A brief world news roundup for 9 May 2008.

United States & the Americas

• Douglas Farah – The Associated Press reports on how thinly spread U.S. Special Forces are in many parts of the world, including Latin America, at a crucial time.The Associated Press today reports on how thinly spread U.S. Special Forces are in many parts of the world, including Latin America, at a crucial time. “We’re going to fewer countries, staying for shorter periods of time, with smaller numbers of people than historically we have done,” Adm. Eric T. Olson said May 5 in his first interview since becoming commander of U.S. Special Operations Command last July.
• National Post – Tories stick to their guns in letting U.S. government deal with terrorism suspects.
• AFP – Venezuela’s proven crude oil reserves had swelled to 130 billion barrels as of late April, marking a rise of 30 billion from its prior estimate, energy and oil minister Rafael Ramirez said Thursday.
• BBC – A senior Mexican police official has been gunned down in the capital, Mexico City, officials have said. Edgar Millan Gomez was in charge of co-ordinating national police operations against drugs traffickers.
• IPS – The presidential summit on “Food for Life”, held in Nicaragua, has ended with 16 Latin American countries agreeing to produce more food and sell it at low prices through strategic alliances, amid criticisms of free markets and capitalism. Ortega, as host, wasted no opportunity to condemn the “empire”, meaning the United States, and “neoliberal policies imposed by the international financial institutions.”
• People’s Daily – The Venezuelan government proposed here Wednesday that the Latin American energy-rich countries should create an oil-for-food fund.
• McClatchy – After more than a month of failed negotiations with government officials, thousands of farmers have re-created roadblocks and held back production all over this country to protest a controversial increase in agricultural export taxes.
• US News – Brazil is the world’s most dynamic rising agricultural producer, boasting astonishing growth in the past two decades. It is already the No. 1 exporter in the world of an impressive range of food: beef, chicken, soy, sugar, orange juice, and coffee. It is rising in other crops and in pork as well.
• Carlos Sabino – None of this is new. If there’s one constant in Latin America it may be this: For every step forward — politically and economically — there’s an equivalent step back. How else can one explain the never-ending roller-coaster many Latin American countries seem to ride? Bursts of freedom, energy and progress, followed by periods of inexplicable resentment, regret and regression.

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

• AP – When Boris Yeltsin left the Kremlin eight years ago, he gave Vladimir Putin the pen he had used to sign important documents and decrees, a gesture symbolizing the transfer of power to Russia’s new president. When Putin left the Kremlin, he took the pen with him. Putin, who became prime minister Thursday, has signaled that he intends to remain Russia’s principal leader, at least in the short term – and possibly much longer.
• IHT – Russia has ordered the expulsion of two American military attachés working at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, the State Department said Thursday.
• RIA Novosti – Russian police killed early on Thursday a militant who was reported to have been planning an attack during the upcoming May 9 Victory Day celebrations in the North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia.
• IWPR – A war of words over Azerbaijan’s democratic record has damaged relations between Baku and Washington, less than six months before Azerbaijan’s presidential elections. Both Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President George Bush have made critical remarks about Azerbaijan in the last month, eliciting a furious response from Azerbaijani officials.

Middle East

• AP – The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was arrested in the northern city of Mosul, the Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman said Thursday.
• CNN – The U.S. military in Iraq denied widespread reports Friday that trumpeted the capture of a top Iraqi insurgent leader.
• Voices of Iraq – Iraqi army soldiers guarding Ninewa Oprawi hotel allegedly killed a suicide bomber who attempted to target the hotel with a bobby-trapped car, a source from the Iraqi army said on Thursday.
• ABC – A rocket hit a downtown Baghdad park Thursday, killing two people as American and Iraqi forces battled Shiite militants believed responsible for many such attacks. Guided missiles fired into the crowded Baghdad slum of Sadr City.The U.S. military said that 17 militants had been killed since Wednesday in clashes around Baghdad.
• McClatchy – Iraqi security forces, after more than of 40 days of intense fighting, on Thursday told residents to evacuate their homes in the northeast Shiite slum of Sadr City and to move to temporary shelters on two soccer fields.
• UNS – U.S. Special Operations Forces snipers killed two suspected Special Groups criminals in the Sadr City area of Baghdad May 7.
• Instapundit – OMAR FADHIL: Iranian-Made Rocket Discovered Near Basra Alarms Iraqis.
• ABC – Running gunbattles raged in parts of Beirut on Thursday after the leader of Hezbollah accused Lebanon’s Western-backed government of declaring war on his Shiite militant group. At least four people were killed and eight wounded in the capital.
• AFP – Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned on Thursday that a Lebanese government crackdown on his group was tantamount to a “declaration of war” as clashes escalated between supporters of rival political factions in the deeply divided country.
• RWNH – It is a virtual certainty that Hezb’allah’s “private” communications network – an extensive set up that handles wireless phone and other telecommunications protocols – is a spy network for Syria and may be used in the future to plan violence and assassinations against the March 14th government forces. Siniora and his government – standing up to Hezb’allah for the first time – has not only shut down that network and fired the pro-Syrian officer who ran it from the airport, but has all but declared Hezb’allah a “state within a state.”
• Ya Libnan – Hezbollah followers were seen patrolling on motorcycles in most areas near Beirut airport and their security men were seen standing with walkie-talkies. Opposition sources close to Hezbollah told dpa that House Speaker Nabih Berri and officials in Hezbollah told the government the airport road would be reopened when the government reinstated the pro-Hezbollah airport security chief, Wafiq Choukair.
• Syria Comment – By Provoking Hizbullah, Is Washington Hoping for a Showdown?
• Talisman Gate – How the Outcome in Sadr City Led to Today’s Clashes in Beirut.
• Tony Badran – Fighting in Beirut has broken out between Hezbollah/Amal and Future Movement supporters. Here’s a brief look at the military situation. For a political reading, see the post by Lee Smith over at Michael Totten’s, and make sure to read the excellent quoted op-ed by Michael Young.
• From Beirut to the Beltway – This is unconfirmed, but it looks like Hizbullah’s fighters are gaining control of much of the city, and surrounding the residences of some March 14 leaders.
• Shot in the Dark – It was sixty years ago that Israel declared its independence. It was sixty years ago that Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and much of the rest of the Arab world started trying to drive them into the sea… an effort that has, directly and indirectly, never stopped.
• Dawn – Four Yemeni soldiers were killed and two others were wounded Thursday when they were ambushed by suspected Shiite rebel gunmen in the northwestern region of Amran, a local official said. The attack targeted the convoy of army colonel Hamid al-Qoud as it passed through Harf Sufian market in Amran.

Iran

• Haaretz – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday called Israel a “stinking corpse” which is doomed dissappear, as the state celebrated 60 years of independence.
• FrontPageMag – Iran’s Lobby in the U.S.; A prominent Iranian dissident exposes the lethal disinformation campaign waged by the Mullahs.
• France24 – Iran on Thursday blamed a mosque explosion that killed 13 people in the southern city of Shiraz last month on Western-backed monarchists who oppose the Islamic republic, the Fars news agency reported. Pour Mohammadi said on Thursday that the culprits had been identified and arrested “in another bombing attempt which was foiled” in an unspecified Iranian province.
• US News – In Iran, Christians are prohibited from seeking Muslim converts, although there has been tolerance for those who are born into Christian families. The government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has introduced legislation before the Iranian Majlis that would mandate the death penalty for apostates from Islam, a sign that it will brook no proselytizing.
• UPI – Iran recalled its ambassador to Iraq in protest of Baghdad’s support for a move by the United Arab Emirates to take ownership of three Persian Gulf islands.
• IJNet – According to a new report, in 2007 Iran banned a media outlet, newspaper or journal every 36 hours. The report, released on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, May 3, was published by Iranian human rights activists groups in Europe and North America.
• NCRI – Last year, I received a number of intelligence reports from my sources inside the Tehran government and affiliated with the underground network of Iran’s main opposition, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK/PMOI), about an extensive, elaborate program to train large numbers of Iraqi terrorists in Iran.
• State Dept – Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions; Patricia McNerney, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, International Security and Nonproliferation Testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
• Intellibriefs – AHMEDINEJAD’S VISIT: IN PERSPECTIVE By B. Raman; In response to an invitation issued by President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka during his visit to Teheran in November, 2007. President Mahmud Ahmadinejad of Iran paid a two-day official visit to Sri Lanka on April 28 and 29.

Southeast Asia

• AKI – Afghan police reportedly killed six Taliban fighters, among them two rebel commanders, in conflict in western Afghanistan on Thursday. On Wednesday afternoon, two American soldiers and one civilian were killed in an attack just north of the city of Khost.
• AFP – NATO could change its rotating command of southern Afghanistan and give the role to a single country, amid concern that the current system is boosting the Taliban insurgency, NATO’s top US general said Thursday.
• TIME – The Afghan parliament this week passed a law banning Tulsi and competitor Bollywood serials such as Tests of Life and Waiting, calling them immoral, anti-Islamic and a threat to Afghan culture. Apparently nobody told the religious leaders who, during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan last fall, petitioned broadcasters to delay Tulsi, in order to accommodate evening prayers. It wasn’t just that the Mullahs were losing their flock to an Indian temptress; some made clear that they didn’t want to miss an episode themselves.
• Watson Institute – Michael Vinay Bhatia ’99 died yesterday in Afghanistan, where he was working as a social scientist in consultation with the US Defense Department. He was working on his dissertation, titled “The Mujahideen: A Study of Combatant Motives in Afghanistan, 1978-2005,” based on 350 interviews with combatants throughout Afghanistan, as well as archival and media research.
• Daily Times – Troops blocked the main road leading to the South Waziristan Agency on Thursday in a confrontation with Al Qaeda-linked militants who operate there.
• BBC – Pro-Taleban militants have killed a paramilitary soldier in an attack on a police station in north-west Pakistan, the military says. Another soldier was wounded in the raid at a security checkpoint in the town of Kabbal in Swat Valley.
• Bronwen Maddox – The price that Pakistan is paying for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is now evident. The paralysis of the Government in the face of the country’s two greatest threats – a worsening economy and terrorism – is a sign of lack of leadership, particularly the charismatic ability to rally great numbers of people.
• AKI – An Indian seminary in the northern city of Deoband has rejected a proposal for the establishment of separate mosques for Muslim women. The Darul Uloom Deoband Islamic seminary reacted strongly to a proposal by the All-India Muslim Women’s Personal Law Board to set up separate mosques.
• Colombo Page – Sri Lanka Defense sources said the military has taken control of the Adampan Tank area in the Island’s embattled Mannar.
• AHN – At least 74 Tamil Tiger rebels and three security personnel were killed in the clashes in the country’s embattled northern region, the military said on Thursday.

Far East & Pacific

• BBC – Burma’s leaders are facing growing international concern over their reluctance to accept foreign aid, days after the devastating cyclone. The UN says its planes carrying vital food supplies cannot enter because they still do not have permission to land. Buildings have been swept away, leaving up to a million people homeless, and swathes of land are under water, sparking fears of disease.
• CBS – A senior State Department official says North Korea has handed over key records sought for months by the U.S. in disarmament talks.
• 1913 Intel – North Korea has up to ten plutonium war charges in its nuclear arsenal. These data were given by former South Korean foreign minister and delegation head at the six-party talks on denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula Lee Soo-hyuck in his book, published in Seoul.
• This Could Get Interesting – In the late 1990s, North Koreans suffered through an extended famine that the regime blithely calls the “Arduous March” or the “March of Tribulations”. But antiseptic terms gloss over the misery and horror of those times. Conservative estimates say somewhere around a million people died, about 5 percent (1 in 20) of the population. Other sources claim the loss was as high as 3 million (1 in 8). Another tragically unnecessary calamity is on the horizon. International experts now warn that famine could return to North Korea in 2008 and 2009.
• Oil and Gas Journal – The government of Indonesia, facing a steady decline in the country’s oil production, is considering plans to withdraw as a member of OPEC.
• Telegraph – China is undertaking a dramatic overhaul of its nuclear weapons in an effort to modernise and expand its arsenal.
• WSJ – As Chinese President Hu Jintao tours Japan this week, one of the high points has been his promise to deliver two giant pandas. But this well-known gesture of friendship isn’t bowling over everyone.
• AFP – The number of Australians who want to replace the monarchy with a republic has fallen to its lowest level in almost 15 years, according to a poll published Thursday.
• Dawn – At least three people were killed and many others were wounded when a powerful explosion tore through a van Thursday, police said. A homemade bomb was the likely cause of the blast that hit the vehicle shortly after it left a bus depot in the town of Midsayap on Mindanao island.
• New Zealand Herald – Soldiers in full kit will swarm ashore from the sea in Hawke’s Bay next week in an international exercise to see how Australian and New Zealand navy ship crews work together.
• news.com.au – Indonesian authorities have rejected a request by one of the Bali bombers on death row to remarry his ex-wife in prison.
• SWJ Blog – Guerrilla Warfare and the Indonesian Strategic Psyche by Emmet McElhatton.

Europe

• BBC – The Latvian and Lithuanian parliaments have approved the EU’s Lisbon Treaty which aims to reform decision-making in the 27-member bloc. Thirteen parliaments have given the treaty their support so far. The treaty has to be ratified by every member state before it can come into effect. As well as aiming to streamline decision-making in the bloc, the treaty also provides for a president for the European Council and a High Representative to co-ordinate foreign policy.
• Guardian – Abu Qatada, the radical cleric once described as Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe was granted bail by an immigration tribunal today. The decision by the special immigration advisory tribunal means that Qatada could be released from high-security Belmarsh prison within weeks.
• Turkish Daily News – European Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs ruled out the possibility of Russia’s participation in the Nabucco gas pipeline.
• AP – Spain formally laid claim Thursday to a shipwreck that yielded a $500 million treasure, saying it has proof the vessel was Spanish.
• Al Arabiya – A German court has ordered a 12-year-old Muslim schoolgirl to attend co-ed swimming lessons, despite the objection of her parents, press reports said on Thursday. The girl’s parents had filed a case citing Islamic prohibitions against tight-fitting clothing worn in front of members of the opposite sex, Germany’s public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) said.
• State Dept – Secretary of State Rice will travel to Sweden and Iceland from May 28 to May 30. In Stockholm, she will participate in the International Compact with Iraq (ICI), which remains a central focus of our efforts to work with the Iraqi government on a clear, measurable plan of economic reforms.

Africa

• Garowe – At least 13 people including a senior Islamic Courts militia commander were killed yesterday in heavy battles in a remote part of central Somalia.
• UPI – Militiamen in Somalia killed a U.N. World Food Program truck driver at an illegal checkpoint as the driver was attempting to deliver aid.
• AP – Witnesses say Islamist fighters have seized police headquarters in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. They say the insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades and heavy submachine-guns in fighting that killed two soldiers and two police officers.
• UNHCR – The UN refugee agency said in Geneva on Tuesday that the number of people arriving on the coast of Yemen after being smuggled across the treacherous Gulf of Aden from the Horn of Africa has more than doubled this year. As of April 20, more than 15,300 people had been reported arriving in Aden on 324 boats and 361 people were reported killed or missing during the hazardous voyage.
• AllAfrica – The United States House of Representatives passed legislation Thursday to erase from government records the designation of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) and its leaders as terrorists.
• IRIN – Armed men claiming to represent the rebel group Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) attacked twenty villagers from Tampe 15 km east of the regional capital Ziguinchor on 7 May and hacked each of their left ears with machetes, according to the victims and the Senegalese army.
• BBC – Burundi’s army says it has killed 50 rebel fighters in the latest clashes near the capital, Bujumbura.
• IPS – Irish rocker and activist Bob Geldof’s statement that Angola is a country “run by criminals” unleashed a political storm that could have an impact on Portugal’s large investment interests in the largest of its former African colonies.
• NPR – The opposition leader of Equatorial Guinea is in a Spanish jail. Severo Moto was arrested in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow the oil-rich country’s government using a shipment of weapons intercepted in Spain. Equatorial Guinea is Africa’s third largest exporter of crude oil.
• AP – The editor of an independent Zimbabwean newspaper has been arrested and the country’s largest farm union said Thursday that 40,000 farm workers have been displaced in postelection violence.
• Enough Project – Lord’s Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony’s failure to sign a peace deal in April drove a nail into the coffin of the Juba peace process—a process that is grinding to an unsuccessful end. The talks have certainly contributed to northern Uganda’s current state of relative peace and created a mechanism to address tensions between the people in the North and the southern-dominated government in Kampala.

The Global War

• IPS – Faced with continuing domestic opposition to the United States-India nuclear cooperation deal, the Indian government has launched ‘one last push’ to complete negotiations before the window of opportunity slams shut. But the chances of success of its latest bid appear to be no higher than they were some weeks ago.
• Newsweek – The Senate Intelligence Committee is about to release a report that sheds new light on “inappropriate” back-channel contacts between Pentagon officials and a group of Iranian informants—including a key figure from the Iran-contra affair. The CIA, however, was kept in the dark.
• VOA – The commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific has called on China to give up any plans to develop what he calls “high-end military options,” and says the United States has no intention of abandoning its position as the leading military power in Asia. Admiral Timothy Keating made the comments in an interview with VOA Pentagon Correspondent Al Pessin.
• Asia Times – Reports of China building a massive strategic naval base capable of housing nuclear-powered submarines on Hainan island in the South China Sea have India on red alert. The fear is not so much that China will launch any offensive against India, but that India is falling far behind in the race to dominate the region’s seas.
• MEMRI – Islamist Forums Teach Mujahideen How to Manufacture and Use Explosives, Weapons, and Poisons.
• Danger Room – The latest war-funding bill might pay for more than just the battles in Iraq and Afghanistan.  It could add billions of dollars’ worth of the latest manned and robotic aircraft to American fleets, as well. Nearly a third of the $165.4 billion measure, $51.8 billion, would be “devoted to new weapon systems,” Inside Defense reports.

Sights & Sounds

Stratfor: Recent events in Somalia and Yemen have thrown a spotlight on the re-emergence of al Qaeda’s regional nodes. Senior security analyst Scott Stewart discusses the state of development and implications of jihadist power in this strategically important part of the world.

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Bloggers Roundtable: U.S. Army Col. Wayne Grigsby, commander of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, briefed the bloggers roundtable on the outcomes of his brigades’ 15-month deployment in the Madain Qada region of Iraq, which comes to an end next month.

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NATO Spokesman James Appathurai gives his personal perspective on recent articles discussing NATO.

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