Articles by UN
We found 3984 results.
Abenomics and the State of Japan
Johan Galtung, 22 Apr 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Apr 2013
Alternatives: realize that the old golden days are gone, that US-West-Japan are outcompeted by BRICS. Go for acceptable, more modest deals. And, instead of joining the US in increasing the insecurity, join the neighbors in an East Asian Community and revise the TPP for an egalitarian partnership from China to US and from Japan to Latin America.
→ read full articleAmerica the Blind: The Boston Marathon Bombing, Drones and the Meaning of Cowardice
Barry Lando - ConterPunch,
22 Apr 2013
What could be more cowardly than for some unknown, unseen, unannounced killer to blow apart and maim innocent men women and children, without any risk to himself? But what could be more cowardly than the CIA agent at the controls of a drone circling over some village on the other side of the world? How different are the images produced by such attacks—shattered bodies, dismembered limbs, severed arteries, frantic aid givers and terrified survivors—how different from the moving images of the tragedy in Boston now being broadcast and rebroadcast on TV stations around the globe?
→ read full articleSyria’s Civilian Suffering – Western Imperialism Resorts to Medieval Barbarity
Finian Cunningham – Strategic Culture Foundation,
22 Apr 2013
Western imperialism has created a human tsunami of suffering in Syria. And rather than making any effort to mitigate this suffering by delivering on much promised refugee aid, the Western powers seem to exploiting the massive misery for political advantage to further undermine the Syrian state and government. This tactic of enforced human deprivation is straight out of the Middle Ages, when invading armies would hold siege of cities by enforcing starvation on the occupants.
→ read full article(Italiano) Un Futuro Dopo Il Petrolio: 6 Proposte
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Apr 2013
La Cina brucia carbone-petrolio-gas, ma è anche un possente pioniere nelle energie verdi, con pannelli fotovoltaici e solari termici e auto elettriche, prodotti in maniera sempre più ecologica. Negli USA lobby molto efficienti del carbone-petrolio-gas impediscono la conversione ecologica e promuovono tecniche estrattive ecologicamente dannose. Il mondo si sta spostando a Est, e l’Est si sta spostando all’ecologico. E così pure milioni di persone.
→ read full articleGuantánamo and the American Psychological Association: Where Accountability Goes to Die
Roy Eidelson, Trudy Bond & Stephen Soldz – CounterPunch,
15 Apr 2013
Many of these individuals have suffered not only from indefinite detention, they have also been the victims of horrific physical and psychological abuse often rising to the level of torture, at the hands of individuals who have never been held accountable. As psychologists distressed by the involvement of our own profession in detainee abuse, we are especially troubled by the failure of the American Psychological Association (APA) to sanction one of its members, Dr. John Leso, a psychologist and Army officer who served at Guantánamo from June 2002 to January 2003. Six long years ago one of us (Trudy Bond) filed a complaint against Dr. Leso with the APA’s Ethics Committee.
→ read full articleMyanmar’s Neo-Nazi Buddhists Get Free Rein
Maung Zarni – Asia Times,
15 Apr 2013
Hatred of Muslims is deeply rooted in Burmese society. One of the regime’s favorite tactics was to spread rumors that Muslims had raped Burmese Buddhist women, and plotted to convert the entire Buddhist population to Islam. The “divide and rule” tactic used by the authorities in the recent past possibly grew out of the British colonial regime’s policy of fostering a “plural society” with minimal national unity.
→ read full article(Italiano) Perché l’Occidente Non Riesce a Capire la Realtà?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Apr 2013
Siamo già piuttosto addentro in un mondo economicamente dominato dai BRIC, aggiungendo la S del Sud-Africa per chiarire il messaggio: Sud-Sud-Sud contro neppure un miliardo di abitanti del NordOvest del mondo + il Giappone; militarmente è solo una questione di tempo prima che i primi droni colpiscano gli USA, come seguito all’11 settembre 2001, e chiunque si dedichi a esecuzioni extragiudiziarie; decisioni cruciali vengono prese dai BRICS (CELAC per l’America Latina), un giorno magari istituendo una contro-ONU senza veto; culturalmente considerando la loro diversità come risorsa essenziale, ispirandosi a tutte le culture.
→ read full articleSouth Africa as an Example of Stability and Diversity after the Apartheid Era
Pierre Célestin Bakunda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Apr 2013
From 1948 to 1994, South Africa witnessed a drastic and violent racial segregation. This has greatly affected and contributed to economic, social and political delays to the country. Let’s observe first the conflict resolution mechanism implemented in the country, as well as the current transformation of the country. Finally, we will briefly conclude on future hopes associated with this region, due to its recent inclusion in BRICS.
→ read full articleTwo Deaths: Hugo Chavez and Margaret Thatcher
Alan MacLeod - Countercurrents.org,
15 Apr 2013
Hugo Chavez and Margaret Thatcher, two great statespeople of our age, representing fundamentally opposing world views, have died. Just as contrasting as their ideologies was the reaction to their deaths, from both the media and the public.
→ read full articleDoes Obama Want More War?
Stansfield Smith – CounterPunch,
15 Apr 2013
The corporate media reduces the DPRK (North Korea) to the Kim family and prefaces their names with the terms “madman”, “evil” and “brutal”. Such vilifications of foreign leaders are used here not only to signify they are target for US overthrow. They are meant to intimidate and isolate anti-war activists as being out in left field for ever wanting to oppose a war against countries ruled by “madmen” – be they Saddam, Fidel, Hugo Chavez, Ahmadinejad, Qaddaffi.
→ read full articleUSA-East Asia Looking Into the Abyss
Johan Galtung, 15 Apr 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Apr 2013
North Korea could dismantle its verbal and physical threats, hoping for peace treaty-normalization in return. Like in Cuba 1962, that would not be one good for another, but one wrong for another. Would USA, used to dictate outcomes giving nothing in return, agree? Like in 1962 keeping it secret, with a “profile in courage” narrative? Hopefully, but not very likely, some secret deals are in the making. A change of mentality is needed, like in Europe in 1950. That may take centuries, but could also happen very quickly under enlightened statesmanship.
→ read full articleWhy Journalists Generally Get Their Burma Stories Wrong, Horribly Wrong
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Apr 2013
When it comes to reporting Burma the coverage has been beyond being biased. It is generally horribly inadequate, or downright incorrect. From a Burmese perspective, especially from the perspective of those who have borne the brunt of the half-century of military rule under various and evolving disguises, the way Burma is being reported is like adding insult to injury.
→ read full articleBurma/Myanmar: Its Conflicts, Western Advocacy, and Country Impact
Maung Zarni – World Peace Foundation,
8 Apr 2013
Burma’s conflicts are neither new nor are they singular. Conflicts along multiple-lines – class and ideology, civil society and the military, and ethnic groups– have been going on for nearly 65 years, that is, since Burma’s independence from Britain in 1947/1948.
→ read full articleA Future after Oil: Six Proposals
Johan Galtung,
8 Apr 2013
China burns coal-oil-gas, but is also a massive pioneer in green energies with photovoltaic and solar cells and electric cars, produced in ever greener ways. In the USA highly effective coal-oil-gas lobbies prevent the greening and promotes ecologically bad extraction. The world is moving East, the East is moving green. And so are millions. Decreasing demand will be a function of Harm X Green, boycotting the companies causing harm, “girlcotting” the green.
→ read full articleUN Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty Full Text
UN General Assembly – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Apr 2013
New York, 18-28 March 2013 – The States Parties to this Treaty, Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, , . .
→ read full article(Italiano) Iraq: Dieci Anni di Stupidità
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Apr 2013
Ipotizzare solo uno scenario, la guerra – magari dopo sanzioni – rivela povertà intellettuale. L’Iraq aveva problemi ma non le vittime, l’esilio e gli sfollamenti della guerra – che può durare altri 10 anni avendo sconvolto tanti equilibri instabili. Eppure si va incontro alle dipendenze belliciste di USA-RegnoUnito, mandando gli altri all’inferno. Quella gente dovrebbe essere nota per la loro incapacità collaudata di analizzare e prevedere e rimediare. L’accademia dovrebbe essere per gli intellettuali, non per i clercs, l’intelligentsia.
→ read full articleLeaving Smoldering Carcasses, Where Functioning Economies Once Existed: Wall Street’s Role in the Crisis in Cyprus
Rob Urie - CounterPunch,
1 Apr 2013
Finance capitalism is fatally flawed in theory and in practice. Its ultimate product is that which is before us: a global plutocracy dependent on state capture, power and control to plunder and loot what will become, by necessity, increasingly resistant populations.
→ read full articleBuddhist Nationalism in Burma
Maung Zarni, tricycle – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Apr 2013
The broadcast images of monks of the “Saffron Revolution” of 2007 are still fresh; these monks were seen calling for an improvement in public well-being in the face of the growing economic hardships afflicting Burma’s Buddhists. But in the past year, the world has been confronted with images of the same robed monks publicly demonstrating against Islamic nations’ distribution of aid to starving Muslim Rohingya, displaced into refugee camps in their own country following Rakhine Buddhist attacks.
→ read full articleKristallnacht in Myanmar
Swe Win – International Herald Tribune-NYT,
1 Apr 2013
Not one bullet was fired, not one smoke bomb was dropped as scores of Muslims were attacked and some were burnt alive in Myanmar last week. The security forces just looked on. In a country where they routinely use brute force against political dissidents, villagers who protest land grabs and even monks, their passivity was sadly revealing.
→ read full articleWhy Does the West Fail to Understand Reality?
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Apr 2013
We are already far into a world economically dominated by BRIC, with S added for South Africa to make the message clear: South-South-South against not even a billion living in the world Northwest+Japan; militarily with only a question of time before the first drones hit the USA, as follow-up to 9/11, and whoever engages in extrajudicial executions; key decisions are taken by BRICS (CELAC for Latin America), one day possibly making a counter-UN without veto; culturally seeing their diversity as a major asset, drawing on all cultures.
→ read full articleGuantanamo Exposes Reality of US Fascism
Finian Cunningham – PressTV,
1 Apr 2013
They are essentially dead men who just happen to breathe. That is the grim assessment of the legal representative for the inmates in the American concentration camp, otherwise known as Guantanamo Bay. More than 11 years after this penal colony was opened on the American-occupied territory of Cuba, there remains some 166 prisoners who live in a nightmarish world of indefinite detention.
→ read full article(Castellano) El Bien Común de la Humanidad: Un Paradigma Post-Capitalista Frente a la Ruptura del Equilibrio del Metabolismo Entre la Naturaleza y el Genero Humano
François Houtart – Forum Mundial de Alternativas,
1 Apr 2013
La reconstrucción del equilibrio del metabolismo entre la naturaleza y los seres humanos por un cambio de paradigma y las transiciones El problema de la ruptura del metabolismo socio-ambiental es el resultado de una lógica más amplia que abarca el modo de acumulación y el predominio del valor de cambio, la organización colectiva al servicio de la reproducción del capital y la visión del mundo orientada por un progreso lineal en un planeta inagotable al servicio de una minoría.
→ read full article(Italiano) Papa Francesco I, Gesuita
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Apr 2013
Il primo papa gesuita. La Società di Gesù, fondata da Ignazio di Loyola, fu un movimento di rinnovamento dall’interno nel 1534 dopo l’enorme riforma dall’esterno, il protestantesimo, in particolare Lutero nel 1517. Ci sono voluti più di quattro secoli per arrivare in cima; forse è cambiata la Chiesa, forse papa Francesco è un gesuita morbido. I gesuiti sono noti per essere preti che esercitano il loro ministero, e per avere una seconda professione, spesso come intellettuali, e di alto livello. Papa Francesco ha la stessa doppia reputazione. Promettente.
→ read full article(Italiano) Hugo Chavez: Un Produttore di Storia
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Mar 2013
Un genio ci fa pensare, e agire, diversamente, in tal modo facendo la storia. Chávez è stato uno uno di questi. Grazie Hugo – possa tu non riposare in pace.
→ read full articleThe Last Letter
Tomas Young - Truthdig,
25 Mar 2013
A Message to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney from a Dying Veteran: You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole.
–Tomas Young
Libya: Two Years after Launching Intervention
Alexander Mezyaev – Strategic Culture Foundation,
25 Mar 2013
Arms From Libya Are Spreading Out Across the Whole Continent – March 19 is the date the NATO intervention against Libya was launched two years ago [in 2011].
→ read full articleBuddhist Nationalism in Burma
Maung Zarni, Tricycle – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Mar 2013
The rise of genocidal Buddhist racism against the Rohingya, a minority community of nearly one million people in the western Burmese province of Rakhine (also known as Arakan), is an international humanitarian crisis. The military-ruled state has been relentless in its attempts to erase Rohingya ethnic identity, which was officially recognized as a distinct ethnic group in 1954 by the democratic government of Prime Minister U Nu.
→ read full articleIraq: Ten Years of Stupidity
Johan Galtung, 25 Mar 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Mar 2013
To assume only one scenario, war, reveals intellectual poverty. Iraq had problems but not the casualties, exile and displacements of the war-which may last 10 more years having upset so many unstable equilibia. They cater to the US-UK war addiction, sending others to hell. Such people should be known for their tested inability to analyze and forecast and remedy. Academia should be for intellectuals, not for clercs, intelligentsia.
→ read full articleChenney’s Halliburton Received $39.5 Billion in Iraq War Contracts over the Past Decade
Angelo Young - International Business Times,
25 Mar 2013
The accounting of the financial cost of the nearly decade-long Iraq War will go on for years, but a recent analysis has shed light on the companies that made money off the war by providing support services as the privatization of what were former U.S. military operations rose to unprecedented levels.
→ read full articleWhat Isn’t Being Said: Soldier Suicides
Alyssa Rohricht - CounterPunch,
25 Mar 2013
Suicides in the U.S. military have been climbing, reaching a record high in 2012 when 349 soldiers took their own lives, about one every 25 hours. By comparison, 301 U.S. soldiers died in active combat in 2012, marking the third time in four years that the number of military suicides has surpassed the number of deaths in combat of U.S. soldiers.
→ read full articleMyanmar’s Religious Violence against the Muslims Is Military-Backed and Buddhist Order-Organzied
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Mar 2013
The violence against Muslims in Burma is not SIMPLY sectarian or communal as is typically and incorrectly framed by the mainstream media. It is mobilized by the skin-head elements within the Buddhist Sangha and tacitly backed by the military state, both working in close collaboration and in a symbiosis.
→ read full articlePope Francis I, a Jesuit
Johan Galtung, 18 Mar 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Mar 2013
The first Jesuit pope. The Society of Jesus, founded by Ignatius de Loyola, was a renewal movement from the inside in 1534 after the huge outside reforma, the protestantisms, Luther-1517 in particular. More than four centuries was needed to reach the top; maybe the Church changed, maybe Pope Francis is a soft Jesuit. Jesuits are known for being priests exercising their ministry, and for having a second profession, often as intellectuals, and high level ones. Pope Francis has the same double reputation. Promising.
→ read full article(Italiano) Partitocrazia-Tecnocrazia-Autocrazia-Bancocrazia
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Mar 2013
Il terzo livello di quelli sopra delineati, i mercanti, ovviamente esigono la loro parte, usando il proprio capitale bancario per comprare potere politico, addirittura fino all’estremo del salvataggio pubblico qualora le perdite superassero i guadagni. La bancocrazia opera mediante un parente stretto, la corruttocrazia, il governo dei corruttori sui corrotti pagati per i loro servigi. La corruzione è rampante. Perché? Perché la corruzione nel sistema politico, la conversione di denaro in decisioni, ha un parente stretto nel sistema economico, la commissione.
→ read full articleA Death Grip on Our Food Supply: Monsanto’s Death Patents
Randall Amster - CounterPunch,
18 Mar 2013
It increasingly appears that Monsanto is patenting death, perhaps even more so than life. Their patent rights should not trump the rights of people to procure safe, healthy, living foods. We should roundly deem Monsanto a loser in the court of public opinion, and strive to loosen their death grip on our food supply.
→ read full articlePromoting Injustice: The Bias of Human Rights Watch
Garry Leech - CounterPunch,
18 Mar 2013
Investigative reporter Garry Leech writes that HRW repeatedly focuses on political and civil rights while ignoring social and economic rights.
→ read full articleFukushima Two Years Later: Lessons for India
Nityanand Jayaraman - CounterCurrents,
18 Mar 2013
The Independent Commission appointed by the Japanese parliament to investigate the accident observed that while natural disasters may have triggered the nuclear events, the meltdown itself was “profoundly manmade.” The Commission concluded that “The. . .accident was the result of collusion between the government, the regulators and TEPCO, and the lack of governance by said parties.”
→ read full articleInternational Day of Happiness, 20 March 2013
United Nations Academic Impact – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Mar 2013
The General Assembly has proclaimed 20 March as the International Day of Happiness. The resolution recognizes the “relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals … and the importance of their recognition in public policy objectives; and the need for ”a more inclusive, equitable and balanced approach to economic growth that promotes sustainable development, poverty eradication, happiness and the well-being of all peoples.”
→ read full articleComplicit Americans: The Mass Psychology of Torture
William Manson – CounterPunch,
11 Mar 2013
In its most heinous forms, torture consists of confining a helpless victim, who is subjected to physical pain and torment, emotional abuse, and various other degrading humiliations. Prohibited by both international and domestic laws, the torture of suspected “terrorists” is nonetheless now widely condoned by most American citizens (or so it seems).
→ read full article(Castellano) 50 Verdades sobre Hugo Chávez y la Revolución Bolivariana
Salim Lamrani – Opera Mundi,
11 Mar 2013
El presidente Hugo Chávez, quien falleció el 5 de marzo de 2013 de un cáncer a los 58 años, marcó para siempre la historia de Venezuela y de América Latina. Jamás en la historia de América Latina, un líder político alcanzó una legitimidad democrática tan incontestable. Desde su llegada al poder en 1999, hubo 16 elecciones en Venezuela. Hugo Chávez ganó 15, de las cuales la última el 7 de octubre de 2012.
→ read full articleHugo Chavez: A Maker of History
Johan Galtung, 11 Mar 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Mar 2013
A genius makes us think, and act, differently, thereby making history. Chávez was one. Thank you Hugo–may you not rest in peace.
→ read full articleTwo Years Later, the Battle for Truth Continues: Fukushima’s Nuclear Casualties
Joseph J. Mangano - CounterPunch,
11 Mar 2013
Nuclear watchdog Joseph J. Mangano takes a look at Japan two years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, only to find the truth has been covered up. Perhaps the most crucial issue to be addressed is how many people were harmed by radioactive emissions.
→ read full article(Italiano) Il Mondo Visto dal Monte Everest
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Mar 2013
Nepal – Il Tibet viene considerato meno come parte repressa della Cina e più come patria del buddhismo tantrico – un forte aggancio al vicino gigantesco del Nord. La maggioranza del Nepal è orientata verso l’India, ma il Weekly Mirror ha una vista del mondo dall’alto, e il picco più alto, l’Everest, è più vicino alla Cina. Qualcuno una volta l’ha scalato, “perché è lì”, per dare uno sguardo più da vicino alla Cina.
→ read full articleBradley Manning and the Loud Silence of the Activist Gay Community Worldwide
Andy Thayer - CounterPunch,
11 Mar 2013
[Cowardice? Opportunism? Callousness?] Why is it that all of the big gay non-profits, from the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force to the Human Rights Campaign – “Gay Inc.” – have failed to utter a word of support for Private Bradley Manning, let alone really campaign for him? HE’S GAY and unlike any number of air-head celebrities, he’s actually done something to support social justice, rather than mined charitable causes for personal fame and fortune.
→ read full articleActing like They Care about Haiti
Mark Schuller - CounterPunch,
4 Mar 2013
The Pretense of Doing Good (While Raising Millions) – On Tuesday [26 Feb 2013], Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn, whose new role is Haiti’s ambassador to the United Nations, extolled the progress in the island nation of almost 10 million people.
→ read full articleUS-EU Trade Deal Is the Foundation for a New Global Economic Order
Dana Gabriel - CounterCurrents,
4 Mar 2013
The U.S. and EU have agreed to launch negotiations on what would be the world’s largest free trade deal. Such an agreement would be the basis for the creation of an economic NATO and would include trade in goods, services and investment, as well as cover intellectual property rights.
→ read full article(Português) A Rara Coragem de Bradley Manning
Marjorie Cohn, CounterCurrents – Carta Maior,
4 Mar 2013
As ações de Bradley Manning fazem lembrar o que fez Daniel Ellsberg, que divulgou os “Papéis do Pentágono”, no qual se expunham as mentiras do governo dos EUA e que apressaram o fim da Guerra do Vietname.
→ read full articleMonsanto University
Darwin Bond-Graham - CounterPunch,
4 Mar 2013
The University of California: a University, or a Biotech Company?- Last month [Jan 2013] the University of California intervened in a high stakes U.S. Supreme Court case on the side of the agribusiness giant Monsanto Company by filing an amicus brief stating that the university would be materially harmed if Monsanto doesn’t prevail.
→ read full articleTranscend Peace University Online Courses
Erika Degortes – TRANSCEND Peace University,
4 Mar 2013
All-online courses on peace, conflict transformation, mediation, peace education, nonviolence and more. TRANSCEND Peace University (TPU) is pleased to announce its call for applications for the academic year 2013: Certificate Online Courses – First Term of 2013: March 12th – May 30th
→ read full articlePartyocracy-Technocracy-Autocracy-Bankocracy
Johan Galtung, 4 Mar 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Mar 2013
The merchants, of course demand their share, using their bank capital to buy political power, even to the bailout point should the losses exceed the gains. Bankocracy works through a close relative, corruptocracy, the rule of corruptors over corruptees paid for their services. Corruption is rampant. Why? Because corruption in the political system, converting money into decisions, has a close relative in the economic system, a commission.
→ read full article(Italiano) Nepal: Sei Anni di “Transizione”
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Mar 2013
Tre grandi rivolte in Asia negli scorsi decenni sono finite: la rivoluzione culturale anti-confuciana in Cina del 1967-76, la rivoluzione dei Khmer Rossi anti-Phnom Penh in Cambogia del 1975-79, e la guerra del popolo maoista anti-casta e anti-monarchia feudale in Nepal, durata 10 anni dal 13 febbraio 1996, seguita da 18 giorni di effettiva nonviolenza per le strade di Kathmandu il 6-24 aprile 2006. Il re abdicò.
→ read full articleThe Divine Farce: Corruption and Infallibility at the Vatican
Joseph Grosso – CounterPunch,
4 Mar 2013
If the report from the Italian newspaper La Repubblica is true then it turns out that the Pope resigned due to a faction of gay Vatican officials being blackmailed by outsiders. This sordid affair emerged from an investigation by a three Cardinal team that Benedict XVI set up to look into the leaking of personal correspondence by his own butler, Paolo Gabriele, who saw such leaking as a noble act in an organization dominated by infighting and corruption.
→ read full articleAfrica and AFRICOM: Neo-Imperialism and the Arrogance of Ignorance
Franklin C. Spinney - CounterPunch,
4 Mar 2013
Most Americans do not realize the extent to which the U.S. is becoming involved militarily in the welter of conflicts throughout Saharan and sub-Saharan Africa. Notwithstanding the arrogance of ignorance being reaffirmed in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, it is beginning to look like Asprey’s timeless conclusion will be reaffirmed Africa.
→ read full articleWhat’s The Problem With Iran?
Transnational Foundation-TFF – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Feb 2013
On Tuesday February 26, 2013 in Kazakhstan, a new round of negotiations is due between Iran and the Five Permanent UN Security Council members + Germany. We’d like to bring the following expert statement to your attention.
→ read full articleThe World as Seen from Mt Everest
Johan Galtung, 25 Feb 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Feb 2013
Nepal – Tibet is seen less as suppressed part of China and more as home of Tantric buddhism–a strong link to the giant neighbor to the North. Nepal’s majority is India-oriented, but the Weekly Mirror takes a world view from high up, and that highest peak, Mt Everest, is closer to China. Somebody once climbed it, “because it is there”, to get a closer look at China. The world becomes more transparent, seen from high up.
→ read full articleSri Lanka: Crime and Punishment
Vidya Bhushan Rawat - CounterCurrents,
25 Feb 2013
For a moment, let us keep aside the issue of Sri Lanka and see the track record of the UN Human Rights Council. What has it done to the people of Afghanistan and Iraq where millions of children are now suffering in hunger, malnutrition and have caught up with different diseases due to chemical warfare launched by the United States and its allies?
→ read full articleRe-Imagining a World beyond Capitalism and Communism
Arundhati Roy – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Feb 2013
Here in India, even in the midst of all the violence and greed, there is still hope. If anyone can do it, we can. We still have a population that has not yet been completely colonized by that consumerist dream. If there is any hope for the world at all, it does not live in climate-change conference rooms or in cities with tall buildings. It lives low down on the ground, with its arms around the people who go to battle every day to protect their forests, their mountains and their rivers because they know that the forests, the mountains and the rivers protect them.
→ read full articleAttacks and Death Threats Put Members of the Pastoral Land Commission in Brazil at Risk
The Right Livelihood Award Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Feb 2013
The Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), which has for years campaigned tirelessly to advance social justice and the rights of small farmers and the landless in Brazil, suffered three attacks on its headquarters in the state of Acre this year. The Right Livelihood Award Foundation, which in 1991 recognised the work of the Pastoral Land Commission, condemns the attacks and demands increased security for rural workers.
→ read full article(Italiano) Pensando al Mali
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Feb 2013
Tuareg e musulmani hanno preso molto dall’Occidente negli scorsi cent’anni; e se adesso l’Occidente cercasse di imparare qualcosa da loro? È davvero ovvio che lo stato moderno, automatizzato, industriale, finanziario-speculativo sia meglio che il nomadismo confederato da cammellieri?
→ read full articleWritten in Blood and Dreams – Poetry and Latin American Revolution
Andre Vltchek - CounterPunch,
25 Feb 2013
I am writing this essay in order to talk about the poetry, and about the songs, that have had such a decisive influence on the changes and revolutions in South America. We did not win because of our brains only; we won because of our hearts, and because of the great talent of our creative men and women, their ability to move others, to inspire and often to enrage the people all over the continent.
→ read full article[Tragicomic] French President François Hollande Awarded UNESCO Peace Prize
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Feb 2013
The President of France, François Hollande, will receive the United Nations cultural agency’s peace prize this year for his “valuable contribution to peace and stability in Africa,” it was announced today [21 Feb 2013].
→ read full articleTranscend Peace University Online Courses
Erika Degortes – TRANSCEND Peace University,
25 Feb 2013
All-online courses on peace, conflict transformation, mediation, peace education, nonviolence and more. TRANSCEND Peace University (TPU) is pleased to announce its call for applications for the academic year 2013: Certificate Online Courses – First Term of 2013: March 12th – May 30th
→ read full articleGMO Agribusiness and the Destructive Nature of Global Capitalism
Colin Todhunter – Global Research,
25 Feb 2013
Capitalism is based on managing its inherent crises. It is also based on the need to maximise profit, beat down competitors, cut overheads and depress wages. With each new ‘fix’, with each technology, with each new pesticide, herbicide, GM innovation, we become further removed from working in harmony with nature. Capitalism doesn’t solve its problems, it just shifts them around. And part of the great con-trick is that it attempts to pass off its endless crises and failures as brilliant successes.
→ read full articleNepal: Six Years of “Transition”
Johan Galtung, 18 Feb 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Feb 2013
Three huge revolts in Asia in the last decades came to an end: the anti-Confucian cultural revolution in China 1967-76, the anti Phnom Penh Khmer Rouge revolution in Cambodia 1975-79, and the anti-feudal monarchy anti-caste maoist People’s War in Nepal that lasted 10 years from 13 February 1996, followed by 18 days of effective nonviolence in the streets of Kathmandu in 6-24 April 2006. The King abdicated.
→ read full articleDeep in the Rectum – Western Art Is Barking at China
Andre Vltchek - CounterPunch,
18 Feb 2013
In Europe and the US, for years and decades, art has become sclerotic, toothless, and somehow synonymous with grant applications, ego trips, identical-looking museum buildings, hordes of tourists and the constant glorification of form over substance. The Western propaganda apparatus spent great energy and funds on extracting all the teeth from the artists, turning them into well groomed poodles.
→ read full articleThe Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI: Out with God’s Rottweiler
Binoy Kampmark - CounterPunch,
18 Feb 2013
As head of the Doctrine for the Congregation of the Faith, the then Cardinal Ratzinger ordered that Fr. Lawrence Murphy, who had sexually assaulted at least 200 children at St. John’s School for the Deaf in Milwaukee, leave the ministry. All to the good, except that Murphy was not defrocked let alone punished or prosecuted via formal legal channels. Besides, no one was particularly interested in listening to deaf victims.
→ read full articleThe African Union, Algeria and Mali: The West’s War against African Development Continues
Dan Glazebrook - CounterPunch,
18 Feb 2013
Africa’s classic depiction in the mainstream media, as a giant basketcase full of endless war, famine and helpless children creates an illusion of a continent utterly dependent on Western handouts. In fact, the precise opposite is true – it is the West that is reliant on African handouts.
→ read full articleUN Kicks Off Year Promoting International Cooperation on Water Management
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Feb 2013
11 February 2013 – The United Nations today launched the International Year of Water Cooperation, which seeks to provide a platform for countries to collaborate in the management of this precious resource in the interest of peace and development.
→ read full articleThe Blind Theology of Militarism
David Sirota – Tahoe Daily Tribune,
18 Feb 2013
In a country whose culture so often (wrongly) portrays bloodshed as the most effective problem solver, many Americans hear this now-ubiquitous drone-war argument and reflexively agree with its suppositions.
→ read full article(Italiano) Schiavitù, Colonialismo, e la Chiesa
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Feb 2013
Parliamo di milioni di schiavi sbarcati nell’arco fra Rio a Washington con baricentro caraibico, e di altri a sud di Rio, a nord di Washington e sulla linea di costa del Pacifico dell’America Latina. Un indicibile crimine contro l’umanità.
→ read full article[Tragicomic] Pentagon Urges Delay in “Devastating” $46 Billion Budget Cuts
David Alexander and Phil Stewart, Reuters – Chicago Tribune,
18 Feb 2013
The Pentagon’s civilian and military leaders warned in dire terms on Tuesday [12 Feb 2013] that $46 billion in budget cuts due to go into effect in two weeks would erode the nation’s ability to go to war and appealed to Congress to delay the reductions.
→ read full articleTranscend Peace University Online Courses
Erika Degortes – TRANSCEND Peace University,
18 Feb 2013
All-online courses on peace, conflict transformation, mediation, peace education, nonviolence and more. TRANSCEND Peace University (TPU) is pleased to announce its call for applications for the academic year 2013: Certificate Online Courses – First Term of 2013: March 12th – May 30th
→ read full articleCondemning North Korea’s Latest Nuclear Test Is Meaningless
Buddhi Kota Subbarao - Countercurrents,
18 Feb 2013
North Korea said the test is aimed at coping with “ferocious” U.S. hostility that undermines the North’s peaceful, sovereign right to launch satellites. As expected, alarm bells started ringing in the United States. President Obama immediately called North Korea’s latest nuclear test a “highly provocative act” that threatens U.S. security and international peace.
→ read full articleThinking Mali
Johan Galtung, 11 Feb 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Feb 2013
Tuaregs and Muslims have picked up a lot from the West these last hundred years; how about the West trying to learn something from them? Is it obvious that the modern, automated, industrial, financial-speculation state is better than confederate camel nomadism?
→ read full articleTranscend Peace University Online Courses
Erika Degortes – TRANSCEND Peace University,
11 Feb 2013
All-online courses on peace, conflict transformation, mediation, peace education, nonviolence and more. TRANSCEND Peace University (TPU) is pleased to announce its call for applications for the academic year 2013: Certificate Online Courses – First Term of 2013: March 12th – May 30th
→ read full article(Italiano) Il Risveglio Arabo-Musulmano – e USA-Israele
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Feb 2013
L’area Mediorientale e Nordafricana (MENA) è arabo-musulmana con un’isola ebraica crescente in mezzo. Ex-territorio coloniale – sotto i turchi ottomani sunniti per oltre quattro secoli, e dell’occidente laico, Inghilterra-Italia-Francia, per mezzo secolo – ora sotto il colonialismo ebreo israeliano e l’imperialismo USA.
→ read full articleSlavery, Colonialism, and the Church
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Feb 2013
From Liverpool-UK, 31 Jan 2013 – We talk about millions of slaves landed in the arch from Rio to Washington with the point of gravity in the Caribbean, and some south of Rio, north of Washington and around the coast to the Pacific side of Latin America. An unspeakable crime against humanity.
→ read full articleCondemning the Murder of Cícero Guedes, Leader of the Brazilian Landless Workers’ Movement MST
The Right Livelihood Award Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Feb 2013
The Right Livelihood Award Foundation strongly condemns the murder of Cícero Guedes, a leader of the Brazilian Landless Workers’ Movement MST. The MST received the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize”) in 1991.
→ read full articleOpen-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on a Draft United Nations Declaration on the Right to Peace
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Feb 2013
First Session 18-21 February 2013. Informal discussion on 7 February 2013. Reference is made to the Note Verbale dated 17 January 2013, concerning the establishment of an Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group with the mandate of progressively negotiating a draft United Nations Declaration on the Right to Peace.
→ read full articleGood Terrorist, Bad Terrorist
Chandra Muzaffar, Countercurrents – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Feb 2013
There is terrorism that is condoned and terrorism that is condemned by Western powers and other states. If violence serves their interests, it is acceptable. If it doesn’t, the militants are targeted. In other words, there are ‘good terrorists’ and ‘bad terrorists’.
→ read full articleThe Arab-Muslim Awakening – And USA-Israel
Johan Galtung, 28 Jan 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jan 2013
The Soviet Union and Yugoslavia were divided into 15 and 7 states respectively, some now members of NATO and/or EU. States seen as islamist-terrorist are in for the same: Sudan-Somalia broken into 2 and 3 parts. They are both on the list of 7, which the White House ordered the Pentagon to “take out” right after 9/11 (General Wesley Clark, Democracy Now, 2 March 2007): Iraq, Iran, Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan and Somalia; seen as hostile, with state, not private central banks blocking market globalization.
→ read full article(Italiano) Il Cambiamento Avviene – Ma Come, Perché, Quando, Dove?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jan 2013
Un secolo fa l’umanità, particolarmente in Occidente, era all’inizio di una grande rivoluzione, dalla cultura del cavallo a quella dell’automobile. Oggi ci sono ancora (FAO-Organizzazione per il cibo e l’agricoltura dell’ONU, 2008) 59 milioni di cavalli, ma (2010) più di un miliardo di auto (nel 1986 solo la metà). In altre parti del mondo, come in Giappone e Cina, c’è stata una rivoluzione verso le auto, ma partendo dalle biciclette – Pechino è passata da 6 milioni di bici a 4 milioni di auto nel giro di 20 anni, solo dal 1990. Dal 1970 al 2010 la quota USA di iscrizioni universitarie su base mondiale è calata dal 26 al 12% mentre la quota cinese è salita da 0 al 18%.
→ read full article(Italiano) Il Pragmatismo della Politica Estera e il Moralismo del Movimento per la Pace: Il Divario Può Essere Colmato – Oppure Tertium Non Datur?
Johan Galtung – Centro Studi Sereno Regis,
21 Jan 2013
Per comprendere meglio dove la peace research può essere diretta, lasciatemi giustapporre l’azione degli organi governativi a quella di una particolare organizzazione non-governativa, il movimento per la pace.
→ read full articleInternational Essay Contest for Young People
Goi Peace Foundation, Japan – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
Organized by The Goi Peace Foundation and UNESCO – Theme: “The Power of Culture to Create a Better Future”
→ read full articleThe Lies of Democracy and the Language of Deceit
Colin Todhunter – Global Research,
21 Jan 2013
As a recent article has indicated, from mass bombing in Southeast Asia to employing death squads in South America, the US military and the CIA have been directly and indirectly responsible for an updated figure of an estimated ten million deaths. But it’s not called mass murder these days. Ironically, the US has hijacked the word ‘terror’ to justify its brand of tyranny through a war on terror.
→ read full articleConflict Resolution: From Gandhi to Galtung
Anupma Kaushik – The Gandhi Foundation,
21 Jan 2013
Johan Galtung clarifies that peace research is based on the assumption that peace is as consensual a value as health. He further states that interdisciplinary and multilevel approaches are needed for peace research besides adoption of symmetry. Peace research needs to draw from all corners of the world and in order to understand an issue the researcher needs to see it from either side but the solution should not be based on the assumptions of one party alone.
→ read full articleUNESCO Recognizes Brazilian Friar’s Contribution to Social Justice in Latin America and Caribbean
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
11 Jan 2013 – The United Nations has recognized a Brazilian Dominican friar, Frei Betto, with a leading international prize for his “exceptional contribution” to building a universal culture of peace, social justice and human rights in Latin America and the Caribbean. The author of more than 50 books, Frei Betto was born in 1944 and joined the Dominican Order at the age of 20 while studying journalism, and during the time of military dictatorship in Brazil, he was imprisoned twice, in 1964 and again from 1969 to 1973.
→ read full articleChange Happens – But How, Why, When, Where?
Johan Galtung, 21 Jan 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
A century ago humanity, particularly in the West, was at the beginning of a major revolution, from horse culture to car culture. Today there are still 59 million horses, but more than 1 billion cars (in 1986 only half of that). In other parts of the world, like Japan and China, there was a revolution to cars, but from bicycles–Beijing went from 6 million bicycles to 4 million cars over a period of 20 years, only from 1990. From 1970 to 2010 the US share of world college enrollment dropped from 26 to 12 percent whereas the Chinese share went up from 0 to 18 percent.
→ read full article(Italiano) Contro la Rivoluzione Mondiale – Costruttivamente!
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
Un paese che reagisce con mini-rivoluzioni, nonviolenza, disobbedienza civile contro tali smaccate ingiustizie. Un paese dove la lotta di classe è sospesa per il momento; ha vinto il capitalismo e più specificamente i banchieri e i loro servitori, i politici, e ancora più specificamente il capitale finanziario-speculativo. E questo in una Spagna prossima a 40 anni di democrazia dopo 40 anni di dittatura di Franco. Costituzione + democrazia + elezioni + diritti umani (anche immobiliari) + parlamento contro il capitalismo finanziario. Deboli contro forti.
→ read full article(Italiano) Il Dirupo, la Palude, il Pantano USA
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
C’è altro oltre il dirupo fiscale che risalta a occhio nudo… Introduciamo la sofferenza della gente, la crescita mancante e il fardello del debito, espandendo il discorso per visioni nuove… Potrebbe invece far prodigi un enorme programma ingegnoso che faccia sì che quel 16% si tiri su da solo (bootstraps), con crediti per piccole società-cooperative progettate per produrre cibo e acqua, vestiario e alloggi, sanità e istruzione, tutto a prezzi alla portata.
→ read full articleOscar Worthy Propaganda – Zero Dark Thirty: Torturing the Facts
Majorie Cohn - CounterPunch,
14 Jan 2013
Law professor Marjorie Cohn writes of the two disturbing characteristics of Zero Dark Thirty, the latest pro-CIA, pro-torture film to roll out of Hollywood.
→ read full articleAgainst World Revolution – Constructively!
Johan Galtung, 14 Jan 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
A country rapidly de-developing, into low Third World levels, even in health. A country not only saving banks rather than people but also letting the banks get away with crimes. A country reacting with mini-revolutions, nonviolence, civil disobedience against such glaring injustices. A country where the class war is over for the time being; capitalism won and more particularly the bankers and their servants, the politicians, and even more particularly the finance-speculation capital. And this in a Spain close to 40 years into democracy after 40 years of Franco dictatorship. Constitution + democracy + elections + human rights (also to property) + parliament vs finance capitalism. Weak vs strong.
→ read full articleThe Cancer Cash Cycle: The Causes of Cancer and Ill Health
Colin Todhunter – Global Research,
14 Jan 2013
Cancer is big business. Despite massive public screening campaigns and talk of cures, cancer rates continue to soar, and certain companies not only profit from making the chemicals that cause cancer but also from selling the drugs that treat it.
→ read full articleSri Lankan Buddhist Chauvinists Provoke Violence against Muslims
Gamini Karunasena and Wasantha Rupasinghe, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government is again giving tacit support to communal provocations against Sri Lanka’s minorities in a bid to divide working people amid the country’s deepening economic and social crisis. This time, Muslims have become the main target of chauvinist groups.
→ read full articleRemembering Lasantha: Now They Come For “Everyone”
Nirmanusan Balasundaram, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
Now, more than ever, with the current state of affairs in Sri Lanka, the vacuum left by Lasantha’s death and his importance can be felt by anyone who is concerned about human rights, democracy, rule of law, and, of course, the independence of the judiciary. The Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Sunday Leader newspaper Lasantha Wickrematunge , better known as Lasantha, was brutally assassinated four years ago. Lasantha noted in his last editorial, “I hope my murder will be seen not as a defeat of freedom but an inspiration”.
→ read full articleThe US Cliff, Swamp, Quagmire
Johan Galtung,
7 Jan 2013
There is more than the fiscal cliff to meet the naked eye… Let us bring in the suffering of the people, the missing growth and the debt burden, expanding the discourse for new visions… A huge imaginative program for the 16 percent to lift themselves up by their own bootstraps, with credits for small companies-cooperatives designed to produce food and water, clothing and housing, health and education, all at affordable prices might do miracles.
→ read full article(Italiano) Un Augurio per l’Anno Nuovo: Andare Oltre!
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
Sì, andare oltre, trascendere! – ecco il nostro messaggio, per il nuovo anno o meno. Prendete le sparatorie nelle scuole USA. Il vice-presidente della National Rifle Association (NRA) in TV: “la sola persona che può fermare un cattivo con un’arma è un buono con un’arma”. Affermazione che ha toccato molte corde. C’è conferma dall’alto: questa è la politica estera USA. L’unico modo per fermare un cattivo paese con le armi è un buon paese con le armi; l’unico modo di fermare il cattivo terrorismo dal basso è il buon terrorismo di stato dall’alto. Equilibrio di forze, innumerevoli basi, cercare e distruggere.
→ read full articleNet Worth of World’s Richest Rose by $241B In 2012
Bloomberg News – Chicago Tribune,
7 Jan 2013
The richest people on the planet got richer in 2012, adding $241 billion to their collective net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world’s 100 wealthiest individuals.
→ read full articleResignation Letter
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
1 January 2013. I believe I was mislead regarding the professional environment at Universiti Brunei Darussalam during the recruitment process, and due to the on-going attempts to gag me on the persecution and slaughter of minorities, including Muslim minorities, in the country of my birth [Burma], I no longer wish to be subject to this level of extreme and unprofessional academic censorship. I need to work at a professional institution where the word ‘politics’ is mentionable, social conscience livable, and compassion honourable.
→ read full articleApologize Then Call It a Day: Big Banks and Drug Money
Helen Redmond - CounterPunch,
7 Jan 2013
Take responsibility, apologize, pay a fine for your drug crimes and then call it a day. Go home to family who will forgive you for doing business with so-called “narco-terrorists.” Prison time? Felony record? Asset forfeiture? No. Not for drug trafficking executives of laundromat/banks that are “too big to fail” or jail. Ending the war on drugs would not only save human lives and billions of dollars, it would free up law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute banks whose real crimes are far worse than laundering drug money.
→ read full articleA New Year’s Wish: Go Beyond!
Johan Galtung,
31 Dec 2012
Yes, go beyond, transcend!–that is our message, New Year or not. Take the US school shootings. The National Rifle Association’s vice president on TV: “The only person who can stop a bad person with a gun is a good person with a gun”. That statement struck many cords. This is US foreign policy. The only way to stop a bad country with arms is a good country with arms; the only way to stop evil terrorism from below is good state terrorism from above. Balance of power, countless bases, search and destroy.
→ read full article