Articles by M
We found 37535 results.
USDA Deregulates Two Monsanto Genetically Engineered Seeds
Mike Ludwig - Truthout,
26 Dec 2011
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced its decision to deregulate two Monsanto genetically engineered (GE) seed varieties: a corn variety engineered to resist drought conditions and an herbicide-resistant soybean engineered to produce more fatty acids than regular soybeans … Critics say such efforts could replace traditional and sustainable farming methods with American-style industrial agriculture and prevent African governments from effectively regulating GE crops.
→ read full articleOne Invented Nation or Two
MJ Rosenberg – Political Correction,
26 Dec 2011
Newt Gingrich’s controversial statement begs the question: Who invented a nationality? The Palestinians or the Israelis?
→ read full articleStatement on the Report of Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission
International Crisis Group – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Dec 2011
The report acknowledges important events and grievances that have contributed to decades of political violence and civil war in Sri Lanka and makes sensible recommendations on governance, land issues and the need for a political solution. But it fails in a crucial task – providing the thorough and independent investigation of alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law that the UN and other partners of Sri Lanka have been asking for.
→ read full article‘Most’ Biomedical Chimp Research Declared ‘Unnecessary’ by Federal Agency
Meredith Wadman of Nature magazine – Scientific American,
26 Dec 2011
In a watershed moment for chimpanzee research, the U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report on December 15 [2011] declaring that “most current use of chimpanzees for biomedical research is unnecessary” and recommending the sharp curtailing of government-funded research on humankind’s closest genetic relative. Within an hour, Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which funds research on chimpanzees, announced that he accepted the recommendations and would move to implement them as swiftly as possible.
→ read full articleBradley Manning and the Fog of War
Amy Goodman – Truthdig,
26 Dec 2011
Accused whistle-blower Pvt. Bradley Manning turned 24 Saturday [17 Dec 2011]. He spent his birthday in a pretrial military hearing that could ultimately lead to a sentence of life … or death. The prosecution offered words Manning allegedly wrote to Assange as evidence of his guilt. In the email, Manning described the leak as “one of the more significant documents of our time, removing the fog of war and revealing the true nature of 21st century asymmetrical warfare.” History will no doubt use the same words as irrefutable proof of Manning’s courage.
→ read full articleThe Drone That Fell From the Sky
Nick Turse - TomDispatch,
26 Dec 2011
What a Busted Robot Airplane Tells Us about the American Empire in 2012 and Beyond – The skies seem full of falling drones these days. The most publicized of them made headlines when Iran announced that its military had taken possession of an advanced American remotely piloted spy aircraft, thought to be an RQ-170 Sentinel. Questions about how the Iranians came to possess one of the U.S. military’s most sophisticated pieces of equipment abound.
→ read full articleMay You Live In Interesting Times
William Bowles – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Dec 2011
Are we living in a fool’s paradise? Well 2011 has been nothing if not eventful but frankly, in spite of all the #Occupy this and #Occupy that, it’s not been a good year for us progresssives or the planet. The Empire acts with increasing, not decreasing impunity, desperate now to try and keep ahead of events lest events take control of it. As the Empire acts with increasing impunity, so too does the media. The Media and the Empire in total lockstep.
→ read full articleFighting 1% Wars
William J. Astore – TomDispatch,
26 Dec 2011
Why Our Wars of Choice May Prove Fatal – America’s wars are remote from us geographically, emotionally, and from our major media outlets, which have given us no compelling narrative about them, except that they’re being fought by “America’s heroes” against foreign terrorists and evil-doers. They’re even being fought by robotic drones “piloted” by operators from hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from the danger of the battlefield. Behold a horrifying fate: a people that allows its wars of choice to compromise the very core of its self-image as a freedom-loving society, while letting itself be estranged from the young men and women who served in the frontlines of these wars.
→ read full article
Occupy North Pole (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Truthdig – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Dec 2011
In this year’s holiday animation by Mr. Fish, an elf confronts Santa about his exploitation of free labor.
→ read full articleMoving from a War Economy to a Peace Economy
Mary Beth Sullivan – The Humanist,
26 Dec 2011
My partner, Bruce Gagnon, is the coordinator of the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and has been organizing around conversion since the 1980s. His typical question to any audience is: “What is the United States’ number one industrial export?” Audiences across the country shout out “weapons.” He then asks them to consider that if weapons are the number one industrial export, what is the global marketing strategy? “Endless war” becomes the refrain.
→ read full articleBlackwater Mercenaries to Return to Iraq
PressTV – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Dec 2011
With the US pulling out troops from Iraq this month, Washington plans to send Blackwater mercenaries to the Middle Eastern country under the new brand of ACADEMI. New York-based USTC Holdings, the investment group that bought ex-Blackwater firm, Xe Services, in December 2010, announced on Monday [12 Dec 2011] ACADEMI as the new name for Blackwater/ Xe Services, AFP reported.
→ read full articleNew Photos Released of Iraq Atrocity, With Documents and Video
David Swanson – War Is a Crime,
26 Dec 2011
U.S. Army Ranger John Needham, who was awarded two purple hearts and three medals for heroism, wrote to military authorities in 2007 reporting war crimes that he witnessed being committed by his own command and fellow soldiers in Al Doura, Iraq. His charges were supported by atrocity photos that, in the public interest, are now released in this video. John paid a terrible price for his opposition to these acts. His story is tragic.
→ read full articleA Forgotten Invasion, a Forgotten Dictator
Mike Allison – Al Jazeera,
26 Dec 2011
On Sunday [18 Dec 2011], former strongman Manuel Noriega returned to Panama following twenty-plus years in US and French prisons. However, the return to his native country remains as clouded in mystery as the reasons for his initial departure. Noriega had been involved in the drug trade for many years, and at the same time that he was on both CIA and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) payrolls. I would also argue that, like President Ronald Reagan’s invasion of Grenada in 1983, President Bush likely believed that an operation to remove Noriega would be an easy foreign policy success. While Noriega was neither the most repressive dictator nor the most corrupt, he was the most vulnerable to US military force.
→ read full articlePortugal: All-Out Privatisation Gets Underway
Mario Queiroz – TerraViva Europe,
26 Dec 2011
The most far-reaching programme of privatisation of state enterprises in the history of Portugal kicked off Thursday [22 Dec 2011] with the sale of almost all of the state’s shares in the Energias de Portugal (EDP) utility to China’s Three Gorges Corp. The privatisation of public enterprises is one of the conditions Portugal agreed to under the 110 billion dollar bailout agreed in May.
→ read full article
The American Dream – O Sonho Americano – 1/3
Tad Lumpkin e Harold Uhl – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
English with Portuguese subtitles – Ingles com legendas em portugues
The story of money and of international bankers’ empire.
A historia do dinheiro e do império dos banqueiros internacionais.
The American Dream – O Sonho Americano – 2/3
Tad Lumpkin e Harold Uhl – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
The story of money and of international bankers’ empire.
A historia do dinheiro e do império dos banqueiros internacionais.
The American Dream – O Sonho Americano – 3/3
Tad Lumpkin e Harold Uhl – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
The story of money and of international bankers’ empire.
A historia do dinheiro e do império dos banqueiros internacionais.
Occupy Wall St – The Revolution Is Love (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
occupylove.org – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Narration by Charles Eisenstein – A taste of the upcoming feature documentary, Occupy Love. This is a community-funded film.
→ read full articleLiving Options during Conflicts: Dialogic-Artistic Acts and the Ways We Love In This World
Marco Antonio Zamboni Zalamena – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
There are basically four different options for people living in conflicts: first, people can remove themselves (giving-up; spatial relocation); second, people can join one or another side (us vs. them approach, compromising); third, people can wait for outsiders to act on their behalf (negative transcendence) and four, people can work with the conflict forces/energies while still living in it (positive transcendence).
→ read full articleIn Israel, the Life of a Palestinian Is Cheap
Haaretz, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
When it comes to shooting a Palestinian, pulling the trigger does not come with a real fear of having to answer to the law.
→ read full articleThe Bugs That Ate Monsanto
Tom Laskawy, Grist – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Now that 94 percent of the soy and 70 percent of the corn grown in the U.S. are genetically modified, Monsanto might look to some like it’s winning. But if we look a little closer, I’d say they’re holding on by a thread. Over the last several years, so-called “superweeds” have grown resistant to the herbicide RoundUp, the companion product that’s made Monsanto’s herbicide-tolerant (aka RoundUp-Ready) corn, soy, and alfalfa so popular. Those crops were supposed to be the only plants that could withstand being sprayed by the chemical. Oops.
→ read full articleNobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire on Palestine, Political Prisoners and Nuclear Weapons
Dr. Hanan Chehata – Middle East Monitor,
19 Dec 2011
“Israel started the nuclear arms race in the Middle East, it’s the only country that has them, and we all know they have them. Israel has the power to start the whole movement for Middle East nuclear disarmament. The choice is between nuclear disarmament or nuclear proliferation. If we have nuclear proliferation we will never turn the clock back. Every Tom, Dick and Harry and everyone with a back garden will want a nuclear bomb! It’s absolutely crazy.
→ read full articleWhither Alliance of Civilizations?
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon during his speech at the UN Alliance of Civilizations forum on 11 December 2011 asserted the much cherished ideal of alliance among ‘civilizations’ so that enemies of humanity such as extremism and terrorism can be fought and won over and the world can live in an ideal of shared humanity. But the past decade provides sufficient proof to the contrary and to the dictum Might is Right, and the inverse relationship between high sounding ideals and chauvinistic national policies.
→ read full articleAnkara Declaration on IPPNW Middle East Core Group Meeting
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Strategies for Peace and Health in the Nuclear Free Middle East – IPPNW representatives from Israel, Iran, Egypt, United States, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Hungary and Turkey met in Ankara, Turkey, on December 8th to 10th 2011 to address the issues of peace, health and weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.
→ read full article(French) Le Rwanda Dans Son Etat Politico-Economique et Conflictuel
Dr .P. Célestin Bakunda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Des économistes, historiens et hommes d’État ont traditionnellement considéré “une nation” comme un groupe de personnes affirmant le contrôle d’institutions économiques, religieuses, juridiques et éducatives reconnues officiellement légitimes.
→ read full articleDemanding an End to World Hunger
Mohammed Mesbahi, Share the World’s Resources – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
A solution to the world’s problems cannot be brought about by any political party or ideology, and can only happen through a free, united and single voice of the world’s people – for whom an end to life-threatening deprivation in every country must become the first priority, says Mohammed Mesbahi. Edited from an interview by Adam Parsons.
→ read full articleVaclav Havel (1936-2011): His Revolt Is an Attempt to Live Within the Truth
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Vaclav Havel, the former President of the Czech Republic, who moved to another dimension on 18 December 2011, had analysed that “There are good reasons for suggesting that the modern age has ended. Many things indicate that we are going through a transitional period, when it seems that something is on the way out and something else is painfully being born. All my observations and all my experience have, with remarkable consistency, convinced me that, if today’s planetary civilization has any hope of survival, that hope lies chiefly in what we understand as the human spirit.”
→ read full articleNo Bail-Out for the Planet
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Why is it so easy to save the banks, but so hard to save the biosphere? They bailed out the banks in days. But even deciding to bail out the planet is taking decades. No legislator, as far as I know, has yet been able to explain why making $7.7tn available to the banks is affordable, while investing far smaller sums in new technologies and energy saving is not.
→ read full articleA Man in Tunisia, a Movement on Wall Street, and the Soldier Who Ignited the Fuse
Michael Moore – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
It’s Saturday [17 Dec 2011] night and I didn’t want the day to end before I sent out this note to you. One year ago TODAY (December 17th), Mohamed Bouazizi, a man who had a simple produce stand in Tunisia, set himself on fire to protest his government’s repression. Three months ago TODAY, Occupy Wall Street began with a takeover of New York’s Zuccotti Park. Twenty-four years ago TODAY, U.S. Army Spc. Bradley Manning was born. He has now spent 570 days in a military prison without a trial — simply because he allegedly blew the whistle on the illegal and immoral war in Iraq.
→ read full articlePalestinian Flag Flies at UN Agency
A.D.McKenzie – Inter Press Service-IPS,
19 Dec 2011
Amidst a sudden downpour of rain here, the Palestinian flag was raised at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on Tuesday [13 Dec 2011], marking Palestine’s admission to the specialised agency. Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, stood solemnly with members of his delegation and other officials as the flag was hoisted alongside the UNESCO banner, while the Palestinian national anthem played.
→ read full articleRole Model
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
With a couple celebrating their 50th anniversary at the church’s marriage marathon, the minister asked Brother Ralph to take a few minutes and share some insight into how he managed to live with the same woman all these years.
→ read full articleStateless Finally Arrive On the World Political Map
Davinder Kumar – Al Jazeera,
19 Dec 2011
The political drive to tackle statelessness has finally found a foothold on the global platform, writes the author.
→ read full articleThe Trial of Bradley Manning: Rule of Law or Rule of Intimidation, Retaliation & Retribution?
Col. Ann Wright – War is a Crime,
19 Dec 2011
Yesterday, December 16, 2011, 40 supporters of Bradley Manning saw him in person in the military courtroom at Fort Meade, Maryland and another 60 saw him on a video feed from the court, the first time Manning has been seen by the public in 19 months. Over 100 other supporters, including 50 from Occupy Wall Street who had bused down from New York City, were at the front gates of Fort Meade in solidarity with Manning.
→ read full articlePeace Building-Based Conflict Resolution: Lessons from Other Conflicts
Pierre Célestin Bakunda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Power, Authority and Leadership for Peace
→ read full article(Castellano) La UE Se Queda Con la Banca y Sacrifica el Clima
Ecologistas en Acción – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Durante las pasadas semanas la UE ha estado inmersa en una intensa actividad negociadora, por un lado para salvar a la banca y por otro para salvar el clima. Ecologistas en Acción repasa los acuerdos a los que se ha llegado en ambos campos para mostrar donde están las prioridades de la Unión.
→ read full articleDrug Companies Increase Profits by Creating Fear of Diseases (and Even Diseases)
David Wallechinsky, AllGov – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Coined nearly 20 years ago, the term “disease mongering” is still applicable today for what the pharmaceutical industry is doing to promote its blockbuster drugs among the “sick.” Dr. Andrew Weil has highlighted another tactic: attaching “polysyllabic, clinical-sounding names to what used to be seen as trivial or transient conditions.” For example, “Occasional heartburn becomes ‘gastro-esophageal reflux disease’ or GERD; premenstrual tension becomes ‘premenstrual dysphoric disorder’ or PMDD; and shyness becomes ‘social anxiety disorder’ or SAD.”
→ read full articleClimate Apartheid
Amy Goodman - Truthdig,
19 Dec 2011
The countries in attendance agreed to a schedule that would lead to an agreement by 2015, which would commit all countries to reduce emissions starting no sooner than 2020, eight years into the future. Despite optimistic pronouncements to the contrary, many believe the Kyoto Protocol died in Durban. The largest polluter in world history, the United States, never ratified the Kyoto Protocol and remains defiant.
→ read full articlePress Freedom in Hungary: Journalists Protest Manipulation with Hunger Strike
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
A group of Hungarian journalists has been on hunger strike this week to protest against alleged manipulation in the country’s state media. They say news reports have been edited in a misleading fashion for political reasons.
→ read full articleMeet the Financial Wizards Working With Occupy Wall Street
Josh Harkinson – Mother Jones,
19 Dec 2011
The bankers, quants, and hedge fund gurus who want to reform our financial system—by helping OWS kick ass.
→ read full articleA Tale of Two Worlds: Apocalypse, 4Chan, WikiLeaks and the Silent Protocol Wars
Nicolas Mendoza, Radical Philosophy – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
What has become manifest since late November 2010, with the release of what is now known as ‘The US Embassy Cables’, is that the narrative implicit in the WikiLeaks logo, that of a world disjunct, not only fits the WikiLeaks saga but describes a greater struggle of global power, held diffusely by transnational corporations and enforced by governments around the world.
→ read full article(Castellano) Hoja de Ruta de la COP17 No Fija Metas de Mitigación de Gases a Países Industrializados
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
Representantes de 190 países aprobaron este domingo en Durban (Sudáfrica) durante la finalización de la XVII Cumbre de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU) sobre el Cambio Climático (COP17), una hoja de ruta para un acuerdo global en 2015 destinado a reducir las emisiones de gases sin nuevas metas de mitigación para las naciones industrializadas, máximo reclamos de los países en desarrollo en el encuentro.
→ read full articlePoor USA: What a Choice!
Johan Galtung, 12 Dec 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
The Occupy Movement is a sign of US sanity. Leaderless makes it less vulnerable, immensely consciousness-raising, not insisting on any one single analysis or remedy–for the time being. People so concerned that they sacrifice some personal comfort–gaining togetherness and a sense of meaning, a gift for a democracy. The Occupy Movement becomes a movement to revive a dying economy, creating thousands of small enterprises, banks for savings, not speculation. They start a parallel society.
→ read full articleLiving With Fukushima City’s Radiation Problem
Ike Teuling, Greenpeace - TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
Overall, the radiation levels in these neighbourhoods are so high that people receive an exposure to radiation just from external sources that is ten times the annual allowed dose. How high their internal exposure is from eating contaminated food and inhaling or ingesting radioactive particles remains unknown, since no government program is keeping track of this.
→ read full articleMuddle and Create
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
World leaders and the economists who advise them are now debating whether more stimulus or more austerity, or some combination of the two, is the path toward restoring the normal functioning of capitalist accumulation, and therefore toward higher levels of employment and economic growth. There is no solution within the terms of their debates, only an historical necessity to muddle through somehow. Nor are there well-known solutions waiting in the wings, for both central planning and social democracy are discredited by good logical reasons and by historical experience.
→ read full articleFanon, Coloniality and Emancipation
Eunice N. Sahle – Pambazuka News,
12 Dec 2011
Fifty years after his death, Fanon remains ‘the entry point in any project geared to the realisation of substantive emancipation, as opposed to elite-led projects,’ writes Eunice N. Sahle.
→ read full articleWhy No Financial Crisis Prosecutions? Ex-Justice Official Says It’s Just too Hard
Marian Wang – ProPublica,
12 Dec 2011
It’s an issue we and others have noted again and again: Years after the financial crisis, there have still been no prosecutions of top executives at the major players in the financial crisis. Why’s that? Well, according to a now-departed Justice Department official who used to be in charge of investigating such matters, the Justice Department has decided that holding top Wall Street executives criminally accountable is too difficult a task.
→ read full articleWho Will Watch the Watchdog?
Maidhc Ó Cathail – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
The Pro-Israel NGO Behind NATO’s War on Libya Is Targeting Syria – As long as UN Watch’s motto of “Monitoring the United Nations, Promoting Human Rights” continues to obscure its real mission of “Manipulating the United Nations, Promoting Israel’s Interests,” the warning of a Roman poet becomes increasingly pertinent: “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”
→ read full articleNative Peoples under Siege around the Globe
Elizabeth Whitman – Inter Press Service-IPS,
12 Dec 2011
In polished versions of U.S. history, the near-extermination of Native Americans in the United States is an unsightly blemish that continues to be glossed over to this day. Yet the struggles of indigenous peoples are not exclusive to the United States and have grown increasingly complex in modern times.
→ read full articleWhat They Really Said: Obama and Clinton on LGBT Rights and Foreign Assistance
Tad Stahnke, Human Rights First – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
Earlier today [6 Dec 2011], the Obama Administration released a memorandum to federal agencies on initiatives to advance the human rights of LGBT people. An hour later, Secretary Clinton delivered a speech before the U.N. in Geneva that reaffirmed the policy articulated by president that LGBT rights are human rights. Despite the headlines coming out of those two announcements, neither said anything about conditioning foreign aid on the protection of LGBT rights.
→ read full articleDemocracy Is More Than Voting and Elections
Horace Campbell – Pambazuka News,
12 Dec 2011
From Egypt to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the people are finding out that the entire process of voting and elections is stacked against change,’ writes Horace Campbell. We need ‘new forms of politics’ to transform our social system.
→ read full articleListen to the People, Not the Polluters
Amy Goodman – Truthdig,
12 Dec 2011
The Dirty Dozen in Durban include Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Koch Industries and BASF, along with industry trade groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the WBCSD and the American Petroleum Institute. Greenpeace highlighted these corporations and corporate umbrella groups for their presence in Durban, and for their actions throughout the global-climate-change negotiating process, in undermining meaningful progress.
→ read full article
Satchita – Playing for Change (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
TMS Editor,
12 Dec 2011
Playing for Change Project. Songs around the world. Simply beautiful!
→ read full articleMarching Off the Cliff
Noam Chomsky – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
To gain perspective on what’s happening in the world, it’s sometimes useful to adopt the stance of intelligent extraterrestrial observers viewing the strange doings on Earth. They would be watching in wonder as the richest and most powerful country in world history now leads the lemmings cheerfully off the cliff.
→ read full articleFrantz Fanon in Africa and Asia
Samir Amin – Pambazuka News,
12 Dec 2011
Frantz Fanon is a loved and respected figure all over Africa and Asia. Samir Amin argues that his writing and the choice to join the liberation struggle in Algeria show Fanon was a genuine revolutionary.
→ read full article
(Castellano) Johan Galtung: Tres Pasos Clave en la Mediación de Un Conflicto Violento
realidadexpuesta – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
Monterrey, Mexico, 24 Octubre 2011 – El politólogo noruego Johan Galtung, fundador de los estudios sobre la paz y conflictos sociales, visitó la ciudad de Monterrey para impartir una conferencia magistral y un taller con organizaciones de la sociedad civil que trabajan la cultura de paz.
→ read full articleIsrael and Apartheid? Reflections on the Russell Tribunal on Palestine Session in South Africa
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
This post is a modified and expanded version of an article published by Al Jazeera and also a continuation of a series of posts on the general theme of a jurisprudence of conscience.
→ read full articleThe Fearmongers
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
The Iranian Nuclear Bomb means a Second Holocaust, no less. Only the strong leadership of Binyamin Netanyahu can save us in the nick of time. But nobody asks the relevant question: why would any Iranian leader attack a country that has the ability to devastate Iran in a “second strike”? Yes, the Iranian leaders may be religious fanatics, but rabbis demand that soldiers may leave a military ceremony where female soldiers sing. “A woman’s voice is her sexual part,” a holy text asserts. And a prominent rabbi has announced that a religious soldier should rather face a firing squad than listen to a woman singing. (I am not making this up.)
→ read full articleCall for a Self-Determined Afghanistan
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
In a world where there is a new consciousness of our inter-dependence and inter-connectedness as a human family, NATO is a Cold War relic and an obstacle to real development and peace. NATO should be disbanded and its resources put into human security, i.e., removing poverty, the environment, human rights, international law, education, health care, nonviolent civilian security, and so on.
→ read full articleReal Source of Major World Problems
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
When people face a problem there are generally two ways that may be adopted to hopefully reach a successful outcome. One of these ways will enable us to solve the problem we face on a permanent basis, that is, in a way that such a problem will not likely to ever surface again. The other way, which seems to have been quite dominant in history to this very day, will enable us to bring the problem under control in a number of ways but never on a permanent basis.
→ read full articleBuilding Truth in Brazil
Manuela Picq – Al Jazeera,
12 Dec 2011
Some things take time. Dilma Rousseff, once a political prisoner who survived repeated torture at the hands of the military dictatorship, is now, a quarter of a century later, Brazil’s commander-in-chief. President Rousseff, Brazil’s first female head of state, pushed forward the creation of a Truth Commission to unveil crimes committed during the country’s military regime.
→ read full articleSaving Shambala from a Russia-China Pipeline
Jon Letman – Al Jazeera,
12 Dec 2011
Opening a remote border region to development threatens to destroy Central Asian wilderness and culture. The plot is familiar – giant multinational corporations want to develop a controversial gas pipeline – but the setting is anything but familiar. As Jennifer Castner, director of The Altai Project, dedicated to protecting the natural and cultural heritage of Altai says, “Gazprom wants to build this pipeline. I don’t think they care what they have to do in order to do it.”
→ read full articleDrones: A Deeply Unsettling Future
Trevor Timm – Al Jazeera,
12 Dec 2011
The rapid expansion of a drone arms race has emerged both domestically and abroad, leaving everyone vulnerable. Whether they are being used for surveillance or all-out combat, drones will soon pose serious risks for all of the world’s citizens. They can offer governments, police departments, or private citizens unprecedented capabilities for spying, and given their security vulnerabilities, the potential consequences could be endless.
→ read full articleClassless Society
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
President Nehru from India was on a state visit in Moscow.
→ read full articleA Brief Guide to Class Conflict
Tom Tomorrow, Truthout – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
This Modern World | Political Cartoon
→ read full articleAfter Fukushima: Enough Is Enough
Helen Caldicott – The New York Times,
12 Dec 2011
Children are innately sensitive to the carcinogenic effects of radiation, fetuses even more so. Like Chernobyl, the accident at Fukushima is of global proportions. Unusual levels of radiation have been discovered in British Columbia, along the West Coast and East Coast of the United States and in Europe, and heavy contamination has been found in oceanic waters.
→ read full articleCanada Should Push For A UN Parliamentary Assembly
Warren Allmand – Embassy Magazine,
12 Dec 2011
A strengthened United Nations where all voices can be heard is imperative. But to be heard, these voices must come not only from government functionaries but also from representatives of people.
→ read full articleOut of the Backyard: New Latin American and Caribbean Bloc Defies Washington
Benjamin Dangl – Toward Freedom,
12 Dec 2011
The CELAC meeting comes a time when Washington’s presence in the region is waning. Following the nightmarish decades of the Cold War, in which Washington propped up dictators and waged wars on Latin American nations, a new era has opened up; in the past decade a wave of leftist presidents have taken office on socialist and anti-imperialist platforms.
→ read full articleAs Myanmar Reaches Out, Old Conflict Flares Within
The New York Times – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
The new government of President Thein Sein has reached out to the country’s minority ethnic groups, which have a long history of conflict with the central government and make up about one-third of Myanmar’s population of 55 million. Last week there were reports of a ceasefire deal with another rebel group, a faction of the Shan State Army. Myanmar’s majority ethnic group, the Burman, have dominated the army and held the highest posts in government since the country, formerly known as Burma, won independence from Britain in 1948, while the non-Burman minorities have sought autonomy.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Passeio ao Zoológico: Sob Outra Ótica, Sob Outra Ética
Marcela Godoy, Agencia de Notícias de Direitos Animais - TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
“Quando se trata de como os humanos exploram os animais, o reconhecimento de seus direitos requer abolição, não reforma (…) verdade dos direitos animais requer jaulas vazias, não mais espaçosas”. (Tom Regan, Jaulas Vazias)
Como bióloga e educadora, sempre acreditei nos zoológicos como ferramenta deseducativa. Meu repúdio a esse tipo de atividade fez com que eu me afastasse, durante anos, de uma visita a esses verdadeiros redutos de infelicidade animal.
La Via Campesina Durban Declaration
La Via Campesina – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
Assembly of the Oppressed, 5 December 2011, Durban, South Africa – Via Campesina is an international movement of peasants, small- and medium-sized producers, landless, rural women, indigenous people, rural youth and agricultural workers. We are an autonomous, pluralist and multicultural movement, independent of any political, economic, or other type of affiliation. Born in 1993, La Via Campesina now gathers about 150 organisations in 70 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas.
→ read full articleIs Laptop Wi-Fi Murdering Your Semen?
Asawin Suebsaeng – Mother Jones,
12 Dec 2011
The digital age has left men’s nether parts in a squeeze, if you believe the latest science on semen, laptops and wireless connections. In a report…scientists describe how they got semen samples from 29 healthy men, placed a few drops under a laptop connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi and then hit download. Four hours later, the semen was, eh, well-done.
→ read full article(Castellano) Tensión Creciente Entre Capitalismo y Democracia
Harold Meyerson – The Washington Post,
12 Dec 2011
¿Está reñido el capitalismo con la democracia? ¿Se debilitan el uno a la otra?
→ read full articleCELAC: Speaking for Latin America and the Caribbean
Alex Main, Center for Economic and Policy Research – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
The new regional organization includes every nation in the Western Hemisphere with the exception of the United States and Canada and is seen by many as a potential rival to the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS). Though it generated a great deal of media attention within Latin America and was attended by the majority [33] of the hemisphere’s heads of state, the U.S. press largely overlooked the Caracas summit with, for instance, the New York Times limiting its coverage to a brief 100 word blurb from the Associated Press.
→ read full article
The Next Ten Years Will Be Very Unlike the Last Ten
Post Carbon Institute – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
An Abbreviated History of Fossil Fuels – Time is running out: the ultimate roller coaster ride.
→ read full articleReintegration of a Remaindered World: Cognitive Recycling of Objects of Systemic Neglect
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
Prepared as an aid to reflection on a world of “remaindered people” currently of concern to the “Indignant” and to the Occupy movement.
→ read full article
Galtung’s Insights on Paths to War & Peace inside Arab Uprisings (Video of the Week)
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
Prof. Johan Galtung, father of Peace Studies and rector of the Transcend Peace University: ‘I would like the UN to send a thousand mediators to Damascus right away.’
→ read full article(Portuguese) Cuba: País Com Melhor Desenvolvimento Humano da América Latina
Pravda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
O Fundo de População das Nações Unidas (UNFPA em inglês), na apresentação do Informe sobre o Estado da População Mundial 2011, além de analisar o fato de que o mundo chegou aos 7 bilhões de habitantes, assegurou que Cuba é a nação com mais alto desenvolvimento humano latino-americano, chegando a afirmar que conta com um desenvolvimento equivalente a um quarto de século de avanço em relação aos demais países da América Latina e do Caribe.
→ read full articleOn Freedom and Imperialism: Arab Spring and the Intellectual Divide
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom,
5 Dec 2011
The so-called ‘Arab Spring’ is creating an intellectual divide that threatens any sensible understanding of the turmoil engulfing several Arab countries. Speaking truth to power is still possible, and is more urgent than ever. The fate of a nation, any nation, cannot be polarized to the terrible extent that the Arab uprisings have. On both sides of the divide, some are cheering for foreign intervention, while others are justifying the senseless murder of innocent people by dictators.
→ read full articleDirty Money: International Banks Have Aided Mexican Drug Gangs
Tracy Wilkinson and Ken Ellingwood - Los Angeles Times,
5 Dec 2011
Despite strict rules, some banks have failed to ‘know their customer’ or ask about the source of large amounts of cash, allowing billions in dirty money from Mexico to be laundered. Banking powerhouse Wachovia Corp. last year agreed to pay $160 million in forfeitures and fines after U.S. federal prosecutors accused it of “willfully” overlooking the suspicious character of more than $420 billion in transactions between the bank and Mexican currency-exchange houses – much of it probably drug money, investigators say.
→ read full articleFrank Miller and the Rise of Cryptofascist Hollywood
Rick Moody – The Guardian,
5 Dec 2011
Fans were shocked when Batman writer Frank Miller furiously attacked the Occupy Movement. They shouldn’t have been; he was just voicing Hollywood’s unspoken values. American movies, in the main, often agree with Frank Miller, that endless war against a ruthless enemy is good, and military service is good, that killing makes you a man, that capitalism must prevail, that if you would just get a job (preferably a corporate job, for all honest work is corporate) you would quit complaining. And we might repay the favor by avoiding purchase of tickets to Miller’s films.
→ read full articleNeutralising Burma’s Ethnic Rebellions
Dr. Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
In his Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848), Karl Marx wrote: ‘The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.’ Such an assessment is only half-right when it comes to Burma’s internal conflicts, of which ethnicity is of equal importance to class.
→ read full articleU.S. Agents Launder Mexican Profits of Drug Cartels
Ginger Thompson – The New York Times,
5 Dec 2011
The high-risk activities raise delicate questions about the agency’s effectiveness in bringing down drug kingpins, underscore diplomatic concerns about Mexican sovereignty, and blur the line between surveillance and facilitating crime. As it launders drug money, the agency often allows cartels to continue their operations over months or even years before making seizures or arrests.
→ read full articleIsrael Demolished Palestinian Village in the West Bank
Pravda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
25 Nov 2011 – All the houses of the Bedouin village of Deqeiqa, south of Hebron, received the Military Order of demolition in a another example of the Israeli expulsion policy in the occupied West Bank, according to denouncements by human rights organizations. This village, situated in the impoverished desert hills south of Hebron, is home to about 400 people who live on cattle-raising and have no electricity or even no running water.
→ read full articleWhy Moscow Does Not Trust Washington on Missile Defense
F. William Engdahl – Global Research,
5 Dec 2011
Most in the civilized world are blissfully unaware that we are marching ineluctably towards an increasingly likely pre-emptive nuclear war. No, it’s not at all about Iran and Israel. It’s about the decision of Washington and the Pentagon to push Moscow up against the wall with what is euphemistically called Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD).
→ read full articleConfucius: Great Chinese Teacher
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
One of the greatest Chinese teachers of all time was Confucius, who was also known as Kong Fu Zi. This admired philosopher was born in 551 B.C. in Lu, China, which is today known as Shandong province. He died in 479 B.C. In his teachings he adopted a humanitarian approach to social harmony based on the belief that, deep inside, all people want to live at peace with each other.
→ read full articleAfghanistan: Women and the Rulers
Soe Myat Nwe – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
This paper seeks to find the engagement of women throughout the different and difficult political stages in Afghanistan under different rulers and foreign invaders.
→ read full articleThe King’s Speech
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Servie,
5 Dec 2011
IN THE middle of the ’80s, a German diplomat conveyed to me a surprising message. A member of the Jordanian Royal family would like to speak with me in Amman. At the time, Jordan was still officially at war with us.
→ read full articleThe Kurdish Vicious Circle of Former Ottoman Empire
Vadim Trukhachev - Pravda,
5 Dec 2011
An epoch-making event took place in Turkey. For the first time since the establishment of the Turkish Republic, its prime minister officially apologized for mass killings of the Kurds. At the same time, the Turkish police conducted a raid against the Kurds. What stance does Turkey have on this issue? Will the country recognize the existence of the national minority on its territory? It goes about as many as 20 million people.
→ read full article(Castellano) Ecuador Considera que la CELAC Juega Papel Fundamental Para Sustituir a la OEA
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
El presidente de Ecuador, Rafael Correa, aseguró que la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC) juega un papel fundamental en la creación del nuevo mecanismo que sustituya a la actual Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA). “Necesitamos un nuevo sistema interamericano y aquí la CELAC puede jugar un papel fundamental enorme”, dijo Correa.
→ read full articleLincoln: “Labor is the Superior of Capital”
Alan Grayson, Michaelmoore.com – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.” -Pres. Lincoln.
Capital is wealthier, better organized, and far more powerful today than it was in Lincoln’s time. Capital gorges on Republican tax cuts for the rich, on bailouts, on government contracts and corporate welfare, on free money from the Fed, and on monopoly profit. Capital treats politicians and whole political parties like puppets.
Latin American Leaders Gather in Venezuela for Historic Summit
Maja Wallengren, Xinhua – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
Leaders from 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean gathered in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas on Friday [2 Dec 2011] to participate in the historic founding summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which includes all countries in the Americas except the United States and Canada, in an effort to establish a forum similar to that of the Organization of American States, but without the political influence of the U.S. foreign policy. “Today with this Latin American unity, we are pronouncing the death sentence to the Monroe Doctrine,” said Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega, referring to a U.S. policy in the 19th century that many Latin Americans regarded as a bid to justify Washington’s meddling in the region.
→ read full article(Castellano) Primer Día de la Cumbre CELAC Concluye Con Llamado a No Dejar Todo el Esfuerzo en Un Papel
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
3 Dic 2011 – El primer día de la Cumbre constitutiva de la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC) que se realiza en Caracas, culminó en un ambiente de consenso e integración y con un llamado a ejecutar todos los esfuerzos para no dejar que lo que se firme este sábado quede sólo en un papel.
→ read full article
Activists Challenge COP17 Climate Talks
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
Environmentalists chant “Down with Canada” as expectations are low for COP17 climate talks.
→ read full articleUnmanned Technology Takes Off for the Weapons Industry
Chris Woods, Emma Slater – The Independent,
5 Dec 2011
High-ranking military officers and their aides mingled with salesmen and potential customers at the 11th annual drones conference. Some had paid as much as £3,000 to attend Unmanned Aircraft Systems 2011, a two-day event that opened on 16 November in a plush hotel in Kensington, west London.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Presidentes Latino-Americanos Criam Novo Bloco Regional e Deixam EUA de Fora
Claudia Jardim em Caracas - BBC Brasil,
5 Dec 2011
Presidentes e representantes dos 33 países da América Latina se reúnem nesta sexta-feira [2 Dez 2011], em Caracas, para formalizar a criação da Comunidade de Estados Latino-americanos e Caribenhos (Celac). Será a primeira vez que os países do continente se articulam em uma mesma plataforma política – com a tarefa de tentar aprofundar a integração regional – sem a presença dos Estados Unidos e do Canadá.
→ read full articleCry, the Beloved Climate
Amy Goodman – Truthdig,
5 Dec 2011
The United Nations’ annual climate summit descended on Durban, South Africa, this week, but not in time to prevent the tragic death of Qodeni Ximba. The 17-year-old was one of 10 people killed in Durban on Sunday, the night before the U.N. conference opened. Torrential rains pummeled the seaside city of 3.5 million.
→ read full articleMan-Made Flu Virus with Potential to Wipe Out Many Millions If It Ever Escaped Is Created In Research Lab
Daily Mail Reporter – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
A group of scientists is pushing to publish research about how they created a man-made flu virus that could potentially wipe out civilisation. The study is one of two that have caused serious debate about scientific freedom and about regulating research that might have potential public health benefits but at the same time could also be useful for bio-terrorism.
→ read full articleFamine as a Crime against Humanity
Abdi Ismail Samatar – Al Jazeera,
5 Dec 2011
Several months ago, I wrote an essay entitled “Genocidal Politics and the Somali Famine”. It appears that the coordinator of the UN’s Monitoring Committee for Somalia agrees with the essay’s proposition that nature is not to blame and that powerful human actors are responsible for the catastrophe.
→ read full articleOnce Again, War Is Prime Time and Journalism’s Role Is Taboo
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
The role of respectable journalism in western state crimes — from Iraq to Iran, Afghanistan to Libya – remains taboo. It is currently deflected by the media theatre of the Leveson enquiry into phone hacking, which Daily Telegraph’s Benedict Brogan describes as “a useful stress test”. Blame Rupert Murdoch and the tabloids for everything and business can continue as usual.
→ read full articleAboriginals in Australia
Pravda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
Aboriginals in Australia, a little-known story. Since 1788, British colonization looted the land of those who over thousands of years were distributed in more than 400 peoples or tribes that lived as hunters and gatherers, without writing their own history, transmission was based on oral history and culture.
→ read full article