Even as the White House has censured Venezuelan officials for "narco-terrorist" ties, AP reported Dec. 15 that Venezuela handed a top Colombian drug trafficking suspect over to US authorities. The US had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Maximiliano Bonilla Orozco AKA "Valenciano." InsightCrime informs us that "Valenciano" led the "Oficina de Envigado" criminal organization, seen as a successor to the Medellín Cartel. He was arrested last month in Maracay, west of Caracas.

It's too funny. For years, the anti-war left was demanding the US "end the war" in Iraq—as if it has any power to do so. Now the Obama administration takes credit for exactly that, and the corporate media play along: "Obama Pledges Continued Support For Troops As Iraq War Ends," Fox News; "Obama keeps his promise to end the 9-year war," Daily News; "At Iraq War's End, Wounds Are Still Fresh for Falluja," New York Times, etc. Never mind that the supposed US "withdrawal" isn't even that—thousands of private contractors and hundreds of military advisors will be left behind. But, even more to the point, look at what is actually going on in Iraq...

Ron Paul's iconoclastic stances on foreign interventions, civil liberties and the war on drugs are unfortunately winning him much support from naive "progressives"—despite the fact that he is clearly a right-wing wackjob. This is obvious enough from his own words, if his paradoxical "progressive" pom-pom wavers would take the time to do a little reading. For instance, this bogus pseudo-libertarian is proudly anti-choice! USA Today reported Oct. 14 that Paul is airing a lugubrious anti-abortion ad in Iowa. In the 60-second spot, an announcer says Paul is a "man of faith committed to protecting life" before the supposed gadfly congressman recounts how he once watched a late-term abortion being performed, calling it something "I am not able to accept." Where's Mr. Gadfly now? Like a typical weasily politician, he'll talk up the "revolution" (sic!) when he wants to make inroads to gullible elements of the Occupy Wall Street crowd—but toe the Republican line against reproductive freedom when he wants to win over heartland conservatives.

Media accounts widely differ on an offer being extended by Seychelles for naval forces of the People's Republic of China to have access to the African island nation. The offer was apparently made when a delegation from the People's Liberation Army arrived in Seychelles on Dec. 1, headed by China's defense minister, Gen. Liang Guanglie. An account by Eurasia Review states that an agreement was signed for China to set up a naval base in the Seychelles, to police the region against pirates operating out of Somalia. The LA Times' World Now blog says the Chinese Defense Ministry denies the facility would rise to the level of a naval base, but also notes a study by US government consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton finding that China is seeking to acquire a "string of pearls" across the Indian Ocean for eventual encirclement of India. Ironically, Voice of America portrays the deal in the least alarmist terms, saying it would be a refueling facility, and that China has not yet committed to it.

Three inmates at Corcoran state prison who participated in this year's California prisoner hunger strike— Zaharibu Dorrough, Heshima Denham and Kambui Robinson—issued a statement Dec. 6 proposing "10 core demands" for the Occupy Wall Street movement. The communiqué, issued from Corcoran's supermax Secure Housing Unit (SHU), says the demands were hashed out by prisoners at Corcoran and Pelican Bay under the name of the NARN Collective Think Tank. It states, "These 10 core demands can be modified, augmented or amended to take into account the broadest cross-section of the 99 percent possible and the collective will of the movement." The demands are online at San Francisco Bay View:

The website Algeria ISP reports (citing unnamed "Arab" sources) Dec. 11 that the US and France have jointly established a secret drone base in the Libyan desert, near the area of Katroune. Craft from the secret base are allegedly flying missions to Niger, Mali and Mauritania, with the ostensible objective of seeking out Saharan arms trafficking networks of al-Qeada in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Algeria has reportedly refused to allow the drones to fly through its territory.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), successor to the good ol' Soviet-era KGB, applies pressure on the VKontakte social networking site—in a bid to snuff post-electoral protests, and put a long-escaped genie back into the totalitarian bottle. Good luck with that, guys. From Reuters:

Both the Bottom Line business blog at the San Francisco Chronicle and the On Deadline blog at USA Today make note of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union's apparent dissent from the Occupy Wall Street movement's call for a West Coast Port Blockade on Monday Dec. 12. In a call to action, the Occupy movement states: