Plutonian Mac

BP Feared Gulf Oil Spill Rate of 3.4 Million Gallons a Day - NYTimes.com

2012-01-30T22:32:00.000-05:00

BP Feared Gulf Oil Spill Rate of 3.4 Million Gallons a Day - NYTimes.com

2012 - A Message of Hope - YouTube

2012-01-30T21:13:00.001-05:00

2012 - A Message of Hope - YouTube

The Injustice Done to Joe Paterno - Michael Novak - National Review Online

2012-01-30T18:39:00.003-05:00

CLICK HERE: The Injustice Done to Joe Paterno - Michael Novak - National Review Online

Occupy Oakland Goons Break Into City Hall, Torch US Flag (Video) - HUMAN EVENTS

2012-01-29T22:56:00.002-05:00

Occupy Oakland Goons Break Into City Hall, Torch US Flag (Video) - HUMAN EVENTS

Occupy Oakland protestors burn an American flag found inside Oakland City Hall during an Occupy Oakland protest on the steps of City Hall, Saturday, January 28, 2012, in Oakland, Calif. (AP /Beck Diefenbach)

Here's the video:(go to site to play)

When police warned the protesters to move away from City Hall the Occupiers screamed,

"F**k you!"

Oakland Police block the entrance to City Hall after Occupy Oakland protestors gained access into the building during an Occupy Oakland protest, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in Oakland, Calif. Oakland officials say police are in the process of arresting about 100 Occupy protesters for failing to disperse on Saturday. (AP Photo/Beck Diefenbach)

FOR THE FULL POST, CLICK HERE: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=49157

City Hall damaged by Occupy Oakland protesters | abc7news.com

2012-01-29T20:33:00.000-05:00

City Hall damaged by Occupy Oakland protesters | abc7news.com

Oakland city councilman laments high cost of Oakland police, Occupy protesters clash

2012-01-29T20:08:00.001-05:00

Oakland city councilman laments high cost of Oakland police, Occupy protesters clash

Putin critic barred from Russia elections - Europe - Al Jazeera English

2012-01-28T00:34:00.000-05:00

Putin critic barred from Russia elections - Europe - Al Jazeera English

Stewart: Gingrich wants to leave earth ‘for a younger planet’ | The Raw Story

2012-01-27T19:07:00.000-05:00

Stewart: Gingrich wants to leave earth ‘for a younger planet’ | The Raw Story

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

BBC News - Audio slideshow: Bombay's jazz age

2012-01-26T23:39:00.001-05:00

Jazz in Bombay, India during the golden age of jazz, WOW!!!

Naresh Fernandes - author of Taj Mahal Foxtrot, the story of Bombay's jazz age - paints a portrait of the musicians, the fans, and the music.

BBC News - Audio slideshow: Bombay's jazz age

NBC Politics - Gingrich-Romney battle dominates the final debate before the Florida primary

2012-01-26T22:56:00.000-05:00

NBC Politics - Gingrich-Romney battle dominates the final debate before the Florida primary

▶ Current Political Situation in Libya: An Interview with Ali Ahmida by Jadaliyya

2012-01-25T20:51:00.000-05:00

▶ Current Political Situation in Libya: An Interview with Ali Ahmida by Jadaliyya

Anger and chaos but no revolt after Libya violence

2012-01-25T18:37:00.000-05:00

Anger and chaos but no revolt after Libya violence

STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS: Obama: ‘An America built to last’

2012-01-25T00:10:00.001-05:00

msnbc video: Obama: ‘An America built to last’

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Daily Kos: The Current Situation in Libya

2012-01-24T00:11:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: The Current Situation in Libya

Syrian deserters seize town of Douma northeast of Damascus, scores killed

2012-01-22T00:15:00.002-05:00

Saturday, 21 January 2012

Pro-government Syrian police faces protesters during demonstrations against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in Douma Dec.30, 2011. (Reuters)

By Al Arabiya with Agencies

Syrian army deserters on Saturday seized the town of Douma just northeast of Damascus after fierce fighting, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement, as escalated violence throughout the country killed left 94 people dead, including 60 from the town of Idlib alone.

“Groups of deserters took control of all districts in the town of Douma, near Damascus, after fierce fighting on Saturday with Syrian security forces,” the Observatory's chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP, citing militants there.

The latest development came amid intensified violence across the country with the Revolution’s General Commission reporting the death of 94 people, 60 of them were found in Idlib hospital morgue.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights earlier reported that an explosion killed at least 14 people and injured 32 on a minibus carrying prisoners in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib.

“Eleven prisoners were killed in the explosion which targeted a prison truck on the road between Idlib town and the village of Mastumeh,” The Syrian Observatory’s chairman, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP by telephone.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Syrian deserters seize town of Douma northeast of Damascus, scores killed

Forward to the Past in the D.R. Congo: Part 1, Le Roi-Souverain of the Congo Free State

2012-01-20T19:20:00.008-05:00

Forward to the Past in the D.R. Congo

Part One, Le Roi-Souverain of the Congo Free State

by Mac McKinney

The Congo River (source: Photobucket Commons)

It has always been such one could argue, the monumental abuse of humanity within the area designated “Congo”, first as a vast rainforest partially under the control of the African Kingdom of Kongo with its endless internecine skirmishes, battles and factional wars as well as its wars with the domineering Portuguese, and already cursed with the plague of slavery both as tradition and outside imposition; then as the very “Heart of Darkness” European colony that Joseph Conrad was describing in his writings; and finally as the modern dysfunctional and blood-splattered state that is making international headlines regularly as a gaping wound in the body-politic of Africa.

It was named, originally, after the dominant river running through it, the Congo. Congo is a Bantu word meaning “mountains” because this deep and monstrously long river often flows through elevated terrain, down into canyons and over great river falls, its sources actually beginning in the mountains and highlands of the East African Rift. And this was terrain covered by rich rainforests and jungle, or “bush”, the mountains and rainforests themselves laden with rubber trees, minerals, gold and diamonds that have become, to the modern industrial world, an endless source of avarice, and it was populated, by the late 1800s, by millions of black Africans largely living in small cities, villages and river settlements, with lineages traceable back to Neolithic times.

These millions had the misfortune to be in the worst place at the worst time during the last great surge of European colonialism in the race to carve up and subjugate the vast continent of Africa in the Nineteenth Century. Actually, if only Great Britain or France had colonized the Congo, things would have turned out better, because these two major colonial powers had already largely figured out, through trial and error, that it is short-term folly to simply bleed a colony dry, that if you are going to successfully colonize a territory then you must also make money for the colony, not unlike launching any business, investing in it, properly administrating it, showing at least a modicum of respect to the inhabitants rather than reverting to the savagery of the 15th Century Conquistadors of Spain, who simply came, saw and plundered lands, slaughtering the multitudes as they went. Indeed, even the Spanish had moved beyond that blood-soaked stage by and large.

But the established powers weren’t counting on the frenetic and vain ambitions of one small European colonial wannabe, Belgium, whose King Leopold I had vigorously sought, and failed, to join “the Club” in the first half of the 19th Century, but whose tall and imposing son, Leopold II, even more determined than “Dad” to the point of egomaniac obsession (“Belgium MUST have a colony” was his mantra), managed to achieve the near impossible. After years of also hunting for colonial footholds around the globe, he finally came up with a viable strategy for penetrating the territories of Africa. Already showing a budding propensity for duplicity and manipulation, in 1976 he calculatingly organized what was ostensibly a philanthropic and scientific association, the International African Society, with a mind for steering it toward his imperial ambitions, but which, however, soon became, to Leopold’s chagrin, a snake-pit of competing European colonial interests, which ultimately led to its fracturing. Ever enterprising though, Leopold had meanwhile organized the International Congo Society in 1878, which, although also spouting noble philanthropic and humanitarian ideals for Africa, was even more compliant toward Leopold and his rapacious royal and personal ambitions.


Statue of King Leopold II in Belgium. Those in the Congo have been pulled down. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mons_-_L%C3%A9opold_II_-_VTdJ.JPG)

In 1978, Leopold also hired the famed Welsh writer, explorer and exceedingly colorful character (read: scoundrel) Henry Morton Stanley, who had only several years earlier completed his epic African journey to find the lost Dr. David Livingstone. Leopold commissioned him to now sojourn forth and explore the vast Congo region while secretly “staking out” as much land as he could in Leopold’s name as part of the King’s grand acquisition strategy to be played on the chessboard of European political intrigues, a strategy cynically Machiavellian to the hilt.

19th Century etching of Stanley in Africa (source: Photobucket Commons)

As events would subsequently unfold, King Leopold II could actually be characterized as an arguable prototype for various 20th Century, disreputable political stereotypes such as egomaniac dictators, racist imperialists, Orwellian Double-Speakers several decades before Orwell was even born (let alone having written his masterpiece “1984”), while also setting the mold for obscene PR propagandists of international impact, not to mention mass-homicidal sociopaths.

Thus by 1884, with such instincts at his disposal, Leopold had skillfully wined, dined, bribed and lied his way through European diplomatic circles (while Stanley, back in Africa, was similarly flimflamming Congolese tribal chiefs) to the point of introducing this surrealistic proposition to the famous Berlin Conference on Africa of 1884-85, organized by no less than Otto von Bismarck himself, that HE, King Leopold II of Belgium, should be granted personal title to administer and control the lands recently delineated by Henry Stanley in what should be called the Congo Free State. His only goals, he pontificated, were to bring the light of civilization and Christianity to the benighted black man, while, incidentally, enabling all countries to bask in free trade for, and equal access to, the Congo’s then and future riches.

His peers swallowed this like school boys, hook, line and sinker. He had already so captivated the naivety, narcissistic sense of racial superiority and the confused impulses to elevate humanity of both Europeans and Americans that in that very same year the London Daily Telegraph could write that "Leopold II has knit adventurers, traders and missionaries of many races into one band of men under the most illustrious of modern travellers [Stanley] to carry to the interior of Africa new ideas of law, order, humanity and protection of the natives." (source:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/forever-in-chains-the-tragic-history-of-congo-409586.html)

Understanding geopolitical rivalries, Leopold also played on Bismarck’s concerns about France and Great Britain, arguing that to check their advances into the Congo, it would be best to declare it a free trade zone, managed by him of course. He also pledged to “suppress the East African slave trade; promote humanitarian policies; guarantee free trade within the colony; impose no import duties for twenty years; and encourage philanthropic and scientific enterprises.” (source: http://www.yale.edu/gsp/colonial/belgian_congo/index.html)

Otto von Bismarck (source: Photobucket Commons)

Thus charity, philanthropy, Christianity and free enterprise were Leopold’s pious sops to the Conference, Satan’s tempting address to Christ atop the pinnacle of the Temple the subconscious subtext, yet, unlike Jesus, the patronizing “White Man’s Burden-prone" leadership of Europe conferring in Berlin quickly took the Devil’s bait - King Leopold alone, not Belgium, was granted sole proprietorship of the newly declared Congo Free State, as if the attendees at the Berlin Conference had any legal and moral right in the first place to bequeath a territory somewhat larger than Mexico and 75 times larger than tiny Belgium to just one man, while placing the some 20,000,000 hapless black souls within it under his thumb. But in effect, that did not matter to these current masters of Africa’s fate. The die was cast and the hungry Belgian lion, quickly seconded by the Belgian Parliament as the Roi-Souverain de l’État Indépendant du Congo, tragically unleashed.

********

Next time:

Part 2: The Horror Begins

NATO and Libya - Nation building with sports - YouTube

2012-01-11T00:15:00.001-05:00

NATO and Libya - Nation building with sports - YouTube

The Libyan Revolution has also liberated freedom of sports in the country. Under Gaddafi, even sports and sports heroes were a threat to Gaddafi's egomania and control.

A Big History Lesson: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death - YouTube

2012-01-07T21:42:00.001-05:00

White King, Red Rubber, Black Death - YouTube

Syrian actress treads new stage in Syrian protests

2012-01-07T18:53:00.002-05:00

Syrian actress Fadwa Suleiman fearlessly showed her anti-regime sentiment by joining protests last year against President Bashar al-Assad. (File Photo)

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

Reuters Amman

Syrian actress Fadwa Suleiman says she was drawn to a life in drama because of its promise of freedom.

Disillusioned at the level of state control even in theatre and film, she joined protests last year against President Bashar al-Assad and now takes the stage at demonstrations in the city of Homs, center of resistance to his family's four-decade rule.

Cutting her hair short like a boy and moving from house to house to evade capture, Suleiman has become one of the most recognized faces of the 10-month uprising against Assad.

She played no part in the early demonstrations that broke out in March, but a deep-seated rebellious streak - which only increased when she joined the state-run High Conservatory for Theatre Arts - drew her towards the protests.

“I chose to study theatre because I thought theatre means freedom to think and to express oneself,” Suleiman told Reuters in a Skype interview from Homs.

Describing her time at the conservatory, which like most culture in Syria is controlled by the state, she said she slowly discovered that “my country wants to drain every culture and content from its citizens.”

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Syrian actress treads new stage in Syrian protests

US navy destroyer rescues Iranian boat from Somali pirates | World news | guardian.co.uk

2012-01-07T00:06:00.003-05:00

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said: 'This is an incredible story'. Photograph: AP

A US navy destroyer has rescued an Iranian fishing boat that had been commandeered by suspected pirates just days after Tehran warned America to keep its warships out of the Gulf.

US forces flying off the guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd responded to a distress call from the Iranian vessel, the Al Molai, which had been held captive for more than 40 days, the US navy said Friday. The Kidd was sailing in the Arabian sea, after leaving the Gulf, when it came to the sailors' aid.

A US navy team boarded the ship Thursday and detained 15 suspected Somali pirates. They had been holding the 13-member Iranian crew hostage and were using the boat as a "mother ship" for pirating operations in the Gulf.

Amid escalating tensions with Tehran, the Obama administration reveled in delivering the news.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: US Navy destroyer rescues Iranian boat from Somali pirates | World news | guardian.co.uk

The VICE Guide to Congo, Part 1 | VICE News | VICE

2012-01-06T21:24:00.000-05:00

The VICE Guide to Congo | VICE News | VICE

Rerunning this series

90-year-old former lawman shoots robber in Greenbrae | abc7news.com

2012-01-04T20:50:00.001-05:00

90-year-old former lawman shoots robber in Greenbrae | abc7news.com

What happens when that old geezer you want to rob turns out to be an old lawmen with a quick gun and good aim.

NATO and Libya - Tempting the tourists - YouTube

2012-01-04T20:38:00.002-05:00

NATO and Libya - Tempting the tourists - YouTube

Consider taking a vacation in Libya within the next few years as the country rebuilds and evolves. Libya has many ancient sites and ruins and a rich heritage.

Top Ten Myths about the Arab Spring of 2011 | Informed Comment

2011-12-31T21:13:00.000-05:00

Top Ten Myths about the Arab Spring of 2011 | Informed Comment

2011 AFP pictures of the year

2011-12-31T20:41:00.000-05:00

2011 AFP pictures of the year

Fireworks burst over the Eiffel Tower during - Media (11 of 46) 2011 AFP pictures of the year

2011-12-31T20:33:00.000-05:00

Fireworks burst over the Eiffel Tower during - Media (11 of 46) 2011 AFP pictures of the year

Repo Men - National Review Online

2011-12-28T17:27:00.000-05:00

Repo Men - National Review Online

Al Jazeera Top10 Stories 2011 - Al Jazeera English

2011-12-27T22:21:00.001-05:00

2011: A Year in Review

The year saw the rise of a new country, the fall of long-time leaders and numerous tragedies and triumphs in between.

Last Modified: 27 Dec 2011 12:18 GMT

Al Jazeera top 10 2011

The Arab Awakening

Imagining the Arab Spring: A year later

From Tunis and Tahrir to Wall Street, and back again

Picking up the pieces

Japan: the challenges ahead

Looking to the past for answers

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Al Jazeera top 10 2011 - Al Jazeera English

‫استقلال ليبيا | In 1951, Libya gains Original Independence‬‎ - YouTube

2011-12-27T00:02:00.001-05:00

‫استقلال ليبيا | Libya gains independence‬‎ - YouTube

Cuba to release 2,900 prisoners - CNN.com

2011-12-26T19:15:00.000-05:00

Cuba to release 2,900 prisoners - CNN.com

Child trafficking surges in Haiti - Americas - Al Jazeera English

2011-12-26T00:25:00.000-05:00

Child trafficking surges in Haiti - Americas - Al Jazeera English

BBC News - DR Congo police block entry to Tshisekedi inauguration

2011-12-25T22:19:00.001-05:00

Several opposition supporters were arrested for trying to enter the stadium

Troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo blocked entry to a stadium where the main opposition leader planned to inaugurate himself as president.

Etienne Tshisekedi has rejected the official victory of incumbent President Joseph Kabila in November's elections.

A BBC reporter says police used stun grenades to disperse people attempting to get to the stadium in the capital.

So Mr Tshisekedi's conducted the unofficial inauguration at his home residence instead.
President Kabila was sworn in for a second term on Tuesday after being declared the official winner with 49% of the vote, compared to Mr Tshisekedi's 32%.

Western observers denounced the presidential results as seriously flawed, but the election commission - backed by the African Union - hailed the polls a success.

The US-based campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) says police have killed at least 24 people since the disputed polls.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: BBC News - DR Congo police block entry to Tshisekedi inauguration

Peace at Christmastime by Tina Micula - YouTube

2011-12-25T13:12:00.000-05:00

Peace at Christmastime by Tina Micula - YouTube

BBC News - Libya independence: King Idris anniversary celebrated

2011-12-25T00:45:00.000-05:00

BBC News - Libya independence: King Idris anniversary celebrated

Rural California Under Siege: A Vandalized Valley - Victor Davis Hanson - National Review Online

2011-12-22T23:21:00.000-05:00

A Vandalized Valley - Victor Davis Hanson - National Review Online

The World's Worst Dictators | Parade.com

2011-12-20T23:10:00.003-05:00

Check out Parade's Top Ten Dictators for 2011
at The World's Worst Dictators | Parade.com

Chilling discovery: Arctic ice releases deadly greenhouse gas » peoplesworld

2011-12-19T19:59:00.005-05:00

Chilling discovery: Arctic ice releases deadly greenhouse gas

by: Blake Deppe

December 14 2011

Methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, has been found by scientists in deadly, bubbling plumes on the surface of the Arctic Ocean.

The scientists, who were undertaking an extensive survey of the area, were utterly bewildered by the scale and volume of the methane. In particular, the head of the Russian research team studying the East Siberian Arctic Shelf's sea floor for 20 years was completely amazed.

Igor Semiletov, of the Far Eastern branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said he has never witnessed such a drastic uptick in methane. He released his findings a few weeks ago at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco, Calif.

"I was most impressed by the sheer scale and high density of the plumes," said Semiletov. "Earlier, we found torch-like structures like this, but those were only tens of meters in diameter. This is the first time that we've found continuous, powerful, and impressive seeping structures, more than 1,000 meters in diameter. Over a relatively small area, we found 100 [of them]; over a wider area, there should be thousands."

Semiletov went on to describe the methane as "fountains bubbling through the water column and injected directly into the atmosphere from the seabed."

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Chilling discovery: Arctic ice releases deadly greenhouse gas » peoplesworld

ALL HAIL THE NEWT: Gingrich Says He Would Arrest Judges With Capitol Police Or U.S. Marshals

2011-12-19T19:19:00.001-05:00

Gingrich Says He Would Arrest Judges With Capitol Police Or U.S. Marshals

North Korea's Kim Jong-Il has died - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English

2011-12-18T22:37:00.001-05:00

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il (C) and his son Kim Jong-Un visit a factory [Reuters]

North Korean media has reported that long-time leader Kim Jong-Il died.

State television reported on Monday that he died on Saturday and the announcer said the cause was "physical and mental over-work".

The official news agency KCNA said Kim died on board a train during one of his field trips outside the capital of the communist country.

Meanwhile, the Yonhap news agency said the South Korean military has been placed on emergency alert, as shares on the stock market in Seoul fell nearly five per cent.

South Korea's presidential Blue House has also called an emergency National Security Council meeting.

Reclusive 'dear leader'

Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008 but appeared relatively vigorous in photos and video from recent trips to China and Russia and in numerous trips around the country carefully documented by state media.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: North Korea's Kim Jong-Il has died - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English

World News - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il dies

2011-12-18T22:34:00.000-05:00

World News - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il dies

ABC7 Special: A Journey of Hope -- The Bay Area to Sierra Leone | abc7news.com

2011-12-18T14:41:00.001-05:00

ABC7 Special: A Journey of Hope -- The Bay Area to Sierra Leone | abc7news.com

ABC7 aired a special called "A Journey of Hope: The Bay Area to Sierra Leone" on Friday, Dec. 16, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. The special took viewers to one of the most dangerous places on earth for mothers and young children to see the progress being made with help from the Bay Area and beyond.

Show synopsis:

The West African nation of Sierra Leone was devastated by a brutal war marked by the struggle for blood diamonds and widespread atrocities. Today there is peace and a new focus on controlling malaria, malnutrition and a devastatingly high child mortality rate. The Bay Area is contributing to that effort by training physicians, spearheading ground breaking research, and contributing to the well-being of children and their communities.

The Defense Bill Passed. So What Does It Do? | Mother Jones

2011-12-18T10:50:00.000-05:00

The Defense Bill Passed. So What Does It Do? | Mother Jones

Occupy activists face growing criticism after failed port shutdown bid | World news | guardian.co.uk

2011-12-18T01:31:00.000-05:00

Occupy activists face growing criticism after failed port shutdown bid | World news | guardian.co.uk

Arab Spring anniversary: how a lost generation found its voice | World news | guardian.co.uk

2011-12-17T14:27:00.000-05:00

Arab Spring anniversary: how a lost generation found its voice | World news | guardian.co.uk

NATO Review - Mladic, Srebrenica and justice - YouTube

2011-12-16T23:35:00.000-05:00

NATO Review - Mladic, Srebrenica and justice - YouTube

UPDATE 1-Italy, Russia firms to supply gasoline to Libya in '12 | Reuters

2011-12-16T22:20:00.000-05:00

UPDATE 1-Italy, Russia firms to supply gasoline to Libya in '12 | Reuters

Congo court declares Kabila winner of poll - Africa - Al Jazeera English

2011-12-16T17:08:00.002-05:00

The Supreme Court rejected calls for the results of the presidential polls to be cancelled [EPA]

The Democratic Republic of Congo's Supreme Court has declared Joseph Kabila winner of the presidential polls, rejecting opposition calls for results to be annulled.

Jerome Kitoko, the court's president, said on Friday that Kabila had won 48.95 per cent of the vote.

"In consequence, Joseph Kabila is proclaimed president-elect of the republic with a simple majority," he said at the Justice Ministry.

The Supreme Court began hearings on Thursday for the annulment of the November presidential election lodged by a key opponent of Kabila.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Congo court declares Kabila winner of poll - Africa - Al Jazeera English

Inside Syria: Sky News exclusive access in the city of Homs

2011-12-16T00:37:00.000-05:00

Inside Syria: Sky News exclusive access in the city of Homs

'Carlos the Jackal' convicted in France - Europe - Al Jazeera English

2011-12-16T00:10:00.002-05:00

Ramirez sowed fear across Europe and the Middle East during the Cold War

A Paris court has convicted a Venezuelan-born man known as "Carlos the Jackal" of organising four deadly attacks in France in the 1980s and sentenced him to life in prison again.

Carlos, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, is already serving a life sentence in a French prison for a triple murder in 1975.

The former gun-for-hire and self-proclaimed revolutionary returned to court last month to face charges he instigated attacks in France in 1982 and 1983.

Ramirez, 62, was accused of masterminding four separate attacks on two trains, a train station, and a Paris street that killed 11 people and wounded nearly 200.

The court on Thursday found him guilty on all four counts, and sentenced him to life in prison with possibility of parole after 18 years.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: 'Carlos the Jackal' convicted in France - Europe - Al Jazeera English

Syria: ‘Shoot to Kill’ Commanders Named | Human Rights Watch

2011-12-15T22:41:00.000-05:00

READ THE FULL ARTICLE WITH THE VIDEO HERE: Syria: ‘Shoot to Kill’ Commanders Named | Human Rights Watch

Sheriff Arpaio Takes a DOJ Torpedo - Fighting for Justice in Maricopa County -- Luchando para la Justicia en el Condado Maricopa

2011-12-15T22:37:00.004-05:00

Breaking News: Sheriff Arpaio gets smack down from DoJ AND DHS!

Posted by Monica Sandschafer 170.40pc on December 15, 2011

Lealo en espanol abajo

fter years of working to bring Sheriff Joe Arpaio to justice, we here at LUCHA couldn't be more delighted with today's historic developments.

Department of Justice confirms pattern of discrimination against Latino community

The Department of Justice completed their 3-1/2 year investigation into civil rights abuses by Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. Based on hundreds of interviews and the review of thousands of documents, the findings confirm, objectively and quantitatively, the pattern of discrimination and retaliation that Maricopa County's Latino residents and Arpaio critics have encountered here for years. Arpaio has until January 4th to determine his compliance the DoJ recommendations to fix his department. If he doesn't, a DoJ lawsuit will force him to fall in line with federal law.

Fighting for Justice in Maricopa County -- Luchando para la Justicia en el Condado Maricopa

False Promises, Forced Labour of Nepalese Migrant Workers - YouTube

2011-12-14T23:26:00.000-05:00

False Promises, Forced Labour of Nepalese Migrant Workers - YouTube

Russian-backed Propaganda Networks Claim Obama is a CIA Agent

2011-12-14T23:06:00.001-05:00

It takes a propagandist to know a propagandist I guess:

Right Wing AIM Attacks Madsen and other Left-Wing Propagandists with: Russian-backed Propaganda Networks Claim Obama is a CIA Agent

U.N. calls for action on Syria; U.S. official likens Assad regime to ‘dead man walking’

2011-12-14T21:33:00.002-05:00

Thursday, 15 December 2011

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon urged world powers on Wednesday to act “in the name of humanity” against Syria’s crackdown on dissent as Syrian forces killed another 21 civilians. (Reuters)

By Al Arabiya with Agencies

Dubai

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon urged world powers on Wednesday to act “in the name of humanity” against Syria’s crackdown on dissent, as a U.S. official likened the Damascus regime to a “dead man walking.”

Activists said Syrian forces killed another 21 civilians on a day when the U.S. State Department’s special coordinator on Middle East affairs Frederic Hof told U.S. lawmakers that “change is surely coming to Syria.”

Ban told reporters in New York that the status quo in Syria – where security forces on Wednesday reportedly shot dead civilians, cut power lines and conducted raids and arrests – “cannot go on.”

“In the name of humanity, it is time for the international community to act”, he said.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: U.N. calls for action on Syria; U.S. official likens Assad regime to ‘dead man walking’

Will Occupy Wall Street Upend Obama’s Presidential Election? -- New York Magaizne

2011-12-14T18:40:00.001-05:00

2012=1968?

In 2008, Barack Obama lit a fire among young activists. Next year, Occupy Wall Street could consume him.

By John Heilemann
Published Nov 27, 2011

The post-Zuccotti era of Occupy Wall Street began for Max Berger just after 1 a.m. on November 15, when he learned via text message that a forcible eviction of the park was close at hand. At 26, Berger is a redheaded Reed College alum and professional activist; his employers have included the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Van Jones’s outfit, Rebuild the Dream. By hard-core standards, he had come late to the OWS action, not visiting the park until a week after the protest got going on September 17. But Berger found himself sucked in and became one of its central players. Now, with Zuccotti under siege, he raced to the park and fired off a series of frantic tweets—before being put in handcuffs. “People singing Marley!” “Press not being let in. This is gonna be some Tiananmen shit.” “They can take this park, but they can’t stop this movement. This will backfire. We will win.”

Berger’s optimism was shared by his OWS cohorts. Upset as the organizers were about losing the symbolic value of the encampment at Zuccotti, the way it happened—in a late-night raid by police in riot gear, with reporters denied access and even arrested—had its own symbolic oomph. The organizers thought, too, that the eviction would confer another benefit: catalyzing turnout for the next major OWS demonstration, which was scheduled to take place two days later. And although the “day of action” on November 17 failed to shutter the stock exchange, the demo’s marquee goal, the show of force in Gotham was impressive—and replicated on a smaller scale in cities around the country.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Will Occupy Wall Street Upend Obama’s Presidential Election? -- New York Magaizne

Occupational Therapy - Where is the Occupy Movement Headed

2011-12-14T18:18:00.001-05:00

Occupational Therapy | The Weekly Standard

Syria’s death toll from violent crackdown rises sharply as U.N. action urged

2011-12-14T00:13:00.004-05:00

Syrians living in Jordan shout slogans against President Bashar al-Assad, during a demonstration in front of the Syrian embassy in Amman. (Reuters)

By Al Arabiya with Agencies

Six people were killed early on Wednesday near the Syrian city of Hama after their car was hit by a mortar shell, Al Arabiya reported citing activists at the Syrian Coordination Committees. The new deaths raise the death toll of violent crackdown on protesters within the past 24 hours to 47 people, mostly in Idlib, Al Arabiya said.
The bloodshed in the northern province of Idlib, which borders Turkey, highlighted the accelerating violence in Syria where an insurgency has begun to overshadow what started as peaceful street protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s 11-year rule.

Syrian activist Ammar Qurabi told Al Arabiya that a road map has already been planned for establishing safe corridors on the Syrian-Turkish borders. He said that the Turkish government was only waiting for an Arab and regional cover to apply the planned road map. “However, as more civilians are killed in Syria, Turkey might ask for a cover from the NATO,” he said.

The United Nations’ Navi Pillay said the death toll was 1,000 higher than an estimate she released 10 days earlier. It includes civilians, army defectors and those executed for refusing to shoot civilians, but not soldiers or security personnel killed by opposition forces, she said, according to Reuters.

The Syrian government has said more than 1,100 members of the army, police and security services have been killed and state media reported 17 military funerals on Tuesday for victims of “terrorist armed groups.”

Pillay said Syria’s actions could constitute crimes against humanity, issuing a fresh call for the U.N. Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said:

“The situation is totally unacceptable. The brutal repression of civilians must stop. Assad must listen to his people, to his neighbors, to the Arab partners, to Europe, to the world. We all have the same message: he should stop the violence against his own people and let the transition begin.”

The sharp rise in the death toll is bound to lend weight to those arguing for increased international intervention to stop the bloodshed in Syria which some fear is increasingly drifting towards civil war.

Assad, 46, whose minority Alawite family has held power over majority Sunni Muslim Syria for four decades, faces the most serious challenge to his rule from the turmoil which erupted in the southern city of Deraa on March 18.

A violent security crackdown failed to halt the unrest -- inspired by popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Libya -- which turned bloodier in the last few months as defecting soldiers join armed civilians in fighting back in some areas.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Syria’s death toll from violent crackdown rises sharply as U.N. action urged

Ted Koppel: As U.S. Withdraws From Iraq, Questions Remain About American Presence (VIDEO)

2011-12-13T18:20:00.000-05:00

Ted Koppel: As U.S. Withdraws From Iraq, Questions Remain About American Presence (VIDEO)

Libyans express solidarity with Syria

2011-12-11T22:07:00.000-05:00

Libyans express solidarity with Syria

Calm returns to Tripoli after clashes between militia and the Libyan army

2011-12-11T20:56:00.002-05:00

By Al Arabiya with agencies

Tripoli

Calm returned to Tripoli on Sunday after clashes between an armed brigade and the land forces of the Libyan National Army contesting control over the capital’s airport late Saturday.

The clashes left three men from the Libyan army dead and one fighter was killed while three others from al-Zintan brigade were wounded.

The gunbattle broke out overnight when armed men in the vehicles of Libya’s new national army tried to take control of Tripoli’s international airport from militia men, the commander of the airport’s security force said on Sunday.

On Sunday, the road leading to the airport was opened.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE WITH VIDEO CLICK HERE: Calm returns to Tripoli after clashes between militia and the Libyan army

France’s Juppe says Syria possibly behind Lebanon bomb attack on troops

2011-12-11T20:47:00.000-05:00

France’s Juppe says Syria possibly behind Lebanon bomb attack on troops

Deal clinched at UN climate summit in Durban - YouTube

2011-12-11T09:27:00.000-05:00

Deal clinched at UN climate summit in Durban - YouTube

AFP: Libyan rulers ready to forgive Kadhafi fighters

2011-12-11T09:22:00.000-05:00

AFP: Libyan rulers ready to forgive Kadhafi fighters

The Long Road to Tripoli: part one - Gaddafi: The Endgame - Al Jazeera English

2011-12-11T01:19:00.000-05:00

The Long Road to Tripoli: part one - Gaddafi: The Endgame - Al Jazeera English

UN climate conference approves landmark deal - Africa - Al Jazeera English

2011-12-11T00:26:00.002-05:00

The agreement in Durban, South Africa, extended requirements of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol for five more years [AFP]

The president of a United Nations climate conference in South Africa has announced agreement on a programme mapping out a new course by all nations to fight climate change over the coming decades.

The 194-party conference agreed on Sunday to start negotiations on a new accord that would put all countries under the same legal regime to enforce their commitments to control greenhouse gases. Approved by 2015, it would take effect by 2020 at the latest.

However, key components of the accord remain to be hammered out, and observers say the task will be arduous. Thorny issues include the still-undefined legal status of the accord and apportioning cuts on emissions among rich and poor countries.

"This is a very significant package. None of us likes everything in it. Believe me, there is plenty the United States is not thrilled about."
-Todd Stern, the US climate envoy

Currently, only industrial countries have legally binding emissions targets under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Those commitments expire next year, but they will be extended for another five years under the accord adopted on Sunday.

For the first time, it would bring all the major emitters, including China and India, unto the same legally binding roof.
Until now, developing giants have had no such constraints on their carbon pollution.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: UN climate conference approves landmark deal - Africa - Al Jazeera English

Message from Pres. McEllrath: We share Occupy’s concerns about America, but EGT battle is complicated | Longshore & Shipping News

2011-12-10T18:44:00.000-05:00

Message from Pres. McEllrath: We share Occupy’s concerns about America, but EGT battle is complicated | Longshore & Shipping News

Thousands of Russians demand 'evolution not revolution' - YouTube

2011-12-10T17:42:00.000-05:00

Thousands of Russians demand 'evolution not revolution' - YouTube

Post-poll clashes turn deadly in DR Congo - Africa - Al Jazeera English

2011-12-10T17:36:00.002-05:00

Opposition leader Tshisekedi has proclaimed himself the winner of the presidential elections [AFP]

Clashes between opposition protesters and security forces have broken out in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least six people, a day after election authorities named Joseph Kabila, the incumbent president, winner of a disputed poll.

Gunfire rang out in a number of cities across the country on Saturday, after Kabila's main challenger, Etienne
Tshisekedi, said he rejected the official results and declared himself the new leader of the vast central African
state.

Kabila's administration quickly condemned Tshisekedi's declaration and described it as "an irresponsible act that violates the laws of the republic".

Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege reporting from Kinshasa said that Tshisekedi's move to name himself president was futile.

"There is hardly any room for opposition to expect the result to be overturned at the supreme court where the result will be ratified. This means that the opposition is dependent on their supporters to take to the streets".
But security forces have barricaded areas considered to be opposition strongholds, where violence seems to be continuing, our correspondent said

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Post-poll clashes turn deadly in DR Congo - Africa - Al Jazeera English

Meet the likely architect of the new Libya « Shabab Libya

2011-12-09T17:49:00.001-05:00

Washington Post Prophecy:

December 9, 2011

As Ali Sallabi walked through the lobby of Tripoli’s Radisson hotel — a 1980s concrete tower separated from the Mediterranean coast by the soft lines of a whitewashed 16th-century mosque — the Muslim cleric couldn’t take two steps without being approached by fawning Libyans, eager Western journalists and glad-handing representatives of foreign aid organizations.

People slipped him bits of paper with their phone numbers. Armed rebels — teenagers, most of them — asked him to pose for photos on their cellphones. Women sought his blessings.

A short time ago, hardly anyone in the West knew or cared who Sallabi was. But the 47-year-old cleric has quickly transformed himself from longtime spiritual leader of the anti-Gaddafi opposition — albeit from self-imposed exile in Qatar and other gulf states — to chief architect of Libya’s most likely next government, an Islam-based democracy whose shape and leanings remain wholly unclear.

As enthusiastic as his welcome is at home, the reaction abroad to Sallabi’s rise in post-revolutionary Libya has grown wary, even bordering on panicky. Like his Muslim Brotherhood compatriots in Egypt and the new Islamist government in Tunisia, Sallabi is trying to weave a path between wildly optimistic expectations in his country and downright dread from the United States and Western Europe.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Meet the likely architect of the new Libya « Shabab Libya

Reuters: Benghazi dreams of becoming “Libya’s New York” « Shabab Libya

2011-12-09T06:32:00.000-05:00

Reuters: Benghazi dreams of becoming “Libya’s New York” « Shabab Libya

Congo The Brutal History (King Leopold) - YouTube

2011-12-08T23:18:00.001-05:00

King Leopold of Belgium and how he outdid Hitler in racist horrors:

Congo The Brutal History - YouTube

DR Congo election results postponed - Africa - Al Jazeera English

2011-12-08T22:55:00.000-05:00

DR Congo election results postponed - Africa - Al Jazeera English

Police Release Occupy Oakland Public Records ~ City of Oakland, California

2011-12-08T22:02:00.000-05:00

Occupy Oakland Public Records ~ City of Oakland, California

Making the Invisible Visible - YouTube

2011-12-07T17:44:00.001-05:00

Making the Invisible Visible - YouTube

Longshoremen’s Union Rejects Occupy Oakland’s Call for “Solidarity” West Coast Port Shutdown | Bastiat Institute

2011-12-06T23:04:00.002-05:00

After briefly shutting down their [adopted] city’s port earlier this month, Occupy Oakland is calling for a December 12 shutdown of all West Coast U.S. seaports. From the Occupiers:

We call on each West Coast occupation to organize a mass mobilization to shut down its local port. Our eyes are on the continued union-busting and attacks on organized labor, in particular the rupture of Longshoremen jurisdiction in Longview Washington by the EGT. Already, Occupy Los Angeles has passed a resolution to carry out a port action on the Port Of Los Angeles on December 12^th, to shut down SSA terminals, which are owned by Goldman Sachs.

Occupy Oakland expands this call to the entire West Coast, and calls for continuing solidarity with the Longshoremen in Longview Washington in their ongoing struggle against the EGT. The EGT is an international grain exporter led by Bunge LTD, a company constituted of 1% bankers whose practices have ruined the lives of the working class all over the world, from Argentina to the West Coast of the US. During the November 2nd General Strike, tens of thousands shutdown the Port Of Oakland as a warning shot to EGT to stop its attacks on Longview. Since the EGT has disregarded this message, and continues to attack the Longshoremen at Longview, we will now shut down ports along the entire West Coast.

Naturally, the self-righteous letter was signed “In Solidarity and Struggle, Occupy Oakland.” The labor dispute to which they refer has been covered by CEI’s Ivan Osorio on this site in the past. Essentially, the Longview, Washington, contingent of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union is upset that Longview grain terminal owner EGT wants to use a contractor that has a collective bargaining agreement with a different union, the International Union of Operating Engineers.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Longshoremen’s Union Rejects Occupy Oakland’s Call for “Solidarity” West Coast Port Shutdown | Bastiat Institute

World News - Moscow election official: I helped rig Russia vote

2011-12-06T19:56:00.003-05:00

Remember what the Beatles said: Back to the US, back to the US, back to the USSR!!!

CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY: World News - Moscow election official: I helped rig Russia vote

BBC News - PM heaps praise on UK Libya personnel

2011-12-06T19:21:00.000-05:00

BBC News - PM heaps praise on UK Libya personnel

Muslim Brotherhood seeks to reassure Egyptian voters of broad coalition

2011-12-06T19:11:00.001-05:00

Women walk beside an election poster by Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood “The Freedom and Justice Party” outside a polling station in Cairo. The Brotherhood promised Egyptians voting in a run-off on Tuesday it would work in a broad coalition if its party wins parliamentary elections. (Reuters)

By Al Arabiya with Agencies

Dubai

The Muslim Brotherhood promised Egyptians voting in a run-off on Tuesday it would work in a broad coalition if its party wins parliamentary elections, saying it hoped to avoid a showdown with the ruling military council.

Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie, whose party led the first phase of voting last week, played down suggestions that Islamists would try to dominate parliament when it gets to work after the staggered election is completed in January.

“We will not rule Egypt alone. Parliament will include all the colours of the rainbow that must agree on one direction, one goal,” Badie told the private Al-Mehwar station, according to a transcript of the interview.

Parliament’s popular mandate will make it difficult for the military council to ignore but the army will remain in charge until a presidential election in June, after which it has said it would hand over power to civilians.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Muslim Brotherhood seeks to reassure Egyptian voters of broad coalition

NTC chairman denies that Iran helped Gaddafi | Libya TV

2011-12-06T19:00:00.003-05:00

Libya has denied allegations by the US officials that Iran had supplied the toppled regime of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi with weapons.

Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil (R) meets with the Iranian ambassador in Libya Hossein Akbari (L), in Tripoli, Libya, 05 December 2011.

Mustafa Abdel Jalil, Libya’s interim leader, dismissed the recent comments by the US officials that Iran had provided the former Libyan regime with hundreds of special artillery shells for chemical weapons, IRIB reported on Monday.

Washington has so far failed to back up the claim with concrete evidence or genuine documents, Abdel Jalil stated.

The shells, filled with highly-toxic mustard agent, have been uncovered in recent weeks at two sites in central Libya. They are reportedly being kept under heavy guard and round-the-clock surveillance.

The US officials alleged that the chemical weapons had been custom-designed and -produced in Iran for Gaddafi’s dictatorial regime.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: NTC chairman denies that Iran helped Gaddafi | Libya TV

Friendly Fuedalism - The Tibet Myth

2011-12-06T00:41:00.001-05:00

Beware pseudo-Buddhism that serves as a mask for Feudalistic theocracy. The Buddha sighs in his heavenly mansion when he sees such travesities.

Friendly Fuedalism - The Tibet Myth

My Review of Melancholia - a film by Lars von Trier

2011-12-05T23:21:00.005-05:00

Melancholia - by Lars von Trier

I saw Melancholia at the Naro Film Forum in Norfolk this past Sunday morning, and it was quite a visual and emotional event. Lars von Trier, for those of you who don't know, is one of these afflicted, Dostoevsky-type artistic geniuses who has quite a penchant for portraying the dark side of human experience, not in the pornographic sense of merely sensationalizing it, but in the analytical sense of exploring it. Suffering from depression himself at times, in Melancholia, which is a more classic term for severe depression, he hurls us into a face to face confrontation, through the wonders of hand held photography up close, with the main protagonist, Justine, with her many moods and failings, and who becomes all but dysfunctional as the story unwinds. But this is not merely her story, for Melancholia suddenly becomes a cosmic story involving the threatened destruction of the planet - melancholic annihilation writ large projected from her mind? or an actual reality within the movie's time and space construct? Microcosm and macrocosm of the suffering and apocalyptic visions and fantasies of all humanity at this point in time is what I see going on, and against this we can also discern the clash of dying Patriarchy versus knife-clenching Matriarchy in words, deeds, images and symbolism. Justine, played brilliantly by Kirsten Dunst, confides that deep roots pull at her feet constantly, a terrible burden that exhausts her and disrupts any attempts at normalcy. She is descending into the depths of the earth psychosomatically to find elemental Self, spending endless, even erotic hours in Nature, often on horseback with her sister, and ironically, as all begins to collapse around her, she becomes the strong character of the story.

Set at a huge mansion with vast acreage on the coastline of Sweden, the photography is stunning, even symphonic, although be forewarned that the hand-held style may make you sea-sick over time, so buy some Dramamine or whatever if need be. Her sister Claire, powerfully played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, the anti-heroine of von Trier's disturbing look at misogyny in Anti-Christ, is a poignant study in anxiety in her own right, with a prominent cast of male characters as well, mostly flawed in personality and jaded enough to underscore the symbolically collapsing world of Patriarchy that the story reveals, Kiefer Sutherland playing Justine's brother-in-law with neurotic flourish, John Hurt her somewhat decrepit father, plus Charlotte Rampling as her cynically negative mother.

A tour de force on several levels, both personal drama and collective drama set against a backdrop of pending world annihilation, if you are a von Trier fan do not miss this movie! It says much to our psyches and subconscious.

Man who jump started revolution sworn in as minister | Libya TV

2011-12-05T20:32:00.004-05:00

The man whose arrest in February sparked Libya’s revolution was sworn in as a minister in the new interim government yesterday but said he had been hesitant about taking on the new job.

Fethi Tarbel, a human rights activist and lawyer who represented families of the Abu Salim prison massacre in 1996, was arrested in Benghazi in February.

Fethi Tarbel, Libya’s new sport and youth minister, wiped away tears after he took he swore a pledge of allegiance to Libya with one hand placed on the Koran, the Muslim holy book.

Standing in front of Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Keib and National Transitional Council (NTC) chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil, Tarbel was among a small group of ministers who had not taken part in the first inauguration of Libya’s government last month.

The interim government will lead the North African country still reeling from a civil war that toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi to elections in seven months’ time.

Tarbel, a human rights activist and lawyer who represented families of the Abu Salim prison massacre in 1996, was arrested in Benghazi in February.

His detention sparked a demonstration by families of the victims of the Abu Salim massacre in the eastern town’s Shajara Square on the night of Feb 15-16.

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Man who jump started revolution sworn in as minister | Libya TV

Scientists confirm Himalayan glacial melting | The Raw Story

2011-12-05T19:13:00.001-05:00

Millions of people are under threat from melting of Himalayan glaciers, according to scientists carrying out the most comprehensive ever assessment of climate change in the region.

The findings, published in three reports by the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain

Development (ICIMOD), show Nepal’s glaciers have shrunk by 21 percent and Bhutan’s by 22 percent over 30 years.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Scientists confirm Himalayan glacial melting | The Raw Story

Gandhi’s Principles of Nonviolence | Pace e Bene

2011-12-05T19:08:00.001-05:00

Gandhi’s Principles of Nonviolence

All life is one.
We each have a piece of the truth and the un-truth.
Human beings are more than the evil they sometimes commit.
The means must be consistent with the ends.
We are called to celebrate both our differences and our fundamental unity with others.
We reaffirm our unity with others when we transform “us” versus “them” thinking and doing.
Our oneness calls us to want, and to work for, the well-being of all.
The nonviolent journey is a process of becoming increasingly free from fear.

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Gandhi’s Principles of Nonviolence | Pace e Bene

Paying Off a Losing Bet: The Continuing Saga of Russian Oil Companies in Libya

2011-12-04T23:00:00.000-05:00

Paying Off a Losing Bet

Growing concern over China's 'disappeared' - YouTube

2011-12-04T22:15:00.000-05:00

Growing concern over China's 'disappeared' - YouTube

BBC News - Putin's United Russia party suffers poll setback

2011-12-04T21:02:00.002-05:00

Putin's United Russia party suffers poll setback

The ballot comes three months before the presidential election which Mr Putin is to contest

Early returns from Russia's parliamentary polls point to a sharp drop in support for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia party.

With 75% of ballots counted, the Central Election Commission said United Russia had 50% of the vote, down from 64% in 2007.

The vote is being seen as a popularity test of Mr Putin, who is running for the presidency in March.

Opposition parties have complained of violations of election laws.
Russia's only independent monitoring group, Golos, says it has logged 5,300 complaints alleging violations of election laws.
'Violations and fraud'

If the result is confirmed, United Russia could lose its current two-thirds majority which allowed it to change the constitution unchallenged.

Nonetheless, party chairman Boris Gryzlov says the party hopes to get a majority in the Duma.

The election commission said the Communist Party was in second place with 19.3% of the vote.

A Just Russia was in third place with 13% and the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) had 11.8%, the election commission said.

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: BBC News - Putin's United Russia party suffers poll setback

Putin party suffers setback in Russia vote - Europe - Al Jazeera English

2011-12-04T15:16:00.000-05:00

Putin party suffers setback in Russia vote - Europe - Al Jazeera English

Egypt's parliament begins to take shape - YouTube

2011-12-02T22:39:00.001-05:00

Egypt's parliament begins to take shape - YouTube

'This is not the Libya I remember. And I like it' - The Irish Times - Sat, Dec 03, 2011

2011-12-02T22:15:00.003-05:00

'This is not the Libya I remember. And I like it'

Farah Abushwesha reunited with her father in Libya.

FARAH ABUSHWESHA was seven when she left Libya and her parents, to live in safety with her Irish grandmother. Two weeks ago, the film-maker and writer returned to a changed country, to meet her father again

AS THE AIRCRAFT descends into Tripoli, I have a flashback to my seven-year-old self undoing my buckle and trying to get off the flight. Inconsolable, I begged the cabin crew to let me return to my parents.
This is my first visit to Libya since then. Three decades ago my parents had to send me out of Libya to my Irish grandmother for my safety. Then my father, Redwan Abushwesha, a Libyan writer, was to be arrested by Gadafy’s security forces on suspicion of political dissent.

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: 'This is not the Libya I remember. And I like it' - The Irish Times - Sat, Dec 03, 2011

NTC says ex-deputy PM suspect in general’s killing | Libya TV

2011-12-02T19:09:00.005-05:00

NTC says ex-deputy PM suspect in general’s killing

The National Transitional Council (NTC) said on Monday a former NTC deputy prime minister was suspected of involvement in the killing of one of the rebel movement’s most senior military commanders.

General Abdel Fattah Younes was killed by his own side in July, an incident that caused deep rifts inside the rebellion against Muammar Gaddafi’s rule. The naming of the suspects risks reviving those divisions.

At a news conference broadcast on Libyan television, NTC chief military prosecutor Yussef Al-Aseifr named Ali El-Essawi as chief suspect. Essawi served as the NTC’s interim deputy prime minister until he stepped down earlier this year

Libyan interim Prime Minister Abdel-Rahim al-Keeb speaks with Abdel Hafiz Ghoga (L), vice chairman of the National Transitional Council (NTC) and spokesman for the new authorities, stands next to Libyan interim Prime Minister Abdel-Rahim al-Keeb (R) as the latter speaks during a press conference about the formation of a new Libyan government in Tripoli, Libya, 22 November 2011.

“The number one suspect in the investigation is the former deputy head of (the NTC) executive office Ali Abdelaziz Saad Al-Essawi,” Aseifr said.

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: NTC says ex-deputy PM suspect in general’s killing | Libya TV

The Problem with China Envy - Jonah Goldberg - National Review Online

2011-12-02T18:28:00.001-05:00

Schizophrenic Liberals?

The Problem with China Envy - Jonah Goldberg - National Review Online

Egyptian Elections Show Brotherhood Strength, Tahrir Protesters Vow to Continue

2011-12-02T00:08:00.000-05:00

Egyptian Elections Show Brotherhood Strength, Tahrir Protesters Vow to Continue

More at The Real News

BBC News - Hillary Clinton and Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma talks

2011-12-01T23:37:00.002-05:00

Hillary Clinton and Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma talks

Mrs Clinton and Ms Suu Kyi began formal talks on Friday, following a meeting the previous day

Burma: Battle for Democracy

Hillary Clinton is holding further talks with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, where they are expected to discuss rights and democracy in Burma.

Mrs Clinton, the first US secretary of state to visit Burma for 50 years, had dinner with Ms Suu Kyi on Thursday.

Burma is still plagued by ethnic conflicts and the government holds hundreds of political prisoners.
Mrs Clinton met President Thein Sein earlier in a trip aimed at assessing his government's commitment to reform.

The US maintains tight sanctions on senior leaders in Burma, which was ruled by a brutal military junta from 1962 until last year.

But a series of reforms this year has led to speculation that decades of isolation could be about to end.

"The United States is prepared to walk the path of reform with you if you keep moving in the right direction," Mrs Clinton said after meeting the president on Thursday.

The pair discussed upgrading diplomatic ties, and the US said it would support some modest changes in Burma's relationship with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE, CLICK HERE: BBC News - Hillary Clinton and Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma talks

UN says Syria on brink of 'civil war' - YouTube

2011-12-01T19:33:00.000-05:00

UN says Syria on brink of 'civil war' - YouTube

From New Delhi: What Would Gandhi Do? - NYTimes.com

2011-11-30T23:46:00.002-05:00

What Would Gandhi Do?

By IAN DESAI

New Delhi

GANDHI has been all over New York lately. First he appeared at Occupy Wall Street as a patron saint of sorts, inspiring the protest’s nonviolent tactics. (The demonstrators even named a lane for him.) Then he emerged at the Metropolitan Opera as the star of Philip Glass’s opera “Satyagraha.”

But with the Zuccotti Park encampment removed, and the opera closing on Dec. 1, is that it for Gandhi in New York? Or is it worth asking, what would Gandhi do in the world today?

Throughout his life, Gandhi was preoccupied with putting universal morals into practice. In doing so, he attempted to dissolve the division between ideas and action. This blend of ideas and action animates Mr. Glass’s “Satyagraha.” During the almost four-hour performance, Gandhi’s career as a young freedom fighter is set in the context of his intellectual debts to Tolstoy, Tagore and above all the Bhagavad Gita.

Along the way, the opera reveals the often-overlooked fact that Gandhi’s accomplishments were enabled by a core group of spirited collaborators amid a larger body of followers. In capturing the political drama of Gandhi’s life, the roots of his intellectual universe, and his reliance on the community he led, “Satyagraha” gives us a richer vision of Gandhi than most contemporary portraits of the Mahatma.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: What Would Gandhi Do? - NYTimes.com

Ivory Coast's Gbagbo faces trial at ICC - YouTube

2011-11-30T21:28:00.000-05:00

Ivory Coast's Gbagbo faces trial at ICC - YouTube

Syrian forces committed crimes against humanity: U.N. report

2011-11-30T21:07:00.001-05:00

Demonstrators march against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in Deir Balaba near Hom. (Reuters)

By Al Arabiya with Agencies

Dubai

Syria’s military and security forces have committed crimes against humanity, including murder, torture and rape in their brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters, U.N.-appointed investigators said on Monday.

The commission added that the government of President Bashar al-Assad bore responsibility for the crimes.

“The commission is gravely concerned that crimes against humanity have been committed in different locations in the Syrian Arab Republic during the period under review,” the Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in its report, concluding that military and security forces were behind the acts.

“It calls upon the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic to put an immediate end to the ongoing gross human rights violations, to initiate independent and impartial investigations of these violations and to bring perpetrators to justice,” it wrote in its summary.

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Syrian forces committed crimes against humanity: U.N. report

Walter C. Uhler.com--Lynching Joe Paterno in the Court of Public Opinion

2011-11-30T00:59:00.000-05:00

Walter C. Uhler.com--Lynching Joe Paterno in the Court of Public Opinion

Did Joe Get Screwed? What did Joe Paterno know and when did he know it? PART ONE

2011-11-30T00:55:00.000-05:00

Walter C. Uhler.com--What did Joe Paterno know and when did he know it? PART ONE