Illustration: Studio Bendlib A ‘fraud’ bigger than Madoff By Patrick Cockburn in Sulaimaniyah, Northern Iraq The Independent, UK. Feb. 16, 2009 In what could turn out to be the greatest fraud in US history, American authorities have started to investigate…
Rebranding a war monger
The Mercenaries Previously Known as Blackwater PR Watch, Feb. 17, 2009 Source: Washington Post, February 14, 2009. First it was Blackwater USA. Then it was Blackwater Worldwide. Now, it’s “Xe“ (pronounced “Zee”). The private military company has repeatedly tried to…
Strasbourg to be locked down for NATO’s birthday party
Strasbourg prepares for siege as Anti-NATO forces gather Russia Today, Feb. 15, 2009 From April 3 to 5, 40 heads of state and government leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, will come to Strasbourg and Baden-Baden to celebrate the 60th…
Médecins Sans Frontières criticises UN for inaction over LRA attacks in Congo
United Nations peacekeepers in eastern Congo. Photograph: Jerome Delay/AP by Annie Kelly, The Guardian, UK, Monday 16 February 2009 12.52 GMT UN peacekeeping forces are standing by while hundreds of civilians are killed and abducted and scores of villages are…
Sudan, Darfur rebels close to accord: rebel spokesman
by AFP, Feb. 14, 2009 DOHA (AFP) — Sudan and the Darfur rebel group Justice and Equality Movement are close to signing a “trust building and good intentions” draft document, the JEM spokesman said in Qatar on Saturday. “It will…
Former US President Jimmy Carter: “We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land: A Plan that Will Work”
by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, Feb. 11, 2009 President Carter’s previous book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, generated a great deal of controversy here in the United States. Last year, he was removed from the speakers list at the Democratic National…