BBC: today's brief is personal: the FARC kidnapped two friends and four others from a beach on Colombia's pacific coast Sunday.
El Tiempo (spn): has more details.
Alf and Ana María are both professors (of mathematics and biology, respectively).
AP: they were taken a day after Clara Rojas described her five years in captivity.
15 January 2008
12 January 2008
governance and garbage
NYM: Q: what would it take to eliminate homicide in NYC? A: "mass evacuation."
(seriously, though - an interesting look at different segments of the homicide numbers and what NYPD have been doing to tackle them.)
and, a focus on a northeast brooklyn neighborhood where high homicide rates are more stubborn, and new gang dynamics exist:
"The massive, corporate-style drug organizations of the eighties and early nineties are long gone from the streets of Brooklyn—driven out during the boom years by aggressive policing and an improved economic outlook. What they left in their wake is a wildly fractured drug market populated by an amorphous and crowded field of close-knit, hard-to-identify miniature gangs—and a form of violence that may be even more difficult to tamp down than what came before it...Today, dealers sell primarily to known customers and avoid risky street-level sales—and, thus, should be less likely to get involved in competitive gunplay. So why all the killing? 'The idea that the shootings are drug-related has some truth to it, but it’s overstated,' says John Jay’s Greg Donaldson...'What they are, are people who are armed because they’re in the drug trade, but then it’s often personal—somebody said something to someone’s girlfriend.'...Deanna Rodriguez, the D.A.’s gang-bureau chief, says the academics may be right that this sort of interpersonal beef among armed young men has caused the surge in violence in recent years. But the real concern, she argues, is that the small gangs are becoming entrenched—and starting to fight over drug-dealing turf. Maturing subsets of Latino gangs like the Latin Kings and Dominicans Don’t Play, she says, are particularly worrying—which may explain the city’s sharpest murder spike, in Bushwick’s 83rd Precinct, where a peace between area Latin gangs has fallen part."
NYT: US (finally) questions election outcome of election in Kenya, calls for leaders to meet
NYT: Iraqi parliament approves measure to allow Baathists back in
LAT: Chávez says the FARC, ELN shouldn't be labeled terrorist groups: "'They are insurgent forces who occupy space and who have a political plan...'"
Gdn: Clara Rojas, one of the hostages released this week by the FARC, is reunited with her son
who was born 3 years ago in captivity and has been in foster care in Bogotá.
LAT: UN team created to run Guatemalan judiciary: "The U.N.-staffed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala will consist of 150 lawyers and forensic investigators who will prosecute cases in local courts."
BBC: but they're not invited to Pakistan
Atlantic: slideshow of photographs from Guantánamo
Econ: on the globalization of Camorra, one of Italy's largest mafias (book review)
Slate: why do mafias love trash, anyhow?
Econ: of governance and garbage
(find Ryan's take here.)
Gdn: deciding on the lyrics for Spain's national anthem (wordless since 1978, three years after the death of Franco)
Portfolio: it's not just your gov't spook job anymore: espionage goes corporate
Portfolio: property rights and protests in China
Econ: pink in Georgia and orange in the Ukraine
BBC: Zuma gives his first speech as ANC head, calls for unity
BBC: Sri Lanka gov't claims 59 Tamil Tiger combatants dead
Econ: in Turkey: Islam and democracy
Econ: and a drag queen. "...for the past year Huysuz Virjin (the Petulant Virgin) has been replaced by his less exotic self, Seyfi Dursunoglu..."
(seriously, though - an interesting look at different segments of the homicide numbers and what NYPD have been doing to tackle them.)
and, a focus on a northeast brooklyn neighborhood where high homicide rates are more stubborn, and new gang dynamics exist:
"The massive, corporate-style drug organizations of the eighties and early nineties are long gone from the streets of Brooklyn—driven out during the boom years by aggressive policing and an improved economic outlook. What they left in their wake is a wildly fractured drug market populated by an amorphous and crowded field of close-knit, hard-to-identify miniature gangs—and a form of violence that may be even more difficult to tamp down than what came before it...Today, dealers sell primarily to known customers and avoid risky street-level sales—and, thus, should be less likely to get involved in competitive gunplay. So why all the killing? 'The idea that the shootings are drug-related has some truth to it, but it’s overstated,' says John Jay’s Greg Donaldson...'What they are, are people who are armed because they’re in the drug trade, but then it’s often personal—somebody said something to someone’s girlfriend.'...Deanna Rodriguez, the D.A.’s gang-bureau chief, says the academics may be right that this sort of interpersonal beef among armed young men has caused the surge in violence in recent years. But the real concern, she argues, is that the small gangs are becoming entrenched—and starting to fight over drug-dealing turf. Maturing subsets of Latino gangs like the Latin Kings and Dominicans Don’t Play, she says, are particularly worrying—which may explain the city’s sharpest murder spike, in Bushwick’s 83rd Precinct, where a peace between area Latin gangs has fallen part."
NYT: US (finally) questions election outcome of election in Kenya, calls for leaders to meet
NYT: Iraqi parliament approves measure to allow Baathists back in
LAT: Chávez says the FARC, ELN shouldn't be labeled terrorist groups: "'They are insurgent forces who occupy space and who have a political plan...'"
Gdn: Clara Rojas, one of the hostages released this week by the FARC, is reunited with her son
who was born 3 years ago in captivity and has been in foster care in Bogotá.
LAT: UN team created to run Guatemalan judiciary: "The U.N.-staffed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala will consist of 150 lawyers and forensic investigators who will prosecute cases in local courts."
BBC: but they're not invited to Pakistan
Atlantic: slideshow of photographs from Guantánamo
Econ: on the globalization of Camorra, one of Italy's largest mafias (book review)
Slate: why do mafias love trash, anyhow?
Econ: of governance and garbage
(find Ryan's take here.)
Gdn: deciding on the lyrics for Spain's national anthem (wordless since 1978, three years after the death of Franco)
Portfolio: it's not just your gov't spook job anymore: espionage goes corporate
Portfolio: property rights and protests in China
Econ: pink in Georgia and orange in the Ukraine
BBC: Zuma gives his first speech as ANC head, calls for unity
BBC: Sri Lanka gov't claims 59 Tamil Tiger combatants dead
Econ: in Turkey: Islam and democracy
Econ: and a drag queen. "...for the past year Huysuz Virjin (the Petulant Virgin) has been replaced by his less exotic self, Seyfi Dursunoglu..."
11 January 2008
overdue
WP: on the ground in Diyala
"'That's a lot of men to secure a baby,' said Stinchfield, 37, of Vancouver, Wash., the commander of Company H, 3rd Squadron of the Army's 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment. 'But that's what this war is like. It's slow and boring most days, and not much happens'... 'I'm sitting here eating Cheez Whiz and Cheez-Its, which I realize might seem weird,' Stinchfield said. 'But I'd rather be doing things like delivering a baby than shooting people.'"
Gdn: meanwhile, snow in Baghdad (insert snarky conjecture about hell freezing over here.)
BBC: talks fail in Kenya; Kibaki doesn't support investigation into election 'irregularities'
WP: Odinga, ODM call for protests.
Econ: Annan will arrive soon for renewed mediation efforts, but most think Kibaki, who appointed loyalists to cabinet positions, will reject them. "The worry is that the planned protests will be met with a bare-knuckle response from the new minister of internal security, George Saitoti, who has a fearsome reputation."
BBC: pre-election accusations fly in Zimbabwe; opposition threatens to boycott
WP: Bush finally supports reparations for Palestinian refugees
WP: West Bank residents skeptical of deal (from a sign in the accompanying photo: "it's the occupation stupid")
LAT: more on the FARC hostage release in Colombia
"The release has refocused attention on the plight of the estimated 3,000 hostages being held in Colombia by the FARC, other rebel groups and criminal gangs."
Econ: after negotiating the release, Chávez has some domestic concerns to return to
Reuters: Suu Kyi meets with junta leader in Burma
Reuters: Sri Lankan gov't rejects Tamil Tiger offer to restart ceasefire
Econ: shake-up in Chile
Econ: Islam and politics in Indonesia
BBC: elections set for April in Nepal to create constitutional assembly. Maoists still adhering to peace deal, after all sides agreed to scrap monarchy after the election
WP: good at illegal spying, bad at paying the bills. (phone companies cut off phone taps cause the feds haven't paid.) if only the US forgot to pay the latest lease installment on guantánamo.
Salon: alas, we've already reached its 6-year anniversary
DN: piracy on the rise. arrrgh. (thanks to Ryan for sharing.)
WP: Dennis demands recount in New Hampshire. (not an onion piece.)
"'That's a lot of men to secure a baby,' said Stinchfield, 37, of Vancouver, Wash., the commander of Company H, 3rd Squadron of the Army's 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment. 'But that's what this war is like. It's slow and boring most days, and not much happens'... 'I'm sitting here eating Cheez Whiz and Cheez-Its, which I realize might seem weird,' Stinchfield said. 'But I'd rather be doing things like delivering a baby than shooting people.'"
Gdn: meanwhile, snow in Baghdad (insert snarky conjecture about hell freezing over here.)
BBC: talks fail in Kenya; Kibaki doesn't support investigation into election 'irregularities'
WP: Odinga, ODM call for protests.
Econ: Annan will arrive soon for renewed mediation efforts, but most think Kibaki, who appointed loyalists to cabinet positions, will reject them. "The worry is that the planned protests will be met with a bare-knuckle response from the new minister of internal security, George Saitoti, who has a fearsome reputation."
BBC: pre-election accusations fly in Zimbabwe; opposition threatens to boycott
WP: Bush finally supports reparations for Palestinian refugees
WP: West Bank residents skeptical of deal (from a sign in the accompanying photo: "it's the occupation stupid")
LAT: more on the FARC hostage release in Colombia
"The release has refocused attention on the plight of the estimated 3,000 hostages being held in Colombia by the FARC, other rebel groups and criminal gangs."
Econ: after negotiating the release, Chávez has some domestic concerns to return to
Reuters: Suu Kyi meets with junta leader in Burma
Reuters: Sri Lankan gov't rejects Tamil Tiger offer to restart ceasefire
Econ: shake-up in Chile
Econ: Islam and politics in Indonesia
BBC: elections set for April in Nepal to create constitutional assembly. Maoists still adhering to peace deal, after all sides agreed to scrap monarchy after the election
WP: good at illegal spying, bad at paying the bills. (phone companies cut off phone taps cause the feds haven't paid.) if only the US forgot to pay the latest lease installment on guantánamo.
Salon: alas, we've already reached its 6-year anniversary
DN: piracy on the rise. arrrgh. (thanks to Ryan for sharing.)
WP: Dennis demands recount in New Hampshire. (not an onion piece.)
10 January 2008
offensives
LAT: US, Iraqi forces launch offensive in Diyala
NYT: Iraqi forces weren't notified of the plans until late, but it still wasn't enough to prevent insurgent targets from eluding the troops
Slate: Diyala's different than Anbar, and we're in to a 'post-surge' period:
"There is no doubt that this quantity of U.S. troops will clear this small area of insurgents and al-Qaida fighters. The only question for the near term is whether our troops will kill, capture, or merely push those fighters out of the breadbasket. This has been the pattern for U.S. military operations since 2003, and yet the insurgency continues. The more important question is whether the U.S. military—and its partners in the Iraqi army and police—can secure the area for the long term, and do so with fewer and fewer U.S. troops as the surge ends."
LAT: 6 American soldiers die in a house rigged to explode
WP: UN survey estimates that 151,000 Iraqis died in the 3 years after the invasion (90% of them the direct result of US military operations)
WP: new strategy: let Iraqis figure it out
SWJ: there's a new book out on counterinsurgency and inter-agency fighting
AP: Colombia captures #2 leader of ELN. hopes renewed for advances in peace talks with guerrilla group.
MH: how the FARC lost track of the little boy they offered in the exchange.
Gdn: Chávez sends helicopters to retrieve 2 hostages this morning, including the boy's mother
WP: Bush predicts Palestinian state "will emerge" soon
WP: US federal gov't to sue landowners who haven't allowed border wall construction on their property
IHT: 3,000 more US troops to head to Afghanistan
BBC: Charles Taylor on trial
BBC: talks continue to falter in Kenya
Slate: the finer points of US democracy
NYT: Iraqi forces weren't notified of the plans until late, but it still wasn't enough to prevent insurgent targets from eluding the troops
Slate: Diyala's different than Anbar, and we're in to a 'post-surge' period:
"There is no doubt that this quantity of U.S. troops will clear this small area of insurgents and al-Qaida fighters. The only question for the near term is whether our troops will kill, capture, or merely push those fighters out of the breadbasket. This has been the pattern for U.S. military operations since 2003, and yet the insurgency continues. The more important question is whether the U.S. military—and its partners in the Iraqi army and police—can secure the area for the long term, and do so with fewer and fewer U.S. troops as the surge ends."
LAT: 6 American soldiers die in a house rigged to explode
WP: UN survey estimates that 151,000 Iraqis died in the 3 years after the invasion (90% of them the direct result of US military operations)
WP: new strategy: let Iraqis figure it out
SWJ: there's a new book out on counterinsurgency and inter-agency fighting
AP: Colombia captures #2 leader of ELN. hopes renewed for advances in peace talks with guerrilla group.
MH: how the FARC lost track of the little boy they offered in the exchange.
Gdn: Chávez sends helicopters to retrieve 2 hostages this morning, including the boy's mother
WP: Bush predicts Palestinian state "will emerge" soon
WP: US federal gov't to sue landowners who haven't allowed border wall construction on their property
IHT: 3,000 more US troops to head to Afghanistan
BBC: Charles Taylor on trial
BBC: talks continue to falter in Kenya
Slate: the finer points of US democracy
07 January 2008
deeper-than-ethnic issues
NYT: US "contemplates" Special Forces, CIA operations in Pakistan. my money's on operations already ongoing. "...at the White House and the Pentagon, officials see an opportunity in the changing power structure for the Americans to advocate for the expanded authority in Pakistan, a nuclear-armed country." further in the article it confirms that 50 soldiers (about 5 special forces squadrons) are already there, and that the CIA wants official permission to call in strikes.
NYT: US keeps prison in Afghanistan open, growing, despite deplorable conditions
NYT: ongoing strife in Kenya: Kikuyus are targeted, displaced from western part of country.
"...Kenya has struggled with ethnic violence before. Its rare bursts usually come around election time.
NYT: public and private infrastructure investment -- in New Haven
Reuters: (Hillary) Clinton assesses likelihood that Putin has a soul.
ESPN: go bucks!
NYT: US keeps prison in Afghanistan open, growing, despite deplorable conditions
NYT: ongoing strife in Kenya: Kikuyus are targeted, displaced from western part of country.
"...Kenya has struggled with ethnic violence before. Its rare bursts usually come around election time.
'You have to understand that these issues are much deeper than ethnic,' said Maina Kiai, chairman of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.
'They are political,' he said, and 'they go back to land.'"
Reuters: leaders contemplate what to doLAT: the Burmese junta helped opposition leaders strengthen their networks by jailing them, reducing mistrust among them
NYT: public and private infrastructure investment -- in New Haven
Reuters: (Hillary) Clinton assesses likelihood that Putin has a soul.
ESPN: go bucks!
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