"Hungary to Withdraw Troops From Iraq:

Defense Minister Says Country Waited for U.S. Elections Results Before
Deciding"

Karl Peter Kirk, Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungary will withdraw its 300 non-combat troops from
Iraq by March 31, the country's new prime minister said Wednesday,
contending that staying longer would be an "impossibility."

"We are obliged to stay there until the (Iraqi) elections. To stay
longer is an impossibility," Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said at a
ceremony to mark the end of mandatory military service in Hungary.

The Iraqi elections are due to be held by Jan. 31.

"Iraqi President Opposes Assault on Fallujah:

Yawar Also Accuses Iran of 'Organizing Attacks' in His Country"

Tom Regan, Christian Science Monitor

Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar has declared his opposition to a joint
attack by coalition and Iraqi forces on the insurgent-dominated city of
Fallujah. Mr. Yawar's comments, made on Monday in an interview with a
Kuwait newspaper, put him directly at odds with Iraq's interim prime
minister, Iyad Allawi, who has threatened the city with an all-out
assault if local leaders did not force insurgents to surrender.

NYC Sues to Stop Critical Mass Bike Rides

New York City filed a lawsuit today in an effort to stop the monthly critical mass ride. They are asking a judge to grant them an injunction enjoining "all other participants in Critical Mass bicycle rides form engaging in conduct that requires a permit without having first obtained such a permit"

This of course begs the question: does riding a bike require a permit? Critical Mass has been a feature in New York City for nearly a decade, but over the last three months the city's commitment to stopping the ride has deepened since they set their sights on riders at the August Critical Mass which coincided with the start of the Republican National Convention.

:: UPDATE :: Judge Pauley ruled today to deny the city's request for an injunction and grant the cyclists a preliminary injunction which bars the city from seizing bicycles without charging their owners with any crime. This is only the beginning, though, and there is a long road ahead.

"Seize the Time!"

Arundhati Roy, International Socialist Review

Arundhati Roy is the celebrated author of The God of Small Things, winner of the prestigious Booker Prize. The New York Times calls her, "India’s most impassioned critic of globalization and American influence." She is the winner of the Lannan Prize for Cultural Freedom. Her latest books are The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile, with David Barsamian, An Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire — both published by South End Press — and Public Power in the Age of Empire, published by Seven Stories Press.

DAVID BARSAMIAN is founder and producer of Alternative Radio based in Boulder, Colorado. His interviews and articles appear regularly in the ISR. He is the author of several books, including Propaganda and the Public Mind: Conversations with Noam Chomsky, Eqbal Ahmad: Confronting Empire, and The Decline and Fall of Public Broadcasting. He interviewed Arundhati Roy in Seattle in August 2004.

I’D LIKE to start with a quote from a recent interview I did with you, published in the July—August issue of the International Socialist Review. You said, "It’s that we’re up against an economic system that is suffocating the majority of the people in this world. What are we going to do about it? How are we going to address it?" So I thought that would be a really easy way to begin. What are we going to do about it, and how are we going to address it?

Cuba May Permit Euro Beyond Tourist Spots

Associated Press

Communist officials are thinking about extending the use
of the euro beyond a few resorts for vacationing Europeans as the country
moves to halt widespread use of the American dollar, Cuba's tourism minister
said on Wednesday.

Since Fidel Castro's Government decided to replace the US
dollar with the local Cuban convertible peso, authorities "have been
studying coordinating with Cuba's Central Bank to extend the acceptance of
the euro in other areas of the country," Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero
said.

Yasser Arafat "Very, Very Sick"

BBC News

The shell-marked compound has a small clinic of its own.
A team of doctors has arrived at Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah
where the ailing Palestinian leader's health has significantly deteriorated.
One cabinet minister, who asked not be identified, told Reuters that Mr
Arafat, 75, was "very, very sick".

"Plot to Kill Me, Says Venezuela's Chavez"

Andiswa Mesatywa

Caracas — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez denounced what he said was an opposition plot to assassinate him in his weekly television programme late on Sunday.

The leftist leader of Latin America's leading oil producer also criticised the lack of mention of Latin American affairs in three recent televised debates between US presidential candidates George W Bush and John Kerry.

"Warnings are sent to me from several places in the world, from Europe, from Latin America and even the United States, saying 'Chavez, pay attention, Chavez, don't let down your guard, because they're preparing an assassination in Venezuela,'" Chavez said on his Hello, President programme.

The plotters are motivated by his government's efforts "to change the capitalist system", Chavez said.

Jacques Derrida, French Father of Deconstructionism, Dies at
74

PARIS (Reuters) — French philosopher Jacques Derrida,
the founder of the school of deconstructionism, has
died of cancer at the age of 74, France Info radio
said on Saturday. It said Algerian-born Derrida had died on Friday of
cancer of the pancreas.

Derrida, who divided his time between France and the
United States, argued that the traditional way we read
texts makes a number of false assumptions and that
they have multiple meanings which even their author
may not have understood.

Saddam to Declare Candidacy for Iraqi Elections

Hasan Cucuk, Zaman Online

Overthrown Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who was arrested by US forces last December, reportedly plans to run as a candidate in the Iraqi elections scheduled for January 2005.

Saddam's lawyer Giovanni di Stefano told Denmark's B.T. newspaper that Saddam decided during one of their discussions that he would declare his candidacy for the elections.

Stefano said that there was no law that prevented Saddam from appearing on the ballot. He added that Saddam hopes to regain his presidency and palaces via the democratic process.

Contrary to the statements of Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, Stefano claims, "Saddam has no chance to be tried before the elections. Moreover, no international law prevents him from coming forward."

Saddam's lawyer defends that the ambiguity in Iraq will favor Saddam at the polls. Stefano remarked that a recent Gallup poll indicates that 42 percent of the Iraqi people want their former leader back.

Meanwhile, evaluating the conditions of Saddam in jail, Allawi said that Saddam had asked him for mercy.

"You Scare Us:

Bush Is Giving Latin America the Willies"

Carlos Fuentes, Los Angeles Times

[Carlos Fuentes is the author, most recently, of "Contra
Bush," which will be translated into seven languages.]

LONDON — The United States is strong. Latin America is
weak. This is the basic truth that shapes their
relationship. There is no irrational animosity toward
the U.S. in Latin America. There is a measure of
suspicion balanced by enormous admiration for the
culture of Herman Melville to Walt Whitman to William
Faulkner, of Hollywood and jazz, of Eugene O'Neill to
Arthur Miller. Nor is there envy of the United States.
Latin America is deeply aware of its cultural values.
Our personality is not assailed by gringo fashions. We
absorb and adapt to the cultures of the world,
including that of the U.S.