A victory for Western designs on Capsian oil 20 years in the making, this heightens the regional contradictions in several ways. It places greater pressure on Turkey to crush the Kurdish PKK insurgents who are making trouble in precisely that section of Eastern Anatolia traversed by the pipeline. It places greater pressure on Russia to finally get Chechnya and the North Caucasus under control so a new Moscow-controlled alternative route can be built. And it places greater pressure on both Moscow and Washington to reshape the order in Central Asia in their favor before the next arm is built—across the Caspian Sea itself, incorprating the gas and oil fields of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan . Will that arm connect to the Baku-Ceyhan line, or to an alternate Russian-controlled route? From Turkey's Zaman, May 27:

At a joint news conference with Tony Blair in Washington, Bush said he regretted saying "bring 'em on" when responding in July 2003 to a question about the Iraqi insurgency. Bush now says the remark was "kind of tough talk, you know, that sent the wrong message to people... I learned some lessons about expressing myself maybe in a little more sophisticated manner, you know. 'Wanted, dead or alive'; that kind of talk. I think in certain parts of the world it was misinterpreted." He also cited the Abu Ghraib prison abuse as "the biggest mistake that's happened so far, at least from our country's involvement in Iraq ... We've been paying for that for a long period of time," he said. (Reuters, May 26)

The outside world is paying no attention, but if the National Council of Resistance (Mujahedeen Khalq) is to be believed, the Azeri uprising in northern Iran is spreading. Of course Mujahedeen Khalq (with some degree of likely US connivance) would love to fan the flames of ethnic unrest in Iran, and exploit it for their own ends. If nobody else loans some support to the Azeris, they may succeed.

Iran: Clashes in Naqadeh leave six dead, dozens wounded

Residents in Naqadeh and Pars-Abad in Azerbaijan, and Meshkinshahr in Ardabil provinces attacked government buildings and prevented the governor’s speech

NCRI - Yesterday in the fifth day of the uprising by Azeri speaking provinces, thousands of demonstrators in Meshkinshahr and Naqadeh staged anti-government demonstrations.

The Fatah and Hamas factions met at the official Muqata compound in the Palestinian capital Ramallah today, with President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh attempting to calm the situation after armed clashes between their supporters claimed at least ten lives over the past two weeks. (YNet, May 24)

Meanwhile, some 25 armored vehicles, accompanied by helicopters of the Israeli occupation forces, invaded Ramallah. Laying siege to one building in the city center, the occupation forces opened fire throughout the city, killing four Palestinians and injuring at least 40. The assault lasted two hours and was met by local Palestinian youths with stone-throwing.

Just as a resolution was in sight in the Mohawk stand-off in Ontario, a re-escalation—due to an angry backlash from Caledonia's white residents. From the Toronto Globe & Mail, May 23:

Caledonia, Ont. — Violence erupted at the site of an aboriginal land-claim protest Monday as non-aboriginal area residents, frustrated by a roadblock that has divided the community, lashed out.

The aboriginal protesters had briefly dismantled their barricade early in the day, a sign of goodwill after the province pledged last week to indefinitely halt development on a plot of disputed land.

From the New York Daily News, May 24:

Call for justice in SUV rage
Dad whose family was mowed down rails at suspect brothers

"They came here like animals," seethed Michael Celentano.

Standing yesterday on the front yard of his North Bellmore home, just steps from where his family was mowed down by an SUV allegedly driven by Joseph Cassidy, the brother of his son's best friend, Celentano demanded justice.

From the New York Times news service, May 23:

LONDON Amnesty International assailed the United States' use of military contractors in Iraq on Tuesday as "war outsourcing" that may be fueling human rights abuses.

"War outsourcing is creating the corporate equivalent of Guantánamo Bay - a virtual rules-free zone in which perpetrators are not likely to be held accountable for breaking the law," Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said in Washington as the human rights group presented its annual report in London.

How do they keep a straight face when they tell us we're fighting for freedom in Iraq? From Reuters, May 24:

LONDON: Police yesterday dismantled a long-running anti-war protest opposite the Houses of Parliament, carting away placards showing graphic images of dead and mutilated people in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a pre-dawn raid, officers invaded the makeshift camp of protester Brian Haw, who had been living on the lawn in Parliament Square for more than five years.