Articles by M
We found 36064 results.
Limits to Growth and Fractional Reserve Banking
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
Economists (with a few notable exceptions) have long behaved as though growth were synonymous with economic health. If the gross national product increases steadily most economists express approval and say that the economy is healthy. If the growth rate should fall, economic illness would be diagnosed. However, it is obvious that on a finite Earth, neither population growth nor economic growth can continue indefinitely.
→ read full articleThe Best Information Is Quantum Information
Joseph Emerson – Al Jazeera,
27 Feb 2012
Quantum computing could revolutionise the field of cryptography, with major implications for privacy and security.
→ read full articleJapan’s Spiritual Crisis
Johan Galtung, 27 Feb 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
This author published with Ikuro Anzai, ‘Nippon wa Kikikan’, Is Japan in a Crisis? And the answer was yes, a spiritual crisis. Japan sold its soul to Washington, and is left in a spiritual vacuum; neither US nor Japan. Walking through the marvelous bullet train, Shinkansen, only sad, grey, tired faces; no laughter, no enhancing conversation seen or heard.
→ read full article
ACTA Blueprint for a Global Takeover of the Internet (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
occupyvancouvermedia – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
ACTA – The Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is yet another treaty being developed by the global elite in an attempt to censor the internet and block the free flow of information.
→ read full articleBan Ki-moon Hails Latin American Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone on 45th Anniversary
UN News Centre- TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
14 February 2012 – On the 45th anniversary of the treaty that created a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Latin America and the Caribbean, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today hailed the pact as an example of how regional initiatives can advance global norms on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and the peaceful use of atomic energy.
→ read full articleIcelandic Anger Brings Debt Forgiveness in Best Recovery Story
Omar R. Valdimarsson - Bloomberg,
27 Feb 2012
Since the end of 2008, the island’s banks have forgiven loans equivalent to 13 percent of gross domestic product, easing the debt burdens of more than a quarter of the population, according to a report published this month by the Icelandic Financial Services Association. “You could safely say that Iceland holds the world record in household debt relief,” said Lars Christensen, chief emerging markets economist at Danske Bank A/S in Copenhagen. “Iceland followed the textbook example of what is required in a crisis. Any economist would agree with that.”
→ read full articleSaving Khader Adnan’s Life and Legacy
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
It is a great relief to those millions around the world who were moved to prayer and action by Khader Adnan’s extraordinary hunger strike of 66 days that has ended due to Israel’s agreement to release him on April 17 [2012].
→ read full articleThe European Union and the Rhetoric of Immaturity
Michael Marder – Al Jazeera,
27 Feb 2012
The tendency to infantalise select member states is in line with their animalisation, evident in the insulting abbreviation of Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain in the word PIGS, neither as human nor as rational as the rest of the EU countries. Throughout Western philosophy, both children and animals, with their capricious wills, have been considered deficient from the standpoint of fully developed rational adults and, hence, in need of training, education, and disciplining.
→ read full articlePain Without Gain
Paul Krugman, Nobel Economics laureate – The New York Times,
27 Feb 2012
Last week the European Commission confirmed what everyone suspected: the economies it surveys are shrinking, not growing. It’s not an official recession yet, but the only real question is how deep the downturn will be. Look, I understand why influential people are reluctant to admit that policy ideas they thought reflected deep wisdom actually amounted to utter, destructive folly. But it’s time to put delusional beliefs about the virtues of austerity in a depressed economy behind us.
→ read full articleBP Goes to Court
Dahr Jamail – Al Jazeera,
27 Feb 2012
The largest environmental trial in US history begins February 27 [2012], as BP is sued for its 2010 oil spill disaster.
→ read full articleGreece: The Epicenter of Global Pillage
Stephen Lendman – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
Predatory bankers make serial killers look good by comparison. Their business model creates crises to facilitate grand theft, financial terrorism, and debt entrapment. They steal all material wealth and then some, and systematically rob investors and strip mine economies for self-enrichment. They demand they get paid first and hold nations hostage to assure it, turn crises into catastrophes and leave mass impoverishment, high unemployment, neo-serfdom, and human wreckage in their wake.
→ read full articleForgetting the Past, One Military Movie at a Time
David Sirota – In These Times,
27 Feb 2012
When the entertainment industry gets in bed with the Pentagon, censorship is inevitable.
→ read full articleTop Social Media Websites Caught Censoring Controversial Content
Washington’s Blog – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
Facebook pays low-wage foreign workers to delete certain content based upon a censorship list. For example, it deletes accounts created by Palestinian resistance groups. Digg was caught censoring stories which were controversial or too critical of the government. See this and this. Now, even social media site Reddit – which helped launch the anti-Sopa Internet blackout and publicize GoDaddy’s slimy Sopa support – is doing the same thing.
→ read full articleBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement: The Power of the People at Work
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom,
27 Feb 2012
The issue is not about hummus, chocolate bars or Dead Sea vacations. It is about civil society taking full responsibility for its own actions (or lack of). The issue is not exactly about Israeli products either, but rather about how even a seemingly innocent decision like buying Israeli dates may enable the continued subjugation of the Palestinian people.
→ read full articleHappy Savages
Robert Koehler – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
“John is a savage, but a happy, amenable savage.” Thus intones the voice on a ’50s-era newsreel clip in the documentary, showing footage of seven male Marshall Islanders who have been brought to the United States for radiation testing. “John is mayor of Rongelap Atoll. John reads, knows about God and is a pretty good mayor.” The film does a stunning job juxtaposing examples of our smug ignorance of South Sea culture with the reality of what we did to it. John the happy savage is actually John Anjain, who is one of many former residents of Rongelap Atoll interviewed in the film. He talks about his thyroid cancer, the thyroid cancer of three of his children and one grandson, and about the death of another son from leukemia.
→ read full article“Losing” the World: American Decline in Perspective (Part 1)
Noam Chomsky - TomDispatch,
20 Feb 2012
Significant anniversaries are solemnly commemorated — Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, for example. Others are ignored. At the moment, we are failing to commemorate the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s decision to launch the most destructive and murderous act of aggression of the post-World War II period: the invasion of South Vietnam. The threat of socialist democracy in Chile was ended on another forgotten date, what Latin Americans call “the first 9/11,” which in violence and bitter effects far exceeded the 9/11 commemorated in the West.
→ read full articleThe Imperial Way: American Decline in Perspective (Part 2)
Noam Chomsky – TomDispatch,
20 Feb 2012
In the past decade, for the first time in 500 years, South America has taken successful steps to free itself from western domination. The region has moved towards integration, and has begun to address some of the terrible internal problems of societies ruled by mostly Europeanized elites. They have also rid themselves of all U.S. military bases and of IMF controls. A newly formed organization, CELAC, includes all countries of the hemisphere apart from the U.S. and Canada. If it actually functions, that would be another step in American decline, in this case in what has always been regarded as “the backyard.”
→ read full article(Portuguese) O ACTA Ameaça a Net
Esquerda.net – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
Quem nunca ouviu um CD emprestado, viu um DVD de um amigo, recorreu a uma biblioteca? A partilha de bens culturais sempre existiu. Na era digital, tem especificidades próprias, mas é falso que a cópia de um ficheiro não autorizado seja um ‘roubo’. Os Estados Unidos assinaram o ACTA em outubro [2011], assim como a Austrália, o Canadá, a Coreia do Sul e o Japão. A 26 de Janeiro [2012], 22 países europeus e a Comissão Europeia assinaram-no igualmente. Entraria em vigor depois de seis Estados signatários o terem ratificado. Nenhum o fez até à data. E, se depender das populações, tudo indica que nenhum o fará.
→ read full articleWikiLeaks Banned From UN Conference on WikiLeaks
Common Dreams staff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
WikiLeaks has lodged a strong protest with the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) for “banning’’ it from an international conference it is hosting at its headquarters in Paris on the impact of the whistle-blower website’s activities. It said the U.S. organizers of the two-day conference, which opened on Thursday [16 Feb 2012], had “stacked’’ it with WikiLeaks’ opponents and “blocked all speakers from WikiLeaks, stating that the decision to censor WikiLeaks representation was an exercise in ‘freedom of expression… our right to give voice to speakers of our choice’’.”
→ read full articleWhen Is An ‘NGO’ Not An NGO? Twists and Turns Beneath the Cairo Skies
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
A confusing controversy between the United States and Egypt is unfolding. It has already raised tensions in the relationship between the two countries to a level that has not existed for decades. It results from moves by the military government in Cairo to go forward with the criminal prosecution of 43 foreigners, including 19 Americans, for unlawfully carrying on the work of unlicensed public interest organizations that improperly, according to Egyptian law, depend for their budget on foreign funding.
→ read full articleIceland’s Viking Victory
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – The Telegraph,
20 Feb 2012
Congratulations to Iceland. Fitch has upgraded the country to investment grade BBB – with stable outlook, expecting government debt to peak at 100pc of GDP. The OECD’s latest forecast said growth will be 2.4pc this year, after 2.9pc in 2011. Unemployment will fall from 7pc last year to 6.1pc this year and then 5.3pc in 2013.
→ read full articleThe Big Green Question
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
Is environmentalism compatible with social justice? Journalists writing for the corporate press, with views somewhere to the right of Vlad the Impaler and no prior record of concern for the poor, suddenly become their doughty champions when the interests of the proprietorial class are threatened. If tar sands cannot be extracted in Canada, they maintain, subsistence farmers in Africa will starve. If Tesco’s profits are threatened, children will die of malaria. When it is done cleverly, promoting the interests of corporations and the ultra-rich under the guise of concern for the poor is an effective public relations strategy.
→ read full articlePreventing a Nuclear Iran, Peacefully
Shibley Telhami and Steven Kull – International Herald Tribune,
20 Feb 2012
Despite all the talk of an “existential threat,” less than half of Israelis support a strike on Iran. According to our November poll, carried out in cooperation with the Dahaf Institute in Israel, only 43 percent of Israeli Jews support a military strike on Iran. Most important, when asked whether it would be better for both Israel and Iran to have the bomb, or for neither to have it, 65 percent of Israeli Jews said neither. And a remarkable 64 percent favored the idea of a nuclear-free zone, even when it was explained that this would mean Israel giving up its nuclear weapons.
→ read full articleWho is Threatening Whom? 45 US Bases Surround Iran
Information Clearing House – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
Each star on the map is a US base. But just to be clear, Iran is the one that is threatening the US.
→ read full articleChevron Rig Burns Off Nigeria as Damage Hits Shore
Sapa-AP – Times Live, South Africa,
20 Feb 2012
The burning inferno of what used to be a Chevron Corp. natural gas rig still stains the night’s sky orange more than two weeks after the rig caught fire, and no one can say when it will end as swarms of dead fish surface.
→ read full articleHow Did Rwanda Cut Poverty So Much?
Emily Alpert – Los Angeles Times,
20 Feb 2012
The small African nation of Rwanda recently announced that it had cut poverty by 12% in six years, from 57% of its population to 45%. That equals roughly a million Rwandans emerging from poverty — one of the most stunning drops in the world.
→ read full articlePrivate Prison Company to Demand 90% Occupancy
Noel Brinkerhoff & David Wallechinsky, AllGov – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has reached out to 48 states as part of a $250 million plan to own existing prisons and manage their operations. But in return CCA wants a 20-year contract and assurances that the state will keep the prisons at least 90% full.
→ read full articleSaving Khader Adnan’s Life Saves Our Own Soul
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
The world watches as tragedy unfolds beneath its gaze as Khader Asnan enters his 63rd day as a hunger striker in an Israeli prison being held under an administrative detention order without trial, without charges, and without any indication of the evidence against him.
→ read full articleWorld Day of Social Justice: The People’s Revolution is On the March
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
The United Nations General Assembly, on the initiative of Nurbch Jeenbrev, the Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to the U.N. in New York, has proclaimed 20 February as the “World Day of Social Justice”.
→ read full articleMali’s Plan to Probe Child Labour in Gold Mines
Africa News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
‘Our research found that children in Mali start working as young as six years old. Many child laborers are denied an education or drop out of school. Some children come to the mines without their parents and suffer economic or sexual exploitation,’ Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the Minister of Mines, Amadou Cisse.
→ read full articleLatin America Seeks to Spread Nuclear-Free Zones
Emilio Godoy – Inter Press Service-IPS,
20 Feb 2012
Latin America and the Caribbean are discussing ways to step up supervision of the use of nuclear materials in the region and contribute to the creation of more nuclear weapons-free zones around the world, on the 45th anniversary of the treaty that banned nuclear arms in the region.
→ read full articleDespite Safety Worries, Work on Deadly Flu to Be Released
Denise Grady – The New York Times,
20 Feb 2012
The full details of recent experiments that made a deadly flu virus more contagious will be published, probably within a few months, despite recommendations by the United States that some information be kept secret for fear that terrorists could use it to start epidemics. The announcement, made on Friday [17 Feb 2012] by the World Health Organization, follows two months of heated debate about the flu research.
→ read full articleA Story and a Book
Matt Meyer – New Clear Vision,
20 Feb 2012
On the Nature of Violence and Nonviolence – Nonviolence (a term some have called ‘a word seeking to describe something by saying what it is not’) is used in as wide a variety of ways as there are flavors of ice cream. Violence, as we sadly know too well, goes well beyond war to include domestic violence, random street crime, repression, and even poverty — responsible for more death than most other forms combined.
→ read full articleHonduras: Our Continuing Catastrophe
Mark Engler – Dissent Magazine,
20 Feb 2012
Honduras has become a human rights disaster. The country now has the world’s highest murder rate. And impunity for political violence is the norm. For all this, the United States deserves a good deal of the blame. I was pleased to see the New York Times recently publish a hard-hitting op-ed by Dana Frank that makes this case.
→ read full articleAnti-Drug Vaccines Hold Promise – But Little Profit
Emilio Godoy – Inter Press Service-IPS,
20 Feb 2012
Vaccines against drug addiction appear to be a better strategy than the repressive worldwide “war on drugs”, but first they must overcome resistance from pharmaceutical laboratories and secure financial backing, scientists say.
→ read full articleFalse Flag? Bombing Puts India’s Trade Ties with Iran to the Test
Mayank Bhardwaj, Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
“There are U.N. sanctions which India honours, those don’t cover the export of a vast range of products which India can export to Iran,” Trade Secretary Rahul Khullar said. “If the EU and the U.S. both want to stop exports to that country, please tell me why I should follow suit? Why shouldn’t I take up that business opportunity?” Lisa Curtis of the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center said that India will find it increasingly difficult to placate both Iran, on the one hand, and the United States and Israel on the other.
→ read full articleWashington’s Insouciance Has No Rival
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
Washington is now in the second decade of murdering Muslim men, women, and children in six countries. Washington is so concerned with human rights that it drops bombs on schools, hospitals, weddings and funerals, all in order to uphold the human rights of Muslim people. You see, bombing liberates Muslim women from having to wear the burka and from male domination.
→ read full articleDelhi Bomb Blast and India’s Options
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
The bomb blast in New Delhi on 13 February 2012 has certainly raised India’s stakes in highly contested debate on international terrorism. The combination of its domestic policy matrix, its approach to extremism and radicalism, and its external policies and posturing will put India in a tough place in crafting decisions which may be difficult but necessary.
→ read full article(Italian) La (Dis)Informazione a Senso Unico
Marinella Correggia, Il Manifesto – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
Si Ripete la Stessa Operazione Mediatica: Come Per la «Guerra Umanitaria» in Libia
→ read full articleRothschilds Want Iran’s Banks
Pete Papaherakles – American Free Press,
20 Feb 2012
The Rothschilds exert powerful influence over the world’s major news agencies. By repetition, the masses are duped into believing horror stories about evil villains. The Rothschilds control the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the IMF, the World Bank and the Bank of International Settlements. Also they own most of the gold in the world as well as the London Gold Exchange, which sets the price of gold every day. It is said the family owns over half the wealth of the planet—estimated by Credit Suisse to be $231 trillion—and is controlled by Evelyn Rothschild, the current head of the family.
→ read full articleThou Shalt Not Kill (Thyself)
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
I believe that the people of Israel – the Israeli nation – have the will to survive. But in order to survive, they must wake up from their apathetic stupor and change course – turning towards peace based on the two-state solution, separating the state from religion and building a new social order.
→ read full articleEuropean Parliament Resolution on Parliament’s Position on the 19th Session of the UN Human Rights Council
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
14 Feb 2012 – The European Parliament,
→ read full articleThe Invincible Military-Industrial Complex
Veronique de Rugy - Reason Magazine,
20 Feb 2012
Today we are living Ike’s nightmare. Defense spending is not just one of the most sacrosanct parts of the budget but also one of the largest and most inscrutable. Adjusting for inflation, military spending has grown for an unprecedented 13 consecutive years and is now higher than at any time since World War II. Even excluding war costs, the military baseline budget has grown by about 50 percent during the last decade.
→ read full articleSS = Scout Snipers: US Marines Adopt Nazi Goons Emblem
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
This picture showing a US Marine scout sniper team posing in front of what appears as a flag of the notorious Nazi organization SS, has surfaced online. The Marine Corps confirmed that the embarrassing photo taken in Afghanistan is real.
→ read full article
Arts, Culture and Peacebuilding (Video of the Week)
Dominik ‘Nik’ Lehnert | XCHANGEperspectives – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
In this video Basti, Frank and Nik reflect on Xchange Perspectives’ work in South Sudan since 2005. Dominik ‘Nik’ Lehnert is TRANSCEND Media Service’s Video Production Assistant.
→ read full articleNir Rosen on Syria’s Protest Movement
Al Jazeera staff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
Journalist Nir Rosen recently spent two months in Syria. As well as meeting members of various communities across the country – supporters of the country’s rulers and of the opposition alike – he spent time with armed resistance groups in Homs, Idlib, Deraa, and Damascus suburbs. He also travelled extensively around the country last year, documenting his experiences for Al Jazeera.
→ read full article450 Bases and It’s Not Over Yet: The Pentagon’s Afghan Basing Plans for Prisons, Drones, and Black Ops
Nick Turse - TomDispatch,
20 Feb 2012
Despite all the talk of drawdowns and withdrawals, there has been a years-long building boom in Afghanistan that shows little sign of abating. In early 2010, the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had nearly 400 bases in Afghanistan. Today the number tops 450. The hush-hush, high-tech, super-secure facility at the massive air base in Kandahar is just one of many building projects the U.S. military currently has planned or underway in Afghanistan.
→ read full articleTurkey’s Civilian-Military Complex
Pinar Kemerli – Al Jazeera,
20 Feb 2012
The plight of conscientious objectors in the country shows that the country has not eclipsed its military past.
→ read full article
Exposed: Scientology’s Secret Child Labour Camp
7 News, Australia – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
The true Australian headquarters of the Church of Scientology are located in the Sydney suburb of Dundas. The RPF base – which stands for Rehabilitation Project Force – is where Scientologists are sent for punishment and training, for crimes that most of us would regard as trivial.
→ read full article‘Global Square’: WikiLeaks-Backed Activist Platform Launching in March
Common Dreams staff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
WikiLeaks Central announced a “Call to Coders” Tuesday [14 Feb 2012] as they prepare for the March launch of the “first massive decentralized social network in the history of the Internet.” The goal of the Global Square is to perpetuate and spread the creative and cooperative spirit of the occupations and transform this into lasting forms of social organization, at the global as well as the local level.
→ read full articleGM Food Is a Commercial Flop in Europe
The Green Times – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
Greenpeace announced in Brussels recently that annual industry figures to be released early next week are expected to confirm the commercial failure of genetically modified (GM) food in Europe.
→ read full articleMonsanto Guilty of Chemical Poisoning in France
Marion Douet, Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
A French court on Monday [13 Feb 2012] declared U.S. biotech giant Monsanto(MON.N) guilty of chemical poisoning of a French farmer, a judgment that could lend weight to other health claims against pesticides.
→ read full articleInstalling a Carpet
TMS Editor,
20 Feb 2012
A carpet layer had just finished installing carpet for a lady. He stepped out for a smoke, only to realize he’d lost his cigarettes.
→ read full articleFrom Syria to Haiti: Another Showcase of Western Hypocrisy
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
Haitian justice decided not to prosecute Haitian dictator ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier for human rights crimes during his grueling regime. The so called free west is not going to do anything about Baby Doc Duvalier, just as it will not act against the medieval monarchies of Bahrain or Saudi Arabia. If human rights were the issue, Baby Doc would be front page news, the top story in the news. He isn’t. He’s our guy. Not like that scoundrel Assad who is not our guy. The first is OK, the latter has to go. Now you know why.
→ read full articleFor a Latin America Free from Colonialism – The Malvinas Islands Are Argentinean
Socorro Gomes, World Peace Council – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
The decision made in several multilateral forums – such as Mercosur, Unasur and Alba – with a view to support the Argentinean claim so that England returns to negotiations, therefore complying with the United Nations resolutions on the issue, constitutes a significant fact in Latin American solidarity. In defense of a peaceful continent, free from colonialism and foreign military bases.
→ read full articleContesting Ivory Tower Housing Solutions for Haiti
Deepa Panchang – Toward Freedom,
13 Feb 2012
Deutsche Bank and the Clinton Foundation brought on board a joint team from Harvard University and MIT to help design housing strategy for the ‘exemplar’ project. John McAslan & Partners, a British architecture firm, was engaged to help design a “comprehensive community development strategy.” Yet there was no community; the Harvard-MIT design team was designing according to its own ideas, in a vacuum, from Cambridge, Massachusetts. As of October 2011, the team had spent exactly one afternoon meeting with existing residents in Zoranje.
→ read full articleGermany Refuses to Sign Copyright Treaty
Monsters and Critics – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
Germany will not sign an international copyright treaty, despite having already agreed to it in principle, government sources in Berlin said Friday [10 Feb 2012], after protests over its implications for internet users. Tens of thousands were expected to take part in protests in 60 German cities on Saturday [11 Feb 2012], while the international coordinator of the campaign group Stopp ACTA told dpa that it expected 150,000 to 200,000 protests to take place worldwide.
→ read full articleCrimes against Humanity: The Torture of Palestinian Children
Stephen Lendman – Global Research,
13 Feb 2012
On December 28 [2011], it submitted a complaint [PDF] to several UN authorities titled, “The use of solitary confinement on Palestinian children held in Israeli detention.” It’s specifically for five children held at Al Jalame and Petah Tikva interrogation centers in Israel. Their cases follow 29 others since February 2008. At both facilities, “solitary confinement is routinely used.”
→ read full articleWith Arabs Taking Control of Their Fate, Is the UN Still Relevant?
Sarah Mousa – Al Jazeera,
13 Feb 2012
The UN Security Council stands as a relic of a past age; rather than voicing global concerns, it is a platform for permanent members to confirm the hierarchy of the world order. The five permanent members each individually have the authority to veto any resolution. The veto is often used by these great powers not out of concern for keeping peace, as the council was supposedly created to do, but to secure perceived interests – however contradictory they may be to basic principles of humanity.
→ read full articleLiberal Constipation
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
Conservatism is linked to low intelligence; but the real idiots are the progressives letting it win. Self-deprecating, too liberal for their own good, today’s progressives stand back and watch, hands over their mouths, as the social vivisectionists of the right slice up a living society to see if its component parts can survive in isolation.
→ read full article(Italian) Marines USA in Afghanistan con le bandiere delle SS
Antonio Mazzeo – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
Dieci marines in posa, sorridenti, in tenuta d’assalto con tanto di fucile-mitragliatore al braccio. Tutti tiratori scelti, cecchini di un reparto speciale inviato nell’inferno afgano. Al centro, in alto, la bandiera a stelle e strisce degli Stati Uniti d’America. Sotto, più grande, una bandiera blu con in mezzo le SS stilizzate della famigerata Schutzstaffel, la polizia segreta militare nazista.
→ read full articleThe Russia-China Veto: Is It Enough?
Matthias Chang – Future Fastforward,
13 Feb 2012
Hypocrisy, another opportunistic gambit or a genuine shift in geopolitical stance? Mao Zedong famously declared that the “US is a paper tiger” and that in war, the people is paramount in winning and not weapons. Atomic weapons will not enable a country to win the war. If there was one statement that galvanised the Chinese people to stand up and be counted in the face of open threats of nuclear war and oppresion, this was it.
→ read full articleBradley Manning Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize by Oklahoma Peace Organization
Oklahoma Center for Conscience and Peace Research – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
A second organization (the first being The Movement of the Icelandic Parliament) has now nominated Bradley Manning for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. The Oklahoma Center for Conscience and Peace Research (OCCPR) announced on Tuesday [7 Feb 2012] that it has nominated US Army Private First Class Bradley Manning for the Nobel Peace Prize. Accused whistleblower deserves the prize for casting light on war crimes committed in Iraq, nomination states.
→ read full articleA Pirate Story
TMS Editor,
13 Feb 2012
A seaman meets a pirate in a bar, and talk turns to their adventures on the sea. The seaman notes that the pirate has a peg-leg, a hook, and an eye patch.
→ read full articleChristian Jihad
Patrick Allitt – The American Conservative,
13 Feb 2012
Is it true that the Bible teaches peace and the Koran war? Only if you approach the books selectively, taking the gentlest of Jesus’ teachings and setting them against the harshest of Muhammad’s. Philip Jenkins’s challenging new book Laying Down the Sword shows that the Bible contains incitements not just to violence but also to genocide. He argues that Christians and Jews should struggle to make sense of these violent texts as a central element of their tradition, rather than hurry past them or ignore them altogether.
→ read full articleAttacks on Iran, Past and Present
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
Today’s Iranians are highly intelligent and cultured, and famous for their hospitality, generosity and kindness to strangers. Over the centuries, Iranians have made many contributions to science, art and literature, and for hundreds of years they have not attacked any of their neighbors. Nevertheless, for the last 90 years, they have been the victims of foreign attacks and interventions, most of which have been closely related to Iran’s oil and gas resources. The first of these took place in the period 1921-1925, when a British-sponsored coup overthrew the Qajar dynasty and replaced it by Reza Shah.
→ read full articleToxic Electronic Waste Grows by 40 Million Tonnes a Year — Poisons Kids in Africa
Stephen Leahy – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
Mountains of hazardous waste grow by about 40 million tons every year. This waste, mostly from Europe and North America, is burned in developing countries like Ghana in a hazardous effort to recover valuable metals.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Síria, e os “Nojentos” BRICS
Pepe Escobar, Asia Times - Pravda,
13 Feb 2012
Um coro grego de «incomodados», «repugnados» e «ultrajados» saudou, como bem se poderia prever, o duplo veto dos BRICS China e Rússia ao projeto de resolução do Conselho de Segurança da ONU para impor mudança de regime na Síria. Logo em seguida, em fila, Burhan Ghalyun, fantoche de Paris, chefe do Conselho Nacional Sírio (CNS) – grupo da oposição guarda-chuva – convocou os países «amigos do povo sírio». Todos sabem quem são: EUA, Grã-Bretanha, França, Israel e dois membros do Conselho de Cooperação do Golfo (CCG): o Qatar e a Arábia Saudita. Com amigos como esses, o «povo sírio» não precisa de inimigos.
→ read full article
Keiser Report: Black Holes & Gold Hills in Finances Universe
Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert – Russia Today,
13 Feb 2012
In this episode, Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, discuss the latest discoveries of black holes in the financial universe and the populations growing permanently poorer as a result. In the second half of the show, Max talks to Dr. Yanis Varoufakis about financial horror, a currency from which you can’t escape and the Greek situation.
→ read full articleArgentina Appeals to UN over British Military Buildup in South Atlantic
Global Research News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
On February 7 [2012] Argentine President Cristina Fernandez accused Britain of militarizing the South Atlantic Ocean by deploying a cutting-edge warship and a nuclear-powered submarine off the coast of the Falklands Islands, known to Argentina and the rest of Latin America as Las Malvinas. The deployment of Prince William on a military mission to the islands late last week further antagonized Argentina, with President Fernandez describing the royal scion as being garbed in the “uniform of a conquistador.”
→ read full articleThe Menace of Present & Future Drone Warfare
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
This nonproliferation approach has been accompanying by three massive forms of deception that continues to mislead public opinion and discourage serious debate about the benefits of nuclear disarmament even at this late stage: First, the fallacious implication that the states that do not possess nuclear weapons are currently more dangerous for world peace than the states that possess, develop, and deploy these weapons of mass destruction, and have used them in the past; secondly, …
→ read full articleUnited States’ Record of Vetoes at the UN Security Council
Arab Studies Institute – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
A Quick Listing of The United States’ Record of Veto Use at the United Nations – 1972–2011
→ read full article
Haiti: Where Did the Money Go? (Part 1 of 5)
FilmAt11tv – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
In January 2010, a 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti. The international community, including one out of two Americans, pledged billions of dollars in aid, yet the nation has seen little improvement. Three hundred thousand died, nearly two million live in ramshackle tent cities. Cholera has swept through the population, killing thousands and hospitalizing many others. Only about 2% of the rubble has been cleared. Is this what you expected when you pledged your aid dollars? Independent journalists Film@11.tv journeyed to Haiti in November 2010 to see the situation for themselves, and dig into the burning question: what happened to all that money?
→ read full article‘Arms Easier to Trade than Bananas’
A.D.McKenzie – Inter Press Service-IPS,
13 Feb 2012
The lack of international regulation in the trade of conventional arms is a “scandal” that must be brought to an end, said a coalition of non-governmental organisations as they heightened their campaign this week for a comprehensive United Nations treaty.
→ read full article
Spanish Judge Defends Probe into Franco-Era
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
The world-renowned Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon has defiantly rejected charges of abuse of power for opening an investigation into Franco-era crimes.
→ read full articleReport of the Head of the League of Arab States Observer Mission to Syria for the Period 24 Dec 2011 to 18 Jan 2012
League of Arab States Observer Mission to Syria – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
By resolution 7436 of 2 November 2011, the Council of the League of Arab States adopted the Arab plan of action annexed thereto, welcomed the Syrian Government’s agreement to the plan, and emphasized the need for the Syrian Government to commit to the full and immediate implementation of its provisions.
→ read full articleWill Iran Be Attacked?
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
As Karl Marx said, money turns everything into a commodity that can be bought and sold. All other values are defeated–honor, integrity, truth, justice, loyalty, even blood kin. Nothing remains but filthy lucre. In the course of the conversation I asked [Warren Nutter] how Washington got so many other governments to do its bidding. He answered, “Money.” I asked, “You mean foreign aid?” He said, “No, bags of money. We buy the leaders.” Purchasing the leadership of their enemies or of potential threats was the Roman way. As long as the dollar rules, Washington’s power will rule.
→ read full articleThe Division of Nigeria – Who Gains?
Chika Onyenezi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
The political game has begun; failed leadership, failed management of resources, failed security system. One day we will have no option but a foreign intervention, then like meat, Nigeria will be torn apart by vultures. The war for oil, war for control, a base in West Africa, expansion of AFRICOM, definitely Washington is on that part.
→ read full articleNokia Publishes Policy on African Conflict Minerals
Curt Hopkins – The Christian Science Monitor,
13 Feb 2012
Nokia says it will not buy mineral products that benefit armed groups or those engaging in human rights abuses. How will they implement their policy? The mineral equivalent of blood diamonds, they include tantalum, tungsten, tin and gold, all of which are used to manufacture our electronics. Nokia, the world’s largest manufacturers of mobile phones, today published its policy on conflict minerals.
→ read full articleMedia Statement on the ISAAA GM Crop Lobby 2012 Report
Greenpeace – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
Wed 8 Feb 2012, Sydney: Greenpeace responded today to a report on the perceived success of genetically modified (GM) crops around the world, which was published by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), a bio-tech industry lobby organisation. “Contrary to claims in the report, GM crops remain a global failure with only about 1% of global farmers cultivating GM crops.” said Greenpeace campaigner Éric Darrier.
→ read full articleJustice in Spain Means Memory
Ana Messuti – Al Jazeera,
13 Feb 2012
In so far as the Supreme Court of Spain finds that Judge Garzon perverted the course of Justice by trying to investigate Franco’s crimes against humanity, a big step will be taken towards the burial of Memory and Justice. Memory in search of Justice is Memory in anger. Perhaps, after all, death is not going to trump Justice, as the fury of Memory is going to trump injustice. Sooner or later, one way or other, Justice will have to prevail in Spain.
→ read full articleIsrael-USA vs Iran: Talk Peace!
Johan Galtung, 13 Feb 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
When Israelis were asked “what would be better: for both Israel and Iran to have the bomb, or for neither to have it, 65 percent of Israeli Jews said neither. And a remarkable 64 percent favored the idea of a nuclear-free zone, even when it was explained that this would mean Israel giving up its nuclear weapons.” (IHT, 16 Jan 2012). Vox populi vox Dei.
→ read full articleTurkey’s Foreign Policy: Zero Problems with Neighbors Revisited
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
We can only hope that Turkey stays the Dautoglu course, pursuing every opening that enables positive mutual relations among countries and using its diplomatic stature to encourage peaceful conflict resolution wherever possible. Rather than viewing ‘zero problems’ as a failure, it should be a time to reaffirm the creativity of Turkish foreign policy in the course of the last decade that has shown the world the benefits of soft power diplomacy, and a pattern that other governments might learn from while adapting to their own realities.
→ read full article
U.S. Maintains Embargo of Cuba after 50 Years, Despite International Condemnation (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Amy Goodman – Democracy NOW!,
13 Feb 2012
There are no commemorations planned in Washington, D.C., but today marks the 50th anniversary of the U.S. embargo against Cuba — the longest-running embargo in the world. On February 7, 1962, President John F. Kennedy formally expanded the harsh regime of commercial and financial sanctions against Cuba that have continued to the present day.
→ read full article(Portuguese) ACTA: Processo de Censura na Internet Tropeça em Países Europeus
Esquerda.net – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
A República Checa seguiu o caminho da Polónia e tornou-se agora o segundo país da União Europeia a suspender a ratificação do ACTA [Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement], o tratado que, a pretexto do combate à contrafação, ameaça a livre expressão na Internet. Um acordo que, segundo o relator do PE para o assunto, foi negociado “através de manobras nunca vistas”, o que o fez demitir-se da tarefa.
→ read full articleBahrain and the Arab Spring
Socialist Worker – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
The small island nation of Bahrain sits in the Persian Gulf, between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. When the Tunisian and Egyptian uprising toppled U.S.-backed dictators last year, all of the region’s dictatorships trembled, including Bahrain. The winds of change inspired Bahrain’s downtrodden, and the country’s monarchy barely managed to maintain its grip on power.
→ read full articleThe Assange Case Means We Are All Suspects Now
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
This week’s Supreme Court hearing in the Julian Assange case has profound meaning for the preservation of basic freedoms in western democracies. This is Assange’s final appeal against his extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sexual misconduct that were originally dismissed by the chief prosecutor in Stockholm and constitute no crime in Britain. The consequences, if he loses, lie not in Sweden but in the shadows cast by America’s descent into totalitarianism.
→ read full articleNever Talk To the Parrot
TMS Editor,
6 Feb 2012
Mrs. Peterson phoned the repairman because her dishwasher quit working.
→ read full article(Italian) Il Dovere-Diritto Di Essere Liberi. E’ un progetto-intervento di acculturazione e empowerment collettivi
Silvia Berruto – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
All’interno del più ampio progetto culturale “Collettivamente memoria”, che mi intestardisco a portare avanti da cinque anni, l’anno scorso è nata l’idea di un progetto-intervento per misurare i cambiamenti negli atteggiamenti e nell’azione collettivi in un’ipotesi di percorso che ho chiamato “IL SOGNO DI UNA COSA.IL DOVERE-DIRITTO DI ESSERE LIBERI. In un contesto condiviso di rispetto delle regole valide per tutti”.
→ read full article“Responsibility to Kill” (R2K): Washington Gives Green Light to Toxic Terror in Bahrain
Finian Cunningham – Global Research,
6 Feb 2012
“Responsibility to Protect ” (R2P) or “Responsibility to Kill” (R2K)? Just as Bahrainis are being poisoned in their homes from indiscriminate firing of massive teargas by regime forces, Washington is showing its approval by going ahead with an arms sales deal to the Persian Gulf kingdom.
→ read full articleExposed: The Arab Agenda in Syria
Pepe Escobar – Asia Times,
6 Feb 2012
Here’s a crash course on the “democratic” machinations of the Arab League – rather the GCC League, as real power in this pan-Arab organization is wielded by two of the six Persian Gulf monarchies composing the Gulf Cooperation Council, also known as Gulf Counter-revolution Club; Qatar and the House of Saud.
→ read full article
Gen. Wesley Clark and the Truth about the Middle East (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Democracy NOW! – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
Wesley Clark recounts what was told to him a few days after 9/11.
→ read full articleSupport for BDS [Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions] National Conference at the University of Pennsylvania
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
I commend the conveners for taking this initiative in the face of efforts to intimidate and confuse by those who systematically oppose debate and free inquiry concerning the various dimensions of the Israel/Palestine conflict and its bearing on American foreign policy. I have long supported the BDS as a constructive and creative movement that raises awareness and mobilizes support for the Palestinian struggle to achieve a sustainable peace based on international law and a sense of justice.
→ read full articleThe Seed Emergency: The Threat to Food and Democracy
Vandana Shiva – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
Patenting seeds has led to a farming and food crisis – and huge profits for US biotechnology corporations. The seed is the first link in the food chain – and seed sovereignty is the foundation of food sovereignty. If farmers do not have their own seeds or access to open pollinated varieties that they can save, improve and exchange, they have no seed sovereignty – and consequently no food sovereignty. The deepening agrarian and food crisis has its roots in changes in the seed supply system, and the erosion of seed diversity and seed sovereignty.
→ read full articleOne Year On: My Mother as a Protester and A Few Other Dilemmas
Ahmed Badawi, Postcard from Egypt– TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
At the risk of stating the obvious, think of revolution not as a single event but as a period of waves. After an initial disturbance, a swell gathers momentum, forms into a crest, breaks just before it hits the shore, creates a splash, dissipates and then starts to move in the opposite direction, breaks on another shore, retreats and then builds up again, and so on and so forth until the revolutionary energy is consumed and a new equilibrium is reached.
→ read full articleFederalism Risk Assessment
Bishnu Pathak, PhD – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
Today, 40 percent of the world population lives under the rule of a federal state, but 60 percent under unitary. 30 (16% out of 192 UN members) matured, emergent, and micro-federations practice federalism. They are comprised not only of powerful and developed nations, but developing countries as well.
→ read full articleExperience of Cognitive Implication in Fundamental Geometry
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
The question raised here is why particular geometrical forms are widely “felt” to be cognitively appropriate in the articulation of certain patterns of psychosocial action. Why are these simple forms borrowed metaphorically in this way and, since this is the case, why is similar use not made of more complex geometrical forms — potentially in more appropriate response to the complexities of psychosocial challenges?
→ read full articleEconomic Sanctions: Balancing Principles, National Interests and the Advancement of World Law
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
The ongoing UN Security Council discussions concerning sanctions against Syria and greater US and European Union sanctions against Iran have brought to the fore the justice, aims and effectiveness of economic sanctions and the prohibition of arms sales to countries in conflict.
→ read full articleThe Scary Danger of Meat (Even For Those Who Don’t Eat It)
Martha Rosenberg - AlterNet,
6 Feb 2012
Antibiotics are routinely given to livestock on factory farms to make them gain weight with less feed and keep them from getting sick in confinement conditions. But the daily dosing, at the same time it lowers feed needs, lowers drug effectiveness and produces antibiotic resistant bacteria or super bugs that can be deadly to people.
→ read full articleTo All People of Good Will: Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year of the Dragon 2012
Charles A. Sanga – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2012
The reality is simple: the past glory of the West is but history. China is an emerging powerhouse, nobody can stop it. The power of the mass media in the West is nothing but a façade. In spite of the show of its power to discredit China, it is very frightened of it and its gallant people. “Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the land.” Meekness is not weakness, rather realization of one’s shortcomings. The West has a multitude of shortcomings. Let the West employ the truth so that it can be set free from its shortcomings. Free from pride of nothingness and bonds of guilt consciousness.
→ read full article