A brief world news roundup for 25 March 2008.

United States & the Americas

• White House – Vice President’s Remarks at a Roundtable Interview by Traveling Press, King David Hotel, Jerusalem
• Ghosts of Alexander – The previous two entries on Obama’s and Clinton’s Afghanistan policies were rather easy since those two have both recently put out their foreign policy platform in a single document. McCain’s platform is not packaged in such a convenient manner. So I will go first to…
• State Dept – U.S. Assists Victims of Natural Disasters in Ecuador.
• Hugh Hewitt – Airbus v. Boeing: Lots of news and commentary today as this issue heats up.
• Michelle Malkin – Investigative reporter Todd Bensman has a myth-busting piece that counters the open-borders propaganda line that no terrorist suspects have crossed into the US across our land boundaries to the north or south.
• Fausta’s blog – Welcome to the Easter Week Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.
• CSM – Leftwing activists flock to Venezuela to soak up the socialist ‘revolution’; Like Havana, Cuba, and Chiapas, Mexico, before it, Caracas draws liberals from around the world who want to experience Hugo Chavez’s experiment in socialism.
• IPS – It is a question of “national sovereignty, not xenophobia,” said the president of Brazil’s land reform agency, INCRA, explaining the need to regulate foreign land ownership in Brazil. The biofuel frenzy has driven growing purchases of land in Brazil in the last few years.
• Xinhua – At least 212 people were killed and some 1,235 people injured in a total of 976 accidents during the Easter holiday in Mexico, the country’s Public Security Ministry reported Monday.

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

• BBC  – A car bomb has caused casualties in Nazran, the main town in Russia’s southern republic of Ingushetia.
  Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency quoted local security officials as saying four people had been injured in the blast on Monday, including two policemen.
• Reuters – Georgia on Monday condemned as “barefaced interference” in its internal affairs a call by Russian lawmakers for the Kremlin to recognize rebel Georgian regions as independent.
• RIA Novosti – The Armed Forces of the unrecognized Georgian republic of Abkhazia began planned military exercises on Monday with up to 4,000 soldiers participating.
• EurasiaNet - Amid a thaw in relations with the United States and European Union, Uzbek authorities are striving to improve the Central Asian country’s human rights image. Civil society activists remain cautious about Tashkent’s commitment to curbing rights abuses, however.
• Russia Today – On Monday Kyrgyzstan marks the anniversary of the opposition protests dubbed the ‘Tulip Revolution’, which brought down president Akayev three years ago. It was sparked by reports of ballot-rigging in the parliamentary election.
• Moscow Times – A report on state television in Belarus accused the U.S. Embassy of setting up a spy ring, the latest salvo in disputes that have led to unfriendly relations between the United States and the former Soviet republic’s authoritarian government.
• Robert Amsterdam – Grigory Pasko: “Mopping Up” before Inauguration; Just a few days later, this threat was realized by the Moscow police. On Saturday, 22 March, Oleg Kozlovsky and several of his close associates were detained by employees of the Moscow police and sent off to the Division of Internal Affairs (OVD). Eyewitnesses reported that the activists of the movement «Oborona» were treated very roughly.

Middle East

• BBC – The most senior US general in Iraq has said he has evidence that Iran was behind Sunday’s bombardment of Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone. Gen David Petraeus told the BBC he thought Tehran had trained, equipped and funded insurgents who fired the barrage of mortars and rockets.
• abu muqawama – Fred Kagan was on the Charlie Rose Show last week talking about the Surge and Iraq. It really annoys Abu Muqawama how Kagan can’t bring himself to ever criticize our efforts in Iraq prior to the Surge. He says we pursued a very “sophisticated” but ultimately inappropriate COIN strategy prior to the surge. C’mon, man, just admit we screwed a lot of stuff up…
• Washington Post – In Fallujah, Peace Through Brute Strength; Iraqi City’s Fragile Security Flows From Hussein-Era Tactics.
• Badgers Forward – Michael Totten brings this story to us. The Liberation of Karmah Part I. This is not the Karmah we knew. The Karmah we knew led to three bracelets I rotate wearing to remember our men lost in February 2007. The Karmah we knew was a city of death and fear.
• Instapundit – A STAKE THROUGH THEIR HEARTS: Michael Yon reports on Killing Al Qaeda in Nineveh Province.
• CNN – Clashes have been breaking out among Egyptians waiting in long lines for subsidized bread and the president has ordered the army to start baking more to contain a political crisis. The turmoil in the world’s most populous Arab country is a stark sign of how rising world food prices are roiling poorer countries.
• France24 – Lebanon on Monday postponed its presidential election from March 25 to April 22 in the 17th delay of a vote that has been derailed by the country’s months-long political crisis.
• Gateway Pundit – Hezbollah leader and Iranian stooge Hassan Nasrallah threatened Israel again claiming the Jewish State is on the verge of collapse.
• IHT – The police on Monday broke up a protest by hundreds of masked and stone-throwing Kurdish demonstrators during the fifth straight day of clashes that have killed two people and wounded dozens, news reports said. The riot police fired rounds of tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd and were chasing the protesters in the town of Yuksekova, in Hakkari Province, the private Dogan news agency said.
• MEMRI – YouTube video: Massive Pro-Hamas, Jihadist Rally in Sakarya; Turkish Islamists To U.S. Vice-President Cheney, On Eve Of His Visit To Turkey: “Hey Murderer! Hey Terrorist! Don’t Come To This Country! Get Out! Get Out of Here!”
• MEMRI – The London daily Al-Hayat reports that according to Yemen security apparatuses, the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa was the target of the March 18 terror operation that damaged a nearby school, and that Al-Qaeda was responsible for the operation.

Iran

• MEMRI – In a message to the Iranian people on the occasion of the Persian New Year, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that this is “a day of preparation for the realization of the divine regime in the world.” He also called on the people to step up their anticipation in advance of the appearance of the Hidden Imam.

Southeast Asia

• AFP – Around 130 people have been confirmed killed in a Chinese crackdown on protests and unrest in Tibet, the prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile told AFP on Monday.
• Guardian – The Olympic flame yesterday began its 85,000-mile, meandering journey from rural Greece to Beijing for this summer’s Olympic games amid embarrassing scenes, as protests by human rights activists over the turmoil in Tibet all but eclipsed the lighting ceremony.
• BBC – New Pakistani PM Yusuf Raza Gillani says he will order the release of all judges detained under emergency rule.
• Captain’s Journal – Taliban and al Qaeda Strategy in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• The News – The Swat police on Sunday claimed to have gunned down an alleged militant besides rounding up four others in Khwazakhela area for their links with terrorist organisations.
• Reuters – Peace in Afghanistan is undermined by Western nations’ failure to deliver promised aid and 40 percent of funds that do reach the country return to the West in profits and salaries, aid agencies said on Tuesday.
• Afgha.com – American forces in Afghanistan say more than a dozen insurgents have been killed in a joint US-Afghan operation in the southern province of Uruzgan. The forces say they were returning fire after coming under ambush.
• CJTF82 – Coalition forces conducted an operation March 23 to degrade Taliban command and control networks in Nangarhar Province in which two armed insurgents were killed.
• Dawn – Unknown gunmen ambushed a convoy of mine clearers in northern province of Jawzjan Sunday , killing five and wounding seven. The attackers stopped the convoy, opened fire into the first vehicle and shot at the others, which included an ambulance, as they turned around and sped off, officials said.
• AP – Government troops and Tamil rebels fought scattered battles across northern Sri Lanka over two days, leaving 30 rebel fighters and four soldiers dead, the military said Monday.
• CNN – Voters in the secluded Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan became the world’s newest democracy Monday when the nation held its first elections and ended more than 100 years of royal rule. Voters had a choice of two political parties from which to pick 47 members of a lower house. According to preliminary results, the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa party trounced its opponents, the People’s Democratic Party, winning all but three seats, state media said.

Far East & Pacific

• BBC – Protests are continuing in the Tibetan-populated areas of China, with state-run media saying one policeman was killed in the latest riot.
• Guardian – Just like America, China is building a multi-ethnic empire in the west. Tibet and Xinjiang have the misfortune of having resources the Asian giant wants, and being on the path to resources it needs.
• news.com.au – A lawyer for the three death row Bali bombers has withdrawn himself from their last-ditch legal appeal, signalling the possible end to the case which delayed their executions.
• Radio Australia – Supermarkets in Fiji are expected to start rationing rice shortly as a result of global shortages. And, the Fiji Times reports, nutritionists are warning people to start looking at alternatives in their diets as the shortage is expected to continue for some time.
• Taipei Times – East Timor extended by one month a state of emergency imposed after last month’s assassination attempts on the president and prime minister.
• WPR – Lacking Governing Vision, Japan’s Opposition Offers Obstructionism.

Europe

• NY Times – Serbia on Monday formally proposed dividing newly independent Kosovo along ethnic lines, a move that was immediately rebuffed by Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leadership in Pristina. The proposal, submitted to the United Nations, is the culmination of a campaign by Serbia to entrench its political and administrative control over the northern part of Kosovo, which has a Serbian majority.
• Hot Air – Caught by two videos of her visit to Tuzla, Bosnia in March 1996, Hillary Clinton’s campaign has the unenviable task of acknowledging that Hillary lied about the danger she faced in flying into one of the most secure facilities in the Balkans.
• Brussels Journal – Network Solutions, an American internet service provider, has closed down the website that the Dutch polician Geert Wilders reserved to post “Fitna,” his 15-minute movie about the Quran. So far, no-one has seen “Fitna,” nor does anyone know what it will be like, although it will be critical of Islam.
• Jawa Report – I just spent 30-40 minutes on the phone with Network Solutions (based in PA), complaining about their removal of the fitnathemovie.com website. Ultimately, I was only able to get as high as a woman named Shannon…

Africa

• The Nation – It is too late to call for dialogue, authorities have told the murderous Sabaot Land Defence Force and Mount Elgon political leaders calling for ceasefire in the military bombardment of suspected militia hideouts.
• Garowe – Somali rebels waging war on the country’s Ethiopian-backed transitional government attacked a police station in the capital Mogadishu, igniting a bloody battle that killed at least two police officers and one of the attackers, witnesses said.
• The News – Liberian Police have seized 30,000 rounds of ammunition for AK-47 assault rifles in the western region of the country, close to the border with Sierra Leone, a report by the French News Agency (AFP) said.
• BBC – The federal president of the Comoros islands, Ahmed Sambi, has authorised military force to retake the island of Anjouan from rebels.
• Spiegel – Thousands of fortune hunters are digging for gold in the mountains of Mozambique. Scores have come across the border from bitterly poor Zimbabwe. But for most, the dream of fabulous treasure ends up in endless toil, disease and death.
• NY Sun – In predicting where Al Qaeda will pitch its tent next, Western intelligence agencies should pay extra attention to north Africa. As Morocco’s foreign minister, Taieb Fassi Fihri, told me last week at a Manhattan hotel suite: The terrorist group has “decided to invest in this area.”
• CFR – Zimbabwe’s upcoming presidential election looks more competitive than any in recent history. If President Robert Mugabe should lose, the reaction of the country’s security sector may be decisive.

The Global War

• Daily Yomiuri – How should Japan and the United States, two major sea powers, deal with maritime issues that have become increasingly complex? A symposium titled the Japan-U.S. Sea Power Dialogue was held earlier this month in Washington to discuss the current situation and maritime security issues.
• Ethan Zuckerman – The work has a good deal in common with my Global Attention Profiles research… One conclusion that’s easy to draw based on their maps is the fact that every nation’s media is parochial. Australian newspapers focus heavily on Australia and New Zealand. Indian newspapers are obsessed with China and Pakistan.
• UPI – India and China are planning to hold joint air exercises in India this year, a senior Chinese Embassy official said. He said the move was aimed at extending defense cooperation between the two countries, which conducted their first joint military exercises in Kunming, China, last December.
• Hudson Institute – There are two pariah states on the globe; that is, nations that are routinely criticized and censured.  One is Israel and the other is Taiwan.  Both states are roughly 60 years old, economic powerhouses, democratic and targets at the United Nations. Both owe their existence to President Harry Truman.
• IPT – CAIR Exposed; Part I; From the Hamas ties of its founders in 1994 to its solicitous stance toward accused terrorists today, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has demonstrated that its actual mission is far removed from the civil rights advocacy it claims to pursue.
• Washington Institute – Counterterrorism officials have spent a great deal of effort trying to understand the process of radicalization that turns ordinary people into killers. But strikingly little work has been done on the factors that can turn a fanatical would-be killer into a somewhat chastened citizen.
• Press TV – Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev says the US missile shield plans in Eastern Europe is aimed against Russia and China, not Iran. US has from the outset claimed that its proposed missile defense system is against the Islamic Republic.
• Press TV – US Vice President has made new allegation against Iran and Syria, claiming that they have helped Hamas to ‘torpedo’ Mideast peace talks.
• contentions – Harvard researchers have determined that the broadcasting of American doubt about the war has an “emboldenment effect” on insurgents.
• Security Dilemmas – Last week, with very little fanfare, the Institute for Defense Analyses (an independent, non-profit think tank that provides the US government, and particularly the Department of Defense, with analysis and reporting) released its exceedingly comprehensive study of 600,000 captured documents laying out Iraq’s connections, interactions, and activities connected to international terrorist groups.
• Information Dissemination – In a quiet way, major naval activity is taking place that is not being highlighted in the open source, and outright ignored in the media. What we find interesting is the naval activity represents the largest Naval buildup around the Middle East region since late 2003…
• World Health Watch – Papua; Brazil; Somalia; South Africa; Egypt;

Sights & Sounds

The AP’s Evan Vucci spent 3 days at Combat Outpost Rabiy in Mosul, Iraq with Killer Troop, 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.

With London now home to jet-setting billionaires, Britain is a luxury status symbol in Moscow.

On Monday, the Heritage Foundation held an event entitled AFRICOM: Progress, Challenges and Prospects. This two-hour event discussed how “the unique challenges facing Africa led the Administration to set up a new type of command for the continent incorporating officials from other U.S. agencies. Six months after AFRICOM was officially established in October 2007 many questions remain about its mission, how smoothly the process to set up the new command is proceeding, how it will affect U.S. foreign and national security policy, and how it will affect America’s relationships with African nations.” Here is audio of the event.

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