life down the rabbit hole...

these two video interviews took place in september 2005, they are *so* well done, chavez very much proves himself to be a compassionate, realistic, and very (very) educated man. its too bad that leaders such as him stand out in a world of such blatant corruption... in a healthier world, chavez would not stand out so radically as he does now, he would simply be a another regular common sense leader, among the other great leaders of the world... ... *siGh*

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speaks on Democracy Now! in his first interview in the United States. Chavez discusses the war in Iraq, President Bush, the role of the media in the aborted coup against him and Venezuela's request for the extradition of Cuban anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles.

full video & transcript here.

We play the rest of our conversation with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He spoke with Democracy Now! in his first interview in the United States. We ask him what evidence he has for his charges that the Bush administration has attempted to assassinate him and he reveals for the first time, details of a plan to offer of cheap oil to the poor...of the United States.

EVENT THIS THURSDAY! Special Guest speakers, Chrissi and Bonnie from the Grassy Narrows Community. This is a very unique opportunity to hear from two amazing women about the longest-standing Indigenous blockade in canada and recent actions this summer. This is their only speaking event in all of southern Ontario so Please Come!

Join us in the Aboriginal Resource Centre to hear from two of the women who initiated the successful blockade that is now in its fourth year. Both were a part of the July 13th trans-canada action as well as the English-River blockade this summer and will share with us stories of their community's struggle for self-determination and their experiences .

This coming Thursday August 17th @ 7pm in the Aboriginal Resource Centre.
For directions to the event see: http://www.uoguelph.ca/~webadmin/cgi-bin/relativepos.cgi

Cash donations welcome

(For more info contact cailey at riseup dot net)

2,500 square miles of forests, lakes and rivers north of Kenora, Ontario
have sustained the people of Grassy Narrows First Nation for thousands of
years. Now Weyerhaeuser, the largest lumber company in the world, is driving a wave of destructive logging that threatens to uproot their traditional way of life. After more than a decade of letter-writing, meetings, protests, petitions and legal efforts, young people from the Grassy Narrows community took matters into their own hands.

On December 2nd, 2002, the youth of the Grassy Narrows First Nation established a blockade on a logging road in their territory, and sparked what is now the longest standing and highest profile Indigenous logging blockade within Canadian borders.

Despite these efforts, Abitibi and Weyerhaeuser continue to log on the more remote sections of Grassy Narrows’ territory as the community does not have the time or resources to blockade all the logging roads leading to their land. Wood from this area continues to feed Weyerhaeuser’s Trus Joist/Timberstrand mill in Kenora, Ontario, Weyerhaeuser’s Dryden,Ontario, paper mill, Weyerhaeuser’s Ear Falls samill, and Abitibi pulp and paper mills.

Examining Iran’s ties to Hezbollah
Just how much influence does the Islamic Republic wield over Hezbollah?
By William O. Beeman

The conflict in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah had hardly begun when the Bush administration and its neoconservative supporters began blaming Iran for the conflagration. On July 25, Henry Crumpton, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism, told a reporter that Iran is “clearly directing a lot of Hezbollah actions. Hezbollah asks their permission to do things, especially if it has broader international implications.” Meanwhile, in the July 24 Weekly Standard, William Kristol called Hezbollah’s fighting an “act of Iranian aggression” and suggested “we might consider countering [it] … with a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.”

However, giving Iran another tongue lashing, or worse, deciding to attack it, will do nothing to stop the violence in the region. Not only is there no evidence that Iran had a role in instigating this round of violence, the possibility itself is unlikely.

full article here.

 

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Gates breaks ranks with attack on US Aids policy

· Billionaire says focus on abstinence has failed
· Call for more rights for women and sex workers

Sarah Boseley in Toronto, The Guardian
Tuesday August 15, 2006

Bill and Melinda Gates came off the political fence yesterday and backed key causes of Aids campaigners, criticising the abstinence policies advocated by the US government and calling for more rights for women and help for sex workers.

Making the keynote speech of the opening session of the 16th International Aids conference in Toronto, Canada, the Microsoft billionaire and his wife spoke with passion and commitment about the social changes necessary to stop the spread of HIV/Aids.

full article here. 

 

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China Denies Plundering World's Rain Forests
CHINA: August 16, 2006

BEIJING - China on Tuesday denied accusations of plundering the world's rain forests to meet booming demand for wood.

Environment groups say China is at the heart of a global trade for lumber it sells to markets in the United States and Europe and that much of its plywood exports comes from illegal logging.

Domestic demand from a fast-growing economy only adds to the problem, they say.

"As for the question that China's large demand for timber assists illegal logging and smuggling from Asia, this statement has no basis,"State Forestry Administration spokesman Cao Qingyao told a news conference.

"The Chinese government consistently upholds and puts in practice collective international responsibility, opposing and cracking down on illegal logging in illegal wood imports," Cao said. "We have very strict import controls."

Global Witness, a British-based non-governmental organisation, said last year China imported timber from Myanmar alone worth an estimated US$350 million, almost all of it illegal.

full article here.

 

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Iraqi Death Toll Rose Above 3,400 in July
By EDWARD WONG and DAMIEN CAVE
Published: August 15, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 15 — July appears to have been the deadliest month of the war for Iraqi civilians, according to figures from the Health Ministry and the Baghdad morgue, reinforcing criticism that the Baghdad security plan started in June by the new Iraqi government has failed.

An average of more than 110 Iraqis were killed each day in July, according to the figures. The total number of civilian deaths that month, 3,438, is a 9 percent increase over the tally in June and nearly double the toll in January.

full article here. 

 

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Bush Administration Twists Arms for Coke, Pepsi
By Amitabh Pal
August 15, 2006

The Bush Administration is acting as the muscle for Coke and Pepsi.

The two soft drink manufacturers are under fire in India after a recent report released by a respected environmental group revealed that the colas marketed in that country contain dangerous pesticides, sometimes at alarmingly high levels. (Coke and Pepsi have hotly disputed the conclusions.)

The study finds pesticide residues in all samples; it finds a cocktail of 3-5 different pesticides in all samples—on an average 24 times higher than BIS [Bureau of Indian Standards] norms, which have been finalized but not yet notified,” the report by the New Delhi-based Center for Science and Environment notes. “The levels in some samples—for instance, Coca-Cola bought in Kolkata—exceeded the BIS standards by 140 times for the deadly pesticide Lindane. Similarly, a Coca-Cola sample manufactured in Thane contained the neurotoxin Chlorpyrifos, 200 times the standard.”

full article here.

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Preparing the Battlefield for Bush’s War on Iran
By Matthew Rothschild
August 15, 2006

The thought crossed my mind this weekend at a wedding party, when we were discussing the Israeli war on Lebanon: Maybe Bush’s green light for this bloody war was part of his plan to bomb Tehran.

In previous months, I’d read that Pentagon war planners were worried about Hezbollah’s ability to attack Israel in the event that Bush bombed Tehran. So it wasn’t a big leap from remembering that fact to hazarding a guess that Bush wanted a preemptive strike.

Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker this week confirms that hunch.

full article here.

Analysis: When will the next war come?
By STEVEN GUTKIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

JERUSALEM -- The war in Lebanon has badly bruised the Israeli government and boosted Hezbollah's standing in the Arab world. Israel says it has made some gains - the Lebanese army, backed by international troops, is to take control of south Lebanon.

But as the guns fall silent and the dust settles, an ominous question lingers over the Jewish state: Is the next Iranian-inspired war, perhaps with even more sophisticated weaponry, just around the corner?

full article here.

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Is conspiracy a war crime?
By Warren Richey | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Salim Ahmed Hamdan never planted a bomb, never took a hostage, never wielded a box cutter, never fired a weapon in anger, and never planned an attack of any kind.

What he is alleged to have done, according to his US military commission charge sheet, is work as Osama bin Laden's driver in Afghanistan.

So how could military prosecutors at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, charge him with being a terrorist and war criminal? The answer boils down to a single word: conspiracy.

full article here.

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Greenland's Melting Ice Sheet May Speed Rise in Sea Level

By Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 11, 2006; Page A03

Two new scientific studies measuring Greenland's rapidly melting ice sheet and the pace of Antarctic snowfall suggest that the sea level may be rising faster than researchers previously assumed.

The papers, both published yesterday in the journal Science, provide the latest evidence of how climate change is transforming the global landscape. University of Texas at Austin researchers, using twin satellites, determined that the Greenland ice sheet, Earth's second-largest reservoir of fresh water, is melting at three times the rate at which it had been melting over the previous five years. A separate study by 16 international scientists concluded that Antarctic snowfall accumulation has remained steady over the past 50 years, with no increases that might have mitigated the melting of the ice shelf, as some researchers had assumed would occur.

full article here.

 

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Ahmadinejad gives 'victory speech' before masses
'We won't give up on enrichment'

In speech before thousands in city of Ardabil, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says 'Iranian people will force the powers to surrender. The stances in favor of the US and Israel harmed the Security Council's image'
Roee Nahmias

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad carried a "victory speech" before a crowd in the city of Ardabel, and sent his congratulations to "the resistance" (Hizbullah ) and to the "free Lebanese people for the major victory it obtained."

He spoke about the plan for "a new Middle East" and said that the United States "is interested in turning the Middle East into its property and not a free Middle East. What the nations of the area want is a free Middle East and that is the difference."

"The Iranian people is a strong people that won't surrender to force. We are a nation that supports dialogue, but we won't surrender to force," he said.

full article here.

 

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Israeli papers turn on Olmert, army
Israeli Press

An onslaught of criticism greets the Israeli government in the country's press, a day after the cease-fire in Lebanon between Hezbollah and the Israeli military came into force.

Commentators note that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert failed to achieve the objectives that he had himself set out at the start of the fighting, primarily the release of the two Israeli soldiers abducted by Hezbollah and the destruction of Hezbollah's fighting capacity.

Some papers focus their attack on the Israel Defence Forces and, in particular, Chief-of-Staff Dan Halutz, who is accused of overconfidence and of failing Israel.

full article here.

 

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Study Finds Immigrants Don't Hurt U.S. Jobs
By Kim Hart, Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 11, 2006; Page D01

High levels of immigration in the past 15 years do not appear to have hurt employment opportunities for American workers, according to a new report.

The Pew Hispanic Center analyzed immigration state by state using U.S. Census data, evaluating it against unemployment levels. No clear correlation between the two could be found.

full article here.

(i typed about a week ago, and for whatever reason, only posted it in my pr journal)

earlier this summer 5 nations (including the us) delivered an incentives package to iran, in the effort to persuade the country to abandon its uranium enrichment program which they claimed was to pave the way towards nuclear power, a 'right' for any sovereign nation. the package, which the united states has given a deadline for a deal to be made by the end of this month, grants iran a light water reactor, and for a contract for pre-enriched uranium to be delivered, opposed to iran continuing to develop the technology to enrich it themselves. although speculation has lead many to believe that iran intends to refuse the deal, it is not known at this point, exactly how they plan to react. at least to public knowledge.

increasingly, from the point of view of the arab world, a war from the west is being waged on them. both sides are calling the other terrorist organizations, or terrorist states, although the voice that most of us hear is that 'they' are the terrorists. from all fronts, afghanistan, iraq, palestine, lebanon, iran, syria and pakistan a war is being waged, and i can imagine that from the arab point of view it’s becoming increasingly difficult to see this as a war against islamic fundamentalist terrorism, so much as against the muslim world itself.

iran is a dissident country, distinctly not under the united states' thumb as the saudis are (having recently been given a large arms deal one could say, in exchange for their 'cooperation'), and a powerful, both economically and politically, country at that. it is difficult to say if they are truly after the bomb or not. yet, as you read this, and as the country negotiates its terms in the contract, they defy the un request to cease all uranium enrichment activities, by continuing their enrichment programs.

israel is waging war on palestine and lebanon. two arab nations flanking israel, and talk of another offensive in syria. israel is making an effort to create a large buffer zone surrounding itself, under the guise that it is fighting terrorist organizations in an effort of self defence. what the headlines don’t tell you is that thousands of lebanese prisoners remain captive, silenced within israeli dungeon walls for decades, and that it was israel who kidnapped two civilians days before hezbollah kidnapped an israeli soldier, which we all know as common knowledge. by clever propaganda, israel has been assaulting the civilian populations of both countries extremely disproportionately to the civilian casualties on their side of the borders, and somehow maintaining that they are 'defending themselves', despite the fact that they have successfully bombed all major bridges and roads which are the only methods of international aid reaching the terrorized civilian populations, bombed a un base, and in the earlier offensive against palestine, knocked out electricity and water causing a humanitarian crisis which the world could not (or would not) do anything about.

the united states has used its veto power to override the un security council in an effort for a resolution, and has denied the pressure needed alongside the international community for a ceasefire, insisting that israel be allowed to destroy its perceived threat.

hezbollah is very well known to be an arm of iran, with many iranian connections. iran is hezbollah’s primary source of artillery. israel is a very well known arm of the united states. the us is israel’s primary weapon's dealer.

one can very well draw the conclusions that the united states is using its power to allow israel to create a buffer zone around itself, under the guise of self-defence, when, it can be argued that in reality, they are preparing themselves for retaliation from these neighbouring countries when the united states attacks iran.

if the united states were to attack iran (an arab country with the potential of seeing the united states as a threat as to the growing rest of the arab world, and seeing its right to a bomb for self-defence) to destroy its nuclear capabilities without this pre-emptive proxy war, israel would find itself subject to an intense bombing raid and lashing out from the neighbouring arab community. the united states is allowing 'one of its own' (states, ahem) the time needed to prepare itself, and pre-emptively attack these organisations before the organisations themselves are given any real reason to wage such war.

prime minister stephen harper is among the very lone voices in the world, siding with israel. *our* prime minister, our representative, is telling the world that canada supports this disproportionate massacre of innocent civilian populations. telling the world that canada supports the lies being spun, the propaganda, and the fuel for more terrorists to grow hatred for us.

in afghanistan, our prime minister deployed troops to a country where we do not belong, and the taliban, which has dramatically regained its strength despite apparent american crippling (and then subsequent ignoring), is now specifically targetting canadian soldiers as hatred reaches a boiling point. we've all seen the headlines and images of canadian soldiers returning home in coffins.

we've seen the images and headlines of iraqi rape and torture, of lebanese children caught in the middle of a proxy war.

this is our world. this is our planet. these are not 'them', this is us, as a human race.

if these events escalate and manifest as a full scale war that they seem to be heading towards (the media is already using the words 'world war 3'), it seems with our country's election of this conservative leader, we have now picked sides. i personally feel that if there is a side at all to be picked, we are in the wrong. our country, our own lives, have the potential of becoming highly endangered, we ourselves have the potential of becoming 'them', much easier than any of us want to admit. we are already setting ourselves up worse than ever for potential 'terrorist' attacks. can we say that these attacks are unwarranted?

this is not an issue that does not concern us. these issues exist from the grassroots up. they are happening in our backyard as our government changes more and more policy from native rights, to the environment, to our attitude towards foreign policy.

our elected leader is supposed to be our representative.

"these things don’t concern me"

"i’m only one person, what can i do?"

with the realisation of just how much these things really do affect you, comes the empowering thought of just how much you can, in turn, affect these things.

In evolution, Americans are big non-believers
SCOTT ROBERTS, Globe and Mail Update

It's a statistic that would have Charles Darwin turning in his grave - more than one third of Americans don't believe in evolution, according to a new study.

After tabulating surveys that covered 34 countries, researchers at the University of Michigan have found that U.S. citizens are much less likely to accept Darwinism than Europeans and the Japanese.

The study, published in Friday's issue of the journal Science, found that in countries like Iceland, Sweden, Denmark and France, at least 80 per cent of adult believe that humans evolved from other species. In Japan, 78 per cent of adults believe in evolution.

But in the U.S. only 40 per cent of adults believe whole-heartedly in evolution, while 39 per cent called it “absolutely false” in the 2005 survey, which questioned 1,484 Americans and more than 33,000 people worldwide.

full article here.

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This Just In: WMDs Found in Iraq
By John Stauber, GNN
Thu, 10 Aug 2006 23:44:44 -0700

A new poll shows half of Americans still believe we found them

A recent Harris Poll reports found that while “the U.S. and other countries have not found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, surprisingly more U.S. adults (50%) think that Iraq had such weapons when the U.S. invaded Iraq. This is an increase from 36 percent in February 2005.”

full article here.

By Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker
21 August 2006 Issue

In the days after Hezbollah crossed from Lebanon into Israel, on July 12th, to kidnap two soldiers, triggering an Israeli air attack on Lebanon and a full-scale war, the Bush Administration seemed strangely passive. "It's a moment of clarification," President George W. Bush said at the G-8 summit, in St. Petersburg, on July 16th. "It's now become clear why we don't have peace in the Middle East." He described the relationship between Hezbollah and its supporters in Iran and Syria as one of the "root causes of instability," and subsequently said that it was up to those countries to end the crisis. Two days later, despite calls from several governments for the United States to take the lead in negotiations to end the fighting, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that a ceasefire should be put off until "the conditions are conducive."

The Bush Administration, however, was closely involved in the planning of Israel's retaliatory attacks. President Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney were convinced, current and former intelligence and diplomatic officials told me, that a successful Israeli Air Force bombing campaign against Hezbollah's heavily fortified underground-missile and command-and-control complexes in Lebanon could ease Israel's security concerns and also serve as a prelude to a potential American preëmptive attack to destroy Iran's nuclear installations, some of which are also buried deep underground.

{excerpt} Cheney's office supported the Israeli plan, as did Elliott Abrams, a deputy national-security adviser, according to several former and current officials. (A spokesman for the N.S.C. denied that Abrams had done so.) They believed that Israel should move quickly in its air war against Hezbollah. A former intelligence officer said, "We told Israel, 'Look, if you guys have to go, we're behind you all the way. But we think it should be sooner rather than later - the longer you wait, the less time we have to evaluate and plan for Iran before Bush gets out of office.' "

Cheney's point, the former senior intelligence official said, was "What if the Israelis execute their part of this first, and it's really successful? It'd be great. We can learn what to do in Iran by watching what the Israelis do in Lebanon."

{excerpt} The surprising strength of Hezbollah's resistance, and its continuing ability to fire rockets into northern Israel in the face of the constant Israeli bombing, the Middle East expert told me, "is a massive setback for those in the White House who want to use force in Iran. And those who argue that the bombing will create internal dissent and revolt in Iran are also set back."

Nonetheless, some officers serving with the Joint Chiefs of Staff remain deeply concerned that the Administration will have a far more positive assessment of the air campaign than they should, the former senior intelligence official said. "There is no way that Rumsfeld and Cheney will draw the right conclusion about this," he said. "When the smoke clears, they'll say it was a success, and they'll draw reinforcement for their plan to attack Iran."

[excerpt} Bush's strongest supporter in Europe continues to be British Prime Minister Tony Blair, but many in Blair's own Foreign Office, as a former diplomat said, believe that he has "gone out on a particular limb on this" - especially by accepting Bush's refusal to seek an immediate and total ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. "Blair stands alone on this," the former diplomat said. "He knows he's a lame duck who's on the way out, but he buys it" - the Bush policy. "He drinks the White House Kool-Aid as much as anybody in Washington." The crisis will really start at the end of August, the diplomat added, "when the Iranians" - under a United Nations deadline to stop uranium enrichment - "will say no."

full article here.

 

Michel Chossudovsky, The Centre for Research on Globalisation
Friday, August 11th, 2006 @ 17:38:06 MST

"Another [9/11] attack could create both a justification and an opportunity to retaliate against some known targets"

In the month following last year's 7/7 London bombings, Vice President Dick Cheney is reported to have instructed USSTRATCOM to draw up a contingency plan "to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States". Implied in the contingency plan is the certainty that Iran would be behind a Second 9/11.

full article here.

12 Aug 2006 00:10:15 GMT
Source: Reuters

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 11 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council adopted by a 15-0 vote on Friday a resolution aimed at ending the Israeli-Hizbollah conflict.

The main points are:

• Calls for a "full cessation of hostilities" based upon "the immediate cessation by Hizbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations."
  
  
• Authorizes up to 15,000 new troops for the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, to monitor the truce and gives it a mandate to "take all necessary action" needed to perform its duties.
  
  
• Asks the Lebanese government to deploy troops in the south, now controlled by Hizbollah guerrillas, and to prevent any weapons from flowing to the militia.
  
  
• Calls on Israel to withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon when fighting stops in parallel with the deployment of Lebanese and U.N. troops.
  
  
• Imposes an arms embargo on Lebanon that bars the delivery of weapons or military equipment to "any entity or individual," excluding the Lebanese army and U.N. troops.
  
  
• Asks in the preamble of the resolution, which carries less weight, for the unconditional release of Israeli soldiers abducted by Hizbollah in a cross-border raid and urgently encourages settling the issue of Lebanese prisoners detained in Israel.
  
  
• Asks U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to develop proposals within 30 days for disarmament of militia, and delineation of the borders, including the disputed Shebaa farms area on the Israel-Syrian-Lebanon border.
  
  
• Asks the U.N. secretary-general to secure agreements in principle from Lebanon and Israel for a permanent cease-fire, including a buffer zone in southern Lebanon free of militia.

 

"The UN resolution solves nothing" - George Galloway

Aug. 11, 2006

According to knowledgeable sources in the UK and other countries, the Tony Blair government, under siege by a Labor Party revolt, cleverly cooked up a new "terror" scare to avert the public's eyes away from Blair's increasing political woes. British law enforcement; neo-con and intelligence operatives in the United States, Israel, and Britain; and Rupert Murdoch's global media empire cooked up the terrorist plot, liberally borrowing from the failed 1995 "Oplan Bojinka" plot by Pakistan- and Philippines-based terrorist Ramzi Ahmad Yousef to crash 11 trans-Pacific airliners bound from Asia to the United States. In the latest plot, it is reported that liquid bombs were to be detonated on 10 trans-Atlantic planes outbound from Britain to the United States.

controversial full article can be found here.