Signs of the Times

Human beings are currently living in way that is completely unsustainable with the world we live on. A majority of the scientists of our time are unanimous in agreement that climate change is real, and is happening more rapidly than normal because of human activities. As of now, humanity has no concrete plan for how to deal with the growing population of human beings on the planet, along with the massive resource depletion, widespread poverty and pollution. The articles we've highlighted below will discuss this crisis in more detail.

Humans Spur Worst Extinctions Since Dinosaurs (Planet Ark, 3-21-06)
A report released in March 2006 by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity concluded that "the current pace of [animal and plant] extinctions was 1,000 times faster than historical rate] thanks to the activities of human beings. The Report: "Global Biodiversity Outlook 2 Report"

Extinct Species Won't Return for 10 Million Years
Analyzed fossils lead to calculations that it takes about 10 million years after a plant or animal becomes extinct before anything resembling it reappears, if it reappears at all. (ABC News, 3-8-00)

Climate Change Drives Widespread Amphibian Extinctions
A new 2006 study provides the first clear proof that global warming is causing outbreaks of an infectious disease that is wiping out entire frog populations and driving many species to extinction. (National Science Foundation, 1-11-06)

Web Site on Extinctions Human beings are exterminating other forms of life at the highest rate in millions of years.

Pesticide blamed for declining bee population (CBS News, 4-9-13)
An interview with a beekeeper who describes how beekeepers around the nation have been losing half of their hives due to pesticides.

Only 10 Percent of Big Ocean Fish Remain
According to a study published in Nature in 2003, 90% of the world's largest species of fish have already been killed by humans.
(CNN News, 5-14-03)

World's Fish Supply Will Run Out by 2048
A recent scientific study concluded that unless changes are made, current fishing practices and ecological destruction caused by pollution of the world's oceans will result in the extinction of fish caught to provide food. This will provoke a crisis among the world's population as a critical source of food for human beings disappears.
(Washington Post, 11-3-06)

2014 UN Scientific Panel On Climate Change Sounds Alarm: (Maybe delete?)
This report states that if action is not taken soon, global warming could spiral out of control. The author of the climate report has said, "We're now in an era where climate change isn't some kind of future hypothetical...We live in an area where impacts from climate change are already widespread and consequential." (Read The Report Here)

NASA 2014 Model Shows Possibility That Industrial Civilization Could Experience a Collapse (Maybe delete?)
This new study has highlighted the prospect that global industrial civilization could experience a collapse due to unsustainable resource exploitation and unequal wealth distribution. The Roman Empire, The Han Civilization, The Mauryan and Gupta Empires are all a testimony to the fact that advanced and complex civilizations are capable of falling apart. READ THE STUDY HERE (PDF)

OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050 Report (PDF)
Humanity has undergone tremendous growth in the last few decades. The world population has increased by over 3 billion since 1970. Yet this growth has brought climate change, environmental destruction, resource depletion and mass pollution. Will our planet be able to handle this continued growth and consumption? What will the next four decades bring? The outlook for 2050 does not look good. Also see Club of Rome: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years (paperback)

The State of the World? A Grim Warning from 1,300 Leading Scientists (Maybe delete?)
This is the considered opinion of 1,300 leading scientists from 95 countries, who conclude that environmental degradation, if continued at its current pace will irreparably damage the global ecosystem to such an extent that it will not recover for thousands of years. Read the "Millennium Assessment Reports"
(By The Independent posted on Information Clearing House, 3-30-05)

In America, many of the chemical companies have very lose regulations about what kinds of chemicals they can release into the public. As a result, hundreds of untested or low tested chemicals have been released into the environment that have questionable effects on human health, as well as the health of other life forms. Many of these chemicals, such as some of the newer pesticides used for farming, have killed millions of other life forms, such as bees and bats. Check out the World Future Fund Site links below for more on this chemical crisis.

Failure of U.S. Chemical Testing: Poison in The Blood (World Future Fund)
America's track record on testing poisonous chemicals has been one of complete neglect to public health and safety. Most Americans assume that chemicals in everyday products such as shampoos and detergents have been tested. In this assumption, they are dead wrong. In its entire history, the Environmental Protection Agency has only succeeded in banning five substances (New York Times). America clearly does not take the regulation of hazardous chemicals very seriously.

The Huge Drop in America's Commitment to a Safe Environment: EPA Budget as a Percent of Total Federal Budget (World Future Fund Report)
America's commitment to a safe and clean environment has declined drastically since the 1980's. There has been a 75% spending drop (as a percent of the federal budget) for the EPA in the last 3 decades. In Obama's recent budget proposal for 2014, funding for the EPA has been decreased 5% below 2013 levels. Clean air, water and the management of hazardous chemicals are a serious matter that deserve real funding. Not pocket change.

"The federal government first approved atrazine in the 1950s, but it came under increased scrutiny in the late 1990s after Tyrone B. Hayes, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California at Berkeley, did a series of studies -- first for chemical companies and then on his own -- that indicated that tiny amounts of the pesticide de-masculinized tadpoles of African clawed frogs. The European Union declared it a harmful "endocrine disrupter" and banned it as of 2005, but the EPA decided to allow its continued use after determining that the agency lacked a standard test for measuring the hormone-disrupting effects of chemicals. "

POLLUTION

Indoor Air, Human Health and Chemicals: The Missing 90% of America's Air Pollution Problems (World Future Fund)

We're Surrounded by Way More Chemicals Than We Thought, and These Doctors Say We're Screwed (Mother Jones, 10-1-15)

The Leading Cause of Death in Developing Countries Might Surprise You (Global Voices Online, 1-21-15)

Water, Air and Soil Pollution Causes 40% of Deaths World Wide (Cornell University)

Newly Discovered 'Plastic Island' Shows Global Epidemic Worsening (Common Dreams, 1-18-13)
An entire island of human trash now exists in the Pacific Ocean. The large mass of garbage accumulating in the ocean has large implications on fisheries, tourism, marine ecosystems and human health.

Read the report: "Plastic pollution in the South Pacific subtropical gyre"

Not-so-Clean Hydropower is Damming Us All Dam building in developing countries is occurring at an alarming rate. The public needs to know the truth about large dams. Large dams are a societal hazard, pollutants, non-renewable and economically unsound.

TOTAL COST OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION

New UN report finds almost no industry profitable if environmental costs were included (Exposing Truth, 4-9-15) REPORT

None of the world’s top industries would be profitable if they paid for the natural capital they use (Grist, 4-17-13) (Maybe delete, because it is similar to what is above?)
Businesses create costs for the public that they themselves do not pay for. For example, a business will put pollution into the air, but the public has to pay the price for that pollution. If the public was not forced to pick up the tab for the world's most profitable businesses via tax payer funded subsidies, a majority of these businesses would not actually be profitable. Read the Report: Natural Capital at Risk

The staggering annual financial cost of environmental destruction. (BBC 10/10/2008) TEEB Web Site (Maybe delete, because it is similar to what is above, and it's old?)
An EU study shows that annual cost of environmental destruction is greater than current credit crisis.

Humans are running up huge environmental debts 10/29/2008 Living Planet Report (Text) (Maybe delete, because it is old?)

Environmental destruction a grave threat to world's poor BBC 5/28/2008 (Maybe delete, because it is old?)

"The TEEB review was set up by the German government and the European Commission during the German G8 presidency.

The two institutions selected Mr Sukhdev, a managing director in the global markets division at Deutsche Bank, to lead it. "TEEB Report (Text) (Maybe delete, because it is old?)

Global Warming Has Been Greatly Underestimated [STUDY] (Value Walk,10-6-14) REPORT (Nature Climate Change)
The scientific community has significantly underestimated the extent of global warming, a new study reveals. Scientists analyzed satellite observations of ocean data and then compared the results with climate models.

300,000 People a Year Are Already Being Killed by Climate Change
In May of 2009 the Geneva-based Global Humanitarian Forum launched a report intended to document the impact of climate change on human society. Its conclusions: More than 300,000 people die annually due to the deteriorating environmental situation. The report further found that over 500 million people live at extreme risk, their existence threatened daily by climate change. The report also found that more than 20 million people are currently climate refugees and that climate change itself costs the world economy more than 100 billion dollars annually.

In encyclical, Pope Francis laments global environmental degradation, but offers hope.

Ice in Antarctica and Greenland Melting at Alarming Rate (NBC Report, Posted on World Future Fund)
Most people around the world live in coastal cities. Even most Americans live within 50 miles of the coastline. Enough ice is melting to raise ocean levels to dangerous levels - dangerous enough to cause constant storms for those who live on the coastline. We are living through climate chance in real time and massive storms like Katrina and Sandy are about to become a regular part of life.

Midway Film (World Future Fund):
There is a garbage island in The Pacific Ocean that is now one of the world's largest continents. Birds and other forms of life are being killed by mountains of plastic, human trash in the ocean. Chris Jordan has made a poignant film about this recent level of human destruction.

Ocean Acidification: A Critical Emerging Problem For the Ocean Sciences (Report)
Ocean acidification is a change in seawater chemistry due to rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide in the air transforms into carbonic acid in the sea. These changes have dire effects on ocean life. According to this report, "the current rapid rise in atmospheric CO2 is as much as 30 times faster than natural rates in the geological past, and present levels are higher than at anytime in at least 850,00 years and likely several million years."

Global Warming’s Terrifying New Chemistry (Bill Moyers, 3-24-16) GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTER
A terrifying new study that shows how methane emissions (much of which is caused by the new boom in fracking) are much worse than we thought.While some have argued that methane can trap 30 times as much heat as carbon dioxide, Howarth argues that a more accurate figure over the next two decades is 86 - 105 times. The United States is now pumping much more methane in the air due to its "natural" gas industry, which completely undercuts the efforts to release less greenhouse gasses.

Former Mobil VP Warns of Fracking and Climate Change (Truth Out, 7-19-13)
Oil scholar Michael Klare calls fracking the "race for what is left." Louis Alstadt, the former VP of Mobil himself, states "The fracking that's going on right now is the real wake-up call on just what extreme lengths are required to pull oil or gas out of the ground now that most of the conventional reservoirs have been exploited - at least those that are easy to access." He goes on to discuss the reality that fracking releases Methane, a greenhouse gas that is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.

Arctic Methane: Why The Sea Ice Matters (Envisionation VIDEO)
The ice in the Arctic now is half of what it was 30 years ago. So far it hasn't collapsed, but it will.

IEA predicts coal will grow by as a share of world energy between 2005 and 2030. This means the world's worst form of energy will grow in demand by 73%. (International Energy Agency) (Click here for report.) (Maybe delete this for being old)

Amazon Deforestation Video in Google Earth (Earth Outreach)
Google Earth's historical imagery animation of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon state of Rodonia, between 1975 and 2009.

Coming Soon: Global Forest Watch (World Resources Institute)
A powerful near real-time forest monitoring system that unites satellite technology, data sharing and human networks around the world to fight deforestation.

CHINA'S ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS (Spiegel, 2-1-07)
An excellent article from Germany's Der Spiegel on the global impact of China's pollution.. Click here for story.

Global economic inequality is higher today than any other point in history. The record disparity of wealth in our globe is one of the defining issues of our time. A small 1% of the global elite own over half the wealth on the planet, and the legion of the global poor, third world slums and starving children is growing rapidly. Is this plutocratic system working? Read our key news stories and charts below to decide for yourself.

Global Debt
Seven years after the global economic bubble burst, levels of global debt have skyrocketed, and only continue to grow larger with each passing year. In fact, rather than reducing indebtedness, or deleveraging, all major economies today have higher levels of borrowing relative to GDP than they did in 2007 when the crisis began.

Money Printing
The current "recovery" is not much of a recovery at all, but the result of money printing to bail out the rich, while neglecting the needy.

Wall Street House of Cards
Is the U.S. economy truly on the road to recovery? Many people point to the rising stock market numbers as evidence of a healthy and robust economy. Five years after the official end of the Great Recession corporate profits are at a record high and the stock market is booming.

Profits once flowed to higher wages or increased investment. Now, they enrich a small number of shareholders.

A report from Oxfam discusses how the richest 1% will own more than half of hte world's wealth by 2016.

Record Global Debt (RT, 9-30-14) REPORT
A record level of $158.8 trillion in global debt, together with low economic growth is creating a serious threat of a new financial crisis, says the sixteenth annual Geneva Report.

Argentina’s debt dispute with U.S. holdout creditors sparked a global conversation on debt restructuring, and may determine the fate of how debt restructuring is resolved in a future crisis.

In many ways, inequality is not just a financial issue. It is a major problem linked to so many other challenges, such as poverty, environmental degradation, persistent unemployment, political instability, violence and conflict. People around the world are now starting to agree that it is a critical issue that needs to be solved, if we are to address other world problems as well.

Economic Class Size Around the World (Economix New York Times Blog, 9-11-09) (Maybe delete this for being old, the number is probably different today.)

The $12 Trillion Dollar Bailout (World Future Fund Data Table)
Never before in American history has so much public money been used to bailout private blunders and crimes. The money spent so far is higher than the cost of world war II in constant dollars.

The "official" unemployment numbers do not reflect the real situation in America. The reality is that there are less jobs now for Americans than when this century first began. A key factor in unemployment is the off-shoring of millions of jobs that will not be coming back. There is also the replacement of workers with technology. Yet there are predictions that America has not seen the worst of its economic crisis. There are predictions that this whole situation is about to get even worse.

The Global 2008 Financial Crisis
In 2008 the world suffered a financial crisis that nearly caused the complete collapse of the global economy. The crisis came from severe problems inside America. However, the crisis is not over yet - far from it. Much of this debt was swept under the rug when the US Government, and others around the globe, launched multi-trillion dollar rescue programs designed to prop up the financial industry. In other words a whole new wave of debt has been run up to pay off old bad debts. This certainly won't last forever.

The Real U.S. Economy (World Future Fund Chart) American wages have gone down in 40 years. Minimum wage is below where it was 50 years ago. Labor force participation is at record low levels. This is not a healthy economy.

International Savings and Investment (World Future Fund Chart) Once the world's greatest creditor, America is now a basket case with a stunning $4 trillion more debts than assets.

Collapse of America's International Investment Position (World Future Fund Chart) America is falling dangerously behind in terms of investing in its own future. Chinese savings are more than three times higher than American savings and investment rates.

More Evidence That Half of America Is In Or Near Poverty (Truth Out, 3-24-14) There are more Americans living in poverty than what the official numbers indicate. The official poverty threshold reflects living standards that prevailed in the mid-1950's. It needs to be adjusted for the current day standard of living. Food costs have doubled since the 1980's, housing has tripled, medical costs are six times higher and college tuition is eleven times higher. Not to mention that half of Americans own NOTHING. 47% of Americans on the bottom own 1.1% of America's net wealth. What all this means is that HALF of Americans are in poverty!

Half of Food Stamp Recipients are Children (CNN Money, 11-26-13) Food stamps are currently feeding 47 million people. Enrollment in the program has surged since the recession, 15% of the population is on the program. Children account for 45% of food stamps. The White House also highlighted in a 2011 survey that most of food stamps go to the elderly, children and people with disabilities.

Middle-Class Dream Eludes African American Families
Almost half of African Americans born to middle-income parents in the late 1960s plunged into poverty or near-poverty as adults, according to a new study.
(Washington Post, 11-13-07)

Record Low Number of Adults in Workforce (MSN Money, 2-10-14)
Today, one in six men are unemployed in their prime working years (ages 25-54) . In the early 1970's, this number only included 6% of American men. By late 2007, that number was 13%. In 2009, that number was the worst of the recession, nearly 20% of working age men didn't have jobs. For women, the numbers are a different story. In the 1950's, only a third of working aged women had jobs. Now that number has risen to 70% of working aged women being employed. You can also read this story at The Wall Street Journal (2-6-14)

America Needs a Better Measure of Unemployment (Against Crony Capitalism, 3-24-14) If we measured unemployment today in the same way that we did during the Great Depression of the 1930's, today's unemployment would be worse than any single year of the Great Depression. Even with the Fed saying that unemployment rates are at "6.5%," much of the numbers are very doctored. The official numbers do not take into account the people who have dropped out of the job market completely and given up looking for work.

America's Low Level of Taxes (World Future Fund Chart)
Are taxes really too high? Is cutting taxes going to solve America's economic problems? Far from it. America's taxes are currently lower than almost all other major modern states.

Taxes and Deficit 1980-2010 (Shows need to raise taxes.)
Realistically, higher taxes need to be part of any major budget reform. The unrealistic tax cuts in 1981 produced a budget train wreck. More unrealistic tax cuts in 2001 produced an even greater train wreck.

Single Payer Health Insurance Plan, The Only Effective Option For Keeping America Healthy (World Future Fund Report)
A majority of Modern states in the world use Single Payer Health Insurance - except for America. This is a social program that even Imperial Germany had, 100 years ago. It is a system with one payer — the government. In the United States of America, many of the great institutions that we take for granted are kept afloat by government funding: education, police force, firefighters, military, etc. Yet one of the most important institutions of American society, our physicians and health providers, do not receive this same treatment. Instead we have an interweaving mess of competing Health Insurance Companies and government bureaucracies. Even after Obama's Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is put into place, there are still around 30 million Americans with no health care.

AIDS Disaster in Nation's Capital
What's particularly damning is that a key cause of this has been the banning of a needle exchange program by the Republicans in Congress. America's capital, unlike other world capitals, does not have the right to elect members of Congress who can vote due to conservative politic pressure tactics.
(Washington Post, 12-2-07) Maybe delete this because it's old

Dennis Hastert gets 15 months in prison in hush money case (CNN, 4-27-16)
Former House Speaker was sentenced to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay $250,000 to victims in a case that revealed that he was accused of sexually abusing young boys as a teacher in Illinois. He was also sentenced to two years of supervised release once he finishes his prison term. His victims were as young as 14 and speak of the prolonged psychological trauma caused by the abuse.

Top Evangelical Leader Discredited in Homosexual Scandal
Tim Haggard, former head of the National Association of Evangelicals, has admitted publicly that he has battled a lifelong "sexual problem" (aka homosexuality), following allegations that he paid a man for sex and asked the man to procure crystal meth for him. Ironically, perhaps, Haggard's NAE has been vocal in its support of a so-called "family values" political agenda which includes a ban on gay-marriage, a policy stance that clearly conflicts with Haggard's secret life.
(CNN News, 11-6-06)

Claude Allen, President Bush's Domestic Policy Chief, Charged with Felony Theft (Washington Post, 3-11-06)
In March 2006, Claude Allen, President George Bush's top domestic policy adviser, was forced to resign in disgrace after being charged with felony theft in a scam to defraud Target and Hecht's stores using returned merchandise he did not purchase at those stores. Allen's resignation came as a deep disappointment to social conservatives who believed Allen was "a stalwart for marriage, for family, for abstinence education and ... unwavering in his dedication to the things that our constituents value."

GOP Rep. Mark Foley, Chair of House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, Resigns Due to Homosexual-Pedophilia Scandal Former House Representative Mark Foley (R-FL) resigned on September 29, 2006 for having sent sexually explicit email and instant messages to teenaged boys (under 18) serving as pages in the U.S. Congress. Foley had made fighting child pornography a center-piece of his congressional agenda and in a particularly ironic twist he was serving as chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children at the time the emails came to the public's attention. The scandal promises to widen as the Justice Department investigates Foley and the press continues to question when the Republican leadership first learned about Foley's conduct. After all this, "pro-family" Foley now admits he is an active homosexual and says this was a result of having had sex with a minister. See story. Maybe delete this because it's old
(Washington Post, 10-1-06)

Bakker’s Other Conspiracy (Patheos, 12-4-1996) Maybe delete this because it's old
Jim Bakker is an American televangelist and former Asemblies of God minister and former host of the PTL Club, an evangelical Christian television program. A sex scandal led to his resignation from the ministry. Subsequent revelations of accounting fraud brought about his imprisonment and divorce. He later remarried and returned to televangelism.The article above discusses the sex scandal along with his bisexual relationships.

After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, America has unleashed a global campaign of terror upon the Middle East in retaliation. America has invaded more than six countries in the last decade. In effect, the United States has declared war against an ideology: radical Islam. Yet ideology must combat ideology, not tanks and bombs. At World Future Fund, we are not pacifists. We understand that there is sometimes a time and place for violence in the case of national defense. Yet the endless drone attacks against third world countries is only creating more terrorism, not less. After invading a string of third world countries, America has recently antagonized a major world power (Russia) by intervening in the conflict in Ukraine. If the United States continues down this path of relentless military interference, we could unwittingly unleash a major global conflict from which we may not recover.

The Kuala Lampur Foundation:
The Malaysian Kuala Lampur Foundation has set up a tribunal to criminalize warcrimes and encourage peace worldwide. They are not afraid to take on the world's largest military super power, the United States of America. In 2012 they found former U.S. President George Bush as well as former Vice President Dick Cheney guilty of warcrimes. This Malaysian Foundation is an example of how other cultures in the world are beginning to doubt America's role as the "World Police," and are interested in finding an alternative form of justice.

War Tribunal Finds Bush, Cheney Guilty of War Crimes (Common Dreams, 5-13-12)
A tribunal in Malaysia finds former president George Bush, Dick Cheney and six other members of the Bush administration guilty of war crimes.

War crimes: Why should Bush, Blair and Obama be exempt? (First Post, 9-3-12)
The leaders of the free world are committing war crimes that would be considered terrorism if anyone else did the same thing. Bush authorized the use of torture, even though it is banned by the Geneva Convention. His invasion of Iraq was made under false premises (the weapons of mass destruction that were never there) and his war in the region has ended up killing more Iraqi's than Saddam Hussein killed himself. Obama has continued Bush's legacy by having a secretive kill list that violates international law and geographic boundaries.

Hunger Striking and Force Feeding at Guantanamo Bay (New York Times, 4-14-13)
A horrifying, first hand account of what it is like to be a prisoner in Guantanamo Bay. Many of the men in this prison have not been formally charged of a crime and yet have been detained for more than a decade. Now many of the prisoners simply want an exit strategy - even if that exit is death itself. There are at least 40 men in the prison who are hunger striking and being force fed in painful and humiliating ways.

Contractors reap $138bn from Iraq war (Financial Times, 3-18-13)
$138 billion is just what is reported. The actual amount is probably far greater. The US has hired more private companies in Iraq than in any previous war. There were more contractors on the ground than military personnel.

Saddam's Alleged Al-Qaeda Ties Were Disproved Before the War
In new major report U.S. intelligence analysts and members of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee found no links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda while senior Bush administration officials publicly asserted those links to justify invading Iraq. (Washington Post, 9-9-06)

Top Western Backed Rebel in Syria is Forced to Flee (The Wall Street Journal, 12-11-13) Maybe delete this because it's old
Now that the Western backed rebel commander has fled the country, Islamists have taken over the key warehouses holding U.S. military gear for moderate fighters. This is one of the strongest signs that the U.S backed FSA is collapsing under the pressure of Islamist domination on the rebel side of the war.

CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran (Foreign Policy, 8-26-13)
While this article may not relate directly to Syria itself, it does show the hypocrisy of the United States. Our key politicians are trying to gear up for a war with Syria based on accusations that the Syrian Government used chemical weapons on their own people (an accusation that has not been proven). Yet the United States has a lengthy history of using chemical weapons in its own wars.

Time to End Western Support for Terrorists in Syria: “Opposition” is Entirely Run by Al Qaeda (Global Research, 4-28-13)
"No where in Syria is there a secular opposition force to be found." Much of the opposition funded by the United States is actually fueling Islamic Fundamentalism in the moderate state of Syria. There have even been reports that the US funded opposition forces have connections to Al Qaeda .

Syria Behind The Lines (PBS Frontline, 4-9-13)
An impressive film that goes behind the front lines to explore the perilous realities of everyday life for both Syria's rebels and its regime.

How Obama Chose War Over Peace in Syria (Counter Punch, 3-29-13)
America had two options in this war: work together for a peaceful solution or plunge this country into a war-torn abyss. It can be said that President Obama has picked war from the very start. If it were not for US intervention, it is possible that the rebels would have been crushed a while ago and countless lives would have been saved.

Defeated by the Taliban, Washington Decides to Take on Russia and China (Global Research, 12-4-13)
As the United States begins to withdraw from Afghanistan, Obama gives more speeches on his "pivot to Asia" policy. America is now planning to interject itself in every dispute that China has with its Asian neighbors. Yet America is not willing to admit that our campaign in Afghanistan has been a failure. Maybe delete this because it's old

U.S. thwarts chance for peace talks by bombing the Taliban Chief, who had been planning negotiations with the Pakistani government. What is even more alarming, is the fact that Mehsud has been replaced by a much more ruthless leader with a hard-line position and a violent track record. Read about Taliban's New Leader (Dawn, 11-7-13).

The west has lost in Afghanistan (3-26-12, Financial Times)
Five years ago, the US refused to speak with the Taliban. Now the Taliban is refusing to speak with us. That is a measure of how the balance of power has shifted in Afghanistan.

If the Libyan war was about saving lives, it was a catastrophic failure (The Guardian, 10-26-11)
US forces claimed that they had to invade Libya and dispose of Gaddafi, or else he was going to cause a massacre in Benghazi - an armed city with 700,000 people. Yet new reports are now showing this supposed massacre would have had little chances of success - given that Gaddafi did not have the troops required for such a feat. The death toll when NATO intervened was around 1,000 - 2,000 people. Eight months later it is now ten times that number.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Caught On Camera With Plans to Relentlessly Bomb Palestine (You Tube Video, 7-17-10)
Netanyahu, unaware of the camera in the room, states the following with his policy towards the Palestinians: "The main thing, first of all, is to hit them. Not just one blow, but blows that are so painful that the price will be too heavy to be borne. The price is not too heavy to be borne, now. A broad attack on the Palestinian Authority. To bring them to the point of being afraid that everything is collapsing..." He also discusses how "America is something that can be easily moved."

Israeli Bombing Creates Lebanon's Worst Environmental Disaster
When Israeli jets struck a power plant in Beirut in July 2006, it resulted in the dumping of 15,000 tons of oil along Lebanon's Mediterranean Sea. It is the largest environmental crisis in the country's history. (National Geographic News, 7-31-06)

Islamic Militants are Defeating U.S. Technology Five Years after 9/11
An excellent article by respected Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid on the ways in which the West's military response to Islamic radicalism has been failing. High technology is no substitute for ideas and the human element. (Washington Post, 9-11-06)

"The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom" by Evgeny Morozov (Paperback)
In the West, there has been a surge of optimism at the emancipatory role of the internet. Yet Evgeny Morozov (journalist and social commentator) counters that there is a darker side to internet freedom. He argues that people have overlooked the internet's power as an Authoritarian tool. Morozov argues that dictators now have the internet at their finger tips to threaten dissidents, crush opposition and further monitor the private activities of their people.

"Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism" by Sheldon S. Wolin (Paperback)
By now many people are familiar with the idea that Democracy is in danger. Yet Wolin suggests an even more radical idea - that the country is no longer a democracy at all. He argues that instead, we could be living in a sort of inverted Totalitarianism. A system in which economic and state powers unify to control the masses. Wolin makes it clear that American Totalitarianism is not comparable to a system like Nazi Germany. Yet it is a system that has its own pathologies and unchecked power. In an endless quest for economic growth and the fight against terror - the politics of inverted Totalitarianism become justified.

Fascism in China (World Future Fund Report)
Mussolini predicted that the communism would eventually evolve into fascism. Today, his prophecy has been fulfilled in the form of modern China.

China and the Authoritarian Model: The Relationship Between Economic Growth and Economic Freedom (Academia.edu Report)
The conventional wisdom in international relations has been the best model for political growth. Yet this report finds the opposite and claims that authoritarian regimes maintain high economic output and are actually better than their Democratic counterparts at achieving economic growth.

Red China, Inc.: Does Communism Work After All? (Spiegel Web Site, 2-27-07)
The significance of China's political system in the world. A very thought-provoking article from Germany's Der Spiegel on the paradox that today's modern, supposedly "free enterprise" "democratic" "new order" is based on a totalitarian state that has a closer relationship in terms of political and economic theory to Mussolini's Italy than modern democratic systems.

Fascism in Japan
The ideas of fascism and nationalism that emerged in Japan in the 1930's were nothing new. If anything, these ideas were a logical extension of Japanese intellectual thought, and Japanese history.

Major film in Japan glorifies Kamikazes.
Japan, unlike Germany, has not totally repudiated its actions in World War II. Indeed, Japanese Prime Ministers worship at the Yasakuni Shrine where many of Japan's World War II leaders are commemorated in spite of vehement protests from nations like China and Korea. (Reuters Web Site, 5-12-07)

Just recently, a new film has been made with the active support of Japan's popular Governor of Tokyo that glorifies the Kamikazes. This article speaks for itself.

QUESTIONING U.S. GLOBAL EMPIRE AND WESTERN HEGEMONY

Commentary: U.S. fiscal failure warrants a de-Americanized world (Xinhua Net, 10-13-13)
After World War II, The United States emerged as the economic and military powerhouse of the world. Since then, the United States has been spreading its values around the globe. Not only does the United States have military bases in almost every country around the world, but they have also gotten involved in several regional conflicts and tampered with the economic policies of several countries abroad. While America is claiming to bring peace and prosperity to the rest of the world, many countries are beginning to question America's right to rule. As economic and social problems begin to unravel in America, other countries are beginning to wonder if the world needs a new center of gravity.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 90's, many Americans were smug. Surely the failure of Communism was proof that Democracy and Neo Liberal Economics were the world's best systems? Yet the collapse of the Soviet Union may just be a mirror of what the United States can expect in the near future. This is an argument made by Dmitry Orlov, who was an eyewitness to the Soviet collapse. In his writings, Dmitry paints a picture of what life was like in Russia after the political collapse. Much like Russia in the 80's, America currently finds itself in a political crisis, with a declining economy and a waning reputation world wide. Orlov explains what will be necessary for survival after the collapse: mitigation, adaptation and opportunity. If we are to survive a possible disaster, we will need to be flexible and put aside our cultural baggage in the wake of new political systems to come.

THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG: PREDICTIONS OF COMING ECONOMIC COLLAPSE IN AMERICA

THE LONG EMERGENCY: SURVIVING THE CONVERGING CATASTROPHES OF THE 21ST CENTURY

The Long Emergency is a book that explores the consequences of a world oil production peak, coinciding with the realities of climate change, rampant disease, water scarcity, global economic instability and warfare that will cause trouble for future generations.

SUCCESS OF MODERN EUROPE

EU AND EUROPEAN UNIFICATION

Europe's most powerful countries call for elected EU president (The Telegraph, 12-18-12)
"Germany, France and nine other of Europe's most powerful countries have called for an elected European Union president and an end to Britain's veto over defense policy in a radical blueprint mapping out the continent's future (Bruno Waterfield)."

BOLIVIA ESTABLISHES RIGHTS FOR MOTHER EARTH

Who has a right to life? Only human beings? In the west there is this idea of "human rights," that all humans have a right to life. Yet what about human responsibilities? Do humans get to kill off all other lifeforms on the planet? Some call this progress. However, there are others with a different vision. Many around the world are beginning to see the present world order as a form of suicidal madness.

In Bolivia, the government has created a vision of life. Evo Morales, the current President of Boliva, has put forth laws to protect the biological rights of nature and life on the planet.

ANCIENT RELIGIONS REEMERGE (I changed this title)

As consciousness about the environmental problems we face today grows around the globe, many are beginning to return to ancient beliefs with roots in indigenous, earth based practices.

Europe's True Identity: Christian or Pagan? (Hindu Human Rights)
Some state that Europeans can find a common ground in their Christian ancestry. Yet this article makes the claim that their is more commonality in Europe has deeper and more common roots in a Pagan past than a Christian one.

The Lost Tribe That is Trying to Save The World (The Irish Times)
The Kogi tribe in Columbia makes a film to warn the globe about the coming threats of rising temperatures, more frequent storms and increased violence. This film is called Aluna.

Russia's Pagan Revival (Souciant, 12-17-12)
A first hand account from a priest observing the revival of an ancient belief system in Russia

Rebirth of Paganism in Africa. A very interesting article from Germany's Der Spiegel showing that Christianity is fading. Certainly the record has been a sorry one in recent years. Congo and Rwanda were the African nations with the highest percentage of Christians. Click here for article. (Spiegel Web Site, 2-7-07)

NORWAY'S HONORABLE AND DIGNIFIED RESPONSE TO TERROR

In July of 2011, Norway experienced one of the worst terrorist attacks on their country in recent times. Almost 100 Norwegians were killed by an armed extremist of the radical right. Yet out of this terrible evil has come a response that should inspire the world. Norway's government did not respond with more hate or more panic. Instead, they remained true to their values. Read the link above to see a beautiful speech made on the part of Norway's Prime Minister. His response was to meet this terrorist attack with "more democracy, more openness and more humanity."

QUESTIONING U.S. GLOBAL EMPIRE AND WESTERN HEGEMONY

SUCCESS OF MODERN EUROPE

EU AND EUROPEAN UNIFICATION

BOLIVIA ESTABLISHES RIGHTS FOR MOTHER EARTH

ANCIENT RELIGIONS REEMERGE (I changed this title)

NORWAY'S HONORABLE AND DIGNIFIED RESPONSE TO TERROR