don't hate. miscegenate.

Slate: 12 women became suicide bombers in Iraq between Jan and Apr of this year, more than in the 5 previous years combined
BBC: two stadiums in Baghdad prepared for arrival of civilians seeking safety; gov't announces push to clear out Mahdi Army forces from Sadr City
"The government has distributed leaflets in two key districts of Sadr City, warning people to leave.
The speculation is that government forces are preparing for a big push into eastern Baghdad to end the current fighting once and for all."
CSM: meanwhile, newly gated Saidiyah neighborhood being repopulated

Slate: the 7,000 more troops Gates wants for Afghanistan have to be redeployed from Iraq

Gdn: US House issues subpoena for Addington, aide to Cheney, about Guantánamo methods.
UK human rights lawyer questions why US didn't seek UK advice, given its experience interrogating IRA members.
Republican lawyer blows him off, asserting that the IRA was not an "existentialist" threat, therefore the experience is irrelevant.

WP: Mexican cartels brazenly recruit, especially among soldiers and army deserters
"It was printed on a 16-foot-wide banner and strung above one of the busiest roads here, calling out to any 'soldier or ex-soldier.'
'We're offering you a good salary, food and medical care for your families,' it said in block letters.
But there was a catch: The employer was Los Zetas, a notorious Gulf cartel hit squad formed by elite Mexican army deserters. The group even included a phone number for job seekers that linked to a voice mailbox...
'The cartels are very good at this -- they've had songs written about them, they put up these signs, they make themselves out to be Robin Hoods,' Carlos Martínez, a Nuevo Laredo elementary school principal and community activist, said in an interview. 'People like this. We Mexicans like a good joke -- we like to make fun of our problems.'
The banners also appeal to many poorer Mexicans who respect the brashness of the cartels, which provide food, clothing and toys to win civilians' loyalty."

LAT: USAID's plan to shift Cuba "democracy-promotion" programs away from Miami-based groups
A chief goal, officials say, is to spend most of the $45-million budget on communications equipment, such as cellphones and Internet gear, that possibly could be smuggled into Cuba to increase its people's exposure to the outside world...USAID is hoping to receive bids from Central European and Latin American nongovernmental groups that have experience with dissidents in authoritarian societies, Cardenas said. 'They know how to evade the authoritarian governments' efforts to control your behavior,' he said.
And because they are not U.S. organizations, it will be easier for their staff members to enter Cuba and make contact with people, he said.
[which begs the question, why not lift the travel ban for US citizens??? (also at least posed by a Congressional rep in the article.)]
Generación Y: blogger Yoani Sánchez writes clandestinely from Cuba, posing as a tourist in internet cafés (in spanish) Update: apparently the blog has been shut down; Sánchez was recently named one of the world's "most influential people" by Time magazine, perhaps drawing too much attention. HT: Laia Balcells.

Gdn: aid to Burma after cyclone disaster slow and complicated

Slate: Israel and African refugees
"But if Israel embraces thousands of African refugees, millions in Egypt alone could try to follow. All developed countries worry about the effects of an influx of poor refugees. But the problem is especially delicate for Israel, which worries about someday losing its Jewish majority to the growing Palestinian population (especially if it does not relinquish control of the West Bank). And then there's the country's location: It's not as if there are other prosperous democracies in the region for refugees to choose among."

LAT: Palestinian police force clashes with Islamic militants in West Bank

BBC: strike in Lebanon over the minimum wage politicized, violent
"Pro-government supporters exchanged rifle and grenade fire with Hezbollah sympathisers in three neighbourhoods, security sources said."

Slate: the state of Abkhazia's autonomy from Georgia; or Georgia's from Russia
LAT: Medvedev sworn in as president; demonstrating his autonomy, nominates Putin as prime minister

LAT: Human Rights Watch calls for investigation into possible Kosovo and Albania war crimes

Slate: the prez of lower-than-Bush-approval fame
plus, Gallup used to conduct face-to-face interviews?!

Slate: don't hate. miscegenate.
"In 1967, Loving v. Virginia reached the Supreme Court. Citing the 14^th Amendment, the court overturned the Lovings' conviction and ruled that all anti-miscegenation laws would henceforth be null and void (see the opinion below). "Under our Constitution," wrote Chief Justice Earl Warren, "the freedom to marry or not marry a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed upon by the state." At least two subsequent Supreme Court justices have Mildred Loving to thank for the legality of their own interracial marriages."