Overseas Media React to Super Tuesday, McCain

While it's an American election, the foreign media have been keeping a careful watch on the comings and goings of our presidential race. And the events of the past week - the Super Tuesday results and John McCain's emergence as the Republican frontrunner and probable nominee - have generated some interesting comments.

The BBC reports on the mood of conservatives attending the McCain speech at CPAC Thursday, summing it up as as not happy with McCain as their presidential nominee but "a lack of realistic alternatives gave them little choice."

Julian Sanchez, blogging for the Guardian, picked up on this sentiment as well, finding clues to this feeling of "McCain or the Democrats" in the introduction he received from conservative Senator Tom Coburn.

"As he prepared to hand over the podium to his colleague ... Coburn announced that he would be 'happy to debate anyone who thinks staying home or supporting Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama is a better option' than backing McCain. What's telling is that here, at the Woodstock of the American right, he might find quite a few takers."

Larry Derfner, writing in the Jerusalem Post, writes that the best way for McCain to defeat either Obama or Clinton in the fall is to ask Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to be his running mate.

"Rice is attractive and extremely telegenic. She's also a woman and an African-American, which by now aren't fatal flaws in a candidate for president or vice-president, but probably net advantages. This year, for the Republicans, I'd say Rice's gender and race would be nothing less than the gift of life."

But it's Ed O'Loughlin, reporting for the Sydney Morning Herald from Jerusalem, who suggests that it isn't John McCain that the Israeli political establishment is quietly rooting for.

"That unofficial honour goes to Senator Clinton, who Palestinians accuse of taking an increasingly one-sided approach to the Middle East conflict. Visiting the region in 2005 as senator for New York, Senator Clinton shunned the Palestinians completely, meeting only Israeli leaders and hearing and expressing only Israeli positions. She particularly galled Palestinians by enthusiastically backing the 700-kilometre complex of walls and fences that Israel is building inside the West Bank."

Finally, Siri Agrell writes in Canada's Globe and Mail that while every possible demographic has been offered up as the key to winning the election - women, African-Americans, Latinos, for instance the group that might really might hold the key to the White House is "the dude vote."

"If you look at the demographics state by state, you can see that, right now, Obama's being kept alive by white guys," said Richard Parker, a Harvard lecturer and co-founder of Mother Jones magazine. "It's the one group which is not voting identity politics because they don't have a candidate."

11:56 AM ET | 02- 8-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Candidates Condemn Bhutto Assassination

Almost all of the candidates running for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations released statements today condemning the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

* Sen. Joe Biden said that "Like her father before her, Benazir Bhutto worked her whole life, and gave her life, to help Pakistan become a democratic, secular and modern Muslim country."

* John Edwards described her as a "brave and historic leader for Pakistan."

* Mike Huckabee said that while Bhutto's death was troubling, "we are reminded that while our democracy has flaws, it stands as a shining beacon of hope for nations and people around the world who seek peace and opportunity through self-government."

* Sen. Chris Dodd, who said he had been in touch with Bhutto in the past few weeks, said her death shows the "experienced leadership our country needs at a time when critical regions around the world are in turmoil."

* Mitt Romney said her death shows the "reality of global, violent radical jihadism around the world."

* Sen. Barack Obama described her as "a respected and resilient advocate for the democratic aspirations of the Pakistani people."

* Sen. John McCain said her death "deeply saddened him" and that it "underscores yet again the grave dangers we face in the world today and particularly in countries like Pakistan, where the forces of moderation are arrayed in a fierce battle against those who embrace violent Islamic extremism."

* Sen. Hillary Clinton, who noted that she had known Bhutto for many years, called her death "a tragedy for her country and a terrible reminder of the work that remains to bring peace, stability, and hope to regions of the globe too often paralyzed by fear, hatred, and violence."

* Rudy Giuiani said the assassination was a "tragic event for Pakistan" and that "Her death is a reminder that terrorism anywhere - whether in New York, London, Tel-Aviv or Rawalpindi - is an enemy of freedom."

* Gov. Bill Richardson called Bhutto "a courageous woman," and is the only candidate so far to call for the removal of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Until that happens the U.S. "should suspend military aid to the Pakistani government. Free and fair elections must also be held as soon as possible."

* Rep. Dennis Kucinich called it a "dangerous moment for the world" and that "The United States must change its policy direction in the region. It must stop adding fuel to the fire."

* Rep. Ron Paul said in a radio interview that ""We've supported Musharraf and now it's created some civil strife."

Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle also condemned the killing, and said that Pakistani elections must go forward. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Bhutto's bravery "stands in stark contrast to the cowardice of those who remain committed only to chaos, murder and thwarting democracy in Pakistan. It is our expectation that President Musharraf and the Pakistani people will go forward with free and fair elections."

1:44 PM ET | 12-27-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Did Russia Play Role in Georgian Turmoil?

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili appeared on national television on Thursday to announce early elections.

AFP/Getty Images

Georgia's opposition leaders called off their demonstrations against President Mikhail Saakashvili today after he announced early elections in the former Soviet republic. Saakashvili's announcement came after many in Georgia and around the world expressed shock at Wednesday's police crackdown on demonstrators in the capital of Tbilisi. They had been protesting in front of Georgia's parliament buildings for several days.

The BBC reports that early elections had been one of the opposition's main demands as it seeks to end what it considers the president's authoritarian grip on power.

One lingering question has been whether Russia played a role in the demonstrations. NPR contributor Lawrence Sheets reported that the Georgian president accused Russia of helping to coordinate them, a charge opposition leaders deny.

But Russia is "livid" with Georgia, in part because of its Western-style reforms, says Gregory Feifer, NPR's correspondent in Moscow. Saakashvili also has been openly critical of the overt political pressure that Russia exerts, unlike the leaders of other former Soviet republics.

Since he came to power in 2003, after what became known as the Rose Revolution, Saakashvili has tried to end the corrupt practices of his predecessors, including replacing the police force with a more mobile, American-style one. He also adopted a pro-Western foreign policy, saying that he wanted Georgia to ultimately join both NATO and the European Union.

But much of the rhetoric about the West in Moscow appears paranoid, Feifer says. Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin, are constantly talking about how the West is trying to break up Russia.

Given Saakashvili's charges against Moscow, his decision to call elections early may seem like caving to pressure, but Feifer says it could actually save his job. By announcing elections so quickly, he looks like a leader who is unafraid to face the public and leaves the fragmented opposition little time to find a credible candidate to run against him.

4:39 PM ET | 11- 9-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Musharraf Deals Blow to Bush's Democracy Goals

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's decision during the weekend to suspend the country's constitution and postpone elections has created a new obstacle for President Bush's much-touted "freedom agenda" — his plan to promote democracy in the Middle East as a way to reduce the appeal of extremists and improve stability.

Bush mentioned Pakistan as a country that had taken steps toward a more sustainable democracy in June. But in reality, the democracy initiative has never played much of a role there, says George Perkovich, an expert on Pakistan at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The priority of the U.S. relationship with Pakistan, Perkovich says, has been cooperation in the war on terror, not supporting democracy.

Perkovich says recent coups in Pakistan (and he includes what happened this weekend in that list) always work the same way: The military says that it has to step in and save the country from fundamentalists or terrorists, but the first people detained are lawyers and judges, the educated, human rights advocates and the media. "They never seem to go after the people whose behavior is being cited as the reason for the crackdown," Perkovich says.

Continue reading "Musharraf Deals Blow to Bush's Democracy Goals" »

2:46 PM ET | 11- 5-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

London Police Guilty of 'Catastophic' Failures

You probably remember the uproar a couple of years ago when British police officers shot and killed a young Brazilian immigrant in the subway after mistaking him for a suicide bomber. Well, on Thursday, a British Criminal Court jury found the London Metropolitan Police guilty of "catastrophic" failings in the series of events that led to Jean Charles de Menezes' death in 2005.

That's right, the whole force was found guilty. Prosecutors had said earlier that no individual officer could be tried for Menezes' death, so the force was tried under health and safety laws for failing to protect the public. Nineteen failures of police procedure were identified in the case. The judge has imposed a $350,000 fine.

Vikram Dodd, crime reporter for the Guardian, told me the verdict had nothing to do with Menezes' actual death. Since they did think he was a bomber, the police were guilty of failing to protect the public by allowing Menezes to move around so easily before the fatal confrontation on a train at the Stockwell underground station in South London. For instance, the jury said the police failed to put officers in postion to stop Menezes from getting on two buses and going into the Stockwell station. During the trial, the police contested all 19 of the accusations.

Vikram says it's hard to say if the verdict will lead to changes in the way the police operate. "Some people say there are lessons to be learned, some people say who knows what we learned."

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has said that the shooting was an isolated incident under extraordinary circumstances. The day before Menezes was killed, four British men had tried and failed to blow up suicide bombs on separate trains. That attempt came two weeks after four men had successfully denoted bombs on the London underground and on a bus, killing 52. Police were looking for one of the men suspected in the failed bombings, fearful that he would act again, but the operation went wrong almost from the start.

Vikram says the report that will come from London's Independent Police Complaints Commission next Thursday will deal more with the issue of "Why did you shoot the wrong guy?" It could be far more damaging to the force and to Blair, who is being condemned by both opponents and former supporters.

3:18 PM ET | 11- 2-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Pressure on Turkish PM to Invade Iraq Grows

Protesters in Istanbul today hold flags and a picture of a soldier who was killed Sunday by Kurdish rebels. About 3,000 flag-waving Turks took to the streets, chanting slogans against the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

AFP/Getty Images

A clash with Kurdish rebels on Sunday that killed at least 12 Turkish soldiers may be the tipping point that sends Turkey into northern Iraq. It could be tough for Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to squeeze out of it now, especially with the Kurds also claiming to have captured eight soldiers.

Last week, parliament members gave Erdogan the OK to use military force. Now, the Turkish media reports, the public is demanding it. If Erdogan doesn't invade, it will likely damage his public image severely.

I e-mailed Ivan Watson, our correspondent in Istanbul, this morning, and he told me that Turkish leaders don't think an invasion will solve the problem but have painted themselves into a corner with the vote in parliament. An expert he interviewed for Morning Edition, Hugh Pope, said the Turks "are pushed by domestic public opinion to go in, and by common sense to stay out."

Ivan wrote that if the latest attack really did start with an ambush by members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, that it's "basically an invitation by the PKK for the Turks to invade northern Iraq."

Yes, the PKK seems to want a Turkish invasion, according to Pope, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group. He said the PKK is launching these attacks for two reasons: to remain relevant and to try and draw Turkey into what he calls "the morass of Iraq."

So Erdogan is in a tight spot. The public is clamoring for a military response that he doesn't think will work and may play right into the PKK's strategy. But if he doesn't act in the way voters want, he could put his own political career in jeopardy.

But a peaceful settlement may still be possible. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said the rebels would declare a unilateral ceasefire today. A PKK Web site says the rebels are ready to lay down their arms if Turkey stops targeting them and drops plans for an invasion, Agence France-Presse reports.

12:11 PM ET | 10-22-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Canadian Pedophile Suspect Arrested in Thailand

Thai police arrested an alleged Canadian pedophile Friday who had been the target of a worldwide Interpol search. Teacher Christopher Paul Neil was found in the province of Nakhon Ratchasima, 150 miles northeast of Bangkok.

"Bingo! We've got him," police Maj. Gen. Wimol Powintara told The Associated Press. Police tracked down Neil after they put a trace on his Thai boyfriend's cellphone.

Neil is allegedly the suspect who had been sought by Interpol for three years after about 200 pictures of a man sexually abusing young boys in Cambodia and Vietnam appeared on the Internet. But the man's face had been digitally obscured. Then earlier this month German police were able to unscramble the pictures. That's when Interpol made its worldwide appeal for help to find Neil.

Neil has been teaching in Thailand, South Korea and Vietnam since 2000. Before teaching abroad, Neil worked as a chaplain in Canada, counseling teens.

If convicted he could face up to 20 years in prison. Law enforcement officials in Cambodia, Vietnam and Canada have also indicated they want to question Neil about his activities.

6:09 AM ET | 10-19-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

After Weeks of Rumors, Sarkozys Confirm Divorce

The other shoe has dropped. The lawyer for French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Cecilia, has confirmed what had been the worst-kept secret in the country: They have gotten a divorce.

Lawyer Michele Cahen spoke on Europe-1 radio. Earlier today, Sarkozy's office put out a 15-word statement that confirmed a separation, and Sarkozy's spokesman later said that separation meant divorce.

The announcement comes along with another crisis for the president: nationwide transportation strikes over proposed pension changes that began Wednesday night and kept many French workers at home today.

Sarkozy is the first French president to get a divorce while in office. But other well-known heads of state, like former South African President Nelson Mandela and Argentine President Carlos Menem have gone through divorces or separations while in power.

11:35 AM ET | 10-18-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Bhutto Returns to Pakistan

Supporters of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto try to get a glimpse as she passes by in a procession today in Karachi, Pakistan.

John Moore/Getty Images

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan today after eight years in exile. When she arrived in Karachi, she was greeted by tens of thousands of jubilant supporters.

Bhutto described her return as a "miracle," and members of her Pakistan People's Party who accompanied her on the flight clapped and cheered when her plane touched down.

Security was high in the city following a series of assassination threats against Bhutto from Islamic militants. Authorities tried to stop her from undertaking a long procession through Karachi to the tomb of Pakistan's founding father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, but she was undeterred: "I do not believe that any true Muslim will make an attack on me because Islam forbids attacks on women, and Muslims know that if they attack a woman they will burn in hell."

Bhutto is expected to seek the prime minister's office for a third time in upcoming elections, but some political observers in the country have expressed a deep skepticism about the power-sharing negotiations with President Pervez Musharraf that allowed her to return. (She fled the country in 1999 to escape corruption charges.) They say that by agreeing to support the president in return for legislation that wiped out the charges, she compromised her political independence.

In Washington, however, her election would likely be viewed positively because she and Musharraf are seen as pro-Western.

Update: The Associated Press reports that two explosions have gone off near a truck carrying former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. An official said at least 100 people were killed. While Bhutto was not hurt, the second, larger blast went off just feet from the front of the truck carrying her. The blast shattered windows in her vehicle.

9:55 AM ET | 10-18-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Why Is U.S. Going Public with Support for Dalai Lama?

It's been pretty hard to miss the fact that the Dalai Lama has gotten a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor Congress can bestow. And if you've heard about the award, then you've probably also heard about how upset the Chinese are about it. (China views Tibet as part of its territory and sees the Dalai Lama as a threat to its sovereignty.)

In the past, U.S. presidents have always kept meetings with the Dalai Lama low-key for fear of offending the Chinese, so it begs the question: Why go public now?

The president was asked at a news conference today why he was going to the ceremony honoring the Dalai Lama, considering China's outrage. Bush cited the struggle for religious freedom around the world — an issue that has been a touchstone for his administration.

I have consistently told the Chinese that religious freedom is in their nation's interest. I've also told them that I think it's in their interest to meet with the Dalai Lama, and will say so at the ceremony today in Congress. ... Matter of fact, I don't think it ever damages relations when the American president talks about religious tolerance.

However, the White House has made concessions to China's feelings on the matter. Officials denied the media any access to Bush's private meeting with the Dalai Lama on Tuesday.

And experts say that his visit is not likely to have a long-term effect on Chinese-U.S. relations. "It seems more likely to me that (China is) going through the motions of protest more for their own domestic audience than for any outside audience," said Daniel Sneider, an Asia Pacific specialist at Stanford University.

4:25 PM ET | 10-17-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Rumors About French President's Marriage Abound

French President Nicolas Sarkozy gets ready to deliver a speech in July in Paris with his wife, Cecilia, nearby.

Patrick Kovarik/AFP/Getty Images

"The president's wife has gone missing," writes a Paris correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.

The conspicuous absence of Cecilia Sarkozy from public outings with her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy, has the French abuzz with rumors that the couple is getting a divorce. Sarkozy and his wife, a former model, have long had a rocky relationship — she even left him for another man for several months in 2005 — but this time people are wondering if she's gone for good.

Eleanor Beardsley, an NPR contributor in Paris, tells me that the state of the Sarkozys' relationship is an "undercurrent" running through the French public and media this week. There were rumors that the couple had filed divorce papers at a local courthouse and that court officials would officially declare the divorce on Monday, but an announcement never came. "Everybody's waiting for it," she says.

And unlike the media roar that would ensue if rumors started that President Bush was divorcing his wife, the major news outlets in France have been low-key so far. "The French media have always been very strict about not nosing around in people's private lives. So none of this is on the front pages over here. But if they do file for divorce, then it will be everywhere," Eleanor says.

And here's an interesting sidebar: Cecilia Sarkozy cannot file for divorce from her husband because, as president of the country, he has immunity from prosecution in criminal and civil proceedings. She would have to convince him to file jointly.

5:11 PM ET | 10-16-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

China Not Happy About Dalai Lama's U.S. Honor

There are many ways to draw the ire of the Chinese government. Accuse it of not enforcing copyright laws. Treat Taiwan (which China considers part of its territory) as an independent nation.

And, of course, talk publicly to the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of another region Beijing considers part of China, Tibet.

China is pretty upset that the Dalai Lama will receive the highest honor U.S. lawmakers can bestow, the Congressional Gold Medal, Morning Edition reports. It's an unusually public acknowledgment of the Dalai Lama, who is also meeting with President Bush today.

Any public honor for the Dalai Lama, who China accuses of seeking independence for Tibet, is seen as interference in internal Chinese politics. China has warned that it will "seriously harm" the relationship between the two countries.

Anthony Kuhn reports from Beijing that the trip comes at a bad time for Chinese leaders. They are trying to negotiate a leadership shuffle at the ongoing 17th Party Congress. And they are puzzled by their lack of success in placating the Tibetan people.

"I think it is a big question for China that there seems to be a continuing inability to gauge how Tibetans think, and how to win them over," said Robbie Barnett, who runs the Tibetan studies program at Columbia University in New York. "[They need] to get over the idea that you can buy people's loyalty by improving the economy and improving cities and so on. It just isn't working out for them."

3:03 PM ET | 10-16-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Indian PM Tells Bush Nuclear Deal in Trouble

When negotiations on a nuclear deal between India and the United States were completed in July, the Bush administration called the agreement historic. But in the months since, opposition has grown in India. Now, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is hinting that the deal might not happen.

Singh told President Bush that he is having "certain difficulties" finalizing the deal. Communist parties that are key to keeping Singh's government alive have been telling him that they don't want closer ties to the United States.

The deal, first developed in 2005, would give India access to key technologies that could help solve its growing demand for energy while allowing the country to keep its nuclear weapons. The U.S. sees it as a way to bring India, which has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, into the international mainstream on atomic issues.

In a meeting last week, Singh told the left-wing parties that he would continue talking with them and that he would hold off on negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency on the deal, which also requires an agreement with the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group. But Singh also said it would be "not the end of life" if the deal didn't go through, ending widespread speculation about early elections because of the conflict.

On Morning Edition, Somini Sengupta of The New York Times told Steve Inskeep that there is an enormous amount at stake for both the U.S. and Singh. For the Bush administration, an important foreign policy victory could be undermined, while India could see its desire to be taken seriously as a nuclear power set back. Sengupta said the problems speak to the fragile nature of India's coalition government.

9:41 AM ET | 10-16-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Myanmar Opposition Member Dies in Interrogation

An activist group says that a member of a pro-democracy opposition party in Myanmar was killed during interrogation by the military government.

The Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says the family of Win Shwe was recently told about his death in the central region of Sagaing, The Associated Press reports. Win Shwe and five colleagues had been arrested on the first day of the government's crackdown on protesters.

He belonged to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. The activist group said his body was cremated. Although AP could not verify the report, it said in the past the group "has provided detailed, accurate information on political prisoners in Myanmar."

The reports of Win Shwe's death prompted threats of further sanctions from the White House. But some experts and leaders in the region say sanctions could be counterproductive.

Priscilla Clapp, the U.S. chief of mission in Myanmar from 1999 to 2002, writes in a working paper for the U.S. Institute of Peace that the development of multiple layers of sanctions has moved the U.S. "to a backseat position" in the effort to persuade the country's military rulers to move toward democracy. Clapp writes that it could be more constructive for the U.S. to "work in partnership with Burma's neighbors to ease the generals into reform and transition, rather than simply exhorting their governments to copy U.S. policy."

That approach was echoed recently by Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, who said "China and India are critical to any international approach."

11:51 AM ET | 10-11-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Turkey Denounces Vote on Armenian Genocide

In a "midnight statement," Turkey's president, Abdullah Gul, denounced a measure passed by a U.S. House committee that calls the mass killings of Armenians beginning in 1915 genocide.

Gul said the decision "has no validity and respectability for the Turkish people. Unfortunately, some politicians in the United States ignored appeals for common sense and once again moved to sacrifice big issues to petty games of domestic politics," according to the Turkish Daily News.

Ivan Watson reports on Morning Edition that the 27-21 vote in the House Foreign Affairs Committee also has provoked a strong reaction among the Turkish people. The headline in a leading paper was "27 Dumb Americans." Watson notes that the vote comes at a time when Turkish opinion of the U.S. is at an all-time low, primarily because of the U.S. presence in Iraq.

Concerned about negative reaction to the vote, the State Department had told Americans in Turkey to be alert for possible demonstrations, even those intended to be peaceful, and to avoid large gatherings.

Passage by the House committee, or even the entire House, does not guarantee success for the measure (which does not need to be approved by President Bush). Similar resolutions were passed by the House before, in 1975 and 1984, but never made it through the Senate. There are already signs that the measure will face a tougher fight there.

Sen. Hillary Clinton told The Boston Globe's editorial board Wednesday that she cosponsored a similar measure in the Senate because it seemed "to be a statement of recognition of a horrible period in the history of the Armenian people." But she said she was concerned by Turkey's opposition to the bill, which has been stronger than many expected.

9:26 AM ET | 10-11-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Putin: No Data That Iran Is Trying to Build a Bomb

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and French President Nicolas Sarkozy review an honor guard in Moscow today.

Dmitry Astakhov/AFP/Getty Images

Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that his government has seen no data showing that Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb and that Russia will proceed as if Iran has no plans to build one. But Putin, who was speaking at a joint news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, did say he shares "the concern of our partners that all programs should be as transparent as possible," according to the BBC.

Sarkozy said that after meeting with Putin, their positions on Iran were closer. Sarkozy described the talks as "frank" and "passionate" and said his relationship with Putin is developing well.

Sarkozy's ebullient appraisal of his first official visit to Russia prompted Ian Traynor to note in The Guardian that Putin seems to have a style that makes other world leaders "go weak at the knees."

But Traynor notes Putin's charm doesn't work on everyone:

Seems to be a male thing, all this touchy-feely bonding at the dacha. Putin's appeal appears to be lost on the powerful female. By strange coincidence, the two most powerful women politicians in the world, Angela Merkel of Germany and Condoleezza Rice of America, are fluent Russian speakers. So maybe they see through the Russian leader's seduction strategies.

Maybe that was behind those shirtless fly-fishing photos.

12:01 PM ET | 10-10-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Turkey's Prime Minister Pressured to Invade Iraq

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is under heavy pressure from the country's military to allow an invasion of northern Iraq. Over the weekend, separatist Kurdish guerrillas killed 13 Turkish soldiers in an attack — the most casualties sustained by the Turkish army in nearly a decade. Kurdish separatists frequently cross into southeastern Turkey to conduct attacks and then retreat to bases in Iraq.

The Guardian reports that Erdogan called an emergency meeting of national security chiefs, which some described as a war council. It is widely known, however, that the prime minister doesn't think an invasion will work. Turkey's military conducted several sorties into Iraq in the '90s that had little impact on guerrilla activity. The United States also strongly opposes an invasion because "it would immensely complicate the US campaign in Iraq and destabilize the only part of Iraq that functions, the Kurdish-controlled north."

Despite his own feelings and U.S. pressure, Erdogan still faces a growing call for an invasion. As Time notes, "The top-selling daily Hurriyet ran a banner headline Monday saying, 'This warrants going into [Iraq].'"

On Monday, the U.S., in an effort to help forestall an invasion, urged the Iraqi government to move against the Kurdish separatists. CNN reports that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a longtime Kurdish leader, said Sunday that the idea of a separate Kurdistan is unrealistic. "I don't think that Turkey or Iran or Syria will accept this, so, we must be realistic," Talabani said. "Now the interests of the Kurdish people are in the framework of a united, democratic, federative Iraq."

Update: The New York Times reports that Erdogan has given the go-ahead for a possible cross-border operation to hunt Kurdish separatists. The statement came after today's meeting of senior security officials.

9:46 AM ET | 10- 9-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Pakistani Court Deals Musharraf a Setback

Pakistan's election can go ahead on Saturday, the country's Supreme Court has ruled, but even if he gets the most votes, whether Gen. Pervez Musharraf can remain president is still up in the air. The BBC reports that no winner can be declared in the election until the court has ruled on the constitutionality of Musharraf standing for re-election while still head of the army. (Musharraf has promised to quit his army post if he wins.)

"The bench has unanimously resolved and directed that the election process should proceed as per the schedule announced by the chief election commissioner," chief judge Javed Iqbal said, the AFP news agency reports.

"But final notification of the returning candidate will not be issued until the decision of this petition for which the process is to begin from 17 October."

The ruling comes just as all the pieces had seemed to be falling into place for the general. He appeared to have reached a deal with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto that would see corruption charges against her dropped and allow her to take part in a power-sharing government that would increase Musharraf's credibility.

9:30 AM ET | 10- 5-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

The Funniest Things Happen in Basra...

If you want to read something about Iraq and laugh for a change, then have I got the ticket for you.

Corey Flintoff, a longtime NPR newscaster who recently spent time reporting in Iraq and now writes foreign news for NPR.org, offers a collection of anecdotes from our contract reporter in Basra. As Corey notes, most of the time the stringer is sending reports on the normal happenings in the city ... you know, bombings, sectarian warfare, etc. But "every now and then he gets tired of reporting mayhem and sends us an e-mail about things that strike him as funny, weird or revealing about his home place."

My personal favorites: observations about a fatwa on imported chickens and the oddity of wearing seat belts in Iraq.

5:29 PM ET | 10- 3-2007 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post

Myanmar Shuts Down Internet Access

The government of Myanmar has cut off the public's access to the Internet. That access has played a major role in allowing us to see images of what is happening during the anti-government protests in the country.

It looks like the government is continuing to violently clamp down on the protests that have drawn thousands of people into the streets, often led by Buddhist monks.

One blog that is still getting some stuff out of Myanmar is Ko Htike's. He's a native of the country, now living in London, who has been posting photos and reports on what is happening since the crisis began.

(Warning: Some of the images on his blog are graphic depictions of the results of the violence.)

- JJ Sutherland

2:49 PM ET | 09-28-2007 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post

Security Forces Start Crackdown in Myanmar

Fears that Myanmar's military rulers would retaliate against protesting monks and activists were realized today when security forces began a violent crackdown. The Associated Press reports that at least one person was shot and killed and dozens of Buddhist monks were dragged away. As many as 300 monks and activists were arrested.

There are differing reports of casualties. Agence-France Presse reports that three monks were killed — one when a gun went off as he struggled with a soldier, and two others who were beaten to death.

The military junta had banned all gatherings of more than five people and imposed a nighttime curfew following days of anti-government marches.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called today for a U.N. Security Council meeting, vowing there would be "no impunity'' for human rights violators in the country.

12:03 PM ET | 09-26-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Buddhist Monks Continue Protest Despite Threats

Buddhist monks and their supporters march in protest in Yangon today, despite stern warnings from Myanmar's junta.

AFP/Getty Images

Thousands of Buddhist monks continued their protests against the country's military rulers today in Myanmar, formerly Burma, despite threats of retaliation.

The monks and their civilian supporters again marched through the streets of Yangon, chanting, "We want dialogue" and "Democracy, democracy." The protests began Aug. 19 after the government sharply raised fuel prices.

Reuters reports that there were no overt signs of soldiers during the march, but police and military trucks drove into the city center after demonstrators left.

Monks have been passing out pictures of the late Aung San, an independence hero and the father of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Bush administration has entered the fray, threatening further sanctions against the Myanmar government and those who fund it, The Associated Press reports. President Bush is expected to announce the sanctions during his speech today at the United Nations. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Reuters that the U.S. also will step up pressure for U.N. Security Council action on Myanmar.

9:36 AM ET | 09-25-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Chinese Happy About Mattel's Apology

Toy maker Mattel's very public apology to China over its recent recall of millions of Chinese-made toys is getting high marks in the country. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Chinese newspapers editorialized today that the apology allows China to reclaim the "dignity" of the "made in China" brand.

A Mattel senior vice president apologized Friday. "Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologizes personally to you, the Chinese people, and all of our customers who received the toys," Thomas Debrowski, Mattel's executive vice president for worldwide operations, told Li Changjang, China's product safety chief.

But why would Mattel make such a public apology? Financial experts told The Associated Press that Mattel is concerned about its bottom line.

"Mattel is worried that the Chinese government is going to make it difficult for them to produce, put their costs up and hurt their stock price," said Peter Navarro, a business professor at the University of California, Irvine.

Chinese officials blame the world media for unfairly targeting China. And they may have an argument. A new report by two Canadian business professors says that of the 550 toy recalls since the 1980s, about 75 percent were caused by design flaws, not problems in the manufacturing process. In the Mattel case, the company said 17.4 million toys were recalled because of a design flaw involving loose magnets that could be swallowed and 2.2 million were recalled because of lead paint from Chinese suppliers.

4:36 PM ET | 09-24-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Canadian Dollar Matches U.S., While Euro Soars

Several years ago, when I lived in Canada and worked via the Internet for The Christian Science Monitor in Boston, the gap between my U.S. salary and what it was worth in Canadian dollars was so large, I had to pay an additional $30,000 in taxes in Canada. That's how much extra income the dollar difference generated.

Well, I wouldn't have to pay extra today. For the first time in 30 years, the Canadian and American dollars are at par. That's because this week's half-point interest cut had the effect of "weakening the dollar versus other currencies by reducing the cash yield on dollars," The Associated Press reports.

This will make Canadians heading to America on vacation very happy and Canadian auto-part makers, film people and American ball players in Toronto very unhappy.

But what's going on with the Canadian dollar is small potatoes compared to the euro. It hit $1.40 U.S. today, which is a big deal, as AP explains:

That level had long been seen as a key benchmark in terms of solidifying the euro's position on currency markets and giving it momentum toward becoming a reserve currency of choice — a position long held by the now-weakening dollar.

4:38 PM ET | 09-20-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Lawyer: Musharraf to Leave Army Post if Re-elected

Gen. Pervez Musharraf's lawyer says that if the Pakistani president is re-elected, he'll resign his post as army chief. The BBC reports that Musharraf's chief lawyer, Sharifuddin Pirzada, told the country's Supreme Court, which is debating whether Musharraf has the right to remain head of the army while seeking another term, that the general would be sworn in as a civilian.

There has been growing opposition to amendments to the Pakistani constitution that allow Musharraf to head the government and the army at the same time. Several petitions before the Supreme Court are seeking to have him disqualified as a candidate. They also dispute the general's plan to seek re-election from the outgoing parliament and provincial lawmakers, arguing that general elections should come first.

In a move that complicated the issue, the country's Election Commission has ruled that Musharraf can run while still leading the army. But a decision by the Supreme Court (which has issued several rulings recently challenging Musharraf's administration) about the petitions would override the commission's ruling.

Thus the promise to step down from the army if re-elected. It may sound good, but Musharraf has made the same promise before. In 2002, he told the country's Islamic parties that, in return for a constitutional amendment legitimizing his 1999 coup, he would step down as army chief. He got the amendment but didn't resign.

So he may not be taken at his word alone. As they say, fool me once...

9:55 AM ET | 09-18-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Is North Korea Helping Syria Build a Nuclear Facility?

North Korea and Syria might seem like odd bedfellows, but the two nations have already worked together on missile technology. Now, The Washington Post reports that their cooperation might be extending to the nuclear level.

North Korea may be cooperating with Syria on some sort of nuclear facility in Syria, according to new intelligence the United States has gathered over the past six months, sources said. The evidence, said to come primarily from Israel, includes dramatic satellite imagery that led some U.S. officials to believe that the facility could be used to produce material for nuclear weapons.

Hmm. This might explain why Israel has spent some time in Syria's airspace recently. The idea of Iran having a nuclear weapon is scary enough for Israeli officials. The thought that Syria might want to develop one likely has Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sweating bullets.

The Post reports that the new information has been restricted to a special few, and many people in the intelligence community don't know anything about it. The Israelis, the Syrians and the White House aren't saying a thing about the reports. Some analysts say they doubt the two are working together.

But former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, no fan of North Korea, told the Post that, given the country's trade in missiles with Syria, it is "legitimate to ask questions about whether that cooperation extends on the nuclear side as well."

11:41 AM ET | 09-14-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Russia Debuts 'Dad of All Bombs'

OK, this takes blowing things up to a whole new level.

Russia announced Tuesday that it tested what it called the most powerful non-nuclear bomb ever. It's been nicknamed the "dad of all bombs." The nickname the "Mother Of All Bombs" is already taken — it refers to the United States' Massive Ordnance Air Blast, a large-yield, satellite-guided, air-delivered bomb. As The Associated Press reports:

[Russia's] Channel One said that while the Russian bomb contains 7.8 tons of high explosives compared to more than 8 tons of explosives in the U.S. bomb, it's four times more powerful because it uses a new, highly efficient type of explosives that the report didn't identify. While the U.S. bomb is equivalent to 11 tons of TNT, the Russian one is equivalent to 44 tons of regular explosives. The Russian weapon's blast radius is 990 feet, twice as big as that of the U.S. design, the report said.

So with bombs, size might not matter.

Anyway, now that the "mother" and "dad" nicknames are taken, what's left for other countries that want to make big bombs? Are they going to have to resort to the "great aunt of bombs"? Or maybe the "second-cousin-twice-removed of bombs"?

1:51 PM ET | 09-12-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Japanese Prime Minister Abe Resigns

In a move that caught many international observers by surprise, Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, announced his resignation today. Abe, who has suffered through a series of scandals and an election defeat that sapped his government's popularity, resigned partly because he no longer has the political muscle to ensure that the Japanese naval mission in Afghanistan would continue.

As The Associated Press reports:

In such a weakened state, Abe may have feared he wouldn't have the clout to win passage of the Afghan mission, said Eiken Itagaki, a political analyst and writer.

"He has run out of political capital," Itagaki said. "So he bolted, in the hope that a more experienced successor can save the mission, and sort out the mess."

The Japan Times reports that three days ago Abe told a news conference after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that he would likely resign "if he failed to extend the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean to continue Japan's support for NATO-led counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan."

Since then, Abe, a member of Japan's long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party, had been unable to gain the support of Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan. Ozawa says the mission in Afghanistan goes against the Japanese constitution. Because his party now controls the upper house in Japan's parliament, it would have been able to block any attempt by Abe to extend the mission.

Kyodo News reports the party plans an election next week for party president, who will take over as prime minister because of the LDP's control of the legislature's powerful lower house.

10:08 AM ET | 09-12-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Sharif Kicked Out of Pakistan Within Hours

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif waves as he lands at Islamabad's airport Monday.

Richard Beeston/AFP/Getty Images

Well, that was a short trip. I hope former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had a chance to pick up a few gifts for his family at the airport — because he sure didn't stay long in Pakistan today.

Sharif was deported this morning, just hours after returning to his home country from seven years in exile, intending to campaign against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Morning Edition reports that a few hours after he arrived, Sharif was separated from his entourage and whisked off on a plane to Jiddah, Saudi Arabia.

Sharif probably had an idea it would happen. Dawn, an English-language Pakistani daily, was reporting on Sunday that the government had such a plan in place.

And while political leaders all over the world probably dream about being able to stick the opposition on a plane to another country, it's a real gamble by Musharraf. Last month, the country's Supreme Court ruled that Sharif could return to Pakistan and that authorities could not stop him. Musharraf already sparred with the top court earlier this year, when he tried to oust the chief justice, setting off a round of violent clashes.

Dawn also reports that constitutional expert Abid Hasan Minto said Sunday that deporting Sharif would amount to contempt of court.

Just what everyone needs: more unrest in Pakistan.

11:30 AM ET | 09-10-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Australian Comedy Show Gets Through APEC Security

You know, this is like the story about the nuclear weapons that mistakenly hitched a ride on an Air Force bomber — it's something that's not supposed to happen ... until it actually does.

Today, a satirical Australian TV show, The Chaser's War on Everything, staged a fake motorcade through the streets of Sydney. Many world leaders, including President Bush, are in Sydney for this week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting. So there is a lot of security, about $250 million worth. But the fake motorcade of three cars and two motorcycles made it through two official checkpoints. The convoy was eventually pulled over about a block from Bush's hotel, apparently when the comics tried to turn around.

Here's the best part: One of the people in the motorcade was dressed to look like Osama bin Laden.

New South Wales Police Minister David Campbell said he didn't think the stunt was funny (the authorities had, in fact, warned the show not to try something like this, and 11 people have been charged with breaching APEC security), but a quick online poll by The Sydney Morning Herald found 86 percent of respondents saw the humor. Campbell denied he was embarrassed by the comedians getting through the checkpoints — and in an effort to make a souffle out of broken eggs, he said he was pleased the "multi-layered'' security had worked.

Actually, I completely understand how this happened. The Chaser team's vehicles were flying little Canadian flags. Who in their right mind would suspect Canadians of anything nefarious, eh?

1:44 PM ET | 09- 6-2007 | permalink | comments (10) | e-mail post

Gul Finally Elected President of Turkey

Newly elected Turkish President Abdullah Gul

STR/AFP/Getty Images

A new president has been elected in Turkey: Abdullah Gul, the former foreign minister and a devout Muslim with a background in political Islam. His election is a victory for the pro-Islam government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

But Gul's election is not likely to sit well with Turkey's strong secularist military.

"Our nation has been watching the behavior of those separatists who can't embrace Turkey's unitary nature, and centers of evil that systematically try to corrode the secular nature of the Turkish Republic," Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, chief of the military, said in a note on its Web site Monday. The BBC reports that although the statement on the military's Web site did not name anyone, analysts believe it was aimed at Gul. The Turkish military has ousted four governments since 1960.

The leading secularist opposition party did not take part in today's vote and has said it will not participate in any presidential ceremonies.

When Gul ran for president earlier this year, the military produced a similar warning on its Web site, part of a campaign against him that led to a constitutional crisis. After a parliamentary boycott prevented Gul from being elected, Erdogan called for general elections, and his party was returned to power with 47 percent of the vote.

The victory, combined with the way Turkey's election system works, gave him the opportunity to nominate Gul again. Gul has repeatedly said he would uphold the country's secularist constitution.

1:40 PM ET | 08-28-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Tabloid Editors Acknowledge Role in Diana's Death

British tabloid editors and reporters are a pretty tough lot, willing to do almost anything to scoop their rivals. I worked with two of them for several years in Canada, and what they would do to get a story defies the imagination.

They also hate to admit they've made a mistake. So I was totally amazed to see Tuesday's story in The Daily Telegraph in which the editors of the three largest British tabloids at the time of Princess Diana's death admitted they helped create "an atmosphere in which the paparazzi, who were chasing Diana when her car crashed in a Paris underpass, were out of control."

Phil Hall, who was editor of the News of the World, said it was a "circle of culpability": the readers who wanted the photos of Diana, the photographers who chased her everywhere she went and the papers that published the photos. A Diana scoop could mean an additional 150,000 copies sold for a single issue.

Hall's comments were echoed by Stuart Higgins, who edited The Sun in the '90s, and Piers Morgan, then editor of the Daily Mirror.

I actually have personal experience with "Diana frenzy." The first place that Diana and Prince Charles visited after their 1981 wedding was Halifax. My then-boss, one of those former Fleet Street reporters I worked with, took an off-the-record conversation that his wife (also named Diana) had with Princess Diana during a private party and turned it into a front-page exclusive: "Our Di talks to their Di." It created an international furor, and the paper was banned from all royal events for a decade.

I'll always remember that a Buckingham Palace reporter for a tabloid, who had once crawled through a half-mile of underbrush to get a picture of Diana in a bathing suit, called my boss "sleazy."

11:04 AM ET | 08-22-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Chinese Officials Only Want Happy News

When I first read that China has told its media to report only positive news, I imagined Chinese Communist Party censors putting great big smiley faces on every news story. No bad, unsettling news for the people of China. Just happy news from Big Brother!

The Guardian reports that officials are clamping down as the party prepares for its congress, held every five years. This year, the party will introduce a new generation of leaders and apparently doesn't want any nasty headlines about lead-painted toys or a bridge collapse or a mine flood to ruin the announcement.

In Beijing, where a four-day traffic-easing test is about to be begin that will take a million cars off the road, editors of local newspapers and TV have been told they can't interview disgruntled commuters or show pictures of overcrowded buses. Stories have to focus on improvements to the transportation system and the environment.

Not everyone in China is happy about happy news. In eastern China, where a flood has trapped 172 miners, distressed relatives, desperate for news, scuffled with guards, The Associated Press reports. On Sunday, state-owned media reports "focused on the successful mending of the breach, but said little about the trapped miners -- a sign that the government remains nervous about public anger over perceived mistreatment."

No mine officials have talked to the families and no list of the missing has been given out. Zhang Dekuan, spokesman for the government of Shandong province, told reporters that "social stability" remains a top priority. And then another official told reporters to stay away from the miners' families.

Don't want worried relatives to mess up the happy headlines.

9:42 AM ET | 08-20-2007 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post

Russia Resumes Long-Range Bombing Patrols

As if we needed another sign that Russia wants to throw its weight around like the old Cold War days, the BBC reports that the country is resuming the Soviet-era practice of sending nuclear bomber aircraft on long-range flights after a 15-year break.

Today, 14 planes took off from Russian airfields to fly over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Last week, Russian pilots flew close to the American island of Guam. They reportedly "exchanged smiles" with the U.S. pilots sent to track them.

This reminds me of that old Saturday Night Live skit -- Russia wants to get "pumped up." But I suspect that this long flight business is as much for domestic consumption as it is for international. It probably plays really well on the evening news.

That's all for this week. If you see or read anything interesting, drop us a line at newsblog@npr.org.

4:58 PM ET | 08-17-2007 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post

Attempted Murder -- By Underwear

Over the years, countries have devised some ingenious schemes to try to kill their political opponents. The United States wanted to kill Fidel Castro with exploding cigars (to name just one wacky strategy). Old Soviet-era Eastern Bloc countries used poison-tipped umbrellas. A former Russian spy has been accused recently of putting radioactive material in tea.

Now comes the news that South African police authorities used underwear laced with nerve agent in an attempt to kill a prominent anti-apartheid activist in the late 1980s. South Africa's former law and order minister, Adriaan Vlok, received a suspended 10-year sentence in the case today.

Vlok, the only senior politician in the former white regime to be convicted of apartheid-era crimes, and four other high-ranking policemen had pleaded guilty. They attempted to murder the Rev. Frank Chikane in 1989 by putting the poisoned underwear in his suitcase while he was traveling.

(As part of their plea bargains, the men agreed to testify against any others brought to trial for crimes from that era. There is an ongoing debate in South Africa about these trials and whether they help or hurt the country.)

Vlok, who became a born-again Christian, had already asked Chikane for forgiveness. For his part, Chikane, now the director of President Thabo Mbeki's office, said he had forgiven the men who had tried to kill him.

3:09 PM ET | 08-17-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Hugo Chavez: President for Life?

Some stories just don't come as a surprise at all.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wants to eliminate current limits on his re-election and extend presidential terms ... so, basically, he could be president for life. The Los Angeles Times reports that Chavez proposed 33 radical changes to Venezuela's constitution to the National Assembly on Wednesday.

He also wants to end the autonomy of Venezuela's Central Bank, which would give him access to billions of dollars he currently can't get his paws on.

"It's not that I want to enthrone myself," Chavez said. "This shouldn't surprise anyone. It's done this way in any number of countries."

Riiiiiight. That and a $1.50 will get you a cup of coffee.

9:22 AM ET | 08-16-2007 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post

Turkey's Ruling Party Wants Gul for President Again

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul

STR/AFP/Getty Images

You know the old adage, "If at first you don't succeed..."

It seems that Turkey's ruling party, the AKP, (described by The Guardian as "mildly Islamic") has adopted this as its new motto. Word came from Istanbul this week that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose party won a substantial victory in the recent national election, is renominating foreign minister and former Islamist Abdullah Gul for president. It's a largely ceremonial role, but the president can veto legislation.

Needless to say, the secularists in Turkey are red in the face. They believe Gul, who is a practicing Muslim and whose wife wears a headscarf, is the first step on a slippery slope to Turkey becoming the next Iran. For his part, Gul said today that everyone should just relax because he has no intention of undermining Turkey's secular constitution.

The last time Erdogan nominated Gul, there were mass demonstrations by secularists and grumbling from the army. Then, the opposition party boycotted the parliament during the vote to block it. But the reality is that Erdogan may get his way this time. Following the election, there are now two official opposition parties, and the newest one has already said it would not walk out on a vote.

Now we have to wait and see what Turkey's overwhelmingly secularist military has to say about old adages.

9:37 AM ET | 08-15-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Russia Tries to Claim North Pole, Canada Says No Way

So, Russia thinks it can claim a huge chunk of the Arctic Ocean's floor by dropping a cylinder with a flag at the North Pole. But Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says, "No way, eh."

Well, maybe he didn't phrase it exactly like that. The prime minister actually said he was puzzled by what Russia did. The even more fitting comment comes from my fellow Nova Scotian, Foreign Minister Peter MacKay, who, The Globe and Mail reported, said: "We've established a long time ago that these are Canadian waters and this is Canadian property. You can't go around the world these days dropping a flag somewhere. This isn't the 14th or 15th century."

I don't know; the way Russian President Vladimir Putin has been acting lately -- verbally sparring with Britain and turning his back on arms treaties -- sure feels a few centuries old. And a Canadian parliament member from the Western Arctic says the Canadian government can't afford to "shrug off" Russia's move.

One undersea expert, however, said that Russia might be overreaching a bit. Kim Holmen, research director of the governmental Norwegian Polar Institute told The Guardian that Russia claiming the North Pole is a bit like Scotland claiming part of the United States because "the Appalachians and the Scottish mountains are the same geological formation."

This dispute is, of course, all about the Benjamins -- in this case, the ones you make from oil. Experts believe about a quarter of the world's untapped oil and natural gas lies under the Arctic Ocean. Under the law of the sea agreement, a country can claim a larger section of the ocean bed if it can prove that it is an extension of its continental shelf. Russia says that the North Pole is an extension of the Eurasian continent. In 2001, this claim was rejected by the United Nations, but Russia is preparing to resubmit its claim in 2009.

I know an easier way to settle this. We all know Santa Claus lives at the North Pole. When children write letters to Santa, they write him at the North Pole, Canada. He even has his own Canadian postal code -- HOH OHO. Seriously. And if the guy in the red suit gives his address as The Great White North, I for one am not going to disagree with him.

9:43 AM ET | 08- 3-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

British Army Operation in Northern Ireland Ends

I remember having this same feeling when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. I didn't think I would live long enough to see this story reported.

The nearly 40-year-old British operation in Northern Ireland is coming to an end. Morning Edition reports that the campaign involved more than 300,000 soldiers deployed there over the years. While 5,000 British troops will remain, the regular police handle security these days.

Not everyone is happy with this situation -- not all Protestants believe the Catholic IRA will live up to its promise to renounce violence. But no one wants to return to the way it was during "The Troubles."

Back in the early 1980s, a friend of mine from Nova Scotia had a run-in with a British soldier in Belfast while visiting family. One night, he went with his cousin to a local pub. Later, as he left, he walked out first, talking over his shoulder to his companions. Suddenly, he said, he was brought up short by something sticking in his stomach.

He turned his head to see a soldier, weapon pointed right at him, wanting to know who he was and what business he had in the area. It seems strangers in the neighborhood were always a matter of suspicion to the Brits. My friend told me that he decided to leave the next day.

11:37 AM ET | 08- 1-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Putin Accuses Britain of 'Colonial Thinking'

This Britain-Russia name-calling, diplomat-expelling row reminds me of listening to my kids argue. Just when you think things have calmed down, one of them will say something or poke somebody or complain too loudly, and the whole kerfuffle flares up again.

The latest poke comes from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who today accused Britain of "colonial thinking" in the ongoing diplomatic spat over the murder of the Kremlin critic and former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko. The Guardian reports that Putin, in his harshest remarks in the matter so far, described Britain's demand that Russia extradite suspect Andrei Lugovoi as "insulting."

"What they propose is an obvious vestige of colonial thinking," Mr Putin said on Russian state television. "They must have clearly forgotten that Britain is no longer a colonial power, there are no colonies left and, thank God, Russia has never been a British colony."

It may be that Putin was just playing to the domestic Russian audience. The Daily Telegraph points out that last week he described the entire affair as a "mini-crisis" to an audience made up of international media.

Both countries recently expelled four diplomats from the other country. Russia also imposed a visa ban on British officials and said it would no longer cooperate with Britain in the war on terrorism.

4:47 PM ET | 07-24-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

India's Latest 'Robin Hood' Killed by Police

India, it seems, has seen nearly as many real-life versions of Robin Hood as Hollywood studios have film versions in their archives.

The latest "Robin Hood," Shiv Kumar, also known by the alias Dadua, was killed along with several companions by police during a fierce gun battle Sunday. The Associated Press reports that Kumar, believed to be in his 60s, led one of the last remaining bands of outlaws that roam central India.

Kumar had a reputation for being fiercely loyal to the poor villagers in the region, particularly those from his Kurmi caste, a group on the lower rungs of India's complex social ladder and one of the most downtrodden in the area in which he operated.

But a man known as Veerappan, who was killed by police in 2004, was also called India's "Robin Hood." CNN reported he gained international notoriety in 2000 when he kidnapped India's most popular movie star, Rajkumar, then released him a few months later.

And in the '50s, there was the "Robin Hood of the Himalayas" in neighboring Nepal. Former Indian army clerk K.I. Singh started giving out land to Nepalese peasant farmers before the Indian army threw him in jail. He went on to become Nepal's prime minister.

When reading all this, it's hard not to think of the story of the Dread Pirate Roberts from the The Princess Bride (a pirate who retired and gave someone else the name when he was rich enough).

4:11 PM ET | 07-23-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

'Landslide' Win by Moderate Islamists in Turkey

When my wife called me from a friend's house in Turkey on Sunday, she said she and the group she was with had invented a drinking game to have a little fun watching the election returns there on television. Every time the ruling party, AKP, received more than 40 percent of the vote in a district, they would take a drink.

I think they were drinking a lot. The Turkish Daily News called AKP's re-election a "landslide," with the moderate Islamist party capturing 46.6 percent of the vote, "a share unseen since the 1950's."

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party will get about 340 seats in parliament, down from 367. (Turkey's electoral system awards seats to parties when they get 10 percent of the vote. This time, three parties hit that mark, as opposed to two last time, which lowers AKP's share.) This means that despite his victory in the popular vote, Erdogan will still need to work with other parties to elect a president of his choice.

NPR's Ivan Watson reports that Erdogan called the election a victory for democracy. He also pledged to honor Turkey's secular form of government. The BBC notes that, while Erdogan is seen by some in Turkey as dangerous to the secular nature of the country, the moderate Islamist is pro-business, pro-European Union and, aside from some differences over the Kurds in northern Iraq, largely happy to work with the United States.

But as the BBC's Mark Mardell writes on his Euroblog, it's hard to escape the long shadow of the army in Turkey, which has a history of stepping in when it perceives a threat to the secular nature of the government. "It's unlikely, but possible that if someone cries foul after this election, there'll be a pitch invasion," he writes. "The phrase that keeps coming up in my mind when I write about the Turkish army is Gerry Adams' chilling warning about the IRA (some years ago): 'They haven't gone away, you know.'"

10:00 AM ET | 07-23-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

The BBC Gets Caught Faking Audience Phone Calls

Tsk, tsk, tsk. The BBC, one of the world's great media organizations, has been caught with its broadcast license down. Day to Day reports that "BBC television and radio has suspended phone-in contests from its programming after editors admitted they put fake winners on the air."

The BBC has compiled a list of its indiscretions on its Web site, saying there were "six shows in which production staff passed themselves off as genuine viewers or listeners, or invented fictitious winners." And it's reporting that a number of senior editors have been suspended for their roles. Rival media outlets, heads of concerned citizens groups and politicians gleefully joined in a chorus of condemnation.

But you want to know a dirty little secret? I've seen stuff like this before. More than once I heard producers for radio or TV shows where I worked in Canada tell an intern or production assistant to call the program when the number of calls from the real audience started to tail off with 20 minutes to go.

It happened in print, too. Years ago in Nova Scotia, I worked with an editor who, when he had not received any usable mail for the op-ed page, would write letters to the paper under his cat's name. It became a sure sign that things were slow when we would see Mrs. Tuffy's name in the paper.

5:27 PM ET | 07-19-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

New Zealand Bans Forms of Political Satire

I found this story hard to believe when I first read it, but the government of New Zealand, land of hobbit films and sheep, last month banned broadcasters from using images captured inside parliament to "satirise, ridicule or denigrate MPs," The New Zealand Herald reports.

Apparently, Kiwi politicians were upset at the media for broadcasting images of government ministers appearing to sleep at their desks or making rude gestures. But it wasn't just members of the governing party who were saying "no humor allowed" -- only six members of the 121-seat parliament voted against the measure.

This seems like one of those things that politicians do because they can but often come to regret mightily later.

Not only is the move unpopular with the people of New Zealand (in a recent poll, 71 percent said they opposed the ban), but it probably won't help the country's image in the larger world. I can just imagine what the Australians (who make fun of Kiwis endlessly anyway) will do with it -- or someone like Jon Stewart or those great British comedy shows.

Some New Zealand television networks have said they won't comply with the ban, which took effect Monday. Now, Prime Minister Helen Clark's government is "in talks" with the media about changing parts of it. Does that mean we'll hear reports of furious backpedaling and flimsy rationalizations coming from Wellington any day now?

3:05 PM ET | 07-19-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Scientists: Hidden Lake May Help Bring Peace to Darfur

Scientists have made a dramatic discovery in the Darfur region of Sudan that they believe could change the horrible situation there.

The BBC reports that a group of Boston University researchers have found a huge underground lake in the region that could provide as many as 1,000 wells. The ancient lake was the size of Lake Erie, so we're not talking your local swimming hole here.

"Much of the unrest in Darfur and the misery is due to water shortages," said geologist Farouk El-Baz, director of the Boston University Center for Remote Sensing, according to the AP news agency. "Access to fresh water is essential for refugee survival, will help the peace process, and provides the necessary resources for the much needed economic development in Darfur," he said.

(In a cool side note, El-Baz learned how to interpret geological features by helping to pick landing sites on the moon for the U.S. Apollo space program.)

In the Middle East and Africa, it's all about water. Access to water resources lurks behind much of the festering violence there. That includes in Darfur, as many observers believe drought and desertification in North Sudan caused Arab nomads to move south and into conflict with black farmers. Experts estimate 200,000 people have been killed in four years.

Wouldn't it be great to solve this problem and end the enormous human suffering with only 1,000 wells?

Heck, I'll bet George Clooney would be willing to pay for them all.

6:24 PM ET | 07-18-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Britain-Russia Kerfuffle Gets More Serious

So this whole kerfuffle between Russia and Britain over the murder of an ex-KGB agent just keeps getting more bizarre.

Exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky told the BBC today that both British intelligence and friends in Russia had warned him that someone he knew would come to Britain to try to kill him.

British police later acknowledged they had arrested a man in late June in London on suspicion of conspiracy to murder in Berezovsky's case. He was questioned and released to the immigration service two days later.

This news comes after Britain announced this week it was expelling four Russian diplomats. Britain took the action over its frustration with Russia's continued stonewalling in the investigation and extradition of the main suspect in the death of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko from radioactive poison.

Russia responded by saying that it would have an "adequate and appropriate" response. My guess is that they won't be sending Prime Minister Gordon Brown a case of vodka and a barrel of caviar.

Berezovsky was a good friend of Litvinenko, who accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind the ultimately successful attempt on his life. Russian authorities have denounced these charges.

Russia has lots of oil that the West needs and that's making the country a "bit cheeky," as the Brits might say. In fact, in his report on All Things Considered Tuesday, Gregory Feifer noted many commentators believe Russia, rather than trying to mend this fence with Britain, is actually relishing the opportunity to throw its newfound weight around.

So I think we can assume this problem won't be getting solved any time soon.

5:12 PM ET | 07-18-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Almost 200 Feared Dead in Sao Paulo Plane Crash

Nearly 200 people are feared dead after a plane skidded off a rain-slicked runway at Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil, crossed a highway, slammed into a gas station and burst into flames Tuesday night, The Associated Press reports.

The Sao Paulo airport, which is in the middle of the city, has been criticized for years for having a runway that's too short. The Congonhas runway is 6,365 feet, compared with a 7,003-foot runway at New York's LaGuardia Airport. Pilots sometimes call it the "aircraft carrier." Not exactly reassuring.

Congonhas also has a reputation for being slippery. On Monday, two smaller planes slipped off the runway in rainy weather, although no one was hurt. In 1996, in a similar accident, a plane skidded off the runway and down a street before exploding into a fireball, killing nearly 100.

But here's the real kick in the head. In February, a Brazilian federal court banned takeoffs and landings of three types of large jets at the airport because of safety concerns. But an appeals court overruled that decision, ruling that it would have severe economic ramifications and there were not enough safety concerns to warrant such a move.

It doesn't appear that the plane that crashed Tuesday was one of the types that had been briefly banned. However, it makes you wonder what kind of safety improvements might have been made if the ban had been left in place despite the economic considerations.

10:19 AM ET | 07-18-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Butterflies Show Evolution Can Happen in a Flash

Not too long ago, it looked pretty bleak for the males of the Blue Moon (or Great Eggfly) butterfly species. The butterflies, found on two islands in the South Pacific, seemed headed for extinction.

But the Blue Moon butterflies have made a dramatic recovery. Agence France-Presse reports that researchers believe it shows just how fast natural selection can work.

In 2001, a team of researchers surveyed the butterfly and found that males made up only 1 percent of the population, thanks to a parasite bacteria that was destroying them.

The researchers returned in 2006 for another survey when they heard that the male population had increased. When they first surveyed the butterflies on one of the islands, they found males were still vastly underrepresented. But by the end of the year, they found males and females were nearing parity. And the butterflies on the other island were at a 1:1 ratio.

"We usually think of natural selection as acting slowly, over hundreds of thousands of years," added Gregory Hurst, a senior author on the paper and a researcher in evolutionary genetics at University College London. "But the example in this study happened in the blink of the eye, in terms of evolutionary time, and is a remarkable thing to get to observe."

The Register reports that researchers believe the secret lies in a gene that holds the bacteria in check. It is so successful that "it spread throughout the entire population of butterflies within 10 generations -- over the course of a year."

Wicked cool, as we say in Boston.

So here's my question: Does this new discovery affect the whole evolution-intelligent design discussion?

3:22 PM ET | 07-17-2007 | permalink | comments (10) | e-mail post

Turks Look Ready to Give Current PM Another Term

My wife has been in Turkey for the past three weeks on business. So I listened with particular interest to Ivan Watson's piece on Morning Edition about how Istanbul is changing as waves of rural migrants move there to improve their lives and often find grinding poverty instead.

Many of these rural migrants will play a key role in this weekend's Turkish elections. Because my wife speaks Turkish, she's been able to fill me in on what the Turkish press (and people) has been saying about the popularity of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan is the former Islamist leader who has become one of Turkey's most reformist leaders. He has introduced many reforms sought by the European Union that have opened his country up more to the global community and worked to revive the country's economy.

But speculation that he would try and have himself picked as the next president sparked a showdown with more secular, nationalist forces in Turkey. The same backlash occurred when he announced his party's official candidate, Abdullah Gul, a cabinet member with similar religious beliefs. So Erdogan called for early elections around this issue of how the president is selected.

London's Times Online writes in an editorial that the effects of this weekend's election should be a concern for everyone in Europe.

In a strange twist, the Financial Times reports that even if Erdogan's center-right, pro-business party wins more than 40 percent of the vote (up from 34 percent), it will likely win fewer seats in the 550-seat parliament than it did last time. Under the Turkish electoral system, a party must win 10 percent of the vote to win seats in the parliament. In 2002, only two parties reached that total. This time, three are expected to gain 10 percent, meaning fewer seats will be given to Erdogan's party, regardless of its share of the popular vote.

4:59 PM ET | 07-16-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Another Official Signals Change in U.S -UK Relationship

Another British cabinet minister is signaling that the country will change the nature of its relationship with the United States under new Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The Daily Telegraph reported during the weekend that Foreign Office Minister Mark Malloch Brown said it was time for a more "impartial" foreign policy, and that it's unlikely the new prime minister and President Bush will be "joined together at the hip."

Malloch Brown indicated that building relations with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as with India and China, should be as important as the relationship with the United States.

Malloch Brown's comments came just days after International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander spoke in Washington, where he warned "against unilateralism and called for an 'internationalist approach' to global problems," the BBC reported.

Malloch Brown, the former deputy secretary-general of the United Nations, has long been known as a critic of the war in Iraq. His appointment two weeks ago sent off alarm bells among neoconservatives.

The Telegraph reports that his reputation is divided between those who see him "as the great hope for Africa and a principled opponent of the war in Iraq, and those who believe that he is an anti-American egotist who defended Kofi Annan over the oil-for-food scandal."

Malloch Brown says he is not anti-American, but he's happy to be described as anti-neoconservative.

11:22 AM ET | 07-16-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

North Korean Military Wants to Talk to U.S.

In a somewhat unexpected move, North Korea's military has proposed direct talks with its U.S. counterpart. The Associated Press reports that the North's Korean Peoples Army proposed that a UN representative also attend the talks "for the purpose of discussing the issues related to ensuring the peace and security on the Korean peninsula."

The invitation comes as hopes are rising for a new peace treaty to replace the 54-year-old ceasefire between the North and South. Technically, the Korean peninsula is still in a state of war.

"It is easy to miss a chance, but difficult to get it,'' the statement said. It's unclear why North Korea has made the offer at this time. The U.S. military said it will study the invitation.

But the BBC notes that the North Korean military's statement wasn't completely friendly. It warned that U.S. pressure could end a key disarmament deal that gives North Korea fuel aid and political incentives in exchange for ending its nuclear program.

Nine UN inspectors left Vienna on Thursday on their way to Pyongyang. It will be the first "working" visit by an International Atomic Energy Agency team since 2002.

10:00 AM ET | 07-13-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

China Executes Former Food Safety Head

China executed the former head of its food and drug safety agency today for taking bribes and approving fake drugs. The International Herald Tribune reports that Zheng Xiaoyu's sentence was considered harsh even for China, which human rights groups say carries out more court-ordered executions than all other nations combined.

Zheng, the former director of the State Food and Drug Administration, is the first "ministerial-level official put to death since 2000 and only the fourth since China opened it doors to the outside world nearly 30 years ago," the newspaper reports.

During his tenure, Zheng's agency approved six medicines that turned out to be fakes. One of the drugs has been blamed for the deaths of 10 people, state media report. Zheng also was convicted of accepting more than $800,000 in gifts and cash while he ran the agency.

The Australian reports that the execution comes a few months before the Communist Party's five-yearly Congress, noting that party officials typically make a big show of battling corruption leading up to the "showpiece political event."

The execution has largely been portrayed as a sign from the government that it's serious about fixing the country's product safety problems. While NPR's Anthony Kuhn said on Morning Edition that Zheng was executed because "this is what it takes to placate public anger" in China, the action has raised some concerns outside the country. Pierre Legrand comments on his Pink Flamingo Bar blog that it has him wondering if he should buy any products from China at all.

What worries me is I am supporting a State that is so serious about [t]aking my money they will execute some functionary whose actions might cause the world to slow down its purchases of goods from China.

1:53 PM ET | 07-10-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

'Seven Wonders' Losers Not Too Happy

The winners of a contest to name a new Seven Wonders of the World: (from top) the Great Wall of China; Chichen Itza; Petra, Jordan; the Taj Mahal; the statue of Christ the Redeemer; the Colosseum; and Machu Picchu.

AFP/Getty Images

Talk about sour grapes. It seems that the privately run contest to pick a new Seven Wonders of the World has prompted plenty of complaining -- including from the United Nations.

The winners of the global competition were announced Saturday in Lisbon, Portugal. They were Machu Picchu in Peru, the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal in India, Brazil's statue of Christ the Redeemer, Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid, the Colosseum in Rome and Petra in Jordan. The pyramids in Egypt had already been declared a special winner.

But almost as soon as they were announced, people started complaining. Druid Terry Dobney, who is keeper of the stones at Stonehenge in Britain, suggested that the contest wasn't fair. "It's a bit like the Eurovision song contest, there's been block voting around the world so I'm led to believe," he said.

The New York Daily News wrote in an editorial today that "we don't care a whit" if the Statue of Liberty didn't make the final cut. "The list of seven announced Saturday (7/7/07, get it?) came from Internet and instant-message voting; hardly a scientific method, and one clearly not immune to ballot-stuffing."

Finally, the United Nations body for culture, Unesco, slammed the contest on Sunday, saying it has "a much broader vision" for its own list of world heritage sites. Christian Manhart, Unesco's press officer, said the ballot sent a "negative message to countries whose sites have not been retained."

12:04 PM ET | 07- 9-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Mass. Confiscates Suspicious Toothpaste

Massachusetts appears to be the latest state to issue a warning about potentially tainted toothpaste manufactured in China. The Boston Globe reports that health officials confiscated about 160 tubes of toothpaste that may contain diethylene glycol, a substance used in antifreeze. Long-term exposure can lead to kidney and liver problems.

The [MA] state Department of Public Health urged consumers not to use toothpaste falling into these categories:

If it is labeled "Made in China." The US Food and Drug Administration has identified a variety of brands made in China, including Cooldent, Dr. Cool, Everfresh Toothpaste, Superdent, and Oral Bright.

If is labeled as "Colgate" that is made in South Africa. Colgate officials have said their company does not import toothpaste from South Africa. The warning from health authorities does not apply to Colgate toothpaste made in the United States.

If the labeling is not in English.

In June, the FDA warned consumers to stay away from all toothpastes made in China. Morning Edition reported last week that more than 900,000 tubes of the tainted toothpaste were found in U.S. hospitals for the mentally ill, prisons, juvenile detention centers and some hospitals.

9:36 AM ET | 07- 6-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Last Chance to Vote in New 'Seven Wonders' Contest

The Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Antonio Scorza/AFP/Getty Images

Today and Friday are your last chances to get your vote in for the latest version of the Seven Wonders of the World. The Associated Press reports that the global competition to pick the new list has attracted more than 20 million voters. The winners will be announced Saturday in Lisbon, Portugal.

The list has been cut down to 21 finalists. The pyramids of Giza in Egypt are the only structures from the original list that made the cut this time -- they're the only ancient wonder still around.

The nominees for the new list also include: the Statue of Liberty, Machu Picchu in Peru, the Eiffel Tower, Easter Island, the statute of Christ the Redeemer that looms over Rio de Janeiro, Petra in Jordan, the Sydney Opera House and the Great Wall of China.

You can see all the finalists and vote for your favorites at The New 7 Wonders of the World. (The site might be slow -- a lot of people probably trying to vote before it ends.)

As for me, my list would be: the pyramids, the Great Wall, the Alhambra in Spain, Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, the Colosseum in Rome, Stonehenge in Britain and the Statue of Liberty. And yours?

2:51 PM ET | 07- 5-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Thousands of Venezuelans March for Press Freedom

It seems that Venezuelans are not going to just sit on their hands when it comes to free speech. On Wednesday -- Press Freedom Day in Venezuela -- thousands of the country's citizens joined a march in Caracas to protest a government decision to close a TV station that had often been critical of President Hugo Chavez.

An Associated Press photo shows the throng of marchers as it moved toward the headquarters of Radio Caracas Television, which stopped broadcasting May 27 after the government refused to renew its license. Many journalists taped their mouths shut in protest of the government's actions.

The march occurred during the Copa America Soccer Tournament, one of the most important soccer tournaments in the world, which is being held in Venezuela for the first time. As the Gateway Pundit blog notes, having such a huge march happen during the tournament could turn out to be a major embarrassment for Chavez.

However, he wasn't there to see it in person. Chavez was on his way to Russia for a state visit.

4:38 PM ET | 06-28-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Cutbacks in Gas Allowance Spark Iranian Violence

Oil, oil, everywhere, and not a drop to pump. I wouldn't be surprised if Iranians are singing a similar ditty today.

The BBC reports that several gas stations were torched in Tehran after the government announced fuel rationing that limits private vehicles to about 26 gallons of fuel per month at the subsidized price of 38 cents per gallon.

Although the government had been warning for months that it might make such a change, Iranians were only given around two hours' notice before the new rules went into effect.

It's a hard concept to get one's head around. Iran, one of the top petroleum producers in the world, in the grips of a fuel crisis? But Iran imports 40 to 50 percent of the fuel it uses because it lacks refining capacity.

The Associated Press reports President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has come under growing criticism, even from former supporters, for dramatic rises in the past year in food, housing and oil prices.

5:52 PM ET | 06-27-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

The Missed and Won't Be Missed at 10 Downing Street

Cherie Blair speaks with the media as she leaves 10 Downing Street.

Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images

I guess she just couldn't help herself, standing there in the street outside the prime minister's residence, surrounded by the media, which her husband recently called a "feral beast."

Cherie Blair, who has always had a reputation for saying what's on her mind -- even when it got Tony in hot water -- turned to the TV camera nearest her and said, "Goodbye. I don't think we'll miss you."

Meanwhile, as the BBC writes, the now former Prime Minister Tony Blair will be enormously missed in the United States, both inside and outside the White House. For instance, at last count, ThankYouTony.com (a site where Americans can write thank-yous to Blair) had received 89,953 messages. The e-mails are "are printed on paper, and wire-bound into books of 250 messages. Message books are shipped to 10 Downing Street in London weekly."

Well, not to 10 Downing anymore, I guess. Perhaps now they'll address them to the Middle East, as it's been announced that Blair will be the new envoy representing the Quartet (the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia) in that region.

1:26 PM ET | 06-27-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Companies Seek to Promote Free Speech, Yet Still Do Business in China

In the past several months, Internet and telecommunications companies like Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft have taken some pretty intense heat for their interactions with governments in totalitarian countries. Critics say the companies have turned over information about users' activities that allowed these governments to track down -- and jail -- dissidents or have cooperated too much in government censorship.

So I read with interest Rebecca MacKinnon's post at her blog, RConversation, about her involvement with a process to establish "a set of global principles on free speech and privacy protection for internet and telecoms companies."

The list of companies who have joined the process is the real story -- it includes Vodafone and the three above, who "admitted publicly" to taking part earlier this year. (Interestingly, MacKinnon notes, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is not involved, despite its launch of MySpace in China, where it also has been criticized for too much censorship.)

MacKinnon, a former CNN journalist who is now an assistant professor at Hong Kong University's Journalism and Media Studies Center, writes that the purpose of the principles is not to "impose Western values" on China. Instead, it's to seek a way to help companies in all countries conduct their business "while doing all they can to protect their users' interests against government encroachment globally."

MacKinnon writes that she wishes Yahoo! would apologize to the families of Chinese journalist Shi Tao and other dissidents jailed after the company turned over information about their Internet activities to the government. She says it's unlikely, but she notes that Jerry Yang, one of the company's founders and the new CEO, discussed some of the measures that Yahoo! is taking to protect free speech and privacy at a shareholders meeting earlier this month.

11:37 AM ET | 06-27-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Japan Dismisses Call for Fresh Apology for Sex Slaves

Japan has brushed off a resolution by the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs that called on the country to issue a fresh apology for using sex slaves, known as comfort women, during World War II.

The BBC reports that the committee's resolution urged the Japanese government to "formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner" for the coercion of young women into sexual slavery.

The sex slaves issue is increasingly becoming an obstacle in Japan's relationship with many countries in Asia and the West. In 1993, Japan did apologize for its treatment of women forced to be sex slaves for its soldiers during World War II. But a new, more conservative government shaded that apology, saying there weren't many women involved and there was no proof that the women were forced to become prostitutes. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later apologized for those remarks, but it did little to placate critics.

Historians believe hundreds of thousands of women were forced to work as sex slaves in military brothels during the war.

9:26 AM ET | 06-27-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Germany Bans Use of Military Sites for Tom Cruise Film

You can say what you want about Scientology, but there's one place where they just plain don't like it -- Germany.

The BBC reports that Germany has banned the makers of an upcoming Tom Cruise film from shooting at military sites there because Cruise is a Scientologist. The German government says Scientology is a cult that "masquerades as a religion to make money," according to the BBC. Scientology officials reject this description of their beliefs.

Scientology has been monitored in Germany in the belief that its activities are "directed against the free democratic order" in the country.

Its status there as a commercial enterprise has prompted repeated protests from the organisation.

In the movie, Valkyrie, Cruise will play Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, leader of the failed 1944 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler using a bomb hidden in a briefcase. The movie is set to premiere next year.

Von Stauffenberg's son also says he objects to the casting of Cruise to play his father because of the actor's belief in Scientology.

1:41 PM ET | 06-26-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Warning to French Politicians: Beware 'Les Blogueurs'

There are two things you can be certain of in life: French male politicians like to have a mistress (or several, if time permits) and the British love to tweak the French about anything they can.

These truisms came together marvelously last week when two stories in London's Daily Telegraph detailed the latest marital woes of two top French politicians: President Nicolas Sarkozy and the woman he defeated for that office, Segolene Royal.

First, Sarkozy has been kept busy denying rumors about the breakup of his marriage to his wife, Cecilia (bloggers around Europe have written extensively about alleged affairs on both sides). Then a video appeared on YouTube that appeared to show the president looking a little tipsy at a press conference during the G-8 Summit. He later explained that he was merely "out of breath."

Then came news that Royal was splitting from her longtime partner and the father of her four children, Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande, after he had an affair. But the news didn't come from the traditional French media, which has always looked the other way at these sorts of things. It was the work of "les blogueurs." The Telegraph says bloggers may undermine the country's notoriously strict privacy laws.

Pierre Dominique, a Paris-based political commentator who regularly contributes to French websites, said: "This was a clear example of how blogs are gradually eroding French privacy laws. Important issues can be raised without fear of prosecution, and this can only be a good thing for democracy. Our political leaders have a terrible record in stifling important information about what they get up to."

By the way, the bloggers' work seems only to be upsetting the politicians. The voters couldn't give a hoot. More than 80 percent said they would still vote for a candidate if he cheated on his wife. Oh, the French!

10:35 AM ET | 06-25-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Pakistani Official: Rushdie Knighthood Insults Muslims

Pakistani Muslims torch a British flag as they shout slogans during a protest in Lahore today to condemn the knighthood awarded to Salman Rushdie.

Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images

Normally, when you get knighted, a lot of nice things happen to you. People take you out for lunch, you get to meet the queen, people call you sir -- all the time. But for novelist Salman Rushdie, whom Queen Elizabeth designated for knighthood this weekend, it seems it just means more trouble.

The Guardian reports that Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq, Pakistan's religious affairs minister, told the country's parliament that, basically, the knighthood is an insult to Muslims.

"The west is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism. If someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so unless the British government apologizes and withdraws the 'sir' title."

Rushdie has been a figure of contempt to many in the Muslim world since his book The Satanic Verses was published in 1988. They accuse him of including blasphemous references to the Prophet Muhammed and to the Quran in the work. Rushdie lived in hiding for many years after a religious fatwa called for his death.

As recently as 2004, Rushdie was forced to flee the city of his birth, Mumbai, India, because of threats against his life.

Ul-Haq later tried to explain his remarks by saying he was only talking about the kind of events that lead to terrorism, not inciting it. Meanwhile, a government resolution attacking the award was passed unanimously in Pakistan's lower assembly.

Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said Muslims in Britain would regard the award as the "final insult" from Tony Blair before he leaves office. (The queen makes most of the picks for these kinds of awards based on suggestions from the prime minister.)

4:32 PM ET | 06-18-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Loose Lips Sink Lebanese Anchorwoman

For this week's last call, we turn to Lebanese TV.

I've been around radio and TV mics often enough to know that, just because you think you're not on the air, that doesn't mean your microphone has been turned off. I once accidentally turned on the mics of several CBC radio hosts while they were engaged in a rather spirited round of profanities, for instance. Only the actions of a quick-thinking engineer saved us all from disaster.

But a loose tongue -- and the worldwide effect of YouTube -- did prove disastrous for one Lebanese anchorwoman.

Reporting on the assassination of Lebanese parliamentarian Walid Eido, the anchorwoman, who thought her mic was off, wondered why it had taken so long to kill him and speculated about who would be next. The video clip of her comments and laughter made it to YouTube and sparked outrage around the world.

NBN, the station where she worked, announced today that they had fired her and a colleague for the comments.

We'll see you Monday. I'm off to enjoy Father's Day. Here's a humor piece I wrote for The Christian Science Monitor a few years ago about being a dad. All lessons learned still apply. Don't forget to e-mail newsblog@npr.org if you see a good idea.

4:43 PM ET | 06-15-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

U.S. May Investigate British Arms Deal with Saudi Arabia

Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan

Patrick Kovarik/AFP/Getty Images

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is having one heck of a last month on the job.

He got raked over the coals in Britain for his "feral beast" speech about the media on Tuesday. And The Guardian has been reporting that British arms company BAE Systems made secret payments to a Saudi prince as part of a huge arms deal -- payments that reportedly were made with the knowledge and assistance of the British Ministry of Defense.

Now The Guardian reports that Washington sources say it's "99 percent certain" that the U.S. Department of Justice will launch a criminal investigation of the company under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The newspaper had reported that a U.S. bank was used for the secret transactions.

The sources say US officials were particularly concerned by the allegations in the Guardian that UK Ministry of Defence officials actively colluded in the payments. One said: "The image of all these Bob Cratchits in Whitehall sitting at their high stools processing invoices from Bandar has been a startling one to us."

Bob Cratchits ... ouch. It also could be a tricky investigation for the White House, considering the well-documented close ties between Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the man at the center of the payments scandal, and the Bush family.

Bandar says all the money went to the Saudi government and not to him personally, and that The Guardian reports are "a pinnacle of slander and lies."

The Times of London reports that British officials in Washington are "collectively holding their breath" to see if the U.S. will investigate.

Blair told the British House of Commons this week that he was "perfectly happy to take responsibility" for a government office's decision to end a past investigation of BAE's Saudi deal. That may be something that he comes to regret later if new investigations reveal the deal to be as unseemly as it now appears.

3:16 PM ET | 06-14-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Blair: Online Media Damaging British Political Life

Outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair slammed journalism on the Internet today, saying that, compared to traditional journalism, online news "can be even more pernicious, less balanced, more intent on the latest conspiracy theory multiplied by five."

While Blair admitted that he had contributed to the deterioration of his relationship with the British media by "spinning" too much in his early days as prime minister, The Daily Telegraph reports that Blair now believes that senior figures in public life have become "totally demoralized" by what he sees as the completely unbalanced nature of reporting.

Blair also backed the idea of an online journalism regulator and said he wanted the distinction between comment and news to be reasserted.

Martin Kettle of The Guardian says Blair's speech is "a pretty truthful account of some of the problems in the way politics and the media interact in Britain in the early 21st century."

But Emily Bell, also of The Guardian, says Blair needs to fix himself first and that he just doesn't get the Web or the British media. Bell writes, "The people who are, in my limited experience, most hostile to the idea of the democratizing effect of the web are journalists and politicians, both sets much keener on central [control] and power than they would care to admit."

4:34 PM ET | 06-12-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

State Department Gets New Public Diplomacy Strategy

It took 18 months and some prodding from other agencies, but the State Department finally has a new strategy for communications and public diplomacy. The new plan is intended to help State Department diplomats around the world provide a unified message about U.S. policies and programs, something critics say has been lacking.

The new strategy identifies a need for the U.S. to take advantage of every medium to get its message across, including using blogs and other social media. It also says that the U.S. has to get diplomats as much airtime as possible in as many places as possible to talk about American policies and not be reticent about doing it.

Rena Pederson of the State Department told me more than 30 groups that work in diplomatic communication had a hand in creating the plan, which is intended to be a "living document" that will change as needs change. She also said the document was kept short so it would be used regularly in the field.

J. Michael Waller at PoliticalWarfare.org (who provided the original link to the document, which Pederson confirmed is authentic), gives the new plan a "gentleman's C." Waller, the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Professor of International Communication at the Institute of World Politics, notes that in grad school, anything below a B- is a failure, but he adds he might change his grade after rereading the document.

However, Price Floyd, a former State Department media director, quit recently after 17 years because he thinks the department's approach has been misguided. Floyd told On the Media that the department needs to spend less time on public relations and more time on two areas in particular: "good deeds," like the kind seen after the earthquake in Pakistan, and arranging exchanges to bring people to the U.S. and send Americans abroad. (The new plan does stress the need for more exchanges of this kind.)

The Bush administration has often been accused of setting aside diplomacy in favor of a military approach. This new plan could mark a major change in the way the administration views the use of soft power to rebuild America's image, which has deteriorated in many places around the world.

1:44 PM ET | 06-11-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Reports: Saudi Prince Got More Than $1 Billion in Deal

The BBC and The Guardian report today that a British arms company secretly paid more than $1.5 billion over a decade to Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan in connection with a defense contract with the Gulf nation that was the largest in British history.

The reports claim BAE paid the money with the knowledge of British Defense Department officials -- despite their denials that they knew of such an arrangement. The payments were written into the arms contract in secret annexes, described as "support services," according to BBC TV's Panorama.

The Guardian reports that a series of payments was channeled through a U.S. bank in Washington to an account controlled by Bandar, who was the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. for more than 20 years. Bandar has denied that the payments were improper and said that BAE acted lawfully at all times.

The War In Context blog writes that Americans need to pay attention to this story because: " ... BAE North America has directors including the likes of 9/11 Commission co-chairman, Lee Hamilton. With its open access to the Pentagon, BAE should be seen as a supra-national corporate entity that can strut through the corridors of political power with supreme confidence ... BAE is certainly one of the big winners in the war on terrorism."

Last November, The Times of London reported that the Saudi government told British officials that if the Serious Fraud Office continued to investigate the arms deal, it would stop cooperating with British intelligence on terrorism issues and would end the deal, meaning the loss of thousands of British jobs. The Blair government stopped the investigation. The head of the SFO told The Guardian today that he also had made the decision to withhold information about the payments to the prince from an international anti-corruption investigation "to protect national security."

3:56 PM ET | 06- 8-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Let's Get Married For, Oh, The Next Two Hours

Iranian women activists are furious with the country's interior minister, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, for telling a religious conference this week that one way to deal with teenage hormones in a country where extramarital sex is illegal is to have them practice "temporary marriage."

Temporary marriage, known as "sigheh," is a contract between a man and a woman that allows them to be married for a specific period of time, from an hour to 99 years. While Sunni Muslims consider it illegal and the same as prostitution, temporary marriage is allowed under Shia Islam. Iran started promoting it as an alternative to "living in sin" about 15 years ago; however, the practice is considered improper by society.

While temporary marriage may work for Iranian men, it can be a real problem for women. The activists point out that young women who enter into these arrangements often find it much harder to marry when they are older. Also, as the BBC reports, "There are already tens of thousands of children from temporary marriages whose fathers will not acknowledge them."

11:46 AM ET | 06- 5-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

California, Ontario Sign Stem-Cell Agreement

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says his state has become "soulmates" with the Canadian province of Ontario.

Schwarzenegger signed two deals with his Ontario counterpart today, including a new agreement on stem-cell research he says will give "rays of hope" to millions of people with diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's.

The CBC reports that Ontario will contribute U.S. $30 million to a joint research project that will focus on using stem cells to find therapies for a variety of diseases. The money will be spread out over five years.

Canadian researchers were the first to isolate cancer stem cells in leukemia, brain and colon cancer, according to the CBC.

Schwarzenegger and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty also signed an agreement that includes new low-carbon fuel standards for vehicles.

5:37 PM ET | 05-30-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Chinese Journalist Joins Lawsuit Against Yahoo!

While the Internet operates as a forum for free speech in many places, it can earn journalists or activists in China a quick trip to jail -- especially after big U.S. Internet companies provide information about what they're doing.

A Chinese journalist and poet who is serving a 10-year sentence in prison has joined a lawsuit against the Internet company Yahoo! that was originally filed in April by Human Rights USA. Shi Tao was arrested for sending e-mail to a pro-democracy group in the United States.

Writing on Boing Boing, Xeni Jardin (a regular contributor to NPR's Day to Day) quotes Colleen M. Costello of the human rights group, who says Shi Tao's prison sentence is directly related to information that Yahoo! gave the Chinese government.

The 2004 Chinese court verdict that sentenced Shi Tao to jail specifically cited Yahoo! as having provided Chinese authorities with information identifying Shi Tao as the owner of the e-mail account and the source of the communications. Yahoo! acknowledges that it provided Chinese officials with identifying information leading to Shi Tao's arbitrary arrest and long-term imprisonment.

Yahoo! and other tech companies have defended what many see as their compliance with repressive governments, saying they are required to follow local laws where they operate. Award-winning digital cartoonist Mark Fiore has created this "iRepress" cartoon to challenge those claims.

The Yahoo! case will be discussed next week at a conference on human rights and Internet repression hosted by Amnesty International UK, which has strongly criticized the actions of companies like Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft in China.

1:31 PM ET | 05-30-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Four Separate Conflicts Converge in Tripoli Fighting

"We are ready to die."

That's the message a spokesman for the Fatah al-Islam militant group gave to a reporter for The Daily Star in Lebanon. The Islamist group is holding out against the Lebanese army in a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli. "We only have two options now, to die as martyrs or win," Abu Salim Taha said.

The reasons for this conflict are complex, but a piece by Daily Star columnist (and frequent NPR guest) Rami Khouri explains it better than anything else I've seen. He says the fighting represents the convergence of four separate regional conflicts.

The four are the uneasy legacy of tensions between various Lebanese forces and armed Palestinian refugee groups in the country, going back to the 1960s; the continued tensions between Syria and Lebanon since a popular uprising forced the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon two years ago; the regional spin-offs from the US-led war in Iraq; and, the expanding clashes as US President George W. Bush's "global war on terror" both battles and breeds assorted Islamist terror groups that pursue Al-Qaeda-like goals and tactics.

On an ironic note, today is a holiday in Lebanon. It's Liberation Day, which commemorates the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon in 2000. But the holiday has quickly become little more than a day off work, the paper notes in an editorial. Seven years later, much of the unity felt after that first Liberation Day has vanished in the resurgence of Lebanon's sectarian divisions.

1:57 PM ET | 05-25-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Will Chagos Islanders' Return Mean Problems for U.S. Base?

Britain tried to keep them away. The United States tried to keep them away. But it now looks as if the Chagos islanders might finally be going home.

The Guardian reports that the islanders -- who were expelled by Britain in 1966 after it gave the United States a 50-year lease to build an airbase on Diego Garcia, an atoll in the Indian Ocean -- won a resounding victory in Britain's court of appeals Tuesday.

The court ruled that thousands of people who were tricked, starved and even terrorized from their homes could return immediately, with the decision likely to draw a line under what is widely seen as one of the most shameful episodes in British colonial history.

In 2006, after an earlier court decision, the Daily Telegraph painted a bleak picture of Britain's actions during the expulsion.

The islanders won their first court ruling in 2000. The late Robin Cook, then British foreign secretary, said there would be no appeal and that he would begin a "feasibility study" into the possibility of the islanders' return. But the U.S. told Britain it didn't want anyone near the Diego Garcia base for fear of "terrorists infiltrating the islands."

So in 2004, Tony Blair's government tried to use a procedure called royal prerogative to effectively nullify the first decision. But Britain's High Court overturned that gambit, rejecting the government's argument that "the royal prerogative, exercised by ministers in the Queen's name, was immune from scrutiny."

This latest victory for the Chagos islanders means they can return to a group of 65 islands in the Chagos archipelago, except for Diego Garcia itself. Blair's government has one option left -- an appeal to the House of Lords. Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett's office has not said yet if that avenue will be pursued.

9:17 AM ET | 05-23-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

China Heads for Moon, Eyes Mars

If you really want to mark the point when you enter the big time as a country, don't pay any attention to the fact that you produce almost every toy American children play with, or that you manufacture ingredients for much of the pet food we Americans buy (even if many of us don't know that until it starts poisoning the pets), or that there are shoe stores around the world that only carry products manufactured within your borders.

No, if you're China, and you've achieved all the economic milestones mentioned above, and you've already got the other marker of the big-time club -- the bomb -- there is only one direction you can go to show you belong in the top echelon -- straight up.

On Sunday, China National Space Agency chief Sun Laiyan announced that his country would launch its first lunar probe later this year. Sci-Tech Today reports that the orbiter, known as Chang'e, will "collect information about the moon, including data about the availability of 14 usable elements on the moon's surface, the thickness of the moon's surface, and analysis of lunar microwaves." It will also take 3-D pictures of the moon. (China, which already put a man in orbit in 2005, plans a space walk in 2008.)

But the Shanghai Daily reported today that it's not just the moon that China is eying. China is also developing its first Mars orbiter and plans to launch it in 2009 using a Russian rocket. China currently does not have a rocket powerful enough to reach Mars but plans to develop one -- codenamed Long March V -- within the next 10 years. China also is building its own Cape Canaveral on Hainan Island in the South China Sea.

My friend, former Christian Science Monitor Ideas editor Jim Bencivenga, who is an astute an observer of China's role in the world as anyone I know, has been telling me for years that the 21st century will belong to the Chinese. I'm becoming more inclined to agree with him.

11:30 AM ET | 05-22-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Chavez Has a Problem with Brain Power

Give a man a boatload of fish, and you feed him for a day ... or a few. But most of it will rot before he can make use of it. Give the man a computer, and he'll find a buyer for the fish, then organize an entire fishing operation for his village, order new boats, start a wiki where other fishers can share tips on the best fishing spots, and order tickets to Paris for a vacation from Travelocity.

Or something like that. The point being that if you're going to use your raw product efficiently, you need brain power and technology. The author of the libertarian Coyote Blog makes this point about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his recent decision to nationalize several more oil fields. While I find the accompanying critique of socialism a little simplistic and not entirely accurate, his point that it's all well and good to have lots of oil, but you need brains and technology to get it out of the ground, is a very real problem for Chavez. From last Thursday's Jamaica Gleaner:

While the state takeover was planned well ahead of time, the oil companies remain locked in a behind-the-scenes struggle with the government. Chavez says the state is taking a minimum 60 per cent stake in the Orinoco operations, but he is urging foreign companies to stay and help develop the fields. They have until June 26 to negotiate the terms.

The companies have leverage with Chavez because experts agree that Venezuela's state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, cannot transform the Orinoco's tar-like crude into marketable oil without their investment and experience.

With all the media attention that Chavez generates with his state takeovers and blunt comments about U.S. President George Bush, these kinds of details often get lost in the world's reaction. Chavez is not going to be able to make his Simon Bolivar-like agenda for Latin and South America a reality without a lot of help from the very people he says he despises.

12:11 PM ET | 05- 7-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Can someone explain French politics to me, please?

This weekend's French presidential election keeps getting more interesting. But it's not the two main challengers who are pumping up the volume. It's the two guys who lost in the first round: the ultra-conservative Jean-Marie Le Pen and centrist François Bayrou. The two are stirring things up a few days before Sunday's vote, and it looks like it means trouble for conservative Nicolas Sarkozy, who won the first round of voting a couple of weeks ago.

First, Le Pen announced that he wanted his supporters to boycott Sunday's elections. Le Pen believes neither candidate deserves the backing of the 10.4 percent of French voters who supported him in the initial round. Well, based on Le Pen's far-right positions, none of these folks were going to vote for Socialist candidate Ségolène Royal, even with a gun to their têtes, so it's really a whack at Sarkozy.

And then Bayrou (who attracted a sizeable 18 percent first-round vote) announced that while he wasn't going to back any candidate, he would not vote for Sarkozy because his conservative positions would be bad for France's "social fabric."

Don't two negatives make a positive? He's not supporting anyone, but he's also not voting for Sarkozy ... which would seem to say to me, with only two candidates running, he will vote for Royal. Do politicians really think people don't notice this stuff?

Anyway, as Michael Stickings wrote over at The Moderate Voice, the Le Pen announcement was trouble enough for Sarkozy. Now, with Bayrou's non-support/support of Royal, he might be in real trouble. It all means that Sunday's vote will be a real squeaker.

1:09 PM ET | 05- 3-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post