Articles

Zelaya Speaks

2009-09-16T20:49:30Z

In a significant development in hemispheric relations, the Obama admininstration yesterday condemned the June 28 Honduras coup d'état more strongly than ever, announced the cutoff of additional millions in economic aid and declared it would not accept the legitimacy of elections under the auspices of the coup government.

Zelaya's Coup

2009-09-16T20:47:53Z

The US announcement of an aid cutoff to Honduras is a "direct blow" against the strategy of the coup regime in Honduras, deposed President Manuel Zelaya declared in an interview with The Nation today.

After an afternoon meeting between Zelaya and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the US government announced the termination of hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance to Honduras and declared its refusal "for the moment" to support the Honduran elections scheduled for November. Zelaya said the "most significant" outcome of the meeting was the State Department's declaration that the elections will not be recognized, which "puts the United States in line with Latin America, because it was not said before."

Zelaya announced that he is "prepared to return" to Honduras "independently of any US plans" and to "protect the population." The US declaration was a "great step forward" that puts intense pressure on the Micheletti regime in Honduras to commit to the peace proposals of former president Oscar Arias of Costa Rica.

The aid termination will include $215 million in five-year Millennium Challenge grants, Zelaya said, in addition to $16 million in military aid already cut. Secretary Clinton chairs the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which meets this coming week.

Asked if the American aid could be restored before the elections scheduled for November, Zelaya indicated that it could be, "when democracy is restored and President Zelaya returns."

This article orginally appeared in The Nation on September 3, 2009.

Deja Vu on Nation's Energy Policy

2009-09-01T19:47:03Z

I sat in the White House Cabinet room as the president and his advisers formulated their official plan to garner half of America's energy from solar and conservation by 2020. At the table were union officials pleased at a White House report that showed an enormous number of jobs would be created for welders, plumbers, sheet metal workers, electrical engineers, carpenters and architects. That meeting took place 30 years ago.

Holbrooke Projects Long Occupation of Afghanistan, Pakistan

2009-08-20T20:01:07Z

The conference on Afghanistan with Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, sponsored by the Center for American Progress on August 12 turned into a disappointing press conference promoting the virtual nation-building plan being integrated into the US military operations in that country. It was an opportunity for CAP to begin distancing itself from the military occupation which has claimed 781 American lives thus far, and at this rate will cost one trillion dollars by the end of President Obama's first term.