The Taliban is prepared for an ambitious spring offensive, the military leader of the Islamist milita boasted in a new interview with AlJazeera TV. “The attack is imminent,” said Mullah Dadullah. “The number of Taliban mujahedin who are ready to… Read moreAfghanistan: Taliban pledges “imminent” offensive
Just as Britain has announced a draw-down of 1,600 troops in Iraq, comes the news it will be sending some 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Of the 35,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan, some 5,600 are British, mainly deployed in Helmand…. Read moreUK, Australia send more troops to Afghanistan
A resolution from a Dec. 25 conference in Chicago, “Sunni Shia Dialogue to Save Lives,” online at The American Muslim: Resolution: Shia-Suni Dialogue to Save Lives To be signed by immams, khateebs, masjids, Muslim organizations and opinion leaders Whereas, the… Read moreAmerican Muslims issue Shia-Sunni unity resolution
The New York Times‘ increasingly questionable Michael R. Gordon has yet another report Feb. 23 (with Mark Mazzetti) based largely on anonymous sources. But this one, “U.S. Used Bases in Ethiopia to Hunt Al Qaeda in Africa,” is just telling… Read moreNYT: Ethiopia waged US-backed “blitzkrieg” in Somalia
We noted that the current (Feb. 22) issue of The Economist has an uncharacteristically favorable article on Eritrea, saying it can “help or hinder progress in the Horn.” The same issue has an equally uncharacteristic slap at the rival Ethiopian… Read moreThe Economist: Should the West back Ethiopia?
Hmmm, Eritrea got a flurry of headlines when Somalia was heating up a couple of months ago—then disappeared. What happened? This telling Feb. 22 story from The Economist, “Eritrea: Still in the Regional Game?,” is reprinted in New Jersey’s Eritrea… Read moreEritrea still in Somalia?
As we noted in a related post on Egypt, Compass Direct News, which monitors global persecution of Christians, likely has its own evangelical axes to grind. But this still doesn’t smell very good. From a Feb. 22 report: An Eritrean… Read moreEritrea: persecution of Christians seen
From Compass Direct News, Feb. 22. Compass Direct monitors global persecution of Christians, and likely has its own evangelical axes to grind. But nobody else is covering this. Police detained Christian families in Upper Egypt and forced them to deny… Read moreEgypt: growing violence against Copts in south
AlJazeera includes the following interesting passage in its Feb. 22 coverage of the conviction of Egyptian blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil Soliman. Now, did “rendition” victim Abu Omar show up to support Soliman, despite his taunts of reactionary Islam on his… Read moreEgypt: “rendition” victim speaks
Freedom’s on the march in Washington’s top Arab client state, and the world’s second-largest US aid recipient after Israel. From the BBC News, Feb. 22: An Egyptian court has sentenced a blogger to four years’ prison for insulting Islam and… Read moreEgypt: blogger gets prison
Wow, like, nostalgia for the ’80s, dude. This should be read to the strains of Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Except that now the Russkies are threatening to nuke former Warsaw Pact members—which just indicates how desperate their post-imperial position is,… Read moreNuclear sabre-rattling in Europe
Prime Minister Romano Prodi resigned Feb. 21 after his center-left government failed to get the necessary majority of 160 Senate votes to extend Italy’s Afghanistan mission. Both Prodi and Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema lobbied for the extension, but fell short… Read moreItaly: government collapses over Afghan deployment; protesters pledge to resist US base expansion
