Nexus - 1106 - New Times Magazine-pages

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... GLPBAL NEWS... NEWS ... information. Under the Global Intelligence Working Group that oversees the new network, police departments receive increased funding for surveillance activity. This has resulted in the recent COINTELPRO-style instances of police infiltration of groups critical of government policies. stage of food production. As fewer corpo- rations control food production, traditional farming is becoming a high-tech form of serfdom. Lack of competition is leading to higher prices, lower choice and quality, and also employee abuse. 34 countries from Canada to the bottom of South America. This deal is unlikely to meet its January 2005 deadline, now that the second-largest player in the negotia- tions, Brazil, is holding back. However, Brazilian President Lula has begun, of his own volition, to institute his own brand of FTAA austerity policies that are sure to drive the region's poor deeper into poverty. 20. Extreme weather prompts new warning from UN 17. US government represses Iraqi n 2003, the UN's World Meteorological labour unions in privatisation quest Organization reported unprecedented lhe US is calling for the privatisation of levels of extreme weather and climate state-owned Iraqi industries such as oil — occurrences all over the world. and water, but has chosen not to overturn Saddam-era edicts that outlaw unions. The 21. US forces GMOs on the world economic policies of occupying authorities lhe Bush administration is trying to are transforming Iraq's working people into force Europe to drop trade barriers a pool of low-waged, semi-employed against genetically modified organisms labour, desperate for jobs at any price. (GMOs). Meanwhile, the agricultural hin : 24. Reinstating the draft in the USA lhe Selective Service System (SSS), the Bush administration and the Pentagon have been quietly moving to fill draft board vacancies nationwide in order to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as 15 June 2005. Several million dollars have been added to the 2004 SSS budget. Meanwhile, through an ongoing militarisa- tion of public school systems, the Pentagon has begun efforts to double the number of Latinos in the US military by 2006. 21. US forces GMOs on the world lhe Bush administration is trying to force Europe to drop trade barriers against genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Meanwhile, the agricultural biotechnology industry is focusing even more intently on developing countries, where regulations governing GMO use are generally more lax. At the same time, biotech promoters continue to suppress studies that show GMOs may have adverse effects on health and the environment. 18. Media and government ignore dwindling oil supplies E” industry executives affirm that oil is close to reaching, or may have already reached, its highest levels of pro- duction potential. Once the peak is reached, oil prices will start to rise. As oil decline accelerates, prices will rise even faster, with devastating effects to the US economy. Over the years, US leaders, bowing to oil industry pressure, have not worked to develop viable alternatives. 25. Wal-Mart brings inequity and low prices to the world he vision of the international division of Wal-Mart is one where Wal-Mart becomes a global brand, just like McDonald's or Coca-Cola, monopolising the global retail market. The next five or six years could see about 5,000 to 6,000 Wal-Mart stores established outside the United States. Wal-Mart is Americanising retailing around the world and exercising an inordinate amount of economic power. (Source: Project Censored, Sonoma State University, California, USA, 4 September 2004, http://www.projectcensored.org. Note that all references relating to these items are available at the Project Censored website.) 22. Exporting censorship to Iraq fter the fall of Saddam Hussein, instead of hiring a media outlet to run the Iraqi media or simply allowing the news groups already there to continue reporting, the Pentagon chose a defence contractor to define the news. 19. Global food cartel is fast becoming the world's supermarket gribusiness and supermarket alliances are transforming the agri-food system into a powerful network of transnational corporations. They now have the power to control the world's food supply at every 23. Brazil opposes US-style FTAA, but provides little comfort for poor lhe Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) could become the biggest trad- ing bloc in history, expanding NAFTA to STUDIES PROVE WATER FLUORIDATION HAS NO BENEFIT ental examinations of 4,800 South Australian ten- to fifteen-year-olds' permanent teeth have revealed unexpected results—similar cavity rates whether the children drank fluoridated water or not— report Armfield and Spencer in the August 2004 issue of Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology. The children sampled lived in fluoridated and non-fluoridated metropolitan and rural areas of South Australia. Meanwhile, in the USA, a study has shown that pre-school children's tooth decay rates doubled after fluoridation became law in the state of Kentucky. In - 1! a Pie ( F "My fellow Americans: Due to a hectic week here at the White House, someone lost the key to the big warehouse that stores all the voting machines. Therefore, in the interests of responsible government, | am postponing the election until further notice. God bless." 8 = NEXUS www.nexusmagazine.com OCTOBER — NOVEMBER 2004