Articles by M
We found 35073 results.
Gandhi and Nationalism: The Path to Indian Independence
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
The understanding of the ways spiritual concepts are used in political life is made even more complex in the case of Gandhi in that he was not a thinker in terms of systems but in terms of action. “My life is my message.”
→ read full articleKeeping the Peace Profitable in Mozambique
Marianne Perez de Fransius – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
Mozambique has profited from its long period of peace, both in terms of tourism and foreign investment, but if they don’t transform the current conflict left over from the civil war, they have a lot to lose. Tourism is already suffering… who knows what will be next.
→ read full articlePalestinians in Israel: Trapped in the Ghetto
Johathan Cook – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
“We are being choked to death,” said Sawaid, Ramya’s village leader. “They are building on top of us as though we don’t exist. Are we invisible to them?”
→ read full articleBe Careful What You Wish…
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
A husband and wife, both sixty years old, were walking through a forest.
→ read full article“Big Brother Is Watching You”. Beyond Orwell’s Worst Nightmare
Marjorie Cohn - Global Research,
3 Feb 2014
“Big Brother is Watching You,” George Orwell wrote in his disturbing book 1984. But, as Mikko Hypponen points out, Orwell “was an optimist.” Orwell never could have imagined that the National Security Agency (NSA) would amass metadata on billions of our phone calls and 200 million of our text messages every day.
→ read full article(Português) A América Latina da Celac
Alfredo Serrano Mancilla – Pagina 12 (Argentina),
3 Feb 2014
Não faltou (quase) ninguém em Havana para participar da II Cúpula da Comunidade de Estados Latinoamericanos e Caribenhos (Celac). Ninguém pode negar este espaço emergente na América Latina para América Latina e da América Latina, liderada apenas por latino-americanos.
→ read full articlePamela Olson – Fast Times in Palestine: A Love Affair with a Homeless Homeland
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
Pamela Olson has written a lively and personal account of her two years (2004-2006) in the West Bank of Palestine as an editor of the Palestine Monitor and as foreign press coordinator for Dr Mustafa Barghouthi’s 2005 presidential campaign.
→ read full articlePhilippines – The Women in the Bangsamoro Peace Process: History, Herstory
Carolyn O. Arguillas – Minda News,
3 Feb 2014
[Note from TMS editor: TRANSCEND member Emma Leslie is featured prominently on this report.] When the history of the peace process between the Philippine government and the Bangsamoro is written, the story of the women who helped make it possible will certainly be one of the highlights of this 40-year journey to peace.
→ read full article(Sinhala) ලංකා වාම දේශපාලනයේ මතවාදී ට්රයියෑංගලය (Ideological Triangle of Sri Lankan Left Politics)
Udaya R. Tennakoon - TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
Sri Lankan Left politics based on conflict theory and TRANSCEND approach of Johan Galtung.
→ read full articleUN Slams Israel Destruction of Jordan Valley Homes
AFP – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
The moves came as fresh opinion poll evidence showed that faith in the Middle East peace process has largely evaporated among both Israelis and Palestinians. The demolitions in the Jordan Valley on Thursday [30 Jan 2014] displaced 66 people, including 36 children.
→ read full articleUSA, Greatest Threat to Peace!
James Albertini – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
“The U.S. military budget is almost as large as the military spending of all the world’s other nations, combined. Together, the U.S. and its NATO allies account for more than 70 percent of global weapons spending. At last count, the U.S. spent six times more on war than China, and 11 times more than Russia. In fact, if you count up the U.S. and all of its allies, they are probably responsible for about 90 percent of total moneys spent on war.”
→ read full articleCitizenship Revoked: UK Home Secretary Pushes Through ‘Controversial’ Powers to Make People Stateless
Alice K Ross and Patrick Galey – The Bureau of Investigative Journalism,
3 Feb 2014
Currently [Home Secretary] May cannot revoke a person’s citizenship if it would make them stateless, so the power can only be used on dual nationals who would still have another nationality even if they lost their British citizenship.
→ read full articleOfficial Text: Proclamation of Latin America and Caribbean as a Zone of Peace
CELAC – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
Official Text Signed by the Heads of Government and State of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States-CELAC, 29 Jan 2014
→ read full articleGroup Condemns APA’s Ethics Decision on Former Guantanamo Psychologist
Jeffrey Kaye – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
Indeed, APA has been the biggest backer of psychologist participation in interrogations. APA’s former Chief Scientist, for instance, Susan Brandon, is Chief of Research for the High Value Detainee Interrogation Group.
→ read full article
Vida Tão Estranha (Music Video of the Week)
Ana Carolina – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
Album from Rodrigo Leão, “The Mother”, presented in concert at Casino Estoril, Portugal. On stage, the composer was accompanied by Cinema Ensemble, the Sinfonietta de Lisboa and two international guests.
→ read full article
Ownership of Washington Post by CIA Contractor Puts U.S. Journalism in Dangerous Terrain
Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
Jan 21, 2014 – Norman Solomon: There is a major conflict of interest in the ownership of The Washington Post by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who holds a $600 million contract with the CIA.
→ read full articleThe Barriers to Iranian–American Rapprochement: Israel and Saudi Arabia
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya - Global Research,
3 Feb 2014
The Saudi-controlled media and its propagandists went into overdrive frantically deriding and lamenting Washington’s decision to engage Tehran in direct and public high-level diplomatic dialogue whereas Israeli leaders said that the agreement should be rescinded.
→ read full articleObama’s NSA Blind Spot
Bruce Ackerman – Los Angeles Times,
3 Feb 2014
The president has no right to sit on the sidelines waiting for the Supreme Court to tell him what the Constitution means. As a former professor of constitutional law, he is in a good position to explain why the NSA isn’t violating the amendment’s demand that the government describe the persons and things involved in its data grabs.
→ read full articleNew Report Reveals: NSA, GCHQ Mapping “Political Alignment” of Cellphone Users
Eric London, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
28 Jan 2014 – New information made public by Edward Snowden reveals that the governments of the United States and United Kingdom are trawling data from cellphone “apps” to accumulate dossiers on the “political alignments” of millions of smartphone users worldwide.
→ read full articleAnti-War Poetry
Tom Greening – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
I scurry around the city
intoning my anti-war poems
at peace rallies and poetry readings,
An Accident Waiting to Happen
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
11 of the officers responsible for launching US nuclear missiles have been fired because of drug addiction, and a larger number of missile launch officers were found to be cheating on competence examinations. Three dozen officers were involved in the cheating ring and an equal number may have known and remained silent. Safety rules were being deliberately ignored and the men involved were said to be “burned out”.
→ read full articleChallenges More Difficult for Science Than Going to Mars…
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
Most extraordinary is the recognition that humanity will need to leave Planet Earth in order to occupy the environments in which it can continue to replicate the complex patterns of problems that science has been unable to address on Earth. The purpose here is explore a checklist of priorities and related considerations which science chooses to neglect in favour of associating its image with what is far away and long ago as being vital to the human enterprise.
→ read full articlePete Seeger: Troubadour of Truth and Justice
Amy Goodman - Truthdig,
3 Feb 2014
Pete sang truth to power through the epic struggles of most of the last century, for social justice, for civil rights, for workers, for the environment and for peace. His songs, his wise words, his legacy will resonate for generations.
→ read full articleGeneva II: «A Modest Beginning On Which We Can Build»
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
There is only a short time for private discussions to reach an agreement before the 10 February public restart. In any case, humanitarian aid is needed to limit the current heavy suffering. Thus we must use the influence we have in the next few days to push for an accord on relief supplies.
→ read full articleVictory! India Ends Tests on Animals for Household Products
PETA-People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
A skin sensitization test that is currently performed by rubbing harsh chemicals into guinea pigs’ shaved skin was replaced with non-animal testing methods. This move will end all animal-poisoning tests for cleaners, detergents, and other common household products in India.
→ read full articleMarx Was Right: Five Surprising Ways Karl Marx Predicted 2014
Sean McElwee – Rolling Stone,
3 Feb 2014
From the iPhone 5S to corporate globalization, modern life is full of evidence of Marx’s foresight.
→ read full articlePsychologists for Social Responsibility Letter to American Psychological Association Raising Questions on Decision in Leso Case
Psychologists for Social Responsibility – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Feb 2014
Evidence clearly exists that Dr. Leso and other psychologists have utterly failed to ensure that detention and interrogation operations at Guantánamo and elsewhere were kept “safe, legal, ethical, and effective.” By closing this case it is reasonable to assume that APA will never sanction any psychologist participating in government-sanctioned abuses.
→ read full articleNothing New Under the Sun
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
And here came the Zionists, mostly atheists, and wanted to bring the Jews to the Land of Israel without God’s permission, indeed abolishing God altogether. They built a secular society. Their founding father, Theodor Herzl, held that after the foundation of the Jewish State, no one outside it would be considered a Jew anymore.
→ read full articlePatterns of Impunity and Deceit in Myanmar
Emanuel Stoakes - Al Jazeera,
27 Jan 2014
A UN supervised investigation is needed before more atrocities are committed against the Rohingya Muslims.
→ read full article(Italiano) L’economia: un brutto aspetto
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
Come risultato il pianeta è ora ostaggio di debiti non rimborsabili: il PIL mondiale è già più basso del debito combinato mondiale dovuto alle banche. Il debito è superiore alla somma di denaro sul pianeta. Ma che cosa si può fare con i bankster al comando? Non granché; donde la cattiva prospettiva. I decisori delle multinazionali dominanti e delle banche, combatteranno qualunque controllo, non uccidendo ma corrompendo. I decisori degli stati dominanti, anglo-americani, combatteranno qualunque controllo uccidendo, corrompendo e spiando.
→ read full articleCorporation Carte Blanche: Will US-EU Trade Become Too Free?
Michaela Schiessl – Der Spiegel,
27 Jan 2014
Opposition to the planned new trans-Atlantic free trade agreement is growing. So far, criticism has focused on the fact that the deal seems directed exclusively at economic interests. Now fears are growing that corporations will be given too much power.
→ read full articleJane Goodall on Spirit and Science
Bill Moyers’ Journal – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
The Iconic Primatologist Talks to Bill Moyers and Reads Her Poem “The Old Wisdom” – “As human beings, we can encompass a vague feeling of what the universe is, and all in this funny little brain here — so there has to be something more than just brain, it has to be something to do with spirit as well.” – Jane Goodall (4:36)
→ read full articleWatchdog Report Says N.S.A. Program Is Illegal and Should End
Charlie Savage – International New York Times,
27 Jan 2014
The findings are laid out in a 238-page report, scheduled for release by Thursday [23 Jan 2014] and obtained by The New York Times, that represent the first major public statement by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which Congress made an independent agency in 2007 and only recently became fully operational.
→ read full articleDrone Warfare: More Than 2,400 Dead as Obama’s Drone Campaign Marks Five Years
Jack Serle – The Bureau of Investigative Journalism,
27 Jan 2014
Obama has launched over 390 covert drone strikes in his first five years in office. Drones have come to dominate Obama’s war in Yemen as much as in Pakistan.
→ read full articleU.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy “Deeply Concerned” About Japanese Dolphin Hunt
Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
20 Jan 2014 – In an unusual move, U.S. ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy has expressed deep concern over the traditional dolphin hunt in western Japan, where local fisherman corral dolphins in a secluded bay before killing many for meat.
→ read full articleWhy the Washington Post’s New Ties to the CIA Are So Ominous
Norman Solomon - Global Research,
27 Jan 2014
Washington Post refuses to face up to a conflict of interest involving Jeff Bezos — who’s now the sole owner of the newspaper at the same time he remains Amazon’s CEO and main stakeholder. The Post is supposed to expose CIA secrets. But Amazon is under contract to keep them. Amazon has a new $600 million “cloud” computing deal with the CIA.
→ read full articleAaron Swartz: The Life We Lost and the Day We Fight Back
Amy Goodman - Truthdig,
27 Jan 2014
A year after Internet freedom activist Aaron Swartz’s suicide at the age of 26, a film about this remarkable young man has premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The film, titled “The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz,” directed by Brian Knappenberger, follows the sadly short arc of Aaron’s life.
→ read full articleUS Feigns “Horror” Over Cooked-Up Report on Syrian War They Engineered
Tony Cartalucci – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
Qatar – chief financier of Al Qaeda in Syria – commissions “report” on atrocities published just ahead of Geneva conference.
→ read full articleQuantum Wampum Essential to Navigating Ragnarok
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
Thrival in Crisis through Embodying Turbulent Flow – Collapse of confidence: The recent global financial crisis, its current unresolved instabilities, and uncertainty regarding its future stability, all suggest the merit of continuing reflection on alternatives.
→ read full article
Carmina Burana (Music Video of the Week)
Carl Orff ~ André Rieu – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
May 5, 2010: Oh Fortuna | Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi – 13,360,498 YouTube Hits
→ read full articleAn Open Letter to Soldiers with ‘Mental Health’ Issues
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
Are you a soldier or veteran who is supposed to have a ‘mental health’ issue such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia or PTSD? If you are, then I have some suggestions for you to consider.
→ read full article(ελληνικά-Greek) Βία, Ειρήνη και Έρευνα της Ειρήνης
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
Translation to Greek by Mariana Kapetanidou of Johan Galtung’s paper “Violence, Peace, and Peace Research” (1969).
→ read full articleUganda’s Anti-Gay Bill, Unsigned but Still Effective
Faith Lokens, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
Uganda’s president has reportedly refused to sign a controversial anti-gay bill that would mean life in prison for people convicted of homosexual acts. But many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual and intersex people, and NGOs trying to help them, say many have been suffering discrimination for years and it is getting worse.
→ read full articleMyanmar Leaders and Their 34 Concrete Ways of Control, Deception, and Manipulation
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
Here is MY list of concrete, empirically verifiable acts the Burmese generals and ex-generals have been engaged in over the past 50 years since General Ne Win introduced the military rule on 2 March 1962. These acts are a given, irrespective of which general is in charge. They are getting worse.
→ 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 articleDavos Billionaires: Oblivious to the Coming Revolution
Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
You guys already own half the planet. In fact, a cultural revolution is creating a new global collective conscience between capitalism and inequality, the Haves and the Have-nots. A powerful virus is spreading.
→ read full articleThe Fragility of Our Complex Civilization
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
Science is not competitive. It is cooperative. It is a great monument built by many thousands of hands, each adding a stone to the cairn. This is true not only of scientific knowledge but also of every aspect of our culture, history, art and literature, as well as the skills that produce everyday objects upon which our lives depend. Civilization is cooperative. It is not competitive.
→ 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 articleIndia-Japan Nuclear Deal?
Fr. Thomas Kocherry – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
It was in 1986 Chernobyl accident took place in Russia. 3% of the Nuclear Plant only got burst. 97% is still alive. The Russians were not able to kill the plant completely. 90 million children were born deformed. 26 European countries were affected by radiation. It was in this context India entered into nuclear deal with Russia in 1988. In a similar way the Indo-Japanese nuclear deal is in the making. Japan cannot find an answer to Fukushima nuclear disaster.
→ read full articleGandhi: A Political and Spiritual Life
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in New Delhi on 30 January 1948 – Unfortunately, Gandhi surrounded himself only with “yes men” and more often by “yes women” who were not in touch with the violent movements among the Hindus. There were no representatives of orthodox Hinduism in his entourage nor did orthodox Hindu religious leaders take part in his satyagraha campaigns.
→ read full articleCuba Will Propose CELAC to Declare Latin America a Peace Zone
Cuban News Agency – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
Cuban deputy foreign minister Abelardo Moreno said that his country will propose the Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, to take place January 28 and 29 [2014] in Havana, to declare this region a peace zone.
→ read full article85 Richest People Own the Wealth of Half of the World’s Population
OXFAM – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
Wealthy elites have co-opted political power to rig the rules of the economic game, undermining democracy and creating a world where the 85 richest people own the wealth of half of the world’s population, worldwide development organization Oxfam warns in a report published today [20 Jan 2014].
→ read full articleDown and Out in Paradise: Homeless in Hawai’i
Cosme Caal - CounterPunch,
27 Jan 2014
There are countless blog postings by tourists complaining about the police not mobilizing enough force to get rid of homeless people. Truth be told it takes a particular sense of entitlement to travel another land and expect for local people to reproduce a world likeable to the tourist, because they can always encroach on another people’s land, somewhere else in the world.
→ read full articleIsak Svensson and Peter Wallensteen
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
The Go-Between: Jan Eliasson and Styles of Mediation, Washington, DC: US Institute of Peace, 2010 – “The lessons on mediation resources can all be connected to one key word—cooperation.” There is a need for cooperation with local efforts and forces for peace and between official and unofficial mediators.
→ read full articleHawks for Humanity
Chase Madar – Al Jazeera,
27 Jan 2014
To be fair, Human Rights Watch and Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., are far from alone in warmongering: In 2012, Amnesty International USA went so far as to put up bus-stop advertisements in Chicago during the NATO conference to urge the military alliance to “keep the progress going.”
→ read full articleUnder Pressure, Whole Foods Agrees to Stop Selling Produce Grown in Sewage Sludge
Rebekah Wilce – Center for Media and Democracy,
27 Jan 2014
Certified organic produce cannot be fertilized with sewage sludge, which is the industrial and hospital waste and human excrement flushed down the drains and later — in some cases — spread on some crops.
→ read full articleDavos’ Elite Message Deserves ‘Fierce Resistance’ Not Applause
Jon Queally – Common Dreams,
27 Jan 2014
As the World Economic Forum kicks off its global summit in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday [22 Jan 2014], critics of the annual gathering are eager to show that the well-polished public image of the event should not be allowed to eclipse the nefarious and destructive role played by the many corporate elites that sponsor it.
→ read full articleThe Global Plutocracy
Andre Damon and Barry Grey, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
The impoverishment of the working class and enrichment of the financial elite accelerated since the 2008 Wall Street crash. While the wealth of the world’s billionaires has doubled, there are today over 1 billion people living on less than a dollar per day, and nearly half the world’s population, more than 3 billion people, subsist on less than $2.50 per day.
→ read full articleWorld’s Poorest Suffer from Radioactive Sickness as Areva Mines for Uranium
Brandon Baker, EcoWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
More than 60 percent of Niger’s population lives on less than $1 per day, and even more have no electricity. Still, French company Areva keeps contaminating those residents and their environment while mining away for uranium—one of the few resources the world’s poorest country still has.
→ 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
US Largest Cocaine Smuggler Revealed: The Drug Enforcement Agency-DEA
NextNewsNetwork – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
Jan 15, 2014 – For decades, it has been rumored the United States government was secretly sponsoring the smuggling of cocaine into the country. Newly released documents, and testimony from Justice Department and DEA officials now show the stories of government running cocaine are true.
→ read full articleDavos: The Shifting Nature of Power and the Shifting Power of Nature
Kumi Naidoo - Greenpeace,
27 Jan 2014
One of the most challenging weeks of my working life starts today [22 Jan 2014]: the week of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Over 2,500 presidents, prime minsters, CEOs, celebrities and academics with a smattering of civil society, will be holed up in a small and posh mountain resort in Switzerland.
→ read full article(Castellano) Coordinadores de la Celac proclaman a América Latina como zona de paz
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
El documento “deja claro que la América Latina como zona de paz respetará los principios y normas del derecho intrernacional, se compromete a la solución pacífica de controversias, a fin de desterrar para siempre la amenaza y el uso de la fuerza en nuestra región”, explicó el vicecanciller de Cuba.
→ 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 articleGeneva Will Fail but Don’t Blame Only the Syrian Parties
Jan Oberg, TFF – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
The meeting in Geneva about Syria resumes today [24 Jan 2014]. It is destined to become a historic failure. Most observers will blame either of the armed Syrian parties – the government or the rebels – for adhering unbendingly to their mutually exclusive positions.
→ read full articleHuman Rights Watch’s Syria Dilemma
Robert Parry – Consortium News,
27 Jan 2014
Human Rights Watch, which has pushed for a U.S. military intervention in Syria, continues to blame the Assad government for the Aug. 21[2013] Sarin attack even though the group’s high-profile map supposedly proving the case has been debunked.
→ read full articleOpen Ended Dead End
David Colquhoun – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
Why did the chicken cross the Möbius strip?
→ read full articleSurveillance and Scandal: Time-Tested Weapons for U.S. Global Power
Alfred McCoy - TomDispatch,
27 Jan 2014
It’s About Blackmail, Not National Security – With a few computer key strokes, the agency has solved the problem that has bedeviled world powers since at least the time of Caesar Augustus: how to control unruly local leaders, who are the foundation for imperial rule, by ferreting out crucial, often scurrilous, information to make them more malleable.
→ 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 articleFrom Galileo to Sagan, Famous Scientists on the Art of Wonder, the Mystery of the Universe, and the Heart of Science
Maria Popova, Brain Pickings – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious. It is the underlying principle of religion as well as all serious endeavor in art and science. He who never had this experience seems to me, if not dead, then at least blind. . . . To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our mind cannot grasp and whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly and as a feeble reflection, this is religiousness. In this sense I am religious. –- Einstein conversing with Tagore.
→ read full articleWhy Single Out the Case of the Rohingya Vis-A-Vis Other Unfolding Atrocities Around the World?
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
I am singling out the case of the Rohingya, subject to a 35-year state-policy which rests on the INTENT to erase the Rohingya as a group, a memory, an identity and the literal existence.
→ read full articleMediation in Schools: A Response to New Federal Priorities
Matt Johnson – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
Benefits of Mediation and Conflict Resolution in Schools
→ read full articleThe Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) vs. Syria’s “Moderate” Al Qaeda Terrorists
Prof. Michel Chossudovsky - Global Research,
27 Jan 2014
The Western media has tacitly acknowledged, faced with overwhelming evidence, that the opposition rebels have not only committed countless atrocities, they were also behind the chemical weapons attack of August 21. The evolving media narrative –which coincides in a timely fashion with the Geneva 2 Peace Conference– consists in distinguishing between two categories of Al Qaeda affiliated rebel organizations.
→ read full articleThe Fukushima Secrecy Syndrome – From Japan to America
Ralph Nader – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
24 Jan 2014 – Last month, the ruling Japanese coalition parties quickly rammed through Parliament a state secrets law. Under its provisions the government alone decides what are state secrets and any civil servants who divulge any “secrets” can be jailed for up to 10 years. Journalists caught in the web of this vaguely defined law can be jailed for up to 5 years.
→ read full articleCongenital Hypothyroidism and Fukushima Fallout in the US
Dr Mae-Wan Ho – Institute of Science in Society,
27 Jan 2014
A new study finds congenital hypothyroidism in the US rising 28 % in the two and a half months after the arrival of the Fukushima fallout of radioactive iodine . Researchers and authors Joe Mangano and Janette Sherman from the Radiation and Public Health Project have done a thorough job based on data from the US government.
→ read full articleA Countryside of Concentration Camps: Burma Could Be the Site of the World’s Next Genocide
Graeme Wood – New Republic,
27 Jan 2014
The Palestinian example shows that conflicts like this can stay frozen for decades. And that may be one of the worst options of all. Those Rohingya camps, with their muddy impermanence and bored desperation, contain children and young people growing up full of resentment and grievance.
→ read full articleSleep of Fools
Tom Greening – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
So will this be the magic, blissful year
when finally all wars will disappear?
Geneva I-II: The Mismanagement of Conflicts
Johan Galtung, 27 Jan 2014 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
Let us say, brutally simplified, that there are seven conflicts, not only one, all directly or indirectly violent, unfolding in Syria… To handle a complexity at this level–more complex than Vietnam–a long-lasting UN-managed conference with all parties, of course with Iran and Israel participating, and only those involved, no spectators, and no conditions, is needed.
→ 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 articlePeoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka
Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
Bremen, Germany, 7-10 December 2013. Organized by International Human Rights Association and Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka. Conducted by Permanent People’s Tribunal – Fondazione Lelio Basso Sezione Internazionale, Roma- Italia.
→ read full article
The People Guarding US Nukes Will Shock You
Abby Martin, Breaking the Set – Russia Today,
20 Jan 2014
Jan 17, 2014 – Calling attention to thirty four officers at Malstrom Airforce Base in Montana who were caught cheating on a proficiency exam related to nuclear launch procedures.
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Eisenhower Farewell Address – 17 Jan 1961
U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower - TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jan 2014
We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
→ read full articleFive Minutes Is Too Close
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jan 2014
From: The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Science and Security Board.
To: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, members of the UN Security Council.
Re: It is still five minutes to midnight.
Leaked: Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) – Environment Chapter
WikiLeaks – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jan 2014
Today, 15 January 2014, WikiLeaks released the secret draft text for the entire TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) Environment Chapter and the corresponding Chairs’ Report.
→ 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 articleNAFTA at 20: A Model for Corporate Rule
Manuel Perez-Rocha and Stuart Trew – Foreign Policy In Focus,
20 Jan 2014
NAFTA and treaties like it grant transnational companies total freedom of movement for capital, goods, and services, coupled with the ability to sue countries in secret courts when governments attempt to get in their way.
→ read full articleThe Siege of Yarmouk
Franklin Lamb – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jan 2014
Crimes against Humanity Warranting Prosecution of the Guilty, Not Blame for the Victims…
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Matthew Schofield, McClatchy – Star-Telegram,
20 Jan 2014
16 Jan 2014 – A series of revelations about the rocket believed to have delivered poison sarin gas to a Damascus suburb last summer are challenging American intelligence assumptions about that attack and suggest that the case U.S. officials initially made for retaliatory military action was flawed.
→ read full articleMIT Study of Ghouta Chemical Attack Challenges US Intelligence
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jan 2014
A new MIT report is challenging the US claim that Assad forces used chemical weapons in an attack last August, highlighting that the range of the improvised rocket was way too short to have been launched from govt controlled areas.
→ read full articleThe Monks’ Army
Eric Ellis – The Global Mail (Australia),
20 Jan 2014
A founder of Sri Lanka’s Army of Buddhist Power tries to explain his militant views on Muslims, and how they fit with the government’s triumphant story of post-war reconciliation.
→ read full articleThe Bosnian Knot: Conflicts Unchanged in Birthplace of WWI
Walter Mayr – Der Spiegel,
20 Jan 2014
The 1914 assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo came in the midst of a bitter power struggle among major European powers in the Balkans. One hundred years and three devastating wars later, peace still eludes the multi-ethnic region.
→ read full articleCan Brazil Help Roll Back US Surveillance?
Robert Valencia – Open Democracy,
20 Jan 2014
Brazil has become a staunch and vocal critic of US espionage, asking Google and Facebook to install local servers. But will this really work? The US eavesdropped on Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil. The former wrote letters of protest, but in Sep. 2013, President Dilma Rousseff took the issue up with the UN General Assembly.
→ 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 articleUganda President Blocks Anti-Gay Bill
Agence France-Press – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jan 2014
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said there were better ways to cure the “abnormality” on Friday [17 Jan 2014]. Homosexuality was caused by either “random breeding” or a need to make money. And lesbians, he said, choose female partners because of “sexual starvation” and the failure to marry a man.
→ read full article250 Dolphins Captured, Prepared for Slaughter in Japan
Hawaii Report – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jan 2014
17 Jan 2014 – Five separate pods of Bottlenose dolphins were driven into Taiji’s infamous killing cove yesterday and held overnight. This now massive pod of more than 250 dolphins includes babies and juveniles, including a rare albino calf that has been clinging as closely as possible to the mother.
→ read full articleNetanyahu Rolls Out New Roadblock to Peace
Jonathan Cook – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jan 2014
To the surprise of observers, given the many issues blocking progress in the current Middle East peace talks, Israel and the United States now appear to regard the Palestinian refusal to recognise Israel as a Jewish state as the key obstacle to an agreement.
→ 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 articleNigerian Leader Signs Anti-Gay Law, Drawing U.S. Fire
Felix Onuah, Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jan 2014
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signed a bill on Monday [13 Jan 2014] that criminalizes same-sex relationships, contains penalties of up to 14 years in prison and bans gay marriage, same-sex “amorous relationships” and membership of gay rights groups.
→ read full article(Italiano) L’Occidente si contrae in un “Medio Evo”? Bene!
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jan 2014
L’Illuminismo trasformò la nozione teologica di un Dio onnipotente-onnisciente-onnipresente nella logica statuale di uno Stato onnipotente, nella logica capitalistica di un Mercato onnipresente, e nella logica aristotelica di una Scienza onnisciente. Come prevedibile, l’Occidente, e gli USA in particolare, cercano di fondere le tre logiche e i tre poteri più che mai in una copia dell’unità divina.
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