British Govt. Encourages Chemical Weapons Use In Bahrain, Syria by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
July 18, 2013

Image by FreedomHouseDC via Flickr

Little Sajida Faisal had only just come into this world. But five days after her birth, she was dead, killed by suffocation from tear gas. She died on 11 December, a Sunday, in 2011 in her family home in the Bahraini village of Belad al-Qadeem.

Her father later told how Bahraini riot police had been firing tear gas into the streets for several days without stop. The whole village was under a toxic cloud of chemical gas, and with military checkpoints everywhere, the residents of Belad al-Qadeem were effectively held hostage, forced to breathe in the deadly fumes.

Fred Branfman: Excesses of Executive Branch Eroding Democratic Institutions

Image by Stephen D. Melkisethian via Flickr

with Fred Branfman
Writer, Dandelion Salad
July 20, 2013

TheRealNews on Jun 22, 2013

Fred Branfman: Excesses of Executive Branch Eroding Democratic Institutions. 

Gasland 2 + Josh Fox on Gasland Part 2, the Fracking-Earthquake Link & the Natural Gas Industry’s Use of Psyops

Image by Marcellus Protest via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/

Updated: July 24, 2013

A Partial Peek At Gasland Part II (no longer available)

Dems OFA on Jul 11, 2013

Chris Hedges: Make the Power Elite Frightened of Us, Part 4

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

with Chris Hedges
Writer, Dandelion Salad
July 19, 2013

TheRealNews on Jul 19, 2013

On Reality Asserts Itself, Paul Jay asks Chris Hedges if the American Left bears responsibility for the weakness of the mass movement; Hedges says the gravest mistake of the left is not articulating a viable vision of socialism.

Criticizing Military = Aiding the Enemy? Bradley Manning Charge Upheld + Michael Ratner: All Publishers Are At Risk

Dandelion Salad

Image by Vertigogen via Flickr

RussiaToday on Jul 19, 2013

Prospects are looking bleak for the US army whistleblower Bradley Manning. A military judge has refused to drop the charge against him of ‘aiding the enemy’. That means the army private – who turned over thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks – could spend the rest of his life behind bars with no chance of parole.

America’s Most Anti-Democratic Institution: How the Imperial Presidency Threatens U.S. National Security by Fred Branfman

by Fred Branfman
Writer, Dandelion Salad
originally published on Alternet, June 9, 2013
July 19, 2013

It’s evil, lawless and authoritarian. And as NSA leaker Snowden has shown us, its aims are to be all-powerful.

Many have expressed surprise that under President Obama – a former Constitutional Law Senior Lecturer who promised transparency, protection for whisteblowers and respect for international law when running for office – U.S. Executive Branch agencies have:

Glenn Greenwald: Growing Backlash Against NSA Spying Shows Why U.S. Wants to Silence Edward Snowden

Dandelion Salad

Image by ekvidi via Flickr

democracynow on Jul 18, 2013

www.democracynow.org – As Congress holds its second major public hearing on the National Security Agency’s bulk spying, we speak with Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian journalist who first published whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations. The NSA admitted their analysis of phone records and online behavior far exceeded what it had previously disclosed. “The fact that you now see members of both political parties increasingly angry over the fact that they were misled and lied to by top level Obama administration officials, that the laws that they enacted in the wake of 9/11 — as broad as they were — are being incredibly distorted by secret legal interpretations approved by secret courts, really indicates exactly that Snowden’s motives to come forward with these revelations, at the expense of his liberty and even his life, were valid and compelling,” Greenwald says. “If you think about whistleblowing in terms of people who expose things the government is hiding that they shouldn’t be, in order to bring about reform, I think what you’re seeing is the fruits of classic whistleblowing.”

Chris Hedges: We Must Grasp Reality to Build Effective Resistance, Part 3

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

with Chris Hedges
Writer, Dandelion Salad
July 18, 2013

TheRealNews on Jul 18, 2013

In the continuation of Paul Jay’s Reality Asserts Itself interview with Chris Hedges, they discuss the fantasy that we can have everything we want and the reality of the grave dangers facing us.

Chris Hedges on NDAA Defeat: It’s a Black Day for Liberty

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by Peter Z. Scheer
with Chris Hedges
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
July 17, 2013

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit has dealt a terrible blow to Chris Hedges, Daniel Ellsberg, Noam Chomsky and the other activists and journalists suing to prevent the indefinite military detention of American citizens.

Chris Hedges: Journalism Should Be About Truth, Not Career, Part 2

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

with Chris Hedges
Writer, Dandelion Salad
July 17, 2013

TheRealNews on Jul 17, 2013

On Reality Asserts Itself, Chris Hedges tells Paul Jay about his criticism of the Iraq War and the events that led to him leaving the New York Times.

Walking From the Ogaden–Seeking Peace in Dadaab by Graham Peebles

by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London
July 11, 2013

Many people living outside Africa, most perhaps, have never heard of the Ogaden (or Somali) region of Ethiopia, they know nothing of the murders, rapes and destruction that the ethnic Somali’s allege are taking place there. We all have our problems and what can I do anyway, these governments are corrupt, we – meaning western governments shouldn’t be sending them money, especially now with all the public sector cuts taking place. So runs the uninformed, albeit understandable response.

Chris Hedges: Urban Poverty in America Made Me Question Everything, Part 1

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

with Chris Hedges
Writer, Dandelion Salad
July 16, 2013

TheRealNews on Jul 16, 2013

Launching a new show “Reality Asserts Itself”, Paul Jay interviews author, journalist and activist Chris Hedges about the formative experiences that shaped his world view.

Arab Oil Cash To Kill Democracy In Egypt by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
July 11, 2013

Image by Kodak Agfa via Flickr

In order to determine whether the turmoil in Egypt is in the best interests of the mass of ordinary Egyptians, we should use the trusted maxim – follow the money.

Within hours of the military’s arrest last week of now-deposed President Mohamed Morsi, the Persian Gulf Arab monarchies were offering their congratulations to defense minister Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and the new interim president, Adli Mansour.

Locking Out the Voices of Dissent, by Chris Hedges

by Chris Hedges
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
July 15, 2013

NEW YORK—The security and surveillance state, after crushing the Occupy movement and eradicating its encampments, has mounted a relentless and largely clandestine campaign to deny public space to any group or movement that might spawn another popular uprising. The legal system has been grotesquely deformed in most cities to, in essence, shut public space to protesters, eradicating our right to free speech and peaceful assembly. The goal of the corporate state is to criminalize democratic, popular dissent before there is another popular eruption.

Orange Violence, Hangover From British Misrule by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
July 14, 2013

Image by woodysj82 via Flickr

To many people around the world, the violence in Northern Ireland this weekend may seem incomprehensible. After all, it is nearly 15 years since the political conflict in the British province of Ireland was officially declared over, with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

That agreement was meant to signal the peaceful end of a nearly 30-year conflict that cost the lives of more than 3,000 people, which proportionate to the population of Northern Ireland represented a huge number of deaths.