Monday, January 31, 2011

EFF Uncovers Widespread FBI Intelligence Violations/In Russia, Defendants Find Justice Isn't Blind

Published on Monday, January 31, 2011 by Deeplinks Blog / EFF

EFF Uncovers Widespread FBI Intelligence Violations

by Mark Rumold

EFF has uncovered widespread violations stemming from FBI intelligence investigations from 2001 - 2008. In a report released today [1], EFF documents alarming trends in the Bureau's intelligence investigation practices, suggesting that FBI intelligence investigations have compromised the civil liberties of American citizens far more frequently, and to a greater extent, than was previously assumed.

Using documents obtained through EFF's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation [2], the report finds:

Evidence of delays of 2.5 years, on average, between the occurrence of a violation and its eventual reporting to the Intelligence Oversight Board
Reports of serious misconduct by FBI agents including lying in declarations to courts, using improper evidence to obtain grand jury subpoenas, and accessing password-protected files without a warrant
Indications that the FBI may have committed upwards of 40,000 possible intelligence violations in the 9 years since 9/11

EFF's report stems from analysis of nearly 2,500 pages of FBI documents, consisting of reports of FBI intelligence violations made to the Intelligence Oversight Board [3] - an independent, civilian intelligence-monitoring board that reports to the President on the legality of foreign and domestic intelligence operations. The documents constitute the most complete picture of post-9/11 FBI intelligence abuses available to the public. Our earlier analysis of the documents showed the FBI's arbitrary disclosure practices [4].

EFF's report underscores the need for greater transparency and oversight in the intelligence community. As part of our ongoing effort [5] to inform the public and elected officials about abusive intelligence investigations, we are distributing copies of the report to members of Congress.

A pdf copy of the report can be downloaded here [6].

Related Issues: FOIA Litigation for Accountable Government [7], National Security Letters [8], PATRIOT Act [9], Transparency [10]

Related Cases: FOIA: Intelligence Agencies' Misconduct Reports [11]

URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/01/31-0

in-russia-defendants-find-justice-isnt-blind

In Russia, Defendants Find Justice Isn't Blind

by David Greene

January 26, 2011

Innocent until proven guilty: It's a bedrock principle in Western democracies. Not so, it seems, in Russia, where defendants go to trial expecting to be found guilty. They're just hoping for a lenient sentence.

Jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky reacts after being sentenced on Dec. 30, 2010, to six more years in prison. Critics say the judicial system in the Khodorkovsky case worked just the way Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wanted it to.

Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

That's why few Russians were surprised when Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced last month to prison for a second term.

Once the head of a giant oil company, Khodorkovsky, 47, is now modern Russia's most famous prisoner. He spoke out against the Kremlin, was arrested and was sent to prison in 2003. Just as Khodorkovsky was about to complete that sentence, a judge convicted him in December of embezzlement and money laundering; he'll stay locked up in Siberia until 2017.

Khodorkovsky's 25-year-old son, Pavel Khodorkovsky, who lives in New York and hasn't seen his father in seven years, wishes more people paid attention to the case.

"My dad's case is a very good illustration of one simple fact: There is no rule of law, no working judicial system in Russia," he said in an interview last year.

Judges As An Extension Of Law Enforcement

Critics say the judicial system in the Khodorkovsky case worked just the way Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wanted it to. Days before Khodorkovsky's new conviction, Putin said on television that "a thief belongs in jail." It was almost as if he gave the judge a signal, instructing him on what to do.

Within the judiciary, you've got this sense of dependency that your career as a judge depends on your compliance with the way the system works.

- Alena Ledeneva, University College

In this case, and thousands of others across Russia, judges seem to behave like they are an extension of law enforcement. Prosecutors file charges, and it's a judge's job to convict rather than interfere.

Alena Ledeneva, a professor of Russian society and politics at University College London, said it's not just because of political pressure from above.

"It is pressure from within," she said. "Within the judiciary, you've got this sense of dependency that your career as a judge depends on your compliance with the way the system works."

Many Russians, she says, have no faith in the system. They assume that many judges are corrupt or will just side with the most powerful person in the room.

"People do not even expect otherwise," she said.

Tangled Up In The System

Consider these numbers: According to the Russian Supreme Court, of nearly 800,000 criminal defendants brought into federal courts during the first nine months of last year, 99.3 percent were convicted.

One former judge, Alexander Melikov, told NPR that the judges are not bad people. It's just that many have a "mindset that a court is a law enforcement body; it is not an institution there to protect citizens." When he tried to work outside the system around 2003 and '04, his superiors complained that his decisions were too lenient — and he was fired.

Andrei Grigoryev, 43, is a federal game warden, or forest ranger. After he chased after a hunting party last winter, he ended up being charged with abuse of power. He now faces four to 10 years in a Russian jail. Grigoryev fears he is falling victim to a Russian federal court system that convicts almost everyone.

Boris Ryzhak/NPR

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has acknowledged many of the problems -– government pressure, bribes and lack of faith in the system –- and has said he'll work to improve the system and give the courts their "rightful place" in Russian society. But he hasn't made clear when.

For Andrei Grigoryev, such a change couldn't come too soon.

Grigoryev works as a federal forest ranger near Zaraysk, a town two hours east of Moscow. The 43-year-old has a small frame, but he has a larger presence when he's in uniform, slicing through the landscape on a snowmobile.

A year ago, Grigoryev got a call that a group of hunters on snowmobiles were breaking the law, going after fox and deer in a wildlife preserve. At first, they fled, but then they turned and came after the officer.

"One of their snowmobiles knocked me down, hitting me in my right leg," he said. "I fell down in the snow. Another snowmobile sped by without stopping, and another rushed at me.

"I had a rifle with me. I shot in the air to stop him before he knocked me down again."

Finally, Grigoryev detained the hunting party, which included a local politician from Putin's United Russia Party. You're messing with the wrong bunch, they told him. Sure enough, by night's end, he was the one being arrested. The charge: abuse of power.

"The government investigator told me, my lawyer and the witnesses, 'You guys must not mess around. Very important people are interested in the case. And they want to put Andrei Grigoryev in prison.' "

Conflicting Accounts

The prosecutors, the government investigator and that politician all declined to be interviewed. But one of the hunters, Dmitri Karpeyenkov, did give his version of events.

"We were unarmed, just riding our snowmobiles," Karpeyenkov said. He added that his group didn't do any killing, so the forest ranger must have planted carcasses as evidence.

Karpeyenkov said he and his friends have not interfered with the trial in any way.

There are two sides to this story. Yet wherever the truth lies, Russia's court system is all but certain to convict Grigoryev. That's why he has been spending a lot of time in his home, bracing his family for the worst.

The trial opens Friday, and Grigoryev is facing between four and 10 years in prison. He would be leaving behind his wife, their 11-year-old daughter and his parents, who all live together.

"I think about it every day. I, my family, our daughter live in this shock for almost one year," his wife, Svetlana, said in a written message. "I hope for justice to our family. I am sure that my husband, Andrei, is innocent."

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

John Dear on the Creech 14 verdict

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/31-1

Published on Monday, January 31, 2011

The Verdict: Guilty of Protesting US Drones

by John Dear

On Thursday, thirteen of us stood in a Las Vegas courtroom to hear the verdict from Judge Jansen regarding our September trial for trespassing on April 9, 2009 at Creech Air Force Base, headquarters of the U.S. drone operations. Last September, the judge had dramatically announced that he would need at least three months to "think" about the case.

After telling us how "nice" it was to see us, the Judge presented each of us with a twenty page legal ruling explaining why he found us guilty. You argued a defense of necessity, he said, "when an inherent danger is present and immediate action must be taken," such as breaking a no-trespassing law to uphold a higher law and save life. "In this case, no inherent danger was present, and so I find you guilty."

Guilty! My friends and I have tried every legal means possible to stop our government from its terrorist drone bombing attacks on civilians in Afghanistan, and so we journeyed to the drone headquarters at Creech AFB near Las Vegas on Holy Thursday to kneel in prayer and beg for an end to the bombings. This nonviolent intervention is determined to be criminal-not the regular drone bombing attacks on children in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

I expected this ruling, but it was sad nonetheless. The judge missed a great opportunity to take a stand for justice and peace, to do the right thing, to help end terrorism. Instead, he sided with the war machine. Worse, he dismissed the loss of life caused by our drone attacks. It does not matter that civilians are being killed by our drones, he said in effect. Some lives are not worth as much as others, he ruled.

Before he sentenced us, we each spoke briefly about our action and why we crossed the line. This testimony was the best, most moving part of our ordeal, so I thought I would share excerpts from my co-defendants remarks.

Brian Terrell of the Catholic Worker told the judge that the evil work of Creech Air Force base does involve immediate, present danger-to the children and people of Afghanistan. He cited a recent interview with a young drone operator who sits in front of a computer screen at Creech. "The war is 7,000 miles away and the war is 18 inches away," the air force operator said. "7,000 miles, the distance from Creech to Afghanistan," Brian explained. "18 inches, the distance from his face to the screen. This distance is an illusion. And it's a very dangerous illusion. The purpose behind our action was to dispel that illusion because it is very close and the danger we were addressing was and is imminent."

Brian should know. He and Kathy Kelly were just back from a three week trip to Afghanistan where they met victims of U.S. drone attacks.

"In Afghanistan, I met a family displaced by a drone attack in the Helmand Province," Kathy Kelly told the judge. "One man showed me the photos of his children's bloodied corpses. The drone attack killed his spouse and his five children. In the Charahi Qambar refugee camp, I sat next to Juma Gul, a nine year old girl whose arm was amputated by the same drone attack. She was punished horribly even though she committed no crime. We want to be in solidarity with her."

"It's criminal for the U.S. to spend 2 billion dollars per week for war in Afghanistan that maims, kills and displaces innocent civilians who've meant us no harm," she said.

"I deplore the high tech technology used for mass killing which destroys and pollutes this sacred planet," Sister Megan Rice said. "I had to enter the base in order to obey higher orders. I have listened to the voice of the victims of drone warfare. These weapons are aptly named drones, predators, reapers. My entry into any place was and is an absolute necessity."

"We each have a responsibility to work for justice and to act in defense of human life," Libby Pappalardo said. "The use of drones has increased hatred and violence in our world. I have tried to work through the system, but it isn't enough. This is an emergency situation. Our country is worse off because of the violence of war and militarism. It's necessary to take this next step.

I will continue to struggle for human rights and nonviolence so that all the world's children can feel safe and embraced by peace and hope."

"I went to Creech to express my deep sorrow and outrage over the fact that my country was engaged in what I believe were acts of terrorism in the use of drones against my brothers and sisters," Eve Tetaz said. "I cannot remain silent. I think of Moses' words: ‘I set before you this day life and death, good and evil. Therefore, choose life that you and your family may live.' It is my prayer that you will be with us in speaking this truth to justice, that one day our nation will lead the world in the attempt to turn swords into plowshares and learn war no more so that the God of peace, mercy, justice and compassion will bring about law and justice. I invite you and all those who are present in the court to join us."

"As a veteran, I care about our guys over there," Dennis DuVall said. "Every time there's a drone strike, most of the victims are innocent women and children and old men like me. The younger men are considered militants. Each attack results in revenge attacks."

"Last Spring I was in New York City during the nuclear disarmament march in Times Square when a car bomb was almost detonated. It's ironic that I was protesting drone warfare at Creech AFB where they're directing drone attacks and a year later I was almost an unwitting victim of a revenge car bomb attempt in Times Square. The young man who built the bomb, Faisal Shazad, said he was motivated by drone attacks against Pakistan. There is a greater harm. If this isn't necessity, what the hell is? We cannot run from the consequences of our drone air war 7000 miles away. Eventually, it's going to come home to us. We're going to be the victims."

"We are attacking people in an Islamic country," Brad Lyttle said. "We are shooting missiles and killing them in an arbitrary manner. It is generating great hatred, and these people have the means to access weapons to cause us tremendous harm. We need to establish peaceful, just ways to resolve disputes. This is the message I would like to have people examine and think about.

We have to develop non-military means for achieving justice and therefore peace."

"I've been hearing about the Afghan youth peace volunteers who work for peace and nonviolence in their land," said Mariah Klusmire. "As long as they're working for peace in their country, I will too, and no punishment can stop me from working for peace."

"Through our presence, we were trying to make the imminent danger posed by drone warfare less remote," Steve Kelly said. "Our presence there was making the connection that would otherwise seem remote. We weren't there to do civil disobedience. We were there to make an intervention. Our intention was lawful. I'm disappointed and saddened that you came to the wrong conclusion."

"As a follower of Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I take seriously his second commandment, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,'" Judy Homanich said. "As the mother of two wonderful children - my precious daughter, Sarah, who is just starting her adult life and my gone but not forgotten son, David, whose faith, courage and compassion continue to inspire me-I prayerfully acted in solidarity with all mothers, daughters, wives and sisters here and around the world who suffer loss due to war. My son David's death, at age 21, was due to cancer not war, but I understand the heart-wrenching, life-changing pain of losing a child, a loved one. The U.S. government kills countless innocents in drone attacks and calls it collateral damage."

"President Obama should heed his own words, spoken in October 2010 while in India," Judy continued. "He said nothing ever justifies the slaughter of innocent civilians. But the U.S. drone attacks continue. This criminal long distance killing makes us all less human and less safe. I have a duty to bear witness against this killing and I will continue to do so."

"We are all one family," Fr. Jerry Zawada said. "The huge numbers of innocent people being killed by drones is something I have to stand up against. We think of people on the other side of the border or the ocean as being different from ourselves. They're not. That's my family and your family too. We are one family. We have to take risks for one another."

For my two cents, I named these drones are illegal, immoral, and impractical, and said they are bad for us politically, economically, socially and spiritually. I said that crossing the line onto Creech was an act of prayer for an end to these terrorist drones, and for an end to war itself, for new nonviolent ways to resolve conflict. We were obeying a higher law, taking our case to a Higher Power.

In the end, the judge sentenced us to time served. We didn't go to jail, and meanwhile, our drones continue to drop bombs. A new report says unauthorized U.S. drone strikes last year claimed nearly 1,200 lives. According to Pakistani sources, our drone attacks kill almost 50 civilians for every "militant" we target.

Together, through our action and our courtroom testimony, we argued that we can do better than drop bombs through these drone machines. As we left, we pledged to continue to speak out against the drones, to try to wake one another up about the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and to stir the embers of the peace movement to speak out and take action for a new world of nonviolence. We give thanks for the opportunity to witness to peace, and we go forward determined to promote peace with everyone.

As Father Jerry said, we are all one family.

John Dear is a Jesuit priest, peace activist, and author of twenty five books on peace and nonviolence. His latest book, Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings (Orbis), is now available, as well as John Dear On Peace: An Introduction to His Life and Work by Patricia Normile. John's other recent books include, A Persistent Peace (his autobiography, from Loyola Press), and Put Down Your Sword, (Eerdmans) a collection of essays on nonviolence. He writes a weekly column for the National Catholic Reporter at www.ncronline.org. To follow the trial of the Creech 14, go to www.vcnv.org. To contribute to Catholic Relief Services’ “Fr. John Dear Haiti Fund,” go to: http://donate.crs.org/goto/fatherjohn. For further information, or to schedule a lecture or retreat on Gospel Nonviolence, go to www.johndear.org.

Events

Baltimore Activist Alert Feb. 1 – Feb. 7, 2011

"I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours.

The initiative to stop it must be ours." -Martin Luther King Jr.

Friends, this list and other email documents which I send out are done under the auspices of the Baltimore Nonviolence Center. Go to www.baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com. If you appreciate this information and would like to make a donation, send contributions to BNC, 325 East 25th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218. Max Obuszewski can be reached at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski [at] verizon.net.

The Baltimore IndyMedia Center publicizes peace-related events. Go to http://www.radicalendar.org/group/_baltimore.

1] Books, buttons and stickers

2] Web site for info on federal legislation

3] Join Nonviolent Resistance lists

4] Buy coffee through HoCoFoLA

5] Used stamps for humanitarian causes

6] Bring the World Home continues

7] Baltimore Free Store needs a home

8] AVP trainings – Feb. 1 – 3 & Mar. 18-20

9] Protests for Justice – Feb. 1 & 15

10] Protests for Justice – Feb. 1 & 15

11] War Is Not the Answer demo – Feb. 1

12] School of Activism – Feb. 1

13] Philadelphia peace vigil – Feb. 2

14] Celebrate Venezuelan democracy – Feb. 2

15] Chestnut Hill, PA vigil – Feb. 2

16] Film COUNTDOWN TO ZERO – Feb. 2

17] Life in the Chesapeake Bay – Feb. 2

18] Climate chaos conference call – Feb. 2

19] Support Bradley Manning – Feb. 3

20] Muslims & the FBI – Feb. 3

21] WIB Towson vigil – Feb. 3

22] Palestine/Israel Roundtable – Feb. 3

23] Writers Against War demo – Feb. 3

24] First Thursday vigil against war – Feb. 3

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1] – Buttons, bumperstickers and books are available. “God Bless the Whole World, No Exceptions” stickers are in stock. Donate your books to Max. Call him at 410-366-1637.

2] – To obtain information how your federal legislators voted on particular bills, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/. Congressional toll-free numbers are 888-818-6641, 888-355-3588 or 800-426-8073. The White House Comment Email is accessible at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.

3] – THE ORGANIZING LIST will be the primary decision-making mechanism of the National Campaign of Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR]. It will be augmented by conference calls and possibly in-person meetings as needed. It will consist of 1 or 2 representatives from each local, regional, or national organization (not coalitions) that wishes to actively work to carry out the NCNR campaign of facilitating and organizing nonviolent resistance to the war in Iraq.

To join the ORGANIZING List, please send your name, group affiliation, city and email address to donmuller@msn.com. Different local chapters of a national organization are encouraged to subscribe.

THE NOTICES LIST will include only notices of NCNR actions and related information and is open to any interested person to subscribe. It will be moderated to maintain focus & will include periodic notices about getting involved in NCNR national organizing. To join the NOTICES List, send an email message to ncnrnotices-subscribe@lists.riseup.net. You will get a confirmation message once subscribed. If you have problems, please write to the list manager at ncnrnotices-admin@lists.riseup.net.

4] – You can help safeguard human rights and fragile ecosystems through your purchase of HOCOFOLA Café Quetzal. Bags of ground coffee or whole beans can be ordered by mailing in an order form. Also note organic cocoa and sugar are for sale. For more details and to download the order form, go to http://friendsoflatinamerica.typepad.com/hocofola/2010/02/hocofola-cafe-quetzal-order-form-2010.html.

Be sure you indicate ground (G) or bean (B) for each type of coffee ordered. Make the check out to HoCoFoLA and send it with your order form to Nancy Meier, 10 Pepperdine Circle, Catonsville, MD 21228. Contact Pat McLaine at 410-964-0960 or pamcl@aol.com. The coffee will arrive some time the following week and you will be notified where to pick it up.

5] – Brad Hathaway spearheads an effort to sell donated used stamps to raise money for different humanitarian causes around the world. Go to www.mattapoisettquakers.org, and click the link for the stamp ministry. Carefully clip canceled postage stamps and send to Quaker Missions, PO Box 795, Mattapoisett, MA 02739. Send no small flag stamps or Liberty Bell Forever stamps.

6] – Catch the "Bringing the World Home" exhibit in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps! The exhibit is in the UMBC Library Rotunda through the end of the semester and consists of 5 display cases featuring photos and artifacts from UMBC's faculty, staff and students who have served in the Peace Corps, including many current and alumni Shriver Peaceworker Fellows. The center case features pieces from the Peace Corps founding era (a tribute to Sarge Shriver!) and the surrounding case highlight experiences from Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, and the Americas. If you are coming from off campus, give Joby Taylor a call at (410) 455-6398, and he will give you a tour.

7] – Help the Baltimore Free Store find a permanent home. The Free Store takes donated and salvaged goods and provides them to the public for free. Forward any leads, contacts, ideas, numbers on the sides of buildings to Matt Warfield at matt.a.warfield@gmail.com or 410-842-5285.

8] – It’s Time to Learn for ourselves; to Teach others; to reduce and resolve conflict; to learn and use skills with confidence; to create safer and stronger families, workplaces & communities! A basic Alternatives to Violence Project will take place from Tues., Feb. 1 through Thurs., Feb. 3 from 9:30 AM to 4 PM at the Annapolis Friends Meeting, 351 DuBois, Annapolis 21401.

Then a more extensive training will be offered from 6 to 9 PM on Fri., Mar. 18, 9:30 AM to 6:30 PM on Sat., Mar. 19 and 12:30 to 7:30 PM on Sun., Mar. 20. You must attend the basic to qualify for the extensive. The suggested donation is $65 for each training. Register now at kithanley@verizon.net or 443-758-5726 to Kit Hanley, facilitator & trainer. This is sponsored by the Annapolis Friends Peace and Justice Center. Go to www.avpusa.org.

9] – Join Volunteer Maryland to learn about other organizations and how to move your volunteer program forward on Tues., Feb. 1 at 10:15 AM at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Southeast Anchor, 3601 Eastern Ave. Call 410-767-6231 or go to www.prattlibrary.org.

10] – PROTESTS FOR JUSTICE! DISBAND SHOMRIM! SAY NO TO RACISM! On Tues., Feb. 1, noon to 1 PM, join community groups again at the courthouse, Lexington & St. Paul Sts. Be prepared on Tues., Feb. 15 to protest for justice at Eliezer Eliyahu Werdesheim’s trial. For more information, call 443-909-8964 or email apcbaltimore@pipeline.com.

11] – There is a vigil to say "War Is Not the Answer" each Tuesday since September 11, 2001 at 4806 York Road. Join this ongoing vigil. The next vigil is Feb. 1 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM. Call Max at 410-366-1637.

12] – You are invited to join a live online School of Activism with Tom Hayden, on Tues., Feb. 1 at 6 PM PST/7 PM MST/8 PM CST/9 PM EST. The online seminar will be held once a week for four weeks, and will focus on how to build a Long Peace Movement to End the Long War. Each session will be one-hour, including a 30-minute presentation and a 30-minute live interactive conversation.

The goal of the series is to build leadership in key states and Congressional districts to forge effective progressive coalitions, ones that our government will have to take seriously. Topics will include Defining the Long War and its domestic consequences, Alternatives in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Organizing: What works?, and A strategy for influencing the electoral debate, 2011-2012. Email contacthayden@gmail.com with "School of Activism" in the subject line.

13] – Each Wednesday from 4:30 - 5:30 PM, the House of Grace Catholic Worker holds a weekly vigil for peace in Iraq outside the Phila. Federal Building, 6th & Market Sts. The next vigil is Feb. 2. Call 215-426-0364.

14] – You are invited to a celebration in honor of 12 YEARS OF PEOPLES DEMOCRACY IN VENEZUELA: A Tribute to the Bolivarian Revolution, A Growing Hope for Latin America and the World, at the Festival Center, 1640 Columbia Rd., NW, WDC 20009, on Wed., Feb. 2 from 6:30 to 8:30. The honored speaker is Roy Chaderton, Venezuelan Ambassador to the OAS, and the moderator will be Rev. Graylan Hagler- Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ. Call 202-265-1948.

15] – Each Wednesday, the Northwest Greens hold a peace vigil from 7 to 8 PM outside the Borders Book Store, Germantown Ave. at Bethlehem Pike in Chestnut Hill, PA. The next vigil is Feb. 2. Call 215-843-4256 or email nwgreens@yahoo.com.

16] -- On Wed., Feb. 2 at 7 PM, there will be a screening of the documentary film "Countdown to Zero" at the Hoff Theater in the Adele H. Stamp Student Union, College Park, MD. A panel discussion with John Steinbruner, School of Public Policy professor, and Bruce Blair, co-coordinator of Global Zero, will follow the screening. The film traces the history of the atomic bomb from its origins to the present state of global affairs: nine nations possess nuclear weapons capabilities with others racing to join them, with the world held in a delicate balance that could be shattered by an act of terrorism, failed diplomacy, or a simple accident. Written and directed by acclaimed documentarian Lucy Walker (Devil’s Playground, Blindsight), the film features an array of important international statesmen, including Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, Pervez Musharraf and Tony Blair. Call 301-405-7601.

17] – Michael Eversmier will present Life in the Chesapeake Bay on Wed., Feb. 2 at 7 PM at Maryland Institute College of Art, room 110, 1300 W. Mount Royal Ave. Call 410-225-2300 or go to www.mica.edu.

18] -- Consider being on a National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance conference call on Wed., Feb. 2 at 9 PM EST to continue to plan a climate chaos action of nonviolent civil resistance at the Pentagon on Apr. 8, calling for an end to the wars and for an end to policies that make the Pentagon the biggest polluter of our earth. Call Max at 410-366-1637 or email him at mobuszewski at verizon.net to get the call-in number and access code.

19] – The National White House Call-in Day to Support Bradley Manning is Thurs., Feb. 3. You can reach the White House switchboard at 202-456-1414 or the comment line at 202-456-1111. Call the White House to voice your disapproval of U.S, Army PFC Bradley Manning’s inhumane treatment while be held in the brig at Quantico, Virginia. Bradley has been held in solitary confinement-like conditions for over eight months, and his trial is still months away. He has not been convicted of any crime, and must endure inhumane conditions of pre-trial confinement like no other inmate at the Quantico brig.

Manning should be freed pending court martial for allegedly releasing documents to Wikileaks. Whoever released the documents was following his/her Nuremberg Obligation. We have learned from the documents that the U.S. was supporting dictators in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and other places. People have died in these countries because our government persists in supporting human rights violators. Go to the Bradley Manning Support Network: www.bradleymanning.org. Bradley Manning’s conditions have worsened. Call Quantico public affairs to push for more humane treatment at 1-703-432-0289.

20] – On Thurs., Feb. 3, from 10:30 to 11:30 AM at the Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2203, WDC, there will be a briefing to highlight how the relationship between the Arab and Muslim American communities and law enforcement has progressed over the last decade. What outreach efforts have proven effective for mutually beneficial interaction and dialogue? RSVP to rsvp@adc.org. Contact Abed Ayoub at aayoub@adc.org or at 202-244-2990. This event is sponsored by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. Go to www.adc.org

21] – There is a WIB peace stand on Thurs., Feb. 3, noon-1PM in Towson at northwest corner of Washington & Chesapeake Aves., across the street from the post office, near the courthouse. Contact mbrainzo@aol.com. This vigil takes place on the first Thursday of the month.

22] – The WEEKLY ROUNDTABLE SEEKING A JUST PEACE IN PALESTINE/ISRAEL takes place from 12:30 - 1:30 PM on Thursdays at Potter's House, 1658 Columbia Road NW, WDC. Join a civil discourse which explores the history, issues, myths, realities, and truth of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Contact Alice Azzouzi at 202-232-5483.

23] – Join Writers Against the War and Occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq on Thurs., Feb. 3 from 3:30 to 4:30 PM in Lafayette Park, Pennsylvania Ave. (across from the White House). Then walk to the sidewalk in front of the White House (Metro stops: Farragut North or McPherson Square). A minute of silence will be observed for each year of each war (sixteen minutes), followed by simultaneous readings of lines of poetry (probably lines from Whitman). This brief action will end with chanting Stop Funding War. Wear a poem or a piece of a poem on your person. Some poem signs will be available for those who want them. The following day, there will be an opportunity to go to Congressional offices to hand out letters and visit staff. Support is being provided by Split This Rock. Email info@splitthisrock.org or call 202-787-5210.

24] – The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore will host an End the Wars vigil on Thurs., Feb. 3 from 5 to 6:30 PM in Mount Vernon at Centre & Charles Sts. The Pledge gathers in Mount Vernon on the first Thursday of the month to protest U.S. Wars. Call Max at 410-366-1637.

To be continued.