Armenian prime minister killed

Nogorno-Karabakh is enclosed in the territory of Armenia's neighbor, Azerbaijan. In 1991, in the midst of fighting between the two republics, Nagorno-Karabakh declared its independence, and its Armenia-backed militia forces established the "Lachin" corridor connecting it with Armenia. Washington's deputy secretary of state, Strobe Talbott, has been in Armenia pushing for a settlement. The Washington Post notes that "U.S. policy is aimed at creating greater economic and political stability in the former Soviet republics along Russia's oil-rich southern rim."  
 

Antigovernment forces in Iraq get U.S. training

For the first time the administration of President William Clinton has begun open military training of forces with the intention of overthrowing the government of Iraq. Two of the four unnamed Iraqis tagged to attend a regular Air Force course for officers from Arab and Central Asian countries are former Iraqi officers. The U.S. Congress voted last year to give $97 million to dissident forces in Iraq.

Meanwhile, U.S. jets continue to bomb Iraq. Two people died and seven were wounded in an attack reported October 26. Between December and October 3, say U.S. officials, the U.S. and British military have flown 27,000 sorties and dropped more than 1,650 bombs against some 380 targets. Iraqi spokespeople say 200 have died in these murderous attacks.  
 

Palestinians protest killing of street vendor by Israeli soldiers

Israeli soldiers fired plastic bullets and tear gas at Palestinians protesting the October 25 killing of a street vendor at the entrance to the West Bank town of Bethlehem. A dozen Palestinians suffered injuries in the clashes, which lasted for several days.

The protests began after the funeral of Abu Hilayel, in which hundreds marched. The soldier had demanded Hilayel's identification card and then shot him as he reached for it. Tensions are rising in Bethlehem, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, over Israeli plans to open a new checkpoint specifically for Palestinians.  
 

W. Bank-Gaza corridor opened

Tel Aviv opened a 34-mile corridor through Israel between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip October 25, after years of forbidding most Palestinian travel between the two territories. To make the trip, Palestinians are still required to hold a special card; so far Israeli authorities have granted these yearlong permits to only 2,000 of the 10,000 Gaza residents who have applied for them. Workers in this impoverished area hope that the West Bank will offer better job prospects.

Travellers cannot stop inside Israel and have to submit their belongings to be X-rayed by Israeli and Palestinian security officers. Others whom the Israelis consider a "security risk" are placed on buses escorted by soldiers and are only permitted to travel on Mondays and Wednesdays.  
 

India: truckers strike vs. fuel cost

Truck drivers in India entered their sixth day of strike on October 26. They are demanding a reduction in the price of diesel fuel. "The agitation is still strengthening," said a representative of the All India Motor Transport Congress. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has refused the drivers demands.  
 

Roma demand rights in Czech Republic

Roma people are protesting attacks by racist authorities in the Czech Republic. The mayor of Usti nad Labem, a depressed industrial city where unemployments stands at 8 percent, has budgeted nearly $11,000 to erect a wall four meters high down Maticni St. to divide "decent from non-decent" residents. Roma, also known as Gypsies, are the intended targets of a fenced-in compound planned for the outskirts of the southern city of Plzen.

Roma in Usti nad Labem explain that in 1994 local authorities herded them into two tenements on Maticni St. The residents live in chronic poverty, like many Roma throughout Eastern Europe, who have been among the hardest hit by the attempts to integrate these nationalized economies into the world capitalist market. The Roma people are also scapegoated by reactionary politicians like Miroslav Sladek of the Republican Party in the Czech Republic, who has built a following with anti-Romany, anti-German, and anti-NATO propaganda.  
 

Murdering cops freed in Brazil

A furor has broken out in Brazil over the August acquittal of 147 cops tried for the murder of 19 landless peasants on a highway in the southeastern Amazon three years ago. Television film caught the cops opening fire in front of 1,500 witnesses. Autopsies indicate that most of those killed were actually executed in custody after the confrontation. The Minister of Agrarian Reform was forced to admit that state police are often at the service of large landowners.

A neighbor of one of the victims' widows remarked, "In Brazil, there is justice only for those who have money." Farm workers continue to occupy many farms in the area, demanding land. In one case 600 families are squatting on the land of a single landowner.  
 

U.S. pushes interests in Nigeria

Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo travelled to Washington in late October, following a series of visits to African countries by high-ranking White House officials to aggressively promote the interests of U.S. imperialism on the African continent. U.S. president William Clinton has sponsored the African Growth and Opportunity Act, designed to open up African countries' markets to U.S. capitalist trade and investment.

Obasanjo, who has received a glowing report card from U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright appealed for the forgiveness, reduction, or rescheduling of the country's $30 billion foreign debt. Last month Clinton trumpeted a so-called debt relief package for poor nations. Nigeria's large oil reserves would disqualify it for debt cancellation under this scheme.  
 

Senate tries abortion ban again

The U.S. Senate aimed a blow at women's right to choose abortion on October 21 by voting 63 to 34 to ban a procedure used in some late-term abortions. President Clinton has vetoed similar measures twice in the past. Similar bans have been struck down or limited in the federal courts in two-thirds of the 30 states where they have been adopted.  
 

Ford faces sex harassment suit

A U.S. District Court judge ruled that 850 women who worked at Ford Motor Co.'s Chicago assembly plant and a nearby stamping plant since late 1993 could file a class action suit charging the auto giant with sexual harassment and discrimination. Ford tried to resolve the case with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC), setting up a $7.5 million fund for individuals who could prove they were sexually harassed. But the court rejected Ford claims that the EEOC settlement should halt several suits that had already been filed.

— PATRICK O'NEILL  
 
 
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