NASEER ARURI Aruri is chancellor professor emeritus of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. He said today: “The Abbas government, whose term in office has expired long ago, had succumbed to pressure being exerted by Israel and the U.S. to defer all discussion of the Goldstone report on the war crimes in…

FREDRIK HEFFERMEHL A Norwegian lawyer, Heffermehl is author of the book Nobel’s Will, which argues that “since 1948 the parties in the Norwegian parliament have misused the Nobel Committee seats to reward party veterans lacking insight in the peace politics that Nobel wished to support. Over half of the awards since 1946 have not conformed…

MAIREAD MAGUIRE Mairead Maguire, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in l976, said today: “I am very disappointed to hear that the Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama. They say this is for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation…

RICK REYES Reyes is recently back from Afghanistan. After enlisting in the Marine Corps, Reyes served as an infantry rifleman. He was deployed in “Operation Enduring Freedom” (Afghanistan) 2001 and then “Operation Iraqi Freedom” (Iraq) 2003. In 2008 he got involved in the Brave New Foundation’s Rethink Afghanistan project and testified in front of the…

AP reports today: “Alabama is updating its historical presence in the U.S. Capitol, swapping out a statue of a rather unknown former congressman for a new bronze likeness of Helen Keller.” KIM NIELSEN Nielsen is author or editor of several books on Helen Keller, including The Radical Lives of Helen Keller and, most recently, Beyond…

RICHARD WOLFF Wolff is author of the new book Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It. He said today: “Since the 1970s, U.S. employers stopped paying their workers rising real wages even as worker productivity kept rising. Over the previous century, U.S. workers’ real wages had risen together…

JO COMERFORD Comerford, executive director of the National Priorities Project, said today: “Wednesday, October 7, marks the eighth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Our analysis find that, to date, U.S. military operations in Afghanistan have cost U.S. taxpayers $228 billion, $60.2 billion of which was spent in FY 2009 alone. Monthly costs in…

Wednesday, October 7, marks the eighth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. MEDEA BENJAMIN JODIE EVANS ANN WRIGHT Benjamin, Evans and Wright are just back from Afghanistan. Benjamin and Evans are co-founders of the women’s peace group CODEPINK. See the blog here. Wright, a former State Department diplomat and retired Army colonel, helped re-open…

Dr. Margaret Flowers and Dr. Paul Hochfeld will lead a delegation of physicians to the White House on Monday to seek a place at a meeting between President Obama and an estimated 50 doctors who have been invited by the White House to show their support for his health insurance plan. MARGARET FLOWERS, M.D. also…

This Friday, October 2, the World March for Peace and Nonviolence kicks off in New Zealand, marking the start of the world’s first six-continent peace march calling for the elimination of wars, nuclear weapons and violence of all kinds. Launched by the international organization World Without Wars, the World March has been endorsed by Desmond…