CounterCurrents: Battle For Kobanê At A Crossroads, The Endgame Of The US ‘Islamic State’ Strategy

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Binu Mathew
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www.countercurrents.org


Battle For Kobanê At A Crossroads
By Serge Jordan

http://www.countercurrents.org/jordan111114.htm

The gains of Rojava and the resistance in Kobanê have offered a potential bridge on the road of the Kurds for self-determination and, more generally, a possible reference point for reviving the struggle of workers and poor against the horrors of IS and of the dictatorial regimes in the Middle East. However, all the political complications and dangers of what has recently unfolded in this area need to be addressed, as a defeat of this struggle would, on the contrary, unleash further sufferings for the peoples of the region


The Endgame Of The US ‘Islamic State’ Strategy
By Nicola Nasser

http://www.countercurrents.org/nasser111114.htm

Dismantling what the former US President George W. Bush once described as the Syria – Iran component of the “axis of evil,” or interrupting in Iraq the geographical contiguity of what King Abdullah II of Jordan once described as the “Shiite crescent,” was and remains the strategic goal of the US – Israeli allies in the Middle East unless they succeed first in “changing the regime” in either Damascus or Tehran


"One-State Solution" For Israel/Palestine
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal

http://www.countercurrents.org/watzal111114.htm

Israel's economy minister Naftali Bennett, the leader of the right-wing party "The Jewish Home", published an article in the New York Times in which he buried the concept of a "two-state solution" as a way out of the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Bennett does not belong to the radical Zionist fringe. Although he is an advocate of extremist colonial Zionist ideas, he is considered to be the successor of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu. In his Op-ED, Bennett has made a mockery of the policy of the last 20 years, which was connected to the Oslo Accords and the two-state solution. His words won't bear fruit right now, but they might be in the future


US Commitment To Terror, Expansionism, Maintains Israel's Illegal Wall
By Robert Barsocchini

http://www.countercurrents.org/barsocchini111114.htm

On the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall , Palestinians have tried to call attention to the wall that still exists, the illegal US-backed wall that Israel is building and using as one of its means of illegally annexing Palestinian territory. Dr. Noam Chomsky, for one, has pointed out that if the wall were about security and not illegal expansionism, it could simply be made gigantic and utterly impenetrable, and be put on Israel's legal border, which countries are allowed to do


Contaminating The Nation's Food: GM Food On The Shelves of UK Supermarkets
By Colin Todhunter

http://www.countercurrents.org/todhunter111114.htm

From the US to India, the GMO biotech industry appears to have a ‘contaminate first then push for regulatory authorisation later' policy. The contamination of our food seems to be a deliberate strategy of the industry


Lynching And Islamophobia
By Just Executive Committee

http://www.countercurrents.org/just111114.htm

The International Movement for a Just World (JUST) strongly condemns the lynching and murder of a Pakistani Christian couple last week. Under the false pretext of committing ‘blasphemy’ for desecrating the Quran, for which there was no evidence, the couple was accused and brutally killed, all in one day. All of the evidence, on the other hand, suggests that this was principally an issue of exploited bonded labor attempting to escape their horrible plight


Kashmir, A Stranded Melancholy
By Suhail Qasim Mir

http://www.countercurrents.org/mir111114.htm

They call our land the paradise on the earth! But Kashmir has more to it, besides the snow-capped landscape, mellow streams and lush valleys. Oppression dwells here. The shrieks and cries inhabit the vast solitude. It’s frightening in Kashmir. There are blood graffiti’s on snow. Tyranny rules here. There is no value for life in Kashmir. People here, are subject to the worst inhumane atrocities. They are paying a price for being born in Kashmir


Imagine! Imagine For A Moment!
By Noor ul haq

http://www.countercurrents.org/haq111114.htm

Dear Indians, we Kashmiris hate you no more but we don't love you also. Blame your successive governments, trigger happy armed forces. Imagine, if this happens to you, will you love such foreign troops anymore. I am sure, you will hate that country not only the troops. Freedom for Kashmir is not only good for Kashmiris but for India as well. Think. Understand and Act. The recent killings at Chattergam where the Armymen who left two boys dead and two injured on November 3, fired 118 rounds at their Maruti car, with 28 bullets hitting the vehicle. No justice till date, but yes sorry we killed you!


The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision
By Mickey Z.

http://www.countercurrents.org/mickeyz111114.htm

An Interview with Douglas Blanchard. The work he does in that studio is diverse, powerful, and a catalyst for new perspectives. This very much includes the 24 paintings of a contemporary Christ in a new book called The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision. Accompanied by text from minister and art historian Kittredge Cherry, the book is a transformative collaboration


It Has To Start From Home!
By Roshan Shah

http://www.countercurrents.org/shah111114.htm

One doesn’t have to do ‘enormous’ things for huge numbers of people in order to do or be good. As Mother Teresa so beautifully put it, “We can do no great things—only small things with great love”. And what better place to start this than one’s home? In fact, if it doesn’t start from there, it may not start anywhere! That’s what I’ve learnt from Tinki


Why This Celebration of Death?
By Premkumar Mani

http://www.countercurrents.org/mani111114.htm

When Asuras are a tribe, to defeat them or to kill their hero- how can it become a festival to celebrate? What sort of a psyche does that symbolize? If someone made a festival of the massacre in Gujarat or the massacres of Dalits in Bihar, or say, a celebration of the death of Bhumihars- how would that feel? Agreed that the hero of Asuras, Mahishasura, was killed by Durga and the Asuras were defeated but why does this have to be celebrated each year? You are actually insulting people through this festival


War Is Not For Soldiers
By David Swanson

http://www.countercurrents.org/swanson111114.htm

We learn a lot about the real motives for wars when whistleblowers leak the minutes of secret meetings, or when congressional committees publish the records of hearings decades later.War planners write books.They make movies.They face investigations.Eventually the beans tend to get spilled.But I have never ever, not even once, heard of a private meeting in which top war makers discussed the need to keep a war going in order to benefit the soldiers fighting in it


Lenin: State And Revolution: Chapter 5 - Withering Away The State (Part Three) -- Review
By Thomas Riggins

http://www.countercurrents.org/riggins111114.htm

Chapter 5 of State and Revolution has a brief introduction and four sections. Part Three of this review covers section four