life on mars [not just a bowie classic]

New Yorker: intellectual founder of Al-Qaeda, "Dr. Fadl," defects from an Egyptian prison, via fax (also profiled in the New Republic)
New Republic: defection may be more widespread

LAT: Colombian officials "lose" paramilitary leaders' computers on their way to extradition, and potentially, evidence of their ties to politicians [in sharp contrast to how the recovered computer of FARC leader Raul Reyes was handled]
"Before they were extradited, many paramilitary leaders, including Mancuso, were cataloging their alleged misdeeds, including mass killings, extortion and drug trafficking, to comply with the demobilization conditions. For that reason, critics say, the laptops were treasure troves of information and the government should have kept a closer eye on them."

LAT: Nepal is no longer a monarchy, after 239 years

Texas Monthly: turns out extracting oil can be tricky
"In the early morning of February 18, 2006, Russell Spell was sleeping on a barge off the Nigerian coast when he awoke to the sound of gunfire. A longtime employee of Willbros Group, an international oil and gas contractor, Spell supervised workers laying an offshore pipeline for Shell. His shift was noon to midnight, so he was still in his bunk when he heard the sound of bullets exploding into metal, a commotion so loud it seemed as if a helicopter was landing inside his cabin. The day had dawned placid and sweet, the barge an offshore oasis from the fetid air and roiling gas flares visible on the coast at Shell’s Forcados export terminal. Spell had no idea he was about to become a pawn in the increasingly violent war for control of the world’s diminishing petroleum resources."

Slate: the story of a US WWII soldier accused of killing an officer in the "forgotten theater," and going on the lam with Naga tribesmen in Burma
Econ: obituary for Irena Sendler, who defied authority to help Jews in Warsaw escape the ghetto
"To save one Jew, she reckoned, required 12 outsiders working in total secrecy: drivers for the vehicles; priests to issue false baptism certificates; bureaucrats to provide ration cards; and most of all, families or religious orders to care for them. The penalty for helping Jews was instant execution."

Slate: who disciplines UN troops? (accused of sexually assaulting children and women on peacekeeping operations)

CSM: specialist Paul Staniland offers advice on which terrorists to talk to and when
Slate: reporters have it easier: an interview with the exiled leader of Hamas
"Mishaal is waiting for the U.S. election to change the political landscape, and this seems to be the Syrian posture as well. They are eager to engage in indirect talks with the Israelis for the next few months, but they insist that serious U.S. involvement will be necessary to guarantee a final deal.
Mishaal insists that the Bush administration will never allow reconciliation between the feuding Palestinians factions as long as this president is in office. "The American administration is supporting a corrupt party to topple Palestinian democracy with arsenals and weapons. And that was shown in Vanity Fair magazine."
This was a surprising reference for a militant Islamist leader. Vanity Fair published an article in the April 2008 issue alleging that the Bush administration conspired with a Palestinian warlord and his militia men to engineer a Palestinian civil war to reverse Hamas' election victory. For Khalid Mishaal, this was proof that the American media had finally taken the Palestinian side in this long conflict. More important for him, it also signified that the long rule of the Bush administration was finally coming to a close."

Slate: brokering a deal in Lebanon

NYT: checking in on Tashkent 3 years after the Uzbek uprising
money quote: “You can’t compare Uzbekistan and North Korea,” said a European who has lived in Tashkent for years, and who was not identified for safety reasons. “Not every right is violated all the time. It’s not that systematic.”

LAT: a UCLA doctor gave a liver transplant to the head of one of Japan's biggest gangs

WP: fallout continues over poorly constructed buildings in China

Slate: the neocon approach to nuclear North Korea that failed - and that McCain advoccates

Slate: rumors of rigging the vote spurs inordinate institutional attention
"Paranoia about such tactics by Democrats—especially minority Democrats—morphed from a Bush administration extracurricular activity to its college major during the last eight years."

a few days late
BBC: clashes between police and Gujjars in Rajasthan, India

BBC: Bemba, former Congo VP, arrested in Belgium on charges of war crimes

BBC: arrests of Camorra mafia members in Naples

BBC: Burundi reaches ceasefire agreement with rebels

Slate: looking for life on mars - maybe whatever lives there has no need for specialists in violence?

overdue [please do not harrass the ducks]

WP: town on North-South border of Sudan desolate in anticipation of renewed fighting
"...southern officials are accusing Bashir of using a minor street scuffle this month as an excuse to unleash a brutal military campaign that they say is aimed at clearing the area of its pro-southern population ahead of the referendum."
WP: Sudan's president, army celebrates victory over rebels in attack in "macabre" affair

LAT: ongoing catastrophe in Somalia
"Few dare use cellphones lest they fall victim to thieves or be accused of spying. There's no socializing because it's too risky to stop for chitchat and no one knows whom to trust...Somalia's social breakdown has hit the young the hardest. They have rarely known peace, stability or even a semblance of order. In one desolate neighborhood, shabbily dressed children played away a recent afternoon. As usual, it was a war game. They carried guns carved from wood and tossed plastic bags filled with ash to mimic the smoke of exploding grenades.

There are three sides in their game: transitional government soldiers, Ethiopian troops and insurgents. Insurgents usually trounce the soldiers, who then run to Ethiopians for help. Ethiopians chase away the insurgents as they sweep through neighborhoods, terrorizing civilians.

None of the boys seek the role of government soldier. 'No one wants to play the ones who are defeated,' said Ahmed Ali, 13, who played the role of insurgent leader."

Ind: Ethiopia supreme court sentences former dictator Mengistu to death

WP: South Africa marshals troops to protect immigrants
"At least 13,000 people have been chased from their homes, often a step ahead of mobs demanding that foreigners return to their native countries. News reports put the death toll at 42, with hundreds injured."
Ind: context of the violence
BBC: which continues
Gdn: attacks against migrants in Rome too

LAT: chances that Mugabe's party will recognize results of an unfavorable run-off election are, er, slim
FP blog: what happened to those Chinese weapons destined for Zimbabwe? (HT: Chris Blattman)

WP: touch-and-go in Bangladesh due to food prices

WP: Burma finally agrees to allow in aid workers
AP: renews detention of Suu Kyi

WP: FARC vows to continue war despite leader's death
ideologue Alfonso Cano chosen as new leader over military strategist Mono Jo Joy
Gdn: obituary for Pedro Marín, aka "Tirofijo" and Manuel Marulanda, oldest guerrilla leader
WP: will extradition of paramilitary leaders be good for Colombian victims in the end?

BBC: Chavez preparing for elections with huge pay outs

Reuters: judge orders 100 from Pinochet's regime arrested

NYT: drug war in Mexico taking its toll on police
Gdn: main drug cartels
LAT: simulating illegal border crossings from Mexico
"Dubbed the Caminata Nocturna (Night Hike), the three-hour simulation is a combination obstacle course, sociology lesson and PG-rated family outing. Founded in 2004, it's run by members of a local village of Hñahñu Indians, an indigenous people of south-central Mexico. The village's former population of about 2,500 has been decimated by migration to the United States.
Every Saturday night, dozens of the several hundred remaining villagers take part in the Caminata. Many work as costumed performers impersonating Border Patrol agents, fellow migrants and masked coyotes and polleros, the Mexican guides who escort migrants for a fee.
The 7 1/2 -mile hike, which involves quite a bit of running, costs about $10 per person."

BBC: peacekeepers sexually assaulting children

Gdn: Kabul's heroin problem isn't only on the production side

WP: Lebanon reaches belated accord
Gdn: new president sworn in

Gdn: administrators of British prison system concerned about "Muslim gangs" in jails

Chris Blattman: terrorism, civil wars declining?
WP: military spending on the rise everywhere, but especially by the US - nearly 10 times larger than next highest spender (the UK)
WP: an increase of air strikes in Iraq is among the expenditures

LAT: Iraqis growing impatient with militias in continued fighting
LAT: but the US says violence is at 4-year low

Gdn: soccer wars: FIFA suspends Iraqi Soccer Association

WP: US is irrelevant on the peace side of things in the Middle East

USAT: only 20% of detainees in Iraq belong to extremist groups; US military says rest can be reintegrated into society
"The assessment reflects a new approach to detainees, which emphasizes isolating al-Qaeda and Shiite extremists and increasing the release of many average men caught up in the fighting...
U.S. commanders are not suggesting that U.S. forces captured innocent men, but some defense analysts say it is difficult to make distinctions in unconventional warfare, where insurgents don't wear uniforms and most troops don't speak the local language...
The more aggressive release strategy appears to be working, statistics show. Of 8,000 released over the past 10 months only 28 have returned to the main detention facilities, a recidivism rate of less than 1%. Prior to the new program, the rate was 6.4%, Stone said.
The detainee population hasn't decreased by 8,000 because new detainees continue to enter the system. However, the average number of daily releases is about 53 now and the average daily intake of detainees has held steady at about 30 since December."

NYT: the FBI dissented on tactics used against detainees and kept records in "war crimes" file, says DOJ report
"The report describes what one official called “trench warfare” between the F.B.I. and the military over the rough methods being used on detainees in Guantánamo Bay, Afghanistan and Iraq...Many of the abuses the report describes have previously been disclosed, but it was not known that F.B.I. agents had gone so far as to document accusations of abuse in a “war crimes file” at Guantánamo. The report does not say how many incidents were included in the file after it was started in 2002, but the “war crimes” label showed just how seriously F.B.I. agents took the accusations. Sometime in 2003, however, an F.B.I. official ordered the file closed because 'investigating detainee allegations of abuse was not the F.B.I.’s mission,' the report said."

not your onion
WP: if you're going to crush insurgencies and manage British soccer hooligans, it best be in style

BBC: Peruvian MP in trouble for shooting another legislator's dog

BBC: Canadian foreign minister resigns for leaving classified documents in "unsecured location," i.e., hot ex-girlfriend's house