rain rain go away

africa
BBC: another opposition MP in Kenya shot
But the killing seems unrelated to politics: "A local police chief says Mr Too was having an affair with the girlfriend of the policeman, who shot them both." The killing has prompted Kikuyus to flee town, Eldoret, nonetheless.
Econ: talks so far inching along, as violence continues

BBC: rebels capture town in Chad
"'We are moving towards N'Djamena,' rebel spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah confirmed to AFP. Meanwhile, army units have stepped up patrols on the streets of the capital, Reuters news agency says."

BBC: UN peacekeepers in Western Sahara deface ancient rock paintings

middle east
BBC: former supreme court chief in Pakistan denounces Musharraf
"He described his treatment at the hands of President Musharraf as an 'incredible outrage' committed by an 'extremist general' who is supported by the West. "
WP: the US "urges" fair elections, after surprising allegations of intimidation
SWJ: analysis of possible US military operations in Waziristan, featuring some shaky generalizations related to "tribal" and "western" logics

BBC: Fatah militant killed near Gaza border gap; Mubarak meets with Abbas
WP: Israeli Supreme Court oks reduced energy supply to Gaza, enough to meet "basic humanitarian needs"
IHT: Israeli report faults leadership in 2006 Lebanon war, but Olmert likely to retain power
Ind: text of (unclassified) Winograd Report
"•We found serious failings and shortcomings in the decision-making processes and staff-work in the political and the military echelons and their interface.

•We found serious failings and flaws in the quality of preparedness, decision-making and performance in the IDF high command, especially in the Army.

•We found serious failings and flaws in the lack of strategic thinking and planning, in both the political and the military echelons.

•We found severe failings and flaws in the defence of the civilian population and in coping with its being attacked by rockets.

•These weaknesses resulted in part from inadequacies of preparedness and strategic and operative planning which go back long before the 2nd Lebanon war."

BBC: bomb in Helmand mosque kills deputy governor; suicide bomber in Kabul kills one.

IHT: developments in Mosul
AP: US commanders warn that the campaign there will be long
"Lieutenant Colonel Michael Simmering, of the 3rd Armored Cavalry, based near Mosul, described the insurgent force in the city as a patchwork of groups, including Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and other factions, 'all vying for different things at this point.'

'The thing about the insurgency in Mosul is that there are many different facets,' he said.

'This is going to be a long, protracted push by coalition forces and more importantly by Iraqi security forces to re-establish security,' Simmering said. 'If you're looking for one big culminating event, you'll never quite see it. I call this the 'campaign for Mosul.' "
WP: speaking of long, US commanders in favor of freezing troop reductions at 15 brigades
SWJ: has round-up of Iraq updates

asia
BBC: four separatists killed in Indian Kashmir, from group Hizb-ul Mujahideen

BBC: extortion trial of former Bangladeshi prime minister, Sheik Hasina, begins

Gdn: China suffering in cold spell; food shortages severe
Ind: soldiers called in to clear roads
LAT: in bizarre timing, China announces that it's working to control the weather - for the Olympics (imagine! a regime so powerful it can control the weather. nevermind about those pesky citizens starving in the snow)
"Cloud-seeding is a relatively well-known practice that involves shooting various substances into clouds, such as silver iodide, salts and dry ice, that bring on the formation of larger raindrops, triggering a downpour. But Chinese scientists believe they have perfected a technique that reduces the size of the raindrops, delaying the rain until the clouds move on.
The weather modification would be used only on a small area, opening what would be in effect a meteorological umbrella over the 91,000-seat Olympic stadium."

Econ: North Korea's (violations of) human rights record

americas
BBC: 43 Rio policemen offer mass resignation days before Carnival, after chief sacked for allowing protest about low pay.
IHT: police kill at least 6 anti-drug trafficking operation in Rio slums

LAT: Mexican city a safe-haven for illegal immigrants
Ecatepec is the place where Hondurans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans and others begin the long, final stage of their journey across Mexico, northward to the U.S. border aboard a freight train known as 'the beast.'"

BBC: Canada says it will pull out of Afghanistan unless more NATO troops are sent

IHT: "election" outcome in Cuba: shocker, Castros retain power

Slate: Mukasey to Congress: torture, smorture
"Unless someone were to actually be water-boarded before Mukasey's eyes at the witness table in the Hart Senate Building, America's lawyer cannot hazard an opinion as to its legality."
WP: more on the volley
"At one point, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) asked: 'Would waterboarding be torture if it was done to you?'
'I would feel that it was,' Mukasey replied.
But Mukasey said that does not mean it would be illegal."
Also, he *might* investigate the conduct of CIA officers shown on the tapes, rather than just the destruction of them.
The Onion: the CIA has a plan to make this whole conversation irrelevant

NYT: concussions, stress linked to PTSD in soldiers

NYT: police shoot woman and baby in Lima, Ohio, sparking protests of racism and brutality

europe
BBC: Slovakia delays EU reform vote

WP: linguistic, ethnic conflict in Belgium

misc
Wonkette: here's another news round-up. of sorts.
"If Americans know one thing about the Foreigns (and sometimes that’s a near thing), it’s that they live in Foreign countries, which, obviously, are hellholes of awfulness and despair."

retroactive

middle east
WP: US to increase Baghdad neighborhood presence by 30%; violence continues in other provinces
NYT: troop cuts, or not
"But White House officials said Mr. Bush had been taking the opportunity, as he did in Monday’s State of the Union address, to prepare Americans for the possibility that, when he leaves office a year from now, the military presence in Iraq will be just as large as it was a year ago, or even slightly larger."
WP: weighing options in Iraq
LAT: and identifying obstacles (?)
USAT: allies fall (way) short of pledged contributions

BBC: leader of Sunni militant group Jundullah arrested in Karachi
WP: another missile strike in North Waziristan kills 12, linked to aerial drone

BBC: report due out today warns that Afghanistan is nearly a failed state; calls for more NATO troops
BBC: Afghan MPs approve execution for blasphemy
BBC: women in Kandahar mount protest against kidnapping of US aid worker

BBC: Egypt talks with Fatah and Hamas, separately; border still open
WP: Israel court upholds Gaza blockade

WP: report on Lebanon due out today in Israel, expected to pressure Olmert

LAT: US envoy to UN acts like a diplomat with Iranian officials, naturally unauthorized

LAT: opposition leader arrested in Syria
Gdn: academic sentenced in Turkey for criticizing Ataturk

africa
IHT: more on attack in Algeria, insurgency

BBC: Qaddafi wants more unity in the African Union

BBC: Kenya officials to begin talks
"The three-man teams of representatives from Mr Kibaki's Party of National Unity and the ODM were due to begin their deliberations in the capital, Nairobi, on Wednesday.
Negotiations will be based on a series of proposals drawn up by Mr Annan and his team...The former UN secretary general has given the two sides four weeks to resolve the "immediate political issues" and up to a year to sort out details."
LAT: Kenyans want leaders to move more decisively to end violence
NYT: assassinated MP was a potential peacemaker
LAT: US envoy calls violence "ethnic cleansing"
Gdn: the violence is "neighbor vs neighbor"

Slate: checking in with the Save Darfur campaign

asia
Econ: befriending the Free Burma Rangers
BBC: Suu Kyi says no progress after meeting with junta
LAT: singing is suspect in Burma, especially at a music school supported by Yale students
"An Ivy League glee club that hangs with the singing Whiffenpoofs wouldn't have made it onto any watch list in most other countries. But 15 minutes before the performance, a captain from the dreaded Special Branch police came backstage to poke around, while 250 people sat in the audience. The singers' butterflies morphed into terror that their show was about to be shut down as an anti-state activity."
BBC: military says it is fighting child soldier "recruitment"

BBC: bus blast in Sri Lanka kills 18, 11 children near Mannar; fighting continues in northwest

americas
LAT: case highlights conflicts with Mapuche indigenous minority over development in Chile

Gdn: the politics of sex work in Nicaragua
"Two months ago police raids shut brothels across the city, expelled clients and sent sex workers home. The leftwing Sandinista government billed the crackdown as a socially progressive effort to protect women from exploitation.
The would-be beneficiaries did not see it that way. Their work, however ghastly, was a ticket out of poverty.
Dozens of prostitutes from Salvadoreño led a revolt against what they said was a violation of rights. Emerging from the shadows of their trade, they went public and mounted an unprecedented media campaign to overturn the ban. Astonished by the protests, the authorities relented and within a week the women were back at work."

Slate: are Senate Democrats dooming us to terrorist attacks by not extending the Protect Americans Act? (as implied by Bush in his last! SOTU)
"Roger Pilon warned in the Wall Street Journal that 'the clock is ticking.' But which clock? Where is the big terrorist alarm clock that sounds every time the president doesn't get his way? Congressional Democrats hit the snooze button today, buying themselves a few more days to wrangle over the bill and its amendments."
The Onion: letting go of the fear is precisely what the US doesn't need

Weekly Standard: PJ O'Rourke explains US primaries, politics to the Euros
"After the events of the 20th century, God, quite reasonably, left Europe. But He's still here in the United States. The majority of Americans are Christians, and Christians can be divided into two kinds, the kind who think you should get Jesus and the kind who think Jesus is going to get you. Mike Huckabee is one of the latter. Then there are the Mormons such as Mitt Romney who believe some unusual things--things that no sensible European like Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Heidegger, Benito Mussolini, Karl Marx, Emanuel Swedenborg, or Cherie Blair would ever believe...Incidentally, there's a balanced position that all of America's presidential candidates could take on the controversial abortion issue. If they want votes they shouldn't campaign to make abortion illegal or legal. They should campaign to make it retroactive. If a kid reaches 25 and he or she is still jobless, feckless, and sitting around Starbucks acting like a--no offense--European, then whack."

lather. rinse. repeat.

africa
Ind: revenge and ethnic cleansing continue in Naivasha
"'We don't want bloodshed,' said Leonard Sindani. 'We want peace.' The crowd murmured its approval. 'But they must go. If they stay we will deal with them. There is no going back. This is the final plan.' The crowd roared its approval."
Gdn: military uses helicopters to protect refugees in Kenya
"Police said rubber bullets were fired from machine guns as the helicopters dived three or four times towards a crowd of more than 600 people brandishing machetes and clubs. Two police trucks prepared to evacuate the displaced Luos to safety."
Ind: opposition MP shot in Nairobi, where gang fighting continues in slums
Econ: map of the violence

Ind: fighting resumes in the Congo, breaking peace accord
"Tutsi fighters loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda and Pareco Mai Mai militia, who both signed a peace accord on Wednesday, blamed each other for the fighting around villages 70 km (44 miles) west of the town of Goma."

BBC: fighting in Mogadishu between insurgents and government forces; AU forces targeted as well

BBC: UN Darfur deployment will take all year

middle east
Gdn: militants killed in missile attack in North Waziristan, Pakistan
"US forces in neighbouring Afghanistan have fired missiles at militants on the Pakistani side of the border several times in recent years. Neither US nor Pakistani authorities officially confirm the attacks on Pakistani territory as they would constitute a violation of Pakistani sovereignty."
Gdn: child hostages released after shoot-out

Ind: analysis of the violence in Beirut
"Eight Shia Lebanese Muslims were killed in just two hours in the Mar Mikael district of the city in a shootout involving unknown assailants in – and this is the most sinister part of the carnage – the very streets where the 15-year Lebanese civil war broke out in 1975. Then it was a busload of Palestinians ambushed on their way home from the Tel el-Zaatar refugee camp. On Sunday night, it was a large group of Lebanese Muslims protesting against high prices and power cuts."

LAT: Gaza border breach sparks pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Egypt
"Mubarak's vast intelligence and security forces are attempting to prevent pro-Palestinian protests from erupting into sustained nationwide anti-government rallies. But the Muslim Brotherhood and Kifaya, Arabic for "Enough," an umbrella opposition group of leftists and nationalists, are determined to make just that happen. The Muslim Brotherhood has sponsored 80 demonstrations since Wednesday, when hundreds of thousands of Gazans began pouring into Egypt through a breached border wall."

NYT: 5 US soldiers die in Mosul ambush
"The attack on Monday underscored the grim situation in Mosul, Iraq’s northern hub, which remains a stronghold for Sunni extremist fighters...a powerful blast shook the city last Wednesday as Iraqi soldiers entered a building packed with thousands of pounds of explosives. The Iraqi Red Crescent Organization reported that at least 60 people had been killed and 280 wounded, mostly children, women and the elderly. The attack enraged residents, who were furious at government leaders for failing to protect them. The next morning, when the provincial police chief visited the site of the blast, he was stoned by a crowd of angry people who had been digging bodies of relatives from the rubble. As he tried to leave, he was assassinated by a suicide bomber."
Newsweek: Zakaria says the war's over and the mission should switch to peacekeeping
Slate: Bush dissembles about troop reductions
"President Bush said the proof of our strategy's success is that 'more than 20,000 of our troops are coming home.' (The congressional crowd went wild with applause.) These are the 20,000 troops that were sent over as part of the surge. The simple fact is that, by the summer, the 15-month deployment tours of the last of these surge brigades will have run out. There are no brigades ready to replace them. So, they will come home—and this would have been the case, no matter what had happened in the past year. The surge has always been short-term; that's why they called it a surge...Don't bet on any more troops coming home for good before Christmas. And if a reduction from 160,000 to 140,000 puts the situation back on the precipice, below which further cuts trigger disaster, then the situation cannot be considered at all stable."
LAT: the real estate market in Baghdad prices some out
NYT blog: global governance: Iraq signs on to Kyoto treaty

BBC: car bomb in Algeria kills 2
"That attack was claimed by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which was behind a string of similar bombings last year."

asia
Gdn: opposition leaders in Burma face 7 years in prison for fall demonstrations

Ind: new prime minister, a "celebrity chef," elected in Thailand

europe
BBC: Russia restricts election monitors
NYT: Gorbachev criticizes Kremlin
"...the final leader of the Soviet Union, sharply criticized the state of Russia’s electoral system in remarks published Monday and called for extensive reforms to a system that has secured power for President Vladimir V. Putin and the Kremlin’s inner circle."

Gdn: EU dangles incentives for Serbian electorate: trade and travel

NYT: 75th anniversary of Hitler's assumption of power tomorrow

americas
BBC: Fujimori on trial for ordering massacres during COIN against Shining Path; former death squad member testifies

BBC: FARC leader Ricardo Palmera, alias Simon Trinidad, sentenced to 60 years in the US for kidnapping 3 US contractors

Slate: shocker: Bush doesn't demonstrate learning in his cut-and-paste State of the Union
"Does he believe that the violent battles for power in these lands really come down to freedom vs. tyranny? If so, no wonder this government has had such a hard time getting a handle on these dangers, much less trying to engage them...It is a horrible shame, a dreadful legacy of this administration, that the majority of people in so many once-allied (or at least not-unfriendly) nations, particularly in the Middle East and Asia, regard America as a bigger threat than Iran and Osama Bin Laden. To think seriously about why these views exist, to address the perception in a serious way, doesn't mean accepting their validity. Not to think seriously about this question is to perpetuate our bad image and diminish our real security."

misc
Slate: beauty and regimes, or: where did all the hot tennis players come from?

sparks and spirals

africa
LAT: violence in Kenya along ethnic lines spreads to Naivasha
"The violence in Naivasha appeared to be in response to clashes last week in the nearby city of Nakuru, where as many as 50 Kikuyus were killed and hundreds of homes burned."
Gdn: death toll reaches 800; violence in Kisumu as well
NYT: Kenyan military deployed for first time to stop the fighting, but don't succeed

BBC: EU will deploy in Chad, Central African Republic to protect Darfur refugees, relieve UN forces
"Known as Eufor Chad/CAR, the force will be deployed in four areas - three in Chad and one in the Central African Republic. The mission is among the hardest undertaken by the European Union and will involve at least 11 member states."

middle east
LAT: Pakistani forces clash with militants near Peshawar
Gdn: militants take over 200 children hostage at a school in northwest

Salon: the border breach in Gaza: beneficial to Israel?
"In Jerusalem the opening of the border with Egypt is even being greeted with some relief. 'Cairo now has to solve the humanitarian problem that we have been dealing with until now,' said an Israeli official."
BBC: Egypt trying to seal off the border
Gdn: Fatah wants Hamas out of border regulating role

NYT: seven shot by Lebanese Army during Sunday opposition protest/riots; worst violence in a year
Econ: the bombings in Beirut: contextualizing the assassination

NYT: Yemen deals with Islamists differently, "worries" US

LAT: recruiting contractors in Latin America
"About 1,200 Peruvians are in Iraq, mostly guarding sites in Baghdad's Green Zone. Chileans, Colombians, Salvadorans and Hondurans have also served as part of the polyglot assemblage providing "conflict labor" in U.S. war zones."
WP: gov't officials testify that the US can't 'manage' contractors in Iraq

SWJ: new topics at the US Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute
SWJ: new intelligence units in the Marines
"Today’s irregular warfare, with its lack of a uniformed enemy, makes intelligence gathering vital for enemy identification. To adapt to the emerging threat, infantry companies often create their own versions of ad hoc intelligence cells, said Vince Goulding, director of experimentation plans at the Warfighting Laboratory. But those individual efforts have been piecemeal, because the Corps had no standard training or equipment available, he said.
The new initiative for pushing intelligence analysis know-how down to the lower echelons, however, is about to change all that. Rifle companies will now be able to assess, analyze and disseminate information that they typically had relied on battalion or regimental command to produce…"

SWJ: essays on lessons learned in Iraq from the American Security Project
SWJ: interview with Brigadier General Edward Cardon, on progress in Iraq
Ind: key US ally threatens to defect with his 13,000 men if jobs aren't provided in 3 months
Ind: check-up on Fallujah

americas
BBC: killings in Guyana gang-related, raise concerns of ethnic conflict; villagers protest for more police aid

BBC: Chávez calls for anti-US security block

NYT: real estate on the black market in Havana

NYT: closing prisons in rural NY, shifting priorities in the penal system
"Closing those prisons, [the state's corrections commissioner] said, would save the state millions of dollars, free up money for the treatment of sex offenders and mentally ill inmates, and finance programs like anger management and vocational training, meant to prepare prisoners for their release."

asia
BBC: tens killed in Sri Lanka fighting over the weekend

BBC: clashes continue in Assam between separatists (ULFA) and Indian forces

NYT: Thailand chooses new prime minister, moves away from military control

NYT: Indonesians mourn Suharto

misc
Gdn: Australia will apologize for its treatment of Aborigines, especially taking children
Gdn: children also stolen, given to different families in Argentina; DNA testing linking families
BBC: French NGO workers sentenced to 8 years in prison for attempting to kidnap 103 Chadian children

Ind: hip-hop in Iran, where rap is illegal

New Yorker: God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe 570 to 1215 (book review)

WP: is this thing on? Bush to give State of the Union tonight (his last one!)

New Yorker: "Boxing Rebellion" in China

possible deployments for an ex-president

middle east
NYT: Pakistan's Taliban problem
"'The police are scared,' Mr. Sherpao [former head of law enforcement in Pakistan] said. 'They don’t want to get involved.' The Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force that could help in tracking down leads on suicide bombers, was 'too stressed, fighting all over,' he said. The Pakistan Army has forces in the tribal areas where the militants have built their sanctuaries but the soldiers have remained in their headquarters. 'They are not moving around,' he said. 'That’s their strategy.'"
NYT: on secret mission, CIA's offer to jump in is rejected
"Instead, Pakistan and the United States are discussing a series of other joint efforts, including increasing the number and scope of missions by armed Predator surveillance aircraft over the tribal areas, and identifying ways that the United States can speed information about people suspected of being militants to Pakistani security forces, officials said."
(it's interesting that the Pentagon and CIA keep talking to the press about their efforts -- scroll down for previous postings (too lazy to link))
LAT: more assurances from Musharraf: nuclear weapons are secure

LAT: Iraq resists US pressure to have free reign; in particular, US cannot use Iraq as platform to attack any of its neighbors
IHT: so far, US still participating in diplomacy: UN Security Council drafts new terms of Iran sanctions

Gdn: Gaza breach into Egypt reshapes regional demographics; background and accounts of crossings
AP: Egypt trying to close border for fifth straight day
BBC: Israel to allow fuel shipments to Gaza, ending 2 week embargo

africa
LAT: "tit-for-tat" violence, looting between Kenyan tribes in Nakuru
"Kenyan police spokesman Eric Kiraithe tried to assure the public Saturday that security would be restored, blaming the violence on gangs and 'advantage-takers.' Police in Nakuru have been criticized for allowing the violence to get out of control before intervening. 'What is causing the chaos is gangs of youths, forming on ethnic lines,' Kiraithe said in an interview on local television. 'But looting does not solve the political problems.'"
Gdn: has specific, terrible examples of victimization
"Morris Ouma, a 25-year-old trader, said he had taken part in the fighting. 'I didn't feel good about it, but they are killing our people. What shall we do?'"

Econ: Nigeria elections on trial

Econ: rebellions in the "phantom state" Central African Republic
"The International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based lobby, says that the CAR has dropped below the level even of a failed state. 'It has become virtually a phantom state, lacking any meaningful institutional capacity at least since the fall of Emperor [Jean-Bédel] Bokassa in 1979,' it says...
When the French, who ran the place until 1960, decided that their long-time protégé had become a liability, they helped to oust him. That did not bring stability. The CAR has suffered no fewer than 11 mutinies or attempted coups in the past decade alone...
Since then, however, two more rebellions have erupted. One, in the north-west, pits supporters of Mr Patassé, who is in exile, against the government's feeble forces. Another, in the north-east, has its origins in a combination of ethnic tension and regional neglect made worse by some disgruntled Bozizé men who complain they have not been paid for liberating the country. Thrown into the mix are bandits known as Zaraguina, who are mostly from Chad; they loot, kidnap and demand thousands of dollars in ransom for local cattle-herders from the Peuhl tribe...
At least the government is trying to talk to its opponents. 'Rebels or Zaraguinas, they're just bandits,' says Dieudonné-Stanislas M'Bangot, a presidential adviser. 'But we have to negotiate with them, as we don't have the means to fight them. Do you have any better ideas?'"

asia
Econ: Thailand's war on meth, violence by security forces

Econ: ethnic Indians in Malaysia demanding more from government
"In the 50 years of peninsular Malaysia's independence from Britain, the ethnic Indians have been more quiescent than the richer, better educated and more assertive ethnic Chinese, who make up about one-quarter of the population. Under an implicit “social contract”, the two minorities, mostly descended from migrant workers, were given citizenship in return for accepting that ethnic Malays and other indigenous groups, together known as bumiputras (sons of the soil), would enjoy privileged access to state jobs and education. All the races have done well from strong economic growth since independence. The Indians and Chinese suffer even lower poverty rates than the bumiputras. But whereas the majority population have, with official help, started catching up with the Chinese in the property and shares they own, the Indians still have few assets (see chart). Often they are stuck in rented homes and low-skilled urban jobs. The Indians' sense of missing out on the good life has helped to feed their mood of grievance. But what has most fuelled their anger in the past few years is a feeling that “creeping Islamisation” threatens their religious freedom."

Econ: sex work and tourism in Nepal
"During the recently-ended civil war, Nepal's Himalayan tourism industry collapsed. Some activists think that sex tourism is replacing it."

europe
Econ: Serbia should court the EU
"...politicians in Belgrade should not imagine that they have a plausible long-term alternative—least of all one of Slav solidarity with Russia."

BBC: police and protesters clash in Ingushetia region of Russia
"Muslim Ingushetia borders Chechnya and has suffered from overflowing unrest. There is a low-level insurgency, with regular small-scale ambushes against police and soldiers."

BBC: former prime minister Kasyanov, main opponent in Russian presidential elections, barred from participating
LAT: but former KGB operative and suspect in poisoning case, is a member of parliament
LAT scores an interview: "'I don't agree that the Cold War is back. It has never ended,' he said. 'Any normal Russian person in the 1990s didn't see anything from the West except insults and humiliation.'
So is this payback time? Lugovoy laughed a little, then spoke deliberately.
'I don't agree with this biblical saying that if they hit you on one cheek you should turn the other cheek,' he said. 'If they hit you on one cheek, you hit them back with a fist.'"

NYT mag: maybe in a "multipolar" world, the Cold War will be put to rest?
"The more we appreciate the differences among the American, European and Chinese worldviews, the more we will see the planetary stakes of the new global game. Previous eras of balance of power have been among European powers sharing a common culture. The cold war, too, was not truly an 'East-West' struggle; it remained essentially a contest over Europe. What we have today, for the first time in history, is a global, multicivilizational, multipolar battle."

Econ: outlaw lawmaker isn't only area of strain between UK and Russia
Econ: cutbacks for bobbies: weighing decrease in funding and crime fighting
LAT: football diplomacy: UK denies work permit to Iraqi star

Gdn: gang fighting in Dublin

LAT: ethnic politics in Germany

americas
IHT: Canada stopped sending prisoners to Afghanistan after finding abuse
Econ: Ottawa government stable, boring

IHT: mass killing in Guyana

IHT: Venezuelan pleads guilty in Miami to trying to cover up scheme to transfer $800k in cash from Chávez to Cristina Kirchner

Econ: nepotism in Brazil

Slate: Obama crushes Clinton(s) in SC
"...after South Carolina we might see Bill Clinton suddenly dispatched to solve some new crisis in a country with no satellite trucks and no cell towers. The South Carolina result suggests that he wasn't effective and raises the question of whether his antics during the past week reminded voters that the whole Clinton circus is one that they just don't want coming to town." [perhaps he could organize a humanitarian mission to the CAR? or - sorry, can't resist the bait - maybe investigating the sex tourism in Nepal would be more up his alley]

'there must be something better out there'

africa
BBC: Annan condemns violence, elections in Kenya
Mr Annan said conflict may have been triggered by disputed elections, but it had evolved into 'something else.'"
Econ: (meanwhile, high-tech voter fraud in the US?)

Econ: run-down of the peace deal and outstanding issues in Congo

asia
WP: "strolling" in Shanghai: middle-class citizens carefully organize protests against train extension
WP: video taken on anonymous protester's cellphone here

WP: shoring up the US military base in Guam
"The Pentagon has chosen Guam, a quirkily American place that marries the beauty of Bali with the banality of Kmart, as the prime location in the western Pacific for projecting U.S. military muscle. Guam has served as an important U.S. military outpost since World War II. But now the sultry tropical island, about three times the size of the District of Columbia and with a population of 173,000, is set to become a rapid-response platform for problems ranging from pirates to terrorists to tsunamis, as well as a highly visible reminder to China that the United States is nearby and watching."

WP: North and South Korea hold first talks of the year

middle east
LAT: Gazans keep crossing border into Egypt, face riot police; Hamas bulldozes another gap in wall, police withdrawn
Slate: what everyone should know about the Gaza Strip (no, not the latest pole dance)

NYT: Maliki to send troops to Mosul after attacks there
"'We have defeated Al Qaeda, and there is only Nineveh [the province Mosul is capital of] and Kirkuk left where the terrorists have fled to,' Mr. Maliki said in the southern city of Karbala. 'Today the forces started to move to Mosul, and the battle will be final.'
By most accounts, the struggle is likely to be challenging and unlikely to be final. Sunni insurgents have long been active in Nineveh. The province borders Syria, which has been a conduit for foreign fighters, and is a region marked by tensions between Sunni Arabs and Kurds."

Ind: Musharraf allays all concerns, says elections will be free and fair
WP: US reiterates that it will send troops to help Pakistani security forces against Al-Qaeda and extremist groups

Ind: bomb in Beirut targeted terrorism investigator

latin america
BBC: after killing, call for more security in Peru for judges, prosecutors, witnesses, and defendants in drug trafficking trials
"The latest killing marks the growing boldness of drugs gangs operating in Peru as cocaine production increases."

BBC: Sec Rice in Medellín to push for free trade pact with Colombia

WP: Brazil to try to halt increase in Amazon deforestation and development

europe
BBC: new, no-name far-right mega party in EU

LAT: Prodi loses vote of confidence, Italy's gov't collapses

BBC: former Tamil Tiger-turned government collaborator jailed in UK for identity fraud

Gdn: Moscow police arrested mafia boss's alias for tax evasion before realizing who they had
WP: no mistakes here: drafting young opposition leaders into military service
"Service in the army, which has a well-documented history of violent and sometimes fatal hazing, is feared by many young Russians, not just those who oppose the government."

misc
NYT: pages all reporters to weigh in on how the (democratic) primaries are playing out around the world
"'It is in many ways an uplifting sight to see a great democracy functioning at that most basic of levels,' said Lord Tom McNally, the leader of the small, opposition Liberal Democrats in Britain’s House of Lords. 'Even with all the money, the publicity, the power of television, the person who wants to be the most powerful man or woman in the world still has to get down and talk in small town halls and stop people on the street and stand on soapboxes'...'There is a desperate sense of need that there must be something better than Bush out there...'"

slippery standards

NYT: adversaries meet in Kenya but reach no agreement (or grounds for further negotiations)
BBC: killings, arson continue in the Rift Valley

BBC: Zimbabwe to vote in March

BBC: witnesses in trial against Charles Taylor say they've received death threats

BBC: (confirmed) death of Ugandan rebel leader may complicate talks there

NYT: US asks for more legal leeway in Iraq
"The American negotiating position for a formal military-to-military relationship, one that would replace the current United Nations mandate, is laid out in a draft proposal that was described by White House, Pentagon, State Department and military officials on ground rules of anonymity. It also includes less controversial demands that American troops be immune from Iraqi prosecution, and that they maintain the power to detain Iraqi prisoners. However, the American quest for protections for civilian contractors is expected to be particularly vexing, because in no other country are contractors working with the American military granted protection from local laws."

Slate: the US military reduces its standards. again.
"...now that it's focusing on "asymmetric warfare," especially counterinsurgency campaigns, such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan, the requirements are different. The crucial engagements—in many ways, the crucial decisions—take place in the streets, door to door, not by armored divisions or brigades but by infantry companies and squads. And when the targets include hearts and minds, every soldier's judgment and actions have an impact...So, there's a double spiral in effect. The war keeps more good soldiers from enlisting. The lack of good candidates compels the Army to recruit more bad candidates. The swelling ranks of ill-suited soldiers make it harder to fight these kinds of wars effectively."
BBC: UK calls for better training of its Army after 'abuses' in Iraq

Gdn: in central Afghanistan, US mistakenly kills 9 police officers

BBC: bomb in Christian suburb of Beirut kills 5

BBC: Kashmir militant claimed dead on Indian side
"Bashir Ahmad, also known as Sabha, was wanted by the police in connection with blasts in Kashmir and northern Uttar Pradesh state, police say. Ahmad was the top commander of the pro-Pakistani Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (Huji) militant group, police said."

BBC: mass graves, 16 bodies found in government-controlled territory in Sri Lanka
BBC: government weighs institutional changes, decentralization

Gdn: police arrest Russian mafia leader in Moscow

WP: paramilitary justice and peace, and the aftermath of the Chengue massacre in Colombia 7 years ago
NYT: amateur bullfighting: for some, probability of being maimed in Colombia not high enough

Gdn: Burmese junta said to intensify oppression
Slate: Burma? Rambo can handle it

no protection

NYT: massive death persist even during "peace" in the Congo
"The survey, released Tuesday, estimated that 45,000 people continue to die every month, about the same pace as in 2004, when the international push to rebuild the country had scarcely begun. Almost all the deaths come from hunger and disease, signs that the country is still grappling with the aftermath of a war that gutted its infrastructure, forced millions to flee and flattened its economy."
Chris Blattman: assesses the utility of the survey and its estimate (conducted by the IRC)

LAT: instability persists in Kenya
Ind: weighs in, deems election of Kibaki fradulent
WP: Kenya elite avoid the clashes, but not the ethnic conflict

LAT: reflecting on the situation in Anbar, early mistakes in Iraq
"Gaskin, who commands 35,000 Marines and soldiers, credits the turnaround [in Anbar] to an alliance between U.S.-led forces and tribal sheiks who have turned against the insurgency.
'Nothing happens out here without tribal approval,' he said. 'They were tribal before they were Muslims.'"
LAT: negotiating with tribes in border region with Syria

NYT: in Iraq, Awakening Council members, or Concerned Local Citizens, increasingly targets of violence
"Officials say that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia has a two-pronged strategy: directing strikes against Awakening members to intimidate and punish them for cooperating with the Americans, and infiltrating the groups to glean intelligence and discredit the movement in the eyes of an already wary Shiite-led government...Both Sunni and Shiite officials in Baghdad blame two government-linked Shiite paramilitary forces for some of the attacks: the Mahdi Army and the Badr Organization. Sunni officials charge that militia leaders are involved, while Shiite officials believe that the attackers are renegade members of the groups...Killings of guardsmen are mounting even as Awakening members are becoming increasingly frustrated with the Iraqi government, which has yet to fulfill its promise to integrate 20 percent of the volunteers into the Ministries of Interior and Defense and give nonsecurity jobs to the rest — a process that American officials say could take until the end of the year."
BBC: Iraqi police chief dies in suicide attack in Mosul

LAT: not at war, but militants would be ready for violence in Lebanon

LAT: in Mexico, soldiers disarm police in 3 border cities
"'There are municipal police forces that have collapsed and that function more as support staff to organized crime rather than as guardians of public safety,'" [Atty Gen] Medina Mora said."
Reuters: which may not be a good sign for the civilian population
"The army and navy, which play a leading role in President Felipe Calderon's campaign against organized crime, should be withdrawn to their barracks, said Jose Luis Soberanes, head of the country's human rights commission. 'Individuals belonging to the armed forces committed grave abuses,' he told Mexico's Congress. 'In 2007, we widely documented cases of torture, rape and homicide.'"
Econ: summarizes increasing violence in last two weeks, highlights open fighting in Tijuana
WP: sting on Sinaloa cartel in Mexico City
NYT: Gov Spitzer proposes a $200/gram tax on cocaine (like 29 other states have already enacted)

BBC: in other news on the failed drug war front: eradication of poppy in Afghanistan, um, failing.
Gdn: young Afghan journalist sentenced to death for blasphemy, being brother of reporter who exposed northern warlords' human rights abuses

Gdn: Burmese poet arrested for criticizing general in verse
"The eight-line poem appeared to be an innocent verse about Valentine's day, by Saw Wai. But when read vertically the first word of each line describes Burma's leader, General Than Shwe, as 'power-crazed'."
Econ: depressingly, junta has tremendous power that seems unaffected by protests

Gdn: speaking of power-crazed generals, Musharraf claims Pakistan on track for March elections
LAT: but we'll see how long that lasts, as critics increasingly vocal
LAT: US moves ahead with plans to train security forces, with new army chief

BBC: Putin bans critic from elections because he doesn't have 2 million signatures

NYT: move over anti-Castro constituents, make room for anti-Chavistas
"According to census data, the Venezuelan community in the United States has grown more than 94 percent this decade, from 91,507 in 2000, the year after Mr. Chávez took office, to 177,866 in 2006."

LAT: cyanide kills witness, dirty secrets of Argentina's dirty war

LAT: Paraguay Colorado party nominates woman as presidential candidate
in case you haven't heard of it, Paraguay is "a landlocked tropical nation of almost 7 million people in an area nearly the size of California..."

Gdn: Beijing face-lift before Olympics to include a "'social cleansing' operation to clear the city of beggars, hawkers and prostitutes."

NYT: remembering the children's rights pioneer and orphanage martyr
"[Janusz Korczak's] work at the orphanage was interrupted in 1940 when the Nazis forced him and his orphans into the Warsaw Ghetto."
Gdn: German railway acknowledges role in holocaust

BBC: Alaskan language dies with its last speaker

The Onion: as usual, they have the story first: Clinton's in

don't call it a comeback

NYT: resupplying Gaza
"Thousands of Palestinians streamed over the Rafah border crossing from the Gaza Strip into Egypt on Wednesday, after a border fence was toppled, and went on a spree of buying fuel and other supplies that have been cut off from their territory by Israel...Initial reports suggested that Hamas militants had used explosives to blow a hole in the corrugated-iron border fence at Rafah. The Rafah crossing into Egypt has been shut since Hamas took over Gaza in a short war with Fatah last summer."

NPR: rebuilding Fallujah
"Fallujah is still an armed fortress — anyone coming in has to show a U.S-issued residency card at checkpoints on the perimeter. While this may be a pain, there hasn't been a car bomb here since last March — and local police are now able to secure the city instead of relying on the unpopular Iraqi army brigade, which had been brought in from the Shiite south...

Sheikhs like Alwani, who have spearheaded the fight against al-Qaida, remain vulnerable, especially outside the city. This week, a 12-year-old managed to get through guards. The boy was supposed to be coming to pay respects — instead he blew himself up. He missed his target, but killed five others.

The youngster was a relative of the sheikh. Successful attacks like this are often inside jobs, which poses a problem for tribal leaders who want to reintegrate former al-Qaida members. Marine Gen. John Allen says tribes demand the former fighters make amends for killings in the past in a very specific way.

'You must commit yourself in public, and in the light of day, to opposing al-Qaida — and you must go fight al-Qaida,' Allen says. 'You must equalize this blood feud. You've got to get al-Qaida blood on your own hands.'"

WP: making sense out of the new "reconciliation" law in Iraq
"Some say the law's primary aim is not to return ex-Baathists to work, but to recognize and compensate those harmed by the party. Of the law's eight stated justifications, none mentions reinstating ex-Baathists to their jobs.

'The law is about as clear as mud,' said one U.S. senior diplomat."

Newsweek: it's as much al-Sadr as the surge
"Gen. David Petraeus has been deservedly praised for tamping down violence in Iraq, but an unlikely character deserves some credit—Sadr. Five months ago the firebrand cleric ordered his followers to lay down their arms, and they've largely obeyed. Mahdi cadres have gone after bad seeds like the Assassin, whose thuggish tactics have disgusted ordinary Iraqis...

By the summer, the aggressive raids [in Baghdad neighborhoods] had forced moderate Sadrists to the negotiating table; the ceasefire then gave them more latitude to work with the Americans. Ducote, an Atlanta native who once studied for the seminary, pointed out to them that if attacks on civilians ceased, he could cut back on the raids. As a good-faith measure, he released a well-known Shiite extremist shortly after his arrest. "We thought about it a lot and decided, 'We're going to do it because we really want this to work'," says Ducote. The gamble paid off. 'That really, really earned us a lot of credibility.' Tip-offs from locals soared. Attacks against civilians and the Coalition in Jihad have dropped to roughly one tenth of what they were when the Black Lions arrived. In October, Sunni and Shiite leaders in the neighborhood signed a peace deal...

[The Lt Col in charge of southwest Baghdad] likens the Mahdi Army to the once omnipotent Baath Party: Shiites who want to have influence in their communities have to become members at least nominally...

...things could just as well turn out badly. If Sadr achieves the rank of ayatollah, he will be a heavyweight political, as well as religious, authority—and he'll have a leaner, more loyal militia at his disposal."

USAT: Padilla sentenced to 17 years; judge lightened sentence because of 'harsh treatment'

non-sequitur

USAT: what does the interest rate slash mean for normal folks?
New Yorker: or ignore that and read Ben Franklin's Way to Wealth instead (with a grain of salt, naturally)
"'Friends, says he, and Neighbours, the Taxes are indeed very heavy, and if those laid on by the Government were the only Ones we had to pay, we might more easily discharge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous to some of us. We are taxed twice as much by our Idleness, three times as much by our Pride, and four times as much by our Folly, and from these Taxes the Commissioners cannot ease or deliver us by allowing an Abatement'...After the hoary old man finished, the people 'approved the Doctrine and immediately practised the contrary, just as if it had been a common Sermon.'...In London, in 1766, Franklin was questioned before the House of Commons during its deliberations on the repeal of the Stamp Act. Asked how soldiers sent to enforce the new taxes would be received, Franklin answered, 'They will not find a rebellion; they may indeed make one.' The king and Parliament heeded Franklin’s advice just about as much 'as if it had been a common Sermon.' They sent the soldiers. They made a rebellion."

renegades

CFR: brief summary of paramilitaries and new splinter groups in Colombia
NSA: US declassified documentation of links between paramilitaries and Colombian military
NPR: (from Sept 2007) interview with OAS chief in Colombia on emerging gangs and militias
CIP: map of the militias

NYT: agreement reached between Congo military and former general to stop insurgency (which has failed to capture the attention of most Western media outlets)
"Battles between General Nkunda’s troops, government-allied militias and the Rwandan Hutu fighters have spawned chaos in eastern Congo over the past year, just as the country struggled to right itself after its first democratic elections in more than four decades. The battles have also heightened ethnic tensions in a region that has been torn by fighting among its many ethnic groups...While diplomats, analysts and human rights advocates hailed the agreement as a historic step in a region torn by violence, many of the most difficult questions remain unresolved, like the status of Mr. Nkunda, the precise arrangements for ensuring the cease-fire and integrating the different forces into the national army, and the potentially explosive return of thousands of Congolese Tutsi living as refugees in Rwanda."

(not so) great expectations

NYT: counterinsurgency and presidential politics
"Anthony Cordesman, a military specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who regularly visits Iraq, put it this way: 'You have to grade all the candidates between a D-minus and an F-plus. The Republicans are talking about this as if we have won and as if Iraq is the center of the war on terrorism, rather than Afghanistan and Pakistan and a host of movements in 50 other countries.

'The Democrats talk about this as if the only problem is to withdraw and the difference is over how quickly to do it.'

On the ground with the troops, it is clear that a major military change was in fact made in Iraq last year — not so much the addition of 30,000 troops, but the shift to a counterinsurgency strategy for using them."

WP: back story on foreign-born Iraqi insurgents
Ind: fighting continues in south of Iraq between police forces and Shia cult
NYT: Pentagon might reassign Petraeus to NATO post

LAT: Bush administration lowers expectations on foreign policy goals (who knew it was possible)
"The upshot is that the Bush administration is going to be spending the next year managing crises and tidying up messes until the next president takes over, rather than reaching legacy milestones, as officials recently had hoped."
WP: the Post is not so pessimistic

NYT: Kenya killings might have been planned pre-elections
"Several local chiefs of the Kalenjin and Masai communities said they held meetings before the election discussing how they would attack Kikuyus and push them off their land. Top opposition politicians have said they were not involved and that there were no plans for violence...The disappointing reality is that all this has happened before in Kenya: the same places, the same ethnic fault lines, even the same tactics, down to the mud-smeared faces. Both of the times that ethnic violence has swept across the Rift Valley, the early 1990s and now, local tensions have been ignited by politics."

Gdn: militia leader and tribal sheik given government post in Sudan
"Musa Hilal, who is accused of leading militias on a state-sponsored campaign to cleanse parts of Darfur of non-Arab farmers, will act as special advisor to the minister of federal government, local media reported...Hilal has admitted recruiting local Janjaweed militias for the government, but denies personal involvement in the scorched earth campaign that has driven more than two million people from their homes, and seen more than 200,000 people die." [unclear how recruiting does not imply personal involvement]

Gdn: Israel blocks fuel to Gaza, threatening humanitarian emergency

WP: run-off likely in Serbia

NPR: focus on Turkish women in Germany
"One of the biggest problems in these multi-ethnic societies is the wall of silence behind which tens of thousands of uneducated Muslim women live...In 2004, the German ministry for family affairs claimed that 49 percent of Turkish women had experienced physical or sexual violence in their marriage. And in the last decade, there have been 49 known cases of honor killings, 16 in Berlin alone...'The Muslim institutions, they see these problems, that families are having problems,' [a social worker] explains. 'They say, 'If you become again religious or get back to your roots and your religious beliefs, then everything will become better.' And that's why we have this movement, religious institutions are becoming bigger and stronger...[At the same time,] Under the guise of religious tolerance, [a rights leader] says, German institutions turn a blind eye to women's rights violations."

New Yorker: the Obama-Clinton choice

subprime voting

SWJ: the US military and governance
"...the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps actually have a long history of establishing and running “governments” in both smaller-scale contingency operations and in the aftermath of major theater war"
WP: the surge is working (op-ed)
WP: no it isn't (op-ed)

BBC: Cubans vote for parliament today
LAT: incremental change under Raul Castro?
"Analysts of the secretive Cuban power structure see signs of modest political and economic change emerging on the island in the 18 months since an ailing Fidel Castro temporarily ceded power to his brother Raul and retreated to pen his thoughts and memoirs."

LAT: Chávez, Venezuela approve measure to recognize FARC, ELN as "belligerents"
"To qualify for "belligerent" status, experts say an armed group must control territory, have a unified command, demonstrate the capacity to carry out military operations and observe basic human rights...Various governments and human rights groups contended last week that the FARC neither controls territory in Colombia nor does it respect human rights, so it shouldn't qualify as a belligerent group."
Econ: the politics of the hostage release
"Proof of their continuing “terrorist” status could be found in the letters and photographs of eight of the remaining hostages, sent with the released women, Mr Uribe suggested. In a letter to his family, Luis Mendieta, a Colombian police officer, who has been held for nearly ten years, said his legs had become partially paralysed. “It's neither the physical pain nor the chains around my neck that torment me,” he wrote. “It's the mental anguish.”
Although Mr Uribe may not like it, any deal with the FARC will almost certainly have to involve Mr Chávez despite the souring of relations between the two men. "
BBC: US official accuses Chávez of colluding in cocaine trafficking

WP: constitutional debates in Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia

WP: Ashura in Iran
Econ: and other sorrows

LAT: Bhutto's legacy and gender politics in Pakistan
"For women such as Mohsin, Pakistan is a land of bitter contradictions. Entrenched tribal and religious taboos subject women to what human rights groups call some of the cruelest repression in the world. But the country also elected Bhutto, the first female prime minister of a Muslim nation... 'She was a strong woman. But if Benazir Bhutto is not safe, what can the rest of us expect?'"
WP: India monitoring turmoil in Pakistan

WP: education and caste in India
"Activists fear that failure to close the education gap could not only cause further social unrest but also hold back national development. Backward castes, along with Muslims and other tribal groups, make up nearly 70 percent of India's 1.1 billion people."

WP: don't forget Burma (editorial)

BBC: postponed again: Lebanon to hold vote Feb 11

BBC: Georgia's Saakashvili sworn in

Econ: voting in Serbia today

Econ: turnover in Taiwan

BBC: 5 Kikuyu IDPs killed in Rift Valley camp by Kalenjin youths; Kenya opposition to return to protest Thurs
BG: violence in Kenya not caused by tribal hatreds (op-ed)

WP: South Africa leans on Mugabe to reform
BBC: meanwhile, lights out in Zimbabwe
WP: and South Africa

WP: Poland's support for missile shield cools
"He said that Poland would be exposing itself to risks if it agreed to host part of the shield -- Russia has threatened to aim missiles at Poland in retaliation -- and that it wants more American help in exchange."
WP: Princeton historian may be charged with slandering Poland for book on treatment of Polish Jews in aftermath of Holocaust
"The measure prohibits anyone from asserting that "the Polish nation" was complicit in crimes or atrocities committed by Nazis or communists. The maximum penalty is three years' imprisonment...Poland has prosecuted Gross for his views before. In 1968, during communist rule, he was arrested as a student for participating in a free-speech movement and served five months in prison. He departed for the United States a year later, taking advantage of a Polish government policy that encouraged Jews to leave the country. He enrolled at Yale University and ultimately became a U.S. citizen."

Econ: France sets up shop in the UAE

Econ: sex work in Chicago and Ecuador (and at the American Economic Association's annual meeting)
WP: less sex work in Amsterdam: revamping the red light district
"The area has been a center of prostitution since Amsterdam's golden age in the 1600s. After World War II, it became a major tourist attraction, along with coffee shops where marijuana is sold openly."

CFT: Cleveland, Baltimore sue banks over sub-prime lending; Cleveland cites public order concerns
"Citing state public nuisance statutes, Cleveland has targeted 21 Wall Street investment banks for fueling an explosion of subprime loan products that, given Cleveland's dim economic profile, city officials say, were bound to fail - and these banks knew it.
It's a gutsy move, and unprecedented. Cities have used similar state public nuisance laws in the past, in cases involving lead paint exposure and the gun industry (where gun manufacturers were sued for making weapons available to criminals and minors). But Cleveland is the first to make public nuisance claims against certain subprime mortgage lending practices - something not as obviously harmful as lead or firearms."

LAT: behind the scenes in a casino caucus

commemoration and conflict

LAT: Ashura has started; 80 have died in clashes between Shia cult and police in Basra and Nasiriya
"The Supporters of the Mahdi is named after a figure most Muslims believe will appear with Jesus and establish peace and justice worldwide. Most Shiites believe the Mahdi is their 12th imam, a descendant of the prophet Muhammad who they say went into hiding in 878 and is still alive and will return.

Southern Iraq, which is overwhelmingly Shiite, is home to a number of small doomsday-style cults whose leaders either claim to be the Mahdi, or who believe they can hasten his return by spreading chaos."

NYT: has an upbeat take on the same violence, says police protected pilgrims to Karbala.
"Government troops in southern Iraq fought with a millennial religious militia group on Friday in clashes that left more than 40 people dead, but the troops successfully protected millions of pilgrims on the first day of Ashura, the largest religious holiday for Iraq’s Shiite majority and one frequently marred by violence."

also, Sadr might "allow his militia to become active" at end of February

Econ: progress on the political front?

BBC: Pakistan arrest 5 men allegedly planning Ashura attacks in Karachi
LAT: including a 15-year-old accused of involvement in assassination of Bhutto
Gdn: military gains upper hand in South Waziristan, claiming 90 insurgents killed

BBC: Nasrallah commemorates Ashura by announcing Hezbollah has Israeli soldiers' body parts
Ind: attacks, funerals in Gaza

BBC: 14 arrested in Barcelona, accused of terror plot

BBC: ICG reports that security force reforms badly needed in East Timor

BBC: convictions in 2002 Gujarat riots

BBC: Ethiopian official says Westerners held for aiding rebels in Ogaden region, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)

Gdn: weeks before carnival, samba school in Rio under investigation for ties to drug traffickers
"This year...its preparations [for carnival] have been disrupted by a police investigation into its relationship with Brazilian drug traffickers, who control the neighbourhood where Mangueira is located."

Gdn: Kosovo independence on hold, international interests weighing in
LAT: on Serbian side, candidates for president differ on almost everything (except Kosovo independence)

Econ: more on Mugabe's rival
Ind: Zimbabwe prints $10 million bill

Econ: South Africa's policing problems

Econ: US military in space

Econ: "change" the buzzword in Barbados elections too; at least they only lasted a few weeks

living together

USAT: 75% of Baghdad neighborhoods deemed safe by US military, up from 8% before the surge
WP: op-ed by Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, argues for federalism
"Pluralistic democracy will not take root unless the national political compact recognizes and accommodates the fears and aspirations of Iraq's communities. Resolution can be achieved only through a system that incorporates regional federalism, with clear, mutually acceptable distributions of power between the regions and the central government. Such a system is in the interest of all Iraqis and is necessary if Iraq is to avoid partition or further civil strife."
BBC: clashes in Basra between police and Shia "cult"
LAT: Kurds re-bury victims of Hussein's 1988 killing campaign
LAT: US shifting to training role

LAT: something the US military has focused on in Colombia for years, where they've been advising military reform. The Colombian army has improved its capacity to contest the FARC,
"But the military faces daunting challenges if it is to triumph in the four-decade conflict with guerrillas. It has to gain control over the lawless areas bordering Venezuela and Ecuador, where rebels freely cross over to rest and resupply. It has to bring down human rights abuses and build an officer corps that has not kept pace with recruits.

Most important, the armed forces will have to learn to operate independently if Plan Colombia is phased out as expected over the next five years."

NYT: Taliban insurgency gaining ground in Peshawar, near Waziristan
"The Taliban and their militant sympathizers now hold strategic pockets on the city’s outskirts, the police say, from where they strike at the military and the police, order schoolgirls to wear the burqa and blow up stores selling DVDs, among other acts of violence."
BBC: a suicide attack kills tens at Shiite mosque there, at outset of Shia holiday
"Ashura is the culmination of Muharram, marking the seventh century death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein, an event which led to the split in Islam between the Shia and Sunni sects."
WP: CIA shief Hayden says militants loyal to Mehsud behind Bhutto's assasination, (though forensic evidence mostly eliminated immediately following the killing) - the same group alleged to be behind the attacks on Pakistan army post in South Waziristan.

check out Paul Staniland's take on Islamist militants in India

Gdn: more violence, detentions in Kenya
BBC: opposition to call for boycotts rather than further protests

BBC: judiciary clears charges against People Power Party leaders in Thailand, possibly clearing way to end military rule
BBC: meanwhile, military acknowledges failure to contain Islamist militants in south

Gdn: Tamil Tigers kill 10 in usually quiet south of Sri Lanka

Gdn: Israel closes Gaza border

BBC: US and Mexico work to coordinate efforts against gun-running to drug cartels
Gdn: 3 hostages die in drug-trade related violence in Tijuana

BBC: journalists ordered released in Niger

BBC: Catholic priest threatened over work on land rights in Para, Brazil

NYT: maintaining integration in an outlier neighborhood of Cleveland
"Cleveland has grown steadily poorer over the last five decades. Many people in the surrounding area believe that Shaker Heights will eventually be overwhelmed by Cleveland residents, many of them African-Americans, trying to escape the city’s high crime rate and struggling schools. They wonder why residents of Shaker Heights have not moved to more distant — and safer — suburbs...In the middle of what the Census Bureau found in 2002 to be America’s third-most-segregated urban area, Shaker Heights flouts local racial attitudes by actively encouraging integration."