contributions

by Mary MacElveen
With the outcome of the Venezuelan elections now decided President Chavez’ MVR party now holds a convincing majority. No matter what the fevered opposition says, it is still a majority since those who did in fact go to the polls in torrential rains decided which direction Venezuela must democratically take.
MVR won 114 out of the 167 seats and this boils down to 68% ... it must mean that Chavez is doing something right if he gained such a majority to push through (…)

by Declan Walsh
A retired US ambassador has reignited the debate about one of south Asia’s greatest whodunits, the death in 1988 of Pakistan’s president General Zia ul-Haq, by saying that Israel was responsible.
John Gunther Dean, then US ambassador to India, said he suspected Israel’s secret service Mossad of downing Gen Zia’s aircraft in an effort to stop Pakistan developing the nuclear bomb. But when he reported these suspicions to Washington, he was accused of being mentally (…)

by Brian McAfee
Chile’s Socialist party’s presidential candidate, Dr Michelle Bachelet, stands poised to be the next president of Chile. She has a significant lead in the polls, and if there is a run-off election she is expected to still be the victor. Her closest opponent, Joaquin Lavin, a conservative, trails well behind her.
Dr Bachelet endured numerous personal tragedies in the years of Pinochet’s coup. Her father, Alberto Bachelet, an airforce general loyal to president Salvador (…)

by Stephen Soldz
The Wall Street Journal has a new article on the role of mental health professionals in treating war trauma in Iraq Therapists take on soldiers’ trauma in Iraq. The military has caught on to how these workers can aid the war effort and has increased their per capita numbers. Rather than seeking the best treatment to help traumatized soldiers recover from their stressful and horrific experiences, these professionals attempt to patch soldiers in order to return them to (…)

By KEVIN DIAZ
Amid raucous debate in Congress about an exit strategy from Iraq, U.S. commanders on the ground have already launched plans to close bases and withdraw troops in the coming year, according to two congressmen who returned from Iraq this week.
"They wouldn’t put a hard date on it, but clearly the planning is at a very mature level," Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., said. "We can shrink down the number of bases as we shrink down the number of Americans."
Rep. Mark Kennedy, R-Minn., (…)

By Dave Stratman,
On October 29 of this year there was an antiwar rally on Boston Common. My wife and I and our daughter and two young granddaughters took part. After a few speakers one of the rally organizers announced to loud cheers that a contingent of antiwar demonstrators had gone to join gay activists who had been since 8 a.m. two blocks away outside the Tremont Temple Baptist Church. Later many other antiwar demonstrators plus the rally sound truck reportedly joined the gay (…)

by David R. Hoffman, Legal Editor of Pravda
One frequent criticism of my articles for PRAVDA evolves from my propensity to reference my past articles in more recent ones. Some attribute this proclivity to vanity, laziness or some other ulterior motive.
The truth, however, is not as complicated or self-serving. I simply want to remind readers that there were some, like myself, who recognized the corruption, venality, hypocrisy and mendacity of George W. Bush and his minions long before (…)

By Sarah Meyer
The earlier pre-mixed ’napalm’ bomb utilized benzene, gasoline and polystyrene. The Pentagon destroyed its stockpile of napalm canisters, which had been stored near Camp Pendleton at the Fallbrook Naval Weapons Station, in April 2001.
Following is my understanding of the present MK77 - mod 5 bomb. Hundreds of partially loaded MK77 - mod 5 firebombs were stored on pre-positioned ammunition ships overseas. Those ships were unloaded in Kuwait during the weeks preceding the (…)

By Dana Priest
In May 2004, the White House dispatched the U.S. ambassador in Germany to pay an unusual visit to that country’s interior minister. Ambassador Daniel R. Coats carried instructions from the State Department transmitted via the CIA’s Berlin station because they were too sensitive and highly classified for regular diplomatic channels, according to several people with knowledge of the conversation.
Coats informed the German minister that the CIA had wrongfully imprisoned one (…)

Neither Bush nor Blair is in a position to take a high moral line on Iran’s nuclear programme
by Tony Benn
Britain has played a leading role in the negotiations with Iran about its nuclear programme and the risk that it might lead to the development of an atomic bomb, and may well seek to take the matter to the UN security council.
Given that the prime minister himself is determined to upgrade Trident and appears to be committed to a new series of nuclear power stations, his position (…)