News Releases

  • Available for Comment on Pinochet Decision

    JOYCE HORMAN Horman is the widow of American Charles Horman, whose execution by Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s forces in the days after the 1973 coup was the subject of the film “Missing,” starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek. Ms. Horman has continued to pursue the case legally. MICHAEL RATNER An attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is representing the Horman family, Ratner said: “This is a watershed victory for human rights and for the people of Chile. We should now examine the role of the CIA in Pinochet’s crimes. Everyone, including world leaders, whether in the U.S. or other…


  • Three Perspectives on Impeachment Uproar

    GWENDOLYN MINK “The president and his defenders cry ‘sexual McCarthyism’ as a defense against charges that he perjured himself in a sexual harassment case. These appeals to sexual privacy are both damaging to women and hypocritical,” says Mink, a professor of politics at the University of California at Santa Cruz and author of Welfare’s End. She adds: “‘Privacy’ is precisely the mantra that has been used against women to keep our issues — from harassment to incest to domestic violence — out of the purview of justice. We all cherish our privacy; but we also know that privacy does not…


  • Analysis of Clash Between IMF and World Bank

    A new report by the World Bank is sparking controversy because of its criticism of the IMF’s policies related to the Asian economic crisis. Among those available for comment are: ROBERT NAIMAN A research associate at the Preamble Center who specializes in assessing the impacts of economic globalization, Naiman said: “The good news is that the World Bank admits that punishingly high interest rates have destroyed these economies and that nations need controls on capital flows. The bad news is that it still funds IMF bailout packages that impose impossibly harsh austerity conditions on developing countries.” More Information CATHERINE CAUFIELD…


  • Critics Denounce Exxon-Mobil Merger

    Responding to today’s announcement that Exxon has agreed to purchase Mobil, critics say that the merger of the two oil giants would mean a vast consolidation of economic power and a serious threat to the global environment. The proposed Exxon Mobil Corp. would be the largest energy company in the world. Among the researchers and policy analysts available for interviews are: WENONA HAUTER Hauter, director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy Project, said: “We’re talking about putting back together Standard Oil, which was broken up 90 years ago. Consumers are eventually going to pay the price for this since it…


  • Available for Timely Interviews This Week

    About IMPEACHMENT: ROBERT PARRY A former Newsweek correspondent and the current editor of I.F. magazine, Parry has been examining the Clinton scandals, the Starr investigation and the way the special prosecutor system has evolved. More Information About IRAQ: BISHOP THOMAS GUMBLETON A Catholic Bishop from Detroit who has been to Iraq and will be going again next month, Gumbleton has opposed U.S. militaryaction against Iraq and the U.S./U.N. economic sanctions on Iraq. More Information PHYLLIS BENNIS A fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and author of Calling the Shots: How Washington Dominates Today’s U.N., Bennis has just returned from…


  • Health Activists Blast Proposed Tobacco Settlement, Denounce Failure to Deal With Expansion Overseas

    WASHINGTON — While attorneys general from some states are touting a tentative deal with the tobacco industry, opponents say that one of the biggest problems with the proposed settlement is that it completely ignores the international operations of cigarette companies. Among the tobacco foes available for interviews are: ROSS HAMMOND Hammond, an economist and author of a new report on the international tobacco industry, said: “Big Tobacco has gone global to make up for declining sales in the United States. These companies now sell more cigarettes abroad than they do in the United States. Largely because of this overseas expansion,…


  • Iraq Analysts Available

    JOHN QUIGLEY Professor of Law, Ohio State University. Specialist in the Mideast and in international law. “There is no basis in any Security Council resolution for unilateral military action by the U.S.” BARBARA LUBIN Executive director, Middle East Children’s Alliance More Information JEFF GUNTZEL Traveled recently to Iraq with Voices in the Wilderness, delivering medicine in open violation of the sanctions. Another delegation now on its way to Iraq is reachable via above number. More Information RANIA MASRI Coordinator, Iraq Action Coalition GORDON CLARK Executive Director, PeaceAction More Information EDMUND GHAREEB Co-author of War in the Gulf 1990-91: The Iraq-Kuwait…


  • Iraq Sanctions: What’s the Policy?

    Whether the United States bombs Iraq or not, there are reports that the U.S. is changing its policy to a more sanctions-based approach. While many are claiming that Iraq would be rid of the sanctions if it complied with the weapons inspections, an examination of U.S. policymakers’ statements since the Gulf War suggests otherwise: April 3, 1991: U.N. Security Council passes Resolution 687. It includes many demands but states that once Iraq complies with the weapons inspection regime, the sanctions “shall have no further force or effect.”   May 20, 1991: James Baker, Secretary of State: “We are not interested…


  • Environmentalists Urge Clinton to Live Up to Rhetoric

    With the Earth’s climate on the table as delegates from more than 160 nations gather in Buenos Aires for a global climate summit, some U.S. specialists are voicing concern that the White House is not honoring its promises. Among those available for comment: ROSS GELBSPAN Gelbspan, author of The Heat Is On: The Climate Crisis, the Cover-Up, the Prescription, just returned from the summit. “While the talks in Buenos Aires move at a snail’s pace, the warming-driven instability of the climate is gathering a fearful momentum,” he said. “From January’s ice storm, through the fires in Brazil, Mexico and Florida,…


  • Victories for Campaign Finance Reform in Two States Likely to Inspire Grassroots Efforts Nationwide

    Statewide ballot measures for campaign finance reform won approval Tuesday in Arizona and Massachusetts. Activists say those victories will inspire a groundswell of efforts around the country to clean up the elections process at the grassroots. “This sends a message nationwide,” said Kaia Lenhart, political director of Arizonans for Clean Elections. “There’s no doubt about it.” While Arizona voters were narrowly approving a campaign- reform provision Tuesday, voters in Massachusetts were passing a similar measure by a wide margin. Leaders of both campaigns are available for interviews: KAIA LENHART The political director of Arizonans for Clean Elections, Lenhart said: “We…


  • Kushner: * Gaza into Real Estate * Was Russiagate Actually Israelgate?

    Netanyahu asked the Trump transition team to lobby other countries to help Israel stop the resolution from passing. Netanyahu would sleep in Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner’s bed when he visited New York.

  • Is the U.S. the “De Facto Occupier” of Lebanon?

    “Awkar also forced Middle East Airlines to comply with its orders not to transport injured people from Lebanon on its flights for treatment abroad, especially those injured in the pager and telecommunications bombings on 16 and 17 of September, by threatening to impose sanctions on MEA should it disobey. …

  • Election Day ICBM Test Launch Denounced as “Dangerous” and “Wasteful”

    “Test launches damage human communities and ecosystems. The Marshall Islands, already forced to bear the overwhelming environmental costs of U.S. nuclear weapons testing, are still used as a target test area.

  • Election Denialism as Voter Suppression

    “If you look at all the things being done to disrupt, dismantle, or dissuade people about the election results, it is all about voter suppression: keeping people [the Republican Party doesn’t] want to vote from voting.”

  • Is Israel Turning Lebanon into Gaza?

    “Amos Hochstein, born in Israel in 1973 and once an Israeli tank crewman, returned to Lebanon as a U.S. envoy, not to protect peace but to redefine it” on Israel’s terms.

  • Mapping Election-Related Violence

    Experts from the Center for Election Innovation and Research, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law gathered for a webinar on Oct. 30, “Red, White & Coup: Mapping Threats of Violence Around the 2024 Election.” They discussed credible threats to election integrity and safety before, during,…

  • Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing and Violations of U.S. Law

    From a legal standpoint, the Biden administration is breaching international humanitarian law by providing ongoing military assistance to Israel while these grave violations occur. This conduct exposes U.S. officials to potential accountability under international law, including before the International Criminal Court.

  • Gaza Stance Could Mean Harris Loss

    “A recent poll from the Arab American Institute received some much-deserved attention (if not enough) because it showed a massive decline in support for Democrats among Arab American voters because of White House support for Israel’s attack on Gaza. That decline could cost the Democrats several swing states.

  • “Pope Francis, Go to Gaza for God’s Sake!”

    KATHY BOYLAN, [email protected] Boylan is a member of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker community. Video of her — “Pope Francis, go to Gaza for God’s sake!” — has gone viral on Instagram. She said: “The Pope should go to Gaza — immediately. I think the Pope has a responsibility to go. The Pope knows that…

  • Oxfam Condemns Israel Banning UNRWA, Highlights Right of Return

    “Israel will have the obligation to take UNRWA’s place under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, The Hague Regulations of 1907, and international humanitarian law. … If not, this would be a war crime and a crime against humanity and an element of genocide.”

Mastodon