(By Michael Klare) Of all the preposterous, irresponsible headlines that have appeared on the front page of the New York Times in recent years, few have exceeded the inanity of this one from early March: “U.S. Hopes Boom in Natural Gas Can Curb Putin.” The article by normally reliable reporters Coral Davenport and Steven Erlanger suggested that, by sending […]
The Promise and Existential Risks of Nanotechnology (Plus Free book)
Video by Dr. Kim Solez on Existential Risks [of Nanotechnology] prepared for the Lifeboat Foundation. The Bill Joy video excerpt from the year 2000 in “The Future Doesn’t Need Us” segment at 7:05 no longer exists separately on the net so this is one of the few places where one can still see it. As […]
Palestine’s Abbas finally says will Go to UN over Israeli Squatters
(By Juan Cole) Palestine president Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday signed a some 15 international treaties and UN legal instruments, including the Geneva Conventions, in preparation for going to the International Criminal Court over Israel’s illegal flooding of hundreds of thousands of Israeli squatters into the West Bank. These squatters have for the most part never […]
Egypt’s new Cult of Personality: The Beatification of Saint Gen. al-Sisi
(By Charles Kurzman via IslamiCommentary) Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the military ruler of Egypt for the past nine months, is no ordinary candidate for president. He is a saint, or so say some of his supporters. A cleric at al-Azhar seminary likened him to ancient prophets. An eminent civic leader called him Egypt’s “savior from darkness.” […]
Drones Gone Wild: on the unreliability of killer robots
(By Alice Ross and Jack Serle) UK Parliamentarians have called for greater transparency in the UK use of drones, citing the Bureau’s research. The call came in a long-awaited report published by the Defence Select Committee, reports Alice Ross in the latest episode of the Bureau’s podcast. The Select Committee report said there was ‘a […]
Muslim victim of Boston Marathon bombing sues Glenn Beck for defamation and slander
A Muslim victim of the Boston Marathon bombing has sued Glenn Beck for defamation and slander after the talk show host accused him of funding the attacks. Race spectator Abdulrahman Alharbi filed a federal lawsuit against Beck and his companies, The…
The Militarization of America’s Local Police (Infographic)
Militarization of our Police Forces – An infographic by the team at ArrestRecords.com — Related video: RT America: “Proposed bill would curb militarization of US police”
“Some say the world will end in fire:” Climate Panel Paints Mad Max World of Famine, Fire, War
(By Juan Cole) The poet Robert Frost wrote, “Fire and Ice Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction […]
Less Food, More War: CO2 Driving Certain Global Warming, Rising Insecurity
Climate change boosts conflict risk, floods, hunger: UN (via AFP) Soaring carbon emissions will amplify the risk of conflict, hunger, floods and mass migration this century, the UN’s expert panel said Monday in a landmark report on the impact of climate change. Left unchecked, greenhouse gas emissions may cost trillions… —— Related video: PBS […]