Minaret of Freedom Weblog

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 nuclear energy rather than secret nuclear weapons:

• Iran Offers Conflicting Messages (LA Times)

Improved intelligence may serve to help Obama secure his primary objective to destroy Al-Qaeda without the need for a troop surge in Afghanistan:

• Success Against al-Qaeda Cited (Washington Post)

Not all experts are quick to dismiss the comparison between Iran and Iraq circa 2002; Gary Sick believes that “Iran might intend to stop short of building a weapon while creating ‘breakout capability'”

• In Dispute With Iran, Path to Iraq Is in Spotlight (NY Times)

Hamas will provide video evidence that Shalit is still alive in exchange for the release of 20 Palestinian women:

• Israel to Free 20 Prisoners in Exchange for Proof Captive Soldier is Alive (NY Times)

General Ray Odierno expects the military withdrawal to be complete  by September 2010:

• US ‘to Speed Up Iraq Withdrawal’ (Al Jazeera)

“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 (Al Jazeera)

Retaining former Bush staffer Stuart Levey, Obama focuses strategy around a global effort to suffocate the Iranian economy…

• U.S. Aims To Isolate Iran if Talks Fail (Washington Post)

… Meanwhile, “Many now consider the nuclear program a core propaganda element of Ahmadinejad’s administration, trumpeted as an inviolable national interest to divert attention from the political and economic failures of the Iranian government”…

• Why Iran’s Missile Tests May Not Play Well in Tehran (Christian Science Monitor)

… However, Iranian officials justify their position claiming the revealed facility complies with regulations, will not enrich uranium more than 5% and the missile tests illustrate the military is able to target any place that threatens Iran:

• Iran Offers Eventual Inspection of Nuclear Plant (NY Times)

Pakistanis and Americans differ over the threat posed by Quetta Shura:

• U.S. Says Taliban Has A New Haven in Pakistan (Washington Post)

Meshaal believes the Egyptian proposal is a “good basis” for reconciliation negotiations:

• Hamas Chief Praises Unity Proposal (Al Jazeera)

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 the local and national level (Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Algeria, Jordan, Turkey) … were at least as successful as comparable secular parties;” the supposed counter-example of  Hamas doesn’t govern an actual state:

• When Islamists Wield Power (Ikhwan Web)

Highlighting one of the many challenges Obama faces as he attempts to close Guantanamo as promised:

• 2 Brothers’ Grim Tale Of Loyalty And Limbo (Washington Post)

As Western forces consider a wide range of severe economic sanctions…

• U.S. Is Seeking a Range of Sanctions Against Iran (NY Times)

… Iran continues to flex its military muscle:

• Iran Tests Shahab 3 Missile (Al Jazeera)

Are Americans now vulnerable to Egyptian reprisals?

• An American Blogger, Supporter of Palestinian Cause, Stopped at Cairo Airport (Ikhwan Web)

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 will allow its territory, including airspace, to be used in a military strike on Iran:

• Iraq’s President: Iran Sanctions Won’t Work (AP)

As estimates of Taliban income from narco-profits are revised downward dramatically, the CIA now fingers foreign donations as a larger source of revenue …

• Diverse Sources Fund Insurgency In Afghanistan (Washington Post)

… while Political pressure rises as more experts charge Taliban support from within Pakistan:

• Zazi-Pakistan Link: Are Terror Training Camps Alive and Well? (Christian Science Monitor)
• Afghan Report Stirs Pakistan Debate (Al Jazeera)

Can the emerging labor movement prevent Mubarak’s son Gamal rise to take over his father’s stranglehold over Egypt politics?

• Wave of Labor Unrest Grips Egypt at Crucial Juncture (Washington Post)

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 direct access to the [Israeli] military officials who decide their fates, and up until now they had a chance to have an advocate bring their case before the military and get some sense of due process”:

• Israel Blocks Rights Groups from Advocating for Gazans (Christian Science Monitor)

Further emphasizing shortcomings of US interventionist policy:

• Anti-U.S. Wave Imperiling Efforts in Pakistan, Officials Say (Washington Post)

“Christians have a national day of prayer, [Hassen Abdellah] pointed out, so why can’t Muslims pray as well?”

• Muslim Prayers at Capitol Stir Protests (Washington Post)

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 corruption maybe the single most important element in the strategy to defeat the Taliban:

• Afghans on Troop Surge Debate: It’s the Corruption, Stupid (Christian Science Monitor)

“What was once described as the Garden of Eden, the cradle of civilization, has been changed to desert and to a cradle of disease, poverty and suffering,”

• Iraq’s Marshes are Dying a Second Death (LA Times)

A candidate preferred by the west, could Prime Minister Fayyad provide a spark to the Palestinian cause:

• The Making of Salam Fayyad (Guardian)

In an effort to modernize their education system and diversify an economy largely dependent on oil reserves:

• Saudi Arabia Opens First Mixed-Gender University (LA Times)

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 funded and fought with against a common enemy?”

• U.S. Closes Door On a Onetime Iraq Ally (LA Times)

Potentially damaging his credibility and political leverage in reconciliation talks with Hamas, Abbas broke his vow not to meet with Israel until a settlement freeze was in place…

• Will Abbas’s Rising Clout be Hurt by Netanyahu Meeting? (Christian Science Monitor)

… Meanwhile, Obama bluntly calls for the beginning of “permanent status negotiations”, a sign his administration has grown weary of the wavering peace process:

• Obama Presses Mideast Leaders To Broaden Talks (Washington Post)

A military strike will undoubtedly unify and embolden Iranians behind Ahmadinejad:

• Iran’s Ahmadinejad Sounds Defiant Note Before U.N. Visit (LA Times)

Conflict and chaos continue to engulf the Swat valley despite the government’s claim to success against the Taliban:

• In Swat Valley, a Bittersweet Eid (Washington Post)

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 Intelligence agency as well as the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as contributing to the external forces working to undermine U.S. interests and destabilize the government in Kabul”:

• U.S. Says Pakistan, Iran Helping Taliban (LA Times)

The Prophet (pbuh) never hesitated to marry a widow:

• Iraqi Widows Defy Social Taboos to Join Lonely Hearts Club (Guardian)

As Israeli intransigence on a settlement freeze continues …

• Hopes Low for Obama-Led Mideast Summit in New York (Reuters / Washington Post)

… theft to the Palestinian land makes for the “best home values in Israel”:

• West Bank Settlements Become Havens of Israeli Surburbanites (Christian Science Monitor)

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:

• McChrystal: More Forces or ‘Mission Failure’ (Washington Post)

Jeopardizing his claim to victory, a third of the votes for Karzai are under review for fraud:

• One in 4 Afghan Ballots Face Check for Fraud (NY Times)

Palestinians remain pessimistic of Hamas/ Fatah reconciliation with only 12% believing it to be possible and Haniyeh rejecting the legitimacy of any agreement sacrificing the rights of refugees or abandonig Jerusalem:

• Can Hamas Spoil Obama’s Three-Way Mideast Summit? (Christian Science Monitor)

If the drones jeopardize American-Pakistani relations, will Pakistanis think better of us if we throw money at them?

• U.S. Fears That Pakistan Aid Will Feed Graft (NY Times)

The defendants are denying any wrongdoing, claiming the media has misreported the facts:

• FBI Arrests Three Men in Terror Probe (Christian Science Monitor)

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 US nuclear accusations …

• Fresh Iranian Protests Inconclusive for Opposition (Christian Science Monitor)
• Iran’s Khamenei Signals Easing in Election Tension (AP / Washington Post)

… while “Israel will not co-operate” at all as its chief delegate David Danielli denounces concern ofver its nuclear program as ” reinforcing political hostilities and lines of division in the Middle East region”:

• Israel Pressured on Nuclear Sites (Al Jazeera)

Negotiations must hit a dead end without representation from Hamas:

• Barack Obama to Meet Israeli and Palestinian Leaders (Guardian)

Government forces are making little military progress as the second ceasefire, which was suppose to coincide with Eid-al-fitr, breaks down:

• Yemen Ceasefire Breaks Down (Al Jazeera)

Amid expanding mistrust between Pakistani citizens and the US government:

• Pakistani Police Raid Firm’s Offices (Washington Post)

Cultural confusion: Egypt’s oppression is obvious, but is it meant to promote secularism or religion?

• Ramadan Brings Out Egypt’s Split Personality (AP / Washington Post)