World's Richest 80 People Own Same Amount As World' s Bottom 50%

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Binu Mathew
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www.countercurrents.org

US Begins Training New "Rebel" Army For Operations In Syria
By Thomas Gaist

http://www.countercurrents.org/gaist090515.htm

US soldiers have begun training some 100 Syrian fighters in a "secure location" in Jordan in preparation for military intervention in Syria, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter confirmed Thursday. Other contingents will soon begin training at camps run by the US military in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar, Carter said


World's Richest 80 People Own Same Amount As World's Bottom 50%
By Eric Zuesse

http://www.countercurrents.org/zuesse090515.htm

Oxfam's recent report, "WEALTH: HAVING IT ALL AND WANTING MORE" contains shocking figures that the press haven't sufficiently publicized; so, the findings and the reliability of their sources will be discussed here. The results will then be related to the central political debate now going on in the U.S. Presidential contests for 2016, which is about equality and inequality


Israel-Palestine: Speeding Up The Countdown To Catastrophe
By Alan Hart

http://www.countercurrents.org/hart090515.htm

At the time of writing I see no reason for optimism. And that's why I believe my headline for this article is appropriate


VE Day 70th Anniversary, German Holocaust, Bengali Holocaust
And Global Avoidable Mortality Holocaust
By Dr Gideon Polya

http://www.countercurrents.org/polya090515.htm

8 May 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the end of WW2 in Europe. WW2 was associated with the killing of about 110 million people worldwide through violence or violently-imposed deprivation, but the killing continued with 9 million German deaths in the 1941-1950 German Holocaust and1.5 billion mainly non-European people dying avoidably from Western-imposed deprivation since 1950 in a continuing Global Avoidable Mortality Holocaust


A Thirst For Economic Change?
By Erik Alm

http://www.countercurrents.org/alm090515.htm

In the face of global resource shortages and the alarming rate at which we are losing species, many of us share the hope that J.S. Mill so ominously communicates in one of his better-known quotes. But what will it take to catalyze the shift to an economic state that respects our natural boundaries? Perhaps the catalyst could be a life-altering dearth of a critical resource that, until recently, most of us in the United States have taken for granted: water


Not A Fond-Tale From Post-Quake-Nepal
By Farooque Chowdhury

http://www.countercurrents.org/chowdhury090515.htm

Affrighting assumptions and imaginations of an earthquake goes to sleep as time passes after the quake that hit Nepal last month. But scars of the earthquake are still there in the lives of thousands of people in Nepal as they are struggling in a system of insecurity, of which poverty is a part. These will live for indefinite period. It happens in poor societies overwhelmed with misgovernance with a façade of fairness


Shangal, The Land Of Legends In Chains
By Zanyar Omrani

http://www.countercurrents.org/omrani090515.htm

Today I came across a sort of wild plant in a local bazaar in Dirik, a plant frequently seen in every corner of Shangal. Before heading toward Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan), I spent some days in the heart of Mesopotamia among endless legends. Here is Shangal, a city which has seen many previous assaults by jihadists, according to its people


O Susannah Won't You Cry For Me?
(One Day In The Life Of Michael And Alexander Smith)
By Charles Orloski

http://www.countercurrents.org/orloski090515.htm

On July 22, 1995, Susan Smith was convicted of drowning her two sons, 3-year old Michael Daniel Smith and 14-month old Alexander Tyler Smith. Upon police questioning, she falsely testified that a "black man" carjacked her, and kidnapped children. At age 13, Susan Smith attempted suicide, and after graduating from high school in 1989, she made a second attempt to end her life. She married David Smith and gave birth to Michael and Alexander, but the relationship turned to hurricane, allegations of infidelity, and they separated several times. She is currently incarcerated at Leath Correctional Institution, Greenwood County, South Carolina. Come September 2, 1996, a family of seven people, including four children, came to see the spot where Susan Smith murdered her children. Their parked vehicle accidentally rolled into John D. Long Lake and the entire family astonishingly drowned


What Is Jihad?
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

http://www.countercurrents.org/khan090515.htm

Jihad is a fact of life. What is called 'effort' or 'struggle' in English is called 'jihad' in Arabic. Jihad is not some mysterious thing. Nor is it synonymous with violence. It simply means making great efforts or striving for a particular purpose


"Slow But Steady Wins The Race": Lilawati
By Shobha Shukla

http://www.countercurrents.org/shukla090515.htm

This is the inspirational story of Lilawati-a teacher cum farmer. The mother of 7 children—4 daughters and 3 sons, of whom one son died at the age of 25 years—66 years old Lilawati lives with her retired husband, 2 sons and their wives, a widowed daughter-in-law (who is a teacher) and 5 grandsons and 5 granddaughters. Lilawati, one of five siblings, lost her parents when she was very young. Her elder brother brought up the family. Lilawati could study only till Class 5 and was married off when she was just 15 years old