Leaders

Tehran and washington exchange blows

The U.S. Senate declared the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, and the Iranian parliament in turn declared the CIA and the U.S. military to be

Last week, the U.S. Senate passed by a large majority a non-binding resolution calling on the U.S. Department of Defense to classify Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization "Terrorist organization" to be classified. This was the first time that a state military organization was declared a terrorist group, which also meant that there had to be talk of state terrorism. Iran responded promptly. In a resolution that was also non-binding, the Iranian parliament decided in response that the CIA and the U.S. military should be designated as "terrorist organizations" had to be considered.

While the U.S. military, according to the Iranian parliament’s retort, is implicated in terrorist actions such as the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomic bombs or the use of depleted uranium munitions in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq, the CIA is blamed for building numerous terrorist organizations and training terrorists around the world. For example, the CIA supported former dictator Saddam Hussein and terrorist groups such as MKO, which operates out of Iraq, al-Qaida and the Taliban, it said. The CIA has set up secret prisons in Europe and abused prisoners in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib.

Health

Is any work better than staying unemployed?

Is any work better than staying unemployed?

No, say British scientists, because those who get jobs with poor working conditions are worse off than the unemployed

The mantra is that it is always better to have a job than to remain unemployed. This is often paired with the purely quantitative bragging about the increase of jobs, which also means that a bad, poorly paid or precarious job is better than none. Therefore, everything possible must be done to get people back to work. Moreover, unemployment is considered a health risk, while work increases life satisfaction.

A British study published in August in the International Journal of Epidemiology now makes clear that work at any cost may be good for employers and taxpayers, but not for the person who has to do it. It is also obvious that a job under bad working conditions does not make people healthier than if they remained unemployed. But governments generally amed that the benefits of working outweighed the risks of working and being unemployed.

News

“It’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them”

A high ranking officer provokes entrustment, even if he probably just carelessly voiced what some soldiers were allowed to feel during combat

The man was careless and probably said something that certainly does not apply to all soldiers, but to some, no matter what nation they belong to. However, Lieutenant General James Mattis has made his cleanup in a position and at a time that does not tolerate messages about subjective, but morally emboldened sensitivities such as the desire to deport some people. If it goes nevertheless around the spreading of liberty by soldiers, who are called already times officially now also Freedom’s Ambassadors.

Lieutenant General James J.N. Mattis (left), commander of the1st Marine Division, on 7. April near Fallujah. Image: Pentagon

Secrets

Usa: manning continues to be held in custody because of assange

Usa: manning still in custody over assange

Chelsea Manning. Bild: @xychelsea

Das US-Justizministerium will die Auslieferung von Assange sicherstellen, wozu es eine Aussage von Manning benotigt

In preparation for the coordinated action between the US, the UK and Ecuador to arrest WikiLeaks whistleblower Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy and detain him for violating bail conditions (arrest of Julian Assange on US extradition request), Chelsea Manning (Chelsea Elizabeth Manning, Bradley Manning, Bradley Edward Manning) had already been taken into coercive custody in March. The U.S. Justice Department, in order to facilitate extradition of Assange, has lowered the charge from espionage to conspiracy to hack into classified documents and communications. He allegedly enabled Manning in a conspiracy to break into secret Pentagon computers by cracking a password.

Secrets

Who who why “extremist” names: plea for a factual debate

Who who why'extremist' nennt: pladoyer fur eine sachbezogene debatte

To the book excerpt "Extremism Research: A Look at a Scientific-State Complex" harsh accusations against the author followed. Here he comments

On 11. May appeared here a replica by Armin Pfahl-Traughber on an excerpt from the book "Standing at attention before democracy. The Concept of Extremism and State Protection in the Federal Republic of Germany", which Sarah Schulz and I had written together. The excerpt had appeared a few days earlier on Telepolis. Since I am responsible for the book excerpt as sole author, the accusations are directed against my person. Pfahl-Traughber accuses me among other things of, "committed to a rigorous ethos" speaks of "misinterpretations" and "deliberate attempts at manipulation", insinuated to me "structural commonalities to conspiracy ideas" and constructs a closeness to the New Right.

These are hard accusations, which are not substantiated and are rather means of a polemical argument than of a scientific discussion. I did not want to let these accusations stand completely uncontradicted. However, I am much more interested in a substantive discussion about the pros and cons of extremism research.

News

Deep feelings

Deep feelings

Diagram of the human skin. Image: CC-License Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Merkel cells, Krause end pistons and Vater-Pacini corpuscles at work: the most complicated sensory organ is not the eye or ear, but the skin

The skin performs amazing feats with its sensory cells: For example, we not only sense rough blows and strokes, but are also able to distinguish a settling muck from an impacting drop of water without looking. We have also mastered fairly precise localization: Lips, cheek or fingers have a spatial resolution of 5 millimeters or less, the upper arm and lower leg are the least sensitive with just under 50 millimeters. Damit eine derartige Diskriminierung uberhaupt moglich ist, mussen eine ganze Reihe unterschiedlicher mechanischer Rezeptoren zusammenarbeiten, die verschiedene Qualitaten von Beruhrung aufzeichnen.

News

North korea: international nuclear authority decides in conformity with u.s. Policy

While U.S. saber-rattling against Iraq continues briskly, IAEA gives North Korea another chance. But Pyongyang prefers to flex its muscles

"It may sound cynical, but whoever has cleverly ruffled feathers cannot simply be threatened with war, he is strong, and thus negotiations must take place."This is how a U.S. correspondent of the ORF commented on the recent remarks by George W. Bush on likely peaceful resolution of North Korea conflict. The resolution presented last Monday by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also only puts the rod in the window for North Korea, but does not set an ultimatum.

The IAEA Board of Governors, which includes representatives from 35 countries, met behind closed doors in Vienna on Monday. In the evening the result was presented. In a resolution, the Council strongly condemns North Korea’s actions and calls for the reinstatement of IAEA surveillance cameras at North Korean nuclear facilities, which have been shut down by Pyongyang. The panel also calls for IAEA representatives to meet with North Korean officials and for the return of UN weapons inspectors who have been expelled from the country.

News

North korea has allegedly successfully conducted a nuclear weapons test

North Korea has allegedly successfully conducted a nuclear weapons test

Before the allegedly successful underground nuclear weapons test, Kim Jong-un demonstratively showed off the new hydrogen bomb. Image: Rodong Sinmun

According to Sud Korean sources, the explosive force was stronger than last time, North Korea makes clear it will stick to nuclear weapons despite threats and sanctions

The North Korean news agency KCNA still reported today that the "honored top leaders" Kim Jong-un the boarding of a "new" Long-range missile with a new warhead with a more advanced hydrogen bomb witnessed. He had been briefed on the technical details.

Finance

Imf calls for better capitalism

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is apparently alarmed about the "still unsolved too-big-to-fail problem", but he also exacerbates this

Time and again, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has criticized processes, some of which are justified, and, like IMF chief Christine Lagarde in London this week, identified serious problems. It took ie with criticism that the gap between rich and poor was widening and suggested that there were headwinds on banking reform from the banking lobby. However, it may be amed that this criticism is only intended to make the IMF more credible, since it made fatal mistakes during the crisis. Because the IMF programs have led to the impoverishment of broad strata in the crisis countries and the problem that banks "too big to fail" have come to a head under his control.

Imf calls for better capitalism

City of London. The British financial district wants to preserve capitalism. Image: GeographBot/CC BY-SA 2.0