News Items

  • 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 11October 1991, 986 (1995) of 14 April 1995, and 1284 (1999) of 17 December 1999,and all the relevant statements of its President, PhyllisBennis, fellow at the Institute for PolicyStudies and author of the newbook Before and After: U.S. Foreign Policy and the September 11thCrisis:”According to…

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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 from the Iraqi regime’s own actions, its history of aggression and its drive toward an arsenal of terror. Chris Toensing, editor of Middle East Report: “This might indicate that Iraq is actively threatening the peace in the region. There is no evidence whatsoever that Iraq…

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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 1284 (1999) of 17 December 1999, and all the relevant statements of its President, PP2 Recognizing the threat Iraq’s noncompliance with Security Council resolutions and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles poses to international peace and security, Rahul Mahajan [www.rahulmahajan.com], author of…

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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 of airliners at Beirut International Airport. http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/bdd57d15a29f428d85256c3800701fc4/74cff7bff73f9ea1852560c30061d11b!OpenDocument 353 (1974) Turkey: Calls on nations to respect the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Cyprus and for the withdrawal without delay of foreign troops from Cyprus. www.pio.gov.cy/docs/un/security_council/res_353.htm 379 (1975) Morocco: Calls for the withdrawal of foreign forces…

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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 ‘just war’ teaching that in theory can be used to judge any war. In practice, the teaching serves to bless rather than judge wars,” said Sister Evelyn Mattern, a program associate at the North Carolina Council of Churches. “For example, the U.S. Roman Catholic bishops…

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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, comprehensive and relentless” campaign against Taliban forces. According to the Washington Post, the attacks focused on Taliban strongholds in the south of Afghanistan, damaging airports and other military facilities in Kabul and Kandahar. Critics of the campaign questioned the approach behind these “strategic” strikes.

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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 still audible, the reports were already coming out. Bush’s approval rating had risen ten more points, to an astronomical 91 percent. His singling out of common citizens — some of whom sat in the audience — had captured the allegiance of skeptics. His calls for…

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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 structure that keeps the poor in poverty and further burdens disadvantaged families. The five-year-old legislation has in fact reduced welfare rolls. A White House report in 2000 said that the number of Americans on welfare had decreased from 5.5 percent in 1993 to 2.3 percent…

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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 suspicious of where the Bush administration’s true agenda lies. Big forest fires make the news every summer. Last year, over 7 million acres of U.S. land burned during wildfire season. Many forest advocates believe that wildfires are a naturally occurring, healthy phenomenon and should, to…

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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 the average eight days of vacation most U.S. small business employees receive each year, according to Joe Robinson, director of the Work to Live campaign. Robinson, declaring America to be “the most vacation-starved country in the industrialized world,” is one of many people leading the…

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  • Why to be Wary of Fox News’ Reinvention of Exit Polling Tonight

    “The last time Fox decided to make a similar rush to judgment was in the 2000 Election, when — at 2:30 in the morning after Election Day — it projected George W. Bush the winner in Florida. This projection caused all the other networks to follow suit, only to rescind the projection two hours later.”

  • Bangladeshi Community in NYC

    “I’m following the Bangladeshi media as well and it’s important to see how this will play out there. There are certainly Islamic groups that support ISIS in Bangladesh, but the government there has used that as a pretext to clamp down on people they claim are part of the opposition.”

  • Bethlehem and the “Altar of Imperial Politics”

    “The Christmas story starts with an imperial decree signed by Caesar Augustus. As I was watching President Trump’s address yesterday evening on our TV, I could not help but think of the so-called Balfour Declaration signed 100 years ago when the British empire promised Palestine to the European Jews as their national homeland. Trump’s address…

  • Is the Democratic Party Anti-Democratic?

    “The DNC gave less than 48 hours notice — waiting until late in the day on Dec. 6 — to publicly disclose the times when the final meeting of the Unity Reform Commission would take place. Even then, although the DNC had stated that ‘the meeting is open to the public’ and required an online…

  • News Conference on Key Issues at Dec. 8-9 Final Meeting of Democratic Party’s “Unity Reform Commission”

    The report warns that allowing any remaining superdelegates “would still represent a barrier to a democratic Democratic National Convention.” The report concludes: “The superdelegate system, by its very nature, undermines the vital precept of one person, one vote. The voting power of all superdelegates must end.”

  • Will Democrats’ Unity Commission Abolish “Undemocratic” Superdelegates?

    “The system of superdelegates lends itself to manipulation of the nomination process. In the last primary presidential campaign, by mid-November 2015, fully 11 weeks before any state primary or caucus, Hillary Clinton had already gained a commitment of support from 50 percent of all superdelegates.”

  • Leading Russia Analyst in D.C.

    The “self-imposed blackout on news FROM Russia enables the proliferation in U.S. media of phony threats that serve domestic political games such as the allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 elections while the existential threat from the modernized and highly potent Russian military, both conventional and nuclear is largely ignored, as are the confrontations…

  • * Jerusalem * Can the Palestinians Launch a “Legal Intifadah”?

    “Trump’s move is a symbolic but still critical step in Israeli designs to control not just Jerusalem, but all of historic Palestine. The Palestinian leadership needs to deal with this threat by all available legal means, including what I call a legal intifadah. The U.S. has prevented full Palestinian membership at the United Nations. ”

  • Why is Israelgate Being Downplayed?

    “There are no editorials or opinion pieces denouncing Israel’s ‘Plot Against America,’ or ‘War on America,’ or warnings that ‘Odds Are, Israel Owns Trump,’ or explorations of ‘What Israel Did to Control the American Mind.’ … In fact it is more than likely that going forward, the media will give Israelgate the same treatment as…

  • Is Flynn/Kushner Actually Israelgate?

    “Mr. Mueller’s investigators have learned through witnesses and documents that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel asked the Trump transition team to lobby other countries to help Israel, according to two people briefed on the inquiry. Investigators have learned that Mr. Flynn and Mr. Kushner took the lead in those efforts.”

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