With the despoilation of San Francisco Bay still in the headlines, comes far worse news from the Sea of Azov. This should give pause just after Russia has announced a series of new oil hubs in the Arctic Passage—newly opened… Read more“Ecological catastrophe” in Sea of Azov
This Nov. 9 BBC report on Sudan’s expulsion of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Darfur, Wael al-Haj Ibrahim, answers the question of what happened to the residents of a refugee camp near Nyala, who were forcibly relocated by government troops—as… Read moreDarfur: Sudan dispersing refugees
Um, didn’t we just hear identical news about Iraq? If Cambodia was Nixon’s “sideshow” to Vietnam, Afghanistan is Bush’s to Iraq—largely eclipsed from the headlines, even as it goes from really bad to considerably worse… From AP, Nov. 10: KABUL… Read more2007 deadliest year for US in Afghanistan
From the Reporters Without Borders, Nov. 9: Coca grower leader threatens to kill five journalists Reporters Without Borders today condemned death threats made against five journalists in the northwestern province of Tocache by Sergio Gonzales Apaza, the leader of the… Read morePeru: cocaleros threaten journalists
From the LA Times, Nov. 10: Emergency declared in Bay Area oil spill Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Friday for the San Francisco Bay Area as an oil spill continued to coat some of the state’s most… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
Three days before the Nov. 7 opening of the Ibero-American Summit in Santiago, a hacker broke into the website of Chile’s presidency and planted the flag of Peru, leaving the site inoperable for some 18 hours. AP reports the intruder… Read morePeruvian cyber-guerillas attack Chile
In contrast to their Cold War counterparts of yesterdecade, who openly embraced any dictator who was “our son of a bitch,” today’s neocons often seem to really believe their own rhetoric about how their global project is expanding democracy. This… Read moreGeorgia: Rose Revolution meets the new boss
Ten years after New York City’s notorious Abner Louima case, police in Egypt appear to be emulating the brutal techniques of Rudolph Giuliani’s NYPD. Two Cairo police officers were convicted this week of torturing a man in their custody—after a… Read more“Giuliani time” in Cairo
The Pentagon has, astutely, chosen an African American as first chief of the new Africa Command, Gen. William “Kip” Ward—and his first official visit to the continent was, of course, to chief US ally Ethiopia. Meeting with African Union leaders… Read moreAfriCom chief does Ethiopia; proxy war escalates in Somalia
Six US soldiers were killed in three separate attacks in Iraq Nov. 5, bringing the number of deaths this year to 852—and making 2007 the deadliest year of the war for US troops. The news comes days after the military… Read moreIraq deaths hit record; Congress talks tough, funds carnage
While we certainly don’t put it past the Taliban to blow up a bunch of schoolchildren to take out a couple of politicians, we note that this attack comes in the normally (relatively) peaceful north of the country, where the… Read moreAfghanistan: who is behind Baghlan suicide blast?
Days after a car bomb in the normally (relatively) peaceful northern city of Kirkuk left eight dead in a Kurdish neighborhood (Reuters, Oct. 28), comes this ominous news from AlJazeera Nov. 6: Kirkuk’s Arabs paid to pack up It is… Read moreArabs paid to leave Kirkuk in “reverse ethnic cleansing”
