In a piece ominously entitled "The Oil Nonbubble," Paul Krugman in the New York Times May 12 astutely calls out both right-wing optimism that the "oil bubble" would burst—and right-wing scapegoating now that it hasn't:

"The Oil Bubble: Set to Burst?" That was the headline of an October 2004 article in National Review, which argued that oil prices, then $50 a barrel, would soon collapse.

Turkish warplanes bombed several border areas near the towns of Neroye and Rekan in Dahuk province of northern Iraq May 11, the website of the website of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) reported. Jabbar Yawar, spokesman for Iraq's Kurdish Peshmerga security forces, also confirmed the air strikes to Reuters, as did a PKK spokesman to AP. The PKK spokesman, Ahmed Danas, said the warplanes struck former bases "of our forces where none of our fighters were present."

On May 11, the Asuda women's shelter in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan, came under attack by unidentified gunmen. One woman housed at the shelter, a mother of three, was seriously wounded, hit by three bullets. According to the hospital reports, the woman's condition is currently stable after four hours of emergency surgery. The woman was referred to the shelter by municipal authorities in Sulaymaniyah, fearing abuse and "honor killing" after she was accused by her husband of adultery.

Israeli troops attacked a peaceful march commemorating the 60th year of the Nakba in the West Bank city of Tulkarm May 10, injuring ten, including a journalist who was hit with a bullet in his hand. Participants, including international activists, raised Palestinian flags and wrote graffiti on the face of the separation wall protesting the enclosure of village lands at Shofa. Soldiers opened fire and threw tear gas. (WAFA, May 10) Four were injured two days later in a similar scene at Na'lein village, west of Ramallah. (WAFA, May 12)

Back in February, rebels in Chad penetrated N'Djamena, the capital, after driving across hundreds of miles of desert from the east in a fleet of armed pick-up trucks. Chad's government quickly accused Sudan of supporting the operation. On May 10, Darfur's rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) penetrated Khartoum, Sudan's capital, after driving across hundreds of miles of desert from the west in a fleet of armed pick-up trucks. Sudan's government quickly accused Chad of supporting the operation—and broke off diplomatic relations.

Juan Antonio Román García, second highest ranking police commander in Ciudad Juárez, was killed May 10 when his car was sprayed with bullets outside his home. The attack came months after his name appeared at the top of a hit list left at a monument for fallen police officers. Two days earlier, Edgar Guzmán, 22-year-old she son of presumed Sinaloa Cartel chief Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was killed by a 40-man hit squad in Culiacán. Later that day, presumed Sinaloa Cartel gunmen murdered Edgar Eusebio Millán, a top commander of the Federal Preventive Police, at his home in Mexico City. Hours before Millán's funeral May 9, Esteban Robles, a senior Mexico City police detective, was gunned down in front of his apartment. Authorities say the Millán assassination was vengeance for the recent capture of Sinaloa Cartel kingin Alfredo "El Mochomo" Beltrán Leyva.

From Reporters Without Borders, via AllAfrica, May 7:

Egypt: TV Agency Boss Facing Charges Over Food Riots
Reporters Without Borders has voiced concern about legal action against Nader Gohar, owner of the Egyptian TV news agency Cairo News Company (CNC), who was charged on 5 May 2008 with unlicensed broadcasting of food riots in the north of the country on 6 April.

Get this. The Senate fails to pass the new FAA reauthorization bill—because of "non-aviation provisions" that would have doubled the tax on oil spills, using the revenues to replenish the strapped Highway Trust Fund! And this is deemed so un-newsworthy (even with the headlines full of the Clinton-McCain gas tax holiday hoopla) that the only media outlets that even make passing note of it are aviation trade journals like Helicopter Association International (May 2). Now, surely this tax must be onerous, a true burden on the oil industry, right? Well, a Petroleum Marketers Association of America report of March 24, 2006 (when the tax was re-instated after a ten-year lapse) informs us that the current tax is...five cents per gallon (as opposed to 18.4 cents per gallon that consumers pay Uncle Sam at the pump). And with a significant reduction for "petroleum products" and "alternative fuels" such as ethanol and bio-diesel. Additionally, the oil companies are allowed to "pass on" the tax to consumers at the pump.

Never mind the silly Canadian angle. The really sinister thing here is the embryonic hybridization of man and machine—a phenomenon we have already predicted. From the Canadian Press, May 5:

Canadian military looking for Iron Man-type suits for overburdened soldiers
OTTAWA — Iron Man Canuck may be appearing soon at a theatre near you. The Defence Department posted a contract tender Monday asking companies for proposals for high-tech body suits that could help Canadian soldiers carry bigger loads into battle.

Contrary to widespread media reports, BBC says May 9 that the man detained in Mosul is not in fact Abu Ayyub al-Masri, leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. An earlier statement from the Iraqi defense ministry said that al-Masri had been captured. But an US military spokeswoman, Peggy Kageleiry, said confusion had arisen because a man with a similar name had been detained.