Simón Trinidad [nom de guerre of Ricardo Palmera Piñeda], the FARC's well-known prisoner-exchange negotiator, was today sentenced to 60 years in prison in Federal District Court in Washington, DC. Several months ago, Trinidad was found guilty of conspiracy to take three [US] military contractors as hostages, a crime occurring back in 2003. The sentence was determined in a separate proceeding held today.

From the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN), Jan. 28:

Accountability for Suharto's Crimes Must Not Die With Him
Indonesia's former dictator General Suharto has died in bed and not in jail, escaping justice for his numerous crimes in East Timor and throughout the Indonesian archipelago. One of the worst mass murderers of the 20th century, his death tolls still shock:

Spain's Justice Minister Mariano Fernandez Bermejo said Jan. 23 he will ask the Spanish cabinet to outlaw Basque Nationalist Action (ANV) and the Communist Party of the Basque Lands (EHAK) on grounds that they are part of Batasuna, the nationalist party banned in 2003 for its supposed links to the Basque armed group ETA. The move to ban the parties would have to be upheld by the courts. (EiTB24, Jan. 24)

Some 1,000 anti-fascist activists gathered on Jan. 19 in Pilsen, Czech Republic, to commemorate the victims of Nazi terror. The date marked the 66th anniversary of the deportation of Pilsen's Jews. The night before, local "anti-fa" in Pribram, Jan Kucera, 18, was knifed to death by neo-Nazi Jiri Fous, 20. The incident occurred after skinheads marched in Pribram, giving the Nazi salute and provoking a group of young punks and anti-fascist skinheads, to which Kucera belonged. (Antifa.cz, Jan. 20)

A new "manifesto" from five senior Western military commanders finds: "The risk of further [nuclear] proliferation is imminent and, with it, the danger that nuclear war fighting, albeit limited in scope, might become possible. The first use of nuclear weapons must remain in the quiver of escalation as the ultimate instrument to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction." The document is likely to be discussed at the April NATO summit in Bucharest. The authors are Gen. John Shalikashvili, ex-NATO commander and ex-chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff; Germany's Gen. Klaus Naumann; the Netherlands' Gen. Henk van den Breemen; Admiral Jacques Lanxade of France; and Lord Inge of the UK. The document is said to include Lord Inge's recommendation: "To tie our hands on first use or no first use removes a huge plank of deterrence." (The Telegraph, Jan. 24; The Guardian, Jan. 22)

"Laplandian" posts to Infoshop News, Jan. 26:

The government of Leningrad Oblast (Saint-Petersburg Region) is planning to expand the Ust-Luga Seaport, which is to become the largest seaport in Russia. According to the plan, all villages nearby the construction site are going to be demolished, and their population will be offered apartments in other areas. The villages Krakol'e and Luzhitsy, both located in the seaport area, are the only surviving compact settlement of the [Finnic] Votia nation. According to archaeological data, the Votians are the most ancient indigenous nation of Ingria [region], who became practically extinct after Stalinist dispersion to Soviet provinces far away.

The proposed 2,100-acre expansion of Canada-based Cameco's Crow Butte Resources uranium mine near Crawford in western Nebraska is meeting opposition from members of the Oglala Sioux (Lakota) Tribe, including proponents of commercial hemp cultivation as an economic alternative for the impoverished Pine Ridge Reservation, which lies just across the South Dakota line.

Turkey's government is expected to announce a reform of Article 301, the law against insulting "Turkishness" that has been used to prosecute writers who have addressed such issues as the Armenian genocide. The moves comes as a precondition for Turkey's acceptance to the European Union. (NYT, Jan. 25) Meanwhile, Turkish authorities blocked access to YouTube for six days after a court order in response to video clips allegedly insulting the country's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. (AP, Jan. 24)