Somalia: Al-Shabab, extremism and US allies http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/66120

The rise of Al-Shabab in Somalia must be seen in the context of decades of mismanagement, dictatorship and abuse, writes Yohannes Woldemariam. Following Ethiopia’s US-backed intervention in 2006, the ascendancy of Somalia’s moderate UIC (Union of Islamic Courts) was blocked and some 300,000 people were displaced, in the wake of which ‘the Al-Shabab extremists triumphed as a hegemonic force’ from within the UIC. And as the dust settles on last week’s Kampala bombing, Woldemariam contends, the governments of US allies Ethiopia and Uganda are once again seeking to capitalise on the tragedy for their own ends, ‘with Obama playing right into it’.

Peru Tries to Expel Critic of Development Policy https://nacla.org/node/6674

On July 1 the Peruvian government notified Father Paul Mc Auley, an environmental activist in the northern Amazon region, that it was rescinding his residency in the country. The order to expel the British priest comes on the heels of his efforts to ensure accountability for the massive June 19 oil spill of PlusPetrol, an Argentine oil company with a safety record equal to that of British Petroleum. This further indicates an unofficial governmental policy in Peru to stifle voices that highlight the social and environmental costs of the country’s resource development agenda.

comment-also read...comment-Obama Praises Garcia's Leadership http://thepage.time.com/2010/06/01/obama-to-host-peruvian-president/

CostaRica,EE.UU Why are Marines Disembarking in Costa Rica? http://alainet.org/active/39632&lang=es

  For another thing, the weakness and inconsistency of this pretext – that of the “fight against drug trafficking,” becomes even more obvious when it is learned that the United States is the number one worldwide producer of marijuana, something that according to a study from the Drug Science Foundation, reaches a sum of more than $35 billion dollars in that country, a figure that surpasses the combined value of wheat and corn production.[2]Third, and finally, control and administration of the drug trafficking business as a means to sustain imperialist domination in the Empire’s provincial reaches cannot be underestimated.

NAFTA & Political Economy of Immigration http://alainet.org/active/39661&lang=es

International migration is not, strictly speaking, a new phenomenon. However, in recent decades, the ascendancy of the global economy and the (short-lived?) triumph of neoliberal economics produced a parallel ascendancy in the rate of international immigration. Specifically, in Mexico the effects of neoliberal structural-adjustment programs in the 1980s, NAFTA in the 1990s, and the ongoing Security and Prosperity Partnership have produced successive waves of Mexican migrants to the United States.  

As trade negotiations and immigration policy were formally joined in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, the Commission for the Study of International Migration and Cooperative Economic Development was created to study the causes of immigration to the United States and to offer advice on how to filter and contain it. The commission's first report to President Bush in 1990 found that the primary motivation for migrating north was economic.

"Military Rule 2.0?": Civil-military relations in Mexico http://justf.org/podcast/?p=episode&name=2010-07-22_military_rule_20__civilmilitary_relations_in_mexico.mp3

A recent article in the Boston Globe argues that Mexico is a case of creeping military rule, abetted by the United States. Adam explores that concern, as well as recent efforts to limit the Mexican armed forces' power

Marine at Heart of Camp Pendleton Stolen Files Case Dies http://cryptogon.com/?p=16576

A Marine Corps colonel accused of leaking classified information to an anti-terrorism unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has died.The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department says Larry J. Richards was suffering brain, kidney and liver problems when he died Saturday at his home in Lake Arrowhead. He was 52.

comment-how convenient....

War on drugs Losing the word war - Juneau Empire http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/072210/opi_680780849.shtml

The phrase 'war on drugs' is a metaphor, and as George Lakoff and Mark Johnson point out in their book 'Metaphors We Live By,' how we use words to frame our behavior often creates our reality. The use of drugs is not something one can go to war with, nor is an ideology something we can go to war with."

'Sanctions of Mass Destruction' (SMD): US Sponsored Economic Blockade Destroys North Korea's Health Care System http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=20215

'Amnesty International has released a report condemning the North Korean government for failing to meet “its obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the right to health of its citizens”, citing “significant deprivation in (North Koreans’) enjoyment of the right to adequate care, in large part due to failed or counterproductive government policies.”

The report documents rundown healthcare facilities which “operate with frequent power cuts and no heat” and medical personnel who “often do not receive salaries, and many hospitals (that) function without medicines and essentials.”

Horrific stories are recounted of major operations carried out without anaesthesia. Blame for this is attributed solely to the North Korean government. While unstated, the implication is that DPR Korea is a failed state, whose immediate demise can only be fervently wished for (or worked toward.)'

comment-tragic and stilll not surprising,how western nations use such tactics to detsroy innocent peoples lives,wether thru war,famine,or this...however that being said,we o not endorse amnesty international...

Florida Dengue Fever Outbreak Leads Back to CIA and Army Experiments http://uruknet.com/?p=m68160&hd=&size=1&l=e

'With little fanfare on July 13, Florida officials released the findings of a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study conducted recently in the Key West area revealing that about 10 percent, or 1,000 people, of the coastal town's population are infected with the dengue fever virus.

While the July 13 release made little mention of it, the CDC study was provoked by an earlier 2009 report that a woman in New York State, who had returned from a Florida Keys' visit, had contracted dengue fever. Within a few weeks of this initial report, two additional cases were discovered in people who had returned from Key West. Over the next three months of 2009, an additional 26 cases were identified, all tied to visits to the town.'

French Police Use Live Ammunition Against Rioters Over Police Killings http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jul2010/riot-j20.shtml

'Over the last week, two young men were shot and killed while attempting to flee police, in the suburbs of Grenoble and the village of Saint-Aignan in central France. Police have responded to riots provoked by the killings with massive police deployments, firing live ammunition.'

Hatred Of Iran And 'WMD' Scam In BP Oil Disaster?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsI-HvW4fpw&feature=player_embedded

UK Seeks War Crimes Law Change http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3923891,00.html

'The British government on Thursday submitted a proposal calling to amend its universal jurisdiction law, which will effectively prevent private individuals from filing lawsuits against foreign leaders. If approved, the law will spare Israeli politicians and high-ranking IDF officers war crimes arrest warrants upon their arrival in the UK."Our commitment to our international obligations and to ensuring that there is no impunity for those accused of crimes of universal jurisdiction is unwavering, "Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said Thursday.'

UK Admits Using Depleted Uranium Ammunition in Iraq http://presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=135896&sectionid=351020201

'UK defense secretary says American and British forces used depleted uranium (DU) ammunitions during the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. "UK forces used about 1.9 metric tons of depleted uranium ammunition in the Iraq war in 2003," UK Defense Secretary Liam Fox said in a written reply to the House of Commons on Thursday, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

The announcement came after a joint study by the environment, health and science ministries in Iraq said there were communities near the cities of Najaf, Basra and Fallujah with increased rates of cancer and birth defects over the past five years.'

The Israeli rights new 'peace' agenda http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_6140.shtml

As the Israelis are becoming conscious of their inevitable tragic circumstances, a final desperate attempt to rescue the Zionist project has come to life. Astonishingly enough it is the Israeli right that is now pushing for ‘one binational State.’ It is pretty staggering to find out that while the Israeli so-called ‘left’ is locked within the 1967 territorial paradigm that is fueled by Judeo-centric racial ideology, it is actually the hawkish Zionist thinkers who are willing to move the discourse forward.

Gulf Dispersants: BP and Nalco Play Toxic Roulette http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15609

BP has dumped almost two million gallons of dispersants from Nalco in the Gulf of Mexico that is disguising the extent of the Deepwater spill and the inability of existing technology to mitigate the disaster. Even if BP eventually staunches the hemorrhage of oil, devastating toxins will linger for decades.

Vanunu's Ongoing Persecution in Israel http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/072110a.html

Israel has put nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu back in solitary confinement for speaking out, reports Eileen Fleming.

U.S. Ends Ban on Ties With Indonesian Special Forces http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/07/22-3

Washington said Thursday it was dropping a ban on ties with Indonesia's special forces, imposed over human rights abuses in the 1990s, a move that may eventually allow combat training of the once-notorious unit.

The Secrecy State http://coto2.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/the-secrecy-state/

Under the I-hate-government, let’s-drown-it-in-the-bathtub administration of George Bush and Dick Cheney, the Secrecy State swelled to such enormous proportions it required more than a dozen investigative journalists from the Washington Post two years to fathom its size and shape.

In our otherwise financially bankrupt society, where we can afford virtually nothing that actually helps people, money is no object in the Secrecy State. Thus in the name of national security, as Dana Priest and William M. Arkin tell us in “Top Secret America,” their harrowing tale of government gone wild, 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies are currently in the homeland security, counterterrorism and intelligence game.

How Psychologists Profit on Unending U.S. Wars http://www.counterpunch.org/levine07222010.html

While U.S. military psychiatrists are prescribing increasing amounts of chill pills, America’s psychologists are teaching soldiers how to think more positively about their tours in Afghanistan, Iraq, and wherever else they are next ordered to kill the bad guys and win the hearts and minds of everyone else...“We’re after creating an indomitable Army.”

Barriere Lake Algonquins set up peaceful blockade http://intercontinentalcry.org/barriere-lake-algonquins-set-up-peaceful-blockade/

Early this morning, a group of Barriere Lake Algonquins set up a peaceful blockade on the access road leading to their reserve, about 300 km north of Ottawa. The defensive action was aimed at stopping a government-appointed electoral officer from holding a nomination meeting