Angel, or FARC in disguise?

Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba evokes strong reactions from supporters and detractors alike.

By Nadja Drost

BOGOTA, Colombia — She’s been described as an angel. A brave woman who makes Herculean efforts to gain the freedom of others. A devil in disguise who promotes the causes of rebel groups. A traitor who hurls critiques of the government.

Piedad Cordoba, a Colombian opposition senator, is one of the country’s most polemic figures. Predicated by many to be this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, her nomination both inspired hope among her supporters for renewed prospects for peace and triggered venomous reactions, bringing to light the deep divisions over how to find peace here.

Moldova, where Lenin still stands

How the Communist Party has held on to Moldovans’ votes.

By David L. Stern – GlobalPost

Published: October 9, 2009 07:07 ET

COMRAT, Moldova — The cast-iron statue of Vladimir Lenin gazing severely from this regional capital’s town hall may look a bit weather-beaten, but the important fact is that it is still standing.

Old Vlad’s likeness could be seen as a metaphor for the fortunes of Moldova’s Communist Party as a whole. The communists received a political battering recently, but they are still far from vanquished completely.

Poland signs EU Treaty, only Czech Republic left to ratify

Story Highlights

Treaty undergoing review in a Czech court to determine its compatiblity

Czech president raises fears over property claims relating to World War II

Swedish presidency of EU calls on Czech Republic to clarify ratification comments

Only Czech Republic left to sign treaty that would reform the European Union

October 10, 2009 — Updated 1445 GMT (2245 HKT)

(CNN) — The Polish president on Saturday signed his country’s ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, aimed at streamlining the workings of the European Union.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski holds the EU’s Lisbon Treaty in Warsaw on October 10.

President Lech Kaczynski’s approval of the treaty leaves the Czech Republic as the lone country that has not ratified the document.

Kaczynski signed the treaty at a ceremony attended by EU officials in Warsaw. He had refused to sign the document until it was ratified by Irish voters in a referendum. They backed it by a wide margin on October 2.

Obama Team Says Zazi Case Illustrates Balanced Approach to Terror Threat

By Anne E. Kornblut

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

President Obama will make his first visit to the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean on Tuesday morning, telling intelligence officials that their recent successes have proved how effectively multiple agencies can perform when they work in concert.

The White House has been charting a delicate course as it attempts to turn the page on Bush-era anti-terrorism policies. Even as Obama wages a war in Afghanistan that he has called critical to curbing terrorism, his administration is trying to defend itself from criticism by former vice president Richard B. Cheney and other Republicans for casting aside what they say are critical tools for protecting the United States.

Pirates operate undeterred in the high seas

by Rohan Mathes

Sea piracy is as old as the sea itself. Piracy on the high seas could be traced back to the era when the Viking pirates prowled the seas in search of treasures. Later, the sea -roving plunderers operated in the Horn of Africa, including the Somali waters, the Gulf of Aden, South East Asia, including Indonesian waters, the Malacca Straits, the South China Seas, South Asian waters as far west past Japan, the Bay of Bengal, the Niger Delta in West Africa and the Persian Gulf waters . Nevertheless, in no time in the known history of maritime piracy, has this menace reached such exponential proportions and impacted on the international marine industry, as now.

TEDGlobal: The business of terrorism

Terrorism is extremely expensive, and economist and journalist Loretta Napoleoni found unexpected ways that it drives the world economy

Loretta Napoleoni at TEDGlobal 2009 Credit: TED / James Duncan Davidson

Like the fall of the Roman Empire, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of Communism brought about surge in the shadow economy, what economist and journalist Loretta Napoleoni calls the rogue economics of terror and criminal networks.

Former civilian senior Intelligence/Policy adviser to Iraq’s Ministry of Interior, detainee screen/interrogator, talks about former Iraqi regime and terrorism

(Moderator note: comments for www.regimeofterror.com are now activated at the end of each post)

During a series of email and telephone exchanges Matthew Degn relayed to www.regimeofterror.com his vast array of experiences working with intelligence issues relating to the current and former situation in Iraq. Among his responsibilities during his years in Iraq Degn worked as a civilian interrogator attached to the U.S. Army in Iraq before working as a Senior Policy/Intelligence Adviser to Deputy General Kamal and other top intelligence officials with theIraq’s Ministry of Interior. Degn, currently working on a book about his experiences in Iraq (personal website here), continues to argue against those that feel there was no link between terrorism and Saddam Hussein’s regime based on his involvement with hundreds of interrogations in Iraq and his involvement with many of the Iraqi Intelligence officials with the Ministry of Interior. Degn says that much of the public perception about Saddam Hussein’s regime and terrorism are incorrect.