Christian Parenti | The Nation

If the corruption of Karzai's government is Afghanistan's new cancer,
then the Taliban are increasingly seen as chemotherapy: an unpleasant
but necessary remedy.

As Taliban fighters clash with thinly spread NATO forces across Afghanistan and "suicide cell" claims lives daily in Kabul, hope is fading that the country can avoid descending into chaos.

Evo Morales and his Movement Toward Socialism party face two formidable
foes: a far left discontented with neoliberalism and a combative rancher-based right wing.

Colombia's subtly demagogic President Uribe gained the advantage in the upcoming election by leveraging the strength of anti-left paramilitaries, drug trafficking and a culture of violence.

How can the peace movement draw more Iraq War veterans into its ranks?
It can begin by understanding the socioeconomic realities of the
all-volunteer military.

Veterans of Iraq and Vietnam marched from Mobile to New Orleans to mark the third anniversary of the Iraq War, and to call attention to the Bush Administratrion's culture of incompentence, inhumanity and greed that has devastated Iraq and America's Gulf Coast.

Despite Bush's feel-good rhetoric, the United States has done little to help Afghanistan, leaving the impression of abandonment. Meanwhile, European troops work hard to build bridges to the locals.

Western cartoons deemed insulting to Islam are only part of what is
fueling mob frenzy in Afghanistan. Growing rage against the presence of
foreign troops and frustration with ineffectual aid programs are feeding the
flames.

For twenty-five years, Kurdish guerrillas have battled the forces of
the Turkish state. For a while, things began to settle down, but the US
occupation of Iraq changed all that.

The Kurds have almost no natural resources and suffer from a culture of
corruption. But their call for autonomy is a serious threat to the
building of a united Iraq.