[ According to the Reuters piece below, the richest 16 percent of the world’s countries’ military spending “is more than the foreign debt of all poor countries combined and 10 times what is spent on aid.” Thanks to David Donahoe for forwarding the article. –BL ] Jun 9, 2004 | Reuters by Stephen Brown STOCKHOLM – World military spending leapt 11 percent in 2003 due to a “massive increase” from the U.S. war on terror but the pace may slow down as Washington’s pre-emptive strike policy comes under pressure, says a leading think-tank. The United States accounted for almost half the […]
Daily Archives: June 9, 2004
5 posts
[ In case you have forgotten the basics of Florida’s racist purging of eligible voters from the voter list, check these earlier stories. From the article: “Florida’s 2000 felon purge program resulted in over 50,000 legal voters being disenfranchised,” said Leon County elections supervisor Ion Sancho. The issue is alive again. –BL ]May 28, 2004 | CNN Washington Bureau by Robert Yoon WASHINGTON — As Florida county election boards review a list of thousands of potentially ineligible voters — including some who may be felons — CNN is suing the state, claiming the public and media should also be able to […]
[ The Misleader.org piece below provides an overview of the new evidence pointing to Bush’s culpability in creating conditions that paved the way for torture of prisoners. As the Independent put it on 8 June: … [I]t was revealed yesterday … A classified report prepared just weeks before Mr Bush ordered his forces to invade Iraq concluded that no international law was more important than “obtaining intelligence vital to the protection of untold thousands of American citizens.” The report, a draft of which was obtained by The Wall Street Journal, had been prepared by the staff of Donald Rumsfeld, the […]
Moon Over Washington Why are some of the capital’s most influential power players hanging out with a bizarre Korean billionaire who claims to be the Messiah? 9 June 2004 | The Gadflyer by John Gorenfeld Should Americans be concerned that on March 23rd a bipartisan group of Congressmen attended a coronation at which a billionaire, pro-theocracy newspaper owner was declared to be the Messiah – with royal robes, a crown, the works? Or that this imperial ceremony took place not in a makeshift basement church or a backwoods campsite, but in a Senate office building?
[ From the article: The 21 Gaza settlements are home to some 2,000 families, or about 7,000 people… Withdrawing from Gaza will cost some NIS 6.5 billion – NIS 4.5 billion [= between $1.44 billion and about $1 billion –BL] to compensate the settlers who are evacuated, plus another NIS 2 billion in security outlays, experts say…. American aid is expected to cover only half the costs. –BL ] Settlers to be compensated according to family, house size 8 June 2004 | Haaretz by Moti Bassok