Last month, a car bomb just over the Iranian border killed 13. Then last week, four Iranian policemen were killed in Negor by assailants who fled back to Pakistan. Tehran blamed Jondollah, a extremist group of ethnic Baluchis (who live in both states), and accused Islamabad of connivance. President Pervez Musharraf’s government denied it, but Tehran sent more security personnel to the border, tightened controls over travelers and goods, and hastened construction of a 700-kilometer-long fence.
Pakistan’s exact role remains unclear. But it would hardly be the first time its notorious security services have aided cross-border jihadists. Conspiracy theories now swirling in Tehran blame the United States—Musharraf’s close ally and Iran’s greatest enemy—for supporting Jondollah. Iran’s hard-line Interior minister, Mustafa Pour-Mohammadi, has alleged that U.S. intelligence operatives have met with Iranian rebels. And a Pakistani opposition politician recently described the bombing as part of a U.S. ploy to block construction of a multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline that would run from Iran through Pakistan to India. Washington has refused to comment.
This all leaves Musharraf in a precarious position. Radicals in Pakistan’s lawless Baluchistan and the adjacent tribal areas now threaten not just Afghanistan, the United States and Pakistan itself but also—ironically—Washington’s nemesis, Iran. The U.S. position on these radicals is becoming dangerously vague. With friends like these and tensions on every border, Musharraf seems to be becoming even less able to control the militants in his backyard, who are now menacing everyone in the region—including himself.
The Debunker The CW has it that Zimbabwe is beyond salvation. But an internal power struggle within strongman Robert Mugabe’s own party could actually bring about dramatic change. Key military leaders and members of Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party are currently talking of blocking his motion to “harmonize” parliamentary and presidential elections—in effect, an effort to guarantee his political stranglehold. Opposition parties that have long been at odds are putting their differences aside, say analysts, and now have an opportunity to reach out to the reformists in Mugabe’s camp. If they succeed in blocking his motion—and plans for free and fair elections are agreed upon—the international community is expected to ease sanctions and begin investing again.
Russia: Killer Question Since last October, at least four critics of Russian President Putin have turned up dead or shot. Among them:
American Kremlin scholar Paul Joyal. Shot, though not fatally, outside his Maryland home on March 1, shortly after accusing Putin’s regime of fatally poisoning his friend, KGB defector Alexander Litvinenko, in London last November.
Russian reporter Ivan Safronov. Fell to his death last week from the fourth-floor balcony of his Moscow apartment. Said to have been probing secret Russian deals to sell arms to Iran and Syria.
Reporter Anna Politkovskaya. Shot dead in October. Had been investigating abuses by Kremlin-backed authorities in Chechnya.
Just coincidence? The Kremlin dismisses suggestions of its involvement in the attacks as “pure nonsense.” But its critics read these events as a message: If you don’t want to fall victim to a nasty coincidence, don’t speak out against the state.
Q&A: Drew Barrymore Barrymore plays a neurotic lyricist in the romantic comedy “Music and Lyrics.” She spoke to Nicki Gostin.
Do you do your own singing in this movie? Yeah. I’ve always been the person who everyone either politely, rudely or just out of sheer frustration says, “Please stop singing!” With this, I sort of let go and had fun.
We hear a lot of ’80s music in “Lyrics,” which seems so cheesy now. Were you a fan? Well being a product of it, sure, absolutely.
What are you talking about—Flock of Seagulls, Wham? I was a huge Duran Duran fan. I was so in love with all the guys in that band.
You’re always so bubbly. Are you ever in bad mood? Totally, absolutely. But I’m an optimist; I can’t stay in bed depressed. I think it’s better to be happy.
You know, you’re the ultimate “E! True Hollywood Story.” Someone I know said they saw mine and it made them cry and I thought that was so nice of them. But it is a very posthumous feeling, I must say.
By the Numbers Illegal killing of elephants slowed after a 1990 global ban on ivory sales. But now rising wealth in Asia—where ivory jewelry remains popular—has put Africa’s elephants in danger again.
23 Thousands of elephants killed by poachers in 2006, up roughly 5,000 every year since 2002 24 Tons of ivory smuggled into Asia last year, nearly double the previous year’s total $200 Street price, in U.S. dollars, for a kilo of ivory in Asia in 2005 $750 Street price, in U.S. dollars, for a kilo of ivory in Asia in 2007
JEWELRY Cleaner Carats Those about to propose have always had to consider the four C’s of engagement rings: cut, clarity, color and carats. Now there’s a fifth: is it P.C.? Nineteen jewelers, including standards like Tiffany & Co., Ben Bridge and Zales, have now joined the “No Dirty Gold” campaign to bring concern about the trade’s impact on human rights and the environment to a head. Campaigners say mining can produce 20 tons of waste per gold ring, pollute drinking water and displace local communities.
The P.C. trend has been spurred by the December film “Blood Diamond,” which dramatized the exploitive trade in African war zones. Sales at Brilliantearth.com, which offers “clean” Canadian diamonds and recycled gold, have more than tripled in the past year. CEO Beth Gerstein says diamond buyers are picking up on the political issues: “It’s not just the vegan who does yoga every day and refuses to eat anything that’s not organic.” Political chatter about jewelry has picked up on wedding megasite TheKnot.com, says editor Carley Roney. “Even women who already have their ring want to find out about its history,” she says. “Before, it wasn’t considered luxury to be politically correct, or green. We were supposed to be above that.” Not anymore.
Reality Check The majority of the world’s population loses its ability to digest lactose—a sugar found in milk and dairy products—before reaching adulthood. But not northern Europeans, 90 percent of whom researchers at University College London believe carry a gene that allows them to continue drinking milk and eating dairy products as grown-ups. Ironically, 7, 000 years ago Europeans were unable to digest milk at all. Now that’s evolution.
