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News Releases

  • Military Spending Claims Draw Fire

    WASHINGTON — Projections for the Pentagon budget by one of the nation’s most prominent think tanks drew criticism today from several specialists in military spending. The Heritage Foundation’s new report, “Current Budget Priorities May Have Serious Defense Consequences,” was faulted for its claim that by 2020, “the downward trend in defense would result in the virtual elimination of defense spending.” Among those available for comment are: WILLIAM D. HARTUNG A Senior Fellow of the World Policy Institute at the New School for Social Research, Hartung said: “A similar projection based on the first four years of the Reagan military buildup…

  • Whitewash of IMF Role Charged

    WASHINGTON — A new report on the Asian economic crisis, put out by Washington’s best-known think tank on international economic issues, is drawing fire for its favorable assessment of the International Monetary Fund. Released by the Institute for International Economics, the report is titled “The Asian Financial Crisis: Causes, Cures, and Systemic Implications.” It has come under swift attack from economists who question why IMF bailout policies — including high interest rates, spending cuts, and mass layoffs — were let off the hook in the report. Among those available for comment are: MARK WEISBROT Research Director of the Preamble Center…

  • Debate Heats up on Social Security and Savings

    WASHINGTON — On the eve of the National Summit on Retirement Savings, some analysts are denouncing new efforts to tilt the debate on savings and Social Security. The Heritage Foundation released a report Tuesday, entitled “How Government Policies Discourage Savings,” calling for privatization of Social Security. But scholars and other researchers said today that such policy prescriptions would do irreparable damage to Social Security rather than save it. Among those available for interviews are: JANE D’ARISTA A lecturer in the International Banking and Financial Law Studies Program at Boston University School of Law, D’Arista said: “We have a dual system,…

  • Arms Experts Warn Against Missile Defense Push

    India-Pakistan Nuclear Escalation Deemed No Excuse for New SDI WASHINGTON — Some arms experts expressed concern today over efforts to revive a new version of the Strategic Defense Initiative promoted during the 1980s by the Reagan administration. A recent report from the Heritage Foundation following nuclear tests in South Asia declared that President Clinton “should respond immediately by committing the United States to the development of an emergency missile defense program and to early deployment of a global missile defense system.” But a variety of policy analysts said that such “missile defense systems” are dubious at best. Among those available…

  • Pakistan’s N-Tests Heighten Concerns of U.S. Nuclear Survivors

    Atomic Veterans and Downwinders Speaking Out on Pakistani Blasts After today’s nuclear detonations by Pakistan, some Americans who have experienced atomic testing firsthand are stepping up their efforts to warn against fueling a nuclear arms race. While commentators from think tanks join with U.S. government officials in assessing the Pakistani tests, more acute concerns are being expressed by Americans who have seen mushroom clouds rise. Among those available for interviews are: WILLIAM BIRES In 1951, Bires — then a 22-year-old private in the U.S. Army — witnessed several aboveground nuclear bomb tests at close range in Nevada. Now, Bires expresses…

  • Supporters of Test Ban Denounce Efforts to Stall Treaty

    India’s Nuclear Blasts Being Used as Excuse, Critics Charge WASHINGTON — Efforts are underway to scuttle the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty under the guise of urging a go-slow approach by the Senate in the wake of India’s nuclear tests, some experts said Friday. Citing a new statement from the Heritage Foundation titled “India’s Nuclear Tests Show Folly of Rushing Test Ban Treaty,” critics said that such declarations are part of an emerging effort to kill the test ban on Capitol Hill. Among those available for comment are: SAM DAY Day, former editor of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said:…

  • Social Security Panel Attacked as “Dangerous Farce”

    Critics Blast “Poisonous Recipe” For Retirement Policy WASHINGTON — A national consortium of public-policy experts denounced proposals released today that would transform Social Security by setting up individual investment accounts and hiking the retirement age to 70. The proposals came from a private panel of politicians, economists and business executives called the National Commission on Retirement Policy. The commission was handpicked by a conservative think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The commission is a dangerous farce,” said the Institute for Public Accuracy, a nationwide consortium of policy experts. “From the outset, the panel was rigged. It purposely…

  • As G-8 Leaders Gather, “Free Trade” Arguments Rage in U.S.

    Critics Say That Even Prominent Foes of IMF Fail to Grasp Problem WASHINGTON-While President Clinton and leaders of seven other industrialized nations gather in Britain, debates over key global economic issues continue to rage back in the United States. On the eve of the annual G-8 summit, which will consider the International Monetary Fund’s role in the economic crisis roiling Indonesia and other Asian countries, the Heritage Foundation released a position paper urging Congress to block further appropriations for the IMF. The influential think tank contended that the IMF has “failed to demonstrate the ability to promote economic stability and…

  • Study Finds Conservative Think Tanks Prevalent in 1997

    Brookings, Heritage, AEI and Cato Are Most Often Cited WASHINGTON-A study released Thursday found that conservative think tanks dominated much of the national debate last year. The joint study-conducted by sociologist Michael Dolny for Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) and the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA)-found that in 1997, right-leaning think tanks accounted for 53 percent of media citations, while progressive or left-leaning ones received 16 percent. Of the 25 leading think tanks studied, three of the top four had a conservative slant. The centrist Brookings Institution (2,296 cites) was the most frequently mentioned, followed by the conservative Heritage…

  • Full Disclosure Urged for ACLU’s Ties With Tobacco Firms

    Spotlight on Donations Earmarked for Smoking-Related Issues WASHINGTON ­ New questions are emerging about financial ties between the tobacco industry and the American Civil Liberties Union. An article in the latest Nieman Reports, published by Harvard’s Nieman Foundation, cites internal ACLU documents that shed light on contributions from cigarette makers Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds to the national ACLU, its affiliates and the ACLU Foundation. The article, by former Washington Post reporter Morton Mintz, says that most of the money ­ totaling more than $1 million since 1987 ­ was earmarked for a national ACLU task force advocating “smokers’ rights.”…

  • 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.”

  • South Africa Files Over 700 Pages at World Court Against Israel

    The Biden administration’s phony ‘ceasefire negotiations’ maneuvers have simply bought Israel more time to commit more crimes, including its recent annihilation of northern Gaza.” See IPA news release from June: “U.S. ‘Ceasefire’ a ‘Ploy to Sabotage the Rule of Law.'”

  • Misinformation Before and After the Election

    With nearly a week until Election Day, experts on election-related misinformation and disinformation say that social media companies– including Meta, TikTok, YouTube, and X – continue to roll back previous commitments.

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