3/4/8 -- This year's sixth international Cairo Conference against imperialism and Zionism continued the same themes as last year: dialogue between the left and Muslims, the struggle against Islamophobia, press censorship, torture and dictatorship, and the chance for Western peace groups to network on Middle East issues. The most inspiring project was the growing campaign to boycott Israel in the West and plans to coordinate this on an international level with the long- standing Arab and Muslim boycott campaign.

Otherwise, there was little to gladden activists, for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue apace, not to mention the increased brutality of Israel against the Palestinian people. There are changes going on in Western countries, with increased activism of students and trade unionists. But the political scene is dismal, despite the overwhelming unpopularity of US-NATO/Israeli wars, as governments continue to bow to Zionist pressures -- both internal and external.

A case in point is Canada, which was unofficially represented at the conference by 14 members of the Canadian Peace Alliance (CPA) and others from student organisations. Delegates to last year's conference were attacked in the right-wing National Post and Ottawa Citizen for consorting with "terrorists"

21/2/8 -- Kosovo's declaration of independence 17 February 2008 brings the number of statelets born out of the former Yugoslavia, population 23 million, to seven -- Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia- Herzigovina, Serbia, and now Kosovo, which boasts an impressive two million.

It could be far worse in Serbia, as Tadic, though opposed to Kosovan independence, is the best of a bad lot, being a big fan of the European Union. A victory for Nikolic, deputy prime minister under the socialist Slobodan Milosevic, would have seen a Russian military base on Kosovo's border and Serbia rejecting all ties with the EU.