Telling the truth has become a revolutionary act, so let us salute those who disclose the necessary facts.
14 Sept 2011
USA Continues to Threaten RUSSIA
A missile pact between US and Romania does not sit in the background of resetting relations between US and Russia. Experts believe Washington never gave up an idea to get close to Russian borders. Brian Becker from Answer, the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism coalition, says Washington never gave up on its intention to get closer to Russia’s borders.
“The US won’t give that guarantee because the US indeed intends to use the missile defense shield as part of the first-strike threat capability against Russia and China in the future,” he claimed.
“When the cold war ended, when the Warsaw Pact was disbanded, one would rationally think that this would be a time of compromise, of peace, of de-escalation of tension,” Becker said. “But instead, the US military, not the people, saw this as an opportunity to get unilateral power over the former Soviet bloc countries, and Russia in particular. And underlying all this is a basic strategic calculation that those who have the greatest number of weapons and those who can do the most damage will ultimately be able to force the others to accept the terms of whatever political context is going on later in the future.”
Becker warned that the missile defence shield is actually an effort by Washington to expand its influence in the region.
“The US is using the terms of these agreements with Romania and other eastern and Central European countries as a way of integrating them into NATO, into what really is an American sphere of influence, so that they look at Eastern and Central Europe in the post-Soviet era as an attempt to expand America’s sphere of influence – right up to Russia’s borders,” he declared.
“When the cold war ended, when the Warsaw Pact was disbanded, one would rationally think that this would be a time of compromise, of peace, of de-escalation of tension,” Becker said. “But instead, the US military, not the people, saw this as an opportunity to get unilateral power over the former Soviet bloc countries, and Russia in particular. And underlying all this is a basic strategic calculation that those who have the greatest number of weapons and those who can do the most damage will ultimately be able to force the others to accept the terms of whatever political context is going on later in the future.”
Becker warned that the missile defence shield is actually an effort by Washington to expand its influence in the region.
“The US is using the terms of these agreements with Romania and other eastern and Central European countries as a way of integrating them into NATO, into what really is an American sphere of influence, so that they look at Eastern and Central Europe in the post-Soviet era as an attempt to expand America’s sphere of influence – right up to Russia’s borders,” he declared.
Fatherhood "Good for Your Health"
It seems it’s not just women who are biologically wired to nurture
their babies — fathers also go through hormonal changes to help them
care for their children.
In many species of mammal the male takes a major role in caring for offspring and now new research points to humans having the same capability.
A new study has found that upon becoming a father a man’s testosterone levels decrease. While testosterone helps the males of species compete for a mate it is not necessarily conducive to fatherhood, hence the reduction in levels.
Although previous studies have pointed to this phenomenon they have been too small to be conclusive and have not identified whether fatherhood reduced testosterone levels or whether men with lower levels of testosterone were more likely to become fathers.
But this study carried out by scientists at Northwestern University in Chicago, US and the Office of Population Studies Foundation in the Philippines followed a group of 624 men in the Philippines, aged between 21 and 26 years old, for more than four years. None were fathers to start with so the changes in their testosterone levels on becoming a father could be measured.
The researchers found that men with higher levels of testosterone were more likely to become fathers but once they had their levels dropped substantially. “Our findings suggest that this is especially true for fathers who become the most involved with child care,” said Lee Gettler, an anthropologist and co-author of the study.
In many species of mammal the male takes a major role in caring for offspring and now new research points to humans having the same capability.
A new study has found that upon becoming a father a man’s testosterone levels decrease. While testosterone helps the males of species compete for a mate it is not necessarily conducive to fatherhood, hence the reduction in levels.
Although previous studies have pointed to this phenomenon they have been too small to be conclusive and have not identified whether fatherhood reduced testosterone levels or whether men with lower levels of testosterone were more likely to become fathers.
But this study carried out by scientists at Northwestern University in Chicago, US and the Office of Population Studies Foundation in the Philippines followed a group of 624 men in the Philippines, aged between 21 and 26 years old, for more than four years. None were fathers to start with so the changes in their testosterone levels on becoming a father could be measured.
The researchers found that men with higher levels of testosterone were more likely to become fathers but once they had their levels dropped substantially. “Our findings suggest that this is especially true for fathers who become the most involved with child care,” said Lee Gettler, an anthropologist and co-author of the study.
The emotional and physical changes a new father goes through can be significant and the study found that fathers often go through a very large, but temporary, dip in testosterone when they first bring home their newborn baby. “Our study indicates that a man’s biology can change substantially to help meet those demands,” said Gettler.
And there appears to be another interesting side-effect to these results which may explain why single men often have poorer health than married men and fathers. The lower testosterone levels may help protect the men against some chronic diseases as they age.
“Humans are unusual among mammals in that our offspring are dependent upon older individuals for feeding and protection for more than a decade,” said Christopher Kuzawa, co-author of the study and associate professor of anthropology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, and faculty fellow at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern. “Raising human offspring is such an effort that it is cooperative by necessity, and our study shows that human fathers are biologically wired to help with the job.”