Matthew Berger, Author at Toward Freedom

Honduras: U.S. Criticised for Recognising Post-Coup Poll

Matthew Berger December 1, 2009 Matthew Berger

(IPS) – On a sunny Sunday afternoon in Washington, DC’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, about 50 protestors lined up outside a polling station where voting was taking place to help select the next leader of a country almost 3,000 kilometres away.

Monday, in Foggy Bottom, the controversial U.S. policy of recognising the results of the Honduran elections remained unchanged.

"We recognise that there are results in Honduras for this election…We recognise those results," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela told reporters Monday. read more

Pipeline Renews Debate on Sea-Dumped Chemical Weapons

Matthew Berger October 27, 2009 Matthew Berger

Source: IPS News

(IPS) – On Sep. 24, a beachgoer near Swansea, Wales reported a piece of military equipment washed up on the shore. Three days later, the two members of the team that had showed up to dispose of the shell developed symptoms compatible with mustard gas – a chemical warfare agent used in the two world wars and other conflicts.

Concern over sea-dumped chemical weapons such as the mustards that washed up in Wales is growing, particularly in the Baltic Sea – the site of the dumping of 40,000 tonnes of surplus and seized chemical weapons in the years following World War II and the proposed site of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline connecting Russia and Germany.

Following presentations at the U.N. last week and meetings on Capitol Hill later this week, Vaidotas Verba, Lithuania’s ambassador to the Netherlands and to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, hopes to spread awareness of this sea-borne hazard and build momentum for a draft resolution to be presented at the U.N. General Assembly next fall. read more