Articles by TRANSCEND Media Service

We found 28008 results.


(Svenska-Swedish) Lay Down Your Arms
The Nobel Peace Prize Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

Hemlighetsmakeriet kring Nobels fredspris har missbrukats och måste upphöra. Detta är en av flera krav som den nybildade föreningen “Lay Down Your Arms” har skickats till de tre organ som ansvarar för tilldelning av fredspris: Nobelkommittén i Oslo, parlamentet som väljer kommittén, och Nobelstiftelsen i Stockholm, som har den överlägsna ansvar att se till att alla markeringar överensstämmer med Alfred Nobels krav.

→ read full article

Nuclear Notebook, the Interactive Edition
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

At the click of a mouse, our new multimedia presentation tracks world nuclear arsenals over seven decades.

→ read full article

Netanyahu: The Day After
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

4 Mar 2015 – My reaction to Netanyahu’s theatrical performance yesterday in Congress led me to recall that the deepest thinkers turned against democracy in ancient Greece because of the susceptibility of the Athenian citizenry to demagogic oratory from opportunistic politicians. Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides all became sensitive to the degree to which the rhetoric of demagogues contributed to the decline, and eventual downfall, of ancient Athens.

→ read full article

War, Peace, Justice: An Unfinished Tapestry…
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

War, peace, and justice are the eternal threads of human history – each thread with distinct symbols, colors, and appeals, each thread with its defining events, forces, heroes, and villains. History is the story of efforts to complete our unfinished tapestry. Until such time, we remain, as Bishop Tutu of South Africa poignantly stated in speaking of survival amid violence and oppression, “Prisoners of hope.”

→ read full article

Turn! Turn! Turn! (MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
The Byrds – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

–1960’s the Golden Decade–

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late!

→ read full article

US and Venezuela: Decades of Defeats and Destabilization
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

US policy toward Venezuela is a microcosm of its larger strategy toward Latin America. The intent is to reverse the region’s independent foreign policy and to restore US dominance; to curtail the diversification of trading and investment partners and re-center economic relations to the US; to replace regional integration pacts with US centered economic integration schemes; and to privatize firms partly or wholly nationalized.

→ read full article

“Radioactive Cover-Up” at Fukushima — Experts Believe “Other Sources of Contamination” Are Flowing into Ocean
ENENews – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

Emergency hearing with plant officials — “TEPCO decided long ago there was no need to monitor” the water with high-level radioactive materials.

→ read full article

U.S. Standing Alone against Children
David Swanson – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

The United States will soon be the only nation on earth that has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. And why not?

→ read full article

US War on ISIS a Trojan Horse
Ulson Gunnar, New Eastern Outlook – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

ISIS could not be a more effective part of America’s plans to overthrow the Syrian government and destroy the Syrian state if it had an office at the Pentagon. A Hollywood villain this popular and effective is surely destined for a sequel in neighboring Iran or southern Russia, coincidentally where the US would like to create strife and carnage the most.

→ read full article

Fifty Years of Imperial Wars: Results and Perspectives
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

1 Mar 2015 – Over the past 50 years the US and European powers have engaged in countless imperial wars throughout the world. The drive for world supremacy has been clothed in the rhetoric of “world leadership”, the consequences have been devastating for the peoples targeted.

→ read full article

Shock: Fracking Used to Inject Nuclear Waste Underground for Decades
Aaron Dykes and Melissa Melton, Activist Post – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

5 Mar 2015 – Unearthed articles from the 1960s detail how nuclear waste was buried beneath the Earth’s surface by Halliburton & Co. for decades as a means of disposing the by-products of post-World War II atomic energy production.

→ read full article

Commentary on Netanyahu’s Visit to the United States
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

2 Mar 2015 – It is far too simple to be merely outraged by the arrogant presumptuousness of tomorrow’s speech by the Israeli Prime Minister to a joint session of Congress two weeks prior to national elections in Israel. The Netanyahu visit has encouraged various forms of wishful thinking.

→ read full article

International Women’s Day – 8 March
The United Nations – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

2015: Empowering Women – Empowering Humanity: Picture It! – A time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities.

→ read full article

Time Banks: A Tool for Restorative Justice and Community Strength
Beverly Bell – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

Timebanking is mutual credit, where whenever somebody provides a service to a member in a timebank, they get credit, which they can redeem for that same amount of time to get something they need from someone else in the network. It’s fluid and flexible. Timebanking doesn’t have to involve a direct exchange between two people, and it doesn’t have to happen in the same span of time.

→ read full article

Ohio Students Approve Israel Divestment Vote by Landslide
Nora Barrows-Friedman, Electronic Intifada – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

On Tuesday [3 Mar 2015] the student government at the University of Toledo in Ohio approved a resolution to divest from companies which profit from Israeli violations of Palestinians’ rights. The resolution passed with 21 student senators in favor and only four against.

→ read full article

Robert Reich Takes On the Trans-Pacific Partnership
MoveOn.org – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is the largest–and worst–trade deal you’ve never heard of and Republicans in Congress want to work with the Obama administration to “fast track” its passage.

→ read full article

Breedlove’s Bellicosity – Berlin Alarmed by Aggressive NATO Stance on Ukraine
SPIEGEL Staff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

US President Obama supports Chancellor Merkel’s efforts at finding a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis. But hawks in Washington seem determined to torpedo Berlin’s approach. And NATO’s top commander in Europe hasn’t been helping either.

→ read full article

Interview: Mildred Aristide, Former First Lady of Haiti
Haiti Solidarity – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

Mildred Aristide is an attorney who as former First Lady of Haiti headed the country’s National AIDS Commission and authored a book on the root causes of child domestic service.

→ read full article

The Cultural Heritage of Iraq and Syria: “Destroyed by Human Ignorance − Rebuilt by Human Hope”
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

There have been iconoclastic movements in the past, especially among Muslims and early Protestants holding that the spiritual world cannot (and thus should not) be represented in forms. The iconoclastic reasoning can be defended, but not the destruction of objects which represented other philosophies, cultures and levels of understanding.

→ read full article

Former Guantanamo Detainee David Hicks Speaks Up
Richard Phillips, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

Hicks, an Australian citizen, was captured in Afghanistan by the Northern Alliance in late 2001, sold to the US military and sent to Guantanamo Bay. He spent five and a half years in the prison hellhole where he was subjected to sleep deprivation, beatings, solitary confinement and was injected with unknown substances.

→ read full article

Know the Enemy
Jon Taylor – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

A terrorist is someone
who opposes the dictates of imperialism;
an extremist is someone who defends
his country against foreign invasion.

→ read full article

Saudi Arabia Becomes World’s Biggest Arms Importer amid Regional Concerns
I24News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

8 Mar 2015 – Saudi Arabia has become the world’s largest arms importer, surpassing India, amid increased tensions in the Middle East. Spending rose to $6.5 billion, rising 54 percent as compared to last year.

→ read full article

Students Occupy University of Amsterdam (De Nieuwe Universiteit)
De Nieuwe Universiteit – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

The general motivation behind all these demands is discontent with the current ways of management. Top-down, efficiency-oriented management damages the very thing a university should revolve around: research and education.

→ read full article

Syria, Lebanon, and the Middle East: Enabling a War-to-Peace Transition
Tatsushi Arai, PhD – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

A key to realizing these measures is a sustained, systematic effort to build public awareness and capacity. Developing Arabic instruction materials on peace building and using them to train capable trainers who can effectively disseminate relevant skills and knowledge are two of the most urgent immediate tasks to enable the rest of the suggested measures to unfold.

→ read full article

Radicalisation versus Demonisation?
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

Enabling Radical Initiatives under Conditions of Strategic Stalemate – In a period in which radicalisation is upheld as a matter of ever increasing political concern, there is seemingly little understanding of the condition of being a radical — other than as perceived and labelled by others according to some convention of normality.

→ read full article

(Português) Amnistia Internacional denuncia desrespeito pelos Direitos Humanos em Portugal
Visão Solidária – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

3 Mar 2015 – O relatório anual da organização de defesa dos Direitos Humanos Amnistia Internacional (AI) alerta Portugal para persistência de problemas em áreas como as condições prisionais, a discriminação de comunidades ciganas ou a violência contra as mulheres.

→ read full article

Sheherazade
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

A cruel prince in 8th century Baghdad returned early from hunting and surprised his wife in the company of another man. He ordered both of them executed.

→ read full article

A Tribute to Professor Yasuhiro Okudaira (1929–2015)
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

An Academic Defender of the Peace Constitution of Japan – This coming Sunday, on 15 March 2015, will mark the 49th day after Professor Yasuhiro Okudaira’s death.

→ read full article

What BRICS Plus Germany Are Really Up To?
Pepe Escobar – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

Winston Churchill once said, “I feel lonely without a war.” He also badly missed the loss of empire. Churchill’s successor – the ‘Empire of Chaos’ – now faces the same quandary. Some wars – as in Ukraine, by proxy – are not going so well.

→ read full article

Engineering the Perfect Baby
Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

Scientists are developing ways to edit the DNA of tomorrow’s children. Should they stop before it’s too late? “You can do it. But there really isn’t a medical reason. People say, well, we don’t want children born with this, or born with that—but it’s a completely false argument and a slippery slope toward much more unacceptable uses.”

→ read full article

Children of South Africa’s Liberation Icons Condemn Israeli Apartheid
Pambazuka News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Mar 2015

It is the Israeli Apartheid Week in South Africa. The children of celebrated liberation heroes have come out to support the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel, denouncing the Jewish state’s brutal colonial occupation of Palestine. The campaign is supported by 85 South African organizations and institutions.

→ read full article

(Italiano) L’ipocrisia occidentale della libertà d’espressione
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

Stato-Legge, Capitale, e Cultura. Che sono al loro meglio quando indipendenti l’uno dall’altro. Lo Stato non dovrebbe interferire con il mercato, il Capitale non con la politica, né con la Cultura. Guardiamo anche solo come il Capitale cambi parti importanti della Cultura come gli sport, le arti e la scienza, trasformandoli in prodotti d’acquisto, vendita e investimento, esigendo dalle università che servano il Capitale, non la Verità.

→ read full article

‘Lawfare’ and Liberation
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

In opposition to a law-oriented foreign policy for the United States are arguments of ‘American exceptionalism.’ Such arguments condition its applicability to American behavior and insist on the implementation of international law in relation to the alleged unlawful conduct of adversaries (e.g. Russia involvement in eastern Ukraine)

→ read full article

The Von Weizsäckers, Germany’s Kennedys
Johan Galtung, 2 Mar 2015 - TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

President Richard von Weizsäcker passed away 31 January and was very much celebrated in Germany for his brilliant presidency to normalize a Germany with a troubled past, even divided on top of that. But, by and large leaving out his global perspectives mentioned below.

→ read full article

The Neoconservative Threat to World Order
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

26 Feb 2015 – This week I was invited to address an important conference of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. Scholars from Russia and from around the world, Russian government officials, and the Russian people seek an answer as to why Washington destroyed during the past year the friendly relations between America and Russia that President Reagan and President Gorbachev succeeded in establishing.

→ read full article

Pentagon Provocation on Russia’s Border
Bill Van Auken, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

US armored vehicles flying American flags were paraded Tuesday [24 Feb 2015] through the Estonian city of Narva, just a few hundred yards from the Russian border. The provocative action, coming on the heels of the first anniversary of the US-orchestrated coup in Kiev, underscores the potentially catastrophic implications.

→ read full article

Why the Rise of Fascism Is Again the Issue
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

In a major essay, John Pilger describes a ‘Faustian Pact’ that allows the suppression of a modern fascism in the West and its reliance on propaganda as news, and the beckoning of a war that rarely speaks its name.

→ read full article

33 Latin American and Caribbean States Call for a Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

Latin American and Caribbean states [CELAC] have once again shown a united front and a clear vision for the future of nuclear disarmament.

→ read full article

(Italiano) Diagnosi & Prognosi: Valutazione del conflitto ucraino. Formazione da una prospettiva di pace
Naakow Grant-Hayford – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

La riuscita espansione dei codici e delle istituzioni economico-politico-militari dell’UE e della NATO nella direzione generale della Russia sin dalla fine della Guerra Fredda, confligge di nuovo apertamente, come nel caso della Georgia nel 2008, con gli interessi russi nella sua orbita immediata e ha incendiato l’Ucraina orientale.

→ read full article

(Italiano) Perché è inevitabile l’estinzione del genere umano a breve termine
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

L’espressione “estinzione umana a breve termine” è relativamente recente nella letteratura scientifica, ma a differenza di altre realtà che le ‘élite’ nazionali e i canali d’informazione dominanti sono riusciti a soffocare, questa continuerà a filtrare finché non inizierete a sentirla regolarmente. Perché?

→ read full article

Enabling Fruitful Multiplication of Global Population
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

Eliciting Massive Social Consensus by Unconstrained Reframing of Strategic Priorities – This reflects the strategic adage: ‘If you cannot beat them–then join them’ and is consistent with subtler philosophies of ‘Going with the flow’ or ‘Guiding the canoe, rather than pushing the river.’ It could also be understood as ‘Going for broke.’

→ read full article

(Italiano) Quando un terrorista non è un terrorista
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

Ciò che la polizia di Chapel Hill, nella Carolina del Nord ha inizialmente pubblicizzato nel mondo come ‘un litigio per un parcheggio’, è stata l’uccisione deliberata di tre giovani e devoti studenti musulmani americani per mano di un assassino, ‘nuovo ateo’ di nome Craig Stephen Hicks, motivato ideologicamente. Quello che The Economist chiama senza esitazione ‘terrorismo a Copenhagen ha implicato il tentativo di sparare a un vignettista danese che ripetutamente deride il Profeta e le convinzioni islamiche e ha implicato anche l’uccisione con arma da fuoco di una guardia di sicurezza ebrea davanti a una sinagoga.

→ read full article

Push Back the Doomsday Clock!
James Albertini – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

We Are All Down Winders! March 1st is known as “Nuclear-Free & Independent Pacific Day.” It commemorates the tragic 15 megaton U.S. nuclear bomb test, code named Bravo, at Bikini atoll in the Marshall Islands of Micronesia, on March 1, 1954. Many people died in the Marshall Islands from radiation contamination and fallout downwind of the Bravo blast and the 66 additional U.S. nuclear weapon tests there.

→ read full article

Rohingya and National Identities in Burma [Myanmar]
Carlos Sardiña Galache, New Mandala – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

Rather than attempting to defend Rohingya claims, I argue that the notion of “national races” itself, and thus the set of assumptions hitherto determining the terms of the debate, are fundamentally false and do not facilitate any understanding of the history and present social realities of Burma.

→ read full article

Mr. Tambourine Man (MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Bob Dylan – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

Live at the Newport Folk Festival, 1964 – A Classic

→ read full article

Peace and Freedoms for Indian Women in the Digital Era
Dr. Stephen Gill – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

Happy International Women’s Day on 8 March! On the one hand, women in India are at the peak of their success like Indira Gandhi who became Prime Minister of India. On the other hand, the vast majority is suffering silently. Violence and prejudice against them are dying, but the rate is painfully slow.

→ read full article

German Newspaper BILD Gets inside US-NATO-Nuland Planning Session
Fort Russ – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

Feb 19, 2015 – The Bild headline: “Cold Feet” “Bullshit,” “Angst” – What US Politicians REALLY think about the Germans in the Ukraine Crisis. Nuland set the tone at the prelude to the evening: “We can fight against the Europeans, we can fight with rhetoric against them.”

→ read full article

(Svenska-Swedish) Debattartikel: Sverige och EU – stöd demokrati i Burma, inte diktaturen!
Svenska Burmakommittén – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

Burma är fortfarande en diktatur. Trots att Sverige och EU har uttalade mål att stödja demokratisering i landet signaleras istället stöd för samma gamla politiska elit, genom tystnad om människorättsbrott, bistånd till statliga myndigheter, handelsavtal och lyfta sanktioner. Omvärlden måste visa att man står på de demokratiska krafternas sida.

→ read full article

Chinese Diplomat Tells West to Consider Russia’s Security Concerns over Ukraine
Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

27 Feb 2015 – Western powers should take into consideration Russia’s legitimate security concerns over Ukraine, a top Chinese diplomat has said in an unusually frank and open display of support for Moscow. Qu Xing, China’s ambassador to Belgium, was quoted as blaming competition between Russia and the West for the Ukraine crisis, urging Western powers to “abandon the zero-sum mentality” with Russia.

→ read full article

Lay Down Your Arms
The Nobel Peace Prize Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

The secrecy surrounding the Nobel Peace Prize has been misused and must cease. This is one of several demands that the newly formed association “Lay Down Your Arms” has sent to the three bodies responsible for awarding the Peace Prize: the Nobel Committee in Oslo, the Parliament that chooses the committee, and the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, which has the superior responsibility to ensure that all selections conform with Alfred Nobel’s stipulations.

→ read full article

Johan Galtung: Transition from a Unipolar to a Multipolar Octagonal World
World Public Forum – Dialogue of Civilizations – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

Feb 17, 2015

Johan Galtung, a professor of peace studies, dr hc mult, is rector of the TRANSCEND Peace University-TPU. He is author of over 160 books on peace and related issues, including ‘50 Years-100 Peace and Conflict Perspectives,’ published by the TRANSCEND University Press-TUP.

→ read full article

Why Do We Fear Challenging Authority?
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph. D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

I want to ask you three questions: Are you scared to make your own judgment (irrespective of the number of others, including experts, who make a similar judgment)? Are you scared to be labelled a ‘conspiracy theorist’ if you believe something contrary to the official (that is, the elite) narrative? And why?

→ read full article

An Expensive Speech
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

President Obama, who is being insulted, humiliated and obstructed in his most cherished policy move, the agreement with Iran, would be superhuman if he did not brood on revenge. Even a movement of his little finger could hurt Israel grievously. Does Netanyahu care? Of course he cares. But he cares more about his reelection. Much, much more.

→ read full article

Slavoj Žižek: A Note on Syriza – Indebted Yes, but Not Guilty!
Slavoj Žižek, Potemkin – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

The idea one gets from our media is that the Syriza government in Greece is composed of a bunch of populist extremists who advocate “irrational” and “irresponsible” populist measures. It is, on the contrary, EU politics which have been, and continue to be, obviously irrational.

→ read full article

Review of ‘Confessions of a Terrorist – A Novel’
Anita McKone – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

In this novel, Jackson raises the confronting question: Is the fear and insecurity of Western societies and their violent abuse of people of other countries and cultures causing a violent defensive reaction? In which case, are Westerners the ones who need to de-‘radicalise’ their extremist capitalist and militarist ideologies and behaviour in order to reduce fearful extremist responses to these?

→ read full article

[Nobel Prize Economic Sciences] Joseph Stiglitz Stands against Trade Agreements
Pressenza Int’l Press Agency – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

Feb 25 2015 – The United States is trying to impose a strong investment pact within two big, so-called “partnership” agreements that are now being negotiated, one bridging the Atlantic, the other the Pacific. The TPPs are going to be about regulation. Corporations have an interest at lowering regulatory standards that protect the environment, protect consumers, protect workers, and protect health.

→ read full article

Establish a UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy
Article 19 – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

5 Feb 2015 – The undersigned organisations, a coalition of international non-governmental organisations working to protect human rights, write to encourage your government to support the creation of a new Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy at the Human Rights Council (HRC) 28th ordinary session in March [2015].

→ read full article

This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

March 2–8 – Quote of the Week: “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” — Helen Keller

→ read full article

Testing Nuclear Weapons in the Marshall Islands
David Krieger – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

The islands were alive
with the red-orange fire of sunset
splashed on a billowy sky.

→ read full article

‘100yrs to Repair Gaza’: Oxfam Says Blockade Remains, Aid Almost Non-Existent
Russia Today - TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

27 Feb 2015 – Reconstructing Gaza could take an entire century, if Israel doesn’t stop the siege, leading charity Oxfam warned. And that’s just the time frame for essential projects. The NGO’s regional director calls the situation “deplorable.”

→ read full article

After Thousands of Years, Earth’s Frozen Life Forms Are Waking Up
Maddie Stone – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

What’s happening in Siberia’s thawing permafrost and Greenland’s melting glaciers sounds borderline supernatural. Ancient viruses, bacteria, plants, and even animals have been cryogenically frozen there for millennia—and now, they are waking up.

→ read full article

CitizenFour – Full Documentary
Laura Poitras & Glenn Greenwald, LeakSource – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

The film, which has been hailed as a real-life thriller, chronicles Snowden’s effort to securely contact Poitras and Glenn Greenwald in 2013 and meet them in Hong Kong, where Poitras filmed Snowden discussing the thousands of classified NSA documents he was leaking to them, and his motives for doing so. The film takes its title from the pseudonym Snowden used when he contacted Poitras in encrypted emails that were revealed in her documentary.

→ read full article

Syria Speaks: Art and Culture from the Frontline
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

“Syrians Speak” would be a more accurate title for this valuable collection of essays, poems, drawings, posters, and photos by intellectuals and artists. The artistic response to the Syrian uprising is far more than a litany of turmoil; it illustrates the accelerated experiences of a people, many of whom have been fighting for their survival.

→ read full article

The Loving Husband
TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

A man had two tickets for the best seats of the Rugby World Cup Final.

→ read full article

Banksy In Gaza: Haunting Images among Ruins of War
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

27 Feb 2015 – The English graffiti artist has taken his politically charged message to the bombed-out neighborhoods of Gaza, where a series of murals amid a backdrop of devastation attempts to give voice to the desperation felt by Palestinians.

→ read full article

How to Pay for Social Programmes
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

Chapter Eight of: Economic Theory and Community Development – Where we are going with our analysis: What we need is not so much a new economics as a new psychology. We need alignment with the common good. We need community.

→ read full article

Nonviolent Communication
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

Psychologist Marshall Rosenberg (born 1934) was invited to speak at a meeting of a group of young Palestinians in a refugee camp on the West Bank. The Israeli police had recently entered the camp to quell protests. The ground was strewn with tear gas shells labeled “Made in USA”.

→ read full article

(Português) Internet de banda larga como ‘bem público’ nos EUA
Esquerda – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Mar 2015

Por três votos contra dois, a neutralidade da rede ganhou uma importante batalha nos EUA contra os grandes distribuidores e produtores de conteúdos online.

→ read full article

Fresh Nuclear Leak Detected at Fukushima Plant
OneIndia – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

Sensors at the Fukushima nuclear plant have detected a fresh leak of highly radioactive water to the sea, the plant’s operator announced on Sunday [22 Feb 2015], highlighting difficulties in decommissioning the crippled plant.

→ read full article

Alive and Bleeding
Robert C. Koehler – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

“We’re killing a lot of them, and we’re going to keep killing more of them. So are the Egyptians, so are the Jordanians — they’re in this fight with us. But we cannot win this war by killing them. We cannot kill our way out of this war. We need in the medium to longer term to go after the root causes that lead people to join these groups, whether it’s a lack of opportunity for jobs, whether…”

→ read full article

Gaza Homes Flooded after Israel Unbolts Dam Gates
Falastin News Palestine – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

Scores of Palestinian family homes east of blockaded Gaza were flooding after the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) opened dam gates at dawn Sunday [22 Feb 2015]. This is not the first time Israeli occupation authorities have opened the Gaza Valley dams.

→ read full article

Anti What? The Hoax of Rising Antisemitism in Europe
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

Anti-Semitism is on the rise. All over Europe it is raising its ugly head. Jews are in danger everywhere. They must make haste and come home to Israel before it is too late. True? Untrue? NONSENSE!

→ read full article

The Struggle of Venezuela against ‘A Common Enemy’
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

There are straightforward principles and dynamics at work here. Washington wants to get rid of the Venezuelan government because it is independent of US designs for the region and because Venezuela has the greatest proven oil reserves in the world and uses its oil revenue to improve the quality of ordinary lives.

→ read full article

The Assassination of Greece
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

The Greek government is currently locked in a life and death struggle with the elite which dominate the banks and political decision-making centers of the European Union. What are at stake are the livelihoods of 11 million Greek workers, employees and small business people and the viability of the European Union.

→ read full article

How to Read Intelligently and Write a Great Essay: Robert Frost’s Letter of Advice to His Young Daughter
Maria Popova, Brain Pickings – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

«Take it easy with the essay whatever you do. Be as concrete as the law allows in it — concrete and experiential. Don’t let it scare you. Don’t strain. Remember that any old thing that happens in your head as you read may be the thing you want. If nothing much seems to happen, perhaps another reading will help.»

→ read full article

US Imperialism and the Catastrophe in Libya
Joseph Kishore, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

Prior to the intervention of NATO, there were no sectarian murders of Christians in Libya and Islamist militias tied to Al Qaeda were small groups with no broader influence. These forces were armed and promoted when, in 2011, the Obama administration and its allies in Europe, led by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, took the decision to topple Gaddafi.

→ read full article

The Western Freedom of Expression Hypocrisy
Johan Galtung, 23 Feb 2015 - TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

State-Law, Capital, and Culture. They are at their best when independent of each other. State should not interfere with the market, Capital not with politics, neither with Culture. Just look at how Capital changes such important parts of Culture as sports, arts and science, transforming them into products for buying, selling and investing, demanding of universities to serve Capital, not Truth.

→ read full article

Remember Your Humanity
John Scales Avery, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

This year, 2015, marks the 60th anniversary of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, which contains the following words: “There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise. If you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death.”

→ read full article

Russia Creates Its Own Payment System
Ian Welsh – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

15 Feb 2015 – Domestic credit institutions have been incorporated into the new Russian financial system, the analogous of SWIFT. The new service will allow Russian banks to communicate through the Central Bank of Russia in response to repeated threats by Moscow’s Western partners to disconnect Russia from SWIFT.

→ read full article

Naive Acquisition of Dual-use Surveillance Technology
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

Progressive market-driven transformation of personal appliances into spyware? February 2015 has been witness to worldwide news coverage of the manner in which new “Smart TVs” were designed to listen to, if not visually record, those watching them. The major issue of concern was how the information acquired in this way was used, by whom, and with what constraints.

→ read full article

Seed Bombers Can Plant an Entire Forest of 900,000 Trees A Day!
John Vibes, True Activist – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

Here’s a good use for old military planes! Planting trees EVERYWHERE! Seed bombing or aerial reforestation is a farming technique where trees and other crops are planted by being thrown or dropped from an airplane or flying drone.

→ read full article

Crimea: Was It Seized by Russia, or Did Russia Block Its Seizure by the U.S.?
Eric Zuesse, Fort Russ – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

Both before and after Crimea left Ukraine and joined Russia in a public referendum on 16 March 2014, the Gallup Organization polled Crimeans on behalf of the U.S. Government, and found them to be extremely pro-Russian and anti-American, and also anti-Ukrainian. (Neither poll was subsequently publicized, because the results of each were the opposite of what the sponsor had wished.)

→ read full article

World Press Freedom Index 2015: Decline on All Fronts
Reporters Without Borders – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

The Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index ranks the performance of 180 countries according to a range of criteria that include media pluralism and independence, respect for the safety and freedom of journalists, and the legislative, institutional and infrastructural environment in which the media operate.

→ read full article

US-NATO War Games Prepare Massive Military Escalation in West Africa
Thomas Gaist, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

U.S. and NATO forces launched massive war games Monday [16 Feb 2015] in West Africa. The exercises, known as Operation Flintlock 2015, are to serve as the spearhead for a comprehensive military escalation by the US and European powers and their client regimes throughout the resource-rich Lake Chad Basin.

→ read full article

700th Consecutive Weekly Hilo [Hawai’i] Peace Vigil
James Albertini – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 marks the 700th consecutive weekly Hilo, Hawaii Peace Vigil held from 3:30-5PM at the downtown Post office/federal building sponsored by Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action based in Kurtistown, Big Island, Hawai’i.

→ read full article

Israel Killed 108 Preschoolers and 19 Babies Last Year According to New Report
Joe Fletcher – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

Feb14, 2015 – “Children younger than 16 made up one-third of the total: 280 killed, including 19 babies and 108 preschoolers between the ages of 1 and 5. In 83 strikes, three or more members of one family died. Among those killed were 96 confirmed or suspected militants — or just over 11 percent of the total.”

→ read full article

This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

February 23–March 1 – Quote of the Week: “Nothing is impossible; the word itself says, ‘I’m possible’!” — Audrey Hepburn

→ read full article

When a Terrorist Is Not a Terrorist
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

What the Chapel Hill police in North Carolina initially pitched as ‘a parking dispute’ was the deliberate killing of three young and devout Muslim American students by an ideologically driven ‘new atheist’ killer named Craig Stephen Hicks. What the The Economist unhesitatingly calls ‘terrorism in Copenhagen’ involved the attempted shooting of a Danish cartoonist who repeatedly mocks the Prophet and Islamic beliefs as well as the lethal shooting of a Jewish security guard outside a synagogue.

→ read full article

(Français) La chasse aux sorcières des ‘’Charlies’’: Dérive ou prélude aux bruits rampants des bottes du fascisme?
Amir M. Maasoumi – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

28 janvier 2015, Radio Canada et Médias internationaux : ‘’Un enfant de 8 ans interpellé par la police française’’ pour refuser ”d’être Charlie”. Non. Moi non plus; Je ne suis ni Charlie, ni un Assassin hors-la-loi et sans foi! Je refuse cette dichotomie artificielle, simpliste et réductrice.

→ read full article

Ten Enduring Mysteries of the Longyou Caves
April Holloway, Ancient Origins – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

In China lies the Longyou caves – an extensive, magnificent and rare ancient underground world considered in China as ‘the 9th wonder of the ancient world’. Despite decades of research, very few answers have emerged to explain its enigma. Our ancient ancestors have achieved many wondrous things, but this truly is an unexplained mystery.

→ read full article

Saint Francis and the Wolf
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

We must understand the causes of violence, in our own interest, to prevent it in the future. In no way does this justify violence, or blame the victims.

→ read full article

Ukraine Agrees To Monsanto Land Grab for $17 Billion IMF Loan
Christina Sarich, Popular Resistance – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are helping biotech run the latest war in Ukraine. Make no mistake: what is happening in the Ukraine now is deeply tied to the interests of Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, and other big players in the poison food game.

→ read full article

(Português) Morrem Três Jornalistas Que Investigavam a Participação dos EUA na Demolição das Torres Gêmeas
Diário Liberdade – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

Três jornalistas que trabalhavam em um documentário sobre o envolvimento do governo norte-americano na demolição das torres gêmeas morreram nos últimos dias. Trata-se do ex-repórter internacional da NBC Ned Colt, o correspondente da CBS News [60 Minutes] Bob Simon, e o jornalista do New York Times David Carr.

→ read full article

A Pre-History of Boko Haram: The Long Shadow of Usman dan Fodio
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

There has been growing concern with the activities of Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria and its spillover into northern Cameroon, Niger, and in the Lake Chad area.

→ read full article

(Português) Por que o ocidente não admite as verdadeiras raízes do terrorismo?
Mediapart – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

A violência política se alimenta da violência de Estado e da violência social. O radicalismo se alimenta das presepadas geopolíticas ocidentais.

→ read full article

Retraction
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

A member of the United States Senate, known for his hot temper and acid tongue, exploded one day in midsession and began to shout, “Half of this Senate is made up of cowards and corrupt politicians!”

→ read full article

Extinct—Extincter—Extinctest
Dmitry Orlov – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

The USA is best characterized as a decomposing corpse of a nation lorded over by a tiny clique of oligarchs who control the herd by wielding Orwellian methods of mind control. So far gone is the populace that most of them think that things are just peachy—there is an economic recovery, don’t you know.

→ read full article

US “Easing Into” War with Syria Using ISIS Boogeyman
Tony Cartalucci, New Eastern Outlook – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

As early as June of last year, it was reported that ISIS would be used as a means to incrementally draw in US forces in preparation for a direct military intervention aimed at Damascus itself.

→ read full article

Athenae Delenda Est
Paul Krugman, Nobel Economics Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

Rather than give any ground, they prefer to see Greece forced into default and probably out of the euro, with the presumed economic wreckage as an object lesson to anyone else thinking of asking for relief. That is, they’re setting out to impose the economic equivalent of the “Carthaginian peace” France sought to impose on Germany after World War I. The lack of wisdom is astonishing and appalling.

→ read full article

Interview with William Schabas, Former Chair, UN Commission of Inquiry for 2014 Israeli Attack on Gaza
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Feb 2015

Interview with Prof. William Schabas, recently resigned under pressure as Chair of the Commission of Inquiry appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to Investigate Allegations of State Crimes associated with Israel’s military attack on Gaza, code named Operation Protective Edge.

→ read full article