"the golden decade for coal is over."
Good news! China needs and insists on having cleaner air.China's smog threatens health of global coal projectsBY FAYEN WONG SHANGHAI(Reuters) - A choking smog across much of northern China threatens...
View ArticleJapan Passes Draconian Secrecy Law
Japan has had some serious issues with leaks over the past two years and eight months or so, what with three melted-through nuclear power reactors and 4 reactor buildings blasted to smithereens,...
View ArticleGermany sets Minimum Wage at $11.54, lowers retirement age
From CNN: Conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel signed aprovisional government program with the center-left Social Democrats, which secured her a third term in office in exchange for policy...
View ArticlePresident Mujica Defends Uruguayan Change To Reasonable Marijuana Policy
On Tuesday Uruguay legalized marijuana.On Wednesday Uruguay was admonished by its betters.Raymond Yans, President of the UN's International Narcotics Control Board, lamented the Uruguayan Senate's...
View ArticleVladimir Putin is just the latest bully in the thousand-year struggle for...
Who are the Ukrainians? More fundamentally, are there Ukrainians? These questions of national identity stand at the core of the struggle for Ukrainian independence that protesters are waging right now...
View ArticleMichelle Bachelet - landslide win in Chile!
President elect Michelle Bachelet - Chile Felicitaciones a los chilenos Congratulations to the Chilean people, and to President-elect Bachelet. Chilean Voters Return a Former President to Power Ms....
View ArticleNon-Violent Resistance Gains Steam: The ASA Boycotts Israeli Academic...
The members of the American Studies Association have endorsed the Association’s participation in a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. In an election that attracted 1252 voters, the largest...
View ArticlePutin Throws Down Gauntlet To IMF
I.M.F. Criticizes Ukraine Plan for Economy The International Monetary Fund issued on Thursday a scathing report on Ukraine’s financial situation, saying that the government of President Viktor F....
View ArticleCongressional move to add more sanctions on Iran has run out of steam
Uranium-concentrating centrifuges at Natanz, Iran. A week ago, it appeared that a bill to tighten the screws on Iran over its nuclear program was headed for certain success in the Senate. Initiated by...
View ArticleThe civil war in Michoacán
Michoacán is a Mexican state west of Mexico City. Its capital and largest city is Morelia. Near Morelia is Pátzcuaro, an upscale town. It has a coast line, between (but not including) Manzanillo and...
View ArticleA Nation Awakening: Boycott Against Israel Is the Top Story in ... Israel
Originally published in Tikkun DailySomething remarkable has happened in the last 24 hours in Israel, with two of the country's most popular media outlets, one television and one newspaper, making the...
View ArticleI support Palestinians' use of nonviolence. For this my book events are being...
Originally published in Tikkun DailyWhen Carole Zawatsky, CEO of the Washington, DC Jewish Community Center (DCJCC), informed me that my March book event had been cancelled due to my political views, I...
View ArticleWhy Bosnians Are Protesting
Originally posted here. Nearly two decades after the Dayton Peace Accords ended the Bosnian Civil War, Bosnia is back in international headlines after three days of violent protests engulfed the...
View ArticleVenezuela is about to erupt.
There is a large protest in Venezuela which has somehow not made it to the radar of the US media. There have been -almost daily- large protests for weeks now. Maduro is unpopular in every sector of...
View ArticleWe’re Not No. 1! We’re Not No. 1!
That is the title of this this Nicholas Kristof op ed in today's New York TimesIt examines the result of the Social Progress Index, which is a brainchild of Michael E. Porter, the eminent Harvard...
View ArticleYouTube Ban Just Lifted by Turkish Government
YouTube, which the Turkish government banned two weeks ago, is officially back online in Turkey.The lower court whose order had been being cited by the Turkish government as justification for banning...
View ArticlePope Francis Defies UN on Torturing Children
The UN Committee against Torture “found that the widespread sexual violence within the Catholic Church amounted to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.” After Vatican officials were...
View ArticleAmerican Supreme Court bans corporate political financing of elections
Fantastic news: "The influence of economic power culminates by turning the electoral process into a political game of marked cards, an odious pantomime that turns the voter into a puppet, crumbling in...
View ArticleA few thoughts on backing the wrong horse
Well, here I am, a proud member of the New Democratic Party of Canada, watching the election night results. If you have been following, you can expect that I have mixed feelings. As I write this, it is...
View ArticleUniversity education in Argentina: zero cost and zero admissions exams
Although gauchos (cowboys) still roam the pampa in traditional garb and milongas (dance clubs) smolder with the fateful passion of tango, Argentina is also a thoroughly modern country. Its economy is...
View Article