Bear Left!

Fact of the Week

**Fact of the Week**
Two hours before the scheduled end of an international conference trying to agree on a verification protocol to the Biological Weapons Convention, the United States representative sought to scuttle the talks altogether. The talks will continue next year because not one of the other participants wanted to throw away six years of work by 144 countries. The same government that wanted to throw out the work already done on the verification protocol is the same one that accuses Iran and Iraq of violating the Biological Weapons Convention. Sources: Washington Post, 7 December 2001; Acronym Institute press release, 9 December 2001.

Ashcroft Deconstructed: John Ashcroft's appearance before the Senate proved true his harshest critics (Jacob Weisberg, Slate.com).
Confessions of a Traitor: Criticism of the President or his cabinet is no longer just impolitic, it's treasonous (Frank Rich, New York Times).
Warlords Still Fighting over the Spoils of Victory: Afghan factions are still battling over Kandahar (Justin Huggler, The Independent).
Lots of Wars on Terror: The Bush doctrine now serves globally—to every action a disproportionate reaction (Gary Younge, The Guardian).
Labour MP defects to Lib Dems: Are the Liberal Democrats becoming the British party of the Left (Matthew Tempest, The Guardian)?
The Wall Street Journal and The Workers Vanguard Agree: They agree that Afghans had better lots under the Soviets (Tom Turnipseed, Common Dreams News Service).

"Bear left!"/"Right, Frog!" (Kermit and Fozzie, The Muppet Movie)

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