contributions

By Marc Erikson
US presidential candidates George W Bush and Senator John Kerry don’t see eye to eye on much of anything, but in their first debate they found one point of agreement: that the single greatest danger to national (and global, we presume) security was the prospect of nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists and detonated in a major population center.
Well, guys, just in case it’s news to you (though it shouldn’t be), the chances of that happening sooner rather than later (…)

by John M. Miller, Karen Orenstein
On the eve of retired General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s inauguration, the East Timor Action Network (ETAN) today urged Indonesia’s new president to actively pursue justice for crimes committed by Indonesian security forces in East Timor.
"The East Timor Action Network congratulates the people of Indonesia for their remarkable series of elections and urges President Yudhoyono to make a priority of justice and human rights protection," said John M. (…)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush governs from a "love of power" and right-wing ideology rather than religious beliefs, and he has yet to hold anyone in his administration accountable for mistakes, former Vice President Al Gore said on Monday.
As the campaign by Bush and Democrat John Kerry for president headed into the last stretch before the Nov. 2 election, Gore criticized his rival for the White House four years ago on Iraq and other issues.
"I’m convinced that most of the (…)

Members of a Missouri Army Reserve unit will have some extra protection while on duty in Iraq thanks to Iowa law enforcement.
The Iowa State Patrol and the Linn County Sheriff’s Department have donated outdated body armor to the 189th Ordnance Co. based in St. Joseph, Mo.
Any added protection is going to be nice,’’ said Spec. John Wickman, 26, of Cedar Rapids.
Wickman is among 164 members of the 189th called to active duty in September. His wife, Tina, began working the phones soon (…)

By Sari Horwitz, Washington Post Staff Writer
The first call came in to the U.S. Capitol early in the morning. A Capitol Police officer was too sick to work. Soon, another officer called with the same problem. Then another. And another. By the end of the Columbus Day weekend, more than 70 officers charged with protecting Congress had called in sick.
It was the largest number of Capitol Police officers who ever had "banged in." Many of them say they really were sick — an illness brought (…)

By Paul Osborne
AN Australian journalist has told how he was threatened with death by militants who captured him in Iraq.
John Martinkus was interrogated for more than 20 hours after the group kidnapped him outside a Baghdad hotel.
The veteran freelancer, who has covered conflicts from East Timor to Iraq, has also angrily denied suggestions by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer that he was captured after entering a dangerous area against advice.
"I was nowhere dangerous, I was doing (…)

Babels is the international network of volunteers providing the interpretation and translation for all plenaries and seminars of the European Social Forum. We are a network of more than 7000 volunteer interpreters from more than 30 countries communicating in more than 50 languages.
For this third European Social Forum in London, Babels has assembled more than 500 volunteers to interpret in all plenaries and seminars. Speakers have been able to express themselves in more than 15 different (…)

To: Texas Gov. Rick Perry
JUSTICE FOR DOMINIQUE GREEN
Dominique Green is a 28-year-old African-American who is nearing the end of his appeals on Texas’ Death Row. We believe that after a review of the facts of the case, you, like us, will see racism and a flawed legal system prevented justice from being done in Dominique’s case.
Dominique came of age as an unloved African-American young man, as poor in spirit as he was in material wealth. Both parents were alcoholics and his father (…)

At the end of September, 115 politicians and foreign policy experts signed a letter that was delivered to the heads of NATO and European Union States. The letter criticized Russian President, Vladimir Putin’s recent moves to end Democratic process in Russia. One of the recipients of the letter was George Bush, jr. As a man who has moved to end Democratic process in his own country, it would have been very hypocritical of Bush to condemn Putin for his actions. Consequently the only rebuke (…)

The closing rally for the European Social Forum in London has been deeply marred by the intolerable behaviour of the British Organising Committee, and in particular by the forces that dominate it: the Socialist Workers Party, Socialist Action (the group behind London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone), and some trade unions. Several hundred young people coming from the “autonomous spaces†(included in the programme of the Forum and who the day before had fiercely criticised, although without (…)