Well, the terror blasts in London seem to have done what months of OPEC hyper-production have failed to: bringing down the price of oil. The attacks precipitated the biggest one-day swing since Operation Desert Storm 14 years ago, prices briefly… Read moreOil prices plunge
The recent “red alert” and new political declaration by the rebel Zapatista army brought the impoverished and harshly divided southern Mexican state of Chiapas briefly into the news. Then, just as quickly, it disappeared. In the flurry of coverage, Chris… Read moreMisery in Chiapas
Another forgotten war is heating up: the Islamic separatist insurgency in southern Thailand. Thousands of Buddhists are fleeing the region, and teachers seem to be especially targeted for assassination, according to this chilling account from Qatar’s Gulf Times, July 6:… Read moreBuddhists flee southern Thailand
Things are getting hot and heavy as the G8 summit convenes in Scotland. The Scotsman reports July 7 that masked anarchists swarmed through the countryside around the Gleneagles resort where the summit is about to open, battling police, smashing the… Read moreAnarchists rampage through Scottish countryside
Judith Miller is easy to hate, as a semi-official propagandist for the Bush administration’s global military crusades. But the imprisonment of the New York Times star reporter for contempt of court, ordered July 6 by US Judge Thomas Hogan in… Read moreJail for Judith Miller (try not to gloat)
More unsettling news on the falling barriers between foreign intelligence and domestic policing. Thanks to TruthOut for catching this one. Military Expands Homeland Efforts Pentagon to share data with civilian agencies By Bradley Graham The Washington Post Wednesday 06 July… Read morePentagon steps up domestic spying
News reports of the Deep Impact space probe’s explosive Independence Day rendezvous with a comet could not have made clearer that the whole affair was barely-disguised patriotic propaganda, very convenient at a time when the Iraq war is turning into… Read moreDeep Impact: “science” as propaganda
It seems Baghdad’s occupiers are emulating those of Palestine. The city now has a “security fence” cordoning off the Green Zone, mirroring Israel’s “Apartheid Wall.” An excerpt from a story carried by the July 5 New York Times: Iraqis call… Read moreBaghdad gets “Apartheid Wall”
India Express reports that authorities on the Indian side of divided Jammu & Kashmir state are on “red alert” as Hindus prepare for protests following yesterday’s attack by presumed Islamic militants on Ayodhya, the disputed holy site in Uttar Pradesh…. Read moreHindu nationalists support Pakistan’s Ismaili separatists
Edinburgh’s constabulary mixed it up with anarchists at the G8 summit protests in Edinburgh yesterday, resulting in about 100 arrests and 20 injured (including two police) in six hours of street clashes. Stay tuned for more fun, as environmentalist protesters… Read moreViolence in Edinburgh
Al-Qaeda’s supposed top man in Saudi Arabia has been killed. Will it mean any de-escalation of violence in the desert kkingdom? Or is this a hydra-headed monster? This July 4 AFP account from Qatar’s Gulf Times: Qaeda chief killed in… Read moreAl-Qaeda’s man in Saudi Arabia dead?
Has anyone noticed the unsubtle political jockeying over which country gets to host the new fusion energy research facility offically known as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)? It finally went to France, over the predictable objections of Washington. Writes… Read moreFrench nuclear threat: invisible menace
