CounterCurrents: Beware ‘Sunni-Stan’: Neocons Are Back And Their ‘Vision’ Is Darker Than Ever, US Made ‘Cold War’ Plans To Wipe Out Much of Planet’s Population, An Unhappy Christmas In Bethlehem, Gallup: Ukrainians Loathe The Government That Obama Imposed

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Binu Mathew
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www.countercurrents.org

An Unhappy Christmas In Bethlehem
By SADAKA ireland

http://www.countercurrents.org/sadaka161215.htm

A Silent Night this Christmas:The city of Bethlehem prepares for a scaled-down Christmas celebration in the face of continuing Israeli violence


G. N. Saibaba's Bail Cancelled, Contempt Notice Slapped On Arundhati Roy
By Countercurrents.org

http://www.countercurrents.org/cc241215.htm

The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court cancelled the bail of Delhi University professor G. N. Saibaba and asked him to surrender before the police by 25th December. The Wheelchair-bound Saibaba who is over 90% disabled will celebrate Christmas in jail. A single judge bench of Justice Arun Choudhari also charged Author Arundhati Roy for criminal contempt for writing about Saibaba's imprisonment and the court's denial of bail in her article “Professor P.O.W.” in Outlook magazine in May. Arundhati Roy has to reply to the notice by January 25, 2016


India Has Just Criminalized Children 
By Samar

http://www.countercurrents.org/samar231215.htm

The mob just drew the second blood, riding on its ‘outrage’ over 16 December 2012 Delhi gang rape case, real or pretended. It was baying for the blood of a mere individual, the juvenile convict of that case which known to be come as “Nirabhaya case’ but got much more- blood of justice itself in getting the wrongly named Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2015- the bill that allows trial of juveniles accused of ‘heinous’ crimes as adults, in the adult justice institutions


Book Review And Commentary:"The Past As Present" By Romila Thapar
By Anil Gokhale

http://www.countercurrents.org/gokhale241215.htm

The Book to be considered as milestone in Historical writings on Ancient India and its reverberations on the political narrative of Modern India. Importantly, it has become the central core of current political narrative in strange and peculiar Form. The Book is scholarly polemical for revivalists and at the same time conversationalist for keen readers of History. The Book covers and knits together nineteen Articles under four segments and written over a period of last twenty years – since 1989 and offers a proof of consistency in meticulous and innovative research. It addresses ‘the past’ as is interpreted in present to legitimize the political ends. Author finds it as high time to launch a well argued criticism of defenders of those treating the ‘past as the extension (backward) of the Present’ in short the regressive ‘political and hate filled’ methodology of protagonists of ‘Mytho- Historians’


Gallup: Ukrainians Loathe The Government That Obama Imposed 
By Eric Zuesse

http://www.countercurrents.org/zuesse241215.htm

On December 23rd, Gallup headlines “Ukrainians Disillusioned With Leadership,” and reports that "nearly nine in 10 Ukrainians (88%) say corruption is widespread in their government, and about eight in 10 (81%) see the same widespread problem in their country's businesses.” 8% of Ukrainians now say they “have confidence … about the national government.” 17% approve of the job-performance of their President, Petro Poroshenko. While the pre-coup President, Viktor Yanukovych, was in office, 2010-2014, that figure had been averaging about 23%, and was never as low as Poroshenko's is now


US Made ‘Cold War’ Plans To Wipe Out Much of Planet’s Population 
By Robert Barsocchini

http://www.countercurrents.org/barsocchini241215.htm

Given the US’s long history of wiping out huge numbers of people in the service of physical and hegemonic expansion, it may be unsurprising that the nation planned ‘a wholesale slaughter of much of the planet’s population’ during the Cold War, as newly declassified documents reveal


The Futility Of Reformism In Spain And Greece 
By Jon Kofas

http://www.countercurrents.org/kofas241215.htm

The thesis of this brief article is that reformism does not work and only leads to even greater sociopolitical conformity. This is as much the case today in Greece that has tried it, as in Spain endeavoring to try it under its new progressive PODEMOS party, as it has been throughout history. One reason that EU and US investors are bullish on Spanish securities, despite a temporary setback the day after the elections is because they know that the anti-austerity PODEMOS party will conform exactly as SYRIZA in Greece and neoliberal policies will prevail no matter who is in government


Beware ‘Sunni-Stan’: Neocons Are Back And Their ‘Vision’ Is Darker Than Ever 
By Ramzy Baroud

http://www.countercurrents.org/baroud241215.htm

Whatever it is, the neo-conservatives should never be allowed access to the Middle East discourse, and their visions, those of doom and destruction, should remain confined to their ever mushrooming think tanks. True, it is the perpetual war and horrific rivalries in the Middle East that have finally empowered the neocons to stage a comeback; but considering the damage that these groups have already done, one is certain that no good can possibly come from Bolton and his clique


Shining Light Into Darkness 
By Brita Rose

http://www.countercurrents.org/rose241215.htm

Islamophobia, minority discrimination and anti-Muslim hatred are not something new in the U.S., but they are a cancer to our culture -- an affront to the values of a pluralistic nation that stands--at least on paper--for justice, fairness and the common good of all. They are anathema to a nation built by immigrants and on the principle of offering refuge to the homeless, weary and oppressed, as we find inscribed inside the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty


Constitutionalism: Exception As Norm 
By Trijeeb Nanda

http://www.countercurrents.org/nanda241215.htm

The informal suspension of constitution by perpetual state of exception and extra-judicial execution, without any formal declaration, seems to have become the integral part of Constitutionalism. In which the constitution is being used as a political document to enforce the political will through judicial platform. Where the political will is to eliminate all those who don’t integrates into the system or to whom the system doesn’t integrate


Dredge The Jhelum, Please! 
By M.Ashraf

http://www.countercurrents.org/ashraf241215.htm

More than 14 months have passed since the worst flood in the history of Kashmir virtually destroyed Srinagar. The sleepy Government needs to wake up to prevent the repetition of the tragedy


Implementation Of Community Forest Resource Rights Remains Tardy
By National Consultation on Community Forest Resource Rights and Governance

http://www.countercurrents.org/cfr241215.htm

Even after eight years of implementation of the Act recognition of CFR rights remains slow and tardy, except in a few pockets in the country. This was because of extremely weak political and administrative will and support towards implementing the law. Four major underlying reasons were felt to be the cause of this weak Will to implement the law; Macro-economic policies in favour of industrial development; Strong push from the forest establishment to retain and reassert their control over the forests; Continuing faith in exclusionary conservation policies; and finally the state nodal agencies financially and human resource wise not strong enough to deal with the impacts of the above factors


Reviving The Cooperative Movement For A Better India 
By Moin Qazi

http://www.countercurrents.org/qazi241215.htm

Financial development through public participation enables individuals to make the most of their potential and represents a tool for expanding financial democracy. We have made historic strides toward the consolidation of political democracy, revolutionizing governance in India's rural hinterland but they have not been accompanied by the democratization of means and opportunities. Financial democracy is fundamental for achieving greater inclusiveness, improving social cohesion, and generating broad-based growth. It is therefore crucial for economic dynamism and political stability. It is crucial because the lack of financial democracy prevents people from gaining access to resources that would enable them to make the most of!