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Greenpeace cuts military supply chain to war in Iraq
Rainbow Warrior blockades UK military port; activists set up peace camp

greenpeace.org - Days after the Rainbow Warrior entered Marchwood Military port in Southampton and blocked the departure of UK military supply vessels heading for the Iraqi conflict in the Gulf, activists board and set up peace camp on military supply ship. Speaking from the bridge of the Rainbow Warrior, Stephen Tindale, Director of Greenpeace in the UK said, "We are determined to stop the headlong rush to a war which places a higher price on oil than on blood. War with Iraq would not make the world a safer place: it would increase support for terrorism and could lead to the use of weapons of mass detruction. The human and environmental impacts would be appalling and no one would benefit other than George Bush and oil companies like Esso."

posted by West 10:13 PM

 

ANDDOVUS Nations Authorize “Regime Change” for USA: Pro-Democracy Coup to be Staged No Later Than Next Spring
(Dennis Hans, CommonDreams.org, May 7, 2002)
[Comment: Two years ago I would not have to mention that this is a joke. Due to the strange times we now find ourselves in, however, I feel impelled to tell you right up front that this is satire . . . or is it?]

The Association of Nations Destroyed, Destabilized or Otherwise Violated by Uncle Sam, or ANDDOVUS, has authorized the ouster of the current U.S. administration by no later than March 2003. . . . We’ll do just what the CIA has done to so many ANDDOVUS nations,” said an aide to the Angolan foreign minister. “We’ll use bribes to recruit or subvert the media, labor unions, business groups, political parties or factions within parties, and disaffected officers in the military and police.” . . . The basic idea, as mapped out in planning documents marked TOP SECRET, is to gradually turn up the heat on the Bush administration from all sectors and strata of U.S. society until the president has no choice but to step down. At that point, ANDDOVUS will install its own people, dissolve the Congress and set a 2005 date for new -- and publicly financed -- elections. . . . Back in 1972, ANDDOVUS had 54 member nations, but it achieved phenomenal growth during the 1980s. “We wanted economic growth, but Reagan gave us cadaver growth,” recalled Paulo Santos of Angola. “The man never met a terrorist he wouldn’t hail as a ‘freedom fighter.’” . . . “As bad as American politicians are, the media are worse,” a South African said. “You saw how the editors of the New York Times welcomed the military coup in Venezuela. In a sane world, columnists as pugnacious as the Times’ William Safire and Thomas Friedman would stick out like sore thumbs. But over at the ‘liberal’ Washington Post there’s a veritable ‘Fight Club’: Jim Hoagland, Charles Krauthammer, Lally Weymouth, Fred Hiatt, Robert Kagan, Michael Kelly and George Will.” . . . “I call them ‘Kissinger wannabes,’” said a Greek official. “It hasn’t dawned on them that their hero is now a ‘wannaby’: He’s ‘wanted by’ justice seekers for ordering or abetting crimes against humanity in Angola, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Chile, East Timor, Greece, Laos, Kurdistan, South Africa and Vietnam.” . . . According to the secret ANDDOVUS proclamation, the coup planners “envision a U.S. that joins the rest of the world in a no-exceptions ban on landmines and weapons of mass destruction, and works well with others to resolve peacefully -- and with justice -- disputes within and among nations.” . . . “It’s an easy program to get with,” said Chile’s Gonzales. “It’s a shame the Bush administration won’t even try.”

posted by Lorenzo 5:24 PM

 

Amid Year's Global Threats, Freedom Gains
(Freedom House, December 19, 2002)
Study documents dramatic expansion of democracy over thirty years . . . Freedom and democracy made significant worldwide progress in 2002 despite threats posed by global terrorism, according to a major survey released today by Freedom House. . . . The survey, Freedom in the World, shows that in 2002, 29 countries demonstrated forward progress in freedom, a dramatic increase from one year ago. . . . Real gains outnumbered setbacks by nearly a three-to-one margin.** By contrast, in 2001, 16 countries registered gains and 17 displayed a retreat from freedom. . . . notable improvements were made in parts of the world where terrorism poses a direct threat, including majority Muslim and Arab countries. . . . "These gains are attributed to civic dynamism and a growing understanding that democratic accountability is the best way to counter the appeal of extremist and violent ideologies," . . . According to the annual survey, 89 countries are now Free, up from 43 in 1972. Their inhabitants enjoy a broad range of rights. Fifty-six countries are considered Partly Free, an increase from 38 in 1972. Political rights and civil liberties are more limited in these countries, in which corruption, dominant ruling parties, and, in some cases, ethnic or religious strife are often the norm. The survey finds that 47 countries fall into the Not Free category, down sharply from 69 in 1972. Inhabitants of these countries are denied basic political rights and civil liberties. . . . Over the last 30 years, freedom's progress has been most dramatic in Latin America, the Asia-Pacific region, and Central and Eastern Europe.

[Comment: IMHO the U.S. should be added to the Not Free category ... e.g., Patriot Act, Homeland Security Act, rigged elections in Florida and elsewhere.]

posted by Lorenzo 8:05 AM