Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Articles”
The climate change talks to be held in Paris this December (COP 21 in UN lingo) are all about how much risk to the livability of our planet we’re willing to accept. And the dirty little secret is, we’re accepting a hell of a lot right now, and we’re imposing even more on our children and future generations. Here’s why: …
The financial markets have been through some wild and crazy times over the last two weeks, although it appears that they have finally stabilized. The net effect of all the gyrations is that a serious bubble in China’s market seems to have been at least partially deflated. After hugely over-reacting to this correction, most other markets have largely recovered. Prices …
The Chinese are in the process of displacing the monopoly of the US dollar. They are dropping their US Treasury bonds, stockpiling gold reserves, and opening regional distribution banks for their own national currency. This will give them easier access to capital markets and insulate them from financial manipulation by Washington and Wall Street. Fearing the eclipsing of the US …
The Pentagon has not conducted airstrikes against an estimated 60 Islamic State (IS) training camps that are supplying thousands of fighters each month to the terror group, according to defense and intelligence officials. The camps are spread throughout Islamic State-controlled areas of Iraq and Syria and are off limits in the U.S.-led international bombing campaign because of concerns about collateral …
Peter Koenig: Let’s begin with what are ‘sanctions’? – Sanctions are (economic) punishments by the self-proclaimed empire in Washington and its European minions on any country that does not follow the dictate of the empire. Actually, it’s worse. The European spineless puppets participate despite their own losses, lest they may be sanctioned themselves by the empire. In some cases, they are …
It’s the sort of question that stoners, hemp farmers, and scientists alike have pondered for thousands of years: Just what exactly is cannabis made out of? Now, thanks to the authors of a PLOS-One study published Wednesday, we may have a much clearer answer. The Canadian researchers unraveled the genetic structure of 81 different marijuana and 43 hemp samples, in an attempt to …
Food and environmental campaigners are determined to keep genetically-engineered (GE) salmon out of rivers and oceans and, at the very least, off of seafood retailers’ shelves. To that end, people across the United States will mobilize this week to press the warehouse chain Costco Wholesale Corporation to publicly pledge that it will not sell genetically engineered salmon in its stores …
The global economy is slowing down. A couple of the big emerging-market economies that drove much of the growth during the past 15 years have hit a wall, and the question of the moment is whether the biggest of them, China, is in real trouble too. Commodity prices are tanking. Trade volumes are down. The Baltic Dry Index of shipping costs, which …
Pope Francis has opened the door for women who have had abortions – an act considered a grave sin by the Catholic church – to be absolved if they express contrition and seek forgiveness from their priest. “The forgiveness of God cannot be denied to one who has repented,” the pontiff wrote in an extraordinary letter that was released by the …
It’s no secret that there’s a divide between the global North and South. Most people know about the huge wealth gap between the industrialized and so-called “developing” worlds, and that rates of pollution, resource use, greenhouse gas emissions – and much more – vary widely between them. But there’s another gap, one that’s rarely discussed in the media, or even …
