The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which rules one half of Iraq’s northern Kurdish autonomous zone, is currently facing a wave of popular unrest. Among the greivances are deals the PUK has cut with local tribal leaders respecting their despotic… Read morePUK connives with “tribal” woman-killers
Another heroic blow by the Iraqi resistance… against Shi’ite civilians. From the AP, Aug. 14: BAGHDAD, Iraq — Residents dug through the rubble of devastated buildings today in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad that was pounded by a barrage… Read moreIraq: sectarian cleansing grinds on
From Prensa Latina, Aug. 14: LA PAZ — Bolivian government denounced indications of a conspiracy by economic power groups against the Constituent Assembly to open works in the southern city of Sucre on Tuesday. National Defense Minister Walker San Miguel… Read moreBolivia: conspiracy against constitutional reform?
From AP, Aug. 14: LA PAZ — Bolivia’s decision to suspend a plan to nationalize its oil and gas industry has reinforced doubts about the ability of its state-run energy company to manage the country’s gas reserves. The Hydrocarbons Ministry… Read moreBolivia halts hydrocarbon nationalization
We noted one year ago a heart-rending case of indigenous peasants in Mexico’s southern state of Chiapas dying after eating a stew of apparently poisonous mushrooms. The peasants were driven by hunger and failed harvests to gather wild mushrooms (which… Read moreChiapas mushroom poisonings point to ecological crisis
In a 10-2 decision released late on Aug. 9, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, turned down an appeal on behalf of the “Cuban Five,” a group of Cubans sentenced to lengthy prison terms in 2001… Read moreCuba Five appeal denied
From El Universal, Aug. 12 via Chiapas95: SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, CHIAPAS — A judge has imposed long prison terms on 50 indigenous defendants convicted of carrying out one of the most heinous crimes in past decades – the… Read moreChiapas: Acteal killers get 25 years
One year after the hysteria that followed the London bombings, we are treated to yet another terrorist scare emanating from the UK, with the alleged plot to blow up airliners mid-flight by mixing combustible liquids, supposedly discovered in the nick… Read more2nd Circuit upholds subway searches
Lopez Obrador, the leftist presidential candidate who is leading militant protests in Mexico to challenge what he calls a fraudulent defeat in the July 2 elections, takes his case to the New York Times op-ed page Aug. 11: Recounting Our… Read moreLopez Obrador takes case to NYT op-ed page
Protesters held four people captive for hours Aug. 11, charging they were behind the assassination of a protester in the conflicted southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. The Federal Agency of Investigation said protesters were finally induced to turn the captives… Read moreOaxaca: escalation follows assassination of activist
What a conundrum. The Pakistani state has long cultivated Lashkar-e-Taiba to make trouble in India-controlled Kashmir. But now it seems to have gotten out of control, and Islamabad, under pressure from Washington, has been induced to crack down. Yet every… Read morePakistan: Lashkar leader under house arrest
Note that this is being portrayed openly as a tit-for-tat to counter-balance the scheduled execution of those convicted in the Bali bombings. Note also that the Indonesian military itself has been accused of enflaming the Sulawesi violence through proxy militias…. Read moreIndonesia: Christian militiamen face execution
