Despite the recent tensions between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, both governments seem equally paranoid about Western-backed subversion within their borders. And perhaps with reason. From RFE/RL, July 12: A Tashkent court today ordered the closure of the Urban Institute, a U.S.-based… Read moreUzbekistan cracks down on NGOs
It seems the Kyrgyz government, itself put in power by a US-sponsored revolution last year, is increasingly paranoid that Washington is brewing another one. And perhaps with reason. Note that negotiations over continued Pentagon access to Kyrgyz military bases are… Read moreKyrgyzstan expels US diplomats
Dealing drugs was the least of Pinochet’s crimes. But the poor family’s delicate sensibilities have been offended by the accusation, it seems. From AP, July 12: SANTIAGO, Chile – The son of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet filed a defamation… Read morePinochet family to sue over cocaine accusation
Another reason to love New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer. But, as we’ve said before regarding a similar case, getting Emmanuel Constant for mortgage fraud is kind of like nailing Hitler for tax-evasion. From Newsday, July 7: A Queens… Read moreHaitian terrorist arrested on Long Island
The Srebrenica Genocide Blog notes the July 11 ceremony at the Bosnian town to commemorate the mass murder that took place there precisely 11 years ago—an anniversary largely overlooked by the world media, despite some important new developments in the… Read moreSrebrenica: 11 years later, still no justice
A statement from the Iraq Freedom Congress, June 26: Dissolving Al-Maliki Government Rather than Initiating ‘National Reconciliation’ Is the solution for ending the Iraqis’ Burdens The pro-occupation prime minister of Iraq has come up with an initiative to end the… Read moreIraq Freedom Congress rejects “national reconciliation”
Tibet’s historic isolation is about to be radically broken, both by a new Lhasa-Beijing rail link (the world’s highest), and the opening of a new border crossing into India through Sikkim. Tibetan nationalist leader (and Dalai Lama nephew) Khedroob Thondup… Read moreTibet rail link opens: militarization, globalization —or both?
This optimistic June 26 analysis by Kavi Chongkittavorn in Thailand’s The Nation is one of the very few accounts we’ve been able to find that even mentions the question of Nepal’s indigenous peoples in the new order which is emerging…. Read moreNepal: “light at end of tunnel” —for tribal peoples too?
This is heartwarming in its own way. Homophobia is doubtless equally entrenched among India’s Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists. Heaven forfend the fundis should stop blowing each other up long enough to realize how they are united by their mutual irrational… Read moreIndia: gay prince disinherited
Once again, someone feels compelled to prove the intellectual superiority of their position by killing scores of random civilians. Some details from the Financial Times, July 11 (link added): Within minutes, seven explosions on the railway that forms Mumbai’s spinal… Read moreTerror bombs rock Mumbai rail
Yet more sacrifices for the American way of life. From Newsday, July 10: Five dead in Bronx multiple-vehicle crash In a deadly crash that killed two half-brothers, their uncle, his 8-year-old daughter and a family friend, and left two others… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
With each horrific escalation they always say the same thing: civil war is “imminent”. At what point do we acknowledge that civil war has arrived? As we have noted before, everybody—left, right and center—seems to have an interest in denying… Read moreIraq: sectarian cleansing escalates
