The "Other Campaign," a tour of Mexico by leaders of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), set off from the Chiapas village of La Garrucha on New Years Day—the anniversary of the Zapatistas' 1994 uprising. Rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos, at… Read moreZapatistas begin national tour; violence continues in Chiapas
On December 16 the Mexican League for the Defense of Human Rights (LIMEDDH) reported that a campesino active in the environmental movement in the southern state of Guerrero, Diego Bahena Armenta, hasn’t been seen since November 8, when he was… Read moreMexico: peasant ecologist kidnapped in Guerrero
A group of 25 US Catholic peace protesters held a three-day fast starting on Dec. 12 near the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to protest the situation of 500 male Muslim detainees held there for three years as… Read moreUS protesters fast at Gitmo
From the front page of the New York Times, Dec. 28, via Bellaciao: Defense lawyers in some of the country’s biggest terrorism cases say they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security Agency used illegal wiretaps… Read moreNSA spying scandal raises challenge in terror cases
Tensions are mounting between Russia and Ukraine over the former’s massive hike in the price of natural gas it sells to the latter. Ukraine has until now received cut-price gas in return for allowing Russia to pipe fuel across its… Read moreMoscow-Kiev tensions escalate
A very enlightening piece from the Dec. 28 Christian Science Monitor, “Kremlin reasserts control of oil, gas” by Fred Weir, points to Moscow designs to reassert its power in Eurasia, and possibly eventually on the global stage. This, in turn,… Read moreRussia flexes petro-muscle
More than 3,500 Congolese soldiers, supported by 600 UN troops and helicopter gunships, launched attacks Dec. 24 on guerillas operating in the eastern Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sixteen government troops and some 35 guerillas are reported… Read moreUN troops, Congolese forces battle Uganda rebels
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
