This Aug. 17 New York Times by Scott Atran op ed ends on an ominous note, but is generally an offering of much-needed optimism. The highlighted passage notes an historic compromise in Hamas' traditionally rejectionist position.

Is Hamas Ready to Deal?
WHATEVER the endgame between Israel, Hezbollah and Hamas, one thing is certain: Israel’s hopes of ensuring its security by walling itself off from resentful neighbors are dead. One lesson from Israel’s assault on Lebanon and its military operation in Gaza is that the missiles blow back.

Like Guatemala's genocidal Romeo Lucas Garcia a few weeks back, Paraguay's brutal former dictator Alfredo Stroessner has died a free man in comfortable exile—despite vain efforts to have him extradited back home to face justice. We have noted that there have been some recent arrests of those involved in the bloody Operation Condor network established by the Southern Cone dictators in the '70s to coordinate their "dirty war" against leftist dissidents. But the masterminds, like Stroessner and Augusto Pinochet, appear untouchable. From the London Times, Aug. 17 (emphasis added). The term "longest-serving" is likely an unintentional irony. "Longest-ruling" would have been a better choice. The only things Stroessner ever "served" were his own power, Paraguay's deeply reactionary landed elite, and US imperialism's anti-communist designs.

Another escalation is reported in the struggle of Maya campesinos in Yucatan state to hold their communial (ejidal) lands that the government seeks to expropriate for a new airport, part of the "Metropolisur" regional development plan. An Aug. 18 communique from La Otra Campaña Yucatán, translation via Chiapas95:

Ricardo Lopez Espinosa, a community leader in the conflicted central Mexican village of San Salvador Atenco and a member of the local People's Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT) was freed from jail in Molino de Flores Aug. 17 but still faces charges following his arrest two days earlier in connection with an attack on a state police patrol June 5. Lopez Espinosa denies involvement in the attack, and says his arrest by state police in Atenco was illegal. (La Jornada, Aug. 18 via Chiapas95)

From EFE, Aug. 14 via Chiapas95 (our translation):

MEXICO -- Mexico's Federal Preventative Police (PFP) today used blows and tear gas to break up a group of legislators who support leftist candidate Manuel Lopez Obrador at one of the gates of the federal Chamber of Depuites which they had been blockading.

From El Universal, Aug. 14 via Chiapas95:

OAXACA - Around 5,000 striking teachers and activists marched silently through the streets of this southern city on Sunday to demand that the murder of one of their number last week be resolved and that state Gov. Ulises Ruiz resign.

Unrepentant about the wall his own country is building on the West Bank, Uza Dayan wisely warns the US against emulating Israeli strategies in Occupied Aztlan. From Newsday, Aug. 16:

JERUSALEM -- Six years ago, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak sidled up to his army's chief of staff with a serious problem.

They've been after this guy for a long time. But if similar busts in the past are any indicator, his demise will merely set off a violent succession struggle—and do absolutely nothing to to reduce the flow of drugs into Gringolandia. From AP, Aug. 16:

Federal law enforcement agents arrested Mexican drug lord Francisco Javier Arellano-Felix, a leader of a major violent gang responsible for digging elaborate tunnels to smuggle drugs under the U.S. border, a Justice Department official said Wednesday.