Global News and Analysis

 

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Vermont’s Radioactive Nightmare

Harvey Wasserman February 11, 2010 Harvey Wasserman

Like a decayed flotilla of rickety steamers, at least 27 of America’s 104 aging atomic reactors are known to be leaking radioactive tritium, which is linked to cancer if inhaled or ingested through the throat or skin. 

The fallout has been fiercest at Vermont Yankee, where a flood of cover-ups has infuriated and terrified near neighbors who say the reactor was never meant to operate more than 30 years, and must now shut. 

In 2007 one of Yankee’s 22 cooling towers simply collapsed due to rot.  read more

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Canada: Foundation for “Political Warfare” Takes Cue from U.S. Strategy

Anthony Fenton February 9, 2010 Anthony Fenton

Source: IPS News

 (IPS) – Indicating further integration with its closest neighbour and ally’s foreign policy priorities, the Canadian government is in the advanced stages of establishing a foundation to promote liberal democracy, akin to the controversial U.S. National Endowment for Democracy.

Last December, the minority Conservative government of Stephen Harper quietly tabled in parliament a bipartisan blue panel report titled, "Advisory Panel Report on the Creation of a Canadian Democracy Promotion Agency". The panel is recommending that the government create The Canadian Centre for Advancing Democracy, with a proposed budget of between 28 million and 65 million U.S. dollars per year. read more

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Vancouver Winter Olympics: A Festival of Corporate Greed

Roger Annis, Vancouver February 8, 2010 Roger Annis, Vancouver

Source: Green Left Weekly

On February 12, the corporate sporting behemoth known as the 21st Winter Olympic Games will open to great fanfare here. In a time of economic hardship and government cuts to social programs across Canada, huge sums of public money have been spent to stage this uber spectacle.

Billions of dollars have been spent constructing venues, a new convention center and airport terminal; widening and paving untold kilometers of roads and highways; building a hugely expensive rapid transit line connecting the city’s airport to its downtown; and erecting new hotels to serve the influx of corporate sponsors and spectators.

The hotel, travel, restaurant and real estate industries hope to make a killing off the influx of out-of-town spectators and partygoers. Construction companies have already earned hundreds of millions of dollars during the years of preparation furiously pouring concrete and asphalt. read more

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Chile: Activists Fear Setbacks Under Rightwing Government

Pamela Sepúlveda February 4, 2010 Pamela Sepúlveda

Source: IPS News

(IPS) – Trade unions and non-governmental organisations in Chile are worried that rightwing billionaire Sebastián Piñera’s election as president will mean setbacks in terms of social policy and respect for labour and social rights.

Statements by the conservative president-elect, who triumphed in the Jan. 17 runoff vote, with regard to overhauling state-owned enterprises to boost efficiency and adopting policies aimed at increasing economic growth, sparked concern among the labour movement, environmentalists, indigenous peoples’ associations and other social organisations. read more

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Drug Surveillance Drones Frequent Flyers in Latin America

Marcelo Ballve February 2, 2010 Marcelo Ballve

Source: New American Media

Drone aircraft are increasingly engaged in counterdrug missions over South American jungles and Mexican cities.

The drones represent the latest high-tech escalation of Latin America’s anti-drug efforts.

Unlike the U.S. military’s Predator drones used to shoot missiles at suspected terrorists in Pakistan’s tribal areas, the models known to be in use in Latin America limit their roles to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

Latin America’s unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs- as drones are known in aviation circles- are not known to have flown armed missions. read more