GovBlog: UC Berkeley » International

United States Congressional Serial Set Now Available through LexisNexis Congressional

Jesse Silva — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:38:56 +0000

UC Berkeley has recently acquired full-text access to the United States Congressional Serial Set (1789-1969) through LexisNexis Congressional. The Serial Set contains the legislative history of United States, and also includes many historic agency annual reports, House and Senate Reports, and many other official government documents (for a more complete summary of what is contained in the Serial Set, click here). Prior to this acquisition, citations to the Serial Set found in LexisNexis Congressional had to be searched in the Readex United States Congressional Serial Set database. With this purchase, you can now search LexisNexis Congressional for all your congressional research needs. Off-campus access to LexisNexis Congressional is restricted to current UCB student, faculty and staff, though anyone in the Library may access the database.

National Security Archive Posts Declassified Evidence Used in Fujimori Trial

Susana Hinojosa — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:39:42 +0000

The National Security Archive recently posted key declassified U.S. documents that were submitted as evidence in the former President Fujimori’s trial which began on December 10, 2007, in Peru. Fujimori was Peru’s president from 1990 to 2000 when he was forced to resign. The declassified records contain intelligence gathered by U.S. officials on the secret creation of “assassination teams” that were part of Fujimori’s counterterrorism operations. Six of the 21 declassified U.S. records are provided on the NSA website. These were originally obtained through the Freedome of Information Act (FOIA).

Obama Signs Executive Order to Close Gitmo!

Jesse Silva — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:01:32 +0000

This morning, President Barack Obama signed executive orders to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, review military war crimes trials and ban the harshest interrogation methods. At the time of this posting, the orders are not available on the White House website. When they are available, they will be located on the executive orders page.

New Database: LexisNexis Statistical Datasets

Jesse Silva — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:25:29 +0000

The Library has just subscribed to LexisNexis Statistical Datasets. The database provides fast and easy one-stop shopping to more than 5.3 billion (and growing) data points from licensed and public domain datasets. Sources of data include local, state and international governments and organizations. Datasets allows you to customize the data by selecting subjects, variable(s) of interest, and the ability to view your data in side-by-side tables, charts and even maps. Datasets also provides quick graphs and chats for statistics in the news, and when you download or print, you are given citation information from where the data originated. Anyone may access LexisNexis Statistical Datasets from the public computers in the Library, however, off-campus access to is restricted to current UCB faculty, staff and students through the proxy server or VPN.

Remittances to Latin America from Japan

Susana Hinojosa — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:36:25 +0000

Most of us think of remittances from the US to Latin America, but this interesting report, Remittances to Latin America from Japan, reminds researchers that remittances also are sent from other countries. This brief report from the Inter-American Development Bank, Multilateral Investment Fund, gives a broad overview of the growing international labor market. As part of the process of workers looking for better lives for their families, tens of millions of Latin Americans have been migrating to the US and Europe and now increasingly to Japan. Japan with its relatively high wages is the preferred destination for the descendents of the Japanese Diaspora to Latin America in the first half of the 20th century. These “Dekassegui” or migrant workers go to Japan, save their money and send remittances back to family. According to the report there are currently more than 435,000 Latin American adults living in Japan with about 305,000 sending money home regularly. In 2005, it was estimated that over $2.65 billion in remittances were sent home. The report includes a profile of these migrant workers (age, education, income).

UN channel on YouTube

Tim Dennis — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:14:20 +0000

The United Nation’s has launched a channel on YouTube. From the UN YouTube channel:

The UN Channel features videos on a wide range of global topics including climate change, development, human rights and peace and security. UNTV also provides daily coverage of events, briefings and meetings at the UN headquarters in New York, at www.un.org/webcast.

Thanks to Annelise Sklar, the Intl Docs Librarian at UCSD, for sharing this with us via google reader.

Rice admits to White House Talks on “harsh interrogation methods”

Jesse Silva — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:21:10 +0000

According to an article in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times, Secretary of State Condolezza Rice participated in meetings at the White House from 2002-2003 to discuss the use of “harsh interrogation methods on Al Qaeda detainees.” This news comes from a written statement Rice provided to Senate Armed Services Committee investing the use of torture. Present at these meetings were Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales, David S. Addington, the vice president’s counsel. According to the article, the State Department “would not comment on correspondence between Rice and members of Congress.”

Reports on Pre-War Intelligence Released from the U.S. Senate

Jesse Silva — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:12:16 +0000

The United States Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence has just released 2 reports on pre-war intelligence activities. You can find the reports on the committee’s webpage. The reports are titled:

Report on Whether Public Statements Regarding Iraq by U.S. Government officials were Substantiated by Intelligence Information

Report on Intelligence Activities Relating to Iraq Conducted by the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group and the Office of Special Plans Within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense Policy.

Among other things, the reports found that officials misrepresented secret intelligence to make the case to invade Iraq. At this point in time, UC Berkeley has not received these reports from the Government Printing Office.

Foreign Policy Association

Susana Hinojosa — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:17:44 +0000

The Foreign Policy Association (FPA) “is a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring the American public to learn more about the world. Founded in 1918, FPA provides independent publications, programs and forums to increase public awareness of, and foster popular participation in, matters relating to those policy issues.” Supporting the focus on key current policy issues, the FPA website features blogs that discuss international events and also daily postings from foreign policy experts. Sections such as Explore by Region (with map) and Explore by Issue are very useful. Currently the Explore by Issue section includes: Iraq, European Union, Diplomacy, Russia. Defense & Security, Latin America, China Trade, Philanthropy and more. The Latin America listings include Spring Updates (post-Fidel Cuba), Recommended Readings, and a Latin America Blog. A key item on the FPA site is the video content which features clips from the FPA’s Great Decisions television series and also lectures by prominent scholars.

Human Rights Day - December 10, 2007

Susana Hinojosa — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 23:10:36 +0000

Human Rights Day 2007 2007 starts a year-long commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The theme for 2008 is Dignity and Justice for All of Us. The UN website includes a video of the Commemorative event which includes the address by UN Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-moon. Calendar of events for the year is available.