Articles by M
We found 37535 results.
A System Designed to Crash
David Korten – Yes! Magazine,
28 Mar 2011
Why a Money System Dependent on Constant Growth Can’t Last – The problem appears to be a lack of money, even though the total money in circulation is far more than enough to cover real-wealth exchanges in a rational real-wealth economy. The money, however, is locked up in the Wall Street casino economy rather than circulating in the real Main Street economy. Pouring public bailout money into Wall Street serves only to reflate the bubble. It does nothing to revive the real economy.
→ read full articleIs the US Ruled by a Military Junta?
Eric Margolis – Lew Rockwell,
28 Mar 2011
The finest strategic thinker of the 20th century, Britain’s Maj. Gen. J.F.C. Fuller, wrote the object of war is achieving political goals, not military victory. Politicians keep forgetting Fuller’s dictum. The last examples of wars without defined political objectives were Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Welcome a fourth: Libya.
→ 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 articleBreaking Australia’s Silence: WikiLeaks and Freedom
John Pilger - TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
Public forum held on 16 March 2011 at the Sydney Town Hall. The event was staged by the Sydney Peace Foundation, Amnesty International, Stop the War Coalition, and supported by the City of Sydney.
→ read full articleJulian Assange on 60 Minutes (Part 1)
CBS News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
Julian Assange appeared on 60 Minutes on 30 Jan 2011 in his longest televised interview while in house arrest in England. One of the most interesting aspects of the interview: behind-the-scenes shots of Assange and colleagues, mundanely sitting around a kitchen table on laptops that presumably contain some of the most explosive secrets on earth.
→ read full articleJulian Assange on 60 Minutes (Part 2)
CBS News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
Julian Assange appeared on 60 Minutes on 30 Jan 2011 in his longest televised interview while in house arrest in England. One of the most interesting aspects of the interview: behind-the-scenes shots of Assange and colleagues, mundanely sitting around a kitchen table on laptops that presumably contain some of the most explosive secrets on earth.
→ read full article
Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide Returns Home (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Amy Goodman – Democracy NOW!,
21 Mar 2011
In defiance of the Obama administration, former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is headed back to Haiti today for the first time since being ousted in a 2004 U.S.-backed coup. Hours ago, Aristide, his family, and a delegation of supporters boarded a plane in South Africa bound for Port-au-Prince. Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman is with the Aristides to document their journey home. She filed this report.
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Chossudovsky: New deadly war theater opened in Libya
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
RT talks to Michel Chossudovsky – Director of the Center for Research on Globalization in Canada.
→ read full articleHow Will the Arab Spring Reshape the Middle East?
Patrick Martin – The Globe and Mail,
21 Mar 2011
The Islam-is-down, secularism-is-up theme is one of three common notions about what the aftermath of the upheavals will bring. The second assumption is that greater democracy will emerge. The third is that, as far as the two non-Arab states that compete for influence in the region are concerned, the Iranian regime’s fortunes are looking brighter, and Israel’s much darker. It’s too soon to tell what exactly will emerge from this remarkable revolutionary period, but it’s not too soon to question some of these popular notions.
→ read full articleExperts Help to Rebrand Burma’s Failed Dictatorship
Dr. Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
Every time Burma’s military dictatorship is framed as “new,” it is being rebranded, to use the lingo of corporate advertising. The spoils of the positive public relations are shared as it were between the experts and their organizations that prostitute themselves by spinning for their neo-liberal governmental patrons and corporate “donors” in the West and Burma’s despotic regime, the former’s actual and potential business partner.
→ read full articleLawyers
TMS Editor,
21 Mar 2011
How do you make a group of lawyers to smile for a photo?
→ read full articleA Dirty Word
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
On Thursday evening I could not think of anything except Libya.
→ read full articleWorld Citizens Call For a Cease Fire in Libya and Start of Negotiations on a Broadly-Based New Libyan Republic
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
Historically in Libya, there were sixteen marabtin tribes renouned for their religious wisdom who served as mediators and arbiters within the political structures of tribal, pre-colonial Libya. The tradition of reconciliatory mediation may still exist, and traditional avenues of mediation should be explored. A cease fire must be a first step, and the United Nations the most appropriate institution for maintaining a cease fire while constitutional discussions start.
→ read full articleOur Animal Selves
Linda Hogan – Yes! Magazine,
21 Mar 2011
All around us are radiant species. What can the first peoples teach us about restoring our relationship with animals?
→ read full articleLetter from Japan
Kimberlye Kowalczyk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
People are running out of food and water, and yet they wait patiently and quietly, in single-file, at supermarkets where they are rationing supplies to 5 items per person. There is no pushing, no yelling, not a single report of looting, anywhere. First of all, can you imagine only being able to pick 5 items after lining up all day, your kids and elderly parents not having eaten a proper meal in two days? It keeps going through my head ~ which 5 items would I chose?
→ read full articleThe Internet in Society: Empowering or Censoring Citizens?
RSA Animate - TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
Does the internet actually inhibit, not encourage democracy? In this new RSA Animate, Evgeny Morozov presents an alternative take on ‘cyber-utopianism’ – the seductive idea that the internet plays a largely empancipatory role in global politics.
→ read full articleOil and Trouble
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
Why western governments won’t support democracy in Saudi Arabia. Did you hear it? The clamour from western governments for democracy in Saudi Arabia? The howls of outrage from the White House and Number 10 about the shootings on Thursday, the suppression of protests on Friday, the arrival of Saudi troops in Bahrain on Monday? No? Nor did I. Did we miss it, or do they believe that change is less necessary in Saudi Arabia than it is in Libya? If so, on what grounds?
→ read full articleBreaking Out of the Programmed Society
Caroline Hargeaves – Generation C Magazine,
21 Mar 2011
The technology systems know your friends, your interests, where you live, countries you have visited and the places you dream about visiting. How? Because you told them… When discussing this topic, one can refer to mind control in George Orwell’s 1984 and pro-active prosecution in Minority Report. Sociologist Alain Tourain described as early as 1981 the emergence of a ‘programmed society’, under the control of a technocratic elite in which information and knowledge superseded material production as the key source of social power.
→ read full articleThe UN Mission in Nepal-UNMIN’s Humiliating Withdrawal
Bishnu Pathak, PhD – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
The UNMIN obtained a final four-month extension effective from September 16, 2010 till January 15, 2011. The UNMIN ended its role owing to heavy criticism from non-Maoist parties and returned from Nepal. It withdrew leaving reintegration, rehabilitation and democratization half-way, unlike many other UN missions in the world… A Special Committee (SC) has replaced the UNMIN and implements its mandate against provisional ethics. The UNMIN was established under Nepal’s special circumstances. It was a neutral and common platform while the SC mostly comprises political actors on the basis of a political decision. The role of the SC is neither defined by agreements and accords, nor does it have constitutional authority. There is also no role for neutral experts.
→ read full articleUruguay Recognizes Palestinian State
Ynet – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
Uruguay has made its recognition of a Palestinian state official on Tuesday [15 Mar 2011].
→ read full articleAnonymous Hackers Release Bank of America Emails
Dominic Rushe in New York – The Guardian,
21 Mar 2011
The hacker group Anonymous has released a cache of emails obtained from someone said to be a former Bank of America employee.
→ read full articleThis Modern World: The Flustercluck Doctrine
Tom Tomorrow – Truthout,
21 Mar 2011
Award-winning editorial cartoonist Tom Tomorrow on President Obama’s consultation with “General Flustercluck.”
→ read full articleThe Dangers of Nuclear Energy
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
Because insurance companies have refused to cover the risks of nuclear accidents, the Price Anderson Act of 1957 commits the US federal government to cover such risks. Other countries have similar legislation. This represents an enormous subsidy by the taxpayers to the nuclear industry… Solar energy is currently more expensive than electricity from nuclear plants. But this is only because of the huge indirect subsidy for nuclear power, and also due to the shortage of research into alternative sources of energy… If insurance companies, the experts in estimating risks, refuse to risk their money, why should people be forced to risk their lives?
→ read full articleEurope Has an Obligation to These Desperate African Refugees
The Independent, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
If Italy needs assistance to deal with migration flows, other EU states should provide it. Fortress Europe has closed its gates.
→ read full articleAl Franken: ‘They’re coming after the Internet’
Mike Zapler – Politico,
21 Mar 2011
US Sen. Al Franken claimed Monday [14 Mar 2011] that big corporations are “hoping to destroy” the Internet and said Comcast is looking to change the basic architecture of the Web by implementing a pricing scheme that allows moneyed interests to pay for faster speeds, leaving everyone else behind… “Unfortunately one thing these big corporations have that we don’t is the ability to purchase favorable political outcomes,” he said. “Big telecoms have lots of [lobbyists], and good ones, too. … The end of net neutrality would benefit no one but these corporate giants.”
→ read full articleLibya and the Dilemma of Intervention
The Nation, Editorial - TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
Our natural tendency is to want to help end Qaddafi’s despotic rule and to save the lives of those bravely resisting his onslaught. But it is a difficult challenge to take action that has a reasonable chance of success but that does not arouse popular—and well-founded—suspicions of neoimperial intervention.
→ read full articleIn Search of Monsters
Maureen Dowd – The New York Times,
21 Mar 2011
The Iraq war hawks urging intervention in Libya are confident that there’s no way Libya could ever be another Iraq. Of course, they never thought Iraq would be Iraq, either. All President Obama needs to do, Paul Wolfowitz asserts, is man up, arm the Libyan rebels, support setting up a no-fly zone and wait for instant democracy. It’s a cakewalk.
→ read full articleMother Nature and Nuclear Power
David Krieger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
The major lessons to be drawn from the tragedy in Japan are: first, nature’s power is far beyond our ability to control; second, the nuclear industry, in Japan and elsewhere, has arrogantly pushed ahead with their dangerous technology, assuring the public there is no reason for concern; third, the reassurances of self-interested nuclear “experts” are not to be trusted; and fourth, the nuclear power plant failures in Japan are a final wake-up call to replace nuclear power with safe, sustainable and renewable forms of energy.
→ read full articleLearning from Disaster? After Sendai
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
Let us fervently hope that this Sendai disaster will not take further turns for the worse, but that the warnings already embedded in such happenings, will awaken enough people to the dangers on this path of hyper-modernity so that a politics of limits can arise to challenge the prevailing politics of limitless growth. Such a challenge must include the repudiation of a neoliberal worldview, insisting without compromise on an economics based on needs and people rather than on profit margins and capital efficiency.
→ read full articleArab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
‘The Beginning of an Epochal Development’ – Amr Moussa is the secretary-general of the Arab League and is a favorite in Egypt’s upcoming presidential election. In a SPIEGEL interview, he discusses the prospects for democracy in the Middle East, the risks of a civil war in Libya and his expectations of the West.
→ read full article‘The Superpower of Technology’
Daisuke Nojima – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
On The Globe, there is a superpower of technology,
About half of the robots in the world working there,
Tremendous amounts of vending machines are selling everything there,
Even disregarding jobless people everywhere,
So, this state is much praised by scholars of futurology.
Anticipating Future Strategic Triple Whammies: In the Light of Earthquake-Tsunami-Nuclear Misconceptions
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2011
Beyond deploring the horrendous destruction and loss of life and livelihoods in Japan, the question is how to derive insight from the event. Of special relevance is the manner in which the event overwhelmed assiduous provisions in anticipation of any single crisis. The point was originally well made by John Platt:
→ read full articleSatellite Images Reveal True Scale of Japan’s Devastation
The Independent – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
While reports and pictures from on the ground in Japan reveal the human side of the tragedy the tsunami has caused, these before-and-after aerial photographs indicate the sheer scale of devastation that was unleashed upon towns and villages up and down the country’s eastern coast.
→ read full articleFresh Blast at Japan Nuclear Plant
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
Mon 14 Mar 2011 – A second explosion rocked Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex, sending a plume of smoke into the air and touching off fresh concerns of radioactive leak in the quake and tsunami-hit country. The International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] said on Monday the reactor has not been damaged. Tokyo Electric Power Co [TEPCO], the plant operator, in a press release said, it was believed to be a hydrogen explosion at the plant’s No.3 reactor and that 11 workers were injured.
→ read full articleIndia ‘World’s Biggest Arms Buyer’
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
India has overtaken China to become the world’s largest importer of weapons, according to a Swedish think-tank that monitors global arms sales. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute report said India was pushing ahead with plans to modernise its military in an effort to counter China’s influence and gain international clout.
→ read full articleNuclear Melt-Down? The Government to the Rescue
Mike (in Tokyo) Rogers – Lew Rockwell,
14 Mar 2011
14 Mar 2011 – As of the writing of this article, the situation at the nuclear power plants keeps getting worse as it has been reported that after the first nuclear power plant’s dome cracked, exploded and is now experiencing at least a partial nuclear meltdown, a second reactor is now in danger of the same. Interestingly of the writing of this article, there were reports that the Japanese government still has not admitted that there has been an explosion at the first reactor plant even though there is video evidence of the event.
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Rachel Corrie – Last Interview (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor - TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
Footage conducted by the Middle East Broadcasting Company on March 14th, 2003, two days before Rachel was murdered by the Israeli Defense Forces that crushed her under a Caterpillar bulldozer in Nablus, Palestine as she tried to prevent it from demolishing a Palestinian home–to create a no-man’s-land around Gaza and keep the siege. She was a 23-year-old American member of the International Solidarity Movement.
→ read full articleHow the So-Called Guardians of Free Speech Are Silencing the Messenger
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
As the United States and Britain look for an excuse to invade another oil-rich Arab country, the hypocrisy is familiar. Colonel Gaddafi is “delusional” and “blood-drenched” while the authors of an invasion that killed a million Iraqis, who have kidnapped and tortured in our name, are entirely sane, never blood-drenched and once again the arbiters of “stability”.
→ read full article“Imaginary Panic”: The WHO Admits That the H1N1 Pandemic Was a Multibillion Dollar Fraud….
Marie-Rose Cavalier, Sophie Meulemans & Muriel Desclée, Initiative Citoyenne – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
The Swine Flu ‘pandemic’ turned out to be nothing more than a storm in a teacup generated by a flurry of conflicts of interest. A majority of European Health Committee MEPs have nonetheless recently approved a report by Anne Delvaux (PPE) endorsing the existence of what was really an imaginary panic and calling for ‘more cooperation between member states’ to deal with future pandemics.
→ read full articleWhat about a No Fly Zone for the Palestinians?
Gilad Atzmon – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
I would contend that for a moral interventional argument to be justifiable, it must be primarily grounded on moral integrity. If America and Britain are, indeed, ‘morally driven’ why do they fail to protect the people of Palestine? Why do they allow Israeli airplanes decorated with Jewish symbols to drop bombs in Gaza? Is it because Israeli bombs are kosher somehow?
→ read full articleSuperpower Bypassed by History: The Embarrassments of Empire
David Bromwich - TomDispatch,
14 Mar 2011
Washington Wonders What to Say about Arab Freedom – From Egypt to Pakistan, February 2011 will be remembered as a month unusually full of the embarrassments of empire. Americans were enthralled by a spectacle of liberty in which we felt we should somehow be playing a part. Here were popular movements toward self-government, which might once have looked to the United States as an exemplar, springing up all across North Africa and the Middle East. Why did they not look up to us now?
→ read full articleEgypt/Serbia/Georgia: Learning From Others’ Mistakes
Eric Walberg – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
There is a Russian proverb: only a fool learns from his own mistakes. As Georgia’s foreign minister visits his Egyptian counterpart, there are lessons for Egypt in similar revolutions in eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet Union.
→ read full articleDecline of Honey Bees Now a Global Phenomenon, Says United Nations
Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor – The Independent,
14 Mar 2011
The mysterious collapse of honey-bee colonies is becoming a global phenomenon, scientists working for the United Nations have revealed.
→ read full articlePulitzer Prize Winner Seymour Hersh And The Men Who Want Him Committed
Matthew Phelan – WhoWhatWhy,
14 Mar 2011
It seems unusual for a staid, respected publication (one that has received three National Magazine Awards in just this past decade) to start treating a celebrated journalist (who himself has won two National Magazine Awards in just this past decade) as if he were nothing more than a paranoid crank.
→ read full articleOne Man Hurdle on the Road to Democracy
S. P. Udayakumar – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali fled Tunis rather swiftly. Hosni Mubarak tried in vain all his tricks including inciting violence with the help of some of his supporters and surrendered. The beleaguered Muammar Qaddafi is trying to halt the democracy train with the active support of his clan and groups of a few tribes, the fear and reluctance of the majority Warfalla tribe, and the relative weakness of the pro-democracy activists.
→ read full article(Castellano) ALBA Inicia Gestiones para Realizar Propuestas de Mediación en Conflicto de Libia
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
La Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (ALBA) inició este miércoles [9 Mar 2011] la creación el comité de mediaciones que ayude a terminar con la violencia en Libia, el cual además trabajará en propuestas para la solución pacífica al conflicto que inició el pasado 17 de febrero en la nación del norte de África.
→ read full articleThe U.S. Is no Friend to Libya’s Uprising
Socialist Worker, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
The U.S. was perfectly happy to do business with Qaddafi, in spite of his regime’s record of violent repression–for the same reason it’s now posing as Qaddafi’s enemy.
→ read full articleSubtle Racism and Unemployment “Push Gypsies into Marginalisation”
TerraViva Europe – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
Bruno Gonçalves wears many hats: he is municipal mediator in this city in central Portugal [Coimbra], a leader of the NGO SOS-Racismo, author of a book on integration in schools, and a human rights activist — but, he stresses, “I never stop being a gypsy.”
→ read full articleDenmark to Upgrade Status of Palestinian Representation to ‘Mission’
Haaretz Service & News Agencies – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
Upgrade from third-highest ranking of general delegation mirrors move made recently by number of other countries, including Britain.
→ read full article‘Women Are Shackled During Childbirth’
Mehru Jaffer – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 Mar 2011
Interview with Fabrizia Falcione, UN Women – Female Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel are often denied legal representation and medical care while being housed in squalid conditions that can include sharing cells with rodents.
→ read full articleA Real Sharia Law Promoter for Peter King to Investigate
Jeremy Scahill – The Nation,
14 Mar 2011
Former Pentagon Inspector General Joseph Schmitz has tried to use Sharia law to fight lawsuits alleging corporate misconduct that led to deaths of US servicemen. As Representative Peter King begins his hunt for Islamic radicals in our midst, including infiltrators of the US government and military, I hope that part of his inquiry focuses on those who really advocate Sharia law in the United States.
→ read full articleBradley Manning ‘Almost Catatonic’
MSNBC – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
22 New Charges with Possibility of Death Penalty
→ read full article(Italian) Per una Alleanza Mediterranea…
Movimento Nonviolento – Centro Studi Sereno Regis,
14 Mar 2011
Una riflessione-proposta aperta del Movimento Nonviolento su ciò che sta avvenendo in Tunisia, Egitto, Libia, ci può aiutare a capire cosa possiamo fare noi per non essere solo spettatori passivi.
→ read full articleUniversal Declaration of the Rights of Human Organization
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
An Experimental Extension of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
→ read full articleSorry, PETA: Undercover Farm Videos May Become Outlawed
Tralee Pearce - Globe and Mail,
14 Mar 2011
Imagine not being able to pull out a camera and take a snapshot of Nelly the cow in a country field or a flock of chickens waddling by. No, it’s not your kid’s worst nightmare at the petting zoo this March Break. It’s a series of proposed laws in the United States that would make it illegal – and punishable by prison time – to take a photo or video of farm animals. Even from the road. The bills are designed to protect farms and agribusinesses from undercover videos and other images used to slam the industry.
→ read full articleIsrael Ranked Among Least Popular States
Ynet – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
Global poll held for BBC finds just three countries ranked below Israel – Pakistan, North Korea, Iran.
→ read full articleInsurrection and Military Intervention: The US-NATO Attempted Coup d’état in Libya?
Prof. Michel Chossudovsky – Global Research,
14 Mar 2011
The US and NATO are supporting an armed insurrection in Eastern Libya, with a view to justifying a “humanitarian intervention”. This is not a non-violent protest movement as in Egypt and Tunisia. Conditions in Libya are fundamentally different. The armed insurgency in Eastern Libya is directly supported by foreign powers.
→ read full articleWill We Ever Learn? Kicking the Intervention Habit
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
It should be obvious that a no-fly zone in Libyan airspace is an act of war, as would be, of course, contemplated air strikes on fortifications of the Qadaffi forces. The core legal obligation of the UN Charter requires member states to refrain from any use of force unless it can be justified as self-defense after a cross-border armed attack or mandated by a decision of the UN Security Council. Neither of these conditions authorizing a legal use of force is remotely present,…
→ read full articlePress Release on Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant
National Alliance of Anti-nuclear Movements (NAAM) – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
We will come to know the full and complete details of this worst nuclear disaster in a few more weeks or months. As the world is gearing up to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the deadly nuclear power plant accident at Chernobyl on April 26, 2011, another calamity has stuck the humanity.
→ read full articleHow Lukashenko’s Soviet-Style Regime Maintains Its Iron Grip
Jerome Taylor – The Independent,
14 Mar 2011
Alexander Lukashenko rules Europe’s last dictatorship with a vice-like grip that has tolerated little opposition for the past 16 years. When democratic revolutions swept through the former Soviet republics of Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, Belarus steadfastly took a different path. In many ways the country mimicked the Soviets states of central Asia, where local strongmen seized power and crushed any democratic opposition to create brutal police states dominated by bizarre personality cults.
→ read full articleDefense
TMS Editor,
14 Mar 2011
One day, a priest was walking through a forest, when he came upon a pond. On the pond was a lily-pad, and on the lily-pad was the saddest frog the priest had ever seen!
→ read full articleObama’s Guantanamo Policy Condemned by Physicians for Human Rights
Physicians for Human Rights – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
Indefinite detention can cause psychological harm and should not be formal US policy. PHR condemns President Barack Obama’s recent announcement that military trials would resume for detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The decision formalizes the use of indefinite detention and marks a stark reversal from the President’s initial promise to close the controversial prison.
→ read full articleFacebook’s Proposed Privacy Plan Puts Users at Great Risk
Al Franken, U.S. Senator, Minnesota – The Huffington Post,
14 Mar 2011
In January, Facebook made a troubling announcement that it plans to allow third-party developers to request access to the home addresses and phone numbers of users. Despite Facebook’s insistence that it will protect its users, I believe this policy will place users at great risk… And even more alarming, Facebook’s new privacy policy would endanger the privacy and safety of children as young as 13. Under Facebook’s policy, 13 million users under the age of 18 may be allowed to share their personal information just like adult users.
→ read full articlePrisoners Help Build Patriot Missiles
Noah Shachtman, Danger Room - Wired,
14 Mar 2011
This spring, the United Arab Emirates is expected to close a deal for $7 billion dollars’ worth of American arms. Nearly half of the cash will be spent on Patriot missiles, which cost as much as $5.9 million apiece. But what makes those eye-popping sums even more shocking is that some of the workers manufacturing parts for those Patriot missiles are prisoners, earning as little as 23 cents an hour. (Credit Justin Rohrlich with the catch.)
→ read full articleGlobal Food Prices: Panic?
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey – Pravda,
14 Mar 2011
That a system that rewards investment in speculative concepts for the bolder members of society creates wealth and income, no problem for those who wish to gamble. Yet that a system which turns the entire macro-economic mechanism into a huge bet, devoid of any fundamentals, in which the real life consequences are tangible and dramatic not for the speculators but for the public at large, wholly and totally unacceptable it is.
→ read full articleAmerica’s Secret Plan to Arm Libya’s Rebels
Robert Fisk, Middle East Correspondent – The Independent,
7 Mar 2011
Desperate to avoid US military involvement in Libya in the event of a prolonged struggle between the Gaddafi regime and its opponents, the Americans have asked Saudi Arabia if it can supply weapons to the rebels in Benghazi.
→ read full article(Portuguese) 8 De Março: Simbolismo ou Luta Permanente?
Mariana Aiveca – Esquerda.net,
7 Mar 2011
A par da luta contra a violência, o direito ao trabalho e à independência económica devem estar no centro das reivindicações das mulheres neste dia 8 de Março de 2011.
→ read full articleWomen’s Day: A Historic Opportunity Unveiled
Kanya D'Almeida – TerraViva Europe,
7 Mar 2011
In [8 Mar] 1945, more than half a century ago, the signing of the United Nations Charter in San Francisco wrote women’s equality into its canon, creating an indisputable commitment to gender equity in the post-World War global order.
→ read full articleA Middle East without Borders?
Mohammed Khan - Al Jazeera,
7 Mar 2011
The modern geography of the Middle East was carved out by British and French colonialists whose sole interest was in sharing the spoils of war between themselves and in maintaining their supremacy over the region in the early part of the 20th century. The contours of the region, with its immaculately straight lines (see maps of Algeria, Libya, Egypt and Sudan) are much the same today as when they were first drawn up, despite decades of cross-border encroachment and conflict.
→ read full article
Addicted to Risk (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Naomi Klein – TED Talks,
7 Mar 2011
Days before this talk [18 Jan 2011], journalist Naomi Klein was on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico, looking at the catastrophic results of BP’s risky pursuit of oil. Our societies have become addicted to extreme risk in finding new energy, new financial instruments and more … and too often, we’re left to clean up a mess afterward. Klein’s question: What’s the backup plan?
→ 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 articleWhy We Need to Divest From the US-Backed Israeli Occupation
Stephen R. Shalom, Israeli Occupation Archive – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2011
28 Feb 2011 – This evening a campaign is being launched at New York University-NYU to “Divest From the US-backed Israeli Occupation Now!” Why is everybody always picking on Israel? Is it anti-Semitism? Hostility to democratic values? Jewish self-hatred? Sympathy for terrorism?
→ read full articleThe Story of Citizens United (Short Video)
Annie Leonard, The Story of Stuff Project – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2011
Why have corporations gotten so powerful? And what can we do about it? The Story of Citizens United v. FEC, an exploration of the inordinate power that corporations exercise in our democracy.
→ read full article
Farm to Fridge – The Truth behind Meat Production (sub español/vietnamese/english)
Antonio C. S. Rosa - TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2011
Disgusting beyond words. Take action and stop feeding on cruelty! Mercy For Animals presents Farm to Fridge. Narrated by Oscar-nominee James Cromwell with music by internationally acclaimed producer Ben Frost, this powerful film takes viewers on an eye-opening exploration behind the closed doors of the nation’s largest industrial farms, hatcheries, and slaughter plants — revealing the often-unseen journey that animals make from Farm to Fridge.
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NATO Invasion of Libya ‘Disgusting Idea’
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2011
RT talks about Libya crisis with Pepe Escobar, who’s a roving correspondent for the Asia Times.
→ read full articleHistory’s Shifting Sands
Mark LeVine – Al Jazeera,
7 Mar 2011
The revolutions sweeping the Arab world indicate a tectonic shift in the global balance of people power. For decades, even centuries, the peoples of the Arab world have been told by Europeans and, later, Americans that their societies were stagnant and backward. According to Lord Cromer, author of the 1908 pseudo-history Modern Egypt, their progress was “arrested” by the very fact of their being Muslim, by virtue of which their minds were as “strange” to that of a modern Western man “as would be the mind of an inhabitant of Saturn”.
→ read full articleTim DeChristopher: Civil Disobedience on Trial
Brooke Jarvis – Yes! Magazine,
7 Mar 2011
How does the United States try cases of civil disobedience? Defendant Tim DeChristopher on how much has changed since the founding fathers.
→ read full articleFreedom, Democracy, Justice: Isolated Nouns or Interwoven Verbs?
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2011
There is a key interpretation of the initial process described in the Book of Genesis, honoured by the three Abrahamic religions — together so significant through their interaction in exacerbating the crises of the world. For the Christian religion, so influential in defining the “values” of the international community, that interpretation is: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
→ read full articleMarch 8: Women and the People’s Revolution
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2011
8 March is the International Day of Women and thus a time to analyse the specific role of women in local, national and the world society. 2011 is the 100th anniversary of the creation of International Women’s Day first proposed by Clara Zetkin (1857-1933) at the Second International Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen in 1911.
→ read full articleCommentary on Recent Developments: Interview Responses
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2011
The following Q & A interview consists of my responses to questions put to me by the outstanding Greek journalist, C. J. Polychroniou, and is being published in a Greek newspaper.
→ read full articleDiplomat: I Can No Longer Represent Israel
Ynet – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2011
Veteran diplomat Ilan Baruch quits, says he can no longer represent government; Israel’s foreign policy is ‘wrong,’ he says, adds that blaming global anti-occupation views on anti-Semitism is ‘simplistic, artificial’.
→ read full article(Italian) Mondo Arabo/Galtung: Rivolte Moti di Liberazione da Europa
Daily Blog – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2011
Intervista Dello Studioso Pacifista a Left
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A Historic Moment in the Arab World
TED Talks – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2011
Wadah Khanfar – In TED’s first talk of 2011, Al Jazeera’s director-general shares his view on the uprisings sweeping the region.
→ read full articlePetroleum and Empire in North Africa. NATO Invasion of Libya Underway
Keith Harmon Snow – All Things Pass,
7 Mar 2011
Are events unfolding in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt more about petro-terrorism or about freedom and democracy? How much oil is there in North Africa? Who is in control of that oil? What is the relationship between the West and Muamar Gaddafi? Is he really the terrorist we’ve all been led to believe he is? Who is the Libyan “opposition” and who are the “rebels” we read about?
→ read full articleNED Arrives in Egypt
Philip Giraldi – Campaign for Liberty,
7 Mar 2011
Those who are aware of the insidious activities of the National Endowment for Democracy or NED, an ostensibly private foundation that spreads “democracy,” and is largely funded by the government, will not be surprised to learn that it is already active in North Africa. NED, which has a Democratic Party half in its National Democratic Institute, and a Republican Party half in its International Republican Institute, was the driving force behind the series of pastel revolutions that created turmoil in Eastern Europe after the fall of communism.
→ read full articleThe Real US National Security Budget
Christopher Hellman - TomDispatch,
7 Mar 2011
The Figure No One Wants You to See
→ read full articleGuidelines for Living a Spiritual Life
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. - TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2011
1. Awareness
I resolve to be more aware and responsive to the spiritual dimensions of my being and my nature.
Lessons Learned from Nepal’s People’s Victory 2006
Bishnu Pathak, PhD – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2011
After successfully ousting Tunisian and Egyptian tyrannical regimes, the oppressed masses have taken to the streets of numerous cities in the Arab World with the hope that change for freedom is possible. The Arab world has a long history of frozen conflicts, but from the gravity of events in the first quarter of 2011, it has already been a year of people’s uprising.
→ 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 articleA Little Meditation Goes a Long Way
Jason Marsh – Yes! Magazine,
7 Mar 2011
A new study offers the strongest evidence to date that meditation can change the structure of your brain.
→ read full article(Castellano) La Rebelión Árabe y la Crisis de la Hegemonía Estadounidense
Homar Garcés – TeleSur,
7 Mar 2011
Con gran entusiasmo, muchas personas a nivel mundial celebran lo que está ocurriendo en algunas naciones del Medio Oriente, llegando a concluir que todo es parte de una gran revolución internacional.
→ read full articleNonviolence: The Unconquerable Authority
Winslow Myers – Common Dreams,
7 Mar 2011
The subversive and hopeful message of Egypt’s Tahrir Square is that change does not have to come by violence, just as the message from Tripoli—or Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq—is that violence only cycles into worse violence. If unarmed citizens in Tahrir Square can create positive change, why can’t the most powerful democracy on earth choose to bring about change not with military violence, but with magnanimous humanitarian aid and adherence to international laws and institutions?
→ read full articleQuickies
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2011
George W. Bush came late to a cabinet meeting.
→ read full article(Italian) Il difficile passaggio dal tecnozoico all’ecozoico
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2011
Le grandi crisi comportano grandi decisioni. Ci sono decisioni che significano vita o morte per certe società, per una istituzione o per una persona.
→ read full articleThe Emotional Lives of Animals
Marc Bekoff – Yes! Magazine,
7 Mar 2011
Grief, friendship, gratitude, wonder, and other things we animals experience.
→ read full articleAn Open Letter to the Peoples of Middle East and North Africa
S. P. Udayakumar, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2011
Dear Sisters and Brothers of the Middle East and North Africa,
As a citizen of the largest democracy (India) and a student of the longest democracy (United States), I, for one, feel obliged to share some of my thoughts and reflections about democracy and elections with you all for your serious consideration. My intention is not to throw cold water on your quest for democracy but to request you to take a hard look at the actual practice of democracy and elections in the United States and India and to find ways and means of overcoming those shortcomings.
→ read full articleUS, UK, French Forces Land in Libya
Akhtar Jamal – Pakistan Observer,
7 Mar 2011
The United States, Britain and France have sent several hundred “defence advisors” to train and support the anti-Gadhafi forces in oil-rich Eastern Libya where “rebels armed groups” have apparently taken over.
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Fall of Empire, End to Wars: Johan Galtung Predictions
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Feb 2011
21 Feb 2011, New York – Some analysts say the US – bogged down in wars and pressed by emerging powers – will have to rethink its role in world affairs. Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung, a peace and conflict expert, goes further by predicting the fall of the “US Empire”. “Iraq is not at all turning out the way they hoped, certainly not Afghanistan either. The same will happen in Yemen and Somalia and a number of other countries where they now have undercover operations,” he told RT. Moreover, the sociologist believes what is going to happen in those areas – for instance, in Afghanistan – will not even be decided in Washington.
→ read full articleViolence Always Turns Against Itself
TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Feb 2011
An Appeal – Photo Essay from Finland
“Handguns must be abolished!”