Zaid Jilani, Alternet Next week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will present his case against President Obama’s talks with Iran; he is expected to portray Iran as an untrustworthy actor and Obama’s diplomacy as naive and a distraction from more sanctions or even military action. This case suffered a major setback this week as a major intelligence leak showed …
Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership Promises Echo Clinton’s On NAFTA
Dave Johnson, Campaign for America’s Future NAFTA – the North American Free Trade Agreement – was sold with promises of jobs and prosperity on all sides of the border. What really happened was that an increased trade deficit sucked demand and jobs out of the U.S. economy; workers lost bargaining power, resulting in pay and benefit cuts; and income inequality …
ISIS Is Proof of the Failed “War on Terror”
Patrick Cockburn, Quartz Today al-Qaeda-type movements rule a vast area in northern and western Iraq and eastern and northern Syria, several hundred times larger than any territory ever controlled by Osama bin Laden. It is since bin Laden’s death that al-Qaeda affiliates or clones have had their greatest successes, including the capture of Raqqa in the eastern part of Syria, …
There Is No Scientific Consensus on GMO Safety
Angelika Hilbeck, The Ecologist A broad community of independent scientific researchers and scholars challenges claims of a ‘consensus’ that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are ‘safe’ to grow and eat. The claims – which continue to be widely and often uncritically aired – are a false and artificial construct that have been misleadingly perpetuated through diverse media. For decades, the safety of …
Scientists discover beliefs can be just as powerful as nicotine
Ashley Wennersherron, Medical Xpress Two identical cigarettes led to a discovery by scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute. Study participants inhaled nicotine, yet they showed significantly different brain activity. Why the difference? Some subjects were told their cigarettes were nicotine free.
‘There Will Be A Reckoning’
Jon Queally, Commondreams On the verge of retirement, noted environmentalist and celebrated systems analyst Lester Brown has a dire warning for the world he has spent more than half a century advising on issues of food and energy policy: there is no end in sight for the interrelated scourge of climate change, global poverty and hunger. In fact, according to …
Washington Has Destroyed Trust Between Nuclear Powers, Thus Raising The Specter Of War
Paul Craig Roberts, PaulCraigRoberts.org Ambassador Jack Matlock made an important speech at the National Press Club on February 11. Matlock served as US ambassador to the Soviet Union during 1987-91. In his speech he describes how President Reagan won the trust of the Soviet leadership in order to bring to an end the Cold War and its risk of nuclear …
Growing Your Own Food Is A Must For Our Future
By, Jeffery Jaxen, Truth Theory Riding the full force GMO backlash of 2014, communities and individuals alike are breaking down the door with Black Friday-urgency in search of better access to better food. Yet in a country where we continue to be limited by the bottom line of big corporate influences and their overarching monetary reach, the first sprouts of …
“3-Parent Babies” Are Now Legal In the United Kingdom
By, Lydia Ramsey,Popular Science The United Kingdom is now the first country to legalize mitochondrial DNA transfers. Earlier in February, the legislation passed the House of Commons by a vote of 282-12. It moved to the House of Lords, which passed it by a majority of 232. Clinical trials on humans could begin as early as the end of 2015. …
Cancer Diagnosis May Soon Be As Easy As Taking A Pill
By, Dana Dovey, Medical Daily Scientists are working to create a pill that would allow doctors to diagnose cancer with a simple blood test. The pill, designed by Stanford Medical School researchers, would cause cancerous tumors to release biomarkers into the bloodstream, and when completed, it would become the world’s most non-invasive cancer diagnosis test. In a recent study, the Stanford …