Kofi Annan visited a refugee camp during the weekend in Darfur,Sudan.
He met refugees who made desperate pleas to him for protection and aid.
Clearly the Sudanese government is doing nothing substantial to halt the attacks (which they instigated to quell a local rebellion) on
the Darfurians whilst continually making false assurances and promises to Western governments including stating that they are powerless to stop the militia.

Excerpt from the article "The lack of help for southern Sudan reveals a growing gap between rhetoric and reality as the G8 industrial nations prepare for their summit at Gleneagles in July, where fighting Africa's poverty will be high on the agenda."

Famed American economist Jeffrey Sachs talks about global poverty and developement and related issues including the UN's recent release of strategies to promote developement in poor countries by a panel headed by Sachs himself. Sachs also released a book called "The end of poverty" full of ambitious ideas with the ultimate goal of eradicating poverty by 2025.
Some consider Sachs' ideas to be too broad and unclear to be effective. Sachs answers back in the talk which he does with Mother Jones magazine.

This Counterpunch article describes the forgotten state of affairs in Afghanistan. How the US has virtually ignored the country and the negative reception Afghan president Hamid Karzai got on his recent visit to the America.

Also this article if the events in it are true which they should be, gives us a good idea of why the US continues to face steady attacks from resistance and insurgent fighters. If everything the US military does is atack with full force, no wonder they can't do any good in the locals' eyes.

Shiite protests occured in 3 Iraqi cities to protest the US occupation following young outspoken cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's call for protest.

What was funny Friday was the frontline story and picture and following controversy of tyrant Saddam Hussein in his drawers washing his clothes. And Hussein is going to sue the newspapers which published that embarrasing story. He was a terrible dictator who ruled his country with an iron fist as most dictators do, and killed many of his own citizens, mostly Kurds and Shiites. Now with these "candid" pictures of him he gets to be humiliated and robbed of dignity for the whole world.

It's ironic that the US army is going to have to investigate how this happened considering this was a harmless but fitting embarassment for Hussein unlike the Abu Ghariad affair- see "US military vowed to "aggressively" investigate how the photos of Iraq's ousted leader appeared in the paper". But then these pictures may have broken the Geneva convention rules for treatment of prisoners.

The death toll in Uzbekistan has risen to 745, this story in the Guardian says.
The UK through its foreign secretary Jack Straw spoke out against the politically-motivated violence and demanded access for journalists, Red Cross personnel and diplomats to investigate.
Condoleeza Rice also called for "political reform" but "the US appears to be reluctant to be too overtly critical of a state it regards as a key regional ally in its "war on terrorism". Uzbekistan has given it access to a strategically important air base."
Security has remained tight in Andijan, the city where the violence broke out while hundreds of refugees have fled to neighboring Kyrgyzstan.

Controversy continues over Newsweek's account in their May 9 edition, that interrogators flushed a Koran down a toilet among other things, to rattle Muslim prisoners in the Guantanamo military prison.
Afghanistan and Pakistan both condemned the magazine for the story which generated fierce anti-American demonstrations in Afghanistan and several Muslim countries.
Though American General Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week that his senior commander in Afghanistan had told him the riots were "not at all tied to the article." Regardless Newsweek is finding itself in a deep set of trouble as criticism piles in from the US adminstration, Republican Congressmen and foreign countries. And of course, even if the story turns out to have some hint of truth in it -re Abu Ghraid, Newsweek will be pressured to deny it and retract everything.

Quite interesting indeed. A blog on a major media website, American no less, and taking an issue on national security andpointing out and criticising government policy.
Take a read here.

Greg Palast,author of "The best democracy money can buy" is up to his detailed, investigative reporting again, this time over the warning remarks made by American Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice to the newly-elected president, Alfredo Palacio of Ecuador. This article in the Nation describes how Ecuador with 60 percent of its citizens living under brutal poverty, is burdened with a loan from the World Bank under which over 70 percent of its oil revenue profits must be paid back to bondholders.
Apparently the reason why Ecuador's new president has attracted negative attention from the American adminsitration and media is he wants Ecuador to retain a little more of its oil profits to reduce poverty like supporting social-services programs instead of paying them off to bondholders.

An excerpt from the article:
Given the oil windfall, Palacio sees no need to follow Gutierrez's path to economic asphyxiation. "It is impossible that they condemn us not to have health, not to have education," he told me. He made it clear that handing over 90 percent of his nation's new oil wealth would not stand.

The headline of this article says it all.
The writer focuses on the upheaval in Iraq, and makes a good point that because most foreign reporters/journalists only work in areas where American/Allied forces are, and the majority of the country is not under control of the Americans, it means that there's so much that's going on that's being missed by the Western media.
Many issues are described here, with the unsuitability of American military tactics to fighting and maintaining order, and the need for more troops to restore peace. Of course, with more troops will be greater bitterness and anger at the US and consequently greater resistance.

On Iraq,this article taken from the Toronto Star describes how the US media has largely ignored the huge destruction that's happening in Iraq these past weeks.


Look at this picture of a protest on 9/11. Not in Iraq or the Middle East, not France or elsewhere in Europe but right in the homeland.

Further news regarding Uzbekistan unrest- aftermath as Uzbeks bury their dead. Their president Karimov actually said "no order had been given to troops to fire in Andizhan". Sure, I bet he did. There's been a little condemnation or reproach towards this event from the US, which isn't surprising given that Uzbekistan has been an ally ever since the "War on terror" was declared after 9/11.

This is a good article in the Guardian of the UK describing the favorable relationship between the US and Uzbekistan which includes use of facilities and "interrogators" in return for financial support by the US and also, looking the other way at the oppression and abuses commited by the Uzbek government, which the article gives a better idea of as well. Indeed, the Uzbekistan dictator Karimov seems to have taken a page out of the US foreign policy playbook when he oppresses his people and tries to destroy the opposition movements while justifying his actions as crushing Islamic extremisn, in other words "terrorism".

Violence worsens in Uzbekistan
Now it is more likely that hundreds of people have been killed in fighting in the eastern city of Andijan, the majority of them civilians.

While in Mogandishu,Somalia thousands of militia fighters have begun withdrawing. Hopefully this is a sign of greater stability and peace in the near future. This country has been wracked by civil warfare and anarchy for over 14 years since the dictator Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. Remember this is the country where the events in the book and movie "Black Hawk Down" happened. Clearly this is a wild place where there's not even a main warlord or dictator and the rule of the gun run the land.

Fighting between soldiers and rebels leads to death of dozens in Uzbekistan

Bloodshed broke out in another Central Asian country as government forces tried to restore order which stemmed from anti-government demonstrations and a group of armed men breaking into a prison and freeing inmates who had been jailed for allegedly belonging to an outlawed Islamic group that wants to overthrow the government which many say is inefficient and dictatorial.

Some background information on the situation there describing why the government is hated by people and why it's actually supported by different allies-...secular rule at any cost is better than the threat from Islamists.

In Iraq, the violence mounts, with the death toll rising to almost 400 in the last 2 weeks.

Regarding the panic over the accidental appearance of a small plane in restricted airspace over Washington D.C. yesterday, Justin Raimondo of antiwar.com writes a good article mentioning this and the chaos in Iraq. He makes several pertinent points regarding the current US policy and its hollow "successes" in Afghanistan and Iraq. Especially how inspite of the billions spent on the "War on Terror" and invading Iraq, a small plane causes so much fear to officials in the capital. He gives a nice summary of all the main criminal acts and blunders the US under GWBush has commited after 911.

A special report of the current aftermath of the tsunami disaster with a brief summary and reports in the different countries. While the massive outpouring of support and aid for the Asian victims by people and governments of the West was tremendous and encouraging, things haven't been good at all for many of the victims themselves.

Note the report on Sri Lanka where it says the government is doing all it can to aid hoteliers recover whilst preventing fishermen to rebuild their coastal villagers.
Also note Indonesia where the army has used a truce made after the tsunami with local resistance/separatists to take further action against them.

Sadly a recurring theme can be seen to exist in different countries whereby the government puts more emphasis in helping foreign nations than in its own citizens. It seems those in power have different agendas for their priority instead of helping the poor and suffering like generating more business investment or projecting themselves as a regional power, like India. It's the common or poor who bear the brunt for these agendas of course, so those in power disregard them without much inconvenience.

Another worthy magazine

The New Internationalist, from the UK or Britain, is a very interesting and well-written magazine whose sole focus is global (social) justice. As such, it covers a wide range of topics including human rights, conflicts and the war on terror, poverty and homelessness, and the vast economic inequality between developed and developing countries.
The magazine's scope is worldwide though it's not a household name. Besides special reports, media reviews and photo gallery of scenes in the 3rd world, a truly great feature of its website is that the entire content of each issue is accessible online, free of charge to all visitors, and only 6 weeks after each issue is released. For the most recent issue where the main topic is Street children around the world, click here.

So now GWBush and company have taken hold of prized former-Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia they feel strong enough to start fights with Russia herself. See "...George Bush risked a further deterioration in relations with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin,.."
Many see the tightening relationship between the West specifically the US, and nations like Ukraine which involves economic and military cooperation as signs that the US is trying to encircle and gain political advantage over Russia by replacing Russia's regional influence with that of the US.
In return Russia is trying to strengthen its relationships with nearby rising powers India and China to form a rival axis of world power to compete against the West, especially over access to increasingly scarce oil supplies in the near future.
See this article on Proposal of strategic partnership by Chinese premier on visit to India April 2005.
and from 2002,"Delhi-Beijing-Moscow axis: Old romance rekindled"

Here's several media blogs ie. blogs written by staff of media organisations, which all deal with injustice issues like corruption, hegemony and media bias.

From the Nation, the Daily Outrage which posts critiques on aspects of American politics and society.

Antiwar.com's blog deals with issues around the world including not just America but Iraq, Europe and elsewhere.

CSmonitor has several blogs, including these two where correspondents post on location from Africa and Iraq.

I haven't been posting much these past weeks.
Things in Iraq have gone extremely crazy,not to say they haven't already.
But this past week's toll has been tragically high as this shows.

A speech by Hugo Chavez at the World Social Forum 2005.
Regarded as a semi-dictator and derided as a socialist lunatic by many in the press he's nonetheless a tremendous inspiration and much-loved leader to many people in his country of Venezuela and elsewhere. Read his speech and decide how true his words ring.

"The health system was privatized; that cannot be privatized because it’s a fundamental human right—health, education, water, energy, public services—they cannot be given to private capital that denies those rights to the people."

Updates on Iraq (not good at all):

"New wave of mass attacks in Iraq has dimmed the euphoria
in Washington circles."

"Rocky road ahead for new Iraq government"