CounterCurrents: Time to Listen to Charles Chaplin

Dear Friend,

In the midst of demonetisation worries India and Pakistan are exchanging heavy fire at the border. Al Jazeera reported that an Indian artillery shell hit a passsenger bus in Pakistan-administered Kashmir  and at least nine civilians were killed and nine injured. 

Ravi Nitesh a young activist from India writes a sobering piece  "Soldiers, Development And Environment Demands Indo-Pak Peace, Co-Operation"

All I can say for now is watch this words of wisdom from Charles Chaplin https://www.facebook.com/countercurrents/videos/10154766428079766/?pnref=story

Rahul M writes one of the most horrifying stories to have come out of #NEROndraModi's #Demonetisation "Curry Mixed With Demonetisation And A Pinch Of Pesticide"

Another Climate Conference has come and gone without achieving nothing much. Christiane Kliemann writes,  Marrakesh COP 22 ended without real commitments to achieve Paris agreement  goals. Worse, this goal hasn’t even been a focus of this year’s UN climate talks in  although time is running out. 

Charles Eisenstein also writes a sobering article "Please Stop Thinking You’re Better Than Trump Supporters". His argument is worth listening. He writes, "I think the pain beneath is fundamentally the same pain that animates misogyny and racism, hate in a different form. Please stop thinking you are better than these people! We are all victims of the same world-dominating machine, suffering different mutations of the same wound of separation. Something hurts in there. We live in a civilization that has robbed nearly all of us of deep community, intimate connection with nature, unconditional love, freedom to explore the kingdom of childhood, and so much more."

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




Soldiers, Development And Environment Demands Indo-Pak Peace, Co-Operation
by Ravi Nitesh 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/23/soldiers-development-and-environment-demands-indo-pak-peace-co-operation/

There is a need to realise these common challenges and explore opportunities for greater viability and benefit of healthy relations between India and Pakistan. There is a need to understand that our culture is peace, compassion, non violence, tolerance and humanity and all such values have its great history and applicability in this region.





Curry Mixed With Demonetisation And A Pinch Of Pesticide
by Rahul M 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/23/curry-mixed-with-demonetisation-and-a-pinch-of-pesticide/

One of the most horrifying stories to have come out of #NEROndraModi's #Demonetisation





Fighting Intensifies In Mosul And Northern Iraq
by James Cogan

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/23/fighting-intensifies-in-mosul-and-northern-iraq/

The US-directed offensive to recapture the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and surrounding towns and villages from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has entered its fifth week. 





#DAPL: A Thanksgiving Day 2016 Open Letter To President Barack Obama
by Irwin Jerome 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/23/dapl-a-thanksgiving-day-2016-open-letter-to-president-barack-obama/

I am writing to you on this sad day of Thanksgiving in response to the despicable, un-American conduct of Governor Jack Dalrymple of North Dakota, North Dakota’s state police, the United States representatives for the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, North Dakota’s National Guard, your administration and you personally, as well, sir for what all is intentionally being allowing to happen at this moment with the greatest of malice towards the Standing Rock Sioux peoples Sacred Water Protectors in North Dakota.





Please Stop Thinking You’re Better Than Trump Supporters
by Charles Eisenstein 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/23/please-stop-thinking-youre-better-than-trump-supporters/

I think the pain beneath is fundamentally the same pain that animates misogyny and racism, hate in a different form. Please stop thinking you are better than these people! We are all victims of the same world-dominating machine, suffering different mutations of the same wound of separation. Something hurts in there. We live in a civilization that has robbed nearly all of us of deep community, intimate connection with nature, unconditional love, freedom to explore the kingdom of childhood, and so much more.





COP 22: “One Step Closer Towards A Climate That Is Incompatible With Dignified Life”
by Christiane Kliemann 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/23/cop-22-one-step-closer-towards-a-climate-that-is-incompatible-with-dignified-life/

Another UN climate summit is over and despite the prevalent rhetoric of hope, the gap between the 1,5 or 2 degree target agreed in Paris last year and the real commitments to achieve this target is nowhere near to closing. Worse, this gap hasn’t even been a focus of this year’s UN climate talks in Marrakesh although time is running out





Movement At Marrakech: Climate Change In The Shadow Of Denial
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/23/movement-at-marrakech-climate-change-in-the-shadow-of-denial/

For the moment, much of what took place in Morocco may well be a dead letter once the president-elect storms his way onto the international stage.  The greatest concern will the anti-climate change zeal from those ideologues clinging in eager anticipation to Trump’s coattails.






What A Trump Win Means For The Global Climate Fight
by David Victor 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/23/what-a-trump-win-means-for-the-global-climate-fight/


With the unexpected triumph of Donald Trump, what’s in store for U.S. climate and energy policies? Answering that question is hard since Trump has never run a public institution and thus has no track record. His most cited comment about global warming — that it was a Chinese hoax invented to destroy American jobs






Full Speed Ahead: Shipping Plans Grow As Arctic Ice Fades
by Ed Struzik 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/23/full-speed-ahead-shipping-plans-grow-as-arctic-ice-fades/

It is now becoming clear that interest in Arctic shipping never really faded, as a host of countries— including Russia, China, Iceland, Canada, and the United States — continue to make preparations to turn the rapidly warming Arctic into a busy global shipping route.






The Yale Program On Climate Change Communication And My Survey On Our Nuclear Dynamic: Instructive Results for Activists
by Richard Oxman 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/23/the-yale-program-on-climate-change-communication-and-my-survey-on-our-nuclear-dynamic-instructive-results-for-activists/

The degree of resignation spotlighted below is something that activists must pay attention to; there’s a clear need to change gears in reaching out to citizens.





After The US Elections – World Exit!
by Andre Vltchek 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/23/after-the-us-elections-world-exit/

Once we are at exiting, rejecting and defending, let’s also build huge protective walls around all non-Western countries. To defend them from the Crusaders and hordes that have been looting and plundering the entire Planet for centuries. The citizens of the United States have spoken. Oh yes! So let the rest of the world do the same! Let them vote on WORLD EXIT! It is clear what the result will be!






Jay Forrester: The Man Who Saw The Future
by Ugo Bardi 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/23/jay-forrester-the-man-who-saw-the-future/

Jay Wright Forrester (1918-2016) may have been the source of inspiration for Hari Seldon, a fictional character in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. In Asimov’s novels, Seldon develops “pyschohistoric equations” that allow him to predict the impending collapse of the Galactic Empire. In the real world, Forrester developed “system dynamics equations” that allowed him to predict the impending collapse of the modern human civilization. The predictions were ignored by the Imperial powers of both the fictional and the real universe.






All Is Not Well With  Indian GM Mustard
by Dr. Soma Marla 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/23/all-is-not-well-with-indian-gm-mustard/

A team of scientists from Delhi University headed by Dr. Deepak Pental has developed a mustard hybrid DMH-11 by genetically modifying popular mustard variety ‘Varuna’ and crossed it with an East European line. However claims of 25-30 percent more yield than the best cultivated varieties, and a panacea to increased production and solve the current scarcity of vegetable oil shortages in the country appear doubtful. Besides, use of cell ablation – a genetic engineering technique using three alien genes isolated from toxic soil bacterium for making Varuna, a male sterile plant and the hybrid’s ability to tolerate high doses of herbicides sprayed in the fields are suspicious and raise several environmental and human health concerns.






Solidarity With The Peoples Of Kashmir

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/23/solidarity-with-the-peoples-of-kashmir/

We, twenty-five citizens of India, representing people’s movements, women’s organisations, trade unions, human rights organisations, youth organisations and individuals who are journalists, writers and filmmakers, from the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Jammu& Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur,Nagaland, Odisha and Tamil Nadu, visited Kashmir from 11 to 20 November 2016 with the objective of understanding first-hand, from ordinary people and civil society, the situation of the peoples of the Kashmir Valley that has emerged over the past four-and-half months since the killing of three Hizbul Mujahideen militants, BurhanWani, Sartaj Sheikh and Pervaiz Lashkari by the Indian Army and J&K Police on 8 July 2016.