RSN: The Stealth Expansion of a Secret US Drone Base in Africa, ACLU: Mississippi City Runs Debtors' Prison, China Environment Bureau Says Coca-Cola Bottling Plant Falsified Pollution Data

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Andy Borowitz | With Webb Out of Race, Chafee Surges to Two Per Cent

Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker
Borowitz writes: "In the aftermath of former Virginia senator James Webb's announcement that he is quitting the Democratic Presidential primary, a new poll shows his bitter rival Lincoln Chafee surging to two per cent of likely voters."
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Nick Turse | The Stealth Expansion of a Secret US Drone Base in Africa
Nick Turse, The Intercept
Turse writes: "In the sun-bleached badlands of the tiny impoverished nation of Djibouti - where unemployment hovers at a staggering 60 percent and the per capita gross domestic product is about $3,100 - sits a hive of high-priced, high-tech American hardware."
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Kathy Kelly | Learn Your Lessons Well: An Afghan Teenager Makes Up His Mind
Kathy Kelly, teleSUR
Kelly writes: "Many of Esmatullah's neighbors might understand if he wanted to retaliate and seek vengeance against the Taliban. Others would understand if he wished the same revenge on the United States. But he instead aligns himself with young men and women insisting that 'Blood doesn't wipe away blood.'"
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Three Years After US Consulate Attack, Benghazi Still at War
Ayman Al-Warfalli, Reuters
Al-Warfalli writes: "Three years after militants killed U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in an attack on the facility, Benghazi is back in U.S. news headlines as White House contender and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton faces a Congressional hearing on the incident on Thursday. For Libyans and Benghazi, though, the war never really disappeared."
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ACLU: Mississippi City Runs Debtors' Prison
Mollie Bryant, The Clarion-Ledger
Bryant writes: "An increased reliance on revenue from court fees and traffic fines has led the city of Biloxi and a for-profit probation services company to run a 'modern-day debtors' prison,' according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday."
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n increased reliance on revenue from court fees and traffic fines has led the city of Biloxi and a for-profit probation services company to run a “modern-day debtors’ prison,” according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday.

The American Civil Liberties Union alleges the city jails impoverished people for unpaid fees and court costs in a system that violates the fourth and 14th amendments.

The suit seeks damages on behalf of three plaintiffs who were arrested for not paying debts owed to the city. According to the suit, which was filed against the city, Police Chief John Miller, Municipal Court Judge James Steele and Judicial Correction Services Inc., none of the plaintiffs received a hearing or were informed of their right to an attorney before their arrests.

Biloxi Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich would not comment on the suit, and city spokesman Vincent Creel said in an emailed statement that the city has not yet received it.

“However, based on media inquiries, we believe the ACLU is mistaken about the process in Biloxi, and we look forward to explaining it to the ACLU,” the statement said. “The city of Biloxi treats all defendants fairly under the law.”

If a person doesn’t pay court fees or other fines, the city often issues warrants for their arrest and charges them with contempt of court without holding a hearing before they’re jailed or determining their ability to pay, according to the suit. Unless they can pay the whole amount owed in full – and often in cash – at the time of the arrest, they are booked into jail.

The three plaintiffs, each of whom fall below the poverty line, were jailed for failing to pay fines without being informed that they had a right to be represented by an attorney, the suit alleges. They also weren’t told when they’d be released from jail or when they’d see a judge, it says..

According to the lawsuit, a person who can’t afford to pay what they owe can “sit out” their fines at a rate of $25 per day, a practice that the U.S. Court of Appeals outlawed decades ago.

During the whole process, defendants in Municipal Court don’t receive court-appointed attorneys, even if they are homeless or receive public assistance, court records claim. None of the three plaintiffs named in the suit was represented by a lawyer at any point after their arrest, leading up to their hearings or during the hearings themselves, according to the lawsuit.

For about six years, Biloxi has allowed for-profit companies - Judicial Corrections Services in the past and Court Programs Inc. currently - to collect fines and fees related to misdemeanors.

The companies place those who owe money to the city on payment plans. Part of each monthly fee goes toward the money owed to the city, but an additional $40 service fee goes straight to the company, court records claim.

That $40 fee is the companies’ main revenue source, because the city doesn’t pay them for their work, according to the lawsuit.

“It’s a perverse system that means poor people are ultimately required to pay more than people of means who can pay on time,” ACLU attorney Nusrat Choudhury said. “It also requires them to report to probation. Probation companies should really not be in the business of collecting debts from people, and if they are, they need to be sure it respects their constitutional rights, and that’s not the case in Biloxi.”

Creel said the court uses community service when defendants are unable to pay fines. However, in one case described in the lawsuit, a woman asked for community service several times, and a Court Programs Inc. worker, LeAnne Womble, told her it wouldn’t be an option until she’d been on probation for at least three months. Womble also said the woman would owe $20 per probation visit even if she received community service, the suit said.

Womble, the director of CPI’s Biloxi office,would not comment.

The lawsuit against Biloxi is the second filed against a Mississippi city this month over debtors’ prison allegations. Jackson faces a similar lawsuit that alleges the city jailed impoverished people, some for months, for nonpayment of fines and court costs without examining their ability to pay.

Federal Communications Agency Votes to Drastically Lower Prison Phone Rates
Alice Ollstein, ThinkProgress
Ollstein writes: "After agreeing with Clyburn and calling the current phone rates 'absurdly usurious,' FCC Chair Tom Wheeler called for a vote, which came down 2 to 3. Cheers erupted in the room, including from 19-year-old Illinois resident Wandjell Harvey-Robinson, whose parents have been in and out of prison since she was in the 3rd grade."
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China Environment Bureau Says Coca-Cola Bottling Plant Falsified Pollution Data
Reuters
Excerpt: "An environmental protection bureau in northwest China said police temporarily detained an executive at a Coca-Cola Co bottling facility in Gansu province after it found the facility had falsified pollution data."
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RSN: The Obscenity of Our War

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FOCUS: Kathy Kelly | The Obscenity of Our War

Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence
Kelly writes: "Tragically, sadly, the banners must again condemn war crimes, this time echoing international outcry because in an hour of airstrikes this past Saturday morning, the U.S. repeatedly bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, a facility that served the fifth largest city in Afghanistan and the surrounding region."
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efore the 2003 Shock and Awe bombing in Iraq, a group of activists living in Baghdad would regularly go to city sites that were crucial for maintaining health and well-being in Baghdad, such as hospitals, electrical facilities, water purification plants, and schools, and string large vinyl banners between the trees outside these buildings which read: “To Bomb This Site Would Be A War Crime.” We encouraged people in U.S. cities to do the same, trying to build empathy for people trapped in Iraq, anticipating a terrible aerial bombing.

Tragically, sadly, the banners must again condemn war crimes, this time echoing international outcry because in an hour of airstrikes this past Saturday morning, the U.S. repeatedly bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, a facility that served the fifth largest city in Afghanistan and the surrounding region.

U.S./NATO forces carried out the airstrike at about 2 a.m. on October 3rd. Doctors Without Borders had already notified the U.S., NATO and Afghan forces of their geographical coordinates to clarify that their compound, the size of a football field, was a hospital. When the first bombs hit, medical staff immediately phoned NATO headquarters to report the strike on its facility, and yet strikes continued, at 15 minute intervals, until 3:15 a.m., killing 22 people. 12 of the dead were medical staff; ten were patients, and three of the patients were children. At least 37 more people were injured. One survivor said that the first section of the hospital to be hit was the Intensive Care Unit.

“Patients were burning in their beds,” said one nurse, an eyewitness to the ICU attack.”There are no words for how terrible it was.” The U.S. airstrikes continued, even after the Doctors Without Borders officials had notified the U.S., NATO and Afghan military that the warplanes were attacking the hospital.

Taliban forces do not have air power, and the Afghan Air Force fleet is subordinate to the U.S., so it was patently clear that the U.S. had committed a war crime.

The U.S. military has said that the matter is under investigation. Yet another in an endless train of somber apologies; feeling families’ pain but excusing all involved decision makers seems inevitable. Doctors Without Borders has demanded a transparent, independent investigation, assembled by a legitimate international body and without direct involvement by the U.S. or by any other warring party in the Afghan conflict. If such an investigation occurs, and is able to confirm that this was a deliberate, or else a murderously neglectful war crime, how many Americans will ever learn of the verdict?

War crimes can be acknowledged when carried out by official U.S. enemies, when they are useful in justifying invasions and efforts at regime change.

One investigation the U.S. has significantly failed to carry out would tell it how much Kunduz needed this hospital. The U.S. could investigate SIGAR reports (“Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction”) numbering Afghanistan’s “U.S. funded health care facilities,” allegedly funded through USAID, which cannot even be located, 189 alleged locations at whose coordinates there are demonstrably no buildings within 400 feet. In their June 25th letter they astoundingly write, “My office’s initial analysis of USAID data and geospatial imagery has led us to question whether USAID has accurate location information for 510—nearly 80 percent—of the 641 health care facilities funded by the PCH program.” It notes that six of the Afghan facilities are actually located in Pakistan, six in Tajikstan, and one in the Mediterranean Sea.

It seems we’ve created yet another ghost hospital, not out of thin air this time but from the walls of a desperately needed facility which are now charred rubble, from which the bodies of staff and patients have been exhumed. And with the hospital lost to a terrified community, the ghosts of this attack are, again, beyond anyone’s ability to number. But in the week leading up to this attack, its staff had treated 345 wounded people, 59 of them children.

Now the region has no hospital at all.

The U.S. has long shown itself the most formidable warlord fighting in Afghanistan, setting an example of brute force that frightens rural people who wonder to whom they can turn for protection. In July of 2015, U.S. bomber jets attacked an Afghan army facility in the Logar Province, killing ten soldiers. The Pentagon said this incident would likewise be under investigation. No public conclusion of the investigation seems ever to have been issued. There isn’t always even an apology.

This was a massacre, whether one of carelessness or of hate. One way to join the outcry against it, demanding not just an inquiry but a final end to all U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan, would be to assemble in front of health care facilities, hospitals or trauma units, carrying signage which says, “To Bomb This Place Would Be a War Crime.” Invite hospital personnel to join the assembly, notify local media, and hold an additional sign which says: “The Same Is True in Afghanistan.”

We should affirm the Afghans’ right to medical care and safety. The U.S. should offer investigators unimpeded access to the decision makers in this attack and pay to reconstruct the hospital with reparations for suffering caused throughout these fourteen years of war and cruelly manufactured chaos. Finally, and for the sake of future generations, we should take hold of our runaway empire and make it a nation we can restrain from committing the fathomlessly obscene atrocity that is war.

 

CounterCurrents: Israel Lights The Touchpaper At Al-Aqsa Again, Bombing Of Afghan Hospital Is A War Crime, Geographical Coordinates Provided To US Forces Used To Pin Point Attack On Afghan Hospital

Dear Friend,

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 herehttp://www.countercurrents.org/subscribe.htm. You can also follow us on twitter, http://twitter.com/countercurrents and on Facebook,http://www.facebook.com/countercurrents

In Solidarity
Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org


Bombing Of Afghan Hospital Is A War Crime 
By Kathy Kelly

http://www.countercurrents.org/kelly061015.htm

U.S./NATO forces carried out the airstrike at about 2AM on October 3rd. Doctors Without Borders had already notified the U.S., NATO and Afghan forces of their geographical coordinates to clarify that their compound, the size of a football field, was a hospital. When the first bombs hit, medical staff immediately phoned NATO headquarters to report the strike on its facility, and yet strikes continued, at 15 minute intervals, until 3:15 a.m., killing 22 people. 12 of the dead were medical staff; ten were patients, and three of the patients were children. At least 37 more people were injured. One survivor said that the first section of the hospital to be hit was the Intensive Care Unit


Geographical Coordinates Provided To US Forces 
Used To Pin Point Attack On Afghan Hospital 
By Thomas Riggins

http://www.countercurrents.org/riggins061015.htm

The U.N. and international community is rightly outraged since the U.S. was given the precise location of the hospital and its international protected status was well known. This information was provided to prevent any attack. Since the attack was carried out with unrelenting accuracy over a thirty minute period one suspects the information was used to pin point the target


US-Dominated Pacific Trade Pact Agreed 
By Mike Head

http://www.countercurrents.org/head061015.htm

After five days of marathon talks between trade ministers in Atlanta, the US administration of President Barack Obama finally succeeded at 5 a.m. on Monday, American eastern time, in securing agreement from 11 other Asia-Pacific governments for the adoption of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). It is an unprecedented trade and investment bloc


Parenting On The Brink: Wrestling With Fears Too Big To Name  
By Frida Berrigan

http://www.countercurrents.org/berrigan061015.htm

And then another thought comes to mind, the sort of thought that haunts the parents of this moment: When I'm 85, it will be 2059, and what will that look like? When my grandkids are my age now, it could be almost a new century. And what will our planet look like then? And I feel that little chill that must be increasingly commonplace among other parents of 2015


Israel Lights The Touchpaper At Al-Aqsa Again 
By Jonathan Cook

http://www.countercurrents.org/cook061015.htm

Now the West Bank and Jerusalem are on fire again, as Palestinian youths clash with the same oppressors. Reports suggest soldiers killed one Palestinian youth and injured more than 100 others on Sunday alone. Talk of a third intifada grows louder by the day


Illegal Trade Contributes To Placing Cacti Among World’s 
Most Threatened Species – IUCN Red List 
By Marianne de Nazareth

http://www.countercurrents.org/nazareth061015.htm

Many gardeners across the world are fond of cactii, and several have rock gardens taking pride of place in their gardens. Infact because of this craze for the rare specimens of cacti, there are several species that are threatened, with being lost to us forever, and how many of us know that?


Mumbai's Malvani Shack Dwellers Evicted, Houses Demolished:
Still No Hope For Justice 
By Ghar Bachao Ghar Bano Andolan

http://www.countercurrents.org/gbga061015.htm

Informal settlement in Malvani no.8, Malad was demolished on 4th and 6th June this year in the name of protecting mangroves. In this forcible eviction more than 600 houses were demolished. The demolition was carried out by the Mangroves Cell of the Maharashtra Forest Department. Evicted slum dwellers had moved to the Bombay High Court in the hope of ‘justice’ but the Forest Department’s misleading submissions before the Court compelled the slum dwellers to withdraw case and now trying luck with all the documents in their possession with the concerned collector. On 1st October, the slum dwellers finally withdrew their case

CounterCurrents: 100% Renewables By 2050 Is Possible, Predators, Near And Far, Initiatives For Transforming The Global Economy

Dear Friend,

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/subscribe.htm. You can also follow us on twitter,http://twitter.com/countercurrents and on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/countercurrents

In Solidarity
Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org


100% Renewables By 2050 Is Possible 
By Jon Queally

http://www.countercurrents.org/queally210915.htm

100% renewable energy for all is achievable by 2050, and is the only way to ensure the world does not descend into catastrophic climate change. Dynamic change is taking place in the energy sector. Renewable energies have become mainstream in most countries, and prices have fallen dramatically. The report shows we could transform our energy supply, switching to renewables, which would mean a stabilization of global CO2 emissions by 2020, and bringing down emissions towards near zero emissions in 2050


Syriza Voted Back Into Office Amid Mass Abstention In Greek Election 
By Bill Van Auken

http://www.countercurrents.org/auken210915.htm

With over 93 percent of the vote counted early Monday, Greece’s Syriza had returned to power in Sunday’s snap election called last month by the party’s leader, former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras


Predators, Near And Far 
By Kathy Kelly

http://www.countercurrents.org/kelly210915.htm

Young people gathering at the Afghan Peace Volunteer’s Borderfree Center long to embrace innumerable people afflicted by war who share Jamila’s seemingly insoluble problems. Thoughtfully, carefully, they’ve designed a campaign that they call #Enough! – a simple yet compelling call to abolish wars and instead work to meet human needs. We asked Jamila if she thought her problems were connected to war. “Yes,| she said. “War leads to poverty and because of that poverty I have had so many problems. I hope the war will end so that I can find enough food.”


How To Censor Yourself Before The Government Even Has The Chance  
By Rebecca Gordon

http://www.countercurrents.org/gordon210915.htm

I've quietly chosen not to carry a particular book, or wear a particular T-shirt or button, when travelling by air. No reason to give the Transportation Security Administration any more excuses to pay me special attention. It's easier, safer, just to conform. So did my partner and I win our suit? When so many of us become frightened enough of our own government to do its censoring for it, I'd say that we've all lost


Initiatives For Transforming The Global Economy 
By Chandra Muzaffar

http://www.countercurrents.org/muzaffar210915.htm

A number of important initiatives linked largely to the economy made public in the last few years may have a huge impact upon the future of humankind. ASEAN and China have played a pioneering role in some of them


Trade Union Women 
By Jane LaTour

http://www.countercurrents.org/latour210915.htm

Walking with eyes wide open into the ranks of labor is a necessity. An informed approach is critical. Learning about the history, the limitations and the possibilities of a revitalized labor—or labour—movement becomes part of the tool kit for workers crafting novel approaches to challenge their working conditions. Knowledge is a form of power


Sorry Bantu- This Happens Only In India! 
By Shah Alam Khan

http://www.countercurrents.org/khan210915.htm

The twelve year old had defeated cancer but failed to defeat a disease, which shouldn’t have risen to such epidemic proportions in the first place; definitely not in the times of Swach Bharat! Bantu became a statistics in Delhi’s Dengue epidemic. His breath, his heartbeat and his courage were sacrificed at the altar of a nation that has recently started romanticizing with the idea of cleanliness! A disease, which has direct bearing to unhygienic, unclean surroundings, was to become the undoing of Bantu and those who loved him and that too at a time when we have a government, which talks of Swach Bharat and in the same breath slashes the expenditure on health by a cruel 20 percent in it’s first budget


Children Are Developing Smokers’ Lungs Thanks To Motor Cars
By Vidyadhar Date

http://www.countercurrents.org/date210915.htm

Children are developing smokers’ lungs because of intense pollution caused by motor vehicles, says Gurgaon’s joint traffic police commissioner Bharti Arora. She deserves support for her sensitivity and for organizing a car-free Gurgaon on Tuesay to coincide with the World Car Free day to be observed on September 22. Sadly, there has been no intiative from other metropolitan centres in the country though vehicular pollution and congestion are becoming horrendous


Empowering Power or Capturing Control-The Ways of Naxalism 
By Suparna Banerjee

http://www.countercurrents.org/banerjee210915.htm

It is regrettable that there is a serious dearth of academic engagements in this field of subaltern studies. The history of the indigenous groups are being re-written either by the Naxals or the government thereby once again creating a dangerous chasm between viewpoints that becomes difficult to bridge. In the name of empowerment the marginalised are stupefied to enter from one structure to the other

RSN: Is Your Retirement Invested in Fossil Fuels?, Sanders at Liberty College, The Address, Britain's Cameron Seeks Votes to Launch Airstrikes in Syria

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Sanders at Liberty College, The Address 
 
Bernie Sanders, Reader Supported News 
Sanders: "I understand that the issues of abortion and gay marriage are issues that you feel very strongly about. We disagree on those issues. I get that, but let me respectfully suggest that there are other issues out there that are of enormous consequence to our country and in fact to the entire world, that maybe, just maybe, we do not disagree on and maybe, just maybe, we can try to work together to resolve them." 
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Kathy Kelly | Which Side Are We On? 
Kathy Kelly, teleSUR 
Kelly writes: "Anyone called upon to support wars or warlords should learn the priorities embraced at the Borderfree Center - and switch sides." 
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As Scott Walker's Candidacy Fizzles, He Returns to What Made Him a Conservative Darling: Attacking Unions 
Don Gonyea and Domenico Montanaro, NPR 
Excerpt: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, whose battles with labor unions in his own state made him a hero to Republicans, is now proposing huge restrictions on unions nationally as he seeks to revitalize his presidential campaign." 
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Amanda Marcotte | Woman Arrested at OB-GYN's Office for Being an Undocumented Immigrant 
Amanda Marcotte, Slate 
Marcotte writes: "Amid increasing levels of anti-immigrant furor, it seems inevitable that something like this would happen. The Houston Press reported on Friday that the staff at a gynecological office in suburban Houston allegedly led a patient who was an undocumented immigrant into an exam room under the pretense that she was going to get her annual exam, but instead sprung law enforcement on her." 
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Lawsuit Could Set Precedent for War Criminals Living in the US 
Richard Luscombe, Guardian UK 
Luscombe: "Ruling due to be made in Virginia on Wednesday could render impotent the Alien Tort Statute, legislation widely used to prosecute human rights abuses." 
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Britain's Cameron Seeks Votes to Launch Airstrikes in Syria 
teleSUR 
Excerpt: "Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron vowed Monday to obtain the votes necessary for the House of Commons to approve an airstrike campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria." 
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Is Your Retirement Invested in Fossil Fuels? 
Stefanie Spear, EcoWatch 
Spear writes: "With more than 91 million Americans having $5.6 trillion invested in the five major fund families that control record keeping at 75 percent of all employer-sponsored retirement plans, you've got to figure that many people are investing in companies not aligned with their values." 
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CounterCurrents: Germany Closes Its Borders To Refugees, Can Jeremy Corbyn Stem The Tide of Neoliberalism And Militarism?

Dear Friend,

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/subscribe.htm. You can also follow us on twitter,http://twitter.com/countercurrents and on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/countercurrents

In Solidarity
Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org


Germany Closes Its Borders To Refugees 
By Peter Schwarz

http://www.countercurrents.org/schwarz150915.htm

Just two weeks after Chancellor Angela Merkel declared Germany was ready to accept refugees and was celebrated internationally for “Germany’s Willkommenskultur (welcoming culture)”, the government has closed the borders for refugees. At a hastily called press conference at which no questions were allowed, Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière announced on Sunday night that Germany was again introducing border controls “in the next minutes”. To this end, he said he had dispatched hundreds of border guards to Bavaria, which shares frontiers with Austria and the Czech Republic. Rail traffic between Germany and Austria had been temporarily suspended on the instructions of the Austrian government, he said


Which Side Are We On? 
By Kathy Kelly

http://www.countercurrents.org/kelly150915.htm

Our young friends have had enough of war, displacement, trauma and hunger. 60 million people, worldwide, now seek refuge, many of them fleeing war and violence. Shameful warlords and war profiteers, such as those who commandeered U.S. wars against Iraq and Afghanistan, destabilize defenseless populations. The wars lead to massive refugee crises. Anyone called upon to support wars or warlords should learn the priorities embraced at the Borderfree Center -- and switch sides


Can Jeremy Corbyn Stem The Tide of Neoliberalism And Militarism? 
By Colin Todhunter

http://www.countercurrents.org/todhunter150915.htm

At 66, Corbyn has tapped into deeply held sentiments that exist across all age groups: that something is fundamentally wrong in Britain and needs addressing. The fact he is appealing to young people suggests Corbyn might not be the final setting of the sun from a bygone era but hopefully the beginning of a dawn


The Real Significance Of Jeremy Corbyn And Bernie Sanders 
By John Spritzler

http://www.countercurrents.org/spritzler150915.htm

Neither Sanders nor Corbyn articulate a vision of HOW to remove the rich from power to have real not fake democracy with no rich and no poor. They don't even advocate removing the rich from power; they only advocate making the rich pay a bit more and ease up on regular people. In other words, they don't identify the Big Problem and how to solve it


Why The Veto Must Be Abolished From The United Nations Security Council 
By Abdul Muheet Chowdhary

http://www.countercurrents.org/chowdhury150915.htm

Technically, the word ‘veto’ does not exist in the Charter of the United Nations. Article 27 (3) of the Charter states that decisions on non-procedural matters shall be ‘made by an affirmative vote of nine members including the concurring votes of the permanent members.’ The key term here is ‘concurring’, which has been translated in common parlance into the veto. Broadly speaking, there are three main reasons why the veto should be abolished: 1) It is an anachronistic and undemocratic privilege 2) Prevents timely and decisive action 3) Limits negotiations and compromise


Obama’s Response To The Refugee Crisis: Regime Change In Syria
By Shamus Cooke

http://www.countercurrents.org/cook150915.htm

One drowned toddler has shifted global politics. The picture demanded action in response to the largest migration crisis since World War II, itself caused by the longest series of wars since WWII. These wars have dragged on and new ones started-- Libya and Syria -- under the Nobel Prize winning U.S. President. Obama could end the refugee crisis by brokering peace in Syria, but instead he’s pushing hard and fast for war. Few U.S. media outlets are reporting about the critical war resolution that the Obama Administration is trying to push through Congress


What If UNICEF’s Djokovic-Novak Said Survivors of US Bombings 
Deserve Justice And The Guilty Punished? 
By Jay Janson

http://www.countercurrents.org/janson150915.htm

What a bombshell when MLK called his government the greatest purveyor of violence in the world! Author believes if world famous celebrities would feel a roll model’s responsibility to set a good example and call for the prosecution of Americans for bombing tens of millions in their own beloved countries, there would be a world reaction of appreciation, relief and personal shame for having remained silent for so my years


Has Aylan Kurdi Died In Vain? 
By Taj Hashmi

http://www.countercurrents.org/hashmi150915.htm

Although hundreds of nameless refugees from Africa and Middle East have perished in the Mediterranean in the last one-year, the world will never forget the image of the three-year old, cute and well-dressed Aylan Kurdi in a red shirt and blue pants, whose body was lying facedown in the sand of Bodrum in Turkey. He died last week along with his mother and five-year old brother. Everybody seems to have said everything possible on this tragic death. Don’t we have anything new to add to the story? Of course, we have


From Academia To Hackademia: Hamid Dabashi As Native Informer 
By N. Wahid Azal

http://www.countercurrents.org/azal150915.htm

Halfway through his 11 September 2015 Al Jazeera op-ed, Dabashi asserts: “There is one glaring case of a Muslim country that is heavily involved in Syria but has yet to accept a single Syrian refugee, and that is the Islamic Republic of Iran… not a single refugee has been admitted to Iran. Why not?” Contrary to Dabashi's categorical claim, the truth of the matter is that Iran has in fact accepted Syrian refugees –- and since 2011


Where Farmers Are Committing Suicides, Women Are scripting Success Stories 
By Moin Qazi

http://www.countercurrents.org/qazi150915.htm

While handling microfinance operations in Vidarbha for several institutions I could observe an excellent credit culture among poor women who have pooled their resources and talents to form Self Help Groups. In remote crannies , poor women are pooling their talents and resources to build a new synergy of collective empowerment to transform their lives. These small clusters or collectives of women are known as Self-Help Groups


The Story of Pategaon : May Be A Story of Every Indian Village
By Sarosh Ali

http://www.countercurrents.org/ali150915.htm

These eddies keep sucking life out of the place. Hopefully, they still have not crossed the point of no return. Of-course there are technological advances. There are motorbikes and TV sets and mobile phones. The ground is higher than before. The juggernaut of subsistence, however, is still crushing them hard. The quality of all of life's aspects has deteriorated. The food is not as nutritious as before. Water, a very down-to-earth thing till a few years ago, has been turned into a economic commodity. It's not just health but the overall quality of life that has gone down


Why This Inaction on Kandhamal? Brinda Karat Asks Naveen Patnaik 
In A Strongly Worded Letter
By Countercurrents.org

http://www.countercurrents.org/cc150915.htm

Brinda Karat, former Member of Parliament and Polit Bureau member of Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI-M) has sent a strongly worded letter to Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister Odisha, asking why he ignores the plight of the victims of anti-Christian communal violence in Kandhamal. In her letter, Brinda Karat asks why he has refused a hearing to the victims of the violence, even when the President of India gave them a patient hearing. She also raises the issue of total failure of the criminal justice system in relation to the Kandhamal violence


Institutionalizing The Politics of Discord 
By Ghulam Mohammad Khan

http://www.countercurrents.org/khan150915.htm

Banning the sale of beef and annihilating the intellectual and rationalistic voices (interpreting them as dissent by a strange logic) one by one clears the xenophobic intentions of the government. In a country like India, where people speak hundreds of different languages, follow as many beliefs, and live in as many diverse socio-cultural settings, administering the system in accordance with a specific religion, culture or belief would not only jeopardize the functioning of the system, but also incite what James Davison Hunter calls ‘culture wars’ in the public sphere


The Dimensions of Veterans' Disillusionment And Ire 
By S.G.Vombatkere

http://www.countercurrents.org/vombatkere150915.htm

Government of India (GoI) finally announced its version of One-Rank-One-Pension (OROP) for military Veterans. This was welcomed only in part by the Veterans, because there were important sticking points which were not included or inadequately included in the announcement. Fortunately, the Veterans who were on fast-unto-death were persuaded to end their fast, but the Veterans' resolve to remain on protest until outstanding points were settled to their satisfaction, resulted in planning a “Sainik Ekta Rally” on 12th September at Jantar Mantar


Silver Linings For Muslim Women In India 
By Moin Qazi

http://www.countercurrents.org/qazi150915A.htm

Women working against the talaq law received good news: a government committee set up in 2013 to look into women’s status recommended that the government should outlaw it.In a similar development a woman won a major law suit for provision of maintenance after divorce. In a landmark ruling, the Kerala High Court, the highest provincial court in India, ordered a man to pay his former wife Rs 3.6 lakh compensation for her medical expenses, despite divorcing her 12 years ago. Similarly the court held she was entitled to maintenance expenses for 10 years


Questioning A Legal Practice In Bangladesh 
By Nava Thakuria

http://www.countercurrents.org/thakuria150915.htm

Should a responsible judge of the Highest Court in a democratic country meet the family members of a condemned criminal even as the trial continues? Can the interaction between them ultimately influence the verdict over the case? Finally should the mainstream media comment on such issues, which might create confusion among the people about the credibility of the legal system? These and many more similar questions are lately being asked, raised and debated in Bangladesh, a secular Parliamentary democracy of South Asia, following a recent judgment from it’s Highest Court convicting two editors of an influential Bengali daily for contempt of court for a critical commentary over the ongoing war crime trials


Moneypurr: Who Will Bell The Cat? 
By Dennis Misao

http://www.countercurrents.org/misao150915.htm

In this cat and mouse game, volleys of allegations, counter-allegations, clarifications and counter- clarifications were exchanged as if there was nothing else to do. No choice of word, adjective or expletive was spared. No theory was left unattended - from the theory of the evolution of cats, to the theory of the origin of mice. Even the internet shut down in sheer distress. The mighty Indian Galactic Federation looked at the unfolding drama in stoic silence


Law or Lawlessness of The Land? How Banks Have Been 
Exploiting Home Loan Borrowers 
By Professor P Radhakrishnan

http://www.countercurrents.org/radhakrishnan150915.htm

The manner in which banks hoodwink customers to take home loans while, at the same time, creating provisions to escape responsibility of accidental damages to the mortgaged property by forcing the borrowers to go for insurance cover at their own cost and keeping the policies in bank's custody failing which the banks themselves taking policies and debiting the premium amounts to the borrowers' home loan accounts is a new exploitative trend without any legal basis, an unfair trade practice which needs to be stopped