Articles by M

We found 33802 results.


(Português) Alepo, o Exercício Forçado da Perda da Memória
Paulo Mendes Pinto | Público – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

Quando falamos, a respeito da Síria, de destruição de património, falamos, em especial, de património imaterial naquilo que ele tem de mais valioso: o pensamento e a vivência.

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Winter Solstice: On This Day of the Longest Night
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

In 2016, Winter in the Northern hemisphere begins on Wed, 21 Dec, 10:44 a.m. GMT–shortest day of the year. What was this mystery, visible but elusive, recurrent but changing, cyclical but subject to interference from clouds and storms. Cosmic battles! Struggles in the heavens! Messages for those below on Earth, watching!

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Toni Morrison on the Power of Language: Her Spectacular Nobel Acceptance Speech after Becoming the First African American Woman Awarded the Accolade
Maria Popova | Brain Pickings – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

“We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.” Morrison took the podium at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm and accepted the accolade with a spectacular speech about the power of language — its power to oppress and to liberate, to scar and to sanctify, to plunder and to redeem. Morrison’s address remains perhaps our most powerful manifesto for the responsibility embedded in how we wield the tool that stands as the hallmark of our species.

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Poisoned Snow Geese in Butte: The New “Canaries” Warning Us Humans about the Toxic Nature of Copper Mining
Gary G. Kohls, MD | Duty to Warn – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

Lessons from the Most Toxic Open Pit Copper Mine in the World

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The Modern Destruction of Ancient Aleppo
Vithal Rajan – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

17 Dec 2016 – If the English poet, John William Burgon, called Petra ‘half as old as time,’ Aleppo is a lot older. One of the world’s earliest cities, it ended the bronze age by discovering iron ore. A centre of Christianity almost two-thousand years ago, Aleppo sent evangelists as far afield as the western shores of India.

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The Value in Activism: Reflections from the Columbia University Climate Sit-In
Nikita Perumal | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

When the status quo—in this case, the political and social power of extractive and destructive industries—is too strong to be undone on its own, it sometimes needs a push. I believe, wholeheartedly, that activism is that push. It is our way of reclaiming power, and catalyzing the policy changes that we so desperately need for a more just world.

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Last Surviving Nuremberg Prosecutor Aims to ‘Save the World’
Lulu Ramadan - Palm Beach Post, 19 Dec 2016

Ben Ferencz once worked under the glare of the world spotlight seeking the semblance of justice for crimes that claimed millions of lives. Today, seven decades later, his arena is a home office in a retirement village in suburban Delray Beach, but he says his battle is not won and he works daily to make sure someone will make the arguments against hate and war even when he’s gone.

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President Donald Trump—Israel’s Pick for War in Iran?
James M. (“Mel”) Rockefeller | Hidden Tax on Humanity – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

As can be proven by my life experience as the out-of-wedlock son of Nelson Rockefeller, Jewish elites and extremists are the source of serial wars and crises dating to no later than 1850 when Rothschild-affiliate Hallgarten & Company investment bankers opened their Manhattan office to finance both sides in the Civil War. A century later, my Uncle David Rockefeller razed Hallgarten’s headquarters to build One Chase Manhattan Plaza.

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Fame – Remember My Name [2009] (Music Video of the Week)
MGM – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

The Other Classic from 2009

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The Fortifying Commons
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

In the first of a series of columns about possible solutions, I explore how commons could transform society and the distribution of wealth.

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This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

Dec 19-25 ~ QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” – Aristotle

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On the Death of Fidel Castro
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

I have been bemused by the captious tone and condescending assessments of mainstream media in the West reacting to Fidel Castro’s death. The lead editorial in The Economist went on even to mock the reverence ordinary Cubans felt for Castro: “Cubans say Mr. Castro was ‘like a father” to them. They are right: he infantilized a nation. Anyone with initiative found ways to leave for exile abroad.”

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Europe Must Not Be a Vassal to Trump’s USA
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

Today human civilization and the biosphere face two existential threats: catastrophic climate change, and thermonuclear war. Each of these disasters could cause mass extinctions, and each could make large portions of the earth permanently uninhabitable.

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Rethinking the Arab Spring: Uprisings, Counterrevolution, Chaos, and Global Reverberations
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

At this point, following the election of Donald Trump as the next American president, there are likely to be significant geopolitical adjustments with related regional impacts. It is possible that cooperation between Russia and the United States will be forthcoming for the purpose of ending civil strife in Syria and Yemen, defeating religious extremism in the region, and maintaining the Iran nuclear agreement.

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(Italiano) Il sionismo nella sua espressione migliore
Amira Hass | Haaretz – Zeitun, 19 Dec 2016

La terra che Israele ha destinato ai giubilanti coloni si chiama Atir/Umm al Hiran e per 60 anni ha ospitato i membri della tribù beduina di Al-Qi’an.

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[Nobel Peace Laureate] Aung San Suu Kyi’s ‘Buddy’ Solution
M. Adil Khan – The Daily Star, 19 Dec 2016

13 Dec 2016 – Persecution of Rohingyas in Myanmar is continuing with impunity and without a break. Dieng and Yanghee Lee, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, have confirmed these atrocities and “requested independent UN investigations on the alleged ‘ethnic cleansing’ and other mass atrocities in the Rohingya region of Rakhine State”.

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Decades of Denial as Rohingya Genocide Continues
Nancy Hudson-Rodd | New Mandala – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

Recent violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state has led to an increase in the persecution of the Rohingya people, but the international community continues to turn a blind eye.

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(Italiano) What Is Home? Ipotesi per cambiamenti collettivi possibili
Silvia Berruto – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

Community engagement. Questa l’ouverture, invito e proposta programmatica insieme, del progetto-intervento per cambiamenti collettivi possibili, con azioni e obiettivi ad assetto variabile.

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Global Economy of Truth as a Ponzi Scheme
Anthony Judge | Laetus in Praesens – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

Personal Cognitive Implication in Globalization? Conventionally a Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors rather than from profit. The term “Ponzi scheme” is used primarily in the United States , while other English-speaking countries do not distinguish colloquially between this scheme and pyramid schemes.

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Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (Rome) Takes Up ‘Urgent Case’ of Myanmar’s Rohingya
International State Crime Initiative – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

PPT is in keeping with this People-centered Justice, as opposed to Power-dictated “justice”.

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PropOrNot’s Grandiose Fabrications
Yves Smith | Naked Capitalism – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

5 Dec 2016 – The fake news site about fake news known as PropOrNot has been roundly derided, most recently by the New Yorker and the media watchdog FAIR, as an inept propaganda effort that has gotten far more attention that it ever deserved. PropOrNot’s efforts, as Ben Norton and Glenn Greenwald at the Intercept, and Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone pointed out, were so obviously childish and overreaching that no reputable reporter should ever have regarded them as credible.

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Disparities around Us—Living Together in Peace and Harmony
Dr Ravi P Bhatia – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

What is striking not only for foreigners but also for some observant local people in the so called developing countries including India is the disparity and inequity that is out in the open in major towns… Gandhi’s life and his message of living together, truth, nonviolence, and not over-exploiting nature are as relevant today as it was in his time. His message is important not only for the poor but also for the rich and the elites of our society.

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Bitter Harvest for Indian Farmers
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Dec 2016

15 Dec 2016 – The naked and cruel truth about India is that agriculture remains its Achilles’ heel. It is a source of livelihood for hundreds of millions of people but a fraction of the nation’s total economy and a symbol of its perennial distress.

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(Italiano) Un mondo migliore ha meno violenza e guerra
Johan Galtung | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

The National Society of High School Scholars, Premio per il Miglioramento del Mondo Claes Nobel, Centro Carter, 3 dicembre 2016 – Manco a dirlo, non monetizzare mai. Le vite umane non hanno prezzo; recano in sé il più prezioso di tutti i doni, la vita. Non toglierla, crearla, preservarla, alla fine sarà la natura a porle fine. L’impagabile non ha prezzo.

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(Italiano) Lo Stato del Mondo Oggi: uno Sguardo
Johan Galtung | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

Quel mondo è oggi fondamentalmente multi-polare, forse con 8 poli: Anglo-America, America Latina-Caraibi, Unità Africana, Islam-OIC da Casablanca a Mindanao, Unione Europea, Russia più una regione che uno stato, SAARC dal Nepal allo Sri Lanka, ASEAN, Australia-Nuova Zelanda. E multi-regionale: l’Organizzazione di Shangai per la cooperazione, SCO, con Cina e Russia, paesi islamici, India e Pakistan.

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On the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade | UN Library of International Law - TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

When the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted, on 10 December 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in one of the brief spells of enlightenment in the twentieth century, one could hardly anticipate that a historical process of generalization of the international protection of human rights was being launched, on a truly universal scale.

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Broken Men in Paradise
Roger Cohen – The New York Times, 12 Dec 2016

The world’s refugee crisis knows no more sinister exercise in cruelty than Australia’s island prisons.

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Donald Trump Will Cause US Power to Collapse Says Johan Galtung, Who Correctly Predicted Fall of USSR
Harriet Agerholm – The Independent, 12 Dec 2016

Norwegian professor Johan Galtung is known as the “founding father” of peace studies as a scientific subject and is recognised for correctly predicting numerous historical events, among them the Tiananmen Square uprising in China and the September 11 attacks. He attracted controversy in 2000 when he predicted US global power would collapse by 2025. But under the Bush administration he revised his forecast for the collapse to 2020.

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US Power Will Decline under Trump Says Johan Galtung, Futurist Who Predicted Soviet Collapse
Nafeez Ahmed | Vice Motherboard – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

The Norwegian professor at the University of Hawaii and Transcend Peace University is recognized as the ‘founding father’ of peace and conflict studies as a scientific discipline. He has made numerous accurate predictions of major world events, most notably the collapse of the Soviet Empire.

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Honoring Henry Kissinger at Oslo
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

What is equally distressing is the Orwellian insensitivity of the Nobel authorities to the inappropriateness of treating Kissinger as though he is a highly trusted source of guidance and wisdom with respect to world peace. Kissinger has applauded the worst excesses of dictators, especially in Latin America, and backed the most immoral geopolitical policies throughout his long career.

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America’s Hare Krishna Movement, at 50, Is a Testament to Adaptability
The Economist - TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

It is a commonplace of religious history that every big spiritual movement seems to travel along a path, sometimes backward and forward, between ecstatic religious experience and settling down as an permanent, conventionally organised institution. The followers of Krishna appear to be no exception.

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Japan’s Center for Glocal Studies Publishes Article on the Acting Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom
Hawaiian Kingdom Blog – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

10 Dec 2016 – Japan’s Seijo University’s Center for Glocal Studies has published an article authored by Dennis Riches titled “This is not America: The Acting Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom Goes Global with Legal Challenges to End Occupation.” The study focused on the American occupation of Hawai‘i and its global impact, which includes war crimes.

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(Français) Désobéissance – Etats-Unis : victoire des Sioux face au projet d’oléoduc qui menace leurs terres
Sophie Chapelle – Basta! Magazine, 12 Dec 2016

Les Sioux de la réserve de Standing Rock, dans le Dakota du Nord, viennent de remporter une grande victoire le 4 décembre. Depuis le 1er avril, ils ont établi un camp de résistance pour bloquer un projet d’oléoduc, le Dakota Access Pipeline d’une longueur de 1800 kilomètres, qui menace des sites culturels ancestraux et leurs sources d’eau.

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Laurens van der Post (13 Dec 1906 – 16 Dec 1996): Memories, Dreams, Reflections
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

Laurens van der Post was an Afrikaner, South African writer but who wrote in English. Deeply influenced by his friendship with the Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung, van der Post could also call his collected writings after the title of Jung’s autobiographic Memories, Dreams, Reflections. The debt to Jung is developed in van der Post’s Jung and the Story of Our Time.

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Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s Statement on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Decision to Not Grant Easement
Stand With Standing Rock – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

4 Dec 2016 – Today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not be granting the easement to cross Lake Oahe for the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline. Instead, the Corps will be undertaking an environmental impact statement to look at possible alternative routes. We wholeheartedly support the decision of the administration and commend with the utmost gratitude the courage it took on the part of President Obama, the Army Corps, the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior to take steps to correct the course of history and to do the right thing.

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Spherons of Harmony
Leo Semashko – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

Deep Societal Structure-Copernican Revolution of Social Science, Peacebuilding and Militaristic Civilization

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Superpower in War against Cuba for 50 Years
Noam Chomsky – Defend Democracy Press, 12 Dec 2016

“During the Winter of 1959-1960, there was a significant increase in CIA-supervised bombing and incendiary raids piloted by exiled Cubans” based in the US. Cuba, however, did not respond with violent actions within the US for revenge or deterrence but followed international law. In July 1960, Cuba called on the UN providing the Security Council with records of bombings, including names of pilots, plane registration numbers, unexploded bombs, and other specific details.

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Unveiling Islamic Polygamy
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

One of the most contentious issues that come up in any debate on Islam’s gender practices is polygamy. Contrary to various myths, polygamy is a unique and revolutionary social safety and security net that has unfortunately been maligned on account of its abuse.

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(Italiano) Praticare la disobbedienza: la giustizia sociale e ambientale dipende dalla nostra capacità di disobbedire
Max Wilbert – Centro Studi Sereno Regis, 12 Dec 2016

E’ difficile resistere alle pressioni sociali, specialmente quando siamo abituati ad abbinarle alle norme. Ma è essenziale imparare a disobbedire. Un rimedio è la pratica. Come sollevare pesi o scrivere un saggio di cinque paragrafi, la resistenza è una capacità che può essere allenata.

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Drowning in Information: NSA Revelations from 262 Spy Documents
Micah Lee and Margot Williams – The Intercept, 12 Dec 2016

7 Dec 2016 – By the first half of 2004, the National Security Agency was drowning in information. It had amassed 85 billion phone and online records and cut the ribbon on a new hacking center in Hawaii — but it was woefully short on linguists who could make sense of captured communications and lacked enough network analysts to effectively monitor all the systems it had hacked.

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The ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ of Myanmar’s Rohingya Community Is Underway
Public Radio International – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is often seen as a place of military rule, gradually moving towards democracy. But in recent weeks, a new story has emerged: what one UN official called the “ethnic cleansing” of a religious minority.

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If You Are for Peace You Are a Russian Agent
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

Speaking of fake news, the latest issue of the National Enquirer at the supermarket is giving the mainstream media a run for the money: “Castro’s Deathbed Confession: I Killed JFK. How I framed Oswald.” That’s almost as good as the fake news going around the presstitute media, such as the TV stations, the Washington Post, New York Times, Guardian, that the CIA has concluded that “Russian operatives covertly interfered in the election campaign in an attempt to ensure the Republican candidate’s victory.”

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Nuclear Weapons Modernization: A New Nuclear Arms Race? Who Voted for It? Who Will Benefit from It?
Kevin Martin and Paul A. Olson | PeaceVoice – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

So who will benefit? Certainly Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and the nuclear weapons contractors in other countries (and the politicians who rely on their campaign cash). Anyone else? Anyone? The children? The environment? The smart way forward is not rocket science. Instead of embarking on a plan we can’t afford and that makes our country and the world less safe, let us cancel nuclear modernization.

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Little Known Facets of Fidel Castro
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

The first is the negation of TINA (There is No Alternative ). The prevailing capitalist system maintains that “there is no alternative to capitalism.” A second point worth noting was Fidel Castro’s interest in the Theology of Liberation. Another was his invitation, during the time of “polite silence” that was imposed on me in 1984 by the former Holy Office (the Inquisition). Fidel invited me to spend 15 days with him on the Island to explore questions of religion.

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Haiti Elections: Human Rights and Alternative Media Delegation Report
Pierre Labossiere and Margaret Prescod – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

Observations of voting activities on the day of the election lead to the conclusion that there was widespread organized voter suppression which impacted the reported election results. Eligible voters were kept from voting, this negatively impacted the number of voters declared to have cast their ballots.

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The Victory at Standing Rock Could Mark a Turning Point
Bill McKibben – The Guardian, 12 Dec 2016

4 Dec 2016 – The news that the US federal government has refused to issue the permit needed for an energy company to run a pipeline under the Missouri river means many things – including that indigenous activists have won a smashing victory, one that shows what nonviolent unity can accomplish. There are lessons here as we enter a challenging new age.

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This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

Dec 12-18 ~ QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is the root of all money?” – Ayn Rand

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Ludwig van Beethoven (17 Dec 1770 – 26 Mar 1827)
Biography – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

Ludwig van Beethoven was a deaf German composer and the predominant musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras.

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Psychiatrists
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

A psychiatrist needed a plumber.

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Human Rights Day: A Call to Care
Kathy Kelly | PeaceVoice – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

December 10th marks the U.N. Human Rights Day, celebrating and upholding the indispensable and crucial declaration of universal human rights. On the eve of this event, I visited a refugee camp housing 700 families in Kabul.

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10 Zionist Arguments You’ve Encountered, but Didn’t Have Answers to
Jeremy R. Hammond – Foreign Policy Journal, 12 Dec 2016

Here are ten popular arguments Zionists use to defend Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians and how to answer them effectively.

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The 21st Century Cures Act: A Gift to the US Pharmaceutical Industry
Brad Dixon | WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

12 Dec 2016 – The 21st Century Cures Act is an early Christmas gift from the US Congress to the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. The bill guts the regulatory powers of the Food and Drug Administration, weakening the standards used to judge the safety and efficacy of drugs and medical devices. Notably, the bill does nothing to address skyrocketing drug prices.

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(Français) « Ce qui a été omis à la mort de Fidel Castro » par Noam Chomsky
Marc De Miramon et Jérôme Skalski | Investig’Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

Le linguiste et philosophe Noam Chomsky, figure majeure du paysage intellectuel états-unien, nous a livré ses réflexions exclusives après la mort de Fidel Castro à l’occasion d’une rencontre dans les locaux de « l’Humanité » et de « l’Humanité Dimanche ».

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This Is What American Fascism Is Going to Look Like
Gary G. Kohls, MD | Duty to Warn – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

“You drop bombs on seven Muslim countries and then you wonder why Muslims are upset. Or you drop bombs on innocent Muslim children with U.S. drones and then you wonder why the gangsters, the fascists that are coming out of the Muslim world, are organizing.”
– Dr Cornel West – in a recent interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!

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Walking up a Tower — A Simple Conversation on God, Truth and Knowledge
Dr Ravi P Bhatia – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

Four men had to go to their office on the 20th floor of a tall tower in a big city. When they reached the staircase they were disappointed to see that both the elevators were out of order. What to do?

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US Court Hands Standing Rock another Victory
teleSUR – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

Another victory came for demonstrators against the Dakota Access pipeline this Friday [9 Dec] when a federal judge denied the company’s request to force the federal government to approve the controversial 1,172-mile pipeline’s final easement. Resistance won’t stop, and starting Jan. 2, dissatisfied investors will have the option of pulling out of the controversial, money-losing project.

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(Italiano) Le lotte ambientali – World Swaraj?
Elena Camino – Centro Studi Sereno Regis, 12 Dec 2016

Le notizie sul conflitto in Nord Dakota intanto proseguono. Comunque si concluda questa fase, è chiaro che non si tratta solo di eventi episodici, ma di un conflitto strutturale e un conflitto culturale, in cui si scontrano opposte visioni del mondo: da un lato l’umanità è intesa come dominatrice – anche con la violenza – di un pianeta considerato come fonte di risorse e discarica di rifiuti, dall’altro l’umanità è considerata come ospite, insieme alle altre creature, della Madre Terra, da cui totalmente dipende.

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Sorry, Aung San Suu Kyi, the Rohingya Crisis Is No Laughing Matter
Maung Zarni and Gregory Stanton – The Wire, 12 Dec 2016

The world is reacting with horror to the massacre of Rohingyas in Rakhine State, but Suu Kyi and her government continue to turn a blind eye to what increasingly appears like a genocide.

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(Italiano) Lettera a me stessa di Paola Cattelino
Silvia Berruto – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

Lettera a me stessa è un libro necessario. Per i destinatari collettivi. Per NOI che, con l’autrice, “roccia” e cristallo insieme, siamo coinvolti nel difficile, talvolta faticoso, ma irrinunciabile compito di comunicare.

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Change of Guard
TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

Immortality Revisited: Insanity?

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The Greatest Science Books of 2016
Maria Popova | Brain Pickings – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

From the sound of spacetime to time travel to the microbiome, by way of polar bears, dogs, and trees.

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The Golden Arches Theory of Decline
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

Why is there a worldwide revolt against politics as usual? Because corporate globalisation has crushed democratic choice. One of the answers is to rescue democracy from transnational corporations. It is to defend the crucial political unit that’s under assault by banks, monopolies and chainstores: community. It is to recognise that there is no greater hazard to peace between nations than a corporate model which crushes democratic choice.

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14 Countries Press Myanmar to Allow Aid in Rohingya Areas
Mike Ives – The New York Times, 12 Dec 2016

Fourteen governments urged Myanmar on Friday [9 Dec] to allow a full resumption of aid to a predominantly Muslim part of Rakhine State, as the UN described an escalation of a humanitarian crisis there. The main ethnic group in the northern part of Rakhine is the Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority whose members are barred from citizenship in Myanmar, which is mostly Buddhist.

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The Violent Poet
Emanuel E. Garcia – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

What? Violence and the sweetest of arts cannot be connected in the same breath, can they?

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EU Desperate to Raises Taxes Starts Cashless Society Project
Graham Vanbergen | True Publica – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

A few months back The Guardian ran an article stating that “Swedes are blazing a trail in Europe, with banks, buses, street vendors and even churches expecting plastic or virtual payment” as if the cashless society was something to be celebrated by modern society.

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Corporate Media: The Real Fake News Specialists
John Andrews | Dissident Voice – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

5 Dec 2016 – A lot has recently been said about “fake” news. Social media and alternative news websites have been especially blamed. But what about our corporate news providers? Consider, for example, a front page story in last week’s Times.

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The Russians Are Hacking My Poems!!!
Gary Corseri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

Dah! It’s true!
Every time I come upon
some clever turn-of-phrase,
they’re in my brain,
they’re at my screen—
hacking, hacking, hacking!

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Fake News about “Fake News”: The Media Performance Pyramid
Media Lens | Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

5 Dec 2016 – In the wake of Brexit and Trump, “mainstream” media have done the formerly unthinkable by focusing on media bias. The intensity of focus has been such that the Oxford Dictionaries have announced that ‘post-truth’ is their ‘Word of the Year 2016’.

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(Português) Ser Tímido
David Arioch | Jornalismo Cultural – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

As pessoas subestimam a timidez quando a relacionam apenas aos aspectos negativos da vida em sociedade. Pessoas tímidas naturalmente ouvem mais e observam mais. Também refletem muito.

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Guns, Grenades, and Facebook
Brendan McQuade – Jacobin Magazine, 12 Dec 2016

5 Dec 2016 – As the deadline approached, some two thousand US military veterans arrived, promising to form a “human shield” to block any eviction. Then, yesterday, came the Army Corps’ surprise announcement: Dakota Access would not be given the permits it needs to drill under the Missouri River, effectively halting the $3.8 billion oil infrastructure project. The victory at Standing Rock in the face of state repression is a testament to the power of direct action.

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Myanmar Must Strengthen Effort to Diffuse Tension in Northern Rakhine State – UN Special Adviser
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

The UN said that authorities need to take proactive measures to protect the local civilian population and allow humanitarian access to the areas of conflict. This call follows last month’s visit by nine local ambassadors, the UN Resident and various UN agencies who voiced their concerns after a trip to the Rakhine state.

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Five Years after the Arab Spring: A Critical Evaluation
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

A new political geography has emerged in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) after the Arab Spring. The transformative impact of the popular upheavals appeared to put an end to long-term authoritarian regimes. Today, the region is far from stable since authoritarian resilience violently pushed back popular demands for good governance and is pushing to restore former state structures.

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Burma Could Be Guilty of ‘Crimes against Humanity’ as Rohingya Crackdown Intensifies
Nikhil Kumar - Time, 12 Dec 2016

11 Dec 2016 – Reports from Burma’s northern Arakan state, where violence against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority has forced tens of thousands to flee for their lives, suggest the situation there is “getting very close to what we would all agree are crimes against humanity,” the U.N.’s top human-rights investigator for the country has said.

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Poaching’s Bloody Human Toll
Joe Walston – The New York Times, 12 Dec 2016

5 Dec 2016 – Being a wildlife ranger can be extremely hazardous to your health. At least 25 were killed by poachers or timber smugglers. One was shot and pushed off a cliff. Two were axed to death. One died when his helicopter was shot down by poachers. Most of the rest were simply shot. Just last month, for instance, a ranger in the Uganda Wildlife Authority was killed in a gun battle.

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Life on Earth Is Dying
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

The human onslaught to destroy life is unprecedented in Earth’s history. Planet Earth is now experiencing its sixth mass extinction event and Homo sapiens sapiens is the cause… One of the hidden tragedies of modern human existence is that we have been terrorized into believing that we are not personally responsible. And every time you decide to do nothing and to leave it to someone else, you demonstrate why no-one else should do anything either.

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The Romanza – Spanish Romance (MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Miloš Karadaglić – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

The stunning Miloš Karadaglić during a trip to Australia.

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Zionism at Its Best
Amira Hass – Haaretz, 12 Dec 2016

The land that Israel has designated for the joyous settlers is called Atir/Umm al-Hiran, and for 60 years it has been home to members of the Bedouin Al-Qi’an tribe.

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Aleppo Update: An Inspiring Return to the Oft-Bombed National Museum
Franklin Lamb – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

7 Dec 2016 – Of Syria’s 28 museums, the one that holds the record to date for being the most targeted by rebel bombs, mortars, and snipers is probably the Aleppo National Museum, which was opened in 1931, expanded in 1966 and is located just outside of the boundaries of the Ancient City of Aleppo, a World Heritage property.

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The Dangerous Deception Called the Trump Presidency
F. William Engdahl – New Eastern Outlook Journal, 5 Dec 2016

Donald Trump is yet another project of the same boring old patriarchs who try again and again to create a one world order that they control absolutely, a New World Order that a close Trump backer once referred to as universal fascism. Ignore the sometimes fine rhetoric in some of his speeches. Talk is cheap. There is no good side to what the world is about to experience with President Trump.

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Is Peace Possible? A Dialogue with Johan Galtung on Ukraine, Trump, Putin, Gandhi, and…
Dr. Gary Corseri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

I was particularly interested in a statement made by a member of the Trump team about the 200-year relationship between Russia and the United States: the point was made that Russia supported what became the United States, against the French and the English empires. And that was Tsar Alexander I! So, from the beginning of the American War of Independence in Concord, up to the end of it in 1812….

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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
United Nations General Assembly – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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(Norsk-Norwegian) Sørkoreansk avhopper: – Vi lurte Nobel­komiteen
Vilde Helljesen | NRK – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

4. desember 2016 – I flere år skal det ha pågått en storstilt og velregissert kampanje med ett mål for øye: Å skaffe Nobels fredspris til Sør-Koreas president Kim Dae-jung. Norske samfunnstopper ble brukt som brikker i et spill i jakten på verdens mest prestisjefulle pris, ifølge ny bok basert på sørkoreanske etterretningsdokumenter.

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(Castellano) Buscando el camino verdadero
Robert Burrowes, Ph.D. | Pressenza – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

Una de las manifestaciones más sutiles del vínculo íntimo entre las emociones y conductas humanas (inconscientes) se ilustra por el simple concepto de elección y cómo esto se reduce a menudo a una dicotomía entre dos malas opciones. En tales circunstancias, la mayoría de la gente elige lo que consideran ser “el mal menor”.

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The Misinformation Machine
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

Donald Trump’s staff are drawn from an opaque network of corporate-funded thinktanks and fake grassroots campaigns. You cannot confront a power until you know what it is. Our first task in this struggle is to understand what we face. Only then can we work out what to do.

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The Political Legacy of Fidel Castro
Bill Van Auken | WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

Castro’s legacy cannot be evaluated solely through the prism of Cuba, but must take into account the impact of his politics internationally and, above all, in Latin America.

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Circle of Poison
Al Jazeera News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

A look at the powerful pesticide industry, its effect on the developing world and how small farmers are fighting back.

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The Alzheimer’s Laboratory
CBS News | 60 Minutes – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

27 Nov 2016 – Colombia is home to the largest concentration of people in the world who carry a rare gene that makes them 100 percent certain to develop Alzheimer’s disease. It strikes when people are in their mid-40s and leads to demise a few decades later–generations on end.

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Engaging an Opposing Ideology via Martial Arts Philosophy
Anthony Judge | Laetus in Praesens – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

5 Dec 2016 – Reframing the Challenge of Trump and Jihadism as Worthy Opponents – Much is now made of the increasing challenge of right-wing populism, especially as it is articulated by unconventional leaders held to have dubious associations with dangerous political strategies.

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Nonviolence for Brazilians: Suggested Direct Actions
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

As I see and read about the ongoing massive protests, as well as calls by prominent community leaders to mobilize in defense of your country’s democracy, I feel great hope for Brazil. Having been a nonviolent activist for many years, I would like to support Brazilian activists to develop a nonviolent strategy that will increase your chances of success.

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The Arabs Did It
Uri Avnery | Gush Shalom – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

When my parents married in Germany, just before World War I, among the gifts was a document attesting that a tree had been planted in their name in Palestine. Popular Jewish humor in Germany at that time had it that “a Zionist is a Jew who wants to take money from another Jew in order to settle a third Jew in Palestine.” My father certainly was not planning to go to Palestine himself.

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This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

Dec 5-11 ~ QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Being miserable is a habit; being happy is a habit; and the choice is yours.” – Tom Hopkins

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A World of Difference
Emanuel E. Garcia, MD | Intrepid Report – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

It is only in differences, however, that we sense and reach beyond ourselves. In fact, it is the ability to tolerate differences that allows for pacific cohabitation; and it is the ability to celebrate differences that leads to an appreciation of the wonderful joy of the world around us.

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Pentagon: Looking for a Few Good Hackers
The New York Times | Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

The last thing the Pentagon would seem to need is more hackers. But Defense Department officials are inviting them in.

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The Treaty of Tlatelolco: Giving Thanks to Our Latin American Neighbors toward a World Free of Nuclear Weapons
Robert F. Dodge, M.D. | PeaceVoice – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

Latin American nations drafted the treaty on Feb 14, 1967 in Mexico City and it went into force on Apr 22, 1968. Today all 33 nations of Latin America and the Caribbean have signed the treaty as part of the 80 million square kilometers of the entire southern hemisphere that is free of nuclear weapons.

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Survival of the Fittest
Pawel Kuczynski – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

Evolution… ?

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The People of Haiti Are Under Attack as They Fight for Their Liberation!
Pierre Labossiere | Haiti Action Committee – San Francisco Bay View, 5 Dec 2016

30 Nov 2016 – The following is a compilation of two breaking news reports that have come in from Haiti within the past two days. Even as we speak, bullets are flying and people are dying in the streets. The presidential elections on Nov. 20 were a repeat of the October 2015 fraudulent elections.

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The Coming War on China
John Pilger – New Internationalist Magazine, 5 Dec 2016

A major US military build-up – including nuclear weapons – is under way in Asia and the Pacific with the purpose of confronting China. John Pilger raises the alarm on an under-reported and dangerous provocation.

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‘Palestinian Gandhi’ Issa Amro Charged with ‘Hurting a Soldier’s Dignity’
Jews for Justice for Palestinians – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

24 Nov 2016 – Issa Hamro has done exactly what the political doctor ordered: opposed the Israeli occupation with an absolute commitment to non-violence. No trumped up charges of terrorism can be brought against him. That doesn’t inhibit Israeli authorities from frequently arresting “the Palestinian Gandhi”. His latest trial has just opened.

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Turkish Realignment: Prospects amid Uncertainty
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

3 Dec 2016 – In recent months the Turkish President, Recep Teyipp Erdoğan, and his principal advisors have not made it a secret that they are reconsidering Turkey’s relations with neighbors, with the countries of the region, and with leading geopolitical actors.

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Haiti 1791: the Cradle of African Nationalism and Internationalism
T.P. Wilkinson | Dissident Voice – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

Recovering the Virtue of Jacobins – Dr. Wilkinson delivered this paper about Haiti to a colloquium commemorating 40 years of study of African literature at the University of Porto, Portugal.

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