Zen Politics | 28 May 2015 The strange and strategic alliances of Middle East geopolitics never seems to surprise. But care to suggest that the West and Israel are in deep cahoots with al-Qaeda in Syria and expect a sharper look of incredulity. Yet, two vital new articles now fully illuminate this very reality. The first is from Dr Nafeez Ahmed, analysing the profound implications of a recently declassified…
Robert Fisk | 28 May 2015 For Arabs – and for Britons who lost their loved ones in his shambolic war in Iraq – Blair’s appointment was an insult Tony Blair’s time as Middle East envoy representing the US, Russia, the UN and the EU has finally come to an end. Eight years after he…
James Petras | May 28, 2015 Introduction: Everyone, from political pundits in Washington to the Pope in Rome, including most journalists in the mass media and in the alternative press, have focused on the US moves toward ending the economic blockade of Cuba and gradually opening diplomatic relations. Talk is rife of a ‘major shift’ in…
Tech Dirt | May 28, 2015 “For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens: as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone” The old joke goes “George Orwell’s 1984 was a warning, not a ‘how to’ manual.” But that joke is increasingly less funny as…
NZ Centre for Human Rights Law, Policy and Practice | 29 May 2015 When fluoride was added to the water supplies of two Taranaki towns not everyone was happy. The District Council had relied on powers in the Local Government Act 2002 and the Public Health Act 1956. But the plaintiff – an advocacy group –…
Science Daily | 27 May 2015 A new study, by scientists from the University of Southampton and National Oceanography Centre (NOC), implies that the global climate is on the verge of broad-scale change that could last for a number of decades. This new climatic phase could be half a degree cooler. The change to the new…
Sane Vax | 29 May 2015 Three different women in the Czech Republic have similar experiences after deciding to protect themselves from cervical cancer by using Silgard or Cervarix. (Note: Gardasil and Silgard are the same product marketed under different names depending on which country it is being sold in.) I was inoculated with three…
Tass | 28 May 2015 Struggle against corruption inside the international federation of football associations FIFA is a crucial task, but it would be impermissible to politicize that process and violate international law as the investigation proceeds, polled experts have told TASS. “Sports and politics must be kept separately,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said about…
Jonathan Cook | 27 May 2015 Did US Indict Soccer Officials to Protect Israel Apartheid? Arrests by US as FIFA Mulls Giving Israel Boot. FIFA, world football’s governing body, is due to meet this Friday in Zurich to decide whether to back a Palestinian motion to suspend Israel for its systematic violations of Palestinian footballers’ rights…
Infowars.com | May 27, 2015 A 2012 Defense Intelligence Agency Document declares “the West, Gulf countries, and Turkey support(ed) the opposition” in Syria, namely al-Qaeda in Iraq, the precursor to ISIS. Right there, in the Pentagon’s own words, al-Qaeda and ISIS were created to isolate the Syrian government. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZMxsxwO1vQ?feature=player_embedded&w=640&h=360]