Saturday, September 5, 2015

CounterCurrents: Japan: Protesting For Peace, As Yemen Assault Continues, US Announces Billion-Dollar Arms Deal With Saudi Arabia,




Dear Friend of Countercurrents.org,

I made a fund raising call on 7th July, 2015 to support Countercurrents. Even two months have gone sine our first call, we managed to raise only 10% of our target of Rs 25 lakhs.

Countercurrents in its 13 years of history used to raise only 2-3 lakhs as annual subscription. You might have wondered how a website like Countercurrents could run on so little money. Countercurrents.org in its 13 years of history has produced over 20,000 thousand articles, analyses, fact finding reports   on various topics that threaten the very existence of human life and lives of other species on earth, enough material to fill a large library. It was mainly because I used to hold a full time job in a mainstream news paper. I updated Countercurrents after my day time work, which even went into the wee hours of the morning. I had to wake up early morning next day and continue with the routine. It was really a tough task.

I took this hard task because I did not want Countercurrents.org to be a burden on its readers. I know the readers of Countercurrents.org are not rich. They are the concerned citizens of this world, who are struggling as hard like me to ensure a peaceful, dignified existence for the present denizens and future generations of our tiny planet. Countercurrents will not bow down, no matter what, to the very forces that are destroying this blue earth and the living systems of this planet by running their destructive advertisements on this website to make money. This is an easy way out, but I would rather let Countercurrents die than live a zombie existence.

As I said, I could keep the editorial independence of Countercurrents.org because the mainstay of expenses to run Countercurrents came from the salary I received from my professional job. Three months back, my employers called me up and asked me to choose either Countercurrents or their job. I didn’t have a moment of hesitation to choose Countercurrents.org   with the firm belief that readers of Countercurrents help me run it. There and then I submitted my resignation and they relieved me of the job the same day. 
Now I am disappointed worried, disheartened and disappointed. Even  two months after the call went out only a handful of people came forward to support Countercurrents. With the amount of money collected so far, Countercurrents will run  hardly two months more! After that, the future of Countercurrents is uncertain.

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Dear Friend,

If you think the content of this news letter is critical for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please forward it to your friends and spread the word. It's time for humanity to come together as one family! You can subscribe to our news letter here http://www.countercurrents.org/subscribe.htm. You can also follow us on twitter,http://twitter.com/countercurrents and on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/countercurrents

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www.countercurrents.org


As Yemen Assault Continues, US Announces Billion-Dollar Arms Deal With Saudi Arabia 
By Niles Williamson

http://www.countercurrents.org/williamson050915.htm

The Pentagon is in the process of finalizing a $1 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia for the delivery of a cache of weapons, consisting primarily of missiles to arm the fleet of F-15 fighter jets it had previously purchased from the US. While this latest weapons transfer, first reported by the New York Times, is being presented in the media as part of a bid by the administration of President Barack Obama to assuage the Saudi monarchy’s concerns over the US-Iran nuclear deal, it also facilitates the continuation and escalation of the bloody assault on Yemen that Saudi Arabia has been carrying out along with its allies since March


Japan: Protesting For Peace 
By Chandra Muzaffar

http://www.countercurrents.org/muzaffar050915.htm

On Sunday, 30 August 2015, more than 100,000 Japanese protested in the vicinity of the Japanese parliament against new security bills tabled in the upper legislative chamber by the Shinto Abe government. About 300 similar rallies were held in different cities all over the country. One television station estimated that perhaps a million people had participated in the mass protests. There is overwhelming opposition to the bills which allow the Japanese armed forces to engage in overseas combat if that was required to protect Japanese interests


Dead Refugees And Dead Topless Girls 
By B. F. Firos

http://www.countercurrents.org/firos050915.htm

For a change those rightwing leaders in Europe may read history books. Europe has benefitted from migration immensely: when the continent was ravaged by war seven decades ago, rest of the world embraced the refugees with open arms. After the Second World War, Australia, New Zealand and rest of Americas accepted huge refugee population that emanated from Europe


The Misinterpretation: Microfinance, NGOs And Neoliberalism In Bangladesh -Part 3: NGOs 
By Farooque Chowdhury

http://www.countercurrents.org/chowdhury050915.htm

There are instances of a group of NGOs began organizing a part of the poor in Bangladesh; but that initiative was targeted to fill in the space a part of the left camp discarded. Its aim was to take away initiatives from the anti-imperialist, progressive forces


The Authoritarian Militarization Of The Ethnic Croats: 
An Alternative View Of The Destruction Of Yugoslavia 
By Vladislav B. Sotirovic

http://www.countercurrents.org/sotirovic050915.htm

The internal and much more external destruction of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s is being observed in 2015 its 20th year of anniversary. However, this historical and much more geopolitical event still needs a satisfactory research approach in regard to the true geopolitical reasons and political-military course of the destruction of this South Slavic and Balkan state


Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Eighth Book: Writing On The Wall 
By Carolina SaldaƱa

http://www.countercurrents.org/saldana050915.htm

A review of Writing on the Wall: Selected Prison Writings of Mumia Abu-Jamal


Withdraw False Cases Aganist Adivasi students And Support The Indefinite Hunger Strike In Government Tribal Hostels In Panvel, Mumbai , Maharashtra 
By Ajmal Khan

http://www.countercurrents.org/khan050915.htm

The condition of Government Tribal Hostels in Maharashtra are very pathetic, in December 2014 around 200 students from Palghar district government tribal hostel had gone on a hunger strike demanding basic facilities like toilets and library in their hostel and against the sexual harassment by some locals. Their hunger strike had lasted few days and number of girls students had collapsed and were hospitalized. Though they were given assurances by the police no one was booked. Once again tribal students have started an indefinite hunger strike in front of the Government Tribal Hostel at Panvel, Mumbai


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