Opinion and Analysis Archive

16.10.2006 "We know that the U.S. did support a military coup, which briefly overthrew President Chavez and the U.S. had to back down when he was restored quickly....In almost all of Latin America, there was a very angry reaction. They take democracy there more seriously then we do here." Noam Chomsky responds to an audience member's question at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently.

16.10.2006 An environmental study was recently published for the Pacs nuclear power plant in Hungary, located about 100 km from the Croatian border. The environmental group Zelena akcija believes that the study is incomplete and demands that it be amended with appropriate information.
From: Zelena akcija

14.10.2006 We need a new global vision that ensures the gains from globalization are more widely shared, said India's prime minister in an inspirational speech at the University of Cambridge Wednesday.
From: The Hindu

14.10.2006 A recent conference in Mexico aimed to raise the profile of renewable energy initiatives to demonstrate their economic and environmental potential to policy makers and pursestring-pullers.

13.10.2006 The global economy continued to expand in 2005, says the Earth Policy Institute's Elizabeth Mygatt, but inequality continues to breed instability and strong economic numbers do not account for the ecological damage associated with them.

12.10.2006 Since a diplomatic row began between Russia and Georgia in early October, people with Georgian backgrounds have faced repeated document checks, interrogations, fingerprinting, and deportation.

12.10.2006 As the convicted bomber of a Cuban airliner continues to enjoy U.S. protection on the 30th anniversary of his terrorist act, Nicaraguan former foreign minister Miguel d’Escoto Brockman ponders the hypocrisy of the Bush administration's "war on terror."

11.10.2006 The U.S. debate on climate change is shifting from whether to do something about the problem to what to do. While many are focused on "cap and trade" schemes, a much better strategy would be to emulate what worked to protect the ozone layer, says researcher Hoff Stauffer.

11.10.2006 The number and variety of civil society organisations in China has "significantly increased" since the 1990s, a new report says, with particularly strong representation in the fields of environmental protection, poverty alleviation, trade promotion, and community development, but very little human rights advocacy.

07.10.2006 Nigeria has been producing oil for decades, yet Nigerians remain as poor as their forefathers. A new producer, Chad had quickly veered from its plan to put oil revenues toward development. Now Liberia has begun oil exploration. Emira Woods looks at Africa's crude problem.

04.10.2006 Arms control expert Daryl G. Kimball outlines a strategy for balancing countries' "rights" to peaceful nuclear pursuits with their overriding responsibility to prevent nuclear anarchy.
From: Arms Control Association

03.10.2006 Kofi Annan has been more supportive of human rights than any Secretary-General in UN history, said a leading rights watchdog group Tuesday, but the world body's new leader must finish the job of making human rights the third pillar of the UN system, along with security and development.
From: Human Rights Watch

03.10.2006 For transnational mining conglomerates, like GlamisGold, it's a business that pays: the worldwide demand for silver and gold is as keen as seldom before. But many local communities are not so keen on gold mining.

03.10.2006 As U.S. population passes the 300 million mark, the Amazon rainforest is in its second year of severe drought, which could have disastrous consequences for life on the planet. The Population Media Center outlines how these issues are related, and what it's doing to help solve the problem.