Author: Imran

Netanyahu characterizes the struggle against Iran as “civilisation against barbarism” while arguing in self-contradiction that a future Palestinian state may be “equal” but must be “effectively demilitarized”: Netanyahu Urges UN Action on Iran (Al Jazeera) Highlighting Iran’s determination to produce a nuclear weapon: Obama Condemns Iran Over Secret Nuclear Plant (Guardian) “Gaza residents have no…

Israeli political pressure has all but destroyed any change that Goldstone’s report will make a significant impact among the international community: A Quick Burial For Goldstone’s Report on Gaza (Forward) A compromise that may serve both Iranian and US interests: Iranian Leader Offers U.S. Access To the Country’s Nuclear Scientists (Washington Post) Curbing Afghani political…

Among the leading alternative strategies, Obama considers accelerating troop training in Afghanistan while using predator attacks and special forces to focus in on Al Qaeda along the Pakistani border: Obama Is Considering Strategy Shift in Afghan War (NY Times) “Does the United States have any obligation to men like Ghafoori, whom the U.S. military once…

As US forces take a more “realistic” albeit risky approach in combating Taliban forces in more populated areas… U.S. Commanders Told to Shift Focus to More Populated Areas (Washington Post) … Policy makers balk on the idea of a troop increase: General’s Review Creates Rupture (Washington Post) “McChrystal went on to single out Pakistan’s Inter-Services…

Our interventionism may be arming our enemies: In Somalia, U.S. Weapons End Up in al-Qaeda Hands (Globe and Mail) “Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) — while Afghan security capacity matures — risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible.” – General McChrystal:…

The “intelligence surge” will rival that of Vietnam and Iraq at the peak of their respective conflicts, in hopes that what idn’t work there will a solution to the rising insurgency in Afghanistan: CIA Expanding Presence in Afghanistan (LA Times) Khamenei takes a more nuanced position on the elections protests, but is unequivocal in rejecting…

While admitting that she has not finished reviewing Judge Goldstone’s findings, Ambassador Rice nonetheless rushed to echo Israeli sentiments that the jurist’s report is “unbalanced, one-sided and basically unacceptable”: U.S. Rejects U.N. Proposal to Compel War Crimes Probes of Gaza Conflict (Washington Post) Prison abuse of West Bank Palestinians stands as a huge obstacle to…

Unless the UN investigation invalidates a substantial portion of the 10% of votes under review, Karzai will be announced the winner of Afghanistan’s election: First Full Afghan Tally Gives Karzai 54% of Vote (Washington Post) Mahdi is not advocating for renegotiation of SOFA but believes there are more successful strategies  in using the US troops…

Israeli says the U.N. report “legitimizes Hamas” by listing Israeli abuses that  include “a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself and to force upon it an ever-increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability” … UN Presses…

Disturbing accusations which seriously undermine Pakistani objectives in the area: Pakistan Army Is Said to Be Linked to Many Killings in Swat (NY Times) Two of the documents and materials Reuters requested under the Freedom of Information Act were withheld as classified and  the other six were redacted: Military’s Killing of 2 Journalists in Iraq…