RFE/RL Newsline reports July 1 that a leading Uzbek opposition figure, Muhammad Solih, is seeking to use a visit to Washington to urge the US and European Union to expand their support for "democracy activists" in Uzbekistan.

"We do not ask for a lot from the West," Solih said. "We want the West to aid the legalization of political parties in Uzbekistan. We would like the West to aid the leaders of the opposition to function in Uzbekistan, to ensure the conduct of fair elections in Uzbekistan and the participation of the opposition in those elections and to ensure the existence of a free press. This in and of itself is enough to ensure the peaceful removal of this antidemocratic regime."

Still only rumors at this point, but chilling ones, and a UN rapporteur considers them credible enough to warrant an investigation. Thanks to TruthOut for sending this one from AFP June 29:

US Suspected of Keeping Secret Prisoners on Warships: UN Official
The UN has learned of "very, very serious" allegations that the United States is secretly detaining terrorism suspects in various locations around the world, notably aboard prison ships, the UN's special rapporteur on terrorism said.

From Ha'aretz June 30:

Book: Rabin backed transfer of Arabs in '56
By Amir Oren

Assassinated prime minister Yitzhak Rabin proposed transferring the Palestinians from the West Bank while serving as a major general in the Israel Defense Forces in 1956, according to a book published by the State Archive last week.

The transfer suggestion was raised at an IDF staff meeting attended by then-prime minister and defense minister David Ben-Gurion. Rabin proposed initiating a war against Jordan and using it to deport Palestinians from the West Bank.

Russia has increased its support for the embattled government of Uzbekistan, announcing that it will soon conduct joint military exercises with the regime of President Islam Karimov. The announcement by Sergei Ivanov, Russia's defense minister, was broadcast in Moscow after a meeting with Karimov. Ivanov said the maneuvers would be in central Uzbekistan this summer, the first since Uzbekistan broke from the Soviet Union in 1991.

From the JTA June 30:

French extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen met with a Russian ultranationalist during a visit to Moscow.

Sergei Baburin is deputy speaker of the Rodina Party, some of whose legislators backed a letter earlier this year calling for Jewish groups to be outlawed in Russia. Le Pen was in Russia promoting his idea to close off the European Union to people from the Third World.

See our last post for more on the Rodina Party.

Well, the (supposedly) final design for the "Freedom Tower" that is to rise where the World Trade Center stood has been unveiled after a long, tortuous process. And the design, a brutalist product of politics and paranoia without even a whiff of human spirit, renders the tower's name more Orwellian than ever. Such a ghastly construction can only be understood in the context of the new anti-terrorist police state; indeed, this is probably the first major public building explicitly designed under the direct influence, and with the veto power, of a city police department.

After much speculation following their announcement of a "red alert" last week, on June 26 the Zapatista rebels in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas issued a communique announcing that their "consulta," or consultation with their base communities, was complete, and stating that they would soon release a new statement outlining a "new national and international political initiative." The new statement would be called the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Selva, after their jungle stronghold. The rebels, known officially as the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), have issued such "declarations" at various critical junctures since their 1994 rebellion. (June 26 statement online at the University of Texas Chiapas95 archive.)

Move over, Yoni, there's a new kid in town. Sgt. Avi Beiber made headlines June 28 when he became the first Israeli soldier to refuse to act against Jewish settlers living illegally in the Occupied Palestinian Territories -- like himself. Beiber, who was born in the US, lives with his parents in the illegal settlement of Tekoa in the occupied West Bank. He was sent along with his unit to destroy 11 beach bungalows built by Egyptians when the Gaza Strip was in Egyptian hands before 1967. The IDF feared that settler youth might try to occupy the houses. According to Bieber and journalists at the scene, when he realized what he was being asked to do, he went through a crisis of conscience and started shouting "Jews don't expel Jews." His rifle was taken from him and he was arrested, and slapped with 56 days in the brig for refusing an order. 12 other soldiers also refused, Yediot Aharonoth reported, although the IDF denies this. Bieber explained he "didn't come to the country to expel Jews from their homes," and that he was a "conscientious objector." When fistfights and shoving matches developed after anti-disengagement protesters swarmed to the site, Bieber refused to get involved, leaving his fellow soldiers to take the blows from the settlers. Footage of Bieber's moment of refusal was shown on TV channels 2,4, and 7 in New York City, and Bieber's father received congratulatory calls for his son's actions from Brooklyn.