Colombia's ex-president Alvaro Uribe on Dec. 4 called for a "rebellion" against the government of his successor Juan Manuel Santos over the recent capture and release of a general by the FARC guerillas. Now a senator for his own Democratic Center party, Uribe has established himself as the principal critic of the current administration and the ongoing peace process with Colombia's oldest guerilla group. In a Nov. 30 tweet, he wrote: "Many or few, we have the obligation to rebel against the game of Santos, which has equated democracy and its soliders with terrorism." On Dec. 3, the word surfaced again in an Uribe tweet: "We rebel against Santos' mistreatment of Colombia, which seeks to define drug-trafficking as a political crime with altrusitc ends." This is a referrence to Santos' suggestion that FARC drug-trafficking could be considered a political crime, a move aimed at faciilitating the troubled peace talks by potentially sparing guerilla leaders prosecution.

Lawmakers have slipped a provision into the new National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would allow a massive copper mine on public lands that are sacred to the Apache. Previous efforts failed to pass HR 687, or the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act, which would allow a subsidiary of international mining conglomerate Rio Tinto to acquire 2,400 acres of the Tonto National Forest in southeast Arizona in exchange for 5,000 acres in parcels scattered around the state. The massive underground copper mining project is fiercely opposed by environmental groups as well as the San Carlos Apache Tribe, which holds the area, near the town of Superior, as a sacred site. Now the land swap has been incorporated into the 1,600-page NDAA. A petition against the provision has been posted to the White House website. (ICTMN, Arizona Republic, Dec. 3)

International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Fatou Bensouda dropped the charges of murder, rape, persecution, deportation, and other inhumane acts against Kenyan President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta on Dec. 5. This action comes after an ICC trial chamber order that required the prosecutor to either withdraw the charges or show sufficient evidence to proceed to trial. The prosecutor's office ceased action for lack of evidentiary support which was identified by Bensouda as a consequence of the Kenyan government's refusal to cooperate and failure to provide important records of Kenyatta's activities. ICC judges have not made a formal declaration of non-cooperation by the government, but they have expressed that the government's interaction with the investigation did not comport to the standards of good faith set out under the ICC's founding treaty.

Gunmen attacked a police checkpoint and stormed a media building in Grozny, capital of Russia's southern republic of Chechnya, Dec. 3. At least 20 were killed in the attacks and ensuing clashes—10 militants and 10 police. Authorities said no militants escaped. Chechnya's worst fighting in months erupted a few hours before President Vladimir Putin said in a speech in Moscow he would defend Russia against what he called attempts to dismember it, accusing the West of seeking a "Yugoslav scenario," and a "policy of containment" that it has pursued "for decades if not centuries." The Chechen insurgent underground, calling itself the Caucasus Emirate, took credit for the attack in a statement on its website, Kavkaz Center, improbably claiming over 80 "puppet soliders" were killed. The statement said the assault was revenge for "oppression of Muslim women." Media accounts interpreted this as a reference to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov prohibiting local women from wearing the hijab—an accusation he has denied. The Kavkaz Center statement also refered to Grozny as "Jokhar," part of the alternative nomenclature the "Emirate" has for the Russian territory it claims. The Russian policy establishment is already hypothesizing an ISIS hand in the attack. "I suspect ties to the Islamic State, even if they have not commented on it so far," said Alexei Malashenko of the Carnegie Moscow Center. (Reuters, BBC News, Moscow News, RFE/RL, ITAR-TASS, Dec. 4)

A special tribunal in Bangladesh on Dec. 2 found British journalist David Bergman guilty of contempt for challenging the official death toll of Bangladesh's 1971 independence war with Pakistan. Bergman wrote in a 2011 blog post and two other articles that the number of those killed or raped during the war recorded by Bangladeshi officials lacked evidentiary support. According to officials, three million people were killed during the conflict. As a result of the judgment, in which the court stated that the journalist offended the nation, Bergman will have to pay a fine equal to $65. If he fails to do so, he will face a week in jail.

An Egyptian criminal court on Dec. 2 sentenced 188 Muslim Brotherhood supporters to death for an August 2013 attack on a police station in the governate of Giza, widely known as the "Kerdasa massacre." This incident resulted in the death of 11 police officers and two civilians and was staged in response to a military coup that ousted Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president. The death sentences imposed by special circuit court Judge Nagi Shehata are considered provisional, meaning that they will be sent to highest religious authority for his advice on whether the orders should stand. Shehata set a January 24 court date to finalize the sentences. 143 of the 188 defendants are currently in custody, while those not yet in custody will receive a retrial. Rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International condemned the mass death sentences.

Gen. David Rodriguez, head of US Africa Command, said Dec. 3 that ISIS has set up training camps in eastern Libya, and that the Pentagon is closely monitoring the situation. He described the ISIS activity as "very small and nascent," with "around a couple hundred" militants were present at the camps. When asked if the Libyan camps are a potential target for US forces, Rodriguez said: "No, not right now." (AFP, Dec. 4) In October, Libya's militant group Ansar al-Sharia declared an "Islamic emirate" in the eastern city of Derna and pledged allegiance to ISIS. A video posted showed a parade in Derna with militants holding ISIS flags and shouting pro-ISIS slogans. (Al Arabiya, Oct. 6) This now makes three international entities that have joined the ISIS franchise.

Syrian rebels announced formation of a new Revolutionary Command Council at a meeting in Gaziantep, Turkey. The RCC claims to represent over 70 rebel militias. It includes both the Free Syrian Army and the Islamic Front, as well as more Salafist formations such as Ahrar al-Sham. It excludes the Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front. The RCC charter repeatedly uses the terms "the Syrian people," "civilian," and "revolution"—anathema to the Qaedist ideology of Nusra Front and ISIS. Each RCC affiliate is pledged to contribute at least 100 fighters to a proposed rapid intervention force. The RCC's elected head, Qais al-Sheikh, last week resigned from the Syrian National Coalition in protest of its poor performance. (Al Bawaba, Dec. 1)