News in Brief: 27 October 2009

A brief list of news clippings:

Beijing runs a diplomatic marathon. From the Americas to Europe to Asia, Chinese leaders this autumn are engaged in wide-ranging diplomacy to play up the country’s status as a near superpower that is also a responsible stakeholder in the world community. The danger in Beijing’s no-holds-barred projection of military and diplomatic prowess is that it may also render the “China threat” theory more credible. (Asia Times)

Russia, Iran and the Biden Speech. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden toured several countries in Central Europe last week, including the Czech Republic and Poland. The trip comes just a few weeks after the United States reversed course and decided not to construct a ballistic missile defense (BMD) system in those two countries. While the system would have had little effect on the national security of either Poland or the Czech Republic, it was taken as a symbol of U.S. commitment to these two countries and to former Soviet satellites generally. The BMD cancellation accordingly caused intense concern in both countries and the rest of the region… This was a carefully written and vetted speech: It was not Biden going off on a tangent, but rather an expression of Obama administration policy. And it taps into the prime Russian fear, namely, that the West will eat away at Russia’s western periphery — and at Russia itself — with color revolutions that result in the installation of pro-Western governments, just as happened in Georgia in 2003 and Ukraine in 2004-2005. The United States essentially now has pledged itself to do just that, and has asked the rest of Central Europe to join it in creating and strengthening pro-Western governments in the FSU. After doing something Russia wanted the United States to do, Washington now has turned around and announced a policy that directly challenges Russia, and which in some ways represents Russia’s worst-case scenario. (Startfor)

A Shift in Focus: Changes in the Missile Defense Program. On September 17th, President Barack Obama announced changes in the American missile defense program seeking a more proven and cost-effective system than that introduced by the Bush administration… Under Obama’s new plan, neither Poland nor the Czech Republic will host U.S. military assets in the short term. However, the long-term plan is to put land-based versions of the SM-3 in Europe, and there are already talks about beginning negotiations with Poland and the Czech Republic to get the first crack at hosting particular parts of this new infrastructure. (Foreign Policy in Focus)

Gates gets grumpy in Tokyo. United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates expected to leave Japan with a firm agreement in place for the relocation of the US Marine Corps base from Okinawa to Guam. But the recently elected Democratic Party of Japan played hardball, leaving Gates empty-handed. This and other disputes are a sign that Tokyo and Washington may be drifting apart after decades of close alliance. (Asia Times)

Israeli-Turkish Relations Straining Defense Ties. Global weapon sales are always subject to political influences. For many years, Turkey and Israel have maintained a close defense relationship that extended to training in Turkey and large procurement deals. (Defense Industry Daily)

Conflict Risk Alert: After Afghanistan’s Fraudulent Elections. Widespread fraud in the 20 August presidential and provincial council polls has deeply undermined the credibility of Hamid Karzai’s government, the main beneficiary of the rigging. Afghanistan faces a critical test in the run-off between President Karzai and former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah on 7 November and afterwards. A flawed second round will hand Taliban insurgents a significant strategic victory and erode public confidence in the electoral process and the international commitment to the country’s democratic institutions. (ICG)

First US official resigns to protest Afghan war. A former Marine who fought in Iraq, joined the State Department after leaving the military and was a diplomat in a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan has become the first U.S. official to resign in protest of the Afghan war… (Washington Post)

Turkish premier visits Teheran. Turkish Prime Minister Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Tehran on Monday evening and was received at the airport by the Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, the official IRNA news agency reported. The aim of the visit is boosting bilateral relations, the news agency reported… (Alsumaria)

Pakistan releases 11 Iranians arrested for trespassing. Pakistani authorities on Tuesday released 11 Iranian Revolutionary Guards detained a day earlier for trespassing into Pakistani territory, officials said. The guards were arrested in the Mashkhel area on the border with Iran eight days after a suicide bomber killed 42 people, including six Revolutionary Guard commanders, in Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province. (Dawn)

Al Qaeda in Iraq ally claims bombings. The Islamic State of Iraq , an umbrella group affiliated with al Qaeda in Iraq, claimed responsibility Tuesday for a pair of weekend bombings that killed 160 people in Baghdad. (CNN)

Georgia: Are Guantanamo Bay Prisoners Heading for Tbilisi? A senior Georgian official tells EurasiaNet that Tbilisi and Washington are discussing the possibility of Georgia accepting suspected terrorists currently being held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay on the island of Cuba. (EurasiaNet)

Amnesty International: Israel curbing water to Palestinians. Human rights group Amnesty International said in a report published Tuesday that Israeli restrictions prevented Palestinians from receiving enough water in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The report said Israel’s daily water consumption per capita was four times higher than that in the Palestinian territories. (Haaretz)

Brown: Asking the wrong questions about Palestinian elections. On October 24, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree calling for new parliamentary and presidential elections in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza in January 2010. The chance of the elections being held as decreed is virtually nil—Israeli permission is needed for polling in Jerusalem; Hamas’s participation is needed in Gaza. Neither is likely, and for both Israel and Hamas to decide to cooperate is unimaginable in current circumstances. And that leads us to why it is misleading to ask if Hamas leaders will decide to run. They can’t, even if they wanted to (which they definitely don’t). When the 2006 elections led to Hamas’s upset victory, Abbas as head of Fatah threatened to use a series of illegal devices to overturn the result. The idea seems to have been to keep coming up with new election ideas until a way was found to make sure Palestinians gave the right answer. Finally, in June 2007 (after Hamas’s takeover of Gaza) he found one that had the virtue of being arguably legal: Abbas issued a new law by decree that not only changed the rules but also all but barred Hamas. (Marc Lynch)

Big companies getting closer to big Iraq oil fields. A half dozen major international oil companies are close to deals with Iraq, on the heels of BP and the Chinese National Petroleum Corp., which are one step away from receiving the first new oil contract issued by Baghdad – for the largest oil field in the country. (Iraq Oil Report)

Turkey to invest $4 bln in Iran’s southern gas field: report. Turkey is to invest around 3.5 to 4 billion U.S. dollars in Iran’s southern gas field, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Tuesday, quoting an official from Iran’s Oil Ministry. (Xinhua)

Kyrgyzstan: Why did French and Spanish military withdraw from Manas airbase? After the departure of 50 Spanish and 60 French military there are only US soldiers remaining in the airbase. Thus, TC became hundred percent American airbase. To tell the truth, it was named so earlier although the airbase hosted the soldiers from another 11 member-countries of anti-terrorist coalition. The agreement on establishing the transit center was signed by President Kurmanbek Bakiev on July 7, 2009 although earlier in February he had announced the intention to let NATO forces leave the country. Kyrgyzstan reasoned its decision by the fact that US compensation for Manas airport area rental is not enough and that situation in Afghanistan improved; besides, American soldiers are not under jurisdiction of Kyrgyz courts since they have diplomatic status. In the spring of this year the agreement with USA and 11 anti-terrorist coalition countries on placement of military units was denounced. Nearly unanimous decision of the parliament denounced all agreements with Australia, Spain, Denmark, Italy, the Republic of Korea, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Turkey and France. Later on Kurmanbek Bakiev mentioned in the interview that Kyrgyzstan was ready for new negotiations, considering new format and payment conditions. It was followed by the letter from Hamid Karzai, the President of Afghanistan, addressed to Kyrgyz leader, where he asked to help stabilize situation in Afghanistan. Bakiev “forgot” about his plan to exclude the Western military from Kyrgyzstan in exchange for US promise to pay $60 million per year and changing the airbase status into “Transit Center”. Finally, “thank you” message from US leader Barack Obama, addressed to Bakiev, concluded the complex maneuver over Manas. (Ferghana)

European Union Scraps Last Uzbek Sanctions. The European Union on Tuesday dropped the last remaining sanctions against Uzbekistan imposed after a 2005 crackdown on an uprising. (New York Times / AP)

News in Brief: 26 October 2009

A brief list of news clippings for the day:

This Week at War: General Casey’s Doubts. Left unmentioned in all the discussion of America’s interests in Afghanistan are several risks that Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s request for 40,000 additional soldiers, if implemented, would create. McChrystal is asking for a permanent escalation in Afghanistan that would commit U.S. ground forces to a larger open-ended effort. Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, fears that the size and duration of this commitment could eventually break the all-volunteer Army. One strategic risk is that the United States would not have enough ready ground forces for another sustained contingency elsewhere. Finally, the funding that is diverted to sustaining ground-force intensive operations in Iraq and Afghanistan could be creating risks in the space, air, and naval dimensions that will unpleasantly appear in the next decade and beyond. (FP)

Pakistan arrests 11 Iranian guards close to border. Pakistani police arrested 11 Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers Monday for illegally entering the country, amid tensions over a recent suicide attack that Tehran alleges was carried out by militants backed by Pakistani intelligence officials. The 11 officers were taken into custody in Mashkel, close to the countries’ border in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, police officer Dadur Raman said. He said officers were interrogating the men and had seized two vehicles. (AP)

Iraq Council submits 3 proposals over Kirkuk. The political council for national security presented three proposals to the Presidency Council over Kirkuk. MP Iman Al Assadi told Alsumaria News that the council decided to appoint two representatives of Kirkuk Arabs in the Council namely MP Omar Al Jibouri and Mohammed Tamim in addition to a representative of Turkmen in the quality of MP Saad Din Arkij in order to resolve disputes over the elections law. Al Assadi noted the council will convene again on Monday to reach a consensus agreement. (Alsumaria)

Baghdad blasts echo far and wide. The twin suicide bomb attacks in Iraq on Sunday that killed 132 people and injured 700 others have dramatically shattered the relative calm the country has enjoyed over the past 18 months. One of the first major consquences could be delays to the parliamentary elections scheduled for January, while the reverberations may yet be felt in Afghanistan. (Asia Times)

Israel to UN: We’ll continue to gather intelligence in Lebanon. The United Nations has asked Israel for clarifications on “listening devices” that the Lebanese authorities claim were revealed near the village of Hula in southern Lebanon last week. The request was made following an official Lebanese petition to the UN. Israel neither denied nor confirmed that it had placed intelligence-gathering equipment in the area, but informed the UN that collecting intelligence in southern Lebanon will continue as long as the government in Beirut is not in full control of its territory. (Haaretz)

Not Your Father’s Islamist TV: Changing Programming on Hizbullah’s al-Manar. The image of Islamist media is one of grim old men dictating extremist and male-centered religious precepts; Hizbullah’s al-Manar television, not just Islamist but also owned by a political party with a militia, has been equated with broadcasting terrorism and waging psychological operations against its enemies.[1] Yet much of al-Manar today is nothing like the picture painted of the station. Classified as terrorist by the U.S., most topics broadcast have little to do with Hizbullah, its resistance, Shi’a religious teaching, or the fight against Israel. On Hizbullah’s al-Manar, non-veiled women dominate the airwaves on many programs. Only a small minority of programs on the television is religious. Christians regularly participate as experts and audience members, including priests and bishops, and scientific studies from the west are used as affirmative demonstrations of how Lebanese need to change. Problems are discussed in an open-ended, non-authoritative format, and a broad, multi-communal audience regularly participates. (Arab Media & Society)

Emirates Press Law. When the UAE’s draft media law was ready for release in January 2009, journalists were genuinely excited. The existing Press and Publications Law of 1980 is archaic at best. It lists 16 punishable offences, among them insulting Islam and the royal family. For years the UAE government exercised a fear campaign against journalists, jailing, fining, detaining and interrogating reporters and editors for breaking ambiguous laws. (Arab Media & Society)

The United States and East Asia: The decline of long-distance leadership? Hegemony differs from leadership, and both aspects of American power are evident in its relations with East Asia. America’s military primacy was demonstrated vividly in its defeat and subsequent occupation of Japan, positioning the US to play a leading role in the construction of East Asia’s bifurcated post-war international order. But hegemony means more than simply imposing foreign policy preferences on weaker or subordinate powers. For hegemony to be enduring it requires a degree of consent and support from less powerful states—something both radical and liberal theorists of hegemony have highlighted.30 What was striking about American hegemony in the post-war period was that for many of its allies it offered a number of potential long-term advantages, which generally outweighed possible disadvantages that came with American dominance. It is worth spelling out what these were, as the calculus of advantage has started to shift, despite the persistence of the earlier structures of dependency and domination. (Japan Focus)

America’s Role in the LEU-TRR Deal. It’s been little remarked upon, but the United States appears to have a technical role, and not just a political one, in the agreement with Iran reached “in principle” in Geneva on October 1. There’s no text in open circulation, and the U.S. government won’t say what’s in it. As a senior administration official told the New York Times after last week’s technical negotiations in Vienna, it’s the better part of valor to let Tehran spin the results. (Arms Control Wonk)

US threats prompted Iran nuclear facility. The United States has accused Iran of duplicity over the construction of a second uranium enrichment facility at Qom, and says Tehran only revealed its existence once the Iranians realized that Washington knew about it. Yet US intelligence estimates tell a very different story, one in which Iran carefully reacted to what appeared to be an imminent US strike against it. (Asia Times)

IAEA team inspects Iran’s nuclear plant. A four-member team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has carried out the first round of inspections of Iran’s second uranium enrichment facility on Sunday. (The Hindu)

A pointed Palestinian parody. Over the weekend, PA President Mahmoud Abbas ratcheted up pressure on Hamas to agree to a new unity government by announcing plans to hold elections on Jan. 24, 2010. Hamas leaders in Gaza immediately rejected the decree. And it will be politically perilous for Abbas and the Palestinian Authority to hold elections that don’t include the 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza. (Checkpoint Jerusalem)

Israel rules out questioning troops about Gaza offensive. The Israeli government has ruled out setting up an independent investigative body that would interview Israeli military personnel about allegations that the military committed war crimes during its offensive against Hamas earlier this year. (CNN)

Netanyahu seems oblivious to potential risks of al-Aqsa violence. The latest violence outside the al-Aqsa mosque, below, has repercussions that go far beyond Israeli-Palestinian relations. From Cairo to Jakarta, Muslims will be enraged by the sight of Israeli security forces imposing authority at Islam’s third-holiest site. The 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference has warned that any provocative act by Israel “would bear grave consequences”. Violence at the site has increased in the past. It was clashes outside the al-Aqsa mosque that sparked the second intifada — a widespread violent uprising by Palestinians. The origins of that event are traced to Ariel Sharon’s provocative September 2000 visit to the compound. (Times Online)

Around 200,000 flee Waziristan offensive. Around 200,000 people have abandoned their homes in Pakistan’s South Waziristan tribal area, where the military is pressing an offensive against Taliban militants, an army spokesman said Monday. (Dawn)

AFGHANISTAN: No Refuge For Victims of Violence. The rate of civilian casualties in Afghanistan during 2009 has increased exponentially if compared with previous years. When he first took command of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces in Afghanistan this summer, U.S. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal placed an emphasis on the reduction of civilian casualties. Since then, though, civilian casualties have increased as the result of both NATO air strikes and insurgent’s attacks. (IPS)

U.N. diplomats press Afghan commission for election changes. United Nations diplomats and the chairman of an Afghan election commission are sparring over efforts to curb fraud in the country’s Nov. 7 presidential runoff election. (McClatchy)

Drones protect ships in Somalia. For the first time, sophisticated U.S. military surveillance drones capable of carrying missiles have begun patrolling waters off Somalia in hopes of stemming rising piracy. (Hiiraan / AFP)

The Syrian Exception: Between Modernization and Resistance by Caroline Donati is an important new addition to the short number of good books on Syria. It is in French. (Syria Comment)

Pakistan: Balochistan minister gunned down in Quetta. In a fresh incident of target killing in Balochistan, provincial Education Minister and PPP leader Shafiq Ahmed Khan was shot dead while his relative, Hidayatullah Jafar, was injured on the Ali Bahadur Road here on Sunday afternoon. (The News)

News in Brief: 22 October 2009

A brief list of news clippings:

Where Pakistan’s militants go to ground. The Pakistani military is taking the fight to militants in the South Waziristan tribal area, even as the United States takes its Afghan fight to Pakistan. This draws Pakistan into an ever-deepening quagmire, one in which militants are carving havens. One of these is the Lyari area of Karachi, where an odd assortment of groups – including the Iranian Jundallah and anti-Shi’ite terror outfits – rub shoulders beyond the reach of the law. (Asia Times)

Pakistan: Countering Militancy in FATA. The military operation in South Waziristan is unlikely to succeed in curbing the spread of religious militancy in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), unless the Pakistan government implements political reforms in that part of the country. Crisis Group examines the Talibanisation in FATA, and argues that only reforms that encourage political diversity, enhance economic opportunity, and guarantee civil and political rights will address the problem. So far, short-sighted military policies have aggravated the conflict’s impact on inhabitants and fuelled Islamic militancy. The consequences are dramatic: over one million people – one third of FATA’s population – have been displaced, and the numbers are growing. (ICG)

Abu Mazen tries to regain the initiative. The political toll of his disastrous decision on the Goldstone report has led Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to roll the dice on an audacious bid to regain the political initiative. First he decided to sign the long-blocked Egyptian-brokered Palestinian reconciliation document and dare Hamas to do the same. Then he suggested that he would go ahead and call Palestinian elections for January 24, whether or not Hamas agreed. The moves have been backed by a blitz in the anti-Hamas Arab media attempting to blame Hamas for rejecting reconciliation and running away from elections. Will this help Abu Mazen and Fatah regain the initiative? To what end? At what cost? (Marc Lynch)

Obama’s Choice: Failed War President or the Prince of Peace? When the Nobel Committee awarded its annual peace prize to President Barack Obama, it afforded him a golden opportunity seldom offered to American war presidents: the possibility of success. Should he decide to go the peace-maker route, Obama stands a chance of really accomplishing something significant. On the other hand, history suggests that the path of war is a surefire loser. As president after president has discovered, especially since World War II, the U.S. military simply can’t seal the deal on winning a war. While the armed forces can do many things, the one thing that has generally escaped them is that ultimate endpoint: lasting victory. (TomDistpatch)

Afghanistan: Abdullah agrees to face Karzai in runoff. President Hamid Karzai’s chief political rival agreed Wednesday to take part in a November 7 runoff election, setting the stage for a high-stakes showdown in the face of Taliban threats and approaching winter snows. However, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said he would not accept an election organized on the same terms as the August presidential vote and was preparing a list of conditions for election organizers. (The Daily Star / AP)

Iraq’s unity coalition comes to light. Iraq’s unity coalition was announced in Baghdad. The coalition joins around 31 political entities mainly the Constitutional Party, Iraq Sahwa gathering and the Republican Party. (Alsumaria)

Iraqis top list of refugees seeking asylum. For the fourth year in a row, Iraqis top a growing roster of people seeking asylum in an industrialized nation. They are just ahead of people fleeing wars in Afghanistan and Somalia, said a report published by the U.N. refugee agency Wednesday. (CNN)

Iraqi Parliament Gives up on Drafting Electoral Law; Cross-Sectarian Political Coalition Announced. Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that the Iraqi parliament has thrown up its hands in despair about crafting an election law. Many parliamentarians haven’t even been coming to the sessions, because there is such bad blood among the MPs over this and other issues. (Informed Comment)

Gates to Press NATO on Afghan Commitment. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said he would ask for increased contributions even before the American decision on whether to commit additional combat troops. (New York Times)

Somali Insurgents Attack Airport. The Islamist insurgent group Shabab attacked the main Somali airport here with mortars Thursday as the nation’s president prepared to board a plane to Uganda, setting off a series of artillery battles between government forces and insurgents that left at least 18 people dead, Somali officials said. (New York Times)

Azerbaijan and Turkey clash over energy. A public cry of “no more cheap gas to Turkey” by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliev has exacerbated rising Azeri-Turkish energy tensions. Ankara’s efforts to play different suppliers against one other – and position itself as a regional energy hub – are not a fatal blow to the stalled Nabucco pipeline, but the rival White Stream may come more to the fore. (Asia Times)

Crowds of Kurds greet Kurd rebels in Turkey. Tens of thousands of Kurds in Diyarbakir greeted Wednesday a group of Kurdish rebels coming from Iraq who “surrendered” in a good-will gesture to Turkey. (Alsumaria)

Nero’s ghost in Istanbul. Is an IMF that could hardly manage itself in a position now to manage the global economy? Is an IMF that was blindsided and never saw the unfolding financial disaster in a position to recommend what its members should adopt to prevent future crises? Was the recent annual meeting in Istanbul sufficient to create a rejuvenated IMF that could play an even more demanding role than anything it had done in the past? First, some background. (Asia Times)

Turkmenistan: Ashgabat Energy-Reserve Controversy Continues to Flare. Are Turkmenistan’s energy reserve figures fudged or not? Just over a week after allegations first surfaced that the Turkmen government’s claims are grossly hyped, the controversy over Ashgabat’s export capacity is still flaring. Representatives of the firm that conducted the original audit are vigorously defending their reputation for thoroughness. Meanwhile, a whistleblower says he remains confident in the accuracy of his sources’ information. (EurasiaNet)

EU preparing end sanctions on Uzbekistan. The European Union is preparing to lift sanctions against Uzbekistan, introduced after Andijan killings, trying to improve ties with Central Asian states to help secure and diversify future energy supplies, Reuters report with the reference to anonymous EU diplomats. (Ferghana Information Agency)

King Abdullah II of Jordan: “Keeping the statu quo means sliding into darkness.” What worries His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan most? The Iranian nuclear threat or a possible Israeli intransigence? His Majesty’s line of reasoning is likely to dampen any expectation of a swift regional solution, according to the timeline and the methods formulated by US President Obama: During my visit to Washington, I heard many voices saying Iran, Iran, Iran. Instead I keep repeating Palestine, Palestine, Palestine. The failure to resolve the Palestinian Israeli conflict and achieve Arab Israeli peace is the most serious threat to peace and to stability in the region, including in the Mediterranean. That must be the priority. In the beginning there were great hopes. But now the horizon seems to moving farther away. (Syria Comment)

Japan: No base decision soon. The Japanese government said Thursday it would take its time in deciding whether to renege on a military realignment plan involving U.S. bases, despite warnings from the Obama administration that any reversal would spark serious consequences. (Washington Post)

News in Brief: 21 October 2009

A brief list of news clippings for the day:

Central Asia: The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan Undergoing Dangerous Transformation. In Afghanistan, local officials say that 15 militants captured by US forces on October 11 in Kunduz Province were affiliated with the IMU. The Afghan Ministry of Defense estimates that there are at least 4,000 IMU-aligned “foreign mercenaries” in northern Afghanistan. The increase in IMU activity is occurring amid changes in the movement’s composition. According to some reports, the death of the group’s long-time leader, Tahir Yuldashev, has allowed more daring and innovate leaders to assert themselves within the movement. Specifically, an ethnic Tartar named Abdur Rahman is believed to have assumed the helm of the IMU, replacing Yuldashev, who reportedly died from wounds suffered in a US missile attack in August. (EurasiaNet)

Blowing in the wind. Is Japan changing for real? To get a better sense of how Japan is and isn’t changing with the urbane Yukio Hatoyama at the helm, in the wake of the Democratic Party of Japan’s stunning electoral victory over the entrenched Liberal Democratic, consider these news stories from around the Japanese archipelago… (Informed Comment Global Affairs)

In Japan, Gates talks tough on base relocation. Playing hardball with its closest ally in Asia, the Obama administration warned Japan on Wednesday of serious consequences if it backs out of a commitment to allow the relocation of a U.S. airbase on Okinawa. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said that if Japan stops the base relocation, the United States would halt the withdrawal of 8,000 Marines from Okinawa and would not, as planned, return several parcels of land. (Washington Post)

Karzai challenger to set Afghan runoff conditions. The main challenger to Hamid Karzai today said he “hoped” a second round of voting in Afghanistan’s presidential election could go ahead, but warned that his team would soon announce conditions to prevent a repeat of the massive fraud that hit the original election in August. Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister who will be facing off against Karzai after a fraud investigation slashed the Afghan president’s share of votes to below the 50% needed for outright victory, said measures would have to be taken to ensure a more credible vote. (Guardian)

Bagram: Has Obama Learned Nothing from Guantánamo? While Obama inherited Gitmo, his administration’s ongoing moves with regards to a lesser known prison—Bagram Theater Internment Facility in Afghanistan— continue to be endorsed by his Administration. While his government is requesting additional funding for “Afghan projects,” his administration is also simultaneously working to “overhaul” the prison. Although that linked article makes it appear as if the US is working to improve the conditions for prisoners, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argues that the Obama Administration may be doing the opposite while also trying to keep the procedures that govern the prison “shrouded in secrecy.” (Pulse)

Eyeing Iran, Israel tests missile defenses with U.S. Israel and the United States launched a major air defense drill on Wednesday which will include a preparation for a faceoff with Iran. During the two-week maneuvers, dubbed Juniper Cobra, some 1,000 American personnel will mesh ground- and ship-based missile interceptors like the Aegis, THAAD and Patriot with Israel’s Arrow II ballistic shield, defense officials said. The drill’s main scenario will be an Iranian missile attack on Israel. In the scenario, American units come to Israel’s aid in order to strengthen the IDF’s missile defense system. (Haaretz)

Obama surprises Peres gala event with special message. U.S. President Barack Obama surprised attendants of the 2009 Presidential Conference with a special recorded message, in which he called Israeli-U.S. relations a “bond that is much more than a strategic alliance.” … “The American people and the Israeli peoples share a faith in the future and believe that democracies can shape their own destinies and that opportunities should be available to all,” said Obama, in a message apparently unanticipated by the conference participants, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Haaretz)

Abbas to decree Palestinian vote for January 24. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday he would issue a decree on Sunday to hold elections by January 24. (The Daily Star)

China’s navy sails past India’s dock. Three Chinese naval vessels do not make a fleet, but they do make a statement. By sending them to patrol off the coast of Somalia as part of the multinational force operating there, in effect, China is saying to India, “We’re back.” (Asia Times)

Iraq Parliament fails anew to ratify elections law. Iraqi Parliament failed anew to vote on the elections law after deep rows took hold of the session. Kurdistan Alliance MPs held Turkmen and Arab parties responsibility for hindering the elections law ratification and threatened to withdraw from the coming session if Arab and Turkmen’s proposal is voted on. (Alsumaria)

As Iraqi election worries mount, State and DoD dispute U.S. role. Much ado was made last month about the reported rift between U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Chris Hill and the top U.S. military commander in Baghdad Gen. Ray Odierno, a rift that Hill strenuously denied. But a real policy dispute lies at the heart of the story, senior diplomatic and military sources in Baghdad tell The Cable. Increasingly, the two men are said to differ over the proper American role in Baghdad, specifically with regard to how heavy a hand the U.S. should apply in trying to influence the decisions of the Iraqi government led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. (FP – The Cable)

Israel hardens opposition to war crimes report. Israel hardened its opposition Tuesday to international calls for an independent inquiry into its fierce offensive against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip last winter, saying it would urge the US to prevent the issue from advancing at the United Nations… The UN report, overseen by respected South African jurist Richard Goldstone, has created an uproar in Israel. Officials say the Human Rights Council, which includes many Arab and Muslim countries, is hopelessly biased against Israel. But Goldstone’s credentials as a former war crimes prosecutor in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, his Jewish faith and his close ties to Israel have made it hard for Israel to ignore his findings. Goldstone has personally urged Israel to hold an independent investigation. Israel attacked Gaza last December in a bid to end eight years of relentless rocket fire by Palestinian militants. Some 1,400 Palestinians, including more than 900 civilians, were killed in the three-week war, according to Palestinian officials and human rights groups. Thirteen Israelis, including four civilians, also died. (Dawn)

Pakistan to help Iran find bomb culprits: Qureshi. Pakistan will support Iran in tracking down those responsible for a suicide bomb attack in southeastern Iran, Pakistan’s foreign minister said on Wednesday, as calls in Iran grew for the perpetrators to be punished. (Dawn)

Battle intensifies as Taliban retakes key town. Taliban militants attacked Pakistani forces and recaptured a strategic town on Tuesday while two suicide bomb blasts at an Islamic university in the capital killed four people and wounded at least 20, officials said. (Today’s Zaman)

Top Kashmiri militant killed: Indian army. Indian soldiers shot dead three suspected militants, including a wanted commander, on Wednesday during a clash in revolt-hit Indian-administered Kashmir, the army said. (Dawn)

China’s investment in ASEAN countries. Direct investment from China to ASEAN countries in 2008 totaled 2.18 billion U.S. dollars, up 125 percent from 2007. By the end of 2008, Chinese enterprises had invested 2.75 billion U.S. dollars in Singapore, and almost 300 Chinese enterprises had been established there. By the end of 2008, China had directly invested 590 million U.S. dollars in Vietnam, of which 200 million was newly invested in2008. By the end of June, 2009, contracted investment from Chinese enterprises to Laos had amounted to 2.14 billion U.S. dollars over the years and went into 303 projects. Currently, China is the third biggest foreign investor in Laos… By the end of 2008, China had invested a total of 1.33 billion U.S. dollars in Myanmar and become the fourth biggest foreign investor of the country. (Xinhua)

News in Brief: 20 October 2009

A brief list of news clippings for the day:

US: Presidential Power Grows – Will You Love Every Future President? Presidential power has been on a pathway of expansion beyond what the Constitution outlined, and what a government of, by, and for the people requires, since George Washington was president. That expansion, which hit the highway after World War II, got a turbo boost during the co-presidency of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Some of the new powers that those two stole from Congress, the courts, the states, and us the people are being abused less severely in this new age of Obama; others, more so; but far more crucially, in a pattern followed by recent presidencies, all are being maintained, if not expanded, and thus more firmly cemented into place for future presidents to use. Wherever you fall on the political spectrum, you are likely to strongly oppose some major decisions of some future presidents. So it shouldn’t be hard to envision some pretty undesirable consequences that might flow from presidential power that increasingly approaches the absolute. (TomDispatch)

GAO on US Defense Contract Audit Agency, 2009: Uh-Oh… On Oct 15/09, the US Congress’ GAO audit office published report #GAO-10-163T, “Defense Management: Widespread DCAA Audit Problems Leave Billions of Taxpayer Dollars Vulnerable to Fraud, Waste, Abuse, and Mismanagement.” (Defense Industry Daily)

Afghanistan: Hamid Karzai ‘to accept’ ruling of election commission. Afghan President Hamid Karzai will accept the final ruling of electoral authorities, his spokesman said on Tuesday after a report into election fraud rejected many ballots. Mr Karzai’s share of the vote in the August 20 election is expected to have fallen below the 50 per cent needed for outright victory, following an investigation by the Election Complaints Commission (ECC) into fraud. If the findings of the ECC report, released late on Monday, are accepted by the IEC, Afghans may have to vote in a second round run-off between Mr Karzai and his nearest rival, Abdullah Abdullah. (Telegraph)

AFGHANISTAN: Virtually no safety net for war victims’ families. Despite having one of the largest war victim populations in Asia, Afghanistan does not have a law on how to deal with hundreds of thousands of war widows, orphans and disabled. (IRIN)

Pakistani troops raid Taliban hideouts in South Waziristan. On the third day of a major ground and air offensive to root out Islamist insurgents, officials said, the army faced pockets of stiff resistance that included rocket fire. But they said they were making progress, killing 18 fighters in a tribal region that Pakistan says is home to plotters of a recent series of deadly domestic assaults. The United States considers South Waziristan a haven for militants attacking international forces in Afghanistan and planning attacks overseas. (Washington Post)

Twin blasts in Islamabad university; 5 killed, 40 hurt. Two suicide bombers blew themselves up near simultaneously at a prestigious Islamic university in the Pakistani capital on Tuesday, killing at least five persons and injuring over 40, the latest in a series of deadly terror attacks that have rocked the country. (Indian Express / AP)

China opens a new front in Kashmir. China, by issuing residents from Indian-administered Kashmir visas different from those given to Indians from other parts of the country, is treating the disputed area as a sovereign entity. This is a surprising departure from Beijing’s traditional policy of leaving the Kashmir issue to India and Pakistan to resolve. Delhi suspects a hidden agenda. (Asia Times)

Iran puts relations with Pakistan to test. Iran has put its ties with Pakistan to test by demanding from Islamabad the extradition of those individuals who had masterminded Sunday’s suicide bombing which killed some of the top commanders of its elite force. Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused “certain officials” in Pakistan for the blast which killed 42 persons, including two top ranking officers of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). (The Hindu)

Iran will do business but not with France. Diplomats involved in the Vienna talks on the possible export and processing of Iran’s uranium have confirmed that Iran does not want France to be part of any formal agreement. Their objection is based on their experience of being a 10% shareholder in a uranium enrichment plant in Drôme, Eurodif, that dates back to 1975 – the Shah era. The investment was made to provide Iran a steady supply of enriched uranium, but that supply has been denied to Iran under UN sanctions. (Guardian)

Saudi-Iranian hostility hits boiling point. Escalating tensions between Riyadh and Tehran may have played a role in Sunday’s suicide strike that killed seven senior commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps as well as 42 other people in Iran’s southeast. Riyadh is concerned that Iran’s growing power will erode Saudi pre-eminence in the region, and the Saudis might have a vested interest in disrupting the United States-Iran nuclear talks. (Asia Times)

Israeli drive to prevent Jewish girls dating Arabs. A local authority in Israel has announced that it is establishing a special team of youth counsellors and psychologists whose job it will be to identify young Jewish women who are dating Arab men and “rescue” them. The move by the municipality of Petah Tikva, a city close to Tel Aviv, is the latest in a series of separate – and little discussed – initiatives from official bodies, rabbis, private organisations and groups of Israeli residents to try to prevent interracial dating and marriage. In a related development, the Israeli media reported this month that residents of Pisgat Zeev, a large Jewish settlement in the midst of Palestinian neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem, had formed a vigilante-style patrol to stop Arab men from mixing with local Jewish girls. (The National)

Meetings move Iraq closer to next oil field auction. Representatives from 44 of the world’s largest oil companies have concluded two-day meetings here with the Iraqi Oil Ministry, hashing out a rough draft of the contract on which the companies will base their bids for 10 oil projects in December. (Iraq Oil Report)

Russia to assess new U.S. missile shield from national security perspective: Medvedev. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow would evaluate the revised U.S. missile defense plan in eastern Europe from the perspective of Russia’s national security, the Itar-Tass news agency reported on Monday. (Xinhua)

UN investigates as more explosions reported in southern Lebanon. No injuries have been reported, according to UN spokesperson Michele Montas. “Preliminary indications are that these explosions were caused by explosive charges contained in unattended underground sensors which were placed in this area by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), apparently during the 2006 war,” she told reporters in New York. (UN News Centre)

Piracy remains a concern, maritime panelists explain. In reality, only one-third of 1 percent of all seagoing vessels are attacked by pirates, but the threat of an attack remains constant, particularly in certain waters. (Hiiraan)

Azerbaijan seeks to derail Turkey-Armenia deal. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Friday said Turkish terms for buying Azerbaijani gas were unacceptable and that Baku is considering other routes for shipping its gas to Europe. The statement came amid deep Azerbaijani anger at a thaw in Turkish-Armenian relations and prompted Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to assure Ankara that its close support for Baku remained unchanged. (The News)

Turkey: Relations Between Ankara And Israel Becoming Chilly. The once-vital relationship between Turkey and Israel is going through a distinctly frosty period. The chill began after the invasion of Gaza earlier this year, which Ankara criticized harshly. But now ties between the two Middle East allies are diving further and some experts are wondering if the relationship is coming to end. Concern was first raised in mid-October after Turkey indefinitely postponed annual military exercises, reportedly because of Israel’s planned involvement. The exercises — air force maneuvers dubbed Anatolian Eagle — were also to have included the United States, Italy and other NATO countries. The other participating states reportedly pulled out of the exercise after learning of Israel’s exclusion. (EurasiaNet)

Iraqi PM meets US Secretary of State. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki headed on Monday to the US leading a senior delegation of ministers, economists and businessmen to attend the Investment Conference due on October 20-21. During his visit, Iraqi Prime Minister is due to meet with US President Barack Obama. Meanwhile, Al Maliki met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and discussed bilateral relations and the latest developments on the Iraqi and regional scenes as well as removing Iraq from UN Charter Chapter VII. (PUK Media)

Arab League chief eyes Egyptian presidency. The head of the Arab League indicated in an interview published Tuesday that he may consider running for Egypt’s presidency in elections scheduled for 2011. (Haaretz)

Somali Shabaab rebels say they shot down U.S. drone. Somali insurgents shot down a U.S. drone aircraft flying over the southern port of Kismayu on Monday and were searching for the wreckage, an insurgent spokesman said. (Hiiraan)

Somali groups urged to join talks. Somalia’s president has called on armed groups in the country to enter into a dialogue with the government for ending decades of fighting in the African nation. (Al Jazeera)

IMF defends lending policies. A report by a Washington-based think-tank criticizes the International Monetary Fund for failing to anticipate the global downturn and for recommending pro-cyclical policies based on bad data and over-optimistic assumptions in response. The IMF has hit back, saying it is certainly not its policy to harm already poor economies. (Asia Times)

Video: The danger of a single story

Novelist Chimamanda Adichie gives an excellent talk on the subject of cultural misunderstanding stemming from the threat of a single narrative representing a people.

View it here.

News in Brief: 19 October 2009

A brief list of news for the day:

A new battle begins in Pakistan. Pakistani troops are pouring into the South Waziristan tribal area for a conflict against militants that they have little chance of winning outright. The offensive does, though, emphatically shift the focus from Afghanistan, which is what the United States has wanted for some time. Iran, following Sunday’s attack on commanders of its Revolutionary Guards Corps, also has Pakistan on its mind. (Asia Times)

Pakistan: Talks over aid, militancy as Kerry meets Gilani, Kayani. Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani says the military is not opposed to any assistance from the United States. However, he reiterated that there should be no conditionalities that can harm national security. General Kayani was talking to US Centcom Chief, General David Petreaus and US Senator John Kerry separately at the GHQ in Rawalpindi. (Dawn)

Pakistani Army Advances into Waziristan; Effect of Campaign on US in Afghanistan Doubted; Taliban threaten India. So what is in South Waziristan? Groups that are targeting Pakistan itself. These include the Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan [TTP] or Pakistani Taliban Movement and elements of anti-Shiite Sunni extremist groups from the Punjab, who have begun hitting Pakistani government targets. The campaign will thus have little effect on the fighting in Afghanistan, except to the extent that some militants may be displaced from Pakistan north to Afghanistan. (Informed Comment)

PAKISTAN: Thousands flee South Waziristan as army offensive begins. A curfew was imposed in parts of Waziristan and troops began moving in, preventing others from fleeing. Action against militants had been anticipated for months.A similar military campaign against militants in Swat District, North West Frontier Province (NWFP), ended in July, leading to the displacement of some 2.3 million people in the area. (IRIN)

Will Today’s U.S.-Armed Ally Be Tomorrow’s Enemy? Is it too early — or already too late — to begin drawing lessons from “the Long War”? That phrase, coined in 2002 and, by 2005, being championed by Centcom Commander General John Abizaid, was meant to be a catchier name for George W. Bush’s “Global War on Terror.” That was back in the days when inside-the-Beltway types were still dreaming about a global Pax Americana and its domestic partner, a Pax Republicana, and imagining that both, once firmly established, might last forever. (TomDispatch)

White House, key Democrat turn up heat on Karzai. As two commissions reviewing the allegations of fraud in Afghanistan’s August 20 presidential election haggled in Kabul Sunday, a top Obama administration official and a senior Senate Democrat publicly turned up the heat on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to find a credible end to the electoral dispute. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said on CNN that President Barack Obama wouldn’t make a decision on his military commanders’ request for as many as 80,000 additional American troops in Afghanistan until the administration is convinced that the country has a credible central government. (McClatchy)

Iraq Parliament to decide about election law. Iraqi Parliament is due to hold today an important session to finalize amendments on the electoral law and ratify it amidst deep rows among parliamentary parties on holding elections in Kirkuk and whether to adopt the open or the closed list. (Alsumaria)

Goldstone as a touchstone for Obama. Attempts by the United States and Israel to bury the Goldstone report on war crimes committed during the war in Gaza – which on Friday was approved by the United Nations Human Rights Council – could damage US President Barack Obama’s credibility among Arabs and Muslims as someone willing to stand up to Israel. (Asia Times)

Challenging the Dahiya Doctrine. In supporting the Goldstone Report, the UN Human Rights Council has acknowledged the premise that the responsibility for the most recent Lebanon and Gaza wars lies squarely with one unique factor: Israeli political goals. The UN-welcomed Report notes historical context by underscoring that the “specific means Israel has adopted to meet its military objectives in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and in Lebanon have repeatedly been censured by the United Nations Security Council, especially its attacks on houses. The military operations from 27 December to 18 January did not occur in a vacuum, either in terms of proximate causes in relation to the Hamas/Israeli dynamics or in relation to the development of Israeli military thinking about how best to describe the nature of its military objectives.” (Axis of Logic)

Hamas fighters v. Israel in Gaza: Fail. For months before Israel’s military offensive in Gaza last winter, Israeli papers were filled with ominous stories suggesting that Hamas militants in Gaza were developing into a formidable force, trained by Iran, armed with advanced weapons, and prepared for battle. When the showdown finally came, how did Hamas perform? In a word: Fail. A new report from the Washington Report for Near East Policy documents the obvious: “Hamas and its military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (IDQB), accomplished little militarily.” (Checkpoint Jerusalem)

Russians deal Lieberman ’slap’ by endorsing Goldstone report. Israel relayed a sharply worded protest to the Russian government following Russia’s vote in favor of adopting the Goldstone report at the Human Rights Council in Geneva Friday, according to senior Foreign Ministry officials in Jerusalem. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman suffered a personal blow by the Russian vote, which went against the promises he received from his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, days prior to the vote at the United Nations body. (Haaretz)

Obama: Stop Covert Activities Against Iran and Dump Bush’s Policy of Playing the Sunni-Shi’a “Card”. Sunday’s suicide bomb attack in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan province, in which five senior officers of the Revolutionary Guard and at least 30 other people were killed, marks a significant escalation in an ongoing Sunni Islamist terror campaign directed against the Islamic Republic. We do not believe that Sunday’s attack and the ongoing campaign of terrorist violence represents a fundamental threat to the Islamic Republic’s basic political stability. However, we do believe the attack will exacerbate Iranian threat perceptions about its regional neighbors and the United States at a delicate point in the diplomatic process launched at the October 1 Geneva meeting between senior Iranian officials and representatives of the P-5+1. (The Race for Iran)

Ahmadinejad urges Zardari to ‘confront’ Iran bombers. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday urged his President Zardari to confront a Sunni militant group which Tehran says is behind the bombing on the Revolutionary Guards that killed dozens. (Dawn)

US-IRAN: Congress Begins Pressing Sanctions Legislation. The United States Congress is pushing through long-pending legislation to impose new unilateral sanctions on Iran. Supporters of the sanctions claim they give President Barack Obama more leverage in upcoming talks with Tehran about its nuclear program, but critics say the bans may prove counter-productive to any possible diplomatic engagement. (IPS)

Iran joins key talks on nuclear future. Key meetings on the future of Iran’s nuclear program begin Monday as officials from Tehran huddle with the United States, Russia and France at the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency in Vienna. (CNN)

Tajikistan: Four militants of Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan are killed in Isfara. On October 18 four militants of Islam Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) were killed in Tajikistan while another one was detained, Interfax reports with the reference to Deputy Interior Minister Tohir Normatov. Big number of weapons and ammunitions were exempted during the operation in the area of Isfara city, located 440 kilometers to the north-east of Dushanbe at the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border. (Ferghana)

BAE Wins Big PBL Support Contracts for European & Saudi Eurofighters. BAE recently announced a pair of major contracts that leverage its growing expertise with “contracting for availability” performance-based support… Oct 12/09, BAE systems announced a detailed 3-year contract for “The Salam Support Solution.” This is a full availability-based service contract, which also includes Saudi pilot training in the UK and training for RSAF maintenance technicians. The deal’s value was not disclosed, but Saudi support contracts tend to be very large due to the range of contractor services they need. (Defense Industry Daily)

U.S. budget deficit trebles to $1.42 trillion. Washington: Fighting the worst financial turmoil in decades, the U.S. saw its federal budget deficit more than treble to $1.42 trillion for the financial year ended September 30. (The Hindu)

Three Israeli ‘spy devices’ blown up in Lebanon. It “seems the two detonations were triggered by Israel which exploded two spying devices it had planted in the sector a long while ago,” she [Lebanese military official] said. Israel “feared for one reason or another that they might be discovered and proceeded to destroy them by exploding them remotely,” the official said. Lebanese troops “located another device and exploded it on Sunday morning” after going to the area on Saturday night with UNIFIL peacekeepers, she added. (The Daily Star)

Iran: Local leaders and military commanders killed in blast

Two separate explosions in southeastern Iran have killed civilians and military personnel. PressTV covers the story:

The first attack took place at a unity gathering of Shia and Sunni tribal leaders on Sunday morning, in the Pishin area, a region situated in the borderline Province of Sistan-Balouchestan.

Reports indicate that provincial IRGC commanders Brigadier Nour-Ali Shoushtari and Brigadier Rajab-Ali Mohammadzadeh were among those who lost their lives in the attack.

Several tribal leaders and recognized local figures from both the Shia and Sunni communities were killed in the attack.

Jundullah has claimed responsibility for this attack. Jundullah is a Baluch insurgency that is active in Iran and Pakistan.

Also on Sunday and in Pishin, a Revolutionary Guard/IRGC convoy was caught in a roadside explosion. Iran’s border and military personnel have been for years now facing off against insurgency attacks near the border with Pakistan.

ABC on Jundullah:

A Pakistani tribal militant group responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005, U.S. and Pakistani intelligence sources tell ABC News.

…U.S. officials say the U.S. relationship with Jundullah is arranged so that the U.S. provides no funding to the group, which would require an official presidential order or “finding” as well as congressional oversight.

…Pakistani government sources say the secret campaign against Iran by Jundullah was on the agenda when Vice President Dick Cheney met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in February (2007).

A senior U.S. government official said groups such as Jundullah have been helpful in tracking al Qaeda figures and that it was appropriate for the U.S. to deal with such groups in that context.

Some former CIA officers say the arrangement is reminiscent of how the U.S. government used proxy armies, funded by other countries including Saudi Arabia, to destabilize the government of Nicaragua in the 1980s.

Jundullah operations out of Pakistan into Iran has also served to raise tensions between officials of these two countries. Iran often accuses Pakistan of inaction. An Asia Times report covers this. Referring to a Jundullah attack in 2008, the article outlines the following:

The Zahedan attack therefore proved to be a watershed of sorts in bilateral relations. Tehran apparently had alerted Islamabad in advance about the possibility of the attack and requested the latter’s authorities crack down on Jundullah on Pakistani territory as a pre-emptive measure. Hence, when the Zahedan attack happened, Iran made unprecedented diplomatic maneuvers. It not only lodged a strong protest with Islamabad, but the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan called a press conference and lambasted the Pakistani authorities for inaction.

Within days, Iran closed its border with Pakistan. Bilateral relations plunged to unprecedented depths. For Pakistan, which has border disputes and hostile relations with two of its three neighbors – India and Afghanistan – the Iranian moves could not have come at a worse time.

Pakistan felt particularly misunderstood since, after the civilian government came to power in 2008, it had initiated some amount of internal action against Jundullah – although this action was largely confined to the urban areas in Pakistan rather than the border areas from where Jundullah operated.

The Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchistan is home to Baluch ethnic minority, who are Sunni. The province is impoverished and politically marginalized. Local movements have demanded economic help from the central government, as well as fair political representation. New currents have developed into independence movements, though these sometimes militant movements appear to be based out of Pakistan

Middle East politics: Edward Said and Noam Chomsky lecture

MP3 audio of an Edward Said and Noam Chomsky lecture at Columbia University:

Part 1

Part 2

News in Brief: 16 October 2009

A brief list of news for the day:

The Dragon spews fire at the Elephant. Indian lobbyists – with an eye on profiting from arms sales with the United States worth billions of dollars – are whipping up war hysteria and xenophobia over China, and Delhi is playing along. Against this electrified diplomatic backdrop, the state-run People’s Daily tore into India this week. The relationship could nosedive further if the Dalai Lama’s visit to India’s disputed areas with China goes ahead. (Asia Times)

US-PAKISTAN: Obama Signs Controversial Aid Bill. After 10 days of raging controversy centred in Islamabad, U.S. President Barack Obama Thursday signed a major aid bill for Pakistan authorising some 7.5 billion dollars in non-military assistance for the increasingly beleaguered country over the next five years. The bill, which will more than triple the current level of non-military aid the U.S. provides to Pakistan, had been designed as a dramatic show of support for the country whose full cooperation is seen as crucial to U.S. hopes of defeating the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan and destroying al Qaeda, whose leadership is believed to be based in Pakistan’s rugged frontier region. (IPS)

Rights council adopts Gaza report. The UN human rights chief has endorsed the Goldstone report on Israel’s war on Gaza, which accused both Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas of war crimes, but was overall more critical of Israel than Hamas. The resolution calls on Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, to monitor whether Israel and Hamas conduct credible investigations into the conflict which took place last winter. Should the two sides fail to do so, it calls on the UN Security Council to refer the allegations to the International Criminal Court. (Al Jazeera)

U.S. Berated for Shielding Israel on Gaza Killings. A U.S. decision to stall Security Council action against Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas for war crimes during the 22-day conflict in Gaza last December has come under heavy fire both from inside and outside the United Nations. (IPS)

Afghanistan: Is Power-Sharing Deal in the Offing in Kabul? Widespread evidence of fraud marred Afghanistan’s August 20 presidential vote and subsequently raised disturbing questions about the future legitimacy of Afghanistan’s executive branch. It now seems that the country’s leading political actors are exploring a way to restore the election’s integrity. Ironically, it appears as though a back-room bargain, rather than continued reliance on the ballot box, may be the preferred way to solve the crisis of legitimacy. (EurasiaNet)

Karzai Aide Says Afghan Runoff Vote Is Likely. It was the first time the Afghan government has acknowledged the probability of a runoff. (New York Times)

Going ‘deep’, not ‘big’, in Afghanistan. An analysis making waves in Washington by a veteran United States officer calls for the withdrawal of the bulk of United States combat forces from Afghanistan over 18 months, warning against General Stanley McChrystal’s counter-insurgency strategy. Lieutenant Colonel Daniel L Davis says that it is already too late for US forces to defeat the insurgency. (Asia Times)

Israel reneges on pledge to Obama, steps up settlement building. Widespread building activity commenced three weeks ago in at least 12 West Bank settlements. (Haaretz)

Turkey, Iraq sign accords for regional integration. Turkey and Iraq yesterday took a giant step forward to boost ties, signing more than 40 agreements ranging from fighting Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorism to energy cooperation and sharing water. (today’s Zaman)

Egypt to Spend up to $3.2B Adding to F-16C/D Fleet. The Egyptian government wants to buy 24 F-16C/D Block 50/52 aircraft, associated parts, weapons, and equipment to modernize its air force. The request, made Oct 9/09 through the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) to Congress, could be worth as much as $3.2 billion to Lockheed Martin and the other contractors involved. The Egyptian Air Force is the 4th largest F-16 operator in the world, mustering about 195 aircraft of 220 ordered. (Defense Industry Daily)

Georgia: Will the Theories of Economic Deregulation Face Harsh Reality in Tbilisi? Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili insists that a package of constitutional reforms will transform Georgia into a global showcase for the benefits of economic deregulation. However, a sharp recent decline in foreign investment, coupled with a gaping trade deficit, is raising questions about whether Saakashvili’s deregulatory push will do more harm than good to the Georgian economy, analysts say. (EurasiaNet)

Lebanon elected to Security Council. President Michel Sleiman said on Thursday his country will defend Arab interests, after Lebanon was elected to the UN Security Council for the first time since 1954. “Lebanon, through its international relations and its presence at the heart of the highest body in the United Nations, represents a security net in the face of any Israeli [attempt at] destabilization,” he said in a speech. (The Daily Star)

Pakistan suicide bomb kills 12. Bomb targets police in Peshawar as country reels from string of attacks that have killed more than 160. (The Guardian)