17/11/2016
By Robert J. Burrowes*
DAYLESFORD, Australia, 16 November, 2016 – In early 2011, as the Arab Spring was moving across North Africa and the Middle East, small groups of nonviolent activists in Syria, which has been under martial law since 1963, started protesting against the brutal dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad and demanding democratic reforms, the release of political prisoners, an increase in freedoms, abolition of the emergency law and an end to corruption.
Robert J. Burrowes
By mid-March these protests, particularly in cities such as Damascus, Aleppo and Daraa, had escalated and the ‘Day of Rage’ protest on 15 March 2011 is considered by many to mark the start of the nationwide uprising against the Assad dictatorship.
The dictatorship’s reaction to the protests became violent on 16 March and on 18 March, after Friday prayers, activists gathered at the al-Omari Mosque in Daraa were attacked by security forces with water cannons and tear gas, followed by live fire; four nonviolent activists were killed.
Within months, as the nonviolent protests expanded and spread, the regime had killed hundreds of activists and arbitrarily arrested thousands, subjecting many of them to brutal torture in detention.
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16/11/2016
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**Image: United Nations General Assembly hall in New York City. | Author: Patrick Gruban, cropped and downsampled by Pine | Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
As part of his campaign rhetoric, he denounced climate change as a hoax and a Chinese conspiracy; vowed to bar political refugees; restrict migrants by building a wall across the Mexican border; recommended banning Muslims from entering the country; threatened to undermine reproductive rights; and dismantle the nuclear agreement signed by Iran and six of the world’s major powers: the US, UK, France, China, Russia, Germany, plus the European Union (EU).
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14/11/2016
By Johan Galtung*
PART (1)
Washington DC, 9 Nov 2016 – TRANSCEND Media Service – The 45th President of the USA, Donald Trump, delivered a highly presidential acceptance speech. The words chosen, how he spoke them, his body language, all belied the idea that he could not be presidential. How good a president, remains to be seen.
Johan Galtung
What matters now in his concrete action coming January. For instance, will he do as he promised, cancel out-sourcing, “trading” of industries to Mexico and “in-sourcing” them back to the USA, to recreate jobs for US workers?
However, the media are still too anti-Trump to realize he is their President, maybe hoping for some reversal. Also too struck by how wrong all the polls have been predicting an easy Hillary victory. They will probably go on with that for a long time.
I do not think there was any objective basis for predicting a Trump victory. Clinton had all criteria in her favor: president’s wife with influence, secretary of state, senator etc. Trump: not even office.
But Clinton’s criteria were elitist and status quo, Trump’s smacked of populism and basic change. The wind was blowing toward populism, which is, actually, what democracy is about, catering to the people.
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14/11/2016
But first we need to make an introduction.
In any country of the world, Hillary Clinton would have won the elections after obtaining the greater number of votes.
The United States, however, does not have a democratic Constitution.
And while the Americans consider themselves the “only democracy in the world” (George W. Bush, speech to the U.S. Congress at his inauguration), it should be noted that the US Constitution is a vestige of the past. See why …
When the different states emerged victorious from the War of Independence against England and decided to unite in the United States, the smaller states feared being subjected to the greatest. That was how a guaranteed commitment was invented.
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11/11/2016
A large protest in Manhattan against the presidency of Donald Trump on November 9, 2016, the day after election day. The crowd spanned a few blocks, centered on Trump Tower. Credit: Rhododendrites. Wikimedia
Such disease consists of a widespread malaise, the feeling of frustration and even oppression that the majority of citizens shelter in their hearts and minds worldwide. Let alone the syndrome of unrestricted fear of everything, which has been imposed on everyone.
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10/11/2016
By Tharanga Yakupitiyage*
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A view of Trump World Tower opposite the United Nations in New York. Credit: IPS UN Bureau.
In the early hours of Wednesday Nov. 8 morning, President-elect Trump announced his victory, saying the country must “bind the wounds of division” and that he intends to work with, rather than against, the international community.
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09/11/2016
7 November 2016 (openDemocracy) – 12 things we can’t ignore as America votes.
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For John Berger at 90, whose uncompromising tenderness and compassion shows us how to look hard yet be full of care.
**Donald Trump at the New Hampshire Town Hall at Pinkerton Academy, August 19th, 2015 | Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
1. There should be a plural term for violences. This would let us talk about how to choose between violences. Today, this would mean judging between different ‘brands’ of violence in the sense of product lines.
Calculated, targeted and intimidating violence – the violence of drones, for example, compared to inflammatory, provocative, intimidating violence – the violence of terrorism. Tomorrow the American people will have to choose between two forms of violence. The system, represented by Hillary Clinton, and an anti-system conjured up by Donald Trump.
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09/11/2016
By John Scales Avery*
OSLO, NOV 9 2016 – By sabotaging Bernie Sander’s primary campaign, the Democratic National Committee seems to have committed suicide and destroyed the Democratic party. USA’s mass media were also responsible for the stolen primary, and for Donald Trump’s election to the US Presidency.
John Scales Avery
Bernie Sander was the people’s choice, and he would easily have defeated Donald Trump.
Americans suffering from economic hardship would have been given the reforms that they crave.
But faced with a choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, they chose Trump, who seemed to promise something other than the arrogance that they had been experiencing at the hands of the Beltway establishment.
Donald Trump’s worst characteristic is his denial of anthropogenic climate change.
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08/11/2016
6 November 2016 (RT)* –
Samples taken from Iraqi children living in Iraqi cities bombed during the US-led campaign show lead poisoning, which is a result of pollution caused by American military bases and the war, says Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, an environmental toxicologist.
**Photo: A city street in Ramadi heavily damaged by the fighting in 2006 | Joey Buccino at English Wikipedia | Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
November 7 will mark 12 years since the beginning of the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004, which was conducted by US, Iraqi and British troops. The US-led assault on Fallujah, a stronghold of the Iraqi insurgency west of Baghdad, became one of the major operations during the Iraq war.
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08/11/2016
Banana is the eighth most important food crop in the world and the fourth most important in developing countries. Credit: FAO
Take the case of one of the world’s most favourite foods—banana in all its forms: banana split, banana muffins, banana bread, banana pudding, banana pancakes… Whether plain, cooked, baked or fried, bananas are among the most widely consumed fruits on the planet.
However, how much do you really know about this most produced and exported fruit? asks the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). And the answers provided are some interesting facts you should know about bananas:
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HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 