From AP, March 22:

ROME — Italian police said Tuesday they have arrested five people suspected in the killing of a local politician who was shot last year at a polling station in southern Italy where he was voting in a nationwide primary.

Lukashenko is doubtless correct that the protesters are backed by the West—or are about to be. Can we—meaning progressives in the West—possibly think of a more creative response to this dilemma than rallying around Lukashenko? From the BBC, March 21:

Hundreds of demonstrators have spent the night camped out in the Belarussian capital, Minsk, as they continue a protest over the presidential election.

This March 12 piece by Nerma Jelacic from The Guardian reflects our sentiments precisely.

Even in death, Milosevic wins again
The death of Slobodan Milosevic has put a smile on many Bosnian faces, but I am sad. Not because the man, whose actions earned him the title 'the butcher of Belgrade', has my sympathy, but because he has not lived to be punished in a court of law. Because he will not answer for his crimes and because thousands of victims will not get the long-awaited sense of closure on their usurped lives. They will not see justice done.

Why is it only the right-wing press that ever demonstrates any outrage over this sort of thing? Just asking. From the New York Times, March 7:

PARIS, March 6 — Three attacks against Jews over the weekend have added to anxiety that anti-Semitism is growing among a new generation of French citizens in the country's immigrant-heavy, working-class neighborhoods.

From the Times of India, March 2:

Britain's far right British National Party (BNP) has handed out thousands of leaflets showing the controversial Danish cartoons of the prophet Mohammed, reports said on Thursday.

From AP via the Glasgow Herald, Feb. 27:

Tens of of thousands of demonstrators, including ministers and politicians of all stripes, united in a show of force against racism and anti-Semitism yesterday, marching through the capital after the torture and killing of a Parisian Jew.

From South Africa's Mail & Guardian, from wire sources, Feb. 15:

Italian minister to wear Muhammad cartoon T-shirt
A prominent Italian government figure planned on Wednesday to wear a T-shirt sporting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that have sparked violent reactions from Muslims around the world.

Yet more evidence of the Western democracies' sterling commitment to freedom of expression. From the Washington Post:

LONDON, Feb. 15 -- The House of Commons on Wednesday backed a bill that would make "glorification" of terrorism a criminal offense, a measure that Prime Minister Tony Blair called crucial to Britain's battle against religious extremists.