A US military training center in the port city of Concón, in the central Chilean province of Valparaíso, will be used for exercises "clearly oriented toward the control and repression of the civilian population," according to an open letter that more than 20 human rights organizations sent Defense Minister Andrés Allamand on May 7. The US government has spent $460,000 constructing the installation, which opened on April 5 at the Chilean military's Fort Aguayo naval base. UPI Business News writes that the site "is growing into a major destination for regional military trainers and defense industry contractors."

Chile's Supreme Court on May 11 issued a ruling blocking construction of the Cuervo hydroelectric dam in Patagonia until further environmental studies have been carried out. The dam was one of three hydroelectric plants proposed by Energía Austral, a private joint-venture between Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata Copper and Australia's Origin Energy, to supply power to copper mines in the area. The court found that the project failed to file a required soil study with the National Geology and Mining Service, overturning a decision earlier this month by Aysén region's Environmental Evaluation Commission giving the project the green light. The environmental advocacy group Chile Sustentable welcomed the decision, hailing it as "a tremendous achievement for the citizens." Chile, the world's leading copper producer, needs to double its electrical generating capacity in the next decade to meet requirements of a planned massive expansion in the mining sector. The two remaining hydro-plants in the Energia Austral mega-scheme, Blanco and Cóndor, still await approval. (International Water Power, May 14; Jurist, May 13; Reuters, May 11; AFP, May 8)

National Police troops in the service of the Antamina company detained 16 local campesinos from San Marcos municipality, Huari province, in Peru's central Andean region of Áncash, in the pre-dawn hours of May 10. Eight were taken off a combi microbus, and eight detained at their homes in the hamlet of San Pedro de Pichiu by elite troops of the Special Operations Directorate (DINOES). Witnesses said they were beaten as they were detained, and then taken to a police post at Yanacancha, on land within the Antamina mining camp, where the are still being held. Pablo Salazar Solís, San Marcos municipal agent for the district, was able to visit the detainees, and told the National Confederation of Communities Affected by Mining (CONACAMI) that they had been tortured during interrogations and forced to falsely confess that they had taken part in a recent protest against the company. San Pedro de Pichiu residents this week held a 24-hour civil strike (paro), blocking roads to protest the contamination of local waters in an Antamina petrol spill. In the May 4 truck accident, a tanker full of petrol was spilled into Laguna Huatucocha, a highland lake in the watershed of the Río Mosta, a tributary of the Marañón, the central river of Peru's Andes.

The joke used to be that it was a holiday created by the greeting card industry, but does anyone send greeting cards anymore in this digital age—even on Mother's Day? You'd never know that the holiday actually has subversive anti-war roots if it weren't for periodic efforts by pacifists to rescue this inconvenient historical fact from oblivion. The latest such effort is an editorial on the lefty website Nation of Change, entitled "The Radical Roots of Mother's Day." We give them creds for serving the cause of historical memory—but, alas, we have the odious duty of calling them out on their own insidious revisionism, which sheds light on the weakness of a pure pacifist position. Here's the critical chunk of the text:

The US is to resume military sales to Bahrain, suspended last year due to human rights concerns, the State Department announced May 11. The Obama administration notified Congress that certain sales would be allowed for Bahrain's defense force, coast guard and national guard, although it would maintain a hold on TOW missiles and Humvees. "We have made the decision to release additional items to Bahrain mindful of the fact that there are a number of serious unresolved human rights issues that the government of Bahrain needs to address," the State Department statement said. A scheduled $53 million sale was halted in October when members of Congress voiced concern about arming the dictatorship. At that time, the State Department assured Congress that it would take into account progress of human rights reforms in Bahrain before proceeding with the sale.

Isn't it interesting how different news outlets can take exactly the same facts and come up with completely opposite headlines? It seems that the US military advisors in Yemen, pulled out last year due to human rights abuses by the crumbling regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh, are set to return now that Saleh has been ousted and (sort of) democratic elections held. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, questioned whether this could be a prelude to a greater commitment of ground troops, said: "There's no consideration of that." So The Hill, in its portentously named "defense blog" DEFCON Hill, heds its story, "Panetta guarantees no US troops headed to Yemen." The Christian Science Monitor, perhaps hoping an alarmist hed will result in more hits, opts for, "US sends troops to Yemen as Al Qaeda gains ground." Cute, huh? We hope both these publications will emulate the example of World War 4 Report in future, and give heds that accurately represent the facts. We note with chagrin that neither account actually bothers to tell us how many advisors are being dispatched, what branch of the armed forces they are from, or any other such details.

The Pentagon is this week leading the largest multinational military exercises in the history of Jordan, with maneuvers planned along the Syrian border as well as in the Gulf of Aqaba, across from Israel. The "Eager Lion 2012" exercises are bringing together army units from 17 countries, including Jordan, the United States, France, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. In response to the obvious question from journalists, officials said that the war game scenarios are not directed at any particular enemy, and that Operation Eager Lion was planned three years in advance. Maj. Robert Bockholt, public affairs officer at US Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT), said: "Execution of Eager Lion 2012 is not connected to any real-world event. It has nothing to do with Syria. It is just a coincidence."

The New York/Hong Kong-based Human Rights in China (HRIC) reports that You Minglei, a bank employee and independent activist in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, was taken into police custody last month on suspicion of "inciting subversion of state power" after distributing political leaflets. He is apparently being held at Nanchang Municipal No. 2 Detention Center. Jiangxi-based independent election candidates Liu Ping and Li Sihua told HRIC that on April 27, You Minglei distributed the leaflets at Jiangxi Normal University, with the slogans, "Oppose communism and love our country; reinstate China; human rights are innate; freedom and democracy" (爱国反共、恢复中华、天赋人权、民主自由), as well as opposition figure Zhu Yufu's poem "It's Time." Hangzhou dissident Zhu Yufu was sentenced to seven years in prison for this poem and other activities in 2012.