To prove that there's always no shortage of interesting little conflicts around the world that most of us don't really know about, here's a good description of the problem in Western Sahara, a territory in North Africa that has been occupied by neighboring Morocco since 1975. While the main focus is on yet another revelation by WikiLeaks about US international affairs, this post gives a decent overview of what basically amounts to colonization, something the writer says in the 2nd to last paragraph. Morocco is ironically one of the more liberal and stable Muslim and North Africa states, unlike sketchy Libya or Egypt or Saudi Arabia, yet what its actions in the Western Sahara go beyond what any of those other states have done.

Former NY Times foreign correspondent Howard French writes a sad commentary on the decline of the Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire). The beleaguered West African country, known for being Dider Drogba's homeland, cocoa and a civil war that raged through the 90s, was in the news recently for its electoral problems. Defeated incumbent Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept his loss in the presidential election and claims the results are void. What is especially noteworthy in French's article is his comparison between Ivory Coast and Asian countries, which in the past actually favored the African country. It is hard to believe now that back in the 60s and 70s, West African countries like Ivory Coast were wealthier than China and Malaysia and even South Korea in terms of GDP per capita. While those Asian countries have gone on and become richer and more modern, countries like Ivory Coast seem to have regressed. Still, the instant and critical response of West African and African bodies, as well as the US, to the current power-grab is a sign of hope.

The Prime Minister of an actual country, albeit a tiny and recent one (independent since 2008), is the head of a "mafia-like" smuggling and human organ ring, according to a Guardian story citing a Council of Europe report on organized crime. That's right, Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi is "identified as the boss of a network that began operating criminal rackets in the runup to the 1999 Kosovo war." The report says that a "handful" of Serbs were killed for their organs by this criminal group. This network still holds sway over the country's government. This has to be a new low for a politician in modern times, at least since Liberia's Charles Taylor of the 1990s. While the Serbs, at that time Kosovo was a part of Serbia, did commit significant barbarities including mass killings, little attention was paid on Kosovan fighters who also did some nasty stuff of their own. This is the latest revelation about turmoil and violence in the Balkan region that made up the former Yugoslav Republic. Meanwhile, Kosovo's government denies the allegations.