East Asia
Hong Kong: ‘localists’ boycott Tiananmen vigil
The annual Hong Kong vigil commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre took place amid a split, with the city’s biggest student union boycotting.
Author: Bill Weinberg
Central America
Honduras: son of ex-prez guilty on coke charge
The son of Honduras' ex-president Porfirio Lobo pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking charges in a federal court in Manhattan, and faces a mandatory 10-year prison term.
The Andes
Anti-gang ‘mega-raids’ in crisis-hit Venezuela
As Venezuela lurches deeper into political crisis, President Maduro launches a new phase in his controversial "Operation Liberate the People" security program.
Greater Middle East
US rejects autonomy for Syrian Kurds
The US State Department rejected the Syrian Kurds' declaration of autonomy—ironically, just as the Pentagon is coordinating with Kurdish forces for a major offensive against ISIS.
Greater Middle East
Aleppo and Cizre: fearful symmetry
Supposed antagonists Assad and Erdogan are both in the process of reducing cities to rubble: Aleppo and Cizre, both with the connivance of the Great Powers.
Southeast Asia
Death-squad boss elected president of Philippines?
President-elect of the Philippines is bombastic anti-crime hardliner Rodrigo Duterte who boasts of his links to death squads—despite his roots on the political left.
Afghanistan
Mullah Mansour death: blow to Pakistan?
The killing of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mansour in a US drone strike actually took place in Pakistan—without consent of Islamabad, signaling a break between the two allies.
North Africa
What ‘government’ is West really backing in Libya?
At a Vienna summit, world powers agreed to supply arms to Libya to fight ISIS—but the country has three rival governments, and the "recognized" one is by far the weakest.
The Andes
Colombia: Uribe calls for ‘civil resistance’
Colombia's former president and now hardline right-wing opposition leader Álvaro Uribe called for "civil resistance" against the peace dialogue with the FARC guerillas.
Iraq
Iraq: spectacular terror, invisible starvation
The ongoing terror in Iraq only wins real media attention when the carnage approaches spectacular levels. Starvation in besieged cities like Falluja is virtually invisible.
Greater Middle East
Syria: world betrays Aleppo (of course)
As Assad regime and Russian air-strikes continue on the beseiged populace of Aleppo, media in the West increasingly echo regime propaganda of justified "counter-attacks."
Planet Watch
A ‘New Oil Order’?
Experts declare a "new oil order" in which hydrocarbons will lose market share to renewables. But is it market conditions or geopolitics that explain the current price slump?