Watching the Shadows
Google is evil
Google appears to have eliminated the foreign country news page links from the bottom of the Google News page—which World War 4 Report depends on intimately for our work.
Author: Bill Weinberg
The Caribbean
Latin leftists bash Obama at Caribbean confab
At the Trinidad summit, Evo Morales accused the US of a “policy of conspiracy” against Bolivia, while Nicaragua’s Danial Ortega reiterated more than a century of imperialist outrages.
Iraq
University of London figures reveal toll of Iraq’s sectarian war
The New England Journal of Medicine is releasing a new study by the University of London, finding that sectarian militias were responsible for a full third of killings in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.
Africa
Will US intervention against pirates deepen Somalia’s crisis?
As the US prepares a new initiative to crack down on Somali pirates, going after the pirate bases in Puntland may provide the pretext for putting an end to the region’s hard-won autonomy.
Mexico
Mexican ambassador calls US to task on gun trade; Fox News, Gun Lobby return fire
Fox News, echoing the claims of the Gun Lobby, challenges the charge of Mexican ambassador Arturo Sarukhan that “90% of all weapons we are seizing in Mexico are coming from the United States.”
Afghanistan
Pakistan high court to probe flogging video
Pakistan’s newly re-instated chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has called a hearing into the video showing the public flogging of a teenage girl in the northwestern Swat Valley.
Greater Middle East
ARSO
An Istanbul Court of Appeals upheld the life sentences of six individuals, including prominent journalists Ahmet Altan, Mehmet Altan and Nazli Ilicak, on charges of assisting the plotters of a failed military coup in 2016. The journalists were originally sentenced in February, along with 221 other defendants, and appealed to the higher court for their release. All defendants were charged with being linked to a US-based religious leader Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of orchestrating the 2016 coup attempt. Since the coup attempt, tthe Turkish government has been carrying out purges and arrests aimed at removing supposed Gulen supporters from state institutions and society generally. (Map: CIA)
Palestine
GUSH
The State of Palestine filed a complaint with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) challenging the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as a breach of international diplomatic law. In support of its claim, Palestine directed the ICJ to multiple UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions affirming the special international regime that applies to Jerusalem and calling on member states to refrain from recognizing Jerusalem as Israeli territory. Palestine also argued that establishment of an embassy to Israel in Jerusalem violates provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations governing activities in the "receiving state." (Photo: Ma'an News Agency)
New York City
DARF
The Syria Peace Vigil in New York's Union Square was threatened by followers of the pro-Assad "Party for Socialism and Liberation," one of whom actually took a swing at one of the vigilers. It is hardly surprising that supporters of genocidal dictators will resort to violence to try to intimidate those who stand against those regimes. The question is why do the "anti-war" forces in New York and the United States continue to view PSL and its front groups like the ANSWER Coalition as legitimate allies? (Photo: Syria Solidarity NYC via Facebook)
