As unrest in the Muslim immigrant suburbs of Paris enters its ninth night, violence appears to be spreading to other towns such as Dijon, Marseille and Normandy, and into the capital itself. Trouble has now been reported from almost 90 towns around the capital, more than twice as many as the previous night, according to police. France's notoriously hardline Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is now seeing conspiracies. "What we have been witnessing ... has nothing spontaneous about it. It was perfectly organized. We are trying to find out by who and how," he said. (The Hindu, Nov. 5)

Noam Chomsky appears to be joining his one-time co-author Edward Herman in loaning legitimacy to denial of (or outright cheerleading for) the genocide in the former Yugoslavia. David Adler notes on his Lerterland blog an Oct. 31 interview with The Chom in the UK Guardian, entitled, with refreshing skepticism, "The Greatest Intellectual?" Writes Adler, in comments bracketing some incriminating, alarmingly stupid quotes from the interview:

From Bloomberg, Oct. 27:

Spanish fishermen blocking the ports of Barcelona and Bilbao have refused to end their protest over soaring diesel fuel costs, threatening shipments to liquefied natural gas terminals in the cities.

Five people were injured when two ambulances crashed into each other in Naples Oct. 22 during a drill designed to test emergency services' response to a terrorist attack. Special anti-terrorism police, helicopters, fire engines, sniffer dogs and Red Cross volunteers took part in the exercise, which had recruited over 100 actors to play dead and injured. Two ambulances rushing to help the "injured" slammed into each other, resulting in five real injured, and two hospitalizations. Another casualty was a woman civil defence volunteer who had to be treated for a panic attack. The "Autumn Emergency 2005" drill followed similar exercises in Rome and Milan organized in the wake of the July 7 London bombings. (Reuters, Oct. 22)

Evidence of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre continues to emerge from the earth of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the BBC reports Oct. 17. Of course our resident Chetniks will tell us this is all more imperialist lies, while their neo-Ustashe rivals (whom they mirror with perfect symmetry) meanwhile blast us for daring to suggest that maybe the Croats committed a few unpleasantries as well. Keep those rotten tomatoes coming, gang!

In an Oct. 14 article in Russia's Komsomolskaya Pravda, the newspaper claimed that it has "sensational" proof that imprisoned military intelligence (GRU) colonel Vladimir Kvachkov was involved in the apparent assassination attempt on Unified Energy Systems (EES) head Anatolii Chubais in March. Kvachkov, an explosives specialist, denies involvement in the alleged plot. However, according to leaks from an investigation completed last month, investigators are convinced of Kvachkov's involvement, the newspaper wrote. The report also cites written statements that Kvachkov reportedly tried to smuggle out of prison, which were intercepted by prison officials. According to the account, Kvachkov wrote: "From a political point of view, the destruction of [people like] Chubais, [Economic Development Minister German] Gref, [Finance Minister Aleksei] Kudrin and [President] Putin can not be recognized as a crime. Our motherland is under international-Jewish occupation and armed actions are the actions of a national-liberation struggle." (RFE/RL Newsline, Oct. 15) (Emphasis added.)

Hamed Abderrahmane, a Spanish national freed in February from over two years in detention at the US base at Guantanamo, Cuba, was sentenced on Oct. 5 by a Madrid court to six years in prison for belonging to a "terrorist organization." Abderrahmane denied belonging to al-Qaeda and described himself as a "martyr."

When a bomb exploded yesterday at the British embassy in Croatia's capital, Zagreb, causing minor injuries to a security guard, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader suggested it might be linked to Croatia's application to join the European Union. Britain is the current president of the EU, and one of several member states that has opposed Croatia's membership until it arrests its main war crimes fugitive, Gen. Ante Gotovina. (Reuters, Sept. 19) Croatian President Stipe Mesic condemned the incident as a "terrorist attack." But when an embassy employee, Damir Rovisan, was arrested today for smuggling in the device, Interior Minister Ivica Kirin said: "This indicates that this is not a terrorist act against the British embassy, but an act of an individual coming from criminal circles." Yet he admitted that no motive had been established for the bombing. (BBC, Sept. 20)