Juan Cole‘s Informed Comment blog Sept. 24 has an enlightening commentary on a Sept. 20 AP story about the Pentagon’s latest report to Congress on supposed “progress” in Iraq. Cole writes that the report, entitled “Measuring Stability and Security in… Read morePentagon data reveal grim reality of “surge” —and “resistance”
A few days before Burma exploded into the world headlines, the annual US State Department report ranking nations on their narcotics control efforts listed the Rangoon regime as among those not making the cut. Twenty countries were listed as major… Read moreUS anti-drug report blasts Venezuela, Burma (conveniently)
The Democratic Voice of Burma website reports that army troops attempting to raid monasteries in Rangoon and Mandalay were forced to withdraw by local residents Sept. 27. Troops approaching the monasteries backed off after locals armed with sticks and slingshots… Read morePeople’s resistance in Burma
We understand why geopolitics practically mandate that Evo and Hugo do this, but it still rubs us the wrong way. We keep feeling like we have to belabor the rather obvious point that Ahmadinejad is no leftist. From AP, Sept…. Read moreAhmadinejad does Bolivia
A Mexican federal court in Oaxaca has ordered President Felipe CalderĂłn Hinojosa, Gov. Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, the National Defense Secretariat (SEDENA), the Prosecutor General of the Republic (PGR) and other government entities to present alive Edmundo Reyes Amaya, one of… Read moreMexican court orders release of Oaxaca “disappeared”
State authorities in Chiapas have requested that federal army troops be deployed to assure security in the upcoming elections in the conflicted southern Mexican state. Elections are to be held in two weeks for local authorities in 118 municipalities and… Read moreChiapas requests army presence for elections; EZLN suspend national tour
For those who know their history, the notion of Serbian neo-Nazis is almost as wacky as Israeli neo-Nazis. Serbia was occupied by the Nazis in World War II, and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (ruled by the Serb royal family) dismantled… Read moreNeo-Nazis mobilize in Serbia
Another blow in Iraq’s escalating Sunni civil war—and further evidence that any attempt at “reconciliation” will be doomed as long as the US remains in Iraq, allowing the jihadis to pose as the “resistance,” and anyone advocating co-existence to be… Read moreIraq: occupation kiss of death for “reconciliation”
While Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Sept. 24 soapbox session at Columbia University sparked high-profile protests and a media feeding-frenzy, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s appearance that same day at a Shi’ite mosque in Queens went largely unnoticed—despite the fact that… Read moreAl-Maliki does Queens, nobody protests
History is being made in Burma, as some 100,000 protesters led by Buddhist monks marched through Rangoon Sept. 24, the largest demonstration since a 1988 pro-democracy movement was brutally crushed by the military regime. Surreptitiously shot photographs and videos show… Read moreWill Burmese democracy movement become pawn in pipeline wars?
In an unusual move, the US State Department has protested the police sweeps of opposition politicians in Pakistan over the weekend. “Some of this is troubling and we’ve certainly told the Pakistanis,” Condoleezza Rice told Reuters. The detainments come as… Read moreIt hits the fan in Pakistan —as pipeline talks open with Iran
Here’s a rather perverse irony. Amid all the war hysteria over Iran‘s nuclear ambitions, a US utility has ordered a new nuclear plant for the first time since the 1979 Three Mile Island accident. Of course this time they are… Read moreNew US reactors ordered for first time since Three Mile Island
