Well well, look who’s running for the Diet. An almost perfect analogy to the vile Alessandra Mussolini in Italy. She was (officially) “shunned” by the “post-Fascist” National Alliance—even as doing so only helped legitimize and mainstream the party whose roots… Read moreUS abets Japanese remilitarization —and revisionism
We love how the headlines always say “ex-cop.” He was still a cop when he killed Julio Ortega-Moncada. He was sacked because of the incident. From AP, July 25: Ex-cop gets prison for DWI fatality NEW YORK – A former… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
A new report to the UN Security Council finds that Eritrea has secretly supplied “huge quantities of arms” to a Somali insurgent group with supposed links to al-Qaeda, in violation of an international embargo. “Somalia is awash with arms,” the… Read moreUN report: Eritrea arms, Ethiopia fuels Somali insurgents
Eleven adherents of the Popular People’s Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) arrested in last week’s protests in the southern Mexican city have been ordered imprisoned on charges of arson, theft and property damage. Another 18 were ordered released for lack of… Read moreOaxaca: activists get prison, roadblocks continue
More than a month after his disappearance following a police attack on campesino protesters at Ixhuatlán de Madero, in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, Nahua indigenous leader Gabino Flores Cruz has released a video statement saying he has not… Read moreVeracruz: “disappeared” indigenous leader re-appears
Representatives of peasant organizations from across the globe have gathered in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas for the “Encuentro with the Peoples of the World,” hosted by the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN). Participating groups include Brazil’s Movement of… Read moreChiapas: Zapatista Encuentro meets on contested turf
A group of ex-guerillas from the now-dissolved Clandestine Revolutionary Worker’s Party-Union of the People (PROCUP), re-organized as the above-ground Democratic Popular Left (IDP), led by David Cabañas Barrientos and Italo Ricardo DÃaz, charged in a statement that there are “clear… Read moreMexico: ex-guerillas warn of new “dirty war”
From the Arizona Star, July 25: Two ex-Army men receive 4+ years in drug sting A crack-addicted Army National Guard sergeant who corrupted his underlings and a Tucson Army recruiter who corrupted his soldier brother were sentenced to federal prison… Read moreFBI sting National Guardsmen in border coke busts
From Nancy Pelosi’s blog, The Gavel, July 24: House Votes to Ban Permanent Bases in Iraq “The Democratic Congress will go on record – every day if necessary – to register a judgment in opposition to the course of action… Read moreBush-Pelosi showdown over Iraq bases?
It’s a beautiful time to be alive—if you’re a Halliburton shareholder. From Reuters, July 23: Halliburton Co., the world’s second-largest oil services company, said on Monday second-quarter profit from continuing operations rose 19 percent, topping Wall Street views, helped by… Read moreHalliburton shares hit new high
A front-page New York Times story July 24 reveals details of a classified plan calling for achieving “localized security” in Baghdad by the summer of 2008—and “sustainable security” throughout Iraq by the summer of 2009. The document, known as the… Read morePetraeus: “sustainable security” in Iraq —in 2009
Afghanistan has announced three days of official mourning for the country’s former king, Mohammad Zahir Shah, 92. Announcing his passing, President Hamid Karzai, a relative, hailed Zahir Shah as the “father of the nation.” (RFE/RL) An editorial bidding him farewell… Read moreAfghan king, paradoxical voice for secularism, dead at 92
