Green Planet Monitor

21/04/2024

In the seven months since Hamas' daring incursion into southern Israel, the Israeli military has demolished over 300,000 Gazan homes -- almost three-quarters of Gaza's housing stock -- killing an estimated 35,000, most of them women and children. Countless thousands of Gazans remain buried under the rubble of their humble homes. Armed with US bombs and missiles, Israel demolishes Palestinian homes in an instant. Palestinian suffering and trauma will endure for generations. What's its aim? Ethnic cleansing, genocide, and the consolidation of the settler-colonial regime it established in 1948, says Israeli author and activist Jeff Halper. Halper is a founding member of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, and the more recent One Democratic State Campaign. He's also the author of a host of books, including An Israeli in Palestine (2010), War Against the People (2015), and Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine: Zionism, Settler Colonialism and the Case for One Democratic State (2021).

In the seven months since Hamas' daring incursion into southern Israel, the Israeli military has demolished over 300,000 Gazan homes -- almost three-quarters of Gaza's housing stock -- killing an estimated 35,000, most of them women and children. Countless thousands of Gazans remain buried under the...

30/03/2024

https://www.greenplanetmonitor.net/society-culture-arts/food/dear-mr-trudeau/

Starvation and famine in Gaza. A UN expert speaks out. And, a group of Canadian lawyers demand that the Trudeau government stop supporting Israeli genocide.

24/03/2024

https://www.greenplanetmonitor.net/global-development/mining/the-americas-second-republic/

Podcast (the-green-blues-show): Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSGPM # 54 An astonishing fact: In the 248 years since theRead more

17/03/2024

Fear and loathing in Doha. Merchants of death and their state clients hobnob. An intrepid Canadian journalist captures it all on his smart phone. The GPM speaks with Dimitri Lascaris about his experience. On the other side of the planet, in Ottawa, the Canadian military shops for surveillance drones that can kill. We speak about killer surveillance drones with Matt Korda, from the Federation of American Scientists.

Fear and loathing in Doha. Merchants of death and their state clients hobnob. An intrepid Canadian journalist captures it all on his smart phone. The GPM speaks with Dimitri Lascaris about his experience. On the other side of the planet, in Ottawa, the Canadian military shops for surveillance drones...

11/03/2024

Consider all the injustice, death and destruction gone down in Palestine over the past 50, 75, hundred years. No one more responsible for all this misery than the British. The GPM speaks with British scholar Victor Kattan. Then, looming famine and genocide. Will the UK, US, Canada and other Western Powers act, or will they help Israel out? The GPM speaks with former UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness.

Consider all the injustice, death and destruction gone down in Palestine over the past 50, 75, hundred years. No one more responsible for all this misery than the British. The GPM speaks with British scholar Victor Kattan. Then, looming famine and genocide. Will the UK, US, Canada and other Western....

02/03/2024

The Day of Two Suns: 70 years ago, the Pentagon conducted its biggest-ever atmospheric H-bomb test at Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands, in the central Pacific. The 15-megaton Bravo shot spewed radioactive fallout on thousands of Marshallese, and long-lived radioisotopes all around the planet. Nearby Rongelap Atoll suffered the worst. Seventy years later, the people of Rongelap and Bikini have yet to go home.

The Day of Two Suns: 70 years ago, the Pentagon conducted its biggest-ever atmospheric H-bomb test at Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands, in the central Pacific. The 15-megaton Bravo shot spewed radioactive fallout on thousands of Marshallese, and long-lived radioisotopes all around the planet. N...

25/02/2024

Israel and its allies moved heaven and Earth to prevent it from happening. This past week in The Hague, it did. On Monday, February 19, in response to a late December request from the UN General Assembly for its authoritative opinion -- a request Israel, the US and fifteen other states opposed and voted against -- the UN’s supreme judicial body, the International Court of Justice, convened oral hearings on the legal status of Israel’s 57-year belligerent occupation of the Palestinian territories, and on the legal consequences arising from Israel’s extraordinarily well documented, though unadjudicated crimes. In other words, what Israel must do to set things right, and what the international community must do to ensure it does. ICJ hearings wrap up on the afternoon of Monday, February 26. Here are a few voices from the proceedings.

International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion hearings on the legality of Israel’s ceaseless occupation wrap up in The Hague. Listen to these voices

13/02/2024

We’ve all heard it before: Eat less meat. People lucky enough to eat, should eat less of everything. Microbe magic! Having fun with microbes. Growing them! And, Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Israel’s eternal, undivided capital. For Jewish Israelis, not for indigenous Palestinians.

We’ve all heard it before: Eat less meat. People lucky enough to eat, should eat less of everything. Microbe magic! Having fun with microbes. Growing them! And, Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Israel’s eternal, undivided capital. For Jewish Israelis, not for indigenous Palestinians.

03/02/2024

The geology of cities -- built out of stuff mined from the ground. That’s where all cities will end up, broken down and fossilized. The GPM speaks with a geologist who gazes into the future. Some human-made molecules won't break down either. Forever chemicals, they’re called, and they’re everywhere. In non-stick cookware, cosmetics and clothing. They last forever, and they’re toxic. On a happier note -- the human microbiome. All those bacteria living on us and in us, delivering crucial services. Nothing more amazing than the bacteria in the gut of a pregnant woman, steering healthy fetal development.

The geology of cities -- built out of stuff mined from the ground. That’s where all cities will end up, broken down and fossilized. The GPM speaks with a geologist who gazes into the future. Some human-made molecules won't break down either. Forever chemicals, they’re called, and they’re every...

28/01/2024

A victory for South Africa and the Palestinian people at the International Court of Justice. State parties to the Genocide Convention will now have to act, starting with Israel’s friends, says Canadian genocide scholar William Schabas. One of those friends is Canada, with famously double standards. The GPM speaks with Montreal/Greece-based lawyer, activist and journalist Dimitri Lascaris.

A victory for South Africa and the Palestinian people at the International Court of Justice. State parties to the 1948 Genocide Convention will now have to act, starting with Israel’s friends. One of those friends is Canada, with famously double standards.

21/01/2024

The United States of War: The United States of America has been waging wars for all but about a dozen years in its 250-year history, some of them genocidal. The GPM speaks with David Vine, author of a book called The United States of War: A Global History of America's Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State. American military bases make its wars – and its nuclear weapons arsenal -- possible. The Marshall Islands, in the middle of the Pacific, were the scene of 67 US nuclear weapon tests between 1946 and 1958, and continue to act as a bullseye for US intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The United States of War: The United States of America has been waging wars for all but about a dozen years in its 250-year history, some of them genocidal. The GPM speaks with David Vine, author of a book called The United States of War: A Global History of America's Endless Conflicts, from Columbu...

14/01/2024

South Africa versus Israel at the International Court of Justice. Lawyers for South Africa depose. And, weaponizing genocide justice. Western powers accuse official enemies of committing it, while insisting their dearest friend and ally would never do such a thing. A conversation with Canadian genocide scholar William Schabas.

South Africa versus Israel at the International Court of Justice. Lawyers for South Africa depose. And, weaponizing genocide justice. Western powers accuse official enemies of committing it, while defending their dearest friend and ally. A conversation with Canadian genocide scholar William Schabas.

07/01/2024

Genocide in Gaza -- Is Israel guilty of this crime of crimes? One thing’s clear: genocidal incitement permeates Israeli society. The GPM speaks with Israeli human rights attorney Michael Sfard. How to stop Israel’s assault? Some call for international intervention. We speak with Canadian international law expert Ardi Imseis. And, the Anthropocene. A wake-up call from Canadian Earth scientist Martin Head.

Genocide in Gaza -- Is Israel guilty of this crime of crimes? One thing is clear: genocidal incitement permeates Israeli society. The GPM speaks with Israeli human rights attorney Michael Sfard. How to stop Israel’s assault? Some call for international intervention. The GPM speaks with Canadian in...

31/12/2023

The "International Community" could put an end to Israel's bloody war on Gaza in an instant -- if the US agreed to (which it won't). To learn more about Chapter VII resolutions at the UN Security Council and the General Assembly's Uniting for Peace Resolution, the GPM spoke with Ardi Imseis. Imseis is Assistant Professor of Law at Queen’s University, in Ontario, specializing in public international law. Imseis’s latest book — The United Nations and the Question of Palestine — has just been published by Cambridge University Press.

The GPM speaks with international legal scholar Ardi Imseis about bloodied Gaza and Palestine at the United Nations.

24/12/2023

Artificial Intelligence -- to translate voices or access your bank account; to select targets to bomb and a few people to kill, along with thousands of others you weren't targeting. The GPM speaks with the Realities of Algorithmic Warfare Project. Wherever you are in occupied Palestine, Israeli soldiers target everyone and everything, children’s theaters included. Last July, the GPM spoke with Mustafa Sheta, founding director and General Manager of the Jenin Freedom Theater. Today, he sits in an Israeli jail, one of 8000 Palestinian political prisoners.

Artificial Intelligence -- to translate voices or access your bank account; to select targets to bomb and a few people to kill, along with thousands of others you weren't targeting. The GPM speaks with the Realities of Algorithmic Warfare Project. Wherever you are in occupied Palestine, Israeli sold...

17/12/2023

Now Zuckerberg is bombarding me with voluptuous, glistening images of fabulous meals. An endless array of menus. What on Earth gives???

17/12/2023

Oceans of clean energy on humanity’s doorstep -- wave, tidal, surface heat and, wherever freshwater flows into the sea ... salt gradient energy. Tipping points in Earth systems. Unstable states world governments need to prepare for now. And, America’s Passionate Attachment to Israel. Loyalty is a must.

Oceans of clean energy on humanity’s doorstep -- wave, tidal, surface heat and, wherever freshwater flows into the sea ... salt gradient energy. Tipping points in Earth systems. Unstable states world governments need to prepare for now. And, America’s Passionate Attachment to Israel. Loyalty is ...

10/12/2023

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, on its 75th anniversary. If Britain and France had had their way, it would not have been universal. The GPM speaks with Canadian social scientist and human rights scholar Rhoda Howard-Hassmann. Lots of countries deny basic human rights laid down in the Declaration. Israel, for instance, in the occupied Palestinian Territories. A conversation with the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, on its 75th anniversary. If Britain and France had had their way, it would not have been universal. The GPM speaks with Canadian social scientist and human rights scholar Rhoda Howard-Hassmann. Lots of countries deny basic human rights laid down in the Decl...

03/12/2023

Sleeping and dreaming -- essential and mysterious. An old Tanzanian friend speaks about torrential rains and village celebrations. And, in the Dutch city of Delft, a big university digs deep for the heat beneath: geothermal energy.

26/11/2023

The Monroe Doctrine on its 200th birthday. Messy American politics in 1823, messy American politics in 2023. The GPM speaks with American historian Jay Sexton. And, Cambodia’s Great Lake, the Tonle Sap. It’s a story about fish.

18/11/2023

Hamas didn't parachute into Gaza from another planet. The Islamic Resistance Movement, its leaders and militants are an organic part of a packed population of refugees, with no other place to fight. The GPM speaks about this with Israeli-British historian Ilan Pappe, author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Israel’s response to Hamas’s October 7 attack? Collective punishment. The GPM speaks with international law expert Toby Cadman.

Hamas didn't parachute into Gaza from another planet. The Islamic Resistance Movement, its leaders and militants are an organic part of a packed population of refugees, with no other place to fight. The GPM speaks about this with Israeli-British historian Ilan Pappe, author of The Ethnic Cleansing o...

12/11/2023

The Canadian military shops for surveillance drones that can kill. The GPM speaks with arms researcher Matt Korda. The Canadian government slaps sanctions on a Russian discussion group. Who’s disinforming whom, University of Manitoba political scientist Radhika Desai asks? And, Canadian activist Dimitri Lascaris calls on real leftists to challenge fake peaceniks on the right.

The Canadian military shops for surveillance drones that can kill. The GPM speaks with arms researcher Matt Korda. The Canadian government slaps sanctions on a Russian discussion group. Who’s disinforming whom, University of Manitoba political scientist Radhika Desai asks? And, Canadian activist D...

06/11/2023

As Israeli bombs and missiles rain down on Gaza, over in Israel's other occupied territory, assault rifle butts pound on doors and the occasional shoulder-fired rocket round blasts them to splinters. Since the awful events of October 7, hundreds of West Bank Palestinian homes have been invaded, thousands of Palestinians dragged away by heavily armed Israeli soldiers and police and hundreds killed, no questions asked. Palestinians know this story well -- en carne propia. Imad Barghouthi and his family do. On October 23, around 3 a.m., the renowned Palestinian astrophysicist and his family were roused by that terrifyingly familiar pounding -- and the pounding of their own hearts. Show us where your guns are, demanded the soldiers standing at their door, seven of them barging in, Imad Barghouthi's daughter told the GPM. A hundred more stomped in the street outside, with attack dogs.

Imad Barghouthi Arrested Without Charge — Again As Israeli bombs and missiles rain down on Gaza, over in Israel’s otherRead more

05/11/2023

The dreadful events of October 7 didn’t happen in a vacuum. As Israel retaliates, reducing little Gaza to rubble, in the occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers and settlers work hand in hand, driving Palestinians from their land. Gazing on Israeli super-violence, genocide comes to mind.

02/11/2023

Almost a month after the brazen assault on Israeli communities by Gaza militants, smashing through and flying over the militarized, seemingly unbreachable perimeter of their besieged ghetto, Israeli retaliatory super-violence is now shifting into high gear. The GPM speaks with Fathi Nimer, from the Al-Shabaka Palestinian Policy Network, and Dror Sadot, from the Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem.

Almost a month after the brazen assault on Israeli communities by Gaza militants, smashing through and flying over the militarized perimeter of their besieged ghetto, Israeli retaliatory super-violence is now shifting into high gear. The GPM speaks with Fathi Nimer, from the Al-Shabaka Palestinian P...

30/10/2023

Tapping Earth’s largest source of clean energy -- its oceans. Ocean waves, tides and heat. A massive resource. Then, there’s salt gradient energy. Wherever fresh river water flows into salty seas, electricity can be generated, with zero carbon emissions.

22/10/2023

Risky moves. A Canadian political scientist attends a sanctioned forum in Russia -- and asks Vladimir Putin a question. An Italian climate researcher refuses to return to work fast, from the other side of the planet. Slow travel releases less carbon, he tells his bosses. The GPM interviews Radhika Desai and Gianluca Grimalda.

Risky moves: A Canadian political scientist attends a sanctioned forum in Russia -- and asks Vladimir Putin a question. An Italian climate researcher refuses to return to work fast, from the other side of the planet. Slow travel releases less carbon, he tells his bosses. The GPM interviews Radhika D...

15/10/2023

Terrorist atrocities in Israel, Israeli atrocities in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Seeds sown, reaped, then sown again. A conversation with Michael Lynk. And, Israel-Palestine, Russia-Ukraine, the US vs. Russia and China … What sense to be made? The GPM speaks with Radhika Desai.

Terrorist atrocities in Israel, Israeli atrocities in return. Seeds sown, reaped, then sown again. Israel-Palestine, Russia-Ukraine, the US vs. Russia and China … What sense to be made?

08/10/2023

A small Canadian lake records humanity’s impact on Planet Earth. On the floor of Canada’s House of Commons, an old N**i veteran gets a standing ovation. And, when official enemies are to blame, Canada calls for the rule of law. For a beloved ally, Canada calls for the rule of law to be waived.

A small Canadian lake records humanity’s impact on Planet Earth. On the floor of Canada’s House of Commons, an old N**i veteran gets a standing ovation. And, when official enemies are to blame, Canada calls for justice. For a beloved ally, Canada calls for justice to be suspended.

01/10/2023

One of medical science’s greatest paradoxes. The cancer cells that killed Henrietta Lacks revolutionized medicine -- medical care her own family couldn’t afford. Narrow profit margins for Canadian uranium companies operating in Niger. Big health risks for Nigerien miners.

One of medical science’s greatest paradoxes: The cancer cells that killed Henrietta Lacks revolutionized medicine -- medical care her own family couldn’t afford. Narrow profit margins for Canadian uranium companies operating in Niger. Big health risks for Nigerien miners.