President Barack Obama on Dec. 31 signed the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012, with controversial provisions that codify into law indefinite detention of terror suspects. The act allows the president to use "all necessary and appropriate force" to detain any person, including US citizens, who "was part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces, under the law of war until the end of hostilities." In a signing statement, Obama wrote: "The fact that I support this bill as a whole does not mean I agree with everything in it. I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation and prosecution of suspected terrorists... My Administration will aggressively seek to mitigate those concerns through the design of implementation procedures and other authorities available to me as Chief Executive and Commander in Chief, will oppose any attempt to extend or expand them in the future, and will seek the repeal of any provisions that undermine the policies and values that have guided my Administration throughout my time in office."

The disgraceful and frighteningly uniform rallying for Ron Paul among bigshot talking heads on the so-called "left" has made further impressive strides towards cynicism, dishonesty and self-defeating idiocy in recent days. Glenn Greenwald uses his Salon column Dec. 31 to gush over Paul—while denying he "supports" or "endorses" him so many times that it smells strongly of methinks-he-doth-protest-too-much. Effuses Greenwald: "Ron Paul is the only major candidate from either party advocating crucial views on vital issues that need to be heard, and so his candidacy generates important benefits." He goes on to dismiss principled progressive criticisms of Paul as "fallacies":

At least 52 people, including women and children, have been killed in clashes over a land conflict between the Ezza and Ezilo ethnic groups in southeastern Nigeria's Ebonyi state over the weekend. The fighting came just a state of emergency was declared by President Jonathan in the north-central states of Plateau, Niger, Yobe and parts of Borno, in response to a wave of attacks by Islamist group Boko Haram. (PTI, The Telegraph, Jan. 1) The country's worst oil spill in a decade has meanwhile struck southern Delta state, with over a million gallons of crude washing up on local beaches. Villagers and fishermen say the oil is coming from a loading accident at Royal Dutch Shell's offshore Bonga facility last month—a claim the company denies. Shell says five ships were used to disperse and contain the spill, preventing the crude from washing ashore. (Reuters, Jan. 1; FSRN, Dec. 30) Ironically, the spill comes as the Nigerian government has dropped fuel subsidies as an austerity measure—prompting trade unions to call for a repeat of the strikes and street protests that thwarted previous attempts to end the subsidy program. (Reuters, Jan. 1)

Shortly before the ball dropped in Times Square, hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters swarmed over police barricades at downtown Manhattan's Zuccotti Park. As midnight approached, the hundreds gathered at Zuccotti Park shouted "Whose year? Our year!" As they grabbed the barricades, police officers took hold as well, and a shoving match began. At least one officer fired pepper spray into the crowd. Moments later, at least a dozen officers charged into the park, plowing directly into the crowd. One man was thrown down and pinned to the ground by several officers, as protesters shouted "Peaceful!" and "Nonviolent!" After police cleared the park, arresting 68, a small group of protesters gathered on the sidewalk directly across Broadway from the park, where a projector displayed slogans in letters of light on the side of a modernistic sculpture: "We are the 99%" and "Whose year? Our year!" (AP, Jan. 1; NYT City Room blog, Addicting Info, Dec. 31; World War 4 Report on the scene)

Mexican federal police on Dec. 28 announced the arrest at Mexico City’s international airport of Luis Rodríguez Olivera AKA "El Guero" (Blondie)—a narcotics kingpin who has collaborated with various of Mexico's warring cartels, and who was indicted in US federal court in 2009. U.S. authorities offered a reward of up to $5 million for Rodríguez Olivera, who with his brother Esteban (extradited to the US in March) is accused of smuggling tons of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States and Europe, mainly through Texas. In a statement, Mexican police said Rodríguez Olivera and his brothers led a gang called Los Gueritos (The Blondies) that formed temporary alliances with the Gulf Cartel and Zetas, but worked between 1996 and 2008 for the Sinaloa Cartel, the country's most powerful. He is being held until a hearing on a US extradition request. (BNO News, Dec. 29; AP, Reuters, Dec. 28)

It would certainly be an irony if the US "withdrawal" from Iraq (which really isn't, with hundreds of military advisors and thousands of private contractors staying behind, and the Pentagon set to augment its troop presence in the Gulf region) only wound up sparking a US military confrontation with Iran. There are growing signs of fear of Iranian power over Iraq, and of a backlash from Sunnis and secularists. On Dec. 27, three leading members of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya coalition had an op-ed in the New York Times, "How to Save Iraq From Civil War." The writers are Iraqiya leader and ex-prime minister Ayad Allawi (actually a Shi'ite but an ex-Baathist); parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi; and finance minister Rafe al-Essawi. They appeal to Washington to pressure Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to stop hoarding power in violation of power-sharing agreements, and are quick to play the Iran card. They charge: "Maliki is welcoming into the political process the Iranian-sponsored Shiite militia group Asaib Ahl al-Haq, whose leaders kidnapped and killed five American soldiers and murdered four British hostages in 2007."

It is a sad day indeed. The most prominent website on what is popularly (if not quite accurately) perceived as the political "left," Counterpunch, on Dec. 27 runs a piece by Dave Lindorff, "Why the Establishment is Terrified of Ron Paul," plugging the far-right populist as "Better Than Obama" (because he opposes the "War on Terror" and will stand up to the Israel Lobby, of course). All Lindorff can say about the ugly racism that repeatedly appeared under Paul's name in his own newsletter is, "The racist bit is funny. After all, if we're honest, the whole political infrastructure of the US is riven with racism." As if the institutionalized racism of the system lets an individual—much less one who is running for president!—off the hook for personal racism. The particular irony is that Paul getting a pass from his supporters for his serial racism is part of the institutionalized racism of the system! This is merely the disgraceful left-wing equivalent of the right cutting a pass for the blatant racism displayed on the Palin-McCain campaign trail in '08. And as the "alternative" media fall for right-wing populism and betray anti-racist principles, it is the dreaded "MSM" that ironically rise to the occasion. The same day Counterpunch ran Lindorff's apologia, the goddam New York Times ran an editorial that said exactly what needs to be said about Ron Paul:

The Jerusalem city council's district planning committee on Dec. 28 approved plans for a large tourism complex in the flashpoint neighborhood of Silwan, just south of the Old City. The project is to be built on a plot of land currently being used as a parking lot opposite the Dung Gate, main entrance to the Western Wall and the Old City's Jewish Quarter. It would be managed by Elad, a hardline settler organization, which runs the nearby archaeological site at David's City. Local Palestinian activists protested the move. "This project aims to promote settler tourism and religious tourism," said Fakhri Abu Diab, head of the Silwan Defense Committee, who said the city had confiscated local land for the project. "This complex will change the character of the area and will emphasize the idea that Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people—because it is a political project too."