the nerve

NYT: Iran in Iraq: stunningly, it's more complicated than the US administration acknowledges
"The United States has identified an unspecified number of Quds camps, warehouses and safe houses near the border with Iraq, according to other officials. Those sites are dispersed in Iranian cities, making them difficult to strike without risking killing civilians, the officials said...'Iran has hedged its bets,' said Ted Galen Carpenter of the Cato Institute, who has written extensively about Iran’s role in Iraq. 'It doesn’t know which Shiite faction is going to come out on top.'"
NYT: at Friday prayers, Sadr instructs militia not to attack Iraqis
Ind: UK troops still fighting the Mahdi Army in Basra
Ind: they will turn over three towns in Helmand to Afghan army within months
Although the ferocity of fighting has diminished, Brigadier Carleton-Smith admitted there was still a long way to go. 'When you are growing an army the currency is years,' he said. 'Think five to 10 years. We have only had a British battle group here since October 2006. Progress here is evolution, not revolution. People need to keep their nerve.'
Part of that progress will include giving more responsibility to local communities for their own security, instead of relying on soldiers or police, he said.
Ultimately, Brigadier Carleton-Smith said, the solution in Helmand hinges on negotiation and finding "Afghan solutions to Afghan problems".
'How do wars end?' he asked. 'It's not about military solutions, it is about political solutions. The solution here is about governance and rule of law and not the barrel of a gun.'"
Gdn: UK will also deploy to Kosovo soon
"Nato commanders expect increased ethnic tension in Kosovo over the coming months. Serb parliamentary and local elections are due to take place on May 11. On June 15, a new constitution establishing Kosovo independence - in defiance of Serb opposition - comes into effect."

Slate: long-term implications of the personnel changes at the top of the US army in Iraq and at the Pentagon
in brief: Odierno to continue what Petraeus started in Iraq, Petraeus moves on to Afghanistan from Central Command, and Chiarelli as Army vice chief of staff to implement systemic changes. "...Chiarelli is widely known as one of the Army's smartest, most creative senior officers. Many of Gates' boldest speeches and actions can be traced to Chiarelli. For instance, on several occasions, Gates has said that future wars are likely to be "asymmetrical" conflicts waged against insurgents or terrorists, not high-intensity, head-on set pieces against foes of comparable strength—more like Iraq or Afghanistan, not World War II or Korea. Therefore, Gates concludes, the military—especially the Army—must change its doctrine, training, promotion policies, and weapons-procurement plans to meet these new challenges."

Gdn: US attempting to tone down the 'war on terror' rhetoric
"And now from the people who brought you the phrase "axis of evil", a guide to non-inflammatory language for the Middle East."

BBC: Israel rejects truce offer from Hamas; girl killed in recent raid

LAT: Maoists have largest share of seats in Nepal parliament; pledge to end monarchy

AP: at least 24 killed in bus bomb outside Colombo, Sri Lanka

BBC: East Timor rebels to turn themselves in

BBC: world's smallest republic, Nauru, population 13,000, holds elections

Gdn: Cambodia for sale
"Shortly after Hun Sen, Cambodia's prime minister, came to power in 1985, frenzied landgrabbing began: influential political allies and wealthy business associates raced to claim land that the Khmer Rouge had seized, gobbling up such large chunks of the cities, forests and paddy fields that Cambodians used to say the rich were eating the country. By 2006, the World Bank estimated that 40,000 had been made homeless in Phnom Penh alone...Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) have, in effect, put the country up for sale. Crucially, they permit investors to form 100% foreign-owned companies in Cambodia that can buy land and real estate outright - or at least on 99-year plus 99-year leases. No other country in the world countenances such a deal. Even in Thailand and Vietnam, where similar land speculation and profiteering are under way, foreigners can be only minority shareholders."

BBC: armed groups in the Niger Delta continue attacks on oil companies
"The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta promised further violence.
'Our candid advice to the oil majors is that they should not waste their time repairing any lines, as we will continue to sabotage them', the militants said in a statement."

WP: plot to kill witness in the Colombian para-politics scandal, living in Canada
"As part of special judicial proceedings against former commanders, Colombian investigators have uncovered intimate details about the close links lawmakers had with paramilitary commanders. The attorney general's office and Supreme Court, which are carrying out the investigations, have found important witnesses, such as Castillo, from within the paramilitary movement." [plans discovered the week that President Uribe's cousin was arrested; Castillo has testified against him.]

Gdn: NYC detectives not guilty of crime after killing unarmed man with 50 bullets