Chávez Says Opposition May Have Enough Signatures - 3rd Jun, 04
CARACAS (IPS) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez admitted that the opposition may have gathered enough signatures to trigger a recall referendum that could remove him from power within the next few months.
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=472

Once More, With Irony: More 'Good' News from the Balkans - 3rd Jun, 04
It had to happen, sooner or later, or else the irony would not be complete: news has emerged this week that oil has been discovered in Bosnia. Granted, the find is nowhere near as big as the Middle Eastern fields, but given the precious liquid's current paucity in the world, chances are it will be hotly contested. That is, of course, the very last thing Bosnia needs. But such is the way of things in the Balkans.
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=470

Egypt Eager to Help Israel Out of Gaza - 3rd Jun, 04
CAIRO (IPS) - Egypt has presented a security initiative to support an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, but wants to avoid being drawn into a "security trap."
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=469

Beware of 'Credible Intelligence' - 3rd Jun, 04
Last Wednesday it was Attorney General John Ashcroft – joined Friday by me-too Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge – claiming that "credible intelligence from multiple sources indicates that al-Qaeda plans to attempt an attack on the United States" between now and the November election.
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=468

Washington installs new puppet regime in Baghdad - 3rd Jun, 04
While US President Bush immediately hailed the new Iraqi interim government installed on Tuesday as being “one step closer to democracy,” the entire process demonstrates the claim to be a sham. The new Iraqi president, vice-presidents and ministers were all chosen behind closed doors by the US proconsul in Iraq Paul Bremer III, aided and abetted by UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, in consultation with Washington’s handpicked stooges from the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC).
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=467

Amnesty International report highlights human rights abuses in “war on terror” - 3rd Jun, 04
The human rights organization Amnesty International published its annual report on May 26, covering developments that occurred in 2003. Though the 339-page report covers countries around the world and cites many different types of human rights violations, its most significant part outlines the violations of democratic rights implemented by the United States and other countries in the name of a war on terrorism.
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=466

Former SPD chairman Lafontaine defends police torture - 3rd Jun, 04
Oskar Lafontaine—former minister president of the Saarland, former SPD (Social Democratic Party) chairman and finance minister of the Schröder government, columnist for the Bild tabloid, and supporter of Attac—has publicly advocated the torture of suspects by the police.
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=465

Canada’s Arar inquiry prepares to whitewash intelligence establishment - 3rd Jun, 04
Public hearings into the case of Maher Arar—a Canadian citizen who with the complicity of Canadian authorities fell victim to the US government’s practice of rendering persons to a third country so they can be subjected to torture—are set to begin this month.
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=464

Sri Lankan government deeply mired in financial difficulties - 3rd Jun, 04
Just two months after April 2 general election, Sri Lanka’s new minority government is confronting serious financial difficulties. To defeat the previous United National Front (UNF) government, the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) made a series of populist promises to provide jobs, lift wages and reinstate subsidies for farmers. Now in office, the UPFA ministers are coming under pressure from big business and foreign investors to abide by the austerity demands of the IMF and World Bank.
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=463

Blair government’s strategy to police Britain’s Muslims leaked - 3rd Jun, 04
The May 30 Sunday Times newspaper has leaked confidential papers discussing a government project code-named “Contest,” which is meant to tackle mass social and political disaffection amongst the UK’s 1.6 million Muslims. Its aim is more narrowly conceived, however, with its primary purpose seen as curbing the influence of Islamic fundamentalism.
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=462

CAAT Steering Committee Statement regarding Martin Hogbin - 3rd Jun, 04
CAAT (Campaign Against Arms Trade) Steering Committee has decided to make a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner that Martin Hogbin during his employment at CAAT passed sensitive confidential information outside the organisation, which may have been a breach of the Data Protection Act. The complaint will commence a criminal investigation, and, possibly, the prosecution of Martin.
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=460

Exposed: UK Government ‘dodgy deals’ - 3rd Jun, 04
LEAKED minutes of an influential Treasury committee show that “creative accounting” is rife in government contracts with the private sector.
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=459

Englan' is a bitch ! - 2nd Jun, 04
Perhaps it's because England's slaves were in the colonies or maybe it's just the sheer length of time (centuries) but whatever the reason, the nature of racism in the UK has its own peculiarities that sets it apart. One could go into an extensive analysis of the history of the ideology of racism in English political life that extends back to the country's first real colony, Ireland, over 800 years ago.
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=458

Carlos Castano in Israel - 2nd Jun, 04
Gonzalo Gallegos, spokesman for the US State Dept. for the Western Hemisphere, said about Castano: "We have not been in contact with that individual. We don't know where he is, and we don't know where the information came from."
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=457

Bush Lying? - 2nd Jun, 04
Did Bush lie on the reasons for 9-11 ("they hate our freedoms," etc.)? I think one has to be a bit cautious.
Lying requires a certain competence: at least, it requires an understanding of the difference between truth and falsehood. When a 3-year old tells you an obvious falsehood, it isn't really fair to call it a lie. The same was true of the huge whoppers that Reagan came out with when he got out of the control of his handlers.
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=456

Humanitarian Interventions? - 2nd Jun, 04
I won't run through the details regarding Somalia since you can find a lot in print, right at the time and later.

Steve Shalom had a fine article about it at the time in Z; I wrote about it right away in Z too. More later, after other facts dribbled out. In brief, there had been a terrible famine after the chaos following the overthrow of the murderous US-backed dictator.
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=455

New Organization? - 2nd Jun, 04
Assuming we all fight for social change in the expectation that we will, at some point, win -- and assuming that we fight for a whole new social system, again, in the expectation that at some point we will win -- it follows that at some point there will be organizations formed in our respective countries, and perhaps interlinked internationally, which will over a period of years play prominent roles in winning a new world.
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=454

Rebels in Control in Capital of Eastern Congo Province - 2nd Jun, 04
Despite denials by United Nations peacekeepers earlier today, it is now confirmed that a group of rebel soldiers led by Brigadier-General Laurent Nkunda has seized control of Bukavu.
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=452

Money and the Power of Belief - 2nd Jun, 04
In the third paragraph of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy the author, Douglas Adams, describes Earth. He says:
This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.
 http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=450