The President's Protective Bubble and the Serial Abuser of Air Force One

Most Americans, knowing next to nothing about our global bases or the Pentagon's basing policies, would undoubtedly be surprised to learn that ours is an empire of bases. Put in historical terms, in the last decade-plus, as the pace of our foreign wars has picked up, we've left behind, after each of them, a new set of bases like the droppings of some giant beast marking the scene with its scent. Bases were dropped into Saudi Arabia and the small Gulf emirates after our first Gulf War in 1991; into the former Yugoslavia after the Kosovo air war of 1999; into Pakistan, Afghanistan, and those former Central Asian SSRs after the Afghan war of 2001; and into Iraq after the invasion of 2003. War in Iraq, in turn, has spawned at least 106 bases of various sizes and shapes; while a low-level but ongoing guerilla conflict in Afghanistan has produced a plethora of fire bases, outposts, air bases, and detention centers of every sort. It's a matter of bases and prisons where there is opposition. Just bases where there isn't. This, it seems, is now the American way in the world. In South America there is Paraguay's Mariscal Estigarribia air base, where some 500 special forces arrived July 1 for a three-month counterterrorism training exercise. There U.S.-financed mercenary armies are doing everything from training the military in Paraguay and Ecuador to calling in air attacks against guerillas in Colombia. Indeed, it is feeling a little like the run up to the '60s and '70s, when Washington-sponsored military dictatorships dominated most of the continent, and dark armies ruled the night. And then there are the "black sites," where the U.S. is accused of holding an unknown number of prisoners in dozens of secret detention centers around the world as part of its Terror War. Virtually nothing is known outside elite political and intelligence circles about the black sites, including who is detained and how long prisoners are held. A recent Washington Post article said that "the arrangement has been increasingly debated within the CIA, where considerable concern lingers about the legality, morality and practicality of holding even unrepentant terrorists in such isolation and secrecy, perhaps for the duration of their lives"

Outposts Of Empire U.S. Building Up Bases In South America Torture Widespread In U.S. "Black Site" Prisons, Says AI UN, Europe Seek Probe Of U.S. "Black Site" Prisons U.S. Suspected Of Running Dozens Of Secret Detention Centers Worldwide

Bush Outlines Iraq Victory Strategy: Stay The Course, Trust Us
We're winning, honest

Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Penn.) during heated Nov. 18 House debate on Iraq policy

Top Democrat Hawk Calls For Immediate Iraq Pullout
Rep. Murtha warns that the "future of our military is at risk"

Bush: Blame The Democrats For Believing Me On WMDs
Pathetic attempts to blame Kerry and many of his fellow Democrats who stumbled haplessly into the Iraq trap laid for them by the White House

White House Launches Major Attack On Attackers
Cheney, Bush, insist the buck stops with Democrats, not them

Hopeful Signs Of New Realism At White House
Awareness that way out of Iraq leads through Iran

White House Denies Al-Jazeera Bombing Was Planned
Bush reportedly considered attacking broadcaster during 2004 Falluja assault
Blair Backs Away From Kyoto Protocol
"The blunt truth about the politics of climate change is that no country will want to sacrifice its economy in order to meet this challenge"

Countries Meet On Kyoto Protocol, Most Determined To Undermine It
"No one is coming to Montreal to reach a new agreement on what to do"
Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide At 650,000 Year High
Natural climate cycles in the distant past were smaller than what is now unfolding
Best Climate Model Yet Predicts Dramatic Changes
More extreme heat, dry spells in much of U.S.

MORE ON BIRD FLU THREAT BIRD FLU WORRIES TAKE CENTER STAGE

Chickens culled in Vietnam, where small, backyard operations worry health officials Days after Bush announced a $7 billion bird flu-fighting plan on November 1, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and Japan all reported new cases, with two human deaths. Officials acted quickly; Japan killed 82,000 chickens and on November 6, China culled six million birds in Liaoning province on a single day. So far most of the illness has been found at factory farms rather than among free-range birds, but it's the likelihood of unreported cases that worry global health authorities. Small, backyard poultry flocks are found throughout Asia, and owners have proven reluctant to report sick animals, which brings with it the risk of authorities killing the birds that provide food and income. Even if the case is reported, local officials in China -- fearing the negative impact of an epidemic emerging in their areas -- often try to suppress the news and deal with it internally rather than report it to Beijing.

World Bank Picks Patents Over People In Bird Flu Vaccine Case Factory Farm Vs. Free Range Chickens In Bird Flu Dispute Concerns Over How China Would Handle Bird Flu Outbreak Europe Bans Russia Birds After Flu Cases

Legalize Afghan Opium, Study Says
Licensed farms said to be only viable option for economy

How Your French Fries Are Endangering Orangutans
Palm oil also in ice creams, detergents, bread, lipstick and soap

China Tells Bush To Mind His Own Business
Thanks, but we'll pass on the democracy stuff

Bush: Clueless In Beijing
Western media also missed the mark

Russia The Odd Man Out At U.S. And China Meet
Putin has refused to negotiate oil, natural gas rights

Schwarzenegger's China Trip: Pumping Up The Personal Profile
Unpopular governator probably eyeing return to showbiz

China Keeping Details Of Mega-Dam Secret
Cascade of 13 hydropower stations planned on designated World Heritage site

Japan, China Continue Sabre-Rattling
Both countries unwilling to back away from historical feuds

Chinese Loggers Decimate Burma Forests
As illegal deforestation is curtailed in most other Asian countries

Burma Prepares For Regime Turnover
Most dramatic since the military seized power 17 years ago

THE INEVITABLE IRAQ ISLAMIC STATE
In the end, we will spend $1 trillion or more for an outcome that is inimical to our interests: an Islamic state aligned with Iran, an independent Kurdistan and a rump Sunni state around Baghdad that might well become a haven for terrorists

Peru sought the extradition of former president Alberto Fujimori from Japan for 5 years For five years, Peru sought the extradition of former president Alberto Fujimori to face justice on 21 charges, the most serious involving two massacres in which a total of 25 people -- including a young boy -- were killed. From the safety of Japan, Fujimori taunted the courts and his political opponents with a weekly radio show and website, where he posted daily messages that he will return to Lima "on a date that will surprise everyone" and run for office again. But even his devoted core of "Fujimorista" followers were surprised earlier this month when he flew to nearby Chile, where he faces extradition to Peru. It is believed that the former president will use his two-month stay in Chile -- the estimated duration of his extradition trial -- to organize a campaign aimed at allowing him to run for president, despite a Congressional ban barring him from holding public office until 2010, and disqualifying him from running again for the presidency. It appears that the former president believes his presence in or near Peru will inspire an upsurge in popular support, leading to public pressure that would force the national electoral authorities into accepting his candidacy. Opinion polls show he is significantly more popular than President Alejandro Toledo. Analysts have speculated that the former president's plan seems to involve a high-profile role in the April elections in Peru, even if he himself is unable to stand as a candidate and has to observe the elections from behind prison bars. His hopes would be for a victory for a "Si cumple" candidate, who would then go on to clear Fujimori's name and ensure that all charges against him are dropped.

Peru Prosecutors Prepare Cases Against Fujimori Fujimori's Trip To Chile First Step Towards Peru Return Peru Ex-President Fujimori Arrested In Chile Japan's Shameful Protection Of Fujimori Exiled Fujimori Says He'll Return To Peru, Run For President

Black Youth Given Harsh Jail Terms 10x More Often Than Whites
22x more likely to get life-without-parole sentences in California

Groups Want UN To Ban Genetic Engineered Rice From Asia
As activists fear a shift within the UN system toward GE foods

Water Privatization Often Leads Poor To Use Dirty Water Sources
European companies now own about 5 percent of the world's water

Africa Migration Crisis Reaches "Biblical" Proportions
Sub-Saharan African immigrants dying in attempts to cross over into Spanish territory

UN: Get Ready For Millions Of "Environmental Refugees"
More are already displaced by environmental disasters than war
Russia's Richest Man En Route To Labor Camp
Khodorkovsky may spend weeks on trains headed for Siberia or other remote area

Fitzgerald Investigation Has Long Way To Go
Has power to ask questions such on deception of Congress, War Crimes Act, and more

Finally, Cold War Is Ending In Korea
Despite Washington's refusal to accept changing realities on the Korean peninsula

Schwarzenegger Could Do Right By "Tookie" Williams
Virginia governor shows clemency not a political death sentence

The Real Rosa Parks
Parks didn't make a spur-of-the-moment decision, but was part of a movement at a time when success was far from certain