Category: World News

President Obama is likely to announce on Tuesday, December 1 an escalation in Afghanistan

SDCPJ calls for a Demonstration The Day After his announcement

35,000 new US occupation troops next year

$35 billion more to pay for the war and occupation

Dear President Obama,

Do you really want to be the new “war president”? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do — destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they’ve always heard is true — that all politicians are alike. I simply can’t believe you’re about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn’t so.

by Rocky Neptune

Mexico last week, in an historic, enlightened, humane move, legalized personal drug use throughout the country. The government also announced that drug addiction would be treated as a medical problem rather than a criminal offense.

The planet’s ocean surface temperature was the warmest on record for July, breaking the previous high mark established in 1998 according to an analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The combined average global land and ocean surface temperature for July 2009 ranked fifth-warmest since world-wide records began in 1880.

Armed protesters asserting their right to bear arms, including a man with a rifle slung over his shoulder, gathered yesterday near a Phoenix convention hall where President Barack Obama spoke, a police spokesman said.

The protesters were taking advantage of an Arizona law that allows people to carry unconcealed guns, Phoenix Police Department spokesman Andy Hill said. Police made no arrests.

by Lane Tobias

Its easy to find talented people in OB. For such a small community, we have an unusual amount of creative people, both artists and entrepreneurs, within our midst. I learned this first hand over the last few weeks as I got to know my neighbors Matt Cook and self described “couch-monkey” Joe Clarke.

Matt and Joe have spent the last three months showcasing local residents who make OB San Diego’s most unique and exciting ‘hood on their late night talk show, Matt Cook Live.

By Jeremy Scahill / Peace Resource Center / August 4, 2009

A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia.

The two men claim that the company’s owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company.

Aleida Guevara was four and a half when her father left Cuba. Ernesto “Che” Guevara, iconic Argentine guerrilla leader, Marxist theorist and second-in-command of the Cuban revolution, departed the island for Africa in 1965 after falling out of political favor with Fidel Castro.

She saw him only once again, before his execution by the CIA-backed Bolivian government two years later.

Things in Iran are still very tense. A stalemate has developed between the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the reformist opposition movement, led by Mir Hossein Mousavi. A top editor of a government-aligned newspaper called Mousavi a foreign agent, ratcheting up the rhetoric in the stand-off that has enveloped this country ever since the disputed presidential election on June 12.

However, one of the more positive developments favoring Mousavi is …

Editor: The situation in the Honduran crisis took a dramatic and deadly turn today, July 5th. Two supporters of deposed President Manuel Zelaya were killed in clashes with police at the capital’s airport.

Thousands of his supporters had marched on the airport in anticipation of his return there today. But Zelaya’s jet was blocked from landing, and the plane flew to El Salvador. Here is the most recent MSM report, from CNN, posted at 7:30 pm PDT:

by Lane Tobias

As I have been following the election protests in Iran over the last week or so, I can’t help but feel inspired by the movement’s energy. Long a polarizing global political figure, Iran now has everyone fixated on the unrest in its streets.

For those of us who grew up only knowing Iran as an “evil” place with religious dictators who present death doctrines for anyone not supportive of the ruling regime, it has been an eye-opening experience seeing first-hand the cultural importance Iranians place on personal freedom.

Protesters Rally, Bloggers and Journalists Arrested, Re-form Clerics Step Up Their Criticism of Government – 3 Days of Mourning Called for the Dead

Peaceful demonstrations on Sunday. Here’s alleged video from a blogger in Iran. CNN reported on Twitter: “Eyewitnesses: Thousands of riot police lining Tehran streets Sunday; marches taking place, but no violence reported.”