Articles by ICH

We found 2555 results.


Right!
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Nov 2014

A beggar walked up to a well‑dressed heavy woman shopping on Fifth Avenue in New York and said,

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A Minor Footnote to Australia’s Shameless Persecution of Asylum Seekers
Michael Brull – New Matilda, 17 Nov 2014

When it comes to Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers, I think it is impossible to overstate the sadism of government policy. From the savagery of the conditions in offshore processing, to the cruelty of onshore indefinite mandatory detention, we destroy people.

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(Français) LuxLeaks : L’évasion fiscale, un sport national pour les géants américains
Anne Michel - Le Monde, 10 Nov 2014

Luxembourg, Pays-Bas: Profitant d’une législation fiscale souple aux Etats-Unis, et poussées par des actionnaires avides de rentabilité, elles franchissent l’Atlantique, pour dissimuler une partie de leurs juteux profits, réalisés hors des Etats-Unis, dans ce paradis fiscal pour grandes entreprises.

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[Obscene] US Sends ‘Lessons Learned’ Team to Model Israel Tactics in Gaza Operation
Michael Wilner – The Jerusalem Post, 10 Nov 2014

The United States sent a team of senior officers to Israel to learn from tactics in Operation Protective Edge in Gaza last Summer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey said on Thursday [6 Nov 2014]. He praised the Israel Defense Forces for taking “extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage and civilian casualties” in its war against Hamas.

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Relativity
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Nov 2014

Albert Einstein asked the conductor,

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Discovering Iran
Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Nov 2014

As Khalil Gibran rightly observed: “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” With every wrong policy, America adds to the scars, strengthens the character and spirit of this unbreakable nation. This is what Washington is not able to grasp.

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Segregating the Evening Commute to the West Bank
Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man - +972 Magazine, 3 Nov 2014

It’s not really segregation. Not on paper at least. Or at least the paper doesn’t use the word “segregation.” In practice, however, people of one national origin will not be allowed to ride on the same bus lines as people of another national origin — for the benefit and at the request of one group, at the expense and against the desires of the other. Call that what you will.

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In Cold War, U.S. Spy Agencies Used 1,000 Nazis
Eric Lichtblau – The New York Times, 3 Nov 2014

CIA Allen Dulles believed “moderate” Nazis might “be useful” to America, records show. J. Edgar Hoover, for his part, personally approved some ex-Nazis as informants and dismissed accusations of their wartime atrocities as Soviet propaganda.

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Why Foreign Military Intervention Usually Fails in the 21st Century
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Nov 2014

We have reached a stage in the political development of life on the planet where civilizational and species survival itself depends on the urgency of building an effective movement against the war system that remains indispensable to sustain hierarchy and exploitation, wastes huge amounts of resources, and dangerously diverts problem-solving priorities.

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New Arrivals
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Nov 2014

A pope arrived at the gate of heaven.

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Major Banks Prepare to Pay Billions for Foreign Exchange Manipulation
Richard Smallteacher, CorpWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Nov 2014

1 Nov 2014 – Some 19 investigations of multinational banks in ten different legal jurisdictions are on their way to completion and the final tally may hit $41 billion to settle charges of foreign exchange manipulation.

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Resisting U.S. Bases in Okinawa
Ayano Ginoza, Michiko Hase and Gwyn Kirk – Foreign Policy In Focus, 27 Oct 2014

Despite intense crackdowns, activists on the Japanese island of Okinawa continue to resist the construction of new U.S. military bases.

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Amish Farmers Study Plant Immunology, Avoid Using Pesticides Completely
Christina Sarich – Nation of Change, 27 Oct 2014

Amish farmers are studying plant immunology in order to grow healthy organic produce free of harmful chemicals.

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Competition
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Oct 2014

On the last day of school before summer, when all children were itching to go home and play, a teacher promised that those children who could answer her questions correctly could leave earlier.

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Victory: Judge Deprives Monsanto of GM Planting Permit in Mexico, Protects the Bees
Christina Sarich – Natural Society, 27 Oct 2014

Honoring the complaints of a small group of beekeepers in the state of Yucatán, who complained that Monsanto’s planned planting of thousands of hectares of GM soybeans made to withstand RoundUp would demolish their honey industry by decimating bees – a judge in Mexico has removed Monsanto’s planting permit.

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The Zombie System – How Capitalism Has Gone Off the Rails
Michael Sauga – Der Spiegel, 27 Oct 2014

Six years after the Lehman disaster, the industrialized world is suffering from Japan Syndrome. Growth is minimal, another crash may be brewing and the gulf between rich and poor continues to widen. Can the global economy reinvent itself?

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Oslo Is Dead! Long Live Oslo! The UK House of Commons Supports Diplomatic Recognition of Palestine
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Oct 2014

On October 13 [2014] the House of Commons by an overwhelming vote of 274-12 urged the British government to extend diplomatic recognition to Palestine. At first glance, it would seem a rather meaningless gesture. It is a non-binding resolution.

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Briefing
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Oct 2014

Donald Rumsfeld is giving President Bush his daily briefing.

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Syria-to-Ukraine Wars Send U.S. Defense Stocks to Records
Richard Clough, Bloomberg – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Oct 2014

Led by Lockheed Martin Corp. the biggest U.S. defense companies are trading at record prices as shareholders reap rewards from escalating military conflicts around the world. Investors see rising sales for makers of missiles, drones and other weapons as the U.S. hits Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq.

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Did Israel Commit Genocide in Gaza?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Oct 2014

In a special session of the Russell Tribunal, Israel’s Operation Protective Edge was critically scrutinized from the perspective of international law, including the core allegation of genocide through testimonies by legal and weapons experts, health workers, journalists and others who experienced the 50 days of military assault.

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Questioning Sweden’s ‘Bold’ Diplomatic Initiative
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Oct 2014

The new center-left Swedish Prime Minister, Stefan Lofven, in his inaugural speech to Parliament indicated on October 3 [2014] the intention of the Swedish government to recognize Palestinian statehood.

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The Genie
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Oct 2014

A New Zealander, a South African and an Australian were the only survivors of a shipwreck on a small South Sea island, surviving on coconuts.

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Hypocrisy: Saudi Arabia Beheads 26 People in 1 Month, Some for ‘Sorcery’ – The West Has Nothing to Say about It (Images)
Richard Rowe, AATP – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Oct 2014

We condemn ISIS’ public beheadings, but in 2012-13, our allies in Saudi Arabia cut the heads off of 79 people [in public]. Let’s play “Compare and Contrast” for a moment:

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Changing the Political Climate: A Transitional Imperative
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Oct 2014

The most daunting challenging of adapting to the realities of the anthropocene era is achieving a soft transition from state-centric world order to a geo-centric reconfiguring of political community to enable the emergence of effective and humane global governance.

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4+ Logics of Living Together on Planet Earth
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Sep 2014

It is misleading to describe ‘world order’ as consisting exclusively of sovereign territorial states. This misimpression is further encouraged by the structure of the United Nations, whose members are states, and only states.

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The Real Reason We Are Bombing Syria
Dennis J. Kucinich - Reader Supported News, 29 Sep 2014

This Frankenstein-like experiment of arming the alleged freedom-seeking Syrian opposition created the monster that roams the region. ISIS and the U.S. have a curious relationship — mortal enemies that, at the same time, benefit from some of the same events.

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Wrong Comparison
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Sep 2014

A mechanic was removing a cylinder head from the motor of a Harley Davidson, when he spotted a world‑famous heart surgeon in his shop.

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Another Independent Study Confirms Monsanto’s RoundUp Chemicals are Lethal, Even in Small Doses
Christina Sarich – Natural Society, 29 Sep 2014

As many scientists have suspected, glyphosate does not reveal its true toxicity alone – but works in tandem with the other chemicals in RoundUp so that the levels of toxicity on human cells becomes catastrophic.

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Jesus!
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Sep 2014

A burglar broke through a window and entered a pitch-dark room.

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Memo on the Evaluation of the Community Work Program
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Sep 2014

This memo stresses the importance of evaluating CWP´s compliance with its mandate to use public employment to catalyse community development. It also underlines the importance of issues in economic theory that bear on CWP´s contribution to society.

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Expensive?
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Sep 2014

A foreign tourist’s car got stuck in a small Russian village.

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An Open Letter to Rabbi Ira Youdovin
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Serice, 15 Sep 2014

We have exchanged views frequently in the last few years, most often by way of adversary comments. I write now an ‘open letter’ because of your most recent comment objecting to my support for Steven Salaita in his campaign to have his tenure faculty appointment reinstated at the University of Illinois.

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Steven Salaita and Zionist McCarthyism
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Sep 2014

The outcome of the Salaita case will exhibit the current balance of influence as between Zionist McCarthyism and academic freedom. That such a struggle should be in doubt is itself a national disgrace that suggests the worrisome fragility of academic freedom as reinforced by the potency of money and regressive ideology.

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I understand why Westerners are joining jihadi movements like ISIS. I was almost one of them.
Michael Muhammad Knight – The Washington Post, 15 Sep 2014

We are raised to love violence and view military conquest as a benevolent act. The American kid who wants to intervene in another nation’s civil war owes his worldview as much to American exceptionalism as to jihadist interpretations of scripture. I grew up in a country that glorifies military sacrifice and feels entitled to rebuild other societies according to its own vision. Before I even knew what a Muslim was, let alone concepts such as “jihad” or an “Islamic state,” my American life had taught me that that’s what brave men do.

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Japan Still Hobbled by Racism and Militarism
Michael Walker – Foreign Policy In Focus, 15 Sep 2014

Not only has Japan been unable to face its past, it’s weighed down by a staggering national debt.

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Indigenous Indonesians Stand Up Against ‘Silent Genocide’ Promoted by Government
Christina Sarich – Nation of Change, 15 Sep 2014

Tactics such as rape, torture, and ‘disappearing’ are used by the military to suppress dissent.

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(Italiano) Due tipi di antisemitismo
Richard Falk – Centro Studi Sereno Regis, 15 Sep 2014

Questo secondo tipo di presunto antisemitismo è una tattica impiegata per screditare i critici di Israele insistendo che non andrebbero distinti la critica di Israele e l’odio del popolo ebraico.

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Map of the Stars
Andy Müller-Maguhn, Laura Poitras, Marcel Rosenbach, Michael Sontheimer and Christian Grothoff – The Intercept, 15 Sep 2014

The NSA and GCHQ Campaign against German Satellite Companies – “Fuck!” That is the word that comes to the mind of Christian Steffen, the CEO of German satellite communications company Stellar PCS.

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ISIS, Libya, NATO and Preventing the Next 9/11
Dennis Kucinich - Reader Supported News, 8 Sep 2014

We must resist the illusion that the only “decisive” response to terrorism is bombing. Instead, we should begin to confront ISIS by drying up its sources of revenue from places like Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

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Kiev’s War against Freedom of Speech – Ukraine: The Ugly Truth
Vladislav Gulevich - CounterPunch, 8 Sep 2014

Western journalists prefer not to speak with the people living in the war zone. They avoid citing any word which could cast doubt on Kiev`s policy. On the other hand, they easily rely on official Ukrainian sources and repeat their false, office-made “news” about Russian aggression and rebels killing their own population.

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Two Types of Anti-Semitism
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Sep 2014

This second type of supposed anti-Semitism is a tactic deployed to discredit critics of Israel by insisting that criticism of Israel and hatred of the Jewish people should not be distinguished.

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Obama Is a Liar. Fake NATO Evidence. OSCE Confirms That No Russian Troops, No Tanks, Have Crossed the Russia-Ukraine Border
Prof Michel Chossudovsky - Global Research, 8 Sep 2014

Obama confirmed on September 3 that “Russian combat forces with Russian weapons in Russian tanks” had been deployed in Eastern Ukraine. That’s not only a Lie; it is Lie which could potentially precipitate humanity into a Third World War.

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Russell Tribunal Session on Palestine
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Sep 2014

On September 24 [2014] a special session of the Russell Tribunal will examine war crimes allegations against Israel arising from the 50-day Operation Protective Edge military operation that commenced on July 8th.

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Examining
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Sep 2014

Two students went drinking late into the night before an exam.

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U.S. Identifies Citizens Joining [Mercenary] Rebels in Syria, Including ISIS
Michael S. Schmidt and Eric Schmitt – The New York Times, 1 Sep 2014

American intelligence and law enforcement agencies have identified nearly a dozen Americans who have traveled to Syria to fight for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

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American History
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Sep 2014

It was the first day of school and a new student named Yuki entered the fourth grade.

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The Outlaw State of Israel (Part I)
Richard Falk and Akbar Ganji – Al Jazeera, 25 Aug 2014

Since 1948 Israel has drawn a long list of military aggression, human rights violations and war crimes. It has become an outlaw state.

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The Outlaw State of Israel (Part II)
Richard Falk and Akbar Ganji – Al Jazeera, 25 Aug 2014

Unconditional US support for the state of Israel has precluded a peace settlement and destabilised the Middle East. In Part I we described the reasons that Israel has become an outlaw state. In this part we discuss US support for Israel and its consequences.

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Playing Bridge
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Aug 2014

Four women were playing bridge together every Friday afternoon for twenty years.

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Three Questions for Hamas
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Aug 2014

Whether wittingly or not, the international diplomacy of the West has produced dispossession, violence, and seemingly irreconcilable conflict with disastrous and tragic consequences for the indigenous population of Palestine ever since the end of World War I.

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Stalinist Zionism Is No Way to Treat a Friend
Michael Brull – New Matilda, 25 Aug 2014

It is not that these people are nostalgic for Stalin. It is that their style of worship of the state is reminiscent of supporters of Stalin. They display the same intellectual styles. And when people criticise their holy state, the response is lies, vilification, and whatever other means can be used to suppress criticism.

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“Muslim Rage” and the Hypocrisy of the Western Liberal Elite
Richard Silverstein, Tikun Olam – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Aug 2014

The western liberal élite has a problem with Muslims, in particular with Muslim Rage, as Newsweek’s cover called it. It reminds me of that priceless, old misogynist quotation from Sigmund Freud: women–what do they want? What do Muslims want? They want to be part of the modern world yet they import these age-old hatreds that are so–well, primitive and unmodern. Muslims aren’t ready for civilization-primetime.

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Strange Regional Alignments in the Gaza Massacre
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Aug 2014

Neighborly Crimes of Complicity in Gaza – The abysmal failure of the Kerry induced talks showed definitively that Israel has lost all interest in a diplomacy that promises the Palestinians a viable and independent sovereign state at the end of the road.

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Militarization of US Police: Blowback in Ferguson, Missouri
Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Aug 2014

[The fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager] This is a short call from informing the mainstream media that the country has been living under pseudo martial law for decades. Regardless of what big media wants us to believe, what we witness is a blowback. Our wars have come home to roost.

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Name Calling on the Road
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Aug 2014

A man was driving a car along a winding mountain road.

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Mourning for a Judaism Being Murdered by Israel
Rabbi Michael Lerner – Tikkun, 11 Aug 2014

My heart is broken as I witness the suffering of the Palestinian people and the seeming indifference of Israelis. Israeli behavior toward Palestinians is destroying Judaism and creating a new kind of hatred of Jews by people who never before had any issue with Jews.

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Why the White Americans Got the ‘Secret’ Ebola Serum
Michael Daly – The Daily Beast, 11 Aug 2014

Never mind that there seem to have been no more than eight doses of the serum in existence. The scandal is not that two white people got an untested serum, but that the deaths of so many black people were ignored until two white people got sick.

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Palestinian Open Letter to UNSG Ban Ki-moon on Gaza
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Aug 2014

Open letter to Mr. Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon: stand for law and Justice or resign!

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(Italiano) Dichiarazione congiunta sull’offensiva di Israele contro Gaza da parte di esperti di Diritto Internazionale
Richard Falk – Centro Studi Sereno Regis, 11 Aug 2014

La comunità internazionale deve fermare la punizione collettiva che Israele sta riservando alla popolazione civile nella Striscia di Gaza.

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Crimes against Humanity in Gaza: Is It Really a ‘Buffer Zone’ – Or a Bigger Plan?
Dennis Kucinich – The Guardian, 11 Aug 2014

5 Aug 2014 – It’s time to step back and ask if we want to support Israel if it wants to eject all Palestinians from their land. Late last week, the White House decried Israel’s attack on a UN school in Gaza as “totally unacceptable” and “totally indefensible”, then proceeded to approve $225m in funding for its Iron Dome.

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May I Come In?
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Servie, 11 Aug 2014

After a long illness, a woman died and arrived at the Gates of Heaven.

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Cruelties of Ceasefire Diplomacy
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Aug 2014

Devastation and violence has continued in Gaza, with Palestinians deaths now numbering over 1000 (overwhelmingly civilians) and Israeli deaths latest reported at being 43 (almost all military personnel). Such casualty figures and disparities raise questions of state terrorism in a stark manner.

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We Can Negotiate Peace in Gaza: Here’s How
Dennis J. Kucinich - Reader Supported News, 4 Aug 2014

When our brothers and sisters are killing each other, it is not time for us to take sides, but to take steps, with compassion and clarity, to end the carnage. We must move beyond the pro-Israel, anti-Israel narrative in the Middle East, which can lock us into a position where we must declare support for either Israelis or Palestinians, to the exclusion of the concerns of the other.

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Gaza Genocide and Arab Fratricide
Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Aug 2014

According to the Convention on the Crime of Genocide, persons committing or in complicity with genocide shall be punished “whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.” The US supports, funds and replenishes Israel with more weaponry on the ongoing genocide in Gaza; it also uses its political clout to enable Israel to continue its crimes against humanity.

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Joint Declaration on International Law & Gaza – Final List of Endorsers
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Aug 2014

With only a voluntary effort the Joint Declaration on International Law in relation to the Gaza Attacks by Israel has elicited an encouraging response from legal experts from around the world, including some of our most distinguished colleagues. Others without formal legal credentials have also indicated their support, and expressed their desire to endorse the Joint Declaration.

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IQ
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Aug 2014

A team of psychologists has developed a new measure of intelligence, a metric measure. The basic unit is the tary.

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Palestinian Recourse to the International Criminal Court: The Time Has Come
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jul 2014

The political plausibility of invoking the International Criminal Court to investigate allegations of criminality directed at Israel increases with each passing day.

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When BBC Calls, Don’t Answer
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jul 2014

That is, don’t answer, if you are a certified critic of Israeli policies and practices.

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Lawyers
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jul 2014

A woman called a lawyer in despair and explained, “I have never called a lawyer in my life.

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Why Is the 2022 World Cup Being Held in a Country That Practices Modern-Day Slavery?
Michelle Chen – The Nation, 28 Jul 2014

Even when migrant contract workers lose their jobs, they may end up stranded indefinitely if their employer does not give permission for them to return home. Workers who run away or are “abandoned” by their bosses might wind up homeless, unemployable and trapped on foreign soil.

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Gaza Interview
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jul 2014

[Prefatory note: This is an interview with a knowledgeable Greek journalist covering a range of issues associated with the Gaza ordeal] – “Blood on American Hands”: Richard Falk on Palestine

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The Truth!
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jul 2014

A 10 year old boy asked his recently divorced mother, “How old are you?” The mother told him, “This is not a question you should ask, never ask it again.”

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No Exit from Gaza: A New War Crime?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jul 2014

As the casualty totals continue to mount while the world looks on in stupefied inaction, the attacks go on; at the very least, from a humanitarian perspective, there should be a global outcry demanding that children, mothers, and those sick and disabled be allowed to leave the Gaza Strip until current hostilities end. Yet this is a gap in international humanitarian law and refugee law.

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Tormenting Gaza
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jul 2014

There is so much regional turbulence at present that it is unlikely to hope for anything more than scattered verbal denunciations from authorities in the region preoccupied with other concerns, but given the gravity of the situation, attention needs to be refocused on the Palestinian ordeal.

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What Is Israel’s End Game in Gaza?
Dennis Kucinich – Consortium News, 21 Jul 2014

Israel can kill, injure, humiliate Palestinians at will, with impunity, which is exactly what gave rise to Hamas and strengthens Hamas’ hold in Gaza, even as the IDF advances… Since the U.S. is helping to pay Israel’s bills, we cannot avoid the consequences of paying the price for Israel’s actions against the Palestinians.

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Save Gaza Today – Tomorrow May Be Too Late!
Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jul 2014

With the growing extremism in Israeli military, their “holy wars” and nukes, it is not just Gaza that is burning – this is a war on humanity and perhaps even human race. If we do not stop it today, tomorrow may be too late.

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A Tale of Two Cities: Istanbul and Rome
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jul 2014

Symbolically and culturally Istanbul deserves to be privately christened as the global capital of the 21st century. It is only world city that qualifies by virtue of its geographic and civilizational hybridity, Western by history and experience, Eastern by culture and location, Northern by stage of development, modernism, and urban dynamism, Southern by affinities, outreach, and partial identification.

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NO to Currency Slavery
Michael Hudson – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jul 2014

Western support will allow more IMF and European lending to prop the Ukrainian currency so the Ukrainian oligarchs can move their money safely to British and US banks.

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Depends
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jul 2014

A Chinese businessman arrived on his first flight to the United States.

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America’s Creative Extortion
Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich – TRANSCEND Media Servicde, 14 Jul 2014

Admittedly, America has always devised creative means to execute its vast array of crimes against other nations – coups, wars, occupation, exploitation, terrorism, genocide, and so forth. One crime often neglected is America’s creative extortion. America has made a legal judgment to rob Iran of $1.75 billion.

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Remembering Fouad Ajami
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jul 2014

For me Fouad Ajami’s legacy is that of ‘sleeping with the enemy.’ And it is an enemy that is politically, morally, and legally responsible for millions of deaths, displacements, and devastating losses.

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Countries Spending the Most on the Military
Thomas C. Frohlich and Alexander Kent – USA Today, 14 Jul 2014

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the U.S. spent $618 billion on its military last year, more than three times the $171 billion budget of second place China. Based on SIPRI’s 2013 data, these are the countries with the largest military budgets.

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What Is Israel’s Shurat Hadin and Why Is It Suing a Sydney University Academic?
Michael Brull - Crikey, 7 Jul 2014

Shurat HaDin, a pro-Israel law centre, is taking legal action over an Australian academic’s support for the boycott, divestment, sanctions movement against Israel. Juris doctor student Michael Brull takes a look at the case.

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Shifts in the Climate Change Debate: Hope and Suspicion
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jul 2014

The intense lobbying efforts by climate deniers, reinforced in the United States by a right wing anti-government tsunami that has paralyzed Congress, succeeded in blocking even modest market-based steps to induce energy efficiency.

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The World’s Most Important Spectator
David Bromwich – London Review of Books, 30 Jun 2014

‘If we have to use force,’ Madeleine Albright said, ‘it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future.’ Very much in that spirit, Obama told the graduating West Point cadets that the US must lead the world even though it cannot police the world.

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Honesty about Lies
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Jun 2014

A reporter asked the mother of Jimmy Carter whether he ever lied. She said, “Maybe once in a while a white lie.”

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Foreign Aid Funding Luxury Hotels in Myanmar
Michelle Tullo, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 16 Jun 2014

New investments from the World Bank’s private-sector investment arm may perpetuate economic inequality rather than alleviate poverty in Myanmar. “A significant factor contributing to the urban versus rural income inequality is that the vast majority of investment in Burma is concentrated in the urban sector, despite the fact that only one-third of the population lives in these areas,”

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Successful Elections
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 16 Jun 2014

President Carter was worried about his prospects for reelection.

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Ukraine’s Kiev Regime Is Not “Officially” a Neo-Nazi Government
Prof Michel Chossudovsky - Global Research, 16 Jun 2014

There are “ultra-conservatives” in the Kiev government but “they are not Neo-Nazis,” says the Western media. The alternative media says that the Kiev regime is integrated by two Neo-Nazi parties (Svoboda and Right Sector) “but it is not a Neo-Nazi government”. When the Kiev regime “officially” displays Nazi emblems to identify entities of their National Security and Military apparatus one would normally assume that it is a Neo-Nazi government.

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There’s a Kind of Hush
Nicholas Kristof - The New York Times, 16 Jun 2014

Aung San Suu Kyi should be one of the heroes of modern times. Instead, as her country imposes on the Rohingya Muslim minority an apartheid that would have made white supremacists in South Africa blush, she bites her tongue. It seems as though she aspires to become president of Myanmar, and speaking up for a reviled minority could be fatal to her prospects. The moral giant has become a calculating politician.

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Obama Success, or Global Shame?
Nicholas Kristof – The New York Times, 9 Jun 2014

What’s odious about what is happening here is that the suffering is deliberately inflicted as government policy. The authorities are stripping members of one ethnic group of citizenship, then interning them in camps or villages, depriving them of education, refusing them medical care — and even expelling humanitarians who seek to save their lives.

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Obama’s Legacy: “Don’t Do Stupid Stuff”
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Jun 2014

Cautioning against militarism at West Point President on May 22nd Obama in a speech mostly notable for its reassertion of what might be best understood as imperial nationalism of global scope declared the following:

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Prosecuting Syrians for War Crimes Now
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Jun 2014

Is justice served when the authority of the ICC is invoked as a political instrument to influence the outcome of a civil war? Why was there never any initiative to pursue leaders of the United States and the United Kingdom during the course of the Iraq War, which also included many incidents that seemed to qualify as crimes against humanity? Double standards?

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Good Care
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Jun 2014

Vice President Dick Cheney underwent surgery. When he woke up from his anesthesia, all shades were closed.

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Myanmar’s Appalling Apartheid
Nicholas Kristof - The New York Times, 2 Jun 2014

Welcome to Myanmar, where tremendous democratic progress is being swamped by crimes against humanity toward the Rohingya, a much-resented Muslim minority in this Buddhist country. Budding democracy seems to aggravate the persecution, for ethnic cleansing of an unpopular minority appears to be a popular vote-getting strategy.

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Pope Francis Visit to Palestine
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Jun 2014

Pope Francis’ visit to the Holy Land raises one overwhelming question: ‘what is the nature of religious power in our world of the 21st century?’ ‘Can it have transformative effects’?

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The Struggle to Ban Killer Robots
Kristin Bergtora Sandvik, Nicholas Marsh and Maral Mirshahi – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 26 May 2014

The campaign must balance technical expert conversations with active participation in public debate. Identifying and arguing for broad ethical principles while keeping the objective narrow appears to be the most feasible strategy, along with insisting that the development of lethal autonomous weapons is not inevitable.

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Russia, China Sign Deal to Bypass U.S. Dollar
Michael Pizzi – Al Jazeera America, 26 May 2014

In a blow to U.S. global financial hegemony, Russia and China on Tuesday [20 May 20114] signed a deal to pay each other in domestic currencies, followed by the announcement on Wednesday of a $100 billion annual trade on natural gas, 10 years in the making.

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Philantrocapitalism: Gates, the World’s Largest and Most Powerful Foundation
Jacob Levich - Global Research, 26 May 2014

Wielding “huge power that could reshape nations according to their will,”5 billionaire donors would now openly embrace not only the market-based theory, but also the practices and organizational norms, of corporate capitalism. Yet the overall thrust of their charitable interventions would remain consistent with longstanding traditions of Big Philanthropy, as discussed below:

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On Citizenship in the 21st Century
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 May 2014

Reading Robert Paehlke’s carefully crafted essay on global citizenship provides the occasion both for an appreciation of his approach and some doubts about its degree of responsiveness to the urgencies of the present or more specifically its adequacy in relation to the call for ‘transformative vision and praxis’ that lies at the heart of the ‘Great Transition Initiative.’

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