Articles by RD
We found 3631 results.
False Equivalence: How ‘Balance’ Makes the Media Dangerously Dumb
Bob Garfield – The Guardidan,
14 Oct 2013
Let us state this unequivocally: false equivalency – the practice of giving equal media time and space to demonstrably invalid positions for the sake of supposed reportorial balance – is dishonest, pernicious and cowardly.
→ read full articleChina’s Official Press Agency Calls for New Reserve Currency, and New World Order
Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Oct 2013
China’s official press agency Xinhua decries the “US fiscal failure which warrants a de-Americanized world” and flatly states that the world should consider a new reserve currency “that is to be created to replace the dominant U.S. dollar, so that the international community could permanently stay away from the spillover of the intensifying domestic political turmoil in the United States.”
→ read full articleAttacking Tor: How the NSA Targets Users’ Online Anonymity
Bruce Schneier – The Guardian,
14 Oct 2013
The online anonymity network Tor is a high-priority target for the National Security Agency. The work of attacking Tor is done by the NSA’s application vulnerabilities branch, which is part of the systems intelligence directorate, or SID.
→ read full articleWall Street Bets a Quadrillion Dollars of Everybody Else’s Money
Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Oct 2013
“Even if the whole planet were offered as collateral, it could not cover Wall Street’s bets… Derivatives are valued at six times more than the total accumulated wealth of the world.”
→ read full articlePost-Intervention Libya: A Militia State
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Oct 2013
We can only wonder whether Libya as of 2013 is not better understood as a ‘militia state’ rather than a ‘failed state,’ which seems like an emerging pattern for societies that endure Western military intervention. The parallels of Libya with Iraq and Afghanistan are uncomfortably suggestive.
→ read full articleMass Spying: How the US Stamps Its Supremacy on the Pacific Region
Antony Loewenstein – The Guardian,
14 Oct 2013
The US is keen to convince its Pacific friends to fear a spy-friendly Beijing. The irony? Washington’s spying network is far more widespread than anything coming from the Chinese. What if China was beating the US at its own super-power game in the Pacific and we didn’t even notice?
→ read full articleIsrael’s Politics of Fragmentation
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Oct 2013
If the politics of deflection exhibit the outward reach of Israel’s grand strategy of territorial expansionism and regional hegemony, the politics of fragmentation serves Israel’s inward moves designed to weaken Palestinian resistance, induce despair, and de facto surrender.
→ read full articleSkype under Investigation in Luxembourg over Link to NSA
Ryan Gallagher – The Guardian,
14 Oct 2013
The Microsoft-owned internet chat company could potentially face criminal and administrative sanctions, including a ban on passing users’ communications covertly to the US signals intelliigence agency.
→ read full articleChelsea Manning Rejects ‘Pacifist’ Label in First Statement since Sentencing
Ed Pilkington – The Guardian,
14 Oct 2013
Exclusive: In first public remarks since guilty verdict, WikiLeaks source expresses intense upset at public presentation of her.
→ read full articleGuardian’s NSA Revelations: Spies to Go under Spotlight
Patrick Wintour, Rowena Mason and Dan Roberts – The Guardian,
14 Oct 2013
British deputy prime minister Nick Clegg is to start conversations in government about how to update the legal oversight of the UK’s security services in the light of disclosures by the Guardian that powerful new technologies appear to have outstripped the current system of legislative and political oversight.
→ read full articleRussia to Monitor ‘All Communications’ at Winter Olympics in Sochi
Shaun Walker – The Guardian,
7 Oct 2013
Athletes and spectators attending the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February [2014] will face some of the most invasive and systematic spying and surveillance in the history of the Games, documents shared with the Guardian show.
→ read full articleNetanyahu Pushes Back on Iran
Editorial Board – The New York Times,
7 Oct 2013
It could be disastrous if Mr. Netanyahu and his supporters in Congress were so blinded by distrust of Iran that they exaggerate the threat, block President Obama from taking advantage of new diplomatic openings and sabotage the best chance to establish a new relationship since the 1979 Iranian revolution sent American-Iranian relations into the deep freeze.
→ read full article
Stephen Hawking’s Big Ideas… Made Simple – Animation
The Guardian – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Oct 2013
Pretty interesting science. Hawking said that ‘the universe does not need god because its laws are self-created and self-perpetuating,” and that “the universe came from nothing.” Do you believe that? Or do you believe in intelligent design? The point being, they are both beliefs: in a theory vs in scriptures.
→ read full articleIrish Schoolchildren to Learn about Atheism
Henry McDonald – The Guardian,
7 Oct 2013
In a historic move that will cheer Richard Dawkins, lessons about atheism are to be taught in Ireland’s primary schools for the first time. The lessons on atheism, agnosticism and humanism for up to 16,000 primary-school pupils in Ireland will be drawn up by Atheist Ireland and multi-denominational school provider Educate Together.
→ read full articleUS Cyber Command’s Plan X: Pentagon Launching Covert Cyber Attacks
Tom Burghardt – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Oct 2013
It should be clear, given what we have learned from Edward Snowden and other sources, that the US government views the internet, indeed the entire planet, as a battlespace. General Alexander told the House Armed Services Committee that “Cyber offense requires a deep, persistent and pervasive presence on adversary networks in order to precisely deliver effects.”
→ read full articleOcean Acidification Due to Carbon Emissions Is at Highest for 300m Years
Fiona Harvey – The Guardian,
7 Oct 2013
The oceans are more acidic now than they have been for at least 300m years, due to carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels, and a mass extinction of key species may already be almost inevitable as a result, leading marine scientists warned on Thursday [3 Oct 2013].
→ read full article(Português) Giap, o Homem Que Humilhou Dois Impérios
Xavier Monthéard, Le Monde Diplomatique – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Oct 2013
Morre no Vietnã, aos 102 anos, gênio militar responsável por arrasar “mito da invencível superioridade dos Estados Unidos”. Sem formação militar acadêmica, Giap refina o conceito de “guerra popular prolongada”: um exército de camponeses firmemente apoiado na população.
→ read full articleHow Syria Brought the U.S. and Iran Together
Richard Javad Heydarian – Foreign Policy in Focus,
7 Oct 2013
This year’s UN General Assembly may well be remembered as the beginning of the end for Washington’s decades-long standoff with Tehran. And none of it would have been possible if the Obama administration had gone ahead with its plan to attack Syria.
→ read full articleNSA Director Admits to Misleading Public on Terror Plots
Natasha Lennard - Salon,
7 Oct 2013
NSA director Keith Alexander admitted Wednesday [2 Oct 2013] to the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Obama administration had issued misleading information about terror plots and their foiling to bolster support for the government’s vast surveillance apparatus.
→ read full article(Français) Giap: Et le Stratège Défit l’Amérique et la France
Xavier Monthéard – Le Monde Diplomatique,
7 Oct 2013
4 oct 2013 – Décédé ce vendredi à l’âge de 102 ans, le général et homme politique vietnamien Vo Nguyên Giap fut l’un des grands stratèges du XXe siècle, le seul qui parvint à défaire successivement les armées française et américaine.
→ read full articleIsrael’s Politics of Deflection
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Oct 2013
It seems clear that international law supports Palestinian claims on the major issues in contention: borders, refugees, Jerusalem, settlements, resources (water, land), statehood, and human rights. Then why not insist on resolving the conflict by reference to international law with such modifications as seem mutually beneficial?
→ read full articleFukushima Autumn
William Boardman - Reader Supported News,
7 Oct 2013
Dishonesty of the Abe sort has characterized the nuclear industry (weapons and power) since its earliest days when its spokespersons were telling us radiation was more or less good for us.
→ read full articleThe Snowden Files: Why the British Public Should Be Worried about GCHQ
John Lanchester – The Guardian,
7 Oct 2013
When the Guardian offered John Lanchester access to the GCHQ files, the journalist and novelist was initially unconvinced. But what the papers told him was alarming: that Britain is sliding towards an entirely new kind of surveillance society.
→ read full articleSeymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the ‘Pathetic’ American Media
Lisa O'Carroll – The Guardian,
30 Sep 2013
Seymour Hersh has got some extreme ideas on how to fix journalism – close down the news bureaus of NBC and ABC, sack 90% of editors in publishing and get back to the fundamental job of journalists, to be an outsider. It doesn’t take much to fire up Hersh, the investigative journalist who has been the nemesis of US presidents since the 1960s and who was once described by the Republican party as “the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist”.
→ read full articleSyria: The Strategy Has Backfired
Alastair Crooke – The Guardian,
30 Sep 2013
What a curious turn of events: from the very brink of a military intervention in Syria that might have precipitated a wider regional conflagration, we have moved to one of those rare “points of inflection” over Iran which seems fecund with potential possibilities, including a solution in Syria.
→ read full articleRecovery Hype: American Capitalism’s Weapon of Mass Distraction
Richard Wolff - The Guardian,
30 Sep 2013
You don’t have to be a Marxist to see how the 1% tries to fool us that we too are sharing in their renewed wealth. But it helps. From President Obama on down, defenders of the status quo insist that the US economy has “recovered” or “is recovering”. Some actually see the world that way.
→ read full articleThe Westgate Mall Massacre: Reflections
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Sep 2013
The Westgate Mall Massacre: The Rage of Fanaticism – Imagine deciding on the life or death of any person, but particularly a child, by whether or not they could name the mother of Mohammed or recite a verse from the Koran. Of course, even fanatics have a certain logic of justification that makes their acts congruent with a warped morality.
→ read full articleThe Violence of Psalm 21
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Sep 2013
Psalm 21 and the Human Predicament – If a religious text nurtures morally unacceptable impulses that are acted upon either consciously or sub-consciously in political domains, how can these adverse influences be repudiated without purporting to claim a hegemonic status for a secular reader?
→ read full articleBragging Rights: Eight Exceptional(ly Dumb) American Achievements of the Twenty-First Century
Tom Engelhardt - TomDispatch,
30 Sep 2013
It’s indisputable that the bragging rights to American exceptionalism are Washington’s. For those who need proof, what follows are just eight ways (among so many more) that you can proudly make the case for our exceptional status, should you happen to stumble across, say, President Putin, still blathering on about how unexceptional we are.
→ read full articleA Corporate Coup of a Different Order: The Growing Resistance to the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Arthur Phillips – Toward Freedom,
30 Sep 2013
In February, more than four years later, President Obama claimed his to be “the most transparent administration in history.” Perhaps the least publicized example of that statement’s dishonesty is the White House’s efforts to negotiate the biggest trade agreement since the mid 1990s in near-total secrecy. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, has been in negotiations since 2007.
→ read full articleBrazilian President: US Surveillance a ‘Breach of International Law’
Julian Borger – The Guardian,
30 Sep 2013
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s scathing speech to UN general assembly is the most serious diplomatic fallout over revelations of US spying. She launched a blistering attack on US espionage accusing the NSA of violating international law by its indiscriminate collection of personal information of Brazilian citizens and economic espionage targeted on the country’s strategic industries.
→ read full articleNSA Surveillance Goes Beyond Orwell’s Imagination – Alan Rusbridger
Dominic Rushe – The Guardian,
30 Sep 2013
Guardian editor says depth of NSA surveillance programs greatly exceed anything the 1984 author could have imagined.
→ read full articleWhy Has Geoengineering Been Legitimised by the IPCC?
Jack Stilgoe – The Guardian,
30 Sep 2013
27 Sep 2013 – The big surprise comes in the final paragraph of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, with a mention of geoengineering. In the scientific world, a final paragraph is often the place to put caveats and suggestions for further research. In the political world, a final paragraph is a coda, a big finish, the place for a triumphant, standing-ovation-inducing summary. The IPCC tries to straddle both worlds.
→ read full articleFasted Training: Should You Eat Before Exercise?
The Guardian Running Blog – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Sep 2013
Traditional research states that runners need carbohydrate to train effectively, but new studies show the benefits of fasted training. A nutritionist explains the ‘train low, compete high’ concept.
→ read full articleNSA Stories around the World
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
30 Sep 2013
23 Sep 2013 – Revelations continue to produce outcomes on multiple levels in numerous countries around the world.
→ read full articleThe Best Countries in the World for Vegetarians
The Guardian – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Sep 2013
Glasgow has been heralded as the best city in the world for vegans, but where are the best nations for travellers on a meat-free diet?
→ read full articleAt 16, Ganesh Got a Job in Qatar – Two Months Later He Was Dead
Pete Pattisson in Kathmandu and Doha – The Guardian,
30 Sep 2013
Nepalese workers go to Qatar to find a way out of poverty. Instead, many are trapped into 12-hour days and nights in overcrowded, filthy camps. Some never make it home alive.
→ read full articleLessons from Libya: How Not to Intervene
Alan Kuperman – Harvard Kennedy School,
23 Sep 2013
Policy Brief, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School – September 2013. Based on “A Model Humanitarian Intervention? Reassessing NATO’s Libya Campaign,” which appears in the Summer 2013 issue of International Security.
→ read full articleHugo Boss Gave the Nazis Style
William Boardman - Reader Supported News,
23 Sep 2013
Russell Brand: “Also glad to grace the stage where [London mayor] Boris Johnson has just made light of the use of chemical weapons in Syria – meaning that GQ can now stand for Genocide Quips. If any of you know a little bit about history and fashion, you know that Hugo Boss made the uniforms for the Nazis – now the Nazis did have flaws, but they did look f-ing fantastic, let’s face it – while they were killing people on the basis of their religion and sexuality. “
→ read full articleTaking Exception to Exceptionalism
Bernard Weisberger – Common Dreams,
23 Sep 2013
The unchecked violence of our times must be reduced before it destroys any hopes of a decent future for humanity. If the US would take an active role as a partner in the process, rather than an armed dictator of terms from a lofty perch of morality, it would go far towards restoring the admiration the world long felt for us when our military establishment was tiny and our practice of democracy was robust.
→ read full articleLondon Whale Scandal to Cost JP Morgan $920m in Penalties
Dominic Rushe – The Guardian,
23 Sep 2013
JP Morgan has agreed to pay about $920m in penalties to US and UK regulators over the “unsafe and unsound practices” that led to its $6.2bn losses last year. It admitted wrongdoing as part of the settlement, an unusual step for a finance firm in the crosshairs of multiple legal actions.
→ read full articleThe US: World’s Policeman or Schoolyard Bully?
Bill Maher – The Guardian,
23 Sep 2013
Bombing seems to be our answer for everything. Since 1945, when Jesus granted America air superiority, we’ve bombed Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Serbia, Somalia, Bosnia, the Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya and Yemen.
→ read full articleSri Lanka: Tamil National Alliance Wins Landslide Victory in First Local Elections since Civil War
Michael Edwards and wires – Australia Network News,
23 Sep 2013
Sri Lanka’s main Tamil party has secured 30 seats in the 38-member Northern Provincial Council. A coalition of parties representing president Mahinda Rajapaksa won seven seats, while a Muslim party won one.
→ read full articleMajor US Security Company Warns Over NSA Link to Encryption Formula
Charles Arthur and agencies – The Guardian,
23 Sep 2013
A major American computer security company has told thousands of customers to stop using an encryption system that relies on a mathematical formula developed by the National Security Agency.
→ read full articleWhy Anders Breivik Is Welcome at Our University
Ole Petter Ottersen – The Guardian,
16 Sep 2013
Anders Breivik’s application to the University of Oslo for admission to the political science study programme created interest worldwide. Breivik did not qualify for the full programme, but will be able study specific topics. Here the university’s rector explains the decision to grant him access to the course.
→ read full articleResolving the Syrian Chemical Weapons Crisis: Sunlight and Shadows
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Sep 2013
Not only did Vladimir Putin exhibit a new constructive role for Russia in 21st statecraft, spare Syria and the Middle East from another cycle of escalating violence, but he articulated this Kremlin initiative in the form of a direct appeal to the American people. For Putin to be so forthcoming, without being belligerent, was particularly impressive.
→ read full articleObama’s Syria Plans in Disarray after Britain Rejects Use of Force
Paul Lewis and Spencer Ackerman – The Guardian,
2 Sep 2013
Barack Obama’s plans for air strikes against Syria were thrown into disarray on Thursday [29 Aug 2013] night after the British parliament unexpectedly rejected a motion designed to pave the way to authorising the UK’s participation in military action.
→ read full articleMicrosoft and Google to Sue over US Surveillance Requests
Rory Carroll – The Guardian,
2 Sep 2013
Microsoft and Google are to sue the US government to win the right to reveal more information about official requests for user data. The lawsuit was announced on Friday [30 Aug 2013], escalating a legal battle over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), the mechanism used by the National Security Agency (NSA) and other US government agencies to gather data about foreign internet users.
→ read full articleMediaGuardian Lists Digital Consumer as Most Powerful Industry Figure
Jason Deans – The Guardian,
2 Sep 2013
The digital consumer – listed as “you” – tops MediaGuardian’s annual ranking of the UK’s 100 most powerful industry figures this year, reflecting the extent to which mobile and social media are transforming an industry traditionally dominated by moguls, editors and celebrities.
→ read full articleJust Say No to Nuclear Power – From Fukushima to Vermont
Amy Goodman – The Guardian,
2 Sep 2013
Fukushima showed us the intolerable costs of nuclear power. The citizens of Vermont show us the benefits of shutting it down.
→ read full articleSyria: Obama’s Surprising (and Confusing) Latest Moves
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Sep 2013
President Obama’s August 31[2013] remarks from the White House Rose Garden will long be remembered for their strangeness, but the final interpretation of their significance will have to await months if not years. There are three dimensions, at least, that are worth pondering.
→ read full articleObama, Congress and Syria
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
2 Sep 2013
The president is celebrated for seeking a vote on his latest war even as his aides make clear it has no binding effect.
→ read full articleAn Attack on Syria Will Only Spread the War and Killing
Seumas Milne – The Guardian,
2 Sep 2013
All the signs are they’re going to do it again. The attack on Syria now being planned by the US and its allies will be the ninth direct western military intervention in an Arab or Muslim country in 15 years. Depending how you cut the cake, the looming bombardment follows onslaughts on Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Mali, as well as a string of murderous drone assaults on Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan.
→ read full articleChemical Weapons in Syria Provide an Opportunity for Making Peace
Robin Edward Poulton, PhD – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Sep 2013
If Syria pulls back from the chemical red line and accepts some form of sanction, then the Wahabists and Jihadists and Iraqi Sunnis should pull back across the frontiers and accept some form of sanction. It is unclear why NATO forces are supporting extremist Sunni Al-Qaeda look-alikes in Syria, while fighting them in Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen and recently in Mali.
→ read full articleThe Spreading Wings of Islamophobia in Egypt
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Sep 2013
The Orwellian features of the military takeover in Egypt have received attention, although the use of language to evade unwanted truth continues because incentives to do so persist. What, we might ask, is the el-Sisi concept of inclusiveness? At present, the only plausible answer is ‘my way or the highway.’
→ read full articleNSA Paid Millions to Cover Prism Compliance Costs for Tech Companies
Ewen MacAskill in New York – The Guardian,
26 Aug 2013
• Top-secret files show first evidence of financial relationship
• Prism companies include Google and Yahoo, says NSA
• Costs were incurred after 2011 Fisa court ruling
Bradley Manning’s Excessive Sentence
Editorial Board – The New York Times,
26 Aug 2013
35 years is far too long a sentence. Government lawyers presented vague and largely speculative claims that Private Manning’s leaks had endangered lives and “chilled” diplomatic relations. Much of what he released was of public value, including a video of a military helicopter shooting at two vans and killing civilians, including two Reuters journalists.
→ read full articleDavid Miranda, Schedule 7 and the Danger That All Reporters Now Face
Alan Rusbridger - The Guardian,
26 Aug 2013
As the events in a Heathrow transit lounge – and the Guardian offices – have shown, the threat to journalism is real and growing. A transit lounge in Heathrow is a dangerous place to be.
→ read full articleAlan Rusbridger: “I would rather destroy the copied files than hand them back to the NSA and GCHQ”
The Guardian – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, talks about the UK and international law, the future of journalism, and the David Miranda affair.
→ read full articleGlobalizing Homeland Security
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
It is not just one thing that should worry us about the authoritarian tendencies of the Obama presidency, but one thing after another. The cumulative effect of it all. The latest sign of the times was the August 19th detention of David Miranda, Glenn Greenwald’s partner, at Heathrow Airport under the British anti-terrorist law for nine hours.
→ read full articleOn Bradley Manning & America
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
I am posting on this blog two important texts that deserve the widest public attention and deep reflection in the United States and elsewhere. I would stress the following:
→ read full articleEgypt: Extreme Polarization and Genocidal Politics
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
In these morbid days, there are some home truths that are worth reflecting upon. What Happened After Tahrir Square?
→ read full articleGlenn Greenwald: Detaining My Partner Was a Failed Attempt at Intimidation
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
19 Aug 2013
The detention of my partner David Miranda “under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act of 2000″ by UK authorities will have the opposite effect of the one intended. Even the Mafia had ethical rules against targeting the family members of people they felt threatened by. The Guardian’s lawyer was able to speak with David and told me that he was in very good spirits and quite defiant, and he asked the lawyer to convey that defiance to me. I already share it, as I’m certain US and UK authorities will soon see.
→ read full articleShortsighted Thinking on Israeli Settlements
The Editorial Board – NYT International Herald Tribune,
19 Aug 2013
On Monday [12 Aug 2013], Israel released a list of 26 Palestinian prisoners to be released Tuesday. A few hours before that it published bids for the construction of more than 1,000 housing units in West Bank settlements — a move to mollify right-wingers who oppose the prisoner release. This balancing act is not just untimely but a fresh cause for pessimism about the prospects for successful peace negotiations.
→ read full articleNew York Banking Regulator Targets Bitcoin and Other Virtual Currencies
Reuters – The Guardian,
19 Aug 2013
New York’s top banking regulator is considering issuing regulatory guidelines for Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, according to a memo posted on its website on Monday [12 Aug 2013]. Last year, the FBI reported that Bitcoin was being used by criminals to move money around the world.
→ read full articleSnowden’s Post-Asylum Relevance
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
The Snowden issues remain important, and it is too soon to turn aside as if the only question was whether the U.S. Government would in the end, through guile and muscle, gain control of Snowden.
→ read full articleGoogle: Don’t Expect Privacy When Sending to Gmail
Dominic Rushe – The Guardian,
19 Aug 2013
Critics call revelation ‘a stunning admission’ as Google makes claim in court filing in attempt to head off class action lawsuit.
→ read full articleThe NSA Is Turning the Internet into a Total Surveillance System
Alexander Abdo and Patrick Toomey – The Guardian,
12 Aug 2013
11 Aug 2013 – Now we know all Americans’ international email is searched and saved, we can see how far the ‘collect it all’ mission has gone. Another burst of sunlight permeated the National Security Agency’s black box of domestic surveillance last week.
→ read full articleExcitement, but Anxiety too, as Uruguay Sets Liberal Path with New Cannabis Law
Uki Goni – The Guardian,
12 Aug 2013
Uruguay’s liberal President Jose Mujica put political weight behind drug law reform, and money from George Soros’s Open Society Foundation is helping push through congress. Other Latin American countries, such as Colombia and Bolivia, emboldened by Uruguay’s move and frustrated over their failure to beat illegal cartels in the region, will be looking carefully at how the reform fares.
→ read full articleI Only Regret That I Have But One Life to Give for My Country: Yours
Tom Engelhardt - TomDispatch,
12 Aug 2013
The Crime of the Century – Hey, let’s talk spying! In Surveillance America, this land of spookery we all now inhabit, what else is there to talk about? In a sense, Manning and Snowden could be said to have “defected” — from the U.S. secret government to us. However informally or individually, they could nonetheless be imagined as the people’s spies.
→ read full articleWe Are All Connected: Hearing the Message of Indigenous Tribes
Deni Leonard, Occupy – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
In the current United States, from the Indigenous point of view, it is as though a chief can have 99 buffalos for himself while he looks down at the community trying to live on one buffalo. This is a model for community or Tribal extinction.
→ read full articleObama’s Diplomatic Blunder, the Cowardice of Western Democracies and What Sweden Should Do
Board Members, The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research-TFF – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
President Obama’s decision to cancel the meeting with Putin is yet another indicator of Washington’s intellectual weakness and the U.S. empire’s future dissolution. People like Assange, Manning and Snowden should be seen as heroes and treated with respect. Before the Swedish prime minister meets Obama he should announce that Sweden is willing to host Snowden.
→ read full articleEmail Service Used by Snowden [Lavabit] Shuts Itself Down, Warns against Using US-Based Companies
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
12 Aug 2013
A Texas-based encrypted email service recently revealed to be used by Edward Snowden – Lavabit – announced yesterday [8Aug 2013] it was shutting itself down to avoid complying with unjust secret US court orders to provide government access to its users’ content. Edward Snowden: ‘Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, and the rest of our internet titans must ask themselves why they aren’t fighting for our interests the same way’.
→ read full articleRichard Dawkins’ Tweets on Islam Are As Rational As the Rants of an Extremist Muslim Cleric
Nesrine Malik – The Guardian,
12 Aug 2013
My Eid was interrupted by Richard Dawkins tweeting about how few Nobel prizes Muslims have won. His logic rings a bell …
→ read full articleGoogle Chrome Security Flaw Offers Unrestricted Password Access
Charles Arthur – The Guardian,
12 Aug 2013
Plain text logon details for email, social networks and company systems stored in browser’s Settings panel. One security manager said: “The fact you can view the passwords means they are stored in reversible form which means that the dark coders out there will be writing a Trojan to steal that password store as we speak.”
→ read full articlePlease Read Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 on Your Vacation, Mr. President
Amy Goodman – The Guardian,
12 Aug 2013
Senator Obama’s objection to ‘a dumb war’ won him nomination. As commander-in-chief, he has reneged on opposing militarism.
→ read full articleThe Number of the Beast
Carlos Sardiña Galache – Southeast Asia Globe,
12 Aug 2013
The anti-Muslim 969 movement is fuelling the fire of religious discontent in Myanmar. Just as it is casting off its shackles, a spectre is haunting the nation – Buddhist extremism.
→ read full articleObama’s Abuse of the Espionage Act Is Modern-Day McCarthyism
John Kiriakou – The Guardian,
12 Aug 2013
Shame on this president for persecuting whistleblowers with a legal relic, while administration officials leak with impunity. In early 2012, I was arrested and charged with three counts of espionage and one count of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. (I was only the second person in US history to be charged with violating the IIPA, a law that was written to be used against rogues like Philip Agee.)
→ read full articleWhat If a Russian Snowden?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
‘Political Crimes’ Are Non-Extraditable and Snowden’s Transfer to the United States for Prosecution Would Have Been a Setback for Human Rights and International Law
→ read full article(Português) O Discurso da Servidão Voluntária
Flávio Ricardo Vassoler – Carta Maior,
12 Aug 2013
O darwinismo social de nosso capitalismo não sentencia que aquilo que sobrevive e sobrepuja é a única força possível – e válida? Sendo assim, por que as vítimas deveriam se identificar com outras vítimas? Daniel Balint reproduz o discurso da servidão voluntária, “contanto que eu possa escarrar o meu ódio contra o outro que é tão impotente quanto eu mesmo”.
→ read full articleAbe Sanctions Government Funding to “Freeze” Fukushima with Giant Ice Wall
Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
Ripped from the pages of Marvel Comics, Japanese Anime, or Game of Thrones; the cunning solution to the ongoing emergency in Fukushima. Now that TEPCO has been shown to be inept, Abe and his government have sanctioned the funding of a 1.4 Km wall of ice to surround the building that holds Reactors 1 to 4.
→ read full articleWhen Polarization Becomes Worse than Authoritarianism Defer Democracy
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Aug 2013
We may be living at a historical moment when democracy as the government of choice gives rise to horrifying spectacles of violence and abuse. These difficulties with the practice of democracy are indirectly, and with a heavy dose of irony, legitimizing moderate forms of authoritarian government.
→ read full articleManning, Snowden and Assange Were the Ones Who Took Risks to Expose Crime
Amy Goodman – The Guardian,
5 Aug 2013
But those who planned the wars, those who committed war crimes, those who conduct illegal spying, for now, walk free.
→ read full articleJP Morgan to Pay $410m in Penalties for Manipulating Electricity Prices
Associated Press in Washington – The Guardian,
5 Aug 2013
JP Morgan has agreed to the penalty, although the company disputes the violations. The penalty includes $285m for the federal government, and $125m for ratepayers. The agency recently levied a $453m penalty on Barclays, Britain’s second-largest bank, for manipulating electricity prices in California and other western states. Barclays is disputing the allegations.
→ read full articleReviving the Israel-Palestine Negotiations: The Indyk Appointment
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Aug 2013
Appointing Martin Indyk as Special Envoy to the upcoming peace talks was to be expected. It was signaled in advance. And yet it is revealing and distressing.
→ read full articleWhat Google Knows About You
Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Aug 2013
Imagine there’s a list somewhere that contains every single webpage you visited, everything you searched for, address you looked up, email you sent, chat message, YouTube video you ever watched. Each entry is time-stamped. With all that imagined, can you think of ways a hacker with access to it could use against you? Now go to google.com/dashboard, and see it all become reality.
→ read full articleUruguay Votes to Create World’s First National Legal Marijuana Market
Associated Press in Montevideo - The Guardian,
5 Aug 2013
1 Aug 2013 – Legislators in the ruling coalition said putting the government at the centre of a legal marijuana industry is worth trying because the global war on drugs had been a costly and bloody failure, and displacing illegal dealers through licensed marijuana sales could save money and lives.
→ read full article(Português) O Mundo Orwelliano da NSA
James Bamford, New York Review of Books – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Aug 2013
Onde internet e telefonia globais são interceptadas? Como Obama manteve espionagem ilegal de Bush? Por que esquema faz lembrar “1984″?
→ read full articleXkeyscore: NSA Tool Collects ‘Nearly Everything a User Does On the Internet’
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
5 Aug 2013
• XKeyscore gives ‘widest-reaching’ collection of online data
• NSA analysts require no prior authorization for searches
• Sweeps up emails, social media activity and browsing history
• NSA’s XKeyscore program – read one of the presentations
Syria’s Exodus: A Refugee Crisis for the World
Martin Chulov and Mark Rice-Oxley – The Guardian,
29 Jul 2013
“When we look at the prospects, one that we all have to face is that this conflict is creating a large risk of sectarian cleansing. This is how Srebrenica happened, how Rwanda happened, by gradually building up this enormous wave that leads to catastrophic consequences. This is the [crisis] that makes me lose sleep.”
→ read full articleHalliburton Admits Guilt in Gulf of Mexico Cover-Up
Richard Smallteacher - CorpWatch,
29 Jul 2013
Halliburton has admitted that it destroyed evidence after the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. The company has agreed to pay a $200,000 fine, make a donation of $55 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and accept three years of probation.
→ read full articleGeopolitical Winds Blow in China’s Direction
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Jul 2013
Among those who comment influentially from the sidelines of power, there are new trends visible in thinking about American foreign policy.
→ read full articleAmerica’s Real Subversives: FBI Spying Then, NSA Surveillance Now
Amy Goodman – The Guardian,
29 Jul 2013
As the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington approaches, commemorating that historic gathering where Martin Luther King Jr gave his famous “I have a dream” speech, it is important to recall the extent to which King was targeted by the government’s domestic spying apparatus.
→ read full articleThe Six Types of Atheist
Andrew Brown – The Guardian,
22 Jul 2013
A new study in the US seeks to break down atheists into distinct categories. Which one do you fall into?
→ read full article(Português) Por Que a Indústria Farmacêutica Evita Curar
Richard J. Roberts, Nobel da Medicina – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Jul 2013
“As farmacêuticas bloqueiam medicamentos que curam, porque não são rentáveis”. O Prémio Nobel da Medicina Richard J. Roberts denuncia a forma como funcionam as grandes farmacêuticas dentro do sistema capitalista, preferindo os benefícios económicos à saúde, e detendo o progresso científico na cura de doenças, porque a cura não é tão rentável quanto a cronicidade.
→ read full articleGlobal Big Brother and the Snowden Hollywood Chase
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Jul 2013
We will miss the most crucial point of Snowden’s ‘crimes’ if we do not devote our attention to these fundamental political challenges directed at human security, democratic ways of life, and a pluralist world order. To be distracted by the circus of the Snowden chase any longer is to play along with a shameless geopolitical caper!
→ read full articleNSA Warned to Rein in Surveillance as Agency Reveals Even Greater Scope
Spencer Ackerman – The Guardian,
22 Jul 2013
NSA officials testify to angry House panel that agency can perform ‘three-hop queries’ through Americans’ data and records.
→ read full articleThe Crux of the NSA Story in One Phrase: ‘Collect It All’
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
22 Jul 2013
The actual story that matters is not hard to see: the NSA is attempting to collect, monitor and store all forms of human communication.
→ read full articleWhat the Empire Didn’t Hear: US Spying and Resistance in Latin America
Benjamin Dangl – Toward Freedom,
22 Jul 2013
US imperialism spreads across Latin America through military bases and trade deals, corporate exploitation and debt, and a vast communications surveillance network into the region’s streets and halls of power. Yet more than McDonald’s and bullets, an empire depends on fear, and fear of the empire is lacking these days in Latin America.
→ read full articleGoldman Sachs Profits Double in Second Quarter
Dominic Rushe – The Guardian,
22 Jul 2013
Goldman Sachs doubled its profits in the second quarter as the bank benefited from gains in fixed income, currency and commodity trading revenue. The Wall Street giant set out its latest quarterly earnings Tuesday [16 Jul 2013] morning announcing net income of $1.93bn, compared with $962m a year earlier. Net revenue, including net interest income, rose 30% to $8.61bn from $6.6bn last year.
→ read full article