The ghost of rigged elections past: New revelations on the death of Michael Connell

Michael Connell, the Bush family and Karl Rove’s IT guru, was heading home from Washington D.C. to attend his company’s Christmas party on Friday, December 19th in 2008. An accomplished pilot, he was flying from the College Park, Maryland airport to the Akron-Canton airport in Ohio under unremarkable weather conditions. Yet his Piper Saratoga plane suddenly dove to the ground between two houses in an upscale neighborhood, when he was just 2.5 miles from the airport. The site was roped off, cleaned up within two hours at night against protocol, and the next day his wife found his omniscient Blackberry missing from his still intact knapsack.

Japan’s deadly new ‘Fukushima Fascism’

Fukushima continues to spew out radiation. The quantities seem to be rising, as do the impacts.

The site has been infiltrated by organized crime. There are horrifying signs of ecological disaster in the Pacific and human health impacts in the United States.

But within Japan, a new State Secrets Act makes such talk punishable by up to ten years in prison.

Taro Yamamoto, a Japanese legislator, says the law “represents a coup d’etat” leading to “the recreation of a fascist state.” The powerful Asahi Shimbun newspaper compares it to “conspiracy” laws passed by totalitarian Japan in the lead-up to Pearl Harbor, and warns it could end independent reporting on Fukushima.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been leading Japan in an increasingly militaristic direction. Tensions have increased with China. Massive demonstrations have been renounced with talk of “treason.”

But it’s Fukushima that hangs most heavily over the nation and the world.

When a Lenin statue falls in Ukraine, Vietnamese cannot hear it

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Vietnam erased online news by the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) and other media about protesters toppling a Vladimir Lenin statue in Ukraine, because it "struck a nerve" among Vietnam's communist regime amid possible concerns about statues of Ho Chi Minh, the BBC said.

Meanwhile, Lenin statues and busts in Seattle, Antarctica, London, Italy and elsewhere in Ukraine survive unmolested.

During Lenin's life from 1870-1924, he led the 1917 Russian Revolution and used Marxist ideology to create a Bolshevik system after ousting Russia's last emperor, Czar Nicholas II.

Lenin became the first prime minister of the Soviet Union and was revered by many communists around the world.

On Sunday (Dec. 8), protesters destroyed the Lenin statue in Ukraine's capital, Kiev, during an anti-government demonstration about a free trade deal with the European Union (EU).

"As Lenin's statue was toppled in Kiev, the authorities in Vietnam developed cold feet," the BBC's website reported on Tuesday (Dec. 10).

Up to that moment, the protest in Ukraine was a big story in Vietnam's

"Insurrection" leader strangles Bangkok as government crumbles

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Hours after the prime minister dissolved parliament on Monday (Dec. 9), a tough-talking "insurrection" leader strangled Bangkok's streets with more than 100,000 protesters, rejected a nationwide election scheduled for Feb. 2, and declared a right-wing "people's revolution".

The anti-government protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban told his supporters to lay siege overnight until Tuesday (Dec. 10) around Government House, which is the prime minister's now-vacant office.

In a nationally televised speech on Monday (Dec. 9) delivered outdoors at Government House, Mr. Suthep declared his "prachapiwat" or "people's revolution" will end only with the total surrender of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, her powerful family and their political allies.

Mr. Suthep said his would-be "people's council" tribunal will summon government officials and politicians and demand they confess whether or not they support Mrs. Yingluck or "the people".

He instructed people throughout Thailand to set up volunteer security forces to replace the police, because Mr. Suthep perceives police as biased in favor of Mrs. Yingluck.

Analysis of STRATFOR leaks misrepresents nonviolent movements

Carl Gibson and Steve Horn have done an important service in writing their article outlining Srdja Popovic’s inexcusable collaboration with the global intelligence company STRATFOR and his disclosure of the activities of movements and activists with whom he has worked. Unfortunately, as will be spelled out below, the article falls into a rather simplistic and reductionist analysis of Popovic’s motivations and, more critically, misrepresents the nature of the popular uprisings in Serbia and other countries. The article also contains a number of factual errors and misleading statements.

Violence worsens in Bangkok's "Insurrection"

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Violence worsened on Monday (Dec. 2) between anti-government mobs using a hijacked bulldozer, fire engine, garbage truck and homemade explosives to attack police who responded for the first time with rubber bullets after the prime minister rejected the insurrectionists' demands to cancel Thailand's elections and submit to a dictatorial "people's council".

The Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban on Monday (Dec. 2) on charges of insurrection, punishable by life imprisonment or death under the Criminal Code's Section 113.

Insurrection under Section 113 includes anyone who "threatens to commit an act of violence" to "overthrow" the government or "seize the power."

Mr. Suthep responded on Monday (Dec. 2) night by taunting the police to "catch him" and said they should defect to his side or else his protesters would strip them of their uniforms.

"We will seize Bangkok's police headquarters" on Tuesday (Dec. 3), Mr. Suthep told his protesters occupying offices in a government complex.

Mr. Suthep said the military, by contrast, would not hurt protestors

Stop the blank check to Israel, stop funding human rights violations

December 10th was Human Rights Day. This day is an opportunity for all of us to reflect on the importance of human rights in our increasingly interconnected world. Human Rights are basic freedoms to which all humans are entitled: the right to life, the freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law. But are these rights applied equally, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, and other differences?

Last month I traveled on a two-week delegation to Palestine and Israel organized by Interfaith Peace-Builders. During my trip, I spoke with many individuals, both Israeli and Palestinian, and heard their personal stories. With every experience, my eyes were opened to the harsh reality of life in this region. I couldn’t help but feel outraged, knowing that the U.S. government is an ally that provides major funding to the Israeli government.

Bangkok crippled & government offices seized

BANGKOK, Thailand -- In the biggest anti-government street protest in years, tens of thousands of people crippled Bangkok on Monday (Nov. 25), storming and occupying the Finance Ministry and swarming around military, police and other buildings, demanding the elected prime minister resign.

"I invite protesters to stay here overnight at the Finance Ministry," tough-talking protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban told supporters at the multi-story building.

"I urge other protesters to do the same and seize other government buildings and offices around the country," Mr. Suthep said.

"I have no intention to resign or dissolve the House," Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told reporters in response.

"The cabinet can still function, even though we are facing some difficulties. All sides have shown their political aims, now they must turn to face each other and talk, in order to find a peaceful way out for the country."

Police said the protesters occupying the Finance Ministry's Budget Bureau and Auditor General's Office would face prosecution.

The mob told officials in both buildings to get out, officials said.

What didn't kill Mandela made him stronger

Nelson Mandela's story, if told as a novel, would not be deemed possible in real life. Worse, we don't tell such stories in many of our novels.

A violent young rebel is imprisoned for decades but turns that imprisonment into the training he needs. He turns to negotiation, diplomacy, reconciliation. He negotiates free elections, and then wins them. He forestalls any counter-revolution by including former enemies in his victory. He becomes a symbol of the possibility for the sort of radical, lasting change of which violence has proved incapable. He credits the widespread movement in his country and around the world that changed cultures for the better while he was locked away. But millions of people look to the example of his personal interactions and decisions as having prevented a blood bath.

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