Students and riot police clash during education protest in Barcelona. Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images Now remember girls and boys just because we stuffed up does not mean you can think about it and run amok. Remember while we were stuffing up we built easily enough gaols for all you radical, heathen commie lot. By the [...]
At last year’s News Corp AGM, 35% of shareholders voted against James Murdoch‘s re-election to the board. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA Shareholders are planning to step up their campaign to oust James Murdoch from News Corp following his decision to quit the UK and return to New York. News Corp announced on Wednesday that Murdoch was giving up [...]
Corseted Minds: Does Fear of Irrelevance Send Conservative Men Fleeing to the Victorian Age? If you focus on the utilitarian value of human beings, you may find yourself at some point nervously glancing in the mirror. February 28, 2012 | In the last 50 years, American women have finally been able to reliably earn a living, [...]
When Barack Obama took the oath of office three years ago, no one associated the phrase “targeted killing” with his optimistic young presidency. In his inaugural address, the 47-year-old former constitutional law professor uttered the word “terror” only once. Instead, he promised to use technology to “harness the sun and the winds [...]
Strait of Hormuz How the Media Got the Iran/IAEA Access Story Wrong by Gareth Porter News media reported last week that Iran had flatly refused the IAEA access to its Parchin military test facility, based on the statement to reporters by IAEA Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts, “We could not get access…” Now, however, both explicit [...]
Mario Draghi, the ECB president, said the last such offering averted a ‘major, major credit crunch’ [GALLO/GETTY] Banks have bought $713bn in funds from the European Central Bank at the lender‘s second offering of cheap three-year funds, raising hopes that more credit will flow into European lending markets and government borrowing costs will begin to ease [...]
At last year’s News Corp AGM, 35% of shareholder voted against James Murdoch‘s re-election to the board. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA Much to the chagrin of his bankers and cheer squad the call to get rid of the son of Rupert persists. George Ikners ikners.com Shareholders are planning to step up their campaign to oust James Murdoch from [...]
James Murdoch, left, was seen as heir apparent to Rupert Murdoch until the UK phone-hacking scandal broke [Reuters] James Murdoch, the executive at the centre of the phone-hacking scandal at his father’s British newspapers, has resigned as executive chairman of News Corp‘s UK newspaper arm, the company has announced. News Corp said James, the youngest [...]
Photo Credit: NOAA Photo Library: fish1968 by LCDR Eric Johnson, NOAA Corps. 7 Dangerous Lies About Plastic Big Plastic is big money and survives regulatory scrutiny by creating big spin. Here’s what you need to know. February 26, 2012 | To receive a Ph.D in industrial chemistry in the United States, no American university requires candidates [...]
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) – The Palestinian Authority is describing Wednesday’s raids on TV networks in the occupied West Bank as the possible beginning of a “frequency war” over limited broadcasting space. The confiscation of equipment from Watan TV and Al-Quds Educational TV deprives Palestinians of their right to have frequencies for building modern wireless communication networks, [...]
Hillary Clinton speaks to the press following the Friends of Syria conference. Photograph: Jason Reed/AFP/Getty Images Two weeks ago I met the Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu and we talked about the efficacy of the high-powered Friends of Syria gatherings – the latest of which took place in Tunis last weekend – in finding a [...]
Mark Duggan, who was killed by Met police officers last August. Photograph: Rex Features The Metropolitan police has apologised to the family of Mark Duggan, whose shooting triggered last summer’s riots, for failing to inform them of his death. The apology was revealed after the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) upheld a complaint by the family that neither the Met [...]
The Five: Uniting intelligence for the good of humanity OLGA DÍAZ RUIZ GREETINGS from the Cuban Five, serving unjust prison terms in the United States, were communicated during the closing session of University 2012 in Havana’s International Convention Center. The Five called attention to the importance of this event “in uniting intelligence for [...]
Raúl receives U.S. Senators PRESIDENT Raúl Castro Ruz received yesterday evening, February 23, Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat, Vermont, president of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senator Richard Shelby , Republican, Alabama, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Leahy and Shelby are members of a delegation of U.S. [...]
REUTERS Traditionally, the US gets to appoint the president of the World Bank. But China is keen to make its influence felt in the search for a successor to Robert Zoellick, who will step down in June. The next head may still be American, but he or she will need to get Beijing’s [...]
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Israeli forces raided a Palestinian television network early Wednesday in central Ramallah, briefly detaining four employees, journalists at Watan TVsaid.Journalists at the television station said soldiers confiscated computers and broadcast equipment. The four employees were were detained are head of production Abdul Rahman Thaher, correspondent Hamza Salaymeh, graphics expert Ibrahim Milhim and [...]
Rumor and Anger Mount in Libya by Franklin Lamb Posted on January 15, 2012 by dandelionsalad by Franklin Lamb Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Tripoli, Libya January 14, 2012 This observer was stunned late last week when during a meeting in a Maghreb country with three high ranking former Libyan officials, among hundreds currently in hiding, [...]
In addition to approving parliamentary candidates, the Guardian Council also selects presidential candidates [Reuters] Iran‘s March 2 parliamentary elections will mark the first time the country has gone to the polls since the disputed 2009 presidential elections in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won his second term. There are 290 parliament seats up for grabs and the [...]
Thies, Senegal - Pronounced as “chess” and known as “the city of the train”, Thies, with no more than 400,000 people is not your average sleepy hollow. The town, considered Senegal’s second city, and a mere 60km from the capital, sits in an area considered to be among the most developed in the country, and is [...]
Oil and sheen have been visible in recent months due to seepage near BP’s Macondo well [Erika Blumenfeld/Al Jazeera] New Orleans, LA - It was the largest marine oil disaster in the United States, and now BP’s trial is the largest and most complex environmental lawsuit in US history.In what is being called by many “The [...]
Roger Waters is reported as telling Chilean TV that the Falkland Islands ‘should be Argentinian‘. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA One major problem with the Falklands is just where do you send snotty nosed royals to get maximum coverage for their presumed fighting capabilities. George Ikners ikners.com The Falkland Islands should belong to Argentina, the former Pink Floydbass player Roger Waters [...]
. (photo: Ian MacKenzie) Reuters reports: Monsanto Wins Lawsuit While Food Justice Advocates ‘Occupy’ Food System Organic seed farmer Jim Gerritsen: “This flawed ruling will not deter us from continuing to seek justice.” – Common Dreams staff On a day that ‘Occupy’ groups, environmental and food justice organizations have called for a global day of action [...]
Just in case you think that the only people expressing concern about climate change are from the loony left, or worse still are evil terrorists seeking revenge on the capitalist system this is an interesting article. Apart from the possibility of extinction and the imminent loss of life on the planet there are those [...]
(GLobal Crop Diversity Trust) Create Food Democracy, Occupy our Food Supply by Vandana Shiva The biggest corporate takeover on the planet is the hijacking of the food system, the cost of which has had huge and irreversible consequences for the Earth and people everywhere. From the seed to the farm to the store to [...]
. photo: John McColgan of the Alaskan Type I Incident Management Team (Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Fire Service) There Will Be Fire: The ‘Carbon Bomb’ ‘Waiting to Be Ignited’ Scientist: With climate change fires will become more frequent, more intense and harder to stop. – Common Dreams staff “We are going to [...]
Millions Join Strikes Across India Demanding Reforms Indians demanding improved rights for employees, trade unions and political activists – Common Dreams staff Millions of people, including members of the nation’s eleven largest trade unions, took to the streets across India today in a nationwide strike that seeks a remedy to rampant inflation, an end [...]
The World Bank’s Plans for Fisheries Could Destroy Fishing Communities by Meredith McCarthy Taking care of the oceans is a big challenge that needs the right solutions. That’s why we oppose turning our fisheries into privatized markets through catch shares, filling our coastal waters with environmentally degrading factory fish farms, and forcing controversial private eco-labeling [...]
Lessons from Greece on democracy and debt-bondage BY DAVID MCNALLY | FEBRUARY 28, 2012 It is a truism to say that democracy began with the Greeks — less so to say that it originated in popular rebellion against debt and debt-bondage. Yet, with the Greek people ensnared once more in the vice-grip [...]
Just Say No To Corporate Greed: The Case Of Iceland By Ellen Russell February 28, 2012 “Rabble” – – Capitalism is looking pretty mean these days. No amount of profit is enough, and no level of collateral damage to get that profit is unreasonable. And when capitalism on steroids runs amok, [...]
Un-Cheating Justice: Two Years Left to Prosecute Bush By David Swanson http://warisacrime.org/content/un-cheating-justice-two-years-left-prosecute-bush Elizabeth Holtzman knows something about struggles for justice in the U.S. government. She was a member of Congress and of the House Judiciary Committee that voted for articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon in 1973. She proposed the [...]
In a way the following article deals with a lot of matters that concern not just the US. The central theme is expressed as an “image problem”. Unfortunately the US and other lappdog toadies like Australia share the same problem. The real question is whether it can be so simply classified as [...]
Japan leaders ‘played down nuclear crisis‘ Investigation reports that government covered-up true scale of Fukushima disaster, and considered Tokyo evacuation. Japanese leaders did not know the extent of the damage in the wake of the nuclear crisis after the massive quake and tsunami hit the Pacific nation even as they tried [...]
Haneen Zoabi. (MaanImages/File) BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli police have given permission for a right-wing march against a Palestinian member of the Israeli parliamentin her home town of Nazareth, Israeli media reported Monday.Part of a campaign under the slogan “Expel Hanin Zoabi from the Knesset”, her fellow parliamentarian Michael Ben-Ari will accompany activists from far-right group [...]
(MaanImages/file) HEBRON (Ma’an) — A group of Israelis entered Hebron village Halhul overnight Monday, sparking clashes with locals, witnesses said. No injuries were reported. Witnesses told Ma’an the group attempted to pray near Nabi Younis Mosque in the east of the village and threw stones at worshippers performing the dawn prayer. Israeli forces surrounded [...]
Palestinians wave flags during a rally in front of Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City, in support of President Mahmoud Abbas‘ bid for statehood recognition in the United Nations, Sept. 21, 2011. (Reuters/Ronen Zvulun) BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — PLO official Hanan Ashrawi on Tuesday called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s response to a conference on [...]
Syrians, like other Arabs, no longer fear their rulers [GALLO/GETTY] New York, NY - When the Green Movement started in Iran in June 2009, there was a recalcitrant fraction of the Left (taken in a very generic sense) that went on a rampage against it and denounced the civil rights uprising as a Saudi-US plot [...]
Engelhardt and Turse, The End in Afghanistan? Posted by Tom Engelhardt and Nick Turse at 8:21am,February 28, 2012. Blown Away How the U.S. Fanned the Flames in Afghanistan By Tom Engelhardt and Nick Turse Is it all over but the (anti-American) shouting — and the killing? Are the exits finally coming into view? Sometimes, in a moment, [...]
Our Very Own Oscar Night in Rimini By Michael HudsonFebruary 27, 2011 “Counterpunch” — I have just returned from Rimini, Italy, where I experienced one of the most amazing spectacles of my academic life. Four of us associated with the University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC) were invited to lecture for three days on Modern Monetary [...]
CNN Silences War-Skeptical Soldier By obsessing over Iran gaining a nuclear weapon “capability” – even with no actual bomb – while ignoring Israel’s undeclared nuclear arsenal, the U.S. news media proves the point of its own bias. There’s also the usual hostility toward dissenting voices, as ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern notes. [...]
“If those who support aggressive war had seen a fraction of what I’ve seen, if they’d watched children fry to death from Napalm and bleed to death from a cluster bomb, they might not utter the claptrap they do”. - John Pilger Related articles A John Pilger article, Once again, war is prime time and [...]
In an all day conference, February 10, 2012, some 120 authors, professors, and journalists, from dozens of Caribbean, American and African countries, met with Fidel Castro. Those attending were invited participants for the Intellectual Encounters for Peace and the Preservation of the Environment event at the Havana Convention Center. Topics discussed in the nine-hour session were world [...]
From the very first time news of this got out in the form that it did, it was extremely obvious that this would be an extremely major issue. The so called apology from the US military commander apart from nearly [...]
The hacktivist group Anonymous is believed to be the source for emails being published by WikiLeaks from the Stratfor thinktank. Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty WikiLeaks has begun releasing a cache of what it says are 5.5m emails obtained from the servers of Stratfor, a US-based intelligence gathering firm with about 300,000 subscribers. The whistleblowing site has released [...]
mohandasgandhi: Noam Chomsky on Austerity, Education & Healthcare Pay special attention to what Noam says about California’s current public education crisis and his comments about the attempts to privatize schools like Berkeley and UCLA. What he says at the end is critical to understand what we’re currently seeing in politics, what the impacts of [...]
US Spies See No Evidence of Iranian Nuclear Weapons Program – Common Dreams staff US intelligence agencies believe there is no hard evidence that Iran has decided to build a nuclear bomb, The New York Times reports in today’s edition. The Times said there was no dispute among American, Israeli and European [...]
A case before the U.S. Supreme Court may deny victims abroad recourse against corporate-sanctioned abuse. by Ka Hsaw Wa Among the thousands of interviews I’ve conducted as a human rights investigator over the last 24 years, one of the most difficult was in 1996, outside a refugee camp along the Thai-Burma border. I was no [...]
Afghan protesters shout anti-U.S. slogans during a demonstration in Kunduz province February 25, 2012.Protesters in Kabul interviewed on the road and in front of Parliament said that this was not the first time that Americans had violated Afghan cultural and religious traditions and that an apology was not enough. The Causes of the [...]
The New Cold War has Already Started – in Syria by Robert Fisk If Iran obtains nuclear weapons capability, “I think other nations across the Middle East will want to develop nuclear weapons”. Thus thundered our beloved Foreign Secretary, William Hague, in one of the silliest pronouncements he has ever made. Hague seems to spend [...]
(MaanImages/Moamar Awad) JERUSALEM (Reuters) — President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel on Sunday of trying to erase any Arabic identity from Jerusalem, drawing a strong response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Abbas, speaking at a conference in Qatar, said that for the past few years Israel has been waging a “final [...]
‘But That Would Be Torture!’ by: Dave Lindorff I just received an object lesson into how easily we Americans are able to compartmentalize our principles and our sense of basic human decency. My father, David Lindorff Sr., who is 89 (and an occasional contributor to ThisCantBeHappening!), recently took a bad fall, hitting the back [...]
