rescue me from me and all that I believe

washpost: al-Sadr tries to build image, full of anecdotes like:
"Moqtada, his friends said, has always been a prankster, in ways both innocuous and macabre. Once, he made a big show of offering a 7-Up to a student, who was then surprised to learn that Sadr had filled the bottle with water. In a more recent incident, he anonymously sent Shaibani, the aide, text messages threatening to kill him, only to reveal later with laughter that it was all a practical joke."

NYT: Marines go into southern Afghanistan
"The marines’ drive against the Taliban in this large farming region is certainly not finished, and the Taliban have often been pushed out of areas in Afghanistan only to return in force later. But for the British forces and Afghan residents here, the result of the recent operation has been palpable.

The district chief returned to his job from his refuge in the provincial capital within days of the battle and 200 people — including 100 elders of the community — gathered for a meeting with him and the British to plan the regeneration of the town.

“They have disrupted the Taliban’s freedom of movement and pushed them south, and that has created the grounds for us to develop the hospital and set the conditions for the government to come back,” said Maj. Neil Den-McKay, the officer commanding a company of the Royal Regiment of Scotland based here. People have already started coming back to villages north of the town, he said, adding, “There has been huge optimism from the people.”

BBC: at least 8 killed and dozens injured in Colombo commuter train bombing
"Commuter Ramani Padmalatha, 42, told French news agency AFP that the train suddenly slowed after a "deafening noise".

"People were shouting 'bomb, bomb!' and scrambling to get out of the windows of the carriage... I managed to jump out from the door. People were stumbling out of that carriage with blood stains on their clothes, some with burns, some looking dazed," she said.

NYT: Hezbollah speaks

Indian Express: Tribal agitation disrupts traffic and puts Delhi on alert

Daily Times (Pakistan): Sunni-Shia violence in the Northwest Frontier Province

washpost: Inside South Africa's shantytowns

"This was the kind of place that was not supposed to exist in the new South Africa. All black. All poor. Dense, squalid, dirty, angry -- with charred patches of earth where men once stood.

The violence that flared here, and in communities like it all over the Johannesburg area during two weeks of mob attacks that have left at least 56 people dead, has carried echoes of this nation's notorious past. But the rage is not old. It is new, born of the broken dreams of South Africa's post-apartheid era."

gdn: Aung San Suu Kyi house arrest extended

independent: peacekeepers and aid workers accused of child sex abuse
"Save the Children demanded action after its research found youngsters as young as six were trading sex for food, money, soap and even mobile phones in war zones and disaster areas.

It said all organisations, including itself, had their share of abusers involved in "some of the most despicable abuse against some of the world's most vulnerable children"."

dissemination and defamation

NYT: international law more like guidelines for CIA
"The legal interpretation, outlined in recent letters, sheds new light on the still-secret rules for interrogations by the Central Intelligence Agency. It shows that the administration is arguing that the boundaries for interrogations should be subject to some latitude, even under an executive order issued last summer that President Bush said meant that the C.I.A. would comply with international strictures against harsh treatment of detainees."
NYT: US Army reviewing arms supply contract

WP: the food crisis linked to violence in 14 countries
WP: the politics and legacy of another food crisis, the 1932-33 famine in Soviet Ukraine
"'There is now a wealth of historical material detailing the specific features of Stalin's forced collectivization and terror famine policies against Ukraine,' [President] Yushchenko wrote in the Wall Street Journal late last year. 'Other parts of the Soviet Union suffered terribly as well. But in the minds of the Soviet leadership there was a dual purpose in persecuting and starving the Ukrainian peasantry. It was part of a campaign to crush Ukraine's national identity and its desire for self-determination.'"

LAT: Colombia alleges that the FARC launched mortar rounds from Ecuador
"Colombia's army commander, Gen. Mario Montoya, cited press reports quoting demobilized rebels who said that the FARC maintained 60 to 80 camps on the Ecuadorean side of the border. Ecuador said it was waiting to receive the protest note to formally respond. But Undersecretary of Defense Miguel Carvajal said in a telephone interview Saturday night that the claim was part of a 'defamation campaign' to divert attention from Colombia's internal problems."
LAT: Richardson holds meeting with Chávez to try to restart negotiations for release of 3 Americans held by the FARC since 2003
Adam Isacson: report on state of civil society, and military, paramilitary, and guerrilla presence in Guaviare, Colombia - part I; part II

LAT: homicides in Recife receive little attention
"Although Rio de Janeiro's bloody drug war makes international headlines, the homicide rate in this balmy city of 1.5 million is 90.9 per 100,000, more than twice that of Rio, according to the Latin American Technological Network's Map of Violence."

LAT: shootout in Tijuana between drug gangs leaves at least 13 dead
"The shootout is just the latest in a spasm of drug-related violence that has gripped the border town this year. In the first four months of 2008, Tijuana has seen dozens of kidnappings, assaults and homicides, including children gunned down in the mayhem...The motive for Saturday's bloodshed was unclear. Police said it could have been a falling-out between factions of the Arellano Felix narcotics cartel, which has long controlled the drug trade in the city. Or it could be another cartel trying to move in on its turf.
Some speculate that the killings may have been revenge by traffickers against suspected informants.
Still, experts said the recent surge in violence undoubtedly is linked to a major offensive by authorities against organized-crime drug traffickers, an operation that has strained delicate alliances between traffickers who had previously cooperated with one another in the lucrative narcotics trade."

NYT: a Times reporter's week in a Harare jail for "committing journalism"

LAT: the challenges of establishing a UN-AU peace keeping force in Darfur
"The mission, with an estimated annual budget of $2.5 billion, has arrived as the Darfur conflict has grown more complicated. Though frequently described as a genocide that pits an Arab-dominated government and its allied militias against non-Arab rebels and villagers, the conflict today defies easy labels. Arabs are killing Arabs. Africans are killing Africans. Some former rebels have joined the government and some Arab militias, known as janjaweed, now fight against it.
At the same time, general lawlessness and proliferation of arms have fueled widespread banditry, carjacking and rape. Most recently, Chad and Sudan have contributed to the violence through a proxy war in the Darfur region, where they are arming and funding insurgencies to attack one another.
For the moment, the mission's most pressing challenge is getting boots on the ground. Fewer than 300 additional U.N. troops, from nations such as Bangladesh and China, have arrived in Darfur. The rest of the nearly 9,000 peacekeepers here are African Union holdovers who just replaced their green AU berets with blue U.N. helmets."

BBC: report from Chechnya
"I did not feel that the north Caucasus was about to explode again. People are exhausted and the rebels are now thought to number only a few hundred.
But the missing and the dead have relatives and Chechnya has a long tradition of blood feuds.
There are countless unemployed young men.
Moscow must persuade them and their younger brothers that they have a future. If not, joining the militants may appeal more than joining the police."

WP: judges still not reinstated in Pakistan

NYT: Karzai survives assassination attempt at Sunday parade
Gdn: after recently strongly criticizing US and NATO tactics

Obs: Iraqi girl killed by her father, allegedly for falling in love with a British soldier in Basra

Obs: Hezbollah build up in Lebanon
"But what is becoming more obvious, even as Hizbollah tries to hide it, is that the group has embarked on an unprecedented build-up of men, equipment and bunker-building in preparation for the war that almost everyone - Lebanese and Israeli - considers inevitable. 'The villages in the south are empty of men,' said one international official. 'They are all gone, training in Bekaa, Syria and Iran.' A trip by The Observer through villages in the Hizbollah heartland confirmed a conspicuous lack of fighting-age men."

BBC: Algeria military raids Al-Qaeda hideouts, kills 10

BBC: LTTE launches air attacks in northeastern Sri Lanka

be mine

BBC: Chad gov't conducting house-by-house raids in N'Djamena, searching for alleged rebels

BBC: hunt for rebels also underway in East Timor

NYT: Philippines on the lookout too, after intel about possible assassination attempt on Arroyo

BBC: LRA on the move through southern Sudan, maybe towards CAR, allegedly kidnapping Sudanese along the way; peace talks look touch-and-go

BBC: in Thailand, search successful: Karen National Union rebel leader killed

NYT: in Lebanon as well: background on Imad Mugniyah
"Long before Osama bin Laden founded Al Qaeda and initiated the Sept. 11 attacks against the United States, [he] was perhaps the world’s most feared terrorist."
WP: has a profile too, on how he innovated terror tactics
AP: Nasrallah threatens Israel, urges revenge (Israel denies involvement)

BBC: Bangladesh military gov't accused of illegal detention, torture
"[Human Rights Watch] claims that many of the people arrested under the emergency rules by the army and its intelligence organisation, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, or DGFI, have been tortured to extract confessions."

IHT: Iraqi jails and courts can't handle detainees
NYT: one approach: parliament passes measures that may provide amnesty to thousands
"The three measures are the 2008 budget; a law outlining the scope of provincial powers, a crucial aspect of Iraq’s self-definition as a federal state; and an amnesty that would apply to thousands of the detainees held in Iraqi jails...The decision to vote on the three measures together broke the logjam that had held up the legislation for months, despite pressure from the Bush administration and some senior Iraqi officials. Every group was able to boast that it had won, to some degree."

IHT: Senate isn't buying administration's take on torture
Gdn: neither is Stephen Bradbury, acting head of DoJ's office of legal counsel (apparently consulting the laws changed his mind)

LAT: Spain arresting ETA, Basque dissidents

BBC: Malaysia to hold elections in March, about one year early, amid ethnic tensions

Daily Mail: a valentine for Vladimir, anyone?
"He accused the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe of trying to 'teach' Russia how to behave and mocked: 'Let them teach their wives to make cabbage soup.'" (to be fair, Leslie already called dibs)

the defense doesn't rest

WP: the obstacles to mounting a legitimate defense of detainees
WP: timing of Bush administration's declaration that waterboarding is not torture not coincidental to charges filed against the 9/11 six; Tony throws in with George
"Supreme Court Justice Antonin M. Scalia echoed the administration's view when he said in a BBC Radio interview yesterday that some physical interrogation techniques could be used on a suspect in the event of an imminent threat, such as a hidden bomb about to blow up. 'It would be absurd to say you couldn't do that,' Scalia said. 'And once you acknowledge that, we're into a different game: How close does the threat have to be? And how severe can the infliction of pain be?'"

LAT: Baitullah Mahsud's story: "pawn" or leading militant?
"Despite his growing infamy, Mahsud has preserved an aura of secrecy, speaking rarely to outsiders and scrupulously avoiding being photographed. Even his age is a mystery; he is believed to be in his 40s."
CSM: in legitimate politics, three old clans introduce new generation

CSM: signs of stress fractures in the Awakening Councils in Iraq
IHT: rape of US women in Iraq goes unpunished
"Kineston is one of a growing number of American women who have reported that they were sexually assaulted by co-workers while employed as contractors in Iraq, but find themselves in legal limbo, unable to seek justice or even significant compensation."
WP: Condi and Bob outline the options in Iraq (op-ed)

WP: Bush fails to acknowledge that NATO is struggling in Afghanistan, despite his own
"Jones, the former NATO commander, does not couch his judgment. In a pair of reports that he oversaw, he made clear he views the situation in dire terms."
Gdn: Red Cross says displacement is growing problem
"Speaking on condition of anonymity, humanitarian groups say most Afghans want security rather than "democracy" as represented by a powerful elite in control in Kabul."

WP: top Hezbollah leader killed in Damascus

BBC: attacks continue in Gaza
WP: Prime Minister says Israel saying one thing, doing another

WP: ethnic conflict reaching police force in Kenya
"...many Kenyans believe the police are as dangerously divided as the country itself. Officers from President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe have been accused of allowing attacks on Luos and other ethnic groups loyal to opposition leader Raila Odinga, a Luo, while others say Kalenjin and Luhya officers have permitted attacks on Kikuyus."
BBC: sexual violence spreading in Kenya, other conflicts in Africa
BBC: UN estimates 600,000 have been displaced
IHT: middle class collective action
"The well-established middle class here is thought to be one of the most important factors that separates Kenya from other African countries that have been consumed by ethnic conflict. Millions of Kenyans identify as much with what they do or where they went to college as who their ancestors are."

BBC: riots in Mozambique last week over transport prices

BBC: EUFOR mission to Chad resumes
IHT: Déby backed, dissidents fear increased repression
"At least half a dozen opposition leaders in Chad disappeared more than a week ago, carried off by armed men in military uniforms with no insignia, according to witnesses. They have not been heard from since."

BBC: Mugabe challenger expelled from party

BBC: opposition MP in Uganda charged with sedition after writing an article calling for Mau Mau-like action to remove Museveni from power

BBC: right-wing politician arrested in Mumbai, accused of increasing communal tensions

LAT: right-wing group raises concern in Hungary
"What many people here find particularly provocative are the Hungarian Guard's uniforms (black caps, vests, pants and boots), insignia and flags. All of it is reminiscent of the Arrow Cross, Hungary's World War II fascist militiamen who worked with the Nazis and were responsible for or assisted in the slaughter of tens of thousands of the Hungarian Jews who were killed...Some Hungarians fear the leap from rhetorical anti-Semitism to more dangerous action is a small one, especially with the rise of groups such as the Hungarian Guard that seem to receive at least tacit backing from more prominent rightist political factions."

BBC: death of exiled Georgian opposition figure "suspect"

BBC: 14 Basque political party members arrested, accused of ties to ETA

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