Articles by M
We found 37535 results.
Russian Roulette: Taxpayers Could Be on the Hook for Trillions in Oil Derivatives
Ellen Brown, Web of Debt – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Dec 2014
19 Dec 2014 – The sudden dramatic collapse in the price of oil appears to be an act of geopolitical warfare against Russia. The result could be trillions of dollars in oil derivative losses; and the FDIC could be liable, following repeal of key portions of the Dodd-Frank Act last weekend.
→ read full articleAn Open Letter to Ecuadorian President Correa on Evicting the CONAIE Indigenous Movement
Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Upside Down World – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Dec 2014
The government of Ecuador called for the CONAIE indigenous movement to leave its Quito headquarters, which they have occupied since 1991. Translation of a letter from Univ. of Coimbra’s sociology professor and analyst of Latin American social movements, Boaventura de Sousa Santos to President Rafael Correa.
→ read full articleDear Dr. Kaslow: I Too Am “Outraged, Saddened and Pained”
Roy J. Eidelson, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
The New York Times does not accept letters-to-the-editor about other letters-to-the-editor. But this is one I would have submitted if I could. Dr. Kaslow’s letter offers no hint of doubt, concern, or regret in regard to any actions or inaction on the part of the American Psychological Association and its leadership. I am also outraged that in 2004, while torture was taking place at CIA black sites, APA Ethics Office Director Stephen Behnke arranged a private meeting with senior CIA and Pentagon officials to “sort out appropriate from inappropriate uses of psychology.”
→ read full article20 Deals in 24 Hours: Russia-India Relations Given $100 Billion-Worth Boost
Rajeev Sharma – Russia Today,
15 Dec 2014
12 Dec 2014 – The economic burden of Western sanctions has pushed Russia to the east in search of business opportunities. Judging by the outcome of President Putin’s visit to India – 20 high-profile deals struck – Moscow’s ‘pivot to Asia’ is getting a warm welcome.
→ read full article(Português) Brasil: Conheça e Acesse o Relatório Final da Comissão Nacional da Verdade
Carta Maior – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
10 dez 2014 – O relatório aponta as prisões sem base legal, as torturas e as mortes delas decorrentes, as violências sexuais, as execuções e ocultações de cadáveres. O relatório final da Comissão Nacional da Verdade foi entregue hoje em cerimônia oficial no Palácio do Planalto à presidenta Dilma Rousseff.
→ read full article‘Learned Helplessness’: The Chilling Psychological Concept behind the CIA’s Interrogation Methods
Terrence McCoy – The Washington Post,
15 Dec 2014
[The qualification ‘torture’ is not used one single time in this piece. –TMS editor] The concept: “exposing organisms to aversive events which they cannot control,” according to a later paper in the Journal of Experimental Psychology co-authored by Martin E. Seligman. Learned helplessness occurs when a subject is so broken he will not even attempt escape if the opportunity presents itself.
→ read full articleThe Global Bankers’ Coup: Bail-In and the Shadowy Financial Stability Board
Ellen Brown, Web of Debt – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
For three centuries, private international banking interests have brought governments in line by blocking them from issuing their own currencies and requiring them to borrow banker-issued “banknotes” instead. Under the new FSB guidelines, nations could still be held in feudalistic subservience to foreign masters.
→ read full articleConvention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
UN General Assembly – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
10 December 1984 – The General Assembly adopts the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; Calls upon all Governments to consider signing and ratifying the Convention as a matter of priority.
→ read full articleThe Complicity of Psychologists in CIA Torture
Roy Eidelson and Trudy Bond – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
What the American Psychological Association Knew – Other evidence suggests that the abhorrent actions of two highly paid CIA contractors were by no means the only instances in which the profession’s do-no-harm principles were tragically abandoned. So while this week’s grim Senate report provides important answers to crucial questions, for the psychology profession there is much more yet to be illuminated.
→ read full articleShameless: The Luxury Homes That Torture Built
Michael Daly – The Daily Beast,
15 Dec 2014
The CIA paid torture teachers James Mitchell and Bruce Jesser more than $80 million. Call them the houses that torture built: Two sprawling luxury homes purchased by the CIA-contracted psychologists at the center of the scathing Senate report.
→ read full articleHome-made Spy Drone Hacks WiFi Networks, Listens to Calls
Erin Van der Bellen, WUSA – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
Long-time friends and former Air Force buddies, Mike Tassey and Rich Perkins, describe their state-of-the-art cyber drone as hard to take down, hard to see and virtually hard to detect. They built it in a garage, using off the shelf electronics to prove a drone can be used to launch cyber-attacks.
→ read full articleFour Years since the Arrest of Julian Assange
Robert Stevens, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
December 7 [2014] marked four years since WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in London and detained without charge. December 5 marked 900 days that he has been holed up inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London after being forced to claim political asylum.
→ read full article30 Years of Torture Convention – States Still Failing on Obligations
Amnesty International – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
10 Dec 2014 – On the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention against Torture, Amnesty International is calling upon states not to obstruct efforts to prevent the appalling practice. While 156 states have ratified the Convention, a host of nations are still carrying out torture and are obstructing efforts to prevent, monitor, investigate and to bring about prosecutions.
→ read full articleAlternative Nobel: Fidel Castro Wins China’s Confucius Peace Prize
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
11 Dec 2014 – Cuba’s former leader Fidel Castro has been awarded the Confucius Peace Prize, China’s alternative to the Nobel. Castro was praised for “important contributions on eliminating nuclear war after his retirement,” and will get US$15,000.
→ read full articleUS Senate Votes to Sanction Venezuela over CIA Torture
News from Somewhere – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
The US Senate passed a bill imposing sanctions on Venezuelan for not having done more to prevent the torture of prisoners by the CIA. “As is well known, we have been trying to straighten out Venezuela for 15 years or more, but the recalcitrant government of that country refuses to be straightened. If it hadn’t been for places like Venezuela, we would have had much more time to keep an eye on the CIA.”
→ read full articleWhat Makes Nonviolent Movements Explode?
Mark Engler and Paul Engler – Common Dreams,
15 Dec 2014
Why are some protests ignored and forgotten while others explode, dominating the news cycle for weeks and becoming touchstones in political life? For all of those seeking to promote change, this is a critical question. And it was a particularly pressing concern after the financial meltdown of 2008.
→ read full article(Italiano) Un rapido sguardo a Indonesia-Malaysia
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
Muhammadiyah University – Yogyakarta, Indonesia
→ read full articleUS Torture Report Summary Released (download full text here)
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor - TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
9 December, 2014 – US Senator Dianne Feinstein Unveils CIA (Whitewash) Torture Report Summary on Capitol Hill in Washington
→ read full articleUS Senate Approves US$ 585 Billion Defense Bill
Xinhua – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
The U.S. Senate on Friday [12 Dec 2014] passed a sweeping 585-billion-U.S.dollar defense policy bill that will pay for the Pentagon’s activities in fiscal 2015, and give President Barack Obama authority to expand the campaign against the Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq and Syria.
→ read full articleGenerations of Victims – Bhopal’s Unending Catastrophe
Anne Backhaus and Simone Salden – Der Spiegel,
15 Dec 2014
Thirty years after the worst chemical accident in history, the disaster is hitting a new generation. The victims have received little help, professional clean-up has not happened and there are no signs the ongoing environmental catastrophe will end.
→ read full articlePresentation to Nobel Summit – Rome, Italy
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
Appeal to His Holiness Pope Francis to Replace Just War Theory with Theology of Peace, Nonkilling, and Nonviolence
→ read full articleIsrael & Australia Violate UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Dr. Gideon Polya – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
Apartheid Israel and Apartheid Australia have appalling, continuing records of violating the human rights of their Indigenous Peoples and must be held to account by the civilized world for currently violating all 46 Articles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
→ read full articleBritain Taught Brazilian Dictatorship to Torture
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
Brazilian interrogators learned techniques from the British army, which had mastered their psychological torturing skills on suspected republicans in Northern Ireland.
→ read full articleAntisemitism and Criticism of Israel Not the Same Thing
Jews for Justice for Palestinians – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
In a submission last month to the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism, JfJfP’s executive committee carefully distinguishes between antisemitism – which has deep roots in Europe and is rising – and criticism of Israeli policies, which is necessary and commonplace in Israel itself.
→ read full articleAsian Games: Putin 2 – Obama 0
Manlio Dinucci – Voltaire Network,
15 Dec 2014
The West’s failure at the G20 has been concealed from the European and US populations through a vast propaganda offensive which spotlighted Putin being scoffed by his peers over his Ukraine politics. However, it must be noted that the name of Ukraine was not even once pronounced during the summit.
→ read full articleTorture as a Jus Cogens Norm
Law Teacher – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
Everybody Is Doing It! Torture as a Jus Cogens Norm Following the September 11 Attacks – This paper will examine the claims, prior to September 11, that torture prohibition is a jus cogens norm and whether or not the actions of the international community after this date can justifiably support such a contention.
→ read full articleEngaging with Insight of a Higher Order
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
This is an exercise in exploring the limits of what can be said about greater insight — but without presuming to say anything from such a perspective. The value of doing so can be variously indicated.
→ read full articleOnly Half of Global Banks Have Policy to Respect Human Rights
Carey L. Biron, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
Public policy to respect human rights is a foundational mandate of the international convention on multinational business practice. Of the global banks examined, none has a process to deal with human rights abuses. None has even created grievance mechanisms by which those impacted can complain to the banks.
→ read full articleFull Scale of Plastic in the World’s Oceans Revealed for First Time
Oliver Milman – The Guardian,
15 Dec 2014
Over five trillion pieces of plastic weighing nearly 269,000 tonnes are floating in our oceans says most comprehensive study to date on plastic pollution around the world.
→ read full article
The Architect of the CIA’s Enhanced Interrogation Program [a.k.a. torture]
VICE News Exclusive – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
Dec 10, 2014 – This is the first time James Mitchell has ever appeared on camera.
→ read full articleThe Abolition of Abolition of Nuclear Weapons
James Carroll - TomDispatch,
15 Dec 2014
How the [Nobel Prize] President Who Pledged to Banish Nuclear Weapons Is Enabling Their Renewal
→ read full articleMajor BDS Win: Elbit Loses Brazil Deal
The Alternative Information Center – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
4 Dec 2014 – The Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul has cancelled a major collaboration deal with Israeli military company Elbit Systems in the wake of protests over the firm’s role in oppression of Palestinians.
→ read full articleObama in Ferguson—If…
Latuff Cartoons – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
Satirical Strip – Cartoon
→ read full articleNew Leak Reveals Luxembourg Tax Deals for Disney, Koch Brothers Empire
Alison Fitzgerald and Marina Walker Guevara – International Consortium of Investigative Journalists,
15 Dec 2014
A new leak of confidential documents expands the list of big companies seeking secret tax deals in Luxembourg, exposing tax-saving maneuvers by American entertainment icon The Walt Disney Co., politically controversial Koch Industries Inc. and 33 other companies.
→ read full articleNorwegian Doctor: Israel Used New Type of Weapon in Gaza
Medics Charity – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
Unknown weapon severs the legs leaving burns around the stump, small punctures in the skin, internal bleeding. Even doctors with previous experience in war zones do not recognize them according to Dr. Erik Fosse, a Norwegian cardiologist who worked at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital during Operation Cast Lead.
→ read full articleWhy No One Remembers the Peacemakers
Adam Hochschild - TomDispatch,
15 Dec 2014
Celebrating War Over and Over and Peace Once. At Christmas. – Go to war and every politician will thank you, and they’ll continue to do so — with monuments and statues, war museums and military cemeteries — long after you’re dead. But who thanks those who refused to fight, even in wars that most people later realized were tragic mistakes?
→ read full articleUN Official Wants US Administrators Involved in Torture to Be Prosecuted
Samuel Oakford – Vice News,
15 Dec 2014
Following the publication on Tuesday [9 Dec 2014] of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on Bush-era CIA interrogation practices, a top United Nations expert has called for US officials involved in torture to be prosecuted — and he says that they can be tried in any country.
→ read full articleSending Troops to Protect Dictators Threatens All of Us
Seumas Milne – The Guardian,
15 Dec 2014
CIA torture, crushing democracy and Britain’s new military base in Bahrain all deliver a toxic message. The heavily censored summary of the US senate torture report turns the stomach in its litany of criminal barbarity unleashed by the CIA on real and imagined US enemies.
→ read full article10 Craziest Things in the Senate Report on Torture
Matt Taibbi – Rolling Stone,
15 Dec 2014
From ‘Rectal Feeding’ to mock executions, the most horrifying revelations about how we abused prisoners after 9/11.
→ read full articlePeace Education for Protection of Human Rights
Surya Nath Prasad, Ph. D. - TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
10 December is celebrated annually across the world to honor the UN General Assembly’s adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
→ read full articleJim Crow Laws That Govern Palestinian Life
Jews for Justice for Palestinians – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
Whether they want to attend family gatherings, open a business or visit sick relatives, Palestinians under occupation must adhere to military regulations, the vast majority of which are hidden from public scrutiny.
→ read full articleThe Octagon World: Conflict or Cooperation?
Johan Galtung, 15 Dec 2014 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
They can choose to focus on the worst in others, criticizing, building on paranoia and worst case analysis, “security”. Or choose to focus on the best, with cooperation as dominant mode, conflict as recessive. They can cooperate for mutual and equal benefit like in good trade, exploring each others’ comparative political-cultural advantages. They can do it.
→ read full articleThis Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
Week of Dec 15-21, 2014
→ read full articleMore Than a Quarter of the World’s Countries Helped the CIA Run Its Torture Program
Akbar Shahid Ahmed, Ryan Grim and Lauren Weber – Huffington Post,
15 Dec 2014
These countries made the CIA program possible in two ways: by enabling rendition, which involved transferring U.S. detainees abroad without due legal process, and by providing facilities far beyond the reach of U.S. law where those detainees were subjected to torture.
→ read full articleCop 20: UN Climate Change Conference | Lima – Talks Reach Global Warming Agreement
Suzanne Goldenberg in Lima – The Guardian,
15 Dec 2014
Sunday 14 December 2014 – International negotiators at the Lima climate change talks have agreed on a plan to fight global warming that would for the first time commit all countries to cutting their greenhouse gas emissions. •Full text of the deal (pdf)
→ read full articleWalt Whitman Returns . . .
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
Preface to Leaves of Grass (1855) – What Walt Whitman would say if he appeared in our time? I know he would recognize the betrayal of history’s lessons – humanity’s continued infatuation with violence and war. He would scold us! Reprimand us! Remind us solutions are to be found in compassion and connection — not metal.
→ read full articleISIS Publishes Shocking Guidebook Telling Fighters How to Buy, Sell and Abuse Captured Women
Abul Taher – Daily Mail,
15 Dec 2014
14 Dec 2014 – Islamic State (IS) has published a shocking guidebook for its fighters on how to rape slave girls – even if they have not reached puberty. The Arabic manual, titled Questions And Answers On Taking Captives And Slaves, instructs IS fighters on how to buy and sell women and girls who have been captured in war as booty.
→ read full articleRight-Wing Lessons Learned
Tom Tomorrow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
This Modern World – Comic Strip
→ read full articleRectal Rehydration and Broken Limbs: The Grisliest Findings in the CIA Torture Report
Dominic Rushe, Ewen MacAskill, Ian Cobain , Alan Yuhas and Oliver Laughland – The Guardian,
15 Dec 2014
Parts of the CIA interrogation programme were known, but the catalogue of abuse is nightmarish, especially knowing much more will never be revealed.
→ read full articleUN Urges Israel to Renounce Nuclear Arms, Join Non-Proliferation Treaty
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
5 Dec 2014 – The UN General Assembly has passed a resolution calling on Israel not to develop, produce or possess nuclear arms and criticizing the country for not being part to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Israel rebuffed the call saying that the UN “lost all its credibility regarding Israel with these types of routine votes that are ensured passage by an automatic majority and which single out Israel.”
→ read full articleNuclear Weapons and the International Security Context
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
This statement, signed by over 100 civil society organizations, was delivered at the United Nations General Assembly’s First Committee on October 28, 2014.
→ read full article
Climate Change and the Yin-Yang of Polar Sea Ice
ScienceAtNASA – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
Dec 2, 2014 – Arctic and Antarctic sea ice are both affected by climate change, but the two poles of Earth are behaving in intriguingly different ways.
→ read full articleWhat Happens When Spies Can Eavesdrop on Any Conversation?
Patrick Tucker, Defense One – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
Imagine having access to the all of the world’s recorded conversations, videos that people have posted to YouTube, in addition to chatter collected by random microphones in public places. Then picture the possibility of searching that dataset for clues related to terms that you are interested in the same way you search Google.
→ read full articleEdward Snowden Wins Swedish Human Rights Award for NSA Revelations
Ewen MacAskill – The Guardian,
8 Dec 2014
Whistleblower receives several standing ovations in Swedish parliament as he wins Right Livelihood award. Speaking by video from Moscow he said: ‘All the prices we’ve paid, all the sacrifices we made, I believe we would do again – I know I would.’ The Guardian editor, Alan Rusbridger, was also among the recipients.
→ read full articleInside the World’s Largest Islamist Group: The Muslim Brotherhood
Hazem Kandil – Dissent Magazine,
8 Dec 2014
A reputation established over eight decades collapsed in less than eight months. Islamism, an ideology that carved its name from Islam, had always been synonymous with it in the minds of many.
→ read full articleA Coherent System – Socialism
Janet Surman - CounterCurrents,
8 Dec 2014
If we are seeking an end to the current structure of relations which puts economic matters at the forefront of each and every issue then it follows that we are determined to pursue a system organised for the benefit of the vast majority – one where social matters trump the economic and political.
→ read full articleWhat Part of Constitutional Rights Do You Not Understand?
Tom Tomorrow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
This Modern World – Comic Satirical Strip
→ read full articleThe 2001 Anthrax Deception: The Case for a Domestic Conspiracy
Edward Curtin - TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
Review of [TRANSCEND Member] Graeme MacQueen’s Book – The anthrax letters were instrumental in getting tyrannical legislation passed by Congress. The US tried to blame Muslim terrorists but the anthrax was a version that only existed in US military labs.
→ read full articleBeyond M.A.D.: Reviving Nuclear War
Robert C. Koehler – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
“Some of the key technocrats and scientists of the Cold War say the nation has become overly confident about its nuclear deterrence. The nuclear enterprise, they say, ‘is rusting its way to disarmament.’” Let’s meditate on this irony — that disarmament, finally, means no more than growing old and weak and pathetic.
→ read full articleThinking Outside the Oslo Box
Mark LeVine & Mathias Mossberg – Al Jazeera America,
8 Dec 2014
The Oslo Accord has failed to bring justice to Palestinians or peace and security to Israelis. As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict once again spirals toward large-scale violence, the United States’ policymaking establishment is finally coming to grips with the demise of the Oslo peace process.
→ read full articleNo Exit in Gaza – Broken Homes and Broken Lives
Jen Marlowe - TomDispatch,
8 Dec 2014
Rubble. That’s been the one constant for the Awajah family for as long as I’ve known them. Four months ago, their home was demolished by the Israeli military — and it wasn’t the first time that Kamal, Wafaa, and their children had been through this.
→ read full articleBoycott Coca-Cola
US Palestinian Community Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
4 Dec 2014 – BDS is now a worldwide movement against Israeli Apartheid, and USPCN wants to work with you to target Coca-Cola, as our contribution to the campaign. Close Coca-Cola Factories in Occupied Palestine NOW!
→ read full article(Português) Onde está o nó da questão ecológica (I)?
Leonardo Boff – Carta Maior,
8 Dec 2014
Estamos cansados de meio-ambiente. Queremos o ambiente inteiro, vale dizer, uma visão sistêmica do sitema-Terra, do sistema-vida e da civilização humana.
→ read full article(Português) Eduardo Galeano: Ayotzinapa, México
Eduardo Galeano – Carta Maior,
8 Dec 2014
Os governantes perderam o controle sobre o medo, a fúria que desencadearam está se voltando contra eles. A raiva digna fará o México despertar e questionar.
→ read full article(Italiano) Scontri di civiltà Occidente-Oriente?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
Il conflitto? Diritti storici buddhisti vs diritti umani musulmani. Nessuna conversione religiosa all’altro campo, niente né una cosa né l’altra secolare, nessun compromesso mezzo buddhista / mezzo musulmano, nessun amalgama sia-sia: il buddhism con potere di stato è anch’esso esclusivo. Che prospettive di soluzioni politiche?
→ read full article(Italiano) L’apocalisse del neoliberismo
Alex Zanotelli, Comune-info – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
“Vidi una bestia salire dal mare …”. È con queste parole che il profeta dell’Apocalisse descrive l’Impero Romano alla fine del primo secolo. Le stesse parole le userei per le nuove bestie che appaiono all’orizzonte: il Partenariato Transatlantico per il Commercio e gli Investimenti, nell’acronimo inglese T-tip.
→ read full article(Castellano) Rusia y América Latina: protagonistas multipolares
Nydia Egremy Pinto - TeleSur,
8 Dec 2014
Ambos polos coinciden hoy en sus objetivos estratégicos al refirmar que sus recursos naturales deben ser motor de desarrollo y no, capital trasnacional. Hoy que Nuestra América avanza hacia su integración y que Rusia retorna a la arena mundial como actor de primer orden, parece mas viable mundo multipolar.
→ read full articleCorpus Callosum of the Global Brain?
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
Locating the integrative function within the world wide web. It is appropriate to ask whether the current challenges to global governance, and any requisite integration of the global brain, could not be fruitfully explored with respect to split-brain pathology, any form of split consciousness, hemispheric specialization, or bipolar disorder.
→ read full article‘Palestine Is Not an Environment Story’
Nafeez Ahmed – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
3 Dec 2014 – After writing for The Guardian for over a year, my contract was unilaterally terminated because I wrote a piece on Gaza that was beyond the pale. In doing so, The Guardian breached the very editorial freedom the paper was obligated to protect under my contract. The article now has 68,000 social media shares, and is by far the single most popular article on the Gaza conflict to date.
→ read full articleWar by Media and the Triumph of Propaganda
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
5 Dec 2014 – Why has so much journalism succumbed to propaganda? Why are censorship and distortion standard practice? Why is the BBC so often a mouthpiece of rapacious power? Why do the New York Times and the Washington Post deceive their readers?
→ read full articleNetwork
xkcd - TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.
→ read full articleCuba’s Extraordinary Global Medical Record Shames the US Blockade
Seumas Milne – The Guardian,
8 Dec 2014
Four months into the Ebola emergency that has devastated West Africa, Cuba leads the world in direct medical support to fight the epidemic. The US and Britain have sent thousands of troops and promised aid that has yet to materialise. From Ebola to earthquakes, Havana’s doctors have saved millions. Obama must lift this embargo.
→ read full articleEbb and Flow of Privatized Water – From Buenos Aires to Atlanta, from Mozambique to France
Nick Buxton, Occupy – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
A new report by Transnational Institute unveils a growing tide of cities taking back control of their water. Only a few involved popular rebellions, but all resulted from growing dissatisfaction with corporations’ broken promises.
→ read full articleThe Ethics of Climate Hope
Naomi Klein - TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
According to Elizabeth Kolbert’s review of my book, ‘This Changes Everything,’ humans are too selfish to respond effectively to the climate crisis. “When you tell people what it would actually take to radically reduce carbon emissions, they don’t want to give up air travel or air conditioning or HDTV or trips to the mall or the family car.”
→ read full article12 Things to Keep in Mind When You Read the Torture Report
Dan Froomkin – The Intercept,
8 Dec 2014
The Senate Intelligence Committee’s torture report will be released “in a matter of days,” a committee staffer tells The Intercept. Should something emerge, here are some important caveats to keep in mind.
→ read full article
Celebration (MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Kool & The Gang – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
The Classic from 1980 LIVE
→ read full articleThe 50-Year-Old ‘One-Dimensional Man’: Affirming Marcuse
Nick Thorkelson – Dissent Magazine,
8 Dec 2014
A cartoon by Nick Thorkelson accepting and supporting Herbert Marcuse’s theories.
→ read full articlePutin Gobsmacks Obama and Euro-Leaders with Surprise Gas Deal – Talking Turkey
Mike Whitney - CounterPunch,
8 Dec 2014
Putin has once again outmaneuvered the US on both the energy and geopolitical fronts adding to his long list of policy triumphs. Here’s a brief summary.
→ read full articleThe Rise of German Imperialism and the Phony “Russian Threat”
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
The principle Nazi ideological prop that secured massive financial and political support from Germany’s leading industrialists was the Communist and Soviet threat. The main Nazi military drive, absorbing two-thirds of its best troops, was directed eastward at conquering and destroying Russia.
→ read full articleLaunching of Kairos Palestine in Bethlehem – 11 December 2009
Kairos Palestine – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
In this historic document, we Palestinian Christians declare that the military occupation of our land is a sin against God and humanity.
→ read full articleUkraine’s Made-in-USA Finance Minister
Robert Parry – Consortium News,
8 Dec 2014
A top problem of Ukraine has been corruption and cronyism, so it may raise eyebrows that new Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, an ex-U.S. diplomat and newly minted Ukrainian citizen, was involved in insider dealings while managing a $150 million U.S. AID-backed investment fund.
→ read full articleThe Importance of the Cancellation of South Stream
Alexander Mercouris – Oriental Review,
8 Dec 2014
The reaction to the cancellation of the South Stream project has been a wonder to behold and needs to be explained very carefully. In order to understand what has happened it is first necessary to go back to the way Russian-European relations were developing in the 1990s.
→ read full articleThinking Frantz Fanon
Nigel C. Gibson – Pambazuka News,
8 Dec 2014
Fanonian Translations In and Beyond ‘Fanon Studies’- Translations are not neutral; they are products of history and are highly charged politically. Yet despite this, Fanon’s thought in his translated works has remained clear, inspiring people from Steve Biko to Abahlali baseMjondolo.
→ read full articleNepal’s Gadhimai Animal Slaughter Festival: Never Again
Compassion in World Farming – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
Please note that this picture story contains graphic images of animal slaughter that may cause distress.
→ read full articleRefusing Marcuse: 50 Years after ‘One-Dimensional Man’
Stephen Whitfield – Dissent Magazine,
8 Dec 2014
‘One-Dimensional Man’ was published just half a century ago, catapulting a rather obscure professor in his sixties to international fame. Once the domination of technocracy was overcome, Marcuse believed, the people would be free to discover their authentic needs.
→ read full articleNew G20 Rules: Cyprus-style Bail-ins to Hit Depositors AND Pensioners
Ellen Brown - TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
Warren Buffett called derivatives “weapons of financial mass destruction;” they are a time bomb waiting to explode. When that happens, our deposits, our pensions, and our public investment funds will all be subject to confiscation in a “bail in.” Perhaps it is time to pull our money out of Wall Street and set up our own banks – banks that will serve the people because they are owned by the people.
→ read full articleIsrael Nature Reserve Oil Spill ‘One of Country’s Worst Environmental Disasters’
Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
Oil spill floods Israeli nature reserve. Three people hospitalized after inhaling fumes from oil gushing out of a breached pipeline near Evrona reserve.
→ read full articleThis Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
Important/relevant dates to observe this week.
December 7 (Sunday):
1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
December 8:
A Quick Glance at Indonesia-Malaysia
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
Muhammadiyah University – Yogyakarta, Indonesia
→ read full articleUS Control Is Diminishing, but It Still Thinks It Owns the World
Noam Chomsky – The Guardian,
8 Dec 2014
The United States has long assumed the right to use violence to achieve its aims, but it is now less able to implement its policies.
→ read full articleEbola Epidemic Continues to Ravage West Africa
Niles Williamson, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
The Obama administration dispatched several thousand soldiers to Liberia, exploiting the crisis as a means of gaining a military foothold on the African continent. While foreign troops have been deployed to construct Ebola treatment centers, the responsibility for staffing these facilities has been left to an ad hoc grouping of NGOs, missionaries and local workers.
→ read full articleIran Deal More Than a Nuclear Issue
Trita Parsi – Middle East Eye,
8 Dec 2014
Concern in Washington and Tehran over who is seen as ‘winner’ in negotiations is a key obstacle to finding solution.
→ read full articleAfghanistan: The Making of a Narco State
Matthieu Aikins - Rolling Stone,
8 Dec 2014
After 13 years of war, we haven’t defeated the Taliban, but we have managed to create a nation ruled by drug lords.
→ read full articleBusiness and Entrepreneurs Seize Opportunities in Rise of Veganism
Damien Clarkson – The Guardian,
8 Dec 2014
With a growing consumer interest in plant-based healthy eating, vegetarian and vegan options present a chance new business and competitive advantage.
→ read full articleThirty Years On, Bhopal’s Ghost Haunts India
Gulf News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
1 Dec 2014 – Even after three decades, the memory of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster is kept alive by “mini Bhopals” that occur across India.
→ read full articleUN Urges for Rohingya Citizenship in Myanmar
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Dec 2014
UN rights committee urges Myanmar government to scrap its identity plan and grant Rohingya access to citizenship.
→ read full articleIsrael’s Demolition of Palestinian Homes ‘Contrary to International Law,’ UN Experts Warn
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Dec 2014
25 Nov 2014 – The Israeli Government’s use of house demolition as a punitive measure must end immediately, UN experts urged today. The practice – which targets Palestinian homes in both Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory – is a violation of human rights law.
→ read full articleWhat “Free Trade” Has Done to Central America
Manuel Perez-Rocha and Julia Paley – Foreign Policy In Focus,
1 Dec 2014
Warnings about the human and environmental costs of “free trade” went unheeded. Now the most vulnerable Central Americans are paying the price.
→ read full articleEU Parliament Votes for Break-Up of Google
Deutsche Welle – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Dec 2014
EU lawmakers have voted in a favor of a resolution that would force Internet companies to separate search engines from commercial services. Though not named, Internet search giant Google, was the target of the vote.
→ read full articleCould Your Smart Tablet Be Damaging to Your Health?
Dr. Edward F. Group, Global Healing Center – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Dec 2014
A new report is showing that many tablets and phones are using chemicals that are drastically affecting the health of consumers.
→ read full article