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by Yves Engler / August 23rd, 2015
Canadian policy in Africa can be summed up in nine words: Do what is good for Canadian-owned mining companies.
Despite rhetoric about aid to the poorest people in the world, the Harper Conservatives have worked assiduously to ensure that Canadian corporations profit from Africa’s vast mineral resources.
Even widespread criticism of their operations has failed to dampen the Conservatives’ support for Canada’s many mining interests in Africa. Canadian mining companies have been accused of bribing officials, evading taxes, dispossessing farmers, displacing communities, employing forced labour, devastating eco-systems and spurring human rights violations.
But, more important than the specific instances of abuse, which I …
With Bitcoin?
by Pedro Aibéo / August 23rd, 2015
On the last 18th of August I attended the Robin Hood ((Robin Hood is an activist hedge fund. They use financial technologies to democratize finance, expand financial inclusion, and generate new economic space. They analyze big data, write algorithms, deploy web-based technologies, and engineer financial instruments to create and distribute surplus profits for all. (Source.) )) pop up lab in Helsinki, Finland. I was expecting one more of those nurturing sessions of saving the world with much love and of course, post-its! No, it was a well-attended session where a real practical approach is being thought out …
by James Petras / August 23rd, 2015
2015 has become a year of living dangerously.
Wars are spreading across the globe. Wars are escalating as new countries are bombed and the old are ravaged with ever greater intensity.
Countries, where relatively peaceful changes had taken place through recent elections, are now on the verge of civil wars.
These are wars without victors, but plenty of losers; wars that don’t end; wars where imperialist occupations are faced with prolonged resistance.
…
by Edward J. Martin / August 22nd, 2015
Because Democrats and Republicans and all those who hold fast to the divine status of the market theory do not want a national discussion on free markets and for whom these free markets are really designed to serve. And this is why the 1% and international elites need to pull the plug on a socialist who has some serious political momentum.
But first let’s look at Bernie Sanders. He is not a cult figure working the masses into a frenzy. Nor is the Feel the Bern movement going to fizzle anytime soon. This is because the personal pain of real human …
by Shepherd Bliss / August 22nd, 2015
Sonoma County, California — Activists objecting to the over-growth of the wine/hospitality industry in rural areas of four Northern California counties have met monthly for half a year. At their August 15 meeting in Healdsburg, Sonoma County, one of the wine industry’s epicenters, they agreed to name themselves Wine and Water Watch (WWW).
They ratified the following mission statement:
We challenge the over-development of the wine tourism industry and promote ethical land and water use. We advocate agricultural practices that are ecologically regenerative.
The new WWW name replaces the temporary name of Four County Network, which was agreed upon at the third meeting. …
Democratic Socialism Is Returning to Britain’s Labour Party
by Adnan Al-Daini / August 22nd, 2015
Who amongst the contenders for the leadership of the Labour Party would have had the vision and the courage of Aneurin Bevan to establish the British National Health Service? The answer, surely, would be only Jeremy Corbyn.
In his ten point plan “standing to deliver” he proposes to return the railways and the energy sector to public ownership, an end to austerity, and the establishment of a national investment bank to direct funds to create tomorrow’s jobs.
This is a direct challenge to free-market unregulated capitalism with its mantra of “the market knows best” …
by Joan Wheeler / August 22nd, 2015
Seven to ten million American adoptees’ original birth certificates are sealed after a new one is created. It happened to me. My names, and family, were stolen by adoption fifteen months after my legitimate birth in 1956. I have known the truth since I was eighteen in 1974, but do not have the right to possess my own birth certificate and must present the fake one as proof of my identity.
Making someone else’s child “your own” by adoption causes the State’s Director of Vital Statistics to issue a replacement birth certificate presenting false facts as truth and then seals the …
by James Hoover / August 21st, 2015
Nature versus Nurture is still used to broadly categorize the influences on human development, literally, what make us human. It is a question tied with the past (even back to Shakespeare) when the understanding of the genetic blueprint was vague, a gap we’ve filled in with theory. Nature was what you inherited from your parents and nurture was everything else – total environmental influences.
Greatly impacting the nurture side, epigenetics has changed the way we think about ourselves, our behavior, and our environment. The behavior side was once covered by a psychology often tentative and ineffective. Now it is known …
by John R. Hall / August 21st, 2015
The Aha Makhav believed that the god Matevilya created all life forms on the sacred summit of Spirit Mountain. This high point in the Newberry Range now looms over the towns of Laughlin, Nevada, Bullhead City, Arizona, and Fort Mohave, Arizona. The rich Colorado River bottom land, stretching from what is now Hoover Dam southward for more than 200 miles, was home to the Aha Makhav for untold thousands of years.
When the people had been put on the land, the god Mastamho made the mighty Colorado River and taught the people how to use the water to grow crops. Not …
by Andre Vltchek / August 21st, 2015
Could any dictator desire more? Almost the entire population of the Empire is now thinking the same way!
The populace is “educated” at schools and the universities staffed with submissive, and cowardly teachers and professors.
The populace is “informed” by hundreds of thousands of servile journalists and “analysts”. There is almost no deviation from the official narrative.
Congratulations, Western Empire! You have succeeded where others tried but failed. You have achieved almost absolute obedience and discipline, a total servility.
And more than that most of the people actually think that they are free, that they are in control. They believe that they can choose, …
by Yves Engler / August 21st, 2015
Reading the comments below a recent Toronto Star op-ed reminded me of an important, if rarely mentioned, rule of Canadian foreign policy. The more impoverished a nation the greater the gap is likely to be between what Canadian officials say and do.
In a rare corporate daily breakthrough, solidarity activist Mark Phillips detailed a decade of anti-democratic Canadian policy in Haiti. But, a number of readers were clearly discomforted by the piece titled “Hey Canada, stop meddling in Haitian democracy”. “Money pumped into this dysfunctional country, is money down a rat hole,” read one. Another said, “Yes — let’s stop ‘meddling’ …
by Robert Hunziker / August 20th, 2015
In March 2015, Raw Story interviewed Senator Ted Cruz. ((Eric W. Dolan, “Watch: Ted Cruz Says he Doesn’t Believe in Climate Change Because he “Follows the Science”, Raw Story, March 24, 2015.))
The interviewer challenged the senator about his wish for millions of young voters to turn out. Yet, he’s against pot, gay marriage, and doesn’t believe global warming is man-made all of which the interviewer claims young people have a different view. The senator chose to refute the global warming claim.
The following rebuttal of the senator’s view on global warming is self-explanatory in highlighting the political problem global warming/climate change …
by Mitchell Thompson / August 19th, 2015
A recent report by the Canadian Federation of Students identifies a link between the defunding and deregulation of post-secondary education and the reduction in the living standards of students. These were cemented by changes to bankruptcy law that restricted their access to protection or discharge.
Despite how the crisis is usually portrayed in the press, this appears not to just be a case of the government failing to protect students from creditors and universities. Rather it is also a case of the government empowering those institutions over the students. The current crisis is the result of government cementing the dangers …
by Jack Balkwill / August 19th, 2015
Somebody’s gonna hurt someone,
Before the night is through.
Somebody’s gonna come undone,
There’s nothin’ we can do.
— The Eagles, Heartache Tonight
Most Americans are unaware that unemployment does not occur by chance, but is manipulated by those who run the country on behalf of the ruling plutocrats and their corporations.
Unless millions of people are kept unemployed, wages will rise, so the psychopaths who rule do not allow anything approaching full employment. I say psychopaths because they claim to be intelligent and informed people, so one would assume they know that keeping unemployment high results in massive suffering — hunger, homelessness, the world’s …
by Jonathan Cook / August 19th, 2015
Officials in Jerusalem have approved a massive construction project, including plans for housing, shops and a hotel, on one of the largest and most historically important Islamic cemeteries in the Middle East.
A previous project to build a courthouse at the site, part of Mamilla Cemetery, was scrapped two years ago after it provoked a storm of protest.
The graveyard, just outside Jerusalem’s Old City walls, is said to be the final resting place of the Prophet Mohammed’s companions as well as thousands of Saladin’s warriors who helped expel the Crusaders from the Holy Land nearly 1,000 years ago.
It also served as …
A Review of Tamara Pearson's The Butterfly Prison
by Andre Vltchek / August 19th, 2015
The Butterfly Prison begins slowly, combining seemingly disconnected stories that are taking place in poor neighborhoods of Australia. The stories are like tiny vignettes; shy, modest, minimalistic but always significant and beautifully told. A fear here, a bitter humiliation there, a dream of a child interrupted by a police officer.
Then suddenly, the stories begin to interconnect, intertwine, and the novel gains speed. Real pain – deep and overwhelming – emerges. Profound hurts, bitterness and injuries are slapping the faces of the characters, and somehow, we are drawn in and begin suffering with them.
It is Australia that we don’t know; …
by Kathy Kelly / August 19th, 2015
A nation that will keep people in slavery for 244 years will ‘thingify’ them—make them things. Therefore they will exploit them, and poor people generally, economically. And a nation that will exploit economically will have foreign investments and everything else, and will have to use its military to protect them. All of these problems are tied together. What I am saying today is that we must go from this convention and say, ‘America, you must be born again!’
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Speaking on behalf of indigenous people in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, earlier this summer, Pope Francis apologized for the …
by James Hall / August 18th, 2015
The paradox in the question of who wins in a currency war presupposes that any participating combatant can actually claim victory. If winning means ending up with the most cash, when the value of the money as a store of tangible wealth is debased, it is doubtful anyone can be declared the victor. The absurdity of lowering the purchasing power of a country’s currency to enable exports to be more competitive is economic sacrilege that the heretical “Free Trade” mythos is based upon. Without a reliable standard of objective comparison, floating currencies maneuver their exchange rates to disguise internal imbalances …
by Ellen Brown / August 18th, 2015
The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that. So there is zero probability of default.
— Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan on Meet the Press, August 2011
In a post on “Sovereign Man” dated August 14th, Simon Black argued that Donald Trump may be the right man for the presidency:
[T]here’s one thing that really sets him apart, that, in my opinion, makes him the most qualified person for the job:
Donald Trump is an expert at declaring bankruptcy.
When the going gets tough, Trump stiffs his creditors. He’s done it four times!
Candidly, …
by Gary Leupp / August 18th, 2015
Most pundits predict that Obama will have enough votes to push through the Iran nuclear deal. An AIPAC-driven Congress will oppose it, but Obama will use his veto power to overcome the opposition. At the end of the day, optimists forecast, the president will receive the requisite support in Congress to prevent a veto override.
But I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Netanyahu and the Israel Lobby are pulling out all the stops. Anyone who’s ever doubted the strength of that Lobby (rooted in the Christian Zionism of U.S. evangelicals, and in the political war chests of various diehard Israel support groups) …
by Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáin / August 18th, 2015
On 5th of August 2015 the Irish Navy ship LÉ Niamh was sent to help an overcrowded vessel about 25 miles off the Libyan coast. As two rigid inflatable boats (Ribs) from the LÉ Niamh approached they signaled to the people to stay where they were so that life jackets could be given out. However, according to Capt Dave Barry: “Whatever happened, a number rushed to one side, and it capsized and sank in a couple of minutes”. A total of 367 survivors and 25 bodies were taken to the Sicilian port of Palermo. …
by Gilad Atzmon / August 18th, 2015
Paul Eisen, until a week ago anonymous as far as most Brits were concerned, is now a kingmaker. The UK Jewish Lobby is convinced, for some reason, that the nature of Eisen’s relationship with Labour’s leading candidate Jeremy Corbyn will determine the future of this country.
As we witness the most important political debate in Britain for generations being hijacked by the Zionist media and ‘Jewish sensitivities’, the time is ripe to ask: who is Paul Eisen?
Eisen has been described by the Jewish press and its acolytes as an ‘anti Semite’ and a ‘holocaust denier’, but peculiarly, no one mentions …
by Matt Peppe / August 17th, 2015
A few days ago former President Jimmy Carter announced that he has cancer and it is spreading. While it would be premature to assume this spells the end for the 90-year-old, it does present an opportunity to take stock of the tenure of a President who, like the current occupant of the White House, entered office with a promise to respect human rights, but failed miserably when given the opportunity to do so.
Carter just last month published a memoir about his “Full Life.” Others have begun to look back at his four years as President. David Macaray, …
by Kim Petersen / August 17th, 2015
The Chinese port city of Tianjin is reeling following devastating explosions. It is a human-caused disaster that has authorities seeking answers and a proper response to Tianjin residents. It brought a rapid response.
The response to the Tianjin explosions stands in stark similarity and contrast to the response accorded the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the southeastern United States. Hurricane Katrina was a force of nature (a force that may well have been exacerbated by anthropogenic climate change), but much of the blame for destruction as a result of the winds …
The Moral Bankruptcy of Italy and NATO
by Ramzy Baroud / August 17th, 2015
On April 26, 2011, a meeting that can only be described as sinister took place between the then Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and French President, Nicolas Sarkozy. The most pressing issue discussed at the meeting in Rome was how to deal with African immigrants.
Sarkozy, who was under pressure from his right-wing and far-right constituencies to halt immigration originating from North Africa (resulting from the Tunisian uprising), desired to strike a deal with the opportunistic Italian leader. In exchange for an Italian agreement to join a French initiative aimed at tightening border control (Italy being accused of allowing immigrants …
by Felicity Arbuthnot / August 17th, 2015
Bereaved UK families who lost sons and daughters in the illegal invasion of Iraq have now threatened legal action against Sir John Chilcot who headed the near two year long, £10m Iraq Inquiry (30th July 2009 – 2nd February 2011) if a date for release of Inquiry findings is not announced publicly within two weeks. Further, suspicions over the reason for the approaching five years near silence from Sir John are raised by a detailed investigation by journalist Andrew Pierce.
Writing in the Daily Mail he highlights the seemingly close relationship between Sir John Chilcot and Tony Blair.
Pierce refers to …
No. I’m Not Going to the Reeducation Camp
by John Stanton / August 17th, 2015
…if you sit around and wait for the one who is in power to make up his mind that he should end it, you’ll be waiting a long time. And in my opinion the young generation of whites, blacks, browns, and whatever else there is, your are living in a time when there has to be a change…a better world needs to be built…And I will join in with anyone, I don’t what color he is, as long as he wants to change the miserable condition that exists on this earth.
— Malcolm X at Oxford, 1964
Out here in the …
by Robert Hunziker / August 17th, 2015
Twenty-one children in America have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Government and the president of the United States, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. The lawsuit claims the federal government, abetting, if not causing, climate change, “has violated the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, property, as well as failed to protect essential public trust resources.” (source: ourchildrenstrust.org)
This is a landmark constitutional climate change lawsuit.
Essentially, the lawsuit challenges the federal government’s national fossil fuel programs.
Provocatively, since adults don’t seem to “get it,” the children of America are taking the lead to stop, and hopefully reverse, decades of governmental abuse …
by Shepherd Bliss / August 17th, 2015
Santa Rosa, CA — An overflow crowd spilled into the lobby at California State Senator Mike McGuire’s August 13 promised Town Hall. Many were alarmed by an article at the top of the front-page of the prior day’s pro-wine industry local daily newspaper.
“Wine Industry’s ‘Water Grab’” headlined the Press Democrat (PD) story.
It described legislation being drafted that would secure unfair water rights and control of water for the wine industry in the Russian River watershed.
After listening to two articulate politicians and four staff members for nearly two hours, as the meeting was coming to a close, McGuire finally mentioned, in passing, that pending bill. …
by Yves Engler / August 17th, 2015
Where are Conservatives most likely to be elected in Canada? Historically, rural and suburban White, Protestant ridings and the wealthiest parts of English-speaking cities have been where the Tories enjoyed the most success.
Certainly the Conservatives have never been the party of those marginalized for economic, social or religious reasons.
Yet, at the start of the month Stephen Harper launched his re-election campaign from the Ben Weider Jewish Community Centre in Mount Royal, one of two ridings in the country with a Jewish plurality (about 36% of the population).
If Conservative candidate Robert Libman wins Pierre Trudeau’s old seat it would represent a …
