Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas revives long-held suspicions over Arafat’s death ahead of Fatah congress next week
by Jonathan Cook / November 17th, 2016
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has revived long-standing suspicions that his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, was murdered. Abbas announced last week that he knew the killer’s identity, adding that the world would be “amazed when you know who did it”.
Abbas made the unexpected announcement during a commemoration, marking the 12th anniversary of Arafat’s death, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where the former Palestinian leader is buried.
Arafat died in a French military hospital in 2004, aged 75. He had been evacuated days earlier from his Ramallah headquarters after rapidly falling ill. His Muqata compound had been under …
On October 9, I was in the Nevada desert with Catholic Workers from around the world for an action of prayer and nonviolent resistance at what is now called the Nevada National Security Site, the test site where between 1951 and 1992, nine hundred and twenty-eight documented atmospheric and underground nuclear tests occurred. Since the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and the apparent end of the Cold War, The National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, has maintained the site, circumventing the intent of the treaty with a stated “mission to maintain the stockpile without explosive underground nuclear testing.”
As efforts to oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline grow, communities across the country are hearing from activists on their return from North Dakota and sending off fresh teams to lend support. The author believes that part of the support for the Standing Rock protests is a dawning consciousness that Native people have something important to teach us about living well on this planet. *****
On Sunday, November 6, in Redwood Valley, a tiny agricultural community in northern California known for its premium wine grapes and marijuana and its back-to-the-land ethics, cars spilled out of the parking lot at the local …
Part 3 of a 3 Part Series: A spiritual education for the Art of Being
by Mohammed Mesbahi / November 15th, 2016
Yet here again we must return to the original premise of our enquiry, for none of these future transformations are foreseeable without the large-scale release of compassion and awareness throughout the human population, which must be nurtured and inspired by a new education based on more spiritual values. However ardently we embrace the idea of implementing a sharing economy in its most universal form for the coming age, we are left with the reality of a modern era that is characterised by the greed and indifference of countless millions of individuals, and the systemic injustice of a corrupt world order …
As I was growing up, I was always reassured by the sound of the ‘Muadhin’ making the call for prayer in our refugee camp’s main mosque in Gaza. Whenever I heard the call very early in the morning, announcing in a melodic voice that the time for the ‘Fajr’ (dawn) prayer was upon us, I knew it was safe to go to sleep.
Of course, the call for prayer in Islam, like the sound of church bells ringing, carries a deep religious and spiritual meaning, as it has, five times a day, for the last 15 centuries, uninterrupted. But, in Palestine, …
Jailed for Refusing to Remove Black Lives Matter Lapel Pin
by Bill Quigley / November 15th, 2016
Andrea Burton, a 30 year old Ohio criminal defense lawyer, was rocketed onto the national social justice scene this summer after she was handcuffed and jailed for refusing to take off a Black Lives Matter pin while in court.
Burton’s stance received international attention. “I think that you can’t remain silent or you remain a party to oppression,” she told The Washington Post. “I am usually a pretty agreeable person. I’m always smiling. I’m polite. I have manners. But at some point it eats away at you …
Since the results of the latest Presidential elections were announced, I am longing for silence, while the overwhelming cacophony of deafening noises is assaulting my ears, and in fact all my senses.
Suddenly everyone around me wants to speak, to shout, and to declare. Lately, people who are surrounding me, as well as those who are far away from me are frantically watching the news, reading newspapers and browsing through countless political websites.
My friends and comrades all over the world are poking jokes at the US political establishment, or trembling in anticipation of something terrible, even apocalyptic.
Summary: I briefly describe the anthropological origin and recent statutory embodiments of human rights of individuals. I show that the modern “democratic” state moderates the rights of individuals by both: (1) violating the said rights in order to maintain and enforce the societal dominance hierarchy, and (2) preventing disproportionate violations, to avoid inciting rebellion. The courts are charged with these tasks but must not appear to represent an oppressive state. The courts’ practical solution has been to develop the legal artifice of “balancing conflicting rights”, where the court presents itself as a neutral arbitrator providing “access to justice”, rather than …
In an age where many pundits and pollsters ought to be put out to an ignoble pasture, predictions and astrology gazing on the US election continues. While he did have a better sense of this election than most, actually predicting the result, Michael Moore has decided to essentially ignore it except in the negative.
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Moore took another stab at reading the future. “Here’s what’s going to happen, this is why we’re not going to have to suffer through four years of Donald J. Trump, because he has not ideology except the ideology of Donald J. Trump.”
Donald Trump was an outsider who boldly stormed the citadel of Washington DC and won. He has promised real change, but his infrastructure plan appears to be just more of the same – privatizing public assets and delivering unearned profits to investors at the expense of the people. He needs to try something new; and for this he could look to Abraham Lincoln, whose bold solution was very similar to one now being considered in Europe: just print the money.
In Donald Trump’s victory speech after the presidential election, he vowed:
We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild …
Two days after the election, the New York Times ran a feel-good editorial. It was called “Being American in the Trump Years.” The basic message? Let’s bury our hatchets, all work together and assure a peaceful transfer of power. Hey, it’s a democracy. Way down in the text were the words: “Trump owes nothing to the traditional powers in his party — not the Koch brothers, not the leadership in Congress.”
Really? Trump owes nothing to the Koch brothers? That’s a statement the veracity of which can’t be tested – unless Donald releases his tax returns (which, of course, is not …
Castigating the US electorate as accomplices and facilitators of wars, or, at best, dismissing the voters as ignorant sheep-people (‘sheeple’) herded by political elites, describes a partial reality. Public opinion polls, even the polls overwhelmingly slanted toward the center-right, consistently describe a citizenry opposed to militarism and wars, past and present.
Both the Right and Left have failed to grasp the contradiction that defines US political life: Namely, the profound gap between the American public and the Washington elite on questions of war and peace within an electoral process …
For the despondent Democratic shills doing postmortems on the Clinton campaign, looking back on the big picture, assessing the damage and reflecting anew on how Trump became politically prominent in the first place, there are few sins greater than the president-elect’s original sin of questioning Obama’s “legitimacy” through his leadership of the “birther movement.”
Recall how that was an effort to undercut the new president’s authority by questioning his birthplace and indeed every aspect of his childhood. And recall how in 2009 Trump devoted resources to “investigating” the young Obama, announcing that he had had no friends at Punahou High School, …
Terrorists have launched a chemical attack on civilians and government forces in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
The Syrian army says terrorists, located in the eastern parts of the flashpoint city, fired shells containing chlorine, leaving scores of people injured. Terror groups, including Daesh, have a history of carrying out chemical attacks on civilians and government forces both in Iraq and in Syria. Earlier in the day, foreign-backed militants launched rocket attacks on several Syrian cities. At least five people were killed and three others were injured. The shelling also caused material damage in residential areas.
Interviews with Francis Boyle, James Petras, and Kim Petersen
by B.J. Sabri / November 13th, 2016
Part 1: Introduction
For the last 30 years, I have witnessed and experienced the severe restraints on any free and balanced discussion of the facts. This reluctance to criticize any policies of the Israeli government is because of the extraordinary lobbying efforts of the American-Israel Political Action Committee and the absence of any significant contrary voices.
We have heard and read for what could be mistaken for an eternity that the United States of America (may the god– no sane person would worship– bless her) is exceptional and the “greatest nation on Earth” (something even the Soviet Union could never bring itself to proclaim).
Since the unofficial victory of Donald Trump in the general election for the office of President of that “exceptional” country, the “losing” side has enhanced its exceptionally curious behaviour.
Before we attempt to think any further, let’s return to another curious election to that same office. Sixteen years ago the Democratic Vice President of …
During live US presidential election coverage on RT, after it became clear that Donald Trump was going to secure the required number of electoral college votes to win the election, word came that Hillary Clinton would not make a concession speech that night. The moderator of the live election coverage at RT was gobsmacked. He called Clinton’s behavior the “epitome of arrogance.” It certainly did smack of being a poor loser.
It seems that being a sore loser has reached stratospheric dimensions, as some are trying to reverse the electoral …
Part 2 of a 3 Part Series: From the inner to the outer sharing economy
by Mohammed Mesbahi / November 12th, 2016
Now let us turn our attention towards the inner meaning of a sharing economy, bearing in mind that we cannot propose a glossary definition from a spiritual or psychological perspective, for the meaning of sharing stems from the heart and not from intellectual activity alone. Even at the lowermost understanding of sharing on a personal and local level as briefly discussed heretofore, we are unlikely to comprehend the real significance of its potential until our thoughts are directed by the heart at all times. Let the heart be the architect of our sharing economy that we build with awareness and …
Hundreds of thousands are walking the streets of Seoul in the latest protest against South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who has come under fire for allowing her close confidante to have too much influence over her government policies.
In a filmed interview with Afshin Rattansi, John Pilger describes how the collusion and silence of America’s ‘enlightened’ liberal elite, notably its journalists, helped create President Trump.
Outspoken, outrageous and absolutely indifferent to others’ opinions, Janet Reno was truly one of a kind.
— Paul Anderson
She was the first woman to hold the job of US Attorney General, and on getting that position, held it for the duration of the Clinton administration, the longest tenure than any in the previous 150 years. Unfortunately for her, Janet Reno will be remembered for much that was wrong with that same administration.
It began with her being President Bill Clinton’s third choice, a very typical state of affairs. Both corporate lawyer Zoë Baird and federal judge Kimba Wood had been found wanting …
Eight years ago I had a conversation with someone, let’s call him Harry, about the great new hope for world peace, Barack Obama. Harry was jubilant that the abominable George Bush was no more, and sincerely believed that the world was finally heading towards a new age of real peace and prosperity. I told Harry I thought he was wrong, that there would be no significant change.
Harry didn’t understand that although the US president has quite a lot of executive power, he doesn’t actually run things. He didn’t understand that US presidential elections are just one long exercise in distraction …
Shipbuilding economics and lack of regulations are getting in the way of a quieter ocean
by Evan Lubofsky / November 12th, 2016
Technologies exist to drastically reduce ship noise, but they’re not seeing widespread adoption. Photo by Image Source Salsa/Alamy Stock Photo
Hakai magazine — When a ship’s propeller blades rev up and begin slicing furiously through the ocean, a frothy storm erupts below. The churned seawater boils, forming millions of bubbles that snap, crackle, and pop like firecrackers. For animals in the sea below, this process—known as …
by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers / November 11th, 2016
The Obama administration faced reality on Friday when they recognized the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would not be ratified by this Congress. The TPP is dead.
How did people power win?
We have worked to stop the TPP and other Obama trade agreements for more than five years. We were part of the ‘movement of movements’, the largest coalition ever opposing a corporate trade agreement, which stopped it. It included all sorts of activists who work on human rights, worker rights, the environment, climate change, Internet freedom, health care, food safety and more.
People told us stopping the TPP was impossible. Even after the …
Part 1 of a 3 Part Series: What does it mean to ‘share’?
by Mohammed Mesbahi / November 11th, 2016
Any act that tries to contribute towards ending the prevalent suffering caused by absolute poverty is, in itself, the purest expression of a sharing economy via the heart, via our maturity and via common sense, especially if that act is focused on trying to persuade our political representatives to commit to sharing the resources of the world.
*****
What is the sharing economy, and what is its meaning and significance for the world we live in today? If you try and investigate this question through the internet, there are many debates and misleading definitions that you will soon come across. …
A couple of days after the US presidential upset, we’re in the precarious intermezzo where the dust is settling but impressions still linger. While the torrent of Wednesday morning quarterbacking by sundry wonks, mavens and talking heads certainly contains elements of good analysis, it’s wise to capture some subtler points before they get lost in the palliative mainstream spin. The following list – not necessarily original and certainly not exhaustive – is an attempted contribution, by way of highlighting some of the less obvious losers in Tuesday’s outcome, along with associated lessons.
Poor liberals – for years you have toiled in vain for the betterment of humanity. Martyring yourselves for the greater good, you have attained a new level of sophistication and moral superiority, the likes of which we may never see again. It makes me weep such tears of bitterest woe, seeing your saintly queen of benevolence, fail to be anointed Queen Mass Murderer of The Earth.
Every four years you come out of hibernation, and run about the country like so many chickens with their heads cut off, ranting and raving about how we all have to vote for the Democratic …
The U.S. has just seen a surprise presidential election victory by a candidate who banked his campaign on vilifying Muslims and undocumented immigrants and on promising to maintain the devalued legal status of Black lives. Now that Democratic Party and media figures have been quick to make cynical speeches about uniting the country and moving on, the nation’s progressive movements should be ever more compelled not to lose sight of the Constitutional power that is still afforded to President Obama, the same man returned to office by progressive votes four years ago.
British filmmaker Adam Curtis recently released his new documentary HyperNormalisation. Brilliant in parts, this ambitious film reveals an image of a civilisation in turmoil. It shows how duplicitous, inadequate politicians have repeatedly deceived the public over the last forty years, and how their actions have caused increasing levels of chaos in the world, which they are unable to resolve. “We live in a strange time, extraordinary events keep happening that undermine the stability of our world,” the director declares, and yet, “those in control seem unable to deal with them. Nobody has any vision of a different or better …
Remember that today marks the culmination of a militarist, nationalist ritual organized by a reactionary state-backed group.
Every year the Royal Canadian Legion sells about 20 million red poppies in the lead-up to Remembrance Day. Remember that red poppies were inspired by the 1915 poem “In Flanders Fields” by Canadian army officer John McCrae. The pro-war poem calls on Canadians to “take up our quarrel with the foe” and was used to promote war bonds and recruit soldiers during World War I.
Remember that today, red poppies commemorate Canadians who have died at war. Not being commemorated are the Afghans, or Libyans …
