JOSEPH GERSON: Shortly after President Obama’s Afghanistan War escalation speech, I was contacted by the Voice of America’s Russian Language Service. They wanted to interview me. These are the questions they asked: What do you think about Obama’s new strategy for Afghanistan? Were you surprised by it? Do you think it would be possible to carry out all Obama’s objectives by 2011? Would Afghanistan, you think, cease being a failed state?
International Criminal Court Complaint Filed Against Bush & Co.
FRANCIS A. BOYLE: Champaign, U.S.A./The Hague, Netherlands — Professor Francis A. Boyle of the University of Illinois College of Law in Champaign, U.S.A. has filed a complaint with the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (I.C.C.) in The Hague against U.S. citizens George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Condoleezza Rice, and Alberto Gonzales (the “accused”) for their criminal policy and practice of “extraordinary rendition” perpetrated upon about 100 human beings.
Brief-ings
BRIEF INSIGHTS: 1) Postwar Deformities; 2) Kaufman Bill to Hold U.S. Contractors Overseas Accountable; 3) Stunning Statistics About the War That Everyone Should Know, by Jeremy Scahill; and 4) NRC Looks to Technology to Cut Energy Use.
Western Shoshone Prevail on Mt. Tenabo – Open Pit Gold Mine Enjoined
CORTEZ HILLS GOLD MINE: On December 3, 2009, the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling enjoining the construction and operation of the Cortez Hills gold mine, proposed by Barrick Gold Corporation. The Ninth Circuit reversed the decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, which had denied the motion for preliminary injunction filed by the plaintiffs.
WRL Activist Gets Jail Time for “Blood Money”
MATT DALOISIO: Three Washington DC-area peace proponents interrupted a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on U.S. Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy last May 21, calling out “No more blood money for wars!” and “End the wars now.”
Climate Change Ups and Downs in 2009
PHIL CARVER: While the outcome of Copenhagen negotiations on limiting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions was disappointing, 2009 saw good progress on restricting emissions.