Articles by M
We found 36604 results.
Behind the Story: MoJo’s Investigation of Terrorism Informants
Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery – Mother Jones,
17 Oct 2011
Maybe you’ve wondered, on occasion of a press conference announcing another major terrorism bust: Why does it seem as if the FBI’s undercover operatives actually encouraged—even thought up—the plot? Why do the targets come off as hapless losers unable to organize so much as a poker game? How come it was the government that provided the fake conspiracy, the fake car bomb or missile, even the fake Al Qaeda oath?
→ read full articleWhy No Demands – Occupy Wall Street is a Rebellion, Not a Protest
Michael Levitin – Nation of Change,
17 Oct 2011
Let’s get something straight: this movement has issued no demands. It is not a protest. It’s an occupation. Rebellions don’t have demands.
→ read full articleIs this a Global Gandhian Moment?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Oct 2011
Mahatma Gandhi has been dead for more than 63 years, and yet his relevance to the politics of our time has never been greater. It is a tribute to the power of Gandhi’s inspirational ideas and life that his current influence is far greater than that of any other leader of the past century.
→ read full articleMother Teresa of Calcutta: Essence of Global Harmony
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Oct 2011
Mother Teresa was born in Skopje in Macedonia under the name of Agnes Gonxha, Bojaxhiu. She was born on August 26, 1910 and passed away on September 5, 1997. She spent her lifetime bringing peace and joy in the hearts of many that she soon began to be viewed by spiritual writers as the essence of global harmony. Although she was small in physical stature, yet in the spiritual sphere she proved to be a gigantic figure, standing high above others.
→ read full articleMissing the Point Twice: International Law as Empire’s Sunday Suit
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Oct 2011
In effect, post-9/11 American ideas of self-defense incorporate by stealth the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war used to justify aggression against Iraq in 2003, which had seemed discredited in international until quietly revived by the Obama presidency.
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Meltdown – Paying the Price
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Oct 2011
As the toll of the financial crisis continues to mount, many are looking for its true causes – and finding a crime.
→ read full articleHappy Genocide Day!
Thom Hartmann - Truthout,
17 Oct 2011
If you fly over the country of Haiti on the island of Hispaniola, the island on which Columbus landed, it looks like somebody took a blowtorch and burned away anything green. Even the ocean around the port capital of Port au Prince is choked for miles with the brown of human sewage and eroded topsoil. From the air, it looks like a lava flow spilling out into the sea. The history of this small island is, in many ways, a microcosm for what’s happening in the whole world.
→ read full articleTargeting Syria – The ‘Bad News’ For The Guardian
Media Lens – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Oct 2011
Afghanistan and Iraq may still be in flames. A bloodbath may continue to flow from Nato’s ‘humanitarian intervention’ in Libya. No matter, mainstream journalists are appalled that a double Russian and Chinese veto at the UN has thwarted Western efforts to do more good in Syria. The two powers rejected the latest draft of a UN Security Council resolution condemning the Syrian government and preparing the way for international sanctions. In the Guardian, Middle East editor Ian Black wrote last week:
→ read full articleThe World Moves South and East
Johan Galtung, 17 Oct 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Oct 2011
Please join me in a spiritual West-South-East move. We know the landscapes: the abrahamic religions (judaism-christianity-islam) in the Occident, the hindu conglomerate in the middle, and the buddhist space spanning the Orient, as buddhism alone or with daoism and confucianism in East Asia. What are some key messages?
→ read full articleFrom Tahrir Square to Times Square: Demonstrations Erupt in Over 1,500 Cities Worldwide
OccupyWallStreet.org – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Oct 2011
Thousands Flood the Streets of Global Financial Centers, Capitol Cities and Small Towns to “Occupy Together” Against Wall Street Mid-Town Manhattan Jammed as Marches Converge in Times Square
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‘The Invisible Machine’ – Electromagnetic Warfare
Forbidden Knowledge TV – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Oct 2011
Directed Energy Weapons – Electronic warfare (EW) refers to any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults via the spectrum. EW can be applied from air, sea, land, and space by manned and unmanned systems, and can target communication, radar, or other services.
→ read full articleThe First NARPI Summer Peace Training
Kyoko Okumoto – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Oct 2011
The Northeast Asia Regional Peacebuilding Institute (NARPI), as a civil society peacebuilding group representing voices from throughout Northeast Asia, was born out of the following idea. In this region where the Cold War still remains, there is a critical need for the implementation of measures which will prevent future military action and loss, and for peaceful resolution for historical and political conflict.
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De Gaulle Predicted the US Monetary Crisis in 1965 (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
TMS Editor,
10 Oct 2011
In February 1965, then French President General Charles De Gaulle predicted in a press conference the monetary crisis and the disaster that the dollar and the USA are imposing on the rest of the world. And he offered a solution…
→ read full articleThe ‘Getting’ of Assange and the Smearing of a Revolution
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
The High Court in London will soon to decide whether Julian Assange is to be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual misconduct. However, it is not the Swedish judicial system that presents a “grave danger” to Assange, say his lawyers, but a legal device known as a Temporary Surrender, under which he can be sent on from Sweden to the United States secretly and quickly.
→ read full article(Italian) Il Discorso ai Neolaureati di Stanford: “Siate Affamati, Siate Folli”
Steve Jobs – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
Sono onorato di essere qui con voi oggi, nel giorno della vostra laurea presso una delle migliori università del mondo. Io non mi sono mai laureato. A dir la verità, questa è l’occasione in cui mi sono di più avvicinato ad un conferimento di titolo accademico. Oggi voglio raccontarvi tre episodi della mia vita. Tutto qui, nulla di speciale. Solo tre storie.
→ read full articleThe Threat of Warships on an “Island of World Peace”
Noam Chomsky - Truthout,
10 Oct 2011
Jeju Island, 50 miles southeast of South Korea’s mainland, has been called the most idyllic place on the planet. The pristine, 706-square-mile volcanic island comprises three UNESCO World Natural Heritage sites. Today Jeju Island is once again threatened by joint U.S.-South Korean militarization and violence: the construction of a naval base on what many consider to be Jeju’s most beautiful coastline. For more than four years, island residents and peace activists have engaged in determined resistance to the base, risking their lives and freedom.
→ read full articleDalai Lama Slams China’s ‘Immoral Censorship’
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
Statement comes as Chinese government is accused of blocking him from traveling to South Africa.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Centenas de Vítimas de Tráfico Sexual São Resgatadas na Amazônia Peruana
BBC News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
Quase 300 mulheres foram resgatadas de situação de exploração sexual na Amazônia peruana, informou a polícia do país na última segunda-feira [3 out 2011].
→ read full article(Galego) Obama, o Executor
Manuel Dios Diz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
Pouco importa que estas actuacións vulneren a legalidade internacional ou que provoquen con frecuencia graves danos colaterais… Dereito á autodefensa, loita contra do terrorismo internacional, guerra contra Al Qaeda… conceptos e consignas -mil veces repetidas- que ampararían crimes horrendos… Mágoa de Obama, un Nobel das Paz reconvertido en executor. Mágoa. Para a maioría dos medios de comunicación, esta execución criminal acadou a categoría de “breve”. Cousas da liberdade de expresión, que diría o Sr. Murdoch. Mágoa tamén.
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Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address
Stanford University – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
Drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, Steve Jobs, chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, urged graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks — including death itself — at the university’s 114th Commencement on June 12, 2005.
→ read full articleClass Warfare Indeed
Michael Parenti – Toward Freedom,
10 Oct 2011
And who knows, once we learn to talk about the realities of class power, we are on our way to talking critically about capitalism, another verboten word in the public realm. And once we start a critical discourse about capitalism, we will be vastly better prepared to act against it and defend our own democratic and communal interests.
→ read full articleSystemic Biomimicry of Dinosaurs by Multinational Corporations
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
Clearing the Ground for Future Psychosocial Evolution – Comparisons have long been made between the pattern of behaviour of multinational corporations and that of dinosaurs. At the time of writing some 440,000 such references were indicated by Google. Typically the comparison is merely for rhetorical purposes, avoiding the possibility that more might be derived from this widespread “pattern recognition”.
→ read full articleFaceBook’s Privacy Lie: Aussie Exposes ‘Tracking’ As New Patent Uncovered
Asher Moses – The Sydney Morning Herald,
10 Oct 2011
Facebook’s assurances that “we have no interest in tracking people” have been laid bare by a new Facebook patent, dated this month, that describes a method “for tracking information about the activities of users of a social networking system while on another domain”. Nik Cubrilovic’s blog post, which revealed that tracking cookies monitor Facebook users whenever they surf websites with a Facebook ‘like’ button, has led to political outrage in the US and Europe.
→ read full articleEmpires Strike Hard, Nations Die Hard: Behind the Libyan Fake Revolution and the Re-colonization of Africa
Raïs Neza Boneza – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
After six months of fierce bombings on Libya by NATO and their TNC cronies; the mainstream media is painting the conflict as a natural consequence of the previous disillusioned revolution in North Africa.
→ read full articleRadio Inspiration Movement
Dylan Bradley – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
Kids are constantly exposed to music, and it has an enormous impact on their attitudes and identities. I want to help make a better place for the youth of the world by increasing the positive messages in songs and decreasing those that encourage hate and cruelty. Imagine that change. My dream is that the user-made resources provided by the Radio Inspiration Movement will inspire people to work through their problems. I hope to create a community for co-inspiration through accessible positive music. As the movement grows, so will its ability to reach out to the stars of the music industry and effect real change.
→ read full articleNearly 700,000 Attend Gay Pride Parade in Rio on Sunday, 9 Oct 2011
Boston Globe – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
Authorities in Brazil say nearly 700,000 people have celebrated in a gay pride parade at Copacabana beach. Many participants waved rainbow flags and wore lavish Carnival costumes as loud music blasted from more than 15 sound trucks in Sunday’s [9 Oct 2011] festivities.
→ read full articleThe Right to Exist: Why Kosovo But Not Palestine?
Zoltan Grossman - ConterPunch,
10 Oct 2011
The United Nations has not d Kosovo because it would set a negative precedent for unilateral secession around the world. Many states in the Arab League and European Union, on the other hand, view Kosovo as a positive precedent for Palestine. Some governments may oppose sovereignty for both Kosovo and Palestine. But the US is virtually alone in its backing for the State of Kosovo, while at the same time hypocritically blocking a State of Palestine.
→ read full articleOccupy Wall Street: The Most Important Thing in the World Now
Naomi Klein – The Nation,
10 Oct 2011
I was honored to be invited to speak at Occupy Wall Street on Thursday night [6 Oct 2011]. Since amplification is (disgracefully) banned, and everything I say will have to be repeated by hundreds of people so others can hear (a k a “the human microphone”), what I actually say at Liberty Plaza will have to be very short. With that in mind, here is the longer, uncut version of the speech.
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The Deadliest Place in the World for a Journalist
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
Mini-documentary on the critical Honduran journalists that have watched 15 colleagues assassinated in 19 months under the Lobo regime, a government Barack Obama praises for its “strong commitment to democracy”.
→ read full articleExclusive: Computer Virus Hits U.S. Drone Fleet
Noah Shachtman - Wired,
10 Oct 2011
A computer virus has infected the cockpits of America’s Predator and Reaper drones, logging pilots’ every keystroke as they remotely fly missions over Afghanistan and other warzones. “We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back,” says a source familiar with the network infection, one of three that told Danger Room about the virus. “It’s getting a lot of attention,” the source says. “But no one’s panicking. Yet.”
→ read full articleAfrica: More Dangerous to Be a Woman than a Soldier
Saaleha Bamjee – Inter Press Service-IPS,
10 Oct 2011
African women who bear the brunt of the continent’s conflicts now demand to play a defining role in peacekeeping.
→ read full articleAfghan and German Deep Cultures at War
Johan Galtung, 10 Oct 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
Let Afghans be Afghans. Hold the Swiss model high. Let muslims help muslims. Stop the nonsense about running the world from Central Asia; let central Asians find their own form. Germany has a message, and it is Article 23, unification; by Schengen borders. And Martin Luther’s preface to the first printed Qur’an, in Latin, Basel 1541.
→ read full article(Italian) Le Guerre Segrete dei Marines di Sigonella
Antonio Mazzeo – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
La base siciliana di Sigonella rafforza il proprio ruolo di piattaforma avanzata per le operazioni “anti-terrorismo” degli Stati Uniti d’America nel continente africano. USAFRICOM, il comando delle forze armate Usa per l’Africa, ha annunciato la creazione di una forza speciale dei marines che darà la caccia in Maghreb e in Somalia alle organizzazioni islamiche radicali filo-al Qaeda.
→ read full articleSpeculation in Agricultural Commodities: Driving up the Price of Food Worldwide and Plunging Millions into Hunger
Edward Miller – Global Research,
10 Oct 2011
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has again delayed the introduction of position limits required under the Dodd-Frank Act. These limits are intended to prevent speculation in (among other things) agricultural commodities, speculation that, many critics argue, have driven up the price of food worldwide and plunged millions into hunger.
→ read full articlePolicing the Prophets of Wall Street
Amy Goodman - Truthdig,
10 Oct 2011
On Labor Day 2008, the “Democracy Now!” news team and I were covering the first day of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Thousands protested outside. The riot police had encircled the area. I ran up to the police, my credentials hanging around my neck. It wasn’t seconds before they tore me through the police line, twisted my arms behind my back and handcuffed me, a Secret Service agent came over and ripped the credentials from around our necks. We filed suit. This past week, the St. Paul and Minneapolis police and the Secret Service have settled with us. In addition to paying out $100,000, the St. Paul police department has agreed…
→ read full articleOccupy Comes To Your Town
Socialist Worker – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
Occupy Sacramento released their own statement about the meaning of the movement: We are preparing to change the world. We are becoming another head on the beast of change. We will stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in over 200 cities around the world…This is global revolution. Civil rights, human rights, freedom, dreams, have all been trampled by those with the money and the power. We demand change. We demand equality! The time has come for us to govern ourselves! We are the 99 percent!”
→ read full articleThe Beltway Mob
Vithal Rajan – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
The Beltway Mob is kept good company in the present-day by two of their staunchest allies – though they are mutual enemies – by the Pakistan military who in the name of a merciful and beneficent God exports terror abroad and imports oppression at home, and the Indian political class who though descended from humble, hardworking, and austere Gandhians are among the most rapacious whores in power today.
→ read full articleCitizen Diplomacy: Russia and the Gorbachev Years (1985-1991)
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
There is in the Agni Yoga teachings of Helena Roerich, to which Raisa Gorbachev was particularly devoted, a line that says, “Not the new is proclaimed but what is needed for the hour.” This idea became a guideline for Mikhail Gorbachev, whose “new thinking” was not really new. Many of us had been saying the same thing for years before, but none of us was head of state.
→ read full articleAnti-Wall Street Protests Spreading to Cities Large and Small
Erik Eckholm and Timothy Williams – The New York Times,
10 Oct 2011
Publicity surrounding the recent arrests of hundreds in New York, near Wall Street and on the Brooklyn Bridge, has only energized the campaign. This week, new rallies and in some cases urban encampments are planned for cities as disparate as Memphis, Tenn.; Hilo, Hawaii; Minneapolis; Baltimore; and McAllen, Tex., according to Occupy Together, an unofficial hub for the protests that lists dozens of coming demonstrations, including some in Europe and Japan.
→ read full articleInterview on the Palestinian Statehood Bid
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
This post consists of my responses to questions put to me by a Greek journalist, C.J Polychroniou, who long followed intellectual thought in the West, and is a keen analyst of the current European economic crisis.
→ read full article4th International Music Council World Forum on Music
Olivier Urbain – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
Tallinn, Estonia, Sept. 26 to Oct. 1, 2011 – I participated in this forum as director of the Toda Institute and founder and director of the TRANSCEND Art and Peace Network, thanks to the recommendation of Dietrich Fischer and Johan Galtung.
→ read full article(Castellano) Todos contra Wall Street
Socialist Worker, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
Los sindicatos están entrando en el lado de las protestas en Ocupa Wall Street–una creciente alianza entre la izquierda y el movimiento laboral que puede llevar la lucha a una nueva etapa.
→ read full articleLord Buddha: Master of Inner Peace and Harmony
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
Lord Buddha was born in a rich family as Siddhartha Gautama in Nepal. He is said to have lived to be 80 years old covering the years 563-483 B.C. In his early years, he found out that the secret of inner peace and harmony consists of detachment from material things. Thus, he left his family fortunes and went to live in poverty, spending most of his time in meditation and contemplation.
→ read full articleNineteen Eighty-Four – The Movie
George Orwell – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a classic dystopian novel by English author George Orwell. Published in 1949, it is set in the eponymous year and focuses on a repressive, totalitarian regime. Since the novel’s publication, “Orwellian” has in fact become somewhat of a catch-all for any kind of governmental overreach or dishonesty and therefore has multiple meanings and applications. The phrase Big Brother is Watching You specifically connotes pervasive, invasive surveillance.
→ read full articleAn American Awakening?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
We must hope and engage. We can be thankful that this initiative places its focus on financial and corporate structures, and not on the state. Further along these lines, if the struggle will gain momentum it will be totally thanks to politics-from-below. The implicit not so subtle point is that the center of power over the destinies of the American people has shifted its locus from Washington to New York, and from the penthouse to the the basement!! We’ll see!!
→ read full article
U.S. “Occupy” Movement Grows as Protests Reported in 847 Cities; Obama Notes “Frustration”
Amy Goodman – Democracy NOW!,
10 Oct 2011
Democracynow.org – Parallel actions inspired by New York City’s Occupy Wall Street continue to spring up across the United States. As of Friday morning, the website “Occupy Together,” hub for nationwide events in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street reported gatherings in 847 cities.
→ read full article(Portuguese) O Aumento dos Motins: Um Fenomeno Mundial
Esquerda.net – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
Entrevista com Alain Bertho, professor de antropologia da Universidade de Paris, realizada por Ivan du Roy.
→ read full articleWhich Grade?
TMS Editor,
10 Oct 2011
A first-grade teacher, Ms Brooks, was having trouble with one of her students. The teacher asked, ‘Harry, what’s your problem?’
→ read full articleA Modest Proposal: Is It Time for the Community of Non-Nuclear States to Revolt?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2011
There are 189 countries that are parties to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) that entered into force in 1970. Only India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea have remained outside the treaty regime so as to be free to acquire the weapons. The nuclear weapons states have done an incredibly successful job, especially the United States, in getting a free ride, continuously modernizing their arsenals while keeping the weapons out of most unwanted hands.
→ read full articleU.S.: “Leaderless” Protest Movement Continues to Snowball
Kanya D'Almeida – Inter Press Service-IPS,
10 Oct 2011
“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you – then you win,” a middle-aged man yells into the microphone from a makeshift stage erected at the far end of Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC. Eighty years later, the words of the great Indian freedom fighter Mohandas K. Gandhi have found their way to the U.S. and still resonate as strongly as they did during India’s struggle for independence from British colonial rule.
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Countdown with Keith Olbermann: Michael Moore on support of Occupy Wall Street protest (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Current TV – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
Michael Moore, filmmaker, activist and author of Here Comes Trouble calls on people all over the country to bring the Occupy Wall Street movement to their communities. Later, Moore denounces the state of Georgia for executing Troy Davis.
→ read full article(Galego) Perdemos Todos
Manuel Dios Diz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
Diminuír, recortar drasticamente o gasto social, a cooperación ó desenvolvemento, os programas contra da pobreza e a exclusión, a educación para a solidariedade, desvertebra e anula á nosa máis viva sociedade civil, incrementa o desemprego, corta o feble cordón umbilical que nos mantén unidos coas persoas e organizacións do Terceiro Mundo, e medran as diferencias, aquí e a nivel planetario, aumenta a inxustiza e a discriminación, trunfa o egoísmo, a inseguridade e a violencia, en definitiva, perdemos todos.
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Cornel West on Occupy Wall Street: It’s the Makings of a U.S. Autumn Responding to the Arab Spring
Amy Goodman, Democracy NOW! – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
“It’s impossible to translate the issue of the greed of Wall Street into one demand, or two demands. We’re talking about a democratic awakening,” said Dr. Cornel West when he spoke with Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman during a visit Tuesday night to the Occupy Wall Street encampment. Some critics have expressed frustration at the protest’s lack of a clear and unified message. But the Princeton University professor emphasized that “you’re talking about raising political consciousness so it spills over all parts of the country, so people can begin to see what’s going on through a set of different lens, and then you begin to highlight what the more detailed demands would be.
→ read full articleIs The War On Terror A Hoax?
Paul Craig Roberts – Information Clearing House,
3 Oct 2011
In the past decade, Washington has killed, maimed, dislocated, and made widows and orphans millions of Muslims in six countries, all in the name of the “war on terror.” When I observe the gullibility of my fellow citizens at the absurd “terror plots” that the US government manufactures, it causes me to realize that fear is the most powerful weapon any government has for advancing an undeclared agenda.
→ read full article13 Ways to Look at the Occupation of Wall Street
Charles M. Young – Nation of Change,
3 Oct 2011
5) I think that the corporate press has a difficult time understanding Occupy Wall Street because, like 99% of Americans, they have no experience with democracy. They spend most of their time enslaved by large totalitarian collectives known as “corporations” and have never once decided anything for themselves as a group of equal workers. Instead they follow orders and write about elections, which are big puppet shows financed and scripted by Wall Street.
→ read full articleInternational Institute of Advanced Studies in Mathematical Theology
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
The strategic importance of faith-based governance is evident from the conflicts sustained by it as well as by its continuing significance in the politics of dominant superpowers. Despite the claims of science and atheists, adherence to extraordinary world views is increasing, as documented by editors of The Economist, John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge (God Is Back: how the global revival of faith is changing the world, 2009).
→ read full articleBrian Stelter and the Pathology of Objectivity
Michael Tracey – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
So I had a question for Stelter — what evidence indicated to him that a “battle” had taken place yesterday, or in other words, what evidence indicated that protesters had “battled” police? Again, the term “battle” implies the participation of at least two parties, but there is no reason (as yet) to believe that protesters attacked police. Here’s what Stelter said in response: “I used the word “battle” in an attempt not to judge either side.”
→ read full articleGoing Naked
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
I’ve seen how groups purporting to be spontaneous gatherings of grassroots activists, fighting the regulation of tobacco or demanding that governments should take no action on climate change, have in fact been created and paid for by corporations: a practice known as astroturfing. A voluntary register is a small step towards transparency. What I would really like to see is a mandatory list of journalists’ financial interests, similar to the House of Commons registry. I believe that everyone who steps into public life should be obliged to show who is paying them, and how much.
→ read full articleOctober 1-8, 2011: Keep Space for Peace Week
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor - TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
International Week of Protest to Stop the Militarization of Space – Keep Space for Peace Week is co-sponsored by the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (UK), Swedish Peace Council, Drone Campaign Network (UK), and United Against Drones (U.S.).
→ read full articleAnger, Violence and Reconciliation in Mindanao
Ayesah Abubakar - Mindanao News,
3 Oct 2011
While it may be true that anger can translate into physical violence, we have to make the distinction between anger and violence. Anger is a human emotion that finds its source from a person’s sense of desperation and failure. If we want to find peace between the Moros and the Christian settlers in Mindanao, it is crucial that we somehow study this anger and violence that permeate us. Professor Adam Curle supported the idea of “structural violence” by Johan Galtung. He reiterated that the assumptions and impositions of a majority over a minority is in itself the essence of this structural violence that we have in our society.
→ read full articleObama’s Speech, Abu Mazen’s Gamble
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
A work of art. The art of hypocrisy. Almost every statement in the passage concerning the Israeli-Palestinian issue was a lie. A blatant lie: the speaker knew it was a lie, and so did the audience. It was Obama at his best, Obama at his worst… Israel needs peace. Israel needs to live side by side with the Palestinian people, within the Arab world. Israel cannot rely forever on the unconditional support of the declining United States. Obama knows this full well. He knows what is good for Israel, even if Netanyahu doesn’t. Yet he has handed the keys of the car to the drunken driver.
→ read full articleIs the World Too Big to Fail?
Noam Chomsky – TomDispatch,
3 Oct 2011
Noam Chomsky explains how the global order of power has been created and describes the mechanisms behind its continuity.
→ read full articleWhat Facebook Really Wants
Nicholas Thompson – The New Yorker,
3 Oct 2011
The more our online lives take place on Facebook, the more we depend on the choices of the people who run the company – what they think about privacy, how they think we should be able to organize our friends, what they tell advertisers (and governments) about what we do and what we buy. We’ll rely on whom they choose as partners to give us news and music. Real issues are at stake, in other words – not just the size of photos and whether you can poke.
→ read full articleGoing Rogue: Share Traders More Reckless Than Psychopaths, Study Shows
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
What makes individual stockbrokers blow billions in financial markets with criminal trading schemes? According to a new study conducted at a Swiss university, it may be because share traders behave more recklessly and are more manipulative than psychopaths.
→ read full articleEmerging Markets Hit Economic Stage like a Tonne of BRICS
Kanya D'Almeida – TerraViva Europe,
3 Oct 2011
Headlines this week have been saturated with protests against unaffordable food, unfair taxes and unsustainable austerity measures, with one distinct difference setting these stories apart from countless others in recent history. The people demanding reform are no longer marginalised Asians, Africans and Latin Americans, but poor, working class Europeans. The BRICS possess a combined 4.3 trillion dollars in hard cash reserves, with China holding three-quarters of the kitty, much of it in Euros.
→ read full articleThe West and the Rest in a One-Model-Fits-All World
Pepe Escobar - TomDispatch,
3 Oct 2011
More than 10 years ago, before 9/11, Goldman Sachs was predicting that the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) would make the world economy’s top ten — but not until 2040. Skip a decade and the Chinese economy already has the number two spot all to itself, Brazil is number seven, India 10, and even Russia is creeping closer. In purchasing power parity, or PPP, things look even better. There, China is in second place, India is now fourth, Russia sixth, and Brazil seventh.
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Wall Street Mocks Protesters by Drinking Champagne
The Struggle Video Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
Wall Street has shown Americans how they feel about protests. This video shows unidentified occupants watching protests from the balconies of Wall Street in amusement while sipping champagne.
→ read full article
Hundreds Held In Anti-Wall Street Protests
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
New York City police say about 500 protesters have been arrested after they swarmed the Brooklyn Bridge and shut down a lane of traffic for several hours. Police say some demonstrators spilled onto the roadway Saturday night [1 Oct 2011] after being told to stay on the pedestrian pathway.
→ read full articleSmall Price
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
A pole goes to a bank with 100 zlotys and asks, “What is the safest thing to do with my money?” “Deposit it in a bank,” the teller says.
→ read full articleAlgeria: A View from the Forest
Muriam Haleh Davis – Al Jazeera,
3 Oct 2011
The suspicion that Algeria may be “immune to the Arab Spring” is related to the lack of “Tahrir-style” mass protests, its willingness to offer refuge to members of the Gaddafi clan, and its failure to recognise the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC).
→ read full articleSign Our Petition to End Fiesta Cruelty
Humane Society International – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
Help end the Toro de le Vega fiesta in the Castilla y León region of Spain, where bulls are pursued, taunted and tormented by spear-wielding men and then stabbed to death in an annual spectacle every September.
→ read full articleIAEA Won’t Discuss Israel’s ‘Nuclear Capabilities’ After Arab Proposal Dropped
Yossi Melman – Haaretz,
3 Oct 2011
Behind-the-scenes diplomacy at the International Atomic Energy Association leads to Arab states withdrawing their motion. Israel secured a diplomatic achievement at the annual meeting of the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) Friday [23 Sep 2011] in Vienna when the Arab states withdrew their proposal to discuss Israel’s “nuclear capabilities.”
→ read full article
Meltdown – The Men Who Crashed the World
AlJazeeraEnglish – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
The first of a four-part investigation into a world of greed and recklessness that brought down the financial world.
→ read full articleCrisis Thinkers or Thinkers in Crisis?
Dr. Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
Last Friday [23 Sep 2011], the International Crisis Group’s Myanmar: Major Reform Underway made me sit up and read. But once I got past the title I realized the report suffers from multiple shortcomings so fundamental to comprehending Burma’s/Myanmar’s crises – note the plural here – that it lacked a credible basis either for exile excitement or any serious international policy discussions. Here is a shortlist of ICG’s intellectual sins.
→ read full articleLibya and the Big Lie: Using Human Rights Organizations to Launch Wars
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya – Global Rerearch,
3 Oct 2011
The war against Libya is built on fraud. The UN Security Council passed two resolutions against Libya on the basis of unproven claims that Qaddafi was killing his own people in Benghazi.
→ read full articleUS Consolidated Domination of Global Arms Market In 2010
PressTV – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
The United States consolidated its domination of a shrinking global arms market in 2010, signing 21.3 billion dollars in new weapons orders with foreign countries, according to the latest edition of an annual report on conventional weapons transfers by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). As in previous years, developing countries were the biggest buyers on the international arms market in 2010, accounting for 76 percent of all new arms agreements.
→ read full article
“Governments don’t rule the world; Goldman Sachs rules the world.”
BBC News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
In a scary and painfully frank interview a freaked out BBC interviewer is visibly shaken when market trader Alessio Rastani predicts that the “Market is Toast.” Apparently, there is nothing Euro governments can do. “Anyone can make money from a crash,” he affirms. The worst thing to do now is nothing. People should act to protect themselves against an inevitable crisis still approaching.
→ read full articleLatin America: Growth, Stability and Inequalities – Lessons for the US and EU
James Petras – Information Clearing House,
3 Oct 2011
The contrasting performance between Latin republics and Euro-American empire builders is striking. The US and EU should shed their self-centered images of “successful” developed countries and outdated stereotype of Latin America as a collection of “volatile”, coup prone underdeveloped countries.
→ read full articleReflections on the Abbas Statehood/Membership Speech to the UN General Assembly
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
There is a natural disposition for supporters of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination to suppose that the Palestinian statehood bid must be a positive initiative because it has generated such a frantic Israel effort to have it rejected.
→ read full article(Italian) Libia Scontata
Johan Galtung – Il Manifesto,
3 Oct 2011
La rivolta scatenata dai ribelli di Bengasi contro Gheddafi è parte di un disegno neo-imperiale condotto in prima fila dalla Nato e dall’Europa per assumere il controllo delle risorse del Nordafrica.
→ read full article
Spanish Region Says Adios to Bullfighting
Associated Press – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
Spain’s northeastern region of Catalonia has banned bullfighting. Animal rights activists had pushed for the step, but observers also believe the move fits with the area’s desire to be distinct from the rest of the country.
→ read full articleMy First AK-47: Kids Awarded Guns in Somali Recruitment Game
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2011
Islamists fighting a civil war in Somalia have come up with a new way to find young new recruits. To stir up interest, they have reportedly resorted to using games, offering automatic weapons, hand grenades and cash as prizes to children who call in to take part in the fun.
→ read full articleU.S.: Battle Escalates Against Genetically Modified Crops
Kanya D'Almeida – Inter Press Service-IPS,
3 Oct 2011
Home to a fast-growing network of farmers’ markets, cooperatives and organic farms, but also the breeding ground for mammoth for-profit corporations that now hold patents to over 50 percent of the world’s seeds, the United States is weathering a battle between Big Agro and a ripening movement for food justice and security.
→ read full articleThe Palestinians Go For Statehood
Daniel Horgan – TRANSCEND Media Service(1),
3 Oct 2011
Both Palestine and Israel claim that the other is denying their right to security. However, the Palestinians have also been denied in some shape or form every other internationally recognized human right, and that is so because the US has monopolized the mediator role, producing no tangible results according to the 1967 guidelines set forth by the UN.
→ read full articleAre You an Imperial Christian?
Laurence M. Vance - LewRockwell,
3 Oct 2011
The tenets of imperial Christianity include things like blind nationalism, belief in American exceptionalism, willful ignorance of U.S. foreign policy, childish devotion to the military, cheerleading for the Republican Party, acceptance of the U.S. empire, and support for a perpetual war on terror – all, of course, with a Christian twist for effect. I have some simple yet pointed questions for Christians who subscribe to, or can be characterized by, the above things.
→ read full article
Introducing the Global Nonviolent Action Database (Video of the Week)
Prof. George Lakey – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Sep 2011
George Lakey, renowned peace activist and visiting professor at Swarthmore College, presents the launch of the Global Nonviolent Action Database, which catalogs the successes and failures of nonviolent direct action campaigns across the entire globe, throughout the course of human history.
→ read full articleDick Cheney’s Song of America: Drafting a Plan for Global Dominance
David Armstrong - Harper's Magazine,
26 Sep 2011
The Plan is for the United States to rule the world. The overt theme is unilateralism, but it is ultimately a story of domination. It calls for the United States to maintain its overwhelming military superiority and prevent new rivals from rising up to challenge it on the world stage. It calls for dominion over friends and enemies alike. It says not that the United States must be more powerful, or most powerful, but that it must be absolutely powerful.
→ read full articleThe Australian North West Cape Military Base
Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Sep 2011
We call on the Committee to reject the reintroduction of the US Navy into North West Cape. We recommend that the base become a centre for tourism and scientific research rather than a military base threatening our regional neighbours and Australia’s security and economy.
→ read full article99 Percenters Occupy Wall Street
Amy Goodman - Truthdig,
26 Sep 2011
David Graeber teaches at Goldsmiths, University of London, and has authored “Debt: The First 5,000 Years.” Graeber points out that, in the midst of the financial crash of 2008, enormous debts between banks were renegotiated. He said: “Debts between the very wealthy or between governments can always be renegotiated and always have been throughout world history. … It’s when you have debts owed by the poor to the rich that suddenly debts become a sacred obligation, more important than anything else. The idea of renegotiating them becomes unthinkable.”
→ read full article‘Tears of Gaza’ The Movie (on TMS In-Depth Videos)
Susan Abulhawa – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Sep 2011
And we should all allow our hearts be broken over Gaza. It’s the least we can do. To hear these three children and ask others to hear them is the very least we can do. Vibeke Lokkeberg has given us a monumentally important record of what happened in December 2009 to January 2010; so no one can ever say “I didn’t know”.
→ read full articleA Truly Courageous Response to Terror
Fran Korten – YES! Magazine,
26 Sep 2011
“Our answer will not be hate and revenge, but more openness, more tolerance, and more democracy.” What the U.S. could learn from Norway about how to respond to terror.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Dez Teses Sobre Dez Anos Perdidos
Johan Galtung, 12 Set 11 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Sep 2011
Tese 9: A República dos EUA, pela sua reação ao 11/9, acelerou muito seu processo de auto destruição. Os Patriot Acts I e II, a vigilância implacavel da população americana e outras, torturas e rendições extraordinárias, tudo isto destrói o espírito democrático de dentro para fora, além da destruição da economia por três guerras extremamente caras. (teses 2-4).
→ read full articleActivism Anthem
Bhuchung Sonam – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Sep 2011
I have principle and no power
You have power and no principle
You being you
And I being I…
New Law Prohibits Practice of Female Genital Mutilation in Guinea-Bissau
Iain Murray, UNICEF – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Sep 2011
This past June [2011], the National Popular Assembly (ANP) of Guinea-Bissau approved a law prohibiting female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C) nationwide. The controversial law had been on the table for discussion for 16 years, before it was ultimately approved by 64 votes in favour to 1 vote against.
→ read full article
Recognizing Palestine
AlternateFocus – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Sep 2011
The Algiers Declaration of 1988 claimed a sovereign Palestinian state. But will this idea take hold? Is it a serious proposal or just a meaningless gesture? And has the reality of Israel’s occupation already made an independent state impossible? We examine these implications as the United Nations decides in September 2011 whether to adopt a resolution recognizing Palestine.
→ read full articleSuper Weeds Pose Growing Threat to U.S. Crops
Carey Gillam - Reuters,
26 Sep 2011
An estimated 11 million acres are infested with “super weeds,” some of which grow several inches in a day and defy even multiple dousings of the world’s top-selling herbicide, Roundup, whose active ingredient is glyphosate.
→ read full articlePeace Efforts in Afghanistan Jeopardized
Dr Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Sep 2011
The killing of Barhanuddin Rabbani, an ethnic Tajik and leader of High Peace Council to broker peace in the conflict-torn country is certainly a setback to the ongoing peace process in Afghanistan.
→ read full articleIndia to Convene BRICS Finance Ministers’ Meet in Washington
The Hindu - TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Sep 2011
The BRICS Finance Ministers would explore the manner in which this grouping (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) can coordinate in addressing the evolving economic and financial situation in various countries of the world, the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, said.
→ read full articleRethinking Afghanistan After a Decade
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Sep 2011
This post is a short essay responding to a question about my dramatic change of position on the Afghanistan War with regard to its initial justification and flawed execution. It is both a reconsideration of errors of judgment and reflections on how the world has changed in the course of this decade, focusing on the inability of the United States to grasp either its own decline or the related decline in the historical agency of hard power approaches to security.
→ read full articlePalestine & UN: History of a Double Standard
Marwan Bishara – Al Jazeera,
26 Sep 2011
Failure to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and Israel’s 40-year occupation, in the words of UN former Secretary General Kofi Annan, would “continue to hurt the reputation of the United Nations and raise questions about its impartiality”. No cause has consumed as much UN paper work as the plight of the displaced and occupied Palestinians. But hundreds of its resolutions on Palestine have not been respected let alone applied for over half a century.
→ read full article