Cheering on democracy's overthrow [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,685125,00.html Cheering on democracy's overthrow The putsch against Venezuela's elected leader failed - this time Isabel Hilton Tuesday April 16, 2002 The Guardian The Foreign Office minister Denis MacShane was not the only one caught out by Hugo Chavez's return to power in Venezuela on Sunday, but he was certainly one of the most embarrassed. Mr MacShane committed the undiplomatic error of describing Chavez as a "ranting demagogue". Of course, when he let slip those unfortunate comments, Mr MacShane thought that Hugo Chavez was a leftwing ex-president of a country with important mineral reserves in which the US takes a strong interest. Unfortunately for Mr MacShane, the ranting demagogue in question was restored to his job by a combination of people power and constitutionally minded army officers. Odd, though, that Friday's coup, a procedure not normally considered an aid to democratic practice, did not attract the condemnation it deserved. Chavez, after all, has twice been elected president by the largest margins in Venezuela's history. In Washington, where the administration blamed Chavez himself for the coup that briefly removed him from office, the reaction to his restoration was even stranger. Far from welcoming the triumph of democracy, the US administration reprimanded Chavez - expressing the menacing hope that he would be more careful in future, presumably in case he overthrew himself again. Given that the protection of democracy has so often been invoked in the past as an excuse for US military intervention in the third world, surely Washington should have been rebuking Pedro Carmona Estanga, the businessman in charge of the coup - or even preparing a military expedition to restore President Chavez to power. The attempt to overthrow Chavez did not really come as a surprise. The only question was what took them so long. Nearly a year ago, a visiting Venezuelan, now living in the US, confidently informed me that a coup was in preparation, with the full support of senior figures in Washington. Chavez had been elected on a promise of radical social reform in a direct challenge to Venezuela's oligarchy. It was unlikely that they would let it pass. As for the US interest, it hardly needs rehearsing. Every Latin American reformer, from Guatemala's Jacobo Arbenz to Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, has been perceived in Washington as a threat to US interests. When the reformer has control of the world's fourth largest oil production and makes a point of cultivating the friendship of Fidel Castro and visiting Saddam Hussein, he almost writes the script on Washington's behalf. The coup-maker's handbook maps out the standard procedure: organise the discontent that reform has aroused, reduce the place to chaos and provoke some violent clashes. At that point the forces of reason can intervene to restore order and proclaim new elections - which will not be held until the capacity of the defeated forces to fight them has been destroyed. So what went wrong this time? Perhaps it is a little more difficult, in the absence of the "communist menace", to portray such a coup as a blow for democracy. In Venezuela's case, this was even more tricky since the two traditional oligarchic political parties that shared the country's power for nearly 50 years are completely discredited. The oligarchy has been forced back on substitute organisations - the Catholic Church, the main business organisation Fedecamaras and some trade unions - to challenge the elected government. In their brief moment of triumph, though, the depth of the coup-mongers' anti-democratic agenda became clear. They suspended congress, took control of the supreme court and were holding Chavez a prisoner. Far from being perceived as an enemy of democracy, Chavez has emerged as a popular hero. He is supported not only by the poor - the 80% of Venezuelans who had seen little benefit from their country's riches until Chavez launched a large-scale public works and welfare programme - but also by most of the armed forces in a country where the army has long been a force for constitutional government. Whatever Chavez's failings, the radical realignment of Venezuelan politics that he represents remains legitimate in the eyes of most Venezuelans. There is opposition, of course, but it is up to the opposition to fight that battle constitutionally. It is only those who lack democratic support who fall back on the tired formula of overthrowing democracy in the name of democracy. Chavez returned to power at the weekend in an apparently magnanimous state. For the sake of Venezuela, he should try to maintain that magnanimity. But given the weekend's events, it is not Chavez who needs lectures on how to behave. No doubt he has his demagogic moments, but it would be perverse to call him paranoid. They were out to get him; they still are. Where will Mr M
Korea. KCNA Apr 15 [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Korean Central News Agency Extracts. Gift to Kim Jong Il from Communist Party Of India Pyongyang, April 15 (KCNA) -- Leader Kim Jong Il was presented with a gift by H. S. Surjeet, general secretary of the central committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on the occasion of the 90th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung. THe gift was handed to an official concerned by Suneet Chopra, member of the c.c., the Communist Party of India (marxist) who is a delegate of the party on a visit to the DPRK. Greetings to Lao prime minister Pyongyang, April 15 (KCNA) -- Premier Hong Song Nam of the DPRK cabinet sent a message of greetings to his Lao counterpart Boungnang Vorachit.. The message extended warm congratulations to him upon his reappointment as prime minister of the government of Laos. In the belief that the traditional relations of friendship and cooperation between the two countries would continue to consolidate and develop in the future, too, the message sincerely wished him great success in his responsible work for the modernization and industrialization of the country. DPRK foreign minister Paek Nam Sun also sent a message of greetings to Somsavath Lengsavath upon his reappointment as deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Laos. Reception given by WPK Central Committee Pyongyang, April 15 (KCNA) -- The Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea gave a reception at the People's Palace of Culture yesterday in honor of the visiting political party delegations and delegates of different countries on the occasion of the 90th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung. Choe Thae Bok, secretary of the WPK Central Committee, in a speech said that Kim Il Sung who embarked upon the road of revolution in his early years founded the immortal Juche idea to clearly indicate the way of the struggle of the popular masses for independence and hewed out the era of independence through his great revolutionary practice. The WPK will in the future, too, further strengthen friendship and unity with all the progressive political parties of the world aspiring after independence and socialism against imperialism and make positive contributions to the common cause for the building of a new, independent and just world in the idea of independence, friendship and peace, he added. Then, followed speeches of Muhammad Zouher Mashariqa, vice-president of Syria and member of the national and regional leadership of the Baath Arab Socialist Party of Syria who is heading the delegation of the Baath Arab Socialist Party and the National Progressive Front of Syria, in a speech said that the friendly and cooperative relations between Syria and the DPRK provided by Hafez Al Assad and Kim Il Sung will further strengthen and develop by Bashar Al Assad and leader Kim Jong Il. Jorgen Petersen, chairman of the Danish Communist Party (M-L) who is heading a delegation of the party, in a speech said that Kim Il Sung devoted his all to the accomplishment of the human cause of independence and the socialist cause till the last moments of his life as a genuine internationalist. A art performance was given at the reception. Floral basket to Kim Jong Il from Mongolian President Pyongyang, April 15 (KCNA) -- Leader Kim Jong Il received a floral basket from Mongolian President Natsagiin Bagabandi on the occasion of the 90th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung. The basket was handed to an official concerned by Janchivdorjyn Lombo, Mongolian Ambassador to the DPRK. Kim Jong Il sends educational aid fund and stipends to children of Koreans in Japan Pyongyang, April 15 (KCNA) -- Leader Kim Jong Il sent educational aid fund and stipends worth 262,600,000 yen in the Japanese currency for the development of the democratic national education of the General Association of Korean residents in Japan. The educational aid fund and stipends sent by President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in the 148th installment for the children of Koreans in Japan totaled 44,866,563,000 yen in the Japanese currency. Senior DPRK officials meet Russian guests Pyongyang, April 15 (KCNA) -- Premier of the DPRK cabinet Hong Song Nam met and had a friendly talk with Vladimir Anatoliyevich Yakovlev, mayor of st. Petersburg of Russia, and his party who paid a courtesy call on him at the Mansudae Assembly Hall yesterday. Present there were Ri Kwang Gun, minister of Foreign Trade, Ryang Man Gil, chairman of the Pyongyang City People's Committee, Kung Sok Ung, vice-minister of Foreign A
Report: Nepal: 50 Police, 12 Rebels.killed in Clash [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Global and Local Analysis & Action ... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] [Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ] . . - Original Message - From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, April 15, 2002 9:09 PM Subject: [kominform2] Nepal. Over 50 policemen killed. From: poblachtach dearg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Revolutionary_Diary] Nepal Peoples War News AFP. 11 April 2002. Over 50 police killed in clashes with Maoist rebels in Nepal. KATHMANDU -- More than 50 policemen and 12 Maoist rebels were killed in clashes in southwestern Nepal early Friday, officials said. "Nearly 3,000 Maoist rebels suddenly attacked two police posts at Satbaria and Lamahi areas in Dang district late Thursday night which continued until the early hours of Friday morning," a senior home ministry official told AFP. Dang is some 450 kilometres (281 miles) southwest of the capital, Kathmandu. "There were 80 to 90 policemen stationed at the Lamahi police post where heavy Maoist casualties were reported and the bodies of at least 12 rebels were recovered," the source said. "In this clash, more than 50 policemen are feared killed but we are awaiting detailed reports," he said. The source said the Satbaria police post, which was manned by around 100 armed policemen, was attacked by over a thousand rebels who looted nearly 100 self-loading rifles (SLRs). _ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor -~--> Buy Stock for $4 and no minimums. FREE Money 2002. http://us.click.yahoo.com/k6cvND/n97DAA/ySSFAA/VL0olB/TM -~-> Peruuta ryhmän tilaus lähettämällä sähköpostia osoitteeseen: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Argentina. Workers Controlled Factories Declaration [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Global and Local Analysis & Action ... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] [Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ] . . - Original Message - From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, April 15, 2002 9:18 PM Subject: [kominform2] Argentina. Workers Controlled Factories Declaration From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Arg_Solid] Argentina: Workers Controlled Factories Declaration ARGENTINA: DECLARATION of the WORKERS CONTROLLED FACTORIES BRUKMAN, ZANON AND THE CERAMIC UNION Faced with any attempt of ouster and repression, we call for the defense of the occupations of factories and businesses. Our struggle is fraternal with all workers and people against unemployment, the high cost of living and the robbery by the bankers and government of our small savings. Business closings are multiplying. Employers and government cannot assure production and work. On the contrary, in January there were a thousand layoffs every day. In February it rose to two thousand a day. In March the figure is growing as already 65 thousand are in the street. Since the year began they have laid off one worker every minute! The International Monetary Fund in addition demands layoffs of state workers in the provinces. In Brukman Clothing in Buenos Aires, in Zanon Ceramics in Neuquen, in the metal facotry La Baskonia in La Matanza, in other facotries and businesses a new road is being tried: occupy the instalations so that there is not one more layoff. In Zanon and Brukman we call for the State to take over under workers control. But we are not waiting with our arms crossed for the State to take charge. The plants are functioning under workers control and our administration directly. In many other enterprises, companeros are trying to form workers cooperatives, when the employers walk away and empty out the factory. We exercise and defend the right of workers to take in their own hands the resolution of the social disaster of increasing unemployment. We should follow the example of the Neighborhood Assemblies that mobilized when the police attempted to oust the workers of Brukman: We formed a great solidarity network with the neighborhood assemblies and with the university and high school students. Everyone who participates in the event of April 13th is commited to going out in support of all the occupied factories: An attack at one is an attack at all. In our own defense and to extend our example to all those who want to rsist clsures and layoffs, we are calling a Plenary or National Council to coordinate the different enterprises where the workers have taken over their workplace and are under workers control. We do not only want to maintain existing jobs, we want work for everyone. There are more than three million companeros unemployed. The 150 pesos and the "social plans" of Duhalde and his advisers are no solution because it does not cover basic necessities and less than half the unemployed will be covered. We fight for the unity of employed and unemployed. That is why we participated in the Piquetero Assemblies of Matanza and the National Assembly in Plaza de Mayo sharing our struggle with the Bloque Piquetero Nacional. In Neuquen, the ceramic workers of Zanon and its union SOECN work side by side with the Movement of Unemployed Workers (MTD). Together we demand genuine work with a plan of public works controlled by workers, for schools to be built which students and teachers need. for public hosptials and homes which the workers and people demand. The workers of Brukman who put to work their plant believe believe that our production would have more social meaning is we were sewing hospital sheets of which there is shortage and school clothing for the children of our people. We call for the movements of unemployed to fight for a program of genuine work and to not participate in the Consultative Councils of the government and the political henchmen. We fight to put into practice regional coordinating meetings between employed, unemployed, neighborhood asemblies, and a new Natioal Assembly of Workers and Piqueteros, with delegates elected in rank and file meetings at the workplace and neighborhoods, with a mandate to plan for a national struggle for bread and work for everyone. With the brutal rise in prices the wages of 8 million workers has been reduced. The leaders of the trade union federations do not support our struggle against layoffs and closings. They leave the workers in the hands of the "social plans" of Duahlde. Besides, they are allowing a scandelous robbery to our wages and pensions without calling for a minimal struggle. How much time do these leaders need to break the truce and their support to this government of hunger? How can we as workers get the great trade unions on our side? We address all those who work in industry and public services that can paralyze the country just as in the stoppogas aga
South Africa. COSATU at protest at Israeli and US embassies [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Global and Local Analysis & Action ... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] [Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ] . . - Original Message - From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, April 15, 2002 3:30 PM Subject: [kominform2] South Africa. COSATU at protest at Israeli and US embassies From: "Charles Brown" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [L-I] COSATU at protest at Israeli and US embassies Speech by Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) President Willie Madisha on the Occasion of the Protest March to the Israeli and US Embassies - Pretoria 12 April 2002 Leaders of the South African Communist Party, ANC and SANCO Comrades and friends! Dear comrades, Never has silenced being so deafening! Never has state terrorism been condoned in the face of many wars that are being fought under the banner of anti- terrorism. In the history of humankind, never have we seen so many people being maimed and the rest of the international community digging their heads in the sand. When the UN, through a resolution, called for the founding of the Palestinian state, never did the world suspect that it would amount to savage attacks, maiming of women and children, bombing of infrastructure and anarchy. Since 1948, the Palestinian people have been in struggle to ensure that they stay like all of humanity in a country that they will call their home. In the same period, the Israeli regimes have fought to deny the Palestinian people this important birthright. Notwithstanding the aggression the Israeli has pursued against the innocent, they have intensified their action and seized more land in 1967 following the war that took place. For the last 18 months the Palestinian people have been intensifying the offensive against the apartheid Israeli to ensure that their dreams for a free Palestine are realized. The Arial Sharon regime responded with army tanks, missiles and other forms of heavy military artillery, which has seen young children and innocent civilian killed. The UN for its part is guilty of failing to stop the genocide against the Palestinians. It possesses both the moral and political responsibility to ensure that the people of Palestine are given what is due to them. The UN Security Council resolutions, as well as the general assembly, have been violated for decades and have not done anything to punish Israel. In spite of the UN resolution that calls on Israel to stop its occupation of Gaza strip and West Bank, the UN has not taken action as it did in Iraqi dispute. Millions of Palestinians have been forced into exile. Whereas people of Jewish origin are allowed into Israel from wherever they are under the "Law of Return", the people of Palestine who are in exile are being denied the right of return to their motherland through the same "Law of return." The US has been pumping 5 billion US dollars annually and arming the apartheid Israel against the Palestinians. It is these billions of dollars that have killed more than 2000 young people mostly under the age of 15. Arial Sharon has the full support of the US. In March, the military forces attacked the headquarters of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU). This is a clear case of state terrorism and has treated everybody in the world with contempt. In South Africa we have a direct experience of a similar situation to that of the Middle East. We expect the same solidarity that was expressed with us from the world. On our part, while we call for a cessation of hostilities, we want to make it clear that in this case, Sharon and his surrogates are aggressors. We call on the Israel to withdraw its forces from all occupied Palestine land. We demand that Sharon open negotiations with the leaders of the PLO, President Arafat and stop the siege in his headquarters of Ramallah which he has been secluded for the last 4 months. If they dare kill Arafat, there would not be peace in the Middle East because of the vacuum that will emerge! COSATU side by side with its alliance partners will be mobilizing the co-ordinating other action with the international trade union movement as a whole to ensure that all the demands for a free Palestine are realized. Amandla! Viva PLO! Viva Yasser Arafat! Patrick Craven and Moloto Mothapo Acting COSATU Spokespersons [EMAIL PROTECTED] 082-821-7456 339-4911 _ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor -~--> Buy Stock for $4 and no minimums. FREE Money 2002. http://us.click.yahoo.com/k6cvND/n97DAA/ySSFAA/VL0olB/TM ---
Communist Party of Turkey speech to Balkan AntiNATO Coordination Centre [WWW.STO
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Global and Local Analysis & Action ... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] [Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ] . . - Original Message - From: SolidNet <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, April 15, 2002 12:58 PM Subject: CP of Turkey, ,Speech to the BAN-c Meeting March 2002 http://www.solidnet.org News, documents and calls for action from communist and workers' parties. The items are the responsibility of the authors. Join the mailing list: info/subscribe/unsubscribe mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] . = CP of Turkey, ,Speech to the BAN-c Meeting March 2002 From: Communist Party of Turkey, Mon, 15 Apr 2002 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] , http://www.tkp.org.tr = Balkan AntiNATO Coordination Center BAN-c Views and actions of Balkan movements Tel: [+3]0310 286580,[+3]010 2592298 - Fax: [+3]0310 286581,[+3]010 2592298 e-mail:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- TKP COMMUNIST PARTY of TURKEY Osman Aða Mahallesi Nüshet Efendi caddesi no:38 Kadýköy/Ýstanbul Tel: +90 216 414 65 04 fax: +90 216 346 11 37 - [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.tkp.org.tr The Ban-C Meeting-March 2002 Dear comrades, It is a pleasure for me and my comrades to be in this lovely city again, although we would all prefer to be here under the circumstances where there existed no NATO, no imperialism, no destructive weapons and no exploitation. Well, let's continue to work for this, for cleaning up this beautiful region, the Balkans. I will try to deal on both issues namely the role of Turkey in NATO's enlargement process and the recent development on the Cyprus problem. Dear friends and comrades, You already know that the U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney came to Turkey after visiting several countries in the Middle East. Communist Party of Turkey and some other anti-imperialist forces organized demonstrations in very hard conditions when thousands of special police units and their fellow CIA personnel invaded Ankara and other cities. Our task was and still is to prevent a new war against Iraq. The first results of Cheney's visit might easily make us relieved, as all the leaders of different countries that he met openly criticized a possible military operation to Iraq. However one must take into account that, it is not easy to know what happened behind the closed doors. There is no official joint statement on the issue, there is only rumor and speculation. Thus, we have to be clever enough to work on details which are in total a clear evidence that there is a very dirty bargaining going on between the United States and it allies in the region. As the Communist Party of Turkey, we have been trying to focus on this bargain since last December when Turkish government announced that «U.S. should take into account the losses of Turkey during the Gulf War». Then the government added that they cannot accept an independent Kurdish state in Northern Iraq. I don't think that there is a need to say something about my countries relation with U.S imperialism. This relation became even more close after the 11th of September events. Objectively speaking, there is a limit for the capitalist Turkey to resist a specific U.S. plan. It should be clear that, the Turkish government's concern about a military operation to Iraq is real. However their strong inclination to play the major role in U.S initiatives in the region is something more actual. So the bargaining points here are the following: · To increase the price for participating a war against Iraq. · To overcome the effective obstacle of a lobby in U.S. Senate which does not permit some hi-tech weapons to be sold to Turkey. · To get the support of U.S. to organize a security belt or even an occupied region inside Iraq. Every day we have to read several articles in the daily press about the developments on these three issues. Although the public opinion is against a new war, we already know that this might easily change over a night. Plus the monopolies don't care the public opinion when they realize that, there is no organized action against their projects. A few words should be said here about the NATO influence in the Caucasian republics and the Central Asia. If we realize what Turkey is doing in that area clearly, than we will be aware of the real possibility of an aggression against Iraq. Turkish military is playing a very important role in the enlargement process of NATO in the region. Just one year ago in the Ban-C meeting I did have a chance to give examples of Turkish Army's engagement in the Balkans and in Azerbaijan. It is pity that now I have to speak about a broader area. Pl
Iraq War: The Coming Disaster [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- > http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0414-04.htm >Monday, April 15, 2002 > > >Featured Views > > > Share This Article With Your > Friends > > > Published on Sunday, April 14, 2002 in the Los Angeles Times > > Iraq War: The Coming Disaster > > by Immanuel Wallerstein > > NEW HAVEN -- George W. Bush is a geopolitical incompetent. He > has > allowed a clique of hawks to induce him to take a position on > invading Iraq > from which he cannot extract himself, one which will have > nothing but > negative consequences for the United States--and the rest of > the world. He > will find himself badly hurt politically, perhaps fatally. And > he will rapidly > diminish the already declining power of the United States in > the world. A > war against Iraq will destroy many lives immediately, both > Iraqi and > American, because it seems clear that high-altitude, > surgical-strike air > attacks will not suffice in military terms. Invading Iraq will > lead to a degree > of turmoil in the Arab-Islamic world hitherto unimagined. > Other Arab > leaders don't like Saddam Hussein one bit, but their > populations won't > stand for what they will inevitably feel is an unprovoked > attack on an Arab > state, leaving leaders with little choice but to be swept > along in the turmoil > or drown. And an attack on Iraq might ultimately spark the use > of nuclear > weapons, which, if unleashed now, will be hard to again make > illegitimate. > Iraq may not have such weapons yet, but we can't be sure. Even > if it > doesn't, might it not attack Israel with conventional missiles > that would > prompt Israel to respond with the nuclear weapons we know it > has? For that > matter, are we really sure that, if the fighting gets tough, > the U.S. is not > ready to use tactical nuclear weapons? > > How have we gotten into such a disastrous cul-de-sac? > > It seems probable that U.S. military action against Iraq is > now not a > question of whether but of when. The U.S. government insists > action is > necessary because Iraq has been defying United Nations > resolutions and > represents an imminent danger to the world in general, and to > the U.S. in > particular. This explanation of the expected military action > is so thin that it > cannot be taken seriously. Defying U.N. resolutions or other > international > enjoinders has been commonplace for the last 50 years. I need > hardly > remind anyone that the U.S. refused to defer to a 1986 World > Court > decision condemning U.S. actions in Nicaragua. And President > Bush has > made it amply clear that he will not honor any treaty should > he think it > dangerous to U.S. interests. Israel has, of course, been > defying U.N. > resolutions for more than 30 years, and is doing so again as I > write this > commentary. And the record of other U.N. members is not much > better. So > Hussein has been defying quite explicit U.N. resolutions. What > else is > new? > > Is Hussein an imminent threat to anyone? In August 1990, Iraq > invaded > Kuwait. That action, at least, did pose an imminent threat. > The U.S. > response was the Persian Gulf War, in which we pushed the > Iraqis out of > Kuwait and then decided to stop there--for good military and > political > reasons. But that left Hussein in power. > > The U.N. passed various resolutions requiring Iraq to abandon > nuclear, > chemical and bacteriological weapons and mandated inspection > teams to > verify that it had done so. The U.N. also put in place a > variety of > embargoes against Iraq. As we know, over the decade since > then, the > system of constraints on Iraq put in place by these U.N. > resolutions has > weakened considerably, but not totally by any means. > > Several weeks ago, Iraq and Kuwait signed an agreement in > which Iraq > agreed to respect the sovereignty of Kuwait. The foreign > minister of > Kuwait, Sheik Sabah al Ahmed al Jabbar al Sabah said his > country is now > "100% satisfied," adding that he had written the agreement > himself. A > spokesperson for the United States nonetheless exhibited > skepticism. The > U.S. is not about to be deterred simply because Kuwait is > "satisfied." What > is Kuwait, that it should participate in such a decision? > > U.S. hawks believe that only the use of force--very >
RE: Response from Tony Regusters Re: Jo Reid's "On the Margin" program [WWW.STOP
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Well done, Nancy! David Nancy Hey wrote: > Response from Tony Regusters Re: Jo Reid's "On the Margin" program > > >From : "Tony Regusters" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To : [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject : Re: Jo Reid's "On the Margin" program > Date : Mon, 15 Apr 2002 17:55:30 + > > > Dear Ms. Hey, > > Please know that I will take your concerns very > seriously, as they reflect my own. I did not hear the interview in > question, but will meet with Ms. Reid to further obtain details. > > I certainly, truly believe that every word you > wrote reflects the new paradigm for a restored Pacifica -- and that it > is > my role as the guy hired by the "true Pacifica people" to assure that > the > editorial views, news and information promoted on WPFW's airwaves are in > synchronization with our hardworking allies in the NGO, institutional > and > activist community. > > I promise you that I will investigate this matter > and the issue at hand and take steps to assure that it does not reoccur. > > Thank you for bringing it to my attention. > > Tony Regusters > interim General Manager > WPFW-FM > > > From: "Nancy A. Hey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2002 12:40:56 -0400 > > From: DC Coalition to Stop the War Against Iraq > To: Mr. Tony Regusters, WPFW Radio > Subject: Interview with Samantha Powers on the March 28th edition > of "On the Margin" > > > Dear Mr. Regusters: > > We at the DC Coalition to Stop the War Against > Iraq raise serious objections about the interview you aired on the 3/38 > edition of Josephine Reid's show "On the Margin", in which Ms. Reid > interviewed Samantha Powers, author of a book titled "A Problem From > Hell", > a book about responding to cases of genocide in the world. > > We are appalled that in the interview, Ms. > Powers shamelessly advocated American military intervention in any area > of > the world where there are civil wars going on, and charges of genocide > being committed against various ethnic groups. She defended American > military intervention in Iraq, Bosnia, Somalia and Kosovo, and said that > the > US should intervene militarily in other areas of the world as well, such > as > Rwanda. She went on to say that she felt former President Bill Clinton > should have intervened even earlier, > and with more firepower than he did in Bosnia, Somalia and Kosovo. > Her position on intervention in the Balkans was very hypocritical, since > it > was American intervention in the form of support for secessionists in > the > early 1990's that led to the breakup of Yugoslavia and the resulting > ethnic > conflicts in the first place. > > We feel that arguments such as Ms. Powers' in > favor of US military intervention are very self-righteous, in that they > imply that the United States has the moral authority to tell other > countries > how they should resolve their internal conflicts, and that the US > supposedly > has a "moral" duty to intervene in conflicted areas in the name of > "humanitarian" intervention. > > Pacifica is a network that purports to be > progressive, and was founded by pacifists. Many people in the > progressive > community such as ourselves look to Pacifica for alternative views not > aired > in the mainstream media, especially those that support the kind of work > that > groups such as our own do to promote peace and oppose American > imperialistic > wars abroad. > That is why we are disappointed that your network would see fit to air > such > a pro-militarist and pro-imperialist piece as the Samantha Powers > interview. This viewpoint is heard constantly in the commercial media, > and > on NPR - there is no need to give it further air time in an alternative > media source like Pacifica. > > We believe that it is very dangerous at this > time of increasing militarism and war fervor for your network to be > promoting and encouraging such pro-interventionist sentiments, > especially > without even offering counter arguments on the show. The ploy of > couching > wars in terms of "humanitarian intervention", as Ms. Powers does is > dangerous, because it gives these wars an air of undeserved legitimacy. > Bill Clinton's claims that the war against > Serbia was a war to protect the rights of ethnic minorities, and > George Bush's claims that the war against the Taliban "liberated" Afghan > women, only disguise the fact that these wars have caused thousands of > innocent civilians to die, and that the true reason for these > interventions > was not concern for human rights. Rath
US: 'Legitimacy...is not just a majority of votes' [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Reuters. 15 April 2002. U.S. withholds support for reinstated Chavez. WASHINGTON -- The United States on Monday withheld support for reinstated Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, saying his return to power over the weekend did not amount to a full restoration of Venezuelan democracy. The Bush administration was clearly pleased when the military forced President Chavez out of office early on Friday of last week and appeared caught by surprise when the tide turned again in Chavez's favor on Sunday. A senior U.S. official, who asked not to be named, said the political future of Chavez and Venezuela remained uncertain. "It's not totally clear exactly where certain players are and what the status of things is... There is no absolute in terms of where the situation stands," he said. Another senior official cast doubt on Chavez's legitimacy. [N.B.] "He was democratically elected. He won a majority of votes. Legitimacy is something that is conferred not just by a majority of votes, however," he said . The United States has a long history of intervening to overthrow leftist and populist leaders in Latin America. Venezuela is especially important to U.S. interests because it exports 1.5 million barrels of oil a day to the U.S. market. The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a liberal think-tank on Latin American affairs, said the Bush White House was the big loser from events in Venezuela. "Whether there is evidence or not, there is not a political person in Latin America who doesn't believe that the CIA played some kind of role in the short-lived ouster of Venezuela's President Chavez," it said. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Milosevic Says Kosovo Massacre Staged by Rebels [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://www.europeaninternet.com/yugoslavia/frames/frames.php3?webnewsid=1816854Milosevic Says Kosovo Massacre Staged by RebelsMon Apr 15,11:55 AM ETBy Eric OnstadTHE HAGUE (Reuters) - Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites) at his trial on Monday accused separatist Kosovo Albanian guerrillas of fabricating an alleged atrocity by Serb forces in 1999 in a bid to spur a shocked West into attacking Yugoslavia.The killing of about 45 ethnic Albanians in Racak in January 1999 shocked the outside world and was widely credited with stiffening NATO (news - web sites)'s resolve to launch its 11-week campaign of air strikes against Yugoslavia two months later.The former Serb strongman, accused of genocide and crimes against humanity in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s, could face life behind bars if convicted at the end of Europe's biggest international war crimes trial since World War Two.The Hague (news - web sites) tribunal heard last week from a Western observer that dozens of unarmed men dressed in slippers and rubber boots were found shot in the head at Racak in 1999 after Serb forces entered the village. Milosevic disputed the testimony.Milosevic told the war crimes court that ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas shifted corpses around Racak to an open mass grave as part of a ruse to convince Western observers that Serb forces had butchered villagers. He said Serb forces had only killed KLA guerrillas in gun battles."It may be, as Serb authorities claim, and many Europeans tended to believe, that the victims were in fact killed in the shoot-out reported by police and then aligned to give the appearance of a massacre," Milosevic said quoting from an Italian press report.IN COLD BLOODThe 60-year-old accused, who is conducting his own defense at the United Nations (news - web sites) court against charges he has rejected as "false," vigorously challenged testimony that Racak's villagers had been gunned down.Retired British general Karel Drewienkiewicz, who served in Kosovo with a mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation (news - web sites) in Europe (OSCE (news - web sites)), said he was convinced a massacre had taken place and had not been staged by the KLA."I know what I saw on the hillside and it was not manipulation...it was men who had been gunned down in cold blood," said Drewienkiewicz.Drewienkiewicz acknowledged, however, that a fierce battle had taken place between KLA guerrillas and Serb forces at Racak and that there had been a "lapse" of some 15 hours overnight before Western observers viewed the scene.Last week Drewienkiewicz told the court he saw men shot in the head at Racak. They had been dressed in carpet slippers and rubber boots.Since his trial opened in February Milosevic has accuses the West and Islamic militant group al-Qaeda of supporting a "terrorist" campaign by the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army to destabilize the Balkans.He declined to enter pleas to the charges against him. Not guilty pleas were entered on his behalf. The trial is expected to last at least two years. --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
"Every Serb is Radovan" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- BELGRADE, April 15 (AFP) - Posters of Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic appeared in Serbia's two largest cities on Monday, imploring Serbs to oppose war crimes trials with the banner "Every Serb is Radovan." The posters were plastered throughout downtown Belgrade and Novi Sad after Yugoslavia last week adopted a law on extraditing suspects wanted for trial by the UN war crimes court in The Hague. Under the law, some 15 war crimes suspects living on the territory of Yugoslavia could be turned over to The Hague. Karadzic and his wartime military commander Ratko Mladic, accused of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, are said to be moving between the Serb-run entity of Bosnia and the territory of Montenegro and Serbia. Serbia's former interior minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic died Saturday, a few days after shooting himself in the head in front of the Yugoslav parliament which had just passed the bill. --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Chavez: US plane on prison island in coup [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Reuters. 15 April 2002. Chavez probes U.S. plane on prison island in coup. CARACAS -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Monday he would investigate the mysterious presence of a U.S.-registered civilian plane on the island where he was held during a military coup that briefly overthrew him last week. But the populist former paratrooper -- democratically elected in 1998 -- said he was prepared to give Washington the benefit of the doubt over its ambiguous statements appearing to welcome his short-lived downfall. "I think they were victims of misinformation," Chavez told a news conference, referring to the U.S. government with uncharacteristic diplomacy, adding he guaranteed no interruption of Venezuelan oil supplies to the United States. U.S. officials made it known that they were not unhappy to see the ouster of Chavez, a close friend of Cuba's Fidel Castro who is fond of anti-American rhetoric. They greeted his swift return to power at the helm of the world's fourth-largest oil exporter with reservation. When asked about Chavez's return U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said on Monday, "We want to see a return [!] to democracy." [N.B.] A senior U.S. official, who asked not to be named, said the political future of Chavez and Venezuela remained uncertain. For his part, Chavez said he was fascinated by the presence of a plane with U.S. markings on the Venezuelan Caribbean island of La Orchila where he was held after Friday's coup. At the time, the military was trying to persuade him to resign and fly into foreign exile. "I saw the plane. It bore the markings of a private plane from the United States, not an official plane. This is being investigated. What was it doing there?" Chavez asked. He said a number of Venezuelan nationals hostile to his rule were known to be living in the United States. "They left here with a lot of money which they robbed," he said. Chavez added that U.S. Ambassador Charles Shapiro was aware of the presence of the aircraft on La Orchila. "The ambassador recognized in fact that there was a plane in La Orchila with U.S. markings," Chavez said. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
US deepens its hostility towards Chavez [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- AFP. 15 April 2002. Chavez ordered armed forces to fire on demonstrators: US official. WASHINGTON -- President Hugo Chavez's government ordered armed forces to fire on anti-Chavez demonstrators last week, a senior state department official said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He says he needs to reflect, and one of the things I think he needs to reflect on is what drove him, a man who calls himself a man of the people, what drove him to order his people to be killed by their own armed forces, such an immoral and illegal order they refused to follow," the official charged. "I think he should also reflect on his relations with his neighbours, his relations with radical movements around the world, his relations with failed regimes around the world" such as Cuba, Iran, and Libya. The comments marked a distinct hardening in tone from Washington, which neither celebrated Chavez's return nor explicitly rejected the interim regime that replaced him for just under 48 hours in a failed weekend coup. The official denied that Washington had maintained contact with coup plotters, after Newsweek magazine reported that they disclosed their plan to authorities at the US embassy in Caracas less than two months ago. [N.B.] He said that members of the opposition, including members of the military, had indeed met with US officials "to complain and to tell us about the situation." "We expressed our concern about antidemocratic characteristics or aspects of the Chavez administration," while making it clear that "the Venezuelan people have the right to choose their own leaders." "We continue to monitor events in Venezuela with great concern," State Department deputy spokesman Philip Reeker said. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Powell must see for himself what Israel inflicted on Jenin [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "Karen Lee Wald" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Maceo Carillo Martinet" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Fisk: Powell should go to Jenin Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2002 07:07:38 -0700 NOTE FROM KAREN: Although I heartily agree with Robert Fisk on almost everything, and hope it is at least embarrassing for Washington that it looks like Israel is calling the shots, I think it is absurd to say that is the case as long as the US controls the purse strings. Israel owes not only its ability to wage war, but its very existence, to the $14 million a day that the US doles out (from taxpayer pockets). All it would take would be for the administration to say: Get out of the territory you have been illegally occupying or your funds dry up tomorrow. So the real question is, Why doesn't it say that, and who exactly could make the decision? Could the president, or does it have to be Congress? If it must be Congress, we have a more complicated situation. We should look, at any rate, why most members of Congress are reported to be siding with Israel. Is it simply the old story of the circular spending? (Congress gives money to the people who line their campaign coffers; that money is used to continue to line the coffers of friendly Congress members. It happens with the rightwing Cuban-Americans groups too). Powell must see for himself what Israel inflicted on Jenin HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Mr Powell must see for himself what Israel inflicted on Jenin.The credibility of US policy on the conflict has been shattered. Robert Fisk: 14 April 2002Why doesn't Colin Powell go to Jenin? What has happened to the world's moral compass indeed to the United States when America's most famous ex-general, the Secretary of State of the most powerful country on earth, on a supposedly desperate mission to stop the bloodshed in the Middle East, fails to grasp what is taking place in front of his nose? The stench of decaying corpses is wafting out of the Palestinian city. The Israeli army is still keeping the Red Cross and journalists from seeing the evidence of the mass killings that have taken place there. "Hundreds'' on Israel's own admission have died, including civilians. Why, for God's sake, can't Mr Powell do the decent thing and demand an explanation for the extraordinary, sinister events that have taken place in Jenin?Instead, after joshing with Ariel Sharon after his arrival in Jerusalem on Friday, Mr Powell is playing games, demanding that Yasser Arafat condemn Friday's bloody suicide bombing in Jerusalem (total, six dead and 65 wounded) while failing to utter more than a word of "concern'' for the infinitely more terrible death toll in Jenin. Is Mr Powell frightened of the Israelis? Does he really have to debase himself in this way? Does he think that meeting Arafat, or refusing to do so, takes precedence over the enormous humanitarian tragedy and slaughter that has overwhelmed the Palestinians? Is President Bush whose demand that Ariel Sharon withdraw his troops from the West Bank has been blandly ignored so gutless, so cynical, as to allow this charade to continue? For this is the endgame, the very final proof that the United States is no longer morally worthy of being a Middle East peacemaker.Even for one who has witnessed so much duplicity in the Middle East, it is a shock to reflect on the events of the past nine days. Let's just remember, as the Americans would say, "the facts". Almost two weeks ago, the United Nations Security Council, with the active participation and support of the United States, demanded an immediate end to Israel's reoccupation of the West Bank and Gaza. President Bush insisted that Mr Sharon should follow the advice of "Israel's American friends'' and because our own Mr Blair was with the President at the time of "Israel's British friends", and withdraw. "When I say withdraw, I mean it," Mr Bush snapped three days later. But of course, it's now clear that he meant nothing of the kind.Instead, he sent Mr Powell off on his "urgent" mission of peace, a journey to Israel and the West Bank that would take the Secretary of State an incredible eight days just enough time, Mr Bush presumably thought, to allow his "good friend'' Mr Sharon to finish his latest bloody adventure in the West Bank. Supposedly unaware that Israel's chief of staff, Shoal Mofaz, had told Mr Sharon that he needed at least eight weeks to "finish the job'' of crushing the Palestinians, Mr Powell wandered off around the Mediterranean, dawdling in Morocco, Spain, Egypt and Jordan before finally washing up in Israel on Friday morning. If Washington firefighters took that long to reach a blaze, the American capital would long ago have turned to ashes. But of course, the purpose of Mr Powell's idleness was to allow enough time for Jenin to be turned to ashes. Mission, I suppose, accomplished.As Israel's indisciplined soldiery
Response from Tony Regusters Re: Jo Reid's "On the Margin" program [WWW.STOPNATO
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Response from Tony Regusters Re: Jo Reid's "On the Margin" program >From : "Tony Regusters" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject : Re: Jo Reid's "On the Margin" program Date : Mon, 15 Apr 2002 17:55:30 + Dear Ms. Hey, Please know that I will take your concerns very seriously, as they reflect my own. I did not hear the interview in question, but will meet with Ms. Reid to further obtain details. I certainly, truly believe that every word you wrote reflects the new paradigm for a restored Pacifica -- and that it is my role as the guy hired by the "true Pacifica people" to assure that the editorial views, news and information promoted on WPFW's airwaves are in synchronization with our hardworking allies in the NGO, institutional and activist community. I promise you that I will investigate this matter and the issue at hand and take steps to assure that it does not reoccur. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. Tony Regusters interim General Manager WPFW-FM From: "Nancy A. Hey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2002 12:40:56 -0400 From: DC Coalition to Stop the War Against Iraq To: Mr. Tony Regusters, WPFW Radio Subject: Interview with Samantha Powers on the March 28th edition of "On the Margin" Dear Mr. Regusters: We at the DC Coalition to Stop the War Against Iraq raise serious objections about the interview you aired on the 3/38 edition of Josephine Reid's show "On the Margin", in which Ms. Reid interviewed Samantha Powers, author of a book titled "A Problem From Hell", a book about responding to cases of genocide in the world. We are appalled that in the interview, Ms. Powers shamelessly advocated American military intervention in any area of the world where there are civil wars going on, and charges of genocide being committed against various ethnic groups. She defended American military intervention in Iraq, Bosnia, Somalia and Kosovo, and said that the US should intervene militarily in other areas of the world as well, such as Rwanda. She went on to say that she felt former President Bill Clinton should have intervened even earlier, and with more firepower than he did in Bosnia, Somalia and Kosovo. Her position on intervention in the Balkans was very hypocritical, since it was American intervention in the form of support for secessionists in the early 1990's that led to the breakup of Yugoslavia and the resulting ethnic conflicts in the first place. We feel that arguments such as Ms. Powers' in favor of US military intervention are very self-righteous, in that they imply that the United States has the moral authority to tell other countries how they should resolve their internal conflicts, and that the US supposedly has a "moral" duty to intervene in conflicted areas in the name of "humanitarian" intervention. Pacifica is a network that purports to be progressive, and was founded by pacifists. Many people in the progressive community such as ourselves look to Pacifica for alternative views not aired in the mainstream media, especially those that support the kind of work that groups such as our own do to promote peace and oppose American imperialistic wars abroad. That is why we are disappointed that your network would see fit to air such a pro-militarist and pro-imperialist piece as the Samantha Powers interview. This viewpoint is heard constantly in the commercial media, and on NPR - there is no need to give it further air time in an alternative media source like Pacifica. We believe that it is very dangerous at this time of increasing militarism and war fervor for your network to be promoting and encouraging such pro-interventionist sentiments, especially without even offering counter arguments on the show. The ploy of couching wars in terms of "humanitarian intervention", as Ms. Powers does is dangerous, because it gives these wars an air of undeserved legitimacy. Bill Clinton's claims that the war against Serbia was a war to protect the rights of ethnic minorities, and George Bush's claims that the war against the Taliban "liberated" Afghan women, only disguise the fact that these wars have caused thousands of innocent civilians to die, and that the true reason for these interventions was not concern for human rights. Rather, the war in Kosovo was fought for the expansion of Western economic control over Eastern Europe, and access to Caspian Sea oil, and intervention in the Middle East and Afghanistan is done for the sake of controlling the access of competing industrialized nations to oil and dominating a region
Letter to Pacifica Radio re. interview with Samantha Powers [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Letter to Pacifica Radio re. interview with Samantha Powers >From : "Nancy A. Hey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject : Interview with Samantha Powers on the March 28th edition of "On the Margin" Date : Mon, 15 Apr 2002 12:42:14 -0400 From: DC Coalition to Stop the War Against Iraq To: Mr. Tony Regusters, WPFW Radio Subject: Interview with Samantha Powers on the March 28th edition of "On the Margin" Dear Mr. Regusters: We at the DC Coalition to Stop the War Against Iraq raise serious objections about the interview you aired on the 3/38 edition of Josephine Reid's show "On the Margin", in which Ms. Reid interviewed Samantha Powers, author of a book titled "A Problem From Hell", a book about responding to cases of genocide in the world. We are appalled that in the interview, Ms. Powers shamelessly advocated American military intervention in any area of the world where there are civil wars going on, and charges of genocide being committed against various ethnic groups. She defended American military intervention in Iraq, Bosnia, Somalia and Kosovo, and said that the US should intervene militarily in other areas of the world as well, such as Rwanda. She went on to say that she felt former President Bill Clinton should have intervened even earlier, and with more firepower than he did in Bosnia, Somalia and Kosovo. Her position on intervention in the Balkans was very hypocritical, since it was American intervention in the form of support for secessionists in the early 1990's that led to the breakup of Yugoslavia and the resulting ethnic conflicts in the first place. We feel that arguments such as Ms. Powers' in favor of US military intervention are very self-righteous, in that they imply that the United States has the moral authority to tell other countries how they should resolve their internal conflicts, and that the US supposedly has a "moral" duty to intervene in conflicted areas in the name of "humanitarian" intervention. Pacifica is a network that purports to be progressive, and was founded by pacifists. Many people in the progressive community such as ourselves look to Pacifica for alternative views not aired in the mainstream media, especially those that support the kind of work that groups such as our own do to promote peace and oppose American imperialistic wars abroad. That is why we are disappointed that your network would see fit to air such a pro-militarist and pro-imperialist piece as the Samantha Powers interview. This viewpoint is heard constantly in the commercial media, and on NPR - there is no need to give it further air time in an alternative media source like Pacifica. We believe that it is very dangerous at this time of increasing militarism and war fervor for your network to be promoting and encouraging such pro-interventionist sentiments, especially without even offering counter arguments on the show. The ploy of couching wars in terms of "humanitarian intervention", as Ms. Powers does is dangerous, because it gives these wars an air of undeserved legitimacy. Bill Clinton's claims that the war against Serbia was a war to protect the rights of ethnic minorities, and George Bush's claims that the war against the Taliban "liberated" Afghan women, only disguise the fact that these wars have caused thousands of innocent civilians to die, and that the true reason for these interventions was not concern for human rights. Rather, the war in Kosovo was fought for the expansion of Western economic control over Eastern Europe, and access to Caspian Sea oil, and intervention in the Middle East and Afghanistan is done for the sake of controlling the access of competing industrialized nations to oil and dominating a region that is at the connecting point of Europe, Africa, and Asia. We believe that if there are real cases of genocide happening and people feel compelled to do something to help in these situations there are charitable non-governmental organizations that activists can support as individuals that will help the victims. However, progressives should never call for the military force of the US government to be brought down on smaller, weaker nations, and the US government should not be the judge of what does or does not constitute "genocide", as the US government is, itself, guilty of crimes against people that could be considered "genocide". In the spirit of supporting Pacifica's true mission statement, we ask that you please use your time to air alternative, anti-military viewpoints, rather than the pro-military propaganda that already gets so much air time in the mainstream media. Sincerely, Nancy Hey, on behalf of The DC Coalition to Stop the
Mr Powell Must See For Himself What Israel Inflicted on Jenin [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Published on Sunday, April 14, 2002 in lndependent/UK Mr Powell Must See For Himself What Israel Inflicted on Jenin by Robert Fisk Why doesn't Colin Powell go to Jenin? What has happened to the world's moral compass – indeed to the United States – when America's most famous ex-general, the Secretary of State of the most powerful country on earth, on a supposedly desperate mission to stop the bloodshed in the Middle East, fails to grasp what is taking place in front of his nose? The stench of decaying corpses is wafting out of the Palestinian city. The Israeli army is still keeping the Red Cross and journalists from seeing the evidence of the mass killings that have taken place there. "Hundreds'' – on Israel's own admission – have died, including civilians. Why, for God's sake, can't Mr Powell do the decent thing and demand an explanation for the extraordinary, sinister events that have taken place in Jenin? Instead, after joshing with Ariel Sharon after his arrival in Jerusalem on Friday, Mr Powell is playing games, demanding that Yasser Arafat condemn Friday's bloody suicide bombing in Jerusalem (total, six dead and 65 wounded) while failing to utter more than a word of "concern'' for the infinitely more terrible death toll in Jenin. Is Mr Powell frightened of the Israelis? Does he really have to debase himself in this way? Does he think that meeting Arafat, or refusing to do so, takes precedence over the enormous humanitarian tragedy and slaughter that has overwhelmed the Palestinians? Is President Bush – whose demand that Ariel Sharon withdraw his troops from the West Bank has been blandly ignored – so gutless, so cynical, as to allow this charade to continue? For this is the endgame, the very final proof that the United States is no longer morally worthy of being a Middle East peacemaker. Even for one who has witnessed so much duplicity in the Middle East, it is a shock to reflect on the events of the past nine days. Let's just remember, as the Americans would say, "the facts". Almost two weeks ago, the United Nations Security Council, with the active participation and support of the United States, demanded an immediate end to Israel's reoccupation of the West Bank and Gaza. President Bush insisted that Mr Sharon should follow the advice of "Israel's American friends'' and – because our own Mr Blair was with the President at the time – of "Israel's British friends", and withdraw. "When I say withdraw, I mean it," Mr Bush snapped three days later. But of course, it's now clear that he meant nothing of the kind. Instead, he sent Mr Powell off on his "urgent" mission of peace, a journey to Israel and the West Bank that would take the Secretary of State an incredible eight days – just enough time, Mr Bush presumably thought, to allow his "good friend'' Mr Sharon to finish his latest bloody adventure in the West Bank. Supposedly unaware that Israel's chief of staff, Shoal Mofaz, had told Mr Sharon that he needed at least eight weeks to "finish the job'' of crushing the Palestinians, Mr Powell wandered off around the Mediterranean, dawdling in Morocco, Spain, Egypt and Jordan before finally washing up in Israel on Friday morning. If Washington firefighters took that long to reach a blaze, the American capital would long ago have turned to ashes. But of course, the purpose of Mr Powell's idleness was to allow enough time for Jenin to be turned to ashes. Mission, I suppose, accomplished. As Israel's undisciplined soldiery yesterday continued to hide their deeds from the outside world by preventing the Red Cross, aid workers, ambulances and journalists from entering the rubble of Jenin, Mr Powell was sitting idly by in Israel, calling for the "utmost restraint'' from an army that has not yet finished filling the mass graves of Jenin. That he should see a visit to Yasser Arafat – the grotesque, corrupt old man of Ramallah – as the make-or-break issue of his "peacemaking" shows just how skewed Mr Powell's morality has become. Mr Arafat's advisers (let's not give any credit to the would-be "martyr-chairman" of the Palestinian Authority for this) shrewdly announced that it is for Mr Powell to condemn the killings in Jenin, for Mr Arafat could be expected to condemn the vicious suicide bombing in Jerusalem on Friday. And even though Mr Arafat mouthed the relevant words of contrition and condemnation yesterday afternoon, it makes little difference.
America's Lonesome Diplomatic Strategy [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Published on Monday, April 15, 2002 in the Chicago Tribune America's Lonesome Diplomatic StrategyBush Vision Puts U.S. Out On a Limb by Salim Muwakkil This nation is heading down a dangerous, solitary road that is almost destined to lead to global hatred and distrust. We've squandered opportunities to increase global security through international cooperation that were presented by the Sept. 11 tragedy. Instead of helping create a world that reduces the lure of terrorism, we've done the opposite. The latest U.S. act of self-sabotage is its opposition to the world's first permanent International Criminal Court, which was officially ratified at an April 11 ceremony in the United Nations. Beginning in July, the court will have the authority to prosecute people charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide if their governments are unable or unwilling to try them. The 1998 treaty establishing the court was negotiated in Rome after the ethnic cleansing in the Balkans and the genocide in Rwanda. The U.S. during the Clinton administration was one of the 139 nations that signed the treaty, although Clinton never submitted it to the Senate for ratification. Now the Bush administration is considering "unsigning" the treaty. UN officials, human rights groups and some of the U.S.' closest allies, including Britain, France, Canada and Germany, have lauded the court as a powerful new tool in the fight against war crimes. Why isn't the U.S. a kindred spirit in this quest for international justice? Especially since all of our allies have signed on to the court and our global war on terrorism seeks their help? Instead, the U.S. has vehemently opposed the treaty and has vowed to take action to ensure U.S. citizens cannot fall under the court's jurisdiction. The Bush administration reportedly fears the court might carry out frivolous trials against U.S. soldiers engaged in overseas combat or peacekeeping missions. Let me suggest, however, the real motive: The U.S. is trying to maintain its global dominance. The world's last superpower (the French call us a "hyperpower") simply will not submit to the judgments of lesser nations. When the Bushites and the religious right-wingers in his camp say "God Bless America," they must mean it as a fait accompli. God already has blessed America--and only America. Because of our God-blessed power and wisdom, they reason, we are the only country capable of running the world. Such reasoning certainly would explain the actions of the Bush administration, which has taken unilateral arrogance to a new level. Name an international treaty, Bush has rebuffed it: The Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gases; a global agreement to curb the illicit sale of small arms; the Biological Weapons Protocol; the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. All of these treaties were strongly supported by U.S. allies and most of the international community. Thus, the Bush administration's rejection of the Rome Treaty's world criminal court should come as no great surprise. Dubya is just a unilateral kind of guy. But already we are paying the price of that unilateralism. In the Middle East, for example, Bush's simplistic rhetoric has come back to haunt us. His oracular division of nations into those "with us or with the terrorists," may sound decisive in times of crisis. But upon reflection, it sounds rather simplistic. Bush's combative "wanted dead or alive" language was wildly popular to an American public weaned on white hat/black hat dichotomies, and no Republican dared to challenge a president with Bush's stratospheric approval ratings. Reducing complicated conflicts to simple Texas sound bites may enthrall Bush's right-wing posse, but it undermines the foundations of successful diplomacy. His wiser counsels, such as Secretary of State Colin Powell, know that international relations require finely calibrated approaches. We see an example of diplomacy devalued in the way Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has defied Bush's stern urgings to terminate the savage invasion of Palestinian territories and in former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cheeky address to Congress Wednesday. Both men are using Bush's own intemperate words to prosecute and justify what most of the world is calling war crimes against Palestinian civilians. If Bush us
Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu Calls US Soft On Israel [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Published on Sunday, April 14, 2002 in the Boston Globe Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu Calls US Soft On IsraelNobelist speaks to Boston group on Mideast crisis by Steven Wilmsen Likening Israel's treatment of Palestinians to the oppression of blacks by the white apartheid government in South Africa, Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu yesterday chided the Bush administration for being too soft on prime minister Ariel Sharon. ''I can't believe the United States really believes in its impotence'' to halt Israel's military reprisals, Tutu told reporters at Boston's Old South Church, where the retired archbishop spoke at a conference aimed at ending the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. ''They have leverage, and they know they have leverage,'' he said. ''Any administration knows it has the capacity. Whether they have the will is another thing.'' Tutu said the Bush administration should demand Israel withdraw from the Gaza and the West Bank, adding that Israel's isolation of Yasir Arafat was ''bizarre and humiliating.'' Speaking earlier to a gathering of about 500 peace activists and members of the pro-Palestinian group Sabeel at the church, he urged a movement in the United States to ''put out a clarion call to the people and the government of Israel.'' ''An unjust Israeli government - no matter how powerful - will ultimately fall,'' he said. Jewish leaders reacted strongly to Tutu's remarks. ''It's tragic that a person of his moral credentials would sacrifice them with such an ugly slur,'' said Rob Leikind, director of the New England chapter of the Anti-Defamation League. ''Israel is in a simple fight for survival. It's a sad day for all of us when people engage in that kind of hyperbole.'' Tutu said that he opposes Palestinian suicide bombings, but that the only way to achieve peace is for Israel to make the first move. With a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters lining the sidewalks outside, Tutu said he also is ''saddened'' by the apparent lack of sympathy for the Palestinian cause in America and by the Bush administration's apparent unwillingness to rebuff Israeli interests at home. ''Somehow, the Israeli government is placed on a pedestal, where to criticize them is to be immediately dubbed as anti-Semitic,'' he said. ''The Jewish lobby is powerful. Very powerful. So what? This is God's world.'' Tutu, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his role in dismantling the white government of South Africa, in part by inspiring a peaceful black uprising and focusing world attention on the region - said the movement was inspired ''on a deep level'' by Jewish traditions and by Israeli Jews themselves. But on a recent visit to Palestinian towns, he said he viewed Israeli destruction with a Palestinian villager. ''He pointed out in the distance and said, `That used to be my home, but Jews live there now,''' Tutu said. ''I then recalled how in South Africa, people of color would point in much the same way at their homes that were now occupied by whites. ''I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at roadblocks. It reminded me of what happened to us in South Africa, where they battered us and heckled us, and they took joy in humiliating us. My heart aches. Have my Jewish friends forgotten their own history? Have they turned their backs on their own profound religious traditions?'' Tutu urged college students to protest Israel's action as they protested apartheid in the 1980s and said the fact that blacks are free now should give people hope for peace in the Middle East. ''We are free today in South Africa because of people like yourselves, people who - when it looked like they were trying to make hell freeze over - you went on. And look at us now. We are free.'' Meanwhile, protesters outside displayed banners and signs reading ''Palestinians are People Too'' and ''No more US $$ to Israel.'' ''Why is there so much hate?'' asked Husam Hamdam, who lives in Boston but grew up in the Palestinian town of Jenin, where Israeli bulldozers have wreaked havoc in recent days. ''My parents went there to start a new life, and now it is taken away again. These people, they have been crucified twice.'' © Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: h
Venezuela to continue supplying Cuba with oil [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- AFP. 15 April 2002. Venezuela to continue supplying Cuba with oil: Chavez. CARACAS -- Venezuela will continue supplying oil to the government of President Fidel Castro in Cuba, President Hugo Chavez said Monday, only three days after failed coup leaders said they would stop the shipments. The decision by Venezuela's short-lived interim government to suspend oil exports to Cuba was a major threat to the island's economy. "Not a single barrel for Cuba," Edgar Paredes, a manager at the state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, had proclaimed Friday. Chavez is Castro's closest ally in the Americas. Venezuela had been selling about 53,000 barrels of oil a day to Cuba at a discounted price under an arrangement signed in 2000 between Chavez and Castro. Trade between the two nations went from 463.3 million dollars in 1999 to 912.4 million in 2000, according to the latest official figures, as Venezuela took over from Spain as Cuba's main trading partner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
NEWS ON CONGO 042: 2/2 Negotiations and war [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- NEWS ON CONGO 042: 2/2 Negotiations and war [Posted: 15.04.02] [Continued from "NEWS ON CONGO 041"] C. AFP: *"Hundreds of dead" in South Kivu, according to a Congolese Tutsi party* KIGALI, 14 April 2002 (AFP) Hundreds of people have been killed in the province of South Kivu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), since the beginning of the military operations by the Rwandan army against a leader of Congolese Tutsi, according to a communique from an organization representing this community which was transmitted on Sunday to the AFP at Kigali. The movement of the Forces Républicaines Fédéralistes (FRF), which represents the interests of the local community of the Banyamulenge, states that "between 4,000 and 6,000 military of the Rwandan army (...) have encircled" the High Plateaus in the province of South Kivu (east) in order to attack the commandant Patrick Masunzu. This former officer of the rebellion [" " - RM] of the Ras- semblement congolais pour la démocratie (RCD) since almost two months back is opposing militarily this rebel movement, which controls all of eastern DRC with the help of Rwanda, and which today considers him "a deserter". The Rwandan Patriotic Army (ARP) has taken direct part in the combats at the end of March, sending several thousands of men into the Banyamulenge areas of the High Plateaus, vast stret- ches of pasture land at an altitude of more than 2,000 metres. "Hundreds of deaths have occurred at Minembwe and in its sur- roundings. Terrorized and humiliated, the Banyamulenge popu- lations also are victims of the pillaging and the arbitrary arrests by the occupation troops", the communique of the FRF charges. "In its military campaign against the occupation, the comman- dant Masunzu is holding his positions well. He enjoys the to- tal support of his whole community and of thousands of resis- tance fighters of the Mai-Mai (militias of native tribes, traditionally, however, hostile to the Congolese Tutsi - AFP) who have joined him", according to the FRF, whose leadership lives in exile in Europe. The FRF has "always held that the return of peace to the Congo cannot take place by means of the inter-Congolese dialogue which is being held at Sun City (South Africa)", underlines the communique. They are calling on "other Congolese patriots, in particular those in the occupied territories, to unite with them to concertedly combat the occupation", the text ends. Another Banyamulenge organization, Shikama, has stated in a communique that "these confrontations have already caused the deaths of nearly 500 people, among whom in particular women, old people and children have been targeted in helicopter bom- bardments, and more than 200 deaths on the side of the Rwandan army". There at the moment is no summing-up on these combats by an independent and reliable source. Shikama also accuses the Kigali government of lying in order to justify its military intervention in this region "so as to pursue armed groups and militias guilty of genocide". No trace of such a presence is reported in this area, under the control of the Commandant Masunzu since 1999, underlines Shikama. This justification "is only one of the pretexts for pillaging all the better the mineral and forest resources of the DRC, installing a rear base at these plateaus of Minembwe and creating a countryside colony there", charges Shikama. Shikama demands the demilitarisation of the Kivu and its being brought under the mandate of the Mission of Observation of the United Nations in the Congo (MONUC). It also calls for "the creation of an international and independent commission of inquiry (...) for investigating the violations of human rights and the war crimes committed by the APR and its Congo- lese ally the RCD", its communique ends. D. SOME MORE INFORMATION, AND AN ATTEMPT AT ANALYSIS The so-called inter-Congolese Dialogue is taking place under the auspices of the Lusaka agreement of 1999, which imposed harsh conditions on the DR Congo: In that country, the one subjected to the aggression, with one-half of it under foreign occupation, a dialogue was to be held between the government, on the one hand, and various mup- pet forces of the aggressors', on the other, for a so-called peaceful settlement of the conflict and a so-called democratic development. Nothing similar was envisaged for those states which were perpetrating the aggression, instigated by the im- perialists, and which were and are the ones really ruled un- democratically. The Lusaka agreement did contain the provision too that the foreign troops in the DR Congo were to withdraw - something which has not taken place. Under the circumstances at hand, it probably was correct for the government of the DR Congo to accept this agreement, I've argued in earlier items of the present series. But of course this was an *unequal* treaty, quite similar to those which we
NEW BIN LADEN VIDEO [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- NEW BIN LADEN VIDEO Al Jazeera has announced that it has received another exclusive video of Osama Bin Laden. Osama Bin Laden appears in the short clip released by Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based TV station, chatting and stroking his beard, flanked by his partners in Al Qaeda. It is difficult to discern his state of health because the picture is dark but reading from the fluent movements of his arms, he does not come across as someone who is supposed to be moribund. He has been in adverse situations before, many times, during his time as a terrorist fighter against the Soviet Armed Forces, supporting the legitimate government of Dr. Najibullah, so Osama Bin laden can be described as a survivor. Other videos released by Al Jazeera have been made around one month before the release. Should this be the case with the present video, which will be released in its entirety by Al Jazeera on Thursday, it would appear that Bin laden is not inside the mountainous regions of eastern Afghanistan, because the mountain peaks would have been covered in snow, this not being the case in the video. Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
NEWS ON CONGO 041: 1/2 Negotiations and war [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- NEWS ON CONGO 041: 1/2 Negotiations and war [Posted: 15.04.02] NOTE: On websites with information on the DR Congo and for some contact addresses, see endnote last in "NOC 042", the continuation of this posting. New here is that the Mai-Mai movement, which is fighting the aggressors in the east, now has its own website, at http://www.congo-mai-mai.net. INTRO NOTE: The items 041 and 042 contain the following parts: In 041: A: On the imperialist war against the DR Congo (same text as in intro note to "NOC 040", 23.03.02) B: Two articles (in my translation from the French) from the Kinshasa newspaper l'Avenir, Thursday 11.04, on the ongoing negotiations respectively on the war In 042: C: A message from Kigali (capital of Rwanda) by the news agency AFP, Sunday 14.04 (in translation) D: Some more information on the most recent events, and an attempt at analysis of the present situation in connection with the negotiations at Sun City, South Africa [Texts in B and C and informations in D according to postings to the discussion groups congokin_opinions and CONGOTRIBUNE and to the DR Congo's Permanent Mission at the UN; addresses see endnote.] A. ON THE IMPERIALIST WAR AGAINST THE DR CONGO In the DR Congo, then called "Zaire", an uprising against the Mobutu dictatorship which had oppressed and fleeced the people in favour of imperialism since 35 years back started in late 1996 and was victorious on 17.05.1997, when the pre- sent state, the Democratic Republic of Congo, was founded. The liberation struggle was led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, who also became the first president of the DRC. The DR Congo from the start set itself the goal of freeing the country from imperialist exploitation and building up an actually democratic form of government in it, thereby also setting up an example for all of Africa and for simi- larly exploited countries elsewhere. Because of this, the US and other imperialists instigated a war of aggression against that country on 02.08.1998 by three neighbouring states, a war which so far, directly or indi- rectly, has cost the lives of over 3,000,000 people and which still continues. One-half of the DR Congo today is under fo- reign occupation. The people in the whole country continues to suffer enormously. It very much needs the support of the people in all other countries. After the foul murder of L-D Kabila on 16.01.2001, his son, Joseph Kabila, was installed as president; a government led by J. Kabila has continued the struggle against the aggres- sion since then. Since some weeks back now, a conference is being held in Sun City, South Africa, in which attempts by the imperia- lists to gain control over the whole of the DR Congo by so- called "peaceful" means are confronted by the strivings of the Congolese people and the country's lawful government to retain the independence of the DRC. The UN Security Council on 19.03 by its Resolution 1399 (2002) condemned the recent military seizure by the aggres- sors, in flagrant violation of the present armistice, of the city of Moliro in the south-east of the DR Congo, and demanded the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the forces of the so-called "RCD-Goma", one of the aggressors' puppets, from that city. B. TWO ARTICLES IN THE NEWSPAPER L'AVENIR, KINSHASA, THURSDAY, 11.04.2002 L'Avenir: *Sun City. A republican front to save the Congo* Kinshasa, 11.04.2002 At the moment when everyone hoped for a solution, even if a late one, of the Congolese crisis, the Rassemblement congo- lais pour la Démocratie (RCD/Goma) [the RCD, which has been acting as a military muppet of one of the invading countries, Rwanda, a large part of it based at Goma in occupied eastern DR Congo - RM] has sounded a note different from those of the other participants in the negotiations. It rejects as a whole the South African president's proposal. [That is, the first proposal by Mbeki for an agreement, put forward on 10.04. He on the next day, 11.04, put forward a second, after consultations with the aggressor-friendly so- called "mediator", Masire, one clearly more favourable to those Congolese so-called "rebel" organizations which have helped the Rwandan and Ugandan invaders. The negotiations at Sun City were scheduled to last until 12.04. On 11.04, it was also proposed that they would be extended until 18.04. This has been accepted by all the participating parties. - RM] One thus is back at the starting-point. And given the time which there is left for the delegates to pack up and go, one fears that one will return empty-handed to the country, with all those consequences which this means. The Congolese public opinion can see in this the irresponsible behaviour of those who aspire to govern the DR Congo. In connection with the pro- posal of president Thabo Mbeki, it
US/NATO-Backed Georgia Threatens, Backs Down Russia On Its Own Border [WWW.STOPN
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Shevardnadze: Russian troops' deployment in Georgian region was calculated to destabilize situation By Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili ASSOCIATED PRESS April 15, 2002 -It was the latest surge of tension between Georgia and Russia over Abkhazia, which exercises de facto independence. The separatist government has appealed to Russia for protection, alleging that the U.S. military training of Georgia's ragtag army to fight terrorists could in fact help the Georgian forces to unleash a new offensive on their Black Sea province. -A United Nations-brokered protocol signed April 2 called for Georgian troops to withdraw by April 10 and for joint patrols by Russian peacekeepers and U.N. observers. The newly arrived Russian troops pulled out of the gorge Saturday, but not before Georgian Defense Minister David Tevzadze threatened -"If all of this had not ended peacefully, wide-scale military actions would probably have begun and ... led to the renewal of the conflict in Abkhazia," Shevardnadze said Monday during his weekly radio interview. TBILISI, Georgia - President Eduard Shevardnadze accused Russia on Monday of trying to destabilize his already volatile country by landing troops in a disputed region without prior agreement from Georgian authorities. Helicopters ferried about 80 Russian servicemen into the Kodori Gorge region of breakaway Abkhazia on Friday. The Russian government said it was an ordinary deployment of peacekeepers in the separatist region, which Russian troops have patrolled since 1994 following the 1992-93 war between Georgian troops and Abkhazian rebels. Georgia objected that it had not been notified in advance. It was the latest surge of tension between Georgia and Russia over Abkhazia, which exercises de facto independence. The separatist government has appealed to Russia for protection, alleging that the U.S. military training of Georgia's ragtag army to fight terrorists could in fact help the Georgian forces to unleash a new offensive on their Black Sea province. The Kodori gorge, divided roughly equally between Georgian government forces and Abkhazian separatists until this month, has been a particular flash point of tension. A United Nations-brokered protocol signed April 2 called for Georgian troops to withdraw by April 10 and for joint patrols by Russian peacekeepers and U.N. observers. The newly arrived Russian troops pulled out of the gorge Saturday, but not before Georgian Defense Minister David Tevzadze threatened that his troops would open fire on them. Shevardnadze rushed to the region on Friday to try to draw international attention to what he called a potentially explosive standoff. "If all of this had not ended peacefully, wide-scale military actions would probably have begun and ... led to the renewal of the conflict in Abkhazia," Shevardnadze said Monday during his weekly radio interview. Georgia frequently has accused Russian peacekeepers of favoring the Abkhazian separatist, but refrained from demanding their permanent withdrawal for fear of unleashing another war. Some 16,000 were killed in the war and 300,000 mostly ethnic Georgians forced to flee their homes. The refugees make up a vocal pressure group for Tbilisi to keep up pressure on the separatists. "If the Kodori gorge had been lost (last week), that would have provoked an explosion of agitation among the refugees, in society, and led to alarm in (other) regions," Shevardnadze said Monday. He expressed gratitude to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he credited with defusing the situation after the two presidents spoke on the telephone. [Of course] __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Step-by-step atomic bomb guide 'made public' [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1931000/1931103.stm Monday, 15 April, 2002, 14:50 GMT 15:50 UK Step-by-step bomb guide 'made public' Atomic bombs were first built in Britain in the 1940s The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) says it is "checking" claims that one of its documents - detailing a step-by-step guide on how to build an atomic bomb - has been put in a public office for all to see. The file is said to be in the archives at the Public Record Office, which can be accessed by anyone, including terrorists, and gives measurements, diagrams and precise details on bomb-building, the Daily Telegraph reported. Shadow defence secretary Bernard Jenkin criticised such a move as a "monstrous free gift to terrorists" and called for an immediate government investigation. He told BBC News Online: "The fact that this information has been lying in the public records office is extraordinary. "Such information may already be in the public domain, but why needlessly help rogue states and terrorist organisations with such comprehensive instructions on how to make an atom bomb? "I will be pressing the government for a comprehensive explanation." Stringent review As a result of the outcry, a spokesman for the MoD said it had sent someone along to the Public Record Office to check the content of the files. He added: "We have a very stringent review process of all documents and before they are placed on public file they are very carefully checked for any sensitive material. "We would not just put any document in the public domain." The files are said to relate to the construction of Blue Danube, the first British atomic bomb, which was built in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It is also said to describe various ways in which such a bomb could be smuggled into the country. = Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace. Weekly peace walks around Lake Merritt in Oakland. Starts & ends at the colonnade between Grand & Lakeshore Avenues, 3 P.M., every Sunday. Info: (510)763-8712, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or http://www.webwm.com/LMNOP __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Target Ukraine: US Steps Up 'Axis Of Evil' Smear [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- [The U.S. is intensifying its saber rattling against Ukraine and its neighbor Belarus, accusing each of allegedly aiding and abetting the infamous 'axis of evil' through arms sales to Baghdad. The most ominous aspect of the following report is the contention that the putative sales "could increase dramatically danger levels to US and British pilots." Which is to say bombers. Endangering the lives of US servicemen is a serious - the most serious - accusation that can be leveled in today's unipolar militarized world and is as clear a threat to both countries as can be made. Comparable to the threats, delivered directly in the Ukranian capital last year by U.S. officials, that Ukraine must immediately abrogate a previous contract for military helicopters to Macedonia when the latter nation was under siege by US/NATO-supported UCK-NLA terrorists operating out of Kosovo. The message then as now could not be more blunt: Halt or else. And then there's the question of NATO candidate member and supplier of military forces to Afghanistan, Romania, threatening Ukraine over disputed territory in the Black Sea. Intimidation and fragmentation are the hallmarks of the refurbished NATO, a greater danger to the world with each passing day.] Kuchma Accused of Selling Advanced Anti-aircaft Weapons to Iraq KIEV, Apr 15, 2002 -- (dpa) Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has been accused of selling advanced anti-aircraft weapons to Sadaam Hussein of Iraq, Ukrainian news agencies reported Sunday. Reports cited a statement made in California by former Kuchma bodyguard Mykola Melnichenko, who said he had shown a U.S. grand jury proof that Kuchma ordered and personally controlled deliveries of Kolchuga radars to the Iraqi dictator. Ukrainian weapons experts describe the Kolchuga as a passive radar designed to detect stealth and other aircraft without emitting any electronic signature. Components of the system are reportedly manufactured in Kiev and Odessa. The secret Ukraine-Iraq arms deal took place in the late 1990s and was worth 100 million dollars, Melnichenko claimed. Melnichenko reportedly said he presented a San Francisco grand jury with original audio recordings of conversations between Kuchma and former Ukrspetsexport director Valery Malev discussing the transaction. Ukrspetsexport is the Ukrainian government monopoly weapons export. Malev died in a car crash last month. The tape played to San Francisco judge Martha Boersch reportedly documented Kuchma instructing Malev to disguise the radar shipment to Iraq as truck parts from Ukraine's Kremenchuh KrAZ automobile factory, and to provide false passports to Ukrainian technicians accompanying the shipment. The recording also contained evidence of a Kuchma scheme to cut a Jordanian middleman out of the transaction, the Ukrainska Pravda web magazine reported. Kuchma has repeatedly denied allegations he organized illegal transfers of Ukrainian weapons abroad, a charge made by his opponents in 1997. Anti-corruption deputy Oleksander Zhyr made the first public allegation Kuchma sold weapons to Iraq last month. The Kolchuga system, were it in fact in use with Iraqi troops, could increase dramatically danger levels to U.S. and British pilots enforcing two no-fly zones in Iraq, Ukrainian military specialists said. The Kolchuga makes no electronic transmissions and is therefore invisible to most U.S. anti-radar missiles, which home in on a radar's emissions. (C)2002. dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
News, 15.4.2002, 16:00 UTC [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Deutsche Welle English Service News April 15th, 2001, 16:00 UTC Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: The EU Backs Off On Israel The EU Foreign Ministers buried talks of sanctions against Israel at their meeting in Luxembourg. But they are doubtful of Israel's idea for a regional conference. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1430_A_498043_1_A,00.html - Survivors in Air China Crash Thirty-nine people have miraculously survived a jetliner crash in South Korea. Earlier on Monday, an Air China passenger aircraft went down in a wooded South Korean mountain during heavy rain and fog. There were 167 passengers and crew on board, most of whom were Korean. The location of the crash has made search and rescue efforts difficult, but officials said at least one of the flight recorders had been recovered. South Korean cabinet ministers have already ordered checks of their country's main transportation systems, ahead of soccer's World Cup finals, to be co-hosted in South Korea in six weeks. Monday's crash was the first for Air China in nearly five decades. Israel Arrests Top Palestinian Leader Israel has arrested a leading Palestinian figure close to President Yasser Arafat. Israeli security sources said they had arrested Marwan Barghouthi, considered by Israel as the top militant in the area. Barghouti is the secretary general of the Arafat's Fatah movement in the West Bank. He has been sought by Israel since the launch of the latest West Bank offensive. Israel has accused Barghouti of leading Fatah militants to carry out scores of attacks against Israelis. U.S. Secretary of State Calls on Syria and Lebanon to Rein in Hizbollah U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has held talks with leaders in Lebanon and Syria on a one-day sidetrip from Jerusalem. During his visits in both Beirut and Damascus, he appealed to leaders to rein in Hizbollah guerrillas. Powell said recent border attacks by the Hizbollah against Israel threatened to widen the conflict in the region. Powell is on a mission in the Middle East to bring about a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian violence but so far, separate meetings with Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat have brought about no agreements nor committments from either side regarding the current crisis. EU Decides to Bury Talk of Sanctions against Israel European Union foreign ministers have decided not to discuss imposing sanctions against Israel for its offensive in the West Bank, and instead have opted to rally behind Powell and his mission in the Middle East. Diplomats of the 15 nations were also ready to reject a call by the European Commission for an emergency meeting with Israel, at least until the U.S Secretary of State has ended his peacemaking drive. Meanwhile, the U.N.'s top human rights body condemned Israel on Monday for "mass killings" of Palestinians and demanded a pull-out from occupied Palestinian areas. A number of the EU states backed the resolution, but Britain and Germany voted against it while Italy abstained. Arabic Newspaper Prints Statement from Mullah Omar An Arabic newspaper has printed what it claims is a statement from the former Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar. The daily al-Hayat quoted Omar as saying that Jews and Americans were conducting a losing war against Islam and the Palestinians. A similar statement, also attributed to Mullah Omar, was published on an internet web site which has regularly carried news about Afghanistan as well as alleged statements by Taliban leaders. Omar has been on the run since the war in Afghanistan began. He is considered to be one of Washington's most wanted men. Four U.S. Soldiers Die in Rocket Accident Four American soldiers were killed and one badly injured on Monday while destroying abandoned Taliban rockets near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. A spokesman for the provincial government in Kandahar told news sources that the incident was an accident and not an act of sabotage. At Bagram Air Base just outside the Afghan capital Kabul, a U.S. military spokesman said five soldiers were involved in disposing of 107mm rockets when the accident happened. Monday's accident appeared similar to an incident in Kabul last month when three Danish soldiers along with two German soldiers were killed while disposing of Soviet-era ground-to-air rockets. Hanover Trade Fair Begins Hanover's annual industrial trade fair - regarded as the world's biggest - has opened its doors, featuring innovations of almost 7,000 exhibitors from 69 countries. Over the next six days, 200,000 gue
From Baltic To Black Seas: Turkey Pushes Latvian NATO Bid [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- LETA (Latvia) Sezer: Turkey will support Latvia's entry in NATO during Prague summit RIGA, April 15 (LETA) - During the NATO summit in Prague this November, that will decide on enlargement of the alliance, Turkey will support Latvia's inclusion in NATO, Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said today after his meeting with President Vaira Vike-Freiberga. Turkey will support all NATO candidate countries that comply with NATO criteria, including Latvia. In commenting on specific candidate countries, Sezer said that during the NATO summit in Reykjavik this May, each candidate country's readiness to enter the alliance would be clear. According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, cooperation with Turkey is very important to Latvia currently because both counties wish to enter the European Union. Besides, Turkey is an important partner for Latvia in the defense sector, taking into account Turkey's membership in NATO and Latvia's desire to join. __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Fwd: Six Die on Roma Nation Day [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- In a message dated 14/04/02 04:55:22 Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Subj:Six Die on Roma Nation Day Date:14/04/02 04:55:22 Eastern Daylight Time From:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent from the Internet From: MINELRES moderator <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Original sender: Ustiben <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Six Die on Roma Nation Day ROMA NATION DAY MARRED BY EXLPOSION AT HOTEL _ Police investigating six deaths Ustiben reports: ROMA NATION DAY, this year marking the Millennium Jubilee of the exodus from India, saw the biggest celebrations yet. Crowds gathered at towns and cities along the Danube, on the Rhein, beside the Sava at Zagreb, on the Vardar in Skopje, and Sofija's Iskur River. In Belgrade, at the junction of the Danube and Sava, President Kostunica of Yugoslavia honoured Roma by attending the ceremony. Among other Danube events were those at Budapest and in Bulgaria at Vidin, Lom and Ruse. From the Volga in Russia to the Plata, in Argentina, Roma cast their flowers on the waters in memory of those who began the great migrations a thousand years ago. The feelings of the day are summed up by the words of Juan Ramirez, president of the Romani Union in Spain: "These migrations have been no bed of roses - and continue today with the forced "move-ons" and migrations by those compelled to seek asylum." Roma asylum-seekers and refugees were prominent at River Ceremonies on the Thames in London, the Arno and Ardige in Italy, and Sweden's Malmo Canal, as well as in Ireland at Galway Bay and on the Shannon at Athlone. Attention was drawn to the refugee issue at events on the Nisava in Serbia and at Prizen in Kosovo. Human rights abuses were the subject of a major "8 April" demonstration at Sibiu, in Romania, and at the ceremony on the Dambovita in Bucurest, as well as that on the banks of the Vltava in Prague. The day was also marked by floral tributes on the Garonne in France, at Cape Fear River, North Carolina, and in Tirana, Albania. All were linked in spirit by the River Ceremony held at a Sikh temple on the Ghagar, near Chandigarh, India, arranged by veteran activist Pandit W.R Rishi, who lent his inspiration to this unique jubilee. The day, however, was marred by the deaths of six members of a Polish Roma family killed by an explosion in a hotel in the Czech Republic. Police are investigating the incident which occurred at Louny, according to a report by Ondrej Gina. A surviving member, Tony Siwak, told Gina that among the dead is a five year old girl. They had come from Plock, in Poland. (This report on ROMA NATION DAY is an initial roundup only) Photographs of the River Ceremony on Thames are available free on request -- == MINELRES - a forum for discussion on minorities in Central&Eastern Europe --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^ --- Begin Message --- From: MINELRES moderator <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Original sender: Ustiben <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Six Die on Roma Nation Day ROMA NATION DAY MARRED BY EXLPOSION AT HOTEL _ Police investigating six deaths Ustiben reports: ROMA NATION DAY, this year marking the Millennium Jubilee of the exodus from India, saw the biggest celebrations yet. Crowds gathered at towns and cities along the Danube, on the Rhein, beside the Sava at Zagreb, on the Vardar in Skopje, and Sofija's Iskur River. In Belgrade, at the junction of the Danube and Sava, President Kostunica of Yugoslavia honoured Roma by attending the ceremony. Among other Danube events were those at Budapest and in Bulgaria at Vidin, Lom and Ruse. From the Volga in Russia to the Plata, in Argentina, Roma cast their flowers on the waters in memory of those who began the great migrations a thousand years ago. The feelings of the day are summed up by the words of Juan Ramirez, president of the Romani Union in Spain: "These migrations have been no bed of roses - and continue today with the forced "move-ons" and migrations by those compelled to seek asylum." Roma asylum-seekers and refugees were prominent at River Ceremonies on the Thames in London, the Arno and Ardige in Italy, and Sweden's Malmo Canal, as well as in Ireland at Galway Bay and on the Shannon at Athlone. Attention was drawn to the refugee issue at events on the Nisava in Serbia and at Prizen in Kosovo. Human rights abuses were the subject of a major "8 April" demonstration at Sibiu, in Romania, and at the ceremony on the Dambovita in Bu
US air strike on Iraq - civilian targets hit [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- AFP. 15 April 2002. US warplanes strike site in southern Iraq. WASHINGTON -- US warplanes struck an air defense site in southern Iraq on Monday in response to Iraqi fire on coalition aircraft enforcing a no-fly zone, the US military said. It was the first US air strike in southern Iraq since January 21. In Baghdad, a military spokesman said US and British warplanes bombed civilian targets in southern Iraq but did not report casualties. "Enemy warplanes ... raided civilian installations in Zi-Qar province (375 kilometers, or 235 miles, south of Baghdad) in an attempt to harm Iraq's struggling people," he said, quoted by Iraq's official INA news agency. The raiding planes were driven back to their bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait by anti-aircraft fire and surface-to-air missiles, the spokesman said. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Milosevic: Kosovo massacre staged by KLA [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Reuters. 15 April 2002. Milosevic Says Kosovo Massacre Staged by Rebels. THE HAGUE -- Slobodan Milosevic at his trial on Monday accused separatist Kosovo Albanian guerrillas of fabricating an alleged atrocity by Serb forces in 1999 in a bid to spur a shocked West into attacking Yugoslavia. The killing of about 45 ethnic Albanians in Racak in January 1999 shocked the outside world and was widely credited with stiffening NATO's resolve to launch its 11-week campaign of air strikes against Yugoslavia two months later. The Hague tribunal heard last week from a Western observer that dozens of unarmed men dressed in slippers and rubber boots were found shot in the head at Racak in 1999 after Serb forces entered the village. Milosevic disputed the testimony. Milosevic told the war crimes court that ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas shifted corpses around Racak to an open mass grave as part of a ruse to convince Western observers that Serb forces had butchered villagers. He said Serb forces had only killed KLA guerrillas in gun battles. "It may be, as Serb authorities claim, and many Europeans tended to believe, that the victims were in fact killed in the shoot-out reported by police and then aligned to give the appearance of a massacre," Milosevic said quoting from an Italian press report. The 60-year-old accused, who is conducting his own defense at the United Nations court against charges he has rejected as "false," vigorously challenged testimony that Racak's villagers had been gunned down. Retired British general Karel Drewienkiewicz acknowledged that a fierce battle had taken place between KLA guerrillas and Serb forces at Racak and that there had been a "lapse" of some 15 hours overnight before Western observers viewed the scene. Last week Drewienkiewicz told the court he saw men shot in the head at Racak. They had been dressed in carpet slippers and rubber boots. Since his trial opened in February Milosevic has accuses the West and Islamic militant group al-Qaeda of supporting a "terrorist" campaign by the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army to destabilize the Balkans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
FW: Israel should learn from SA's Apartheid past!!/Basson [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- -Original Message- From: Patrick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 15 April 2002 13:12 To: jonathan Subject: Fw: Israel should learn from SA's Apartheid past!!/Basson - Original Message - From: "Patrick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Ayo Obisanya" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Dr Antia Daniel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Dr Ayo Awe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Dr Martin Biyo'o Mveng" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Kofi Amegashie" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: 15 April 2002 08:04 Subject: Israel should learn from SA's Apartheid past!!/Basson > > Subject: Israel repeating mistakes of apartheid rulers > > > 22:38 12/04/2002Last update - 00:36 13/04/2002 > > Mbeki: Israel repeating mistakes of apartheid rulers > > By Reuters > > CAPE TOWN - Israel is repeating the mistakes of South Africa's apartheid > rulers in its effort to crush a popular rebellion, South African President > Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. > > Mbeki said in a weekly online letter that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was > wrong to demand an end to Palestinian violence as a pre-condition for talks. > > South Africa has consistently criticized Israel's handling of the crisis, > but Mbeki said he was equally concerned about the rights and the losses of > both Israelis and Palestinians. > > "When we call for respect for life, we must state firmly that we refer both > to Israelis and Palestinians," he said. > > "However...we must proceed from the concrete reality that the Israelis have > their own independent state and homeland. The Palestinians do not." > > Israeli forces launched a military offensive in the West Bank two weeks ago > to try to crush Palestinian militants blamed for a series of suicide attacks > that killed dozens of Israelis. > > Mbeki said South Africa's own experience, in which tens of thousands of > people died in the uprising against white minority rule, had shown that an > oppressed people fought because they had "nothing to lose but their > servitude", not because they were told to fight. > > South Africa's white rulers, who negotiated themselves out of power between > 1990 and 1994, fought for 30 years to maintain their exclusive hold on > power. > > Police and government agents shot protesters, assassinated civic leaders, > jailed activists and banished high-profile opponents in a bid to break the > uprising that eventually forced them into talks. > > "The rulers of Israel are repeating the costly mistakes made by the captains > of apartheid in our country," Mbeki said. > > "Everything that has happened in the Palestinian territories in almost two > years says, in action, that the Palestinians and especially the youth are > ready to march against tanks and armoured cars because it is no longer > possible for them to live as a dispossessed people. > > "The attempt to search and destroy so-called agitators and terrorists in > their midst, in the belief that these are the instigators of the rebellion, > without whom the rebellion would cease, is to live in worse than a fool's > paradise," he said. > > Welcoming U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's peace mission, he said "The > leaders of both the people of Israel and Palestine have a common > responsibility to take advantage of the presence of the Secretary of State > to break the chain of violence." > > Powell, on a Middle East peace mission, is due to hold talks with > Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat on Saturday at Arafat's offices > in Ramallah, besieged by Israeli forces. > > > > > > > * --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
AI: X-Ray PoW treatment cruel and degrading [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- AP. 15 April 2002. Amnesty International Condemns Treatment of Guantanamo Detainees. LONDON -- The treatment of al-Qaida and Taliban suspects at a U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay undermines human rights and may be cruel and degrading, Amnesty International asserted Monday. In a 62-page memorandum sent to the U.S. government, Amnesty also accuses Washington of flouting international law by refusing detainees access to legal counsel. "The U.S. government must ensure that all its actions in relation to those in its custody in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay comply with international law and standards," the human rights group said. "This is crucial if justice is to be done and seen to be done, and if respect for the rule of law and human rights is not to be undermined." The U.S. embassy in London declined to comment on the report. The camp has been inspected by officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross. Human rights groups have expressed concern that Washington is reserving the right to try the captives on its own terms and is calling them "unlawful combatants" instead of "prisoners of war" - a designation that bring them under the Geneva Convention. According to the memorandum, which was sent to Washington last week and made public Monday, U.S. authorities have refused to provide full information about the circumstances of many of the arrests, including whether they occurred in Afghanistan, Pakistan or elsewhere. Washington has "undermined the presumption of innocence through a pattern of public commentary on the presumed guilt" of the detainees and has "raised the prospect of indefinite detention without charge or trial," the memorandum states. "The U.S.A.'s pick and choose approach to the Geneva Conventions is unacceptable, as is its failure to respect fundamental international human rights standards," Amnesty said. A London-based Amnesty spokeswoman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the organization was repeating a request, first made in January, for access to the camp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
FW: Israeli War Crimes,& US double standards!!! [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- -Original Message- From: Patrick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 15 April 2002 07:08 To: jonathan; Kofi Amegashie; Ayo Obisanya Subject: Israeli War Crimes,& US double standards!!! At least the UK media are being objective of sorts.Does this mean that the Jewish controlled US networks aren't aware of what's going on??? http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=284823 The camp that became a slaughterhouse By Justin Huggler 14 April 2002 A woman with her leg all but ripped off by a helicopter rocket, the mangled remains hanging on by a thread of skin as she slowly bleeds to death. A 10-year-old boy lying dead in the street, his arm blown off and a great hole in his side. A mother shot dead when she ran into the street to scream for help for her dying son. The wounded left to die slowly, in horrible agony, because the ambulances were not allowed in to treat them. A terrible crime has been committed by Israel in Jenin refugee camp, and the world is turning a blind eye. Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, visited the scene of a suicide bombing that murdered six Israelis in Jerusalem, but he did not visit Jenin, where the Israelis admit they killed at least 100 Palestinians. The Israel army claims all of the dead were armed men, that it took special care to avoid civilian casualties. But we saw the helicopter rockets rain down on desperately crowded areas: civilian casualties could not have been prevented. The Israeli army sealed off the entire area around Jenin yesterday, arresting journalists who ventured into it. That is because they have something to hide in Jenin: the bodies. The Israeli army has told the Israeli courts that it will not start burying the bodies until Sunday. But there are abundant eyewitnesses who say they have already seen the soldiers piling the bodies in mass graves. Hiding the bodies is what Slobodan Milosevic did in Kosovo. Either way, the Palestinians are not allowed to bury their own dead, because Israel does not want the world to see what happened inside Jenin refugee camp. The grieving have no way of knowing where to find the bodies of those they have lost. For nine days, Jenin camp became a slaughterhouse. Fifteen thousand Palestinians lived in a square kilometre in the camp, a packed warren of narrow lanes. Thousands of terrified civilians, women and children, cowered inside their homes while the Israeli helicopters rained down rockets on them and tanks fired shells into the camp. The wounded were left to die. The Israeli army refused to allow ambulances in to treat them, which is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. The Red Cross has publicly said people have died because Israel blocked the ambulances. Slobodan Milosevic is on trial in the Hague for breaking the Geneva Conventions, while Ariel Sharon shakes Colin Powell's hand for the television cameras. The Geneva Conventions are in tatters in Israel. The Israeli authorities may be able to hide the evidence, but they cannot silence the stories that have been pouring out of those who managed to escape the carnage in the camp. These stories cannot be verified yet, but there are scores of them, and many agree in details. Fikri abu al-Heija was one of those who came out of the carnage in the camp. "At the beginning the soldiers came and surrounded the camp with tanks," he says. "There were two Apache helicopters. A rocket hit our house ? they were concentrating the rockets on the houses. All the windows were broken by the explosions. All you could hear was explosions. When the rocket hit the house, everybody gathered together on the lower floors. A woman was with us from the second floor who had had her leg almost cut off by the rocket. It was just hanging on by a little piece of skin. We saw the ambulance coming for her but the soldiers stopped it." Six days after the attack, Mr abu al-Heija was captured by the soldiers. "They made us take off our clothes and tied us in groups of five with metal wire. As we were walking through the camp we saw demolished houses, burning houses, bodies in the street. Every 10 or 20 metres there was a body. I recognised some. One was a cousin of mine. His name was Ashraf abu al-Heija." The Palestinians have been writing all the accounts like Mr abu al-Heija's down: they are not going to allow what happened at Jenin to be covered up. The Independent on Sunday has seen these meticulous handwritten notes, of which several copies have been made. There are records of everybody who used to live in the camp, and it will be possible to match the missing with the accounts of the dead. The Palestinians say there are 200 missing. The names are coming out now: Mohammed Hamad, Nidal Nubam, Mustafa Shnewa. A man who asked to remain anonymous says he saw their bodies being put in a mass grave in the Haret al-Hawashin neighbourhood. Yusra Ahmad, a mentally disabled woman, was killed by a helicopter r
FW: US credibility in ME shattered!!! [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- -Original Message- From: Patrick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 15 April 2002 07:33 To: jonathan; Kofi Amegashie Subject: US credibility in ME shattered!!! http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=284647 Robert Fisk: Mr Powell must see for himself what Israel inflicted on Jenin The credibility of US policy on the conflict has been shattered Independent Digital (UK) Ltd4 April 2002 The credibility of US policy on the conflict has been shattered 14 April 2002 Why doesn't Colin Powell go to Jenin? What has happened to the world's moral compass - indeed to the United States - when America's most famous ex-general, the Secretary of State of the most powerful country on earth, on a supposedly desperate mission to stop the bloodshed in the Middle East, fails to grasp what is taking place in front of his nose? The stench of decaying corpses is wafting out of the Palestinian city. The Israeli army is still keeping the Red Cross and journalists from seeing the evidence of the mass killings that have taken place there. "Hundreds'' - on Israel's own admission - have died, including civilians. Why, for God's sake, can't Mr Powell do the decent thing and demand an explanation for the extraordinary, sinister events that have taken place in Jenin? Instead, after joshing with Ariel Sharon after his arrival in Jerusalem on Friday, Mr Powell is playing games, demanding that Yasser Arafat condemn Friday's bloody suicide bombing in Jerusalem (total, six dead and 65 wounded) while failing to utter more than a word of "concern'' for the infinitely more terrible death toll in Jenin. Is Mr Powell frightened of the Israelis? Does he really have to debase himself in this way? Does he think that meeting Arafat, or refusing to do so, takes precedence over the enormous humanitarian tragedy and slaughter that has overwhelmed the Palestinians? Is President Bush - whose demand that Ariel Sharon withdraw his troops from the West Bank has been blandly ignored - so gutless, so cynical, as to allow this charade to continue? For this is the endgame, the very final proof that the United States is no longer morally worthy of being a Middle East peacemaker. Even for one who has witnessed so much duplicity in the Middle East, it is a shock to reflect on the events of the past nine days. Let's just remember, as the Americans would say, "the facts". Almost two weeks ago, the United Nations Security Council, with the active participation and support of the United States, demanded an immediate end to Israel's reoccupation of the West Bank and Gaza. President Bush insisted that Mr Sharon should follow the advice of "Israel's American friends'' and - because our own Mr Blair was with the President at the time - of "Israel's British friends", and withdraw. "When I say withdraw, I mean it," Mr Bush snapped three days later. But of course, it's now clear that he meant nothing of the kind. Instead, he sent Mr Powell off on his "urgent" mission of peace, a journey to Israel and the West Bank that would take the Secretary of State an incredible eight days - just enough time, Mr Bush presumably thought, to allow his "good friend'' Mr Sharon to finish his latest bloody adventure in the West Bank. Supposedly unaware that Israel's chief of staff, Shoal Mofaz, had told Mr Sharon that he needed at least eight weeks to "finish the job'' of crushing the Palestinians, Mr Powell wandered off around the Mediterranean, dawdling in Morocco, Spain, Egypt and Jordan before finally washing up in Israel on Friday morning. If Washington firefighters took that long to reach a blaze, the American capital would long ago have turned to ashes. But of course, the purpose of Mr Powell's idleness was to allow enough time for Jenin to be turned to ashes. Mission, I suppose, accomplished. As Israel's indisciplined soldiery yesterday continued to hide their deeds from the outside world by preventing the Red Cross, aid workers, ambulances and journalists from entering the rubble of Jenin, Mr Powell was sitting idly by in Israel, calling for the "utmost restraint'' from an army that has not yet finished filling the mass graves of Jenin. That he should see a visit to Yasser Arafat - the grotesque, corrupt old man of Ramallah - as the make-or-break issue of his "peacemaking" shows just how skewed Mr Powell's morality has become. Mr Arafat's advisers (let's not give any credit to the would-be "martyr-chairman" of the Palestinian Authority for this) shrewdly announced that it is for Mr Powell to condemn the killings in Jenin, for Mr Arafat could be expected to condemn the vicious suicide bombing in Jerusalem on Friday. And even though Mr Arafat mouthed the relevant words of contrition and condemnation yesterday afternoon, it makes little difference. All last week, while Mr Sharon's soldiers were running amok in Jenin, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer was playing the role
Coup plotters in contact with US embassy [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- AFP. 15 April 2002. Venezuelan coup plotters were in contact with US embassy: report. WASHINGTON -- Venezuelan military officers, who unsuccessfully tried to topple President Hugo Chavez last week, were in contact with the US embassy in Caracas less than two months ago, Newsweek magazine reported Monday. The report cited Bush administration sources as saying that in late February, dissident Venezuelan military officers had informed embassy officials about planning a coup. The officers were told that "this was not acceptable, that a coup was not the way to go," the weekly reported quoting an unnamed source. But according to Newsweek, Chavez was widely seen in Washington as a hostile figure whose erratic leadership threatened US oil supplies as well as efforts to crack down on guerrilla forces tied to drug trafficking and terrorism in neighboring Colombia. The coup, which was launched late Thursday, succeeded in ousting Chavez for two days. The United States expressed no sympathy for Chavez after he was ejected from power early Friday and did not explicitly reject the interim government that replaced him. "The people of Venezuela have sent a clear message to President Chavez that they want both democracy and reform[!]," the White House said later in a statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
FW: "Suffer the little children" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: "Suffer the little children" HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- -Original Message-From: John O [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]Sent: 15 April 2002 09:48To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]Subject: "Suffer the little children" == National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC) 110 Hamstead Road Birmingham B20 2QS Phone: 0121-554-6947 Fax: 0121-554-7891 E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web site: http://www.ncadc.org.uk/ == "Suffer the little children" "Suffer the little children who come unto Britain, for theirs shall be the kingdom of the accommodation and removal centre" Nationality, Immigration and Asylum bill, chapters 2 & 5, verses numerous "and deportation, shall follow them, all the days of their lives." Nationality, Immigration and Asylum bill, chapter 4, verse 52 The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum bill, was published last Friday the 12th of April. Its sheer nastiness beggars description. None of the concerns of those asked to submit consultative papers on the bill were met. NCADC doubts the papers were even read. Children who have no choice of where they are born, or choice of what countries their parents choose to seek asylum, are the latest targets of New Labour's immigration paranoia. Legislation now going through parliament, if it becomes law, will mean that children on arrival will face Induction Centres, Accommodation Centres and Removal Centres. Children held in accommodation centres will be subject to statutory segregation, they will not be allowed to attend schools or nurseries outside the centre. (Part 2, clause 30,3). Children can be served with deportation notices, along with their parents. (Part 4, clause 52,1) If they are dispersed into the community, they will find themselves in the most deprived areas of the UK. If their parents asylum claim fails, the children no matter how young or however long they have been here, can be put in detention to await removal. In all of this they will have no say. For their parents and individuals the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum bill, just means more detention and dispersal, which always lead to discrimination, destitution, self harm, and more than likely back to detention and then removal. All this they face if they don't die trying to get here or commit suicide in desperation not to be returned to their country of origin. Families in accommodation centres will be means tested, (part 2, clause 27). Sentence first, judgement afterwards: Super fast tracking - a deportation order can be served and removal directions set on the same day that an asylum claim is made, or any time afterwards, (part 4, clause 56, 4a), though not enforceable till final decision on claim. These are just a few examples of a thoroughly unjust bill. David Blunkett said when presenting "Secure Borders, Safe Haven", the precursor to the bill, this would create a "more robust, faster and efficient system." Robust it certainly is, if R is for rotten, O for obscene, B for brutal, U for ugly, S for sick and T for tyrannical. "The bill is even harsher than the white paper," Habib Rahman, Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants. "The government's proposals to crack down on those who abuse the asylum system is in real danger of cracking down on those who genuinely need it - those who have been persecuted in other countries, those who have a right to be here." John Wadham, director of Liberty. The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum bill, is not yet law. Let your MP know what you think about the new bill. Use Faxyourmp.com which you can access from the left hand frame at: http://www.ncadc.org.uk/ = Copies of the proposed legislation the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum bill, (this is a technical document, in PDF format), with the more readable explanatory document (word doc), can be obtained from NCADC. For the bill, return a BLANK message in the subject line put: subscribe bill doc For the Explanatory document, return a BLANK message in the subject line put: subscribe Explanatory doc. For both, return a BLANK message in the subject line put: subscribe both This is an automated service, any messages which contain text in the body, will bounce back to you. --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
NATO Selects 5 Rapid Deployment Sites For 250,000 Troops Outside W. Europe [WWW
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://stripesonline.com/article.asp?section=104&article=7824 Stars And Stripes Monday, April 15, 2002 NATO selects sites in five nations for rapid-deployment commands By Terry Boyd, Stars and Stripes European edition, Monday, April 15, 2002 IZMIR, Turkey NATO officials have selected sites in five nations for six new commands, capable of rapidly sending forces as many as 250,000 troops to trouble spots outside Western Europe. Five High-Readiness Force Headquarters should be up and running by this summer, but part of the selection and certification process might take until 2004. The commands join a high-readiness headquarters in Rheindahlen, Germany, attached to Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), said Ian Kemp, a London-based NATO specialist for Janes Weekly, which tracks the worlds militaries. The headquarters that will be attached to EuroCorps include: Strasbourg, France; the Germany/Netherlands Corps in Munster, Germany; III Corps of the Turkish Army, Istanbul; and new headquarters in Valencia, Spain, and Milan, Italy. Two Lower-Readiness Headquarters are planned for Warsaw, Poland, and at Thessaloniki, Greece, said German Lt. Col. Harmut Beilmann, a spokesman at SHAPE headquarters in Brussels. Since 1991, NATO officials have tried to create a more flexible command structure to deal with regional conflicts, moving away from the Cold War scenarios of defending Europe against Soviet and Warsaw Bloc forces toward conflicts like the Balkans and the war on terrorism. Just what sort of forces and capabilities each headquarters will have depends on the host nation and contributing countries. For example, the majority of ARRC forces are contributed by the United Kingdom, and range from tank-heavy armored divisions to airborne units specializing in mountain operations. Each high-readiness headquarters must be able to deploy its first elements within two weeks and its entire force within two to three months, according to NATO documents. The new strategy focuses on a combination of reaction forces, main-defense forces and augmentation forces that will relieve the high-readiness forces should wars or peacekeeping missions run longer than two six-month rotations. A spokesman for the Turkish General Staff in Ankara, Turkey, said he doesnt expect the Turkish government to commit to the force until after a final SHAPE evaluation in December. The concept requires a multi-national command, and the 10 allied nations represented at Joint Command Southeast are planning to provide assets to the approximately 500-person headquarters staff, according to NATO sources. "This implies that some staff members in our headquarters may be moved to the High-Readiness Headquarters this summer," Ataman said. "As the world changes, so does NATO." Between 20 and 30 American slots at the command will transfer there from Izmir. It will be up to member nations and the host nations to provide manning for the new headquarters, Beilmann said. The other five candidates will have to prove they can perform at ARRCs level, capable of everything from peacekeeping to war fighting, Kemp said. SHAPE officials will judge the new headquarters on about 400 criteria, Kemp said. The Germany/Netherlands Corps passed its initial evaluation, with a final inspection in November, Kemp said. EuroCorps initial evaluation is scheduled for April 26, with the final in November. Istanbuls initial evaluation is scheduled for May, with its final inspection Oct. 10. Initial inspections of Italy and Spain are scheduled for June, with the final evaluations in December. Still, there might be obstacles to carrying out the plans because of financial burdens on host countries, as well as international politics. Even ARRC, which has been standing for eight years and deployed to Kosovo and Bosnia, "had to invest considerably more money in [satellite communications] and infrastructure to become a HHQ headquarters," Kemp said. Turkey NATOs second-largest force after the United States in terms of troops is concerned that EuroCorps will use NATO assets while excluding it and NATO member Norway, which are not EU members. Last year, Turkish officials said that, if EuroCorps is selected for one of the high-readiness headquarters, it must be open to non-EU NATO members, with input in the EUs security and defense-policy planning process. Each sites evaluations will go to the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe currently U.S. Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston. The SACEUR will send his recommendation to NATOs Military Committee, with the final candidates going before the North Atlantic Council, NATOs political body, for a final selection vote. NATO officials dont expect a final selection vote before next year, or even 2004, Beilmann said. However, for SHAPE to begin the evaluation process, the commands must be up and function at full capability, Kemp said. ___
Georgia Holds Largest Ever Military Exercise In Tense Caucasus [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://www.russiajournal.ru/news/index.shtml?nd=12736#n12736 The Russia Journal 23:03 [Sunday 14th April, 2002] Georgia holds military exercises -Georgia has conducted large-scale military exercises under NATO auspices in recent years, but last week's exercises were the largest the country had held on its own. MOSCOW (Associated Press)- The impoverished military of former Soviet Georgia, gearing up for the arrival of U.S. troops who will train Georgians to fight terrorists, has wrapped up its largest-ever exercises in a Black Sea port. About 3,000 servicemen from the army, air force and navy took part in the maneuvers in Poti, which included 12 ships donated from Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and Ukraine to replace Soviet-era ships that Russia withdrew from the port after the 1991 collapse of the USSR. The 17,000-member Georgian military has also received aid from the United States, in the form of helicopters and support for the border guard force. Boosting that cooperation to a new level, the United States announced in February that it would send military instructors to help train Georgian troops to fight terrorists as part of the international anti-terror campaign. U.S. officials have said terrorists may be hiding in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge on the border with breakaway Chechnya. No date for the U.S. troops' arrival has been announced. The last day of the military exercises Friday was almost derailed by a standoff between Georgian troops and Russian peacekeepers in a gorge in the breakaway Abkhazia region. The Russian peacekeepers began withdrawing Saturday from the Kodori Gorge, but tensions remained high between Russia and Georgia over the decade-old Abkhazia conflict. Georgia has conducted large-scale military exercises under NATO auspices in recent years, but last week's exercises were the largest the country had held on its own. __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
The New York Times Twisted Definition OF "Democracy" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
The New York Times should also be reminded that not only was Chavez democraticly elected in a landslide vote, the CIA sponsored military coup that they hailed as "democratic" was overwhelmed and overturned by a groundswell of the Venezuelan people themselves in what can only be described as the ultimate expression of real "peoples" democracy! mart = Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 23:14:46 -0400 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: CHÁVEZ COMEBACK EXPOSES US GOVT & MEDIA LIES CHÁVEZ COMEBACK EXPOSES US GOVT & MEDIA LIES Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/haste.htm [Emperor's Clothes] - 14 April 2002 CHÁVEZ COMEBACK EXPOSES U.S. GOVERNMENT & MEDIA LIES By D. Baatar, Jared Israel, Nestor Gorojovsky & Nico Varkevisser To paraphrase an old proverb: "Celebrate in haste; repent at leisure." On September 13th the New York Times rushed to gloat that one more opponent of the US Empire had been crushed. Never you mind that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez had been elected by overwhelming popular vote. (In contrast, might we note, to George Walker Bush.) An editorial in the Times described the Venezuelan military/big business coup d'état as an effort to reassert democracy: "Venezuelan democracy is no longer threatened by a would-be dictator...[because] the military intervened and handed power to a respected business leader." - N Y Times (1) And the Times added: "But democracy has not yet been restored, and won't be until a new president is elected." (1) In the bad old Cold War days, the US Establishment used to attack its opponents for not holding multiparty elections. Well, Venezuela did hold multiparty elections and Chávez won by a landslide. But this was not sufficient. In the New World Order, democracy is not defined any longer as holding elections. Democracy is defined as supporting US polices. No matter how many elections Chávez won by how many landslides, his resistance to US Diktat made him by definition antidemocratic, that is, "a would-be dictator." Thus when the military took over Venezuela three days ago and installed a pro-Washington big business leader as President, the Times did not describe this military coup d'état as a threat to democracy. Rather, they described it as *ending* a threat to democracy. Similarly, in the past, NY Times editorials have immediately applauded coup d'états in Yugoslavia (overthrowing elected President Slobodan Milosevic) and the Philippines (overthrowing elected President Joseph Estrada). But this time the Times gloated a bit too soon. EVERYBODY IS IN SUCH A HURRY Since the New World Order has re-defined democracy as subservience to US diktat, it is only fair that the democratic content of every event should be given a rating by the US government. Thus it is by no means surprising that the US State Department issued a Press Statement rating the democratic content of the Venezuelan coup d'état. The only problem is, the State Department, like the New York Times, published a bit too soon. Within hours of the coup, a State Department Press Statement declared unqualified support for the coup. This document praised the military, which had just seized power, for acting with "restraint" and blamed Hugo Chávez for the coup d'état because under his government: "essential elements of democracy...have been weakened in recent - months." State Dep't Statement (2) To what "essential elements of democracy" might State be referring? They didn't say, but all the newspapers have pointed out that the big dispute in Venezuela has been over the State-owned oil company. Venezuelan President Chávez had weakened "essential elements of democracy" by appointing as leaders of the state-owned oil company people that were (horrors!) loyal to his administration rather than to Chevron Oil and, perhaps even worse, by selling oil to Cuba at an affordable price. Chávez must not have been aware that that willingness to strangle Cuba is a crucial component of the New World Order's definition of "democracy." The State Department declaration repeated the common media line, without introducing a shred of evidence, that: "Chávez supporters, on orders, fired on unarmed, peaceful protestors, resulting in more than 100 wounded or killed." (2) And: "The results of these provocations are: Chávez resigned the presidency. Before resigning, he dismissed the Vice President and the Cabinet. A transition civilian government has promised early elections." (2) So let's get this right. First, Chávez ordered his supporters to kill a few opponents. This could hardly have been expected to disperse a large demonstration which had been called by leading TV stations and part of the military. But it could certainly have been expected to assist military leaders who were openly looking for - or trying to manufacture - an excuse to stage a coup d
Public inquiry urged into Gulf War syndrome [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_566675.html?menu=news.politics.defence Ananova April 15, 2002 Public inquiry urged into Gulf War syndrome -Veterans allege their ill-health may be linked to exposure during the conflict to depleted uranium - used by the British Army in the tip of armour-piercing shells A fresh call is being made for the Prime Minister to authorise a public inquiry into Gulf War Syndrome. Solicitors representing more than 600 ex-servicemen who believe they are victims of the illness have contacted Tony Blair. Thousands of veterans of the 1991 war have complained of a range of illnesses since returning from the Gulf, including cancer and nervous system disorders. The Ministry of Defence is carrying out research into veterans' health, but insists no evidence has so far emerged of a specific illness caused by the war. Veterans allege their ill-health may be linked to exposure during the conflict to depleted uranium - used by the British Army in the tip of armour-piercing shells - or organo-phosphate pesticides. There is also speculation about the effects of undergoing multiple vaccinations to protect against the danger of biological warfare agents like anthrax and plague. Patrick Allen, of London solicitors Hodge, Jones & Allen, told Tony Blair that all of these issues should be dealt with by a public inquiry. He wrote: "There continue to be grave worries about the causes of Gulf War illness and the things that went wrong during the war. "Investigations are continuing into the role of depleted uranium and whether this has affected veterans' health. "The way in which multiple vaccinations were administered and the effect that this may have had on veterans' health is of concern. It was disclosed to Parliament that organo-phosphates had been used in the Gulf and purchased from unlicensed local suppliers." __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Korea. KCNA Apr 14 [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Korean Central News Agency Extracts. Order of KPA Supreme Commander on raising military ranks Pyongyang, April 14 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Il, Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, issued order no.00152 to raise the military ranks of KPA commanding officers on the occasion of the Day of the Sun. According to the order dated April 13, Kim Yun Sim, Kim Jong Gak and Ryo Cyun Sok were promoted to generals. The military rank of colonel general was conferred on Paek Sang Ho, Kang Yong Ho, Ri Thae Il, Kim Yang Jom and Pak Sung Won and that of lieut. General on Ri Yong Ho, Ri Yong Gil, Hwang Hong Sik, Pak Su Chol and Pang Kuk Hwan. Ri Yong Rae and 39 others were promoted to major generals. The order said that the proud course of the KPA and the feats performed by it in defending the socialist red flag and ensuring the revolutionary cause of Juche by force of arms are associated with the patriotic devotion and efforts made by its commanding officers to glorify their military service. It expressed the firm belief that as hardcore members of the Korean revolutionary armed forces, those commanding officers, true to the army-based leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea, would increase the military power in every way to fully ensure the security of the country and the revolutionary cause of Juche with arms and perform greater feats in the efforts to build a socialist powerful nation. Gift to Kim Jong Il from BCP central committee Pyongyang, April 14 (KCNA) -- A gift was presented to leader Kim Jong Il by the central committee of the Brazilian Communist Party. It was handed by Jose Reinaldo Carvalho, vice-president of its central committee, who is heading its delegation on a visit to the DPRK to Choe Thae Bok, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, Friday. People's rally protests projected introduction of U.S.-made fighters Pyongyang, April 14 (KCNA) -- An all-people rally was reportedly held in Seoul on April 10 to accuse the "Ministry of National Defense" in South Korea of its unwarranted decision to introduce the selected fighters under the sponsorship of the "joint action for the probe into the truth behind the suspected pressure from outside and the withdrawal of the decision to purchase F-15K". Its participants charged that the second-phase work pushed forward by the ministry without disclosing the truth about the first-phase selection of fighters of the next generation is a wrong attitude fooling the people. A resolution adopted at the rally warned that if the bellicose forces persistently select fighters defying the just demand of the people in South Korea, they will not be able to escape a judgement of history and demanded the immediate withdrawal of the selection of U.S.-made fighters infringing upon the interests of the nation. DPRK delegate on protection of human rights Pyongyang, April 14 (KCNA) -- A DPRK delegate proposed some matters arising in taking a fair and effective measure to protect and promote human rights in conformity with the present reality. such proposal was made on April 8 when the main agenda item "violations of human rights and basic freedom in all regions of the world" was under discussion at the 58th meeting of the un commission on human rights. In his speech at the meeting, the delegate held that no country should be allowed to interfere in other countries' internal affairs and encroach upon their sovereignty over the human rights issue. And the principles of impartiality, objectiveness and non-selection should be strictly observed in international discussion and handling of human rights issue, he said. The DPRK has set it as the supreme principle of state activity to ensure that people are placed in the center of everything in politics, the economy, culture and all other fields and it is made to serve them, he noted, and said: The Korean people are highly proud and confident of the people-centered socialist system chosen by themselves and the DPRK government has enforced practical policies for the protection and promotion of human rights one after another, regarding human rights as inviolable. The DPRK will honestly fulfill its obligations under international conventions on human rights and continue attaching importance to cooperation in the human rights field. Chinese government offers grant aid to DPRK Pyongyang, April 14 (KCNA) -- The government of the People's Republic of China decided to offer a grant-in-aid equivalent to 50,000,000 yuan to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on the occasion of the 90th birth anniversary of Preside
