World News

Has America’s Stolen Election Process Finally Hit Prime Time?  12/30/2011 Common Dreams: "For years the Democratic Party and even much of the left press has reacted with scorn for those who’ve reported on it. But the imperial fraud that has utterly corrupted our electoral process seems finally to be dawning on a broadening core of the American electorate---if it can still be called that."

Marching Towards the Past in Guatemala  12/30/2011 Counterpunch: "In Guatemala, former military officers and their supporters have filed legal charges against human rights activists, journalists, and surviving victims of State repression, even as a former general, Otto Perez Molina – himself implicated in Guatemala’s genocide – prepares to assume the Guatemalan presidency on January 14, 2012! Moreover, Perez Molina has named high ranking trainers of the brutal Kaibil forces to the top three military command positions. Kaibil’s were directly implicated in the very worst of the State repression and genocide of the 1970s, 80s and early 90s, and some today have direct links to the Mexico-based “Zeta” narco-trafficking cartel."

Iran seeking to expand influence in Latin America  12/30/2011 WaPo: "Iran has been actively working for years to expand its ties and influence in the Western Hemisphere, and it has found willing partners in the region’s anti-American despots,” said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Ros-Lehtinen said she was disturbed by Ahmadinejad’s plans for what she called a “tour of tyrants,” saying it would bring “the Iranian threat closer to our shores.”

Wednesday 12/28/2011

Los Santos de los narco-paramilitares 12/28/2011 Rebelion: "Fachito, llamado así por su alineamiento con la extrema derecha, fue vicepresidente en el gobierno del narcopara Álvaro Uribe Vélez y en el cual se ocupo de disculpar los crímenes de los militares y escuadrones de la muerte, de atacar a las ONGs de derechos humanos y de condenar el narcotráfico, siendo a la vez un adherente del narcoparamilitarismo colombiano. Su hipocresía no le impidió atacar a ciertos actores y modelos por su adicción a la cocaína (omitió a políticos del planeta), olvidando que él mismo fumaba largos porros de marihuana, como el que se fumo junto a su esposa María Victoria en Ámsterdam, cuando en 1997 le concedió una entrevista a la periodista Petra Koning de la revista holandesa VRIJ, para chillar por su suerte de ex secuestrado de los paras, como es su cínica costumbre."

Tuesday 12/27/2011

Paramilitares asesinan a Alexa Gómez Polania, líder de los desplazados en Mocoa (Putumayo) 12/27/2011 Rebelion: "La herramienta paramilitar del gran latifundio sigue asesinado a reclamantes de tierras con plena complicidad del Estado colombiano."

Monday 12/26/2011

Paramilitares causan desplazamiento de 81 familias afrodescendientes por no colaborar 12/26/2011 Rebelion: "Rebelión ha transcrito la entrevista que Contagio Radio realizó al lider comunitario Orlando Pantoja, coordinador de Cococauca. En Colombia no cesa el desplazamiento ni la guerra. Las comunidades de Timbiquí, Cauca, han tenido que desplazarse. Desde el 14 de diciembre se encuentran en el casco urbano de Guapí."

Saturday 12/24/2011

Venezuela: Jesús Chucho García conversó con productores de Cacao Barloventeños 12/24/2011 Legado Afro: "El barloventeño Jesús “Chucho” García investigador de temas africanos y actualmente jefe de misión diplomática de Venezuela en Angola, conversó el pasado miércoles 21 de diciembre en la población de San José de Barlovento con productores de cacao de esa región sobre “Barloventeñidad y el Poder Popular.”

Friday 12/23/2011

Despojos de tierras: siguen matando a mujeres líderes.-Asesinada líder de los desplazados en Mocoa 12/23/2011 Partido Comminista de Colombia: "Estando en su casa de habitación ubicada en la vereda, las planadas del municipio de Mocoa, fue vilmente asesinada la señora, ALEXA GOMEZ POLANIA, de aproximadamente 35 años madre cabeza de hogar y miembro de la Asociación de desplazados “el Progreso” de la mencionada vereda."

Thursday 12/22/2011

Venezuela: Promulgada Ley Orgánica contra la Discriminación Racial 12/22/2011 Legado Afro: "El presidente de la República Hugo Chávez promulgó este lunes, en Consejo de Ministros Extraordinario celebrado en el Palacio de Miraflores, la Ley Orgánica contra la Discriminación Racial, la cual fue aprobada por unanimidad por los diputados y diputadas de la Asamblea Nacional (AN) el pasado 22 de agosto."

Wednesday 12/21/2011

With FTA Secured, Colombia Takes Steps Backwards on Human Rights 12/21/2011 Anarkismo: "On October 12, the same day that the U.S. Congress passed the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA), a group of over sixty Afro-Colombian victims protested in Bogotá. The marchers, internally displaced leaders from the conflict areas of Chocó, Cauca, Valle del Cauca, Nariño and Bolivar, had a clear message, “We are marching for our right to life. The government does not protect us. We are killed, threatened and displaced so that Colombia and outside investors can make a profit off of the natural resources found in our lands. We say no to the U.S.-Colombia FTA.” While it was not uncommon to hear such statements under President Uribe’s reign, it was sobering to hear it under the Santos Administration."

50 years later: Fanon's legacy 12/21/2011 Pambazuka: "In the penultimate chapter of ‘Frantz Fanon: A Portrait’, Alice Cherki notes that Blida Psychiatric Hospital in Algiers still bears his name, that Fanon has a boulevard and a high school for girls named after him, though young people have no idea who he is. After independence in Algeria, Fanon was quite quickly marginalised. A new constitution identified the nation with Islam and that women were actively dissuaded from playing any part in public life did not jibe with Fanon’s vision of politics."

Monday 12/19/2011

Joel Sangronis Padrón: La recuperación de la africanidad 12/19/2011 Legado Afro: "Como bien lo dice Miguel Acosta Saignes en su obra Vida De Los Esclavos Negros En Venezuela: ?toda la sociedad colonial descansó en Venezuela sobre las espaldas poderosas de los africanos y sus descendientes; sobre su valor y su extraordinaria resistencia; también sobre su inteligencia y su entereza; sobre su capacidad inagotable de esperanza y sobre su indoblegable espíritu de rebeldía?."

Friday 12/16/2011

El “padrino” de la Inteligencia Militar colombiana, absuelto en el caso del Palacio de Justicia 12/16/2011 Rebelion: "Un general colombiano absuelto hoy en uno de los casos más infames de derechos humanos del país colaboró “activamente” con escuadrones de la muerte paramilitares responsables de docenas de masacres, según registros estadounidenses hasta ahora secretos obtenidos según la Ley de Libertad de la Información por National Security Archive. Otrora el tercer oficial más importante de las fuerzas armadas colombianas, y posteriormente máximo consejero del Departamento de Seguridad Administrativa (DAS) del presidente Álvaro Uribe, Iván Ramírez Quintero, fue absuelto hoy de la tortura y desaparición de Irma Franco, una de varias personas detenidas por el ejército durante el desastre en el Palacio de Justicia de noviembre de 1985."

Thursday 12/15/2011

Did Pentagon help strangle the Arab Spring?  12/15/2011 Asia Times: "As state security forces across the region cracked down on democratic dissent, the Pentagon also repeatedly dispatched American troops on training missions to allied militaries there. During more than 40 such operations with names like Eager Lion and Friendship Two that sometimes lasted for weeks or months at a time, they taught Middle Eastern security forces the finer points of counter-insurgency, small unit tactics, intelligence gathering, and information operations skills crucial to defeating popular uprisings."

Venezuela: Con balance positivo culminó II Encuentro de Coordinadores de la Cátedra Libre África  12/15/2011 Legado Afro: "Los participantes coincidieron al señalar que el balance es muy positivo porque se alcanzó un buen número de metas y “las pocas que quedaron pendientes ya están en proceso de consecución”, afirmaron. En el marco de esta actividad también se presentó el proyecto del atlas etnográfico, que fue uno de los compromisos asumidos en mayo del año pasado en el Plan de Acción de la Cátedra Libre África, el cual contempla la realización de una amplia investigación en la que están trabajando de manera conjunta todas las universidades que dictan esta cátedra."

Venezuela: Estudiar la africanidad es conocer el mundo afirma el Viceministro Reinaldo Bolívar  12/15/2011 Legado Afro: "Sostuvo el viceministro que el objetivo principal es lograr que la cátedra sobre la africanidad se institucionalice de manera permanente en la educación universitaria/ Este jueves será presentado el proyecto del atlas etnográfico, que es uno de los compromisos asumidos en mayo del año pasado en el Plan de Acción de la Cátedra Libre África ."

Breaking the taboo of sexual violence in Colombia  12/15/2011 Trust Law

Wednesday 12/14/2011

Century-old Afro-Brazilian religion under threat 12/14/2011 AP: "Although an estimated 400,000 Brazilians such as Cardoso follow the religion, they also continue to face prejudices that clash with the country's public image of racial and religious harmony. Intolerance and outright hostility against Umbanda, as well as Brazil's other major African-descended religion Candomble, have recently returned to the spotlight as religious-freedom activists denounce the demolition of a house known as Umbanda's birthplace. At the same time, the owner of another Umbanda temple in the same city, Sao Goncalo, across the bay from Rio, is fighting an eminent domain order to turn his house into a sports center."

Oswald, Marine Corps Intelligence, and the Assault on the State Department 12/14/2011 Peter Dale Scott

Tuesday 12/13/2011

Israeli Scholar Disputes Founding Myth 12/13/2011 Consortium News: "Sand, himself a European Jew born in 1946 to Holocaust survivors in Austria, argues that until little more than a century ago, Jews thought of themselves as Jews because they shared a common religion, not because they possessed a direct lineage to the ancient tribes of Israel."

Sunday 12/11/2011

Retos afrodescendientes tras cumbre de la Celac 12/11/2011 Aporrea: Por: Jesús Chucho García - "Como venimos discutiendo desde el año pasado,”no puede realizarse una conmemoración Bicentenaria con la exclusión de tres factores que fueron determinantes para lograr las independencias del yugo español: los africanos y sus descendientes, los indígenas y la significación histórica de Haití”. En más de 15 artículos de prensa y exposiciones académicas insistimos en esa necesidad de reconocimiento histórico. El movimiento social afrodescendientes a nivel nacional e internacional hizo lo que le correspondía en ese sentido: presionar a sus respectivos gobiernos para ese pronunciamiento bicentenario, lo cual se plasmó en las resoluciones del IV Encuentro Internacional Afrodescendientes y Transformaciones Revolucionarias, apoyado por el Gobierno Bolivariano, la Vicepresidencia de la Asamblea Nacional y la Cancillería venezolana, realizado en la ciudad de Caracas el pasado mes de junio con la finalidad de lograr un reconocimiento en la Cumbre de la Celac."

Friday 12/9/2011

Investigación Exhaustiva a los Procesos de Consulta Previa del Gobierno Pide El Proceso de Comunidad 12/9/2011 Renacientes PCN: "El Proceso de Comunidades Negras en Colombia (PCN) pidió al Procurador General de la Nación que investigue todos los llamados procesos de consulta previa conducidos por el gobierno para la aprobación de la Ley de Victimas y el Decreto Ley par alas victimas Afro-descendientes, así como el del Plan Nacional de Desarrollo 2010-2014. La demanda de la organización llega después que un sinnúmero de Consejos Comunitarios y organizaciones congregadas en La Mesa Afrocolombiana, criticaran severamente estos procesos por ser excluyentes, discriminatorios y llenos de irregularidades. El PCN insiste en su comunicación, también dirigida a la Oficina de Asuntos Afrodecendientes y de Minorías, que lo que el gobierno ha presentado como consulta previa, viola el derecho de los Afrodescendientes a la consulta y consentimiento previo, libre e informado y los principios y protocolos de participación regulados por la Convenio 169 de la OIT y las sentencias de la Corte Constitucional C-891/2002 y C-080/2008."

Wednesday 12/7/2011

USAID and Colombia Launch Historic Program to Support Afro-descendant and Indigenous Communities 12/7/2011 USAID: "The program seeks to guarantee human rights, improve governance, provide job skills training and increase awareness and respect of cultural diversity. USAID is investing $61 million dollars into the program that will be implemented in coordination with the Colombian government at the national, departmental and local levels. Traditional authorities of indigenous groups and Afro-descendant organizations will also participate in leadership roles."

Thursday 12/1/2011

El capítulo peruano de la injerencia israelí en América Latina. 12/1/2011 Descubriendo Verdades: "El derechista gobierno del Perú acaba de realizar un cuestionable acto de acercamiento hacia Israel, luego de la reciente visita del canciller sionista, Avigdor Lieberman, a ese país, el pasado 27 de Julio de 2009. Dentro de las negociaciones secretas entre el Ministro de Relaciones de Israel con el presidente peruano Allan García y su Ministro de Defensa, Rafael Rey, estuvo la aprobación por el Ministerio de Defensa sionista para que Global CST, empresa pantalla del Mossad, penetrara abiertamente en la nación andina con vistas a fortalecer el aparato militar y los servicios de espionaje del Perú, entrenar a las FF AA en la lucha antisubversiva y en la creación de una sofisticada red de inteligencia electrónica. Con la justificación de adiestrar al ejército peruano para combatir el narcotráfico y el terrorismo, se dio a conocer el pasado 8 de noviembre que el gobierno de Perú había contratado, a un costo de 9 millones de USD anuales, los servicios de Global CST, la empresa israelí dedicada al entrenamiento a varios ejércitos latinoamericanos en técnicas de lucha anti subversiva y espionaje."

Wednesday 11/23/2011

Educadores Afro Venezolanos realizaron jornada de intercambio con comunidades Afrodescendientes de Mississippi, USA 11/23/2011 Aporrea: "El pasado fin de semana se llevó a cabo en la ciudad de Jackson, Mississippi el foro “Los Afrodescendientes y la Revolución Bolivariana”con la participación del rector Gerónimo Sánchez de la Universidad Territorial Argelia Laya ubicada en Barlovento, estado Miranda y el dirigente del movimiento social afro venezolano Alexis Machado. Esta actividad fue organizada por The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement y the Ward 2 People’s Assembly of Jackson."

Tuesday 11/22/2011

Afro-Colombian Victims Ignored in Development of Victims’ Law 11/22/2011 Afro-Colombian News: "Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signed Law 1448, better known as the Victims and Land Restitution Law, on June 10, 2011. The law offers a historic opportunity to provide reparations to more than four million victims of the internal armed conflict in Colombia, and the United States has expressed its support by pledging considerable financial and technical support for its implementation. However, if the law fails to include the perspectives of the victims themselves, Law 1448 will deepen the structural disadvantages and obstacles confronting the very people that it intends to help."

Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network Calls for Inclusion of Afro-Colombian Issues in Victims' Law 11/22/2011 TransAfrica

Monday 11/21/2011

The Doomsday Project and Deep Events: JFK, Watergate, Iran-Contra, and 9/11 11/21/2011 Asia Pacific Journal

The Doomsday Project and Deep Events: JFK, Watergate, Iran-Contra, and 9/11 11/21/2011 Peter Dale Scott: "My point is a simple and important one: to show that the Doomsday Project of the 1980s, and the earlier emergency planning that developed into it, have played a role in the background of all the deep events I shall discuss. More significantly, it has been a factor behind all three of the disturbing events that now threaten American democracy. The first of these three is what has been called the conversion of our economy into a plutonomy – with the increasing separation of America into two classes, into the haves and the have-nots, the one percent and the 99 percent. The second is America’s increasing militarization, and above all its inclination, which has become more and more routine and predictable, to wage or provoke wars in remote regions of the globe. It is clear that the operations of this American war machine have served the one percent.2 The third – my subject today -- is the important and increasingly deleterious impact on American history of structural deep events: mysterious events, like the JFK assassination, the Watergate break-in, or 9/11, which violate the American social structure, have a major impact on American society, repeatedly involve law-breaking or violence, and in many cases proceed from an unknown dark force."

Sunday 11/20/2011

ACSN Urges the Santos Administration to investigate paramilitary activity and protect the Afro-Colombian communities in Cacarica Chocó 11/20/2011 CRLN: "The Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network (ACSN)* is concerned for the safety of Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities in the Cacarica river basin. The Community for Self-Determination, Life and Dignity of Cacarica (CAVIDA) warns that paramilitaries are mobilizing in nearby towns including Carmen del Darién, Turbo, Apartadó and Chigorodó in order to secure territorial, economic and social control over the civilian population. The presence of illegal armed groups, including the guerrillas and paramilitary groups that did not disarm or give up territorial control of the strategic Darien/Lower Atrato area put the lives of communities at risk. Information provided to CAVIDA indicates that the villages of Vijao and El Limón, and the Humanitarian Zone of Nueva Vida may be targeted."

José Prudencio Padilla: El gigante sacrificado 11/20/2011 El Universal, Colombia: "Hemos escuchado hipnotizados por tanta maravilla informativa y reveladora a la historiadora Aline Helg, de la Universidad de Ginebra (sin duda la que más conoce de manera abrumadora sobre la vida de Padilla), las hazañas y las pequeñeces humanas que perturbaron a este gigante y lo llevaron de manera atroz al sacrificio. Cartagena que puso el mayor número de muertos en la Independencia (los mártires fueron cerca o más de 6 mil cartageneros), no se pronunció sobre la ejecución de Padilla… ¿Por qué los cartageneros no levantaron su voz para defender a Padilla? ¿Por qué el Caribe colombiano se quedó enmudecido ante semejante injusticia que se estaba cometiendo con él? Allí está la gran pregunta que se formula y responde la historiadora Aline Helg, quien afirma que desde los inicios de la guerra contra España, Bolívar estaba obsesionado y prevenido de la repercusión que tendría el poder de los pardos y su impacto en las sociedades de Venezuela y en la Costa, hasta el punto de una repetición de Haití."

Friday 11/18/2011

Three prisoners die in hunger strike related incidents CDCR withholds information from family members, fails to report deaths 11/18/2011 SF Bay View

Saturday 11/12/2011

Apparent 19th-century slave cemetery uncovered on former cotton plantation in Florida 11/12/2011 Art Daily: "The word emotional almost seems not powerful enough," said Johnetta Cole, director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art and a descendant of the Kingsley family. "I wept. This is not ordinary; this is not an everyday experience."

Wednesday 11/9/2011

The AFL-CIO’s Covert Ops in Venezuela - The Corrupting Influence of the NED 11/9/2011 Counterpunch: "It is not publicly known what the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center – which receives nearly all of its funding from federal grants ($28 million out of its total annual budget of $30 million), including from such sources as the NED, the U.S. State Department and the USAID – is currently doing in Venezuela."

Saturday 10/22/2011

Continúan las conversaciones entre Evo Morales y delegación indígena 10/22/2011 CubaDebate: "El presidente de Bolivia, Evo Morales continúa este sábado la reunión con una delegación de indígenas sobre la paralización de la construcción de una carretera que atravesaría el parque natural Tipnis. El encuentro se realiza desde temprano en la mañana en el Palacio de Gobierno con el objetivo de hallar soluciones a las demandas de los nativos."

Friday 10/14/2011

Shamai Leibowitz, a moral giant 10/14/2011 Mondoweiss: "Shamai Leibowitz is a 40-year-old lawyer, clearly intelligent, a family man with 2 small children. Something he heard coming out of the Israeli embassy must have clearly frightened him to the point where he had felt he had to act, despite the risk to himself and his family. So far, Shamai Leibowitz, who is still in federal custody, is declining to comment about the case. His right to move on with his life must be respected. But that does not mean we cannot salute him, and add him prominently to the long list of people who over the decades of conflict in the Middle East have put humanity first."

Why I Published US Intelligence Secrets About Israel's Anti-Iran Campaign 10/14/2011 Truth Out: "The material published included references to Israeli diplomats briefing President-elect Obama on Operation Cast Lead while the war was being prosecuted, presumably in an effort to persuade him of the importance of continuing it, despite the pressure the incoming president was under to speak out against it. They revealed private, late-night meetings between the Israeli ambassador and a key Obama operative at which they presumably discussed how and whether the war would end in relation to the president-elect's upcoming inauguration. Note that the war ended on January 18, and Obama was inaugurated on January 20. I'm certain this was no accident, but rather a carefully choreographed deal between the two sides. Obama never criticized the war publicly. Now we know why."

Thursday 10/13/2011

Una historia que se oculta: el genocidio negro en Argentina 10/13/2011 Agaton

Wednesday 10/5/2011

Canada’s Dirty Banks 10/5/2011 Dean Henderson: "Royal Bank of Canada has more off-shore subsidiaries than any other bank in the world. It bailed out the government of Guyana in 1976 after a CIA coup brought down the socialist government of Cheddi Jagan. Royal launched the business career of Venezuela’s most powerful Cisneros family, which overseas Rockefeller interests in that country. It has a joint venture in the Bahamas with National Westminster called RoyWest. Both the Bank of Nova Scotia and Royal Bank of Canada are controlled by Canada’s most influential family – the Bronfmans. The Bronfmans control DuPont, which spun off Conoco, as well as Seagrams, Vivendi and Eagle Star Insurance. Eagle Star is the Bronfman holding company and a joint venture with British powerhouses Barclays, Lloyds, Hill Samuel and N. M. Rothschild & Sons. Eagle Star combined with Allianz Versicherung – a German company controlled by the von Thurn and Taxis and Wittelsbach families – to become a global financial titan."

Sunday 9/25/2011

Entrevista con Aline Helg: "Hay una nueva conciencia de lo afro entre la gente del Caribe y del Pacífico" 9/25/2011 Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango: "La historiadora suiza Aline Helg está de visita en el país. Antes de emprender un viaje por el Caribe Colombiano con la Expedición Padilla, la autora pasó por la Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango para el lanzamiento de su libro "Libertad e igualdad en el Caribe colombiano 1770-1835", editado en español por el Banco de la República y la Universidad Eafit. En su libro, Helg examina cómo durante los primeros años de la República, cuando se configuró la identidad nacional, se ‘invisibilizó’ a las comunidades afrocaribeñas."

Friday 9/23/2011

Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network Calls for Protection of Afro-Colombian Communities in Cacarica, Choco 9/23/2011 TransAfrica: "The Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network (ACSN)* is concerned for the safety of Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities in the Cacarica river basin. The Community for Self-Determination, Life and Dignity of Cacarica (CAVIDA) warns that paramilitaries are mobilizing in nearby towns including Carmen del Darién, Turbo, Apartadó and Chigorodó in order to secure territorial, economic and social control over the civilian population."

Thursday 9/22/2011

Africa: up for grabs - the scale and impact of land grabbing for agrofuels 9/22/2011 Friends of the Earth Africa And Friends of the Earth Europe: "Research carried out by Friends of the Earth Europe, Center for Environmental Development/Friends of the Earth Cameroon (CED/FoEC), Friends of the Earth Sierra Leone, Friends of the Earth Ghana, Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Friends of the Earth Togo, Yonge Nawe – FoE Swaziland, FoE Mauritius – MAUDESCO, Citizens for Justice (CFJ) Malawi, Community Training and Development Trust Zimbabwe and the NRDC/ZEGA Training Trust Zambia."

Understanding Land Investment Deals in Africa 9/22/2011 Oakland Institute: multiple studies for each country

Wednesday 9/21/2011

World Bank Policies "enabling" African Land Grab 9/21/2011 Bretton Woods Project: "New research accuses the World Bank Group's policies of facilitating land grabs in Africa and favouring the interests of financial markets over food security and environmental protection. Agriculture and the food crisis are a high-profile agenda topic at the upcoming World Bank annual meetings, and critical voices are growing on the Bank's approach to food price volatility (see Update 77, 76). Recent in-depth research by the US-based Oakland Institute raises further difficult questions on agriculture policy for Bank officials. The report implicates the World Bank Group (WBG) in the increasing acquisition of farmland in the developing world by private investors and wealthy nations, which critics are calling a global 'land grab' (see Update 76, 72, 71, 68). The investigative research, published between March and June, analyses a series of land deals in countries across Africa and finds that the purchases of land, often by large institutional investors, are mainly unregulated, produce few of the promised benefits to local people, and instead are forcing thousands of small farming communities off ancestral land, creating serious food insecurity and driving environmental destruction."

Sunday 9/18/2011

Pedophile Rings & Cocaine Cartels: The Black Network Linked To BCCI  9/18/2011 mindbodypolitic.com

Shell espionage firm opens spy nest in New York  9/18/2011 Royal Dutch Shell plc .com: "A Hakluyt operative, a serving German secret service agent working on a freelance basis, also carried out an elaborate operation in Nigeria directed against friends of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the activist leader hanged by the corrupt Nigerian regime armed by Shell."

Fuelling Fear: displacement in Colombia  9/18/2011 War on Want: "The land seizures taking place in Colombia for biofuel cultivation are not happening in a vacuum. They are directly linked to the increasing global demand for 'green' alternatives to petroleum and a reduction in carbon emissions that harm the environment. In addition to its use as an alternative energy source, palm oil and related products are also used in margarine, crisps, pastries, detergents, soap and toothpaste."

Murders spark palm oil alert  9/18/2011 War on Want: "According to the report, Colombia's armed forces are colluding with right-wing paramilitaries killing hundreds of Afro-Colombians and displacing thousands more to facilitate plantations of palm oil, which originated in Africa. It is claimed that as much as 70 per cent of the population of Nariño's western mountain range in south-west Colombia has been forced off its land as paramilitaries capitalise on biofuels as the alternative to petroleum-based energy. The National Federation of Oil Palm Producers cites Britain as the largest importer of Colombian palm oil, with the UK buying 48.5 per cent of the country's exports."

Friday 9/16/2011

Paris ban on Muslim street prayers comes into effect 9/16/2011 BBC: "A ban on saying prayers in the street, a practice by French Muslims unable to find space in mosques, has come into effect in the capital, Paris. Interior Minister Claude Gueant has offered believers the use of a disused fire brigade barracks instead. The phenomenon of street prayers, which see Muslims spreading mats on footpaths, became a political issue after far right protests."

Thursday 9/15/2011

Tapping the Israeli Embassy 9/15/2011 American Conservative: "What the FBI uncovered was a massive and highly focused campaign referred to by the Israelis as “perception management,” but which the CIA would refer to as a covert action. Much of the activity was illegal or incompatible with the role of foreign diplomats in the United States, which is why Leibowitz took action after his supervisors refused to proceed with prosecution. The focus was on Iran, with Israeli officials intent on preparing the American public for war against the mullahs."

Palm Oil Fuels Land Grabs in Africa 9/15/2011 Pambazuka News: "By next year 'palm oil is forecast to be the world's most produced and internationally traded edible oil.' But as foreign investors descend on Africa to develop large-scale palm oil plantations, the survival of local people is being threatened as they lose control of the land and water on which they depend for their food production and livelihoods, warns Joan Baxter."

Wednesday 9/14/2011

Herakles Farms Releases Environmental & Social Impact Assessment, Launches Social Infrastructure Program 9/14/2011 Heracles Capital

Tuesday 9/13/2011

Palm oil, poverty, and conservation collide in Cameroon 9/13/2011 Mongabay: "The world's most productive oil seed has been a boon to southeast Asian economies, but the looming arrival of industrial plantations in Africa is raising fears that some of the same detriments that have plagued leading producers Malaysia and Indonesia—deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, conflicts with local people, social displacement, and poor working conditions—could befall one of the world’s most destitute regions."

Monday 9/12/2011

The Bin Laden Cover-Up: Pentagon Scrubs Documents to Hide Truth About Tracking bin Laden  9/12/2011 Alternet: "However, Iron Man, whose unit also developed original intelligence on al-Qaeda targets, which determined that the "most likely buildings to be attacked in the U.S." were the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, claimed JFIC was told to stop tracking Bin Laden, suspected al-Qaeda terrorists, and members of the Taliban some months prior to 9/11."

Ex-FBI interrogator 'gagged' over 9/11 backstory  9/12/2011 BBC: "When the 9/11 attacks occurred, he was in Yemen investigating the bombing of the USS Cole. The day after the attacks, he met a CIA officer at the US embassy in Yemen. The officer passed him an envelope. Inside was a report detailing links between people Mr Soufan had been investigating for the warship bombing and two of the hijackers - who had been living in the US for months. Former FBI investigator Mr Soufan says that written requests for this kind of information had been made three times before without any result. "I think it was probably the worst feeling I have ever experienced in my life," he told the BBC in an interview. "It was a combination of frustration, anger, sadness, betrayal. The only thing I recall is I left the office, went across the hall to the bathroom and I just threw up."

A Huge Oil Palm Plantation Puts African Rainforest at Risk  9/12/2011 Environment 360: "Given the environmental importance of the site of the proposed Herakles plantation, conservationists are asking, why there? Considering that Africa has more than 400 million hectares of degraded forest land available for development, why not choose an area where the forest is already gone? “Given the versatility of oil palm and so much degraded, deforested land across the tropics, surely there are better places to make this kind of investment,” said Nigel Sizer, director of the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Global Forests Initiative, who met with Herakles officials to express his concerns."

A Huge Oil Palm Plantation Puts African Rainforest at Risk  9/12/2011 environment360: "Bruce Wrobel, president & CEO of Herakles Capital, said, “There isn’t a question of it going forward, more of what the exact [total] area will be.” But more than 80 conservation and civil society organizations are opposing the project in its current form, hoping that their opposition will scare away the investors that Herakles needs to fund its project. “The challenge Herakles now faces is where to raise the $300 million or more to implement the plan,” said WRI’s Sizer. “Many potential investors will shy away from a project that involves reputational risks from forest loss and complicated negotiations with local communities.”"

Sunday 9/11/2011

Court Pleadings Point to CIA Role in Alleged “Cartel” Immunity Deal 9/11/2011 NarcoNews: "The fingerprints of the CIA have surfaced in a controversial federal criminal case pending in Chicago against Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla, an alleged kingpin in the Sinaloa “drug cartel.” ...“That is a very reasonable conclusion [that the CIA is likely involved in this case in some way],” says a former federal agent familiar with national security procedures. “Seeking CIPA protection, yup, there is hot stuff to hide.” Zambada Niebla, extradited to the US in February 2010 and now facing narco-trafficking charges in federal court in Chicago, claims in pleadings in his case that the US government entered into a pact with the leadership of the Mexican Sinaloa narco-trafficking organization that supposedly provide its chief narcos with immunity in exchange for them providing US authorities with information that could be used to target other narco-trafficking organizations."

Thursday 9/8/2011

Colombian Music Festival Keeps Afro-Colombian Culture Alive 9/8/2011 Upside Down World: "Afro-Colombian communities are some of the most susceptible to displacement. Their traditional homelands are often located in remote mountainous regions, which act as ideal hiding places for armed groups fighting over natural resources and drug-trafficking routes. The massive displacement numbers have worried Afro-Colombian leaders who fear they are losing their traditional culture. Together with her band, 'Bongo De Bojaya', Noency traveled to the fifteenth Petronio Alverez music festival in Cali, Southern Colombia. The festival brings together Afro-Colombian communities from across the country, who come to dance, sing and celebrate their unique culture."

Wednesday 9/7/2011

The Sweet Deal With ‘El Narco’ 9/7/2011 Counterpunch

Tuesday 9/6/2011

The Ethnic Cleansing of Historically Black Colleges & Universities in the Age of Obama, Part 1 of 3 9/6/2011 Black Agenda Report: "Despite the long and loud verbal commitment of the Black Misleadership class to HBCUs, the deference and dependence of black leadership to corporate ethics and on corporate donations has caused them to endorse policies that are effectively phasing out HBCUs. Within a generation we may see the end of historically black institutions of higher learning."

Monday 9/5/2011

Texas Blacks advise looking at the real Rick Perry  9/5/2011 Florida Courier

Leak Offers Look at Efforts by U.S. to Spy on Israel  9/5/2011 NYT: "Now the reason for the extraordinary secrecy surrounding the Obama administration’s first prosecution for leaking information to the news media seems clear: Mr. Leibowitz, a contract Hebrew translator, passed on secret transcripts of conversations caught on F.B.I. wiretaps of the Israeli Embassy in Washington. Those overheard by the eavesdroppers included American supporters of Israel and at least one member of Congress, according to the blogger, Richard Silverstein."

Leak Offers Look at Efforts by U.S. to Spy on Israel  9/5/2011 NYT: Now the reason for the extraordinary secrecy surrounding the Obama administration’s first prosecution for leaking information to the news media seems clear: Mr. Leibowitz, a contract Hebrew translator, passed on secret transcripts of conversations caught on F.B.I. wiretaps of the Israeli Embassy in Washington. Those overheard by the eavesdroppers included American supporters of Israel and at least one member of Congress, according to the blogger, Richard Silverstein.

WikiLeaks: Grace told Gono, Mugabe was old and senile  9/5/2011 Zimbabwe Mail: "PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is “out of it about 75 percent of the time”, his wife, Grace, told Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono, according to leaked United States embassy cables. With a strong hint that Mugabe, 87, was now senile, his wife is alleged to have confided in Gono that she wanted him to quit."

Friday 9/2/2011

You Only Believe the Official 9/11 Story Because You Don't Know the Official 9/11 Story  9/2/2011 Global Research: "Why were the NORAD rules changed for the first time several weeks prior to 9/11, taking responsibility/authority for shooting down hijacked lanes away from NORAD military command for the first time in its history, and given to a civilian, Donald Rumsfeld, and then returned to NORAD the day after 9/11? "

Wikileaks Cablegate Search Tool Reveals U.S. Interest In Hip-Hop As International Political Tool  9/2/2011 Grand Good

Classified Belgian police report on Nebula receives another look  9/2/2011 Wayne Madsen Report: "The ATLAS Report also identified who the Belgian police believed was a kingpin of Nebula. It is also noteworthy how Costa Rica is identified as a major nexus for the worldwide network. The information about Russian-Israeli Mafia control of Costa Rica has been verified by recent information obtained by WMR from Costa Rican sources. The ATLAS Report states: "We have been informed about a person who appears to be one of the mysterious top leaders in several countries, (including ours). This person is portrayed as being the ‘éminence grise’, the de facto director of most of the big multinational companies whose structures are being used to launder large amounts of capital. This person is: PRZEDBORSKI, Felix, born 12 December 1930, ‘stateless’, husband to Helène KRYGIER, formerly living in TERVUREN."

Wednesday 8/31/2011

The International: Oil, Drugs, Guns & Kissinger Associates 8/31/2011 Dean Henderson

Tuesday 8/30/2011

“Negro es un color, la afrodescendencia es una cultura” 8/30/2011 YVKE: "Una de las preguntas que plantea el Censo 2011 y que ha sido vapuleada por la oposición, por considerar que viola la privacidad de los venezolanos, está referida a la consideración étnica de la persona. A todos los planteamiento de estos sectores, Elías El Juri, presidente del Instituto Nacional de Estadística, ha reiterado que la pregunta busca evaluar la situación de los diferentes grupos étnicos de la nación, como datos estadísticos que permitirán tomar decisiones acertadas para todos los venezolanos y que se hacen en casi todo el mundo. Además, agrega, la ONU ha aprobado el cuestionario que se aplicará para el Censo."

Thursday 8/25/2011

Hacia una política de Estado para la economía social y las cooperativas venezolanas 8/25/2011 ALAI: "El presente documento se refiere a la Economía Social (ES), particularmente a sus organizaciones (OESs) y entre ellas a las cooperativas. Tiene como objetivo promover un debate público sobre la importancia y vigencia de la Economía Social y las cooperativas, y la perentoria necesidad de redefinir a fondo las orientaciones y ejecutorias de las políticas públicas implementadas en la última década acerca de ellas con la corresponsable participación de diversos actores, y pretende inscribirse en una discusión a todas luces necesarias acerca de un nuevo modelo de desarrollo para el país que asuma la cooperación intersectorial con participación plena de los interesados como eje de acción a partir de la interrogante: ¿Qué hacer con las OESs en los próximos años?"

Finalizo la 1° Cumbre Mundial de Afrodescendientes - Honduras 2011 8/25/2011 UAFRO - Universitarios, Investigadores y Técnicos Afro-Uruguayos: "Al cierre de la ceremonia de clausura, el presidente de la Organización de Desarrollo Etnico (Odeco) de Honduras, Celeo Alvarez, dio a conocer que la Segunda Cumbre de Afrodescendientes se realizará en la Universidad de Alcalá, en España, el 2014."

Wednesday 8/24/2011

The Evangelicals Engaged In Spiritual Warfare 8/24/2011 NPR: "An emerging Christian movement that seeks to take dominion over politics, business and culture in preparation for the end times and the return of Jesus, is becoming more of a presence in American politics. The leaders are considered apostles and prophets, gifted by God for this role... The "mountains" are arts and entertainment; business; family; government; media; religion; and education.... "They teach quite literally that these 'mountains' have fallen under the control of demonic influences in society," says Tabachnick. "And therefore, they must reclaim them for God in order to bring about the kingdom of God on Earth. ... The apostles teach what's called 'strategic level spiritual warfare' [because they believe that the] reason why there is sin and corruption and poverty on the Earth is because the Earth is controlled by a hierarchy of demons under the authority of Satan. So they teach not just evangelizing souls one by one, as we're accustomed to hearing about. They teach that they will go into a geographic region or a people group and conduct spiritual-warfare activities in order to remove the demons from the entire population."

Siva Group in Cameroon $1.9 bln palm oil deal 8/24/2011 Reuters: "Biopalm Energy, a subsidiary of Singapore’s Siva group will on Wednesday launch a 900 billion CFA Francs palm oil investment project in the south of Cameroon, an official of the country’s agriculture ministry said on Tuesday. The 200,000 hectares greenfield project will be jointly developed with the Central African nation’s National Investment Corporation, the official said, requesting not to be named."

Thursday 8/18/2011

About the Koch Brothers 8/18/2011 Common Cause: "Common Cause has raised questions about the Kochs’ ties to Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, who according to Koch Industries have been “featured” guests at twice-annual political fundraising and strategy sessions sponsored by the company. In late January, we sponsored a public forum, “Uncloaking the Kochs” in conjunction with one of the Koch meetings in Southern California to spotlight their pursuit of an agenda that advances their private interests at the expense of the public interest. Common Cause also has asked the Department of Justice to investigate whether Justices Scalia and Thomas have participated in Koch-sponsored events and if so whether their participation should have triggered their recusal when the court considered the landmark campaign finance case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Koch Industries was a major beneficiary of the court’s decision in that case, which overturned longstanding regulations limiting corporate spending around elections."

Wednesday 8/17/2011

Clarke Accuses CIA of Hiding Key Pre-9/11 Intel Tenet and 9/11: a Real Cover-Up? 8/17/2011 Counterpunch

Thursday 8/11/2011

An Explosive New 9/11 Charge 8/11/2011 Daily Beast: "With the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks only a month away, former CIA Director George Tenet and two former top aides are fighting back hard against allegations that they engaged in a massive cover-up in 2000 and 2001 to hide intelligence from the White House and the FBI that might have prevented the attacks. The source of the explosive, unproved allegations is a man who once considered Tenet a close friend: former White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, who makes the charges against Tenet and the CIA in an interview for a radio documentary timed to the 10th anniversary next month. Portions of the Clarke interview were made available to The Daily Beast by the producers of the documentary."

Color Revolutions: Washington Funds Venezuela's "Made in the USA Opposition" $20 million in 2012 for anti-Chavez groups 8/11/2011 Global Research

Wednesday 8/10/2011

The Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network (ACSN) strongly denounces the following security incidents that have taken place in Afro-Colombian communities since July 8/10/2011 TransAfrica

Monday 8/8/2011

Mujahideen-e Khalq: Former U.S. Officials Make Millions Advocating For Terrorist Organization  8/8/2011 Huffington Post

Mujahideen-e Khalq: Former U.S. Officials Make Millions Advocating For Terrorist Organization  8/8/2011 Huffington Post

Brazil: Guard post for uncontacted Indians over-run by “drug traffickers”  8/8/2011 Survival International: "The Brazilian guard post protecting the uncontacted Indians who were filmed from the air earlier this year has been over-run by heavily-armed men, suspected to be drug-traffickers. It has been ransacked and vital equipment destroyed. Fears are now mounting for the welfare of the Indians after workers from FUNAI (the government’s Indian Affairs Department) found one of the traffickers’ rucksacks with a broken arrow inside. A rapid survey by government officials has shown no trace of the Indians, who made worldwide headlines in February."

Saturday 8/6/2011

Jungle villagers continue defiance 8/6/2011 Scotsman: "Locals are demanding that a small part of the 400,000 hectares bought a decade ago by Korean Reverend Sun Myung Moon, who leads the Unification Church, better known as the Moonies, be handed over to the town for people to grow subsistence crops and rear cattle."

Wednesday 8/3/2011

"Yo lo que se de Catalina Loango..."; Orality & Gender in the Caribbean 8/3/2011 Yamila Bauzá

Wednesday 7/27/2011

Play Democracy, Hide the Corpses - Business as Usual in Colombia  7/27/2011 Counterpunch: "Not a week goes in Colombia without reports of assassinations and persecution of labor and political activists. Ana Fabricia Cordoba, gender activist and leader of displaced peasants, was shot dead on June 7th inside a street bus, after she foretold her own death due to constant threats and abuses against her family[1]; Manuel Antonio Garces, community leader, afro-descendent activist and candidate for local office in southwestern Colombia received on July 18th a disturbing warning that read "we told you to drop the campaign, next time we'll blow it in your house" next to an inactive hand grenade[2]; Keyla Berrios, leader of Displaced Women's League was murdered last July 22nd , after continuous intimidation of her organization and threats on behalf of death squads linked to Colombian authorities[3], a fact so publicly known after hundreds of former congressman, police and military personnel are either jailed or investigated for colluding with Paramilitaries to steal elections, murder and disappear dissidents, forcefully displace peasants and defraud public treasury, in a criminal network that extends all the way up to former president Alvaro Uribe and his closest aides[4]. The official explanation to these crimes is also well known; Bacrim, an acronym which stands for "Criminal Gangs", a term created from the Colombia establishment including its omnipresent corporate media apparatus to depoliticize the constant violence unleashed against union leaders, peasants and community activists, Human Rights defenders or anyone humane enough to point at the extremely unequal and unjust structures of power and wealth which rely heavily on repression. However, no matter how much effort is put into misleading public opinion about the nature of this violence, the crimes are so systematic and their effects always turning out for the benefit of the elite that a simple class analysis debunks the façade of these "gangs" supposedly acting on their own, and expose the mutual benefit relation between armed thugs and political power in Colombia, an acute representation of present-day fascism in Latinamerica."

Still Drowning in Debt - Jamaica Restructured  7/27/2011 Counterpunch

The NY Times' Ostrich Act on the JFK Assassination Getting Old  7/27/2011 How What Why: "Take the paper’s coverage of former Washington Post reporter and author Jefferson Morley’s ongoing research on Oswald, which again points toward Oswald not being a “leftist sympathizer” or Communist agent at all. The Times article, generally sympathetic toward Morley, actually began with the following disclaimer, which essentially contradicted the article’s thrust: “Is the Central Intelligence Agency covering up some dark secret about the assassination of John F. Kennedy? Probably not.”

Sunday 7/24/2011

Who Rules America? An Investment Manager Breaks Down the Economic Top 1%, Says 0.1% Controls Political and Legislative Process 7/24/2011 Global Research

Wednesday 7/20/2011

New Abuses of Afro-Colombians’ Legal Rights under Santos Administration 7/20/2011 ACSN: "Violence and intimidation tactics continue to undermine the legal framework that defends the rights of Afro-Colombians. Despite possessing collective land rights to more than 5.2 million hectares of land, Afro- Colombians are disproportionately affected by forced displacement. Democratically elected Afro- Colombian Community Councils were created with the purpose of governing the collective territories and playing an important role in defending the right to previous, free, and informed consultation and consent. However, paramilitary groups that collude with large-scale economic projects violently expel Afro- Colombian communities from their collective lands. ACSN has repeatedly denounced various expressions of violence against Afro-Colombian communities and leaders."

New Abuses of Afro-Colombians’ Legal Rights under Santos Administration 7/20/2011 WOLA: "Violence and intimidation tactics continue to undermine the legal framework that defends the rights of Afro-Colombians. Despite possessing collective land rights to more than 5.2 million hectares of land, Afro-Colombians are disproportionately affected by forced displacement. Democratically elected Afro-Colombian Community Councils were created with the purpose of governing the collective territories and playing an important role in defending the right to previous, free, and informed consultation and consent. However, paramilitary groups that collude with large-scale economic projects violently expel Afro-Colombian communities from their collective lands. ACSN has repeatedly denounced various expressions of violence against Afro-Colombian communities and leaders. Despite domestic and international awareness of the systematic destruction of Afro-Colombian communities’ rights, the threats and violence continue."

Monday 7/18/2011

Nuevas Amenazas para Líderes del PCN y al Representante Legal del Consejo Comunitario de La Toma. 7/18/2011 Renacientes PCN: "El Equipo de Derechos Humanos del Proceso de Comunidades Negras en Colombia PCN y las demás organizaciones sociales y de derechos humanos firmantes denuncian ante la comunidad nacional e internacional los siguientes hechos que ponen en grave riesgo la vida e integridad física de los miembros del PCN y los derechos las comunidades."

Sunday 7/17/2011

Bolivia confrontada a globalización del narcotráfico y aumento de extranjeros en esta actividad criminal  7/17/2011 Contrainjerencia: "El gobierno de Evo Morales expresó hoy su preocupación por la “globalización del narcotráfico” y el aumento de extranjeros en esta actividad ilícita, luego de desarticularse a una banda de “narcosicarios”, compuesta en su mayoría por peruanos, y la destrucción de 70 pequeñas fábricas de droga en el departamento de Santa Cruz."

Organismo internacional prepara demanda contra El Salvador por masacre de 966 personas  7/17/2011 Contrainjerencia: "El Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional (Cejil) informó este jueves que prepara la demanda contra El Salvador por la masacre de El Mozote ocurrida hace casi 30 años, caso que se ventilará en la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos después de que el Estado salvadoreño incumpliera las recomendaciones de la instancia inmediatamente inferior, la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH)."

New Book Recounts Tale of Israeli Agent at Home in Hollywood  7/17/2011 NYT: [Milchan is listed in IMDb as executive producer of Oliver Stone's JFK.] "Mr. Milchan supervised government-backed accounts and front companies that financed “the special needs of the entirety of Israel’s intelligence operations outside the country.” The “special needs” serviced by Mr. Milchan, who is now 66 years old, included buying components to build and maintain Israel’s nuclear arsenal. But with the indictment in 1985 of Richard Kelly Smyth, an aerospace executive who had made illegal shipments of nuclear triggers through Milchan companies, Mr. Milchan unexpectedly found his arms-dealing in the news even as he was wrangling with Universal Pictures over the near collapse of a movie, “Brazil,” directed by Terry Gilliam."

Herakles lands $350 mln Cameroon palm oil deal  7/17/2011 Reuters: "New York-based agricultural company Herakles Farms will develop some 60,000 hectares of oil palm plantations in Cameroon's south-west region, project manager Delilah Rothenberg told Reuters in an interview. "We are developing approximately 60,000 hectares of oil palm plantation, and expect the total capital costs to be about $350 million, to be invested over several years," she said of the result of a land lease deal signed with the government… She added Herakles was adhering to industry standards on sustainability and that the project would create some 9,000 local jobs."

Court tells State Dept. to reconsider terrorist label for Iran opposition group  7/17/2011 WaPo: "A federal appeals court Friday ordered the State Department to review its decision to label an Iranian opposition group as a foreign terrorist organization, strongly suggesting the designation should be revoked… The People's Mujaheddin Organization of Iran, also known as Mujaheddin-e Khalq (MEK), has for years fought its designation as a foreign terrorist organization, contending that it was only labeled as such by the Clinton administration in 1997 to curry favor with the Iranian government, which views the group as a threat. The 22-page ruling said the group's due process protections were violated because the State Department did not give it a chance to rebut unclassified information used to justify the designation."

Friday 7/15/2011

Jim Crow Resurrected in Florida 7/15/2011 Counterpunch: "The real issue however is the suppression of black votes. The limits on voter registration (the signatures collected by those registering to vote in Florida must now be turned in within 48 hours) greatly impacts the ability to sign up new voters and is aimed directly at poor minorities and college students. Is it not enough that Florida, under Rick Scott, changed the amount of time that those who committed felonies (mostly on minor drug charges) are now required to wait five years instead of three before their civil and therefore voting rights can be reinstated?"

Saturday 7/9/2011

Mafia's toxic dumping 'increases cancer rates' 7/9/2011 Independent

US Investors want a 72,000 hectare palm oil plantation in the middle of the rainforest 7/9/2011 Intercontinental Cry: "Conservation groups are on a last-minute run to stop one of the world's largest private equity firms, the Blackstone Group, from getting a brand new 72,000 hectare palm oil plantation in the middle of the rainforest. Naturefund, Rettet den Regenwald, Rainforest Foundation UK SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund and other groups warn that plans are already underway to clear out the biologically-rich rainforest in Southwest Cameroon."

Friday 7/8/2011

Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) Factsheet 7/8/2011 NIAC - Washington insights for the Iranian-American community: "In a matter of weeks, a terrorist group known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) may succeed in getting removed from the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations — not as a result of any change of heart — but as a result of an unprecedented and possibly illegal multi-million dollar media and lobbying blitz. Iranian Americans know the truth about the MEK, but high-priced public relations and lobbying firms are hard at work trying to whitewash the MEK’s violent and disturbing record. And while they’ve been remarkably successful, they can’t completely escape the truth. So, for the record, here are the facts about the MEK (you can find this and more at www.mekterror.com):"

Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) Factsheet 7/8/2011 NIAC Insight: "1.The greatest beneficiaries of delisting MEK would be Ahmadinejad and Iranian hardliners who seek to link the U.S. and the Green Movement to MEK. 2.U.S. support for MEK would be used as a propaganda tool by hardliners to delegitimize and destroy Iran’s true democracy movement. 3.American credibility among the Iranian people would be ruined if the U.S. supported this group."

Monday 7/4/2011

La verdad sobre el constante apoyo de Israel a las dictaduras en Argentina y Latinoamérica 7/4/2011 Contrainjerencia: "A fines de abril pasado se publicaron varios comentarios sobre la aparición del libro “Operación Israel: el rearme argentino durante dictadura (1976-1983)” del argentino Hernán Dobry. Allí se documenta que Tel Aviv vendió al general Leopoldo F. Galtieri material bélico durante el conflicto por Malvinas."

Thursday 6/30/2011

Stop Blackstone Deforestation in Cameroon  6/30/2011 African Conservation Foundation: "The rainforests of the Gulf of Guinea in Cameroon and Nigeria are a biodiversity hotspot. They are among the most biologically rich forests in the world and harbor many plant and animal species found nowhere else on this planet. They are also highly threatened. In the middle of this network of forests a palm oil plantation is planned. Over 70,000 hectares (270 sq. miles) of land currently covered by a mosaic of mature, dense forest, agroforest, farmland, and human settlements will be transformed into a monoculture of oil palms. This will be an environmental disaster for the rainforests in Cameroon; even worse than the planned highway trough the Serengeti. The oil palm plantation will further fragment this unique landscape, restricting the natural movements of many animal species."

The new African land grab  6/30/2011 Al Jazeera: "The "town" chief of the village seemed to be in a state of shock. Sitting on the front porch of his mud and thatch home in Pujehun District in southern Sierra Leone, he struggled to find words that could explain how he had signed away the land that sustained his family and his community. He said he was coerced by his Paramount Chief, told that whether he agreed, or not, his land would still be taken and his small oil palm stand destroyed. He didn't know the name of the foreign investor nor did he know that it planned to lease up to 35,000 hectares of farmland in the area to establish massive oil palm and rubber plantations."

Why South Africa's academic boycott of Ben Gurion University took hold  6/30/2011 Pambazuka News

Monday 6/27/2011

Stop the Palm Oil Plantation in Cameroon 6/27/2011 Care2 Petition Site: "The permit for the plantation was given without agreement from the 38 small villages (45,000 people) and factual landowners. Their estates would become confiscated."

Sunday 6/26/2011

Afro-Descendants Forum in Caracas (Haiti Comm. and Solidarity Fund Established) 6/26/2011 HCV Analysis

Friday 6/24/2011

What's Really Going On at the Israeli Institute for Biological Research? - Exposing Israel's Most Dangerous Secret 6/24/2011 Counterpunch: "Mossad obtained some of these special chocolates, coated them with a slow-acting poison, and had them delivered to Haddad, who was then living in Baghdad, by an Iraqi official who was a Mossad agent and who had struck up a friendship with Haddad. Klein relates that the deadly substance was first developed in the IIBR and that its slow-acting and undetectable properties ensured that the agent and the instrument of death would not be discovered. And indeed, following a gradual but severe deterioration in his health, Haddad was flown to a hospital in East Germany where he was diagnosed with leukaemia and eventually died on 28 March 1978. It was not until 32 years later that the truth came to light: that the real cause of death was a poison produced by IIBR. It is not unlikely that Mossad conducted many assassination operations in this way, so as not to leave its fingerprints. In other words, the seemingly accidental deaths of many individuals that Israel regarded as a threat may have actually been caused by substances produced by IIBR. Most likely, the poison that Mossad agents injected into Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai in February 2010 came from IIBR."

Thursday 6/23/2011

The Pentagon and Slave Labor in U.S. Prisons  6/23/2011 Global Research: "Prisoners earning 23 cents an hour in U.S. federal prisons are manufacturing high-tech electronic components for Patriot Advanced Capability 3 missiles, launchers for TOW (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided) anti-tank missiles, and other guided missile systems."

Why is there a Media Blackout on Nuclear Incident at Fort Calhoun in Nebraska?  6/23/2011 Global Research: "According a recent report on the People’sVoice website, The Ft. Calhoun plant — which stores its fuel rods at ground level according to Tom Burnett – is now partly submerged and Missouri River levels are expected to rise further before the summer if finished, local reports in and around the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant suggest that the waters are expected to rise at least 5 more feet. Burnett states, “Ft. Calhoun is the designated spent fuel storage facility for the entire state of Nebraska…and maybe for more than one state. Calhoun stores its spent fuel in ground-level pools which are underwater anyway – but they are open at the top. When the Missouri river pours in there, it’s going to make Fukushima look like an X-Ray.”

African Descendants Ask CELAC to Recognize their Contributions to Nationalities  6/23/2011 Granma Daily: "Venezuelan Vice-president Elías Jaua called to break all the structural obstacles that generate exclusion and racial discrimination. Jaua made this call Wednesday during the closing session of the 4th Encounter of African Descendants and Revolutionary Transformations held at the Alba Caracas Hotel that was attended by 600 delegates from the Americas and Africa."

Wednesday 6/22/2011

Culmina en Venezuela IV Foro de Afrodescendientes 6/22/2011 PL: "Los principales puntos de análisis fueron: Retos y oportunidades para el afrodescendiente en el movimiento laboral nacional e internacional, Educación y diversidad, Discriminación racial, Deuda social, Aportes del pensamiento africano para la emancipación de los pueblos y La lucha contra la invisibilidad estadística."

Tuesday 6/21/2011

Consejo Nacional profundizará en la erradicación de la discriminación en el mundo  6/21/2011 AVN: "La erradicación de la discriminación racial y la inclusión de las comunidades afrodescendientes serán los principales objetivos del futuro Consejo Nacional de Comunidades de Afrodescendientes. La propuesta se incluirá en el documento final que surgirá del IV Encuentro de Afrodescendientes y las Transformaciones Revolucionarias en América Latina y El Caribe. El embajador de Venezuela en la República de Angola, Jesús Chucho García, explicó en su intervención en el programa Toda Venezuela, transmitido por VTV, que este consejo establecerá el vínculo entre los países, de manera que se articulen las políticas y estrategias planteadas con relación a la inclusión de la población afrodescendiente y la erradicación de la pobreza."

Istúriz: Valores de la afrodescendencia e interculturalidad serán un principio educativo  6/21/2011 AVN: "En los pensa de estudio y textos escolares se incluirán los valores de la afrodescendencia y sobre todo la interculturalidad como un principio educativo, expresó el primer vicepresidente de la Asamblea Nacional (AN), Aristóbulo Istúriz."

Propuestas vanguardistas surgirán de foro de Afrodescendencia  6/21/2011 AVN: "Piedad Córdoba, colombiana defensora de los derechos humanos, enfatizó este martes que del Cuarto foro de afrodescendientes, que se lleva a cabo en el hotel Alba Caracas, surgirán propuestas vanguardistas, como elevar el racismo a delito de lesa humanidad, las cuales promoverán el respeto y la igualdad de condiciones del ser humano. Destacó que en la sesión de este martes más de 40 ponentes disertaron sobre la importancia y las dificultades históricas de las personas afrodescendientes, y resaltó la alta participación ciudadana en el foro."

Aristóbulo Istúriz: Debe pagarse deuda social con afrodescendientes  6/21/2011 Globovision: "El diputado Aristóbulo Istúriz, quien participó en la IV Foro de Afrodescendientes, señaló en el evento que en las sociedades latinoamericanas existe la necesidad de pagar la deuda social que se tiene con los afrodescendientes e indígenas. Una de las acciones a tomar, según el diputado, es hacer una comisión que haga seguimiento a las ayudas que se le dan a Haití, para comprobar que no vayan acompañadas a un irrespeto a la soberanía de Haití."

Afro -Venezuelans Call for Multilateralism  6/21/2011 Granma Daily: "We now have an opportunity to use the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) as a springboard for the launching of Unasur and other regional mechanisms aimed at achieving equality, Colombian social activist Piedad Cordova told Prensa Latina. According to the former senator, social processes seeking change and integration in the region must be broadened in order to overcome such evils as racial discrimination and poverty."

Piedad Córdoba: Movimientos sociales son pilares del cambio  6/21/2011 PL: "PL: ¿América Latina y el Caribe están a las puertas del nacimiento de una comunidad genuinamente regional, cómo se inserta ese acontecimiento? Nota del redactor: El 5 y 6 de julio próximo, Venezuela acogerá la cumbre fundacional de la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (Celac). Córdoba. La situación de los afrodescendientes y de la mayoría de los sectores en la región demanda la formulación de nuevos instrumentos de multilateralismo. Es decir, Naciones Unidas va quedando relegada y la OEA prácticamente desaparece. En ese contexto, emergen bloques como la Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (ALBA), la Unasur y ahora la Celac, que tiene que ser un espacio para generar las diplomacias de la igualdad y la inclusión."

Venezuela: Foro de Afrodescendencia une voces por la inclusión  6/21/2011 PL: "El IV Foro Internacional de Afrodescendientes, cuya segunda jornada se celebra hoy en Venezuela, ha unido a voces de numerosos países del mundo a favor de la inclusión de los sectores discriminados."

Afroderecha busca excluir y desconocer a sus hermanos afrosdescendientes  6/21/2011 RNV: "La Afroderecha no es más que una expresión del Departamento de Estado y el imperialismo con algunos sectores que han sido cooptado por el neoliberalismo, en función de excluir y desconocer a sus hermanos afro. Observamos que ha pasado en África, Estados Unidos y en muchos países de América Latina". Indicó este martes Filinto Durán, vocero del comité organizador del IV Encuentro de Afrodescendientes y las Transformaciones Revolucionarias en América y el Caribe, en un contacto telefónico al programa "En Contacto", transmitido por el Canal Informativo de Radio Nacional de Venezuela."

Más de 600 delegados celebran el IV Encuentro de Afrodescendientes en Caracas  6/21/2011 Telesur: "Más de 600 delegados nacionales e internacionales participan desde el pasado domingo en el IV Encuentro de Afrodescendientes y las Transformaciones Revolucionarias en América Latina y El Caribe que se realiza en la capital de Venezuela. El evento culminará este miércoles con la Declaración de Caracas que será enviada a la Comunidad de Estados de Latinoamericana y El Caribe (Celac), que se constituirá formalmente el próximo 5 de julio, para su consideración."

Monday 6/20/2011

Alexis Machado "Todo lo malo lo asocian con lo negro"  6/20/2011 Aporrea: con video - "Dentro del marco del IV Foro Internacional de la Afrodescendencia, celebrado en el Hotel Alba en Caracas, desde el día de ayer 18 hasta el 22 de junio, realizamos una entrevista a Alexis Machado, creador del grupo afrodescendiente Elegguá, en Tapipa, Edo. Miranda. Además de ser el productor, Alexis es el prolífico autor de las canciones del repertorio de Elegguá, agrupación que cuenta con innumerables cantos del acontecer venezolano, tanto en lo político como en lo social. Elegguá es un grupo conformado por mujeres de la zona de Tapipa, estado Miranda y han realizado muchas giras internacionales llevando la voz de Venezuela en sus cantos de trabajo, parrandas, folías y otras manifestaciones del canto tradicional con elementos incorporados, propios de la creatividad del grupo."

Indigenas y Afrodescendientes  6/20/2011 Aporrea: Por: Saul Rivas Rivas - "Ponencia para presentarla en las temáticas Afrodescendencia, Educación y Diversidad. Y Afrodescendencia en las perspectivas de los 200 años de las Independencias. Encuentro Internacional de los Afrodescendientes. 19 al 22 de junio de 2011"

Afrodescendientes promueven en Venezuela el multilateralismo  6/20/2011 Prensa Latina: "Delegados de Argentina, Brasil, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Estados Unidos, Ghana, Martinica, Perú, Puerto Rico, San Vicente y las Granadinas, Trinidad y Tobago y los anfitriones venezolanos debatieron en paneles sobre el aporte de los bloques regionales a la construcción de un mundo multipolar."

Sunday 6/19/2011

Designan comisión por Haití en Encuentro de Afrodescendientes  6/19/2011 AVN: "Durante la inauguración del IV Encuentro de Afrodescendientes, que se llevó a cabo este domingo en Caracas, el primer vicepresidente de la Asamblea Nacional (AN), diputado Aristóbulo Istúriz, anunció la designación de una comisión especial que buscará atender las necesidades de la población de Haití. “Comenzando el evento queremos designar una comisión permanente de afrodescendientes revolucionarios por Haití”, expresó el parlamentario. En este sentido, manifestó que la comitiva estará conformada por personalidades defensoras de los derechos de la comunidad afrodescendiente, entre los que destacó a la ex senadora colombiana Piedad Córdoba, a la vocera de la Red de Organizaciones Afrovenezolanas (ROA), Norma Romero, y al embajador de Venezuela en Angola, Jesús García."

Durante tres días se realizará en Caracas Foro de la Afrodescendencia dedicado a Haití  6/19/2011 AVN: "El encuentro se incluye dentro de las celebraciones por el Bicentenario de la Firma del Acta de la Independencia de Venezuela, el 5 de julio, fecha en la que se tiene previsto la conformación de la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y del Caribe (CELAC), organismo de integración y unidad de las regiones al sur del Río Bravo, sin la presencia de Estados Unidos ni Canadá."

Presentarán conclusiones de Encuentro de Afrodescendientes ante la Celac  6/19/2011 AVN: "Las conclusiones del IV Encuentro de Afrodescendientes, que comenzó este domingo en Caracas, serán enviadas a Comunidad de Estados de Latinoamérica y El Caribe (Celac) para su consideración dentro del organismo, que se constituirá formalmente el próximo 5 de julio. “Este IV Encuentro de Afrodescendientes y las Transformaciones Revolucionarias en América Latina y El Caribe se hizo para que los y las afrodescendientes seamos incluidos en los planes de la Celac”, manifestó este domingo el primer vicepresidente de la Asamblea Nacional (AN), Aristóbulo Istúriz, durante la inauguración del referido encuentro en el hotel Alba Caracas, en la capital."

Venezuela inaugura el Foro de la Afrodescendencia dedicado a Haití  6/19/2011 EFE: ""Este evento lo dedicamos a Haití y vamos a designar una comisión permanente que le haga seguimiento a las promesas que se hicieron con Haití y hay mucha gente que no ha cumplido y es necesario velar porque esas promesas se cumplan", dijo el diputado oficialista y primer vicepresidente del Parlamento, Aristóbulo Istúriz. El legislador denunció, además, que "mucha gente dice que va a ayudar a Haití violándole la soberanía como pueblo".

Inaugurado en Caracas IV Foro internacional de Afrodescendientes  6/19/2011 Prensa Latina: "En el plano interno mencionó que a nivel nacional está pendiente la adhesión de organizaciones afrovenezolanas al Gran Polo Patriótico, donde confluirán partidos y movimientos a favor de la revolución en desarrollo en este país suramericano."

Toma cultural abre en Venezuela foro sobre afrodescendencia  6/19/2011 Prensa Latina: "De acuerdo con el integrante del Colectivo de Jóvenes Afrodescendientes de Venezuela, el encuentro que se inicia esta noche con la participación de delegados de Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia, Ecuador, Estados Unidos, Perú y naciones africanas, entre otras, representa además la oportunidad de rescatar tradiciones."

Foro de Afrodescendencia promoverá actividades educativas y públicas  6/19/2011 RNV: "La defensora de los Derechos Humanos en Colombia, Piedad Córdoba, informó este domingo que en toda Latinoamérica hay más de 180 millones de afrodescendientes, por lo que agradeció a Venezuela la iniciativa de promover políticas de inclusión a este grupo de personas."

Friday 6/17/2011

Anuncian evento sobre afrodescendientes en Venezuela 6/17/2011 Prensa Latina: "Venezuela será escenario la próxima semana de una cita convocada por el presidente Hugo Chávez, para debatir el tema de la discriminación racial en el contexto del Año Internacional de los Afrodescendientes. La noticia fue proporcionada a Prensa Latina por el director general del Instituto Cubano de Investigaciones Culturales Juan Marinello, Fernando Martínez, en el seminario "Cuba y los pueblos afrodescendientes en América" que culmina hoy en la sede de ese centro académico en esta capital tras cinco días de intensos debates."

Wednesday 6/15/2011

Bombshell: Bin Laden worked for US till 9/11 6/15/2011 Daily Kos: published 7/09

Herakles Farms Develops Sustainable Palm Oil Plantations in Cameroon & Ghana 6/15/2011 Heracles Capital

Monday 6/13/2011

SADC leaders increase pressure on Mugabe 6/13/2011 PANA: "The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) has urged Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to make democratic reforms ahead of scheduled elections. A communique issued on Sunday night, after a summit of the community in Johannesburg, also called for the speeding up of the constitution-making process leading to elections. Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) negotiator, Elton Mangoma, said the government had until August - when the next SADC meeting will be held - to implement the Global Political Agreement in full."

Sunday 6/12/2011

Former Cop and Drug Warrior: Why I Turned Against the Drug War 6/12/2011 Alternet: "Over the past 40 years, we’ve spent a trillion dollars prosecuting the drug war. We’ve jailed tens of millions of Americans for nonviolent offenses, ruined countless young lives, turned neighborhoods into armed battlegrounds, done major damage to the Bill of Rights, destabilized the political and economic policies of foreign countries, and tacitly granted commercial and regulatory monopolies to traffickers from Afghanistan to Jamaica, L.A. to New York. U.S. drug policy is the proximate cause of 37,000 deaths in Mexico alone since 2006."

Friday 6/10/2011

US Plans to grab Venezuela's oil 6/10/2011 VoltaireNet

Wednesday 6/8/2011

Death of a Black Panther 6/8/2011 Counterpunch: "Geronimo Ji-Jaga, affectionately known as G by friends/family or Geronimo by revolutionaries around globe, died in Arusha, Tanzania this past Friday. His death marks yet another loss of a committed social justice activist of an era that is gradually fading from our collective memory."

Tuesday 6/7/2011

Palm oil plantation 'threatens Cameroon rainforest' 6/7/2011 Ethical Consumer: "German campaign group Rettet Den Regenvald have reported that Herakles Capital was planning a 72,000 hectare palm oil plantation in the rainforest of Cameroon. It argued that: "the forest and the animal and plant species living there would be destroyed forever. The people would also lose their land and livelihoods."

Wednesday 6/1/2011

U.S. to boycott global racism conference over anti-Semitic history 6/1/2011 CNN

Tuesday 5/31/2011

The Egyptian Revolution in Identity Crisis 5/31/2011 Counterpunch: "Protestors in Cairo’s notorious Tora prison, after being sentenced to heavy terms for continuing street protests demanding prosecution of the Mubarak family, were pleased to find that Gamel and Alaa, Mubarak’s sons, had joined them in jail. They were less pleased to find that, although one of their main demands had been met, they were not being freed."

Monday 5/30/2011

Startling revelations from a Swiss banking insider 5/30/2011 Nachrichten Heute: "Several secret services from abroad, mostly English speaking, gave orders to fund illegal acts, even the killing of people thru Swiss banks. We had to pay on the instructions of foreign powers for the killing of persons who did not follow the orders of Bilderberg or the IMF or the World Bank for example."

Thursday 5/26/2011

Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network Condemns Ongoing Human Rights Abuses in Colombia 5/26/2011 WOLA: "On May 22, clashes between FARC and military forces broke out in Bete, Palo Blanco and Mercedes in the Middle Atrato, Choco, Colombia. The violence led to the killing of three civilians and wounding of three civilians as well as the retention and isolation of over two hundred members of the community. This most recent attack comes on the heels of a larger humanitarian crisis impacting more than thirty thousand Afro-Colombian and Indigenous civilians confined throughout the Middle Atrato."

Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network Condemns Ongoing Human Rights Abuses in Colombia 5/26/2011 WOLA: "This level of ongoing violence and abuse in Colombia is unacceptable especially at a time when the Obama Administration has announced that it plans to move forward with the FTA ."

Friday 5/20/2011

Strauss-Kahn Screws Africa 5/20/2011 Greg Palast: "Since taking over the IMF in 2007, erstwhile "Socialist" Strauss-Kahn has tightened the screws in an attempt to maintain the free-market finance mania that ruined this planet in the first place. [That's worth a story in itself – and that's coming. Our team has a stack of inside documents from the IMF that we will be releasing in my new book in the Fall.] DSK's lawyers say the relationship with the housekeeper was "consensual." But DSK says that about all IMF agreements with nations over whom it holds life and death powers. That's like saying a bank robbery is consensual so long as you don't consider the gun."

Thursday 5/19/2011

How Fox News Uses "Big, Scary Hip-Hop" to Race-Bait Its Viewers 5/19/2011 Truth Out

Wednesday 5/18/2011

The Frivolous Attacks on Obama and Common . 5/18/2011 Black Voice News

Monday 5/9/2011

WikiLeaks: U.S. saw Israeli firm's rise in Latin America as a threat 5/9/2011 McClatchy: "A security company led by the former head of operations for the Israeli military made such inroads into Latin America a few years ago that U.S. diplomats saw it as a security risk and moved to thwart the company's expansion, U.S. diplomatic cables show. The diplomats' efforts were made easier when an interpreter for the Israeli firm, Global CST, was caught peddling classified Colombian Defense Ministry documents to Marxist guerrillas seeking to topple the state, one cable said."

Saturday 5/7/2011

Cameroon: Palm Oil Project Threatens People and the Rainforest 5/7/2011 Rainforest Rescue: "Please participate in our protest and write to the Minister of Environment and the Minister of Forests of Cameroon. We are collecting signatures and will be presenting them to the Cameroon Embassy in Berlin."

Thursday 5/5/2011

Re-demobilized Colombian paramilitaries to sign Free Trade Agreement with U.S. 5/5/2011 Pulse: "When we reached the center of Barichara, the campesinos veered toward the church and my mom and I bought a copy of the day’s El Espectador, which contained a report on the WikiLeaks release of cables from the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá confirming awareness of complaints that palm oil producers had contracted paramilitaries to illegally displace Afro-Colombian communities from their land in the department of Chocó. Of course, the palm oil-paramilitary team-up was already publicized in the mainstream media years ago, as was Uribe’s role in promoting the crop as a biofuel."

Sunday 5/1/2011

Alexander Cockburn and Noam Chomsky vs. JFK: A Study in Misinformation 5/1/2011 Real History Archives

Afro-Colombians Under Attack 5/1/2011 Solidarity: "Like 90% of the population of the Chocó region, the people of Bojayá are descendents of Africans who were brought as slaves to Colombia and who worked on extractive industries of mining, forest resources and fishing. Since manumission in 1851 Afro-Colombians have been incorporated into the Colombian nation through systems of racial hierarchies and structural racism that have materially marginalized and legally silenced them. Today, the Afro-Colombian population has some of the worst social indicators in Colombia, demonstrating extreme disparities between Afro-Colombians and the rest of the population. For instance, the annual per capita income of Afro-Colombians is between U.S. $500-$600, while the national average is $1500. Additionally 74% of the Afro-Colombian population makes less than minimum wage. These disparities are reflected in both health and education indicators as well. For Afro-Colombians infant mortality is 10-50% higher than the national average and life expectancy is 10-30% lower. Illiteracy is 43% for Afro-Colombians in rural areas while it is 23% for other rural populations."

Saturday 4/30/2011

El racismo de Globovisión hace que los Afro descendientes Venezolanos se unan para protestar 4/30/2011 Aporrea: "En este sentido, vemos con preocupación la embestida mediática de los últimos días, esencialmente un video transmitido por el canal Globovisión (y re-transmitido el día viernes 04 y lunes 07 del presente mes por Venezolana de Televisión en el programa Dando y Dando), donde se evidencia un mensaje de alto significado racista; allí se burlan de la presencia de héroes y heroínas como La Negra Matea, Hipólita, Pedro Camejo y José Leonardo Chirinos, entre otros. Cabe destacar que en el video se comete la violación de otros derechos, por el uso de imágenes de niñas y niños en un colegio, que independientemente de contar con consentimiento de sus padres, madres o representantes (si fuese el caso) fueron utilizadas para transmitir un mensaje racista, lo que agrava la culpa."

Friday 4/29/2011

Afro-Venezuelans and the Struggle Against Racism 4/29/2011 Venezuela Analysis: By Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the United States - " An estimated 100,000 enslaved Africans were brought to Venezuela between the 16th and 19th centuries. Most were sold to the central coastal states, which operated an agricultural economy based in coffee and cacao. Abolition occurred in 1854, but freedom did not bring equality. Racism continued to flourish in Venezuela throughout most of the 20th century, and African heritage was denied through an emphasis on racial mixing. The mestizo, born of European, Indigenous, and African blood, became a cornerstone of national identity. In this scheme, Blackness was devalued to such an extent that state policies sought to "whiten" the population through European immigration."

Thursday 4/28/2011

Convicted RFK assassin says girl manipulated him 4/28/2011 AP: "I thought that I was at the range more than I was actually shooting at any person, let alone Bobby Kennedy," Sirhan was quoted as saying during interviews with Daniel Brown, a Harvard University professor and expert in trauma memory and hypnosis. He interviewed Sirhan for 60 hours with and without hypnosis, according to the legal brief… Brown was hired by Sirhan's lawyer William F. Pepper."

Marine radiation monitoring blocked by Japanese government 4/28/2011 Greenpeace

Monday 4/25/2011

Malcolm X: Who was the man behind the legend? 4/25/2011 Al Jazeera: "Rising from petty criminal to Islamic convert to black power hero, Malcolm X's legendary status has remained untouchable. JOIN THE DEBATE Send us your views and get your voice on the air Until now: With the publication of a warts and all biography that disturbs the widely accepted story of the Muslim leader's life, including controversial insights to his political contradictions and sexual deviations. Some critics have condemned the book as a twisted biography, others say it is a timely reassessment of African-American history. On Monday's Riz Khan, we were joined by the book's leading researcher, Zaheer Ali, by Jared Ball, a professor of communication studies at Morgan State University, and by journalist and historian Todd Burroughs."

Sunday 4/24/2011

Palmeros y el fantasma paramilita 4/24/2011 El Espectador: "El conflicto por la propiedad de la tierra en las regiones de Curvaradó y Jiguamiandó y la extensión de cultivos de palma africana en estos territorios del Chocó, constituye uno de los dilemas más significativos para la sociedad colombiana en el contexto de la lucha por los derechos humanos. La prueba de ello es que entre 2007 y 2009, al menos en once ocasiones la Embajada de Estados Unidos en Colombia remitió cables diplomáticos a Washington detallando este problema y dejando ver las dificultades para solucionarlo por la polarización de sus protagonistas." [Links to wikileaks cables]

Friday 4/22/2011

Rebellion in the Brazilian Amazon 4/22/2011 Counterpunch: "It all started with something very small, just like in Tunisia, the way all great social events begin. It was a fight involving a worker and a bus driver, on the afternoon of March 15, at the camp where thousands of laborers from the poorest regions of Brazil are building one of the largest hydroelectric dams in the country, a gigantic project on the Madeira River that will cost ten billion dollars. Soon after the fight, in which the laborer was beaten, hundreds of workers began to set fire to the buses that take them from their barracks to the worksite. Some sources mention 45 buses and another 15 vehicles burned, but others raise the toll of buses burned to 80, in just a few minutes. The offices of the construction firm, Camargo Correa,[1] also burned, along with half the workers' dormitories and at least three bank ATMs."

9/11 Responders To Be Warned They Will Be Screened By FBI's Terrorism Watch List 4/22/2011 Huffington Post: "The tens of thousands of cops, firefighters, construction workers and others who survived the worst terrorist assault in U.S. history and risked their lives in its wake will soon be informed that their names must be run through the FBI’s terrorism watch list, according to a letter obtained by HuffPost. Any of the responders who are not compared to the database of suspected terrorists would be barred from getting treatment for the numerous, worsening ailments that the James Zadroga 9/11 Health And Compensation Law was passed to address… The provision was added in an amendment by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) during the heated debate over the bill in the House Energy and Commerce Committee last May."

Thursday 4/21/2011

Autora vincula nazis del Tercer Reich refugiados en España con la realidad neofascista en la Península 4/21/2011 Contrainjerencia: "Recuerda que un día vio en un periódico la foto de un matrimonio nazi -los ancianos que vivían y que seguramente viven medio escondidos en la Costa del Sol-, y tanto se impresionó que “de pronto la novela se disparó: estos personajes pasaron a la novela”. “Son los nazis que vinieron a refugiarse en España al calor del franquismo y que no se sabe por qué -o eso habría que explicarlo- han seguido viviendo aquí en la etapa democrática sin que a nadie le moleste”, destacó la escritora."

Venezuelan duo Chino & Nacho set to release new album called Supremo 4/21/2011 Examiner: "The band initially evolved from merengue hip-hop to a dance reggaeton rhythm but with a unique Venezuelan flow. With the arrival of their very successful hit “Niña Bonita” featured an original version and then adapted a U.S version which gained more international exposure. Why? They have featured popular musicians like Divino, Don Omar, R.K.M. & Ken-Y, Potro Alvarez & and Baroni."

Monday 4/18/2011

Tbilisi Says Summoned Israeli Diplomat over Global CST Abkhaz Visit 4/18/2011 Civil.ge: Does Ziv engage in a pattern of working with his client's enemies?

Friday 4/15/2011

A Death by Skin Cancer? The Bob Marley Story 4/15/2011 3/10/2013: "It’s been 30 years since his death; and there have many rumours and speculation about the cause of death. Did he really die from a brain tumor? Or other nefarious causes? Like the CIA? Poison in his boots etc? Bob Marley’s medical records were never made public. However from several sources I managed to piece together the story of his illness and death from Metastatic Skin Cancer (Melanoma). This account I hope is fair, balanced and enlightening."

Thursday 4/14/2011

The demise of the dollar  4/14/2011 Independent: by Robert Fisk, 10/09

Mohammed Atta & 'The Godfather' of Sarasota County  4/14/2011 Madcow Morning News: "David Lindsay Sr. was a top aide to a man repeatedly identified as the individual responsible for creating America’s first officially-sanctioned drug trafficking pipeline, General Claire Chennault of the famous Flying Tigers. In a book called “Sarasota: a history,” Jeff LaHurd writes, "David Lindsay Sr. served as a Major during World War II, and was stationed for two years with the Flying Tigers in China before commanding the Kunming Air Base, terminus of the "Hump" supply route from India." "

U.S. Groups Helped Nurture Arab Uprisings  4/14/2011 NYT: "A number of the groups and individuals directly involved in the revolts and reforms sweeping the region, including the April 6 Youth Movement in Egypt, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and grass-roots activists like Entsar Qadhi, a youth leader in Yemen, received training and financing from groups like the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute and Freedom House, a nonprofit human rights organization based in Washington, according to interviews in recent weeks and American diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks."

Wednesday 4/13/2011

U.S. scuppered Israeli security firm's South American plans 4/13/2011 Haaretz: "The American administration moved aggressively to curb activities by Maj. Gen. (res. ) Israel Ziv in Latin America between 2008 and 2010, threatening to cut ties with governments if they hire the services of Ziv's security company, Global CST, according to two diplomatic cables recently published by WikiLeaks."

“Paper Tiger”: Karl Evanzz’s Blistering Review of Manning Marable’s Malcolm X 4/13/2011 VoxUnion: "Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention is an abomination. It is a cavalcade of innuendo and logical fallacy, and is largely “reinvented” from previous works on the subject."

Tuesday 4/12/2011

Final Judgment 4/12/2011 America First Books

Afrodescendientes Al Fin reconocidos historicamente 4/12/2011 Aporrea

Friday 4/8/2011

Soldiers and Protesters Clash in Cairo 4/8/2011 AP

Monday 4/4/2011

Leading Marxist Manning Marable Dies – Once Wrote, Obama “Has Read Left Literature, Including My Works” 4/4/2011 Noisy Room

Saturday 4/2/2011

Año de la Afrodescendencia: Juramentada la Brigada Cubagua 2011 en Nueva Esparta 4/2/2011 Aporrea: "La Brigada tiene como objetivo principal en el marco de este Año Internacional de la Afrodescendencia, el conformar y operativizar grupos de trabajo constituidos por docentes y estudiantes del nivel de básica y media de la educación insular, que posibiliten la promoción y divulgación de los elementos de la cultura afrovenezolana y del proceso histórico afroinsular, la concientización del racismo y la exclusión, el auto reconocimiento étnico, la Declaración de Cubagua del 12 de enero en el marco de los 485 años de otorgarse la primera licencia hacia dicha isla, la cual marca el inicio de la diáspora sursahariana en nuestro país, planteándose para ta fin la realización de charlas, talleres, visitas de campo, jornadas, foros, clínicas, testimonios socializados, exposiciones e intercambios estudiantiles de recursos para el aprendizaje, actos culturales y recreativos así como diversas estrategias en planes, programas y proyectos educativos."

Friday 4/1/2011

Malcolm X biographer Manning Marable has died 4/1/2011 LA Times

Pro Gaddafi march expelled from Tahriri Sq, Cairo 4/1/2011 Youtube

Thursday 3/31/2011

Red de Organizaciones Afro-venezolanas rechaza agresión al pueblo Libio 3/31/2011 Aporrea: "Nosotras y nosotros descendientes de africanas y africanos en Venezuela haciendo honor a nuestra herencia cimarrona, rebelde, antiimperialista y revolucionaria expresamos nuestro más enérgico rechazo a la agresión militar que están perpetrando en el norte de nuestra madre África los ejércitos asesinos de Estados Unidos, Francia, Inglaterra, España y sus lacayos contra el hermano pueblo de Libia y su valiente gobierno encabezado por Muanmar Al Gadafi."

Thursday 3/24/2011

Nixon on Drugs – Part Two 3/24/2011 Watergate Exposed: "From 1968 on, Trafficante's Cubans were in effective control of the traffic in heroin and cocaine throughout the United States.[37] The Florida capo's only gangland partner of significance was the Cotroni family in Montreal. Trafficante carried out his business in a cool and collected manner. Never out of line with the national Syndicate, he enjoyed relative anonymity while other, less prominent gangsters wrote their names in history with blood. His organization was so airtight that when narcotics investigators finally realized how big a fish he was, they had to admit he was untouchable. The BNDD tried nabbing him in its 1969-70 Operation Eagle, then the most extensive action ever directed against a single narcotics network. The Bureau arrested over 120 traffickers, wholesalers, and pushers, but made no real dent. Within days, well-trained Cubans moved into the vacated slots.[38]"

Monday 3/21/2011

Apoyo de comerciantes venezolanos a los nazis durante II Guerra Mundial, reseñado en TVes  3/21/2011 Aporrea: "La reseña que anuncia el programa adelanta que “en la década de los 40 residían en Venezuela 292 miembros del Partido Nazi, quienes formaban parte de la policía secreta alemana. La serie aporta archivos que demuestran que Hitler estaba al tanto del petróleo existente en el país, así como registros de derechos e inversiones alemanas durante el gobierno de Juan Vicente Gómez. Crónicas Extraordinarias ofrece al respecto, una lista de los comerciantes de Puerto Cabello (Carabobo) que hacían aportes económicos a la cuenta del Partido Nazi”.

EEUU combate el “antiamericanismo” con perfiles falsos en Twitter y Facebook  3/21/2011 Aporrea: "De esta forma, el ejército de Estados Unidos contará con un programa que les permita invadir Facebook y Twitter con unos 500 perfiles falsos gestionados por 50 personas (espías) desde servidores alojados fuera del territorio norteamericano."

American Holocaust: When It’s All Over I’ll Still Be Indian  3/21/2011 Intercontinental Cry: "The powerful and hard-hitting documentary, American Holocaust, is quite possibly the only film that reveals the link between the Nazi holocaust, which claimed at least 6 million Jews, and the American Holocaust which claimed, according to conservative estimates, 19 million Indigenous People. It is seldom noted anywhere in fact, be it in textbooks or on the internet, that Hitler studied America's "Indian policy", and used it as a model for what he termed "the final solution." He wasn't the only one either. It's not explicitly mentioned in the film, but it's well known that members of the National Party government in South Africa studied "the American approach" before they introduced the system of racial apartheid, which lasted from 1948 to 1994. Other fascist regimes, for instance, in South and Central America, studied the same policy."

Wednesday 3/16/2011

The Invisible War Against Afro-Colombians 3/16/2011 Americas Quarterly: "This comes despite the de-escalation of Colombia’s three decade-long drug war. Still today armed militias are active and using terror tactics to expel Afro-Colombians from their ancestral territory. The reason is that the land is so valuable. It is considered among the richest in the world in terms of natural, exploitable resources, including oil, timber and minerals. Groups like the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) and Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), which can no longer generate enough income from drug trafficking and kidnapping, are turning to mining, both legal and illegal, along the Pacific Coast to finance weapons sales, according to President Juan Manuel Santos. With gold at near record levels, neo-paramilitary groups appear to be cashing in on this business as well."

Israel Ziv Talks About the Hamas in Gaza 3/16/2011 Metacafe: General Ziv holds forth on Hamas, in Hebrew, with subtitles.

Sunday 3/13/2011

Ex senadora Piedad Córdoba anuncia que trabajará en la producción de 12 programas para Telesur 3/13/2011 Aporrea

Egypt State Security Officials Named 3/13/2011 Nachrichten Heute: "When we stormed State Security Police headquarters in Nasr City, which hosted one of Mubarak’s largest torture facilities, on Saturday I found two DVDs in one of the offices, both titled [Arabic text omitted] The Agency Officers’ Archive. The DVDs included profile pictures of State Security officers, organized in folders. Each folder had the officers’ name. Some however did not have the names. There were also sub folders that included pictures of those officers in social events like weddings."

Saturday 3/12/2011

Red Afrodescendientes de Venezuela apuesta por el éxito de la CELAC 3/12/2011 Aporrea: "Reunidos en su sede del Centro de Estudios Integrales de Barlovento (Ceiba) de esa misma región en su población de San José del Estado Miranda, asi lo manifestó esta organización con sus siglas (RAV) y parte del Movimiento Afrovenezolano, quien viene visibilizando los aportes de los africanos y sus descendientes en la construcción de Venezuela luchando por su inclusión junto al gobierno bolivariano desde 1999-2011."

Friday 3/4/2011

Ex-Officials Say They Were Paid To Attend Pro-MEK Events 3/4/2011 Talking Points Memo

Thursday 3/3/2011

Full-face veils outlawed as France spells out controversial niqab ban 3/3/2011 Guardian: "Face veils will be outlawed virtually anywhere outside women's own homes, except when they are worshipping in a religious place or travelling as a passenger in a private car, although traffic police may stop them if they think they do not have a clear "field of vision" while driving. Women wearing niqab will be fined €150 (about £130) and be given a citizenship class to remind them of the republican values of secular France and gender equality. Any third party found to have coerced a woman into wearing the face covering, for example a husband or family member, risks a €30,000 fine and a year in prison."

Recension 4 étoiles d’un général 5 étoiles pour le livre de Peter Dale SCOTT « La route vers le Nouveau Désordre Mondial » 3/3/2011 ReOpen911.info

Thursday 2/24/2011

Hilllary appoints an alleged Israeil spy to replace Holbrooke 2/24/2011 Dick McManus

Wednesday 2/23/2011

Was the American Revolution Fought to Save Slavery? 2/23/2011 Counterpunch

Israel Ziv helps Colombia battle FARC 2/23/2011 Youtube: So helpful, they were caught selling info to the FARC in order to play both sides.

Tuesday 2/22/2011

Wikileaks Assange doesn't trust Venezuelan media … signs with Colombia 2/22/2011 Headline

Monday 2/21/2011

Davis was CIA's deputy station chief in Pakistan 2/21/2011 Asia One

Sunday 2/20/2011

Radical Separatism: Contours of the Conspiracy 2/20/2011 Strategic Culture: "The CIA, the US Defense Intelligence Agency, and DEA managed to build a separatist stronghold in Venezuela's Zulia state. For a long time, Zulia used to be run by Chavez's staunch opponent Manuel Rosales who routinely discussed with US ambassadors Brownfield and Shapiro bilateral deals between Zulia and the US, the theme to which Caracas explainably has a thin skin. Normally, the state is not entitled to independent foreign policies, though Brownfield admitted publicly that for him Zulia was “an independent republic” and openly urged the local elites to wrestle with Caracas over unrestricted autonomy."

Friday 2/18/2011

HBGary's high-volume astroturfing technology and the Feds who requested it  2/18/2011 Boing Boing: "This time, it's internal emails detailing the creation of "persona management" software to simplify the process of pretending to be several people at once online, in order simulate widespread support for a point of view -- astroturfing automation software. The software appears to have been developed in response to a federal government solicitation seeking automated tools for astroturfing message boards in foreign countries."

George Washington, Slave Holder  2/18/2011 Counterpunch: "Washington and his wife Martha were intent on keeping their human property and allowed none to flee without giving chase. A young woman named Oney fled from the Washingtons and successfully arrived in the state of New Hampshire. The Washingtons did not permit even one young woman to escape them without cost, attempting many ruses to get her back. Oney remained free, but in spite of the Washington's efforts to recapture and re-enslave her."

SYED ZAIDI: Raymond Davis, an American “Tweetie Bird”  2/18/2011 Veterans Today: "Duff and Gates noticed that a great many of the supposed aid projects that were claimed to be German were actually manned by Western and Israeli Jews. The Pakistanis couldn’t tell the difference, but these Americans obviously could. The private armies run by contractors such as Xe (the new name for Blackwater), it turns out, are under Zionist control. The effort to break up nuclear-armed Muslim Pakistan is most of all a Zionist project."

Wednesday 2/16/2011

Obama Administration’s Neocon Easter  2/16/2011 Boiling Frogs

FBI Translator Submitted Report Entitled "Kamikaze Pilots" 5 Months Before 9/11 Warning of Al Qaeda Attacks on U.S. Cities  2/16/2011 Global Research: "The Group Director on matters of national security in the U.S. Government Accountability Office said that President Bush did not respond to unprecedented warnings of the 9/11 disaster and conducted a massive cover-up instead of accepting responsibility."

Dershowitz to advise WikiLeaks founder's lawyers  2/16/2011 Jerusalem Post: "Law School professor and prominent political commentator Alan Dershowitz said on Tuesday that he will join WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's legal team."

Breaking News: Ray McGovern Brutalized & Left Bleeding by Hillary Clinton Police, “So this is America!”  2/16/2011 Sibel Edmond's Boiling Frogs: "My father was similarly brutalized by dictator regimes, and that was only the beginning, before it escalated to being tortured and having his toenails pulled out by the state police. Why? He was a doctor, a surgeon with an inquiring mind, and he spoke out whenever he could against dictatorships and for liberties. Participating in peaceful demonstrations, encouraging others to rise up for their rights, and reading authors such as Steinbeck (the American author black-listed there as ‘communist and anarchist’) landed him on the list of to-be-punished and pacified…"

Tuesday 2/15/2011

Hugo Chavez the Prime Target for the US Intelligence Community 2/15/2011 Strategic Culture: "The CIA operates a training camp in Florida where potential killers exercise. Banker Guillermo Zuloaga is the key figure in the plot – he opened a fund-rising campaign to collect money to pay the terrorists. Zuloaga fled to Miami when the Venezuelan administration opened a probe into his illicit financial transactions and his complicity in the assassination of prosecutor Anderson who launched a private investigation into the April, 2002 coup. According to Chavez, the would-be killers are promised $100m for the job – surprisingly little considering the net worth of Venezuela's oil and gas reserves."

A Marc Too Far 2/15/2011 The American Conservative: "Hillary Clinton has appointed Marc Grossman her special AfPak representative to replace Richard Holbrooke. Readers of TAC might well recall the Grossman saga as related by FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds. Per Edmonds, Grossman was involved in suspected illegal activity connected to the Turkish and Israeli governments and was under investigation by the FBI."

Saturday 2/12/2011

Live blog Feb 12 - Egypt protests 2/12/2011 Al Jazeera English: celebrating the resignation of Mubarak

Friday 2/11/2011

Live blog Feb 11 - Egypt protests 2/11/2011 Al Jazeera English: the resignation of Mubarak

Thursday 2/10/2011

Multiculturalism has failed, says French president 2/10/2011 AFP: "Of course we must all respect differences, but we do not want... a society where communities coexist side by side. "If you come to France, you accept to melt into a single community, which is the national community, and if you do not want to accept that, you cannot be welcome in France," the right-wing president said."

Wednesday 2/9/2011

WikiLeaks Backers ‘Anonymous’ to Be Probed by U.S. Grand Jury  2/9/2011 Bloomberg: "Among the evidence seized by the FBI during multistate raids on Jan. 27 was data taken from an individual who controls one of Anonymous’s primary servers, identified by the organization only by his cyber-handle ‘Owen,’ Brown said."

On the Streets of Cairo  2/9/2011 Counterpunch: "These be your gods, O Progressives! This is the man your champion had championed to "manage" the "transition" in Egypt from the dead hand of a discredited dictator to a backroom string-puller lacquered with a new coat of PR. Of course, when world of Suleiman's private temper tantrum leaked out, the Obama Administration began to backpedal on the firm support for Suleiman it had shown earlier in the day (which had come complete with a long phone call from Suleiman's long-time friend, Joe Biden). Now, the White House was troubled by these "unhelpful" remarks. Unhelpful indeed -- for they gave the game away too soon. Wrong-footed by this unforeseen outpouring of popular will, Washington has not been able to cobble together a proper storyline to justify a violent crackdown by the regime. The American power structure has been set reeling by something that is simply outside the boundaries of their mental universe: a non-violent, non-sectarian, non-ideological, leaderless revolution by ordinary people."

Israel enlists hackers for cyber attacks  2/9/2011 Press TV: "Speaking at a panel on the subject of "the digital medium as strategic weapon" in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, the Israeli military spokesman, Brigadier General Avi Benayahu, said the Israeli army was searching for 120 "hackers who were born and raised online," Ynet news reported. The Israeli spokesperson added that the military screens them with special care and trains them to serve Israel."

Peering through the shroud of global corruption: Hillary's "all hands" meeting and bribery and kickbacks  2/9/2011 Wayne Madsen Report: "Anonymous apparently includes members inside the U.S. government who have access to classified information and who are determined to break America's chains to Israel by exposing more classified information. The original access to classified networks by Anonymous members came as a result of the government hiring consultants to examine the possible penetration of classified Pentagon networks by foreign intelligence agencies. In fact, the actual source of the State Department cables seen as most damaging to the interests of the neocons and Zionists is described to WMR as "an anti-Zionist/neocon faction" operating inside the U.S. government. Wikileaks and Assange, on the other hand, have done their best to suppress the cables seen as most damaging to neocon and Israeli interests. The word on the street is that the world's "military-industrial-political" complex is worried about further releases of sensitive information and is bracing itself for a global rebellion when the true nature of the world's elites is revealed around the world. Anonymous has an ultimate target based on what it has managed to obtain from computers and networks around the world: the Council on Foreign Relations and the Rockefeller family."

Tuesday 2/8/2011

Egypt nears military coup. USS warships in Suez Canal 2/8/2011 Debka, Israel: "Although reforms and pay hikes have been pledged by the new Egyptian government, large groups of workers, mainly in Cairo, rebelled against state-appointed managements and set up "Revolutionary Committees" to run factories and other work places, including Egyptian state TV and Egypt's biggest weekly "Ros el-Yusuf."

Choquibtown afirma que Colombia es racista 2/8/2011 People: "El grupo afrocolombiano nominado al GRAMMY anglo como Mejor Álbum de Rock Alternativo de Latinoamérica denunció discriminación en su país; piden que no los llamen negros."

Monday 2/7/2011

An Interview with Egyptian Blogger "Sandmonkey" - More Than a Facebook Revolution  2/7/2011 Counterpunch

The Muslim Brotherhood and Democracy in Egypt  2/7/2011 Counterpunch: "Since the late 20th century, far from being advocates of religious extremism, the Muslim Brotherhood like other Islamically-oriented candidates and political parties in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia have opted for ballots, not bullets. Among the Brotherhood’s most vigorous critics (and enemies) have been Egyptian militants, including Al-Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiry. For decades the Muslim Brotherhood, though officially illegal, has proven to be the largest and most effective non-violent opposition movement, politically and socially within mainstream Egyptian society."

US envoy's business link to Egypt  2/7/2011 Independent: "Wisner's astonishing remarks – "President Mubarak's continued leadership is critical: it's his opportunity to write his own legacy" – shocked the democratic opposition in Egypt and called into question Obama's judgment, as well as that of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The US State Department and Wisner himself have now both claimed that his remarks were made in a "personal capacity". But there is nothing "personal" about Wisner's connections with the powerful Washington law firm and lobby shop Patton Boggs, which openly boasts that it advises "the Egyptian military, the Egyptian Economic Development Agency, and has handled arbitrations and litigation on the [Mubarak] government's behalf in Europe and the US". Oddly, not a single journalist raised this extraordinary connection with US government officials – nor the blatant conflict of interest it appears to represent."

Saturday 2/5/2011

Saboteurs attack Egypt gas pipeline to Jordan  2/5/2011 AFP: "Egypt supplies about 40 percent of Israel's natural gas, and in December, four Israeli firms signed 20-year contracts worth up to 10 billion dollars (7.4 billion euros) to import Egyptian gas."

El 'modesto' patrimonio de la familia Mubarak podría ascender a 70.000 millones de dólares  2/5/2011 Aporrea: "El patrimonio de la familia de Mubarak podría estar entre los 40.000 y 70.000 millones de dólares --entre 29.000 y 51.000 millones de euros--, según informó la cadena estadounidense ABC citando a expertos. El origen de este dinero estaría en los contratos militares suscritos durante la etapa en la que Mubarak formaba parte de la Fuerza Aérea egipcia. Sin embargo, una vez ya en la Presidencia, desde 1981, Mubarak diversificó sus inversiones."

Uprising in Egypt: A Two-Hour Special on the Revolt Against the U.S.-Backed Mubarak Regime  2/5/2011 Democracy Now

THE ROSEWOOD MASSACRE REPORT - ROSEWOOD AND THE RACIAL VIOLENCE OF JANUARY 1923  2/5/2011 Sandra Johnson Witt

Friday 2/4/2011

Egypt, the US and the Israel Lobby 2/4/2011 Counterpunch

Mubarak's Last Gasps 2/4/2011 Counterpunch: "Meanwhile, the last touches of a crude plan to abort the protests and attack the demonstrators were being finalized in the Interior Ministry. In the mean time, the leaders of the NPD met with the committee of forty, which is a committee of corrupt oligarchs and tycoons, who have taken over major sections of Egypt’s economy in the last decade and are close associates to Jamal Mubarak, the president’s son. The committee included Ahmad Ezz, Ibrahim Kamel, Mohamad Abu el-Enein, Magdy Ashour and others. Each businessman pledged to recruit as many people from their businesses and industries as well as mobsters and hoodlums known as Baltagies – people who are paid to fight and cause chaos and terror. Abu el-Enein and Kamel pledged to finance the whole operation.Meanwhile,the Interior Minister reconstituted some of the most notorious officers of his secret police to join the counter-revolutionary demonstrators slated for Wednesday, with a specific plan of attack the pro-democracy protesters."

Wednesday 2/2/2011

Frank Wisner in Cairo: The Empire's Bagman  2/2/2011 Counterpunch: "From inside the bowels of Washington's power elite, Frank Wisner emerges, briefcase in hand. He has met the President, but he is not his envoy. He represents the United States, but is not the Ambassador. What is in his briefcase is his experience: it includes his long career as bagman of Empire, and as bucket-boy for Capital. Pulling himself away from the Georgetown cocktail parties and the Langley Power-point briefings, Wisner finds his way to the Heliopolis cocktail parties and to the hushed conferences in Kasr al-Ittihadiya. Mubarak (age 82) greets Wisner (age 72), as these elders confer on the way forward for a country whose majority is under thirty."

Why Egyptians are Calling Obama the "Black Bush"  2/2/2011 Counterpunch: "As an American of Egyptian heritage who left the U.S in 2006 to live in Egypt, I quickly discovered that the grievances I heard from my colleagues and the youth of America were no different than those of Egyptians. The common complaint amongst all voices was that of suffocation. Both regimes have the same review cards amongst the general population in both countries. However, the social , economic, and political landscapes of Egypt are more accelerated. What is happening in Egypt now, is an excellent forecaster of what is about to hit America."

Obama to Egyptian Army: Remove Mubarak now, start transition  2/2/2011 Debka, Israel: "President Barack Obama delivered an ultimatum to Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman and the army and security chiefs: Mubarak must be removed in the coming hours or else US aid to Egypt will be cut off, debkafile's Washington sources exclusively report. Pressure on the Egyptian armed forces to oust the president forthwith was further applied by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who called Vice President Omar Suleiman, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates who called Egyptian defense minister Mohamed Tantawi, and US armed forces chief Adm. Mike Mullen in a telephone call to the Egyptian chief of staff Gen. Sami Enan."

CIA: Frank G. Wisner arrived in Cairo  2/2/2011 Voltaire Net: "Mr. Wisner is the son of Frank G. Wisner Sr., co-founder of the CIA and Gladio. Together with Allen Dulles, Wisner Sr. was one of the architects of the U.S. secret intervention doctrine: support those democracies which make a "good choice", oppose those which make the wrong choice."

How Cairo, U.S. Were Blindsided by Revolution  2/2/2011 Wall Street Journal: "At 4 p.m., the battles appeared to tip decisively in the protesters' favor. An order came down from Mr. Mubarak to the Minister of Interior, Habib al-Adly to use live ammunition to put down the protests, according to a person familiar with the situation. Mr. al-Adly passed on the order to his top lieutenant, Gen. Ahmed Ramzy—but Mr. Ramzy refused, according to this person. "It was a poor assessment of what [orders] his generals would take from him," this person said. When Mr. Mubarak saw that Mr. Adly wouldn't get the job done, he gave the order for the army to deploy, this person said. Mr. Adly was furious, according to the person. Mr. Adly then gave a sweeping order to pull all police from the streets, from lowly traffic monitors, to prison guards, to the vast armies of truncheon-wielding riot police that had been a ubiquitous presence around Egypt for decades."

Thinking the Unthinkable: Is the Gulf Next?  2/2/2011 WPR: "In imitation of the self-immolation in Tunisia in December that sparked the region's wave of protests, four men in eastern and southern Saudi Arabia have in recent weeks set themselves ablaze. Throughout the past week, groups of up to 100 Saudis have gathered in front of municipalities and extensions of the ministries of education and labor to silently express anger at poor standards of living, corruption and unemployment. Saudi Arabia's unemployment rate is believed to be between 15 percent and 20 percent, yet the country's private sector employs some 9 million foreign workers, despite a laxly enforced policy requiring companies to ensure that 30 percent of their work force consists of Saudi nationals."

Tuesday 2/1/2011

Documents Confirm U.S. Plans Against Venezuela 2/1/2011 Z Magazine: by Eva Golinger - "A substantial portion of the more than 1,600 State Department documents WikiLeaks has published recently refer to the ongoing efforts of U.S. diplomacy to isolate and counter the Venezuelan government. Since Hugo Chavez won the presidency for the first time in 1998, Washington has engaged in numerous efforts to overthrow him, including a failed coup d'etat in April 2002, an oil industry strike that same year, worldwide media campaigns, and various electoral interventions. The State Department has also used its funding agencies, USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), to channel millions of dollars annually to anti-Chavez NGOs, political parties, journalists, and media organizations in Venezuela, who have been working to undermine the Chavez administration and force him from power."

Monday 1/31/2011

'Anxious' Israel backs Egypt regime  1/31/2011 Al Jazeera: "Israel has called on the United States and Europe to curb their criticism of president Hosni Mubarak "in a bid to preserve stability in Egypt" and the wider Middle East, an Israeli newspaper reports. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Monday that the foreign ministry, in an urgent special cable, instructed its ambassadors to key countries, to "stress ... the importance of Egypt's stability"."

Netanyahu tries to play Egyptian military card - and gets Grad missiles: DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis  1/31/2011 Debka, Israel: "Netanyahu's first two reactions to events in Egypt were knee-jerk gestures to old friends in Cairo rather than part of a far-sighted, clear-eyed assessment of the fast-moving Egyptian epic. They were misplaced on five counts."

9/11 Family Members Demand Answers from the 9/11 Commission: The Censored Testimony of FBI’s Behrooz Sarshar  1/31/2011 Sibel Edmond's Boiling Frogs: "In a public statement issued today (see below), members of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee demanded a prompt response from the former Chairman and Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission regarding Former FBI Language Specialist Behrooz Sarshar’s censored testimony to the Commission. The press release was prompted by recently released documents related to the interviews conducted by the 9/11 Commission published at Cryptome.org, in particular the “Memorandum for the Record” containing the Commission’s interview with Mr. Sarshar. The memorandum, after establishing Mr. Sarshar’s credibility and vaguely referring to his documented and witnessed testimony regarding specific tip(s) provided to the FBI in April and June 2001 regarding planned imminent “Kamikaze Pilots” attacks targeting major cities in the United States, leaves out the entire testimony. This testimony was also entirely left out of the Commission’s final report released in July 2004."

Sunday 1/30/2011

New Ways Used by Egyptians to Get Online Minus the Internet  1/30/2011 Financial Feed: "We Rebuild has established a Sweden dial-up number. The group is collecting a number list that Egyptians can call and the information is fed on a Wiki page. French Data Network running one of the dial-up numbers said this set up is their first time. Its president Benjamin Bayart said the ISPs modem provides connection every few minutes."

Robert Fisk: Egypt: Death throes of a dictatorship  1/30/2011 Independent: "In the pantomime world of Mubarak himself – and of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in Washington – the man who still claims to be president of Egypt swore in the most preposterous choice of vice-president in an attempt to soften the fury of the protesters – Omar Suleiman, Egypt's chief negotiator with Israel and his senior intelligence officer, a 75-year-old with years of visits to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and four heart attacks to his credit. How this elderly apparatchik might be expected to deal with the anger and joy of liberation of 80 million Egyptians is beyond imagination. When I told the demonstrators on the tank around me the news of Suleiman's appointment, they burst into laughter."

U.S. role in Egypt crisis "shameful"-Chavez  1/30/2011 Reuters

Saturday 1/29/2011

Anonymous Internet Users Team Up To Provide Communication Tools For Egyptian People  1/29/2011 Huffington Post

US behind Egypt internet crackdown  1/29/2011 Press TV, Iran: "Narus, now owned by Boeing, was founded in 1997 by Israeli security experts to create and sell mass surveillance systems for governments and large corporate clients."

Breaking: Al Jazeera Reports Mubarak’s planning exile to Tel Aviv—The Writing on the Wall  1/29/2011 Veterans Today

Friday 1/28/2011

Medios privados financiados por EEUU difunden propaganda antivenezolana  1/28/2011 Kaos en la red: "Los medios de comunicación privados en Venezuela mantienen un vínculo muy estrecho con Estados Unidos y sirven como vía de propaganda para su Gobierno, como lo revelan las recientes filtraciones de WikiLeaks sobre el apoyo de Washington a rotativos opositores venezolanos, advirtió Eva Golinger, escritora y abogada estadounidense."

The Great Nigerian Railway 100 Billion Naira Robbery And The Ooni Of Ife's Connection  1/28/2011 Sahara Reporters: "The investigation revealed that Eser Nigeria Contracting, which Sijuwade recommended for Contract 3, had family connections with him. It is alleged that his brother or a relative (one Aderemi Sijuwade), is a signatory to the bank account of the company held with Skye Bank at Adeola Hopewell Branch on Victoria Island, Lagos, and that records at the Corporate Affairs Commission reveal that the registered office of the company is 65 Queen Street, Alagomeji, Lago. That property belongs to an uncle of Sijuwade, the well-known Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade. Aderemi Sijuwade is also known to be a Deputy Chairman of Espro Asphalt, an affiliate of Eser Contracting . One Prince Tokunbo Sijuwade has also been named as a Director of Espro Asphalt. Engr Adeseyi Sijuwade has up till now not declared this conflict of interest as required by the Public Procurement Act. "

College fires professor; views on Israel blamed  1/28/2011 Salon: "An adjunct political science professor was fired Wednesday by Brooklyn College following complaints by a student and a local politician about his pro-Palestinian political views."

Thursday 1/27/2011

Colombia asks Israel to extradite mercenary convicted of training drug assassins 1/27/2011 AP: "Colombia asked Israel on Thursday to extradite former Israeli army Lt. Col. Yair Klein, who was convicted by a Colombian court and sentenced in absentia to nearly 11 years in prison for training drug lords' assassins in the late 1980s. "The evidence (against Klein) is conclusive," Interior Minister German Vargas told a news conference, saying the formal request had been made in Tel Aviv by Colombia's embassy there. "For the Colombian government it is essential that this sentence is completed and that this citizen clarify his participation in the organization and training of these groups."

In Defense of Raza/Indigenous Studies: Five Sentenced, But Not Guilty! 1/27/2011 Common Dreams: "Four students and myself were just sentenced to 10 hours of community service for a crime we did not commit. More importantly, our act of civil disobedience was in response to an illegal, immoral and unconstitutional law: hb 2281 - a piece of legislation that makes the teaching of Ethnic Studies in Arizona illegal."

Wednesday 1/26/2011

Gulf human rights hero Thomas B. Manton falsely imprisoned, murdered 1/26/2011 Natural News

Tuesday 1/25/2011

La verdad, la mentira y la ignorancia lejos de Wikileaks 1/25/2011 Cuba Debate: "Pero lo que quizás llame su atención es que un colectivo de hackers autodenominados “Anonymus” (conocidos por el hackeo y el ciberataque a Paypal, Visa, etc.) la han emprendido contra Venezuela. Sus razones parecen salidas de un guión de la USAID, los que habitualmente se encargan de elaborar las matrices de opinión pública que tan buen resultado dan en los medios internacionales."

Sunday 1/23/2011

Venezuela arrests 'Aguilas Negras commander'  1/23/2011 Colombia Reports: "Venezuela on Sunday claimed it arrested the leader of Colombian neo-paramilitary group "Aguilas Negras" in the northwestern city of Maracaibo. According to Interior Minister Tarek El Aissami, the arrested suspect is Victor Gonzalez Sierra, leader of the feared Aguilas Negras and wanted in Colombia for "various homicides." "This is a heavy blow to criminal drug trafficking organizations and this group trying to use our territory to escape justice of other governments," Venezuelan state radio quoted the minister as saying."

Ex subdirector del DAS dió la información que provocó el secuestro de Piedad Córdoba  1/23/2011 Contrainjerencia

Tony Hayward in talks for Glencore job  1/23/2011 Guardian: "Glencore will need a new board if, as expected, it becomes a public company because the current five-person board is dominated by people who have an ownership stake. Hayward is not expected to be in the running for this although some believe he could become the senior non-executive on the board.The trading group has had its own share of controversy. It was formed in 1974 by Marc Rich, who faced up to 300 years in prison after having been the most wanted white-collar criminal in US history, but then won a pardon from President Bill Clinton on his last day in the Oval Office."

Aguilas Negras  1/23/2011 In Sight

Saturday 1/22/2011

The Doomsday Project, Deep Events, and the Shrinking of American Democracy 1/22/2011 Global Research

Friday 1/21/2011

Gobernador desmiente versiones acerca del retraso voluntario de los proyectos de vivienda raizal 1/21/2011 RCN

Thursday 1/20/2011

Silence is Complicity: The methodical shooting of boys at work in Gaza by snipers of the Israeli Occupation Force 1/20/2011 Global Research

Wednesday 1/19/2011

Operation Want 1/19/2011 Anonymous on Youtube

Monday 1/17/2011

LAPD holds Israeli mobsters charged with murder and other crimes in rare extradition deal; Israeli courts rarely agree to extradite Israelis, in line with the Jewish tradition of not turning over Jews for trial in "Christian" courts  1/17/2011 Israel Palestine News: "Israeli brothers Meir and Yitzhak Abergil and three other Israelis were ordered held in prison without bond on Jan 14; they are charged with crimes ranging from murder and massive embezzlement to money laundering, racketeering and running a large L.A.-based Ecstasy ring. Yitzhak Abergil is allegedly the crime boss of the operation… Israeli police and media have frequently described the Abergils as bosses of one the country's most powerful crime syndicates, with extensive overseas operations."

Boogie Woogie: Born In The Backwoods Of America  1/17/2011 NPR: "I thought maybe it was a joke," Alexander recalls. "Does this guy think I’m stupid? Marshall, Texas? Whatcha going to do, hang me?"

Hariri: an audio tape unveils fabrication of false testimonies  1/17/2011 Voltaire Net: "During the meeting, the conspirators decided to frame four Lebanese generals and nine Syrian key figures for the murder of Rafik el-Hariri. They also discussed the payment and the protection of the false witness. Let us recall that in the aftermath of that meeting four Lebanese generals were arbitrarily incarcerated for four years. Israel took advantage of the Lebanese security services’ decapitation to attack the country. On the basis of M. as-Saddik’s false testimony, the Commission accused the serving Presidents of Syria and Lebanon, Bachar el-Assad and Emile Lahoud, while the United States threatened to intervene militarily to arrest them. The scheme fell apart when the Syrian secret services demonstrated the inanity of the false testimony. To the present, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has refused to delve into "the affair inside the affair" (the false witnesses) and has failed to supply the four unjustly incarcerated generals with the documents that would enable them to rebut their accusers."

Friday 1/14/2011

How Canada Subsidizes Illegal Israeli Settlements 1/14/2011 Counterpunch: "A few weeks ago Maitland received a reply from Keith Ashfield, Minister of National Revenue, who refused to discuss the particulars of the case but provided "general information about registered charities and the occupied territories." Ashfield wrote that "the fact that charitable activities take place in the occupied territories is not a barrier to acquiring or maintaining charitable status." This means Canadian organizations can openly fundraise for settlements Ottawa (officially) deems illegal under international law and get the government to pay up to a third of the cost through tax credits for donations. To justify the government's position, Ashfield cited a September 2002 Federal Court of Appeal case (Canadian Magen David Adom for Israel v. Minister of National Revenue), which reversed the Canadian Revenue Agency's previous position."

Sick Gulf Residents Beg Officials for Help 1/14/2011 Global Research: "In an emotionally charged meeting this week sponsored by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, fishermen, Gulf residents and community leaders vented their increasingly grave concerns about the widespread health issues brought on by the three-month-long disaster."

Thursday 1/13/2011

Sweden's Big Trade Deal For Assange. Who profits most?  1/13/2011 Anonymous Operation Want's Blog

La Corte ordena suspender proyecto vial en Barú  1/13/2011 Caracol: "La Corte Constitucional a través de una tutela ordeno suspender la construcción y mejoramiento de la vía transversal de Baru al considerar que no fue consultada la comunidad afro en esa región."

UNESCO Awards Venezuela for Providing Free Access to Internet  1/13/2011 Venezuela Analysis

Wednesday 1/12/2011

El Cooperativismo en Venezuela 1/12/2011 Cooperativismo en Movimiento: "Venezuela vive una experiencia inédita, a partir de la cual se han sembrado en su territorio miles de empresas y organizaciones de la economía solidaria que representan un desafío, una privilegiada oportunidad, para encaminar al país por las sendas de un modelo socio económico que aporte a la construcción de una sociedad justa, solidaria, equitativa, pacífica, libre y democrática."

Tuesday 1/11/2011

Los 485 años del inicio de la Trata Esclavista en Venezuela  1/11/2011 Afrodescendientes

Alias ‘el Iguano’ aceptará su responsabilidad en la comisión de 150 homicidios en el Chocó durante 1998 y 1999  1/11/2011 Agencia Prensa Rural

Venezuelan Government Accuses Landowners of Using "Slave Labor"  1/11/2011 Venezuela Analysis: "More than 500 Colombians worked in near-slavery conditions on recently expropriated estates in northeastern Venezuela, Caracas’ minister for Agriculture and Land said Monday. “It was the most surprising thing ... So far, we’ve got a tally of 1,150 rural workers who have been counted and more than half are from the neighboring country of Colombia, whom they had as practically slave labor,” Juan Carlos Loyo told reporters."

Monday 1/10/2011

Arizona Assassination Spree Tied to Political Right 1/10/2011 Global Research: "According to a memo issued by the Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of the shooting spree at a Tucson, Arizona strip mall Saturday, Internet activity by the gunman, Jared Lee Loughner, linked him to American Renaissance, which DHS described as an “anti-government, anti-immigration, anti-ZOG [Zionist Occupation Government], anti-Semitic.” The online publication of the organization advocates white supremacy and racial separation... In a YouTube video posting consisting of scrolling text and music, Loughner railed against the “second constitution”, a term used by the political right to refer to the post-Civil War 13th Amendment banning slavery and the 14thAmendment guaranteeing citizenship to all those born in the US and equal protection under the law in every state."

Friday 1/7/2011

Lanny Davis: Lobbyist for Despots  1/7/2011 Dissident Voice: "Post-coup, The Hill.com reported that the far-right Business Council of Latin America (CEAL) hired Davis to lobby Congress and conduct supportive PR for the interim Micheletti government. It involved a media blitz, arranged meetings for coup plotters with congressional members, and drafting an Accord to form a National Unity and Reconciliation Government as cover to solidify fascist rule. Davis, of course, was well paid to assure it. His credentials don’t include honor, morality, ethics and support for the rule of law… His entire Capitol Hill history is as “consistent as it is sleazy,” the more sleaze, in fact, the more compensation. The hard-right Israel Project hired him to defend Israel’s Cast Lead onslaught against Gaza, calling it Israel’s “right to self-defense against terrorism,” when clearly it was preemptive illegal aggression."

White Flight  1/7/2011 National Journal: "By any standard, white voters’ rejection of Democrats in November’s elections was daunting and even historic. Fully 60 percent of whites nationwide backed Republican candidates for the House of Representatives; only 37 percent supported Democrats, according to the National Election Poll exit poll conducted by Edison Research. Not even in Republicans’ 1994 congressional landslide did they win that high a percentage of the white vote. Moreover, those results may understate the extent of the white flight from the Democratic Party, according to a National Journal analysis of previously unpublished exit-poll data provided by Edison Research."

Los nuevos callejones de la droga  1/7/2011 PL: "Nicaso Nicola Gratteri, procurador de la División Antimafia de Calabria, en su libro Mala Planta, identifica al Corredor 38 como la vía utilizada por el grupo mafioso italiano para hacer llegar la cocaína de Sudamérica a Europa. El Corredor 38 vino a sustituir al no ya tan seguro Corredor 9, usado antes con los mismos fines, pero ahora con puesto de gendarmería bastante eficiente. Testigos e informantes aseveran que utiliza a la ciudad de Córdoba, Argentina, y Valle de Punilla como escenarios principales del comienzo de su macabro negocio."

Chavez-Clinton Surprise Meeting Reduces Tension  1/7/2011 Venezuela Analysis

U.S. Sends Mixed Signals in Ambassador Spat as Congress Vows Harder Line against Venezuela  1/7/2011 Venezuela Analysis: "Chávez also affirmed that during his brief encounter with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Brazil recently, the two discussed the ambassador issue. “I told her that if they rectify, then we would also rectify. And I repeated it,” he said. “Then she told me something that I will keep private, and I told her something that she will reserve as well. But all towards facilitating the process,” Chávez concluded. On Wednesday, however, Crowley asserted that the Obama administration maintains Palmer as its ambassador nominee. “There have been suggestions,” said Crowley, “particularly suggestions by President Chávez that we are looking for another candidate and the answer is that we’re not looking for another candidate.”"

The Exceptionally Redacted 9/11 Commission Interview  1/7/2011 Veterans Today: by Sibel Edmonds

Thursday 1/6/2011

Is the CIA Infiltrating Central Asia Via Turkish Muslims? 1/6/2011 Eurasia Net

Chavez Rejects University Law as Venezuelan National Assembly Begins New Term 1/6/2011 Venezuela Analysis: "On Tuesday Chavez announced that he was would not sign the University Education law passed by the National Assembly at the end of last month, so that it could be subject to a wide national debate. This means that the law is returned to the National Assembly with changes recommended by the president, which the National Assembly would be free to accept or reject, whereupon it becomes law, with or without the president’s signature. The opposition and leftist critics of the University Education law had argued that it took away university autonomy and that the law would cause conflicts on campus, cutting into class time. “This law has a lot of strengths and a lot of weaknesses... it deserves to be widely discussed,” Chavez said, adding that his rejection of it showed that “Venezuela has a democratic government, a government that listens... and a president that is ...ready, when necessary, to rectify and call for debate and reflection.”"

Wednesday 1/5/2011

Afro-Colombian Farmers on Displacement and Resistance 1/5/2011 Upside Down World: "Activists working on behalf of Colombia’s internally displaced population are subjected to extrajudicial killings and death threats by paramilitary groups supported by the Colombian army and palm oil firms active in rural areas, Sanchez and Guzman report. "They say we're guerrillas and that they're going to kill us," says Sanchez."

Former AIPAC official confirms Lobby access to US secrets 1/5/2011 VoltaireNet: "Accidentally, computer equipment and files seized by the FBI disclosed that AIPAC, which defines itself as "a pro-Israeli lobby in America", had funded the career of French political leader Nicolas Sarkozy. At that time, the Israeli Ambassador in Paris had raced to the Elysée Palace to assure President Jacques Chirac that Israel was in no way involved in such interference, attributing it to certain over-zealous friends in the United States."

Monday 1/3/2011

Leaks to AIPAC Said to be “Common” 1/3/2011 Federation of American Scientists

Sunday 1/2/2011

An Economic Action Plan for Jamaica, Jamaicans United for Sustainable Development 1/2/2011 Norman Girvan

Saturday 1/1/2011

Central Asian Militants, Pan-Turkic Aims & Mysterious Financiers 1/1/2011 Nachrichten Heute: by Sibel Edmonds

"There is one safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an advantage and security to all, but especially to Democracies as against despots: suspicion." -- Demosthenes

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1/1/11 - 12/31/11

Copyright Â© 1997 AfroCubaWeb, S.A.
Last modified: