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The first lie about Yemen’s dirty war in the world of official journalism is that the fighting there has been a “nine-month conflict” and that “the conflict started in March,” as the New York Times put it on December 17. This is simply not true in any meaningful sense. What started in March was a savage, one-sided war backed by the US, all too similar to the Nazi-backed one-sided air war in Spain in the thirties that gave the world …

Western media are reporting headline claims that “new evidence supports claims about Syrian state detention deaths”, saying that “a leading rights group has released new evidence that up to 7,000 Syrians who died in state detention centres were tortured, mistreated, or executed”, noting that this information is a moral wake-up call and demanding that officials being held to account should be “central to peace efforts.”

However, as is usually so, not everything is quite as it seems.  So let’s take a look at the facts.

First the timing.

As has been commonplace the timing of the reports like these have almost …

The Texas board of education didn’t find anything wrong with a world geography textbook that said slaves from Africa were workers, but that immigrants from northern Europe were indentured servants.

This is the same school board that five years ago demanded that textbooks emphasize that slavery was only a side issue to the cause of the civil war, and that Republican achievements be emphasized in political science and civics textbooks.

For good measure, the officials also wanted a “fair and balanced” look at evolution versus intelligent design or creationism, and that global warming is only a theory, overlooking substantial and significant …

Center for Food Safety praises Congress for not including a policy rider in the must-pass federal omnibus spending bill that would have blocked states from implementing mandatory genetically engineered (GE) food labeling laws. Three states, Connecticut, Maine and Vermont, have passed such laws, with Vermont’s slated be to be the first to go into effect in July 2016. All three democratically passed laws would have been nullified, while any future state GE labeling legislation would have been preempted. Over 30 states have introduced bills to labeling GE foods in just the past few years.

“We are very pleased that Congress has …

You Can’t Fight City Hall?

Sometimes David is Patricia and Goliath is the FCC and AT&T. If anyone has been keeping an eye on rare articles printed in the Spokane (WA) daily and weekly, the reader might have seen the news about one neighborhood – the Grandview-Thorpe – losing the fight to stop Verizon Wireless from building a cell tower in their community, while another neighborhood group –Cliff-Cannon – helped put monkey wrenches (tiny ones) into the gear work of the cell phone-telecommunication engines.

Spokane City council members balked, city planners looked for cover, and the city attorney tried without much success …

After nearly five years of civil war in Syria, and over twelve years since the immoral and tragic coalition invasion of Iraq, US mainstream news coverage of events in Syria and Iraq continues to be abysmal. When between ten and thirty million people around the world demonstrated against the Iraqi War in February 2003, US media outlets continually under-reported and underestimated protest movements in the approximately sixty countries that participated. Described as the largest coordinated protest in history, the US and UK governments continued to pressure and threaten potential coalition governments, using media mouthpieces as their stooges. As the democratic …

The Paris meeting of national officials united to save capitalism by re-branding climate change was challenged by outside demonstrators from all over the world calling for system change. The people were way ahead of their governments. Whether called revolutionary by supporters or disastrous by opponents, what should rightly be called COP-OUT 21 came to a final agreement that means business as usual. Private profits continue to come before any consideration of public loss and that is the root of the problem for humanity.

By slightly slowing the pace of earth drowning under carbonation through “advising” less carbon creation offered as …

The year 2015, the tenth year of the existence of our movement, has almost come and gone. On the 3rd of October we gathered at the Curries Fountain Stadium to celebrate ten years of struggle. More than four thousand comrades participated in the celebration. We have survived years of serious repression – including arrests, assaults, torture, imprisonment, the destruction of our homes, slander and assassination. In these ten years we have won many victories in the struggle for land and dignity.

We are committed to putting the social value of land before its commercial value. We are committed to land reform …

Historically and intuitively, Russia has fought for the survival of humanity. Of course, things are not always pronounced or defined in such terms. However, already on several occasions, this enormous country has stood up against the most mighty and evil forces that have threatened the very survival of our Planet.

During the Second World War, the Soviet people, mainly Russians, sacrificed at least 25 million men, women and children, in the end defeating Nazism. No other country in modern history has undergone more.

Right after that victory, Russia, alongside China and later Cuba, embarked on the most awesome and noble project of …

Have you noticed that, when it comes to venturing into questions of “right” and “wrong,” recent U.S. presidents lapse awkwardly and uncomfortably into a kindergarten-level of discourse? Obama: “We tortured some folks… that was wrong”–but then, after all, the torturer-criminals were doing a “tough job” and had “good” intentions! Obama often hastily drops such moral considerations, a realm of discourse and reasoning in which he is plainly uncomfortable and noticeably vague. Examples abound, even of his confusion, when it comes to alluding to even clear-cut moral transgressions (e.g., Guantanamo): “That’s not who we are” (his favorite, …

I was a practicing lawyer for 28 years before being imprisoned in 1997 for 3 months for “criminal contempt of court.” In 1999 I was disbarred on the ground this particular conviction of a “crime” was so heinous, as to amount to “conduct unbecoming,” justifying that most extreme of available punishments.

I had asked the court to read a written application, advising the judge that if he were to proceed on the assumption he had jurisdiction, at least without addressing the constitutional law identified in the said application, that he would by operation of law alone have committed the constitutional crimes …

In its nine years of existence, WikiLeaks has become the first global 4th estate. Their 2008 release of the classified US military video documenting the slaying of Iraqi civilians in New Baghdad made the whistle-blowing site a household name. Despite the US government’s efforts to stop their publications, the organization has proven itself to be the most effective publisher of last resort, with over 10 million documents in their library and a perfect record of authenticity.

This year, their vitality shone more than ever, with the release of the texts of secret trade agreements like TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) and …

The global press has been heralding the December 13, 2015, vote in Saudi Arabia as a breakthrough for women, since it’s the first time in history that Saudi women have been allowed to vote. But is this vote really a significant step forward?

First let’s consider the Saudi electoral system within the context of an absolute monarchy. The ruler is always a male and inherits his position. All powerful government positions from ministers to governors are appointed by the King. The 150-member Consultative Council, known as the Shura Council, is also appointed and has only advisory power.

The recent …

Entering Columbia University is a dream come true and the first step in what I hope will be a fulfilling career. My time at Columbia undoubtedly represents one of the most eye-opening and stimulating periods of my life. Most of my peers were as ecstatic as I was when going through the gates of our Morningside Heights home for the first time. And yet, as fall finals loom just days away, some of our fellow students have suffered from tragic depression, going as far as attempting to take their own lives. When I learned that a close friend of mine …

After 14 people were killed and 22 more injured in the San Bernardino massacre by a couple whom authorities claim were “radicalized” by Islamist ideology, Islamophobia among the American public has seemingly reached a fever pitch. But while many people are fighting back against hateful discrimination against Muslims, many are doing so with a liberal narrative of American values that rationalizes and perpetuates American state violence, while failing to recognize this violence as its own form of extremism.

Since San Bernardino, hate crimes against Muslims have been widely reported across the country. In one week alone, a hijab-wearing woman …