These poems depict a journey through a dark landscape, where the political and personal are fused into a geography of disinformation, sex, betrayal and deadly technology. Phelan has produced verbal "snapshots" of a subterranean war-- with fronts in Los Angeles as well as Fallujah-- where the only defense is one's integrity and the stakes may be life itself.
Janet Phelan - Reporter at Large
Dancing the Apocalypso with the Microbial Gestapo
Wednesday, 18 January 2012 11:02 | 
Written by Janet Phelan | 
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The Seventh Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention was predicted to be a dud. According to a number of BWC watchers, the expectations for this conference accomplishing very much at all were quite low. http://blogs.shu.edu/ghg/2012/01/06/ruminations-on-the-seventh-review-conference-of-the-bwc-more-or-more-of-the-same/
And if you believe the mainstream media, the only noteworthy event during the fourteen day conference, held at Palais Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, took place on December 7, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed the meeting. Clinton's speech (http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2011/12/178409.htm) highlighted the critical nature of work being done to protect the world from the spectre of biological weapons but nixed the idea of launching any verification protocol. The speech was, according to journalist John Zarocosta, “Pure Bolton.”
Almost ThereMonday, 02 January 2012 13:27 | Written by Janet Phelan | | |
It's only a year or two until it all falls apart You walk through the darkling streets away from the tiny mountain village as the last streetlamp illuminates an apron of falling snow unfurling in the oval amber glow
No one has walked this way for hours, maybe days There are no tracks to follow no signs to let you know if you've really strayed too far this time
The world here is solitary its secrets lie buried you can't tell where the street ends and the woods begin everything has fused into a great, glistening way
and you know too much and you know what that means in times like these
Every step takes you further and deeper and stronger experience peeling off and melting away leaving you light condensed to the crystalline form of what you must do
A nearby spruce groans a branch splintering off under its icy white weight
No one would ever know if you didn't turn back
Somewhere, a tight knot is loosened your last restraints fall away
The wind scissors your breath the sky gathers its folds around you
you are almost there Last Updated (Wednesday, 11 January 2012 17:25) Action Alert for GuardianshipsThursday, 08 December 2011 15:13 | Written by Janet Phelan | | |
I have scheduled an appointment next week with an international NGO in Geneva which focuses on attacks on human rights defenders. This is how this works for us--any one who has experienced an attack--defined as inappropriate judicial behavior, for starters (possibly such as restraining orders,sanctions, etc)--due to an attempt to protect loved ones in these guardianship proceedings--would qualify. |
Questions Persist as to US Arms Treaty ComplianceMonday, 26 December 2011 10:06 | Written by Janet Phelan | | |
Geneva, Switzerland December 19, 2011
Questions concerning the compliance of the United States with the international treaty, the Biological Weapons Convention, came to a head recently during the Seventh Review Conference of the Convention, which is being held now in Geneva, Switzerland at the United Nations. The most recent compliance report, listed in the BWC catalogue as BWC/CONF.VII/INF.2/Add.1, has failed to quash concerns as to the reliability of statements made by the United States as to its compliance with obligations under the BWC.
The specific concerns focus on the United States' lack of disclosure of a law which amends the prior biological weapons statute. The original statute is entitled the Biological Weapons Statute--Title 18 Chapter 10 Section 175 of the U.S. code. The amended law, which is entitled The Expansion of the Biological Weapons Statute (Section 817 of the USA PATRIOT Act) radically changes the legal culpability incurred by agents of the US government for violating the statute, granting them immunity.
While this most recent report submitted to the BWC by the United States does mention that the original law was indeed amended by the USA Patriot Act, The U.S. has once again failed to disclose the revolutionary nature of this amendment and is instead persisting in reporting the text of the older statute without coming clean about the implications or even the wording of the amended version. The critical amendment to 175 literally removes U.S. agents from liability for violating legal prohibitions for possessing and transporting biological weapons. The implications are serious and deserve careful scrutiny.
"Expect all Protective Systems to Fail"Wednesday, 16 November 2011 21:39 | Written by Janet Phelan | | |
The attacks of September 11 were quickly followed by a biological weapons attack in which government- grade weaponized anthrax killed five people and sickened numerous others. This attack, the genesis of which remains unsolved ten years later, was used to justify the United States Congress pumping over $60 billion dollars into a “biodefense “ program which has failed in every parameter that can be measured.
In fact, it appears that all purportedly protective measures, developed nationally and internationally, have fatal flaws in their design which may function to ensure the likelihood and success of a biological weapons attack. Last Updated (Wednesday, 16 November 2011 21:42)
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