Articles by M

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Recent Trends in Arms Transfers
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

SIPRI – 17 March 2014. South Asia and the Gulf lead rising trend in arms imports. Russian exports grow.

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The Current and Future Consequences of Global Climate Change
NASA-National Aeronautics and Space Administration – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

The potential future effects of global climate change include more frequent wildfires, longer periods of drought in some regions and an increase in the number, duration and intensity of tropical storms. It has already observable effects: Glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier, plant and animal ranges have shifted and trees are flowering sooner.

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Citizens versus Subjects in a Democratic Society: The American Case
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

In my understanding silence is passivity as a way of being. Silence can be much more than the avoidance of speech and utterance, and is most poignantly expressed through evasions of body, heart, and soul.

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(Português) As revelações de O Capital no Século XXI
Paul Mason, The Guardian – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

Sucesso internacional, livro de Thomas Piketty expõe engrenagens que produzem desigualdade e pobreza, sugere alternativas e desafia: elites aceitarão debatê-las?

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(Português) Paramilitares Americanos [Blackwater] Treinam Policiais Brasileiros para a Copa do Mundo de Futebol
Patrícia Campos Mello – Folha de São Paulo, 12 May 2014

A empresa americana Academi, que antes se chamava Blackwater, está treinando policiais militares e agentes da Polícia Federal para a Copa. A Blackwater ficou conhecida por agir como um exército de mercenários nas guerras do Iraque e do Afeganistão.

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Desperate Gazans Turn Plastic into Fuel
Khaled Alashqar, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

The fuel crisis in Gaza has been ongoing for eight years now as Israel controls the amount of fuel entering Gaza. Its only power plant also runs on scarce diesel. Blackouts that last hours are a daily feature.

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How to Criticize “Big Philanthropy” Effectively
Joanne Barkan – Dissent Magazine, 12 May 2014

They intervene in public life but aren’t accountable to the public; they are privately governed but publicly subsidized by being tax exempt; and in a country where money translates into political power, they reinforce the problem of plutocracy—the exercise of power derived from wealth.

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Kapital for the Twenty-First Century?
James K. Galbraith – Dissent Magazine, 12 May 2014

Capital in the Twenty-First Century is a weighty book, replete with good information on the flows of income, transfers of wealth, and the distribution of financial resources. Piketty rightly argues that good economics must begin—or at least include—a meticulous examination of the facts.

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Human Emotions: Genetically Programmed or Socially Learned?
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

It is easy to fall into the trap of assuming that each human being has a more or less identical range of emotions. This is not so. The outcome for each individual is based on the unique genetic potential of that individual and, more importantly, the social terrorisation experience of that individual within its particular culture, community and family.

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(Português) Linhas vermelhas na Ucrânia e no mundo
Noam Chomsky – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

A anexação da Crimeia por Putin assusta os líderes dos EUA, porque desafia a sua dominação global. O mundo considera os Estados Unidos um Estado pária e a maior ameaça à paz mundial, sem um competidor que esteja sequer próximo.

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Preventing a Human-Initiated 6th Geological Extinction Event
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

In 2012 the World Bank issued a report warning that without quick action to curb CO2 emissions global warming is likely to reach 4 degrees C during the 21st century. This is dangerously close to the temperature which initiated the Permian-Triassic extinction event: 6 degrees C above normal.

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(Castellano) Celac rechaza que EE.UU. incluya a Cuba en lista de promotores del terrorismo
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

La Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (Celac) repudió este miércoles [7 mayo 2014] la decisión de los EE.UU de incluir nuevamente a Cuba en la lista de Estados Promotores del Terrorismo Internacional e insta a EE.UU. a ponerle fin a esta práctica.

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(Português) Augusto Boal e o Teatro do Oprimido: “Vários outros mundos são possíveis”.
Léa Maria Aarão Reis - Carta Maior, 12 May 2014

O Teatro do Oprimido alia teatro e ação social, prepara o ator com esse viés e busca permanentemente a transformação da realidade através do diálogo.

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Antivirus Software Is Dead, Says Security Expert at Symantec
Samuel Gibbs – The Guardian, 12 May 2014

Information chief at Norton developer says software in general misses 55% of attacks and its future lies in responding to hacks.

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Boko Haram vs. Nigeria’s Crooks
Eric Margolis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

The US wants its troops there before the Chinese arrive. Screaming “Islamic terrorism” won’t defuse Nigeria’s coming explosion. Considered one of the world’s most corrupt nations, Nigeria has to clean up its act – and fast.

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Why the White House is Desperate to Bury Benghazi
Paul Joseph Watson, Infowars – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

The true purpose behind the cover-up is being obfuscated – the fact that an annex near the U.S. embassy was being used by the CIA to transfer surface to air missiles to terrorists in Syria.

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Investing Attention Essential to Viable Growth
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

Radical Self-Reflexive Reappropriation of Financial Skills and Insights – As framed, the question is whether the cognitive skills deployed can be radically re appropriated. The argument is itself an invitation to a speculative investment of attention — potentially offering a valuable return on investment.

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Ukraine Crisis: Mercenaries, NATO M16 Cartridges and US Military Meals – Evidence of Western Involvement
Kim Sengupta in Andrievka – Belfast Telegraph, 12 May 2014

Allegations of soldiers of fortune operating in the east of the country first surfaced months ago when well-armed masked men in combat uniforms, with no insignias, were used against pro-Moscow demonstrators in Donetsk who chanted “Blackwater! Blackwater!” at them.

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Two Cities, Shared History
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

The book Tales of Two Cities is about the journey of two prominent South Asians – Kuldip Nayar from India and Asif Noorani from Pakistan. Theirs are not simply stories of travel but voyages – physical, emotional and spiritual – deeply embedded in the history of partition of the British India.

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The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

The Chapter ‘Language, Peace, and Conflict Resolution’ is by TRANSCEND Media Service contributor, Prof. Francisco Gomes de Matos, a poet, peace linguist and human rights educator from Recife-Brazil. “This handbook is a classic. It helps connect the research of academia to the practical realities of peacemaking and peacebuilding like no other.” —Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

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Minnesotans vs. McDonald’s Toxic Taters
EcoWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

McDonald’s french fries are suspected of killing farm animals and poisoning wildlife and Minnesotans, including students and farmers.

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Conflict Assessment and Peacebuilding Planning: Toward a Participatory Approach to Human Security
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

Lisa Schirch sets out clearly the aim of this handbook: “Strategic peacebuilding requires long-term actions at all levels, from local to global, by multiple actors coordinating an approach that is led locally and based on explicit decision making informed by a systems approach.

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(Castellano) El terrorismo en el mundo, según el Departamento de Estado
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

El gobierno estadounidense desprecio por la opinión pública doméstica e internacional es tan grande como su adicción al “doble standard moral”: junto con la condena de Cuba y a los otros países el Informe erige a la teocracia gobernante en Arabia Saudita como un ejemplar bastión de la lucha contra el terrorismo y exalta su colaboración con Washington en este terreno.

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End the War on Drugs, Say Nobel Prize-Winning Economists
Matt Ferner - The Huffington Post, 12 May 2014

The decades-long global war on drugs has failed and it’s time to shift the focus from mass incarceration to public health and human rights, according to a new report endorsed by five Nobel Prize-winning economists.

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Humor but Not Humiliation: Finding the Sweet Spot in Nonviolent Conflict Resolution
Michael Nagler and Karen Ridd – Open Democracy, 12 May 2014

Humor is a time-honored strategy in the repertoire of nonviolence, but we must learn to use it properly. Poke fun at the problem not the person.

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Japan Prepares to Enter the Arms Market
Bruce Einhorn and Matthew Philips – Business Week, 12 May 2014

In April [2014], the government of Japan’s conservative prime minister, Shinzo Abe, lifted a ban from the 1970s that restricted arms exports. The country’s contentious relations with China, which claims Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea, made getting rid of the ban politically much easier for Abe.

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Why You Should Eat More Cucumber
Monica Bologna, Eco News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

The cucumber is a fruit that often gets overlooked. Like its friend the tomato, it isn’t sweet, it isn’t fancy, but it can do amazing things for your body. Cucumbers contain an incredible amount of vitamins and minerals that are essential for optimal health.

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Brazil Greenlights Plan to Unleash Genetically Modified Mosquitoes
Andrea Germanos – Common Dreams, 12 May 2014

Amid criticism, Brazil this month gave the OK to its first commercial release of genetically modified mosquitoes in an effort to combat dengue fever.

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2014 Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling — Edward Snowden & Laura Poitras
The Nation Institute – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

Edward Snowden and Laura Poitras receive the ‘Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling,’ with introduction by James Bamford – April 30, 2014.

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Follow the Honey: 7 Ways Pesticide Companies Are Spinning the Bee Crisis
Michele Simon, Friends of the Earth - TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

As my new report with Friends of the Earth details, three of the leading pesticide corporations — Bayer, Syngenta, and Monsanto — are engaged in a massive public relations disinformation campaign to distract the public and policymakers from thinking that pesticides might have something to do with bee death and destruction.

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Exclusive: Emails Reveal Close Google Relationship with NSA
Jason Leopold – Al Jazeera America, 12 May 2014

6 May 2014 – Email exchanges between NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander and Google executives Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt suggest a far cozier working relationship than was implied by Silicon Valley brass after last year’s revelations about NSA spying.

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Gangster State America – Where Is America’s Democracy?
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

Government is used to impose agendas that result from the symbiotic relationship between the neoconservative ideology of US world hegemony and the economic interests of powerful private interest groups, such as Wall Street, the military/security complex, the Israel Lobby, agribusiness, and extractive industries (energy, mining, and timber).

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Syria: “Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently”
Franklin Lamb – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

Since 2013 the area has been under the control of “the Islamic state in Iraq and the Levant,” also referred to as “ISIL.”Public crucifixions are warnings to anyone who challenges Islamic rule because they are the enemies of Allah.

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Battleground Ukraine
Andrei Fursov, WikiSpooks – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

A wide ranging analysis of the 2013-2014 happenings in Ukraine, its antecedents and consequences from the perspective of a senior Russian academic. A must-read for westerners seeking to understand what is really happening in both the Ukraine and the wider Anglo-US-NATO globalisation drive which it brings into sharp focus.

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BRICS – Quiet Revolution of the Emerging Countries
Deutsche Welle – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

As the Ukraine crisis heightens, the so-called BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – are becoming less willing to accept US world supremacy.

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Obama in Talks with “Rebel” Leader on Escalating Syrian War
Bill Van Auken, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

9 May 2014 – The Obama administration has entered into direct talks with the leader of the political front for Syria’s Western-backed “rebels” on arming them with US surface-to-air missiles, amid fresh confirmation that these forces are dominated by Al Qaeda-linked militias.

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Doing Math
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 May 2014

A little boy was doing his math homework. He said to himself, “Two plus five, that son of a bitch is seven.

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Veterans Oppose US Troop Deployments near Ukraine
Veterans for Peace – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

The veterans are reacting to a decision by the Obama administration to send US troops to Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as the crisis in Ukraine heats up and Russia conducts military exercises on its border with Ukraine.

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Armenian Grievances, Turkey, United States and 1915 (I)
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

The Turkish government has reiterated its offer to establish a joint commission composed of Armenian, Turkish and international historians to establish an authoritative narrative. The idea that core concern is ‘historical’ misses a main point that such a traumatic series of events need to be interpreted from multiple perspectives, including that of international criminal law.

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‘Genocide’ in 1915: Law, Language, and Politics (II)
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

I am arguing that the historical argument should be put to rest, and that the issues that need to be resolved relate to the legal questions surrounding the applicability of genocide, as well as the related semiotic and political questions associated what be called ‘the politics of genocide.’

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International Peace Research Association at 50
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 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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US Troops Land in Lithuania amid Ukraine Crisis
Agence France-Presse – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

US troops arrived Saturday [26 Apr 2014] in Lithuania, part of a US contingent of 600 sent to the region to reassure NATO allies amid the escalating Ukraine crisis. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite hailed the arrival of American forces as a “deterrence measure” in the region.

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15 Weird and Wonderful Facts about Whales
Cherise Udell, Care2 – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

Whales are so obviously different from us, yet surprisingly similar in so many ways. They are extremely intelligent and social beings that share our lifespan and often our close-knit family structures. They sing, they play, they nurture, they bond and they cooperate.

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Referendums in Ukraine
Peter Emerson – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

Democratic rights: the right of self-determination and the right of majority rule. Crimea, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Odessa…

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First Troops Land in Poland as US Beefs Up Baltic Presence
Agence France-Presse – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

The first American troops arrived in Poland on Wednesday [23 Apr 2014], after Washington said it was sending a force of 600 there and to the Baltic states amid rising tensions with Russia over Ukraine.

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George Hewitt – Discordant Neighbours: A Reassessment of the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-South-Ossetian Conflicts
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

Hewitt’s book is a solid, detailed analysis of the events and will be essential reading for those who follow the Caucasus and federal structures.

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US Troops Land in Latvia
Agence France-Presse – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

Latvia on Friday [25 Apr 2014] welcomed American troops on its soil, part of a US force of 600 sent to the region to reassure the Baltic states amid concern over Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

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Antibiotic-Resistant ‘Superbugs’ a Global Public Health Threat: WHO
Andrea Germanos – Common Dreams, 5 May 2014

A post-antibiotic era, far from being an apocalyptic fantasy, is instead a very real possibility for the 21st century. “Devastating” consequences from untreatable infections including diarrhoea, pneumonia, urinary tract infections and gonorrhoea now pose a potential threat in every corner of the world, to any person of any age, the World Health Organization states.

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In The Long Run, Wars Make Us Safer and Richer
Ian Morris – The Washington Post, 5 May 2014

Since 1914, we have endured world wars, genocides and government-sponsored famines, not to mention civil strife, riots and murders. Altogether, we have killed a staggering 100 million to 200 million of our own kind. But over the century, about 10 billion lives were lived — which means that just 1 to 2 percent of the world’s population died violently.

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US Troops Land in Estonia
Agence France-Presse – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

American troops landed in Estonia on Monday [28 Apr 2014] , rounding out the 600-man force sent by Washington to Poland and the Baltic states to allay concerns over the escalating Ukraine crisis.

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Japan: Constitution Day Feted, Fought Over
Ayako Mie – The Japan Times, 5 May 2014

Japan’s pacifist Constitution is at a crossroads as the 67th anniversary of its taking effect was celebrated around the country on Saturday [3 May 2014]. The charter has never been amended since it entered into force in 1947, but the Diet is paving the way for potential revisions.

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Homage to International NYT
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

Why homage? Not for the news coverage; usually the news “fit to print” that do not contradict US and Israeli foreign policies. Nor for the editorials, usually on the same line and also, frankly, often boring. The homage is for the articles, essays even, at a very high level, often carrying discourses that are wide ranging, way back into the past, far into the future. We are not talking about agree-disagree but about broadness, openness, even globally.

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Obama’s ‘Strategy’ against ‘Pariah’ Russia
Pepe Escobar - Asia Times, 5 May 2014

The Kremlin, in a nutshell, has invited Washington to play realpolitik. Not Monopoly. The Obama administration, at best – and we are being very lenient here – plays checkers. Moscow plays chess.

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School Compositions
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

Children at school must write a composition about the topic, “When visitors come.”

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Geological Extinction Events and Runaway Climate Change
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

The worst consequences of runaway climate change will not occur within our own lifetimes. However, we have a duty to all future human generations, and to the plants and animals with which we share our existence, to give them a future world in which they can survive.

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Twisting Putin’s Words on Ukraine
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 5 May 2014

Anti-Russian bias pervades the mainstream U.S. media in the Ukraine crisis, reflected in word choices – “pro-democracy” for U.S.-favored protesters in Kiev, “terrorists” for disfavored eastern Ukrainians – but also in how the narrative is shaped by false summaries.

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Israel Approved Record 14,000 Settlements during Peace Talks with Palestine – Report
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

Israeli settlement watchdog, Peace Now, which issued its report on Tuesday [29 Apr 2014], said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “broke all construction records in the settlements” in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. “This is an unprecedented number representing an average of 50 housing units per day or 1,540 per month,” the left-wing NGO said.

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Romance Anonyme (Music Video of the Week)
Andre Rieu – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

Andre Rieu, his orchestra choir, and the soprano Carla Maffioletti (Brazil) playing Romance Anonyme in the City of Cortona (Tuscany) Italy.

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Free the NATO 3!
Socialist Equality Party – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

1 May 2014 – Jail terms imposed on three young men arrested at an anti-NATO protest in 2012. Last week, a Chicago judge sentenced Brian Church, 22, to five years in prison, Brent Betterly, 26, to six years, and Jared Chase, 28, to eight years. The vindictive prosecution of the three individuals with anarchist views exposes the repression and intimidation of all political opposition to the policies of the ruling class.

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Latin America: Class Struggle from Above and Below
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

To approach the role of class struggle in a dynamic mitreux we will focus exclusively on Latin America over the past two and a half decades 1990 – 2014, a period of significant changes in economic models, political regimes and class structure.

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(Português) É preciso fechar os zoológicos
Ivan santos – ANDA-Agência de Notícias de Direitos Animais, 5 May 2014

Confinar animais em zoológicos foi e continua a ser um massacre irracional e sádico. Vários cientistas e biólogos em todo o mundo, após atentas pesquisas, concluíram que um zoológico não oferece condições adequadas para abrigar as espécies animais que têm direito a viver em liberdade em ambientes naturais.

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Israel: Anti-Palestinian Arson Attacks on the Rise
Jonathan Cook – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

A wave of violence over the past fortnight, including attacks on two mosques and a church, has shocked Israel’s large Palestinian minority. Growing ever bolder, it seems, Israeli right-wing extremists are shifting attention to Palestinian areas inside Israel. Palestinian leaders, meanwhile, have accused Israeli authorities of repeatedly turning a blind eye to the attacks.

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Britain, France Deploy Jets to Boost Baltic Patrols
Agence France-Presse – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

Britain and France deployed eight fighter jets on Monday [28 Apr 2014] to reinforce NATO air patrols over the Baltics as tensions rise with Russia over Ukraine.

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Abe Taking Pacifist Constitution Away from the People
The Asahi Shimbun, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

May 3, 2014 – Japan’s Constitution cannot be revised with a simple majority vote in the Diet. Any constitutional amendment must first be initiated through a vote of two-thirds or more of all members of each house in the Diet and then approved by the public with a majority vote in a special referendum.

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How to Keep the Internet Open and Free
Bill Moyers and Michael Winship – Common Dreams, 5 May 2014

Don’t Let Net Neutrality Become another Broken Promise – Barack Obama told us there would be no compromise on Net neutrality. We heard him say it back in 2007, when he first was running for president.

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Rwanda: 20 Years of Trying to Cover Up the Truth In Vain
Antoine Roger Lokongo – Pambazuka News, 5 May 2014

Despite powerful backing from the West and strong media influence, there have emerged some important facts which call into question the widely-accepted narrative of what really happened in Rwanda in 1994 and the identities of those responsible.

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(Français) Enfin des bonnes nouvelles d’Haïti ?
Frédéric Thomas, CETRI – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

La méconnaissance et le mépris que Martelly et l’UE affichent de concert envers les analyses et les revendications des mouvements sociaux et d’organisations haïtiens représentent l’envers d’une confiance sans borne au marché.

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A Day That Will Live in Infamy: The Day Odessa Citizens Were Savagely Killed
Eric Sommer – Russia Today, 5 May 2014

Yesterday – May 2, 2014 – the day that Kiev radicals supported by the US government attacked and burnt to death civilians in Ukraine, is a day which will live in infamy. Those of us who grew up in the West after WWII believed that supporting anything resembling fascism was unthinkable. The moral degeneration of the US state and its NATO allies since that time is beyond belief.

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Much Different from What You’ve Heard – The Story of Venezuela’s Protests
Mark Weisbrot - CounterPunch, 5 May 2014

The strategy of Venezuela’s extreme right is to make the country ungovernable, so as to gain by force what they have been unable to win in 18 elections over the past 15 years. It is clear from the statements of Brazil’s former president Lula da Silva and current president Dilma Rousseff that they have no illusions about what is going on in Venezuela.

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Geopolitics and Markets – War Is Peace
Buttonwood - The Economist, 5 May 2014

28 Apr 2014 – Is there another sense in which “war is peace”, in that peace can only be maintained in an environment where both sides believe the other will go to war? At a conference last week, strategist Dylan Grice used the well-known example of the “prisoner’s dilemma.”

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(Français) La Chine soutient un traité de libre-échange en Asie-Pacifique, concurrent du TPP
Les Echos – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

Pékin souhaite un vaste accord de libre-échange dans l’Asie-Pacifique, a indiqué un haut responsable mercredi [30 Avr 2014], alors que les négociations s’éternisent sur le projet concurrent de Partenariat trans-Pacifique (TPP), mené par les Etats-Unis et qui exclut la Chine.

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New York Times Covers Up Fascist Atrocity in Odessa
Barry Grey, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

The criminal character of the US-European Union intervention in Ukraine was tragically exposed Friday [2 May 2014] when supporters of the US-installed regime in Kiev, led by neo-Nazi Right Sector thugs, set fire to the Trade Unions House in Odessa, killing 38 demonstrators. The cover-up by the New York Times, along with the rest of the “mainstream” media, makes them accomplices.

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Libya: Ex-US Base Now Headquarters of Al Qaeda-linked Forces
Gabriel Black, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

Al Qaeda fighters are now operating out of a base set up by US Special Forces near the Libyan capital of Tripoli, in the aftermath of the 2011 NATO war in Libya. This fact underscores the reactionary character of the Libyan war and Washington’s continued reliance on far-right Islamist forces in its Middle East wars.

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How Mandela and S. Africa Were Freed
Danny Schechter – Consortium News, 5 May 2014

History often recounts events through the tales of “great men,” but that is rarely the complete story. South Africa’s overturning of white supremacy is a case in point, not just the personal triumph of Nelson Mandela but the victory of a global movement.

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Nirvanaless: Asian Buddhism’s Growing Fundamentalist Streak
Anuradha Sharma and Vishal Arora – Religion News, 5 May 2014

Though fundamentalism is a term that has thus far been used mostly in relation to Christianity, Islam and Hinduism, some are beginning to use it to describe Buddhists as well. [TRANSCEND Member] Maung Zarni, an exiled Burmese who has written extensively on the ongoing violence in Myanmar and Sri Lanka, argues that there is no room for fundamentalism in Buddhism.

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(Português) Brasil: Em guerra contra a Nestlé
Marina Almeida, Carta Maior – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

Grupo de moradores e Ministério Público querem proteger o Parque das Águas de São Lourenço, em Minas Gerais, da exploração da multinacional.

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Nuclear Experts Raise Concerns over Giant ‘Ice Wall’ at Fukushima
Andrea Germanos – Common Dreams, 5 May 2014

One of those questioning the ice wall is Dale Klein, former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman and current head of the Nuclear Reform Monitoring Committee hired by plant operator TEPCO. “I’m not convinced that the freeze wall is the best option,” he told Kyodo News. “What I’m concerned about is unintended consequences.”

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(Castellano) Como a Obama, hay que pedirle cuentas a Vladimir Putin en materia de espionaje
Edward Snowden – Freedom of the Press Foundation, 5 May 2014

El jueves pasado [10 de abril 2014] cuestioné en directo en televisión la implicación de Rusia en el espionaje masivo. Le hice al presidente de Rusia, Vladimir Putin, una pregunta que no puede responder negativamente de un modo creíble ningún líder que dirija un programa moderno e intrusivo de vigilancia: “¿Intercepta [su país], analiza o almacena las comunicaciones de millones de individuos?”

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Identification of Bullets: Human Right and Human Responsibility?
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

Much is made of the implications of the arms trade and the spread of weapons, notably manufactured by the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Curiously it is less evident whose weapons are used in the final killing of individuals in combat — especially the weapons used “illegally” by insurgents. The following is a brief exploration of the possibility of identifying who supplied the bullet which finally entered the body of the person maimed or killed.

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The Politics of Red Lines
Noam Chomsky – In These Times, 5 May 2014

Putin’s takeover of Crimea scares U.S. leaders because it challenges America’s global dominance. The world … regards the United States as a ‘pariah state’ and ‘the greatest threat to world peace,’ with no competitor even close in the polls.

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A Shameful Chapter
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

For anyone interested in Israeli-Palestinian peace, the prospect of domestic Palestinian reconciliation is good news.

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United Nations Expert Says There Are “Elements of Genocide” against Myanmar’s Rohingya
London Conference on Decades of State-Sponsored Destruction of Myanmar’s Ethnic Rohingya - TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

“The United Nations has taken 20 years to apologise for its failure to recognise and prevent the Rwandan genocide; the international community should not repeat the same mistake in Myanmar.”

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This Land Isn’t Your Land, This Land Is Their Land – An Empire in Decline (City by City, Town by Town)
Peter Van Buren - TomDispatch, 5 May 2014

Once upon a time, I worked as a State Department officer, helping to carry out the occupation of Iraq, where Washington’s goal was regime change. It was there that, in a way, I had my first taste of the life of the 1%. I returned to America to find another sort of regime change underway, only I wasn’t among the 1% for this one.

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Fascists For Europe
Adam Blanden – Dissent Magazine, 5 May 2014

Those in the West who were paying attention reacted with shock and indignation when, last month, the newly formed Ukrainian provisional government welcomed a tranche of neo-fascists into its fold. The Svoboda party’s Oleksandr Sych is now Deputy Prime Minister.

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Palestine: Why the Peace Talks Collapsed—And Should Not Be Resumed
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

It is important that world public opinion reject as meaningless the diplomatic charade of peace talks while the fate of a people continues to be daily sacrificed on the altar of geopolitics.

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Dunya Mikhail: Politics in Service of Poetry
Solmaz Sharif – Foreign Policy In Focus, 5 May 2014

Iraqi-American poet Dunya Mikhail talks about her experiences writing provocative poetry in two different countries.
What good luck!
She has found his bones.
The skull is also in the bag
the bag in her hand
like all other bags
in all other hands.

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Myanmar’s Rohingya Persecution – Frequently Asked Questions
London Conference on Decades of State-Sponsored Destruction of Myanmar’s Ethnic Rohingya – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

Q: What is really happening to Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya? Why is it significant?
A: A slow burning genocide of 36-years with periodic spikes of violence and killings followed by waves of exoduses of fleeing Refugees to nearby Bangladesh, as well as Thailand, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Australia and other Western countries.

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It’s Not Russia That’s Pushed Ukraine to the Brink of War
Seumas Milne – The Guardian, 5 May 2014

The attempt to lever Kiev into the western camp by ousting an elected leader made conflict certain. It could be a threat to us all.

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Hope and Despair in the Beach Refugee Camp
Ramzy Baroud – Middle East Eye, 5 May 2014

Is it possible that following several failed attempts, Fatah and Hamas have finally found that elusive middle ground? And if they have done so, why, to what end, and at what cost?

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Antimicrobial Resistance: Global Report on Surveillance 2014
World Health Organization – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

Antimicrobial resistance threatens the prevention and treatment of an ever-increasing range of infections caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi. Governments around the world are devoting efforts to a problem so serious that it threatens the achievements of modern medicine.

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Love Undetectable: Andrew Sullivan on Why Friendship Is a Greater Gift Than Romantic Love
Maria Popova, Brain Pickings – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

“A principal fruit of friendship,” Francis Bacon observed, “is the ease and discharge of the fullness and swellings of the heart, which passions of all kinds do cause and induce.” Thoreau would “sometimes awake in the night and think of friendship and its possibilities.” St. Augustine described friendship as “sweet beyond the sweetness of life.”

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A People’s War in East Ukraine
Daniel Patrick Welch – Consortium News, 5 May 2014

Ukraine’s Western-backed coup regime in Kiev has launched an offensive against ethnic Russians in the east while a pro-regime mob used fire to kill some 31 anti-regime protesters in Odessa. Virtually all U.S. pundits favor the coup regime. Here is a different view of the conflict.

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Another Pulitzer for Reporting Classified Info
Cora Currier – Columbia Journalism Review, 5 May 2014

16 Apr 2014 – The Pulitzer committee’s decision to give its public service award this year to the Washington Post and the Guardian for their stories on government surveillance has elicited a few predictable reactions from those who believe that the source of the NSA material—Edward Snowden—is not a whistleblower, but a criminal.

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Myanmar’s Genocide of Rohingya Must End
London Conference on Decades of State-Sponsored Destruction of Myanmar’s Ethnic Rohingya – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 May 2014

Unspeakable crimes are being carried out against innocent humans: children, women and men by the country’s government and racist extremists. Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya (of whom there are more than 1 million inside the country and another million around the world) have been singled out for systematic destruction.

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Israel – Stone Cold Justice Four Corners
Australian Broadcasting Corporation – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Apr 2014

The Israeli army is both respected and feared as a fighting force. But now the country’s military is facing a backlash at home and abroad for its treatment of children in the West Bank, occupied territory.

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The New Interventionists: Civil Society Activists
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Apr 2014

Debates about intervention are inevitable in an interdependent world order in which ideals of territorial sovereignty clash with the interests and values of hegemonic political actors. There are no either/or solution for the dilemmas posed. What seems preferable is a contextual assessment tempered by humility arising from the experience of past interventions.

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Anzac Day: A Fitting Codicil to a Century of War
Jake Lynch – New Matilda, 28 Apr 2014

Military spending and mythology in Australia have taken on a life of their own. Perhaps we can use 2014 and 2015 to switch our critical faculties back on, and use our freedom and democracy to loosen the grip of the military-industrial complex and our deference to warmongers across the Pacific. That would be a fitting codicil to a century of war.

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The Russian World Is Coming to Europe
Boris Mezhuev - Izvestia, 28 Apr 2014

President Putin’s Direct Line on April 17 [2014] offered a wonderful opportunity for reflecting on the present and the future of European civilization by making it plain that he still considers Europe to be a single integrated civilization stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok. But Russia cannot possibly accept the idea of NATO inching toward its borders. The problem with this treaty on collective security is that it ignores Russia’s interests.

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International Peace Research Association at 50
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Apr 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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Rachel Brett – Snakes and Ladders: A Personal Exploration of Quaker Work on Human Rights at the United Nations
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Apr 2014

Hodgkin started organizing British Quakers for peace and reconciliation work and in 1915 went to the US to start the Fellowship of Reconciliation, drawing especially on his Quaker contacts. While Quakers have always been active in FOR, they have also created specifically Quaker institutions working for peace such as the two Quaker UN Offices.

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