A Pakistan-based NGO, the Foundation for Fundamental Rights (FFR), led by Islamabad lawyer Shahzad Akbar, has filed a legal case in that country's courts on behalf of a Pakistani citizen, journalist Karim Khan, whose 18-year-old son and brother were killed in a drone attack on New Year's Eve in 2009. The criminal complaint for wrongful death has resulted in Pakistan CIA station chief Jonathan Banks fleeing the country, apparently to avoid prosecution after his anonymity was compromised. The FFR, along with the UK-based legal advocacy group Reprieve, is also seeking an international warrant for former CIA legal director John Rizzo on behalf of families of civilians killed in drone strikes. Rizzo was the individual responsible for approving targets in drone strikes in Pakistan..

On Dec. 12, "narco-banners" (narcomantas) with a four-paragraph communiqué were hung from pedestrian overpasses at 10 different spots around the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, signed with the name of Miguel Angel Treviño AKA "Z-40"—a fugitive leader of Los Zetas. Not hand-scrawled like most narcomantas, but professionally printed, the messages' first paragraph declared: "We do not govern this country, nor do we have a regime; we are not terrorists or guerillas. We concentrate on our work and the last thing we want is to have problems with any government, neither Mexico nor much less with the US." The message went on to distance both Treviño and the Zetas from the alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the US, as well as an August attack in a Monterrey casino that killed more than 50.

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir arrived in Washington DC Dec. 14 to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, World Bank president Robert Zoellick and international investors at a two-day conference. Simultaneously, California-based Oakland Institute issued a report, based on on-the-ground-research, warning of a scramble for the new nation's land as foreign agribusiness interests move in. "As South Sudan opens for business, foreign companies are flocking to invest in the new country and buy up land," said David Deng, author of the report looking at land deals covering an estimated 5.15 million hectares. " For a school, a health centre, some vague promises of employment opportunities, or a couple of thousand dollars in annual lease payments, companies are given long-term leasehold rights of up to 99 years, often without the knowledge of the local populations living on the land."

Security forces have since Dec. 11 blocked roads leading to the village of Wukan, in China's Guangdong province, after residents chased out police. Residents have gathered in the center of the village, the scene of a peasant protest movement over a land grab by local officials. They are demanding negotiations with the central government to resolve the dispute. Chinese authorities have again resorted to pre-emptive electronic action, blocking Internet searches for "Wukan." Users of micro-blogging site Sina Weibo say searches for "Wukan" returns a message reading: "According to relevant law, regulations and policies, search results for Wukan cannot be displayed."

It's too funny. For years, the anti-war left was demanding the US "end the war" in Iraq—as if it has any power to do so. Now the Obama administration takes credit for exactly that, and the corporate media play along: "Obama Pledges Continued Support For Troops As Iraq War Ends," Fox News; "Obama keeps his promise to end the 9-year war," Daily News; "At Iraq War's End, Wounds Are Still Fresh for Falluja," New York Times, etc. Never mind that the supposed US "withdrawal" isn't even that—thousands of private contractors and hundreds of military advisors will be left behind. But, even more to the point, look at what is actually going on in Iraq...

Ron Paul's iconoclastic stances on foreign interventions, civil liberties and the war on drugs are unfortunately winning him much support from naive "progressives"—despite the fact that he is clearly a right-wing wackjob. This is obvious enough from his own words, if his paradoxical "progressive" pom-pom wavers would take the time to do a little reading. For instance, this bogus pseudo-libertarian is proudly anti-choice! USA Today reported Oct. 14 that Paul is airing a lugubrious anti-abortion ad in Iowa. In the 60-second spot, an announcer says Paul is a "man of faith committed to protecting life" before the supposed gadfly congressman recounts how he once watched a late-term abortion being performed, calling it something "I am not able to accept." Where's Mr. Gadfly now? Like a typical weasily politician, he'll talk up the "revolution" (sic!) when he wants to make inroads to gullible elements of the Occupy Wall Street crowd—but toe the Republican line against reproductive freedom when he wants to win over heartland conservatives.

Hundreds of Palestinians gathered in the West Bank Dec. 11 to mourn the death of a Palestinian protester who died after being hit in the face by a tear-gas canister fired by Israeli troops at the village of Nabi Saleh two days earlier. The body of 28-year-old Mustafa Tamimi was carried in a procession that began in the West Bank capitol of Ramallah ending 10 kilometers north at his home village, which hosts weekly protests against land confiscation for an illegal settlement. Linah Alsaafin, a Ramallah-based blogger reported live from the scene in Nabi Saleh during the Friday protest in which Tamimi was mortally wounded. He "was throwing rocks at the [Israeli army] jeep, the door opened and the canister was fired with precision and intent straight in his face," Alsaafin Tweeted. "To use their term, 'surgical precision.'" (CNN, Dec. 11; Ma'an News Agency, Dec. 9)

Media accounts widely differ on an offer being extended by Seychelles for naval forces of the People's Republic of China to have access to the African island nation. The offer was apparently made when a delegation from the People's Liberation Army arrived in Seychelles on Dec. 1, headed by China's defense minister, Gen. Liang Guanglie. An account by Eurasia Review states that an agreement was signed for China to set up a naval base in the Seychelles, to police the region against pirates operating out of Somalia. The LA Times' World Now blog says the Chinese Defense Ministry denies the facility would rise to the level of a naval base, but also notes a study by US government consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton finding that China is seeking to acquire a "string of pearls" across the Indian Ocean for eventual encirclement of India. Ironically, Voice of America portrays the deal in the least alarmist terms, saying it would be a refueling facility, and that China has not yet committed to it.