Articles by TRANSCEND Media Service

We found 28073 results.


No Arab Bolivars: As Region Implodes, Arab Socialism Fizzles Out
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

30 Apr 2015 – A student group recently asked me to address socialism in the Arab world, with the assumption that there is indeed such a movement that is capable of overhauling inherently incompetent and utterly corrupt regimes, across the region. No such group or configuration of socialist groups exists today.

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Some Notes on the New WikiLeaks Next-Generation Submission System Beta
Julian Assange, WikiLeaks – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

WikiLeaks will continue publishing, as it has since its foundation, full archives of suppressed documents in strategic global partnerships. The 2.0 public-facing submission system is an important new method in our arsenal for recovering subjugated history.

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Deutsche Bank Pays $2.5 Billion Fine for Interest Rate Rigging
Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

27 Apr 2015 – Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay out a record $2.5 billion fine to settle U.K. and U.S. government investigations into allegations of fixing global interest rates, just months after six other banks paid out $4.3 billion on similar charges. Activists say that the banks should have faced criminal charges.

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(Castellano) 40 Años de Vietnam: Kissinger, Retrato de un “Nobel de la Paz”
Fernando Montiel T. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

“No veo por qué debemos quedarnos cruzados de brazos y contemplar cómo un país se hace comunista debido a la irresponsabilidad de su propio pueblo.” – Kissinger. Para el Nobel a la Paz de 1973, estos riesgos de la democracia se conjuraban con sangre. Bajo el mismo padrinazgo, a Chile siguió Timor Oriental en 1975 con 200 mil muertos; luego, Argentina en 1976 con 30 mil desaparecidos…. y más.

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What Makes a Hero: Joseph Campbell’s Seminal Monomyth Model for the Eleven Stages of the Hero’s Journey, Animated
Maria Popova, Brain Pickings – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

“It has always been the prime function of mythology and rite to supply the symbols that carry the human spirit forward.”

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Comprehensive Ban on Nuclear Testing, a ‘Stepping Stone’ to a Nuke-Free World
Kanya D'Almeida, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

29 Apr 2015 – Interview with Lassina Zerbo, executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation. With the four-week-long review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty underway at the UN, hopes and frustrations are running equally high, as a binding political agreement on the biggest threat to humanity hangs in the balance.

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Wake up! by David Krieger
Bill Bhaneja – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

Santa Barbara, Calif: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Book, 2015 – How does one write a review of such a collection where each poem stands out drawing the reader into a vortex of inhumanity of man by man and at the same time wanting to make sense of existential themes like Truth, War, Peace, Nuclear Weapons, and even a section called Imperfection?

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The Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

28 Apr 2015 – The NPT Review Conference is taking place from now until May 22 in New York City. Adam Mount explains what it is and how this year’s conference is likely to be a dismal failure.

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This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

May 4-10 – QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “This day will never come again and anyone who fails to eat and drink and taste and smell it will never have it offered to him again in all eternity. The sun will never shine as it does today… But you must play your part and sing a song, one of your best. ” – Hermann Hesse

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(Français) La guerre du Vietnam n’est pas finie : les séquelles de l’Agent Orange
Hai Quang Ho, Investig’Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

Certes, la guerre du Vietnam s’est terminée il y a 40 ans. Mais elle continue à tuer aujourd’hui. Selon la Croix Rouge, 3 à 4 millions de Vietnamiens sont actuellement handicapés ou présentent de graves maladies liées à l’Agent Orange.

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Drones, Cops, and the Unaccountable Machinery of Death
Editorial, The Nation – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

From signature strikes in Pakistan to police violence in Baltimore, the state is seemingly uninterested in even counting how many people it kills.

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Moving Indigenous Land Rights from Paper to Reality
Valentina Ieri, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

Speaking at U.N. Headquarters on Apr. 27 as part of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues – which started last week and lasts through Friday [1 May 2015] – the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz expressed disappointment with the scant efforts to enshrine Indigenous People’s rights in the post-2015 development agenda.

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ANZAC Day 2015
Kevin Clements – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

Please let me be what I was;
A man of my time,
A man who knew no better,
A man killed for no purpose,
A man who died hopeful
That others
will refuse to do the same.

Please do that in my name.

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Galtung Book Launching
Perdana Global Peace Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia, launches Johan Galtung’s two new books at the closing of the International Conference The ‘New World Order: A Recipe for War or Peace!’ in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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Saudi Arabia: Lost in the Sands of War
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

The constant violation of the minimum standards of the laws of armed conflict has had some impact on the perception of the conflict with a few in the USA and Western Europe. As the weapons used by Saudi Arabia are largely of foreign production, supplier States have a responsibility − at least morally − in the way the arms are used.

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Campaign against Glyphosate Steps Up in Latin America
Fabiana Frayssinet, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

“We can no longer accept the use of these poisons because they destroy biodiversity, aggravate climate change, destroy the soil’s fertility, and contaminate the water and even the air. And above all, they bring more illness, such as cancer. “

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Marrying Strategic White Holes with Problematic Black Holes
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

Produced in celebration of the encounter of 28 April 2015 between Ban Ki-moon (Secretary-General of the United Nations) and Pope Francis (of the Catholic Church) to discuss climate change and Mediterranean migration.

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Maputo Declaration of African Civil Society on Climate Justice
TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

In line with the above and through other considerations, the conference demands as follows:
13. The right to clean water should be enshrined in the constitutions of all African countries.
14. Governments must halt the privatisation of water and restore public control in already privatised ones.

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Women, Conflict Resolution, and Peacebuilding
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

Given the many forms that violence takes as well as the many different cultures in which armed violence is now ongoing, we can learn from the experience of each peace activity. In particular, we can be encouraged by the past 100 years of peace and conflict resolution efforts.

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The Rendition Project
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, et al. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

The Rendition Project is a collaborative research initiative by the University of Kent, Kingston University, the legal action charity Reprieve, and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism aiming to bring academic expertise to research the CIA’s rendition, detention and interrogation programme.

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Apartheid and the Palestinian National Struggle
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

American citizens have a special responsibility for the long ordeal of the Palestinian people. The Jewish philosopher, Abraham Heschel observed “[f]ew are guilty, but all are responsible.” The Legitimacy War scenario gives each of us ample opportunities to exercise our individual responsibility. We owe the Palestinian people and ourselves nothing less.

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Discussing Islam: Western Logic Is Flawed
Sufyan Bin Uzayr – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

I decided to dig deeper, and reflect on what exactly such viewpoints are trying to convey. Is Islam really at war with everyone? Or is Islam having a crisis within itself? Do Muslims need to react?

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Einstein on the Common Language of Science in a Rare 1941 Recording
Maria Popova, Brain Pickings – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

“Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem — in my opinion — to characterize our age.”

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A Hole in the [Capitalist] System
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

The outrageous, untold story of how big business dumps its costs on us. Corporations ream the land with giant holes, extract a stack of money, then clear out, leaving other people with the costs. There’s a briefer description: legalised theft.

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Bolivia: 15 Years after the Cochabamba Water Revolt, Echoes in New Cases of Corporate Abuse
Philippa de Boissière, Upside Down World – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

27 Apr 2015 – Fifteen years ago this month the people of Cochabamba, Bolivia were victorious in their now-famous showdown with one of the most powerful multinational corporations in the world, in what has come to be known as the Cochabamba Water Revolt. Fast forward to South America 2015.

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Idiots of the World, Unite!
Robert C. Koehler – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

“Sir, you are an idiot.” Wow, an insult wrapped in such old-fashioned politeness. I let the words hover and reach, as I always do, for peace: that is to say, for clarity, connection, common humanity. Last week I raised the idea of unarmed policing [in the US], as practiced in half a dozen countries around the world.

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Against the Wind (MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

Against the Wind is a composition of Bob Seger from 1980 “about trying to move ahead, keeping your sanity and integrity at the same time.”

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Too Proud?
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

Most American politicians talk as if they had been born in a log cabin…

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(Français) Hymne a l’Amour Humain [Un Poème]
Guy Crequie – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 May 2015

Pour L’harmonie De Nos Vies

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Doonesbury Cartoonist Attacked for Criticizing Charlie Hebdo
Patrick Martin, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

27 Apr 2015 – Garry Trudeau, the creator of the Doonesbury comic strip, has come under attack for publicly criticizing anti-Muslim cartoons appearing in Charlie Hebdo, calling them a form of hate speech. The central point made by Trudeau is that Charlie Hebdo was engaged, not in satirizing the powerful, but in vilifying the most oppressed section of the French population, Muslim immigrants, who face the highest levels of unemployment, poverty, police harassment and imprisonment.

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Introducing “Liberate Hawai’i”
Jon D. Olsen – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

A focused examination of the unfounded US claim to the sovereignty of Hawai’i.

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Australia: The Secret Country Again Wages War on Its Own People
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Australia’s Racist Assault on Aboriginal People – They are to be driven from homelands where their communities have lived for thousands of years. In Western Australia, where mining companies make billion dollar profits exploiting Aboriginal land, the state government says it can no longer afford to “support” the homelands.

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Oklahoma Mysterious Iron Cup Embedded in Million-Year-Old Coal
Universe Explorers – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

It’s a perfect piece of metal and it was discovered in 1912 in a mine in Wilburton, Oklahoma. The coal that originated from those mines is estimated to be around 300 million years old. This is where the story ignites and goes cold according to some.

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5 Shockingly Advanced Ancient Buildings That Shouldn’t Exist… Even If Built Today
Eric Yosomono, Welldone Quibranza & Alaric Penname – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

The achievements of ancient cultures tend to be woefully unappreciated — we think of the people as loincloth-wearing savages, and when we’re proven wrong by some impressive feat of engineering, we just make a bunch of documentaries about aliens. But the engineers of times past were nothing to sneer at, and some of their accomplishments make ours seem slightly embarrassing.

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Chopin “Fantasie” Impromptu (MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Yundi Li – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Li Yundi, born Oct 7 1982 in China, was the youngest pianist to win the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition in 2000 at the age of 18. He resides in Beijing.
Did you know that Chopin disliked this piece? He composed it when he was 24 years old and regretted it.

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(Castellano) Honrando a Eduardo Galeano
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Premio Nobel de la Paz – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Cuando un amigo se va… Nos deja su abrazo solidario y la alegría de la resistencia en construir nuevos amaneceres junto a los pueblos. Así partió Eduardo Galeano hacedor de la palabra que camina, abriendo sendas de luces y esperanza a contrapelo del sistema de dominación.

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War Journalism and News Distortion
Michael Krona – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

For example: what do you think is the conflict from its inception in 1998 has had over five million dead, has had involvement of military forces from nine countries and played out in an area the size of Western Europe, but few in the West even noticed?

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Millay’s “Epitaph for the Race of Man”
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

The beautiful red-haired American poet, Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950), is known for her lyric poetry. In “Epitaph” she speculates on what will be the final cause of the extinction of the human race and concludes that Man will die by his own hand since nothing has persuaded humankind “to lay aside the lever and the spade, and be as dust among the dusts that blow”.

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The West against Itself
Johan Galtung, 27 Apr 2015 - TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Take the 70th anniversary demarcation of the victory over nazism… Poland lost 20% of its population; the Soviet Union 27.1 million, 16%, with 1,710 cities and 70,000 villages erased; UK 1.1%; USA 0.4%; Norway 0.32%.

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The Effects of Marijuana on the Body
Healthline – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

When you smoke marijuana, there’s an almost immediate effect on your brain, sense of perception, and heart rate. There may be long-term effects as well.

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(Italiano) Mare nostrum è di tutti
Silvia Berruto – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Aosta 20 aprile 2015. Fiaccolata per le/i migranti morte/i in mare

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The Least We Can Do for Syria
Lakhdar Brahimi, Project Syndicate – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

In a conflict as bitter, protracted, and complex as the war in Syria, it is all too easy to become overwhelmed by despair. And yet, however grim or upsetting the situation becomes, people around the world, rather than tuning out the war, should pressure their governments to protect and shelter Syria’s refugees.

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Galeano Died. But the Revolution Goes On!
Andre Vltchek – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Eduardo Galeano died. My eyes are full of tears. Personally, I feel devastated. But Revolution is spreading all over the world and that is what matters. Thanks to him, and to others like him, fewer and fewer people will betray the cause. And more and more will dream and fight for the survival of our Planet, more and more will “keep walking”!

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(Deutsch) Ukrainekonflikt und kein Ende?
Andreas Zumach, Blätter - TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Mit dem Abschluss von „Minsk II“ ist es, wenn auch unter großen Schwierigkeiten, zu einem höchst fragilen Waffenstillstand in der Ostukraine gekommen – inklusive einer Entzerrung der Frontlinien, des Abzugs schwerer Waffen und weiterer Deeskalationsschritte.

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Girls, Not Brides
Graça Machel and Mabel van Oranje, Project Syndicate – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Urging governments to combat child marriage by setting the minimum age for marriage at 18.

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Nobel Women Initiative’s Conference – Building Global Support for Women Human Rights Defenders
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Breaking the silence on Israel’s human rights abuse of Palestinians is the best way to help Palestinian women human rights defenders and peacemakers.

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Asian, African Nations Challenge ‘Obsolete’ World Order
Eveline Danubrata and Charlotte Greenfield, Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Leaders of Asian and African nations called on Wednesday [22 Apr 2015] for a new global order that is open to emerging economic powers and leaves the “obsolete ideas” of Bretton Woods institutions in the past at the opening of a meeting in Jakarta to mark the 60th anniversary of a conference that made a developing-world stand against colonialism and led to the Cold War era’s non-aligned movement.

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Hindu Rashtra and Two-Nation Theory
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

A debate has recently gained momentum in India around the idea of Hindu Rashtra or Hindu nation-state… Hinduism is not dogmatic; it embraces pluralism. It believes in coexistence with other religions. Mahatma Gandhi was a proponent of this coexistence.

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Side Effects: Popping Pills and Pop-Up Politicos
Gary Corseri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Used to be, when I flipped channels, I’d go from one movie to another, one drama to another, one news show to another, etc. These days, I’m more likely to go from one commercial to another—and more likely than not, it’s a prescription pill commercial! Every third time I flip, I land on a “news” program where there are yakking heads (used to be talking, now they just yak—kind of like real yaks!)—giggling, oohing, ah-ing, laying odds on latest announcements by Hillary Shrillary, Jeb the Bush, Rand the Paul, Ted the Harvard-Hispanic guy, and Marco the Cuban-American guy.

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Church Pushed to Place Itself within BDS Movement
Jews For Justice For Palestinians – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

The Episcopal church in the USA (nearest relative, the Church of England) has been asked by its new group, the Episcopal Committee for Justice in Israel and Palestine, to adopt a policy of divestment from ‘companies that profit from Israel’s illegal occupation and colonization of Palestinian lands’. This is premised on the fact that Netanyahu has rejected the two-state solution and thus there is a new political landscape.

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IPRA 2016 Global Peace Conference to Be Held in Freetown, Sierra Leone
International Peace Research Association – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

The 26th biennial conference of the Interna¬tional Peace Research Association (IPRA) is billed to take place in Freetown, Sierra Leone in November 2016, marking the second time Africa has hosted the conference since the founding of IPRA in 1964.

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The Heart of the Hawaiian Peoples’ Arguments against the Telescope on Mauna Kea
Doug Herman, Smithsonian – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

23 Apr 2015 – Native Hawaiians are not protesting science, but instead are seeking respect for sacred places, and our planet. At this moment all over the Hawaiian Islands, but especially atop Mauna Kea volcano, there are protests against the building of a new Thirty-Meter Telescope on this sacred mountain.

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Migrants´ Right to Live Should Not Be Killed
Francisco Gomes de Matos – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Humankind may boast of many a life-saving technological invention,
but does it succeed, when challenged by migrant death prevention?…

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The Now Show – Dr Seuss at Copenhagen
Marcus Brigstocke – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

HILARIOUS! Read as you listen to podcast. A Dr Seuss-style take on events at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

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The Oslo Conference to End Myanmar’s Persecution of the Rohingyas
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor - TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Venues: The Nobel Institute and Voksenaasen
Oslo, Norway
26-28 May 2015
At this Oslo Conference, global leaders including George Soros and Desmond Tutu will call on the international community, both international investors, European Union and governments with close ties to Myanmar, to help end Myanmar’s Rohingya persecution.

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Legacy of War
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Sometimes when we reflect on war, we talk about sacrifice for a good cause. Other times, we talk about the cost, in lives or liberties lost. Occasionally, we talk about the horror. Sometimes we talk about the gains, nationally or internationally, for freedom and democracy. And rarely, we analyse the causes of war and lament that one day we might end it.

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The Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Death of the Republic
Ellen Brown, Web of Debt – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

On April 22, 2015, the Senate Finance Committee approved a bill to fast-track the TPP, a massive trade agreement that would override our republican form of government and hand judicial and legislative authority to a foreign three-person panel of corporate lawyers. The TPP would elevate the rights of investors – also called the rights of “capital” – above the rights of the citizens.

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If Writers Are Necessarily Right…
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Who Are the “Rongers”, So Necessarily Wrong? The focus of this reflection is on the curious phonetic relationship in English between “writer” and “right”. Is the exercise of “writing” surreptitiously assumed to be one which endeavours to make “right”? Can it be readily assumed to have this purpose, as in the sense of “setting things right” — “putting the world to rights”?

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A New Deal for Greece
Yanis Varoufakis, Project Syndicate – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

None of this means that common ground cannot be achieved immediately. The Greek government wants a fiscal-consolidation path that makes sense, and we want reforms that all sides believe are important. Our task is to convince our partners that our undertakings are strategic, rather than tactical, and that our logic is sound. Their task is to let go of an approach that has failed.

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(Norsk-Norwegian) Johan Galtung, verdens første fredsforskar om konflikten mellom Vesten og Islam
Jonas Sætre, Uten Filter – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

14 Apr 2015 – Nyheitsdekninga det siste året har i svært stor grad vore prega av konflikt mellom Islam og Vesten. Frå terrorangrepa i Paris og København og terrortrugsel på norsk jord, til framveksten av IS, norske framandkrigarar og Vestens krigføring i Midtausten. Sjølv for den verdskjende norske professoren og fredsmeklaren Johan Galtung er dette dramatiske tider i tilhøvet mellom Vesten og Islam.

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On the Historic Role of the Peace Movement
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

One can distinguish between four forms of power: military, economic, cultural and political. Military power says, “If you don’t do what I want, I will hurt you.” Economic power says, “If you do what I want, I will reward you.” Cultural power says, “If you do what I want, I will praise you, and if you don’t do what I want, I will criticize you.” Political power manipulates the other three forms of power to achieve goals.

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The Myth of ‘Value-Free’ Social Science or The Value of Political Commitments to Social Science
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

For many decades, mainstream social scientists, mostly conservative, have argued that political commitments and scientific research are incompatible. Against this current of opinion, others, mostly politically engaged social scientists, have argued that scientific research and political commitment are not contradictory. For the serious critical academic, in answering the question of ‘knowledge for whom?’: they would do well to follow Karl Marx’s wise adage, ‘The object of philosophy is not only to study the world but to change it.’

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(Deutsch) Günter Grass: Was gesagt werden muss
Günter Grass (Literatur-Nobelpreisträger) – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Günter Grass (16 Oktober 1927-13 April 2015) warnt in der “Süddeutschen Zeitung” vor einem Krieg gegen Iran. In seinem Gedicht mit dem Titel “Was gesagt werden muss” fordert der Literaturnobelpreisträger deshalb, Israel dürfe keine deutschen U-Boote mehr bekommen. Dieses Gedicht hat eine hitzige Debatte in Deutschland und Israel.

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What’s Obama Up to, with His TPP & TTIP?
Eric Zuesse, Washington’s Blog – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

It is instead to transfer political power away from the public in a democracy. The global aristocratic stockholder votes of the international aristocracy who elect the corporate directors of international companies will then be selecting the members to the international-trade-panels which, in TPP and TTIP, will, in their turn, be determining the rules and enforcements regarding especially workers’ rights, product-safety, and the environment.

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Most Europeans ‘Totally Distrust’ Mainstream Media Coverage of Ukraine Crisis – Poll
End the Lie – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

21 Apr 2015 – The majority of Europeans – UK, French, German and Greek residents among them – distrust mainstream media coverage of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, a recent poll conducted by the British ICM Research agency for Sputnik News, targeting over 4,000 people, reveals.

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Something’s Happening in Latin America – A Review
Kim Scipes, New Politics – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Apr 21, 2015 – With the Middle East in flames, NATO trying to start World War III in Ukraine while the European Union’s economy stagnates, Africa torn by low-level wars, and China re-entering the world stage in an assertive manner, there’s one region of the world that is relatively quiet: South America.

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A Tale of Two Atomic Cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Kazumi Matsui and Tomihisa Taue, Project Syndicate – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

On April 27 [2015], the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty’s 190 member countries will meet in New York for a review of the 45-year-old pact. The attendees would be wise to consider the important fact that a wide legal gap still remains when it comes to eliminating nuclear weapons: disarmament negotiations. This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6 and 9.
Kazumi Matsui is the mayor of Hiroshima, Japan.
Tomihisa Taue is the mayor of Nagasaki, Japan.

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Solution
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

One reverend complained to the other, “I have no people coming to listen to my sermon.”

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This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Apr 27–May 3 – QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Good morning… this is God. I will be handling all of your problems today. I will not need your help. So, have a good day.” – Unknown

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Australia to Authorize Guards to ‘Beat Asylum Seekers to Death’ – Report
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

The new powers, applying to immigration officers, would let them use “reasonable force against any person” to maintain order and security, which in fact could lead to “beating asylum seekers to death.” The immunity from civil and criminal liability will include private contractors – people, who are less trained than police officers.

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The Geopolitical Right of Exception at the United Nations
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

Overcoming the geopolitical right of exception would require its repudiation by the United States, in particular, through a recognition that it is incompatible with a peaceful, just, sustainable, and more participatory world order. This geopolitical right is also a vehicle of influence by private sector corporate and financial interests contrary to the global public interest.

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[Physics Nobel Laureate] Professor Peter Higgs Backs Anti-Trident Call
Edinburgh News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

12 April 2015 – Nobel Prize winner Professor Peter Higgs has joined leading figures in music, the arts and science to call for the UK to scrap its nuclear deterrent.

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Why War: Einstein and Freud’s Little-Known Correspondence on Violence, Peace, and Human Nature
Maria Popova, Brain Pickings – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

“As long as all international conflicts are not subject to arbitration and the enforcement of decisions arrived at by arbitration is not guaranteed, and as long as war production is not prohibited we may be sure that war will follow upon war. Unless our civilization achieves the moral strength to overcome this evil, it is bound to share the fate of former civilizations: decline and decay.” — Einstein

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U.S. Blocked Declaration of a Right to Health Care, Says Bolivia’s President
Eric Zuesse – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales has blamed U.S. President Barack Obama for the failure of the recent Organization of American States Summit of the Americas to issue a final declaration, and he says that a major sticking point was Obama’s opposition to a provision that health care is “a human right.”

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This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

Apr 20-26 – QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.” (Quoted from Desiderata) – Max Ehrmann

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12 Strategic Questions for Europe Regarding Forced Immigration from Africa
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

in the light of the continuing influx and the associated fatalities.

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‘Fukushima Lessons: Any Notion That Nuclear Power Is Clean Is Obsolete’
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

The world must phase out nuclear power because it is absolutely not clean from the mining processing of uranium to the generation of high-level radioactive waste, Kevin Kamps for the radioactive waste watchdog Beyond Nuclear, said.

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Weakening and Discrediting the UN: The Mission of Israeli QGOs [Quasi-Government Organizations]
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

This is the full text of my presentation at the conference “The Israeli Lobby: Is it good for US? Is it good for Israel?” National Press Club, April 10, 2015. Although there were many illuminating presentations during the day, I would call particular attention to the memorable remarks of two highly informed Israelis, Gideon Levy and Miko Peled.

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Yemen Peace Plan Deserves Strong Support and Speedy Action
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

The Yemen Peace Plan in its four steps is similar to an earlier Appeal of the Association of World Citizens (AWC). However, it is unlikely that Iran was influenced by the AWC Appeal; rather independent and objective analysis of the armed conflict leads to the same approach.

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The Google/China Hacking Case: How Many News Outlets Do a Original Reporting on a Big Story?
Jonathan Stray – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

From 800 news stories researched online about the hacking story, all but 121 were identical, 13 contained at least one personal or unique quote, and just seven represented original journalistic work. In other words, 85% of the [800] news articles were verbatim rewrites from other journalists whereas only about 1% constituted original stories.

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US Cops Only Do Bad Things When They’re Being Filmed
Tom Tomorrow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

This Modern World – Satirical Comic Strip

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Why Lincoln Still Matters Today
Allen L. Roland, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

On the anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination on April 14, 1865, 150 years ago, I pause to reflect on this giant of a man and 16th President who represents all the moral qualities we would hope our current Presidents embody ~ and yet we remain so bitterly disappointed when few if any of these Presidential pretenders can approach the moral timbre of our greatest president.

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Human Guinea Pigs
Want to Know – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

How much are government and business risking our lives and health with dangerous technologies like nuclear power, genetically modified foods, inadequately tested vaccines, and other even worse “experiments”? The American Medical Association and many doctors sided with the tobacco industry long after the harmful effects of smoking were proven. Some scientists also once believed radiation had little danger, putting volunteers at risk to prove it.

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The Future of International Law
John Scales Avery, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

Abstract: After the invention of agriculture, roughly 10,000 years ago, humans began to live in progressively larger groups, which were sometimes multi-ethnic. In order to make towns, cities and finally nations function without excessive injustice and violence, both ethical and legal systems were needed. Today, in an era of global economic interdependence, instantaneous worldwide communication and all-destroying thermonuclear weapons, we urgently need new global ethical principles and a just and enforceable system of international laws.

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Why Is Syriza Demanding Reparations from Germany?
Peter Schwarz, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

The demand for reparations for such crimes resonates amongst sections of the Greek, as well as the German, population. The arrogance with which the media and politicians in Germany are demanding drastic social cuts in Greece plays a role in this. It recalls the ruthless behavior of the Nazis. Moreover, the surviving victims of Nazi crimes are especially hard hit by the austerity measures in Greece.

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How Worker Co-ops are Moving beyond Capitalism
David Morgan, Occupy – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

11 Apr 2015 – The explosion of worker cooperatives in recent years has social justice organizers talking. Transitioning to a people-powered economy will require the work of many different social movements and worker co-ops have come to the center of the conversation due to their ability to address multiple issues at once.

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The Active Defense of the Cultural Heritage of Humanity
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

There are periods in the history of humanity when some great new ideas are introduced, beneficial for all. Such ideas mark the beginning of a new era with far-reaching effects, creating new conditions for cooperation. The Roerich Pact for the protection of the cultural heritage of humanity signed by 21 States in a Pan-American Union ceremony is such a sign of a new era which transcends all obstacles, prejudices and intolerances.

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Günter Grass (16 Oct 1927–13 Apr 2015): ‘What Must Be Said’
Günter Grass (Nobel Literature Laureate) – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

Poem published in the Süddeutsche Zeitung created a heated debate in both Germany and Israel.

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(Português) Como Reproduzimos a Cultura do Capital
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

Quem não tem, quer ter, quem tem, quer ter mais e quem tem mais diz: nunca é suficiente. E para a grande maioria, a competição e não a solidariedade e a supremacia do mais forte prevalecem sobre qualquer outro valor, nas relações sociais, especialmente, nos negócios.

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The Bank of International Settlements: Meet the Secretive Group That Runs the World
Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

When it comes to the historic record, nothing comes closer to the stereotypical, secretive group determining the fate of over 7 billion people, than the Bank of International Settlements, which hides in such plain sight, that few have ever paid much attention. -This Is Their Story-

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You Cannot Bomb Me Anymore
Ada Aharoni – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

For International Women’s Day – 8 Mar 2015
Listen, little big man,
you cannot bomb me anymore
because I don’t allow you
to bomb me anymore

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China, Russia Coming Closer to Create a New World Order
Vikas Shukla, Value Walk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

China continues to expand its geopolitical influence and military power, challenging the United States’ position as the world’s superpower. Meanwhile, economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies have prompted Russia to move closer to Asian countries to alleviate the impact of sanctions.

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(Italiano) Di sola andata. Per i migranti morti ieri nel Canale di Sicilia
Silvia Berruto – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

Nessuno potrà dire che non sapeva
E che per organizzare una mobilitazione collettiva autoconvocata ci vogliono 48 ore dal naufragio di 700/900 migranti nel Canale di Sicilia
Ad Aosta. In Valle d’Aosta.
La ricca Valle d’Aosta che non può ospitare i migranti. Anzi ne può ospitare solo uno.

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World Famous German Author [Nobel Literature Laureate] Günter Grass Dies at Age 87
Peter Schwarz, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

14 April 2015 – German author Günter Grass has died at the age of 87 in Lübeck, Germany following an infection. He is one of the most important German writers of the 20th century and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1999.

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Moment of Truth for the Nobel Peace Prize
Fredrik S. Heffermehl and Tomas Magnusson, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

In recent years the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize have not reflected the hope of the award’s founder – Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) – that the world be freed of weapons, warriors and war, or promoted the vision of preventing future war by what Nobel called “creating the brotherhood of nations”.

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The Black Hole
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

When Johan Galtung, widely recognized as the founder of the academic discipline of peace research, founded the first International Peace Research Institute in Oslo in 1959, he and his colleagues sent copies of their working papers regularly to about 400 social science institutes around the world, including the Institute for World Economy and International Relations in Moscow.

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‘World Bank Projects Serve for Industrial Ambitions, Not Alleviate Poverty’
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

World Bank projects in developing countries have had a dramatic impact, forced displacement and the impoverishment of local communities and indigenous people, political analyst Josh Klemm from International Rivers said.

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Nonviolence Charter: Progress Report 6 (Apr 2015)
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D., Anita McKone and Anahata Giri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

20 Apr 2015 – Here is the latest six-monthly report on progress in relation to ‘The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World’ and a sample of news about, and reports of forthcoming events by, Charter signatories.

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DARPA Building Real Life Terminators, Military Robots
Documentary & Discovery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technologies for use by the military.

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Fukushima Storage Facility Drone Video – Nuclear Waste in Bags Near Ocean
Jennifer Baker, Revolution News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

Drone footage captured by Ruptly shows millions of tons of radioactive soil and debris packed in black bags in a temporary storage site at Tomioka, Fukushima prefecture. This incredible video shows the haphazard manner in which this temporary storage facility is stacking up nuclear waste in what appears to be less than 100 yards from the Pacific Ocean.

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