Hamas Grows Isolated as US Fumbles Gaza Diplomacy

A former Venezuelan spymaster was arrested in Aruba last week on a U.S. warrant that accused him of aiding drug smuggling from Colombia through Venezuela and into the United States. But four days later Hugo Carvajal, a retired general, was released and returned to Venezuela to a hero’s welcome.

Israel’s response to rocket fire from Gaza threatens to intensify anti-Semitism consuming Europe. Jews throughout the continent are targets for hatred from a rainbow coalition of extremists: far right neo-Nazis, far left anti-Zionists and radical Muslims. They are united in their frenzied protests against Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.

The Philippines, a steadfast U.S. ally in East Asia, has taken a major role in confronting Chinese ambitions in the South China Sea. Manila has gone on a military spending spree and called for regional unity against Beijing, boosting American efforts to pull off its long-discussed “pivot” toward Asia.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to revise his nation’s long-standing self-defense policy, but even more alarming to leading foe China is Japan’s insistence on maintaining enough plutonium to produce thousands of nuclear bombs.

By Brian M. Downing

Denied their own state at the end of World War I as European powers divided up the Ottoman Empire, Kurds today are using the chaos of a dissolving Iraq to move toward greater autonomy, if not outright independence. A referendum on independence for the Kurdish region of Iraq is planned, and public enthusiasm for a complete break with Baghdad is high.

The number of unaccompanied children and teenagers from Central America attempting to enter the United States illegally has skyrocketed over the past nine months, creating a political and humanitarian shock wave that defies reasonable explanations. Fueled by false promises of amnesty and welfare in the United States, the massive migration has also been blamed on poverty and crime back home. But sources in Central America tell LIGNET that adults, not children, are most affected by such social ills associated with drug cartels.