Articles by M
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Bradley Manning’s letter to President Barack Obama Requesting a Pardon
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
“If you deny my request for a pardon, I will serve my time knowing that sometimes you have to pay a heavy price to live in a free society. I will gladly pay that price if it means we could have a country that is truly conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all women and men are created equal.”
→ read full article‘Private Money’: Bitcoins Gain Ground in Germany
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
Bitcoins have rapidly gained popularity, but what is the currency’s legal status? This week Germany revealed that it sees the virtual payment method as “private money,” but its tax status remains unclear.
→ read full articleBradley Manning’s Excessive Sentence
Editorial Board – The New York Times,
26 Aug 2013
35 years is far too long a sentence. Government lawyers presented vague and largely speculative claims that Private Manning’s leaks had endangered lives and “chilled” diplomatic relations. Much of what he released was of public value, including a video of a military helicopter shooting at two vans and killing civilians, including two Reuters journalists.
→ read full articleUS Succumbing to Tyranny of Endless War
Global Times – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
Will Snowden trigger a domino effect into more whistle-blowers? Will US diplomacy continue to be dominated by the Pentagon? Lawrence B. Wilkerson, a retired US Army colonel and the former chief of staff for Colin Powell who served as US secretary of state from 2001 to 2005, shared his ideas on these issues.
→ read full articleHi, I’m Your New Axis of Evil
Pepe Escobar – Asia Times,
26 Aug 2013
The winner, as it stands, is the House of Saud/Israel/ Pentagon axis. How did they pull it off? With Israel possibly mulling another invasion of Lebanon; the Kerry “peace process” an excuse for more settlements in Palestine; Bandar Bush back practicing the dark arts; the pre-empting of any possible solution to the Iranian nuclear dossier; Egypt in civil war; Syria and also Iraq bleeding to death, what’s left is the certified proliferation of all kinds of axes, and all kinds of evil.
→ read full articleNew Fires Relight in Eastern Congo
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
In a 24 August 2013 message addressed to the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Association of World Citizens highlighted that the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern capital of North Kivu Provence, Goma, had been shelled for the past three days, including Saturday the 24th.
→ read full articleIn Latvia, Riga Has Become a Ghost Town
Agata Pyzik – New Statesman,
26 Aug 2013
The third-poorest country in the EU, Latvia punitive welfare conditions and the exclusion of Russian-speakers from surrounding nations has lead to a depopulation of 30,000 a year.
→ read full articleAlan Rusbridger: “I would rather destroy the copied files than hand them back to the NSA and GCHQ”
The Guardian – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, talks about the UK and international law, the future of journalism, and the David Miranda affair.
→ read full article(Italiano) Cinque tesi su Assange-Manning-Snowden
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
Quel che Manning e Snowden hanno rivelato sono le convulsioni dell’impero USA; quel che Assange e gli altri hanno rivelato sono le convulsioni del sistema statuale come lo conosciamo. A entrambi i processi ci vorrà tempo; al primo meno che al secondo. Ma non ci si sbagli: tutti e tre gli spifferatori hanno fatto storia. Tre nomi che saranno ricordati dopo che taluni presidenti USA saranno scivolati in un oblio tanto meritato.
→ read full articleArt Review: BP Portrait Award 2013
Sumeet Grover – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
Fifty-five of the most outstanding entries, including the winning portraits, from this international competition are currently on exhibit from 20 Jun to 15 Sept 2013. During the judging process, none of the entries received from seventy-seven countries were tagged with the artists’ nationality as a measure of equality, and this ethic is also evident in the exhibit.
→ read full articleGlobalizing Homeland Security
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
It is not just one thing that should worry us about the authoritarian tendencies of the Obama presidency, but one thing after another. The cumulative effect of it all. The latest sign of the times was the August 19th detention of David Miranda, Glenn Greenwald’s partner, at Heathrow Airport under the British anti-terrorist law for nine hours.
→ read full articleOn Bradley Manning & America
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
I am posting on this blog two important texts that deserve the widest public attention and deep reflection in the United States and elsewhere. I would stress the following:
→ read full articleWhen Nationalism and Militarism Become One
Mark A. Ashwill – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
“United We Stand,” and “We’re Number One!” are commonplace mantras. “United We Stand” against what, whom, and why? “We’re Number One!,” in what respects?, one is tempted to ask.The assumption that “others” wish to be like “us,” and, by extension, the desire to mold them in our image, by force, if necessary, is the essence of the brand of missionary nationalism that has shaped U.S. foreign policy for generations.
→ read full articleNSA Spying Leaves Washington Lonelier than Ever
Emma Lo – Foreign Policy in Focus,
26 Aug 2013
NSA spying is sullying Washington’s relationship with nearly every one of its global partners and competitors.
→ read full articleGeneral and Complete Disarmament in 50 Years on the Basis of Global Harmony
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
A Global Harmony Association Constant Petition to the UN to Collect 1 Million Signatures by September 21, 2013 – International Peace Day. PLEASE HELP THE WORLD BY SIGNING THE PETITION http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Global_Disarmament_Now_1/.
→ read full articleMatter of Fact
TMS editor,
26 Aug 2013
A couple go on holiday to a fishing resort in northern Minnesota.
→ read full articleRIP, Elmore Leonard: The Beloved Author’s 10 Rules of Writing
Maria Popova – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
“If it sounds like writing … rewrite it.” – How heartbreaking to learn that the wonderful Elmore Leonard (October 11, 1925–August 20, 2013) has died, and what a bittersweet invitation to revisit his timeless contribution.
→ read full article(Italiano) Fidel. Auguri, e grazie anche per la Pace
Marinella Correggia – Centro Studi Sereno Regis,
26 Aug 2013
13 agosto 2013 – Buon compleanno a Fidel Castro! Fra i tanti aspetti del suo agire politico, ricordiamo il suo ruolo di attore internazionale contro le guerre infinite; anzitutto per prevenirle. Come è stato per Hugo Chavez.
→ read full articleHow to Keep the NSA Out of Your Computer
Clive Thompson – Mother Jones,
26 Aug 2013
Joseph Bonicioli mostly uses the same internet you and I do. He pays a service provider a monthly fee to get him online. But to talk to his friends and neighbors in Athens, Greece, he’s also got something much weirder and more interesting: a private, parallel internet.
→ read full articleThe Confidential Memo at the Heart of the Global Financial Crisis
Greg Palast – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
When a little birdie dropped the End Game memo through my window, its content was so explosive, so sick and plain evil, I just couldn’t believe it. The Memo confirmed every conspiracy freak’s fantasy: that in the late 1990s, the top US Treasury officials secretly conspired with a small cabal of banker big-shots to rip apart financial regulation across the planet.
→ read full articleEgypt: Extreme Polarization and Genocidal Politics
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
In these morbid days, there are some home truths that are worth reflecting upon. What Happened After Tahrir Square?
→ read full articleSensing Epiterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
Some astronomers continue to express interest in “extraterrestrials” and “life” elsewhere — and maintaining the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). There are no right answers to wrong questions. Assuming that “extraterrestrial life” might be located on other planets may be a consequence of the “wrong question”. It may not be a question of “where” such “life” is located but rather of “how” that “life” is expressed.
→ read full articleHorror of North Korean Prison Camps Exposed at U.N. Panel Hearing
Ju-min Park and Michelle Kim, Reuters – Townhall,
26 Aug 2013
Public executions and torture are daily occurrences in North Korea’s prisons, according to dramatic testimony from former inmates at a U.N. Commission of Inquiry that opened in South Korea’s capital on Tuesday [20 Aug 2013].
→ read full article(Português) Vaticano Ocupa 8º Lugar Global em Lavagem de Dinheiro
Dermi Azevedo – Carta Maior,
26 Aug 2013
A pesquisa foi realizada pela rede de organizações sociais francesas Voltaire, com base em dados fornecidos por autoridades alemãs e suíças. No ano passado, o Instituto de Obras da Religião (IOR), nome oficial do Banco do Vaticano, epicentro do problema, teria lavado cerca de 33 bilhões de dólares.
→ read full articlePreliminary Evidence Indicates that the Syrian Government DID NOT Launch a Chemical Weapon Attack against Its People
Washington’s Blog – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
Michael Rivero asks:
1. Why would Syria’s Assad invite United Nations chemical weapons inspectors to Syria, then launch a chemical weapons attack against women and children on the very day they arrive, just miles from where they are staying?
2. If Assad were going to use chemical weapons, wouldn’t he use them against the hired mercenary army trying to oust him? What does he gain attacking women and children? Nothing! The gain is all on the side of the US Government desperate to get the war agenda going again.
Gangster State US/UK
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
Washington’s UK puppets simply kidnapped David Miranda, the Brazilian partner of Glenn Greenwald, who is reporting on the illegal and unconstitutional spying by the National Stasi Agency, threatened him for nine hours, and stole his computer, phones, and all his electronic equipment. As a smug US official told the media, “the purpose was to send a message.”
→ read full articleChina Takes Aim at Western Ideas
Chris Buckley – The New York Times,
26 Aug 2013
Communist Party cadres have filled meeting halls around China to hear a somber, secretive warning issued by senior leaders. Power could escape their grip, they have been told, unless the party eradicates seven subversive currents coursing through Chinese society.
→ read full articleSyria: No Armaments to Rebels
The Peace People – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2013
Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire: “Contrary to some foreign governments’ current policies of arming the rebels and pushing for military intervention, the people of Syria are calling out for peace and reconciliation and a political solution to the crisis, which continues to be inflamed by outside forces with thousands of foreign fighters funded and supported by outside countries for their own political ends.”
→ read full articleMerkel and the NSA: A Scandal That Just Won’t Die
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
As the election approaches, Chancellor Angela Merkel is working hard to dissipate anger over controversial surveillance by German and US intelligence agencies. But every time Berlin assures voters that all is well, its claims are discredited.
→ read full articleWho Benefits from the Various ‘Wars’?
Arjen Kamphuis – Consortium News,
19 Aug 2013
P.R. experts are skilled at framing policy debates in favorable though misleading ways like the “war on terror” or the “war on drugs.” What gets shielded by this packaging are the unstated goals, interests and outcomes that would draw popular opposition if known.
→ read full articleBe Brothers: A Word to Hindus and Muslims
M. Ashaq Raza – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
Oh my dear Hindu and Muslim brothers
Today you again fought, killed one another
Destroyed a mosque, damaged a temple
World Citizens Call for the Unconditional Respect of the Right to Life, Liberty and Security of Person in Egypt
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
The Association of World Citizens is gravely concerned at the human rights violations committed by both the security and armed forces and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights clearly provides that “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person ». This right belongs to everyone, not just to people who think as we do. Democracy and the rule of law should never be a one-way flow.
→ read full articleRestless Nation: The Real Meaning of Iran’s Elections
Stephen Zunes – YES! Magazine,
19 Aug 2013
Will the people of Iran get the reforms they asked for in electing the moderate Hassan Rouhani? The answer depends partly on them, and partly on the United States.
→ read full articleWhy Are Myanmar’s Rohingya Officially and Popularly Referred to as “Bengali’, a Racist Slur in the Burmese Context?
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
At the heart of Myanmar’s official and, sadly, popular use of the term ‘Bengali’ is a discursive strategy meant to to illegalize, alien-ize and de-tetorrialize the Rohingya one and the same time. This act is tantamount to the butcher of a verifiable and consequential truth.
→ read full articleFukushima Isn’t the Only Nuclear Plant Leaking Radioactive Water
John C.K. Daly – The Christian Science Monitor,
19 Aug 2013
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant continues to leak contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean, but it’s not the only nuclear plant suffering from radioactive water issues. Taiwan’s First Nuclear Power Plant and the Plutonium Finishing Plant in Hanford, Wash., join Fukushima in grappling with leaking waste water.
→ read full articleYour Portal Into the World of Bitcoin
Weusecoins – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
Questions & Answers about the Bitcoin Currency
→ read full articleThe 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War: Revising the Past, Revisiting the Lies
Mark A. Ashwill – Huffington Post,
19 Aug 2013
“One of our victims was searched when the shooting stopped and the bleeding continued and was found to be in possession of a medal. Our interpreter told us it was for heroism at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu fourteen years previous. While we were sent to war to fight communism, he had fought his whole life for his country’s right to self-determination. We traveled 12,000 miles to kill him for that.” — From I Would Rather Die Alone — for Peace: A Soldier’s Dream by Steve Banko, 2003
→ read full articleHumanity Is Drowning in Washington’s Criminality
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
Americans will soon be locked into an unaccountable police state unless US Representatives and Senators find the courage to ask questions and to sanction the executive branch officials who break the law, violate the Constitution, withhold information from Congress, and give false information about their crimes against law, the Constitution, the American people and those in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Guantanamo, and elsewhere.
→ read full article
Lacrimosa – Mozart’s Requiem (Music Video of the Week)
Moscow Boys' Choir – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
Choir school of boys and teenagers “Debut”. Moscow.
The Glinka State Academic Choir of St. Petersburg. Concert dedicated to the 66th anniversary of the lifting of the blockade of Leningrad.
What is Bitcoin?
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
This video is a short animated introduction to Bitcoin, made possible with donations from the Bitcoin community.
→ read full articleThe Rule of Law: Unjust and Violent
Robert J. Burrowes – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
While diverse but eminent historical figures such as Karl Marx, Leo Tolstoy and Mohandas K. Gandhi all wrote critiques exposing the injustice and violence of legal systems, the delusion that the law is a neutral agency that delivers justice still widely prevails.
→ read full articleMarch 16, 1968
Tom Greening – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
On the day the United States
killed itself
504 Vietnamese also died.
The My Lai peasants
died their deaths in ditches,
The Bitcoin Boom
Maria Bustillos – The New Yorker,
19 Aug 2013
Contrary to hysterical media reports, the Bitcoin-software community is loosely governed not by wild-eyed kids camping out in half-deserted lofts but by a rational and sober group of adult administrators who run the Bitcoin Foundation. This organization was modelled on the Linux Foundation, according to Gavin Andresen, who is currently the Bitcoin Foundation’s chief scientist.
→ read full articleGeneral and Complete Disarmament in 50 Years on the Basis of Global Harmony
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
A Global Harmony Association Constant Petition to the UN to Collect 1 Million Signatures by September 21, 2013 – International Peace Day. PLEASE HELP THE WORLD BY SIGNING THE PETITION http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Global_Disarmament_Now_1/.
→ read full articleIn Science Terms, Japan Has No Need At All to Kill Whales
Rowan Hooper – The Japan Times,
19 Aug 2013
Final arguments from the defence and prosecution were heard in mid-July [2013], and the world court is now considering its judgment. At issue is Japan’s right to conduct its seasonal “scientific” whaling program in Antarctic waters. But the case has involved arguments about how to define science itself.
→ read full article
‘Rampant Injustice Rules Saudi Arabia’ – Prince Defector
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
Aug 12, 2013 – Saudi Arabia, a major supporter of opposition forces in Syria, has increased crackdown on its own dissenters, with 30,000 activists reportedly in jail. In an exclusive interview to RT a Saudi prince defector explained what the monarchy fears most.
→ read full articleSynesthesia and the Poetry of Numbers: Autistic Savant Daniel Tammet on Literature, Math, and Empathy, by Way of Borges
Maria Popova, Brain Pickings – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
Daniel Tammet was born with an unusual mind — he was diagnosed with autistic savant syndrome; his brain’s circuits made possible learning Icelandic in a single week and reciting the number pi to the 22,514th digit. He is also diagnosed with synesthesia — that curious crossing of the senses that causes one to “hear” colors, “smell” sounds, or perceive words and numbers in different hues, shapes, and textures.
→ read full articleThe Moral Imperative of Activism
Ray McGovern – Consortium News,
19 Aug 2013
Today’s crises – endless war, environmental catastrophe, desperate poverty and more – can seem so daunting that they paralyze action rather than inspire activism. But the imperative to do something in the face of injustice defines one’s moral place in the universe.
→ read full articleGlobal Power Project, Part 9: Banking on Influence with Morgan Stanley
Andrew Gavin Marshall, Occupy – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
The bank that has committed a raft of fraud, illegal foreclosures, energy price fixings and food market speculations took in more than $107 billion of U.S. taxpayer funds in the bailouts. Too big to fail. Too big to jail. Too cancerous to care.
→ read full articleSri Lankan Buddhist Extremists Attack Muslim Mosque
W.A. Sunil, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
Sinhala extremists led by several Buddhist monks attacked a mosque in Colombo on Saturday [10 Aug 2013] during the evening prayers. According to local residents, more than 150 people came armed with wooden poles, stones and glass bottles.
→ read full articleLetter to God
TMS editor,
19 Aug 2013
Little Leroy came into the kitchen where his mother was making dinner.
→ read full articleSnowden’s Post-Asylum Relevance
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
The Snowden issues remain important, and it is too soon to turn aside as if the only question was whether the U.S. Government would in the end, through guile and muscle, gain control of Snowden.
→ read full articleGoogle: Don’t Expect Privacy When Sending to Gmail
Dominic Rushe – The Guardian,
19 Aug 2013
Critics call revelation ‘a stunning admission’ as Google makes claim in court filing in attempt to head off class action lawsuit.
→ read full articleOur News Is Dominated by People in Expensive Suits, Shouting At Each Other
Laurie Penny – New Statesman,
19 Aug 2013
When “debating” on TV or radio, caring about the issue at hand is a handicap – because if you care, your opponent can make you angry, and if you get angry, you’ve lost.
→ read full articleBradley Manning’s Statement: A Forced “Confession” Concludes a Drumhead Tribunal
Eric London, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
Manning’s comments reflect the element of coercion in the entire proceedings. In all, the episode more closely resembled a Stalinist show trial than a democratic court of law. “First, your honor, I want to start off with an apology. I’m sorry that my actions hurt people, and I’m sorry that it hurt the United States. I understand what I was doing and the decision that I made. I’m sorry for the unintended consequences of my actions.”
→ read full articlePeace Talks: The Perfect Alibi for Settlement Expansion
Mairav Zonszein, +972 – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
The disingenuous nature of Israeli actions and the nerve of U.S. passivity is at times hard to comprehend. How can anyone take any of it seriously?
→ read full articleInsight – After Disaster, the Deadliest Part of Japan’s Nuclear Clean-Up
Aaron Sheldrick and Antoni Slodkowski, Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Aug 2013
The operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant is preparing to remove 400 tonnes of highly irradiated spent fuel, a dangerous operation that has never been attempted before on this scale. Containing radiation equivalent to 14,000 times the amount released in the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, more than 1,300 used fuel rods need to be removed from a building that is vulnerable to collapse.
→ read full articleLatin America: Class Struggle and Resistance in the Age of Extractive Capitalism
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
Class struggle is central in framing the issues of political rule, the relations of classes, the economic structures and strategies and the distribution of wealth.
→ read full articleCosta Rica Closes Zoos—Where Will the Animals Go?
Kip Patrick, National Geographic – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
Influx of captive animals has wildlife-rescue centers strapped. “We are getting rid of the cages and reinforcing the idea of interacting with biodiversity in botanical parks in a natural way,” Environment Minister René Castro said. “We don’t want animals in captivity or enclosed in any way unless it is to rescue or save them.”
→ read full articleThe NSA Is Turning the Internet into a Total Surveillance System
Alexander Abdo and Patrick Toomey – The Guardian,
12 Aug 2013
11 Aug 2013 – Now we know all Americans’ international email is searched and saved, we can see how far the ‘collect it all’ mission has gone. Another burst of sunlight permeated the National Security Agency’s black box of domestic surveillance last week.
→ read full articleGlobal Power Project, Part 8: Banking on Influence with Wells Fargo
Andrew Gavin Marshall, Occupy – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
For a mega-money laundering, drug war profiteering, prison-industry enlarging global bank like Wells Fargo, the evidence is obvious: it helps to have affiliations with individuals and institutions that make up the U.S. and increasingly the international power elite. Like the other big banks, Wells Fargo is too big to fail, too big to jail, too criminal to control — and too tumorous to tolerate.
→ read full articleMy Vision for the Future Development of Sociology at the University
Pierre Celestin Bakunda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
Like any individual, I am sensitive as to how society defines and labels me. I am a black, heterosexual middle class male and I have a strong attachment to each of these personal descriptors. However as a social anthropologist, I am able to detach myself from these labels and look objectively at my function within a greater social structure.
→ read full articleHiroshima, Fukushima, and the Global Crisis of Violence: Where Do We Go from Here?
Jim Albertini – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
There are now 9 countries with nuclear weapons –the U.S., Russia, Great Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea. Add to this the violence of climate change, the plundering of the earth resources, and even the genetic modification of our very food supply. All for what? Ever increasing short-term profits? Ever increasing consumption, energy demands? Addictions eventually kill. And greed and our addiction to war may prove to be the worst addictions of all.
→ read full article“Big Brother” Crying “Wolf”?
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
But them “wolves” are a-changin’ — them’s becomin’ “werewolves”! In commentary on CNN (4 August 2013), in response to questioning, Robert Baer, a former CIA case officer, indicated that “They’re coming after us”. The challenge for the world would appear to be how to evaluate the claims for the credibility of such warnings — given the source and the potential strategic agendas.
→ read full articleConfessions of a Climate Change Denier
Yotam Marom – Waging Nonviolence,
12 Aug 2013
It wasn’t really until I was standing on the west side of Hoboken, N.J., in water and oil up to my thigh, that climate change really made sense.
→ read full articleCharles Bukowski’s “Friendly Advice to a Lot of Young Men,”
Maria Popova, Brain Pickings – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
“The crowd is the gathering place of the weakest; true creation is a solitary act.”
→ read full articleEthiopia: Rapid Development Destroys Lives
Graham Peebles – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
A term overflowing with contradictions, development is often employed to dignify corporate activities, which are commonly no more than exploitation and profiteering, as in the case of the worldwide appropriation of land, usually to irresponsible, profit-driven foreign corporations and private hedge funds and equity fund managers, who boast of returns between, 20% to 40% on investments.
→ read full articleWhy No Revolution Exists in Syria
Shamus Cooke, Workers Action – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
This watered down definition of a revolution would qualify the U.S. Occupy Movement as a revolution, which of course it was not. A nation can be inhabited by entirely revolutionary-minded people, but there is no revolution unless people are massively asserting their power in the streets, workplaces, and neighborhoods. This is not the situation in Syria, where no revolution exists at this time.
→ read full articleCIA Assassin Application
TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
After all of the background checks, interviews, and testing were done there were three finalists for the CIA assasin position — two men and one woman.
→ read full articleHey man!
Mahdi Jalili – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
A fire doesn’t burn if it’s turned into ashes
Take a look at yourself, unfaithful!
You’re a horse with a broken leg
Why run?
Why race?
5 Surprising Genetically Modified Foods
Maggie Caldwell – Mother Jones,
12 Aug 2013
Leaving aside the question of whether they’re good or bad for a moment, what exactly are GMOs, and which foods are they in?
→ read full article
Amazing Grace (Music Video of the Week)
Il Divo – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
Il Divo performing Amazing Grace at the magnificent Coliseum in Rome.
→ read full articleMarx’s Lesson for the Muslim Brothers
Sheri Berman – NYT International Herald Tribune,
12 Aug 2013
KARL MARX wrote that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. In 1848, workers joined with liberals in a democratic revolt to overthrow the French monarchy. However, almost as soon as the old order collapsed, the opposition fell apart, as liberals grew increasingly alarmed by what they saw as “radical” working class demands. Those same patterns are playing out in Egypt today — with liberals and authoritarians playing themselves, and Islamists playing the role of socialists.
→ read full articleFederal Judge Sentences Lynne Stewart to Death
Stephen Lendman – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
On August 9 [2013], The New York Times headlined “Dying Lawyer’s Request for Release From Prison Is Turned Down,” saying: “A federal judge in Manhattan declined on Friday to order the release of Lynne F. Stewart, an outspoken former defense lawyer who is dying from cancer in a federal prison in Texas.”
→ read full article120 Children Slaughtered in Syria’s Tal Abyad
Fars News Agency – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
Terrorists affiliated to the al-Nusra Front massacred 120 children and 330 men and women in Syria’s Northern district of Tal Abyad on Monday [5 Aug 2013]. As the foreign-backed insurgency in Syria continues without an end in sight, the US government has boosted its political and military support to Takfiri extremists. Washington has remained indifferent about warnings by Russia and other world powers about the consequences of arming militant groups.
→ read full articleI Only Regret That I Have But One Life to Give for My Country: Yours
Tom Engelhardt - TomDispatch,
12 Aug 2013
The Crime of the Century – Hey, let’s talk spying! In Surveillance America, this land of spookery we all now inhabit, what else is there to talk about? In a sense, Manning and Snowden could be said to have “defected” — from the U.S. secret government to us. However informally or individually, they could nonetheless be imagined as the people’s spies.
→ read full articleWe Are All Connected: Hearing the Message of Indigenous Tribes
Deni Leonard, Occupy – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
In the current United States, from the Indigenous point of view, it is as though a chief can have 99 buffalos for himself while he looks down at the community trying to live on one buffalo. This is a model for community or Tribal extinction.
→ read full articleAl-Qaeda to the Rescue
Pepe Escobar – Asia Times,
12 Aug 2013
Imagine a rushed crisis meeting at the highest levels of the Orwellian/Panopticon complex: “Gentlemen, we have a golden opportunity here. We are under siege by defector spy Edward Snowden – liberated by the Soviets – and that terrorist hack Greenwald. Snowden may be winning: even among US public opinion, there’s a growing perception we may be more of a threat than al-Qaeda. So we must show we are vigilantly protecting our freedoms. Yes; we’re gonna scream Terra, Terra, Terra!”
→ read full articleLooking at My Fingers
Udaya R. Tennakoon – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
In my room
I saw my fingers
That I have never thought of
General and Complete Disarmament in 50 Years on the Basis of Global Harmony
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
A Global Harmony Association Constant Petition to the UN to Collect 1 Million Signatures by September 21, 2013 – International Peace Day. PLEASE HELP THE WORLD BY SIGNING THE PETITION http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Global_Disarmament_Now_1/.
→ read full articleIsrael-Palestinian Talks: Washington Acts Like Matchmaker… Between Rapist and Victim
Finian Cunningham – Strategic Culture Foundation,
12 Aug 2013
Washington is part of the problem. John Kerry, like so many of his predecessors, may pose as an even-handed matchmaker between two quarrelling sides. But the simple fact is that the US is not a neutral arbiter. It is the patron, sponsor, architect, advocate and accomplice of one side – Israel.
→ read full articleObama’s Diplomatic Blunder, the Cowardice of Western Democracies and What Sweden Should Do
Board Members, The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research-TFF – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
President Obama’s decision to cancel the meeting with Putin is yet another indicator of Washington’s intellectual weakness and the U.S. empire’s future dissolution. People like Assange, Manning and Snowden should be seen as heroes and treated with respect. Before the Swedish prime minister meets Obama he should announce that Sweden is willing to host Snowden.
→ read full articleEthiopia: Where is Religious Freedom Headed?
Alemayehu Fentaw Weldemariam – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
The fear of an Ethiopian Spring has to be factored in the internal security matrix of a dictatorial regime such as Ethiopia’s, since the populist “spring” events in the MENA region have proven to be a potent means of removing dictatorships in North Africa. The lesson is powerful.
→ read full articleRichard Dawkins’ Tweets on Islam Are As Rational As the Rants of an Extremist Muslim Cleric
Nesrine Malik – The Guardian,
12 Aug 2013
My Eid was interrupted by Richard Dawkins tweeting about how few Nobel prizes Muslims have won. His logic rings a bell …
→ read full articleThe Fukushima Nightmare Gets Worse
Harvey Wasserman – The Progressive,
12 Aug 2013
Just when it seemed things might be under control at Fukushima, we find they are worse than ever. Immeasurably worse. Massive quantities of radioactive liquids are now flowing through the shattered reactor site into the Pacific Ocean. And their make-up is far more lethal than the “mere” tritium that has dominated the headlines to date. Tepco has all but admitted it cannot control the situation.
→ read full articleAnother Encrypted Internet Service Shutting Down after Lavabit
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
Shortly after the owner of Lavabit.com wrote that his nine-year-old encrypted email service was shutting down to avoid becoming “complicit in crimes against the American people,” Silent Circle said Thursday [8 Aug 2013] they’d be following suit. “We see the writing the wall, and we have decided that it is best for us to shut down Silent Mail now,” founder Jon Callas wrote in a blog post.
→ read full articlePlease Read Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 on Your Vacation, Mr. President
Amy Goodman – The Guardian,
12 Aug 2013
Senator Obama’s objection to ‘a dumb war’ won him nomination. As commander-in-chief, he has reneged on opposing militarism.
→ read full articleWhat Replaces the “Free Market” in a Sharing Economy?
John Spritzler – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
The sharing economy as described in Thinking about Revolution is based on sharing, according to need, among those who contribute to the economy reasonably according to ability.
→ read full articleAmerica’s Emerging Police State: A Brief History
Justin Raimondo – AntiWar,
12 Aug 2013
It Didn’t Start With the NSA – Blackmail, theft, crimes of a sexual nature – all are pregnant possibilities in the world of Surveillance State. A nightmare world in which you can never be sure when government will be into your emails, or eavesdropping on your calls: where writers can’t be sure what they are typing aren’t being read before they are published.
→ read full article(Português) Costa Rica Se Livra de Seus Zoos, Favorecendo a Consciência Ambiental Natural
ElephantVoices Brasil - TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
A Costa Rica dá um grande passo com a decisão de transformar seus zoos em jardins botânicos e libertar seus animais. Depois de quase 95 anos, o governo decidiu colocar um fim à exibição de animais enjaulados em zoos.
→ read full articleMass Data: Transfers from Germany Aid US Surveillance
Hubert Gude, Laura Poitras and Marcel Rosenbach – Der Spiegel,
12 Aug 2013
German intelligence sends massive amounts of intercepted data to the NSA, according to documents from whistleblower Edward Snowden, which SPIEGEL has seen. The trans-Atlantic cooperation on technical matters is also much closer than first thought.
→ read full articleGreenwald Tells Brazilian Authorities Up To 20,000 Snowden Documents Are in His Possession
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
Glenn Greenwald testified before a Brazilian Senate foreign relations committee on Tuesday [6 Aug 2013]. The Brazil-based American reporter – who was approached by Snowden while the whistleblower still worked as a contractor for the NSA – alleged that Brazilian companies have agreements in place with American telecoms to collect data for the NSA, and stressed that their complicity should be investigated by that country’s government.
→ read full article(Português) O Discurso da Servidão Voluntária
Flávio Ricardo Vassoler – Carta Maior,
12 Aug 2013
O darwinismo social de nosso capitalismo não sentencia que aquilo que sobrevive e sobrepuja é a única força possível – e válida? Sendo assim, por que as vítimas deveriam se identificar com outras vítimas? Daniel Balint reproduz o discurso da servidão voluntária, “contanto que eu possa escarrar o meu ódio contra o outro que é tão impotente quanto eu mesmo”.
→ read full articleWhat If a Russian Snowden?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
‘Political Crimes’ Are Non-Extraditable and Snowden’s Transfer to the United States for Prosecution Would Have Been a Setback for Human Rights and International Law
→ read full articleVows of ‘Occupation until Martyrdom’
Franklin Lamb – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
Seven of Syria’s Thirteen Palestinian Camps Now Controlled by Salafi-Jihadists who are entering the country at an accelerating pace, according to Syrian, UNWRA and Palestinian officials as well as residents in the refugee camps here. For the now-estimated 7000 imported foreign fighters, Palestinian camps are seen as optimal locales for setting up bases across Syria.
→ read full articleAbe Sanctions Government Funding to “Freeze” Fukushima with Giant Ice Wall
Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
Ripped from the pages of Marvel Comics, Japanese Anime, or Game of Thrones; the cunning solution to the ongoing emergency in Fukushima. Now that TEPCO has been shown to be inept, Abe and his government have sanctioned the funding of a 1.4 Km wall of ice to surround the building that holds Reactors 1 to 4.
→ read full articleHawaiian Mind Games: American Psychological Association Fiddles While Psychology Burns
Roy Eidelson and Stephen Soldz, Psychology Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Aug 2013
More consequential will be the APA leadership’s latest victory in its long-running campaign: the stubborn obstruction of all efforts to meaningfully address the central role psychologists played in U.S. government torture and abuse of national security detainees.
→ read full articleFive Theses about Assange-Manning-Snowden
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Aug 2013
What Manning and Snowden revealed are the death throes of the US empire; what Assange et al. revealed are the death throes of the state system as we know it. Both processes will take time; the former less than the latter. But make no mistake: the three made history. Three names that will be remembered after some US presidents recede into an oblivion so well deserved.
→ read full articleTop Ten Ways Bradley Manning Changed the World
Juan Cole, Informed Comment – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Aug 2013
Whatever one thinks of Manning’s actions, that we deserved to know some of what he revealed and that his revelations changed the world are undeniable.
→ read full articleWhen Polarization Becomes Worse than Authoritarianism Defer Democracy
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Aug 2013
We may be living at a historical moment when democracy as the government of choice gives rise to horrifying spectacles of violence and abuse. These difficulties with the practice of democracy are indirectly, and with a heavy dose of irony, legitimizing moderate forms of authoritarian government.
→ read full article