Free Internet Press Newsletter - Sunday October 29 2006 - (813)

Sunday October 29 2006 edition
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$7 Trillion: The Price Of Not Acting On Global Warming 2006-10-28 22:54:49 The British face the prospect of a welter of new green taxes to tackle climate change, as the most authoritative report on global warming warns it will cost the world up to £3.68 trillion (about US$7 trillion) unless it is tackled within a decade. The review by Sir Nicholas Stern, commissioned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and to be published Monday, marks a crucial point in the debate by underlining how failure to act would trigger a catastrophic global recession. Unchecked climate change would turn 200 million people into refugees, the largest migration in modern history, as their homes succumbed to drought or flood. Stern also warns that a successor to the Kyoto agreement on cutting greenhouse gas emissions should be signed next year, not by 2010/11 as planned. He forecasts that the world needs to spend 1 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP) - equivalent to about £184 billion ($365 billion) - dealing with climate change now, or face a bill between five and 20 times higher for damage caused by letting it continue. Unchecked climate change could thus cost as much as £566 ($1,000) for every man, woman and child now on the planet - roughly 6.5 billion people. Read The Full Story Google Defiant Over Censorship In China 2006-10-28 22:53:28 Google is to enter the political arena in earnest this week when it debates freedom of speech, intellectual property rights and how to connect Africa to the Internet at a special United Nations conference. The Silicon Valley giant will attempt to position itself as a force for change that can finance web entrepreneurs in the developing world, champion the rights of consumers against "over-zealous" copy-right laws and use the Web to protect diverse minority cultures and languages. But Google will declare itself unrepentant over the controversial decision to censor its search engine at the behest of Beijing. At the first Internet Governance Forum in Athens, Greece, starting Monday, the firm will insist its presence in China does more good than harm by getting more information to more people. That claim was firmly rejected last night by Amnesty International, which is five months into its joint campaign with The Observer, http://www.irrespresible.info , which calls for an end to online censorship and the persecution of bloggers. Read The Full Story Taliban Plan To Fight Through Winter To Throttle Kabul 2006-10-28 22:52:23 The Taliban are planning a major winter offensive combining their diverse factions in a push on the Afghan capital, Kabul, intelligence analysts and sources among the militia have revealed. The thrust will involve a concerted attempt to take control of surrounding provinces, a bid to cut the key commercial highway linking the capital with the eastern city of Jalalabad, and operations designed to tie down British and other NATO troops in the south. Last week NATO, with a force of 40,000 in the country including around 5,000 from Britain, said it had killed 48 more Taliban in areas thought to have been "cleared". "They have major attacks planned all the way through to the spring and are quite happy for their enemy to know it," a Pakistan-based source close to the militia told The Observer. "There will be no winter pause." The Taliban's fugitive leader, Mullah Omar, Saturday rejected overtures for peace talks from President Hamid Karzai and said it intended to try him in an Islamic court for the "massacre" of Afghan civilians. Read The Full Story How The Bush Family Makes A Killing From George W. Bush Presidency 2006-10-28 00:29:57 Intellpuke: The following column is written by Heather Wokusch and was posted on the Common Dreams Web site on Wednesday, Oct. 25. In it, Ms. Wokusch, the author of "The Progressives' Handbook: Get the Facts and Make a Difference Now", reveals the financial links of the Bush family and how having George W. Bush as president fattens the family's cash cow. Ms. Wokusch's column follows: Halliburton scored almost $1.2 billion in revenue from contracts related to Iraq in the third quarter of 2006, leading one analyst to comment: "Iraq was better than expected ... Overall, there is nothing really to question or be skeptical about. I think the results are very good." Very good indeed. An estimated 655,000 dead Iraqis, over 3,000 dead coalition troops, billions stolen from Iraq's coffers, a country battered by civil war - but Halliburton turned a profit, so the results are very good. Very good certainly for Vice President Dick Cheney, who resigned from Halliburton in 2000 with a $33.7 million retirement package (not bad for roughly four years of work). In a stunning conflict of interest, Cheney still holds more than 400,000 stock options in the company. Why pursue diplomacy when you can rake in a personal fortune from war? Yet Cheney isn't the only one who has benefited from the Bush administration's destructive policies. The Bush family has done quite nicely too. Just a few examples: Read The Full Story Housing Slump Sends Chill Through Economy 2006-10-28 00:28:12 The cooling housing market sent a chill through the economy in the third quarter, helping to slow growth to its weakest pace in more than three years, the government said Friday. The nation's gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced, expanded at a sluggish 1.6 percent annual rate in the quarter, down from a moderate 2.6 percent pace in the second quarter, the Commerce Department reported. In the first three months of the year, the economy grew at a sizzling 5.6 percent annual rate. With less than two weeks to go before the midterm congressional elections, the report instantly became campaign ammunition. Democrats emphasized the slowdown while Republicans highlighted signs of economic strength. Financial analysts were split on whether the report reflected an economy poised for a rebound or headed into a prolonged slump. The debate turns on differing forecasts of how the housing market will affect consumer spending. Read The Full Story U.N. Vote Paves Way For Arms Treaty 2006-10-28 00:26:09 An overwhelming United Nations vote paving the way to an arms trade treaty controlling the growing international trade in conventional weapons was welcomed enthusiastically Friday by Britain, human rights groups and aid organizations. The U.N. General Assembly's first committee, responsible for disarmament and international security, voted by 139 votes to one on Thursday in favor of the move. The British government has been at the forefront of those pressing for a treaty with Australia, Argentina, Costa Rica, Japan, Kenya and Finland. The move was opposed only by the U.S., and 24 countries, including Russia and China, abstained. Read The Full Story	Opinion: This Is Baghdad. What Could Be Worse? 2006-10-28 22:54:11 Intellpuke: The following opinion column - which is well worth taking the time to read - is written by Anthony Shadid, a Washington Post foreign correspondent, who won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He is the author of "Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War" (Picador). His column appears in the this Sunday's edition of the Washington Post. BAGHDAD There was an almost forgettable exchange earlier this month in the Iraqi National Assembly, itself on the fringe of relevance in today's disintegrating Iraq. Lawmakers debated whether legislation should be submitted to a committee to determine if it was compatible with Islam. Ideas were put forth, as well as criticism. Why not a committee to determine whether legislation endorses democratic principles? one asked. In stepped Mahmoud Mashadani, the assembly's speaker, to settle the dispute. "Any law or decision that goes against Islam, we'll put it under the kundara!" he thundered. "God is greatest!" lawmakers shouted back, in a rare moment of agreement between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. Kundara means shoe, and the bit of bluster by Mashadani said a lot about Baghdad today. It had been almost a year since I was in the Iraqi capital, where I worked as a reporter in the days of Saddam Hussein, the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, and the occupation, guerrilla war and religious resurgence that followed. On my return, it was difficult to grasp how atomized and violent the 1,250-year-old city has become. Even on the worst days, I had always found Baghdad's most redeeming quality to be its resilience, a tenacious refusal among people I met over three years to surrender to the chaos unleashed when the Americans arrived. That resilience is gone, overwhelmed by civil war, anarchy or whatever term could possibly fit. Baghdad now is convulsed by hatred, paralyzed by suspicion; fear has forced many to leave. Carnage its rhythm and despair its mantra, the capital, it seems, no longer embraces life. "A city of ghosts," a friend told me, her tone almost funereal. Read The Full Story Former British Chief Of Defense Says Afghanistan War Is Cuckoo 2006-10-28 22:52:59 Tony Blair's most trusted military commander Saturday branded as "cuckoo" the way Britain's overstretched army was sent into Afghanistan. The remarkable rebuke by General the Lord Guthrie came in an Observer interview, his first since quitting as Chief of Britain's Defense Staff five years ago, in which he made an impassioned plea for more troops, new equipment and more funds for a "very, very" over-committed army. The decision by Guthrie, an experienced Whitehall insider and Blair confidant, to go public is likely to alarm Downing Street and the Ministry of Defense (MoD) more than the recent public criticism by the current army chief Sir Richard Dannatt. "Anyone who thought this was going to be a picnic in Afghanistan - anyone who had read any history, anyone who knew the Afghans, or had seen the terrain, anyone who had thought about the Taliban resurgence, anyone who understood what was going on across the border in Baluchistan and Waziristan [should have known] - to launch the British army in with the numbers there are, while we're still going on in Iraq is cuckoo," said Guthrie. Read The Full Story Behind The Lines In Iraq Civil War 2006-10-28 00:30:35 Intellpuke: This article is well worth the read. Husham is standing on a street corner in his Sunni Baghdad neighborhood when his mobile phone rings. "Yes brother ... Two strangers ... Investigate and take measures," he mumbles. He is wearing a striped T-shirt and sandals, and carries a pistol in his right hand. Around him there are a half dozen fellow vigilantes carrying Kalashnikovs or wearing pistols tucked into their belts, eating their Itfar meals (to break the Ramadan fast) or sipping sweet tea. Suddenly, a white car carrying two men appears at the end of the street. Husham's men clutch their weapons but the car passes uneventfully. A few minutes later, the headlights come into view again. The car has turned and is driving back towards the highway. This time, another car appears from a side street almost hitting the first a few meters from Husham. Read The Full Story Democrats Get Late Donations From Business 2006-10-28 00:29:23 Corporate America is already thinking beyond Election Day, increasing its share of last-minute donations to Democratic candidates and quietly devising strategies for how to work with Democrats if they win control of Congress. The shift in political giving, for the first 18 days of October, has not been this pronounced in the final stages of a campaign since 1994, when Republicans swept control of the House for the first time in four decades. Though Democratic control of either chamber of Congress is far from certain, the prospect of a power shift is leading interest groups to begin rethinking well-established relationships, with business lobbyists going as far as finding potential Democratic allies in the freshman class - even if they are still trying to defeat them on the campaign trail - and preparing to extend an olive branch the morning after the election. Read The Full Story Search For Suspected Arsonist Grows With California Fire 2006-10-28 00:27:25 A wildfire that has consumed thousands of acres west of Palm Springs and has killed four U.S. Forest Service firefighters continued to roar Friday, fed by hot, fast and dry Santa Ana winds, while state and local officials boosted the reward to $500,000 to find the suspected arsonist who ignited the blaze. The Forest Service and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection are investigating the deaths, and on Friday a half-dozen investigators wearing yellow protective suits studied the steep dirt driveway of 15400 Gorgonio View Road. As a fierce wind whipped past the gutted house on a blackened hill above them, an investigator knelt down, then gestured at the canyon wall, from where the flames had come. Five Forest Service firefighters were trying to protect the house from the wildfire Thursday when the inferno suddenly overwhelmed them. Three died at the scene, and a fourth died soon afterward at a hospital. On Friday the fifth remained in grave condition, with more than 95 percent of his body burned. Read The Full Story Figures Reveal Europe Far Short In Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2006-10-28 00:25:35 The European Union, self-styled global champion in the battle against climate change, is falling woefully short of its targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and will need to take radical measures to achieve them, new projections have shown. The European commission said that, based on current measures and policies, the emissions of the E.U.'s original 15 members will be just 0.6% below 1990 levels by 2010. The E.U.-15 countries are committed under the Kyoto protocol to an 8% cut on 1990 levels by 2012. The new figures predict that emissions in 2010 will actually be 0.3% higher than they were in 2004. Read The Full Story
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