Europe headed for new security deal with Israel
BRUSSELS (IPS) The European Union is considering new steps to deepen its cooperation on scientific research with Israel, despite admitting that previous funds earmarked for that purpose have gone to firms operating illegally in the Palestinian territories. Between now and 2013, the Israeli government is to contribute 440 million...U.S.-Arabs: Finding mutual respect
DOHA One of the useful new trends in the Middle East is the proliferation of weapons of mass conversation, exemplified by the non-stop international and regional conferences that are hosted in places like Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and other aspiring capitals of talk. Some gatherings are useful and enlightening, including the fifth...Brits may use sharia bonds for public spending
LONDON Britain is set to become the first Western nation to issue bonds approved by Muslim clerics in line with sharia, which outlaws conventional loans involving interest payments. But the move could see the ownership of public buildings and other assets switched into the hands of wealthy Muslim businesses and individuals, many...British government deletes reference to Israel’s flouting of nuclear guidelines in Iraq dossier
The full extent of government anxiety about the state of British-Israel relations can be exposed for the first time today in a secret document seen by the Guardian. The document reveals how the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) successfully fought to keep secret any mention of Israel contained on the first draft of the...UNICEF warns of ‘time bomb’ for Somali children
GENEVA Thousands of children in war-torn Somalia risk dying from the insecurity, famine and sickness as the country's humanitarian crisis worsens, the United Nations children's agency warned this week. Somalian child suffering from the famine"Unless we are able to address the very basic needs of water and food you will see a time bomb...Democracy charade undermines rights
Washington The established democracies are accepting flawed and unfair elections for political expediency, Human Rights Watch said this week in releasing its World Report 2008. By allowing autocrats to pose as democrats, without demanding they uphold the civil and political rights that make democracy meaningful, the United States, the...Love yourself this Valentine’s Day
Yardley, PA Valentine's Day is fast approaching and if you listen closely you'll hear America heave a collective sigh of resignation (from the couples who must run out and buy obligatory gifts) and gloom (from the singles who feel like hiding sulkily under the covers). Yes, many people dread this seemingly benign holiday more than a...Security Council loses credibility over Iran, Israel
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) The 15-member U.N. Security Council (UNSC) is set to lose its credibility once again as it prepares to impose a third set of sanctions on Iran while failing to pass any strictures on Israel for its continued heavy-handed repression of Palestinians in Gaza. "Many ask whether the UNSC still...Iran’s war on drugs; three decades of failure
TEHRAN In an attempt to check the effects of strong new varieties of illicit drugs that are flooding the market, the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has revived some of the punitive methods seen in the early days of the Islamic Revolution. Yet neither punitive action nor the continued use of preventive strategies introduced...Pre-emptive nuclear strike a key option
The West must be ready to resort to a pre-emptive nuclear attack to try to halt the "imminent" spread of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, according to a radical manifesto for a new NATO by five of the West's most senior military officers and strategists. Calling for root-and-branch reform of NATO and a new pact drawing...Israeli pianist Daniel Barenboim takes Palestinian citizenship
JERUSALEM Daniel Barenboim, the world renowned Israeli pianist and conductor, has taken Palestinian citizenship and said he believed his rare new status could serve a model for peace between the two peoples. "It is a great honor to be offered a passport," he said after a Beethoven piano recital in Ramallah, where he has been active...OPEC rejects U.S. calls for more oil
ABU DHABI OPEC has dismissed further calls by the U.S. to boost oil output, saying the global market is well supplied. Abdullah al-Attiyah, the Saudi oil minister, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Abu Dhabi, on Sunday: "I don't think there is a need to increase because the market is well supplied." Sam Bodman, the...The planting of the Hormuz tale
WASHINGTON (IPS) Senior Pentagon officials, evidently reflecting a broader administration policy decision, used an off-the-record Pentagon briefing to turn the Jan. 6 U.S.-Iranian incident in the Strait of Hormuz into a sensational story demonstrating Iran's military aggressiveness, a reconstruction of the events following the incident...Official version of naval incident starts to unravel
Washington (IPS) Despite the official and media portrayal of the incident in the Strait of Hormuz early Monday morning as a serious threat to U.S. ships from Iranian speedboats that nearly resulted in a "battle at sea," new information over the past three days suggests that the incident did not involve such a threat and that no U.S....
George W. Bush vision is Palestine’s nightmare
January 12th, 20080 U.S. President George W. Bush landed in Israel this week on his first presidential trip to the country. He participated in a press conference in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, what both men termed a "historic" and "monumental" occasion. After listening to both so-called leaders make their opening comments and fielding......
Candidates not doing Israel any favors with unconditional support
Once again, as the presidential campaign season gets underway, the leading candidates are going to enormous lengths to demonstrate their devotion to the state of Israel and their steadfast commitment to its "special relationship" with the United States. Each of the main contenders emphatically favors giving Israel extraordinary material...The Camelot of Benazir Bhutto
The 1970s were beginning, and the unrivaled star of my Introduction to the Middle East class was "Pinkie" Bhutto. I asked her once about her given name, Benazir, and she giggled in embarrassment at its literal meaning: "Incomparable." No one at Radcliffe or Harvard called her anything but "Pinkie" back then. But it was already apparent......
U.S. illusions die with Bhutto
The shortsighted, ad hoc nature of U.S. policy toward Pakistan is on display once again. Benazir Bhutto has been murdered, most likely by religious fanatics. In the West, pundits and diplomats now wring their hands and lament: "Oh no. All our eggs in one basket."But let's step back for a second to look at how thoroughly bankrupt U.S....Turkey: Another ally lost
Over the past six years the Bush administration, aided and abetted by Congress, has trashed what used to be described as American foreign policy. Foreign policy once was shaped around the U.S. national interest, but no longer. Vulnerable key allies such as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt are now struggling to deal with the consequences...‘Save Darfur’ is a PR scam
The star-studded hue and cry to "Save Darfur" and "stop the genocide" has gained enormous traction in U.S. media along with bipartisan support in Congress and the White House. But the Congo, with ten to twenty times as many African dead over the same period, is not called a "genocide" and passes almost unnoticed. Sudan sits atop lakes of...Can religion improve peace prospects in the Middle East?
A council of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian leaders devised a six-point plan to help bring about reconciliation. For some 60 years, attempts to craft a lasting peace for the Holy Land have fallen woefully short. As a new round of Israeli-Palestinian talks gets under way, some leaders from the region are insisting that it's time to......
Heard at Mecca: ‘Are you single?’
Matchmakers ply their trade at Islam's holiest site Mecca In the midst of overlapping murmurs of prayers in a sea of white-cloaked worshippers, a woman's voice interrupts the collective trance as she asks: "Are you single?" For hundreds of years, Mecca has been the sacred meeting point of millions of Muslims from across the world....Jewish Voice for Peace speaks out
Those around the world who expected little more than cursory speeches from the Annapolis meeting this past week were not disappointed. Annapolis delivered those speeches, a few photo-ops and, something that was not as sure a result, a re-starting of discussions between Israel and the Palestinians. But the outcomes were also deeply......
Bush in a zero-sum Iranian game of his own making
Bush's woefully misguided invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, carried out under false pretences, has not only drained the United States treasury, but reduced Washington's standing in the Middle East in a way not yet fully grasped by most commentators. Whereas Washington once played off Tehran against Baghdad, while involved in a...Political split deepens over nuclear spying
TEHRAN (IPS) Charges of spying for Britain persisting against former nuclear negotiator Hossein Mousavian appear to have intensified rifts within the alliance of conservatives and hardliners that made Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Iran's president more than two years ago. Mousavian, who was a deputy of the Supreme National Security Council and a......
