This one is truly pathetic. Last week Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) quoted from an FBI agent’s memo describing detainees at Guantanamo Bay as being chained to the floor without food or water in extreme temperatures. “If I read this to… Read morePropaganda system scores victory: Durbin apologizes for stating the obvious on Gitmo
A surge in violence during the past three months has left hundreds dead across eastern and southern Afghanistan. Presumed Taliban militants have carried out suicide bombings and kidnapped or killed aid and election workers, and fighting has also increased between… Read moreViolence rises ahead of Afghan elections
The circumstances are still sketchy, but the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) in Chiapas, Mexico, has announced it is going on “red alert”. This account from VOA, June 21: Mexico’s Zapatista rebel group has declared a state of emergency,… Read moreZapatistas go on “Red Alert”
Right-wing settlers from the West Bank have been holed up in the Maoz Hayam hotel in the illegal Jewish colony of Gush Katif in the occupied Gaza Strip. Some 30 families have moved in the past few weeks to fortify… Read moreSome settlers push back, pt. 3: Palestinians attacked near Jewish militant redoubt
Dozens of workers trapped in the besieged offices of a newspaper in Oaxaca managed to publish on Sunday despite what they call a bogus strike organized by politicians to silence the daily for its criticism of the state government. The… Read moreNewspaper under siege in Oaxaca
Excerpt from a report by Moroccan news agency MAP (via M&C News): Laayoune, 19 June: Hundreds of citizens today Sunday held a protest at the Hassan I Airport in Laayoune against the scheming intentions and provocative attempts of the Spanish… Read moreCollaborationist protests in Western Sahara
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), June 20: The local leader of Hamas was arrested in an often lawless frontier area where Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina meet. Brazilian and Paraguayan news agencies confirmed June 17 that Saiel Bashar Yahya Al… Read moreHamas leader arrested in South America?
Israeli security forces suppressing non-violent protest in Bil’in have been using a sound weapon lately called “the screamer,” which emits piercing noises to incapacitate and disperse crowds as a non-lethal crowd control measure. According to Ha’aretz, on June 20 the… Read more“The Screamer” sparks violence at Bil’in protest
Is the current fighting along Iraq’s Syrian border actually a prelude to a US invasion of Syria? Certain voices in the Arab world seem to think so. This from UPI, June 15: AMMAN, Jordan — The United Arab Emirates’ al-Bayan… Read moreUS preparing Syria invasion?
The Inuit of Alaska and Canada’s far north, whose traditional way of life depends on hunting seals and polar bear—and therefore on cold—are not so sanguine about global warming. Thanks to TruthOut for passing on this interesting June 16 Reuters… Read moreInuit to file petition against US on climate change
Even as the US moves to restore military ties with Indonesia, harsh repression continues in areas of the archipelago where indigenous peoples are fighting for sovereignty. This from Survival International, June 15: INDONESIA: Fifteen years in prison for flying a… Read moreIndonesia: more repression in West Papua
This editorial, to appear in the International Herald Tribune June 20, was (in slightly longer form) in the New York Times June 18: Guantánamo and who we are The New York Times MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2005 It was a relief… Read moreNYT: Close Gitmo
