Talk Nation Radio for April 7, 2011 Mazin Qumsiyeh on Popular Resistance in Palestine US Media Overlooks Peaceful Palestinian Protest Movement amid so-called Arab Spring
Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in Palestine. This week's show is a recording of his talk delivered at the University of Connecticut March 23rd at UCONN, Storrs, CT COOP, bookstore.
TRT: 29:13 Produced by, Dori Smith, Storrs, CT Download at Pacifica's Audioport here or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org
Professor Mazin B. Qumsiyeh visited his Alma mater, the University of Connecticut, in Storrs, CT, as one stop on his US book tour with his latest work, Popular Resistance in Palestine, A History of Hope and Empowerment. (Available here)He studied as an undergraduate at the UCONN campus and was well received there. There is also a tape with audience questions available for interested broadcast outlets.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Professor Mazin B. Qumsiyeh serves as chairman of the board of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People and coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Sahour. He described his personal history of activism and also that of his ancestors in Palestine. Dr. Qumsiyeh is also author of, Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle. (Still available here) He was arrested in March of 2011 for protesting the Israeli occupation, the separation wall, new illegal settlement building by Israel, and ongoing repression of Palestinians. He described his commitment to non-violence as founded in the principles of Mahatma Gandhi.
Despite the so called Arab Spring in the Middle East and North Africa, Palestinian activists working non violently for their democratic rights have gotten little or no media coverage in American corporate press outlets.
Palestinians have in fact a very long history of non-violent protest, and had Professor Qumsiyeh been an activist working for peace and democratic rights in Tripoli, Libya, rather than Jerusalem, Palestine, his name might be more widely recognized in America. Had he been active in working to fight repression in Egypt, Yemen, Syria, or even China, Prof. Qumsiyeh's work might be under discussion at major US universities. He nevertheless continues to tell the history of Israel, Palestine, the US and UK, to all who are willing to listen.
Talk Nation Radio for March 31, 2011 FBI Surveillance 1960s style, David Holthouse, Maureen Murphy Ignoring the Threats from the Right while Spying on the Peaceful Left
TRT:29:00 (26.6 M) Produced by, Dori Smith in Storrs, CT Download at Pacifica’s Audioport here And at Radio4all.net and Archive.org
Human rights activists, peace activists and environmentalists, hoped for change under Obama/Biden but the same kind of targeted surveillance campaigns and invasive FBI tactics appear to be surfacing under the present administration that were a problem under the Bush/Cheney administration. They are being mentioned in the same breath as the KKK by the chair of a Congressional Committee on Homeland Security, and the media appears willing to help the government by downplaying the threat from the right and accepting the policy of surveillance against the left without just cause. The tactics date back to the 1960s when anti war activists were subjected to COINTELPRO operations, FBI surveillance and pressure from grand juries. Are progressives, leftists, even moderates, being targeted while dangerous right wing activists are not?
There are events planned for April to protest wars at home and abroad and you can learn more at UNACPEACE.org.
We speak with investigative journalist David Holthouseabout his piece, Lone Wolves: A Recent History of Violent Right-Wing Extremism. It was featured on the Media Matters web page. We speak with him about the piece in the context of Congressional hearings called by Representative King, chair of the Homeland Security Committee in the House. Even as King hearings put pressure on Muslims and others in a broad set of rhetorical charges, there has been a big increase recently of militancy on the right. We look at real versus politically expedient to talk about threats to America.
Then, Maureen Murphy, joins us. She is the managing editor at the news outlet, Electronic Intifada. Maureen Murphy is one of 23 activists in Chicago and Minneapolis to be targeted by the FBI for their Palestine solidarity activism. The original subpoenas were issued in September but when the activists including Maureen Murphy refused to provide any information to the FBI they were called before a grand jury. She discusses the threat to activists posed by the pressure to "talk" about other activists including some who live in countries where they might be at risk of being harmed.
Maureen Murphy also worked with the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq in Ramallah until she was unceremoniously deported by Israel in late May 2006. While in the occupied West Bank, Murphy investigated issues relevant to Palestinian culture, and in addition to the Electronic Intifada, her writing has been published by the Daily Star, Palestine Report, and her former stomping ground of F News magazine. She has also spent time living in Lebanon. Murphy graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a BA in Visual and Critical Studies in 2004.
Also, we hear clips of House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Peter King, who groups people together as “threats” and claimed Muslim Americans ought to work more with the FBI to inform on fellow Muslims who might be a threat, activists that have been working against political profiling, racism, and Anti Muslim activities, began to speak out. We hear a short audio montage of King’s original remarks that was aired by NPR and sounds from a group of anti-Muslim protesters outside hearing room who screamed at families as they walked in to testify before Congress.
Talk Nation Radio for March 24, 301 Richard Gage visits Hartford, Mazin Qumsiyeh visits Storrs, Connecticut Produced by John Schwenk, Host Dori Smith TRT:29:20 Download at Pacifica's Audioport here Or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org
First, engineer John Schwenk interviews architect Richard Gage about an upcoming event at the University of Hartford on March 26th, asking what really happened to Building 7.
Then Mazin Qumsiyeh answers Dori Smith's question about the US role in Libya. He comments on the hypocrisy of the US role given violence against civilians in other countries where the US is not working to prevent it such as Bahrain.
Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh spoke at the University of Connecticut's COOP Bookstore March 23, 2011 where he read from his new book, Popular Resistance in Palestine, A History of Hope and Empowerment. It was called” remarkable and brilliant” by Nur Masalha. Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine. He serves as chairman of the board of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People and coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Sahour. See book promo here at AJE.
The upcoming event at the University of Hartford will feature Bob McIlvaine and Manny Badillo, who lost family members on 9/11; New York University Professor Mark Crispin Miller, Professor Graeme MacQueen, Attorney William Pepper, journalist Leslie Griffin, author Dick Russell, mechanical engineer Tony Szamboti, and Underwriters Laboratories Whistleblower Kevin Ryan, and it runs all day Saturday at the University of Hartford's Millard Auditorium, in Hartford, Connecticut, John Schwenk mentions event in his interview with Richard Gage, to be held on March 26th from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. The program will kick off a new Internet and TV awareness campaign calling for a fresh investigation into what happened to Building 7, which was not hit by a plane on 9/11 but came down anyway. Sponsored by WWUH Radio 91.3 FM and BuildingWhat.org
Talk Nation Radio for afternoon of March 15, 2011 Michael Mariotte, Executive Director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service Special series, Japan goes Critical, part 3, audio below
UPDATES: 3/31 Japanese officials appear to have lost fight to "save" the Fukushima plant from full core meltdown according to one of the scientists involved in manufacturing it. See the Guardian here .
UPDATES: 3.31 Radiation found in milk in California where much of nation's dairy products come from and also Washington State, also farm country, especially for fruits, vegetables, and grain products. The particles include radioactive iodine 131. One can learn about preventative measures here as pdf file, and here. Media coverage tends to emphasize the "miniscule" amounts involved, yet radiation levels could rise as emissions from the plant continue daily. Fears have been growing in Japan where the plant continues to spew radiation and radioactive particles have been detected in water sources and in the soil in towns outside of the official exclusion zone. On Friday workers were not allowed to enter the plant as the nation's supply of radiation badges had been depleted according to NHK, Japanese Television Network airing on PBS in America. The plant seems to have continued to go critical according to scientists. See The Real News here. Japanese officials and the plant operators and owners at TEPCO are being encouraged to widen the evacuation zone as levels of radiation continue to rise. The NOVA episode for March 22, 2011, shows previously unseen footage of the Fukushima plant and the Tsunami that hit after the largest ever recorded earthquake in Japan March 11th. An estimated 28,000 people remain missing.
UPDATES Radioactive Iodine Releases from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Reactors May Exceed Those of Three Mile Island by Over 100,000 Times. IEER Press Release (March 25, 2011) PDF "While Chernobyl had one source of radioactivity, its reactor, there are seven leaking radiation sources at the Japanese site. Together, the three damaged reactors and four spent fuel pools at Fukushima Daiichi contain far more long-lived radioactivity, notably cesium-137, than the Chernobyl reactor".
Update: 3-25 News gets more clear about breach of core reactor at Plant 3. Here is NIRS update first. 11:00 am, Friday, March 25, 2011. Greenpeace Germany has released a statement that, according to an analysis of radiation releases by consultant Dr. Helmut Hirsch, Fukushima is now a Level 7 accident on the international scale (currently it is officially ranked as a Level 5, comparable to the Three Mile Island accident of 1979; Level 7 would make it comparable to Chernobyl). More here
March 21, 2011, NIRS UPDATE, Noon, Monday, March 21, 2011 Radiation doses at Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Daini, March 18-21, 2011. Obtained by Dr. Chris Busby at European Committee on Radiation Risk (ECCR). ECCR risk model predicts 120,000 cancers worldwide from Fukushima accident based on current known release
March 21, 2011: Dark smoke at plant 3 sent workers running. Evacuation followed, and radiation levels found to be higher than previously recorded in areas of Japan that were said to be javascript:void(0)safe. Al Jazeera English live blog update hereSee this dynamic debate on The Real News on nuclear energy featuring Daphne Wysham.
March 19, 201: Japanese fire fighters have been dousing the plant with water. Power has been restored to 5 and 6 plants, but 3 and 4 remain a problem.
March 17, 2011 NIRS update: PDF on Protective Measures from Radioactivity in North America here http://nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/protectivemeasuresfromradioactivity.pdf
The NIRS Alert Page here UPDATE, 6:15 pm (note: all Update times are Eastern U.S. time), Tuesday, March 15, 2011. We have just learned that TEPCO has announced that at 5:45 am Tokyo time (4:45 pm eastern us time) flames have appeared again at the northwest side of Fukushima Daiichi (Unit 4). According to TEPCO, it is impossible to go near the fire since the radiation is so high.
Update: SYDNEY (MarketWatch) -- "Another fire broke out at the No. 4 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Wednesday, according to reports, citing Tokyo Electric Power Co., or Tepco. The latest fire follows three explosions and one fire at the nuclear complex since last Friday, when a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the country. A fire on Tuesday at the No. 4 reactor was reportedly the cause of a spike in radiation levels around the plant." We will hear about the meltdown and core involvement at plant 2.
Cooling at plants still not achieved. Radiation threat high. Japanese officials having trouble with stabilizing population that has been devastated by the earthquakes and Tsunami. Another quake occurred Tuesday morning in the Tokyo region even as they were discovering some levels of radiation there. These levels have not been high, however, radiation levels at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has been very high.
TRT: 28:50 music fades long, 0:27 seconds Produced by Dori Smith and John Schwenk, Storrs, CT and Syndicated with Pacifica Network Download at Pacifica's Audioport here or at or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org.
Covered in this interview: -The latest on the nuclear plants in Japan, where things stand, what are the possibilities for best case versus worst case scenarios. -Global impacts from Japan nuclear power plant meltdown at core -Use of Potassium Iodine and Availability in North America in the event the Radioactive Plume makes it across the ocean to America? -Exposure at reactor core, Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant no. 2, involvement of three or four plants. -Potential for nuclear chain reactions.
Throughout Monday night in Japan, more risk of radioactive contamination. We’re joined by Michael Mariotte, Executive Director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. He is based in the US but he is in touch with colleagues in Japan and other parts of the world as they continually assess the risk posed by the meltdown at the Japanese nuclear plants. We’re going to be talking about the core involvement after one core was exposed. You can go to the web site www.NIRS.org for updates and information including a map provided by NOAA showing the direction of any radioactive plume. It is expected that at least some radiation will be affecting other countries, potentially America’s West Coast residents this week some time and NIRS and other agencies will be watching the clock and you should consult them for more specific information if you live on the West coast. “I think it is time for the US Government to have adequate nuclear monitoring capability so we will know if those plumes make it to America”. Michael Mariotte has also criticized the US for not making it more clear that Potassium Iodine has been stored and would be made available to residents who are at risk of contamination from across the ocean in Japan. Seismic activity has continued to impact the already devastated country of Japan. OnTuesday Morning March 15, 2011, there radiation was detected in Tokyo. Not long after that information was made public, there was news of another magnitude six earthquake near Tokyo. No reports of casualties or damage at this time. At the Fukushima plant contamination, fire, and radioactive releases. We asked Michael Mariotte to discuss what he knows. Michael Mariotte, Executive Director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service nirs.org
Talk Nation Radio special, Japan goes Critical Continued Dr. Arjun Makhijani on Anatomy of a Meltdown in Japan We hear expert scientific analysis of the ongoing Fukushima Nuclear power plant crisis.
Special to Talk Nation Radio, Japan Goes Critical part 2 Scroll to bottom for immediate update on exposed core from plant 3 explosion and crisis, can they avert worst case scenario? We are working on more audio from this interview now.
Dr. Arjun Makhijani on Japan Nuclear Crisis, Anatomy of Listen to the broadcast below and then scroll down the page as we post updates to this page above the active links. Please suggest that your local radio stations either air this broadcast or contact Prof. Makhijani for further information and updates on the dangers from radioactivity at the Japanese nuclear plants. Arjun Makhijani is present of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. He has a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, where he specialized in nuclear fusion. (Listen to part one of this series here, Michael Mariotte, Executive Director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Japan Goes Critical, Is it a Meltdown? What to do? What should we know?)
Dr. Arjun Makhijani, President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, and an engineer specializing in nuclear fusion. Arjun Makhijani is author of a study on energy conservation potential in the US economy. He is co author of the book, Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy, where he discusses a US economy based on renewable energy without fossil fuels or nuclear power, and principle editor and author of Nuclear Wastelands, and Mending the Ozone Hole published by MIT Press. Arjun Makhijani: 301-270-5500 (office) or 301-509-6843 (cell) Tell stations to look for his information online at Post-Tsunami Situation at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan: Facts, Analysis, and Some Potential Outcomes
URGENT, PLEASE SHARE: Arjun Makhijani suggests America learn an immediate lesson from events in Japan. At all US nuclear sites, the storage polls should be moved. See below:Dr. Makhijani has called on Japanese authorities to tell the world if the spent fuel pool structure is intact at unit 1 OF THE Fukushima power plant. “While Japanese authorities have stated that the reactor vessel is still intact, there has been no word regarding the status of the spent fuel pool structure, except indirectly (see below) Is it still intact? This is a critical question as to the range of potential consequences of the reactor accident.”
Update from Dr. Makhijani from early Mon. 3-14-2011: Post-Tsunami Situation at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan: Facts, Analysis, and Some Potential Outcomes: Unit 3, which also appears to have had similar problems as Unit 1, whose fuel includes mixed plutonium oxide uranium oxide fuel (“MOX fuel”) first went critical in 1976. Both reactors are of the Mark 1 Boiling Water Design. They do not have the sturdy secondary containment buildings of concrete that is several feet thick typical of later reactor designs. (March 14, 6:30 a.m. note: Unit 3 has also experienced an explosion and Unit 2 appears to have lost cooling. The problems described here would likely apply to Unit 3; Unit 2 may be headed to similar problems.)
Updating concerns about the containment pool that were expressed in this broadcast, On 3-14-2011 he writes: An explosion associated with Unit 1 occurred on March 12, at 3:36 p.m. (TEPCO press release, March 13, 2011 of 9pm Japan time.) At first the authorities stated that this was in the turbine building next to the reactor building. However, it is the reactor building rook and part of the walls near the roof that were completely blown off leaving only a steel skeleton at the top of the building. This indicates an explosion inside the reactor building – probably a hydrogen explosion, since hydrogen is much lighter than air, it would accumulate near the top of the building. The explosion therefore seems to have occurred near the level where the spent fuel pool would be located in a Mark 1 reactor.
3-13-2011: 1:30 PM: Dr. Arjun Makhijani updates his concerns: “I am very concerned about the damage that the explosion did to the spent fuel pool where all of this highly radioactive used fuel is stored. And if that is uncovered and if there is steam around that, that can also generate hydrogen and that can in extreme circumstances also catch fire. So it’s not clear to me that the radioactivity after the explosion was coming only from the reactor. I think it may have been coming from the spent fuel pool, and or, from the reactor. But because we can’t inspect the insides now it’s really impossible to tell and whether the spent fuel pool has been damaged, and whether there are cracks in the reactor, although the vessel is more or less intact, it’s very hard to tell”.
URGENT PLEASE SHARE WIDELY: The United States should move as much spent fuel out of the pools as possible into hardened and secure dry storage. The tragedy in Japan is also a reminder that making plutonium and fission products just to boil water (which is what a nuclear reactor does) is not a prudent approach to electricity generation. While existing reactors will be needed to maintain the stability of electricity supply for some time (as is also evident from the earthquake-tsunami catastrophe in Japan), new reactor projects should be halted and existing reactors should be phased out along with coal and oil. It is possible to do so economically in the next few decades, while maintaining the reliability of the electricity system and greatly improving its security, as I have shown in my book Carbon-Free and Nuclear Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy published in 2007, and in subsequent work that can be found on the IEER website, www.ieer.org. Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free can be downloaded free here.
Workers have been scrambling to cool three reactors and there have been reports that one or more was semi critical or under going meltdown at various times during the weekend. A high alert is in place still for plants 1 and 3 but plant 2 is said to now be more stable. Workers are trying to find the source of radioactivity being detected there however, and Japanese are officials calling the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear plant instability, the worst crisis for Japan since WWII. We hear about the configurations of the plants, the kind of radioactivity they have, i.e., specifics of Plutonium and the dangers to people of Japan and other countries. Expect part two of this interview shortly. Photo from Reuters, picked up by AJE 3-12-2011)
Core exposed, www.nirs.org FACT SHEET ON FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT UPDATE 2:30 pm, Sunday, March 13, 2011. Tokyo Electric Power is reporting that some six feet of the core of Unit-3 remains uncovered and has been for some time despite efforts to pump water into the core. Tepco speculates there may be leaking pipes and water is not remaining in the core. A translation of part of the statement from our Japanese colleagues: "The fuel's integrity has been considerably compromised. We are assessing a considerably serious situation." UPDATE, 1 pm, Sunday, March 13, 2011. The International Atomic Energy Agency reports that a first-level (lowest-level) emergency has been declared at the three-unit Onagawa nuclear station north of Fukushima. Immediately after Friday’s earthquake a fire broke out at this facility, but it was said to have been extinguished fairly quickly. However, on Saturday, elevated radiation levels were measured at the Onagawa site (about 10 microSievert/hour or about 1 millirem/hour) for a few hours. The emergency was declared due to these elevated levels, but utility officials say the reactors there are under control.
Michael Mariotte, Executive Director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Japan Goes Critical, Is it a Meltdown? What to do? What should we know?
Sun. 3/13/11 Japan warning of second plant explosion could be imminent. Lost cooling at plant 3. BBC feed, "There's a failure of the valve at the No 3 reactor at Fukushima 1 power station. Not clear if this is cause of effect of the fact that gauge isn't showing rising water level".
7:00 through 8:00 PM EST CNN Headlines were. Meltdown Underway, then Meltdown Possible, then Officials tell IAEA the Core is Intact, What is really happening with Japanese Nuclear Reactor Cores? Clearly the information has not been adequate to international news and reporting services. We're doing our best to give you a sense of what is going on.
We speak with Michael Mariotte of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, NIRS about headline news on Japan's nuclear facilities that have begun to go critical. Japanese emergency workers at the plants have not been able to get the plants cooled despite applying sea water. From the NIRS site:FACT SHEET ON FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT PDF file
UPDATE, 5:30 pm, Saturday, March 12, 2011. Reuters reporting that Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 has lost cooling capability: This is of particular concern since, unlike all of the other reactors in trouble, Unit 3 has been using plutonium-based MOX (mixed oxide) fuel since September 10, 2010. Consequences of an accident at a MOX-powered reactor would be even more severe than at a more typical uranium-powered reactor.
UPDATE, 3:25 pm, Saturday, March 12, 2011. The International Atomic Energy Agency reports that a total of 140,000 people have now been evacuated from zones 20 kilometers around Fukushima Daiichi and 10 kilometers around Fukushima Daini. The IAEA says that evacuation has not been completed.
Talk Nation Radio for the week of March 2, 2011 Dahr Jamail, Uprisings and Oil in the Middle East
Plus his reporting on climate change, (the Number One Issue,) BP's disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and coverage from El Salvador for Al Jazeera English. See video interview here
3-09-2011 HEADLINE UPDATE: Reading from Al Jazeera's live blog we update headlines from their correspondents. Moammar Gadhafi continues to try to recapture Ras Lanuf which has been in the hands of rebels trying to oust Gadhafi. Gadhafi's warplanes have bombed the As Sidr oil facility in Ras Lanuf, setting it on fire. No word yet on any casualties. Gadhafi is now claiming that a no-fly zone might unite Libyans behind him. Gadhafi telling Turkish TV that the real goal of a no fly zone would be seizing oil fields.
Updated version here:
International journalist Dahr Jamail joins us to talk about the uprisings throughout the Middle East and North Africa. We talk about Libya, as neocons like former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Senator John McCain urge the White House to take military action there. Two US Naval vessels with 1,300 Marines on board has docked at a US base on Crete as Greek Communist Party members rally against the arrival of US forces according to AP.
U.S. President Barack Obama has said Moammar Gadhafi should step down. The US has considered a role in enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya. The U.S. has also sent warships through Egypt's Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea headed toward Libya. US Military leaders have said a no fly zone would require bombing of LIbya's anti aircraft installations.
In the meantime world financial markets are still reeling over protests in Libya that have resulted in a sharp increase in oil prices. Also, revelations continue about now embarrassing ties formed between Gadhafi and representatives of BP, Exxon, Carlyle Group, and other companies plus the London School of Economics. In June of 2010, the Libyan government backed a London hedge fund, according to The Independent, (Stephen Foley, Associate Business Editor).
Dahr Jamail writes for Al Jazeera English and Inter Press Service News. He has been reporting on the adverse health affects for those living near the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and organizing that has been going on in El Salvador where women are leading the way. His web page is http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com
Dahr Jamail is author of Beyond the Green Zone, Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq and The Will to Resist, Soldiers who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. During 2003 and 2004 as he covered the Iraq war as an unembedded journalist, Dahr Jamail heard many Iraqis complain about the lack of jobs, electricity, and clean drinking water in post occupation Iraq. Protesters in Iraq today have the same complaints.
Talk Nation Radio for February 24, 2011 Michael T. Klare on Libya, its People and its Oil A Perfect Storm for Oil, People, and Corporations
To what extent will the Obama administration be focusing on human rights for Libyans versus the need for oil?
World markets have become volatile in response to the uprising in Libya. The price of Brent oil, derived from the MidEast, was at $120.00 per gallon and rising when a rumor began to circulate that Gaddafi had been shot. Instantly, the markets began to recover, the first time they rose since the start of the week. Thus, the uprisings that began in Tripoli and surged through Yemen, Lebanon, Bahrain, Egypt, and Libya, have had a resounding impact world wide. Stock prices have plummeted as it became clear that Libyan oil in particular might not be available to the industry. We discuss the impact of oil on the global economy in context with potential scenarios impacting Libyans and others.
Michael T. Klare joins us to raise questions about US policy and what organizations might be able to help the people of Libya. There are growing challenges to the Obama administration and other major world powers to take action in response to violence in Libya.
(11:00 a.m. 2024-2011) There were gun battles in the industrial town of al-Zawiya and other towns in the southwest. Opposition members are now looking for Gadhafi whose loyalists are using force to try to hold on to territory.
Throughout his distinguished career, Professor Michael T. Klare has specialized in documenting the impact of resource wars on societies and US foreign and military policy. In January he warned of a global food and energy crisis. He is the author of thirteen books including Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet, Blood and Oil and Resource Wars, and a contributor to Harper's, Foreign Affairs, the Los Angeles Times.
Michael T. Klare is also the defense analyst for The Nation and director of the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA.
URL list for background, news on "Muammar Gaddafi"
See The Guardian Libya: David Cameron and Barack Obama discuss how to depose Gaddafi. Prime Minister David Cameron and US President Barack Obama on Thursday promised to "coordinate on possible multilateral measures on Libya," Mr Cameron's office said in a statement. 12:53AM GMT 25 Feb 2011
Of Interest: NYT story, October 11, 2006, ...this seems significant all of a sudden: All Libyan school children got a laptop through a special program set up by the brother of U.S. diplomat and military intelligence official, John Negroponte: "The project, which is intended to supply computers broadly to children in developing nations, was conceived in 2005 by a computer researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nicholas Negroponte. His goal is to design a wireless-connected laptop that will cost about $100 after the machines go into mass production next year."
"To date, Mr. Negroponte, the brother of the United States intelligence director, John D. Negroponte, has reached tentative purchase agreements with Brazil, Argentina, Nigeria and Thailand, and has struck a manufacturing deal with Quanta Computer Inc., a Taiwanese computer maker."
Talk Nation Radio for February 2, 2011 Journalist Heiko Wimmen on Lebanon, Transitional Political Figures
Scholar and journalist Heiko Wimmen provides an overview of the political landscape. He has covered Lebanese politics for German print and broadcast media since the late 1990s and is author of “The Long, Steep Fall of the Lebanon Tribunal,” published in Middle East Report Online, December 1, 2010.
TRT:28:59 Produced by Dori Smith, Storrs, CT Download at Pacifica's Audioport here: Or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org
Lebanon is fracturing along sectarian lines in wake of transition from Hariri to new PM Najib Miqati who is still putting together his cabinet. The process is heavily impacted by the special tribunal set up with US support. Leaks abound, so does confusion.
Next time on Talk Nation Radio, another feature on Lebanon. An interview with Marc J. Sirois, who has been covering the Middle East, based in Lebanon, since 1997. Over many years as managing editor of The Daily Star newspaper in Beirut, he has trained dozens of journalists now working around the world. Currently a freelancer and consultant for several organizations, he’s also available for training seminars and public speaking engagements.
Talk Nation Radio for February 3, 2011 CT Guard Troops to Egypt, Phyllis Bennis, John Pike of Global Security
(Photo by Ben Curtis, AP) Plus an interview with Col. John Whitford of the Connecticut National Guard. He discusses the deployment of US troops to Egypt for reconnaissance and resupply missions. They are based in Egypt and will join guard members from other states. We get Updates on Egypt, Israel and Palestine. John Pike of Global Security dot org talks about the US Military's joint operations with Egypt over the years. We go over the headlines.
TRT: 29:24 Produced by Dori Smith in Storrs, CT Download at Pacifica's Audioport here or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org
We are seeing media coverage about popular uprisings in Tunisia, Lebanon, Egypt, and Yemen. When it comes to occupied Palestine, though, very little coverage over many years. We discuss headlines about the new protest movement in context with existing efforts in Palestine. And we talk about the meaning of the Wikileaks documents, plus, what the Obama administration should do about Israel and Palestine.
Phyllis Bennis is a Steering Committee member of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies as well as the director of the New Internationalism Project. Her most recent books include Understanding the Palestinian Israeli Conflict, and Understanding the US-Iran Crisis. See Palestine Papers at Al Jazeera here.
Talk Nation Radio for January 13, 2011 Jordan Flaherty, on Community Organizers Making a Difference in New Orleans An interview with the author of the book, Floodlines, Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six TRT: 29:25 Produced by Dori Smith Download at Pacifica’s Audioport here or at Archive.org and Radio4all.net Music: by Fritz Heede
We’re joined by writer and activist Jordan Flaherty, for a discussion about his book, Floodlines, Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six. His award winning reporting from the Gulf Coast has appeared in many publications including the New York Times, Mother Jones, and Argentina’s Clarin Newspaper, and he has produced segments for Democracy Now, Al Jazeera, and TeleSur. Published in 2010 by Haymarket Books, Floodlines is about what New Orleans was before Katrina, and what it has become since. It is partly a diary of the storm and partly an offering of stories about individual activists and groups that are still working on behalf of communities at risk.
On page 185 Jordan Flaherty writes about Brad Pitt, a famous actor whose work has actually been making a big difference in the rebuilding of the 9th Ward. That is more the exception than the rule for the high profile individuals and organizations that showed up to help after Katrina. The rich and famous arrived and so did major corporate backing. Work was rerouted away from the communities that had been doing it and handed to new workers, not in the unions. The major aid dollars gravitated toward the less needy rather than the most needy, and relief organizations like the Red Cross took the lead in describing events in post Katrina New Orleans, while many of the most effective organizations failed to receive media coverage or funds.
In Floodlines, Flaherty describes the work of the a wide variety of activists as he gets to the core of what makes New Orleans special, a unique history and diversity that had facilitated a neighbor helps neighbor approach. Sadly, the most needy victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans have yet to receive the kind of aid that donors thought they would. African American home owners have been receiving less compensation for the same type of residences than white home owners. It's all part of a long standing condition of racism, and the impact of Katrina has been to set people back in terms of their age old challenges for equal rights. Five years after Katrina, writes Jordan Flaherty, about one in four residential addresses remained vacant.
The political landscape was also changed dramatically after Katrina, according to Jordan Flaherty. It is more white, more conservative, and less oriented around the community activists who worked hard to increase representation in areas like education, housing, jobs, and other types of resources. Less wealthy or well connected community organizations, unions, and social networks, have in many cases failed to qualify for the funding that should have been theirs.
We discuss some of the common themes for victims of Katrina, the earthquake in Haiti, and the BP oil disaster. The hardest hit survivors, the very people that donors wanted to help with their gifts, are still waiting for aid. In many cases they have not been able to return to New Orleans. At least 100,000 remain internally displaced after the storm.
From the Floodlines web page– Jordan Flaherty is a journalist and community organizer based in New Orleans. He was the first journalist with a national audience to write about the Jena Six case, and played an important role in bringing the story to worldwide attention. His post-Katrina writing in ColorLines Magazine shared a journalism award from New America Media for best Katrina-related coverage in the Ethnic press, his reporting has been featured in the New York Times, and audiences around the world have seen the news segments he’s produced for Al-Jazeera, TeleSur, GritTV, and Democracy Now.
Jordan has appeared as a guest on a wide range of television and radio shows, including CNN Morning, Anderson Cooper 360, CNN Headline News, Grit TV,and both local and nationally-syndicated shows on National Public Radio. He has been a regular correspondent or frequent guest on Democracy Now, Radio Nation on Air America, News and Notes, and many other outlets. As a white southerner who speaks honestly about race, Jordan Flaherty has been regularly published in Black progressive forums such as BlackCommentator.org and Black Agenda Report, and is a regular guest on Black radio stations and programs such as Keep Hope Alive With Reverend Jesse Jackson.
Jordan is an editor of Left Turn Magazine, a national publication dedicated to covering social movements. He has written about politics and culture for the Village Voice, New York Press, Labor Notes, Radical Society, and in several anthologies, including the South End Press books Live From Palestine and What Lies Beneath: Katrina, Race and the State of the Nation, the University of Georgia Press book What is a City, and the AK Press book Red State Rebels. more here
The playwrite Eve Ensler called Floodlines the most important one she had read about Katrina, saying quote, “In the tradition of Howard Zinn, this could be called A People’s History of the Storm”.
Naomi Klein says of Floodlines, "These remarkable stories of injustice and resistance must be heard."
Talk Nation Radio for January 6, 2011 US in Pakistan, Muhammad Idrees Ahmad reports
US Troops Could Enter Pakistan as Power Vacuum there Grows The Obama administration’s policy of increasing its use of military force to try to pressure the Taliban into bending to America’s will is failing, according to Muhammad Idrees Ahmad. Still the surge in Afghanistan seems to include sending US forces across the border. What are the ramifications of widening the already costly Afghan War? What are the U.S. drone attacks actually accomplishing? (Photo by Guardian)
Muhammad Idrees Ahmad provides important insights about the Pakistani people as the political parties divide and confidence in the government is at an all time low. The parties are losing members and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani could be forced to face a new election, according to the BBC. We discuss the assassination of the Punjab Governor in context with concerns about the climate of violence. (See Pulse for an interesting overview on the murder of Salmaan Taseer, including a videotaped interview with Rahimullah Yusufzai, editor of The News Magazine.) What have the Pakistani liberal versus conservative politicians been saying? Who do Pakistani's blame? What is the level of support for anti-U.S. factions? These and other questions are assessed by Muhammad Idrees Ahmad who is from the Northwest section of Pakistan.
Muhammad Idrees Ahmad is a scholar in the Department of Geography and Sociology at the University of Strathclyde and co-editor of Pulse Media. He is also a member of Spinwatch and writes about international media, foreign and military policy, and his native Pakistan.(http://pulsemedia.org editor@pulsemedia.org)
Links:
Our previous interview with Idrees Ahmad here is on U.S. drone attacks.
CBS News Report, Pakistan Drone attack victim plans to sue the CIA here. The Guardian report on the same story here.
Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in Palestine. This week's show is a recording of his talk delivered at the University of Connecticut March 23rd at UCONN, Storrs, CT COOP, bookstore. 
