For all the opprobrium being directed at China over its support for the repressive Burma regime, the US corporate presence is going unexamined. As we recently noted, the new Burma sanctions announced by Bush mean no more than a visa… Read moreUnocal still in Burma
A suicide bomber in burqa killed 13 people at a police checkpoint Oct. 1 at Bannu in northwest Pakistan on the Afghan border. (AGI, Oct. 1) The following day, a suicide bomber killed 12 Afghan police on a bus in… Read moreTerror both sides of Pak-Afghan border
Twelve Nigerian troops were killed in a Sept. 30 attack on an African Union base at Haskanita, Darfur, the deadliest since AU forces were deployed in 2004. Thirty vehicles overran the base, with fifty troops still missing and seven seriously… Read moreDarfur: guerillas (not Janjaweed!) attack AU troops
A Sept. 29 AP story given prominent placement in the New York Times, “Nervous Gulf Hears Calmer Tones on Iran,” notes that CentCom chief Adm. William Fallon, on a tour of the Persian Gulf states, is reassuring regional leaders that… Read morePost-neocon Iran strategy: back to containment
Iraq’s bitterly divided political leadership came together Sept. 30 to denounce a non-binding US Senate resolution approved last week that endorses the decentralization of Iraq through the establishment of semi-autonomous regions. That same day, the US Embassy in Baghdad issued… Read moreIraqi leadership unites against partition plan
The Turkish government signed an agreement with Iraq Sept. 28 to cooperate in fighting guerillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), who are launching attacks on Turkey from Iraqi territory. That same day, the PKK attacked a military post in… Read moreBaghdad, Ankara pledge cooperation against defiant PKK
At least seven young men were killed in an apparent US helicopter attack on an outdoor Ramadan gathering in the Baghdad Shi’ite suburb of Abu Dshir late Sept. 27. Witnesses say the men were playing a traditional Ramadan game called… Read moreIraq: US bombs Shi’ites —again; Congress funds carnage —again
From Fox Local News, NYC. Sept. 30: Woman Killed in East Village Hit-Run A 24-year-old woman was killed early Sunday when a car hit her — and kept going. Julia Thomson of 355 Bowery was crossing East Fourth Street and… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
Some rare good news is reported from Iran, where a reform of the country's drug laws may save the lives of thousands now on death row. Some 5,000 people are currently awaiting execution for drug offenses in the Islamic Republic, and all of them could now have their sentences reviewed. News accounts of the reform did not note that it is the fruit of protests within Iran, as well as pressure from international human rights groups. It won little coverage in the West, but following a wave of executions, some 1,800 prisoners at Qezel Hessar Prison outside Tehran went on hunger strike. Some courageous prisoners' families organized to support them, calling for reduced sentences for drug crimes—even holding vigils outside the Parliament building. (Image: Middle East Eye)
The Burmese junta currently shooting unarmed protestors received a cynical plea for restraint from the Israel government on Sept. 29. According to the Israeli paper Ha’aretz, the Israeli foreign ministry announced “Israel is concerned by the situation in Myanmar, and… Read moreIsraeli military aid to Burmese regime: Jane’s
Our September issue featured the story “The Israel Lobby & Global Hegemony: Revisited” by WW4R editor Bill Weinberg, arguing that “Israel replicates the historical cycles of Jewish scapegoating by serving as imperialism’s proxy.” Refuting the thesis of John Mearsheimer and… Read moreThe Mearsheimer-Walt thesis: our readers write
Juan Cole‘s Informed Comment blog Sept. 24 has an enlightening commentary on a Sept. 20 AP story about the Pentagon’s latest report to Congress on supposed “progress” in Iraq. Cole writes that the report, entitled “Measuring Stability and Security in… Read morePentagon data reveal grim reality of “surge” —and “resistance”
