The New York Times reports in a front-page story Feb. 23 that the Justice Department has opened an internal ethics investigation into the notorious August 2002 Bybee Memo that gave the imprimatur of legality to the Administration’s use of “waterboarding”… Read moreSupreme Court Justice Scalia defends torture
Everglades Earth First! blockades construction site of the West County Energy Center natural gas plant, Palm Beach, Florida, Feb. 18. Photo: Everglades Earth First!
The anti-immigration blog VDare (who get creds for being bilingual) approvingly note from a persual of Monterrey’s daily El Porvenir that the Monterrey suburb of San Nicolas is planning to build a security fence on its border with the neighboring… Read moreSecurity fences go up —within Mexico
The high-tech Project 28 “virtual fence” on a 28-mile stretch of the US-Mexico border near Nogales, AZ, is ready for operation, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced Feb. 22. The $20 million project of sensor towers and advanced mobile communications,… Read moreHomeland Security approves “virtual” border fence
On Feb. 11, the Nicaraguan navy captured the Honduran-flagged fishing boat Seas Star just east of the 82nd meridian in the Caribbean Sea. The 82nd meridian is claimed by Colombia as the border between its territorial waters and those of… Read moreNicaragua’s maritime dispute with Colombia heats up
Just as oil is hitting $100 a barrel, come warnings of an impending global food shortage. In an article based on a study by Goldman Sachs, the UK’s Telegraph Feb. 9 argues that “peak oil” is morphing into “peak food”… Read moreNext: “peak food”?
Three bombings in as many days have left 140 dead in Afghanistan’s Canadian-occupied Kandahar province. More than 100 were killed in a suicide attack on a dog-fighting competition on the outskirts of Kandahar city attended by local luminaries Feb. 17…. Read moreKandahar carnage; Canada sends in the drones
From Human Rights Watch, Feb. 17: The human devastation inflicted on Lebanon by Israel’s illegal use of cluster munitions highlights the urgent need for an international treaty banning the weapon, Human Rights Watch said in releasing a report today. At… Read moreHRW: Israel violated laws of war in Lebanon
Kosova’s Parliament approved a declaration of independence Feb. 17. All 120 MPs were called for the extraordinary session, but only 109 were present—all the Serb MPs boycotting. Those present—all Albanian—voted unanimously for the declaration. The session was also attended by… Read moreViolence erupts as Kosova declares independence
Now why is it? When the question is posed (as it always is) in terms of supporting the war, it is absolutely mandatory that we all “support the troops.” If Congress doesn’t endlessly fund the military adventure, it is accused… Read moreIraq: USMC didn’t “support the troops”
Pakistan's army high command approved the death penalty for 10 condemned jihadists who were convicted by a military tribunal of attacks that claimed over 60 lives—including the assassination of Amjad Sabri, one of the country's most revered singers of qawwalii, traditional Sufi devotional music. Sabri was on his way to a televised Ramadan performance in Karachi when his car was attacked by gunmen, and his many followers hailed justice in the case. But in the two years since Sabri's death, attacks on Sufis in Pakistan have continued, with suicide blasts and horrific massacres at shrines and mosques. (Photo via PTI)
On Feb. 13, Mexico’s El Economista reported that the Mexican Senate’s Energy Commission, led by Juan Bueno Torio of President Felipe CalderĂłn‘s conservative National Action Party (PAN), has called for a “special program of private investment” for Pemex, the state… Read moreMexico broaches oil privatization —almost
