Articles by RT

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United States Nuclear Forces, 2016
Hans M. Kristensen & Robert S. Norris | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – TRANSCEND Media Service, 31 Oct 2016

Published online: 2 March 2016

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Rich Man’s World (1%) [RAP Music]
Immortal Technique – TRANSCEND Media Service, 31 Oct 2016

[Disclaimer] Not for the faint of heart. Strong down to earth offensive obscene language—but true to reality as only art can be.

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Why the Rich Can’t Be Trusted with Money
Larry Beinhart – Al Jazeera, 31 Oct 2016

The members of the investor class are programmed to destroy. It is way too smart to stick under the mattress. Money is supposed to be out there making money, damn it!

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Russian Nuclear Forces, 2016
Hans M. Kristensen & Robert S. Norris | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – TRANSCEND Media Service, 31 Oct 2016

Published online: 15 April 2016

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Nonviolence Charter: Progress Report #9 (Oct 2016)
Robert J. Burrowes, Anita McKone & Anahata Giri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Oct 2016

This is the latest six-monthly report on progress in relation to ‘The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World’ together with a sample of news about Charter signatories and organizations. Our collective effort to build a worldwide consensus against the use of violence in all contexts continues to make progress, even against rather overwhelming odds!

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The Greater Evil of ‘Lesser Evilism’
Emanuel E. Garcia, MD | Intrepid Report – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Oct 2016

It’s high time we freed ourselves from the politics of cronyism, fear and the greater evil of lesser evilism. If not now—when global stakes are at such a height, given nuclear weaponry, climate change, never-ending war and utter contempt for international law—when?

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Good Deaths in Mosul, Bad Deaths in Aleppo
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 24 Oct 2016

Note how differently The New York Times prepares the American public for civilian casualties from the new U.S.-backed Iraqi government assault on the city of Mosul to free it from the Islamic State, compared to the unrelenting condemnation of the Russian-backed Syrian government assault on neighborhoods of east Aleppo held by Al Qaeda.

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Masters of War Have Names!
James Albertini | Malu 'Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Oct 2016

Among Bob Dylan’s many songs written over decades was “Masters of War” that included these lyrics:
“Come you masters of war, You that build the big guns, You that build the death planes. You that build all the bombs. You that hide behind walls. You that hide behind desks. I just want you to know I can see through your masks…

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A Nonviolent Strategy to End the Climate Catastrophe
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Oct 2016

As the evidence mounts that we are fast approaching the final point-of-no-return beyond which it will be impossible to take sufficient effective action to prevent climate catastrophe – the evidence of ineffective official responses climbs too. So what are we to do?

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U.S. Military Operations Are Biggest Motivation for Homegrown Terrorists, FBI Study Finds
Murtaza Hussain and Cora Currier – The Intercept, 17 Oct 2016

11 Oct 2016 – A secret FBI study found that anger over U.S. military operations abroad was the most commonly cited motivation for individuals involved in cases of “homegrown” terrorism. The report also identified no coherent pattern to “radicalization,” concluding that it remained near impossible to predict future violent acts. Government officials rarely acknowledge the role that political grievances play in driving attacks.

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(Italiano) Il futuro della Nigeria
Erika Degortes intervista Noo Saro-Wiwa – Centro Studi Sereno Regis, 17 Oct 2016

Coloro che conoscono la sua storia potrebbero aspettarsi un libro di lamentela o in cui domina l’atteggiamento di evidenziare il marcio. In realtà, il libro mostra come attraverso la conoscenza cresce l’empatia e anche i traumi del passato possono essere superati.

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Start of Fifth Annual Maine Peace Walk
Eric Herter – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Oct 2016

On October 11th, about twenty Peace Walkers, ages ranging from ten to seventy-nine, gathered at the Indian Island, Maine, home of the Penobscot Nation, for inspirational talks from Sherri Mitchell, a tribal lawyer, activist and writer, and from Tribal Chief Francis. The following morning they started their two-week trek to the southern border of Maine hundreds of miles to the south, a trip that will take them to many Maine communities, home-stays and community gatherings. They describe here why they feel impelled to spend a fortnight on the road speaking out for peace, and for the defense of Mother Earth.

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The Surveillance State Descends on the Dakota Access Pipeline Spirit Camp
Sabrina King and Will Munger | American Civil Liberties Union-ACLU – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Oct 2016

10 Oct 2016 – For the past six weeks, the Morton County Sheriff’s Office has dramatically increased its surveillance of the gathering, militarized the county, and taken action to suppress the religious expression of the indigenous people gathered at Sacred Stone.

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The Ubiquity of Joy and Poetry
Emanuel E. Garcia, MD | Intrepid Report – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Oct 2016

A world in which the explorations of nature, the contemplation of art and the bringing together of people concerned not so much with what they can amass, with what fortresses they build, with what territory they can extend, but with what they may share, would prevail. A world of delight in the subtleties of the word, person to person, lip to ear. A world in which life would be all the more precious for its transience and fragility.

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Generation Adderall
Casey Schwartz - The New York Times Magazine, 17 Oct 2016

The Adderall made my life unpredictable, blowing black storm systems over my horizon with no warning at all. Still, I couldn’t give it up. The psychiatrist observed my distress calmly and prescribed Wellbutrin, an antidepressant with a slightly speedy quality that could cushion the blow of withdrawal and make it less painful to get off the Adderall. Soon enough, I was simply taking both medications.

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Think Critically! Don’t Be Fooled!
James Albertini | Malu 'Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Oct 2016

The U.S. Mainstream Corporate Media is very good at blaming and demonizing others, especially Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The real purpose is to attack anyone who opposes U.S. dominance as the world’s sole superpower. Somehow the U.S. believes it has the right to decide who should rule or not rule in countries all around the world.

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(Italiano) Gandhi: ‘La mia vita è il mio messaggio’
Robert J. Burrowes | Z Net Italy – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Oct 2016

La vita di Gandhi fu contrassegnata da molte citazioni memorabili, ma una che è meno nota è questa: “Non puoi mai sapere quali risultati produrranno le tue azioni, ma se non fai nulla non ci saranno risultati”. Fortunatamente ci sono molte persone impegnate che hanno identificato l’importanza di agire per por fine alla violenza nel nostro mondo.

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Will Politicians and the Corporate Media Say the Truth One Day?
Alberto Portugheis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Oct 2016

In fact the truth is very simple: Eastern Aleppo will be destroyed because of the “success” of the latest attempts to broker an increase of fighters, fighting vehicles, weapons, ammunition, missiles and explosives. I shall continue my campaign for the abolition of militarism.

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The NYT’s Neocon ‘Downward Spiral’
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 10 Oct 2016

Every day, The New York Times – America’s “paper of record” – sinks deeper into the swamp of propaganda, now reliably touting predictable neocon notions about the Middle East and Russia.

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After the Coup: Nonviolent Strategic Actions for Brazilians
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Oct 2016

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

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Advancing the Next System with Advanced Manufacturing
Max Ogden, Nina Gregg, Doug Gamble, Andrew Dettmer and David Schweickart | The Next System Project – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Oct 2016

27 Sep 2016 – This essay is a polemic. As such, we argue with broad strokes. We welcome debate on the broad strokes as well as the details, knowing that such an exchange will refine and improve the discussion. The foundation for a society that is economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable.

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Gandhi: ‘My Life Is My Message’
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Oct 2016

Gandhi’s life was dotted with many memorable quotes but one that is less well known is this: ‘You may never know what results come of your actions but if you do nothing there will be no results’. Fortunately, there are many committed people who have identified the importance of taking action to end the violence in our world – whether it occurs in the home or on the street, in wars, as a result of economic exploitation or ecological destruction – and this includes the courageous people below.

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Three Minutes to Midnight!
James Albertini | Malu 'Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Oct 2016

New “Dial a Nuke” weapons have various explosive power options, including smaller, more useable weapons, thus making nuclear war more thinkable in battlefield situations. The theory goes that nuclear war can now be “limited” and not necessarily “all out.” But who is going to be the referee once the nukes start flying? And won’t the losing side resort to bigger, more destructive weapons?

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Shimon Peres Was No Peacemaker. I’ll Never Forget the Sight of Pouring Blood and Burning Bodies at Qana
Robert Fisk – The Independent, 3 Oct 2016

Peres said the massacre came as a ‘bitter surprise’. It was a lie: the UN had repeatedly told Israel the camp was packed with refugees.

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How the US Armed-up Syrian Jihadists
Alastair Crooke – Consortium News, 3 Oct 2016

29 Sep 2016 – The West blames Russia for the bloody mess in Syria, but U.S. Special Forces saw close up how the chaotic U.S. policy of aiding Syrian jihadists enabled Al Qaeda and ISIS to rip Syria apart, explains ex-British diplomat Alastair Crooke.

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Robert Redford: I Stand with the Standing Rock Sioux
Robert Redford - TIME, 3 Oct 2016

In their protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which will affect far more families than their own.

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Nigeria’s Future: An Interview with Noo Saro-Wiwa about Her New Book
Erika Degortes – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Sep 2016

The book offers much more than just a report of a five-month journey around her homeland (for long time seen as the repository of all her resentment); it brings a new perspective of Nigeria itself, offering the portrait of a Country whose beauty and variety become evident. Talking about the past, mentioning unsolved conflict, honestly showing the reader the present challenges and imagining a future for Africa’s most populous Country.

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Hawaiians Openly Reject President Obama’s Invented Process to Create a Native Hawaiian Tribe
James Albertini | Malu 'Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Sep 2016

“Why? Because they want our land. They want to create a so-called universal land claims settlement of our Crown and Government lands, aka ‘Ceded Lands.’ The USA, that has never been respectful of indigenous peoples—as we are seeing in North Dakota, is trying to dissolve our rights as a people to self-determination as defined by international law, and our human rights as indigenous people that have also been codified by the United Nations.”

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Why and How I Talk about 9/11
Emanuel E. Garcia, MD | Intrepid Report – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Sep 2016

20 Sep 2016 – In my darker moments I sometimes wonder what’s worse: our age of an endless ‘war on terror’ ushered in by the events of September 11, 2001, or the fact that for the rest of my life I will be subjected to yearly anniversary commemorations of those events, replete with jingoistic absurdities.

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An Open Letter to the People of the United States: Election or Revolution?
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Sep 2016

To reiterate: I am not saying ‘Don’t vote and do nothing’ (as so many people do already). I am suggesting that you ponder the dysfunctionality of your society, do some research into the secretive ‘deep state’ (or military-industrial complex or power elite or the 1% or however you wish to describe it) that controls your ‘republic’ with its electoral system designed to delude you into believing that you have a say in governing your nation, and then consider how you want to engage politically and act in accord with your conscience in doing so.

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Loss of Planet Reflectivity an Impending Catastrophe
Robert Hunziker | Dissident Voice – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Sep 2016

19 Sep 2016 – The planet’s air conditioning system is on the blink, working intermittently, losing its glinting, lustrous white reflectiveness, as it turns deep blue, absorbing 90% of sunlight rather than reflecting it back into outer space. The repercussions of Arctic sea ice loss are immense.

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How Nuclear Power Causes Global Warming
Harvey Wasserman - Reader Supported News, 26 Sep 2016

Supporters of nuclear power like to argue that nukes are the key to combatting climate change. Here’s why they are dead wrong. Every day, large reactors like the two at Diablo Canyon, California, individually dump about 1.25 billion gallons of water into the ocean at temperatures up to 20 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the natural environment.

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European Security with or without Russia?
Roberto Savio – Inter Press Service-IPS, 26 Sep 2016

Consequences of the Chinese-Russian Alliance on the Relationship between USA and EU

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(Castellano) Carta abierta al pueblo brasilero
Robert Burrowes – Pressenza International Press Agency, 19 Sep 2016

Cuando veo las multitudinarias manifestaciones de protesta en curso, así como los llamados a la movilización en defensa de su democracia que están haciendo importantes líderes regionales, siento una gran esperanza por Brasil. Desde mi lugar de activista noviolento, me gustaría ayudar a los activistas brasileros a desarrollar una estrategia noviolenta que incrementará sus posibilidades de triunfar.

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Law Is to Justice as Treaties Are to Native Americans
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 19 Sep 2016

Once again, it’s the American empire versus interfering outsiders. As a Yale senior joining Skull and Bones, Jeb Boasberg kissed Geronimo’s skull. That act of atavistic triumphalism shines through in his legal decision against the Standing Rock Sioux. Kissing the skull of an enemy is just another way of showing who’s in control here, whose burial is sacred, and whose is not.

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Living & Resting in Peace
Jim Albertini | Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Sep 2016

Could it be the U.S. is poking around in other people’s business and taking their stuff? Or worse yet, killing them indiscriminately? Is this what the U.S. means when it calls itself the “exceptional” nation? Is this why so many people hate the U.S.?

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Americans’ Trust in Mass Media Sinks to New Low
Art Swift | Gallup – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Sep 2016

• 32% say they have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust
• 14% of Republicans express trust, down from 32% last year
• Confidence drops among younger and older Americans

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The Future Cries Out: ‘Water Is Life’
Robert C. Koehler | Common Wonders – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Sep 2016

The tribal peoples of Earth are making their voices heard in so many ways. Their mission is to reconnect the modern world with the circle of life — a circle that much of humanity left behind maybe ten millennia ago, in pursuit of the Agricultural Revolution and dominion over nature. In the process, we’ve succeeded in changing the climate and, perhaps, establishing a troubling new geological epoch. Now it’s time to rethink “progress.” Building another pipeline is its antithesis.

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Greece: A Country for Sale
Eleni Portaliou – Jacobin Magazine, 19 Sep 2016

Alexis Tsipras didn’t just dismiss the alternatives proposed by nearly half his own party and lead his government to the most spectacular surrender ever perpetrated by a left-wing political force. He also agreed to stay in power to fully and faithfully implement the policies of his former adversaries. As a consequence, to give credibility to this left version of the “there is no alternative” argument, more self-serving arguments are necessary.

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How Much Better Can You Eat?
Emanuel E. Garcia, MD | Intrepid Report – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Sep 2016

When I read the Oxfam report, which revealed that the top 62 richest people on earth possess the wealth owned by the poorest half—yes, fifty percent!—of the world’s population, I wondered what in fact these 62 people want that they don’t already have? And if they have them, how much better can or will they live?

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Whose Finger? On What Button?
Kevin Martin | PeaceVoice – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Sep 2016

Even a “limited” nuclear war between India and Pakistan could cause global famine on top of the deaths of hundreds of millions. How is it acceptable or legitimate for anyone to have the power to decide whether our civilization continues? We shouldn’t trust anyone with this power. Human beings are far too fallible. Unfortunately we have ceded too much power to alleged experts.

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From a Nonviolent Strategist to Brazilian Activists: An Open Letter
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Sep 2016

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

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Don’t Look Down [Towel Boy] (Music Video of the Week)
DJ Martin Garrix & Usher – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Sep 2016

Martin Garrix (born 14 May 1996) is a 20-year-old Dutch DJ, record producer and musician on top of his field. Winner of the 2016 MTV Millennial Awards among others.

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Psychiatric Condition
Cartoon Stock – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Sep 2016

Oedipus Complex?

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Is Privacy Necessary?
Emanuel E. Garcia, MD | Intrepid Report – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Sep 2016

In our age of universal self-disclosure through the so-called social media of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and our age of universal snooping courtesy of the NSA and other like organisations throughout the world, privacy is well-worth re-examining. And it is well-worth examining in the context of adolescence.

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The Sick Ocean
Robert Hunziker - CounterPunch, 12 Sep 2016

8 Sep 2016 – A major new scientific report, “Explaining Ocean Warming” was released on 5 Sep. It is grim. The findings are based upon peer-reviewed research compiled by 80 scientists from 12 countries. It is the most comprehensive study ever undertaken on the subject of warming of the ocean.

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(Français) Accord de paix signé en Colombie – «que retentisse ce cri: plus jamais! plus jamais!»
Julian Cortés | Invetig’Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Sep 2016

Les accords signés, c’est désormais une lutte idéologique et culturelle qui s’annonce pour « gagner le cœur » de vastes secteurs sous-informés et manipulés durant des décennies, principalement au sein des classes moyennes qui défendent le modèle économique actuel plus que les élites elles-mêmes.

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US Cluster Bombs Kill Children for Decades in Laos, and Now Yemen
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 12 Sep 2016

Does anyone think America is accountable for its own actions? The preposterous ironies of President Obama’s unapologetic visit to Laos on September 6 have not yet generated the attention they deserve, but they provide an excellent measure of the self-righteousness of the monstrous continuity of American violence inflicted on the world from Viet Nam in the 1950s to Yemen more than sixty years later.

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The Russians Are Coming . . . Again?
Emanuel E. Garcia, MD | Intrepid Report – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Sep 2016

But I wanted to write something about the Russians—well, some of them, those I met on a recent trip to St. Petersburg. I wanted to write something genuine and personal and unpretentious, that might help to give enough of a glimpse into a place that might as well be Mordor according to the West.

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New US Policy: Kill the Kurds
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 5 Sep 2016

The incoherence, insanity, and ultimate inanity of US policy in and around Syria was highlighted by Vice President Joe Biden on a state visit to Turkey August 24, when he threatened the most effective fighting force against the Islamic State – the Kurdish militias – with American punishment if they didn’t play nice with the Turks, who have spent years supporting the Islamic State (aka ISIS or ISIL), attacking “bad” Kurds in Turkey and Iraq, and who are now attacking “good” Kurds in Syria.

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The Poverty Challenge
Nuno Ramalho | Portico Brothers – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Sep 2016

Is being poor a challenge? A few insights…

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Webinar – How Ensuring Public Access to Information Can Help Build Peaceful and Inclusive Societies
Univ. of Sydney Department of Peace and Conflict Studies – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Sep 2016

Sustainable Development Goal 16 identifies the building of peaceful and inclusive societies as essential to delivering the development agenda, and one of its goals – the tenth – specifies “ensuring public access to information” as a co-requisite of peace and, therefore, development.

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An Open Letter to the People of Brazil
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Sep 2016

5 Sep 2016 – As I see and read about the ongoing massive protests, as well as calls by prominent community leaders to mobilize in defense of your country’s democracy, I feel great hope for Brazil. Having been a nonviolent activist for many years, I would like to support Brazilian activists to develop a nonviolent strategy that will increase your chances of success. Please read on.

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(Português) 29 de Agosto: Dia Internacional Contra os Ensaios Nucleares
Emb. Sergio Duarte – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Aug 2016

Existem hoje no mundo cerca de 15.000 armas atômicas em poder de nove Estados. Um vigoroso movimento liderado por um grupo de países, inclusive o Brasil, e organizações da sociedade civil propôs iniciar nas Nações Unidas em 2017 a negociação de um tratado que proíba a fabricação, armazenamento, posse e uso de armamento nuclear.

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The Heart of Order
Robert C. Koehler | Common Wonders – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Aug 2016

He’d left the water running, flooding neighbors’ apartments. He’d been running around outside naked. By the time police arrived, he was standing in the window of his fourth-floor apartment threatening to jump. He pointed his finger at the cops, pretending he had a gun. “Fuck the police,” he said. The standoff lasted four hours.

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Nonviolent Revolt in the Twenty-First Century
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Aug 2016

The incorrect attribution of Gandhi’s insights to others starts on page 3 of the book where Gene Sharp is credited with an ‘epiphany … that nonviolence should not be simply a moral code for a small group of true believers to live by’. But it is not exclusively the fault of the authors that they incorrectly attribute Sharp because Sharp himself claims credit for this insight and they cite his claim, from an interview conducted in 2003, on page 4.

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The Dumbed-Down New York Times
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 29 Aug 2016

27 Aug 2016 – The Times applies a conscious double standard when reporting on the actions of the United States or one of its allies (note how Turkey’s recent invasion of Syria was just an ‘intervention’) as compared to how the Times deals with actions by U.S. adversaries, such as Russia.

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Nuclear Accident in New Mexico Ranks among the Costliest in U.S. History
Ralph Vartabedian – Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug 2016

22 Aug 2016 – When a drum containing radioactive waste blew up in an underground nuclear dump in New Mexico two years ago, the Energy Department rushed to quell concerns in the Carlsbad desert community and quickly reported progress on resuming operations. But the explosion ranks among the costliest nuclear accidents in U.S. history, according to a Times analysis. The long-term cost of the mishap could top $2 billion, an amount roughly in the range of the cleanup after the 1979 partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.

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(Português) Livraria Bertrand, em Lisboa, é a mais antiga do mundo
RTP-Rádio e Televisão de Portugal – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Aug 2016

Quantas histórias guarda a livraria mais antiga do mundo? Ninguém sabe, nem pode saber. Porque são incontáveis as memórias de uma casa com quase 300 anos. Refúgio de escritores, revolucionários e conspiradores, o n.º 73 da rua Garrett está no Guiness Book.

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Update Your iPhone or iPad: Israeli Cyber-Spy Firm Can Hack You
Tim Johnson | McClatchy – Honolulu Star Bulletin & Advertiser, 29 Aug 2016

The much-talked-about hack that would allow governments to spy on your every move through your iPhone and iPad has become reality. Apple issued a security update for those devices Thursday [25 Aug] after researchers discovered spyware that allows remote operators to intercept all voice and data communications and pass along every photograph and video. The infection turns iPhone into a pocket undercover spy capable of employing iPhone’s camera and microphone to eavesdrop on activity in the vicinity of the device, recording WhatsApp and Viber calls, logging messages sent in mobile chat apps and tracking movements.

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US Okay With Surgical Strikes on Yemen Hospitals
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 29 Aug 2016

This war is a war of aggression [on Yemen], started by Saudi Arabia in March 2015, with crucial US blessing, participation, personnel, and ordnance. The US has been a willing, guilty partner and enabler in 18 months of military atrocities in a one-sided war that everyone involved knew – or should have known – was a pure war crime.

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Vive la Difference?
Emanuel E. Garcia, MD – Intrepid Report, 29 Aug 2016

Since the dawn of human consciousness, we have described ourselves as being intrinsically apart from Nature, whether by dint of divine creation or superior intelligence or the ability to laugh. We have christened ourselves the stewards of our habitat, and we have taken no prisoners during our mission to go forth, multiply and create dominion.

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Pokémons in Every House, Yard, Every Military Base
Sergey Kolyasnikov | Fort Russ – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Aug 2016

If someone wants to know what is being done in the building, say, of Parliament, Congress, Presidential Palace? Phones of dozens of MPs, representatives, janitors, journalists vibrate: “Pikachu is close!!!” And happy citizens will grab their smartphones, activating cameras, microphones, GPS, gyroscopes… spinning in place, staring at the screen, sending the video through online waves… Bingo! The world had again changed, the world is different. Welcome to a new era.

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(Português) Pokemon, o jogo que traz espiões para dentro de casa
Sergey Kolyasnikov | Fort Russ – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Aug 2016

Se alguém quiser saber o que está a ser feito no edifício, digamos, do Parlamento? Telefones de dúzias de deputados, pessoal da limpeza, jornalistas vibram: “Pikachu está próximo!!!” E cidadãos felizes agarrarão seus smartphones, activarão câmaras, microfones, GPS, giroscópios… circulando no lugar, fitando o écran e enviando o vídeo através de ondas online… Bingo! O mundo mudou outra vez, o mundo está diferente. Bem vindo a uma nova era.

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End the First-Use Policy for Nuclear Weapons
James E. Cartwright and Bruce G. Blairaug – The New York Times, 22 Aug 2016

The United States has a policy allowing the first use of nuclear weapons. Abolishing it will save money and make the world safer. President Obama would be wise to follow China’s example. As commander in chief, he can adopt no-first-use overnight and lead the way in establishing it as a global norm among all of the nine countries with nuclear weapons.

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How ‘Think Tanks’ Generate Endless War
Todd E. Pierce – Consortium News, 22 Aug 2016

U.S. “think tanks” rile up the American public against an ever-shifting roster of foreign “enemies” to justify wars that line the pockets of military contractors who kick back some profits to the “think tanks.”

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(Castellano) Multipolaridad e integración postneoliberal en América Latina
Sergio Martín Carrillo | CELAG - teleSUR, 22 Aug 2016

Entramos en una nueva fase de disputa geopolítica en la región. La misma se caracteriza por el cuestionamiento del liderazgo latinoamericano en el fortalecimiento de la multipolaridad.

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Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Stiglitz Tells Us Why ‘Neoliberalism Is Dead’
Will Martin | Business Insider – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Aug 2016

19 Aug 2016 – Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize-winning economist and former adviser to US President Bill Clinton, says the consensus surrounding neoliberal economic thought has come to an end.

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The Disappearance of Silence
Edward Curtin - Intrepid Report, 22 Aug 2016

Silence is a word pregnant with multiple meanings: for many a threat; for others a nostalgic evocation of a time rendered obsolete by technology; for others a sentence to boredom; and for some, devotees of the ancient arts of contemplation, reading, and writing, a word of profound, even sacred importance. Gandhi, the revolutionary, put it perfectly, “In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth.”

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Will Russia Reject Neoliberalism?
Paul Craig Roberts and Michael Hudson – CounterPunch, 15 Aug 2016

Paul Craig Roberts and Michael Hudson explain why hooking Russia’s fate to Western neoliberalism would doom the country’s sovereignty.

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The New Economy: A Living Earth System Model
David Korten | The Next System Project – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Aug 2016

Treat the visible problem—a defective product or an underperforming employee—as the symptom of a deeper system failure. Look upstream to find and correct the system conditions responsible for the system failure. Otherwise the problem will simply reoccur. David Korten contrasts what he calls the self-destructing “suicide economy” we have and a “living Earth economy” that self-organizes toward ecosystem health and balance, shared prosperity, and living democracy.

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(Türk) İdeoloji ve din psikolojisi
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph. D. | Alternatif Siyaset – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Aug 2016

Yaşantımızı sürdürmek üzere günlük kararlarımızın alınmasında etkili ve dünyevi konularda da önem arz eden iki faktör; din ve ideolojidir.

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Ukraine, Instability, and the US Election – No Way Out?
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 15 Aug 2016

Headline: Ukraine claims Russian invasion possible ‘at any minute’ – The headline shown above is from the Irish Times, over a story quoting unnamed sources in the Kiev government, who in turn quote unnamed sources in Crimea. Nothing in the story, taken as a whole, supports the fearmongering headline. Even Kiev acknowledges that Russian troop movements are exercises, of unstated scale at an unstated distance from the border.

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A Nonviolent Strategy to End War
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Aug 2016

There is a long history of anti-war and peace activism. Much of this activism has focused on ending a particular war, other at ending a particular aspect of war, such as the use of a type of weapon. Some of it has aimed to prevent a type of war, such as ‘aggressive war’ or nuclear war. For those activists who regard war as the scourge of human existence, however, ‘the holy grail’ has always been much deeper: to end war.

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Earth Overshoot Day Is Aug 8, 2016
Earth Overshoot Day – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Aug 2016

On August 8, 2016, we will have used as much from nature as our planet can renew in the whole year. We use more ecological resources and services than nature can regenerate through overfishing, overharvesting forests and emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than forests can sequester.

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(Português) Leite de origem animal: o que o marketing nunca irá mostrar nos bastidores
Camila Jade Baungartel - ANDA Agência de Notícias de Direitos Animais, 8 Aug 2016

A realidade do consumo de leite de origem animal que o marketing esconde, desmistificando as falácias da medicina vinculada ao agronegócio, os malefícios que causa à saúde humana, os impactos ambientais, o equívoco do “bem-estar animal” de “vaca feliz” e o sofrimento de animais explorados por uma industria voltada exclusivamente para atender os desejos humanos.

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Hiroshima, Presidential Campaigns and Our Nuclear Future
Robert F. Dodge, M.D. | PeaceVoice – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Aug 2016

Seventy-one years ago on August 6th and 9th the world entered the nuclear age with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing and injuring in excess of 200,000 immediately and untold additional fatalities from lingering radiation effects.

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This Company Has Built a Profile on Every American Adult
David Gauvey Herbert | Bloomberg – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Aug 2016

Every move you make. Every click you take. Every game you play. Every place you stay. They’ll be watching you. The bottom line: IDI’s marketing databases may help PIs predict people’s moves or digitally peek into their cars or medicine cabinets.

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Our Deteriorating Environment: Is Anybody Listening?
Mel Gurtov | PeaceVoice – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Aug 2016

6 Aug 2016 – While the scientists have been doing their job in calling attention to the multiple ways in which environmental decline threatens the planet, we hear less and less from political leaders. Their focus is on the here-and-now—terrorism, jobs, immigration—and not on commitments to the future. Last year’s Paris Agreement on climate change seems like a distant memory.

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Speak Out Now! NO MORE WAR!
James Albertini | Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Aug 2016

The U.S. Military is the world’s single largest consumer of oil and the largest emitter of of CO2 greenhouse gases. It has caused extensive radioactive and chemical contamination of the planet’s air, water, and soil. August 6th and 9th are days to remember the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 that killed hundreds of thousands of civilians.

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The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Intelligence Agencies
Cortney Weinbaum | The National Interest – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Aug 2016

Some of society’s brightest minds have warned that artificial intelligence (AI) may lead to dangerous unintended consequences, yet leaders of the U.S. intelligence community—with its vast budgets and profound capabilities—have yet to decide who within these organizations is responsible for the ethics of their AI creations.

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Proactive Philanthropy: Don’t Wait, Reach Out!
Robert J. Gould | PeaceVoice – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Aug 2016

If you have money to give, don’t wait for a call, an email, or a formal proposal, please reach out to a local community organization that is working on a cause you believe in, and get involved with what they do, and when you are convinced that they are doing good work, fund them!

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If Russian Intelligence Did Hack the DNC, the NSA Would Know, Snowden Says
Robert Mackey – The Intercept, 1 Aug 2016

The NSA has tools that should make it possible to trace the source of the hack. Even though the Director of National Intelligence usually opposes making such evidence public, he argued, this is a case in which the agency should do so, if only to discourage future attacks.

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New Panama Papers: Secret Offshore Deals Deprive Africa of Billions in Natural Resource Dollars
Will Fitzgibbon - The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, 1 Aug 2016

New Panama Papers Series Exposes Secret Deals in Africa – Politicians and mining, oil and gas interests benefit from secrecy and dubious multimillion-dollar transfers.

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There’s No Business like the Arms Business – Weapons “R” Us (But You’d Never Know It)
William D. Hartung - TomDispatch, 1 Aug 2016

26 Jul 2016 – When American firms dominate a global market worth more than $70 billion a year, you’d expect to hear about it. Not so with the global arms trade. It’s good for one or two stories a year in the mainstream media, usually when the annual statistics on the state of the business come out. From the president on down, significant parts of the government are intent on ensuring that American arms will flood the global market and companies like Lockheed and Boeing will live the good life.

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Climate Change Activism: A Post-Mortem
John Michael Greer | The Archdruid Report – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Aug 2016

It’s not inappropriate to ask what happened to all the apparent political momentum the climate change movement had ten or fifteen years ago, and why a movement so apparently well organized, well funded, and backed by so large a scientific consensus failed so completely. In my experience, at least, if you raise this question among climate change activists, the answer you’ll get is that there was a well-funded campaign that deployed disinformation against them. So?

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Putin at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2016
Fort Russ | Inessa S – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Aug 2016

Jul 24, 2016 – This candid conversation took place with representatives of various media outlets during the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, in June 2016. Putin urged journalists to report genuinely on the impending danger that is a nuclear arms race.

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The Psychology of Ideology and Religion
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Aug 2016

At the macro level, there are worldwide or regional ideologies such as capitalism, fascism, conservatism, communism, socialism, feminism, pacifism and environmentalism as well as religions including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. There are also variations of these major ideologies and religions. But even at the micro level, the local service club, neighborhood charity and sporting club operates in accordance with an ideology or religion that is shared by its members too.

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Socorro – The City of Depleted Uranium
Norbert G. Suchanek – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Jul 2016

Socorro became a national sacrifice area. People are suffering similar health effects as the local population in Iraq who were hit by DU-Weapons during the Gulf Wars. The film gives details of the abuses and transgressions on the people of Socorro whose community was downwind and downgrade of the depleted uranium testing sites active since 1972.

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International Trade Favours Multinational Corporations
Roberto Azevêdo – Inter Press Service-IPS, 25 Jul 2016

The reality of international trading is often harder and more expensive for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The smaller the business, the bigger the barriers can seem. MSMEs are responsible for the largest share of employment opportunities in most economies, up to 90% in some countries; this is especially true when looking at equal opportunities for young workers and women.

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We Love to Talk of Terror – But After the Munich Shooting, This Hypocritical Catch-All Term Has Finally Caught Us Out
Robert Fisk – The Independent, 25 Jul 2016

24 Jul 2016 – How come a Muslim can be a terrorist in Europe but a mere ‘attacker’ in south-west Asia? The frightful and bloody hours of Friday night and Saturday morning in Munich and Kabul – despite the 3,000 miles that separate the two cities – provided a highly instructive lesson in the semantics of horror and hypocrisy.

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‘Fraud’ Alleged in NYT’s MH-17 Report
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 25 Jul 2016

An amateur report alleging Russian doctoring of satellite photos on the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 case – a finding embraced by The New York Times – is denounced by a forensic expert as an “outright fraud.”

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(Français) Eloge de la négociation
Robert Charvin | Investig’Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Jul 2016

Réunissons-nous autour d’une table, demande Umberto Eco, et négocions intelligemment pour trouver une solution qui force le respect de tous » … « parmi les vœux que je peux formuler pour le siècle à venir, il y a cette espérance d’une nouvelle éthique de la négociation », conclut avec lucidité l’universitaire de Bologne, angoissé du mal dont souffre l’Occident pour son deux millième anniversaire. L’Union Européenne nous donne à voir dans « l’embrouillamini des opinions toutes faites, des préjugés et des langues de bois politiques ou économiques, les clignotements de l’intelligence ».

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The Delusion ‘I Am Not Responsible’
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Jul 2016

You might have had a good laugh at some of the examples above. The real challenge is to ask yourself this question: where do I evade responsibility? And to then ponder how you will take responsibility in future.

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China’s Bad Day in Court
Mel Gurtov | PeaceVoice – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Jul 2016

Perhaps in the South China Sea case China and the Philippines, now under a new president, will find their way back to the negotiating table and work out a deal that skirts the always-difficult sovereignty issue. That would be fine; but it would not address the fundamental problem of how law-abiding behavior can be promoted and enforced in an often anarchic world.

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Can the United States Transcend White Supremacy?
Robert Jensen | Dissident Voice - TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Jul 2016

Because the wealth and power of the United States are so deeply rooted in white supremacy, the abandonment of that pathology would inevitably lead to difficult questions about the country’s moral and material obligations to non-white people…. The United States likely will always be a white-supremacist nation because we have neither the intellectual nor moral traditions to deal with these harsh realities.

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When Law Is Not Justice
Brad Evans and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak – The New York Times, 18 Jul 2016

“Reasonable” versus “unreasonable” violence: When dealing with violence deemed unreasonable, the dominating groups demonize violent responses, saying that “those other people are just like that,” not just that they are worth less, but also that they are essentially evil, essentially criminal or essentially have a religion that is prone to killing. And yet, on the other side, state-legitimized violence, considered “reasonable” by many, is altogether more frightening.

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Social Democracy
Lane Kenworthy | The Next System Project – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Jul 2016

Not Socialism, and Coming to America – What changes are needed in the current system? Here I’ll take the contemporary United States as my reference point. The chief changes lie in the realm of social policy.

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Blair Misled the Country over Iraq – Something Similar Could Happen Again
Clare Short – The Guardian, 11 Jul 2016

Chilcot’s devastating critique of the events that took us to war shows that power in the UK is still concentrated in too few hands, with too little oversight.

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Unintended Consequences and the Warfare State
Mel Gurtov | PeaceVoice – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Jul 2016

As the Chilcot Commission has just concluded after a seven-year long investigation of British policy, bad judgment was multiplied by hubris, a deeply flawed decision-making process, and an unquestioned faith in the ability of military power to resolve political and economic problems…. At bottom the arrogance of power is the enemy, and the Chilcot Report provides no antidote for it.

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