World Bank uses The Wall to construct an imprisoned Palestinian Free Trade Area
by Lisa Dobias and Bailey Malone
World Bank's most recent report on Palestine lays out plans to use the apartheid infrastructure of the Wall to construct "free market" industrial zones along the containment barrier. The Bank proposes Israeli military checkpoint gates along the Wall to quarantine and transport Palestinian workers. Along lines of "Free Trade" Agreements-the World Bank is instituting exploitive Qualified Industrial Zones throughout the Middle East toward the creation of MEFTA, the Middle East Free Trade Agreement.
http://www.leftturn.org/Articles/Viewer.aspx?id=766&type=M
http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion….By%20Linda%20Heard.htm
Halliburton secretly doing business with key member of Iran's nuclear team
by Pla Her
Circumventing laws that prohibit conducting business with countries that the Bush administration claims sponsor terrorism, Halliburton secretly worked with one of Iran's top nuclear scientists on natural gas related projects and, according to sources at Halliburton, sold the scientist's oil company key components for a nuclear reactor.
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0806-21.htm
Over 2,000 children sentenced to life in US prisons
by Rafael Perez
At least 2,225 people are currently serving sentences of life in prison without parole in the United States for crimes they committed before their 18th birthday. The US is one of few countries that sentences children to life without parole, violating the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been ratified by every country in the world except the United States and Somalia.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article318840.ece
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=30594
New evidence on serious health effects of Roundup weedkiller
by Lani Ready
New studies from both sides of the Atlantic reveal that Roundup, the most widely used weedkiller in the world, poses serious human health threats. The stakes are high, as more than 75% of genetically modified (GM) crops worldwide are engineered to tolerate the absorption of Roundup-it eliminates all plants that are not GM. Monsanto, the major engineer of GM crops, is also the producer of Roundup.
http://www.biosafety-info.net/article.php?aid=267
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/service185.htm
More than 140 contaminants found in the nation's drinking water
by Michelle Salvail
The first ever nationwide compilation of tap water testing results from drinking water utilities shows widespread contamination of drinking water with scores of contaminants for which there are no enforceable health standards. Examples include the gasoline additive MTBE, the rocket fuel component perchlorate, and a variety of industrial solvents. The pollution affects more than one hundred million people in 42 states.
http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/1220-01.htm
High-tech genocide in Congo
by Daniel Turner
"The world's most neglected emergency," the ongoing tragedy of the Congo where perhaps six million have died since 1996 is a consequence of invasions and wars sponsored by western powers trying to gain control of the region's mineral wealth. At stake is control of natural resources that are sought by US corporations-diamonds, tin, copper, gold and most of all-coltan-the mineral necessary for production of cell phones and other high-tech electronics.
http://earthfirstjournal.org/articles.php?a=883
http://www.taylor-report.com/audio/index.php?month=2005-03
http://www.allthingspass.com/uploads/html-136OperationIronFist[6pw].htm
Associated Press and New York Times employ NED reporter
by David Abbott
A bylined freelancer for the Associated Press, who is also a stringer for the New York Times in Haiti, is moonlighting as a consultant for the US government-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED), according to an official at the NED. The NED, critics warn, is positioned to destabilize governments and movements unfriendly to US corporate control.
http://mambo.agrnews.rack2.purplecat.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1847&Itemid=70
{ 5 } Comments
Censored? News?
This is a fine example of the alternative press, perusing which is a bit like going through an antique shop, trying to find the few unique and valuable bits in the middle of all the crap.
The number of minors sentenced to life without parole is certainly the Scandal That Should Be But Isn't in the US. As much because there are one heck of a lot of minors committing first-degree murder as because of the idiotic mandatory sentencing legislation. Not sure that anything in the Independent or derived from as high-profile a group as Amnesty is very alternative, but anyway…
The environmental pieces on tap water and Roundup were pretty interesting, though I'd like to see the actual study on the latter. Someone needs to keep pushing for better environmental science and intelligent, targeted enforcement of standards. Bloody typical that there's no money for cleaning the tap water, though. (I drink bottled.)
The Congo piece was depressing, though 'War Fought Over Valuable Resource' is not exactly news. I'm not quite sure how the civil war was a proxy war by the evil US capitalists rather than a straight-up looting expedition by Rwanda, Burundi et al, since certainly the war has made it far more difficult for processors to obtain Coltan. Plus Occam. But if you're starting assumption is that capitalism and corporations are unmitigatedly evil and everything bad in the world is the result of a conspiracy…
That also covers the leftturn.org piece. Reads like a right-wing parody of 3rd world Marxist view. Has so many blithely accepted yet certainly contentious assumptions in it I don't know where to begin.
Lastly, the 'unmasking' of the NED-associated reporter was cute, in that the cunning bit of investigative reporting consisted of asking the NED. Some of the NED's assumptions, namely that what's good for US interests is automatically the best outcome for the countries in which it operates, are questionable, but taking the opposite assumption, or viewing the NED as some kind of black-ops outfit, is a bit silly.
Who has censored these editorial perspectives?
Once again, I'm afraid you might be using inflammatory rhetoric to advance a point of view.
Just as Islam is not a race (as you've earlier suggested), this is not "censored"…nor is it "news".
The perspectives here might be interesting, perhaps even unique, but that doesn't meant that they've been censored.
Does it?
Ali,
This being not censored and not news to you, does not mean to be the same for others.
'Censored' here means very important news which was not given enough space on the MSM. As for who censored them, I guess you are smart enough to find out.
OTOH, if you have a problem in what you call 'inflammatory rhetoric', I would be interested to read yours. At the end of the day, each has his style.
Haitham,
I can appreciate the points you are making here.
The point I was making had to do with what could be considered hyperbole in the titles of some of your entries.
As an example, I cited the fact that you pointed to the recent Danish cartoons as being a "Freedom of Racism!", even though Islam is not a race (correct?).
"Racism" is a loaded word which serves as a trigger for many. It seemed (and still does seem) out of place there.
And here, in this entry, you have used the word "censored" (another trigger word) when posting several stories, forgetting the fact that, had they been truly "censored" you would never have seen them much less been able to post them. You have now suggested that "censored" simply means that not enough spcae has been provided them at MSM.
Even if this is the case, these editorialized reports still got out (as evidenced here), so the term "censored" does seem a bit over the top. "Niche", or "alternative" might be more apt terms here. I could probably think of others as well :)
I suppose there is something to be said for generating interest by way of controversy, but I do wonder if this is always the most responsible path to take.
I would not say that I have a "problem", though I do have my reservations.
Again, I appreciate your blog very much and have enjoyed reading your entries and the entries of those who have responded.
Thank you.
Haitham,
With all due respect, because *you* (or for that matter, *I*) think the MSM has not been paying enough attention to a story does not equate a universal conspiracy to suppress that story.
The MSM pushes stories that sell newspapers and increase ratings. Congoese 'blood tantalum' is just not as sexy as 'blood diamonds,' and sadly many people now look at such stories and say 'Africa is just f***ed up' and shrug. I would also point out that a Google on 'Coltan Congo' generates over 83,000 hits, including stories by the BBC, NPR, The Washington Post and Der Spiegel, along with statements by pretty much every mobile phone company you've ever heard of.
Something similar can be said about most of your other stories. I have especial ire though for your complaint that the "Israeli Apartheid World Bank Palestinian Slavery" project isn't getting more attention. This is only shocking if you assume that the QIZs are a deliberate attempt to screw the Palestinians, which in turn only makes sense if you view the Israelis, the World Bank, the US and capitalism as evil. From elsewhere in your blog, I'd say you do, which is a pity, because you're clearly an intelligent man when dogma isn't blocking your thought processes. The QIZs are part of the US's overly-simplified and rosy "trade and peace" formula and have already showed their shortcomings in Jordan. See http://www.merip.org/mero/mero062603.html. Like much other foreign aid, it doesn't work without the deep social and economic structures to support it. This doesn't make them part of a conspiracy by 'the Man' to keep anyone down. I can think of a number of excellent reasons why it would be in Israel's best interest for the Palestinians to develop a normal, prosperous society, esp if their economic development was tied to the West.