Note that the imposition of the usual neoliberal economic model is sparking the unrest. Yet it is Islamic fundamentalists—not leftists, as in Bolivia—that are best poised to exploit the backlash. From the Guardian:

Yemen Riots Over Subsidy Cut Leave 16 Dead

Thursday July 21, 2005 8:46 PM

By AHMED AL-HAJ

Associated Press Writer

SANA, Yemen (AP) - Rioters enraged by subsidy cuts clashed with security forces for a second day Thursday across Yemen, burning cars and buildings and leaving 16 people dead in the country's worst civil strife in more than a decade.

Terror returns to London
July 21st 2005
From The Economist Global Agenda

Exactly two weeks after the deadly bombings of London’s transport system on July 7th, Britain’s capital has been hit by a fresh wave of attacks—though with few casualties this time. Were the four reported explosions the work of further members of the Islamist group that struck last time—or unrelated “copycats"

UK Gay Leaders Receive Death Threats From Muslim Fundamentalists Group Says
by Malcolm Thornberry 365Gay.com European Bureau Chief

Posted: July 18, 2005 8:00 pm ET

(London) A British LGBT civil rights group says its leaders have received death threats from Muslim fundamentalists and warns that gay clubs could be targets for terrorist bombers.

Talk about chutzpah:

Palestinians: Israel to steal artifacts
Orly Halpern, THE JERUSALEM POST
Jul. 21, 2005

Palestinian archaeologists say they fear that when Israel withdraws from Gaza it will also take priceless archeological artifacts. Israeli officials have acknowledged this is a possibility.

A military installation in the northwestern tip of the Gaza Strip surrounds a sixth century Byzantine church, discovered in 1999 by an Israeli archaeologist. The well-preserved 1,461-year-old church, which measures 13 by 25 meters, has three large and colorful mosaics with floral-motifs and geometric shapes. Nearby is a Byzantine hot bath and artificial fishponds.

The New York Times today notes the growing cult of Zheng He in China, the 15th-century mariner who led gigantic fleets across the Pacific and Indian oceans in the Ming Dynasty's brief but impressive expansion of naval prowess. Statues are going up of the eunuch admiral (who happened to be a Muslim—a fact presumably not emphasized by China's rulers), and a group of young Kenyans who claim Chinese ancestry due to an apocryphal Ming-era shipwreck on the East African coast have been invited to Beijing for ceremonies. The Times is quick to point out the obvious contemporary political context for this new personality cult:

This is pretty Orwellian. The government says it has the right to hold accused "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla without charge as an "enemy combatant" for the "duration of the conflict." The "conflict" in question is a completely open-ended undeclared war which the administration says could last generations. And the "battlefield" in question is defined as the entire United States. Padilla's lawyer is actually in the ironic position of demanding that his client be indicted! Now, nobody is supposed to care about this because Padilla is just a jihad freak. But your habeas corpus rights are evidently not worth the paper they're written on anymore. From Bloomberg, July 19:

Arrested for "spreading hatred"? Sounds frighteningly arbitrary and subjective. From UPI, July 20:

Pakistan arrests 200 extremist suspects
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has detained more than 200 suspected Islamic militants in a new security crackdown this week.

We've been waiting for London's famously leftist Mayor Ken Livingstone to state the obvious about the bombings. Finally, he has. Blair, meanwhile, remains in denial, at least officially. We wonder: is he really this deluded, or just sticking to a political script? Via TruthOut: