Articles by RD
We found 3647 results.
American Jihad 2014: The New Fundamentalists
Tom Engelhardt - TomDispatch,
6 Jan 2014
Imagine what we call “national security” as, at heart, a proselytizing warrior religion. It has its holy orders. It has its sacred texts (classified). It has its dogma and its warrior priests. It has its sanctified promised land, known as “the homeland.” It has its seminaries, which we call think tanks. It is a monotheistic faith in that it broaches no alternatives to itself. It is Manichaean in its view of the world. As with so many religions, its god is an eye in the sky, an all-seeing Being who knows your secrets.
→ read full articleFukushima, a Global Conspiracy of Denial
William Boardman - Reader Supported News,
6 Jan 2014
Does anyone in authority anywhere tell the truth about Fukushima? If there is any government or non-government authority in the world that is addressing the disaster at Fukushima openly, directly, honestly, and effectively, it’s not apparent to the outside observer what entity that might be.
→ read full articleBeholding 2014
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jan 2014
2013 was not a happy year in the chronicles of human history, yet there were a few moves in the directions of peace and justice. What follows are some notes that respond to the mingling of light and shadows that are flickering on the global stage, with a spotlight placed on the main war zone of the 21st century—the Middle East, recalling that Europe had this negative honor for most of the modern era.
→ read full articleEdward Snowden, Whistle-Blower
Editorial Board - The New York Times,
6 Jan 2014
When someone reveals that government officials have routinely and deliberately broken the law, that person should not face life in prison at the hands of the same government.
→ read full articleSnowden Affair: The Case for a Pardon
Editorial Board – The Guardian,
6 Jan 2014
We hope that calm heads within the present administration are working on a strategy to allow Mr Snowden to return to the US with dignity, and the president to use his executive powers to treat him humanely and in a manner that would be a shining example about the value of whistleblowers and of free speech itself.
→ read full articleNAFTA: 20 Years of Regret for Mexico
Mark Weisbrot – The Guardian,
6 Jan 2014
Mexico’s growth has been weak since the ‘free trade’ deal was signed, and it missed out on the region’s poverty reduction. It was 20 years ago that the North American Free Trade Agreement between the US, Canada, and Mexico was implemented.
→ read full article2014: International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jan 2014
In a little noted initiative the General Assembly on November 26, 2013 voted to proclaim 2014 the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
→ read full article“Surveillance Breeds Conformity”: Salon’s Glenn Greenwald Interview
Natasha Lennard - Salon,
6 Jan 2014
3 Jan 2014 – “A human being who lives in a world where he thinks he is always being watched is a human being who makes choices not as a free individual but as someone who is trying to conform to what is expected and demanded of them.”
→ read full articleNSA ‘Hacking Unit’ Infiltrates Computers around the World – Report
Joanna Walters – The Guardian,
30 Dec 2013
Details of how the division, known as Tailored Access Operations (TAO), steals data and inserts invisible “back door” spying devices into computer systems were published by the German magazine Der Spiegel on Sunday [29 Dec 2013]. • NSA: TAO a ‘unique national asset.’
→ read full articleI Worked on the US Drone Program. The Public Should Know What Really Goes On
Heather Linebaugh – The Guardian,
30 Dec 2013
Few of the politicians who so brazenly proclaim the benefits of drones have a real clue how it actually works (and doesn’t).
→ read full articleThe Deal of the Year: Why the Iran Nuclear Deal Is Good News for All
Riccardo Alcaro – Al Jazeera,
30 Dec 2013
Opponents of the US-Iran nuclear deal have much to gain from it.
→ read full articleThe People Who Challenged My Atheism Most Weren’t Priests, but Homeless Addicts and Prostitutes
Chris Arnade – The Guardian,
30 Dec 2013
I’ve been reminded that life is not as rational as Richard Dawkins sees it. Perhaps atheism is an intellectual luxury for the wealthy.
→ read full articleSamer Issawi, Hunger Strikes, and the Palestinian Struggle
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Dec 2013
For the last three years Palestinian prisoners unlawfully detained in Israeli jails have been engaged in hunger strikes to protest administrative detention, imprisonment without indictment, charges, and access to allegedly incriminating evidence, abusive arrest procedures…
→ read full articleEnigma Codebreaker Alan Turing Receives Royal Pardon
Caroline Davies – The Guardian,
30 Dec 2013
Alan Turing, the second world war codebreaker who took his own life after undergoing chemical castration following a conviction for homosexual activity, has been granted a posthumous royal pardon 59 years after his death.
→ read full article(Português) O Funesto Império Mundial das Corporações
Leonardo Boff – Carta Maior,
30 Dec 2013
Muitos como J. Stiglitz e P. Krugman esperavam que o legado da crise de 2008 seria um grande debate sobre que tipo de sociedade queremos. Erraram feio. A discussão não se deu. Ao contrário, a lógica que provocou a crise foi retomada com mais furor.
→ read full articleInternet Privacy As Important As Human Rights, Says UN’s Navi Pillay
Haroon Siddique – The Guardian,
30 Dec 2013
The UN human rights chief, Navi Pillay, has compared the uproar in the international community caused by revelations of mass surveillance with the collective response that helped bring down the apartheid regime in South Africa.
→ read full articleAlan Turing’s Pardon Is Wrong
Ally Fogg – The Guardian,
30 Dec 2013
To single out Turing is to say all the other persecuted gay men are not so deserving of justice because they were less exceptional.
→ read full articleWho Can Halt the Crisis in South Sudan?
Alex Vines – The Guardian,
30 Dec 2013
The world’s youngest state is heading towards civil war, but there’s little that outsiders can do.
→ read full articleNoam Chomsky: Governments Are Power Systems, Trying to Sustain Power
Natasha Lennard - Salon,
30 Dec 2013
29 Dec 2013 – The polymath looks back on this year’s NSA revelations and ahead to the earth’s destruction. “Governments are power systems. They are trying to sustain their power and domination over their populations and they will use what means are available to do this.”
→ read full articleAn Open Letter to the People of Brazil
Edward Snowden – Folha de S. Paulo,
23 Dec 2013
These programs were never about terrorism: they’re about economic spying, social control, and diplomatic manipulation. They’re about power. Many Brazilian senators agree, and have asked for my assistance with their investigations of suspected crimes against Brazilian citizens.
→ read full articleBrazil Salutes Chico Mendes 25 Years after His Murder
Jan Rocha and Jonathan Watts – The Guardian,
23 Dec 2013
That Dec. 22 murder, far from killing off the forest conservation campaign, has boosted its profile throughout the country and across the world, influencing a generation of conservationists and policymakers. Mendes is now a symbol of the global environment movement.
→ read full articleNorthern Ireland and the Israel/Palestine ‘Peace Process’
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Dec 2013
I visited Belfast the last few days during some negotiations about unresolved problems between Unionist and Republican (or Nationalist) political parties, I was struck by the absolute dependence for any kind of credibility of this process upon the unblemished perceived neutrality of the mediating third party.
→ read full articleThe Palestinian National Movement Advances
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Dec 2013
The Palestinian shift toward Legitimacy Wars is a recognition that in this kind of conflict the decisive battles are generally not won by the side with the superior weaponry and technology but rather by the side that prevails in the realm of ideas and symbols of just cause.
→ read full articleBoycott by Academic Group Is a Symbolic Sting to Israel
Richard Pérez-Peña and Jodi Rudoren – The New York Times,
23 Dec 2013
An American organization of professors on Monday [16 Dec 2013] announced a boycott of Israeli academic institutions to protest Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, signaling that a movement to isolate and pressure Israel that is gaining ground in Europe has begun to make strides in the United States.
→ read full articleMajor US Academic Body Backs Boycott of Israeli Educational Institutions
Harriet Sherwood – The Guardian,
23 Dec 2013
A prestigious US academic body has joined a growing movement to boycott Israel in protest at its treatment of Palestinians, in a move both welcomed and condemned in a bitterly divisive international arena.
→ read full articleTimothy Leary’s Liberation, and the CIA’s Experiments! LSD’s Amazing, Psychedelic History
Richard J. Miller - Salon,
16 Dec 2013
The U.S. psychedelic drug scene was kickstarted by spies and spooks, just as much as Timothy Leary and Jerry Garcia.
→ read full articleACT Gay Marriage Law Is Ruled Invalid by High Court of Australia
Daniel Hurst – The Guardian,
16 Dec 2013
Judges rule same-sex marriage law could not sit concurrently with the federal Marriage Act and therefore ‘is of no effect’.
→ read full articleCanada to Claim North Pole as Its Own
Associated Press in Toronto – The Guardian,
16 Dec 2013
UN submission will seek to redefine Canada’s continental shelf to capture more Arctic oil and gas resources.
→ read full articleSpy Agencies in Covert Push to Infiltrate Virtual World of Online Gaming
James Ball – The Guardian,
16 Dec 2013
NSA and GCHQ collect gamers’ chats and deploy real-life agents into World of Warcraft and Second Life.
→ read full articleLloyds Banking Group Fined Record £28m in New Mis-Selling Scandal
Jill Treanor and Jennifer Rankin – The Guardian,
16 Dec 2013
Pressure on staff to get ‘a grand in your hand’ or face demotion led to bonus-induced selling frenzy, FCA says.
→ read full articleOpen Letter to Intelligence Employees after Snowden
Thomas Drake, Daniel Ellsberg, Katharine Gun, Peter Kofod, Ray McGovern, Jesselyn Radack, Coleen Rowley – The Guardian,
16 Dec 2013
By Former Whistleblowers – Blowing the whistle on powerful factions is not a fun thing to do, but it is the last avenue for truth, balanced debate and democracy. There IS strength in numbers. Courage is contagious.
→ read full articleJP Morgan Facing $2bn Fine for Involvement in Madoff Ponzi Scheme
Dominic Rushe – The Guardian,
16 Dec 2013
JP Morgan Chase, the biggest bank in the US, is facing another multi-billion dollar fine, this time deriving from its involvement with notorious Ponzi scheme fraudster Bernard Madoff.
→ read full articleIndian LGBT Activists Outraged as Supreme Court Reinstates Gay Sex Ban
Jason Burke – The Guardian,
16 Dec 2013
First there was surprise, then shock, then anger. By nightfall thousands across India had taken to the streets in spontaneous protests against an unexpected supreme court decision on Wednesday [11 Dec 2013] reversing a judgment that had decriminalised gay sex in the country.
→ read full articleHow Journals like Nature, Cell and Science Are Damaging Science
Randy Schekman, 2013 Medicine Nobel Laureate – The Guardian,
16 Dec 2013
The incentives offered by top journals distort science, just as big bonuses distort banking. I am a scientist. Mine is a professional world that achieves great things for humanity. But it is disfigured by inappropriate incentives. The prevailing structures of personal reputation and career advancement mean the biggest rewards often follow the flashiest work, not the best.
→ read full articleUruguay’s President José Mujica: No Palace, No Motorcade, No Frills
Jonathan Watts – The Guardian,
16 Dec 2013
The 78-year-old ‘world’s poorest president’ is a former member of the Tupamaros, notorious in the 1970s for bank robberies, kidnappings and distributing stolen food and money among the poor. He was shot by police six times and spent 14 years in a military prison, much of it in dungeon-like conditions.
→ read full articleEscaping the Abusive State: After Snowden
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Dec 2013
We can and must do better, above all as citizens engaged in the protection of the sort of society we wish to live in; without civic activism of a militant character we can wave goodbye to the promise of genuine democracy.
→ read full articleApple, Google, Microsoft and More Demand Sweeping Changes to US Surveillance Laws
Dan Roberts and Jemima Kiss – The Guardian,
9 Dec 2013
AOL, Twitter, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Apple and LinkedIn to call for reforms to restore the public’s trust in the internet.
→ read full articleNelson Mandela’s Inspiration
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Dec 2013
Fifteen years ago I had the extraordinary pleasure of meeting Nelson Mandela in Cape Town while he was serving as President of South Africa. His journey, like that of Gandhi, was not without its major disappointments.
→ read full articleMandela: Never Forget How the Free World’s Leaders Learned to Change Their Tune
Chris McGreal – The Guardian,
9 Dec 2013
Among those eulogising Mandela are people who once damned him as a terrorist and supported apartheid.
→ read full articleEdward Snowden Revelations Prompt UN Investigation into Surveillance
Nick Hopkins and Matthew Taylor – The Guardian,
9 Dec 2013
The UN’s senior counter-terrorism official is to launch an investigation into the surveillance powers of American and British intelligence agencies following Edward Snowden’s revelations that they are using secret programmes to store and analyse billions of emails, phone calls and text messages.
→ read full articleHere Is Why Deconstructing Zionism Is Important
Michael Marder – Al Jazeera,
9 Dec 2013
First, the biggest threat to the wellbeing and security of Israeli Jews (and, often, by implication of Jews who live elsewhere in the world and are assumed to be the supporters of Israeli policies) is neither Iran nor Syria; it is the State of Israel itself.
→ read full articleIt’s Outrageous to Accuse the Guardian of Aiding Terrorism by Publishing Snowden’s Revelations
Ben Emmerson – The Guardian,
9 Dec 2013
The Guardian’s editor, Alan Rusbridger, is due to appear before the House of Commons on Tuesday [3 Dec 2013]. Unlike the directors of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, who gave evidence recently, Rusbridger will not be provided with a list of questions in advance.
→ read full articleWhy Is Sweden Closing Its Prisons?
Erwin James – The Guardian,
2 Dec 2013
Sweden’s prison population has dropped so dramatically that the country plans to close four of its prisons. What lessons can the UK learn?
→ read full articleIs Bitcoin about to Change the World?
Alex Hern – The Guardian,
2 Dec 2013
If you want to buy drugs or guns anonymously online, virtual currency Bitcoin is better than hard cash. Canny speculators have been hoarding it like digital gold. Now the world’s leading bankers are even talking about as a rival for real money. How does it work, where can you get it and is it the future?
→ read full articleCanada Let NSA Spy on G20 Summit, Says Report
Reuters in Ottawa - The Guardian,
2 Dec 2013
Canada allowed the US National Security Agency to conduct widespread surveillance during the 2010 Group of 20 summit in Toronto, according to a media report that cited documents from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
→ read full articleGaza: The Unfolding Humanitarian Catastrophe
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Servivce,
2 Dec 2013
Sadly – how sadly – the Palestinian Authority and the quisling Fateh are in lockstep, fellow travelers with this miasma of shame and inhumanity. Hamas and Fateh must overcome the USraeli “divide and rule” tactics and link arms as a solid force of resistance to the illegal occupation of their homeland. Today, that must be the number one priority!
→ read full article[Nobel Peace Laureate] Aung San Suu Kyi Is Turning a Blind Eye to Human Rights in the Name of Politics
Emanuel Stoakes – The Guardian,
2 Dec 2013
The Burmese politician’s visit to Australia will spark praise from politicians – an unhelpful distraction from the extremely serious abuses taking place against Muslims in her homeland.
→ read full articleRevealed: Australian Spy Agency Offered to Share Data about Ordinary Citizens
Ewen MacAskill, James Ball and Katharine Murphy – The Guardian,
2 Dec 2013
2 Dec 2013 – Australia’s surveillance agency offered to share information collected about ordinary Australian citizens with its major intelligence partners, according to a secret 2008 document leaked by the US whistleblower Edward Snowden. The document shows the partners discussing whether or not to share “medical, legal or religious information”.
→ read full articleUN Advances Surveillance Resolution Reaffirming ‘Human Right to Privacy’
Dominic Rushe – The Guardian,
2 Dec 2013
The United Nations moved a step closer to calling for an end to excessive surveillance on Tuesday [26 Nov 2013] in a resolution co-sponsored by Brazil and Germany after leaked documents from Edward Snowden revealed that the agency had spied on their political leaders.
→ read full article(Français) Économie Verte : Marchandiser la Planète Pour la Sauver ?
Bernard Duterme – Centre Tricontinental,
2 Dec 2013
La « démarchandisation » des ressources, du vivant, de la planète, de la vie sociale, de l’éducation, des cultures, des biens communs… revient comme un leitmotiv. Reste à se compter, c’est-à-dire à identifier – au-delà des théorisations en chambre, des appels affectés à l’action et de la multiplication des initiatives alternatives locales – les acteurs sociaux et politiques capables de peser dans les principaux rapports de force, sur les enjeux fondamentaux et les orientations de l’économie mondiale.
→ read full articleThe War on Democracy
Nafeez Ahmed – The Guardian,
2 Dec 2013
A stunning new report compiles extensive evidence showing how some of the world’s largest corporations have partnered with private intelligence firms and government intelligence agencies to spy on activist and nonprofit groups. Environmental activism is a prominent though not exclusive focus of these activities.
→ read full articleClashing Views of Political Reality: Chomsky versus Dershowitz
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Dec 2013
The book is much more than a comparison of two influential voices, one critical the other apologetic, with respect to the Israel/Palestine struggle and the subordination of private liberties to the purveyors of state-led security at home and abroad.
→ read full articleBritons Protest over Israel Plan to Remove 70,000 Palestinian Bedouins
Harriet Sherwood – The Guardian,
2 Dec 2013
29 Nov 2013 – More than 50 public figures in Britain, including high-profile artists, musicians and writers, have put their names to a letter opposing an Israeli plan to forcibly remove up to 70,000 Palestinian Bedouins from their historic desert land – an act condemned by critics as ethnic cleansing.
→ read full articlePrivate Firms Selling Mass Surveillance Systems around World, Documents Show
Nick Hopkins and Matthew Taylor – The Guardian,
25 Nov 2013
One Dubai-based firm offers DIY system similar to GCHQ’s Tempora programme, which taps fibre-optic cables. Private firms are selling spying tools and mass surveillance technologies to developing countries with promises that “off the shelf” equipment will allow them to snoop on millions of emails, text messages and phone calls, according to a cache of documents published on Monday [18 Nov 2013].
→ read full articleZuma Silent on Sri Lankan Human Rights Abuses
Ruki Fernando – Mail & Guardian,
25 Nov 2013
The Canadian and Mauritian heads of state and more than half the leaders of the 53 Commonwealth Heads of Government boycotted the 2013 meeting held in Sri Lanka. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu said that it should not be held in Sri Lanka. South African President Jacob Zuma, by contrast, was among the heads of state who refused to consider a boycott against Sri Lanka, to speak out about human rights abuses or to show symbolic solidarity with the victims.
→ read full articleAldous Huxley: The Prophet of Our Brave New Digital Dystopia
John Naughton – The Guardian,
25 Nov 2013
We failed to notice that our runaway infatuation with the sleek toys produced by the likes of Apple and Samsung – allied to our apparently insatiable appetite for Facebook, Google and other companies that provide us with “free” services in exchange for the intimate details of our daily lives – might well turn out to be as powerful a narcotic as soma was for the inhabitants of Brave New World.
→ read full articleSyrian Nun Seen as Threat to War Resistance
William Boardman - Reader Supported News,
25 Nov 2013
Mother Agnes Mariam of the Cross is a Carmelite nun and mother superior of the Monastery of James the Mutilated in Qara, Syria, which has a community of three monks and twelve nuns. Born in Lebanon in a refugee camp 61 years ago, she is Palestinian on her father’s side and has worked in Syria for about 20 years. She is the spokesperson for the Catholic Information Center in Beirut, where the Musalaha Initiative also has its office.
→ read full articleUS and UK Struck Secret Deal to Allow NSA to ‘Unmask’ Britons’ Personal Data
James Ball – The Guardian,
25 Nov 2013
• 2007 deal allows NSA to store previously restricted material
• UK citizens not suspected of wrongdoing caught up in dragnet
• Separate draft memo proposes US spying on ‘Five-Eyes’ allies
(Português) Experimentação em Animais
Ricardo Laurino – ANDA Agência de Notícias de Direitos Animais,
25 Nov 2013
Talvez uma frase de Thomas Edison, famoso cientista americano, resuma por que cada vez mais pessoas desaprovam a experimentação animal: “a não violência nos leva à mais alta ética, a qual é o objetivo de toda a evolução. Até pararmos de ferir outros seres vivos, seremos ainda selvagens”.
→ read full articleThe Bloody Disaster of Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan Is Laid Bare
Simon Jenkins – The Guardian,
25 Nov 2013
Bombs and militia violence make clear the folly of Britain’s wars – the removal of law and order from a nation is devastating.
→ read full article‘Syria Is Not a Revolution Any More – This Is Civil War’
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad reports from Turkey and Syria – The Guardian,
25 Nov 2013
Rivalry between rebels and Islamists has replaced the uprising’s lofty ideals, leaving veteran commanders despairing. The goals of the first war – freedom, Islam, social equality of some sort – were replaced by betrayal, defeat and anger towards rival militias, jihadis and foreign powers fighting in Syria.
→ read full articleThe Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty Is the Complete Opposite of ‘Free Trade’
Mark Weisbrot – The Guardian,
25 Nov 2013
The TPP would strip our constitutional rights, while offering no gains for the majority of Americans. It’s a win for corporations.
→ read full articleSleepwalking to Extinction: Capitalism and the Destruction of Life and Earth
Richard Smith, Adbusters – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Nov 2013
Capitalism is, overwhelmingly, the main driver of planetary ecological collapse. Economic systems come and go. Capitalism has had a 300 year run. The question is: will humanity stand by and let the world be destroyed to save the profit system?
→ read full articleFBI Warns That Anonymous Has Hacked US Government Sites for a Year
The Guardian – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Nov 2013
The news comes a day after an Anonymous activist received a 10-year sentence for his role in releasing thousands of emails from the private intelligence firm Stratfor. On Friday [15 Nov 2013] Jeremy Hammond told a Manhattan court he had been directed by an FBI informant to break into the official websites of several governments around the world.
→ read full articleQatar 2022 World Cup Workers ‘Treated Like Cattle’, Amnesty Report Finds
Owen Gibson – The Guardian,
18 Nov 2013
A damning Amnesty report has raised fresh fears about the exploitation of the migrant workers building the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, amid a rising toll of death, disease and misery. The report – published a week after Fifa’s president, Sepp Blatter, met the country’s emir and declared Qatar was “on the right track” in dealing with workers’ rights.
→ read full articleThanks to WikiLeaks, We See Just How Bad TPP Trade Deal Is for Regular People
Dan Gillmor – The Guardian,
18 Nov 2013
The more you know about the odious Trans-Pacific Partnership, the less you’ll like it. It’s made for corporate intellectual property and profits.
→ read full articleTwo Forms of Lethal Polarization: Egypt and Turkey
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Nov 2013
I am arguing that these instances of polarization amount to a deadly virus that attacks the body politic in countries with weak constitutional traditions, especially if such societies are beset by economic disappointment and significant regional and global hostility due to ideological and political tensions.
→ read full articleWho’s to Blame for Battlefield America? Is It Militarized Police or the Militarized Culture?
John W. Whitehead – The Rutherford Institute,
18 Nov 2013
It’s hard to pinpoint what exactly is responsible for the growing spate of police shootings, brutality and overreach that have come to dominate the news lately, whether it’s due to militarized police, the growing presence of military veterans in law enforcement, the fact that we are a society predisposed to warfare, indoctrinated through video games, reality TV shows, violent action movies and a series of endless wars that have, for younger generations, become life as they know it—or all of the above.
→ read full articleSweden Closes Four Prisons as Number of Inmates Plummets
Richard Orange – The Guardian,
18 Nov 2013
Decline partly put down to strong focus on rehabilitation and more lenient sentences for some offences.
→ read full articleWikiLeaks Publishes Secret Draft Chapter of Trans-Pacific Partnership
Alex Hern and Dominic Rushe – The Guardian,
18 Nov 2013
Treaty negotiated in secret between 12 nations ‘would trample over individual rights and free expression’, says Julian Assange. 13 Nov 2013 – WikiLeaks has released the draft text of a chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, a multilateral free-trade treaty currently being negotiated in secret by 12 Pacific Rim nations.
→ read full articleUS Is a State Sponsor of Terrorism
William Boardman - Reader Supported News,
11 Nov 2013
Drone attacks are raw terror tactics that terrorize civilian populations.
→ read full articleTim Berners-Lee: Encryption Cracking by Spy Agencies ‘Appalling and Foolish’
Ed Pilkington – The Guardian,
11 Nov 2013
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the computer scientist who created the world wide web, has called for a “full and frank public debate” over internet surveillance by the NSA and GCHQ, warning that the system of checks and balances to oversee the agencies has failed. As the inventor of the Internet he is uniquely qualified to comment on the internet spying revealed by Edward Snowden.
→ read full articleThe Great Austerity Shell Game: Here’s How the Capitalist Scam Works
Prof. Richard Wolff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Nov 2013
When capitalist economies crash, most capitalists request – and governments provide – credit market bailouts and economic stimuli. However, corporations and the rich oppose new taxes ‘on them’ to pay for stimulus and bailout programs. They insist, instead, that governments should ‘borrow’ the necessary funds. Since 2007, capitalist governments everywhere borrowed massively for those costly programs.
→ read full articleRussell Brand: We Deserve More from Our Democratic System
Russell Brand – The Guardian,
11 Nov 2013
Following his appearance on Newsnight, the comedian explains why he believes there are alternatives to our current regime.
→ read full articleThe Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA): When Foreign Investors Sue the State
Martin Khor, Third World Economics – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Nov 2013
The investor-state dispute system, whereby foreign investors can sue the host-country government in an international tribunal, is one of the issues being negotiated in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.
→ read full articleIn the Lucky Country of Australia Apartheid Is Alive and Kicking
John Pilger – The Guardian,
11 Nov 2013
The richest land on Earth writes Aboriginal people out of history and pushes them to the margins. Like South Africa 30 years ago.
→ read full articleHedge Fund Giant Led by Jewish Billionaire to Pay Biggest Penalty in History
Larry Neumeister and Marcy Gordon – The Times of Israel,
11 Nov 2013
Pending deal would see company headed by Steven A. Cohen pay out $1.8 billion for insider trading, cease operating as investment adviser.
→ read full articleTo Support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement Is Not Anti-Semitic: [TMS Advisor Taken to Court]
Antony Loewenstein – The Guardian,
11 Nov 2013
To speak in favour of the BDS movement is not antisemitic – and yet The Australian newspaper has been quick to draw a parallel between the two. Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center, an Israel-based organization, is currently taking [TMS Advisor and TRANSCEND Member] Prof. Jake Lynch, head of Sydney University’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, to the Australian federal court.
→ read full articleInvisible Horizons of a Just Palestine/Israel Future
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Nov 2013
4 Nov 2013 – I spent last week at the United Nations, meeting with ambassadors of countries in the Middle East and presenting my final report to the Third Committee of the General Assembly as my term as Special Rapporteur for Occupied Palestine comes to an end.
→ read full articleGCHQ and European Spy Agencies Worked Together on Mass Surveillance
Julian Borger – The Guardian,
4 Nov 2013
The German, French, Spanish and Swedish intelligence services have all developed methods of mass surveillance of internet and phone traffic over the past five years in close partnership with Britain’s GCHQ eavesdropping agency.
→ read full articleOn Leaving the Guardian
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
4 Nov 2013
As many of you know, I’m leaving the Guardian in order to work with Pierre Omidyar, Laura Poitras, Jeremy Scahill and soon-to-be-identified others on building a new media organization. We do not yet have an exact launch date for the new outlet, but rest assured: I’m not going to disappear for months or anything like that. The new site will be up and running reasonably soon.
→ read full articleDavid Cameron Makes Veiled Threat to Media over NSA and GCHQ Leaks
Nicholas Watt – The Guardian,
4 Nov 2013
David Cameron has called on the Guardian and other newspapers to show “social responsibility” in the reporting of the leaked NSA files to avoid high court injunctions or the use of D notices to prevent the publication of information that could damage national security.
→ read full articleMan Buys $27 of Bitcoin, Forgets about Them, Finds They’re Now Worth $886k
Samuel Gibbs – The Guardian,
4 Nov 2013
Bought in 2009, currency’s rise in value saw small investment turn into enough to buy an apartment in a wealthy area of Oslo.
→ read full articleBreaking Up Is Hard to Do
Silvio Waisbord – Americas Quarterly,
4 Nov 2013
Tackling Latin America’s media empires is critical for the health of democracies.
→ read full articleReports That NSA Taps into Google and Yahoo Data Hubs Infuriate Tech Giants
Dominic Rushe, Spencer Ackerman and James Ball – The Guardian,
4 Nov 2013
Google and Yahoo, two of the world’s biggest tech companies, reacted angrily to a report on Wednesday [30 Oct 2013] that the National Security Agency has secretly intercepted the main communication links that carry their users’ data around the world.
→ read full articleHow Economic Growth Has Become Anti-Life
Vandana Shiva – The Guardian,
4 Nov 2013
An obsession with growth has eclipsed our concern for sustainability, justice and human dignity. But people are not disposable – the value of life lies outside economic development.
→ read full articleCIA Made Doctors Torture Suspected Terrorists after 9/11, Taskforce Finds
Sarah Boseley- The Guardian,
4 Nov 2013
Doctors and psychologists working for the US military violated the ethical codes of their profession under instruction from the defence department and the CIA to become involved in the torture and degrading treatment of suspected terrorists, an investigation has concluded.
→ read full articleReport Calls for Female Genital Mutilation to Be Treated as Child Abuse
Conal Urquhart – The Guardian,
4 Nov 2013
Coalition of health professionals recommends aggressive steps to eradicate the practice in the UK.
→ read full articleUS Political Dysfunction and Capitalism’s Withdrawal
Richard D. Wolff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Nov 2013
The classic problems of early, rapid capitalist industrialization are obvious daily in the new centers. What we learn about early capitalism when we read Charles Dickens, Emile Zola, Maxim Gorky and Jack London, we see now again in the new centers.
→ read full articleSpain Summons US Ambassador over Claim NSA Tracked 60m Calls a Month
Paul Hamilos – The Guardian,
28 Oct 2013
28 Oct 2013 – The Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has summoned the US ambassador to explain the latest revelations by Edward Snowden, which suggest the National Security Agency tracked more than 60m phone calls in Spain in the space of a month.
→ read full articleThe US Should Pay Its UNESCO Dues
Nigel Cameron – The Guardian,
28 Oct 2013
The US refuses to pay up because of Palestinian membership in Unesco. It’s a horribly misguided approach.
→ read full articleUS CEOs Break Pay Record as Top 10 Earners Take Home At Least $100m Each
Dominic Rushe – The Guardian,
28 Oct 2013
For the first time ever, the 10 highest-paid chief executives in the US received more than $100m in compensation last year, and two took home billion-dollar paychecks, according to a leading annual survey of executive pay.
→ read full articleMalala and Eartha Kitt: Words that Matter
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Oct 2013
I connect Malala and Eartha Kitt in my mind because both seized the moment to speak truth to power, probably sensing that it meant they would never be invited back [to the White House], and for Eartha Kitt it was worse than that. It seems almost certain that neither of these fearless women would have been invited in the first place if their intentions to speak out had been known in advance.
→ read full articleGermany Summons US Ambassador Over Claim NSA Bugged Merkel’s Phone
Philip Oltermann – The Guardian,
28 Oct 2013
24 Oct 2013 – Allegations that US spying has reached highest level of government met with outrage and disappointment in Germany. Foreign minister Guido Westerwelle has called the US ambassador to a personal meeting to discuss allegations that US secret services bugged Angela Merkel’s mobile phone.
→ read full articleWhy Washington Can’t Stop: The Coming Era of Tiny Wars and Micro-Conflicts
Tom Engelhardt - TomDispatch,
28 Oct 2013
Despite this stunning global power equation, for more than a decade we have been given a lesson in what a military, no matter how overwhelming, can and (mostly) can’t do in the twenty-first century, in what a military, no matter how staggeringly advanced, does and (mostly) does not translate into on the current version of planet Earth.
→ read full articleIran Gives Russia Copy of US ScanEagle Drone as Proof of Mass Production
Saeed Kamali Dehghan – The Guardian,
28 Oct 2013
Iran has given Russia a copy of a US spy drone as proof that its elite forces have reverse-engineered and mass produced the American unmanned aerial vehicle they claim to have captured a year ago.
→ read full articleNo More Foreign Wars? Yet America Is Fighting in Yemen’s Civil War
Ryan Goodman – The Guardian,
28 Oct 2013
On Syria, Obama went to Congress over military action. But in Yemen, the US has joined a counter-insurgency without a word.
→ read full articleElon Musk: Oil Campaign against Electric Cars Is Like Big Tobacco Lobbying
Adam Vaughan – The Guardian,
28 Oct 2013
Tesla chief executive likens attacks on electric cars to campaigns of misinformation by big tobacco and climate skeptics.
→ read full articleJournalist Or Activist? Smearing Glenn Greenwald
David Edwards – Media Lens,
28 Oct 2013
Modern thought control is dependent on subliminal communication. Messages influencing key perceptions are delivered unseen, unnoticed, with minimal public awareness of what is happening or why. For example, journalists tell us that Hugo Chavez was ‘divisive’, that Julian Assange and Edward Snowden are ‘narcissistic’, that George Galloway is ‘controversial’. But beneath their literal meaning, these adjectives communicate a hidden message: that these individuals are acceptable targets for negative media judgement; they are fair game.
→ read full articleUS Defends Drone Strikes as ‘Necessary and Just’ in Face of UN Criticism
Ed Pilkington and Ryan Devereaux – The Guardian,
28 Oct 2013
The US government has defended its use of drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and other countries in front of the UN, telling that in President Obama’s view the deployment of unmanned aerial attacks against al-Qaida targets was “necessary, legal and just”.
→ read full article