Regions

Two suspected U.S. missile strikes Friday on villages close to the border with Afghanistan killed at least 12 people, most of them militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said. American forces recently ramped up cross-border operations against Taliban and al-Qaida militants in Pakistan's border zone with Afghanistan ‚ a region considered a likely hiding place for Osama […]

A US strike on a Pakistani village near the Afghan border has killed at least nine people including suspected foreign militants, Pakistani sources say. Initial reports said at least 20 people had died when an unmanned aircraft (drone) fired on the village in North Waziristan region. But officials later talked of between nine and 12 […]

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told reporters that Washington should not discriminate between South Asia's two nuclear armed nations. Pakistan has long opposed efforts by the US administration to push through the deal with India. Critics warned that approving it could lead to a regional nuclear arms race. The US deal with India, which was […]

The Los Angeles Times has a piece today on the conflict between the younger, more liberal generation and the older, more conservative generation in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. They interview bloggers Mustafa Naggar and Abd el-Monem Mahmoud, author of the blog “Ana Ikhwan“, both disaffected Brotherhood members disappointed by the religious rigidity of Egypt's main opposition […]

Last night's Vice -Presidential debate made last Friday's Presidential debate's discussion of what is going on and what strategy to implement in Afghanistan look depressingly deep. Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin barely scratched the surface of defining the seriousness of the conflict there, besides just mentioning Al Qaeda, and what strategy to implement, […]

PESHAWAR, Pakistan ‚ War has come to Pakistan, not just as terrorist bombings, but as full-scale battles, leaving Pakistanis angry and dismayed as the dead, wounded and displaced turn up right on their doorstep. An estimated 250,000 people have now fled the helicopters, jets, artillery and mortar fire of the Pakistani Army, and the assaults, […]

The U.N. ordered children of its international staff to leave the Pakistani capital and other areas it considered unsafe, raising its security level following the bombing of the Marriott Hotel, officials said Thursday. The move, which came a day after Britain decided to repatriate diplomats’ children, underlines the deteriorating situation in Pakistan, which is under […]

KHAR: Tribesmen backed by army helicopter gunships battled the Taliban in Bajaur Agency on Tuesday, killing several of the Taliban, a tribal elder said. The latest clash broke out in Mulla Saib Dara village, when a 6,000-strong tribal lashkar tried to set fire to the Taliban houses and hideouts. "Fighting is going on and to […]

NOW Lebanon:  With increasing frequency since the February assassination of top Hezbollah commander Imad Mugniyah in Damascus, the Israeli Counter-Terrorism Bureau has been warning its citizens that the possibility of either above scenario being carried out by Hezbollah is high. The chatter has gotten particularly loud now that the Jewish high holidays have begun. Should […]

"No Queremos Olimpiadas, Queremos Revolucion!" claimed thousands of Mexican students in response to the repressive activities of a government that was about to host the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. Many of those students would end up in prison or in the list of the more than 1,500 disappeared individuals during the "Dirty War" […]

Here are a few items you may find of interest…please find them of interest! 1. Central Asia's Railroad – Continuing yesterday's discussion of China's growing influence and investments in Central Asia, well according to this Turkish Weekly report even the Yuan can't buy everything. The report argues that prospects for building a railroad that would […]

As we pass into October, what has happened to the Guns of August? Those who recall Barbara Tuchman's famous book about the origins of WWI must remember the uncanny way that Europe gives rise to conflict in late summer. In Georgia — or what used to be parts of Georgia — the guns are silent […]