By Tom Engelhardt Fourteen years later and do you even believe it? Did we actually live it? Are we still living it? And how improbable is that? Fourteen years of wars, interventions, assassinations, torture, kidnappings, black sites, the growth of…
Category: Columns
Elites want more refugees: Why?
Robert J. Burrowes There is much being written about the refugee crisis in Europe at the moment but none of what I have read explains why the problem is occurring and what will need to be done for the problem…
What’s the true cost of food?
Danielle Nierenberg Conventional agriculture isn’t cheap. From the use of artificial fertilizer and pesticides to the obesity epidemic, our current food system has a number of hidden costs to the natural environment and human health, far outweighing the benefits of…
Five reflections on Europe’s migrant crisis
Mark Urban I’m in Berlin reporting for Newsnight at the moment on the crisis engulfing Europe. Here are a few of the wider issues I think it’s worth reflecting on. People Are Seeking a Better Life Arguments about names –…
Another great leap forward for development
Javier Solana Madrid – Next month, the world will achieve a milestone for global development efforts. The United Nations General Assembly will adopt the Sustainable Development Goals, an ambitious set of global objectives expected to improve the lives of millions…
Economic destabilisation, rigging of Shanghai Stock Market?
By Prof Michel Chossudovsky he dramatic collapse of the Shanghai stock exchange has been presented to public opinion as the result of a spontaneous ‘market mechanism’, triggered by weaknesses in China’s economy. The Western media consensus in chorus (WSJ, Bloomberg,…
The future is old
Brigitte Miksa Munich – The aging of our societies is one of the greatest success stories of the twentieth century. More than three decades have been added to the lives of hundreds of millions of people over the last hundred…
Mobilising against climate change
Billions of Muslims around the world have been called on to take action against climate change. In an event co-hosted by Islamic Relief Worldwide in Istanbul this week, religious leaders presented The Islamic Declaration on Climate Change and called on…
Preserving plant biodiversity
Danielle Nierenberg Every day, plant species across the globe are disappearing. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that approximately 75 percent of the Earth’s plant genetic resources are now extinct, and another third of plant biodiversity is expected…
Governance matters
by Sunita Narain It is time we recognised that the current ways of fixing the environment are not working. Rivers are more contaminated; air is more polluted and cities are filling up with garbage we cannot handle. The question is:…
Good fences make safe species
Christian Lambrechts NAIROBI – African countries are often criticized for failing to meet their environmental challenges. Observers often cite loss of habitat in the face of population growth, land degradation, and industrialization. And then there is the most frequent charge…
How safe substances become dangerous
Henry I. Miller Palo Alto – Since the development of the science of toxicology in the sixteenth century, its guiding principle has been that “the dose makes the poison.” It is a rule that applies to the medicines used by…
Overfishing and climate change, combined, intensify ocean threats
Millions of people and billions of dollars depend on healthy oceans, but human actions create complex interactions that endanger oceans Washington, DC—The combination of overfishing and climate change may be putting the oceans’ health—and our own wellbeing—at risk. As State…
The real cost of food
Danielle Nierenberg There is no such thing as cheap food. Industrial agriculture is externalizing the environmental and health costs associated with food production. Worldwide, 75 billion tons of soil is lost every year, costing approximately US$400 billion per year, or…
Knowing less is equally alarming
Sudhirendar Sharma This book is for those who not only think that climate change is an urgent problem, but also agree that getting the world off fossil fuels is difficult. If you support either of these two positions, this book…
U.S. vs. Iraq: 25 years and counting
By Mickey Z. On July 25, 1990, Saddam Hussein entertained a guest at the Presidential Palace in Baghdad: U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie. Glaspie told the Iraqi president: ‘I have direct instructions from President (George H.W.) Bush to improve…
Nobel Peace Laureates endorse violence
Robert J. Burrowes In a recent letter to US President Barack Obama twelve Nobel Peace laureates declared their support for the long history of US elite violence against Native Americans and enslaved Africans, as well as the US imperial violence…
Seeking truth in the food system
Danielle Nierenberg I grew up in a small, rural community in Missouri. As a young girl, I was encouraged to ask questions, seek more information, and probe for answers. I was taught to always tell the truth, even if it…
Defining and regulating the weaponisation of space – Analysis
By David C. DeFrieze | Space is a contested, congested, and competitive domain. Each year the international community relies ever more on space-based technology for defense, civil, and commercial purposes. Accordingly, the weaponization of space has increasingly become an issue…
Hiroshima-Nagasaki: 70-year nuclear explosions not done yet
By David Swanson This August 6th and 9th millions of people marke the 70th anniversary of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in those cities and at events around the world. Some will celebrate the recent deal in which…
Avoiding yesterday’s education for tomorrow’s kids
Masum Billah The world is changing fast. Though we are unable to keep pace with that change, our children who receive education mostly from the modern media and devices such as internet, twitter, facebook etc. are adopting those with much…
Francis of the Forest
Bruce Babbitt Washington, DC – When Pope Francis visited Latin America in July, he made an impassioned plea for the protection of the Amazon rainforest and the people who live there. “Our common home is being pillaged, laid waste and…
Deadly air: Face it
By Sunita Narain I do not know how best to respond to this question. These days, concerned about the toxic air of Delhi, many parents, particularly those with children who have asthma, ask me if they should leave the city.…
The end of rat race
Sudhurendar Sharma Whether or not you smell them, their presence remains ubiquitous.Think and you will find them, not one but many – here, there and everywhere. Having followed humans to just about every corner of the globe, these creatures have…
15 organisations defending land rights
Danielle Nierenberg The increasing trend of international land grabbing—when governments and private firms invest in or purchase large tracts of land in other countries for the purpose of agricultural production and export—can have serious environmental and social consequences. Investors claim…
No agnostics in the climate foxhole
– John Hewson SYDNEY – On a recent 14.5-hour flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, I had time to read the columnist Charles Krauthammer’s collection of essays, Things that Matter. It made for a disturbing flight. I have enjoyed Krauthammer’s…
Revolting world
Robert J. Burrowes There is much that is revolting about the current world and Andre Vltchek, Christopher Black and Peter Koenig are well placed to document it, which they have done in their new book ‘The World Order and Revolution!…
A social confession box
Sudhirendar Sharma Bollywood cinema has held a mirror on the society, reflecting its overt and covert anxieties, contestations and aspirations Bollywood cinema is a creative paradox. On a familiar plot, which consists of a love story, half a dozen songs,…
Regional consequences of the Iranian nuclear deal
By Afro-Middle East Centre The agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme concluded this week seems to be an example of the benefits of concerted diplomacy. Once it is ratified by the US Congress and Iranian Supreme National Security Council, the agreement…
Station 50 of an Indian journalist
S, Gopikrishna Warrier Man had not walked on the moon when I was born. It took another five years for that “giant step for mankind.” I was born a long time ago; a rather long time. In the year I…