CounterCurrents: Hillary Clinton's Global-Burning Record, Why We Must Transcend The Clinton-Sanders Debate: The Middle East In US Foreign Policy, The Rape Of East Timor: "Sounds Like Fun"

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In Solidarity
Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org


Palestinian Hunger Striker, Muhammad al-Qiq, On The Verge Of Death
By Charlotte Silver 

http://www.countercurrents.org/silver250216.htm

Muhammad al-Qiq’s body has collapsed and his heart rate has slowed, lawyers report, as the 33-year-old Palestinian journalist and father of two enters day 92 of his hunger strike against his detention by Israel without charge or trial. Meanwhile, Israel is still refusing to allow al-Qiq’s wife Fayha Shalash and their two young children to be with him during what is feared may be his final hours


Police Disrupts Candle Light Vigil For Rohith Vemula
By Countercurrents.org

http://www.countercurrents.org/cc250216.htm

Rohith Vemula's mother and more than 100 students from Hyderabad Central University were detained by the Delhi Police while holding a candle light vigil at India Gate in memory of Rohith. Police even dragged Rohith Vemula's mother. While being detained in Tilak Marg and Parliament Street Police Station they held a candle light vigil inside the police station. Later, the agitators were released by the police. Arundhati B one of the participant in the vigil said in a facebook post "We had no weapons other than candles. They fear light. The call for the candle light vigil was given by the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice


VIDEO: Interview With Julian Assange
By Afshin Rattansi

http://www.countercurrents.org/rattansi250216.htm

Afshin Rattansi goes underground with the world's most wanted publisher - the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange. He has just co-authored a book - the WikiLeaks Files, and it paints a picture of systemic US torture and killing as well as the destruction of the lives and livelihoods of billions of people right around the world


The Rape Of East Timor: "Sounds Like Fun" 
By John Pilger

http://www.countercurrents.org/pilger250216.htm

Secret documents found in the Australian National Archives provide a glimpse of how one of the greatest crimes of the 20th century was executed and covered up. They also help us understand how and for whom the world is run. The documents refer to East Timor, now known as Timor-Leste, and were written by diplomats in the Australian embassy in Jakarta


An Open Letter To The People Of West Papua 
By James Burrowes & Robert J. Burrowes

http://www.countercurrents.org/burrowes250216.htm

We have recently been discussing your ongoing courageous struggle to liberate yourselves from more than 100 years of occupation, first by the Netherlands, briefly and brutally by Japan during World War II, and now by Indonesia. In that regard, we would each like to share a brief message with you, our friends from West Papua


Why We Must Transcend The Clinton-Sanders Debate: 
The Middle East In US Foreign Policy 
By Ramzy Baroud

http://www.countercurrents.org/baroud250216.htm

Clinton might have come, saw and Gaddafi was brutally murdered, but the country has also descended into a ‘state of nature’ type of chaos, where extreme violence meted out by militant brutes and managed by western-backed politicians, have taken reign. Similar fates have been suffered by Iraq, Yemen and Syria - one sanctioned, invaded and occupied, another served as a war front for the US war on al-Qaeda, the third was groomed for intervention many years ago, in publicly available documents prepared by pro-Israel American neoconservative organizations. Thus, it is essential that we understand such historical contexts before, once more, delving into impractical political feuds that, ultimately, validate the very US political establishment which, whether led by Republicans or Democrats, have wrought unmitigated harm to the Middle East, instability and incalculable deaths


Hillary Clinton's Global-Burning Record 
By Eric Zuesse

http://www.countercurrents.org/zuesse250216.htm

On 17 July 2015, Paul Blumenthal and Kate Sheppard at Huffington Post bannered, “Hillary Clinton's Biggest Campaign Bundlers Are Fossil Fuel Lobbyists” and the sub-head was "Clinton's top campaign financiers are linked to Big Oil, natural gas and the Keystone pipeline.” This description of her fits for a politician who does the lobbyists' bidding


Why Shouldn’t We Discuss Afzal Guru? 
By Sreekumar Kodiyath

http://www.countercurrents.org/kodiyath250216.htm

Our anti-terrorism laws and the arbitrary nature of many of their provisions deserve to be discussed and debated. Our system of awarding death penalty deserves to be discussed and debated. The way in which trial court functions deserves to be discussed and debated. The archaic policing system inherited from the colonial rulers deserves to be discussed and debated. The way in which we condone torture in custody deserves to be discussed and debated. And as long as a person has been hung under the shadows cast by the festering rots in our institutions, his case would forever remain a bloat in the landscape of justice and democracy. Mentioning it becomes necessary to ensure that we learn from our mistakes. Remembering it becomes necessary to prevent its repetition. Discussing it becomes necessary to affirm our commitment to free speech


Statement From Sri Lanka In Solidarity With Protesting Students Of India
By Concerned Citizens And Organisations From Sri Lanka

http://www.countercurrents.org/sls250216.pdf

We, the undersigned organizations, civil society activists, academics and students from Sri Lanka vehemently condemn the institutional murder on 17th January 2015 of Dalit research scholar and activist Rohith Vemula of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) of the University of Hyderabad (UoH), India and the violence meted out against those seeking justice for Rohith’s death. We stand in solidarity with protesting students and staff of the UoH, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi and other higher educational institutions around India


Do You Remember Kunan Poshpora? 
By Mary Scully

http://www.countercurrents.org/scully250216.htm

In December 2012, the rape & murder of a women student in Delhi galvanized a protest movement & inspired five young Kashmiri women to investigate & write a book about the Kunan Poshpora mass rape. The women are Samreen Mushtaq, Essar Batool, Natasha Rather, Munaza Rashid, & Ifrah Butt. The book was published by The University of Chicago Press & distributed by Zubaan Books in Delhi, India. The book entitled, “Do you remember Kunan Poshpora?” is part of an eight-volume series on “Sexual Violence & Impunity in South Asia” & was officially released last month at the prestigious Jaipur Literature Festival


The Dogs And The Rabbits 
By Shah Alam Khan

http://www.countercurrents.org/sak250216.htm

This story is a work of fiction and any resemblance to a place, person or event is purely coincidental and unintentional. (I dare not!)


Siachen, The High-Altitude Madness! 
By M.Ashraf

http://www.countercurrents.org/ashraf250216.htm

There have been many attempts to sort out the dispute but so far these have failed. Manmohan Singh was the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Siachen. He suggested peaceful resolution of the dispute. In fact, environmentalists have suggested that Siachen should be declared a Peace Park. The resolution of the dispute is stuck up. The Indian side wants Pakistanis to authenticate on a map the positions held by them at present. It may be worthwhile to ask the top Political and Army brass to hold the talks on the glacier itself so that they realize the actual ground conditions. Both sides may then agree to leave the area alone and bring an end to this high-altitude madness! The sooner it happens, the better for both the suffering soldiers and the fragile environment


Accessibility And Disabled People 
By Kapil Kumar

http://www.countercurrents.org/kumar250216.htm

It is need of the hour that accessibility to disabled persons must be ensured at the earliest. And those (institutions and otherwise) who do not comply with the instructions of the government, must be punished. And this all can become possible only by creating awareness in the society and making it sensitive towards the needs of disabled people. It must be kept in mind here, that disability is not acquired only by birth, it can occur to any individual in/at any point of his or her life