Will Chile be the next to join South America's growing anti-imperialist bloc? Michelle Bachelet will certainly not prove a radical populist like Venezuela's Hugo Chavez or Bolivia's newly-elected Evo Morales. But she could prove a more moderate member of the bloc, like Brazil's Lula de Silva, Argentina's Néstor Kirchner or Uruguay's Tabare Vazquez. (Peru could be next, where candidate Ollanta Humala is cut from the more radical mold.) From the AP, Jan. 16:

Gee, we can hardly wait for this one. From Reuters, Jan. 15:

TEHRAN - Iran is planning a conference to assess the scale of the Holocaust, which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejects as a myth, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said on Sunday.

There they go again. "We apologize, but I can't tell you that we wouldn't do the same thing again," says John McCain. Why do politicians always talk out of both sides of their mouths like this? What does an apology mean if you readily admit you would engage in the same behavior again? Absolutely nothing. From AP, Jan. 17:

Islamic groups yesterday vowed to step up anti-US protests in Pakistan over an alleged CIA airstrike on a border village, as intelligence officials said al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader was supposed to be in the village for an Islamic holiday when it was struck.

Yet another report of peasant protesters killed by the security forces in (nominally communist) China. Is there any national coordination to the fast-growing peasant movement? Is anyone working in the West to loan them solidarity? From the Jan. 17 New York Times:

SHANGHAI, Jan. 16 - A week of protests by villagers in China's southern industrial heartland over government land seizures exploded into violence over the weekend, as thousands of police officers brandishing automatic weapons and electric stun batons moved to suppress the demonstrations, residents of the village said Monday.

At least 24 undocumented Haitians died as they were being smuggled into the Dominican Republic in a small truck near the northern city of Dajabon on Jan. 10. The victims died of asphyxiation while riding with about 45 other Haitians in the unventilated truck, according to Dominican police, who said the smugglers threw out some of the bodies while the truck was still moving. Eleven of the bodies were found on Jan. 10 in La Mina de Cacheo, and 13 more were found on Jan. 11, police said; both communities are in the northwest. Police detained two Dominicans who allegedly drove the truck, according to police spokesperson Gen. Simon Diaz. (AP, Jan. 11) On Jan. 12 Dominican sources put the total number of deaths at 25. (El Diario-La Prensa, NY, Jan. 13)

Two US-based groups that carry out solidarity activities with Cuba, the Venceremos Brigade and Pastors for Peace, confirmed on Jan. 9 that the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has fined hundreds of their supporters a total of $1.5 million for traveling to Cuba. In July and August 2005 OFAC sent letters to about 200 people who have traveled to Cuba with the two organizations, which both refuse to apply for licenses to travel to Cuba as a protest against US restrictions they say infringe on their constitutional right to free travel. People who violate the US embargo against Cuba can face fines as high as $7,500.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez weighs in on the accusations that he made anti-Semitic comments in a Christmas Eve speech. OK, maybe the accusations are part of an "imperialist campaign." But why is anti-Semitism the only form of ethnic hatred which it is acceptable in supposedly progressive discourse to simply dismiss accusations of as an "imperialist campaign"? Why is there no acknowledgement here of even the possibility that his comments were honestly interpreted as anti-Semitic? We do wish this Jan. 15 report from Israel's YNet gave more information. Did Chavez have anything else to say about the accusations?

Venezuela's Chavez says not anti-Semitic
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez denies allegations he is anti-Semitic, claims charges part of 'imperialist campaign'
Reuters

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez on Friday rejected as propaganda charges by the Simon Wiesenthal Center that he made anti-Semitic remarks during a nationally broadcast Christmas speech last month.

Business and commerce in Sri Lanka's port city of Trincomalee were paralyzed as a three-day strike in protest against renewed violence by the Tamil Tiger guerillas entered its last day Jan. 14. Main roads in the town were deserted except for government troops on patrol. Shops, government offices, schools, public markets, banks and transportation were all closed in the hartal (strike) called by the Sinhala Vimukthi Sanvidanaya, a civil organization of the dominant Buddhist Sinhalese ethnicity. A Jan. 13 rally in support of the strike was reportedly attended by Tamils and Muslims as well as Sinhalese. (Qatar Gulf Times, Jan. 15) Authorities said they also suspected that the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) was involved in the work stoppage. The Marxist JVP is currently a key ally of President Mahinda Rajapakse's government. (PTI, Jan. 13) The TamilNation website accuses the JVP of representing "Sinhala Buddhist fundamentalism in Marxist garb."