what is the ruling nation of the world does?

Published on 21 Oct 2013 | France and other countries have demanded prompt explanations from Washington following fresh spying allegations leaked by former US security contractor Edward Snowden.Reports in Le Monde and German weekly Der Spiegel have revealed that the National Security Agency secretly recorded tens of millions of phone calls in France and hacked into former Mexican President Felipe Calderon's email account.

Ingenious homes in unexpected places

Published on Oct 16, 2013 | Iwan Baan speaking : In the center of Caracas, Venezuela, stands the 45-story "Tower of David," an unfinished, abandoned skyscraper. But about eight years ago, people started moving in. Photographer Iwan Baan shows how people build homes in unlikely places, touring us through the family apartments of Torre David, a city on the water in Nigeria, and an underground village in China. Glorious images celebrate humanity's ability to survive and make a home -- anywhere.

Gold Fever - Trailer for the 88 minute documentary

Goldcorp Inc arrives in a remote village in Guatemala. Soon follows blown up mountains, despoiled water supplies and broken promises over jobs. As the gold frenzy brings in a profits bonanza for the company, the community launches a powerful resistance struggle. Dynamic and beautiful quality, this film provides a powerful look at the reality of what it means when gold miners dig into the 3rd world.

David Cameron's gunning for The Guardian.

Grilling Guardian: 'Cameron declares war on investigative journalism'?

Published on Oct 17, 2013 | The British Prime Minister has called for an investigation into whether the Guardian newspaper broke the law - by publishing the Edward Snowden leaks that sent shockwaves about American surveillance worldwide. A parliamentary committee is now looking into it.

Millions affected by east India cyclone floods

Published on 16 Oct 2013 | Millions of people across eastern India are bracing themselves for more flooding as Cyclone Phailin continues to batter the coast. Emergency services are struggling to deliver aid as rising water levels sweep away roads. Cyclone Phailin menaced India for days, and while the states where the fierce storm made landfall were well prepared for its fury, the surrounding area has been caught by surprise. Twelve million people across East India have been affected by heavy rain and flooding. Al Jazeera's Nidhi Dutt reports from West Bengal, one of the worst hit regions.

Another U.S. Whistleblower Jailed? Investor Jailed After Exposing Corrupt Azerbaijani Oil Deal 1/3

Published on 15 Oct 2013 | In a Democracy Now exclusive, we look at the case of multi-millionaire American businessman and philanthropist Rick Bourke, who blew the whistle on a fraudulent scheme by international criminals to gain control of the oil riches of the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan -- only to end up as the only person sent to jail by federal prosecutors in the massive conspiracy. Since May, Bourke has been held in a federal prison, serving a term of one year and one day for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for alleged knowledge of the bribery that allegedly took place in 1998.

Other investors in the Azerbaijan scheme included former Democratic Senate Majority leader George Mitchell, and major institutions including Columbia University and AIG, but no one else was jailed in the United States. High-ranking former U.S. and British officials from the CIA and MI6 have raised serious concerns about the conviction of Bourke in part because the key witnesses during his trial were allegedly intelligence assets working for the U.S. government. They are not the only ones who question Bourke's guilt. Even the judge in his case has admitted having doubts. At the time of Bourke's sentencing, Shira Scheindlin of the Federal District Court said, "After 10 years of supervising this case, it is still not entirely clear to me whether Mr. Bourke was a victim, or a crook, or a little bit of both." We speak to Bourke's lawyer, the law professor and renowned attorney Michael Tigar, as well as former Washington Post reporter Scott Armstrong. "Why is it that they would go after the guy that blew the whistle on the thievery and bribery, Rick Bourke?" Tigar asks. "Why is it that the Czech citizen and the guy, the ex-patriot, and the German-Swiss lawyer all are walking free; the American citizen, philanthropist, and so on, is sitting in a minimum security jail? Well, investment in the Azerbaijan hydrocarbon industry is now safely in the hands of major petroleum companies. Is that a reason?"

Bosnia holds first post-war census

Published on 1 Oct 2013 | Bosnia is holding its first post-war census, a process which could stir tensions and dramatically alter the balance of power between the country's three main ethnic groups.The 1995 Dayton peace agreement introduced a political system in which Muslims - known as Bosniaks - Serbs and Croats were Bosnia's "constituent peoples" and the only ones with access to top state and legislative positions.

Floods ravage Thailand's Central Plains

Published on 27 Sep 2013 | A heavier-than-usual monsoon season has flooded 27 provinces in Thailand and forced evacuations in nine districts. Authorities say floodwaters will not reach the central industrial areas and near Bangkok as in 2011 which caused massive disruption to supply chains.

US Sending Saudi Arabia Thousands of Cluster Bombs, Despite International Ban

John Glaser, August 23, 2013

Even as they condemn the Syrian regime’s use of cluster munitions, the U.S. is selling Saudi Arabia $640 million worth of American-made cluster bombs. Cluster munitions have been banned in 83 countries on account of their indiscriminate nature and their record of killing children.

John Reed at Foreign Policy:

• These weapons are loathed because in addition to killing enemy combatants, their fairly indiscriminate nature means they can kill plenty of civilians. And not just in the heat of battle. The little ball-shaped bomblets dispersed by cluster munitions don’t always detonate on first impact. Often, they will just sit there on the ground until someone, often a child, picks them up and causes them to explode.
• So far, 112 countries have signed an international treaty banning cluster bombs, with 83 ratifying it.

The international ban began to take effect in June 2010, just after a U.S. cluster bomb killed 35 women and children in Yemen, with the Pentagon stubbornly refusing to admit to the wrongdoing despite damning evidence compiled by Amnesty International, which was later corroborated by classified diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.

Cluster bombs were used in the initial phases of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and the Obama administration has firmly opposed their prohibition, as have countries like Saudi Arabia, China, and Russia. What’s that old saying about how you’re known by the company you keep?

It’s also worth pointing out how eager the U.S. is to keep giving Saudi Arabia, one of the most horrific, repressive, mysogynist theocracies in the world, all the weapons and money it asks for. Reed again:

• The cluster bomb sale is just the latest in a string ongoing arms deals between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia that include dozens of F-15SA Strike Eagle fighter jets, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, H-60 Blackhawk helicopters and AH-6 Little Bird choppers as well as radars, anti-ship missiles, guided bombs, anti-radar missiles, surface to air missiles and even cyber defenses for those brand new Strike Eagles. It’s a relationship that’s worth tens of billions to American defense contractors. And even though the Saudi and the American governments have recently been at odds over a range of issues — Riyadh recently offered to replace any financial aid to Egypt’s military rulers that the U.S. withdrew — those arms sales are all-but-certain to continue. If the Saudis want cluster bombs, the U.S. will provide — no matter what the world thinks.

On the one hand, the U.S. is desperate to maintain the geo-political dominance it has held over the Middle East at a time when it seems to be slipping through their fingers. And on the other, one of the strongest lobbies in Washington – the defense corporations – really want to proceeds of these nefarious weapons sales. And you gotta please them.

source>>

President Rouhani: Iran Pledges Never to Develop Nuclear Weapons

All powers should get rid of nuclear weapons

Published on 20 Sep 2013 | After years of tension, new president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani has stated in an interview that his country is not seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Sergey V. Lavrov, Russia’s hard-charging foreign minister

MOSCOW — Secretary of State John Kerry had just made an offhand remark about how President Bashar al-Assad of Syria could avoid a military strike — and now Sergey V. Lavrov, Russia’s hard-charging foreign minister, was on the phone.

Mr. Lavrov was not about to let the moment pass. What aides to Mr. Kerry were already t

rying to roll back, Mr. Lavrov seized on, telling Mr. Kerry he would immediately go public with a Russian-led proposal to dismantle the Syrian chemical weapons arsenal. That prompted a sharp response from Mr. Kerry who warned in the 14-minute call, “We are not going to play games.”

By the time Mr. Kerry’s plane landed back in Washington, the ground had shifted and on Saturday, not a week later, Mr. Kerry and Mr. Lavrov completed the plan sitting by the pool at a Geneva hotel.

It is a pact that American arms control experts have scrambled to shape and that the White House believes may be the best way to the uphold prohibitions against the use of poison gas without resorting to military force. But it is also one that the Kremlin clearly thinks serves the interests of Russia and the Syrian government.

...the real motives behind the wars of the past two decades.

Published on 11 Sep 2012 | We are on a road that leads straight to the World War 3, but in order to see that and to fully understand what is at stake you have to look at the big picture and connect the dots. This video examines the history of the dollar, its relation to oil, and the real motives behind the wars of the past two decades.

15 Things Americans Would Know if There Were a "Liberal Media".

If we have a "liberal media," as conservatives absurdly claim, why isn't it flooded with stories about US prisons, wealth inequality, outsourcing?

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com/ Artisticco

August 7, 2013 | Prince Riebus (and apparently many others) still think there's a liberal media .

While I share Prince's frustration with the media, as a liberal, I'd like to go on record and state that the media isn't focusing on issues I care about. They seem to be far more focused on entertainment and making money.

Don't believe me?

If you know anyone who still believes in a "liberal media," here's 15 things everyone would know if there really were a "liberal media" (inspired by Jeff Bezos' purchase of The Washington Post):

source >>>

France may ban Muslim veil in universities amid ‘escalating tensions’

Momentum is growing in France for a ban on wearing religious symbols in the country’s universities. A new report recommends prohibiting students from wearing religious symbols, such as Christian crucifixes, Jewish Kippah skullcaps and Muslim headscarves.

Due to “escalating tensions in all sectors of university life” the High Council of Integration (HCI), a research institute founded by the French government, has made 12 recommendations to ease religious tensions among students.

The report’s key proposal would prohibit wearing religious symbols in “lecture theaters and [other] places of teaching and research in public areas at universities,” Le Monde reported.

In 2004, France passed a law banning schoolchildren from wearing religious symbols, but the law excluded universities. The decision, the report claims, has proved successful in reducing problems stemming from religious differences in schools.

Now the HCI wants to see the same rules applied to universities.

source...

Iraq’s Abu Ghraib jail break!

A manhunt is underway in Iraq for hundreds of convicts, including senior al Qaeda terrorists, who broke out of Abu Ghraib prison after a military-style raid to free them, authorities said on Monday.

Between 500 to 1,000 prisoners have escaped as a result of the attack, “most of them were convicted senior members of al Qaeda and had received death sentences," said Hakim Zamili, a senior member of the security and defense committee in parliament.

Suicide bombers drove cars with explosives into the gates of the prison on the outskirts of Baghdad on Sunday night, while gunmen attacked guards with mortar fire as well as rocket propelled grenades.

Other militants held the main road, fighting off security reinforcements sent from Baghdad, as several insurgents wearing suicide vests entered Abu Ghraib on foot to help free the inmates.

Ten policemen and four militants were killed in the fighting, which continued until early Monday, when military helicopters arrived to help regain control.

read more here >>>