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26th August 06 - Kevin Watkins and Anders Berntell, The International Herald Tribune 'Whisky is for drinking, water is for fighting over," Mark Twain once said. At the start of the 21st century, his gloomy view on the water side of the equation has been getting endorsements from an impressive - if unlikely - cast of characters.
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26th August 2006, Thalif Deen, InterPress Service Expressing concern over the "pervasiveness of corruption" in the management of water, a coalition of six international non-governmental organisations has created a new global anti-corruption watchdog body: the Water Integrity Network (WIN). |
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You've seen or heard of Al Gore's movie. The pictures of Hurricane Katrina remain in the back of your mind. You've sweated through this record summer. You sense -- with just a bit of panic -- that there's really no problem more important in the long run than global warming. So what do you do?
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The collapse of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Round talks on July 24, 2006, should come as no surprise. A decade into the WTO experiment, it is clear that the WTO model of corporate globalization has not delivered the promised benefits of increased economic prosperity, while economic, social, and environmental conditions have worsened in many rich and poor countries alike. Because of this failed record, opposition has grown worldwide to the WTO model of globalization which as been driven by a narrow slice of corporate elites to suit their interests. The collapse of the Doha Round WTO expansion talks offers an extraordinary opportunity for a fundamental re-think of the direction of the global economy.
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As the border organizer for Sierra Club's Environmental Justice program, I bounce back and forth across the U.S.-Mexico border supporting grassroots environmental activists. More than the food, language, or currency, the biggest difference from one side to the other is what issues are considered "environmental." Perhaps nowhere else on earth is there such a long border between such a rich country and such a struggling one, and this disparity seems to carry over to which issues take priority. For example, Laguna La Escondida in Reynosa, Mexico, a water source for the surrounding community whose name means Hidden Lagoon, is also an important migratory bird stopover point. Reynosa citizens concerned about their environment are working to clean up the lagoon to protect their families' health from the waste dumped into its waters. Neighboring Texas citizens concerned about their environment are working to clean up the lagoon to prevent habitat destruction for hundreds of migratory birds. This binational effort is a terrific start, but it avoids confronting the issue of poverty. For all their goodwill and concern, the Texans' narrow focus on bird habitat prevents many of them from seeing the bigger problem -- human habitat. |
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11th August 06 - Fouad Siniora, Washingtom Post Israel Must Be Made to Respect International Law A military solution to Israel's savage war on Lebanon and the Lebanese people is both morally unacceptable and totally unrealistic. We in Lebanon call upon the international community and citizens everywhere to support my country's sovereignty and end this folly now. We also insist that Israel be made to respect international humanitarian law, including the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, which it has repeatedly and willfully violated. |
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 The United States, which pays 22 percent of the U.N.'s regular annual budget of 1.8 billion dollars, has arrogantly demanded a dominant voice in management and administration -- primarily because it is the biggest single financial contributor to the world body. "U.N. member states, and particularly its largest contributors, want to know if they are getting the most value for the dollars they contribute," says Mark P. Lagon, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary for international organisation affairs.
"People who look to the United Nations for help want to know that, too," he told the Committee on International Relations of the U.S. House of Representatives early this year.
But what he failed to tell the committee is what the United States, in turn, extracts from the United Nations -- financially and politically. |
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 Political planning is dominated by questions about the wealth of countries and the people who live in them. Governments want to know how powerful the Chinese economy will become, and when or if it will become larger than the United States economy. Will India become greater than either of them, and have the European powers relinquished their global dominance forever? In Sub-Saharan Africa, it is of evident developmental importance to know how long most of the population will live in extreme poverty. For your consideration, the present author will answer these questions and more, in the next half dozen paragraphs. Subject to some major uncertainties, of course.
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Is the Alaska Pipeline corroded? You bet it is. Has been for more than a decade. Did British Petroleum shut the pipe yesterday to turn a quick buck on its negligence, to profit off the disaster it created? Just ask the "smart pig." Years ago, I had the unhappy job of leading an investigation of British Petroleum's management of the Alaska pipeline system. I was working for the Chugach villages, the Alaskan Natives who own the shoreline slimed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker grounding. Even then, courageous government inspectors and pipeline workers were screaming about corrosion all through the pipeline. I say "courageous" because BP, which owns 46% of the pipe and is supposed to manage the system, had a habit of hunting down and destroying the careers of those who warn of pipeline problems. |
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 Kaveh Afrasiabi interviews Noam Chompsky about the justification for the Israeli offensive in Lebanon and Palestine, the broader, historical picture behind the crisis and the possible outcomes of the war.
Kaveh Afrasiabi (KA): Do you agree with the argument that Israel's military offensive in Lebanon is "legally and morally justified?" Noam Chomsky (NC): The invasion itself is a serious breach of international law, and major war crimes are being committed as it proceeds. There is no legal justification. The "moral justification" is supposed to be that capturing soldiers in a cross-border raid, and killing others, is an outrageous crime. We know, for certain, that Israel, the United States and other Western governments, as well as the mainstream of articulate Western opinion, do not believe a word of that. Sufficient evidence is their tolerance for many years of US-backed Israeli crimes in Lebanon, including four invasions before this one, occupation in violation of Security Council orders for 22 years, and regular killings and abductions. To mention just one question that every journal should be answering: When did Nasrallah assume a leadership role? Answer: When the Rabin government escalated its crimes in Lebanon, murdering Sheikh Abbas Mussawi and his wife and child with missiles fired from a US helicopter. Nasrallah was chosen as his successor. Only one of innumerable cases. There is, after all, a good reason why last February, 70% of Lebanese called for the capture of Israeli soldiers for prisoner exchange. |
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