CounterCurrents: Surgical Strikes: Nuclear South Asia On Tenterhooks

Dear Friend,

Responding to nationalist clamouring for retaliatory strike against Pakistan in response to attack on Uri army camp on September 18th, Indian Army conducted surgical strikes across the LoC on Wednesday night. The new developments have put the South Asian region where over 200 nuclear weapons are on battle ready mode on tenterhooks.

60 nations have signed the Paris climate agreement which aims to limit warming to “well below 2°C” and strive for 1.5°C.    However, a new report from Oil Change International calculates that, in order to accomplish those goals, governments need to stop permitting and building all new fossil fuel projects and retire early some existing oil and gas fields and coal mine.

We all know that the present neo-liberal, free market economy is broken.  David Bollier &  Burns H. Weston put forward a bold initiative of Green Governance based on the Commons principle and which puts ecological survival and human rights at the forefront. 

An all women's boat is ready to break the decade long siege of Gaza. 

Today is World Heart Day. Read the important article on Interventional Cardiology by Professor BM Hegde 

And also more stories from around the world. 

If you don't mind, and 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/news-letter/. 

In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org




Surgical Strikes: Nuclear South Asia On Tenterhooks

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/29/surgical-strikes-nuclear-south-asia-on-tenterhooks/

Responding to nationalist clamouring for retaliatory strike against Pakistan in response to attack on Uri army camp on September 18th, Indian Army conducted surgical strikes across the LoC on Wednesday night, the DGMO said on Thursday in a press briefing. The new developments have put the South Asian region where over 200 nuclear weapons are on battle ready mode on tenterhooks.





As Nations Embrace Paris Agreement, World’s Existing Fossil Fuels Set To Exceed Its Goals
by Ashley Braun 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/29/as-nations-embrace-paris-agreement-worlds-existing-fossil-fuels-set-to-exceed-its-goals/

On September 21, 31 countries, including Brazil and Mexico, ratified the Paris climate agreement which aims to limit warming to “well below 2°C” and strive for 1.5°C at a United Nations event in New York City. They joined the U.S., China, and 27 other nations which had previously committed to the agreement. However, a new report from Oil Change International calculates that, in order to accomplish those goals, governments need to stop permitting and building all new fossil fuel projects and retire early some existing oil and gas fields and coal mine






Standing Firm At Standing Rock: Why The Struggle Is Bigger Than One Pipeline
by Sarah Jaffe 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/29/standing-firm-at-standing-rock-why-the-struggle-is-bigger-than-one-pipeline/

“We’re protecting the water, we’re not protesters,” explained Lay Ha. To him, as to many others in the camp, that the action is led by Native people, that it is built around their belief in nonviolence and in the spirit of prayer, is vital. It is, to them, much more than a protest.






Agroecology As A Tool For Liberation: Transforming Industrial Agribusiness In El Salvador
by Beverly Bell 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/29/agroecology-as-a-tool-for-liberation-transforming-industrial-agribusiness-in-el-salvador/

An interview with Miguel Ramirez, National Coordinator of the Organic Agriculture Movement of El Salvador





Green Governance: Ecological Survival, Human Rights And The Commons
by David Bollier 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/29/green-governance-ecological-survival-human-rights-and-the-commons/

It might be claimed that green governance is a utopian enterprise. But the reality is that it is the neoliberal project of ever-expanding consumption on a global scale that is the utopian, totalistic dream. It manifestly cannot fulfill its mytho­logical vision of human progress through ubiquitous market activity. It simply demands more than Nature can deliver, and it inflicts too much social inequity and disruption in the process. The first step toward sanity requires that we recognize our myriad ecological crises as symptoms of an unsustainable cultural, socio­economic and political worldview





Women’s Boat To Gaza Ready To Break Blockade
by Eoin Wilson 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/29/womens-boat-to-gaza-ready-to-break-blockade/

The Women’s Boat to Gaza flotilla is the most recent international attempt to break the near decade-long sea, air and land siege of Gaza. There have been other attempts, and some, like the Mavi Marmara in 2010, ended in violence when the Israeli navy stormed aboard. Nine activists were killed on the Mavi Marmara and a 10th died after four years in a coma.





Interventional Cardiology
by Professor BM Hegde 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/29/interventional-cardiology/

World Heart Day on 29 September is the World Heart Federation’s (and the world’s!) biggest platform for raising awareness about cardiovascular disease (CVD)




Pictures Left Incomplete: MH17 And The Joint Investigation Team
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/29/pictures-left-incomplete-mh17-and-the-joint-investigation-team/

The investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over two years ago always had the flavour of pre-emption, caked with assumptions of premature adjudication. Neither side, be it the assembled Joint Investigation Team, nor those on the Russian side, was going to budge on the issue of the material. In the world of the post-factoid, what matters is the sale of what we believe to be facts.




The U.S. Presidential Debate: A Back And Forth Volleyball Of Lies
by Dr Arshad M Khan 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/29/the-u-s-presidential-debate-a-back-and-forth-volleyball-of-lies/

Imagine a volleyball packed with lies being bounced back and forth across a net by one well-practiced in the art of mendacity and the other blissfully unaware of any truth. Then add a referee correcting the lies of one side but not the other, and you have a picture of the debate. The post-debate spin masters on both sides are busy pushing their candidate as the winner





Socialist Jeremy Corbyn Re-elected As UK Labour Leader In Massive Defeat Of  Neoliberal Blairites
by Dr Gideon Polya 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/29/socialist-jeremy-corbyn-re-elected-as-uk-labour-leader-in-massive-defeat-of-neoliberal-blairites/

The re-election of Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the British Labour Party with an    overwhelming 62% support of Labour Party members is a victory for decency and sanity over the US lackey, pro-war, pro-nuclear weapons, pro-Apartheid, pro-Zionist and  neoliberal  Blairite pragmatists  led  by about 80% of the UK Labour Party MPs and who are traitors not    just to the Labour Movement but to Humanity.





Resurrecting Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Who Died A Mysterious Death For Shudhi Of Indian Muslims
by Shamsul Islam 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/29/resurrecting-pandit-deendayal-upadhyay-who-died-a-mysterious-death-for-shudhi-of-indian-muslims/

PM Modi a senior seasoned swayamsevak of RSS who describes himself as ‘Hindu nationalist’ misses no opportunity to denigrate minorities of India specially Muslims. The latest was when on September 25, 2016 while addressing a national level BJP conclave at Kozhikode, Kerala he did not forget to share his belief with his captive audience about Muslims being ‘other’ or ‘different from ‘us’ borrowing directly from RSS archives. For him Muslims were not like any other citizens of India but a problem and to put across his message with more clarity he quoted a senior ideologue of the RSS, Deendayal Upadhyaya (1916-1968)




Ms Ndiaye, Special Rapporteur’s Visit Sparks Hope For The Tamils
by Dr C P Thiagarajah 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/29/ms-ndiaye-special-rapporteurs-visit-sparks-hope-for-the-tamils/

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights announced that Ms Rita Izsák Ndiaye, UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues on problems faced by minorities in various countries, is to visit Sri Lanka from 10 to 20 October 2016.





Operation “Cow Down”!
by Mohammad Ashraf 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/29/operation-cow-down/

Sometime back it was announced that one full division of the Army is being inducted into South Kashmir. This additional deployment was given the name of “Operation Calm Down”. Keeping in view the objective which was to prevent and control the freedom marches emanating from every village in Kashmir, the operation should have been named as the “Operation Cow Down” rather than the “Operation Calm Down”!





Petition Campaign: Free Khurram Parvez Immediately!

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/29/petition-campaign-free-khurram-parvez-immediately/

Please sign this petition for the release of Mr Khurram Parvez who is a human rights activist in Kashmir, working with two important organizations, ‘Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society’ (JKCCS) and ‘International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-Administered Kashmir.’ 





Rethinking Kashmiri Leadership
by Naveed Qazi 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/29/rethinking-kashmiri-leadership/

Kashmir has seen a proliferation of conflict, yet responsible leadership is not yet understood by many of the leaders representing us. Rather, the so called ‘electoral leaders’ are trying to project Kashmir, through their manufactured representative democracy, from a ‘conflict state’ to a ‘post conflict state.’ The rationality given towards this exercise is the relevance of economic prosperity replacing the genuine political aspirations of the Kashmiri people.





PINK: No Pinkwashing Here…The Film Is Sincere And Grounded In Indian Reality
by Vishal Tondon 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/29/pink-no-pinkwashing-herethe-film-is-sincere-and-grounded-in-indian-reality/

As a researcher in Film and Gender Studies, I had great expectations of the movie PINK. I must say, the positive audience and critical reception to the film is well deserved, while it also reflects on the perfect timing of its making and release, when public discourses on issues of rape and gendered violence come down heavily on the side of women