The Caribbean
Assata Shakur as political football
The US political right uses Assata Shakur to take a hit at Obama's Cuba opening while simultaneously getting subliminal licks in at the Black Lives Matter protests.
Author: Bill Weinberg
Europe
‘Car Intifada’ comes to France?
An outbreak of motorist attacks on pedestrians in France is spun exclusively in terms of Islamist extremism, leaving out the critical factor of car culture.
East Asia
Threat to South Korean nuclear plants: no thanks
An "anti-nuclear" hacker who obtained blueprints of South Korean reactors warned residents to "stay away" from them—an implicit threat of sabotage and radiation release.
East Asia
South Korea threatens free expression too…
As partisans of North Korea use threats to supress The Interview, South Korea's high court bans a pro-DPRK political party. Do you think either side grasps the irony?
Oceania
ISIS in Sydney?
Internet and media slueths scramble to identify the faction behind the jihadist flag raised by the militant in the Sydney hostage crisis—which follows Austrailian air-strikes on ISIS.
Greater Middle East
New Syrian rebel coalition: tilt to Turkey
Syrian rebels announced formation of a new Revolutionary Command Council at a meeting in Turkey—dominated by conservative Islamists but excluding Nusra Front and ISIS.
Greater Middle East
Nazi fugitive trained Syrian torturers: report
The Simon Wiesenthal Center says Alois Brunner, the world's most-wanted Nazi fugitive, died a free man in Syria, where he trained interrogators for sucessive regimes.
Iraq
Bedfellows get stranger in war on ISIS
Iran launched air-strikes against ISIS targets in Iraq, the Pentagon admitted. Meanwhile, it appears that NATO ally Turkey opened its territory to ISIS forces attacking Kobani.
Afghanistan
Afghan opium boom again breaks record
For a second consecutive year, Afghan opium cultivation broke all previous records, according to the latest report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
Southeast Asia
Worldwide despots: Orwell still dangerous
Protesters in military-ruled Thailand have been silently reading 1984 in public to outwit a ban on gatherings—leading to the book itself being banned. Egypt could be next.
Iraq
Rojava revolution speaks in New York City
A forum at New York's City College featured a Skype link to Saleh Muslim, political leader of the Kurdish resistance at Kobani, and vividly described life in the besieged autonomous zone.
Central America
Nicaragua: opposition mounts to canal scheme
With work about to begin on an inter-oceanic canal through Nicaragua, campesinos who stand to be evicted for the mega-scheme pledge resistance and warn of a "massacre."