We recently noted an internal shake-up in the Libyan regime that seemed to signal a tilt back to the sidelined hardliners. This seems not to have affected Washington's plans, announced today, to restore diplomatic relations. This may actually reveal something about a strategic shift underway in Washington—away from the hubristic neocons, with their ambitions to remake the world, and back towards pragmatists (typified by the Trilateral Commission) who believe in wooing recalcitrant regimes into the pro-West fold rather than overthrowing them. Note that Washington appears to be racing for Qadaffi's good graces with Hugo Chávez, who would doubtless woo Libya (and its oil) for his Third Worldist agenda...

From AP, May 13:

WASHINGTON - President Bush, trying to build momentum for an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, is considering plans to shore up the Mexican border with National Guard troops paid for by the federal government, the Associated Press reported Friday, citing unnamed administration officials.

Nine bombs exploded across Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa May 12, killing four people and wounding dozens. (AP, May 13) The Oromi separatists deny involvement. But Ethiopia has no shortage of ethnic separatist struggles, as we have noted. And also no shortage of reasons to suspect its own government. From the Sudan Tribune, May 13:

Hundreds of mostly young protesters blocked traffic throughout Mexico City yesterday to demand the release of those arrested in the unrest at the village of San Salvador Atenco a week earlier. APRO reported more than 20 blockades throughout the Federal District. Tear gas was used in one instance, but police refrained from massive arrests, in an apparent bid to calm the situation. From Reuters, May 11:

We can already anticipate the blame-the-victim chorus that will be raised by the oil companies, Nigeria's rulers and the global media. But when resource hyper-exploitation co-exists with dire poverty, such incidents are absolutely inevitable. From the Lagos Vanguard, May 13, via AllAfrica:

It's about our way of life, remember? From the NY Daily News, May 12:

Sister, 11 fights to
live after L.I. crash

The heartbroken parents of a 9-year-old girl killed in a car crash in Merrick prayed for a miracle yesterday as their 11-year-old daughter lay in a coma.

Albania, of all places, has agreed to take in five Uighur militants who had been captured by the US in Afghanistan and held at Guantanamo. Stateside Uighur advocates and human rights organizations went to court to halt their deportation to China, where they could face torture due to their presumed links to separatist activities. The case casts an ironic light on US exploitation of the human rights issue in China: not only does Gitmo mirror the very conditions the US protests in Chinese prisons, but Washington was perfectly ready to collaborate with the Chinese torture state by deporting the Uighurs. The case also indicates that, US-Chinese tensions notwithstanding, the two imperial powers still have some common geostrategic interests. Now how long before national security wonks (and neo-Chetniks) start squawking about the Uighur-jihadi threat in Albania? From the Uyghur Human Rights Project, May 5:

"The financial equivalent of a nuclear strike," says one analyst. We do wish he would refrain from that particular analogy. The whole showdown over Iran--with Washington apparently threatening to use nuclear weapons in the name of protecting the world from nuclear weapons--may actually have more to do with maintaining global hegemony of the petro-dollar. From AP, May 5: