Asia
Afghan election farce ends, escalation to begin
By Bill Van Auken, November 3, 2009
The protracted and fraudulent Afghan election process ended Monday with incumbent Hamid Karzai decreed the winner. The end of this farcical exercise has set the stage for Washington to escalate its ei...
Australian government’s “Indonesian Solution” in disarray
By Richard Phillips, November 2, 2009
Two weeks after an Australian customs ship rescued 78 Tamil asylum seekers, the unresolved standoff over their future has focussed attention on the Labor government’s inhumane and illegal treatment ...
Pakistanis challenge Clinton over drone attacks, US bullying
By Keith Jones, November 2, 2009
During a visit to Pakistan last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encountered widespread popular anger over the US’s treatment of Pakistan—its support for a succession of military dictat...
Australian imperialism, the 1999 East Timor intervention and the pseudo-left
By Patrick O’Connor, November 2, 2009
September marked the tenth anniversary of the Australian-led military intervention into East Timor. It is also a decade since a layer of pseudo “left” groups organised “troops in” demonstratio...
Afghanistan election debacle deepens as Abdullah pulls out of runoff
By Bill Van Auken, November 2, 2009
The Obama administration’s crisis over its planned escalation of the war in Afghanistan deepened over the weekend with the decision by President Hamid Karzai’s challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, to pu...
US makes cynical overture to Sri Lanka over war crimes
By Wije Dias, October 31, 2009
The US State Department has issued a report detailing Sri Lankan army atrocities in the final months of the country’s civil war. Its purpose, however, is not to bring war criminals to justice, but t...
Wrangling continues over Iranian nuclear deal
By Peter Symonds, October 30, 2009
An international agreement on Iran’s low-enriched uranium is yet to be finalised. An initial Iranian response handed yesterday to the IAEA reportedly contains caveats that are not likely to be accep...
Indian auto dispute sparks mass protest, shuts Ford Canada plant
By Kranti Kumara, October 30, 2009
Last week more than 100,000 workers from some 70 plants in the Gurgaon-Manesar area walked off the job to show support for the Rico workers’ struggle and protest the murder of a Rico striker by comp...
Attack on UN in Kabul in lead-up to sham Afghan election
By Peter Symonds, October 29, 2009
An attack by Taliban fighters on a UN guesthouse in the Afghan capital, Kabul, has underscored the fragility of the US-led occupation in the lead-up to the second round of presidential elections on No...
Pakistani army offensive devastates tribal communities
By James Cogan, October 28, 2009
The military offensive into South Waziristan is having a devastating impact on the entire civilian population. Villages and towns are literally being bombed into rubble and tens of thousands of people...
Sri Lanka: Plantation unions accept wage sell-out
By M. Vasanthan, October 28, 2009
All the plantation unions, including those that initially opposed it, have effectively fallen into line behind a deal that binds workers to poverty-level wages and productivity speed-up for the next t...
October the bloodiest month for US troops since Afghan war began
By Bill Van Auken, October 28, 2009
The deaths of eight more soldiers in bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan Tuesday made October the bloodiest month for US occupation forces since the war began in 2001.
