August 7, 2009
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A Month Without Zelaya: The Honduran Crisis Deepens, No Quick Solutions on the Horizon
Although the de facto Micheletti regime has stated that it supports the San Jose Accord, events on the ground indicate that it is not pushing for the reinstatement of Zelaya. -Zelaya’s return is complicated by an entrenched interim government; a restoration of the deposed leader would only be possible through extreme international pressure. Zelaya’s border… Continue reading
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Venezuela – Colombia Relations in Limbo: Will Chávez burn the bridge? – Council on Hemispheric Affairs
In response to Colombian charges that weapons found in a FARC arms cache were supplied by Venezuela, Hugo Chávez withdrew his ambassador from Bogotá and once again froze Venezuela – Colombia relations. According to reports by the Uribe Administration, three Swedish AT-4 rocket launchers which formed part of a shipment sold in the 1980s to… Continue reading
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Iraqis speak of random killings committed by private Blackwater guards
Guards employed by Blackwater, the US security company, shot Iraqis and killed victims in allegedly unprovoked and random attacks, it was claimed yesterday. A Virginia court also received sworn statements from former Blackwater employees yesterday alleging that Erik Prince, the company’s founder, ‘views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic… Continue reading
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How Calderon Lost 15% of the Plan Mexico Funds . . . and Why He Must Lose the Rest By Scott Campbell
It’s been a busy and interesting week regarding developments in Oaxaca, Mexico, and the U.S. First, there were reports in the Mexican media on July 29 that an investigation by officials from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police into the murder of U.S. independent journalist Brad Will affirmed the conclusions drawn by the Mexican Federal Attorney… Continue reading
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Israeli troops ‘ill-treat kids’
A former Israeli military commander has told the BBC that Palestinian youngsters are routinely ill-treated by Israeli soldiers while in custody, reports the BBC’ s Katya Adler from Jerusalem and the West Bank. “You take the kid, you blindfold him, you handcuff him, he’s really shaking… Sometimes you cuff his legs too. Sometimes it cuts… Continue reading
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Book Review: Ecology and Socialism: Inseparable Revolutions
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels famously urged the world’s workers to unite because they had a world to win, and nothing to lose but their chains. Today, the reality of climate change and worsening environmental breakdowns globally adds a further vital dimension to this strident vision of human liberation. We still have a world to… Continue reading
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Who Wants Sanctions on Iran? By Hamid Dabashi
In a recent congressional hearing, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman called the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act “a sword of Damocles over the Iranians” that will soon come down if President Obama’s diplomatic overture did not show signs of success by the fall. That sword is no mere metaphor and might kill more… Continue reading
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The Ecocide of Palestine
It is a long-standing Israeli practice to destroy Palestinian agriculture. In 2005, 25 dunums of Palestinian land in Qaffin were confiscated by Israeli settlers under the aegis of the Israeli Defense Forces. Since 2005, Jewish settlers have set thousands of acres of orange, almond, and olive trees aflame. Olive trees bear fruit in the Mediterranean… Continue reading
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Via Campesina, "August 11, 2009: Global Action Day for Honduras"
Since the military coup — after more than 38 days of untiring efforts by thousands of farmers, women, indigenous people, teachers, students, unionists, and ordinary citizens of the cities and the countryside to reverse it and to recover democracy and dignity — the repression by the coup participants has not notched the fighting spirit of… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 