April 2009

What is Canada Doing in Haiti?
Posted: Thursday, April 30, 2009

¤ Venezuela establishes ties with Palestinians
Palestinian officials established formal ties on Monday with Venezuela and opened a diplomatic mission in the South American country. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki thanked President Hugo Chavez's government for its support during the recent Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which prompted the Venezuelan leader to break off relations with Israel.

¤ CIA Torture Began In Afghanistan 8 Months Before DOJ Approval
¤ New Evidence of Torture Prison in Poland
¤ Torture Used to Try to Link Saddam with 9/11
¤ War Crimes Will Be Prosecuted - Bush

¤ Truth commission to proceed despite Obama’s wishes
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) plans to proceed with a special commission to investigate alleged Bush administration abuses of power, despite lacking President Barack Obama’s support, according to a report Tuesday. Sen. Leahy called for a “Truth Commission” in February to probe Bush administration policies on torture, interrogation and surveillance and to — as he puts it — “get to the bottom of what went wrong.” Such an idea would be modeled around truth commissions established in South Africa and Chile, which offered immunity to officials who committed abuses in exchange for the truth.

¤ Only 7 swine flu deaths, not 152, says WHO
A member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has dismissed claims that more than 150 people have died from swine flu, saying it has officially recorded only seven deaths around the world. Vivienne Allan, from WHO's patient safety program, said the body had confirmed that worldwide there had been just seven deaths - all in Mexico - and 79 confirmed cases of the disease.

¤ How much Israeli arrogance will the U.S. take?
¤ What is Canada Doing in Haiti?
¤ President Ahmadinejad's speech at the Durban Review Conference on racism

¤ White House apologizes for low-flying plane

Capitalism 'threatens life on the planet'
Posted: Monday, April 27, 2009

¤ What is Canada Doing in Haiti?

¤ The Declaration of Cumaná: Capitalism 'threatens life on the planet'
We, the Heads of State and Government of Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela, member countries of ALBA, consider that the Draft Declaration of the 5th Summit of the Americas is insufficient and unacceptable for the following reasons:
- The Declaration does not provide answers to the Global Economic Crisis, even though this crisis constitutes the greatest challenge faced by humanity in the last decades and is the most serious threat of the current times to the welfare of our peoples.

¤ Bush Regime Tortured (delete) Swine Flu is about to Kill us All
Just a reminder to everyone not to freak out over the mass media's propaganda on the Swine Flu story.Consider this....Last week and the week before Clinton and Obama visited Mexico...amid huge stories of shootings on the borders...requests for US troops by Perry on the border...a huge economic crisis...and...and...and...the story of the week...the possible prosecution of the Bush Administration for war crimes or violations of federal law regarding torture.

¤ US declares public health emergency for swine flu
The U.S. is declaring a public health emergency to deal with the emerging new swine flu. The precautionary step doesn't signal a greater threat to Americans. But it allows the federal and state governments easier access to flu tests and medications. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napilotano says roughly 12 million doses of the drug Tamiflu are being released from a federal stockpile so that states can get it if needed.

¤ Powerful Rest And Fluids Industry Influencing Doctors' Treatment Of Colds

¤ Tamiflu/Rumsfeld/H1N1 redux

¤ FLASHBACK Medicine and Politics

The press and the government have created a sense of urgency about protecting ourselves from the Avian Flu.

CNN tells us that, "The U.S. government has started stockpiling Tamiflu and other medicines that scientists believe might be effective against a pandemic virus."

Real experts tell us that viral mutation will render this medication worthless against this type of influenza.

The company holding the patent, Gilead, wants more Tamiflu produced faster by Roche.

Who was the Chairman of Board of Gilead until he resigned to join the Bush Administration? Who retains a large amount of pharmaceutical industry stock including Gilead's?

Donald Rumsfeld.

This connection merits further scrutiny.

¤ FLASHBACK Where Politics and Medicine Meet
The primary drug promoted against a threatened pandemic of avian flu is in all likely useless and could make the pandemic worse, say scientists. This warning came recently after a study of 13 Vietnamese patients infected with avian flu and treated with the anti-viral drug Tamiflu found two developed a resistant virus which contributed to their deaths. Seven of the 13 patients died. The New England Journal of Medicine, which published the findings, describing them as "frightening."

Governments are stockpiling Tamiflu to be used as the first line of defense against a pandemic. In a system of government or medicine based on truth all Tamiflu production would be suspended immediately and resources put behind safer and more reasonable medical protocols. In American democracy and in the American medical system the information will simply be ignored. And in fact it is already being ignored. Instead they are looking to raise doses of Tamiflu, give it earlier on, and Roche is defending it’s efficacy by stating the recent study published in the Lancet is “irresponsible.”

¤ FLASHBACK Who Owns the Rights on Tamiflu: Rumsfeld To Profit From Bird Flu Hoax
The fundamental issue is who owns the intellectual property rights over Tamiflu. The media reports suggest that the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche will make billions. While the drug is produced by Roche, it was developed by Gilead Sciences Inc.which owns the intellectual property rights. Gilead, which has maintained a low profile, has outsourced the production to Roche. Donald Rumsfeld was appointed Chairman of Gilead Sciences, Inc. in 1997, a position which he held in the years prior to becoming Secretary of Defense.in the Bush adminstration. Rumsfeld had been on the Board of Directors from the establishment of Gilead in 1987.

¤ FLASHBACK Tamiflu

¤ FLASHBACK Rumsfeld's growing stake in Tamiflu

¤ FLASHBACK Flu Epidemic Tightens Grip on United States as Avian Flu Pandemic Fears Grow, and The Light Of Freedom In America Is Extinguished

¤ Is swine flu 'the big one' or a flu that fizzles?

¤ Swine flu death toll in Mexico rises to 103
The death toll in Mexico from an outbreak of a new type of swine flu has risen to 103 people, Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said on Sunday.
Cordova told Mexican television that around 400 people were in hospital out of a total of around 1,600 suspected cases.

¤ Swine flu cases confirmed in Nova Scotia, B.C.
¤ WHO warns of flu pandemic as Mexico City frets
¤ 8 NYC Students Probably Have Swine Flu
¤ Most Mexico fatal flu victims aged between 25-45
¤ Swine flu could infect U.S. trade and travel

¤ California has 'rigorous' flu plan -Schwarzenegger
¤ Travel advisory warns of severe respiratory illness in Mexico
¤ Swine Flu May Be Named Event of ‘International Concern’ by WHO
¤ Mexico Races to Stop Deadly Flu
¤ Mexico swine flu deaths spur global epidemic fears
¤ US 'very concerned' about swine flu outbreak
¤ Mexico fights swine flu with 'pandemic potential'

The Declaration of Cumaná
Posted: Saturday, April 25, 2009

April 23rd 2009,
by ALBA Member Countries

ALBA
Cumaná, Venezuela

We, the Heads of State and Government of Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela, member countries of ALBA, consider that the Draft Declaration of the 5th Summit of the Americas is insufficient and unacceptable for the following reasons:

- The Declaration does not provide answers to the Global Economic Crisis, even though this crisis constitutes the greatest challenge faced by humanity in the last decades and is the most serious threat of the current times to the welfare of our peoples.

- The Declaration unfairly excludes Cuba, without mentioning the consensus in the region condemning the blockade and isolation to which the people and the government of Cuba have incessantly been exposed in a criminal manner.

For this reason, we, the member countries of ALBA believe that there is no consensus for the adoption of this draft declaration because of the reasons above stated, and accordingly, we propose to hold a thorough debate on the following topics:

1. Capitalism is leading humanity and the planet to extinction. What we are experiencing is a global economic crisis of a systemic and structural nature, not another cyclic crisis. Those who think that with a taxpayer money injection and some regulatory measures this crisis will end are wrong. The financial system is in crisis because it trades bonds with six times the real value of the assets and services produced and rendered in the world, this is not a "system regulation failure", but a integrating part of the capitalist system that speculates with all assets and values with a view to obtain the maximum profit possible. Until now, the economic crisis has generated over 100 million additional hungry persons and has slashed over 50 million jobs, and these figures show an upward trend.

2. Capitalism has caused the environmental crisis, by submitting the necessary conditions for life in the planet, to the predominance of market and profit. Each year we consume one third more of what the planet is able to regenerate. With this squandering binge of the capitalist system, we are going to need two planets Earth by the year 2030.

3. The global economic crisis, climate change, the food crisis and the energy crisis are the result of the decay of capitalism, which threatens to end life and the planet. To avert this outcome, it is necessary to develop and model an alternative to the capitalist system. A system based on:

- solidarity and complementarity, not competition;

- a system in harmony with our mother earth and not plundering of human resources;

- a system of cultural diversity and not cultural destruction and imposition of cultural values and lifestyles alien to the realities of our countries;

- a system of peace based on social justice and not on imperialist policies and wars;

- in summary, a system that recovers the human condition of our societies and peoples and does not reduce them to mere consumers or merchandise.

4. As a concrete expression of the new reality of the continent, we, Caribbean and Latin American countries, have commenced to build our own institutionalization, an institutionalization that is based on a common history dating back to our independence revolution and constitutes a concrete tool for deepening the social, economic and cultural transformation processes that will consolidate our full sovereignty. ALBA-TCP, Petrocaribe or UNASUR, mentioning merely the most recently created, are solidarity-based mechanisms of unity created in the midst of such transformations with the obvious intention of boosting the efforts of our peoples to attain their own freedom. To face the serious effects of the global economic crisis, we, the ALBA-TCP countries, have adopted innovative and transforming measures that seek real alternatives to the inadequate international economic order, not to boost their failed institutions. Thus, we have implemented a Regional Clearance Unitary System, the SUCRE, which includes a Common Unit of Account, a Clearance Chamber and a Single Reserve System. Similarly, we have encouraged the constitution of grand-national companies to satisfy the essential needs of our peoples and establish fair and complementary trade mechanisms that leave behind the absurd logic of unbridled competition.

5. We question the G20 for having tripled the resources of the International Monetary Fund when the real need is to establish a new world economic order that includes the full transformation of the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO, entities that have contributed to this global economic crisis with their neoliberal policies.

6. The solutions to the global economic crisis and the definition of a new international financial scheme should be adopted with the participation of the 192 countries that will meet in the United Nations Conference on the International Financial Crisis to be held on June 1-3 to propose the creation of a new international economic order.

7. As for climate change, developed countries are in an environmental debt to the world because they are responsible for 70% of historical carbon emissions into the atmosphere since 1750. Developed countries should pay off their debt to humankind and the planet; they should provide significant resources to a fund so that developing countries can embark upon a growth model which does not repeat the serious impacts of the capitalist industrialization.

8. Solutions to the energy, food and climate change crises should be comprehensive and interdependent. We cannot solve a problem by creating new ones in fundamental areas for life. For instance, the widespread use of agricultural fuels has an adverse effect on food prices and the use of essential resources, such as water, land and forests.

9. We condemn the discrimination against migrants in any of its forms. Migration is a human right, not a crime. Therefore, we request the United States government an urgent reform of its migration policies in order to stop deportations and massive raids and allow for reunion of families. We further demand the removal of the wall that separates and divides us, instead of uniting us. In this regard, we petition for the abrogation of the Law of Cuban Adjustment and removal of the discriminatory, selective Dry Feet, Wet Feet policy that has claimed human losses. Bankers who stole the money and resources from our countries are the true responsible, not migrant workers. Human rights should come first, particularly human rights of the underprivileged, downtrodden sectors in our society, that is, migrants without identity papers. Free movement of people and human rights for everybody, regardless of their migration status, are a must for integration. Brain drain is a way of plundering skilled human resources exercised by rich countries.

10. Basic education, health, water, energy and telecommunications services should be declared human rights and cannot be subject to private deal or marketed by the World Trade Organization. These services are and should be essentially public utilities of universal access.

11. We wish a world where all, big and small, countries have the same rights and where there is no empire. We advocate non-intervention. There is the need to strengthen, as the only legitimate means for discussion and assessment of bilateral and multilateral agendas in the hemisphere, the foundations for mutual respect between states and governments, based on the principle of non-interference of a state in the internal affairs of another state, and inviolability of sovereignty and self-determination of the peoples. We request the new Government of the United States, the arrival of which has given rise to some expectations in the hemisphere and the world, to finish the longstanding and dire tradition of interventionism and aggression that has characterized the actions of the US governments throughout history, and particularly intensified during the Administration of President George W. Bush. By the same token, we request the new Government of the United States to abandon interventionist practices, such as cover-up operations, parallel diplomacy, media wars aimed at disturbing states and governments, and funding of destabilizing groups. Building on a world where varied economic, political, social and cultural approaches are acknowledged and respected is of the essence.

12. With regard to the US blockade against Cuba and the exclusion of the latter from the Summit of the Americas, we, the member states of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America, reassert the Declaration adopted by all Latin American and Caribbean countries last December 16, 2008, on the need to end the economic, trade and financial blockade imposed by the Government of the United States of America on Cuba, including the implementation of the so-called Helms-Burton Act. The declaration sets forth in its fundamental paragraphs the following:

"CONSIDERING the resolutions approved by the United Nations General Assembly on the need to finish the economic, trade and financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba, and the statements on such blockade, which have been approved in numerous international meetings.

"WE AFFIRM that the application of unilateral, coercive measures affecting the wellbeing of peoples and hindering integration processes is unacceptable when defending free exchange and the transparent practice of international trade.

"WE STRONGLY REPEL the enforcement of laws and measures contrary to International Law, such as the Helms-Burton Act, and we urge the Government of the United States of America to finish such enforcement.

"WE REQUEST the Government of the United States of America to comply with the provisions set forth in 17 successive resolutions approved by the United Nations General Assembly and put an end to the economic, trade and financial blockade on Cuba."

Additionally, we consider that the attempts at imposing the isolation of Cuba have failed, as nowadays Cuba forms an integral part of the Latin American and Caribbean region; it is a member of the Rio Group and other hemispheric organizations and mechanisms, which develops a policy of cooperation, in solidarity with the countries in the hemisphere; which promotes full integration of Latin American and Caribbean peoples. Therefore, there is no reason whatsoever to justify its exclusion from the mechanism of the Summit of the Americas.

13. Developed countries have spent at least USD 8 billion to rescue a collapsing financial structure. They are the same that fail to allocate the small sums of money to attain the Millennium Goals or 0.7% of the GDP for the Official Development Assistance. Never before the hypocrisy of the wording of rich countries had been so apparent. Cooperation should be established without conditions and fit in the agendas of recipient countries by making arrangements easier; providing access to the resources, and prioritizing social inclusion issues.

14. The legitimate struggle against drug trafficking and organized crime, and any other form of the so-called "new threats" must not be used as an excuse to undertake actions of interference and intervention against our countries.

15. We are firmly convinced that the change, where everybody repose hope, can come only from organization, mobilization and unity of our peoples.

As the Liberator wisely said:

Unity of our peoples is not a mere illusion of men, but an inexorable decree of destiny. — Simón Bolívar

Reproduced from: venezuelanalysis.com

Fifth Summit of the Americas

Yes, the U.S. is still a racist state
Posted: Monday, April 20, 2009

¤ Obama: No charges for harsh CIA interrogation
President Barack Obama absolved CIA officers from prosecution for harsh, painful interrogation of terror suspects Thursday, even as his administration released Bush-era memos graphically detailing — and authorizing — such grim tactics as slamming detainees against walls, waterboarding them and keeping them naked and cold for long periods.

¤ WTC office towers could be put off for decades

¤ Bolivian police uncover plot against president
Police say they broke up an international band of assassins plotting to kill President Evo Morales during a half-hour shootout in eastern Bolivia on Thursday.
Three suspects were killed and two arrested in the lowland city of Santa Cruz, the center of Morales' political opposition, after they resisted arrest, exchanged gunfire and detonated a grenade that blew out the windows of a hotel, police said. There were no other victims.

¤ The elephant not in the room

¤ At summit, Obama gets friendly with Chavez
President Barack Obama extended a hand to America's hemispheric neighbors on Saturday at a summit where he offered a new beginning for U.S.-Cuba relations and greeted Venezuela's fiery, leftist president who gave him a book about Latin America's exploitation by foreign powers.

¤ Chavez Gifts Obama With Book That Assails U.S. for Exploiting Latin America
¤ Obama Gets History Lesson From Latin American Leaders
¤ Bolivian president Morales links US embassy to alleged assassination attempt
¤ US demands Iran end 'horrible rhetoric'
¤ Walkout at UN conference after Iran president calls Israel 'racist'

¤ Ahmadinejad snubs Kouchner threats: Durban II
Addressing a UN anti-racism confab Iran's president minces no words in calling Israel 'a totally racist government' formed on the back of 'military aggression'.

Snubbing Monday warnings by the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the post-World War II military invasions on Palestine which preceded the propping up of the entity, were explained by 'Jewish suffering'.

¤ Obama Reprieve For CIA Illegal
¤ From the Bay of Pigs to Trinadad and Tobago

¤ Home of the Barricaded, Land of the 'Fraid
There are few statistics as stunning as the following simple, single number: The United States spends two times more on its military than all the other countries of the world, combined.
Yes, that’s right. All 200 or so of them. Combined.
According to GlobalSecurity.org, last year, the US dropped about $625 billion in taxpayer dollars on its military, while all the rest of the world together spent $500 billion.

¤ No Amnesty for Torturers
¤ It's Time to Rumble

¤ A Modest (Transition) Proposal to Obama
As a result of the Trinidad/Tobago Summit, in recent days the United States government and mass media have called on the Cuban government to react to the good hearted initiatives of the government in Washington, DC. Cuba is certainly thankful that such a powerful country is so interested in advancing liberty and opportunity within our island. The fact that you do not do the same with China - a huge country by comparison - only demonstrates that we Cubans are more important to you than all those millions of people in Asia.

¤ India's Press Nixes "R" Word
At least two major newspapers have informed their desks that the word “recession” is not to be used in connection with India. Recession is something that happens in the United States, not here. The word stands exiled from the editorial lexicon. If a rather disastrous situation has somehow to be indicated, the term “downturn” or “slowdown” will suffice — and it is to be used with some discretion. But not recession.

¤ Housing Bust Comes Roaring Back, Worse Than Ever
¤ Iran's Elections: Why Arab Leaders Want Ahmadinejad to Win

¤ Iraqi Dead Extol the Success of the Surge
The U.S. media has attacked the Iraq War story by going straight for the periphery. For example, instead of focusing attention on the devastation caused by an unjust, imperial war that has endured for six plus years, the media changed the debate: “Has sending more U.S. troops to Iraq in 2007 --“the surge” -- succeeded or failed?”

¤ "Liquidate the Banks; Fire the Executives!"
¤ A Bulletin From the Captain of the Titanic
¤ Hungers Strikes in Bolivia, Summits in the Caribbean

¤ Obama's First Foreign Policy Disaster?
The Obama administration and the international community have largely remained silent the past two weeks concerning a decision by Haiti's election council to move forward with controversial Senate elections scheduled for April 19. A visit in early March by former president Bill Clinton and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to ‘draw attention to Haiti and promote development,' an international donors conference on Haiti held in Washington D.C. yesterday, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Haiti today, have only temporarily distracted attention away from the controversial election.

¤ Troops Stole Boxes of Iraq Reconstruction Cash ... Literally
A wave of prosecutions and some 25 "theft probes" are underway, but it's the inevitable result of a Pentagon policy that has bred rampant corruption.
This weekend the Los Angeles Times ran an article titled "Some U.S. troops tempted by reconstruction cash," reporting that the Department of Justice is pursing some "three dozen prosecutions" of soldiers and others involving bribery for "reconstruction" projects in Iraq and Afghanistan.

¤ Yes, the U.S. is still a racist state
It is official. okay, well, that is a lie. it always has been a racist state. but those who drank the obama koolaid and think that somehow having a black president equals the "post-racism" are particularly delusional. i’ve been following the world conference against racism (a.k.a. "durban 2) religiously, but i haven’t really written much about it because most of that material is in a chapter in my book so i’ve put all my energy into that. but now that the conference will begin this weekend and that the final decision from the white house has been made i think it warrants some discussion. it is yet one more reason why obama is bush is clinton is bush is reagan is carter (you get the picture).

¤ Bush Torture Memos Released By Obama: See The Complete Documents

¤ Electoral Sham in Haiti
Few people anywhere have suffered more for so long, yet endure and keep struggling for change. For brief periods under Jean-Bertand Aristide, they got it until a US-led February 29, 2004 coup d'etat forced him into exile where he remains Haiti's symbolic leader - for his supporters, still head of the Fanmi Lavalas (FL) party he founded in 1996 to reestablish links between local Lavalas branches and its parliamentary representatives.

¤ Torture Memos Said CIA Could Use Insects and Severely Beat Detainee
¤ Bush Memos Parallel Claim 9/11 "Mastermind’s" Children Were Tortured With Insects

¤ A Taste of AFRICOM
Somalia did find peace and tried to stop piracy until the US bombed the shit out of it in 2006

¤ How Bush's Tortured Legal Logic Won

¤ A Little Torture
The Bush administration is really an impressive force of nature. Whenever I was absolutely certain that their dastardly deeds couldn't possibly get any more nefarious, Dick Cheney shot a family friend in the face, or George W. Bush ordered the U.S. military to invade another country. When they finally left office, I assumed they couldn't harm America's reputation ever again.

¤ New Film Tells Unreported Story of Obama's Election

¤ Talented Ugly Person Baffles World
The success of singer Susan Boyle on the reality show Britain's Got Talent has caused both television networks and their viewers to reconsider the intrinsic value of ugly people, media experts say.
In living rooms around the world as well as in the executive suites of media giants, those exposed to the Susan Boyle phenomenon are grappling with the paradox - thought impossible up until now - that an ugly person could be talented.
In New York, NBC chief Jeff Zucker confirmed that his network was "seriously considering" lifting its official ban against featuring unattractive people on the air

Hugo Chávez arrives for the Fifth Summit of the Americas
Posted: Saturday, April 18, 2009

Fifth Summit of the Americas

The Fifth Summit of the Americas in pictures

Chávez flies in over the Gulf
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez thought he had escaped the glare of the media when he quietly flew in on his military jet over the Gulf of Paria from Sucre, Cumana, to Trinidad and landed at the helipad in Chaguaramas shortly after 4 pm yesterday.

Media mob Chávez

Chávez steals the spotlight
"Hail, Presidente!" The cry emitted from the lips of the Venezuelan contingent of media personnel who had gathered at the entrance to the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.

LET'S BE FRIENDS
Chávez tells Obama during historic handshake:

Smiling Obama lands on T&T soil

Fifth Summit of the Americas

Barack Obama, Torture Enabler
Posted: Sunday, April 12, 2009

¤ 2 more banks fail, lifting this year's tally to 23
¤ Colorado bank biggest US bank failure of 2009

¤ Protesters force Thailand to cancel Asia summit
Anti-government protesters stormed a convention center where leaders of Asian nations were to meet Saturday, smashing doors and searching room by room for the prime minister. Thailand's government canceled the summit and airlifted the leaders by helicopter from the seaside city.
The red-shirted protesters, who are calling for the resignation of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, declared victory and walked away from the complex after about an hour.

¤ Thai protesters force Asia summit cancellation

¤ Wildfires destroy 2 Texas towns, kill 2
¤ Searchers look for more victims of Tenn. tornado
¤ Water Crisis Rocks LA, Mexico City; Who's Next?
¤ Is America's Love Affair with Suburbia Over?

¤ The Official End of Obama's Honeymoon

¤ Cold War Déjà-Vu
In his speech in Prague, President Obama's rhetoric was essentially no different than that of George Bush. He promised, because of our "moral responsibility," to rid the world of nuclear weapons. He then averred that the US would not lower its defenses while others are pursuing a nuclear threat.

¤ When The Hour Is Late, And Things Aren't Going So Great...Just Fabricate!!

¤ Noam Chomsky on US Expansion of Afghan Occupation
Well, I think the first question to ask about NATO is why it exists. We’re now approaching the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, unification of Germany, first steps in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Now, the alleged reason for NATO’s existence was to protect the West against a Russian assault. You can believe what you like about the reason, but that was the reason. By 1989, that reason was gone. So, why is there NATO?

¤ End of Scandinavian Neutrality: NATO's Militarization Of Europe

¤ The Red Cross Torture Report: What It Means

¤ Barack Obama, Torture Enabler
Obama has failed to match changes of tone with changes in substance on the issue of Bush's war crimes. "We need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards," he answered when asked whether he would investigate America's worst human rights abuses since World War II. Indeed, there's no evidence that Obama's Justice Department plans to lift a finger to hold Bush or his henchmen accountable.

¤ The Ideology of Barack Obama
Any number of other examples can be given of how alike the foreign policies of the Bush and Obama administrations are, how little, if any, change has occurred; certainly nothing of any significance. Yet, my saying such a thing is precisely what most often bothers Obama supporters who read or hear my comments. They're in love with the man with the toothpaste-advertisement smile, who's "smart" (whatever that means), who plays basketball, and is not George W. Bush, and his wife who puts her arm around the queen of England.

¤ Congresswoman Blasts Obama's War-Funding Request
¤ US military admits killing mother, children

¤ Obama Should Listen to Iraqis, Not Lecture Them
Sandstorms are unpredictable, but in the case of Barack Obama's rushed trip to Iraq the one that hit Baghdad just as he was landing on Tuesday afternoon was highly unfortunate. US officials were forced to cancel the president's helicopter flight to the Green Zone to meet Iraqi leaders.
Less sensibly, they decided not to allow Obama to travel the roughly eight-mile journey by road. Their decision illustrated just how insecure the Iraqi capital remains in spite of considerable improvements in the last two years.

¤ Recession Blamed for Sharp Increase in Shooting Sprees
"Galloway's views aren't odious. In fact, they're in sync with millions of Canadians. In a recent Angus Reid poll, 48 per cent of Canadians wanted our troops brought home from Afghanistan before the scheduled 2011 withdrawal. A BBC poll showed Canadians have more negative than positive views of Israel - even before the Gaza bombing, which UN human rights investigator Richard Falk said last month ‘would seem to constitute a war crime of the greatest magnitude."

¤ Teen mother, 2 children shot dead near New Orleans

¤ Gun-Crazed: Armed to the teeth, paranoid as hell.

¤ Why Europe Won't Fight
¤ Canadian media and the barring of George Galloway

¤ Getting a Death Grip on Memory
Dominant media have blotted out countless painful memories -- national or personal -- if only by treating them as irrelevant or incidental to news and concerns that really count. all in a day’s work: part of the mix of organized forgetting.

¤ Spiegel Interview With Iranian President Ahmadinejad

¤ Why Arab Leaders Want Ahmadinejad to Win

¤ The Looting of America
¤ No credible evidence of Al Qaeda presence in Pakistan

¤ Pirates seize Italian-flagged tugboat, 16 crew
¤ Ship reaches Kenya but captain still held by pirates

¤ More on Somalia's Crisis

¤ Traces of explosives in 9/11 dust, scientists say
¤ US arms shipment reaches Israel

¤ China foreign exchange reserves at $1.954 trillion
¤ My Meeting with the Black Caucus

¤ How Many Democrats Will Stand Up Against Obama's Bloated Military Budget?
Much of the media attention this week on President Obama’s new military budget has put forward a false narrative wherein Obama is somehow taking his socialist/pacifist sledgehammer to the Pentagon’s war machine and blasting it to smithereens. Republicans have charged that Obama is endangering the country’s security, while the Democratic leadership has hailed it as the dawn of a new era in responsible spending priorities. Part of this narrative portrays Defense Secretary Robert Gates as standing up to the war industry, particularly military contractors.

¤ Gazan children to be screened for long-term effects of white phosphorus smoke
¤ Report: “437 children killed, 1872 injured in Israel’s offensive”
¤ Death By the Numbers
¤ 'Fallujah never leaves my mind'
¤ Serb Demonization as Propaganda Coup

Is Obama even more Dangerous than Bush?
Posted: Wednesday, April 8, 2009

¤ Is Obama even more Dangerous than Bush?
Sixty-nine Million of us voted for President Obama because he promised hope and change from the disasters of the Bush Administration. Countless millions of human beings around the planet joined us in our relief and our elation when he was elected. An unthinking uncritical "Obamamania" among most of his supporters continues to prevail so far. This is dangerous for them, for President Obama and for all of us. Without critical analysis and pressure from his millions of supporters, Obama will stumble into disaster.

¤ Barack Obama fails to win Nato troops he wants for Afghanistan
¤ Obama: US cannot shoulder Afghan burden alone
¤ Blair steps up fight to be crowned first 'President of EU'

¤ Sudan/Darfur is Test Case for Obama’s “Humanitarian” Aggression
“Obama has not broken the American mold, but rather, appears to be fine-tuning a ‘humanitarian’ interventionist doctrine.”

Any government in the world that believes it has been targeted for regime change by the United States and its allies would be foolish to allow western-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to operate freely in its territory. When Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir evicted 13 western NGOs from his country last month, he was responding quite rationally to the clear threat of so-called “humanitarian” military intervention by the U.S. under the pretext of “rescuing” Sudanese in the war-torn Darfur region.

¤ UN action on N.Korea launch must be cautious-China
¤ North Korea's Kim attended rocket launch
¤ Iraq shoe-throwing protester has sentence reduced

¤ Can Obama turn rhetoric into the reality of peace with the Muslim world?
The start of the Iraq war in 2003 marked a crucial break between the US and almost all the states of the region. "None of Iraq's neighbours, absolutely none, were pleased by the American occupation of Iraq," says the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zebari. Long-term US allies like Turkey astonished the White House by refusing to allow US troops to use its territory to invade Iraq.

¤ A Trillion Dollars for the Banks: How About a Second Opinion?

¤ Democrats and War Escalation
Top Democrats and many prominent supporters -- with vocal agreement, tactical quibbles or total silence -- are assisting the escalation of the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The predictable results will include much more killing and destruction. Back home, on the political front, the escalation will drive deep wedges into the Democratic Party.

¤ The Crash of '09, The Collapse of '10
¤ Global Financial Collapse Video

¤ How Freedom Was Lost
My last column noted the absurdity of Obama lumping the upper middle class in with the rich. The income distribution in the US is so skewed that the rich are found in the top one percent. The truly rich with the accoutrements associated with that class are in the top half of one percent. Those points were lost on those Americans who regard anyone slightly better off than themselves as “rich.” A slightly bigger house in a better neighborhood, a BMW instead of a Toyota, and the ability to go on vacation without going into debt is all it takes to be rich in the minds of those whose eyes are green with envy.

¤ Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009
¤ Wall St. Ticks Off the World
¤ Thousands flee bomb attacks by US drones
¤ Leave Turkey’s bid to join EU to us, Nicolas Sarkozy warns Barack Obama

¤ US collapse driven by 'fraud'

¤ The Best Way To Rob A Bank Is To Own One
The financial industry brought the economy to its knees, but how did they get away with it? With the nation wondering how to hold the bankers accountable, Bill Moyers sits down with William K. Black, the former senior regulator who cracked down on banks during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. Black offers his analysis of what went wrong and his critique of the bailout

¤ Obama and Afghanistan: Repeating Past Mistakes
‘IT is an infallible rule that a prince who is not wise himself cannot be well advised ... wise counsels, from whoever they come, must necessarily be due to the prudence of the prince, and not the prudence of the prince to the wise counsel received.’ Niccolo Machiavelli’s sage words aptly sum up the predicament of President Barack Obama on Afghanistan. Unlike his predecessor George W. Bush and his equally rash bunch of advisers, Obama is a sensible man. However, the haste he has shown in crafting a policy on Afghanistan does not reflect wisdom.

¤ Talking Peace in Prague, Dropping Bombs in Pakistan
While the usual gaggle of sycophants and media hive-minders -- along with some ordinarily perspicacious analysts -- tell us that Barack Obama literally changed the course of human history by disgorging a great load of thrice-chewed cud about nuclear disarmament in Prague this week, the high-tech drone war the great hero of peace is waging inside the sovereign territory of America's ally, Pakistan, is helping drive tens of thousands of people from their homes and killing civilians almost daily.

¤ The IMF Rules the World
Not much substantive news was expected to come out of the G-20 meetings that ended on April 2 in London – certainly no good news was even suggested. Europe, China and the United States had too deeply distinct interests. American diplomats wanted to lock foreign countries into further dependency on paper dollars. The rest of the world sought a way to avoid giving up real output and ownership of their resources and enterprises for yet more hot-potato dollars.

¤ Homeless in Tent City, USA
¤ Gordon Brown's Chicken Run at the G20
¤ Vigilantes of the Bourgeoisie
¤ What If Obama Had Treated Detroit Like Wall Street?
¤ Something is Rotten at PBS
¤ Tales of War Crimes

¤ Children the Biggest Victims of the War on Gaza
The recent war waged by Israel against Gaza Strip resulted in nearly 1500 children joining the already lengthy list of orphans in Gaza. This was disclosed by the Minister of Social Affairs, Ahmad Kurd, during the Ministry’s observation of Arab Orphans Day on Thursday, April 2nd. It is one of the by-products of a policy of aggression aimed at every segment of the Palestinian society, an aggression that makes no exceptions: not for children, nor for women, nor for the elderly.

¤ Israel’s war crimes

¤ Lieberman and the New Israeli Government

¤ After the Summit: What Was Accomplished and for How Long?
The eyes of the world have been on the Economic Summit in London, but the ideas of the world were mostly conspicuous by their absence. Here we have a global crisis. The house is on fire. Unemployment is climbing. The real estate contagion is now claiming condos and even shopping malls. It's bad and, by most accounts, getting worse. And, all the "leaders" of the world can do is devote ONE DAY to a forum that must have cost millions to stage.

¤ Quake Toll in Italy Rises to at Least 235

¤ U.S. drones: Killing Pakistan extremists or recruiting them?

¤ US drone kills 17 in Pakistan

¤ Globocop versus the TermiNATO

¤ La Rubia y La Droga
I read with horror that Hillary Clinton, posing as the Secretary of State, has been in Mexico talking with Felipe Calderon, Mexico’s president, about “the problem of drugs.” Horror is the reasonable response whenever an American official is allowed to pass beyond the beltway. Or stay within it. They never know what they are doing. Oh god.
In fairness, I have to concede that Ms. Clinton is well qualified to talk to Calderon, since he speaks...English. Further, I concede that she does have a grasp of things Latin American, engendered by many years in...Arkansas. Aaagh.

¤ There Will Be (Hyper)Inflation

¤ Foreclosure Crisis Hits Warp Speed

¤ Fake Faith and Epic Crimes
These are extraordinary times. With the United States and Britain on the verge of bankruptcy and committing to an endless colonial war, pressure is building for their crimes to be prosecuted at a tribunal similar to that which tried the Nazis at Nuremberg. This defined rapacious invasion as "the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." International law would be mere farce, said the chief US chief prosecutor at Nuremberg, Supreme Court justice Robert Jackson, "if, in future, we do not apply its principles to ourselves."

¤ Iran and Venezuela open joint bank

¤ Uzbekistan: New U.S. Supply Line

¤ Our Presidents New Best Friend Boils People Alive Flashback

¤ There Are No Excuses for Ongoing Concealment of Torture Memos

¤ Welcome to Vietnam, Mr. President

Previous Page | Trinicenter Home

Homepage | U.S. Crusade | News Sources | Zimbabwe Special | Venezuela
Back to Top