Yugoslavia: Off The Wall

On 28 June 1991, the Yugoslavian Federation fell off the wall. The Humpty-Dumpty of nations shattered into pieces, and years of civil war and domestic conflict blighted the now-independent countries of Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia. As the decade of the 1990?s waned, the Americans and their NATO allies helped in the continued destruction of Yugoslavia by assisting an ethnic Albanian minority to claim land and independence from what remained of Tito?s Cold War creation.

The Gulf War was still being celebrated during the final days of June 1991. Few people, especially Americans, paid any attention to Yugoslavia. Your correspondent was among the ignorant, reporting on the events in the Middle East and ignoring the crisis brewing in the Balkans until a fateful train ride on 28 June 1991.

The International Train

Iraq: 10 Years After Gulf War

Written by Stephen Zunes, Middle East EditorForeign Policy In Focus Editors: Tom Barry (IRC) and Martha Honey (IPS)

Key Points The U.S. effectively coddled Husseins dictatorial regime during the 1980s with economic and military aid, likely emboldening the invasion of Kuwait. The 1991 Gulf War forced the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait and led to an ongoing U.S. military presence in the region. Certain provisions of the cease-fire agreement, severe economic sanctions and ongoing military operations, have limited Iraqi sovereignty and have created a severe humanitarian crisis.

Ten years after the Gulf War, U.S. policy toward Iraq continues to suffer from an overreliance on military solutions, an abuse of the United Nations and international law, and a disregard for the human suffering resulting

Highlands Nature Sanctuary

There is an incredibly biologically special place, right here in Ohio. It's called the Highlands Nature Sanctuary. It had been known by its current name for 5-6 years. It's located in south central Ohio, in which (at least) three major bio-regions exist. It includes land where the glaciers came through, and stopped, (depositing seeds of plant species usually found further north), the western front of the Appalachian foothills, limestone bedrock of the west, and sandstone and shale of the east. All of these "edge" effects increase biodiversity exponentially-gifting the area with an extraordinarily high number of rare wildflowers, trees, and ferns. It is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the state, possibly in the country (ok, excluding the Everglades). Although the woodlands in this region have

Compiled News Updates

MEDICAL MARIJUANA RESEARCH FINALLY APPROVED

Source: Marijuana Policy Project http://www.mpp.org/, Marijuana Policy Report Vol. 7, No. 2 ? Spring 2001

(California) On June 13, a federal shipment of marijuana arrived at the San Mateo County Health Center for a medical marijuana study involving people with AIDS. The county will test the feasibility of allowing patients to take marijuana out of a hospital setting to smoke it for medical research. Assuming that there are no diversion problems or other drawbacks, the study? s subsequent phases may generate the clinical data needed to meet FDA?s requirements for the approval of marijuana as a prescription medicine. This study is unique in that it is being funded entirely by the county. (And it is the only study underway in the country.)

Iraq: 10 Years After Gulf War

Editors: Tom Barry (IRC) and Martha Honey (IPS)

Key Points The U.S. effectively coddled Husseins dictatorial regime during the 1980s with economic and military aid, likely emboldening the invasion of Kuwait. The 1991 Gulf War forced the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait and led to an ongoing U.S. military presence in the region. Certain provisions of the cease-fire agreement, severe economic sanctions and ongoing military operations, have limited Iraqi sovereignty and have created a severe humanitarian crisis.

Ten years after the Gulf War, U.S. policy toward Iraq continues to suffer from an overreliance on military solutions, an abuse of the United Nations and international law, and a disregard for the human suffering resulting

Rumors

AUSTIN -- On war, and rumors of war. In 1950, the United States got involved in a war and called it a police action. We are now involved a police action we're calling a war. The semantic confusion is having unfortunate effects on everyone.

As we bomb Afghanistan, Secretary of State Colin Powell is waging a diplomatic offensive in the region, including plans for a broad-based future government to include "moderate elements of the Taliban" -- an arresting concept. This must be as confusing to the Afghans as it is to us. However, it makes perfect sense in the context of a police action with limited aims and a substantial humanitarian commitment.

On anthrax and rumors of anthrax, television is showing symptoms of the Condit Syndrome -- a story with little news and a lot of speculation. After the Sept. 11 attacks, John Leonard, the television critic, wrote in Salon.com, "After a couple of days of doing what they do best, which is grief therapy, the television networks and cable channels reverted to what they do worst, which is to represent the normal respiration of democratic

The Televised Greatness of George W. Bush

President Bush's upward spike of popularity owes a lot to his presence on television -- a medium that has not always been so kind. At times, under pressure, he has earned many comparisons to a deer in headlights. But after a wobbly performance on Sept. 11, Bush got into a groove of seizing the TV opportunity and making the most of it.

Today's television environment is, more than ever, warmly hospitable to simple -- and simplistic -- declarative statements. That's just as well for Bush, who has shown a distinct tendency to get entangled in a morass of fragmentary linguistic riffs. Last year, on many occasions, he seemed painfully anxious to make his way to the end of sentences without further embarrassment. But now, for the most part, it's a very different story.

Stone Age

AUSTIN --- Afghanistan is to nation-building what Afghanistan is to war -- pretty much the last place on earth you'd choose, if you had any choice at all. I point this out not to oppose the idea, about which I think we have no choice, but to underline that the task is hard, long and incredibly complicated. President Bush has said that from the beginning, but it cannot be said too often.

There are some signs of what could become a dangerous division in what has been an unusually unified America since this crisis began, and they have to do with a class difference in information. To oversimplify, those who are getting their information from the Internet and/or a broad range of publications are having conversations with one another that are radically different from those heard on many radio talk shows. This is more than the simplistic jingoism that is a constant in American life; this is simplistic jingoism with a dangerously short attention span. The "let's nuke 'em" crowd is still looking for a short, simple solution, and there just isn't one. More stark evidence of this is the poll of Pakistanis just

Killing Them Softly -- Starvation and Dollar Bills for Afghan Kids

The Pentagon's air drops of food parcels and President Bush's plea for American children to aid Afghan kids with dollar bills will go down in history as two of the most cynical maneuvers of media manipulation in the early 21st century.

Many U.S. news outlets have been eager to play along. A New York Times editorial proclaimed that "Mr. Bush has wisely made providing humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people an integral part of American strategy." Four days later, on Oct. 12, the same newspaper still had nothing but praise for the U.S. government's food aid charades: "His reaffirmation of the need for humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan -- including donations from American children -- seemed heartfelt."

While thousands of kids across the United States stuff dollar bills into envelopes and mail them to the White House, the U.S. government continues a bombing campaign that is accelerating the momentum of mass starvation in Afghanistan.

Relief workers have voiced escalating alarm. Jonathan Patrick, an official with the humanitarian aid group Concern, minced no words. He

Whoever, whatever

AUSTIN, Texas -- Actually, this is pathetic.

And I say this as one who supported military action in the wake of the attacks. I still think we're dealing with a crime, not a war, but it wasn't a crime Interpol could solve. Who could we send but the military? If we could just find an enemy.

As The Onion put it, "U.S. Vows to Defeat Whoever It Is We're at War With." Here we are bombing not just a poor country, but quite likely the most miserable place on earth, and creating a tidal wave of starving refugees in the process. There has to be a better way.

Sissy Farenthold, the Mother Teresa of Texas liberalism, says her reaction to the attacks was, "If not now, when? (SET ITAL) When (END ITAL) are we going to try the law?" International law is not in a high state of development. Just bringing Slobodan Milosevic, a remarkably hideous specimen, to trial took several years. Nevertheless, when you stand back and look at it, the development of international law is one of the few things that will give you hope for Earth.

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