War in the Philippines

While most of the world is focused on Beijing and South Ossetia, the renewed conflict between the Philippino government and the Al Qaeda-backed Moro Islamic Liberation Front (the MILF) is heating up. The ceasefire between the MILF and government forces has effectively crumbled, with a renewed government assault on MILF controlled territory under way, and over 130,000 villagers displaced in the fighting (put things into perspective, about 10-20 thousand South Ossetians have been displaced in the recent fighting).

Why does this matter? The MILF is an Islamic organization in the Philippines (and also with a presence in Malaysia, if I am not mistaken) noted for its ties with Al Qaeda, having operated several prominent training facilities for Al Qaeda operatives in the Philippines. Outside of Afghanistan and Pakistan, these guys are probably next in line in terms of training for Al Qaeda fighters. While the MILF training camps themselves have long since been taken out, their re-entering conflict could signal a resurgence of Al Qaeda-type organizations and their influence in Southeast Asia, which, quite frankly I think has been horribly left out of the whole "war on terror" equation.