As if things weren't "interesting" enough in Somalia already, it looks like they are about to get much more so. The Taliban-style militia which has taken power in the capital, Mogadishu, seems to be waging a low-level war against the "official" but largely powerless government based in Baidoa—and pledges to resist troops from the East African multinational force known as IGAD, who are about to enter the country to back up the Baidoa government. Interestingly, IGAD's two leaders are Uganda, which is firmly in the US camp, and Sudan, which is widely perceived as an anti-Western "rogue state." This could indicate that Washington is succeeding (or at least believes its is succeeding) in domesticating the Khartoum regime as a proxy against its regional enemies. This would explain the recent peace deal between Uganda and the Lords Resistance Army, a brutal Christian fundamentalist guerilla group which the Islamic fundamentalists in Khartoum have backed to make trouble for Kampala. (New Vision, Kampala, Sept. 20) It would also explain the endless official foot-dragging, Bush's bluster notwithstanding, over Darfur. From AP, Sept. 19:

How many times a day do we have to say "A plague on both your houses"? First Saddam vows to "crush the heads" of Kurds testifying about his genocidal 1988 "Anfal" campaign. Then the judge in the case, Adullah al-Almiri, responds by re-assuring him that he was "not a dictator," which makes about as much sense as saying he didn't have a moustache. Not to be outdone in cynicism, Prime Minister al-Maliki promptly responds by having Justice al-Almiri summarily removed in dictatorial manner—thereby further compromising the case against the ex-dictator. And one of the charges against Saddam concerns lack of judicial independence under his regime! It seems Iraq's new bosses are starting to emulate their own much-demonized ousted tyrant.

A textbook case in how Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is viewed differently by the Imperium and the global south. First this, from the Voice of America, Sept. 20, on day two of the annual UN General Assembly debate:

Chavez brought his anti-U.S. campaign to the world body Wednesday. He called on like-minded world leaders to stand up to what he called "American imperialism," which he said is a "threat to the survival of the human race".

We sure hope this is Jewish paranoia! From the Jerusalem Post, Sept. 19 (emphasis added):

Venezuelan Jews fear Chavez-Iran ties

On the day that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived for a 30-hour visit, it seemed appropriate that Venezuela's Jewish community should organize a conference on the Middle East conflict and its local repercussions.

From Newsday, Sept. 19 (emphasis added):

BLOCK 7, AYACUCHO PETROLEUM FIELD, Venezuela -- The Islamic world may be roiling over remarks by the pope, but in this remote patch of eastern Venezuela, President Hugo Chávez suggested yesterday that a little revolutionary fervor -- and perhaps a lot of oil -- is all it takes to unite Christians and Muslims.

Sarah Ferguson writes for the Village Voice, Sept. 19:

Anti-War Crowd Dogs Bush at the U.N.

Protesters swamped Dag Hammarskjold Plaza opposite the United Nations Tuesday as President Bush was inside pledging to deliver "democracy" to the Middle East.

We'll have a clearer idea of what is going on here when the dust settles, but two things are worth noting about the Sept. 19 coup d'etat in Thailand. First, the coup leader Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin is the first Muslim to head the nation's armed forces, and was apparently appointed in an effort to win hearts and minds in the Islamist insurgency in the country's south. Secondly, the coup comes days after Thailand was implicated as possible host of one of the now-acknowledged secret CIA prisons established after 9-11 for the Global War on Terrorism.

More evidence that Pakistan, the USA's closest ally in the region, is ironically serving as a staging ground for the destabilization of US-occupied Afghanistan. First this, from The Guardian, Sept. 19:

A chain of suicide bombings killed 19 people, including four Canadian soldiers, across Afghanistan yesterday, in guerrilla violence bearing an increasing resemblance to the conflict in Iraq. The blasts came a day after Nato claimed it had scored a victory after killing more than 500 insurgents in two weeks of fighting in the Taliban's southern heartland.