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?

july 21

Ethiopian armed forces crossed into Somalia yesterday in an effort to protect the vulnerable government in Baidoa, as Somalian militias promised a wider confilct. A top military leader of the Cambodian Khmer Rouge dies while during genocide trial. Ukraine remains unable to form a new government, but the possibility of a compromise solution remains. The Canadian International Council (CIC) is an organization recently formed through a partnership between the Canadian Institute of International Affairs (CIIA) and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), with the goal of promoting public interest and discussion about Canadian foreign policy and international relations.

July 20

Trouble may again be brewing in Somalia, where a militia the U.S. government has linked to al-Qaeda is openly threatening to seize a key government base in Baidoa. What happened to Ukraine's 'Orange revolution' in last spring's presidential election? The oligarchs climbed back into the saddle. Here's an article about the methods used by international investors to gauge political instability and risk worldwide. The U.S. Marine Corps equips its personnel with a pocket-sized 'guide for cultural awareness'. The view that Hezbollah's rocket attacks in northern Israel are connected to Iran quickly gained acceptance, but Jim Lobe writes in TomPaine.com that it is a paranoid neo-con fantasy.

July 18

Did Darfur fall off the map? After the July 2 summit in Banjul, Gambia AU troops would remain, but a proposed UN peacekeeping contingent was out of the question. Since the summit, combat has continued to escalate, the peace accord remains in limbo, and foreign NGOs face a sudden cash crunch to keep the mission on the go. For Sudanese President Al-Bashir, foreign intervention in Darfur is part of a Jewish conspiracy. The people of Chechnya are undoubtedly better off with the end of the Russian military offensive, but the dysfunctional regime now taking shape doesn't give reason for optimism. If East Timor continues its descent into political instability, the UN will lose an important jewel in its nation-building crown. Check out the websites of the U.S. Department of State and Canada's DFAIT for advice to private citizens stuck in Lebanon.

July 17

According to the latest CDI update on Afghanistan, the security situation is deteriorating everywhere that counts. The spotlight remains on Israel's two-front war, and British PM Blair and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan are now calling for an 'international stabilization force' to enter southern Lebanon. An AP report in USA Today claims that a ceasefire-peacekeeping solution might actually be feasible. This first-hand account of ethnic relations in Abkhazia describes two nations willing to talk, yet locked in a pattern of political conflict. In Kosovo, anti-Serb reprisals increase, and the 'the Balkan cycle of hate and revenge rolls on'. Six months ago, powerful voices in Europe demanded that the West 'stop coddling Belarus', however political repression and violence are no less severe.

Human Rights Watch calls for U.S. President Bush to raise concerns about human rights protections in a meeting next week with Georgian President Saakashvili. Amnesty International reports that attacks on villagers are spreading to Chad. Foreign Policy has released its comprehensive failed states index. In southern Afghanistan, the coalition finds little success in its continuing anti-Taliban operations. The recent books section of the International Political Theory website has collected several reviews of recent works on humanitarian intervention. Books reviewed include Caney's Justice Without Borders and Chatterjee & Sheid's Ethics and Foreign intervention (1 - 2)

In Haiti, gang warfare continues and a massacre of innocents intensifies the atmosphere of insecurity and fear. In an effort promote stability, British, Canadian and American forces mount co-ordinated attacks on Taliban-controlled areas of southern Afghanistan. Noam Chomsky's take on the past week's border crossings in Gaza and Lebanon: abductions were 'irresponsible', but the explanation is in the U.S./Israeli desire to exact punlishment on Palestinians for electing Hamas. A dilemma unfolding in Iraq: while Muqtada al-Sadr'’s brutality is intolerable, creating stability increasingly requires negotiation with the political movement he represents. UN Security Council sends 'unambiguous' unanimous resolution to North Korea about long-rangemissilee tests, but Chapter 7 military intervention is ambiguously left out. The spotlight at The Hague war crimes tribunal turns to Srebernica. The charges for the first time include the crime of genocide, and although Karadzic and Mladic remain at large, the investigation slowly climbs up the chain of command. At the G8 summit, leaders of the world's most powerful states agree to support and augment stabilization and reconstruction (S&R) initiatives created by the UN and UNSC.

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first posted: july13

Today's big question: will Israel move to re-occupy southern Lebanon? Israel has called the kidnappings of soldiers acts of war, while its blockade and strikes on Beirut's Rafic Hariri (civilian) airport are apparent examples of disproportionate force. In western capitals, positions on Israeli intervention are perfectly aligned with national interest. Could Hamas and Hezbollah be 'proxy armies' of Iran? The UN began to shift from military to police presence in Liberia. OSCE Chairman De Gucht calls for calm and restraint on both sides of Georgia-Ossetia conflict. Transnistrians will vote this fall on independence and possible union with Russia.