Author: Alejandro

Latest public opinion poll finds almost 60% don’t think the surge will “help restore civil order” and 53% don’t believe the war has “contributed to the long-term security of the United States”: Discontent Over Iraq Increasing, Poll Finds (Washington Post) Military judges drop charges against two Guantanamo detainees ruling that parallel legal system fails to…

Israel’s “security barrier” motivates Palestinian Muslims to move back to Jerusalem and maintain their ethnic and religious ties to the city:    Change Cast in Concrete (Los Angeles Times)  Significant information disparities and paid FBI informant with prior drug convictions as a crucial part of government’s case against alleged JFK bomber create skepticism among Guyanese…

Tens of thousands rally to support Pakistan’s former Chief Justice and his campaign for a separation of powers:    Thousands of Pakistanis Rally Around Ousted Judge (Washington Post)  By putting his actions and rhetoric into context, an op-ed in the New York Times argues that popularist Iraqi Shi’a cleric Moqtada As-Sadr is a rational political…

Arabic language school in New York that attempts to bridge cultural/religious gaps is demonized by fears of religious extremism: Arabic School in N.Y.C. Creates Stir (Christian Science Monitor) Yemeni government bars journalists and Red Cross stops shipments to volatile region: Fatal Blast Hits Market in Restive Area of Yemen (Washington Post) Pakistani army threatens political…

Observers in Pakistan find that greater civic engagement and power-sharing between “secular” democratic forces and the government will roll back extremism, not the status quo…  Moderate Voices from a Pakistani City (Christian Science Monitor)  … meanwhile, for the first time since the controversy began, the nation’s former Chief Justice provides detailed allegations of pressure by…

Analysts and opposition members alike find that Musharraf is steadily losing grip on power and will soon be at a crossroads: either step aside and allow for free and fair elections, or declare martial law… Musharraf’s Grip Falters in Pakistan (Los Angeles Times) …meanwhile religious radicals continue to advance their agendas and fill in the…

As the US and Iran directly talk to each other for the first time in more than 28 years, discussing security issues in Iraq, other nations are seeing the spillover effects of that country’s terrorism problems come into their territory: U.S., Iran Meet to Discuss Iraq Security (Washington Post) Militants Widen Reach as Terror Seeps…

UK Experts and former US defense secretary warn against military on strike Iran, finding it ineffective and counterproductive:  Former U.S. Defense Chief: Israel Must Not Attack Iran (Haaretz)  UK Experts Wary of Preemptive Iran Hit (Jerusalem Post)  Antiwar conservative academic reflects on his son’s death and the lack of political will to back out of “a profoundly…

Tehran and Washington up the ante–with warships, military exercises, detained Iranian-Americans and the latest IAEA report–before talks begin on Iraq’s security: Stakes Rise in US-Iran Standoff (Christian Science Monitor) Editorial in the Washington Post urges the Bush administration to press Musharraf on strengthening Pakistan’s democratic institutions as an alternative to religious extremists coming to power:…