Articles by M
We found 36604 results.
I Am Too Poor To Go To War
David Inkey – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Sep 2012
I am too poor to go to war…
Let me tell you the score…
Gangs’ Truce Buys El Salvador a Tenuous Peace
Randal C. Archibold – The New York Times,
3 Sep 2012
They had faced off many times before, on the streets, with guns in their hands. But when top leaders of two of the hemisphere’s most violent street gangs sat across from one another in the stifling air of a maximum security prison here this year, the encounter had a very different aim: peace.
→ read full articleU.S. Arms Sales Make Up Most of Global Market
Thom Shanker – International Herald Tribune-NYT,
3 Sep 2012
Overseas weapons sales by the United States totaled $66.3 billion last year, or more than three-quarters of the global arms market, valued at $85.3 billion in 2011. Russia was a distant second, with $4.8 billion in deals.
→ read full articleConstipation and Cleansing the Colon
Dr. Edward Group – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Sep 2012
Millions of Americans exhibit constipation symptoms on a frequent basis, both minor and severe. Given how many people experience this, and how often, it gives support to the argument that constipation is so prevalent and widespread it should be considered an epidemic.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Por Que Defendemos o WikiLeaks e Assange
Michael Moore e Oliver Stone, Outras Palavras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Sep 2012
Se Assange for extraditado para os Estados Unidos, as consequência repercutirão por anos, em todo o mundo. Assange não é cidadão norte americano, e nenhuma de suas ações aconteceu em solo norte americano. Se Washington puder processar um jornalista nessas circunstâncias, os governos da Rússia ou da China poderão, pela mesma lógica, exigir que repórteres estrangeiros em qualquer lugar do mundo sejam extraditados por violar as suas leis. Criar esse precedente deveria preocupar profundamente a todos, admiradores do WikiLeaks ou não.
→ read full articleDistinctive Features of NONKILLING
Francisco Gomes de Matos – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Sep 2012
NONKILLING dignifies personal power
NONKILLING dignifies public power
WikiLeaks and Free Speech
Michael Moore and Oliver Stone – International Herald Tribune-NYT,
27 Aug 2012
If Mr. Assange is extradited to the United States, the consequences will reverberate for years around the world. Mr. Assange is not an American citizen, and none of his actions have taken place on American soil. If the United States can prosecute a journalist in these circumstances, the governments of Russia or China could, by the same logic, demand that foreign reporters anywhere on earth be extradited for violating their laws. The setting of such a precedent should deeply concern everyone, admirers of WikiLeaks or not.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Noam Chomsky: “Querem Vencer Assange pelo Cansaço”
Esquerda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
Nesta entrevista ao site equatoriano GkillCity, o linguista e filósofo norte-americano defende que Assange não teria hipóteses de ter um julgamento justo nos Estados Unidos. Chomsky acrescenta que do ponto de vista de quem ama a democracia, o fundador do Wikileaks merecia “uma medalha de honra” em vez de um julgamento.
→ read full articleWar Fever as Seen from Iran
Pepe Escobar – Asia Times,
27 Aug 2012
So it’s time for something completely different – and totally absent from Western corporate media; sound Iranian minds rationally analyzing what’s really going on behind the drums of war – regarding Iran, Turkey, the Arab world and across Eurasia.
→ read full articleMF’ing Justice
Jim Karger, TDV – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
Jon Corzine is a contemporary Richard Nixon: a low rent thief, liar, and American success story. Corzine, you may recall, bet $6.3 billion on the wrong side of European sovereign debt, a wager his own risk department at MF Global told him was nuts, and a wager so big and so wrong that it wiped out the entire firm. Like Nixon, Corzine is a one man epidemic of deceit, a thug with the conscience of a rabid hyena, and like Nixon, he is not going to jail.
→ read full articlePost-Qathafi Libya…Another Fine Mess, NATO
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey – Pravda,
27 Aug 2012
Congratulations to William Hague, Hillary Clinton and the sickening little wannabe Napoleons who rule France these days, desperately trying to claw back some international prestige. Let us compare Gaddafi’s Libya with FUKUS [France-UK-US] Libya… Nice one, NATO, nice one… Chuckle smugly and look over your shoulders. Karma time’s a-coming!
→ read full articleArthritis
TMS Editor,
27 Aug 2012
A drunk that smelled like a brewery got on a bus one day. He sat down next to a priest.
→ read full articlePeace Is War: How Israel Induces America into War with Iran
Maidhc Ó Cathail, The Passionate Attachment – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
On August 17 [2012], America’s two leading newspapers featured strikingly similar opinion pieces, providing further evidence of a coordinated effort by Israel and its American partisans to induce the United States into waging another disastrous Middle East war. In the Washington Post… the New York Times…
→ read full articleNo Crime, No Punishment
The New York Times, editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
When the Justice Department recently closed its criminal investigation of Goldman Sachs, it became all but certain that no major American banks or their top executives would ever face criminal charges for their role in the financial crisis. The shameless pursuit of Wall Street campaign donations by both political parties strengthens this perception, and further undermines confidence in the rule of law.
→ read full articleUS Arms Sales Shoot To Record Levels
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
Congressional report shows that arms exports tripled from previous year, with Gulf Arab states the main customers.
→ read full articlePeace-Building? Are You Kidding!!!
Punam Yadav, Nepali Advocate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
I still have a vivid memory of my interview with a Cabin Restaurant Worker. When people talk about peace process, peace building, conflict resolution, transitional justice, restoration of peace, or the compensation for conflict victims in Nepal, only thing comes to my mind is that woman whom I met in 2006 when I was writing my Masters thesis.
→ read full articleAppeal to Non-Aligned Leaders Meeting in Tehran
Veterans For Peace – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
With the Non-Aligned Movement meeting this week [26 Aug 2012] in Tehran, Veterans For Peace is urging the organization of 120 nations not formally allied with any major power bloc to take steps to deter the Israeli-American threats of war against Iran over its nuclear enrichment program.
→ read full articleGramsci and Nonviolence
Prof. Alberto L’Abate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
Paper presented in Tamilnadu, at the Gandhigram University, and by the “Sarvodaya Talisman” Journal at Madurai. In the years 1955/6, I was working as a voluntary in Danilo Dolci’ project in Sicily. Danilo Dolci is called the”Italian Gandhi” because has used nonviolent action to improve the life of poor peoples, especially peasants, in the area of Palermo, Sicily.
→ read full articleConspiracies: Theories and Hypotheses
Johan Galtung, 27 Aug 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
Conspiracies exist. They are a part of social reality, have always been, and will always be; as confirmed conspiracy theories, as unconfirmed conspiracy hypotheses, as suspicions, as allegations. The conspiracy-labeling carries all the characteristics of a conspiracy, using the cultural power of the media to steer the discourse away from important issues. Unacceptable.
→ read full articleCall for the Immediate Release of Marian Price on Health, Humanitarian and Justice Grounds
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
Open Letter to the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland – The illegal detention of Marian Price for political offences committed nearly forty years ago, and for which she was pardoned, is a serious violation of her human rights, a blank disregard for due process, and a violation of our ‘Good Friday Agreement’.
→ read full articleBan Ki-moon Ignores U.S. And Israel and Attends the NAM Summit
Pravda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
The secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, will attend the 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to be held in Tehran, the Iranian capital. Nearly one hundred members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) have indicated their willingness to take part in the 16th Summit of this entity which will run from 26 to 31 Aug, 2012.
→ read full articleIsraeli Settlements and the United Church Boycott: Responding To Three Common Distortions
David Taub Bancroft, Rabble – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
After months of controversy and negative media attention, the United Church of Canada, the country’s largest Protestant denomination, finally made it official. The church’s General Council voted today [21 Aug 2012] to call on its members to avoid buying products coming from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Presbyterian and Methodist churches in the United States have made similar calls.
→ read full articlePaul Ryan and the Fountainhead
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
I was not interested in Paul Ryan, the man about to be nominated by the Republican party for the office of vice-president, until the name Ayn Rand popped up. Ayn Rand, it was said, was one of the main inspirations for his particular philosophy. Since Ryan is being represented not as an ordinary, run-of-the-mill politician, like Mitt Romney, but as a profound political and economic thinker, the inspiration deserves some scrutiny.
→ read full articleTen Years of AKP Leadership in Turkey
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
It needs to be appreciated that Turkey viewed from outside by most informed observers, especially in the region, remains a shining success story, both economically and politically. Nothing could bring more hope and pride to the region than for the Turkish ascent to be achieved elsewhere, of course, allowing for national variations of culture, history, and resource endowments, but sharing the commitment to build an inclusive democracy in which the military stays in the barracks and the diplomats take pride in resolving and preventing conflicts.
→ read full articleHow the Private Sector Didn’t Solve Ghana’s Water Crisis
Judith Amanthis – Pambazuka News,
27 Aug 2012
Government investment, rather than privatisation or international aid, offers the best solution for water services in Ghana.
→ read full articleAnonymous Releases How-To Instructions on Fooling Facial Recognition
Erictronik Page – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
Here’s a predicament: you don’t want the government using high-tech face scanning technology to track every inch of your walk to the post office, but you also don’t want to take a sledgehammer to your neighborhood surveillance camera. What do you do?
→ read full article(Castellano) Sudáfrica Boicoteará Productos Israelíes Hechos en Territorios Palestinos
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
El portavoz del Gobierno, Jimmy Manyi, explicó que la medida de boicot tiene como objeto evitar que los consumidores sean engañados y piensen que dichos bienes fueron hechos en Israel, cuando en realidad se produjeron en territorios palestinos.
→ read full article
How to Be Alone
Andrea Dorfman – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
A video by fiilmaker, Andrea Dorfman, and poet/singer/songwriter, Tanya Davis.
→ read full articlePrime Minister, Crime Minister!
S. P. Udayakumar – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
Prime Minister, Prime Minister, why did you keep coal
When none of your predecessors ever had this foal?
Did you sell non-players and new ones all the Black Gold
So thermal power goes down and nuclear becomes bold?
Iceland’s Recovery Continues, Declared ‘Impressive’
IceNews – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
Experts continue to praise Iceland’s recovery success after the country’s bank bailouts of 2008. Unlike the US and several countries in the eurozone, Iceland allowed its banking system to fail in the global economic downturn and put the burden on the industry’s creditors rather than taxpayers.
→ read full articleThe Invisible Majority: Married Girls in the Somali Refugee Camps
Ashley Lackovich-van Gorp – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
Marriage does not turn a 12-year-old girl into a woman. The 2003 World Health Organization, United Nations Population Fund and Population Council report, “Married Adolescents: An Overview,” reveals that in comparison with unmarried peers, married girls have less education, less mobility, less exposure to the media and less access to social networks and basic services (25-34).
→ read full articleHelp Me To Sew Life’s Quilt
David Inkey – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
“Inkey appreciates the TMS publication of his with death poem, but he suggests the TMS coverage would not be complete without also including his sewing life poem.”
→ read full articlePMANE Sues NPCIL at Delhi High Court
Dr. S.P. Udayakumar – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
August 25, 2012 – The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) is suing the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) and its parent body the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) for not giving copies of the Site Evaluation Report (SER) and the Safety Analysis Report (SAR) as directed by the Central Information Commission back in April 2012.
→ read full articleNotes on Globalization and Class Struggle: Latin America, Europe and Asia
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
Introduction: The principle axes of the class struggle are found in Latin America, Europe and Asia, each following its own trajectory.
→ read full articleWall Street Tightens Grip on Public Water as Local Residents Suffer
Common Dreams – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
Vulture capitalists are increasingly facilitating the privatization of public infrastructure, taking control of public utilities while skimping on services and causing steep price hikes — all the while making massive profits. According to the report, private equity firms show up to hurting municipalities as hired financial advisers and subsequently push through privatization deals. Massive profits are made in the process, as such advisers stand to make great financial gains through these deals.
→ read full articleThe Pursuit of Julian Assange Is an Assault on Freedom and a Mockery of Journalism
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
The British government’s threat to invade the Ecuadorean embassy in London and seize Julian Assange is of historic significance. The same brave newspapers and broadcasters that have supported Britain’s part in epic bloody crimes, from the genocide in Indonesia to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, now attack the “human rights record” of Ecuador, whose real crime is to stand up to the bullies in London and Washington.
→ read full article(Italian) Marina Italiana per le Campagne di Guerra USA in Africa
Antonio Mazzeo – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
Il prossimo anno verranno coinvolte le marine da guerra di Australia, Belgio, Benin, Camerun, Canada, Finlandia, Francia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Gibuti, Kenya, Mauritania, Mauritius, Marocco, Mozambico, Nigeria, Repubblica del Congo, Sao Tomé e Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Spagna, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda e dell’immancabile Italia.
→ read full articleDon’t Lose Sight of Why the US Is Out To Get Julian Assange
Seumas Milne – The Guardian,
27 Aug 2012
Ecuador is pressing for a deal that offers justice to Assange’s accusers – and essential protection for whistleblowers. Considering he made his name with the biggest leak of secret government documents in history, you might imagine there would be at least some residual concern for Julian Assange among those trading in the freedom of information business. But the virulence of British media hostility towards the WikiLeaks founder is now unrelenting.
→ read full articleThe History of Humankind Is Also a History of Dignification
Francisco Gomes de Matos – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
A Rhymed Reflection
If, on the one hand, the history of Humankind is a history of edification
On the other hand, the history of Humankind is also a history of humiliation
The Protection Racket
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2012
One is reminded of the feudal system of the Middle Ages, in which industrious peasants paid for “protection” with a large fraction of their produce. Their gangster-like protectors, the knights and barons, did no useful work. All they did was to fight with each other. How much is it exactly that we pay today for “protection”? The total world military budgets cost us 1.7 trillion dollars each year, that is to say, 1,700,000,000,000 dollars, an amount of money almost too large to be imagined. What do we get for this? We do not get anything useful. We get war, a universal source of poverty, destruction of infrastructure, and human suffering.
→ read full articleMosaddegh and the Legacy of Non-Aligned Movement
Hamid Dabashi – Al Jazeera,
27 Aug 2012
The Islamists and the monarchists might distort the image of Mosaddegh, but not his memory in the hearts of people. As fate would have it, the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) will take place in Tehran from August 26 to 31, 2012 almost a week after the 59th anniversary of the notorious CIA (USA) and MI6 (UK)-engineered coup that on August 19, 1953, toppled the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh (1882-1967) – the champion of Iranian anti-colonial nationalism.
→ read full articleWe’ll Make A Killing Out of Food Crisis, Glencore Trading Boss Chris Mahoney Boasts
James Cusick – The Independent,
27 Aug 2012
Drought is good for business, says world’s largest commodities trading company.
→ read full articleGulf Seafood Deformities Alarm Scientists
Dahr Jamail – Al Jazeera,
27 Aug 2012
Eyeless shrimp and fish with lesions are becoming common, with BP oil pollution believed to be the likely cause. “The fishermen have never seen anything like this,” Dr Jim Cowan said. “And in my 20 years working on red snapper, looking at somewhere between 20 and 30,000 fish, I’ve never seen anything like this either.” Dr Cowan, with Louisiana State University’s Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences started hearing about fish with sores and lesions from fishermen in November 2010.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Carta às Esquerdas: As Últimas Trincheiras
Boaventura de Sousa Santos – Carta Maior,
27 Aug 2012
Faço um apelo aos governos brasileiro, equatoriano, venezuelano e argentino para que abandonem o projeto da reforma da Comissão Interamericana de Direitos Humanos (CIDH). E o apelo é especialmente dirigido ao Brasil dada a influência que tem na região.
→ read full articleDaniel Ellsberg: I Congratulate Ecuador for Standing Up to British Empire to Protect Julian Assange
Amy Goodman & Juan Gonzalez – Democracy NOW!,
21 Aug 2012
Daniel Ellsberg, the most famous whistleblower in the United States, praises Ecuador for granting political asylum to Julian Assange to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over sex crime accusations. “I congratulate Ecuador of course for standing up to the British Empire here, for insisting that they are not a British colony, and acting as a sovereign state ought to act,” said Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971, the secret history of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
→ read full articlePalestinian Hunger Strikes: Why Still Invisible?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Aug 2012
When it is realized that Mahatma Gandhi shook the British Empire with a series of hunger strikes, none lasting more than 21 days, it is shameful that Palestinian hunger strikers ever since last December continue to exhibit their extreme courage by refusing food for periods ranging between 40 and over 90 days, and yet these exploits are unreported by the media and generally ignored by relevant international institutions.
→ read full articleWhat’s Gone Wrong At The Guardian?
Ali Abunimah – Al Jazeera,
21 Aug 2012
Hiring Joshua Trevino, who endorsed the killing of Gaza flotilla members, is a worrying step for journalism. Treviño is a Republican Party operative, paid political consultant and ideologue for hire. But while some may not like those attributes, they would not make him unique among columnists. What does distinguish Treviño is his propensity to call for violence. Endorsing the killing of unarmed civilians…
→ read full articleNobody’s People in a No-Man’s Land
Subir Bhaumik – Al Jazeera,
21 Aug 2012
Nearly a million Rohingya living in Myanmar are unwanted at home and shunned by neighbouring countries.
→ read full article(Castellano) Ecuador Otorga Asilo a Fundador de WikiLeaks Julian Assange
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
El Gobierno de Ecuador decidió este jueves [16 Ago 2012] otorgar el asilo al fundador de WikiLeaks, el australiano Julian Assange, quien se encuentra en la embajada de la nación sudamericana en Londres. El Canciller ecuatoriano, Ricardo Patiño, hizo el anuncio durante en una entrevista ofrecida a la televisora estatal Ecuador TV, luego que recibiera una comunicación de parte de las autoridades británicas que amenaza con intervenir la embajada de Ecuador en Londres para arrestar al australiano.
→ read full articleIs Washington Deaf As Well as Criminal?
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
The morons who rule the american sheeple are not only dumb and blind, they are deaf as well. The ears of the american “superpower” only work when the Israeli prime minister, the crazed Netanyahu, speaks. Then Washington hears everything and rushes to comply. Israel is a tiny insignificant state, created by the careless British and the stupid americans. It has no power except what its american protector provides. Yet, despite Israel’s insignificance, it rules Washington.
→ read full articleEcuador Grants Assange’s Request for Asylum, Defying UK Threats
Kim Zetter, Wired – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
The Ecuadorean government announced Thursday [16 Aug 2012] that it will grant WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange asylum, defying threats from the UK government that authorities would forcibly seize Assange from the embassy if Ecuador granted Assange’s request. “We have decided to grant asylum to Julian Assange,” announced Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino at a press conference in Quito, to the sound of cheers from spectators.
→ read full articleEcuador President Rafael “We Are Not A Colony” Correa Stands Up To The Jackbooted British Gestapo
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
The once proud British government, now reduced to Washington’s servile whore, put on its Gestapo Jackboots and declared that if the Ecuadorean Embassy in London did not hand over WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange, British storm troopers would invade the embassy with military force and drag Assange out. Ecuador stood its ground. “We want to be very clear, we are not a British colony,” declared Ecuador’s Foreign Minister. Far from being intimidated the President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, replied to the threat by granting Assange political asylum.
→ read full articleFukushima: They Knew
Greg Palast - TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
I’ve seen a lot of sick stuff in my career, but this was sick on a new level. Here was the handwritten log kept by a senior engineer at the nuclear power plant [in 1986]: “Wiesel was very upset. He seemed very nervous. Very agitated. . . . In fact, the plant was riddled with problems that, no way on earth, could stand an earth- quake. The team of engineers sent in to inspect found that most of these components could ‘completely and utterly fail’ during an earthquake.” And here in Japan was the quake and here is the utter failure.
→ read full articleThe Global 1%: Exposing the Transnational Ruling Class
Peter Phillips and Kimberly Soeiro – Project Censored,
20 Aug 2012
Abstract: This study asks Who are the the world’s 1 percent power elite? And to what extent do they operate in unison for their own private gains over benefits for the 99 percent? We examine a sample of the 1 percent: the extractor sector, whose companies are on the ground extracting material from the global commons, and using low-cost labor to amass wealth…
→ read full article(Italian) La Mappa Esagonale del Mondo Multipolare
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
Qualche tempo fa la mappa geopolitica si basava sul conflitto diretto Est-Ovest, sulle due super-potenze USA/URSS e rispettive alleanze, con i neutrali-nonallineati trattati da categoria residuale. Il mondo era bipolare. L’implosione dell’URSS lo rese unipolare, con l’”unica super-potenza sopravvissuta”: 2-1 = 1. O così ci fu raccontato. Oggi abbiamo quattro stati molto grandi: i tre maggiori per popolazione, Cina-India-USA, e il maggiore per superficie, Russia. E la UE, regione con cinque stati di media grandezza: UK-Francia-Germania-Italia-Spagna. Ma c’è un altro polo sulla mappa geopolitica: l’Islam.
→ read full article(Italian) Animalismo, Specismo, Antispecismo e Diritti degli Animali
Roberto Russo, GraphoMania – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
Parliamo spesso di animali: ci stanno particolarmente a cuore e non è un mistero. Ma non vogliamo che sia un discorso sdolcinato: secondo noi è importante guardare agli animali come esseri viventi, al pari nostro, con i loro diritti. Il fatto che noi siamo animali appartenenti alla specie umana non ci autorizza certo a trattare male gli animali non umani.
→ read full articleTime for America to Revisit Its Nuclear Policy
Ronnie Dugger – The Dallas Morning News,
20 Aug 2012
In the ongoing media melodrama about Iran’s nuclear program, could we be overlooking profound questions and truths about the again-rising likelihood of the decimation or the end of life on Earth in an H-bomb holocaust? We should be challenging our officials and military for risking our deaths, the lives of our fellow human beings and our national honor by keeping, maintaining and implicitly threatening to use our own weapons of mass murder.
→ read full articleNew Pan-African Nonviolence Network Formed
Matt Meyer – Waging Nonviolence,
20 Aug 2012
Between July 26 and 30 [2012], in Johannesburg, South Africa, peacemakers from 12 countries throughout Africa met to share experiences and birthed a new, continent-wide African Nonviolence and Peacebuilding Network (ANPN). As part of a War Resisters International (WRI) initiated African Nonviolence Trainer’s Exchange, the gathering was hosted by South Africa’s Ceasefire Campaign, an historic anti-war organization which grew out of the mass, anti-apartheid-oriented End Conscription Campaign.
→ read full articleNBC’s ‘Stars Earn Stripes’ Continues an Inglorious Tradition of Glorifying War
Nobel Peace Laureates Jody Williams, Desmond Tutu, Mairead Maguire, Shirin Ebadi, José Ramos-Horta, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Oscar Arias Sanchez, Rigoberta Menchú Tum and Betty Williams – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
As Nobel Peace Prize laureates, we call on NBC to cancel this reality TV show that likens military combat to Olympic athletics.
→ read full articleThe Yinon Thesis Vindicated: Neocons, Israel, and the Fragmentation of Syria
Stephen J. Sniegoski, The Passionate Attachment – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
It is widely realized now that the fall of President Bashar Assad’s regime would leave Syria riven by bitter ethnic, religious, and ideological conflict that could splinter the country into smaller enclaves. America’s removal of Saddam served to intensify Sunni-Shiite regional hostility and, in a sense, got the destabilization ball rolling. Iran is targeted now, and Israel and its neocon supporters seek to make use of dissatisfied internal elements, political and ethnic—the radical MEK, democratic secularists, monarchists, Kurds, Arabs, Baluchis, and Azeris— to bring down the Islamic regime.
→ read full articleToward a New Geopolitics?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
The Chinese proverb is correct in its chilling reminder that ‘it is a curse to live in interesting times,’ but given the changing historical experiences with warfare, the growing sense of great ecological hazard, and the strengthening attachment to global justice agendas, maybe just this once, the fascinations of our age will turn out to be ‘a blessing.’
→ read full articleMutant Butterflies Found Near Fukushima
Tim Newcomb – Time,
20 Aug 2012
According to a study published by Scientific Reports, researchers started looking at butterflies near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant two months after the March 2011 tsunami damaged the reactors, causing a potential radiation leak. Of the initial 100 butterflies studied, 12% had mutations. But as the butterflies mated, the rate of mutation in successive generations increased to 34%, showing that the mutating genes were easily passed along to offspring.
→ read full articleA Message in Blood That No One Wants to Hear
Tom Engelhardt – Al Jazeera,
20 Aug 2012
Foreign troops are dying at the hands of their Afghan “allies” in large numbers, underscoring a lack of trust. Perhaps the sole historical example that comes close might be the Indian Rebellion of 1857. In reality, the American mission in Afghanistan failed years ago. It’s as if we refused to notice, but the Afghans we were training did. Now, they are sending a message that couldn’t be blunter or grimmer from that endlessly war-torn land.
→ read full articleSyria is Only a Pretext
Thierry Meyssan – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
Looking back, it appears clear that he [Annan] had envisaged his mission from the future perspective of Assad’s overthrow by force and no longer knew what to do in the face of the military reversals suffered by the Free Syrian Army sponsored by the West. Obviously, the resignation of Annan as special envoy is not only an expression of personal disarray but is part and parcel of the Western campaign to signal “a deadlock within the international community” and cast responsibility on Syria, Russia and China.
→ read full articleOpen Letter to Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister
Dr. S. P. Udayakumar (PMANE) – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
Honorable Madam, Greetings! As we have completed a whole year struggling against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP), we would like to initiate a fresh round of dialogue with you. We request you, Madam, to turn the KKNPP into a pro-people and Nature-friendly project, bring about solar power policy and projects all over our State, rectify the transmission and distribution issues, protect the interests of the Tamil people, and leave a wonderful legacy of visionary leadership and compassionate development with the people of Tamil Nadu and India.
→ read full articleEdinburgh Festival of Spirituality and Peace
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
3-27 Aug, 2012 – Edinburgh, Scotland. FoSP is one of Edinburgh’s most exciting and diverse Festivals. It features over 400 activities across 21 venues each year in August. With top-quality speakers, conversations, performances, film, food, exhibitions, family activities, workshops, art, culture and more the festival is now looking forward to its twelfth year.
→ read full articleAyesha Was Killed
Sumeet Grover – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
Dedicated to the young men and women executed in Iran for supporting human rights and democracy.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Libor: “É o sistema, estúpido”!
Carta Maior – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
Desde o dia 4 de julho [2012], noticia-se um escândalo envolvendo uma coisa chamada Libor. Chamar a manipulação da Libor de escândalo é desviar as atenções do fato de que se trata de mais uma forma normal de acumular capital. Em 1992, James Carville, estrategista da campanha do então candidato Bill Clinton à Presidência dos EUA, saiu-se com um dito que ficou famoso: “É a economia, estúpido”. Frente aos chamados escândalos, deveríamos dizer: “É o sistema, estúpido”!
→ read full articleThe United States and Its Comrade-In-Arms, Al Qaeda – And Other Tales of an Empire Gone Mad
William Blum – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
Afghanistan in the 1980s and 90s … Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s … Libya 2011 … Syria 2012 … In military conflicts in each of these countries the United States and al Qaeda (or one of its associates) have been on the same side. What does this tell us about the United States’ “War On Terrorism”?
→ read full articleImpunity at Home, Rendition Abroad
Alfred W. McCoy – TomDispatch,
20 Aug 2012
How Two Administrations and Both Parties Made Illegality the American Way of Life – After a decade of fiery public debate and bare-knuckle partisan brawling, the United States has stumbled toward an ad hoc bipartisan compromise over the issue of torture that rests on two unsustainable policies: impunity at home and rendition abroad.
→ read full articleFalse Flag Terror and Conspiracies of Silence
Prof. James F. Tracy – Global Research,
20 Aug 2012
The news media’s readiness to accept official pronouncements and failure to more vigorously analyze and question government authorities in the wake of “domestic terrorist” incidents contributes to the American public’s already acute case of collective historical amnesia, while it further rationalizes the twenty-first century police state and continued demise of civil society.
→ read full articleIsraeli-US Script: Divide Syria, Divide the Rest
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya – Global Research,
20 Aug 2012
What is happening in Syria is a sign of things to come for the region. Regime change is not the sole goal of the US and its allies in Syria. Dividing the Syrian Arab Republic is the end goal of Washington in Syria. Britain’s Maplecroft, which specializes in consulting on strategic risk, has said that we are witnessing the balkanization of the Syrian state: “Kurds in the north, Druze in the southern hills, Alawites in the coastal northwestern mountainous region and the Sunni majority elsewhere.”
→ read full articleFusion of Ignorance and Malice in Perspective
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
In scholastic philosophy we often find the phrase: quidquid contingens est causam habet – whatever comes into existence must have a cause. This means that in anything human beings do there must be a source, a motive or motivation behind it. The war industry is the only business in the world where money is made fast and smooth. This is often done with no accountability to anyone. There seems to be a mafia type of plot at a high governmental level where what really counts is the making of big money and not the saving of human lives.
→ read full articleDestroying the World for Profit
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
Does it make sense to destroy the world for the sake of profit or personal advantage? This is exactly what our governments and business leaders are doing today. This is what very many ordinary people are doing. But does it make sense? Does it make sense to saw off the branch on which you are sitting? Does it make sense to jockey for a place at the Captain’s table on board an iceberg-struck Titanic?
→ read full articleNobel Peace Laureates Call on NBC to Cancel New Show: ‘War Isn’t Entertainment’
Common Dreams - TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
Critics say show promotes an “inglorious tradition of glorifying war and armed violence.” Nine Nobel Peace Laureates on Monday [13 Aug 2012] joined a growing chorus of critics calling on NBC entertainment to cancel the new “reality” show—“Stars Earn Stripes”—saying that “war isn’t entertainment.”
→ read full articleStatement on Syria
United National Antiwar Coalition – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
The ominous signs of impending war with Syria escalate. NATO holds a special meeting to respond to the downing of a Turkish fighter plane and issues threats of future action. The U.S. government is supplying arms and logistical support to Syrian militias. The media bombards us with arguments that support foreign intervention. While activists may hold different views of Syria’s internal political system, we must all agree that the U.S. government has no right to impose its will on other countries, especially those formerly colonized and exploited by the West.
→ read full article
Johann Strauss-Medley (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Andre Rieu Orchestra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
1. Als flotter Geist aus der Operette ‘Zigeunerbaron’ – Song of Barinkay from the operetta ‘The Gipsy Baron’
2. Wienerblut – Vienna Blood
3. Lippen schweigen aus der Operette ‘Die Lustige Witwe’ von Franz Lehar
4. ‘Tanzen möcht ich’ von Emmerich Kalman aus ‘Die Csardasfürstin’ – The Gipsy Princess
A Peace Nonkillingly Sustained
Francisco Gomes de Matos – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
Many types of peace Humankind may see
Many ways of promoting peace there may be
Communicative Humiliation: A Sociolinguistic Checklist
Francisco Gomes de Matos – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
1. How is humiliation communicated in your community: by spoken/written/sign language/gestures?
2. In what social contexts does/did the humiliation take place? Home/work/school/public places (church, stadiums, political meetings, shopping malls, parades, etc)
(Portuguese) Do Nosso Jeito
Tereza Halliday, Diário de Pernambuco – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
Se o mundo fosse do jeito que nós queremos, desapareceriam as profissões de policial, jornalista e psicoterapeuta. Ou, como diz um gaiato amigo meu: “Se o mundo fosse do nosso jeito, Tereza, seria uma chatice”. Talvez se chamasse Paraíso – aquele lugar mítico que jamais alguém encontrou na Terra, nem voltou do Além para contar.
→ read full articleReally Good Deed
TMS Editor,
20 Aug 2012
This guy arrives at the Pearly Gates. He has to wait to be admitted, while St. Pete leafs through his Big Book.
→ read full articleBig Day for the Environment
Clinton McBride – Socialist Worker,
13 Aug 2012
Five different dramatic and inspiring actions for environmental justice took place across the U.S. on July 28, 2012.
→ read full articleSoul Searching and Common Sense after Oak Creek
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Aug 2012
President Obama has responded to the killing of six members of the Gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin this last Sunday [5 Aug 2012] with these words: “All of us recognize that these kinds of terrible, tragic events are happening with too much regularity….” To fail to mention the grotesque absurdity of legally allowing almost everyone in the United States to buy assault weapons and large quantities of ammunition online or at neighborhood shops can only be explained by the intimidating influence of the gun lobby, and its accompanying gun culture, in this country as currently heightened by an ongoing, nasty presidential election campaign.
→ read full articleReformed Teaching of History
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Aug 2012
Today the world urgently needs a new global ethic, – an ethic where loyalty to family, community and nation will be supplemented by a strong sense of the brotherhood of all humans, regardless of race, religion or nationality. Schiller expressed this feeling in his “Ode to Joy”, a part of which is the text of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Today, the sharing of knowledge and culture is symbolized by the Internet, which binds us all together, no matter where we are living.
→ read full articleThe Compulsion to Partition
Joseph Massad – Al Jazeera,
13 Aug 2012
Palestinian rejection of the Partition Plan was rational – it was never a traumatic event. Whether a Palestinian “state” is admitted to the General Assembly or not, this compulsion to re-enact and repeat the partition plan is doomed to the same fate as its predecessors, as it will not lead to the “two-state solution”.”. Its failure, however, will be nothing short of another boon for the goal of a decolonised and democratic one state and for Palestinian liberation.
→ read full articleThe Great Impostors
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Aug 2012
In the name of saving the natural world, governments are privatising it. “The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying ‘this is mine’, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society.
→ read full articleWhy Do We Obey?
Eric Peters – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Aug 2012
The uniform – and other totems of officialized authority – confer legitimacy upon the illegitimate. It is a startling thing. It reveals that most people are incapable of grasping the concept of a moral principle – that something which is wrong when committed by an unsanctioned individual is just as wrong when committed by a sanctioned individual – or a group of them. If it is wrong to kill, then it is always wrong to kill. If it is wrong to steal, then it is always wrong to steal.
→ read full articleDrone Attacks Generate Enemies for the US
Eric Margolis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Aug 2012
While the US hails Pakistan as a key non-NATO ally, the US treats it like a militarily occupied country. The government in Islamabad is left to observe increasing drone attacks and CIA ground operation with deepening embarrassment and helplessness.
→ read full articleInternational Flotilla Sets Sail to Break Gaza Blockade
Hend Kortam – The Daily News, Egypt,
13 Aug 2012
Estelle, a ship voyaging to break the Gaza blockade has begun its journey from Sweden. It is now in Norway after arriving there on Friday [3 Aug 2012]. The ship is expected to reach Gaza sometime within October. Throughout its journey the ship will raise awareness of the Gaza blockade. Estelle will make several stops on its way to Gaza in which there will be “speakers, concerts and public festivals providing information about the situation in Gaza.”
→ read full article
Surviving an Active Shooter Event
US Department of Homeland Security – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Aug 2012
RUN… HIDE… FIGHT…! Signs of the Times. Interesting advertisement by the city of Houston, Texas. Apparently mass-shooting has become common place in the Land of the Brave and the Free… The irony is in the ad itself.
→ read full articleParadoxes of Engaging with the Ultimate in any Guise
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Aug 2012
Living Life Penultimately – There is a curious dependence on the “ultimate” in a variety of forms. This may be related to anticipation of an ultimate experience, whether in the form of a theory, a spiritual revelation, an encounter with another, a global strategy, or the like. The expectation is that this will be “ultimately” transformative in ways which can only be intuited, but whose consequences are much anticipated.
→ read full articleThere Are Olympians without Countries—And Millions of Regular People, Too
Jamilah King - Colorlines,
13 Aug 2012
If you watched the opening ceremony for the Olympic games in London, it was hard to miss the self-described “independent Olympians.” In a celebration of international competition, their presence stood out because they were, in effect, stateless. A stateless person is broadly defined as someone without a nationality. “We feel that if capital can move across borders, then so can people.”
→ read full articleThe Syrian Intelligence War: A Tale of Two Security Headquarters
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya – Global Research,
13 Aug 2012
Syria is currently the scene of a cold war between the US, NATO, Israel, and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on one side and Russia, China, Iran, and the Resistance Bloc on the other hand. Amidst the fighting between the Syrian government and anti-government forces, an intense intelligence war has also been taking place.
→ read full articlePMANE Observes Independence Day as Black Day
Dr. S.P. Udayakumar, People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Aug 2012
The first anniversary of the current phase of our struggle will be commemorated on August 16, 2012 at Idinthakarai. Several political and social leaders along with writers, artists and activists will be participating in the day-long event.
→ read full article
Amazing Grace (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Il Divo – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Aug 2012
Music video by Il Divo performing Amazing Grace at Colosseo di Roma.
→ read full articleWhen Philosophers Join the Kill Chain
Mark LeVine – Al Jazeera,
13 Aug 2012
The most vehement debates on the use of force by the US surround attacks by remotely-piloted drone aircraft. Plato was likely not the first thinker to understand that what goes by the name of “justice” is often merely the violence and thievery practiced by those holding the reins of power. For Plato, their ability to continue to rule depended on imposing upon the weak the very rules they routinely break to maintain their position.
→ read full articleWhy Independence Day is a Black Day
Dr. S. P. Udayakumar, PMANE – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Aug 2012
The corruption-ridden, anti-Indian, pro-foreign, pro-MNC government of the UPA does not enjoy absolute majority in the Parliament and hence should not be allowed to take crucial national decisions at the far end of their tenure in power. It has lost its credibility, legitimacy, respect and trust among the people of India and it is compromising our independence, sovereignty and the fundamental freedoms.
→ read full articleWith Death, Love Does Not Die…
David Inkey – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Aug 2012
With death, love does not die,
we cry tears of deep grief for our own relief,
memory is a bridge cresting on a special ridge,
with death, love does not die…
(Portuguese) Esquerda Paraguaia Nunca Esteve Num Melhor Momento, Diz Lugo
Igor Ojeda – Carta Maior,
13 Aug 2012
Em entrevista concedida à mídia alternativa brasileira, o presidente deposto do Paraguai analisa as origens do “golpe parlamentar” executado contra ele e diz que os movimentos e partidos progressistas do país estão se reunindo todos os dias para discutir um projeto nacional, o que antes não acontecia. “Nunca antes 12 partidos e oito movimentos sentaram juntos”, disse Lugo, referindo-se à Frente Guasú, concertação de esquerda e centro-esquerda formada em março de 2010.
→ read full articleSyria: Lamp in the Storm
Michael Nagler – YES! Mazazine,
13 Aug 2012
How can we create the right vision to support indigenous nonviolence and unarmed civilian peacekeeping? During the climactic “Quit India” campaign launched by Gandhi in 1942, there were outbreaks of violence. Earlier, in 1922, similar outbreaks had led him to suspend the non-cooperation movement. This time, however, he said, “let our lamp stay lit in the midst of this hurricane.” This is very much the precarious situation of nonviolence in Syria today.
→ read full article