências funestas.

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Losing Control: A Blogger’s Nightmare
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2013

When I started this blog a couple of years ago, the thought never entered my mind that I would need to defend the terrain. Although I knew my views were controversial on some issues, I assumed that those who disagreed strongly would stay away, losing interest, or express their disagreements in a spirit of civility. To a large extent this has been true, with the glaring exception of Israel/Palestine.

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Technology Addiction
Joel S. Hirschhorn – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2013

A survey reported that “addicted” was the word most commonly used by people to describe their relationship to technology. One study found that people had a harder time resisting the allure of social media than they did for sex, sleep, cigarettes, and alcohol. A recent study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project found that 44 percent of cell phone owners had slept with their phone next to their bed. Worse, 67 percent had experienced “phantom rings,” checking their phone even when it was not ringing or vibrating.

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(Castellano) La Amenaza Haitiana
Eduardo Galeano, Antimilitarizacion – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2013

Como de costumbre, el Consejo de Seguridad de las Naciones Unidas repite que mantendrá la ocupación militar de Haití porque debe actuar “en caso de amenazas a la paz, quebrantamientos de la paz o actos de agresión”. ¿A quién amenaza Haití? ¿A quién agrede? ¿Por qué Haití sigue siendo un país ocupado? ¿Un país condenado a vigilancia perpetua? ¿Obligado a seguir expiando el pecado de su libertad, que humilló a Napoleón Bonaparte y ofendió a toda Europa?

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The Power Principle – I: Empire
Scott Noble, Metanoia Films – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2013

This documentary is about the foreign policy of the United States. It is the first of three parts that demonstrate the importance of the political economy, the Mafia principle, propaganda, ideology, violence and force. Featured in the films are Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti, John Stockwell, Christopher Simpson, Ralph McGehee, Philip Agee, [TRANSCEND member] Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, John Perkins, James Petras, John Stauber, Russ Baker, Howard Zinn, William Blum, Nancy Snow, William I. Robinson, Morris Berman, Peter Phillips, Michael Albert, and others.

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The Power Principle – II: Propaganda
Scott Noble, Metanoia Films – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2013

This documentary is about the foreign policy of the United States. It is the second of three parts that demonstrate the importance of the political economy, the Mafia principle, propaganda, ideology, violence and force. Featured in the films are Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti, John Stockwell, Christopher Simpson, Ralph McGehee, Philip Agee, [TRANSCEND member] Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, John Perkins, James Petras, John Stauber, Russ Baker, Howard Zinn, William Blum, Nancy Snow, William I. Robinson, Morris Berman, Peter Phillips, Michael Albert, and others.

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Whose Side is God, god, g_d On?
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2013

Lessons from 19th Century Imperialism – The following is a listing of some of the enduring lessons that came to mind as I reflect on the endless mass violence and wars of our times. With Gladstone’s words ringing in my ears, I offer them to you.

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(Italiano) Un Augurio per l’Anno Nuovo: Andare Oltre!
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2013

Sì, andare oltre, trascendere! – ecco il nostro messaggio, per il nuovo anno o meno. Prendete le sparatorie nelle scuole USA. Il vice-presidente della National Rifle Association (NRA) in TV: “la sola persona che può fermare un cattivo con un’arma è un buono con un’arma”. Affermazione che ha toccato molte corde. C’è conferma dall’alto: questa è la politica estera USA. L’unico modo per fermare un cattivo paese con le armi è un buon paese con le armi; l’unico modo di fermare il cattivo terrorismo dal basso è il buon terrorismo di stato dall’alto. Equilibrio di forze, innumerevoli basi, cercare e distruggere.

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Damascus and the Tariqa (The Way by Initiation)
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2013

The small non-violent movements in Syria such as the “Stop the Killing! We want to build a country for all Syrians” while stressing useful issues are still overshadowed both by the government and the violent opposition forces. Yet could such groups play a larger role if they received more non-governmental support from outside? Governments seem to have resigned themselves to the force of arms or to watch and wait. Can peace groups working together actively strengthen Syrian non-violent alternatives?

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Swiss Bank Wegelin to Close After US Tax Evasion Fine
BBC News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2013

Switzerland’s oldest bank is to close permanently after pleading guilty in a New York court to helping Americans evade their taxes. Wegelin, which was established in 1741, has also agreed to pay $57.8m (£36m; 44m euros) in fines to US authorities. It said that once this was completed, it “will cease to operate as a bank”. The bank had admitted to allowing more than 100 American citizens to hide $1.2bn from the Internal Revenue Service for almost 10 years.

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