"You can't contain Haiti"

One Zimbabwe or Another
Is it me or is there a suspicious number of democratic (sic) revolutions (sic) going on these days? And they come in more colors than the Department of Homeland Security terror code. With Zimbabwe being one the nations suddenly on America's democratic (sic) hit list, my go-to guy is Greg Elich, author of the forthcoming book, "Strange Liberators: Militarism, Mayhem and the Pursuit of Profit." I asked him (and Jack Straw) for a little context on the recent elections.

Howard Attacks Blair over Postal Votes
Labour was accused by the Tories today of failing to do enough to protect against voting fraud amid evidence that applications for postal votes have rocketed.

Asia-Africa Summit to launch new strategic initiative
Next week's Asia-Africa Summit in Bandung, Indonesia, will see the launch of a new strategic initiative by the two continents, South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Friday.

U.S. Looking to Help Southern Sudan's Ex-Rebels
The United States may soon beginto help southern Sudan's former rebels with militarymodernization as efforts to implement a peace deal gathersteam, Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said on Friday.

Zimbabwe must face economic problems - IMF official
"The authorities know they need to implement one comprehensive programme that revives economic activity in Zimbabwe. With the election over, now is the time to move in that direction," Siddharth Tiwari, a deputy director in the IMF's Africa department, said at a news conference before the start of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington.

What the IMF is not saying is that they contributed to hurting Zimbabwe's economy. Read: Zimbabwe Under Siege by Gregory Elich

Ex-Guantanamo prisoner didn't know of 9/11

AFGHANISTAN: Protest against opium eradication

Ecuador: Popular mobilization takes political class by surprise

Rouge justice
It was exactly 30 years ago. It still is, and will remain for ages, a collective trauma: every single person in Cambodia has at least one relative who was killed in the dreaded Pol Pot years (April 17, 1975-January 7, 1979) when the Khmer Rouge imposed a neo-agrarian social-engineering folly on a whole nation. Conceptualized by Ieng Sary - based on his own Sorbonne thesis - and implemented by Pol Pot, the return of Cambodia to Year Zero and the terror reign of Angkar (the Party) may have killed up to 2 million Cambodians, out of a total population of 7.7 million, and traumatized everyone else in the country for generations.

Saddam's desperate offers to stave off war

MINUSTAH, US Proxy. You can't contain Haiti
Peacekeeping operations are the weakest link in the UN system. No peacekeeping force can succeed with a US/French/British-dominated UN Security Council directing its activities. Under the big three, mandates to peacekeepers come in one of two forms – go and make it look like you are doing something about a horrible situation or serve as a belligerent proxy for the United States and make a horrible situation even worse. I think MINUSTAH received both kinds of directives in its diplomatic pouch.

Ethiopia imposes rules barring thousands from monitoring elections
Electoral authorities have imposed tough rules that effectively bar thousands of local observers from monitoring Ethiopia's third-ever democratic election next month, an official said Monday.

EU Election Observation Mission to Ethiopia Deployed
The European Commission has deployed an EU Election Observation Mission for federal and state parliamentary elections in Ethiopia. The Mission will be led by Ms Ana Gomes, Member of the European Parliament, who will travel to Addis Ababa this week to meet relevant stakeholders in the electoral process.