A new adittion to the alphabet soup of armed rebel groups in Africa’s most oil-rich region: the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). From the BBC, Feb. 17: A Nigerian militant commander in the oil-rich southern Niger… Read moreNiger Delta militia warns of “total war”
From the UK Telegraph, Feb. 12: US prepares military blitz against Iran’s nuclear sites Strategists at the Pentagon are drawing up plans for devastating bombing raids backed by submarine-launched ballistic missile attacks against Iran’s nuclear sites as a “last resort”… Read morePentagon prepares Iran air campaign
How does this square with the fatwa against nuclear weapons reportedly issued by Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last year (which predictably failed to accrue any media attention in the West)? From the neo-conservative Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Feb…. Read moreIran issues pro-nuclear fatwa?
The overwhelming majority of those protesting the notorious Danish cartoons have, of course, never seen them. The same goes for the overwhelming majority of those defending them. Whatever one thinks of them, there is a strong case that newspapers by… Read moreThe cartoon controversy deconstructed
This is—potentially—a breakthrough. Can there be a negotiated settlement to the long-standing problem of Tibet? Or, as some have suggested, will there be new CIA “destabilization operations in Tibet, if there is fresh unrest there following the death of the… Read moreDalai Lama envoy in Beijing for secretive Tibet talks
“Death to Denmark!” Does it get any more surreal than this? From the foreign press on the escalating anti-cartoon protests: Police clobbered stone-throwing protesters with batons and fired tear gas in the Pakistanian city of Peshawar on Wednesday – Pakistan’s… Read more“Cartoon jihad” escalates
From the London Times, Feb. 12: The CIA’s top counter-terrorism official was fired last week because he opposed detaining Al-Qaeda suspects in secret prisons abroad, sending them to other countries for interrogation and using forms of torture such as “water… Read moreCIA anti-terror chief sacked for opposing torture?
At least it makes the front page of the New York Times. From the Feb. 13 edition: Years After 2 Afghans Died, Abuse Case Falters By TIM GOLDEN FORT BLISS, Tex. In the chronicle of abuses that has emerged from… Read morePentagon impunity in torture-death case
Gee, we sure wish this was getting more headlines! The first paragraph is annoyingly sarcastic (the global protests he refers to, of course, have unfortunately not occurred). But the last paragraph is spot on! Why do so few on the… Read moreTehran’s striking bus drivers: real defenders of Muslim rights
From AP, Feb. 3: Guatemala’s long-running problem with vigilantes took an unusual turn this week when police arrested seven armed Christian fundamentalists accused of extortion as they distributed religious leaflets and collected money on a local highway. Using the slogan… Read more“Social cleansing” in Guatemala
As Subcommander Marcos and other Zapatista leaders tour Mexico, their home turf in the southern state of Chiapas remains torn by ongoing low-level violent conflcts. Last month, the Good Government Junta El Camino del Futuro, one of the regional Zapatista… Read moreMeanwhile back in Chiapas…
This communique from the TDR-EP, one of the guerilla organizations active in the mountains of Oaxaca and Guerrero, indicates the profusion of armed campesino groups in the region—even if we can question TDR-EP’s claim to command many of them. From… Read moreGuerillas call truce for “Other Campaign”
