This Patrick Cockburn report is entitled "Baghdad may be unable to stop attacks by PKK fighters," but the more relevant question may be whether the regional Kurdish government which is the real power in northern Iraq has any real desire to—or if they don't have more sympathy for the PKK than for Turkey (or USA). From the UK Independent, Oct 24:

We've already had to warn the heroic Buddhist dissidents of Burma and colonized Uighur people of China's far west against allowing themselves to be exploited as propaganda fodder by the Bush White House. Now it seems we have to warn the Dalai Lama—whose official website boasts the text of his Oct. 17 Capitol Hill acceptance speech upon being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. It is truly perverse to witness a single news story in the Los Angeles Times that day in which Bush defends his decision to attend the ceremony for the Dalai Lama (and to hold a private schmoozing session with him at the White House a day earlier)—while calling the Armenian genocide bill "counterproductive" meddling in Turkish affairs! This double standard should clue the Dalai Lama in that he is being used. Turkey is a strategic ally that Bush needs keep on good terms to stabilize Iraq—and, at this moment, to restrain from threatened military incursions into Iraqi Kurdistan. China is an imperial rival in the critical scramble for Africa's oil—and the key nation now falling under the rubric of the 1992 Pentagon "Defense Planning Guide" drawn up by Paul Wolfowitz and Scooter Libby which said the US must "discourage advanced industrial nations from challenging our leadership or even aspiring to a larger regional or global role."

President Bush already has called the GWOT "World War III." Now he again invokes the phrase—but in a more conventional sense, arguing that it looms in the future if Iran devlops the atomic bomb. Of course, a pre-emptive attack to (ostensibly) prevent Iran from getting the bomb is a surer and faster route to global conflagration. Additionally, as we have repeatedly noted, more sophisticated minds count the GWOT as World War 4, arguing that the Cold War was World War III. Note that Bush also scapegoats Iran for the high price of oil—which actually has more to do with the mess that he himself created, with similar propaganda, in Iraq. From the pan-Arab al-Bawaba, Oct. 17:

Crude oil rose above $89 a barrel for the first time this week as the US dollar declined to a record low against the euro. Analysts say the market is reacting to concerns over Turkish military incursions into northern Iraq. On Oct. 15, prices passed the previous all-time inflation-adjusted record reached in 1981 when Iran cut oil exports. The cost of oil used by US refiners averaged $37.48 a barrel in March 1981, according to the Energy Department, or $84.73 in today's dollars. (Bloomberg, Oct. 18) Prices fell to about $87.30 a barrel after the government reported a larger than expected increase in overall crude and gasoline inventories—but shot back up to over $88 a barrel on Oct. 17, when an explosion halted operations at the ExxonMobil refinery in Lockwood, MT. (AP, Oct. 17) The fire continues to burn at the refinery outside Billings. The explosion created a fireball that shook surrounding homes and businesses—and, writes AP, "exacerbated growing concerns about the adequacy of crude oil supplies." (AP, Oct. 18)

From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Oct. 14, links added:

Vernon Bellecourt, a longtime leader of the American Indian Movement, died Saturday. He was 75. Bellecourt died at Abbott Northwestern Hospital of complications of pneumonia, said his brother, Clyde Bellecourt, a founder of the group.

On Oct. 14, Iranian authorities arrested Emaddedin Baghi, a prominent activist who who heads the Committee for the Defense of Prisoners' Rights and has campaigned against the death penalty "He is charged with spreading propaganda against the regime and publishing secret government documents," his lawyer Saleh Nikbakht told AFP. Baghi is a former journalist who served a three-year prison term from 2000-2003 over his writings in several pro-reform newspapers. In recent months, he has publicly protested against a wave of public hangings that has swept Iran as part of a "security" campaign. In September he wrote an open letter to the heads of reformist parties—including former president Mohammad Khatami and ex-parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi—complaining of their silence over the hangings. At least 207 executions have been carried out in Iran so far this year, already well above the figures for 2006. Baghi, who in 2005 was awarded a human rights prize by France for his work against the death penalty, was particularly prominent in cases in Khuzestan province, which has seen a spate of executions following the emergence of armed Arab separatist activity.

Mexico's Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), now convening an international forum on indigenous rights at Vicam, Sonora, are protesting comments by Supreme Court Justice Aguirre Anguiano dismissing the rebel movement as "folklore." The statement came in a case brought by 44 indigenous-majority municipalities, led by Coxcatlán, San Luis Potosí, challenging several articles of the federal telecommunications laws as failing to comply with constitutional changes on indigenous rights approved in 2001. Justice Aguirre argued for cutting off the debate, finding the claim without merit. When Justice Genaro Góngora Pimentel stated that the constitutional changes were part of the San Andrés Accords, which emerged from the government's peace dialogue with the Zapatistas, Aguirre responded: "For me... this is an ideological group and part of the national folklore...whose leaders...13 years ago declared war on the Mexican Army and have not fired one shot." (Proceso, Oct. 9)

From NY1, Oct. 15:

Toddler Dies In Livery Cab Accident In East Harlem
A two-year-old child was killed in a car accident at the corner of 111th Street and Fifth Avenue in East Harlem Friday afternoon. Police say a livery cab carrying a mother and child crashed into a van at about 1 p.m. as it was pulling out of a parking lot. The girl was thrown through the window.