CounterCurrents: Global Sea Ice Hits Lowest Levels ‘Probably In Millenia’, The Power To Create A New World’: Trump And The Environmental Challenge Ahead

Dear Friend,

The Mosul offensive is over three months old and it is taking a heavy toll on civilian life. Even afer three months US supported Iraqi and Kurdish forces haven't taken control of the city. The battle rages on with sad loss of many innocent lives. 

Just before a climate change denier takes charge of the White House a devastating news has come out. Global sea ice levels are at their lowest in recorded history, according to new statistics from the U.S. National Snow & Ice Data Center. The loss of ice is likely at the lowest it’s been for thousands of years.

Young Zarefah Baroud voices the hope and anguish of her generation on the global apathy to the gravest threat we collectively face. 

The world is remembering MLK Jr. Emily Spence has reporduced MLK's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" with an inspiring preamble. She writes, "Let’s try to remember and dream King’s vision since it is so just, right and good. Then let’s all individually and collectively honor him by continuing to push it forward. It is our time to carry the mantle since he and others of his ilk are dead. So we must take on the role and responsibility, ourselves. For the sake of us all, there can be no other reasonable choice. Let’s keep the dream alive. Let’s do it not only on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the US, but every day."

MLK  threw open a blazing path, but how did he and many others who went before him did it? Chris Hedges tells that it was not by pleading to the powerful, but by amassing critical mass that could threaten the very existence of those institutions. Yes, that is the way to go. 

India is a place where the masses are treated like unpeople and their rights, hopes and aspirations are trampled on a daily basis by the ruling classes. The Vedanta mining corporation which was driven out of the Niyamgiri hills by Dongria Kondh tribals has surreptitiously gained mining rights in another tribal hamlet of Odisha. Biju Patnaik has given Kodinga Hill to the Vedanta Company. The Vedanta Co. will not do mining on its own. Rather Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), a State Public Sector Unit will extract bauxite and will supply it to the Vedanta Co. The deal was done on 10th January 2017 and happened without waiting for environment clearance.

Shamsul Islam dug into the RSS archive    and has brought out a great compilation of the Hindutva betrayal of India's freedom struggle and secular traditions. It is very powerful and has great historic relevance. 

And also more stories from around the world. 

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In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org





Iraqi Civilian Death Toll Mounts As Fighting Intensifies In Mosul
by Jordan Shilton

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/17/iraqi-civilian-death-toll-mounts-as-fighting-intensifies-in-mosul/

Fighting has intensified in Mosul over the past two weeks as Iraqi government forces, backed by US-led air strikes, have pushed forward to the Tigris River in their efforts to recapture the country’s second-largest city from Islamic State. The US-backed offensive is having a devastating impact on the civilian population, which numbered over 1 million when operations began in October. On Saturday, reports emerged that a suspected coalition air strike killed up to 30 civilians in the west of the city. Two missiles struck the home of a senior ISIS commander who was not at home.






Global Sea Ice Hits Lowest Levels ‘Probably In Millenia’
by Nadia Prupis 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/17/global-sea-ice-hits-lowest-levels-probably-in-millenia/

Global sea ice levels are at their lowest in recorded history, according to new statistics from the U.S. National Snow & Ice Data Center. The loss of ice is likely at the lowest it’s been for thousands of years, said meteorologist Eric Holthaus






‘The Power To Create A New World’: Trump And The Environmental Challenge Ahead
by Zarefah Baroud 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/17/the-power-to-create-a-new-world-trump-and-the-environmental-challenge-ahead/

Time is running out for anyone to create yet more excuses as to why the US transition to renewables is difficult and long delayed.  This selfish, corporate mindset has not only put the well-being of ordinary Americans at stake, but also that of the entire world – now and generations to come.






Remembering MLK
by Emily Spence 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/17/remembering-mlk/

Let’s try to remember and dream King’s vision since it is so just, right and good. Then let’s all individually and collectively honor him by continuing to push it forward. It is our time to carry the mantle since he and others of his ilk are dead. So we must take on the role and responsibility, ourselves. For the sake of us all, there can be no other reasonable choice. Let’s keep the dream alive. Let’s do it not only on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the US, but every day. 







African Americans Who Now Betray King’s Condemnation Of Wars Will One Day Lead A Nice New USA
by Jay Janson 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/17/african-americans-who-now-betray-kings-condemnation-of-wars-will-one-day-lead-a-nice-new-usa/

Sometime during the next twenty-five years, as the United States slowly begins to lose economic, political, cultural and communications hegemony over the rest of the world, a much nicer, peaceful, pleasant, prosperous, free and expressively energetic America will begin to take shape and will trend toward seeking the unity, harmony and enjoyment found in its African American communities






Building The Institutions For Revolt
by Chris Hedges 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/17/building-the-institutions-for-revolt/

Politics is a game of fear. Those who do not have the ability to make power elites afraid do not succeed. All of the movements that opened up the democratic space in America—the abolitionists, the suffragists, the labor movement, the communists, the socialists, the anarchists and the civil rights movement—developed a critical mass and militancy that forced the centers of power to respond. The platitudes about justice, equality and democracy are just that. Only when power becomes worried about its survival does it react. Appealing to its better nature is useless. It doesn’t have one.






Pathological Terror: Health Fears Ahead of Trump’s Inauguration
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/17/pathological-terror-health-fears-ahead-of-trumps-inauguration/

Illness, fear, bodily pathologies feed into the language of the protest; placards waved with a stunned air of foreboding anticipating the assault on the Obama administration’s healthcare efforts: “Repeal Trump”; “Fix it, don’t nix it”.  To tamper with health care is to inflict death on the US citizen.






Thanking Obama or The Best Slaves Are The Ones Who Thank Their Masters
by Thomas Riggins 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/17/thanking-obama-or-the-best-slaves-are-the-ones-who-thank-their-masters/

As President Obama takes his last lap around the governing field before turning it over to Donald Trump LLC many liberals and some deluded “leftists” have taken to thanking him for his eight years of service to the 1%. The best that can be said from a Marxist perspective is that there have been worse presidents (we are about to get one) and we had four years of hope followed by four years of resignation leaving behind a disillusioned electorate who rejected the establishment presidential candidate in such numbers that even an almost three million popular vote lead could not prevent the White House from falling into the hands of the ultra-right.






Divided America: Root Causes And The Road Ahead
by Jon Kofas 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/17/divided-america-root-causes-and-the-road-ahead/

As the trend of massive wealth concentration under a corporate welfare state continues to erode the middle class and working class, the struggle against the tide of domestic and global history will keep America at war with itself and tilt it even more toward the road of authoritarianism and militarism after the next inevitable deep recession. Because popular expression of discontent lacks class solidarity owing to cultural divisions and identity politics in America, political leadership will not be under the umbrella of a leftist or even a center-left movement. America’s future is an even more authoritarian regime with roots at the local and state levels financed by wealthy individuals like the Koch brothers among other likeminded billionaires, finding expression at the federal level with populist demagogues like Trump.







Vedanta Company Gets Proxy Mining  Licence In Odisha
by Deba Ranjan 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/17/vedanta-company-gets-proxy-mining-licence-in-odisha/

Now Mr. Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Odisha and son of Biju Patnaik has given Kodinga Hill to the Vedanta Company. The Vedanta Co. will not do mining on its own. Rather Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), a State Public Sector Unit will extract bauxite and will supply it to the Vedanta Co. The deal was done on 10th January 2017 and happened without waiting for environment clearance.






Anti-National RSS: Documentary Evidences From RSS Archives
by Shamsul Islam 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/17/anti-national-rss-documentary-evidences-from-rss-archives/

Friends from India and abroad who are concerned about the increasing threats to the democratic-secular Indian polity from the Hindutva organizations have been feeling the need for a concise document on the anti-national game-plan of the RSS and other like-minded offshoots. The need of such a document is rightly felt for countering the Hindutva propaganda at all levels. The following document is an attempt to accomplish this objective. It is hoped that equipped with this document all those who love India as a democratic-secular nation and want to save our beloved country from the Hindutva onslaught would be able to challenge the fountain-head of the Hindutva politics; RSS. This document is based solely on the documents drawn from the RSS archives.