A very interesting story today cites poll results on American versus Japanese attitudes about the likelihood of a new world war, even if random guy-on-the-street quotes are by definition never presented objectively. It is certainly very telling that Americans are… Read moreWhich world war is this?
Via TruthOut: White House Aims to Block Legislation on Detainees By Josh White and R. Jeffrey Smith The Washington Post Saturday 23 July 2005 The Bush administration in recent days has been lobbying to block legislation supported by Republican senators… Read moreCheney lobbies anti-against torture bill
As Condoleezza Rice arrived in Israel yesterday, a series of simultaenous explosions, including four car bombs, ripped through luxury hotels and shops in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik in the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 83. The… Read moreTerror in Egypt, Lebanon
You’d think right on the heels of the Live 8 hype, the world would be doing something about this, no? The response to the crisis, which was building throughout the Edinburgh hoopla, appears to be dramatically too little and too… Read moreStarvation in Niger
From the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), via Progressive Newswire: Guantánamo Prisoners Planned Hunger Strike NEW YORK – July 21 – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) confirmed today that in late June, prisoners planned to begin a hunger strike… Read moreGitmo detainees on hunger strike
Signals continue to be mixed on Sudan’s tentative return to Washington’s good graces. On an official visit to the country, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stopped at Darfur’s Abu Shouk refugee camp, which houses some 55,000 displaced people, and demanded… Read moreRice does Darfur
Note that the imposition of the usual neoliberal economic model is sparking the unrest. Yet it is Islamic fundamentalists—not leftists, as in Bolivia—that are best poised to exploit the backlash. From the Guardian: Yemen Riots Over Subsidy Cut Leave 16… Read moreRiots in Yemen
The New York Times today notes the growing cult of Zheng He in China, the 15th-century mariner who led gigantic fleets across the Pacific and Indian oceans in the Ming Dynasty’s brief but impressive expansion of naval prowess. Statues are… Read moreSinophobes fear cult of Zheng He
This is pretty Orwellian. The government says it has the right to hold accused “dirty bomber” Jose Padilla without charge as an “enemy combatant” for the “duration of the conflict.” The “conflict” in question is a completely open-ended undeclared war… Read morePadilla’s lawyer: Indict my client!
Shades of Soylent Green. “The plankton is dying!” From AP July 14, via TruthOut: Scientists Raise Alarm about Ocean Health SEATTLE – With a record number of dead seabirds washing up on West Coast beaches from Central California to British… Read moreMeanwhile, the oceans are dying…
A report in today’s Newsday tells of a meeting at London’s Finsbury Park mosque, where prominent Muslim leaders signed a statement condemning the 7-7 attacks, under a banner reading “A New Beginning.” But there was also a sign at the… Read moreTolerance tested in UK
Another factory forced to halt operation by heroic Chinese peasants protecting their lands from the industrial onslaught. We question how “violent” it is to tear down a security fence. In contrast, the security forces’ response to the rising tide of… Read moreMore militant anti-pollution protests in China
