BBC censored by Russian authorities

When the BBC goes off the air, civilisation is at an end. At least, so seems to have been the British view during the Cold War, as submarine captains had orders to open the envelopes for the nuclear arms' codes when the BBC fell silent. Now, this bastion of free speech and independent media is silenced by authorities in Russia, BBC reports.

On Friday, the BBC announced that its Russian partner, Bolshoe Radio, has been ordered by the authorities either to take Russia's last FM-relay of the BBC's Russian Service off the air or be shut down. That would make Bolshoe Radio the third and final Russian radio station, in the last months, that has been forced to quit BBC broadcasts in Russian.

Bolshoe Radio, which was recently purchased by the Finam investment group, was "allowed for 18% of --- content to be foreign-produced." Now, the radio station has been ordered to produce all its programming itself. The new owner of Bolshoe Radio denies that the decision to take the BBC off the air was made with outside prompting, and instead states that the radio station cannot send foreign propaganda. According to the BBC, a spokesman for Bolshoe Radio said it is "well known that the BBC was set up to broadcast foreign propaganda" and that "any media which is government-financed is propaganda."

However, it is beyond doubt that the BBC Russian Service was taken off the air by the Russian Federal Media Monitoring Service, Rossvyazokhrankultura (cf. "Russia silences its free voices?"). The head of the Russian authority, Boris Boyarskov, thus plainly states that his agency was behind shutting down the BBC in Russia, according to Interfax news agency:

The licensee who was organizing broadcasting on this frequency should have indicated the name of the mass media outlet, the BBC, in its plan, which it failed to do. We carried out checks on this and issued the broadcaster with a warning that it should only be giving air time to those mass media outlets which have been stipulated in the programming plan and that it should bring its broadcasting into line with this programming plan.

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'Official Conspiracy Theory Called "dogma of political correctness" '

" ... As Bush hangs by a thread, there is a list of indictments for which he could hang later. As the Bush 'vision thing' crashes and burns, an increasingly tiny band of loud mouthed GOP cultists, deniers of science and logic, born again believers in fairy tales and miracles are left only their loudmouths and astounding intellectual challenges. I am referring, of course, to gullible folk whose ancestors most certainly burned witches in Europe and hanged them at Salem. In other words, the born again believers in Bush's 'official conspiracy theory of 911'.

It makes no sense to believe a man about one thing when he has told nothing but lies about everything else. What makes 911 different? As Dr. Hans Koechler points out, it has become 'politically correct dogma'. As Ronald Reagan's 'trickle down theory' and 'fundamentalist Christianity' has done for 'true believers', the 'official conspiracy theory of 911, relieves its 'true believers' of responsibility for their 'sins' and places it with a 'rag tag band' of 'evil terrorists'. The GOP's faith in the 911 orthodoxy has become a secular religion, akin to their unquestioned belief in Christianity, a faith --not a science --in which they are relieved of responsibility, forgiven all their sins in exchange for merely believing a 'dogma' for which there is not a shred of logic or fact in support. The 'terrorists' are, in fact, Christ-like. They have borne America's collective guilt and died for our sins. ... "

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Major General who rigged Pakistan 2002 polls, spills the beans

Islamabad, Feb. 24 : A retired Pakistan Major General, who was part of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has spilled the beans on how the 2002 general elections in the country were rigged.

According to The Dawn, Major General Ehtesham Zamir has admitted his guilt of manipulating the 2002 elections, and has directly blamed General Musharraf for ordering him to do so...

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Great Lakes Study Suppressed

The Center for Public Integrity has obtained a copy of the suppressed study and posted it on the internet."For more than seven months, the nation's top public health agency has blocked the publication of an exhaustive federal study of environmental hazards in the eight Great Lakes states, reportedly because it contains such potentially 'alarming information' as evidence of elevated infant mortality and cancer rates," reports Sheila Kaplan. The 400-page study, undertaken by a division of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in cooperation with the government of Canada, "warns that more than nine million people who live in the more than two dozen 'areas of concern' -- including such major metropolitan areas as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee -- may face elevated health risks from being exposed to dioxin, PCBs, pesticides, lead, mercury, or six other hazardous pollutants." Canadian biologist Michael Gilbertson, who was involved in reviewing the study, said it has been suppressed because it suggests that vulnerable populations have been harmed by industrial pollutants. "It's not good because it's inconvenient," Gilbertson said. "The whole problem with all this kind of work is wrapped up in that word 'injury.' If you have injury, that implies liability. Liability, of course, implies damages, legal processes, and costs of remedial action. The governments, frankly, in both countries are so heavily aligned with, particularly, the chemical industry, that the word amongst the bureaucracies is that they really do not want any evidence of effect or injury to be allowed out there."

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Scientists Call on next President to End Political Interference in Science; Guarantee Scientists' Freedoms

A group of prominent scientists today called on the next president and Congress to end political interference in science and establish conditions that would allow federal science to flourish. Organized by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the group released a statement at a press conference during the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting.

"Good federal policy depends upon reliable and robust scientific work," said Francesca Grifo, director of the Scientific Integrity Program at UCS. "When science is falsified, fabricated or censored, Americans' health and safety suffer."  

The statement specifically calls for the next administration and Congress to ensure that federal scientists have the freedom to publicly communicate their findings; publish their work; disclose misrepresentation, censorship or other abuses; and have their technical work evaluated by peers -- all without fear of retribution.

Statement signatories include Nobel laureates and scientists with significant federal government experience, including former National Science Foundation Director Rita Colwell, former Presidential Science Advisor Neal Lane, and former National Institutes of Health Director Harold Varmus. (For the statement, go to: www.ucsusa.org/scientificfreedom.)

Current and former federal scientists support the statement. "If the next administration and Congress wholly embrace and implement the scientists' recommendations, Americans would be safer," said Robin Ingle, a former mathematical statistician at the Consumer Product Safety Commission. "A political appointee at my agency prevented my research on all-terrain-vehicle safety from reaching the public, even when avoidable deaths and injuries occurred."

Environmental Protection Agency scientist Bill Hirzy said there have been similar incidents at his agency. "Scientific integrity is the bedrock on which the federal science establishment must rest. Unfortunately, too many EPA scientists have had to fight interference from political or private sector interests."

Susan Wood, former assistant commissioner for women's health at the Food and Drug Administration, echoed Hirzy's concerns. "Serious consequences can result when drug and device safety decisions are not based on the best available scientific advice from staff scientists and independent experts," she said. "The next president and Congress must cultivate an environment where reliable scientific advice flows freely to allow for fully informed safety decisions."

At today's press conference, UCS also released "Federal Science and the Public Good," a report that recommends steps the next president can take to restore scientific integrity to federal policymaking. The report highlights how the current administration has misused science, with a special focus on systemic changes that hamper federal scientific capacity and make it more difficult for agencies to fulfill their missions. (For UCS's report, go to www.ucsusa.org/scientificfreedom.)

Kurt Gottfried, UCS co-founder and board chairman, and emeritus professor of physics at Cornell University, stressed that thousands of scientists around the country have called for reform. "Four years ago – almost to the day – UCS unveiled a statement signed by 62 leading scientists voicing concern over the manipulation, distortion, and suppression of federal government science," he said. "Since that time nearly 15,000 scientists have added their signatures. Now we are using that momentum to push for solutions."

Scientists who spoke at the press conference:

·         Bill Hirzy, senior scientist, Risk Assessment Division, Toxics Office, Environmental Protection Agency, Hirzy.John@epamail.epa.gov, 202-566-2788

·         Susan Wood, former assistant commissioner for women's health and director of the Office of Women's Health, Food and Drug Administration, eohsfw@gwumc.edu, 301-233-8184

·         John Young, former wildlife biologist, Fish and Wildlife Service, kiteturtle15@yahoo.com, 920-889-0929

·         Robin Ingle, former mathematical statistician, Consumer Product Safety Commission, robin.ingle@yahoo.com, 301-806-7536

·         Tony Robbins, former director, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, anthony.robbins@tufts.edu, (617) 636-0834

·         Leon Lederman, Nobel laureate, director emeritus, Fermilab, poole@fnal.gov, 630-907-5912

Scientists who signed the statement released today: Lewis Branscomb, Rita Colwell, Thomas Eisner,

Richard Garwin, Lynn Goldman, Kurt Gottfried, Dudley Herschbach, Bill Hirzy, John Holdren, Robin Ingle, Gerald Keusch, Neal Lane, Leon Lederman, James McCarthy, Tony Robbins, Andrew Sessler, Harold Varmus, Susan Wood and John Young.

~ Union of Concerned Scientists ~