Days before the historic inauguration of Evo Morales in Bolivia, the Andean nation scored another victory—in its struggle against Bechtel, the California engineering giant which had sued the impoverished nation before a World Bank trade court to demand compensation for a water-system privatization contract cancelled by a popular uprising in 2000. Apparently sensing the turning tide, Bechtel has withdrawn its suit. This Jan. 19 account from The Democracy Center in Cochabamba:

Evo Morales was sworn in as Bolivia's president before assembled foreign dignitaries at the congressional building in La Paz Jan. 22, dressed in a sports jacket and white shirt but no tie. One day before, he celebrated with his indigenous supporters at the pre-Columbian ruins of Tiwanaku, dressed in full indigenous regalia, including a head-dress embroidered with the wiphala, symbol of the Quechua-Aymara peoples. This marked the first time that Bolivia's traditional indigenous authorities, known as mallkus (condors), handed over a staff of command and ceremonial vestments to a Bolivian president-elect. (IPS, Jan. 19)

Two explosions in North Ossetia near a border post between the Russian Federation and Georgia's unrecognized breakaway Republic of South Ossetia seriously damaged the main pipeline that supplies gas to Georgia and Armenia Jan 22. The FSB concluded it was caused by explosive charges equal to some 800 grams of TNT. The prosecutor's office of the Republic of North Ossetia reportedly suspects militants from neighboring Ingushetia. A third explosion in the Russian Federation's Karachaevo-Cherkessia Republic damaged the main power line supplying electricity from Russia to Georgia.

A conviction in a torture-killing in Iraq... But no prison sentence—just a "reprimand"...

FORT CARSON, Colo., Jan 23 (Reuters) - A U.S. Army jury on Monday ordered a military interrogator be reprimanded but not sent to prison for the killing of an Iraqi general who was stuffed head first into a sleep bag.

Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer, the highest ranking Army official charged in the death of an Iraqi detainee, also was ordered to forfeit $6,000 in pay and given 60 days of restricted movement.

At least 16 people were injured Jan. 20 as Ethiopian police cracked down on opposition protests in the capital, Addis Ababa, on the second and final day of celebrations marking Timkat, the Epiphany festival of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Demonstrators joined up with religious processions around the city, and were attacked by police, who charged with truncheons. (South Africa Mail & Guardian, Jan. 20)

The heroic Mukhtar Mai is exploited by the Bushes for war propaganda—then sold down the river by the UN to appease Pakistan. Did the US protest this cynical capitulation? We doubt it. From the New York Times, via India's Deccan Herald, Jan. 22:

Mukhtar Mai, the Pakistani woman whose defiant response to being gangraped by order of a tribal court had brought her worldwide attention, was denied a chance to speak at the United Nations on Friday when Pakistan protested that it was the same day the country's prime minister was visiting.

This one really takes the cake. William Blum's anti-imperialist tome Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower has shot up from 205,763 to 26 on Amazon.com's index of the most-ordered books since it was given a favorable review by Osama bin Laden. Wrote the acccused terror mastermind in his Jan. 19 communique:

From London News, Jan. 22:

Kosovo president Ibrahim Rugova died on Saturday aged 61, after a long fight with lung cancer. Mr Rugova was a key player fighting for peace in the region for more than a decade. He took on the Serbian regime of Slobodan Milosevic and symbolized the struggle by Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians for independence from Serbia.