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  • Election Reforms: Falling short

    WASHINGTON — Proponents of progressive election reform gave cautious approval to the recent report issued by a commission assigned to investigate the improvement of federal elections. Many critics, however, point to several obstacles that remain in the way of free and fair elections throughout the United States. The report, issued by the National Commission on Federal Election Reform headed by former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, was presented to President Bush. Among its recommendations are provisions regarding increases in equipment standards and stepped-up federal funding for the administration of elections.

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  • Son of Star Wars: Another arms race?

    WASHINGTON — Reports emerging from the Pentagon about plans to test a “Space Bomber” are drawing accusations that the U.S. government is attempting to engage in another arms race. The bomber, a spacecraft reportedly capable of destroying targets on the other side of the globe within 30 minutes, is a key component of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s plan to modernize U.S. weaponry. The satellite is currently under production by NASA and Lockheed Martin, a leading military contractor. Pentagon claims that the bomber can cause greater and deeper ground damage from a virtually unassailable height have many critics questioning it as…

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  • ExxonMobil: Facing a boycott

    ExxonMobil, one of the biggest corporations on the planet, is now facing a boycott spearheaded by activist groups protesting the company’s policies at home and abroad. The boycott was launched by PressurePoint, a grassroots organization looking to “take real action on climate change and corporate influence,” according to Chris Doran, campaigns director for the group. “The U.S. government’s climate change policy is the ExxonMobil policy,” Doran says. “What sort of democracy do we have when one company can buy off our political process for its own gains?” ExxonMobil is a charter member of the Global Climate Coalition, an influential industry…

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  • Beyond the Ford-Firestone Uproar: Critics blast lack of regulation, accountability in SUV safety

    WASHINGTON – Recent congressional hearings probed the accountability of Ford and Firestone in many incidents where car or tire malfunctioned, causing injury or death. The hearings also questioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal government’s chief regulator of automobile safety, and its role in providing the public with adequate information. While the blame-placing among corporate executives and congressional subcommittees occurred on Capitol Hill, several analysts decried the lack of accountability being demanded of the corporations involved. Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, pointed to a lack of regulation of sport utility vehicles and rollover standards.

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  • NEWS BRIEFING WITH LAWRENCE SUMMERS, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY RAYMOND OFFENHEISER, PRESIDENT, OXFAM

    Questions from IPA appear below in bold HEADLINE: NEWS BRIEFING WITH LAWRENCE SUMMERS, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY RAYMOND OFFENHEISER, PRESIDENT, OXFAM DEBT RELIEF TO POOR COUNTRIES AND OXFAM EDUCATION NOW AWARD INTRODUCTION: MARTA ARIAS LOCATION: NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, WASHINGTON D.C. BODY:

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  • Ten Real Reasons To Impeach Clinton

    We all seem to have lost our sense of proportion. Why are the political leaders of the United States and the major media talking of impeaching Bill Clinton for lies about sex, surely not the most important sins of his administration? If Clinton is to be impeached, why do it for frivolous reasons? I can think of at least ten reasons to impeach him, for acts far more serious than his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky or his lies to Kenneth Starr. I am speaking of matters of life and death for large numbers of people. 1. Clinton approved, very early…

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  • Autopsy Of A Disaster: The U.S. Sanctions Policy On Iraq

    For a shorter version of this timeline, click here. Myth: The Sanctions Will be Lifted When Iraq Complies with the U.N. Inspections April 3, 1991: U.N. Security Council passes Resolution 687 which states that upon “the completion by Iraq of all actions contemplated in” specific paragraphs of the resolution, “the prohibitions against financial transactions … shall have no further force or effect.” The paragraphs cited have to do with weapons inspections. Other paragraphs in the resolution have to do with “return of all Kuwaiti property seized by Iraq” and Iraqi liability for losses and damage resulting from Iraq’s occupation of…

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  • Did North Korea Break the Rules? Does the U.S.? Does Israel?

    In Prague on Sunday, Obama addressed nuclear policy, saying that North Korea “broke the rules once again.” Today, speaking in Turkey, he said the U.S. does not seek conflict with Muslim countries. JOHN FEFFER Feffer just wrote the piece “What’s Up with North Korea?” — which states: “North Korea has signed the appropriate international protocols…

  • NATO; Wall Street; Nevada Protests Against War

    REINER BRAUN Braun is in Strasbourg, where NATO meetings are being held. He is with the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms and is able to arrange media interviews with many others from various countries protesting against NATO. The group is a leading organization in a broad anti-NATO coalition, which recently put out a…

  • G-20 Economics

    PAT DEVINE Devine is an honorary research fellow in social science at the University of Manchester. His books include Democracy and Economic Planning: The Political Economy of a Self-Governing Society, An Introduction to Industrial Economics and the just-published Feel Bad Britain: How to Make It Better. He is able to assess the G-20 meeting, global…

  • Why Does NATO Still Exist?

    JAN OBERG Currently in Sweden, Oberg will be in Istanbul from Sunday evening to Tuesday, overlapping with Obama’s time there. He is director of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research. He said today: “Whatever reasonable purpose NATO might have served has long ended. For NATO, 60 is a good age to retire. It…

  • With Obama in Europe: Critical Perspectives

    MARTIN KHOR Available for a limited number of interviews, Khor is executive director of the South Center, a think tank of developing countries. He recently presented a paper to the UN, which begins: “The extraordinarily serious global economic crisis has its origins in the developed countries. Developing countries are not responsible, but they are severely…

  • “Globalization from Below”

    ARUN GUPTA Gupta is editor of The Indypendent newspaper in New York City focusing on economics. He recently wrote the piece “The Great Unraveling.” Gupta said today: “A different reality awaits President Obama as heads to Europe to meet with other leaders of the G-20 … On Sunday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called on…

  • Afghanistan and Pakistan

    SONALI KOLHATKAR Co-author of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence, Kolhatkar said today in response to Obama’s statement this morning: “When the president talks about ‘defeating’ Al Qaeda, it is crucial to ask what exactly that means. Does it mean killing every last member of Al Qaeda? When the president talks about…

  • Mexico and the “War on Drugs”

    JOHN GIBLER This week, Gibler is going back and forth between El Paso and Juarez, Mexico. He is author of the new book Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt. Gibler said today: “As the violence related to drug trafficking plagues Mexico, the United States government still refuses to acknowledge the failure of the so-called…

  • Assessing Nuclear Power 30 Years After Three Mile Island

    HARVEY WASSERMAN Author of the new book Solartopia: Our Green-Powered Earth, AD 2030 (which includes an introduction by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.), Wasserman just wrote the piece “People Died at Three Mile Island,” which states: “In March of 1980, I went into the region and compiled a range of interviews clearly indicating widespread health damage…

  • Rule by “Hedge Fund Democrats”

    NOMI PRINS Prins just wrote the piece “Geithner’s Plan: Pure Plunder” for Mother Jones magazine. Prins is a senior fellow at Demos and is the author of two books: Other People’s Money: The Corporate Mugging of America and Jacked: How Conservatives Are Picking Your Pocket. She is a former investment banker turned journalist. She used…

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