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The West is experiencing serious problems in the area of morality and community: Alain de Botton
Interview by Kourosh Ziabari
Alain de Botton is a Swiss public intellectual, author, philosopher, television presenter and entrepreneur living in the United Kingdom. He has written several books on literature, philosophy, art, travel and architecture. In August 2008, he established a new educational enterprise in London called "The School of Life". Among his prominent books are "How Proust Can Change Your Life", "The Consolations of Philosophy" and "The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work".
De Botton is an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. The title was awarded to him in recognition of his services to art and architecture. His books are translated into several languages and are among the best-selling works of literature in so many countries, including Iran. What follows is the complete text of an in-depth interview with Alain de Botton where we discussed a variety of topics and issues concerning philosophy, art, literature, travel and architecture.
Supporters Demand Justice for Aafia Siddiqui
by Stephen Lendman
A full account of her case from March 2003 through December 2008 can be accessed through the following link:
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2008/12/abduction-secret-detention-torture-and.html
Numerous follow-up articles discussed subsequent events to the present. All are posted chronologically on sjlendman.blogspot.com.
Wrongfully persecuted, she was sentenced to 86 years in prison on September 23, 2010, a gross miscarriage of justice since her March 30, 2003 abduction, imprisonment, torture and witch-hunt prosecution, providing no evidence whatever to convict.
Supporters want her freed. The web site freeaafia.org posts updates on her case and status. It has petitions to sign on her behalf as well as actions to take, including writing her as follows:
Resisting Tyranny: A Universal Right
by Stephen Lendman
In America's Declaration of Independence, Jefferson declared:
"all men (are) created equal....with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (code for property). That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends. it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government," serving them "to effect their safety and happiness."
Long established governments shouldn't "be changed for light and transient causes....But when a long train of abuses and usurpations (establishes) absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government," replacing it with one serving everyone equitably.
In addition, Jefferson said "Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God." Women's rights advocate Susan B. Anthony also said "I shall earnestly and persistently continue to urge all women to the practical recognition of the old revolutionary maxim that 'Resistance to tyranny it obedience to God.' "
Tell that to the Liberty’s survivors, Mr. Lieberman
Alan Hart
Question: Why is it that in this Christian season of “Peace on Earth and good will to all men (and women)” the name of Israel’s Soviet-born foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, described by some as Israel’s “Hitler in-the-making”, should enter my mind?
Answer: Because I’ve been thinking about a most extraordinary statement (extraordinary even by his own standards) he made on a recent visit to Australia.
His Australian counterpart, Kevin Rudd, had apparently asked him if Israel would sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to assist the cause of stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.
Liberman said “No” because “Israel does not pose a threat to peace in the world.” (My emphasis added).
The problem, Liberman asserted, “is not focused on the issue of the deployment of nuclear weapons itself” but on “the responsibility of the states which possess weapons of this kind.”
Police State Injustice: Canada's Security Certificate Process
by Stephen Lendman
In place since 1978, it lets authorities detain and/or deport foreign nationals and other non-citizens suspected of human rights violations, alleged threats to national security, or claimed affiliation with organized crime, using (usually bogus) secret evidence withheld from defense counsel.
Since 1991, 27 residents have been affected. In February 2007, Canada's Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in Charkaoui v. Canada. However, eight months later in October, the Canadian House of Commons passed Bill C-3 (a so-called anti-terror measure), amending the 2001 Immigration and Refugee Protection Act by introducing a special advocate into the certificate process on the pretext of protecting subjects during secret proceedings.
Start Treaty Hypocrisy
by Stephen Lendman
Hyped support reveals gross hypocrisy about a deeply flawed process and outrageous price for it. More on that below. Yet a September 14 New York Times editorial headlined, "Ratify the New Start Treaty," saying;
"Failure to ratify this treaty would be hugely costly for American credibility and security....The Senate needs to ratify New Start now." In fact, endorsing ratification undermines The Times credibility. More why below.
UN Statement on WikiLeaks
Joint Statement on WikiLeaks
UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression
In light of ongoing developments related to the release of diplomatic cables by the organization Wikileaks, and the publication of information contained in those cables by mainstream news organizations, the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression see fit to recall a number of international legal principles. The rapporteurs call upon States and other relevant actors to keep these principles in mind when responding to the aforementioned developments.
John Pilger's 'The War You Don't See' now on YouTube
By Rady Ananda
I’ve uploaded it to my review at TPV: http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2010/12/19/john-pilger-s-the-war-you-don-t-see-an-i
Were Opium Heads Responsible for the Downfall of China?
By Elizabeth Young
In the early 19th century, traders from Britain and America bought porcelain, silk and tea from China. Allegedly, the problem was the “traitors” could find nothing to sell in exchange and the trade balance went negative. China then built up substantial monetary reserves in silver.
In 1830, according to our “accurate” history books, the British finally found something the Chinese would buy: Opium.
“The fruit of the poppy was popular in many countries but, as usual, the Chinese over-did it. First, it was a favorite of the leisure classes, then, it trickled down to ordinary workmen.”
Soon, the “coolies” were neglecting their labors and China was in crisis.
When the authorities tried to stop the drug trade, the British opened fire, humiliating the government and almost bankrupting it. People lost confidence in Manchu rule.”
By the mid-19th Century, nearly half the country was in open revolt and saw the end of the oldest civilization in written history and a culture that may have influenced the Sumerians, Babylonians and the Persians. The Chinese are responsible for the four inventions that make life as we know it possible: Printing, papermaking (toilet paper?), gunpowder and the compass.
Is that Story Possible?
Are we to believe that all of a sudden “Hop Sing” is addicted to a psychotropic drug (more likely to get you constipated than high), moves to America and becomes a stereotypical Chinese house servant for Ben Cartwright at the Ponderosa?
Mike Jay in Emperors Of Dreams, realizes the Opium story is false information, which is deliberately intended to change the “dispositions and beliefs” of a population:
“The image at the core of this Opium belief has rarely been examined, either at the time by contemporaries or more recently by historians because a variety of interests intersect to replicate it in different contexts.”
In 1839, in spite of the so-called uncontrolled demand for opiates, rather than coffee or cannabis, the British traders found themselves with 20,000 chests of unsold opium on their store-ships, just below Canton. Then in one of those chance occurrences that don’t happen very often, like the same person winning the lottery three weeks in a row, the Chinese had a “tea party.”
The British now had an excuse and the historians an explanation, for the start of the first Opium War.
Spoiling for a Fight?
by Stephen Lendman
Washington is a world class menace, waging imperial wars for global dominance called peace, stability and democracy. In the run-up to the 1950 Korean War, Truman used South Korea to goad Pyongyang into a conflict it didn't want. Nor does it now, but events may spiral out of control unless cooler heads prevail.
Last March, the latest confrontation began when North Korea was falsely blamed for sinking a South Korean ship. At the time, evidence suggested a false flag, manufactured to blame Pyongyang.
Then on November 23, US media reports said North Korea incited the gravest incident since the July 1953 armistice. Analysts called it a deliberate provocation, even though South Korean forces fired first, goaded by the Obama administration for what Pyongyang, with good reason, called a rehearsal for invasion.
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