News Releases

  • Analysts: If Biden Tells Israel to Stop Gaza Attack, Lebanon War Can be Averted

    “President Biden needs to cut off aid to Israel. Otherwise, it is the U.S. that bears the responsibility for the wider war”.


  • Leon Panetta’s statement on Israeli “terrorism”

    The “protracted terrorism” during the last 50 weeks, he added, “raises the question, for instance, why did the White House just greenlight $20 billion more worth of weapons to this government that might be called a terrorist organization?”


  • Israel Kills 500 in Lebanon as Biden Addresses the UN

    “Biden repeatedly failed to follow through on the most likely path to preventing a regional war: pressing for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, particularly by using U.S. leverage to withhold billions of dollars in weapons to Israel. … The road to de-escalation in the Middle East must begin with a cease-fire in Gaza.”


  • Jimmy Carter Began the Free Market Revolution Before Reagan, New Historical Evidence Shows

    “My research has found that Carter was far more conservative than previously recognized. Evidence from newly opened archives show that Carter initiated the deregulation of U.S. industry and finance, reduced the power of organized labor, lowered taxes on business, and imposed austerity measures that intentionally raised unemployment among working people.”


  • Israel Targets Media Again 

    CommonDreams reports: “Israel Launches Massive Bombing Campaign in Lebanon as ‘U,S, Weapons Continue to Flow.’”  Antiwar.com reports: “Netanyahu Considers Ethnic Cleansing Plan for North Gaza.” See Antiwar news with Dave DeCamp. Jeremy Scahill posted: “Media should stop saying Israel is telling people in southern Lebanon to ‘evacuate.’ Israel is engaged in psychological warfare against civilians as part of its broader military attacks. This is an expulsion order under threat. It is the same tactic used in Gaza.” See IPA news release from Friday: “Israel and a Wider War.” In “Israeli soldiers raid, order closure of Al Jazeera office in Ramallah,” Al…


  • Israel and a Wider War

    “One of the Biden administration’s biggest mistakes over the past few months has been to frame the protracted ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel as only focused on Gaza, without recognizing that all of Iran’s allies in the region, especially Hezbollah and the Houthis, have made clear that they too would stand down once the fighting stops in Gaza.”


  • Tax-Exempt Nonprofit Electioneering to Boost GOP

    A new Center for Media and Democracy report found that American Majority, a tax-exempt group, trains Republican candidates and party organizations on how to win elections. But the organization’s tax-exempt status prohibits it from such activities. CMD filed complaints with the Internal Revenue Service and the Minnesota attorney general’s office, requesting a thorough investigation into American Majority’s partisan and electoral activity. 


  • UN Demands Israel End Occupation

    “Implement the findings of the World Court that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza is entirely unlawful and must be quickly dismantled, Palestinians must be compensated and allowed to return, Israel is practicing apartheid and racial segregation, and all states are obliged to cut off all support and end the occupation.”


  • Humanitarian Groups Demand Pressure to End “Israel’s Systematic Aid Obstruction”

    The Norwegian Refugee Council and 15 other aid organizations just released a statement: “Israel’s siege now blocks 83 percent of food aid reaching Gaza, new data reveals.” They “demand international pressure for an immediate ceasefire, arms embargo, and end to Israel’s systematic aid obstruction.” The groups stated: “New data has revealed the scale of aid obstruction, and the consequential drastic fall in aid entering Gaza. This is driving a humanitarian disaster, with the entire population of Gaza facing hunger and disease, and almost half a million at risk of starvation.


  • UN to Vote on “Mild Resolution” From Court Rulings on Palestine

    “UN General Assembly, using Uniting for Peace, with a two-thirds of voting members could suspend Israel from participation in its activities as the General Assembly did to the former criminal apartheid regime in South Africa and to the genocidal Yugoslavia; Set up an International Criminal Tribunal for Israel in order to prosecute its highest level civilian and military officials for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide; Recommend an arms embargo and economic sanctions against Israel; Recommend UN members sever diplomatic relations with Israel. This current resolution doesn’t do those things. It does say that Israel must withdraw from occupied…


  • 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,…

  • 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…

  • Election Issues That Weren’t

    As the 1998 campaign nears its end, some observers contend that key realities of American society have remained out of focus. Several policy analysts are available for interviews on subjects they say have gone largely overlooked during this campaign season: JOHN C. BERG Director of Graduate Studies at the Government Department of Suffolk University, Berg…

  • Social Security: Economists Call for Realism

    Three economists issued statements Friday warning against unrealistic scenarios for privatizing Social Security. The researchers took aim at a new book put out this week by the Cato Institute (Common Cents, Common Dreams) which argues for privatization. They are available for interviews on Social Security policy options. RICHARD Du BOFF Professor of Economics at Bryn…

  • Pinochet Arrest Raises New Questions in Washington

    WASHINGTON — The arrest of former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet has focused new attention on the record of his regime, which remained in power for 17 years after the 1973 coup that toppled Chile’s democratically elected government. Some pointed questions are being raised about the Washington-based Cato Institute’s current embrace of Jose Pinera, who…

  • Analysts Decry Inaction by Congress on HMO Reform

    WASHINGTON — The failure of Congress to pass legislation on health care reform before adjournment has angered many Americans. A number of doctors and health care analysts are available for interviews about Congressional inaction on a patient bill of rights to address problems with HMOs. Some of these specialists regard such a bill of rights…

  • Social Security: Would Privatization Help Minorities?

    WASHINGTON — A range of organizations today criticized rosy claims about Social Security privatization for Latinos and African Americans. At a presentation in Washington organized by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the widely cited Heritage Foundation was faulted for “technical errors” and “gross inaccuracies” in its claims that racial minorities would fare better…

  • “Surplus” and Poverty in America

    WASHINGTON — While President Clinton announces budget surplus figures today, some economists and poverty specialists are challenging the idea that poverty is receding as a national problem. Among those available for comment are: ANURADHA MITTAL Policy Director at the Institute for Food and Development Policy – Food First, Mittal said: “Extreme poverty is growing fastest…

  • Presidential Lying: The Sordid Details

    Many critics of President Clinton contend that his record of deception has uniquely disgraced the office of the presidency. But historian Howard Zinn, the author of the best-selling A People’s History of the United States, says: “There is a long history of presidents who have lied to us and deceived us, about governmental actions that…

  • Impeachment in Perspective

    WASHINGTON — As the nation considers the future of the Clinton presidency, some legal scholars and policy analysts are putting the Starr report in a broader context of governmental wrongdoing. Among those available for comment: FRANCIS BOYLE Professor of Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, Boyle said: “The impeachment clause is meant…

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