The neo-conservative Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) happily informs us: The editor of the Syrian daily Al-Watan, Wasah Abd-Raba, accused the Lebanese majority of sacrificing murdered Lebanese MP Walid ‘Eido in order to continue its plan to destroy and… Read moreLebanon: conspiracy vultures descend on corpse of Walid Eido
Jonathan “Jack” Idema, the last of three imprisoned US citizens convicted of illegal detention and torture in Afghanistan in 2004, was released June 2, Afghan authorities have confirmed. Idema, a former member of the US Army Special Forces, was arrested… Read moreAfghanistan: US citizen convicted of torturing detainees released
Prosecutor Javier Zaragoza, in closing arguments against 27 of the 29 accused in Madrid 3-11 attacks, took time to criticize what he called the “parallel process based on unfounded suspicions” of involvement by the Basque separatist group ETA. In his… Read moreProsecutors diss ETA theory in Madrid trial
Supposed Jemaah Islamiyah leader Abu Dujana was arrested June 9 by Indonesia’s elite anti-terrorist Detachment 88 in a raid in the southern Java town of Yogyakarta, authorities say. The reportedly Afghan-trained Dujana is accused of assisting and harboring Jemaah Islamiyah… Read moreJemaah Islamiyah funds Mindanao insurgents?
In a “mega-march” extending more than 10 kilometers, thousands of teachers from the Section 22 union and their supporters in the Popular People’s Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) marched through southern Mexico’s Oaxaca City June 14 to mark the first anniversary… Read moreOaxaca: “mega-march” commemorates start of uprising
From the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), June 13: The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the shooting of a Mexican journalist who had received death threats in connection with his investigation of the slaying of a U.S. journalist during violent… Read moreOaxaca: journalist shot while investigating Brad Will case
The UN is expected to release a report shortly that will shed light on human rights violations of migrants in the United States. The report will be presented to the Human Rights Council by Special Rapporteur on the Rights of… Read moreUN to report on rights abuses of immigrants in United States
From ZNet, June 12—George Monbiot‘s latest in his series of exchanges with Alexander Cockburn over the question of global warming: The Conspiracy Widens So at last, and after only seven requests, we have some references. And, to no gasps of… Read moreAlexander Cockburn embraces climate change “conspiracy theory”
Former US ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke has an essay in the May/June issue of Foreign Affairs, “Defying Orders, Saving Lives: Heroic Diplomats of the Holocaust,” which draws an unsettlingly valid analogy to contemporary Iraq. Holbrooke outlines the… Read moreIraq’s refugee crisis: echoes of the Holocaust
One Abdur Raziq contributes June 9 a brief account to the open-posting website Ground Report (“Where You Make the News”) of the Taliban crackdown on elements of traditional Pashtun culture which are considered “un-Islamic” in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas—Lakhtai dancing boys… Read morePakistan: Taliban threaten Lakhtai boys and “eunuch” dancers
New details are emerging surrounding the 208 arrests at the June 10 Puerto Rican Day Parade in Manhattan. According to the New York Times June 13, the police still claim that people were arrested for “specific illegal behavior,” like blocking… Read moreNYC: confusion surrounds police sweeps at Puerto Rican parade
Two minarets at Shia Islam’s revered Golden Mosque in the Iraqi city of Samarra were blown up June 13. The government has imposed a total curfew on the city until further notice. Shi’ite officials blamed al-Qaeda for the attack, but… Read moreIraq: Samarra’s Golden Mosque hit again —reprisals target Sunni mosques
