Thank goodness the New York Times put this on the front page, above the fold yesterday. We have excised out two information-free propaganda paragraphs about the “implicit gamble” that anti-terrorist aid to authoritarian states “can backfire”–as if keeping down the… Read moreUzbek units in May massacre received US aid
We get very little new about the new intifada in Western Sahara, and here’s one of the reasons why: Morocco is effectively barring journalists from the occupied territory. This from Reporters sans Frontières via allAfrica.com, June 17: Journalists in Western… Read moreJournalists under attack in Western Sahara
More than 1,000 Kyrgyz troops fired tear gas June 17 to drive protesters from a key state building, foiling what the government said was an attempt by supporters of the ousted president to regain power. Acting President Kurmanbek Bakiyev blamed… Read moreMore unrest in Kyrgyzstan
The Basque separatist group ETA called for the start of a peace process in a letter published June 17. “It is essential to open a democratic process without limits and involving everyone. ETA is totally prepared to become involved in… Read moreSpain rebuffs ETA on talks
A Pakistani man and two Frenchmen of Pakistani origin, who were at first suspected of helping would-be shoe-bomber Richard Reid, were instead found guilty of links to the Jammu and Kashmir separatist group Lashkar-e-Taiba June 16. The Paris court sentenced… Read moreFrance: al-Qaeda cell convicted?
There was a powerful explosion outside the emergencies ministry in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, June 13. Vehicles were damaged in the blast, and the ministry’s windows blown out, but no casualties were reported. “I do not exclude that this was… Read moreTerror in Tajikistan
Burma’s military continues to kill, rape and conscript impoverished ethnic Karen villagers as it drives thousands from their homes in its campaign against insurgents, Human Rights Watch said in a new statement this month. The New York-based group urged the… Read moreTerror, ethnic cleansing in Burma
A militant group in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta kidnapped two German and four Nigerian workers of Bilfinger Berger Gas & Oil Services, a contractor firm for Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell June 15. The workers were abducted around Warri by a… Read moreShell workers kidnapped in Nigeria
Western governments are flouting their own rules and contributing to grave human rights abuses by selling arms and weapons systems to Nepal, Amnesty International said in a statement today. The rights group accused the UK, US and India of supplying… Read moreAmnesty: West arming Nepal dictatorship
It seems the US and Russia, acting in concert to protect their mutual ally Islam Karimov, exerted pressure at a NATO meeting in Brussels to make sure language calling for an investigation into last month’s bloody repression in Uzbekistan would… Read moreUS blocks NATO call for probe on Uzbek repression
More explosions are reported in Iran this morning, this time in the southeastern city of Zahedan, near the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan. The three blasts took no lives, but injured two people and caused property damage. Authorities were unclear… Read moreMore blasts in Iran; pipeline deal signed
Bomb blasts struck Iranian government buildings June 12 in Ahvaz, capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province bordering Iraq, followed within hours by two other bombs in central Tehran, killing nine and injuring over 85. The attacks come days before presidential elections…. Read moreTerror and courage in Iran
