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Archives: December 2009
The Regime Strikes Back; Massive Pro-Khamenei Rally in Tehran
Today's dramatic events in Iran reminded me a little bit of the dueling demonstrations mounted by the Lebanese in spring of 2005, when pro-Syrian forces brought out nearly 1,000,000 protesters, only to…
Top Republican Myths about the Crotch Bomber Affair
I hear these on tv or from Reps. Pete Hoekstra and Peter King and Sen. Joe Lieberman.1. President Obama did not speak publicly swiftly enough. In fact, Bush was silent for 9…
Karachi Paralyzed After Major Arson, Sectarian Violence
The bombing of a Shiite Ashura procession in Karachi, Pakistan, on Monday, which killed 40 and wounded 60-- as horrific as it was-- was only the beginning of the paralysis of this…Majority Of Tea Party Group’s Spending Went To GOP Firm That Created It | TPMMuckraker
Majority Of Tea Party Group's Spending Went To GOP Firm That Created It | TPMMuckrakerSo let us get this straight. Iran is capable of throwing up a genuine grassroots democratic movement.But supposed…Top Ten Middle East Crises, 2009
10. Dubai, a financial hub of the Gulf, collapsed economically, and worries were raised that Dubai World could default on billions in loans. Only the likelihood that oil-rich sister emirate, Abu Dhabi,…Conflict Grows Between Pakistan’s Taliban and Shi’ites
Conflict Grows Between Pakistan's Taliban and Shi'ites - TIME Omar Waraich argues that Monday's horrific bombing in Karachi of a Shiite mourning procession signals a deepening Taliban/Shiite struggle in Pakistan. Pakistani analysts…Wave of Arrests in Iran
The last of the demonstrators Monday morning were dispersed with tear gas in Iran's cities, and there were no major rallies yesterday. The authorities continued to make arrests among aides to the…Bush Administration Released Al Qaeda Leaders Who Plotted Detroit Attack To Art Therapy Rehabilitation Program
Liberal Values: Bush Administration Released Al Qaeda Leaders Who Plotted Detroit Attack To Art Therapy Rehabilitation Program Liberal ValuesWell there isn't any doubt that the State Department under Condi Rice and Bush…Statement on Airline Plot by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
The USG Open Source Center translates the claim of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to be behind the Christmas day bombing attempt against Northwest Flight 254 by the Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.…
Iran Roiled, Crowds Burn Banks, Police Station; Chanting against Theocrat Khamenei; But No Revolutionary Alternative Yet
The BBC is reporting that clashes are continuing into Monday morning between protesters and the regime security forces in Tehran and perhaps other cities, marking the first decisive failure of the basij…Rallies, Clashes Throughout Iran on Ashura; 4 Demonstrators Killed, including Mousavi Nephew
Opposition web sites are reporting that big protests broke out Sunday afternoon in several major cities in Iran. The rallies were confronted by police, basij paramilitary, and plains clothes security forces, first…Muharram Violence in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan
The background for the big news in Iraq, Iran and Pakistan on Saturday and Sunday is the Shiite mourning season. Saturday was the 9th of the month of Muharram and Sunday is…Yemen, UAE links in Detroit Terrorism Attack
Christian Purefoy is reporting on CNN that Abdul Mutallib ran into a radical Muslim network while studying in London. He was last registered in class at University College London in June 2008.…Airline suspect is Nigeria banker’s son
Airline suspect is Nigeria banker's son | ReutersWestern wire services are picking up reports from the Nigerian press that Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallib is the son of Umaru Mutallib, a prominent Nigerian…Heroic Passengers foil Hare-brained Terrorist attack Above Detroit
The details of the attempted attack on the Amsterdam/ Detroit flight Friday are still murky and I don't trust the only official from whom we are hearing details, Rep. Peter King of…
Bethlehem Under Occupation; In the absence of all hope, we cry out our cry of hope
Aljazeera English reports on the economic difficulties facing the Palestinian Christians of Bethlehem:Palestinian Christians are calling on the world community to end their occupation, saying, "In the absence of all hope, we…Attacks on Christians, Shiites in Iraq; Bombings kill 27
Religious passions, guerrilla attacks, and politics marred Christmas Eve in Iraq, as the Shiite holy day of Ashura also approaches on Sunday. A wave of bombings targeting churches or Shiite mourning sessions…
Iran protests spread in heartland; State of Emergency in Isfahan; Regime Threatens Harsh Crackdown
Iran protests spread in heartland -- latimes.comThe LAT reports further on Wednesday's demonstrations in Isfahan and Najafabad, pointing out that these central regions are strongholds for the regime in general, making the…
Montazeri and Iranian Democracy
The Real News Network on Grand Ayatollsh Montazeri snd Iranian democracy. Dr. Nader Hashemi is interviewed.End/ (Not Continued)Iran Unrest Continues; Reformist Clerics Attacked
Unrest continued in Iran on Tuesday and Wednesday as dissidents combined mourning ceremonies for Grand Ayatollah Hosain Ali Montazeri with anti-regime demonstrations. In the important city of Isfahan, security forces attacked a…Top Ten Worst Things about the Bush Decade; Or, the Rise of the New Oligarchs
By spring of 2000, Texas governor George W. Bush was wrapping up the Republican nomination for president, and he went on to dominate the rest of the decade. If Dickens proclaimed of…
Funeral of Iranian cleric Montazeri turns into political protest |
Funeral of Iranian cleric Montazeri turns into political protest | World news | The GuardianThe mourning procession for Grand Ayatollah Hosain Ali Montazeri in the holy city of Qom south of Tehran…
Thousands mass for Montazeri’s Funeral in Iran
Enduring America reports that the funeral procession for Grand Ayatollah Husain Ali Montazeri began at 9:30 am in Iran. The initial regime announcement of the senior cleric's death omitted his titles. Once…Shafir: The End of US Relevance
Gershon Shafir writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: The Obama Administration, like every other American administration, has failed to convince Israel to freeze the expansion of its settlements on the…PPP to fight ‘plots’ against mandate; Make or Break Point for Rule of Law
DAWN.COM | Pakistan | PPP to fight ‘plots’ against mandateDawn reports that a meeting of high officials of the Pakistan People's Party produced a resolution to remain in power, retain existing cabinet…Montazeri Dead
The Associated Press: ML APNewsAlert AP is reporting that Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri of Iran is dead, according to his grandson.Montazeri, 87, had been a close associate of Imam Ruhollah Khomeini,…iPhone App for Informed Comment
Just to let all the Informed Comment readers who use iPhones know that there is now a dedicated app for it. Search 'Juan Cole's blog' in iPhone apps and it comes right…
Comedian Nazareth on Finding a Wife in Gaza
In honor of the approaching season, some evangelical Christian Arab comedy from the Gaza Strip-- just as a reminder that not everyone being half-starved by the Israeli blockade there is Hamas.End/ (Not…
Realnews: without US Commitment, Copenhagen Breaks Down
From the Realnews network, an intelligent discussion of how lack of US leadership contributed to the failure of the Copenhagen climate conference. Features Adele Morris of Brookings and Kurt Davies of Greenpeace.…Iraq Charges Iran with Occupying Maysan Oil Well
Al-Sharq al-Awsat [The Middle East] reports in Arabic that 11 Iranian troops occupied a small oil well on the Iraqi side of the border in Maysan province east of Amara, and raised…WTF? Ahmadinejad making Sense on Climate Change; Defends Nuclear Program as Alternative to Carbon Poisoning
The USG Open Source Center translates Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at Copenhagen on consumerism, hydrocarbon imperialism, massive military budgets, and obscene profit-seeking as the drivers of global climate change. Ahmadinejad earned…
The Associated Press: Pakistan bans minister’s travel after graft ruling
The Associated Press: Pakistan bans minister's travel after graft rulingIn summer-fall of 2007, the military dictatorship of Gen Pervez Musharraf was coming unravelled in the face of massive street demonstrations demanding the…Babylon’s last alcohol seller arrested
AFP: Babylon's last alcohol seller arrested: familyPaul Wolfowitz said that Iraqi Shiites would be better friends for the US than the Saudis because they are 'secular,' and Paul Bremer boasted in his…OSC: Fatwa against Poppies, China Moves in; Obstacles to Trade with Pakistan
The USG Open Source Center rounds up Afghanistan Development News for November. Critics of the war often allege that only economic improvement will settle the country down, but the US corporate media…| Pakistan | President Zardari under pressure after NRO ruling
DAWN.COM | Pakistan | President Zardari under pressure after NRO rulingPakistan's Supreme Court declined to extend a martial law ordinance that granted amnesty to high politicians charged with corruption. Chief among those…
Pelosi says Obama must sell War; Contractor Surge in Afghanistan;
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi says that it is up to President Obama to sell his troop surge to Democrats in Congress. Then she called for a bowl and washed her…
Bomber strikes at Khosa’s house in D.G. Khan
DAWN.COM | Provinces | Bomber strikes at Khosa’s house in D.G. KhanA suicide bomber failed to reach his target and instead blew up innocents at a market in the province of DG…
Arrest warrant for Livni issued in London
FT.com / UK - Arrest warrant for Livni issued in LondonThis incident is admittedly only a minor brouhaha, since former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni was forced to cancel her trip to…China wins struggle for Pipelinestan
A common explanation for the US presence in Afghanistan is Washington's interest in Central Asian fuel sources-- natural gas in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and petroleum in Kazakhstan. The idea of Zalmay Khalilzad…
New Oil Bids, Censorship, and the Fate of Iraq
The big news out of Iraq over the weekend was the awarding of a handful of new oil development contracts to companies such as Royal Dutch Shell and Russia's Lukoil. These bids…Tripathi: Blair’s Iraq Confession
Deepak Tripathi, former BBC journalist and author of the book Overcoming the Bush Legacy in Iraq and Afghanistan (Potomac, January 2010) writes in guest op-ed for IC:Since the launch of the Iraq…
Gilani Threatens Orakzai Campaign
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has announced the end of the Pakistani military campaign in South Waziristan, although he seems to reserve the possibility that it might nevertheless continue. The reason…Pakistani Reactions to Obama’s Nobel
The USG OSC translates or paraphrases Pakistani Urdu editorials on President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize:Pakistan Urdu Press Roundup on Obama Receiving Nobel Peace PrizeThe roundup of excerpts from articles and an editorial…
AfPak Dilemmas
Not only have Blackwater mercenaries (now Xe) helped the CIA kidnap people ("rendition"), but it is now coming out that they've been helping launch covert assassination drones in Pakistan. The revelations, which…Obama, Peace and War
If it is true that the Nobel committee awarded President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize for not being George W. Bush, they must have been dismayed to discover that Bush's war…
Antony Adolph guest Op-Ed: A Missile Shield by Any Other Name
Antony Adolph writes in a guest op-ed for IC:A Missile Shield by Any Other Name:Is Obama's Global Military Strategy Taking Shape in Eastern Europe? No one wants to sit on a sofa…Top Things that would Redeem Obama’s Peace Prize
The world has noted the irony that President Barack Obama is delivering his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize after launching an escalation of the Afghanistan war. Of course, the critique…
The Progressive on Best Books of 2009
Favorite Books of 2009 | The ProgressiveThe Progressive lists their writers' favorite books this year. I'm proud that Engaging the Muslim World made the listNote that both Engaging and Napoleon's Egypt make…
127 Dead, 500 Wounded in 5 Baghdad Bombings
Five large bombs were detonated throughout Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 127 persons and wounding 500, and damaging important government buildings. Three of the five were suicide bombs. Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that…
Student Protests Erupt in Over a Dozen Iranian Cities
The protests against the regime in Iran on Monday were remarkable in several ways, I conclude on reading Borzou Daragahi's account in LAT. One is the sheer number of cities where students…Bombings kill 46 people in 2 Pakistan cities
Bombings kill 46 people in 2 Pakistan cities | Top AP Stories | Chron.com - Houston ChronicleThe market that was struck in Lahore, in Iqbal Town, is known as upscale-- where there…Top Ten Questions about Climate Change on the Eve of Copenhagen
Is the earth's climate warming? Indisputably.Has the pumping of vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by human beings since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution contributed to global climate change?…
Karzai: Talk to Mullah Omar; Mutwakkil: Taliban would Break with al-Qaeda; Indo-Pak Rivalry in Afghanistan
Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged the United States to back talks between his government and Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban.Former Taliban foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakkil says that if a…Silverman: Iraqi Electoral Law Passes but Dangers Loom
Adam L. Silverman writes in a guest op-ed for Informed Comment:Politics and Politicking: Iraqi Elections, the Failure of Reconciliation, and the Consolidation of PowerAdam L. Silverman, PhD[1]The politics surrounding Iraq’s national election…
US Soldier Killed in Afghanistan; Taliban dismiss Operation Cobra’s Anger as unimportant; Gates: US has Lost Track of Usamah
A US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the US continued a new operation, Cobra's Anger, in Helmand Province, announcing the capture of weapons caches. It is…Two Extremists Attack Rawalpindi Mosque, Kill 40, wound Nearly 100
The Taliban Movement of Pakistan, headquartered in South Waziristan, struck at Rawalpindi again on Friday. Two militants scaled a ladder to drop into a mosque in the city's military residential area and…OSC: Pakistani Editorials on Obama AfPak Policy
The USG Open Source Center rounds up Pakistani Urdu editorials concerning President Barack Obama's new Afghanistan policy.Pakistan: Urdu Press Roundup on Barack Obama's New Afghan PolicyThe following is a roundup of excerpts…
Bin Laden Said in Afghanistan; Pakistanis complain that Obama ‘Kept them in the Dark’
A Taliban guerrilla in Pakistani custody insists that he met Bin Laden in the mountainous province of Ghazni inside Afghanistan.The allegation is plausible. The US has very good aerial surveillance of the…Carter: Soviets "attempting to conquer the fiercely independent Muslim people of that country"
Jimmy Carter, Speech on Afghanistan (January 4, 1980), warning "Fifty thousand heavily armed Soviet troops have crossed the border and are now dispersed throughout Afghanistan, attempting to conquer the fiercely independent Muslim…Sachs: ‘There hasn’t been two seconds of intelligent discussion about living standards in Afghanistan’
Nieman Watchdog > Ask This > 'There hasn't been two seconds of intelligent discussion about living standards in Afghanistan'Afghanistan is an economic basket case. The blurb says correctly:' The poverty in Afghanistan…