The US may soon be facing a counterinsurgency quagmire in Afghanistan as well as Iraq soon, even if the former still fails to grab headlines. Largely because the US has been more effective at grooming proxies to do the fighting, and dying--but US troops are dying too:

Forces surround rebel hide-out in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces surrounded a rebel hide-out in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, and the number of insurgents killed from three days of fighting rose to 102, the defense ministry said.

The continuing violence in Lebanon seems to be forcing the situation there to a head:

June 24, 2005
Lebanon's anti-Syrian coalition urges president to resign

Lebanon's anti-Syrian coalition on Thursday accused President Emile Lahoud of being responsible for a series of political assassinations and urged him to resign.

"The gathering affirms ... that the president is providing protection for the existing system and is responsible for all its practices," said a statement by the coalition, which makes up the majority in parliament. "The president's departure would be a main path to law and justice," it added.

A friend writes from Philadelphia, scene of the recent anti-biotech protests (where, as we noted, a police officer died of a heart attack):

Please donate bail money!
A dozen or so protesters were arrested at the Biodevestation protests in Philadelphia this weekend. They are all still in jail, and need your help to get out. Only 3 people have been arraigned - it's $960 for each one of them to get bailed out. There is at least 1 other person facing felonies - one from Quebec who is facing 2 counts of felony assault. Everyone else is facing misdemanors - disorderly conduct and misdemanor. Thier bails should be set over the next 12 hours, but we know we'll need a lot of money to get them out. Every little bit helps, so please send money. You can Western Union it to Cynthia Pitt,Philadelphia. You can also paypal it to cyndipitt@gmail.com. Or just bring it to the jail support vigil at 8th and Race Streets in Philadelphia.

Freedom's on the march. That's why a South Asian man gets detained by the police for taking photos on the streets of New York. Gotta love the irony. Thanks to the Independent Press Association's Voices That Must Be Heard, "the best of New York's ethnic and immigrant press," for passing this along.

With Congress considering new privacy-eroding measures in Patriot Act (and making the law permanent), and similar measures being weighed by the Homeland Security Department, comes this disturbing news. This did make the front page of the NY Times today, albeit below the fold. A good thing this came to light, even if years after the fact. But what's scary is that this is going on without even token approval of Congress. As lawmakers debate the Patriot Act, the bureaucracy bends the rules without even asking permission...

A very unfortunate turn of events at the protests against the biotech industry confab that just concluded in Philadelphia, organized under the banner Biodevastation to Biojustice. This June 21 account from Philly's KYW News Radio:

A Philadelphia police officer involved with a scuffle with protesters outside the Convention Center has died of an apparent heart attack. Officer Paris Williams, 52, a 19-year veteran of the force, was among many Civil Affairs officers monitoring the protest outside the "BIO 2005" conference at the Convention Center.

The EZLN has issued a new communique clarifying somewhat the "red alert" announced two days ago. This English translation from the website of the Zapatista Front, civil counterpart of the armed organization, states that the alert is a "precautionary measure" taken as the Zapatista Army holds a "consulta", or consultation meeting with its base communities. The communique remains cryptic on what new strategies are being considered in the consulta.

The Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center in Chiapas (Centro FrayBa) offers this June 21 list of "antecedents" to the "red alert" declared by the Zapatista Army two days ago:

1.- Military movements:

For the past two months we have registered movements of the Mexican army, in what constitutes the greatest military movement since the retreat from the seven
positions demanded by the EZLN in 2001:

- El Calvario (early May), in Perla Canyon, influence zone of the paramilitary Revolutionary Anti-zapatista Movement, today identified with the new name Organization for the Defense of Campesino and Indigenous Rights (OPDDIC).