Cgo School board chief Michael Scott commits suicideThe body of Michael Scott was found along the banks of the Chicago River early this morning. He died of a gunshot wound to the head. No note was found at the scene, but police are continuing to investigate.

 Terror is the price of support for despots and dictatorsEgypt's complicity in the Gaza's siege underlines the role of western support for such regimes in the spread of warComments (320)  Seumas Milne The Guardian, Thursday 7 January 2010 Article historyIf an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor had gone on hunger strike in support of a besieged people in another part of the world, and hundreds of mostly western protesters had been stoned and beaten by police, you can be sure we'd have heard all about it. But because that is what's been happening in western-backed Egypt, rather than Iran, and the people the protesters are supporting are the Palestinians of Gaza instead of, say, Tibetans, most people in Europe and north America know nothing about it.For the last fortnight, two groups of hundreds of activists have been battling with Egyptian police and officials to cross into the Gaza Strip to show solidarity with the blockaded population on the first anniversary of Israel's devastating onslaught. Last night, George Galloway's Viva Palestina 500-strong convoy of medical aid was finally allowed in, minus 50 of its 200 vehicles, after being repeatedly blocked, diverted and intimidated by Egyptian security – including a violent assault in the Egyptian port of El Arish on Tuesday night which left dozens injured, despite the participation of one British and 10 Turkish MPs.That followed an attempted "Gaza freedom march" by 1,400 protesters from more than 40 countries, only 84 of whom were allowed across the border – which is what led Hedy Epstein, both of whose parents died in Auschwitz, to refuse food in Cairo, as the group's demonstrations were violently broken up and Israel's prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu was feted nearby. Yesterday, demonstrations by Palestinians on the Gazan side of the border against the harassment of the aid convoy led to violent clashes with Egyptian security forces in which an Egyptian soldier was killed and many Palestinians injured.But although the confrontation has been largely ignored in the west, it has been a major media event in the Middle East which has only damaged Egypt. And while the Egyptian government claims it is simply upholding its national sovereignty, the saga has instead starkly exposed its complicity in the US- and European-backed blockade of Gaza and the collective punishment of its one and a half million people.The main protagonist of the siege, Israel, controls only three sides of the Strip. Without Egypt, which polices the fourth, it would be ineffective. But, having tolerated the tunnels that have saved Gazans from utter beggary, the Cairo regime is now building a deep underground steel wall – known as the "wall of shame" to many Egyptians – under close US supervision, to make the blockade complete.That's partly because the ageing Egyptian dictator, Hosni Mubarak, fears cross-border contamination from Gaza's elected Hamas administration, whose ideological allies in the banned Read more...

  Goran Tomasevic/ReutersWinning, Losing and WarBy PETER BAKER From shock and awe to a slow exit: It is still far too early to fill out the scorecard in Iraq. Above, a marine watched as a statue of Saddam Hussein is taken down in 2003. Read Article    

 Can Obama and Hu ever share the same dreams? President Obama's visit to Beijing next week will test how far China has really come, says Peter Foster.

  Greenspan Strongly Defends Fed’s Role in MeltdownBy SEWELL CHAN and ERIC DASH Alan Greenspan on Wednesday fended off a barrage of questions about the Fed’s failure to crack down on abusive lending practices. Read Article