Sadam Hussein was hanged in the pre-dawn hours of Dec. 30 for crimes against humanity in the mass murder of 148 men and boys from the Shi’ite town of Dujail in 1982, after a failed assassination attempt against him there…. Read moreSaddam executed; historical memory betrayed
Anti-Ethiopia riots erupted in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, Dec. 29, a day after Ethiopian troops and allied Somali militias took the city from Islamist forces. Hundreds took to the streets to hurl rocks at Ethiopian soldiers, set tires on fire and… Read moreSomalia: Ethiopia-backed forces pledge “iron hand”; Islamists pledge resistance from Kismayo
Lest we forget. From the NY Daily News, Dec. 29: Kiss before dying As his father lay dying, crushed by a car that smashed into his Long Island house, Brian Calhoun gave him a final kiss. “There was no question… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
On Dec. 15, a group of 18 former employees at Swift & Co. filed a $23 million lawsuit charging the company with conspiring to keep wages down by hiring undocumented workers. The plaintiffs are all naturalized US citizens or legal… Read moreRICO suit against Swift in wake of ICE raids
On Dec. 15, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Mexican immigrant Martin Barrios on an outstanding deportation order at his home in the Chicago suburb of Berwyn, Illinois. A spokesperson from Centro Sin Fronteras, a Chicago-based immigrant rights… Read moreICE harasses Chicago immigrant advocate
A little more than a year ago, when the media noted a lesser milestone—2,000 US troops killed in Iraq—we pointed out that the media’s habit of only counting the deaths of US troops as opposed to all US-led forces actually… Read moreUS troops killed in Iraq top 9-11 toll
Predictable but depressing. Given the current popularity of “dual loyalty” insinuations against American Jews (even in supposedly progressive cricles), you’d think there’d be a little Jewish outrage over essentially identical arguments being used against American Muslims. This Dec. 28 column… Read moreGoode-Ellison affair reveals Jewish myopia
A potential opening for the kind of universalism that could go a long way towards chilling the planet out—and taking the wind out of al-Qaeda’s Iberian franchise. But the local Catholic hierarchy isn’t going for it. Maybe the Pope will… Read moreMuslims appeal for prayers in Spain’s Cordoba Cathedral
A pretty astounding figure. But as we noted the last time it happened, in May: when resource hyper-exploitation co-exists with dire poverty, such incidents are absolutely inevitable. From IRIN, Dec. 28: LAGOS – The Nigerian Red Cross has taken the… Read moreNigeria: 2,000 dead in ten years of pipeline blasts
From La Jornada, Dec. 28 via Chiapas95: The nation’s top electoral court ruled Wednesday that irregularities preceding the Oct. 15 gubernatorial election in Tabasco were not serious enough to affect the outcome. The unanimous decision cleared the way for Andres… Read moreMexico: court rules for PRI in contested Tabasco election
A communique from the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) “Intergalactic Commission,” Dec. 24 (our translation): Compañer@s, Herman@s: In a few days more will be Dec. 30, 2006, the start of the “Encuentro de los Pueblos Zapatistas con los Pueblos del… Read moreChiapas: EZLN “Intergalactic Encuentro” draws activists from 30 countries
Ali Mohamad Gedi, prime minister of Somalia’s Federal Transition Government (FTG) announced his parliament will declare a period of martial law to maintain control of the country after Ethiopian and FTG troops wrested the capital from Islamists Dec. 28. “This… Read moreSomalia: Ethiopia takes Mogadishu; martial law imposed; Yemen fires on refugees
