چگونه ما آدم شدیم!

انسان سلطان زمین است، و شاید بتوان به این سلطنت قسمتی از کهکشان را نیز افزود. این بدین معنا نیست که ما همچنان به فرمانروایی خود ادامه دهیم. در واقع سلطنت ما مانند سلطنت سایر سلاطین به موئی بند است. به عنوان مثال، حیوانات میکروسکوپی مانند ویروس‌ها و باکتریها، مثلا کورونا، میتوانند در یک چشم به هم زدن ما را از پای در بیاورند.ب

ا گر ما را در یک جنگل، محلی که قرنها در آن متولد شدیم و زندگی کردیم، تنها بگذارند شاید حتی یک هفته هم دوام نیاوریم و یا طعمه شویم و یا از گرسنگی هلاک گردیم. با مثال فواره چون به اوج رسد سرنگون شود، ما نیز به آنجایی رسیده ایم که با ذخیره سنگین بمبهای شیمیایی و اتمی و با نابودی محیط زیست، چندان مسیر بیشتری طی نخواهیم کرد.

 ب

How Many People Are at Risk of Losing Their Homes in Your Neighborhood?

 By Sema K. Sgaier and Aaron Dibner-Dunlap

July 28, 2021

Alongside the prospect of a new surge in coronavirus infections, another crisis is on the horizon: A nationwide wave of evictions threatens more than six million families that have fallen behind on rent. The true extent of the threat has been masked by a national moratorium on evictions. But that ban will expire on Saturday, allowing landlords to start or continue eviction proceedings in most states.

The Origins of COVID-19 and the Urgent Case for U.S.-Sino Cooperation

 https://www.jeffsachs.org/journal-articles/cr8rn4hlw6m3ac9yz5r4txr2fs8cls 

By: Jeffrey Sachs- July 19, 2021

As of mid-2021 the world reached nearly 4 million confirmed deaths from COVID-19. By any standard, the global response to the pandemic has been awful. From the very start, there was a dire shortfall of global cooperation. If there is one lesson from the coronavirus pandemic, it is that our very survival depends on cooperation among the major world powers. When they fight over COVID-19, or climate change, or cybersecurity, or other crucial challenges, the entire world loses.

 

در جستجوی دوران تاریک

 Discover Magazine, June 2021- Page 65

حدود سیزده ممیز هشت بلیون سال پیش دنیای ما با یک انفجار پدیدار شد. در زمانی که چند هزارم یک ثانیه میشد، این جهان از یک ذره زیر اتمی به حد یک پرتقال درشت رشد کرد. و در حالیکه جهان در حال رشد بود، به سرد شدن ادامه داد تا جایی که اجرام (مواد زیر اتمی به نامهای کوارک و گلوانس) شکل گرفتند. سرانجام این محلول های کوارکی به اتم تبدیل شدند. اتمها به اشکال مولکولی درآمدند. گازها جهان را اندوختند. و در عین
حال،  دنیا برای صدها میلیون سال در تاریکی ماند، تا آنکه اولین ستاره ها و کهکشانها به وجود آمدند

از شیطان پوزش می‌طلبیم!

"از شیطان پوزش می‌طلبیم! نباید فراموش کنیم که ما فقط یک طرف داستان را شنیده‌ایم؛چون تمام کتاب‌های آسمانی را خدا نوشته ."

  چه کسی می تواند به این سئوال  پاسخ دهد؟

  شما که شیطان را چیزی برای فریب و گمراهی انسان ها می دانید به ما بگویید:

 اگر شیطان بخواهد انسان ها را گمراه کند و برایشان کتابی بنویسد، آن کتاب را چگونه خواهد نوشت؟

Rising to the Challenge of China

FARAH STOCKMAN- POSTED ON March 18, 2021

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/18/opinion/biden-china.html?searchResultPosition=4

President Biden wasted no time in reversing some of the most damaging foreign policy decisions of the Trump era, rejoining the Paris climate accord and the World Health Organization on his first day in office. But there is one Trump policy that Mr. Biden is in no hurry to repudiate: tariffs on Chinese goods.
The Biden administration has not only left the tariffs in place, but it has also placed even stiffer restrictions on companies that sell to Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications equipment giant labeled a national security threat by the Trump administration.

China Has Risen.’ And It Is Hungry for Competition

 FARAH STOCKMAN- Posted on June 30, 2021

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/30/opinion/china-us-competition.html?searchResultPosition=1

When the Soviet Union crumbled in the 1990s, Americans did a victory lap that lasted for decades. We saw it as the triumph of capitalism over communism, freedom over authoritarianism, democracy over one-party rule. We assumed that the game was over and that we had won. We had reached “the end of history.” We thought that it was only a matter of time before China, which had already embraced some free-market reforms, transitioned to a system just like ours. Americans normalized trade with China and waited patiently for the “Chinese Gorbachev.” If you’re still out there waiting, don’t hold your breath.

در مورد اختلاف نژادی در امریکا

From: Discover Magazine  July/ August 2021 (Page 42)

یکی از روشنگریهای همه گیر کرونا اختلاف نژادی بومی شده در سیستم پزشکی این کشور بود. به عنوان نمونه، یک سازمان حرفه ای پزشکی کشف کرد که در ایالت لوئیزیانا که از هر سه نفر یک نفر سیاه پوست است، از هر چهار بیمار کرونائی ، سه نفر آنها سیاه پوست بودند. واگیری و مرگ از طریق کرونا، بر طبق آمار گرفته شده از ۳۰۰ بیمارستان در ۲۱ ایالات در مناطق مختلف کشور، بین رنگین پوستان (سیاه، زرد، و لاتین) دو تا چهار برابر سپید پوستان بوده است

The Biggest Threat to America Is America Itself

 By: Nicholas Kristof (June 23, 2021)

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/23/opinion/america-security-competitiveness.html

We no longer have a White House aide desperately searching for a fire alarm to interrupt a president as he humiliates our country at an international news conference, as happened in 2018. And a Pew Research Center survey found that 75 percent of those polled in a dozen countries expressed “confidence in the U.S. president to do the right thing,” compared with 17 percent a year ago.

Israel Is Carrying Out Mass Murder, Aided and Abetted by the US

Chris Hedges
May 14, 2021

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/05/14/israel-carrying-out-mass-murder-aided-and-abetted-us

Israel is not exercising "the right to defend itself" in the occupied Palestinian territories. It is carrying out mass murder. It is a war crime. 

Nearly all the words and phrases used by the Democrats, Republicans and the talking heads on the media to describe the unrest inside Israel and the heaviest Israeli assault against the Palestinians since the 2014 attacks on Gaza, which lasted 51 days and killed more than 2,200 Palestinians, including 551 children, are a lie.  Israel, by employing its military machine against an occupied population that does not have mechanized units, an air force, navy, missiles, heavy artillery and command-and-control, not to mention a U.S. commitment to provide a $38 billion defense aid package for Israel over the next decade, is not exercising "the right to defend itself." It is carrying out mass murder. It is a war crime.

A letter to Joe Biden

 https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/05/21/a-letter-to-biden-on-gaza/

May 21

Dear President Biden,

I am writing to you about Gaza, a place that I have studied and written about for the last 35 years, a place that I consider another home, filled with the kindest and most generous people you will ever meet—have you ever been there? But I am writing not only as a scholar of the region but as a Jew and one whose parents survived Auschwitz.

I have a question for you, Mr. President: When is the death of a child acceptable? Or perhaps I should ask the question this way: When does the death of a Palestinian child become unacceptable? You have experienced the unspeakable loss of your own children so you are better placed than most to answer my questions.

How Joe Biden Can Win a Nobel Peace Prize

Thomas Friedman May 23, 2021

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/23/opinion/israel-hamas-biden.html?searchResultPosition=1

Leon Trotsky once supposedly observed, “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.” To President Biden I’d say today, “You may not be interested in Middle East peacemaking, but Middle East peacemaking is interested in you.” Here’s why: All three key players in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have been dealt some huge painful shocks over the past year. They know, deep down, that another round of fighting like the one we saw in the past two weeks could unleash disastrous consequences for each of them. Henry Kissinger forged the first real peace breakthrough between Israelis and Arabs after they were all reeling, vulnerable and in pain as a result of the 1973 War. They each knew that something had to change.

No Sign of Israel-Gaza Conflict Ending

 https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/05/16/world/israel-gaza-updates

May 21, 2021
Speaking on CBS’ Face The Nation on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said there was no clear end in sight to the violence between Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“We’ll do whatever it takes to restore order and quiet,” he said, adding, “It will take some time.”
Hours after he spoke, Israeli warplanes began another round of attacks in the Gaza Strip, attacking a main road, security compounds and an electricity line feeding southern Gaza City, according to The Associated Press and local media reports. The attack was heavier, and lasted longer, than the air raids from the day before, the reports noted.

Also late Sunday, Jon Ossoff, a Democrat from Georgia, and 27 other Senators called for an immediate cease-fire “to prevent further loss of life.”

After the Cease-Fire, Gaza Wakes to a Sea of Rubble

 By Patrick Kingsley and Iyad Abuheweila

In addition to relief, some residents felt a sense of déjà vu, having survived several recent wars with Israel. After each war, it takes years for Gaza to recover.

May 21, 2021

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/world/middleeast/gaza-war-ceasefire-israel.html

GAZA CITY — As the first day of a fragile new cease-fire between Israel and Hamas drew to a close, Sami Abul Ouf stood five yards above the ground, teetering atop a dense mound of rubble in Gaza City where his sister’s home once stood.

A New Generation of Palestinians Are Rising Under Netanyahu's Nose and Saying 'Enough Is Enough'

 By David Hearst

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/05/11/new-generation-palestinians-are-rising-under-netanyahus-nose-and-saying-enough

Ten years ago, I walked down a tiled pathway in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and was led into a room where an old woman was sitting amid a pile of boxes and packed suitcases.

The first thing I noticed about Rifqa al-Kurd was the burning intensity of her eyes. She told me that she lived out of boxes because she was expecting the police to throw her out of house and for the settlers to move in at any moment. When that happened, she explained, she did not want her clothes thrown into the street. Hence the packed bags.

She had been through this before, when she was evicted from her home in Haifa in 1948. What kept her there, sitting among her boxes? She gave a one word reply: "Sumud", which roughly translates as steadfastness.

Palestinian Refugees Deserve to Return Home

 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/12/opinion/israel-palestinian-refugees-right-of-return.html?searchResultPosition=4

By: Peter Beinart

Why has the impending eviction of six Palestinian families in East Jerusalem drawn Israelis and Palestinians into a conflict that appears to be spiraling toward yet another war? Because of a word that in the American Jewish community remains largely taboo: the Nakba.

The Nakba, or “catastrophe” in Arabic, need not refer only to the more than 700,000 Palestinians who were expelled or fled in terror during Israel’s founding. It can also evoke the many expulsions that have occurred since: the about 300,000 Palestinians whom Israel displaced when it conquered the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967; the roughly 250,000 Palestinians who could not return to the West Bank and Gaza after Israel revoked their residency rights between 1967 and 1994; the hundreds of Palestinians whose homes Israel demolished in 2020 alone. The East Jerusalem evictions are so combustible because they continue a pattern of expulsion that is as old as Israel itself.

Democracy Of The Rich

Whenever speaking of politics or government in the United States, the word democracy is heard several times. Sometimes it is combined with some adjectives, such as “the largest” or “the greatest”. There is no doubt that no country in the world has such a vast and untarnished democracy as the United States. However, no one asks who the beneficiary of this democracy is. The term is Greek, and it means the vote or the rule of the people. The question is who these people are.

Preparing taxes, I came across with elimination of some deductions, that was passed by congress on December 22, 2017, under Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The interesting common place among all the enacted status is their titles, which is usually the opposite of what the act is for. For example, this one is not to cut taxes, but to cut deductions, several of them at once, which would increase one’s taxes.

What Your Taxes Are Paying For in Israel

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/12/opinion/israel-palestinians-gaza.html

NICHOLAS KRISTOF

Saying Hamas must pay a “very heavy price” for belligerence, Israeli bombs destroyed a 13-story apartment building in Gaza that had a Hamas presence. And saying Israel “ignited fire” and is “responsible for the consequences,” Hamas launched more rockets at Israel.

We’re now seeing the worst fighting in seven years between Israelis and Palestinians, and again a basic pattern asserts itself: When missiles are flying, hard-liners on each side are ascendant. Civilians die, but extremists on one side empower those on the other.

Israel Is Carrying Out Mass Murder, Aided and Abetted by the US

Friday, May 14, 2021

by

Chris Hedges

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/05/14/israel-carrying-out-mass-murder-aided-and-abetted-us

Israel is not exercising "the right to defend itself" in the occupied Palestinian territories. It is carrying out mass murder. It is a war crime. 

We Could Have Greened Half the US Electrical Grid With $2.26 Wasted on Afghan War

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/04/19/we-could-have-greened-half-us-electrical-grid-226-wasted-afghan-war

Juan Cole- 4/19/2021

The Costs of War Project at Brown University has just brought out a new report on Afghanistan. The September 11, 2001 attacks were launched from Khost and Qandahar in Afghanistan by al-Qaeda, though it is not clear that this organization of Arab expatriates informed their Taliban hosts of what they were planning. The operation involved hijacking commercial airliners and using them as massive suicide bombs. It cost $500,000 or so to pull off, and killed nearly 3,000 persons. We could have avoided our war dead in Afghanistan and our wounded warriors by just getting out in the summer of 2002, in an enormous savings to our country in blood and treasure.