Articles by M

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The Economic Cost of Violence Containment
Institute for Economics and Peace – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

One of the major challenges in developing policies aimed at increasing peace is the difficulty of being able to accurately gauge the benefits that result from peace. Recognising this, the Institute for Economics and Peace has developed a new and ground breaking methodology to estimate the cost of violence to the global economy, including calculations for 152 countries that detail the costs of thirteen different types of violence.

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Psychology Association’s Torture Link Fails “Do-No-Harm” Ethics
Roy Eidelson and Trudy Bond – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

As we look to the future, we wonder whether the profound tragedy of Guantanamo might have been diminished if psychologists there had held fast to our profession’s do-no-harm principles and refused to countenance human rights abuses, and if psychology’s leadership had done the same.

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Propaganda Rules the News
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

Glenn Greenwald points out the independence that RT, a Russian media organization, permits Abby Martin who denounced Russia’s alleged invasion of Ukraine, compared to the fates of Phil Donahue (MSNBC) and Peter Arnett (NBC), both of whom were fired for expressing opposition to the Bush regime’s illegal attack on Iraq.

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California Bill Would Ban Orca Shows at Seaworld
Michael Martinez - CNN, 10 Mar 2014

A California state legislator is proposing to ban the captivity of killer whales for entertainment at SeaWorld in the wake of CNN’s controversial documentary Blackfish. “It is time that we embrace that the long-accepted practice of keeping orcas captive for human amusement must end,” state Assemblyman Richard Bloom, a Democrat from Santa Monica, said at a press conference Friday [7 Mar 2014] at the city’s oceanfront pier.

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Breaking 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.’

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(Castellano) La OEA se solidarizó con Venezuela en una decisión histórica
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

Con 29 votos a favor y tres en contra, de Estados Unidos, Canadá y Panamá, la organización regional abre así el camino para condenar la violencia y descarta de este modo que una comisión observadora vaya a Venezuela para constatar la situación producto de la violencia fascista, como se había propuesto anteriormente.

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Vegan Myths Debunked
EcoWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

You’ve heard it all before: Vegans are so pasty and unhealthy—they certainly can’t be getting enough protein! And you have to have pockets full of cash to even think about going vegan. Right? Wrong. This infographic explains.

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Thank You, Haiti! Thank You, Cuba!
Marilyn Laglois – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

It’s time to show some appreciation and support for the people of two neighboring Caribbean islands. January 1, 2014 was the 210th and 55th anniversary of two major revolutions— one in Haiti and the other in Cuba— that can help us wake up and reclaim our humanity.

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Sri Lanka: Bring Up the Bodies
The Economist – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

Creeping Towards an International Inquiry into War Crimes – Evidence of past atrocities keeps turning up in Sri Lanka.

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400 Youths Arrested at White House Protesting Keystone XL Pipeline
EcoWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

2 Mar 2014 – Today more than 1,200 youths from across the country marched to the White House to protest the Keystone XL pipeline. 400 youths were arrested while participating in a nonviolent civil disobedience sit-in, the largest youth act of civil disobedience at the White House in a generation.

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Ukraine-Crimea-Georgia–the West and Russia
Johan Galtung, 10 Mar 2014 - TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

The dividing line of the Roman Empire from 395, confirmed by the schism between Catholic and Orthodox Christianity in 1054, is reflected in Ukraine’s extremely complex history. Odessa is in the West, Donets in the East, Ukrainian in the West, more Russian in the East. And Kiev–origin of Russia, Rus–the capital, in the middle. One split in two, two united in one: both true.

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Japanese Investigator Says Lessons of Fukushima Disaster Ignored
Kristine Kwok in Tokyo – South China Morning Post, 10 Mar 2014

8 Mar 2014 – According to the foundation’s research, the government and Tepco operated under the belief that nuclear plants were completely safe. Before the earthquake, government regulators and Tepco avoided addressing the potential risks because this would cause “unnecessary anxiety and misunderstanding” among the public, Funabashi wrote in a paper published by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

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Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire Deported from Egypt En Route to Gaza
Peace People – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

On 5th March, 2014 Mairead Maguire and Ann Patterson, members of the Peace People, N. Ireland were deported from Egypt as they attempted to enter the country in order to join an international delegation of 100 women wishing to visit Gaza via the Egyptian Rafah Border.

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Straighten Up or You’re Dead: The Case for Black Lesbians in South Africa
Fairuz Mullagee and Ernest Booys – Pambazuka News, 10 Mar 2014

In post-apartheid South Africa, sexual violence has become a socially endorsed punitive project for maintaining patriarchal order. Black township lesbians have not benefited from legal protection because of important weaknesses in the justice system. These need to be addressed.

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The Conundrum of ‘Democratic’ Coups
Lawrence Davidson – Consortium News, 10 Mar 2014

The U.S. government says it wants to spread “democracy,” a questionable claim considering the history. Think Iran-1953, Guatemala-1954, Chile-1973, Haiti-1991/2004, etc. Just this past year, the U.S. has embraced coups against elected presidents in Egypt and now Ukraine.

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Has 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.

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Has Blackwater Been Deployed to Ukraine?
Damien Gayle – Daily Mail, 10 Mar 2014

9 Mar 2014 – Notorious U.S. mercenaries ‘seen on the streets of flashpoint city’ as Russia claims 300 hired guns have arrived in country.

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Forbes 400 List of World’s Richest People Highlights Growth of Social Inequality
Ed Hightower, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

* The world’s 85 richest people have more wealth than the poorer half of the world’s population combined. Some 2.4 billion people live on less than $2 per day.
* In the United States, 95 percent of all income gains between 2009 and 2012 went to the wealthiest 1 percent of the population.

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December 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

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Covert Drone War: UN Report Identifies 30 Drone Strikes That Require ‘Public Explanation’
Alice K Ross – The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 10 Mar 2014

1 Mar 2014 – A UN counter-terrorism expert has published the second report of his year-long investigation into drone strikes, highlighting 30 strikes where civilians are reported to have been killed.

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Uganda: Scientific Statement from the Ministry of Health on Homosexuality
Pambazuka News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

A team of top scientists appointed by the government to give an opinion on homosexuality is unanimous that this sexual orientation is natural and has existed in Africa and everywhere in the world since time immemorial. It is strange for President Museveni to claim he relied on this expert report to assent to the draconian anti-gay bill.

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Steeped in Its Bloody History, Again Embracing Resistance
Andrew Higgins – International New York Times, 10 Mar 2014

An excellent historical perspective on the depth of Russia’s ties in the Crimea. Required reading.

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The Washington Post Uses Biased Experts to Promote Propaganda on Venezuela
Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 10 Mar 2014

That the sources of this supposedly expert analysis are funded by corporations and governments openly hostile to the Venezuelan government, and which have even attempted its overthrow in the past, would appear to be a fairly glaring omission.

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A Look at Africa’s Anti-Gay Laws
Denis Nzioka – Pambazuka News, 10 Mar 2014

A trend is forming from African nations – which already criminalize same sex acts, albeit, through laws inherited from colonial masters – to further put in place legislation that amplify, further criminalize and increase punishment for same sex acts.

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Poverty
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

Recently a zoo offered jobs to unemployed workers to disguise themselves as animals and play in the cages.

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Did Nonviolence Fail in Egypt?
Mark Engler and Paul Engler – Foreign Policy In Focus, 10 Mar 2014

The Egyptian Revolution is a perfect case study for both the power and the limits of nonviolent mass movements.

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Edward 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.

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(Português) Brasil-Europa: Cidadania e Confidencialidade na Internet
Forum Abel Varzim – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

O Brasil e a União Europeia concordaram na segunda-feira, 24 de fevereiro de 2014, em lançar um cabo submarino de comunicação em fibra ótica de Lisboa [Portugal] a Fortaleza [Brasil] para reduzir a dependência nos Estados Unidos, depois que Washington espionou Brasília e várias capitais europeias.

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Memo to Judge: Really?? – What We Owe the Oak Ridge Three
Ralph Hutchison, OREPA – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

On February 18 [2014] we heard it from a federal judge—there are two variations. The first: There are plenty of ways for you to protest and deliver your message without breaking the law. The second: If you people would just put this time and energy into working for the change you want in the political system, you might get the change you seek. Both sentiments are either disingenuous or naïve.

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(Italiano) Pakistan: e adesso che cosa fare?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

Islamabad, Ministero degli Esteri (28 febbraio 2014) – Il punto basilare è che il Pakistan non otterrà quella merce detta “pace” in Kashmir, Afghanistan e Asia Centrale perseguendo solo i finie i mezzi di Washington e di qualche élite locale. Perché sbocci la pace bisogna considerare pure gli obiettivi di altre parti; e sono molti.

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America’s Staggering Hypocrisy In Ukraine
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 10 Mar 2014

The United States has invaded or otherwise intervened in so many countries that it would be challenging to compile a complete list. Just last decade, there were full-scale U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, plus American bombing operations from Pakistan to Yemen to Libya. So, what is to make of John Kerry’s pronouncement that Russia’s military intervention in the Crimea section of Ukraine – at the behest of the country’s deposed president – is a violation of international law that the United States would never countenance?

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(Português) Ucrânia: entre máfias e o expansionismo militar
Alejandro Nadal - La Jornada, México, 10 Mar 2014

Mesmo que não desemboque em uma guerra, o conflito na Ucrânia e na Crimeia marcará de maneira decisiva as relações internacionais nos próximos anos.

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Remember That Famous Study about Obedience to Authority? Here’s How Stanley Milgram Got It Wrong
Andy Lee Roth – YES! Magazine, 10 Mar 2014

According to conventional wisdom, psychologist Stanley Milgram’s famous experiment revealed that human beings are hardwired to obey authority. But author Gina Perry looked at Milgram’s data—and she’s not convinced.

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Sean Byrne and Jessica Senehi – Violence: Analysis, Intervention and Prevention
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

Sean Byrne and Jessica Senehi, of the University of Manitoba, have written a useful analysis of approaches to violence and conflict resolution. It is written as a textbook for the increasing number of university-level classes in Peace and Conflict Studies.

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Gender, Conflict and Peace
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

We celebrate Women’s Day on March 8 every year. Have we really progressed on this front? Is there any real empowerment of women? As I work in areas of conflict transformation and peacebuilding, my focus on women in conflict situations and peacebuilding processes is natural.

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Crop Diversity Decline ‘Threatens Food Security’
Mark Kinver - BBC News, 10 Mar 2014

Fewer crop species are feeding the world than 50 years ago – raising concerns about the resilience of the global food system, a study has shown.

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Diets 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.

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(Português) A Ucrânia no caminho das superpotências
Jeferson Miola – Carta Maior, 10 Mar 2014

A potência norte-americana financia os setores oposicionistas, a maioria deles de extrema-direita e neonazistas. E se movimenta politicamente e diplomaticamente.

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Nigeria Court Orders Men Whipped for Gay Sex
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

Four young men have been convicted of gay sex and whipped publicly as punishment in an Islamic court on Thursday [6 Mar 2014], with 15 strokes. They also face a year’s imprisonment if they cannot pay a fine of $120. They had to prostrate themselves on the floor of the court to be whipped on their bottoms.

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Brainwashed: The Indoctrinated West
Andre Vltchek – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

Now, please, I am not trying to be funny and I am not trying to play with words: I am honestly wondering… I am humbly asking: “Are people in the West, particularly in Europe… are they pretending that they don’t know what is happening in Syria, Venezuela, Thailand and now, particularly, in Ukraine? Or have they simply turned into a cynical assembly of brainwashed degenerates?

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US Policy of Isolating Russia and Expanding NATO Is a Dismal Failure
Rodrigue Tremblay – Dissident Voice, 10 Mar 2014

What would the United States do if a hypothetical Russian Empire were to incorporate Mexico or Canada into a military alliance? To ask the question is to answer it. Why is it so difficult to understand that the best way to start a war is to threaten a country’s vital interests?

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Diplomacy NOT War!
James Albertini – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

Author, historian, and former U.S. State Dept. employee, William Blum, in his book “Killing Hope” documents U.S. military and/or CIA interventions in 77 countries since WWII. Ukraine makes #78. Today, there is increasing danger of world war and financial collapse by miscalculation or design over the crisis in the Ukraine which the U.S. helped to create.

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Unelected Power: Democracy on the Retreat in Europe (and not just in Ukraine)
Neil Clark – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

The hailing of a foreign-backed coup d’état in a country where fresh elections were only 12 months away as a “victory for democracy” was truly Orwellian. The wishes of the 2 million people who marched against the Iraq war in London in February 2003 were arrogantly dismissed, but the protesters in Maidan, though far fewer in number, simply had to have their way.

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International Peace Research Association at 50
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

Known as IPRA, founded in 1964 in London–and this author, 34 at the time, is the only surviving founder. IPRA rotates every two years from one peace research center to the other, and is now in very competent Turkish hands. And what is more natural than having the 50th anniversary for the hub of peace studies in that hub of the world, Istanbul, 10-14 August this year!! Hurry up, register!!!

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25th IPRA General Conference Call for Papers
Nesrin Kenar, IPRA Secretary General – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

On the occasion of IPRA’S 50th anniversary – Istanbul, Turkey, August 10-14, 2014 – Uniting for Peace: Building Sustainable Peace through Universal Values – Deadline for Proposals: March 15, 2014

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The Sultan of Brunei Intends to Stone Adulterers (Wait, What Century Is This?)
Charlie Campbell - Time, 10 Mar 2014

A new Sharia penal code for the Southeast Asian sultanate is set to include death by stoning, severing of limbs and flogging. Brunei was already struggling to walk the tightrope between authoritarianism and progress. Last year, noted Burmese scholar [TRANSCEND member] Maung Zarni resigned from his post at Darussalam Brunei University after he was instructed to stop extolling the merits of democracy in his homeland.

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Spring Fails in Ukrainian Plunderland
Pepe Escobar – Asia Times, 10 Mar 2014

The endgame: Moscow controls an autonomous Crimea for free, and the US/EU “control”, or try to plunder, disaster capitalism-style, a back of beyond western Ukraine wasteland “managed” by a bunch of Western puppets and oligarchs, with a smatter of neo-nazis. So what is the Obama/Kerry strategic master duo to do? Start a nuclear war?

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Granada (Music Video of the Week)
Carlos Bonell – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

Guitar par excellence! Composed by Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909)

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World’s Largest Grid Operator Reveals Why Increased Wind Energy Means Increased Savings
Michael Goggin, American Wind Energy Association – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

The largest grid operator in the world, serving 60 million customers, issued the final results of a major wind integration study on Monday [3 Mar 2014] and they are even better than the preliminary results.

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The ‘We-Hate-Putin’ Group Think
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 10 Mar 2014

7 Mar 2014 – The only foreign policy show on the U.S. media dial this past week has been the bashing of Russian President Putin over the Ukraine crisis – with a slap or two at President Obama for having worked with Putin on Syria and Iran. Lost in this “group think” is the why behind this demonization.

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The Ukraine Crisis through the Whimsy of International Law
Neil Macdonald - Radio Canada CBC News, 10 Mar 2014

This is the commander-in-chief of a military that operates a prison camp on Cuban soil, against the explicit wishes of the Cuban government, and which regularly fires drone missiles into other countries. He is a president who ordered that CIA torturers would go unprosecuted, of a nation that has invaded other countries whenever it wished, regardless of what the rest of the world might think.

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Implication in Any Strategic Roundtable of Its 12 Knights
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

Each Circulating Globally in Quest of Sustainability and Immortality – Use is frequently made of “roundtable” as a metaphor to suggest a configuration of a fruitful diversity of stakeholders and contrasting perspectives — vital to an integrative perspective.

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25th IPRA General Conference Call for Papers
Nesrin Kenar, IPRA Secretary General – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Mar 2014

On the occasion of IPRA’S 50th anniversary – Istanbul, Turkey, August 10-14, 2014 – Uniting for Peace: Building Sustainable Peace through Universal Values – Deadline for Proposals: March 15, 2014

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International Peace Research Association at 50
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Mar 2014

Known as IPRA, founded in 1964 in London–and this author, 34 at the time, is the only surviving founder. IPRA rotates every two years from one peace research center to the other, and is now in very competent Turkish hands. And what is more natural than having the 50th anniversary for the hub of peace studies in that hub of the world, Istanbul, 10-14 August this year!! Hurry up, register!!!

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Pakistan – What Now?
Johan Galtung, 3 Mar 2014 - TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

Islamabad, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2014) – The basic point is that Pakistan will not get that commodity called “peace” in Kashmir, Afghanistan and Central Asia by pursuing the ends and means of Washington and some local elites only. For peace to blossom the goals of other parties also have to be considered; and they are many.

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On The Third Anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi Catastrophe
Karl Grossman, Nuclear News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

3 Mar 2014 – With the third anniversary of the start of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe coming next week, the attempted Giant Lie about the disaster continues—a suppression of information, an effort at dishonesty of historical dimensions.

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(Português) Civilizados, Bárbaros e Selvagens
Antonio C. S. Rosa – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

Os ingleses do século XIX classificaram os povos e raças em Civilizados, Bárbaros e Selvagens, com base nas respectivas “evoluções”. Eles baseavam-se primariamente em três factores: a Teoria da Evolução, de Charles Darwin; a Revolução Industrial, nas origens do capitalismo industrial; e a Reforma da Igreja Católica, o cisma de onde surgiu o Protestantismo. Falsas premisas que levaram a falsas conclusões.

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(Português) Brasil – Experiência com animais: Opinião contrária
Laerte fernando levai – ANDA Agência de Notícias de Direitos Animais, 3 Mar 2014

O resgate de quase duzentos cães beagles no Instituto Royal de São Roque/SP, realizado por ativistas, surge como divisor de águas de um tema ainda considerado tabu no direito brasileiro: a experimentação animal.

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Gigabytes 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.

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Five New Reasons Monsanto’s ‘Science’ Doesn’t Add Up
Katherine Paul and Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

As new studies surface it’s become increasingly clear that among credible physicians and scientists the consensus is that we’d better wake up to the risks and threats posed by a reckless technology that has been allowed to dominate our food and farming systems.

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Ukraine Will Reveal the True EU
Charles McPhedran – New Matilda, 3 Mar 2014

3 Mar 2014 – A week after the president was deposed and with Russian invasion looming, protesters hope for an end to Ukraine’s cronyism, reports Charles McPhedran, who visited Kiev last week.

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(Castellano) Ovacionan en Sudáfrica documental sobre la amistad entre Mandela y Castro
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

La Fundación Nelson Mandela y la embajada de Cuba en Sudáfrica estrenaron en ese país el más reciente documental de la cineasta estadounidense Estela Bravo: Mandela y Fidel Castro, un homenaje al legado de la amistad entre estos dos líderes.

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Fracking 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.

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The Crisis in Ukraine
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

The moderates have certainly lost control. They cannot protect public monuments, and they are forced to try to pre-empt the neo-nazis by legislating the neo-nazi program. The captive Ukrainian parliament has introduced measures to ban any official use of the Russian language. This, of course, is unacceptable to the Russian provinces.

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FDA Panel Debates Technique That Would Create Embryos with Three Genetic Parents
Ariana Eunjung Cha and Sandhya Somashekhar – The Washington Post, 3 Mar 2014

The provocative notion of genetically modified babies met the very real world of federal regulation Tuesday [25 Feb 2014], as a government advisory committee began debating a new technique that combines DNA from three people to create embryos free of certain inherited diseases.

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Some Thoughts on Creativity . . . And Life
Anthony J. Marsella – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

Diversity, though life itself, is considered too difficult to accommodate, and so they are moving us toward, uniformity and conformity. How easier to control! How much easier to dominate! Consider the pantheon of “Big” in our world today – Big Pharm, Big Ag, Big Energy, Big Transportation, Big Education, Big Auto, Big Med, Big Government, Big Military, and “Banks too Big to Fail,” so they remain in control of our lives and life.

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China Issues Retaliatory Report on US Human Rights
Voice of America – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

February 28, 2014 – China has issued a report documenting alleged human rights abuses in the United States after an annual State Department global rights survey strongly criticized Beijing.

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Monsanto’s Roundup Found in 75% of Air and Rain Samples
John Deike, EcoWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

A new U.S. Geological Survey has concluded that pesticides can be found in, well, just about anything.

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Reconciliation, Reform and Resilience: Positive Peace for Lebanon
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

Syria and Lebanon have been historically entangled — economically, politically and socially, both having been parts of the Ottoman Empire. At the end of the First World War, the Ottoman Middle East was divided between France and England and placed under the mandate system of the League of Nations.

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The Other Story of Venezuela’s Riots
Antonio Castillo – New Matilda, 3 Mar 2014

Venezuela’s opposition have never accepted defeat at the ballot box. The riots in Tachira are a sign that they can’t wait until 2015 for another legitimate tilt at power.

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Channel 4 Refutes Sri Lankan “Propaganda Offensive”
Channel 4, UK – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

Channel 4 has today [28 Feb 2014] taken the step of publishing a refutation of “an international propaganda offensive” by supporters of the Sri Lankan government against its reporting. Channel 4 and Current Affairs journalists led the way in exposing the country’s war crimes, culminating in the broadcast of the documentary No Fire Zone – a forensic investigation into the final weeks of the bloody civil war in Sri Lanka.

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Alexandre Marc (1904-2000)
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

Marc was a complex man, one of the bridges who helped younger persons to understand the debates which surrounded the Russian Revolution, the rise and decline of Fascism and Nazism, and the post-Second World War hopes for a united Europe.

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John Scales Avery – Collected Essays, Volume 2
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

The pdf file for “Collected Essays, Volume 2” has been published on the website of the Danish Peace Academy.

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(Italiano) Criminalizzare la guerra di aggressione
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

Pochi, o nessuno, lo sostengono con forza oggi come Mahathir Mohammad, quarto primo ministro della Malaysia, da 22 anni. Egli confronta quello che facciamo quando una persona ne uccide un’altra con tutto quello che non facciamo quando milioni ne uccidono milioni in guerre di aggressione.

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Imelda Marcos Stamp
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

For Imelda’s 50th birthday, President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines ordered as a surprise for her that a postage stamp with her picture be issued.

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How the GDP Measures Everything ‘Except That Which Makes Life Worthwhile’
Dr. David Suzuki, EcoWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

“Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.” —Robert F. Kennedy.

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Syria: 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.

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UK – 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

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Sabadell Flashmob – Ode to Joy (Music Video of the Week)
Vallès Symphony Orchestra – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

100 people from the Vallès Symphony Orchestra, the Lieder, Amics de l’Òpera and Coral Belles Arts choirs.

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No Big Deal
Paul Krugman – International New York Times, 3 Mar 2014

It’s far from clear that the T.P.P. is a good idea. The first thing you need to know about trade deals is that they aren’t what they used to be. The glory days of trade negotiations are long behind us. Why? Basically, old-fashioned trade deals are a victim of their own success: there just isn’t much more protectionism to eliminate.

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World Bank Postpones Uganda Loan Over Anti-Gay Law
Anna Yukhananov, Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

The World Bank on Thursday [27 Feb 2014] postponed a $90 million loan to Uganda’s health system over a law that toughened punishment for gays, an unusual move for an institution that typically avoids wading into politics.

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Support Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions-BDS Until Palestinian Right to Self-Determination Is Recognized by Israel
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

We all know the Jewish Narrative, particularly the story of the holocaust, but our sadness for this one of humanity’s greatest acts of inhumanity, should not stop us from speaking out on Israel’s current policy of a ‘silent genocide’ of the Palestinian people, and currently today of the people in Gaza.

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Europe May Be the Lesser of Ukraine’s Two Evils
Sasha Shtargot – New Matilda, 3 Mar 2014

If you watch the TV news and read the tabloid newspapers in the West, you would understand the crisis that has been playing out in Ukraine as a conflict between the Ukrainian people demanding freedom and a corrupt, pro-Russian government desperately clinging to power. The reality is actually far more complex.

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Omar 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.

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U.S. Christian Right behind Anti-Gay Law Passed in Uganda
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

Feb 24, 2014 – Rev. Kapya Kaoma: “New Ugandan law that makes homosexual acts punishable by life imprisonment was modeled after the talking points of right-wing U.S. evangelicals.”

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Nuclear Fallout – Blast from the Past: Lucky Dragon 60 Years On
Jeff Kingston – The Japan Times, 3 Mar 2014

Sixty years ago, on March 1, 1954, a Japanese fishing boat named Lucky Dragon No. 5 was doused by radioactive fallout from a U.S. hydrogen-bomb test, codenamed Castle Bravo, on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

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In the Name of “Peace”, the European Union Readies for War
Jean Shaoul, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

A series of EU discussion papers and meetings made it clear that the European powers are pushing for a more assertive militarist policy. A recent brief, “Why Europe needs a new global strategy,” sets out their military ambitions, not just in former colonial possessions but in areas further afield.

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New Report Details ‘Brutal’ Israeli Policies
Jonathan Cook – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

Remember that the defence minister, Moshe Yaalon, said that the army’s job was to ‘burn into the consciousness’ of the Palestinians their defeat. The only aim one can infer from that is that the army’s role is to use force to make the Palestinians weak and compliant.

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Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Activities in Myanmar Ordered to Close Down
Médecins Sans Frontières Holland – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

On February 27 [2014], Médecins Sans Frontières received a written order from the Union Government of Myanmar to cease all operations in the country, which led to a full closure of all MSF Holland clinics on February 28. This act left patients confused and desperately concerned across the whole country.

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(Português) 6 Notas para Compreender o que se Passa na Crimeia, Peça Chave do Conflito na Ucrânia
Alberto Sicília, de Kiev - Principia Marsupia (Espanha), 3 Mar 2014

27 fev 2014 – Depois do ocorrido durante a última semana em Kiev, o foco do conflito na Ucrânia translada-se à Crimeia. O que acontecer nesta região será determinante: pode a situação degenerar numa guerra civil? Putin intervirá militarmente? Continuará a Ucrânia a ser um país ou caminha para a secessão?

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Mexico Building Latin America’s Largest Solar Farm to Replace Old, Dirty Oil-Power Plant
Ari Phillips, ThinkProgress – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

“Mexico can reduce the environmental impact of old, dirty sources of energy, while taking the long view and building a sustainable future economy.”

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(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.

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GCHQ Revealed: Inside Her Majesty’s Listening Service
Christoph Scheuermann – Der Spiegel, 3 Mar 2014

The Snowden files have brought the shocking espionage activities of the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters into the open. Former employees describe an agency with shifting goals, a strong honor code — and an inferiority complex.

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Fighting Fund for Academic Boycott of Israel
(Jake Lynch) Australians for BDS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

February 2014 – Associate Professor Jake Lynch, Director of Sydney University’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies [and TMS advisor/peace journalist], has been taken to the Federal Court of Australia by the Israel Law Centre, due to his support of the Palestinian call for academic boycott of Israel. We call on our supporters to MAKE A DONATION to support Jake Lynch’s fight for our democratic rights.

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(Castellano) Mandela y Fidel
CubaVisión– TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

La Fundación Nelson Mandela y la embajada de Cuba en Sudáfrica estrenaron en ese país el más reciente documental de la cineasta estadounidense Estela Bravo: Mandela y Fidel Castro, un homenaje al legado de la amistad entre estos dos líderes.

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Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill Puts U.S. Aid at Risk
Bryant Harris, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

26 Feb 2014 – Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s authorisation of the so-called “kill the gays” bill has led Washington officials to review U.S. aid to the African country. U.S. evangelicals such as Scott Lively claimed that gays were responsible for the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide, and asserted that they were now targeting Uganda by trying to “convert” Ugandan children.

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Western Media Cheering a ‘Democratic’ Coup in Ukraine
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 3 Mar 2014

In the upside-down world that has become the U.S. news media, the democratically elected president was a dictator and the coup makers who overthrew him were “pro-democracy” activists. Events in Ukraine and Venezuela suggest that the idea of respecting the results of elections and working within legal, albeit flawed, political systems is no longer in vogue, unless the “U.S. side” happens to win, of course.

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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.

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Amnesty 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.

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(Français) Que se passe-t-il au Venezuela ?
Simón Rodríguez Porras – CETRI-Centre Tricontinental, 3 Mar 2014

Les images de milliers de manifestants dans les rues des principales villes vénézuéliennes, du déploiement de troupes et des actions de groupes de civils armés ont été diffusées à l’échelle internationale au cours des deux dernières semaines.

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