We've noted that Zbigniew Brzezinski is one of the primary exponents of the policy-elite backlash against the neocons, and his emergence as an adviser for Barack Obama says much about the coalition that is coming together behind the Obamarama. The original ideological whiz-kid of the (yes, really) Trilateral Commission and Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor, Zbiggy represents the "pragmatist" wing of the ruling elites. Rival Hillary Clinton has also got "pragmatists" in her camp, and Obama is also attempting to woo the neocons. But the basic division seems pretty clear. From "Behind Clinton and Obama" by Stephen Zunes in Foreign Policy in Focus, Feb. 4 (emphasis added):

We've noted ourselves that Ron Paul is the only Republican candidate that talks a good line on the Iraq war. But it is really disturbing to see anti-war folks line up behind him uncritically. Nico Pitney notes the phenomenon—without comment—on Huffington Post. Why, but why, is word not getting around of his sinister ultra-right connections? While too many "radicals" are taking his noxious bait, leave it to the liberals at The New Republic to call the rascal out. Their James Kirchick last month wrote a profile appropriately entitled "Angry White Man," in which he perused back issues of Paul's monthly newsletter, published under various names—Ron Paul's Freedom Report, Ron Paul Political Report, The Ron Paul Survival Report—since 1978, two years after he was first elected to Congress. Kirchick presents selections of ugly racist garbage that have appeared in its pages over the years. Excerpts:

In a "rare burst of productivity," Iraq's parliament Feb. 13 passed three key laws and approved them as a package, ending months of deadlock. Two of the laws—providing for a general amnesty for thousands of Iraqi prisoners and defining the powers of Iraq's provinces—are among the "benchmarks" set by the US Congress. The third, Iraq's delayed $48 billion budget for 2008, is considered vital for the government to continue to function and initiate reconstruction projects. Immediately after the unanimous vote, parliament declared a five-week holiday, deferring further progress toward other benchmarks—such as a new oil law. (Chicago Tribune, Feb. 14)

The same depressing story that we've heard from Bosnia to Baghdad now reaches us from Kenya. From the New York Times, Feb. 15, "Signs in Kenya of a Land Redrawn by Ethnicity ":

Kenya used to be considered one of the most promising countries in Africa. Now it is in the throes of ethnically segregating itself. Ever since a deeply flawed election in December kicked off a wave of ethnic and political violence, hundreds of thousands of people have been violently driven from their homes and many are now resettling in ethnically homogenous zones.

On Feb. 11, ski-masked gunmen stopped a bus on the road between San Cristobal de Las Casas and Ocosingo in the conflicted southern Mexican state of Chiapas, threatening passengers and robbing them of cameras, cell phones, ID documents and other possessions. The assault comes days after local Zapatista supporters were illegally detained by members of the OPDDIC paramilitary group, who accused them of being bandits. (La Jornada, Feb. 12) That same day, seven OPDDIC militants, including leaders Carlos Moreno Hernández and Pedro Chulín Jiménez, were freed from prison on the orders of a federal judge, who issued an amparo protecting them from arrest or prosecution. (La Jornada, Feb. 12)

Danish newspapers this week reprinted the notorious cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb for a turban, a day after three people were arrested for allegedly plotting to kill the artist who drew it, Kurt Westergaard, a 73-year-old illustrator with the daily Jyllands-Posten. Several other newspapers, including Politiken, Berlingske Tidende and the Ekstra Bladet tabloid, also decided to run the picture, in an act of defiance to intimidation. At least three newspapers in Sweden, Holland and Spain also reprinted the cartoon. "We are doing this to document what is at stake in this case, and to unambiguously back and support the freedom of speech that we as a newspaper will always defend," Copenhagen's Berlingske Tidende said. "Regardless of whether Jyllands-Posten at the time used freedom of speech unwisely and with damaging consequences, the paper deserves unconditional solidarity when it is threatened with terror."

Mindanao anarchists

In Davao City, on the conflicted Philippine island of Mindanao, a group of nonviolent anarchists known as the "As A Whole" Collective have for the past two years been feeding homeless youth and the elderly as a local Food Not Bombs chapter, as well as holding rallies against corporate exploitation, and were part of a successful activist campaign that resulted in a complete ban of aerial pesticide spraying on banana plantations. The group has now established a space called Saydee's Kitchen, from which they are offering free meals twice a week, feeding up to 100 youth and elderly. While local markets are donating food, Saydee's Kitchen is requesting donations of stoves, large cooking pans and kitchen utensils, or money to purchase these items.

Lorenzo Fernández Ortega, a 38-year-old bricklayer and member of the Organization of the Indigenous Mepha'a People (OPIM), was stabbed to death Feb. 10 in Ayutla de los Libres, a village in the conflicted Mexican state of Guerrro. The group had been protesting a campaign of forced sterilizations of indigenous women in the region, and charged that the federal army is establishing paramilitary groups which have carried out recent attacks on indigenous activists. OPIM's statement on the murder said, "our compañero Lorenzo was assassinated by paramilitaries that work for the 48th Infantry Battalion of the Mexican Army, headquartered at Cruz Grande." (OPIM statement via Zapateando; La Jornada, Feb. 12)