On the night of Feb. 9, Bolivia's Plurinational Assembly passed a new law mandating a consultation process for indigenous communities in the Isiboro-Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS)—billed as a "compromise" between proponents and opponents of the proposed road through the reserve. The new law threatens to undermine the existing law that cancelled the highway in October and now protects the TIPNIS as an "untouchable" ecological zone. The consultation law was developed by ruling Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) legislative leaders in conjunction with CONISUR, an indigenous organization that favors the road project. It was approved by the MAS-controlled legislature in less than a week, and promptly signed into law by President Evo Morales—sparking an immediate outcry from indigenous leaders opposed to the road.

Colombia's former Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo was charged with conspiracy, fraud and illegal arms trafficking Feb. 10, despite having left the country. The prosecution, having already successfully sought an arrest warrant against Restrepo, demanded the close ally of ex-president Alvaro Uribe be sent to jail while awaiting trial because of his attempt to flee and failure to appear before hearings five times. According to prosecutor Francisco Villarreal of Colombia's Fiscalía, the ex-peace commissioner had actively taken part in a fraudulent demobilization of 62 bogus FARC fighters in 2006.

On Jan. 23, the administration of President Mauricio Funes named retired general Francisco Ramón Salinas as the new director of El Salvador’s National Civil Police (PNC), replacing former director Carlos Ascencio—thus removing the last high-ranking member of the public security cabinet linked to the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). Prior to his naming, Salinas was vice-minister of Defense and an active-duty general; he officially retired from military service several hours before Funes appointed him.

Nigeria's Bayelsa state government said Feb. 9 it will speed up the release of money to help hundreds of thousands of villagers affected by a Chevron off-shore oil spill in January. The affected areas are Kolo Ama I and II, Akasa, Sanagana, Fish Town, Fropa, Ekeni, Ezetu and Lobia—all in Bayelsa state, and with a combined population of some 500,000. Bukola Saraki, chairman of the Senate committee on environment and ecology, said his committee had convened several meetings with senior Chevron Nigeria officials, the Nigerian National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, and the Nigerian Department of Petroleum Resources to plan an initial impact assessment of the contamination and begin clean-up operations. "We will also ensure that Chevron takes appropriate steps to contain the spill, remediate the impacted area and if there has been any loss as a result, ensure that adequate compensation is paid to the immediate community," Saraki said.

Arms sales from China and Russia are fuelling serious human rights violations in Darfur, Amnesty International said Feb. 8. A new briefing, "Sudan: No end to Violence in Darfur," documents how China, Russia, and Belarus continue to supply weapons and munitions to Sudan despite compelling evidence that the arms will be used against civilians in Darfur. Exports include supplying significant quantities of ammunition, helicopter gunships, attack aircrafts, air-to-ground rockets and armored vehicles. Although the war has largely disappeared from global headlines, an estimated 70,000 people were displaced from eastern Darfur in 2011, in a renewed wave of ethnically targeted attacks against the Zaghawa community by Sudanese government forces and militias. Amnesty said that arms supplied to the government of Sudan are used in Darfur both directly by the Sudan Armed Forces; and government-backed militia including the Popular Defense Force. (AI, Feb. 8)

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Feb. 10 reiterated its call for international action to protect civilians in Syria, calling for Syrian officials suspected of crimes against humanity to be tried before the International Criminal Court (ICC). High Commissioner Navi Pillay is now scheduled to address the UN General Assembly next week regarding the latest humanitarian developments in Syria, where the ongoing uprising challenging the autocratic rule of President Bashar Assad has resulted in a bloody government crackdown that has seen more than 5,000 people killed since March. Reports of increased violence in recent days prompted Pillay earlier this week to urge international intervention on behalf of the Syrian people.

The Greek cabinet approved new austerity measures demanded by the EU and IMF in return for a €130 billion ($170 billion) bailout, as unions began a two-day general strike Feb. 10. This second proposed bailout would cut €3.3 billion from state spending, lower the minimum wage by more than 20%, and lay off thousands of workers. Demonstrators in front of the parliament building threw rocks and petrol bombs at police, who retaliated with tear gas. The austerity bill must be approved by parliament. Five ministers have resigned from the government in protest of the bill, and junior parties in the ruling coalition have defected over the "humiliating" terms. But interim Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said rejecting the measures "is not an option that we can allow as the country will pay a high price for the consequences... Any other option would be catastrophic." (SETimes, BBC News, NYT, Feb. 10)

What's utterly maddening about this is the complete hypocrisy of reactions in the West—both from the establishment, which purports to support democracy and secularism in the Middle East while continuing to arm and underwrite the Saudi regime, and from the "left," which correctly opposes the rise of Christian fundamentalist rule at home while (as have have bemoaned before) it is so caught up in the mutual demonization among rival branches of the Abrahamic tradition that it seems incapable of recognizing the threat of Islamic fundamentalism. Is it only going to be neocons who will rally to the defense of Hamza Kashgari? That would be really depressing. From Global Post, Feb. 10: