july 22

After week of high-altitude strikes, Israel is ready but reluctant to punch tanks across the border. Do Harper and MacKay have this crisis under control? Washington is a long way from southern Lebanon, but rival lobby groups are nevertheless involved in the action. Several sources report a spike in the violence occurring in the Sudan, but according to U.N. sources, an international intervention is not feasible until early 2007. A unilateral referendum on political independence will take place this fall in Transdniestria, Moldova, but the OSCE won't be around to observe it. At the same time, Moldova negotiated a major petro partnership with the Russian gas giant Gazprom. With an election nearing in D.R. Congo, repression and indiscriminate violence increase in incumbent President Joseph Kabila's home province. Are Iranians are becoming skeptical about the consequences of their government's foreign entanglements?