Articles by TRANSCEND Media Service

We found 26528 results.


Millionaires Projected to Own 46 Percent of Global Private Wealth by 2019
Gabriel Black, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

Households with more than a million (US) dollars in private wealth are projected to own 46 percent of global private wealth in 2019 according to a new report by the Boston Consulting Group. This large percentage, however, leaves out businesses, residences and luxury goods, which comprise a substantial portion of the rich’s net worth.

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Greed
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

An antique dealer used to visit farms in his area to try to find valuable old furniture, and buy it cheap.

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An Imaginary Wall
Udaya R. Tennakoon – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

You stray dog!!
You stray dog!!
From the other side
Of the wall
Dripped a noise

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The Undisclosed Second Paradox in Michael Walzer’s ‘The Paradox of Liberation’
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

My contention is that Walzer’s paradox dissolves as soon as the claim to categorize Zionism as a mode of ‘national liberation’ is deconstructed while the second paradox, which dwells on the moral and political interplay of what transpires when the liberation of the self is organically linked to the dispossession of the other, remains to be explained.

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UK Government, Murdoch Press Smear of Edward Snowden Unravels
Chris Marsden, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

16 Jun 2015 – A press attack on Edward Snowden has backfired on the UK government. This weekend’s Sunday Times ran an article under the headline, “British spies betrayed to Russians and Chinese,” The Times article was replete with unfounded assertions, distortions and outright lies.

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BDS Could Cost Israel $4.7 Billion a Year
James North, Mondoweiss – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

The Financial Times has published a big, and somewhat balanced, article on the rapid rise of BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) that includes two stunning financial numbers showing how powerful the nonviolent movement for justice in Palestine/Israel is becoming.

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(Italiano) Nel frattempo, sbocciano grandi narrative
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

Il declino e la caduta: della presa dell’Impero USA sul mondo; dell’Occidente; del sistema statuale – con il sorgere del sistema delle transnazionali, delle organizzazioni governative internazionali, delle ONG, delle regioni, delle nazioni, delle autorità locali; il sorgere dell’Est e del Sud, della Cina – molti dettagli passano per il tavolo di un capo-redattore, ispirando qualche ripensamento.

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(Castellano) La era de las grandes trasformaciones
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

Vivimos en la era de las Grandes Trasformaciones. Entre tantas, destaco apenas dos: la primera en el campo de la economía y la segunda en el campo de la conciencia.

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Moment of Truth Nears for Nuclear Waste Time Bomb
Vera Eckert, Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

• Scandinavians closest to putting waste underground
• Time needed to permission storage, start disposal
• Public need to be brought on board

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US Senate Votes to Ban Use of Torture
Julian Hattem, The Hill – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

The Senate on Tuesday [16 Jun 2015] overwhelmingly voted to ban the U.S. from ever again subjecting prisoners to waterboarding, “rectal feeding” and other brutal interrogation practices widely condemned as torture.

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Ecuador Just Set the World Record for Reforestation!
Amanda Froelich, True Activist – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

19 May 2015 – More than 45,000 people came together last weekend and set the Guinness World Record for single-day reforestation efforts.

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Israel Blocks Visit of UN Human Rights Envoy
AFP, Yahoo! News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

Israel has blocked a visit to the Palestinian territories by a UN rights envoy, an official said Monday [15 Jun 2015], just ahead of the publication of a United Nations report on last year’s Gaza war.

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(Português) 23 Plantas Geométricas de Arrepiar os Fissurados em Simetria e Padrões
Diego Bravo – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

Os conhecimentos geométricos são muito usados por nós, seres humanos. O que nem sempre nos damos conta é que padrões, simetria e formas de todos os tipos não precisaram ser inventadas, pois fazem parte da natureza. A lista abaixo mostra 23 plantas que parecem obedecer algum tipo de fórmula matemática.

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Israel Govt. Report: BDS Can Devastate Economy
Alternative Information Center – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

An Israeli government report about the possible effects of BDS on the economy outlines devastating harm. No wonder Israel attempted to hide the report.

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The Ultimate Guide to Middle East
Sufyan bin Uzayr – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

Let us make it clear that “Middle East” is a term invented by the West, and is thus a product of Eurocentric definitions of geography and history. West Asia is a better term, but for the sake of clarity, and also because Middle East is more common, I will stick to that in this essay.

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That Which Is Right vs. the Political Right
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

I think that in trying to overcome the present crisis (if that is possible) two factors must be seriously considered, otherwise we risk losing everything that we hope for: the collapse of the capitalist order and the limits of the Earth that cannot be exceeded.

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USA: The Nightmare Years
Gary G. Kohls, MD – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

I don’t recall hearing any of my teachers talk about American-style fascism, and none of them led me to doubt the validity of the anti-democratic, pro-fascist and very unethical Monroe Doctrine, Manifest Destiny, Laissez Faire capitalism, the Dred Scott decision, or any of the wartime atrocities that were so commonly perpetrated by American troops in any of its wars.

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After Three Years, the Injustice Handed Out to Julian Assange Must End
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

Julian Assange is a refugee under international law and he should be given right of passage to Ecuador. The nonsense about him “jumping bail” is just that – nonsense. If his extradition case went through the British courts today, the European Arrest Warrant would be thrown out and he would be a free man.

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The Americas, First Region to Have Convention on Protecting Human Rights of Older Persons
Human Wrongs Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

The member states of the Organization of American States (OAS) on 15 June 2015 today approved the Inter-American Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons during the General Assembly of the institution, which was immediately signed by the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay at OAS headquarters in Washington DC.

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Soil, Papered Over
Prof. Vandana Shiva – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

The rhetoric for taking over food systems and seed supply is always based on ‘improved seed’. But industrial seeds are only ‘improved’ in the context of higher dependence on chemicals, and more control by corporations.

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Mysterium (MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Alexander Scriabin – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

Ecstasy and Light – A homage to the awesomely megalomaniac and genius Russian composer Alexander Scriabin [7 Jan 1872 – 27 Apr 1915] who started out as a romantic and ended as a unique trailblazing impressionistic maverick intending to destroy the universe with his music and create a new one… and whose plan was cut short by his epically unspectacular death from septicemia.

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Isratin or Palestrael?
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

There was this guy who had an earth-shaking invention: an airplane that flies on water. No more gas. No more pollution. No more astronomical prices. Just fill it up with water, and it will fly to the end of the world. “Wonderful!” people cried out. “Show us the plans!”

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A Humanitarian Tragedy Imposed on Greece
Lode Vanoost, The BRICS Post – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

The austerity program imposed on Greek society is a humanitarian tragedy. Greece has lost more than 25 per cent of its GDP over the last five years. This is without historical precedent. Even the Great Depression more than 85 years ago was not this bad.

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Forgot
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

A weed scientist goes into a shop.

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Veterans Urge Drone Operators to Refuse Orders to Fly
David Swanson – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

17 Jun 2015 – Letter Reinforces Call Made in National TV Ad Campaign – An increasing number of United States military veterans are counseling United States military drone operators to refuse to fly drone surveillance/attack missions – the veterans are even helping sponsor prime time television commercials urging drone operators to “refuse to fly.”

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OIC to Apprise UN Chief of Serious Concern over Rohingya Muslims Persecution
The Nation (Pakistan) – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

17 Jun 2015 – A meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), held at UN headquarters in New York on Monday [15 Jun 2015], decided to form a delegation to apprise UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of the 57-member body’s serious concern over the continued persecution of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims and to underscore the need for step towards restoring their human rights.

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Encyclical Letter ‘Laudato Si’ of the Holy Father Francis on Care for Our Common Home
The Vatican – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

It is my hope that this Encyclical Letter, which is now added to the body of the Church’s social teaching, can help us to acknowledge the appeal, immensity and urgency of the challenge we face. Given in Rome at Saint Peter’s on 24 May, the Solemnity of Pentecost, in the year 2015, the third of my Pontificate. — Franciscus

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This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

June 22-28 – QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.” – Lonardo da Vinci

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Alexander Scriabin (7 Jan 1872 – 27 Apr 1915): Ecstasy and Light
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

27 April 2015 marked the 100th anniversary of the death of the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin who believed that music had the power to elevate the consciousness of people and therefore to transform social conditions. Scriabin is often described as a “mystic”, but there is no direct evidence that he personally had mystic experiences.

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Yoga: A Practical Skill in Peace Education for Nonviolence
Surya Nath Prasad, Ph. D. – TRANSCEND Media Service~, 22 Jun 2015

21 Jun 2015 UN International Day of Yoga – At the beginning of the ‘UN International Year of Yoga,’ let all people of the world be aware of the five elements within them and grow integrally through perpetual practice of skill of yoga for sustainable nonviolence.

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New Hope for Avoiding Catastrophic Climate Change
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

Because of the astonishing properties of exponential growth, we can calculate that if these growth rates are maintained, renewable energy can give us 24.8 terawatts within only 15 years! This is far more than the world’s present use of all forms of energy. All of us must work with dedication to provide the political will needed to avoid catastrophic climate change. The strong and friendly voice of Pope Francis can give us hope and courage.

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Pope Francis’ Encyclical Urges Swift Action on Climate Change Ahead of Paris Climate Talks
Anastasia Pantsios, EcoWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

18 Jun 2015 – Today in Rome, Pope Francis released his long-anticipated encyclical on climate change, fueling precisely the international conversation the Pope hoped to drive. The widespread media coverage of the 180-plus page document, Laudato Si, or Praised Be to You, has undoubtedly increased public awareness of environmental issues dramatically.

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Ukraine and the Apocalyptic Risk of Propagandized Ignorance
David Swanson – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

‘Ukraine: Zbig’s Grand Chessboard and How the West Was Checkmated’ – This book may very well be the best written one I’ve read this year. It puts all the relevant facts — those I knew and many I didn’t — together concisely and with perfect organization. It does it with an informed worldview. It leaves me nothing to complain about at all, which is almost unheard of in my book reviews.

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Papal Concern for Climate Change and Refugee Care
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jun 2015

A Means of Concealing Criminal Systemic Negligence? Produced on World Refugee Day — on the occasion of publication of reports on the world refugee crisis and an Environment Encyclical by Pope Francis.

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The Fallen of World War II
Neil Halloran – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

Jaw-Dropping Visualization Will Give You New Respect for the Sheer Number Who Died in WWII – An animated data-driven documentary about war and peace, “The Fallen of World War II” looks at the human cost of the Second World War and sizes up the numbers to other wars in history, including trends in recent conflicts.

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An Immodest Wish
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

A wealthy maharajah was so delighted with the game of chess that he offered the inventor of the game anything in his realm that he might wish.

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On Balance and the Necessary Excesses of Life
Maria Popova, Brain Pickings – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

On Being Too Much for Ourselves – “There are situations in which it is more dangerous to keep your balance than to lose it.”

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Duality
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

There are 10 kinds of people in this world:

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Coca-Cola Slowly Deprives 30,000 People of Water in El Salvador
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

The main and only source of water for thousands of Salvadorans is in peril.

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Keeping Quiet
Pablo Neruda – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.

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Pregnancy at Slaughter: What Happens to the Calves?
Stephanie Ernst, All Creatures – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

What happens when a cow is pregnant at the time of slaughter? I almost wish I didn’t know. From the calves experiencing their mother’s death from inside her, while they too suffer or die their own terrible death, to live calves being cut from their dead mother’s womb, so that their blood can be drained for science while they’re still alive–it’s all horrific, and none of it is ever talked about, even though it’s a part of the dairy and beef industries and a part of how people get their “finest” leather.

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(Italiano) “Farla franca con l’omicidio”
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

È il titolo della (come al solito) brillante analisi di Susan George sulla situazione bancaria dopo il collasso bancario USA dell’ 11 settembre 2001 e il crollo del 2008.

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Issuance of Vatican Passports to Trans-Mediterranean Immigrants
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

A Modest Proposal Worthy of the 21st Century?- Produced on the occasion of announcement of the forthcoming Papal Encyclical ‘Laudato Sii’ (Explosive intervention by Pope Francis set to transform climate change debate, The Observer, 13 June 2015).

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The US Government’s Not-So-Secret Support for Al Qaeda and ISIS
Dan Sanchez, Antiwar – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

The Biggest State Sponsor of Terrorism of Them All – The general US policy of allying with the Gulf states (especially the Saudis) and Turkey in supporting radical Sunni insurgents to counter the “Shia expansion” was reported by Seymour Hersh back in 2007.

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Save Our Stones – Jihad and Vandalism
The Economist – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

As well as killing people, Islamic State is smashing up ancient works of art. Only a little can be done to prevent its acts of barbarism. The scale is unprecedented. Four of Syria’s six world heritage sites lie in ruins.

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(Français) Les Nouvelles Générations Militantes Africaines – Espoirs et Vigilances
Saïd Bouamama, Investig’Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

12 juin 2015 – La jeunesse africaine est de nouveau confrontée à la découverte de sa « mission », pour reprendre l’expression de Frantz Fanon. De manière significative en Egypte, en Tunisie ou au Burkina Faso, les vastes mobilisations de la jeunesse ont été accompagnées d’une redécouverte des grandes figures des indépendances (Nasser, Sankara, N’Krumah, etc.).

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Why Are Threats to Civil Society Growing around the World?
Mandeep S.Tiwana, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

“It is increasingly evident that the dangers to civic freedoms come not just from state apparatuses but also from powerful non-state actors including influential business entities and extremist groups subscribing to fundamentalist ideologies”

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Is the Middle East America’s to Lose?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

I was appalled by the embedded colonialism of a recent issue of The Economist [June 6-12, 2015], “Losing the Middle East.” Any doubt about the intent of the magazine is removed by displaying a bedraggled American flag on the cover accompanied by the sub-title “Why American must not abandon the region.”

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Evolution to Peace through the Penance of Speech: Gandhi in Speech and Silence
P.K. Willey, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

Communications have become global in a sense that was unimaginable 30 years ago. Along with this, the ethical use of speech appears to have become buried in the snowstorm of social licenses, given to us by an increasing socialized acceptance of the abuse of speech. What is the ethical use of speech?

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The Losing War against Ungoverned Spaces
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross & Nathaniel Barr, Pragati – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

From whatever angle one analyses the war against ungoverned spaces, Western countries and their allies are losing. The truly remarkable thing is how quickly the situation in the Middle East and North Africa was transformed from optimism —at the start of the Arab Spring—to one where the spread of ungoverned space, and indeed jihadism writ large, appears inexorable.

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Net Neutrality Rules Go into Effect
Mario Trujillo and David McCabe, The Hill – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

The new federal rules for net neutrality were allowed to take effect on Friday [12 Jun 2015] after the U.S. Court of Appeals denied a motion to stay the regulation. The ruling is not on the final merits of the challenge, but it hands an early victory to net neutrality advocates.

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Logistics 101: Where Do ISIS Get Their Guns?
Tony Cartalucci, New Eastern Outlook – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

ISIS’ supply lines run precisely where Syrian and Iraqi air power cannot go. To the north and into NATO-member Turkey, and to the southwest into US allies Jordan and Saudi Arabia. If an army marches on its stomach, and ISIS’ stomachs are full of NATO and Persian Gulf State supplies, ISIS will continue to march long and hard.

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Greece – A Sad Story of the [Germany-led] European Establishment
Roberto Savio, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

The latest development in the tug of war which has been going on between Greece and a German-dominated Europe is the desire to punish an anti-establishment figure like Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and show that the radical left cannot run a country.

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Why Are We Being Fed by [Monsanto] a Poison Expert?
The Undercurrent – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

Jun 5, 2015 – Is the ‘old’ Monsanto, the one responsible for producing Agent Orange, PCB’s and DDT and a terrible record at covering up and denying the tragedies that have resulted from their use, the same as the ‘new’ Monsanto, the one at the forefront of research in plant gene technology?

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BDS, the New Enemy
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

13 Jun 2015 – Binyamin Netanyahu was racking his brain. His whole career is based on fear mongering. Since Jews have lived in fear for millennia, it is easy to invoke it. They are addicts.

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The Rohingyas: The Most Persecuted People on Earth?
The Economist – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

Myanmar’s Muslim minority have been attacked with impunity, stripped of the vote and driven from their homes. It could get worse.

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Exponential Growth
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

Looking at the long-term future, we can calculate that any quantity increasing at the modest rate of 3% per year will grow by a factor of 20.1 in a century. This implies that in four centuries, whatever is growing at 3% will have increased by a factor of 163,000. These facts make it completely clear that long-continued economic growth on a finite planet is a logical absurdity.

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Animals Get Legal Recognition as ‘Sentient’ Beings in New Zealand
Positive News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

8 Jun 2015- New legislation in New Zealand dictates that animals can feel both positive and negative emotions, and takes steps to improve animal welfare in research.

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(Português) “Me custa entender como um padre pode ser antissocialista”, diz Frei Betto
Vinícius Mendes, Brasileiros – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

Religioso e escritor com mais de 60 livros escritos revela como Cuba planeja tratar sua reaproximação com os EUA e revela traços de seu amigo Fidel Castro.

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Fishing and Farming in Gaza Is a Deadly Business
Mel Frykberg, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

“Gaza fishermen have come under fire and been shot, injured and killed or had their boats destroyed or confiscated … Gazan farmers trying to access their agricultural fields … are also regularly shot and injured, and sometimes killed”

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Elon Musk: ‘We’ve Dramatically Increased the Power Capability’ of the Tesla Powerwall
Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

12 Jun 2015 – Its only been a month since Elon Musk unveiled a suite of batteries to help wean the world off fossil fuels. And now, the Tesla CEO is already upping the ante with the Powerwall, a home battery that charges using electricity generated from solar power.

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Tobacco Companies Ordered to Pay C$15.6 Billion to Quebec Smokers
Richard Smallteacher, CorpWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

4 Jun 2015 – Over one million people in the Canadian province of Quebec will receive a total of C$15.6 billion ($12.5 billion) in damages for smoking related diseases from three of the biggest tobacco companies in the country. The settlement is the result of a 17-year long court battle.

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Exposing Lies, Telling the Truth
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

I have just read Andre Vltchek’s new book ‘Exposing Lies of the Empire’. I have one word to describe this book: Great. Superb. Excellent. Brilliant. [However,] Vltchek pays virtually no attention to the effectiveness of nonviolent strategy in resisting empire.

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Local Engagement with Armed Groups in the Midst of Violence
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

As the Syrian conflict enters its fifth year, it is important not to lose sight of the significant roles played by unarmed, non-state actors to develop structures for promoting local security and peace and to adapt to the constantly changing demands of the conflict.

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Hawaii Enacts USA’s First 100% Renewable Energy Standard
Cole Mellino, EcoWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

11 Jun 2015 – Hawaii enacted a law this week, which mandates that all of the state’s electricity come from renewable sources no later than 2045. This renewable energy standard is being hailed as “the most aggressive clean energy goal in the country.”

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German Companies Stop Sales of “Roundup”
Eric Zuesse, Washington’s Blog – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

12 Jun 2015 – According to Swiss supermarkets, German companies have announced halting sales of Monsanto’s glyphosate herbicide. In 1971, Monsanto patented glyphosate. Today its glyphosate (“Roundup”) constitutes two billion US dollars in annual sales.

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China Syndrome
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

We should stop recycling the old “Yellow Peril” myth. The people most hostile to action on climate change are American and British, not Chinese. China is the world’s excuse for cruelty and barbarism. If we don’t behave atrociously, politicians and columnists assure us, China will, so we had better do it first, before we are outcompeted.

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Meanwhile, with Great Narratives Unfolding
Johan Galtung, 15 Jun 2015 - TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

The decline and fall of the US Empire’s grip on the world; of the West; of the state-system–with the rise of the TNC-IGO-NGO system, regions, nations, local authorities; the rise of the East and the South; of China–many details cross an editor’s desk; inspiring some rethinking.

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Hackers Point Out U.S. Arming, Funding ISIS
Kit Daniels, Infowars – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

8 Jun 2015 – The Syrian Electronic Army has claimed responsibility for hacking the U.S. Army’s website to show that both the Pentagon and the CIA are supporting ISIS to topple Assad.

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Fast-tracking TiSA: Stealth Block to Monetary Reform
Ellen Brown, Web of Debt – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

Money is just an IOU, and the banks are rolling in it. So wrote David Graeber referring to a paper called “Money Creation in the Modern Economy.” The paper stated outright that most common assumptions of how banking works are simply wrong. The result was to throw the entire theoretical basis for austerity out of the window.

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Turkish Elections: It’s Not Just Erdoğan!
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

9 Jun 2015 – The Turkish general election on June 7th ended more or less as the polls predicted. Turkey has been put back on the shelf and yet relieved that the AKP was again supported by a significant plurality of Turkish citizens in an impressively free and fair electoral process.

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This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

June 15-21 – QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” – Pablo Picasso

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(Português) A Era das Grandes Transformações
Leonardo Boff - TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

A reflexão ecológica se complexificou. Não se pode reduzi-la apenas à preservação do meio ambiente. A totalidade do sistema mundo está em jogo. Vivemos na era das Grandes Transformações. Entre tantas, destaco apenas duas: a primeira no campo da economia e a segunda no campo da consciência.

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8 June: World Oceans Day
The United Nations – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

The ocean is the heart of our planet. Like your heart pumping blood to every part of your body, the ocean connects people across the Earth, no matter where we live. It regulates the climate, feeds millions of people, produces oxygen, is the home to an incredible array of wildlife, provides us with important medicines, and so much more!

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US Imperialism and the FIFA Corruption Investigation
Chris Marsden, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

On Wednesday [3 Jun], the FBI stated that its investigation now encompasses allegations of corruption, bribery, and vote-rigging related to FIFA awarding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar. This is a political move against the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin and is conceived of as a vital propaganda adjunct of the ongoing US-led NATO encirclement of Russia.

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(Italiano) Un avvertimento contro l’argomentazione di Kaplan per cui “È tempo di riportare l’imperialismo in Medio Oriente”
Johan Galtung e Naakow Hayford – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

Piuttosto li si aiuti a creare un califfato con le migliori qualità del suo predecessore ottomano: la tolleranza, i millet per le minoranze, addirittura la saldatura potenziale dello squarcio fra sunniti e sciiti. Si usi il peacekeeping militare per proteggere, difensivamente, le minoranze esposte e minacciate. Si negozi uno spazio per Israele. Ma non ci si perda in sterili rivalità di potere militari; già perse dagli USA.

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The Human Rights Issue a Nobel Laureate Doesn’t Want to Touch
Michael Sullivan, NPR – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

2 Jun 2015 – It’s not often that the Dalai Lama calls out a fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate. But that’s what happened last week when he was asked about Aung San Suu Kyi, who has declined to speak out on the worsening plight of the Rohingya minority in her homeland of Myanmar.

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FIFA Scandals Are Worse Than Bribes
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

The Palestinian Soccer Association was persuaded by Blatter to drop its charges, with a renewal of previously empty pledges to ameliorate conditions confronting Palestinians coupled with a surely ironic plea to keep ‘politics’ from intruding on ‘the beautiful game.’ As if the humiliations and constraints imposed on the Palestinian teams were not political!

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Film: Costa Rica Abolished Its Military, Never Regretted It
David Swanson – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

In 1948 Costa Rica abolished its military, something widely deemed impossible in the United States. This film documents how that was done and what the results have been. I don’t want to give away the ending but let me just say this: there has not been a hostile Muslim takeover of Costa Rica, the Costa Rican economy has not collapsed, and Costa Rican women still seem to find a certain attraction in Costa Rican men.

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Exclusive: Two Years after Snowden Revelations, Glenn Greenwald Talks about Impacts on Surveillance State
Dana Sayre, Occupy – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

2 Jun 2015 – In a recent interview with Occupy.com, journalist Glenn Greenwald said a lot has changed in the two years since he exposed secret NSA surveillance programs through whistleblower Edward Snowden, foremost the sense that “Internet companies like Facebook, Google, Apple, Yahoo and Microsoft are really petrified that if they don’t demonstrate a commitment to their users’ privacy and eliminate this perception that they’ve been collaborating with the NSA, it’s going to destroy their future business prospects.”

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June: This Month in Nuclear Threat History
Jeffrey W. Mason, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation - TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

June 3, 1980 – President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski was awakened by his military assistant, General William Odom, around 2:30 a.m. and informed that NORAD’s computers had detected a launch of 2,200 Soviet ICBMs heading for U.S. targets. The incident was one of many so-called “false warnings.”

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The Difficult but Necessary Road to Negotiations in Yemen
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

The continued aggression of Saudi Arabia against civilians in Yemen, and the use of cluster munitions (in violation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions), highlight the crucial links between human rights, arms control, and the resolution of conflicts through good faith negotiations.

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The Era of the Great Transformations
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

We live in the Era of the Great Transformations. There are many, but I will mention just two: the first relating to the economy and the second to the realm conscience.

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Israel Signals It’s Ready to Destroy Hezbollah – Include Iran as a Twofer?
Franklin Lamb – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

Yet, with all of Israel’s swelling international legitimacy problems, the Zionist regime still occupying another country, Palestine, can sound its bugle, which having no valves or other political pitch-altering complications, blast-summons its agents in Washington and elsewhere to get busy and circle the wagons.

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This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

June 8-14 – QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “My strength didn’t come from lifting weights. My strength came from lifting myself up every time I was knocked down.” – Unknown

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The Rohingyas: UN and Bangladesh Making Them Easy Prey to Traffickers and Terrorists?
Asian Centre for Human Rights – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

That the UN and the Government of Bangladesh have been making the Rohingyas easy prey to the traffickers and terrorist groups and further that the fleeing Rohingyas have turned into perpetrators of human rights violations on the indigenous Jumma peoples of Bangladesh have been consistently ignored and/or overlooked.

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Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Report and the Crimes against the Native People
Carl Bronski, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

The century-and-a-half policy of forcibly removing aboriginal children from their families and communities and herding them into faraway schools run mainly by the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches, amounted, said the report, to nothing less than a “cultural genocide.” At the height of the program in 1931 there were 80 residential schools across the country with 15,000 captive native children.

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Wind Energy vs. Fossil Fuels: Hurdles and Hopes for a Renewable Future
Michael Walsh, Yahoo! News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

5 Jun 2015 – The colossal oil spill in Southern California last month spurred many to wonder why we have not abandoned fossil fuels for wind and other sources of renewable energy. The fossil fuel industry receives billions in taxpayer subsidies as the wind industry fights to take flight.

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Post-Earthquake to Relief Fund: Roles of Aid Agency, Nation in Nepal
Professor Bishnu Pathak - TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

About six-dozen nations-states assisted on humanitarian aids and supplies in post-quake survivors. Among them, military with sniffer dogs from 18 countries arrived soon in Nepal. Nepalese Government failed to assure and maintain disaster aid diplomacy. Aid agency’s lost hope shall only be regained if a new national Government is formed soon.

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Fighting to Save Nature and Culture
Bruce K. Gagnon – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

The fact that the US ignores the voices of 80% of the Okinawan people and plunges ahead with devastating base expansion indicates the obvious colonial status of the island people.

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Status of Palestine in 2015
Compiled by Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

– It has been 67 years since the occupation of 78% of Palestine in 1948.
– It has been 48 years since the occupation of the other 22% of Palestine (WB and Gaza) that started 1967.

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Thrust into Freedom
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

A husband and wife in the city of Medellin, Colombia, had a cow on a small plot of grass land in front of their house, and they barely subsisted by feeding some of her milk to their children and selling the rest.

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Albert Einstein, Scientist and Pacifist
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

“The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything except our ways of thinking, and thus we drift towards unparalleled catastrophes.”
“I don’t know what will be used in the next world war, but the 4th will be fought with stones.”
— Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

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Imperium?
Tom Greening – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

Our nation’s efforts, cruel and chronic,
to reign supreme and hegemonic

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The Rohingya – Adrift on a Sea of Sorrows
Eric Margolis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

When is genocide not really genocide? When the victims are small, impoverished brown people no one wants or cares about – Burma’s Rohingya.

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The Real Naqba
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

6 Jun 2015 – Three weeks ago was Naqba Day – the day on which Palestinians inside and outside Israel commemorate their “catastrophe” – the exodus of more than half of the Palestinian people from the territories occupied by Israel in the 1948 war. Each side has its own version of this momentous event. Both these versions are utter nonsense – a mixture of propaganda, legend and hidden guilt feelings.

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Global Psychosocial Implication in the Pentagramma Mirificum
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

Clues from Spherical Geometry to “Getting Around” and Circumnavigating Imaginatively – The question here is whether there are clues to be found from the insights which have enabled spherical navigation over recent centuries. To what extent do those insights reflect understandings of relevance to getting “around” a global information-based society?

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Nuclear Weapons: Grand Bargain Is Not So Grand
David Krieger, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

The five nuclear-armed countries that are parties to the NPT (US, Russia, UK, France and China) appear more comfortable working together to maintain and modernize their nuclear arsenals than they do to fulfilling their disarmament obligations under the treaty. Their common strategy appears to be “nuclear weapons forever.” The US plans to spend $1 trillion on modernizing its nuclear arsenal over the next three decades.

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Friends Will Be Friends (MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Freddie Mercury & Queen – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

Released on 9 June 1986 and performed by the immortal Freddie Mercury.

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The Twisted Legacy of Colombia’s Aerial Cocaine Crop Spraying Program
Steven Cohen, VICE - TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jun 2015

After 30 years of dubious results and loud protests, the flagship of the supply-side drug war in North America has finally been brought to ground.

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