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Chris and I (Richard) would like to thank all the following volunteers and ‘mambers’ of the dynamic Mambo Community. These people have voluntarily spent  countless hours coding –  in order to build us all a better product. THANK YOU!{moscredits} Fair use notice of copyrighted material: This site contains some copyrighted material that in some cases has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I make such material available to advance the understanding of politics, human rights, the economy, democracy, and social justice issues. I believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in

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The Secret Sharers: A Bargain With Evil

What would you call people who paid sadistic torturers for the
information they had gleaned from macabre medical experiments on their
helpless captives – and then used these evil findings to make
biological weapons?




Why, you’d call them members of “the greatest generation,” of course!



As we learn from ABC News (Australia) this week,
the American victors in World War II “gave money and other benefits to
former members of a Japanese

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The Secret Sharers: The CIA, the Bush Gang and the Killing of Frank Olson

The Secret Sharers:
The CIA, the Bush Gang and the Killing of Frank Olson
(Original version first published in two parts in the Moscow Times, August-September 2002.)

Part One: The Past is Prologue
There
is a thread running through modern American history, a thin red cord
that weaves in and out of the shifting facades of reason and
respectability that mask the brutal machinery of power. At certain rare
moments the thread flashes into sight, emerging from the chaotic jumble
of unbearable truth and life-giving illusion that makes up human
reality. It appears, bears witness, then

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Grease Monkeys: The Speaker, The Spigot and the Slitherer-in-Chief

This is a slightly expanded version of the column published Aug. 12 in The Moscow Times.

One of the grubby little secrets of the Great Potomac Grease Pit – otherwise known as the government of the United States – is that the massive amount of bribes given and taken there often has little effect on the final outcome of policy decisions and legislation.

Cynics – and you know you who are – tend to believe that Washington is overrun with sleazy bagmen prowling the halls of Congress and slithering down White House corridors, proffering baubles, trinkets, sweetmeats and other enticements to

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Exit Strategy

 From the Financial Times: “Saddam Could Be Tried and Executed Over Minor Case.”

I must admit that I didn’t see this one coming, but it could be a masterstroke. Like a lot of people, I’ve long wondered how the Bush Faction would prevent Saddam from spilling a whole pot of red-hot beans about his long and profitable relationship with the U.S. government — one that goes back to the late 1960s, when the CIA assisted his particular Baathist clique to seize power (having already assisted

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“Keep Your Nose Out” of the Boss’s Business: Thug Law in Bushistan

 There’s no such thing as the constitutional republic known as the United States of America  anymore. It doesn’t exist, it’s long gone; you look all you want, but it’s just not there. All we have now is a “Commander-in-Chief state” — call it Bushistan for lack of a better name — where there is no law, just the arbitrary will of the military leader and his minions. Check out the latest outrage surrounding the Maher Arar case; read the assertions of the Bushistan
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Text-Heavy: The Modern Misuse of Scripture

 Wise woman Karen Armstrong — one of the best writers on religion today — delivers some home truths and vital history on the uses and misuses of scripture: a topic more pertinent than ever with fundamentalist frenzy on the rise around the world. Some excerpts:

….Protestant fundamentalists, for example, claim that they read the Bible in the same way as the early Christians, but their belief that it is literally true in every detail is a recent innovation, formulated for the

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The Big Heat: Global Warming Hits “Tipping Point”

But all American SUVs have air conditioning! So what’s the big deal?

From the Guardian (excerpt):

A vast expanse of western Sibera is undergoing an unprecedented thaw that could dramatically increase the rate of global warming, climate scientists warn today. Researchers who have recently returned from the region found that an area of permafrost spanning a million square kilometres – the size of France and Germany combined – has started to melt for the first time since it formed 11,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age.

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