Africa
South Sudan: Yes, another war for oil
South Sudan may be developing into proxy war, pitting US client states Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia against Khartoum in a struggle for control of pipeline routes.
Author: Bill Weinberg
Planet Watch
Polar Vortex: Yes, it’s global warming!
Climate-change denialists are gloating at the "Polar Vortex"—failing to understand that it was unleashed by destabilization of the Jet Stream due to loss of arctic ice cover.
North Africa
Benghazi bad guys: Is You Is or Is You Ain’t al-Qaeda?
Republicans are scrambling after a New York Times story dismissed a Qaeda link in the 2012 Benghazi attack—but the question of what constitutes "al-Qaeda" is inherently political.
The Caucasus
Volgograd terror: revenge of ‘Caucasus Emirate’?
In the wake of the Volgograd terror blasts, Putin is preparing a new offensive against Chechen insurgents seeking to rebuild the 19th century "Caucasus Emirate."
Greater Middle East
Syria: massacres and hypocrisy
Assad's partisans tout a supposed massacre by jihadists near Damascus, while igonoring the much larger and thoroughly verified one being carried out by the regime in Aleppo.
Greater Middle East
Syria: imperialists keep flipping script
Ex-CIA director Michael Hayden says Bashar Assad is the best option for stability in Syria—while the White House now considers arming jihadist rebels.
Europe
Ukraine, Thailand, Italy: hope and contradiction
In Ukraine, Thailand and Italy, riot police stood down and ceded control of urban space to protesters—yet the demonstrators in all three countries have problematic politics.
Greater Middle East
Syria: new chemical revelations; aid cut to rebels
The US ironically announces a halt in aid to the Syrian rebels on the same day that the UN concludes there have been multiple chemical attacks in the country this year.
Africa
Obama, Mandela and Castro: absurd hypocrisy
While Republicans wax outraged over Obama’s handshake with RaĂșl Castro at the Mandela memorial, US client state Israel offers a far better analogy to apartheid South Africa.
Africa
Nelson Mandela: forgotten history
Nelson Mandela was arrested in 1962 thanks to CIA intelligence, and only removed from the US "terrorist watch list" in 2008—15 years after his Nobel Peace Prize.
East Asia
East China Sea gets scary âagain
A near confrontation between Chinese and US aircraft over disputed East China Sea gasfields comes amid major joint US-Japanese naval maneuvers off Okinawa.
Planet Watch
WHY WE FIGHT
From the San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 8: Man who sought safe streets killed in S.F. crash A wheelchair-using San Francisco man who fought for safe streets for the disabled is being mourned this week by friends and family after he… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT