Daily Report

Bolivia: military tension with US —already

Just to get both sides of the story, first this account (in rather poor English) from Cuba's Prensa Latina:

La Paz, Mar 8 - Bolivia conditioned the return of weaponry and technology the US supplied to an elite military unit on submitting an official request through the Foreign Ministry.

Mexico: "dirty war" files reveal "genocide plan"

Ginger Thompson writes for the New York Times, Feb. 27:

MEXICO CITY, Feb. 26 A secret report prepared by a special prosecutor's office says the Mexican military carried out a "genocide plan" of kidnapping, torturing and killing hundreds of suspected subversives in the southern state of Guerrero during the so-called dirty war, from the late 1960's to the early 1980's.

Zapatista tour advances 10 years after stalled peace accord

Feb. 16 marked a full decade since the signing of the San Andres Accords, negotiated by rebel Zapatista commanders and Mexican federal legislators in the restive southern state of Chiapas. The Accords called for changes to the Mexican constitution as a minimum peace demand for the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), but have languished for ten years as the federal bureaucracy has refused to implement them. As the anniversary passed, Zapatista leaders on a national tour dubbed "The Other Campaign" (a reference to the presidential campaigns now underway in Mexico) arrived in the city of Puebla. (La Jornada, Feb. 17)

Russian pipeline plan threatens Lake Baikal

All press stories on this controversy note that the oil will be exported to China. But, as we have noted, Russia is racing with China to provide a Pacific outlet for Central Asian oil, and we suspect this is the real geopolitical imperative for this project. From the London Times, March 7:

More Jews attacked in France

Why is it only the right-wing press that ever demonstrates any outrage over this sort of thing? Just asking. From the New York Times, March 7:

PARIS, March 6 — Three attacks against Jews over the weekend have added to anxiety that anti-Semitism is growing among a new generation of French citizens in the country's immigrant-heavy, working-class neighborhoods.

Bangladesh: jihadi arrested, guns blazing

With the word's attention elsewhere, a violent confrontation between security forces and jihadis in Bangladesh. From India Monitor, March 7:

Dhaka: Wanted terrorist and Islamist leader Siddiqul Islam better known as Banglabhai, who founded the jihadi organisation Jagrata Muslim Janata and is blamed for deadly bombings, was captured by security forces on Monday after a dramatic encounter at his hideout in Mymensingh district.

Rumsfeld accuses Iran, blasts media

Rumsfeld exploits the carnage in Iraq to score points against Iran, even as he scolds the media for daring to actually report it. How does he keep a straight face? From Bloomberg, March 7:

Jihad in Chapel Hill?

Great propaganda for the right-wing Human Events Online. This from Robert Spencer's "Jihad Watch" column, March 7. Our editorial interjections added.

Last Friday afternoon, a student named Mohammed Taheri-azar drove an SUV onto the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, trying to kill people and succeeding in injuring nine. He explained that he was "thankful for the opportunity to spread the will of Allah."

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