From Reuters, Jan. 24: MOGADISHU – A U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship has launched a second air strike against suspected al Qaeda operatives in southern Somalia, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified U.S. officials. No confirmation of Monday’s… Read moreNew US air-strikes reported in Somalia
We have noted internal divisions in Iran over the nuclear issue. This story from the Jan. 23 New York Times provides another piece of the puzzle, and greater nuance than the corporate media generally display on the Tehran regime: TEHRAN… Read moreIran: ayatollah criticizes Ahmadinejad on nuclear issue
The assassination of Hrant Dink has, fortunately, sparked renewed challenges to the censorious Article 301. But the Turkish state seems to be trying to squelch the debate. Would Dink have wanted his funeral to be used in this manner? From… Read moreTurkey: Article 301 debate on hold as slain editor laid to rest
Freedom’s on the march. From the San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 24: One of the Bush administration’s most far-reaching assertions of government power was revealed quietly last week when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified that habeas corpus — the right to… Read moreGonzales: Constitution doesn’t guarantee habeas corpus
From AP, Jan. 24: Former Social Distortion Bassist Killed Placentia, Calif. — Brent Liles, a former bassist for the 1980s punk rock group Social Distortion, was struck and killed by a truck while riding a bicycle, authorities said Wednesday. He… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
Our January issue featured the story “Niger Delta: Behind the Mask” by Ike Okonta, which explored the concept of petro-violence, pioneered by Michael J. Watts of UC Berkely, in the context of contemporary Nigeria— where oil exploitation has only brought… Read moreUS oil profligance and third world petro-violence: our readers write
Freedom’s on the march. From AlJazeera, Jan. 18: The US defence department has released new rules allowing terror suspects to be convicted and possibly executed on the basis of hearsay evidence and some coerced testimony. The rules, which the department… Read morePentagon terror trials to allow hearsay evidence
The current violent unrest in Bangladesh is generally portrayed (when the global media bother to take note of it at all) as a contest between the secular, left-leaning Awami League which governed until July 2001 and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party… Read moreTaslima Nasrin: fundamentalism “destroying” Bangladesh
The Western Hemisphere’s worst human rights abuser by a mile (and, not coincidentally, closest US ally) is a “good model” for what Washington hopes to build in Afghanistan. The Afghans must be very comforted. From Reuters, Jan. 19 (emphasis added):… Read morePentagon: Colombia “good model” for Afghan drug war
An international commission of human rights observers announced Jan. 21 that at least 23 people were killed and a number of cases of physical abuse and sexual assaults against women were recorded during the months-long conflict in the southern Mexican… Read moreOaxaca: government disputes rights report; police block religious gathering
In his first published interview with the foreign press since he became Mexico’s president last month, Felipe Calderon told the Financial Times: “The United States is jointly responsible for what is happening to us… [I]n that joint responsibility the U.S…. Read moreMexico: Calderon appeals for more Drug War aid; Chiapas in crosshairs
Honduras announced Jan. 12 that it will temporarily take control of oil storage terminals as part of a program to lower fuel prices and combat “energy terrorism.” “It is not a nationalization, it’s a temporary use of the storage tanks… Read moreHonduras seizes oil facilities
