Coups or revolution? African nations at a crossroads and throwing off Western colonial shackles
Military leaders in the Central African nation of Gabon announced that they had taken power, ousted the government, and placed its longtime President Ali Bongo under house arrest. The officers introduced themselves as members of the Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions (CTRI). They annulled the official results from the Aug. 26 presidential election, closed borders, and...
Is there an election crisis brewing in Senegal?
“A leap into the void,” is what human rights expert Alioune Tine said in response to Senegalese President Macky Sall’s “unconstitutional delay” of the upcoming February 25 election. Tine added that postponing the election until December 15 plunges the West African country into “uncertainty and (possible) violence,” reported Foreign Policy’s World Brief columnist Alexandria Sharp. Kicking out or null and...
‘We are not a vassal state’: Philippines’s Duterte won’t stop infrastructure projects with U.S.-sanctioned Chinese firms
The Philippines will not be cowed by a U.S. blacklist on Chinese companies and will continue doing business with the sanctioned firms, a spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte said, insisting Manila will not bow to a foreign power. Duterte won’t halt ongoing projects with Chinese businesses despite the American blacklist, spokesman Harry Roque told reporters Sept. 1, arguing infrastructure is...
Assata Shakur: From exile with love
Former Black Panther Assata Shakur speaks to America from Cuba HAVANA, Cuba (FinalCall.com) - Assata Shakur is a Black American folk hero. She is a freedom fighter that escaped the chains of oppression. She made it to the other side. She is a sister that defied the definitions of expected behavior by a Black woman. Her life is the subject of...
U.S. war plans a concern for Cairo
CAIRO (IPS)–While senior government officials in Cairo are urging the U.S. Administration to act with caution, some of Egypt’s eminent political analysts are blasting what they perceive as Washington’s bias towards Israel and saber-rattling at Iraq. "Egypt is making every effort to persuade the U.S. not to take unilateral decisions which could raise tension and endanger everybody’s...
Was Iran the barganing chip in Bush’s ‘roadmap’ plan?
WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com)--Since the U.S. retaliation after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Pres. George W. Bush has sought to convince world public opinion that this country’s so-called War on Terrorism is not war against Islam itself and that the primary beneficiary of the policy has not been Israel. First there were the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, both Muslim countries....
UN launches Global Media AIDS Initiative
UNITED NATIONS (FinalCall.com) - "When you are working to combat a disastrous and growing emergency, you should use every tool at your disposal," United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan told media presidents, CEOs and senior executives of over 20 media organizations from around the world. "HIV/AIDS is the worst epidemic humanity has ever faced. Its impact has become a devastating obstacle...
Global anti-Americanism is spreading, U.S. agency says
NEW YORK (IPS/GIN) - As President George Bush's confidante, Karen Hughes, prepares for her confirmation hearings later this spring as the nominee for under-secretary of state for public diplomacy, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is weighing in with sharp criticism of Washington's track record on boosting its image abroad. “Despite U.S. efforts to better inform, engage and influence foreign...
Activists hail censure of Washington’s ‘terror war’
Report: European nations complicit in CIA abductions, secret prisons (Al Jazeera, 06-07-2006)Amnesty: Guantanamo 'the gulag of our time' (FCN, 06-08-2005)Carter: Guantanamo Prison Camp, an Embarassment for U.S. (Prensa Latina, 06-08-2005)Farrakhan calls for delegation to be sent to Guantanamo (FCN, 05-25-2005) NEW YORK (IPS/GIN) - Human rights organizations here are hailing recommendations by the United Nations Committee Against Torture that the United...
Pres. Bush’s Latin American trip: Too late in the game?
JIM.LOBE Support for U.S. wanes among Latin American elites (FCN, 01-25-2007)Hugo Chavez proposes African, Latin America, Carribean Alliance (FCN, 06-11-2006) WASHINGTON, USA (IPS/GIN) - ”Too little, too late” appears to be the consensus view among Latin America specialists about President George W. Bush’s six-day tour of the region, which began Mar. 8 when he boarded Air Force One bound for...