Joker: Charter change is wrong and untimely.
The Pimentel resolution sought the convening of Congress into a constituent assembly to change the current system to a federal form. Pimentel sought the change to federalism from the current form which he claims has "spawned a host of problems including massive nationwide poverty to runaway insurgencies...

16 senators OK Constituent Assembly.
Senator Pimentel said four more senators agreed yesterday to support his resolution -- Juan Miguel F. Zubiri, Manuel ''Lito'' Lapid, Loren Legarda (with reservations), and Benigno Simeon ''Noynoy'' Aquino III. They brought the total number now supporting the resolution to 16, more than the three-fourths vote (13)...

State collapse or new politics? The conflict in Zaire 1996-1997.
Centre for Military Studies University of Stellenbosch (*) ABSTRACT The rebellion in Zaire in 1996-1997 had the potential to establish secessionist zones of power or new patterns of politics outside existing state structures. This article examines the reasons why the conflict started and why it...

A success story? Analysing Albanian ethno-nationalist extremism in the Balkans.
Introduction The Liberation Army of Kosova (Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosoves, UCK) or 'KLA' (1) has been the best known Albanian rebel movement in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s. Its most important offshoots have been the National Liberation Army (Ushtria Clirimtare Kombetare, UCK) or 'NLA' (2) in...

Yellow peril: racist stare decisis.
WHEN THE United States went to war against Japan in 1941' Congress passed a law commanding Japanese Americans to stay inside after dusk. Two years later, in Hirabayashi v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the curfew. Unlike Korematsu v. United States, the decision that justified race-based internment,...

Continent of hope: respect, democracy, and diplomacy should guide U.S. engagement with Africa.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FORGIVE A TYPICAL AMERICAN if she were to pay a visit to the West African nation of Sierra Leone and be confused by her surroundings. If she had ever heard of Sierra Leone before, it might have been while watching the movie Blood Diamond, which...

Research and Markets Adds Report: Colombia Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q3 2008.
HEALTH AND BEAUTY CLOSE-UP-13 October 2008-Research and Markets Adds Report: Colombia Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q3 2008(C)2008 - CloseUpMedia - newsdesk@closeupmedia.com Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Colombia Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q3 2008" report to its offerings. In a release, Research...

Resurgence In The Shi'ite World - Part 35 - Iraq's Sectarian Tensions Recur.
Sunni-Shi'ite tensions in Iraq are recurring as time is running out for the signing of the proposed Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) governing the US military presence in the country. Nervous negotiators are also examining alternatives to allow American troops to stay beyond a Dec. 31, 2008, UNSC deadline....

The AC Factor & Maliki's Isnad Movement.
The Maliki government has begun paying the monthly salaries for more than 50,000 members of the awakening councils (ACs), a mainly Sunni Arab tribal movement established with US funding in 2006 to combat the Neo-Salafi militants. The US transferred authority over the ACs of the Greater Baghdad region to...

IRAQ - Oct 5 - 11 Die As US Force Raids House In Iraq.
Eleven people die after Americans raided a house in the northern city of Mosul at dawn and one of the residents detonated a suicide vest while others engaged in a gunfight. The Americans said that after they entered the house in pursuit of a known insurgent, his companions opened...