Saturday, April 26 08

Signs of success in East Timor allow Australia to bring home 200 stabilization troops. Humanitarian crisis in Somalia indicates how civil strife often makes access to civilians in need impossible. Opposition party repression continues in Zimbabwe as election results are kept in limbo. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon sparks a new debate for a power sharing framework, contending that Iraq "continues to face formidable challenges to reaching a national consensus on how to share power and resources". Foreign Policy comments on the Iraq war's dire effects on overall U.S. military capacity. The UNHCR will probe deaths of four Iranians expelled by Turkey on Iraqi border.

Friday, April 25 2008

Disputed Darfur civilian death count by U.N. immediately makes headlines (1,2). Georgia receives assurances of U.S. Government's commitment to territorial integrity and state sovereignty. Pakistan's military presence in NW tribal areas has lowered volatility and made terrorist attacks less frequent. Ethiopia denounces Qatar publicly for covertly supporting insurgents. Massive U.S. embassy in Baghdad becoming an unsettling symbol for Iraqis. Uganda's peace process is falling apart, as the LRA re-groups for battle. The Canadian military underestimated the Afghan quagmire, where it will indefinitely remain.

Thursday, April 24 2008

In Sudan, efforts to accelerate deployment of co-ordinated U.N./A.U. forces as mandated in Security Council Resolution 1590 (March 05) continue, the Darfur crisis only worsens, with UNMIS too weak to provide safety to aid workers. Zimbabwe's crisis exemplifies the 21st century struggle for political freedom. U.N. human rights expert Ghanim Alnajjar condemns killings of civilian religious leaders in Somalia, calling for expeditious and impartial investigations.

Kosovo's February 17th unilateral declaration and official recognition generated considerable anger inside Serbia. With Serbian parliamentary and local elections set for May 11, questions surface: Will Western-friendly democrats prevail or unfriendly socialists? Will NGOs and Westerns governments have leverage? Will the new leadership respond to possible offers of rapprochement by Washington/Brussells? Meanwhile, with the new precedent in firmly hand, Russia plows forward by recognizing Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, against protest and bellicose announcements.