UPI International Intelligence articles from January 2008

UPI International Intelligence archives from January 2008

Analysis: U.S. lost Fallujah's info war.
January 2, 2008... Byline: SHAUN WATERMAN WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- A secret intelligence assessment of the first battle of Fallujah shows the U.S. military believes it lost control over information about what was happening in the town, leading to...

Analysis: India to counter Tamil rebels.
January 2, 2008... Byline: KUSHAL JEENA NEW DELHI, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Aimed at countering ground and air attacks by rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka, India's armed forces say they will undertake joint military exercises in the...

Atlantic Eye: The death of honor in sports.
January 2, 2008... Byline: MARC S. ELLENBOGEN VIENNA, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- I had a recent conversation with the sons of an old friend. They are in their teens and had overheard me talking to their father about doping in biking. My friend and his sons are avid...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 2, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- The independent Kitabat newspaper said in an editorial Wednesday that the "liberation" of Iraq uncovered the reality of Shiite and Sunni Islamic parties and revealed the true nature of...

Commentary: Absurdistan?
January 3, 2008... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- There is a fresh and sordid postscript to Benazir Bhutto's assassination. Tainted by her husband Asif Ali Zardari's penchant for graft and corruption, Bhutto was twice fired as Prime...

Walker's World: Europe set to slow in 2008.
January 3, 2008... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- For the first time since 1914, the market capitalization of Europe's 24 stock markets last year exceeded that of the United States. There are more euro banknotes in circulation than U.S....

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 3, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Shebab Al Iraq newspaper carried an editorial Thursday with the headline "The U.S. electoral contest and Iraq." "Political radicalism reflects a lack of responsibility and ethics starting...

Atlantic Eye: Hillary's aura evaporates.
January 4, 2008... Byline: MARC S. ELLENBOGEN BRATISLAVA, Slovakia, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- I have been telling the European political classes that U.S. elections are complicated. I have been explaining to them that U.S. presidential primaries can take unexpected...

Analysis: India's new terror hotbed.
January 4, 2008... Byline: KUSHAL JEENA NEW DELHI, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Following frequent terrorist strikes, the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has emerged as a new terror hotbed as major militant groups have found a suitable base developed by the rebel...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 4, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- The independent Kitabat newspaper carried an editorial Friday with the headline "The Awakening Councils: Its nature, goals, causes, future and methods of treatment." "Sectarian Islamic...

Analysis: Sears' threat to privacy seen.
January 7, 2008... Byline: SHAUN WATERMAN WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Catalog giant Sears Holdings Corp. is under fire for installing what critics say is spyware on customers' computers when they join its online community. Privacy advocates says the...

Walker's World: Talking to Iran?
January 7, 2008... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Shortly before Christmas, over dinner in his palace, one of the ruling sheiks of the United Arab Emirates told this reporter he had not been at all surprised by the release of the National...

Analysis: Bush goes into heart of beast.
January 7, 2008... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- As President Bush is about to begin an eight-day tour of the Middle East -- part of the post-Annapolis, Md., effort to get the peace process moving -- al-Qaida's so-called American...

Atlantic Eye: A Georgian rose half-opened.
January 7, 2008... Byline: MARC S. ELLENBOGEN PRAGUE, Czech Republic, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- "He is charming, but glib. Saakashvili needs to step up to the plate if the Rose Revolution is to meet its promise. It is not enough to want to be in the European Union....

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 7, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Shebab Al Iraq newspaper said Monday the U.S. Army was optimistic about "success" in Iraq. The editorial -- with the headline "Does withdrawal from Iraq require 6 more years?" -- said while...

Analysis: Slovenia in the EU driver's seat.
January 7, 2008... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Slovenia has become the first post-Communist state to take over the European Union's rotating six-month presidency, and it has set itself the difficult goal of helping to solve the Kosovo...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 8, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- The independent Al Mada newspaper said Tuesday in an editorial titled "What is Bush doing in Ur?" that the title of the book "Bush in Ur" is interesting and answers readers' questions. The...

Commentary: Bipartisan manifesto.
January 9, 2008... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- The bipartisan conclave in Oklahoma this week was designed as a bridge between moderate Republicans and moderate Democrats who seek to use "smart power" to build a new world order....

Walker's World: A Union of the West.
January 9, 2008... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Former French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur this week proposed in a long essay "a true union of the West" between Europe and North America, which received a warm response from France's...

Analysis: Youth crime shocks Germany.
January 9, 2008... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- An increased perception of violence by immigrant youth has sparked a debate about ethnic youth crime in Germany that divides the government in Berlin. Most Germans have seen this video,...

Atlantic Eye: Hillary's tear to victory.
January 10, 2008... Byline: MARC S. ELLENBOGEN PRAGUE, Czech Republic, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Her defining moment is not really the tear she almost shed. The defining moment was her loss in Iowa. The show of emotion in New Hampshire was just a result of that...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 10, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- The independent Shebab al Iraq Newspaper said Wednesday that double standards were "negative" whether practiced by a citizen, leader, a president of a country or even internal or foreign...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 10, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Shebab Al Iraq newspaper said Thursday in an editorial that the United States devotes its strategy to experiment with democracy in the "greater Middle East." The editorial, titled...

Commentary: Pakistan's Terror Inc.
January 11, 2008... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Most terrorist trails lead back to Pakistan, Britain's MI5 (internal intelligence service) concluded a year ago. An average of some 400,000 Pakistani Brits a year fly back to the...

Analysis: India eyes coastal security.
January 11, 2008... Byline: KUSHAL JEENA NEW DELHI, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Aimed at checking the smuggling of explosives and terrorist infiltration from the sea, India is contemplating replacing its coastal security scheme with new and stricter maritime security...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 11, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Kitabat newspaper Friday in its editorial said President Bush's tour of the Middle East carries potential "ghosts of new wars." The paper compared memories of the Iraq invasion to a big...

Analysis: Bush tries to 'sell' democracy.
January 14, 2008... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- After spending the last few days trying to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, President Bush continued his tour of the Middle East, this time flaunting democracy to the oil-rich...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 14, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- In its editorial Monday, the independent Shebab al Iraq Newspaper said President Bush was attentive during his visit to the Middle East especially to Israel. It noted that Bush demanded a...

Feature: Taking on al-Qaida in Diyala.
January 14, 2008... Byline: RICHARD TOMKINS FOB NORMANDY, Iraq, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- After six days of clearing operations against al-Qaida terrorists in Diyala's northern river valley in Iraq, U.S. military forces are preparing to transition to the holding stage...

Qatar Airways looking to natural gas fuel.
January 14, 2008... DOHA, Qatar, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Qatar Airways has agreed to work to power its aircraft with fuel that has lower emissions than current jet fuel. The agreement with other groups from the aviation, fuel and educational sectors was announced...

Analysis: U.S. rockets face Polish hurdles.
January 15, 2008... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic may be delayed because Poland wants extra security guarantees. Warsaw also hopes a government change in Washington...

Feature: U.S. helps rebuild Iraq hope.
January 15, 2008... Byline: RICHARD TOMKINS KHATOON AL-YARMOOK, Iraq, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- There's a time for destruction and there's a time for rebuilding. For decades the regime of Saddam Hussein ignored basic infrastructure in the country, and much of what...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 15, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- The Kurdish Al Ittihad newspaper said Tuesday in its editorial that military and political explosions in the Middle East -- especially Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon -- have led to and will lead...

Commentary: 2008 futurology.
January 16, 2008... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Some 14 million U.S. government documents a year are classified confidential, secret and top secret for more than 29 million that are declassified -- at a total cost of $9 billion,...

Walker's World: Coupling and decoupling.
January 16, 2008... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Five months ago, when the subprime crisis began to bite, the Asian Development Bank was among the expert institutions that suggested that the U.S. financial troubles would not affect...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 16, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- The Sunni Al Basaer Newspaper said Wednesday that at the end of the fifth year of the occupation, U.S. promises haven't come true. The editorial, titled "On the doors of the fifth year of...

Analysis: Terror attack in Kabul.
January 16, 2008... Byline: SHAUN WATERMAN WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- To hear his friends and colleagues tell it, Thor Hesla, the U.S. aid worker killed in a Taliban suicide attack in Kabul Monday, was exactly the kind of American who made an eventual U.S....

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 17, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- The Iraqi Hezbollah Al Bayyna newspaper carried an editorial Thursday with the headline "Petraeus is nonchalant about the withdrawal of 25 percent of U.S. forces." It said Petraeus...

Analysis: NATO to use U.S. missiles?
January 17, 2008... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Taking part in U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Eastern Europe may improve trans-Atlantic relations and help NATO overcome its identity crisis, says a German military expert. ...

Feature: Female suicide bomber no surprise.
January 17, 2008... Byline: RICHARD TOMKINS FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARHORSE, Iraq, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Word that a female suicide bomber using an explosive vest killed at least eight people and wounded a score more at a marketplace traffic circle in the town of...

Commentary: Mission unaccomplished.
January 18, 2008... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- President Bush's Air Force One was still airborne on its way back from a six-country, eight-day tour of Middle Eastern capitals when agreements and understandings began to unravel....

Analysis: India rejects ban on landmines.
January 18, 2008... Byline: KUSHAL JEENA NEW DELHI, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- A U.N.-backed world body campaigning against the use of landmines has urged the Indian government to sign a global treaty to ban the weapons. "An estimated 4 (million) to 5 million...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 18, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The independent New Sabah said Friday in its editorial that after President Bush's visit to the Middle East, several scenarios were being discussed in the region. The editorial, headlined...

Outside View: Whither Ukraine investment?
January 18, 2008... Byline: SARAH C. CAREY | SHANKER A SINGHAM WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The world is watching as newly named Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko steps up to the plate. Nominated by a fragile margin, Tymoshenko, who is no stranger to...

Outside View: Bush vs. Ahmadinejad.
January 18, 2008... Byline: PYOTR GONCHAROV MOSCOW, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and U.S. President George W. Bush visited the Middle East almost simultaneously this week. Bush went there...

Analysis: Iran, Syria divide Germany.
January 21, 2008... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- The German government is not united on questions concerning its Middle East policy, it surfaced last week, after the country's foreign minister came under fire for inviting his Syrian...

Analysis: U.S. puts Kurds on terror list.
January 21, 2008... Byline: SHAUN WATERMAN WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. National Counter-Terrorism Center says it was a mistake to include the symbol of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan -- the political party headed by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani...

Walker's World: China or Russia?
January 21, 2008... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- It was a relief for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to have been feted in Beijing over the weekend when his opinion poll ratings back home were plunging and his country's relationship...

Analysis: President Bush's Herculean task.
January 21, 2008... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- While on his tour of the Middle East a couple of weeks ago, President Bush said he would see the creation of a Palestinian state before his term in office expires. As of Monday, the...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 21, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- The Kurdish Al Taakhi Newspaper carried an editorial on Monday commenting that terrorism "showed its teeth" in Iraq more than other places. The paper said terrorists receiving "funds" from...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 22, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- An editorial in the Association of Muslim Scholars' Al Basaer newspaper said Tuesday President Bush held a "closed" meeting about Iraq with Ambassador Ryan Crocker. The editorial,...

Analysis: Promising aid program faces cuts.
January 22, 2008... Byline: MEGAN HARRIS WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- The Millennium Challenge Account has been widely praised for its approach to foreign aid, but the program has been consistently underfunded and some fear it is vulnerable to shifting...

Feature: U.S. makes use of UAVs in Iraq.
January 22, 2008... Byline: RICHARD TOMKINS FOB WARHORSE, Iraq, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- The use of unmanned aerial vehicles to help snoop out enemy movements, uncover large caches of explosives and give U.S. commanders a 24/7 real-time view of their battlespace has...

Analysis: Islamist terror back in Europe.
January 22, 2008... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Islamist terrorism is back in Europe after Spain arrested a group of terror suspects and Germany warned its Jewish community of concrete attack plans. Spanish authorities over the weekend...

Analysis: Anti-Islam film scares The Hague.
January 22, 2008... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- The Dutch government is bracing for widespread violence that could be sparked by an anti-Islam film that its producer wants to broadcast sometime this week. The film, financed by...

Walker's World: The Fed and the Dutch boy.
January 23, 2008... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- The Fed, the U.S. central bank, is starting to look like that Dutch boy with his finger in the dike who found himself running out of digits as new leaks emerged. By throwing a total of...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 23, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- In its editorial Wednesday, Shebab Al Iraq newspaper said that when a diplomatic or military solution can't be implemented to punish Iran, there will be no option but to coexist with a...

Analysis: India chides Maoist-hit states.
January 23, 2008... Byline: KUSHAL JEENA NEW DELHI, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- India's federal Interior Ministry has chided the administrations of Maoist-hit states accusing them of not being serious about redefining priorities, including the formulation of a strategy...

Outside View: World free of nukes.
January 24, 2008... Byline: BENNETT RAMBERG LOS ANGELES, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Since the beginning of the Atomic Age, policymakers and scholars have attempted to come up with formulas to constrain the nuclear genie. In mid-January, in an effort to move this...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 24, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- The London-based Azzaman newspaper ran an editorial Thursday with the headline, "Iraqi planners hadn't realized powers relations between Iraq, U.S." The paper said that in strategic...

Commentary: Globaloney predators.
January 25, 2008... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Sex sells. So does baloney and now globaloney, which is complete falsehood told with bravado. The world is flat for some, flat broke for many more. America's predatory lenders,...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 25, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- The Association of Muslim Scholars' Al Basaer newspaper said Friday in its editorial that attempts to keep U.S. troops in Iraq is a "precooked meal" and that Iraqis have chosen the path of...

Dogs of War: Here to stay.
January 25, 2008... Byline: DAVID ISENBERG WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Perhaps the birds and bees don't do it, but through human history just about every nation that went to war has. The Hittites did it, the Egyptians did it, as did the Carthaginians,...

Walker's World: Europe's Green wars begin.
January 28, 2008... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- It is ironic that Europe, which likes to think of itself as the center of environmental correctness and the green revolution, should now be the scene of a sharp political struggle over its...

Analysis: Gaza -- What if?
January 28, 2008... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Last week some 700,000 Palestinians oozed through 15 openings blasted by explosives in the 7-mile barrier erected by Israel as a security measure to keep Gazans and their weapons apart --...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 28, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- The London-based Azzaman newspaper said Monday the Iraqi resistance's march over the past five years of the occupation had seen pivotal transformations that could be divided into two periods....

Analysis: Dirty money cleanup gains speed.
January 29, 2008... Byline: MEGAN HARRIS WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Illegal money hurts development efforts in poor countries and may be used to fund terrorism, but new cleanup efforts offer significant hope for curbing dirty money flows. A major step...

Feature: U.S. begins Diyala outreach.
January 29, 2008... Byline: RICHARD TOMKINS HIMBUS, Iraq, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. military operations have transitioned from kinetic warfare to outreach efforts to root out al-Qaida-Iraq operatives hiding among the people in newly liberated areas of the...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 29, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Shebab Al Iraq newspaper said Tuesday in its editorial titled "The unseen face of the liberation of Iraq" that when one complains about how negative the situation in Iraq has become, some...

Outside View: Turks, Kurds won't fight.(Reprint)
January 29, 2008... Byline: GEORGY MIRSKY MOSCOW, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Turkey has invaded northern Iraq, the domain of the Kurdistan Workers Party, several times. Five years ago I was in the area where fighting is now taking place. At that time small Turkish...

Analysis: Karzai's Ashdown Afghan impasse.
January 29, 2008... Byline: DANIEL KORSKI BRUSSELS, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- The withdrawal of Paddy Ashdown, the British politician, from consideration as the U.N. envoy to Afghanistan should give the international community pause for reflection about the...

Commentary: Talibanization and nukes.
January 30, 2008... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- One wing of the Taliban movement wants to give its top priority to demoralizing and evicting the United States and its NATO allies from Afghanistan. The other, led by Baitullah...

Walker's World: The U.K. non-referendum.
January 30, 2008... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- The ratification of the new European Union Treaty is not going quite as well as expected, with only 26 percent of Irish people planning to vote "yes" in their referendum. The vast...

Analysis: NATO begins pandemic monitoring.
January 30, 2008... Byline: SHAUN WATERMAN WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- NATO recently became the latest agency, and the first military one, to sign up for the Global Public Health Intelligence Network, an international initiative that monitors media and other...

Outside View: Uzbek-U.S. relations warming.
January 30, 2008... Byline: SANOBAR SHERMATOVA MOSCOW, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- The recent visit by Adm. William Fallon, commander of U.S. Central Command, to Tashkent may signal a warming in U.S.-Uzbek relations. Such a warming would require a change in Uzbek...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 30, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- In its editorial, Al Sabah newspaper said Wednesday meetings and visits between Iranians and Americans have been taking place in Baghdad with the presence of Iraqis. The editorial, with...

Analysis: Germany enters Afghan war.
January 31, 2008... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- It looks like Germany has succumbed to international pressure and will now send battle forces to Afghanistan. NATO has for the second time requested that the German government deploy a...

Analysis: EU forces depart for Chad.
January 31, 2008... Byline: LEANDER SCHAERLAECKENS BRUSSELS, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- The European Union announced that 3,700 troops from 14 member states will be deployed to Chad and the Central African Republic to protect some 2 million refugees from the...

Iraq Press Roundup.
January 31, 2008... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- The Kurdish Al Ittihad newspaper said Thursday the U.S. Congress is starting discussions on a resolution the Bush administration adopted to sell weapons worth $20 billion to Arab countries....