Algeria

Chaos taking over Algeria matters far beyond its borders. It infects France, the second country of millions of Algerians. It is anarchy for export in the Muslim world, exciting fears that Tunisia would be the next domino. It jeopardizes Algeria's export of oil and gas on which much of Europe depends.The generals ruling Algeria are faithful to a secularist and socialist heritage that brought the country to independence from France. They allowed an unprecedented free election in 1991, which overthrew the founders and gave a majority to the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS)

Algerian forces claimed a decisive victory this weekend over al-Qaida-affiliated Islamist militants who took over a giant natural gas plant near the country's border with Mali last week and threatened to kill hostages and blow up the facility. But the resolution of the crisis may turn out to be the classic definition of a Pyrrhic victory - that is, one achieved at such high cost that another like it will likely lead to defeat. The Algerian government reacted swiftly and ruthlessly to the terrorists, eventually capturing or killing all the militants.

The military junta that rules Algeria has virtually lost its grip since canceling the election results two years ago that would have put the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in charge of government. The FIS has changed from a legal opposition to a terrorist army that controls more and more of the country by night. Foreigners have been targeted and are fleeing. The generals live in guarded compounds.All this was to have been changed by a national conference that opened near Algiers yesterday.

In appealing to the U.S. government to "promote democracy" in Tunisia, the authors of "In Tunisia, history repeats (sort of)" (Jan. 26) are asking the U.S. to completely reverse its decades-long policy of supporting dictators throughout the world who allow their populations to be used as low-wage labor for multinational corporations. Short of a popular revolution here, no such radical departure will occur. Under Democrats, under Republicans, dictators are supported while meaningless phrases about supporting democracy are uttered to the public by politicians from both pro-business parties.

PADUA, Italy -- In speaking about the Mediterranean in particular and Muslim-Western relations in general, clarity would be served by doing away with the words ''fundamentalism'' and ''fundamentalist.'' Their use not only promotes stereotypes but misrepresents political struggles as religious conflicts.That comment follows from a discussion in Padua this month among Muslim and Western scholars at a meeting organized by the Community of Sant' Egidio. The community is an ecumenical Roman Catholic lay group, born of the intellectual and religious ferment of the '60s, which two years ago managed to bring all the factions in Algeria, the government excepted, to agree on a platform for dialogue.

The storming of Air France Flight 8969, by a special unit of the Gendarmerie, Monday in Marseilles, was a great tactical victory in the war on terrorism. It prevented use of the airliner and some 170 hostages as a giant firebomb on Paris.The Algerian civil war did not drop on France out of the skies. It was already there. Terrorists have used French sanctuary, as have their victims. Rebels accuse France of propping up the Algerian dictatorship. Terrorists have assassinated some 80 foreigners in Algeria in 15 months -- including four priests as reprisal for the storming of the plane -- crippling French business.

Another experiment in democracy bit the dust. President Chadli Benjedid's bold plan to introduce more real democracy in Algeria than any Arab state has known ended Sunday under the tracks of the tanks President Chadli himself sent into Algiers. Their mission was to destroy the movement that would have won the election that was just postponed, and that would in all probability have ended democracy itself.The arrest of Abbasi Madani, chief of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), his principal lieutenant, Ali Belhadj and hundreds (or thousands)

The promise of a presidential election next year made by the military front man, President Liamine Zeroual, will not bring peace to Algeria. In the short run, nothing will. Blundering by the military Socialist regime in power since 1962 has brought about a civil war such as threatens many Islamic countries, between modernism camouflaged as moderation and extremism disguised as fundamentalism, between ethnic majorities and minorities, between male clerical authority and women.The Islamic Salvation Front (FIS)

The Algerian army's onslaught against guerrillas in recent days will accomplish good if it is accompanied by negotiations with opposition parties leading to a transfer of authority. The regime of President Liamine Zeroual has the power to unify the opposition or drive a wedge between its moderate and fanatic wings. Too often, it has done the former.The military regime in Algeria is wrong to claim through semi-official newspapers that it has virtually eliminated the Armed Islamic Group (GIA)

The Algerian army's suppression of the Islamic Salvation Front is an attack not only on democracy but also on demographics. Numbers are on the side of the suppressed. So is time.The older generation of people who matter in Algeria are French-educated, worldly and secular. They would dread a society governed by the sharia, or traditional Islamic law, that would banish women from work and view, forbid alcohol and impose punishments for crimes that seemed just many centuries ago but do not now.The younger generation is more religious, Arab and Middle Eastern, less French and tolerant.

Landon Donovan got the goal. Jozy Altidore got the cuts and bruises. On Thursday, the day after the most memorable victory in decades for U.S. soccer, both players were holding court near the American team's rural base in Irene. For obvious reasons, the larger media crowd was gathered around three-time World Cup veteran Donovan. The argument could easily be made, however, that Altidore was just as responsible for beating Algeria. Certainly, Algeria was responsible for beating him. As the main U.S. target man up front, Altidore was constantly hacked, kicked, tripped, shoved and generally roughed up during the 1-0 win — as much as anyone can rough up a player of his size and strength.

TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS NASCAR Sprint Cup: Toy./Save Mart 350 (T) SPEED Noon MLB Kansas City@Washington MASN 9 a.m. Cincinnati@Oakland MLB 3:30 Kansas City@Washington MASN 4:30 Detroit@Mets ESPN 7 Florida@Orioles MASN2 7 Cubs@Seattle WGN-A 10 Cleveland@Philadelphia (T) CN8 10:30 Kansas City@Washington (T) MASN 11:30 C. base. NCAA World Series: teams TBA ESPN2 7 WNBA Tulsa@Atlanta NBA Noon World Cup Group Stage: Algeria vs. U.S. ESPN 9:30 a.m. Group Stage: England vs. Slovenia ESPN2 9:30 a.m. Group Stage: Germany vs. Ghana ESPN 2 Group Stage: Australia vs. Serbia ESPN2 2 Group Stage: Algeria vs. U.S. (T)

Even if you're not into soccer, I hope you saw this one. This was a finish for the ages, as good as it gets in any sport you can name. This was the U.S. vs. Algeria in the World Cup on Wednesday, loser goes home, a tense match made even more nail-biting by the fact the Americans kept finding new and creative ways to blow easy goal-scoring opportunities. When Landon Donovan scored his thrilling rebound shot in the 91st minute -- three more minutes and the U.S. would have been packing its bags to go home instead of advancing with a 1-0 win -- the crowd around me at Slainte Irish Pub in Fells Point erupted.

It took England barely four minutes to pierce the U.S. defense before the back line stiffened. It took Slovenia all of 13 minutes to find a way through the U.S. rear guard before American resolve came to the fore. So, after salvaging a 1-1 tie in its first match and a 2-2 tie in its second, what sort of performance is U.S. coach Bob Bradley's team going to produce Wednesday morning, when Algeria is the opponent in Pretoria? Will it be another slow start, or have the lessons of the World Cup been learned?

Germany scored two goals in each half as the three-time champion beat Australia 4-0 Sunday in Group D of the World Cup in Durban, South Africa. Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose scored in the first 30 minutes as Australia coach Pim Verbeek's defensive tactics backfired, and Thomas Mueller and Cacau added the others. "We earned respect for ourselves," Klose said. "It was hugely important to win the first game, but nothing is won yet." In Group C play in Polokwane, Robert Koren scored a late goal to give Slovenia a 1-0 win over 10-man Algeria.

Motivation level high Paul Doyle Hartford Courant After a sometimes lethargic performance against the Netherlands on Wednesday, the U.S. doesn't seem primed for much success in the World Cup. And with the Americans slipping to 18th in the FIFA rankings, expectations couldn't be lower. That's why the U.S. can sneak out of the first round in South Africa. After opening with a doozy - England on June 12 - the Americans have Slovenia and Algeria.

WASHINGTON -- Barely noticed in the United States except during explosive events like last weekend's bloody hijacking of an Air France jetliner, Algeria's slide into civil war poses a serious threat to U.S. interests in Europe and throughout the Middle East.Situated across the Mediterranean from France, which ruled the North African country for 114 years, Algeria holds the potential to send hundreds of thousands of panicked immigrants flocking to Europe, where an influx of foreigners in recent years already has triggered a popular backlash in some countries.

CHERIF GUELLAL, 76 Algerian resistance fighter and diplomat Cherif Guellal, an Algerian resistance fighter, businessman and diplomat who cut a glamorous figure in Washington society and was the longtime companion of a former Miss America, died of leukemia April 7 at a hospital in Algiers. Mr. Guellal was a veteran of the bloody independence movement that in 1962 secured freedom for his north African country from French rule. After serving as a top lieutenant to Ahmed Ben Bella, the rebel leader-turned-president, Mr. Guellal arrived in Washington as post-colonial Algeria's first ambassador to the United States.

CAIRO, Egypt - Two car bombs struck near a hotel and a military compound in Algeria yesterday, killing at least 11 people and wounding 31, the Algerian Interior Ministry said. The blasts followed Tuesday's deadly attack on prospective recruits at a police academy. The car bombs detonated about 15 minutes apart around 6 a.m. local time in the town of Bouira. The first injured four soldiers outside a regional military command center, according to the Algerian press agency. The second killed at least 11 people around the Sophie Hotel, which is reportedly used by employees of a Canadian construction company building a dam in eastern Algeria.