A suicide bomber in burqa killed 13 people at a police checkpoint Oct. 1 at Bannu in northwest Pakistan on the Afghan border. (AGI, Oct. 1) The following day, a suicide bomber killed 12 Afghan police on a bus in… Read moreTerror both sides of Pak-Afghan border
Twelve Nigerian troops were killed in a Sept. 30 attack on an African Union base at Haskanita, Darfur, the deadliest since AU forces were deployed in 2004. Thirty vehicles overran the base, with fifty troops still missing and seven seriously… Read moreDarfur: guerillas (not Janjaweed!) attack AU troops
A Sept. 29 AP story given prominent placement in the New York Times, “Nervous Gulf Hears Calmer Tones on Iran,” notes that CentCom chief Adm. William Fallon, on a tour of the Persian Gulf states, is reassuring regional leaders that… Read morePost-neocon Iran strategy: back to containment
Iraq’s bitterly divided political leadership came together Sept. 30 to denounce a non-binding US Senate resolution approved last week that endorses the decentralization of Iraq through the establishment of semi-autonomous regions. That same day, the US Embassy in Baghdad issued… Read moreIraqi leadership unites against partition plan
The Turkish government signed an agreement with Iraq Sept. 28 to cooperate in fighting guerillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), who are launching attacks on Turkey from Iraqi territory. That same day, the PKK attacked a military post in… Read moreBaghdad, Ankara pledge cooperation against defiant PKK
At least seven young men were killed in an apparent US helicopter attack on an outdoor Ramadan gathering in the Baghdad Shi’ite suburb of Abu Dshir late Sept. 27. Witnesses say the men were playing a traditional Ramadan game called… Read moreIraq: US bombs Shi’ites —again; Congress funds carnage —again
From Fox Local News, NYC. Sept. 30: Woman Killed in East Village Hit-Run A 24-year-old woman was killed early Sunday when a car hit her — and kept going. Julia Thomson of 355 Bowery was crossing East Fourth Street and… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
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 Calderón 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”
