The African National Congress, which celebrated its centenary in January, went from being a violent resistence movement to a peaceful de facto state party in South Africa [REUTERS] Exeter, United Kingdom - The Arab Spring has precipitated the rise of new politicians: formerly excluded or incarcerated non-state actors who are, today, either claimants of the state [...]
April 30, 2012 Retired analyst: Fiction fueled war By Joel PruettThe Norman Transcript NORMAN — Retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern said the war with Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Rather, it was about misinformation and fossil fuels. The analyst, who has appeared on CNN, NewsHour and other news [...]
CAMPAIGN TO SUPPORT FREEDOM OF THE PRESS AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN IRAQ by the Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative Press Release – 26th April, 2012 Iraq’s Journalist Protection Law, approved in August 2011 by the Iraqi Parliament which was facing international pressure to reform its laws concerning the media, in fact constitutes [...]
What is climate change? Climate change is what happens when greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide and methane) trap more heat in the earth’s surface. The earth is naturally insulated by the gases in the atmosphere, which for tens of thousands of years have kept the earth’s temperature relatively stable. [...]
James Murdoch, former chairman of News International, faces criticism over phone hacking at the News of the World in a report due out from the select committee on culture, media and sport. Photograph: Rex Features James Murdoch will be criticised by MPs investigating phone hacking on Tuesday, but their assessment of his conduct is expected to [...]
On OWS, Anarchism, Labor, Racism, Corporate Power and the Class War Talking With Chomsky by LAURA FLANDERS A CounterPunch Exclusive Noam Chomsky has not just been watching the Occupy movement. A veteran of the civil rights, anti-war, and anti-intervention movements of the 1960s through the 1980s, he’s given lectures [...]
Welcome to the Asylum By Chris Hedges April 30, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — When civilizations start to die they go insane. Let the ice sheets in the Arctic melt. Let the temperatures rise. Let the air, soil and water be poisoned. Let the forests die. Let the seas be emptied [...]
“The key to the behaviour of subjects [willing to torture and kill on command] lies not in pent-up anger or aggression but in the nature of their relationship to authority. They have given themselves to the authority; they see themselves as instruments for the execution of his wishes; once so defined, they are [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. (photo: Violaine Martin / UN Photo Geneva) UN: Israeli Restrictions on NGOs Undermining Human Rights – Common Dreams staff A UN official has added Israel to a list of countries whose restrictions on NGOs (non-governmental organizations) are undermining human rights. In the announcement on [...]
UK Supermarket Chain to Boycott Israeli Produce from Settlements – Common Dreams staff One of the largest supermarket chains in Britain has announced that it intends to boycott Israeli agricultural exporters that market produce from the West Bank settlements. One of the largest supermarket chains in Britain has announced that it intends to boycott Israeli [...]
Sibel Edmonds Finally Wins By David Swanson http://warisacrime.org/content/sibel-edmonds-finally-wins Sibel Edmonds’ new book, “Classified Woman,” is like an FBI file on the FBI, only without the incompetence. The experiences she recounts resemble K.’s trip to the castle, as told by Franz Kafka, only without the pleasantness and humanity. I’ve read [...]
A view of the London Olympic Stadium during a Gold Challenge event in April. Photograph: Pa Wire/PA London 2012′s stupendous insanity leaves sport as an also-ran Rooftop rockets, uncontrolled consumerism and out-of-touch elites are at the rotten heart of this hugely wasteful Olympics John Harris guardian.co.uk, Monday 30 April 2012 14.00 BST Article history And so it [...]
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli military vehicles crossed into the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, witnesses told Ma’an. Seven army vehicles including bulldozers entered Gaza north of Beit Hanoun and dug up lands in the border area, they said, adding that gunshots were heard in the area. Meanwhile, four Israeli vehicles crossed the border east [...]
Palestinian women attend a rally to show solidarity with Palestinians prisoners held in Israeli jails, in Gaza City, on April 30, 2012. (Reuters/Mohammed Salem) GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh called on Monday for a new intifada to support Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, who started a mass hunger-strike two weeks ago. [...]
The Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed sporadic clashes since the 2006 conflict between Israel and Lebanon [AFP] The Israeli army has begun building a wall that will run several kilometres along part of its border with Lebanon, a military spokeswoman has said. “This construction, which began on Monday, is being carried out in co-ordination with UNIFIL (the [...]
Many Spaniards are angry over austerity measures and widespread unemployment [Reuters] Spain’s economic recession has double-dipped in the first fiscal quarter, as the country faces intense pressure from the European Unionto solve its financial problems and growing public unrest against austerity measures, new data shows.The official data was released on Monday amid new quarterly unemployment figures showing nearly 25 [...]
Almost half of Iraqis rely on food aid to survive [GALLO/GETTY] Salina, KS - In February 2011, with grassroots uprisings having toppled the governments of Tunisia and Egypt, unrest was swelling in Iraq as well. In response, the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced that it was postponing a planned purchase of F16 fighter planes from the [...]
Nicolas Sarkozy‘s government has suggested foreign-born citizens guilty of murder should lose their citizenship [EPA] Paris, France - What if the destiny of multiculturalism and free movement of people in Europe was being played out in France? If Nicolas Sarkozy wins the presidential election on May 6, he will have to fulfil a political promise unthinkable for a [...]
Protest flames: demonstrators in Rome take part in a candlelit vigil held for victims of the economic crisis and to highlight the lack of jobs. Partial local elections take place next month. Photograph: Giuseppe Ciccia/Demotix/Corbis Anti-austerity movements gaining momentum across Europe As economies falter, established political parties feel the heat from leftwing and far right [...]
Aimal Faizi. “This means the text is closed….”What is the opinion of the agreement among regular Afghan citizens? (Photo: Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers) Why “lock” or “close” the future of Afghanistan to 30 million ordinary Afghan citizens? While the world may accept that the U.S. and Afghan governments have some “state” or “noble” considerations [...]
Growing up, Falling in Love Wednesday, April 18th, 2012 The AP story on military maneuvers in the Arctic reads like the gleeful report of a mugging. “To the world’s military leaders, the debate over climate change is long over. They are preparing for a new kind of Cold War [...]
HURSDAY 26, APRIL 2012 Afghanistan, Pakistan and the post 9/11 war economy Dear all, The post 9/11 world has created a vibrant and highly profitable war economy. Countless corporations in the West and beyond saw a unique opportunity to support American designs in the “war on terror”. This has created [...]
Washington Felons Fret Over Hanky-Panky in Cartagena by Philip Giraldi, April 26, 2012 Print This | Share This Americans are frequently most hypocritical when they are responding to a sex scandal. The tale of the sins and omissions of the Obama secret service team in Colombia is still being revealed, piece by piece. The [...]
Netanyahu: Israel soon to require national service for Israeli Arabs PM speaks to anti-Tal Law protesters and promises a more equal enlistment law, but does not mention the ultra-Orthodox; PM says question of early elections in Israel to soon be clarified. By Barak RavidTags: Benjamin Netanyahu Avigdor Lieberman IDF ultra-Orthodox Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday [...]
White House Defends Drones Despite Civilian Deaths ‘Sometimes You Have to Take Life to Save Lives’ by Jason Ditz, April 29, 2012 Print This | Share This It’s no real secret that the Obama Administration’s ever escalating drone war has killed a massive lot [...]
Villagers relaxing in Deir Istiya, 2009. (Photo: Genevieve Long) Earlier this week, Israel ordered Palestinian farmers in Deir Istiya, a major West Bank olive producing village, to uproot 1,400 trees by the end of this month. By comparison, this order is 400 more trees than the total number uprooted in all of 2011. “This is the [...]
Confessions of a Drone By David Swanson http://warisacrime.org/content/confessions-drone They told me I was the best, better than any human. I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t flinch. I didn’t think. It wouldn’t have occurred to me to think. I’d been taught to value obedience above all else, and I did so, and they loved me for it. [...]
Cigarette Companies and Their Underhanded Tactics Sunday, 29 April 2012 11:10By David Donovan, Independent Australia | Op-Ed (Photo: guitargirl8022)The world’s biggest cigarette companies made their case in the [Australian] High Court, battling the Federal Government’s attempts to impose plain packaging on their product, fearful it may set a worldwide precedent. Already, the UK is making plans to adopt similar legislation. [...]
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has once again expressed his concerns over the U.S. drone strikes in his country’s tribal regions. In a meeting with U.S. Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Marc Grossman on Friday, Zardari said Pakistan has always maintained that U.S. drone attacks are highly “counter-productive” in the war against militants since [...]
The Obama Contradiction Weakling at Home, Imperial President Abroad By Tom Engelhardt He has few constraints (except those he’s internalized). No one can stop him or countermand his orders. He has a bevy of lawyers at his beck and call to explain the “legality” of his actions. And if he cares [...]
May Day by Noam Chomsky If you’re a serious revolutionary, then you are not looking for an autocratic revolution, but a popular one which will move towards freedom and democracy. That can take place only if a mass of the population are implementing it, carrying it out, and solving problems. They’re not going to undertake that [...]
Stop the Holocaust of Migrating Birds by Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez Lately I have been sitting with the brooding knowledge that at least 7 million migrating songbirds were killed this spring running the gauntlet of 84,000 American communication towers that rise as high as 2,000 feet into the sky, braced by invisible guy wires that garotte the birds [...]
Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the most senior Roman Catholic in Scotland, called for the introduction of a Robin Hood tax. Photograph: Franco Origlia/Getty Images Cardinal accuses David Cameron of ‘immoral’ behaviour and favouring rich Cardinal Keith O’Brien says PM should not protect only his ‘very rich colleagues’ but consider his moral obligation to the poor One of Britain’s most prominent religious [...]
George Galloway: ‘Winning Bradford West, with the landslide that we did, was the best day of my life.’ Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian George Galloway: ‘I believe that on judgment day, people have to answer for what they did’ The newly elected MP for Bradford West strongly believes politics should not be secular, so [...]
The Bow Quarter complex has been chosen to host the missiles. Photograph: Sang Tan/AP It would make an arresting addition to any estate agent’s particulars. From next week a gated apartment complex in east London will be able to boast not just landscaped gardens and sparkling fountains but also a battery of rooftop surface-to-air missiles. The Bow [...]
Few men have spent more time at the intersection of nuclear weapons and international politics than Swedish diplomat Hans Blix. As the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and then chief United Nations weapons inspector, Blix was at the centre of events when he publicly contradicted claims from the administration of former US [...]
Iran says its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and has promised wide-ranging reprisals for any attack [AFP] Binyamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, has received a scathing attack from a former head of Israel‘s internal security service over his handling of Iran’s alleged nuclear programme. Yuval Diskin, the former director of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service, said in a voice clip played [...]
Ghanem, 69, served under Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi as head of the country’s national oil company [Reuters] Austrian police say former Libyan oil minister Shukri Ghanem was found dead in the Danube river near Vienna. Police spokesman Roman Hahslinger told Al Jazeera his corpse was found on Sunday morning floating in the river and [...]
Rupert Murdoch and Wendi Deng are driven away from the High Court after his final day of giving evidence at the Leveson inquiry. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty News Corporation has sought to undermine elected governments Rupert Murdoch is a man driven not so much by market forces as a deep desire to optimise his empire’s power [...]
REUTERS European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has suggested a ‘growth pact.’ Be it austerity queen Angela Merkel or Socialist François Hollande, European politicians are suddenly in agreement with ECB President Mario Draghi’s proposal to round out the European fiscal pact’s austerity measures with a “growth pact.” But many seem to have a different idea about what this means. [...]
Movement, Cadre, and Dual Power by Joel Olson Perspectives 2011 link http://anarchiststudies.org/node/544 Global capital has weak spots. I want to hit them. I do not believe, as Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri assert in Empire, that there is no “center” to global capital and that any strike at the beast is equally effective. [...]
“Proposing a Counterhegemonic Economic System” by Enric Duran, Translated by Scott Pierpont The IAS Blog Proposing a Counterhegemonic Economic System by Enric Duran, with contributions from members of the Temps de re-voltes collective. enric@enricduran.cat Translated by Scott Pierpont scott.pierpont@zoho.com January 2008, Translated September 2010 “If people living in [...]
Austerity is suicidal public policy warns US economist Joseph Stiglitz.Nobel Prize-winning U.S. economist Joseph Stiglitz speaking in Vienna, Austria Thursday night said that it’s a suicidal path for Europe — and that such a policy has never worked in any large country. European, US Austerity Drive is Suicidal: Nobel Economist Stiglitz ‘The Occupy movement has been very [...]
Taliban reject safe passage agreed at trilateral moot * Spokesman says decision of trilateral forum a US tactic to make jihadis surrender By Imdad Hussain link http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012%5C04%5C29%5Cstory_29-4-2012_pg7_3 ISLAMABAD: Afghan Taliban on Saturday rejected the trilateral forum agreement in Islamabad to give a safe passage to terrorists willing to talk [...]
Ex-Israeli spy boss attacks Netanyahu and Barak over Iran PM and defence chief not fit to lead Israel and are misleading the public over Iran, warns former Shin Bet boss Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem guardian.co.uk, Saturday 28 April 2012 12.58 BST Article history Former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin criticises Netanyahu and Barak [...]
Roast Chicken by http://agatersan.ru/easy?9 Guess What Drugs and Illegal Substances Are Showing Up in Chicken? By Richard Schiffman link http://www.opednews.com/articles/Guess-What-Drugs-and-Illeg-by-Richard-Schiffman-120428-142.html In 2005, the antibiotic fluoroquinolone was banned by the FDA for use in poultry production. The reason for the ban was an alarming increase in antibiotic-resistant campylobacter bacteria in the meat of chickens and turkeys — “superbugs”, which can lead to [...]
A radio personality in Cleveland is facing tremendous backlash after telling a father that he should get one of his male friends to rape his daughter to force her to turn straight. In response to an email from a father who suspected his daughter was gay after discovering her kissing [...]
The Supposed Legality of Murder By David Swanson http://warisacrime.org/content/supposed-legality-murder War is legal, but pointing out its illegality is not mistaken; it’s irrelevant and un-strategic. That’s the argument I’m hearing from a number of quarters. Chase Madar has a terrific new book on Bradley Manning in which he argues that [...]
Make Love, then War By Linh Dinh April 27, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — In these days of a dying, raving and hallucinating empire, its best known poet, and a master at being anti-war, is accepting a Presidential Freedom Award from a cynical if affable, still, to many people, master of [...]
Hundreds of Thousands Urge USDA to Stop ‘Agent Orange Corn’ – Common Dreams staff Hundreds of thousands of individuals, organizations and farmers are pushing the USDA to stop the approval of Dow AgroSciences‘ 2,4-D-resistant corn, dubbed ‘Agent Orange corn’ by its opponents, who say the product poses a threat to public health and the environment. [...]
