Articles by M
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Slash and Burn: Brazil Shreds Laws Protecting Its Rainforests
Guy Adams – The Independent,
30 May 2011
The new bill relaxes laws on the deforestation of hilltops and the amount of vegetation farmers must preserve. Partial amnesties will also be offered for previous fines.
→ read full articleObama’s AIPAC Speech: A Further Betrayal of the Palestinian People
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
After such a speech the only responsible response by the Palestinian leadership is to conclude once and for all, however belatedly, that it is no longer possible to look to Washington for guidance in reaching a peaceful, just, and sustainable resolution of the conflict.
→ read full articleGreat Discovery
TMS Editor,
30 May 2011
A fifteen year old Amish boy and his father were in a mall. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and then slide back together again.
→ read full articleSelf-Proclaimed Pro-Life American Politicians in True Perspective
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
The United States is a very complex nation. Although we may understand various facets of this politically confused country, we do encounter problems. In the first place, the ultimate source of power does not lie with its government but with its big corporations that finance the election of all leading governmental officials.
→ read full articleEgypt Opens Rafah Border with Gaza
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
Egypt has reopened its Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, allowing the coastal territory’s Palestinian residents to cross freely for the first time in four years – a sharp departure from the policies of Hosni Mubarak, the deposed president. The opening on Saturday morning [28 May 2011] provided long-awaited relief for Palestinians. The move was ushered in by Egypt’s new government in a bid to ease the suffering of the territory’s residents.
→ read full articleWelcome To the Violent World of Mr. Hopey Changey
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
And as “Mr. Hopey Changey” (the name that Ted Rall, the great American cartoonist, gives Barack Obama), is fawned upon by the British elite and launches another insufferable presidential campaign, the Anglo-American reign of terror proceeds in Afghanistan and elsewhere. In Libya there is a tribal civil war; and the armed uprising against Gaddafi has long been appropriated by the Americans, French and British, a repeat of the “shock and awe” in Iraq that left thousands of civilians dead and maimed. As in Iraq, the victims, which include countless incinerated Libyan army conscripts, are media unpeople.
→ read full articleIs Fukushima Now Ten Chernobyls into the Sea?
Harvey Wasserman – Common Dreams,
30 May 2011
New readings show levels of radioisotopes found up to 30 kilometers offshore from the on-going crisis at Fukushima are ten times higher than those measured in the Baltic and Black Seas during Chernobyl. Fukushima’s owner, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, has confirmed that fuel at Unit One melted BEFORE the arrival of the March 11 tsunami. This critical revelation confirms that the early stages of that melt-down were set in motion by the earthquake that sent tremors into Japan from a relatively far distance out to sea.
→ read full articleUS Military Contractor Attacked by Hackers
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
Lockheed Martin Corporation, the world’s largest military contractor, has been attacked by hackers in what officials say is “significant and tenacious” cyber attack. The world’s biggest aerospace company and US government’s top information technology provider said on Saturday [28 May 2011] it thwarted the cyber attack but refused to give further details.
→ read full articleAre We in The Presence of the Fourth Reich?
Basem Tajeldine - Pravda,
30 May 2011
William I. Robinson says: “You cannot currently qualify the U.S. regime as fascist. However, all the conditions and processes are present and being propagated.” But it can be said that the conditions for revolutionary possibilities in the capitalist centers of the world are being created. The popular uprisings in Europe have begun to spread to Greece, Spain, Portugal, and possibly to France and Britain. The idea is correct that capitalism in crisis becomes more violent. It resembles a cornered and wounded animal that attacks because of fear and the instinct for survival. The violence of capital in crisis is the act of survival.
→ read full articleBibi and the Yo-Yos
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
There they were, the members of the highest legislative bodies of the world’s only superpower, flying up and down like so many yo-yos, applauding wildly, every few minutes or seconds, the most outrageous lies and distortions of Binyamin Netanyahu.
→ read full articleGreenpeace Slams Japan Response to Nuclear Crisis, Cites Sea Radiation
Reuters – Scientific American,
30 May 2011
Environmental group Greenpeace on Thursday [26 May 2011] slammed Japan’s “continued inadequate response” to the nuclear disaster at a power plant after new data showed seaweed radiation levels 50 times higher than official limits. “In contrast, Japanese authorities claim that radioactivity is being dispersed or diluted and are undertaking only limited marine radiation monitoring,” it said.
→ read full articleStalin’s Discs Torment Mainstream Media
NameNotFound – Russia Today,
30 May 2011
Joseph Stalin and Nazi doctor Josef Mengele joined forces and bred deformed children who looked like aliens but were able to fly advanced aircraft like Top Gun pilots. No, seriously. I read it in a book written by “a national security reporter and contributing editor to The Los Angeles Times Magazine”, one Annie Jacobsen. I kid you not. The quote is from the New York Times review of her book.
→ read full articleLatin America Progresses Forward- A Victory for Gay Rights
Katie Soltis – Council on Hemispheric Affairs,
30 May 2011
The recent victories for gay rights exemplify the considerable progress toward the region’s consolidation of democracy. The three Latin American countries that have now legalized same-sex unions—Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay—were each ruled by repressive military regimes just over two decades ago.
→ read full articleRatko Mladic’s Arrest and Coming Trial: A Step Forward for World Law
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
The wheels of karma turn slowly. As there is no longer anything at stake, more people today will agree that killing people who thought that they were protected in UN-proclaimed safe havens is not a good thing.
→ read full article(Castellano) ¿Qué pasó con la izquierda occidental?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
La izquierda occidental ha de abrirse, no sólo limitarse a recitar “¡Globalización NO!” Un No no lleva a ningún lado. Se necesitan algunos Sí. Y creatividad.
→ read full articleWhat Price the Fukushima Meltdown? Comparing Chernobyl and Fukushima
Prof. Matthew Penney & Prof. Mark Selden – The Asia-Pacific Journal, Japan Focus,
30 May 2011
On April 12, 2011 the Japanese government officially announced that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster had reached level 7, the highest on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Before Fukushima, the only level 7 case was the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, whose 25th anniversary was marked on April 26. Following the upgrade to level 7, Japan’s Prime Minister’s Office released a statement comparing Fukushima and Chernobyl, arguing that apart from children who contracted thyroid cancer from drinking contaminated milk, there have been no health effects among ordinary citizens as a result of Chernobyl radiation. Is this really the case? Hardly.
→ read full articleThe Secret Wars of the Saudi-Israeli Alliance
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya – Global Research,
30 May 2011
The ties of the Al-Sauds to Tel Aviv have in recent years become increasingly visible and pervasive. This secret Israeli-Saudi alliance exists within the context of a broader Khaliji-Israeli alliance. The alliance with Israel is formed through strategic cooperation between the ruling families of Saudi Arabia and the Arab sheikhdoms in the Persian Gulf. Together Israel and the Khaliji ruling families form a frontline for Washington and NATO against Iran and its regional allies. The alliance also acts on behalf of Washington to destabilize the region.
→ read full articleMani Bhavan and Gandhi
Dr Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
In Gandhi’s living room on the second floor, one can see from the glass the original Charkha (the spinning wheel, Gandhi’s symbol of self-dependence) he was using, his bed on the floor, his Kadam (wooden slipper), his book stand, and many other things. I imagined Gandhi while viewing that room. The room is still there, the great soul has departed, but his ideas still reverberate in the world. We all know how great leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela and many others were influenced by him. I remember reading somewhere how one of the great peace activists of our time Johan Galtung started crying at the news of the departure of the great soul.
→ read full articleThe Unchanged Path to Mideast Peace
Jimmy Carter – The New York Times,
30 May 2011
It was not a new U.S. policy concerning the borders of Israel, nor should it have been surprising to Israeli leaders, when President Obama stated: “The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.”
→ read full articleOnce Upon A Time
Tom Tomorrow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
This Modern World – Political Cartoon
→ read full articleFoodies vs. Darwin: How Meat Eaters Ignore Science
James McWilliams – Atlantic Monthly,
23 May 2011
Cooking and savoring animals used to be acceptable—but then came evolution, genetics, and the study of non-human thought. What if we discussed the moral and legal rights of animals with the same level of detail we bring to discussion about where to find the best prosciutto?
→ read full articleCurbing Foreign Ownership of Farmland
Marcela Valente – Al Jazeera,
23 May 2011
As international food prices continue to soar, land purchases by foreign investors face ban in much of Latin America. The governments of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay are drafting laws to curb acquisition by foreigners of extensive tracts of their fertile agricultural land.
→ read full articleRating Agencies Face Crackdown
Ben Protess – The New York Times,
23 May 2011
The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed sweeping new rules on Wednesday (18 May 2011] to overhaul the rating business — regulations that would force tougher internal controls, potentially curb conflicts of interest and even mandate that the agencies periodically test the competence of their employees. The rating agencies in recent years became a target in Washington, as regulators and lawmakers blamed them for feeding the mortgage bubble by awarding top grades to bonds backed by subprime mortgages. The investments later soured, driving the economy to the brink.
→ read full articleEurope: The Epidemic of Xenophobia
Emma Bonino – TerraViva Europe,
23 May 2011
Diversity, which has been a positive constant throughout our history, is now considered a threat. The signs are plain to see: a propagation of intolerance and fanaticism, growing support for populist and xenophobic parties, an ever more massive presence of immigrants without status or rights, “parallel” communities that do not interact with the rest of society, the repression of individual freedoms, and democracies in crisis.
→ read full articleThe Reckoning: Press Freedom in Sri Lanka
Nirmanusan Balasundaram – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
We are living in a world where committed journalists write the news not only with ink, but also with their blood. This is the very reason that their souls still exist with us even after their tragic deaths. Sri Lanka is the very recent example for such context. Thirty-four journalists and media workers have been killed with no recourse to justice since the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government came into power in April 2004 with the present President Mahinda Rajapaksa as its prime minister.
→ read full articleWorlds Collide in a Luxury Suite
Rebecca Solnit – TomDispatch,
23 May 2011
How can I tell a story we already know too well? Her name was Africa. His was France. He colonized her, exploited her, silenced her, and even decades after it was supposed to have ended, still acted with a high hand in resolving her affairs in places like Côte d’Ivoire. Her name was Africa. His name was IMF. He set her up to be pillaged, to go without health care, to starve. He laid waste to her to enrich his friends. Her name was Global South. His name was Washington Consensus. But his winning streak was running out and her star was rising.
→ read full articleDefiant Spaniards Continue Protests
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
Tens of thousands of protesters furious over soaring unemployment keep up their week-long movement on Election Day.
→ read full articleWho’s Killing the Journalists of Honduras?
Andrew O'Reilly - Latin American News Dispatch,
23 May 2011
While many blame drug-trafficking organizations that use Honduras as a stopover point between South America and Mexico for the spike in violence against media workers, others point a finger at the Honduran government and their crackdown on opposition journalists after the June 2009 coup.
→ read full article
Organized Crime ‘Industry’ Gone Mainstream Worldwide
TED Talks – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
From the Russian mafia, to giant drug cartels, his sources include not just intelligence and law enforcement officials but criminal insiders. His book, McMafia, is an exhaustive look at an unseen industry that Glenny believes may account for 15% of the world’s GDP. Glenny suggests that conventional law enforcement might not be able to combat a problem whose roots lie in global instability.
→ read full articleGlobal Leadership: American Retreat, BRIC Ambivalence, and Turkey’s Rise
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
As the American president, Barack Obama, sets forth his views on the future of the Middle East it seems a good time to take stock of the leadership vacuum in world affairs, and whether there are alternatives to the role the United States has played ever since World War II.
→ read full article
New World in Middle East
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
Robert Fisk speaks on the prospect of a Palestinian state after Binyamin Netanyahu’s comments during his US visit. Pres. Obama at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee-AIPAC conference on Sunday, 22 May 2011.
→ read full articleFears of Disruptions: Spain Bans Protests Ahead of Sunday Vote
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
With the protest movement in Spain growing, Spanish authorities on Friday [20 May 2011] banned demonstrations this weekend as regional and municipal elections take place. Youth are protesting in the country against high unemployment and austerity measures, with protests in Madrid even being compared to Tahrir Square in Cairo.
→ read full articleMajority of LGBTI Asylum Seekers in Western Countries Still Face Rejection
Behind the Mask – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
A vast majority of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people seeking asylum in the European Union on the basis of their sexual orientation, have been met by a severe blow as most of their applications have been rejected due to failure of giving accurate account or valid proof of persecutions they claim to have experienced or might incur if they were sent back to their country of origin.
→ read full articleObama’s Flawed Approach to the Israel/Palestine Conflict
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
In many respects, Obama’s speech, aside from the soaring rhetoric, might have been crafted in Tel Aviv rather than the White House. It is a tribute to Israel’s extraordinary influence upon the American media that has been able to shift the focus of assessment to the supposed Israeli anger about affirming Palestinian statehood within 1967 borders.
→ read full articlePre-Judging an Institution’s Implicit Strategy by the Director’s Private Behaviour
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
Remarkable parallels in the case of the IMF and Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The question explored here is whether there are useful parallels to be recognized between the strategic policies pursued by the IMF over the years — both publicly and discretely — and those exemplified by the behaviour of its Managing Director, again both publicly and privately. Any such parallels would be especially noteworthy to the extent that they reflect the unchallenged attitudes of the powerful to those who are relatively vulnerable — and whose vulnerability is exacerbated in consequence. Fruitful questions include:
→ read full articleImperialism: Bankers, Drug Wars and Genocide
Prof. James Petras – Information Clearing House,
23 May 2011
While the Pentagon arms the Mexican government and the US Drug Enforcement Agency enforces the “military solution”, the biggest US banks receive, launder and transfer hundreds of billions of dollars to the drug lords’ accounts, who then buy modern arms, pay private armies of assassins and corrupt untold numbers of political and law enforcement officials on both sides of the border.
→ read full articleWhat about the Woman Strauss-Kahn Allegedly Raped?
Tiffany Williams – Institute for Policy Studies,
23 May 2011
She deserves compassion as the global punditocracy conjectures about what’s going happen to the IMF without that French “rockstar” at its helm.
→ read full articleAnonymous and the Arab Uprisings
Yasmine Ryan – Al Jazeera,
23 May 2011
The cyberactivists discuss their work and the broader global push for freedom of speech and freedom from oppression – Anonymous’s rapid rise from the depths of geekdom to becoming a catalyst and nerve centre for real-life revolutionaries is one that has taken even some of its own members by surprise. The loosely-knit hive brings anonymous techies, hackers and, increasingly, activists together under a single appellation, united in their non-violent but often illegal collective action.
→ read full articleHundreds of Brazilian Indians Set Up Protest Camp in Capital
Survival International – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
Over 700 Brazilian Indians from more than 230 tribes set up camp last week in the country’s capital city, Brasília, to urge the government to respect their rights. The Madeira dams, currently being built in the Amazon, are putting immense pressure on uncontacted Indians’ lands as migrants are arriving in the area and deforestation is increasing. The Belo Monte dam planned for the Xingu river in the Amazon threatens the livelihoods of thousands of tribal people, who have not given their consent for the dam to be built.
→ read full article
Iraq’s Abandoned Children (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Jane Arraf reports from Baghdad – Al Jazeera,
23 May 2011
Iraq is full of street kids; children with one or both parents killed, or some who have merely been abandoned. It has been estimated that there are now over a million orphans in the country. But there are just four small orphanages in the capital, Baghdad – none of them filled to capacity. The Iraqi government says that relatives would rather abandon children they are unable to take care of, than bear the shame of bringing them to an orphanage.
→ read full articleIndia: Tribes and Tribulations
Graham Davey – Gandhi Foundation,
23 May 2011
How do we bring peace and justice to the dispossessed and who is responsible?
→ read full articleBest Seller
TMS Editor,
23 May 2011
Three men, selling bibles door to door, bet who will sell the most in a day.
→ read full articleEscaping the Matrix
Richard K. Moore – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
The defining moment in The Matrix occurs when Morpheus invites Neo to choose between a red and a blue pill. The red pill promises “the truth, nothing more.” Neo takes it and awakes to reality. What Neo had before assumed to be reality was only a collective illusion. The story is intended as metaphor, and the parallels that drew my attention had to do with political reality. Are you ready for the red pill?
→ read full article(Castellano) Escapar de la Matriz
Richard K. Moore – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
El momento dramático definitivo en la película La Matriz ocurre inmediatamente a continuación de la invitación de Morfeo a que Neo escoja entre una píldora roja y una azul. La píldora roja promete “la verdad, nada más”. Neo toma la píldora roja y despierta a la realidad. Lo que Neo había antes tomado por la realidad resulta ser sólo una ilusión colectiva, inventada por la Matriz. La intención de la trama es metafórica, y el paralelo que atrajo mi atención tiene que ver con la realidad política.
→ read full articleIf Arab Spring Threatens Israel, Why Does Saban Support It?
Maidhc Ó Cathail – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
“The test of a first-rate intelligence,” F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote, “is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” When it comes to what’s been dubbed the “Arab Spring,” most Middle East analysts pass Fitzgerald’s test with flying colours.
→ read full articleAmerica the Beautiful
Johan Galtung, 23 May 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
What is the US-specific pattern, what is unique, what is that IT? It is the people, stupid! The Americans–apologizing to Latin America–Americans, the beautiful. How? What? Why? Let us try. Starting with a basic: nobody in the world is so easy, not stuffy to talk with as an American. Open, first name basis, fences down, body language and verbal language charming, direct eye contact.
→ read full articleIsrael and Palestine: Here Comes Your Non-Violent Resistance
The Economist, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
Will we even bother to acknowledge that the Palestinians are protesting non-violently? Or will we soldier on with the same empty decades-old rhetoric, now drained of any truth or meaning, because it protects established relationships of power? What will it take to make Americans recognise that the real Martin Luther King-style non-violent Palestinian protestors have arrived, and that Israeli soldiers are shooting them with real bullets?
→ read full articleGreenpeace Statement on TEPCO, Fukushima
Greenpeace - TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
The environmental organisation says that TEPCO’s admission – that with temperatures reaching 2,800°C, melted fuel dropped and accumulated at the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel, which was the breached, causing radiation to leak from the core and to spread via cooling water to the ground and ocean – clearly shows that there are significant risks to the marine ecosystem along the Fukushima coast.
→ read full articleLimited Liability – Nuclear Energy’s ‘Mother of All Subsidies’
Stephen Leahy, International Environmental Journalist – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
The nuclear energy industry only exists thanks to the “mother of all subsidies”. Every nuclear power plant in the world has a strict cap on how much the industry might have to pay out in case of an accident. Japan has the largest liability cap, of 1.2 billion dollars, but that is not nearly enough for the estimated 25 to 150 billion dollars in liability costs at Fukushima. No one knows when the reactors will finally be in cold shutdown. One report suggests decommissioning will take 30 years.
→ read full articleHanna Newcombe: The Passing of a Peace Research Pioneer
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
Hanna Newcombe, who with her husband Alan, were leading Canadian peace researchers, died on 18 April 2011. As an In Memoriam I would like to highlight some aspects of her work. Hanna and Alan were long time friends and colleagues in the world citizen/world federalist movement and in efforts at conflict resolution.
→ read full articleFrom Nobel to Nobel – Open Letter to Barack Obama
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
A day like today, 34 years ago, I came back to life after a flight with death during the Argentinean military dictatorship backed by the U.S.A. Thank God I survived. I had to get out of the maze by overcoming despair and discover the way in the stars above to say with the prophet, “The night is darkest before dawn”.
→ read full article
May 15, 2011: 63 Years of Nakba (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Palestinian Youth Manifesto – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
That the 15th of May 1948 never be forgot. And that Palestinians may have their freedoms and rights back; especially the right of return to the land of their ancestors, where they were born.
→ read full articleJulian Assange: The Man Who Leaked the World
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
WikiLeaks: the dream of an idealist or a tool to manipulate global politics? Who is the real Julian Assange? He says his dream is a world without secrets. But is that true?
→ read full articleWanted Dead or Alive
Robert Koehler – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
President Obama’s attempts this past week to call forth a heightened sense of national unity around Osama bin Laden’s assassination is a devil’s bargain because the need for more violence will never end. However, this need — for the next war, the next political assassination — always seems so reasonable. And as part of the bargain, “The meaning you’re making around violence is your own goodness.”
→ read full articleVanunu Demands Revoking of His Israeli Citizenship
Mark Weiss in Jerusalem – Irish Times,
16 May 2011
Mordechai Vanunu, the man who revealed Israel’s nuclear secrets to the world in 1986, has demanded that Israel rescind his citizenship and allow him to leave the country. In a weekend letter to Israeli interior minister Eli Yishai, the nuclear whistleblower cited a new law passed in March under which Israelis convicted of treason automatically lose their right to citizenship. “I request that you set me free of Israel, since Israel does not want me nor do I want Israel,” he wrote. “I have no interest in Israeli citizenship, I don’t want to go on living here.”
→ read full articleTragedy Is Ignored Because the Victims Are Not White
Jerome Taylor – The Independent,
16 May 2011
The Italian and Maltese coastguards were working around the clock to try rescuing those vessels they knew to be in distress. One rescue official I spoke to told me how even heavily pregnant women were arriving on the boats. One had given birth on the way over. Although some dramatic rescues take place, many more boats simply sink in an ocean that is teeming with European vessels providing support for the NATO-led assault on Libya.
→ read full articleSamoa Skips From Last to First Country to See the Sun
Kathy Marks, Asia-Pacific Correspondent – The Independent,
16 May 2011
For visitors, the highlight of a trip to Samoa has always been the opportunity to stand on a rocky promontory at Cape Mulinu’u, the westernmost point of the planet, and – with the International Dateline only 20 miles away – to gaze into tomorrow. Once the changes take effect, visitors to the Samoan islands will be able to experience the same day twice, by flying between Samoa and American Samoa, just one hour apart. “You can have two birthdays, two weddings and two wedding anniversaries on the same date – on separate days … without leaving the Samoan chain,” Mr Tuilaepa said.
→ read full articleIs Pakistan Being Cast as the Next Plausible Evil Doer?
Jeff Gates – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
The missing component is not trust but a shared vision of what both nations require to restore and sustain their national security. As the largest contributor of personnel to U.N. peacekeeping missions, Pakistan is well positioned to become a global force for positive change. At this key juncture in an essential relationship, should Americans kill more Muslims, further advancing The Clash storyline? Or should Pakistan and the U.S. join forces to create a new narrative founded on peace through human dignity and solar-powered prosperity?
→ read full articleThe Brutal Face of Bahrain’s Monarchy
Tithi Bhattacharya and Bill Mullen – Socialist Worker,
16 May 2011
While the West continues the “humanitarian” bombing of Libya, its weaponry is being used on the people of Bahrain against their struggle to oust a monarchy backed by the West. Solidarity activists expose the regime’s barbaric torture of children.
→ read full article(Castellano) Osama y Obama
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
El jeque Osama permanecerá en la mente de la gente mucho tiempo después de que el presidente Obama sea olvidado. Ambos sumamente violentos, matando a civiles en masse, retóricamente dotados, inteligentes, atractivos, guapos. Pero uno está del lado de la historia, luchando, aunque equivocadamente, por los injustamente reprimidos, y el otro por los ilícitos represores, por un imperio moribundo, en contra de la historia. Sic transit.
→ read full articleObserving the 63rd Nakba
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
The Nakba is of course a day of grievance and resolve for all Palestinians including the several million living in refugee camps for decades in the countries surrounding Palestine and other millions in exile throughout the region and the world. A sustainable peace must realize the rights of all Palestinians, and must be broader and deeper than ending the occupation or establishing a Palestinian state. Palestinian representation to be legitimate and effective must keep faith with this wider Palestinian reality, and not confine its political program to a territorial imaginary.
→ read full articleSecret Desert Force Set Up by Blackwater’s Founder
Mark MazzettI and Emily B. Hager – The New York Times,
16 May 2011
Mr. Prince, who resettled here [United Arab Emirates] last year after his security business faced mounting legal problems in the United States, was hired by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi to put together an 800-member battalion of foreign troops for the U.A.E., according to former employees on the project, American officials and corporate documents obtained by The New York Times.
→ read full articleA Moment of Silence, Before I Start This Poem
Emmanuel Ortiz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
Before I start this poem,
I’d like to ask you to join me
In a moment of silence
Press Release-UN High Commission for Human Rights: Palestinian Nakba
Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
On May 15 2011 the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Mr. Richard Falk, marks the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba, the catastrophic beginning of the Palestinian tragedy of dispossession and occupation, with the following statement.
→ read full articleManifesto
Palestinian Youth – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
I´m sick of The Wall
I´m sick of the checkpoints between Palestinian cities
I´m sick of illegal Israeli settlers and settlements
I´m sick of having the Hebrew language on my ID card
I´m sick of people not knowing anything about our history
but knowing so much about Jewish history
What Happened to the Western Left?
Johan Galtung, 16 May 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
The Western right wing is today not challenged by the Western left, but by the subtlety of Chinese capi-communism and yin-yang, far beyond Western thought, right or left. And by islamist terrorism, countered by right wing hard christianist and judeaist state terrorism. The Left fails to understand the former, rejects the latter and is unable to be enriched by the best in the buddhist, muslim, Japanese and Chinese models.
→ read full article
Blood Bonanza: UK Private Security Firms Eye Libya as New Cash Cow
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
Libya might soon turn into a goldmine for private security firms. Reports say that the UK is already hiring mercenaries to protect the interests of the big corporations there, once Colonel Gaddafi goes.
→ read full articleRejoice Not…
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
The young men and women of Tahrir Square, with their longing for freedom, have consigned bin Laden to history, months before his physical death. His philosophy has a future only if the Arab Awakening fails completely and leaves behind a profound sense of disappointment and despair.
→ read full articleHow A Big US Bank Laundered Billions from Mexico’s Murderous Drug Gangs
Ed Vulliamy – The Observer,
16 May 2011
As the violence spread, billions of dollars of cartel cash began to seep into the global financial system. But a special investigation by the Observer reveals how the increasingly frantic warnings of one London whistleblower were ignored. “For the time period of 1 May 2004 through 31 May 2007, Wachovia processed at least $$373.6bn in CDCs, $4.7bn in bulk cash” – a total of more than $378.3bn, a sum that dwarfs the budgets debated by US state and UK local authorities to provide services to citizens. The document gives a fascinating insight into how the laundering of drug money works.
→ read full article
New Egyptian Stance towards Israel, Hamas and Iran
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
Paul Jay interviews Samer Shehata: Egyptian government may not cooperate with siege of Gaza and isolation of Hamas; restoring relations with Iran.
→ read full articleReport 2011: Amnesty International at 50 says Historic Change on Knife-Edge
Amnesty International – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
People are rejecting fear. Courageous people, led largely by youth, are standing up and speaking out in the face of bullets, beatings, tear gas and tanks. This bravery – combined with new technology that is helping activists to outflank and expose government suppression of free speech and peaceful protest – is sending a signal to repressive governments that their days are numbered.
→ read full articleKeepers of the Seeds
Winona LaDuke – Yes! Magazine,
16 May 2011
How Native farmers and gardeners are working to preserve their agricultural heritage.
→ read full articleTony Kushner and the Angels of Dissent
Amy Goodman - Truthdig,
16 May 2011
During the McCarthy era, the U.S. was a dark and dangerous place as well. Now, amid the uprisings in the Arab and Muslim world, the recent rapprochement between Fatah and Hamas, and the likely recognition of Palestinian statehood by the United Nations General Assembly, there is no more urgent time for vigorous and informed debate. The future of peace in the Middle East depends on dissent. Those, like Tony Kushner, with the courage to speak out are the true angels in America.
→ read full articleIsrael Stripped 140,000 Palestinians of Residency Rights, Document Reveals
Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem – The Guardian,
16 May 2011
Israel stripped thousands of Palestinians of their right to live in the West Bank over a 27-year period, forcing most of them into permanent exile abroad, a document obtained under freedom of information laws has disclosed.
→ read full articleThe War Lovers: Why It Feels So Good to Be Embedded with the U.S. Military
Peter Van Buren - TomDispatch,
16 May 2011
Objective reporting on the SEAL team that killed bin Laden was as easy to find as a Prius at a Michele Bachmann rally. The media simply couldn’t help themselves. They couldn’t stop spooning out man-sized helpings of testosterone — the SEALs’ phallic weapons, their frat-house, haze-worthy training, their romance-novel bravado, their sweaty, heaving chests pressing against tight uniforms, muscles daring to break free… You get the point. Towel off and read on.
→ read full articleRed Rosa
Christopher Hitchens – Atlantic Monthly,
16 May 2011
The writings of the martyred socialist Rosa Luxemburg give a plaintive view of history’s paths not taken. In January 1919 she was arrested, and her capacious skull splintered by a rifle butt in the hands of a member of the Freikorps, the debased militia that was to form the pattern and nucleus of the Brownshirts. “In her assassination,” wrote Isaac Deutscher, “Hohenzollern Germany celebrated its last triumph and Nazi Germany its first.” Over her corpse—later thrown into the Landwehr Canal—was to step a barbarism even more ruthless and intense than any she had dared to imagine. Had Germany gone the other way, is it completely fanciful to imagine an outcome that would have preempted not just Nazism but, by precept and example, Stalinism too?
→ read full articleStingy
TMS Editor,
16 May 2011
-How many Frenchmen does it take to defend the city of Paris?
→ read full articleHow the Murdoch Press Keeps Australia’s Dirty Secret
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
The Australian publishes long articles that present Aboriginal people not unsympathetically, but as perennial victims of each other, “an entire culture committing suicide,” or as noble primitives requiring firm direction: the eugenicist’s view. It promotes Aboriginal “leaders” who, by blaming their own people for their poverty, tell the white elite what it wants to hear. The writer Michael Brull parodied this: “Oh White man, please save us. Take away our rights because we are so backward.”
→ read full articleInsecurity in Security
Bishnu Pathak, PhD, Peace and Conflict Studies Center – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
The burgeoning Chinese, Indian and Pakistani influence raises alarm in transitional Nepal which has an open border with both China and India. Escalating Chinese influence in Nepal has been a grave concern to India. Indeed, a small land-locked country surrounded by two of the world’s most populous and growing superpower nations, Nepal is caught in a unique pull-push insecurity situation as it gropes for true democracy.
→ read full articleBin Laden Out, Gaddafi Next
Pepe Escobar – Asia Times,
16 May 2011
In the whirlwind of lies and hypocrisy engulfing the Osama bin Laden hit job, the key justice-related fact is how an unarmed man, codename “Geronimo”, was captured live then summarily executed in front of one of his daughters – after an invasion of a theoretically “sovereign” country. As for the war waged by NATO against Libya, the fact is that Western public opinion was fed a military attack against a sovereign country that has committed no violation of the United Nations charter. Talk about a wolf – neo-colonialism – in sheep’s clothing – “humanitarian war”.
→ read full article(Castellano) De Nobel a Nobel: Carta Abierta a Barack Obama
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
Un día como hoy, hace 34 años volví a la vida, tuve un vuelo de la muerte durante la dictadura militar argentina apoyada por los EEUU. Gracias a Dios sobreviví y tuve que salir del laberinto por arriba de la desesperación y descubrir en las estrellas el camino para poder decir como el profeta: ”la hora más oscura es cuando comienza el amanecer”.
→ read full articleThe Audacity of Genetically Modified Foods
Bruce Robinson – Boulder Daily Camera,
16 May 2011
I maintain that the real discussion should be about the audacity and illegitimate way GM crops have been forced on a reluctant United States and world — the money, corruption, politics and obfuscation that characterize its rise to dominance. The discussion should focus on how GM crops have taken over our food supply with little concern for safety or our right to choose.
→ read full articleGlobal Capitalism and 21st Century Fascism
William I. Robinson – Al Jazeera,
16 May 2011
As unprecedented economic and environmental degradation continues, right-wing extremists are increasing their power, particularly in the US, according to a professor of global studies at the University of California.
→ read full articleSchengen Zone Dispute: EU Slams Denmark over Plans to Reintroduce Border Checks
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
Denmark’s decision to reintroduce permanent border controls has met with criticism from the European Union, which sees the move as a challenge to the principle of freedom of movement. Copenhagen insists the new checks are compatible with Schengen rules.
→ read full articleA Fatal Addiction to Plastic – Trashing the Oceans and Our Own Health
Stephen Leahy – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
With 440 participants from 35 countries, including experts from governments, research institutes, corporations like the Coca-Cola Company, and plastics industry associations such as Plastics Europe and the American Chemistry Council, the conference was the first major international effort to tackle the issue in 11 years. The end result was the Honolulu Commitment, which invited everyone to work on “a global platform for the prevention, reduction and management of marine debris” called the Honolulu Strategy.
→ read full articleThe Other BRIC in Latin America: India
Jorge Heine and R. Viswanathan – Americas Quarterly,
9 May 2011
India emerges as a major partner for Latin America. Welcome to the new kid on the block.
→ read full articlePeace Studies – For Children Too
Letter of Peace Addressed to the UN, Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 May 2011
Galtung’s assertions lead me to think that maybe we should not only bring peace to universities as a subject but also to schools. Things would be much better if someone explained to children that peace is a valuable asset, that we must care for it, that we can only achieve it together, that we must avoid imposing the will of the all-powerful minority over the majority. If generations had a conceptualization of peace integrated in life and society, it is likely that future citizens would see the world through different eyes, understand differences, appreciate diversity and love peace.
→ read full articleAl Jazeera: One Organisation, Two Messages
Teymoor Nabili – Al Jazeera,
9 May 2011
A few days ago, an article with the above headline appeared on the website of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Penned by David Pollock, the piece has been a metaphorical pebble in my shoe ever since. So here’s an attempt to add some clarity, by pointing out some of the inconsistencies in Pollock’s article.
→ read full articleChina in Latin America
Americas Quarterly – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 May 2011
Interview – Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Li Jinzhang on his country’s plans as it increases economic and political ties to Latin America.
→ read full articleA Guide to ALBA
Joel D. Hirst – Americas Quarterly,
9 May 2011
The Bolivarian Alternative – What does ALBA actually do? A guide to President Chávez and Fidel Castro’s regional project.
→ read full articleReflections on Brazil’s Global Rise
Celso Amorim – Americas Quarterly,
9 May 2011
The man who led Brazil into its new global era discusses his diplomatic vision and Brazil-U.S. relations.
→ read full articlePalestinian Unity and the New Middle East
Ramzy Baroud – Common Dreams,
9 May 2011
But frankly, at this juncture of Middle East history, Israel is almost negligible. It no longer has a transformative influence in the region. When the Arab people began revolting, a new dimension to the Arab-Israeli conflict emerged. As the chants in Cairo’s Tahrir Square began to adopt a pan-Arab and pro-Palestinian language, it became obvious that Egypt would soon venture outside the political confines of Washington’s patronizing labels, which divide the Arabs into moderates (good) and radicals (bad).
→ read full articleHaiti’s New President: Welcome to the Toughest Job in the Americas
Robert Maguire – Americas Quarterly,
9 May 2011
Haiti’s next president must put the country on a path to real development.
→ read full articleTranslating Southern Successes into LDC Solutions
Rousbeh Legatis interviewing Josephine Ojiambo, Ambassador of Kenya – Inter Press Service-IPS,
9 May 2011
“In South-South cooperation we are all partners,” Josephine Ojiambo, ambassador of Kenya to the U.N. and president of the U.N. General Assembly High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation, said. “SSC specifically shies away from the donor-client relationship.”
→ read full articleApplying the Law in Guantanamo: ‘The Government’s Narrative Was a Lie’
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 May 2011
When he arrived at Guantanamo in 2005 as chief prosecutor, Colonel Morris Davis thought that he would be dealing exclusively with fanatical terrorists. But he soon realized that many prisoners shouldn’t have been imprisoned at all. In a contribution for SPIEGEL, he describes his path from idealism to disillusionment.
→ read full articleEgypt’s Moves Raising Anxiety in Washington
Jim Lobe – Inter Press Service-IPS,
9 May 2011
With U.S. lawmakers threatening this week to cut aid to Pakistan over its alleged harbouring of the late Osama bin Laden, concern is growing steadily here over the future of ties with another key predominantly Muslim ally heavily dependent on U.S. aid: Egypt. The most recent action was Egypt’s mediation of the reconciliation agreement signed Wednesday [4 May 2011] in Cairo by the leaders of Hamas and Fatah, an agreement that has been strongly denounced by leading lawmakers, as well as by the administration of President Barack Obama itself.
→ read full articleHazards and Hopes of Limitless Freedom of Expression
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 May 2011
One of the glories of the Western Enlightenment, especially as embodied in the lifeblood of political democracies is freedom of expression, the right to give voice in public spaces to unpopular, tasteless, provocative, and even outrageous ideas, and especially those critical of the prevailing political order without fear of retaliation.
→ read full articleChild Victims Have ‘Leading Role’ in Creating a Nonviolent Society
Marcela Valente – Inter Press Service-IPS,
9 May 2011
Interview with a U.N. Expert on Violence against Children. Appointed to the gigantic task of building international understanding of violence against children and adolescents, 58-year-old Portuguese lawyer Marta Santos Pais is based in New York and works with a small staff of only seven people.
→ read full articleWar of the Sexes
TMS Editor,
9 May 2011
A plane is falling rapidly from the sky and the passengers are dead scared. Suddenly a woman in the front stands up and taking off her blouse and bro yells,
→ read full articleIconic Extrajudicial Execution of Jesus through Osama by US?
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 May 2011
Whither a cyclopean global Pax Americana lacking depth perception?
→ read full article