Articles by ICH

We found 2433 results.


Jerusalem and Foreign Embassies: Legal, Political, and Diplomatic Implications
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2019

6 Jan 2019 | Interview with Rodrigo Craveiro, Correio Braziliense – It seems obvious that Israel is trying to induce enough governments to move their embassy to Jerusalem so as to weaken the legal, political, and diplomatic weight of the UNGA Resolution that declared such an initiative by the USA to be ‘null and void’ by a vote of 128-9, finding the proposed move unlawful and lacking any political effect.

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Back in 1960s
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2019

The United Nations conducted a worldwide survey asking, “Would you please give your honest opinion about the solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?”

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Catechism for America
Prof. Michael Brenner – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2019

1 Jan 2019 – Donald Trump experienced an epiphany during his lonesome Christmas at the White House. Riveted by the telecast of the midnight Mass at the Vatican, it came unto him a blinding light that awakened his spirit. The troubled soul of America needed a patriotic version of the Church’s ancient catechism. He set about commissioning a composition modeled on the NICENE CREED and the Roman Catholic Catechism to serve as a devotional paean to America.

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Will 2019 Bring Opportunities to Change the System?
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2019

1 Jan 2019 – Some of us think 2008 was a lost opportunity. Humanity had a chance to change course to save itself and the biosphere. We blew it. Could 2019 be a second chance? The reason why 2008, instead of some other recent year, stands out as a change opportunity is that toward the end of that year investors were losing money.

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In Praise of the Syria Withdrawal
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 31 Dec 2018

29 Dec 2018 – Trump’s withdrawal of American troops from Syria that defied the bipartisan consensus that has shaped U.S. foreign policy since 1945 poses the biggest challenge to the Trump presidency, especially as it shook Israel’s confidence and coincides with woes of Wall Street. In coming weeks it should become clear whether the American version of the deep state remains asleep or perceives this ‘watershed moment’ as the opportunity to restore confidence in the pre-Trump version of world order.

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Clarification
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 31 Dec 2018

President George W. Bush was on a state visit in England. As he stepped off the plane onto the red carpet, he was greeted by the Queen.

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The Man Who Lives without Money
Amanda Froelich | True Activist – TRANSCEND Media Service, 31 Dec 2018

“If someone told me seven years ago, in my final year of a business and economics degree, that I’d now be living without money, I’d have probably choked on my microwaved ready meal.”

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The War in Afghanistan Isn’t a ‘Stalemate.’ The U.S. Has Lost
Andrew J. Bacevich – Los Angeles Times, 31 Dec 2018

19 Dec 2018 – With the sole exception of Vietnam, the ongoing Afghanistan war represents the greatest failure in U.S. military history. Today, all but a few diehards understand that Vietnam was a debacle of epic proportions. With Afghanistan, it’s different: In both political and military circles, the urge to dodge the truth remains strong.

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Can Yemen Be Saved?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Dec 2018

23 Dec 2018 – The people of Yemen have been experiencing devastating civil strife for several years. This ordeal was greatly intensive by a massive and sustained Saudi-led air attacks and other belligerent tactics that have targeted civilians, even hospitals. Several recent events hint at the possibility of restoring peace to the country, thereby averting the worst effects of a threatened mass famine, risks starvation for more than 75% of Yemen’s population of over 22 million.

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Syria – Tell Me It Ain’t So
Michael Brenner – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Dec 2018

22 Dec 2018 – It is daunting to find polite words for describing American foreign policy- such is its incoherence. Purpose is obscure, logic is invisible. There is no approximation to orderly process – in thought, in deliberation, in decision. These truths have been highlighted by Trump’s stated intention to withdraw (some) American troops from Syria – and by the reaction to it. The harsh reality that it is not the White House alone that lacks anything resembling a strategy in the Middle East. That holds for their critics, too, both inside and outside the government.

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Quickies
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Dec 2018

A father told his son, “Never go to a nightclub!”

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Thomas Piketty’s Proposal to Remake Europe: Three Comments and a Suggestion
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Dec 2018

13 Dec 2018 – In the midst of more than one crisis, a stellar group of left-leaning intellectuals led by Thomas Piketty has written a proposal to remake Europe. It includes a manifesto, a treaty establishing what would amount to a new European legislature, and a budget. As its authors say, the greatest merit of their proposal is that it exists. Everyone is invited to comment on it and to suggest improvements. Taking them at their word, here are three comments and one suggestion.

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On the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Dec 2018

10 Dec 2018 – This Declaration was a notable step in the direction of asserting that persons by virtue of their humanness are entitled to protection in the exercise of a broad spectrum of rights, and hence, that sovereignty is subject to certain constraining limitations. Much progress has been made since 1948, although we live in a period of mounting pressure on human rights deriving from a surge of right-wing populism combined with the effects of an insufficiently regulated capitalism.

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Asthma Attacks
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Dec 2018

A man organized a blind date for his friend. His friend was excited, but also a little worried and asked, “What shall I do if I really don’t like the girl?

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We All Buy Slave-Made Products: Here’s How We Avoid Feeling Guilty
Michal Carrington, Andreas Chatzidakis and Deirdre Shaw – The Conversation, 10 Dec 2018

3 Dec 2018 – Hidden slavery is a growing global problem but we continue to turn a blind eye and embrace a seemingly insatiable demand for fast, cheap goods and services.

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The G20 Meeting and U.S./Russia Relations
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Dec 2018

2 Dec 2018 – What follows are my responses to questions addressed to me by Sputnik News Agency in Moscow. Although the focus was on the ongoing G20 meeting in Buenos Aires, the real concern was the future of U.S./Russia relations and how these relations should be managed to avoid arms races, geopolitical rivalry, and ideological tensions.

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No Kidding
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Dec 2018

A man is stopped by the police around 2 a.m. on a Thursday and asked where he is going at that time of night.

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The New New Anti-Semitism
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Nov 2018

Hiding Israel’s Crimes of State behind False Claims of Victimization

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The Situation of the Rohingya: Is There a Role for the International Court of Justice?
Michael A Becker | European Journal of International Law – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Nov 2018

14 Nov 2018 – The fact remains that Myanmar has unequivocally rejected the non-binding conclusions of the Fact-Finding Mission and a dispute about Myanmar’s compliance with the Genocide Convention persists. A case at the ICJ provides a means to resolve that legal dispute, even if addressing the broader challenges faced by the Rohingya is a far more complicated affair. Lasting solutions may require finding ways to persuade those states that are supporting and investing in Myanmar (such as China and Japan) that it is in their own interest to see Myanmar change its ways.

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My 88th Birthday
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Nov 2018

-13 Nov 2018-
To be almost 90
And happy
With good health
Feels criminal

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Solidarity Economics: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Prof. Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Nov 2018

When we are dealing with socially created realities we should bear in mind that the ways people think about the problems create them. If people are going to solve the problems, they need to think differently. Solidarity economics redefines the problems. The Roman Law iron cage of European “civilization” has got to go. Europe must demote itself to the status of a peninsula of Asia whose savants are no wiser than Gandhi, Confucius, Julius Nyerere, Nelson Mandela or Paulo Freire. Many pioneers are developing alternative economies.

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Delay, Deny and Deflect: How Facebook’s Leaders Fought Through Crisis
Sheera Frenkel, Nicholas Confessore, Cecilia Kang, Matthew Rosenberg and Jack Nicas – The New York Times, 26 Nov 2018

“This superb investigative reporting on Facebook is sobering and must be seen as a wake-up call for the United States and the larger world. It paints a picture, in great detail, of a corporate culture run amok in service of its own standing, wealth and power. We have had a sense of this for a while, but the stakes now seem even higher.” – Dan Rather

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Doctors
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Nov 2018

A student had just obtained his doctorate in mathematics and proudly checked into a small village hotel signing as “Dr. Smith”.

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Colombia’s Rural Radio Stations Are a Key to Peace
Emma Heidenreich | Vision of Humanity – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Nov 2018

Community radio stations are a hopeful medium for improving the free flow of information in Colombia, especially in the poorest and most remote regions.

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Mythologies of State and Monopoly Power
Michael E. Tigar | Monthly Review – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Nov 2018

The “Justice Department” appears, by its very nature and practice, to appropriate “justice” as the exclusive property of the federal government. In his brilliantly acerbic collection of essays, Tigar reveals, deconstructs, and eviscerates mythologies surrounding the U.S. criminal justice system, racism, free expression, workers’ rights, and international human rights.

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More American Troops to Afghanistan, to Keep the Chinese Out? Lithium and the Battle for Afghanistan’s Mineral Riches
Prof Michel Chossudovsky – Global Research, 19 Nov 2018

18 Nov 2018 – Unknown to the broader public, Afghanistan has significant oil, natural gas and strategic raw material resources, not to mention opium, a multibillion dollar industry which feeds America’s illegal heroin market.

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On My 88th Birthday: A Reflection
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Nov 2018

13 Nov 2018 – I post a poem that I wrote earlier today, and read at the end of my talk, perhaps a self-indulgent conceit on my part, but I share it here as a way of thanking so many friends near and far who sent me the most moving birthday greetings throughout the day, which made me feel that we who are supporting the Palestinian struggle are part of a growing community that will prevail at some point, and the two peoples now inhabiting Palestine can finally live in peace, and with dignity and equality.

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No Brainer
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Nov 2018

Stalin claimed he was the greatest philosopher of all times. In Moscow in the early 1950s, the following joke circulated among physicists, who have some disdain for chemists:

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(Italiano) Trascendere le regressioni nell’ordine mondiale
Richard Falk | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Nov 2018

“In contrasto con i poteri governativo ed economico — del Principe e del Mercante — c’è un potere immediato e autonomo, talora evidente, talaltra latente: quello della gente. Alcuni ne sviluppano consapevolezza, si associano e agiscono con altri, divenendo così davvero cittadini. Essi e le loro associazioni, quando non cerchino il potere governativo o quello economico, costituiscono il Terzo Sistema”.

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Accountability Alone Will Not Solve Myanmar’s Rohingya Crisis
Bill Richardson - TIME, 12 Nov 2018

5 Nov 2018 – At long last, momentum is building to hold the perpetrators of the gruesome atrocities against the Rohingya in Myanmar to account. A U.N.-mandated fact-finding mission concluded that senior military officials should be investigated and prosecuted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. But a singular focus on accountability risks overshadowing the need to bring about tangible improvements in Rohingyas’ lives now.

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Dad’s Profession?
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Nov 2018

It was the first day of school and the teacher thought she would get to know the kids by asking their names and what their fathers did for a living.

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Grandchildren
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Nov 2018

A grandmother was telling her little granddaughter what her own childhood was like:

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Why Vote on Tuesday: The Menacing Challenges of Trump and Trumpism
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Nov 2018

4 Nov 2018 – World Order in the Age of Trump and Trumpism – This piece is based on a lecture given at West Chester University in Pennsylvania on 24 Oct. I have no great expectations about improvements in American foreign policy of Congress if it is fully or partially controlled by Democratic majorities after the November 6thmidterm elections. Nevertheless, I share the widely held anti-fascist view that any show of opposition to Trump and Trumpism at this time deserves priority on an urgent basis.

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(Français) Comprendre sur quoi est basé le capitalisme
Michel Collon | Investig’Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Nov 2018

31 Oct 2018 – (…) Toutefois, dira-t-on, les élites occidentales se réunissent quand même de temps en temps dans des clubs de discussion ? Certains sont devenus d’autant plus célèbres qu’ils s’efforçaient de rester discrets : Bilderberg et Trilatérale particulièrement. Oui, elles se réunissent, échangent leurs points de vue et analysent les problèmes économiques ou politiques pouvant nuire à leur domination. Oui, ces rencontres sont aussi l’occasion de rapprocher leurs visions ou de parvenir à des compromis sur certains sujets qui les divisent. Oui, cela permet parfois d’ébaucher des stratégies sur certaines questions. Et donc ce n’est pas négligeable. Mais cela n’en fait pas un gouvernement mondial efficace.

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Transcending World Order Regressions
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Oct 2018

Without even attempting to offer reassurances, Trump champions a law-free sovereignty that is unapologetically dedicated to maximizing its national wealth and influence, backed up by escalating government investments avowedly designed to producing an all-powerful, globally capable military dominance that will last forever.

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The Loss of Two Unsung Heroes of International Relations: A Tale of Two ‘Bobs’
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Oct 2018

21 Oct 2018 – Two giants of International Relations scholarship died, leaving behind a corpus of work and a legacy of influence. I was fortunate to have enjoyed the friendship of both Robert Gilpin and Robert W. Cox, learning from both of these masters of the field despite their seemingly divergent worldviews.

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Dogs as Teachers
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Oct 2018

If dogs were our teachers, we would learn:

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Trump’s Idea of World Order Endangers the Human Future
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Oct 2018

This is an interview with Daniel Falcone that was published in slightly modified form in Counterpunch on October 4, 2018. Question: What are your general thoughts on Trump’s recent UN talk and how world opinion received it?

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Rethinking Nuclearism
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Oct 2018

6 Oct 2018 – More than thirty years ago I applied the term ‘nuclearism’ to the association between the hardware dimensions of the weaponry and their various software dimensions ranging from strategic doctrine to the infatuations of powerful men with their awesome destructive capabilities.

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Symposium on Global Environmental Law
Richard Falk | Univ. of Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law & Governance – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Oct 2018

The symposium aimed to discuss whether and to what extent emerging concepts in global environmental law can help shed new light on the evolution and challenges of environmental law across different levels and sectors.

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Alexander Yakovlev
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Oct 2018

In 1958, Alexander Yakovlev was among the first thirty Soviet students who received a Fulbright scholarship to study a year in the United States.

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Military and U.S. Law Enforcement Establishing Joint Communication Network for Biometric Databases
Nicholas West | Activist Post – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Oct 2018

2 Oct 2018 – Does anyone remember that it used to be considered a conspiracy theory to warn people about biometric databases? Well, now that it is an accepted reality, we should be looking even farther down the slippery slope for new signposts indicating even greater plans to track, trace and database all human beings.

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Weaponizing the ‘New Anti-Semitism’
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Oct 2018

22 Sep 2018 – This post consists of an opinion piece developed by several members of California Scholars for Academic Freedom.

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Bolton’s Red Sky Worldview: ICC, International Law, and Iran
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Oct 2018

Bolton’s Game: Not Sovereignty, Not International Law—Clearing the Path for U.S., Geopolitical Primacy

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From Hero to Pariah, [Nobel Peace Laureate] Aung San Suu Kyi Dashes Hopes about Myanmar
Richard C. Paddock – The New York Times, 1 Oct 2018

29 Sep 2018 — “Rarely has the reputation of a leader fallen so far, so fast,” the International Crisis Group said of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Myanmar’s civilian leader, once a democracy icon, has become known as an enabler for the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims and a foe of the free press.

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Is Genocide a Controversial International Crime?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Sep 2018

Why ‘Genocide’ is still a Controversial Crime? In this strikingly original, strange, and brilliant book, Philippe Sands raises a haunting question among a tangle of other intriguing issues discussed throughout East-West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes against Humanity.

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Human Rights, State Sovereignty, and International Law: An Interview
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Sep 2018

20 Sep 2018 – The interview below conducted by my friend, journalist and author C.J. Polychroniou was initially published in the Global Policy Journal, on 11 Sep 2018, the 17thanniversary of the World Trade Center attacks and the 45thanniversary of the Pinochet coup in Chile that assassinated the elected president of the country Salvador Allende.

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The Empire-Lovers Strike Back!
Richard E. Rubenstein – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Sep 2018

Trump, Putin, and the Anti-Russian Coalition in the U.S. – Looking a bit more closely at what holds the anti-Trump foreign policy coalition together, one discovers a missing reality that virtually no one will acknowledge directly: the existence of a beleaguered but still potent American Empire whose junior partner is Europe. What motivates a broad range of the President’s opponents is not so much the fear that he is anti-American as the suspicion that he is anti-Empire. Of course, neither liberals nor conservatives dare to utter the “E-word.”

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(Castellano) Educación Moral para el Cambio Estructural
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Sep 2018

Se proponen tres principios educativos respaldados por hallazgos científicos para orientar la educación moral: la comprensión, la participación, y la empatía. Tomando como ejemplo la ‘trampa estructural’ por la cual la buena intención de cumplir con los DDHH sociales, como la salud, termina desincentivando la inversión económica, se sugiere que la buena y masiva educación moral es capaz de facilitar la resolución de obstáculos estructurales que traban las soluciones a los problemas sociales y ecológicos

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(Français) Education aux médias et théories du complot: des capsules difficiles à avaler
Michèle Janss | Investig’Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Sep 2018

10 Sep 2018 – Le centre de ressources en communication et éducation aux médias en Communauté Française de Belgique a créé 14 capsules vidéo destinées à aider les enseignants dans l’éducation aux médias et aux théories du complot. Pensant y trouver une abondante documentation, j’ai très vite abandonné l’idée d’utiliser cet outil.

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Decoding the Pipes/Trump/Kushner ‘Deal of the Century’
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Sep 2018

True, Oslo diplomacy was a failure that worked to the political benefit of Israel, and was rightly abandoned. But the Trump response to this failure amount to the criminalization of diplomacy that violates the most basic precepts of international law, as spelled out in the UN Charter. It amounts to waging an aggressive war against a vulnerable and helpless people. If the UN and the leading governments watch this dismal spectacle in stony silence it can only be fervently hoped that the peoples of the world will recognize the need for radical reform to avoid a catastrophic future, not just for the Palestinians, but for all of humanity.

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In Praise of Serena Williams
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Seervice, 17 Sep 2018

13 Sep 2018 – In this time of Trump and Trumpism, we should seize the opportunity to celebrate the luminous presence of Serena Williams in our midst: a champion, a warrior for women and against racism, a woman of great charm and warmth, and a beacon of decency.

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On Qatar and Gulf Geopolitics
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Sep 2018

3 Sep 2018 – This is a slightly modified text of an interview by the Tunisian journalist Awatef Ben Ali on behalf of the Qatar newspaper, Al Sharq, August 26, 2018.

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Trump Administration Discussed Coup Plans with Rebel Venezuelan Officers
Ernesto Londoño and Nicholas Casey – The New York Times, 10 Sep 2018

8 Sep 2018 – Establishing a clandestine channel with coup plotters in Venezuela was a big gamble for Washington, given its long history of covert intervention across Latin America. Many in the region still deeply resent the US for backing previous rebellions, coups and plots in countries like Cuba, Nicaragua, Brazil and Chile, and for turning a blind eye to the abuses military regimes committed.

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Solidarity for Full Employment (whole paper)
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Sep 2018

1. Analysis of the Bottleneck Problem
2. Examples (showing how to solve the bottleneck problem)
3. The Road from Here to There (generalizing from the examples)
4. The Imperative to Maximize Profits (blocks the road from here to there)
5. The Fiscal Crisis of the State (blocks the road from here to there)
6. Unbounded Organization (a way forward)

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Solidarity for Full Employment
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Sep 2018

The problems of drug addiction, gangs, crime, ethnic nationalism, racism, sexism, chronic depression, immigration issues, poverty in old age, mental illness, war, inner city schools, taking necessary measures to save the biosphere that cost jobs, and many others will not be reduced to manageable proportions, much less solved, until human life is reorganized so that most people who need decent employment are able to find it. Would you agree? I call employment a bottleneck problem. If it is not solved, many other problems will not be solved either.

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Revisiting the Earth Charter
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Sep 2018

Ron Engel has articulated an insider review of the Earth Charter so thoughtfully, urbanely, and persuasively that my initial temptation was to restrict my response to a single word: ‘Amen!’ Yet I am familiar enough with the academic ways of gathering diverse voices to explore a topic or to evaluate the scholarship of a distinguished author, as to discard my one-word option.

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Blackwater Founder Seeks to Privatize Afghan War despite Mercs Getting Butt Kicked in Yemen
F. Michael Maloof – RT, 3 Sep 2018

29 Aug 2018 – Upon departing as commander of US Forces Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson said that America’s military strategy is working. Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater [known as Academi], apparently doesn’t share that view and intends to renew his offer to his friend Donald Trump to replace US military forces with Private Military Contractors, or PMCs.

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Leprosy in Social Body
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Sep 2018

Leprosy is primarily a disease of the nervous system, which has the effect that patients no longer feel pain.

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Liberal Internationalism: Peace, War and Democracy
Michael W. Doyle | Nobel Media – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Aug 2018

Peace and democracy are just two sides of the same coin, it has often been said. In a speech before the British parliament in June of 1982, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed that governments founded on a respect for individual liberty exercise “restraint” and “peaceful intentions” in their foreign policy. He then, perhaps unaware of the contrast, announced a “crusade for freedom” and a “campaign for democratic development.”

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(Français) Comprendre les défis économiques du Venezuela
Michel Collon | Investig’Action – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Aug 2018

06 Août 2018 – La crise économique que traverse le Venezuela est-elle bien la preuve de la faillite de la révolution bolivarienne? Dans Les 7 péchés d’Hugo Chavez, Michel Collon analysait le défi qui se posait: rééquilibrer une économie basée sur la rente pétrolière et disposant de maigres secteurs agricole et industriel. Contrairement à certaines idées reçues, Chavez ne s’est pas contenté de distribuer l’argent du pétrole aux pauvres à travers des programmes sociaux. L’ancien président avait entrepris de jeter les bases nécessaires au développement d’une véritable économie nationale. Un processus toujours en cours, mais dont le chemin est semé d’embûches.

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Who Is Nikola Tesla?
Nikola Tesla and Prof Michel Chossudovsky – Global Research, 27 Aug 2018

25 Aug 2018 – Very few people know who Nikola Tesla is. They have heard of the Tesla electric car, but generally the broader public is unfamiliar with Nikola Tesla, the Serbian scientist and his path breaking inventions in electricity and wireless technology. Many of his inventions were stolen by US corporations. Wireless technology was in large part based on Tesla inventions.

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The Downside
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Aug 2018

When God created the various countries, he used some balance; each country got some advantages and some disadvantages.

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A Glass of Milk
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Aug 2018

As a poor student, Howard Kelly supported himself by selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door. It did not always go well.

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Rufus Jones
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Aug 2018

Rufus Jones (1863-1948), an American Quaker, who helped found the American Friends Service Committee in 1917, went to England after World War I to try and help with the reconstruction.

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Howard Zinn (24 Aug 1922 – 14 May 2008)
Howard Zinn and Michael Powell, 20 Aug 2018

Zinn’s influence lives on in millions of people who have read his work and have been inspired by his actions. He ended his autobiography with these encouraging words: ‘We don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an endless succession of presents, and to live now as we think humans should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.’

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Jury Finds Monsanto Liable in the First Roundup Cancer Trial – Here’s What Could Happen Next
Richard G. "Bugs" Stevens – The Conversation, 20 Aug 2018

A jury concluded on 10 Aug 2018 that exposure to the herbicide Roundup caused Dewayne Johnson’s cancer and ordered the company to pay $289 million in damages. Thousands more claims are pending.

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The Future of NATO: An Interview
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Aug 2018

11 Aug 2018 – An interview with Daniel Falcone on the future of NATO that considers Trump’s brazen challenges and the tepid responses of European political leaders, and what this interplay signifies for the future of world order… Alarm bells should be ringing through the night at maximum volume, but so far the silences outweigh the noise as the world slouches toward catastrophe, chaos, and cruelty.

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Search for Meaning…
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Aug 2018

An English teacher wrote the words, “a woman without her man is nothing” on the blackboard and told the students to punctuate it correctly.

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‘The Arab International Forum for Justice for Palestine’ – Beirut 29 Jul 2018
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Aug 2018

1 Aug 2018 – The time is ripe for civil society to represent the Palestinian people in their struggle against the Israeli apartheid regime. This struggle is just and the means being pursued are legitimate. Resistance and solidarity are the vital instruments by which to challenge apartheid, and its geopolitical support structure. This was the path that led to the collapse of South African apartheid, and a similar path is now available for the Palestinian struggle.

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Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change
Nathaniel Rich – The New York Times, 6 Aug 2018

1 Aug 2018 – This narrative by Nathaniel Rich is a work of history, addressing the period from 1979 to 1989: the decisive decade when humankind first came to a broad understanding of the causes and dangers of climate change. Complementing the text is a series of aerial photographs and videos, all shot over the past year; with support from the Pulitzer Center.

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In Conclusion…
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Aug 2018

A biology teacher wanted to warn his students about the harmful effects of alcohol.

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Palestine, Israel, and the UN: A PassBlue Interview
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Aug 2018

4 Aug 2018 – The interview was initially published on July 17, 2018, and Dulcie managed to get me to talk more about my personal background than I intended, although most of the private disclosures were not in the published text. Part of the motivation for the interview stems, I suppose, from the bewilderment of how a Jewish boy from Manhattan’s West Side should become so committed to the Palestinian national struggle.

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A Butcher Knife
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Aug 2018

In modern warfare, those who issue orders to kill seldom see their victims face to face.

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BRICS and the Fiction of “De-Dollarization”
Prof Michel Chossudovsky – Global Research, 30 Jul 2018

24 Jul 2018 – This week, leaders of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will be meeting in Johannesburg amidst an evolving trade war sponsored by the Trump administration. To what extent will the BRICS countries respond to the wave of economic sanctions and trade measures? China has intimated its resolve to implement bilateral trade deals which bypass the dollar.

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Correction
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Jul 2018

General Smith died and the local newspaper printed a eulogy.

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Numbness
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Jul 2018

If a frog is put into hot water, it jumps out. If it is put into tepid water, and the water is gradually heated, he remains in the water until he is boiled.

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Russia and the U.S. Are Not Condemned to Confrontation
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev | Gorbachev Foundation – The Transnational, 30 Jul 2018

4 Jun 2018 – Mikhail Gorbachev’s Address to Participants in the Conference Marking the 30th Anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s Visit and the Moscow Summit – “Russia and the United States are not condemned to confrontation. We must now make up for lost time!”

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Support Gaza Freedom Flotilla: Swee Ang and Mazin Qumsiyeh
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Jul 2018

14 Jul 2018 – The two statements below about the al-Awda Freedom Flotilla en route to Gaza are contributions from two heroic figures in the long Palestinian struggle, hopefully known to many TMS readers. This flotilla is on a humanitarian mission, carrying much needed medical supplies and is again dramatizing the plight of the population of Gaza, unendurable victim of vindictive Israeli measures

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A Reflection on the June 24th Turkish Elections (modified and corrected)
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century - TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Jul 2018

18 Jul 2018 – This is slightly modified text of an earlier post that seeks to take account of responses from friends, and gave me the opportunity to express these somewhat contrarian views in a clearer way, as well as correct some mistakes. This version will also be published by Sharq Forum in Turkey.

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(Castellano) Una Lectura Económica de Los Hechos de los Apóstoles: Taller de Relectura de Pablo de Tarso
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Jul 2018

Es necesario construir formas de vida muy distintas de la forma actualmente dominante. Entre las estructuras sociales dominantes que hay que desechar está la que subordina los procesos vitales de la vida a la existencia de ingresos, cuyos montos son fijados por un contrato de trabajo. En el plano científico, el equilibrio general, que nunca ha sido pensado como una realidad, tiene que dejar de ser pensado como un ideal en el cual el producto del trabajador corresponde al sueldo fijado en un contrato libremente negociado a la luz de las fuerzas del mercado.

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What Should We Do Now?
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Jul 2018

There is another reason why having to live in one regime of accumulation or another is unsustainable. It is because although the physicists, chemists, and biologists have explained to us very clearly what we must do to save the biosphere, we can’t do it. The causal powers that determine our behaviour are mainly in the social structures. What happens is not what humans want to happen, but what the structures compel. Nobody wants the destruction of the biosphere, but nevertheless we are compelled to destroy the biosphere. It is a systemic imperative to obey the necessity of capital accumulation and to disobey hard science.

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Reality, Perception, Truth
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Jul 2018

An Amish boy and his father were visiting a mall. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially were intrigued by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and back together again.

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Are the 13 Demands to Qatar a ‘Geopolitical Crime’?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 16 Jul 2018

11 Jul 2018 – Assessing the international relations and international law Gulf Crisis that was initiated by a coalition of four countries, issuing a set of 13 demands directed at the government of Qatar. This essay evaluates whether the confrontation should be treated as a ‘Geopolitical Crime,” itself an innovative and controversial idea that I developed in a lecture at Queen Mary’s University in London at the end of March, 2018.

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I Was Robert Mueller’s Undergraduate Thesis Adviser—and What He Wrote Gives Some Hints about What He’ll Do as Special Counsel
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 16 Jul 2018

14 Jul 2018 – Rereading Robert Mueller’s Princeton thesis 52 years later with an eye as to how he will perform as Trump’s inquisitor. What makes Mueller’s thesis relevant for today is that the core of his inquiry is how a judge should interpret a legal document.

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Wider Consequences of U.S. Withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Jul 2018

7 Jul 2018 – I think the superficial response to this latest de-internationalizing move is the tendency of the Trump Administration to align its policies in conformity with Israeli priorities and preferences, which have long focused on the Human Rights Council as a venue hostile to their policies and practices.

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Great March of Return and the Unspeakable
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Jul 2018

This wordless borderland
Where love and atrocity meet

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The U.S. Withdraws (Again) from the UN Human Rights Council
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Jul 2018

24 Jun 2018 – This is a slightly edited and corrected version of what was published on TMS last week. I owe particular thanks to my distinguished collaborator, Virginia Tilley, for pointing out several shortcomings and misleading formulations in the earlier version. Of course, the essence of the indictment of the U.S. rationale for withdrawal stands as before.

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Trump, the (Shakespearean) Fool: A New Look at the Dynamics of Trumpism
Rich Rubenstein – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Jul 2018

He is not stupid, diabolical, or mentally out of control. He is not Vladimir Putin’s bitch. He is a foolish man who tends to act without calculating the consequences of his actions; a hothead who disdains polite discourse and loves to violate taboos; an actor who plays a boastful, threatening, oversexed, occasionally (but rarely) warmhearted character called Donald J. Trump in an ongoing reality drama that he seems to identify with reality itself.

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US-NATO Led Wars Have Created a Global Migrant Crisis. Solutions?
J. Michael Springmann – Global Research, 2 Jul 2018

26 Jun 2018 – Migrant Bombs Keep Exploding (Because People Can’t See the Forest for the Trees) – Solutions?
1. Stop the wars generating migrants.
2. End the herding from their home countries to the United States, Canada, and Europe.
3. Rebuild their destroyed nations.
4. Help them go home.

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Reflections on the June 24th Turkish Elections
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Jul 2018

27 Jun 2018 – I am sensitive to the inappropriate hubris of Americans traveling the world to impart their views on how other societies should be managed and governed. Such postures of criticism and praise is particularly suspect in this time of Trump where a pre-fascist leadership in the United States pursues policies at home and abroad destructive of elemental rights of its citizens and residents as well adopts as an entirely reckless policy agenda that imperils the ethical, ecological, and economic future of not only the country but the world.

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GAZA: Ordeal & Destiny
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Jul 2018

30 Jun 2018 – I post below two items pertaining to Gaza—my short poem, and a collection of responses to the question “What is the Future of Gaza?” by a clever online publication called ‘One Question,’ which true to its name poses a single question to a number of people presumed to have something to say in response.

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Heroism
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Jul 2018

An oil well caught fire.

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Why Cuban Doctors in Kenya Don’t Deserve the Treatment They’re Getting
Rich Warner – The Conversation, 2 Jul 2018

27 Jun 2018 – Well over 131,993 Cuban doctors have taken part in international missions in 107 countries. Kenya is the latest. The first 50 specialists arrived in the country recently, with 50 more to follow. All are expected to work in underserved rural areas. But their arrival has been met with a storm of protest. Some Kenyan health professionals have strongly opposed their arrival on the grounds that they’ll be taking away local jobs.

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The U.S. Withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Jun 2018

22 Jun 2018 – By purporting to punish the Human Rights Council, the Trump presidency, representing the U.S. Government, is much more punishing itself, as well as the peoples of the world. We all benefit from a robust and legitimated institutional framework for the promotion and protection of vital human rights. The claim of an anti-Israeli bias in the HRC, or UN, is bogus, the daily violation of the most basic rights of the Palestinian people is a tragic reality.

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Roseanne, Racism, and the Problem of False Dichotomies
Richard Rubenstein – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Jun 2018

It is difficult to talk sensibly and accurately about the role of racism and xenophobia in Trumpland… Rosa Luxemburg was right. A century after her death, the choice that confronts us still is “Socialism or Barbarism.”

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Status
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Jun 2018

When relations between the Soviet Union and China soured in the early 1960s, Khrushchev met Chu En Lai and told him,

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Over 10,000 Migrant Children Are Now in US Government Custody at 100 Shelters in 14 States
Michelle Mark – Business Insider, 25 Jun 2018

The policy means that migrant parents who cross the border with their children are forcibly separated while they await criminal prosecution.

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Authorship
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jun 2018

During the German occupation of France, a German soldier entered Picasso’s studio and saw a small reproduction of his painting “Guernica”.

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The Great March of Return: The Gaza Sniper Massacre
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jun 2018

10 Jun 2018 – The Gaza Sniper Massacre in response to the Great Return March is one more milestone in Palestinian resistance and yet another frightening episode in the Israeli apartheid narrative of cruel and excessive violence, a shameful sequel of crimes for which there exists no adjudicative tribunal available to the victimized party to pursue justice.

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