Let me get this straight...

South African U.N. Envoy calls Sahara independence unrealistic. On the sidelines of the UN sponsored negotiations, Morocco has been calling for a normalization of relations with their neighbor even as they are having a cute little arms race.

Meanwhile, the African Union backed the Comoros Islands in putting down a rebel leader on the island of Anjouan. Now, while Morocco is not a member of the AU, they have been backing the government of Comoros with arms. Some of the troops that made up the AU force were from the Sudan (no, really). South Africa President calls the military action "unfortunate" because the renegade leader Becar was willing to hold elections in his quest to not accept just autonomy, but independence. The populations of Anjouan and W. Sahara are about the same (250,000), with W. Sahara probably having more natural resources. Why can't they both get a free and fair referendum?

With all these countries scared to set precedents of regions gaining independence, no wonder the aspirations Chechnya, Tibet, Urumqi, Corsica, the Basque Country, Darfur etc. get no love in the UN.

Elsewhere, Ethiopia, is mad at Qatar for supporting Eritrea, so they break off diplomatic relations (although they didn't really have any to begin with). Of course, Ethiopia wouldn't have troops in Somalia without heavy US military support, and Qatar is the base of the US Military's Central Command (CENTCOM), which coordinates the US military invovement in Somalia (at least for now).