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South Sudan Becomes Newest U.N. Member State
Faith Karimi - CNN,
18 Jul 2011
South Sudan officially became the 193rd member of the United Nations on Thursday [14 Jul 2011] morning, capping a flurry of activities that started with its independence last week.
→ read full articleHaiti 18 Months After Devastating Quake
Ashley Smith – InDepth News,
18 Jul 2011
Some eighteen months after the disastrous earthquake that killed 300,000 people and drove 2 million into temporary camps, Haiti’s crisis remains as difficult as ever. Ashley Smith talked to Kim Ives, a journalist and editor with Haiti Liberté, a weekly newspaper published in Port-au-Prince and New York City, about what the Caribbean country could expect from the U.S.-backed Michel Martelly, who won a presidential runoff election in March 2011. He was sworn in as president on May 14, 2011.
→ read full articleA New Arms Race: Exports Booming for German Weapons Manufacturers
Dietmar Hawranek, Markus Dettmer and Ralf Beste – Der Spiegel,
18 Jul 2011
A decrease in orders from its own military has led Germany’s arms industry to turn the focus of its sales efforts abroad. It has recently enjoyed amazing successes despite seemingly strict export controls. For Frank Haun, it’s all a matter of “red” or “blue,” a minor color change on his map of the world.
→ read full articleBy Torpedoing the Gaza Flotilla, Israel Sunk Its Own Ship
Medea Benjamin - Truthout,
18 Jul 2011
Instead of high-fiving each other for their success in thwarting the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, Israeli officials should be throwing overboard the propaganda hacks who catapulted the flotilla into headline news for weeks and left Israel smelling like rotten fish. But in previous years, the same international coalition had sent boats to Gaza five times, successfully reaching their destination with a symbolic shipment of humanitarian aid. No blood, no military interception, no story.
→ read full articleAnti-Zionism Growing Among Jews
As'ad Abdul Rahman - Gulf News,
11 Jul 2011
Pro-Palestine Jewish activists and organisations blame Israel for ‘crimes against humanity’.
→ read full articleWar without Humans: Modern Blood Rites Revisited
Barbara Ehrenreich - TomDispatch,
11 Jul 2011
12,000 Drones, Lethal Cyborg Insects, See-Shoot Robots — How Machines Are Taking Over War – How far will the automation of war and the substitution of autonomous robots for human fighters go?
→ read full articleAs Wall St. Polices Itself, Prosecutors Use Softer Approach
Gretchen Morgenson and Louise Story - The New York Times,
11 Jul 2011
“Traditionally, a bank would tell the Department of Justice when an employee engaged in crimes, but what do you do when the bank itself is run by a criminal enterprise?” said Solomon L. Wisenberg, former chief of a Justice Department financial institutions fraud unit.
→ read full articleWikiLeaks, Wimbledon and War
Amy Goodman – Truthdig,
11 Jul 2011
Last Saturday [2 Jul 2011] was sunny in London, and the crowds were flocking to Wimbledon and to the annual Henley Regatta. Julian Assange, the founder of the whistle-blower website Wikileaks.org, was making his way by train from house arrest in Norfolk, three hours away, to join me and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek for a public conversation about WikiLeaks, the power of information and the importance of transparency in democracies.
→ read full articleGenerations of Pork: How Greece’s Political Elite Ruined the Country
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
The latest tranche of loans from the EU and the IMF has helped buy debt-ridden Greece some time. But the Greeks will find it hard to get back on their feet. Their country has been ruined by three political dynasties, which created a bloated system of cronyism that is hard to change.
→ read full articleEast Jerusalem Suffers Heroin Plague
Kieron Monks – Al Jazeera,
11 Jul 2011
Activists fight to save addicts in towns without prospects or security. In the town of Al Ram, pressed up against Israel’s Separation Barrier, degradation has set in. Once a lively suburb of Jerusalem, since 2006 it has been locked out by the Barrier, which surrounds it on three sides. The effect of this sudden disconnection from the city has been devastating. One-third of all businesses have been forced to close, 75 per cent of youths under 24 are unemployed, and around half of the town’s 62,000 residents have been denied the ID they require to enter Jerusalem.
→ read full articleWill the UN Be a Fairy Godmother for the Birth of South Sudan?
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
On July 9, 2011, South Sudan became an independent State, six months after the January referendum in which the south Sudan population voted overwhelmingly for independence. However, Sudan is not really structured to be divided in two. There are no natural dividing lines, neither physical nor social. During much of the English colonial period, southern Sudan was administered from Uganda as road communications were easier than from Khartoum, the capital in the north of the country.
→ read full articleBradley Manning, American Hero
Chase Madar – TomDispatch,
11 Jul 2011
We still don’t know if he did it or not, but if Bradley Manning, the 24-year-old Army private from Oklahoma, actually supplied WikiLeaks with its choicest material — the Iraq War logs, the Afghan War logs, and the State Department cables — which startled and riveted the world, then he deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom instead of a jail cell at Fort Leavenworth. President Obama recently gave one of those medals to retiring Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who managed the two bloody, disastrous wars about which the WikiLeaks-released documents revealed so much.
→ read full articleWatch: Full Video of WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange & Philosopher Slavoj Žižek with Amy Goodman
Democracy NOW! – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
In one of his first public events since being held under house arrest, WikiLeaks Editor-In-Chief Julian Assange appeared in London Saturday [2 Jul 2011] for a conversation with Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, moderated by Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman. They discussed the impact of WikiLeaks on world politics, the release of the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, and Cablegate — the largest trove of classified U.S. government records in history.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Israel: O Tsunami Que Está a Chegar
Immanuel Wallerstein, Esquerda.net – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
Os palestinianos estão a trabalhar para obter o reconhecimento formal da sua soberania na reunião de Outono da Assembleia Geral das Nações Unidas. A sua intenção é solicitar uma declaração de que o Estado existe dentro das fronteiras de 1967, anteriores à guerra israelo-palestiniana. É quase certo que a votação será favorável. A única questão, no momento, é quão favorável.
→ read full articleEurope Declares War on Rating Agencies
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor – The Telegraph,
11 Jul 2011
A chorus of policy-makers from Europe and across the world have denounced Moody’s drastic downgrade of Portuguese debt as an act of financial vandalism, accusing the “Anglo-Saxon” rating agencies of driving states into bankruptcy and destabilising the global system.
→ read full articleIn Israel, a Tsunami Warning
Noam Chomsky – The New York Times,
11 Jul 2011
Dan Gillerman, Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations, warned participants that “the morning after the anticipated announcement of recognition of a Palestinian state, a painful and dramatic process of Southafricanization will begin”—meaning that Israel would become a pariah state, subject to international sanctions.
→ read full articleAfter the US Withdrawal from Afghanistan: Toward a Regional Approach
Tatsushi Arai – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
One way of enabling a regional process is to launch a Central and South Asian Conference for Peace and Security, modeling after the Helsinki Process of 1972-5 that had facilitated confidence-building among thirty-five European and North American countries divided by the Cold War. The proposed regional process seeks to provide a common platform of problem-solving not only for Afghanistan and Pakistan, but also for Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. PLEASE WATCH PROF. ARAI’S TED TALKS PRESENTATION ON VIDEO OF THE WEEK.
→ read full articleA Boy and His Dog
TMS Editor,
11 Jul 2011
An eight-year-old boy went into a grocery store and picked out a large box of laundry detergent. The grocer walked over and asked the boy if he had a lot of laundry to do. “Oh, no laundry,” the boy said, “I’m going to wash my dog.”
→ read full articleLessons of Argentina Crisis Ignored In Handling of Greece
Jeremy Warner – The Telegraph,
11 Jul 2011
For a vision of how the Greek debt meltdown is going to end, look no further than the International Monetary Fund’s post mortem into a similar crisis that came to a head almost exactly a decade ago – Lessons From The Crisis In Argentina.
→ read full article(Italian) La Possibile Scelta di Nonviolenza dei Palestinesi e Israele
Maria Grazia Enardu – Centro Studi Sereno Regis,
11 Jul 2011
Fra le nuove generazioni di palestinesi si sta diffondendo, con esiti ancora difficili da prevedere, una forma di lotta che, fino a poco tempo fa, sarebbe stata quantomeno definita bizzarra per quella regione: la nonviolenza. Di certo, se riuscisse a coinvolgere un grande numero di persone, rischierà di mettere in seria difficoltà l’esercito israeliano.
→ read full articleFlotilla Passengers Are Today’s Freedom Riders
Truthout, Staff Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
It has been widely reported that 25 percent of the activists on the US boat that was to sail in the Gaza flotilla are Jewish. Six of those 35 activists are Truthout friends, many of long date: Chairman of the Truthout Board Robert Naiman and contributing authors Medea Benjamin, Kathy Kelly, Ray McGovern, Gabriel Schivone and boat leader Ann Wright. Knowing that these friends are putting their lives on the line for what they believe in fills us with pride and anxiety. Our hearts are locked up with their boldly christened boat, The Audacity of Hope.
→ read full articlePortugal Drug Law Show Results Ten Years On, Experts Say
Agence France Press-AFP – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
Health experts in Portugal said Friday [2 Jul 2011] that Portugal’s decision 10 years ago to decriminalise drug use and treat addicts rather than punishing them is an experiment that has worked. “There is no doubt that the phenomenon of addiction is in decline in Portugal,” said Joao Goulao, President of the Institute of Drugs and Drugs Addiction, a press conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the law.
→ read full articleSabotaging Flotilla II: Waging War against Civil Society
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
It is useful to compare the Flotilla II unfolding experience with the Rainbow Warrior incident. At the time, the French nuclear tests in the Pacific were considered legal, although intensely contested, while the blockade of Israel is widely viewed as a prolonged instance of collective punishment in violation of international humanitarian law, specifically Article 33 of the 4th Geneva Convention.
→ read full article(Castellano) La No-violencia: Negativa vs. Positiva
Johan Galtung, 27 de Junio de 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
La no-violencia negativa incluye todas las formas de acción en contra, menos la violencia física, como la no-cooperación, la desobediencia civil, la infracción de las leyes, la declaración y la práctica de la autonomía. Y la no-violencia positiva incluye el esclarecimiento del pasado a través de la conciliación, del presente a través de la mediación de conflictos peligrosos, y la construcción de un futuro a través de la participación equitativa en proyectos positivos. Las dos formas no son exclusivas, un Gandhi, un Martin Luther King hicieron ambas cosas.
→ read full article
Credit Rating Comic Theater: You Want a Triple AAA, Just Give Me Some More Money
Prgrsvs4RspnsblPltcs – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
Ratigan, Eliot Spitzer and comedian Sherrod Small play a game of credit rating theater. This genre of news comedy is incredibly rare and difficult to execute, live satire. There is extreme truth in this little bit of comedic fiction, including the fact that absolutely nothing has changed.
→ read full articleNew Guidance Allows Nations to Label Genetically Engineered Foods
Mike Ludwig - Truthout,
11 Jul 2011
The Codex Alimentarius Commission, which is composed of food safety regulators from more than 100 countries, adopted a guidance document during its annual summit in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday [5 Jul 2011] that prevents any country’s GE food labeling policies from being legally challenged as barriers to trade. The commission was created in 1963 to create international food safety standards. The guidance does not mandate the labeling of GE foods, but allows countries to develop their own labeling policies.
→ read full articleHerbicide Tolerance and GM Crops
Greenpeace – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
The evidence detailed in this report demonstrates that glyphosate-based products can have adverse impacts on human and animal health, and that a review of their safety for human and animal health is urgently needed. The widespread and increasingly intensive use of glyphosate in association with the use of GM (genetically modified, also called genetically engineered or GE) crops poses further risks to the environment and human health.’
→ read full articleA Newspaper’s Closure Does Not End the Hacking Scandal
The Independent, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
The management team that repeatedly covered up evidence of wrongdoing remains in place. Even in the depths of a crisis, Rupert Murdoch’s flair for the dramatic never deserts him. No – the sound that could be heard yesterday [7 Jul 2011] was not of an empire crumbling, but an empire attempting to shore up its defences and protect its key personnel. The purpose of this move is to prevent the rest of the sprawling Murdoch media organisation from contamination.
→ read full articleThe 3 Reasons To Give Up Meat (And 1 Not To)
Ben Ralston, Elephant Journal – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
The real vegetarians are people who know what I’m talking about…they eat a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, pulses, grains, seaweeds…and whatever other yummy stuff they can get their hands on (okay, apart from meat – more on that later). They also recognize that in order to really feel their best, some spiritual practice is required. So as well as eating a balanced diet, they live a balanced life: striving always for the proper mix of material and spiritual aspiration.
→ read full article(Castellano) Misión Milagro: Siete Años Devolviendo la Vista a Más de Un Millón 357 Mil Latinoamericanos
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
La Misión Milagro, proyecto humanitario creado por los Gobiernos de Cuba y Venezuela para solucionar problemas oftalmológicos de pacientes latinoamericanos y caribeños, cumplió este viernes sus primeros siete años con más de un millón 352 mil 643 personas curadas exitosamente.
→ read full articleIndigenous Resistance Is the New ‘Terrorism’
Manuela Picq – Al Jazeera,
11 Jul 2011
In Ecuador, protesting for the rights of the Earth and trying to preserve natural resources may make you a “terrorist”. If you thought there was anything romantic about environmental activism or indigenous rights, think twice. Socialist ideas about nature – such as keeping water a public good – can get you facing charges of sabotage by a leftist government. In the land of the Incas, if you protect the pachamama [“Mother World”], you might just be a “terrorist”.
→ read full articleHumanitarian Disaster or Act of God — Dangerous Implication in Practice?
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
Responding Systemically To the Probable Fate of Millions – Given the fundamental importance in practice of religious belief and obedience to divine injunctions, to what extent is disaster to be understood as an Act of God, or rather as a disastrous failure of human civilization — thereby enabled and heralding its final collapse (cf Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive, 2005)
→ read full articleRighting Wrongs the Maori Way
Allan MacRae & Howard Zehr – Yes! Magazine,
11 Jul 2011
Instead of prison, New Zealand chooses restorative justice and community problem-solving.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Depósitos de Terras Raras São Descobertos no Pacífico
Fabiano Ávila, CarbonoBrasil – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
Japão encontra recursos em quantidade suficiente para dobrar as reservas mundiais, o que deve evitar uma guerra comercial em escala global que estava ganhando força depois da decisão chinesa de reduzir a exportação dos minerais.
→ read full articleBradley Manning’s Army of One
Steve Fishman – New York Magazine,
11 Jul 2011
How a lonely, five-foot-two, gender-questioning soldier became a WikiLeaks hero, a traitor to the U.S., and one of the most unusual revolutionaries in American history. Among fellow soldiers, Manning had to conceal the basic facts of his sexual orientation. On the web, he was proudly out and joined a “Repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” group. He’d even begun to explore switching his gender, chatting with a counselor about the steps a person takes to transition from male to female. He assured [ZJ] that after he got out of the Army, “im planning on breaking out in all directions.” Manning, now 23, faces 52 years in prison, and perhaps the death penalty. But in other ways, his reach is longer, his footprint wider than he could have ever dreamed. He’s already broken out.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Mercados Começam as Apostas Sobre Qual Será o Próximo País a Cair
Marco Antonio Moreno, Esquerda.net – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
O casino está aberto. William Hill, a maior casa de apostas de Londres, vaticina que o próximo país a pedir auxílio será a Espanha. Paga 1,1 euros por cada euro apostado, enquanto que o resgate italiano é pago a 3 por 1, o da Bélgica a 5 por 1 e o hipotético resgate da Alemanha é pago a 500 por 1. Rendida a Grécia, e submetida aos draconianos planos de ajustamento e cortes que a troika UE/BCE/FMI impõe, o apetite dos mercados começa a procurar a próxima vítima. Portugal e a Itália são os favoritos.
→ read full articleVictim Blinded In a Post-9/11 Hate Crime Now Fights For His Attacker’s Life
Daily Mail Reporter – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
Mr Bhuiyan, a devout Muslim who says he learned to forgive Stroman years ago, told MSNBC: ‘I’m trying to do my best not to allow the loss of another human life.’ He was a 26-year old recent immigrant when he encountered Stroman. It took him years to recover from the gun shot, and he still carries bits of metal embedded in his face. Mr Bhuiyan lost the sight in one of his eyes, but did not suffer brain damage. He did lose a fiancé in the ordeal but earned a degree in aeronautical engineering and works as a technology professional in Dallas, although he says he wants to go to journalism school and study human rights, after trying to save Stroman’s life.
→ read full articleFragile Peace Greets Independent South Sudan
Jerome Mwanda - InDepth News,
11 Jul 2011
South Sudan declaring its independence, forming the world’s newest state, and initiating a new era for North Sudan on July 9, 2011, is a historic moment for Sudan and the surrounding region, and a vital opportunity to promote peace and stability in a volatile territory. But this historic moment looks set to be scarred by violence, a group of civil society organisations has warned.
→ read full articleRussia, Iceland & Afghanistan Stand Alone as the Only Nations with International Arrest Warrants out for Bankers Who Committed Fraud
stacyherbert, maxkeiser.com – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
This is our single most urgent concern in all the banking disasters around the world – justice. Without justice, these banking crime waves will not stop. The Bank of Moscow fraudster is hiding out in London and will no doubt live it large there thanks to London’s safe haven status. Icelandic bankers are also hiding out in London after fleecing their country with ‘loans’ to close friends and family.
→ read full articleDRC: Children Still in Prison despite Law
IRIN News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
The law, which came into effect in January 2009, replaced a 1950 colonial law on juvenile delinquency that set the age of criminal responsibility at 16, leading to a number of severe penalties against children, including life imprisonment and the death sentence.
→ read full articleUgandan Farmers Reject Genetically Modified Crops
David Kazungu – Daily Monitor, Uganda,
4 Jul 2011
Farmers in the eastern districts of Uganda rejected a proposal by Mr. Arthur Makala, the executive director at Science Foundation for Livelihoods and Developments, to start engaging in the cultivation of genetically modified crops. He had suggested that farmers should embrace the Genetically Modified Crops [GMC] for better yields but the farmers rejected it saying GMCs are contaminated with chemicals that may be harmful to their health.
→ read full articleThe Invasion of Australia – Official, At Last
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
The City of Sydney has voted to replace the words “European arrival” in the official record with “invasion”. The deputy lord mayor, Marcelle Hoff, says it is intellectually dishonest to use any other word in describing how Aboriginal Australia was dispossessed by the British. “We were invaded,” said Paul Morris, an Aboriginal adviser to the council. “It is the truth and it shouldn’t be watered down. We wouldn’t expect Jewish people to accept a watered-down version of the Holocaust, so why should we?”
→ read full articleA World Overwhelmed by Western Hypocrisy
Paul Craig Roberts – Information Clearing House,
4 Jul 2011
The International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank are violating their charters in order to bail out French, German, and Dutch private banks. The IMF is only empowered to make balance of payments loans, but is lending to the Greek government for prohibited budgetary reasons in order that the Greek government can pay the banks. There is nothing left of the American character. Only a people who have lost their soul could tolerate the evil that emanates from Washington.
→ read full articleUngovernability of Sustainable Global Democracy?
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
Towards Engaging Appropriately With Time – Prepared on the occasion of political upheaval in Arab countries, potential destabilization of Europe through default on public debt in Greece and other eurozone countries, problematic military outcomes in Afghanistan and Libya, and failed response to climate change challenges.
→ read full articleRule of Law vs. Rule of Mediation
Johan Galtung, 4 Jul 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
A fresh wind of a culture of mediation is blowing all over Latin America, more than in any other continent. All over there are huge conferences, workshops and training in family mediation, between neighbors, communal mediation, in work relations; less so at the inter-nation and inter-state levels. Judicial mediation is on everybody’s lips. This is great! A culture of mediation is a key part of a culture of conflict transformation–transforming conflicts so that they become manageable without violence–in turn a key part of the general culture of peace called for by UNESCO. Why so important?
→ read full articleEgypt Declines World Bank Loan as Incompatible with National Interest
Al-Masry Al-Youm – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
The government has declined a loan from the World Bank because it found the terms of the loan incompatible with the national interest, Egyptian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Fayza Abul Naga said on Monday [27 Jun 2011].
→ read full articleInstances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2010
Richard F. Grimmett, Congressional Research Service – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
March 10, 2011 – This report lists hundreds of instances in which the United States has used its armed forces abroad in situations of military conflict or potential conflict or for other than normal peacetime purposes.
→ read full article‘Food Terrorism’ Next Door to the Magic Kingdom
Amy Goodman – Truthdig,
4 Jul 2011
In the past few weeks, no fewer than 21 people have been arrested in Orlando, Fla., the home of Disney World, for handing out free food in a park.
→ read full articleFrom WikiLeaks to SB 1070—The Rise of the New Global Hacktivists
Justine Sharrock – New America Media,
4 Jul 2011
Fear of arrests has caused some to leave the movement, if only temporarily. But for others, the threat of arrests—and the media attention that results—has fueled their determination. The chatrooms are filled with bravado and humor making fun of journalists, analysts and the FBI for their incompetence. As Anonymous members see it, they’re engaged in a battle of brains and they are winning.
→ read full article
Harvard, Vanderbuilt, Spelman Take Part in African Land Grab
Amy Goodman, Democracy NOW! – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
A new report raises questions about the connection of Harvard, Vanderbilt and other U.S. universities to European financial interests buying or leasing vast areas of African farmland.
→ read full articleSomali Doctor: ‘If I was sane, I would have fled!’
Mohammed Adow – Al Jazeera,
4 Jul 2011
“The difference between a robot and a human being are feelings,” he observes. “I have grown numb to almost everything that goes on around me. Very few things move me,” he told me as he did his early morning rounds. “If I was normal and had my feelings intact, I would have fled like the thousands fleeing my country every month,” he says. The only thing that keeps him going, he says, is the knowledge that he is saving lives.
→ read full articleWikiLeaks Exposes US Profiteering After Haiti Earthquake
John Marion – World Socialist Web Site,
4 Jul 2011
On June 15, the whistleblower web site WikiLeaks began releasing US diplomatic cables from the period immediately following the devastating Haitian earthquake of January 2010. The cables, from among the 251,287 in WikiLeaks’ possession, provide important information on the machinations of US politicians, on their tight control over Haitian government functions, and about their drive to reopen Haiti to capitalist exploitation.
→ read full articleMy Next Life
TMS Editor,
4 Jul 2011
In this life I’m a woman. In my next life, I’d like to come back as a bear.
→ read full articlePalestinian Status at the UN: Breaking the Logjam
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
There is a good deal of discussion in the halls of the UN, both in New York and Geneva, concerning a possible application of full membership in the UN by the Palestinian Authority. The discussions reflect similar discussions within Foreign Ministries in the hope that there can be an agreed-upon program of action (or non-action) by September when the new General Assembly meets.
→ read full articleGreek Tragedy
Guillaume Duval – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
In his spot for Radio Nova, Guillaume Duval lays out two possibilities under discussion for saving Greece: Make european taxpayers pay or make banks pay. Two alternatives that each entails political and economic risks.
→ read full articleThe International Criminal Court Plays Politics? The Qaddafi Arrest Warrants
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
This politicized use of the ICC in the course of the Libyan War offers an opportunity for those dedicated to global justice, especially in the Arab world, to insist that international law should no longer serve as a plaything for those who intervene with hard power in their region from the comfort zone of NATO headquarters.
→ read full articleChallenging Israeli Apartheid, Starting at Ben Gurion Airport
Laura Durkay – Mondoweiss,
4 Jul 2011
A week of nonviolent resistance against Israeli apartheid will open with a simple action at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport. From July 8-16, I will join hundreds of internationals for a week of solidarity actions in coordination with 15 Palestinian civil resistance organizations in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. If you are interested in participating email info@palestinejn.org or visit the Palestine Justice Network website.
→ read full articleMonsanto in Haiti
Beverly Bell – Common Dreams,
4 Jul 2011
Last spring, in violation of Haitian law, the Minister of Agriculture gave the agribusiness giant Monsanto permission to “donate” 505 tons of seeds to Haiti. The first shipment of 60 tons, reportedly of maize and vegetable seeds, arrived in May 2010. Some of the seeds were coated with a chemical (Thiram) so toxic that the EPA forbids its sale to home gardeners in the U.S.. Monsanto announced its $4 million gift was “to support the reconstruction effort” in Haiti.
→ read full articleThe Painful Collapse of Empire: How the “American Dream” and American Exceptionalism Wreck Havoc on the World
Robert Jensen – Information Clearing House,
4 Jul 2011
Even tragic heroes can, at the end, celebrate the dignity of the human spirit in their failure. That may be the task of Americans, to recognize that we can’t reverse course in time to prevent our ultimate failure, but that in the time remaining we can recognize our hamartia, name our hubris, and do what we can to undo the damage. That may be the one chance for the United States to be truly heroic, for us to learn to leave the stage gracefully.
→ read full articleDirty Truths
Michael Parenti – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
The history of the United States has been one of territorial and economic expansionism, with the benefits going mostly to the U.S. business class in the form of growing investments and markets, access to rich natural resources and cheap labor, and the accumulation of enormous profits. The American people have had to pay the costs of empire, supporting a huge military establishment with their taxes, while suffering the loss of jobs, the neglect of domestic services, and the loss of tens of thousands of American lives in overseas military ventures.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Brasil: Apoio Chega a 30 Países Latino-Americanos e 38 Africanos
Pravda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
A cooperação com países das Américas do Sul, Central, do Norte e do Caribe conta com cerca de 390 projetos e atividades isoladas, em diferentes fases de execução, com 30 países em desenvolvimento. Já a cooperação técnica com a África é feita com 38, dos quais 22 fazem parte do grupo de Países de Menor Desenvolvimento Relativo (PMDR). O orçamento da cooperação na África supera US$ 66 milhões.
→ read full article(French) Tragédie Grecque
Guillaume Duval – Alternatives Economiques,
4 Jul 2011
Dans sa chronique pour Radio Nova, Guillaume Duval expose les deux possibilités en discussion pour sauver la Grèce : faire payer les contribuables européens ou faire payer les banques. Deux alternatives qui comportent chacune des risques politiques et économiques.
→ read full articleSacred Mantras
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
The Palestinians are planning something thoroughly obnoxious: they intend to apply to the UN for statehood. Why obnoxious? Any Israeli spokesman (not to mention spokeswoman) will tell you readily: because it is a “unilateral” move. How dare they proclaim a state unilaterally? How dare they do so without the consent of the other party to the conflict – us?
→ read full article(Castellano) El Envejecimiento, no la Superpoblación…
Johan Galtung, 13 Junio 2011 – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jun 2011
… será la tendencia dominante de la demografía del siglo XXI, escribe Gérard François Dumont en Le Monde Diplomatique, de junio de 2011.
→ read full article(Castellano) Morales Promulga Ley que Garantiza Producción de Alimentos y Prohíbe Importación de Transgénicos
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jun 2011
El presidente de Bolivia, Evo Morales, promulgó este domingo [26 Jun 2011] la ley de Revolución Productiva, Comunitaria y Agropecuaria con la que se garantizará la producción de alimentos en el país y que prohibíbe la importación de transgénicos.
→ read full articleNATO, the Ultimate Transformer
Pepe Escobar – Asia Times,
27 Jun 2011
NATO has just admitted it was “probably” responsible for the humanitarian liberation of nine Libyan civilians, plus 18 injured, via an early morning strike against an apartment building in a densely populated Tripoli neighborhood. Liberating Northern Africans in their sleep under tons of debris now adds to NATO’s – and the Pentagon’s – routine liberation of Pashtun wedding parties.
→ read full articleA Few Notes on WHAT IS LEFT (or Toward a Manifesto for Revolutionary Emancipation)
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jun 2011
These notes are meant as tentative and conversational expressions of an emergent political point of view, and will be revised in response to commentary by others. Obviously, also, there is no pretension on my part of comprehensiveness, or else many other issues would have been addressed.
→ read full articleUS Approves $3.4bn Native American Settlement
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Services,
27 Jun 2011
A US federal judge has approved a $3.4bn settlement over “mismanaged” Native American royalties, in a case that represents the largest settlement ever approved against the US government. The 15-year-old suit claimed that for more than a century, US officials systematically stole or squandered billions in royalties intended for Native Americans in exchange for oil, gas, grazing and other leases.
→ read full article
The Audacity of Hope: U.S. Peace Activists to Sail to Gaza in Humanitarian Flotilla (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Amy Goodman, Democracy NOW! – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jun 2011
Mon, Jun 20, 2011 – Dozens of Americans hope to set sail this week on a U.S.-flagged ship, “The Audacity of Hope,” as part of an international flotilla which aims to challenge Israel’s embargo of the Gaza Strip. Palestinian solidarity activists are setting sail from a number of ports just over a year after Israeli forces killed nine activists on an aid boat called the Mavi Marmara, which was part of the first such international flotilla.
→ read full articleIt Sure Aids
TMS Editor,
27 Jun 2011
An elderly patient gets a hearing aid from his doctor. After some time he meets the doctor again.
→ read full article(Castellano) México: Guerra Antidrogas, Plan Perverso
Salvador González Briceño – América Latina en Movimiento,
27 Jun 2011
Con datos de la ONU, de 1988 a 2008 el uso de drogas aumentó en 34.5%; la cocaína en 27%; la mariguana en 8.5%. Sólo este año, entre 20 y 25 millones de ciudadanos estadounidenses usarán alguna droga ilícita, unos 10 millones más que en 1970, y cada día suman 8 mil a la cuenta fatal. Otro dato indica que EU destina unos 15 mil millones en la “guerra contra las drogas”, pero cálculos conservadores señalan que la cifra se acerca a los 40 mil millones.
→ read full articleOcean Life ‘Facing Mass Extinction’
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jun 2011
Pollution, global warming and other man-made problems are pushing the world’s oceans to the brink of a mass extinction of marine life unprecedented in tens of millions of years, a consortium of scientists has warned. Dying coral reefs, biodiversity ravaged by invasive species, expanding open-water “dead zones,” toxic algae blooms, and the massive depletion of big fish stocks are all accelerating, according to the report, which is due to be presented at the United Nations on Tuesday [21 Jun 2011].
→ read full article‘Safety Myth’ Left Japan Ripe for Nuclear Crisis
Norimitsu Onishi – The New York Times,
27 Jun 2011
Shika, Japan — Near a nuclear power plant facing the Sea of Japan, a series of exhibitions in a large public relations building here extols the virtues of the energy source with some help from “Alice in Wonderland.” “It’s terrible, just terrible,” the White Rabbit says in the first exhibit. “We’re running out of energy, Alice.”
→ read full article
Laboratory Employees Caught on Tape
PETA – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jun 2011
Undercover footage of employees from animal “research” laboratories. Gruesome cruelty.
→ read full articleJapan’s Meltdowns Demand New No-Nukes Thinking
Amy Goodman - Truthdig,
27 Jun 2011
Leaders of national nuclear-energy programs are gathering this week in Vienna for the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety. The meeting was called in response to Fukushima. Ironically, the ministers, including U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Gregory Jaczko, held their meeting safely in a country with no nuclear power plants. Austria is at the forefront of Europe’s new anti-nuclear alliance.
→ read full articleTurkey, the Region, and the West after the Elections
Richard Falk & Hilal Elver – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jun 2011
What emerges overall is this American led reluctance to accept Turkey as an independent regional force in the Middle East that has achieved enormous influence in recent years by relying on its own brand of soft power diplomacy. A dramatic indicator of this influence is the great popularity of Erdogan throughout the region, including among the youth who brought about the uprisings against authoritarian rule throughout the Arab world. It is an encouraging sign of the times that these new Arab champions of democracy are coming to Ankara and Istanbul, not Washington, Tel Aviv, or Paris, for guidance and inspiration.
→ read full articleChomsky: ”The West Is Terrified of Arabic Democracies”
Ceyda Nurtsch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jun 2011
There are constant democratic uprisings. They are crushed by the dictators we – mainly the US, Britain, and France – support. So sure, there is no democracy because we crush it all. You could have said the same about Latin America: a long series of dictators, brutal murderers. As long as the US controls the hemisphere, or Europe before it, there is no democracy, because it gets crushed.
→ read full articleLeaked: Mainstream Media’s Dictionary – Letter C (satire)
Imran Garda – Al Jazeera,
27 Jun 2011
caliphate. n.
Future involving Ayman Al-Zawahiri sitting on a throne watching bearded footballers in long shorts contesting the Islamic Cup final in Seville.
Burma: Ethnic Conflicts are the Generals’ Golden Goose
Dr. Zarni – TRANSCEND MEDIA SERVICE,
27 Jun 2011
Maintaining a contrived state of internal conflict with ethnic groups provides Burmese military with an excuse to hold onto power to prevent disintegration.
→ read full articleNonviolence: Negative vs. Positive
Johan Galtung, 27 Jun 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jun 2011
Both are forms of power. Negative nonviolence tries to stop the other side’s direct or structural violence whereas positive nonviolence tries to make the antagonist start being peaceful. Negative nonviolence includes all forms of action against, short of physical violence, like non-cooperation, civil obedience, breaking laws, declaring and practicing autonomy. And positive nonviolence includes clearing the past through conciliation, the present through mediation of dangerous conflicts, and building a future through equitable participation in positive projects. They are not exclusive; a Gandhi, a Martin Luther King did both.
→ read full articleGreece Prepares to Sell Off State Assets to Get Loans
CNN Wire Staff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jun 2011
Greece is preparing to sell off billions of dollars worth of state assets including airports, highways and state-owned companies, as well as banks, real estate and gaming licenses, to meet international lenders’ demands that it raise funds.
→ read full article‘State Violence & Killing Is Not the Answer’
Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jun 2011
Dear Pres. Obama, do you really believe that we have abandoned our sense of decency and ethical values to support your illegal killings of unarmed civilians? Do you really believe we will remain silent whilst under your warrior leadership the US government and its allies dismantle basic human rights and international laws, so long fought for by brave, courageous men and women (including Americans), replacing them with extrajudicial killings, torture and assassinations?
→ read full articleWhat a Book!
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jun 2011
Peace Processes: A Sociological Approach by John D. Brewer – From Anglo-America the world is used to books about how what they see as Western attributes–rule of law, human rights, democracy–are not only sufficient to bring about peace, but necessary, indispensable. That the USA, the UK, and Israel have much of that and yet are among the most belligerent countries in the world is handled not by reexamining the thesis, but by claiming self-defense, against the envy of those with deficits.
→ read full articleDrilling Deep Mistakes in the Arctic
Kumi Naidoo – TerraViva Europe,
27 Jun 2011
I came in defence of the fragile Arctic environment. I became the 22nd Greenpeace activist who in the last few weeks has volunteered to climb the rig in the middle of the Arctic. I came to add my body to the protest and my voice to the call for sanity and an end to dangerous deep water oil drilling in the Arctic. I became the 22nd activist to be arrested and held in a Greenlandic cell. How can it be that in the wake of the 2010 Deep Water Horizon oil spill disaster an oil company can be allowed to drill at a similar depth in the Arctic, where any cleanup operation would be all but impossible.
→ read full articleAttacking Libya — And the Dictionary
Jonathan Schell – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jun 2011
If Americans Don’t Get Hurt, War Is No Longer War – For the Obama administration to go ahead with a war lacking any form of Congressional authorization, it had to challenge either law or the common meaning of words. Either the law or language had to give. It chose language.
→ read full articleUK: Victory in the Campaign to Ban Circus Animals
Martin Hickman – The Independent,
27 Jun 2011
MPs voted to ban wild animals in circuses last night [23 Jun 2011] after David Cameron’s attempts to bully Conservative backbenchers into voting against the measure backfired and ended in a humiliating public defeat. In a decision hailed by campaigners as an “historic victory for animal welfare and protection”, MPs of all parties unanimously backed a ban and the Government signalled that it would introduce one, ending forever the days of lions, tigers, elephants and other wild animals in the big top.
→ read full articleThe Road Not Taken: Can Fukushima Put Us on a Path toward Nuclear Transparency?
Kennette Benedict – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,
27 Jun 2011
The disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station is a sobering reminder that nuclear power relies on the most dangerous technology on Earth. Despite victories like the creation of the Atomic Energy Commission, and later the Nuclear Regular Commission, the secrecy that began with the Manhattan Project has tended to permeate the civilian nuclear program, as well as the military and defense programs.
→ read full articleLibya: Deep Structure and the Surface
Johan Galtung, 20 Jun 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jun 2011
Killing civilians to save civilian lives, and demolishing the parliament building to promote democracy, do not communicate well the pretended purpose. When only monarchs, emirs, and other dictators favor US-Israel policy, and even Morocco moves to constitutional monarchy? When Tunisia-Egypt-Yemen-Bahrain-Saudi-Syria-Iraq defy the USA? Option: extrajudicial execution of demonized leaders – a sure vote-getter.
→ read full articleImperial War behind a Humanitarian Charade
Socialist Worker, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jun 2011
The UN-sanctioned intervention, at first supposedly focused on imposing a “no-fly zone,” quickly–and predictably–transformed into what Western leaders now openly say is a war to topple Qaddafi. Rather than a mission that promotes democracy and freedom for the Libyan people, the Western war is about the plan of the U.S. and its allies to put in place a new regime that serves their interests.
→ read full articleNorthern Myanmar: Civil Society Organisations Call for Dialogue and Urgent International Engagement to Support Non-Military Solutions
Submitted by Emma Leslie – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jun 2011
As civil society working for peace and development in Myanmar, we write to express our grave concern over the rapidly deteriorating situation in Northern Myanmar, especially in Kachin State, where recent fighting threatens to escalate into a full-scale conflict with critical consequences.
→ read full article
Olof Palme Memorial Lecture by Prof. Johan Galtung (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jun 2011
Lecture delivered at Leeds City Hall, UK, on Jan 23, 2011
→ read full articleFor the Sake of Jewish Sensitivities
Gilad Atzmon – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jun 2011
It occurred to me recently that the Palestinian solidarity discourse is spiritually, ideologically and intellectually driven by some very misleading terminology: crucial notions such as Zionism, colonialism and apartheid (heard in every discussion, and present in every text book about the conflict), are either confusing, or even delusional.
→ read full articleTurkey in Position to Lead Region Out of Tumultuous Century
William Pfaff - Truthdig,
20 Jun 2011
Twenty-seven European states, all at one or another time part of warring dynastic, nationalistic or ethnocentric imperial state systems, have now found peace. Turkey has for years struggled without success to become a member of this European community of peace. Possibly the failure was destiny. There is a Muslim community of peace for Turkey to inspire.
→ read full article(Castellano) Fukushima 11-M – ¿Un punto de inflexión?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jun 2011
La Zona Cero fue un océano cero, y el país que dio al mundo la palabra “tsunami” fue golpeado por uno de hasta 41 metros de altura. Y Fukushima Dai-ichi, una de las 54 centrales nucleares de Japón, con seis unidades, 1-6; estaba en la playa, ofreciéndose a la furia primordial del tsunami.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Notas Biográficas dos Países (Sátira)
Hernán Casciari – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jun 2011
No caso de países, temos que dividir a sua idade histórica por 14 para saber a sua correspondência humana. Confuso? Aqui vão alguns exemplos reveladores. A Argentina nasceu em 1816. Assim sendo, tem 190 anos. Se dividirmos estes anos por 14 veremos que a Argentina tem ‘humanamente’ cerca de 13 anos e meio, ou seja, está na pré-adolescência. É rebelde, não tem memória, responde sem pensar e tem o rosto coberto de acne.
→ read full articleWhy the World’s Big Leaders Lie
Marcelo Barros - Pravda,
20 Jun 2011
The lies of the powerful are of various kinds. There are those of a personal character, as when once elected, politicians forget or deny campaign promises. There are lies with economic content. And there are those who justify or provoke wars, massacres of entire peoples and countries launching into inconceivable and meaningless adventures, as did George Bush and now the governments that coordinate military action in Libya and other countries.
→ read full articleLeaked: Mainstream Media’s Dictionary (satire) – Letters A to B
Imran Garda – Al Jazeera,
20 Jun 2011
academic. adj.
Man in bow-tie. Usually represents think-tank or university. Explains the science behind global warming and/or new CERN project while anchor nods pretending to understand.
baggage. n.
Part of travelling entourage left unfondled by the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
Is the State a Monster? Pro and Contra Nietzsche
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jun 2011
In Part One of Friederich Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra there is a particularly provocative section entitled ‘Of the New Idol.’ Remembering that this pivotal writing of the great German thinker/philosopher, so often misinterpreted, was written in 1881, it is surprising how relevant and invigorating its strong language remains in 2011.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Italianos Votam pela Água Pública, Rejeitam Energia Nuclear e Imunidade de Berlusconi
Esquerda.net – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jun 2011
Nos quatro referendos realizados em Itália participaram 57% dos eleitores, tendo o “Sim” ganho por largas maiorias, próximas ou superiores a 95%. Assim, os italianos votaram pela água pública e contra o aumento do preço das tarifas, rejeitaram a energia nuclear e a imunidade de Berlusconi.
→ read full articleUN Rights Council Passes ‘Historic’ Gay Rights Bill
Hui Min Neo – Agence France-Presse,
20 Jun 2011
The UN Human Rights Council passed a historic resolution Friday [17 Jun 2011] that seeks equal rights for everyone regardless of their sexual orientation, marking progress for gay rights despite strong Arab and African opposition.
→ read full article