CounterCurrents: Genetically Engineered Promises & Farming Realities, Obama’s Legacy Of Failure In The Middle East, The “Gold Star” Dishonesty Of The 2016 US Presidential Election

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Day 44. Kashmir is still burning. One more death reported from Sri Nagar. A youth hit by tear gas shell dies in hospital, reports Greater Kashmir. Many parts of Kashmir valley is under curfew and the people besieged in their home. Respected sociologist Dr Fayaz Ahmad Bhat shares the anguish of Kashmiris in his moving article "Kashmir: A Cry From Hell!"

Something sinister is going on in Koodankulam nuclear power plant. VT Padmanabhan & Joseph Makkolil reports that KKNPP-1 is going through what is known as ‘power up-rate experiment’ defined as “the operation beyond the power level licensed by the regulatory body” (IAEA). The data shows that between December 2014 and August 2016  there were 188 successful uprated days! 

P V Satheesh explores the lies and half truths spread by the GMO industry. He writes, "the promise of biotechnology in agriculture sounds very hollow. As people who have worked at the grassroots with farmers who have planted Bt cotton and have suffered heavily as a consequence, we feel the thick blanket of half-truths that wrap the dark secrets of the “success stories” of genetic engineering."

And many more stories from around the world. 

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Kashmir: A Cry From Hell!
by Dr Fayaz Ahmad Bhat 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/21/kashmir-a-cry-from-hell/

I cry! The people of Kashmir cry! We cry for the future of our children. We cry in pain and agony but our suffering and misery goes unnoticed rather people pretend to deaf and blind. Our screams annoy our own brothers and sisters and we are looked down as damned and evil mongers.




Illegal Reactor Experiments At The Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant, India
Co-Written By VT Padmanabhan & Joseph Makkolil

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/21/illegal-reactor-experiments-at-the-koodankulam-nuclear-power-plant-india/

What is being done at KKNPP-1 is known as ‘power up-rate experiment’ defined as “the operation beyond the power level licensed by the regulatory body” (IAEA). There are three types of power uprates: (i) “measurement uncertainty recapture” uprate, which involves an increase of less than 2% and is achieved by implementing enhanced techniques for calculating reactor power levels, (ii) “stretch” uprates where increases are between 2 and 7% and  (iii) “extended” uprates with increases of up to 20%.    Stretch and extended uprates involve changes to instrumentation settings and significant modifications to turbines, condensate pumps, motors, main generators and/or transformers. Since an uprated machine is made to work beyond the design limit, there is always a risk of an accident. This article, which is about this brave and bizarre experiment, is in three parts.    Part-I traces the history of uprating experiment at KKNPP by analyzing the performance of the reactor du
ring
December 2014 and August 2016, which reveals there were 188 successful uprated days





Genetically Engineered Promises & Farming Realities
by P V Satheesh 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/21/genetically-engineered-promises-farming-realities/

The promise of biotechnology in agriculture sounds very hollow. As people who have worked at the grassroots with farmers who have planted Bt cotton and have suffered heavily as a consequence, we feel the thick blanket of half-truths that wrap the dark secrets of the “success stories” of genetic engineering.




Claims Of Exoneration: The Case Of Slobodan Milošević
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/21/claims-of-exoneration-the-case-of-slobodan-milosevic/

Milošević was never innocent in any historical sense, but neither was the Yugoslav project or its progenitors.




Obama’s Legacy Of Failure In The Middle East
by Nauman Sadiq 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/21/obamas-legacy-of-failure-in-the-middle-east/

It will now take decades, not years, to restore even a semblance of stability in Libya and Syria; remember that the proxy war in Afghanistan was originally fought in the ‘80s and even 35 years later Afghanistan is still in the midst of perpetual anarchy, lawlessness and an unrelenting Taliban insurgency.




Jignesh Mevani: A Leader Is Born
by Dr Aurobindo Ghose 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/21/jignesh-mevani-a-leader-is-born/

Very successful press conference at the Press Club of India, New Delhi by Jignesh Mevani, lawyer and Dalit activist from Gujarat. Very good attendance. Lot of questioning by journos’ almost amounting to interrogation, which Jignesh tackled very well. Jignesh Mevani was at the same time fire and brimstone lashing away at Mr. Modi and the BJP, and also Captain Cool as he suavely and minutely fielded the numerous questions from journalists, mostly representing the Gujarat newspapers. He resigned from the AAP today to keep the movement above party politics.





The “Gold Star” Dishonesty Of The 2016 US Presidential Election
by Sukhamaya Bain 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/21/the-gold-star-dishonesty-of-the-2016-us-presidential-election/

The Khan speech and its display at the Democratic Party Convention of 2016 were dishonest and an exercise in irresponsible political correctness vis-à-vis the serious worldwide problem of Islamic fanaticism and terrorism.





Failed Indian Land Reforms- C J I Highlights The Issue
by Dr Vivek Kumar Srivastava 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/21/failed-indian-land-reforms-c-j-i-highlights-the-issue/

Land reforms remain an unfulfilled project since the 1950s, and our growth carries a burden of fewer and fewer jobs. Justice that is unpolluted and speedy remains a distant dream.’




Death Of Two Workers In Anna University Was Due To Negligence
Report by a Citizens’ Fact Finding Team

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/21/death-of-two-workers-in-anna-university-was-due-to-negligence/

The team concluded that the tragic death of the two young workers was preventable and was caused due to the negligence of the employers – Anna University in its capacity as the principal employer and Kavimeena Rubber Products in its capacity as the direct employer.