Wednesday, February 15, 2012 Elliott Abrams' Dark History in Latin America, and the Struggle for Justice
Elliott Abrams, a former high level State Department official during the 1980s, testified last month that the Reagan administration knew that Argentina's military junta was systematically stealing babies from murdered and jailed democracy activists and giving them to right-wing families friendly to the regime.
Thursday, February 9, 2012 Decline 'Friend' Request: Social Media Meets 21st Century Statecraft in Latin America (1 comments)
A Senate report released in October 2011 urging the US government to expand the use of social media as a foreign policy tool in Latin America offers another warning for activists seduced by the idea of technology and social media as an indispensable tool for social change.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Rumsfeld-Era Propaganda Program Whitewashed by Pentagon (2 comments)
A controversial public relations program run by former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's Pentagon was cleared of any wrong-doing by the agency's inspector general in a report published in November. At the same time, the report quoted participating analysts who believed that bullet points provided by Rumsfeld's staff advanced a "political agenda," that the program's intent "was to move everyone's mouth on TV as a sock puppet."
Monday, July 12, 2010 Reviewing "The Politics of Genocide"
Charges of genocide, ethnic cleansing and mass atrocities are just the latest in the list of imperial alibis Washington uses to promote its narrow foreign policy objectives of resource accumulation and global hegemony.
Sunday, December 6, 2009 New Study Asserts Climate Change Will Increase Conflicts in Africa (1 comments)
Darfur just may be the tip of the melting iceberg. A new study suggests that if world leaders fail to reach a meaningful agreement in Copenhagen to curb climate change Africa will be ravaged by more wars and corpses in the coming decades.
Sunday, November 15, 2009 Manufacturing a Terror Threat in Latin America
Latin America may soon become the next front in Washington's so-called "War on Terror."
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) , Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, held a hearing on Oct. 27 to investigate his "serious concerns about expanded Iranian influence in the region.â€
Wednesday, July 29, 2009 Obama Stays the Course in Latin America (1 comments)
One need only look to recent events in Peru and Honduras to figure out that Obama's foreign policy in Latin America is a continuation of our historical role in the region marked by economic conquest, domination, control and intervention.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009 Anti-abortion Terrorism Can Be Prevented
"No person seeking medical care, no physician providing that care should have to endure harassments or threats or obstruction or intimidation or even murder from vigilantes who take the law into their own hands because they think they know what the law ought to be."
Wednesday, May 6, 2009 Military-backed Mapping Project in Oaxaca Under Fire (2 comments)
A University of Kansas professor is under fire for a mapping project in Mexico partially funded by the U.S. Defense Department as colleagues in the field of geography are calling for an investigation, while growing local opposition to the project leaves it in peril.
Sunday, April 5, 2009 U.S. Military Funded Mapping Project in Oaxaca: University Geographers Used to Gather Intelligence? (1 comments)
In January, a communiqué sent out by the Union of Organizations of the Sierra Juárez of Oaxaca (UNOSJO) alleged that the mapping project was carried out without obtaining free, prior, and informed consent of local communities, while questioning the motives of the project, which is run with the assistance of the U.S. military office that runs the controversial Human Terrain System.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008 Canadian Company Threatens El Salvador with Free Trade Lawsuit Over Mining Project
A Canadian mining company intends to sue El Salvador's government for several hundred million dollars if it is not granted permission to open a widely unpopular gold and silver mine that scientists warn would have devastating effects on local water supplies.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008 Sarah Palin and the Bush "Bulge": Will Alaska's Governor be Wired for the Debate on Thursday? (8 comments)
Four years ago reports surfaced that President Bush was wearing a transceiver on his back with a wireless earpiece during his debate with Senator John Kerry. Given Sarah Palin's incompetence with both economics and foreign policy, and her inability to engage in coherent and intelligent conversation on these issues, could Republicans resort to a tactic they may have gotten away with before?
Friday, September 26, 2008 Ecuador's Constitution Gives Rights to Nature (7 comments)
The new constitution gives nature the "right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution" and mandates that the government take "precaution and restriction measures in all the activities that can lead to the extinction of species, the destruction of the ecosystems or the permanent alteration of the natural cycles."
Friday, September 12, 2008 September 11th From Chile to Washington: Bush Follows in Pinochet's Footsteps (4 comments)
Torture. Murder. Kidnappings. Secret Prisons. Concentration Camps. War. Impunity.
This is the legacy of human rights abuses September 11th sadly leaves us--a legacy first executed by former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, and, more recently renewed by an equally culpable President George W. Bush.
Monday, August 18, 2008 RNC: Exporting the "Miami Model" to St. Paul (1 comments)
"In planning security measures for the RNC," wrote John A. Kolerno, Secret Service coordinator for the Republican convention, "the Secret Service is considering a wide array of potential security threats, including terrorist attacks, lone gunmen, fire, environmental hazards, chemical or biological attacks, structural safety concerns, and suicide bombers."
Friday, August 15, 2008 Anti-Occupation Violence in Iraq Not Just Al Qaeda (1 comments)
Attempts to paint anti-occupation violence in Iraq as strictly Al Qaeda keeps the American public misinformed about one of this election's most pressing issues.
Thursday, June 26, 2008 Bush Administration Accused of Withholding "Lifesaving" Aid to Haiti
Human rights groups released a report on June 23 accusing the Bush Administration of blocking "potentially lifesaving" aid to Haiti in order to meddle in the impoverished nation's political affairs. The aid would have funded projects designed to improve "the quality of life-particularly for women and children-and to reduc[e] incidence of disease and child mortality."
Friday, May 2, 2008 Bullets and Bananas: The Violence of Free Trade in Guatemala
Less than 24 hours after President Bush met with Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom at the White House on Monday, a worker from a union that filed a trade complaint with Washington against the Guatemalan government was murdered.
Saturday, March 22, 2008 UN Scolds Washington for War on Migrants
Jorge Bustamante, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, noted serious concerns about deportation and detention policies, especially in light of the fact that cases of indefinite detention were common. Other concerns included lack of due process, imprisonment of children and infants, imprisoned migrants being subjected to solitary confinement, possible sleep deprivation, and exposure to extreme heat and cold.
Thursday, March 6, 2008 Iraqi Women Quietly Endure Horrors of War
March 8 marks the 99th celebration of International Women's Day, a day to commemorate the political, social, and economic struggles and achievements of women globally. This year we should use the holiday to observe and reflect on the suffering of Iraqi women, who have become invisible "collateral damage" in our country's war in this now defenseless Middle Eastern nation.
