China's bid to purchase the US oil major Unocal foiled by Chevron, which beat the Chinese firm CNOOC to the punch, it is now seeking a stake in the Caspian Basin oilfields of Kazakhstan--where Chevron is a major investor.

Dozens of protesters shouted, "Rumsfeld, you fascist, you are the terrorist," on Aug. 17 as US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld presented a floral offering at the Tomb of the Heroes in downtown Asuncion during a brief visit to Paraguay. The protest was organized by the Peace and Justice Service-Paraguay (SERPAJ-PY), which called Rumsfeld's visit "an extension of the process of war" by the US against the region. Rumsfeld arrived in Paraguay on Aug. 16 to start a three-day visit to the region.

Escalating violence continues to make life unlivable in Haiti, with police forces and foreign "peacekeepers" contributing to the bloodshed--while those who flee to the neighboring Dominican Republic face racist attacks and mass deportations. From Weekly News Update on the Americas, Aug. 21:

Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson has given Hugo Chavez ample reason for his paranoia, calling for the US to assassinate the Venezuelan president, calling him "a terrific danger" bent on exporting Communism and Islamic extremism across the Americas. "If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it," Robertson told viewers on his "The 700 Club" show Aug. 21. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war." Robertson called Chavez "a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling huge pool of oil, that could hurt us badly."

Washington Post reported Aug. 21 that "US defense contractors are riding high these days, buoyed by rising Pentagon spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the high cost of homeland security in the US-declared war on terror.

The fiscal 2006 defense budget is set to climb to $441 billion, an increase of $21 billion over this year, with an additional $50 billion slated for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congress looks set to approve $79 billion for weapons systems procurement and about $69 billion for military research and development.

Subcomandante Marcos, spokesman for the Zapatista rebels in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas, clarified that the group's new political proposal does not support any candidate for the presidency in the 2006 elections, but neither does it encourage abstention.

The masked leader spoke at the opening ceremony of the third of six meetings with Mexican social organizations the Zapatistas are hosting in their jungle territory, seeking to unite a broad left front. The meeting is being held in the community of Dolores Hidalgo, on lands that had been a finca (plantation) before the 1994 uprising, and are now in the hands of pro-Zapatista Tzeltal Maya Indians.

This one is so blatantly appalling that even the New York Times is aghast. What a sickening display we have to look forward to, and what an offense this political manipulation is to the victims of the attacks. Via TruthOut:

Walking the Wrong Way

New York Times Editorial

Sunday 21 August 2005

The Bush administration has announced plans for a Freedom Walk on Sept. 11, which will start at the Pentagon and end at the National Mall, and include a country music concert. The event is an ill-considered attempt to link the Iraq war to the terrorist attacks of 2001, and misguided in almost every conceivable way. It also badly misreads the public's mood. The American people are becoming increasingly skeptical about the war. They want answers to hard questions, not pageantry.

Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan called her mother's stroke a "devastating blow" that has forced her to leave "Camp Casey" temporarily. She left Crawford, TX, Aug. 18 to be by her mother's side at a Los Angeles hospital. In a message posted on Michael Moore's website, Sheehan said her fellow protesters will "keep up the pressure on the president to meet with us and answer questions about the war."