Its amazing how much the New York Times can say without directly saying it. In today’s edition are twin front-page stories on Darfur and Chad. Read together they convey much more about US interests in the Sahel than either states… Read moreBush sees new NATO role in Darfur; Chad oil project in background
The Niger Delta, in Nigeria’s south, has long been beset by ethnic struggles over distribution of the region’s oil wealth. Now the north, where Muslim-Christian tensions have long simmered, is boiling over—ostensibly over the cartoon controversy, but one wonders what… Read moreNorthern Nigeria explodes
With the world’s attention distracted by some off-color cartoons, it looks like we’ve got a little domestic Abu Ghraib developing in Los Angeles. The official hand-wringing about “core values” is as nauseating as it is requisite. From the LA Times,… Read moreLA County gets “Abu Ghraib”?
Indonesia’s Environment Ministry is evidently caught between ecologists and nationalists demanding a tougher line on foreign corporate polluters and a judiciary that seems beholden to the corporate shadow government. The New York Times noted Feb. 17 that under the terms… Read moreIndonesians see “slap in face” in corporate pollution settlement
Readers will recall that this is the same James E. Hansen who was threatened with "dire consequences" from the Bush administration's ideological enforcers at NASA if he continued to call for action to cut emissions of greenhouse gases. From the… Read moreGreenland ice cap melting fast: satellite data
A new adittion to the alphabet soup of armed rebel groups in Africa’s most oil-rich region: the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). From the BBC, Feb. 17: A Nigerian militant commander in the oil-rich southern Niger… Read moreNiger Delta militia warns of “total war”
From the Village Voice’s Power Plays blog, Feb. 15: Judge: City Can’t Stop Critical Mass Ride by Sarah Ferguson A judge today threw another monkey wrench in New York City’s effort to stop the Critical Mass bike rides. In a… Read moreNYC: legal victory in Critical Mass struggle
From the UK Telegraph, Feb. 12: US prepares military blitz against Iran’s nuclear sites Strategists at the Pentagon are drawing up plans for devastating bombing raids backed by submarine-launched ballistic missile attacks against Iran’s nuclear sites as a “last resort”… Read morePentagon prepares Iran air campaign
How does this square with the fatwa against nuclear weapons reportedly issued by Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last year (which predictably failed to accrue any media attention in the West)? From the neo-conservative Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Feb…. Read moreIran issues pro-nuclear fatwa?
The overwhelming majority of those protesting the notorious Danish cartoons have, of course, never seen them. The same goes for the overwhelming majority of those defending them. Whatever one thinks of them, there is a strong case that newspapers by… Read moreThe cartoon controversy deconstructed
From South Africa’s Mail & Guardian, from wire sources, Feb. 15: Italian minister to wear Muhammad cartoon T-shirt A prominent Italian government figure planned on Wednesday to wear a T-shirt sporting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that have sparked violent… Read moreSartorial front in “cartoon jihad”?
Yet more evidence of the Western democracies’ sterling commitment to freedom of expression. From the Washington Post: LONDON, Feb. 15 — The House of Commons on Wednesday backed a bill that would make “glorification” of terrorism a criminal offense, a… Read moreUK: anti-free speech measure advances
