On a visit to Mexico City April 29, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged Congress to approve the pending $500 million anti-drug program for Mexico, telling reporters, “Failure to do so would be a real slap at Mexico and would… Read moreGates presses Congress on Plan Mexico
On April 25, Mexican federal legislators of the three political parties that make up the Broad Progressive Front (FAP) ended their 16-day occupation of the congressional chambers after a deal was worked out with representatives of the ruling National Action… Read moreOccupation of Mexico’s Congress chambers ends —for now
A series of early-morning gun battles between presumed narco-gangsters in the busy streets of Tijuana—including one outside a hospital—left 15 dead and seven wounded April 26. Authorities are not releasing any of the names of the dead, but the local… Read moreMexican media speculate on Tijuana bloodbath
Just two days after Beijing’s surprise announcement that it would shortly meet with aides to the Dalai Lama, the Chinese Communist party’s official mouthpiece hurled fresh invective at the exiled Tibetan leader. The April 27 People’s Daily commentary stated: “The… Read moreChinese police gird for repression
Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai strongly criticized the US and British conduct of the war April 25, insisting in an interview that his government be given the lead in policy decisions. He reiterated claims that Afghan villagers were bearing the brunt… Read moreKarzai disses US, almost gets assassinated
Talk about chutzpah. The right-wing blogosphere is ballistic over Barack Obama‘s rather tenuous ties to a former member of the Weather Underground. It was Hillary Clinton who first made an issue of the fact that Obama once served on the… Read moreMilitia-linked extremoids bait Obama on (tenuous) Weatherman tie
We’ve always maintained that anti-Semitism and anti-Arab racism are genetically linked phenomena. A lovely illustration is provided by Joseph E. DiGenova, the prosecutor in the Jonathan Pollard case, following the latest bust in the endless Israeli spy scandal—of octogenarian former… Read moreJewish “sleeper cells” threaten America: Pollard prosecutor
A cocaine trafficking case against Colombian rebel leader Ricardo Palmera (AKA Simón Trinidad) ended in a mistrial April 21—the second time a jury has deadlocked in a trial the US hoped would provide a symbolic victory against the FARC guerillas…. Read moreMistrial in FARC narco case —again
Gee, good thinking, science geeks. There’s too much junk in the atmosphere…so let’s throw even more junk into the atmosphere. Anything to avoid fat Americans having to give up their precious automobiles. From AP, April 24: Using chemicals to cut… Read moreGreenhouse techno-fix would kill ozone layer
Thousands marched in Yerevan April 24, the 93rd anniversary of the start of the mass killing campaign of at least 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire. More than 10,000, mostly youths and students, carried torches and candles, demanding Turkey… Read moreArmenian genocide commemoration highlights struggle for Caucasus
Officials in Georgia are seeking to use the alleged downing of a Georgian reconnaissance drone by a Russian warplane to build international support for reducing the Kremlin’s “peacekeeping” role in the separatist enclaves of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgia’s Foreign… Read moreAbkhazia: new Cold War frontline?
Spain is sending frigate to the coast of Somalia following the seizure of a Spanish tuna fishing boat, the Playa de Bakio, by pirates. Some 26 people were aboard, including 13 Spaniards and a crew of various African nationals. The… Read moreSpain intervenes against Somali pirates
