Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Articles”
What’s that smell in this room? Didn’t you notice it, Brick? Didn’t you notice a powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room?… There ain’t nothin’ more powerful than the odor of mendacity… You can smell it. It smells like death. — Big Daddy to son Brick in Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Big Daddy might have …
The potential influence of marketing strategies used by drug production companies on the prescribing habits of doctors has been the subject of recent intense debate. Currently, doctors’ groups and the manufacturers themselves espouse professional and industry self-regulation in the marketing of drugs or medical equipment to doctors. The argument is that these voluntary measures, teamed with personal integrity, clinical objectivity and being …
It was on Aug. 12, 1949, that the nations of the world, with Nazi atrocities still in mind, updated what are known as the Geneva Accords. This constituted an effort to once again set limits on the wartime behavior of states and their agents. Among other things, the accords set the range of acceptable behavior toward prisoners of war, established protections …
A secretive super-court system called ISDS is threatening to blow up President Barack Obama’s highest foreign policy priority. Investor-state dispute settlement — an integral part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal — allows companies to sue entire countries for costing them money when laws or regulations change. Cases are decided by extrajudicial tribunals composed of three corporate lawyers. Buzzfeed, in …
What has just taken place in Hangzhou, China, is of immense geoeconomic importance. Beijing from the start treated the G20 very seriously; this was designed as China’s party, not the declining West’s. And much less Washington’s. Outlining the agenda for the discussions, President Xi Jinping went straight to the point also geopolitically, as he set the tone: “The outdated Cold War …
The Union of Latin American Scientists Committed to Society and Nature (UCCSN-AL) has issued a statement rejecting the letter signed by Nobel Prize laureates in favour of genetically modified crops and GMO golden rice. About GM crop science in general, UCCSN-AL says: “[Transgenesis] cannot be considered an advanced science anymore because it is based on fallacious and anachronistic assumptions. Its defenders have …
Toxic magnetic nanoparticles from air pollution have been discovered in “abundant” quantities in human brains, according to a new study. The study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), is particularly alarming because other research recently raised the strong possibility of a link between such particles and Alzheimer’s disease. “Magnetite in the brain is not something you …
The BBC’s rather charming piece entitled “Who is Theresa May: A profile” sets out a life reminiscent of Margaret Thatcher, from her early days as a schoolchild to the ascension to the most powerful job in Britain. It’s a piece littered with affection and sentiment, typical of a state broadcaster. “An early advocate of Conservative “modernisation” in the wilderness years that …
The RAND Corporation was commissioned to publish a report titled, “War with China: Thinking Through the Unthinkable,” in which it describes its assessment of possible war between the US and China in the Pacific in both 2015 and in 2025. The report’s introduction summarised its findings, stating: Premeditated war between the United States and China is very unlikely, but the …
A treaty facilitating relationships between Vatican and Palestine – referred to as a “state” in the text – has entered full force, sealing de-facto recognition of Palestinian statehood by the Holy See. The Vatican announced Saturday that its “Comprehensive Agreement” with the “State of Palestine” signed in June 2015 has come into full force, in which the Holy See bolstered …
