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Mar 1 Responding to a recent statement by presidential candidate Barack Obama, a few (other than Senator John McCain) describe Obama's Iraq and al-Qaeda policy as little different from that of President Bush. The difference of course is that Obama sees benefit in a more rapid withdrawal from Iraq. He recognizes that Iraqis have been turning against al-Qaeda, and he is more ready than President Bush to leave al-Qaeda-in-Iraq fade as a consequence of Iraqi opposition. After U.S. troops are withdrawn, if al-Qaeda somehow builds to a danger that they were, for example, in Afghanistan, posing a threat to the United States, Obama says he would advocate striking militarily.

Mar 2 President Ahmadinejad of Iran visits Iraq. He tells his hosts that a "united, powerful and developed Iraq" is in the region's (and Iran's) interest. Iraq's President Talabani (a Kurd) describes the visit as "historic."

Mar 2 In Russia, Dmitry Medvedev is elected to replace Vladimir Putin as president. He is to take office on May 7, and Putin is expected to become prime minister.

Mar 3 Hamas supporters have acquired sophisticated rocketry that the Israeli blockade has been trying to prevent them from obtaining - a blockade recently breached. The Hamas supporters have been firing these rockets into Israel, killing people - an act of war. Israel claims the right to defend itself militarily. UN Secretary General Ki-Moon calls Israel's response "disproportionate and excessive." While the solution to the violence lies in part at least in the heads of the people in Gaza, there is denial that Israel's military attack is a response to aggression from Hamas, and blame is cast elsewhere in the complaint that "the international voice is silent."

Mar 4 In four states today - Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont - people go to the polls to choose between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Clinton supporters are repeating the claim that she has more experience than Obama. In politics an experience-judgment rivalry is like the experience-talent rivalry in music. No one is going to replace a talented young soloist with a mediocre violinist because the mediocre violinist has been playing for forty years.

Mar 5 Senator Clinton has won in the popular vote in Ohio 54 to 44 percent, in Texas 51 to 47 persent. In Ohio, white voters without college degrees backed Clinton 3 to 1. According to the Washington Post, "More than two in 10 non-college-educated white voters said race was an important factor in their decision, compared with one in 10 among whites with college degrees." Among non-college educated white voters there were also those who opposed Obama because they thought he was or might be a Muslim. Today, Senator Clinton e-mailed her supporters saying "It's a pretty incredible feeling, isn't it?" and "Let's build on this remarkable momentum." Obama's e-mail to his supporters spoke of his maintaing a "substantial lead in delegates" and complained of "stunts and the tactics that ask us to fear instead of hope."

Mar 7 The BBC reports that an estimated one in three persons in the world is infected by tuberculosis, predominantly among the poor in the "developing" world. The disease is spread by coughing or sneezing, and some strains of tuberculosis are drug resistant.

Mar 8 In celebrating her victory in Ohio, Hillary Clinton said "as Ohio goes so goes the nation." She is repeating it and so too are some pundits to the point that it is now common blah-blah. If it is a hard rule that one must win Ohio to win the general election as they are saying, why was Al Gore able to win the popular vote in the presidential election of 2000 without winning Ohio? Can it not be said that Gore lost in the electoral vote count by only a few hundred votes in Florida because of mistakes in Florida, or because of the Supreme Court's ruling, rather than because he did not carry Ohio?

Mar 8 War has been averted as Colombia's right-of-center president, Alvaro Aribe, apologizes to Ecuador's President Correa and Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez. Aribe has promised never again to attack a "brother country." Chavez denies Aribe's accusation that he has given money and weapons to Colombian rebels. "I will never do it," Chavez said, "because I want peace." Aribe was under pressure from leftist regimes and from more centrist Argentina, Brazil and Chile. The United States was the only country in the Americas that offered Colombia unqualified support.

Mar 8 A Norwegian newspaper, Dagbladet, describes crime in Oslo as four times greater than New York City. Oslo police blame the increase on an influx of East Europeans. Crime elsewhere in Norway is reported as declining. The paper reports that for 2007, Oslo had 90 reported crimes per 1,000 persons, Stockholm (Sweden) had 79, Copenhagen (Denmark) 50, and New York 22.

Mar 8 Gary Hart, a well-known Democrat, complains in an online "Huffington Post" that there are rules in politics, and one of them is to not provide ammunition to the opposition party that can be used to destroy your party's nominee. He asks whether Hillary Clinton's primary loyalty is to the Democratic Party and the nation or to her own ambition.

Mar 10 Obama supporters are upset with Hillary Clinton having turned negative. They see absurdity in Bill and Hillary Clinton suggesting a Clinton-Obama presidential ticket after ridiculing Obama's qualifications. Some see the Clinton suggestion as maneuvering for votes from the large black population in Mississippi, which has a primary tomorrow. Many Obama supporters do not accept the cynical "it's just politics" point of view. One frustrated Obama supporter, Ireland-born Samantha Power, Pulitzer Prize winning Harvard professor, recently called Hillary a monster.

Mar 11 A PBS NewsHour debate on THE SURGE summarized: Old Sunni combantants still believe they are war with the Shia, that the government is Shia and that the government's militia is their main enemy. Sunni fighters feel defeated by U.S. forces and worry that if Americans withdraw soon they, the Sunnis, will be slaughtered by the Shia majority. The U.S. military presence has succeeded in reducing the violence in Iraq. Iraqis in general, aside from the Kurds, still dislike foreign troops on their soil and in this sense the U.S. is an occupation force. In the sense that the U.S. is in Iraq by power of the UN Security Council the U.S. is not an occupation force. One of the debaters, Nir Rosen, sees the U.S. presence as postponing a showdown between the Shia and Sunni. The other debater, Frederick Kagan, is more opsitimst and sees progress in reconciliation.

Mar 16 Commentators not inclined to support Barrack Obama's candidacy for president have been trying to tie him to a couple of black ministers, Louis Farrakhan and Jeremiah Wright. And some see Obama as having an advantage in being black - the affirmative action candidate - and some claim that whites are voting for him out of guilt. It insults those who have been supporting Obama and damages Obama's effort as a "unifier" and his desire to be judged for what he is other than black. Obama has "strongly denounced" statements made by Wright, but Wright was his minister for twenty years, and Obama has hurt himself politically by having ignored Wright's wildest opinions - a response of some people to their ministers.

Mar 17 Hillary Clinton delivers a major speech describing her comprehensiv e strategy regarding Iraq. She lists corruption, Iraqi money in foreign bank accounts that should be helping reconstruction, and various Iraqi government failures. Her strategy includes the possibility of pin-point strikes against al-Qaeda after withdrawal. She describes many more years in Iraq as "a defeat."

Mar 18 Barack Obama delivers a speech considered by some to be historic. It describes black and white frustrations and repeats his disagreement with statements by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. He describes his relationship with Wright as family. Obama had been an organizer in the black and white communities and had not pontificated or made himself righteous about attitudes among people. He asks his listeners for tolerance, but many do not accept Obama's tolerance for the Reverend Wright because of Wright's "hateful" speech and distortions. They complain that Obama does not share their righteous indignation and believe he should have stomped out of Wright's church.

Mar 19 A week of protests in Tibet have left people dead and soldiers in control of city streets. China's government has denied journalists access to Tibet, suppressed photos, and has blamed the rioting and violence on the Dalai Lama, in exile in Northern India. The Dalai Lama has been advocating greater autonomy for Tibet but not independence as have demonstrators.

Mar 19 Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria announce that they will recognize the independence of Kosovo.

Mar 19 The U.S. enters its sixth year of combat in Iraq. President Bush speaks of "our enemies in Iraq and of "a major strategic victory in the broader war on terror".

Mar 20 Vice President Cheney has met with Iraqi Vice President Adel Mehdi. Mehdi drops his resistance to provincial elections. These elections might correct distortions that deny a fair share of power to Sunni citizens.

Mar 21 China has blamed the death of 13 "innocent" people on rioters in Lhasa. In Lhasa,Tibetan young men in the spirit of ethnic cleansing have indeed attacked Han Chinese - Chinese shops and people in the street. The Tibetan government in exile blames China for violence and claims that at least 99 people have died, including 80 in Lhasa.

Mar 21 In Afghanistan, Rafi Naabzada wins a sensational pop music contest. The contest has been criticized by clerics because of the inclusion of female contenstants.

Mar 22 Genetic analysis of blood samples from across Latin America suggest that most Latin Americans are the product of a match between a European male and a native or African woman.

Mar 24 Frederick Kagan describes satellite dishes in small villages across Iraq and Iraqis watching CNN, some favoring Clinton, some Obama and some McCain. He describes talk about mistakes of the past regarding Iraq as useless. The question, he says, is where to we go from here. Political progress is being made, he adds. He cannot be absolutely certain that progress by the Iraqis will continue. But he claims that as long as there is progress, it is in our interest to stay the course - with a measured and cautious reduction of forces when appropriate. On a panel with two from the Brookings Institute, Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack, he agrees that the Obama and Clinton strategies are dubious.

Mar 25 In a 6-3 decision, the more conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justices reject the authority of the U.N. International Court of Justice (World Court) in any of the United States - in this case Texas. Writing the dissenting view, Justice Breyer described the U.S. as having signed and ratified appropriate treaties and as having agreed to be bound by the World Court's judgment. President Bush had claimed that it was in the U.S. interest to recognize the World Court's authority in the case under question.

Mar 26 Senator McCain delivers his foreign policy address. In addition to repeating positions he has often expressed, he says, "We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies."

Mar 28 Columnist Michael Kinsley is pessimistic about the benefits of the government stimulating the economy by giving people money with which to buy more stuff (recorded here as possible prophesy). He points out that economic recovery by stimulus borrowing is supposed to follow years of budget surpluses, not years of deficit spending. He says that "If we are going into [more] deficit spending we should be repairing our bridges and infrastructures.”

Mar 30 China has described rioting in Llasa as having killed 18 civilians, one police officer and as having injured 382 civilians and 241 police officers. According to official statistics, 908 stores were smashed, looted or torched and 120 homes were burned. The families of those killed are to be compensated by cash from the government - 200,000 yuan ($28,170). The government has declared that measures will to be taken to help people repair their homes and shops or to build new ones.

Apr 2 A Gallup poll asks Europeans whether they approve or disapprove of "the job performance of the leadership of the U.S.A." The approval rating was 22 percent. In Spain it was 6 percent. Belgium and German were 8 percent. France was 9 percent. Sub-Saharan Africa gave U.S. leadership a 63 percent approval rating.

Apr 4 Iraqi's Prime Minister Maliki, a Shi'a, attempted to assert power over Shi'a militias in the port city of Basra. He declared it a fight to the end. The fighting spread across southern Iraq and to Baghdad. Maliki had to call on the British and Americans for help. After a few days of warfare his fight ends in an truce with the leader of the Mahdi army, Muqtada al-Sadr. The fighting has killed an estimated 200 or 600 depending on the source.

Apr 6 In Jerusalem a judge has ruled that restaurants and cafes can sell leavened bread during Passover. This outrages orthodox Jews. They believe that religious law should be the law of the state of Israel for everyone, be he religious or not.

Apr 8 Senator Obama asks questions of General Petraeus at Foreign Relations Committee hearing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yG83rSm6fY

Apr 9 People around the world are rioting because of food prices or availability: in Egypt, Mexico, Haiti, Yemen, Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan, Guinea, Mauritania. In South Korea there is panic buying. In the Philippines, officials are raiding warehouses looking for unscrupulous traders hoarding rice. The rising price of oil has made food production more expensive. Nations are cutting back on their exports of food in order to have enough for their own people. Egypt's reduction of rice exports is hurting Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. On April 3, world rice prices rose as much as 30 percent.

Apr 10 Demonstrators have been using violence against the passage of the Olympic flame through Europe and the United States. The subject of the demonstrations has been Tibet. Supporters of China describe Tibet as having been a part of China at least since the early 1700s, a few decades before Xinjiang became a part of China and before there was a United States - and before the U.S. took Indian lands east of the Mississippi. China describes itself as multi-ethnic. Its supporters cite CIA support for the Dalai Lama and meddling in a Tibet separatist movement during the Cold War. They do not see China disintegrating ethnically as did Yugoslavia.

Apr 10 An Iraqi carpenter, Allah Sadiq, 49, in Baghdad's Karrada district, was interviewed about the testimony of General Petraeus this week to the U.S. Congress. An article in today's Washington Post quotes him. "The Americans have hundreds of meetings and testimonies like this, and what has it done for the Iraqi people? Nothing," he said. "So why do we care? We just want all the foreigners to leave and stop causing disasters for our country."

Apr 11 Pakistan's new government introduces a bill that lifts controls on the media imposed by Pervez Musharraf under his state of emergency.

Apr 14 Zimbabwe's High Court rules against those demanding that results of the presidential election, held more than two weeks ago, be released. Opposition presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai claims to have won more than 50 percent of the vote. President Robert Mugabe is looking forward to a runoff election, legally necessary if Tsvangirai has won less than 50 percent. Forces loyal to Mugabe are intimidating voters with beatings and the destruction of homes.

Apr 15 Yusuf Juma, a poet and critic of Uzbekistan's president, Islam Karimov, is sentenced to five years of forced labor.

Apr 16 In Nepal, a Communist Party described as Maoist has won an overwhelming victory in parliamentary elections. The Maoists promise to deliver Nepal from various traditions: caste, gender discrimination, the dowry system and the monarchy. Their promise not to hamper private enterprise has won them some backing from entrepreneurs.

Apr 18 It is independence day in Zimbabwe. Speaking to his nation, President Mugabe shows the mettle of another of recent history's revolutionists and blames imperialism, the British and traitors for his nation's troubles.

Apr 22 Last week in Oaxaca Province, Mexico, two radio broadcasters, Felicitas Martinez Sanchez, 21, and Teresa Bautista Merino, 24, were assassinated while returning from an assignment. At least 20 spent AK-47 cartridges were found at the scene.

Apr 22 In Paraguay, a former bishop, Fernando Lugo, has won the presidency, ending 61 years of conservative Colorado Party rule. Many Paraguayans are ecstatic.

Apr 22 Al-Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri, a Sunni from Egypt, now in hiding in Pakistan, denounces Iran for describing Israel as behind the 2001 9/11 attacks in the United States. Zawahiri complains that Iran (under Shi'a rule) is trying to deprive al-Qaeda credit for the attacks.

Apr 24 Prostitutes have flocked to Norway from around the world, because in Oslo they can make more money. They are aggressive, creating a new debate in Norway over whether to make prostitution illegal.

Apr 25 Mexico's state owned oil company, Pemex, is losing money. It is running out of oil and would benefit from deeper drilling. Foreign drillers have the technology and expertise to do this, but Mexico's Constitution forbids Pemex from joint ventures with private and foreign companies. Mexico is in political fervor with leftists opposed to foreign exploitation.

Apr 25 Port workers in South Africa defy their government's apparent indifference to events in Zimbabwe. The port workers refuse to unload weaponry from a Chinese ship. Church groups in South Africa join the protest, complaining that the weaponry, destined for Zimbabwe, would be used against the Zimbabwe people. Chinese authorities agree to withdraw the shipment.

Apr 29 Republican presidential candidate, John McCain offers a "market-based" health plan. McCain describes the plans of his rival Democrat candidates, Clinton and Obama as riddled with "inefficiency, irrationality and uncontrolled costs." An Obama spokesman, Hari Sevugan responds: "John McCain is recycling the same failed policies that didn't work when George Bush first proposed them and won't work now."

Apr 30 On Larry King Live on CNN, Michael Moore, maker of the film Sicko, expresses his dislike for McCain's health plan. Moore says that profit should be out of the health care system as it is out of police and fire departments. The higher costs in a free market system, with profits for corporations, he describes as equivalent to a tax. Moore says health care would be less expensive if it were covered by a real tax.

Apr 30 Russia accuses Georgia of planning to invade Abkhazia. Georgia proclaims that any additional Russian troops in Abkhazia will be considered aggressors. .