From AP, Dec. 23: PARIS — A French military tribunal opened an investigation Friday into allegations that French peacekeepers facilitated attacks on ethnic minority Tutsis during the 1994 genocide of more than half a million Rwandans, judicial officials said. A… Read moreFrench role in Rwanda genocide probed
From Indian Country Today, Dec. 16: PORTLAND, Maine – American Indian leaders from four tribes in Maine met with representatives of the Venezuelan Embassy and became the first tribes in the nation to begin working out details for the delivery… Read moreMaine tribes view Venezuela oil deal
It seems the NYPD has ben busy infiltrating bicycle rides in the name of the War on Terrorism for the past year and change. From the Dec. 22 New York Times—fortunately the front page: Undercover New York City police officers… Read moreNYC: police infiltrate Critical Mass
From Reuters, Dec. 19: The World Court in The Hague found on Monday that Uganda violated the sovereignty of the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and was responsible for human rights abuses there during a 1998-2003 war. The court added… Read moreWorld Court: Uganda guilty in Congo war
Eight men at the American detention camp in Guantánamo Bay have separately given their lawyers “consistent accounts” of being tortured at a secret prison in Afghanistan at various periods from 2002 to 2004, Human Rights Watch has announced. The men,… Read moreHRW: secret CIA torture center in Afghanistan
We recently noted how Ethiopia and Eritrea, as they mutually demonize each other, are both engaging in a crackdown on their own media. Now the Committee to Protect Journalists, in their year-end report on imprisoned journalists worldwide, finds the two… Read moreReport: US sixth among nations jailing journalists
From the New York Times, Dec. 12 (and apparently little-reported elsewhere): BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, Dec. 11 – In the remote hamlet of Tamga, residents frustrated by corruption and the sorry legacy of a chemical spill did something that would have been… Read moreEcological struggle in Kyrgyzstan
From Reuters Dec. 9: The founder of Argentina’s leading human rights group was laid to rest yesterday, 28 years after she was abducted during the country’s military dictatorship. Family and friends buried the ashes of Azucena Villaflor on a prominent… Read moreArgentina: rights crusader dead, “dirty war” legacy lives on
From Al-Jazeera TV in Doha, Qatar, Dec. 9: […] Meanwhile, appeals were made to release the four [members of the] Christian Peacemakers Team [CPT] held hostage by the Jama’at Saraya Suyuf al-Haq [Brigades of the Swords of Right Group]. [Shaykh… Read moreArabic media appeals for hostages’ release
A Dec. 6 commentary by Jalal Ghazi on Pacific News Service notes that last month’s Jordan suicide attack killed a film director beloved throughout the Arab world—making Arab commentators more vocal and daring than ever in condemning terrorism. One month… Read moreFilm director’s death in Jordan terror sparks Arab outrage
From Amnesty International, Dec. 7: Rendition and ‘disappearances’ in the ‘war on terror’ 800 secret CIA flights into and out of Europe Amnesty International has revealed that six planes used by the CIA for renditions have made some 800 flights… Read moreAmnesty International documents CIA “rendition” flights
Similar dynamics on both sides of the Caspian Sea. We recently noted unrest over contested elections in Azerbaijan, where the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline has just opened. Now Kazakhstan—slated to be connected to the new pipeline by a link across the Caspian—seems… Read moreKazakhstan: “regime change” next?
