Archives: December 2007

Top 10 Challenges Facing the US in the Middle East, 2008

10. Helping broker a deal in Lebanon between the March 14 Movement and the Shiites so that a new president can be elected and a national unity government can be formed. Lebanon's…

McClatchy: Edwards, Romney Lead in Iowa

McClatchy has a new Iowa poll out, taken Dec. 26-28. It shows that there was no spike among Iowa voters in concern for international affairs or terrorism in the wake of the…

Bilawal, Zardari, Fahim to lead PPP; Will Contest Jan. 8 Polls

The Pakistan People's Party movers and shakers have annointed Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, 19, the son of slain Benazir Bhutto, as its next leader. He will continue his studies at Oxford while his…

Pakistan Riots Continue; Clinton: ‘An inside job?’ Rehman: "A Cover-up"

Violence continued in Pakistan on Saturday, as did a virtual shut-down of the country, with most shops and businesses shuttered. In the US, Sen. Hillary Clinton provoked controversy when she said, according…

OSC: Bin Ladin Vows Jihad for ‘Liberation of Entire Palestine’ After Iraq

The USG Open Source Center summarizes and partially translates the new audio release by Usama Bin Laden. He urges a focus on Iraq and Israel, and he praises the late Abu Musab…

OSC: Urdu Press Roundup on Reaction to Benazir Bhutto Assassination

The USG Open Source Center excerpts and paraphrases editorials in the major Urdu-language Pakistani newspapers concerning the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.Pakistan: Urdu Press Roundup on Reaction to Benazir Bhutto AssassinationPakistan -- OSC…

Huckabee Obsesses about 660 Pakistani Aliens; Clinton’s 5 Point Plan

Mike Huckabee is a smooth-talking, fanatical country preacher who has learned to make himself likeable on camera but who spews all kinds of hateful nonsense when among like-minded devotees.The dark side of…

Benazir Bhutto Buried; Riots, Rallies Continue in Pakistan on Friday; Imran Khan: Musharraf Must Resign

Benazir Bhutto was buried in her ancestral village near Larkana in Sindh Province on Friday. Her widower, Asif Ali Zardari and 19-year-old son Bilawal helped lower her coffin into the grave. The…

Mobs Rampage through Pakistani Cities; Cars, Banks, Gas Stations Torched Sharif’s Party will Boycott Elections

My column, "With Bhutto gone, does Bush have a Plan B?" is online at Salon.com. Excerpt: ' Pakistan's future is now murky, and to the extent that this nation of 160 million…

Pakistan’s 2007 Crises Come to a Crescendo; Benazir Assassinated Implications for US Security

Benazir Bhutto, the leader of the Pakistan People's Party, has been assassinated at a rally held Thursday evening near Islamabad. She appears to have been shot by the assassin, who was wearing…

Christmas in Iraq

There was no midnight mass among Christians in Iraq again this year. Too dangerous. And of the estimated 800,000 Christians in the country in 2002, as few as half, 400,000, may be…

Barzani Slams Turks

Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani on Monday lashed out at Turkey for its air strikes on Iraq. Turkey says it hit terror bases.Bush strongly backed Turkey with a call to PM Erdogan.The…

Defending Miss Teen USA South Carolina

Now that all those 'famous quotes of 2007' are coming out, people are replaying the answer of Caitlin Upton, a contestant for Miss Teen USA from South Carolina to a question during…

Rubin on ‘Who is to Blame’ on Afghanistan

Juan is traveling and will post later on Monday. Until then, have a look at Barnett Rubin's important essay, "Afghanistan: Who is to Blame?"

Siddiqui: Musharraf ‘Defacing’ Pakistan Constitution

The USG Open Source Center translates from Urdu a critical commentator on Pervez Musharraf's 'defacing' of the Pakistan constitution. Musharraf has lifted the state of emergency in preparation for elections, but there…

Obama vs. Bush On How Honesty is the Highest form of Leadership

Hillary Clinton fired the co-chair of her New Hampshire campaign, Bill Shaheen, because he speculated that Barack Obama would be attacked by Republicans for admitting youthful drug use,if he were the nominee.…

Ayatollah Huckabee’s Fatwa

In Shiite Iran, only a Shiite may be president. Not a Sunni Muslim, not a Christian, and not a secularist. Article 115 of the current Iranian constitution says:' Article 115The President must…

"Cole in Salon: The GOP’s Iran option is off the table

My column in Salon.com, "The GOP's Iran option is off the table." The subhead is: "Rudy Giuliani was counting on Iran as a weapon of mass distraction in the '08 race. But…

Giuliani, Reagan, and Kissing up to Ayatollahs with fancy Cakes

I just saw this campaign ad for Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign. He says that Iran held US embassy hostages for 444 days. Then they were released within one hour. That was the…

Oprah and Obama: Irony of the Week

The irony of the week is that Oprah Winfrey has come out strongly for Barack Obama as president. Why is that ironic? Because the subtext of Oprah's television show is that men…

Napoleon’s Scientists and the Pyramids

At the NYT, Katherine Bouton reviews Nina Burleigh's new book, “Mirage: Napoleon’s Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt," which I'm eager to see. In the course of the review, she writes of…

US Deploys Pakistani Insurgents against Al-Qaeda

The USG Open Source Center translates an article from an opposition Afghanistan newspaper alleging that Washington it deploying Pakistani tribal levies against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.'USA trying to use Pakistani insurgents against…

Romney: Some Beliefs are More Equal than Others

Mitt Romney's speech in Texas on Thursday was supposed to be an attempt to fend off religious bigotry. Instead, it betrays some prejudices of its own (against secular people), and seems to…

Huckabee as Deer in the Headlights Trusts hearsay over NIE

Gov. Mike Huckabee did not know about the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran when asked about it on Wednesday. It had caused a furor in Washington because it concluded that Iran…

Bush Grasp of Reality Tenuous

Farideh Farhi, at our group blog, Global Affairs, says she listened to Bush's press conference on Tuesday -- which was full of implausible statements -- and now wants to know what George…

International Reaction to the NIE: OSC

The USG Open Source Center surveys Iranian, German, French, and Israeli reactions to the US National Intelligence Estimate that holds that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003. One is struck…

Did an Iranian Spy Clear Tehran of Nuclear Ambitions?

The new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran says that Iran did have a nuclear weapons research program until early 2003, but then dismantled it. See Farideh Farhi's excellent discussion of this development…

Hadley: Iran has no Nuclear Weapons Program

Here is the transcript of Monday's news conference:Press Briefing by National Security Advisor Stephen HadleyJames S. Brady Press Briefing Room3:35 P.M. ESTMR. HADLEY: Good afternoon, I'm Steve Hadley, the President's National Security…

Michigan Delegates Excluded From Democratic Convention

A specter haunts the Democratic Party, and it is the exclusion of Michigan and Florida delegates from the Democratic Convention.Both the Republican and the Democratic National Committees have been penalizing states that…

Bush Slammed for Opposing Nawaz

A Pakistani newspaper has accused George W. Bush of thinking that Nawaz Sharif of the Muslim League-N is a Muslim fundamentalist, and of expressing worries about him on that score. In fact,…

Napoleon’s Egypt at Firedoglake

At the Firedoglake blog, Swopa will be hosting a book Salon on Sunday starting at 2 pm EST on my Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East. I'll be answering questions online.

Save the Internet, Preserve Internet Liberty

We all know the drawbacks of corporate news outlets, and the great blessing that the internet represents for grassroots organizing and information sharing. But of course, the big corporations are very unhappy…