Ethiopia: Obama Focus on Current Plight of Ethiopian Civil Society, Media, and Political Opposition

Human Rights Ambassador William Nicholas Gomes asks Pres. Obama to ensure that any dealings with Ethiopia lead to improved human rights.

(SALEM) - Ethiopia has grown more authoritarian in nature since the controversial 2005 elections ended in bloodshed.

Meles Zenawi is known for suppressing free speech, wrongful and arbitrary detention and arrest, and zero transparency.

Vietnam Airport World's Most Dioxin Contaminated Place

t least 94,000 square meters of tainted soil have been buried at the airport.

(DOIN NAI, Viet Nam) - The Bien Hoa military airport in the southern province of Dong Nai has the world’s highest Agent Orange/dioxin contamination level, a meeting heard Thursday.

The office of the national steering committee tasked with handling the consequences of toxic chemical used by the US during the Vietnam War reported at the meeting that the airport has more than ten hectares of heavily polluted soil.

Your City USA by Glen Bledsoe

PTSD - Medical Marijuana Toxicology - Pharmacology

Mindless Masses

Living in America is becoming very difficult for anyone with a moral conscience, a sense of justice, or a lick of intelligence. --Paul Craig Roberts

(MANAMA, Bahrain) - It’s well-worth following what Roberts has to say. He's one of the most informed thinkers and writers in America.

Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan’s first term. He authored eight books and was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal.

Nakba Actions

As I say to my students: do your own homework because you should form your own opinion based on facts and solid information.

(BETHLEHEM) - For the global community, there is nothing more consequential than the catastrophic failure after World War II to learn the correct lessons.

Instead, the world continued with the business of war as usual (and war is business). One of the most destabilizing forces in the world was created and sustained for 100 years before the USA took on nurturing it after WWII. I am of course speaking of Zionism.

A Special Appeal to all People of Conscience: Stand with Us on Sunday June 3 and Bring the Vatican to Justice

A Call for Solidarity Actions to Support Irish men and women who Survived Church Terror

(NANAIMO, Vancouver Island) - John Deegan, Mary Lawlor and Dave O’Brien are uncommon heroes who endured torture at the hands of the roman catholic church – and who are battling today to win justice.

On May 4 in Dublin, they confronted Archbishop Dermot Martin and the Vatican with ten demands which must be enacted by September 15.

Statement of Transitional Justice Coordination Group on Chicago Conference

اعلامیه گروه هماهنگی عدالت انتقالی در پیوند با کنفرانس شیکاگو/ د شيکاګو د کنفرانس په تړاو د انتقالي عدالت د ډلې اعلاميه/

(KABUL, Afghanistan ) - The Transitional Justice Coordination Group appreciates the ten-year achievements in government-building, and other fields that have been reached with the participation of the people by the government and the international community for fulfillment of democracy.

However, those trends have not taken root in our country...

Israel's Hidden Hand Behind Pakistan's Disasters

The continual bloodbath in Pakistan will continue, even if the Americans vacate their forces...

(LONDON) - Suspicions are aroused when the founder of the discredited group Quilliam Foundation, Majid Nawaz who has strong pro Israeli supporters, heads off to Pakistan:

“…to counter the spread of extremist ideology within Pakistan, predominantly amongst younger generations of Pakistanis, who now constitute 63% of the total population”.

William Gomes: An Outspoken Voice for the Voiceless

"I have seen journalism from a very different point of view for years." - William Nicholas Gomes

(TEHRAN / SALEM) - William Gomes is a young, progressive journalist and human rights activist from Bangladesh.

He has written widely about the human rights violations around the world and was recently declared as the Human Rights Ambassador for the U.S.-based news website Salem-News.

Will Purdue Pharma's Deep Pockets Buy Leniency in Senate Investigation ?

Purdue Pharma has until June 8 to produce documents demanded by the Senate Finance Committee.

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - In the past few weeks, I have been writing articles about the maker of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma and their financial funding the American Pain Foundation.

ProPublica, known as Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP) were hugely responsible for a Senate investigation of pharma's ties to pain foundations.

Tamil Nadu Begins Campaign for UN Referendum on Tamil Eelam

The campaign saw the involvement of university and school students in large numbers.

(CHENNAI, India TamilNet) - Tamil Nadu based civil society group Youth Against War Crimes and Genocide demand for a UN referendum among Eezham Tamils.

Tamils could determine the political future of their homeland.

Sexual Mutilation and the Moral Order

"The child shall be protected from practices that… may foster racial, religious or any other form of discrimination..." - International declaration of the rights of the child

(PARIS, France) - The Jewish philosopher Maimonides ascribes circumcision to a moral order that, under the guise of religion and/or tradition, pretends making supermen.

That tyrannical order tries to dominate the child as the adult in the name of: "Hush, it’s for your own sake!"

US/Burma: Safeguards Needed Before Allowing Investment, Financial Services

Human Rights Ambassador William Nicholas Gomes outlines a strategy for funding Burma.

(SALEM) - The goal of promoting peace in Burma is a noble one, but the process should not be a free for all, and it is imperative that individuals involved in crimes against humanity are not among those receiving funding.

It is a simple fact we can't take our eye off this ball when it comes to funding Burma.

Postcolonial Theory, Whiteness & Palestine

Zionism, and Israel are actually primarily ‘Judeo-centric’ to the bone.

(LONDON) - Postcolonial, feminist and gay studies share many similarities to the extent that some academics regard these fields as theoretically and ideologically complementary.

These fields of study are primarily concerned with politics, the structure of hegemony, the oppressed and the mechanism that brings about injustice.

Son Of Arab MK Held For Refusing Military Service

Hundreds of Arabs, Druze and Jewish-Israelis who have been imprisoned for rejecting the compulsory military service.

(BEIT JIN, Occupied Palestine) - Israeli Police kidnapped Amro Naffa’, 18, the son of Arab Member of Israeli Knesset, Sa’id Naffa’, after he refused to go for compulsory military service, rejecting any part of a military that occupies and oppresses the Palestinian people.

Naffa’ is from Beit Jin in the occupied Galilee; Israel will be sending him to court and will likely impose a prison term against him.

California State Psychology Board Launches Psychiatric Probe of Activist Psychologist

Answers for those concerned about the increasing use of psychiatry as a tool of control by the State.

(SACRAMENTO, CA) - The California State Psychology Board has launched an action against a Northern California psychologist and advocate for the disabled, and has ordered the practitioner into a psychiatric evaluation or face revocation of his license.

In an unprecedented deviation from the Board's mandate to investigate consumer complaints,

Sri Lanka's Frontline Denial

It isn't rocket science to see that Sri Lanka needs outside monitoring.

(LONDON) - The room was packed. The panel, consisting of journalists, activists and relatives of the victims, were speaking to an audience made up mainly of Sri Lankans.

I was there too, partly because I admire the work of the film maker Callum Macrae and partly because this kind of bunfight is worth watching.

Old Age and the Modern Libido: All Men Aren't Predatory

Lifespan has lengthened due to medical science; it underlies the fact that men do live longer and are thus around later in life to admire the female form.

(SALEM) - Despite my being happily married and in the senior citizen bracket of life, I haven't quite given up my keen admiration of a pretty female face.

However, that doesn't qualify for the "dirty old man" stereotype.

The Incompatibility of Nakba and Neutrality

Al-Nakba is the Arabic word for “the catastrophe”.

(CHICAGO) - Neve Gordon, a 47-year-old Israeli-born professor and author, greeted this year’s 64th anniversary of the Nakba with an essay for CounterPunch that included this revealing confession:

"I first heard about the Nakba in the late 1980s, while I was an undergraduate student of philosophy at Hebrew University. This, I believe, is a revealing fact, particularly since, as a teenager, I was a member of Peace Now and was raised in a liberal home..."

New York Judge Admits to Medical Marijuana Use and Endorses Legalization

“This is not a law-and-order issue; it is a medical and a human rights issue” - Supreme Court Justice Gustin L. Reichbach

(BROOKLYN, Raw Story) - Kings County Supreme Court Justice Gustin L. Reichbach revealed that he regularly smokes marijuana to cope with the side effects of his ongoing cancer treatment.

He pleaded with New York lawmakers to legalize medical use of the drug this year.

PHILIPPINES: Anti-Dam Farmer Victim of Extra-Judicial Killing

Human Rights Ambassador William Nicholas Gomes contacts Philippine President over activist's murder.

(SALEM) - A political land activist was shot dead in the Philippines.

Margarito Cabal opposed the construction of a hydro-electric dam that threatens to leave 22 villages under water.