The Los Angeles Times runs an op-ed July 10 entitled "Honduras' non-coup," by Miguel A. Estrada, identified as a partner at the Washington office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, a native of Honduras, and a member of the official US delegation to President Zelaya's 2006 inauguration. The kicker reads "Under the country's Constitution, the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya was legal." His argument is the same one we've heard over and over:

A blogger on Daily Kos a few days ago promoted a petition to make July 11 "Peak Oil Day," a crusade apparently launched by peakster Richard Heinberg of the Post Carbon Institute. Why July 11? Heinberg, quoted at length in the post, explains:

On July 11, 2008, the price of a barrel of oil hit a record $147.27 in daily trading. That same month, world crude oil production achieved a record 74.8 million barrels per day.

David Montero blogs for the Christian Science Monitor June 24 that "as in Pakistan, many are looking to armed tribes in Somalia who adhere to Sufism—a mystical, moderate interpretation of Islam—as the best chance for peace." The post, entitled "Is promoting Sufi Islam the best chance for peace in Somalia?", quotes a Somali writer—identifying himself only as Muthuma—who writes on the Bartamaha news portal that (as we've noted) a "new axis" of conflict is emerging in Somalia, in which fighters are battling one another along religious lines:

Conspiranoids and freedom-haters of the left and right alike are rushing to betray the Iranian protest movement. On the supposed "left," the retro-Stalinist Workers World and its International Action Center as well as (disappointingly) Monthly Review and the World Socialist Website have weighed in for Ahmadinejad and dissed the protesters as dupes or pawns of US imperialism. How interesting to see these supposed "leftists" making common cause with right-wing cheerleaders for authoritarian regimes...

President Barack Obama's historic speech to the Muslim world, delivered June 4 at Cairo's al-Azhar University, Islam's highest institution of learning, was—like much in the president's program—a meaningful step forward nonetheless compromised by tactical equivocation. This is illustrated by two historical invocations in his text: one a courageous repudiation of his predecessor's Christian crusader mentality—the other a dangerous omission that undermines his message of reconciliation...

North Korea announced May 25 that it has successfully conducted its second nuclear test, in defiance of international warnings. Geological authorities in the US, Japan and South Korea reported that the test triggered an earthquake with a magnitude of between 4.5 and 5.3. The tremor emanated from Kilju, the same area where North Korea carried out a test in October 2006. North Korea said that test was a success, but the US and South Korea said the bomb did not detonate fully.

Four men in Newburgh, NY, are arrested by federal agents in a supposed plot to bomb two synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes at Stewart International Airport with Stinger missiles. The men are apparently all Black converts to Islam; one is a Haitian immigrant; most have drug convictions and converted in prison. (NYT, May 21) The (disabled) Stinger missile, of course, originated with the FBI infiltrator. We wonder how much more of the plot originated with the FBI infiltrator.

Google appears to have eliminated the foreign country news page links from the bottom of the Google News page. World War 4 Report depends on these links intimately for our work. How are we supposed to access those pages now? How are we supposed to do a search for Mexican, Colombian, Pakistani, etc. news sources? Who's brilliant idea was this? Why can't anyone just leave well enough alone? Haven't they ever heard "If ain't broke, don't fix it"? Or is it some conspiracy to limit bloggers and researchers to the dumbed-down American media?