Representatives of the governments of Mexico and the Central American countries wrapped up a fifth round of talks on a regional free trade agreement last week. The negotiations took place in Mexico City, with the next round of talks to be held in August in El Salvador. The aim of the talks is to create a single free trade agreement that consolidates Mexico's 1995 pact with Costa Rica, its 1998 agreement with Nicaragua and its 2001 accord with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador into a single deal. Mexico's trade with Costa Rica has soared by 2,100% since the signing of the trade agreement, while trade with the other Central American republics has increased by between 200 and 300%. (EFE, June 1)

Deadly repression is unabated in Syria, where security forces killed at least 70 demonstrators during Friday protests on June 3, according to activists' accounts. This was one of the highest single-day death tolls in the course of the uprising, and some activists said the day's final toll could be 100. Rami Abdulrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said at least 60 people were killed in Hama, where President Bashir al-Assad's father Hafez crushed an armed revolt 29 years ago by killing up to 30,000 people and razing parts of the city. (Reuters, June 4)

From the New York Times, June 2:

The Libyan woman whose mistreatment by the government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi made her a symbol of its brutality has been deported against her will from her temporary refuge in Qatar to the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi. Eman al-Obeidi gained international attention in March when she told foreign journalists that she had been abducted and gang raped by Qaddafi militia. She was arrested, and later smuggled out of the country by a defecting soldier. She was in Qatar awaiting asylum elsewhere. A spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said she was deported Thursday by force and without explanation. A spokesman for the rebel authority in Benghazi said she was free to leave if she wanted.

The Washington Post reports May 27:

US officials say Iran is dispatching increasing numbers of trainers and advisers—including members of its elite Quds Force—into Syria to help crush anti-government demonstrations that are threatening to topple Iran’s most important ally in the region. The influx of Iranian manpower is adding to a steady stream of aid from Tehran that includes not only weapons and riot gear but also sophisticated surveillance equipment that is helping Syrian authorities track down opponents through their Facebook and Twitter accounts, the sources said. Iranian-assisted computer surveillance is believed to have led to the arrests of hundreds of Syrians seized from their homes in recent weeks.

Rae Abileah, the woman of Israeli descent who interrupted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu's speech before the US Congress on May 24, claims she was beaten by AIPAC activists. "I yelled 'Stop the occupation' and immediately they jumped on me," she told Ynet May 25. "They assaulted me and I fell on the floor. The activists strangled me and beat me. Then I was dragged out by police who arrested me." She says she sustained injuries to the neck and shoulders which required hospitalization.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez held a phone conversation with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad on May 22, "to give him a personal message of affection and hope at a time when imperialist forces are violently attacking the Syrian people," on the words of the official Venezuelan News Agency. The Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed in an official statement that Assad had given Chávez "a thorough report on the real situation affecting the Arab nation, in which a fascist conspiracy is trying to sow chaos and disorder so as to subjugate Syria to Western powers." The statement reads that "President Hugo Chávez informed his Syrian counterpart of the demonstrations of solidarity made by many Latin American and Caribbean leaders. He also took the opportunity to convey his unconditional political and personal support to President al-Assad, expressing his sincere conviction that the dignity of the Syrian people and government would prevail over imperialist aggressions." (VenezuelAnalysis, May 22)

We just noted how Barack Obama's celebrated speech on the Middle East two days ago was actually driven by the imperative to control the political trajectory of the Arab Spring. Now, not surprisingly, al-Qaeda attempts to do the same thing—which indicates again that imperialism and the jihad alike have been relegated to playing catch-up as the Arab masses themselves have seized the initiative. CNN informs us that an unnamed "jihadist website" posted an audio message purportedly from Ayman al-Zawahiri, presumed successor to Osama bin Laden, in which he hails the "winds of changes" in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen—but also warns of that "crusader enemies" led by the United States are attempting to colonize Libya: "NATO is not a goodwill organization—it is an aide to the hegemonic powers in this world. They aim to end the corrupt Qaddafi regime, but then install their own ideals. They want to steal Libya's resources and relics because of their greed and politics."

The voluminous media commentary dedicated to President Barack Obama's May 19 speech on the Middle East has overwhelmingly focused on his extremely modest and reasonable demand that a peace settlement must be based on Israel's 1967 (that is to say, legal) borders—and the scandalized Israeli reaction. Nearly lost in all this noise is the first three-quarters of the speech, which speak to why the White House has for the first time in history embraced this minimal demand. The imperative to control the political trajectory of the Arab Spring—which is, as we have argued, what is really driving the Libya intervention—can be detected in every syllable of the transcript...