For several months, Western officials and media outlets repeated thousands of times that there were between 250,000 and 300,000 civilians trapped under Syrian and Russian bombardment in East Aleppo. Western reports rarely mentioned the Syrian government’s estimate that there were only one-third that number of civilians in the rebel-controlled enclave – nor that its estimates were solidly based on what it had found in …
Baher Kamal – Trump, the Banks and the Bomb
ROME, Jan 7 2017 (IPS) – When pro-nuclear disarmament organisations last October cheered the United Nations decision to start in 2017 negotiations on a global treaty banning these weapons, they probably did not expect that shortly after the US would elect Republican businessman Donald Trump as their 45th president. Much less that he would rush to advocate for increasing the …
Dr Claudio Schuftan – Human Rights and Health Inequality. A Worldwide Phenomenon
THE MOST COMMON DESCRIPTION OF HEALTH INEQUALITY TRENDS AMONG AND WITHIN COUNTRIES IS THAT HEALTH INEQUALITIES ARE INCREASING: A CLEAR INFRINGEMENT OF THE HUMAN RIGHT TO HEALTH. This text is mostly abstracted from chapter 18 of the International Panel on Social Progress, 2016 -Inequality in health is a morally significant fact in itself. –A purely biomedical understanding of diminished health …
Why odds are against a large Zika outbreak in the US
Is the United States at risk for a large-scale outbreak of Zika or other mosquito-borne disease? While climate conditions in the U.S. are increasingly favorable to mosquitos, socioeconomic factors such as access to clean water and air conditioning make large-scale outbreaks unlikely, according to new analysis of existing research—but small-scale, localized outbreaks are an ongoing concern. In their forthcoming paper …
Daniel C. Maguire – How Israel Misuses the Bible
Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, let the theological cat out of the bag. When the Security Council rebuked Israel for their land thefts (euphemized as “settlements,”) Mr. Danon replied with pious indignation: “Would you ban the French from building in Paris?” There, in all of it effrontery, is the imperial theology that birthed Zionism. David Ben Gurion …
South Sudan on brink of genocide – one more victim of western policies in Africa
Human rights organizations, genocide watch groups and the UN secretary-general are warning of a potential genocide in South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, and asking the UN Security Council and regional leaders to take action. “All of the early warning signals for mass atrocities in South Sudan are there,” a special commission to South Sudan reported at a UN Human …
How The Military Excluded The White House From International Syria Negotiations
The NYT laments today that international negotiations about the situation in Syria now continue without any U.S. participation: Russia, Iran and Turkey Meet for Syria Talks, Excluding U.S. Russia, Iran and Turkey met in Moscow on Tuesday to work toward a political accord to end Syria’s nearly six-year war, leaving the United States on the sidelines as the countries sought …
The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 12.21.16
Involuntary treatment has led to untold numbers of individual abuses, rampant torture in state hospitals, ECT and lobotomy, neurotoxic drugs, gross offenses against constitutional and human rights, and crimes against humanity. At the Nuremberg Doctors’ trials, involuntary psychiatric “euthanasia” would be described as an entering wedge into the Holocaust. Esteemed Danish medical researcher Peter Gøtzsche, MD, and I confront the horror of involuntary treatment from personal, ethical, scientific, constitutional, and political perspectives. This could be the best and most lively discussion of coercion in psychiatry you will ever hear. Extremely important for understanding the menace of psychiatry. Please tell others about this important hour, the third of four consecutive talks with Peter Gøtzsche.
Robert Fisk – There Is More Than One Truth to Tell in the Awful Story of Aleppo
estern politicians, “experts” and journalists are going to have to reboot their stories over the next few days now that Bashar al-Assad’s army has retaken control of eastern Aleppo. We’re going to find out if the 250,000 civilians “trapped” in the city were indeed that numerous. We’re going to hear far more about why they were not able to leave …
Robert J. Burrowes – Life on Earth is Dying. Thousands of Species Cease to Exist
On the day that you read this article, 200 species of life on Earth (plants, birds, animals, fish, amphibians, insects, reptiles) will cease to exist. Tomorrow, another 200 species will vanish forever. The human onslaught to destroy life on Earth is unprecedented in Earth’s history. Planet Earth is now experiencing its sixth mass extinction event and Homo sapiens is the …