date:20011223


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

- Original Message -
From: Yolanda R. [EMAIL PROTECTED]

PRESS RELEASE

Stopping the tanks rolling in Ramallah

  Yesterday Women in Black from the UK removed one of the Israeli
roadblocks which prevent Palestinian villagers going to work. The
day before they lay down in front of Israeli tanks rolling down
the streets of Ramallah in the West Bank, to draw attention to the
800 Palestinians killed by Israeli troops during the last year and
the occupation of Palestinian land. The tanks stopped at the last
minute, after firing shots in the air.

  The action was part of a programme of events organised by an
International Solidarity Movement over the last two weeks of 2001
in Palestine. More than 120 people are taking part, including
Women in Black and Palestine Solidarity Campaign members from the
UK, Women in Black from Italy, American Jewish Unity, and
Palestinian and Israeli peace organisations.

  The group met with Yasser Arafat after the 'die in', and are
planning more road block removals and other forms of non-violent
direct action, including a peace march through Bethlehem on
Christmas Day and a peace vigil on December 28th. Eighty countries
are already committed to joining in the vigil, called by the
Coalition of Women for a Just Peace in Israel.

  Women in Black in London will be holding a silent vigil calling
for an end to the occupation of Palestine and a just peace on
Friday December 28th from 6-7pm at the statue of Edith Cavell in
St Martin's Place WC2, opposite the National Portrait Gallery.

  Women in Black vigils will also be held weekly on every Wednesday
in January at the same place, from 6-7pm. 'Women are
welcome to join these silent vigils. Women in Black is an
international network of women against violence and war.

  For more information/pictures, call Sue Finch on 020 8806 1333 or
email [EMAIL PROTECTED]



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* Arafat barred from Bethlehem on Christmas * [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://cbc.ca/news


ARAFAT BARRED FROM BETHLEHEM ON CHRISTMAS
http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/12/22/arafat_011222
WebPosted Sat Dec 22 23:38:58 2001

JERUSALEM--Israel has ordered Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat to
stay away from Christmas Eve services in Bethlehem this year. 

 In a statement released early Sunday, the government's Security
Cabinet accused Arafat of not acting to dismantle Palestinian terror
groups or stop terror attacks against Israel. 

 On Saturday, Arafat announced plans to attend the annual religious 
ceremony in the town, considered by many to be the birthplace of
Jesus. The Palestinian leader vowed to go with or without Israel's
approval.
 
 It's not clear how Arafat could get to Bethlehem without help from 
Jewish leaders. He has been stuck in Ramallah since the beginning of
the month, when Israel launched a series of military strikes in
retaliation for a Palestinian suicide bombing that killed more than two
dozen people. 

 He no longer has a usable air strip, and Israeli tanks and troops
guard all roads in the region. Ramallah is about 25 kilometres north of

Bethlehem  two communities separated by the fortified city of 
Jerusalem. 

 Bethlehem was put under Palestinian control several years ago as
part of a tentative Mideast peace deal. Arafat, a Muslim, has attended
Christmas Eve services in the town for the past six years. 

 Many Palestinians mark Christmas as a kind of independence
celebration since it falls only a few days after they won limited rule
over some territory in the region. 

Copyright © 2001 CBC 
All Rights Reserved
http://cbc.ca/



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Fw: [GNAA] Robert Fisk: Brace yourself for Part Two of the War for Civilisation




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---


- Original Message - From: Vicki 
Andrada Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2001 7:38 AMSubject: Fw: [GNAA] 
Robert Fisk: 
Brace yourself for Part Two of the War for 
Civilisationto visit my home page go to: http://www.nosanctions.com - 
Original Message - From: Zahi Damuni To: Network of Americans for 
Human Rights [NAHR] Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2001 7:07 AMSubject: 
[GNAA] Robert Fisk: 
Brace yourself for Part Two of the War for 
CivilisationBrace yourself for Part Two of the 
War for Civilisationby Robert Fisk'The US 
air strikes have now killed more Afghans than the hijackers killedwesterners 
and others'Independent22 December 2001http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=111323 
It needed my old Irish journalist colleague, Vincent Browne, to point 
outthe obvious to me. With a headache as big as Afghanistan, reading through 
athousand newspaper reports on the supposed "aftermath" of the Afghan 
war,I'd become drugged by the lies. Afghan women were free at last, 
"our"peacekeeping force was on its way, the Taliban were crushed. 
Anti-Americandemonstrations in Pakistan had collapsed - we'll forget my 
little brush withsome real Afghans there a couple of weeks ago. Al-Qa'ida 
was being "smokedout" of its cave. Osama bin Laden was - well, not captured 
or even dead;but - well, the Americans had a videotape, incomprehensible to 
every Arab I've 
met, which "proves" that our latest monster planned 
the crimes against humanity 
on New York and Washington.So it needed 
Vincent, breathing like a steam engine as he always does whenhe's angry, to 
point to the papers in Gemma's, my favourite Dublinnewsagents. "What in 
Christ's sake is going on, Bob?'' he asked. "Have youseen the headlines of 
all this shite?'' and he pulled Newsweek from theshelf. The headline: After 
The Evil."What is this biblical bollocks?'' Vincent asked me. Osama bin 
Laden'sovergrained, videotaped face stared from the cover of the magazine, a 
dark,devilish image from Dante's circles of hell. When he captured Berlin, 
Stalinannounced that his troops had entered "the lair of the fascist 
beast''. Butthe Second World War has nothing on this.So let's do a 
"story-so-far". After Arab mass-murderers crashed fourhijacked aircraft into 
the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon andPennsylvania, a crime against 
humanity which cost more than 
4,000 innocent 
lives, President Bush announced a crusade for infinite 
"justice" - later downgraded to infinite 
freedom - and bombed Afghanistan. Using the gunmen 
and murderers of the discredited Northern Alliance 
to destroy the gunmen 
and murderers of the discredited Taliban, the 
Americans bombed bin Laden's 
cave fortresses and killed hundreds of Afghan and 
Arab fighters, not including 
the prisoners executed after the Anglo-US-Northern 
Alliance suppression of the 
Mazar prison revolt.The production of the 
bin Laden videotape - utterly convincing evidence ofhis guilt to the world's 
press, largely, if wilfully, ignored by the Muslimworld - helped to obscure 
the fact that Mr Evil, seemed to have disappeared.It also helped to airbrush 
a few other facts away. We could forget that USair strikes, according to 
statistics compiled by a Chicago Universityprofessor, have now killed more 
innocent Afghans than the hijackers killedwesternersand others in the 
World Trade Centre. We could forget that Mullah Omar, themysterious leader 
of the Taliban, has also got away.We could ignore the fact that, save 
for a few brave female souls, almost allAfghan women in Kabul continued to 
wear the burqa. We could certainly closeour eyes to the massive 
preponderance of Northern Alliance killersrepresented in the new 
UN-supported, pro-western Government in Kabul. Wecould clap our hands when a 
mere 50 Royal Marines arrived in Afghanistanthis weekend to support a 
UN-mandated British-led "peace" force of only afew thousand men who will 
need the Kabul government's permission to operate 
in the city and which, in numbers, will come to 
about one-third of the complement 
of the British Army destroyed in the Kabul Gorge in 
1842.The "peace" force thinks it will have to defend humanitarian aid 
convoysfrom robbers and dissident Taliban. In fact, it will have to fight 
off theNorthern Alliance mafia and drug-growers and warlords, as well as 
thevicious guerrillas sent out to strike them by bin Laden's survivors. 
Ifnothing else, the Taliban made the roads and villages of Afghanistan 
safefor Afghans and foreigners alike. Now, you can scarcely drive from Kabul 
toJalalabad.Presumably, the CIA will let us pay the Alliance 
mobsters for their war inAfghanistan. One of the untold stories of this 
conflict is the huge amountof money handed out to militia leaders to 
persuade them to fight for the US.When Taliban members changed sides for an 
Alliance payment of $250,000 
and then attacked their benefactors, we all dwelt 
on their

US: Mid Air Terror Sparks Fresh Security Warning [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-12-23 Thread Stasi




HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---




  
  
Ananova 
  :


  

  


  
  
Mid-air terror sparks fresh security 
  warning
FBI agents are continuing to question an air passenger said to have tried to 
detonate explosives packed in his shoes.

The transatlantic passenger was travelling on a British passport.
The man, using the name Richard Reid, was tackled by passengers and crew 
after a flight attendant smelt sulphur, and saw he was attempting to start a 
fire.
The 6ft 4ins man was restrained and belted into his seat by passengers aboard 
American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami, then two doctors sedated 
him.
The plane was then escorted to Boston's Logan International Airport by two US 
F-15 fighter jets.
The incident prompted a fresh warning from terrorism expert Mike Yardley that 
airport security still needed to be improved.
Mr Yardley said: "This is another example of how the low-tech approach has 
defeated airport security systems.
"It appears the man smuggled the explosives past security in his shoe and was 
attempting to detonate it with a simple box of matches."
The heels of the man's shoes were later found to be filled with what appeared 
to be explosives.
The man's passport was issued in Belgium three weeks ago.
Story filed: 10:46 Sunday 23rd December 
2001
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blank.gif
Description: GIF image
richardreidAP410x233.jpg

Re: Geraldo's the best comedy on TV [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-12-23 Thread Raulmax


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

In a message dated 12/22/01 8:24:56 PM US Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:



http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2001/12/21/DD120872.DTL
--
Friday, December 21, 2001 (SF Chronicle)
Geraldo's the best comedy on TV
Tim Goodman

 Everything we know we learned from television:

 "Hello, I'm gun-toting Geraldo Rivera, reporting live from My War
in Afghanistan, where everything I say revolves around me and what I'm
doing and what I'm feeling or thinking. In today's developments,
I-I-I-me-me-me-I-I-me- me-I. Now back to Fox News and more saber
rattling."


I remember when instead of being Geraldo Rivera he would introduce himself as
Jerry Rivers and deny that he was Puerto Rican. That was in the days that not even Sammy Davis Jr. would acknowledge that his mother was Puerto Rican.
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Strengthening on the top of SPS: Mirko Marjanovic new Milosevic's deputy [WWW.ST

2001-12-23 Thread Vladimir Krsljanin




HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---



SOCIALIST PARTY OF SERBIA
Head 
Committee
Belgrade, December 23, 
2001
THE 
STATEMENT

 
On the basis of Article 39 of the Statute of SPS, the President of the 
Socialist Party of Serbia Mr. Slobodan Milosevic has determined Mr. Mirko 
Marjanovic, the member of the Executive Committee of the SPS Head Committee to 
substitute the President in his absence.
 
Mr. Zivadin Jovanovic has resigned from the post of Vice-President of SPS, remaining the 
member of the Executive Committee and Chairman of the Council for International 
Relations, with the acknowledgment for his successful 
work.
 
This has been noted on today's meeting of the Secretariat of the 
Executive Committee after acquainting with the content of the talk that the SPS 
delegation had with President Milosevic during the visit on December 21, 
2001.
 
President Milosevic supports continuation of the reforms based on the 
realistic assessments of the actual situation in the society and state, reforms 
aiming the strengthening of the influence of the Socialist Party of Serbia as 
the strongest opposition party and as the most important political force for the 
future of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He emphasizes the importance of the protection 
of the unity of the Party and of the consequent realization of its main 
programmatic goals - protection of the national and state interests, as well as 
of the social justice and economic potentials of the country, for the benefit of 
all it's citizens.
 
The Secretariat of the Executive Committee of the Head Committee had 
unanimously supported the decision and the political stands, stating that Mr. 
Mirko Marjanovic, with his reach experience as Prime Minister and eminent 
businessman, fulfils all condition for successful discharge of the important 
Party duty.

To join or help this struggle, visit:http://www.sps.org.yu/ (official SPS 
website)http://www.belgrade-forum.org/ (forum 
for the world of equals)http://www.icdsm.org/ (the international 
committee to defend Slobodan Milosevic)http://www.jutarnje.co.yu/ ('morning news' 
the only Serbian newspaper advocating liberation)
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Fw: Chavez: Cuba-Venezuela comparisons crazy [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]




HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---


Interesting...while Reuters refers to Venezuela as 
being "oil rich", they also 
admit, with their own words, 
admit, quote "the vast majority of Venezuelans 

live in poverty in the world's No. 4 oil exporter".

This same pro- capitalist Reuters, so 
called "news" agency that in other 
stories, would have you believe that Chavez's 
popularity among Venezuelans 
is falling do tohis land, business 
and banking reforms that he is bringing in 
for the benefit the "vast 
majority" who are poor! 

I guess opinions on Chavez's popularity 
depends who you choose to ask .and 
who's views you choose to 
print!
mart- Original Message - From: Jose G. Perez To: 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2001 2:39 PMSubject: 
[CubaNews] Chavez: Cuba-Venezuela comparisons "crazy"By Magdalena 
Morales
CARACAS, Venezuela, Dec 19 (Reuters) - 


Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday 

dismissed as 'crazy' suggestions by political 
opponents 
he was seeking to establish a Cuban-style communist 

system in his oil-rich country.
In a speech apparently aimed at allaying 
fears in the 
armed forces about his intentions, the former 
paratrooper 
told soldiers in south-western Venezuela that he 
had 
respect and 
friendship for Cuba and its president, Fidel 
Castro.
'Cuba has its communist regime, and it's one we 
respectbecause it's not our problem,' Chavez said, visiting a garrisonat 
Guasdualito in Apure State, near the border with Colombia.
'Anyone who says that Chavez is Cubanizing the 
country andis going to establish the same kind of regime here which 
Cubaand Fidel Castro has, is, quite simply, crazy,' Chavez 
said.
Since he was swept to power in a landslide 
election victoryin 1998, the outspoken president has pledged to implement 
aself-proclaimed 'revolution' to help the majority of Venezuelanswho 
live in poverty in the world's No. 4 oil exporter.
He has decreed radical reform laws covering 
oil, land,fisheries and finance which his critics say are left-wing 
inconception and inspired by Castro's Cuba. Last Dec. 10,opponents of 
the laws staged a one-day national protest strike,which was widely supported 
and shut down most of the country.
Unlike Cuba, which has a one-party socialist 
constitution,Venezuela has a multiparty political system. Havana is 
thetarget of long-running U.S. trade sanctions, while Venezuela isa 
major supplier of crude oil to the U.S. market.
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Christmas in America 2001/ 'Shop Till bin Laden Drops' [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-12-23 Thread Miroslav Antic

Title: Message



HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---



  
  

  Published on Sunday, December 23, 2001 in The Sunday Herald 
  (Scotland) 
  

  Christmas in 
  America 2001'Shop Till bin Laden Drops'This 
  Christmas -- post September 11 -- Americans are told to 'buy, buy, 
  buy'
  

  by Ros Davidson
  

  
SHOPPING as a moral duty. Economic 
  patriotism. The virtue of spending. Since September 11 the United States 
  has plunged into such in a frenzy of consumerism, cynics have dubbed the 
  trend 'Shop till bin Laden drops'. 
  Buying more stuff -- whether patriotic, militaristic or sentimental -- 
  is the new credo to jump-start the sputtering economy and prove al-Qaeda 
  can't usurp the American way. As Barbara Bush, mother of the leader of the 
  free world, recalled in a recent speech to college students: 'I asked the 
  president, 'What can we do to show support for America?' He said, 'Mom, if 
  you really want to help, buy, buy, buy.'' 
  Never before has the USA, the land of the shopping spree, been so 
  bedecked with red, white and blue. And with just hours of Christmas 
  shopping left, it's brutally clear that this gung-ho affluenza is silly, 
  tacky, disturbing and wasteful, a rhinestone Remembrance Day poppy. 
  Conserving petrol or electricity? Victory gardens? Rationing? Not when 
  fashion designer Ralph Lauren has sheets in red, white and blue. In 
  Bloomingdales, the Yankee equivalent of Harrods, is a $100 Lycra and 
  cotton T-shirt with a sequined flag. 'Together we can rebuild America' is 
  on six-foot banners amid the perfume and socks in a downtown branch of 
  Macy's, Manhattan's most famous department store. 
  In full-page newspaper adverts, Macy's is pushing the usual blizzard of 
  gift ideas -- black, push-up Wonderbras or saucepan sets for $499 -- with 
  a post-terrorism message, 'more unity'. Presumably by shopping. If you 
  donate $125 to the Red Cross, Macy's will 'reward' you with 10% off until 
  January 11. Why the deal ends that day, four months after thousands were 
  incinerated, is not answered. 
  According to opinion polls, two-thirds of Americans, emboldened by 
  military success, want the war expanded beyond Afghanistan. Lowe's, a DIY 
  warehouse, donates $2 to the armed forces emergency services for every 
  sale of a $9 'flowers of pride' plant in a flag-wrapped pot: 'Even more 
  beautiful is what it does for our military families,' reads the label. 
  To assuage guilt among the pious, a Tennessee company has rushed out a 
  red, white and blue Bible. It is sold out. 'Let freedom sparkle for the 
  holidays' suggests an advert for 'brave heart,' a sparkling $34 stars and 
  stripes Christmas tree bauble. Profits go to the American Red Cross. Not 
  to be outdone, French crystal company Baccarat has a 'hearts united, 
  puffed heart' paperweight for $95, of which $50 goes to the twin towers 
  fund for the families of New York's firefighters and policemen. 'Baccarat 
  is committed to America's rise to recovery,' potential buyers are assured. 

  A tenth of proceeds from a pricey North Beach leather flag jacket, with 
  Old Glory as big as a truck on the back, is for the same fund. For the 
  frugal, a mail-order American freedom flag collection is $14.95 -- two 
  weatherproof plastic flags for the family's two cars, a lapel pin and four 
  'peel-n-place' window stickers. 
  So au fait is heroism, lawyers for New York's police and fire 
  departments have had to send out 'cease and desist' letters to enforce 
  their copyrights and trademark. 
  Unauthorized street vendors, gift shops and internet sites have cost 
  the public agencies more than $20 million since September 11. 
  To fight back, the fire department will soon open a FDNY fire zone 
  boutique in Bloomingdales, to benefit public safety programs. While air 
  strikes have pummeled the Afghanis, FDNY and NYPD have morphed into a 
  brand like DKNY. Surely no proceeds go to charity from Frederick's of 
  Hollywood, which has a patriotic thong decorated with flags and the sexy 
  words 'America the Beautiful'? 
  Other uncharitable items are T-shirts for tourists emblazoned with a 
  flag: 'These colors don't run. God bless America' or 'Fear no evil. United 
  we stand.' Another popular T-shirt, made in once war-torn El Salvador, 
  depicts two black F16 fighter jets, the stars and stripes and the promise: 
  'Justice will be done.' Especially note worthy for a disturbing 
  sentimentality is Ashton-Tate Galleries' $80 'Devil pup' doll. The 
  wide-eyed blond-haired chubby toddler, in a military outfit, has a tiny 
  fist raised in defiance. 'He's always faithful ... to

Re: News, 23.12.2001, 16:00 UTC [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-12-23 Thread TOOLGT


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

In a message dated 12/23/2001 9:31:19 AM Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:




 Security officials at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport said they
 could not explain how a man with a false passport, no luggage and
 c-4 plastic explosives stuffed in his shoes could have passed
 through their security without being noticed. 

Who gave him the boarding pass?
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Enron and the Green Seal [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-12-23 Thread Miroslav Antic

Title: Message



HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---



  
  

  Published on Saturday, December 22, 2001 by Counterpunch 
  

  Enron and the Green Seal 
  

  by Alexander Cockburn and 
  Jeffrey St. Clair
  

  
The fall of Enron sounds the 
  death knell for one of the great rackets of the past decade: green seals 
  of approval, whereby some outfit like the Natural Resources Defense 
  Council or the Environmental Defense Fund would issue testimonials to the 
  enviro-conscience and selfless devotion to the public weal of corporations 
  like Enron. 
  These green seals of 
  approval were part of the neoliberal pitch, that fuddy-duddy regulation 
  should yield to modern, "market-oriented solutions" to environmental 
  problems, which essentially means bribing corporations in the hope they'll 
  stop their polluting malpractices. Indeed, NRDC and EDF were always the 
  prime salesfolk of neoliberal remedies for environmental problems. In 
  fact, NRDC was socked into the Enron lobby machine so deep you couldn't 
  see the soles of its feet. Here's what happened. 
  In 1997 high-flying 
  Enron found itself in a pitched battle in Oregon, where it planned to 
  acquire Portland General Electric, Oregon's largest public utility. 
  Warning that Enron's motives were of a highly predatory nature, the staff 
  of the state's Public Utility Commission (PUC) opposed the merger. They 
  warned that an Enron takeover would mean less ability to protect the 
  environment, increased insecurity for PGE's workers and, in all 
  likelihood, soaring prices. Other critics argued that Enron's actual plan 
  was to cannibalize PGE, in particular its hydropower, which Enron would 
  sell into California's energy market. 
  But at the very moment 
  when such protests threatened to balk Enron of its prize, into town rode 
  NRDC's top energy commissar, Ralph Cavanagh, Heinz environmental genius 
  award pinned to his armor and flaunting ties to the Energy Foundation, a 
  San Francisco-based outfit providing financial wattage for many citizen 
  and environmental groups that work on utility and enviro issues. 
  
  Cavanagh lost no time 
  whipping the refractory Oregon greens into line. In concert with Enron, 
  the NRDC man put together a memo of understanding, pledging that the 
  company would lend financial support to some of these groups' pet 
  projects. 
  But Cavanagh still had 
  some arduous politicking ahead. An OK for the merger had to come from the 
  PUC, whose staff was adamantly opposed. So, on Valentine's Day, 1997, 
  Cavanagh showed up at a hearing in Salem, Oregon, to plead Enron's case. 
  
  Addressing the three 
  PUC commissioners, Cavanagh averred that this was "the first time I've 
  ever spoken in support of a utility merger." If so, it was the quickest 
  transition from virginity to seasoned service in the history of 
  intellectual prostitution. Cavanagh flaunted the delights of an Enron 
  embrace: "What we've put before you with this company is, we believe, a 
  robust assortment of public benefits for the citizens of Oregon which 
  would not emerge, Mr. Chairman, without the merger." 
  With a warble in his 
  throat, Cavanagh moved into rhetorical high gear: "The Oregonian asks the 
  question, 'Can you trust Enron?' On stewardship issues and public benefit 
  issues I've dealt with this company for a decade, often in the most 
  contentious circumstances, and the answer is, yes." 
  Cavanagh won the day 
  for the Houston-based energy giant. The PUC approved the merger, and it 
  wasn't long before the darkest suspicions of Enron's plans were 
  vindicated. The company raised rates, tried to soak the ratepayers with 
  the cost of its failed Trojan nuclear reactor and moved to put some of 
  PGE's most valuable assets on the block. Enron's motive had indeed been to 
  get access to the hydropower of the Northwest, the cheapest in the 
  country, and sell it into the California market, the priciest and-in part 
  because of Cavanagh's campaigning for deregulation-a ripe energy prize 
  awaiting exploitation. 
  Then, after two years, 
  the company Cavanagh had hailed as being "engaged and motivated" put PGE 
  up on the auction block. Pending sale of PGE, Enron has been using it as 
  collateral for loans approved by a federal bankruptcy judge.
  Enron is best known as 
  George W. Bush's prime financial backer in his presidential quest. But it 
  was a bipartisan purveyor of patronage: to its right, conservative Texas 
  Senator Phil Gramm; to its left, liberal Texas Democrat Sheila Jackson-Lee 
  (who had Enron's CEO Ken Lay as her finance

Bush Predicts 'War Year' in 2002 [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-12-23 Thread Miroslav Antic

Title: Message



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---



  
  

  on 
  Friday, December 21, 2001 by Reuters 
  
  

  Bush Predicts 'War Year' in 2002 
  

  by Peter Graff and Charles 
  Aldinger
  

  
KABUL/WASHINGTON - A provisional 
  government on which the world has pegged its hopes for a peaceful 
  Afghanistan prepared on Friday to take power, but U.S. President George. 
  W. Bush warned that 2002 would still be a ``war year.'' 
  A disputed U.S. attack on a convoy of suspected Taliban or al Qaeda 
  leaders marred the run-up to a ceremony on Saturday that would mark the 
  first orderly transition of power in two decades in the central Asian 
  nation. 
  Pashtun tribal chieftain Hamid Karzai was to be sworn in as leader of a 
  government molded by the United Nations and charged with rebuilding the 
  war-shattered nation whose ousted Taliban rulers sheltered Osama bin Laden 
  and his fighters as they allegedly plotted the Sept. 11 attacks on America 
  that killed nearly 3,300 people. 
  Some 75 British Royal Marines, the vanguard of an international 
  peacekeeping force expected to swell to at least 1,500, touched down in 
  Kabul while the United States stepped up its hunt for bin Laden in the 
  cave-riddled mountains of eastern Afghanistan. 
  Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said U.S. forces had begun searching 
  al Qaeda caves and tunnels and that more troops would be sent to press the 
  hunt, as Washington left the ''nation-building'' mission to its European 
  and Muslim allies. 
  The Pentagon also rushed into battle a new bomb designed to kill people 
  in caves and tunnels with a higher-energy blast than standard explosives. 
  CONVOY BOMBED 
  U.S. defense officials announced AC-130 gunships and Navy fighters had 
  attacked and destroyed a convoy in Afghanistan believed to be carrying 
  ``leadership'' of the Taliban or al Qaeda. 
  But reports from the region said the convoy instead comprised Afghan 
  tribal elders on their way to Kabul to attend the inauguration of the 
  interim government, killing about 65 people -- something the Pentagon 
  rejected. 
  ``There is no doubt in their (U.S. military's Central Command) mind 
  that they hit what they wanted to hit and that it was the bad guys,'' 
  Marine Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, told Reuters. 
  Bush, in an interview with reporters in Washington, said great progress 
  had been made in his ``war on terrorism'' but warned that peace was not at 
  hand. 
  ``Next year will be a war year as well because we're going to continue 
  to hunt down these al Qaeda people in this particular theater, as well as 
  other places,'' he said. 
  Bush said the United States would be willing to send U.S. special 
  forces or logistical support to countries that ask for help. Washington 
  has identified more than 60 countries with al Qaeda cells in them in the 
  wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington. 
  ``Our war against terror extends way beyond Afghanistan. And at some 
  point in time maybe some president will come and say you have the 
  expertise that we don't, would you mind maybe have some of your troops 
  with ours. And the answer is, 'you bet,''' Bush said. 
  ON TO IRAQ? 
  A majority of Americans support extending the military campaign to 
  Iraq, according to the latest opinion poll. 
  Secretary of State Colin Powell warned that military success in 
  Afghanistan did not guarantee a similar result in Iraq, proposed by 
  Washington's hawks as the next target in the war on terrorism. 
  ``They are so significantly different that you can't take the Afghan 
  model and immediately apply it to Iraq,'' he said. 
  Bush admitted that the whereabouts of bin Laden was unknown, but 
  repeated his promise the wealthy Saudi-born militant would be caught. 
  ``I haven't heard much from him recently, which means he could be in a 
  cave that doesn't have an opening to it anymore, or could be in a cave 
  where he can get out, or may have tried to slither out into neighboring 
  Pakistan. We don't know. But I will tell you this: We're going to find 
  him,'' Bush said. 
  Pakistani security forces were holding hundreds of prisoners captured 
  fleeing Afghanistan. After a mass escape of al Qaeda fighters, they 
  searched cars and checked women wearing the all-enveloping burqa in case 
  they were male fugitives in disguise. 
  Bin Laden ally Mullah Mohammad Omar, the reclusive head of the ousted 
  Taliban movement, also has eluded capture and was said by a former Taliban 
  minister to be safe at an unknown location in Afghanistan. 
  Mullah Abdul Shakour,

Ali as pro-war pitchman [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-12-23 Thread Barry Stoller


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---


New York Times. 23 December 2001. Ali Joins Hollywood's Corner to
Explain War to Muslims. Edited.

Hollywood, in search of a pitchman to explain America and its war to the
Muslim world, has recruited Muhammad Ali.

The writers, producers and studio executives who have formed their own
campaign to bolster America's image abroad believe that Mr. Ali will
have special credibility with an audience believed to be deeply
suspicious of the United States.

In the 1960's, he rattled American conventions by converting to Islam,
then defied the American government by refusing to serve when drafted,
an act that cost him his world heavyweight title.

Here is a guy who was wrung dry when he refused to serve. He has since
undergone a glorious redemption and therefore he's credible, said Jack
Valenti, president of the the Motion Picture Association of America,
which is overseeing what is loosely called Hollywood 9/11, the
entertainment industry group that is contributing to the war effort.

Mr. Valenti has said, and several Hollywood executives confirmed, that
Mr. Ali has tentatively agreed to do a one-minute public service
announcement designed for broadcast in several translations over
networks like Al Jazeera, the Middle East Broadcasting Centre
transmitted to the region from London and the Lebanese Broadcasting
Corporation in Beirut.

Although Hollywood 9/11 wants to avoid being seen as a government
propaganda arm, the announcement's themes parallel some of the
administration's.

Ali will hopefully be able to convey the idea that Muslims in America
lead a free life, practice their religion in a form in which they choose
to practice it, Mr. Valenti said. The second point: It's not a war
against Islam. It's a war against murderers who kill innocent people.

The public service announcement would be the first product for overseas
consumption to come from Hollywood 9/11.

The group was formed after industry executives met Nov. 11 with Karl
Rove, senior advisor to President Bush, to discuss lending an
independent hand to the war effort.

Several committee members said they first thought of Mr. Ali because
they found his appearance at the Sept. 21 telethon to raise money for
victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and their families so powerful.

He is quite recognizable as a good symbol for someone who is Muslim and
made it, said Dr. Abdel Moneim Said, director of the Al Ahram Center
for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo and host of an Egyptian
public affairs television program, Behind The Events. He was a
fighter against the Vietnam war and he refused conscription, so he is a
guy with a stand.

Mr. Ali has also become an endorser for Coke

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Barry Stoller
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews

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Re: Santa Claus is tapping your phone [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

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---

- Original Message - 
From: Steve Wagner [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2001 1:16 AM
Subject: Santa Claus is tapping your phone [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

Then there's always the ever-lovely We All Live in a Fascist War
Machine, to the tune of Yellow Submarine, of course.  Anyone have the
words?

Ahem...

And our friends are all abroad
Many more of them die next door...

Tunefully,

Bill.

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Women in Black lay down in front of tanks in Ramallah [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]


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---


[Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ]

[Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ]
.
.
- Original Message - 
From: mart [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2001 10:50 AM
Subject: [C-I] Fw: Women in Black lay down in front of tanks in Ramallah


- Original Message - 
From: Steve Wagner [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2001 7:07 AM
Subject: Women in Black lay down in front of tanks in Ramallah 
 ---
 
 - Original Message -
 From: Yolanda R. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 
 PRESS RELEASE
 
 Stopping the tanks rolling in Ramallah
 
   Yesterday Women in Black from the UK removed one of the Israeli
 roadblocks which prevent Palestinian villagers going to work. The
 day before they lay down in front of Israeli tanks rolling down
 the streets of Ramallah in the West Bank, to draw attention to the
 800 Palestinians killed by Israeli troops during the last year and
 the occupation of Palestinian land. The tanks stopped at the last
 minute, after firing shots in the air.
 
   The action was part of a programme of events organised by an
 International Solidarity Movement over the last two weeks of 2001
 in Palestine. More than 120 people are taking part, including
 Women in Black and Palestine Solidarity Campaign members from the
 UK, Women in Black from Italy, American Jewish Unity, and
 Palestinian and Israeli peace organisations.
 
   The group met with Yasser Arafat after the 'die in', and are
 planning more road block removals and other forms of non-violent
 direct action, including a peace march through Bethlehem on
 Christmas Day and a peace vigil on December 28th. Eighty countries
 are already committed to joining in the vigil, called by the
 Coalition of Women for a Just Peace in Israel.
 
   Women in Black in London will be holding a silent vigil calling
 for an end to the occupation of Palestine and a just peace on
 Friday December 28th from 6-7pm at the statue of Edith Cavell in
 St Martin's Place WC2, opposite the National Portrait Gallery.
 
   Women in Black vigils will also be held weekly on every Wednesday
 in January at the same place, from 6-7pm. 'Women are
 welcome to join these silent vigils. Women in Black is an
 international network of women against violence and war.
 
   For more information/pictures, call Sue Finch on 020 8806 1333 or
 email [EMAIL PROTECTED]

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Revolutionary crisis rocks Argentina [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]


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---


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.
.
- Original Message -
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2001 6:10 PM
Subject: Revolutionary crisis rocks Argentina




From: Jari-Pekka Raitamaa

Subject: [luokkataistelu] Revolutionary crisis rocks Argentina

Frontlines Exclusive

Revolutionary crisis rocks Argentina
By Sebastian Robles
With Correspondents at the Frontlines
This post contains a main article and three more recent updates.


Argentina is in economic default, its banking system shut off,
stricken with massive bankruptcies. Unemployment has risen to 2.5
million (22%). This figure does not include the 1.2 million
unemployed (11% of the population) in the Black Economy - informal
economic activities.

Earlier this week, the Argentinean government fell twice in 48 hours.
First, the massive and spontaneous protests, massive looting of Super-
Markets in twenty cities in ten different provinces, including the
country's capital, forced the entire cabinet to resign. Then the
President himself resigned when the opposition Peronists refused to
join a National Unity government.

Hours before de la Rua's resignation, Washington told him he was on
his own. Around a week ago, the IMF refused to give Argentina the
$1.3 billion scheduled for disbursement. No money, no bailout or
renegotiations, no liquidity for the economy, despite the fact that
de la Rua was the first Latin American president to commit troops to
the peace force in Afghanistan (which also produced indignation among
the people) and that he was inclined to accept or at least negotiate
with the US to erect American military bases in northeastern
Argentina on the borders of Brazil and Paraguay. According to the US,
this is a pro-Bin Laden enclave because there are numerous Arab
residents in the area.

Despite ferocious police repression, there have only been 2000 people
arrested all over the country, 350 in Buenos Aires. Around 30 people
were killed and over 900 wounded on Thursday, December 20. In working
class neighborhoods, people organized self-defense committees, cut
off access roads to their areas of control and erected barricades.
Tens of thousands are marching in downtown areas of the country's
major cities.

Immediate Background

The now ex-President, Fernando de la Rua, was from the traditionally
liberal Radical Party. He was elected two years ago in coalition with
some center-left politicians and in alliance with a segment of the
Peronist Party. The election gave the Radicals some relative mass
support once again.

But the government continued the previous Peronist government of
Carlos Menem's policies of shock, privatization and cuts in
government spending. Widespread discontent with these policies led
two ministers of the economy to resign within 72 hours of each other
last year. The buck finally stopped with Domingo Cavallo, who had,
ironically, also served as Menem's minister of the economy. This
government imposed the dollarization of the economy, which failed.
The stock market was soon in ruins.

Unemployment rose, services were cut. Over 40% of public employees
were fired and the wages of those remaining were cut twice in the
last year, the last one announced last week (20% once, 20% the second
time). Wages for pensioners and retirees were also drastically cut.
Many provincial governments owe their employees 4-7 months back wages.

A year ago, the Vice-President Carlos Alvarez - a dissident Peronist
allied with the Radicals - resigned when de la Rua insisted on
retaining two members of his cabinet who had been implicated in a
congressional bribery scandal. No replacement had been found, further
souring the pickle of the Argentinean ruling class when de la Rua
quit.

Then came a massive general strike and more than 300 other labor
actions since March.

In October, the government's alliance lost the elections to the
Peronists - formerly a populist party, now a fragmented confederation
of right wing, conservative and center right factions , who recovered
control of both the House and the Senate.

The Peronists also control the majority of the governors' mansions.
But the Peronists were not the real winners of that election. More
than 25% of the Argentineans who went to the polls to vote that day
either did not mark any candidate or spoiled their ballots in
protest. The fragmented left (including the Communist Party and four
Trotskyist parties) got over 1 million votes.

Most of the million were cast for the Trotskyists, scattered
throughout four different small parties leftover from splits in the
Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), arguably the largest Trotskyist party
the world has ever seen. The MAS, which virtually became THE left in
the eary 80s, exploded in different factions when they shifted their
traditional revolutionary policies.

One of these fragments only

Russia Urges U.S. to Remove Bases After Afghan War [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]


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---


[Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ]

[Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ]
.
.Russia Urges U.S. to Remove Bases After Afghan War.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Saturday that Moscow hoped the
U.S. will keep its promise to remove its military bases from Central Asian
countries after military action in Afghanistan is over.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Saturday that Moscow hoped the
U.S. will keep its promise to remove its military bases from Central Asian
countries after military action in Afghanistan   is over.

Russia respects the choice and decisions of the leaderships of the Central
Asian countries about how to build their relations with the U.S. today and
for the future, Ivanov told Russia's TVTs television.

However, he said, Washington has said the U.S. does not plan to keep its
military bases on the territory of the Central Asian countries for long time
after it finishes its military task in Afghanistan.

We hope the U.S. will act in conformity with this position, said the
minister. 

Ivanov also said Russia was ready to sign a deal with the U.S. on drastic
cut of strategic weapons during U.S. President George Bush's Moscow trip
planned for the middle of the next year.

The minister said he hoped the two countries would start  concrete
negotiations on this matter in January.

Moscow had put forward a proposal for Russia and the U.S. each to cut its
nuclear arsenal to 1,500 warheads or fewer, he said.

Ivanov said the Russian-American dialogue on strategic stability will be
continued even after the U.S. announced to unilaterally withdraw from the
1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

We cannot take an offended posture and say we will not continue
negotiations, he said.



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.Iraq Capable of Defending Itself: Official [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]


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---


[Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ]

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.
.Iraq Capable of Defending Itself: Official.

Iraq is capable of defending itself and resisting any possible military
attacks launched by the U.S. under the pretext of war against terrorism,
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said on Saturday.

Iraq   is capable of defending itself and resisting any possible military
attacks launched by the U.S. under the pretext of war against terrorism,
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said on Saturday.

We are confident of our capability of resisting any kind of (U. S.)
aggressions, Aziz told the state-run television.

Any U.S. attacks on Iraq would be rejected by the whole world, he
stressed. 

There have been widespread speculations that the U.S. might launch military
strikes against Iraq as part of its war against terrorism, although the U.S.
has acknowledged that it found no link between Iraq and the September 11
terror attacks in New York and Washington.

U.S. President George W. Bush demanded Iraq in November to allow
international arms inspectors back after an absence of three years, or it
will face consequences.

The arms inspectors withdrew from Iraq on the eve of the U.S.- British air
raids on Baghdad in December 1998.

Iraq has been adamant in the face of U.S. threats by vowing to reject the
resumption of arms inspections and defend itself by all means.



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IMF warns of worldwide recession--or `worse' - [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---


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.
.
- Original Message - 
From: secr [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2001 6:22 PM
Subject: [mobilize-globally] IMF warns of worldwide recession--or `worse' -



-- Forwarded Message
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2001 09:20:02 +0200
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: IMF warns of worldwide recession--or `worse' -




--
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 14:58:06 PST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [R-G] IMF warns of worldwide recession--or `worse' -

The Chicago Tribune
December 19, 2001

IMF warns of worldwide recession--or `worse'

 By William Neikirk Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- The International Monetary Fund predicted Tuesday that the
global 
economy will sink dangerously close to a recession in 2002 and said there
is a 
significant possibility of a worse outcome.

The international lending agency revised its economic forecasts sharply
downward in 
the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which it said had damaged
consumer and 
business confidence around the world.

The IMF's gloomier outlook raised the specter of the first synchronized
global recession 
since 1975, which many private economists believe is a virtual certainty
with Japan and 
the U.S. in recession and Europe sliding toward one.

A synchronized recession is difficult to escape. Usually, one region facing
a downturn 
depends on others to pull it back to prosperity. For example, strong growth
in the U.S. 
helped Asia out of its financial crisis in 1998.

But the IMF's report, plus interviews with private economists, make clear
that no 
country or region will rebound sufficiently in 2002 to serve as an engine
for growth. 
The IMF predicted only a 0.7 percent growth rate in the U.S. and 1.3 percent
in 
Europe next year, while Japan's economy was projected to decline by 1
percent.

The institution, known as the lender of last resort to countries in
financial trouble, 
forecast world economic growth of 2.4 percent in 2002, down 1.1 percentage
points 
from its pre-Sept. 11 outlook. Economists say global growth of less than 2
percent 
qualifies as a world recession.

Even at that, Robert Aliber, economics professor at the University of
Chicago, 
questioned whether the IMF's outlook was too upbeat. It's hard to see where
the 
positive growth is coming from, he said.

Economist Donald Straszheim, a California consultant, and Gary Hufbauer, an

economist at the Institute for International Economics in Washington, also
said the IMF 
seemed to be too optimistic. Hufbauer speculated the agency shied away from

predicting a world recession for political reasons. I think they thought it
would be a 
self-fulfilling prophecy.

U.S. recovery predicted

Many economists believe the U.S. recession will abate in 2002, with a
recovery 
expected sometime between spring and fall.

I don't think this will be a rapid recovery, Straszheim said. Just like
1990-91, the talk 
will be about a jobless recovery. ... We aren't going to be a strong engine
with a 
relatively slow and sluggish economy.

Kathleen Stephansen, international economist at Credit Suisse First Boston,
added: 
It's going to be more difficult for the U.S. to fulfill that role of
locomotive to growth. The
U.S. won't have the typical rebound of consumer demand as in the past. Nor
will 
business investment serve as catalyst for growth as it did in the 1990s, she
said.

The IMF said in its outlook that the attacks caused a sharp deterioration
in confidence 
across the globe and worsened the ability of some emerging markets to
finance 
their debts, a reference to Argentina. As a result, prospects for global
recovery have 
been set back significantly, it said.

The most worrisome part of the report was its emphasis on the risks for
sharper 
economic downturn. The possibility of a worse outcome remains the major
policy issue 
at the current juncture, the report said.

It cited such risks as a lingering effect on consumer confidence due to the
terrorist 
attacks, the dampening impact of consumer indebtedness, and a continuing
overcapacity of businesses to produce.

More monetary easing to lower interest rates in the U.S. and other countries
may be 
necessary, the IMF said, and an economic stimulus package in America could
be 
helpful if implemented rapidly.

Tax cuts that Congress approved last June and additional spending since the
Sept. 
11 attacks could add $375 billion in extra fiscal stimulus to the U.S.
economy over the 
next three years, IMF economists said.

The IMF forecast saw world recovery arising from several factors: Lower
interest rates 
in the U.S. and other major industrial countries, lower oil prices and
inflation, a 
shrinking of a glut of inventories caused by business overinvestment

Yemen, the United States, and Al-Qaida [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]


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[Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ]

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.
- Original Message - 
From: secr [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2001 9:49 PM
Subject: [mobilize-globally] Yemen, the United States, and Al-Qaida



-- Forwarded Message
From: eric stewart [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: Conspiracy Theory Research List [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2001 11:37:21 -0800
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [CTRL] Yemen, the United States, and Al-Qaida

-Caveat Lector-

http://www.fpif.org/commentary/0112yemen.html

Yemen, the United States, and Al-Qaida
By Stephen Zunes
December 19, 2001


There has been increasing attention on Yemen as the possible next major
focus in the U.S. campaign against terrorism. Yemeni government forces
have begun a crackdown against suspected Al-Qaida members and supporters,
and a number of armed clashes have ensued. This comes just weeks after the
November 26th meeting in Washington between President George W. Bush and
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in which the Yemeni leader promised
cooperation in the struggle against terrorism and President Bush promised
additional security assistance to support that effort.

Yemen has almost as large a population as Saudi Arabia, yet lacks much in
the way of natural resources. Indeed, it is one of the poorest countries
in the world. Despite this, the Saudis have attacked Yemen on several
occasions along their disputed border, seizing one of the very few small
oil fields under Yemeni control. Despite this rather brazen act of greed
by the world's largest oil producer and the widespread discrimination and
repression against Yemeni migrant workers within Saudi Arabia, Washington
has generally sided with the Saudis in their ongoing disputes with this
poor republic on the southwestern corner of the Arabian peninsula.

The country was divided into North and South Yemen until 1990. South Yemen
received its independence from Great Britain in 1967 after years of armed
anti-colonial resistance, joining the British colony of Aden and the
British protectorate of South Arabia. Declaring itself the People's
Democratic Republic of Yemen, it became the Arab world's only
Marxist-Leninist state and developed close ties with the Soviet Union. As
many as 300,000 South Yemenis fled to the north in the years following
independence.

North Yemen, independent since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918,
became embroiled in a bloody civil war during the 1960s between
Saudi-backed royalist forces and Egyptian-backed republican forces. The
republican forces eventually triumphed, though political instability,
military coups, assassinations, and periodic armed uprisings continued. In
both countries, ancient tribal and modern ideological divisions made
control of the armed forces virtually impossible. Major segments of the
armies would periodically disintegrate, with soldiers bringing their
weapons home with them. Lawlessness and chaos have been common for
decades, with tribes regularly shifting loyalties in both their internal
feuds and their alliances with their governments. Many tribes have been in
a permanent state of war for years and almost every male adolescent and
adult routinely carries a rifle.

In 1979, in one of the more absurd episodes of the cold war, a minor
upsurge in fighting along the former border led to a major U.S. military
mobilization in response to what was depicted by the Carter administration
as a Soviet-sponsored act of international aggression. In March of that
year, South Yemeni forces, in support of North Yemeni guerrillas, shelled
some North Yemeni government positions. In response, President Carter
ordered the aircraft carrier Constellation and a flotilla of warships to
the Arabian Sea as a show of force. Bypassing congressional approval, the
administration rushed nearly $499 million worth of modern weaponry to
North Yemen, including 64 M-60 tanks, 70 armored personnel carriers, and
12 F-5E aircraft. Included were an estimated 400 American advisers and 80
Taiwanese pilots to pilot the sophisticated warplanes that no Yemeni knew
how to fly.

This reaction led to widespread international criticism, given that the
Soviets were apparently unaware of the border clashes and it appeared to
be a gross overreaction to a local conflict. Indeed, the fighting died
down within a couple of weeks. Development groups were particularly
critical of this U.S. attempt to send sophisticated weaponry to a country
with some of the highest rates of infant mortality, chronic disease, and
illiteracy in the world.

The communist regime in South Yemen collapsed not long after a fratricidal
conflict led to rival factions of the Politburo and Central Committee
killing each other and their supporters by the thousands. With the
southern leadership decimated, the two countries merged in May 1990,
creating a

Is that a Star Over Bethlehem or an Apache Helicopter? [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

Is that a star over Bethlehem, or an Apache?

12/25/01
By Holger Jensen
News International Editor
http://homepage.mac.com/hjens/dec25.html

Christmas is not joyous in the Holy Land.

  If Joseph and Mary were to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem,
normally a 90-mile road trip, they would have to detour through Jenin,
Nablus, Ramallah and Jerusalem. It's doubtful they'd ever reach
Bethlehem because Israeli soldiers probably wouldn't let them through.

  There are more than 150 military checkpoints in the West Bank. All
entry and exit routes, even footpaths and dirt roads, are manned by
security forces and closed to most Palestinian travelers. Many towns
and villages are completely sealed off and under 24-hour or
dusk-to-dawn curfews.

  The roads around them are blocked to auto traffic by trenches or
concrete barriers. Palestinians who try to get around them on foot are
shot at.

  Would Mary, a pregnant woman, be allowed to pass through one of
these roadblocks?

  One month ago, Fatima Abed Rabbo and her husband tried to reach the
hospital in Bethlehem. Fatima was seven months pregnant and in labor.
Soldiers at military checkpoints twice refused to let them through,
saying Fatima's condition was not critical. After waiting about one
hour at one checkpoint Fatima gave birth to a son in her car.

  The premature baby, Walid, weighed only 3 pounds, had a low body
temperature and required urgent medical attention. But, by the time
the family finally reached the hospital in Bethlehem, it was too late.
Walid died soon after being admitted.

  If they did reach Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary wouldn't have to stay
in a manger. There are plenty of rooms. The city's numerous tourist
hotels, normally crammed with pilgrims at this time of the year, are
begging for business. Some have had so few bookings they've let their
staff go and shut down. Others are shelled or burnt. The Nativity
Church where Jesus was born is empty.

  While the world sings Peace on Earth, the Palestinians in
Bethlehem are not allowed to go to work, school or hospitals. There may
be a little star of Bethlehem somewhere above them, but also Apache
helicopters.

  This gloomy Christmas Letter was written by Arjan el Fassad of
the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and Annete
Meeuiws of the Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights. It is
not an exaggeration.

  There is no question that Israel has suffered suicide bombings and
other devastating terrorist attacks since Palestinians launched their
intifada, or uprising, 15 months ago. And there is no denying that most
of these attacks originated in the occupied territories. But is
collective punishment the answer? Should 3.2 million people, most of
them not terrorists, be penalized for the sins of a few?

  Aid groups and human rights workers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip
say military sieges and economic blockades have caused a humanitarian
crisis.

  Because people and goods can no longer travel freely between
Palestinian towns and villages, they are beginning to suffer shortages
of gasoline, food and medical supplies. Uncollected garbage and sewage
pose a mounting public health hazard. Vaccinations and primary health
care systems are paralyzed, increasing the risk of epidemics.

  Most universities and schools are not functioning. More than 50
percent of the population is unemployed and many of those who still
have jobs often can't reach them. About 30 Palestinians have died
because they were denied access to medical care. And there have been
numerous reports of women giving birth at checkpoints.

  Val Phillips, a physics student at CU Denver, is one of five
Coloradans who decided to give up Christmas at home to go and tear down
barricades in the West Bank. You can call her a peacenik or Nazi,
as some Jewish settlers did in one confrontation with the Colorado
Coalition for Mideast Peace, but you have to admire her dedication.

  Since Val's arrival Dec. 14, she has lain in front of advancing
Israeli tanks, had shots fired over her head by Israeli soldiers, been
attacked my militant settlers and had pizza with Yasser Arafat. She has
also torn down one barrier outside a Palestinian village only to see an
Israeli bulldozer build another one.

  People here are so depressed but so grateful for what we're
doing, Val told me by phone. It shows them another face of America,
one that actually cares about what's happening to them.

--
Colorado Campaign for Mideast Peace
http://www.CCMEP.org



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St. Louis city workhouse inmates' uprising quelled after half hour [WWW.STOPNATO

HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

Please note the date and place on this
article. It is not London in the 1840's.
It's St. Louis Missouri, U.S.A. and
it'sdated Dec. 23, 2001. Happy Christmas.mart.

http://www.cnn.com/2001/LAW/12/23/jail.uprising.ap/index.htmlSt. Louis city workhouse inmates' uprising quelled after
half hourDecember 23, 2001 Posted: 8:57 AM EST (1357
GMT)ST. LOUIS, Missouri (AP) -- Authorities on Saturday quelled an
attempt by inmates to take over a wing of a medium-security city workhouse.
The north St. Louis facility, which houses about 1,290 inmates, was on
lockdown Saturday night. The uprising started about 6 p.m. when 53 prisoners
attempted to take control of a living area, said Dora Schriro, commissioner of
the city's division of corrections. No employees were injured. About 10
prisoners were being evaluated for injuries, Schriro said. Two guards
escaped the area where the disturbance started and locked the prisoners inside
as they left, Schriro said. About 10 inmates resisted when officers
reclaimed the wing 30 minutes after the uprising began, but she said they were
restrained with "minimal force." There was no immediate indication that weapons
were used. There were reports that the inmates were upset over their
visitation rights being taken away. But Schriro said there was no complex-wide
denial of visitation, although some inmates may not have been eligible for it.

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Fw: [C-I] When terrorism isn't really terrorism (Phillie Inquirer 12/16) [WWW.




HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---


- Original Message - From: JOHN 
PAUL CUPP Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2001 7:31 PMSubject: [C-I] When 
"terrorism" isn't really terrorism (Phillie Inquirer 12/16)Sunday, 
December 16, 2001U.S. 
overstates arrests in terrorismBy Mark Fazlollah and 
Peter NicholasINQUIRER WASHINGTON BUREAUWASHINGTON 
- The Department of Justice hasoverstated its record 
of
arresting and convicting terrorists for 
years,inflating the numbers itgives 
Congress with garden-variety crimes that 
haveno connection toterrorism.The 
practice has continued even after Sept. 11, whenattacks on New 
York'sWorld Trade Center and the Pentagon underscored thehorror 
of realterrorism. 
Current and former Justice 
Departmentofficials say thereports showing inflated 

terrorism convictions areprovided to 
Congress assupporting material to justify 
the department's $22billion annual 
budget,which includes counterterrorism 
funding."It's awful," said Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.), 
aformer IntelligenceCommittee 
chairman, after The Inquirer showed 
himsome of the casesclassified as terrorism. 

"It's more thanproblem-some - it's 
awful."Cases labeled as terrorism involve erratic 
behaviorby people with mentalillnesses, passengers getting 
drunk on airplanes,and convicts rioting toget better prison 
food. There were the Mexican whoconcocted a phonypassport 
application, the former court employee whoshoved and 
threateneda judge, the babbling man who walked into an 
FBIoffice and threatened tokill former President Bill 
Clinton - though hedidn't realize Clinton wasno longer 
president.Cases such as these, improperly labeled 
asterrorism, continue to windthrough the court 
system.In one vivid example, an assistant U.S. attorney 
inSan Francisco askedU.S. District 
Judge Marilyn H. Patel on Monday tostiffen a 
sentenceagainst an Arizona man who got drunk on a 
UnitedAirlines flight fromShanghai, repeatedly rang the 
call button, demandedmore liquor, and puthis hands on a 
flight attendant. Justice Departmentrecords show the 
caseas "domestic terrorism."The judge told the 
prosecutor who argued the casethat it wasn't terrorism- 
rather a man "being an annoyance beyond belief."The most 
recent Justice 
Department annual report, issued in May, says that 
in the fiscal year ending 
in September 2000, 
FBIinvestigations led to 236terrorism convictions. That 

number is 
generated froman FBI computersystem that follows 
criminal 
cases from beginning 
toend."I promise you there weren't 200 convictions in 
thelast year for what youand I think of as terrorism," said 
Thomas G. Connolly, who served as anassistant U.S. attorney in 
suburban Washington andreceived the CIA'sIntelligence Medallion 
for his prosecution ofCIA-agentturned-Russian-spy 
James Nicholson in 1997.On Friday, 
Patrick J. Leahy (D., Vt.) said he wantsinformation from 
theJustice Department to explain what is 
beingclassified as "terrorism." 
"Asthe department seeks new power in 
terrorism cases,it is important 
that weknow the types of cases that the 
department istrying to sweep 
within thatdefinition," said Leahy, chairman 
of the SenateJudiciary 
Committee. Intestimony before Congress this month, 
AttorneyGeneral 
John Ashcroft gavea succinct definition of a 
terrorist: "Since 1983, the 
U.S. government hasdefined terrorists as 
those who perpetrate
premeditated, politicallymotivated violence 
against noncombatant targets."The Justice Department did not 
respond to repeatedwritten requests forcomment about 
terrorism statistics.One department official, who did not 

want to 
benamed, said she would not"rule out" the possibility 
that benign 
cases findtheir way into 
theterrorism category.Assistant U.S. Attorney 
Matthew Jacobs of thefederal prosecutor's officein San Francisco 
said that "from our perspective,you shouldn't read toomuch into 
the categorization."During the last three years, San 
Francisco listedmore "domesticterrorism" 
cases than any of the 93 other U.S.attorneys' 
offices. FromSeptember 
1998 until September 
2001, the SanFrancisco office was headedby Robert 
S. Mueller, 
now director of the FBI. Whyare the 
numbersimportant?Statistics on arrests and 
convictions, includingthose related to the
hot-buttonissue of terrorism, are a measuring stickfor the 
JusticeDepartment
They are 
submitted to the department'soutside 
auditors, usedto assess the 
performance of the 
U.S. attorneys'offices, and madeavailable to the public in 

an annual report."In some ways, 
the Justice Department continues tooperate under the 
body
count approach in 
Vietnam," said Jonathan Turley,who teachesconstitutional 

criminal procedure 
at GeorgeWashington University LawSchool. "They feel a 
need to produce a 
body count toCongress to justify past appropriations and 

secure 
futureincreases."The government would not 
release details of the 236cases identified asterrorism 
in the Justice Department's latest annualreport. But

Russia, World Bank could part ways [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

Russia, World Bank could part ways

http://www.russiajournal.com/weekly/article.shtml?ad=5585

By CAIN BURDEAU / The Russia Journal

  As Russias economy grows in leaps and bounds, a growing number of
Russian politicians and officials believe the days of dependence on
international borrowing are drawing to a close.

  On Wednesday, at a roundtable meeting between Russian officials and
the World Bank, a chief lender to Russia, laid out the basic question:
Does the country need the World Bank anymore? 

  This review of World Bank loans by the Finance Ministry comes as the
Cabinet prepares to decide in February whether to ask for a new batch
of loans for 2002-04.

  Some doubts have emerged about whether we need the bank, said
Georgy Glazkov, the Finance Ministrys negotiator with international
financial institutions.

  The multimillion-dollar loans have been used to bolster sections of
the economy and to improve Russias ability to compete on the world
markets. Russia has been borrowing less and less from the bank. In
1997, it borrowed the most, $3.3 billion, but in 1999 and 2000 Russia
borrowed $30 million each year.

  While the Russian economy may be doing well, the country still needs
lots of investments to fuel further growth, the World Bank argues.

  Julian Schweitzer, the Banks Russia director, said: I think most
observers will agree that Russia will need very high levels of growth
to meet the goals that have been set.  But I doubt if Russia can
sustain high levels of sustained growth without high levels of
sustained financing, both for the economy and for the social fabric.

  A main point of contention appears to be how much of the loans go to
paying consultants, and in particular foreign consultants. Under the
banks projects, consultants are brought in to give advice on the most
up-to-date techniques for everything from health-care financing
strategies to sustainable logging practices.

  Yelena Pukhova, head of the State Duma Commission on State Debts and
Foreign Assets, said, Deputies have voiced a lot of concern over the
salaries given to foreign consultants. She added that the loans should
be better adapted to the Russian economy.

  Theres this idea that Russia doesnt need to borrow, Russias
doesnt need help, said Christof Ruehl, the World Banks chief
economist in Russia. And theres this perception that foreigners are
siphoning off money from Russian taxpayers. 

  But the World Bank insists that Russia still needs technical
assistance to move forward with economic reforms and to combat social
ills, such as an explosion of AIDS.

  Ruehl said, We want to provide better technical assistance and work
with the regions where reforms are being implemented. 

  Given Russias recent macroeconomic performance, the bank sees no
need for Russia to borrow for budgetary or balance-of-payments
purposes. Instead, the bank is offering to pay for projects that tackle
social and bureaucratic problems  and that would involve lots of
consultants.

  Despite the doubts, many Russian officials seem to see the benefits
of foreign help.

  Nadezhda Lebedeva, a top health official working on health reforms,
said at the roundtable meeting, We need to rely heavily on
international knowledge. She estimated that it would take up to 20
years to upgrade the countrys health system without foreign
assistance. By contrast, with a World Bank loan health officials
believe their aims can be reached in a fifth of the time.

  Nonetheless, some Russian officials believe the days of World Bank
loans are numbered.

  Glazkov believes that after 2004 the loans may not be needed. I
think 2004 will be the beginning of the end.

  He added, Theoretically speaking, once Russia passes the phases of a
transition economy, it would be ineligible for loans from the World
Bank. 

  Ruehl disagreed, saying, Russia is still a far cry from
per-capita-income levels which would make it ineligible for World Bank
funding. 

  The emergence of doubts over the necessity of World Bank alarms some
economists.

  Im really concerned that the public opinion in this country is
against borrowing for consultants. One of the reasons is that people
dont see tangible results immediately, but you cannot expect to see
them immediately, said Alexei Novikov, general director of EA-Ratings.
He is working as a consultant on a World Bank loan to make governmental
financing in the regions more transparent and effective.

  Novikov believes anti-Western feelings arent fueling unease over the
loans, but rather backward thinking on the part of some politicians. 

  It's not about dependency on the West, but just under-valuation of
debt as an economic instrument that is behind some politicians
reluctance to take out loans, he said. Debt should be used as an
economic instrument to finance capital needs, he said.

  I remember a few years ago people were excited about the World Bank
projects, but

US 'considering' invasion of Iraq, says Newsweek magazine [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

from
BREAKING NEWS from http://www.theage.com.au
Sent: Monday 24 December 2001

-
BREAKING NEWS 
-

US 'considering' invasion of Iraq

  Top US military officials are studying the possibility of invading
Iraq from both the north and the south in order to topple its
president, Saddam Hussein, Newsweek magazine reported.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/2001/12/24/FFXOI3S4LVC.html

---


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Fw: The Secret Roots of War by Mumia Abu-Jamal [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]