Private armies or militias are still in vogue in the Philippines, as this NY Times piece shows with a little political family feud. While these feuds mostly arise from political battles, these conflicts sometimes grow to include Muslim insurgents. The article suggests that the Arroyo government is not too serious about disbanding these private militias, especially as allies of Arroyo use them. It is a pity, especially in light of the massacre of all those journalists and civilians in Nov.

The country of Niger, located in West Africa, suffered a coup last Thursday that removed the country's president Mamadou Tandja from power. The overthrow was conducted by military officers and is seen as a favorable event by some in the country, including by an opposition leader. This is mainly due to Tandja's changing of constitutional rules to allow him to serve beyond his legal term limit. This audacious move even led to condemnation from its fellow West African nations as it was suspended from Ecowas (Economic Community Of West African States).
It remains to be seen how the military junta that has taken over will react in the coming days and months.

Newsweek has an interview with former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who now serves as the U.N. special envoy to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It's not too long but one of the best remarks is when Obasanjo is asked on China's "colonization" of Africa. First he directly criticizes the use of the term, then he says "We regard America and Europe as old friends. We keep old friends but we make new friends in Japan, India, and China."
New friends and old friends indeed. A rather smart way of describing relations with the West and Asia in a positive manner without showing any preference, if you ask me.

A perfect graphical representation of why India still lags significantly behind China, much less the developed world. This is a photo essay of child laborers working in the capital city New Delhi on construction sites. The city is undergoing a wave of construction for the Commonwealth Games in October and desperate contractors are using children to finish the sites on time. They work alongside their parents who are also laborers, but still a wretched and disturbing situation nevertheless.

Kind of late, but this piece by Howard French on the Congo war and the role of Rwanda is a very eye-opening read. French reviews three 2009 books on the Congo crisis, that provide a more nuanced and informative explanation of the fighting and instability in that troubled Central African country.