US and Iraqi officials are in contact with representatives of some Sunni insurgent groups to build an alliance against al-Qaeda in Iraq, outgoing US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad announced March 26, saying he is cautiously optimistic that "success is possible." Khalilzad admitted he had flown to Jordan for meetings with representatives of the Islamic Army of Iraq and the 1920 Revolution Brigades. (Reuters, NYT, March 26) In Ramadi, Col. John W. Charlton boasts that a new anti-Qaeda Sunni alliance, the Anbar Salvation Council led by Sheikh Abdul Sattar al-Rishawi, has cut attacks in the city by half in recent months. But the leader of the Association of Muslim Scholars, Sheikh Harith al-Dhari, describes the Anbar Salvation Council as "thieves and bandits." US forces in Anbar report growing gun battles between rival Sunni militias in Ramadi. They used to describe such skirmishes as "red on red" fighting—battles between enemies. Now they call it "red on green." (AP, March 26)

Followers of the People's Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT) from the central Mexican village of San Salvador Atenco marched and blocked the Texcoco-Lecheria federal highway to demand the liberation of 31 of their comrades from Altiplano and Santiaguito prisons in the state of Mexico. The group of campesinos was led by Maria Antonia Trinidad Ramirez, wife of FPDT director Ignacio Del Valle, one of the prisoners at Altiplano. (La Jornada, March 24)

Amid a growing threat of paramilitary violence in Mexico's conflicted southern state of Chiapas, Subcomandante Marcos, leader of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), reappeared in the highland city of San Cristobal de Las Casas to announce the resumption of his nationwide civil political initiative known as the "Other Campaign." The new phase is to begin March 24 in San Cristobal, where a series of meetings will be held with a Zapatista delegation and national and international supporters. In a document presented to the press, Marcos said the delegation will be "made up of seven female commanders, seven male commanders and a subcomandante," a reference to himself. (El Universal, March 24)

Amid a growing threat of paramilitary violence in Mexico's conflicted southern state of Chiapas, the indigenous civil organization Las Abejas (The Bees), which was targeted in the December 1997 Acteal massacre, issued a statement urging Gov. Juan Sabines not to release Pedro Chulin, director of the Organization for the Defense of Indigenous and Campesino Rights (OPDDIC). Chulin was arrested with several OPDDIC militants following a March 7 disturbance in Ocosingo. (La Jornada, March 24)

Two Border Patrol agents examining a load of marijuana exchanged gunfire March 20 with unseen assailants from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande, near Donna, TX. Border Patrol spokesman Oscar Saldana said the agents were not hurt, and no one was believed injured on the Mexican side. Four loads of marijuana totaling 305 pounds were found on the river bank. Saldana said the agents came under fire as they approached the bank after spotting an inflatable raft near the US side. The raft, with more marijuana on board, was pulled back to the Mexican side during the exchange of fire. It was the second time this year that Border Patrol agents were fired on along the narrow stretch of the river about 13 miles northeast of McAllen. (AP, March 21)

In the March 25 Washington Post, Trilateral Commission ideological guru and former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski once again sounds like he was bitten by a radioactive Noam Chomsky. What's really sad is that the remnants of the American left are so rudderless and gullible that they fail to recognize this intra-elite squabbling on the proper maintenance of Empire as what it is, and fall for the pseudo-populist rhetoric. They will doubtless eagerly lap up this Trilateralist ejaculate, as they do the vile propaganda of Mearsheimer and Walt—never stopping to question the reactionary source. Writes Zbiggy (more commentary to follow):

Did you happen to catch this one? What a sad story. This Miss Israel contest really does represent the culture of narcissism and objectification, as well as an oppressive colonialist state. But young Ms. Fares seems to have had few other options—and those opposing her choice seem to also represent something rather oppressive. From the Toronto Globe & Mail, March 15:

The March 24 New York Times features a profile of Iraq war propagandist Kanan Makiya, with the somewhat misleading title "Critic of Hussein Grapples With Horrors of Post-Invasion Iraq." Makiya was more than a "critic of Hussein," which implies a principled dissident—he was a prominent cheerleader for foreign military aggression against the country of his birth. The Times account portrays him as somewhat humbled: