Articles by M
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Norway 7/22. What? And Then What?
Johan Galtung, 25 Jul 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Jul 2011
Why did he not hit an immigration agency, mosques, muslim meetings? His thinking neither reflects nor is reflected by Norway’s political landscape. In Norway a loner, a nazi. But, let us not narrow the interpretation horizon to one point. On one end is the islamophobic loner with links to some groups. If he could be defined as crazy, the political brunt is removed. He becomes a causa sui, his own cause. On the other end is the islamist Helper of the Global Jihad a bankrupt Washington could use to get money for “war against terror”. And in-between is Breivik, at some stage using Libya as a cover, and they at some stage him as a bomber? A tacit cooperation?
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Palestinian Minors Jailed for Throwing Stones
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Jul 2011
Palestinian minors are being detained for throwing stones at Israeli forces. Children under the age of fourteen have been jailed for the offence, an Israeli a human rights group, says.
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Dr. Alan Sabrosky on 9/11
PressTV – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Jul 2011
Prof. Alan Sabrosky, US Marine Corps veteran, instructor at the War College, an author of 30 books and consultant specializing in national and international security affairs, discloses intriguing facts on the implication of Israel in 9/11 events that are by and large unheard of in mainstream media. His words regarding his loyalty first, foremost and solely to the United States of America are credible and believable, as are the rest of his statements, analyses and presentation of facts and evidence.
→ read full articleMonkeying with Global Governance
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Jul 2011
Emergent Dynamics of Three Wise Monkeys in a Knowledge-Based Society – Worldwide broadcasts on 19 July 2011 provided an unprecedented four hours of coverage of a meeting of the Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport of the UK Parliament — interviewing those primarily responsible for the governance of the world’s major news organization. Through a subsidiary, this was recently implicated in a phone-hacking scandal of major proportions.
→ read full articleTerror in the Maximum City
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Jul 2011
Indian city Mumbai is famed as the ‘maximum city’ as it is in a sense represents maximum in everything. It represents all contradictions and paradoxes. A casual traveller to the city can find the wealthiest and the poorest co-existing side by side. The most beautiful and the most wretched co-exist in Mumbai. The city provides everything to everybody: daily work to a daily labourer, a job to educated, underworld facilities to mafia, tinsel town to socialites and sophisticated.
→ read full articleNorway, Islam and the Threat of the West
Ibrahim Hewitt – Al Jazeera,
25 Jul 2011
Dismissing this murderous act as the work of “a lone madman” ignores a more detailed study of the killer’s motivation.
→ read full articleWhat Did The Gaza Flotilla Achieve?
Jake Lynch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Jul 2011
The Isreali navy prevented Freedom Flotilla activists from delivering aid supplies to the Gaza Strip – but the mission has had an unexpected impact on political debate here, writes Jake Lynch.
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Humpback Whale Shows AMAZING Appreciation after Being Freed From Nets (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
JoinWakeUpWorld – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Jul 2011
Michael Fishbach, co-founder of The Great Whale Conservancy (GWC), narrates his encounter with a young humpback whale entangled in local fishing nets. At first, the animal appeared to be dead, yet Fishbach investigated and quickly discovered that the poor creature was tangled in a fishing net. The humans had to act fast; what began as a tragedy soon became a thrilling rescue as Fishbach and his crew labored to free the young whale. The entire encounter was caught on videotape and later narrated by Fishbach himself. This young whale knows how to show appreciation by treating them to a magnificent aerial spectacle after it was finally freed.
→ read full articleThe Silent Humanitarian Crises beyond East Africa
Rajesh Makwana and Adam Parsons – Share the World’s Resources,
25 Jul 2011
The international response to the East African crisis is far short of urgent needs, yet the extreme deprivation being reported is only the tip of the iceberg. A massively upscaled redistribution of resources from North to South is needed if we are to prevent needless poverty-related deaths worldwide, write Rajesh Makwana and Adam Parsons.
→ read full articleHaiti: The Shelters That Clinton Built
Isabel Macdonald and Isabeau Doucet - The Nation,
25 Jul 2011
In the wake of Haiti’s earthquake, the Clinton Foundation promised hurricane shelters that would double as classrooms. But they delivered shoddy, formaldehyde-ridden trailers from the same company that supplied FEMA after Hurricane Katrina.
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Imagine – Playing for Change (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
John Lennon, Songs around the World – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jul 2011
In the beginning of 2010 the Playing for Change crew began work on a new Song around the World, John Lennon’s “Imagine.” It has been an amazing year of production, taking the crew from the favelas of Brazil to the shrines of southern India, from villages in Nepal to the glittering urban landscape of Tokyo and New York, and beyond. This song is the Playing For Change Foundation’s gift to the world.
→ read full articleCalifornia: Gov. Brown Signs Law Requiring Teaching of Gay History
David Siders – The Sacramento Bee,
18 Jul 2011
The bill was cheered by gay rights advocates, and Brown said in a written statement Thursday [14 July 2011] that it “represents an important step forward for our state.” The legislation requires instruction in the social sciences to include the role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, as well as people with disabilities and members of other cultural groups.
→ read full article¿Higher Education ∞ Meta-education?
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jul 2011
Transforming Cognitive Enabling Processes Increasingly Unfit For Purpose – The current period is witness to severe inadequacies in response to humanitarian crisis (10 million threatened with starvation in Africa) and in governance of the global financial system (imminent risk of dollar and eurozone defaults). It is curiously significant that the potential dollar default is associated with the most powerful nation, recognized for the merit of its higher education system, whereas the most probable eurozone default is that of a far weaker nation from which understandings of higher education first originated.
→ read full article(Castellano) La Crisis Ideológica del Capitalismo Occidental
Joseph Stiglitz – Los Tiempos,
18 Jul 2011
Mientras Grecia y otros países enfrentan crisis, la medicina en boga consiste simplemente en paquetes de austeridad y privatización desgastados por el tiempo, los cuales meramente dejarán a los países que los adoptan más pobres y vulnerables. Esta medicina fracasó en el Este de Asia, América Latina, y en otros lugares, y fracasará también en Europa en esta ronda. De hecho, ya ha fracasado en Irlanda, Letonia y Grecia.
→ read full articleNew Born South Sudan Has Ambitious Goals
Jerome Mwanda - InDepth News,
18 Jul 2011
While top government leaders of the world’s newest nation, South Sudan, have announced plans to make the country not only the “hub” of Africa but also the bread basket for the Eastern African region, the Civil Society Taskforce is stressing the need for creating a just, peaceful and equitable society.
→ read full articleBreaking the Power of the ‘Big Three’
Peter Müller, Michael Sauga and Christoph Schult – Der Spiegel,
18 Jul 2011
German Firm Wants to Set Up New Rating Agency – European politicians are blaming the escalation of the euro crisis on the major rating agencies, and are determined to break the monopoly of the “Big Three.” Supporters of an intiative by a German consulting firm to set up a European rival agency believe that their time has come.
→ read full articleNeocons Fume over US Boat to Gaza
Ray McGovern – Consortium News,
18 Jul 2011
My co-passengers and I of the U.S. Boat to Gaza have now gone from “High-Seas Hippies,” according to the right-wing Washington Times, to participants in a flotilla full of “fools, knaves, hypocrites, bigots, and supporters of terrorism,” says Alan Dershowitz in his usual measured prose.
→ read full articleMumbai’s Woes and Their Implications
Aurobinda Mahapatra, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jul 2011
Mumbai is India’s most prosperous as well as most cosmopolitan city. The city’s local trains everyday carry about 7 million diverse people, and to this gigantic fare is everyday added 1200 families who reach city from different corners of India in search of better life.
→ read full articleOIC: Organization of Islamic Conference-Cooperation-Community?
Abbas Aroua & Johan Galtung, 18 Jul 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jul 2011
The new OIC of cooperation will pose a major challenge to the UN. Of the five present Security Council veto powers, four are christian (one evangelical, one anglican, one catholic-secular, one orthodox), and one daoist-confucian-buddhist. OIC outsizes them all, even China. This is not only totally unfair, taking into account that the borders fragmenting the islamic community were mainly drawn by those Western powers, but also makes UNSC resolutions against muslim countries illegitimate. Muslim veto power could have saved many human lives, and the USA-West against unwise policies, and opened for a more balanced UN and more regional action.
→ read full articleIsrael Gets Final Permit to Build “Museum of Tolerance” Atop of Muslim Cemetery
Uruknet – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jul 2011
Despite widespread opposition, the Ministry of Interior has provided Jerusalem with the final go ahead to build the “Museum of Tolerance” on top of Mamilla Cemetery. Mamilla has served as a Muslim burial ground since the seventh century. Reputed to contain the tombs of companions of the Prophet Muhammad and soldiers of Saladin, the Muslim ruler who seized Palestine from the hands of the Crusaders in the 12th century.
→ read full articleMethodical Insanity at Work
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jul 2011
Every profession requires a degree of preparation and standards in order to provide a good service in that specific area. However, the political profession, which may be viewed as the most important of all professions, does not have any set of standards or requirements to practice it. This explains why we have so many political problems in the world and why some of these emerge to become very dangerous.
→ read full articleThe Full Impact of WikiLeaks Will Be Felt a Few Years Down the Road
Clarinha Glock interviewing WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson – Inter Press Service-IPS,
18 Jul 2011
Even before he was hired as spokesman for the WikiLeaks whistleblower web site in July 2010, 49-year-old investigative journalist Kristinn Hrafnsson realised that the new initiative would have the power to bring about transformations simply by informing society, starting in his own country, Iceland.
→ read full articleAntidepressant Nation
Truthdig – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jul 2011
Nowadays treatment by medical doctors nearly always means psychoactive drugs, that is, drugs that affect the mental state. In fact, most psychiatrists treat only with drugs, and refer patients to psychologists or social workers if they believe psychotherapy is also warranted. The shift from “talk therapy” to drugs as the dominant mode of treatment coincides with the emergence over the past four decades of the theory that mental illness is caused primarily by chemical imbalances in the brain that can be corrected by specific drugs.
→ read full articleReport: Prosecute For White House Rights Abuse Crimes or Other Countries Must
Deborah Dupre - Examiner,
18 Jul 2011
After days of United States human rights abuse crimes making international headlines, including 26 top White House and military officials facing trials in Iran for terrorism, the United Nations Human Rights Commission again rebuking United States, this time for illegally executing a foreign national in Texas, and Human Rights alert calling on Congress to impeach a DoJ senior for covering up abuses… “The US has a legal obligation to investigate these crimes. If the US doesn’t act on them, other countries should.”
→ read full articlePFC Bradley Manning: Conscience and Agency
Ethan McCord – Common Dreams,
18 Jul 2011
The following is a response to last week’s New York Magazine article, Bradley Manning’s Army of One. Serving with my unit 2nd battalion 16th infantry in New Baghdad Iraq, I vividly remember the moment in 2007, when our Battalion Commander walked into the room and announced our new rules of engagement: “Listen up, new battalion SOP (standing operating procedure) from now on: Anytime your convoy gets hit by an IED, I want 360 degree rotational fire. You kill every [expletive] in the street!”
→ read full article(Portuguese) “As Farmacêuticas Bloqueiam Medicamentos que Curam, Porque Não São Rentáveis”
Esquerda.net – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jul 2011
O Prémio Nobel da Medicina Richard J. Roberts denuncia a forma como funcionam as grandes farmacêuticas dentro do sistema capitalista, preferindo os benefícios económicos à saúde, e detendo o progresso científico na cura de doenças, porque a cura não é tão rentável quanto a cronicidade.
→ read full articleUS ConocoPhillips’ China Oil Spill Six Times Size of Singapore
Agence France-Presse (AFP) – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jul 2011
A huge oil spill off the Chinese coast has now contaminated an area around six times the size of Singapore, state media reported Friday [15 Jul 2011], as the government said it may seek compensation for the leak. The spill from the oil field, which the United States’ ConocoPhillips operates with China’s state-run oil giant CNOOC, has polluted a total area of almost 4,250 square kilometres (1,650 square miles), government figures showed.
→ read full articleDilemmas of Sovereignty and Intervention
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jul 2011
The Arab Spring (and its troublesome, yet still hopeful, aftermath in Egypt), intervention in Libya, nonintervention in Syria and Bahrain, drone military operations in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the influx of unwanted immigrants and walls of exclusion, and selective applications of international criminal law draw into question the most basic of all ideas of world order: the sovereignty of territorial states, and its limits.
→ read full articleDavid House on Bradley Manning, Secret WikiLeaks Grand Jury, and U.S. Surveillance
Amy Goodman, Democracy NOW! - TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jul 2011
On the eve of the extradition hearing for WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange in London, we spend an exclusive hour with David House, who co-founded the Bradley Manning Support Network after U.S. Army Private Manning was arrested for allegedly releasing classified U.S. military documents to WikiLeaks. House refused to testify last month in Alexandria, Virginia, before a grand jury hearing on WikiLeaks and the disclosure of thousands of classified U.S. diplomatic cables.
→ read full articleRewriting the “Tragedy of the Commons”
Bill McKibben – Yes! Magazine,
18 Jul 2011
It was two years before the first Earth Day in 1970 when Garrett Hardin penned the famous essay “Tragedy of the Commons.” Since no one owned the oceans or the atmosphere, we would inevitably fish and pollute them into oblivion. We were witnessing a tragedy whose script could not be revised. A decade later his argument fit the privatizing mood of the Reagan years. No one owns the sky or the sea? Well, then, let’s sell them! The race was on to privatize everything, from fishing rights to kids’ playgrounds, on the theory that this was the only way to manage them well. Society was the problem, the individual was the solution.
→ read full articleThe World’s Largest Human Experiment: GMOs, Roundup and the Monsanto Monstrosity
Madison Ruppert - Activist Post,
18 Jul 2011
Informed consent is one of the most basic aspects of patient-physician relations, as well as subject-researcher relations in the case of research studies. This involves making the patient aware of and verifying that they understand the risks, benefits, facts, and the future implications of the procedure or test they are going to be subjected to. In the case of genetically modified organisms we have not been made aware of the risks. In fact, the GMO industry has deliberately hidden the real dangers behind the seeds and herbicides they peddle.
→ read full article(Portuguese) WSPA Faz Apelo Mundial Pela Proibição de Animais em Circos
Sociedade Mundial de Proteção Animal - TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jul 2011
Animais não são adequados para espetáculos circenses – é o que afirma a WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals) ao debater sobre as medidas políticas que estão sendo tomadas no Brasil e no Reino Unido.
→ read full articleMonsanto and Gates Foundation Push GE Crops on Africa
Mike Ludwig - Truthout,
18 Jul 2011
Biosafety activists in South Africa are calling a program funded by the Gates Foundation a “Trojan horse” to open the door for private agribusiness and genetically engineered (GE) seeds, including a drought-resistant corn that Monsanto hopes to have approved in the United States and abroad.
→ read full articleAppeal to Save Jeju Island – NO TO U.S. NAVAL BASE!
National Network of Korean Civil Society – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jul 2011
We, National Network of Korean Civil Society for Opposing to the US Naval Base in Jeju Island, had a press conference and released this statement of appeal on 13th July 2011.
→ read full articleWhy Egypt Ditched the IMF
Mark Engler – Yes! Magazine,
18 Jul 2011
As Egyptians continue their struggle for social justice and full democracy, there’s one institution they don’t want involved: the International Monetary Fund.
→ read full article(Castellano) Distraido de la Vida
Facundo Cabral – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jul 2011
Hay tantas cosas para gozar y nuestro paso en la tierra es tan corto, que sufrir es una pérdida de tiempo. Tenemos para gozar la nieve del invierno y la flor de la primavera, el chocolate de la Peruggia, la baguette francesa, los tacos mexicanos, el vino chileno , los mares y los ríos, el fútbol de los brasileros y los cigarros de Davidoff, las mil y una noches, La Divina Comedia, El Quijote, Pedro Páramo, los boleros de Manzanero, la poesía de Whitman… Mahler, Brahms, Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Velásquez, Cézanne, y Picasso… entre tantas maravillas. Si tienes alguna ENFERMEDAD SERIA, pueden pasar dos cosas, las dos son buenas…
→ read full articleTroops March in San Diego’s Gay Pride Parade
Associated Press (AP) – The New York Times,
18 Jul 2011
About 200 active-duty troops and veterans wearing T-shirts advertising their branch of service marched Saturday [16 Jul 2011] in San Diego’s gay pride parade with American flags and rainbow banners, marking what is believed to be the first time a military contingent has participated in such an event in the U.S.
→ read full articleA Hippocratic Oath for Journalists
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jul 2011
What do we do about the power of the corporate media? Here’s one answer.
→ read full articleWashington Urged to Recognise Brazil as Global Power
Jim Lobe – TerraViva Europe,
18 Jul 2011
The United States should recognise Brazil as a global power and treat it accordingly, concluded a major new report issued by the influential Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) here this week [15 Jul 2011]. That treatment should include the full endorsement by the administration of President Barack Obama for Brazil’s permanent membership on an expanded U.N. Security Council, according to the 109-page report entitled “Global Brazil and U.S.-Brazil Relations”.
→ read full articleTearing Away the Veils: The Communist Manifesto
Marshall Berman – Dissent Magazine,
18 Jul 2011
The crucial reality is the need to sell your labor in order to live, to carve up your personality for sale, to look at yourself in the mirror and think, “Now what have I got that I can sell?” and an unending dread and anxiety that even if you are OK today, you won’t find anybody willing to buy what you have or what you are tomorrow; that the changing market will declare you (as it has already declared so many) worthless; that you will find yourself physically as well as metaphysically out in the cold. One group whose identity as workers was crucial for Marx was his own class: intellectuals. The bourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every occupation hitherto honored and looked up to in reverent awe. It has converted the doctor, the lawyer, the priest, the poet, the man of science, into its paid wage-laborers.
→ read full articleSouth Sudan Becomes Newest U.N. Member State
Faith Karimi - CNN,
18 Jul 2011
South Sudan officially became the 193rd member of the United Nations on Thursday [14 Jul 2011] morning, capping a flurry of activities that started with its independence last week.
→ read full articleHaiti 18 Months After Devastating Quake
Ashley Smith – InDepth News,
18 Jul 2011
Some eighteen months after the disastrous earthquake that killed 300,000 people and drove 2 million into temporary camps, Haiti’s crisis remains as difficult as ever. Ashley Smith talked to Kim Ives, a journalist and editor with Haiti Liberté, a weekly newspaper published in Port-au-Prince and New York City, about what the Caribbean country could expect from the U.S.-backed Michel Martelly, who won a presidential runoff election in March 2011. He was sworn in as president on May 14, 2011.
→ read full articleA New Arms Race: Exports Booming for German Weapons Manufacturers
Dietmar Hawranek, Markus Dettmer and Ralf Beste – Der Spiegel,
18 Jul 2011
A decrease in orders from its own military has led Germany’s arms industry to turn the focus of its sales efforts abroad. It has recently enjoyed amazing successes despite seemingly strict export controls. For Frank Haun, it’s all a matter of “red” or “blue,” a minor color change on his map of the world.
→ read full articleBy Torpedoing the Gaza Flotilla, Israel Sunk Its Own Ship
Medea Benjamin - Truthout,
18 Jul 2011
Instead of high-fiving each other for their success in thwarting the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, Israeli officials should be throwing overboard the propaganda hacks who catapulted the flotilla into headline news for weeks and left Israel smelling like rotten fish. But in previous years, the same international coalition had sent boats to Gaza five times, successfully reaching their destination with a symbolic shipment of humanitarian aid. No blood, no military interception, no story.
→ read full articleAnti-Zionism Growing Among Jews
As'ad Abdul Rahman - Gulf News,
11 Jul 2011
Pro-Palestine Jewish activists and organisations blame Israel for ‘crimes against humanity’.
→ read full articleWar without Humans: Modern Blood Rites Revisited
Barbara Ehrenreich - TomDispatch,
11 Jul 2011
12,000 Drones, Lethal Cyborg Insects, See-Shoot Robots — How Machines Are Taking Over War – How far will the automation of war and the substitution of autonomous robots for human fighters go?
→ read full articleAs Wall St. Polices Itself, Prosecutors Use Softer Approach
Gretchen Morgenson and Louise Story - The New York Times,
11 Jul 2011
“Traditionally, a bank would tell the Department of Justice when an employee engaged in crimes, but what do you do when the bank itself is run by a criminal enterprise?” said Solomon L. Wisenberg, former chief of a Justice Department financial institutions fraud unit.
→ read full articleWikiLeaks, Wimbledon and War
Amy Goodman – Truthdig,
11 Jul 2011
Last Saturday [2 Jul 2011] was sunny in London, and the crowds were flocking to Wimbledon and to the annual Henley Regatta. Julian Assange, the founder of the whistle-blower website Wikileaks.org, was making his way by train from house arrest in Norfolk, three hours away, to join me and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek for a public conversation about WikiLeaks, the power of information and the importance of transparency in democracies.
→ read full articleGenerations of Pork: How Greece’s Political Elite Ruined the Country
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
The latest tranche of loans from the EU and the IMF has helped buy debt-ridden Greece some time. But the Greeks will find it hard to get back on their feet. Their country has been ruined by three political dynasties, which created a bloated system of cronyism that is hard to change.
→ read full articleEast Jerusalem Suffers Heroin Plague
Kieron Monks – Al Jazeera,
11 Jul 2011
Activists fight to save addicts in towns without prospects or security. In the town of Al Ram, pressed up against Israel’s Separation Barrier, degradation has set in. Once a lively suburb of Jerusalem, since 2006 it has been locked out by the Barrier, which surrounds it on three sides. The effect of this sudden disconnection from the city has been devastating. One-third of all businesses have been forced to close, 75 per cent of youths under 24 are unemployed, and around half of the town’s 62,000 residents have been denied the ID they require to enter Jerusalem.
→ read full articleWill the UN Be a Fairy Godmother for the Birth of South Sudan?
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
On July 9, 2011, South Sudan became an independent State, six months after the January referendum in which the south Sudan population voted overwhelmingly for independence. However, Sudan is not really structured to be divided in two. There are no natural dividing lines, neither physical nor social. During much of the English colonial period, southern Sudan was administered from Uganda as road communications were easier than from Khartoum, the capital in the north of the country.
→ read full articleBradley Manning, American Hero
Chase Madar – TomDispatch,
11 Jul 2011
We still don’t know if he did it or not, but if Bradley Manning, the 24-year-old Army private from Oklahoma, actually supplied WikiLeaks with its choicest material — the Iraq War logs, the Afghan War logs, and the State Department cables — which startled and riveted the world, then he deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom instead of a jail cell at Fort Leavenworth. President Obama recently gave one of those medals to retiring Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who managed the two bloody, disastrous wars about which the WikiLeaks-released documents revealed so much.
→ read full articleWatch: Full Video of WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange & Philosopher Slavoj Žižek with Amy Goodman
Democracy NOW! – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
In one of his first public events since being held under house arrest, WikiLeaks Editor-In-Chief Julian Assange appeared in London Saturday [2 Jul 2011] for a conversation with Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, moderated by Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman. They discussed the impact of WikiLeaks on world politics, the release of the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, and Cablegate — the largest trove of classified U.S. government records in history.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Israel: O Tsunami Que Está a Chegar
Immanuel Wallerstein, Esquerda.net – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
Os palestinianos estão a trabalhar para obter o reconhecimento formal da sua soberania na reunião de Outono da Assembleia Geral das Nações Unidas. A sua intenção é solicitar uma declaração de que o Estado existe dentro das fronteiras de 1967, anteriores à guerra israelo-palestiniana. É quase certo que a votação será favorável. A única questão, no momento, é quão favorável.
→ read full articleEurope Declares War on Rating Agencies
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor – The Telegraph,
11 Jul 2011
A chorus of policy-makers from Europe and across the world have denounced Moody’s drastic downgrade of Portuguese debt as an act of financial vandalism, accusing the “Anglo-Saxon” rating agencies of driving states into bankruptcy and destabilising the global system.
→ read full articleIn Israel, a Tsunami Warning
Noam Chomsky – The New York Times,
11 Jul 2011
Dan Gillerman, Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations, warned participants that “the morning after the anticipated announcement of recognition of a Palestinian state, a painful and dramatic process of Southafricanization will begin”—meaning that Israel would become a pariah state, subject to international sanctions.
→ read full articleAfter the US Withdrawal from Afghanistan: Toward a Regional Approach
Tatsushi Arai – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
One way of enabling a regional process is to launch a Central and South Asian Conference for Peace and Security, modeling after the Helsinki Process of 1972-5 that had facilitated confidence-building among thirty-five European and North American countries divided by the Cold War. The proposed regional process seeks to provide a common platform of problem-solving not only for Afghanistan and Pakistan, but also for Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. PLEASE WATCH PROF. ARAI’S TED TALKS PRESENTATION ON VIDEO OF THE WEEK.
→ read full articleLessons of Argentina Crisis Ignored In Handling of Greece
Jeremy Warner – The Telegraph,
11 Jul 2011
For a vision of how the Greek debt meltdown is going to end, look no further than the International Monetary Fund’s post mortem into a similar crisis that came to a head almost exactly a decade ago – Lessons From The Crisis In Argentina.
→ read full articleA Boy and His Dog
TMS Editor,
11 Jul 2011
An eight-year-old boy went into a grocery store and picked out a large box of laundry detergent. The grocer walked over and asked the boy if he had a lot of laundry to do. “Oh, no laundry,” the boy said, “I’m going to wash my dog.”
→ read full article(Italian) La Possibile Scelta di Nonviolenza dei Palestinesi e Israele
Maria Grazia Enardu – Centro Studi Sereno Regis,
11 Jul 2011
Fra le nuove generazioni di palestinesi si sta diffondendo, con esiti ancora difficili da prevedere, una forma di lotta che, fino a poco tempo fa, sarebbe stata quantomeno definita bizzarra per quella regione: la nonviolenza. Di certo, se riuscisse a coinvolgere un grande numero di persone, rischierà di mettere in seria difficoltà l’esercito israeliano.
→ read full articleFlotilla Passengers Are Today’s Freedom Riders
Truthout, Staff Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
It has been widely reported that 25 percent of the activists on the US boat that was to sail in the Gaza flotilla are Jewish. Six of those 35 activists are Truthout friends, many of long date: Chairman of the Truthout Board Robert Naiman and contributing authors Medea Benjamin, Kathy Kelly, Ray McGovern, Gabriel Schivone and boat leader Ann Wright. Knowing that these friends are putting their lives on the line for what they believe in fills us with pride and anxiety. Our hearts are locked up with their boldly christened boat, The Audacity of Hope.
→ read full articlePortugal Drug Law Show Results Ten Years On, Experts Say
Agence France Press-AFP – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
Health experts in Portugal said Friday [2 Jul 2011] that Portugal’s decision 10 years ago to decriminalise drug use and treat addicts rather than punishing them is an experiment that has worked. “There is no doubt that the phenomenon of addiction is in decline in Portugal,” said Joao Goulao, President of the Institute of Drugs and Drugs Addiction, a press conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the law.
→ read full articleSabotaging Flotilla II: Waging War against Civil Society
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
It is useful to compare the Flotilla II unfolding experience with the Rainbow Warrior incident. At the time, the French nuclear tests in the Pacific were considered legal, although intensely contested, while the blockade of Israel is widely viewed as a prolonged instance of collective punishment in violation of international humanitarian law, specifically Article 33 of the 4th Geneva Convention.
→ read full article
Credit Rating Comic Theater: You Want a Triple AAA, Just Give Me Some More Money
Prgrsvs4RspnsblPltcs – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
Ratigan, Eliot Spitzer and comedian Sherrod Small play a game of credit rating theater. This genre of news comedy is incredibly rare and difficult to execute, live satire. There is extreme truth in this little bit of comedic fiction, including the fact that absolutely nothing has changed.
→ read full articleNew Guidance Allows Nations to Label Genetically Engineered Foods
Mike Ludwig - Truthout,
11 Jul 2011
The Codex Alimentarius Commission, which is composed of food safety regulators from more than 100 countries, adopted a guidance document during its annual summit in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday [5 Jul 2011] that prevents any country’s GE food labeling policies from being legally challenged as barriers to trade. The commission was created in 1963 to create international food safety standards. The guidance does not mandate the labeling of GE foods, but allows countries to develop their own labeling policies.
→ read full article(Castellano) La No-violencia: Negativa vs. Positiva
Johan Galtung, 27 de Junio de 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
La no-violencia negativa incluye todas las formas de acción en contra, menos la violencia física, como la no-cooperación, la desobediencia civil, la infracción de las leyes, la declaración y la práctica de la autonomía. Y la no-violencia positiva incluye el esclarecimiento del pasado a través de la conciliación, del presente a través de la mediación de conflictos peligrosos, y la construcción de un futuro a través de la participación equitativa en proyectos positivos. Las dos formas no son exclusivas, un Gandhi, un Martin Luther King hicieron ambas cosas.
→ read full articleHerbicide Tolerance and GM Crops
Greenpeace – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
The evidence detailed in this report demonstrates that glyphosate-based products can have adverse impacts on human and animal health, and that a review of their safety for human and animal health is urgently needed. The widespread and increasingly intensive use of glyphosate in association with the use of GM (genetically modified, also called genetically engineered or GE) crops poses further risks to the environment and human health.’
→ read full articleA Newspaper’s Closure Does Not End the Hacking Scandal
The Independent, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
The management team that repeatedly covered up evidence of wrongdoing remains in place. Even in the depths of a crisis, Rupert Murdoch’s flair for the dramatic never deserts him. No – the sound that could be heard yesterday [7 Jul 2011] was not of an empire crumbling, but an empire attempting to shore up its defences and protect its key personnel. The purpose of this move is to prevent the rest of the sprawling Murdoch media organisation from contamination.
→ read full articleThe 3 Reasons To Give Up Meat (And 1 Not To)
Ben Ralston, Elephant Journal – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
The real vegetarians are people who know what I’m talking about…they eat a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, pulses, grains, seaweeds…and whatever other yummy stuff they can get their hands on (okay, apart from meat – more on that later). They also recognize that in order to really feel their best, some spiritual practice is required. So as well as eating a balanced diet, they live a balanced life: striving always for the proper mix of material and spiritual aspiration.
→ read full article(Castellano) Misión Milagro: Siete Años Devolviendo la Vista a Más de Un Millón 357 Mil Latinoamericanos
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
La Misión Milagro, proyecto humanitario creado por los Gobiernos de Cuba y Venezuela para solucionar problemas oftalmológicos de pacientes latinoamericanos y caribeños, cumplió este viernes sus primeros siete años con más de un millón 352 mil 643 personas curadas exitosamente.
→ read full articleIndigenous Resistance Is the New ‘Terrorism’
Manuela Picq – Al Jazeera,
11 Jul 2011
In Ecuador, protesting for the rights of the Earth and trying to preserve natural resources may make you a “terrorist”. If you thought there was anything romantic about environmental activism or indigenous rights, think twice. Socialist ideas about nature – such as keeping water a public good – can get you facing charges of sabotage by a leftist government. In the land of the Incas, if you protect the pachamama [“Mother World”], you might just be a “terrorist”.
→ read full articleHumanitarian Disaster or Act of God — Dangerous Implication in Practice?
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
Responding Systemically To the Probable Fate of Millions – Given the fundamental importance in practice of religious belief and obedience to divine injunctions, to what extent is disaster to be understood as an Act of God, or rather as a disastrous failure of human civilization — thereby enabled and heralding its final collapse (cf Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive, 2005)
→ read full articleRighting Wrongs the Maori Way
Allan MacRae & Howard Zehr – Yes! Magazine,
11 Jul 2011
Instead of prison, New Zealand chooses restorative justice and community problem-solving.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Depósitos de Terras Raras São Descobertos no Pacífico
Fabiano Ávila, CarbonoBrasil – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
Japão encontra recursos em quantidade suficiente para dobrar as reservas mundiais, o que deve evitar uma guerra comercial em escala global que estava ganhando força depois da decisão chinesa de reduzir a exportação dos minerais.
→ read full articleBradley Manning’s Army of One
Steve Fishman – New York Magazine,
11 Jul 2011
How a lonely, five-foot-two, gender-questioning soldier became a WikiLeaks hero, a traitor to the U.S., and one of the most unusual revolutionaries in American history. Among fellow soldiers, Manning had to conceal the basic facts of his sexual orientation. On the web, he was proudly out and joined a “Repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” group. He’d even begun to explore switching his gender, chatting with a counselor about the steps a person takes to transition from male to female. He assured [ZJ] that after he got out of the Army, “im planning on breaking out in all directions.” Manning, now 23, faces 52 years in prison, and perhaps the death penalty. But in other ways, his reach is longer, his footprint wider than he could have ever dreamed. He’s already broken out.
→ read full articleVictim Blinded In a Post-9/11 Hate Crime Now Fights For His Attacker’s Life
Daily Mail Reporter – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
Mr Bhuiyan, a devout Muslim who says he learned to forgive Stroman years ago, told MSNBC: ‘I’m trying to do my best not to allow the loss of another human life.’ He was a 26-year old recent immigrant when he encountered Stroman. It took him years to recover from the gun shot, and he still carries bits of metal embedded in his face. Mr Bhuiyan lost the sight in one of his eyes, but did not suffer brain damage. He did lose a fiancé in the ordeal but earned a degree in aeronautical engineering and works as a technology professional in Dallas, although he says he wants to go to journalism school and study human rights, after trying to save Stroman’s life.
→ read full articleFragile Peace Greets Independent South Sudan
Jerome Mwanda - InDepth News,
11 Jul 2011
South Sudan declaring its independence, forming the world’s newest state, and initiating a new era for North Sudan on July 9, 2011, is a historic moment for Sudan and the surrounding region, and a vital opportunity to promote peace and stability in a volatile territory. But this historic moment looks set to be scarred by violence, a group of civil society organisations has warned.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Mercados Começam as Apostas Sobre Qual Será o Próximo País a Cair
Marco Antonio Moreno, Esquerda.net – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
O casino está aberto. William Hill, a maior casa de apostas de Londres, vaticina que o próximo país a pedir auxílio será a Espanha. Paga 1,1 euros por cada euro apostado, enquanto que o resgate italiano é pago a 3 por 1, o da Bélgica a 5 por 1 e o hipotético resgate da Alemanha é pago a 500 por 1. Rendida a Grécia, e submetida aos draconianos planos de ajustamento e cortes que a troika UE/BCE/FMI impõe, o apetite dos mercados começa a procurar a próxima vítima. Portugal e a Itália são os favoritos.
→ read full articleRussia, Iceland & Afghanistan Stand Alone as the Only Nations with International Arrest Warrants out for Bankers Who Committed Fraud
stacyherbert, maxkeiser.com – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
This is our single most urgent concern in all the banking disasters around the world – justice. Without justice, these banking crime waves will not stop. The Bank of Moscow fraudster is hiding out in London and will no doubt live it large there thanks to London’s safe haven status. Icelandic bankers are also hiding out in London after fleecing their country with ‘loans’ to close friends and family.
→ read full articleDRC: Children Still in Prison despite Law
IRIN News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2011
The law, which came into effect in January 2009, replaced a 1950 colonial law on juvenile delinquency that set the age of criminal responsibility at 16, leading to a number of severe penalties against children, including life imprisonment and the death sentence.
→ read full articleUgandan Farmers Reject Genetically Modified Crops
David Kazungu – Daily Monitor, Uganda,
4 Jul 2011
Farmers in the eastern districts of Uganda rejected a proposal by Mr. Arthur Makala, the executive director at Science Foundation for Livelihoods and Developments, to start engaging in the cultivation of genetically modified crops. He had suggested that farmers should embrace the Genetically Modified Crops [GMC] for better yields but the farmers rejected it saying GMCs are contaminated with chemicals that may be harmful to their health.
→ read full articleThe Invasion of Australia – Official, At Last
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
The City of Sydney has voted to replace the words “European arrival” in the official record with “invasion”. The deputy lord mayor, Marcelle Hoff, says it is intellectually dishonest to use any other word in describing how Aboriginal Australia was dispossessed by the British. “We were invaded,” said Paul Morris, an Aboriginal adviser to the council. “It is the truth and it shouldn’t be watered down. We wouldn’t expect Jewish people to accept a watered-down version of the Holocaust, so why should we?”
→ read full articleA World Overwhelmed by Western Hypocrisy
Paul Craig Roberts – Information Clearing House,
4 Jul 2011
The International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank are violating their charters in order to bail out French, German, and Dutch private banks. The IMF is only empowered to make balance of payments loans, but is lending to the Greek government for prohibited budgetary reasons in order that the Greek government can pay the banks. There is nothing left of the American character. Only a people who have lost their soul could tolerate the evil that emanates from Washington.
→ read full articleUngovernability of Sustainable Global Democracy?
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
Towards Engaging Appropriately With Time – Prepared on the occasion of political upheaval in Arab countries, potential destabilization of Europe through default on public debt in Greece and other eurozone countries, problematic military outcomes in Afghanistan and Libya, and failed response to climate change challenges.
→ read full articleEgypt Declines World Bank Loan as Incompatible with National Interest
Al-Masry Al-Youm – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
The government has declined a loan from the World Bank because it found the terms of the loan incompatible with the national interest, Egyptian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Fayza Abul Naga said on Monday [27 Jun 2011].
→ read full articleRule of Law vs. Rule of Mediation
Johan Galtung, 4 Jul 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
A fresh wind of a culture of mediation is blowing all over Latin America, more than in any other continent. All over there are huge conferences, workshops and training in family mediation, between neighbors, communal mediation, in work relations; less so at the inter-nation and inter-state levels. Judicial mediation is on everybody’s lips. This is great! A culture of mediation is a key part of a culture of conflict transformation–transforming conflicts so that they become manageable without violence–in turn a key part of the general culture of peace called for by UNESCO. Why so important?
→ read full articleInstances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2010
Richard F. Grimmett, Congressional Research Service – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
March 10, 2011 – This report lists hundreds of instances in which the United States has used its armed forces abroad in situations of military conflict or potential conflict or for other than normal peacetime purposes.
→ read full article‘Food Terrorism’ Next Door to the Magic Kingdom
Amy Goodman – Truthdig,
4 Jul 2011
In the past few weeks, no fewer than 21 people have been arrested in Orlando, Fla., the home of Disney World, for handing out free food in a park.
→ read full articleFrom WikiLeaks to SB 1070—The Rise of the New Global Hacktivists
Justine Sharrock – New America Media,
4 Jul 2011
Fear of arrests has caused some to leave the movement, if only temporarily. But for others, the threat of arrests—and the media attention that results—has fueled their determination. The chatrooms are filled with bravado and humor making fun of journalists, analysts and the FBI for their incompetence. As Anonymous members see it, they’re engaged in a battle of brains and they are winning.
→ read full article
Harvard, Vanderbuilt, Spelman Take Part in African Land Grab
Amy Goodman, Democracy NOW! – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
A new report raises questions about the connection of Harvard, Vanderbilt and other U.S. universities to European financial interests buying or leasing vast areas of African farmland.
→ read full articleSomali Doctor: ‘If I was sane, I would have fled!’
Mohammed Adow – Al Jazeera,
4 Jul 2011
“The difference between a robot and a human being are feelings,” he observes. “I have grown numb to almost everything that goes on around me. Very few things move me,” he told me as he did his early morning rounds. “If I was normal and had my feelings intact, I would have fled like the thousands fleeing my country every month,” he says. The only thing that keeps him going, he says, is the knowledge that he is saving lives.
→ read full articleWikiLeaks Exposes US Profiteering After Haiti Earthquake
John Marion – World Socialist Web Site,
4 Jul 2011
On June 15, the whistleblower web site WikiLeaks began releasing US diplomatic cables from the period immediately following the devastating Haitian earthquake of January 2010. The cables, from among the 251,287 in WikiLeaks’ possession, provide important information on the machinations of US politicians, on their tight control over Haitian government functions, and about their drive to reopen Haiti to capitalist exploitation.
→ read full articleMy Next Life
TMS Editor,
4 Jul 2011
In this life I’m a woman. In my next life, I’d like to come back as a bear.
→ read full articlePalestinian Status at the UN: Breaking the Logjam
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
There is a good deal of discussion in the halls of the UN, both in New York and Geneva, concerning a possible application of full membership in the UN by the Palestinian Authority. The discussions reflect similar discussions within Foreign Ministries in the hope that there can be an agreed-upon program of action (or non-action) by September when the new General Assembly meets.
→ read full articleGreek Tragedy
Guillaume Duval – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
In his spot for Radio Nova, Guillaume Duval lays out two possibilities under discussion for saving Greece: Make european taxpayers pay or make banks pay. Two alternatives that each entails political and economic risks.
→ read full articleThe International Criminal Court Plays Politics? The Qaddafi Arrest Warrants
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
This politicized use of the ICC in the course of the Libyan War offers an opportunity for those dedicated to global justice, especially in the Arab world, to insist that international law should no longer serve as a plaything for those who intervene with hard power in their region from the comfort zone of NATO headquarters.
→ read full articleChallenging Israeli Apartheid, Starting at Ben Gurion Airport
Laura Durkay – Mondoweiss,
4 Jul 2011
A week of nonviolent resistance against Israeli apartheid will open with a simple action at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport. From July 8-16, I will join hundreds of internationals for a week of solidarity actions in coordination with 15 Palestinian civil resistance organizations in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. If you are interested in participating email info@palestinejn.org or visit the Palestine Justice Network website.
→ read full articleMonsanto in Haiti
Beverly Bell – Common Dreams,
4 Jul 2011
Last spring, in violation of Haitian law, the Minister of Agriculture gave the agribusiness giant Monsanto permission to “donate” 505 tons of seeds to Haiti. The first shipment of 60 tons, reportedly of maize and vegetable seeds, arrived in May 2010. Some of the seeds were coated with a chemical (Thiram) so toxic that the EPA forbids its sale to home gardeners in the U.S.. Monsanto announced its $4 million gift was “to support the reconstruction effort” in Haiti.
→ read full articleThe Painful Collapse of Empire: How the “American Dream” and American Exceptionalism Wreck Havoc on the World
Robert Jensen – Information Clearing House,
4 Jul 2011
Even tragic heroes can, at the end, celebrate the dignity of the human spirit in their failure. That may be the task of Americans, to recognize that we can’t reverse course in time to prevent our ultimate failure, but that in the time remaining we can recognize our hamartia, name our hubris, and do what we can to undo the damage. That may be the one chance for the United States to be truly heroic, for us to learn to leave the stage gracefully.
→ read full articleDirty Truths
Michael Parenti – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jul 2011
The history of the United States has been one of territorial and economic expansionism, with the benefits going mostly to the U.S. business class in the form of growing investments and markets, access to rich natural resources and cheap labor, and the accumulation of enormous profits. The American people have had to pay the costs of empire, supporting a huge military establishment with their taxes, while suffering the loss of jobs, the neglect of domestic services, and the loss of tens of thousands of American lives in overseas military ventures.
→ read full article