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World News
5/13/02 -
5/18/02
Saturday 5/18/02
Lay off US Powell tells Europeans 5/18/02 Guardian, UK: "Further evidence of the growing rift between the US and Europe came last night when the French president, Jacques Chirac, tore into what he called American "unilateralism". In one of his most hard-hitting indictments of the Bush administration, Mr Chirac said its recent decisions to impose steel tariffs and raise farm subsidies would harm the world's poorest nations."
Agents were aware of threats by 1996, U.S. officials say 5/18/02 IHT: "The FBI had been aware for several years that Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terrorist network were training pilots in the United States and elsewhere around the world, according to court records and interviews at flight schools and with law-enforcement officials.
.
The bureau knew by 1996 of a specific threat that Al Qaeda might use a plane in a suicide terrorist attack on American soil, U.S. officials conceded."
Alarm as Afghan bug spreads to more servicemen 5/18/02 Independent, UK: disease was one of the factors that led to the Russian defeat in Afghanistan.
Friday 5/17/02
 ISRAEL'S TALIBAN - The rising tide of Israeli extremism 5/17/02 Antiwar.com: "What we can see in Netanyahu, and the radicalized Likud, is the Jewish equivalent of the Taliban rising out of the fundamentalist, militant, and messianic currents roiling Israeli society. Sharon is held captive to this constituency, and cannot govern without them. Netanyahu's coup at the Likud party conference was but a prelude to the coming challenge to Sharon's leadership.
The Likud has always stood for the idea of a Greater Israel – a concept that has more to do with religious fundamentalism than any genuine concern for "security." There cannot be a Palestinian state, in this view, for the simple reason that God promised the Jews not only all the lands of Judea, Samaria (the West Bank), and Gaza, but beyond, from the Nile to the Euphrates. Describing God's covenant with Abraham, Genesis 15:18 proclaims:
"To your descendants I give this land from the River of Egypt to the Great River, the river Euphrates."
1999 Report Warned of Suicide Hijack 5/17/02 AP: "Suicide bomber(s) belonging to al-Qaida's Martyrdom Battalion could crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives (C-4 and semtex) into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (news - web sites) (CIA (news - web sites)), or the White House," the September 1999 report said."
Israel Soldiers Reportedly Kill Boy 5/17/02 AP
Mullah Omar warns US of war 5/17/02 Arab News: “As for Afghanistan, I can say that the war has just started, its fires have been kindled. That fire will reach the White House because it is the seat of all injustice and oppression and where they launched a war against Islam and Muslims without any legitimate reason....When the killing of the oppressed people increased in number we decided to withdraw from the land and start the phase of guerrilla war in the mountains so that the lives of people and the poor Mujahedeen may be spared,” he said.
Omar said those who carried out the attacks in the United States had a clear objective. “What is important for the US now is to find out why they did that. America should remove the cause that made them do it.”
Is truth a victim? 5/17/02 BBC: Funny how these interviews of Dan Rather talking about the patriotism madness in the US media only appear in the UK: "It's been coined "Milatainment" - entertainment programmes about the military, which include the shows Military Diaries, American Fighter Pilot and Profiles from the Front Line."
Israeli forces 're-enter Jenin' 5/17/02 BBC
Defending Cynthia McKinney 5/17/02 Counterpunch
Terrorist Warnings by Rep. Cynthia McKinney 5/17/02 Counterpunch
Feature / U.S. Jews opposing Israel are increasingly vocal 5/17/02 Haaretz, Israel: "On the fringes of the pro-Israel solidarity marches, the fund-raising events in support of Israel's military efforts, and American Jews' solidarity missions to Israel, several U.S.-Jewish groups have started to make their voices heard. Far from echoing the line that America's Jewish communities have been espousing, these new voices are critical of Israeli operations in the territories, and are calling for an end to the occupation and respect for Palestinian rights."
By night, Israelis stalk Palestinians 5/17/02 IHT: just like the death squads the Israelis trained in Central America.
Veteran anchor attacks media for being timid 5/17/02 Independent, UK: "you know there was a time in South Africa that people would put flaming tyres around people's necks if they dissented," said Mr Rather. "And in some ways the fear is that you will be necklaced here, you will have a flaming tyre of lack of patriotism put around your neck."
Catorce organizaciones venezolanas otorgan el galardón Fabricio Ojeda a La Jornada 5/17/02 La Jornada, Mexico: "Catorce organizaciones de venezolanos ubicadas en distintos países de América Latina otorgaron ayer a esta casa editorial el reconocimiento Periodismo veraz: Fabricio Ojeda, por la información difundida durante el mes de abril en torno al golpe de Estado en contra del gobierno de Hugo Chávez."
Officials Told of 'Major Assault' Plans 5/17/02 LA Times: is this story from 9/20/01 a smoking gun? "FBI and CIA officials were advised in August that as many as 200 terrorists were slipping into this country and planning "a major assault on the United States," a high-ranking law enforcement official said Wednesday. The advisory was passed on by the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency. It cautioned that it had picked up indications of a "large-scale target" in the United States and that Americans would be "very vulnerable," the official said." Interesting story never heard from again. Does this warning have something to do with the work of the "Israeli Art Students" who were frequently located right next to the hijackers?
The iron wall 5/17/02 Salon: relevant article from 4/98 - "A few weeks ago, in this holy city, a public lecture was offered by Benzion Netanyahu. It was in honor of a man named Abba Ahimeir. Neither of these two men is, perhaps, as well known as he ought to be. Benzion Netanyahu, the 87-year-old father of the [then-]Israeli prime minister, is a scholar at Princeton University and the author of The Origins of the Inquisition … Abba Ahimeir was a writer and activist in British Mandate Palestine, and a zealous lieutenant of Jabotinsky. In the pages of the magazine Doar Hayom, during the late 1920s and '30s, he wrote a celebrated column titled 'From the Notebook of a Fascist." He hymned Mussolini, referred to Jabotinsky as 'Our Duce,' and even went so far as to say that Hitler was on the right track, except for his excessive anti-Semitism. … Ahimeir, said the elder Netanyahu, had been his mentor."
Another coup attempt in Venezuela? 5/17/02 Stratfor: from a respected strategic forecasting firm which somehow does not get the coup story right: "During his tenure as vice president, Cabello was responsible for organizing and coordinating the Bolivarian Circles. Although STRATFOR security sources in Caracas believe Cabello is grossly exaggerating the number of Bolivarian Circles in a possible effort to intimidate the political opposition, the violent events of April 11 – when 17 civilians were killed and more than 100 were wounded by gunfire during an anti-Chavez demonstration – showed that even a small number of armed civilian militias can inflict significant physical and material damage." Many of the victims were in fact Chavez supporters who were shot from above by right wing snipers.
Venezuela: Amnesty International (AI) reports that Portuguesa State senior police officer Miguel Angel Zambrano Heredia has received death threats 5/17/02 Vheadlines: “police officers have attempted to kill him for giving evidence to an inquiry into the activities of police death squads in Portuguesa state.”
Thursday 5/16/02
Big Brother Is Watching, Listening 5/16/02 CBS: ""I'm about to go to a meeting, very stressful day, all of a sudden, the FBI calls."
The agent wanted to know about the computer systems at Independent Media, a leftist Web site where Josh occasionally works as a volunteer technician."
White House On The Defensive 5/16/02 CBS News: "Why did it take eight months for us to receive this information?'' asked Daschle.
Prison Guards Playing God 5/16/02 Cryptome: "Mr. Powers and Mr. Garcia would cause inmates convicted of sex offenses, or who were otherwise disliked by them, to be assaulted by other inmates, and in two instances, by the defendants themselves."
SHAM IN BAGRAM - Officers blast politicians as mountain mission ends in fiasco 5/16/02 Mirror, UK: "Privately British officers are furious with politicians for sending troops at America's request without, they believe, asking enough questions. They feel the marines - seen as the best mountain troops in the world - have been humiliated.
One middle-ranking officer said: "If we can't do what we do best, fighting wars, then we shouldn't be here.
"And if we start taking casualties without any obvious results on the ground, the politicians who are keeping us here are going to have a hell of a lot of explaining to do."
U.S. planned for attack on al-Qaida 5/16/02 MSNBC
War in Colombia: Guerrillas, Drugs and Human Rights in U.S.-Colombia Policy, 1988-2002 5/16/02 National Security Archive: ". But recently declassified U.S. documents show that despite the legal limits and repeated public assurances by government officials, U.S. aid has blurred the lines between counterdrug and counterinsurgency to the point that the U.S. is on the brink of direct confrontation with the guerrillas and ever deeper involvement in Colombia’s seemingly intractable civil conflict. The Bush administration’s proposed aid figure for Colombia in fiscal year 2003 includes nearly $500 million in military and police aid alone." And some of that will wind up in the hands of paramilitary organizations engaged in drug trafficking and terrorism.
108 Rabbis-to-Be Sign in Sympathy With Palestinians 5/16/02 NY Observer: "Ms. Weintraub said she felt physically threatened. Then one of the men surrounding her recognized the dynamics of the confrontation—which was being taped, after all—and said, "We’re empowering her." And the group backed away.
For the rabbinical students, that was the revelation of the rally. Rather than being intimidated by displays of right-wing solidarity, they felt galvanized. They came back to New York with a strong sense that they had done the right thing, and that they have a voice in their community. There had been 50 rabbinical students at the Washington rally. Ten days later, they sent off their letter calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state, and a recognition of Palestinian suffering, to the heads of Jewish organizations, and it was signed by 108 people. That list includes a quarter of the rabbinical students at the Jewish Theological Seminary (though none from the Orthodox Yeshiva University). "
Bush Was Warned bin Laden Wanted to Hijack Planes 5/16/02 NYT
Apartheid in the Holy Land by Desmond Tutu 5/16/02 SF Bay View: "In our struggle against apartheid, the great supporters were Jewish people. They almost instinctively had to be on the side of the disenfranchised, of the voiceless ones, fighting injustice, oppression and evil. I have continued to feel strongly with the Jews. I am patron of a Holocaust centre in South Africa. I believe Israel has a right to secure borders. What is not so understandable, not justified, is what it did to another people to guarantee its existence. I’ve been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about."
Black Congresswoman draws vile censure 5/16/02 SF Bay View
Penetrating the Defenses at Defense – and State 5/16/02 They Dare to Speak Out: The diplomat offers an example from his own experience. “I received a call from a friend of mine in the Jewish community who wanted to warn me, as a friend, that all details of a lengthy document on Middle East policy that I had just dispatched overseas were ‘out.’” The document was classified “top secret,” the diplomat recalls. “I didn’t believe what he said, so my friend read me every word of it over the phone.”
Al-Qaeda worth $5 billion: Italian secret service 5/16/02 Times of India
The Terrorists Flew and Bush Knew 5/16/02 TruthOut: "The idea that Bush allowed 9/11 to happen for his own gain is difficult to swallow, and even more difficult to prove. As things stand today, however, the evidence and information in hand is damning enough. The Bush administration was repeatedly warned by foreign intelligence services of immediate threats via aircraft to American targets. FBI agents in Phoenix had more evidence in hand, which was ignored. Bush himself was warned of Al Qaida hijack threats, but failed to augment airline security. Vice President Cheney lied on national television about having received these warnings, and Ari Fleischer has been bolstering this lie with many of his own since the story broke.
Add this to already-existing reports that the administration stood down its anti-terrorism forces many months ago out of concern that such investigative activities might offend a variety of oil-rich nations. This stand-down came on the eve of the conclusion of a major deal involving a natural gas pipeline through the Subcontinent that was sponsored by Unocal."
Pipeline dream - The emerging connection between oil plans and the 9-11 attacks 5/16/02 Working for Change: "In light of Brisard and Dasique's allegations, the last several days have offered a number of corroborating news stories. A twelve year veteran agent with the FBI named Robert G. Wright, Jr. has filed suit in Washington D.C.'s District Court alleging that the agency willfully ignored terrorist threats from Hamas. According to Wright, the FBI intentionally thwarted his efforts to curtail Hamas activities in America that threatened American citizens. Wright's lawsuit came one day after Congress chastised the FBI for failing to look into warnings from Arizona agents about suspicious Arab men seeking flight training at American aviation schools."
Wednesday 5/15/02
Afghans shot in raid may not be Taliban 5/15/02 Herald, UK: errors upon errors
Harvard Law School and Its Racial Woes - Torts Chamber? 5/15/02 Village Voice: "In fact, the professor, David Rosenberg, who repeatedly said in class that "feminism, Marxism, and the blacks have contributed nothing to torts," has said his comments were simply misunderstood. By "blacks," he was referring to supporters of critical race theory, he says. Moreover, instead of an apology, he wrote in an open letter that limiting his or any speech would have "a chilling effect" on campus debate. "
Tipping Toward Hate 5/15/02 Village Voice: Battles are raging on campuses across the US: "criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic because other countries do things that are far worse and nobody complains. Besides, he adds, when individual Israeli soldiers commit questionable acts, they are tried and punished. As a state, he insists, "Israel doesn't commit human rights abuses. Any you can name, I can justify. Anything they do in the West Bank is purely for self-defense."
Tuesday 5/14/02
Israeli Convicted in Secrets Case 5/14/02 AP: "Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Yaacov, 76, was commander of the armed forces weapons development unit until 1973. After retiring from active service he wrote a book of memoirs and another book, which he described as fiction. But the prosecution charged that both contained nuclear weapons secrets."
Facing attack, a rogue ally hands US an ultimatum 5/14/02 Boston Globe: "''Karzai will lose here if he sends troops, and I will never support the Americans again in this region,'' said Khan, 57, sitting cross-legged on a cushion and wearing a sash of bullets across his chest and a pistol on his left hip.
This is far more than the run-of-the-mill, post-Taliban warlord feud. The dispute directly threatens the continuation of Operation Mountain Lion, a US-led search for Al Qaeda soldiers in the border region that has so far yet to turn up a single member of Osama bin Laden's group.
If civil war breaks out between Karzai's forces and Khan, the US could lose the services of Khan's 600 to 800 soldiers in the manhunt, suddenly face chaos on the ground, and would almost certainly consider ending the operation."
Bush in Colombia: An Old War Gets a New Boost 5/14/02 Common Dreams: "Probably few Americans know that by the end of this week the United States may be even more deeply entrenched in the Colombian war. The Bush administration wants to escalate the conflict there, with U.S. soldiers digging in on the new Latin American front in the "war on terrorism."
Mystery of ‘Israeli spies’ in America: the ecstasy factor 5/14/02 Daily Star, Lebanon: "US authorities believe Tuito has been seeking to form alliances with US crime families, but in an equally sinister development the United Nations Narcotics Control Board reported in February that Colombian drug cartels were now shipping cocaine to Europe to exchange it for ecstasy which was smuggled into the US through Latin America. Israel has a long history of involvement with the Colombian and other cartels in Latin America. Former Israeli Army and intelligence officers supplied the drug barons with weapons and trained their private armies, including special assassination squads, throughout the 1980s. One of the more notorious of these Israelis, a lieutenant colonel in the army reserve named Yair Klein, was convicted by an Israeli court in 1991 for illegally exporting arms to the Colombian cartels. He was fined $40,000. In 1998, Klein, a balding ex-paratrooper, was indicted in Bogota on charges of training Colombian paramilitaries in terrorist tactics in the 1987-89. He was allegedly one of four Israelis hired by Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, one of the Medellin cartel’s most violent bosses, who was later assassinated…. His current whereabouts are unknown, but Israeli arms dealers are still working with Colombian paramilitaries. On May 7, Nicaraguan and Panamanian authorities launched an investigation into how 3,000 AK-47 assault rifles and 5 million rounds of ammunition shipped from Nicaragua by two Israeli-owned arms companies to Colombia on Nov. 10, 2001, and wound up in the hands of the United Defense Forces of Colombia, a group the US government has branded as terrorist… In the 1980s, with Israelis deeply involved in Latin America’s political turmoil, US and British investigations found that New York’s Hassidic community was being used to launder as much as $200 million a year in drug cartel profits. One such operation was linked to David Marcus Katz, who controlled much of Israel’s arms dealings in Central America from his base in Mexico City throughout the 1970s and 1980s. A 1992 report by Yediot Ahronot, based in part on FBI documentation, said Israeli intelligence organizations were directing a US-based money laundering network, including those run by Hassidic Jews, and using some of the profits to finance clandestine operations." And today in Venezuela, we have a similar tale with another dealer in Israeli arms, Isaac Perez Recao, who was implicated in supporting the recent coup for which he supplied arms.
A wolf in legal clothing? 5/14/02 Haaretz, Israel: "To judge by the sudden spate of warnings in the media in the past two weeks, there is no escaping the conclusion that the senior legal-security echelons of the State of Israel have suddenly become concerned, perhaps even alarmed, by the possibility that prominent Israelis, members of the security services as well as politicians, will have to stand trial abroad in the near future, for committing war crimes."
B'Tselem: Settlements control 42% of West Bank 5/14/02 Haaretz, Israel
No Blueprint for Peace Seen in West Bank Map 5/14/02 LA Times: Finally the issue makes it into the US media: "The pattern of Jewish settlements in the West Bank was designed to make a Palestinian state impossible, an Israeli human rights group charged in a report issued Monday.
The group, B'Tselem, said the Jewish state had "stolen" tens of thousands of acres of Palestinian land to establish the settlements--considered illegal under international law--for hundreds of thousands of Israelis.
"It's the intentional plan of the development and location of the settlements ... precisely to prevent any sort of viable Palestinian state," said Jessica Montell, the group's director."
ABC to End 'Politically Incorrect' 5/14/02 New York Times: if you don't follow the party line, your show will be terminated.
RENEGADE RATTLES ISRAELI NUKE PROGRAM 5/14/02 NY Post: "Israel, which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, refuses to formally acknowledge the existence of these weapons because it would trigger a series of U.S. laws that would result in the cutoff of U.S. military and economic aid to the Jewish state."
COLOMBIAN ARMY AGAIN ACCUSED OF SHARING BED WITH RIGHT-WING PARAMILITARIES 5/14/02 Radio Havana: "Last Sunday, several Colombian newspapers published an open letter
from residents of one of the towns denouncing the armed
forces-paramilitary connection. Leftist rebels accepted partial
responsibility for the civilian casualties, but affirmed that the
paramilitaries used them as human shields at gunpoint. The guerrillas
also charged that the army and government have allowed the
paramilitaries to control the region, noting that the first Colombian
soldiers didn't even reach the two towns until five days after the
fighting was over." The EU has declared the paramilitaries to be terrorist organizations.
Thousands who backed wrong side held in Afghan 'Auschwitz' 5/14/02 Sydney Morning Herald: "The European Union's special envoy to Afghanistan has called for urgent action by Afghan authorities to end the plight of more than 2000 starving Taliban supporters being held prisoner in conditions he compared to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz."
Arms blown up by Marines were mine, says Afghan ally 5/14/02 Telegraph, UK: Sounds more and more like Nam, just like the fake body counts we now have fake arms counts: "THIRTY lorry-loads of supposed terrorist arms destroyed in Afghanistan by the Royal Marines probably belonged to a coalition ally, it emerged yesterday.
Ibrahim Omari, a former commander in the anti-Soviet resistance, said the four caves detonated amid much fanfare over the weekend at Gerdaserai in south-eastern Paktia province contained weapons and ammunition he had stored there 15 years ago."
Jacques Monsieur arrested in Turkey 5/14/02 The Public I: "A Belgian man alleged to be one of Europe's biggest gunrunners -- and who has threatened to reveal secrets about the involvement of intelligence agencies and oil corporations in his illicit trade -- has been arrested in Turkey."
Saudi officials silent as anti-U.S. boycott spreads 5/14/02 WorldTribune: direct from spookland: "Saudi activists said members of the royal family have pledged their support for the boycott in protest of Washington's support for Israel. The government in Riyad has not expressed an official position… "With each dollar you pay you kill a Palestinian," one Saudi message said in reference to Israel's use of U.S.-made weaponry in the war against the Palestinians."
Monday 5/13/02
Poll Points Toward Peace 5/13/02 Alternet: "An in-depth poll conducted by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Initiatives (PIPA) found that a majority of Americans do not agree with the views advocated by pro-Israeli hawks in the White House and Congress."
Idea of Islamic dinar gaining momentum 5/13/02 Arab News: "The two-day seminar, scheduled to be held on June 25-26 in Kuala Lumpur under the patronage of the Institute of Islamic Thought, a Malaysian think tank, hopes to bring together a cornucopia of central bank officials, economists, bankers, businessmen, academics and other interested parties.
Dr. Mahathir, who is also the country’s finance minister, first mooted the idea of an Islamic gold dinar as a standard unit of currency for trade and financial transactions between the 54 member countries of the Jeddah-based trans-national Islamic Development Bank (IDB), last year. This in the aftermath of the currency crisis that hit the Asian countries, including Malaysia, so badly in 1999 and in 2000."
Warning to Venezuelan leader 5/13/02 BBC
Police Seize Rental Truck With TNT Traces 5/13/02 Fox News: what will they think of next? "A bomb-sniffing dog first detected explosives on one of the men and inside the truck. High tech equipment was used later to confirm the presence of TNT and RDX plastic explosive.
Documents read to Fox News indicate that both driver and passenger were Israeli nationals. Investigators say a roadside check of the national database of immigration records indicated that one of the men had not entered the country legally, and the other was in violation of his visa."
Opec chief warned Chavez about coup 5/13/02 Guardian, UK: "The answer to the mystery, Newsnight was told by a Chavez insider, is that several hundred pro-Chavez troops were hidden in secret corridors under Miraflores, the presidential palace.
Juan Barreto, a leader of Mr Chavez's party in the national assembly, was with Mr Chavez when he was under siege.
Mr Barreto said that Jose Baduel, chief of the paratroop division loyal to Mr Chavez, had waited until Mr Carmona was inside Miraflores.
Mr Baduel then phoned Mr Carmona to tell him that, with troops virtually under his chair, he was as much a hostage as Mr Chavez. He gave Mr Carmona 24 hours to return Mr Chavez alive."
Spies, or students? 5/13/02 Haaretz: "As far as Israel is concerned, this is the only explanation for the affair, and anything more is just a fabrication based on the original reports, which in itself is based on the paranoia of one government official." As anyone who peruses the DEA reports knows, this is a compendium of the work of many investigators.
Key House panel targets international tribunal 5/13/02 IHT: the biggest rogue state of them all at it again: "With strong administration support, an important House committee has voted authorization for the president to use force to rescue any American held by the new International Criminal Court and to bar arms aid to nations that ratify the court treaty."
ARAB BOYCOTT AGAINST AMERICAN GOODS CONTINUES GAINING MOMENTUM 5/13/02 Radio Havana: "An informal boycott of American goods has continued gaining momentum in the Arab world, leading to a drastic drop-off in business for fast-food outlets, Starbucks coffee shops and basic groceries from Pepsi to Pampers. The boycott is taking on dimensions unseen since the Arab League embargo on companies trading with Israel trailed off in the early 1990s, according to a report over the weekend in the New York Times."
Venezuela: A Coup With The Smell Of Hamburger, Ham And Oil 5/13/02 Znet: "According to private investigations, one of the results of the coup was to be the denationalization of oil: the privatization of the state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), leaving it in the hands of a U.S. firm linked to President George Bush and to the Spanish company Repsol; to sell PDVSA's U.S. subsidiary, Citgo, to Gustavo Cisneros and his U.S. partners; and the end of the nation's underground reserves."
Sunday 5/12/02
Troops: Too Many Caves to Search 5/12/02 AP
Are Israeli Textbooks Promoting Hatred Toward Palestinians And Arabs? 5/12/02 Black World Today: "Israeli school textbooks as well as children's storybooks, according to recent academic studies and surveys, portray Palestinians and Arabs as "murderers," "rioters," "suspicious," and generally backward and unproductive. Direct delegitimization and negative stereotyping of Palestinians and Arabs are the rule rather than the exception in Israeli schoolbooks."
Families flee their war-torn villages 5/12/02 Boston Globe: "FARC is blamed for the 117 deaths at the church in Bojaya. But many of Choco's inhabitants appear to feel the killings in Bojaya are just another consequence of a long history of state neglect of this region of 500,000 people, the majority of whom are descendants of African slaves. Their average per capita income is lower than Haiti's, according to government estimates."
Palestinians Sow Confusion and Doubt on Bombing 5/12/02 NYT: "The head of the Palestinian Authority's intelligence service said today that a suicide bombing last week in Israel did not appear to be the work of Palestinian terrorists, but rather seemed to have been conducted by Israeli criminals against an illegal gambling club."
Israel shows its muscle dealing with Congress 5/12/02 St Petersburg Times: "According to the center, pro-Israel groups have contributed $41.3-million to federal candidates and political party committees since 1989. In the same period, pro-Arab and pro-Muslim interests have given $297,000."
Chavez says he has proof of US hand in coup 5/12/02 Times of India
U.S. hit squads signal new twist to Afghan war 5/12/02 Toronto Sun
More than 50,000 turn out in Tel Aviv for peace rally: police 5/12/02 Yahoo: "More than 50,000 demonstrators have turned out in Tel Aviv for a massive peace rally and to demand Israel withdraw from the Palestinian territories, Israeli police told AFP Saturday evening.
The organiser of the rally, the Peace Now group, also claimed the protest was the biggest peace demonstration since the outbreak of the Palestinian intifada in September 2000."
Saturday 5/11/02
The solution is the problem by Noam Chomsky 5/11/02 Guardian: "The US presents itself as the peace-broker in the Middle East. The reality is different."
Experts worry over loans by big banks in China 5/11/02 IHT
Israel rules out major Gaza military offensive 5/11/02 Irish Times: "According to the Israeli press, Israel has learned lessons from last month's blitz across the West Bank, and is conscious of the risks to its soldiers and the image of the country if Palestinian civilians suffer disproportionate losses in fighting in over-populated areas of the Gaza Strip." And Gaza is a tougher nut to crack.
Afghan Terror Network Is Still a Threat, U.S. Says 5/11/02 LA Times: Al Qaeda and the Taliban are on the run, but they retain a powerful network of arms, money and determined fighters that continues to compel U.S.-led anti- terrorism forces to prepare for further major offensives, the American commander of coalition troops said Friday.
That assessment by Army Maj. Gen. Frank L. Hagenbeck in an interview contrasted with the upbeat forecast of the top British officer here a day earlier, who proclaimed the campaign to eradicate terrorists from Afghanistan "all but won."
Protesters call for end to U.S. aid for Israel 5/11/02 Seattle Post Intelligence
Arabs vent their anger at Washington on US goods 5/11/02 Sydney Morning Herald
Friday 5/10/02
Venezuela's Chavez Says United States Must Explain Reaction To Coup 5/10/02 AP
US Jewish group accuses Muslims of being anti-Semitic 5/10/02 Arab News: “This is exactly what I’ve been warning my foreign ministry about for over a year,” said a European deputy chief of mission after reading the AJC releases. “This maliciousness is no longer limited to extremist Jewish groups on the East Coast, this mentality of hatred is now permeating the midlands of America. This is very disconcerting,” said the diplomat, who asked not to be identified."
Pedophilia and Satanism in the Vatican 5/10/02 Aztlan: "The cultic acts of Satanic pedophilia in the Catholic Church are considered by professionals to be the culmination of the rites of 'The Enthronement of the Fallen Archangel Lucifer' in the Vatican" The article is Apocalyptic, but indicative of trends worth watching. Police professionals who deal with pedophilia are well aware of the Satanic cult dimension it can take on, and when the BBC talks about 4,000 pedophile priests in the US, that does raise this issue! As well as the question of why this news is not accurately reported in the US.
Patriarchy And Pedophilia 5/10/02 Black World Today
What Happened in Jenin? 5/10/02 FAIR: details the wriggling around of US media as usual
Ivy League Students Seek Israeli Boycott 5/10/02 Fox News
Analysis: Vatican finally confronts abuse covered up by its cardinals 5/10/02 Independent, UK: "As many as 3,000 of the nation's 40,000 priests, according to some reports, now face allegations of interfering with children. Hundreds have been removed from their posts. Secular prosecutors have begun asking dioceses for their records of past allegations. Police authorities have set up investigative units…. The talk is now of possible bankruptcy of sections of the Church, which is the largest non-government organisation in America. The ensuing financial crisis could hit every aspect of its work – from the Catholic schools that educate 2.6 million children to the church hospitals that treat almost 20 per cent of the country's patients. Legal settlements, already estimated at more than $1bn (£700m), could be huge."
Jewish settlers arrested for attempted bombing of East Jerusalem hospital 5/10/02 Jerusalem Post
INVISIBLE ENEMY LURED US INTO TRAP 5/10/02 Mirror, UK: "We are now in an impossible position. We will have to start reducing British troops.
It is costing us around £70,000 a year per soldier.
With the cost mounting up, Gordon Brown will be biting his finger nails and they will be even more chewed when the Defence Secretary knocks at his door asking for more, when he wants to spend his cash on the NHS.
It is a nasty situation. We have said all these things about how we are going to destroy al-Qaeda and the Taliban and get bin Laden and as long as we can't do that, their street cred goes higher and higher.
Lots of people in the Arab world are laughing at us."
"Fighters of the Kingdom of Israel" Claim Responsibility for Killing Eight Palestinians 5/10/02 Palestine Chronicle
SOUTH AMERICA: MYSTERIOUS ARMS CACHE APPEARS IN COLUMBIA 5/10/02 Pravda: "The cache containing 3,000 AK-47 assault rifles and five million rounds of ammunition appeared last month in a Panamanian ship sailing from Nicaragua, which was supposedly part of an exchange deal between the Columbian and Nicaraguan police forces, involving a shipment of 100 Israeli Uzi sub-machine guns and 450 Jericho pistols for the Nicaraguans."
Ecuador: Campesinos acusan a empresa argentina de torturas y amenazas 5/10/02 Rebelion: sigue la conquista…
Invasion will let us get at Israel, says Hamas 5/10/02 Times
Florida anthrax was derived from US military strain 5/10/02 Times, UK
''It's the settlements, stupid!'' 5/10/02 Yellow Times
Thursday 5/9/02
Bush's Hit List At the United Nations 5/9/02 Alternet: increasing the dimensions of a US and planetary disaster.
CIA Missile Misses Ex-Afghan Warlord 5/9/02 AP: Hekmatyar joins a long line of other CIA agents whose agency turned on them: he was once the CIA's top man in Afghanistan, and held the largest drug networks which he passed on to bin Laden.
Karachi suicide bombing 'just the beginning' 5/9/02 Asia Times: "The Pakistani port city of Karachi on Wednesday felt what many believe to be the beginning of a campaign of unrest as a result of President General Pervez Musharraf allowing US troops into the country's sensitive tribal areas to look for Taliban and al-Qaeda suspects.
Shortly before 8 am, a suspected suicide bomber in a car killed at least 10 French and two Pakistani nationals when a bomb ripped through a navy bus as it was picking up the French nationals from the Sheraton Hotel, where they were staying while maintaining submarines for the Pakistani government."
Chavez: borrowed time? 5/9/02 Channel 4 News, UK: Chavez - "It's public, I have proof, it's absolutely true that two officials of the United States of the US armed forces were in the command center with the coup leaders during the hours of the coup. And there's another detail that needs to be investigated: there is absolute proof, by satellite, of the presence of a warship, in the territorial waters of Venezuela at the time."
Monster iceberg breaks off Antarctic ice shelf 5/9/02 CNN: "The new iceberg measures roughly 47 miles by 4.6 miles (76 km by 7 km), or almost ten times the area of Manhattan." Thank you Enron, Texaco, Shell, GM, Ford, Exxon, and crew. This is no doubt due to the fact that there is no global warning, as the Wall Street Journal would have it.
Giving up the settlements is cheaper than you think 5/9/02 Haaretz, Israel
IDF massing troops near Gaza in preparation for retaliatory strike 5/9/02 Haaretz, Israel: ready for an encore, laying the seed for more terrorism to come.
Israel's black propaganda bid falters as documents reveal an impotent leader not a terrorist mastermind 5/9/02 Independent, UK
UK agents to help Arafat stop suicide bombers 5/9/02 Independent, UK
Terrorism Chic, Anti-Semites, and a Brain-Dead Left 5/9/02 Pacific News: Another jerk who doesn't get it.
"The coup was directed by the White House" 5/9/02 Socialist Worker: "They [the US] also underestimated the race factor. They didn’t realize that part of the opposition to Chávez is because he’s Black--the first Black president in modern history in Venezuela. All of the leading lights of the bourgeoisie dislike him for his social origins and his race."
Venezuela after the Coup Attempt 5/9/02 Trinicenter, Trinidad & Tobago: "The problem Chávez faces now, perhaps more than ever, is that his supporters are divided between what have come to be called the “Talibanes,” the radicals who are saying that Chávez should implement his program now more than ever, and the “Miquilenistas,” named after Luis Miquilena, the moderate former Interior and Justice Minister and elder statesman of Venezuelan politics… What makes this division particularly dangerous for Chávez’ political program is that members of his coalition in the legislature have gradually been leaving the coalition. Chávez’ formerly solid majority in the legislature has now shrunk from 99-66 to 85-80. Five of the most recent defectors are members of his of own party, belonging to the Miquilenista faction. It is estimated that there are about 15 more in this faction and if only three of them leave, Chávez will have lost his majority in the National Assembly, which would make it extremely difficult for Chávez to implement the rest of his program. In other words, it is not just because of the economically and mediatically powerful opposition that Chávez has to tread lightly, but his own base in the assembly threatens to break away if he does not moderate his approach."
Boycott US campaign affecting Saudi businesses 5/9/02 Ummah News: "A grassroots campaign to boycott US products in Saudi Arabia has already taken its toll on many local businesses, with sales dropping drastically, executives and activists said today.
The campaign, a protest against perceived US support for Israel, is being conducted from mosques, schools and universities, and through newspapers, the Internet and mobile phone text messages urging consumers to shun products originating from the United States." The same mobile phone messages were the principal organizing tool in the Venezuela counter-coup.
Pogrom of Muslims continues in Gujarat 5/9/02 Ummah News
New Mideast war front: American newspapers
Boycotts over 'anti-Israel' bias in major dailies gaining ground 5/9/02 WorldNetDaily: news from a Christian perspective…not content with the massive pro-Israeli bias of the US media, the fundamentalists seek to muzzle it even further.
Wednesday 5/8/02
Suicide bomber kills more than 15 in Israeli town 5/8/02 ABC News: the inevitable result of Israel's security policies, which will either lead to failure or to the ethnic cleansing of over 3 million Palestinians.
Deflecting the truth 5/8/02 Al Ahram: On 25 April ORT reported that the Saudi army was pushing troops to the Jordanian border. The main news bulletin led with the latest events in Bethlehem and an Armenian monk who escaped from the church was featured mumbling unintelligibly about "hostages... calling for help." A handsome IDF spokesman was posed against a luxurious hotel talking about the "30 terrorists" barricaded inside, the rest being "simple citizens whom the IDF had nothing against" but who "regretfully are unwilling to leave the church for some unknown reason." This was a sharp change in tone from the IDF's previous announcements which accused the Palestinians of holding the monks and an Italian TV crew hostage and which were disproved when the TV crew left the church of their own volition, 24 hours after entering it.
This vehement pro-Israeli bias becomes all too obvious on the Russia's Internet news sites. No restraint. No doubt. Equating Palestinian terror with the hated Chechen militant "murderers" is the policy followed by all major news sites. The online press also displays the same trend. The death of dreaded Saudi- born Chechen warlord Khattab, also known as "Black Arab," caused jubilation all over Russia and was hailed as a triumph of the secret services who reportedly delivered him a poisoned letter.
Intensified calls for Arab boycott trigger controversies 5/8/02 Arabic News
MEXICO: Fox Campaign was Illegally Funded by U.S. Interests 5/8/02 Aztlan: "The principal architect of Vicente Fox's campaign victory turns out to be Mexican Jewish Mogul Lino Korrodi, a former Coca Cola kingpin and boss of Fox when both were with Coca Cola in Monterrey, Mexico. Lino Korrodi was the National Finance Manager for the Fox Campaign and funneler of U.S. funds to the campaign. Both Fox and Korrodi studied business at Harvard University in Massachusetts. Lino Korrodi also studied and majored in Economics at the Tec de Monterrey, a Jewish stronghold in Mexico. While at the Tec de Monterrey, Korrodi made strong connections with the Saúl Martínez and the Zacarías Hinojosa families, both very powerful and wealthy Jewish families in the State of Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
Lino Korrodi engineered a very sophisticated scheme to funnel vast amounts of funds from U.S business and Zionist interests to the "Alianza por el Cambio" (Alliance for Change) and "Amigos de Fox" (Friends of Fox) campaign organizations. The scheme involved U.S. corporations and Zionist political action committees to make deposits in U.S. banks that included, among others, Citibank of New York and US/Mexico border banks such as the Laredo National Bank and the Bank of West El Paso."
Who Loves Ya, Hugo? 5/8/02 Bad Attitudes: "Still, none of this explains how a president with such dismal poll numbers could be reinstated by popular demand. For that we are left to speculate.
Who paid for those polls? Mrs. Avila from the proceeds of her underwear business? Or someone like Venezuelan TV mogul Gustavo Cisneros, a fishing buddy of George W. Bush’s who recently moved his headquarters from Caracas to Coral Gables, Florida? " And who pays for the polls elsewhere?
Could It Have Been Stopped? 5/8/02 CBS News: Could it have been Yankee arrogance, just possibly?
Pentagon Pushes for Offensive Biological Weapons Development 5/8/02 Counterpunch: and the State Department comes down hard on Cuba for allegedly exporting dual use biotechnology when this is purely offensive!
Dirty Bombs and Real Nukes - Scare Tactics or a Real Threat? 5/8/02 IntelBriefing
Israel will remain as vulnerable as ever 5/8/02 IntelBriefing: "In a development which if it proves to be true will further raise doubts amongst the more level headed Washington analysts, Israel is reported to have placed deep-penetration Attack Fighters equipped with battlefield tactical nuclear weapons on immediate readiness at an airfield in Galilee. The F16C/D of Squadrons-109, 110 and 117 based at Ramat David south east of Haifa are just minutes flying time from the Syrian capital and large concentrations of military formations. The Israeli intelligence community appear to firmly believe, despite denials coming from European and US sources, that they have “credible intelligence” that both Syria and Iraq following the Beirut “summit” last weekend are preparing to intervene on behalf of the Palestinians."
Judge sides with Sepulvedas 5/8/02 Modesto Bee, California: outlines criminal behavior of SWAT team; in an unusual move, the judge sided with the victims.
Mueren 10 franceses en atentado a ómnibus en Karachi 5/8/02 Prensa Latina: 10 french killed by bomb in Pakistan
CHAVEZ SUPPORTER SAYS HE FIRED HIS WEAPON IN SELF-DEFENSE DURING COUP 5/8/02 Radio Havana: "A supporter of Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez who was video tapped firing a weapon during the attempted coup
has turned himself in, insisting that he used his weapon to defend
himself and others as snipers opened fire on pro-government
demonstrators from the upper floors of a hotel."
Research and facts about biological weapons and biotechnology 5/8/02 Sunshine Project
Israel wins support on Christian Right 5/8/02 Telegraph, UK: "Some very interesting alliances are forming," said Gary Bauer, a prominent Christian conservative. "Many evangelicals believe that the land of Israel is Covenant land that was promised by God to the Jewish people. I believe Israel and the United States have got a confluence of interest. We're both democracies, and I see Israel, as I see Great Britain, as a defender of Western civilisation." For the time being, differences with Jewish groups over issues such as abortion has been set aside."
Bombs rock Pakistani tribal belt 5/8/02 Ummah News
Tuesday 5/7/02
Israeli arms dealers differ over responsibility for shipment to Colombian paramilitaries 5/7/02 AP: Venezuela, Columbia, Panama - there is a pattern of Israeli intervention in Latin America on the side of right wing extremists.
U.S. helped scuttle U.N.'s Jenin mission, Ariel Sharon tells ADL 5/7/02 AP: "We could have been trapped in a very complicated situation," Sharon said in an evening speech to the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish organization. Insisting there had been "no massacre" at Jenin, Sharon said President Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell and other U.S. officials had been influential in helping get the fact-finding mission disbanded."
Czech to provide Saudi Arabia with weapons 5/7/02 Arabic News
Little Progress At Bush-Sharon Talks 5/7/02 CBS News: "Rather than emphasizing the disagreements, the president focused on Tenet's bid to build a security force that could crack down on terrorism. Mr. Bush said the security force must be a united Palestinian unit that "is held accountable." Bush seeks to dictate an end to Arafat's numerous security services, a device he has been able to use in the past.
CENTRAL ASIA - Trouble Ahead 5/7/02 Far Eastern Economic Review: "The result: a staggering increase in repression and only mild criticism from Washington. While Washington reaps the short-term benefits, it may well be storing up trouble for later. The increase in repression also energizes extremists, who are certain to destabilize their host countries, sow strife in the region and possibly target the U.S. just as Al Qaeda has done."
Beleagured Palestinians in Jenin to get Malaysian aid 5/7/02 IRNA: Sentiments heard throughout the planet except in the US media: "After the attack, most Muslim countries wanted to cooperate to
fight terrorism, but because of the discrimination in term of
interpretation, for instance, Israeli terrorism is not condemned
but the attacks by (Palestinian leader) Yasser Arafat's people are
condemned...this is grossly unfair."
The prime minister added that the Israeli attacks were, in
fact, acts of terrorism."
Anthrax Sent Through Mail Gained Potency by the Letter 5/7/02 NYT: "Deepening the mystery of the biological attacks that terrified the nation last fall, federal investigators have discovered that the anthrax sent through the mail, in general, grew more potent from one letter to the next, with the spores in the final letter to be opened — the one sent to Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont — the deadliest of all." Perhaps instead of launching spurious accusations against Cuba for bioterrorism, the US government could stop treating its home grown bioterrorists with kid gloves. There is much evidence to suggest that the perpetrator was part of the US biowar program and investigators are afraid of tackling him because he knows where the bodies are buried, literally.
Russian oil and U.S. security 5/7/02 Petroleum World: "Even if the Russians were to succeed in getting the capability to reach American oil buyers, there should be no illusions: the displacement of the Persian Gulf in America's energy market is going to be neither total nor swift. Yet a sizable Russian presence in American markets over the next decade will be enough to provide a critical safety margin for energy prices and increase stability in American oil supplies."
CUBA CHALLENGES OTTO REICH TO PROVE ACCUSATIONS AGAINST HAVANA 5/7/02 Radio Havana: "the controversial State Department official, who was appointed to his post without Senate confirmation, alleged Monday that 4 Cuban airplanes landed at a
Venezuelan international airport in the middle of the attempted right
wing coup against President Hugo Chavez.
Reich suggested that Cuba was somehow involved in the events that
unfolded in Venezuela at that time. " Otto at it again…
MORE EVIDENCE OF A PREMEDITATED ARMED CONSPIRACY AGAINST HUGO CHAVEZ 5/7/02 Radio Havana: "An opposition mayor in Venezuela has for the
first time admitted that armed police from his municipality
participated in the right wing coup against President Hugo Chavez.
Leopoldo Lopez, mayor of the Chacao Municipality in the capital,
Caracas, nevertheless denied before a legislative commission his own
participation in the violence.
He also denied that police from his municipality are among the faces
seen in video footage reportedly showing individuals firing weapons
at Chavez supporters."
Las mentiras de El País 5/7/02 Rebelión, Spain: concerning the coup in Venezuela
The Israeli "art student" mystery 5/7/02 Salon: "Yet for the most part the targeted agents weren’t spooks in the strictest sense: They were DEA -- cops who bust drug dealers. And that leads us into Theory No. 1, also known as the Art Student/Drug Dealer Conspiracy. This theory has a piece of evidence to support it: the link, mentioned in the leaked DEA memo, between an Ecstasy investigation and the telephone numbers provided by an Israeli detained in Orlando. There are "problems" with Israeli nationals involved in the Ecstasy business, according to Israeli Embassy spokesman Reguev. "Israeli authorities and the DEA are working together on that issue," he said. In a statement before Congress in 2000, officials with the U.S. Customs Service, which intercepted some 7 million Ecstasy tablets last year, noted that "Israeli organized-crime elements appear to be in control" of the multibillion-dollar U.S. Ecstasy trade, "from production through the international smuggling phase. Couriers associated with Israeli organized crime have been arrested around the world, including ... locations in the U.S. such as Florida, New Jersey, New York and California."
Miami was cited as one of the main entry points of Ecstasy into the United States and was specified as one of the central "headquarters for the criminal organizations that smuggle Ecstasy"; Houston was also cited for large Ecstasy seizures -- an interesting nexus, given the large number of "art students" who congregated both in the Miami and Ft. Lauderdale area and in Houston. "Israeli nationals in the Ecstasy trade have been very sophisticated in their operations," says a U.S. Customs officer who has investigated the groups. "Some of these individuals have been skilled at counterintelligence and in concealing their communications and movements from law enforcement."
It would thus seem that Israeli organized crime has at least the capacity to pull off a widespread surveillance and intelligence operation. The drug connection would also explain the sizable reserves of cash one Tampa student was handling.
One DEA agent named in the "art student" report told Salon that the best possible explanation for the affair –- and he admitted to being utterly baffled by it -- was that drug dealers were involved.
"Why us if not because of the DEA's mission?" the agent asked. "I mean, what would Israeli intel want with us? Here's another avenue of inquiry to take: Israeli organized crime is the now the biggest dealer of Ecstasy in the United States. These students? It was Israeli organized crime judging our strength, getting a survey of our operations. What if I wanted to burglarize your building and go through your files? I'd do a reconnoiter. Get a sense of the floor plan and security, where the guards are stationed, how many doors, what kind of locks, alarm systems, backup alarm systems."
The trouble with this theory is the obvious one: In the annals of crime chutzpah, for drug dealers to brazenly approach drug agents in their homes and offices may represent the all-time world record. And what conceivable useful intelligence could they gather that would be worth the risk? Were the tee-heeing tight-sweatered Israeli babes pulling some kind of Mata Hari stunt, seducing paunchy middle-aged DEA boys and beguiling them into loose-lipped info sharing? " Indeed.
UN condemns Colombia massacre as war crime 5/7/02 Scotsman, UK: "The UN have categorised the attack as a war crime and a UN representative in Colombia, Anders Kompass, also had some harsh words for the government, insisting that his office and that of the Colombian People’s Defence organisation had long ago warned the government that the community was in grave danger and needed security force protection. He said the government was at the very least "guilty of omission".
Uzbekistan: Karimov extends war on Islam to women 5/7/02 Ummah News: this is part of a pattern of increased repression in the wake of US involvment in Central Asia, sowing the seeds for future al Qaedas.
Colombia's Paramilitary - Profile of an Entrenched Terror Network 5/7/02 Z Mag: posted Apr 22, remains topical
Monday 5/6/02
Colombian Tribe Topples Mighty Oil Giant 5/6/02 Alternet: "Staking its own territorial claim in the war, the Bush Administration is pushing the U.S. Congress to authorize $98 million in military aid to defend another Occidental venture, the Caño-Limon pipeline, a private enterprise which runs through U'wa land." Are paramilitaries far behind?
Pastrana: "Fue una masacre" 5/6/02 BBC: a casual glance through the pics show aspects of Columbia's identity not much seen in the US media. While Venezuela has a higher percentage of Afrolatinos and Indians, in Columbia too, it is the wealthy whites against everyone else.
Chief Justice Barak: Israelis can be tried by Hague Tribunal 5/6/02 Haaretz, Israel: "Israel may not have ratified the treaty establishing the international criminal court on July 1 but "every Israeli is subject to its jurisdiction," Supreme Court President Justice Aharon Barak said Monday."
What a comeback 5/6/02 Haaretz, Israel: details on how a society silences a cherished voice who dares to connect the Israeli Defense Force with Nazi behavior during the Holocaust.
Embattled Israel clamps down on dissent 5/6/02 Independent, UK
Jacques Chirac réélu : le sursaut républicain 5/6/02 Le Monde: "Les résultats communiqués par le ministère de l'intérieur créditent Jacques Chirac de 82,06 % des voix, contre 17,94 % pour son adversaire, Jean-Marie Le Pen. "
Israelis Release More Documents Accusing Arafat of Terror 5/6/02 NYT: "But they do not appear to show definitively that the Palestinian leader ordered terror attacks. In some documents, Mr. Arafat criticizes certain suicide bombings and the distribution of money from Saudi Arabia to Islamic Jihad and Hamas." From the New York Times!
Shaky U.S. Economy Made Bush Roll Out Red Carpet for China 5/6/02 Pacific News: "China Vice President Hu Jintao's recent visit to America met with a surprisingly warm welcome. One explanation is that given the alarming slide of the dollar, American politicians suddenly are viewing China as more of an opportunity than a threat. But because of weak presidential leadership, even big U.S.-China trade may not be enough to overcome the stubborn recession."
Acusan a autores intelectuales de golpe de Estado en Venezuela 5/6/02 Prensa Latina, Cuba: "El saliente ministro de Interior venezolano, Ramón Rodríguez Chacín, acusó hoy a la derecha fascista, el Opus Dei e intereses económicos del golpe de Estado del 11 de abril." The good Catholics of Opus Dei once again…
MEMBERS OF VENEZUELAN MILITARY PROVIDED COUP-PLOTTERS WITH WEAPONS: GENERAL 5/6/02 Radio Havana: "In an interview with the local news daily El Universal, General Raul Baduel said there are aerial videos demonstrating that the opposition march against Chavez on April 11
was organized in a military fashion, with some participants even
carrying assault rifles."
Kuwait Sends Lawyers to Help Guantanamo Prisoners 5/6/02 Reuters
Sunday 5/5/02
US to shun deal on international criminal court 5/5/02 AFP: we don't need no stinking badges!
Billionaire Predicts Nuclear Attack 5/5/02 AP: "We're going to have something in the way of a major nuclear event in this country," said Buffett, the firm's chief operating officer. "It will happen. Whether it will happen in 10 years or 10 minutes, or 50 years ... it's virtually a certainty."
After Sept. 11, hip-hop raises dissenting voices 5/5/02 Boston Globe: "Some criticize the military action in Afghanistan, and others are cynical about the praise heaped upon the New York Police Department. Several songs scoff at the country's flag-waving fervor, and one accuses the government of directly sponsoring the attacks on the World Trade Center."
Chavez says there's evidence U.S. wanted him dead 5/5/02 Houston Chronicle
38 Children Among Victims in Colombia 5/5/02 LA Times
Hugo Banzer Was Narco-Connected 5/5/02 Narco News: "The Narco News Andean Bureau recently interviewed Catholic Priest Gregorio Iriarte in Cochabamba, Bolivia during the discussions by representatives of Civil Society to forge a new path in the war on drugs. Iriarte is the man the bishop put in charge of studying narco-trafficking issues years ago and one of the most informed experts on the theme…"
The Battle for Energy Dominance 5/5/02 Petroleum World
Chirac enjoys landslide victory 5/5/02 UPI: "But Le Pen scored the most dramatic result of any far-right candidate in a major Western European country since the end of World War II, with his messages of a firm clampdown on crime and immigration and withdrawal from the European Union."
Saturday 5/4/02
Inquiry of Intelligence Failures Hits Obstacles 5/4/02 LA Times: "Lawmakers leading the investigation of intelligence agencies' failures surrounding the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks are increasingly concerned that tactics by the CIA and the Justice Department are actively impeding their efforts, congressional sources said Friday."
Rebel War Leaks Beyond Colombia's Borders 5/4/02 LA Times
Saturday's Interview With Venezuela's Hugo Chavez 5/4/02 Petroleum World: "Chavez Raises Idea Of U.S. Role in Coup -WP/Revolt Hasn't Derailed His Plans-NYT"
VENEZUELA: TESTIMONY POINTS TO PREMEDITATED VIOLENT COUP PLOT 5/4/02 Radio Havana: the US media will never admit this: "On-going testimony before the Venezuelan
Congress has revealed a premeditated plot to overthrow President Hugo
Chavez that included armed police officers in civilian clothes and
snipers firing at Chavez supporters, as well as the systematic
persecution and murder of pro-government activists in the poor
neighborhoods surrounding the capital. Freddy Bernal, mayor of the
Libertador Municipality in the capital, Caracas, late Friday showed
legislators investigating the events surrounding the attempted right
wing coup photos and videos of small groups of police in neighboring
municipalities who had joined the mostly peaceful opposition march
and later opened fire on Chavez supporters."
Venezuela: el poder flotante 5/4/02 Rebelión, Spain: "El gobierno parece haber entrado en una espiral de debilitamiento que se acelera con cada concesión que se le hace a los subversivos. Es la lógica del círculo vicioso o de la retroalimentación positiva en la cibernética: cada concesión que pretende alejar la caída del gobierno, la acerca más; entre ellas, la decisión de permitirles al terrorista de Estado Pedro Carmona y a altos militares golpistas descansar en sus lujosas mansiones, habiendo cometido el crimen de alta traición y ser responsables de la muerte de decenas de ciudadanos; haber aceptado la renuncia de la dirección de PdVSA nombrada por el Presidente y, así mismo haber aceptado una comisión investigadora de la conspiración, encabezada por un diputado de los golpistas, el socialdemócrata (AD) Edgar Zambrano, lo que equivale, de facto, a un voto de desconfianza para el fiscal general Isaías Rodríguez quien fue un hombre clave en la defensa de la constitucionalidad."
Scientists' deaths are under the microscope 5/4/02 Toronto Globe & Mail
Sunoco pumps Saudi-free gas
East Coast retailer buys not a drop of country's crude 5/4/02 WorldNetDaily: PR gimmick lauded by this Christian fundamentalist media. The reality is that the US cannot do without Saudi oil.
Venezuelan vice president-designate says new coup attempt possible 5/4/02 Yahoo
Friday 5/3/02
La Unión Europea califica a los Paramilitares de las Fuerzas Militares de Colombia Como una organización terrorista 5/3/02 ANNCOL: The EU classifies the US supported paramilitaries in Columbia as terrorist groups.
New Afghan war grave revealed 5/3/02 BBC: "The US based human rights group says its teams have discovered a new grave in northern Afghanistan which may contain the remains of Taleban fighters who surrendered to Northern Alliance forces in November and December last year."
Britain reports Saudis over arms plane 5/3/02 Guardian, UK
Arafat tours his battered realm, but there is no hero's welcome from his people 5/3/02 Independent
Be With Them: Bolivian Civil Society Resists the War on Drugs 5/3/02 Narco News: "during the last five years at least 200 farmers have lost their lives in conflicts with the different repressive corps of State. Last November, soldiers armed by Washington moved to close the coca markets. And the farmers, supported passionately by the rest of the people, resisted in the Sacaba War. They were shot and gassed, they were jailed, but they could not be defeated."
Preliminary Assessment of Alleged Mass Gravesites in the Area of Mazar-I-Sharif, Afghanistan: January 16-21 and February 7-14 5/3/02 Physicians for Human Rights: satisfying American blood lust, creating new terrorists: the forever war
RECENTLY DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS REVEAL DEEPER U.S. INVOLVEMENT
IN COLOMBIA'S CIVIL WAR THAN OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZED 5/3/02 Radio Havana: "Recently declassified documents show that
US aid to Colombia has blurred the lines between counter-narcotics
and counterinsurgency to the point that the United States is on the
brink of direct confrontation with leftist guerrillas, according to
the National Security Archive. In documents acquired through the
Freedom of Information Act, this non-profit organization based at the
George Washington University found that - despite the legal limits
and repeated public assurances by government officials - as early as
the first Bush administration the US "Andean Strategy" was developed
as a "deal" struck with Andean governments to provide them with
counter-narcotics aid that could also be used against leftist rebels."
Did U.S. play a role in coup in Venezuela? 5/3/02 San Francisco Examiner: "
However, according to former National Security Agency officers Wayne Madison and Richard M. Bennett, U.S. Army units in Florida, Puerto Rico and Texas "assisted in providing communications intelligence to U.S. military and national command authorities on the progress of the coup." Is Reich lying?"
Whisper of betrayal as Arafat is shunned 5/3/02 Telegraph
The AFL-CIO’s role in the Venezuelan coup 5/3/02 World Socialist
Thursday 5/2/02
France's Le Pen: The Colonial Mind at Work 5/2/02 Africana.com: "Against the incendiary background of the Palestine conflict, at least a few French Jews revel in his anti-Muslim rhetoric; one community leader, Roger Cukierman, told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that Le Pen's strong showing would send Muslims "a message to keep quiet."
Sharon's Best Weapon 5/2/02 Alternet: "Elected on a platform of “peace through security,” Sharon’s administration could barely hide its delight at Le Pen’s ascendancy, immediately calling on French Jews to pack their bags and come to the promised land."
Denunciations of Le Pen intensify 5/2/02 AP: there were 900,000 in Paris alone, according to Le Monde, the New York Times of France. So why the undercount in the Globe?
Rivals have their say about Chavez in peaceful rallies 5/2/02 AP
Reacciones al apoyo de EE.UU. a Colombia 5/2/02 BBC
Before There Was Terrorism 5/2/02 Counterpunch: a veteran CIA analyst on US perceptions of the Palestinians as subhuman.
Israeli Soldiers Resisting the Occupation - Why We Refuse to Fight 5/2/02 Counterpunch
Rep. Dick Armey Calls for Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians 5/2/02 Counterpunch: advocating a major crime against humanity
Whose Coup? 5/2/02 Mother Jones: "For the first time in many years the poor and marginalized felt they belonged, that they actually had a president that was theirs and that they were prepared to defend," Cartaya says. "And it has also ... made us more anti-yanqui. It unmasked the US's urge to intervene in Latin America and we all know whatever the US had in store for Venezuela, it wasn't going to be anything positive."
Congress Passes Measure of Support for Israel 5/2/02 NYT: in support of war crimes.
Richard Armey Supports Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians 5/2/02 Palestine Chronicle: "Expulsion of a native people from their homeland is an international war crime."
Israeli soldiers spit on churches, crucifixes 5/2/02 Ummah News: good allies for US fundamentalist christians? Actually, the feeling is likely mutual, an alliance made for purposes of the end times…
Roll Call in Congress for "Expressing Solidarity with Israel in its Fight Against Terrorism" 5/2/02 US House: the guilty parties
Isaac Perez Recao’s connections to Naval Intelligence goes to back to 1996 5/2/02 Vheadline
The Israeli Embassy in Caracas denies knowledge of Isaac Perez Recao 5/2/02 Vheadlines: the ongoing saga of arms dealer Isaac Perez, who fronts for Israeli interests.
Venezuela: Luis Alfonso Davila is questioning the purpose of "some media owners" who have organized forums in Europe and the United States 5/2/02 Vheadlines
Wednesday 5/1/02
Tunisian army chief dies in air crash 5/1/02 BBC
Heroic Jewish and Palestinian Women courageously rise together to confront the Military State 5/1/02 Cheryl's Daily Diatribe
Seymour Says 5/1/02 Chicago Mag: New Yorker's Seymour Hersh opines on the destruction of the US constitution, Ashcroft the lunatic, the war in Afghanistan: "We've had many more casualties than they've told you about. We've had no discussion of the casualties among our special forces, where we have as many as 1,800 people operating there. And the Brits have people there, the Australians have people there, the Canadians have people there, the New Zealanders have teams there. All of them have suffered casualties that you don't know about…. "Where are the Democrats? Where are the Republicans who know better? The people that talk the most to me . . . are the dedicated military people. I've known them forever, and they're terrified. They think we've lost the war on terror."
Heir to the Holocaust 5/1/02 Clamor Magazine, US: "Prescott Bush, 1.5 Million Dollars, and Auschwitz: How the Bush Family Wealth is Linked to the Jewish Holocaust… According to classified documents from Dutch intelligence and US government archives, President George W. Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush made considerable profits off Auschwitz slave labor. In fact, President Bush himself is an heir to these profits from the holocaust which were placed in a blind trust in 1980 by his father, former president George Herbert Walker Bush.
Throughout the Bush family's decades of public life, the American press has gone out of its way to overlook one historical fact – that through Union Banking Corporation (UBC), Prescott Bush, and his father-in-law, George Herbert Walker, along with German industrialist Fritz Thyssen, financed Adolf Hitler before and during World War II. It was first reported in 1994 by John Loftus and Mark Aarons in The Secret War Against the Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed the Jewish People."
Venezuela: Volverán a intentarlo 5/1/02 La Jornada
La déferlante anti-Le Pen 5/1/02 Le Monde: 900,000 demonstrate against Le Pen in Paris alone, many more in provincial cities.
Arab Boycott Campaign Worries US Business 5/1/02 Palestine Chronicle
Al-Qaeda fighters give crack US troops the slip 5/1/02 Scotsman, UK: Vietnam & Cambodia all over again!
Mossad chief may quit over Sharon 5/1/02 Times, UK
Jewish organisation spied on US citizens and stole FBI files 5/1/02 Ummah News
The Venezuelan Navy (Armada) Intelligence Directorate has been taken over for investigation after alleged cloak-and-dagger activities 5/1/02 Vheadlines: "Once Chavez Frias was returned to power, efforts were made to shred delicate material as Navy Intelligence disintegrated."
Venezuelan Air Force (FAV) C-i-C General Angel Valecillo Rios has confirmed an Ultimas Noticias report of 2 US planes and a ship sighted 5/1/02 Vheadlines: "to the east of the Paraguana peninsular (Falcon) at the time of the coup d'etat against President Hugo Chavez Frias." This meshes with other reports of US military involvment.
Jenin 'massacre' reduced to death toll of 56 5/1/02 Washington Times: what was that Chomsky said about the PA being in charge of Palestine's repression?
Tuesday 4/30/02
Mubarak: U.S.-led war on terrorism serves Israel 4/30/02 Al Bawabe: and Egypt gets billions from the US…
Prison sentence for scientist over export of potential nuclear triggers to Israel 4/30/02 AP: "A physicist has been sentenced to 40 months in federal prison and fined $20,000 for illegally exporting to Israel tiny electronic components that could be used as triggers for nuclear weapons." Compare this to 15 yrs, 19yrs, and life sentences for Cuban "spies" tracking Miami Mafia terrorists.
Coverage angers Chavez's followers 4/30/02 Boston Globe: First time in print in the US, the racial divide in Venezuela? "This nation of 23 million has split roughly along racial and class lines over its combative and controversial president. The affluent sectors generally oppose Chavez's anti-free-market, antiglobalization policies, while the poorer classes tend to see him as a savior."
Bush Opens Door to Britain’s Return to ME, Arafat’s Restoration 4/30/02 Debka, Israel: from the Israeli psyops site: "Nothing can now stop the Europeans, led by the eager British, from restoring Yasser Arafat’s standing as Palestinian leader and reconstructing Palestinian security bodies, the very infrastructure that Israel’s military painstakingly knocked down in its month-long counter-terror sweep through Palestinian West Bank towns...The grand US-Israeli plan for cutting Arafat down and consigning him to the Gaza Strip has been tossed aside, together with its companion blueprint for establishing self-rule on the West Bank under the auspices of the Kingdom of Jordan. The blow sustained by Israel - in no small measure under Saudi influence - has also hit Abdullah II of Amman, who based his fundamental policies on a strategic partnership with the United States and Israel... The British teams taking over in Palestinian-ruled territory will function on three levels: The Foreign Office’s Arab-Palestinian experts, "security personnel" - who are actually officers of the British secret service, MI6, and former commandos trained in guerrilla and counter-terror tactics. Those three groups will become the kernel of a larger international force made up mostly of European intelligence and military officers, to which American advisers will be attached as supervisors.... Their infrastructure will be handed over to the British. F. Israel will eventually have to re-address its security and political concerns with the Palestinians to the British Foreign Office instead of the State Department in Washington. Many Israelis will rub their eyes in disbelief at the return of the Union Jack, the Foreign Office and MI6 to Palestine - and even more at the notion that Ariel Sharon let it happen. It is not a happy prospect for Israelis, who are perfectly aware of the pro-Arab winds blowing consistently from London since 1948."
U.N.: Israelis Blocking Aid to Camps 4/30/02 Fox News
Colombia - Arms for the AUC paramilitary: several governments implicated 4/30/02 IndyMedia: "The arms were bought from the Nicaraguan police, by Israeli arms merchants working out of Guatemala, who say they were contracted by the Panamanian government
to buy them."
Details of Sept. 11 Plot Elude U.S. Investigators 4/30/02 LA Times: The hijackers "left no paper trail," FBI Director Robert Mueller said in the text of a speech that the FBI released Monday. "In our investigation, we have not uncovered a single piece of paper--either here in the United States or in the treasure trove of information that has turned up in Afghanistan and elsewhere--that mentioned any aspect of the Sept. 11 plot… Mueller revealed that investigators believe the Sept. 11 plan may have been in the works for as long as five years, and that the hijackers used "meticulous planning, extraordinary secrecy and extensive knowledge of how America works" to conceal their scheme after entering the United States legally from the Middle East."
Environmentalists arrested 4/30/02 Latin America Press: more oil shenanigans
Jewish Peace Activists Galvanized by Sharon's Hard Line 4/30/02 Pacific News Service
Physicians for Human Rights Issues Preliminary Forensic Assessment of Jenin Refugee Camp 4/30/02 Physicians for Human Rights
US National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice has contributed her pathetically uninformed opinion about the US-Venezuela debate, 4/30/02 Vheadlines: Condy waxes eloquent on "democracy," helping to turn it into a dirty word.
Monday 4/29/02
Italian police arrested for allegedly abusing protesters at Naples march 4/29/02 Ananova: And none still arrested for Genoa: "Eight police officers have been arrested in Italy on charges of beating up anti-globalisation protesters.
The charges relate to an incident inside a Naples police barracks last year, after a march through the city turned violent."
Rice Says Chavez Weakened Democracy 4/29/02 AP: Condy helps turn democracy into a dirty word. Thank you, Condy!
Henry Kissinger: the Wanted Man 4/29/02 Counterpunch: "Judge Nicholas Evans at the Bow Street magistrates' court rejected Tatchell's request because Tatchell did not present enough evidence implicating Kissinger to war crimes. However, according to Tatchell, the judge left the door open for future attempts to arrest the former U.S. official if suitable evidence is presented."
Saudi ads nixed by cable nets 4/29/02 Electronic Media: "At least nine national cable networks have turned down a potentially lucrative -- though controversial -- ad schedule from the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia. No national cable networks are known to have accepted the ads.
The 10-day flight is an image campaign from the Arab nation. The tagline for the spots is "The People of Saudi Arabia -- Allies Against Terrorism."
American navy 'helped Venezuelan coup' 4/29/02 Guardian, UK: "The United States had been considering a coup to overthrow the elected Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, since last June, a former US intelligence officer claimed yesterday. It is also alleged that the US navy aided the abortive coup which took place in Venezuela on April 11 with intelligence from its vessels in the Caribbean. Evidence is also emerging of US financial backing for key participants in the coup..."Some of our counter-narcotics agents were also involved." Coca-contra was a specialty of the Reich/Abrams/Negroponte/Bush team.
A Venerable Voice in Israel Is Muted After Questioning Army's Actions 4/29/02 LA Times: "To generations of Israeli fans, Yaffa Yarkoni has been "the Singer of the Wars." Whenever troops marched into battle, they could be sure Yarkoni would follow. Clad in fatigues, she raised spirits at the front with her rousing renditions of patriotic songs.
So it seemed natural for Army Radio to interview the iconic singer in her home a few days before Israel's Independence Day this month….But this time, Yarkoni offered no words of encouragement. Instead, she bitterly criticized the troops, the government and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in an anguished tirade that shocked her interviewer and enraged many Israelis. "When I saw the Palestinians with their hands tied behind their backs, young men, I said, 'It is like what they did to us in the Holocaust,' " Yarkoni said. "We are a people who have been through the Holocaust. How are we capable of doing these things?"
Her words were deemed so offensive that the union representing the nation's performing artists called off a planned tribute to Yarkoni that had been in the works for two years." No doubt she is anti-Semitic.
Venezuela and Censorship 4/29/02 New Statesman: "Chavez said he never requested asylum in Cuba; the snipers almost certainly included agents provocateurs; "almost every sector of society [Chavez] antagonised" were principally members of various oligarchies he made pay tax for the first time, including the media, and the oil companies, whose taxes he doubled in order to raise 80 per cent of the population to a decent standard of living. His opponents also included army officers trained at the notorious School of the Americas in the United States.
In a few years, Chavez had begun major reforms in favour of the indigenous poor, Venezuela's unpeople. In 49 laws adopted by the Venezuelan Congress, he began real land reform, and guaranteed women's rights and free healthcare and education up to university level."
Venezuelan Asylum Seekers Fly to U.S. Via Bolivia 4/29/02 Reuters: "The group included retired Air Force Col. Pedro Vicente Soto Fuentes, his wife and three children, and another retired Air Force colonel, Silvino Jose Bustillos, accompanied by his spouse and two children. The other member was a retired National Guard captain Luis Garcia Morales.
All three of the officers had been forcibly retired by the Venezuelan president, himself a former paratroop officer, for speaking out in public against him before the April 11 coup that removed him from power for 48 hours."
Powerful governor dies in helicopter crash 4/29/02 Sydney Morning Herald: Putin consolidates power? "Alexander Lebed, the tough-talking former general who emerged as a strong challenger to former Russian President Boris Yeltsin and was credited with ending Moscow's 1994-96 war in Chechnya, was killed yesterday in a helicopter crash."
Israel to refuse cooperation with UN 4/29/02 Sydney Morning Herald, Australia: the rogue state at work.
Venezuela and Censorship 4/29/02 US Crusade: The response of Britain's media to the conspiracy in Venezuela provided an object lesson in how censorship works in free societies.
Unlikely Allies Bound by a Common Hatred 4/29/02 Washington Post: "By his account, a group of aging SS officers and members of Hitler's personal guard who meet every few weeks in the German state of Bavaria for beer and conversation recently bestowed the title "honorary Prussian" on bin Laden. They praised his "valiant fight" against the United States, Huber said.
One of the members called Huber after the meeting to tell him that henceforth they had decided to call the al Qaeda leader "Herr von Laden," Huber said."
Britain Won't Give Detainees to U.S. 4/29/02 Yahoo
World
News
"There is one safeguard known generally to
the wise, which is an advantage and security to all, but especially to
Democracies as against despots: suspicion." -- Demosthenes
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