EAW's Breaking News archive
New US Drone Attack in Pakistan Kills at Least 15, Wounds 30
(BBC News & Al Jazeera)
At least 10 militants have died after missiles were fired by a suspected US drone aircraft at a Taliban target in Pakistan. There have been more than 35 US strikes since last August, killing over 340 people. Pakistan has been publicly critical of drone attacks, arguing that they kill civilians and fuel support for the militants.
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The Lingering Effects of Torture
(Devin Powell / Inside Science News Service & ABC News )
Newly emerging research on large numbers of torture survivors suggests that "psychological" forms of torture — often thought to be milder than the direct infliction of physical pain — can in fact have serious long-term mental health consequences.
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The Scramble for Iraq's 'Sweet Oil'
(Nicole Johnston / Al Jazeera )
With proven oil reserves of around 112 billion barrels and up to another 150 billion barrels of probable reserves, Iraq is the greatest untapped prize for international oil companies. So it is little wonder that giant international oil companies are lining up to get back into Iraq after the industry was nationalised in the 1970s and the oil majors were kicked out.
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ACTION ALERT: Denounce the Human Rights Abuses in Honduras
(COFADEH & School of the Americas Watch)
The situation in Honduras turned violent when over 10,000 people gathered in the streets to protest the coup Monday evening. Using tear gas, high-powered water and guns (it is still not clear whether soldiers were armed with rubber bullets or otherwise) many people were wounded and there has been one confirmed death in the capital, Tegucigalpa. In the capital, pro-coup marches are occurring, defended by the police and national guard.
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ACTION ALERT: Israelis Attack Humanitarian Aid to Gaza
Last night, Israeli Occupation Forces attacked and boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, abducting 21 human rights workers from 11 countries, including Noble laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. The passengers and crew are being forcibly dragged toward Israel.
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A Sickening Situation
(Katie Connolly / Newsweek)
KBR, the company contracted to provide waste-disposal services at US bases in Iraq, has allowed the burning of batteries, unexploded ordnance, gas cans, mattresses, rocket pods, and plastic and medical waste (including human body The resulting fumes — containing carcinogenic dioxins, heavy metals, and particulates — have sickened and disabled US soldiers and iraqis exposed to the toxic smoke.
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Approaching Gaza Intercepted by Israeli Gunboat
(Reuters)
Activists sailing to Gaza with humanitarian aid said they had been intercepted by an Israeli gunboat on Tuesday, but the Israeli military said it was just monitoring the aid ship while it was in international waters. Overnight, the activists — in a small ferryboat sailing from Cyprus to Gaza — said they had received threats they would be fired upon unless they turned back.
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A Fight for the Amazon That Should Inspire the World
(Johann Hari / The Independent)
While the world nervously watches the uprising in Iran, an even more important uprising has been passing unnoticed — yet its outcome will shape your fate and mine and will determine the future of the planet. Here's the story of how it happened — and how we all need to pick up this fight.
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Rights Group: Israeli Drones Killed Gaza Civilians
(Joseph Marks / Associated Press)
Human Rights Watch charged Tuesday that Israeli pilots failed to verify targets of drone aircraft at least six times during the Gaza war, firing missiles that killed at least 29 civilians. A HRW expert called drones the most precise weapons available and noted "We should not find so many civilian casualties from these incidents." An Israeli military spokesperson accused HRW of being taken in by the "Gazan propaganda system."
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How 6 Million People Were Killed In CIA Secret Wars Against Third World Countries
(John Stockwell / The Secret Wars of the CIA)
John Stockwell, former CIA Station Chief in Angola in 1976, working for then Director of the CIA, George Bush. He spent 13 years in the agency. He gives a short history of CIA covert operations. He is a very compelling speaker and the highest level CIA officer to testify to the Congress about his actions. He estimates that over 6 million people have died in CIA covert actions, and this was in the late 1980's.
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The Secret Wars of the CIA: Part 2
(John Stockwell / The Secret Wars of the CIA)
I just got my latest book back from the CIA censors. If I had not submitted it to them, I would have gone to jail, without trial — for having violated our censorship laws....The United States CIA is running 50 covert actions, destabilizing almost one third of the countries in the world today.... I urge you not to take my word for anything. I'm going to stand here and tell you and give you examples of how our leaders lie.
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The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle Against America's Veterans
(Making Contact / National Radio Project & Luis Carlos Montalván / Huffington Post)
Nearly two million Americans have fought in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. On this edition, reporter Aaron Glantz takes us inside the war as it comes home to our communities, with a focus on the special role our educational institutions can play in helping former soldiers adjust to civilian life.
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ACTION ALERT: Condemn Honduran Coup and Restore Honduran President Zelaya
(International Action Center / Centro de Acción Internacional)
Demand that the Barack Obama administration and the US Congress unequivocally condemn the unconstitutional and anti-democratic military coup in Honduras and insist that the military regime and the newly appointed but illegitimate president of Honduras restore President Zelaya to office, free all the imprisoned popular leaders and remove the curfew.
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The Iran Election and Leftist Confusion
(Reese Erlich / Common Dreams)
When I returned from covering the Iranian elections recently, I was surprised to find progressive authors, academics and bloggers bending themselves into knots about the current crisis in Iran. They cite the long history of US interference in Iran and conclude that the current unrest must be sponsored or manipulated by the Empire. That comes as quite a shock to those risking their lives daily on the streets of major Iranian cities fighting for political, social and economic justice.
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Iran Had a Democracy Before We Took It Away
(Chris Hedges / TruthDig)
Iranians do not need or want us to teach them about liberty and representative government. They have long embodied this struggle. It is we who need to be taught. It was Washington that orchestrated the 1953 coup to topple Iran's democratically elected government, the first in the Middle East, and install the compliant shah in power.
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Between Tel Aviv and Tehran
(Uri Avnery / Op Ed News)
Gideon Levy wrote in Haaretz that he envies the Iranians. And indeed, anyone who tries these days to get Israelis in any numbers into the streets could die of envy. It is very difficult to get even hundreds of people to protest against the evil deeds or policies of our government — and not because everybody supports it. At the height of the war against Gaza, half a year ago, it was not easy to mobilize ten thousand protesters.
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ACTION ALERT: Honduran Coup
(Campaign for Labor Rights)
President of Honduras Manuel Zelaya confirmed he is in Costa Rica, as he was kidnapped by Honduran military officers, who dragged him from his residence. Zelaya's supporters are asking people to defend democracy by calling the State Department and White House to demand: A cut-off all military aid to Honduras until Pres. Zelaya and Chancellor Rodas are safely returned to office and support any international movements to bring the coup plotters to justice.
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Shadow Wars
(Conn Hallinan / Foreign Policy in Focus)
The “privatization” of war, with its use of armed mercenaries, has come under heavy scrutiny, but the “covertization” of war has remained largely in the shadows. According to a 2004 classified document, the US now claims the right to attack “terrorists” in some 15 to 20 nations. The Israeli military has long used “targeted assassinations” to eliminate Tel Aviv’s enemies. US and NATO “assassination teams” and unmanned drone aircraft have killed scores of peoplein Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Solferino: The Red Cross Marks Battle Anniversary
(Imogen Foulkes / BBC News)
The Red Cross is marking the 150th anniversary of the battle that inspired Henri Dunant to found the world's best known humanitarian movement. At the end of June 1859, the armies of France and Sardinia, led by Napoleon III, confronted the Austrians at Solferino in northern Italy. Dunant, a Geneva businessman, happened to be passing and witnessed the battle. Horrified by what he saw, he was inspired to develop an organisation dedicated to helping war wounded.
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Homeland Security and US Army Plan Invasion of States
(Jim Kouri / News and Views)
The Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security recently hosted a teleconference for the National Association of Chiefs of Police to discuss the Obama Administration's interest in using the military during domestic "emergencies." However, many law enforcement organizations went on the record saying they did not appreciate the prospect of federal troops usurping the authority of local and state agencies or the role of National Guard units currently under the control of governors.
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White House Executive Order on Indefinite Detention Would Bypass Congress
(Dafna Linzer and Peter Finn / The Washington Post)
The Obama administration, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close Guantanamo, is drafting an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate suspected terrorists indefinitely, according to three senior government officials with knowledge of White House deliberations. Such an order would embrace claims by former President George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war.
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Why It's Time to Get Rid of the So-Called Terrorist Watch List
(Liliana Segura / AlterNet)
A new report finds people on the terrorist watch list can more easily buy guns than board planes. But the real problem lies deeper than that. According to a new report by the Government Accountability Office, folks on the list bought guns 865 times — in 963 attempts — over a five-year period. And not just guns — at least one person purchased more than 50 pounds of explosives.
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US Announces Revamp of Afghan Drug Policy
(The Associated Press)
The US announced a new drug policy Saturday for opium-rich Afghanistan, saying it was phasing out funding for eradication efforts and using the money for drug interdiction and alternate crop programs instead. The US envoy for Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, explained that eradication programs were "a waste of money" — they were not weren't working and were only driving farmers into the hands of the Taliban.
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Kicking the Nuclear Habit: Why We Need a World Free of Nuclear Weapons
(Lawrence S. Wittner / t r u t h o u t | Perspective)
With President Barack Obama and other world leaders now talking about building a nuclear-free world, it is time to consider whether that would be a good idea. Six reasons for supporting nuclear abolition are particularly cogent.
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Vandenberg Schedules Minuteman III Launch
(Vandenberg AFB News Release)
While the US media obsesses over North Korea, the US is developing a new Global Strike Command and firing an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from the West Coast into the West Central Pacific Ocean. The missile's three unarmed re-entry vehicles are expected to travel approximately 4,190 miles, hitting a pre-determined target near the Kwajalein Atoll. Read this US Air Force press release.
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Bill Would Boost Congressional Oversight of Covert Spy Programs
(Greg Miller / The Los Angeles Times)
Legislation backed by Democrats would require the president to brief all intelligence panel members on classified operations. Lawmakers had said Bush withheld information to reduce scrutiny. The legislation approved by the House Intelligence Committee, would eliminate the president's ability to keep classified operations secret from any member of the panel.
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US House Passes Key Climate Bill
(Al Jazeera)
The passage of he American Clean Energy and Security Act made headlines around the world. The home page of Al Jazeera spotlighted the news with the following declaration: "The US House of Representatives has passed legislation to slash industrial pollution blamed for global warming." But critics have complained the bill does not go far enough — especially for the 315,000 people a year who are dying from weather-related hunger, sickness, floods and drought.
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CIA-backed International Terrorist Alleged behind Plot to Kill Venezuelan Leader
(Granma Internacional & National Security Archive & ABC Nightline)
Former Venezuelan vice president José Vicente Rangel today identified the international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles as a participant in a plot to assassinate President Hugo Chávez in El Salvador. Posada Carriles, who acted as an agent of the CIA, committed numerous terrorist bombing of hotels in Cuba and planted a bomb on a commercial jetliner in 1976, killing 73 innocent civilians. Now in his 80s, Posada Carriles is awaiting trial on bribery charges.
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Russia Preparing to Test-fire Intercontinental Nuclear Missle
(RIA Novosti)
While Washington and the US media are focused on North Korea’s test launch of a medium-range missile sometime in July, Russia is planning a July test of a sea-launched intercontinental missile that is designed to become “the backbone of Russia’s nuclear triad.”
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'US Drone' Hits Pakistan Funeral
(Al Jazeera)
Up to 80 people have been killed after missiles were fired from a US "drone" at the funeral of a suspected Taliban commander of the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan, Pakistan officials have said. The attack by the unmanned aircraft was carried out in the village of Najmarai in the Makeen district. Three missiles were fired by drones as people were dispersing after offering funeral prayers for [Taliban commander] Niaz Wali.
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Lethal Crop Dusters
(Defense Update)
The US Navy is already evaluating an armed version of Embraer’s EMB-314 Super Tucano under a classified evaluation program known as ‘Imminent Fury’. The Navy is currently evaluating a single aircraft and is seeking a budget of $44 million to embark on a larger program. Armed Super Tucanos are currently operated by Brazil, Columbia, and the Dominican. Super Tucano can carry 1.5 tons of weapons, and can stay on a mission up to 6.5 hours.
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Free Speech vs. Surveillance in the Digital Age
(Amy Goodman / TruthDig.com & James Risen & Eric Lichtblau / The New York Times)
Tools of mass communication that were once the province of governments and corporations now fit in your pocket. As these technologies have developed, so too has the ability to monitor, filter, censor and block them. US companies have supplied Chian and Iran with sophisticated mechanisms for controlling and censoring the Internet, allowing government spies to examine the content of individual online communications on a massive scale. These tools could soon be employed by the US.
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Scientist, Environmentalist and Eco-Prophet James Lovelock Warns of ‘The Vanishing Face of Gaia’
(James Murry-White / Green Prophet)
As the 90-year-old author prepares to take up Richard Branson’s offer of a place upon a Virgin Galactic flight in space, he is at his simplest and most direct in this book. Highly critical of European green politics and environmentalism, he offers what he believes are the only solutions for partial human survival through the onslaught of climate change. “Our gravest dangers are not from climate change itself, but indirectly from starvation, competition for space and resources, and tribal war.”
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ACTION ALERT: Demand Afghanistan Exit in "Defense: Authorization Bill
(David Swanson / After Downing Street)
Rep McGovern's amendment (HR 2404) to the Defense Authorization bill calls for an "exit strategy" to end US military involvement in Afghanistan. Although the right strategy remains to collect co-sponsors for the stand-alone bill, it is this amendment that will actually be voted on. Increasing the number of co-sponsors for HR 2404 will help raise visibility of the issue and make it more politically safe for Members to vote in favor of the amendment. Vote due today: Thursday!
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Taliban Use Stolen US Gear Against US
(National Terror Alert.com )
Some Taliban fighters have been able to ward off attacks by US aircraft by wearing special infrared patches on their shirts that signal that they are friends, not foes. The patches, which can also help suicide bombers get close to US targets, are supposed to be the property of the US government alone, but can be easily purchased over the Internet for about $10 each. Also available online: night-vision goggles and military-grade communications systems like the ones used by the terrorists who attacked the Indian city of Mumbai last year.
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Carly Sheehan at Hayward High School
(We Are Not Your Soldiers.org)
On Monday June 8th, Carly Sheehan (whose brother Casey was killed in Iraq) and I went to Hayward High School as part of the “We Are Not Your Soldiers” tour. Hayward High is a diverse working class school in the Bay Area that recruiters regularly visit.
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Confidential Memo Reveals US Plan to Provoke an Invasion of Iraq
(Jamie Doward, Gaby Hinsliff and Mark Townsend / The Observer)
A confidential record of a meeting between President Bush and Tony Blair before the invasion of Iraq, outlining their intention to go to war without a second United Nations resolution, will be an explosive issue for the official inquiry into the UK's role in toppling Saddam Hussein. The plot was hatched as the two men became increasingly aware that UN inspectors would fail to find weapons of mass destruction hidden in Iraq.
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Testing Times for Nuclear Watchdog
(Alan Fisher / Al Jazeera)
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency insists that Iran poses no immediate threat from nuclear weapons. However, he adds, “I can assure you that if they have no intention to develop nuclear weapons, they will go into a crash course to develop nuclear weapons. They bombed Iraq in the 1980s and Saddam launched a clandestine nuclear operation. Military action is not the answer."
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'Pakistan Taliban Hit by US Drones'
(Al Jazeera)
At least 45 people have been killed and dozens wounded in a series of missile raids by US drones in northwest Pakistan, Pakistani intelligence officials have said. The first missile attack early on Tuesday hit what authorities said was a "Taliban training centre" in the South Waziristan tribal region that borders Afghanistan. Several hours later, a second attack was carried out during a funeral procession for those killed in the first raid.
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Hamas Foiled Plot to Assassinate Carter in Gaza
(Avi Issacharoff / Haaretz)
Hamas has foiled an attempt by Palestinian militants to attack former US president Jimmy Carter during his visit to the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian source told news agencies. According to the source, militants linked with Al-Qaida planted two roadside bombs at a border crossing between Gaza and Israel with the intent of striking Carter's vehicle. Plus: The transcript of Carter's June interview with Haaretz.
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ACTION ALERT: June 25 Torture Accountability Action Day
On June 25, demonstrations, vigils and actions will be held across the USA — in Salt Lake City, Seattle, Portland, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Anchorage, Pasadena, Bryn Mawr (Philly Area), Tampa, Thousand Oaks , Boston, and San Francisco — to demand that the individuals who debased our country by authorizing torture of foreign detainees and US citizens be held accountable for their actions.
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US Military Hands over Sadr City
(Al Jazeera)
US troops have handed over control of Baghdad's Sadr City district to the government of Iraq. Military leaders held a ceremony in the Iraqi capital on Saturday to mark the handover of responsibility in the city's predominantly Shia district.
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Pentagon Predator Drones Used in More than 20 Pakistan Attacks This Year
(Bill Roggio / The Long War Journal )
The US used unmanned Predator drone aircraft in at least 38 attacks against targets in Pakistan in 2008. So far this year, Pentagon drones have reportedly been used in 22 attacks on targets inside Pakistan. Because Predator drones use Hellfire missiles to destroy targets on the ground, there is a strong likelihood that civilians will be killed along with intended targets.
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Judge Tosses City Laws Restricting Army Recruiters
(Matthew B. Stannard/ San Francisco Chronicle )
Without fanfare, a federal judge in Oakland on Thursday threw out voter-approved laws in two Northern California cities barring military recruiters from contacting minors. U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong ruled that laws passed in the Humboldt County cities of Arcata and Eureka in November were unconstitutional and invalid.
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Gold and Depleted Uranium: Destroying Indigenous Populations from the US to the Middle East
(Dahr Jamail / t r u t h o u t | Perspective)
"We call gold the metal which makes men crazy," says Charmaine White Face. "Knowing they could not conquer us like they wanted to ... because when you are fighting for your life, or the life of your family, you will do anything you can ... so they had to put us in prisoner of war camps. I come from POW camp 344, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. We want our treaties upheld, we want our land back."
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Russia Ready for Deep Nuclear Arms Cuts
(Financial Times)
Russia is ready to dramatically cut its nuclear stockpiles in a new arms pact with the United States if Washington meets Russia’s concerns over missile defence, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday.
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Protestors Killed as Council Rejects Claims of Voting Irregularities in Iran
(CNN)
Earlier Sunday, thousands of riot police and militia lined Tehran's streets as the public rift among Iranian leaders appeared to be widening. The country's foreign minister disputed allegations of ballot irregularities in Iran's disputed presidential election, while the parliamentary speaker implied the nation's election authorities had sided with one candidate. Meanwhile, crowds of protesters have been attacked by police and pro-government militias.
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US and Israel Involved in Tehran Turmoil?
(Paul Craig Roberts / Information Clearing House & Chartingstocks)
The overthrow of Iran's democratically elected President Mohammed Mosaddeq, by the CIA and the British MI6 in 1953 was preceded by CIA bribes of Iranian government officials, businessmen, and reporters. The CIA also paid Iranians to demonstrate in the streets. A former Reagan Administration official believes "the street demonstrations in Tehran show signs of orchestration." Meanwhile, Israel has been accused of using Twitter as a means of destablizing the Iranian government.
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Iranian Elections: The ‘Stolen Elections’ Hoax
(Prof. James Petras / Global Research)
What is astonishing about the West’s universal condemnation of the electoral outcome as fraudulent is that not a single shred of evidence has been presented. The Western media ignored the fact that the incumbent candidate was drawing his support from the far more numerous poor working class, peasant, artisan and public employee sectors while the bulk of the opposition demonstrators was drawn from the upper and middle class students, business and professional class.
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Indigenous 'Genocide' in Battle for Oilfields
(John Vidal / Sydney Morning Herald)
It has been called the world's second "oil war" but the only similarity between Iraq and events in the jungles of northern Peru over the past few weeks has been the mismatch of force. On one side have been police armed with automatic weapons, tear gas, helicopter gunships and armoured cars. On the other are several thousand Awajun and Wambis Indians, many of them in war paint and armed with bows and arrows, and spears.
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Peru: Blood Flows in the Amazon
(Prof James Petras / Global Research)
In early June, Peruvian President Alan García, an ally of US President Barack Obama, ordered armored personnel carriers, helicopter gun-ships and hundreds of heavily armed troops to assault and disperse a peaceful, legal protest organized by members of Peru’s Amazonian indigenous communities protesting the entry of foreign multinational mining companies on their traditional homelands.
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Indigenous Protest and State Violence in the Peruvian Amazon: How the Media Misrepresents
(John Gibler / Huffington Post)
When police surround and attack a group of peaceful protester from land and air, the responsibility for violence is clearly on the aggressors and their unjustifiable and disproportionate use of force. But the media presented a different picture. The Los Angeles Times article, "Insurgents threaten Peru's Stability," for example, represents the Indigenous protesters as "insurgents" and claims they are "threatening" Peru, rather than defending their ancestral and communal lands.
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US Failures 'Caused Afghan Deaths'
(Al Jazeera)
eadly air strikes by a US bomber in Afghanistan last month did not follow strict rules and probably caused civilian casualties, a US military report has said. The report said 26 Afghan civilians and 78 Taliban fighters probably died in the May 4 incident, most likely during three bombing runs by the air craft, although it did not "discount the possibility" that more were killed.
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Colombian Army 'Killed Civilians'
(Al Jazeera)
Philip Alston, the UN rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, has accused Colombian soldiers of killing hundreds of civilians during the past six years and falsely identifying the dead as guerrilla fighters. Alston said it was "unsustainable" for officials in Uribe's government to argue that the killings by troops seeking bonuses were carried out on a small scale.
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Audit Finds That US Overpaid Blackwater
(Youchi J. Dreazen / Wall Street Journal Online)
A government audit found that the State Department overpaid the contract-security firm once known as Blackwater Worldwide by tens of millions of dollars because the company failed to properly staff its teams in Iraq. The report said the State Department should have withheld at least $55 million in payments to the company because of the shortfalls.
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US Govt. Threatens to Prosecute Waterboarding
(David Swanson / After Downing Street)
We've been lobbying the Department of Justice all these months without realizing that the key to justice lay in the Department of the Interior, and specifically in the National Park Service, which has told activist Steve Lane he will be prosecuted if he attempts to demonstrate waterboarding at Thursday's anti-torture rally in Washington, D.C. The permit for the rally reads "Waterboarding exhibit will not be allowed for safety reasons."
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President Carter and Citizen Activists Witness Destruction in Gaza
(Ann Wright / Common Dreams)
On June 16, 2009, former President Jimmy Carter spoke in unflinchingly blunt terms of devastating damage caused by the 22-day Israeli military assault on Gaza and the failure of the international community to help the citizens of Gaza after the military destruction of homes, government offices and industries.
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Heed Voices Calling for Justice for Palestinians
(Huwaida Arraf / Special to The Seattle Times)
e Palestinians are often asked where the Palestinian Gandhi is and urged to adopt nonviolent methods in our struggle for freedom from Israeli military rule. On April 17, an Israeli soldier killed my good friend Bassem Abu Rahme at a nonviolent demonstration against Israeli confiscation of Palestinian land. Bassem was one of many Palestinian Gandhis.
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Obama and Anti-War Democrats
(Norman Solomon, t r u t h o u t | Perspective)
As a close vote neared on a supplemental funding bill for more war in Iraq and Afghanistan, The San Francisco Chronicle reported that "the White House has threatened to pull support from Democratic freshmen who vote no." In effect, it was so important to President Obama to get the war funds that he was willing to paint a political target on the backs of some of the gutsiest new progressives in Congress.
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Gonzales's Advice to Bush on How to Avoid War Crimes
(Jason Leopold / t r u t h o u t | Report)
On January 25, 2002, then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales advised George W. Bush in a memo to deny al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners protections under the Geneva Conventions because doing so would "substantially reduces the threat of domestic criminal prosecution under the War Crimes Act" and "provide a solid defense to any future prosecution."
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CIA Mistaken on 'High-Value' Detainee, Document Shows
(Peter Finn and Julie Tate / Washington Post )
An al-Qaeda associate captured by the CIA and subjected to harsh interrogation techniques said his jailers later told him they had mistakenly thought he was the No. 3 man in the organization's hierarchy and a partner of Osama bin Laden, according to newly released excerpts from a 2007 hearing.
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CIA Refuses to Release Torture Report
(World Can’t Wait & The Washington Post)
The CIA is pushing the Obama administration to maintain the secrecy of significant portions of a comprehensive internal account of the agency's interrogation program. The CIA is urging the suppression of passages describing in graphic detail how the agency handled its detainees, arguing that the material could damage ongoing counterterrorism operations.
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Carter Grieves for Gaza as Lieberman Vows No Keep Building Settlements
(Al Jazeera)
Jimmy Carter has spoken of his "grief and despair" at seeing the destruction in the Gaza Strip carried out by Israel's 22-day offensive on the territory six months ago.Meanwhile, Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister, has said his country could not accept a "complete" freeze on settlement building in the West Bank, despite US calls to do so.
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Army’s Olive Drab Turns Brighter Shade of Green
(Cassandra Stern / Apollo News Service )
Few realize that the US Department of Defense is one of the largest purchasers and users of green energy in the country. The Air Force is the government’s largest buyer and the Army’s Fort Carson Base is home to the seventh largest photovoltaic (PV) generating station in the nation.
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Downloading Disaster: Cyberscares About Cyberwars
(Frida Berrigan / TomDispatch)
As though we don't have enough to be afraid of already, what with armed lunatics mowing down military recruiters and doctors, the H1N1 flu virus, the collapse of bee populations, rising seas, flailing states, North Korea, al-Qaeda wannabes in New York with terrorist aspirations, and who knows what else — now cyberjihadis are evidently poised to steal our online identities, hack into our banks, take over our Flickr and Facebook accounts, and create havoc on the World Wide Web.
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Neo-Nazis Are in the Army Now
(Matt Kennard / The Nation)
Army regulations prohibit soldiers from participating in racist groups, and recruiters are instructed to keep an eye out for suspicious tattoos. But, snce the launch of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US military has struggled to recruit and reenlist troops. As the conflicts have dragged on, the military has loosened regulations, opening the military's doors to neo-Nazis, white supremacists and gang members
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Buchenwald, D-Day, Communists, Hitler's Backers, Capitalism And Media
( Jay Janson / Countercurrents.org)
World War II, the Holocaust and incomprehensible extermination of six million Jewish Europeans and the non-Jewish victims of the death camps, which, while never denied, are certainly less often mentioned — all three of these connected events should be studied in the context of the many eminent American and European industrialists and bankers who made fortunes backing German rearmament under Hitler.
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Nuclear Disaster Averted by Dirty Laundry
(Louise Gray / The [Independent)
A radioactive leak that could have caused Britain's worst nuclear disaster was only averted when a worker in an adjoining room spotted water as he sorted laundry, according to a newly-obtained official report.
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ACTION ALERT: Only 3 More Votes Needed to Stop War Spending Bill
(Voters for Peace & Democrats.com)
According to Democrats.com: "All 178 House Republicans plan to vote against the $100 billion Iraq/Af/Pak War Supplemental to protest $5 billion for the International Monetary Fund. That means 39 Democratic opponents could defeat the bill. 36 Democrats promised to vote no, so we only need 3 more." See below for action links and phone numbers.
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15 Months after Bloodbath in Iraq, Young Veteran Takes his Life
(The Sacramento Bee)
On March 7, 2007, Army Spc. Trevor Hogue was inside his barracks in Baghdad, describing his morning on the battlefield. That day the young soldier saw his sergeant blown to pieces. He saw the bodies of half of the men in his platoon torn apart. "I saw things today that I think will mess me up for life," Hogue typed to his mother. Last week, he committed suicide by hanging himself in the backyard of his childhood home. He was 24 years old.
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Agent Orange Continues to Poison Vietnam
(Marjorie Cohn / t r u t h o u t | Perspective)
From 1961 to 1971, the US military sprayed Vietnam with Agent Orange, which contained large quantities of Dioxin, in order to defoliate the trees for military objectives. Between 2.5 and 4.8 million people were exposed to Agent Orange. Several treaties the United States has ratified require an effective remedy for violations of human rights. It is time to make good on Nixon's promise and remedy the terrible wrong the US government perpetrated on the people of Vietnam.
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Pelosi Pushes Democrats To Vote For War Money
(Adam Graham-Silverman / Congressional Quarterly)
House leaders appear ready to push ahead with a floor vote on the next war funding bill as early as Tuesday. It’s not yet clear that Speaker Nancy Pelosi has persuaded enough fellow Democrats to support it. Democrats are the ones who’ll have to supply the votes because Republicans say they are going to stay united and vote against it.
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Downloading Disaster: Cyberscares About Cyberwars
(Frida Berrigan / TomDispatch)
As though we don't have enough to be afraid of already, what with armed lunatics mowing down military recruiters and doctors, the H1N1 flu virus, the collapse of bee populations, rising seas, flailing states, North Korea, al-Qaeda wannabes in New York with terrorist aspirations, and who knows what else — now cyberjihadis are evidently poised to steal our online identities, hack into our banks, take over our Flickr and Facebook accounts, and create havoc on the World Wide Web.
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UN Official Urges New Tactics in Afghanistan
(Adam B. Ellick / New York Times)
In unusually firm remarks, Kai Eide, the chief of the UN mission in Afghanistan, has said there is "an urgent need to review" Special Operations forces. The official called the political costs of civilian casualties from US/NATO special operations air strikes "disproportionate to the military gains," and said the Special Operations forces needed to become "more Afghanized."
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CIA Secrecy on Pakistan Drone Attacks Data Hides Abuses
(Gareth Porter / Inter Press Service)
The US Central Intelligence Agency’s refusal to share with other agencies even the most basic data on the bombing attacks by remote-controlled unmanned predator drones in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region, combined with recent revelations that CIA operatives have been paying Pakistanis to identify the targets, suggests that managers of the drone attacks programmes have been using the total secrecy surrounding the programme to hide abuses and high civilian casualties.
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US: Congress Reviews Military Contracts, Kabul Embassy Scandal
(Pratap Chatterjee / IPS)
KBR, a firm linked to former VP Dick Cheney's firm, Halliburton, received $30 million to build an unneeded dining facility in Iraq. An ArmorGroup official spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy counterfeit boots from his wife's company. These abuses prompted Claire McCaskill chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, to investigate ArmorGroup's five-year, $189.3-million contract in an attempt to answer the question: "Do we have criminals working for us?
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Accountability: The Futility of the War on Terror
(Charles J. Hanley / Associated Press)
If a terrorist nuclear bomb destroyed the heart of a great city, how would we know who did it, with what? Mideast fanatics with a device improvised from stolen uranium? A weapon smuggled in by a rogue regime? A hijacked US bomb? Where do you strike back? How do you head off another attack?
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Why Have We Stopped Talking About Guns?
(Bill Moyers and Michael Winship / t r u t h o u t | Perspective)
There is much talk about hate talk; hate crimes against blacks, whites, immigrants, Muslims, Jews; about violence committed in the name of bigotry or religion. But why don't we talk about guns? We're arming ourselves to death. Even as gunshots ricocheted around the country, an amendment allowing concealed weapons in national parks snuck into the popular credit card reform bill. Another victory for the gun lobby, to sounds of silence from the White House.
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Iran: A Female Voter's Perspective
(Tara Mahtafar / Al Jazeera)
Commentary: "Many gave the 2005 presidential election the cold shoulder and these "silent voters" unwittingly contributed to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s ascent to power.... Four years of Ahmadinejad’s bellicose foreign policy and savage mismanagement of the economy has roused those millions to drop their boycott on voting for fear of unintentionally aiding his re-election."
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Azar Nafisi on Iran Election
(Kathleen McCaul / Al Jazeera)
Azar Nafisi is best known as the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, an often harrowing portrait of how the Islamic Revolution in Iran affected one professor and her students.Nafisi insists: "The homogeneous picture of extreme belief where the majority of people believe in orthodox Islam which comes out of Iran is not true."
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Judge Allows Civil Lawsuit Over Claims of Torture
(John Schwartz / The New York Times)
The decision issued late Friday by a judge in San Francisco allowing a civil lawsuit to go forward against a former Bush administration official, John C. Yoo, might seem like little more than the removal of a procedural roadblock. But lawyers for the man suing Mr. Yoo, a US citizen named Jose Padilla, say it provides substantive interpretation of constitutional issues for all detainees and could have a broad impact.
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After More Civilian Deaths, US Agrees to 'Review' Afghan Tactics
he newly appointed commander of US forces in Afghanistan is to review military tactics in the region in response to widespread anger about the high number of civilian casualties. General Stanley McChrystal says his focus will be on balancing the "short-term tactical impact" of operations with the "long-term strategic effect".
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Cover-up Claim after Peru Clashes
(BBC News)
Human rights lawyers have accused Peru's government of a cover-up, after clashes between police and indigenous protesters killed at least 50 people. The lawyers say hundreds more may be missing, amid rumours that the police have hidden bodies. But they say rights groups cannot get in to investigate. The government denies the claims and says police were the victims.
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How Americans Came to Support Torture, in Five Steps
(Roy Eidelson /TruthOut & AlterNet)
In recent weeks, new revelations about the harsh interrogation and torture of detainees during the Bush administration years have made headlines and stirred controversy. The positions of prominent advocates and opponents on each side are clear. But what do we know about how the American people in general have come to view the use of torture by the U.S. government?
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ACTION ALERT: Stop the $106 Billion War Spending Supplemental
The Virtual Phonebank is a new tool that will connect your phone to each key office and even let you leave a message after hours. Ask all the fence-sitting congress members to vote No on the $106 billion war supplemental.
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KBR, Halliburton Sued over War-zone’s Toxic Burn Pits
(Sue Sturgis / Grist & Facing South)
Confronted with the need to dispose of enormous quantities of war-related trash including batteries, pesticide containers, medical waste and even human body parts, but lacking proper incinerators, private contractors working for the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan came up with a simple solution. They burned the trash in big, open pits.
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Questions After A.Q. Khan's Resurfacing
(J. Sri Raman/ t r u t h o u t | Perspective)
The Congressional Research Service has confirmed reports that Pakistan was expanding its nuclear arsenal. The CRS said: "Pakistan's nuclear arsenal consists of approximately 60 nuclear warheads. It continues fissile material production for weapons, and is adding to its weapons production facilities and delivery vehicles." India, for its part, has no dearth of nuclear militarists to promote this diabolical madness.
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US-Peru Free Trade Agreement Sparks Indigenous Massacre
(Tom Loudon / t r u t h o u t | Report)
During the last week, deep in the Peruvian Amazon, confrontations between nonviolent indigenous protesters and police have left up to 100 people dead. The vast majority of the casualties are civilians, who have been conducting peaceful demonstrations in defense of the Amazon rain forest. For months, as many as 30,000 indigenous people have been blocking road and river traffic to demand repeal of presidential decrees issued to inplement the US-Peru FTA.
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US Towns Challenge Feds on Military Recruiting
(Associated Press)
Arcata and Eureka, two towns nestled in the rugged coastline and the liberal politics of Northern California, have fought the federal government by banning the US military from recruiting minors within their city limits. Now the federal government is fighting back.
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ACTION ALERT: Another Act of Domestic Terrorism
(Kate Stayman-London / CREDO Action )
The deadly shooting at the Holocaust Museum underlines the urgency of finding ways to stop thes courge of gun violence in America. One action Congress can take is to close the gun show loophole that allows criminals and corrupt gun sellers to avoid the background checks required by the Brady Bill. Contact your representatives to let them know about your concern over the circumvention of gun legislation.
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Conservatives Outraged at Homeland Security Report Characterizing ‘Right-wing Extremism’
(Raw Story)
An April 7 DHS report cuased waves of indignation among conservatives for labeling “rightwing extremism” the “most dangerous domestic terrorism threat in the United States.” Surprisingly, the report found “no specific information that domestic rightwing terrorists are currently planning acts of violence,” but warned that the economic recession, coupled with the recent election of the first African-American President of the United States, is driving radical groups’ recruitment.
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Rightwing Extremism Is Top Domestic Terrorist Threat
(US Department of Homeland Security)
Threats from white supremacist and violent antigovernment groups during 2009 have been largely rhetorical and have not indicated plans to carry out violent acts. Nevertheless, the consequences of a prolonged economic downturn—including real estate foreclosures, unemployment, and an inability to obtain credit—could create a fertile recruiting environment for rightwing extremists
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Iraq's New Death Squads
(Shane Bauer / The Nation)
The Iraq Special Operations Forces is probably the largest special forces outfit ever built by the US. It is free of the controls that most governments employ to rein in such lethal forces. The US Army's Special Forces and Green Berets trained mostly 18-year-old Iraqis with no prior military experience to create a deadly, elite, covert unit, fully fitted with US equipment and designed to operate under US command, unaccountable to Iraqi government officials.
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Officials: US Made Mistakes in Afghan Attack
(Karen DeYoung / Washington Post)
US military personnel in western Afghanistan failed to follow established procedures in a battle with the Taliban last month that killed dozens of Afghan civilians. Among the rules violated or poorly followed were poor initial planning for combat in a populated area and the dropping of a 2,000-pound bomb from a B-1 bomber on a building without proper visual and ground confirmation of the target. The attack killed between 97 and 140 civilians.
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The Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of Militarism
(Barry Sanders: Book Excerpt / AK Press )
When we declare war on a foreign nation, we now also declare war on the Earth, on the soil and plants and animals, the water and wind and people, in the most far-reaching and deeply infecting ways. A bomb dropped on Iraq explodes around the world. We have no way of containing the fallout. Technology fails miserably here. War insinuates itself, like an aberrant gene and, left unchecked, has the capacity for destroying the Earth’s complex and sometimes fragile system.
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Justice for Pakistan's 'Disappeared' Delayed
(James Palmer / San Francisco Chronicle Foreign Service)
Hundreds of Pakistanis have vanished during the rule of former president Pervez Musharraf (1999-2008), according to Defense of Human Rights, a national organization based in this northern city. Since its formation in 2005, Defense of Human Rights has registered 640 disappearances. Since then, 150 have been released and 70 have been located and are still in custody. The group also estimates that as many as 10,000 people disappeared during Musharraf's rule.
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Obama's Speech: The Tone and the Music
(Uri Avnery / Gush-Shalom)
One man spoke to the world, and the world listened. He walked onto the stage in Cairo, alone, without hosts and without aides, and delivered a sermon to an audience of billions. Egyptians and Americans, Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Arabs, Sunnis and Shiites, Copts and Maronites – and they all listened attentively.
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Shell Settles Nigeria Deaths Case
(BBC News)
Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay $15.5 million to settle a lawsuit which accused the oil firm of complicity in rights abuses in Nigeria and the death of artist and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa who was executed along with other anti-Shell activists in 1995. The case, due for trial in the US next week, was brought by relatives of the activists murdered by Nigeria's military rulers.
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Global Military Spending Surges
(Al Jazeera & Reuters)
Global military spending surged to a record $1,464 billion last year, with the US maintaining its position as the world's leading arms spender, a report by a Swedish monitoring group has said. Meanwhile, Chinese military spending is on the rise, with Beijing becoming the second biggest military buyer.
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Russia: no nuclear cuts if US unclear on missile defence
(Agence France-Presse)
Russia's military on Friday warned the US that it would not reduce its nuclear arsenal until Washington made clear whether or not it would go ahead with a controversial missile shield in Central Europe. The comments by the country's top general exposed a potential hitch as the two sides hold talks on replacing a key Cold War-era nuclear arms reduction treaty by the end of the year.
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