WW4 Report

Nicaragua: left-dissident candidate dies

From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, July 3:

Nicaraguan presidential candidate Herty Lewites died late Sunday of an apparent heart attack. The son of a Jewish migrant, Lewites, 66, was the country's best-known citizen of Jewish descent.

Mullah Omar speaks —again

A taped message purported to be from fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar was broadcast on Geo TV, a commercial station in Pakistan June 25. The voice on the tape issued a challenge to the Afghan government and foreign troops fighting insurgents in the country, saying "They cannot solve the issue of Afghanistan based on their wisdom and thinking." Afghanistan is a Muslim country where believers are in a majority and outsiders will never be able to impose their ideology, the statement said. "The rulers of Kabul will not be able to run the country with the wisdom of others, and God willing they will be destroyed," the tape said. Taunting President Hamid Karzai, the voice said: "If today the American military abandons you, you have no standing. Russia's military also came to Afghanistan — remember its fate." (NYT, June 26)

Japan announces Iraq withdrawal

Italy down. Spain down. Now Japan. From AP, June 20:

TOKYO -- Japan ordered the withdrawal of its ground troops from Iraq on Tuesday, declaring the humanitarian mission a success and ending a groundbreaking dispatch that tested the limits of its pacifist postwar constitution.

Did NSA spy on Lynne Stewart?

From The New Standard, June 22:

Lynne Stewart, a lawyer convicted of terrorism-related charges, has asked a federal court to compel the federal government to disclose whether the National Security Agency’s illegal warrantless domestic-spying program helped the prosecution in its case against her and her co-defendants. Stewart and translator Mohammed Yousry were convicted last year for providing material support for terrorism while representing Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, convicted of involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Paraguay: march against US troops

Some 500 people, mostly students, marched in Asuncion, Paraguay, on June 17 to protest the presence of US troops in the country. The protesters marched along the Avenida Mariscal Lopez; they tried to reach the US embassy but were blocked by some 100 riot police. The marchers instead rallied at the intersection of two avenues, where they burned US flags and an effigy of US president George W. Bush and demanded the departure of US troops from Paraguay and Latin America. The protesters held signs reading "Yankees tapeho," meaning "Yankees go home" in Guarani, the main indigenous language of Paraguay. Protests against the US troops are held on the 17th of every month; the June action was larger than usual because it coincided with the final day of the Paraguayan session of the Bolivarian People's Congress, which began in Asuncion on June 13.

Argentina: Chaco indigenous mobilize

Some 2,000 Wichi, Toba and Mocovi indigenous people from throughout the northern Argentine province of Chaco arrived on June 6 in the provincial capital, Resistencia, and began camping out in front of the provincial government building after an effort to dialogue with governor Roy Nikisch broke down. On June 8 the indigenous protesters blockaded streets in the center of the city. The indigenous communities want to send 100 delegates to meet with Nikisch over demands including the return of thousands of hectares of land illegally appropriated to others; the removal from office of Lorenzo Heffner, mayor of Villa Rio Bermejito; and increased funding for the Chaqueno Chaco Indigenous Institute (IDACh). Nikisch says he will only meet with IDACh's directors, who are elected by the indigenous communities. The IDACh directors refuse to meet with Nikisch unless the community delegates can participate.

Haudenosaunee land struggle crosses US-Canada border

Our occasional contributor Michael I. Niman writes for his June 15 "Getting a Grip" column in ArtVoice, the alternative weekly in Buffalo, NY:

Anti-Casino or Anti-Indian?

Those of us in Western New York who oppose war need to start paying attention to our own backyard. where community activists and developers are fanning the flames in the US and Canada's ceaselessly rekindling war against the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Six Nations) Confederacy. Flareups are now occurring throughout Haudenosaunee territory. In the north, armed Ontario government forces are engaged in a standoff with residents and supporters of the Six Nations Grand River Reserve on contested land where a local developer is attempting to build a subdivision in the municipality of Caledonia. The three-month-old standoff is moving toward a violent climax as Ontario officials, responding to complaints from non-native residents, are threatening force to remove native protestors.

New Hawaiian national monument: Bush's strategic sacrifice

Bush's declaration of a national monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is being hailed by world environmentalists, and certainly impresses by its sheer size—1,400 miles long and 100 miles wide. "To put this area in context, this national monument is more than 100 times larger than Yosemite Park," Bush said. "It's larger than 46 of our 50 states, and more than seven times larger than all our national marine sanctuaries combined. This is a big deal."

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