Context

Gilad Atzmon joins forces with Robert Wyatt

by News Sources 10.16.2010

Yaron Frid writes: In 1963 a baby was born in Israel. In 1972 a man fell from the third floor (or the fourth – views are divided ) in England in the middle of the night. Both of them took off on the wings of music, and life would one day organize a surprising encounter [...]

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There’s real hope from Haiti and it’s not what you expect

by Paul Woodward 02.06.2010

Johann Hari: In the weeks after a disaster like the Haiti earthquake, journalists always search for an upbeat twist to the tale. You know it by now – the baby found alive after a week under wreckage. But this time, a shaft of light has parted the rubble and the corpses and the unshakeable grief [...]

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Goodbye Howard Zinn

by Paul Woodward 01.29.2010

Goodbye Howard Zinn By Peter Rothberg, The Nation, January 27, 2010 Howard Zinn, the Boston University historian and political activist who was an early opponent of US involvement in Vietnam and the author of the seminal A People’s History of the United States, died today at the age of 87 of a heart attack in [...]

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Don’t send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me

by Paul Woodward 01.19.2010

Homeless Haitians told not to flee to U.S. By James C McKinley Jr, New York Times, January 19, 2010 America has a message for the millions of Haitians left homeless and destitute by last week’s earthquake: Do not try to come to the United States. Every day, a United States Air Force cargo plane specially [...]

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Why America and China will clash

by Paul Woodward 01.19.2010

Why America and China will clash By Gideon Rachman, Financial Times, January 18, 2010 oogle’s clash with China is about much more than the fate of a single, powerful firm. The company’s decision to pull out of China, unless the government there changes its policies on censorship, is a harbinger of increasingly stormy relations between [...]

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Turkey and Russia move closer to building strategic partnership

by Paul Woodward 01.18.2010

Turkey and Russia move closer to building strategic partnership By Faruk Akkan, Today’s Zaman, January 15, 2010 Turkey and Russia have come closer to building a strategic partnership by agreeing to deepen cooperation in the area of energy and work on a plan to lift visa requirements for their citizens. The two countries also have [...]

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After the earthquake, how to rebuild Haiti from scratch

by Paul Woodward 01.17.2010

After the earthquake, how to rebuild Haiti from scratch By Jeffrey D. Sachs, Washington Post, January 17, 2010 President Obama has declared that the United States will not forsake Haiti in its moment of agony. Honoring this commitment would be a first for Washington. To prevent a deepening spiral of death, the United States will [...]

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Obama confidant’s spine-chilling proposal

by Paul Woodward 01.16.2010

Obama confidant’s spine-chilling proposal By Glenn Greenwald, Salon, January 15, 2010 Cass Sunstein has long been one of Barack Obama’s closest confidants. Often mentioned as a likely Obama nominee to the Supreme Court, Sunstein is currently Obama’s head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs where, among other things, he is responsible for “overseeing [...]

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Obama pledges aid to Haiti

by Paul Woodward 01.15.2010

Obama pledges aid to Haiti By Helene Cooper, New York Times, January 15, 2010 President Obama on Thursday promised $100 million along with more American troops for the relief effort in Haiti, vowing that the United States would stand with the impoverished nation as it grappled with the devastation of its capital city. The Pentagon [...]

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Haiti, the devil and Pat Robertson

by Paul Woodward 01.14.2010

Haiti, the devil and Pat Robertson By David Waters, Washington Post, January 13, 2010 Pat Robertson is at it again. The purported Christian minister who suggested assassinating Venezuela leader Hugo Chavez and nuking the U.S. State Department, the reputed follower of Jesus who blamed the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina on pagans, abortionists, feminists, [...]

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The other plot to wreck America

by Paul Woodward 01.10.2010

The other plot to wreck America By Frank Rich, New York Times, January 10, 2010 There may not be a person in America without a strong opinion about what coulda, shoulda been done to prevent the underwear bomber from boarding that Christmas flight to Detroit. In the years since 9/11, we’ve all become counterterrorists. But [...]

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For the West, ‘Game over’ in Central Asia

by Paul Woodward 01.08.2010

For the West, ‘Game over’ in Central Asia By Andrea Bonzanni, World Politics Review, January 8, 2010 Last month, the West officially lost the new “Great Game.” The 20-year competition for natural resources and influence in Central Asia between the United States (supported by the European Union), Russia and China has, for now, come to [...]

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What doesn’t work in America

by Paul Woodward 01.07.2010

What doesn’t work in America By Orville Schell, TomDispatch, January 7, 2010 Lately, I’ve been studying the climate-change induced melting of glaciers in the Greater Himalaya. Understanding the cascading effects of the slow-motion downsizing of one of the planet’s most magnificent landforms has, to put it politely, left me dispirited. Spending time considering the deleterious [...]

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The happiest people

by Paul Woodward 01.07.2010

The happiest people By Nicholas D Kristof, New York Times, January 7, 2010 Hmmm. You think it’s a coincidence? Costa Rica is one of the very few countries to have abolished its army, and it’s also arguably the happiest nation on earth. There are several ways of measuring happiness in countries, all inexact, but this [...]

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America is losing the free world

by Paul Woodward 01.05.2010

America is losing the free world By Gideon Rachman, Financial Times, January 4, 2010 Ever since 1945, the US has regarded itself as the leader of the “free world”. But the Obama administration is facing an unexpected and unwelcome development in global politics. Four of the biggest and most strategically important democracies in the developing [...]

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Wade Davis on endangered cultures

by Paul Woodward 01.03.2010

Wade Davis on endangered cultures Wade Davis, TED Talks, February, 2003 You know, one of the intense pleasures of travel and one of the delights of ethnographic research is the opportunity to live amongst those who have not forgotten the old ways, who still feel their past in the wind, touch it in stones polished [...]

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The role of place in the world

by Paul Woodward 01.02.2010

The role of place in the world By Harm de Blij, Los Angeles Times, October 26, 2009 In recent years, the notion that the world, if not flat, is rapidly flattening as a result of the forces of globalization has gained currency to the point of becoming a platitude. So mobile, so interconnected, so integrated [...]

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The Genesis 2.0 Project

by Paul Woodward 01.02.2010

The Genesis 2.0 Project By Kurt Anderson, Vanity Fair, January, 2010 Among the defining attributes of now are ever tinier gadgets, ever shorter attention spans, and the privileging of marketplace values above all. Life is manically parceled into financial quarters, three-minute YouTube videos, 140-character tweets. In my pocket is a phone/computer/camera/video recorder/TV/stereo system half the [...]

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Of ants and men

by Paul Woodward 01.02.2010

Of ants and men By Christine Kenneally, Slate, December 1, 2009 In The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies, Bert Holldobler and E.O. Wilson survey the last 15 years of myrmecological research. Picking up where their Pulitzer Prize-winning The Ants left off, The Superorganism is a completely wonderful book. It is packed [...]

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PULSE: 20 Top Global Thinkers of 2009

by Paul Woodward 01.02.2010

PULSE: 20 Top Global Thinkers of 2009 Pulse, December 16, 2009 On 30 November 2009 Foreign Policy magazine published its ’Top 100 Global Thinkers’ list. We were naturally skeptical since the selection included Dick Cheney, General Petraeus, Larry Summers, Thomas Friedman, Bernard-Henri Lévy, David Kilcullen, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Salam Fayyad, The Kagan Family (yes, all [...]

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