[newsfromthenetwork] [Fwd: Anti-radar protesters to picket Czech Prime Min.]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Anti-radar protesters 
to picket Czech Prime Min.
Date:   Mon, 25 Feb 2008 02:13:17 -0500
From:   David Mcreynolds 
<dmcreynolds@nyc.rr.com>
To: 	<SocialistsUnmoderated@debs.pinko.net>, "Debs List" 
<debsian@lists.riseup.net>
CC:     Campaign for Peace and Democracy 
<cpd@igc.org>
References:     
<5.2.0.9.2.20080225014600.03fb8890@pop.igc.org>



   ----- Original Message -----
   *From:* Campaign for Peace and Democracy 
<mailto:cpd@igc.org>
   *To:* jlandy@igc.org 
<mailto:jlandy@igc.org>
   *Sent:* Monday, February 25, 2008 
1:47 AM
   *Subject:* 2/27: Anti-radar 
protesters to picket Czech Prime Min.

   *For immediate release
   *Contact:
   Joanne Landy
   Co-Director, Campaign for Peace and 
Democracy
   _jlandy@igc.org 
<mailto:jlandy@igc.org>_ (212) 666-4001 
cell (646)
   207-5203

   *PROTESTERS AGAINST U.S. RADAR IN 
CZECH REPUBLIC
   TO GREET CZECH PRIME MINISTER AT THE 
WHITE HOUSE
   ON FEBRUARY 27, 12:30-1:30 P.M.
   Activists Support Czech Opponents of 
Proposed U.S. Military Base

   *
   NEW YORK, N.Y., February 25, 2008 -- 
Protesters will gather on
   Wednesday, February 27 from 12:30 to 
1:30 pm in front of the White
   House, across from Lafayette Park, 
to greet Czech Prime Minister
   Mirek Topolánek with signs opposing 
a proposed U.S. radar base in
   the Czech Republic. Mr. Topolánek 
has been invited to visit
   President George Bush, where the 
radar base will be one of the main
   items on their agenda. The radar is 
opposed by 70% of the Czech
   population, and U.S. peace activists 
are demonstrating at the White
   House to show that they support the 
fight against the radar. The
   protest is coordinated by the 
Campaign for Peace and Democracy and
   Foreign Policy in Focus.

   The Bush administration is 
attempting to build a base in Poland to
   host ten interceptor missiles in 
concert with the Czech radar base.
   The Czech and Polish governments 
hope to finalize an agreement with
   the U.S. government to accept the 
bases, but this expansion of the
   U.S. military presence in Eastern 
Europe is far from a done deal.

   ?We are demonstrating to show our 
support for the Czech group ?No
   Bases Initiative? (Iniciativa Ne 
základnám), which is leading the
   fight against the radar in the Czech 
Republic,? said Joanne Landy,
   Co-Director of the Campaign for 
Peace and Democracy. ?Washington?s
   scheme has already produced an 
ominous response from Russia, which
   has threatened to direct its 
missiles toward Poland and the Czech
   Republic if the U.S. proceeds with 
the system. Moscow has also
   threatened to withdraw from the 
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces
   Treaty and to suspend participation 
in a treaty limiting the
   deployment of conventional forces in 
Europe.?

   U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza 
Rice has called Russian concerns
   ?ludicrous,? insisting that the 
Czech-Polish missile defense is
   aimed at Iran and not Russia. But 
there is no credible evidence that
   a missile threat from Iran exists 
today. The National Intelligence
   Estimate released in December 2007 
further undermined the
   credibility of that claim by stating 
that Iran had discontinued its
   nuclear weapons program in the fall 
of 2003. ?And far from
   protecting against such a threat in 
the future, the anti-missile
   system and other nuclear escalations 
will only create even stronger
   inducements for Iran to seek nuclear 
weapons,? Landy said.

   ?The U.S. bases threaten to restart 
a cold war between the United
   States and Russia,? according to 
John Feffer, co-director of Foreign
   Policy In Focus. ?They have little 
to do with genuine defense and
   much to do with an aggressive U.S. 
military policy.?

   ?No nation has the moral right to 
possess nuclear weapons, which by
   their nature are weapons of vast and 
indiscriminate mass
   destruction,? Landy added. ?The U.S. 
and other nuclear powers can
   best reduce the danger of nuclear 
warfare by taking major steps
   toward both nuclear and conventional 
disarmament and refraining from
   waging or threatening ?preventive? 
war -- not by expanding the
   nuclear threat. Such steps by the 
existing nuclear powers would
   create a political climate that 
would powerfully discourage new
   countries from developing their own 
nuclear weapons.?

   THE CAMPAIGN FOR PEACE AND DEMOCRACY 
(CPD) advocates a new,
   progressive and non-militaristic 
U.S. foreign policy -- one that
   encourages democratization, justice 
and social change. Founded in
   1982, the Campaign opposed the Cold War 
by promoting "detente from
   below." It engaged Western peace 
activists in the defense of the
   rights of democratic dissidents in 
the Soviet Union and Eastern
   Europe, and enlisted East-bloc human 
rights activists against
   anti-democratic U.S. policies in 
countries like Nicaragua and Chile.

   FOREIGN POLICY IN FOCUS (FPIF) is a 
"Think Tank Without Walls"
   connecting the research and action 
of more than 800 scholars,
   advocates, and activists seeking to 
make the United States a more
   responsible global partner. It is a 
project of the Institute for
   Policy Studies. More information 
about the U.S. bases strategy in
   Europe can be found here: 
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5005

   Campaign for Peace and Democracy, 
2790 Broadway, #12, NY, NY 10025.
   Tel (212) 666-4001, Cell (646) 
207-5203, Fax (212) 866-5847. Email:
   cpd@igc.org Web: _www.cpdweb.org_ 
<http://www.cpdweb.org/>_

   _Foreign Policy In Focus, Institute 
for Policy Studies, 1112 16th
   St., Suite 600, NW, Washington, DC 
20036; Tel (202-234-9382); Cell
   (202-294-9128)



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