Articles by M
We found 37535 results.
NO Violence Please – A Word to Muslims
Dr. M. Ashaq Raza – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jan 2013
You are oppressed
You are depressed
You are stressed
You are distressed
But… NO violence please
Mali Conflict: A Challenging Assignment
Peter Townson – Doha Centre for Media Freedom,
28 Jan 2013
French military and Malian government forces are restricting access to conflict areas for members of the media, making covering the situation a major challenge.
→ read full articleThe Science of Spiritual Biology
Bhakti Madhava Puri, Ph.D., Science and Scientist - TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jan 2013
Applied mathematician, Samuel Arbesman, is an expert in scientometrics, the science of science, or metascience, and he has written a very recent book, The Half-life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date, (Sept. 2012), in which he investigates the frequency of changes in scientific facts, paradigms or theories. Knowledge in different fields of science evolves in systematic and predictable ways, and such changes have a powerful impact on our lives.
→ read full articleBeer Festival
Editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jan 2013
After the Great Britain Beer Festival, in London, all the brewery presidents decided to go out for a beer.
→ read full article“Cyberazzi” – Data Mining Companies Investigated for Invasion of Privacy
Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jan 2013
The paparazzi hide in bushes and use telephoto lenses to snap pictures of celebrities. The “cyberazzi” parachute into web browsers and sneak up behind mobile phones to spy on ordinary people. Nine such data mining companies must report to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission by Feb 1, 2013 what personal information they gather for sale.
→ read full articleThe Republic, Sedition, and Koodankulam: An Interview with Dr. S P Udayakumar
Dianuke – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jan 2013
As the missiles and tanks are geared up to be paraded at the India Gate on the country’s 64th Republic Day, people’s faith in the promise they did to themselves is missing. Last year, people in Koodankulam marked 26th January as Black Day. With more than 10 thousand people booked under sedition and war against the Indian state in Koodankulam, it is time we as a country face the issue head-on. We interviewed S P Udayakumar, leader of the massive nonviolent protest in Koodankulam.
→ read full articleWhen I was seven, Jesus cried…
Nahida, the exiled Palestinian – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
I used to play
Where Jesus used to pray
I ran up the hills
Where he used to walk
On 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.
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Operation Gladio: The Cold War ‘Black Op’ Continues
Darrin McBreen, InfoWars – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
15 Jan 2013 – What is NATO? What is the CIA? Author Richard Cottrell tells the story of mayhem, murder and subversion behind the “alliance for peace.” The CIA as the major terrorist organization on the planet.
→ read full article(Italiano) Ricognizione Sui Corpi Civili di Pace e Proposta di Riconoscimento nel Trattato di Lisbona
Gianmarco Pisa – Centro Studi Sereno Regis,
21 Jan 2013
Il Corpo Civile di Pace si configura come strumento civile permanente, composto di volontari e professionisti della società civile, finanziato e gestito da un’autorità centrale legittima (nel caso europeo una commissione esecutiva, nel caso nazionale un’agenzia pubblica), con compiti di:
→ read full articleInternational Essay Contest for Young People
Goi Peace Foundation, Japan – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
Organized by The Goi Peace Foundation and UNESCO – Theme: “The Power of Culture to Create a Better Future”
→ read full articleAll Lawyers Are Crooks
Editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
A guy in a bar stands up and says, “All lawyers are crooks.”
→ read full articleThe World’s Deadliest Drone: MQ-9 REAPER
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
The MQ-9 Reaper (originally the Predator B) is an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) also known as a Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV)) developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) for use by the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, Italian Air Force, and the Royal Air Force. It is the first hunter-killer UAV designed for long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance (see photo).
→ read full articleWhat Is Anti-Semitism?
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
Just how strongly are Germans allowed to criticize Israel? Accusations of anti-Semitism against SPIEGEL columnist Jakob Augstein have brought the question to the fore. He debates the issue with Dieter Graumann, the leader of Germany’s Jewish community.
→ read full article(Português) Cuba Tem a Menor Taxa de Mortalidade Infantil nas Américas
Caros Amigos – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
Após 54 anos de revolução e quase 53 de embargo, o índice cubano é melhor que o de países como os Estados Unidos, Canadá e Brasil.
→ read full article(Italiano) Collettivamente Memoria 2013_l’idea e l’impianto
Silvia Berruto – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
Dedicato a Italo Tibaldi e Ida Desandré deportati politici e a Anna Dati staffetta partigiana.
→ read full article“It’s the culture, stupid!”
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
I would like to build on this iconic utterance, that captures so much in so few words, by calling attention to the dominate sources of continued mass violence that exists in the USA today. Even as well intentioned public and private response to the Sandy Hook massacre seek solutions in highly specific policies, laws, and practices (e.g., background checks, gun registration, armed guards), these will ultimately prove insufficient, and acts of mass violence will continue. “When you go forward for revenge, dig two graves.” It “trickles down.”
→ read full article(Castellano) VI. La Democracia de Altares
Fernando Montiel T. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
En el Cáucaso las guerras del pasado y del futuro vuelven a todos geopolitólogos: en Bakú todos saben que sus compatriotas al sur de la frontera –los 35 millones en los que Fakhrinur deposita su esperanza– podrían ser la infantería de un ataque estadounidense contra Irán a cambio de que la “comunidad internacional” –es decir, Washington y sus amigos– consienta una ofensiva azerí contra Armenia por Nagorno-Karabaj.
→ read full articleSanctions as Collective Punishment
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
At present, we treat nations as though they were persons: We punish entire nations by sanctions, even when only the leaders are guilty, even though the burdens of the sanctions fall most heavily on the poorest and least guilty of the citizens, and even though sanctions often have the effect of uniting the citizens of a country behind the guilty leaders.
→ read full article(Português) Bhakti Yoga: Em Busca de Um Amor Perdido
Radhanath Swami – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
O aroma de almíscar é tão sedutor que quando o nariz sensível do cervo-almiscarado macho o sente no vento, ele percorre a floresta dia e noite em busca da sua fonte e esgota-se numa busca infrutífera, sem perceber a ironia amarga: a doce fragrância que ele estava perseguindo não residia em nenhum lugar, mas dentro de si. O almíscar é produzido por uma glândula no umbigo do próprio veado: ele estava procurando fora, o que estava sempre dentro de si mesmo. Os sábios da Índia encontraram no cervo-almiscarado uma descrição apropriada da condição humana.
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Time to Say Goodbye (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Katherine Jenkins – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
No comment necessary. Just watch… and be touched.
→ read full articleAaron Swartz and the Freedom to Connect
Amy Goodman - Truthdig,
21 Jan 2013
Aaron Swartz wanted nothing more than to change the world. He was doing just that until he ended his own life, at the age of 26, on Jan. 11 [2013]. He took a lead role in defeating SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, a federal law that would have granted corporations sweeping online censorship powers. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, responded to the sad news with a tweet: “Aaron dead. World wanderers, we have lost a wise elder. Hackers for right, we are one down. Parents all, we have lost a child. Let us weep.”
→ read full articleMEPs Agree Credit Rating Agency Crackdown
Benjamin Fox, EUobserver – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
The European Parliament on Wednesday (16 Jan 2013) voted in favour of a cross-party compromise text agreed in November which is aimed at preventing conflicts of interest, increasing competition, and reducing the reliance of businesses and governments on credit ratings.
→ read full articleConflict Resolution: From Gandhi to Galtung
Anupma Kaushik – The Gandhi Foundation,
21 Jan 2013
Johan Galtung clarifies that peace research is based on the assumption that peace is as consensual a value as health. He further states that interdisciplinary and multilevel approaches are needed for peace research besides adoption of symmetry. Peace research needs to draw from all corners of the world and in order to understand an issue the researcher needs to see it from either side but the solution should not be based on the assumptions of one party alone.
→ read full articleEritrea: Hear No Evil
Human Rights Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
Eritrea is a pariah state that crushes repression. It even sends its many people into a forced labor system, often for years. The government attracted international investors with its mineral reserves and its first mine, a joint venture with the Canadian firm Nevsun Resources, has produced hundreds of millions of dollars’ in gold since 2011. Other companies from Canada, Australia, and China are also developing projects in Eritrea. We uncovered evidence that some mine construction workers – supplied by Segun, a government-owned company – were forced laborers.
→ read full articleUNESCO Recognizes Brazilian Friar’s Contribution to Social Justice in Latin America and Caribbean
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
11 Jan 2013 – The United Nations has recognized a Brazilian Dominican friar, Frei Betto, with a leading international prize for his “exceptional contribution” to building a universal culture of peace, social justice and human rights in Latin America and the Caribbean. The author of more than 50 books, Frei Betto was born in 1944 and joined the Dominican Order at the age of 20 while studying journalism, and during the time of military dictatorship in Brazil, he was imprisoned twice, in 1964 and again from 1969 to 1973.
→ read full articleThe Doomsday Clock
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
21 Jan 2013: IT IS FIVE MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT – The Doomsday Clock conveys how close humanity is to catastrophic destruction–the figurative midnight–and monitors the means humankind could use to obliterate itself. First and foremost, these include nuclear weapons, but they also encompass climate-changing technologies and new developments in the life sciences that could inflict irrevocable harm.
→ read full articleChange Happens – But How, Why, When, Where?
Johan Galtung, 21 Jan 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
A century ago humanity, particularly in the West, was at the beginning of a major revolution, from horse culture to car culture. Today there are still 59 million horses, but more than 1 billion cars (in 1986 only half of that). In other parts of the world, like Japan and China, there was a revolution to cars, but from bicycles–Beijing went from 6 million bicycles to 4 million cars over a period of 20 years, only from 1990. From 1970 to 2010 the US share of world college enrollment dropped from 26 to 12 percent whereas the Chinese share went up from 0 to 18 percent.
→ read full article(Italiano) Contro la Rivoluzione Mondiale – Costruttivamente!
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
Un paese che reagisce con mini-rivoluzioni, nonviolenza, disobbedienza civile contro tali smaccate ingiustizie. Un paese dove la lotta di classe è sospesa per il momento; ha vinto il capitalismo e più specificamente i banchieri e i loro servitori, i politici, e ancora più specificamente il capitale finanziario-speculativo. E questo in una Spagna prossima a 40 anni di democrazia dopo 40 anni di dittatura di Franco. Costituzione + democrazia + elezioni + diritti umani (anche immobiliari) + parlamento contro il capitalismo finanziario. Deboli contro forti.
→ read full article[Which version do you choose to believe?] The Happiest (and Saddest) Countries in the World
Christopher Helman, Forbes – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
[From TMS Editor: Forbes bias is toward developed countries; the ‘saddest’ ones are the poorest.]
British philosopher John Stuart Mill: “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, is of a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question.”
Iran 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 articleNASA Finds Long-Term Climate Warming Trend
Dr. Tony Phillips, NASA – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
NASA scientists say 2012 was the ninth warmest of any year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures. With the exception of 1998, the nine warmest years in the 132-year record all have occurred since 2000, with 2010 and 2005 ranking as the hottest years on record.
→ read full articleBoo of Democracy
Udaya R. Tennakoon – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
Lament of booing
Jackals in the jungle…
The Religious and Social Crises and Political Consequences
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
The opening long decade of the 21st century (2000-2012) has been a period of repeated and profound economic and social crises, of serial and prolonged wars and declining living standards for the vast majority of Americans. How have people responded to this crisis?
→ read full articleSolar-Powered Water Pumps Struggle to See the Light
Manipadma Jena – Inter Press Service-IPS,
21 Jan 2013
When twenty-nine-year-old Kartik Wahi graduated from the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago, Illinois in 2010, he wasted no time in returning to India to self-finance a start-up company to market solar-powered irrigation pumps. Working on a shoestring budget together with two partners, the young entrepreneur was convinced that the benefits of this renewable energy initiative would make a huge difference in some of India’s largest agricultural regions.
→ read full articleBurn, burn – Africa’s Afghanistan
Pepe Escobar – Asia Times,
21 Jan 2013
Forget about spotting any Americans; these are – what else – contractors who do not wear military uniforms.
→ read full article
Self-Immolations in Tibet
China Central TV – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
Facts about the Self-Immolations in Tibetan Areas of Ngapa
→ read full articleThe Gravest of Allegations: Conflating Critique of Israel with Anti-Semitism
Ronen Bergman – Der Spiegel,
21 Jan 2013
In recent years, Israeli Jews have often confused anti-Israel rhetoric with anti-Semitism, argues journalist Ronen Bergman, who has himself been subjected to verbal attacks for his reporting in SPIEGEL.
→ read full articleBhakti Yoga: In Search of a Lost Love
Radhanath Swami – The Huffington Post,
21 Jan 2013
The aroma of musk is so alluring that when the stag’s sensitive nose catches wind of it he roams the forest day and night in pursuit of its source. He exhausts himself in a fruitless quest, never realizing the bitter irony: the sweet fragrance he was chasing resided nowhere but within himself. Musk, you see, is produced by a gland in the stag’s very own navel: it was searching without for what was all along lying within. The sages of India found in the musk deer an apt description of the human condition.
→ read full articleGoing Nowhere through Not-knowing Where to Go
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
Whether for the individual, for factional interests, or for global governance, it is becoming increasingly clear that many experience a sense of “going nowhere”. Part of the issue lies in not knowing “where to go” in quest of whatever might have been imagined as desirable. The issue has been highlighted with respect to the young — as challenged by unemployment in an increasingly complex society — and with the long-term unemployed. It is also implicit in the situation of the terminally ill and the elderly, especially those confined to hospice care.
→ read full articleAccidents at Nuclear Power Plants in India
Greenpeace – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
India currently has twenty nuclear reactors in operation and their safety record is far from clean.
→ read full articleUS Playing Strategic Arms Game
Hu Yumin – China Daily,
14 Jan 2013
The US could cut its defense spending because of the fiscal cliff. But it would be wrong to assume that such a cut will weaken the US military. It has allocated more funds for the development of Prompt Global Strike, a system that can deliver a precision non-nuclear weapon strike anywhere in the world within 1 hour.
→ 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 article(Italiano) Il Dirupo, la Palude, il Pantano USA
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
C’è altro oltre il dirupo fiscale che risalta a occhio nudo… Introduciamo la sofferenza della gente, la crescita mancante e il fardello del debito, espandendo il discorso per visioni nuove… Potrebbe invece far prodigi un enorme programma ingegnoso che faccia sì che quel 16% si tiri su da solo (bootstraps), con crediti per piccole società-cooperative progettate per produrre cibo e acqua, vestiario e alloggi, sanità e istruzione, tutto a prezzi alla portata.
→ read full articleOscar Worthy Propaganda – Zero Dark Thirty: Torturing the Facts
Majorie Cohn - CounterPunch,
14 Jan 2013
Law professor Marjorie Cohn writes of the two disturbing characteristics of Zero Dark Thirty, the latest pro-CIA, pro-torture film to roll out of Hollywood.
→ read full articleBe Human
M. Ashaq Raza – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
Sip by sip
Drop by drop
Drink we life’s wine…
The Empire’s New Clothes
Socialist Worker, editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
Obama’s nominees to run the Pentagon and CIA underline how a Democratic president, once seen as antiwar, has rebranded U.S. imperialism.
→ read full articleAgainst World Revolution – Constructively!
Johan Galtung, 14 Jan 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
A country rapidly de-developing, into low Third World levels, even in health. A country not only saving banks rather than people but also letting the banks get away with crimes. A country reacting with mini-revolutions, nonviolence, civil disobedience against such glaring injustices. A country where the class war is over for the time being; capitalism won and more particularly the bankers and their servants, the politicians, and even more particularly the finance-speculation capital. And this in a Spain close to 40 years into democracy after 40 years of Franco dictatorship. Constitution + democracy + elections + human rights (also to property) + parliament vs finance capitalism. Weak vs strong.
→ read full articleIdle No More: Indigenous Uprising Sweeps North America
Kristin Moe – YES! Magazine,
14 Jan 2013
Idle No More has organized the largest mass mobilizations of indigenous people in recent history. What sparked it off and what’s coming next? For Canadians—and potentially all North Americans—this is a moment of reckoning. Just as Chief Spence’s hunger strike forced the issue with Harper, Idle No More forces us all to confront the ugliness of our collective colonial history, and to recognize that colonization continues today.
→ read full articleScientist: Top Selling Weed Killer – Monsanto’s Roundup – Linked to Infertility
Lisa Garber, Natural Society – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
Roundup’s key ingredient glyphosate has ravaged the earth, our food chain, and our bodies, and is even causing infertility among the masses.
→ read full articleSorry, Darwin: – Chemistry Never Made the Transition to Biology
Bhakti Niskama Shanta Swami, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
At various times in its history, ‘spontaneous generation’ has been identified by two different concepts. They are: (a) abiogenesis, and (b) heterogenesis. Abiogenesis is the field of science dedicated to study how life might have arisen spontaneously for the first time from inorganic chemicals. On the other hand, the notion that life can arise from dead organic matter, such as the appearance of maggots from decaying meat is known as heterogenesis. For a long time major western thinkers like Newton, Harvey, Descartes and von Helmont accepted heterogenesis with full confidence.
→ read full articleWe Have Created a World of ‘Civilised Savages’
Hussein Tahiri – The Sydney Morning Herald,
14 Jan 2013
Civilisation is about collective humanity, caring, forgiveness, respect and love for one’s kind in which advanced culture, industry and technology are employed to achieve this purpose. Alas, a brief look at the way we human beings conduct ourselves entitles us to be seen as no more than ”civilised savages” who have achieved modernity without the underlying moral compass of civilisation itself.
→ read full articleOil and War
Robert Newman, Brasscheck TV – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
Robert Newman gets to grips with the wars and politics of the last hundred years – but rather than adhering to the history we were fed at school, he places oil centre stage as the cause of all commotion.
→ read full articleMy Guns Are Less Regulated Than My Uterus
Shannyn Moore – The Huffington Post,
14 Jan 2013
Birth control and reproductive health services are harder to get than bullets. What is that about? Guns don’t kill people – vaginas do?
→ read full articleJohn Brennan, Sami Al-Hajj and the Blight of Guantanamo
Amy Goodman - Truthdig,
14 Jan 2013
Dec, 2001: Shackled and hooded, he was pushed off the transport plane [at Kandahar airport], when he fell and broke his kneecap. He was forced to march anyway, into a building where people were screaming. He was put in the middle of a circle of U.S. soldiers who held guns to his head. On June 13, 2002, al-Hajj was shackled, hooded and flown to Guantanamo. En route they were denied food, water and toilets, and were beaten if they tried to sleep. At Guantanamo, the interrogations continued.
→ read full article6 Habits of Highly Empathetic People
Roman Krznaric – YES! Magazine,
14 Jan 2013
According to new research, empathy is a habit we can cultivate to improve the quality of our own lives. But what is empathy? And how can you expand your own empathetic potential?
→ read full articleMali: Hijacked Autonomy, Outsized Ambitions, French Intervention
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
It may be fairly easy for the French forces to take the three major cities of the north, much of whose population has already fled. North Mali is roughly the size of France. Much of the rural areas have little or no population. It has always been difficult, even during the colonial period, to create an infrastructure and an administration. There are fears that the Islamic groups will move toward Niger or Burkina Faso, both fragile States. One knows how an armed conflict starts but rarely how it ends.
→ read full articleDemocracy and the Secret State: The Deception and Terrorisation of Populaces from the Era of Gladio to the War on Terror
Adeyinka Makinde – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
“You had to attack civilians, the people, women, children, unknown people far from any political game. The reason was quite simple – to force the people to turn to the state for greater security.” — Vincenzo Vinciguerra
The nature, necessity and scope of the miscellany of powers exercised by the state over the nation is in one sense arguably as contentious in the contemporary circumstances of the Western world as it was in the distant pre-democratic medieval past.
Optimum Population in the Future
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
What is the optimum population of the world? It is certainly not the maximum number that can be squeezed onto the globe by eradicating every species of plant and animal that cannot be eaten. As we strive to achieve peace throughout the world, and to eliminate the suffering caused by poverty, hunger and preventable disease, we should remember that all these goals will be more attainable with a global population of moderate size.
→ read full articleOn my Soul
Francisco Gomes de Matos – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
Rhymed Reflection
→ read full article1st International Active Nonviolence Film Festival
Pressenza Int’l Press Agency – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
30 Cities around the World to Take Part – Promoted by the humanist organisation World without Wars and Violence, the festival aims to create a space of coming together, of free creation committed to the culture of nonviolence.
→ read full articleRole of Religion in the World Community
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
As the saying goes, there are two sides of a coin. On one hand, Religion could be viewed as a blessing and a source of inspiration. On the other hand, Religion could be seen as a source of trouble and confusion that may turn many into becoming prejudiced and skeptical. A careful analysis of this conclusion will enable us to see why Religion is viewed as having one side that is positive and constructive and another other side that is negative and destructive.
→ read full articleMakers of Violent Video Games Marshal Support to Fend Off Regulation
Eric Lichtblau – The New York Times,
14 Jan 2013
With the Newtown, Conn., massacre spurring concern over violent video games, makers of popular games like Call of Duty and Mortal Kombat are rallying Congressional support to try to fend off their biggest regulatory threat in two decades.
→ read full articleWar Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death
Institute for Public Accuracy – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
A Media Education Foundation production. Featuring Norman Solomon. Narrated by Sean Penn. War Made Easy cuts through the dense web of spin to probe and scrutinize the key “perception management” techniques that have played huge roles in the promotion of American wars in recent decades. This guide to disinformation analyzes American military adventures past and present to reveal striking similarities in the efforts of various administrations to justify, and retain, public support for war.
→ read full articleMyanmar Activist [TRANSCEND Member], Professor Resigns Over Brunei University ‘Censorship’
Nan Tin Htwe – The Myanmar Times,
14 Jan 2013
Dr Maung Zarni, co-founder of the Free Burma Coalition, quit the Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), saying it is “impossible to maintain his professionalism” and blaming “extreme and unprofessional academic censorship”. Zarni, a “staunch advocate of unconditional human rights, as well as ethnic and gender equality,” is also a visiting fellow with the Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit at the London School of Economics, and the author of Life Under the Boot: 50 years of Military Dictatorship in Burma (Yale University Press).
→ read full articleAFRICOM’s Imperialist Quest
Burkely Hermann – Nation of Change,
14 Jan 2013
Under President Obama, in fact, operations in Africa have accelerated far beyond the more limited interventions of the Bush years…To support these mushrooming missions, near-constant training operations, and alliance-building joint exercises, outposts of all sorts are sprouting continent-wide, connected by a sprawling shadow logistics network.
→ read full article(Português) Países Ricos Perdem a Maioria no PIB Mundial em 2013
José Eustáquio Diniz Alves, EcoDebate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
O ano de 2013 vai marcar um acontecimento histórico. Pela primeira vez na história, o Produto Interno Bruto (PIB) dos países em desenvolvimento vai ultrapassar o PIB dos países desenvolvidos, segundo dados do Fundo Monetário Internacional (FMI).
→ 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 articleA Feel-Good Movie about Fracking?
Fran Korten – YES! Magazine,
14 Jan 2013
Chris Moore, who co-produced “Good Will Hunting,” has a new film starring Matt Damon as a corporate salesman trying to open up a small town to fracking. Moore’s take on the ideas behind the film.
→ read full articleCriminal Record
TMS editor,
14 Jan 2013
An applicant was filling out a job application.
→ read full articleSri Lankan Buddhist Chauvinists Provoke Violence against Muslims
Gamini Karunasena and Wasantha Rupasinghe, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government is again giving tacit support to communal provocations against Sri Lanka’s minorities in a bid to divide working people amid the country’s deepening economic and social crisis. This time, Muslims have become the main target of chauvinist groups.
→ read full articleFlatulence Is a Problem Aired
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
The third edition of the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential (1990) was reviewed for The Guardian by John Vidal under the title Flatulence is a Problem Aired (The Guardian, 7 February 1992). The review was introduced by the phrase: John Vidal finds the authors of a definitive guide to all the world’s ills treading an ever thinner line between the sublime and ridiculous. At that time the review could be seen as a highly skillful journalistic exercise in what has since been recognized as characteristic of negative campaigning.
→ read full article(Português) Portugal: O Êxodo dos Diplomados
Mario Queiroz – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 Jan 2013
Desde a década de 1960, quando as saídas em massa de portugueses eram uma constante, este país não sofria uma emigração de tal magnitude como a atual, com a agravante de que pela primeira vez inclui profissionais altamente qualificados.
→ read full articleRemembering Lasantha: Now They Come For “Everyone”
Nirmanusan Balasundaram, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
Now, more than ever, with the current state of affairs in Sri Lanka, the vacuum left by Lasantha’s death and his importance can be felt by anyone who is concerned about human rights, democracy, rule of law, and, of course, the independence of the judiciary. The Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Sunday Leader newspaper Lasantha Wickrematunge , better known as Lasantha, was brutally assassinated four years ago. Lasantha noted in his last editorial, “I hope my murder will be seen not as a defeat of freedom but an inspiration”.
→ read full article(Português) Brasil É Segundo Maior Consumidor Mundial de Ritalina
Globo News - TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
Chamada a ‘droga da obediência’ para ‘curar’ crianças hiperativas ou com débito de atenção, pode causar morte súbita ou torna-las predispostas à dependência de drogas no futuro. Provoca um ‘efeito zumbi’ nas crianças e não é uma solução mas sim um paliativo com consequências funestas.
→ read full article2012 Summary of the Cultural Boycott of Israel
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
The year 2012 was an amazing year full of many successes in the campaign for the cultural boycott of Israel. This summary focuses on the cultural boycott with an emphasis on musical artists and groups. The fall of South African apartheid was preceded by the movement by artists of conscience to boycott “Sun City.” A similar anti-apartheid movement is rapidly growing; and musicians increasingly do not want to perform in Israel.
→ read full articleAbbas Changes Name of Palestinian Authority to ‘State of Palestine’
Raphael Ahren and AP – The Times of Israel,
7 Jan 2013
Palestinian Authority President Abbas signed a presidential decree changing the name of the Palestinian Authority to the “State of Palestine,” following the Palestinians’ upgraded status at the United Nations as a non-member observer state. According to the decree, reported by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa Thursday [3 Jan 2013] night, all stamps, signs, and official letterheads will be changed to bear the new name.
→ read full articleEmerging From the Shadows: US Covert Drone Strikes in 2012
Chris Woods, Jack Serle and Alice K. Ross – The Bureau of Investigative Journalism,
7 Jan 2013
In one of the biggest news stories of the year, in May [2012] the New York Times revealed that President Obama was personally deciding whether to kill some individuals. He ‘counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants, according to several administration officials, unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent.’ As the Bureau noted at the time, ‘The revelation helps explain the wide variation between credible reports of civilian deaths in Pakistan by the Bureau and others, and the CIA’s claims that it had killed no ‘non-combatants.’
→ read full articleConstruction Is Complete on Behemoth Airship; First Flight Planned
W.J. Hennigan – Los Angeles Times,
7 Jan 2013
A massive cargo-carrying airship has taken shape inside one of the 17-story wooden blimp hangars at the former military base in Tustin. According to aircraft maker Worldwide Aeros Corp., construction is complete on a 36,000-pound blimp-like aircraft designed for the military to carry tons of cargo to remote areas around the world.
→ 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 articleTechnology Addiction
Joel S. Hirschhorn – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
A survey reported that “addicted” was the word most commonly used by people to describe their relationship to technology. One study found that people had a harder time resisting the allure of social media than they did for sex, sleep, cigarettes, and alcohol. A recent study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project found that 44 percent of cell phone owners had slept with their phone next to their bed. Worse, 67 percent had experienced “phantom rings,” checking their phone even when it was not ringing or vibrating.
→ 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 articleThe Power Principle – I: Empire
Scott Noble, Metanoia Films – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
This documentary is about the foreign policy of the United States. It is the first of three parts that demonstrate the importance of the political economy, the Mafia principle, propaganda, ideology, violence and force. Featured in the films are Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti, John Stockwell, Christopher Simpson, Ralph McGehee, Philip Agee, [TRANSCEND member] Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, John Perkins, James Petras, John Stauber, Russ Baker, Howard Zinn, William Blum, Nancy Snow, William I. Robinson, Morris Berman, Peter Phillips, Michael Albert, and others.
→ read full articleThe Power Principle – II: Propaganda
Scott Noble, Metanoia Films – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
This documentary is about the foreign policy of the United States. It is the second of three parts that demonstrate the importance of the political economy, the Mafia principle, propaganda, ideology, violence and force. Featured in the films are Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti, John Stockwell, Christopher Simpson, Ralph McGehee, Philip Agee, [TRANSCEND member] Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, John Perkins, James Petras, John Stauber, Russ Baker, Howard Zinn, William Blum, Nancy Snow, William I. Robinson, Morris Berman, Peter Phillips, Michael Albert, and others.
→ read full articleWhose Side is God, god, g_d On?
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
Lessons from 19th Century Imperialism – The following is a listing of some of the enduring lessons that came to mind as I reflect on the endless mass violence and wars of our times. With Gladstone’s words ringing in my ears, I offer them to you.
→ read full article(Italiano) Un Augurio per l’Anno Nuovo: Andare Oltre!
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
Sì, andare oltre, trascendere! – ecco il nostro messaggio, per il nuovo anno o meno. Prendete le sparatorie nelle scuole USA. Il vice-presidente della National Rifle Association (NRA) in TV: “la sola persona che può fermare un cattivo con un’arma è un buono con un’arma”. Affermazione che ha toccato molte corde. C’è conferma dall’alto: questa è la politica estera USA. L’unico modo per fermare un cattivo paese con le armi è un buon paese con le armi; l’unico modo di fermare il cattivo terrorismo dal basso è il buon terrorismo di stato dall’alto. Equilibrio di forze, innumerevoli basi, cercare e distruggere.
→ read full articleDamascus and the Tariqa (The Way by Initiation)
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
The small non-violent movements in Syria such as the “Stop the Killing! We want to build a country for all Syrians” while stressing useful issues are still overshadowed both by the government and the violent opposition forces. Yet could such groups play a larger role if they received more non-governmental support from outside? Governments seem to have resigned themselves to the force of arms or to watch and wait. Can peace groups working together actively strengthen Syrian non-violent alternatives?
→ read full articleNet Worth of World’s Richest Rose by $241B In 2012
Bloomberg News – Chicago Tribune,
7 Jan 2013
The richest people on the planet got richer in 2012, adding $241 billion to their collective net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world’s 100 wealthiest individuals.
→ read full articleSwiss Bank Wegelin to Close After US Tax Evasion Fine
BBC News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
Switzerland’s oldest bank is to close permanently after pleading guilty in a New York court to helping Americans evade their taxes. Wegelin, which was established in 1741, has also agreed to pay $57.8m (£36m; 44m euros) in fines to US authorities. It said that once this was completed, it “will cease to operate as a bank”. The bank had admitted to allowing more than 100 American citizens to hide $1.2bn from the Internal Revenue Service for almost 10 years.
→ read full articleJustifying Assassination
Los Angeles Times, editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon eloquently lamented that “I can find no way around the thicket of laws and precedents that effectively allow the executive branch of our government to proclaim as perfectly lawful certain actions that seem on their face incompatible with our Constitution and laws.” This page has made the same point in urging the administration to release the Office of Legal Counsel memorandum. If it is going to act as judge, jury and executioner, the least it can do is divulge its legal reasoning.
→ read full articleU.S. Arms Sales to Asia Set to Boom on Pacific “Pivot”
Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
U.S. sales of warplanes, anti-missile systems and other costly weapons to China’s and North Korea’s neighbors appear set for significant growth amid regional security jitters.
→ read full articleResignation Letter
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
1 January 2013. I believe I was mislead regarding the professional environment at Universiti Brunei Darussalam during the recruitment process, and due to the on-going attempts to gag me on the persecution and slaughter of minorities, including Muslim minorities, in the country of my birth [Burma], I no longer wish to be subject to this level of extreme and unprofessional academic censorship. I need to work at a professional institution where the word ‘politics’ is mentionable, social conscience livable, and compassion honourable.
→ read full articleBolivia Nationalizes Electricity Companies in Hopes of Improving Rural Access
Jacob Chamberlain – Common Dreams,
7 Jan 2013
Bolivia President Evo Morales has nationalized two electricity distribution companies owned by Spanish utility company Iberdrola in the latest of several industry nationalizations since Morales took office, which has included oil, mining, telecommunications, and energy generation companies.
→ read full articleUS Patriot Missile Battery Crews Arrive in Turkey
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
5 Jan 2013 – A group of 27 US troops has arrived in Turkey to operate NATO Patriot surface-to-air (SAM) missile batteries. At least six of those will be deployed along the country’s border with Syria.
→ read full articleLatvia’s Economic Disaster as a Neoliberal Success Story – A Model for Europe and the US?
Jeffrey Sommers and Michael Hudson – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
Today’s most highly celebrated anti-labor success story is Latvia, where labor did not fight back, but simply emigrated politely and quietly. Latvia has a two-part tax on wages and social benefits that are near the highest in the world, while real estate taxes are well below US and EU averages. Meanwhile, capital gains are lightly taxed, and the country has become successful as a capital flight and tax avoidance haven for Russians and other post-Soviet kleptocrats that has permitted Latvia to “afford” de-industrialization, depopulation and de-socialization.
→ read full articleThe Power Principle – III: Apocalypse
Scott Noble, Metanoia Films – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
This documentary is about the foreign policy of the United States. It is the third of three parts that demonstrate the importance of the political economy, the Mafia principle, propaganda, ideology, violence and force. Featured in the films are Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti, John Stockwell, Christopher Simpson, Ralph McGehee, Philip Agee, [TRANSCEND member] Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, John Perkins, James Petras, John Stauber, Russ Baker, Howard Zinn, William Blum, Nancy Snow, William I. Robinson, Morris Berman, Peter Phillips, Michael Albert, and others.
→ read full articleEconomic Predictions for 2013
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
Since the time of Adam Smith, self-interest has been the mainspring of human economic activity. What is required today is a change of values, so that instead of being motivated by selfishness, people throughout the world will work for the common good.
→ read full article‘Tsunami Bomb’ Tested Off New Zealand Coast
Jonathan Pearlman – The Telegraph,
7 Jan 2013
The United States and New Zealand conducted secret tests of a “tsunami bomb” designed to destroy coastal cities by using underwater blasts to trigger massive tidal waves.
→ read full articleWhat’s at Stake in the Central African Republic?
Abayomi Azikiwe, editor - Pan-African News Wire,
7 Jan 2013
Neo-Colonial Intrigue, Minerals, Militarism and the Struggle for Sovereignty and Unity
→ read full articleFeel Better
TMS editor,
7 Jan 2013
Mary was having a tough day and had stretched herself out on the couch to do a bit of what she thought to be well-deserved complaining and self- pitying.
→ read full article