Day: September 5, 2009

By RAY MCGOVERN truthout International Posted by (Bulatlat.com) I’m going to ask for my money back. I’ve seen this Afghanistan movie before. The first time, Vietnam was in the title. As in an early scene from the Vietnam version, U.S. military officials are surprised to discover that the insurgents in Afghanistan are stronger than previously…

By SITTIE SUNDANG Bulatlat.com DATU PIANG, Maguindanao- Internally displaced persons (IDPs) or “bakwits” have chosen to stay at the evacuation centers despite declarations of a suspension of offensive military operations (Somo) and a suspension of military actions (Soma) by the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), respectively. Kabiba Mohammad, an IDP leader sheltering…

By PATRICK APEL-MULLER Truthout International Posted by Bulatlat.com It was to take 21 employee suicides from February 2008 before the management of France Télécom would agree to assess the full scale of the dramas that play out within its walls. Now management mentions “prevention of psycho-social risks”. What’s important in that term is most assuredly…

By REP. NERI JAVIER COLMENARES Bayan Muna Posted by (Bulatlat.com) We congratulate President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for placing the Philippines in the blighted company of war-torn, aid-dependent countries like Sudan and Somalia. The Philippine Daily Inquirer recently reported that the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) will soon start providing rice rations amounting to 8,160 metric…

By HENRY A. GIROUX Truthout | Perspective Posted by Bulatlat.com Under the Bush administration, a seeping, sometimes galloping, authoritarianism began to reach into every vestige of the culture, giving free rein to those anti-democratic forces in which religious, market, military and political fundamentalism thrived, casting an ominous shadow over the fate of United States democracy.…

By ALDWIN QUITASOL Northern Dispatch Posted by Bulatlat.com BAKUN, Benguet (336 kms north of Manila) ? Community members of Barangay (village) Gambang, Bakun reaffirmed their anti-mining stand and their vow to protect their homes from large-scale exploitation of their natural resources by stopping the drilling and mineral-sampling activities of Royalco Philippines Ernesto Soriben, secretary-general of…

By VENCY D. BULAYUNGAN PIA-Ifugao/Northern Dispatch Posted by Bulatlat.com BANAUE, Ifugao – Indigenous peoples (IPs) have contributed little to climate change and yet they are among those who suffer its adverse consequences the most. One of the causes of climate change is carbon dioxide resulting from use of burning fossil fuels which most IPs do…

By IBON FOUNDATION Posted by (Bulatlat.com) Government’s skewed spending priorities can be seen in the proposed P1.54-trillion national budget for 2010, which further reveals how it gives importance to debt payments over spending for social services. The single item that eats up the bulk of the proposed P1.54-trillion national budget for 2010 is still debt…

By BENJIE OLIVEROS Analysis (Bulatlat.com) Last year, then US President George W. Bush’s anointed successor was resoundingly defeated by Barack Obama, who campaigned under the banner of change. Change was the rallying call of Americans who campaigned and voted for Obama because that is exactly what America needed. America, in 2008, was reeling from the…