Free Republic

<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday recognized the independence of Moscow-backed rebel regions in eastern Ukraine, a move that will further fuel tensions with the West amid fears of Russian invasion.</p><p>Putin's move follows days of heightened tensions in Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland, where Ukrainian forces are locked in a nearly eight-year conflict with Russia-backed separatists that has left more than 14,000 people dead.</p>

BRUSSELS — The move to break up Belgium gathered momentum Sunday as separatists won an emphatic election victory in Flanders, the prosperous Dutch-speaking half of the fiercely divided nation. A stunning electoral success for Bart de Wever’s Flemish nationalist party marks a significant new challenge to the fragile unity of a country where tensions between French and Dutch speakers run deep. Scheduled to take over the rotating presidency of the European Union in less than three weeks, Belgium will now do so with a caretaker administration and facing months of tortuous negotiations to put together a coalition government. “We are...

"It’s new evidence for a destabilisation plan that North American imperialism, through the fascist government of George W Bush, is carrying out in our country to torpedo and sabotage the revolutionary process." Oscar Figuera, General Secretary of the Venezuelan Communist Party and a National Assembly delegate, was referring to a new secessionist movement in Zulia, the north-western Venezuelan state where 40 percent of the nation’s oil reserves are located. It is the latest in a series of extraordinary counter-revolutionary actions spanning several years that includes a coup attempt, a strike against the state-owned oil company and a boycott of parliamentary...

Review - Regions: New Aceh War PhaseNovember 16, 2003 10:06 PM, Laksamana.Net -  Though deploying 35,000 troops, the government and the military (TNI) have been disillusioned after promising a quick war against an original strength of 5,225, rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) fighters. The military claim there are only 2,665 left with 1,683 firearms. Jakarta had said the martial law administration implemented on May 19 would have a four-pronged strategy. A military offensive to crush the rebels would be backed by a humanitarian mission to help war casualties. Greater influence of the national police, particularly in GAM-controlled areas, and the strengthening...