Month: April 2007

Things continue to look bleak in Iraq as local militants continue their elusive and deadly tactics, Shi’as answer the call for an anti-occupation by Moqtada As-Sadr and even an Iraqi who helped topple a statue of Saddam Hussein after the invasion, looks back upon four years of occupation and violence with regret: Patterns of War…

“Our problem here is what? It’s how to eat, how to drink, and how to forget about our problems. We can’t do anything else…That cultivates hatred. It’s the hatred of not being able to do anything.” – Ibrahim Moussa In Jordanian Camps, A Sense of Nihilism (Washington Post) Fed up with bad image in the…

Middle East expert Juan Cole provides his excellent news round-up on developments in Iraq, as well as his analysis of the release of the British sailors from Iranian capture: 70 Killed in Iraq, Diplomacy of Iran May be Legacy of British Sailor Hostage Crisis (Informed Comment) …while other experts see the political drama of the…

“In a country plagued by years of corrupt and sluggish governance, Bangladesh has come up with a novel innovation to curb the disease. Private groups have stepped in to take charge of the national tuberculosis treatment program.” An Army of Housewives Battles TB in Bangladesh (NY Times) Sarkozy’s idea of state-funded mosques in France will…

American bi-partisan congressional delegation engages in diplomatic surge and meets with Syria’s President, Bashar Al-Assad: Pelosi Meets With Syrian Leader (Washington Post) Two month body count by the Washington Post provides gloomy empirical indicator of Iraq’s dangerous security situation… Sum of Death Statistics: a Perilous Iraq (Washington Post) …which helps to explain the challenges US…

Bush administration’s stance against Iran fails with the capture of the 15 British soldiers and strengthens its hardliner counterparts in Iran… U.S. Strategy on Iran May Have Backfired (LA Times) Iran’s New Hostage Crisis (Salon.com) …yet the administration persists–even at the risk of threatening UK–Iranian negotiations to release the sailors: Washington Hurting British Bid to…

The disastrous consequences of military intervention in Iraq:  Sunnis Surge Beyond Baghdad (Christian Science Monitor)  Driven by War to a No Man’s Land in Jordan: Lives of Palestinian Refugees From Iraq Reflect Six Decades of Dispossession (Washington Post)  Qaeda Is Seen as Restoring Leadership (New York Times)   Violence from military interventionism and poor security…

Accusations that the relocation plan is not really voluntary imply that it is a mirror imager of Saddam Hussein’s relocation policies: Arabs in Kirkuk Dismayed at Relocation Plan (Reuters) Tribal elders call for truce as heavy fighting continues for fourth day: Fighting Rocks Somali Capital, Ugandan Peacekeeper Killed (AFP) Officer says Iran, Syria and Hizbullah…