Hubris Behind Brazil's Ties With Iran
Andres Oppenheimer

Brazil's key diplomatic support of Iran's increasingly isolated regime is baffling the international community. There are several theories about Brazil's behavior, some of them quite troubling.

Iran's Political 'Gridlock' - Farideh Farhi on Iran
Bernard Gwertzman

Analyst Farideh Farhi says Iran is in a state of stalemate as Iran marks the 31st anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's revolution. This will remain true, she says, regardless of the type of street demonstrations that unfold or the government response to them. The problems of Iran, highlighted by ongoing protests since flawed presidential elections, remain unsolved

Iran's 'Excruciating' Human Rights Record
Bernard Gwertzman

The UN Human Rights Council issued its review of Iran's human rights record, on the heels of what was widely seen as the Iranian government's stifling of protests during the Islamic Revolution celebrations. The protests are an extension of the ongoing unrest in the country since the disputed presidential election results. Iran accepted some of the recommendations, but rejected many others.

A Less-Confident Iran May Become Even more Dangerous
Ian Bremmer

For those worried over Iran's nuclear ambitions, Iran's defiant and self-confident government created plenty of trouble. A wounded and more isolated Iranian regime will become more dangerous and less predictable. Sanctions won't be tough enough to force Iran to renounce its nuclear ambitions, but they'll be harsh enough to encourage an increasingly anxious Iranian government to lash out

New Palestinian Statehood Push and Nuclear Threat to Israel
Louis R. Beres

The Palestinian Authority still makes its aggressive intentions plain. On its official emblem, Israel is covered with an Arab Keffiyah headdress, next to a Kalashnikov rifle, and a picture of Yasser Arafat.

U.S. Must Remain Active Diplomatic Player in Iraq
Henry A. Kissinger

So far, the Obama administration has recoiled from discussing Iraq's geo-strategic significance and especially America's relation to it. Yet while Iraq is being exorcised from our debate, its reality is bound to obtrude itself on our consciousness. America's withdrawal from Iraq will not diminish the geo-strategic importance of the country even as it alters the context of it.

Upcoming Iraqi Elections - Political Tremors
Brett H. McGurk

Recent news that Sunni candidates were banned from upcoming Iraqi elections has focused attention on that March 7 vote -- a crucial election for a new government to serve through 2014. Much is at stake, and the United States will have to maneuver carefully, supporting but not overtly interfering with the vote, cabinet formation, and then a new Iraqi government.

Iran Sacrifices Its Future
Paul Greenberg

I have just read about a new high-water mark in the persecution of intellectuals. Or just the intelligent. For setting it, the world can thank Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and his clerical keepers, notable among them the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Tension Simmers in Iran
William Pfaff

Continued post-election protests in Iran identify either a pre-revolutionary situation or that condition which the French call 'fin de regime' -- political decadence suggesting that the end may be near, but might also be very bad. Recent events in Iran resemble those that led up to the revolution that compelled the Shah to flee Iran in 1979 and were followed by the creation of the Islamic Republic. The question is what will the outcpome be this time and what impact it will have on stability in the Middle East

Mind of Martyr: How to Deradicalize Islamist Extremists
Jessica Stern

Is it possible to deradicalize terrorists and their potential recruits? Saudi Arabia, a pioneer in terrorism prevention and rehabilitation, claims that it is. And yet so far, the Saudis have shared very little information about their program's successes and failures.

Voting Present on Iran
Victor Davis Hanson

Instead of complying with international requests to stand down, Iran has decided to step up efforts to enrich uranium, which, despite the government's denial, is all but certainly intended for a bomb. Here's why ...

Palestinians Start to Show Progress
Mortimer B. Zuckerman

There is still a ways to go, but the progress being made by the Palestinians, especially in terms of controlling the terrorists and criminal gangs, is one of the most promising developments to have occurred in decades.

Israel's Challenges from the United Nations to the J Street Lobby
Harold Evans

It's depressing that almost the only news you get about Israel is so determinedly negative. If you asked nearly anyone about Israel, it's a good bet nobody would say ...

Despite Obama's Concessions, Russia Remains Unhelpful on Iran
Joshua Kucera

The Obama administration's announcement last month that it was scrapping plans to build missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic removed a prime irritant in the U.S.-Russian relationship; Russians felt the missile defense network was targeted as much at them as against the purported threat, Iran. And the move appeared at first to pay dividends. However ...

Obama Fumbling a Chance for Middle East Peace
Mortimer B. Zuckerman

Only four percent of Israelis see Obama as a friend. Obama should worry about this. So should we all, for the alienation has significant consequences for peace

On Gaza, the UN Targets Israel Again
Harold Evans

A new report is the gold standard of moral equivalence between killer and victim in Gaza.

Iran: Words Without Action or Resolved to Be Unresolved
Paul Greenberg

'Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follow, endangering the global nonproliferation regime, denying its own people access to the opportunity they deserve, and threatening the stability and security of the region and the world.' No, that wasn't Israel's tough-talking prime minister, Bibi Netanyahu, warning against Iran's aggressive tendencies again. It was Barack Obama addressing the UN Security Council.

Obama Faces Reality on Iran, Middle East
Kenneth T. Walsh

President Obama's disclosure that Iran has been building a secret uranium enrichment plant underscores a truism in foreign policy: Harsh reality trumps good intentions. Obama says the plant is further evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program, and he promises to push even harder for sanctions against the Tehran regime.

Consequences of the Palestinian-Israel Status Quo
William Pfaff

There seems to have been a mistake made when President Barack Obama named former Sen. George J. Mitchell his special representative concerned with settlement of the Palestinian-Israel impasse. The president and Mr. Mitchell seem to have believed that the problem is one of negotiation between adamantly opposed but ultimately reconcilable parties.

Shimon Peres on Peace, Obama's Tough Love, and Working in the Shadows
Arianna Huffington

It's hard to spend any time with Israeli President Shimon Peres and remain pessimistic about the possibility of peace. 'I'm 86,' he told me, 'and at a moment in my life when I have no personal agenda. I'm not interested in money. I'm not jealous of anyone. My only agenda is my country. I feel freer than I've ever felt before -- and with this freedom I can be most effective. At my age I don't want a suntan. I like being in the shadows.'

Iraq War -- What War
Victor Davis Hanson

The war in Iraq is scarcely in the news any longer, despite the fact that 141,000 American soldiers are still protecting the fragile Iraqi democracy, and 114, as of this writing, have been lost this year in that effort. But after the success of the surge, there are far fewer American fatalities each month

The Diplomatic Myths and Illusions of the Middle East
by Robert Schlesinger

Incorrect preconceptions and misguided conventional wisdom hamper American policy in the Middle East, Dennis Ross and David Makovsky write in Myths, Illusions, and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East.

Time to Get Out of Iraq
Joe Galloway

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has suggested that he might speed up our withdrawal from Iraq by pulling out an additional brigade combat team by year's end. Good idea! How about pulling out FIVE more brigades by then

Iran at Crossroads of History
Will this Regime Fall Like Shah's
Abolhassan Bani-Sadr

Within six short weeks since the recent election, the government of the Islamic Republic has been publicly divided, delegitimized, challenged and weak. As a result, we can now draw some analytical parallels between the current regime and the pre-1979 monarchy, and between the two occasions of political unrest.

Israeli - Palestinian Peace
(c) M. Ryder

Obama, Solana Mean Business About Two-State Solution
by William Pfaff

The Israeli press reports with alarm that the United States has threatened to reduce by $1 billion the guarantee the U.S. Treasury customarily provides for Israel state borrowings, which assure them the best commercial terms.

This is evidence that the Obama government is serious about halting Israel's colonization of the Palestinian territories -- and about imposing, rather than merely inviting, a two-state Middle East solution.

 

Israel Fortifies Presence in Latin America
Andres Oppenheimer

Following three years of frantic Iranian activities in Latin America that included three trips by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the region -- a fourth visit is scheduled in August to Brazil -- and the opening or enlargement of a half-dozen Iranian embassies, Israel is beginning to raise its own profile in the region.

From Iraq to Afghanistan, U.S. Foreign Wars Not Going According to Plan
by William Pfaff

In Iraq, tension was reported to be increasing between the Americans and the Iraqi military and security forces, who were supposed to take over the Americans' responsibilities. Move to another front: Pakistan-Afghanistan. Here there was also supposed to be a straightforward job to do: drive the Taliban out of Afghanistan, into the Tribal Areas of the Pakistan border. There, the Pakistan army, with American urging and help, would defeat and disarm them.

Iran Election Historical Analogies Misleading & Dangerous
by Paul J. Saunders

Many political leaders and pundits have called for more active and vocal American support of the Iranian opposition, typically on the basis of analogies to oppressive regimes of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these analogies are misleading and even dangerous if used as guides to policy. The historical cases most similar to present-day Iran should instill caution.

On Iran, the U.S. Needs Handshakes and an Iron Fist
by Mortimer B. Zuckerman

The argument went, civilized dialogue with Iran was more likely if we chose to treat its external conduct separately from its internal character. Such an approach, not threatening the Islamic republic's claim, would give us a better chance of restraining its nuclear ambitions and its support for terrorism. Obama did his bit to press the reset button with grace and eloquence. And what was Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's response? ...

Diplomacy Can and Will Work With Iran
by Senator John Kerry

President Obama is right to open the door to direct engagement with Iran. Negotiations-backed by escalating sanctions to show we mean business if talks fail are the only way short of war that we can persuade Iran to rein in its nuclear ambitions and begin building a more stable and secure Middle East.

Islamic Republic Acronym
(David Horsey)

Iran Election Mess Is Just a Reflection of Global Human Failings
by Louis Ren� Beres

Today's dramatic Iranian instability is more a specific symptom of general civilizational fragility than an isolated disease.

Beneath the surface, all world politics readily reveals a distinctly common disorder. This is the incapacity of human beings to find both meaning and identity as individuals, within themselves.

CONTINUE >>

 

Missing Our Moment in Iran
by Victor Davis Hanson

Last month, hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets to protest a rigged presidential election. Our president was extremely cautious in his initial criticism of the Iranian government's fierce crackdown against the protestors. At first, President Obama said that the United States -- given our history in Iran -- should not be "meddling" in

Obama Presses Israel on Settlements
by William Pfaff

The Obama administration's confrontation with Israel over its colonies inside the Palestine territories began as a test of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's willingness to enter serious negotiations on a Middle Eastern settlement.

'W' is For Withdrawal
by Robert C. Koehler

National Sovereignty Day, the day U.S. troops withdrew from Iraqi cities. Sorry, but Iraq is still America's sovereign lackey: broken and smoldering. Some 130,000 U.S. troops remain in the country, withdrawn for the most part to the permanent bases we've built over the last six years. The country's infrastructure is shattered, and shocking bursts of violence remain a common occurrence

U.S. Troops Leave Iraqi Cities, but Unsettled Issues Remain
by William Pfaff

If all goes correctly, when this column is read American troops will be gone from the cities of Iraq. Then the calculation must begin as to whether some half-million to million lives lost, and the infrastructure and social structure of Baghdad, and much of the rest of the Iraqi nation, ruined, have served some good purpose.

Violence Spikes as U.S. Troops Withdraw From Iraq's Cities
by Alex Kingsbury

Militants in Iraq staged a series of bomb and machine gun attacks in the past ten days that left more than 250 dead and the country on edge. Increased carnage as the U.S. forces prepare to depart was not unexpected, American and Iraqi officials say.

Attacks on U.S. Soldiers Show Iraq Is Not Yet Safe
by Anna Mulrine

U.S. combat troops officially withdrew from all Iraqi cities this week, and the Iraqi government declared a national holiday to commemorate the event. But with the celebration came a stark reminder that the war in Iraq continues for U.S. troops and that the country is far from safe.

Iranian Protests a Direct Challenge to Khamenei
by Anna Mulrine

"Flexing muscle on the streets after the election is not right," warned Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the days before the bloodshed. "If they don't stop, the consequences of the chaos would be their responsibility." Those consequences included casualties that resulted from the worst upheaval in Tehran in 30 years, as well as mass arrests last week, with more than 600 protesters jailed ...

Iran Election Twitters In a Revolution
by Mary Kate Cary

It was a battle to show who could best harness the only real news source on the ground -- the new social media -- to report fast, accurate, and insightful information. Cable and network news lost both the battle and the war. Two of the journalists who won were Andrew Sullivan, a political blogger for the old-line magazine Atlantic Monthly, and Nico Pitney of the younger Huffington Post. Sullivan and Pitney looked at the gold mine of information sitting on the new social media platform and, with two staffers, jumped in. Sullivan and his staff cut and pasted the most interesting, useful, and profound tweets into a document he called "Live-Tweeting the Revolution," updated every few minutes.

Iran: Death to Election Fraud
by Rick Steves

Last year, while in Iran producing a documentary for public television, I observed freedom-loving people patiently making do under a repressive regime. Today, the relatively peaceful Iran I experienced is in turmoil.

As Iranians Revolt, Their Government Reveals True Self
by William Pfaff

The truly significant result of the suppressed Iranian revolt is that the most important Islamist radical movement in the contemporary world has demonstrated that it has become a brutally repressive dictatorship whose leaders rig elections and beat down clear popular demands for a true election count or repeat of the election itself.

The War Between Civilizations That Never Was
by William Pfaff

An important change is evident in what since Samuel Huntington's time has been mistakenly identified and manipulated as a war between Muslim and Western civilizations.

Iran's (So Far) Revolution-less Struggle
by William Pfaff

Iran's cosmopolitan and liberal middle classes and its students are making a revolutionary bid without intending a revolution. Few think that the demonstrations in Tehran, and now in other Iranian cities, can produce a change in regime.

Hungary 1956, Iran 2009
by Paul Greenberg

Liberty is not something that can be rationed; one freedom leads to another. Iran's demagogue-in-chief understands that old truth, which is why he is so determined to crush this peaceful revolution in today's Iran. All the odds are in favor of his doing just that, but Mahmoud Ahmedinejad has already lost something far more important than Iran's presidency; he has lost legitimacy.

Iran Elections: The Silent Revolution
by Paul Greenberg

This is something new: a Silent Revolution. The huge throng that marched through the Iranian capital last Monday spoke nary a word, Theirs was a silent vigil for a liberty not so much lost as never gained, from Shah to Ayatollah. Meanwhile, the White House and President Obama practiced its own form of silence. Things have changed since a president of the United States could be counted on to at least voice a protest when another people are cowed.

President Obama's Iran News Conference
by Cal Thomas

For the first time in a long time, the president was challenged about his positions on Iran, health care and his "occasional" smoking. This may be due to the heavy criticism the media have been getting from commentators who have accused them of not doing their jobs with coverage that has bordered on the worshipful.

Iranian Regime Change Is for Iranians to Decide
by Mary Sanchez

I find Iran's government structure of vaguely democratic elections and Islamic theocracy almost incomprehensible. However, if Iran's government needs reform, it is Iran's people that must make that case -- and they are, very eloquently and tragically even with their lives. The last thing Iranian reformers and protesters need is to be painted as agents of the Great Satan.

The 'Neda Moment' Shows Promise of Social Networking
by Leonard Pitts, Jr.

Maybe you were there when Neda died. If you were, you saw a tragedy, of course, a 26-year-old Iranian protester gunned down in the streets. But I am convinced you also saw the future -- a profound change in the way you and I will henceforth comprehend the world.

Obama's Iran Policy Is a Bomb
by Jonah Goldberg

Here is the one immutable fact of Barack Obama's foreign policy agenda as it relates to Iran: It's over. If the forces of reform and democracy win, Obama's plan to negotiate with the regime is moot, for the regime will be gone.

Obama's Choice Is Not to Choose on Iran
by Jonah Goldberg

Stop measuring the success of your diplomacy with Iran by the degree to which the grinning, hate-filled stooge of a clerical junta will "temper" his rhetoric about the pressing need to destroy Israel and slow his ineluctable pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Iran's Crisis of Legitimacy
Ramin Jahanbegloo - Global Viewpoint

Increasingly, Iran's divine sovereignty has been less about religion than about political theology. As for the popular sovereignty, it has found its due place in social networks and political action of Iranian civil society

Iran Must Void Elections to Restore Peace on Streets
Shirin Ebadi - Global Viewpoint

People's dissatisfaction with the results does not concern the present elections alone: Many objections were made four years ago when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was first elected president. Ahmadinejad's most important position until then had been mayor of Tehran. He was, however, supported by Basij and Ayatollah Khamenei, the Islamic Republic's leader for life. Ahmadinejad's four years of presidency resulted in people's great dissatisfaction.

Will Iran Look More Like Turkey, or Turkey Like Iran
Nathan Gardels - Global Viewpoint

The effort to forge new forms of non-Western modernity in the Muslim world has pushed Iran into bloody civil strife while Turkey swirls with persistent rumors of military plots against the Islamist-rooted government. The great historical question is whether, at the end of the day, Iran will look more like Turkey, or Turkey like Iran

A Cedar Grows in Lebanon
by Paul Greenberg

The election returns in Lebanon represent an impressive comeback for the cause of the martyred Rafik Hariri. He led the party that finally drove the Syrians out of Lebanon in the Cedar Revolution of 2005. And paid for it with his life. His son Saad now leads the coalition of Sunni, Christian and Druze voters that emerged victorious. Its win revives hope -- not just for Lebanon but for democracy in the Middle East

Events in Middle East & Central Asia Challenge U.S's Conventional Assumptions
William Pfaff

Three recent developments in the Muslim Middle East and Central Asia challenge Washington's conventional assumptions about Pakistan, the Taliban, Lebanon and Iran.

Tehran's Take: Understanding Iran's U.S. Policy
by Mohsen M. Milani

Iran's foreign policy is often portrayed in sensationalistic terms, but in reality it is a rational strategy meant to ensure the survival of the Islamic Republic against what Tehran thinks is an existential threat posed by the United States

Essence of Islamist Resistance:
Different View of Iran, Hezbollah & Hamas
by Alastair Crooke

Most Western analysts of political Islam make the same mistake. They instinctively assume that conflict with the West has mainly to do with specific foreign policies, particularly of the U.S. with respect to Israel, the Arab world and Iran, and, if those changed, all would be well.

Israel's Cuban Missile Crisis All the Time
by Victor Davis Hanson

Why would the Iranian government spend billions of dollars on trying to develop a few first-generation nuclear bombs when the country is so poor that it has to ration gasoline? A lot of reasons have been offered by various experts.

Today, North Korea; Tomorrow, Iran - Nuclear Weapons
By Paul Greenberg

North Korea has been playing around with nuclear weapons again, this time setting off an even bigger underground explosion. To which the five veto-wielding powers at the United Nations have responded much as they did the first couple of times the North Korean regime defied the UN by setting off nukes: with oh-so-serious, oh-so-official statements.

The Nation-State is Back & How
International Politics & Foreign Affairs
by Paul Kennedy

About 500 years ago, in parts of Western Europe, a funny thing happened to human society. The national state had arrived, and the world would never be the same.

Waiting For Netanyahu
International Current Events, News & World Affairs

As President Obama prepares to receive Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their first meeting, the situation is very similar to what it was in 1978.

Now as then, Israel is ruled by a rightwing coalition. Now as then, some of its elements are more hawkish than the prime minister and his Likud Party is. Now as then, talks with the other side are ongoing but leading nowhere.

UN critical of Israel over Gaza blockade
The UN's top humanitarian official strongly criticises Israel's Gaza blockade and its expanding settlements.

Israel charges over human shield
Israel charges two of soldiers over the use of a Palestinian boy as a human shield during its offensive against Hamas in Gaza.

Iraq results point to tight race
First results from Iraq's election suggest a tight contest may be developing between PM Nouri Maliki and main rival Iyad Allawi.

Hamas releases British journalist
Hamas releases a British journalist it had held for a month in Gaza, saying at a news conference that it suspects him of being a spy.

Deadly clashes in southern Yemen
At least one person is killed in clashes between police and separatists in southern Yemen.

Egypt's top cleric dies aged 81
Egypt's top Muslim cleric, Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, has died suddenly in Saudi Arabia at the age of 81.

Mid-East peace talks in doubt over housing
The Palestinian Authority says indirect talks with Israel will be "very difficult" if more homes are built on occupied land as planned.

Iran attacks US over Afghanistan
Iranian President says it is the US, not Tehran, that is playing a "double game" in Afghanistan.

Israel sued over dead US activist
A court case brought by the family of Rachel Corrie, a US protester killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in 2003, opens in Israel.

US apology for Gaddafi comments
The US State Department apologises for comments by a spokesman on a call by Libya for holy war against Switzerland.

Israel supermarket uses parody film of Dubai assassins in advert
An Israeli supermarket chain uses spoof surveillance footage, parodying that of the alleged assassins of a Hamas commander in Dubai, in a TV advert.

On trial
Legal battle in Israel over Franz Kafka manuscripts

Between friends
US and Israel dodge settlement confrontation

First vote
The BBC meets some of Iraq's first-time voters

Liberal or stooge?
Sheikh Tantawi never shied away from controversy

Separation fear
Families fight 'racist' Israeli marriage and citizenship law

Audio slideshow
How Palestinians came to love the bagpipes

Israel and Syria in nuclear bids
Israel and Syria both tell a conference in Paris they want to use nuclear power to generate electricity.

Iraq election voter turnout '62%'
The voter turnout in Iraq's parliamentary election was 62%, officials say, despite attacks that killed 38 people.

Israeli 'spymaster' dies aged 82
A former Israeli spy who played a key role in Africa, the Middle East and the 1980s Iran-Contra scandal has died.

Fourth Australian named by Dubai
A fourth Australian passport-holder has been named in connection with the murder of a Hamas commander in Dubai.

US eases sanctions for freer web
The US eases sanctions on Iran, Cuba and Sudan to help further the use of internet services and support opposition groups.

Iranian poet handed 'travel ban'
Iran's most celebrated female poet is banned from travelling out of the country by the government.

Israel 'to build nuclear plant'
Israel is to unveil this week plans to build a nuclear power plant, reports say.

Surgery on Mubarak 'successful'
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak undergoes successful surgery at a German clinic for an inflamed gall bladder, state media say.

PM's Iraq evidence 'disingenuous'
Former defence chiefs challenge Gordon Brown's claim at the Iraq inquiry that no military request for equipment was turned down.

Deadly Iraq car bomb hits Najaf
A car bomb in Iraq's holy city of Najaf kills at least three people on the eve of tense parliamentary elections, officials say.

New trial in Egypt murder case
Egypt's highest court orders the retrial of a tycoon and ex-policeman sentenced to death for killing a Lebanese pop singer.

EU: Settlement goods not Israeli
The European Court of Justice rules that Israeli goods made in Jewish settlements cannot be considered Israeli.

Iraq given its largest IMF loan
The IMF is to lend Iraq $3.6bn to rebuild its infrastructure as low oil prices slash its revenue.

ME anger at Israeli 'escalations'
Clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protestors over the issue of holy sites have provoked a wave of condemnation in the Arab press for Israel's behaviour.

Rebel arrest delights Iran's press
Iran's press has expressed satisfaction at the capture of Sunni rebel leader Abdolmalek Rigi

Iraq vote: Baghdad views
The BBC went to meet three Baghdad residents to find out how their lives have changed - and how they think the election will impact on their communities.

Photos across Israeli Gaza divide
Israelis and Palestinians share their work online

Yemenis discuss security struggle
Yemenis in Sanaa tell the BBC what they think of the international focus on their country as a hotbed of terrorism, and what they think are the biggest challenges facing Yemen.

Bombers fail to derail Iraq vote
Iraqi democracy stays strong amid bomb attacks

Baathist resentment simmer
Spirit of Saddam lives on among Iraqi exiles in Syria

At home with Umm Sheyma
Three generations reflect on life in the unpredictable city

Lost Jews 'found in Zimbabwe'
The Zimbabweans who trace their roots back to Israel

Disturbing Fallujah birth defects
John Simpson on birth defects in Iraqi city

A first 'Palestinian settlement'?
'Settlement' for Palestinians to go up in West Bank

Iraq cracks down on camouflage
Iraq tries to restrict the market in military uniforms

Dubai killing highlights Mossad
Dubai murder wins Mossad the wrong kind of press

BBC News | World | Middle East | UK Edition
Get the latest BBC News from the Middle East: breaking news, features, analysis and debate plus audio and video coverage from across the Middle East.

 

UN chief ‘frustrated' by Israel's planned settlement expansion
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today reiterated his alarm at Israeli plans to expand its settlements in East Jerusalem, stressing that he shares the deep frustrations of Palestinian leaders and of the members of the Arab League.

Rise in strident rhetoric in Israel and Lebanon concerns Secretary-General
More than three years after the Security Council adopted a resolution calling for a complete halt to fighting between Israel and the Lebanese group Hizbollah, the situation in the region remains fragile, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in a new report, which also raises concerns over increasingly bellicose rhetoric warning of renewed fighting.

As Gaza blockade nears 1,000-day milestone, UN official warns situation worsens
The situation in the Gaza Strip is becoming increasingly dire as the Israeli blockade approaches its 1,000th day, allowing an illegal economy to flourish, the new head of the United Nations agency tasked with assisting millions of Palestinian refugees said today.

In Gaza, UN teams destroy unexploded ordnance with white phosphorus
Special United Nations bomb disposal units today successfully destroyed two unexploded ordnance (UXO) containing white phosphorus in the Gaza Strip, the first of a series of planned activities to be conducted in the region over the coming months.

Ban speaks out against Israeli plans to expand settlements
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has repeatedly called for Israel's settlement construction to come to a halt, has condemned its announcement that it is building 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem.

Ban to visit Israel and occupied Palestinian territories later this month
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after attending next week's meeting in Moscow on the Middle East peace process, his spokesperson announced today.

Iraqi Christians fleeing religious violence in Mosul receive UN support
The United Nations and local authorities in northern Iraq are providing food, hygiene kits, kerosene and other humanitarian aid to hundreds of Christian families who fled their homes in the city of Mosul following targeted intimidation and violence.

Applauding election turnout, UN envoy to Iraq calls for unity
The top United Nations envoy to Iraq today praised millions of Iraqis who voted in Sunday's parliamentary elections in a call for political candidates and groups to respect the democratic process as counting got under way around the country.

Secretary-General hopes Moscow meeting will spur direct Israeli-Palestinian talks
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today he hopes the upcoming meeting in the Russian capital of the diplomatic group supporting the Middle East peace process will lead to direct negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Lack of funding hampers UN efforts to support drought-stricken Syrians
A huge shortfall in funding for life-saving emergency assistance to a drought-stricken region of Syria has forced the humanitarian arm of the United Nations to review its response plan for the population suffering under the three-year dry spell, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned today.

UN News Centre - Middle East
A world of news from the world organization.

 

Claims emerge of Iraq election fraud
A leading coalition of opposition parties claimed to have uncovered evidence of fraud in Iraq's general election, as the first preliminary results in the competitive contest emerged on Thursday

US fights to save Middle East talks
The US was battling to keep alive the prospect of a new round of Middle East peace talks on Thursday, after the Palestinian leadership said it would not join indirect negotiations with Israel

Red tape ties up Middle East peace process
Stroke of pen damages Israel's relationship with the US, offends vice-president Joe Biden, provokes fury among Arab and Palestinian leaders and deals a blow to the latest negotiations

Global insight: Israel's dysfunctional coalition
If there were a prize for abysmal political timing, a little-known Israeli government body called the Jerusalem district planning and construction committee would surely be a hot favourite to win the trophy

Shell halts supplies to Iran
The company's withdrawal is the latest sign that the threat of sanctions and Washington's behind-the-scenes efforts to convince companies not to sell to Iran are paying off

US rebuke for Israel over plan for homes
Joe Biden, the US vice-president, has accused Israel of "inflaming tensions" and "prejudicing the outcome" of peace talks, delivering an unusually sharp rebuke to America's closest ally in the Middle East

Dubai World debt talks 'making progress'
British minister optimistic about restructuring conglomerate's $26bn debts despite specific terms yet to be tabled, as creditors upbeat about avoiding a 'haircut' on principal

Don't be so sure invading Iraq was immoral
The decisive issue is whether the invasion was really necessary to stop or prevent a sufficiently great evil, writes Nigel Biggar

Troubled Kuwaiti bank opts for openness
After defaulting on its debts, a repentant Global Investment House tried an unusual tactic in the Middle East – total transparency about its restructuring process

Iran discloses Afghan role in guerrilla leader's capture
Iran's president acknowledges for the first time that Afghan and Pakistani intelligence helped his government to hunt down the leader of an ethnic opposition movement

Israeli housing push hits peace moves
Israel reveals plans to build a further 1,600 housing units in a Jewish settlement in occupied East Jerusalem – dealing a blow to the US-led effort to restart peace talks

Iraq poll hailed as key to US pull-out
The general election in Iraq is a 'milestone' towards the complete withdrawal of American troops, the senior US commander in the country said

Anxiety towards Iraq rises in Kuwait
The US may be eagerly awaiting the complete withdrawal of its troops from Iraq next year, but Kuwait views the departure date with trepidation

Broad footprint helps bank step ahead
EFG-Hermes has been one of the few financial sector stars during the global crisis but the Egypt-based finance house has ambitions that go much further

Writedowns push Tabreed to $300m loss
The Middle East's biggest cooling company has said it lost Dh1,118m ($304m) last year as it took sizeable writedowns after over-extending itself during the Gulf's real estate expansion

FT.com - World, Middle East
FT.com - World, Middle East

 

Update: Iran Expands Missile Arsenal

Qatar: Friend or foe?

Silwan: The Untold Story
How Palestinian leaders made conflict in this East Jerusalem neighborhood inevitable.

Leader of Iranian Militant Group Arrested

Why Most Do Not Understand Prophecy
One cannot unlock the mystery in Bible prophecy without this indispensable key.

Iran Won't Let This Election Slip
Watch Iraq’s coming vote. Iran’s plan to dominate its neighbor is becoming reality.

Iranian forces invade Iraqi border

Solomonic Wall Discovered in Jerusalem
Recent three-month excavation raises more ruins of ancient Jerusalem.

Iran Celebrates the Islamic Revolution

Iran: The German Solution
Separate crises in Europe and the Middle East are approaching a climax. Germany seeks to solve both.

Berlin in the Spotlight
Suddenly Germany is propelled onto center stage.

Carrying on the Revolution
Khomeini would be proud.

America's feckless Plan B for "confronting" Iran

South Africa Courts Iran
Pretoria’s support of Tehran demonstrates its anti-democratic and anti-West leanings.

Afghanistan--Guttenberg Gets His Way
Germany’s minister of defense triumphs in contest to strengthen military presence in Afghanistan.

With Friends Like Germany, Who Needs Enemies?
Germany’s actions over Iran prove it cannot be trusted.

The Landmark Meeting No One Noticed
It occurred Monday in Berlin.

"We Need a Better Grasp of the Limits of Our Power"
Israel’s first stab at tough diplomacy ends in humiliation.

Iraqi Prime Minister Caves to Iran
Iranian interference in Iraq runs high as elections near.

What's Behind Yemen's Terror Boom
Terrorists are creating a new haven in the Arabian Peninsula. Why won’t America do a thing about it?

The Oldest Known Hebrew Inscription Confirms Biblical Record
Once again, the Bible is right, and the critics are wrong.

Iran, Turkmenistan Launch New Gas Pipeline

Humble Deployments, Grand Strategy
The German military is involved in yet another theater in the war against terrorism—another small but important step in a grand strategy.

White House Fed Up With Israel and the Palestinians
The White House says the U.S. will reduce its involvement in the Middle East peace process if no progress is made. Bible prophecy says that is exactly what will happen.

How Russia Is About to Dramatically Change the World
In a remote corner of the world, a port bristles with cranes, smokestacks, mammoth ships—and trouble for Europe.

theTrumpet.com: Middle East
theTrumpet.com -- Understand your world.

 

Shell halts supplies to Iran
The company's withdrawal is the latest sign that the threat of sanctions and Washington's behind-the-scenes efforts to convince companies not to sell to Iran are paying off

Iran discloses Afghan role in guerrilla leader's capture
Iran's president acknowledges for the first time that Afghan and Pakistani intelligence helped his government to hunt down the leader of an ethnic opposition movement

Iranian Nobel laureate urges focus on rights
Western companies that aid repression by the government of the Islamic Republic should be subject to punitive action, says the human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi

Fuel cut ignites debate on punishing Tehran
The decision by the world's largest oil traders, to stop supplying Iran with petrol ahead of any tightening of US sanctions will test the arguments of those who disagree about the impact of such punitive measures

Traders cut supplies of petrol to Iran
Big traders have quietly ended sales to the Islamic Republic in a clear sign that the threat of sanctions and Washington's behind-the-scenes efforts to convince companies not to sell to Tehran are paying off

Iran journalist accused of arms smuggling
An Iranian television journalist was among seven people arrested by Italian police on suspicion of violating international sanctions – a claim dismissed by Tehran as western propaganda

Brazil rebuff for Iran sanctions drive
Lula da Silva delivered a blow to the US's hopes of international consensus on measures against the Middle Eastern country

Iranian spies arrested in Italy
Two members of the Iranian secret service were among seven people arrested in early-morning raids across Italy on Wednesday as police said they had broken up an alleged arms-smuggling ring suspected of breaching a UN embargo on Iran

Temperature rises in combustible Middle East
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN watchdog overseeing Iran's nuclear programme, might turn out to have bite as well as bark. Its latest report comes close to accusing Tehran of running a covert atomic weapons programme

New IAEA head takes tougher line
Senior Japanese diplomat who now heads the agency accuses Iran of failing to co-operate with inspectors in his first address to the organisation's board

Tehran closes two reformist journals
The Iranian authorities have closed two reformist journals, including a magazine close to Mehdi Karroubi, the defeated presidential candidate

Israel presses China over Iran sanctions
A group of senior Israeli officials met Chinese officials in Beijing in a visit that underlines the complex balancing act China faces over how to deal with Iran

Caterpillar moves to cut links with Iran
US building equipment group Caterpillar has become the latest company to bow to a lobbyists' 'name and shame' campaign by announcing steps to sever trading links with Iran

US lobbyists push for tough laws on Iran
Lobby groups in the US are helping to push, and even draft, tough congressional legislation against Iran that could tie President Barack Obama's hands as he seeks international consensus on dealing with Tehran's nuclear ambitions

Do not even think about bombing Iran
There is a danger that the option of a military strike against Tehran's nuclear facilities could become a self-fulfilling prophecy, write Michael O'Hanlon and Bruce Riedel

FT.com - Iran
FT.com - Iran

 

US Says Indirect Mideast Peace Talks Still On
State Department says it believes talks will be held despite Arab anger over Israeli plans to build more housing in East Jerusalem

US Reaffirms Support of Israel, Palestinians Threaten to Cancel Negotiations
Vice President Biden wraps up visit to Israel, Palestinian territories, calling for both sides to resume negotiations

Israel Indicts Two Soldiers for Misconduct in Gaza
Soldiers forced a Palestinian boy to check for unexploded bombs during Israel's offensive Gaza Strip

Centrist Groups Take Early Lead in Iraq Vote
First partial results indicate Prime Minister's State of Law coalition has slight lead in two mainly Shi'ite provinces in south

Northern Iraq Commander Might Need Combat Troops Beyond August
Major General Tony Cucolo says troops to continue serving as a buffer between Iraqi national and Kurdish regional forces

HRW Urges West to Press Syria on Human Rights
Human Rights Watch says talking to Syria without putting rights record on table emboldens Damascus

Netanyahu Expresses 'Regret' About Timing of Housing Plan
Approval of plans in East Jerusalem came as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was visiting to help relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace talks

Gates: Iran Provides 'Limited' Support for Taliban
US defense secretary says Iran's influence on Taliban is not a major problem for US at this point

Yemen Marriage Laws Under Scrutiny
Two men in jail today after 12-year-old girl marched into police station, and demanded arrest of father and 26-year-old husband

US Report: Iran's Human Rights Record 'Degenerated' in 2009
It said Iranian security forces were responsible for the deaths of at least 37 people and that security forces.

Arab League, Israel Indirect Talks Off
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas tells Arab League chief he will not enter indirect talks with Israel because of new settlements

US Defense Secretary Visits Saudi Arabia After Afghan Trip
Robert Gates is keeping up pressure on Iran, consulting with Saudi Arabia about how to respond to Tehran's disputed nuclear program

Murdoch Urges More Freedom for Middle East Media
News Corporation chief calls on Arab countries to stop putting restrictions on their media

Iran's Ahmadinejad Criticizes US Role in Afghanistan
Iranian President accuses United States of playing a "double game" in Afghanistan

US Pro-Democracy Stance Has Limited Impact in Mideast, New Study Suggests
Despite Obama pledge to support democratic freedoms, survey suggests human rights situation worsened in Mideast

VOA News: Middle East
Middle East Voice of America

 

US Says Indirect Mideast Peace Talks Still On
State Department says it believes talks will be held despite Arab anger over Israeli plans to build more housing in East Jerusalem

US Reaffirms Support of Israel, Palestinians Threaten to Cancel Negotiations
Vice President Biden wraps up visit to Israel, Palestinian territories, calling for both sides to resume negotiations

Israel Indicts Two Soldiers for Misconduct in Gaza
Soldiers forced a Palestinian boy to check for unexploded bombs during Israel's offensive Gaza Strip

Centrist Groups Take Early Lead in Iraq Vote
First partial results indicate Prime Minister's State of Law coalition has slight lead in two mainly Shi'ite provinces in south

Northern Iraq Commander Might Need Combat Troops Beyond August
Major General Tony Cucolo says troops to continue serving as a buffer between Iraqi national and Kurdish regional forces

HRW Urges West to Press Syria on Human Rights
Human Rights Watch says talking to Syria without putting rights record on table emboldens Damascus

Netanyahu Expresses 'Regret' About Timing of Housing Plan
Approval of plans in East Jerusalem came as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was visiting to help relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace talks

Gates: Iran Provides 'Limited' Support for Taliban
US defense secretary says Iran's influence on Taliban is not a major problem for US at this point

Yemen Marriage Laws Under Scrutiny
Two men in jail today after 12-year-old girl marched into police station, and demanded arrest of father and 26-year-old husband

US Report: Iran's Human Rights Record 'Degenerated' in 2009
It said Iranian security forces were responsible for the deaths of at least 37 people and that security forces.

Arab League, Israel Indirect Talks Off
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas tells Arab League chief he will not enter indirect talks with Israel because of new settlements

US Defense Secretary Visits Saudi Arabia After Afghan Trip
Robert Gates is keeping up pressure on Iran, consulting with Saudi Arabia about how to respond to Tehran's disputed nuclear program

Murdoch Urges More Freedom for Middle East Media
News Corporation chief calls on Arab countries to stop putting restrictions on their media

Iran's Ahmadinejad Criticizes US Role in Afghanistan
Iranian President accuses United States of playing a "double game" in Afghanistan

US Pro-Democracy Stance Has Limited Impact in Mideast, New Study Suggests
Despite Obama pledge to support democratic freedoms, survey suggests human rights situation worsened in Mideast

VOA News: Middle East
Middle East Voice of America

 

Israel's disputatious Avigdor Lieberman: Can the coalition hold together?

A religious issue is threatening the government’s cohesion

AFTER a year in office, Israel’s right-wing-cum-religious coalition is feeling an ominous tremor of internal discord. The issue, the bane of so many past coalition governments, is state and synagogue. A bill easing conversion to Judaism, championed by the foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, and his ex-Soviet immigrant party, Yisrael Beitenu, has run into furious resistance from the ultra-Orthodox party, the United Torah Judaism (UTJ), a coalition partner.

“When I die, I’ll go straight to heaven just for having pushed through this bill,” says David Rotem, chairman of parliament’s law committee and a member of Yisrael Beitenu (meaning “Israel is our home”). “I don’t know where opponents of the bill will go.” Ultra-Orthodox members, apparently confident of their place in heaven, protested. A member of the Labour party, another coalition partner, said that if the ultra-Orthodox were in heaven he would rather not go there. ...

Iraq's election: The wrangling has only just begun

A government reflecting the people’s will should slowly and messily emerge

DOZENS of explosions woke up voters in Baghdad on March 7th, heralding the day of the general election. Every few minutes another thunderous bang reminded them to stay at home, away from polling stations. Officials said the city had been hit by a barrage of mortars. Voter turnout was lower than before, in Baghdad little more than 50%. It was hardly a shining model of democracy.

The American army played down the violence. Most of the bangs, said its spokesman, had been caused by water bottles stuffed with explosives. Insurgents had put them in bins around the city and set them off by mobile phones to terrify voters. Two big bombs had killed at least 38 people but nobody was badly hurt by the bottle-bombs, said General Ray Odierno, the American commander. The bangs were an act of desperation by a fading insurgency. The turnout overall was said to be 62%. Despite the fear, many Iraqis were plainly determined to assert their democratic right to choose their leaders. Barack Obama called the election a “milestone in Iraqi history”. ...

The Israel-Palestine peace talks: More than just a charade?

Few of the participants have much hope that the resumption of talks, to be held indirectly through American mediators, will soon lead to a two-state solution

IT WAS a wretched beginning to what had been hailed as the hopeful resumption of peace talks, albeit indirect ones, between the Israelis and Palestinians under the aegis of an American mediator. Barely had America’s vice-president, Joe Biden, begun a visit to Israel to herald a new era of compromise and goodwill than it was announced that 1,600 houses would be built for Jewish settlers on the Israeli-annexed eastern rim of Jerusalem that Palestinians see as part of their future capital. Palestinians were united in fury. Peacemaking outsiders viewed the action as the illest of omens. Mr Biden sharply “condemned” it as “precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now.”

A sheepish-looking Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, let his aides claim lamely that he had been unaware of the decision. The next day his minister of interior apologised, conceding that the timing was unfortunate, but said that the announcement was merely a “routine, technical” step. Unsurprisingly, all this only increased scepticism about the promised new round of talks. ...

Stalemate in Zimbabwe: An early election?

The unity government is stuck. An early election might break the logjam

WITH a power-sharing government plainly going nowhere, Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, has announced that fresh elections could be held early next year, whether or not a new constitution is ready. At the age of 86, he says he is ready to stand again—if, he adds coyly, his ruling ZANU-PF party wants him to. Next month he will celebrate 30 years of untrammelled power.

Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s prime minister and leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which was forced into a unity government despite winning a general election in the face of violence and fraud two years ago, wants South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, to intervene. Talks to encourage Mr Mugabe to implement fully the power-sharing agreement he signed 18 months ago under the aegis of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a 15-country regional grouping, have foundered. ...

Another massacre in Nigeria : An unending cycle

A terrible tit-for-tat is causing untold misery—and seems unlikely to end

THE number-plates in Nigeria’s Plateau state declare it to be the “Home of Peace and Tourism”. In the past decade this slogan has sounded ever more fanciful, as the state’s capital, Jos, suffers bouts of the most brutal ethnic violence. The latest took place before dawn on March 7th, when gangs attacked villages south of the city, razed houses and hacked their occupants with machetes. The death toll is hard to know. Aid and human-rights groups say that between 200 and 500 people were killed. The police put the total at 109.

Locals say the gang members belonged to the mainly Muslim Fulani tribe, whereas the villagers were mostly from the Christian Berom group. The killings looked like revenge for a clash in Jos in January, when hundreds died, most of them Muslim, although there were Christian victims too. “This appears to be some kind of reprisal attack,” said Robin Waudo, a spokesman for the Red Cross. ...

The IMF in Africa: Going green

The IMF says it wants to help Africa handle climate change

THE global recession was slow to hit Africa. Its banks and stock exchanges were isolated enough from the wider capital markets to suffer few shocks. Foreign investment remained steady. Oil-rich countries such as Angola continued to boom. But dampened demand for African exports last year, together with the shrinking of many venture-capital funds, has now hit the continent hard after a long period of unusually perky growth. Countries south of the Sahara together grew by less than 2% in 2009. In many places income has fallen and unemployment started to rise.

So the bullishness of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF’s head, who has been touring Africa, struck some as strange. He went out of his way to praise Africa’s central banks. He even said Africa’s economies were more dynamic than most of Asia’s. The main point, he said, was that Africa was recovering from the global crisis faster than expected. ...

Egypt's new contender: A tantalising return

The return of Mohamed ElBaradei from abroad is rattling Egypt’s rulers

EGYPTIANS may breathe a sigh of relief. Seven of their political parties have formed a united front to defend the country against a foreign plot. Whether this conspiracy is Zionist or perhaps American remains unclear. But the parties agree that it aims to undermine Egypt’s stability and that its spearhead is none other than Mohamed ElBaradei, winner of the Nobel peace prize and the recently retired head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog.

The revelation of such a plot surprises few in Egypt. Ever since November, when Mr ElBaradei declared that, if rules were made fair, he might just consider running for president in 2011, expectations have grown that allies of Egypt’s current ruler, Hosni Mubarak, would find ways to attack this upstart rival. When Mr ElBaradei arrived in Cairo last month for a ten-day visit, such expectations soared. Not only did the thousand cheering fans who mobbed him at the airport outnumber the active membership of the seven government-sponsored opposition parties now aligned against him. The soft-spoken former diplomat became the talk of Egypt’s chattering classes, as scores of prominent intellectuals declared their backing for him, and membership of a Facebook support group rocketed to 160,000. ...

Trouble in Algeria: The president and the police

A mysterious murder exposes a rift within the country’s ruling circle

LATE last month Chouaib Oultache walked into Algeria’s police headquarters with a score to settle. What happened next is not entirely clear, but official reports say Mr Oultache pumped three bullets into the head of Ali Tounsi, the country’s powerful police chief, before being shot and wounded himself.

A few years ago, Mr Tounsi had hired Mr Oultache, a retired air force colonel and a close friend, to head the police helicopter unit. By the official account, Mr Oultache went crazy after reading in the newspapers that he was being investigated for corruption. He may have suspected a betrayal by his old friend. ...

Progress and repression in Rwanda: Divisionists beware

President Paul Kagame has improved people’s lives at the expense of freedom

THE government of Rwanda is doing a lot of things right. It is pretty open in its handling of aid money. Most foreign governments and charities are so impressed by its detailed plans and apparent lack of corruption that they are funnelling more of their aid directly through Rwanda’s government. President Paul Kagame says he expects direct budget support to rise by a quarter this year, to $519m.

The country has recovered valiantly from its year zero in 1994, when 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered. Its centralised state is leading the way in economic and technological reform in the region. It is improving the country’s infrastructure, education and farming, and seeks to preserve its ecology. It pushes equality for women, who comprise half the government and parliament. ...

Jerusalem: A city that should be shared

Israel builds still more facts on Palestinian ground, while stalemate persists

EVEN as the Americans strive to jump-start fresh talks between Israelis and Palestinians, the Israeli government has been using the hiatus to intensify the refashioning of East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians see as their future capital. This week the city’s Israeli mayor, Nir Barkat, unveiled his latest plan to turn Palestinian districts into Jewish biblical heritage parks. Fearing that their half of the city is being cast in an increasingly Israeli mould, Palestinian stone-throwers clashed with Israeli forces on the Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, which Muslims venerate for its al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third-holiest shrine, and which Jews revere as the site of the biblical Temple. While George Mitchell, Barack Obama’s envoy, is yet again bidding to open “proximity talks” between the two sides, the Palestinians have been literally losing ground.

Unlike previous Israeli prime ministers, who built on the open hilltops above Arab population centres in the West Bank and on the edge of Jerusalem, Binyamin Netanyahu and his officials are concentrating on Jewish settlements bang in the midst of them. Car-parks and conservation areas, rich with Israeli symbols, are sprouting across East Jerusalem. Settlers with state protection are opening religious schools there. Scarcely a week passes without an Israeli newspaper heralding new Jewish housing units being built in Arab districts. Israeli archaeologists are scraping away the eastern parts of the city’s Arab surface in search of a Jewish past. Last month one of them declared she had “probably” found King Solomon’s city walls. ...

Israeli spies in Lebanon: Not such a success

A round-up of Israeli spies

WITH a lot less exposure in the world’s press than it got for its recent Dubai operation, Israel has quietly suffered a string of setbacks in Lebanon, a front-line state with which it has often been at war. Lebanon’s security service says that since November 2008 it has broken up no fewer than 25 Israeli spy rings. The reported arrest this month of a colonel in Lebanese army intelligence, identified solely by the initials GS, brings the number of those charged to 70-plus; 40 of them are in Lebanese police custody.

For a force better known for its failure to manage traffic, let alone resolve Lebanon’s sorry catalogue of political murders, the counter-intelligence sweep is an unprecedented coup. The arrests are said to have exposed a series of agents for Israel, ranging from a retired Lebanese army general who ran a housecleaning service to a garage owner who specialised in supplying Hizbullah, Lebanon’s Shia party-cum-militia, with vehicles that he secretly fitted with tracking devices. ...

Israel's controversial intelligence service: Does Mossad really make Israel safer?

In the wake of the assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai, presumably by Mossad, the agency’s effectiveness, attitude and leadership are under scrutiny

ALTHOUGH they stolidly refuse to admit that their external security service had done it, Israeli officials say they are confident that in Europe and elsewhere outrage over the recent assassination in Dubai of a Hamas commander will quickly blow over. Israeli ambassadors were called in and carpeted in London, Canberra and Dublin over stolen passports and identities used by the team that killed Mahmoud al-Mabhouh and was later exposed by the Dubai police. eu foreign ministers have “strongly condemned” the action. But the Israelis, seeking to minimise the damage, note innocently that the complaints focused on the passports rather than the actual killing—and anyway stopped short of explicitly fingering Mossad.

Indeed, despite the meticulous closed-circuit television records of the comings and goings through Dubai’s airport and hotels, Mossad people still say, with an almost straight face, that the evidence is circumstantial. A former spymaster, Rafi Eitan, even suggested half in jest that a rival service may have framed the Israelis. ...

Senegal's politics: Statuesque or grotesque?

An outsize statue symbolises the defects of the president and his family

IT IS either a glorious tribute to the African Renaissance, as the government proclaims, or an overblown monument to the outrageous vanity of President Abdoulaye Wade, as many Senegalese believe. Either way, at least the vast statue that now dominates the skyline of the Senegalese capital of Dakar leaves no one indifferent. At 50 metres tall, a shade more than New York’s Statue of Liberty, it is designed to provoke.

To Mr Wade and his supporters the statue’s bronze rendering of a nuclear family represents Africa rising from centuries of “ignorance, intolerance and racism”. Senegal’s selflessness in giving physical expression to this grand theme is meant to reflect the country’s exalted standing on the continent. After all, it is the leader of Francophone Africa—at least since Cote d’Ivoire imploded—and is Africa’s only successful and stable Muslim democracy. The backers of the statue, which is to open officially in April, say it will become one of the continent’s top tourist sites. ...

Somalia's civil war: Jihadists on the march

The strongest Islamist militia is now formally linked to al-Qaeda

THE war in Somalia between the Islamist militias known as the Shabab and the Western-backed supposedly “transitional” government headed by Sharif Ahmed, himself an Islamist who promotes sharia law, is getting even bloodier. The UN says that ferocious fighting in the capital, Mogadishu, has caused at least 8,000 residents to flee this month, to add to the 1.5m Somalis already displaced, out of a population that once exceeded 8m. Government forces, which control a shrinking slice of the capital, are still on the defensive. But independent reports are scanty; it is hard to say exactly what is going on from day to day. Chaos and terror prevail.

For instance, when three Shabab fighters were found dead this week in Mogadishu’s Bakara market, each shot in the head, it was unclear who had killed them. Some said government forces. Others blamed Ethiopian spies. Or was it Hizbul Islam, a radical Islamist outfit that has fallen out with the Shabab? Or perhaps the Shabab itself was dealing with turncoats. ...

Nigeria's president: A sudden return

There’s still a vacuum

IN THE early hours of February 24th Umaru Yar’Adua, Nigeria’s ailing and long-absent president, finally came home. After three months in a clinic in Saudi Arabia, the saga over who is in charge of Africa’s most populous country is bound to resume.

The matter seemed to have been solved just two weeks ago. Goodluck Jonathan, the vice-president, took over the top job on February 9th after the prolonged power vacuum had seen government business slow down, investors grow querulous and militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta threaten to resume their rebellion. ...

Niger's coup: It seems popular, so far

The African Union tut-tuts but the people appear to welcome a coup

WHEN soldiers seized power last week in Niger, thousands took to the streets of Niamey, the dusty capital, to celebrate. The new rulers, who kidnapped President Mamadou Tandja on February 18th, say they simply want to oust a tyrant and hold elections. Many of the desert state’s 15m people seem to believe them.

Mr Tandja, aged 71, had been growing ever more authoritarian as the end of his tenure approached last year. He changed the constitution to junk term limits and pushed elections back to 2012. He also dissolved parliament and tightened his grip on the press. Local human-rights campaigners say the army has indeed halted a worrying turn of events. The United Nations says Niger is the world’s least developed country. ...

South Africa's economy: Steady as she goes

A budget that gives little to the left

LEFT-WING trade-union allies of President Jacob Zuma have reacted with fury to the business-friendly budget, unveiled on February 17th, threatening to call a general strike in the second half of the year. The first of Mr Zuma’s ten-month-old government, the budget spurned left-wing calls for tax increases, nationalisation of the mines and dropping inflation-targeting by the central bank. Instead, the finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, is pursuing broadly the same prudent macroeconomic policies that prevailed under Thabo Mbeki’s presidency from 1999 to 2008.

Mr Zuma has been accused of weak leadership, particularly since his dreary state-of-the-nation speech earlier this month. But he has again shown—this time via Mr Gordhan—that he is not beholden to his noisy allies on the left who helped catapult him to power. ...

Correction: Najib Balala

Due to an editing error in our article last week on Kenya (“The politicians just don’t seem to get it”), we said that Najib Balala, the minister of tourism, was a former mayor of Nairobi. He was actually a former mayor of Mombasa. Sorry. This has been corrected online.

...

Fragile Kenya: The politicians just don't seem to get it

Kenya remains east Africa’s commercial hub, yet the bickering and dithering of its dodgy and unwieldy government could ruin what is left of its reputation

Correction to this article

“WE ARE sharpening our pangas [machetes],” says a man in a jam-packed matatu, the ubiquitous minibus taxi that is Kenya’s main means of public transport. “It is not if but when” is the commonest answer to the question, “Will political violence resume?” ...

The Economist: Middle East and Africa
Middle East and Africa

 

Iraq's election: The wrangling has only just begun

A government reflecting the people’s will should slowly and messily emerge

DOZENS of explosions woke up voters in Baghdad on March 7th, heralding the day of the general election. Every few minutes another thunderous bang reminded them to stay at home, away from polling stations. Officials said the city had been hit by a barrage of mortars. Voter turnout was lower than before, in Baghdad little more than 50%. It was hardly a shining model of democracy.

The American army played down the violence. Most of the bangs, said its spokesman, had been caused by water bottles stuffed with explosives. Insurgents had put them in bins around the city and set them off by mobile phones to terrify voters. Two big bombs had killed at least 38 people but nobody was badly hurt by the bottle-bombs, said General Ray Odierno, the American commander. The bangs were an act of desperation by a fading insurgency. The turnout overall was said to be 62%. Despite the fear, many Iraqis were plainly determined to assert their democratic right to choose their leaders. Barack Obama called the election a “milestone in Iraqi history”. ...

Iraq's election: Don't wash your hands of it

Iraq may ask for more American help. Barack Obama should not hold back

SEVEN years after the Americans invaded Iraq and toppled Saddam Hussein, two momentous events are approaching: a general election on March 7th and the promised departure of all American combat troops by the end of August. Yet governments across the world, most notably Barack Obama’s, seem to have turned their attention elsewhere. Iraq is already yesterday’s story. This is a grave error. The country has been devastated, in good part thanks to the miscalculations of America and its Western allies. It is progressing shakily and still needs outside help. And it is vital to the stability of the region. The mission has by no means been accomplished.

Iraq is far less dangerous than it was three years ago, when the Americans damped down a civil war with their last-gasp military surge. Since American troops withdrew to encampments outside the towns, their death rate has happily dived (see chart). But Iraq is still bloody. Several hundred Iraqis are still dying violently for political reasons every month—more, by the way, than in Afghanistan. Iraq’s nationalist insurgency has faded, but al-Qaeda is still wreaking carnage every month or so. Flashpoints, particularly along a “trigger line” between Iraq’s Arabs and Kurds, threaten the peace. Baghdad is not open for normal business, except for firms that can afford their own bomb-proof security systems. ...

Iraq's election: No promised land at the end of all this

Iraq, having beaten most of its insurgents, holds an election on March 7th. But its institutions may be too weak, and its politicians too greedy, to save democracy

THINGS had been going well for Iraq’s footballers. They had re-established a national league, won the 2007 Asian Cup and last summer played host to their first post-Saddam international. Then, in November, a column of armoured police cars turned up at the headquarters of the Iraqi Football Association in eastern Baghdad. Uniformed men stormed the building, setting up sandbagged machinegun positions. They were acting on the orders of the Iraqi Olympic Committee, which is in the hands of Iraq’s Shia-dominated government. The Football Association is still run mainly by Sunnis. Its directors were accused of irregularities by the government and asked to give up control. When they refused, the army moved in.

There is more than one way of looking at this. FIFA, the world football body, took a dim view of armed interference in the affairs of one of its members, and banned Iraq from all international competitions until the takeover was reversed. But America’s military commanders in Iraq saw progress: after all, no shots had been fired and nobody was hurt. “We used to wake up every morning with another 100 bodies in the river,” remarked General Stephen Lanza, a spokesman. Detecting an overall “maturing” of institutions along with striking improvements in security, he believes Iraq is coming right. But is it? ...

Iraq, Iran and the politics of oil: Crude diplomacy

Iraq has ambitious plans for its oil industry. That could have important implications for Iran and the rest of the region

IN EARLY September 1960 the Iraqi government hosted officials from Venezuela and three Gulf countries for an obscure five-day conference in Baghdad. Wearing suits rather than robes, and sitting at a plain wooden table, they founded the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). For the next three decades Iraq helped to lead the oil cartel as both membership and output grew rapidly. But its influence declined in 1990 when it invaded another founding member, Kuwait, and fell under United Nations sanctions. Despite having the world’s third-largest reserves of oil, Iraq dropped to 13th place in the international production table. Pipelines rusted, wells remained untended and engineers emigrated.

Iraq is now trying to recover its glory, with plans to quadruple production or more. This could transform the global oil industry; it also threatens two other founding members of OPEC. Saudi Arabia might have to share its leadership of the organisation and Iran faces an even greater setback. Close relations with China, based on Beijing’s thirst for oil, have helped Iran to avoid isolation over its nuclear programme. But Chinese oil companies are now turning their attention to Iraq, with American backing. ...

Iraq's dangerous trigger line: Too late to keep the peace?

The Americans are trying again to keep the peace between Arabs and Kurds

FROM the market town of Khanaqin, on the Iranian border, all the way to Sinjar, near the border with Syria, a fortified line snakes across northern Iraq. To the east and north stand Kurdish forces, known as the Peshmerga, keen to reclaim land taken from them by Saddam Hussein more than two decades ago. On the other side of the line, to the west and south, are Iraqi regular-army troops sent by the central government in Baghdad to stop ancient cities along the Tigris river falling into what it fears may become a purely Kurdish sphere.

The two forces have come close to flat-out fighting several times, usually outside the cities where commanders act off their own bat. Last year an Iraqi army unit drove into the disputed, though mainly Kurdish, town of Altun Kupri and took up sniper positions on rooftops. When residents, supported by armed Peshmerga, started demonstrating against their presence, the Arab soldiers were told to shoot to kill. Bloodshed was avoided at the last minute by American troops stationed nearby. ...

Iraq's coming election: Reopening the old sectarian wounds

Relations between Iraq’s Shias and Sunnis have again been badly damaged

IN THE run-up to a general election due on March 7th, Iraq’s authorities seem to be taking a page out of Iran’s illiberal electoral rule book by barring candidates they dislike. One of the competing parties, the Iraqi National Congress, led by Ahmed Chalabi, a longtime Shia exile who helped persuade George Bush to invade Iraq in 2003, has persuaded the election’s overseers to ban some 500 candidates deemed too close in the past to Saddam Hussein’s Baath party. After the invasion the Americans put Mr Chalabi, then their closest Iraqi ally, in charge of “deBaathification”, but he later fell out with them, so he turned for succour to Iran. Now, with a view to winning more votes for himself, he is using his long-dormant post to accuse his foes of having supported the deposed dictator. Though the list contains many Shias, Iraq’s minority Sunnis, who ruled the roost under Mr Hussein, are outraged, seeing a plot to discriminate against them. The episode could badly tarnish the poll.

Many other Shia politicians have joined what looks like a witch hunt. Muhammad al-Haidari, a leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), a powerful Shia group, says that Baathists are worse than Nazis; all past members should, he says, be banned from public life. In the holy city of Najaf, ISCI’s heartland, a new rule decrees that former Baathists must be purged from government and chased out of town. Never mind that Iraq’s post-invasion constitution bars only senior Baathists from public office and that millions of ordinary Iraqis joined the party only out of necessity, not conviction. Ostracising them threatens once again to split Iraq down the middle and disfranchise many Sunnis, who used to dominate the Baath party. ...

Reporting Iraq: Still fraught

A bomb in a hotel favoured by reporters illustrates the toughness of the job

IN THE past two years a correspondent’s job in Iraq has become a little easier. But it is still dangerous. The Hamra Hotel, hit by a car-bomb on January 25th, is a favourite haven for foreign reporters. Our own correspondent, in his room when the blast went off, was slightly cut. But his driver was killed, along with at least 15 other people. Blasts in two other well-known hotels brought the overall death toll to at least 41.

At the height of sectarian strife three years ago, no Western reporter who was not crazily intrepid would travel openly and alone, either in Baghdad or across the country, bar the Kurdish part or in the capital’s fortified Green Zone. Most reporting was done remotely, by telephone or through Iraqis working discreetly for media outlets. Even a year ago, it was unwise for reporters to drive around the country or city without guards. ...

Bagehot: Regime changer

Is it feasible to hate the Iraq war but still love Labour?

THERE is a small but doughty band of Britons who still agree with what Tony Blair will probably tell the Iraq inquiry on January 29th (the day after The Economist goes to press): that the war was just, justified and “the right thing to do”. There is a much larger group whose interest in politics is essentially parochial—pocketbook voters for whom foreign entanglements are marginal concerns. The affiliations and voting intentions of both these groups are unlikely to be shifted much by the old controversies and occasional piece of new evidence being aired by the inquiry.

But what about those who care about Britain’s role in the world, and feel anger and shame over Iraq? There are many natural Labour supporters in that category. There are several eminent political commentators in it too, who nevertheless still back the Labour government: columnists who hate the war but still love the warrior. This intellectual position, it seems to Bagehot, is increasingly tricky to maintain. ...

From the archive: If you can think of something even beastlier, do it

From 1988: Our correspondent reports on Iraq's chemical attack on a Kurdish town that killed thousands

FROM OUR LEVANT CORRESPONDENT

EIGHT years of carnage have not robbed the Gulf war of its capacity to shock. In the middle of March (the exact date is unclear) Iranian soldiers pushed the Iraqi army out of the Kurdish town of Halabja, in the Kurdish part of north-east Iraq. One or two days later (this date, too, is unclear), the Iraqi air force appears to have responded by bombing Halabja with some sort of poisonous gas. ...

The Iraq-war inquiry: Campbell's soup

The spin doctor’s testimony left a bad taste in the mouth

HOW are the mighty fallen. The scheduling of the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war has allocated to Alastair Campbell, once New Labour’s all-powerful spin doctor, a role little better than that of a warm-up act for the former prime minister. On January 12th he appeared before the five-strong panel, headed by a former senior civil servant, and faced the toughest questioning so far about Britain’s invasion of Iraq. Tony Blair—his friend and erstwhile boss, who takes the hot seat soon—will have been watching anxiously.

There were omissions and ambiguities in Mr Campbell’s testimony that should shape the panel’s questioning of the former prime minister (see article). There were also pugnacious certainties guaranteed to incite the war’s critics. He claimed to stand by “every single word” of an influential and controversial dossier setting out the government’s view of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in September 2002, and brushed aside as “churlish” less flattering testimonies given to the inquiry earlier. ...

Tony Blair and Britain's Iraq inquiry: Weapons inspection

The right questions to ask the former prime minister

THERE have already been so many inquiries into the Iraq war (including one in the Netherlands that this week judged the invasion to have been illegal), and it was all so long ago, that many people thought the latest British probe, under Sir John Chilcot, would prove pointless. In fact it has already been informative, not least because some of the soldiers, spooks and diplomats who have given evidence have grown franker since retirement. On January 12th Sir John’s panel questioned Alastair Campbell, formerly the government’s main spin doctor. His testimony was a telling rehearsal for the imminent appearance of the star witness: his old boss, Tony Blair.

Despite his nominal job description, Mr Campbell helped to construct and purvey the controversial case for war. “Nobody was really saying that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction [WMD],” he observed this week. That is true. Saddam’s record of making and using such weapons, the hunches of UN inspectors and the fact that the dictator continued to frustrate them and act guilty until the very end all made it seem that he still retained some WMD. ...

Iraq's oil: Crude calculations

Will a new auction of fields to foreign firms get Iraq’s oil flowing freely?

A COUNTRY with a shaky economy that sits on huge oil reserves would usually be reckoned wise to pump as much as possible out of the ground as quickly as it can. Western oil companies, desperate for crude that is cheap to produce and refine, should be ready and waiting to help. But arranging such a deal in Iraq is no easy matter. Iraq’s second round of auctions for the rights to develop it oil fields concluded on Saturday December 12th. The first round in June, a televised extravaganza, resulted in the embarrassing outcome that just one of the eight contracts on the block found a taker. By the middle of the day on Friday two big oil fields had attracted winning bids from foreign companies.

On Friday Royal Dutch Shell, in partnership with Malaysia’s Petronas, won the right to develop Majnoon, one of the world’s biggest untapped oilfields. CNPC, China's largest oil and gas producer, with Petronas and France’s Total were also awarded a contract to extract oil from Halfaya beating off competition from other European, American and Asian oil companies. On Saturday Russia's Lukoil and Norway's Statoil got their hands on the biggest prize on offer, West Qurna-2. Although several of the fields under the hammer on Friday and Saturday failed to find buyers this latest auction of Iraq’s oil is already more successful than the previous effort. ...

Iraqi bombings: What difference do they make?

A new pattern of violence is emerging in the run-up to next year’s elections

BAD news from Baghdad inevitably seems to follow the good. Earlier this month the mood brightened when it was announced that fewer Iraqis had been killed in violent deaths in November than in any previous month since America invaded in 2003. (The toll was a still far-from-negligible 88, but a lot less than the 3,000 a month who were dying at the height of the sectarian bloodbath three years ago.) And then, after months of wrangling, an electoral law was finally ratified on December 6th, enabling a general election to be held early next year, probably on March 7th.

But just as the prospect of normality seemed at last to beckon, Baghdad was shaken by one of the year’s bloodiest bunch of bombings. On December 8th five almost simultaneous explosions killed at least 120 civilians. Among the targets was a court complex near the fortified Green Zone, where the prime minister and parliament reside. Many young lawyers queuing for job interviews to be clerks were killed outside. Dozens of cars caught fire, causing a string of secondary explosions. Four other car-bombs went off elsewhere in Baghdad, hitting an interior-ministry compound, a law academy, some buildings used by the finance ministry since its old home was bombed in August and some buildings near Baghdad’s big oil refinery. ...

Iraq: Blown apart

Bloody car-bomb attacks in Baghdad bode ill for next year's election

THE political point being made by insurgents with their latest attack in Baghdad is unmistakable. Five bombs went off killing at least 112 people on Tuesday December 8th, the same day that the Iraqi government announced the date of the next parliamentary poll. The election campaign leading up to a poll now set for March 7th 2010 is likely to be bloody.

Shortly after 10am a series of loud explosions across the city shook buildings many miles away. The biggest target was a court complex near the west side of the Green Zone, where the prime minister and parliament reside. Eye-witnesses saw a blue van barging through a checkpoint on the main road. It carried on despite coming under fire by a security guard, forcing its way through a second barrier before exploding in the parking lot of the Karkh court, responsible for hearing half the city's civil and criminal cases. ...

Iraq and the Kirkuk conundrum: A hint of harmony, at last

In the run-up to the election, could Iraqi minds be concentrated strongly enough to find at least a temporary solution to an age-old and dangerous conundrum?

IT SOUNDS far-fetched but it may be true. A group of Irish peacemongers, from both sides of their long-divided island, claims to have made rare progress last month towards getting Arab and Kurdish Iraqis to settle their differences, which have been threatening to drag the country back to the level of bloodshed that engulfed it three years ago. With a South African who had helped reconcile white and black South Africans looking on, a clutch of Iraqi members of parliament got to unusual grips with the mechanics of sharing power between Kurds, Arabs and Turkomans in the disputed region of Kirkuk. If they can build on this momentum after the general election that is now expected in mid-February (the January date having slipped), a modicum of federal harmony may eventually be achieved—to the benefit of all Iraqis.

One suggestion that may be taken up is the creation, at least for a time, of mixed councils to run the province. Another fruitful idea is to set up a permanent framework for talks involving the outside backers of the various Iraqi communities. For London, Boston and Dublin read Baghdad, Ankara (Turkey’s capital) and Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdish one. ...

The new Iraq war inquiry: Looking back in anger

Sir John Chilcot is unlikely to give the war’s fiercest critics what they want

WHERE Lord Hutton, Lord Butler, the Intelligence and Security Committee and the Foreign Affairs Select Committee have gone, Sir John Chilcot now follows. The fifth inquiry into the Iraq war began under the stewardship of the former civil servant on November 24th. Gordon Brown agreed to it in the summer, finally giving in to those who accused the earlier efforts of excessive secrecy, narrow terms of reference and generosity to the war’s main protagonists—especially Tony Blair, Mr Brown’s predecessor as prime minister.

The Chilcot inquiry seems to answer the first two criticisms. Anyone can observe its sessions in person or on the internet. (Sir John can make exceptions if there are pressing security concerns or if witnesses feel unable to speak candidly in public.) The inquiry covers the period of 2001 to 2009. Its broad remit includes the political question of how Britain came to back regime change in Iraq, as well as the operational matter of the military’s performance during the conflict. The legality of the invasion will also be examined. ...

The Economist: Iraq's troubles
Iraq's troubles

 

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Middle Eastern News from World Press Review
World News Review