Globe Trot 06.15

Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court dissolved parliament only two days before the presidential runoff and ruled that Ahmed Shafiq, prime minister under Hosni Mubarak, is eligible to have his name on the ballot in the runoff election scheduled to begin tomorrow. Expect to continue to hear a lot of analysis suggesting this is a return to authoritarian rule, a setback for democracy and the Muslim Brotherhood, which dominated parliamentary elections held six months ago. But listen to the subtext from Emad Gad, a leader of the secular Social Democratic Party's parliamentary bloc: "Definitely it is good," he said of the court's decision-because, according to The New York Times, "he was less afraid that Mr. Shafiq might become a Mubarak-like strongman than he was of the Islamists monopolizing power through their victories at the polls." Gad added, "We can demonstrate against Shafik, but we cannot demonstrate against the Islamists." Egyptians are taking to the streets today to demonstrate against the court's decision.

More leaks out of the Obama intelligence and defense offices are apparently behind a Washington Post story this week revealing "a network of small air bases to spy on terrorist hideouts." The story suggests these bases are evidence of "a growing shadow war against al-Qaeda affiliates and other militant groups." Not surprising given the expanding threat of those affiliates in the Horn of Africa and in the Maghreb. But an important point of debate should emerge in the 2012 presidential campaign: President Obama portrays his administration as finishing terror wars by ending combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. What he's done is take them underground via drone strikes and covert operations like this. This turns "combat operations" over to the CIA and private contractors largely unaccountable to Congress and the people. Mitt Romney should be asking if this is what most Americans want and how to ensure that covert operations are effective.

Metaphor wars are exploding over the euro crisis ahead of the Sunday vote in Greece that could see that strapped country exit the euro.

More than 160,000 Sudanese have moved to South Sudan in recent months as a result of conflict and related lack of food. Additionally international groups have airlifted almost 12,000 South Sudanese who have been living in the North-many for decades-as part of a forced repatriation program. The North gave South Sudanese a deadline to formalize their status in the North or leave. Many could do neither on their own and now must seek help from overstretched relief agencies without resources to deal with the country's rapidly growing refugee crisis.

Sergei Sokolov's ordeal with Russia's FBI-like agency reads like a Soviet-era movie script and doesn't suggest much has changed under the "new" Vladimir Putin regime.

Foreign Policy's gripping slideshow of "The View from Kandahar" shows Afghans and Americans caught in the fighting that continues there.

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