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
For the second time this year, Republicans resorted to the sneaky tactic of slipping a provision to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling into a big appropriations package. Last time, it passed the Senate but the… Read moreRepublican blackmail fails to open ANWR
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
More ironically positive developments in the José Padilla case. First, his lawyers demanded that the Justice Department charge him with a crime, rather than hold him in military custody indefinitely as an “enemy combatant.” Now that the Justice Department has… Read moreAnother ironic victory in Padilla case
Sounds like the way to win hearts and minds: US forces demolish education building near military base in western Iraq Text of report by Iraqi Al-Sharqiyah TV on 17 December US forces today completely demolished the building of the College… Read moreIraqi TV: US blows up Ramadi school building
We’ve heard the allegations that the Darfur rebels are operating out of Chad where they receive covert support from the US. Has Sudan now entered this bloody game by grooming a Chadian rebel force on its own territory? EL-GENEINA, Sudan,… Read moreSudan backing Chad rebels?
From AP, Dec. 19: They called the two ladies “Dr. Germ” and “Mrs. Anthrax.” It was a breakthrough when U.S. forces arrested Rihab Taha, a British-educated biological weapons expert, and Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, a former top Baath Party official,… Read moreIraq: “Mrs. Anthrax” freed —from bogus detainment?
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
From the BBC, Dec. 19: Spanish police have arrested 14 people suspected of being members of an Islamist extremist group, with links to al-Qaeda. The arrests were made in the southern towns of Malaga, Nerja and Seville. Spanish police say… Read moreSpain: more al-Qaeda busts?
Looks like it is back to the bad old days in Iran—the years of revolutionary fervor in the early ’80s when music was banned from the public airwaves. Writes one of our readers: “Too bad the neo-cons are too stupid/sectarian/scared… Read moreIran: president bans Western music
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
US Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Afghanistan today to attend the inauguration of the country’s first Parliament in more than 30 years and visit US troops. Cheney joined President Hamid Karzai and other dignitaries at a ceremony to swear… Read moreAfghanistan: warlords dominate new parliament
