News Releases

  • Perspectives on China and Spying

    MIKE MOORE Editor of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Moore said: “What the Chinese are doing is developing a survivable second-strike force — that is the ability to respond if they are attacked. To do this, they need to miniaturize their nuclear warheads to fit them on mobile missiles. To do that, you need to do a lot of nuclear testing, which the U.S. and others have done, but the Chinese have not. So, instead, they may have stolen some of the data.” More Information LISBETH GRONLUND Senior staff scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists and research fellow…


  • War Powers Violation Today?

    WASHINGTON — From all indications, today will mark the first time since enactment of the 1973 War Powers Resolution that a President has openly violated the termination requirements of that law. Air strikes against Yugoslavia began on March 24. The House of Representatives refused to give approval for the air war in a stunning tie vote of 213 to 213 on April 28. Today (May 25) marks 60 days since President Clinton gave Congress official notice. Under the War Powers Resolution law, if the President does not have explicit authorization, he has 60 days to “terminate any use” of forces.…


  • Food Safety: New Arguments About U.S. Health and Foreign Trade

    As tensions mount between Europe and the United States on trade disputes over food and other issues, some researchers contend that Europeans are raising issues vital to American consumers. Among the analysts available for comment are: MARK RITCHIE President of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Ritchie said: “The United States is known for dumping risky foods in other countries. When certain chemicals were banned in the U.S., for example, we shipped soda pop containing those chemicals to Vietnam… The reason the U.S. is being so aggressive on hormone beef is that, when asked, American consumers overwhelmingly also reject…


  • What is a Cluster Bomb?

    WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has acknowledged using cluster bombs in the air war against Yugoslavia. Some researchers are condemning the use of this weapon. Among those available for interviews are: KEVIN KAVANAUGH A research scientist specializing in defense affairs at the Federation of American Scientists, Kavanaugh said: “Cluster bomb units — CBU-87/B, combined effects munitions, are 1,000-pound deadly munitions that break into 202 bomblets, and each bomblet fractures into 300 fragments of steel. It covers a football field, it can turn an apple orchard into apple sauce — or people into hamburger. It’s used against ‘soft targets,’ meaning troops and…


  • China and the Bombing Campaign

    ROBERT WEIL Author of Red Cat, White Cat: China and the Contradictions of ‘Market Socialism’, Weil said: “The anger in China is widespread and is no doubt very genuine. Either it will stiffen the Chinese government reaction to the U.S., which would have its own serious consequences; or they won’t stand up to the U.S., which might result in a domestic backlash. There’s widespread feeling in China that the U.S. is bullying them, practicing gunboat diplomacy and this may be a final straw. There’s already a lot of political discontent about the economic situation — the increased class polarization, unemployment,…


  • Perspectives on Juvenile Crime

    While the White House Conference on Children, Violence and Responsibility has been in the spotlight, some researchers are questioning the focus of the event. Among those available for interviews are: VINCENT SCHIRALDI The director of the Justice Policy Institute, Schiraldi warned against Senate legislation to be submitted Tuesday that gives colleges access to juvenile records and allows for the jailing of kids in adult facilities. Schiraldi said: “In the wake of the tragedy in Littleton, more now than ever, the U.S. Senate needs to craft thoughtful legislation based on good data, not hyperbole. Many in the criminology community have deep…


  • Some Religious Perspectives on the War in Yugoslavia

    REV. DR. JOAN B. CAMPBELL General secretary of the National Council of Churches, Campbell was co-leader with the Rev. Jesse Jackson of the recent U.S. religious leaders’ mission to Belgrade, which culminated in their winning the release of the three captured American soldiers. “The National Council of Churches is a faith-based community that reaches out across boundaries of state and creed — even when our nations are at war,” she says. “That is why I went to Belgrade along with my fellow Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders from the United States. In our time there with our Yugoslav counterparts,…


  • Russia and Negotiations

    The following analysts are available for comment on Russia and possibilities for negotiations: DAVID KOTZ Co-author of Revolution From Above: The Demise of the Soviet System and professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Kotz said: “The U.S. is trying to use Russia as a club to pressure Milosevic to submit to U.S. demands, rather than taking Russia up on its offer to serve as a genuine mediator to reach a compromise. Russia’s indebtedness to the IMF makes it appear that they can be pressured into acting as an agent for NATO. This is a very risky game to…


  • Last Night’s House Vote Makes It Official: The Bombing of Yugoslavia is Illegal

    JULES LOBEL Professor of Constitutional and International Law at the University of Pittsburgh MICHAEL RATNER Attorney, Center for Constitutional Rights Lobel and Ratner have litigated numerous cases challenging illegal wars including Dellums v. Bush, the case that forced President Bush to obtain congressional authority for the Gulf War in 1991. In a joint statement released today, they said: “In a remarkable vote against the war in Yugoslavia, the House of Representatives, by a vote of 213 to 213, failed to give the President the constitutionally required authorization he needed to carry on the air war against Yugoslavia. The Constitution grants…


  • New Attention to Unpublicized Provisions of Rambouillet

    WASHINGTON — New questions are continuing to emerge about the actual terms of the Rambouillet text. Milosevic’s refusal to sign Rambouillet was the cited reason that NATO began the bombing of Yugoslavia. Today, the Washington Post published an exchange between NATO spokesman Jamie Shea and a representative of the Institute for Public Accuracy: [The Washington Post, “For the Record,” Wednesday, April 28, 1999:] From a NATO press conference at the National Press Club Monday with spokesman Jamie Shea: Q: The Rambouillet Accords, appendix B in particular…called for the occupation of all of Yugoslavia…. Unrestricted passage throughout [its] air space, territorial…


  • Biden Allowing More Israeli Atrocities

    A London Times investigation recently found: “The Israeli government insists that Hamas formally sanctioned sexual assault on October 7, 2023. But investigators say the evidence does not stand up to scrutiny.” The piece quotes Orit Sulitzeanu, the executive director of Israel’s Association of Rape Crisis Centers: “The politicization of rape by the Israeli government was…

  • U.S. Jury Holds Chiquita Liable for Colombian Death Squad’s Murder of Banana Workers

    Common Dreams reports: “U.S. Jury Holds Chiquita Liable for Colombian Death Squad’s Murder of Banana Workers” that: “In what case litigants are calling the first time an American jury has held a U.S. corporation legally liable for atrocities abroad, federal jurors in Florida on Monday found that Chiquita Brands International financed a Colombian paramilitary death…

  • U.S. “Ceasefire” a “Ploy to Sabotage the Rule of Law”

    Reports indicate that the U.S. government is pushing for a vote in the UN Security Council today on a resolution it drafted. UN whistleblower Craig Mokhiber commented: “A distorted U.S. draft that would (1) divert diplomacy from the UN to a U.S. controlled process (2) compel Hamas to accept but not Israel (3) dictate to…

  • New U.S. ICBM Tests Spark Criticism

    The coordinator of the coalition, Emma Claire Foley, is the author of the landmark report “The Real Cost of ICBMs.” After this week’s tests, in an article titled “America’s Nuclear Missiles Make Its Citizens Less Safe,” she wrote that ICBMs “are not only strategically impractical but a threat to the lives of millions.”

  • The Corporate Power Brokers Behind AIPAC’s War on the Squad

    “AIPAC wading into elections was nothing new. … But the sheer scale of AIPAC’s spending – enabled by Supreme Court decisions that have unleashed the distorting influence of big money in elections – and the tactics being used are more recent developments. These pro-Israel groups now directly intervene in Democratic primary races, flooding the airwaves with negative ads defaming…

  • Assessing Race-Neutral Tests for Lung Function

    A new study shows the implications of adopting race-neutral equations when physicians are testing for lung function.

  • 1967 War Myths Key to Gaza Today

    “Most people, even those knowledgeable about the Middle East, if asked how Israel portrayed its invasion of Gaza and Sinai in 1967, will say that it claimed self-defense on a rationale that Egypt was about to invade. In fact, that is inaccurate. In the Security Council, Israel claimed that Egypt had initiated hostilities by shelling…

  • Palestinian Groups Call to Declare Gaza a Famine-Stricken Area

    The groups “call on the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority to immediately declare Gaza a famine-stricken area due to famine, environmental pollution, and the spread of diseases.”

  • * Israel’s Impunity * U.S. Bombs Yemen

    +972 Magazine has also conducted an investigation with the Guardian: “Spying, hacking and intimidation: Israel’s nine-year ‘war’ on the ICC exposed.” This was followed up with “Revealed: Israeli spy chief ‘threatened’ ICC prosecutor over war crimes inquiry” which reports that according to accounts shared with ICC officials, then Mossad head Yossi Cohen is alleged to…

  • U.S. Doctors Back From Gaza: Israeli Marksmen Shooting Children in the Head

    They wrote: “On March 25 the two of us, an orthopedic surgeon and a trauma surgeon, traveled to the Gaza Strip to work at Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis. We were immediately overwhelmed by the overflowing sewage and the distinct smell of gunpowder in the air. We made the short journey from the Rafah…

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