In a New York Times op-ed Aug. 26, "China's Discreet Hold on Pakistan's Northern Borderlands," Selig S. Harrison of the Center for International Policy writes that Islamabad has effectively handed over de facto control of the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to Beijing. Although the region is largely closed to the outside world, Harrison cites reports indicating a "simmering rebellion against Pakistani rule and the influx of an estimated 7,000 to 11,000 soldiers of China's People's Liberation Army." He describes the development as "a quiet geopolitical crisis" in the Himalayan borderlands of contested Kashmir.

An indigenous tribe in India has won a stunning victory over one of the world's biggest mining companies. In an unprecedented move, India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has blocked Vedanta Resources' controversial plan to mine bauxite on the sacred hills of the Dongria Kondh tribe. 
Ramesh said Vedanta has shown a "shocking" and "blatant disregard for the rights of the tribal groups." The Minister has also questioned the legality of the massive refinery Vedanta has already built below the hills.
 The news is a crushing defeat for Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal, Vedanta's majority owner and founder.


Brazil's President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva has signed a contract allowing the construction of the hugely controversial Belo Monte mega-dam on the Amazonian Xingu River to go ahead. Lula said, "I think this is a victory for Brazil's energy sector." Belo Monte, if built, will be the third largest dam in the world. It will devastate the local environment and threaten the lives of the thousands of indigenous people living in the area, whose land and food sources will be seriously damaged.

Two cars exploded Aug. 27 in Ciudad Victoria, capital of Mexico's conflicted Tamaulipas state—one in front of the local office of the Televisa TV network, which was being guarded by a congingent of soldiers; the other in front of a municipal police station. No casualties were reported, but the blast at Televisa's Canal 26 knocked out the signal for several hours. The blasts come as authorities are investigating the massacre of 72 Central and South American migrants in Tamaulipas this week.

On Aug. 24, Mexico's Navy found 72 bodies on a ranch located in the municipality of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, some 150 kilometers from the US border. The discovery was made after Navy personnel conducting operations in the vicinity repelled an attack by presumed narco-gunmen, in which one marine and three assailants were killed. After the gunfight, an 18-year-old man, Luis Freddy Lala Pomavilla of Ecuador, staggered to the Navy's highway checkpoint requesting medical attention, having suffered a bullet wound to his face. Lala proved to be the sole survivor of the massacre at the nearby ranch, where the bodies were subsequently found.

The US Treasury and the UN on Aug. 24 announced sanctions against a supposed al-Qaeda leader who also is Osama bin Laden's son-in-law for serving as a top financial official in the terror organization. Muhammad Abdallah Hasan Abu al-Khayr was designated by the US as a "specially designated global terrorist" under Executive Order 13224 and was also added to the UN's 1267 sanctions list for al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives. The designation allows the US and the UN to freeze the assets of Khayr, prevent him from using financial institutions, and prosecute him for terrorist activities. Khayr is described by the Treasury as "a key leader of the terrorist organization's finance section" who "also acts for al-Qaeda in a leadership role on the media committee." (The Long War Journal, Aug. 24)

Yemeni authorities announced Aug. 23 that a former Guantánamo Bay detainee who apparently rejoined al-Qaeda has turned himself in. Ali Hussein al Taiss was a wanted "al-Qaeda element," according to Saba News Agency, the official Yemeni news service. But al-Taiss surrendered to authorities and "expressed his remorse for the period he has spent in joining al Qaeda ranks and showed his readiness to cooperate in serving the country's security and stability." Al-Taiss was transferred to Yemen on Dec. 15, 2006. He is one of several former Gitmo detainees who are believed to have joined al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). (The Long War Journal, Aug. 23)

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance on Aug. 24 joined critics of French mass deportations of Roma who overstay their visas and summary demolition of their encampments. The commission accused the French government of "stigmatizing Roma migrants" and holding them "collectively responsible for criminal offenses." On Aug. 22, Pope Benedict XVI urged French pilgrims "to accept human diversity," and Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, the archbishop of Paris, was promised a meeting with the interior minister to discuss the Roma policy after he denounced it as a "circus." (AP, AFP, NYT, Aug. 26)