A commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards died after an ambush on Sept. 20 by Ahwazi militants. Mehdi Bayat was killed near the Revolutionary Guards base in Hamidiyah, near Ahwaz City in western Khuzestan province, where Iran's Ahwazi Arab minority have launched a struggle for autonomy or independence. Bayat was a commanding officer responsible for training members of the Bassij militia in Khaffajiyah. The town of Khaffajiyah has witnessed a number of disturbances by Ahwazi Arab groups which have been brutally put down by the Revolutionary Guards' elite Ashura Brigades.

We understand why geopolitics practically mandate that Evo and Hugo do this, but it still rubs us the wrong way. We keep feeling like we have to belabor the rather obvious point that Ahmadinejad is no leftist. From AP, Sept. 27:

CARACAS — Iran's president opened his nation's wallet to Bolivia on Thursday and then visited Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, in a post-U.N. trip to boost ties with Latin American leftists who are increasingly embracing Iran as a counterweight to U.S. influence.

A Mexican federal court in Oaxaca has ordered President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, Gov. Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, the National Defense Secretariat (SEDENA), the Prosecutor General of the Republic (PGR) and other government entities to present alive Edmundo Reyes Amaya, one of the apparent followers of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) who have been "disappeared" since May 25. The order came in a case brought by the Mexican League for the Defense of Human Rights (LIMEDDH) on behalf of Reyes Amaya's family. (La Jornada, Sept. 25)

State authorities in Chiapas have requested that federal army troops be deployed to assure security in the upcoming elections in the conflicted southern Mexican state. Elections are to be held in two weeks for local authorities in 118 municipalities and for 40 state deputies. The state government says ten municipalities are "zones of alert" due to a "climate of tension." (Mirada Sur, Chiapas, Sept. 24) In response, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) issued a communique Sept. 22 charging that the state government, under the control of the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), is "attacking the poor and needy, and courting and benefiting the rich and powerful." (Mirada Sur, Sept. 25) The EZLN denied rumors that it is supporting candidates from any party in the elections. (Heraldo de Chiapas, Sept. 19) However, the rebels pledged not to interfere with the elections in their zones of control. (Cuarto Poder, Chiapas, Sept. 23)

Former US Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan famously spills the beans in his new memoir, The Age of Turbulence: "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil." (London Times, Sept. 16) On her blog Sept. 25, Arianna Huffington lauds leftist icon Naomi Klein for calling out Greenspan on this point in a Sept. 24 interview with him on Democracy Now: "Are you aware that, according to the Hague Regulations and the Geneva Conventions, it is illegal for one country to invade another over its natural resources?" (Contrast Ann Coulter's "Why not go to war just for oil? We need oil! What do Hollywood celebrities imagine fuels their private jets? How do they think their cocaine is delivered to them?")

For those who know their history, the notion of Serbian neo-Nazis is almost as wacky as Israeli neo-Nazis. Serbia was occupied by the Nazis in World War II, and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (ruled by the Serb royal family) dismantled by the Axis powers. It's a particular irony that this rally is to be held (or not held, if the ban prevails) in Novi Sad, capital of Serbia's northern province of Vojvodina—which was detached from Serbia and handed over to Hungary by the Axis occupation. However much these guys may hate Jews and Roma—what could they be thinking? "March for Serb Unity"? Huh? From Reuters, Sept. 26:

From the Center for Constitutional Rights, Sept. 24:

On September 24, 2007, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) submitted a petition to the Supreme Court asking it to intervene in the case of Libyan Guantánamo client Abdul Ra'ouf Al Qassim and prevent his transfer to Libya, where he would likely be tortured and possibly killed.

From the Los Angeles Times, Sept. 25 (links added):

WASHINGTON — A decision Monday night by a military court of review will pave the way for the Pentagon to restart its terrorism tribunals for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.