Hidden in the midst of the most prominent headlines this week were some things generally overlooked by the media at large:
1. The rift between Iranian clerics under the Ayatollah and secular hardliners under Ahmadinejad continues to grow. The president's chief of staff (someone notably hated by the Ayatollah, who also happens to be the president's son-in-law), Esfandiar Rahem Mashaei, and several others close to Ahmadinejad
were arrested this week and charged with witchcraft. Yes, the nuclear power-seeking government is accusing officials of summoning spirits to bewitch the people and arresting them. Ahmadinejad
has still not appeared at cabinet meetings since his latest spat with the Supreme Ayatollah.
2. The Prime Minister of Turkey
survived an assassination attempt. A bomb exploded in front of his convoy, killing a police officer. Separatist Kurds claimed responsibility.
3. The vile Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir--who provides safe haven and funding to monstrous terrorists like the Lord's Resistance Army and is partly responsible for the genocide in Darfur--says that he will refuse to recognize the newly-elected nation of Southern Sudan when it formally declares independence in July unless they give up claim to the oil-wealthy region of Abyei. To prove his point, he
moved his rampaging soldiers into the region this week in violation of a previous peace deal that ended the nation's civil war a few years ago. For Bashir's continued support of the LRA terrorist group and his renewed violence against a people yearning to be free of his oppression, Western leaders ought to revamp and strengthen sanctions against the regime.
4. Conservaties now have majority-rule in Canada
for the first time ever. Opposition Liberals, Socialists, and Separatists split the minority amongst themselves. Interestingly, the more center-left Liberals have been replaced by the socialist New Democrats as the leaders of the opposition. This means that while Canada is ruled by conservatives now, the main opposition is even more radically to the left than their predecessors; if the Conservatives screw up, these fellows could get a bump and do their best at harming American-Canadian relations. In the mean time, the Conservative Party will continue to rule under Stephen Harper, who has improved Canada's economy over his past two terms and even led the country to surpassing the United States on the
Index of Economic Freedom.
Antecedents to the Conservative Party had majority governments from 1958 to 1962 and 1984 to 1993, among other times.
Thanks for the info; just looked into it. Initially I saw "Progressive Conservative" as "Progressive Canadian" and had dismissed it as similar to American progressives.