Among the world's many escalating cycles of terror and militarization that fail to make headlines is that in Northeast India, the scene of multiple tribal and ethnic struggles which the government has long been attempting to crush or co-opt. We recently noted rising terror and repression in Assam state. Now the Assam violence is spilling across the border into Nagaland—where a tribal insurgency maintains a ceasefire in exchange for unofficial autonomy over their territory. In addition to the insurgencies, Delhi may soon be faced with an internal war between the two remote states. From Calcuta's The Telegraph, Feb. 20:

That certainly seems to be the implication of these statements from the Tehran regime. Oh and by the way, it sure didn't take long to get a conviction, did it? From UPI, Feb. 19:

Man hanged in public in Iran for bombing

TEHRAN -- A man was hanged in public in Iran Monday after the Islamic Revolutionary Court convicted him on charges of bombing a Revolutionary Guard bus last week.

The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC by its French initials) has been very busy lately. With little note in the world media, Tunisia last month apparently squelched a plot to attack the US and British embassies. It ended in a series of gun battles that killed a dozen militants and left two Tunisian security officers dead. It was kept very quiet—until the New York Times splashed it all over the front page Feb. 20, in somewhat sensationalist terms ("North Africa Feared as Staging Ground for Terror" by Craig S. Smith). Here are the relevant passages, emphasis added:

Another ominous sub-plot in the struggle for Iraq's oil—and a step closer to the brink for a region that has thus far managed to avoid complete embroilment in Iraq's civil war. From AP via the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), Feb. 21:

ANKARA -- Turkey's prime minister on Tuesday urged one of Iraq's two vice presidents to delay a referendum on the future of Kirkuk, fearing Iraqi Kurdish groups could seize control of the northern, oil-rich city.

From IRIN via Electronic Iraq, Feb. 20:

BAGHDAD - Umm Muhammad Jalal, 39, starts every day walking to a river 7km away from her temporary home in a displacement camp on the outskirts of Fallujah, 70km west of the capital, Baghdad. Because of severe water shortages, she and many others make the daily trip to the river to collect water for all their needs.

We strongly suspect that the front-page Feb. 19 story in the New York Times—based entirely on anonymous "studies" and quotes from anonymous "officials"—purporting huge hydrocarbon deposits in Iraq's Sunni center ("Iraqi Sunni Lands Show New Oil and Gas Promise" by James Glanz) is a ploy to convince Sunnis they have a secure future in a unified Iraq, and thereby chill out the "insurgents" (as the media flatteringly call them). True, your average "insurgent" probably doesn't read the New York Times, but Iraqi legislators do, and it is hoped that if they can strike a deal that gives the Sunni center a share of the oil wealth the grassroots wil be mollified. As the Times notes: "The question of where the oil reserves are concentrated is taking on still more importance as it appears that negotiators are close to agreement on a long-debated oil law that would regulate how Iraqi and international oil companies would be allowed to develop Iraq’s fields." (IHT Feb. 19)

Despite a long activist campaign against India's controversial Sardar Sarovar dam project on the Narmada River, authorities have just announced the project's completion. From Planet Ark World Environment News, Feb. 1:

AHMEDABAD - India completed construction of a highly ambitious and controversial dam on Sunday, nearly two decades after it launched the project environmental groups say will destroy the lives of hundreds of thousands.

The Feb. 18 fire bombing that killed 68 mostly Pakistani passengers and destroyed two coaches on the Samjhauta Express about an hour after the train left New Delhi was an obvious attack on one of the most visible symbols of the India-Pakistan peace process. The India-Pakistan train link was suspended after the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament that India blamed on Pakistan and which nearly led to war. But a peace process has ensued, and the train service reopened in 2004. (AP Feb. 20) Now both governments say the new attack will not disrupt the peace process. "We will not allow elements which want to sabotage the ongoing peace process and succeed in their nefarious designs," Pakistan's ruling Gen. Pervez Musharraf said in a statement. There is even talk of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visiting Islamabad soon, a trip that was put on indefinite hold after Mumbai train blasts of last July killed close to 200 people and injured more than 300. But there is an ominous side to this "peace process"—both Delhi and Islamabad are, of course, emphasizing anti-terrorist cooperation, which could mean a more perfect police state in both countries. An India-Pakistan anti-terror panel set up last year is scheduled to hold its first meeting next month in Islamabad, with a focus on stepped-up intelligence sharing. (Asia Times, Feb. 21)