Monday, December 18, 2006

Marijuana top US cash crop, analyst says

Mon Dec 18, 2006 5:48 PM ET

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-12-18T224632Z_01_N18159676_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-MARIJUANA.xml&WTmodLoc=USNewsHome_C1_%5bFeed%5d-2

By David Alexander

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. growers produce nearly $35 billion worth of marijuana annually, making the illegal drug the country's largest cash crop, bigger than corn and wheat combined, an advocate of medical marijuana use said in a study released on Monday.

The report, conducted by Jon Gettman, a public policy analyst and former head of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, also concluded that five U.S. states produce more than $1 billion worth of marijuana apiece: California, Tennessee, Kentucky, Hawaii and Washington.

California's production alone was about $13.8 billion, according to Gettman, who waged an unsuccessful six-year legal battle to force the government to remove marijuana from a list of drugs deemed to have no medical value.

Tom Riley, a spokesman for the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, said he could not confirm the report's conclusions on the size of the country's marijuana crop. But he said the government estimated overall U.S. illegal drug use at $200 billion annually.

Gettman's figures were based on several government reports between 2002 and 2005 estimating the United States produced more than 10,000 metric tons of marijuana annually.

He calculated the producer price per pound of marijuana at $1,606 based on national survey data showing retail prices of between $2,400 and $3,000 between 2001 and 2005.

The total value of 10,000 metric tons of marijuana at $1,606 per pound would be $35.8 billion.

By comparison, the United States produced an average of nearly $23.3 billion worth of corn annually from 2003 to 2005, $17.6 billion worth of soybeans, $12.2 billion worth of hay, nearly $11.1 billion worth of vegetables and $7.4 billion worth of wheat, the report said.

Gettman said the 10-fold increase in U.S. marijuana production, from 1,000 metric tons in 1981 to 10,000 metric tons in 2006, showed the country was failing to control marijuana by making its cultivation and use illegal.

"Marijuana has become a pervasive and ineradicable part of the economy of the United States," he said. "The contribution of this market to the nation's gross domestic product is overlooked in the debate over effective control."

"Like all profitable agricultural crops marijuana adds resources and value to the economy," he added. "The focus of public policy should be how to effectively control this market through regulation and taxation in order to achieve immediate and realistic goals, such as reducing teenage access."

Riley said illegal drug use was a "serious part of the economy," but he rejected the notion of an economic argument for legalizing marijuana.

He said marijuana use was an "inherently harmful activity" with serious physical and mental health consequences. He said more American teens were in treatment centers for marijuana dependency than for all other drugs combined.

WAL-MART Moves to China!

Now the slaves can make the products and buy them! If Wal-Mart makes all their goods in China...how will they make money selling goods in China? The Communist Wal-Mart actually has unions, yet the Wal-Marts in the US..don't have unions? How does this make sense?


Al-Jazeera Reports: Wal-Mart hosts Communist Party

US retail giant Wal-Mart has set up a new branch of the Communist Party at its China headquarters after allowing unions to operate in its stores earlier this year.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc, known for it's anti-union stance in other countries, opened the new branch at its head office in the southern city of Shenzhen.




The move come as Chinese authorities look to expand the presence of the communist party and state-controlled labour groups in foreign companies operating in China

One local party official told the People's Daily newspaper the branch opening was a "breakthrough" for the company.



Chinese law makes it compulsory for any company or institution with 25 or more staff to set up its own trade union if staff request one.

The first Wal-Mart trade union in China was set up in mid-2006 and a union office recently opened at the company's HQ.

None of Wal-Mart's stores in the US has a union.

Wal-Mart, which is the world's largest retailer, opened its first Chinese store in 1996 and now employs more than 35,000 people in its China operations.

In March this year, it announced plans hire an additional 150,000 staff as part of a major expansion.

Wal-Mart has opened more than 60 stores in 34 cities across China and plans to open dozens more as it seeks to tap China's fast-growing retail market.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/21BE3634-536A-477F-A812-6AEC9A148E80.htm

Saudis study finds Shi'ite 'state' in Iraq- report - with the aid of Iran

Saudis Report Shi'ite "State" Inside of Iraq


By Sharon Behn
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published December 18, 2006

Iran has effectively created a Shi'ite "state within a state" in neighboring Iraq, defying both Iraqi Sunnis and neighboring Sunni nations, according to a Saudi security report.
Iranian military forces are providing Shi'ite militias with weapons and training, Iranian charities are pouring funds into schools and hospitals, and Tehran is actively supporting pro-Iranian Iraqi politicians, the report said.
"Where the Americans have failed, the Iranians have stepped in," said the report by the Saudi National Security Assessment Project, a Riyadh-based consultancy commissioned by the Saudi government to provide security and intelligence assessments.
The report, submitted to the Saudi government in March, has not been publicly distributed.
Citing interviews with intelligence and military officials in Iraq and surrounding region, the report states that the Sunni insurgency numbers about 77,000, while the Shi'ite militia forces total about 35,000.
According to the report, Iran also is infiltrating Iraq through its al Quds forces -- the special command division of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) -- which specialize in intelligence operations in unconventional warfare.
RAND Corp. senior defense analyst Ed O'Connell said the Iranian intelligence was trying to counter Saddam Hussein's former formidable spy network, Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS), or the Mukhabarat. Under Saddam's regime, he said, roughly one of every six Iraqi adults was a paid or unpaid informant -- a network that did not disappear with the arrival of the U.S.-led coalition.
"The real story in Iraq is this below-the-surface 'unconventional war' between the old IIS, which could become a more overt Saudi proxy -- and the al Quds special directorate intelligence-counterintelligence," Mr. O'Connell said.
The Saudi security report was directed by Nawaf Obaid -- who recently was fired for writing an article in The Washington Post warning that Saudi Arabia would not stand idly by and allow Iraq's Shi'ites to destroy its Sunni population.
Washington diplomats and analysts say Mr. Obaid's dismissal was more window-dressing than a real punitive action.
The report states that the Iranian levers of influence in Iraq include a broad network of informants, military and logistical support of armed groups, and social welfare campaigns.
It adds that Tehran has "sought to influence Iraq's political process by giving support to new various parties, in particular, to the SCIRI," or Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the leading Shi'ite party.
Analysts say some Saudi citizens are raising funds for Sunni insurgents.
"I have heard them say it is not hard to line up a couple hundred thousand dollars and send it to the insurgents across the border," said Isobel Coleman, a senior fellow at the Council for Foreign Relations.
Despite claims by SCIRI leader that the party's private militia, the Iran-backed Badr Organization, formerly known as the Badr Brigade, has surrendered its weapons, gun-toting Badr members are still visible on the streets of Baghdad.
The Saudi study says the Badr Organization is still about 25,000-strong, and the party has roughly 3 million supporters. Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militia, the Mahdi Army, is thought to number just under 10,000, while his party has the support of about 1.5 million Shi'ites.
"Each of these groups is beholden in some way to Iran and has ties to its intelligence and security services," the report says.
It adds: "Recent intelligence indicates that IRGC officers are currently operating in Iraq certain Shi'ite militias and actual army and police units."
U.S. officials have acknowledged that Shi'ite militias have infiltrated the police, but stopped short of saying that there is direct Iranian involvement in the security forces.
Mrs. Coleman cautions that the report, while not necessarily inaccurate, is not impartial.
"It is alarmist about the Iranians, and Mr. Obaid comes with a bias. Not that it is wrong, but it is not unbiased," she said.
The Saudi study was the result of five months of cooperation with Iraq and neighboring countries and dozens of interviews with current military and intelligence officials in the region, Mr. Obaid wrote in the preface to the 40-page report.
"Ordinary police and military officers now have a stronger allegiance to the Badr Organization or the Mahdi Army than to their own units," the report says, adding that the Badr Organization is the "key vehicle Iran is using to achieve its military, security and intelligence aims."
The study also provides details on the Sunni insurgency. It cites Iraqi tribal leaders as saying that the insurgency is run mainly by former commanders and high-level military officers of the Ba'athist regime. Only a smaller group is religiously inspired and includes foreign fighters.
Of the 77,000 active members of the insurgency, the "jihadis" number about 17,000, of which some 5,000 are from North Africa, Sudan, Yemen, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
The remaining 60,000 are members of the former military or Saddam's paramilitary Fedayeen forces. The officer corps of the insurgency has "command and control facilities in Syria as well as bases in strategic locations, where Sunnis constitute the majority of the urban population."
Given the centuries-old tribal, familial and religious ties between Iraq's Sunnis and Saudi Arabia, the assessment concludes that "Saudi Arabia has a special responsibility to ensure the continued welfare and security of Sunnis in Iraq."
Its recommendations to the Saudi government included a comprehensive strategy that would include overt and covert components to deal with the worst-case scenario of full-blown civil war.
It also calls on the government to communicate the assessment to the United States; make it clear to Iran that if its covert activities did not stop the Saudi leadership would counter them; and extend an invitation to the highest Iraqi Shi'ite leader, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to reassure the Shi'ite community.

Pandemic preparations vary widely by state

AP/CNN

Trailers packed with cots and medical supplies are parked in secret locations around Colorado, ready for doctors to open makeshift hospitals in school gyms if a flu pandemic strikes.

Parts of southeastern Washington are considering drive-thru flu shots during a pandemic -- although a practice run this fall showed they'd better hire traffic cops.

If Alabama closes schools amid a super-flu, students may take classes via public television. In Dallas, city librarians may replace sick 911 operators.

States and communities are getting creative as they struggle to answer the Bush administration's call to prepare for the next influenza pandemic, whether the culprit is the much-feared Asian bird flu or some other super-strain. (See how much anti-flu medication each state is getting. )

The Associated Press took a closer look at those preparations and found wide differences in how far along states are -- and little consensus on the best policies, even among neighboring states, on such basic issues as who decides whether to close schools.

Almost half the states haven't spent any of their own money yet to gird against a super-flu, relying instead on grants from the federal government.

Ethical queries abound about how to ration scarce drugs and vaccine. As Oklahoma epidemiologist Dr. Brett Cauthen puts it, that's "the toughest question out there."
Readiness hard to measure

Some states are debating whether to purchase the recommended anti-flu medications to store for their citizens, or to gamble that they'll receive enough from a federal stockpile.

And while some states proudly list other pandemic supplies they've stockpiled in guarded warehouses -- 4.5 million protective face masks, touts New York -- others, such as West Virginia, still are putting final drafts of their plans to paper.

"How are states doing, and how do we know how states are doing?" asked Dr. Pascale Wortley of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "There's a lot of important things that are very hard to measure. It's a real challenge."

Indeed, when the government's first official assessment of state readiness begins in a few weeks, officials expect few states will have tackled some of the toughest issues: How will you keep grocery stores stocked? Will you reserve enough anti-flu drugs for utility workers so the water and electricity stay on? If you close schools, will local businesses let parents stay home with their children, or fire them?

When the feds fly in your state's share of vaccine and medicine, can you store it properly and get it to patients without being mobbed?

"Nothing, we think, is better than having 5,000 communities right now wrestle with this," said Dr. William Raub, emergency planning chief at the Department of Health and Human Services. "What will seem to work happily in one community is probably not going to work in some others."
Report card coming

Super-strains of the easy-to-mutate influenza virus cause worldwide outbreaks every few decades or so, three in the last century. Worst was the 1918 pandemic that killed about 50 million people worldwide, more than 500,000 in the U.S. alone. If a 1918-style pandemic struck today, up to a third of the population could fall ill and 1.9 million Americans could die.

With another pandemic overdue, the CDC began telling states to prepare years ago, plans that have taken on greater urgency with the simmering H5N1 bird flu. In 2004, just 29 states had pandemic plans of some sort. Today, all have at least a draft on paper.

Next spring, federal health officials will have their first report card on the quality of those preparations, based on a questionnaire that Raub hopes to ship to the states by month's end -- questions that will go beyond health care to ask how communities would keep the economy and society in general running.

Raub said he's not playing "gotcha," but that the responses are key to helping less prepared states catch up, and identifying best practices that neighbors can copy.

"I feel pretty confident we will have covered far and away all the important things," he said.

It's an assessment that public health advocates, worried at varying state investments, call long due.

"Where you live shouldn't determine your level of preparedness," said Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust for America's Health. "This is not a question of letting 51 flowers bloom. The federal government, as the primary payer and the entity that can see the biggest picture, needs to define a minimum standard of protection that every American can expect."
Vaccine dilemmas

Because it will take months to custom-brew a vaccine once a pandemic begins, flu-treating medicines, mostly Tamiflu, form the backbone of the nation's preparations. World flu authorities recommend stockpiling enough for a quarter of the population, or 75 million Americans.

The Bush administration is in the process of buying enough to treat 44 million people, and will hold each state's share in a national stockpile.

States are supposed to buy enough to treat the remaining 31 million people, doses they would store. The federal government negotiated a cheap price and offered to chip in 25 percent of the cost, but told states "we need you to come the rest of the way," Raub said.

Most states say they do plan to buy at least some of those outstanding doses, although at least nine still are awaiting money for the purchases from their state legislatures.

And at least four states don't know if they'll spend their own scarce dollars for the extra purchases, saying the drugs might not work against a super-flu -- or expire before they're needed.

"There's a chance that it might be useful, but there's also a chance that it might not be useful at all," frets Arizona assist health director Will Humble. The state used a $1 million federal grant to purchase enough medicine for 66,000 people; he isn't sure if it will buy more.

Whether they buy their own stocks or not, many states don't yet know how they'll successfully dispense their share of the nationally stockpiled Tamiflu and other supplies once federal workers deliver it. A new requirement heading for the states: Figure out exactly how they'll handle the supplies so they get to doctors or pharmacies for proper dispersal.

"Some of these pallets weigh more than 350 pounds," noted Raub. "We think it (the plan) ought to be something more than 'Stick it in the back of the state police car and drive it somewhere."'
Help for other disasters

What if states do all this planning and the next pandemic never arrives? Much of the work is applicable to other disasters, too, from earthquakes to bioterrorism.

"People forget that you're supposed to be doing all-hazards preparedness," said Washington Secretary of Health Mary C. Selecky.

"We're trying to be prepared for a range of events," agreed Alabama emergency planner Kent Speigner, his voice echoing in a cavernous warehouse where the state stores flu supplies right next to smallpox supplies. "We really don't know what's coming next."

Reid: 'Sure, I'll go along' with short US troop surge in Iraq

During a Sunday morning interview on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nevada, Dem) indicated that he would back a short-term surge of more US troops sent to Iraq, as reports indicate that President Bush may be contemplating such a plan.

"If the president calls for adding more troops to Baghdad, adding more troops to Iraq, will you oppose it?" Stephanopoulos asked.

Reid said that he'd "go along" with such a plan if it's "part of a program" to get the United States out "by this time next year."

"If it's for a surge, that is, for two or three months and it's part of a program to get us out of there, as indicated, by this time next year, then, sure, I'll go along with it," Reid said.

"But if it's put 45,000 more troops in there -- you know, we've lost in Nevada about 30 troops killed, scores have been wounded," Reid countered. "We're now approaching 3,000 dead Americans, costing the American people 2.5-3 billion dollars a week. This is a war that we have to change course. The president has to do that."

Stephanopoulos asked Reid how he would know such a surge would be temporary.

"I mean, even if that condition is set, even if the president says we'd like them to come home in two or three months, there's no way you're going to know that they're going to be able to come home, is there?" Stephanopoulos asked Reid.

"If the commanders on the ground said this is just for a short period of time, we'll go along with that," Reid responded. "But if you put more troops in there, keep in mind, I repeat, the situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating. Those aren't my words. Those are the words of some of the finest patriots we have in this country, Democrats and Republicans, the Iraq Study Group."

Reid's words comes days after another top Democrat, Silvestre Reyes, the incoming House Intelligence chairman, called for an increase of 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops "to take out the militias and stabilize Iraq."

raw story

Military Wants To Test Blood Substitute On Civilians

AP
Monday, December 18, 2006

Washington -- The military says it could save lives in war zones like Iraq. But the Navy wants to test a blood substitute on civilian trauma victims without getting informed consent.

Hemopure is derived from cow blood. If the Food and Drug Administration agrees, it would be given to patients between the ages of 18 and 69 who've lost dangerous amounts of blood. They'd get it on the way to the hospital, instead of saline fluids that are normally given in ambulances.

The military says there's an urgent need for a blood substitute. They say more than two-thirds of the American troops who die of trauma in Iraq without reaching a hospital have severe bleeding.

Officials say they can't test the new product on the battlefield because it's too uncontrolled to do research. Three times since June 2005, the FDA has blocked Hemopure trials from starting. Each time, it has cited safety concerns.

US releases anti-insurgency guide

US releases anti-insurgency guide

Read the guide here: Counterinsurgency Guide

The US military has released a new manual on counter-insurgencies - its first guide on the topic for 20 years.
The manual, which draws on lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan, underlines the need for troops to do more than fight.

Critics have accused the US military of inflaming insurgencies by failing to gain the trust of local people.

The US military says the 282-page manual, which contains chapters on intelligence and ethics in war, fills "a doctrinal gap".

'Handshake or hand grenade'

The US's first post-9/11 counter-insurgency manual tackles intelligence, developing and carrying out strategies and boosting local security.


It's this part - nation-building, counter-insurgency - which is the hard stuff that we haven't trained for
Col Steve Boylan


The manual says it aims to prepare US soldiers and marines "to be greeted with a hand grenade or a handshake, and to respond appropriately to each".

A spokesman for the US Army's institutes of military education said the manual "codifies a lot of what's happening in the field already".

Col Steve Boylan said it reflected the changing nature of war, which goes beyond traditional fighting into reconstruction and nation-building.

US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have faced criticism for being heavy-handed and for sometimes failing to discriminate between insurgents and civilians.

"It's this part - nation-building, counter-insurgency - which is the hard stuff that we haven't trained for," Col Boylan said.

The guide, written with input from humanitarian agencies and media organisations, underlines the importance of integrating civilian and military activities.

"Political, social, and economic programmes are usually more valuable than conventional military operations in addressing the root causes of conflict and undermining an insurgency," it reads.




Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6186987.stm

Published: 2006/12/17 02:07:57 GMT

Iran switches to Euro's!

Dollar dropped in Iran asset move

Iran is to shift its foreign currency reserves from dollars to euros and use the euro for oil deals in response to US-led pressure on its economy.
In a widely expected move, Tehran said it would use the euro for all future commercial transactions overseas.

The US, which accuses Tehran of supporting terrorism and trying to obtain nuclear weapons, has sought to limit the flow of dollars into Iran.

It wants the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on Iran.

Dollar squeeze

Analysts said Tehran had been steadily shifting its foreign-held assets out of dollars since 2003 and that Monday's announcement was unlikely to affect the value of the dollar, which has weakened significantly in recent months.


There will be no reliance on dollars
Gholam-Hussein Elham, Iranian spokesman

An Iranian spokesman said all its foreign exchange transactions would be conducted in euros and its national budget would also be calculated in euros as well as its own currency.

"There will be no reliance on dollars," said Gholam-Hussein Elham.

"This change is already being made in the currency reserves abroad."

The currency move will apply to oil sales although it is expected that Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, will still accept oil payments in dollars.

Nuclear trigger

Washington has sought to exert financial pressure on Iran, which it accuses of flouting international law by trying to acquire nuclear weapons.

Tehran denies this, saying its nuclear research is for purely geared towards civilian uses.

Most international banks have stopped dollar transactions with Iran and some firms have ceased trading with Iran altogether in anticipation of possible future sanctions.

The dollar slipped slightly against the euro in New York trading although analysts said they did not expect the reaction to be too severe.

"It is something they have been saying they are going to do for quite a long time now, so I wouldn't expect any market reaction," said Ian Stannard, an economist with BNP Paribas.

The BBC's Tehran correspondent Frances Harrison said Iranian businessmen were complaining about delays in securing letters of credit and saw current conditions as a prelude to the imposition of sanctions.

Tehran has urged Iranian businesses to open letters of credit in euros in the future.





Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/6190865.stm

Gingrich defends free speech curbs

union leader

MANCHESTER – Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich last night defended his call to limit freedom of speech to combat terrorism, comments that last month provoked strident criticism from liberal groups.

Gingrich said the threat of biological or nuclear attack requires America to consider curbs to speech to fight terrorists, if it is to protect the society that makes the First Amendment possible.

"Our friends at the 'ACLU left,' of course, were staggered at this concept," Gingrich told an audience of Republicans at a Christmas banquet. "How could we talk about anything less than 100 percent free speech? How could we consider in any way thinking about this issue?"

Gingrich cited last month's ejection of six Muslim scholars from a plane in Minneapolis for suspicious behavior, which included reports they prayed before the flight and had sat in the same seats as the Sept. 11 hijackers.

"Those six people should have been arrested and prosecuted for pretending to be terrorists," Gingrich said. "And the crew of the U.S. airplane should have been invited to the White House and congratulated for being correct in the protection of citizens."

Gingrich spoke to a crowd of about 250 at the Manchester Republican City Committee's Christmas dinner, held at the Executive Court Banquet Facility.

On Nov. 27, he said the First Amendment may require a "different set of rules" for terrorists, comments made while he addressed a free speech award dinner hosted by the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications.

The statements were picked up by Internet bloggers and pundits who charged the former speaker with attacking American values. Liberal MSNBC host Keith Olbermann assailed Gingrich for having "invoked the bogey man of terror."

In an interview, Gingrich said it is possible to distinguish between terrorists and others when looking to fight threatening expression.

"If you give me any signal in the age of terrorism that you're a terrorist, I'd say the burden of proof was on you," Gingrich said.

Gingrich, who has said he plans to decide whether to run for President in September, struck campaign-esque themes last night.

He urged a departure from heavy partisanship, energy independence for the United States and a search for cures for cancer and a vaccine for Alzheimer's disease.

Gingrich touted science as offering possibilities that Americans never believed were possible.

He noted it took only seven years for the U.S. space program to send a man to the moon, and that iPods, the BlackBerry, cell phones and cell phone cameras are all recent inventions.

A cure for Alzheimer's, "is not a fantasy," Gingrich said. "Imagine it was 1950 and I was talking to you about polio."

Last night's event also saw the feting of two Republicans for their efforts on behalf of the GOP.

Jim Coburn, the unsuccessful candidate for governor, was given the Republican of the Year Award.

David Wihby, a former longtime alderman and the deputy commissioner of the state Department of Labor, received the Ray Wieczorek Award for service to the party.

Hundreds Detained Ahead of Moscow Rally

ap news

Russian authorities pulled hundreds of opposition activists off buses and trains and detained them along with scores of others on Saturday ahead of a rare anti-government rally in Moscow, organizers said.

The police action did not prevent more than 2,000 people from gathering in a central square, where leftist and liberal groups demanded that Russian President Vladimir Putin stop what they called Russia's retreat from democracy.

"In 15 months political power will be changed," said Mikhail Kasyanov, a former prime minister who is now an opposition leader, referring to the March 2008 presidential election.

"Next year everyone should make a personal decision about what to do with our country _ whether we allow these people to continue their illegal undertakings ... or we finally make our main goal to build a democratic and socially oriented state," Kasyanov told demonstrators.

Garry Kasparov, the former chess grand master who has emerged as one of the Kremlin's most prominent critics, said the mere fact that the rally took place made it a success, given the efforts by authorities to stop it.

"We are protesting and it means that authorities are not as monolithic and powerful" as they believe, he said. "They are afraid that one day we will tell them 'enough.'"

The demonstrators chanted "Freedom" and held banners reading "No to Police State" and "Russia Without Putin."

Since he took office in 2000, Putin has taken steady, gradual steps to centralize power and eliminate democratic checks and balances.

He has created an obedient parliament, abolished direct gubernatorial elections, tightened restrictions on rights groups and presided over the elimination of most opposition voices from the media, especially the television networks.

The demonstration, organized by the Other Russia movement and other opposition groups, had originally planned to march down a main Moscow avenue. City authorities banned the march, allowing only the rally.

Organizers had vowed to conduct the march in defiance of the ban. But Natalya Morar, spokesman for Other Russia said police and defense troops had sealed off Triumfalnaya Square _ the scene of the protest _ and lined the avenue.

An AP photographer saw more than 1,000 law enforcement officers in full riot gear, some with police dogs, cordoning off the Triumfalnaya Square. Moscow residents complained the city was flooded with police and troops.

About 80 protesters, including Ivan Starikov, a senior member of the liberal Union of Right Forces, were detained in Moscow throughout the day, many of them without any explanation, Morar said.

About 320 other opposition activists were detained or taken off trains and buses on their way to Moscow, she said. Some were kept in detention cells, she said, while others were released after the rally was over.

Yevgeny Gildeyev, spokesman for the Moscow police said some 8,500 law enforcement officers were deployed in the city on Saturday. He said he did not know how many opposition activists were detained.

Russia's often fractious opposition has faced increased harassment in recent years, especially after protests led to the toppling of governments in the former Soviet states of Georgia and Ukraine.

Authorities have banned meetings on dubious legal grounds, while party congresses have been broken up or canceled for no reason.