Oil prices rose Nov. 6 to $95 a barrel, a more than seven-week peak, on heightened concerns about Iran's nuclear program and rumors of impending Israeli military strikes on the Islamic Republic. The tensions come as the International Atomic Energy Agency released a report finding that Iran is capable of developing a nuclear weapon, although stopping short of saying it intends to do so. (Reuters, WP, Nov. 7) Days earlier, Israel successfully tested a long-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. The Jericho 3 missile, fired from Palmahim air force base, was seen by tens of thousands of Israelis. Many called the emergency services and radio stations in panic, believing it was an incoming missile. Defense minister Ehud Barak said: "This is an impressive technological achievement and an important step in Israel's progress in the missile and space field." (Irish Times, Nov. 3)

For the first time since the 1999 Seattle protests, a movement in the United States is in the vanguard of global resistance to capital. But this time, the stakes are much higher. Now, from Europe to the Arab world to South America to Manhattan and Oakland, the planet seems headed into a revolutionary situation. Occupy Wall Street, which has brought the struggle to the very nerve-center of world capitalism, has responsibilities on a world scale. There are some things that it is very important that we get right.

Thanks to a donation from a reader in New York City, we have exceeded our winter fund drive goal of $2,000. The total now stands at $2,250. Recall that the original goal was $5,000—so if any other readers want to thusly encourage us, please feel free...! Remember, we receive no foundation support. We depend on our READERS to keep our rigorously independent and iconoclastic voice alive. Please do your part...

The Israeli government immediately said it would move ahead with "sensitive housing projects" as a rebuttal to UNESCO's Oct. 31 decision to grant Palestine full-member status. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a forum of eight senior ministers formally decided the next day to initiate a new wave of settlement construction on the West Bank. The Prime Minister's Office said the construction of 2,000 housing units planned in East Jerusalem, Gush Etzion and Ma'aleh Adumim should be expedited. "All of the mentioned areas are ones that would remain in Israeli control under any future peace agreement," the PMO said in a statement. The "forum of eight" also resolved to suspend the transfer to the Palestinian Authority of tax remittances collected by Israel in October. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman additionally announced that Israel will "review its relations" with the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (Haaretz, Nov. 2; YNet, Oct. 31)

Thousands of protesters blocked the Port of Oakland Nov. 2, bringing work there to a halt. "Maritime operations are effectively shut down at the Port of Oakland," port authorities said in a statement. "Maritime area operations will resume when it is safe and secure to do so." Protesters, who streamed across a freeway overpass to mass at the port gates, stood atop tractor-trailers stopped in the middle of the street. Others climbed onto scaffolding over railroad tracks as a rock band played using amplifiers powered by stationary bike generators. Protesters also blocked streets near City Hall. The general strike was called by Occupy Oakland and supported by residents, a few small businesses, teachers and nurses with the California Nurses Association. The Oakland Education Association (OEA) executive board unanimously endorsed Occupy Oakland's "General Strike/Mass Day of Action" call, urging members to participate by "taking personal leave to join actions at Frank Ogawa Plaza, doing informational picketing at school sites, and holding teach-ins on the history of general strikes and organizing for economic justice." The general strike is the first event of its kind in Oakland since 1946.

OK, we asked our readers to either show us some support or offer some criticism on what we are doing wrong. So far, eight of you have responded. Do we really only have eight readers? Our web states indicate we have thousands. We need to hear from you. Other lefty websites can reliably raise much, much more than the mere $5,000 we are asking. We really don't get it.

At least five people, including three children, were killed when a displaced persons camp at Jilib in southern Somalia was bombed yesterday, the charity Doctors Without Border (MSF) says. Now, predictably, the Kenyan army and Shabab rebels are blaming each other. Kenya's military released a statement saying the camp had come under fire by a Shabab "technical battle wagon" mounted with an "anti-aircraft gun." Sheikh Abukar Ali Ada of the Shabab countered: "Kenya has brutally massacred civilians already displaced by hardship. We will ensure that Kenya mourns more than we did." (The Telegraph, BBC News, Capital FM News, Nairobi, Oct. 31)

The UN Security Council voted unanimously Oct. 27 to lift the no-fly zone over Libya, bringing to a close the seven-month international military action in the country. But the war on the ground may not be over. Following demands by Human Rights Watch, the NTC says it will investigate allegations of reprisal attacks against residents of Tawergha and Sirte—towns said to have supported Moammar Qaddafi and sheltered his forces. HRW reports that militias from Misrata are terrorizing the displaced residents of outlying Tawergha, accusing them of having collaborated in the Qaddafi forces' long and bloody siege of the city. The entire town of 30,000 people is abandoned—some of it ransacked and burned, according to HRW investigators. (CNN, HRW via AllAfrica.com, Oct. 30; WSJ, Oct. 28)