Articles by RD
We found 3631 results.
(Castellano) Es Tiempo de Vivir Sin Miedo
Eduardo Galeano – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Mar 2013
(Legendado em Portugues)
ES: Escritor uruguayo habla de la persistencia humana para luchar por un mundo que es el hogar de todos y no de unos pocos.
POR: Escritor uruguaio fala da persistência humana de lutar por um mundo que seja a casa de todos e não de uns poucos.
Pentagon Papers Lawyer on Obama, Secrecy and Press Freedoms: ‘Worse Than Nixon’
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
25 Mar 2013
Career First Amendment and transparency advocate James Goodale sounds the alarm about the current president. Could you talk a bit about President Obama’s approach to classified information and press freedom? –“Antediluvian, conservative, backwards. Worse than Nixon. He thinks that anyone who leaks is a spy! I mean, it’s cuckoo.”
→ read full articleVictorious Return for Sea Shepherd Fleet
Sea Shepherd Whale Defence – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Mar 2013
March 21, 2013 – Sea Shepherd Australia is proud to welcome home the 110 strong international crew and three ships, the Steve Irwin, Sam Simon and Bob Barker. Their return marks an end to the most successful campaign to date, with the Japanese whalers returning home with the lowest kill ever. However, it is all with a heavy heart as the man that started it all, Captain Paul Watson, cannot be stepping a shore because the Australian Government will not announce his safe passage into Australia.
→ read full articleWall Street Banks, Money Laundering and the Drug Trade
Tom Burghardt – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Mar 2013
US Department of Justice Urges Federal Court to Approve Sweetheart Deal with Drug-Tainted HSBC – “You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.” — Al Capone
[HSBC used to stand for Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation but today it stands only for another Mafia-organized crime]
A Tale of Two NGOs: In Haiti, Disaster Aid or Aid Disaster?
Beverly Bell – Toward Freedom,
18 Mar 2013
Three years after the deadly earthquake in Haiti, what has become of the commitments made on Red Cross billboards, the promises from telethon hosts, the moving declarations of Presidents Obama and Clinton? What has happened to the nearly $10 billion that was pledged to assist survivors and to rebuild, most of which was entrusted to the large non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that Professor Mark Schuller terms “non-profiteers”?
→ read full articleThe Iraq War: 10 Years Later
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Mar 2013
After a decade of combat, casualties, massive displacement, persisting violence, enhanced sectarian tension and violence between Shi’ias and Sunnis, periodic suicide bombings, and autocratic governance, a negative assessment of the Iraq War as a strategic move by the United States, United Kingdom, and a few of their secondary allies, including Japan, seems near universal.
→ read full articleGoodbye Blue Sky
Rand Clifford – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Mar 2013
Stratospheric Aerosol Geoengineering,“SAG” for short. Sunlight-scattering particles are being sprayed into the stratosphere right now, have been for years. It involves spraying into the upper atmosphere a “…very fine, white-talcum-like aerosol of aluminum oxide, barium oxide and other oxides…” to reduce global warming. Also of interest is this video from GeoEngineering Watch titled: “Military to Own The Weather In 2025 – Chemtrails HAARP Space Weapons”
→ read full articleNuclear Weapons Must Be Eradicated for All Our Sakes
Desmond Tutu – The Guardian,
11 Mar 2013
Why would a proliferating state pay heed to the exhortations of the US and Russia, which retain thousands of their nuclear warheads on high alert? How can Britain, France and China expect a hearing on non-proliferation while they squander billions modernising their nuclear forces? What standing has Israel to urge Iran not to acquire the bomb when it harbours its own atomic arsenal?
→ read full articleRevealed: Pentagon’s Link to Iraqi Torture Centres
Mona Mahmood, Maggie O'Kane, Chavala Madlena and Teresa Smith – The Guardian,
11 Mar 2013
Exclusive: General David Petraeus and ‘dirty wars’ veteran behind commando units implicated in detainee abuse. The Pentagon sent a US veteran of the “dirty wars” in Central America to oversee sectarian police commando units in Iraq that set up secret detention and torture centres. These units conducted some of the worst acts of torture during the US occupation and accelerated the country’s descent into full-scale civil war.
→ read full article(Português) Franz Kafka e a Segunda-feira
Flávio Ricardo Vassoler – Carta Maior,
4 Mar 2013
Ao contrário do que dizem os apologistas do fim da História, a luta de classes não se calou. No entanto, diante da assepsia publicitária por que passam os discursos contestatórios, a lógica poética de Kafka nos leva a pensar a contrapelo de nós mesmos: se o movimento da contradição histórica não for estancado e reconfigurado, continuaremos a figurar como coadjuvantes da cadeia alimentar que nos coage à frieza, à brutalidade e ao cinismo do entrechoque entre gato e rato, de modo que a “Pequena Fábula” possa receber um título mais adequado aos tempos atuais: “segunda-feira”.
→ read full articleOxfam Reveals Global Food Firms’ Gaping Ethical Shortfalls
Damian Carrington – The Guardian,
4 Mar 2013
The world’s largest food companies are failing to meet ethical standards, a report from Oxfam has warned. None of the leading global brands such as Nestlé, Mars and Coca-Cola were given good overall ratings on their commitments to protect farmers, local communities and the environment, while British food giant Associated British Foods (ABF), owner of brands including Kingsmill, Ovaltine and Silverspoon, received the lowest rating.
→ read full articleTwo Types of Calcium Deficiency
Dr. Edward F. Group – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Mar 2013
As you may be aware, calcium is integral when it comes to building strong bones, teeth, a normal heart rhythm, powering muscle contractions, enabling the relaxation of your muscles, hormone function, and even blood pressure regulation. There are Two Types of Calcium Deficiency
→ read full articleBradley Manning: The Face of Heroism
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
4 Mar 2013
The 25-year-old Army Private, this generation’s Daniel Ellsberg, pleads guilty today to some charges and explains his actions. “Wearing his Army dress uniform, a composed, intense and articulate Pfc. Bradley Manning took ‘full responsibility’ Thursday [28 Feb 2013] for providing the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks with a trove of classified and sensitive military, diplomatic and intelligence cables, videos and documents. . . .
→ read full articleThe Norwegian Prison Where Inmates Are Treated Like People
Erwin James – The Guardian,
4 Mar 2013
On Bastoy prison island in Norway, the prisoners, some of whom are murderers and rapists, live in conditions that critics brand ‘cushy’ and ‘luxurious’. Yet it has by far the lowest reoffending rate in Europe.
→ read full articleEnvisioning a World without Nuclear Weapons
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Mar 2013
Book Review – Zero: The Case for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, by David Krieger, 2013, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. I have known David Krieger for the past twenty-five years, and he has never wavered, even for a day, from his lifelong journey dedicated to ridding the world of nuclear weapons and the threat of nuclear war.
→ read full articleInvestigate the Death of Arafat Jaradat
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Mar 2013
What follows is a news report prompted by my press release on the shocking treatment of Arafat Jaradat who died while being held in an Israel prison. 27 February 2013 – A United Nations human rights expert today called for an international investigation into the death of Palestinian prisoner Arafat Jaradat, who died in Israeli custody just a few days after his arrest.
→ read full article“Aggressive Nonviolence” – Whale War 2013
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Mar 2013
Feb 25, 2013 – The vessel Bob Barker commanded by Capt. Paul Watson gets sandwiched, drenched and assaulted by flash grenades from the Japanese whaling poachers but doesn’t surrender!! Read Accompanying Articles
→ read full articleLords of Disorder: Billions for Wall Street, Sacrifice for Everyone Else
Richard Eskow, Campaign for America’s Future – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Mar 2013
We’re collecting nothing from the big banks in return for our generosity. Instead we’re demanding sacrifice from the elderly, the disabled, the poor, the young, the middle class – pretty much everybody, in fact, who isn’t “too big to fail.”
→ read full articleIs the US Maintaining Death Squads and Torture Militias in Afghanistan?
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
4 Mar 2013
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and local residents insist that the answer is yes.
→ read full articleManning Plea Statement: Americans Had a Right to Know ‘True Cost of War’
Ed Pilkington at Fort Meade, Maryland – The Guardian,
4 Mar 2013
After admitting guilt in 10 of 22 charges, soldier reveals how he came to share classified documents with WikiLeaks and talks of ‘bloodlust’ of US helicopter crew. The soldier related that in the video a man who has been hit by the US forces is seen crawling injured through the dust, at which point one of the helicopter crew is heard wishing the man would pick up a weapon so that they could kill him. “For me that was like a child torturing an ant with a magnifying glass.”
→ read full articleReflections on Teju Cole’s OPEN CITY
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Feb 2013
Anyone interested in the world, or for that matter, an affection for the greatest of modern cities—New York—will find Teju Cole’s Open City, a feast for both mind and heart.
→ read full articleAttacks and Death Threats Put Members of the Pastoral Land Commission in Brazil at Risk
The Right Livelihood Award Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Feb 2013
The Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), which has for years campaigned tirelessly to advance social justice and the rights of small farmers and the landless in Brazil, suffered three attacks on its headquarters in the state of Acre this year. The Right Livelihood Award Foundation, which in 1991 recognised the work of the Pastoral Land Commission, condemns the attacks and demands increased security for rural workers.
→ read full articleThink There’s No Alternative? Latin America Has a Few
Seumas Milne – The Guardian,
25 Feb 2013
Not only have leaders from Ecuador to Venezuela delivered huge social gains – they keep winning elections too. Given what’s been delivered to the majority, it’s hardly surprising Latin America’s social democratic and socialist governments keep getting re-elected.
→ read full articleBeyond the Haunted Imagination
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Feb 2013
Ever since atomic bombs were exploded over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the closing days of World War II end of the world forebodings have been present in Western cultural consciousness. In the background of such thinking is the religious anticipation of a day of judgment when life in earth will be replaced by the consignment of everyone then living to either the hell of damnation or the heaven of salvation.
→ read full article(Français) Syrie: La Dictature, la Guerre, la Liberté, la Paix
Bernard Dreano – Centre Tricontinental (CETRI),
18 Feb 2013
Les soulèvements du printemps arabes sont des mouvements populaires contre les régimes dictatoriaux et autoritaires, contre l’injustice et les inégalités, l’oppression et le mépris. Ils ne sont pas les fruits de manoeuvres des puissances extérieures. Pas plus en Syrie qu’en Egypte ou à Bahreïn les peuples n’ont comploté contre eux-mêmes.
→ read full articleUrgent UN Press Statement: Release Palestinian Hunger Strikers Now
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Feb 2013
The following press statement was issued 13 February 2013 under the auspices of the UN Human Rights Council in my capacity as Special Rapporteur for Palestinian Territories Occupied since 1967. This nonviolent resistance to unlawful and abusive detention practices by Israel is a human rights outrage that should be the occasion of media attention and a worldwide outcry. I encourage all who can to exert pressure on Israel before these individuals die in captivity. They are currently reported to be in grave condition. Please use all social networking tools to alert contacts.
→ read full articleA Key Question: How Do We Make the Economy Work for the Poor?
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Feb 2013
We want to make a case for the claim that “unbounded organization” is a useful concept, indeed a key concept. A key opens doors. We use the word “key” to suggest that the concept of unbounded organization can be said to “open doors.” It helps to answer questions and to resolve problems regarding not just one but several theoretical problems in the social sciences. Similarly the practical question posed in the title of this chapter, “How do we make the economy work for the poor?” can be regarded as a question whose satisfactory answer would “open” answers to other crucial practical questions such as, “How can violent conflicts be transformed into peaceful cooperation?”
→ read full article(Português) No Brasil, Dono da Igreja Universal Lidera Lista dos Pastores Evangélicos Mais Ricos do País
Antonio Carlos Lacerda - Pravda,
18 Feb 2013
Famosa por seus rankings de milionários pelo mundo, a revista norte-americana “Forbes” publicou a lista os pastores evangélicos mais ricos do Brasil. Ela é encabeçada de longe pelo líder da Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus, bispo Edir Macedo, com riqueza estimada em US$ 950 milhões (cerca de R$ 1,9 bilhão) e dono de empresas que incluem, entre outras, a Rede Record de Televisão, o jornal “Folha Universal” e uma gravadora de música gospel.
→ read full articleForget ‘Normal’ Politics
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Feb 2013
Political life is filled with policy choices that are made mainly on the basis of calculations of advantage, as well as reflecting priorities and values of those with the power of decision. In a constitutional framework of governance the rule of law sets outer limits as to permissible outcomes.
→ read full articleDisaster Capitalism in the Maghreb: War, Refugees and Profit in West Africa
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom,
11 Feb 2013
From Libya to Mali a typical story is forming, coupled with lucrative contracts and massive opportunities of all sorts. When private security firms speak of an emerging market in Africa, one is to safely assume that the continent is once more falling prey to growing military ambitions and unfair business conduct.
→ read full articleAn Indispensable Book on Palestine/Israel
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Feb 2013
I realize that without knowing it, I have long waited for this book, although I could not have imagined its lyric magic in advance of reading. It is a triumph of what I would call ‘intelligent innocence,’ the great benefits of a clear mind, an open and warm heart, and a trustworthy moral compass that draws sharp lines between good and evil while remaining ever sensitive to the contradictory vagaries of lives and geographic destinies.
→ read full articleCondemning the Murder of Cícero Guedes, Leader of the Brazilian Landless Workers’ Movement MST
The Right Livelihood Award Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Feb 2013
The Right Livelihood Award Foundation strongly condemns the murder of Cícero Guedes, a leader of the Brazilian Landless Workers’ Movement MST. The MST received the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize”) in 1991.
→ read full article2013 World Press Freedom Index: Dashed Hopes after ‘Springs’
Reporters Without Borders – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Feb 2013
The ranking of most countries is no longer attributable to dramatic political developments. This year’s index is a better reflection of the attitudes and intentions of governments towards media freedom in the medium or long term. (See full list of countries in the end)
→ read full articleCatholic Cardinal Stripped of Duties as LA Diocese Child Abuse Files Released
Reuters – The Guardian,
4 Feb 2013
1 Feb 2013 – The Catholic archdiocese of Los Angeles has removed a top clergyman linked to efforts to conceal abuse as it released thousands on files of priests accused of molesting children. Archbishop Jose Gomez said he had stripped his predecessor, the retired cardinal Roger Mahony, of all public and administrative duties. “I find these files to be brutal and painful reading. The behaviour described in these files is terribly sad and evil,” Gomez said in a statement released by the US’s largest Catholic archdiocese.
→ read full articlePentagon’s New Massive Expansion of ‘Cyber-Security’ Unit Is About Everything except Defense
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
4 Feb 2013
Cyber-threats are the new pretext to justify expansion of power and profit for the public-private National Security State. As the US government depicts the Defense Department as shrinking due to budgetary constraints, the Washington Post this morning [28 Jan 2013] announces “a major expansion of [the Pentagon’s] cybersecurity force over the next several years, increasing its size more than fivefold.”
→ read full article(Português) Bradley Manning e o WikiLeaks Abriram uma Janela na Alma Política dos EUA
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
4 Feb 2013
O tratamento repressivo aplicado a Bradley Manning, soldado que divulgou documentos secretos do governo dos Estados Unidos e que está preso em condições desumanas, é uma das desgraças do primeiro mandato de Obama e demostra muitas das dinâmicas que estão moldando sua presidência. O artigo é do advogado norte-americano Glenn Greenwald, articulista do jornal britânico The Guardian.
→ read full articleBrooklyn College’s Academic Freedom Increasingly Threatened Over Israel Event
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
4 Feb 2013
The controversy was triggered by the sponsorship of the school’s Political Science department of an event, scheduled for 7 Feb 2013, featuring two advocates of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS). One speaker is a Palestinian (Omar Barghouti) and the other a Jewish American philosopher (Judith Butler). Hikind publicly (and falsely) claimed that the event speakers (to whom he referred as “Barghouti and…the lady”) “think Hamas and Hezbollah are nice organizations, and they probably feel the same way about al-Qaida”.
→ read full articleInternational Praise for ‘Reformed’ Burma Is Premature – And Dangerous
Zoya Phan – The Guardian,
4 Feb 2013
Hailing Burma a success only encourages the president to think he can get away with continued human rights abuses. It’s a country ruled by a military-backed government that came to power in rigged elections. Its army is committing war crimes against ethnic minorities, international aid to tens of thousands of people displaced by attacks by its army is blocked by the government, and hundreds of political prisoners are in jail.
→ read full articleCIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou Given More Than Two Years in Prison
Associated Press – The Guardian,
28 Jan 2013
The former CIA officer John Kiriakou was sentenced Friday [25 Jan 2013] to more than two years in prison, by a federal judge who rejected arguments that he was acting as a whistleblower when he leaked a covert officer’s name to a reporter. A plea deal required the judge to impose a sentence of two and a half years. US district judge Leonie Brinkema said she would have given Kiriakou much more time if she could.
→ read full articleThe Untouchables: How the Obama Administration Protected Wall Street from Prosecutions
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
28 Jan 2013
PBS’ Frontline program on Tuesday [22 Jan 2013] night broadcast a new one-hour report on one of the greatest and most shameful failings of the Obama administration: the lack of even a single arrest or prosecution of any senior Wall Street banker for the systemic fraud that precipitated the 2008 financial crisis: a crisis from which millions of people around the world are still suffering.
→ read full articlePalestine-Israel: Enslavement of the False Self
Yago Abeledo interviewing Richard Forer – Redress Information and Analysis,
28 Jan 2013
The real conflict is the inability to integrate the hard-to-believe but inescapable awareness of Israel’s treatment of non-Jews with unquestioned loyalty to the Jewish state. …it is only when the Palestinian people are healed that the Jewish people themselves will be healed.
→ read full articleWhy Is Guantanamo Still Open?
William Boardman - Reader Supported News,
28 Jan 2013
Official US policy pretty much still supports everything that was done and continues to be done at Guantanamo.
→ read full articleThe Second Anniversary of Tahrir Square Rising
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jan 2013
What inspired the world was the spontaneous spirit of unity, a movement guided by exhilarating visions of democracy and freedom and hope, generating a new kind of populism that dispensed with ideology and leaders, a sense that the people of Egypt had acted creatively and bravely to recover their country from the clutches of neoliberal predators and their domestic collaborators.
→ read full articleCIA To Exempt Strikes on Pakistan from Drones Codification
Ed Pilkington – The Guardian,
28 Jan 2013
John Brennan, the counter-terrorism adviser nominated by President Obama to be the next head of the CIA, has reportedly agreed to exempt agency strikes in Pakistan from a new set of rules that attempts to justify and codify the use of drones to assassinate leaders of al-Qaida and other terrorist groups around the world, including US citizens.
→ read full articleMLK’s Vehement Condemnations of US Militarism Are More Relevant Than Ever
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
28 Jan 2013
By Martin Luther King’s own description, his work against US violence and militarism, not only in Vietnam but generally, was central – indispensable – to his worldview and activism, yet it has been almost completely erased from how he is remembered. When it comes to King’s views on US militarism, nothing more potently illustrates that distance than the use of King’s holiday to re-inaugurate the 44th president.
→ read full articleOn Syria: What to Do in 2013
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
19 Jan 2013 – I took part last week in an illuminating conference on Syria sponsored by the new Center of Middle East Studies that is part of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. This Center has been recently established, and operates under the excellent leadership of Nader Hashemi and Danny Postel, who previously together edited the best collection of readings on the Green Revolution in Iran published under the title THE PEOPLE RELOADED.
→ read full articleIran Unable to Get Life-Saving Drugs Due to International Sanctions
Julian Borger and Saeed Kamali Dehghan – The Guardian,
21 Jan 2013
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians with serious illnesses have been put at imminent risk by the unintended consequences of international sanctions, which have led to dire shortages of life-saving medicines such as chemotherapy drugs for cancer and bloodclotting agents for haemophiliacs.
→ read full articleThe Bombing of Mali Highlights All the Lessons of Western Intervention
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
21 Jan 2013
As French war planes bomb Mali, there is one simple statistic that provides the key context: this west African nation of 15 million people is the eighth country in which western powers – over the last four years alone – have bombed and killed Muslims – after Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and the Philippines.
→ read full articleDrones Are Fool’s Gold: They Prolong Wars We Can’t Win
Simon Jenkins – The Guardian,
14 Jan 2013
New appointments in the White House hail an era of hands-free warfare. Yet these weapons induce not defeat, but retaliation. The greatest threat to world peace is not from nuclear weapons and their possible proliferation. It is from drones and their certain proliferation. Drones are now sweeping the global arms market. There are some 10,000 said to be in service, of which a thousand are armed and mostly American.
→ read full articleThe US – Alongside Saudi Arabia – “Fights for Freedom and Democracy” in the Middle East
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
14 Jan 2013
The ability to persuade people that the US opposes tyranny is a testament to the potency of propaganda. The most significant problem in political discourse is not that people embrace destructive beliefs after issues are rationally debated. It’s that the potency of propaganda, by design, often precludes such debates from taking place.
→ read full articleThe Master as “Guest”: The U.S. Military Swarms over Africa
Glen Ford – Black Agenda Report,
14 Jan 2013
A long-planned U.S. escalation of its military presence in Africa will soon get underway, with the permanent deployment of a 3,500-strong brigade. The heavy combat team will make itself at home in African bases in 35 countries. “This is a very different kind of invasion – more like an infiltration-in-force.”
→ read full articleSeeing Light: The Blogger’s Delight
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
While reflecting on my prior blog lamenting the challenges of sustaining civility amid tumult and controversy, I came to appreciate my own partial captivity in realms of darkness. The negativities I tried to discuss are the shadow land of my blog experience, which is more essentially lived in the sunshine of new and renewed friendship, solidarity, mutuality, and the new emotional and spiritual resonances of our era, what I would call, in the absence of greater precision, the emergence of ‘digital love.’
→ read full articleLosing Control: A Blogger’s Nightmare
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
When I started this blog a couple of years ago, the thought never entered my mind that I would need to defend the terrain. Although I knew my views were controversial on some issues, I assumed that those who disagreed strongly would stay away, losing interest, or express their disagreements in a spirit of civility. To a large extent this has been true, with the glaring exception of Israel/Palestine.
→ read full article(Castellano) La Amenaza Haitiana
Eduardo Galeano, Antimilitarizacion – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
Como de costumbre, el Consejo de Seguridad de las Naciones Unidas repite que mantendrá la ocupación militar de Haití porque debe actuar “en caso de amenazas a la paz, quebrantamientos de la paz o actos de agresión”. ¿A quién amenaza Haití? ¿A quién agrede? ¿Por qué Haití sigue siendo un país ocupado? ¿Un país condenado a vigilancia perpetua? ¿Obligado a seguir expiando el pecado de su libertad, que humilló a Napoleón Bonaparte y ofendió a toda Europa?
→ read full articleAn Open Letter of Response to CRIF (Counsèil Représentif des Institutions juives de France)
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Dec 2012
I am shocked and saddened that your organization would label me as an anti-Semite and self-hating Jew. It is utterly defamatory, and such allegations are entirely based on distortions of what I believe and what I have done. To confuse my criticisms of Israel with self-hatred of myself as a Jew or with hatred of Jews is a calumny.
→ read full articleIn Further Memory of Edward Said
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Dec 2012
Always, always
That voice
remains
is gone
needed…
Neville Alexander, Unbounded Organisation, and the Future of Socialism
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Dec 2012
In the late 1980s, as apartheid neared its end, Neville Alexander called on educators to “…shape consciousness in ways that are looking forward, in ways that are preparing people for a liberated, non-racial, democratic, and socialist South Africa.” Is Neville Alexander’s life’s work a contribution to a revolution that is still happening?
→ read full articleRevealed: How the FBI Coordinated the Crackdown On Occupy
Naomi Wolf – The Guardian,
31 Dec 2012
New documents show that the violent crackdown on Occupy last fall – so mystifying at the time – was not just coordinated at the level of the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and local police. It involved, as you may recall, violent arrests, group disruption, canister missiles to the skulls of protesters, people held in handcuffs so tight they were injured, people held in bondage till they were forced to wet or soil themselves –was coordinated with the big banks themselves.
→ read full articleMeet the Weeds That Monsanto Can’t Beat
Tom Philpott for Mother Jones – The Guardian,
31 Dec 2012
When Monsanto revolutionised agriculture with a line of genetically engineered seeds, the promise was that the technology would lower herbicide use – because farmers would have to spray less. In fact, as Washington State University researcher Chuch Benbrook has shown, just the opposite happened.
→ read full articleResponding to the Unspeakable Killings at Newtown, Connecticut
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Dec 2012
The template of response has become a national liturgy in light of the dismal pattern of public response: media sensationalism of a totalizing kind, at once enveloping, sentimental, and tasteless (endless interviewing of surviving children and teachers, and even family members of victims), but dutifully avoiding deeper questions relating to guns, violence, and cultural stimulants and conditioning.
→ read full articleNewtown Kids vs Yemenis and Pakistanis: What Explains the Disparate Reactions?
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
24 Dec 2012
Over the last several days, numerous commentators have lamented the vastly different reactions in the US to the heinous shooting of children in Newtown, Connecticut as compared to the continuous killing of (far more) children and innocent adults by the US government in Pakistan and Yemen, among other places. What explains it?
→ read full articleNew Press Freedom Group Is Launched to Block US Government Attacks
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
24 Dec 2012
Secrecy is the linchpin of abuse of power. Few priorities are more important, in my view, than supporting and enabling any efforts to subvert the ability of the US government and other factions to operate in the dark. It’s particularly vital to undercut the US government’s ability to punish and kill groups that succeed in these transparency efforts.
→ read full articleHSBC, Too Big To Jail, Is the New Poster Child for US Two-Tiered Justice System
Glenn Greenwald - The Guardian,
17 Dec 2012
DOJ officials unblinkingly insist that the banking giant is too powerful and important to subject to the rule of law. The US is the world’s largest prison state, imprisoning more of its citizens than any nation on earth, both in absolute numbers and proportionally, and for longer periods of time, more mercilessly, and for more trivial transgressions than any nation in the west. But it all changes when the nation’s most powerful actors are caught breaking the law. These are gifted with leniency and immunity to punishment.
→ read full articleEgypt: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Dec 2012
10 Dec 2012 – I have had the opportunity to be in Cairo three times for brief visits in the last 20 months, the first a few weeks after the departure of Hosni Mubarak on February 11, 2011, the second in February of 2012 when the revolutionary process was treading water, and this third one over the course of the previous ten days. What is striking is how drastically the prevailing mood and expectations have changed from visit to visit, how fears, hopes, and perceptions have altered over time, and why they are likely to continue to do so.
→ read full article(Português) Bradley Manning: ‘Estava certo de que ia morrer naquela cela animalesca’.
Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian – Diário do Centro do Mundo,
17 Dec 2012
Durante os últimos dois anos e meio, passados por ele em uma prisão militar, muito foi dito sobre Bradley Manning, mas nada foi ouvido dele. Isso mudou na semana passada quando o jovem recruta de vinte e três anos, acusado de vazar documentos secretos para o WikiLeaks, testemunhou em seu julgamento sobre as condições de sua detenção.
→ read full articleHamas, Khaled Mashaal and Prospects for a Sustainable Israel/Palestine Peace
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Dec 2012
The most important element of context that needs to be taken into account is the seeming inconsistency between the fiery language used by Mashaal in Gaza and his far more moderate tone in the course of several interviews with Western journalists in recent weeks. In those interviews Mashaal had clearly indicated a readiness for a long-term hudna or truce, provided that Israel ended its occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, and agreed to uphold Palestinian rights under international law.
→ read full articleEuropean Court of Human Rights Finds Against CIA Abuse of Khaled el-Masri
Amrit Singh – The Guardian,
17 Dec 2012
The CIA stripped, hooded, shackled, and sodomized el-Masri. America must now apologise to the German citizen, a victim of mistaken identity who was kidnapped and beaten by the CIA.
→ read full articleUS Military Facing Fresh Questions Over Targeting of Children in Afghanistan
Karen McVeigh – The Guardian,
10 Dec 2012
The US military is facing fresh questions over its targeting policy in Afghanistan after a senior army officer suggested that troops were on the lookout for “children with potential hostile intent”. There have been more than 200 children killed in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen by the CIA and Joint Special Operating Command, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
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TRANSCEND Member Prof. Vandana Shiva – The Original Tree Hugger (Video of the Week)
HARDtalk – BBC News,
10 Dec 2012
19 Nov 2012 – BBC HARDtalk speaks to the original tree hugger. The phrase was coined back in the seventies when she, along with a group of women in India, hugged trees to stop them from being chopped down. In the decades since, Vandana Shiva has become known throughout the world for her environmental campaigns.
→ read full articleVisit to Gaza: UN Press Release
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Dec 2012
The Special Rapporteur [Falk] noted that his visit to the region consisted of meetings in Cairo and the Gaza Strip, with Governmental, inter-governmental and civil society representatives, as well as victims and witnesses. He received helpful briefings from UNRWA and other United Nations agencies, which provided an in-depth picture of the magnitude of the challenges in Gaza and the difficulties of addressing such challenges in a situation of occupation and blockade.
→ read full article(Português) Equador Enfrenta a Ditadura dos Bancos
Ana Maria Passos, Diário Liberdade/Carta Maior – Outras Mídias,
3 Dec 2012
O país se mantém na vanguarda democrática da América Latina: desta vez, com lei que aumenta tributação sobre os bancos e reduz poder do sistema financeiro.
→ read full articleObserving the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People in Cairo
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Dec 2012
Text of my remarks delivered in Cairo at joint UN/Arab League ceremony marking the observance of the 2012 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, 29 Nov 2012, some 10 hours prior to the historic vote in the UN General Assembly.
→ read full articleBradley Manning: A Tale of Liberty Lost in America
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
3 Dec 2012
The US does nothing to punish those guilty of war crimes or Wall Street fraud, yet demonises the whistleblower. In two and a half years spent in a military prison, much has been said about Bradley Manning, but nothing has been heard from him. That changed on Thursday [29 Nov 2012], when the 23-year-old US army private accused of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks testified at his court martial proceeding about the conditions of his detention.
→ read full articleThe Gaza Ceasefire: An Early Assessment
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Nov 2012
The Gaza Ceasefire, unlike a similar ceasefire achieved after Operation Cast Lead four years ago, is an event that has a likely significance far beyond ending the violence after eight days of murderous attacks. It is just possible that it will be looked back upon as a turning point in the long struggle between Israel and Palestine.
→ read full articleWe in the Gaza Strip Will Not Die in Silence
Musa Abumarzuq – The Guardian,
26 Nov 2012
The latest Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has prompted several European countries and the US to reaffirm their position of unwavering support for the aggressor. If the world will not defend the Palestinians against Israel, we have the right to defend ourselves, writes the deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau.
→ read full articleModernity’s Other and the Transformation of the University – II
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2012
Short Answers to Simple Questions
→ read full articleStop Pretending the US Is an Uninvolved, Helpless Party in the Israeli Assault on Gaza
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
19 Nov 2012
The Obama administration’s unstinting financial, military and diplomatic support for Israel is a key enabling force in the conflict.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Eleições em Israel, Ataque a Gaza
Nuno Moniz, Esquerda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2012
O Governo de Israel decidiu novamente virar o seu internacionalmente patrocinado poderio militar para a Faixa de Gaza com duas mensagens. Uma para a comunidade internacional e a segunda para os eleitores em Israel: confiem em nós porque não temos medo de fazer chover bombas em Gaza.
→ read full articleWar or Peace in the Sahara?
Robin Edward Poulton – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2012
What Mali needs now is international partners that are ready to study the lessons of the 1990s, and to devise radical actions based on decentralized Malian models that have already been successful.
→ read full articleBetting with Trillions: Prison of Debt Paralyzes West
Cordt Schnibben – Der Spiegel,
19 Nov 2012
Be it the United States or the European Union, most Western countries are so highly indebted today that the markets have a greater say in their policies than the people. Why are democratic countries so pathetic when it comes to managing their money sustainably?
→ read full articleBradley Manning Deserves Americans’ Support for Military Whistleblowing
Nobel Peace Laureates Desmond Tutu, Mairead Corrigan-Maguire and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel – The Guardian,
19 Nov 2012
16 Nov 2012 – Last week, PFC Bradley Manning offered to accept responsibility for releasing classified documents as an act of conscience – not as charged by the US military. As people who have worked for decades against the increased militarization of societies and for international cooperation to end war, we have been deeply dismayed by his treatment. Thanks to WikiLeaks, US citizens are better informed about wars prosecuted in their name. We owe Manning honour, not jail time.
→ read full articleThe Latest Gaza Catastrophe: Will They Ever Learn?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2012
Obama was quoted as saying, “There is no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside of its borders. We are fully supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself.” Much is missing from such a sentiment, most glaringly, the absence of any balancing statement along the following line: “and no country would tolerate the periodic assassination of its leaders by missiles fired by a neighboring country, especially during a lull achieved by a mutually agreed truce. It is time for both sides to end the violence, and establish an immediate ceasefire.”
→ read full articleGeorge Galloway, British MP | Full Address
Oxford Union Society – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2012
George Galloway gives his address to the Oxford Union Society – October 15th 2012. The Oxford Union Society is the world’s most prestigious debating society, with an unparalleled reputation for bringing international guests and speakers to Oxford. It has been established for 189 years, aiming to promote debate and discussion not just at Oxford University, but across the globe.
→ read full articleLegacy and Re/volution: Talkin’ bout an Evolution
Caridad Svich, Theater Without Borders – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2012
It is perhaps ironic that the last two centuries of cultural turns have focused so much on visual culture and its interpretation, and that science and technology have devoted so much of its research and energy to the development of progressively sophisticated information and entertainment devices (not to mention surveillance and military devices) geared to the visual imagination and its hyperlink-ing strategies. My questions here have less to do with technical advances in the disciplines of design and engineering, and more to do with the philosophical foundations of how we see and how we hear in culture – what we choose to see and hear and not. Ethics again. Yes. Civic responsibility. Spiritual responsibility.
→ read full articleAn Open Letter on My 82nd Birthday
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2012
Exactly two years ago I wrote my first blog. Throughout this period it has been a bittersweet experience consisting of work, play, challenge, and occasional consternation. Many warm and generous responses have given me an appreciation of the distinctive satisfactions of cyber connectivity.
→ read full articleUS Denies Visas to Iranian UN Delegates
Reuters – The Guardian,
19 Nov 2012
The United States has denied visas to Iranian officials hoping to attend a UN meeting in New York, Iran’s state news agency reported on Saturday [17 Nov 2012]. The Iranian judiciary said in a statement that the US denied visas to members of an Iranian delegation that planned to travel to a meeting of the United Nations’ third committee on social issues and human rights. The judiciary body urged UN officials to warn the United States against such decisions and remind it of its obligations as UN host country.
→ read full articleRaising the Stakes in Asia
Richard Javad Heydarian – Foreign Policy in Focus,
12 Nov 2012
The U.S. pivot to Asia is motivated and shaped by both economic and military-strategic factors. Essentially, it is still an ongoing process that will depend on the cooperation of regional allies as well as the evolving patterns of Sino-American relations. The growing U.S. military presence may have boosted the morale of allies such as the Philippines, but it is also shifting the focus away from diplomacy and dialogue towards brinkmanship and competitive alliance-building.
→ read full articleCNN Claims Iran Shot at A US Drone, Revealing the News Network’s Mindset
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
12 Nov 2012
Its Pentagon reporter parrots significant, inflammatory government claims without an iota of skepticism or balance. Every paragraph – literally – contains nothing but mindless summaries of US government officials. There is not an iota of skepticism about any of the assertions, including how this incident happened, what the drone was doing at the time, or where it took place. I defy anyone to identify any differences if the US government had issued its own press release directly rather than issuing it masquerading as a leaked CNN report.
→ read full articleFurther Reflections on Istanbul as Global Capital
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Nov 2012
My proposal that we consider the possibility of treating Istanbul as the world capital attracted a broad range of responses. I tried to make clear in my revised text that Istanbul could not hope to have this kind of recognition until Turkey had addressed some serious issues, especially the Kurdish grievances that have induced a massive hunger strike in Turkish jails (with over 600 prisoners now taking part, and more threatening to do so).
→ read full articleWays to Eliminate Body Odor
Dr. Edward F. Group, Global Healing Center – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Nov 2012
If body odor is a product of poor hygiene, new behaviors simply must be learned and adequate tools must be used. One thing we need to be clear of though is that toxic antiperspirant and deodorant sprays are not the answer. When body odor is indicative of a problem from within, detoxifying your body is the answer. There are a variety of cleansing routines that may be appropriate and regularly incorporating detox foods may help.
→ read full articleThe Battle against Big Energy’s Rush to Ruin Our Planet
Daryl Hannah – The Guardian,
5 Nov 2012
The energy industry tries to sell us ‘ethical oil’, ‘clean coal’ and ‘natural gas’, but this extreme weather is mobilising people to act. Extreme killer superstorms, historic drought, vanishing sea ice, an increase in ocean acidity by 30%, the hottest decade on record and mega forest fires have increasingly become our new reality.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Portugal: A Universidade-Mercado – Sete Exemplos da Mercadorização do Ensino Superior
João Mineiro, Esquerda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Nov 2012
As universidades foram sempre um espaço de debate, crítica e movimento. Foram sempre uma pedra no sapato do sistema, porque nelas se exprimiram com imensa intensidade a liberdade, a subversão, a rebeldia e a crítica. Nos últimos anos fomos assistindo a estratégias de transformação da universidade pelo mercado, com o objetivo de amenizar o seu potencial crítico e emancipatório. Vejamos sete exemplos.
→ read full articleAmerica’s Nuclear Safety under Scrutiny after Oyster Creek’s Sandy Alert
Richard Schiffman – The Guardian,
5 Nov 2012
If superstorm Sandy, and the increasing frequency of other extreme weather events in recent years is any evidence, America’s luck may be running out. Oyster Creek nuclear power station was offline on Monday [29 Oct 2012] for maintenance, but officials said Sandy’s storm surge came within 6in of damaging its cooling system.
→ read full articleGreece Gave Birth to Democracy. Now It Has Been Cast Out by a Powerful Elite
Kostas Vaxevanis – The Guardian,
5 Nov 2012
The case against me and my magazine, Hot Doc, for publishing a list of alleged tax evaders is a symptom of Greece’s corruption. An exclusive club of powerful people engages in illegal practices, then pushes through necessary laws to legalise these practices, granting itself an amnesty, and in the end, there are no media to uncover what really happened.
→ read full article9 Ways to Reduce Symptoms of Pet Allergies
Dr. Edward F. Group, Global Healing Center – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Nov 2012
Pets bring a lot of joy and are usually considered a true member of the family. Petting a cat or dog has been shown to lower blood pressure and decrease feelings of loneliness and isolation. It’s not hard to understand why we have a real emotional connection to our pets. However, for people with allergies to animal dander, pets can pose a problem.
→ read full articleHSBC Caught in New Drug Money Laundering Scandal
Tom Burghardt, Antifascist Calling – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Nov 2012
While HSBC’s Canary Wharf masters are back-peddling furiously over charges that they gave a leg up to terrorist financiers and drug traffickers as a recent U.S. Senate report charged, new evidence emerged that its business as usual for the multinational banking giant founded by Hong Kong-based British opium merchants.
→ read full article(Portuguese) A Política e a Ética da Fome
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Nov 2012
Existem técnicas de produção de extraordinária eficácia. A produção de alimentos é superior ao crescimento da população mundial. Mas eles estão pessimamente distribuídos. 20% da humanidade dispõe para seu desfrute 80% dos meios de vida. Aqui reside a injustiça. Continua válida a crítica de Gandhi: ”A fome é um insulto; ela avilta, desumaniza e destrói o corpo e o espírito…senão a própria alma; é a forma de violência mais assassina que existe”.
→ read full articleIstanbul: A Modest Proposal
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Nov 2012
My most trusted Turkish friends felt that it grossly exaggerated Istanbul’s credentials as a possible future world capital, and in deference, I will tone down some of the language, and call attention to some problematic features of the Turkish political landscape that should not be ignored in proposing such a status for Istanbul.
→ read full articleWorld Bank Business Rankings Obscure Poverty and Corruption, Critics Argue
The Guardian – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Nov 2012
Some of the best places in the world to start and run a business have proved hugely controversial, like former Soviet satellite state Georgia and central African nation Zambia. The new boss at the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, has pledged to review the rankings. It seems not only invidious but also farcical to say that Rwanda boasts a better infrastructure for business than Italy.
→ read full articleLand Deals in Africa Have Led To a Wild West – Bring On the Sheriff, Says FAO
Mark Tran – The Guardian,
5 Nov 2012
Amid warnings that land deals are undermining food security, the head of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has compared “land grabs” in Africa to the “wild west”, saying a “sheriff” is needed to restore the rule of law. José Graziano da Silva, the FAO’s director general, conceded it was not possible to stop large investors buying land, but said deals in poor countries needed to be brought under control.
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