Dear Readers:

We hate to admit that WW4 REPORT is facing an existential crisis, but circumstances have forced this conclusion. We depend on the success of our twice-yearly fundraising efforts to keep publishing, and $1,000 is about the minimum that constitutes success. Thus far, we have been able to meet that goal in pervious fund drives. However, since we published our fund appeal at the beginning of July, we have received only seven donations, totalling $175.

This is the surest sign yet that the Bush boys have been humbled. In addition to the unfavorable Supreme Court decision on the Guantanamo detainees, this July 11 AP clip notes some of the political considerations behind the decision to honor the Geneva Conventions:

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration said Tuesday that all detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in U.S. military custody everywhere are entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions.

Joining the estimated 500,000 who took to the streets of Mexico City July 8 to demand a recount in the contested presidential elections is, of all places, the Financial Times. The upper-crust British daily supported the officially victorious conservative candidate Felip Calderon, but in an editorial noting populist challenger Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's demands for a total recount, opined: "That is exactly what Mexico's electoral authorities should do." (La Jornada, July 11; FT, July 10)

Marking their completion of 10 ten years in prison, the two accused Zapatista collaborators being held at the state prison in Tacotalpa, Tabasco, began an indefinite hunger strike July 10 to demand their liberation. The prisoners, Angel Concepcion Perez Vazquez and Francisco Perez Gutierrez, say they are also demanding the release of the peasant protesters detained in May at the village of San Salvador Atenco in Mexico state, and all political prisoners in the nation of Mexico. A group of Chol Maya campesinos have also launched a permanent vigil outside the prison in support of the prisoners. Release of the Zapatista political prisoners is a key demand of the Zapatista National Liberation Army. (La Jornada, July 11)

Despite the recent tensions between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, both governments seem equally paranoid about Western-backed subversion within their borders. And perhaps with reason. From RFE/RL, July 12:

A Tashkent court today ordered the closure of the Urban Institute, a U.S.-based nongovernmental organization.

It seems the Kyrgyz government, itself put in power by a US-sponsored revolution last year, is increasingly paranoid that Washington is brewing another one. And perhaps with reason. Note that negotiations over continued Pentagon access to Kyrgyz military bases are currently underway. Erica Marat writes for Eurasia Daily Monitor, July 13:

Dealing drugs was the least of Pinochet's crimes. But the poor family's delicate sensibilities have been offended by the accusation, it seems. From AP, July 12:

SANTIAGO, Chile - The son of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet filed a defamation suit Tuesday against the general's former intelligence chief, rejecting published accusations that Pinochet became rich off the production and sale of cocaine.

Another reason to love New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer. But, as we've said before regarding a similar case, getting Emmanuel Constant for mortgage fraud is kind of like nailing Hitler for tax-evasion. From Newsday, July 7:

A Queens man and former Haitian paramilitary leader, convicted of the 1994 massacre of slum-dwellers loyal to former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, has been arrested and charged with committing mortgage fraud from the Melville brokerage where he works, Suffolk officials said yesterday.