Daily Report

Balkan Basketball War: flashpoint Kosova?

The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) strongly condemned weekend clashes between Albanians and Serbs in the divided town of Mitrovica, just days after the UN called for dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade. Several people, including one EULEX police officer, were injured during the unrest. "These acts of senseless hooliganism have no place in any democratic society and need to be condemned by all," EULEX head of mission Yves de Kermabon said Sept. 12. Returning from the UN Assembly in New York, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci insisted that the previous night's incident in Mitrovica does not jeopardize the creation of a multi-ethnic society in Kosova. KFOR commander Erhard Buhler said during a visit to Mitrovica that NATO-led troops will not tolerate violence in northern Kosova and will guarantee a safe environment for all.

9-11 at nine: a cynical report from New York City

On Sept. 11, Lower Manhattan saw rival protests for and against the Islamic community center officially known as Cordoba House and popularly dubbed the "Ground Zero mosque." The anti-"mosque" protest organized by Stop Islamization of America—rightly called out as a hate group by Loonwatch—received much media hype, but this reporter failed to find it, after bicycling throughout the area. The closest was a dispirited and sparsely attended fundamentalist Christian rally at Church St. and Park Place, just a block from the proposed community center. A bunch of people who looked like they'd been bused in from the Midwest stood around as a preacher did his best firebrand routine, railing against pornography and abortion. There were big full-color posters featuring lugubrious photos of dismembered fetuses, looking like baskets of dessicated fried chicken. But where was Pamela Geller, and what did all this have to do with 9-11 or Cordoba House?

Somalia: protests against Christian fundi Koran-burning

Hundreds of protesters marched Sept. 9 in Galkayo, a town in Somalia's northern enclave of Puntland, against plans by a southern preacher in the US to hold a mass Koran-burning. The protesters, who marched through the town's main streets, chanted anti-American and anti-Christian slogans. Said march organizer Mohamed Abdullahi: "This is yet another proof of an anti-Islam sentiment in the western world." (The Nation, Kenya, Sept. 9)

China: human rights lawyer released to house arrest after serving four-year term

A Chinese prison on Sept. 9 released Chen Guangcheng, a blind Chinese human rights legal activist who has finished serving a four-year sentence for damaging property and "organizing a mob to disturb traffic." According to Human Rights Watch, the Chinese authorities have since placed Chen under house arrest and increased surveillance of his home and family, bringing into question the authenticity of his release. Family members allege that Chen suffers from health problems caused by mistreatment he received while in prison, including beatings and repeated food poisonings. Chen claims the charges were retribution for his documentation of forced sterilizations and abortions performed by Chinese officials to enforce China's one-child policy.

Protest arrest of Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh

From the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Sept. 5:

Release Human Rights Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh
The International Campaign for Human Right in Iran called for the immediate release of prominent human rights lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was arrested at Evin prison on 4 September 2010, and for all charges against her to be dropped.

Fidel to Ahmadinejad: "Stop slandering the Jews"

We just had to call out Cuban elder statesman and global rad-left icon Fidel Castro for his recent embrace of right-wing conspiracy theory (which nearly always has strong undertones, at least, of anti-Semitism). So we are particularly vindicated to see this. Jeffrey Goldberg interviews El Barbudo for his blog on The Atlantic this week. Amid a discussion of the threat of nuclear war arising from the West's showdown with Iran (a recent obsession of interviewer and interviewee alike) Goldberg writes that Fidel offered the following advice for his pal Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

Chilean miners won't get paid while they're buried alive

From the Daily Mail, Sept. 1:

The 33 trapped Chilean miners may not receive any wages while they are trapped underground, a union official has claimed. Evelyn Olmos says that San Esteban, the company that operates the mine, has said it has no money to pay their wages and absorb lawsuits, and is not even participating in the rescue.

Clinton: Mexico needs "equivalent" of Plan Colombia

President Barack Obama is backtracking from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's statement comparing Mexico and Colombia. "Mexico is a large and progressive democracy with a growing economy," Obama said in a Sept. 9 interview with La Opinion, a Spanish-language newspaper in Los Angeles. "As a result, you can’t compare what is happening in Mexico with what happened in Colombia 20 years ago."

Syndicate content