Hundreds of anti-water privatization activists gathered outside El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly this week to back legislation that would “increase [water] coverage, quality and sustainability and guarantee access… for low-income families.” They presented a new proposal entitled “The Potable Water and… Read moreEl Salvador: effort gains against water privatization
The Honduran government reversed its decision to take over oil storage terminals in attempt to lessen oil prices for the Central American country’s impoverished population. The reversal, announced last Friday, followed a threat by U.S. Ambassador Charles A. Ford, who… Read moreHonduras nixes oil take-over following US threats
A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a military convoy Jan. 22 near Mirali, in Pakistan’s restive North Waziristan, killing four troops and a civilian woman, and injuring 23, including 20 soldiers. The convoy was a joint force of… Read moreWar engulfs Afghan-Pakistan borderlands
From Reuters, Jan. 24: MOGADISHU – A U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship has launched a second air strike against suspected al Qaeda operatives in southern Somalia, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified U.S. officials. No confirmation of Monday’s… Read moreNew US air-strikes reported in Somalia
We have noted internal divisions in Iran over the nuclear issue. This story from the Jan. 23 New York Times provides another piece of the puzzle, and greater nuance than the corporate media generally display on the Tehran regime: TEHRAN… Read moreIran: ayatollah criticizes Ahmadinejad on nuclear issue
The assassination of Hrant Dink has, fortunately, sparked renewed challenges to the censorious Article 301. But the Turkish state seems to be trying to squelch the debate. Would Dink have wanted his funeral to be used in this manner? From… Read moreTurkey: Article 301 debate on hold as slain editor laid to rest
Freedom’s on the march. From the San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 24: One of the Bush administration’s most far-reaching assertions of government power was revealed quietly last week when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified that habeas corpus — the right to… Read moreGonzales: Constitution doesn’t guarantee habeas corpus
From AP, Jan. 24: Former Social Distortion Bassist Killed Placentia, Calif. — Brent Liles, a former bassist for the 1980s punk rock group Social Distortion, was struck and killed by a truck while riding a bicycle, authorities said Wednesday. He… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
Our January issue featured the story “Niger Delta: Behind the Mask” by Ike Okonta, which explored the concept of petro-violence, pioneered by Michael J. Watts of UC Berkely, in the context of contemporary Nigeria— where oil exploitation has only brought… Read moreUS oil profligance and third world petro-violence: our readers write
Freedom’s on the march. From AlJazeera, Jan. 18: The US defence department has released new rules allowing terror suspects to be convicted and possibly executed on the basis of hearsay evidence and some coerced testimony. The rules, which the department… Read morePentagon terror trials to allow hearsay evidence
The current violent unrest in Bangladesh is generally portrayed (when the global media bother to take note of it at all) as a contest between the secular, left-leaning Awami League which governed until July 2001 and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party… Read moreTaslima Nasrin: fundamentalism “destroying” Bangladesh
The Western Hemisphere’s worst human rights abuser by a mile (and, not coincidentally, closest US ally) is a “good model” for what Washington hopes to build in Afghanistan. The Afghans must be very comforted. From Reuters, Jan. 19 (emphasis added):… Read morePentagon: Colombia “good model” for Afghan drug war
