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  • An Analysis of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441

    as Adopted on November 8, 2002 The Security Council, Recalling all its previous relevantresolutions, in particular its resolutions 661 (1990) of 6 August 1990, 678(1990) of 29 November 1990, 686 (1991) of 2 March 1991, 687 (1991) of 3 April1991, 688 (1991) of 5 April 1991, 707 (1991) of 15 August 1991, 715 (1991) of…

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  • Detailed Analysis of October 7, 2002 Speech by Bush on Iraq

    Thank you for that very gracious and warm Cincinnati welcome. I’m honored to be here tonight. I appreciate you all coming. Tonight I want to take a few minutes to discuss a grave threat to peace and America’s determination to lead the world in confronting that threat. The threat comes from Iraq. It arises directly…

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  • A Detailed Analysis of the Draft UN Security Council Resolution Proposed by the U.S. Government

    (Latest publicly available version, October 23, 2002) PP1 Recalling all its previous relevant resolutions, in particular its resolutions 661 (1990) of 6 August 1990, 686 (1991) of 2 March 1991, 678 (1990) of 29 November 1990, 687 (1991) of 3 April 1991, 688 (1991) of 5 April 1991, 986 (1995) of 14 April 1995, and…

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  • UN Security Council Resolutions Being Violated by U.S. Allies

    The following are some of the UN Security Council resolutions being violated by U.S. allies: Resolution 252 (1968) Israel: Urgently calls upon Israel to rescind measures that change the legal status of Jerusalem, including the expropriation of land and properties thereon. http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/bdd57d15a29f428d85256c3800701fc4/46f2803d78a0488e852560c3006023a8!OpenDocument 262 (1968) Israel: Calls upon Israel to pay compensation to Lebanon for destruction…

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  • Is God “Neutral”?

    WASHINGTON — Ever since Sept. 11, some American religious leaders have been outspoken in calling for a peaceful response and respect for civil liberties. Their perspectives contrast sharply with President Bush’s bellicose invocations of religious rhetoric, as in his Sept. 20 address to Congress when he declared that “God is not neutral.” “Christians have a…

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  • As Bombs Fall, Critics Question U.S. Approach

    WASHINGTON – As the United States continued with air attacks on targets in Afghanistan, dubbed “strategic military locations” by Pentagon officials, peace advocates found their struggle pushed to the forefront. The U.S. strikes, comprised of cruise missiles launched from remote locations and bomber raids, were initial steps of what President Bush described as a “sustained,…

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  • Critics Blast Bush’s Call for “Lengthy Campaign”

    WASHINGTON – When President Bush took the national pulpit on September 20 to address a joint session of Congress, he faced perhaps his greatest challenge since his inauguration. Mainstream media pundits spoke at length of his need to rise to the occasion — to solidify the nation’s commitment to fighting terrorism. With the chamber’s applause…

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  • Rethinking Welfare Reform

    WASHINGTON — With re-authorization of key “welfare reform” legislation due in the coming year, activists are mobilizing to place the rights of minorities and women foremost on the agenda. Many indict the current system — established by the 1996 passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act — as a racist and gender-biased…

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  • Uncontrolled Burn: How congress is adding fuel to the western wildfires

    As wildfires rage through woodland in the West, critics are questioning the federal government’s role in protecting the National Forests. Recently, President Bush proposed a $175 million increase in commercial timber sales on public lands — a move that, along with a planned repeal of the “roadless rule” established by former President Clinton, has many…

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  • Are Americans “Vacation Starved”?

    WASHINGTON — When President Bush clocked out to start on a 30-day vacation at his Texas ranch, a collective lament was in the air from much of the population: “When do we get a break?” The vacation brings to 52 days the president’s total vacation time since his swearing-in last January, a number that dwarfs…

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  • From the Brazilian Embassy in Honduras

    ANDRES CONTERIS Conteris is in the Brazilian embassy in Honduras, where Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has taken refuge. Conteris is the director of the Program on the Americas for Nonviolence International. He worked as a human rights advocate in Honduras from 1994 to 1999 and is a co-producer of “Hidden in Plain Sight,” a documentary…

  • Honduran President Returns as UN Meets

    As the United Nations meets this week, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who was deposed in June, has reportedly returned to Honduras where he took refuge in the Brazilian embassy from the coup government. MARK WEISBROT, via Dan Beeton Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Weisbrot said today: “This could be the moment…

  • UN, G-20 and Climate Change

    Climate change is expected to play a central role in meetings of the United Nations and G-20 this week. ANASTASIA PINTO, ORIN LANGELLE HALLIE BOAS In Pittsburgh until Wednesday, Pinto is executive director of the Center for Organizing, Research and Education in India. She said today: “We’re already seeing climate devastation in India. Scientists are…

  • Pittsburgh and G-20 Protests

    CHARLES McCOLLESTER McCollester, author of The Point of Pittsburgh: Production and Struggle at the Forks of the Ohio, just wrote the piece “There are plenty of reasons to protest the G-20: The global economic system has deindustrialized America, despoiled the Earth and marginalized working people everywhere” for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. McCollester writes: “When the announcement…

  • UN Report on Israel and the International Criminal Court

    The Independent in Britain reports that “Israel targeted ‘the people of Gaza as a whole’ in the three-week military operation which is estimated to have killed more than 1,300 Palestinians at the beginning of this year, according to a UN-commissioned report published yesterday. “A UN fact-finding mission led by the Jewish South African former Supreme…

  • Real Bank Regulation

    NOMI PRINS, via Celeste Balducci Prins, a former investment banker turned journalist, is author of the just-released It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bonuses, Bailouts, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street. Her latest article is titled “Obama Banking Too Much on Banks,” which states: “Under both the Bush and Obama administrations, the government,…

  • Behind the Poverty Numbers

    New census numbers show “the share of people living in poverty rose to 13.2 percent in 2008 from 12.5 percent in 2007. That’s the highest poverty rate since 1997,” reports USA Today in an article headlined “Census: Income fell sharply last year.” ALICE O’CONNOR Author of Poverty Knowledge: Social Science, Social Policy and the Poor…

  • U.S. Spending in Afghanistan: Upside Down?

    NORMAN SOLOMON Executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, Norman Solomon — recently back from Kabul — appeared on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” on Sunday. Video is posted here. Questioned about administration policy in Afghanistan, Solomon stated: “We have to compare the rhetoric, where [President Obama] spoke a few weeks ago about development, about governance,…

  • Uninsured Numbers Show Mandate-Based Health Reforms Don’t Work

    Official estimates released Thursday by the Census Bureau showing a marginal increase in the number of Americans without health insurance in 2008 — now estimated at 46.3 million, up from 45.7 million in 2007 — mask the true dimensions of the problem, a national doctors’ group said. Physicians for a National Health Program, a membership…

  • Supreme Court and Corporate Power

    ROBERT WEISSMAN, CRAIG HOLMAN, via Angela Bradbery President of Public Citizen, Weissman wrote the piece “Tightening the Corporate Grip: The Stakes at the Supreme Court” about Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a case the Supreme Court heard Wednesday that could have far-reaching effects on corporate power. Holman is government ethics lobbyist for Public Citizen.…

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