Articles by IPS
We found 514 results.
The University for Peace, Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Oliver Rizzi Carlson, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Jun 2015
Like an engineering school building crumbling under the weight of its own tectonic deficiencies, the University for Peace in Costa Rica is dying of its own, festering conflicts.
→ read full articleWhy Are Threats to Civil Society Growing around the World?
Mandeep S.Tiwana, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Jun 2015
“It is increasingly evident that the dangers to civic freedoms come not just from state apparatuses but also from powerful non-state actors including influential business entities and extremist groups subscribing to fundamentalist ideologies”
→ read full articleGreece – A Sad Story of the [Germany-led] European Establishment
Roberto Savio, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Jun 2015
The latest development in the tug of war which has been going on between Greece and a German-dominated Europe is the desire to punish an anti-establishment figure like Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and show that the radical left cannot run a country.
→ read full articleFishing and Farming in Gaza Is a Deadly Business
Mel Frykberg, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Jun 2015
“Gaza fishermen have come under fire and been shot, injured and killed or had their boats destroyed or confiscated … Gazan farmers trying to access their agricultural fields … are also regularly shot and injured, and sometimes killed”
→ read full articleLaissez Faire Water Laws Threaten Family Farming in Chile
Marianela Jarroud, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Jun 2015
May 27 2015 – Family farmers in Chile are pushing for the reinstatement of water as a public good, to at least partially solve the shortages caused by the privatisation of water rights by the military dictatorship in 1981.
→ read full articleLeaked Internal Documents Show U.N. Ignored CAR Child Abuse
Roger Hamilton-Martin, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Jun 2015
May 29 2015 – Leaked United Nations documents show high-level staff knew of abuses by soldiers in the Central African Republic and failed to act, all while planning the removal of U.N. whistleblower Anders Kompass.
→ read full articleFinance like a Cancer Grows
Roberto Savio, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Jun 2015
To bail out the banks, the world has collectively spent around 4 trillion dollars of taxpayers’ money. It is astonishing that every week we see action being taken in various part of the world against the financial sector, without any noticeable reaction of public opinion. The “new ethic” is in reality a cancer, and it is metastasising rapidly
→ read full articleTexans Propose to Adopt Threatened African Rhinos
Lisa Vives, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 May 2015
May 13 2015 -Thefts, murders and mutilation of Africa’s wildlife, from white rhinos to elephants with their prized horns and tusks, are at an all-time high, say conservationists who are keeping track of the poaching of species by fortune-seeking hunters.
→ read full articleMinorities Threatened More by Governments than Terrorist Groups, Says Study
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 May 2015
A new study released Wednesday [20 May 2015] by the London-based Minority Rights Group International says populations in the region were more at risk from their own governments.
→ read full articleNGOs Urge Commission of Inquiry to Probe Sexual Abuse in U.N. Peacekeeping
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 May 2015
“The truth is startling and simple: No new mechanisms, no new methods of operation, no new policies can ever work in practice to prevent or punish sex abusers on staff who commit sexual offenses at present, because the U.N. bureaucracy responsible for implementing changes is completely dysfunctional.” — Paula Donovan, co-director at AIDS-Free World
→ read full articleBoatloads of Migrants Could Soon Be ‘Floating Graveyard’ on Southeast Asian Waters
Kanya D'Almeida, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 May 2015
“We don’t have a flotilla to go out and help them, but there are plenty of countries in the region that do, and plenty of reasons for them to do it – if they don’t, they’ll be dealing with a floating graveyard soon, rather than a flotilla of ships.” — Leonard Doyle, director of media and communications for the International Organisation for Migration.
→ read full articleU.S. Hosts Arms Bazaar at White House Arab Summit
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 May 2015
According to Colin Kahl, national security advisor to Vice-President Joe Biden, the United Arab Emirates flies the most advanced U.S.-made F-16 fighter planes in the world. “They’re more advanced than the ones our Air Force flies,” he told reporters, without going into specifics.
→ read full articleThe West and Its Self-Assumed Right to Intervene
Roberto Savio, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 May 2015
The ‘West’ is a concept that flourished during the Cold War. Then it was West against East in the form of the Soviet empire. The East was evil against which all democratic countries – read West – were called on to fight. Led by the United States, in the case of the Arab world, it has created situations that justify subsequent military interventions which have had a high cost in both human and financial terms.
→ read full articleCosta Rica’s Energy Nearly 100 Percent Clean
Diego Arguedas Ortiz, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 May 2015
May 5 2015 – Costa Rica has almost reached its goal of an energy mix based solely on renewable sources, harnessing solar, wind and geothermal power, as well as the energy of the country’s rivers. In 2015, 97 percent of the country’s energy supply will come from clean sources.
→ read full articleWant to Help Nepal Recover from the Quake? Cancel Its Debt
Kanya D’Almeida, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
One possible solution has come from the Jubilee USA Network, an alliance of over 75 U.S.-based organizations and 400 faith communities worldwide, which said that Nepal could qualify under the IMF new Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust.
→ read full articleComprehensive 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.
→ read full articleMoving 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.
→ read full articleCampaign 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. “
→ read full articleMoment 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”.
→ read full articleMiddle East Conflicts Give Hefty Boost to Arms Merchants
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Apr 2015
The ongoing conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen have helped spiral arms sales upwards to the Middle East, according to a study released Monday [Mar 16 2015] by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
→ read full articleVictims of Clerical Sex Abuse Join Forces in Latin America
Marianela Jarroud, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Mar 2015
20 Mar 2015 – Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Latin America are taking the first steps towards grouping together in order to bolster their search for justice – a struggle where they have found a new ally: filmmaking.
→ read full articleGates Foundation Slammed for Plan to Privatise African Seed Markets
Josh Butler, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Mar 2015
Mar 23 2015 – The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) has been attacked by activists over alleged support of a plan to privatise African agricultural markets.
→ read full articleHold the Super Rich Accountable, Say OXFAM at the WSF
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Mar 2015
London-based charity Oxfam unveiled a report with an alarming statistic: the world’s richest one percent will own more than 50 percent of the world’s wealth by 2016. And just 80 of the world’s richest will control as much wealth as 3.5 billion people: half the world’s population.
→ read full articleContradictions Beset U.N. Response to Sexual Abuse by Peacekeepers
Lyndal Rowlands, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Mar 2015
An internal United Nations expert report released Monday [16 Mar 2015] by the non-governmental organisation AIDS-Free World reveals serious contradictions in the U.N.’s reporting of sexual exploitation and abuse by U.N. peacekeepers.
→ read full articleA Year of Progress for “Children, Not Soldiers”
Leila Zerrougui, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Mar 2015
Mar 7 2015 – One year ago the last governments of the world named for the recruitment and use of children gathered at the UN to declare they would take the steps necessary to be child-free. The countries are Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen.
→ read full articleFormer 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 articleIsrael’s Obsession for Monopoly on Middle East Nuclear Power
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Feb 2015
Feb 13 2015 – As the Iranian nuclear talks hurtle towards a Mar. 24 deadline, there is renewed debate about the blatant Western double standards underlying the resurrection of a longstanding proposal for a Middle East free from weapons of mass destruction.
→ read full articleU.N. Helpless as Saudi Flogging Flouts Torture Convention
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Jan 2015
“His flogging [1000 lashes, 50/week] and 10-year sentence are testament to the extreme lengths to which the Saudi Arabian authorities will go in order to crush dissent.”
→ read full articleU.S. Twists Arms to Help Defeat Resolution on Palestine
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Jan 2015
31 Dec 2014 – The United States re-asserted its political and economic clout – and its ability to twist arms and perhaps metaphorically break kneecaps – when it successfully lobbied to help defeat a crucial Security Council resolution on the future of Palestine this week.
→ read full articleWe Have So Much to Learn From Cuba
Robert F. Kennedy Jr, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Jan 2015
“It seems stupid to pursue a U.S. foreign policy by repeating a strategy that has proved a monumental failure for six decades. The definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over, and expecting different results. In this sense, the [Cuba] embargo is insane.”
→ read full articleEurope Has Lost Its Compass
Roberto Savio, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Dec 2014
With the fall of the Swedish government orchestrated by the far-right and centre-right opposition, a symbol of civic-mindedness and democracy in Europe has fallen, and the grip of an irrational fear of immigrants tightens as Europe’s politicians seek a scapegoat.
→ read full articleThe Day Anti-Castro Forces Tried to Bomb the U.N.
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Dec 2014
When Ernesto Che Guevera was at the UN to address the General Assembly in 1964, the U.N. headquarters came under attack – literally. The anti-Castro forces, backed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), mounted an insidious campaign to stop Che Guevera from speaking. A 3.5-inch bazooka was fired at the 39-storeyed glass house by the East River.
→ read full articleOnly Half of Global Banks Have Policy to Respect Human Rights
Carey L. Biron, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Dec 2014
Public policy to respect human rights is a foundational mandate of the international convention on multinational business practice. Of the global banks examined, none has a process to deal with human rights abuses. None has even created grievance mechanisms by which those impacted can complain to the banks.
→ read full articleLaying the Foundations of a World Citizens Movement
Anthony George, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Dec 2014
How can civil society organizations (CSOs) build a broad movement that draws in, represents and mobilises the citizenry, and how can they effect fundamental, systemic transformation, rather than trading in incremental change?
→ read full articleScotland Produced Enough Wind Energy to Power Every Home in October [2014]
Ari Phillips, ThinkProgress – TRANSCEND Media Servivce,
10 Nov 2014
“While nuclear power plants were being forced to shut because of cracks, Scotland’s wind and sunshine were quietly and cleanly helping to keep the lights on in homes across the country.”
→ read full articleWhen Is a Corporate Media Group Too Powerful?
Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Nov 2014
Last June GFR Media, Puerto Rico’s largest media company, gave a five-million-dollar grant to the Communications School of Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, one of the country’s leading private universities. Upon receiving the grant, the university changed the school’s name to Ferré Rangel School of Communication, after the Ferré-Rangel family, which owns GFR Media.
→ read full articleCycle of Death, Destruction and Rebuilding Continues in Gaza
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Oct 2014
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon implicitly warned of the futility of the continuing exercise when he said: “We cannot continue to build and destroy – and build and destroy – like this. This should be the last reconstruction conference”. But will it?
→ read full articleA Billion Tons of Food Wasted Yearly While Millions Still Go Hungry
A. D. McKenzie, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Oct 2014
“Even if just one-fourth of the food currently lost or wasted globally could be saved, it would be enough to feed 870 million hungry people in the world” – SAVE FOOD Initiative. Some solutions:
→ read full article
Kill the Messenger Official Trailer (2014)
MovieClips – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Oct 2014
A reporter becomes the target of a vicious smear campaign that drives him to the point of suicide after he exposes the CIA’s role in arming Contra rebels in Nicaragua and importing cocaine into California. Based on the true story of journalist Gary Webb.
→ read full articleGlobal Commission Urges Decriminalisation of Drug Use
Jim Lobe, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Sep 2014
A top-level international panel called Tuesday [9 Sep 2014] for a major shift in global drug-control policies from prohibition to decriminalisation and regulation. In a 43-page report, the Global Commission on Drug Policy denounced what has been known for more than four decades as the “war against drugs” as a failure and argued that new approaches prioritising human rights and health were urgently needed.
→ read full articleIn Azerbaijan, ‘Family Is the First Fear’ of LGBT Community
EurasiaNet Correspondents, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Sep 2014
“For his own safety,” a gay man “constantly” has to think about “what to wear so that he does not look different,” or otherwise attract attention. Many Azerbaijanis often presume that men who wear an earring or unusually colourful clothing are homosexual.
→ read full articleChild Trafficking Rampant in Underdeveloped Indian Villages
K. S. Harikrishnan, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Sep 2014
“Many families are unable to afford the basic necessities of life, which forces parents to sell their children. Some children are abandoned by families who can’t take care of them. Some run away to escape abuse or unhappy homes. Gangsters and middlemen approach these vulnerable children.”
→ read full articleNo Hope for AIDS-Free Generation in Uganda as Controversial HIV Bill Is Signed into Law
Amy Fallon, IPS – TRANCEND Media Service,
25 Aug 2014
21 Aug 2014 – The act, HIV/AIDS activists say, will lead to people shunning testing and treatment, but will particularly drive sex workers and gay men underground, and make women more vulnerable to domestic violence.
→ read full articleU.N. Prepares for Overhaul of Arms Trade Reporting
Joel Jaeger, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Aug 2014
18 Aug 2014 – The Arms Trade Treaty is about to provide the biggest shake-up to conventional arms trade transparency since the end of the Cold War.
→ read full articleU.S., Brazil Nearing Approval of Genetically Engineered Trees
Carey L. Biron, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Aug 2014
Aug 20 2014 – The U.S. and Brazilian governments are moving into the final stages of weighing approval for the commercialisation of genetically engineered eucalyptus trees, moves that would mark the first such permits anywhere in the world.
→ read full articleDoes Iceland Gain From Whaling?
Lowana Veal, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Aug 2014
The story of what then happens to the whales once they have been taken back to Iceland is part mystery and part an economic balancing act between the country’s economic interests and its international image.
→ read full articleCuba Sees Its Future in Mariel Port, Hand in Hand with Brazil
Patricia Grogg, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Aug 2014
The Mariel special economic development zone, the biggest construction project undertaken in decades in Cuba, emerged thanks to financial support from Brazil, which was based on political goodwill, a strategy of integration, and business vision.
→ read full articleSwamped by Rising Seas, Small Islands Seek a Lifeline
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Aug 2014
11 Aug 2014 – The world’s 52 small island developing states (SIDS), some in danger of being wiped off the face of the earth because of sea-level rise triggered by climate change, will be the focus of an international conference in the South Pacific island nation of Samoa next month.
→ read full articleLatin America Closes Ranks in Solidarity with the People of Gaza
Humberto Márquez, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Aug 2014
Latin America is the region whose governments have taken the firmest stance in support of Gaza in face of the battering from Israel, withdrawing a number of ambassadors from Tel Aviv and issuing harsh statements from several presidents against the attacks on the Palestinian people.
→ read full articleChile Taps Solar Thermal Energy with Latin America’s First Plant
Marianela Jarroud, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Aug 2014
“Thermal solar plants are capable of generating and storing energy, and in practice that means they can operate around the clock for most of the year, solely based on energy from the sun.” — Professor Roberto Román
→ read full articleFor Many Asian LGBT Youth, Homophobia Starts at Home
Jassmyn Goh, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Aug 2014
“I felt betrayed. It was the time when I needed my parents the most and they were not there for me. They chose to turn their backs on me.” — Alex
→ read full articleBRICS Forges Ahead With Two New Power Drivers – India and China
Shastri Ramachandaran, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jul 2014
Two external groups defined by divergent interests closely watched proceedings: on the one hand, emerging economies and developing countries, and on the other, a group comprising the United States, Japan and other Western countries thriving on the Washington Consensus and the Bretton Woods twins (the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund).
→ read full articleAfter Losing Vote, U.S.-EU Threaten to Undermine Treaty
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jul 2014
Jun 28 2014 – The USA and the 28-member EU have assiduously promoted – and vigorously preached – one of the basic tenets of Western multi-party democracy: majority rules. But at the United Nations, they have frequently abandoned that principle insisting on “consensus” when they are clearly outvoted.
→ read full articleProblems Inspire Ingenious Solutions in Peruvian Amazon Town
Milagros Salazar, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jul 2014
He may look like a rapper, but 33-year-old José Antonio Bardález is the mayor of Jepelacio, in the Peruvian Amazon. His ingenious innovations in the municipality include transforming waste management into a source of income and making spring water a source of drinking water.
→ read full articleForeign Aid Funding Luxury Hotels in Myanmar
Michelle Tullo, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Jun 2014
New investments from the World Bank’s private-sector investment arm may perpetuate economic inequality rather than alleviate poverty in Myanmar. “A significant factor contributing to the urban versus rural income inequality is that the vast majority of investment in Burma is concentrated in the urban sector, despite the fact that only one-third of the population lives in these areas,”
→ read full articleSyria’s Twin Jihads
Mona Alami, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Jun 2014
Armageddon ideology used in the Syria conflict has fanned Shiite-Sunni fires in Lebanon as well as across the region. Reducing the conflict to a battle within Islam, as portrayed by jihadists on one side and by Hezbollah on the other, could portend a greater conflict that would wreak havoc in region where the Muslim divide runs deep, and religious identities prevail over nationalism.
→ read full articleWe Need the Dissolution of NATO – It Has No Mission”
Karina Boeckmann, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Jun 2014
Subrata Ghoshroy, an engineer of Indian descent, describes how sophisticated weapon systems are being used as dominant instruments of U.S. foreign policy. He had worked in the field of high-energy laser before he turned defence analyst and whistleblower against faked ‘Star Wars’ missile defence tests by U.S. government contractors.
→ read full articleRich Getting Richer as the Poor Crawl Slowly Out of Poverty
Diana Cariboni, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Jun 2014
Are we returning to the Middle Ages? Gaps in income and wealth are growing wider, including in places with well-established middle classes, like Europe or the United States.
→ read full articleIsrael in Political Isolation over New Palestinian Government
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Jun 2014
The United States’ decision to “work with” the new Palestinian government has virtually isolated Israel: the only country so far to have publicly rejected the political alliance between Fatah and Hamas.
→ read full articleTo Grow or Not to Grow GMO Crops
Silvia Giannelli, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jun 2014
So far, 129.000 hectares of land – roughly the area covered by a city the size of Rome – are being cultivated with genetically modified corn in Europe, 90 percent of which is in Spain, while the rest is spread across Portugal, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania.
→ read full articleTransgenics Prosper Amidst Pragmatism and Collateral Damage
Fabiana Frayssinet, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 May 2014
Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta published a map that dubbed a large area of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay the “United Republic of Soy”. In this “republic” more than 46 million hectares of transgenic soy are sprayed with 600 million litres of the herbicide glyphosate and are largely responsible for the deforestation of 500,000 hectares a year in the past decade.
→ read full articleUganda Passes another Repressive Law — This Time Criminalising HIV Transmission
Amy Fallon, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 May 2014
Ugandan AIDS bodies and campaigners have warned that the “ugly clauses” of an HIV bill passed by Parliament late Tuesday [13 May 2014], which includes the criminalisation of the “wilful and intentional” transmission of the disease, will see many in this East African country “shun the healthcare system”.
→ read full articlePalestine – Chronicle of a Foretold Death
Baher Kamal, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 May 2014
A quick look at the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would suffice to conclude that the process leading to creating a Palestinian State living side by side with Israel had already been sentenced to failure 117 years ago.
→ read full articlePalestinians Take the Tough Path towards Unity
Khaled Alashqar, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 May 2014
The move for reconciliation between Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip could change the balance in the Middle East – if it were to proceed and deliver as promised. The Israeli government still in shock over this unexpected agreement and the new political calculations it would bring.
→ read full articleDesperate Gazans Turn Plastic into Fuel
Khaled Alashqar, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 May 2014
The fuel crisis in Gaza has been ongoing for eight years now as Israel controls the amount of fuel entering Gaza. Its only power plant also runs on scarce diesel. Blackouts that last hours are a daily feature.
→ read full articleJapan Prepares to Enter the Arms Market
Bruce Einhorn and Matthew Philips – Business Week,
12 May 2014
In April [2014], the government of Japan’s conservative prime minister, Shinzo Abe, lifted a ban from the 1970s that restricted arms exports. The country’s contentious relations with China, which claims Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea, made getting rid of the ban politically much easier for Abe.
→ read full articlePersecution of Uganda’s Gays Intensifies as Rights Groups Go Underground
Amy Fallon, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Apr 2014
In the current climate of homophobia, which activists stress has been “imported” to Uganda via western evangelists, virtually everyone is aware they can use another person’s sexuality to exact revenge.
→ read full articleExploring the Path towards a Nuclear-free World
Daisaku Ikeda, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Apr 2014
The work of building a world without nuclear weapons signifies more than just the elimination of these horrific weapons. Rather, it is a process by which the people themselves, through their own efforts, take on the challenge of realising a new era of peace and creative coexistence. This is the necessary precondition for a sustainable global society.
→ read full articleUruguay’s Public Transport Goes Electric
Inés Acosta, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Mar 2014
Uruguay plans to gradually replace oil-based fuels with electric energy in its public transport system, and is currently assessing the costs and benefits of the shift. Tests indicate that the running costs of electric buses can be six- to eight-fold lower than for diesel buses.
→ read full articleUkraine Coup Lawful, Crimea Referendum Unlawful?
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Mar 2014
For US officials and press to claim that the coup in Ukraine complied with law, while the referendum in Crimea did not, is utter hypocrisy. “Imagine the response from Washington if Russia or China or some other sizable world power had worked hard to build a military and/or political alliance near U.S. borders.” — Norman Solomon
→ read full articleThe Rich Complain That We Do Not Love Them
Roberto Savio, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Mar 2014
F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said “The rich are different from you or me”, yet in his days, in the early years of the 20th century, the rich were not subject to public scrutiny, and were generally an object of envy, not resentment. Fast forward to the 21st century and the Occupy Wall Street movement.
→ read full articleSwiss Step Up Arms Exports, Peacefully
Ray Smith, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Mar 2014
Switzerland’s army doesn’t go to war – but its military equipment does. In 2011, Saudi Arabia used Swiss Piranha tanks to crack down on protests in Bahrain. Libyan rebels used Swiss ammunition against Muammar Gaddafi’s troops, and Syrian rebels have been throwing Swiss hand grenades against President Bashar Assad’s soldiers. Swiss assault rifles were exported to Ukraine and have now been used against civilians.
→ read full articleWhat We Can Learn from Child Soldiers
Jonathan Rozen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Mar 2014
Because he was a child, Moses Otiti was the only one to survive. For the next 12 months, he was forced to serve the LRA as a soldier. “The reason why they didn’t kill me was because they were really [looking for] people who were young…they really wanted to groom them as soldiers who can fight the battle against the government,” he told IPS.
→ read full articleMexico Building Latin America’s Largest Solar Farm to Replace Old, Dirty Oil-Power Plant
Ari Phillips, ThinkProgress – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Mar 2014
“Mexico can reduce the environmental impact of old, dirty sources of energy, while taking the long view and building a sustainable future economy.”
→ read full articleUganda’s Anti-Gay Bill Puts U.S. Aid at Risk
Bryant Harris, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Mar 2014
26 Feb 2014 – Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s authorisation of the so-called “kill the gays” bill has led Washington officials to review U.S. aid to the African country. U.S. evangelicals such as Scott Lively claimed that gays were responsible for the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide, and asserted that they were now targeting Uganda by trying to “convert” Ugandan children.
→ read full articleNuke Summit Agenda Circumvents Armed Powers
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2014
When over 50 world leaders meet in the Netherlands next month [March 2014] for a Nuclear Security Summit (NSS), the primary focus will be on a politically-loaded question: how do we prevent non-state actors and terrorists from getting their hands on nuclear weapons or nuclear materials?
→ read full articleProtesters Resist an ‘Indian Fukushima’
Ranjit Devraj, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Feb 2014
According to PMANE leader [TRANSCEND member] S.P. Udayakumar, the Kudankulam project built with Russian technology is unsafe and threatens the delicate marine ecology of the Palk straits. “A Fukushima-type accident at this mega plant, which is due to generate 9,200 MW when complete, would be truly catastrophic.”
→ read full articleUganda’s Anti-Gay Bill, Unsigned but Still Effective
Faith Lokens, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jan 2014
Uganda’s president has reportedly refused to sign a controversial anti-gay bill that would mean life in prison for people convicted of homosexual acts. But many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual and intersex people, and NGOs trying to help them, say many have been suffering discrimination for years and it is getting worse.
→ read full articleEurope’s Leaders Visit Athens to Celebrate Their Failure
Apostolis Fotiadis, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jan 2014
The start of Greece’s six-month presidency of the EU was marked by a ceremony Wednesday [8 Jan 2014] in the Greek capital attended by the EU commissioners. But protests were banned.
→ read full articleSome Cartoons Aren’t Funny
A. D. McKenzie, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Dec 2013
We can’t talk about political correctness and say cartoonists must draw certain groups only in a certain way. You’ll find someone offended by anything.
→ read full articleThe Nobel for Peace – An Expanding Scandal
Fredrik S. Heffermehl, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Dec 2013
A March 2012 decision by the Swedish authority supervising foundations is a ticking box of dynamite under the Nobel Peace Prize. Even presented in an official, open document, the decision has not reached the general public and become the news story it actually is.
→ read full articleEurope Sending Armies to Stop Immigrants
Apostolis Fotiadis, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Dec 2013
A Nov. 19 [2013] paper by the European External Action Service, the EU diplomatic corps, considers the possibility of the European military getting involved in the south Mediterranean in an effort to curb the influx of irregular migrants and refugees into Europe.
→ read full articleGenetically Modified Crop Could Migrate Dangerously
Ranjit Devraj, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Dec 2013
Food security activists who secured a moratorium on introducing GM brinjal (aubergine) into India fear that their efforts are being undermined by release of same in neighbouring Bangladesh. “India and Bangladesh share a long and porous border and it is easy for GM brinjal varieties to be brought over.”
→ read full articleG77 Walk-out at COP19 as Rich Countries Use Delaying Tactics
Claudia Ciobanu, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Nov 2013
The G77+China group of 133 developing countries negotiating a new international deal at COP19 in Warsaw to combat climate change walked out of the talks in the wee hours of Wednesday morning [29 Nov 2013] to protest developed countries’ reluctance to commit to loss and damage.
→ read full articleCarbon Emissions on Tragic Trajectory
Stephen Leahy, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Nov 2013
Burning of fossil fuels added a record 36 billion tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere in 2013, locking in even more heating of the planet.
→ read full articleIsrael’s Nuclear Ambiguity Prodded
Pierre Klochendler, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Nov 2013
As Palestinian-Israeli peace talks and nuclear talks on Iran’s disputed nuclear programme continue, a unique international conference, “A Middle East without Weapons of Mass Destruction”, was held in Jerusalem. “The nuclear issue is Israel’s last taboo.”
→ read full articleU.N. Will Censure Illegal Spying, But Not U.S.
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Nov 2013
A draft resolution currently in limited circulation – a copy of which was obtained by IPS – criticises “the conduct of extra-territorial surveillance” and the “interception of communications in foreign jurisdictions”. But it refuses to single out the NSA or the United States, which stands accused of spying on foreign governments, including political leaders in Germany, France, Brazil, Spain and Mexico, among some 30 others.
→ read full articleU.S. Reforms “Open Floodgates” on Arms Exports
Ramy Srour, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Oct 2013
On Tuesday [15 Oct 2013], the largest deregulation in the history of U.S. arms exports took place. But a day after the new reforms came into effect, former government officials and critics from the human rights community are warning of the serious human rights consequences and of the negative long-term impact for U.S. foreign policy.
→ read full articleSwitzerland: Giant Companies Pinpricked by ‘Direct Democracy’
Ray Smith Reprint, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Oct 2013
A Swiss village has decided to reject tax money from Glencore and donate it to charities. Other towns may follow, sending a strong signal to the government to introduce transparency rules for the extractive industry. “Our tax regulation is deeply unfair; it makes us rich, while people in extraction countries suffer, as the companies evade taxation there.”
→ read full articleU.S. Science Reporters Becoming an Endangered Species
Zofeen Ebrahim, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Oct 2013
The news for environmental journalism in the United States is grim and getting grimmer.
→ read full articlePacific Pact – a Minefield for Health Care
Emilio Godoy – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 Oct 2013
The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), the negotiation of which is set to conclude this year, could drive research into new drugs and improve access to medicines. Except – it won’t.
→ read full articleEuropean Union at the Crossroads
Massimo D'Alema – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 Oct 2013
“One of the fundamental contradictions: that whereas economic life has internationalism as a necessary premise, state life has developed in the direction of ‘nationalism,’ of ‘self-sufficiency’.” With global financial capitalism the crisis of democracy linked to the loss of sovereignty by nation states has reached breaking point.
→ read full articleBahrain Repression Continues Amid Sham Trials and Imprisonment
Emile Nakhleh – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 Oct 2013
4 Oct 2013 – The lengthy prison sentences handed down to 50 Shia activists last week and the refusal of Bahraini courts to hear their allegations of torture once again confirm the regime’s continued repression of the opposition.
→ read full articleWTO: Stingy with the Poor, Generous with the Rich
Martin Khor – Inter Press Service-IPS,
7 Oct 2013
Martin Khor, the executive director of the South Centre, writes about how the WTO’s agriculture rules favour rich countries while punishing developing countries.
→ read full articleBrazil: Ninja Citizen Journalists Don’t Claim to Be Impartial
Fabiana Frayssinet – Inter Press Service-IPS,
7 Oct 2013
The citizen journalists of Midia Ninja who have covered the protests in Brazil are part of a new kind of reporting that is proud to be biased. The argument is that the big media outlets are not “impartial” either, but answer to their own interests or those of the economic powers they represent – although less transparently than the new citizen journalists.
→ read full articleThe Medicines Are Fake, the Illnesses Real
Catherine Wilson – Inter Press Service-IPS,
7 Oct 2013
Reports of fraudulent medicines in the south-west Pacific island states of Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea have drawn attention to the need for more public awareness of the lethal trade and its tragic consequences. The global trade in fake medicines is estimated to net international organised criminals about 75 billion dollars per year.
→ read full article“The Oil Is Ours” – But Its Secrets Are the NSA’s
Fabiana Frayssinet – Inter Press Service-IPS,
30 Sep 2013
The Brazilian government is the largest shareholder in Petrobras, a publicly traded company whose closely guarded secrets – such as the volume of reserves or the deep water exploration technology it has developed – may already be in the hands of the U.S. government and its allies.
→ read full articleIsrael Silent on Chemical Weapons
Pierre Klochendler – Inter Press Service-IPS,
30 Sep 2013
“While we cannot confirm whether the Israelis possess lethal chemical agents,” the CIA report said, “several indicators lead us to believe that they have available to them at least persistent and non-persistent nerve agents, a mustard agent, and several riot-control agents, marched with suitable delivery systems.” It’s been known since the early 1970s that chemical tests are conducted at the secretive Israel Institute for Biological Research located in the town of Ness Ziona, 20 km south of Tel Aviv.
→ read full articleFinancial Core of the Transnational Corporate Class
Peter Phillips and Brady Osborne, Project Censored - TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Sep 2013
In this study we decided to identify in detail the people on the boards of directors of the top ten asset management firms and the top ten most centralized corporations in the world. There is a total of thirteen firms with 161 directors on their boards. They collectively manage $23.91 trillion in funds and operate in every country in the world. Western governments and international policy bodies work in the interests of this financial core to protect the free flow of capital investment anywhere in the world.
→ read full articleA Corporate Coup of a Different Order: The Growing Resistance to the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Arthur Phillips – Toward Freedom,
30 Sep 2013
In February, more than four years later, President Obama claimed his to be “the most transparent administration in history.” Perhaps the least publicized example of that statement’s dishonesty is the White House’s efforts to negotiate the biggest trade agreement since the mid 1990s in near-total secrecy. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, has been in negotiations since 2007.
→ read full article