Frederick Vreeland, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for Near East and South Asia affairs and former US ambassador to Morocco, has an op-ed in the March 3 New York Times on the usually obscure crisis in Western Sahara, optimistically entitled "Will Freedom Bloom in the Desert?" Its nice to see the "newspaper of record" finally paying some note to the long struggle in Africa's last colony, but the paucity of coverage makes it all the more frustrating that this lead op-ed is a piece of dishonest propaganda for Morocco's pseudo-solution of an "autonomy" plan, which Vreeland writes "it behooves all members of the United Nations Security Council to support."

Twelve Islamic militants were convicted of terrorism-related charges in Morocco March 2, including eight with alleged ties to al-Qaeda who supposedly had volunteered to fight in Iraq. The appeals court in Sale handed down prison terms of two to 15 years in the separate cases, the stiffest being for a Tunisian, Mohamed Ben el Hadi Messahel, a former restaurant worker in Milan, Italy. The seven others, all Moroccan, were convicted on charges of "organizing a criminal group preparing and committing terror acts" and lesser counts, receiving sentences of up to 10 years. One defendant was acquitted. Authorities said the faction also had ties elsewhere in North Africa and Europe, and links to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which recently merged with al-Qaeda. Two defendants, Ayoub Zanm and Abdelhak Kouani, got two years each for organizing a criminal gang and "membership in a group of fighters in Iraq." Proceedings in four other terrorism cases involving 10 defendants were postponed until the spring. (AP, March 3)

Australian "peacekeeping" troops killed four in a raid on rebels in East Timor March 4, but their leader Alfredo Reinado escaped. Reinado, who deserted the army last year and is wanted for his alleged role in deadly clashes that brought down the government, stole more than 20 automatic weapons in a raid on a police post, prompting President Xanana Gusmao to request his arrest by Australian forces. The exchange of fire followed a tense stand-off in the town of Same, where tank and helicopter movements were reported. (AP, The Australian, March 4)

Increasing violence between guerillas and government forces in Central African Republic (CAR) has displaced an estimated 220,000 people, including 150,000 "internally displaced persons" (IDPs) and 66,000 refugees who have fled to Chad and Cameroon. In December, France sent special forces backed by helicopters and fighter jets to dislodge rebel fighters from Birao and others towns in the north of the country, and has maintained a contingent there since. Rebel forces were reported to have re-entered Birao March 3, but government soldiers and a detachment of French troops remained in the town, with the situation tense.

With key pillars of the Coalition of the Willing starting to defect, the US seems to be pressing allies for cannon fodder in some unlikely corners of "New Europe." Sifet Podzic, chief of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), has announced that BiH won’t increase its troops in Iraq. However, he added that participation in peacekeeping missions would not be voluntary any more, but will be made compulsory for all servicemen. (Focus News Agency, March 3) Bosnia sent its first unit to Iraq—36 troops, including Muslims, Croats and Serbs—in the summer of 2005. (BBC, June 1, 2005)

Days after a Russian general unsubtly threatened to nuke Poland and the Czech Republic following the announcement that they would host US anti-missile bases, comes the disturbing news that US radar stations related to the missile defense program are slated for the Caucasus. This March 2 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty report indicates the Russians are playing it cool. But this has got to be viewed by the Kremlin as a further US encirclement of the Motherland, even if the ostensible enemy is Iran—which is still years away from a nuclear weapon, recall.

The latest entry in the global wave of anti-Semitism which the left is always trying to tell us is "illusory." This sort of thing seems to be especially popular in Russia of late. From JTA, March 2:

Vandals scrawled swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans on the walls of Vladivostok's main synagogue Friday. It was the second time in less than six months that the building has been defaced, the Associated Press reported.

The potential for Iraqi Kurdistan to be the flashpoint for a wider regional conflict is becoming increasingly clear. On March 1, a former member of the Turkish National Security Council (MGK) weighed in on the brewing crisis in Kirkuk, which is coveted as a capital by Iraq's Kurdish regional government. Former MGK Secretary-General Gen. Tuncer Kilinc said Turkey ceded the Kirkuk region to a united Iraq in the 1920s, and if Iraq is divided then Turkey has territorial rights there.