What Caught My Eye Today

Georgia - Declaring "the aggressor has been punished," the Kremlin ordered a halt to Russia's devastating assault on Georgia — five days of air and ground attacks that left homes in smoldering ruins and uprooted 100,000 people. Yeah, I'd say that's punishment enough. President Mikhail Saakashvili said Russia's aim all along was not to gain control of two disputed provinces but to "destroy" the smaller nation. I'm no expert, but I'd say 'mission accomplished' for the Russians. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, were believed to have died since Georgia launched its crackdown on South Ossetia last week, drawing the punishing response from its much larger northern neighbor. Russia accused Georgia of killing more than 2,000 people, mostly civilians, in the separatist province of South Ossetia. The claim couldn't be independently confirmed, but witnesses who fled the area over the weekend said hundreds had died. Isn't it interesting how this part of the story--Georgia's alleged attempt at genocide--seems to have faded into the background.

Pakistan - Pakistan's ruling coalition said the army would not intervene to support embattled President Pervez Musharraf, whom the government says it will impeach for years of alleged misrule. Memo to Musharraf: Dude, read the writing on the wall. It says, "Get out!" Musharraf has been at the center of a political crisis since early last year. The threat to his presidency has raised fears among the United States and its allies for the stability of the nuclear-armed Muslim country, which is also a hiding place for al Qaeda leaders. A key question is how the army, which has ruled for more than half the 61 years since the country's creation, will react. But coalition leaders said the army and its main security agency would not intervene to back up their old boss. Several Musharraf allies, including members of the old ruling party that backed him, have said they would vote against him and have supported resolutions in provincial assemblies calling on him to face a vote of confidence or be impeached. Looks like Musharraf isn't losing allies--more like he's lost them already. The United States has urged the government to focus on a deteriorating economy and spreading militancy but has not commented on the impeachment, saying it is a Pakistani issue. Now that's funny. Since when has the U.S. ever shied away from weighing in on another country's internal issues? Just ask China or Russia. This 'no comment' is basically an acknowledgement that the U.S. has given up on its staunch ally in the war on terrorism, poor old Pervez Musharraf.

Mauritania - Yup, another geography lesson. Mauritania is a rather large country in Northwestern Africa. The military junta that overthrew Mauritania's government last week adopted a law transferring the power of the presidency to the head of the junta. You know what they say. To the victors go the spoils. The 11-article law announced in a communique confers the rights of the highest office in the country in northwest Africa to the army general who led the August 6 coup. The statement also claimed the coup was brought on by the deteriorating condition of daily life in Mauritania, the president's stonewalling of various government institutions and his firing of the chiefs of the armed forces. The coup came after an increasingly bitter standoff between the army and President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, who last year won Mauritania's first free-and-fair election in more than two decades. That election followed a 2005 coup, which junta leader General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz also helped orchestrate to oust the country's reviled dictator. This guy Aziz has been a busy fellow, hasn't he? Two coups in 4 years? When does he find the time to run the military?