Amid a growing threat of paramilitary violence in Mexico's conflicted southern state of Chiapas, Subcomandante Marcos, leader of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), reappeared in the highland city of San Cristobal de Las Casas to announce the resumption of his nationwide civil political initiative known as the "Other Campaign." The new phase is to begin March 24 in San Cristobal, where a series of meetings will be held with a Zapatista delegation and national and international supporters. In a document presented to the press, Marcos said the delegation will be "made up of seven female commanders, seven male commanders and a subcomandante," a reference to himself. (El Universal, March 24)

Amid a growing threat of paramilitary violence in Mexico's conflicted southern state of Chiapas, the indigenous civil organization Las Abejas (The Bees), which was targeted in the December 1997 Acteal massacre, issued a statement urging Gov. Juan Sabines not to release Pedro Chulin, director of the Organization for the Defense of Indigenous and Campesino Rights (OPDDIC). Chulin was arrested with several OPDDIC militants following a March 7 disturbance in Ocosingo. (La Jornada, March 24)

Two Border Patrol agents examining a load of marijuana exchanged gunfire March 20 with unseen assailants from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande, near Donna, TX. Border Patrol spokesman Oscar Saldana said the agents were not hurt, and no one was believed injured on the Mexican side. Four loads of marijuana totaling 305 pounds were found on the river bank. Saldana said the agents came under fire as they approached the bank after spotting an inflatable raft near the US side. The raft, with more marijuana on board, was pulled back to the Mexican side during the exchange of fire. It was the second time this year that Border Patrol agents were fired on along the narrow stretch of the river about 13 miles northeast of McAllen. (AP, March 21)

During the week of March 19, federal officials transferred all 72 children out of a Texas detention facility for unaccompanied minors amid allegations that staff there had sexually abused some of the detainees. The 72 children held at the Texas Sheltered Care facility in Nixon were transferred to several destinations, said Tara Wall, a spokesperson at the federal government's Office of Refugee Resettlement. Some were sent to other child detention facilities in Texas, while others were deported. "No person who had made allegations of abuse was deported," according to Wall.

Early on March 19, ICE agents raided an apartment building in the village of Mount Kisco, in the lower Hudson Valley area of New York state, allegedly searching for a fugitive. Local police said the fugitive, Estanslao Lopez, is an immigrant with multiple criminal convictions—though they wouldn't release his rap sheet. Village police Lt. Patrick O'Reilly referred questions to immigration officials. "It was their operation," he said. The raided apartment building was apparently Lopez's last known address.

On March 23, a three-judge panel of the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Alexandria, Virginia, unanimously affirmed a civil contempt ruling against former University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian activist who has refused to testify in front of a federal grand jury investigating Islamic charities in northern Virginia. Al-Arian had argued that a plea agreement in his Florida prosecution exempts him from testifying before the grand jury.

In the March 25 Washington Post, Trilateral Commission ideological guru and former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski once again sounds like he was bitten by a radioactive Noam Chomsky. What's really sad is that the remnants of the American left are so rudderless and gullible that they fail to recognize this intra-elite squabbling on the proper maintenance of Empire as what it is, and fall for the pseudo-populist rhetoric. They will doubtless eagerly lap up this Trilateralist ejaculate, as they do the vile propaganda of Mearsheimer and Walt—never stopping to question the reactionary source. Writes Zbiggy (more commentary to follow):

Did you happen to catch this one? What a sad story. This Miss Israel contest really does represent the culture of narcissism and objectification, as well as an oppressive colonialist state. But young Ms. Fares seems to have had few other options—and those opposing her choice seem to also represent something rather oppressive. From the Toronto Globe & Mail, March 15: