John Vidal – GM seed firm Monsanto dismisses ‘moral trial’ as a staged stunt

International judges will take evidence from 30 witnesses and “victims” of US agri-business Monsanto in an attempt by hundreds of grassroots groups to hold the company accountable for what they allege are human rights violations, crimes against humanity, and “ecocide”, or widespread environmental damage. High-profile witnesses, including former UN special rapporteur on the right to food Olivier De Schutter, will …

Andrea Germanos – UN Experts to United States: Stop DAPL Now

Backing up the Standing Rock Sioux and its allies, a United Nations expert has called on the United States to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. Echoing pipeline opponents’ concerns, the statement from the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, cited the pipeline’s threats to drinking water and sacred sites. She also admonished the U.S. for failing to protect …

Progressive Commentary Hour – 09.13.16

Kim Sharif is an attorney in the UK and the director of the non-profit human justice organization Human Rights of Yemen. She is Yemeni by birth, a Shiite Muslim, and leading figure exposing the media lies both in the US and the UK over the illegal war being waged by Saudi Arabia upon the diverse populations in Yemen and with the military assistance of the US and UK. She has been campaigning on behalf of the people of Yemen since the war started and has taken part in many NGO human rights and anti war panels in the UK and Geneva to increase public awareness of the genocide underway.

The Subversive Power of the Kiss

In Western cultures, we mark the beginning of romantic entanglement by touching lips. Few actions are as fraught with anxiety and symbolism as that first kiss—and it’s no exaggeration to say that some kisses feel like life or death. Indeed, a kiss can kill, in the most medical, un-romantic, non-metaphorical sense. Sticking your tongue in the mouth of another person …

Nadia Prupis – Drone Papers: Leaked Military Documents Expose US ‘Assassination Complex’

A stunning new exposé by The Intercept, which includes the publication of classified documents leaked by an intelligence source, provides an unprecedented look at the U.S. military’s secretive global assassination program. The series of articles, titled The Drone Papers, follows months of investigation and uses rare primary source documents and slides to reveal to the public, for the first time, …

Democracy on the Retreat in Over 96 of the 193 U.N. Member States, Says New Study By Thalif Deen

Democracy is on the retreat and authoritarianism is on the rise in more than 96 of the U.N.’s 193 member states, according to a new report released here. The two regions of “highest concern” for defenders of civic space are Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa, which between them account for over half of the countries counted. …