With the near-simultaneous Beijing Olympics and Hokkaido G8 summit about to open, China and Japan announce they have resolved their dispute over gas fields in the East China Sea. What a feel-good globalization-fest we are going to be subject to… Read moreChina, Japan to cooperate in offshore gas exploitation
What a telling medley of articles in the New York Times June 19. First this, from the front page: Deals With Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back BAGHDAD — Four Western oil companies are in the final stages… Read moreExxon back in Iraq —ANWR next?
Despite the supposed ceasefire, fighting again broke out between Somali insurgents and Ethiopian occupation troops in several attacks around Mogadishu June 18, leaving 11 dead. Nine were civilians; two were Somali police. (Africa News, June 19) Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf,… Read moreArab governments plot Somali destabilization?
From Physicians for Human Rights, June 18: Medical Evidence Supports Detainees’ Accounts of Torture in US Custody Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has published a landmark report documenting medical evidence of torture and ill-treatment inflicted on 11 men detained at… Read morePhysicians for Human Rights cite evidence of US “war crimes”
Wired reports June 19 reports from Marlborough, MA, where the US Air Force held a confab to promote its new Cyber Command, which is to go operational in 105 days. While the command’s mission is still “very much in question,”… Read moreWill Air Force Cyber Command quell or fuel conspiracy theories?
From the Iraq Freedom Congress, June 16: On the US-Iraqi Treaty The US administration plans to tie Iraq to a treaty that will guarantee a US military presence and political interference with absolute control of the wealth and resources of… Read moreIraq’s civil resistance rejects security treaty
A car bombing that killed 63 June 17 at a bus-stop in Baghdad’s predominantly Shi’ite Hurriya area may have been carried out by a militant trying to incite Shi’ite violence against Sunnis, the US military said. Lt. Col. Steve Stover… Read moreIran-backed Shi’ite provocation behind Baghdad’s Hurriya blast: US
A little-known Iranian Sunni militant group claimed responsibility June 18 for a mosque bombing that killed 14 and wounded 200 in Shiraz April 12. “This is the very first operation and the signal to the criminal regime of Iran…to stop… Read moreIran: Sunni militants claim Shiraz mosque attack
Colombia’s coca crop grew by 27% last year, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported June 18, calling the increase “a surprise and a shock” given ongoing US-funded eradication efforts. Coca cultivation was also up 4% in Peru… Read moreColombia: “shock” rise in coca production
In a June 13 statement, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa announced that his government has decided not to join the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), the integration initiative led by Venezuela. The statement said Ecuador would continue to pursue regional… Read moreEcuador says no to ALBA —for now
The US government is continuing its efforts to have Puerto Ricans testify before a federal grand jury on the independence movement. A summons was served on Tania Frontera, a graphic artist living in New York City, to appear before a… Read moreUS revives grand jury probe of Puerto Rican independence activists
On June 14 Argentine police in Entre Rios province removed a group of farmers and truckers who were blocking Route 14, an important link with Uruguay. Agents arrested 19 protesters, including Alfredo de Angeli, head of the provincial branch of… Read moreArgentina: 19 arrests in farmers strike
