Politics

NOVANEWS by: Prof Richard Falk Positive and Negative Forms of ‘Lawfare’ Issues of law and ‘lawfare’ are recurrent features of foreign policy debates in the United States. On the side, are efforts by peace activists and others to condition the behavior of all states, and especially the United States, by reference to authoritative limits on national discretion as encoded in the UN Charter, a binding treaty. In opposition to a law-oriented foreign policy for the United States are a variety of arguments that rely either directly or indirectly on a version of ‘American exceptionalism.’ Such arguments do not repudiate international law, but condition its applicability to American behavior and that of American allies, and insist on the implementation of international law in relation to the alle...

NOVANEWS By Prof Michel Chossudovsky Global Research Obama is on a hot war footing. Western civilization is threatened by the Islamic State. The “Global War on Terrorism” is heralded as a humanitarian endeavor. We have a “Responsibility to Protect”. Humanitarian warfare is the solution. Evil folks are lurking. ‘Take ‘em out”, said George W. Bush. The Western media is beating the drums of war. Obama’s military agenda is supported by a vast propaganda apparatus. One of the main objectives of war propaganda is to “fabricate an enemy” . As the political legitimacy the Obama Administration falters, doubts regarding the existence of this “outside enemy”, namely Al Qaeda and its network of (CIA sponsored) affiliates must be dispelled. The purpose is to tacitly instil, through repeated media r...

NOVANEWS By Patrick Martin Global Research Early Wednesday morning, the new edition of Charlie Hebdo went on sale across France, with the press run ramped up from the usual 60,000 to 5 million. The new issue, with a degrading cartoon of the prophet Muhammad on its cover, is not a monument to “press freedom,” as portrayed in media accounts, but rather a state-supported provocation. Through this publication and its echoes throughout the media, millions of French citizens are being bombarded by an anti-Muslim campaign that was, until recently, the province of the neo-fascist National Front. These sentiments are being deliberately whipped up to provide a base of support for renewed military operations by French imperialism. The conduct of the “war on terror” is acquiring ever more ...

NOVANEWS by Dr. Richard Falk Points of Departure  Perhaps, the most hopeful recent development in human affairs is the emergence of Pope Francis as the voice of global conscience. Although Francis speaks with papal authority to the 1.2 billion Catholics in the world, he also increasingly speaks with human authority to the rest of us. How significantly this voice will resonate might be viewed as the ultimate test as to whether ‘soft power’ is overcoming the geopolitical death dance that imperils the human species as never before. When visiting occupied Palestine in May of 2014 Francis prayed at the notorious Israeli separation wall in Palestine that the World Court had ordered dismantled as unlawful back in 2004. The pontiff chose to pray near a scrawled graffiti that read ‘Pope, we nee...

NOVANEWS by DADY CHERY “Les intellectuels ont toujours été des courtisans. Ils ont toujours vécu dans le palais.” “Intellectuals have always been courtesans. They have always lived in the palace.” – Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975) Western journalists increasingly assume the voices of subjugated countries’ natives while muzzling them by denying them access to the press. In the United States, the more visible venues of the alternative press, such as online news sites Truthout, Common Dreams, andHuffington Post are essentially closed to native writers. This colonialism of the mind is rampant when it comes to Haiti. Inspect the US alternative press for news of Haiti. You will find articles there by Beverly Bell, Mark Weisbrot, Robert Naiman, Jane Regan, Noam Chomsky, Stephen Lendman and o...