By Neeta Lal NEW DELHI – India’s environment minister, having faced accusations of practicing “voodoo science”, has been vindicated with the Nobel Prize-winning United Nations climate body’s prediction that the Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035 being exposed as inaccurate speculation. After suffering blows from the “Climategate” scandal and the tumultuous and essentially failed Copenhagen climate conference last year, the credibility of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is now being further questioned over revelations concerning a 2007 report in which it said the total area of the Himalayan glaciers would shrink from the present 500,000 to 100,000 square … Continue reading India turns up heat over ‘Glaciergate’

By Ira Chernus Every year, apologists for Israel’s occupation of Palestine eagerly await Martin Luther King Day. Then they trot out these words, spoken by Dr King shortly before his death in 1968: “When people criticize Zionists they mean Jews; you are talking anti-Semitism.” King, who repeated the themes that really mattered to him – justice, freedom, human dignity, non-violence – over and over again, mentioned anti-Semitism only once, in an informal question-and-answer session. Nobody asked him what he meant, and he never explained. (A lengthy letter of “his” expounding on the theme has been proven a hoax.) Yet, year … Continue reading King’s legacy and Israel’s future

By an IPS correspondent KOLKATA – On Sunday, when this eastern India metropolis of moderate winter experienced one of the chilliest days of the season, the weather was no deterrent for the tens of thousands who lined the streets to catch a glimpse of a 95-year-old communist leader’s body soon after a teary-eyed comrade announced his death. The red flags fluttered and chants of red salutes filled the air as a sea of communist foot soldiers joined the common people who thronged the streets, many breaking down in tears, as they paid their last respects to Jyoti Basu, the communist … Continue reading Patriarch’s death a blow to communism

By Jean MacKenzie KABUL – Monday’s Taliban attack in the Afghan capital, Kabul, comes as President Hamid Karzai is trying to win over the international community to the idea of reconciliation with the Taliban. He has called repeatedly for peace overtures to the insurgents, and has even broached the subject of removing Taliban leaders from the United Nations’ “black list” which restricts extremists’ movements and freezes their assets. Dramatically signaling their willingness to continue the conflict, peace talks may now be off the table for some time to come. Kabul was quiet but uneasy late on Monday following a series … Continue reading Kabul strike hits peace plan hard

By Kaveh L Afrasiabi NEW YORK – A much-anticipated meeting of the “Iran Six” nations at the weekend to discuss the next steps for sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program ended without any progress. The New York meeting’s failure to reach a decision has been blamed on China, which sent a low-level representative in an open gesture to oppose new sanctions on Iran. It bursts the bubble of unity among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia – who, along with Germany, constitute the “Iran Six”. The stage … Continue reading Bubble bursts on Iran nuclear options

By Spengler Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination and then the presidency by offering the same program that Peter Pan gave the Darling children: Close your eyes, think happy thoughts, and you will be able to fly. “Yes we can” in the meantime has changed to “No he can’t,” as America lost five million jobs in 2009 and its effective unemployment rate, including so-called long-term discouraged workers, rose to 22%, a level unseen since the Great Depression. Within 24 hours, the voters of Massachusetts may turn the freshly-baked president into a prematurely lame duck, by electing an obscure Republican to … Continue reading Is America a failed state?

By Peter J Brown China has conducted a successful “defensive” anti-missile test with the intent of sending the United States a stern message of disapproval over Washington’s latest arms sales to Taiwan. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu described the January 11 event as a test of “ground-based midcourse missile interception technology” conducted “within its territory”. It was defensive in nature and targeted at no country, she said. The test “is just a game about the US sales of weapons to Taiwan; about the non-proliferation of missiles; and about the prevention of an arms race in outer space between the … Continue reading China vents anger with missile test

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