A Jan. 12 New York Times story, online at the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), indicates a civil war breaking out within Iraq’s Sunni insurgency: In town after town, Iraqis and Americans say, local Iraqi insurgents and tribal groups have… Read moreIraq: civil war in the insurgency?
A Jan. 12 communique from the San José de Apartadó Peace Community in Colombia’s northern Urabá region, via the Colombian independent human rights network Red de Defensores: On Jan. 12, 2006, the army assassinated Edilberto Vasquez Cardona, 53 years old,… Read moreColombia: another killing at Peace Community
OK, was the CIA behind this one? Pretty convenient timing, just as Iran has removed International Atomic Energy Agency seals on from three nuclear production facilities at Natanz, Pars Trash and Farayand Tec—announcing a resumption of uranium enrichment activities in… Read moreIran: Revolutionary Guard brass killed in air crash
The lines are drawn ever more sharply in Latin America. Peru could be the next to join the growing anti-imperialist bloc if the indigenist/populist candidate Ollanta Humala takes the presidency in this year’s election. And Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez has wasted… Read morePeru-Venezuela tensions as Chavez hails Humala
From AP via Mexico’s El Universal, Jan. 12, via Chiapas95: Mexico’s foreign secretary on Wednesday criticized Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales for inviting Zapatista rebels to his inauguration. “There should be one invitation to the Mexican government, which represents the Mexican… Read moreMexico-Bolivia tensions as Evo invites Zapatistas
Royal Dutch Shell has shut down a tenth of Nigeria’s oil production, after armed militants kidnapped four foreign oil workers and blew up a major pipeline Jan. 11. The incidents followed attacks on pipelines owned by the Nigerian state-owned oil… Read moreNigeria: headed for civil war?
New York’s Jewish weekly The Forward weighs in on the recent imbroglio over supposed anti-Semitic comments by Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez. Venezuela’s Jews Defend Leftist President in Flap Over Remarks By MARC PERELMAN January 13, 2006 The Venezuelan Jewish community… Read moreVenezuelan Jews defend Chavez in anti-Semitism flap
From Reuters, Jan. 10: U.S. soldiers fed up with almost daily bomb attacks on their patrols near Iraq’s main oil refinery are taking drastic measures to fight their shadowy enemy — they’re walling in an entire town. Army bulldozers have… Read moreIraq: US walls off towns with sand berms
From Newsday, Jan. 10: The New York Civil Liberties Union sued the city on Tuesday, challenging restrictions on people’s right to photograph public places after an award-winning filmmaker from India was blocked from videotaping near the MetLife building. In its… Read moreNYC: Indian film-maker sues over detainment
From Newsday, Jan. 11: A criminal court judge in Manhattan has held that the city’s main weapon in its campaign against the Critical Mass bicycle ride is unconstitutional. Deciding the case of eight cyclists arrested in January 2005, Judge Gerald… Read moreNYC: court rules for Critical Mass
From The Scotsman, Jan. 12: A man armed with a knife wounded several people, including a rabbi, at a synagogue in Moscow yesterday. One Jewish official said the man called out as he burst into the building: “I will kill… Read moreMoscow: slasher attack at synagogue
Naga separatist guerillas in India’s remote northeast are once again being hunted down by the authorities in neighboring Burma (Myanmar), where they had previously been granted refuge. This appears to be leading to a two-front insurgency in which the Naga… Read moreBurma resumes crackdown on Naga guerillas
