Tuesday, April 14, 2009

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  Analysis: Somalia Piracy Began in Response to Illegal Fishing and Toxic Dumping by Western Ships off Somali Coast

  President Obama vowed an international crackdown to halt piracy off the coast of Somalia Monday soon after the freeing of US cargo ship captain Richard Phillips, who had been held hostage by Somali pirates since last Wednesday. While the pirates story has dominated the corporate media, there has been little to no discussion of the root causes driving piracy. We speak with consultant and analyst Mohamed Abshir Waldo. In January, he wrote a paper titled “The Two Piracies in Somalia: Why the World Ignores the Other?” [includes rush transcript]

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  Peace Activists Arrested After Protesting US Drones in Nevada

  US drone bombings have reportedly killed 687 Pakistani civilians since 2006. During that time, US Predator drones carried out sixty strikes inside Pakistan, but hit just ten of their actual targets. Last week, a group of peace activists last week staged the first major act of civil disobedience against the drone attacks in the United States. Fourteen people were arrested outside the Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, where Air Force personnel pilot the unmanned drones used in Pakistan. We speak with longtime California peace activist Father Louis Vitale, who was among those arrested, and with Jeff Paterson of Courage to Resist. [includes rush transcript]

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  California Towns Fight Back Against Justice Department Suit to Overturn Youth Protection Act that Bars Military from Recruiting Minors

  Last November, residents of Eureka and Arcata passed a ballot initiative known as the Youth Protection Act that bars the US government from trying to enlist youths under the age of eighteen in any branch of the US armed forces. But just days after the laws went into effect, the Justice Department filed a suit seeking to overturn them. The Justice Department’s civil action says the initiatives are invalid because they conflict with federal law. Both towns are refusing to cave. They’ve hired lawyers and filed counter-claims challenging the federal government’s action.

THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES

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Monday, April 13, 2009

• Headlines for April 13, 2009
• Noam Chomsky on the Global Economic Crisis, Healthcare, US Foreign Policy and Resistance to American Empire

Friday, April 10, 2009

• Headlines for April 10, 2009
• A New Way Forward: Protests Scheduled Across the Country Calling on Banks to Nationalize, Reorganize, Decentralize
• The Challenge for Africa: Kenyan Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai on Obama, Climate Change and War
• Five Years After Helping to Expose Abu Ghraib Scandal, Christian Peacemaker Teams Continue Human Rights Work

Thursday, April 09, 2009

• Headlines for April 09, 2009
• “We Didn’t Create a Paradise in Iraq; We Created a Hell”–Independent Journalist Nir Rosen on 6th Anniversary of US Overthrow of Saddam Hussein
• With High Unemployment, Carolinas Reel from Economic Crisis
• North Carolina Town Prints Own Currency to Support Local Business
• Gun Control Advocates Call for Stricter Laws After Spate of Mass Shootings Leaves Nearly 60 Dead

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