4、巴基斯坦伊斯兰堡发生的爆炸袭击事件
Pakistan responded to Indian accusations over the Mumbai massacre by pointing out that it, too, is under attack by terrorists. Militants operating in Pakistan's tribal wilds along the border with Afghanistan have wrought havoc on both sides of that frontier, and that mountainous strip has produced two attacks that shook Pakistan to the core: the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on Dec. 26, 2007; and the Sept. 20 blast that destroyed the heavily-defended Marriott Hotel in the capital, killing up to 60 people. The terror strikes punctuated a rolling series of crises in Pakistan. Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, was elected president in a democratic poll that ended the political career of Pervez Musharraf, the general on whom Washington had relied as a bulwark against the burgeoning al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in his country, as well as home-grown extremists such as Baitullah Mehsud. The Marriott bombing drove home the fact that a terror threat most Pakistanis had assumed was directed against the West was aimed at their own nuclear-armed but economically-hobbled Muslim nation. Still, that didn't help Zardari persuade his parliament to back the war on terror, as Pakistan's legislature continued to demand negotiations with the militants. The Marriott bombings were a reminder that the wild frontier between Pakistan and Afghanistan remains a fount of menace not only to Afghanistan and the West, but also to Pakistan itself. (Sept. 20)
5、索马里海盗肆虐
The very use of the word "pirate" made the rash of hijackings of commercial ships off the Horn of Africa seem like almost quaint confirmations that the long-suffering people of East Africa were living in a different age. But it became clear during the Fall that there was nothing charming about the rogue seamen of Somalia, and that their exploits could have consequences far beyond the sea lanes of the Gulf of Aden. Having netted more than $30 million in more than 70 such hijackings this year alone, the pirates raised alarms in late September by seizing a Ukrainian freighter carrying tanks and other war material that may have been headed for conflict-ridden Sudan. Then came the biggest prize of all: A Saudi-owned supertanker, the Sirius Star, carrying $100 million worth of crude oil. Despite the menace, governments could muster little by way of an effective response to the increasingly audacious pirates. But such depredation along a critical trade route threatens livelihoods around the world. And it serves as a reminder that the impoverished, failed state of Somalia, which has suffered so much grief over two decades, remains able to spread that grief around. (Nov. 18)
6、在高加索地区发生的武装冲突
Vladimir Putin, TIME'S 2007 Person of the Year, may no longer be President of Russia but his vision of a resurgent empire was given steel in August when Russian tanks rolled into South Ossetia — a breakaway province of the NATO-aspirant former Soviet republic of Georgia. The confrontation began when Georgian forces launched attacks on South Ossetia, but the Russian forces pushed deep into Georgia, sending a brutal message that Moscow would brook no interference in its backyard from an expansive NATO or tolerate challenges by Georgia's nationalist president Mikheil Saakashvili. Neither the U.S. nor Europe was able to muster an effective response: Neither had the wherewithal or appetite for a military confrontation with Russia, and the Europeans are mindful of the fact that much of their oil and natural gas supply is controlled by Moscow. The Europeans eventually brokered a peace agreement, largely on Moscow's terms. (Aug. 7)
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