Articles by UN
We found 3812 results.
What a Book!
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jun 2011
Peace Processes: A Sociological Approach by John D. Brewer – From Anglo-America the world is used to books about how what they see as Western attributes–rule of law, human rights, democracy–are not only sufficient to bring about peace, but necessary, indispensable. That the USA, the UK, and Israel have much of that and yet are among the most belligerent countries in the world is handled not by reexamining the thesis, but by claiming self-defense, against the envy of those with deficits.
→ read full articleLibya: Deep Structure and the Surface
Johan Galtung, 20 Jun 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jun 2011
Killing civilians to save civilian lives, and demolishing the parliament building to promote democracy, do not communicate well the pretended purpose. When only monarchs, emirs, and other dictators favor US-Israel policy, and even Morocco moves to constitutional monarchy? When Tunisia-Egypt-Yemen-Bahrain-Saudi-Syria-Iraq defy the USA? Option: extrajudicial execution of demonized leaders – a sure vote-getter.
→ read full article(Castellano) Fukushima 11-M – ¿Un punto de inflexión?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jun 2011
La Zona Cero fue un océano cero, y el país que dio al mundo la palabra “tsunami” fue golpeado por uno de hasta 41 metros de altura. Y Fukushima Dai-ichi, una de las 54 centrales nucleares de Japón, con seis unidades, 1-6; estaba en la playa, ofreciéndose a la furia primordial del tsunami.
→ read full articleBahrain’s Dictatorship and the Pentagon
Jacob G. Hornberger – Future of Freedom Foundation,
20 Jun 2011
What distinguishes the Bahrain dictatorship from, say, the Libyan or Syrian dictatorships, is that the U.S. government supports the dictatorship in Bahrain while opposing the Libyan and Syrian dictatorships. Thus, not only does U.S. foreign aid flow into the Bahrain dictatorship, the U.S. military also has a major base there. The Bahrain dictatorship is accusing those 20 doctors of participating in anti-government protests in Bahrain. Guess what type of court the doctors are being tried in. You got it: a military tribunal, just like those employed by the Pentagon at Guantanamo Bay.
→ read full article(Castellano) ¿HUMANITARIA, o INTERVENCIÓN?
Johan Galtung, 30 de Mayo de 2011 – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2011
El problema está en el término “intervención humanitaria”. “Humanitaria” está bien: proteger a las víctimas de la matanza y de la represión autocrática. Luego viene la parte “intervención”.
→ read full articleAging, Not Overpopulation…
Johan Galtung, 13 Jun 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2011
…will be the dominant tendency of the 21st century demography. By depriving people of work, forcing them into jobs and retirement, we produce health problems that tax strained economies further. Work is a fine mode of living; jobs may be necessary burdens. Money is used to bribe us into jobs for our livelihood. A rational society would have a living income for all, for food, clothing and housing, free health services, free education from Kindergarten to PhD; making us free to work.
→ read full articleEconomic Attacks against Arab Democracy
Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in Palestine – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2011
In their latest documents and meetings, the G8, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund reacted to the democratic movements in the Arab world: The recipe calls – as it did before the popular ousting of the Tunisian and Egyptian presidents – for privatization, austerity measures and “market liberation”.
→ read full article(Castellano) America la Bella
Johan Galtung, 23 de mayo de 2011 – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
¿Qué es lo que caracteriza, de modo específico, único, a los EE.UU.? Es la gente, ¡estúpido! Los americanos – disculpas a América Latina – América, la bella. ¿Cómo? ¿Qué? ¿Por qué? Vamos a intentarlo. Empezando con un hecho fundamental: con nadie en el mundo es tan fácil, no aburrido, hablar como con un americano. Abiertos, con nombres propios, sin barreras, lenguaje corporal y lenguaje verbal con encanto, contacto visual directo.
→ read full articleTowards the Eradication of Global Hunger and Undernutrition
Xin-Ying Ren and Fred Dubee, UN MaximsNews – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
While we tend to think in terms of hundreds of millions of deprived and stunted lives, the reality is that each starving child, each malnourished expectant mother, each person who does not have the energy to develop, learn or contribute is a horrible tragedy, and together these individual tragedies add up to an unacceptable loss to the human commonwealth. Simply stated hunger and undernutrition are among the most severe and least addressed challenges facing humanity today.
→ read full articleFukushima 3/11 – A Turning Point?
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
We had 9/11; now we also have 3/11, March 11 2011 (AT 1446), the triple seaquake-tsunami-radiation disaster. Ground zero was an ocean zero, and the country that gave the world the word “tsunami” was hit by one up to 41 meters high. And there was Fukushima Dai-ichi, one of Japan’s 54 nuclear power plants, with six units, 1-6; on the beach, offering itself to the primordial rage of the tsunami.
→ read full article(Castellano) Chile: Senado Vendió a Monsanto la Semilla Campesina e Indígena
Lucía Sepúlveda Ruiz - Movimiento Anti Nuevo Orden Mundial (NWO),
30 May 2011
Con 13 votos a favor (de la derecha y uno de la Concertación), 5 en contra y 6 abstenciones, el Senado de Chile aprobó el 11 de mayo [2011] el Convenio Upov 91 que impedirá a los campesinos guardar la semilla y extenderá el tiempo de vigencia de los derechos y garantías de las transnacionales que vendan semillas híbridas y transgénicas en el país.
→ read full articleHumanitarian, or Intervention?
Johan Galtung,
30 May 2011
We are now more than two months into what may last two decades. Surgical cruise missiles fired from aircraft carriers on identified Libyan aircraft might have made some sense, but the Western construct demands regime change “by all necessary means”; not all humanitarian. The price is occupation, deep intervention. By the wayside of history are all the offers of ceasefires and negotiations, lost opportunities. And any deeper understanding that might lead to more positive pursuits.
→ read full articleStalin’s Discs Torment Mainstream Media
NameNotFound – Russia Today,
30 May 2011
Joseph Stalin and Nazi doctor Josef Mengele joined forces and bred deformed children who looked like aliens but were able to fly advanced aircraft like Top Gun pilots. No, seriously. I read it in a book written by “a national security reporter and contributing editor to The Los Angeles Times Magazine”, one Annie Jacobsen. I kid you not. The quote is from the New York Times review of her book.
→ read full articleLatin America Progresses Forward- A Victory for Gay Rights
Katie Soltis – Council on Hemispheric Affairs,
30 May 2011
The recent victories for gay rights exemplify the considerable progress toward the region’s consolidation of democracy. The three Latin American countries that have now legalized same-sex unions—Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay—were each ruled by repressive military regimes just over two decades ago.
→ read full article(Castellano) ¿Qué pasó con la izquierda occidental?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
La izquierda occidental ha de abrirse, no sólo limitarse a recitar “¡Globalización NO!” Un No no lleva a ningún lado. Se necesitan algunos Sí. Y creatividad.
→ read full articleThe Reckoning: Press Freedom in Sri Lanka
Nirmanusan Balasundaram – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
We are living in a world where committed journalists write the news not only with ink, but also with their blood. This is the very reason that their souls still exist with us even after their tragic deaths. Sri Lanka is the very recent example for such context. Thirty-four journalists and media workers have been killed with no recourse to justice since the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government came into power in April 2004 with the present President Mahinda Rajapaksa as its prime minister.
→ read full articleIndia: Tribes and Tribulations
Graham Davey – Gandhi Foundation,
23 May 2011
How do we bring peace and justice to the dispossessed and who is responsible?
→ read full articleAmerica the Beautiful
Johan Galtung, 23 May 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
What is the US-specific pattern, what is unique, what is that IT? It is the people, stupid! The Americans–apologizing to Latin America–Americans, the beautiful. How? What? Why? Let us try. Starting with a basic: nobody in the world is so easy, not stuffy to talk with as an American. Open, first name basis, fences down, body language and verbal language charming, direct eye contact.
→ read full article(Castellano) Osama y Obama
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
El jeque Osama permanecerá en la mente de la gente mucho tiempo después de que el presidente Obama sea olvidado. Ambos sumamente violentos, matando a civiles en masse, retóricamente dotados, inteligentes, atractivos, guapos. Pero uno está del lado de la historia, luchando, aunque equivocadamente, por los injustamente reprimidos, y el otro por los ilícitos represores, por un imperio moribundo, en contra de la historia. Sic transit.
→ read full articlePress Release-UN High Commission for Human Rights: Palestinian Nakba
Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
On May 15 2011 the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Mr. Richard Falk, marks the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba, the catastrophic beginning of the Palestinian tragedy of dispossession and occupation, with the following statement.
→ read full articleWhat Happened to the Western Left?
Johan Galtung, 16 May 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
The Western right wing is today not challenged by the Western left, but by the subtlety of Chinese capi-communism and yin-yang, far beyond Western thought, right or left. And by islamist terrorism, countered by right wing hard christianist and judeaist state terrorism. The Left fails to understand the former, rejects the latter and is unable to be enriched by the best in the buddhist, muslim, Japanese and Chinese models.
→ read full articleForty-Eight Women Raped Every Hour in Congo, Study Finds
Jo Adetunji – The Guardian,
16 May 2011
Research shows 12% of the country’s women have been raped at least once, and the problem is not confined to conflict areas.
→ read full articlePeace Studies – For Children Too
Letter of Peace Addressed to the UN, Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 May 2011
Galtung’s assertions lead me to think that maybe we should not only bring peace to universities as a subject but also to schools. Things would be much better if someone explained to children that peace is a valuable asset, that we must care for it, that we can only achieve it together, that we must avoid imposing the will of the all-powerful minority over the majority. If generations had a conceptualization of peace integrated in life and society, it is likely that future citizens would see the world through different eyes, understand differences, appreciate diversity and love peace.
→ read full articleThe Non-Nation – A Short Story of Racism
Javed Iqbal – The Gandhi Foundation,
9 May 2011
What becomes only too evident, is that we have a social apartheid, where we have an invisible, un-written set of value-judgements upon an entire class of people who live out of sight and out of mind, and we’re aping the West who’ve colonized, butchered, enslaved, and murdered indigenous societies for centuries, and we are too far from evolving into a democracy they have never been, and could possibly never be – one that is egalitarian, just and equal, impassioned yet restrained, and where the words ‘development’ would belong to the people.
→ read full articleOsama and Obama
Johan Galtung,
9 May 2011
An educated guess: Sheikh Osama will live on in the minds of people long after President Obama has been forgotten. Both extremely violent, killing civilians en masse, rhetorically gifted, intelligent, attractive, handsome. But one is on the side of history, fighting, however wrongly, for the wrongfully suppressed, and the other for the wrongful suppressors, for a dying empire, against history. Sic transit.
→ read full articleHow Will the Empire End?
Anthony Gregory – The Future of Freedom Foundation,
2 May 2011
Dismantling the Empire: America’s Last Best Hope, by Chalmers Johnson (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2010); 212 pages.The empire will end – but how? With a bang, a whimper, a thud? Will it be peaceful, as with the Soviet Union? The people of the British Isles chose democracy over imperialism. “It is hard to imagine any sector of the American economy more driven by ideology, delusion, and propaganda than the armed services.” But “the estimated trillion dollars we spend each year on the military and its weaponry is simply unsustainable.”
→ read full articleA Mother’s Call for the Re-awakening
Nirmanusan Balasundaram - GroundViews,
2 May 2011
Mrs. B. Thilagamani began her nonviolent resistant activism when she was 18 years old and played a key role during the 1961 Satyagraha Campaign. During that campaign, Sri Lankan Armed Forces (SLAF) brutally retaliated against the nonviolent protesters. In the SLAF terror campaign of 18 April 1961 Thilagamani was sprayed with tear gas and her sari was partly burnt. Today, 18 April 2011, marks her 50 symbolic years in nonviolent activism.
→ read full articlePanamanian Corruption Concealed Amidst Free Trade Negotiations
Eric Jackson, Panama News - Council on Hemispheric Affairs-COHA,
2 May 2011
Obama welcomes Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli in the midst of major scandal and corruption in Panama. Once again, Obama falls short of his commitments to Latin America as he collaborates with Martinelli to negotiate a flawed trade agreement. It’s not possible to have a reliable anti-drug ally in a Panamanian government that is in bed with the mob.
→ read full articleEmerging Powers – And Retiring Powers
Johan Galtung,
2 May 2011
States and nations come and go, like we all do. Childhood countries are fumbling to define their role (Africa?); puberty countries have uprisings against ruling and aging countries (Arabs? Muslims?); then there are adult, emerging countries, and tired, retiring countries. Such is life. In that home for the elderly there is even a psychiatric ward for the mentally disordered who think they are exceptional, anointed by God as chosen.
→ read full articleIslamism, Christianism, Judeaism
Johan Galtung, 25 Apr 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Apr 2011
Right now the ultimate christian mega-empire fights muslim communities with mega-weapons, drones, cruise and other missiles, fighter-bombers, high on cowardice–protected, few casualties–low on accuracy; the muslims with IEDs at $10 a piece, high on courage and devotion up to suicide, high on accuracy. US empire christianism is fighting not only for the economic-political-military-cultural empire, but also for God’s rule on earth via USA, a country under God, invoking his support. And at the root of it all is Cana’an, Zion, Israel; one land for all the chosen ones, bent on defending itself by all means, nuclear included.
→ read full articleMeritocracy: A Myth?
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Apr 2011
If you are anti-imperialist, ‘Third Worldist’ type – like I unapologetically am – it may warm your heart to know that historically Oxford produced the highest number of folks who gave the rest of the world ‘the British Empire’, which among other things grew opium in India for export to China – as a brilliant economic policy to address the Raj’s trade deficit. (Cambridge was the runner up). Often our own Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is talked about as ‘Oxford-educated’ as if her Oxford education turned her into who she is and what she is made of. As a matter of fact, it was/is her (self-acknowledged) awareness of her parents’ exemplary lives as citizens that was/is her source of inspiration.
→ read full article(Finnish) Galtung: Yhdysvallat valmisteli Libyan sotaa pitkään
Johan Galtung - Kansan Uutiset,
25 Apr 2011
Rauhantutkimuksen veteraani Johan Galtung kuvaa Libya-operaation raadollisuutta ja luotaa tulevaa.
→ read full articleUK: The Endgames of Our Empire Never Quite Finished – Just Look At Bahrain
Madeleine Bunting – The Guardian,
25 Apr 2011
It has all the ingredients of a John le Carré novel. For decades there are allegations of terrible abuse during the Mau Mau rebellion; historians are baffled by missing documentation. A court case finally prompts the Foreign Office to discover hundreds of boxes of previously hidden papers stored in a house, Hanslope Park, in Buckinghamshire. They reveal not just the brutality – which historians had already unearthed – but official recognition of the illegal violence and dogged determination to cover it up.
→ read full articleIn U.S. Prisons, Inmates Sold Into Sex Slavery
Claudia Núñez – New America Media,
18 Apr 2011
In prisons across the country, gangs are selling their fellow inmates into sex trafficking in order to increase their power and profits. Ex-convict Scott Howard, a survivor of the prison sex trade, described being smuggled from prison to prison over a two-year period. His “owners” — members of a white supremacist gang — sold him to a group of Norteño gang members, who forced Howard to prostitute himself in exchange for $7 to $20 per sexual encounter, an abuse that was repeated over the course of many years.
→ read full articleTime to Close the Nuclear Labs – The Atomic Breeding Grounds
Karl Grossman - CounterPunch,
18 Apr 2011
“Sadly,” said the Global Network, “Japan is now the victim of three gargantuan nuclear disasters: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Fukushima,” said the Global Network. “Unless the nuclear juggernaut is stopped, we all live in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Fukushima.”
→ read full article(Portuguese) Mumia Abu-Jamal: Do Corredor da Morte ao Mundo
Glória Muñoz Ramírez – Brasil de Fato,
18 Apr 2011
Durante um ano tentamos uma entrevista com Mumia, um dos presos políticos mais conhecidos do mundo. Enviamos cartas e pedidos através de todos os contatos possíveis que tivemos à mão, entre eles os membros do coletivo Amigos de Mumia México, os quais se ofereceram amavelmente para nos apoiar com uma gestão que tinha como destino o corredor da morte da prisão de Waynesburg, Pensilvania, onde Mumia permanece preso há 29 anos. Até que, certo dia, deslizou por baixo da porta um envelope com o nome de M. A. Jamal como remetente.
→ read full articleMena Revolution and Counter-Revolution
Johan Galtung, 18 Apr 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Apr 2011
Africa. The key to the whole exercise: in 1956 still mainly owned by Anglo-France, Libya becoming an Italian colony in 1911; posing threats of union, independence and ties to China. NATO wants to control it through AFRICOM and EUCOM–three different words for Pentagon–and this is where Libya enters; rejecting AFRICOM with Sudan, Eritrea, Zimbabwe and Cote d’Ivoire (and Sahraoui). No US bases–hence countries to be subdued. The Libya action may put Africa on fire.
→ read full articleThe Intellectual Crisis of Reporting On Burma by the International Crisis Group
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Apr 2011
When European Union policymakers will meet to review the EU Common Policy on Burma, on 12 April, they will be wise to discard the International Crisis Group’s (ICG) recent call for the unconditional embrace of the country’s military dictatorship… The ICG analysts seem to have chosen only evidence that agrees with a pro-trade, pro-aid policy stance, while critically lacking both conceptual and historical understanding of how dictatorships change.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Cúpula do BRICS na China Discute Rumos da Governança Mundial
Secr. de Comunicação Social da Presidencia da República do Brasil – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Apr 2011
A Reforma da Organização das Nações Unidas (ONU) e os rumos da governança global com eixo em um reordenamento multipolar mais equilibrado são alguns dos principais assuntos a serem tratados pelo Brasil na Cúpula de chefes de Estado dos Brics. O encontro será realizado em 14 de abril, na Ilha de Sanya, na China, e marcará a entrada da África do Sul como um dos membros do mecanismo internacional.
→ read full articleThe Civil Crime 1861-65
Johan Galtung, 11 Apr 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Apr 2011
“Causes of war” is an academic pursuit for the PhD hungry; “causes of peace” is the serious challenge. How could this crime against humanity [American Civil War] have been avoided, what would conflict solution, even peace, have looked like?.. ‘Welcome to America, home to 5% of the world’s people & 25% of the world’s prisoners,’ says the NAACP. Mainly Blacks. Rented out as labor from privatized prisons on the stock exchange, deploring lower crime rates, bribing judges for longer sentences. Jim Crow II, South and North. USA, wake up, before the republic becomes a victim of its own absurdity.
→ read full articleA Genuine Tragedy Unfolds: Bahrain and Saudi Arabia’s Rulers Goose-Step to the Brink of the Abyss
Peter Lee - Counterpunch,
11 Apr 2011
While we are diverted by the opera-bouffe spectacle of the civil war in Libya’s desert, a genuine tragedy—and potential geopolitical trainwreck—is unfolding in Bahrain.
→ read full articleThe Empire Hits Back
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Apr 2011
Then rather treat Gadhafi the way they handled Milosevic: if you do not give in to our demands Beograd–read Tripoli–will be flattened by carpet bombing. The Finn who conveyed that message got a Nobel Peace Prize, maybe he could be called upon again?
→ read full articleHumane Meat? No Such Thing
Sunaura Taylor – Yes! Magazine,
4 Apr 2011
Should we eat animals? My disability gives me a unique view on the oxymoron “humane meat.”
→ read full articleJoint Statement on the Japanese Nuclear Disaster
The Right Livelihood Award & World Future Council – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Apr 2011
Hamburg, Stockholm, 29 March 2011. In a joint statement 50 Laureates of the Right Livelihood Award and members of the World Future Council demand a global nuclear phase out.
→ read full articlePartners in Victory! Flags for Peace!!
COVA-Confederation of Voluntary Associations – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Mar 2011
India and Pakistan will play the semifinal of the World Cup on 30th March 2011. That the match can be played in Mohali, India is a gift of the peace process that was started in 2004.
→ read full articleTsunami and Nuke Disaster: How Human Arrogance Intensifies Suffering
Arun Gupta – AlterNet,
28 Mar 2011
How a society is impacted depends on how it is organized. The February 2010 earthquake in Chile, which claimed less than 600 lives, was about 500 times more powerful than Haiti’s 7.0 magnitude convulsion that killed more than 222,000 people. Japan’s quake at magnitude 9.0 was even more powerful than Chile’s, but relatively few people appear to have perished from the tremor itself because of Japan’s famed emergency preparedness. It was the tsunami that killed thousands and the apocalyptic meltdowns that may claim many more lives still.
→ read full article(Galego) Declaracion Institucional do Seminario Galego de Educacion para a Paz en Relación co Ataque Militar a Libia
Fundacion Cultura de Paz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Mar 2011
O Seminario Galego de Educación para a Paz apoiará todas as mobilizacións pacíficas e nonviolentas convocadas para manifestar a oposición á intervención militar en Libia e convocará á Coordinadora Galega pola Paz co fin de acordar accións unitarias nesta dirección.
→ read full articleLibya: The War Is On
Johan Galtung, 28 Mar 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Mar 2011
As someone on National Public Radio quipped, “President Obama has fired more cruise missiles than all other Nobel Peace Prize winners combined”, and they have hit all kinds of targets: flying, driving, walking, being. What is next?
→ read full articleTwo Human Made Disasters: Japan and Libya
Johan Galtung, 21 Mar 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
(Japan) We pray, we hope: no Chernobyl 1986. Stop! this is enough. We know enough to end all nuclear plants. There are alternatives. (Libya) BRIC + Germany are now called upon. Abstention is not good enough. Be on the side of history, and that means: be on the side of the Arab liberation from Western European-US-Israeli dominance, and an economy causing ever more inequality-misery, and autocracy. The Abstaining Five have experience in fighting such pathologies. BRIC+G, A5: The ball is in your court. Play it well.
→ read full articleThe Arab World: A Discourse about Discourses
Johan Galtung,
14 Mar 2011
Mainstream discourse is buoyed by interests and the usual anomalies of the media. The focus is on events, not permanents, no sense of history-geography, and a philosophy of cause-effect, not of dialectics inside complex systems. No dismantling empires or coming to terms with islam, but lousy one-country-at-the-time politics. And USA not on the side of history, but out of touch.
→ read full articlePerfide Albion
Johan Galtung,
8 Mar 2011
As the Arab revolt broadens and deepens the roles of a global and a regional empire, USA and Israel, will surface increasingly. There will be more about that next week; here the focus is on the third one of the kind, the United Kingdom, or simply England, Albion, known for its perfidy, Lord Palmerston’s famous “no permanent friends, no permanent enemies; permanent interests”. John Bull = John Bully? That empire had model character, and Tony Blair did his best to revive Albion by serving an Eagle across the Atlantic:
→ read full articleDeChristopher Guilty of Placing Bogus Bids
Brandon Loomis & Aaron Falk - The Salt Lake Tribune,
7 Mar 2011
Newly convicted climate activist Tim DeChristopher appreciated the songs, the banners and the hugs outside the courthouse Thursday [3 Mar 2011], but he expects more. “We know that now I’ll have to go to prison,” DeChristopher said. “If we’re going to achieve our vision, many after me will have to join me as well.” The 29-year-old Salt Lake City man said he is prepared to do time after Thursday’s two felony guilty verdicts for misrepresenting himself and placing bogus bids at a federal oil and gas lease auction.
→ read full article(Italian) UniCredit, Finmeccanica, i capitali libici e le armi italiane a Gheddafi
Giorgio Beretta - Unimondo,
7 Mar 2011
Pare si sia risolto il mistero della scomparsa del vicepresidente di UniCredit, il libico Farhat Omar Bengdara, governatore della Central Bank of Libya che nei giorni scorsi era stato dato dai vertici della banca come non ritracciabile.
→ read full articleEndless Cry in the Red Corridor
Gladson Dungdung – The Gandhi Foundation,
28 Feb 2011
Now both the parties – the Security Forces and the Maoists have been exploiting the innocent villagers but they can do nothing except shouting, weeping and crying… Whenever, a vehicle enters the village, all the villagers including children, women and men run away to hide, shield and protect themselves. These days, the police visit the village almost every day and humiliate, beat and torture the innocent villagers and also destroy their food and shelter. Therefore, they assume that each vehicle entering their village belongs to the Police.
→ read full articleThe Decline of the US Republic?
Johan Galtung, 28 Feb 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Feb 2011
That the US Empire is falling with the structure so laboriously built in the Middle East crumbling is clear even if there will be fall-back positions. But the US Republic is also in bad shape, with the threat of government shutdown March 5, like in 1995. Why? Because the US polity is inadequate to the challenge.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Cercado por Protestos de Todos os Lados, o Japão Desiste da Caça às Baleias, em Plena Meia-Estação
Sociedade Mundial de Proteção Animal – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Feb 2011
Após intensas manifestações de repúdio por parte de ativistas, o Japão abriu mão das suas atividades baleeiras no Santuário de Proteção do Oceano Antártico Sul, em plena meia-estação, no momento em que os países latino-americanos exigiram que aquela nação pusesse um fim à matança de baleias.
→ read full articleRestorative Justice after Mass Violence: Opportunities and Risks for Children and Youth
Laura Stovel and Marta Valiñas – UNICEF,
28 Feb 2011
There is growing interest in the role that restorative justice can play in addressing mass atrocities. This UNICEF paper describes the associated principles and practices within juvenile justice systems and in societies emerging from mass violence. It also examines the meaning, opportunities and limitations of restorative justice in transitional societies, particularly in relation to the needs of young victims and offenders.
→ read full articleLex Duvalier: A Corrupt Politician’s Worst Nightmare
Gonzalo Turdera – Council on Hemispheric Affairs,
28 Feb 2011
On February 1, 2011, the Swiss Restitution of Illicit Assets Act (RIAA), commonly referred to as “Lex Duvalier,” came into effect. This law provides for the freezing, forfeiture, and restitution of assets of politically exposed persons or their close associates. It applies in cases where a request for mutual assistance in criminal law matters cannot produce an outcome owing to the failure of state structures in the requesting state (the politically exposed person’s country of origin).
→ read full articleThink Cosmically Act Globally Eat Locally
Johan Galtung, 21 Feb 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Feb 2011
is the slogan advocated by two University of California Santa Cruz professors, the astrophysicist Joel R. Primack, and his wife, the cultural philosopher (and singer) Nancy Abrams. Their fine book, The New Universe and the Human Future: How a Shared Cosmology Could Transform the World, based on the Terry Lectures at Yale October 2009, will be published by Yale University Press in April.
→ read full articleArab Authoritarian Order Shattered
Robin Wright – United States Institute of Peace,
21 Feb 2011
The Arab world’s old authoritarian order is being shattered, whatever happens next. With Egypt accounting for roughly one-quarter of the Arab world’s 300 million people, the transition of political power in Cairo will have widespread effect across the twenty-two nation bloc. From Casablanca to Kuwait, Tripoli to Damascus, Egypt’s transition will affect every other Arab country in some way—small or large, direct or indirect.
→ read full articleWhat David Kato’s Death Can Teach the World
Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights - UN, Africa Renewal,
21 Feb 2011
If David’s murder stimulates discussion about the violence and discrimination facing people because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity, then his death will not have been completely in vain. That discussion must inevitably address the question of decriminalizing homosexuality. Criminal sanctions for homosexuality remain on the statute books in more than 70 countries, including Uganda. Such laws are an anachronism, in most cases a hangover from the old days of colonial rule.
→ read full articleThe Tamil Diaspora and the Future of the Tamil Struggle
Nirmanusan Balasundaram – GroundViews,
21 Feb 2011
Today, the 18th of February, finds us three months away from the second anniversary of the “Mullivaikal Massacre”. At this juncture it is important to ask the question: What constructive action can be taken by the Tamil Diaspora to build a better future for the Tamil nation?
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TRANSCEND: Methods and Solutions
Johan Galtung | Alternate Focus – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
Galtung’s approach to mediation offers concrete proposals that are intended to give both sides the sense that they are winners. In this interview segment he describes his methodology and offers proposals for peace in the Middle East and other areas of conflict.
→ read full articleWorld History Unfolding – What Next?
Johan Galtung, 14 Feb 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
And then it happened: Mubarak out. Enormous cheers in Tahrir square; Egypt is Free! A historical deed, triggered by Tunisia, carried by a million heroes. Leaderless of course, as a strategy; leaders can easily be targeted. Everybody rallied around one idea, the ouster of Mubarak–like of Ben Ali in Tunisia. End of Act I…. Sooner or later the Camp David accords and the joint blockade of Gaza–outcomes of autocracy and bribery–will be on the table. Sooner or later the youth wave will hit more dominos; PLO, Syria, Iran, and the Big One–the Saudi Royal House. Maybe even that other Big One–Israel–liberating it from narcissism, paranoia, and generalocracy, to positive judaism. Maybe one day even the Biggest One–the USA–making it less corporate, more democratic.
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TRANSCEND: Ideas and Insights
Johan Galtung | Alternate Focus – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
In this interview Galtung gives his views on a wide range of topics including the banality of diplomacy, as revealed by WikiLeaks, and the root causes of the 9/11 attacks. With his usual frankness, he offers a critique of Israel’s approach to solving the question of Palestine.
→ read full articleWorld History Unfolding II
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
What a week! And we have no idea how many weeks are ahead of us!! We only know that the process cannot be reversed, and we can watch on CNN+ one reason why. That lack of understanding, picking the wrong discourses.
→ read full articleWorld History Unfolding I
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Jan 2011
And then it happens, right there, for our eyes. The pattern, above all a product of the US-Israel alliance (inspired by Jesaiah 2:1-5), is unraveling. The pattern was always the same, by force or bribes or both to create “friendly governments”, “allies in the peace process” as VP Joe Biden–Obama’s foreign policy expert–says. These hours, these days. Some process.
→ read full articleWhat Would a Gandhian Society Look Like?
George Paxton – Gandhi Foundation,
31 Jan 2011
Much of Gandhi’s constructive programme was based on village India where the majority of Indians lived (and I believe still do). However, in the West, and increasingly throughout the world, most people live in urban centres. This, along with changes in society brought about by rapid technological developments perhaps require some adaptation of Gandhi’s ideas.
→ read full articleOlof Palme and World Interests
Johan Galtung, 24 Jan 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Jan 2011
Leeds City Hall, UK – Jan 23, 2011. To Palme the two superpowers and their hideous arms were more than a problem to each other. Together they were a world problem and it was in the world interest to sort it out…. Olof Palme’s crime, even treason, was very clear and unpardonable: he defined the waiting room-recovery home as normalcy, and created a new concept of Sweden as a Great Power, based on the welfare state and neutrality.
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Interview with Johan Galtung (Part 1 of 2)
Mera Szendro Bok | Communicaton is your Right! - TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Jan 2011
In this Dec 9, 2010 interview Johan Galtung talks about his experiences, insights, views, and his new book “The Fall of the US Empire – And Then What?”
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Interview with Johan Galtung (Part 2 of 2)
Mera Szendro Bok | Communicaton is your Right! - TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Jan 2011
In this Dec 9, 2010 interview Johan Galtung talks about his experiences, insights, views, and his new book “The Fall of the US Empire – And Then What?”
→ read full articleMajor Die-Off of Fish along Lakefront
Dale Bowman – Chicago Sun-Times,
24 Jan 2011
A bizarre scene is evolving on the Chicago lakefront, with Canada geese and mallard ducks gulping down dead or dying gizzard shad.
→ read full articleFrom Haiti to Australia: The Horrendous Payback of Global Capitalism
Finian Cunningham – Global Research,
24 Jan 2011
Decades of exploitation and neglect of social needs are now magnifying manifold the impacts from natural phenomena that are part and parcel of living in a physical world. Such events are inevitable, but the extent of destruction is not – only it is inevitable because of the perverse profit system that mandates death and destruction in the wake of its seismic injustice.
→ read full articleTunisia: The Fall of the West’s Little Dictator
Esam al-Amin – CounterPunch,
24 Jan 2011
With mounting protests forcing President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country, the Tunisian people’s toppling of a deeply unpopular regime may well ‘become a watershed date in the modern history of the Arab World’, writes Esam al-Amin. Once a key regional ally of Western governments, Ben Ali’s fall from grace has been precipitated by an extraordinary wave of sustained protest. Time will tell if the ‘Tunisian revolution’ attains lasting change and success, al-Amin concludes.
→ read full articleGreeting the Fall of the US Empire: a Message of Peace
Jan Lundberg - Culture Change,
24 Jan 2011
Please join me in greeting the fall of the U.S. Empire, a healthy way to begin this new year. It is a positive sentiment among some thoughtful Americans. Their ungiddy feeling flows from observation of world developments and the state of the U.S. political system and economy. The timetable is fuzzy, but trends are clear. It’s not pretty, but there is a thin silver lining.
→ read full articleUSA versus China, and a Peace Prize
Johan Galtung,
17 Jan 2011
What we see is rather that countries high on civil and political rights-CPR seem to feel entitled to warfare to impose human rights. But, like democracy, human rights must come from the inside, not imposed, even by breaking them. Free and fair multi-party national elections can even legitimize going to war, and their absence in China comes with almost no inter-state war. If we add to that definition “transparency and dialogue”, then WikiLeaks shows the lack thereof. Democracy by majority serves as license to kill rather than a duty to be transparent across borders and use dialogue for solutions.
→ read full articleIs Lockheed Martin Shadowing You?
William D. Hartung – TomDispatch,
17 Jan 2011
How a Giant Weapons Maker Became the New Big Brother: After all, it received $36 billion in government contracts in 2008 alone, more than any company in history. It now does work for more than two dozen government agencies from the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy to the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency. It’s involved in surveillance and information processing for the CIA, the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the National Security Agency (NSA), the Pentagon, the Census Bureau, and the Postal Service.
→ read full articleTwo Indias: Gandhiji and Modern India
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Talk Given in New Delhi, Dec 30 2010 — Gandhi was killed not far from where we are right now by a Pune brahmin, Godse, and I was that 17-year-old boy in Norway who cried when hearing the news. Something unheard of had happened.
→ read full articleAbout the Editorial “Islam and the West – Some Differences” – Nov. 29, 2010
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Readers have kindly pointed out two unfortunate formulations.
→ read full article40,000 Crabs Join Slew of Animal-Death Mysteries
Jenni Dunning – Toronto Star,
10 Jan 2011
First, it was birds falling from the sky, then thousands of dead fish washing up on shore. Now, more than 40,000 Velvet swimming crabs have wound up dead on England beaches. The possible reason? Hypothermia.
→ read full articleMore Dead Birds Fall from the Sky in Sweden, Chile, Kentucky — Dead Fish Keep Washing Ashore
Steven D – Booman Tribune,
10 Jan 2011
They have dead birds falling from the skies (twice in the last week) in Arkansas. They have dead birds in Louisiana and Kentucky too. And in Chile. And now in Sweden.
→ read full articleAn Era of Sri Lanka’s President: From Mullivaikal to Oxford Union
Nirmanusan Balasundaram - TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Mullivaikal is where the last phase of the war between Sri Lankan Armed Forces (SLAF) and Liberation Tiger of TamilEelam (LTTE) took place. According to the Government of Sri Lanka, this was the place war came to an end with the military defeat of LTTE, but for majority Tamils and international human rights activists, this was the place at-least 30,000-40,000 Tamil civilians were massacred by SLAF. The ‘controversy’ began from here and continues even after 19 months.
→ read full articleAnti-Sanctions Chorus Out of Tune
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
The emerging anti-sanctions lobby should be understood for what it is – the bald promotion of Western strategic and corporate interests. Ending sanctions now will only further entrench military rule, giving it a veneer of normalcy and acceptability, at the expense of Myanmar’s long-suffering people and the country’s equitable economic development.
→ read full articleSoft Power: China on the Global Stage
Alan Hunter – Oxford Journals,
10 Jan 2011
This article considers a further dimension of international relations, namely ‘soft power’. The author does not propose to make a detailed critique of the ‘soft power’ concept, but rather to use it as a basis for evaluating aspects of China’s rise and stated commitment to peace. This is a relatively new field of study; partly because China’s rise is itself relatively recent, and partly due to lack of sinological expertise among interested commentators.
→ read full articleWikiWishes for WikiPromises for 2011
Johan Galtung, 3 Jan 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
The world needs knowledgeable and skilled women and men promoting the interests of nature, humans everywhere, all nations and states, civilizations and regions, and the world. Some might even be called diplomats and narrow it to one point, their nation. And the Country of the Year, Turkey, showed that consistent peace politics, creating amazing friendly relations with all neighbors is possible. What it takes is a decision to do so.
→ read full articleHaiti: Where Aid Failed
Unni Karunakara – The Guardian,
3 Jan 2011
Why have at least 2,500 people died of cholera when there are about 12,000 NGOs in the country?
→ read full articleThe “Family” – Who Really Is Behind This Secret Organization?
Yana Kunichoff - Truthout,
3 Jan 2011
“Jesus plus nothing” is the mantra of the Fellowship, also known as the Family, a secret, fundamentalist Christian organization peopled primarily by devout policy makers and high-ranking individuals. Though the nonbeliever’s view of religion can often be dismissive when faced with such catchphrases, in “C Street,” a nonfiction account of the extended reach of the Family, these phrases fuel moral crusades with real, and terrifying, impact.
→ read full articleIndia: Need for Peace and Equity Audit as a Parameter for Development Planning
Mazher Hussain, COVA-Confederation of Voluntary Associations - TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
The objective of Planning should be to secure development and progress for all. But it is seen that development initiatives in India are leading to exclusion of large sections, increase in income disparities, intensification of social tensions and onset of conflicts between different communities/groups and even between the people and the State.
→ read full articleThe Middle East: One More Look
Johan Galtung,
27 Dec 2010
Taming all Arabs with Jesaiah 2:1-5 geopolitics? Impossible, forget about it. No, change has to come from inside Israel, already in Ibn Khaldun stage 4: from kibbutzim idealism via ritualism via moral torpitude to all fighting all. But who are the new Bedouins knocking down the gates, shouting “your time is up”? My best bet and hope: young Israeli women, enraged by (ultra)-orthodoxy, wedded to a state with a Jewish character, but not to zionist geopolitics. You are there, somewhere. The clock of history is ticking for you.
→ read full articleWhen Pixels, Bytes and VJs Unite
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
Everyone could hear the collective gasp that filled the auditorium – and no one would forget – the very moment when the first signal transporting Aung San Suu Kyi’s animated face to a large screen in London arrived last week.
→ read full articleCell Phone Security: Mobile Phone Taps
Bill Rounds J.D., HowToVanish – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
There has been considerable discussion lately about the ease of eavesdropping on cell phone conversations through mobile phone taps and the lack of cell phone security. There are many products and hacks available which allow for monitoring of cell phone activity. Is your phone bugged and what can you do to keep your private information from being intercepted?
→ read full articleNorway Accused of Funding Abuse in Burma
Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent – The Independent,
20 Dec 2010
State pension fund invested billions in energy projects, report says. The Norwegian government has been accused of complicity in illegal land seizures, forced labour and killings, by investing national funds in international companies that operate inside Burma on projects where widespread abuses are alleged to have taken place.
→ read full articleWomen and the 21st Century
Johan Galtung, 20 Dec 2010 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
Feminism has made an enormous contribution by identifying patriarchy as a pattern underlying capitalism and militarism…. Making patriarchy visible through brilliant feminist articulation is a transcending contribution, reminiscent of the marxist focus on another deep structure hidden to the unguided eye: the interface of means and modes of production. Or Lenin and others on imperialism, Gandhi and many others on colonialism. Race. And agism: like placing people above 67 etc. in a ghetto called retirement (or children in a ghetto called schools?).
→ read full articleThe Korean Peninsula: Two Scenarios
Johan Galtung,
13 Dec 2010
Acceptance Speech of the DMZ Peace Prize – Chuncheon, South Korea, 5 Dec 2010 – “Today North Korea’s economy is sluggish to say the least, South Korea’s brilliant but vulnerable to crises; having had some of them. And more may be coming if South Korea adopts too much of the US economic style. South Korea may accompany the US economy on its way down, just like North Korea may be hanging on to the Chinese economy on its way up. One falling, one rising. Double digit growth for North Korean capi-communism and crisis, devaluation etc., for South Korean hyper-capitalism? Not impossible.”
→ read full articleGlobal Domestic Policy – And WikiLeaks
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
Nor is class fading out: the world upper classes enrich themselves in the financial system, greatly aided by the International Monetary Fund–and the world lower classes use the drug system for similar purposes, as acted out in Rio de Janeiro. Two perverse systems coming out of the absurdity of world hyper capitalism, supported by a fading empire. We need and deserve something better, nothing perfect, but much better. We cannot build globalization on such absurdities.
→ read full articleThe Education of a Peacemaker
Philip Grant interviewing Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
“Nationalism is not the same as culture…. This triad of chosenness, glory and trauma produces vicious types of nationalistic ideologies that are constantly threatening world peace…. Nationalism lays claims on land and times…. Education has degenerated into schooling, schooling has mutated into a way of earning degrees, and degrees are seen simply as a ticket to earning a living.”
→ read full article(Italian) Stati Uniti, il Dramma Silenzioso dei Reduci
Alberto Tundo, PeaceReporter – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Nov 2010
Il numero dei soldati che si suicidano ha superato quello dei militari morti in Afghanistan dal 2001.
→ read full articleWhat Does Aung San Suu Kyi’s Release Mean for Burma?
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Nov 2010
Since the release of a single dissident Aung San Suu Kyi – while holding 2,100 of her fellow dissidents behind bars who are serving up to 90 years imprisonment – the loud calls for lifting sanctions are repeated by some well-known supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi such as East Timor’s Jose Ramos-Horta, as if pouring more foreign direct investment in Burma’s gas and oil sector and increasing trade with the country’s kleptocratic, dysfunctional State would automatically translate into public welfare.
→ read full articleU.S. Military Suicides Kill More Than the Battles
Alberto Tundo, PeaceReporter - Pravda,
29 Nov 2010
The number of soldiers committing suicide is higher than that of the soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001. The list continues to grow inexorably. It contains the names of those who returned home from the trenches of the war against terrorism, but lost control of themselves, a war that has left more dead than the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.
→ read full articleUpsurge in Repression Challenges Nonviolent Resistance in Western Sahara
Stephen Zunes – Open Democracy,
29 Nov 2010
Sahrawis have engaged in protests, strikes, cultural celebrations, and other forms of civil resistance focused on such issues as educational policy, human rights, the release of political prisoners, and the right to self-determination. They have also raised the cost of occupation for the Moroccan government and increased the visibility of the Sahrawi cause.
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