of unity and separation

NYT: principal-agent problems in Pakistan
"The threat from the militants, the former [Inter-Services Intelligence] officials warned, is one that Pakistan is unable to contain. “We could not control them,” said one former senior intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We indoctrinated them and told them, ‘You will go to heaven.’ You cannot turn it around so suddenly.”... Today Pakistan’s tribal areas are host to a lethal stew of foreign Qaeda members, Uzbek militants, Taliban, ISI-trained Pakistani extremists, disgruntled tribesmen and new recruits."
BBC: Pakistani troops killed in clashes with militants (perhaps former trainees).

LAT: meanwhile, US trying to negotiate bringing the Sunni Awakening into the Shiite fold
NYT: Iraqi minister estimates ten more years of US military assistance is necessary on the borders
BBC: US plans to turn over control of Anbar to local forces by March

WP: (non-violent) conflict among NATO allies in Afghanistan
LAT: Gates gets explicit:
"In an unusual public criticism, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said he believes NATO forces currently deployed in southern Afghanistan do not know how to combat a guerrilla insurgency, a deficiency that could be contributing to the rising violence in the fight against the Taliban."
Ind: more specifically, US against UK plan to arm locals (but so is the NATO chief quoted in the article)
BBC: Afghan police, NATO soldiers killed in attacks in south
Ind: Taliban suicide attack on luxury hotel may signal shift in tactics
Gdn: more details on the origins of the attack, linked to one family in particular

WSJ: cocaine "boom" in Europe leads to new money laundering practices. "Some narco-euros are laundered directly in Europe. But officials say the lion's share is routed back to South America as cash and eventually ends up in the U.S....A high-level Spanish banking official says a disproportionate share of the euro zone's €500 notes, known as Bin Ladens for their scarcity, circulate in Spain...Spain now has a larger percentage of its population (3%) using cocaine than the U.S. (2.3%), the previous top per-capita consumer, according to United Nations figures. In the first half of 2007, a kilo of cocaine sold for €33,000, or about $43,900, in Madrid, more than triple the $12,500-$14,600 it fetched in Los Angeles and far more than the $13,000-$26,000 it sold for in New York, according to the Spanish police and the DEA...Spain is a favorite entry point because of its proximity to Africa, its long coastline and its language, which it shares with Colombia and most other South American countries."

LAT: revisiting Mao's long march

WP: back story on destroyed CIA tapes

Ind: Admiral Mullen, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says Guantánamo should be shut down (where is the US press on this? did I miss it?)

Ind: Kenyan police had orders to shoot to kill, which Human Rights Watch blames for violence leading to 575 deaths
BBC: opposition gains boost in parliament vote during first session since the violence

BBC: Mugabe losing control of party, challenged from within

BBC: Liberia can't afford to hold elections; President will appoint mayors

Gdn: bombing in Lebanon kills 6

BBC: two journalists on trial in Niger for contact with the Niger Justice Movement (MNJ), rebels based in the north. they could receive the death penalty if found guilty.

BBC: Italian police break up Nigerian gang allegedly trafficking women and children to Europe

BBC: rebels in Darfur claim Sudanese army bombing

BBC: separatists in Corsica broke into, set fire to parliament

BBC: violence in Assam wounds 15, United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) suspected by Indian police

BBC: separatists in southern Thailand ambush troops, kill 8
"The attack in Narathiwat took place around 0940 (0240 GMT) as the soldiers returned after escorting schoolteachers to work...Militants have targeted teachers in the past, perceiving them as a symbol of domination by the Thai state, and so soldiers now provide an armed escort."

BBC: bombings in Burma; junta blames the Karen National Union

BBC: 2 people killed, 15 injured at protest in Yemen for national unity

BBC: protests in Georgia over election rigging - Saakashvili declared winner with 53%, avoiding run-off

WSJ: if you can't change reality, change the subject: it's not freedom and democracy anymore, but justice, that Bush seeks in the Middle East.
BBC: how about some nice, new weaponry to go with the justice?

BBC: update on garbage and governance: Sardinians clash with police after trash shipped to the island