Articles by M

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The Great Austerity Shell Game: Here’s How the Capitalist Scam Works
Prof. Richard Wolff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

When capitalist economies crash, most capitalists request – and governments provide – credit market bailouts and economic stimuli. However, corporations and the rich oppose new taxes ‘on them’ to pay for stimulus and bailout programs. They insist, instead, that governments should ‘borrow’ the necessary funds. Since 2007, capitalist governments everywhere borrowed massively for those costly programs.

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Mike Michaud: Yes, I am gay. ‘But why should it matter?’
Bangor Daily News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

That may seem like a big announcement to some people. One thing I do know is that it has nothing to do with my ability to lead the state of Maine.

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(Italiano) NSA e caduta dell’Impero USA
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

Eppure, essendoci una cerchia interna di élite auto-nominate, c’è anche una cerchia interna di alleati di cui ci si può presumibilmente fidare, i “Cinque Occhi”: Regno Unito, USA, Canada, Australia, Nuova Zelanda; Anglo-America per esteso. Un circolo di paesi selezionati su base razzista-culturalista. Bianchi e anglo, uccisori di popoli indigeni ovunque: gli USA degli indiani nativi, il Canada un po’ meno degli appartenenti ai Popoli Nativi, l’Australia degli aborigeni, la Nuova Zelanda un po’ meno dei Maori, Il Regno Unito dappertutto – facendo sì che gli altri si lanciassero su quel pendio scivoloso del genocidio e del sociocidio.

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Statement from Edward Snowden
ACLU-American Civil Liberties Union – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

The German magazine Der Spiegel published a statement Sunday [3 Nov 2013] from Edward Snowden that it translated from English to German. Snowden has provided the ACLU with the original English text.

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The 10 Best and Worst Foods to Eat for Sleep
FITNESS Magazine – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

Ah, sleep. It’s something we relentlessly crave, but we never seem to get enough of it. Aside from the daily stressors in life, there’s one big thing that can keep you from snoozing — your diet. Here, the best and worst foods to eat for sleep.

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This Transatlantic Trade Deal Is a Full-Frontal Assault on Democracy
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

A global ban on left-wing politics: That’s what the new rules being smuggled into trade agreements are delivering. Brussels has kept quiet about a treaty that would let rapacious companies subvert our laws, rights and national sovereignty.

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(Castellano) La Magnitud del Desastre: Los Datos del Neoliberalismo
Pedro Salmerón Sanginés – La Jornada, 11 Nov 2013

Martí Batres exhibe el fracaso neoliberal con datos duros: en ninguna esfera de la economía los tecnócratas neoliberales han ofrecido buenos resultados, salvo en el indescriptible, inaudito crecimiento de las fortunas de las familias más ricas y de los altos funcionarios que para ellas gobiernan.

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(Castellano) Congreso Internacional sobre Pueblos Indígenas de América Latina sin indígenas
Ollantay Itzamná, Centre Tricontinental – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

Ni los zapotecos estuvieron presentes en el Instituto Cultural Oaxaca. ¿Por qué? ¿No existen investigadores/académicos indígenas en Latinoamérica? ¿Racismo académico? ¿Vergüenza de investigadores indígenas de autoafirmarse como tales?

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Israel Issues 1,859 Settler Home Tenders ahead of Kerry Visit
Channel NewsAsia – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

Israel issued tenders to build 1,859 settler homes on Sunday [3 Nov 2013], angering Palestinians ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry aimed at pushing the peace process forward.

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UN Climate Change Summit Kicks Off in Poland
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

World leaders launch new round of talks in Warsaw to pave way for 2015 deal to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. The 12-day United Nations Climate Change Conference began on Monday [11 Nov 2013] in Poland’s capital amid a slew of warnings about a potentially disastrous rise in greenhouse-gas emissions.

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10 Corporations Control Almost Everything You Buy — This Chart Shows How
Chris Miles – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

According to this chart called “The Illusion of Choice,” these corporations create a chain that begins at one of 10 super companies. You’ve heard of the biggest names, but it’s amazing to see what these giants own or influence.

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(Português) Experimentação Animal: Necessidade ou Especismo?
Hugo Chusyd e Katia Sendra Tavares - ANDA Agência de Notícias de Direitos Animais, 11 Nov 2013

É possível construir uma sociedade e uma medicina que não explora e abusa de outros animais. A história tem nos mostrado incansáveis vezes que sempre encontramos um meio de resolver aquilo que em certo momento parecia impossível.

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Congress Is Making a Critical Decision
Peter G Cohen – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

The Pentagon is lobbying the Congress to provide funds for the “Modernization” of the B-61 gravity bombs now stored in Europe. At the same time, many experts and some European nations would like to see the bombs withdrawn from Europe.

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The Bank Guarantee That Bankrupted Ireland
Ellen Brown – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

The Irish have a long history of being tyrannized, exploited, and oppressed. Today, Ireland is under a different sort of tyranny, one imposed by the banks and the troika—the EU, ECB and IMF. The oppressors have demanded austerity and more austerity, forcing the public to pick up the tab for bills incurred by profligate private bankers.

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NSA Spying Revelations Exacerbate Australian-Indonesian Tensions
Peter Symonds, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

The Indonesian government is threatening to wind back intelligence sharing with Australia and the US after revelations last week, based on leaked documents provided by Edward Snowden, that their embassies in Jakarta were used as electronic listening posts for the US National Security Agency.

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Israelis Plan New Colonies, Oil Drilling, on Palestinian Land During “Peace Talks”
Juan Cole – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

The current round of so-called peace talks between Israel and Palestine is marked by so much bad faith on the part of the Israelis that only the corruption and perfidy of the Mahmoud Abbas government in the West Bank can explain why the Palestinians should subject themselves to such exploitation and humiliation.

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Inside the Outrageous World of Child Cage Fighting: Tiny Boys Who Are Trained to Attack Each Other in America’s Baby MMA Arenas
James Nye – Daily Mail, 11 Nov 2013

It is estimated that three million boys and girls, some as young as five-year-old launch themselves at each other weekly across the nation engaged in Pankration – some wearing no head protection and throwing punches boasting gloves little more than one-inch thick. Prominent critics of MMA call it ‘human cockfighting.’

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Et Tu, UK? Anger Grows over British Spying in Berlin
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

First it was the US — and now it turns out the UK might have been spying from its embassy in Berlin, too. Officials at Germany’s Foreign Ministry responded Tuesday by inviting Britain’s ambassador for a lecture.

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Shelter in Europe: Court Orders Asylum for Persecuted Gays
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

An EU court ruled Thursday [7 Nov 2013] that gays and lesbians persecuted in other countries have the right to asylum in Europe, as long as they fulfill certain conditions. The decision came in a case involving three African men seeking safe haven in the Netherlands.

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Rhapsody in Blue (Music Video of the Week)
The 5 Browns – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

5 Pianos – The 5 Browns play Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin.

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I Believe There Will Not Be a United Ireland
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

Our peace process will be only as strong and safe as long as we all, particularly our political leaders, refuse to play politics with our volatile emotions, and use rhetoric that can move others to kill, and as long as we together continue to build a nonviolent truly democratic Northern Irish society for every one of us and our children.

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Coalition Endorses Recommendations of New Report on Health Professional Involvement in Torture, Calls for APA Action
Roy Eidelson – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

The Coalition for an Ethical Psychology applauds the release yesterday [4 Nov 2013] of an important new report titled “Ethics Abandoned: Medical Professionalism and Detainee Abuse in the War on Terror,” funded by the Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP) and the Open Society Foundations.

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Israel’s Nuclear Ambiguity Prodded
Pierre Klochendler, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

As Palestinian-Israeli peace talks and nuclear talks on Iran’s disputed nuclear programme continue, a unique international conference, “A Middle East without Weapons of Mass Destruction”, was held in Jerusalem. “The nuclear issue is Israel’s last taboo.”

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U.S., Israel Lose Voting Rights at UNESCO over Palestine Row
Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

UNESCO has suspended the voting rights of the United States and Israel, two years after both countries stopped paying dues to the U.N.’s cultural arm in protest over its granting full membership to the Palestinians.

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No Morsel Too Minuscule for All-Consuming N.S.A.
Scott Shane – The New York Times, 11 Nov 2013

From thousands of classified documents, the National Security Agency emerges as an electronic omnivore of staggering capabilities, eavesdropping and hacking its way around the world to strip governments and other targets of their secrets, all the while enforcing the utmost secrecy about its own operations. It spies routinely on friends as well as foes, as has become obvious in recent weeks.

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LGBT Americans Need Congressional Protection
US Pres. Barack Obama - Reader Supported News, 11 Nov 2013

Millions of LGBT Americans go to work every day fearing that, without any warning, they could lose their jobs — not because of anything they’ve done, but simply because of who they are. It’s offensive. It’s wrong. And it needs to stop, because in the United States of America, who you are and who you love should never be a fireable offense.

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The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA): When Foreign Investors Sue the State
Martin Khor, Third World Economics – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

The investor-state dispute system, whereby foreign investors can sue the host-country government in an international tribunal, is one of the issues being negotiated in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.

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The Saudis Are Mad? Tough!
Fareed Zakaria – Time Magazine, 11 Nov 2013

Over the past four decades, the kingdom’s immense oil wealth has been used to underwrite the export of an extreme, intolerant and violent version of Islam preached by its Wahhabi clerics. Go anywhere in the world–from Germany to Indonesia–and you’ll find Islamic centers flush with Saudi money, spouting intolerance and hate. Saudi Arabia was one of only three countries in the world to recognize and support the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan until the 9/11 attacks.

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Art and the Building of Peace
George Kent – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

Meanings are not inherent in things, but are socially negotiated. Like the meaning of a work of art, the meaning of a conflict is not inherent in it. Its meaning depends on what the observers bring to it… The joint exercise of imagination by parties to conflict is the exercise of the art of peacefulness.

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Hedge Fund Giant Led by Jewish Billionaire to Pay Biggest Penalty in History
Larry Neumeister and Marcy Gordon – The Times of Israel, 11 Nov 2013

Pending deal would see company headed by Steven A. Cohen pay out $1.8 billion for insider trading, cease operating as investment adviser.

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My Promise to Children
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

Every day, human adults kill 35,000 of our children. We kill them in wars. We kill them with drones. We kill them in our homes. We also kill children in vast numbers by starving them to death in Africa, Asia and Central/South America because we use military violence to maintain an ‘economic’ system that allocates resources for military weapons, as well as corporate profits for the wealthy, instead of resources for living.

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Nuclear Arsenal: US to Turn Old Bombs into All-Purpose Weapons
Markus Becker and Otfried Nassauer – Der Spiegel, 11 Nov 2013

The US wants to modernize nuclear bombs stationed in Europe in a way many experts call the equivalent of creating a new weapon. Critics believe the move violates pledges by President Obama he would not develop new nukes.

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Ruthless Regimes Not Impervious to Civil Resistance: A Reply to Maged Mandour
Stephen Zunes and Jack DuVall – Open Democracy, 11 Nov 2013

Maged Mandour’s article on openDemocracy, “Beyond Civil Resistance: The Case of Syria”, argues that civil resistance has been marginalized in the Syrian insurrection because it doesn’t work against “ruthless” regimes. But history doesn’t support that conclusion.

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Muharram: The Islamic New Year
M. Ashaq Raza – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

Remember when I Karbala’s battle
Heart breaks up in pieces, crumble
Eyes fill with tears, blood scramble

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(Français) Politique de Drogues : L’Émancipation Latino-Américaine
François Polet, Centre Tricontinental – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

« La seule chose que nous proposons est d’aborder le sujet, car jusqu’à présent beaucoup de pays, notamment les États-Unis, ont refusé de le faire. Cela fait 40 ans que le monde est plongé dans cette guerre aux drogues et je pense que nous devrions analyser si nous faisons la bonne chose »

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The Debtor’s War: A Modern Greek Tragedy
Andrew Gavin Marshall – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

Large corporations have more money than most countries on earth. Their power is protected by the state, their influence unquestioned, their domination of the world’s resources, materials, culture and society is rapidly advancing, and they are – institutionally and ideologically – totalitarian.

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Why the Rest of the World No Longer Wants to Be Like US
Noam Chomsky - AlterNet, 11 Nov 2013

Many countries in the world see the U.S. as the single greatest external threat to their societies. In the past, the U.S. has sometimes been described sardonically – but not inaccurately – as a one-party state: the business party, with two factions called Democrats and Republicans.

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Syria: From Fermenting Uprising to Delivering Polio
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey - Pravda, 11 Nov 2013

Sometimes it truly seems as if the demented Armageddonists and George W. Bush’s “Crusaders” have shaped a “New World Order” which has regressed to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Conquest, War, Famine and Death.

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Chase Isn’t the Only Bank in Trouble
Matt Taibbi – Rolling Stone, 11 Nov 2013

There are multiple scandals blowing up right now, including a whole set of ominous legal cases that could result in punishments so extreme that they might significantly alter the long-term future of the financial services sector.

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Don’t Be Distracted by One-State/Two-State ‘Debate’ on Israel – Something Much More Nefarious Is Going On
Noam Chomsky - AlterNet, 11 Nov 2013

Israel is systematically expanding with US support. The near inevitable outcome, ‘one state for two nations,’ will pose ‘an immediate existential threat of the erasure of the identity of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state,’ soon with a Palestinian-Arab majority.

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Popular American (USA) Culture: A Dysfunctional and Destructive Life Context
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

We are — amidst pauses and respites for comfort from pizza, beer, shopping, TV football games, and “unreality” shows — caught in a bewildering and conflicted response to the world about us. We are aware something is wrong — unfamiliar, strange, frightening – but we cannot seem to grasp its sources.

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The Middle East–Heading Where?
Johan Galtung, 11 Nov 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

Are we witnessing a process of the USA detaching itself from an Israel bent on unlimited expansion, bribing Senators, Representatives with campaign money+? USA detaching itself from the G7 Gulf monarchies with Saudi Arabia now protesting everywhere? If so, we are living world history right now.

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The Origins and Evolution of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
T Rajamoorthy - Global Research, 11 Nov 2013

THE free trade agreement being negotiated by the regional bloc known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has provoked widespread opposition in the countries involved in its negotiation. Today the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) is rightly perceived and condemned as a US-led attempt to penetrate and dominate the economies of the region.

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Ireland: Israeli Products Marked with Yellow Sticker
Itamar Eichner - Ynetnews, 11 Nov 2013

Sources in the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said that the phenomenon is severe and it is not by chance that the BDS organization chose to express its protest with a yellow sticker – which is reminiscent of dark days of racism and incitement.

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Costa Gavras’s “Capital”: A Critique of “Cowboy Capitalism”
David Walsh, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

That unprincipled, greedy men and women are largely to blame for a good deal of the world’s problems and that they ought to and can be exposed by crusading individuals is a conception that seems to guide, semi-consciously or otherwise, a number of the current films on the subject of Wall Street and related issues.

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Johnson & Johnson to Pay $2.2 Billion to Settle Deceptive Marketing Claims
Chris Morran – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

For nearly a decade, various state and federal agencies have been looking into Johnson & Johnson’s marketing of the drugs Risperdal, Invega, Natrecor, and others, claiming the company was putting consumers at risk by paying kickbacks to doctors and pharmacists to suggest these drugs to patients and for pushing unapproved uses for these medications. Today, the Justice Dept. announced that J&J will pay out more than $2.2 billion to settle these claims.

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(Français) La Force Africaine D’Intervention Rapide Opérationnelle Avant la Fin 2013 ?
RFI – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

Une Force africaine d’intervention rapide pour régler les conflits sur le continent pourrait voir le jour d’ici la fin de l’année 2013. Une déclaration faite par le président sud-africain Jacob Zuma lors d’une réunion de chefs d’Etat à Pretoria, le 5 novembre [2013].

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Empire under Obama, Part 3: America’s “Secret Wars” in Over 100 Countries around the World
Andrew Gavin Marshall – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

Obama’s global terror campaign is not only dependent upon his drone assassination program, but increasingly it has come to rely upon the deployment of Special Operations forces in countries all over the world, reportedly between 70 and 120 countries at any one time.

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Empire under Obama, Part 4: Counterinsurgency, Death Squads, and the Population as the Target
Andrew Gavin Marshall – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

Empire is institutional, not individual. My focus on the imperial structure during the Obama administration is not to suggest that it does not predate Obama, but rather, that Obama represents ‘continuity’ in imperialism, not “change.” This part examines the concept of ‘counterinsurgency’ as a war against the populations of Iraq, Afghanistan and spreading into Pakistan.

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US, Australia Face Backlash over Spy Operations in Asia
Peter Symonds, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

The latest NSA leaks have exposed US and Australian listening posts in diplomatic missions throughout Asia.

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NSA Infiltrates Links to Yahoo, Google Data Centers Worldwide, Snowden Documents Say
Barton Gellman and Ashkan Soltani – The Washington Post, 4 Nov 2013

30 Oct 2013 – The National Security Agency has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world, according to documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and interviews with knowledgeable officials.

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Iran to Follow? White House Expected to Ease Sanctions Targeting Syria
Franklin Lamb – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

Pressure on Obama from Putin is part of the ‘price tag’ for Russia’s role in bailing out the American president, whose chemical weapons ‘redline’ became something of an albatross. But another reason for the relaxation is that the White House believes it needs to communicate to Damascus that prospects for better relations, and possibly even some cooperation, are not completely dead.

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Six Ways to Keep the Government Out of Your Files
Josh Harkinson – Mother Jones, 4 Nov 2013

Pro-Tips on How to Lock Down Your Data

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Millions against Monsanto: Five Lessons from the Battle against GMOs
Ronnie Cummins – Common Dreams, 4 Nov 2013

The rapidly growing anti-GMO Movement illustrates the powerful synergy that can develop from the combined use of social media, marketplace pressure and political action. Out-of-control corporations, media, politicians and the proverbial “one percent” can be outsmarted and outmaneuvered. And quite possibly defeated.

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Snowden’s Letter to German Authorities
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Sevice, 4 Nov 2013

The NSA whistleblower’s letter to chancellor Angela Merkel, the German Parliament and to federal prosecutors, according to Hans-Christian Ströebele, a German opposition lawmaker from the Green Party who visited him in Moscow.

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NSA and the Fall of the US Empire
Johan Galtung, 4 Nov 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

Yet, as there is an inner circle of self-appointed elites there is also an inner circle of allies that presumably can be trusted, the “Five Eyes”: UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand; Anglo-America writ large. Who are they? A club of countries selected on a racist-culturalist basis. White and Anglo, killers of indigenous peoples all over: USA of Native Indians, Canada a little less of First Nations, Australia of Aborigines, New Zealand a little less of Māoris, UK all over–getting the others launched on that slippery slope of genocide and sociocide.

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(Português) A Grécia É um Laboratório para Aplicar as Terapias de Choque, Diz Kouvelakis
Cristina Portella – Carta Maior, 4 Nov 2013

Nenhum país europeu, como a Grécia, teve uma contração de 27% desde o início da atual crise, nem reduziu em 40% os custos do trabalho, a cifra assustadora que demonstra o ponto a que chegaram as terapias de choque neoliberais.

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Perpetual War: How Does the Global War on Terror Ever End?
Jeremy Scahill - TomDispatch, 4 Nov 2013

The drone strike in Yemen the day Obama was sworn in served as a potent symbol of a reality that had been clearly established during his first four years in office: U.S. unilateralism and exceptionalism were not only bipartisan principles in Washington, but a permanent American institution.

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(Italiano) Le calamità USA: ci sono soluzioni
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

E se gli USA facessero un accordo con i cinesi e i russi? Il 50% di remissione del debito da parte cinese contro il 50% di riduzione USA dei componenti militari più offensivi – le 800 basi disseminate nel mondo – in 5-10 anni? Accompagnate da una riduzione analoga multilaterale e bilanciata nelle armi offensive per tutti e tre, approfittando dello slancio russo sulle armi chimiche?

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[Nobel Peace Laureate] Suu Kyi: ‘The Army Must Be the Foundation of the Country’
DVB – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday [25 Oct 2013] praised the British military, insisting that she wanted to learn “how a good, professional army operates” in order to take lessons back to Burma.

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Playing the Great Game with Intelligence: Authority versus the People
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

Exposure to the disclosures and the fast footwork displayed by government in variously denying, lying, misleading, acknowledging — now ultimately reframed by “everyone does it” — has considerably sharpened public awareness of the nature of the game played by Authority with the People.

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Philosophy of Violence in Operation
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

A careful study of recorded history reveals that humans in general have often tended to resolve their differences through violent wars. They have never learned that in a war everyone is a loser and no one a winner.

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NSA Asked Japan to Tap Regionwide Fiber-Optic Cables In 2011
The Japan Times – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

The agency’s overture was apparently aimed at gathering information on China given that Japan is at the heart of optical cables that connect various parts of the region. But Tokyo turned down the proposal, citing legal restrictions and a shortage of personnel, the sources said.

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Invisible Horizons of a Just Palestine/Israel Future
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

4 Nov 2013 – I spent last week at the United Nations, meeting with ambassadors of countries in the Middle East and presenting my final report to the Third Committee of the General Assembly as my term as Special Rapporteur for Occupied Palestine comes to an end.

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The Rising Resistance to Obama’s Drone Wars
Amy Goodman - Truthdig, 4 Nov 2013

Attacking rescuers is a war crime. Mustafa Qadri from Amnesty International explained: “For example, some laborers in a very impoverished village near the Afghanistan border, they get targeted, eight die instantly in a tent; those who come to rescue or to look for survivors are themselves targeted.

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U.S. Government Pledges Aid to Pakistan’s Elite, Blocks Visa for Human Rights Lawyer
Mehreen Saeed – The Huffington Post, 4 Nov 2013

A majority of Pakistanis have grown increasingly angry and blame the corrupt elite for accepting U.S. aid in return for signing off on the illegal drones in their country while publicly condemning them.

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[Nobel Peace Laureate] Aung San Suu Kyi’s Comments on Muslims Expose Endemic Anti-Muslim Prejudice
Tun Khin, Huff Post – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

As a Muslim Rohingya and an advocate for human rights who spent many years campaigning for her freedom, it is hard to express the shock I felt at her words during this interview.

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Texas Club Auctions Right to Hunt Endangered Rhino: Killing It to Save It
Michael Graczyk, AP – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

Plans to auction a rare permit that will allow a hunter to take down an endangered black rhino are drawing criticism from some conservationists, but the organizer says the fundraiser could bring in more than $1 million that would go toward protecting the species.

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Stasi or NSA?
Goran Fejic – Open Democracy, 4 Nov 2013

[Tragicomedy is becoming a big joke] – Which spy agency would you choose to monitor your life?

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Global Power Project: Exposing the Institute of International Finance (Part 3) – Central Bankers and the IFF
Andrew Gavin Marshall, Occupy – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

In Part 1 of the Global Power Project exposé on the Institute of International Finance, I examined the origins and evolution of an organization representing the interests of global banks. In Part 2, I looked at the role played by the IIF and its leadership during the European debt crisis. In this third and final part in the series, I examine the relationship between the IIF and global central bankers.

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Brazilians Occupying Research Lab Ignite National Debate on Animal Testing
Antonio Pasolini, Occupy – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

October 18, 2013, was a landmark in the history of Brazil’s animal rights movement. On that Friday more than 100 animal rights activists occupied Instituto Royal, a laboratory that specializes in performing tests on animals for companies in the cosmetics and medical fields.

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NSA Spied on Vatican and Top Catholic Cardinals, Says Italian Report
Huff Post – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

The weekly magazine, Panorama, reports on Thursday [31 Oct 2013] that the NSA labeled calls in and out of Vatican offices as “leadership intentions,” “threats to the financial system,” “foreign policy objectives,” and “human rights.” Calls regarding election of the new president of the Vatican Bank, Ernst von Freyberg, were also intercepted.

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How Come Uri Avnery Knows So Little about Israel, or Apartheid?
Jonathan Cook – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

What color the victims of apartheid are, what proportion of the population they constitute, whether the economy depends on their productive labor, whether the early Zionists were socialists, whether the Palestinians have a Nelson Mandela, and so on have precisely zero relevance to determining whether Israel is an apartheid state.

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Plans for Geneva II Talks on Syria in Disarray
Chris Marsden, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

The aftermath of the Obama administrations forced retreat from direct military intervention to depose Bashar al-Assad and its shift to negotiations with Iran has angered key allies Israel and Saudi Arabia, and set in motion a dramatic foreign policy realignment in Turkey. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said, “In my personal opinion, Geneva II will not happen if no opposition representatives attend.”

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Israel Buys the US Congress: Sabotaging the US-Iran Peace Negotiations
Prof. James Petras - Global Research, 4 Nov 2013

As the US and the 5 other countries attempt to negotiate with Iran , they face enormous obstacles overcoming Israel ’s power over the US Congress. Over past decades Israel ’s agents have bought the loyalties of the vast majority of Congress people, training them to recognize and obey the whistles, signals and script from the war mongers in Tel Aviv.

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Increased American Military Presence May Undermine Good Governance Efforts in Africa
Hilary Matfess - Foreign Policy in Focus, 4 Nov 2013

Africa Is Front and Center Now for the Pentagon – Ironically, increased partnerships with the world’s foremost democracy may undermine the democratic process by reducing the importance of public opinion, increasing ‘rent seeking behavior’ in governments, and strengthening autocratic aspects of governments.

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Polio Outbreak in Syria Threatens Whole Region, WHO Says
Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

Polio has broken out among young children in northeast Syria after probably originating in Pakistan and poses a threat to millions of children across the Middle East, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday [29 Oct 2013].

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A Physics of Peace
Prof. Victor Mansfield – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

There is an extraordinary precise resonance between emptiness and quantum nonlocality, the most important finding at the conceptual foundations of modern physics. Quantum mechanics is undeniably the best theory in the history of science. Despite that, its findings are much less influential than they should be for shaping our modern worldview.

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How Science Is Telling Us All to Revolt
Naomi Klein – New Statesman, 4 Nov 2013

Is our relentless quest for economic growth killing the planet? Climate scientists have seen the data – and they are coming to some incendiary conclusions. The fact that the business-as-usual pursuit of profits and growth is destabilising life on earth is no longer something we need to read about in scientific journals. The early signs are unfolding before our eyes.

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A Whale of a Business
Frontline – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

A behind the scenes look at the ludicrous business that is captivity. This program focuses on the beacon for all captive cetaceans, Keiko. His rehabilitation and eventual release was the center of a controversy about keeping these intelligent animals in barren concrete tanks for our amusement.

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Embassy Espionage: The NSA’s Secret Spy Hub in Berlin
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

According to SPIEGEL research, United States intelligence agencies have not only targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone, but they have also used the American Embassy in Berlin as a listening station.

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Russia Alarmed by Fresh Reports Syrian Militants Using Chemical Weapons – FM
The Voice of Russia – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

Moscow is deeply alarmed by fresh reports that extremists used chemical weapons on Syrian soil. Russia has expressed its indignation over the lack of coverage that western media have offered to the report on Syrian rebels using chemical weapons against local Kurdish community.

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Man Buys $27 of Bitcoin, Forgets about Them, Finds They’re Now Worth $886k
Samuel Gibbs – The Guardian, 4 Nov 2013

Bought in 2009, currency’s rise in value saw small investment turn into enough to buy an apartment in a wealthy area of Oslo.

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NSA Whistleblower: Snowden Open to Testifying in Germany
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

Edward Snowden says he is willing to cooperate with investigations into NSA spying. At a meeting with a German lawmaker in Moscow, he reportedly suggested he would be open to coming to Germany, and complained of a US ‘campaign of persecution.’ Berlin has at least signaled readiness to talk.

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[Nobel Peace Laureate} Aung San Suu Kyi and the World of Buddhist Islamophobia
Maung Zarni – Al Jazeera, 4 Nov 2013

The details of this systematic ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya which has been set in motion as a matter of state policy since 1978, and the more recent anti-Muslim mass violence, again with state impunity, generally play second fiddle in the media, to Suu Kyi’s failure to condemn it.

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Nacht Und Nebel
Tom Greening – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

“Nacht und Nebel” is what the Nazis called
the way they hid the camps,

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Where Is the Ethical Leadership over Syria?
Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Laureate – Al Jazeera, 4 Nov 2013

It was tragic to see Western politicians who spoke out against military intervention get slammed for somehow being cowardly. Although their effort would not stop the killing outright, to hold back the war designs of their own leaders was a brave act.

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Rebels Conduct New Chemical Weapons Attack in Syria near Turkish Border – Report
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

The rebels used chemical weapons in north-eastern Syria near the border with Turkey on Tuesday [29 Oct 2013]. The attack was reported by Kurdish defense forces who are conducting military operations against the rebels in the region.

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Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
Silvio Waisbord – Americas Quarterly, 4 Nov 2013

Tackling Latin America’s media empires is critical for the health of democracies.

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Myanmar’s Drive for Peace
Maung Zarni – The New York Times, 4 Nov 2013

Based on my experience working with the generals as an unofficial advocate for Western re-engagement with the country, I know that the military leaders who may be inclined to compromise hold an instrumentalist view of reconciliation. For them, peace is not a worthwhile goal in and of itself but a means to another end: financial reward.

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On NSA Claims about Misreporting of Two Slides
Glenn Greenwald – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander asserted yesterday [29 Oct 2013] that two “Boundless Informant” slides we published were misunderstood and misinterpreted. Several US journalists (needless to say) instantly treated the NSA’s claims as gospel even though they (a) are accompanied by no evidence, (b) come in the middle of a major scandal for the agency at home and abroad and (c) are from officials with a history of lying to Congress and the media.

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U.N. Will Censure Illegal Spying, But Not U.S.
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

A draft resolution currently in limited circulation – a copy of which was obtained by IPS – criticises “the conduct of extra-territorial surveillance” and the “interception of communications in foreign jurisdictions”. But it refuses to single out the NSA or the United States, which stands accused of spying on foreign governments, including political leaders in Germany, France, Brazil, Spain and Mexico, among some 30 others.

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Is Glenn Greenwald the Future of News?
Bill Keller – The New York Times, 4 Nov 2013

The disruptive power of the Internet raises profound questions about what journalism is becoming, about its essential character and values. This week’s column is a conversation — a (mostly) civil argument — between two very different views of how journalism fulfills its mission: Bill Keller and Glenn Greenwald.

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(Castellano) Los Gobiernos Sudamericanos Deben Apoyar el Derecho de los Hondureños a la Soberanía y Elecciones Libres
Mark Weisbrot - Rebelión, 4 Nov 2013

Como señaló el presidente Rafael Correa de Ecuador en 2009, el golpe de Washington en Honduras también fue una amenaza para la región, así como lo es su colaboración con el gobierno resultante para prevenir que se den elecciones democráticas.

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How the NSA Is Infiltrating Private Networks
Barton Gellman, Todd Lindeman and Ashkan Soltani – The Washington Post, 4 Nov 2013

This graphic shows how the NSA and GCHQ break into those internal networks, using Google’s as an example. Less is known about Yahoo’s networks, but the NSA operations are thought to be similar.

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Reports That NSA Taps into Google and Yahoo Data Hubs Infuriate Tech Giants
Dominic Rushe, Spencer Ackerman and James Ball – The Guardian, 4 Nov 2013

Google and Yahoo, two of the world’s biggest tech companies, reacted angrily to a report on Wednesday [30 Oct 2013] that the National Security Agency has secretly intercepted the main communication links that carry their users’ data around the world.

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Is Brazil the New Regional Champion of Democracy?
Prof. Oliver Stuenkel – Americas Quarterly, 4 Nov 2013

Don’t confuse Brasília’s stepped-up profile with U.S.-style democracy promotion.

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Monsanto and Pepsi Trying to Stop GMO Labeling Law in Washington State
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

A Washington State ballot measure to label food featuring genetically modified crops is under fire as food and chemical corporations pour millions of dollars against the campaign.

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Ave Maria – Schubert Classical Guitar (Music Video of the Week)
Michael Lucarelli – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

Michael Lucarelli plays Franz Schuberts’s Ave Maria on classical guitar.
Filmed at the “Cathedral of the Madeleine” in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

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Malala and Nabila: Worlds Apart
Murtaza Hussain – Al Jazeera, 4 Nov 2013

The only people to be recognized for their suffering in this conflict are those who fall victim to the Taliban. Malala for her struggles was to be made the face of the American war effort while innumerable little girls such as Nabila will continue to be terrorized and murdered as part of this war without end. There will be no celebrity appearances or awards ceremonies for Nabila. At her testimony almost no one even bothered to attend [5 congressmen].

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