The flow of foreign militants to Pakistan worries Western governments, which fear the south Asian country has replaced Iraq as the place to go for aspiring Islamists planning attacks on the West.

The camps will probably be smaller and the skills on offer less photogenic to al Qaeda's online video audience, but that is no deterrent to Arabs, Central Asians and Europeans making their way to the turbulent northwestern tribal areas.

Those arrivals are in addition to a steady flow of Britons of Pakistani descent who have visited the area for many years, security sources say. The assumption among many Western officials is that U.S. success in Iraq since 2006 has diverted some recruits for the anti-Western cause to the Pakistan-Afghan theatre.

While Iraq rarely provided the range of commando-style training available in the 1990s at sprawling al Qaeda camps on the border with Afghanistan, Iraq's draw as a battlefield in 2003-2006 diverted potential jihadi trainees away from Pakistan.

The goal today for these young men is to fight U.S. forces in neighbouring Afghanistan or to gain the skills to carry out attacks back home in the Middle East, Africa or the West.

Now, porous borders, corrupt officials and inventive smugglers mean a determined foreigner has little problem simply entering Pakistan, experts say, although reaching a camp in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas can be harder due to U.S. drone attacks and tougher security checks by militant groups.

Counter-terrorism experts also say that Somalia and Yemen are also emerging as destinations for aspiring al Qaeda fighters.

The following are a selection of quotes on this topic from security officials and analysts.

Rob Wainwright, Director of the European Union police agency Europol

"We see a pattern which shows Afghanistan and Pakistan seem to have replaced Iraq as preferred destinations for volunteers wishing to engage in armed conflict ... We still see that recruits travel to training camps as part of their radicalisation process.

"Those who get training on the Pakistani-Afghan border are from various backgrounds -- for example European converts and persons with Arab, North African and Turkish backgrounds."

"Some of these persons who have been trained in Pakistan were arrested in Europe in connection with cases of attempt of terrorist attacks."

Brynjar Lia, research professor, Norwegian Defence Research Establishment.

"There is an increased emphasis on Afghanistan and Pakistan as a jihadi arena in al Qaeda's online propaganda ... The appearance of European jihadis in al Qaeda propaganda material, for example martyrdom videos, suggests the numbers are increasing."

But Pakistan's "distance from the heart of the Arab world in general, and from Palestine in particular, is a big minus compared to the Iraqi battlefield, according to al Qaeda ideologues."

Richard Barrett, coordinator of the U.N.'s al Qaeda-Taliban monitoring team.

"Training over the last couple of years has typically taken place in small compounds which you find throughout the area of northwest Pakistan, rather than in large purpose-built camps. I have also heard of it taking place in apartments or houses in places like Karachi. It is hard to spot and quantify."

Senior Belgian police officer Alain Grignard, quoted by U.S.-based counter-terrorism publication CTC Sentinel.

"Not since before 9/11 have we seen as many people travel towards the Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict region."

Brian Glyn Williams, Associate Professor of Islamic History at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.

"I've seen epitaphs of Kazakhs, Turks, Azerbaijanis, and Uzbekistanis on recent jihadi websites (related to the Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict zone).

British counter-terrorism source

"People are still continuing to go (from Britain). Numbers are hard to judge but it remains a matter of concern.

Drone attacks have had a suppressant effect, making training and communication harder for al Qaeda and linked groups."

Raphael Perl, Head of the Action Against Terrorism Unit at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

"There's no question that people are still going and the campaign to recruit people has intensified greatly.

"A small percentage go into active operations immediately. Some are just used for cannon fodder, in that part of Asia. And some of the very capable ones are sent back and told blend into society."

Jean-Pierre Filiu, associate professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

"The Iraq war bred a new generation of (French-based) jihadis who weren't involved in violent extremism before ... There was the fear of a backlash from people coming back from Iraq, battle-hardened and with new techniques. So the backlash was handled, those people were monitored closely, several networks were dismantled.
"French militants don't go to Pakistan or Yemen."

Noman Benotman, Libyan former anti-Soviet fighter in Afghanistan.

"I think the message many Arabs receive from al Qaeda leaders nowadays is - don't come here (to Pakistan). We don't need you here: Go to Yemen'."

"And we have seen a move to Yemen, mainly by Saudis, to strengthen the al Qaeda base there. It represents a big danger."

Anne Stenersen, the Terrorism Research Group of the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment.

"My general impression is the flow of fighters is definitely not as big as it was in the 1980s, since the situation today is completely different -- in the 1980s the jihad against the USSR was more widely accepted, travel was less restricted, etc...

"Today’s fighters who wish to go ... would face a number of additional challenges -- security services are more alert, drone attacks in the tribal areas, etc.. Also, the groups operating in this region are not a united front, but divided on vital issues such as who to fight -- the 'occupation' of Afghanistan, or the Pakistani government. (There is) anecdotal evidence of foreign fighters who get caught up in tribal conflicts or end up fighting the Pakistani security forces for self-defence, rather than entering into Afghanistan."

Mustafa Alani, Gulf Research Centre

(Whether in Pakistan or Yemen), the major al Qaeda investment is in recruitment, not training. Most action now involves suicide bombers or exploding a car by remote control. This mainly requires influencing the mind of the subject, while most of the physical training can be done in a room. The old-style camps we saw on the publicity videos, where fighters climb over obstacles or go across fires, are mostly in the past. The groups have passed this stage. Now it is about how to evade things like monitoring in an airport. And that is a response to the new technology of counter-terrorism."  

Saman Zarifi, Amnesty International Asia-Pacific Director
"The madrassas are training people, taking over abandoned buildings and schools. Everyone has anecdotal evidence of Arabs and Central Asians. But it's not the same volume as the past, as the Pakistani state is no longer in that business."

Pakistani High Commissioner to Britain Wajid Shamsul Hasan

"The foreign militants are there ... and with due assistance from our friends in the West, hopefully we can overcome them."

By Edmund Blair

It was a simple question but it touched a raw nerve.

Mohamed, my 46-year-old taxi driver, had been wondering where I learnt Arabic. So I explained that I had been based in Egypt a few years ago and had now returned to take up a new post in the Reuters bureau. So, I asked, how's life these days?

And then it began. He launched into a tirade about an economy where the rich were getting richer and the poor poorer,a government that only seemed concerned about staying in power and the difficulty of paying for the education of his four sons -- the eldest of whom he is now supporting through university.

Taxi drivers are an all-too-common sounding ground for foreign journalists and the kind of rant I listened to is probably not so unusual the world over. But what made Mohamed's comments striking is that taxi drivers in other countries probably aren't, like him, fully qualified accountants.

"There are doctors, engineers, teachers, all of them driving taxis. They just don't earn enough otherwise," he told me, grinding to a halt as a pick-up tried to do a U-turn in the middle of a narrow road. "This government doesn't even provide order." It's hard to argue with that point on the streets of the capital where even the newest cars have scratches and dents, testimony to traffic rules that seem to be regarded -- at least to any visitor -- as optional.

Mohamed quit accountancy 15 years ago when he realised it couldn't pay the bills. Now he earns about 50 to 60 Egyptian pounds, $9 to $11, for each 10-hour day. That's what he takes home after paying for fuel and keeping his car on the road, giving him about 1,200 to 1,400 pounds a month. He might earn just half that as an accountant for the government, which still dominates the job market despite a raft of liberalising reforms introduced by a cabinet appointed in 2004.

Since those reforms were implemented, the economy has grown at quite a clip. Growth hit 7 percent last year, the level economists had long said Egypt needed to finally start creating enough jobs to cut unemployment rather than simply keep pace with population growth in this country of 80 million (The global crisis has taken its toll on the export and tourist-oriented economy, however, and depressed growth to 4 percent this year).

Despite a strong performance that has drawn praise from the World Bank and international investors, most ordinary Egyptians say the only thing that has changed for them are prices -- food and other goods have become more expensive. Inflation and subsidised bread shortages sparked public protests and violence last year -- the height of the boom -- and prompted the government to order a 30 percent hike in some state wages. The debate filling newspapers now is whether the government will deliver an adequate rise in this year's budget starting in July.

It's not just workers who are struggling. Middle class Egyptians are feeling the squeeze. Mohamed pays for extra private tuition for his kids because he says the state system is inadequate. It is a story you hear from many middle class households. As if to prove Mohamed's point, the independent Al-Masry Al-Youm daily, on the day he spoke, carried a frontpage article describing a school in south Egypt with 952 children,educated in two shifts a day, but only 100 chairs. Girls have seats and boys sit on the floor, it said with an accompanying photograph.

When I could get a word in edgeways, I asked Mohamed why there weren't more protests like last year. "I'll tell you," he explained. "The people are not united, they are afraid to go out and protest. And, of course, most people are too busy trying to feed and educate their families."

That's also a common refrain. The Egyptian authorities tend to send heavy security to head off protests and only allow regular demonstrations in a few specific spots in the capital.
Even when demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak, in power since 1981, and his government hit the streets of the capital more broadly around 2005, they rarely gathered more than a few hundred activists. The argument then, as now, was people just have too many other concerns.

"I'm sorry to have spoken to you like this. But I have so much frustration inside. It's a beautiful country but it is run badly," he said. Appropriately, we were running alongside an attractive stretch of the Nile by then.

At the end of the drive, I asked him if I could use his name but he said he'd probably end up in jail if I did. So I've changed it though I am not sure he would have been locked up. I also tipped him $5 on top of the $5 fare (you can go a long way rather cheaply in Egypt). Most of my taxi drivers aren't so lucky with my tips but I'm still not sure I offered him enough after he gave me such insight.

BAGHDAD - When U.S. bombs rained on Baghdad in 2003, rocking the ground beneath me, I would never have imagined U.S. soldiers would later join my family for a birthday party.

In fact, I and most Iraqis could not believe Saddam Hussein was really on his way out six years ago. Even after his statue was toppled in Firdos Square, many believed his real plan  to eject the Americans would come, and that the easy invasion was really an ambush. In the end it kind of was, though not of Saddam's doing.

When U.S. soldiers first came, I remember them sitting on their tanks, waving hello. As a student of English, I was curious and eager to talk to them, even though I still worried about what Saddam's people would do if I was seen. A U.S. soldier told me he'd defend me from Saddam even if he only had the small pistol strapped to his leg, which made me laugh, but my father took him seriously, and was hopeful. Some soldiers shouted "shaku maku", meaning "what's up" in Iraqi slang, eliciting shy smiles and nervous waves from Iraqis.

During a regular American house-to-house search they tumbled upon my family celebrating a birthday, and they stayed for a while at our invitation, cheering with us. We swapped phone numbers, took photos together, and they even stayed to watch the Oprah Winfrey Show with us on TV.

Little did we know that a Sunni-led insurgency and Shi'ite militia uprising was brewing, and that I would soon witness people being shot in the head on my way to work.

The sectarian bloodshed began in earnest when militants destroyed a revered Shi'ite shrine in Samarra in February 2006, and the slaughter continued into the following year. Many Iraqis blame the United States for triggering the catastrophe. Every day saw more bodies in the street.

My exchanges with the Americans stopped -- being a "traitor" was a death sentence. There were no more "shaku makus" from the Americans either, and the sight of a U.S. troop convoy would put other drivers on edge. Often nervous and young, U.S. troops gained a reputation among Iraqis for shooting first and asking questions later.

The violence has since quietened down, and talk now has turned to the departure of U.S. forces by the end of 2011.A television advertisement urging national unity shows U.S. troops leaving and collecting their gear while children play soccer, with the slogan "They leave, we stay".

The joke in Iraq is "We are killed, displaced or emigrate. They stay".

Some Iraqis can't wait for the U.S. troops to leave, but I'm worried violence will flare when they are gone. Some from both camps do not believe U.S. forces are really leaving.

I personally miss my chats with them, and have rarely seen them recently as they slowly withdraw from towns and cities. A few days ago I saw a U.S. soldier in the street waving to people as they passed by.

It wasn't clear to me if he was waving hello or goodbye.

Once the most popular politician in Greece, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis
has seen his ratings decline, hit by a wave of scandals, party rebels and the world economic crisis.

As little as a year ago, he managed to turn his political fortunes around, winning elections after deadly forest fires, a feat admired by friends and foes alike.

His razor thin majority forebode political trouble ahead. But since September
he has suffered several major blows - losing two ministers suspected of
wrongful dealings, having to sack rebel deputies and dealing with a flurry
of protests over his handling of the economy.

"Lately, Mr Karamanlis appears to be losing power and takes no initiative to act. The political hegemony he has enjoyed since 2004, is now directly
challenged," wrote commentator Antonis Karakousis in the major Athens daily Ta Nea.  "The government appears to be at the mercy of events."

Foreign diplomats in Athens say Karamanlis must act quickly to end feuds among his top ministers and take charge of his party before more damage is done. "I have seen him do none of that," one European ambassador said.

Karamanlis's style of the serious, somewhat laconic and removed leader has
served him well so far but may not be what's needed when his voters are
facing a harsh economic reality and the socialist opposition is for the
first time in years ahead in opinion polls, political analysts say.

Although still seen as a better leader than his rival, Socialist party leader
George Papandreou, a recent poll showed 62 percent of those asked said their opinion of Karamanlis had worsened.

A wave of scandals has tarnished his image as the man who came in to fight
corruption and even deputies from his ruling New Democracy party have accused his
ministers of being insensitive to people's hardships.

In September he publicly backed two ministers suspected of wrongdoing -
including his closest aide Theodoros Roussopoulos - but was forced to accept their resignations soon after, bowing to political pressure.

When party rebel Petros Tatoulis ignored warnings to keep quiet he was expelled from the party last week, bringing the New Democracy deputies down to 151 in the 300-seat house.

"The prime minister is in a personal and political dead end. But he has no right to lead the country to a dead end as well," Tatoulis wrote on his blog  the sacking.

This was a far cry from the admiration Karamanlis had long enjoyed, mainly
for turning the economy around. With the world economic downturn reaching Greece and his finance minister criticised for a series of misfires, that advantage appears to be slipping.

It would take just one more party rebel to bring the government down and polls indicate no party can rule alone if elections were held now - an ominous prospect for Greece during a world crisis.

So far, Karamanlis has made few appearances and spoken little on what most Greeks want to hear most - measures to relieve economic hardship. Political observers say they are keen to see whether he will overcome his own political instincts to wait things out, take the centre stage and act before he is forced to new elections.