28 jan 2010

Scientists Considered Pouring Soot Over the Arctic in the 1970s to Help Melt the Ice - In Order to Prevent Another Ice Age

On April 28, 1975, Newsweek wrote an article stating:

Climatologists are pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to compensate for the climatic change, or even to allay its effects. They concede that some of the more spectacular solutions proposed, such as melting the Arctic ice cap by covering it with black soot or diverting arctic rivers, might create problems far greater than those they solve. But the scientists see few signs that government leaders anywhere are even prepared to take the simple measures of stockpiling food or of introducing the variables of climatic uncertainty into economic projections of future food supplies. The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality.
Here is a reprint of the article in the Washington Times, and here is a copy of the 1975 Newsweek article.

more info source: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/12/scientists-considered-pouring-soot-over.html

25 jan 2010

Former Prime Minister of Malaysia Says 9/11 Staged

(AsiaOne) – There is strong evidence that the Sept 11 attacks on the United States that killed nearly 3,000 could have been ’staged’ as an excuse to mount attacks on the Muslim world, said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Joshua Foong and Shamini Ann Asia One News January 21, 2010

‘I am not sure now that Muslim terrorists carried out these attacks. There is evidence that the attacks were staged.

‘If they can make Avatar, they can make anything,’ the former prime minister told a press conference here yesterday after delivering his speech at the General Conference for the Support of Al-Quds to aid the Palestinians.

He said killing innocent people to provide an excuse for war was not new to the US.

‘But whether real or staged, the 9/11 attacks have served the United States and Western countries well. They have an excuse to mount attacks on the Muslim world,’ he added.

http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Malaysia/Story/A1Story20100121-193339.html

8 jan 2010

Airport Travelers To Get Ionizing X-Ray Radiation: Airports Become Perverts Playgrounds - Boycott Airlines With Body Scanners - Terahertz Waves!

Security To Die For How Americans Will Be Nuked To Naked
By Amy Worthington
The Idaho Observer
9-9-3

According to a recent Zogby poll, traveling Americans approve long lines and gridlock at airport passenger screening points. The majority polled appreciate delays and hassles of flying today's suspicious skies and feel safer because the federal Transportation Security Agency (TSA) is in charge of airport screening.1 These happy line campers should be delighted to learn about TSA's grossly invasive new security plans. The good times have just begun.

TSA Security Laboratory Director Susan Hallowell recently announced the agency's intent to use back-scatter X-ray machines for passenger surveillance. These hugely expensive, closet-sized zappers can find the plastic bombs hidden in grandma's underpants, while delivering a smacking dose of ionizing radiation to her breasts and thyroid gland.

Snooper X-rays penetrate a few centimeters into the flesh and reflect off the skin to form a naked body image for TSA security personnel to inspect. These machines are already being field tested at several U.S. airports, including JFK, LAX and Orlando.2

The most lucrative growth industry of our times is the "terror" business. Legions of companies lusting for government contracts are churning out police state technology at a frantic pace. In the last 17 months, TSA has received over 30,000 proposals for Big Brother technology and equipment needed to keep 280 million citizen-suspects under careful surveillance from the inside out.3

Big winners include companies whose equipment is assisting TSA's Advanced Technology Checkpoint Project to nudify airline passengers.4 Digital Security Systems of Miami is promoting its ConPass Security Body Scanner, which can perform virtual cavity searches using deeply penetrating X-radiation. Company engineer Thomas Wiggins says the scanner can detect explosives hidden inside bodies or surgically implanted under flabby folds of skin. Wiggins admits that before 9-11, "The thought of using an X-ray system would have been like ordering our own death sentence." Now Wiggins claims that the ConPass scanner "could scan a pregnant woman around 200 times without a health risk."5

Virtually all passengers and airline crews who pass through airport screening checkpoints in the U.S. may soon be forced to submit to compulsory, whole-body X-ray exposure. Some fliers could be "fried" several times in one day. Frequent fliers could get hit hundreds of times each year. Pregnant women, infants, the chronically ill and immune suppressed would get the rays. Grateful herds of traveling livestock, prodded by TSA drovers through federally-funded "nuke chutes," are expected to believe Hollowell's scientifically unsupported assertion that ionizing radiation delivered via backscatter will be "about the same as sunshine."6

Officials must naturally defend compulsory passenger X-rays as harmless. But they are signing no guarantees because ionizing radiation in the X-ray spectrum damages and mutates both chromosomal DNA and structural proteins in human cells.7 If this damage is not repaired, it can lead to cancer.8 New research shows that even very low doses of X-ray can delay or prevent cellular repair of damaged DNA, raising questions about the safety of routine medical X-rays.9 Unborn babies can become grotesquely disfigured if their mothers are irradiated during pregnancy.10 Heavily X- rayed persons of childbearing age can sustain chromosomal damage, endangering offspring.11 Radiation damage is cumulative and each successive dose builds upon the cellular mutation caused by the last.12 It can take years for radiation damage to manifest pathology.

A leading U.S. expert on the biological effects of X-radiation is Dr. John Gofman, Professor Emeritus of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Gofman's exhaustive research leads him to conclude that there is NO SAFE DOSE-LEVEL of ionizing radiation.13 His studies indicate that radiation from medical diagnostics and treatment is a causal co-factor in 50 percent of America's cancers and 60 percent of our ischemic (blood flow blockage) heart disease.14 He stresses that the frequency with which Americans are medically X-rayed "makes for a significant radiological impact."15

This highly credentialed nuclear physicist states: "The fact, that X-ray doses are so seldom measured, reflects the false assumption that doses do not matter...[but] they do matter enormously. And each bit of additional dose matters, because any X-ray photon may be the one which sets in motion the high-speed, high energy electron which causes a carcinogenic or atherogenic [smooth muscle] mutation. Such mutations rarely disappear. The higher their accumulated number in a population, the higher will be the population's mortality rates from radiation-induced cancer and ischemic heart disease."16

A report in the British medical journal Lancet noted that after breast mammograms were introduced in 1983, the incidence of ductal carcinoma (12 percent of breast cancer) increased by 328 percent, of which 200 percent was due to the use of mammography itself.17 A Lawrence Berkeley National Lab study has demonstrated that breast tissue is extremely susceptible to radiation-induced cancer,18 confirming warnings by numerous experts that mammograms can initiate the very cancers they may later identify.19 Dr. Gofman believes that medical radiation is a co-factor in 75 percent of breast cancer cases.20 So why would girls and women want their breast tissues irradiated every time they take a commercial flight?

Cancer is number two cause of death in the U.S. behind heart disease. The more marathon walks and cookie eating contests we sponsor to fund the "war" on cancer, the more cancer we get. "America isn't winning the war on cancer after all," the Wall Street Journal recently reported.21 The National Cancer Institute admits that America's cancer rates in almost every category are rising steadily.22 Airline pilots and cabin crews suffer a significant incidence of leukemia, skin and breast cancer due to chromosomal damage from ionizing cosmic radiation encountered during years of flying at high altitudes.23

Dr. Gofman's research reveals a dose-response relationship between medical X-rays and fatal heart disease, the number one killer of Americans. He found that X-radiation is a powerful atherogen, causing mutations in smooth muscle cells of coronary arteries. These radiation damaged cells are unable to process lipoproteins correctly, resulting in atherosclerotic plaques and mini tumors in the arteries.24 Radiation used to treat breast cancer can badly damage the heart.25

As Dr. Gofman and other experts argue for improved diagnostic techniques and equipment to reduce medically necessary X-ray exposure, TSA gears up to impose frivolous, nonmusical exposure, even though conventional airline security measures have proven adequate since 9/11. To date, the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association have been silent about TSA's sinister plan to deliver unlimited doses of carcinogenic, mutagenic, heart damaging radiation to the flying public. No health studies are planned to gauge short and long-term effects of the radiation TSA will deliver to inspect our innards.

Big Brother's zap madness is a predictable result of America's post 9-11 security hysteria. But here's the irony: Dr. Gofman says X- radiation has the effect of "grenades and small bombs" on human cells.26 If we permit TSA to continually "bomb" our DNA in the name of security, what have we accomplished?

Besides ionizing beams, the feds are also testing other types of surveillance radiation. A flubbed holographic scanner developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory allows officials to strip search humans with ultra-high frequency radio waves.27 Millivision of Amherst, Mass., has engineered a millimeter wave scanner using radio frequencies 1,000 times higher than those of an FM broadcast.28 These waves pass through clothing, packaging and building materials. Ultra-high radio frequencies include radar, a spectrum of radiation known since WWII to cause cancer and neurological disability in humans.29 Microwave frequencies are documented by recent studies on cell/cordless phone radiation to be carcinogenic and teratogenic (causing abnormal embryonic development).30

An example of unexpected health repercussions caused by high frequency radiation used on humans is fetal ultrasound technology. Ultrasound equipment bombards a fetus for up to one hour with megahertz radiation. This radiation, which cycles millions of time per second, can cause mutation and bleeding in the intestinal cells of rodents.31 Swedish scientists say routine ultrasound scanning of pregnant women may be causing subtle brain damage in unborn babies.32 Approximately half of all pregnancies in the U.S. result in prenatal or postnatal death, or an otherwise less than healthy baby.33 Many wonder if routine exposure of America's fragile unborn to megahertz radiation might be a factor, among others, of this shocking national statistic. Is fetal ultrasound exposure playing some part in the national epidemic of delayed development in infants, plus learning and behavior difficulties suffered by millions of our school children? Exposing the unborn to ionizing X-radiation at airport checkpoints is an even more dangerous game of roulette.

Fedgov's planned use of health damaging radiation on the traveling public seems especially tragic and abusive to those of us convinced that the War on Terror is a giant con job. Massive evidence indicates that the terrorist attacks of 9/11 were intentionally staged to justify increased power over and surveillance of Americans.34 Key NORAD and other military officials had to be in on the ruse.35 President Bush ambushed himself when he openly lied about what he knew and when he knew it on the day the Twin Towers went down.36. He has been caught lying about so many issues that Homeland Security should issue a red alert every time he is about to move his lips. The Bush administration's ongoing cover-up of 9/11 is so blatant that even Bush's own investigatory commission has expressed outrage at his efforts to block its requests for vital information and resources.37

Meantime, TSA claims concern that Americans may feel humiliated at being viewed naked by X-ray screeners. But whatever airport nuke-nazis see through our clothing is nothing that the undertaker won't see after excessive, state-mandated radiation puts us "down" for good. Mandatory airport surveillance radiation delivered to an already grossly ill population would afford our financially strapped government an ingenious "final solution" to numerous political and economic problems. No muss, no fuss, this cull in the Cuckoos' nest. Each useless eater lines up for his deferred-lethal dose. The weak will die soonest, the strong will eventually become the weak--no questions asked and nothing proven. It's hard for a Prozac nation to imagine such sinister motives behind the terror industry, but the documented truth is, our amoral leadership has been brazenly murdering Americans for decades.38 Genocide specialists have been especially fond of unleashing various forms of deadly radiation on the unwitting masses, as documented by the federal Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments.39 Now here we go again!

Consumers could derail TSA's sinister surveillance projects in a heartbeat. It's called boycott: We simply refuse to get nuked to naked. If we stop booking flights, the airline industry must grind to a halt. TSA would have little choice but to scrap its plans to endanger the national health with unnecessary radiation.

Americans who are still able to think must launch an effort to save ourselves and warn others. 1. Let's demand that Congress mandate TSA's radiation experiments be strictly voluntary. 2. We must demand the right to request that TSA conduct a non-radiation search of our persons. 3. We must demand our right to abstain from security procedures that may harm our children. 4. We must initiate an e-mail campaign to convince TSA and the airlines that forcible assault by radiation makes the cost of an airline ticket impossibly prohibitive.

TSA's consumer e-mail address is: TSAContactCenter@dhs.gov. It's toll free comment line is: 1-866-289-9673.

NOTES
1. "Passengers Don't Object to Long Lines," Jon Dougherty, WorldNetDaily.com 6-8-03.
2. "Airport Screeners May Get X-ray Vision," Associated Press, ABC News.com; also "Future Tech: Beyond X-ray Vision: Can Big Brother See Right Through Your Clothes?," Ivan Amata, Discover, Vol. 23, No 7, July 2002.
3. "Looking for New Ways to Fight Terror," James Brosnan, Scripps Howard News Service, 7-29-03.
4. "New Security Devices at Fla. Airport," Mike Branom, Associated Press, 3-15-02.
5. "Airport Scanners Limited In Detecting Explosives," John Dougherty, WorldNetDaily.com., 1-5-02.
6. "Airport Screeners May Get X-ray Vision," op. cit.
7. Radiation from Medical Procedures in the Pathogenesis Of Cancer and Ischemic Heart Disease, John W. Gofman, M.D. (edited by Egan O'Connor) Committee for Nuclear Responsibility, P.O. Box 421993, San Francisco, Ca.94142.
8. "X-rays Not As Safe As Previously Thought," Journal Reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, April 4, 2003. See http://www.mercola.com.
9-12. Gofman, op. cit. Also: Radiation-Induced Cancer From Low-Dose Exposure: An Independent Analysis, John W. Gofman, San Francisco: Committee For Nuclear Responsibility, 1990; ISBN 0-932682-89-8.
13. Radiation from Medical Procedures in the Pathogenesis Of Cancer and Ischemic Heart Disease, Gofman, op. cit., p. 45.
14. Ibid., p. 7.
15. Ibid., p. 17.
16. Ibid., p. 20.
17. "Medicine Mum on Mammography: Do the Math--Think Thermography," 10-23-00, AlternativeMedicine.com.
18. "Avoidable Causes of Breast Cancer May Include Mammography," 2-3-02 Rense.com. See also "The Major Cause of Cancer" 4-13-00, http://www.rachel.org Search http://www.ejnet.org/rachel/ for this three part series.
19. Preventing Breast Cancer, John, W. Gofman (edited by Egan O'Connor), San Francisco: Committee for Nuclear Responsibility, second edition, 1996 ISBN 0-932682-96-0; also "Mammography Enters the Depths of Deceit," Barry Lines, http://www.mercola.com. 5-16-01. Also search mercola.com for mammography.
20. Radiation from Medical Procedures in the Pathogenesis Of Cancer and Ischemic Heart Disease, Gofman, op. cit., p. 52.
21. "New Statistics Show Increase, Not Decline in Cancer Rates," Sharon Begley, Wall Street Journal, 10-16-02.
22. "Escalating Incidence of Childhood Cancer Ignored," Environment News Service, 5-9-02; also National Cancer Institute Press Release, News From the NIC, 5-14-02.
23. The Lancet, December 23, 2000;356; also "Frequent Flying May Cause Chromosomal Damage and Cancer," http://www.mercola.com.;also "Miscarriage Rates Excessive Among Working Flight Attendants," Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 1998;40:210-216.
24. Radiation from Medical Procedures in the Pathogenesis Of Cancer and Ischemic Heart Disease, John W. Gofman, op. cit. p.1. An excellent summary of Dr. Gofman's findings on radiation and heart disease is: "X-rays, Cancer and Heart Disease," April 7, 2001 at http://www.mercola.com/2001/apr/7/index.htm
25. "Radiation Therapy for Breast Cancer May Damage the Heart," Reuters Health, 5-21-00; Source: The Lancet 2000;355:1739-1740,1757-1770.
26. See Dr. Mercola's article "X-rays, Cancer and Heart Disease," 4-7-01 at http://www.mercola.com/2001/apr/7/index.htm
27. "There's No Place To Hide," Lakshmi Sandhana, 8-26-02,wired.com.
28. "Future Tech: Beyond X-ray Vision: Can Big Brother See Right Through Your Clothes?", Ivan Amata, op. cit.
29. Cellular Telephone Russian Roulette, Robert Kane, Vantage Press, 2001. Order from 1-800-882-3273. Excellent documentation on known biological hazards of various radio frequencies.
30. Cell Phones, Invisible Hazards in the Wireless Age, Dr. George Carlo, Carroll&Graf Publishers. 2001. Also: http://www.rense.com/general33/braibc.htm
31."Ultrasound Scans 'May Harm' Unborn Babies," Robert Uhlig, London Telegraph, 6-10-99.
32. "Ultrasound Linked to Brain Damage," Robert Matthews, Sunday Telegraph, U.K., 12-10-0101; also "Ultrasound Scans Linked to Brain Damage in Babies," 12-19-01 at http://www.mercola.com/2002/index.htm
33. This statistic comes from the National Research Council of the National Academy of Science Institute of Medicine. Find details at http://www.rense.com/general24/shock.htm
34. All Fall Down, The Politics of Terror and Mass Persuasion, 2002, http://www.Willhttp://www.sumerianet, 6-21-03; also "Mr. Cheney's Cover Story," emperors-clothes.com., 11-20-01; also "Were Stand-Down Intercept Orders Given on Morning of 9-11?" top_View.com.
35. "Exposing NORAD's Wag the 911 Window Dressing Tale Using NORAD's OWN Press Release and Fifth Grade Math, Mark Elsis: http://StandDown.net/
36. "Bush Caught In Lie About WTC Attacks," WhatReallyHappened.com, 5-21-02: This release contains the CNN transcript of Bush lying about seeing on TV a jet hit the first tower minutes after the event, even though it would have been technically impossible for him to have done so; also "Bush slip Raises Questions About Knowledge of 911 Attacks," 12-6-01: What Really Happened.com . Compare Bush's false statements with the chronological news reports outlined in "An Interesting Day," http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timel...ngday.html
37. "Byrd Shreds Bush Over Iraq Lies, Coverups," Senator Robert Byrd, Senate Floor Remarks, 6-24-03, Rense.com; Also "Is Lying About The Reason For a War an Impeachable Offense?" John W. Dean, CNN.com, 6-6-03. See also Time Magazine, July 21, 2003 with cover titled "Untruth and Consequences"; also "The Ignoble Liars behind Bush's Deadly Iraq War," Intelligence Executive Review, 4-18-03; As reported by the New York Times on 7-9-03 in "Wrestling for the Truth of 9-11," the federal commission investigating 9-11 issued a statement on July 8, 2003, complaining of intimidation and stonewalling by Bush administration.
38. Emerging Viruses: AIDS and Ebola, Leonard G. Horowitz, Tetrahedron, Inc., 1996; also Clouds of Secrecy, Leonard A. Cole, Rowman and Littlefield, N.Y., 1996; also Death in the Air: Globalism, Terrorism and Toxic Warfare, Leonard G. Horowitz, Tetrahedron Publishing Group, 2001. Dr. Horowitz's documented research on U.S. government-funded genocide projects can be ordered from; 1 800-336-9266; also The Brucellosis Triangle, Donald W. Scott, Chelmsford Publishers, Sudbury, 1998, ISBN 0-9692622-3-X. Scott's research on government-engineered mycoplasma is a must-read for Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia sufferers. Order from: Common Cause Medical Research Foundation, 190 Mountain St., Suite 405, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3B4G2 (705) 670-0180.
39. Undue Risk, Secret State Experiments On Humans, Jonathan D. Moreno, W. H Freeman and Co., N.Y., 1999. Moreno was senior staff member of the federally appointed Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments, which completed its research in 1995. Thomas.net; also "Air Force Officer Disciplined for Saying Bush Allowed September 11 Attacks," Jerry Issacs

related:

How Terahertz Waves Tear Apart DNA http://www.technologyreview...
research paper: http://arxiv.org/abs/0910.5294

Airports Become Perverts Playgrounds http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myj69k4zWRk
Generation X-Ray Child victims of Technological abuse By Amy Worthington +refs http://proliberty.com/observer/20080508.htm
The radiation poisoning of America By Amy Worthington + refs http://www.proliberty.com/observer/20070910.htm

3 jan 2010

Press freedom: Report 2009 (lydiacacho.net)

2009 in figures

76 journalists killed (60 in 2008)
33 journalists kidnapped
573 journalists arrested
1456 physically attacked or threatened
570 media censored
157 journalists have left their country
1 dead in jail blogger
151 bloggers and cyber-dissidents detained
61 attacked
60 countries have been affected by Internet censorship

Wars and disputed elections: issues of greatest danger for journalists

The year 2009 will be remembered marked by two dramatic events: the greatest slaughter of journalists held in a single day, the 30 media workers slain by the private militia of a governor in the southern Philippines, and an unprecedented wave of arrests and convictions of journalists and bloggers in Iran after the contested re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Moreover, to escape imprisonment or death, nearly 160 journalists from all continents made their way from exile, sometimes in very hazardous conditions. Iranian photojournalists across the border into Turkey to escape an arrest or fleeing Somali radio journalists to neighboring countries to avoid certain death, a number of professionals who are all informational intermediaries and those trying to silence by all means.

"Wars and elections have been the main threats to journalists in 2009. It is becoming increasingly dangerous to cover a conflict, to the extent that journalists become targets and are in danger of being killed or kidnapped them. But it can also be dangerous to do this work in electoral period, with the result that you can end up in jail or in hospital. In undemocratic countries has been particularly important in 2009, violence in the periods before or after the election.

Another observation, which represents no surprise is that an increasing number of bloggers and Internet sites hit by censorship and repression. Today there is virtually no country can escape this phenomenon. Whenever the Internet and new media (social networks, mobile phones, etc..) Play an important role in disseminating information, the tide changed for the worse. Now the bloggers are so guarded as journalists in traditional media.

Finally, our biggest concern about the year 2009 is the mass exodus of journalists from repressive countries such as Iran and Sri Lanka. The authorities of these countries have realized that by encouraging journalists to leave substantially reduce the pluralism of ideas and the degree of criticism. This is a very dangerous trend and it is absolutely necessary to denounce with all the strength that we can, "said Jean-Francois Julliard, Secretary General of Reporters Without Borders, due to make public the balance of 2009.

Increase by 26% the number of journalists killed

Almost all the journalists killed in 2009, except for the Franco-Spanish documentarian Christian Poveda, murdered in El Salvador, were nationals. "Less known than the great reporters of international public opinion, however, are those local journalists who, every year, pay a higher price to secure our right to be informed of conflicts, corruption or destruction of the environment", said Jean-Francois Julliard, Secretary General of Reporters Without Borders.

The year 2009 started badly with the Israeli military offensive in Gaza. In addition to closing the foreign media access to the Palestinian territory, the Israeli government carried out a series of violent raids against buildings that house the media, in violation of international humanitarian law. These attacks killed two reporters. In the Russian Caucasus, journalists and human rights advocates have lived the year from all dangers. Natalia Estemirova Akhmedilov Malik in Chechnya and Dagestan, witnessing the dirty war waged by Moscow and its local allies, were eliminated with impunity.

Radical Islamist groups have killed at least 15 journalists around the world. In Somalia, Al-Shabaab militia intensified killings and suicide bombings. A total of nine reporters killed, four of whom work with Radio Shabelle, which attempts to continue reporting despite the chaos. In Pakistan, Taliban groups in the Northwest are increasingly an eye on journalists.

Finally continues to increase slightly the number of kidnappings. Most cases were concentrated in Afghanistan, Mexico and Somalia. If the New York Times reporter David Rohde and its local partner managed to escape from the hands of the Taliban, Afghan reporter instead Munadi Sultan was killed during the military operation intended to save.

"Three years after the Security Council passed UN resolution 1738 on protection of journalists in conflict zones, governments still seem to be unable to guarantee the safety of media professionals," Reporters Without Borders added .

In regard to other forms of violence, assaults and threats increased by one third (from 929 cases in 2008 to 1456 2009). In the Americas (501 cases) is where journalists are more exposed, especially when they denounce drug trafficking, corruption or local potentates. Behind comes Asia with 364 cases of this kind, particularly in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal. The number of media censored dangerously increasing, with about 570 cases of newspapers, radios or televisions were prohibited to disseminate any information, or even forcing them to closure. That's what happened to a satirical magazine in Malaysia, a dozen reformist newspapers in Iran, and also to Radio France Internationale in the DRC and the BBC World Service in Rwanda.

The number of journalists arrested (673 in 2008 to 573 in 2009) has experienced a slight drop, to be awarded mainly to have reduced imprisonment in Asia. In the Middle East is where it produced the greatest number of cases.

Electoral Violence

The 30 journalists killed on the island of Mindanao covering the attempt by an opponent of the local potentate to register as a candidate for regional elections in 2010. Similarly, by Tunisian journalist Taoufik Ben Brik jailed him in the days following the reelection of President Ben Ali, while suffering a brutal attack on his colleague Slim Boukhdhir. In Gabon assaulted several journalists, and others were threatened with death in the days following the election of Ali Bongo to the presidency of the country. Also temporarily closed by a half dozen media have echoed the post-election violence, and criticized members of the new government. Finally, the controversial election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran has been the source of a delusional crackdown against the media.

The multiparty elections, a symbol of democracy and free expression, can become nightmares for journalists. At election time the state media often prevents them fairly cover the activities of the candidates, as occurred during the contested election in Afghanistan or the sham election in Equatorial Guinea. And while the most committed journalists are exposed to suffer reprisals from the enemy camp. In voting no is not always respected the right of media access, as demonstrated by the provincial elections in Tamil areas of Sri Lanka.

The most serious problems usually occur at the announcement of results. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's supporters, overwhelmed by an opposition movement that had an enormous echo in the Internet and in the Afghan press, threw themselves into ultra violent repression against hundreds of journalists and bloggers, accused of spying in the pay of foreign or destabilizing agents.

This year, the audacity shown by the journalists in the pre-and post-election was punished with detentions, beatings and imprisonment, some extremely serious. These repeated scenes of repression after a vote should encourage the international community to find ways to better protect press after announcing victories, often stolen or distorted.

"In any case, the wave of violence bodes ill 2010, during which it is scheduled to key elections, including in Ivory Coast, Sri Lanka, Burma, Iraq and the Palestinian territories," said, concerned, Reporters Without Borders that regularly conducts a follow-up of the media in election period.

Over a hundred bloggers and cyber-dissidents jailed

For the first time since the advent of the Internet Reporters Without Borders has registered no fewer than 108 bloggers, cyber-dissidents and Internet users worldwide imprisoned for expressing their opinions on the Web. A figure that highlights the repression that wreaks havoc on the Net, in a dozen countries. Definitely several states have adopted the policy of criminalizing the digital expression, disappointing the hopes of getting an Internet without censorship.

Internet was the engine of democratic protest in Iran, China and elsewhere. Fundamentally therefore, authoritarian governments are as likely to severely punish the internet, as these two bloggers in Azerbaijan sentenced to two years in prison for having mocked the political elites in a video.

If, in 2009, China has remained the main censor the Internet, Iran, Tunisia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Uzbekistan also resorted to recurrent blockage of sites and blogs, and monitoring of expression online. Moreover, the Turkmen Internet remains entirely under state control. In this year also have attacked, threatened or detained bloggers and ordinary citizens who expressed themselves on the Net, while the popularity of social networking and participatory sites knew a huge success. Kareem Amer is an Egyptian arrested while the famous Burmese actor Zarganar you are still 34 years in prison to be served. Some of the figureheads of defending free speech on the Internet, including Chinese, Hu Jia and Liu Xiaobo or Vietnamese and Trung Nguyen Dieu Cay, part of the hundreds of victims of police of the Net Now crisis has become part of the issues that can cause reactions of censorship, and especially on the Web Thus, South Korea mistakenly detained a blogger to comment on the catastrophic situation of the country. In Thailand, half a dozen of net-citizens were detained or intimidated by addressing the crisis in the kingdom. Simply connect the king's health and the collapse of the Bangkok Stock Exchange made them targets of the authorities. Finally, in Dubai are censored the local media when they had to account for the sinking of the market.

Democratic countries are not left behind: while several European states are working on new measures to control the network, in the name of fighting pornography or illegal downloads, Australia has already announced that they intend to create a mandatory system filter, dangerous to freedom of expression. The Turkish justice has increased even more the number of Internet sites, among them YouTube, censored because they have appeared critical of which was the first president of the Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

"From year to year has doubled the number of countries affected by the censorship. A very disturbing trend that reflects the strengthening of the control exercised over the new media, while millions of net-citizens increasingly are mobilizing on the Web For better denouncing the criminalization of the expression on the Net, Reporters Without Borders will host the March 12 mobilization against other Internet enemies, "he assured Lucie Morillon, head of the Office Internet and Freedoms.

The media in the process

At 30 December 2009, there are at least 167 journalists imprisoned around the world. Should be traced to the early 90s to find such a large number of journalists jailed worldwide. Although on several occasions, the UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression has repeatedly said that jail is a disproportionate penalty in cases of press, many governments maintaining these sanctions into their laws, and abusing of them. The passing of sentences for journalists in Cuba, China, Sri Lanka and Iran are as severe as those imposed on perpetrators of bloody crimes or terrorists.

Too often, prison and violence are the only answers offered by the authorities to media professionals. In the Middle East every day brings at least one arrest, or assault. In Iraq, for example, in 2009 assaulted or detained over sixty journalists. In the Palestinian Territories, Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank arrested more than fifty journalists. Africa and Asia are competing side by side by the number of journalists arrested. In 2009 have been counted more than ten cases of arrests in Niger, Gambia and Somalia, Eritrea maintains its status of being the first African prison for journalists, with 32 others in jail. Fortunately in Asia reduced the number of arrests, but Chinese security forces continue to detain and Pakistani journalists, foreign or local, every time you exceed the red lines 'supposed' to be respected. In Honduras, the coup of 28 June 2009, supported by the conservative press, led to a real game journalists suspected of sympathy for the ousted president Manuel Zelaya, and suspension and even closure of their essays. Finally, Cuba is still distinguishes this year with at least 24 cases of arrests and imprisonment of two new long-term, bringing to 25 the number of journalists imprisoned in Cuba.

And when the powerful do not arresting journalists, were bombarded with complaints in series in the courts. In Algeria, the publication director Omar Belhouchet received, just this year, fifteen citations in court. In Turkey or Morocco, the opposition press is the target of repeated complaints, they almost always end in convictions or closures of media because the courts tend to side with the complainant, not the press.

The exile to survive

For the first time, Reporters Without Borders in its annual report includes the number of journalists forced to leave their country as a result of having been threatened his life or freedom. There have been fewer than 157 professionals have been forced to take the path of exile, often in very difficult conditions. It was massive exodus of Iranian journalists and bloggers-more than fifty, and their colleagues in Sri Lanka-not less than 29 verified cases this year.

Not to mention Africa, with the fifty Somali journalists who fled the chaos and ten Eritrean journalists forced to leave the country for fear of reprisals from the worst dictatorship on the continent. The exile of journalists has also affected Guinea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mexico, Colombia and Ethiopia.

This new indicator reflects the fear that has engulfed the profession in particular countries. On his way to exile, journalists are many pitfalls and know they have an uncertain future ahead. Many spend months, even years, hoping to get some form of protection, or a hypothetical relocation.

source: http://www.lydiacacho.net/30-12-2009/2009-en-cifras/ (spanish)

Committee to Protect Journalists http://www.cpj.org/

other related (DUTCH):

Interview met Nick Davies over het einde van de journalistiek http://www.werktitel.be/2009/10/interview-met-nick-davies-over-het-einde-van-de-journalistiek/

‘Onze media spelen met hun geloofwaardigheid’ http://www.werktitel.be/2009/12/onze-media-spelen-met-hun-geloofwaardigheid/