Baby steps down Havana way

The LA Times notes a small change in Cuba (but in reality, the island will stay remarkably similar until either the Castro brothers die or reform or the Obama administration removes the insane and counter-productive embargo): So, a Cuban walks into his neighborhood barbershop for a trim and a shave on a Havana afternoon. In…

Israel is behaving like Fidel Castro, says Fox News

Fox News interviews reporter Judith Miller recently on the Anat Kamm case. Host Shep Smith seems outraged that supposed democratic Israel would censor information and put an individual under house arrest. “This is very Fidel Castro”, he says. He tells viewers that when anybody says anything even mildly critical of Israel they are accused of…

Life on the streets in Iran, an eyewitness perspective

On the ground reports from Iran are hard to obtain these days. Western journalists are largely writing stories about the political chaos in the country. So I’m publishing this exclusive report from a friend currently in Tehran. He’s an Australian traveling around the country. Names and identifiable places have been removed to protect all concerned:…

Raul Castro can’t crush all signs of dissent

Human rights in Cuba are grim. But as I discovered in The Blogging Revolution, bloggers are starting to challenge the government’s strangehold on information. We should therefore welcome news of the Bloggers Cuba group one year anniversary with optimism. Here’s Zorphdark: A couple of hours after the boring midday of May, I received the only…

A Tamil uprising in Sri Lanka was only a matter of time

When a government uses overwhelming military force and simply ignores the wishes of the people being murdered, expect an insurgency that will change its face but remain determined to achieve set goals. Sri Lanka, you have been warned: A Marxist group of Tamil militants with connections to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and Cuba is preparing…

The eyes of the world must remain on Colombo

Sydney University’s Jake Lynch, a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, writes in his weekly column about Sri Lanka and the need to continue pressure over its appalling treatment of the Tamils: The news that the Government of Sri Lanka is to close the internment camps where thousands of Tamils were illegally detained, following the…

Cubans deserve far better than this

The human rights situation in Cuba – something I examined in my book The Blogging Revolution – remains dire. Some prominent bloggers on the island were recently abused for simply speaking out. Now, according to Human Rights Watch, the regime continues to oppress its people: The Cuban president, Raúl Castro, has crushed dissent and continued…

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