Day: April 22, 2010
Electronic Intifada Newslinks 18-22 April, 2010
New on North American Congress on Latin America 22 April, 2010
Special Subscription Offer!
Free Book With Your Subscription to NACLA Report on the Americas
In anticipation of our July/August issue, “Fault Lines: Perspectives on the Haitian Disaster,” we are pleased to announce that NACLA has teamed up with Verso to bring you a special offer:
Purchase a new one-year print subscription right now and in addition to your six-issue subscription you will receive The Haitian Revolution by Toussaint L’Ouverture, with an introduction by Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
To take advantage of this special offer visit – https://nacla.org/verso2010
THIS OFFER IS AVAILABLE WITH PURCHASE OF AN INDIVIDUAL DOMESTIC PRINT SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. THE OFFER IS VALID UNTIL MAY 31, 2010 AND WHILE SUPPLIES LAST.
Scenes From the People’s Climate Change Summit in Bolivia
by The Democracy Center
Imagine you live in a slow and sleepy village where the cow population rivals that of people and suddenly some 10,000 people from all parts of the planet descend upon it—bearing slogans. Welcome to Tiquipaya for the People’s Summit on Climate Change. This repost from the Bolivia-based Democracy Center’s blog brings together the on-the-ground reporting from Jim Shultz, Elizabeth Cooper, and Jessica Camille Aguirre, who dare to grapple with the huge questions raised at the summit this week.
Honduras and the Political Uses of the Drug War
by Nikolas Kozloff and Bill Weinberg
Soon after the June coup in Honduras, the de facto government unleashed a vigorous PR campaign against ousted president Manuel Zelaya, accusing him of being involved in drug trafficking. This linking of Zelaya to drugs remained a prominent feature of the coup government’s propaganda during its seven-month reign, and offers an insight into the the many political uses of the drug war in the Americas, even to justify the overthrow of a democratically elected president.
NO2ID Supporters’ Newsletter No. 147 – 22nd April 2010: UK almost tops international Google-snoop league
*Contacting us:* Call or email the office – 020-7793-4005 or (office@no2id.net).
+ ASK YOUR CANDIDATES +
Two weeks from now Parliament will have changed. Whoever forms the next government, over a quarter of MPs will be new to the job. Many may not know how much the database state matters to their constituents, or how deeply it will affect them.
They need to be informed and you can help. Starting now.
Over the next fortnight make it a point to ask your local candidates one of NO2ID’s seven questions for candidates at a hustings meeting or in a personal letter or e-mail. Listen carefully to what they say, and let them know you’ll be following up. One of them will be your MP and needs to know you care.
NO2ID is looking for candidates to have their own opinions on these questions. We aren’t seeking to punish people for giving ‘wrong’ answers or to antagonise them [1]. What we are hoping is to get them outside pat party lines and looking at the issues for themselves. Even if they disagree with us now, a willingness to think about it will make them approachable in the next parliament.
You can download a list of our seven questions for candidates here:
Statewatch News Online – 20 April 2010 (07/10)
Home page: www.statewatch.org/
The European Commission is about to adopt its Action Plan on the Stockholm Progamme:
1. European Commission: Action Plan on the Stockholm Programme:
Statewatch Analysis: A bit more freedom and justice and a lot more security by Tony Bunyan:
www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-95-stockholm-action-plan.pdf
“The ‘harnessing of the digital tsunami’ as advocated by the EU Future Group and the surveillance society, spelt out in Statewatch’s “The Shape of Things to Come’ is embedded in the Commission’s Action Plan as it is in the Stockholm Programme…There is no mention of the European Security Research Programme (ESRP). Much of the technological development is being funded under the 1.4 billion euro security research programme. See: Statewatch/TNI report: Neoconopticon: EU security-industrial complex.”
The Shape of Things to Come: www.statewatch.org/analyses/the-shape-of-things-to-come.pdf
Neoconopticon: EU security-industrial complex: www.statewatch.org/analyses/neoconopticon-report.pdf
2. Statewatch Briefing: European Commission: Action Plan on the Stockholm Programme: Comments by Professor Steve Peers, University of Essex:
www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-94-stockholm-action-plan-comments-steve-peers.pdf
3. Full-text: Communication from the Commission: Delivering an area of freedom, security and justice for Europe’s citizens Action Plan Implementing the Stockholm Programme (COM 171/2010): www.statewatch.org/news/2010/apr/eu-com-stockholm-programme.pdf
Today Statewatch also publishes two Analyses taking up issues raised in the Action Plan:
4. The Action Plan includes proposals to track “troublemakers”: “The right to protest: Statewatch Analysis: Protests in the EU: ‘Troublemakers’ and ‘travelling violent offenders [undefined] to be recorded on database and targeted By Tony Bunyan:
www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-93-troublemakers-apr-10.pdf
“Since the onset of the EU’s response to the ‘war on terrorism’ the prime targets have been Muslim and migrant communities together with refugees and asylum-seekers. Now there is an emerging picture across the EU that demonstrations and the democratic right to protest are among the next to be targeted to enforce “internal security”.
5. Statewatch Briefing: EU proposals to increase the financial transparency of charities and non-profit organisations by Ben Hayes:
www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-92-briefing-eu-financial-transparency-charities.pdf
“The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has strongly promoted the thesis that terrorist organisations use laundered money for their activities, and that charities are a potential conduit for terrorist organisations.”
For further information: e-mail: office@statewatch.org
________________________________________________
Statewatch: Monitoring the state and civil liberties in Europe
PO Box 1516, London, N16 0EW. UK
tel: +44(0)20-8802-1882; fax: +44(0)20-8880-1727
www.statewatch.org
NATO Newslinks 21 April, 2010: Relentless Global Drive: NATO On Six Continents In Seven Days …
NATO Newslinks 22 April, 2010: NATO Apologizes For Killing 4 Unarmed Afghans, Admits They Weren’t ‘Known …
NATO Newslinks 20 April, 2010: Nuttiest Headline: NATO F-16 Jets Attack God, Get Damaged by Volcano Ash — ChristWire
NATO Newslinks 19 April, 2010
NATO Newslinks 18 April, 2010: Time to Take Our Humvees, Apaches and Pizza Huts and Go Home
NATO Newslinks 17 April, 2010: McChrystal: too many contractors in Afghanistan
Joe Bageant: There ain’t no escape from collapse
22 April, 2010 — Joe Bageant
Joe,
In response to a letter from a reader (Joe, why did you crap out on us?), you wrote: ‘Places like Ecuador, northern California — all sorts of places — creating little spots of sustainability as best as possible.’
Since the US is the nexus of all the fraud, empire, control, and will thus be the center of the pain in the upcoming financial collapse (AND contains a huge percentage of ‘useless eaters’, i.e. superfluous workers) have you given any thought as to where the best places/countries in the world will be to ‘hang out’ while the Collective Madness and Economic Collapse take over?
Thanks,
Kevin
——
Treasury face judicial review over RBS emissions By Julian Oram
2 March 2010 — Left Foot Forward
WDM’s Julian Oram explains why P&P, WDM and PLATFORM are taking the Treasury to court – again. This piece first appeared on http://www.leftfootforward.org/
Here’s a puzzler: what is the UK’s biggest contributor to climate change? Did you answer coal? Good guess, but no. Transport? It’s a biggy for sure, but not the largest. Farming? A distant fourth.
Give up? OK, Britain’s number one contributor is … the banking industry! And top of the list within the sector is the taxpayers’ very own, and much unloved, Royal Bank of Scotland.
If this sounds improbable, consider this snippet from actuary consultant Nick Silver:
“Embedded emissions from project finance attributable to RBS was 44 M tonnes of CO2 in 2006, greater than Scotland’s national emissions. However, most of these projects were in collaboration with other lenders and the total annual emissions from these projects was 825 M tonnes of CO2, significantly more than the UK’s total direct emissions and 3% of global emissions.
Belén Fernández “Coffee with Hezbollah” A Review By Mary Rizzo
20 April, 2010
Before reading the wonderful book by Belén Fernández “Coffee with Hezbollah”, I never would have imagined it possible to read about the post-destruction aftermath of Lebanon and smile at the same time. The pretext alone, a hitchhiking trip from Turkey to southern Lebanon simply “feels” dramatic, especially when the memory of Brides on Tour, was still fresh. Would two young, attractive, independent women meet a better fate than the raped and assassinated Pippa Bacca, travelling in the same way, with each new step being not only a test of their own wits and good fortune, but also a constant surrender to trust in a world wracked by its encounter with the ultimate violence?
Book Review: THE PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF ZIONISM By Israel Shamir
21 April, 2010
A review of Overcoming Zionism: Creating a Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine by Joel Kovel (2007), Pluto Press, ISBN-13 978 0 7453 2570 5, Paperback $20.48 at Amazon.com by Ken Freeland
Amazon.com likes to tell its book-buying customers which books other customers also bought who purchased the same book, and I typically glance at this unsolicited information with bemused detachment (Oh really? But do they have my taste, interest and background?) but occasionally, when the subject matter is particularly controversial or arcane, with piqued interest (Well, maybe there is some great book on this subject that these other folks know about that I am missing out on!). One book that caught my attention this way is Overcoming Zionism: Creating a Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine by Joel Kovel. I didn’t know Joel Kovel from Adam when I ordered this book on a whim, but I have a keen interest in the single-state solution to the problem of Zionism, and so the way he worded his title caught my interest. I duly ordered it, expecting it to contain an apology for a single democratic state in Palestine, one that might fortify my own view and give me new ammunition to use against skeptics, and die-hard two-staters.
STOP THE WAR COALITION NEWSLETTER No. 1150, 19 April 2010
19 April, 2010 — Stop the War Coalition
IN THIS NEWSLETTER
1) AFGHANISTAN WAR PLANS ARE IN CRISIS
2) PROTEST AT THE PARTY LEADERS’ TELEVISION DEBATE
3) YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN 1-2 MINUTES
4) PUBLIC MEETINGS AND DEBATES AROUND THE COUNTRY
5) STOP ISLAMOPHOBIA CONFERENCE
6) PROTEST AT JOE GLENTON’S APPEAL THIS WEDNESDAY
7) HAVE YOU FILM OF 15 FEBUARY 2003 DEMONSTRATION?
8) VOLUNTEERS NEEDED AT STOP THE WAR OFFICE
UPDATE FROM THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADA 20 April, 2010
20 April, 2010: electronicIntifada.net
PALESTINE : OPINION/EDITORIAL:
GIL SCOTT-HERON: DON’T GO TO THE MOON By Matthew Cassel, The Electronic Intifada, 20 April 2010
In an open letter to musician Gil Scott-Heron, The Electronic Intifada’s Matthew Cassel urges him to cancel his upcoming concert in Tel Aviv: “Your scheduled concert in Tel Aviv is in direct violation of the call by Palestinian civil society for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. A similar boycott, which you full-heartedly supported, was called for in South Africa and helped bring an end to apartheid in that country.”
electronicintifada.net/v2/article11218.shtml
—————————————————————————————-
The New Dark Age 