Wednesday, March 31st
US chose to ignore Rwandan genocide
Classified papers show Clinton was aware of 'final solution' to eliminate Tutsis by Rory Carroll in Johannesburg, The GuardianPresident Bill Clinton's administration knew Rwanda was being engulfed by genocide in April 1994 but buried the information to justify its inaction, according to classified documents made available for the first time. Senior officials privately used the word genocide within 16 days of the start of the killings, but chose not to do so publicly because the president had already decided not to intervene. Intelligence reports obtained using the US Freedom of Information Act show the cabinet and almost certainly the president had been told of a planned "final solution to eliminate all Tutsis" before the slaughter reached its peak. www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0%2c12271%2c1182431%2c00.html
Africa on 03.31.04 @ 07:38 PM CST [ link]
Costa Rica throws out Chavez foe
Costa Rica's government says it has cancelled the asylum given to a leading Venezuelan opposition figure, after he gave a controversial speech in the US. Union leader Carlos Ortega requested asylum last year, saying he faced persecution in Venezuela. Last week he reportedly told a meeting in Miami, Florida, that he would return to Venezuela to work clandestinely to remove the government of Hugo Chavez news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3583699.stm
Venezuela on 03.31.04 @ 07:37 PM CST [ link]
Gangsters in the White House
There are gangsters in the White House. Whenever the Bush Administration gets criticized, it responds like Tony Soprano, and Bush's capos put a hit out on whoever dares to question the don. That's the way it was when Paul O'Neill, Bush's former Treasury Secretary, said Bush wanted to go to war against Iraq way before 9/ll. Within hours, the Bush goons were threatening O'Neill with prosecution for allegedly publicizing classified information. www.progressive.org/webex04/wx032904.htmlThe Kidnapping Of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
From Haiti Violates International And United States Law By Marjorie Cohn, National Lawyers Guild Executive Vice PresidentBeginning in early February 2004, the democratically elected President of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, faced an armed rebellion starting from the North of his country and moving South. The rebel leaders, whom U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell characterized as “thugs and criminals,” include former members of the dissolved Haitian army, drug dealers, and members of the former paramilitary organization universally recognized as having operated terrorist/execution squads during the 1991-1994 military coup. www.nlg.org/news/articles/cohn_haiti.htm
USA on 03.31.04 @ 06:07 PM CST [ link]
Clarke, Watergate Echoes Prompt Rare Bush Reversal
WASHINGTON - Tuesday's White House decision to permit National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify publicly under oath before the so-called 9/11 Commission marks an unusual reversal by an administration that has fiercely resisted taking any moves that suggests it is capable of making mistakes. It also signals recognition by President George W. Bush's political handlers that last week's testimony before the commission by the administration's former senior counter-terrorism official, Richard Clarke -- and, even more, its own ferocious efforts to discredit Clarke -- have inflicted serious damage to Bush's re-election campaign. www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0331-02.htmBush Puts a 'Cancer on the Presidency'
Watergate Insider calls this White House 'Scary' "Worse Than Watergate," the title of a new book by John Dean, Richard Nixon's White House counsel, is a depressingly accurate measure of the chicanery of the Bush/Cheney cabal. According to Dean, who began his political life at the age of 29 as the Republican counsel on the House Judiciary Committee before being recruited by Nixon, "This administration is truly scary and, given the times we live in, frighteningly dangerous." And when it comes to lies and cover-up, the Bush crowd makes the Nixon administration look like amateurs. As Dean writes, they "have created the most secretive presidency of my lifetime … far worse than during Watergate." www.commondreams.org/views04/0330-06.htm
USA on 03.31.04 @ 04:03 PM CST [ link]
Shackled to the past trapped in the present
THE ENSLAVEMENT of our people for almost four centuries destroyed our ethnic, national and social identities. Many of the problems we face such as underachieving males, interpersonal violence, fragmented social systems, dysfunctional family patterns and a preponderance of single female-headed households are part of the psychosocial legacy of slavery and are experienced by many post-slavery societies. www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20040331/health/health1.html
Caribbean on 03.31.04 @ 11:29 AM CST [ link]
Jamaica's National Security Strategy
WITH MOST nations focusing these days on securing their borders, it is timely that the Jamaican authorities are arranging for the installation of a new automated immigration and control system at the two international airports - Norman Manley, east Kingston, and Sangster, Montego Bay. www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20040331/cleisure/cleisure1.html
Caribbean on 03.31.04 @ 11:28 AM CST [ link]
Tuesday, March 30th
What's Brewing in Venezuela
What Kind of Democracy to Expect If the Opposition Takes ControlBy Rai O'BrienMany are wondering why there is no unified opposition party in Venezuela ... this is perplexing, especially since there is a large section of society which actively seeks the replacement of the elected government. I began my recent discussions, over a period of the last several months, with opposition supporters ... people interested in the Venezuelan political situation and with supporters of Chavez and the "Bolivarian Revolution." I put forward the idea of the need for true democracy to flourish in the country ... for a "loyal opposition" along the lines of that which has historically been present in the classic "democracies" of Europe and North America.
Venezuela on 03.30.04 @ 11:58 PM CST [ more..]
War Rationale: Version 10.0
P.J. Crowley, March 25, 2004 In the year since the invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration has repeatedly shifted its justification for going to war and constantly changed its story on intelligence, the United Nations, reconstruction, political transition and the cost to the American taxpayer. More than anything, the administration's war in Iraq resembles a software program that, at first, works brilliantly, but then catches the user in a cycle of "fatal error" messages. Here then, in Silicon Valley terms, is a review of the Bush administration's year in Iraq: www.guerrillanews.com/war_on_terrorism/doc4161.html
Admin on 03.30.04 @ 06:17 PM CST [ link]
Africa: Oil, al-Qaeda and the US military
By Ritt GoldsteinAfrica's Maghreb and Sahel regions recently exploded into world view with allegations that the Madrid bombers were tied to those areas' "al Qaeda" groups. And while United States concerns about terrorism in the region have been increasingly voiced, critics of the administration of President George W Bush say that the ongoing US pursuit of energy resources lies behind them. As early as the fall of 2002, Britain's Economist magazine charged that oil "is the only American interest in Africa". In a fall 2003 interview with Asia Times Online, noted US security analyst Michael Klare, author of Resource Wars, had warned of America's potential African involvement. When queried as to where the next oil flash point might be after Iraq, Klare replied: "I've been looking at Africa. It's heating up over there." www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FC30Aa02.html
Admin on 03.30.04 @ 08:45 AM CST [ link]
Monday, March 29th
AFL-CIO in Venezuela: Deja Vu All Over Again
By Kim ScipesMassive mobilizations, strikes, street conflict, hysterical mass media, social and economic disruption: Chile in 1972-73 Venezuela in 2002-04. The AFL-CIO is once again on the scene, this time in Venezuela, just as it was in Chile in 1973. Once again, its operations in that country are being funded by the U.S. government. This time, the money is being laundered through the quasi-governmental National Endowment for Democracy, hidden from AFL-CIO members and the American public. Once again, it is being used to support the efforts of reactionary labor and business leaders, helping to destabilize a democratically-elected government that has made major efforts to alleviate poverty, carried out significant land reform in both urban and rural areas, and striven to change political institutions that have long worked to marginalize those at the lowest rungs in society. And also like Allende's Chile, Venezuela's government under president Hugo Chavez has opposed a number of actions by the U.S. Government, this time by the Bush Administration. www.trinicenter.com/oops/2004/2903.html
Admin on 03.29.04 @ 07:04 PM CST [ link]
Condoleezza Rice Threatens Jamaica Over Aristide
March 25th, 2004Randall Robinson, who accompanied Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on his historic return trip back to the Caribbean, reveals that National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice is telling the Jamaican government if Aristide is not immediately expelled from the country and anything happens to American forces in Haiti, consequences would be exacted against Jamaica in full force by the U.S. www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/25/1537236
Admin on 03.29.04 @ 03:09 PM CST [ link]
Robert Novak's Allies
by Justin FeluxWhat do conservative pundit Robert Novak and rapper Ice-T have in common? Believe it or not, they have both glorified murdering policemen. Ice-T did it in his controversial song, "Cop Killer," which he made to protest police brutality. Robert Novak did it more recently when he hailed Guy Philippe's cop-murdering thugs in Haiti as "freedom fighters." Ice-T's song caused a firestorm of controversy among the righteous right in this country, but so far Novak's disgraceful comments have gone unpunished. In another recent column titled "Aristide's Allies," Novak suggests that those who support President Jean-Bertrand Aristide as the duly elected leader of Haiti are only doing so because of seedy financial ties with the exiled leader. What Novak doesn't tell his readers is that he has a history as an apologist for anti-Aristide death squads in Haiti. www.dissidentvoice.org/Mar04/Felux0329.htm
Admin on 03.29.04 @ 03:05 PM CST [ link]
Black Pastors Take Bush's Bait
I am deeply saddened, almost to the point of embarrassment, about the title of "Rev." that precedes my name. Last week, more than two dozen of my brethren black pastors in Atlanta publicly opted for the safety of status-quo bigotry, in lieu of confronting the nation's more pressing moral issues. By declaring their beliefs in writing, the 29 pastors added their voices to the critics of same-sex marriage, attempting to distance the civil rights struggle from the gay rights movement and defending marriage as a union between a man and a woman. www.commondreams.org/views04/0329-12.htm
Admin on 03.29.04 @ 02:51 PM CST [ link]
Clarke Challenges Rice to Reveal Secret Emails
Richard Clarke, the former terrorism adviser whose revelations threaten to torpedo George Bush's re-election strategy, launched a counterattack yesterday at a White House that he said was determined to destroy him. In a riveting television performance, Mr Clarke called on his principal critic and former employer, the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, to release the entire record of their emails in the months up to the September 11 terror attacks to prove his contention that the White House did not then take the threat of al-Qaida seriously. www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0329-02.htm
Admin on 03.29.04 @ 02:49 PM CST [ link]
Sunday, March 28th
9/11 Commission: A Week of Lies and Spin
By Kurt Nimmo, www.kurtnimmo.comIn regard to the 9/11 hearings: Why should you believe anything said by a group of demonstrated liars? The Bush administration has lied consistently and conducted business under a cover of "executive" secrecy, so why should you believe a single word they say? They have thwarted the 9/11 commission at every turn. All told, the 9/11 commission is a PR stunt and whitewash. Like the Kennedy assassination, people will be speculating on what really happened for decades to come. It is unlikely the truth will ever be revealed, at least not during our lives. As Joe Pesci, portraying David Ferry in Oliver Stone's JFK, said of the Kennedy assassination: "It's a mystery, it's a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma!"
Admin on 03.28.04 @ 06:01 PM CST [ more..]
Saturday, March 27th
'Curse of oil' highlights fragility of African states
By Michael Peel and Nicholas Shaxson
Financial Times - 24 Mar 2004 The "curse of oil" has returned to west Africa. Three of the region's new oil producers are learning a lesson that has been drummed into developing countries for decades: natural resources bring blessings, and a corrosive political culture as well. In the past month, the dictatorship in Equatorial Guinea has claimed it was the target of a mercenary coup plot. In the neighbouring island state of São Tomé and Príncipe, the government - briefly overthrown last year by rebels who said oil was one of their reasons for acting - has narrowly avoided collapse over a controversial oil trading deal. In Mauritania excitement over imminent oil production is matched by instability.
Admin on 03.27.04 @ 10:20 PM CST [ more..]
Oil firms secretly finance crooked regimes
by Charlotte Denny, economics correspondent
Wednesday March 24, 2004
The GuardianMajor oil companies are still making secret payments to repressive regimes, one year after Tony Blair put his personal authority behind a British-led voluntary disclosure code for the industry, according to a new report from London-based lobby group Global Witness published today. Corruption is flourishing in desperately poor countries such as Congo Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea and Angola as the dividends from oil continue to be appropriated by rich and powerful elites.
Admin on 03.27.04 @ 10:15 PM CST [ more..]
Disturbing Signals: Kerry and Latin America
By LARRY BIRNS and JESSICA LEIGHTIn a series of foreign policy formulations in recent days, the presumptive Democratic party presidential nominee, Senator John Kerry, has issued a number of statements on Latin American-related subjects which, if anything, appear to outflank on the right the Bush administration's extremist regional policymakers, as he shamelessly panders to the anti-Castro paranoia of a group of aging but wealthy Cuban-American ideologues in South Florida, and rich Venezuelan expatriates in Coral Gables. His two primary targets have been President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Cuba's Fidel Castro. While commendably finding fault with Bush policy regarding Secretary of State Powell's failure to protect the Aristide government in Haiti, Kerry's rhetoric regarding Cuba and Venezuela is reminiscent of barren Cold War strictures which, for all purposes, places him in the same extremist ideological bracket as the administration's two chief Latin American policy makers; the State Department's Roger Noriega and the Bush White House's Otto Reich.
Admin on 03.27.04 @ 05:48 PM CST [ more..]
Friday, March 26th
News
Caribbean Won't Accept Haiti's New Gov't BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - The 15-nation Caribbean Community has decided against recognizing Haiti's new U.S.-backed government, senior Caribbean officials said Friday. Why John Kerry Must Retract his Position on Venezuela The Democratic candidate for President of the United States, John Kerry, published a statement on his web site this past March 19, setting forth his position on the political situation in Venezuela. In this declaration, Kerry relies on inaccurate information and repeats views identical to those of the Venezuelan opposition to democratically-elected President Hugo Chavez. Spain's PM rejects plea on Iraq troopsSpain's new Prime Minister has rejected face-to-face appeals from British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US Secretary of State Colin Powell to keep his country's troops in Iraq to maintain the unity of the coalition. Aristide to settle in South Africa Haiti's ousted leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide is to set up permanent home in South Africa, Jamaican officials said yesterday. He would not go there until after the general election next month, because President Thabo Mbeki's government believed it would be "politically unsettling", they added. He would remain in Jamaica in the meantime. Bush jokes about search for WMD,
but it's no laughing matter for critics President George Bush sparked a political firestorm yesterday after making what many judged a tasteless and ill-judged joke about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Mr Bush made the joke at a black-tie event for radio and television journalists in Washington on Wednesday night.
Admin on 03.26.04 @ 07:34 PM CST [ link]
Thursday, March 25th
News
Ex-Us Terror Chief Clarke:
Iraq War Undermined War On Terror...Asians smuggled into Zimbabwe SCORES of Asians and other foreigners have been smuggled into Zimbabwe without proper documents in what officials fear could be a well-orchestrated case of human trafficking. Wheat production set to improve ZIMBABWE is pinning hopes for improved wheat production on the forthcoming winter season scheduled to start in a few weeks' time. Spencer sworn in as new Antigua PMST JOHN'S, Antigua (AP) - Longtime opposition leader Baldwin Spencer was sworn in as prime minister yesterday after a decisive victory in elections that ended nearly 60 years of dominance of a family political dynasty in Antigua and Barbuda. Britain freezes Hamas leader's assetsAN order has gone out to British banks to freeze the assets of the new Hamas leader, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi. Four other leaders of the Palestinian militant group are also to suffer similar fate on suspicion of being involved in masterminding acts of terrorism. 16 die in Ivory Coast protests Security forces killed at least 16 demonstrators in Abidjan on Thursday as a massive march to demand implementation of a peace deal got under way in Ivory Coast, witnesses and opposition officials said. US acts on drug suicide warning Prozac, Seroxat and other commonly used antidepressants of the same class must carry warnings that children and adults might become suicidal while taking them, the American drug regulator said yesterday, increasing the pressure on the UK to act. Related News
Admin on 03.25.04 @ 10:20 AM CST [ link]
Wednesday, March 24th
Bush Backs Israel's Assassinations as Self-Defense
Assassinations 'r Us: Israeli Action Reflects, and Indicts, US PolicyBush Backs Israel on Self-Defense
U.N. Begins Debate Over Killing of Hamas Founder President Bush yesterday defended Israel's "right to defend herself from terror," one day after a spokesman said the administration was "deeply troubled" by the assassination of Sheik Ahmed Yassin and concerned it could derail efforts to jump-start the peace process. Assassinated Hamas leader 'offered Israel a truce'Yassin's killing was a grave miscalculationWe'll wipe out entire Hamas leadership, says IsraelHamas adjusts sights and brings Americans in range of its furyKerry's Foreign Policies no different to Bush'sKerry: "The Cause of Israel is the Cause of America"Kerry rebuffs Venezuela's ChavezKerry Statement on VenezuelaOn Aristide and HaitiOusted Haitian president to arrive in Nigeria for asylum next weekNigerian Justice Minister Akin Olujinmi said Tuesday that the asylum Nigeria granted to ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was in order and that he would arrive in Nigeria next week.
Admin on 03.24.04 @ 06:37 PM CST [ link]
Tuesday, March 23rd
Zimbabwe: Suspected terrorists' trial set for Chikurubi
By Fidelis Munyoro, www.herald.co.zw THE remand hearing of the 70 suspected terrorists linked to an alleged coup plot in the Equatorial Guinea will be conducted at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison, the High Court ruled yesterday. The hearing is expected to start today. Justice Tedias Karwi dismissed an urgent application by the suspects' lawyers for the hearing to be conducted in a public court at the magistrates' courts.
Admin on 03.23.04 @ 01:52 PM CST [ more..]
In Yassin slaying, Arabs see US hand
csmonitor.comWASHINGTON – The "wink" the United States has given Israel in the wake of its assassination of the spiritual leader of Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, exemplifies once again how successful Israel has been at aligning its fight against militant Palestinians with the US war on terror. At the same time, the apparent tacit US approval - which contrasts with the swift condemnation of the killing by other countries - suggests why the road ahead in the Middle East remains so arduous for the US. What looks to Arabs in the region like a US "green light" to Israel also raises the prospect that the US, or at least American interests in the region, will become a target of militant Palestinian reprisal. Full ArticleIsrael: The Unmentionable Source of TerrorismIsraeli terrorismYassin's killing to harm peace processIs this what Israel and the U.S. wanted?The calculus of killingWhy did Sharon give the word?Egypt leads chorus of outrageUK and Europe condemn killingUS fails to condemn Yassin assassinationEurope censures attack; U.S. doesn't
Admin on 03.23.04 @ 08:36 AM CST [ link]
Monday, March 22nd
Telling the imperialists to go to hell
By Stephen Gowans www3.sympatico.ca/sr.gowans
March 10, 2004That business people and professionals comprise the Democratic Convergence (or Democratic Platform) and the Group of 184, the main opposition groups that successfully sought to oust Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, should have been a tip off that Aristide's alleged democratic lapses weren't at the heart of the groups' enmity toward the reformist leader. Aristide's committing the unpardonable sin of jacking up the daily (not hourly) minimum wage to $1.30 from 80 cents two years ago [1], and his doubling of the minimum wage in February [2], surely left opposition kingpins Maurice LaFortune, head of the Haitian Chamber of Commerce, and Andy Apaid, a US national who owns a number of Haitian factories that depend on low-wage labor, seeing red -- literally and figuratively.
Admin on 03.22.04 @ 03:07 PM CST [ more..]
Sunday, March 21st
US Afghan allies committed massacre
Dramatic corroboration of the massacre of Afghan prisoners by the US-backed Northern Alliance at the start of the war in 2001 was last night provided by American pathologists commissioned to investigate the claims by the UN. A vivid account of the slaughter was provided to The Observer last week by three Britons who were released from the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba more than two years after they were first seized in Afghanistan. They told how they narrowly escaped the massacre before being handed over to American forces and flown to Guantanamo Bay. Forensic anthropologist William Haglund, who earlier led inquiries into mass graves in Bosnia, Rwanda, Sri Lanka and Sierra Leone, told The Observer how he dug into an area of recently disturbed desert soil outside the town of Shebargan, and exhumed 15 bodies, a tiny sample, he said, of what may be a very large total. observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1174554,00.htmlMarch 15, 2004 White House allegedly paid actors to pose as journalists, endorse Medicare law
Admin on 03.21.04 @ 08:26 PM CST [ link]
Kerry and Black America
Just Another Stupid White ManJohn Kerry says he wants to be America's second "black president," but sadly, his record on issues of racial justice makes him look more yellow than black. This could spell trouble for the Democrats. In a recent editorial, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile said, "There is no question that the Democratic Party cannot win without the support of African American voters in 2004." The black vote could make or break the Democrats in critical battleground states such as Michigan and Ohio. Black voters have been fiercely loyal to the Democratic Party for the past several decades. Realizing that black voters have essentially nowhere else to go, Democrats have started taking the black vote for granted. While it is unlikely that black voters will switch to the Republican side, turnout among black voters may decrease if they feel the Democratic candidate doesn't understand their problems. Bill Clinton made middle class white voters his primary target during his first campaign and black voter turnout dropped considerably. www.counterpunch.org/felux03202004.html
Admin on 03.21.04 @ 09:19 AM CST [ link]
Friday, March 19th
Haiti and the Impotence of Black America
By Cynthia MckinneyFormer Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney delivered this address March 6 at a UC Berkeley conference titled "The Role of Law & Policy: Africa, the Caribbean & the U.S." sponsored by the African-American Law and Policy Report.Nowhere do we see the impotence of Black America played out before our eyes and those of the world as we now see in the case of Haiti. But let me add that it hasn't always been this way, and it doesn't have to be this way. First of all, as I see it, the correct call is not just for investigation, but also for reinstallation. Just as the U.S., in the 1950s, launched its policy of rollback for communism, so too must Americans of good conscience call for the Bush gang of thieves to roll back the coup in Haiti.
Admin on 03.19.04 @ 09:46 PM CST [ more..]
Mass rape atrocity in west Sudan?
More than 100 women have been raped in a single attack carried out by Arab militias in Darfur in western Sudan. Speaking to the BBC, the United Nations co-ordinator for Sudan, Mukesh Kapila, said the conflict had created the worst humanitarian situation in the world. He said more than one million people were affected by "ethnic cleansing". He said the fighting was characterised by a scorched-earth policy and was comparable in character, if not in scale, to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. "It is more than just a conflict. It is an organised attempt to do away with a group of people," he said. news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3549325.stm
Admin on 03.19.04 @ 12:22 PM CST [ link]
Zimbabwe: State, defence row over terrorism remand hearing
Court Reporter www.herald.co.zwTHE State and defence were still debating yesterday where to hold the remand hearing for 70 suspected terrorists linked to an alleged coup plot in the Equatorial Guinea. The Attorney General's Office wants a secure and convenient venue and suggestions have been made to have the hearings in a prison complex, which is allowed by Zimbabwean law. The defence is holding out for a hearing in a public court. The suspected terrorists, who were arrested last week in Harare on their way to the West African country to oust the government of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, are still in detention at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison.
Admin on 03.19.04 @ 10:35 AM CST [ more..]
Haitian Unrest: Aristide's Fall was Really a U.S.-led Coup
When U.S. military forces surrounded the National Palace in Haiti on the night of Feb. 28-29, and U.S. diplomats entered the palace to deliver an ultimatum to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, they were playing out only the final act of a coup that had been years in the making. www.commondreams.org/views04/0318-03.htm
Admin on 03.19.04 @ 10:19 AM CST [ link]
Thursday, March 18th
Britain should stop meddling in our affairs
By Don Muvuti www.herald.co.zwTHE three countries which claim to see a mote in Zimbabwe's eye and invite European countries to join them ostensibly in removing the mote need to be reminded of the huge flake of dirt blinding them to their yet-to-be resolved heinous crimes against humanity.
Africa on 03.18.04 @ 07:05 PM CST [ more..]
Wednesday, March 17th
Rwandan genocide: France accused of involvement
Staff Reporter, KIGALI Rwandan president accuses France of direct involvement in the 1994 genocide. KIGALI: President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has accused the French of directly taking part in the 1994 genocide in his country by supplying arms and giving orders to those who massacred up to one million people. Kagame said they supplied weapons and gave orders and instructions to the perpetrators of genocide. According to Kagame the French were there when the genocide took place and trained those who carried it out.
Ayinde on 03.17.04 @ 10:35 AM CST [ more..]
Tuesday, March 16th
Spain: The Terrorists Lost
By Gabriel Ash Spanish voters gave a decisive blow to the right-wing and undemocratic Aznar government, which put Spain behind George Bush's war despite the strong disapproval of the overwhelming majority of Spaniards. They also did something almost unheard of in these reactionary days. They brought their politicians to account for something these politicians have actually been responsible for. Wow! Somehow, in U.S. radical right circles, this has become "a victory for terrorists." The logic goes like this: Al-Qaeda wants the West out of the Middle East. It wants to establish a tit-for-tat in blood for perceived Western attacks on Islam, a price tag, as it were, for Western policy choices. According to this logic, the price of participating in the war has now been exacted from Spain. By refusing to up the antes and rally behind Bush's allies, the Spanish voters have effectively capitulated.
Europe on 03.16.04 @ 01:33 PM CST [ more..]
Debunking Media's Lies about President Aristide
"If you believe the stories of the corporate media and the Bush administration, you would think Aristide is getting what he deserves. He is a "corrupt dictator" who abuses human rights. He is a "psychopath" who advocated "necklacing" his opponents. He didn't do anything to bring Haiti out of poverty; in fact, he made Haiti more poor than ever." - Justin FeluxConsider the views expressed in this article.
Ayinde on 03.16.04 @ 10:16 AM CST [ link]
Monday, March 15th
The Anti-Empire Report
A Quaint German Custom the US Used to HaveBy William BlumOn March 4 a German appeals court ordered a new trial for the only person to be convicted for a role in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, saying the proceeding had been compromised by a US refusal to provide access to a key witness. Defense attorneys for Mounir Motassadeq, a Moroccan citizen, had repeatedly asked for testimony from Ramzi Binalshibh, who is in secret US custody. US officials have called Binalshibh a central conspirator in the attacks but declined to produce him for the trial, citing national security concerns. The appeals court found that the Hamburg court that had convicted Motassadeq had not adequately considered the implications of the absence of evidence from Binalshibh.
World on 03.15.04 @ 01:01 PM CST [ more..]
Land reforms anchor economy: Zimbabwe's President
www.herald.co.zwPRESIDENT Mugabe has said land reforms undertaken in the last four years had anchored the economy for sustained growth, and underpinned the country's sovereignty. In an interview with a group of local and visiting Cuban journalists, the president said land was any nation's main resource, which had to be equitably owned and shared mainly by the indigenous people. The Government has brushed off strong Western opposition, led by Britain and the United States, and re-distributed to peasants the bulk of the country's prime farmland previously controlled by a handful of white farmers.
Africa on 03.15.04 @ 11:12 AM CST [ more..]
Spanish vote out War Govt, they were just waiting
NEW SPANISH GOVERNMENT The bombs in Madrid have cost the Spanish government its hold on power - they have conceded defeat to opposition Socialists in the general elections. The government of Jose Maria Aznar was judged on its response to the atrocity, in which 200 people died, and its support for the war in Iraq. Speaking after the victory, Socialist leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said his priority is to combat terrorism. Official results from Spain's general elections show the opposition Socialist Party leading the ruling Popular Party by 43.1% to 37.1%. The figures are based on results after 77% of the votes were counted, Reuters news agency reported. According to figures, more than 62% of voters turned out for the elections - over seven percent more than the number in the last elections four years ago. Full ArticleBombs backlash seals Socialist winSpain's Socialists won a sensational victory in yesterday's general elections, in a vote that confounded the polls and inflicted a huge punishment on the Popular Party government for supporting the war in Iraq. One of the main planks of Mr Zapatero's platform was his promise to bring home the 1,300 Spanish troops now serving with the coalition in Iraq. This is a position supported by all the other parties in opposition to the Popular Party. Full Article
Europe on 03.15.04 @ 07:57 AM CST [ more..]
Sunday, March 14th
Anti-government protests spring up across Spain
Anti-government protests spring up across SpainAznar accused of cover-up as Spain mourns its deadSpain began burying its dead yesterday as pressure grew for
the government to come up with a convincing explanation for tragedyAl-Qaeda 'claims Madrid bombings'We bombed Madrid, says al-Qaeda tapeFolks, think about that white van, left at the scene, complete with detonators and Koran. Who left it there? The actual bombs were remote controlled with cel phones. So, what the facts indicate is that the bombers drove to the train station in a van filled with conspicuously damning materials, parked, planted the bombs, walked away, detonated the bombs, then left the area leaving that van filled with conspicuously damning materials where it would be found. Frame-ups don't get any more obvious. - whatreallyhappened.com
Europe on 03.14.04 @ 11:52 AM CST [ more..]
Saturday, March 13th
U.S. secretly funding opponents of Chavez
Extract from: By Andrew Buncombe in Washington, Independent.co.ukWashington has been channelling hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund the political opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez - including those who briefly overthrew the democratically elected leader in a coup two years ago. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that, in 2002, America paid more than a million dollars to those political groups in what it claims is an ongoing effort to build democracy and "strengthen political parties".
Admin on 03.13.04 @ 12:39 PM CST [ more..]
Friday, March 12th
Assassination of former Rwandan President Habyarimana?
Nobody Can Call It a "Plane Crash" Now!
Judge Bruguière's Report on the Assassination of former Rwandan President HabyarimanaBy Robin PhilpotAs people around the world prepare to mark the 10th anniversary of the terrible Rwandan tragedy triggered by the shooting down of former Rwandan President Habyarimana's plane on April 6, 1994, the report by French anti-terrorist judge Jean-Louis Bruguière provides cause to reconsider some accepted ideas about those events. The 225-page report leaked to Le Monde places the entire blame for the missile attack on President Habyarimana's plane on current Rwandan President Paul Kagame. That attack was surely one of the worst terrorist acts of the 1990s. Think about it! Two African heads of state were killed--President Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi was also in the plane , the fragile peace based on the Arusha accords of 1993 was shattered, war resumed, and masses of people were massacred. The perpetrators of that attack--the Rwandan Patriotic Front according to Bruguière--knew what would happen, as did their principal backers, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Ayinde on 03.12.04 @ 10:00 PM CST [ more..]
Who Was Behind the Madrid Bombings? Uncertainty Reigns
MADRID, Mar 12 (IPS) - Spain awoke Friday still in a state of shock over the devastating terrorist attacks in Madrid which left at least 198 dead and 1,430 injured Thursday. As the country gets ready for Sunday's elections, uncertainty prevails over who was responsible for the attacks.
Admin on 03.12.04 @ 06:22 PM CST [ more..]
Thursday, March 11th
Mercenaries captured in accused of Equatorial Guinea coup bid
By Michael Padera, www.herald.co.zw THE 67 suspected mercenaries arrested in Harare on Sunday were on their way to Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, to remove the government of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the Minister of Home Affairs, Cde Kembo Mohadi revealed yesterday. The leader of the group, Simon Mann, had allegedly been promised cash payment of one million British pounds and oil mining rights in the Malabo Islands. Equatorial Guinea is rich in oil. The country's exiled rebel leader Severo Moto who is currently resident in Spain, Madrid, hired them to do the job.
Admin on 03.11.04 @ 08:22 AM CST [ more..]
Wednesday, March 10th
Seized U.S. plane: Zimbabwe Probe continues
The Herald (Harare)GOVERNMENT yesterday revealed the nationalities of the 64 suspected mercenaries who were detained at the Harare International Airport on Sunday night after the owners of their plane had made false declaration of the cargo and crew.
Admin on 03.10.04 @ 05:15 PM CST [ more..]
A Saga of Blood, Tears, Malice and Indifference
By Tyehimba March 7, 2004 I was listening to a local talk show on Trinidadian radio when I heard the well-known host, who is a self-professed Christian, blatantly state that the reason that Haiti is in so much turmoil is because of spiritual problems. He went on to describe the traditional practices of Haitians as a bunch of hocus-pocus. The malicious arrogance of Christianity/Western Civilization and the resultant demonization of any African expression is at the heart of the turbulent ride that Haitians have experienced since they won freedom from their colonial rulers. To properly understand the Haitian situation, an understanding of certain aspects of the history is important. Above all the Haiti situation emphasizes the importance of History, not the Eurocentric version that is popular in the mainstream, but rather the history written by Caribbean historians who are not overly contaminated by the myths, lies and distortions that have often passed as history.
Meri on 03.10.04 @ 12:16 AM CST [ more..]
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