Articles by TRANSCEND Media Service
We found 30255 results.
Libya ‘Close to Disintegration’ – PM
The Voice of Russia – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
Speaking on the first anniversary of the anti-Gaddafi revolution in Misurata Monday, interim Libyan Prime Minister Mustafa Abdeljalil warned of complete national disintegration if the rival tribes and clans that had laid hands on Gaddafi’s arsenals continued to refuse to submit to the authority of the central government.
→ read full article8 March: International Day of Women – Women as Peacemakers
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
8 March is the International Day of Women first proposed by Clara Zetkin (1857-1933) at the Second International Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen in 1911. Zetkin, who had lived some years in Paris and active in women’s movements there, was building on the 1889 International Congress for Feminine Works and Institutions held in Paris under the leadership of Ana de Walska.
→ read full articleNobel Peace Laureate Calls For Ceasefire and Nonviolent Solution to the Conflict in Syria
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
“The only people who can solve Syrian problems are the Syrians themselves. The international community must insist that all international and human rights laws be upheld by the Syrian government and that they enter a dialogue with all opposition groups whose voices have a right to be heard and not ‘silenced’ by persecution, torture and/or killings.”
→ read full articleSri Lanka: Government Promises, Ground Realities
International Crisis Group – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
Nearly three years since declaring victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the government has weakened democratic institutions, deepened ethnic polarisation and aggravated the country’s long-standing impunity for human rights violations. The former warzones in the north and east are heavily militarised and controlled from Colombo, while disappearances, killings, torture, gender-based violence and other abuses continue with impunity throughout the island. Sri Lankans who speak out about the situation risk reprisal.
→ read full articleBahrain Delays UN Investigator Visit
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
Government requests torture investigator to delay visit, while strengthening restrictions on visits by rights groups. The UN human rights office in Geneva said on Thursday [1 Mar 2012] that Bahrain had formally requested that the visit of the special rapporteur on torture be delayed until July. Bahrain, an ally of the United States and home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, is ruled by the Sunni Muslim al-Khalifa family, and has been under pressure to institute political and rights reforms since its violent crackdown on the uprising.
→ read full articleMonsanto Pays 93 Million to Victims in Settlement
Cassandra Anderson, Natural Society – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
February 27, 2012 – Monsanto tentatively agreed to a $93 million settlement with some residents of Nitro, West Virginia. Nitro is a small town that got its name from manufacturing explosives during WWI. It was also the site of a Monsanto chemical plant that manufactured 2,4,5-T herbicide that was half of the Agent Orange recipe. Monsanto has now set a precedent for settling claims, and hopefully some good attorneys will seize the opportunity in order to hold Monsanto accountable.
→ read full articleColombia’s Quest for Peace and Justice
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
Between April 21 -23 [2012], the National Patriotic Council will convoke thousands of activists from most of the major urban and rural social movements and trade unions, human rights groups and indigenous afro-colombian movements, who will meet to unify forces and launch what promises to be the most significant new political movement in recent history. The democratization of Colombia requires the growth of independent social movements, judicial investigation and prosecution of ex narco-President Álvaro Uribe and his closest collaborators, and needs to extend to the present Santos regime.
→ read full articleCheerleading Is No Revolution: “Democracy in Burma”
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
Cheerleading is no revolution. That society is not going anywhere humanistic. The current discourse of revolutionary changes is nothing but a self-interested spin from vultures and vampires of all stripes and colours, native and foreign.
→ read full articlePrivacy Betrayed: Twitter Sells Multi-Billion Tweet Archive
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
Twitter has sold billions of archived tweets believed to have vanished forever. A privacy row has erupted as hundreds of companies queue up to purchase users’ personal information from the new database. Every time you use social networks you become mere product – it’s an idea we will all have to get used to. So, should we give up worldly goods and hide in a Tibetan monastery till the end of our days, or start putting up a fight to protect our privacy?
→ read full articleTribalism, Racism and Projection (Part 1)
Gilad Atzmon – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
In this paper and the one to follow, I expose the misleading aspect that is, unfortunately, inherent to some ‘anti’ racist ideologies. I will elaborate on the role of anti racism in maintaing both Zionism and the Left discourse.
“We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.” ― Anaïs Nin
Tribalism, Racism and Projection (Part 2)
Gilad Atzmon – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
In this part I explore the misleading role of Jewish politics (both Zionist and anti Zionist) within the ‘anti racist’ campaign.
→ read full articleFrance to EU: Stop Monsanto’s Corn
Common Dreams staff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
France has asked the European regulators to suspend the authorization to plant Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) MON810 corn. France’s ecology minister says the decision is based on studies showing GM crops “pose significant risks for the environment.”
→ read full articleMetaphorical Insights from the Patterns of Academic Disciplines
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
This document explores use of a particular metaphor from physics as a means of articulating understandings of openness and closedness in support of individual or collective identity. It follows from consideration of pattern language in a more general argument (Way Round Cognitive Ground Zero and Pointlessness: embodying the geometry of fundamental cognitive dynamics, 2012) of which it is is Annex D.
→ read full articleLimits to Growth and Fractional Reserve Banking
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
Economists (with a few notable exceptions) have long behaved as though growth were synonymous with economic health. If the gross national product increases steadily most economists express approval and say that the economy is healthy. If the growth rate should fall, economic illness would be diagnosed. However, it is obvious that on a finite Earth, neither population growth nor economic growth can continue indefinitely.
→ read full articleJapan’s Spiritual Crisis
Johan Galtung, 27 Feb 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
This author published with Ikuro Anzai, ‘Nippon wa Kikikan’, Is Japan in a Crisis? And the answer was yes, a spiritual crisis. Japan sold its soul to Washington, and is left in a spiritual vacuum; neither US nor Japan. Walking through the marvelous bullet train, Shinkansen, only sad, grey, tired faces; no laughter, no enhancing conversation seen or heard.
→ read full articleBan Ki-moon Hails Latin American Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone on 45th Anniversary
UN News Centre- TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
14 February 2012 – On the 45th anniversary of the treaty that created a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Latin America and the Caribbean, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today hailed the pact as an example of how regional initiatives can advance global norms on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and the peaceful use of atomic energy.
→ read full article
ACTA Blueprint for a Global Takeover of the Internet (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
occupyvancouvermedia – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
ACTA – The Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is yet another treaty being developed by the global elite in an attempt to censor the internet and block the free flow of information.
→ read full articleSaving Khader Adnan’s Life and Legacy
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
It is a great relief to those millions around the world who were moved to prayer and action by Khader Adnan’s extraordinary hunger strike of 66 days that has ended due to Israel’s agreement to release him on April 17 [2012].
→ read full articleGreece: The Epicenter of Global Pillage
Stephen Lendman – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
Predatory bankers make serial killers look good by comparison. Their business model creates crises to facilitate grand theft, financial terrorism, and debt entrapment. They steal all material wealth and then some, and systematically rob investors and strip mine economies for self-enrichment. They demand they get paid first and hold nations hostage to assure it, turn crises into catastrophes and leave mass impoverishment, high unemployment, neo-serfdom, and human wreckage in their wake.
→ read full articleTop Social Media Websites Caught Censoring Controversial Content
Washington’s Blog – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
Facebook pays low-wage foreign workers to delete certain content based upon a censorship list. For example, it deletes accounts created by Palestinian resistance groups. Digg was caught censoring stories which were controversial or too critical of the government. See this and this. Now, even social media site Reddit – which helped launch the anti-Sopa Internet blackout and publicize GoDaddy’s slimy Sopa support – is doing the same thing.
→ read full articleHappy Savages
Robert Koehler – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
“John is a savage, but a happy, amenable savage.” Thus intones the voice on a ’50s-era newsreel clip in the documentary, showing footage of seven male Marshall Islanders who have been brought to the United States for radiation testing. “John is mayor of Rongelap Atoll. John reads, knows about God and is a pretty good mayor.” The film does a stunning job juxtaposing examples of our smug ignorance of South Sea culture with the reality of what we did to it. John the happy savage is actually John Anjain, who is one of many former residents of Rongelap Atoll interviewed in the film. He talks about his thyroid cancer, the thyroid cancer of three of his children and one grandson, and about the death of another son from leukemia.
→ read full article(Portuguese) O ACTA Ameaça a Net
Esquerda.net – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
Quem nunca ouviu um CD emprestado, viu um DVD de um amigo, recorreu a uma biblioteca? A partilha de bens culturais sempre existiu. Na era digital, tem especificidades próprias, mas é falso que a cópia de um ficheiro não autorizado seja um ‘roubo’. Os Estados Unidos assinaram o ACTA em outubro [2011], assim como a Austrália, o Canadá, a Coreia do Sul e o Japão. A 26 de Janeiro [2012], 22 países europeus e a Comissão Europeia assinaram-no igualmente. Entraria em vigor depois de seis Estados signatários o terem ratificado. Nenhum o fez até à data. E, se depender das populações, tudo indica que nenhum o fará.
→ read full articleWikiLeaks Banned From UN Conference on WikiLeaks
Common Dreams staff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
WikiLeaks has lodged a strong protest with the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) for “banning’’ it from an international conference it is hosting at its headquarters in Paris on the impact of the whistle-blower website’s activities. It said the U.S. organizers of the two-day conference, which opened on Thursday [16 Feb 2012], had “stacked’’ it with WikiLeaks’ opponents and “blocked all speakers from WikiLeaks, stating that the decision to censor WikiLeaks representation was an exercise in ‘freedom of expression… our right to give voice to speakers of our choice’’.”
→ read full articleWhen Is An ‘NGO’ Not An NGO? Twists and Turns Beneath the Cairo Skies
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
A confusing controversy between the United States and Egypt is unfolding. It has already raised tensions in the relationship between the two countries to a level that has not existed for decades. It results from moves by the military government in Cairo to go forward with the criminal prosecution of 43 foreigners, including 19 Americans, for unlawfully carrying on the work of unlicensed public interest organizations that improperly, according to Egyptian law, depend for their budget on foreign funding.
→ read full articleThe Big Green Question
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
Is environmentalism compatible with social justice? Journalists writing for the corporate press, with views somewhere to the right of Vlad the Impaler and no prior record of concern for the poor, suddenly become their doughty champions when the interests of the proprietorial class are threatened. If tar sands cannot be extracted in Canada, they maintain, subsistence farmers in Africa will starve. If Tesco’s profits are threatened, children will die of malaria. When it is done cleverly, promoting the interests of corporations and the ultra-rich under the guise of concern for the poor is an effective public relations strategy.
→ read full articleWho is Threatening Whom? 45 US Bases Surround Iran
Information Clearing House – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
Each star on the map is a US base. But just to be clear, Iran is the one that is threatening the US.
→ read full articlePrivate Prison Company to Demand 90% Occupancy
Noel Brinkerhoff & David Wallechinsky, AllGov – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has reached out to 48 states as part of a $250 million plan to own existing prisons and manage their operations. But in return CCA wants a 20-year contract and assurances that the state will keep the prisons at least 90% full.
→ read full articleSaving Khader Adnan’s Life Saves Our Own Soul
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
The world watches as tragedy unfolds beneath its gaze as Khader Asnan enters his 63rd day as a hunger striker in an Israeli prison being held under an administrative detention order without trial, without charges, and without any indication of the evidence against him.
→ read full articleWorld Day of Social Justice: The People’s Revolution is On the March
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
The United Nations General Assembly, on the initiative of Nurbch Jeenbrev, the Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to the U.N. in New York, has proclaimed 20 February as the “World Day of Social Justice”.
→ read full articleMali’s Plan to Probe Child Labour in Gold Mines
Africa News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
‘Our research found that children in Mali start working as young as six years old. Many child laborers are denied an education or drop out of school. Some children come to the mines without their parents and suffer economic or sexual exploitation,’ Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the Minister of Mines, Amadou Cisse.
→ read full articleFalse Flag? Bombing Puts India’s Trade Ties with Iran to the Test
Mayank Bhardwaj, Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
“There are U.N. sanctions which India honours, those don’t cover the export of a vast range of products which India can export to Iran,” Trade Secretary Rahul Khullar said. “If the EU and the U.S. both want to stop exports to that country, please tell me why I should follow suit? Why shouldn’t I take up that business opportunity?” Lisa Curtis of the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center said that India will find it increasingly difficult to placate both Iran, on the one hand, and the United States and Israel on the other.
→ read full articleWashington’s Insouciance Has No Rival
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
Washington is now in the second decade of murdering Muslim men, women, and children in six countries. Washington is so concerned with human rights that it drops bombs on schools, hospitals, weddings and funerals, all in order to uphold the human rights of Muslim people. You see, bombing liberates Muslim women from having to wear the burka and from male domination.
→ read full articleDelhi Bomb Blast and India’s Options
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
The bomb blast in New Delhi on 13 February 2012 has certainly raised India’s stakes in highly contested debate on international terrorism. The combination of its domestic policy matrix, its approach to extremism and radicalism, and its external policies and posturing will put India in a tough place in crafting decisions which may be difficult but necessary.
→ read full article(Italian) La (Dis)Informazione a Senso Unico
Marinella Correggia, Il Manifesto – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
Si Ripete la Stessa Operazione Mediatica: Come Per la «Guerra Umanitaria» in Libia
→ read full articleThou Shalt Not Kill (Thyself)
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
I believe that the people of Israel – the Israeli nation – have the will to survive. But in order to survive, they must wake up from their apathetic stupor and change course – turning towards peace based on the two-state solution, separating the state from religion and building a new social order.
→ read full articleEuropean Parliament Resolution on Parliament’s Position on the 19th Session of the UN Human Rights Council
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
14 Feb 2012 – The European Parliament,
→ read full article
Arts, Culture and Peacebuilding (Video of the Week)
Dominik ‘Nik’ Lehnert | XCHANGEperspectives – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
In this video Basti, Frank and Nik reflect on Xchange Perspectives’ work in South Sudan since 2005. Dominik ‘Nik’ Lehnert is TRANSCEND Media Service’s Video Production Assistant.
→ read full articleSS = Scout Snipers: US Marines Adopt Nazi Goons Emblem
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
This picture showing a US Marine scout sniper team posing in front of what appears as a flag of the notorious Nazi organization SS, has surfaced online. The Marine Corps confirmed that the embarrassing photo taken in Afghanistan is real.
→ read full articleNir Rosen on Syria’s Protest Movement
Al Jazeera staff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
Journalist Nir Rosen recently spent two months in Syria. As well as meeting members of various communities across the country – supporters of the country’s rulers and of the opposition alike – he spent time with armed resistance groups in Homs, Idlib, Deraa, and Damascus suburbs. He also travelled extensively around the country last year, documenting his experiences for Al Jazeera.
→ read full article
Exposed: Scientology’s Secret Child Labour Camp
7 News, Australia – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
The true Australian headquarters of the Church of Scientology are located in the Sydney suburb of Dundas. The RPF base – which stands for Rehabilitation Project Force – is where Scientologists are sent for punishment and training, for crimes that most of us would regard as trivial.
→ read full article‘Global Square’: WikiLeaks-Backed Activist Platform Launching in March
Common Dreams staff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
WikiLeaks Central announced a “Call to Coders” Tuesday [14 Feb 2012] as they prepare for the March launch of the “first massive decentralized social network in the history of the Internet.” The goal of the Global Square is to perpetuate and spread the creative and cooperative spirit of the occupations and transform this into lasting forms of social organization, at the global as well as the local level.
→ read full articleGM Food Is a Commercial Flop in Europe
The Green Times – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
Greenpeace announced in Brussels recently that annual industry figures to be released early next week are expected to confirm the commercial failure of genetically modified (GM) food in Europe.
→ read full articleMonsanto Guilty of Chemical Poisoning in France
Marion Douet, Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
A French court on Monday [13 Feb 2012] declared U.S. biotech giant Monsanto(MON.N) guilty of chemical poisoning of a French farmer, a judgment that could lend weight to other health claims against pesticides.
→ read full articleFrom Syria to Haiti: Another Showcase of Western Hypocrisy
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
Haitian justice decided not to prosecute Haitian dictator ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier for human rights crimes during his grueling regime. The so called free west is not going to do anything about Baby Doc Duvalier, just as it will not act against the medieval monarchies of Bahrain or Saudi Arabia. If human rights were the issue, Baby Doc would be front page news, the top story in the news. He isn’t. He’s our guy. Not like that scoundrel Assad who is not our guy. The first is OK, the latter has to go. Now you know why.
→ read full articleFor a Latin America Free from Colonialism – The Malvinas Islands Are Argentinean
Socorro Gomes, World Peace Council – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
The decision made in several multilateral forums – such as Mercosur, Unasur and Alba – with a view to support the Argentinean claim so that England returns to negotiations, therefore complying with the United Nations resolutions on the issue, constitutes a significant fact in Latin American solidarity. In defense of a peaceful continent, free from colonialism and foreign military bases.
→ read full articleGermany Refuses to Sign Copyright Treaty
Monsters and Critics – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
Germany will not sign an international copyright treaty, despite having already agreed to it in principle, government sources in Berlin said Friday [10 Feb 2012], after protests over its implications for internet users. Tens of thousands were expected to take part in protests in 60 German cities on Saturday [11 Feb 2012], while the international coordinator of the campaign group Stopp ACTA told dpa that it expected 150,000 to 200,000 protests to take place worldwide.
→ read full articleLiberal Constipation
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
Conservatism is linked to low intelligence; but the real idiots are the progressives letting it win. Self-deprecating, too liberal for their own good, today’s progressives stand back and watch, hands over their mouths, as the social vivisectionists of the right slice up a living society to see if its component parts can survive in isolation.
→ read full articleBradley Manning Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize by Oklahoma Peace Organization
Oklahoma Center for Conscience and Peace Research – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
A second organization (the first being The Movement of the Icelandic Parliament) has now nominated Bradley Manning for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. The Oklahoma Center for Conscience and Peace Research (OCCPR) announced on Tuesday [7 Feb 2012] that it has nominated US Army Private First Class Bradley Manning for the Nobel Peace Prize. Accused whistleblower deserves the prize for casting light on war crimes committed in Iraq, nomination states.
→ read full article(Italian) Marines USA in Afghanistan con le bandiere delle SS
Antonio Mazzeo – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
Dieci marines in posa, sorridenti, in tenuta d’assalto con tanto di fucile-mitragliatore al braccio. Tutti tiratori scelti, cecchini di un reparto speciale inviato nell’inferno afgano. Al centro, in alto, la bandiera a stelle e strisce degli Stati Uniti d’America. Sotto, più grande, una bandiera blu con in mezzo le SS stilizzate della famigerata Schutzstaffel, la polizia segreta militare nazista.
→ read full articleToxic Electronic Waste Grows by 40 Million Tonnes a Year — Poisons Kids in Africa
Stephen Leahy – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
Mountains of hazardous waste grow by about 40 million tons every year. This waste, mostly from Europe and North America, is burned in developing countries like Ghana in a hazardous effort to recover valuable metals.
→ read full articleAttacks on Iran, Past and Present
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
Today’s Iranians are highly intelligent and cultured, and famous for their hospitality, generosity and kindness to strangers. Over the centuries, Iranians have made many contributions to science, art and literature, and for hundreds of years they have not attacked any of their neighbors. Nevertheless, for the last 90 years, they have been the victims of foreign attacks and interventions, most of which have been closely related to Iran’s oil and gas resources. The first of these took place in the period 1921-1925, when a British-sponsored coup overthrew the Qajar dynasty and replaced it by Reza Shah.
→ read full articleArgentina Appeals to UN over British Military Buildup in South Atlantic
Global Research News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
On February 7 [2012] Argentine President Cristina Fernandez accused Britain of militarizing the South Atlantic Ocean by deploying a cutting-edge warship and a nuclear-powered submarine off the coast of the Falklands Islands, known to Argentina and the rest of Latin America as Las Malvinas. The deployment of Prince William on a military mission to the islands late last week further antagonized Argentina, with President Fernandez describing the royal scion as being garbed in the “uniform of a conquistador.”
→ read full articleThe Menace of Present & Future Drone Warfare
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
This nonproliferation approach has been accompanying by three massive forms of deception that continues to mislead public opinion and discourage serious debate about the benefits of nuclear disarmament even at this late stage: First, the fallacious implication that the states that do not possess nuclear weapons are currently more dangerous for world peace than the states that possess, develop, and deploy these weapons of mass destruction, and have used them in the past; secondly, …
→ read full articleUnited States’ Record of Vetoes at the UN Security Council
Arab Studies Institute – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
A Quick Listing of The United States’ Record of Veto Use at the United Nations – 1972–2011
→ read full article
Haiti: Where Did the Money Go? (Part 1 of 5)
FilmAt11tv – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
In January 2010, a 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti. The international community, including one out of two Americans, pledged billions of dollars in aid, yet the nation has seen little improvement. Three hundred thousand died, nearly two million live in ramshackle tent cities. Cholera has swept through the population, killing thousands and hospitalizing many others. Only about 2% of the rubble has been cleared. Is this what you expected when you pledged your aid dollars? Independent journalists Film@11.tv journeyed to Haiti in November 2010 to see the situation for themselves, and dig into the burning question: what happened to all that money?
→ read full article
Spanish Judge Defends Probe into Franco-Era
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
The world-renowned Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon has defiantly rejected charges of abuse of power for opening an investigation into Franco-era crimes.
→ read full articleReport of the Head of the League of Arab States Observer Mission to Syria for the Period 24 Dec 2011 to 18 Jan 2012
League of Arab States Observer Mission to Syria – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
By resolution 7436 of 2 November 2011, the Council of the League of Arab States adopted the Arab plan of action annexed thereto, welcomed the Syrian Government’s agreement to the plan, and emphasized the need for the Syrian Government to commit to the full and immediate implementation of its provisions.
→ read full articleWill Iran Be Attacked?
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
As Karl Marx said, money turns everything into a commodity that can be bought and sold. All other values are defeated–honor, integrity, truth, justice, loyalty, even blood kin. Nothing remains but filthy lucre. In the course of the conversation I asked [Warren Nutter] how Washington got so many other governments to do its bidding. He answered, “Money.” I asked, “You mean foreign aid?” He said, “No, bags of money. We buy the leaders.” Purchasing the leadership of their enemies or of potential threats was the Roman way. As long as the dollar rules, Washington’s power will rule.
→ read full articleThe Division of Nigeria – Who Gains?
Chika Onyenezi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
The political game has begun; failed leadership, failed management of resources, failed security system. One day we will have no option but a foreign intervention, then like meat, Nigeria will be torn apart by vultures. The war for oil, war for control, a base in West Africa, expansion of AFRICOM, definitely Washington is on that part.
→ read full articleMedia Statement on the ISAAA GM Crop Lobby 2012 Report
Greenpeace – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
Wed 8 Feb 2012, Sydney: Greenpeace responded today to a report on the perceived success of genetically modified (GM) crops around the world, which was published by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), a bio-tech industry lobby organisation. “Contrary to claims in the report, GM crops remain a global failure with only about 1% of global farmers cultivating GM crops.” said Greenpeace campaigner Éric Darrier.
→ read full articleIsrael-USA vs Iran: Talk Peace!
Johan Galtung, 13 Feb 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
When Israelis were asked “what would be better: for both Israel and Iran to have the bomb, or for neither to have it, 65 percent of Israeli Jews said neither. And a remarkable 64 percent favored the idea of a nuclear-free zone, even when it was explained that this would mean Israel giving up its nuclear weapons.” (IHT, 16 Jan 2012). Vox populi vox Dei.
→ read full articleTurkey’s Foreign Policy: Zero Problems with Neighbors Revisited
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
We can only hope that Turkey stays the Dautoglu course, pursuing every opening that enables positive mutual relations among countries and using its diplomatic stature to encourage peaceful conflict resolution wherever possible. Rather than viewing ‘zero problems’ as a failure, it should be a time to reaffirm the creativity of Turkish foreign policy in the course of the last decade that has shown the world the benefits of soft power diplomacy, and a pattern that other governments might learn from while adapting to their own realities.
→ read full article(Portuguese) ACTA: Processo de Censura na Internet Tropeça em Países Europeus
Esquerda.net – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
A República Checa seguiu o caminho da Polónia e tornou-se agora o segundo país da União Europeia a suspender a ratificação do ACTA [Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement], o tratado que, a pretexto do combate à contrafação, ameaça a livre expressão na Internet. Um acordo que, segundo o relator do PE para o assunto, foi negociado “através de manobras nunca vistas”, o que o fez demitir-se da tarefa.
→ read full articleBahrain and the Arab Spring
Socialist Worker – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
The small island nation of Bahrain sits in the Persian Gulf, between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. When the Tunisian and Egyptian uprising toppled U.S.-backed dictators last year, all of the region’s dictatorships trembled, including Bahrain. The winds of change inspired Bahrain’s downtrodden, and the country’s monarchy barely managed to maintain its grip on power.
→ read full articleThe Assange Case Means We Are All Suspects Now
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
This week’s Supreme Court hearing in the Julian Assange case has profound meaning for the preservation of basic freedoms in western democracies. This is Assange’s final appeal against his extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sexual misconduct that were originally dismissed by the chief prosecutor in Stockholm and constitute no crime in Britain. The consequences, if he loses, lie not in Sweden but in the shadows cast by America’s descent into totalitarianism.
→ read full article(Italian) Il Dovere-Diritto Di Essere Liberi. E’ un progetto-intervento di acculturazione e empowerment collettivi
Silvia Berruto – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
All’interno del più ampio progetto culturale “Collettivamente memoria”, che mi intestardisco a portare avanti da cinque anni, l’anno scorso è nata l’idea di un progetto-intervento per misurare i cambiamenti negli atteggiamenti e nell’azione collettivi in un’ipotesi di percorso che ho chiamato “IL SOGNO DI UNA COSA.IL DOVERE-DIRITTO DI ESSERE LIBERI. In un contesto condiviso di rispetto delle regole valide per tutti”.
→ read full article
Gen. Wesley Clark and the Truth about the Middle East (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Democracy NOW! – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
Wesley Clark recounts what was told to him a few days after 9/11.
→ read full articleSupport for BDS [Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions] National Conference at the University of Pennsylvania
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
I commend the conveners for taking this initiative in the face of efforts to intimidate and confuse by those who systematically oppose debate and free inquiry concerning the various dimensions of the Israel/Palestine conflict and its bearing on American foreign policy. I have long supported the BDS as a constructive and creative movement that raises awareness and mobilizes support for the Palestinian struggle to achieve a sustainable peace based on international law and a sense of justice.
→ read full articleThe Seed Emergency: The Threat to Food and Democracy
Vandana Shiva – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
Patenting seeds has led to a farming and food crisis – and huge profits for US biotechnology corporations. The seed is the first link in the food chain – and seed sovereignty is the foundation of food sovereignty. If farmers do not have their own seeds or access to open pollinated varieties that they can save, improve and exchange, they have no seed sovereignty – and consequently no food sovereignty. The deepening agrarian and food crisis has its roots in changes in the seed supply system, and the erosion of seed diversity and seed sovereignty.
→ read full articleOne Year On: My Mother as a Protester and A Few Other Dilemmas
Ahmed Badawi, Postcard from Egypt– TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
At the risk of stating the obvious, think of revolution not as a single event but as a period of waves. After an initial disturbance, a swell gathers momentum, forms into a crest, breaks just before it hits the shore, creates a splash, dissipates and then starts to move in the opposite direction, breaks on another shore, retreats and then builds up again, and so on and so forth until the revolutionary energy is consumed and a new equilibrium is reached.
→ read full articleFederalism Risk Assessment
Bishnu Pathak, PhD – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
Today, 40 percent of the world population lives under the rule of a federal state, but 60 percent under unitary. 30 (16% out of 192 UN members) matured, emergent, and micro-federations practice federalism. They are comprised not only of powerful and developed nations, but developing countries as well.
→ read full articleExperience of Cognitive Implication in Fundamental Geometry
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
The question raised here is why particular geometrical forms are widely “felt” to be cognitively appropriate in the articulation of certain patterns of psychosocial action. Why are these simple forms borrowed metaphorically in this way and, since this is the case, why is similar use not made of more complex geometrical forms — potentially in more appropriate response to the complexities of psychosocial challenges?
→ read full articleEconomic Sanctions: Balancing Principles, National Interests and the Advancement of World Law
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
The ongoing UN Security Council discussions concerning sanctions against Syria and greater US and European Union sanctions against Iran have brought to the fore the justice, aims and effectiveness of economic sanctions and the prohibition of arms sales to countries in conflict.
→ read full articleTo All People of Good Will: Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year of the Dragon 2012
Charles A. Sanga – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
The reality is simple: the past glory of the West is but history. China is an emerging powerhouse, nobody can stop it. The power of the mass media in the West is nothing but a façade. In spite of the show of its power to discredit China, it is very frightened of it and its gallant people. “Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the land.” Meekness is not weakness, rather realization of one’s shortcomings. The West has a multitude of shortcomings. Let the West employ the truth so that it can be set free from its shortcomings. Free from pride of nothingness and bonds of guilt consciousness.
→ read full articleAnimal Enterprise Terrorism Act Threatens Activism
Will Potter, Jurist – TRANSCEND Media Service\,
6 Feb 2012
Jurist Guest Columnist Will Potter, an independent journalist who specializes in the topic of eco-terrorism, says the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act classification of activists as terrorists threatens to end activism, in part to stem corporate profit loss.
→ read full articleNobel Peace Prize Jury under Investigation
Common Dreams staff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
Probe: Has Nobel Peace Prize Lost Its Way?
→ read full articleDivine Injustice
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Jan 2012
Drone warfare can be used to thwart democratic movements, anywhere. In October last year, a 16 year-old called Tariq Aziz was travelling through North Waziristan in Pakistan with his 12 year-old cousin, Waheed Khan. Their car was hit by a missile from a US drone(13). As always, their deaths made them guilty: if we killed them, they must be terrorists. But they weren’t. Tariq was about to start work with the human rights group Reprieve, taking pictures of the aftermath of drone strikes. A mistake? Possibly. But it is also possible that he was murdered out of self-interest.
→ read full articleThe Issue of Federalism in Nepal Appears More Complex than the Peace Process and Constitution Writing
Dr. Bishnu Pathak (Nepal) – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Jan 2012
Federalism in present Nepal has become a topic of great contention.
→ read full articleSyria: Opportunities and Limits of International Observation Efforts
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Jan 2012
The League of Arab States Observer Mission to Syria is in an administratively critical time with the Observer Mission members from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council States of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates leaving the Mission on Tuesday 24, January. This represents 52 persons of an estimated 160, already badly understaffed.
→ read full article‘Big Brother’ Concerns over Google Changes
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Jan 2012
The California-based internet giant said in a blog post that the changes were designed to improve the user experience across various Google products, which range from web search to Gmail, YouTube and Google+, the social networking platform launched by the company last year. “Instead of keeping separate vats of information for each of its products, Google will now allow them to cross-pollinate, creating a complete picture of who you are, what you read, where you’re going and what you’re up to.”
→ read full articleHurrah for Egypt!
Uri Avnery - TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Jan 2012
The impossible has happened. The Egyptian parliament, democratically elected by a free people, has convened for its first session. For me this is a wonderful, a joyful occasion. For many Israelis, this is a worrisome, a threatening sight.
→ read full articleACTA: The International Treaty You’ve Never Heard of That Could Affect Internet Freedom
Common Dreams staff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Jan 2012
US among countries that have already signed ACTA. Under this new treaty, Internet Service Providers will police all data passing through them, making them legally responsible for what their users do online. And should you do something considered “breach of copyright” like, for instance, getting a tattoo of a brand logo, taking a photo and posting it somewhere, you may be disconnected from the Internet, fined or even jailed.
→ read full articleHow the Media Manipulates Us into War
Koozma J. Tarasoff, Spirit-Wrestlers – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Jan 2012
Generally, people assume that the media has the responsibility of presenting the truth and nothing but the truth in its journalistic reports about peace and war. It is agreed that an informed public is less likely to go to war.
→ read full articleDying Honeybees: It Was the Insecticides All Along
Jeanne Roberts, Celsias – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Jan 2012
With news that the U.S. honeybee population has been so devastated that some beekeepers will qualify for disaster relief dollars, comes a report from Purdue University that one of the causes of honeybee deaths is – as long suspected – neonicotinoids.
→ read full articleFidel Castro Calls for LatAm Unity in Opposition to FTA
Prensa Latina – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Jan 2012
The leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, called for Latin American unity in opposition to the Free Trade Agreements (FTA), sponsored by the United States in the region.
→ read full articleNuclear Free Middle East: Desirable, Necessary, and Impossible
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Jan 2012
Finally, there is some argumentation in the West supportive of a nuclear free zone for the Middle East. Such thinking is still treated as politically marginal, and hardly audible above the beat of the war drums.
→ read full articleYear of the Dragon Roars into Asia
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jan 2012
23 Jan 2012 – Millions across Asia celebrate the Chinese New Year, with superstitious anticipating a year filled with luck. A billion-plus Asians have welcomed the Year of the Dragon with a cacophony of fireworks, hoping the mightiest sign in the Chinese zodiac will usher in the wealth and power it represents.
→ read full articleThose Poor, Moody Standards
Johan Galtung, 23 Jan 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jan 2012
What are the three credit rating agencies, Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, and Fitch–95 percent of the rating “industry”–about? Not very transparent, yet “Standard & Poor’s: silent but deadly” (El País, 16 Jan 2012), stimulates some reflections.
→ read full articleStop Warmongering in the Middle East
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jan 2012
To be objective commentators we must ask ourselves whether Iran’s posture toward its nuclear program is unreasonable under these circumstances. When was the last time [Iran] resorted to force against a hostile neighbor? The surprising answer is over 200 years ago! Can either of Iran’s antagonists claim a comparable record of living within its borders? Why does Iran not have the same right as other states to take full advantage of nuclear technology?
→ read full articleOn Burma’s ‘Changes’
Dr. Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jan 2012
Why the media coverage and expert yukings on Burma are so fundamentally non-sense. Firstly, the greatest misperception and flaw in the current media coverage about Burma’s changes is talking about these reforms as if it were the works of President Thein Sein. Like the Chinese Communist Party or the former USSR’s CCCP, the Burmese regime in power is a collective leadership with one big guy in the back.
→ read full articleDead on Arrival: SOPA Shelved Indefinitely, Obama Succumbs to Pressure, Issues Official Veto Threat
Mac Slavo, shtfplan – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jan 2012
We aren’t one bit convinced that this veto was done in the interests of free expression, as the administration may claim. In November, the President issued a similar veto threat about the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). He flip-flopped on the issue just a couple of weeks later, and signed the bill into law over New Year’s weekend to complete silence from the mainstream media. It is our view that SOPA, in one form or another, will return with a vengeance.
→ read full articleWhen Is A Terrorist Not A Terrorist? & War with Iran or Not?
Alan Hart – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jan 2012
When is a terrorist not a terrorist in the eyes of the Obama administration (not to mention all of its predecessors) and the governments of the Western world? Answer: When he or she is an Israeli Mossad agent or asset. In the case of the assassination of Iranian scientists, the Mossad’s assets are almost certainly members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) also known as The Peoples’ Mujahedin of Iran, which is committed to overthrowing the regime of the ruling mullahs.
→ read full article
Cancer Risk To Young Children Near Fukushima Daiichi Underestimated!
Global Research TV – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jan 2012
In this video, Fairewinds introduces additional analysis by Ian Goddard showing that the BEIR VII report underestimates the true cancer rates to young children living near Fukushima Daiichi. Looking at the scientific data presented by Mr. Goddard, Fairewinds has determined that at least one out of every 20 young girls (5%) living in an area where the radiological exposure is 20 millisieverts for five years will develop cancer in their lifetime.
→ read full articleThe Future We Want? Between Hope and Despair on the Road to the Rio Earth Summit
Daniel Mittler, Greenpeace – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jan 2012
The lack of spine is clearest in the last paragraph which calls for voluntary commitments announced at Rio to be stapled together in a “registry/compendium that will serve as an accountability framework.” In other words, there will be no enforcement or control. Your word will be taken at face value and the “accountability framework” will be the act of stapling all voluntary commitments together in one document. An invitation to greenwash, if there ever was one.
→ read full articleA Debt Based Monetary System, Export Warfare & Third World Debt
Mira Tekelova, Positive Money – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jan 2012
Now, it is abundantly clear from this that the IMF and the World Bank are not just lending money; they are involved in creating it. Although Special Drawing Rights, SDRs, are described as amounts ‘credited’ to a nation, no money or credit of any kind is put into nations accounts. SDRs are actually a credit facility, just like a bank overdraft – if they are borrowed, they must be repaid. The IMF and the World Bank are all in a system of sustaining the unsustainable. Until we recognise that a debt based system will not work and cannot work the Third world poverty will worsen.
→ read full article
Spain’s ‘Indignados’ and the Globalization of Dissent (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jan 2012
The Occupy Movement has taken much of its inspiration from Spain’s “Outraged” Movement: what lessons does Spain have for Occupy now?
→ read full articleHungary and the EU: A Constitutional Crisis
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jan 2012
The Right Wing-Populist policies of the Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, symbolized by dropping the term ‘Republic’ from the name of the country, has created a constitutional crisis within the European Union (EU).
→ read full articleConfiguring the Varieties of Experiential Nothingness
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jan 2012
The despair is necessarily both planet-wide and highly personal (Implication of Personal Despair in Planetary Despair, 2010). The condition can be described as a form of cognitive “ground zero” — a sense of pointlessness notably articulated through recognition that the future offers “nothing”, especially for those reduced to “nothing” by a combination of factors, as separately discussed (Reintegration of a Remaindered World, 2011; Way Round Cognitive Ground Zero and Pointlessness, 2012).
→ read full articleThe Cooperative Spirit and Its Many Manifestations
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jan 2012
The United Nations General Assembly in Resolution A/RES/64/136 has designated 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives in order to highlight the large role that cooperatives can play in ecologically-sound development and poverty reduction.
→ read full articleThousands of Dogs and Other Animals Spared Cruel Chemical Tests in Europe
Humane Society International/Europe – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jan 2012
HSI celebrates largest animal test reduction in history. Humane Society International/Europe is celebrating a change in European law on biocides, non-food pesticides, that will save tens of thousands of dogs, rabbits and rodents from painful and lethal chemical poisoning tests. Dogs, rabbits, rodents, birds and fish are all commonly used in biocides testing. The chemicals are injected into their blood, force-fed into their stomach and lungs, applied to their skin, or placed in their food and water. They can experience nausea, convulsions and death—all without pain relief.
→ read full article