Tibet's historic isolation is about to be radically broken, both by a new Lhasa-Beijing rail link (the world's highest), and the opening of a new border crossing into India through Sikkim. Tibetan nationalist leader (and Dalai Lama nephew) Khedroob Thondup portrays the rail line as an artery for Tibet's militarization, making the Himalayan realm a possible staging ground for a Chinese invasion of India. From Reuters, July 5:

A nephew of the Dalai Lama has likened a new railway linking China and Tibet to a second invasion of his homeland that will make its people "an endangered race".

The Israeli peace group Gush Shalom placed the following paid statement in Haaretz and the International Herald Tribune on July 7:

The march of folly
The offensive on land, from the sea and from the air does not put an end to the launching of Qassam rockets. It is leading to their increase.

From the Iraq Freedom Congress, July 1:

An Appeal to Libertarian Forces in the World
Support the Oil Workers Strike for a Secure, Prosperous and Free Iraq

The IFC Executive Bureau decided in an emergency session following the July 1, 2006, meeting of IFC and southern oil workers’ trade union leaders (who hold positions on the IFC Central Council) to provide full support to the oil workers’ strike. The oil workers will strike for the following demands:

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.