EDITORIAL
The Nemesis of Race
Johan Galtung, 29 Jun 2015 - TRANSCEND Media ServiceWe have been treated to a shadow debate of “hate crime” vs “domestic, racial terrorism”, one psychologizing, one politicizing. “Murder” will do, legally. But another shadow debate came up, about a flag on full mast on top of the key public building in South Carolina. One may wonder why somebody did not discretely remove it; nobody did, till presidential candidates feared it could hurt their campaigns.
TMS PEACE JOURNALISM
The Stories of Compassionate Rebels Building a Culture of Peace
Burt Berlowe – TRANSCEND Media ServiceA New Form of Journalism Is Emerging
NOBEL LAUREATES
Breaking Greece
Paul Krugman, Nobel Economics Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service25 Jun 2015 – I’ve been staying fairly quiet on Greece, not wanting to shout Grexit in a crowded theater. But given reports from the negotiations in Brussels, something must be said — namely, what do the creditors, and in particular the IMF, think they’re doing? At this point it’s time to stop talking about “Graccident”; if Grexit happens it will be because the creditors, or at least the IMF, wanted it to happen.
OTHER COMMENTARIES
NEWS
Gaza-Bound Flotilla Vessel Seized by Israeli Navy
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service29 Jun 2015 – Activists say the Marianne was intercepted by Israel’s military around 100 nautical miles from Gaza’s shore.
Freedom Flotilla III Leaves Greece for Gaza
PressTV – TRANSCEND Media Service27 Jun 2015 – Freedom Flotilla III has set sail from Greece for the Gaza Strip in a bid to break Israel’s long-time blockade of the Palestinian territory. It consists of three vessels carrying around 70 people from 20 countries who were invited by the people of Gaza though contacting international aid organizations for help.
BY TRANSCEND MEMBERS
Comforting a Baby Is Violent
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph. D. – TRANSCEND Media ServiceIn essence, the expression of feelings is a vital means of communication, for babies, children and adults. Interfering with the expression of feelings, by comforting for example, simply destroys a means of communication and virtually guarantees a dysfunctional behavioural outcome.
Opposing Construction of a Thirty Meter Telescope atop Sacred Mauna Kea Mountain in Hawai’i
Masahide T. Kato, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media ServiceWe are asking the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, the largest investor in the TMT, to divest from the project to save the mountain that is central to the existence of Native Hawaiians, Polynesians, and the oceanic ecosystems. Reasons:
International Yoga Day: Some Reflections
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media ServiceLast year, the UN declared 21 June as International Yoga Day. The Yoga lovers all over the world rejoiced at the UN declaration. Let me briefly analyze what I understand by the term Yoga.
Embodying Strategic Self-reference in a World Futures Conference
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media ServiceTranscending the Wicked Problem Engendered by Projecting Negativity Elsewhere – Creative review of the 17th International Futures Conference on Tackling Wicked Problems: where futures research, education and action meet.
War Crimes? Us???
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media ServiceThe convenient way out is to proclaim that all UN officials are by nature anti-Semites and Israel-haters, so that answering their questions is counterproductive. We are moral. We are right. By nature. We can’t help it. Those who accuse us must be anti-Semites. Simple logic. To hell with them all!
Outrageus Attempt at Killing a Deal with Iran
Jan Oberg - Transnational Foundation for Peace & Future Research25 Jun 2015 – Internal elite power games in Washington are now putting Middle Eastern and global stability and peace at stake. The Iran nuclear issue can only be solved through mutual respect, dialogue and fairness and a principled policy that precludes the idea of “one set of rules for you and one for us”.
Militarism’s Hostages
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media ServiceThe military-industrial complex sells itself by claiming to defend civilians. It justifies vast and crippling budgets by this claim; but it is a fraud. For the military-industrial complex, the only goal is money and power. Civilians like ourselves are just hostages. We are expendable.
SPECIAL FEATURE
2015 Global Peace Index
Institute for Economics & Peace, Vision of Humanity – TRANSCEND Media ServiceThe 2015 Global Peace Index shows that the world is becoming increasingly divided with some countries enjoying unprecedented levels of peace and prosperity while others spiral further into violence and conflict.
HUMAN RIGHTS
World Bank Group: Project Critics Threatened, Harassed, Jailed
Human Rights Watch – TRANSCEND Media ServiceThe 144-page report, “At Your Own Risk: Reprisals against Critics of World Bank Group Projects,” details how governments and powerful companies have threatened, intimidated and misused criminal laws against community members who stand to be displaced or harmed by projects financed by the WB and its private sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation.
IN FOCUS
Rightwing Radicalization, Militarization, and the Boomerang Effect
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media ServiceThroughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia, rightwing governments have increasingly adopted extremist socio-economic policies, slashing social expenditures, labor and welfare legislation, while increasing corporate subsidies and reducing taxes for the elite. The euphoria, arrogance and smirks, which accompanied the rise of rightwing radicalism, are dissipating into foul sulfurous odors only waiting for a fresh wind to blow them away.
Global Peace Science (GPS): Subject’s Area Matrix
Leo Semashko and Subhash Chandra – TRANSCEND Media ServiceSimply put, S-matrix expresses the architecture of global peace in its key structural blocks.
SPOTLIGHT
The War on Drugs: ‘A Trillion-Dollar Failure’
Will Dana – Rolling StoneThe War on Drugs is a trillion-dollar failure. We spend billions of dollars pursuing drugs and billions imprisoning people that probably shouldn’t be in prison. We have troops in Central America chasing drug dealers, we have Special Forces and Marines. Meanwhile, this war has killed a hundred thousand people in Mexico – and that doesn’t include 22,000 people missing.
The Amazing Story of What Happened When One Tiny Country Decriminalized ALL Drugs
Sophie McAdam, True Activist – TRANSCEND Media ServiceDecriminalization has worked in Portugal, and should inspire governments around the world to do the same.
SURVEILLANCE / SPYING / WHISTLEBLOWING / BIG BROTHER
Spies Hacked Computers Thanks to Sweeping Secret Warrants, Aggressively Stretching U.K. Law
Andrew Fishman and Glenn Greenwald – The InterceptGCHQ needed to reverse engineer software to hack into computer networks — so it decided to secretly reinterpret British law. Then it abused its newfound powers, ignoring internal guidelines.
Google Chrome Listening in to Your Room Shows the Importance of Privacy Defense in Depth
Rick Falkvinge, Privacy Online News – TRANSCEND Media ServiceNobody is to be trusted with a technical capability to listen to every room in the world, with listening profiles customizable at the identified-individual level, on the mere basis of “trust us”.
Google Accused of “Abusive” Conduct in Privacy App Case
Ryan Gallagher – The Intercept23 Jun 2015 – An award-winning company founded by former Google engineers is taking legal action against the search engine giant over claims it has engaged in a “pattern of abusive behavior” and is violating privacy rights on a “massive scale.”
Saudi Arabia Tells Citizens to Ignore Latest WikiLeaks Release
Ian Black – The Guardian21 Jun 2015 – Saudi Arabia has warned its citizens to ignore the 61,000 diplomatic documents leaked by the transparency site WikiLeaks, which give a rare insight into the kingdom’s habit of buying influence and monitoring dissidents.
Orwell’s Triumph: How Novels Tell the Truth of Surveillance
Sam Frank – The InterceptWe are characters in narratives constructed by algorithms. Joshua Cohen’s new novel, Book of Numbers, explores the ambiguity of surveillance.
Popular Security Software Came Under Relentless NSA and GCHQ Attacks
Andrew Fishman and Morgan Marquis-Boire – The InterceptTo thwart and extract hacks from anti-virus software companies, the spy agencies reverse engineered software, intercepted email and spied on web traffic. Kaspersky Lab was a major target.
ANGLO AMERICA
Confederate Flag Down, Rainbow Flag Up: This Is the American Pride We’ve Been Waiting For
Steven W Thrasher – The GuardianIt may not be hope and change, but isn’t it amazing how much grace there is in Barack Obama’s United States right now?
‘The American Century’ Has Plunged the World into Crisis. What Happens Now?
Conn Hallinan and Leon Wofsy – Foreign Policy In FocusU.S. foreign policy is dangerous, undemocratic, and deeply out of sync with real global challenges. Is continuous war inevitable, or can we change course?
Lower the US Flag on the 4th of July!
Gary Corseri – TRANSCEND Media ServiceFor over half a century, I’ve written articles against racism and war. I was shocked and I grieved to see what happened at the Charleston Emanuel Church. Quickly, the call went out: Take down the Confederate flag! But, let’s be very clear: the Confederate flag is NOT a central issue here.
‘The Perpetrator Has Been Arrested, but the Killer Is Still at Large’
Amy Goodman – TruthdigDylann Storm Roof is accused of methodically killing the congregants, reloading his Glock pistol at least twice. He let one victim live, according to a person who spoke with the survivor, so she could tell the world what happened. This brutal mass killing was blatantly racist, an overt act of terrorism.
ASIA & THE PACIFIC
Slavery, Genocide, Abuse: The Dark Side of Asia’s ‘Tiger Economies’
Walden Bello – Foreign Policy In FocusFrom declining worker protections to violent labor trafficking and ethnic cleansing, the dark underbelly of Southeast Asia’s “tiger economies” is on full display this year.
The Narrative of Statelessness in Myanmar
Sonu Trivedi – Asia TimesThe historic conflict between the Muslims and Rakhines in the Rakhine State of Myanmar has complicated the religious landscape and aggravated tensions, where the Rohingya Muslim faces ethnic and religious discrimination.
Donors Pledge Over 4.4 Billion Dollars to Nepal – But With a Caveat
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service“It is critical that the international community and Nepal learn from the mistakes of past emergencies, where up to half of pledges are never delivered on.”
EUROPE
Why We Should All Be Indebted to Syriza: Three Victories of the Greek Government
Jacques Sapir - CounterPunchIt is from now on clear that the Greek Government has achieved a spectacular victory. It has been improperly labeled ‘a government of the radical left’ or ‘the Syriza government’, but in reality it is a coalition (and the fact that this union has been made with the ‘sovereignist’* party ANEL is significant).
Iceland Just Jailed 7 Bank Executives for Market Manipulation
True Activist – TRANSCEND Media Service27 Jun 2015 – In one of the biggest cases of its kind, seven executives from the Kaupþing bank have been handed prison sentences for market manipulation today.
Why Greece Is on the Brink of Putting Life before Debt
Steve Rushton, Occupy – TRANSCEND Media Service22 Jun 2015 – “Greece has been and still is the victim of an attack premeditated and organized by the IMF, the European Central Bank, and the European Commission, reads the Preliminary Report of the Truth Committee on Public Debt published last week in Greece. “This violent, illegal, and immoral mission aimed exclusively at shifting private debt onto the public sector.”
Corporate Interests Dominate Lobbying with EU Policy-Makers
Sean Buchanan, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service“There is a strong link between the amount of money you spend and the number of meetings you get [with European Commission officials]. Those organisations with the biggest lobby budgets get a lot of access, particularly on the financial, digital and energy portfolios” – Daniel Freund, Transparency International EU
LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN
Honduran Democracy Still in Crisis 6 Years after Coup Sponsored by USA
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media ServiceAccording to a recent report, 15 assaults per month are perpetrated against journalists, human rights defenders, and political opposition. Meanwhile, gender-based violence is out of control with the femicide rate surpassing epidemic levels.
PALESTINE / ISRAEL
Foreign Investment in Israel Drops by 50%
Jack Moore – Newsweek25 Jun 2015 – Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Israel dropped by almost 50% last year in comparison to the year before as the country continues to feel the effects of last summer’s Gaza conflict, a new UN report has revealed.
“The Question Is Just When”: Max Blumenthal on War in the Gaza Strip’s Past — And Its Future
Elias Isquith - SalonAuthor of “The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza” tells what he saw in the rubble of a land under siege. If for whatever reason you are one of the very few people on this Earth who wants to go ‘into,’ rather than get ‘out of,’ the Gaza Strip, you may want to know what to expect.
UN Human Rights Council—Report of Independent Commission: Israel’s Ravagement of Gaza
Norman Pollack - CounterPunchNorman Pollack examines Israel’s array of war crimes.
Security Council Action on Gaza War Crimes a Non-Starter
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media ServiceThe chances of Security Council action are remote because of the traditional U.S. commitment to stand by Israel – right or wrong, mostly wrong. “When Israeli officials are put in the dock, U.S. officials ought to be right in there with them. Their conduct is inexcusable.”
THE UNITED NATIONS
Democracy on the Retreat in Over 96 of the 193 U.N. Member States, Says New Study
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service“Legitimate civil society activities are worryingly under threat in a huge number of countries in the global North and South, democratic and authoritarian, on all continents.”
COOPERATIVISM
What’s Next for the World’s Largest Federation of Worker-Owned Co-Ops?
Mary Hansen – Yes! MagazineMondragon Corporation is a federation of 103 worker-owned cooperatives based in the Basque region of Spain. It made about €11.6 billion ($13.1 billion) in income in 2013. The corporation employs more than 74,000 people around the world. About 60,000 are worker-owners, or “associates,” who own assets in the company and can be elected to the General Assembly, the body that oversees the corporation.
Post-Capitalist Solutions: How Worker-Owned Tech Co-ops Are Boosting the Solidarity Economy
Matt Stannard, Occupy – TRANSCEND Media Service23 Jun 2015 – Many now agree that corporate capitalism needs to go away. But we differ about the methods of replacing it. Worker ownership is about alienation versus empowerment. For human beings to be able to be their full selves, they need to have a say in their own affairs.
MILITARISM
Spain Agrees to Increased US Military Presence
Alejandro López, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service26 Jun 2015 – Spain has signed a new bilateral defence agreement to allow the US military permanent use of the Morón air base in Seville, with increased numbers of troops and aircraft.
ENVIRONMENT
6 Devastating Heat Waves Hitting the Planet
Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service23 Jun 2015 – Need proof that we’re having the hottest year on record? Scorching heat is searing parts of the world, sparking wildfires and claiming lives due to heat stroke and dehydration.
ENERGY
Germany’s Oldest Nuclear Power Plant Goes Offline
Associated Press – US News & World Report28 Jun 2015 — Germany’s oldest remaining nuclear reactor has been shut down, part of a move initiated four years ago to switch off all its nuclear plants by the end of 2022.
World’s Largest Offshore Wind Turbine Unveiled in Fukushima
Cole Mellino, EcoWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service22 Jun 2015 – Japan officially unveiled today its 7 megawatt (MW) wind turbine, the world’s largest offshore turbine to date. It is slated to be operational by September.
Half of Europe’s Electricity Set to Be from Renewables by 2030
Arthur Neslen – The GuardianLeaked EU paper predicts fast renewables growth to around double current levels if countries meet climate objectives.
MEDIA
New Social Media Platform Dubbed “The People’s Site” by Anonymous
True Activist – TRANSCEND Media ServiceFacebook may have finally met its match. By directly targeting the social media behemoth’s lack of messaging encryption, infamously opaque algorithms, and government and advertiser accessibility, Minds.com has earned the attention of privacy advocates, activists, and frustrated Facebook users—and has even garnered active support from Anonymous.
NYT’s Orwellian View of Ukraine
Robert Parry – Consortium NewsIn the up-is-down Orwellian world that is now The New York Times’ editorial page, there was no coup in Ukraine in 2014, no U.S.-driven “regime change,” no provocation on Russia’s border, just Moscow’s aggression — a sign of how propaganda has taken over mainstream U.S. media.
HEALTH
New Door Handle Kills Germs on Contact!
John Vibes, True Activist – TRANSCEND Media Service26 Jun 2015 – Two teenage science students from Hong Kong recently won second place at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for their new invention, a door handle that kills germs on contact.
The Truth about the Drug Companies: How They Manipulate Us Physicians without Our Awareness
Gary G. Kohls, MD – TRANSCEND Media Service“The pharmaceutical companies are an amoral bunch. They’re not a benevolent association. So they are highly unlikely to donate large amounts of money without strings attached. Once one is dancing with the devil, you don’t always get to call the steps of the dance.”
HISTORY
This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media ServiceJune 29–July 5 – QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.” – Flavia Weedn
STORIES TO INSPIRE YOU
Majority Rule
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media ServiceA Frenchman arrives on a South Sea island.
BIOGRAPHIES
Jean-Paul Sartre (21June 1905 – 15 April 1980)
The European Graduate School – TRANSCEND Media ServiceSartre was offered, the Nobel Prize for literature in 1964 for his autobiography, Words, though he subsequently rejected the award based on his own notions of his integrity as a writer.
Danilo Dolci (28 Jun1924 – 30 Dec 1997)
EDDILI – TRANSCEND Media ServiceDanilo Dolci was son of a devout Slav mother and a sceptical Italian father. He originally studied architecture in Rome, Milan, Switzerland, and also trained as an engineer. On Dec 30, 1997 Danilo Dolci “the Sicilian Ghandi”, winner of the Lenin peace prize (despite being explicitly catholic, non-communist), and twice a nominee for the Nobel peace prize, died at the age of seventy-three, of heart failure.
Helen Keller (27 Jun 1880 – 1 Jun 1968)
American Foundation for the Blind – TRANSCEND Media ServiceAmerican educator Helen Keller overcame the adversity of being blind and deaf to become one of the 20th century’s leading humanitarians, as well as co-founder of the ACLU.
Patrice Lumumba (Jul 2, 1925-Jan17, 1961)
Encyclopedia Britannica – TRANSCEND Media ServiceLumumba was a man of strong character who intended to pursue his policies regardless of the enemies he made within his country or abroad. Because of its wealth, size, and proximity to white-dominated southern Africa, Lumumba’s opponents feared the consequences of a radicalized Congo. Forced out of office during a political crisis, he was assassinated a short time later.
SCIENCE
What We Learned about Mercury from the Messenger Spacecraft
Bryan Dyne, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media ServiceOn April 30, the Messenger spacecraft performed a planned impact onto the surface of Mercury, ending the four-year mission to the Solar System’s innermost planet. In the end, only 10 minutes of data was lost out of the 1,500 days worth of information collected by Messenger.
POETRY FORMAT
Wake Up!
David Krieger, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service“Now, before the arrow is let loose,
before it flies across oceans
IN OTHER LANGUAGES
(Português) O Contra-senso Comum
Prof. Boaventura de Sousa Santos – TRANSCEND Media ServiceEm 1926, o poeta irlandês W.B. Yeats lamentava: “Falta convicção aos melhores enquanto os piores estão cheios de apaixonada intensidade”. Vejamos 10 convicções que se vão tornando senso comum e que, por serem ilusórias e absurdas, constituem o novo contra-senso comum.
(Português) Preservar a Perspectiva Singular do Papa: A Ecologia Integral
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service22 junho 2015 – O Papa Francisco operou uma grande virada no discurso ecológico ao passar da ecologia ambiental para a ecologia integral. Esta inclui a ecologia político-social, a mental, a cultural, a educacional, a ética e a espiritual.
(Français) Pourquoi les USA ont-ils ignoré les prédictions sur la Syrie ?
Rick Sterling, Investig’Action – TRANSCEND Media ServiceIl y a presque 3 ans, la Defense Intelligence Agency a caractérisé de façon précise la nature du conflit en Syrie et a prédit l’émergence de l’Etat Islamique. Cette révélation bouleversante a été le résultat de la loi sur la liberté de l’information combinée à un effort du groupe « Judicial Watch » en lien avec la commission spéciale sur Benghazi pour plus de transparence sur les agissements des services secrets américains en Syrie.
(Français) Les Trois Victoires du Gouvernement Grec
Jacques Sapir, RussEurope – TRANSCEND Media ServiceIl est désormais clair que le gouvernement grec, abusivement appelé « gouvernement de la gauche radicale » ou « gouvernement de SYRIZA », mais en réalité gouvernement d’union (et le fait que cette union ait été faite avec le parti souverainiste ANEL est significatif), a remporté des succès spectaculaire.
(Português) Negócios com Primatas
Dr. Pedro A. Ynterian - ANDA Agência de Notícias de Direitos AnimaisPor que esta Faculdade que durante anos torturou chimpanzés inoculando-os com toda uma série de doenças e produtos químicos quer ser benemérita com todos aqueles inocentes torturados anos a fio? No Capitalismo tudo se resume ao custo/ benefício.
(Italiano) Papa Francesco: teologia spirituale, liberatoria
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media ServiceChe dono per l’umanità, questo papa! Scegliere il mutamento climatico globale come tema fra i principali del suo papato è nello spirito dei tempi. Ciò che è rivoluzionario, ed egli usa sovente la parola, è il punto focale sui poveri. Grazie, papa Francesco, per il tuo punto focale: la violenza strutturale.
SHORT VIDEO CLIPS
Nikolai Starikov: Why Putin Does Not Recognize Donetsk and Lugansk Republics
Russia Insider – TRANSCEND Media ServiceRising politician, leader of the Great Patriotic Party of Russia and writer Nikolai Starikov’s explanation and insights about Russia annexing or recognizing Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic. It would not be in Russia’s best national and geopolitical interest; they must stay within Ukraine.
2015 Global Peace Index
Vision of Humanity - TRANSCEND Media ServiceJun 16, 2015 – The 2015 Global Peace Index reveals a divided world, with the most peaceful countries enjoying increasing levels of peace and prosperity, while the least peaceful countries spiral into violence and conflict. Explore the state of world peace on the interactive Global Peace Index Map.
Yellow (MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Coldplay Official – TRANSCEND Media ServiceVideo directed by James & Alex; filmed in Dorset, England.
