From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sept. 17, via Chiapas95:

Labor turmoil following disaster draws in USW
Accused by government of $55 million theft, leader of Mexican mine union flees to Canada with help of Pittsburgh-based labor giant

The horrific Pasta de Conchos mining accident sparked a leadership crisis in Mexico's mammoth mine and steelworkers union, and officials with United Steelworkers of America are taking sides.

A textbook case in how Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is viewed differently by the Imperium and the global south. First this, from the Voice of America, Sept. 20, on day two of the annual UN General Assembly debate:

Chavez brought his anti-U.S. campaign to the world body Wednesday. He called on like-minded world leaders to stand up to what he called "American imperialism," which he said is a "threat to the survival of the human race".

We sure hope this is Jewish paranoia! From the Jerusalem Post, Sept. 19 (emphasis added):

Venezuelan Jews fear Chavez-Iran ties

On the day that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived for a 30-hour visit, it seemed appropriate that Venezuela's Jewish community should organize a conference on the Middle East conflict and its local repercussions.

From Newsday, Sept. 19 (emphasis added):

BLOCK 7, AYACUCHO PETROLEUM FIELD, Venezuela -- The Islamic world may be roiling over remarks by the pope, but in this remote patch of eastern Venezuela, President Hugo Chávez suggested yesterday that a little revolutionary fervor -- and perhaps a lot of oil -- is all it takes to unite Christians and Muslims.

From Indian Country Today, Sept. 19:

NEW YORK - Tribal leaders and the Aymaran president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, held a historic meeting September 18 before Morales' speech at the United Nations, where they discussed the dangers facing the natural world as well as human rights issues for Native peoples.

Sarah Ferguson writes for the Village Voice, Sept. 19:

Anti-War Crowd Dogs Bush at the U.N.

Protesters swamped Dag Hammarskjold Plaza opposite the United Nations Tuesday as President Bush was inside pledging to deliver "democracy" to the Middle East.

We'll have a clearer idea of what is going on here when the dust settles, but two things are worth noting about the Sept. 19 coup d'etat in Thailand. First, the coup leader Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin is the first Muslim to head the nation's armed forces, and was apparently appointed in an effort to win hearts and minds in the Islamist insurgency in the country's south. Secondly, the coup comes days after Thailand was implicated as possible host of one of the now-acknowledged secret CIA prisons established after 9-11 for the Global War on Terrorism.

More evidence that Pakistan, the USA's closest ally in the region, is ironically serving as a staging ground for the destabilization of US-occupied Afghanistan. First this, from The Guardian, Sept. 19:

A chain of suicide bombings killed 19 people, including four Canadian soldiers, across Afghanistan yesterday, in guerrilla violence bearing an increasing resemblance to the conflict in Iraq. The blasts came a day after Nato claimed it had scored a victory after killing more than 500 insurgents in two weeks of fighting in the Taliban's southern heartland.