ANZAC Day; Camerone Day

With all the distractions of the last few days, I've been unacceptably lax about keeping track of the date. ANZAC Day came and went (25.April) without the much-deserved 'thank you' that called for. Both countries are still doing their part: the Kiwis are about to send back in their Special Operations troops to Afghanistan (they've been in before) and the Joint Task Forces / ISAF will have another battalion of Diggers in the line soon as well (maybe 700 more troops in total, between 450 regulars, support forces and then Commonwealth SAS). Bless you and thank you, all.

I'm sure that there were other worthy memorials recently as well, and my regrets for any oversight on my part.

***

But come the end of April, there is one day that never slips past...

...the brave stand of Capitaine Danjou and the 65...

...at Hacienda Camarón, April 30th, 1863. Camerone Day.

"Nous avons des cartouches et ne nous rendrons pas!"
Jean Danjou, Capitaine, Légion étrangère

Sadly, they didn't expel Dmitry

About the same time that the Russian Federation announced that they were taking over border control in Abkhazia and South Ossetia along the de-facto line of control, and drew a rebuke from NATO for doing so...

NATO spokesman James Appathurai said the signing of the pacts contravened the peace deals brokered by the EU after Russia's brief war with Georgia last August.

"This is in clear contravention of the 12th August and 8th September agreements negotiated by the European Union and is not in the interests of long-term peace and security in the South Caucasus region," Appathurai told reporters.

...NATO also got around to dealing a little pay-back for the Estonian Spy Scandal back in February...

"Two Russian diplomats have been told they are not welcome here," the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The pair were attached to the mission Russia has at NATO headquarters although it is not a member of the alliance.

The diplomat said they were expelled over the case of Herman Simm, an Estonian jailed for more than 12 years for treason in February for handing more than 2,000 pages of information to handlers in Russia's SVR Foreign Intelligence Service.

Sadly, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's Ambassador to the Atlantic Alliance, was not on the DLTDHYITAOTWO list ("Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out"). Ah well, hope springs eternal.

Curacao Hezbollah Drugs-Arms Ring busted

The Washington Post offers this AP report on the arrest of 17 people, including four Lebanese for alleged involvement in a Drug Trafficking Ring. Citing police chief Carlos Casseres, who said at a news conference:

Some of the proceeds, funneled through informal Middle Eastern banks, went toward supporting groups linked to the militant Hezbollah organization in Lebanon, according to Casseres. The smuggling ring also allegedly forwarded requests from Lebanon for arms to be shipped from South America.

"We have been able to establish that this group has relations with international criminal organizations that have connections with the Hezbollah," prosecutor Ludmila Vicento said.

Pretty clear example of the things spoken of here previously (multiple times); that the Terror-Smuggling-Nexus has spread to the shores of the Caribbean, and that the threat that entails goes far beyond simple drug smuggling.

Phase 5

The WHO has now updated their pandemic warning / preparedness notice for the Mexican "swine flu" A/H1N1 outbreak through 4 and up to Phase 5, reflecting human-to-human transmission in two or more countries (Mexico and the U.S.A.; no surprise there).

What that means for Japan is this: Border surveillance, already in place, will be re-enforced; Readiness preparedness for managing any outbreak has begun to move from the planning room to the clinics. Kyoudou (Kyodo) wire service is now reporting that Masuzoe Youichi (Y. Masuzoe), the Kousei Roudou Daijin (Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare) has ordered the preparation of "fever clinics" at medical institutions nationwide.

To say the government is taking all prudent precautions may be an understatement. As of this morning (Thursday, local time) Japan has *no* confirmed or suspected cases of the influenza in question. But the cost is relatively small and the preparations might just be the difference between there being a major event and the government receiving a bit of snark over all the effort. If it were my call, with the resources available, I'd have ordered the same precautions.

Six reports you should read

While each of these deserves a detailed commentary of their own, matters mundane simply preclude my having the time to address them properly. Here they are, for your interest and general information, pending further discussion:

Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador, wins re-election. The Oppo's carried the Guayaquil Mayoralty, but the country as a whole went toward Correa's party by 55%.

Manuel Rosales was granted Asylum in Peru, and Peruvian President Alan Garcia claims this "will not disturb" bilateral relations between Peru and Venezuela. Good luck with that. Venezuela has withdrawn their Ambassador in protest.

Speaking of people under international warrant: INTERPOL has issued a warrant for Russian State Duma Deputy Adam Delimkhanov in the case of the murder of Chechen commander Sulim Yamadayev in Dubai last month. This case is the latest event in what appears to be a series of assassinations targeting rivals of Kremlin-backed Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.

The Seychelles Coast Guard, in cooperation with the Spanish Navy, has captured 9 pirates in the waters of the Seychelles believed to have participated in the attempted hijacking of the cruise ship MSC Melody. Spanish, French, and Indian Navy patrols are now active in the Seychelles region. More at EagleSpeak on this item.

The civil disorder in Madagascar grows worse, with the arrest of four members of the Ravalomanana faction for inciting violence and the possession of weapons. In addition, a former member of ousted-President M. Ravalomanana's Presidential Guard has been accused of plotting the murder of the wife of coup-leader President A. Rajoelina.

More Kivu troubles in the D.R. Congo are happening. The arrest of L. Nkunda has left the CNDP under the leadership of J. B. Ntaganda, who is a wanted fugitive from ICC war-crimes prosecution, but that hasn't stopped the Congolese Army (FARDC) from integrating the remaining CNDP forces into their command and preparing a new offensive in South Kivu as an expansion of ongoing operations against the Interahawme Hutu-based factions of the FDLR. The MONUC U.N. peacekeepers have stated they can not continue to support the FARDC if Ntaganda is involved, but internal reports show that the MONUC administrators have known since April 8th of his role.

Schedule Change

My regrets, folks, but the unexpected is still a major factor in my life. I'm obliged elsewhere.

The Weekly N&C will post later this week.

Sunday Morning Push

I'm not planning any other new discussion threads today (unless the bottom drops out of things somewhere in the world); We'll have to see if things can wait until the Weekly item come Monday (North American time zones).

Lots of things left to do with the existing discussion threads, and I'll be around to comment on them too. Rather than posting an "Open" thread this weekend, this thread is left open to comments to fill any needs for that sort of thing. It will take a pretty compelling event to require a stand-alone Open Thread anytime soon, I believe. So enjoy here as you choose and the usual rules still apply; play nice.

My thanks to Fausta Wertz of Fausta's Blog for her assistance and collaboration this week on the Rosales story. It was a pleasure, ma'am.

There are no other site admin matters of note for now.

As always, thanks for coming here!