Being by way of a round-up of various news items I thought worthy of attention.
> The BBC reports this from Afghanistan:
For the first time in more than a decade an Afghan woman has been broadcast singing on public television.
Kabul Television broadcast old footage of the popular 1970s and ’80s artist Salma singing a ballad. The footage marked the latest step towards liberalisation promoted by the moderate administration of President Hamid Karzai. No such images have been seen since the fall of communist President Najibullah in 1992.
(Via Emily Jones.)
> Dan De Luce has an informative account in today’s Guardian of the battle between reformists and conservatives in Iran:
Iran’s reformists raised the stakes yesterday in a power struggle with hardline opponents as the government warned that it would resign if top clerics kept their ban on hundreds of liberal candidates taking part in the elections.
> This item about Syria is from the Jerusalem Post (registration required):
Just last week, security sources revealed that the Syrian planes that brought relief to Iranian earthquake victims flew back with weapons for Hizbullah. According to The Miami Herald, Bush administration officials are debating taking military action against Syria “as evidence mounts that the government in Damascus is stepping up support for the terror group Hizbullah and allowing anti-American insurgents to reach Iraq.” The US has even reportedly cautioned Israel about responding too warmly to Assad’s diplomatic overtures.
The Miami Herald piece is here:
Civilians in Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s office are pushing for military action against Syria short of an invasion and have drawn up plans for punitive airstrikes and cross-border incursions by U.S. forces, according to three officials.
But Bush’s White House advisors, backed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the State Department, are arguing against a new military venture with much of the U.S. military tied down in Iraq and a presidential election year under way.
That view appears to have prevailed, for now.