Articles by M
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Chinese Insider Offers Rare Glimpse of U.S.-China Frictions
Jane Perlez – The New York Times,
9 Apr 2012
China views the United States as a declining power, but at the same time believes that Washington is trying to fight back to undermine, and even disrupt, the economic and military growth that point to China’s becoming the world’s most powerful country, according to the analyst, Wang Jisi, the co-author of “Addressing U.S.-China Strategic Distrust.”
→ read full articleBlonde Paint Job
TMS Editor,
9 Apr 2012
A blonde, wanting to earn some money, decided to hire herself out as a handyman-type and started canvassing a wealthy neighborhood.
→ read full articleWhy Europe Is Not Yet ‘A Culture Of Peace’
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
It is undoubtedly true that the greatest unacknowledged achievement of the European Union (EU) is to establish ‘a culture of peace’ within its regional enclosure for the 68 years since 1944. This has meant not only the absence of war in Europe, but also the absence of ‘war talk,’ threats, crises, and sanctions, with the single important exception of the NATO War of 1999 that was part of the fallout from the breakup of former Yugoslavia.
→ read full articleWhat Do You Want USA, Up or Down?
Johan Galtung, 9 Apr 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
One wonders what the US political leaders want. The incumbent lives in this world, playing an ultra-realist game: extra-judicial executions in maybe 70 countries, drone attacks; minimizing US losses, maximizing direct hits at what he sees as the problem, concrete identified individuals, not concrete unidentified conflicts. He has neither the moral nor the intellectual courage to do that.
→ read full articleRang de Basanti (Colour My Saffron)
Sumeet Grover – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
In support of ‘people of Koodakulam’ whose voices and rights have been suppressed.
→ read full articleWith the Fall of Timbukutu, Is there an Azawad in Mali’s Future?
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
Timbuktu was once a metaphor for the middle of nowhere. Now it is in the middle of a struggle that has important implications for the whole Sahel zone that runs from Senegal to Sudan. Tuareg armed forces coming from further north have taken control of the key towns of northern Mali: Kidal, Gao, and Timbuktu, largely cutting the country in two.
→ read full articleEl Salvador’s Gang Truce
Mike Allison – Al Jazeera,
9 Apr 2012
A promising truce brokered by the Church that has reduced homicides by an average of 10 people per day should be upheld.
→ read full articleFinanciers and Sex Trafficking
Nicholas D. Kristof – The New York Times,
9 Apr 2012
The biggest forum for sex trafficking of under-age girls in the United States appears to be a Web site called Backpage.com. This emporium for girls and women — some under age or forced into prostitution — is in turn owned by an opaque private company called Village Voice Media. Until now it has been unclear who the ultimate owners are. That mystery is solved. The owners turn out to include private equity financiers, including Goldman Sachs with a 16 percent stake.
→ read full articleDestruction of Spain’s Economy Duplicates Greece
Jeff Nielson – Information Clearing House,
9 Apr 2012
More than two years ago I began warning readers of the most heinous acts of fraud ever perpetrated by the Western banking crime syndicate, which I dubbed “economic terrorism”. These swindles involved nothing less than the destruction of entire European economies, solely so that the banksters could profit on approximately $100 trillion in bets they had placed on the debts of these economies.
→ read full articleIs Portugal Hopeless?
Michael Marder – Al Jazeera,
9 Apr 2012
In the beginning of 2012, Michael Darda, chief economist at MKM Partners, dubbed the situation of Greece and Portugal “hopeless”. In support of his verdict, Darda cited high debt loads and poor prospects for growth in the two countries. The paradox of the current situation is that the European Union’s bailout package came with stipulations that, once implemented, will only worsen every fixable structural problem on the list.
→ read full articleFirst Marines in Australia as U.S. Ramps Up Asia-Pacific Focus
Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
About 200 U.S. Marines began a six month deployment in Australia on Wednesday [4 Apr 2012], in the first wave of a buildup of 2,500 troops due eventually to rotate through a de facto base in Darwin, as the U.S deepens its military presence in the Asia-Pacific.
→ read full articleWar Porn: The New Safe Sex
Pepe Escobar – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
The early 21st century is addicted to war porn, a prime spectator sport consumed by global couch and digital potatoes. Like porn, war porn cannot exist without being based on a lie – a crude representation. But unlike porn, war porn is the real thing; unlike crude, cheap snuff movies, people in war porn actually die – in droves. Iran is the new Iraq; and whatever the highway, to evoke the neo-con motto, real men go to Tehran via Damascus, or real men go to Tehran non-stop.
→ read full articleWhat Really Explains Thein Sein Regime’s Current Pursuit of ‘Ceasefire’ with the Karens while Killing the Kachins
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
Obviously, the Burmese generals and ex-generals have outsourced the business of “strategic peace” to its commercial elements – Burmese commercial interests. Investors from Norway, Germany, etc. are licking their lips while the locals do the foreplay with the ethnic virgin lands (and untapped resources).
→ read full articleTerrorism: Origins, Analysis & Resolution
TRANSCEND Member Prof. Charles Webel - TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
This course will focus on contemporary international terrorism, including the current “global war on terror.” It will familiarize students with contemporary theories and methods of understanding and preventing terrorism, focusing on international conflicts and conflict resolution.
→ read full articleBahraini Villagers Fear Effects of Tear Gas
Gregg Carlstrom – Al Jazeera,
9 Apr 2012
Many towns are blanketed nightly with the gas, raising fears of cancer and other long-term health problems.
→ read full articleA Prayer by Indians
S. P. Udayakumar – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
With Due Apologies to St. Francis, Reinhold Niebuhr and St. Patrick
Oh, Prime Ministerial Lord, make me a sports authority of your games;
where there is common, let me steal wealth;
where there is contract, commission;
where there is agreement, kickbacks; …
Austerity vs Solidarity: Democratic Legitimacy and Europe’s Future
Andrea Mammone – Al Jazeera,
9 Apr 2012
Across the EU, there is an outcry – including from economists – about the potential damaging effects of austerity plans.
→ read full articleText of Annan’s Six-Point Peace Plan for Syria
Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
The 15-member United Nations Security Council is expected to endorse a deadline agreed to by Syria for a military withdrawal by April 10 [2012] and a comprehensive ceasefire no more than 48 hours later with rebel forces. The ceasefire is the key part of special envoy Kofi Annan’s six-point peace plan, which was presented to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on March 10 and accepted by him on March 27.
→ read full articleNew Report Documents Systematic Abuse of Palestinian Children in Israeli Military Detention
Nora Barrows-Friedman, The Electronic Intifada – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
The United Nations (UN) estimates that during the last 44 years, around 726,000 Palestinian men, women and children have been prosecuted and detained under Israeli emergency military laws. In the past 11 years alone, around 7,500 children, some as young as 12 years, are estimated to have been detained, interrogated, and imprisoned within this system. This averages out at between 500-700 children per year, or nearly two children, each and every day.
→ read full articleThe Doctrine of Intervention
Manuela Picq – Al Jazeera,
9 Apr 2012
One does not think of archaic papal bulls when witnessing democratic states like Brazil or the United States building dams on Amazon rivers or drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean. Yet today’s political ethics are surprisingly similar to the doctrine of discovery set by the Vatican back in 1452.
→ read full articleAn Odious Affair: The UN in Somalia
Abdi Ismail Samatar – Al Jazeera,
9 Apr 2012
The organisation may destroy the country’s political autonomy if there is no immediate pro-Somali intervention. This brief essay examines the particular roles played by two UN agencies – the Monitoring Group for Somalia and Eritrea (MG) and the United Nations Special Representative (SR) – in the reproduction of the disaster in the country. These two agencies have separate mandates, but collectively they have been engaged in activities that undermine Somali efforts to rebuild the country.
→ read full articleSolidarity of BRICS
China Daily – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
The fourth BRICS summit, which concluded on Thursday [29 Mar 2012] in New Delhi, sent positive signals to the outside world that international stability, security and prosperity can be achieved if everyone pulls together. In the joint declaration issued by leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the five countries vowed to enhance cooperation among themselves and contribute to world development and prosperity.
→ read full articleArt of Resistance – Günter Grass
Gilad Atzmon – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
Outrage in Germany, Nobel Laureate Günter Grass has, once again told the truth about Israel being the greatest threat to world peace. Günter Grass, Germany’s most famous living author and the 1999 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, sparked outrage in Germany on Wednesday [4 Apr 2012] with the publication of a poem, “What must be said,” in which he sharply criticizes Israel’s offensive approach towards Iran.
→ read full articleThe South Challenges Globalization
Samir Amin – Pambazuka News,
9 Apr 2012
The increased strength of emerging countries of the South confronts the challenges of contemporary globalization.
→ read full article
A History Lesson: U.S. Intervention in Iran from 1953 Through 2010 (Video of the Week)
Antonio C. S. Rosa | Editor - TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
This video gives a basic overview of the history of the U.S. policies regarding Iran that began at the behest of the British Government and big oil interests including British Petroleum (later renamed BP).
→ read full articlePower of 5
Shobhan Saxena – The Times of India,
9 Apr 2012
A few stock questions later, the [World] Bank chief [Robert Zoellick] turned his attention to the proposed BRICS bank. “It’s a complicated venture which will have a hard time getting off the ground and match the expertise of the World Bank,” Zoellick said.
→ read full articleDiscrimination in Russia: Arrests for Violation of St. Petersburg Anti-Gay Law
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
In St. Petersburg, Russia, two men were arrested on Thursday [5 Apr 2012] for holding up a sign reading “Homosexuality Is Normal.” It marks the first arrests on the strength of the city’s new law against disseminating information on homosexuality.
→ read full articleArab League a Divided House
Dr. Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
The old regional organizations Arab League (formed in 1945) has shown all weakness of a broken house with members failing to take coordinated position on any of the raging international issues. A simple juxtaposition of the Arab League summit with the BRICS summit, held on the same date, 29 March 2012, brings stark contrast how coordination in one part of the world is failing acutely, while the rise of BRICS in global arena is a foregone conclusion.
→ read full articleAfghanistan Chronicles: Near Ground Zero and in Af-Pak Region, Two Labyrinths (Part 6)
Suzanne Bauman & Jim Burroughs - Truthout,
9 Apr 2012
Violence continued for years, until the Pashtuns finally agreed to accept Muslim Pakistan over Hindu India – but only after making it perfectly clear to Islamabad that their territory, the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP), would be managed completely by the Pashtun people themselves. No Pakistani Punjabi police or military in the NWFP! Pakistan agreed, and since that time has never attempted to control the region – no matter what President Musharraf claimed to be doing in his supposed quest to eliminate al-Qaeda after the attack on America on September 11, 2001.
→ read full articleTweeter, Tweeter, Little Star: How I Wonder What You Are
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
Produced in a period when use of Twitter has become ever more significant in political processes and democratic protest.
→ read full articleLinks between Poverty and War
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
There are several relationships between intolerable economic inequality and war. Today 2.7 billion people live on less than $2 a day – 1.1 billion on less than $1 per day. 18 million of our fellow humans die each year from poverty-related causes. In 2006, 1.1 billion people lacked safe drinking water, and waterbourne diseases killed an estimated 1.8 million people. Meanwhile, in 2011, world military budgets reached a total of $2,157,172,000,000 dollars (i.e. 2.157 million million dollars).
→ read full articleFukushima Radiation Tracked Across Pacific Ocean
Jesse Emspak, LiveScience – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
Radioactive material from the Fukushima nuclear disaster has been found in tiny sea creatures and ocean water some 186 miles (300 kilometers) off the coast of Japan, revealing the extent of the release and the direction pollutants might take in a future environmental disaster. With these results, detailed today (April 2, 2012) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team estimates it will take at least a year or two for the radioactive material released at Fukushima to get across the Pacific Ocean.
→ read full articleGeorge Galloway: Why I Won’t Condemn Attacks on UK Soldiers in Afghanistan
StoptheWarCoalition – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
George Galloway, interviewed after his sensational election victory to become MP for Bradford West, responds to the question, “Do you condemn those attacking British soldiers in Afghanistan?”
→ read full articlePedagogy and Revolution
Socialist Worker – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
In the name of “solving” the crisis in education, the so-called school “reformers” are pushing solutions that scapegoat teachers and vilify their unions. In a chapter on “Pedagogy and Revolution: Reading Freire in Context,” Adrienne Johnstone and Elizabeth Terzakis examine the legacy of the Brazilian educator and theorist Paulo Freire, and what it contributes to our struggles today.
→ read full articleMaking Sense of Egypt – Part Two: A Partial Anatomy of Insecurity
Ahmed Badawi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
The role of SCAF, the Ministry of Interior, and other “strategic groups” in undermining the revolution and Egyptians’ sense of security.
→ read full articleUnderstanding the Sanusi of Cyrenaica: How to Avoid a Civil War in Libya
Akbar Ahmed and Frankie Martin – Al Jazeera,
2 Apr 2012
Emerging from the nightmare of dictatorship, Libya has a new challenge – to fully accommodate its own people. This article is the seventh in a series by Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, a former Pakistani high commissioner to the UK, exploring how a litany of volatile centre/periphery conflicts with deep historical roots were interpreted after 9/11 in the new global paradigm of anti-terrorism – with profound and often violent consequences.
→ read full articleFrom Privatisation to Corporatisation of Water
Jørgen Eiken Magdahl – Association for International Water Studies-FIVAS,
2 Apr 2012
There has been a development and shift away from privatisation as the dominant strategy towards the so-called corporatisation and commercialisation of public water services. The main purpose of this report is to analyse the strategic development in policy that has taken place, the World Bank’s neoliberal strategy on corporatisation of urban water services and concrete case studies of corporatisation projects in Sub-Saharan Africa as examples of this strategy.
→ read full articleWho Is Jim Yong Kim, Nominee For World Bank President?
Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke – The Christian Science Monitor,
2 Apr 2012
23 Mar 2012 – The selection of Jim Yong Kim took many by surprise since he is not well known in Washington circles and wasn’t an expected candidate for the World Bank position. President Barack Obama has nominated Jim Yong Kim, a global health policy expert and the president of Dartmouth College, to run the World Bank.
→ read full articleMedia Blackout of the Ongoing Nonviolent Protest at Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
The nonviolent struggle by the 10,000-strong People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) to stop construction of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant in India is proving to be a best kept secret as not a word is said or written by the corporate, alternative, Internet or traditional western media to date. Why is that? Some background information (from PMANE):
→ read full article
Germany and Europe’s Path to the 19th Century (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Paul Jay, The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Francisco Louçã: European elite wants to undo the “social contract”; Germany wants more control.
→ read full articleObama’s Nuclear Disarmament Hoax
Peter Symonds – World Socialist Web Site,
2 Apr 2012
This week’s [26 Mar 2012] gathering of world leaders at the Nuclear Security Summit in South Korea was the occasion for a great deal of cynical posturing about nuclear disarmament and world peace. What is under way is not nuclear disarmament, but an arms race. The key index of this new build up is not the absolute number of nuclear warheads, but the sophistication of the delivery systems and their ability to evade detection and defensive measures.
→ read full articleJournalist Seeking Truth about Khmer Rouge ‘Fears for His Life’
Kate Hodal in Phnom Penh – The Guardian,
2 Apr 2012
Award-winning film-maker Thet Sambath says he has been followed, harassed and chased during his research.
→ read full articleRadiation at Fukushima Plant at Lethal Levels
Minoru Matsutani – Japan Times,
2 Apr 2012
Radiation inside the reactor 2 containment vessel at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has reached a lethal 73 sieverts per hour and any attempt to send robots in will require them to have greater resistance than currently available, experts said Wednesday [28 Mar 2012]. Exposure to 73 sieverts for a minute would cause nausea and seven minutes would cause death within a month , Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.
→ read full articleSupport Indian Protesters – Stop Kudankulam!
Antonio C. S. Rosa, TMS Editor,
2 Apr 2012
On March 19, 2012, the Indian government gave approval for operation of two Russian-designed nuclear reactors at Kudankulam in southern India. These reactors have been under construction since 1988 and are obsolete before they even start up. Three million people live within 30 kilometers (18 miles) of these reactors, some less than a half-mile away. We are asking everyone, from every country, to take action. PLEASE SIGN THE LETTER ONLINE TO THE INDIAN PRIME MINISTER. Thank you.
→ read full articleEmpires Then and Now
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Great empires, such as the Roman and British, were extractive. The empires succeeded because the value of the resources and wealth extracted from conquered lands exceeded the value of conquest and governance. In his book, The Rule of Empires (2010), Timothy H. Parsons wonders whether America’s is really an empire. After eight years in Iraq, all Washington has for its efforts is several trillion dollars of additional debt and no Iraqi oil. After ten years of trillion dollar struggle against the Taliban in Afghanistan, Washington has nothing to show for it except possibly some part of the drug trade that can be used to fund covert CIA operations.
→ read full article
Bunker Roy: Learning From a Barefoot Movement
TED Talks – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
In Rajasthan, India, an extraordinary school teaches rural women and men — many of them illiterate — to become solar engineers, artisans, dentists and doctors in their own villages. It’s called the Barefoot College, and its founder, Bunker Roy, explains how it works.
→ read full articleUS’ Human Rights Violations
Eric Sommer - China Daily,
2 Apr 2012
US media and political figures constantly attack China for alleged human rights violations, while conveniently turning a blind eye to human rights violations perpetrated by the United States in the name of its war on terror, for instance the use of torture at Abu Ghraib, the illegal detention of suspects at Guantanamo, the apprehension and extrajudicial transfer of individuals from one state to another, and the unauthorized surveillance of citizens are just some the US’ well-documented human rights abuses.
→ read full articleA Boy to Be Sacrificed
Abdellah Taïa – The New York Times,
2 Apr 2012
I began by keeping my head low all the time. I cut all ties with the children in the neighborhood. I altered my behavior. I kept myself in check: no more feminine gestures, no more honeyed voice, no more hanging around women. No more anything. I had to invent a whole new Abdellah. I bent myself to the task with great determination, and with the realization that this world was no longer my world. Sooner or later, I would leave it behind. I would grow up and find freedom somewhere else. But in the meantime I would become hard. Very hard.
→ read full articleHow Should the Elections in Burma Be Understood?
Dr. Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Do Sunday’s elections in Burma matter? Yes and No. In terms of who controls the real levers of power absolutely nothing will change. What may be significant is that the electorate is being excited about having a formal political process where there can openly debate the regime’s failed policies, talk about the dismal state of the affairs, openly express their support for Aung San Suu Kyi and what she and dissident colleagues stand for, and shed their fear of the regime.
→ read full articlePartnership for Change Conference 2012: Dignity and Empowerment
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Ending rape and sexual violence is a huge challenge to us all, but it can be done if we join in partnership and cooperation, and use a multi-faceted approach to transforming a culture of rape and sexual violence into a culture of nonkilling, nonviolence and respect for life and human dignity.
→ read full articleHana Shalabi’s Hunger Strike Has Ended, but Not Her Punishment
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
As with Khader Adnan, Israel supposedly compromised with Hana Shalabi on the 43rd day of her hunger strike in protest against administrative detention and her abysmal treatment. But Israel’s concept of ‘compromise’ if considered becomes indistinguishable from the imposition of a further ‘vindictive punishment.’
→ read full articleThe Politics of Science and Democracy in India
Vandana Shiva – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
In an interview with the journal Science, Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh chose to focus on two hazardous technologies – genetically engineered seeds and crops, and nuclear power – as vital to the progress of science in India and the “salvation for finding new development pathways for developing our economy”. He also identified NGOs as blocking this “development”, and said “foreign hands” were at work. The prime minister’s interview saddened me.
→ read full articleFor Nuclear Security beyond Seoul, Eradicate Land-Based ‘Doomsday’ Missiles
David Krieger and Daniel Ellsberg – The Christian Science Monitor,
2 Apr 2012
America’s 450 launch-ready land-based nuclear-armed ballistic missiles are the opposite of a deterrent to attack. In fact, their very deployment has the potential to launch World War III and precipitate human extinction – as a result of a false alarm. We’re not exaggerating.
→ read full articleFighting Fire in Haiti
Alexis Erkert – Toward Freedom,
2 Apr 2012
Camp Kozbami is the fifth camp to be arsoned in two months. As landowners and the government push to close camps inhabited by those displaced by the earthquake that rocked Haiti 26 months ago, a reported 94,632 individuals are facing forced eviction. Residents of the 660 displacement camps scattered throughout the Port-au-Prince area are experiencing increasing levels of threats and violence.
→ read full articleIsrael Cuts Ties With UN Human Rights Body
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Israel has said it has severed contacts with the UN Human Rights Council after the group’s launch last week of an international investigation into Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The decision, announced by a foreign ministry spokesman on Monday [26 Mar 2012], meant that the fact-finding team the council planned to send to the West Bank will not be allowed to enter the territory or Israel, said spokesman Yigal Palmor.
→ read full articlePortuguese Seek Future in Mozambique
Andrew England in Maputo – The Financial Times,
2 Apr 2012
How Portuguese people are fleeing their homeland in search of economic opportunities in Mozambique. The paper estimates that there are 20,000 Portuguese in Maputo with the number of people registering at the Portuguese consulate up by 10 per cent in recent years.
→ read full articleThe Reason I’m Helping Chris Hedges’ Lawsuit against the NDAA
Naomi Wolf – The Guardian,
2 Apr 2012
By placing journalists in jeopardy for reporting on ‘terrorists’, the Homeland Battlefield Bill has had a chilling effect on media work and upon my ability to investigate and document matters of national controversy that would ordinarily be subject to my professional inquiry. It has therefore prevented my readers from receiving the full spectrum of truthful reporting which, in a functioning democracy, they have a right to expect.
→ read full article
Banking “Technocrats” Undermine Democracy
Paul Jay, The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Gerry Epstein: In Europe and the US, bankers take control of the political process.
→ read full article(Portuguese) BRICS Criam Novo Modelo de Ajuda a Países Pobres, Diz Relatório
Iracema Sodré - BBC Brasil,
2 Apr 2012
Os países que formam o grupo BRICS – Brasil, Rússia, Índia, China e África do Sul – aumentaram sua participação em ajuda a nações pobres em um ritmo dez vezes maior que o do G7 (Estados Unidos, Japão, Alemanha, Reino Unido ,França, Itália e Canadá) entre 2005 e 2010, e estão criando novos modelos para a cooperação internacional, segundo dados de um relatório divulgado nesta segunda-feira [26 mar 2012], em Nova Déli, na Índia.
→ read full article(Italian) A Vittorio. Per Vittorio
Silvia Berruto – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Per Vik. A Vik. “Gaza-Restiamo Umani diventerà sempre più un documento storico, piuttosto che essere una semplice narrazione dall’inferno” — Vittorio Arrigoni
Il 20 marzo 2009 su guerrilla radio Vik annuncia la pubblicazione di “Stay Human”.
The Burial Of Our Species – The Roads Leading to Disaster
Fidel Castro Ruz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Almost 200 States, supposedly independent, constitute the political organization which in theory has the job of governing the destiny of the world. Approximately 25,000 nuclear weapons in the hands of allied or enemy forces ready to defend the changing order, by interest or necessity, virtually reduce to zero the rights of billions of people. I shall not commit the naïveté of assigning the blame to Russia or China for the development of that kind of weaponry, after the monstrous massacre at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ordered by Truman after Roosvelt’s death.
→ read full articleGifts
TMS Editor,
2 Apr 2012
It was Thursday evening and Bob was in trouble. He forgot his wedding anniversary. His wife was really mad.
→ read full articleChiquita Banana to Face Colombia Torture Claim
Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Chiquita, the global banana producer, was ordered this week to face a federal court over their role in paying off right wing death squads in Colombia. Villagers allege that the death squads used “random and targeted violence in exchange for financial assistance and access to Chiquita’s private port for arms and drug smuggling,” according to a lawsuit filed on their behalf by EarthRights International and Cohen Milstein.
→ read full articleBirthing Justice: Women Creating Economic and Social Alternatives
Beverly Bell and Other Worlds – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
From Idla Martines de Souza organizing with the Landless Workers Movement in Brazil, to Emem Okon building peace in middle of a resource war in Nigeria, to Juana Ferrer and Via Campesina turning towards food sovereignty to end gender violence, each of these women have important wisdom and vision to share with us all. Birthing Justice is dedicated to women everywhere who are creating a more just and humane world, especially those doing so in the face of physical and structural violence, and most especially those in Haiti and Honduras.
→ read full articleWhy Germany Is Phasing Out Nuclear Power
David Roberts, grist – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
The most controversial aspect of this power overhaul is Germany’s post-Fukushima decision to completely phase out nuclear power by 2020, which caused the heads of Very Serious People to explode on multiple continents. To many, passing ambitious low-carbon energy goals and then axing a good chunk of your low-carbon energy seems irrational and self-defeating.
→ read full articleLiving with Incomprehension and Uncertainty: Re-Cognizing the Varieties of Non-Comprehension and Misunderstanding
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
Produced In a Period When Sustained Incomprehension May Well Enable World War III – This follows from explorations of the experience of nothingness and pointlessness in daily life — especially as a consequence of the current pattern of global strategies (Configuring the Varieties of Experiential Nothingness, 2012; Way Round Cognitive Ground Zero and Pointlessness? 2012). The experience may well be intimately related to a sense of incomprehension at the paradoxes and absurdities of life, irrespective of how well-informed an individual may be.
→ read full articleTowards the Dynamic Art of Partial Comprehension
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
Annex B of ‘Living with Incomprehension and Uncertainty’ (2012) – Shared binary commitment: Curiously, and as illustrated by Catholic commentary on the Galileo Affair (above), science and religion share a profound commitment to binary logic. This takes the form of truth/falsehood, right/wrong, correct/incorrect, believer/nonbeliever, etc — as variously interpreted. Shades of gray are condemned. This commitment is evident in the military operations they variously reinforce — in the distinction between friend/enemy, or victory/defeat, and the very nature of launching missiles against targets. As profit/loss, the latter pattern permeates commercial marketing and foreign policy, as previously discussed (Us and Them: Relating to Challenging Others, 2009; Enhancing Sustainable Development Strategies through Avoidance of Military Metaphors, 1998; ).
→ read full articleThe Face of the Crisis – And Alternatives
Johan Galtung, 26 Mar 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
The trade in derivatives is now at $1 quadrillion a year (15 zeros), ten times the industrial economy of the whole 20th century. Many got rich, but the system collapsed. Maybe prison would have been more adequate for intellectual sloppiness? That equation is a part of the closed paradigm of economism. Does it offer a solution, not only for banks and bankers, but for the bottom 99.9%? The 0.1%/99.9% income ratio USA 2007 was 140; an unbelievable inequality, both cause and effect of the crisis.
→ read full articleThe Nonviolent Protest at Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant
SP Udayakumar & Antonio C. S. Rosa,
26 Mar 2012
Johan Galtung, the TRANSCEND Network membership, and we at TRANSCEND Media Service wish to assert our full support and express our sympathy to SP Udayakumar, one of the TRANSCEND Conveners for South Asia, and the thousands of his compatriots engaged on a 8-month old nonviolent struggle in opposition to a nuclear power plant in their backyard since the 1980s, and which has now reached the limits of their tolerance and acceptance.
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Hans Blix: The Iranian Threat (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Talk to Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
The former UN Weapons inspector talks about Iran and how to prevent a nuclear arms race and military crisis in the Middle East.
→ read full articleWhy Barack Obama is the More Effective Evil
Glen Ford – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
No matter how much evil Barack Obama actually accomplishes during his presidency, people that call themselves leftists insist on dubbing him the Lesser Evil. Not only is Obama not given proper credit for out-evil-ing George Bush, domestically and internationally, but the First Black President is awarded positive grades for his intentions versus the presumed intentions of Republicans. As the author says, this “is psycho-babble, not analysis. No real Left would engage in it.”
→ read full articleAlgerian Dissident Silenced By France
Yasmine Ryan – Al Jazeera,
26 Mar 2012
The arrest by French authorities of Mourad Dhina, one of the most vocal critics of Algeria’s administration, underscores just how little has changed in the North African country.
[TMS Editor’s Note: Dr. Mourad Dhina and RACHAD TV are close associates of TRANSCEND, of which Dr. Abbas Aroua is the Convener for the Arab World. Prof. Johan Galtung has granted many interviews to RACHAD TV over the years. He and TRANSCEND would never get involved with terrorists. Such accusations against Dr. Dhina are ludicrous. Please see Prof. Galtung’s Feb 6, 2012 TMS Editorial about Dr. Dhina HERE –Antonio C. S. Rosa]
From the Roots to the Fruit: Nonviolence in Action Conference
TRANSCEND Member Ela Gandhi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
In 1994 South African regime transformed from a racially based oppressive regime to a democratically elected inclusive regime. This happened through hard-nosed negotiations between the various interest groups. It was proclaimed to be a miracle. It was nonviolence in action largely driven by the African National Congress and its formidable leadership, led by Nelson Mandela.
→ read full articleAl Jazeera Journalist Explains Resignation over Syria and Bahrain Coverage
Paul Jay, The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
Ali Hashem: Al Jazeera has become a “media war machine” and is “committing journalistic suicide”.
→ read full articleWhy the UN Acts to Hold Sri Lanka Accountable for War Crimes
J.S. Tissainayagam - GlobalPost,
26 Mar 2012
A few incidents that have led to commentators voicing doubts on the impartiality of the UN’s role in Sri Lanka.
→ read full articleWhy Not Get the Law and Politics Right in Iran?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
As it is there is no legal foundation in the Nonproliferation Treaty or elsewhere for the present reliance on threat diplomacy in dealing with Iran. These threats violate Article 2(4) of the UN Charter that wisely prohibits not only uses of force but also threats to use force. Iran diplomacy presents an odd case, as political real politik and international law clearly point away from the military option, and yet the winds of war are blowing ever harder.
→ read full articleWhy Do We Protest the NATO Summit?
Buddy Bell, Voices for Creative Nonviolence – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
After the end of World War II, a group of nations in the north Atlantic established NATO to impede Russian influence over the reconstruction of Europe and to facilitate their own. After the Cold War ended, the U.S. rebranded NATO and extended its mandate as a defender of liberty in regions beyond the north Atlantic. Seeing military action as a suitable solution to various global conflicts, it has had the effect of sowing discord and violence instead of alleviating these problems.
→ read full articleU.S. Government Still Not Ready for Democracy in Haiti
Mark Weisbrot – The Guardian,
26 Mar 2012
Haitians were ready again in 2000 when they elected Aristide a second time with 90 percent of the vote. But Washington would not accept the results of that election either, so it organized a cut-off of international aid to the government and poured millions into the opposition. As Paul Farmer (Bill Clinton’s Deputy Special Envoy of the UN to Haiti) testified to the U.S. Congress in 2010: “Choking off assistance for development and for the provision of basic services also choked off oxygen to the government, which was the intention all along: to dislodge the Aristide administration.”
→ read full articleThousands of Anti-Nuclear Protesters Face Police in India: 212 Arrested, 15 on Hunger Strike
Jeemon Jacob – Tehelka,
26 Mar 2012
21 Mar 2012 – People’s Movement against Nuclear Energy activists continue indefinite hunger strike even as police arrest 212 protesters. According to Dr SP Udaykumar [the TRANSCEND Network Convener for South Asia], from People’s Movement against Nuclear Energy, who is on a indefinite hunger strike, around 5000 people assembled at the St Lourdes Church ground since Monday [19 Mar 2012]. “We, eight men and seven women, are on an indefinite hunger strike. The green signal for Koodankulam is a red signal for our lives. We will continue our protest till we die,” said Udayakumar.
→ read full articleBack to Child Labor and Slavery?
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
Until the start of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries, human society maintained a more or less sustainable relationship with nature. However, with the beginning of the industrial era, traditional ways of life, containing both ethical and environmental elements, were replaced by the money-centered, growth-oriented life of today, from which these vital elements are missing.
→ read full articleChanging the Story in the Middle East
Philip Giraldi, The Passionate Attachment – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
I’m sure that many have noted how successful Israel and its friends are at shifting the narrative. Palestinian statehood was made a non-issue by ignoring it in the media and concentrating instead on the largely fictitious threat being posed by Iran. The purpose of the chaff being thrown around by Israel is to preclude any serious discussion of what is going on in the West Bank, where settlements continue to expand inexorably.
→ read full articleNo One Asked Their Names
Qais Azimy – Al Jazeera,
26 Mar 2012
Many mainstream media outlets channelled a significant amount of energy into uncovering the slightest detail about the accused soldier – now identified as Staff Sergeant Robert Bales. We even know where his wife wanted to go for vacation. But the victims became a footnote, just the number 16. No one bothered to ask their ages, their hobbies, their aspirations. Worst of all, no one bothered to ask their names. In honoring their memory, I write their names below, and the little we know about them: that nine of them were children, three were women.
→ read full articleCaptured Europe
Simon Johnson and Daron Acemoglu – Project Syndicate,
26 Mar 2012
The Greek default has turned out to be the proverbial dog that didn’t bark. The lesson for Europe – and for the US – is clear: it is time to stop listening to what banks say, and start focusing on what they do.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Comércio Mundial de Armas Cresceu 24% nos Últimos 5 Anos, Aponta Estudo
BBC Brasil – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
O comércio internacional de armas aumentou substancialmente nos últimos cinco anos, segundo um relatório divulgado nesta segunda-feira [19 Mar 2012] pelo Instituto de Pesquisas para a Paz de Estocolmo (Sipri, na sigla em inglês).
→ read full articleWinter of Crisis Killing the Elderly in Portugal
Mario Queiroz – Inter Press Service-IPS,
26 Mar 2012
The General Directorate of Health (DGS) reported that 11,600 people died in February, 1,600 more than in the same month in previous years. Most of the victims were over 75. Public health experts say the record number of deaths is associated with the economic crisis and the draconian cuts in public spending made as a condition for the multi-billion dollar bailout of Portugal in 2011. Free access to public health services, one of the major achievements of the Apr. 25, 1974 “Carnation Revolution” that ushered in democracy after a 48-year dictatorship, is in danger.
→ read full articleMaking Sense of Egypt – Part One: In Defence of Conspiracy as a Method
Ahmed Badawi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
An analysis of the football violence that happened in Port Said at the beginning of February 2012 and a defence of conspiracy as a method of explanation.
→ read full articleRussia-NATO Summit Cancelled
Itar-Tass – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
The Russia-NATO summit has stalled, the Kommersant daily reported. Experts noted that the decision to cancel a May [2012] meeting between Vladimir Putin and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is linked with the disagreement over the vital issue, the missile defence system in Europe.
→ read full articleSharp Increase in Palestinian Deaths in 2011
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
An annual report from the Jerusalem-based B’Tselem showed that in 2011 Israeli security forces killed a total of 105 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, of whom 37 were confirmed as non-combatants. “The picture is harsh, not because of dramatic events or a sudden deterioration, but precisely because of the routine,” the report said.
→ read full articleProject Brings Peace Journalism to Uganda
Steven Youngblood, Peace Portal – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
As I taught Peace Journalism in Uganda for five weeks in 2009, I kept hearing from the journalists in my seminars that they liked and needed what I was teaching. However, they emphasized that Uganda needed many more peace journalism lessons. At their urging we put together a proposal for a comprehensive Peace, Development, and Electoral Journalism project for 2010-2011. It’s our hope that this model can replicated elsewhere, since it proved to be such a powerful tool for peace and reconciliation in Uganda.
→ read full articleFrance Bans Strain of Monsanto GM Maize
Agence France Press-AFP – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
French Agricultural Minister Bruno Le Maire imposed Friday [16 Mar 2012] a temporary ban on a genetically modified strain of maize made by US company Monsanto “to protect the environment”. The French agriculture ministry said in a statement that the Monsanto maize strain MON 810 had been banned as a “precautionary measure”.
→ read full articleBRICS Bank Could Change the Money Game
Kester Kenn Klomegah – Inter Press Service-IPS,
26 Mar 2012
India’s proposal to set up a bank of the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will top the agenda at the summit of the group in New Delhi Mar 28 2012. “Basically India, China and perhaps Russia are trying to show off their economic clout; they are trying to demonstrate to the west that they can do without them. Above all they need freedom from western financial influence.”
→ read full articleRedefining Research
Jenica Rhee & Associates – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
After 244 years, the Encyclopedia Britannica has decided to halt the presses and go out of print. Facing the realities and the stiff competition from Wikipedia, the Encyclopedia Britannica will now focus primarily on their online services. But even then, it might be too late. Wikipedia has grown to be the number one source for students. This infographic highlights how Wikipedia has revolutionized research and how it has become a reliable fountain of knowledge.
→ read full articleReconciliation Is Not Happening In Sri Lanka, and the Problem Isn’t a Question of Time
Sivakami Rajamanoharan – Open Democracy,
26 Mar 2012
The Tamil call for independent statehood stemmed from a very basic need for security against genocide. For many, including the next generation of Tamil youth activists, the events of 2009 consolidated this need.
→ read full articleThe Ordeal of Hana Shalabi: Medical Urgency and Spiritual Defiance
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
The respected human rights NGOs, Addameer-Palestine and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, have expressed their deep concern for the mortal danger facing Hana Shalabi who continues her historic hunger strike to protest abuse that she experienced and her objections to the Israeli practice of prolonged detention without charges, without trial.
→ read full articleThe Criminalization of Homosexuality in Cameroon Violates International Human Rights Laws
Jean Atabong Fomeni – Kimpa Vita Press,
26 Mar 2012
The term ‘wrong’ is largely ambiguous, encompassing both civil and criminal wrongs. We talk of civil wrong where there is a tortuous liability; for example, the breach of contract. This paper, however, shall limit itself within the purview of criminal wrongs, the category of wrongs where homosexuality resides.
→ read full articleCows
TMS Editor,
26 Mar 2012
“Mister, why doesn’t this cow have any horns?” asked the young lady from a nearby city.
→ read full articleThe Global March to Jerusalem – March 30, 2012
Global Research – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
The Global March to Jerusalem (GMJ) is a groundbreaking new initiative that is organising non-violent civil resistance on 30th March 2012 in Palestine and the four neighbouring countries: Egypt, Lebanon Jordan and Syria. The GMJ is comprised of a diverse coalition of Palestinian, Arab and international activists who are united in the struggle to liberate the holy city of Jerusalem (the city of Peace) from illegal Zionist occupation.
→ read full article(Portuguese) A Guerra Suja Contra a WikiLeaks
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
As difamações dos média sugerem a cumplicidade da Suécia com um esforço impulsionado por Washington para punir Julian Assange.
→ read full article(Italian) Libia Un Anno Fa: Memoria Corta
Manlio Dinucci – Centro Studi Sereno Regis,
26 Mar 2012
Uno degli effetti delle armi di distrazione di massa è quello di cancellare la memoria di fatti anche recenti, facendone perdere le tracce. È passato così sotto silenzio il fatto che un anno fa, il 19 marzo [2011], iniziava il bombardamento aeronavale della Libia, formalmente «per proteggere i civili». In sette mesi, l’aviazione Usa/Nato effettuava 30mila missioni, di cui 10mila di attacco, con impiego di oltre 40mila bombe e missili.
→ read full article(Castellano) México DF Abole las Corridas de Toros
Asociación Animalista Libera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
Tenemos el placer de informaros de que hace apenas unos minutos, la Comisión de Administración Pública del Distrito Federal (México) acaba de aprobar la iniciativa para abolir las corridas de toros, ciudad donde se encuentra la plaza más grande del mundo.
→ read full article