On Sept. 2 in Alexandria, Va., former Florida professor and civil rights activist Sami Al-Arian was finally released on bail after spending five-and-a-half years in jail. Al-Arian had been transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody on April 11… Read moreCivil rights activist Al-Arian released
Asif Ali Zardari, widower of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was elected president of Pakistan Sept. 6 by a wide margin. Zardari—who spent 11 years in prison on corruption charges that remain unproved—succeeds Pervez Musharraf, who resigned last month… Read morePakistan: Bhutto widower elected amid growing violence
The Zapatista Good Government Junta (JBG) “CorazĂłn del arcoiris de la esperanza,” based in the Chiapas jungle village of Morelia, issued a statement denouncing aggression by followers of the Organization for the Defense of Indigenous and Campesino Rights (OPDDIC) in… Read moreChiapas: one wounded as paras attack Zapatistas
Bolivia’s opposition governors in the eastern lowlands Sept. 3 demanded the national government withdraw its forces from Trinidad, the capital of Beni department, accusing them of repression at a youth protest occupation of the National Tax Service offices. The building… Read moreBolivia: eastern governors demand withdrawal of national army
Venezuela Aug. 31 rejected US requests to resume Drug War cooperation, saying Washington should focus on slashing demand for drugs at home rather than blaming setbacks on other nations’ supposed lack of cooperation. “The anti-drug fight in Venezuela has shown… Read moreVenezuela refuses renewed Drug War cooperation
A car bomb exploded early Sept. 1 near the Palace of Justice in Cali, Colombia, killing four and wounding up to 20. The dead were identified as one police officer and three street vendors. Authorities said they suspect the blast… Read moreColombia: deadly car blast in Cali
Venezuelan National Guard troops in Maracaibo Sept. 4 captured fugitive former Colombian senator, CĂ©sar department governor and national agriculture minister Alvaro Araujo Noguera, 75. Araujo Noguera, who had been wanted for a year and a half, is expected to be… Read moreFugitive Colombian para-pol busted in Venezuela
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega announced his government will formally recognize the independence of the breakaway Georgian enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia—becoming the first country other than Russia to do so. The Nicaraguan decree was read in a Sept. 5… Read moreNicaragua recognizes South Ossetia, Abkhazia
Iranian-born, neocon-friendly pundit and “journalist” Amir Taheri has been implicated in fabricated news reports—so take his sneering analysis of Barack Obama’s recently released foreign policy positions as a propagandistic exercise. What he is aghast at we can perhaps take heart… Read moreBarack Obama: the post-GWOT president?
The Democratic Party website ExxonMcCain, delineating the Big Oil connections of several advisors to the GOP candidate, includes the dish on Randy Scheunemann—recently identified by Robert Scheer as a lobbyist for the Georgian government to grease NATO entry, and a… Read moreMcCain’s Scheunemann shilled for Amoco in Kazakhstan
In what appears to be the first use of criminal charges under the 2002 Minnesota version of the federal Patriot Act, Ramsey County prosecutors have formally charged eight alleged leaders of the RNC Welcoming Committee with “conspiracy to riot in… Read moreTwin Cities: RNC protesters face “terrorism” charges
Pakistan opened an investigation Sept. 1 into the killings of five women in Baluchistan who tried to choose their own husbands, after a federal lawmaker from the province defended their deaths, asserting that “only those who indulge in immoral acts… Read moreProtests over “honor killings” in Pakistan
