Battle line
'American aerial radar surveillance systems - possibly even drones - and
anti-terrorist patrols may be deployed to protect stretches of a �2bn
pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean that is being
constructed by British oil giant BP. The use of sophisticated security
systems to guard the 1,087-mile subterranean line has alarmed the coalition
of 60 environmental and human rights groups opposed to the scheme, which
will deliver a million barrels a day to western markets by 2005.
Campaigners fear that further militarisation of the Caucasus and eastern
Turkey will reignite conflicts, damage local communities and accelerate
global warming' ( Guardian )
�
See also the Some Common Concerns document
(2.38MB PDF), this Bankwatch background paper (PDF), this article by Anders
Lustgarten from last month, the ECGD website, the International Finance
Corporation website, the EBRD website, the London Rising Tide website, the
Environmental Resource Management website, the PKK website, the Kurdish
Human Rights Project website, the Northrop Grumman website, the FOE
International website, these Platform webpages, and this blog entry from
earlier this month
Afghanistan - Post Conflict Environmental Assessment
(3.46MB PDF)
UN report on environmental damage and infrastructure collapse in
Afghanistan, caused by the two decades of conflict that followed the end of
Soviet occupation
( PCAU )
�
See also this press release, and this BBC coverage
Companies test prototype wireless-sensor nets
Article about self-organising wireless-sensor networks, or 'smart-dust' (
EE Times )
�
See also this Slashdot discussion, DARPA's MEMS webpages, and this blog
entry from July
Communications Data: Report of an Inquiry by the All Party Internet Group (PDF)
Report by a group of UK parliamentarians into government plans for the
retention of communications data, essentially concluding that the Home
Office doesn't really know what it's doing ( APIG )
�
See also this oral evidence and this written evidence submitted to the
inquiry, this BBC coverage, this Statewatch analysis of the massive
increase in communications surveillance under New Labour, this Guardian
coverage, this text of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, and this
text of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act
Venezuelan strike falters
'Venezuela's 58-day-old strike by right-wing business groups and unions to
remove the country's democratically elected president appears to be waning.
Oil production has increased, the stock exchange reopened and the
opposition infighting over how to continue their actions against President
Hugo Chavez has become public' ( BBC )
�
See also this Reuters coverage
[ 28 January 2003 ] LINKS?
http://www.hullocentral.demon.co.uk/site/anfin.htm
