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Table of Contents


The Shameful Victory

by Alexander Cockburn The deal brokered by NATO's errand boy Viktor Chernomyrdin on June 2 was virtually identical to that offered by Slobodan Milosevic to NATO before the bombing started. The sole purpose of the bombing was to demonstrate to Serbia and to the world NATO's capacity to bomb, thus killing nearly 2,000 civilians, destroying much of Serbia's infrastructure, and prompting the forced expulsion and flight of around a million Kosovars


100,000 Serbs May Flee Kosovo

by Vesna Peric-Zimonjic Politicians and historians are foreseeing a repeat of the 1995 refugee crisis in Krajina, when more than 200,000 Serbs were expelled by Croatian troops from the land they had lived in for 400 years. Thousands of Serbian families are already moving north together with troops pulling out from the province under agreements reached last week between the commanders of NATO and the Yugoslav army, reports from Kosovo say


NATO Involvement Just Beginning

Analysis by Jim Lobe NATO leaders, having forced Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to yield to its demands after 72 days of bombing, must now address a whole new set of challenges that could lead them even deeper into a Balkan quagmire


KLA Militias Terrorize Kosovo Serbs

by Vesna Peric-Zimonjic "They carry weapons, they act like NATO has liberated Kosovo for them and they seek revenge" a Kosovo Serb told reporters


War Ends, Hate Continues

by Norman Solomon After 11 weeks of bombing Yugoslavia, top U.S. officials are pleased to take a virtuous bow in the media spotlight as refugees from Kosovo prepare to return home. With steadfast U.S. leadership, we're told, NATO forces of decency persevered and won. Yet few media commentators have explored how the bombing actually fitted into the region's recurring cycles of violence


How American PR Demonized the Serbs

by Peter Phillips So how has a phony photo of alleged Serbian death camp continued to be used to portray the Serbian government as an holocaust perpetrator in Kosovo? One part of the answer is that the American public relations firm Ruder Finn was originally hired by the Croatian sessionists, Bosnian Muslins and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) to foster negative images of the Serbs as nazi demons


Kosovo is Forecast of 21st Century Trends

by Walter Truett Anderson There is much speculation now about the future impacts of the Kosovo conflict, the precedents it sets: Will there be more "bombing wars," with the U.S. and other major powers seeking to achieve military goals without sending in ground troops? Will separatist movements around the world be emboldened to battle even more vigorously against national governments? Those are uncertainties; the certainty is that there will be more meddling. The world keeps getting smaller, the communications media keep making it easier for everybody to look over everybody else's shoulder


Clinton's Grim Legacy of the Kosovo War

by Christopher Caldwell Overturning the age-old American policy of fighting wars for the national interest, we now maintain that national interest would taint the moral purity of those waging the war. The danger is that such a doctrine turns all our wars into holy wars. Once we've established the lack of national interest, we've established our moral purity, and conscience need no longer intrude


NY Jury Verdict is Landmark for Police Accountability

Analysis By Farhan Haq The grisly month-long trial of five New York police officers on torture charges against an Haitian immigrant has ended with a mixed verdict -- but one which paved the way for a wider crackdown on police brutality


Senate Packs Funding Bill With Anti-Environment Riders

Including incentives for increased logging at Tongass National Forest in Alaska, preventing the reintroduction of grizzly bears in Idaho and Montana, and diversion of roads and trails fund to "improve forest health conditions," which could include selective logging


Bill Bradley Keeps His Distance

by David Corn There is something odd about Bradley, in that Gary Hart manner. As he's looking for millions of Americans to invest their hopes and dreams in him, he is trying to keep a significant part of himself far from the crowd. No doubt this stems from the fame that befell him early in life as a college basketball star. He once was a genuine celebrity. And that's a different beast from a political celebrity


Al Gore's Hillary Problem

by David Corn There's been much punditifying about the impact of Hillary's race on Gore's campaign. Outside of Gore spinners, no one seems to see how this could redound to Gore's advantage. Hillary will be a distraction, a magnet (if not a black hole) for money and media attention. Gore's chief challenge is stepping out of the shadow (or mudpit) created by Bill Clinton


Cox Report Will Backfire on U.S.

by George Koo The Cox Report may mark the beginning of the end of U.S. preeminence in science and technology. Coupled with the high-profile dismissal of Wen Ho Lee, the United States suddenly becomes a less than hospitable place for foreign-born scientists. Some have been dismissed from jobs in government labs, others are packing their bags to return home or go to the private sector


World #1 Terrorist Faces Execution -- or Diplomat Job

by Franz Schurmann The man who could be called the world's greatest terrorist is now facing trial on a prison islet in Turkey's beautiful Sea of Marmara. He is accused of killing 28,394 Turks, of 3,254 bombings and 20,915 terrorist actions. He is expected to be convicted and hanged. But he could just possibly end up alive -- and hailed as one of the greatest peacemakers in Middle Eastern history to boot


Cambodians Clear Landmines, Lose Farms

by Debra Boyce Amid allegations of financial impropriety and mismanagement swirling around Cambodia Mine Action Center in recent weeks, the agency has acknowledged that the beneficiaries of its "humanitarian" demining are not always poor Cambodians


Error 404: News Not Found in Your Daily Paper

Special report on guns: NRA myths and the easy availability of . 50 caliber semi-automatic cannons


Reading, Writing, Religion

by Nate Blakeslee On the fifteen-member Texas State Board of Education, Republicans hold a nine-to-six advantage over Democrats. But the crucial division is between the Christian conservative faction (which grew to six members in January) and the moderate Republicans and Democrats. Beginning in 1993, with the election of conservative Christian Bob Offutt, Christian activists -- with the help of a state Republican party machine they now firmly control -- have targeted Board of Education elections once largely ignored by both parties


49 Pakistani Children Await Hangman's Noose

by Ahmar Mustikhan A global human rights watchdog has blasted Pakistan for continuing to sentence children to death despite having signed a 1990 UN agreement, and for now having resentenced a 13-year-old child to death after his sentence was commuted earlier this year


New Army Aggression on Chiapas Villagers

by Pilar Franco Human rights groups denounced new military occupations of areas of southeastern Mexico inhabited by Native sympathizers of the EZLN. The town of La Realidad, considered the political stronghold of the Zapatista rebels in the southeastern state of Chiapas, was invaded by around 800 soldiers and police June 9, while 700 security agents, backed by helicopters, entered La Trinidad


Independent Book Stores Score Victory

by Tate Hausman When placed next to each other, the two words "Barnes" and "Noble" rarely give independent booksellers a reason to smile. That is, until June 2, when Barnes & Noble finally dropped its proposal to buy Ingram Book Group, America's largest book wholesaler. The deal collapsed only one day after the Federal Trade Commission decided that it might block the acquisition -- a decision made in large part because of a grassroots lobbying campaign organized by independent booksellers. Now the independents aren't just smiling, they're celebrating


Fresh Proof of "Operation Condor" Surfaces

by Danielle Knight The documents demonstrate that the head of DINA, now-retired Gen. Manuel Contreras, created Operation Condor to coordinate operations against the respective opponents -- real or suspected -- of the military regimes ruling several South American nations in the 1970s and 1980s


Genetic Link to Gulf War Syndrome Found

A genetic trait can predispose people to Gulf War syndrome, a new study has found, which shows why some veterans of the Gulf War may have gotten ill from certain chemical exposures while others did not.


AIDS Spreading Faster Worldwide

by Thalif Deen AIDS is spreading throughout the world at a rate three times faster than funding for ways to combat the killer disease, according to the United Nations


The New Corporate Predator

by Charles J. Reid Most Americans are frustrated by the gravity of the problem: legally, corporations have unlimited life, unlimited size, unlimited power, and a whole lot of license to control the political, economic, and cultural destinies and disparities of local communities and of the world. Having no conscience for the community, corporations remain focused solely on their own "rational" self interest in profit, respecting no human being that stands in their way, especially those lacking status, wealth, or power


Why Federal Hate Crimes Law Essential

By Judith Gorman Hate crimes are our dirty little secret, the worm in the American apple pie, the flip side to the American promise of equality for all. Hidden from public scrutiny, left in the dark, they thrive, like a fungus on the national consciousness. However abhorrent you find this act, don't look away


When "Funny" Remarks are Hate Speech

by Don Hazen A starlet's comments on the late-night talk show "Politically Incorrect" have infuriated homeless advocates who are worried about the dangers of treating people as if they are less than human and consider using such language as a kind of hate crime


Surprise Defeat for Big Steel

By Steve Chapman The Senate vote was the equivalent of dumping a bucket of ice water over the heads of steel management and labor, which have come to expect non-stop indulgence


More Over-reactions to Littleton Shootings

by Randolph T. Holhut Dr. Laura Schlessinger, the conservative radio talk show host and dispenser of family advice, says parents must snoop on their children because children have no right to privacy (or, for that matter, any other constitutional rights)


Hooray For Almost All of Us

by Molly Ivins As the sun shines upon our fair nation (rather strongly, what with global warming in the works), I would like to make my annual salute to the sheer wonderfulness of us all


Right-Wing Courts Run Berserk

by Molly Ivins What we have here is a rather clear instance of the growing menace of judicial activism by the very people who made judicial activism a swear word to begin with. Hey, when liberals were judicial activists, all the right- wingers said it was a terrible, horrible disgrace and had to be stopped before the nation was brought to its knees. Now that we've got right-wingers going berserk on the bench, we're all supposed to applaud and think it's dandy


Wal-Mart Bans Contraceptive

by Molly Ivins Wal-Mart is the second-largest drug retailer in the United States and has announced that it will not carry Preven. This is the first time that Wal-Mart has done this with any legal drug. According to pro-choice groups, this is a taste of the boycott pressure that anti-abortion groups will bring against RU-486 if it is approved


Defending Guns, Blaming Liberals

by Molly Ivins It is quite true that no law can assure that guns will not get into the hands of criminals and lunatics. But laws can make it much less likely that they will. The Brady law alone has kept tens of thousands of people with criminal or mental records from buying guns in just a few years


Not Your Average Summer Reading

by Molly Ivins We can find great shelves full of tripe in the bookstores about "Spirituality" -- whatever that means anymore -- and "Self-Help" for everyone who wants to straighten out his or her psyche, no matter which way it's bent. If I were in book marketing, I would sure have noticed by now that we're looking at a huge generation of aging baby boomers, and we can bet the farm that they'll all be facing death, loss, grief and a struggle for the spiritual resources to cope with same. Prozac and Viagra will get us only so far in this world


Single Issue Clinton Haters

by Molly Ivins The overturning of gun-control measures is a classic example of how a single-issue, high-intensity minority can drive the political system, no matter what the majority wants. Rep. Henry Hyde, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Bill McCollum of Florida simply re-wrote the Senate bill to take care of the NRA's objections, and the result is a nothing bill


The NRA Prepares For Another Grand Fit

by Molly Ivins As we all know, the horror in Littleton, Colo., was (among other things) a public relations nightmare for the gun lobby. While keeping a low public profile, the National Rifle Association has been rallying its members to pressure politicians in every way imaginable


A Failed, Unlovely War

by Molly Ivins From the beginning, I think the one thing that was clear was that this was a situation so complex it was neither morally nor militarily clear


New Study Debunks PBS Claim to be "Public" TV

by Norman Solomon Analyzing data from 75 separate programs during a two-week period in late 1998, Hoynes has assessed recent trends. It turns out that in the media world of PBS stations, things aren't as bad as they used to be. They're worse


Media Wields Power Over Candidates

by Norman Solomon Every modern presidential contest generates a lot of discussion about how the nation's most prominent journalists cover major candidates. But there's not much analysis of how candidates get along with the media conglomerates that employ those journalists. Politicians have long feared media power. And they've usually watched their steps to avoid tangling with it


The Sad Tale of KPFA

by Norman Solomon At a time when "public radio" routinely means a mish-mash of cautious mainstream programming, the station is an enduring symbol of feisty community radio. That's why you should care about KPFA's fate, even if you've never been within earshot of its transmitter


The Drug War Out of Control

by Alexander Cockburn All those present in a federal courtroom in San Francisco in mid-May were edified by the sight of a federal prosecutor getting off to a faltering start by having to admit that the government's prime witness and lead investigator -- Drug Enforcement Agency special agent Mark Nelson -- had committed perjury


How Vulnerable is Hillary?

by Alexander Cockburn If Hillary Rodham Clinton truly enters the New York Senate race against Mayor Rudy Giuliani, it will be the first time she'll be standing square in the sights as a candidate and forced to respond directly to all charges flung at her along the campaign trail


New Jersey's Louima Case

by Alexander Cockburn While the recent guilty plea of Justin Volpe in the Abner Louima torture trial in New York generated some headlines, an equally brutal incident in Irvington, N.J., has passed with no attention


Unabomber Participated in CIA Drug Tests as Student

by Alexander Cockburn As chairman of the Department of Social Relations at Harvard, Dr. Henry Murray zealously prosecuted the CIA's efforts to carry forward experiments in mind control conducted by Nazi doctors in the concentration camps. What did Dr. Murray give Kaczynski? Did the experiment's long-term effects help tilt him into the UnabomberŐs homicidal rampages? The CIA's mind- experiment program of those years was vast. How many other human time bombs were thus primed by CIA doctors? How many of them have exploded?



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