How predictable. Just as the presidential horserace starts to gain velocity, so do oil prices. The Feb. 26 Reuters headline reads "Oil price rise raises specter of global recession." We are informed: "Oil rose to a 10-month high above $125 a barrel Friday, prompting responses from policymakers around the world including US President Barack Obama, watching US gasoline prices follow crude to push toward $4 a gallon in an election year." The Reuters account cites jitters over a new military conflagration in the Persian Gulf, which is certainly a factor. But some are seeing an intentional manipulation by the most reactionary sectors of the petro-oligarchy to undermine Obama...

Khader Adnan, the Palestinian who recently ended a 66-day hunger strike against his detention by Israel without charge or trial, is recovering well, but still remains in a precarious medical condition, according to a joint statement from the Palestinian prisoner support group Addameer and Physicians for Human Rights—Israel, which respectively sent a lawyer and doctor to visit him on the 23rd. That same day, news emerged that a Palestinian woman has begun her own hunger strike against her detention without charge or trial by Israel. Hana Yahya al-Shalabi spent more than two years in administrative detention, and had been freed in October as part of the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas. On Feb. 17, al-Shalabi, who is 29, was once again arrested by Israeli occupation forces from her home near Jenin in the occupied West Bank, and is again under detention without charge or trial. (Electronic Intifada, Feb. 23)

Leaders of Hamas turned against their long-time ally President Bashar Assad of Syria on Feb. 24, throwing their support behind the rebellion aimed at overturning his dynastic rule. The policy shift—announced in Hamas speeches at Friday prayers in Cairo and a rally in the Gaza Strip—deprives Assad of one of his few remaining Sunni supporters in the Arab world and deepens his international isolation. "I salute all the nations of the Arab Spring and I salute the heroic people of Syria who are striving for freedom, democracy and reform," Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh told thousands at Cairo's al-Azhar mosque. "We are marching towards Syria, with millions of martyrs," chanted worshipers at al-Azhar. The move means a break between Hamas and its longtime de facto ally Hezbollah, which staunchly supports Assad. (Reuters, Feb. 28)

Former Somali prime minister Mohamed Ali Samantar on Feb. 23 accepted legal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity before the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The civil suit was brought by the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) in 2004 against Samantar, who had been living in Washington, DC, for more than 15 years, on behalf of five Somalis under the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991. The plaintiff Somalis had been granted asylum in the US after being imprisoned and tortured while Samantar was in office under dictator Siad Barre. Samantar said he will not contest his legal responsibility but made clear that by doing this he is not admitting guilt. The CJA said this is the first time anyone will be held legally responsible for the events that occurred during Barre's regime.

A federal immigration judge in Florida decided Feb. 23 that former Salvadoran defense minister Gen. Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova can be deported for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during El Salvador's civil war. Judge James Grim found that Vides assisted in both the killing of four US churchwomen in 1980 and the torture of two Salvadorans, who testified against him in hearings last spring in the Orlando immigration court. Although this was not an official order for Vides' deportation, it is a confirmation that the government has the ability to deport him based on charges brought against him by the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Unit of the US Department of Homeland Security.

Hundreds of Muslim worshippers clashed with police Feb. 24 at Jerusalem's Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif. Israeli authorities said that following Friday prayers, a large group of worshippers began hurling rocks at the controversial Mughrabi Bridge leading to the Mount. In a rare move, Israeli police came to the entrance of al-Aqsa Mosque, using tear gas and stun grenades to scatter the protesters. The clash caused confusion amongst the large crowd of worshippers gathered at the holy site. Authorities said 15 Palestinians and 11 police were injured, and four Palestinians were arrested. In light of scattered incidents at the Temple Mount this week, police had heightened their presence at the site on Friday morning. These were the most serious clashes at the Temple Mount since the recent wave of protests began two weeks ago.

From the International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI), Feb. 14:

Resolution against the economic sanctions and threat of war on Iran
The International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI) strongly condemns militaristic policies of capitalism. IASWI is a part of the anti-capitalist movement, of the working class global front and the 99% of the world's population, for a real and enduring peace based on freedom, equality, social and economic justice and the abolition of exploitation.

Unsettling findings. From e! science news, Feb. 23:

Classic Maya civilization collapse related to modest rainfall reductions
A new study reports that the disintegration of the Maya Civilization may have been related to relatively modest reductions in rainfall. The study was led by Professors Martín Medina-Elizalde of the Yucatan Center for Scientific Research in Mexico and Eelco Rohling of the University of Southampton in the UK. Professor Rohling says: "Our results show rather modest rainfall reductions between times when the Classic Maya Civilization flourished and its collapse — between AD 800-950. These reductions amount to only 25 to 40 per cent in annual rainfall. But they were large enough for evaporation to become dominant over rainfall, and open water availability was rapidly reduced. The data suggest that the main cause was a decrease in summer storm activity."