Rex W. Tillerson, a resident of Bartonville, Texas, like many of his neighbors, was upset with his city council. That’s not unusual. Many residents get upset at their local governing boards. And so they went to a city council meeting to express their concerns that the council was about to award a construction permit.
The residents were upset that the Cross Timbers Water Supply Corp. planned to build a 160-foot tall water tower. That tower would be adjacent to an 83-acre horse farm Tillerson and his wife owned, and not far from their residence. The residents protested, and then filed suit …
IPS — The Barack Obama administration has demanded that Iran resolve “past and present concerns” about the “possible military dimensions” of its nuclear programme as a condition for signing a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Tehran.
Administration officials have suggested that Iran must satisfy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding the allegations in the agency’s report that it has had a covert nuclear weapons programme in the past.
But the record of negotiations between Iran and the IAEA shows Tehran has been ready for the past two years to provide detailed responses to all the charges of an Iranian nuclear weapons work, …
The Square, a documentary about Egypt’s January 2011 uprising, provides glimpses of most of the players but gives short shrift to the Muslim Brotherhood, the main player that was then targeted by the deep state headed by the military.
The Square, the Academy Award-nominated Egyptian-American documentary film by Jehane Noujaim, depicts events in Egypt from January 2011 focusing on Tahrir Square. It is neither “Egyptian” nor “American” in any meaningful sense, as the Egyptian “government” has banned it, Noujaim’s mother is American, and she was raised more in Kuwait, has lived in Boston since 1990, and as such is far …
Geo-politically important Sri Lanka is among several countries, including Syria, under scrutiny at the 25th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva (March 3-28).
High Commissioner Navi Pillay of the Human Rights Council (HRC) will introduce a resolution recommending that Sri Lanka promote reconciliation and accountability with the minority Tamil people. Pillay will ask the HRC to establish “an international inquiry mechanism to further investigate the alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law and monitor any domestic accountability processes.” ((Among concrete recommendations by the High Commissioner she requires of the government to: “(a) Finalize laws dealing …
Yesterday the United States lost the propaganda war on Ukraine. President Obama made a reluctant and senseless statement which Washington Post entitled “There will be costs”.
He pronounced standard phrases like “the Ukrainian people deserve the opportunity to determine their own future”, proposed Russia to be a “part of an international community’s effort to support the stability and success of a united Ukraine”, lamented over the alleged “violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and assured that “the United States supports his government’s efforts and stands for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and democratic future of Ukraine”.
Have you ever been caught tapping a friend’s phone calls? Called out for the exploitative maltreatment your employees? Are you a multi-billionaire prone to going through the pockets of black youth in the hopes of finding marijuana?
Consider talking about your concern for the environment, particularly the effects of climate change. Leading governments, corporations, and political figures under fire for civil and human rights violations are giving it a whirl.
Greening Injustice
After the New York Times, via documents provided by former security contractor Edward Snowden, revealed on February 16 that the NSA had spied on Indonesia and U.S. attorneys representing the …
BREAKING: Putin, Xi, Maduro, and Castro arrive in Quebec to negotiate a transitional government and protect the breakaway province from reprisal by “English-speaking cultural hegemony.” Putin accuses Obama of ‘interfering’ as riots grip Toronto and Montreal, aided by covert Russian and Chinese training and funding. Lavrov is caught on tape vowing to “Fuck those Limey bastards.” Saintly Obama does nothing, saying ‘it’s none of our damn business. We’re all about freedom, above the border as well as below.”
The situation is quickly spinning out of control as what Putin describes as ‘peaceful protesters’ arm themselves with Molotov cocktails, sniper rifles, and …
On February 6, 2014, the Washington Free Beacon reported that a bill was introduced into the US House of Representatives that would cut off federal funding to any academic institution that boycotts the State of Israel. Ironically, the bill’s language begins with the words, “Israel is a vital American ally and a fellow democracy that fosters free speech….” The legislation (and similar legislation in some US statehouses) continues by demanding that federal funds (or state funding in the statehouse bills) be withdrawn from universities and organizations “significantly funded by the university” that adopts a policy or issues a statement …
Mt. Gox, the oldest Bitcoin exchange recently shut down, leaving customers high and dry. This Tokyo based company that once dominated the crypto-currency trading scene is reported to be filing for bankruptcy protection. Indications are that they are insolvent, with more than 744,000 Bitcoins missing worth around $423 million at current rates. At a press conference held on Friday night, Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles appeared in front of the camera bowing deeply. He spoke in Japanese, claiming that a “weakness in the system caused the bitcoins to disappear.” …
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is still one of the most powerful lobby organizations in the country, but fortunately, it is starting to lose its iron-clad grip on our policymakers. AIPAC lost the fight to stop Chuck Hagel from being confirmed as Secretary of Defense; it lost the push for the US military to attack Syria, and it is losing its effort to derail nuclear talks with Iran. In the old days, AIPAC bragged that it could, within 24 hours, get the signatures of 70 Senators on a napkin if it really wanted to. This year, AIPAC …
The two countries I know best are India and the US. I spent the first 22 years of my life in the former, and the following 24 in the latter, where I continue to live. Recently I returned home, after spending three months in India. The combination of what I saw there in plain view, and what I see here in America, may shed some light on why we have arrived at the climate impasse.
Soon I’ll get to what is climate impasse, but first, here is what got me motivated to write this piece, before even I could recover from …
To the uninitiated, nothing may be more boring than economics, and especially international trade talks. I know that because 15 years ago I was one of the uninitiated.
I was pretty typical of the type – fairly well-educated, pretty good job, regular follower of the news via “respectable” sources such as the BBC and The Times. I remember fifteen years ago noticing my news sources telling me about some violent protests that were happening thousands of miles away in Seattle, Washington. Ordinarily I tended to sympathise with protestors, feeling sure they were probably right, but what intrigued me about these protests …
“The caste system gave us 3,000 years of pain,” Ram Niwas told us. “But slowly, slowly, we are moving beyond it.” He then began to tell me about women who are still subjected to the manual labor of cleaning dry toilets. They load slop from the village latrines and toilets into jars which they then carry, on their heads, to a dumping ground outside the village. The job is as dangerous as it is demeaning. People who do this work suffer infections and other illnesses. From age 13-15, this was how Ram Niwas earned a living.
Transfield Services is a diversified corporation with fingers in many a pie. This month, it was announced that Australia’s Abbott government had awarded a $1.22 billion government contract to the company to run detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island. The ethicists moaned as the shareholders cheered: shares rose by 20.81 per cent on the announcement. For 20 months, the contract will cover “garrison and welfare services”, an interesting choice of words showing how well the fortress culture has been entrenched.
Transfield steps into the muddied shoes of the UK-listed G4S security firm, which did its best to botch …
Time waits for no one, but apparently will wait for Crimea. The speaker of the Crimean parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov, has confirmed there will be a referendum on greater autonomy from Ukraine on May 25.
Until then, Crimea will be as hot and steamy as carnival in Rio because Crimea is all about Sevastopol, the port of call for the Russian Black Sea fleet.
If the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a bull, this is the red flag to end all red flags. Even if you’re deep in alcohol nirvana dancin’ your troubles away at carnival in Rio — or New Orleans, or …
President Maduro, slanderous Western media, promoting war and violence for capital gains of the mercilessly amoral, automaton functioning, speculative interest banking industry, has put you in their spotlight to better target you with defamation. This is, then, your opportunity to be heard world-wide. In telling the truth about the USA, you will be protecting all of us, Venezuela included.
Please don’t argue with the likes of Obama, or McCain, John Kerry or others guilty of so many documented murderous crimes against humanity. Remember, their handlers on Wall Street control most of the world’s media, which will twist whatever you say about …
I have long thought that Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the PLO’s Executive Committee and the Palestine Legislative Council, is the most articulate spokesperson in Israeli occupied territory for her cause. Her latest comment is a bleak assessment of the prospects for getting a real peace process going. She was responding to a statement by an Obama administration official that both Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian President Abbas will be able to “express reservations about individual provisions” in the framework document Secretary of State Kerry is preparing. Here’s what Ashrawi said:
This is the last in a four part series leading up to the 10th anniversary of the February 29 2004 overthrow of Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s government in Haiti.
Why did Canada help overthrow Haiti’s elected government? That’s a question I heard over and over when speaking about Canada in Haiti: Waging War on the Poor Majority, a book I co-authored with Anthony Fenton. Most people had difficulty understanding why their country — and the U.S. to some extent — would intervene in a country so poor, so seemingly marginal to world affairs. Why would they bother?
Along the Global Color Line from the U.S-Mexico Borderlands to Yemen
by Joseph Nevins / February 27th, 2014
Around 6:40am on Tuesday, February 19, a U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and killed Jesus Flores-Cruz, a 41-year-old Mexican national, four miles east of the Otay Mesa port of entry in southern San Diego. Employing what has become an all-too-familiar explanation, authorities asserted that Mr. Flores Cruz, an unauthorized migrant, pelted the agent with rocks. Reportedly fearing for his well-being, the agent, Daniel Basinger,shot his pistol twice, fatally wounding the alleged attacker.
Two days later, Human Rights Watch released a report on a U.S. drone attack on an 11-vehicle convoy—a wedding procession—in Yemen on …
American Militarism, War Culture, and Police Brutality
by Colin Jenkins / February 27th, 2014
President Kennedy never foresaw that the chickens would come home to roost so soon…
— Malcolm X, December 1, 1963
“Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle… you are here because you are real men and all real men like to fight!” The thundering voice rang out from the large box speakers situated across the damp, cement floor. ” Americans love a winner! Americans will not tolerate a loser! Americans despise cowards! Americans play to win all of the time. I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. …
Parliament is too middle class and doesn’t have the diversity that it needs to have.
— Ed Miliband, The House Magazine, January 31, 2014
David Cameron’s government is not popular. An IpsosMori poll last September found that 70 per cent of voters found the prime minister “out of touch”, making him the least popular Tory leader in 35 years. Murmurings of leadership challenges have been made. The coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, look set for a slaughter. The time has come for a mixture of hard headed thinking and mandatory populism.
Populism can get the better of you. The degree of desperation in …
There has been an intense collaboration and cooperation between Nazi Germany and the Islamists forces like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and others that determine the course of events in the Middle East till today. These forces not only collaborated with the Nazi regime but they also provided thousands of Nazis with a safe haven after the war.
The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husaini, was a Jew hater and an advocate of Islamist radicalism who spent the war years in Berlin where he lived in luxury. He was the only Muslim …
On 24 February 2014 US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel held a press conference to announce some of the details of Pentagon’s 2015 budget. Beyond the news of cuts in war fighting machinery and personnel — and the pox of “irresponsible” sequestration on the federal government — Hagel made a point of indicating that the world is becoming an increasingly volatile place. He also seemed to express a bit of disgust for nation building of the type attempted by the USA in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Those sentiments are directly at odds with the core element of US national and global security …
You occasionally read a totally mind bending book that opens up a whole new world for you. The Failure of Nonviolence by Peter Gelderloos is one of them, owing to its unique evidence-based perspective on both “nonviolent” and “violent” resistance. It differs from Gelderloos’s 2007 How Nonviolence Protects the State in its heavy emphasis on indigenous, minority, and working class resistance. A major feature of the new book is an extensive catalog of “combative” rebellions that the corporate elite has whitewashed out of history.
In 2009, my home was attacked by a drone. My brother and son were martyred. My son’s name was Hafiz Zahinullah. My brother’s name was Asif Iqbal. There was a third person who was a stone mason. He was a Pakistani. His name was Khaliq Dad…. Their bodies were covered with wounds. Later, I found some of their fingers in the rubble.
– Kareem Khan, a Pakistani journalist, speaking of his personal experience with civilians killed by Americans, in the documentary “Wounds of Waziristan,” 2013
… it is a hard fact that U.S. strikes have resulted in civilian casualties, …
Following parts one, two and three of the Global Power Project’s Group of Thirty series, this fourth and final installment focuses on a few of the G30 members who have played outsized roles both in creating and managing various financial crises, providing a window on to the ideas, institutions and individuals who help steer this powerful global group.
The Assassin of Argentina
Prior to 2008, one of the most notable examples of a highly destructive financial crisis took place in Argentina which, heavily in debt, faced a large default and was brutally punished by financial markets and the speculative assault of global finance, otherwise …
For too long in this country, people supporting human rights and international law in relation to the Palestinian/Israeli issue have been reluctant to speak out. Many university faculty members didn’t want to get involved in an issue that they believed might cost them their jobs or tenure.
Politicians were afraid of the power of the Israel Lobby. For example, in 1974 funding from the Lobby played a major role in ousting Senator J. William Fulbright, one of the more powerful and courageous senators, and his defeat sent a loud message to others. He had earned the enmity of the Lobby by exposing …
Omar is a 7-year-old boy from Gaza. His family managed to obtain the necessary permits that allowed him to cross the Erez checkpoint to Jerusalem, through the West Bank, in order to undergo surgery. He was accompanied by his father. On the way back, the boy and his father were stopped at the Qalanidya checkpoint, separating occupied East Jerusalem from the West Bank. The father needed another permit from the Israeli military to take his son, whose wounds were still fresh hours after the surgery, back to the strip. But the soldiers were in no obliging mood.
by The Real News Network (TRNN) / February 26th, 2014
Rev. Kapya Kaoma: New Ugandan law that makes homosexual acts punishable by life imprisonment was modeled after the talking points of right-wing U.S. evangelicals.
