CounterCurrents: Need For Nuclear Sanity

Dear Friend,

CNN reported that in the Mosul offensive 900 ISIS fighters were killed. In war, the first casualty is truth! So, we really don't know if those killed were ISIS fighters or civilians, that too coming from an imperialist propaganda media outlet. CNN also report that many ISIS fighters are fleeing  Syria.  Whether it is deliberate strategy to further destabalise Syria is to be seen. In any case, the imperialist forces have left open an escape route for ISIS fighters to Syria. The report further says that the ultimate target of the imperialist forces is Raqqa in Syria, the so called headquarters of ISIS. An operation inside Syria will further complicate the conundrum in Syria. On the other hand, the fall of Mosul can raise ethnic tensions inside Iraq and may destablise that country as well. 

The Syrian situation and the surrounding of Russian border in Eastern Europe by NATO forces raise the threat of nuclear war, the closest we've come after the end of the Cold War. In this context yesterday's landmark resolution in United Nations calling for a ban on all Nuclear Weapons assumes greater significance. Predictably Britain, France, Russia, Israel and the United States — voted against the resolution while China abstained, as did India and Pakistan. Japan which is the only victim of Nuclear attack voted No, as did South Korea, which is facing a nuclear threat from North Korea. Surprisingly North Korea voted YES. 

Fortunately saner people are speaking up. Mikhail Gorbachev, former leader of the Soviet Union, has appealed for sanity. In an interview with RIA Novosti, Gorbachev said: “I think the world has reached a dangerous point, I don’t want to give any concrete prescriptions, but I do want to say that this needs to stop. We need to renew dialogue. Stopping it was the biggest mistake.”

The Big Oil is acting against the heroic North Dakota Sioux protesters.Armed with riot gear, militarized police began forcibly clearing DAPL protest camp.

Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi Modi began his campaign for the crucial 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections, the most populous state in India,   with a statement “If a Hindu kills a daughter in her mother’s womb, that person has to go behind bars. Similarly, how is my Muslim sister at fault if someone just utters talaq thrice over the telephone and destroys her life”. The  indomitable Shamsul Islam deconstructs Modi's statement and concludes that it was Modi, the RSS pracharak speaking, and not the Prime Minister of India. 

And also more stories from around the world. 

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In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org






UN Adopts Landmark Resolution Calling To Ban Nuclear Weapons, North Korea Votes Yes, India Abstains

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/10/28/un-adopts-landmark-resolution-calling-to-ban-nuclear-weapons-north-korea-votes-yes-india-abstain/

In a historical vote a United Nations General Assembly committee voted to launch negotiations on a new treaty banning nuclear weapons. It was for the first time in its 71 year history that the global body voted to begin negotiations on a treaty to ban nuclear weapons. The resolution was presented by Austria, Ireland, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa and Brazil. The resolution was adopted by a vote of 123 to 38, with 16 abstentions, following weeks of lobbying by the nuclear powers for ‘no’ votes.





Mikhail Gorbachev Appeals For Sanity
by John Scales Avery 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/10/28/mikhail-gorbachev-appeal-for-sanity/

President Mikhail Gorbachev, former leader of the Soviet Union and recipient of the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize, has appealed to world leaders to reduce the dangerous the tensions which today threaten to plunge human civilization and  the biosphere into an all-destroying nuclear war.





Armed With Riot Gear, Militarized Police Begin Forcibly Clearing DAPL Protest Camp
by Deirdre Fulton 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/10/28/armed-with-riot-gear-militarized-police-begin-forcibly-clearing-dapl-protest-camp/

Arrests have begun at the recently erected frontline camp in the path of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), as police and military move in on Indigenous water protectors and their allies in North Dakota.





UP Elections 2017: RSS Pracharak/PM Modi’s Love For Muslim Women
by Shamsul Islam 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/10/28/up-elections-2017-rss-pracharakpm-modis-love-for-muslim-women/

Modi began his campaign for 2017 UP elections from Mahoba. He did not touch any of the issues related to the region; drought, poverty, farmers’ suicide, Caste persecution, money lending sharks, cleansing of cattle of the area. The theme of his lecture was Muslim women. As a crusader for justice for Muslim women he roared: “If a Hindu kills a daughter in her mother’s womb, that person has to go behind bars. Similarly, how is my Muslim sister at fault if someone just utters talaq thrice over the telephone and destroys her life”






The Illusion Of Meritocracy: Thomas Piketty In Australia
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/10/28/the-illusion-of-meritocracy-thomas-piketty-in-australia/

Last Sunday, Piketty shone a light on historic comparisons before his Sydney Opera House audience that made some squirm in disbelief.  His overall thesis is that the after-tax rate return on wealth, coupled by sluggish growth, compounds inequality.  The stress caused on that level is so profound as to make inequality “oligarchic” in nature, the sort not seen since the nineteenth century.





Because Of Hillary Clinton, Emergency, Contraception Is Banned In Honduras
by Eric Zuesse 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/10/28/because-of-hillary-clinton-emergency-contraception-is-banned-in-honduras/

Of course, one of Hillary Clinton’s proudest claims is that as the U.S. Secretary of State she championed reproductive choice throughout the world. She championed it in words, but her actions were sometimes in the opposite direction, and there is perhaps no nation where her actions as the U.S. Secretary of State had a bigger impact than Honduras, which case will therefore be examined, and her impact on this documented, here





Who’s Racist?
by Linh Dinh 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/10/28/whos-racist/

Having achieved not just civic equality but, at times, even favored treatment, blacks still often find themselves on the losing end of life’s struggles. If you dare to suggest that individual blacks should bear at least some responsibilities for their failures, however, you will be branded a racist






Uniform Civil Code And Gender Justice
by Jayashubha 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/10/28/uniform-civil-code-and-gender-justice/

Given the above context, the statement by the Prime Minister indicating his concern for minority women is less out of concern for gender justice but guided by saffron agenda of minority targeting. While issues of triple talaq and polygamy need to get addressed, the uniform civil code (UCC) may not necessarily be the means for the same. As being pointed by women’s groups, what is required is not uniformity but Gender just laws.






Thinking Is A Responsibility
by Suraj Kumar Thube 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/10/28/thinking-is-a-responsibility/

Thinking in itself is all encompassing. It inherently  comes with no strings attached. A sense of being open minded and receptive to ideas comes in built. Following the process, thinking seamlessly blends into acts of questions. Moreover, the former acts as a scaffolding to the latter that eventually carries the grain of a new change for common good.





School Education:  Looking Beyond Enrolment Figures
by Dr Satvinderpal Kaur 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/10/28/school-education-looking-beyond-enrolment-figures/

Present situation demands immediate attention from all stakeholders namely; government, administration, teachers and social organizations for the preparation of comprehensive action plan to deal with the situation. Education should be envisioned as the great equalizer able to mitigate the effects of poverty on children by equipping them with knowledge and skills.  Further, to address the issue of dwindling rural economy, the investment in education is must to raise assets through skills and employment