In what the Colombian press is explicitly portraying as a “farcpolítica” scandal to rival the “parapolítica” outrage, chief prosecutor Mario Iguarán asked the Supreme Court to investigate three opposition legislators for alleged links to the FARC guerillas. The investigations were… Read moreColombia: seized guerilla computer leads to “farcpolítica” scandal
The New York Times‘s Nazila Fathi writes in a May 20 story entitled “Iranian Clerics Tell the President to Leave the Theology to Them”: TEHRAN — In his almost three years as president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been harshly… Read moreJohn Hagee and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: fearful symmetry
Nelly Ávila Moreno AKA Karina, commander of the FARC’s 47th Front, surrendered to agents of Colombia’s Administrative Security Department (DAS) May 18 in Sonsón, Antioquia. Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos called it an “important blow” against guerilla organization. Karina was… Read moreFARC 47th Front commander surrenders
Colombia’s Defense Ministry assured that the US air base now housed at Manta, Ecuador, would not be relocated to the Colombian Caribbean coastal zone of La Guajira—hours after Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said Bogotá was “playing with fire,” and that… Read moreUS base plans escalate Colombia-Venezuela border tensions
Again displaying his penchant for name-calling, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez called Interpol chief Ronald Noble a “corrupt” and “immoral” “gringo policeman” and “international vagabond,” and branded as “ridiculous” a new report authenticating computer data allegedly seized from a FARC camp… Read moreChávez: Interpol chief “corrupt gringo policeman”
This is a clear sign of chastisement in high places. We sure hope these folks have got Barack Obama‘s ear! Jim Lobe writes for InterPress Service May 14: New Approach Awaited on Latin America, Cuba WASHINGTON – More than 150… Read moreCouncil on Foreign Relations reconsiders Monroe Doctrine
President Bush’s $163 billion Iraq war funding request collapsed in the House May 15. Republicans expected to provide the winning margin instead sat out the vote in protest of Democratic efforts to add money for the unemployed and an expansion… Read more“Plan Mexico” dies with Iraq funding bill —for now
Barack Obama just can’t win with some people. Either he’s too Muslim, or not Muslim enough. In a bizarre op-ed in the New York Times May 12, “President Apostate,” Edward Luttwak warns : As the son of the Muslim father,… Read moreBarack Obama: “apostate” Muslim?
In a piece ominously entitled “The Oil Nonbubble,” Paul Krugman in the New York Times May 12 astutely calls out both right-wing optimism that the “oil bubble” would burst—and right-wing scapegoating now that it hasn’t: “The Oil Bubble: Set to… Read moreKrugman weighs in for “peak oil”?
Get this. The Senate fails to pass the new FAA reauthorization bill—because of “non-aviation provisions” that would have doubled the tax on oil spills, using the revenues to replenish the strapped Highway Trust Fund! And this is deemed so un-newsworthy… Read moreNo increase in oil-spill tax
Never mind the silly Canadian angle. The really sinister thing here is the embryonic hybridization of man and machine—a phenomenon we have already predicted. From the Canadian Press, May 5: Canadian military looking for Iron Man-type suits for overburdened soldiers… Read moreIron Man lives again —in Iraq?
Contrary to widespread media reports, BBC says May 9 that the man detained in Mosul is not in fact Abu Ayyub al-Masri, leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. An earlier statement from the Iraqi defense ministry said that al-Masri had been… Read moreAbu Ayyub al-Masri caputured —not?
