Articles by ICH
We found 2555 results.
ISRAEL’S WAR CRIMES
Richard Falk,
22 Mar 2009
Israel blamed its earlier wars on the threat to its security, even that against Lebanon in 1982. However, its assault on Gaza was not justified and there are international calls for an investigation. But is there the political will to make Israel account for its war crimes? For the first time since the establishment of […]
→ read full articleCOLERIDGE AT THE G20
Richard Bronk,
22 Mar 2009
The Romantics have much to teach today’s leaders about the limits of rationalist economics Among the briefing notes being prepared for G20 world leaders, I suspect very few are drawing attention to the lessons taught by Romantic poets and philosophers. This is a pity. For they have much to tell us about the limits of […]
→ read full articleBEAWARE THE MADOFF DIVERSION!
Richard Grossman,
18 Mar 2009
Sure, there are crooks out there. But the overwhelming majority of actions by corporate directors and managers that have created today’s messes have been legal. Not only legal, but also widely regarded as necessary and essential to sustain the American Way of Life. To put food on our tables. To heat our homes. To […]
→ read full articleALBERT EINSTEIN
Dietrich Fischer,
16 Mar 2009
Albert Einstein compared the disarmament negotiations sponsored by the League of Nations with a discussion in a town council that, after a series of fatal stabbings, deliberates how long and how sharp the knives ought to be that people are allowed to carry when they go out. Someone asked Einstein, "With what weapons […]
→ read full articleACCURATE DESCRIPTION
Dietrich Fischer,
15 Mar 2009
The organizer of a conference introduced the keynote speaker and read a long list of his degrees and achievements, when the speaker whispered in his ear, "Please don’t forget to mention my great humility."
→ read full articleFATE OF THE RAINFOREST IS ‘IRREVERSIBLE’
Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor,
12 Mar 2009
A third of the Amazonian ‘carbon sink’ is doomed whether or not emissions are cut, Copenhagen conference is told The impact of climate change on the Amazon rainforest could be much worse than previously predicted, new research suggests. Even if emissions were reduced and governments managed to limit temperature rises to 2C – the current […]
→ read full articleThe Oldest Profession
Dietrich Fischer,
6 Mar 2009
A surgeon, an engineer and an economist were arguing which was the oldest profession. The surgeon said, "On the seventh day of creation, God removed a rib from Adam’s body to create Eve. This is obviously surgery, so my profession is the oldest." The engineer argued, "But on the first day of creation, God built […]
→ read full articleProf. Dietrich Fischer on the Philosophy of Peace & Conflict Studies
Dietrich Fischer,
5 Mar 2009
World Peace Academy, Basel-Switzerland – A TMS interview. Dietrich Fischer (1941-2015) from Münsingen, Switzerland, got a Licentiate in Mathematics from the University of Bern 1968 and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from New York University 1976. 1986-88 he was a MacArthur Fellow in International Peace and Security at Princeton University. He has taught mathematics, computer […]
→ read full articleDISENTANGLING LAYERS OF A LOADED TERM IN SEARCH OF A THREAD OF PEACE
Michael Slackman,
28 Feb 2009
If President Obama is serious about repairing relations with the Arab world and re-establishing the United States as an honest broker in Middle East peace talks, one step would be to bridge a chasm in perception that centers on one contentious word: terrorism. The recent fighting in Gaza offered a potent reminder of the challenge […]
→ read full articleAMERICAN TRIUMPHALISM: A POSTMORTEM
Andrew J. Bacevich,
11 Feb 2009
Although George W. Bush is a man without intellectual pretensions, his departure from office brings down the curtain on a distinctive era of American political thought. Ideas that recently qualified as smart have suddenly become passé. Propositions once alluringly au courant now appear not simply obsolete but absurd. The bubble of American triumphalism has burst. […]
→ read full articleCAPITALISM’S SELF-INFLICTED APOCALYPSE
Michael Parenti,
11 Feb 2009
After the overthrow of communist governments in Eastern Europe, capitalism was paraded as the indomitable system that brings prosperity and democracy, the system that would prevail unto the end of history. The present economic crisis, however, has convinced even some prominent free-marketeers that something is gravely amiss. Truth be told, capitalism has yet to come […]
→ read full articleOBAMA SEEKS NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT DEAL WITH RUSSIA
Ian Traynor in Munich and Luke Harding in Moscow,
7 Feb 2009
Hillary Clinton to head US efforts to reduce warheads to about 1,000 The Obama administration is looking for a quick deal between the US and Russia to more than halve their nuclear weapons stockpiles, reversing the Bush White House’s refusal to be bound by international treaties. Diplomats and officials say they are optimistic Washington and […]
→ read full articleRAINFOREST RAZED SO CATTLE CAN GRAZE
Michael McCarthy, Environment editor,
2 Feb 2009
Brazil’s attempt to double its share of the global market for beef will carry a heavy environmental cost, report warns. Scenes like this, with vast tracts of Amazonian rainforest razed to make way for cattle, are to become more common in Brazil as it continues its drive to expand its beef export industry, according to […]
→ read full articleGEORGE BUSH’S GIFT TO THE WORLD: THE END OF AMERICAN IMPERIALISM
David Michael Green,
1 Feb 2009
George W. Bush was unquestionably the worst American president in the two and a quarter centuries of the country’s existence. After all, James Buchanan, the previous aspirant to the title, merely did nothing while the South seceded. Hah! You’ll have to do better than that, Jimmy, if you want to wear this crown! Bush did […]
→ read full articleWAR AGAINST IVORY TRADE TAKES TO THE SEA
Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor,
25 Jan 2009
Auction House Agrees to Stop Sale of Whale Tusks After Pressure from Campaigners It’s the "other" ivory. And this week, conservationists in London stepped in to stop its sale. It might not be as well known as the stuff that comes from elephants, but the ivory from the narwhal, the tusked whale of the northern […]
→ read full articleMISTER OBAMA, YOU FORGET SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR TWO DAUGHTERS…
Michel Collon,
25 Jan 2009
Dear Mister Obama, You have declared about the Gaza conflict: "If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do everything to stop that, and would expect Israel to do the same thing". Protect your children? I certainly can understand that. But if you want to be […]
→ read full articleOCCUPATION 101
ICH,
13 Jan 2009
Award-winning documentary film on the root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unlike any other film ever produced on the conflict — ‘Occupation 101’ presents a comprehensive analysis of the facts and hidden truths surrounding the never ending controversy and dispels many of its long-perceived myths and misconceptions. The film also details life under Israeli military […]
→ read full articleUNUSUALLY LARGE U.S. WEAPONS SHIPMENT TO ISRAEL: ARE THE U.S. AND ISRAEL PLANNING A BROADER MIDDLE EAST WAR?
Michel Chossudovsky,
12 Jan 2009
A very large delivery of US weaponry to Israel consisting of 3,000 tons of "ammunition" is scheduled to sail to Israel. The size and nature of the shipments are described as "unusual": "Shipping 3,000-odd tons of ammunition in one go is a lot," one broker said, on condition of anonymity. "This (kind of request) is […]
→ read full articleWAR AND NATURAL GAS: THE ISRAELI INVASION AND GAZA’S OFFSHORE GAS FIELDS
Michel Chossudovsky,
9 Jan 2009
The military invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli Forces bears a direct relation to the control and ownership of strategic offshore gas reserves. This is a war of conquest. Discovered in 2000, there are extensive gas reserves off the Gaza coastline. British Gas (BG Group) and its partner, the Athens based Consolidated Contractors International […]
→ read full articleISRAEL IN GAZA: RIGHT BUT NOT SMART
Rabbi Michael Lerner,
4 Jan 2009
Israel is still using a strategy of domination in its struggle with Hamas, trying to use force to gain security. But this is a recipe for endless war. Israel’s attempt to wipe out Hamas is understandable, but dumb. No country in the world is going to ignore the provocation of rockets being launched from […]
→ read full articleISRAEL VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW
Prof. Richard Falk - United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories,
4 Jan 2009
The Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip represent severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law as defined in the Geneva Conventions, both in regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the requirements of the laws of war. Those violations include: Collective punishment – the entire 1.5 million people who live […]
→ read full articleTHE PARADOX OF PEACE
Soraya Ulrich,
1 Jan 2009
Israel thrives on war. Peace is a threat to Zionism. It demands compromise. Twice this year, the leaders of Hamas indicated their readiness to accept a Palestinian State within the 1967 borders. Khaled Meshaal, Hamas leader, informed former president Jimmy Carter of this decision in April 2008. In May 2008, it was revealed that Yves […]
→ read full articleISRAEL’S WAR CRIMES
Richard Falk,
1 Jan 2009
Editor’s Note: This statement was issued December 27 in response to Israel’s attack in Gaza by Professor Richard Falk, United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in the Occupied Territories and a longtime member of The Nation’s editorial board. The Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip represent severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law […]
→ read full articleRESISTANCE TO ISRAELI OCCUPATION – A RIGHT?
ICH,
30 Dec 2008
Palestinians are a people under occupation who has the right to self-determination under the UN Charter, the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Nations from 1970, and Article 1 of both the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights […]
→ read full articleWEALTH CREATION, OR A PONZI SCHEME?
Michael Hudson,
24 Dec 2008
Last week the Good Lord evidently realized that not enough people had been reading Hyman Minsky’s explanation of how financial cycles end in Ponzi schemes – the stage in which banks keep the boom going by lending their customers the money to pay interest and thus avoid default. So He sent Bernie Madoff to dominate […]
→ read full articleDOCTORS NAME TOP 10 HUMANITARIAN CRISES OF 2008
Michael Astor,
23 Dec 2008
Spiralling violence in Somalia, forced civilian displacements in eastern Congo, and neglected medical emergencies in Myanmar and Zimbabwe were among the Top 10 humanitarian crises of 2008, according to an annual list released by Médecins Sans Frontières. Other crises on the group’s list included: malnutrition, which claims 5 million young lives across the globe each […]
→ read full articleMY EXPULSION FROM ISRAEL
Richard Falk,
21 Dec 2008
When I arrived in Israel as a UN representative I knew there might be problems at the airport. And there were. On December 14, I arrived at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel to carry out my UN role as special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories. I was leading a mission that had intended […]
→ read full articleBRAZIL’S EXPERIENCE WITH LULA OFFERS LESSONS FOR OBAMA SUPPORTERS
Michael Fox,
20 Dec 2008
We arrived early, but the field was already packed with an ecstatic crowd waiting to hear the one man who they believed could actually turn the country around. Nearly three months before he had won the presidency with the promise of change, and now more than a hundred thousand had descended on this grassy hillside […]
→ read full articleTHE LOGIG OF KEYNES IN TODAY’S WORLD
Robert Reich,
17 Dec 2008
Not long ago I was talking to someone who once had been a deficit hawk but the current recession had turned into a full-blooded Keynesian. He wanted a stimulus package in the range of $500 to $700 billion. "Consumers are dead in the water," he said, fervently, "so government has to step in." I […]
→ read full articleTURKISH ACADEMICS IN APOLOGY TO ARMENIANS
Nicholas Birch in Istanbul,
16 Dec 2008
Intellectuals Break Taboo to Acknowledge Genocide by Ottoman Turks Around 200 Turkish intellectuals and academics are to apologise on the Internet today (Mon, Dec/15) for the ethnic cleansing of Armenians during the First World War, in the most public sign yet that Turkey’s most sensitive taboo is slowly melting away. "My conscience does not accept […]
→ read full articleMOOD MIXED AS CLIMATE SUMMIT ENDS
Richard Black - BBC News Environment Correspondent,
14 Dec 2008
Poznan – The UN climate summit has ended with delegates taking very different views on how much it has achieved. Western delegates said progress here had been encouraging, but environment groups said rich countries had not shown enough ambition. Developing nations were angry that more money was not put forward to […]
→ read full articleTORTURING DEMOCRACY
ICH,
11 Dec 2008
The Documentary PBS Does Not Want You to See Before Jan 21, 2009 Video and Transcript"Torturing Democracy" is a new documentary which details how the government set aside the rule of law in its pursuit of harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists. CLICK TO VIEW
→ read full articleAFGHANISTAN: ANOTHER UNTOLD STORY
Michael Parenti,
6 Dec 2008
Barack Obama is on record as advocating a military escalation in Afghanistan. Before sinking any deeper into that quagmire, we might do well to learn something about recent Afghan history and the role played by the United States. Less than a month after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the […]
→ read full articleMISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE: WHO WAS BEHIND THE OCTOBER 2002 BALI BOMBINGS?
Michel Chossudovsky,
14 Nov 2008
Three Islamic militants were executed on November 9th for their alleged role in the 2002 Bali bombings that resulted in the death of 202 people. The official version of events was that the bombings were sponsored by Al Qaeda and carried out by members of an affiliate Islamic organization Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). Most of those […]
→ read full articleA LETTER
Michael Moore,
8 Nov 2008
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 Friends, Who among us is not at a loss for words? Tears pour out. Tears of joy. Tears of relief. A stunning, whopping landslide of hope in a time of deep despair. In a nation that was founded on genocide and then built on the backs of slaves, it was an […]
→ read full articleGEORGE CARLIN ON VOTING IN U.S. ELECTIONS
ICH,
2 Nov 2008
WARNING – Some readers may find the contents offensive The Klein Memorial Auditorium. Bridgeport, CT 4-Minute VideoCLICK TO VIEW
→ read full articleA GLITTERING DEMON: MINING, POVERTY AND POLITICS IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
Michael Deibert, Special to CorpWatch,
1 Nov 2008
In the heart of the war-scarred Ituri region in northeastern Congo, some 200 mud-covered men pan for traces of gold in the muddy brown waters. Working for the Congolese owners of Manyida camp, the miners are following a map of the site made by the Belgians, the country’s former colonial rulers. “It’s very difficult, punishing […]
→ read full articleBUSH TRYING TO AVOID WAR CRIMES CHARGES
CNN-ICH,
30 Oct 2008
2-Minute Video President Bush is trying to pardon himself. Should Congress pass a bill giving immunity to President Bush for possible war crimes?CLICK TO VIEW
→ read full articleWALL STREET?S TROJAN HORSE
Michel Chossudovsky,
29 Oct 2008
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has announced that Brazil, Russia, India and China will "coordinate efforts in overcoming the financial crisis". The statement suggests that the four countries will confront the dominant US-UK-EU alliance, which personifies Western banking interests, at the forthcoming Summit in Washington. “We are going to coordinate our moves with the leading […]
→ read full articlePAYBACK?S A BITCH
David Michael Green,
20 Oct 2008
With apologies to Churchill (who owed a few of his own): Never have so many been so wrong about so much. There are few things you’d less rather be right now than a conservative/regressive, and that is why. It’s like the old Firesign Theater bit: Everything You Know Is Wrong. “Dogs flew spaceships! The Aztecs […]
→ read full articleHOW THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WAS WON
Gregory Elich,
17 Oct 2008
The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari has been widely hailed in the West, where there has been an outpouring of praise for the man and his efforts. Generally seen as a tireless promoter of peace and reconciliation, Ahtisaari has another side that has not received sufficient attention. Although […]
→ read full articleHOW TO SAVE THE U.S. ECONOMY
Richard C. Cook,
17 Oct 2008
The crashing stock market has given its verdict. The financial rescue plan currently being implemented by the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve System will fail to revitalize the producing economy, even with continued interest rate cuts. This is because the banking system is essentially a supply-side, trickle-down mechanism with a currency based on […]
→ read full articleHORIZONS OF A GRAND THEORY OF PEACE
Richard Falk,
12 Oct 2008
Presented at a conference at ICU-International Christian University, Tokyo, earlier this year. I. Introduction My approach to such a daunting challenge seeks to be attentive to the urgings of Professor Shin Chiba that “..our quest for a grand theory of peace should be made in response to the crisis of the present age as it […]
→ read full articleWHAT WILL THE U.S. FOREIGN POLICY BE TOMORROW?
Michel Collon,
12 Oct 2008
When Bush goes, everyone will be hoping for a change – or fearing the worst. McCain or Obama ? What will that change for Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Africa, Caucasia, Cuba and Venezuela ? And for US relationships with the big powers : Europe, Japan, Russia, China? This text is extracted from our book « The […]
→ read full articleTHE “DEMONIZATION” OF MUSLIMS AND THE BATTLE FOR OIL
Michel Chossudovsky,
12 Oct 2008
Throughout history, "wars of religion" have served to obscure the economic and strategic interests behind the conquest and invasion of foreign lands. "Wars of religion" were invariably fought with a view to securing control over trading routes and natural resources. The Crusades extending from the 11th to the 14th Century are often presented by historians […]
→ read full articleINSIDE NORTH KOREA
Gregory Elich,
6 Oct 2008
An Interview with Christine Ahn At a time when speculation and rumors about events in North Korea abound, it should be noted how little of what one reads about that nation is grounded in concrete knowledge and experience. Partly this is due to the North Koreans’ tight hold on the dissemination of information, but it […]
→ read full articleTHE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO TURNS 160
Barbara Ehrenreich,
6 Oct 2008
This year marks the 160th anniversary of The Communist Manifesto and capitalism–a k a "free enterprise"–seems willing to observe the occasion by dropping dead. On Monday night, some pundits were warning that the ATMs might run dry and hinting that the only safe investment left is canned beans. Apocalypse or extortion? No one seems to […]
→ read full articleDOES THE ECONOMIC MELTDOWN NEED A NEW WAR?
Rev. Richard Skaff,
6 Oct 2008
Historically, the US has gone to war every time the value of the greenbacks plummeted or the economy drastically slumped. Is today’s economic disaster and weakened dollar a symptom for a new war? The US government/the military industrial complex plans to sell once again Israel 1,000 buster-bunker bombs which Israeli experts said last Monday could […]
→ read full articleAMERICA’S ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
David Michael Green,
6 Oct 2008
The second most astonishing thing about American politics is that John McCain and Sarah Palin have a respectable chance of winning the White House in 2008. (Or, for that matter, that any Republican could have a shot at any office for which the Democratic candidate hasn’t suddenly died on the stump.) Yeah, yeah, I know. […]
→ read full articleFranklin Roosevelt, a Nation Turns Its Lonely Eyes to You
Michael Winship,
30 Sep 2008
We thirst for leadership, vision, someone who can speak to us in a way that refuses to avert its eyes from the crisis but shines a light of truth upon the problem, then offers hope and possible solutions. If this is indeed an economic 9/11, as some have suggested, we need that voice […]
→ read full articleThank You, Ladies and Gentlemen
Richard C. Cook,
30 Sep 2008
Satire Te purpose of this brief statement is publicly to express my admiration and amazement at the way the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, The Honorable Ben Shalom Bernanke, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The Honorable Timothy F. Geithner, and the Secretary of the Treasury, The Honorable Henry M. Paulson, […]
→ read full articleThe Destabilization of Bolivia and the “Kosovo Option”
Michel Chossudovsky,
30 Sep 2008
The secession of Bolivia’s Eastern provinces is part of a US sponsored covert operation, coordinated out of the US State Department, in liaison with US intelligence. The death squads armed with automatic weapons responsible for killing supporters of Evo Morales in El Porvenir are supported covertly by the US. According to one report, "USAID has […]
→ read full articleBARACK OBAMA HAS EMBRACED THE “GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM”
Michel Chossudovsky,
16 Sep 2008
Obama’s "American Promise" is War Read more
→ read full articleWHY THE PEACEFUL MAJORITY OF MUSLIMS ARE NOT IRREVELANT
Sheldon Richman,
14 Sep 2008
A few years ago, FrontPageMag.com columnist Paul Marek wrote an articletitled “Why the Peaceful Majority Is Irrelevant.” His thesis was thateven if the majority of Muslims abhor violence, it doesn’t matterbecause “the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history…. The hardquantifiable fact is, that the ‘peaceful majority’ is the ‘silentmajority’ and it is cowed […]
→ read full articlePUTIN’S RUTHLESS GAMBIT
Michael T. Klare,
14 Sep 2008
To fully grasp the recent upheavals in the Caucasus, it is necessary toview the conflict as but a minor skirmish in a far more significantgeopolitical struggle between Moscow and Washington over the energyriches of the Caspian Sea basin – with former Russian president (nowprime minister) Vladimir Putin emerging as the reigning grand master ofgeostrategic chess […]
→ read full article