A series of explosions in three towns in the Georgian separatist region of Abkhazia—Gagra, Sukhumi, and Gali—and a skirmish between Georgian and separatist forces in the Georgian-controlled Upper Kodori Gorge topped the agenda as Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili met with… Read moreGeorgian provocation behind Abkhazia terror?
“Venezuela and Colombia today open a new epoch in our relations,” Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez told reporters after a meeting with his Colombian counterpart Álvaro Uribe in Caracas July 11. “I want to make clear that the intention exists to… Read moreChávez in lovefest with recent Colombian nemesis
Claude-Marie Vadrot, writing for his blog on the French online journal Mediapart July 4, asserts that FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt—freed in a Colombian military operation July 2—was actually supposed to be liberated on March 8, in a French deal that… Read moreFrench deal in Colombia hostage case?
On July 10—one day before the 13th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre—a Dutch court ruled it has no jurisdiction in a civil suit against the United Nations by genocide survivors from the eastern Bosnian town. Survivors’ association Mothers of Srebrenica… Read moreSrebrenica 13 years later: still no justice
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) told the Biloxi Sun Herald July 2 he witnessed a confrontation between John McCain and a Nicaraguan Sandinista leader—a lieutenant of President Daniel Ortega—during a 1987 diplomatic mission in which the Arizona senator “got mad at… Read moreDid McCain slug Sandinista?
The New York Times July 3 alluded to an Israeli role in the dramatic rescue of Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other FARC hostages in Colombia: “On Colombian television, Ms. Betancourt wept and smiled as she recounted a chain of events… Read moreIsraeli connection emerges in Betancourt release
Amid generally ebullient news coverage, reports are starting to emerge that the “impeccable” hostage-rescue mission in Colombia was actually a sham to disguise the payment of a ransom. Swiss public radio cited an unidentified source “close to the events, reliable… Read moreRansom charges emerge in Betancourt release
Pascual Serrano, writing for the pan-Latin American radical left online journal Rebelión, raises the possibility that the rescue of Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other FARC-held hostages was not the clear-cut tactical victory portrayed by Betancourt and Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe—but… Read moreDid Uribe piggy-back FARC hostage raid on European talks?
Colombia’s President Álvaro Uribe, surrounded by Ingrid Betancourt, members of the military and 11 other rescued Colombian hostages, called upon the FARC to make “peace” in a massive press conference July 2 in Bogotá. Boasting that not a single shot… Read moreUribe calls on FARC to make “peace” after hostage rescue
Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba was held by US immigration authorities at New York’s JFK airport June 27, to be interrogated about her alleged ties to the FARC—despite her diplomatic visa. “When I left customs, I was retained for two and… Read moreColombia’s Sen. Piedad Córdoba interrogated by US immigration
Serbs in Kosova inaugurated their own assembly June 28 at the divided city of Mitrovica—in defiance of the Albanian-led government and the UN. Forty-five members were elected in May during Serbia’s general and municipal elections. The ballot was declared illegal… Read moreKosova can’t get unstuck in time
The international negotiators appointed to broker peace in Darfur have resigned, admitting that their mission has been a failure. The UN’s Jan Eliasson announced that he and his African Union counterpart, Salim Ahmed Salim, would both step down, citing Sudanese… Read moreDarfur negotiators quit; Israel seeking “foothold”?
