CounterCurrents: U.S. And Russia Reaffirm Commitment To U.N. Peace Process In Syria, Despite Obama’s Opposition , Police Apathy In The Brutal Rape And Murder Of Dalit Law Student In Kerala, We Overpopulated The Planet Because We Could

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Academic Council Meeting Fails To Resolve The Deadlock In JNU
Press Release

http://www.countercurrents.org/pr100616.htm

In view of the emergency situation, the members of the Academic Council deeply concerned and argued that a resolution of the matter could not be postponed any further. However, the VC hastily adjourned the meeting and left. Therefore, the first Academic Council meeting chaired by the new Vice Chancellor, Professor Jagadeesh Kumar, could not conduct any business. The responsibility for this lies squarely on the shoulders of the Vice Chancellor. Subsequently, after the VC had left, the AC members passed a resolution regretting the VC’s adjournment of the meeting and stating that “the whole range of punishments meted out to students is excessive and that the harsher punishments such as rustication, suspension, banishment from campus, and exorbitant fines should be immediately revoked”. The AC members further resolved that the VC immediately implement this resolution


Role Of The Vice Chancellor: The Current Situation In JNU 
By Shakti Kak

http://www.countercurrents.org/kak100516.htm

The sheer incompetence and narrow mindedness of Vice Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar has been evident too many times in last three months. He has alienated most of the university community. He has been sharing information with the police without discussing the issues with the university community. He is solely responsible for the damage done to the academic community for this semester. He has vitiated the atmosphere in the university by his silence and allowed unwarranted and false propaganda against teachers and students to be spread to the media.The damage to the university can be undone by the academic community insisting on his removal as the vice chancellor of JNU


Facebook Manipulates Its Trending News Module 
By Lauren McCauley

http://www.countercurrents.org/mccauley100516.htm

The employees said they were "instructed to artificially 'inject' selected stories into the trending news module, even if they weren’t popular enough to warrant inclusion—or in some cases weren’t trending at all," and were specifically asked to exclude "news about Facebook itself in the trending module."


Why The Economy Should Stop Growing—And Just Grow Up 
By David Korten

http://www.countercurrents.org/korten100516.htm

Living organisms have learned to self-organize as bioregional communities that create and maintain the conditions essential to a living Earth community. We humans must take the step to maturity as we learn to live as responsible members of that community


U.S. And Russia Reaffirm Commitment To U.N. Peace Process In Syria, 
Despite Obama’s Opposition 
By Eric Zuesse

http://www.countercurrents.org/zuesse100516.htm

On May 9th, the U.S. and Russia issued a "Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the United States on Syria”, saying that, "The Russian Federation and United States are determined to redouble efforts to reach a political settlement of the Syrian conflict consistent with UNSCR 2254.”


Cuba Will Not Fall! 
By Andre Vltchek

http://www.countercurrents.org/vltchek100516.htm

I am not sure who has invented those rumors that Cuba is now facing a mortal danger, that it has lost its bearings, and that it could collapse at any moment, after just one lethal visit by US President Barack Obama. The rumors and speculations are snowballing, and in some circles of the North American and European Left, they are already being confused with reality. I admire and love Cuba. It is an exceptionally strong, determined and resilient nation. Reading all the alarming reports, I decided to return and to speak to the Cuban people directly. I visited Cuba again. This time in between my work in war-torn Middle East and South America, a continent suffering vicious assaults by toxic counter-revolutionary cliques loyal to Washington and Europe


Once, Most Jews Viewed Israel As The Anti-Semite’s Best Friend 
By Jonathan Cook

http://www.countercurrents.org/cook100516.htm

It was an assessment no one expected from the deputy head of the Israeli military. In his Holocaust Day speech last week, Yair Golan compared current trends in Israel with Germany in the early 1930s, as Nazism took hold. In today’s Israel, he said, could be recognised “the revolting processes that occurred in Europe … There is nothing easier than hating the stranger, nothing easier than to stir fears and intimidate.”


An American Original: John Kerry, From His Remarkable Commencement Address 
At Northwestern University To The Remarkable Career That Made It Possible
By John Chuckman

http://www.countercurrents.org/chuckman100516.htm

When John Kerry says anything on any topic, his listeners would be wise to consider the source, for even though he walks around in the appointed robes of America’s Secretary of State, he is pretty much a life-long, ambitious, and dishonest failure


We Overpopulated The Planet Because We Could 
By Lionel Anet

http://www.countercurrents.org/anet100516.htm

This piece follows my previous one “Value Our Children, Instead Of Money” as it deals with our genetic makeup of a highly social and adaptable people. So that the less important money-private property is the less dishonesty we will have because we will be able to see that there’s little advantage being dishonest, even for sociopathy


Spartacus 
Book Review By Ish Mishra

http://www.countercurrents.org/mishra100516.htm

"SPARTACUS" is a powerful novel of ancient slave society with rich meaning for the liberation struggle of our day. It is brilliantly written, and in certain sections probably represents the high point in the development of Howard Fast's superb craftsmanship


Police Apathy In The Brutal Rape And Murder Of Dalit Law Student In Kerala
By People's Union For Democratic Rights

http://www.countercurrents.org/pudr100516.htm

PUDR condemns police apathy in the case of brutal caste and gender based violence against Dalit law student in Kerala


CPDR Questions Arrests of Five Youth Under UAPA In Kerala
By Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights

http://www.countercurrents.org/cpdr100516.htm

The arrest of these youth and slapping draconian UAPA on them only indicates malafide of the Kerala Police to silence dissenting opinion of people. It is one more case that illustrates the blatant misuse of UAPA and craves for its repeal. The Kerala Police that refuses to arrest the culprits in a brutal rape and murder of the dalit law student displays its extreme zeal to curb political dissent with its patent weapon of UAPA


Kashmir - A Blood-Stained Coffin Of Dreams 
By Rameez Bhat

http://www.countercurrents.org/bhat100516.htm

History bears witness to the fact that the two nations “Pak & Ind” waged three wars, which not only resulted in loss of precious lives of their own soldiers but dealt a blow to respective countries in economic terms. Same is the case of Jammu & Kashmir, besides losing 6-lakh people for our right, we have suffered on a multitude of fronts. Now it’s time to solve this long pending issue, or else this bloodshed will continue to inundate our streets which only bloodthirsty monsters can derive pleasure from; never the one whose sanity is intact and whose conscience is alive


Civil Society Leaders Lament Rising State Aggression 
By Pradeep Baisakh

http://www.countercurrents.org/baisakh100516.htm

Civil Society representatives from across the globe gathered in the International Civil Society Week (ICSW) in last week of April 2016 and expressed their agony over the shrinking space of the civil society across the globe. About 900 civil society leaders from 109 countries gathered in the Bogota, capital of Colombia as part of the civil society week organized by CIVICUS with an inspiring theme of ‘Active citizens and accountable actions’