Tens of thousands of people again rallied in the army-beseiged Syrian city of Hama on Friday July 8, calling for the downfall of President Bashar Assad. Activists said security forces shot dead 13 people elsewhere in Syria during Friday protests, including six in the town of Dumair near Damascus. Amid the continued repression, a Human Rights Watch report based on interviews with defecting soldiers found that troops have been ordered to disperse unarmed protesters with a "shoot to kill" policy. HRW said it "interviewed eight soldiers and four members of the security agencies who had defected since anti-government protests erupted in March 2011... The soldiers...reported participating in and witnessing the shooting and injury of dozens of protesters, and the arbitrary arrest and detention of hundreds."

Given that when the Libyan rebellion first broke out, Qaddafi actually tried to play to the West by portraying the rebels as al-Qaeda terrorists—and even claimed the West was supporting him against a jihadist insurgency!—it is a sure sign of his desperation that he is now threatening to dispatch suicide bombers to European capitals in retaliation for the NATO bombardment. "Hundreds of Libyans will martyr in Europe," Qaddafi said in a defiant speech before thousands of Libyans in Tripoli's Green Square July 9—the second such comment so far this month. "I told you it is eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth." The latest threats come as Qaddafi-loyalist forces launched a counterattack on rebels attempting to push toward Tripoli from Misrata, 125 miles to the east. (LAT, July 10)

The French-flagged Dignite, which slipped past the Greek coast guard bound for Gaza earlier this week, was detained by the coast guard while refueling in Crete July 7. A Greek official told CNN that the ship would not be allowed to continue on to Gaza. Meanwhile, Leslie Cagan, coordinator of the US Boat to Gaza, announced that the team of activists from the United States called off its activities and is returning home. “The Greek government’s willingness to serve as the enforcer of Israeli’s naval blockade of Gaza made it impossible for this journey to happen,” Cagan wrote. The US-flagged Audacity of Hope remains in the hands of the Greek authorities, and it is not known when it will be released. (JTA, July 7)

On July 4, clashes again broke out between protesters and security forces in Cairo after a court released on bail seven police officers accused of killing 17 protesters in Suez during the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February. After an initial outburst of violence at the Cairo courthouse, protesters blocked the highway linking the Egyptian capital to the city of Suez. (Bikyamasr, July 5) As popular patience is growing short with Egypt's interim military rulers, comes word that the White House has sought contacts for dialogue with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. Reuters on June 30 quoted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:

A driver's license is a license to kill. James Bond has nothing on NYC auxiliary cops. From MyFoxNY, July 3:

Officer Identified In Police Van Incident
The driver of the auxiliary police van who accidentally hit a [sic] killed a pedestrian on Friday has been identified.

President Barack Obama said June 28 that his newly announced drawdown of US military forces in Afghanistan will be done "in a responsible way." Under the plan, 10,000 troops will be pulled out of the country by year's end, and a total of 33,000 troops will be out by next summer, fully returning the "surge" troops the president announced in late 2009. (Xinhua, May 30) Simultaneously, coalition and Afghan officials will be tripling the size of a US-funded program to establish local self-defense militias to fight against insurgents. The militia forces—said to be modeled after the Sons of Iraq, led by Sunni ex-insurgents who turned against al-Qaeda—are to grow from a current 6,500 recruits to 30,000. "Where we have them trained and fully employed the Taliban is not re-emerging," boasted Army Brig. Gen. Jefforey Smith, an assistant commanding general at the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan. (USA Today, June 29)

We sure hope not, but this isn't looking too good. From AP, June 26:

BROWNVILLE, Neb. — A berm holding the flooded Missouri River back from a Nebraska nuclear power station collapsed early Sunday, but federal regulators said they were monitoring the situation and there was no danger.

The House of Representatives on June 24 voted 295-123 against a resolution authorizing US participation in the NATO campaign in Libya, dealing a blow to President Barack Obama's decision to wage war without congressional approval. In the face of opposition from conservative Republicans and anti-war Democrats alike, the White House has maintained the Orwellian position that the bombing campaign does not constitute "hostilities" and therefore does not fall under the purview of the War Powers Resolution.