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Perfectly easy way to rescue newspapers (October 16 2012) Perfectly easy way to rescue newspapers (October 16 2012)

David Leigh the 66 year old British journalist, author and the investigations executive editor of The Guardian is the subject of an article by Dan Hind on Aljazeera titled ‘Reincarnating the newspaper industry’. Hind states “…Leigh set out what he called a “perfectly easy way to rescue newspapers, ensure media plurality and monetise the web” – add a £2 ($3.2) monthly levy on broadband fees and thereby raise around £500 million ($807 million) a year. The money would then be distributed to news operations “according to their share of UK online readership”. …Revenues from print sales are in steep decline, he said, and paywalls won’t work in the UK, because of the BBC. …The lean pickings from web advertising on a free newspaper site will only pay for a fraction of the high-quality investigative journalism that commercial newspapers generate. We’ll just get the timid BBC on the one hand, and superficial junk on the other.” …here’s what I see as the main problem with Leigh’s suggestion. The distribution mechanism he proposes will not serve the stated aim. …While some good investigative journalism does appear in British newspapers, it accounts for only a tiny fraction of content as a whole. Much more space is given to celebrity gossip, chitchat from Westminster, lifestyle features, sports coverage, scare stories about immigrants, half-baked nonsense about the economy and similar “superficial junk”. …Leigh’s levy would go to those news operations with large online readerships, regardless of the amount of “high-quality investigative journalism” they commissioned and published. This will tend to reward, and preserve, incumbency.”

 

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Getting into the business of environment (September 23 2012) Getting into the business of environment (September 23 2012)

Amantha Perera the Sri Lankan journalist and foreign correspondent has published an article on the Inter Press Service titled ‘Getting Into the Business of Environment’. Perera states “Regulations that stand in the way of conservation programs lower their likely success, experts warned at the World Conservation Congress of the International Union of Conservation of Nature in South Korea. They say there is mounting evidence to show that with participation of communities, businesses and other groups, conservation efforts have shown better results. “Generally we find that protection efforts are more effective if they involve participation by different stakeholders,” Bastian Bertzky, senior program officer at the UN Environment Programme and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) … “Wherever there are businesses involved, non-governmental organisations involved, the higher their participation, better the management.” Bharrat Jagdeo, the former President of Guyana, while acknowledging the increasingly essential role private companies played, struck a note of caution. He warned that companies may try to gain undue advantage by linking with nature-friendly programs and agencies like the IUCN. Jagdeo proposed that if private sector companies are willing to take part in conservation programs, there needs to be strict criteria that tests and evaluates their willingness to change and sustain that change. “There is a need for a litmus test, to test their willingness to engage and change,” he said. Former South Korean minister for environment Maan-ee Lee suggested that governments should keep a close focus on companies willing to invest in conservation and environment friendly projects. “Governments should look at giving incentives to such companies,” he said. Lee called for a consensus among different governments because “big multi-nationals are going beyond national borders.”

 

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Secret history of your favourite hamburger (September 8 2012) Secret history of your favourite hamburger (September 8 2012)

Rose Aguilar the American progressive journalist and radio host has published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘The secret history of your favourite hamburger’ reporting on multiple undercover investigations over the years show horrific animal cruelty, neglect and abuse at slaughter plants. In the article Aguilar states “Thanks to the brave and compassionate souls who go undercover into slaughterhouses with hidden cameras, the truth about horrific cruelty to animals is no longer being hidden from the public eye. …Because undercover videos showing the most horrific animal cruelty you can imagine are released on a regular basis and receive widespread media coverage, the meat, dairy and egg industries are feverishly working to keep you in the dark by prosecuting the whistleblowers, not the factory farm owners. Those who oppose animal cruelty know what they’re trying to hide. …The USDA exempts birds from its enforcement of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, which requires that farm animals be insensible to pain before they’re shackled and killed. Most people are appalled to learn that because the meat, dairy and egg industries are so powerful, not a single federal law provides protection to animals on factory farms. …Images of cows, pigs and birds being brutally tortured are powerful and the slaughter industry knows it. That’s why they’re working to pass Ag-Gag bills across the country. They don’t want you to know the truth. In March, with the help of agricultural lobbyists, including the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association and the Iowa Dairy Association, Iowa became the first state in the country to make it an offense to capture undercover video exposing animal abuse.”

 

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Is Israel trying to lead US to war (August 30 2012) Is Israel trying to lead US to war (August 30 2012)

Dan Murphy the American Journalist reporting extensively on Southeast Asia and the Middle East has published an article on the CSMonitor titled ‘Is Israel trying to lead the US to war with Iran?’ In the article Murphy states “After months of quiet, the drumbeat out of Israel for a war with Iran has started again. Iran is on the verge of a nuclear bomb, a point of “no return” as some Israeli politicians have it, and squadrons of anonymous sources, credulous reporters, and columnists have been mobilized to get out the word. …Israel’s security establishment is far from united on Iran, with many warning that a preemptive war could do more harm than good to Israel’s interests. Israel and Western powers have been periodically warning that the Islamic Republic of Iran was on the verge of building a nuclear bomb since the early 1980s. As far back as 1992, Mr. Netanyahu, then a member of the Israeli parliament, said that Iran was five years away from a bomb and that its nuclear program must be “uprooted by an international front headed by the US.” …But until then the talk of war is best seen as an attempt to sway American politicians and public opinion. Netanyahu and his allies, as a matter of national interest, want to persuade the US to go to war with Iran under certain conditions, well aware that striking a definitive blow against Iran’s nuclear program is beyond their own capacity. …If Israel were to unilaterally attack, the US would almost certainly be drawn into the war. Obama’s advisers know it. Watch for pushback from them on the idea in the days ahead.”

 

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150 million people went missing in India (August 26 2012) 150 million people went missing in India (August 26 2012)

Johnny West the British journalist and founder of OpenOil a Berlin-based consultancy in oil and other extractive industries has published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘How 150 million people went missing in India’, in which he discusses how the media coverage of the country’s blackouts paid little attention to the millions of Indians who were not on the grid to begin with. West states “Reports [media] spoke of the 600 million people affected by the blackout across India’s north and east as cities plunged into darkness for two nights in a row – and the high priests of capitalism worried about the effect on what is euphemistically termed “global economic growth”. In fact, the real figure was more likely to be 450 million people – but that’s actually bad news. …A mere reporting glitch, of course, nothing intentional. But one that speaks volumes for the state of the global discussion about energy, how stuck it is in the 20th century, how riddled with ancient ideological canards. Those 150 million people who literally didn’t count belong to a global underclass of up to two billion people across Africa and Asia, mainly, who are off-grid. Who yesterday, today and every day, often go to sleep when it gets dark and live and work through summers of up to 50 degrees or winters of minus 20, without any means to cool or warm themselves other than keeping to the shadows or burying themselves in a mountain of blankets. In order to include them in the global energy debate, it is time for socially progressive thinking to revisit the issue of energy subsidies.”

 

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Evidence of climate change in Nepal (August 24 2012) Evidence of climate change in Nepal (August 24 2012)

Naresh Newar the Nepalese journalist with special focus on armed conflict, humanitarian and environmental issues has published an article on the Inter Press Service titled ‘Droughts Bring Climate Change Home to Nepali Farmers’ in which he describes how farmers in this fertile central district of south Nepal are convinced that an intense drought between May and early July that destroyed their maize crops is the result of climate change. Newar states “Nepal has a history of droughts but the intensity increased this year… Evidence of climate change in Nepal is seen in temperatures rising by about one-tenth of a degree annually, receding glaciers and snow line and volatile monsoonal rains. While scientists are still trying to link these changes to factors such as production of greenhouse gases and deforestation, Nepal’s farmers are coping on their own with dwindling water supply, flash floods and landslides. Chitwan, a major producer of maize, has suffered a 70 percent loss of the crop due to late arrival of the monsoons this year, according to assessments by the government’s Agricultural Services Office (ASO). …the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu. …is currently conducting a study on climate change impacts on food security in the entire Indo Gangetic plains. …There can be two droughts in a year without causing too much damage, but when there is drought intensity that can destroy maize, even in irrigated areas, according to ICIMOD experts. With such unpredictability of weather patterns growing in the country, there is need now for planned adaptation.”

 

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A truly liberal society is a multicultural society (August 19 2012) A truly liberal society is a multicultural society (August 19 2012)

Mehdi Hasan the British television current affairs journalist with a philosophy politics and economics background has published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘In defence of Britain’s multiculturalism’, in which he questions if  multiculturalism is really dead in the UK as the political, media and theological establishments seem to suggest. In the article Hasan states “Multiculturalism is dead in the UK …. seems to be the depressing verdict of senior members of the British political, media and even theological establishments. In recent years, they have lined up to deliver the last rites for multiculturalism, their condemnation and critiques cutting across party and ideological lines. …attacks on “the British multicultural model” continue and intensify – and Islamophobia is on the rise. Multicultural cities such as Bradford, in the north of England, with big Muslim populations, are denounced as failures, smeared as ghettoised societies. Structural factors such as racism, poverty and industrial decline are ignored. …But I for one can’t help but be a defender of the UK’s multiculturalism …I am, after all, a product of multiculturalism; I consider myself to be British, English, Asian and Muslim. I see no contradiction between these ethnic, national, cultural and religious identities. …Britain has come a long way from the nativist and assimilationist 1960s; opinion polls suggest this is a nation at relative ease with its racial, religious and cultural diversity in all walks of life. It is now 2012, not 1965. In this age of globalisation and devolution, Britain cannot return to some fantasy of a halcyon mono-cultural past. In the 21st century, identity isn’t finite; loyalties do not have to compete. And the truth is that a truly liberal society is a multicultural society.”

 

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Pentagon’s “New Spice Route” in Africa (August 3 2012) Pentagon’s “New Spice Route” in Africa (August 3 2012)

Nick Turse the American journalist, historian and author has published an article on Toms Dispatch titled ‘Obama’s Scramble for Africa’ where he discusses ‘Secret Wars, Secret Bases, and the Pentagon’s “New Spice Route” in Africa’. In the article Turse states “They call it the New Spice Route, an homage to the medieval trade network that connected Europe, Africa, and Asia, even if today’s “spice road” has nothing to do with cinnamon, cloves, or silks.  Instead, it’s a superpower’s superhighway, on which trucks and ships shuttle fuel, food, and military equipment through a growing maritime and ground transportation infrastructure to a network of supply depots, tiny camps, and airfields meant to service a fast-growing U.S. military presence in Africa. Few in the U.S. know about this superhighway, or about the dozens of training missions and joint military exercises being carried out in nations that most Americans couldn’t locate on a map. …operations in Africa have accelerated far beyond the more limited interventions of the Bush years: last year’s war in Libya; a regional drone campaign with missions run out of airports and bases in Djibouti, Ethiopia, and the Indian Ocean archipelago nation of Seychelles… The U.S. also has had troops deployed in Mali, despite having officially suspended military relations with that country following a coup. …engaged in a twenty-first century scramble for Africa, the possibility of successive waves of overlapping blowback grows exponentially.  Mali may only be the beginning and there’s no telling how any of it will end.  In the meantime, keep your eye on Africa.  The U.S. military is going to make news there for years to come.”

 

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Growing 'dead zones' in the world's oceans (July 9th 2012) Growing ‘dead zones’ in the world’s oceans (July 9th 2012)

Dahr Jamail the 44 year old American journalist best known as one of the few unembedded journalists to report extensively from Iraq during the 2003 Iraq invasion, has published an article on Aljazeera about the pollution of the world’s oceans, highlighting the alarm of Scientists and experts at amount of plastic debris and growing ‘dead zones’ in the world’s oceans. Jamail states “The amount of plastic floating in the Pacific Gyre – a massive swirling vortex of rubbish – has increased 100-fold in the past four decades, phytoplankton counts are dropping, over-fishing is causing dramatic decreases in fish populations, decreasing ocean salinity is intensifying weather extremes, and warming oceans are speeding up Antarctic melting. … Scientists recently investigated the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, known as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”, and found an “alarming amount” of refuse, much of it comprising individual pieces of very small size. The eastern section of the spiralling mass, between Hawaii and California, is estimated to be around twice the size of Texas, and is having ecosystem-wide impacts… Another phenomenon afflicting Earth’s oceans are “dead zones”. While these can be formed by natural causes, climate change, along with human activities and industrial waste, have greatly aggravated the situation. The US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration released a study showing that rising global temperatures cause oceans to warm, which translates into a decreased capacity to hold oxygen.”

 

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Cartels have a lot of bosses (June 26th 2012) Cartels have a lot of bosses (June 26th 2012)

Javier Sicilia the 56 year old Mexican poet, journalist and activist who launched a grassroots movement with aims to end the ‘War on Drugs’ after his 24 year old son was murdered by a drug cartel, has been interviewed by Connor Guy and Umar Farooq for The Nation magazine. Sicilia states “Cartels have a lot of bosses. We are talking now about fifteen cartels [in Mexico].  And they have multiplied since President Calderón’s [2006 military] strategy to make war on them. …A path to peace is to change the national security law to a human law for peace. And the allowance of regulated drug use, because its not a national security issue, it’s a public health issue, and attacking drug abuse is causing a tremendous harm to the country. …The US has forbidden drug use, which should be a public health issue. And then they set up for us this war. Over $2 billion have been invested in this war [on drugs]—mostly for guns, for weapons and military intelligence. …if we can get support from the media, we would be able to put this on the politicians’ agendas, because it’s a problem in the US and Mexico. It’s a bi-national problem. Not only that, it is a continental problem, and if we are really serious, it is a world problem.”

 

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Mark Hertsgaard the American journalist reports on ‘the biggest climate victory you never heard of’ in an article he published on Aljazeera about ‘the fight against coal in the US [that] has achieved great success due to activists’ passion and commitment’. Hertsgaard in the article states “Coal is going down in the United States, and that’s good news for the Earth’s climate. …the dirtiest and most carbon-intensive conventional fossil fuel, generated only 36 per cent of US electricity in the first quarter of 2012. That amounts to a staggering 20 per cent decline from one year earlier. …a persistent grassroots citizens’ rebellion that has blocked the construction of 166 (and counting) proposed coal-fired power plants… At the very time when President Obama’s “cap-and-trade” climate legislation was going down in flames in Washington, local activists across the United States were helping to impose “a de facto moratorium on new coal”… Like the Occupy Wall Street movement, the Beyond Coal [activist] campaign has shown that the status quo is not all-powerful. When large numbers of people unite around a compelling critique of the existing order and build political power at the local level, they can change the world. And perhaps even the planet.”

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Mohammed Abdelmawla al-Hariri the Syrian journalist who regularly provided updates to Al Jazeera has been sentenced to death. al-Hariri known as the ‘Citizen Journalist’ had the death sentence handed down on grounds of “high treason and contact with foreign parties”, however human rights activist groups claim the sentence is a further attempt to repress dissidents. The DOHA Centre claim “The Syrian League of the Defense of Human Rights dismisses the charges as “null and void”… The organisation claims that Hariri was tortured from the first day of his arrest and was forced to confess. “They broke his backbone and authorities refused to give him the proper medical care”… According to the Skeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom, Hariri was tortured to the point of being partially paralysed. He has now been moved to the Saidnaya military prison north of Damascus. Local and international groups have criticised the death sentence of Hariri and demand it be revoked… Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is targeting the media in order to control what information is being broadcast out of the country. Foreign journalists are generally not allowed to enter the country. Other journalists who were already working in Syria had their accreditation revoked, faced arrest or were even tortured, trialed or killed.”

 

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Ben White the British journalist and human rights activist specialising in Palestine/Israel, has published an article on Aljazeera claiming ‘Israel has a Jewish majority today because of the expulsions and denationalisation of most Palestinians living there’. White’s article titled ‘Jewish democracy founded on ugly battles’ states, …the Nakba [Day of the Catastrophe] is ongoing, in the daily acts of piecemeal ethnic cleansing from the Jordan Valley to the Negev, and secondly, the way in which the historical facts of “transfer” undermine the mythology of Israel as a supposed “Jewish and democratic” state. …Discussing Israel without mentioning the Nakba is linked to the myth of the Jewish state miraculously emerging from an unpopulated, arid wasteland. …the “invisibility” of the Arabs was self-serving. Palestine at the time of first Zionist settlement was not empty of people, but of people deemed worthy by Europeans of controlling their own country. …With the Nakba in clear view, current attempts to reconcile both “Jewish and democratic” components of Israel’s identity can be seen for what they are: a grand exercise in missing the point. The only reason why there is a Jewish majority in Israel today is because of the expulsions and denationalisation of most Palestinians who would have become citizens in the new state.”

 

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Jillian Kestler-DAmours the Canadian freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker based in Jerusalem, who rejects the notion of objectivity and instead believes in using journalism to challenge power structures and promote change, has published an article on ipsnews titled ‘Media Faces New Crackdown’. Kestler-DAmours states “The Palestinian Authority’s arrest of journalists and activists critical of its policies are threatening freedom of expression and journalistic freedoms in the West Bank, according to local human rights groups. …PA security forces have arrested dozens of Palestinian journalists, bloggers, students and activists in recent weeks. Many have been detained for statements they made on social networking sites like Facebook that were critical of the PA, while others were targeted for articles and other work they published. …In late April, Palestinian Ma’an News Agency reported that the PA had instructed Internet service providers to block access to news websites that were critical of President Mahmoud Abbas. Since the report came out, PA communications minister Mashour Abu Daka has resigned from his post. Attorney General al-Maghni, for his part, has defended the decision to block the websites, arguing that they were censored for security reasons and because personal complaints had been made against their content.”

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Anne Applebaum the 47 year old American journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author has published an article on Slate titled ‘Europe’s Extremists on the March – Many of the parties winning across the continent have one thing in common: They want to withdraw from the world’. Applebaum states “…as I look across Europe I don’t know what to call the wave of discontent, as most of the parties on the outlying right or left have more in common with one another right now than they do with anyone in the center. Generally speaking they are anti-European, anti-globalization, and anti-immigration. Their leaders, in the words of a French friend, want to “withdraw from the world.” They don’t like their multiethnic capital cities or their open borders, and they don’t care for multinational companies or multilateral institutions. Above all, they are anti-austerity: They hate the budget cuts that they believe were imposed on their national governments by outsiders in the international bond market and by their own membership in the euro currency zone. Never mind that those same national governments had created the need for austerity by overspending and overborrowing, or in some cases—most notably Greece—by funding vast, unaffordable and corrupt state bureaucracies over many decades. And never mind that many of them had begged to be part of the euro zone—nobody was forced to join—or that they benefited for many years from being members.”

 

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John Stoehr the American journalist, editor and lecturer in political science has put forward an argument in an article published on Aljazeera titled ‘Face it, the US economy is socialist – The real debate is not whether the US economy has socialist attributes, but choosing which form of socialism to employ’. Stoehr states “They [Republicans] talk about socialists and communists with the intent of scaring people away from the debate, but the fact is that state and federal governments spend billions on corporate welfare. No matter what they say about closeted communists in Congress or in the White House, Republicans – even the libertarians – heartily approve of socialism. The question in their view is about which way the money is flowing, up or down. If it’s agribusiness or oil corporations getting bucks from federal subsidies, then money is going to the top. Hoorah for socialism. If it’s single working mothers getting food stamps and housing credits, then money is going to the bottom. That’s a damn government handout – we can’t have that. On the state level, corporate welfare is often wrapped in the rhetoric of job creation. Let’s make the state attractive to businesses, because businesses create jobs, workers spend money and the economy gets better. Voila. Except that taxpayers end up giving more to corporations than they end up receiving.

 

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Jonah Lehrer the 30 year old American author and journalist who writes on the topics of psychology, neuroscience, and the relationship between science and the humanities has been profiled by Paul Harris for The Guardian in an article titled ‘Jonah Lehrer: the prodigy who lights up the brain’. Harris states of Lehrer “He brings an artist’s skill to the latest research in neuroscience, making him a huge success at only 30. Now his latest book aims to demystify the workings of creativity… He strives to link art and neurology: how chemical reactions within three pounds of squidgy grey matter inside our skulls actually make us love, laugh and lead our lives. That sounds profound and much of Lehrer’s writing is full of wondrous examples of brain and art colliding and collaborating. He shows how writers and painters pre-empted the insights of neuroscience; how different parts of our brains battle with decisions; how creativity is not simply a God-given gift to a lucky few but can be understood, learned and nurtured. But his goal is not without its critics. Where some see Lehrer as a genius, others might see him repackaging plain old common sense in fine prose. It is something that is a risk of the field.”

 

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Antonia Juhasz a USA oil and energy analyst, author, journalist, and activist has published an article in The Nation Magazine depicting the health issues experienced by residents of the Gulf Coast since the 2010 BP oil spill. In the article Juhasz states, “The most toxic chemicals found in oil are lipid-soluble, which means that they accumulate in organs that contain a lot of fat, like the brain. Consequently, those with the greatest exposure can get permanent brain damage, dementia, as a result… In August 2011 the Government Accountability Project (GAP) began its investigation of the public health threats associated with the oil spill cleanup… Witnesses reported a host of ailments, including eye, nose and throat irritation; respiratory problems; blood in urine, vomit and rectal bleeding; seizures; nausea and violent vomiting episodes that last for hours; skin irritation, burning and lesions; short-term memory loss and confusion; liver and kidney damage; central nervous system effects and nervous system damage; hypertension; and miscarriages. … It will take years to determine the actual number of affected people. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), with financial support from BP, is conducting several multiyear health impact studies, which are only just getting under way.”

 

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Matthew “Matt” O’Brien the USA author and journalist has published an article in The Atlantic citing ‘Spain Is Doomed: Why Austerity Is Destroying Europe’. In the article O’Brien states “Nearly a quarter of Spain’s population is unemployed. Half of its youth are out of work. And it’s only going to get worse. Spain is supposed to trim its deficit by some 5.5 percent of GDP over the next two years. That’s not a recipe for growth. Just ask the IMF, which downgraded its projections for Spain’s economy back in January. What matters for a nation is its GDP. That’s a country’s equivalent of personal income. If Spain’s GDP is set to fall for the foreseeable future — and it is — then who would want to lend to Spain? The markets gave their answer — practically nobody! — and ECB was forced to fill the void by giving Eurobanks free money to then invest in sovereign debt. Yields came down. European policymakers declared “Mission Accomplished.” …Rather than consider the possibility that the economy might work differently than they think, they have settled on a simple message: The beatings will continue. Unfortunately, morale will continue to not improve. Eventually, you have to think leaders in Europe’s beat-up countries will begin to wonder if life might be better outside the euro zone.”

 

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Michael Hastings the 32 year old USA journalist and contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine renowned for his profile story of General Stanley McChrystal the then commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, has published an article titled ‘The Rise of the Killer Drones: How America Goes to War in Secret, an inside look at how killing by remote control has changed the way we fight” In the article Hastings states, “Drones offer the government an advanced and precise technology in its War on Terror – yet many of those killed by drones don’t appear to be terrorists at all. In fact, according to a detailed study of drone victims compiled by the Bureau for Investigative Journalism, at least 174 of those executed by drones were under the age of 18 – in other words, children. Estimates by human rights groups that include adults who were likely civilians put the toll of innocent victims at more than 800. U.S. officials hotly dismiss such figures – “bullshit,” one senior administration official told me. Brennan, one of Obama’s top counterterrorism advisers, absurdly insisted last June that there hadn’t been “a single civilian” killed by drones in the previous year.”

 

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Gregory Shvedov the 35 year old Russian Human Rights activist and journalist renowned for his efforts in promoting human rights in Russia has been profiled by Katrina vanden Heuvel in an article for The Nation, where she states, “With his full red beard and pale complexion, Gregory Shvedov could be taken for a nineteenth-century Russian novelist. Yet Shvedov is an editor fiercely committed to independent journalism at a time when international media monitors rank Russia as among the world’s most dangerous countries for reporters. …Shvedov founded Caucasian Knot (Kavkazkii Uzel), which since its launch in 2001 has become the leading independent source of news, in Russian and English, about the Caucasus. The site has some fifty local correspondents working in twenty locations in the conflict-ridden region—a patchwork quilt of Russian and independent republics including Chechnya, Dagestan and Azerbaijan. Since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, this vast and complex region has been ravaged by civil war, occupation, violence, torture, kidnappings, terrorism, corruption, rising unemployment and growing Islamic radicalism. After September 11, 2001, by aligning himself with President George W. Bush’s “global war on terror,” President Vladimir Putin was able to largely silence international criticism of Russia’s actions in the Chechen war.”

 

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Pepe Escobar the 57 year old Brazillian journalist has published an article on Aljazeera speaking to the pain of millions in Spain who refuse to lay down and see their lives destroyed for the benefit of a banking minority. In the article, Escobar states “Make no mistake; the future of the euro is being played in Spain. The euro may win – but at a price; millions of Spaniards as “collateral damage”. It took less than 100 days in power for the right-wing Popular Party (PP) government led by Mariano Rajoy to face its first general strike…The strike was a response to Rajoy’s EU-imposed labour market reforms…That includes extremely harsh cuts in health, education and social services. …900,000 people marched in Madrid, 800,000 in Barcelona and hundreds of thousands more in 111 cities, especially Valencia and in the Basque country (the unionist vanguard in Spain). In Zaragoza, a city of 700,000, at least 150,000 people may have been in the streets… The country virtually stopped – at a 77 per cent overall rate… There’s serious talk of organising a European general strike. After all, the indignados started their movement in Spain, in May 2011 – the inspiration for Occupy Wall Street, a new, self-organised push for a global solidarity culture…”

 

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Christopher Eric Hitchens the 62 year old UK author and journalist renowned for his confrontational style bringing him to fame in left wing circles of the UK and the USA has died after an extended battle with throat cancer. Hitchen’s death was announced by the ‘Vanity Fair’ magazine for which he had contributed articles over the past two decades. The magazine’s editor Graydon Carter stated “”There will never be another like Christopher. A man of ferocious intellect, who was as vibrant on the page as he was at the bar, those who read him felt they knew him, and those who knew him were profoundly fortunate souls.” Richard Dawkins the evolutionary biologist and friend of Hitchens, stated “I think he was one of the greatest orators of all time. He was a polymath, a wit, immensely knowledgeable, and a valiant fighter against all tyrants including imaginary supernatural ones.”

 

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Rebecca MacKinnon the US journalist blogger and co-founder of Global Voices Online, and former researcher for the George Soros funded Open Society Institute, believes the issues she raised in calling on internet users to “take back the Net” have “grown more obvious and urgent”. MacKinnon in a recent TEDTalk presentation highlighted that global information technology companies have become the new “sovereigns of cyberspace.” MacKinnon calls on the world’s Netizens to “…work to make sure that the Internet, the geopolitical system, and the international economy evolve in a way that serves everybody’s rights and interests, not just those of the most powerful one percent … The time has come to occupy the Net. Existing political and legal frameworks have so far proven incapable of preventing and constraining the abuse of digital power … political innovations [are] needed to ensure that government and technology really do serve the world’s people — and not the other way around.”

 

Inspired by Huffington Post http://ow.ly/7VmUJ image source Joi Ito http://ow.ly/7VmXG

Matthew Chapman the UK journalist and descendent of Charles Darwin has participated in a debate with the motion being ‘The world would be better off without religion’. Chapman was partnered by philosopher A.C. Grayling for the argument in support of the motion, while Rabbi David Wolpe and Dinesh D’Souza argued against the motion. Elizabeth Weingarten described for a Slate article, the question put by Chapman in his opening statement, stating “Chapman said … is not whether religion does good in the world. “Of course it can and it has,” he conceded. “The question is: Can we come up with something better that does not depend on dangerous and childish faith and thousands of competing gods? Can we persuade people that it’s possible to live a good, peaceful and happy life guided only by human conscience and modern knowledge?”

 

Inspired by Elizabeth Weingarten http://ow.ly/7zk86 image source prettyawfulgiraffes http://ow.ly/7zkmE

Paul H. Rosenberg the US journalist and Senior Editor of Random Lengths News, an alternative bi-weekly newspaper in Los Angeles has hit out at the Obama presidency in an Aljazeera article. Rosenberg states “Obama’s implicit dream – based on his own successful political trajectory – was that he could negotiate a truce within the one per cent to substantially improve the overall management of the US political system … For almost three years now, Obama’s attitude has been: “Why listen to them? They have nowhere else to go.” But now they do: to occupy Wall Street, public squares across the land, and the dreams and imagination of America. This is only the beginning … There comes a time when a dream deferred can no longer be delayed. That time is upon us now. Another world is not just possible: It is absolutely necessary”.

 

Inspired by Aljazerra http://ow.ly/7kf4H image source commondreams http://ow.ly/7kfk7

Stephen Mayne the 42 year old Australian journalist and shareholder activist, renown for founding Crikey.com.au an online independent news service has lashed out at News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch during the annual shareholders meeting in Los Angeles USA. Mayne, a director at the Australian Shareholders’ Association, former News Corp employee, and longtime shareholder has attended 12 previous annual meetings of News Corp. Other shareholders, including Tom Watson the British Labor politician who led the investigation into the infamous phone tapping scandal also spoke out at the meeting, unsuccessfully calling for Murdoch to relinquish his position to an independent chairman. Murdoch claimed he would get to the bottom of the scandal and establish a procedure to put things right. Mayne’s response was “You’ve been treating us like mushrooms for a long time … You’re still trying to do it.”

 

Inspired by Amy Chozick http://ow.ly/75YXg image source http://ow.ly/75YUf

Reza Hoda Saber the 52 year old Iranian political activist and leading journalist for an opposition magazine Iran-e Farda, died in the custody of the Iranian prison Evin while on a hunger strike in protest of fellow opposition figure Haleh Sahabi’s death at the hands of security forces while at the funeral of her father. Saber was into his tenth day of a hunger strike when stricken with severe chest pains associated with his heart. Saber’s screams of agony where ignored by prison authorities for six hours before eventually being transferred to hospital for belated surgery to his blocked arteries, dying during the course of the operation. The opposition group Council for the Green Path of Hope condemned the Iranian government for the neglect and Saber’s unlawful detention without charge. Inspired by Radio Zamaneh ow.ly/5hev4 image source Payvand Iran News ow.ly/5hez2 First of all, why was he in prison? (June 15 2011)

Reza Hoda Saber the 52 year old Iranian political activist and leading journalist for an opposition magazine Iran-e Farda, died in the custody of the Iranian prison Evin while on a hunger strike in protest of fellow opposition figure Haleh Sahabi’s death at the hands of security forces while at the funeral of her father. Saber was into his tenth day of a hunger strike when stricken with severe chest pains associated with his heart. Saber’s screams of agony where ignored by prison authorities for six hours before eventually being transferred to hospital for belated surgery to his blocked arteries, dying during the course of the operation. The opposition group Council for the Green Path of Hope condemned the Iranian government for the neglect and Saber’s unlawful detention without charge.

 

Inspired by Radio Zamaneh ow.ly/5hev4 image source Payvand Iran News ow.ly/5hez2

Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya the Russian journalist and human rights activist who was assassinated at the age of 48 in 2006 when shot dead in a lift of her apartment block in Central Moscow may be on the verge of having justice for her unresolved murder. Rustam Makhmudov a 37 year old Chechen fugitive suspect of the assassination, has been arrested by Russian authorities with the help of Belgian police, who were closing in on his Belgium hiding place prior to his escape to his parents home back in Chechnya. The arrest is claimed to be a break through in the long maligned investigation. Politkovskaya had won international awards for her anti-Kremlin reporting prior to her assassination, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of strong arm tactics in the conflict with Chechnya to stifle democracy. Inspired by rtenews ow.ly/5aPA0 image source Colin McPherson ow.ly/5aPsj Unacceptable crime that cannot go unpunished (June12 2011)

Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya the Russian journalist and human rights activist who was assassinated at the age of 48 in 2006 when shot dead in a lift of her apartment block in Central Moscow may be on the verge of having justice for her unresolved murder. Rustam Makhmudov a 37 year old Chechen fugitive suspect of the assassination, has been arrested by Russian authorities with the help of Belgian police, who were closing in on his Belgium hiding place prior to his escape to his parents home back in Chechnya. The arrest is claimed to be a break through in the long maligned investigation. Politkovskaya had won international awards for her anti-Kremlin reporting prior to her assassination, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of strong arm tactics in the conflict with Chechnya to stifle democracy.

 

Inspired by rtenews ow.ly/5aPA0 image source Colin McPherson ow.ly/5aPsj

Maria Owings Shriver the 55 year old Peabody award winning journalist author has pleaded for compassion, respect and privacy in the aftermath of her marriage breakdown and separation from bodybuilder actor Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger. Shriver a member of the Kennedy clan was responding to the painful heartbreak resulting from the media coverage to the revelation that her husband had fathered a child 10 years earlier with a long time member of their household staff Mildred Baena. The media hyped ‘love child’ was born just days after Shriver gave birth to one of Schwarzenegger’s sons. Apart from the morality of Schwarzenegger’s actions and the consequences of his secrecy, questions now arise as to the ethics, and issues of consent in the nature of a potentially coercive relationship an employer has with household staff. Inspired by Jon Bershad ow.ly/50zqg image source lifescript ow.ly/50zWP I ask for compassion, respect and privacy (May 25 2011)

Maria Owings Shriver the 55 year old Peabody award winning journalist author has pleaded for compassion, respect and privacy in the aftermath of her marriage breakdown and separation from bodybuilder actor Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger. Shriver a member of the Kennedy clan was responding to the painful heartbreak resulting from the media coverage to the revelation that her husband had fathered a child 10 years earlier with a long time member of their household staff Mildred Baena. The media hyped ‘love child’ was born just days after Shriver gave birth to one of Schwarzenegger’s sons. Apart from the morality of Schwarzenegger’s actions and the consequences of his secrecy, questions now arise as to the ethics, and issues of consent in the nature of a potentially coercive relationship an employer has with household staff.

 

Inspired by Jon Bershad ow.ly/50zqg image source lifescript ow.ly/50zWP

Nelle Harper Lee the 85 year old author renowned for her Pulitzer Prize winning novel ‘To kill a mockingbird’ has denied cooperating or assisting journalist Marja Mills the author of a soon to be released book about her ‘The Mockingbird Next Door: Life With Harper Lee’. Mills claims that Lee and her sister Alice were wonderfully generous with their time and insights over the years as she researched the book. Mills had resided next door to Lee and apparently developed a friendship until the announcement of the books release, prompting a response from Lee stating that she had not willingly participated in, or authorized, any book written by Mills. Lee historically has denied requests for interviews or public appearances, and has published no further books since her first successful book. Inspired by Julie Bosman ow.ly/4KAXg image source Wikipedia ow.ly/4KB0G Better to be silent than to be a fool (May 8 2011)

Nelle Harper Lee the 85 year old author renowned for her Pulitzer Prize winning novel ‘To kill a mockingbird’ has denied cooperating or assisting journalist Marja Mills the author of a soon to be released book about her ‘The Mockingbird Next Door: Life With Harper Lee’. Mills claims that Lee and her sister Alice were wonderfully generous with their time and insights over the years as she researched the book. Mills had resided next door to Lee and apparently developed a friendship until the announcement of the books release, prompting a response from Lee stating that she had not willingly participated in, or authorized, any book written by Mills. Lee historically has denied requests for interviews or public appearances, and has published no further books since her first successful book.

 

Inspired by Julie Bosman ow.ly/4KAXg image source Wikipedia ow.ly/4KB0G

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