Before taking action, Reporters Without Borders researchers, who each handle a region (Africa, the Americas, Asia/Pacific, Europe and the former Soviet bloc, Middle East/ North Africa) or a topic such as the Internet, compile reports of press freedom violations. After checking the information, the researchers and the organisations’ correspondents send protest letters to the authorities to put pressure on governments which do not respect the right to inform and to be informed, and send releases to the media to drum up support for the journalists under attack.
A new Cold War between Russia and the United States?: NPR special report
Submitted by glodotorg on Mon, 03/05/2007 - 23:31From npr.org:
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Boris Nemtsov, a top pro-Western reformer in the 1990s, says that's because Putin and his allies think other countries are run just like Russia, and that in a powerful country such as the United States, the government must have control of the judicial system and the media. "No independent court system, no opposition, no independence of press," Nemtsov says. "This is all a special cynical game against Russia. [Putin] believes in that." The U.S.
Psychological torture as damaging as physical torture
Submitted by glodotorg on Mon, 03/05/2007 - 21:21In a critique of the Bush Administration's methods of dealing with prisoners in its "war on terror", the American Medical Association, thru the Archives of General Psychiatry, has released a report on how damaging psychological torture can be for its recipients.
Middle East Online
A clearing house of opinion and news about and from the Middle East published in London.
Rami Khouri: Diplomacy breaking out all over the Middle East
Submitted by glodotorg on Sat, 03/03/2007 - 22:36From SUSRIS:
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I suspect that all this movement reflects a growing realization that everybody will lose if things continue on their present trajectory in the Middle East.
Rami Khouri: Look West for the seeds of Middle East violence
Submitted by glodotorg on Sat, 03/03/2007 - 22:27From the Palestine Chronicle and middle-east-online.com:
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I had the pleasure this week of spending a few days in Doha and Dubai, two booming Gulf emirates that contrast sharply with the tensions and occasional turbulence of my home in Beirut.
And the war to follow: The battle for Lebanon's soul
Submitted by glodotorg on Sat, 03/03/2007 - 22:21From Newsweek International (August 14, 2006):
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This face-off will transcend borders, for it is a microcosm of the wider struggle in the Middle East. On one side is the American-led West and Israel, with some very quiet Arab allies; on the other is the movement to affirm an Arab-Iranian-Islamist identity. The ultimate contest will be the confrontation over Iran's nuclear program, followed by the ongoing tug of war over Hamas's democratic incumbency in the Palestinian territories.
Fresh Air Interview with Rami Khouri
Submitted by glodotorg on Sat, 03/03/2007 - 22:16From Fresh Air (March 31, 2005):
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(Rami Khouri)Rami Khouri is Palestinian-Jordanian, with a U.S. citizenship. He is an internationally syndicated political columnist and the host of Encounter, a weekly current affairs talk show on Jordan Television. He also hosts a weekly radio program, and he spent the 2001 academic year at Harvard University as a Nieman Fellow. He was editor-in-chief for the Jordan Times newspaper for seven years. He often comments on Middle East issues for the BBC, NPR and CNN.
Walking the walk: falacies in America's plan to democratize the Middle East
Submitted by glodotorg on Sat, 03/03/2007 - 22:00From Newsweek International (June 5, 2006):
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The view from the Arab world is rather different, based on our own history rather than imagined futures. Since Napoleon's conquest of Egypt two centuries ago, most of us have doubted the sincerity, legitimacy and efficacy of the Western armies that regularly march into our lands to deliver modernity through the muzzle of a French musket or the barrel of an M-1 tank.
Brazil and the United States: An OPEC for Ethanol?
Submitted by glodotorg on Sat, 03/03/2007 - 21:47
Some of the protesters carried stalks of sugarcane, the crop used to make ethanol. They fear their country will be exploited. “Bush and the United States go to war to control oil reserves, and now Bush and his pals are trying to control the production of ethanol in Brazil. And that has to be stopped," said Suzanne Pereira dos Santos, an activist with Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement. In Brazil, 80 percent of cars run on ethanol.
