U.S. hawks behind Iraq war rally for strikes against Iran
October 21st, 20110 WASHINGTON (IPS) - Key neo-conservatives and other right-wing hawks who championed the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq are calling for military strikes against Iran in retaliation for its purported murder-for-hire plot against the Saudi ambassador here.Leading the charge is the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI), the ideological successor to the...Turkey masses 10,000 troops on Iraq border
Turkish troops are backed up by F-16 warplanes, helicopter gunships and dronesISTANBUL - The Turkish military dispatched about 10,000 troops to the border with northern Iraq yesterday as part of its largest offensive against Kurdish militants for three years.Turkish television reported last night that most of the troops, part of 22...
Alleged Iranian assassination plot suspicious, experts say
October 16th, 20110 WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department charges that elements of Iran's government were behind a foiled plot on the life of Saudi Arabia's U.S. ambassador have boggled the minds of many Americans knowledgeable about both Iran and terrorism. Manssor Arbabsiar is shown in this courtroom sketch during an appearance in a Manhattan...U.S. arms Bahrain while decrying Russian weapons in Syria
UNITED NATIONS — Peeved at Russia's Security Council veto derailing a Western- sponsored resolution against Syria last week, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice implicitly accused the Russians of protecting the beleaguered government of President Bashar al-Assad primarily to safeguard their lucrative arms market in the Middle Eastern...
The Apple that changed the world has Arab roots
October 8th, 20110 SAN FRANCISCO -- Abdul Fattah Jandali, a young Syrian Muslim immigrant in Wisconsin, never met his son Steve Jobs. When a baby was born to the 23-year-old Jandali -- now known as John -- and his 23-year-old German-American girlfriend, Joanne Schieble, in 1955, there was no chance he'd be able to grow up with his biological...
Apple’s visionary Steve Jobs dead at 56
October 7th, 20110 SAN FRANCISCO (Thomson Reuters) — Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who changed the daily habits of millions by reinventing computing, music and mobile phones, died Wednesday at the age of 56.Apple loses a visionary leader who inspired personal computing and iconic products such as the iPod, iPhone and iPad, which made Jobs one of the...
UN statehood bid deals a death blow to the old diplomacy
September 30th, 20110 Amid the applause in New York and the celebrations in Ramallah, few seem to have paused to consider where the Palestinian bid for statehood is ultimately leading.The Palestinian application, handed to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week, will now disappear from view — possibly for some time — while the United...
Palestine in criminal court triggers Western, Israeli fears
September 30th, 20110 UNITED NATIONS — If Palestine fails to achieve full statehood recognition at the United Nations, the only other viable option is to get "enhanced" observer status with the 193-member General Assembly, the U.N.'s highest policy making body. A Palestinian boy has the national flag painted on his face at a gathering to watch President...
Politics throws Palestine under the bus
September 30th, 20110 WASHINGTON (IPS) — The right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu could not be more pleased.Not only did the allegedly most "anti-Israel" president ever repeat, for the nth time, that "America's commitment to Israel's security is unshakeable," but also made crystal clear that Washington will veto any Palestinian...
Deep flaws in the UN’s Mavi Marmara report
September 17th, 20110 When the UN Secretary General announced on August 2, 2010 that a panel of inquiry had been established to investigate the May 31, 2010 Israeli attacks on the Mavi Marmara and five other ships carrying humanitarian aid to the beleaguered people of Gaza, there was widespread hope that international law would be vindicated and the Israelis...Tehran triumphant at nuclear milestone
Tehran — Iran's first nuclear power plant has finally begun to provide electricity to the county's national grid, official media reported yesterday, a long-delayed milestone in the nuclear ambitions of a country the West fears is covertly trying to develop atomic weapons.The start-up will come as a relief to Tehran after many years of...FBI leak shows U.S. spying on Israel over Iran
WASHINGTON — An FBI translator was sentenced to 20 months in prison last year for leaking secret U.S. wiretaps of the Israeli embassy to a blogger, the New York Times reported Tuesday.Prosecutors and even the judge were tight-lipped about the case, the first of a record five prosecutions of individuals who leaked information to the...
Evidence of British, Pakistani complicity on 9/11
September 11th, 20110 In the hours immediately after the 9/11 attacks, before so many theories muddied the airwaves, there was the clear sense that the scale of the operation would have had to involve at least one foreign sovereign state. By mid-afternoon, then-CIA chief George Tenet laid the blame squarely on Al Qaeda. Mohamed Atta and 18 other...
Norway killings: U.S. Islamophobes fuel murderous rage
July 29th, 20110 WASHINGTON — As Norway mourns the loss of at least 76 of its citizens in Friday's bombing of government buildings in Oslo and mass shootings at a Labour Party youth camp, attention here has focused on the U.S. bloggers and groups whose Islamophobic message appears to have fueled the alleged perpetrator's murderous rage. Used rounds are...
Germany arms Saudis against Iran
July 29th, 20110 BERLIN (IPS) — Germany's delivery of armored tanks to Saudi Arabia is not aimed at repressing local or regional popular uprisings, but to improve Saudi military capabilities in a likely war against Iran, diplomatic and military experts say.The German government's decision to deliver 200 state-of-the-art Leopard 2 armored tanks to the......
Twitter topic “Blame the Muslims” explained as sarcasm
July 29th, 20110 The wildly popular social media site Twitter, which allows its millions of users to post short messages and "follow" their favorite friends, celebrities, media outlets, bloggers and more, was the subject of controversy this past weekend as a "trending topic" titled "#blamethemuslims" drew widespread attention.British blogger and activist...Erdogan to break siege on Gaza?
ANKARA — Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Tuesday that he is considering visiting the Gaza Strip, a move that is parallel to the already strained bilateral ties."If the conditions allow, I'm thinking of visiting Gaza," Erdogan informed reporters, clarifying that his foreign ministry will be working on it. "I......
Tensions mount over Iraq, nuke sanctions
July 16th, 20110 WASHINGTON (IPS) - Reviving U.S.-Iran friction over Iraq may have more to do with deteriorating relations over Iran's nuclear program than with uncertainty over U.S. troop levels in Iraq beyond the end of this year.In recent weeks, a chorus of U.S. officials has accused Iran of providing lethal weapons to Iraqi Shia militias that have...
UN report slams Israel over Nakba Day bloodshed on border with Lebanon
July 8th, 20110 Blasting Israeli army for using unnecessary force when firing on protesterNEW YORK — A UN report into the bloodshed along the Israeli-Lebanon border on Nakba Day, has slammed the Israeli army for using unnecessary force when firing on protesters, a newspaper said on Wednesday.The report was released by UN Secretary...Iran fires medium-range missile in war game
TEHRAN - Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards fired 14 missiles in an exercise Tuesday, one of them a medium-range weapon capable of striking Israel or U.S. targets in the Gulf, state media said.The Guards' aerospace commander, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, insisted Iran's missile program posed no threat to European nations but was...Saudis tell NATO they’ll pursue Nukes if Iran does
LONDON/TEHRAN - Saudi Arabia has warned NATO that it would pursue policies that could lead to “untold and possibly dramatic consequences” if Iran obtains nuclear weapons, a British newspaper reported Wednesday.The Guardian newspaper quoted Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to Washington and......
Iran shows Russia downed U.S. drones
Iran has said it has shown Russia U.S. drones it shot down over the Gulf, Revolutionary Guards aerospace commander Brigadier General Amir Ali Hadjizadeh was quoted as saying on Tuesday."Russian experts requested to see these drones and they looked at both the downed drones and the models made by the Guards through reverse engineering,"...Second humanitarian flotilla prepares to sail for Gaza
BILBAO, Spain (IPS) — As the second Freedom Flotilla, made up of some 10 ships carrying 1,000 activists from 20 countries, gets ready to sail for the besieged Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities are stepping up their threats. The Israeli government is putting pressure on other Mediterranean......
BBC Arabic Service gets more funds
LONDON — The British government announced Wednesday it will boost funding for the BBC's Arabic Service in recognition of its "valuable work" during the political turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa. In a written statement to parliament, Foreign Secretary William Hague said the Foreign...Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker Wilders acquitted
AMSTERDAM — Dutch far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders walked away from hate speech and discrimination charges Thursday for statements made attacking Islam, calling his acquittal a victory for freedom of speech."You are being acquitted on all the charges that were put against you," Judge Marcel van Oosten told Wilders who has been on trial......
