UPI International Intelligence articles from May 2007

UPI International Intelligence archives from May 2007

Review of the Arab press.
May 1, 2007... AMMAN, Jordan, May 1 (UPI) -- Lebanon's as-Safir said in a front-page commentary Tuesday the Israeli Winograd commission report on last summer's war on Lebanon and Hezbollah revealed the negligence of the Israeli government and military...

Analysis: Japan's Mideast balancing act.
May 1, 2007... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, May 1 (UPI) -- The Middle East is no longer just about oil for Japan. Granted, the race continues to intensify between Japan, China and India to woo petroleum-rich nations in order to secure more natural...

Analysis: N. Korea remains 'terrorist'.
May 1, 2007... Byline: LEE JONG-HEON SEOUL, May 1 (UPI) -- North Korea's hope of leaving an international blacklist was dashed when the United States reiterated its belief that the communist country is a sponsor of terrorism. In its annual Country...

Analysis: Berlin's May Day violence.
May 1, 2007... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, May 1 (UPI) -- Berlin is gearing up for its traditional May Day riots, with thousands of police deployed all over the city. This year may be worse than usual, with massive protest potential summoning ahead of...

Realpolitik: Olmert -- Rise or fade away?
May 1, 2007... Byline: ALON BEN-MEIR NEW YORK, May 1 (UPI) -- However damning Judge Eliyahu Winograd's report may be regarding the Israeli prime minister's conduct of the second war in Lebanon, it would be far more damning and destructive for Israel if...

Outside View: Russia's role at Sinai talks.
May 1, 2007... Byline: MARIANNA BELENKAYA MOSCOW, May 1 (UPI) -- Iraq's neighbors plan to meet in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, on the Red Sea, in early May to discuss the situation in the war-ravaged country. The conference will be held in two stages. On...

Outside View: How terrorists send money.
May 1, 2007... Byline: RACHEL EHRENFELD AND JOHN WOOD WASHINGTON, May 1 (UPI) -- Advanced mobile technology, cooperation between international mobile communications providers and international financial institutions and the lack of regulations make for a...

Analysis: Israelis tell Olmert to resign.
May 1, 2007... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, May 1 (UPI) -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is facing mounting pressure to resign over the way he managed last year's Lebanon war, but it is too early to tell whether that wave will knock him over...

Analysis: The heavy price of a free media.
May 2, 2007... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- The media, it is said, is the watchdog of democracy. As such, it was the press that brought down a president in the United States because he had cheated and broken the law. And it was...

Walker's World: A new Scots nation?
May 2, 2007... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- The name Alex Salmond, a hitherto obscure northern European politician, is about to become very familiar. He is the leader of the Scottish National Party, and most opinion polls suggest that...

Review of the Arab press.
May 2, 2007... AMMAN, Jordan, May 2 (UPI) -- London-based al-Quds al-Arabi commented Wednesday that Israel is on the edge of one of its worst crises since its establishment 60 years ago, after the Winograd inquiry report revealed the failures of the...

S. Korea reviews its dark past.
May 2, 2007... SEOUL, May 2 (UPI) -- South Korea's government is stepping up its efforts to review its dark past by confiscating the property of collaborators during Japanese colonial rule. The country's presidential panel said Wednesday it has decided...

Outside View: U.S and Iran at comic war.
May 3, 2007... Byline: PYOTR ROMANOV MOSCOW, May 3 (UPI) -- I used to think soccer was the silliest pretext for war. I am talking about the Football War, also known as the Soccer War or the 100-hours War, a six-day conflict fought by El Salvador and...

Analysis: Israelis rally against Olmert.
May 3, 2007... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, May 3 (UPI) -- Some 150,000 to 200,000 people Thursday night demonstrated in Tel Aviv, according to police estimates, calling for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's resignation over the way he handled...

Analysis: A polarized German lslam summit.
May 3, 2007... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, May 3 (UPI) -- The German Islam Conference, a government attempt to reach out to the country's Muslim population, is facing harsh criticism from some of its key participants. "We cannot go on like this,...

Analysis: Rebuilding Iraq still vague.
May 3, 2007... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt, May 3 (UPI) -- A five-year Iraqi reconstruction plan was formally launched Thursday at a high-level meeting of representatives of Iraq's friends, including Iran and the United States. ...

Outside View: Blocking terror finances.
May 3, 2007... Byline: MATTHEW LEVITT WASHINGTON, May 3 (UPI) -- Buried deep in the U.S. State Department's 335-page report on terrorism in 2006, released this week, is a brief section on "countering terrorism on the economic front." It offers a...

Commentary: The missing sleeper cells.
May 3, 2007... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, May 3 (UPI) -- Invading Iraq to unload the Saddam Hussein regime would go a long way toward shrinking the menace of transnational terrorism. At least, that's what some of the war planners firmly...

Analysis: Neo-Nazis at the G8 summit.
May 3, 2007... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, May 3 (UPI) -- A German neo-Nazi party hopes to benefit from the populist battle between rich and poor by joining the many left-wing groups protesting globalization at this year's Group of Eight summit in...

Analysis: U.N. focuses on blogger freedom.
May 4, 2007... Byline: SUZANNE BATES UNITED NATIONS, May 3 (UPI) -- As bloggers face beatings, torture and jail for criticizing governments, a U.N. panel criticized companies that are "passing ethical responsibility" by making agreements with countries...

Politics & Policies: Kemalism on the line.
May 4, 2007... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, May 4 (UPI) -- Turkey's Islamist government led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan needs to make a decision as to what it wants to be when it grows up. Does the prime minister want the country to...

Analysis: Rabin Square again focal point.
May 4, 2007... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, May 4 (UPI) -- Tel Aviv's Rabin Square has seen some of Israel's most dramatic political events that toppled governments. Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated there following the...

Policy Watch: What if Iran acquires nukes?
May 4, 2007... Byline: MARK N. KATZ WASHINGTON, May 4 (UPI) -- What would happen if Iran announced that it had acquired nuclear weapons just before the 2008 U.S. presidential elections? To try and find out, I ran a role-playing game with this scenario in...

Analysis: Free press falters in Arab world.
May 4, 2007... Byline: ROSALIE WESTENSKOW WASHINGTON, May 3 (UPI) -- Egyptian bloggers are beginning to feel the sting of media suppression as government officials crack down on the primary forum for free speech and open political coverage in the...

Analysis: China taps N. Korea resources.
May 4, 2007... Byline: LEE JONG-HEON SEOUL, May 4 (UPI) -- China has sharply expanded its business ventures in North Korea in recent years, tapping into the country's natural resources as it seeks to boost its leverage over the communist state, South...

Analysis: Syria-U.S. meet at Iraq conclave.
May 4, 2007... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY SHARM EL SHEIK, Egypt, May 4 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, the first meeting between Syrian and U.S. officials in two years. The hallway...

Review of the Arab press.
May 7, 2007... AMMAN, Jordan, May 7 (UPI) -- The French presidential election and the political and election crisis in Turkey were discussed in much of the Arab media Monday. London-based al-Quds al-Arabi said the election of Nicolas Sarkozy to the...

Commentary: Iran's nuke plans askew.
May 7, 2007... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- A scuffle in the mullahs' nuclear wheelhouse? More than likely with the arrest on suspected national security violations of Hossein Mousavian, a former nuclear negotiator for the...

Walker's World: Sarkozy's new Europe.
May 7, 2007... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- For Europeans, the victory of Nicolas Sarkozy as the new French President in the same week that Britain's Tony Blair will announce his departure from office means the arrival of two new boys...

Analysis: France's new dawn with Sarkozy.
May 7, 2007... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- Nicolas Sarkozy is the new president of France -- or he will be on May 16, when he officially replaces Jacques Chirac as the head of the French Republic. The right-wing candidate beat...

Analysis: S. Korea, EU in free-trade talks.
May 7, 2007... Byline: LEE JONG-HEON SEOUL, May 7 (UPI) -- On the back of the recent conclusion of a free-trade agreement with the United States, South Korea started negotiations Monday for a similar deal with the European Union in hopes of making Seoul...

Analysis: Paris back in Europe.
May 7, 2007... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, May 7 (UPI) -- The election of Nicolas Sarkozy as president of France has boosted the hopes of European Union experts that the body can move to implement quick and comprehensive reform. "Europe now has a...

Analysis: U.S. struggles with Mideast plan.
May 7, 2007... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, May 7 (UPI) -- The United States has presented Israel and the Palestinians with a new plan for enhanced security, movement and access -- but if initial reactions are any indication, its fate might...

Analysis: Iraq meetings hearten U.N.
May 7, 2007... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, May 7 (UPI) -- The United Nations has declared the high-level meetings in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, a success, but there was disappointment the informal Middle East diplomatic Quartet session couldn't...

Analysis: German terrorist stays in prison.
May 8, 2007... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, May 8 (UPI) -- After a controversial review process and pressure from his former party, German President Horst Koehler decided not to grant clemency to a former far-left terrorist. That means Christian Klar,...

Review of the Arab press.
May 8, 2007... AMMAN, Jordan, May 8 (UPI) -- Arab media's interest in French politics continued Tuesday. Lebanon's independent as-Safir, in a front-page commentary, discussed France's election of Nicolas Sarkozy as the next president and its effect on...

Analysis: Head rolls in World Bank scandal.
May 8, 2007... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, May 8 (UPI) -- The ongoing saga of Paul Wolfowitz and his girlfriend claimed its first victim Monday, but the first head to roll was not the World Bank president's. Instead, it was Wolfowitz's right-hand man...

Interview: U.N. chief on his diplomacy.
May 8, 2007... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY OVER THE NORTH ATLANTIC, May 8 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he will continue his whirlwind pace of geopolitical diplomacy established in just over four months in office -- six trips to Africa...

Review of the Arab press.
May 9, 2007... AMMAN, Jordan, May 9 (UPI) -- Jordan's al-Rai said in a commentary Wednesday that Hamas is indirectly and tacitly responsible for the rise of Islamic extremist groups in the Palestinian territories, especially in Gaza. The mass-circulation...

Analysis: Germany braces for G8 terror.
May 9, 2007... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, May 9 (UPI) -- Ahead of June's Group of Eight summit in Heiligendamm, German security officials are cracking down harder on radical left-wing groups, and Berlin has received tips that attacks are set before...

Analysis: Pakistan's nukes may resurface.
May 9, 2007... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, May 9 (UPI) -- The black-market nuclear network established by the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, A.Q. Khan, broken up in 2004, may be dormant but could resume operations in the future, according...

Analysis: World Bank downbeat on Palestine.
May 9, 2007... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT EL BIREH, West Bank, May 9 (UPI) -- Restrictions on the movement of Palestinian people and goods by Israel are hurting the area's economy. "There is very little prospect for a sustainable Palestinian economic...

Walker's World: They got the wrong woman.
May 10, 2007... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) -- Having some knowledge and experience of Iran, this reporter was never wholly convinced of the "Axis of Evil" status that was applied to the country by President George W. Bush in his State...

Analysis: Time for Turkey's Plan B?
May 10, 2007... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) -- Nicolas Sarkozy's victory in the race for the French presidency casts renewed doubts over Turkey's admission to the European Union. With Sarkozy strongly opposed to Ankara's entry into the...

Analysis: Berlin recovers Stasi secrets.
May 10, 2007... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, May 10 (UPI) -- Germany has launched a massive computer-aided project to reconstruct files torn to pieces by former East Germany's Stasi secret police, raising hopes that more communist wrongdoings can be...

Analysis: Seoul eyes 4-nation peace summit.
May 10, 2007... Byline: LEE JONG-HEON SEOUL, May 10 (UPI) -- South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun's special adviser and former prime minister left for the United States Thursday to push for a summit meeting between Seoul, Washington, Beijing and Pyongyang...

Analysis: Arab peace initiative pushes on.
May 10, 2007... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, May 10 (UPI) -- Arab attempts to advance a peace initiative with Israel are moving into higher gear with government-to-government contacts and moves to whip up public Israeli support. Egypt,...

Analysis: U.N. calls climate debate 'over'.
May 10, 2007... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, May 10 (UPI) -- A former chief of the U.N. World Health Organization who also is a former prime minister of Norway and a medical doctor has declared an end to the climate-change debate. Dr. Gro...

Politics & Policies: No Sahara solution.
May 11, 2007... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, May 11 (UPI) -- Morocco and the Polisario Front recently launched new initiatives to try and solve the long-standing dispute in Western Sahara. Both attempts have once again failed. The trouble with...

Analysis: Two Koreas clinch military deal.
May 11, 2007... Byline: LEE JONG-HEON SEOUL, May 11 (UPI) -- North and South Korea moved one more step forward Friday to reconnect railways severed during the Korean War by agreeing to provide military guarantees for the safe passage of trains. The...

Analysis: Shaky basis for Iran-Hamas ties.
May 11, 2007... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT RAMAT GAN, Israel, May 11 (UPI) -- Hamas seems closely aligned with Iran for now, receiving aid from the country, but an Israeli analyst maintained the political group is not yet firmly in Iran's camp and might...

Outside View: Tony Blair's smile.
May 11, 2007... Byline: PYOTR ROMANOV MOSCOW, May 11 (UPI) -- Tony Blair is about to retire. It does not matter exactly when he leaves his post, tomorrow or in summer. The decision has already been made -- he will first retire as the Labor Party...

Analysis: Kosovo's bid for independence.
May 11, 2007... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, May 11 (UPI) -- The U.N. Security Council is considering independence for Serbia's province of Kosovo -- described as calm but tense -- where the population is now about 90 percent ethnic Albanian....

Outside View: Turkey's political schism.
May 11, 2007... Byline: RAYMOND J. MAS WASHINGTON, May 11 (UPI) -- The confrontation between Turkey's ruling Islamist party, the AKP, and those who view themselves as defenders of the nation's secularist tradition reveals a schism in Turkish society that...

Analysis: Asia fears Chinese greens.
May 11, 2007... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, May 11 (UPI) -- China may continue to be the ultimate source for household goods and appliances, but when it comes to food, consumers are becoming increasingly wary. Concern about fresh produce grown in China is...

Walker's World: The most dangerous place.
May 14, 2007... Byline: MARTIN WALKER FRANKFURT, Germany, May 14 (UPI) -- The most dangerous place on Earth right now may not be in Iraq, nor in the Gaza Strip nor even in some underground nuclear laboratory in Iran or North Korea. It is on the roof of...

Analysis: Europe-U.S. alliance shifts.
May 14, 2007... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI LONDON, May 14 (UPI) -- European politics are suddenly moving forward at a dizzying pace, making room for tectonic changes in trans-Atlantic relations that will in turn force Washington to reassess how it looks at...

Analysis: Debate on North Korea continues.
May 14, 2007... Byline: LEE JONG-HEON SEOUL, May 14 (UPI) -- Scholars from the United States and South Korea gathered in Seoul Monday to discuss ways to repair relations between the two countries and break an impasse over North Korea's nuclear weapons...

Atlantic Eye: Europe's inspired politics.
May 14, 2007... Byline: MARC S. ELLENBOGEN BUCHAREST, Romania, May 14 (UPI) -- For good reason, many show contempt for public policy. But sometimes leaders show courage, renewing our faith in public life. Recent examples, both good and bad, can be found...

Analysis: German security moves backfire.
May 14, 2007... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, May 14 (UPI) -- German police raids of the far left seem to have backfired and strengthened the anti-globalization movement, less than a month before Berlin hosts the G8 summit. Some 880 police and 20...

Analysis: Zimbabwe's rise in the U.N.
May 14, 2007... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, May 14 (UPI) -- Despite soaring inflation and its citizens fleeing by the thousands, Zimbabwe has been elected to chairmanship of the U.N. Commission for Sustainable Development. The question...

Analysis: Crisis in Gaza.
May 14, 2007... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, May 14 (UPI) -- In the midst of a new upsurge of Fatah-Hamas assassinations, the Palestinian national unity government Monday lost a minister who was supposed to help keep them all together:...

Commentary: The bookworm president.
May 14, 2007... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, May 14 (UPI) -- Two of Washington's best-informed men confirmed it so it must be true. President Bush and his consigliere Karl Rove bet on who had read the most books in a year. Mike McConnell, the...

Interview: A chat with Ehud Olmert.
May 15, 2007... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI PETRA, Jordan, May 15 (UPI) -- In an open discussion with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held on the margins of the Petra Nobel Laureates conference in this ancient Nabatean city, Elie Wiesel, himself a Nobel...

Analysis: Terrorism top threat to Germany.
May 15, 2007... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, May 15 (UPI) -- Right-wing and left-wing extremism is on the rise in Germany, but the greatest security threat is still Islamist terrorism, Germany's interior minister said Tuesday in Berlin. Since last...

Analysis: Gaza clashes rise; Israel hit.
May 16, 2007... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, May 16 (UPI) -- Bitter fighting between the two major Palestinian parties -- Fatah and Hamas -- escalated with the deaths of 12 people this week. In what Israeli analysts saw as an attempt to...

Realpolitik: Who really cares about Iraq?
May 16, 2007... Byline: ALON BEN-MEIR NEW YORK, May 16 (UPI) -- The recent conference on Iraq, held in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheik and attended by more than 50 countries representing half of the world's population, seems at first glance to underscore "the...

Analysis: Ukraine needs unity for progress.
May 16, 2007... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, May 16 (UPI) -- Ukraine needs early elections as soon as possible and a culture of political consensus to make real progress, according to a group of experts from the United States and Europe. The ongoing...

Analysis: Seoul upbeat on Pyongyang row.
May 16, 2007... Byline: LEE JONG-HEON SEOUL, May 16 (UPI) -- Hopes are rising in Seoul that a prolonged dispute over North Korea's offshore assets will be finally resolved to move forward a nuclear disarmament process after Pyongyang said steps were being...

Outside View: Origins of 'Shock and Awe'.
May 16, 2007... Byline: HARLAN ULLMAN WASHINGTON, May 16 (UPI) -- Recently, my name has been in the press on matters not related to my professional activities. I will deal with those issues separately. But, intentionally or not, these accounts have also...

Review of the Arab press.
May 16, 2007... AMMAN, Jordan, May 16 (UPI) -- Arab newspapers commented Wednesday on the resumption of Palestinian infighting between supporters of rivals Fatah and Hamas in Gaza, in which scores have been killed this week. The London-based al-Quds al-Arabi...

Review of the Arab press.
May 17, 2007... AMMAN, Jordan, May 17 (UPI) -- Arab newspapers continued to comment Thursday on the escalating fighting between Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, warning the armed clashes were only hurting the Palestinian cause and serving Israel. The...

Analysis: China as Asian beacon for Africa.
May 17, 2007... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, May 17 (UPI) -- Asia may be a role model for many African nations, but it is China that they most aspire to these days, more than any other country in the region. At its annual meeting being held this week...

Analysis: First trains cross Korean border.
May 17, 2007... Byline: LEE JONG-HEON SEOUL, May 17 (UPI) -- A South Korean passenger train crossed the heavily fortified border to reach North Korea's western border city of Kaesong at noon Thursday for the first time in more than half a century. At the...

Walker's World: Sarkozy's new-old France.
May 17, 2007... Byline: MARTIN WALKER PARIS, May 17 (UPI) -- There was an acutely symbolic moment in the farewell of Jacques Chirac from the Elysee Palace, where he had lived and ruled France for the past 12 years. The young successor Nicolas Sarkozy, who...

Politics & Policies: Can peace thrive?
May 17, 2007... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI PETRA, Jordan, May 17 (UPI) -- The Saudi peace plan first proposed to Israel in 2002 at the Beirut meeting of the Arab League by King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia, then still crown prince, has since become known as the...

Analysis: The U.N.'s green renovation.
May 17, 2007... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, May 17 (UPI) -- While the dilapidated 60-year-old U.N. World Headquarters in New York is a long way from being environmentally efficient, a senior U.N. management official says its planned $1.9...

Analysis: Belarus loses U.N. rights bid.
May 17, 2007... Byline: SUZANNE BATES UNITED NATIONS, May 17 (UPI) -- Human-rights groups applauded Belarus's defeat for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council after member states voted for late-entry Bosnia and Herzegovina instead. Bosnia received...

Analysis: Israel drawn into Gaza fighting.
May 17, 2007... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, May 17 (UPI) -- Israel Thursday launched airstrikes on Hamas militants and sent tanks into the northern tip of the Gaza Strip following continuous rocket attacks on its town of Sderot and...

Analysis: The leaderless World Bank.
May 18, 2007... Byline: SHIHOKO GOTO TOKYO, May 18 (UPI) -- Paul Wolfowitz's resignation as the head of the World Bank late Thursday comes as no surprise to those who have been following the drama surrounding the former U.S. deputy defense secretary over...

Analysis: Jordan's king works overtime.
May 18, 2007... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI AMMAN, Jordan, May 18 (UPI) -- King Abdullah II of Jordan kept a busy schedule this week. First, he hosted the third Nobel Laureates Conference in Petra. The Petra conference gathers some of the world's sharpest...

Analysis: U.N.'s Lebanon tribunal draft.
May 18, 2007... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, May 18 (UPI) -- The U.N. Security Council Friday began considering a draft resolution to establish an international tribunal to try suspects in a series of political assassinations in Lebanon,...

Policy Watch: Putin and Europe.
May 21, 2007... Byline: MARK N. KATZ WASHINGTON, May 21 (UPI) -- The change of power from Jacques Chirac to Nicolas Sarkozy is important to France and to all Europe. But it is important for Vladimir Putin and Russia, too. Chirac is the second of the...

Analysis: Water, source of life and strife.
May 21, 2007... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI AMMAN, Jordan, May 21 (UPI) -- The next major Middle East war could well be fought not over land, oil or religion -- the traditional causes of conflict to date -- but over water, a precious commodity becoming rarer...