PROGRAM NOTES 01/22/10- This weeks show features stories from China Radio International, Radio Netherlands, Radio Havana Cuba, and the Voice of Russia

From CHINA- China has continued to experience the most severe winter weather in 60 years. Google postponed the launch of mobile phones in China in an ongoing dispute with the government. An editorial from China Youth Daily concerning the dispute between Google and the Chinese government. Religious violence has resulted in riots and many deaths in Nigeria. Britain is planning to ban drinking contests in bars due to a sharp increase in alcohol induced deaths.

From NETHERLANDS- Radio Netherlands has eliminated SW broadcasts to North America. The decision is based on their surveys that find very few listeners in N America. If you ever listen to RN on shortwave please let them know- by email to letters@rnw.nl or send them a letter to RNW Worldwide, PO Box 222, 1200JG, Hilversum, The Netherlands.

A year after the start of a tobacco smoking ban in the Netherlands, people continue to smoke marijuana in coffeehouses and the tobacco ban is not enforced. In the midst of the human tragedy in Haiti, a political drama is unfolding, with the French accusing the US of invading Haiti rather than aiding it.

From CUBA- More about the situation in earthquake ravaged Haiti, including Doctors Without Borders being refused landing at the US controlled airfields. Private security companies in the US are gearing up for work in Haiti. Blackwater is proposing increasing its presence in Afghanistan, despite its people being trained for work in Iraq. At the British Inquiry into the Iraq invasion, a letter from Jack Straw warning Tony Blair about dubious evidence justifying the military action has surfaced.

From RUSSIA- A right-wing businessman has won the Presidential election in Chile. A world conference on alternative sources of energy has begun in the United Arab Emirate. A commentary about US government spying on US citizens under the guise of a terrorist emergency- this has spread to the US spying on citizens in the European Union, which is creating a controversy.

--"War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group know what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses."
--Major General Smedley Butler USMC, 1933