Articles by RD
We found 3662 results.
Danger of Drones Highlighted by Near Collision with Airliner in Florida
Associated Press – The Guardian,
12 May 2014
Jim Williams of the Federal Aviation Administration’s unmanned aircraft systems office acknowledged the incident on Thursday [8 May 2014, citing it as an example of the risks posed by drones.
→ read full articleCitizens versus Subjects in a Democratic Society: The American Case
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 May 2014
In my understanding silence is passivity as a way of being. Silence can be much more than the avoidance of speech and utterance, and is most poignantly expressed through evasions of body, heart, and soul.
→ read full article(Português) As revelações de O Capital no Século XXI
Paul Mason, The Guardian – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 May 2014
Sucesso internacional, livro de Thomas Piketty expõe engrenagens que produzem desigualdade e pobreza, sugere alternativas e desafia: elites aceitarão debatê-las?
→ read full articleAntivirus Software Is Dead, Says Security Expert at Symantec
Samuel Gibbs – The Guardian,
12 May 2014
Information chief at Norton developer says software in general misses 55% of attacks and its future lies in responding to hacks.
→ read full articleKagame: Murderer of Millions in Congo and Rwanda
Glen Ford – Black Agenda Report,
12 May 2014
Notables from around the globe pay homage to Rwandan President Paul Kagame as if he were the savior of Africa. “For 20 years, Kagame has posed as the soldier who stopped the Rwandan genocide, when all evidence and logic point to him as the main perpetrator of the crime.”
→ read full articleEdward Snowden and Laura Poitras Take on America’s Runaway Surveillance State
Edward Snowden and Laura Poitras – The Nation,
12 May 2014
On April 30 [2014], in a ceremony at the National Press Club in Washington, the Nation Institute and the Fertel Foundation awarded their annual Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and filmmaker Laura Poitras.
→ read full articleArmenian Grievances, Turkey, United States and 1915 (I)
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 May 2014
The Turkish government has reiterated its offer to establish a joint commission composed of Armenian, Turkish and international historians to establish an authoritative narrative. The idea that core concern is ‘historical’ misses a main point that such a traumatic series of events need to be interpreted from multiple perspectives, including that of international criminal law.
→ read full article‘Genocide’ in 1915: Law, Language, and Politics (II)
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 May 2014
I am arguing that the historical argument should be put to rest, and that the issues that need to be resolved relate to the legal questions surrounding the applicability of genocide, as well as the related semiotic and political questions associated what be called ‘the politics of genocide.’
→ read full article(Castellano) Como a Obama, hay que pedirle cuentas a Vladimir Putin en materia de espionaje
Edward Snowden – Freedom of the Press Foundation,
5 May 2014
El jueves pasado [10 de abril 2014] cuestioné en directo en televisión la implicación de Rusia en el espionaje masivo. Le hice al presidente de Rusia, Vladimir Putin, una pregunta que no puede responder negativamente de un modo creíble ningún líder que dirija un programa moderno e intrusivo de vigilancia: “¿Intercepta [su país], analiza o almacena las comunicaciones de millones de individuos?”
→ read full articlePalestine: Why the Peace Talks Collapsed—And Should Not Be Resumed
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 May 2014
It is important that world public opinion reject as meaningless the diplomatic charade of peace talks while the fate of a people continues to be daily sacrificed on the altar of geopolitics.
→ read full articleIt’s Not Russia That’s Pushed Ukraine to the Brink of War
Seumas Milne – The Guardian,
5 May 2014
The attempt to lever Kiev into the western camp by ousting an elected leader made conflict certain. It could be a threat to us all.
→ read full articleThe New Interventionists: Civil Society Activists
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Apr 2014
Debates about intervention are inevitable in an interdependent world order in which ideals of territorial sovereignty clash with the interests and values of hegemonic political actors. There are no either/or solution for the dilemmas posed. What seems preferable is a contextual assessment tempered by humility arising from the experience of past interventions.
→ read full articleA Vindication for the Public: The Guardian and Washington Post Win the Pulitzer Prize
Edward Snowden – Freedom of the Press Foundation,
28 Apr 2014
I am grateful to the committee for their recognition of the efforts of those involved in the last year’s reporting, and join others around the world in congratulating Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Barton Gellman, Ewen MacAskill, and all of the others at the Guardian and Washington Post on winning the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
→ read full articleWe Need an Apartheid-Style Boycott to Save the Planet
Desmond Tutu – The Guardian,
28 Apr 2014
10 Apr 2014 – We must stop climate change. And we can, if we use the tactics that worked in South Africa against the worst carbon emitters.
→ read full articleWhy US Fracking Companies Are Licking Their Lips over Ukraine
Naomi Klein – The Guardian,
28 Apr 2014
From climate change to Crimea, the natural gas industry is supreme at exploiting crisis for private gain – what I call the shock doctrine.
→ read full articleVladimir Putin Must Be Called To Account on Surveillance Just Like Obama
Edward Snowden – The Guardian,
28 Apr 2014
On Thursday [17 Apr 2014], I questioned Russia’s involvement in mass surveillance on live television. I asked Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, a question that cannot credibly be answered in the negative by any leader who runs a modern, intrusive surveillance program: “Does [your country] intercept, analyse or store millions of individuals’ communications?”
→ read full articleSole US Nuclear Weapons Waste Storage Site Still Closed and Hot
William Boardman - Reader Supported News,
28 Apr 2014
Nobody’s ever tried to fix an underground radiation accident before. More than two months after plutonium and americium leaked from the supposedly leak-proof underground nuclear weapons waste storage facility in New Mexico, the U.S. Department of Energy still does not know what caused the leak almost half a mile underground.
→ read full article(Português) Putin deve prestar contas em matéria de espionagem tal como Obama
Edward Snowden – The Guardian,
28 Apr 2014
A 10 de abril, questionei em direto na televisão o envolvimento da Rússia na espionagem em massa. Fiz uma pergunta ao presidente da Rússia, Vladimir Putin, que não pode ser respondida negativamente de um modo credível por qualquer líder que dirija um programa moderno e intrusivo de vigilância: “[O seu país] interceta, analisa ou armazena as comunicações de milhões de indivíduos?”
→ read full articleAs We Sweat Government Surveillance, Companies Like Google Collect Our Data
Dan Gillmor – The Guardian,
28 Apr 2014
The depressing news just seems to be getting worse. Google confirmed this week what many people had assumed: even if you’re not a Gmail user, your email to someone who does use their services will be scanned by the all-seeing search and the advertising company’s increasingly smart machines.
→ read full articleAnswer Offered By Seymour Hersh Gets Little Public Attention
William Boardman ¬– Reader Supported News,
21 Apr 2014
Benghazi Mystery Explained!?! – Report from London links CIA Covert Op with Turkey, Syria
→ read full articleWhat to Celebrate in Rwanda’s Genocide Anniversary
Editorial Board – The Christian Science Monitor,
7 Apr 2014
April 3, 2014 – The 20th anniversary of the Rwanda genocide should focus as much on how the African nation worked toward reconciliation through forgiveness as on the mass slaughter itself.
→ read full articleNonviolent Geopolitics: Law, Politics, and 21st Century Security*
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Apr 2014
In this short essay, my attempt will be to articulate a conception of a world order premised on nonviolent geopolitics, as well as to consider some obstacles to its realization.
→ read full articleLeak the CIA Report: It’s the Only Way to Know the Whole Truth about Torture
Trevor Timm – The Guardian,
7 Apr 2014
Unless, of course, you think spies redacting 6,300 pages of their own sins is transparency. Look how much leaks told us this week.
→ read full articleIsraeli Boycott Case: Sydney Academic’s Lawyers Say Claims Are Pumped Up
Michael Safi – The Guardian,
31 Mar 2014
25 Mar 2014 – Lawyers for a Sydney University academic who is accused of unlawful discrimination for his boycott of Israel say the case against [TMS advisor, TRANSCEND member] Jake Lynch is full of “pumped-up claims” that are “embarrassing in the legal sense, and embarrassing in the non-legal sense”.
→ read full articleOnline Dating for Lesbians: Has Dattch Rewritten the Rules?
Eleanor Margolis – The Guardian,
31 Mar 2014
The award-winning UK-based app Dattch says it’s the first of its type designed specifically for women. So has it improved the online dating experience for lesbians?
→ read full articleHere’s How We Take Back the Internet
Edward Snowden – TED Talks,
24 Mar 2014
Mar 18, 2014 – Appearing by telepresence robot, Edward Snowden speaks at TED2014 about surveillance and Internet freedom. The right to data privacy, he suggests, is not a partisan issue, but requires a fundamental rethink of the role of the internet in our lives — and the laws that protect it. “Your rights matter,” he say, “because you never know when you’re going to need them.”
→ read full articleMicrosoft Tightens Privacy Policy after Admitting to Reading Journalist’s Emails
Alex Hern – The Guardian,
24 Mar 2014
After outrage from privacy campaigners, the tech firm will now seek legal advice before examining the contents of customers’ inboxes.
→ read full articleThe Obsolescence of Ideology: Debating Syria and Ukraine
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Mar 2014
To insist that the left/right distinction obscures more than it reveals is not the end of the story. To contend that ideology is unhelpful as a guide for action is not the same as saying that it is irrelevant to the public debate.
→ read full articleUS Tech Giants Knew of NSA Data Collection, Agency’s Top Lawyer Insists
Spencer Ackerman – The Guardian,
24 Mar 2014
NSA general counsel Rajesh De contradicts months of angry denials from big companies like Yahoo and Google.
→ read full articleFukushima’s Shameful Cleanup
The Editorial Board - International New York Times,
24 Mar 2014
A pattern of shirking responsibility permeates the decommissioning work at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. An increasing proportion of the 3,000 contract laborers at Fukushima are poorly trained, with little technical expertise or knowledge of radiation.
→ read full articleThe Vegans Are Winning. It’s OK to Give In – And Still Eat Mcdonald’s Sometimes
Emma Brockes – The Guardian,
24 Mar 2014
Veganism’s benefits have been sold, bought, taken mainstream. You’re probably eating animal-free more often than you thought.
→ read full articleIndia Remains the Biggest Arms Buyer
Business Standard – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Mar 2014
India remains the biggest buyer of arms in the world, importing nearly three times as many weapons as its nearest competitors China and Pakistan over the last five years, a Swedish think tank said on Monday [17 Mar 2014].
→ read full articleThe Truth about Venezuela: A Revolt of the Well-Off, Not a ‘Terror Campaign’
Mark Weisbrot – The Guardian,
24 Mar 2014
John Kerry’s rhetoric is divorced from the reality on the ground, where life goes on – even at the barricades. It’s not just the poor who are abstaining – in Caracas, it’s almost everyone outside of a few rich areas like Altamira. The only place where the opposition seems to be garnering broad support is Washington.
→ read full articleThe Caribbean People Have a Legitimate Claim for Slavery Reparations
Cecily Jones – The Guardian,
24 Mar 2014
The economic and social poverty of parts of the region are a lasting legacy of slave trading.
→ read full articleWireless Electricity? It’s Here
Matthew Ponsford and Nick Glass - CNN,
17 Mar 2014
The idea of eliminating cables would allow us to re-design things in ways that we haven’t yet thought of, that’s just going to make our devices and everything that we interact with, that much more efficient, more practical and maybe even give brand new functionality.
→ read full articleGlobal Military Spending Is Now an Integral Part of Capitalism
Richard Seymour – Gulf News,
17 Mar 2014
The idea of a ‘peace dividend’ is gone, high levels of military spending are an entrenched part of the global landscape.
→ read full articleEdward Snowden Discusses NSA Leaks at SXSW: ‘I Would Do It Again’
Jon Swaine and Jemima Kiss – The Guardian,
17 Mar 2014
He encouraged ordinary internet users to protect themselves against surveillance by encrypting both their hard drives and their online activity, describing encryption as “the defence against the dark arts in the digital realm”. He also advised people to browse the web anonymously using the Tor system.
→ read full articleWhy Do I Persist?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Mar 2014
I have been asked recently why do I persist in working hard for the things that I believe in, knowing that I will die in the next several years, and am almost certain not to be around for the catastrophic future that seems to cast its dark shadow across the road ahead, and can only be removed by a major transnational movement of the peoples of the world.
→ read full articleThe Plight of Myanmar’s Rohingya
Editorial Board – Los Angeles Times,
17 Mar 2014
The U.N. says the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in an overwhelmingly Buddhist country, are one of the most persecuted groups in the world. Recently violence has escalated according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Two attacks in January left an estimated four dozen Rohingya dead in a village in Rakhine. Myanmar’s response has been to deny that it happened.
→ read full articleAn Online Magna Carta: Web Inventor Berners-Lee Calls for an Internet Bill of Rights
Jemima Kiss – The Guardian,
17 Mar 2014
The inventor of the world wide web believes an online “Magna Carta” is needed to protect and enshrine the independence of the medium he created and the rights of its users worldwide. Sir Tim Berners-Lee said that the web had come under increasing attack from governments and corporate influence and that new rules were needed to protect the “open, neutral” system.
→ read full articleBritain’s Five Richest Families Worth More Than Poorest 20%
Larry Elliott – The Guardian,
17 Mar 2014
Oxfam report reveals scale of inequality in UK as charity appeals to chancellor over tax. The scale of Britain’s growing inequality is revealed today [17 Mar 2014] by a report from a leading charity showing that the country’s five richest families now own more wealth than the poorest 20% of the population.
→ read full article“Snowden Told Me the NSA Set Fire to the Web. Silicon Valley Needs to Put It Out.”
Christopher Soghoian – The Guardian,
17 Mar 2014
How to move beyond our SXSW talk: revenge of the nerds, one everyday security tool at a time.
→ read full articleNASA-Funded Study: Industrial Civilisation Headed For ‘Irreversible Collapse’?
Nafeez Ahmed – The Guardian,
17 Mar 2014
A new study sponsored by Nasa has highlighted the prospect that global industrial civilisation could collapse in coming decades due to unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution. Noting that warnings of ‘collapse’ are often seen to be fringe or controversial, the study attempts to make sense of compelling historical data showing that “the process of rise-and-collapse is actually a recurrent cycle found throughout history.”
→ read full articleBreaking Free: Choosing a Better Human Future
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Mar 2014
I have long believed that prospects for a hopeful human future depend on radical and visionary feelings, thought, and action… Citizenship, then, becomes enacted in time and is not conceived only as a dimension of space as, for instance, in opting to be ‘a world citizen.’
→ read full articleHas the NSA’s Mass Spying Made Life Easier for Digital Criminals?
Tom Brewster – The Guardian,
10 Mar 2014
In flooding the internet with malware, and by increasing wariness of data sharing, the NSA’s actions have had a negative impact on the fight against cybercrime. The US has done an enormous amount of damage. There is a basic level of trust that has been lost because the US was supposed to be a trusted keeper of everything, but it turned out they were subverting it with every chance they got.
→ read full articleDecember 2013 – Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Mar 2014
5 Mar 2014 – This is my last report as Special Rapporteur on Occupied Palestine as my term is coming to an end after six years. The mandate is important as a source of information pertaining to the realities of occupation from the perspective of international humanitarian law and international criminal law
→ read full articleEdward Snowden’s Written Testimony to the European Parliament
Edward Snowden – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Mar 2014
The NSA granted me the authority to monitor communications world-wide using its mass surveillance systems, including within the United States. I have personally targeted individuals using these systems. I know the good and the bad of these systems, and what they can and cannot do, and I am telling you that without getting out of my chair, I could have read the private communications of any member of this committee, as well as any ordinary citizen. I swear under penalty of perjury that this is true.
→ read full articleDiets High in Meat, Eggs and Dairy Could Be as Harmful to Health as Smoking
Ian Sample – The Guardian,
10 Mar 2014
A diet rich in meat, eggs, milk and cheese could be as harmful to health as smoking, according to a controversial study into the impact of protein consumption on longevity.
→ read full articleGigabytes Gone Wild
Neil Richards and Jonathan King – Al Jazeera America,
3 Mar 2014
Big data has outpaced our legal system’s ability to control it — we need a new ethics for a new digital age.
→ read full articleFracking Siberia: Gazprom Teams Up With Shell
Richard Smallteacher, CorpWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Mar 2014
Gazprom of Russia has begun fracking in western Siberia with Anglo-Dutch giant Shell to tap a reserve of oil under a 2.3 million square kilometer expanse. Ironically Russia Today, a state run television station, has been actively broadcasting protests against the fracking industry in Europe, where companies like Chevron have been aggressively trying to get a toehold in countries like Bulgaria, Poland and Romania.
→ read full articleNSA Robots Are ‘Collecting’ Your Data, Too, and They’re Getting Away With It
Bruce Schneier – The Guardian,
3 Mar 2014
Yahoo webcam users are the latest victims of agency eavesdropping – and whether it’s done by human or algorithm, it’s still eavesdropping.
→ read full articleSyria: What to Do Now
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Mar 2014
It is not only that the interventionists, and perhaps the anti-interventionists are motivated by a convergence of humanitarian/moral considerations with geostrategic ambitions, but that the nature of these hidden calculations are discussed in governmental circles behind locked doors and transcribed in secret policy memoranda.
→ read full articleUK – Optic Nerve: Millions of Yahoo Webcam Images Intercepted by GCHQ
Spencer Ackerman and James Ball – The Guardian,
3 Mar 2014
• 1.8m users targeted by UK agency in six-month period alone
• Optic Nerve program collected Yahoo webcam images in bulk
• Yahoo: ‘A whole new level of violation of our users’ privacy’
• Material included large quantity of sexually explicit images
Qatar’s Foreign Domestic Workers Subjected to Slave-Like Conditions
Rebecca Falconer – The Guardian,
3 Mar 2014
Foreign maids, cleaners and other domestic workers are being subjected to slave-like labour conditions in Qatar, with many complaining they have been deprived of passports, wages, days off, holidays and freedom to move jobs, a Guardian investigation can reveal.
→ read full articleOmar and the Israeli Checkpoint: The Essential Story That Is Rarely Told
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom,
3 Mar 2014
Omar is a 7-year-old boy from Gaza. His family managed to obtain the necessary permits that allowed him to cross the Erez checkpoint to Jerusalem, through the West Bank, in order to undergo surgery. On the way back, the boy and his father were stopped at the Qalanidya checkpoint, separating occupied East Jerusalem from the West Bank.
→ read full article(Français) Halte au « BRICS bashing »!
Gérard Wolf - Le Monde,
3 Mar 2014
Certes, dans les BRICS (Brésil, Inde, Russie, Chine et Afrique du Sud), comme dans d’autres marchés émergents, la croissance est moindre que celle envisagée il y a deux ans. Mais soyons réalistes.
→ read full articleAmnesty International Accuses Israeli Armed Forces of Possible War Crimes
The Guardian – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Mar 2014
Human rights group says soldiers have killed dozens of Palestinians with virtual impunity in West Bank.
→ read full article
God Loves Uganda – Trailer
Ford Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Mar 2014
The feature length documentary God Loves Uganda is a powerful exploration of the evangelical campaign to change African culture with sexuality values imported from America’s fundamentalist Christian Right.
→ read full articleSochi 2014: Does Sochi Success Signal a New Russia?
Richard Conway – BBC,
24 Feb 2014
23 Feb 2014 – Russia Top Medal Table as Olympics Come To an End. The tagline of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games was “Hot, Cool, Yours”, but another slogan on display here, the phrase “Russia – Great, New, Open” provides a better insight.
→ read full articleTaking Your Brain for a Walk: The Secret to Delaying Dementia
Ian Sample – The Guardian,
24 Feb 2014
Regular brisk walking three times a week increases the size of brain regions linked to planning and memory, a study has shown.
→ read full articleUS Support for Regime Change in Venezuela Is a Mistake
Mark Weisbrot – The Guardian,
24 Feb 2014
The US push to topple the Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro once again pits Washington against South America. On Sunday [16 Feb 2014], the Mercosur governments (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Venezuela) released a statement and described “the recent violent acts” in Venezuela as “attempts to destabilize the democratic order”. They made it abundantly clear where they stood.
→ read full article(Português) Zizek: Há mais do que fúria na Bósnia
Slavoj Žižek – The Guardian,
24 Feb 2014
O que as explosões na Bósnia confirmam é que ninguém jamais conseguirá superar paixões étnicas impondo a elas uma agenda liberal: o que uniu os manifestantes foi uma mesma radical exigência de justiça. O passo seguinte e mais difícil será organizar os protestos num novo movimento social que ignore as divisões étnicas; e organizar novos protestos.
→ read full articleG8 New Alliance Condemned as New Wave of Colonialism in Africa
Claire Provost, Liz Ford and Mark Tran – The Guardian,
24 Feb 2014
A landmark G8 initiative to boost agriculture and relieve poverty has been damned as a new form of colonialism after African governments agreed to change seed, land and tax laws to favour private investors over small farmers. Ten countries made more than 200 policy commitments, including changes to laws and regulations after giant agribusinesses were granted unprecedented access to decision-makers over the past two years.
→ read full article9 Shocking Dangers of Fluoride Exposure
Dr. Edward F. Group, Global Healing Center – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2014
Ingested in high doses, fluoride is indisputably toxic; it was once commonly used in rat poison. So why is it in our drinking water? Using non-fluoride toothpaste can immediately reduce your fluoride exposure. Maintaining healthy iodine levels can help protect the thyroid from fluoride.
→ read full articleWriting the Snowden Files: ‘The Paragraph Began to Self-Delete’
Luke Harding – The Guardian,
24 Feb 2014
Was it the NSA? GCHQ? A Russian hacker? Who was secretly reading his book on Snowden while he wrote it, wonders Luke Harding. Something odd happened. The paragraph I had just written began to self-delete. The cursor moved rapidly from the left, gobbling text. I watched my words vanish. When I tried to close my OpenOffice file the keyboard began flashing and bleeping.
→ read full articleAre the Robots about to Rise? Google’s New Director of Engineering Thinks So…
Carole Cadwalladr – The Guardian,
24 Feb 2014
Ray Kurzweil popularised the Teminator-like moment he called the ‘singularity’, when artificial intelligence overtakes human thinking. But now the man who hopes to be immortal is involved in the very same quest – on behalf of the tech behemoth.
→ read full articleUgandan Anti-Gay Law Is Huge Step Backwards, Says Barack Obama
Associated Press – The Guardian,
17 Feb 2014
President Barack Obama on Sunday [16 Feb 2014] warned Uganda over its plans to further criminalise homosexuality, saying it would “complicate our valued relationship”.
→ read full articleClimate Change Is Here Now and It Could Lead to Global Conflict
Nicholas Stern – The Guardian,
17 Feb 2014
Extreme weather events in the UK and overseas are part of a growing pattern that it would be very unwise for us, or our leaders, to ignore, writes the author of the influential 2006 report on the economics of climate change.
→ read full articleUganda to Authorise Life Sentence for Homosexuals
Mail & Guardian – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2014
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni plans to sign a bill into law that prescribes life imprisonment for some homosexual acts, officials said Friday [14 Feb 2014], alarming rights activists who have condemned the bill as draconian in a country where homosexuality already has been criminalized.
→ read full article(Português) Portugal Ajuda a Viabilizar Entrada de Milho Transgénico na Europa
Esquerda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2014
A abstenção de Portugal e de outros três países significou dar luz verde ao cultivo do milho Pioneer TC1507, contra a vontade de 19 países e do Parlamento Europeu.
→ read full articleMale Sexual Orientation Influenced by Genes, Study Shows
Ian Sample, science correspondent – The Guardian,
17 Feb 2014
A study of gay men in the US has found fresh evidence that male sexual orientation is influenced by genes. Scientists tested the DNA of 400 gay men and found that genes on at least two chromosomes affected whether a man was gay or straight.
→ read full articleInternet Governance Too US-Centric, Says European Commission
Ian Traynor – The Guardian,
17 Feb 2014
The mass surveillance carried out by the NSA means that governance of the internet has to be made more international, the EU’s executive has declared. Setting out proposals, the EC called for a shift away from the California-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann).
→ read full articleThird World America’s Trade Agreements
Charles Sullivan – The Picket, Shepherd University,
10 Feb 2014
If enacted, TPP will permit privately-owned corporations to have hegemony over the governments of sovereign nations.
→ read full articleUN Denounces Vatican over Child Abuse and Demands Immediate Action
Lizzy Davies and Henry McDonald – The Guardian,
10 Feb 2014
The Vatican has failed to acknowledge the huge scale of clerical sex abuse and has implemented policies that have led to “the continuation of the abuse and the impunity of the perpetrators”, a UN panel said on Wednesday [5 Feb 2014] in a scathing rebuke of the Holy See’s handling of the global scandal.
→ read full articleMicrosoft, Facebook, Google and Yahoo Release US Surveillance Requests
Spencer Ackerman and Dominic Rushe – The Guardian,
10 Feb 2014
Tens of thousands of accounts associated with customers of Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Yahoo have their data turned over to US government authorities every six months as the result of secret court orders, the tech giants disclosed for the first time on Monday [3 Feb 2014].
→ read full articleOMAR: Uncovering Occupied Palestine
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Feb 2014
OMAR is the second film directed by Hany Alu-Assad to be a finalist among foreign language films nominated to receive an Oscar at the 2014 Academy Awards ceremony on March 2nd.
→ read full articleIndustrial Band Skinny Puppy Demand $666,000 after Music Is Used in Guantánamo Torture
Sean Michaels – The Guardian,
10 Feb 2014
“We sent them an invoice for our musical services considering they had gone ahead and used our music without our knowledge and used it as an actual weapon against somebody,” keyboardist Cevin Key recently told CTV News.
→ read full articleTen Principles to Guide the Young Activist
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom,
10 Feb 2014
They say people who live for a higher cause are happier than those who don’t. May you always find your happiness in alleviating the pain of others by standing up for what is right and honorable.
→ read full articlePakistan’s Future Is Tied to the Taliban
Tariq Ali – The Guardian,
10 Feb 2014
With the impending withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, the time has come to talk – despite the horrific wave of bombings.
→ read full articleA Meeting with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini 35 Years Ago
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Feb 2014
Khomeini by insisting on all or nothing against the Shah did create an Iranian transition to a new political order. In contrast the 2011 militants in Tahrir Square were content with the removal of Mubarak and promises of reforms, and ended up succumbing to a counter-revolutionary tsunami that has reconstituted the repressive Mubarak past in a more extreme form.
→ read full articleFake-Food Scandal Revealed as Tests Show Third of Products Mislabelled
Felicity Lawrence – The Guardian,
10 Feb 2014
Consumers are being sold drinks with banned flame-retardant additives, pork in beef, fake cheese, mozzarella that is less than half real cheese, ham on pizzas that is either poultry or “meat emulsion”, and frozen prawns that are 50% water laboratory tests show.
→ read full articleWar on the Poor in Honduras: Social Control, Gangs and the US’s Role in Remilitarizing Central America
Dawn Paley – Toward Freedom,
10 Feb 2014
Election day in Tegucigalpa kicked off on November 24th last year with the feel of a carnival, a rare sensation in a city where the vast majority of residents are faced with grinding poverty, regular gang extortion and a murder rate that is among the world’s highest.
→ read full articleSkipping: Is There Anything Wrong with Taking the Food That Supermarkets Throw Away?
Emine Saner – The Guardian,
3 Feb 2014
Three men will appear in court for allegedly ‘dumpster diving’ – taking food from a supermarket dustbin. But isn’t the crime the vast amount of food being put into skips in the first place?
→ read full articleDark Lands: The Grim Truth behind the ‘Scandinavian Miracle’
Michael Booth – The Guardian,
3 Feb 2014
Television in Denmark is rubbish, Finnish men like a drink – and Sweden is not exactly a model of democracy. Why, asks one expert, does everybody think the Nordic region is a utopia?
→ read full articleScarlett Johansson Is Right – The Face of SodaStream Doesn’t Fit with Oxfam
Vijay Prashad – The Guardian,
3 Feb 2014
Thanks to the star’s involvement with the Israeli company, illegal settlement activity is under increased scrutiny. This debate is better than silence, or than celebrity airbrushing of deep-seated problems. I welcome it.
→ read full articleHow and When to Book a Cheap Flight
Isabel Choat – The Guardian,
3 Feb 2014
New research shows that the best time to book a summer flight is as late as five weeks before your holiday, contrary to travel industry experts who advise travellers book as early as possible.
→ read full articleUS Government Privacy Board Says NSA Bulk Collection of Phone Data Is Illegal
Spencer Ackerman and Dan Roberts – The Guardian,
27 Jan 2014
23 Jan 2014 – The US government’s privacy board has sharply rebuked President Barack Obama over the NSA’s mass collection of phone data, saying the program defended by Obama last week was illegal and ought to be shut down.
→ read full articleEdward Snowden Tells German TV That NSA Is Involved in Industrial Espionage
Reuters in Berlin – The Guardian,
27 Jan 2014
In a lengthy interview broadcast on the public broadcaster ARD TV on Sunday [26 Jan 2014], Snowden said the NSA did not limit its espionage to issues of national security and cited the German engineering firm Siemens as one target.
→ read full articleLiterary Project Honours Baghdad’s Devastated Bookselling District
Ellie Violet Bramley – The Guardian,
27 Jan 2014
Hundreds of writers and artists prepare tributes to Iraq’s historic books hub, Al-Mutanabbi Street, hit by car bomb in 2007. It’s said that when Baghdad was sacked by the Mongols in 1258, the river Tigris ran red one day with the blood of those killed, and black the next with the ink of their books.
→ read full articleLatin America Is Being Transformed by a Vision of Post-Human Rights
Oscar Guardiola-Rivera – The Guardian,
27 Jan 2014
From Colombia to Argentina, an ethical politics driven by protest movements is shaking up the old economic order.
→ read full articleAn American Idol: The United States Should ‘Govern’ the World?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
This post consists of a much expanded text of an opinion piece that was published by AJE on January 18, 2014; it seeks to discredit imperial and neoliberal claims that the United States is a benevolent hegemon, providing global public goods to the world as a whole, including supposed geopolitical and ideological rivals.
→ read full article(Français) 20e Anniversaire de la Rebellion du Chiapas
Bernard Duterme , Jérôme Baschet – Centre Tricontinental-CETRI,
27 Jan 2014
« Le goût de la liberté des zapatistes » – Historien médiéviste reconnu internationalement, Jérôme Baschet est sans doute aujourd’hui l’observateur francophone le plus proche de la rébellion des indigènes zapatistes du Sud-Est mexicain.
→ read full articleAre You Opposed to Fracking? Then You Might Just Be a Terrorist
Nafeez Ahmed – The Guardian,
27 Jan 2014
Over the last year, a mass of shocking evidence has emerged on the close ties between Western government spy agencies and giant energy companies, and their mutual interests in criminalising anti-fracking activists.
→ read full articleUS Psychology Body Declines to Rebuke Member in Guantánamo Torture Case
Spencer Ackerman – The Guardian,
27 Jan 2014
America’s professional association of psychologists has quietly declined to rebuke one of its members, a retired US army reserve officer, for his role in one of the most brutal interrogations known to have to taken place at Guantánamo Bay, the Guardian has learned.
→ read full articleImperiled Polities: Egypt and Turkey—Two Visions of Democracy
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
The recent disturbing political turmoil in Turkey and Egypt, each in its own way, is illustrative. In both countries there are strong, although quite divergent, traditions of charismatic authoritarian leadership, reinforced by quasi-religious sanctification. Very recently, however, this authoritarian past is being challenged by counter-traditions of populist legitimacy.
→ read full articleThe Truth about Israel’s Secret Nuclear Arsenal
Julian Borger – The Guardian,
20 Jan 2014
Israel has been stealing nuclear secrets and covertly making bombs since the 1950s. And western governments, including Britain and the US, turn a blind eye. But how can we expect Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions if the Israelis won’t come clean?
→ read full articleTPP: Poison for Local Community Resilience
Richard Heinberg – Common Dreams,
20 Jan 2014
If a city, county, or state were to ban fracking within its jurisdiction, oil companies could overturn the ban and sue for millions of dollars in lost profits. Want to label GM foods? Sorry, that’s a barrier to trade. Want local schools to buy healthy food from local farmers? Nope, that might violate the rights of Big Ag. Want to protect a forest? Stand aside, you’re in the way of profits.
→ read full articleBeyond Reform: It’s Time to Shut Down the World Bank
Cyril Mychalejko – Toward Freedom,
20 Jan 2014
16 Jan 2014 – The World Bank came under fire again last week when its ombudsman revealed that the bank’s investment in a palm oil project in Honduras worsened human rights abuses and violent conflicts.
→ read full articleClimate Activists Slapped With Terrorism Charges for Devon Energy Protest
Richard Smallteacher, CorpWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jan 2014
10 Jan 2014 – Two climate activists who staged a protest at the headquarters of Devon Energy, a Fortune 500 company based in Oklahoma city, have been charged with a “terrorism hoax” after black powder drifted down from a banner that they unfurled.
→ read full articleWhy Our Debate about Surveillance Doesn’t Go Far Enough
Tom Engelhardt – Mother Jones,
20 Jan 2014
In the wake of Snowden’s revelations, we’ve been narrowly focused on whether or not we should have more security or more privacy. We need to start thinking about the problem differently.
→ read full article