From Human Rights Watch, Dec. 11: The Iranian Judiciary should prosecute officials responsible for the arbitrary detention and alleged torture of several bloggers in 2004, instead of prosecuting the bloggers for expressing their opinions, Human Rights Watch said today. On… Read moreHRW to Iran: Prosecute torturers, not bloggers
From The Scostman, Dec. 12: A conference of the world’s most prominent Holocaust deniers opened in Iran yesterday amid international condemnation and protests by dozens of Iranian students, who burned pictures of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and chanted “death to the… Read moreIran: protesters condemn Holocaust conference
From the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), Dec. 7: Darkest Scenario for Women of Iraq: Public executions of women by Islamist militias in Baghdad Shia Militias: A new wave of public executions against women is undertaken by Al… Read moreOWFI: “Darkest scenario for women of Iraq”
Former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet Ugarte (1973-1990) died of heart failure at the age of 91 in the Santiago Military Hospital the afternoon of Dec. 10. Dozens of his right-wing supporters gathered outside the hospital as soon as they… Read morePinochet dies untried
A sneak preview of our upcoming film review by cultural critic Shlomo Svesnik… MEL GIBSON’S HEART OF DARKNESS Apocalypto Reveals More About Mel than the Maya Here we go again. Mel Gibson’s 2004 surprise mega-hit The Passion of the Christ… Read moreMel Gibson garbles Maya history
Mexican federal police searched the offices of Oaxaca’s state police forces Dec. 8, seizing hundreds of weapons. The federal Public Security Secretariat said in a statement that the search was carried out to check the permits for weapons used by… Read moreMexican feds raid Oaxaca state police; violence continues in countryside
From India’s Zee News, Dec. 10, link added: LONDON — Protests are planned around the world on Sunday against the mass rape of women and girls allegedly by Sudanese government soldiers and allied militiamen in Sudan’s western Darfur region. “A… Read moreWorldwide protests against rape in Darfur Dec. 10
Got your scorecard out? Quick, which side is the US backing here? From Reuters, Dec. 9: N’DJAMENA – The Chadian army clashed with rebels in eastern Chad on Saturday during several hours of heavy fighting in the desert, rebel and… Read moreFierce fighting in east Chad
The US and Ethiopia appear to be grooming the northern autonomous regions of Somalia—Puntland and Somaliland—as proxies to fight the Islamic Courts Union that controls the traditional capital, Mogadishu. So: should we be supporting this as a defense of freedom… Read moreSomalia: Ethiopia grooming Puntland to fight Islamists?
Jimmy Carter describes how the separation wall, 80% of which Israel is building inside the occupied West Bank in contravention of international law, makes life terrible for the Palestinians who live in its destructive path. From Palestine: Peace not Apartheid:… Read moreIsraeli army seizes non-violent activist —in front of UN and Amnesty officials
From CNN’s Larry King Live, Nov. 28: Larry King: Back to Mr. [Alan] Dershowitz on your book. He deals with the tone of your book. He says “it’s obvious that Carter doesn’t like Israel or Israelis. He lectured Golda Meir… Read moreCarter disses Dershowitz
From Radio HornAfrik, Mogadishu, in Somali, Dec. 8 (awkward translation as provided by BBC Monitoring): Somalia: Demonstration against deployment of foreign troops held in Mogadishu [Presenter] A demonstration condemning the UN Security Council’s decision to deploy foreign troops in Somalia… Read moreSomalia: 3,000 demonstrate against Ethiopia, US and UN
