Month: September 2009

Although the announced Qom facility puts Iran no closer to producing a hypothetical nuclear weapon … Keeping Iran Honest (Guardian) Fmr. UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter Warns Against “Politically Motivated Hype” on Iran Nuke Program (Democracynow) … The Obama administration has placed the burden of proof on Iran to demonstrate their ambition is to create…

“Do federal judges have the power to order detainees released into the United States?” The Meaning of Freedom (Washington Post) In refuting critics, Goldstone says that “a lack of accountability for war crimes committed in the Middle East had reached ‘crisis point’, undermining any hope for peace in the region“: UN Investigator Defends Gaza Report…

Storming a Jerusalem Mosque and leaving many worshipers wounded, Israel committed a clear”violation of the mosque’s sanctity” … Arab Officials Condemn Aqsa Raid (Al Jazeera) … meanwhile, B’Tselem charges that the Ofra Settlement violates even Israeli, let alone Intenrnational, law: Israel’s Theft of More Palestinian Land (Freedoms Phoenix) Most “examples of democratically-elected Islamists governing at…

As the US scorns Iran’s insistence that its nuclear program is for electrical and medical purposes and is in compliance with IAEA reporting requirements … Iran and United States on Collision Course Over Nuclear Plant (Guardian) Iran Tests Missiles Amid War Games (Al Jazeera) … Talabani challenges the effectiveness of sanctions and dismisses indications Iraq…

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…