Articles by M

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Obama Has Decided That It Is Safer to Buy Congress than to Go It Alone
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

While still claiming dictatorial powers to start a war on his own authority, Obama put his unilateral attack on Syria on hold when he received a letter from more than 160 members of the House of Representatives reminding him that to take the country to war without congressional approval is an impeachable offense and when he saw that no country that could serve as cover for a war crime, not even the puppet British government and the NATO puppet states, would support America’s announced military aggression against Syria.

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Syria: Civilians Protection and Invisible Conflict Parties
Zahed Davodi – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

In my view, the conflict parties in Syria are not only the government and oppositions. I think oppositions are not led by a single person – named as Ahmad Jarba – but there are many others in other groups who never see or listen to this person. They are all being called as oppositions because they have a common aim for now. And there are many external actors including some members of the international community who fuel the flame of the conflict in Syria.

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Syria: A Human Perspective
Susan Dirgham – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

Shouldn’t we give ordinary Syrians, men and women who treasure life, a voice? We must ask ourselves: why do millions of decent people continue to support their regular army? To take us closer to the truth and further from war, families of all victims need a voice. Does a Coalition of the Willing plan to devastate another society, so creating millions of victims that no country will take responsibility for?

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An Attack on Syria Will Only Spread the War and Killing
Seumas Milne – The Guardian, 2 Sep 2013

All the signs are they’re going to do it again. The attack on Syria now being planned by the US and its allies will be the ninth direct western military intervention in an Arab or Muslim country in 15 years. Depending how you cut the cake, the looming bombardment follows onslaughts on Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Mali, as well as a string of murderous drone assaults on Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan.

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Syrian Agony
Udaya R. Tennakoon – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

A bird flying in the Sky
Can be evidence
May be blind
While the justice disappears
Over the point of view

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(Italiano) Le proposte di Pace funzionano! …a volte
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

Per riassumere: per ridurre la violenza dobbiamo identificare i conflitti, il disaccordo tra obiettivi; per identificare i conflitti dobbiamo dialogare con tutte le parti; per giungere a una soluzione il metodo consiste nella mutua ricerca di una nuova realtà, non in vittoriosi dibattiti e compromessi. Più proposte fluttuano nell’aria meglio è; presto o tardi esse verranno afferrate.

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(Galego) O SGEP Maniféstase en Contra Dunha Intervención Militar dos EE.UU. en Siria
Fundacion Cultura de Paz – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

O Seminario Galego de Educación para a Paz, diante da posibilidade certa de que o goberno norteamericano bombardee Siria nas próximas horas, cos seus aliados máis entusiastas, mesmo sen o respaldo e o aval das Nacións Unidas, e con toda a opinión pública en contra, quere manifestar o que segue:

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Syria: Chemical Weapons and Restraints in War
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

The UN investigations and the appropriate responses are yet to be made. More shelling of military installations in Syria is unlikely to bring about the negotiations in good faith needed in the Syrian conflict. Thus there is a short-term need to stop beating the drums of war while at the same time stressing the condemnation of the use of chemical weapons.

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Syria and Iran: The Danger of Escalation
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

The parallel with the start of World War I is particularly disturbing because the intervening century has witnessed the development of thermonuclear weapons with the capacity to destroy human civilization and much of the biosphere. Must we allow the actions of a few power-blinded politicians to start a conflict that could lead to the deaths of ourselves and our children?

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Indifference to the Suffering of Others
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

The indifference to the pain and suffering of others is a continuing theme of reflection and comment. The culture of comfort makes us live in soap bubbles which, however lovely, are insubstantial; they offer a fleeting and empty illusion which results in indifference to others…In this globalized world, we have fallen into globalized indifference. We have become used to the suffering of others: it doesn’t affect me; it doesn’t concern me; it’s none of my business.

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Chemical Weapons in Syria Provide an Opportunity for Making Peace
Robin Edward Poulton, PhD – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

If Syria pulls back from the chemical red line and accepts some form of sanction, then the Wahabists and Jihadists and Iraqi Sunnis should pull back across the frontiers and accept some form of sanction. It is unclear why NATO forces are supporting extremist Sunni Al-Qaeda look-alikes in Syria, while fighting them in Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen and recently in Mali.

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Any Attack on Syria Will Be Counterproductive and Illegal – A Result of Failed Conflict Management
The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

Any U.S. attack on Syria will be an indisputable violation of international law, an attack on a sovereign state that has not invaded any other state. An aggression on Syria can only take place in complete defiance of Article 1 of the UN Charter which spells out that peace shall be established by peaceful means and only when every civilian means has been tried and found in vain can an international military action be considered – but then only under command of the UN itself.

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A “Three Insecurities Perspective” for the Changing Myanmar
Maung Zarni – Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia, 2 Sep 2013

Maung Zarni, a research fellow at the London School of Economics, argues that the best way to look at the current changes in Myanmar is through his “Three Insecurity Paradigms”, namely, national security, global security and human security. Zarni denounces the Thein Sein reforms as crude responses to the regime’s own needs and to the expectation of the world, with little account for the security of ordinary Myanmar people.

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Just Because Science Can Genetically Engineer Foods, Doesn’t Mean We Should
Beth Hoffman - Forbes, 2 Sep 2013

The basic answer is simple: trust. Science has a credibility problem. It has for too long been used to distort food and twist the natural into long lasting Twinkies and nutritionally void Lunchables. Tobacco was good for us, we were told, and DDT was fine to spray on our fields.

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No More Nuclear Tests in India and Everywhere Else!
People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy commemorates the International Day Against Nuclear Tests on August 29, 2013 by demanding the government of India to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and to undertake a pledge not to conduct any more nuclear tests in India.

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Toward An Inclusive Inter-Rwandan Dialogue: Lessons from Other Conflicts
Pierre Bakunda – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

Will Hutu and Tutsi overcome the legacy of social privileges, power and difference to engage into creating a nation- state for all? I wish I would be part of the actors to reconcile Rwandans to overcome their gloomy differences but being excluded, I believe it will require manoeuvres and maturity from the Rwandan government to accept the process.

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General and Complete Disarmament in 50 Years on the Basis of Global Harmony
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 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/.

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Religion vs. Humanism: Isaac Asimov on Science and Spirituality
Maria Popova, Brain Pickings – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

“The soft bonds of love are indifferent to life and death.”

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Global Wealth Inequality – What You Never Knew You Never Knew
TheRulesOrg – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

The richest 300 people in the world are wealthier than the poorest 3 billion combined, and every year rich countries take over 10 times more money from poor countries than they give in aid.

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(Italiano) Applicazioni della Nonviolenza. Ahimsa nella vita quotidiana
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

La Rete Pace, Sviluppo, Ambiente – TRANSCEND cominciò con conflitti geopolitici macro e mega; molti dei quali ben noti e drammatici. Ma i conflitti nella vita quotidiana, a scuola, nelle coppie-famiglia, al lavoro, possono essere anche più drammatici; al livello micro nelle persone coinvolte, fra di esse, nel contesto, e al livello meso dei gruppi sociali.

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War
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

What more can be said of war,
That has not already been eulogized
On fields of battle
Where lives were lost, minds seared,
And historians’ crafts polished
With the biased narratives of victors:
Waterloo, Hue, Fallujah?
There is no winner in war!

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Texan Student
TMS editor, 2 Sep 2013

A Texan student was in his the college campus bookstore.

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Let’s Try Everything
Tom Greening – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

Back then
I was a young and sheltered American,
but I remember the newsreels:
Refugees on broken roads
trod east, or was it west?

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The Spreading Wings of Islamophobia in Egypt
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Sep 2013

The Orwellian features of the military takeover in Egypt have received attention, although the use of language to evade unwanted truth continues because incentives to do so persist. What, we might ask, is the el-Sisi concept of inclusiveness? At present, the only plausible answer is ‘my way or the highway.’

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From the Lion’s Den: An Open Letter (and Invitation) to Vietnam Veterans
Mark A. Ashwill – Huffington Post, 2 Sep 2013

When all was said and done, the U.S. government scurried away, leaving behind a legacy of death, destruction and human suffering on a Draconian scale that haunts Vietnam to this day. The ghosts of the Vietnam War continue to haunt the U.S by the number of veteran suicides, considerably more than those killed in action, the broken lives of survivors, and the country’s costly inability to come to terms with its past as prologue.

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Codename ‘Apalachee’ – How America Spies on Europe and the UN
Laura Poitras, Marcel Rosenbach and Holger Stark – Der Spiegel, 26 Aug 2013

President Obama promised that NSA surveillance activities were aimed exclusively at preventing terrorist attacks. But secret documents from the intelligence agency show that the Americans spy on Europe, the UN and other countries.

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Some Peace Education Initiatives in Denmark
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Aug 2013

This paper will discuss some Danish peace education activities, especially those of the Danish Peace Academy, the Danish National Group of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs (Nobel Peace Prize, 1995), and the Grundtvigian adult education colleges.

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The Dow Jones Index is the Greatest of All Ponzi Schemes
Wim Grommen (with Lorimer Wilson) – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Aug 2013

Beware: The Dow 30’s Performance Is Being Manipulated! The Dow Jones – the oldest stock exchange in the U.S. and most influential in the world – consists of 30 companies and has an extremely interesting and distressing history regarding its beginnings, transformation and structural development which has all the trappings of what is commonly referred to as pyramid or Ponzi scheme.

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(Português) Amizade Canina
José Guilherme, Ultrapop – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Aug 2013

À medida que o tempo passa, você vê que ele vive de olho em você, e que ele é um sensitivo sentimental. O coração dele é o coração de um gigante. Ele não conhece mágoa nem rancor. Se acontece de você chorar, por algum motivo, seu cachorro está plantado à sua frente, olhando fixamente para você, raspando uma pata na sua perna.

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The Paradox of Our Age
The 14th Dalai Lama – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Aug 2013

We have bigger houses but smaller families;
more conveniences, but less time.
We have more degrees but less sense;

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Still Going Strong – Havana, Where Everyone Can Dance
Andre Vltchek – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Aug 2013

Very few can resist falling in love with the country where entire streets; entire neighborhoods, are turned into concert halls and dance floors. One of the iconic phrases symbolizing Latin American revolutions has always been: “Everybody Dances or Nobody Dances!” In Cuba, music and dance are synonymous with life. Here, everybody dances, and that is how the revolution survives.

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Peace Proposals Work! – Sometimes
Johan Galtung, 26 Aug 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Aug 2013

To reduce violence we must identify the conflicts, the clash of goals; to identify conflicts we must have dialogue with all parties; to arrive at solutions the method is a mutual search for a new reality, not winning debates and compromises; the more proposals floating in the air the better; sooner or later they will be picked up

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NSA Paid Millions to Cover Prism Compliance Costs for Tech Companies
Ewen MacAskill in New York – The Guardian, 26 Aug 2013

• Top-secret files show first evidence of financial relationship
• Prism companies include Google and Yahoo, says NSA
• Costs were incurred after 2011 Fisa court ruling

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1982 Citizenship Law of Myanmar and Myanmar’s Popular Racism
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Aug 2013

Burma’s military-controlled State rests on the country’s official racism towards Burmese of ‘impure blood’. Scholars and policy analysts of Myanmar need to stop characterizing violence and racism against Muslims, ‘Kalars’ and Tayoke (Chinese) as simply ‘sectarian’ or placing undue emphasis on the society’s role in the unfolding racist mass violence against the Rohingya and all Myanmar Muslims.

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Systematic Patterns of Anti-Muslim Violence in Burma
Physicians for Human Rights – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Aug 2013

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today [20 Aug 2013] released a report documenting the recent wave of violence against Muslims throughout Burma, whose government has created a culture of impunity for the violators and has failed to protect the Muslim minority.

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We Have the Means to End Civilization as We Know It—How Revolutionary Pacifism Can Preserve the Species
Noam Chomsky - AlterNet, 26 Aug 2013

Lecture given by Chomsky upon being awarded the Sydney Peace Prize, November 1, 2011. It remains one of the most powerful and persuasive arguments for recognizing the dangers that modern, industrialized warfare pose to the future of humankind.

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Fukushima Radiation Leakage Still Going On
CCTV America – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Aug 2013

Anchor Anand Naidoo asks radiation expert Dr. Janette Sherman why the leakage is still going on at Fukushima — and if it will imperil other countries.

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Woman’s Work
Francesca Borri – Columbia Journalism Review, 26 Aug 2013

The Twisted Reality of an Italian Freelancer in Syria – People have this romantic image of the freelancer as a journalist who’s exchanged the certainty of a regular salary for the freedom to cover the stories she is most fascinated by. But we aren’t free at all; it’s just the opposite. Journalists have failed to explain Syria’s civil war because editors only want ‘blood.’

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Let the Sunshine In (Music Video of the Week)
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Aug 2013

A Classic – Musical scene of the movie Hair where a hippie changes place with a soldier, is sent to the Vietnam War by mistake and dies in battle.

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Al Jazeera & Reuters Published the News of Massacre in Syria One Day before It Happened
Intifada-Voice of Palestine – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Aug 2013

Al Jazeera, Reuters published the news of massacre in East Ghouta, Damascus one day before the massacre happened. Tens of videos were uploaded one day before the massacre. All these evidences show that the terrorists massacred people then recorded the scenes to deceive the world but they were SO FAST that betrayed themselves.

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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.”

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Bradley Manning’s Excessive Sentence
Editorial Board – The New York Times, 26 Aug 2013

35 years is far too long a sentence. Government lawyers presented vague and largely speculative claims that Private Manning’s leaks had endangered lives and “chilled” diplomatic relations. Much of what he released was of public value, including a video of a military helicopter shooting at two vans and killing civilians, including two Reuters journalists.

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‘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.

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US 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.

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Hi, 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.

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New 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.

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In 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.

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Alan 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.

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(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.

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Art 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.

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Globalizing 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.

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On 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:

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When 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.

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NSA 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.

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General 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/.

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Matter of Fact
TMS editor, 26 Aug 2013

A couple go on holiday to a fishing resort in northern Minnesota.

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RIP, 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.

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(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.

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How 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.

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The 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.

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Egypt: 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?

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Sensing 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.

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Horror 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].

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(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.

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Preliminary 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.

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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.”

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China 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.

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Syria: 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.”

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Merkel 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.

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Who 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.

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Be 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

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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.

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Restless 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.

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Why 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.

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Fukushima 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.

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Your Portal Into the World of Bitcoin
Weusecoins – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Aug 2013

Questions & Answers about the Bitcoin Currency

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The 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

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Humanity 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.

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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.

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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.

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The 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.

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March 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,

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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.

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General 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/.

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In 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.

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‘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.

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The 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.

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Synesthesia 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.

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Global 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.

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Sri 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.

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Letter to God
TMS editor, 19 Aug 2013

Little Leroy came into the kitchen where his mother was making dinner.

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Snowden’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.

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Google: 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.

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Our 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.

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Bradley 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.”

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Peace 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?

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Insight – 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.

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Latin 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.

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Costa 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.”

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The 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.

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