Hump Day Highlights

Ok I'm a day late but I actually had to get some work done yesterday. The Christian Science Monitor visits tsunami hit areas and reports on a potential peace dividend for the Sri Lanka and the inflationary spiral in Aceh caused by the influx of aid and workers. Speaking of Aceh it would be nice if someone would step in and try to broker a peace deal there as well. Also on tsunami front there is a concern among aid groups in keeping the world's attention on the stricken areas.

Global poverty is still the topic of conversation this week thanks to a UN report led by economist Jeffrey Sachs. According to CSM the report advocates using aid as a form of shock therapy to revive dormant economies. Everyone seems to agree that the report has noble goals, but the Washington Post thinks that the report is setting itself up for failure. I have my own concerns. If I am not mistaken Mr. Sachs was a strong advocate of another form of "shock therapy" for the former USSR (Steve a little help here) and all that plan led to was crony capitalism. Speaking of the Ruskies Putin is going through some rough times.

Iraq is prepping for elections and a driving force for them is Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani - CSM has a great piece on him. CSM also explores the significant role ex-pats are playing in the election. Two surprising and encouraging notes from the Mid-East. The top Saudi cleric denounced Islamic militants and Pakistan "outlawed" honor killings. Of course the cynic in me can't help but note that bold cleric is on the Saudi payroll and I'm not sure how Musharaf is going to enforce that outside of Islamabad, assuming he can enforce it there.

Closer to home Marcela Sanchez notes the precarious state of democracy in Nicaragua, Andres Oppenheimer says that Chavez's "oil-fueled ego trip" could be his undoing and Oliver North (yes Ollie North!) has a (surprisingly) good piece on the terror war in Colombia.