University of Toronto MasterCard Foundation Scholarship+Internship 2017/2018 for African Students – Canada

Application Deadline: 10 December 2016 | 

Offered annually? Yes for the next 10 years

Eligible Field of Study: First-entry undergraduate programs in either the Faculty of Arts and Science or the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering

About Scholarship: If you are a student from Sub-Saharan Africa who has demonstrated your academic talent, are personally committed to giving back to your country, yet face significant economic barriers, then you are invited to apply to The MasterCard Foundation Scholars Programme.

The University of Toronto MasterCard Foundation are pleased to offer The MasterCard Foundation Scholars Programme at the University of Toronto to develop Africa’s next generation of leaders.

Thanks to the Foundation’s visionary support, U of T can now provide 67 African students with one of the world’s top-ranked educations—in one of the world’s most multi-cultural cities. The MasterCard Foundation Scholars Programme opens up boundless opportunities for young Africans from economically disadvantaged communities, but with academic talent, potential to lead, and motivation to make a difference. As U of T graduates and global citizens, they will return to Africa with the tools to change lives within their communities and across borders.

Offered Since:  2013/2014 academic year

Type: Undergraduate Scholarships for African students

Selection Criteria and Eligibility: The Toronto MasterCard Foundation Scholars Programme is open to you if you are a resident and citizen of a Sub-Saharan Africa country. You must be a first-time applicant to the University of Toronto who has not yet begun university study elsewhere. If you are a transfer student, you are not eligible for the Program.

In order to be eligible for the Toronto MasterCard Foundation Scholars Programme, you must:

• be a resident and a graduating high school student of a country within Sub-Saharan Africa;
• demonstrate financial need correspondent to that of the lowest two quintiles of your country;
• have very strong academic results within your school system;
• have a record of leadership and extracurricular involvement;
• maintain a strong desire to return to Africa to assist and work towards enhanced regional socioeconomic development;
• be graduating from a recognized secondary school, or have completed the necessary academic requirements; and
• fulfill the necessary English requirements (dependent on country);

Please note that both academic and English requirements differ based on the country and educational system you are coming from.

Number of Scholarships: 67 scholarships will be offered throughout the life of the program

Value of Scholarship:

• If selected, you will receive a scholarship equivalent to the costs related to attaining a Bachelor’s degree, including travel, tuition, textbooks, housing, food, and living expenses. You will also receive financial, academic, social, and post-graduation support which will enable you to build experiences and competencies critical for academic success.
• Internships: The program includes two unpaid internships. The first will take place in the Toronto area for three months during your second summer to provide local practical work experience and skills. The second internship will take place in Africa during your third summer.

• There will be funding available to help you with the cost of a passport. If you do not own a passport, the program will aid in passport applications and related costs.

Duration of Scholarship: for a four-year undergraduate degree

Eligible Countries: Sub-Saharan Africa

To be taken at (country): University of Toronto. Canada

How to Apply: To apply for the scholarship and for admission, you must submit an online application.

A completed application includes the following components:

• A completed online application – all applicable sections must be filled out, including contact information, financial information, personal details and responses to essay questions.
• Financial documents – upload a scanned copy of financial documentation.
• Transcript – upload a scanned copy of your secondary school transcript and any other academic information.
• Two references – provide the names and contact details of two individuals who will serve as your referees. We will contact your referees directly and ask them to submit their letter of reference through a secure website.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Sponsors: MasterCard Foundation

What If Consumers Stopped Shopping?

David Rosen

Americans love to shop.  In 2015, total retail spending was estimated at $5.3 trillion.  For all the hype about online shopping, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that ecommerce accounted for only 7.5 of all retail purchases – over 90 percent of purchases still take place at the local retailer, especially involving big-ticket items like cars.  Even more revealing, estimates suggest that between 70 and 80 percent of purchase decisions are made in-store, often at the point-of-purchase.

The Christmas shopping season is now underway.  The recent cold spurt that rippled through much of the country signaled the coming of Fall and reminds consumers that Santa is on his way — and that its time to get the credit card ready.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) is bullish on forthcoming holiday season spending.  It reports 2015 holiday-season spending topped $800 per person for the second year in a row.  It noted that “more than half of shoppers splurging on non-gift items for themselves.”

The holiday buying frenzy gives a real jolt to the nation’s economy.  The NRF projects that during the two months preceding Christmas, November and December, spending will increase over 2015 totals by nearly 4 percent (3.6%) to $655.8 billion.  It sees strong online sales increasing its relative market share to 10 percent from 7 percent over last year’s sales, accounting for upwards $117 billion in sales.

Perhaps more important, the NRF projects this year retailers are likely to hire between 640,000 and 690,000 seasonal workers, in line with last year’s 675,300 holiday positions.

But what would happen not only to Christmas cheer but the U.S. economy if Americans stopped shopping during the holiday season?

***

Many New Yorkers and listeners to Pacifica’s WBAI may have heard the sermons of Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir, a radical performance group.  It bills itself as a “wild anti-consumerist gospel shouters and Earth loving urban activists who have worked with communities on four continents defending community, life and imagination.”  It adds, “Our Devils over the 15 years of our ‘church’ have remained the same: Consumerism and Militarism.”

But what if the effort to stop shopping came less from well-intentioned theatrical performances than from more systemic economic and social factors?  What if the tepid recovery from the 2007-’09 Great Recession was increasing the number of those who can’t afford the costs associated with Christmas spending and/or if personal debt was simply too high to take on the heavy charges associated with holiday good cheer?

A number of sources peg holiday spending at over $800 per adult covering gifts, hosting parties, family emergencies and, for some, fewer working hours.  In 2015, Gallup projected average holiday spending intentions at $830, up from the $720 from 2014.  It also reported that holiday spending hit an all-time high of $866 in 2007 only to crash by 30 percent to $616 in 2008.

One of the consequences of the 2008 recession was that there was a significant shrinkage in what has historically been considered middle-income jobs (i.e., jobs that paid $14 to $21 per hour).  This has been matched by an increase in the lower-wage sector (i.e., jobs that pay under $14).  According to one report, median household income has declined about 7 percent since 2000.

This situation is compounded by an increase in the very poor.  A recent study by the America’s Research Group, a firm run by C. Britt Beemer, formerly with the Heritage Foundation, estimates that approximately 20 percent Americans remain “too poor to shop.”  It estimates “that about 26 million [adult] Americans work on average two or three jobs at a time which, when added together, nets just shy of $30,000 in annual income.  All while supporting anywhere from two to four children.”

Compounding this situation, Americans are drowning in debt and often use additional debt to finance their holiday purchases.  The average U.S. household with debt carries $15,675 in credit card debt and $132,158 in total debt.  A 2014 survey by CreditDonkey found that more than one-third of consumers (37%) said they used credit cards to finance their Santa spending.

***

Retail sales play a critical role in the U.S. economy.  A recent Pricewaterhouse-Coopers study finds that retail businesses, directly and indirectly, contribute about two-thirds or $2.6 trillion annually to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP).  In addition, they generate 42 million jobs that provide $1.6 trillion in worker income.

Christmas is the peak selling season for most retailers as consumers purchase gifts, decorations and supplies as well as host parties and festive get-togethers to celebrate the holiday.  While the “official” holiday period starts on “Black Friday,” the day after Thanksgiving, for many retailers the “Christmas shopping season” is now underway.  (The term “black” refers to a company’s balance sheet going into profit.)

Not surprising, many Americans don’t like to shop during the holiday season.  A 2013 Pew Research study found that half of those surveyed didn’t like to shop during Christmas spending blitz.  It reports: a third of Americans (33%) say they dislike the commercialism or materialism of the holidays; roughly one-in-five (22%) cite the high expenses of the season or the expectation of buying gifts; and one-in-ten (10%) mention shopping or crowded stores.

The stagnant post-recession recovery has had a significant impact on retail sales.  According to one estimate, overall retail sales (excluding automobiles) has slowed down since 2012 and, in 2015, hit close to rock bottom with growth approaching zero percent.  The slowdown has hit up-market and down-market stores equally.  Up-market retailers like Nordstrom and Macy’s have seen their stocks pummeled; stocks for chains like Wal-Mart and Target are flat.  This has led major retailers to plan to close some 6,000 stores across the country.

So, picture a bleak Christmas when shoppers stop shopping because they simply can’t afford to purchase all the stuff thrown at them by desperate retailers.  In all likelihood it won’t be this holiday season.  But at sometime in the not-too-distant future a significant number of Americans will no longer be able to afford all the well-intentioned gifts, false glitter and hollow cheer that marks the season.  That future might not be that far away.

Ireland: Resisting the Empire

Robert Fantina

ShannonWatch is an organization based in Shannon, Ireland, that monitors foreign use of Irish airspace. Since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, ShannonWatch members have held monthly vigils at the entrance of Shannon airport, to protest the Irish government’s granting permission for U.S. military aircraft to refuel there.

To commemorate the tragic, fifteenth anniversary of that invasion, ShannonWatch scheduled a conference, to which this writer was invited to speak.

Initially, the Park Inn was selected as the venue for the conference. ShannonWatch discussed the date, audio-visual needs, etc., with hotel personnel, providing credit card information for payment, and made the reservation. The location was posted on the ShannonWatch website. Several weeks prior to the scheduled date, the hotel contacted ShannonWatch to say that it could not honor the date, sorry, good-bye.

Well, a booking error could happen; the manager simply makes a mistake and double-books a room, but in most such cases, the hotel makes every effort to somehow accommodate the disappointed customer, perhaps by offering a different room, suggesting an alternate date, or even contacting another hotel to try to somehow satisfy the customer.

However, no such thing happened in this case.

Shannon is not a large city, but there are other hotels. So, ShannonWatch next contracted with the Oakwood Arms Hotel. Same arrangements made; same date; credit card information provided, and reservation made. The new information was now posted on the ShannonWatch site.

A few weeks before the scheduled conference, hotel personnel contacted ShannonWatch to advise that the reserved room was scheduled for renovation on that date, and the reservation couldn’t be honored. End of story; no effort made to satisfy the customer.

Coincidence? Well, one could say so, but future events belie that thought.

A third reservation was made. The location was convenient; the Bunratty Castle Hotel is close enough to where the monthly vigil is held, so would be easy for conference participants to find. This new location was announced on the ShannonWatch site.

Three days before the conference, hotel personnel contacted ShannonWatch, to say that the reservation would not be honored. No reason was provided, and no effort made to satisfy the customer.

One can only surmise that ShannonWatch is being successful; someone in authority did not want the conference to take place, and so instructed three hotels to break faith with a customer.

With only three days left, it might have seemed to whoever it was that wanted to prevent the conference that they had succeeded. It was too late, he/she might have happily thought, for ShannonWatch to possibly reserve another hotel room.

However, he or she underestimated ShannonWatch. A large tent was procured and set up on the grounds immediately outside the entrance of the airport, just off airport property, where everyone entering or leaving the airport could plainly see the large sign posted: ‘Peace not War: U.S. out of Shannon Airport’.

Additionally, at least one local paper reported on the hotel reservation fiasco.

On Saturday, by 2:00, the scheduled start of the conference, the large, blue and white sign was posted, so anyone entering or leaving the airport could see it. Other signs with related topics were also prominently displayed. The weather was favorable; the cool temperature meant that the people who crowded into the tent were not uncomfortable, and those standing outside could hear the speaker, and not be concerned about any rain. Approximately 60 people were in attendance.

The event went well, with this writer speaking for about 40 minutes, and then facilitating a 90-minute ‘Questions and Comments’ session immediately thereafter.

This was a two-day event, and on the second day, the numbers exceeded organizers’ expectations, with an estimated 200 people participating, including at least four members of the Irish Parliament.

There are two important lessons to be learned from all this:

First, it is impossible to stop a peoples’ movement. Every hotel in Shannon could have refused to host the event, and the conference would still have been held. The fact that three hotels did refuse to honor reservations for it, provided ShannonWatch with positive publicity it would not have otherwise had.

In many countries, governments are attempting to outlaw another peoples’ movement, the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement, which supports Palestine, yet that is not slowing the movement at all.

Second, even when it may appear that the efforts of dedicated people are not having any impact, they often are. Margaret Mead once said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
ShannonWatch started small, but it is noteworthy that participation reached 200 people, in a city of less than 10,000.

ShannonWatch has been monitoring Irish airspace for 15 years, since Ireland compromised its stated neutrality and allowed U.S. war planes to refuel there. (See Harry Browne’s Hammered by the Irish.)  It is also likely that U.S. jets transporting political prisoners to so-called ‘rendition’ sites, where the prisoners have been tortured, have refueled there. This is the first time it has become apparent that someone, most likely connected with the government, is, indeed, taking note of ShannonWatch activities.

It is evident that people in Ireland are not buying into the U.S. lie that Shannon Airport is needed in the fight against terrorism; rather, it is becoming increasingly apparent that Ireland is complicit in U.S. terrorism around the world. How much longer the Irish government will defy the will of the people remains to be seen, but if events such as the one held last weekend in Shannon are any indication, it won’t be too much longer.

International Tribunal Seeks to Build Case Against Monsanto

Pete Dolack

Monsanto is going on trial! Not, alas, in an official legal proceeding but instead a “civil society initiative” that will provide moral judgment only.

The International Monsanto Tribunal will conduct hearings in The Hague this weekend, October 15 and 16, and although not having legal force, its organizers believe the opinions its international panel of judges will issue will provide victims and their legal counsel with arguments and legal grounds for further lawsuits in courts of law. The organizers also see the tribunal as raising awareness of Monsanto Company’s practices and the dangers of industrial and chemical agriculture. The tribunal web site’s “Practical Info” page summarizes:

“The aim of the Tribunal is to give a legal opinion on the environmental and health damage caused by the multinational Monsanto. This will add to the international debate to include the crime of Ecocide into international criminal law. It will also give people all over the world a well documented legal file to be used in lawsuits against Monsanto and similar chemical companies.”

There certainly is much material on Monsanto, a multi-national corporation that has long sought to control the world’s food and which is able to routinely bend governments to its will.

For example, there was the “Monsanto Protection Act,” quietly slipped into an appropriations bill in 2013 that had to be passed to avoid a U.S. government shutdown, requiring the Department of Agriculture to ignore any court order that would halt the planting of genetically engineered crops even if the department were still conducting a safety investigation, and rubber-stamp an okay. This past July, a piece of legislation known as the “DARK Act” was signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama that, under the guise of setting national standards, nullified state laws that mandate labeling genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food and substituted a standard that makes it almost impossible for any GMO food to be so labeled.

Its reach by no means limited to its home country, Monsanto has pushed to overturn safety standards across Europe, and among the goals of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is to reverse EU laws mandating GMO labeling and eliminate laws banning GMOs in food.

A long-term goal of ending corporate impunity

Because it is not possible to bring criminal charges against Monsanto, tribunal organizers say, it is necessary to initiate civil actions. They write:

“Critics of Monsanto claim that the company has been able to ignore the human and environmental damage caused by its products and pursue its devastating activities through a systematic concealment strategy through lobbying regulators and government authorities, lying, corruption, commissioning bogus scientific studies, putting pressure on independent scientists, and manipulating the press. Our endeavor is based on the observation that only through civic action will we be able to achieve compensation for victims of the American multinational.”

The tribunal organizers also recognize that a company like Monsanto does not exist in a vacuum, but rather is part of a larger system that is imperiling the world’s environment:

“Monsanto’s history is a paradigm for the impunity of transnational corporations and their management, who contribute to climate change and the depletion of the biosphere and threaten the security of the planet.

Monsanto is not the only focus of our efforts. Monsanto will serve as an example for the entire agro-industrial system whereby putting on trial all multinationals and companies that employ entrepreneurial behavior that ignore the damage wrecked on health and the environment by their actions.”

Tribunal will follow customary international law

Lawyers and judges from five continents will be involved in hearing evidence and handing down findings in December. Customary international law will be followed in all proceedings, tribunal organizers say:

“The Tribunal will employ as its legal guidelines: the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, adopted by the Council of the UN Human Rights June 2011; the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC) giving it jurisdiction to try alleged perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression.

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights is the international authority on the responsibilities of business with regard to human rights. The guidelines state that companies must respect all human rights, including the right to life, the right to health and the right to a healthy environment. They define society’s expectations vis-à-vis businesses. They will serve as the basis on which plaintiffs will build their case for demanding compensation from Monsanto for damage caused by the company’s activities. The Court will consider whether Monsanto’s conduct could be considered criminal pursuant to existing international criminal law, or under the law of ecocide, which is gaining support for consideration as an offence.”

Using international treaties as a basis for adjudicating these questions, the tribunal will focus on six topics:

* The right to a healthy environment.

* The right to health.

* The right to food.

* Freedom of expression and academic research.

* Complicity in war crimes.

* The crime of ecocide.

Monsanto has been invited to present a defense and supporting documents against any evidence presented against it. The company has declined to participate, calling the tribunal a “publicity stunt” by people “not interested in dialogue,” and saying it is “is not against organic agriculture” in a statement issued last December. In announcing its latest financial results earlier this month, it predicted “continued strong penetration of key soybean traits, global corn germplasm upgrades and spend discipline” for 2017. So no change in its behavior should be expected.

Monsanto wants to tell you what to eat

Monsanto’s march toward control of the world’s food supply is focused on proprietary seeds and genetically modified organisms. Standard contracts with seed companies forbid farmers from saving seeds, requiring them to buy new genetically engineered seeds from the company every year and the herbicide to which the seed has been engineered to be resistant.

The U.S. environmental group Food & Water Watch, in its report “Monsanto: A Corporate Profile,” summarizes the corporation’s power:

“Monsanto is a global agricultural biotechnology company that specializes in genetically engineered (GE) seeds and herbicides, most notably Roundup herbicide and GE Roundup Ready seed. GE seeds have been altered with inserted genetic material to exhibit traits that repel pests or withstand the application of herbicides. In 2009, in the United States alone, nearly all (93 percent) of soybeans and four-fifths (80 percent) of corn were grown with seeds containing Monsanto-patented genetics. The company’s power and influence affects not only the U.S. agricultural industry, but also political campaigns, regulatory processes and the structure of agriculture systems all over the world. …

Because of Monsanto’s market dominance, its products are changing the face of farming, from the use of Monsanto’s pesticides and herbicides, to the genetic makeup of the food we eat. … Monsanto has a close relationship with the U.S. government, which helps it to find loopholes or simply create regulations that benefit its bottom line. Monsanto and other corporations have increasingly funded academic research from public universities, which they use to justify their latest products. Monsanto’s international power has grown at an alarming rate, much to the dismay of developing countries that have inadvertently been exposed to its relentless business strategy. For all of these reasons, Monsanto has become a company that farmers and consumers around the world should fear.”

India has no laws Monsanto is bound to respect

Vandana Shiva, a member of the International Monsanto Tribunal’s steering committee, last year provided a case study in Monsanto’s practices with an examination of how it forced its way into India. The introduction of corporate agriculture has been so catastrophic in India that more than 300,000 farmers have committed suicide since 1995, with Dr. Shiva reporting that 84 percent of farmer suicides have been attributed to Monsanto’s genetically engineered cotton.

She explains what she calls Monsanto’s “outright illegality” in India as based on Monsanto claiming patent rights to its products even though patents on life forms are illegal in India; that its collections of royalties on unpatenable products have led to a wave of bankruptcies by farmers who struggle to survive in the best of times; and its “smuggling” of unapproved genetically modified organisms into India that “pose grave risks” to health. Dr. Shiva writes:

“India’s laws do not permit patents on seeds and in agriculture. But that hasn’t stopped Monsanto from collecting close to USD 900 million from small farmers in India, pushing them into crushing debt. This is roughly the same amount of money Monsanto spent buying The Climate Corporation — a weather big data company — in a bid to control climate data access in the future. … [L]ocal seeds used to cost [a tiny fraction of the cost of Monsanto’s seeds] before Monsanto destroyed alternatives, including local hybrid seed supply, through licensing arrangements and acquisitions.”

Local pests developed resistance to Monsanto’s GMO cotton, which releases toxins, forcing farmers to use more pesticides — an extra expense and environmentally destructive. Although this is bad for farmers, consumers and the environment, it is highly profitable for Monsanto. Dr. Shiva writes:

“Genetic engineering has not been able to deliver on its promises – it is just a tool of ownership. [Monsanto’s genetically modified] Bt Cotton is not resistant to Bollworm, RoundUp Resistant varieties have only given rise to super weeds, and the new promises being made by biotech corporations of bio-fortification are laughable. There is no benefit to things like Golden Rice. By adding one new gene to the cell of a plant, corporations claimed they had invented and created the seed, the plant, and all future seeds, which were now their property. Monsanto does not care if your cotton field has Bollworm infestations, just so long as the crop can be identified as theirs and royalty payments keep flowing in. This is why the failure of Bt Cotton as a reflection of bad science does not bother them — the cash is still coming into St Louis. At its core, genetic modification is about ownership.”

Farmers become Monsanto’s hired hands

Seeds containing genes patented by Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, account for more than 90 percent of soybeans grown in the U.S. and 80 percent of U.S.-grown corn, according to Food & Watch Watch. Standard contracts with seed companies forbid farmers from saving seeds, requiring them to buy new genetically engineered seeds from the company every year and the herbicide to which the seed has been engineered to be resistant. Farmers have become hired hands on their own farms under the control of Monsanto.

Worse, Monsanto has agreed to sell itself to Bayer A.G., the German chemical conglomerate with its own history of abuse. Should regulators allow these two corporations to merge, it would create the world’s largest supplier of seeds and pesticides. Bayer’s chief executive officer, Werner Baumann, enthused that the proposed deal would “deliver substantial value to shareholders, our customers, employees and society at large.” That “value” for “shareholders” was mentioned first is all you need to know that profits and control are what this deal is really about.

What better monopoly could a corporation achieve than a monopoly in food? That has long been Monsanto’s goal, and a merger with Bayer would only tighten its grip. This is not reducible, however, to simple greed or evilness. Grow or die is the ever-present mandate of capitalism and one result of that tendency is the drive toward monopolization — a small number of enterprises controlling an industry. Just because food is a necessity does not mean it is exempt from capitalism’s relentless competitive pressures.

When “markets” are allowed to dictate social outcomes, actions like those of Monsanto are inevitable. Capitalist markets are nothing more than the aggregate interests of the most powerful industrialists and financiers. And they have no interest in you knowing what is in your food, or even that it is safe.

The Fierce Urgency of Nuclear Zero

David Krieger

The Nuclear Age began with the utter destruction of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Survivors of these bombings have borne witness to the death, devastation, pain and suffering that resulted from the use of nuclear weapons. They have given ample testimony to the horrors they experienced. Their most powerful and persistent insight is: “We must abolish nuclear weapons before they abolish us.” The “we” in that statement is “humanity” and the “us” is “all of us.”

The weapons used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were small compared to the thermonuclear weapons subsequently developed, including those in today’s nuclear arsenals.

The use of only one or two percent of the more than 15,000 nuclear weapons in modern nuclear arsenals would likely destroy civilization and could destroy much of life on Earth. Rather than engaging in serious nuclear disarmament efforts, however, all nine nuclear-armed countries are in the process of modernizing and upgrading their nuclear arsenals.

It is clear, but not widely considered, that today’s nuclear arsenals threaten all we love and treasure, make humans an endangered species, and undermine our stewardship of the planet.

A quarter century after the end of the Cold War, some 1,800 nuclear weapons in the arsenals of the United States and Russia remain on hair-trigger alert, ready to be fired within moments of an order to do so. This is literally a disaster waiting to happen.

Nuclear trouble spots are intensifying across the globe, but particularly in relations between former Cold War adversaries, U.S. and Russia, leading some analysts to describe the situation as a new cold war.

Expanding NATO membership to Russia’s borders, in spite of promises not to do so, has been among the major factors causing deterioration in U.S.-Russian relations.

The U.S. has deployed missile defense installations on military bases of NATO members close to the Russian border. The Russians view missile defenses as dangerous dual-purpose technology (with offensive as well as defensive capabilities), and these installations are heightening tensions between Russia and the West.

Similar tensions are developing in East Asia as a result of the deployment of U.S. missile defense installations in that region, viewed by China as undermining its minimum deterrent force and helping to drive the modernization of the Chinese nuclear arsenal. Tensions also remain high in South Asia and the Middle East.

Against this backdrop of danger and uncertainty, the nuclear disarmament obligations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are not being fulfilled by the nuclear weapon states that are parties to the treaty, thus breaching the treaty and violating the bargain of the treaty. In a bold action, the tiny Pacific Island state, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, brought lawsuits in 2014 against the nine nuclear-armed countries for breaching their obligations under the NPT and/or customary international law to negotiate in good faith for an end to the nuclear arms race and for nuclear disarmament.

Among the nine nuclear-armed countries and those countries under the “nuclear umbrella” of the United States (the 28 NATO countries and Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea and Taiwan), there appears to be little political will for nuclear disarmament and the public in these countries seems to be largely complacent.

The Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists stands at three minutes to midnight, close to doomsday. And yet, humanity is experiencing the “frog’s malaise.” It is as though the human species has been placed into a pot of tepid water and is content to calmly stay there treading water while the temperature rises to the fatal boiling point.

As Noam Chomsky analyzes the situation, “Nuclear weapons pose a constant danger of instant destruction, but at least we know in principle how to alleviate the threat, even to eliminate it, an obligation undertaken (and disregarded) by the nuclear powers that have signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.”

Humanity stands at the edge of a nuclear precipice. Our choices are to do nothing or to back away from the precipice and change course. We can remain complacent, and thus unengaged, in the face of the threat, or we can become engaged and demand the elimination of nuclear weapons before they are used again by mistake, miscalculation or malice. There is no meaningful middle ground.

How is humanity to shoulder the moral burden for species survival that is our collective responsibility in the Nuclear Age?

We must change the discourse on nuclear dangers and the actions that follow from it.
We must awaken, create and build a movement that is powerful enough to achieve the political will to end the nuclear era.

The movement must have one simple demand that resonates across the globe – a world free of nuclear weapons. This must be conveyed to political leaders as an urgent and essential goal for assuring the future of humanity. Once the goal is widely accepted, steps along the way must be agreed upon. Meaningful steps would include:

* Reinstating the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the removal of U.S. missile defense installations from near the Russian border.

* Convening negotiations for a Nuclear Ban Treaty to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons on Earth and in outer space.

* De-alerting nuclear arsenals; declaring policies of No First Use and No Launch-on-Warning; removing all U.S. nuclear weapons from foreign soil; ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; and negotiating a treaty banning weapons in space.

* Zeroing out funding for “modernizing” nuclear arsenals and directing these funds instead to meeting human needs and protecting the environment.

The Nuclear Age is a time of great challenge. We must raise the level of our moral and political engagement to assure that globally we are able to control the power of our destructive technologies. Youth must lead the way in creating a new human epoch that is characterized by the seven C’s: compassion, commitment, courage, conscience, creativity, cooperation and celebration.

Kashmir And ‘Pivoting’ Toward A Nuclear Holocaust

Junaid S. Ahmad

This past summer witnessed yet another people’s uprising in one of the longest running, and most ruthless, military occupations in modern times: the Indian occupation of Kashmir. The callous indifference to decades-old Indian atrocities against the people of Kashmir, including well-documented incidences of torture, disappearances, ‘encounter killings,’ rapes, and outright massacres, ought to put the international community to shame. This, after all, is a ‘conflict’ – a euphemism for a military occupation – that the UN and international law has clearly adjudicated on many decades ago, but Indian recalcitrance, Pakistani fumbling, and international criminal neglect have let the blood of Kashmiris spill uninterruptedly.

What started out in June of this year as yet another outbreak of Kashmir outrage at the Indian cold-blooded murder of a prominent Kashmiri freedom fighter very quickly became a pretext for the Indian elite to convert the issue of oppression and occupation of Kashmir into ‘cross-border’ terrorism from its arch-rival, Pakistan. It was a convenient diversion from the root of the conflict, the military occupation, to one of Pakistan up to its old tricks, sponsoring jihadi terrorists.

What enabled the Indian establishment to ratchet up its aggressive posture was a militants’ attack on its military occupation base in Kashmir, Uri, on September 18th. Without offering any evidence, blame was placed on Pakistan and for the first time (outside of the context of war) since the partition of the Indian Subcontinent into a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan, the Indians publicly declared that they had violated the Line of Control – the unofficial ceasefire line – dividing Pakistani and Indian Kashmir, and had sent special forces and helicopter gunships to attack Pakistani ‘militants’ and soldiers on Sept. 28-29.

The significance of this raid by the Indian military cannot be underestimated. The near unanimity of the Indian political, military, and media establishment to demonstrate Indian military prowess vis-a-vis Pakistan is particularly disturbing and dangerous. Commentators have pointed out the particular hawkishness of the current rightwing BJP regime in regard to such bellicose posturing, but that is misleading. Across the ideological spectrum in India, there is a view to abandon the so-called ‘strategic restraint’ and ‘teach Pakistan a lesson’ that will once and for all anoint India the unrivaled hegemon of the region and beyond.

But there is a larger, more dangerous geopolitical chessboard on which all of these developments are unfolding. The Indian establishment has always been frustrated by Pakistani support for groups in Kashmir and beyond. What explains the timing of such flagrant demonstration of potentially catastrophic militarism at this point?

The answer may lie in the reticence of Washington’s response to such a blatant violation of international law by India. Of course, the US and its special forces’ raids and drone strikes in Pakistan are emblematic of the same phenomenon. But this near unanimous endorsement of India’s raids in Pakistani-held Kashmir, from influential individuals associated both with the Bush Jr. and Obama administrations, indicates that the gloves are off now when it comes to targeting, humiliating, isolating, and potentially dismembering Pakistan.

In an unprecedented move, the Indian Prime Minister earlier this year said that India has to give ‘moral support’ to the Baloch insurgency. Though there is a genuine struggle for justice among the Baloch against the excesses of the Pakistani state, this Indian line is consistent with now well-documented Western think tank policy prescriptions to destabilize, undermine, and dismember Pakistan. Conspiracy theories don’t start to look so conspiratorial anymore.

What of course has infuriated the Pentagon and the CIA about Pakistan since the invasion of Afghanistan in the so-called ‘War on Terror’ is the Pakistanis’ inability to ‘do enough’ to curtail the Taliban resistance, or rather, actually, to do the opposite: give it safe havens and perhaps even support it. The Pakistani establishment, like all states, believes in hard and fast realpolitik, knows that US-NATO forces will be forced to withdraw one day and hence, Islamabad has kept it’s horse in the race (i.e., the Taliban) intact.

But that has been low-intensity conflict, if you will. Washington will occasionally launch a drone strike here, a special ops raid there (like killing Osama), or even an air strike once in a while (that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in the Pakistani base of Salala) – just to send a message to the Pakistanis, a message that of course had little effect. At some stage, the US has understood its defeat in Afghanistan as a fait accompli, and the Pakistanis are merely relied upon to facilitate NATO supply lines to allow the US to maintain the fiction that it has control over Afghanistan and its puppet regime there.

All of these crises in West Asia, whether in Iraq, Syria, or Afghanistan, compelled Obama to ‘pivot to Asia,’ to focus on containing the rise of the real, formidable competitor, China. While all of the ‘usual suspects’ of the Pacific nations have been mobilized in that objective, including Japan, South Korea, Australia, and so on, there was one power that – if cajoled into this grand alliance – would be a huge prize. That power was India. And that is precisely why the US has entered into all sorts of geopolitical, military, security, and economic arrangements with India that allow the latter to obtain the confidence as an effective sub-imperialist hegemonic power. In short, Washington wants India to move toward being a ‘frontline’ state in American belligerence toward China, and for now, New Dehli seems to be happily playing that game.

If Pakistan was being slapped on the wrist now and then before, now the new ‘partners in crime’ – the US and India – are hell-bent on punishing Islamabad. The reason is that whereas for most of Pakistan’s history it had a close relationship with both Beijing and Washington, now it is much more the former at the expense of the latter. The $48 billion dollar being invested by the Chinese in the Pakistan China Economic Corridor, which would give the Chinese access to the Pakistani port of Gwadar, is anathema to both Washington and Dehli. In case the US tries to blockade China in the South China Sea, Beijing – if this corridor goes through – would still have access to a port in the Indian Ocean, not to mention another formidable nuclear-armed military on its side, that of Pakistan’s.

This is the stuff that makes movies and fictional novels so thrilling. In real life, what these geopolitical developments point to is perhaps the most dangerous moment for human life since the Cuban missile crisis. Two nuclear armed countries, India and Pakistan, are on the brink of war because of Washington’s drive to contain and undermine China, embolden – to reckless levels – its newfound close ally, India, and push the rulers in Islamabad to a point where they feel isolated enough to also act and react in potentially dangerous ways.

Meanwhile, just like the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestine seems to be forgotten amidst the chaos and destruction that Western interventions and machinations have created in West Asia and North Africa (WANA), so it seems that the harsh Indian occupation of Kashmir, and the thousands of Kashmiris who have suffered, is obscured by Western imperial hegemony and the way it has fueled regional conflicts and rivalries. As Noam Chomsky points out, it has been a miracle that nuclear weapons have not been used again since the US deployed them in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. That miracle may no longer be sustained if imperial hegemony and its geopolitical theatrics continue to value domination over the survival of the human race.

Lawsuit Filed Against Building Of A Mosque In Bucharest, Romania

Abdus Sattar Ghazali

Amid anti-Islam and anti-Muslim euphoria, fomented by opportunist right-wing politicians, a lawsuit has been filed in Bucharest against building a mosque in the Romanian capital.

The lawsuit seeks to reverse a June 2015 decision by the then Romanian prime minister, Victor Ponta, to approve construction of what could become the largest mosque in Eastern Europe — second only to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul — on a large tract of city-owned land in northern Bucharest.

The property, valued at US$4.4 million, is being provided for free by the Romanian government, while the construction cost, estimated at US $3.3 million, is pledged by Turkey.

Prime Minister Ponta said the mosque will reap economic benefits for Romania because Turkey is the country’s leading non-EU trading partner. Both countries have pledged to increase their trade to ten billion dollars within next five years.

The mosque’s critics, including an array of Romanian politicians and anti-immigration groups, claim that the building of the mosque will increase Turkish influence over Romania and it will also encourage Muslim immigration to the country.

Not surprisingly, Tudor Ionescu, leader of the anti-immigration Noua Dreaptă (New Right) party was quoted as saying: Turkey attempts a symbolic conquest of Europe through these mosques.” Noua Dreaptă has organized protests against the project where people have chanted, “Romania is not a Turkish province.”

Tellingly, backing the Romanian protests has been the far-right People’s Party of Slovakia, whose leader, Marian Kotleba, was cheered at a Bucharest protest in July 2015 when he noted Slovakia is “the only country in Europe without a mosque.”

The mosque’s defenders say the project has become a test of the country’s religious tolerance.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta said the mosque was a symbol of Romania’s acceptance of the Muslim community. “I’m sorry that in our country there are still irresponsible people playing with so sensitive and important things such as peace, respect and interfaith solidarity,” said Ponta.

The Romanian Orthodox Church supports the mosque project. But its leaders have called on Turkey to grant them property in Istanbul for an Orthodox pilgrim center, including a chapel.

The Bucharest mosque is the result of more than a decade of talks between the Romanian and Turkish governments. The original deal called for a “mutual exchange” in which Romania would build a new Orthodox Church in Istanbul, while Turkey would build the mosque in Bucharest.

In July 2015, however, Ponta revealed that the Romanian government had abandoned the Istanbul church project because it is “not allowed under Turkish law.” Ponta approved the Bucharest mosque project, saying it was a multicultural symbol of Romania’s acceptance of the Muslim community.

During a visit to Romania in April last year, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the mosque will be the “the most beautiful expression of dialogue and solidarity between the two countries.” In March this year, during an official visit to Turkey, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis reassured President Erdoğan that the mosque project is moving forward.

In July 2015 Romanian officials signed a deal with the Romanian mufti’s office to build the mosque for 1,000 worshippers, an Islamic library and a community center on 37,000 square feet of city-owned land in northern Bucharest.

According to 2011 census, the Muslim population of Romania is 64,337, or less than one percent of the country’s population of 19.5 million. Interestingly, the Muslim population in 1930 was 185,486, according to that year’s census. Bucharest is home to around 9,000 Muslims who are being served by ten mosques scattered throughout the city.

Turkey has been underwriting new buildings and preservation work on Ottoman-era sites in the Balkans for years. Ankara is currently spending around $33 million on a new Islamic Center in Tirana, Albania, for example, with a capacity of 20,000 that would reportedly be the biggest in the Balkans. It is also financing a mosque that could serve 1,500 worshippers in the Bulgarian city of Kardzhali.

In April this year President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened the Turkish American Cultural Center and mosque in Lanham, Maryland built at the cost of about 100 million dollars.

Romania is a secular republic without state religion. However, its 86,8% population is Orthodox Christians. Islam is one of 18 religious denominations recognized by law 489/2006. Muslims can receive material support from the State for the maintenance of mosques, monuments and other communal buildings. According to the law only the muftiate has the right to organize Hajj (pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina).

A mufti must be a Romanian citizen, born in Romania and with no other previous citizenship and a graduate of an Islamic theological institute in Romania.

In 1999, Romanian writer, George Grigore, wrote: Romanian principalities, once known as the ‘gates of the Levant’, have a history of religious and ethnic diversity.

In Romania today, the Muslim population traditionally lives together with the Romanian majority (Christian-Orthodox) in an area called Dobrudja, a territory bordered to the east by the Black Sea, to the west and north by the Danube River and to the south by the Romanian-Bulgarian frontier.

Bogdana Todorova of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences wrote in 2012: “In Bulgaria and Romania, the process of integration stems from their history: it is not simply a bridge between the East and the West but a bridge between the tradition and the new European values. Co-existence on equal basis of Christians and Muslims, participation in a common cultural model trough rules and rights, mandatory for both communities, is the common value that the two countries reckon on.”

The Balkan space is like a big coffee house and a good example of real dialogue, which can be used by European countries, Bogdana Todorova wrote in Annals of the University of Bucharest Philosophy Series.

However, the wave of refugees streaming into Europe from the western fomented wars in the Middle East has stoked unabashed hate for Muslims in Romania and other European nations.

Rosetta spacecraft completes mission with crash landing into comet

Bryan Dyne

The Rosetta spacecraft transmitted its last image back to Earth on Friday, September 30, a mere ten seconds before a guided crash landing onto Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It marks the end of a space mission that combined two firsts: the first spacecraft to orbit a comet and the first mission to send a module, the Philae probe, to land on that comet’s surface.

This image was captured during Rosetta's descent into comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The scene is 600 meters across, taken from just 16 kilometers above the comet's surface. Credit: ESA, Rosetta, MPS, OSIRIS; UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

Rosetta’s final moments were designed to gather as much information as possible about Comet 67P. Now that the comet is traveling away from the Sun, Rosetta’s 32-meter-wide solar panels have been providing less and less power, reducing its ability to take and transmit data. Rather than letting the spacecraft slowly die, Rosetta’s controllers decided to stop adjusting the probe’s orbit and sent it into a 19-kilometer free fall.

This allowed eight of the eleven instruments onboard Rosetta to take extremely detailed measurements over the last two days of the spacecraft’s life. Planetary scientists were particularly interested in the ability to do high-resolution ultraviolet spectroscopy, using reflected light to determine the chemical composition of the comet’s surface. Other instruments took readings on the dust, gas and plasma just above the comet’s surface, which provide knowledge about how the comet interacts with heat from the Sun.

By all accounts, the final maneuver of Rosetta was a success. In the last images taken by Rosetta, objects only a centimeter across can be seen, raising new questions about the formation and evolution of Comet 67P. Some of the gas, dust and plasma readings are more detailed than what was returned by the Philae lander, with Rosetta’s more powerful instruments compensating for the shorter time they had to study the environment near the surface of the comet.

This is the last image of the Rosetta mission, taken just ten seconds before the spacecraft set down. Objects only a centimeter across can be seen. Credit: ESA, Rosetta, MPS, OSIRIS

Rosetta was launched by the European Space Agency on March 2, 2004 as one of the ESA’s Horizon 2000 cornerstone missions. It was first conceived nearly 20 years earlier, after the European Space Agency sent the Giotto spacecraft to fly by Halley’s Comet in 1986. After that mission returned a slew of new information about the composition of comets, it was determined that follow-up missions to different comets would be necessary. Astronomers wanted a longer-term mission that would study a comet up close as it approached and then receded from the Sun, the time when its interaction with solar radiation would be most intense.

Comets, similar to asteroids, are remnant material left over from the formation of the Solar System. They are made up of ice, dirt and rock loosely held together by gravity. They start shedding if their orbit takes them close enough for the heat of the Sun to start ablating material away, forming a cloud and tail that can sometimes be seen from Earth. This cloud is what researchers were most interested in studying, as it contains material from when Earth and the other planets were slowly emerging 4.6 billion years ago.

One of the bigger questions scientists were hoping to answer with the Rosetta mission is how water came to be on Earth. The molten ball of iron, nickel and rock in the early Solar System that would eventually become the Earth and the Moon was far too hot to contain water, and so the water that did eventually arrive on Earth had to be delivered somehow. One hypothesis is that comets from that era smashed into Earth, bringing what today forms the oceans.

However, this may not be the case. One of the more striking and unexpected results from Rosetta’s data is that the chemical signature of the water from the comet does not match that of Earth, meaning that it was not a comet like 67P that brought water to our planet. It is certainly still possible that comets brought water to Earth (there are many millions of comets, each with their own chemical signature, and only one has been closely studied) but now other explanations of how water came to primordial Earth are being given greater consideration.

The final resting place and orientation of the Philae lander. Credit: ESA, Rosetta, MPS, OSIRIS

Rosetta and Philae also yielded a great deal of information about the organic compounds contained on and within Comet 67P. Similar to water, some of Earth’s basic building blocks of life—particularly nucleic acids and amino acids—are thought to have been delivered to Earth by collisions with comets. Before it ran out of power, Philae detected sixteen organic molecules, including four never before seen a comet, but only one amino acid (glycine), so it is unclear just how much comets contributed to providing these compounds to early Earth.

A further question was raised when Philae failed to detect a magnetic field coming from the nucleus of Churyumov-Gerasimenko, as it descended to the comet’s surface. In our current understanding of the formation of the Solar System, magnetic fields play a significant role, one that should have left an imprint in comets, as they have remained essentially unchanged since then. This suggests that either magnetism did not do what was thought, that Comet 67P has a peculiar history or—as is often the case in science—that there is a third solution that will become more apparent as more data is analyzed.

The Rosetta mission also provided a number of technical insights for future space missions, both to other comets and elsewhere. One of the largest hurdles was simply getting to Comet 67P. As a result of budget cuts, Rosetta did not have the necessary on-board propellant to quickly match velocities with its target. Rather, it was forced to take a series of highly complex orbital maneuvers, involving four gravity assists, that took ten years to complete before it finally was able to start doing scientific research.

It was also, of course, the first mission to have a probe perform a soft landing on a comet. The Philae landing was a scientific achievement of the highest order and has shown what can be achieved when human creativity and ingenuity are put towards understanding nature rather than the pursuit of profit. At the same time, if budget restraints had not forced the Philae lander to be scaled down, that craft would have simply had thrusters to land on Comet 67P (rather than relying on harpoons and ice clamps) and would have been able to perform a great deal more science.

Rosetta will be remembered for years to come. It harnessed the gravity of several planets to catch and study a comet and sent back a myriad of data that will make possible a clearer picture of the origins of water and the origins of life on Earth. So far, scientists have only analyzed about five percent of this data, meaning that while great deal has been learned about comets, 67P in particular, and the Solar System in general, more is waiting to be discovered.