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12 April 2011. 'Pretenders' in, Paraquat out

Killing the drug fields: Paraquat poisoning from Operation Intercept to present

Photo of a "Rebel" marijuana crop, taken by a US Department of Justice employee, during the course of their official duties

In 1969, US President Richard Nixon approved Operation Intercept, to destroy Mexican marijuana plantations. He did not bother asking the Mexican government for permission beforehand. Marijuana (WP) drug cultivation in the US now exceeds that of Mexico.[1][2]

The power of US threats-as-diplomacy in global negotiations, trade or military, as evidenced by the fact that by the mid-70s, Mexico was a willing and active participant in programs aimed at eradicating cannabis plantations.

File:Chc bell 206.jpg
Bell 206 helicopter, one of two models sent by the US State Department to Mexico in 1975 to spray Paraquat and kill growers

In 1975, despite being warned by the Health Department to not allow the Mexican government to use the poisonous weed killer Paraquat in anti-narcotics operations, the State Department sent an official to Mexico to show operatives there how to more efficiently spray marijuana fields there with Paraquat from the air, in blue and white helicopters supplied by the USA.[3][4] Mexico also sprayed bullets onto Mexican fields, and into Mexican growers, from some of that $21 million worth of helicopters, converted into gunships.[3]

The Bell 212 model. It is not stated whether one or both models were used as gunships, although the 212 is widely used by governments, and both the US and Canadian military

In 1978, the State Department claimed it had ceased all operations of this type, but the Drug Enforcement Agency DEA (WP) took up Paraquat spraying again in 1988.[5] It continues to be used in drug field eradication programs, not only in other countries, where the US acts with lesser regard for the life and health of the inhabitants, but in the US as well.[6][7]

Since much of this was subsequently smoked by Americans as cannabis, the US government's "Paraquat Pot" program stirred much debate. Perhaps in an attempt to deter people from using marijuana, representatives of the program warned that spraying rendered the crop unsafe to smoke.

An United States Environmental Protection Agency manual states: "... toxic effects caused by this mechanism have been either very rare or nonexistent. Most paraquat that contaminates marijuana is pyrolyzed during smoking to dipyridyl, which is a product of combustion of the leaf material itself (including cannabis) and presents little toxic hazard."[8] The amount of dipyridyl released by each process is not noted.

Statements by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (WP) contradict the EPA findings about the pyrolysis products of paraquat, finding that the product by pyrolysis, dipyridyl, is hazardous to human health. [9]

A 1995 study stated: "no lung or other injury in marijuana users has ever been attributed to paraquat contamination".[10]

More research into the effects of pyrolized herbicides is needed as they are also used to spray tobacco, and have continued to be used in anti-narcotics campaigns throughout the world. Paraquat spraying affects nearby crops as well, usually the cocoa, coffee, and tea grown in the same highland areas that are conducive to marijuana cultivation.[7]


6 April

2011 USA intervention in Haitian elections

USA government decides on Haitian election candidates; Hillary Clinton draws the short straw, and breaks the bad news to Haiti: The guy you wrote in as a joke, Michel Martelly? He's now the other guy that you have to vote for instead of Aristide, or Fanmi Lavalas, or Rene Praval, or Jude Celestin, or whoever we get rid of next

Way back in 2009, the Fanmi Lavalas party, closest to Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was forbidden participation in Haiti's November '10 elections by the provisional election council created by the current president, Rene Praval. But not content with that assassination of democracy, and under cover of the Egyptian protests, the US, to the orchestrated swell of allegations of voter fraud as a pretext for runoff elections, pressured Haiti to remove Jude Celestin, the candidate least affiliated with right-wing Haitian government, US-backed Haitian governments, Haitian dictators, or all three.[11][12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17][15][18] [19] Michel Martelly and Mirlande Manigat will face each other in the revised election.

INITE campaign poster for the 2010 elections picturing Jude Celestin and his non-winning smile, with some of the heavy machinery that will soon no longer be at his disposal, but hopefully will not be sold off to the highest bidder before Haiti can rebuild itself, Photoshopped in behind him

"The decision was made after the Obama administration and the Organization of American States pressured Haiti not to include government-backed candidate Jude Celestin in the run-off, although he received more votes than Martelly. OAS claimed that Celestin had benefited from vote rigging and fraud. On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to Haiti to personally pressure Haitian President René Préval not to include Celestin in the runoff. But many organizations, including the Congressional Black Caucus, have criticized the Obama administration’s stance. Mark Weisbrot, of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said it was a disgrace that, "the richest country in the world has forced one of the poorest to change the results of its presidential election, literally under the threat of starvation." Haiti’s presidential election process has also come under intense criticism in part because candidates of former President Juan-Bertrand Aristide’s Lavalas Party were banned from running." - Democracy Now! - 4 Feb '11

Jude Celestin was the only candidate without a Wikipedia article until the 10th of March, 2011.


1 April 2011

media block. replaced by 'Toons

On January 25 and 26, 2011, Wikipedia:Twitter was blocked in Egypt due to the 2011 Egyptian protests (WP),[20] and Facebook was later blocked as well.[21]

On January 27, various reports claimed that access to the Internet in the entire country had been shut down.[22] The authorities responsible achieved this by shutting down the country's official Domain Name System, in an attempt to stop mobilisation for anti-government protests.[23] Later reports stated that almost all Wikipedia:BGP announcements out of the country had been withdrawn, almost completely disconnecting the country from the global Internet, with only a single major provider, Wikipedia:Noor Data Networks, remaining up.[24][25][26]

The Hacktivism group Anonymous displayed the altruistic side of direct action for the uninitiated, with techniques used in the 1989 Beijing protests, to update Egyptians behind the information 'Iron Curtain' as Andy Greenberg dubbed it;[27] Egypt's loss of internet access had kept them from news about WikiLeaks-intercepted Egyptian diplomatic cables, but Anonymous ducked under the obstruction with a low-tech solution: Faxes.[27]


Yesterday's

Too new
(Much of this story is just breaking. News and of course, links to get you to the pros)
Operation Avenge Assange#Africa

Anonymous began supporting the North African protestors; websites of the Tunisian Ministry of Industry and its Stock Exchange were taken down.[28] Anonymous noted Tunisia's "outrageous level of censorship";[28]Reporters without Borders (WP) counts it 164th out of 178 countries for press freedom.[29] On January 3, 2011 Anonymous group brought down a Zimbabwean government website after President Robert Mugabe's wife, Grace Mugabe, sued a newspaper for US $15 million for publishing a WikiLeaks cable that linked her with the alleged trade in illicit diamonds.[30]
Running the Egyptian internet blockade

Main article: 2011 Egyptian media censorship


Anonymous kept up the pace, and even changed up the game considerably to show the Robin Hood side of direct action, using techniques used in the 1989 Beijing protests to update Egyptians behind the information 'Iron Curtain' as Andy Greenberg dubbed it;[27] Egypt's loss of internet access had kept them from news about WikiLeaks-intercepted Egyptian diplomatic cables, but Anonymous ducked under the obstruction with a low-tech solution: Faxes.[27]
Archived by Anarchangel 22:56, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

From whenever (I am tired). 2009 I think. Archived 2 Feb 2011

Venesat-1 is the first Venezuelan satellite. It was launched at 16:53 UTC on October 29, 2008 by a Chinese Chang Zheng 3B launch vehicle from the People’s Republic of China's Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC). The satellite is built by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). VENESAT-1 is the UN official designation. In Venezuela it is named "Simon Bolivar" to commemorate Latin America's 19th Century independence leader. It is PRC's first contract of manufacture and space launching service for a Latin American nation.
  1. ↑ From the Folks who brought you Plan Colombia John Ross, Tuesday, June 19, 2007 - Plan Mexico
  2. ↑ Perspectives on drug use in the United States Bernard Segal page 16
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Panic over Paraquat, Time Magazine, Monday, May 1, 1978
  4. ↑ Poison Marijuana - State Department ignored warnings... The Evening Independent - Apr 1, 1978. James Coates, Chicago Tribune
  5. ↑ Time 1988
  6. ↑ Georgia drops toxin on marijuana fields Atlanta, Record-Journal - Aug 13, 1983, United Press International report
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Where It's Coca vs. Coffee / In Colombia, drugs ruining environment for the legal crops Newsday - Long Island, N.Y. Juanita Darling. Los Angeles Times
  8. ↑ J. Routt Reigart, and James R. Roberts Recognition and Management of Pesticide Poisonings, 5th edition. Washington, DC: United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1999. Book available online
  9. ↑ Toxicity of dipyridyl compounds and related compounds.[1]
  10. ↑ Pronczuk de Garbino J, Epidemiology of paraquat poisoning, in: Bismuth C, and Hall AH (eds), Paraquat Poisoning: Mechanisms, Prevention, Treatment, pp. 37-51, New York: Marcel Dekker, 1995.
  11. ↑ Factbox: Celestin technocrat protege of outgoing Haiti leader
  12. ↑ Factbox: Celestin technocrat protege of outgoing Haiti leader
  13. ↑ Leading Haiti candidates are study in contrasts Bangkok Post, 27 Nov '10
  14. ↑ ABS-CBN News
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Michel Martelly, de la chanson à l'élection, Kahina Sakkai, Paris Match, Feb 04, 2011
  16. ↑ "His Music Rules in Haiti: Sweet Micky's provocative music moves Haitians with an infectious beat and political overtones" Miami New Times, Elise Ackerman, May 29, 1997
  17. ↑ Michel Martelly, Stealth Duvalierist The Dominion, news from the grassroots, 16 Dec, '10
  18. ↑ Haiti delays presidential runoff 5 Jan 11
  19. ↑ http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2031412,00.html?xid=rss-mostpopular
  20. ↑ TechCrunch: Twitter blocked in Egypt
  21. ↑ Wall Street Journal, Egypt Communications Cut Ahead Of Further Protests
  22. ↑ Egyptian internet goes down Huffington Post
  23. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12306041 Technology] BBC News
  24. ↑ Christopher Williams. How Egypt shut down the internet. Daily Telegraph.
  25. ↑ Internet in Egypt offline. bgpmon.net.
  26. ↑ Cowie, James Egypt Leaves the Internet. Renesys.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 Security1871Share13diggsdigg73inShareAmid Digital Blackout, Anonymous Mass-Faxes WikiLeaks Cables To Egypt 28 Jan '11, Andy Greenberg, The Firewall
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Five arrested over 'Anonymous' web attacks. BBC News. URL accessed on 30 January 2011.
  29. ↑ http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2010,1034.html Press Freedom Index 2010] Reporters Without Borders = Reporters sans frontières RSF.org
  30. ↑ SMH.com.au
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