With the price of oil creeping ominously and seemingly inexorably towards an unprecedented $100 per barrel, the long and equally unprecedented mega-profit-fest for Exxon and the other industry majors is nonetheless starting to level off. It seems that consumption is… Read moreConsumers get revenge on Exxon …a little
The northern Israeli village of Pekiin turned into a battleground Oct. 30 as clashes between police and Druze protesters left some 16 police officers and a similar number of medics and residents injured. One resident was in serious condition after… Read moreIsrael: Druze riot against cellphone antennae
You know, every time we start to develop a soft spot for a politician, he wastes no time in disabusing us of our comfortable illusions. The most recent case in point is New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer. After taking flack… Read moreSpitzer capitulates on license plan
We have noted before that, contrary to contemporary assumptions, the first “terrorism” identified by that name was a state phenomenon: that of the Jacobins in the immediate aftermath of the French Revolution—which, ironically given its radicalism, was the origin of… Read moreNYT op-ed: Bush est un terroriste
Already facing war crimes charges in Germany, Donald Rumsfeld—like Henry Kissinger before him—now runs into a spot of legal bother in France. From RINF Alternative News Media, Oct. 28: Former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld fled France today fearing arrest… Read moreRumsfeld flees France fearing arrest?
From Shabelle Media Network via AllAfrica.com, Oct. 27: More than 15 people mainly civilians and seven Ethiopian soldiers have been killed and many more have been injured after insurgents and government-allied forces battled with different sorts of weapons like, machine… Read moreSomalia: Mogadishu explodes again
It seems that since the capitulation of warlord Khun Sa 11 years ago, his Mong Tai Army has collapsed back into its constituent entities—and that his former militia, the Shan State Army, is back in rebellion against the Burmese regime…. Read moreBurma: Shan guerillas pledge continued resistance
One day ahead of the one-year anniversary of the death of New York IMC journalist Brad Will in Oaxaca, two primitive homemade explosive devices were thrown at New York’s Mexican consulate in an apparent pre-dawn bicycle-by attack Oct. 26, shattering… Read moreNYC: improvised explosives hit Mexican consulate
Bolivian President Evo Morales is facing converging crises on multiple fronts—from South American neighbors, from the Colossus of the North, and from internal opposition. Peru is seeking the extradition of Walter Chavez, a top adviser to Morales’ successful 2005 campaign,… Read moreBolivian government under pressure cooker?
Ten prostitutes in the Bolivian highland city of El Alto sewed their lips together Oct. 24 as part of a hunger strike to demand that the mayor reopen brothels and bars ordered closed after angry protests by residents. Some 30… Read moreProstitutes strike in Bolivia
With all the focus on the crisis over Kurdish separatist rebels taking refuge in northern Iraq, largely overlooked are the multiple reasons that Turkey’s Kurds have to be discontented. We noted two years ago the pressures on eastern Turkey’s peoples… Read moreTurkey seizes Kurdish lands for Ilisu Dam
With an Iraqi delegation in Ankara to discuss the standoff over PKK rebels in northern Iraq, Turkish war planes and helicopters reportedly bombed guerilla bases within Iraq’s borders Oct. 26. However, even as the state-run Anatolia news agency reported the… Read moreTurkey bombs Iraq —then backs off (for now)
