With an Iraqi delegation in Ankara to discuss the standoff over PKK rebels in northern Iraq, Turkish war planes and helicopters reportedly bombed guerilla bases within Iraq’s borders Oct. 26. However, even as the state-run Anatolia news agency reported the… Read moreTurkey bombs Iraq —then backs off (for now)
Pakistani security forces backed up by helicopter gunships engaged militants at the madrassa of extremist cleric Maulana Fazlullah at Kabal in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province Oct. 26. The gun-battle apparently began when a patrol was fired on, and ended when… Read morePakistan: security forces battle neo-Taliban in NWFP
The Colombian armed forces committed 955 extrajudicial executions between July 2002 and June 2007, according an investigation [online at Latin America Working Group] carried out by a coalition of 11 Colombian human rights organizations and released this month. Of these… Read moreColombia: army killings escalate
Predictably, a front-page Wall Street Journal story Oct. 25 bashes native plant advocate Richard Halsey of the California Chaparral Institute as a culprit behind the devastating Southern California fires that have left half a million displaced. The article also approvingly… Read moreEcology scapegoated in Southern California disaster
The “Old Order” Amish of the Pennsylvania Dutch country still refuse to use automobiles. Maybe they have the right idea. From AP, Oct. 22: INDIANAPOLIS — A tire blowout may have caused a van carrying passengers from an Amish community… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
This Patrick Cockburn report is entitled “Baghdad may be unable to stop attacks by PKK fighters,” but the more relevant question may be whether the regional Kurdish government which is the real power in northern Iraq has any real desire… Read moreDoes Baghdad have power to crack down on PKK?
From the Alternative Information Center, Oct 16. The general secretary of Peace Now, Yariv Oppenheimer, did his reserve military duty at a checkpoint in the Jordan Valley, deep in the occupied Palestinian territories, acting just like any other good Israeli… Read morePeace Now chief enforces Jordan Valley apartheid?
From the NYC civil service paper The Chief-Leader, Oct 19: Thompson and Israel To the Editor: The undersigned trade-union activists disagree with New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson and the Jewish Labor Committee, who have joined the witch-hunt against… Read moreVeteran NYC labor leaders: boycott Israel
From AP, Oct 19: Glass Monument to Che in Venezuela Shot CARACAS, Venezuela — A glass monument to revolutionary icon Ernesto “Che” Guevara was shot up and destroyed less than two weeks after it was unveiled by Venezuelan President Hugo… Read moreVenezuela: Che shattered
We’ve already had to warn the heroic Buddhist dissidents of Burma and colonized Uighur people of China’s far west against allowing themselves to be exploited as propaganda fodder by the Bush White House. Now it seems we have to warn… Read moreDalai Lama pawn in Bush’s oil wars?
President Bush already has called the GWOT “World War III.” Now he again invokes the phrase—but in a more conventional sense, arguing that it looms in the future if Iran devlops the atomic bomb. Of course, a pre-emptive attack to… Read moreBush invokes World War III —again
Crude oil rose above $89 a barrel for the first time this week as the US dollar declined to a record low against the euro. Analysts say the market is reacting to concerns over Turkish military incursions into northern Iraq…. Read moreMontana to Kurdistan: global oil prices react
