Articles by AP
We found 804 results.
Mumbai’s Woes and Their Implications
Aurobinda Mahapatra, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jul 2011
Mumbai is India’s most prosperous as well as most cosmopolitan city. The city’s local trains everyday carry about 7 million diverse people, and to this gigantic fare is everyday added 1200 families who reach city from different corners of India in search of better life.
→ read full articleTroops March in San Diego’s Gay Pride Parade
Associated Press (AP) – The New York Times,
18 Jul 2011
About 200 active-duty troops and veterans wearing T-shirts advertising their branch of service marched Saturday [16 Jul 2011] in San Diego’s gay pride parade with American flags and rainbow banners, marking what is believed to be the first time a military contingent has participated in such an event in the U.S.
→ read full articleEurope Declares War on Rating Agencies
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor – The Telegraph,
11 Jul 2011
A chorus of policy-makers from Europe and across the world have denounced Moody’s drastic downgrade of Portuguese debt as an act of financial vandalism, accusing the “Anglo-Saxon” rating agencies of driving states into bankruptcy and destabilising the global system.
→ read full articleLessons of Argentina Crisis Ignored In Handling of Greece
Jeremy Warner – The Telegraph,
11 Jul 2011
For a vision of how the Greek debt meltdown is going to end, look no further than the International Monetary Fund’s post mortem into a similar crisis that came to a head almost exactly a decade ago – Lessons From The Crisis In Argentina.
→ read full articleThere Is No War So Bad That It Cannot Be Made Worse By the Intervention of the ICC
Brendan O'Neill – The Telegraph,
4 Jul 2011
From the luxurious environs of The Hague, cheered on by liberals who get a cheap political thrill from seeing white lawyers stand up to evil Africans, the ICC has today [28 Jun 2011] issued an arrest warrant for Colonel Gaddafi, one of his sons and his security chief. This act of international moral posturing, designed to make the ICC look serious and superior, is likely to intensify the stand-off in Libya.
→ read full articleOf Nuke States, Outliers and Global Security
Jayantha Dhanapala - InDepth News,
27 Jun 2011
One definition of an outlier, in the original field of statistics, is “one that appears to deviate markedly from other members of the sample in which it occurs.” Thus, in a world where the global norm is membership of the Treaty for the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), nuclear weapon armed states outside the NPT have been referred to as the outliers. The use of the term has an undeniably pejorative implication but in modern realpolitik no value judgments hold sway.
→ read full articleGovernments and Powers-That-Be Fear the Internet
Gustavo Capdevila – Inter Press Service-IPS,
13 Jun 2011
The global reach of the internet, and its ability to transmit information in real time and mobilise populations, creates fear among governments and the powerful, says Frank La Rue, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
→ read full articleAustralian Cattle Trade Halted Over ‘Cruelty’
AP – The Independent,
6 Jun 2011
The Australian government has suspended live cattle exports to 11 Indonesian abattoirs featured in a television programme showing steers being whipped and taking minutes to bleed to death.
→ read full articleManuel Zelaya Pushes for Peace on Return to Honduras
Associated Press-AP – The Guardian,
30 May 2011
Former president Manuel Zelaya’s return to Honduras almost two years after being forced into exile by a military coup has ended a crippling political crisis and paved the way for the impoverished nation’s reintegration into the international community. The Organisation of American States (OAS), which expelled Honduras following the June 2009 coup, is expected to bring the Central American nation back into the fold this week.
→ read full articleWhat Price the Fukushima Meltdown? Comparing Chernobyl and Fukushima
Prof. Matthew Penney & Prof. Mark Selden – The Asia-Pacific Journal, Japan Focus,
30 May 2011
On April 12, 2011 the Japanese government officially announced that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster had reached level 7, the highest on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Before Fukushima, the only level 7 case was the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, whose 25th anniversary was marked on April 26. Following the upgrade to level 7, Japan’s Prime Minister’s Office released a statement comparing Fukushima and Chernobyl, arguing that apart from children who contracted thyroid cancer from drinking contaminated milk, there have been no health effects among ordinary citizens as a result of Chernobyl radiation. Is this really the case? Hardly.
→ read full articleMani Bhavan and Gandhi
Dr Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
In Gandhi’s living room on the second floor, one can see from the glass the original Charkha (the spinning wheel, Gandhi’s symbol of self-dependence) he was using, his bed on the floor, his Kadam (wooden slipper), his book stand, and many other things. I imagined Gandhi while viewing that room. The room is still there, the great soul has departed, but his ideas still reverberate in the world. We all know how great leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela and many others were influenced by him. I remember reading somewhere how one of the great peace activists of our time Johan Galtung started crying at the news of the departure of the great soul.
→ read full articlePress Release-UN High Commission for Human Rights: Palestinian Nakba
Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 May 2011
On May 15 2011 the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Mr. Richard Falk, marks the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba, the catastrophic beginning of the Palestinian tragedy of dispossession and occupation, with the following statement.
→ read full articleNuclear Meltdown at Fukushima Plant
Julian Ryall in Tokyo – The Telegraph,
16 May 2011
One of the reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant did suffer a nuclear meltdown, Japanese officials admitted for the first time today [14 May 2011], describing a pool of molten fuel at the bottom of the reactor’s containment vessel.
→ read full articleGM Soy: The Invisible Ingredient ‘Poisoning’ Children
Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent – The Telegraph,
9 May 2011
The home of Petrona Villasboa is surrounded by genetically modified (GM) soy fields. The golden crop looks like a bumper harvest but for her it is a symbol of death. “Soy destroys people’s lives,” she says. “It is a poison. It is no way to live. Soy is deadly to us”. Sitting outside her painted green shack in rural Paraguay, the mother of eight describes the day in January 2003 when her 11-year-old son Silvino Talavera came home from cycling to the shops.
→ read full articleFukushima, Chernobyl Raise Questions about WHO’s Role
Gustavo Capdevila – Inter Press Service-IPS,
2 May 2011
The nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, and the 25th anniversary of the catastrophe in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine have thrown into relief contradictions in the role played by the World Health Organisation, which civil society organisations have spent years pointing out.
→ read full articleIslamism, Christianism, Judeaism
Johan Galtung, 25 Apr 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Apr 2011
Right now the ultimate christian mega-empire fights muslim communities with mega-weapons, drones, cruise and other missiles, fighter-bombers, high on cowardice–protected, few casualties–low on accuracy; the muslims with IEDs at $10 a piece, high on courage and devotion up to suicide, high on accuracy. US empire christianism is fighting not only for the economic-political-military-cultural empire, but also for God’s rule on earth via USA, a country under God, invoking his support. And at the root of it all is Cana’an, Zion, Israel; one land for all the chosen ones, bent on defending itself by all means, nuclear included.
→ read full articleFukushima Residents Seek Answers amid Mixed Signals from Media, TEPCO and Government
Makiko Segawa in Fukushima - The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus,
25 Apr 2011
Report from the Radiation Exclusion Zone
→ read full articleCan Libya Be a Test Case?
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Apr 2011
As the situation demands active diplomacy on parts of responsible powers of the globe, it also provides an opportunity to restore the august international body the United Nations its rightful position. Here lies the crucial barometer for the proponents as well as opponents of military intervention as to whether they can act together.
→ read full articleMena Revolution and Counter-Revolution
Johan Galtung, 18 Apr 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Apr 2011
Africa. The key to the whole exercise: in 1956 still mainly owned by Anglo-France, Libya becoming an Italian colony in 1911; posing threats of union, independence and ties to China. NATO wants to control it through AFRICOM and EUCOM–three different words for Pentagon–and this is where Libya enters; rejecting AFRICOM with Sudan, Eritrea, Zimbabwe and Cote d’Ivoire (and Sahraoui). No US bases–hence countries to be subdued. The Libya action may put Africa on fire.
→ read full articleColombia: Court Documents Reveal Chiquita Paid for Security
Jim Lobe and Aprille Muscara – Inter Press Service-IPS,
11 Apr 2011
Contrary to claims by Chiquita Brands International that its payments to Colombian paramilitary and guerrilla groups over more than a decade were extorted, internal company documents released here Thursday [7 Apr 2011] strongly suggest that the transactions provided specific benefits to the banana giant.
→ read full articleThe Civil Crime 1861-65
Johan Galtung, 11 Apr 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Apr 2011
“Causes of war” is an academic pursuit for the PhD hungry; “causes of peace” is the serious challenge. How could this crime against humanity [American Civil War] have been avoided, what would conflict solution, even peace, have looked like?.. ‘Welcome to America, home to 5% of the world’s people & 25% of the world’s prisoners,’ says the NAACP. Mainly Blacks. Rented out as labor from privatized prisons on the stock exchange, deploring lower crime rates, bribing judges for longer sentences. Jim Crow II, South and North. USA, wake up, before the republic becomes a victim of its own absurdity.
→ read full articleToxic Intervention: Are NATO Forces Poisoning Libya with Depleted Uranium as They ‘Protect’ Civilians?
Dave Lindorff – This Can’t Be Happening,
4 Apr 2011
President Obama’s criminal launch of an undeclared and Congressionally unauthorized war against Libya may be compounded by the crime of spreading toxic uranium oxide in populated areas of that country.
→ read full articleThe Idiocy and Hubris of Engineers: Will GE Get Whacked for the Catastrophic Failure of its Nuke Plants in Fukushima?
Dave Lindorff - This Can’t Be Happening,
21 Mar 2011
GE, the company that boasts that it “brings good things to life,” was the designer of the nuclear plants that are blowing up like hot popcorn kernels at the Fukushima Dai-ichi generating plant north of Tokyo that was hit by the double-whammy of a 9.0 earthquake and a huge tsunami.
→ read full articleThe Ransoming of Raymond Davis
Pratap Chatterjee – The Guardian,
21 Mar 2011
What does the United States’ record on justice and human rights look like after it has paid to get its alleged CIA killer out of jail?
→ read full articleAl Franken: ‘They’re coming after the Internet’
Mike Zapler – Politico,
21 Mar 2011
US Sen. Al Franken claimed Monday [14 Mar 2011] that big corporations are “hoping to destroy” the Internet and said Comcast is looking to change the basic architecture of the Web by implementing a pricing scheme that allows moneyed interests to pay for faster speeds, leaving everyone else behind… “Unfortunately one thing these big corporations have that we don’t is the ability to purchase favorable political outcomes,” he said. “Big telecoms have lots of [lobbyists], and good ones, too. … The end of net neutrality would benefit no one but these corporate giants.”
→ read full articleProblematic Public Relations: Japanese Leaders Leave People in the Dark
Wieland Wagner in Osaka, Japan – Der Spiegel,
21 Mar 2011
Leaders in Japan have not comported themselves well since Friday’s disaster. Information has been in short supply and distrust among the Japanese has begun to spread. Now, the blame game has begun in earnest… On Tuesday [15 Mar 2011], five days after the Fukushima disaster, Japanese Prime Minister Kan Naoto stepped into his limousine and was driven to the headquarters of Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) in the Japanese capital city. “What is going on here?” he screamed at the flabbergasted executives responsible for the out-of-control Fukushima power plant.
→ read full article‘Problem Children’ towards Radicalism
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Feb 2011
One of the WikiLeaks revelations, published recently in The Daily Telegraph of London, brings into picture the worrisome scenario in which a section of the British youth visit to madrassas in Kashmir under Pakistan’s control, and end in the net of extremist and terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda.
→ read full articleWhy Pakistan Cannot Release the Man Who Calls Himself Raymond Davis
Shaukat Qadir – This Can’t Be Happening,
21 Feb 2011
By now journalists everywhere (except in the US) have come to the conclusion that there is far, far more to Raymond Davis than is being revealed by the US or by Pakistani officials… One Western journalist has referred to this incident as the “biggest intelligence fiasco since the downing of a U-2 by the erstwhile USSR in 1962.” Obviously, the apprehension is that were he to be tried and convicted in Pakistan and handed a lengthy prison, or even a death sentence, Davis might “spill the beans” and that, were he to do so, those Wikileaks cables could pale into insignificance!
→ read full articleEgypt Crisis: The Young Revolutionaries Who Sparked the Protests
Jon Swaine – The Telegraph,
14 Feb 2011
The young Egyptian revolutionaries who sparked the protests have told how they used the internet to galvanise Cairo’s protest movement.
→ read full articleWikiLeaks: US and China in Military Standoff over Space Missiles
Tim Ross, Holly Watt and Christopher Hope – The Telegraph,
7 Feb 2011
The United States threatened to take military action against China during a secret “star wars” arms race within the past few years, according to leaked documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph.
→ read full articleWhy ‘Colour’ Revolutions are Multi-shaded
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Jan 2011
Adding to the galaxy of ‘colour’ revolutions such as rose, tulip, orange, and many others is the recent jasmine revolution in Tunisia. The North African country suddenly gained worldwide attention in the second week of January as the ruler of country for the last 23 years fled to Saudi Arabia after massive protests. The perplexity of the matter revolved around the question how the immolation of a 26 year old could trigger such a massive unrest in Tunisia and consequently in the almost whole Arab world with protests in countries like Algeria, Syria, Yemen, Jordan are gaining shape.
→ read full articleSudan Referendum: Southerners Flood Home to Vote in Post-War Secession Poll
Mike Pflanz – The Telegraph,
10 Jan 2011
Tens of thousands of Sudanese are flooding ‘home’ ahead of a vote on Sunday [9 Jan 2011] which is expected to split Africa’s largest country in two and create the world’s newest nation.
→ read full articleWikiLeaks Exposed US and Hillary’s Hopelessness
Robert Fisk – Belfast Telegraph,
3 Jan 2011
That Clinton should want her State Department slaves to play secret agents on the poor old UN shows what an utterly worthless institution the US State Department has become.
→ read full articleTAPI Pipeline Prospects
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
The leaders of four nations Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) met in the second week of December 2010 in the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat to sign two agreements called Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) and Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement (GPFA) to foster the prospects of TAPI pipeline.
→ read full articleStudy Suggests There Are 300 Sextillion Stars in the Universe!
Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
“It’s fun because it gets you thinking about these large numbers,” Conroy said. Conroy looked up how many cells are in the average human body — 50 trillion or so — and multiplied that by the 6 billion people on Earth. And he came up with about 300 sextillion. So the number of stars in the universe “is equal to all the cells in the humans on Earth, a kind of funny coincidence,” Conroy said.
→ read full articleCanada Enlists in America’s Permanent War for Peace
Gerald Caplan – The Globe and Mail,
6 Dec 2010
Gerald Caplan charts the bloodthirsty history of ‘the most awesome military power the world has ever known’. ‘Look forward to a future of permanent war in the pursuit of peace,’ he writes.
→ read full articleIreland’s Debt Servitude
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – The Telegraph,
6 Dec 2010
Stripped to its essentials, the €85bn package imposed on Ireland by the Eurogroup and the European Central Bank is a bail-out for improvident British, German, Dutch, and Belgian bankers and creditors. The Irish taxpayers carry the full burden, and deplete what remains of their reserve pension fund to cover a quarter of the cost. This arrangement – I am not going to grace it with the term deal – was announced in Brussels before the elected Taoiseach of Ireland had been able to tell his own people what their fate would be.
→ read full articleRealities of the Obama Visit
Dr. Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Nov 2010
The Obama visit to India in this November attracted world wide attention, with analysts pouring appreciations or criticisms or both on the visit. The visit surrounded by grand phrases like ‘natural partners’ could enchant much of the Indian public, and particularly when during the speech at Indian parliament on 8 November 2010 Obama urged Pakistan to dismantle terrorist centers within its borders, supported India’s candidature for the permanent membership of the security council and dropped the Kashmir word in the speeches and deliberations, the symbolism in the bilateral relations could reach its apogee, though these pronouncements will remain mere words till their fruitful realization in ground reality.
→ read full articleRound Two: Third Circuit Court Panel Re-Hears Issue of Abu-Jamal’s Death Penalty on Orders of Supreme Court
Dave Lindorff – This Can’t Be Happening,
15 Nov 2010
The three-decades-long murder case of Philadelphia journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has sat in solitary in a cramped cell on Pennsylvania’s death row for 28 years fighting his conviction and a concerted campaign by the national police union, the Fraternal Order of Police, to execute him, was back in court Tuesday, with a three-judge federal Appeals Court panel reconsidering its 2008 decision backing the vacating of his death sentence, on orders of the US Supreme Court.
→ read full article‘Holy Cows’ to Produce Britain’s Most Expensive Milks
Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent – Telegraph,
8 Nov 2010
The most expensive milk in Britain, produced by cows living at a Hare Krishna farm set up by Beatle George Harrison, is to go on sale for the first time.
→ read full articleMikhail Gorbachev: Victory in Afghanistan is ‘Impossible’
The Telegraph – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Nov 2010
Mikhail Gorbachev, the former leader of the Soviet Union, has warned that Afghanistan risks turning into another Vietnam, telling NATO that victory is impossible. Mr. Gorbachev, who pulled Russian troops out of Afghanistan in 1989 after a 10-year war, said the US had no alternative but to withdraw troops.
→ read full article€34bn Question: Will Banks Sink Republic or Just Its Government?
Eamonn McCann – Belfast Telegraph,
18 Oct 2010
The Irish government just handed Allied Irish Bank five times more than the bank is worth–and the government won’t even own it afterwards.
→ read full articleU.S. Apologizes for ‘Abhorrent’ Guatemala Syphilis Study in 1940s
Tim Johnson - McClatchy Newspapers,
4 Oct 2010
Exposing a dark page in its history, the U.S. government acknowledged Friday [1 Oct 2010] that government scientists had infected some 1,500 Guatemalans with syphilis and gonorrhea in experiments from 1946 to 1948 in “appalling violations” of medical ethics. U.S. scientists infected prostitutes with syphilis or gonorrhea and sent them to have unprotected sex with soldiers or prison inmates, later testing them for possible cures, U.S. officials said. When few became infected, scientists turned to patients at a mental health hospital, exposing them to infection by rubbing it on their genitals. None of the subjects were informed about the study or offered consent, U.S. officials said. At least one patient is known to have died.
→ read full articleRights Activists Share Alternative Nobel
Malin Rising – The Associated Press-AP,
4 Oct 2010
Activists from Nepal, Nigeria, Brazil and Israel were named the winners Thursday [30 Sep 2010] of this year’s Right Livelihood Award, also known as the “alternative Nobel,” for work that includes fighting to save the Amazon rain forest and bringing health care to Palestinians cut off from services.
→ read full articleIndia’s Commonwealth Ordeal
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Sep 2010
Apart from Kashmir, which keeps India in international light in recent days is its preparation for the Commonwealth games in Delhi to be commenced from 3 to 14 October 2010. The event, the first ever in India and perhaps the first showcase of India’s emerging prowess in the evolving world, will likely involve 8,500 athletes from 71 countries competing in 17 events.
→ read full articleGuide to the Most Crucial Bank Meeting You Never Heard of
Kevin G. Hall - McClatchy Newspapers,
13 Sep 2010
International bank regulators from around the globe will meet in the Swiss town of Basel on Sunday [12 Sep 2010] to finalize an important agreement that most Americans have never heard of: one to redraw rules so that banks can’t bring the world economy to the brink of collapse again.
→ read full articleRegional Economic Cooperation as a Key to Solve Afghanistan Problem
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Aug 2010
‘Economics is the key to overcoming all problems,’ observed the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov while articulating the main content of quadrilateral meet of Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan at the Russian Black Sea resort Sochi on 18 August 2010.
→ read full articleA Month without Monsanto
April Dávila – Yes! Magazine,
30 Aug 2010
April Dávila wondered what it would take to cut the GMO giant out of her family’s life. She found that it was far more entrenched than she’d ever realized.
→ read full articleThe Secret Killers: Assassination in Afghanistan and Task Force 373
Pratap Chatterjee – TomDispatch,
23 Aug 2010
“Find, fix, finish, and follow-up” is the way the Pentagon describes the mission of secret military teams in Afghanistan which have been given a mandate to pursue alleged members of the Taliban or al-Qaeda wherever they may be found. Some call these “manhunting” operations and the units assigned to them “capture/kill” teams. Whatever terminology you choose, the details of dozens of their specific operations — and how they regularly went badly wrong — have been revealed for the first time in the mass of secret U.S. military and intelligence documents published by the website Wikileaks in July to a storm of news coverage and official protest.
→ read full articleThe Horrific Derivatives Bubble That Could One Day Destroy the Entire World Financial System
Michael Snyder – The Economic Collapse,
16 Aug 2010
Today there is a horrific derivatives bubble that threatens to destroy not only the U.S. economy but the entire world financial system as well, but unfortunately the vast majority of people do not understand it. When you say the word “derivatives” to most Americans, they have no idea what you are talking about. In fact, even most members of the U.S. Congress don’t really seem to understand them. But you don’t have to get into all the technicalities to understand the bigger picture.
→ read full articleSix and a Half Decades after ‘Little Boy’: Hiroshima Fights to Keep Memory of Nuclear Attack Alive
Till Mayer in Hiroshima, Japan - Spiegel,
9 Aug 2010
Hiroshima was largely destroyed 65 years ago in the world’s first attack using a nuclear bomb. The bomb, dropped by a US Air Force plane, killed tens of thousands and destroyed an entire generation in the city. Six decades later, Hiroshima is fighting to keep the memory of the attack alive.
→ read full articleStatist India-Pakistan Dialogue
Dr Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Jul 2010
India-Pakistan dialogue at foreign ministers level in Islamabad can be justly called statist as it added nothing substantial to bilateral relations except meetings and press conferences bordering acrimony. Anyone who viewed the joint press conference of the ministers on 16 July 2010 could conclude nothing but precisely this: the post-Mumbai terror attack relations are surviving on a vague optimism that relations will get better in due course. Despite this optimism expressed opulently by the political leaders of both the countries, the fact remain unless some substance is added to the relations, South Asia will further plunge into another bout of crisis. In international politics diplomacy and dialogue are good things to salvage bad relations, but these can not sustain long in a vacuum.
→ read full articleGiant Salmon Will Be First GM Animal Available for Eating
Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent – The Telegraph,
5 Jul 2010
A salmon that grows at twice the normal rate is set to be the first genetically modified (GM) animal available for human consumption.
→ read full articleThe Istanbul CICA Summit
Dr. Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jun 2010
Whether CICA can be termed ‘OSCE of Asia’ it is not much difficult to answer. Also whether there is a need for a comparison between the two is an altogether different issue of concern. However, at the present stage, CICA members need to work in tandem towards playing an active role in the Eurasian space towards building peace and stability. Issues like ‘extremism, terrorism, drug trafficking, the threat of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and maritime piracy’ will likely goad CICA members to play a collective role in tackling these issues of common concern.
→ read full articleThe Deadly Closing of the Israeli Mind
Ilan Pappé – The Independent,
14 Jun 2010
The decline in Israel’s reputation since the brutal attack on the Gaza flotilla is unlikely to influence the country’s leaders.
→ read full articleWho Sank the South Korean Warship Cheonan?
Tanaka Sakai – The Asia Pacific Journal-Japan Focus,
24 May 2010
A New Stage in the US-Korean War and US-China Relations.
→ read full articleWhy the Times Square Incident Should Be a Turning Point
Dr Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 May 2010
The fact remains that terrorism is such a menace it can not be contained single handedly by a single country. In fact the nature of terrorism is so complicated and so wide and embedded; it will be difficult to tackle the menace by amending national laws or by punishing few terrorists. A global coalition, with a genuine global agenda, is the imperative of the hour if the world is to become terror-free, stable and peaceful.
→ read full articleThe Insanities of Our Time
Fidel Castro Ruz – Climate and Capitalism,
3 May 2010
“The greatest contradiction of our time is the ability of our species to destroy itself, and its inability to govern itself.”
→ read full articleThe BRIC Summit
Dr. Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Apr 2010
BRIC, in spite of its weakness or differences among members, no doubt will play a significant role in international politics. The coming of the countries together is no mean achievement, and on various issues like Iran, United Nations, Bretton Woods structures, climate change, etc. the grouping has already been vociferous. The clout of BRIC as a significant multilateral body is bound to be reckoned with.
→ read full articleTHE FABULOUS LIFE OF THE RAVENOUS VULTURES
COHA Research Associate Evgenij Haperskij – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Apr 2010
Since the mid-90s, the so-called vulture funds have been suing poor countries so that they would fully pay back their debts which they had purchased for pennies on the dollar. In this way, the vulture funds frequently manage to exacerbate the economic situation in the poor countries, most of which are located in Latin America and Africa.
→ read full articleUN’S BAN KI-MOON CALLS ARAL SEA ‘SHOCKING DISASTER’
Jim Heintz, AP-Yahoo! News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Apr 2010
Once the world’s fourth-largest lake, Central Asia’s Aral Sea has shrunk by 90 percent. NUKUS, Uzbekistan – The drying up of the Aral Sea is one of the planet’s most shocking environmental disasters, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday as he urged Central Asian leaders to step up efforts to solve the problem. Once the […]
→ read full articleWHY ARE WE AFRAID OF SAYING “SOCIALISM”?
Frances Moore Lappé - Alternet,
5 Apr 2010
Knee-jerk reactions to words like "socialism" and "capitalism" get us nowhere. We need to first define the terms. “Socialist” has become the new favorite term of derision–working its fear-making magic because, for many Americans, socialism equals the great “government takeover.” It’s assumed to be not just un-American but downright anti-American. Tea Partiers at their round […]
→ read full articleARE AMERICANS AS STUPID AS THE MEDIA THINK THEY ARE? (MAYBE)
Marty Kaplan – Alternet,
5 Apr 2010
"Poll numbers that pretty convincingly correlate believing idiotic things with having less education, and not believing idiotic things with having more education." I know some scary smart people who never graduated from high school, and I know some real doofuses with graduate degrees, so I understand that the number of years of formal education that […]
→ read full articleJOURNALISM’S SERVILITY TO POWER
Tapani Lausti - ZNet,
5 Apr 2010
As the latest NATO "surge" in Afghanistan progresses with the inevitable "regrettable" civilian casualties, the BBC is there following uncritically the military operation. No one critical of the NATO occupation and surge is allowed to appear in front of the cameras. BBC correspondents take everything at face value. They talk earnestly about "winning hearts and […]
→ read full articleA NEW DIMENSION TO DEMILITARIZATION IN KASHMIR
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Apr 2010
In the last week of March 2010 a new dimension hitherto unknown to demilitarization debate in Kashmir came to picture. One of the premier Indian TV channels, NDTV, showed in its news the popular protests in Khurhma village in northern Kashmir against the shifting of the camp of Rashtriya Rifles, a part of paramilitary force […]
→ read full articleSPY BASE VERDICT LETS PROTESTERS GO FREE
Vaimoana Tapaleao – NZHerald,
18 Mar 2010
Three peace protesters have been found not guilty of an attack on a top-secret South Island spy base, despite freely admitting causing damage put at $1 million. Otaki schoolteacher Adrian Leason, Auckland Catholic priest Peter Murnane and Hokianga farmer Sam Land were cleared by a Wellington District Court jury yesterday evening of burglary and wilful […]
→ read full articleST. PATRICK’S DAY AT BELFAST
Aurobinda Mahapatra, Ph.D.,
18 Mar 2010
This morning I went to the City Hall at the centre of the Belfast city to watch the march of processions to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. This day is celebrated on 17 March of every year. St. Patrick is revered by Christians throughout the world as a great Saint who could uphold the values of […]
→ read full articleMAPPING CONFLICT AND PEACE IN EURASIA, EDITED VOLUME
Dr. Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra, member of the TRANSCEND Network,
17 Mar 2010
The Eurasian Conflicts in international politics are known for their embedded nature transcending beyond a mono-factor for analysis. Owing to diversity and fragility many states have not matured towards coherent status of nation building; rather it appears the agenda has remained unfinished due to disturbed ethnic aspirations, fragile borders, inherent complications and power interventions. These […]
→ read full articleSAUDI ARABIA AS INTERLOCUTOR IN SOUTH ASIA?
Dr Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra,
7 Mar 2010
Mediating in conflicts in South Asia particularly between India and Pakistan since the inception of bilateral animosities has become a prize catch in international politics since long. In the list of players as mediator the name that has emerged recently is that of Saudi Arabia. Indian Prime Minster visited Saudi Arabia on 27 February 2010 […]
→ read full articleCONTROLLING THE ABILITY OF PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS TO ACCESS THE INTERNET
Bob Chapman – Global Research,
17 Feb 2010
Under the guise of “protecting Americans” and choosing itself in so-called “national security,” the current Obama administration wants to be able to control the ability of people and organizations to access the Internet. This concept on its face seems very harmless and in the best interest of the country, however, having the ability to “turn the […]
→ read full articleBEGIN’S GRANDSON: ‘MURDEROUS BLOOD FLOWS IN ISRAELI ARTERIES’
Maysaa Jarour - The Palestine Telegraph,
16 Feb 2010
"Murderous blood flows in Israeli arteries," says the grandson of former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.Avindav Begin, who is also the son of the current Likud Knesset member Benny Begin, refuses to stand during the Israeli national anthem "Hatikva" and participates in protests against the Apartheid Wall. He does not see himself as a Jew […]
→ read full articleTRIBE MARKS MASSACRE WITH BURIAL GROUND GATHERING
Jessie L. Bonner - AP, Yahoo! News,
10 Feb 2010
PRESTON, Idaho – Tribal members descend in late January each year to the burial ground near the Bear River where soldiers felled hundreds of their ancestors in one of American history’s bloodiest -but little remembered- massacres. Descendants of the Northwestern Shoshone who were decimated in their winter encampment in a surprise attack 147 years ago, […]
→ read full articleCOULD U.S. AIR STRIKES PUSH PAKISTAN INTO KHMER ROUGE TYPE GENOCIDE?
Pratap Chatterjee and Tom Engelhardt - Tomdispatch.com,
9 Feb 2010
Almost every day, reports come back from the CIA’s “secret” battlefield in the Pakistani tribal borderlands. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles — that is, pilot-less drones — shoot missiles (18 of them in a single attack on a tiny village last week) or drop bombs and then the news comes in: a certain number of al-Qaeda or […]
→ read full articleCYBER POLITICS: A NEW DYNAMIC IN INTER-STATE RELATIONS
Dr Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra, Mumbai,
29 Jan 2010
The famous scientist Albert Einstein, while deeply perturbed by the use of nuclear weapons during the second world war, had lamented that though he could not predict the kind of weapons to be used in any probable third world war, he was sure the fourth world war, if the humanity survives after the third one, […]
→ read full articleTHE SMALLEST ARMY IMAGINABLE: GANDHI’S CONSTITUTIONAL PROPOSAL FOR INDIA AND JAPAN’S PEACE CONSTITUTION (PART 1)
C. Douglas Lummis – Japan Focus, The Asia-Pacific Journal,
21 Jan 2010
An analysis of Gandhi’s thought on nonviolence and its relevance.Prologue In 1931, on his way to the London Round Table Conference, Mahatma Gandhi was asked by a Reuters correspondent what his program was. He responded by writing out a brief, vivid sketch of "the India of my dreams". Such an India, he said, would be […]
→ read full articleTHE SMALLEST ARMY IMAGINABLE: GANDHI’S CONSTITUTIONAL PROPOSAL FOR INDIA AND JAPAN’S PEACE CONSTITUTION (PART 2)
C. Douglas Lummis – Japan Focus, The Asia-Pacific Journal,
21 Jan 2010
Gandhi and the Art of the Possible I wrote above that it is strange that while plans for ideal polities such as those of More, Morris, and others are well known and still in print in many editions, Gandhi’s proposal is out of print and virtually unknown outside of India. There are many possible reasons […]
→ read full articleBOLIVIA LEADER CALLS ALTERNATIVE CLIMATE MEETING
AP – New York Times,
9 Jan 2010
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivian President Evo Morales said Tuesday [5 Jan 2010] he’s inviting activists, scientists and government officials from around the world to an alternative climate conference following the failure of a summit in Copenhagen to produce binding agreements. The leftist leader said the April 20-22 meeting in Cochabamba will include indigenous […]
→ read full articleTAKING STOCK OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS 2009
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra, Ph.D.,
9 Jan 2010
The year 2009 will be remembered as one of the most difficult years in the annals of international politics. Though the actions and reactions of national and international players in this year is yet to be assessed fully, nonetheless the year long forays in international politics have not evoked much hope in the world. However, […]
→ read full articleTHE ‘COALITION OF THE WILLING’ IN IRAQ BECOMES AN ARMY OF ONE
Hannah Allam - McClatchy Newspapers,
2 Jan 2010
The British said cheerio back in July, around the same time the Romanians cleared out "Camp Dracula," their compound on a U.S. base in southern Iraq. Tonga and Kazakhstan left ages ago, and no one seems to remember if any Icelandic forces ever made it to Iraq. It doesn’t matter now, anyway, because as of […]
→ read full articleWHY DO WE CELEBRATE NEW YEAR?
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra, PhD – Univ. of Mumbai,
29 Dec 2009
Why do we celebrate New Year? When the year approaches its end we start preparing ourselves for celebrations to bid farewell to passing year and to welcome New Year. We do it in our own ways but anyhow we do it. My point is besides the customary repetition of pomp every year in welcoming New […]
→ read full articleTERROR TRAIL FROM MUMBAI TO CHICAGO TO BRESCIA
Dr Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra, Mumbai,
4 Dec 2009
The riddle called the Mumbai terror attack still remains unsolved with new threads coming to picture. The terror strike in Mumbai last year that killed 174 people including children and women still reverberates in the memory of the people of Mumbai and reminds the ghastly designs of the terrorists whose networks spread all over the […]
→ read full articleGM’S MONEY TREES
Mark Schapiro – Mother Jones, November/December 2009 Issue,
25 Nov 2009
In Brazil, people with some of the world’s smallest carbon footprints are being displaced—so their forests can become offsets for SUVs.I am standing in the shadow of General Motors’ $1 tree. It’s a native guaricica, with pale white bark and a spreading crown that looms about 40 feet above my head. Hanging from its trunk […]
→ read full articlePAYING OFF THE WARLORDS
Pratap Chatterjee – Tomdispach,
21 Nov 2009
Every morning, dozens of trucks laden with diesel from Turkmenistan lumber out of the northern Afghan border town of Hairaton on a two-day trek across the Hindu Kush down to Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. Among the dozens of businesses dispatching these trucks are two extremely well connected companies — Ghazanfar and Zahid Walid — that helped […]
→ read full articlePANAMA LAUNCHES FREE INTERNET FOR ALL PROJECT
Telecompaper,
20 Oct 2009
Panama has launched the Internet for All project. The first phase of the programme will provide free internet connections to 500 locations in 11 cities across Panama, including Penonome, Colon, David, Chitre, Arraijan, Panama, La Chorrera, Santiago, Sona and Pese. Users will be able to access the internet at speeds of up to 512 kbps. […]
→ read full articleINDIA, CHINA AND PAKISTAN: UNEASY EQUATIONS
Aurobinda Mahapatra,
9 Oct 2009
Some of the recent developments bring to the fore the uneasy nature of regional dynamics in the Indian subcontinent with the powers India, China and Pakistan playing their national cards vigorously. Pakistan-China agreement to develop hydroelectric project at Bunji in the Kashmir currently under the control of Pakistan, India’s objection to Pakistan’s granting of autonomous […]
→ read full articleWHAT DEATH OF BAITULLAH MEHSUD MEANS FOR TERRORISM
Aurobinda Mahapatra,
28 Aug 2009
The death of Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on 5 August 2009 in the southern Waziristan has brought to the fore significant achievements of anti-terror operations in Pakistan. The incident brings respite to the victims of the Taliban though it would be premature to say the death has ended Taliban in the […]
→ read full articleCAN NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT PLAY A MEANINGFUL ROLE?
Aurobinda Mahapatra,
29 Jul 2009
Can non-aligned movement (NAM), as a movement emerged during heydays of the cold war, play a role in a changed post-cold war world? Probably, the 15th summit at the Egyptian Red Sea resort Sharm el Sheikh on 15th and 16th of July 2009 would guide the scholar to seek a plausible answer as to the […]
→ read full articleSCHOOL OF COUPS
Father Roy Bourgeois and Margaret Knapke,
28 Jul 2009
The day after Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was deposed, President Barack Obama cautioned against repeating Latin America’s "dark past," decades when military coups regularly overrode the results of democratic elections. Obama went on to acknowledge, in his understated way, "The United States has not always stood as it should with some of these fledgling democracies." […]
→ read full articleA DAY IN GAZA
VivaPalestina,
20 Jul 2009
The Viva Palestina delegation of solidarity activists from the U.S. was allowed to enter Gaza on July 15 with truckloads of desperately needed humanitarian supplies–but under the condition that the convoy leave again within 24 hours. The delegation, led by British Member of Parliament and antiwar activist George Galloway, met one bureaucratic obstacle after another […]
→ read full articleWHITHER PEACE IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT?
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra,
6 Jul 2009
The prospects of peace in the Indian subcontinent post-26/11 appear bleak. The meeting of the top leaders of India and Pakistan at the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on 16 June 2009 did not bring any respite to the peace seekers in the subcontinent as the pronouncements […]
→ read full articleBLINDED BY THE HYPOCRISY
Bruce K. Gagnon, Coordinator, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space,
22 Jun 2009
We lecture and threaten Iran and North Korea about the evils of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). But the US routinely tests our own WMD’s from Vandenberg Air Force Base in southern California. And there will soon be another "test firing" of a Minuteman III nuclear missile from that base. A protest is planned at the […]
→ read full articleUGLY FACE OF TERROR
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra,
31 May 2009
The first decade of the 21st century has witnessed horrendous incidents of terror. While its beginning witnessed the attack on the twin trade towers in New York, towards its end another horrible attack occurred in the Indian commercial centre Mumbai. The attack further reinforced that terrorism has no religion, terrorists are not humans, and […]
→ read full articleTHE CITY THAT ENDED HUNGER
Frances Moore Lappé,
3 May 2009
A city in Brazil recruited local farmers to help do something U.S. cities have yet to do: end hunger. “To search for solutions to hunger means to act within the principle that the status of a citizen surpasses that of a mere consumer.”CITY OF BELO HORIZONTE, BRAZILIn writing Diet for a Small Planet, I learned one […]
→ read full articleRED CROSS SAYS THOUSANDS OF SRI LANKANS FACE ‘CATASTROPHIC’ HARDSHIP
Stephanie Nebehay – REUTERS April 21, 2009,
22 Apr 2009
Geneva – Up to 50,000 civilians trapped on a tiny strip in northern Sri Lanka are enduring dire hardship, suffering from a lack of food, water and medical care, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Tuesday. Hundreds of civilians have been killed or injured in the past 48 hours and more […]
→ read full articleGORBACHEV: US MILITARY POWER BLOCKS ‘NO NUKES’
Charles J. Hanley - AP Special Correspondent,
18 Apr 2009
ROME (AP) – President Barack Obama’s call for a nuclear weapons-free world is welcome, but the huge U.S. defense budget may prove an "insurmountable obstacle" to reaching that goal, former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev said Thursday [Apr 16 2009]. Talk of nuclear disarmament would be "just rhetorical" if other nations were asked to give […]
→ read full articleONE COUNTRY, THREE FUTURES
Pratap Chatterjee,
18 Mar 2009
The Afghanistan Americans Seldom Notice Want a billion dollars in development aid? If you happen to live in Afghanistan, the two quickest ways to attract attention and so aid from the U.S. authorities are: Taliban attacks or a flourishing opium trade. For those with neither, the future could be bleak. In November 2008, during […]
→ read full articleCRISIS OF CAPITALISM OR DEATH WISH?
Sylvain lapoix,
20 Feb 2009
Born of the meeting of economists Gilles Dostaler and Bernard Maris, "Capitalism and Death Wish" (published in French by Albin Michel) synthesizes Freud and Keynes’s conclusions concerning the modern economy based on accumulation, destruction … and the pleasure they provide! A brilliant work on the profoundly human drives behind the crisis. Who remembers that […]
→ read full articleACKNOWLEDGE SOLDIER’S RIGHT TO OBJECT
Evan Knappenberger,
10 Feb 2009
When I joined the Army shortly after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, my friends and family raised many serious questions that, after almost four years on active duty and two years of college, I have only now started addressing. As an 18-year old, I deferred answering morally charged questions like "are you ready to […]
→ read full articleHILLARY CLINTON AND JAMES STEINBERG “TALK TOUGH” ON LATIN AMERICA
April Howard,
30 Jan 2009
While President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and their appointees emphasize a return to diplomacy in foreign relations, so far they show little inclination to be diplomatic toward leftist governments in Latin America. In fact, recent comments by Obama, Clinton and recent appointees show a continuation of an antiquated socialist-phobic analysis and a lack […]
→ read full articleISRAEL VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW
Prof. Richard Falk - United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories,
4 Jan 2009
The Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip represent severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law as defined in the Geneva Conventions, both in regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the requirements of the laws of war. Those violations include: Collective punishment – the entire 1.5 million people who live […]
→ read full article