We noted nearly a year ago that the US was seeking permanent military bases in Bulgaria, a former Warsaw Pact member strategically located on the Black Sea—just north of the Bosphorus-Dardanelles choke-point, perfect for either policing a US-controlled pipeline for Caspian oil, or (in a military pinch) for cutting off a Russian-controlled one. The restive Caucasus, through which any Caspian route to the West must pass, lies just across the sea to the east; the none-too-stable ex-Yugoslavia lies just to the west. Bulgaria's national elite likely view their country's colonization by the Pentagon as a symbolic entry to Europe and the West, whereas Washington views it is a part of the Great Game for Central Asia. The bases may also build on the secret torture archipelago the CIA is said to maintain in post-communist Europe. Bulgaria's parliament must still approve the deal. But sadly, as throughout the Balkans (and nearly all the post-communist world), any leftist analysis is tainted by association with the old oppressive regime—and therefore the only significant opposition to US military designs is coming from the neo-fascist right. From Reuters, April 28:

We wish we were joking. What a shame nobody noticed this—the little note in the second section about the Halliburton contract (emphasis added) should have been front-page news in every paper in the country. Back on Feb. 23, Nat Perry of Consortium News wrote for AlterNet:

A good thing we all know global warming is only a myth. From MSNBC, May 2:

BEIJING — Glaciers covering China's Qinghai-Tibet plateau are shrinking by 7 percent a year due to global warming and the environmental consequences may be dire, the government-run Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.

From our correspondent Mahmood Ketabchi. The text, with photos from Tehran, is on his blog, Hammer & Broom.

Workers take control of the government sponsored May Day rally in Tehran

As many Iranian workers prepared to celebrate May 1st, International Labor Day, House of Labor, a pro-Islamic government organization, called for a labor rally in front of the former US Embassy in Tehran. According to different sources, 8,000 to 10,000 workers participated in the rally. In addition to workers from Tehran, many came with buses from from various cities and provinces, such as, Ghazvin, Qom, Ghilan, Kashan, Hamadan, Karaj, Damghan, Mashhad, etc.

The organizers of the rally attempted in vain to turn the May Day gathering into a show of support for the Islamic regime and Iran's nuclear program. Even though the rally was carefully orchestrated to benefit the Islamic regime and provide it with some propaganda , participating workers from the very start took control of the event.

The Greek anarchists and globophobes have been pretty busy lately. From Reuters May 6:

ATHENS — Thousands of antiglobalization demonstrators marched Saturday through central Athens and to the United States Embassy to protest Washington's policies in Iraq and Iran.

What an historical irony that this is happening now, eh? Talk about the paradoxical unity of opposites. And hooray for Montana! Even out in the heartland, not all Americans are brainless reactionaries, it seems. From AP, May 3:

HELENA, Montana — It was a black mark on dozens of family histories that lingered for nearly nine decades -- until a journalism professor and a group of law students examined what happened to citizens who spoke out against the government during World War I.

All accounts indicate Porter Goss is being cycled out as CIA chief because he "butted heads" (Newsday, May 6) with National Intelligence Director John Negroponte. Goss, former head of the House Intelligence Committee, was appointed in September 2004 as an advocate of reconfiguring the intelligence apparatus following his probe of the 9-11 debacle. Significantly, this was also just as the Bush administration was starting to realize that Iraq was going seriously awry. He should have realized the dangers of being brought in for damage control. Such figures are always dispensible. The shake-up also indicates that the new post of National Intelligence Director is superior to that of Director of Central Intelligence. In a related point, it indicates that the permanent apparatus of "national security" (through which Negroponte came up) is now more central to real power in Washington than Congress and the institutions of elected office (through which Goss came up). Figures of the prior bloc traditionally view those of the latter with contempt, condescendingly humoring their illusion of power. This is doubly the case for the "special interest groups" which supposedly control Congress behind the scenes—they are increasingly useful idiots for the intelligence apparatus that increasingly runs the empire.

Those who think the current global conflict is fundamentally about anything other than a strategic struggle for control of oil can be disabused of their illusions by reading (surprise!) the New York Times (May 6). This includes those who buy the Consensus Reality line that it is all about chasing after Islamist terror networks, and that the Great Power rivalries of the Cold War are a thing of the past. Ironically, it also includes those who buy the Conspiracy Theory line that it is all about protecting Israel, and that the wiley Jews have seized control of Washington. For those who are paying attention, the fundamental reasons for the current paroxysm of hyper-interventionism couldn't be clearer. This story about Kazakhstan and Russia actually has much to say about Afghanistan and Iraq. Emphasis added...