Thursday, August 24 06

Projections for future peacekeeping operations will make the U.N. second to the U.S. in overseas troop deployments. For the U.N. in Lebanon, stop hostilities first and hope diplomacy resolves the crucial issues: little progress on which countries will send troops, some indication of what the mandate will look like. Afghanistan's President Karzai petitions the international community for help dealing with domestic narcotics trade. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin explains Moscow's concerns to Izvestia about the West imposing what he calls the 'sovereigntization' of Serbian province of Kosovo. Leif-Eric Easley argues in The Korea Herald that nationalism is cheap and powerful.