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by Robert J. Burrowes Monday, January 12, 2015 Unfortunately, in many circles, anger has a bad reputation. There are several reasons for this. One reason is that we are scared when people are angry at us, so we try to scare people, especially children, out of being angry. By doing this, we hope to escape responsibility for our dysfunctional behaviour. Another reason that anger has a bad reputation is because it enables people to defend themselves against violence and other forms of abuse. But if we want obedient and hardworking students, reliable and pliant employees/soldiers and submissive law-abiding citizens, then we must terrorize people out of being angry. Social control is not easy with people who are powerful and you need your anger to be powerful. A third reason that anger has a bad reputation is that anger is often confused with violence. But anger and violence are not the same thing. People who are violent are not angry; they are scared or, more accurately, te...

Where Has All This Islamic Fundamentalism Come From?  Murdering journalists … them and us By William Blum  January 20, 2015 " ICH " - After Paris, condemnation of religious fanaticism is at its height. I’d guess that even many progressives fantasize about wringing the necks of  jihadists , bashing into their heads some thoughts about the intellect, about satire, humor, freedom of speech. We’re talking here, after all, about young men raised in France, not Saudi Arabia. Where has all this Islamic fundamentalism come from in this modern age? Most of it comes – trained, armed, financed, indoctrinated – from Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. During various periods from the 1970s to the present, these four countries had been the most secular, modern, educated, welfare states in the Middle East region. And what had happened to these secular, modern, educated, welfare states? In the 1980s, the United States overthrew the Afghan government that was progr...

by Mohamud M Uluso Sunday, January 18, 2015 No one should be fooled by the holding of the 53rd Extraordinary Session of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Council of Ministries in Mogadishu, Somalia, on January 10, 2015 under the chairmanship of Dr. Tedros Adhanom, Foreign Minister of Ethiopia as historical event. IGAD delegations were guests of AMISOM forces who are also protecting the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS). Somalia did not operate as full member and equal partner of IGAD because the purpose of the meeting was on shaping the  new fragmented Somalia through the off-the-wall vision 2016 consisting in the review of the constitution, formation of federal member states, and political election in 2016. For the Somali people, the three tasks are mysteries. The meeting laid the groundwork for the next destabilizing steps and processes that will make Somalia into pieces for prey. IGAD, dominated by Ethiopia, met in Mogadishu after many high profil...

What Would It Be Like? By Arthur D. Robbins January 13, 2015 " ICH " - What would it be like if we really lived in a democracy? These days just about everybody seems to be enjoying the benefits democratic government, that is if you believe government propaganda and you are one of the credulous many who are eager for a sense of well being at any price. But what is usually called democracy is in fact an oligarchy of elected representatives responsible to the business interests who bankrolled their campaign. If people were actually given the opportunity to choose democracy, they might do so, provided they understood what the word actually means. Our one uncontested example is ancient Athens. Ancient Athens was a citizen-state. It was the political center for the larger landmass known as Attica, a peninsula extending southward into the Aegean Sea. At 9,000-10000 square miles Attica is roughly the size of the state of Rhode Island. Attica’s population during the hei...

By Andre Vltchek January 10, 2015 " ICH " - " Counterpunch " - A hundred years ago, it would have been unimaginable to have a pair of Muslim men enter a cafe or a public transportation vehicle, and then blow themselves up, killing dozens. Or to massacre the staff of a satirical magazine in Paris! Things like that were simply not done. When you read the memoirs of Edward Said, or talk to old men and women in East Jerusalem, it becomes clear that the great part of Palestinian society used to be absolutely secular and moderate. It cared about life, culture, and even fashion, more than about religious dogmas. The same could be said about many other Muslim societies, including those of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Egypt and Indonesia. Old photos speak for themselves. That is why it is so important to study old images again and again, carefully. Islam is not only a religion; it is also an enormous culture, one of the greatest on Earth, which has enriched our humanity...