UPI International Intelligence articles from May 2006

UPI International Intelligence archives from May 2006

Outside View: The first step.
May 3, 2006... Byline: ALON BEN-MEIR NEW YORK, May 2 (UPI) -- Any concerted effort by the Bush administration with the support of other regional powers in the Middle East to undermine Hamas and precipitate its early collapse will be counterproductive and...

Review of the Arab press.
May 3, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, May 3 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for May 3: Jordan's al-Rai commented Wednesday on Iran's nuclear program, saying imported nuclear technology was not a standard for becoming an international power as Iranian President...

AnaIysis: Israel weighs Iran nuke threat.
May 3, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, May 2 (UPI) -- In an interview published Tuesday, on the eve of Israel's 58th Independence Day, Military Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz was asked whether he believed Iran might launch...

U.K. parties face voters' verdict.
May 3, 2006... Byline: HANNAH K. STRANGE LONDON, May 3 (UPI) -- As voters prepare to cast their ballots in Thursday's local elections, Britain's political parties are bracing themselves for what analysts have described as a national opinion poll setting...

Analysis: Iran looms over Merkel visit.
May 3, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, May 3 (UPI) -- Rough and tough politics await German Chancellor Angela Merkel on her second visit to Washington Wednesday. With niceties taken care of during an earlier visit, the German chancellor can expect...

Analysis: Iran draft resolution introduced.
May 3, 2006... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, May 3 (UPI) -- Britain and France have introduced a draft resolution in the U.N. Security Council making mandatory Iran's cooperation in suspending uranium enrichment and heavy-water reactor...

Walker's World: When will Blair go?
May 4, 2006... Byline: MARTIN WALKER LONDON, May 4 (UPI) -- The Labor Party of British Prime Minister Tony Blair is set to suffer a humiliating defeat in the local elections being held across England Thursday. But the central question is whether the...

Review of the Arab press.
May 4, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, May 4 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for May 4: The United Arab Emirates' Gulf News daily Thursday quoted a top UAE official as blasting President George W. Bush as "cruel" for leading a campaign to stop aid to the...

Gandhi's granddaughter promotes peace bonds.
May 4, 2006... Byline: STEPHANIE SONNTAG WASHINGTON, May 3 (UPI) -- Ela Gandhi, granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, Tuesday unveiled a new series of artwork to be featured on the Nonviolent Peaceforce Federation's peace bonds. The Nonviolent Peaceforce...

Analysis: Safety first for World Cup.
May 4, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, May 4 (UPI) -- German security officials have traveled the world seeking international cooperation to safeguard next month's FIFA Soccer World Cup. Expect tighter border controls, police from multiple...

Analysis: S.Korea pushing U.S. relocation.
May 4, 2006... Byline: JONG-HEON LEE SEOUL, May 4 (UPI) -- South Korea has pressed ahead with the planned relocation of U.S. bases in the country, cracking down on local residents and anti-American activists. Some 13,000 riot police were mobilized...

Analysis: Child labor on way out?
May 4, 2006... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, May 4 (UPI) -- The U.N.'s International Labor Organization cited encouraging indications of an 11 percent reduction in child labor in the last four years, or a decrease of 28 million working...

Olmert's new government takes over.
May 4, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, May 4 (UPI) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's new government, which intends to withdraw from large sections of the West Bank, was sworn in Thursday after wining the Knesset's confidence. ...

Analysis: Qatar banks on education.
May 5, 2006... Byline: DALAL SAOUD DOHA, Qatar, May 5 (UPI) -- There are growing fears in the Gulf state of Qatar that expatriates are exceeding the number of nationals, and officials see the trend continuing for many years to come. Blame can largely...

Interview: Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi.
May 5, 2006... Byline: KATHERINE GYPSON WASHINGTON, May 5 (UPI) -- A dialogue between the United States and Iran could solve most of their disputes, says Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Shirin Ebadi. "This kind of dialogue should be direct and...

Analysis: India moves forward on Kashmir.
May 5, 2006... Byline: KUSHAL JEENA NEW DELHI, May 5 (UPI) -- India is tackling the decades-long Kashmir dispute, with the government and an umbrella organization of Kashmiri separatist groups agreeing on setting up a "mechanism" to continue and sustain...

Analysis: Qatar banks on education.
May 5, 2006... Byline: DALAL SAOUD DOHA, Qatar, May 5 (UPI) -- Aware that oil and gas wealth would not last for ever, the Gulf state of Qatar is striving to secure sustainable prosperity and to position itself as a key player in the region. Its first...

PA's Abbas, Israel's Olmert to meet.
May 5, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, May 5 (UPI) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Friday phoned Israel's Ehud Olmert to congratulate him upon forming a new government, but the road to resuming peace talks still seems extremely...

Blair in trouble after election drubbing.
May 5, 2006... Byline: HANNAH K. STRANGE LONDON, May 5 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair faced calls for his resignation Friday following a disastrous result for the government in local elections across England. Labor malcontents said his...

Analysis: Taking a report seriously.
May 6, 2006... Byline: SANA ABDALLAH AMMAN, Jordan, May 6 (UPI) -- When someone like the former World Bank chief and international Middle East peace envoy James Wolfensohn says the Western boycott of the Hamas-led government is a bad idea, his warning...

Outside View: Destroying to Save.
May 6, 2006... Byline: DANIEL JORDAN AND NEIL WOLLMAN NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind., May 6 (UPI) -- One infamous line from the Vietnam War was, "It became necessary to destroy the village to save it." The Bush Administration has carried this thinking to...

Analysis: Tough times for Arab journalists.
May 7, 2006... Byline: SANA ABDALLAH AMMAN, Jordan, May 7 (UPI) -- As if living in a turbulent Middle East is not hard enough. Try being a journalist, especially an Arab one, and the risks on your safety immediately shoot up. This is how the...

Eye on Eurasia: New Chechen challenge.
May 7, 2006... Byline: PAUL GOBLE WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- Ostensibly, pro-Moscow Chechen leaders have presented the Russian government with a challenge resembling the one posed by their pro-independence predecessors: They have called for the expansion...

Atlantic Eye: Blair's penultimate round.
May 7, 2006... Byline: MARC S. ELLENBOGEN BURY ST. EDMUNDS, England, May 7 (UPI) -- The rivalry between Mohammad Ali and Joe Frazier is probably the greatest rivalry in boxing history. Between 1971 and 1975 they fought three times. George Foreman and...

Policy Watch: Impact of a Quick Pullout.
May 7, 2006... Byline: MARK N. KATZ WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- The war in Iraq has become increasingly unpopular in America. Many are now calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from there. What, though, would happen if American forces left Iraq...

Politics & Policies: Iraq's many cooks.
May 8, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) -- From the White House to the Pentagon, and from the State Department to Washington think tanks, everybody has a solution for the mess in Iraq. And how can we forget the ever-present...

Commentary: Nightmare or daymare?
May 8, 2006... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) -- A U.S. and/or Israeli air strike against Iran's nuclear facilities before November conjures up a dead duck rather than a lame one at one end of Pennsylvania Avenue and at the other,...

Walker's World: Iran's grand bargain.
May 8, 2006... Byline: MARTIN WALKER LISBON, Portugal, May 8 (UPI) -- History is full of might-have-beens, but the attempt in April 2003 by the government of Iran to negotiate a 'grand bargain' with the Bush administration may just have some life left in...

Review of the Arab press.
May 8, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, May 8 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for May 8: Iraq's al-Sabah daily said in a commentary Monday the Iraqis have adjusted their feelings to the wide scale terrorism sweeping their country. The paper, which describes itself as...

Analysis: N.Korea's swelling trade deficit.
May 8, 2006... Byline: JONG-HEON LEE SEOUL, May 8 (UPI) -- North Korea's trade with foreign countries rose 5.1 percent last year, the highest figure since 1991, as the communist country slowly emerges from self-imposed isolation, South Korea's trade...

Interview: Lebanese PM's diplomatic tactic.
May 8, 2006... Byline: DALAL SAOUD BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 8 (UPI) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora is pursuing a new diplomatic offensive to force Israel to withdraw from the Shabaa farms. This move, the prime minister believes, will extend...

Analysis: Politics in Tunisia.
May 8, 2006... Byline: SHARON OTTERMAN TUNIS, Tunisia, May 8 (UPI) -- Sipping a cappuccino in a Parisian-style cafe in the capital here is a good place to contemplate the conundrum that is modern Tunisia. The capital of this Muslim nation of 10 million,...

Analysis: Bush's charm offensive.
May 8, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, May 8 (UPI) -- U.S. President George W. Bush is trying to fish for extra support in Europe, calling German Chancellor Angela Merkel a "fellow strategist" and mulling over closing the U.S.-run prison in...

U.K.: Blair refuses to name departure date.
May 8, 2006... Byline: HANNAH K. STRANGE LONDON, May 8 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair Monday refused to set a date for his departure, amid claims from internal critics that his leadership is destabilizing the party. Speaking at a Downing...

'Dove' takes over Israeli Defense Ministry.
May 8, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, May 8 (UPI) -- Israel's new defense minister, Amir Peretz, seemed to bring a new atmosphere with him. He reviewed a military honor guard at the entrance to the Defense Ministry headquarters in...

Analysis: Ahmadinejad's letter.
May 9, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, May 9 (UPI) -- Middle East analysts will be burning the midnight oil for the next few days, trying to decide if the letter sent by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to President George W. Bush...

Analysis: New Nepalese govt asserts role.
May 9, 2006... Byline: KUSHAL JEENA NEW DELHI, May 9 (UPI) -- The new democratic government of Nepal is keen to reverse earlier decisions taken by the pro-monarchy regime and assert political power now at its disposal, Indian political analysts said...

Analysis: N. Korea's refugee dilemma.
May 9, 2006... Byline: JONG-HEON LEE SEOUL, May 9 (UPI) -- North Korea is expected to react with fury to the United States' granting of refugee status to North Korean defectors, as it may prompt a refugee exodus from the communist country that could...

Analysis: Security still dubious in Darfur.
May 9, 2006... Byline: JINA MOORE UNITED NATIONS, May 8 (UPI) -- Attacks on United Nations personnel Monday, a dire lack of humanitarian assistance and a seeming reversal by the Sudanese government on allowing U.N. peacekeeping troops to deploy in Darfur...

Analysis: Soccer, army and constitution.
May 9, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, May 9 (UPI) -- Time is running out to make constitutional changes for the German military to be deployed domestically for World Cup security, a move that has the grand coalition government in disagreement. ...

Jordan River could stop flowing.
May 9, 2006... Byline: ALEXIA TERZOPOULOS WASHINGTON, May 9 (UPI) -- If Jordan and Syria execute their plan to construct one more dam on the Jordan River they will reduce the water flow to little more than a trickle, fear environmentalists and...

Controversial Chinese dam nears completion.
May 9, 2006... Byline: EDWARD LANFRANCO BEIJING, May 8 (UPI) -- The primary component of China's controversial Three Gorges Dam will be finished on May 20, a project official told state-run media over the weekend. Cao Guangjing, deputy general...

Israel tells citizens to leave Sinai.
May 9, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, May 9 (UPI) -- Israeli intelligence seems to have gotten wind of an imminent terror attack in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, 11 days before presidents, ministers, senior officials and businessmen from...

Analysis: Mr. President, you've got mail.
May 10, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's letter to President Bush is a bizarre melange of history, morality and a cri-du-coeur for the American president to follow the path of Allah. It is...

Common Ground: Responsible leadership.
May 10, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) -- When a revolutionary movement is transformed from a resistance group into a legitimate government thanks to having won the trust of the people through the process of democratic elections,...

Review of the Arab press.
May 10, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, May 10 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for May 10: The Palestinian al-Hayat al-Jadeeda commented Wednesday that a recent statement declaring the establishment of an al-Qaida branch in the Palestinian territories is not...

Analysis: ME Quartet aid for Palestinians.
May 10, 2006... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, May 9 (UPI) -- Even though donors are balking at funding a Hamas-led Palestinian government that has yet to renounce violence and recognize Israel, a meeting of key Middle East peace process...

Analysis: Reaction split on rights council.
May 10, 2006... Byline: DAVID LEPESKA UNITED NATIONS, May 9 (UPI) -- Shortly after U.N. General Assembly President Jan Eliasson announced Tuesday the elected members of the new Human Rights Council -- a list that included known abusers China, Russia,...

Analysis: Road to U.N. resolution on Iran.
May 10, 2006... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, May 9 (UPI) -- The U.N. Security Council remains deadlocked in negotiations for a new resolution making mandatory Iran's compliance with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Political...

Analysis: Berlin's new railway hub.
May 10, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, May 10 (UPI) -- For the past 15 years, Berlin has been planning and building the largest, safest and most modern train station in Europe. Today a small army of orange-jacketed construction workers stream...

Commentary: Target Russia.
May 11, 2006... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) -- Beating up on Russia's shrinking democracy has become a geopolitical blood sport from Vice President Cheney down to unreconstructed cold warriors that gleefully say, "I told you so."...

Warlords and Islamists vie for Somali capital.
May 11, 2006... Byline: JASON MOTLAGH WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) -- At least 90 people have died and more than 200 have been injured since fighting broke out Sunday in Somalia's lawless capital, Mogadishu. Clashes erupted over the weekend between an...

Quartet plans to help Palestinians.
May 11, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT A-RAM, West Bank, May 11 (UPI) -- An international proposal to channel money to Palestinians while bypassing their government Wednesday saw a mixed reaction in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Officials at...

U.S. focused on China currency reform.
May 11, 2006... Byline: EDWARD LANFRANCO BEIJING, May 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. Treasury Department's first permanent representative overseas Thursday stressed the urgency of working with China on currency reform, a day after the Bush administration said it...

Walker's World: France's dirty laundry.
May 11, 2006... Byline: MARTIN WALKER PARIS, May 11 (UPI) -- The scandals surrounding French President Jacques Chirac offer the most dramatic example of inflation in modern times. Six years ago, investigating magistrates probing allegations of...

Review of the Arab press.
May 11, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, May 11 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for May 11: Palestinian al-Quds daily welcomed in its editorial Thursday the international Quartet's decision to resume provisional assistance to the Palestinians, but warned that stall...

Clinton: Climate change 'greatest threat'.
May 11, 2006... Byline: HANNAH K. STRANGE GLASGOW, Scotland, May 11 (UPI) -- Climate change is a greater threat to world security than international terrorism, former U.S. President Bill Clinton said eaarlier this week. Speaking to business leaders...

BMD Focus: Pakistan, India, race rockets.
May 11, 2006... Byline: MARTIN SIEFF WASHINGTON, May 11 (UPI) -- The South Asia ballistic missile and nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan rivals the one between Israel and Iran for being the most dangerous on the planet. Relations between...

Germany launches spy probe.
May 11, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, May 11 (UPI) -- German lawmakers Thursday began investigating the country's security services, including sensitive cooperation with the United States during the Iraq war and its global war on terror. The...

Analysis: U.N. decries Liberia sex abuse.
May 11, 2006... Byline: LAUREN MACK UNITED NATIONS, May 10 (UPI) -- Amid investigations into alleged sexual exploitation and abuse of Liberian girls by U.N. peacekeepers, the United Nations has reaffirmed its zero tolerance policy. "We take this very...

Palestinian security prisoners urge unity.
May 12, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, May 11 (UPI) -- Prominent Palestinian security prisoners belonging to various political groups have drafted a "National Accord Document" that envisages an independent Palestinian state living...

Interview: Jordan committed to peace.
May 12, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, May 12 (UPI) -- Abdel Ilah Al Khatib, Jordan's foreign minister, met with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington Thursday and reviewed the Palestinian-Israeli issue, the war in Iraq, the...

Common Ground: Lessons from Turkey.
May 12, 2006... Byline: RAMI G. KHOURI BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 12 (UPI) -- Full disclosure from the start: I am a great admirer of Turkey. Of course I am glad that four centuries of Ottoman control over the Arab world ended after World War I, yet I wish that...

Analysis: July 7 report raises questions.
May 12, 2006... Byline: HANNAH K. STRANGE LONDON, May 12 (UPI) -- Two official reports on the July 7 London bombings have painted a picture of four homegrown extremists so angered by perceived Western injustices against the Muslim world that they...

Policy Watch: Can the Caliphate re-emerge?
May 13, 2006... Byline: MARK N. KATZ WASHINGTON, May 12 (UPI) -- Islamic political theory envisions a Muslim world united under the rule of a caliph, who exercises spiritual and temporal authority over all Muslims. Many Muslims now hope for the...

Analysis: Quartet adds pressure on Hamas.
May 13, 2006... Byline: SANA ABDALLAH AMMAN, Jordan, May 13 (UPI) -- The decision by international Middle East peace mediators to channel aid to the Palestinian territories while bypassing the Hamas-led government may ease the financial crunch on the...

Analysis: Iraq's nightmare reality.
May 14, 2006... Byline: SANA ABDALLAH AMMAN, Jordan, May 14 (UPI) -- If the old saying that things need to get worse before they get better applies to Iraq, it's hard to imagine how much worse it can possibly get before that country returns to minimum...

Politics & Policies: New wave of terror?
May 15, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, May 15 (UPI) -- In analyzing behavioral changes in terrorist activities over the past 50 years, specifically terrorism relating to the Mideast conflict, a clear pattern seems to emerge: each new war gave...

Walker's World: More Europe?
May 15, 2006... Byline: MARTIN WALKER PARIS, May 15 (UPI) -- Like the loyal soldiers of Napoleon's Old Guard, the dedicated bureaucrats of the European Union never surrender. The project for further political union, widely pronounced dead after the Dutch...

Review of the Arab press.
May 15, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, May 15 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for May 15: Jordan's ad-Dustour said in its editorial Monday that May 15 will remain a "heavy memory" for the Arab world, in reference to the Palestinian "nakba," or "catastrophe" when...

Analysis: Germany's press spied upon.
May 15, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, May 15 (UPI) -- After coming under scrutiny for dubious intelligence cooperation with the United States in Iraq, Germany's Federal Intelligence Service is now taking heavy fire for spying on German...

Top U.N. official to visit Myanmar.
May 15, 2006... Byline: STINA LUNDEN UNITED NATIONS, May 12 (UPI) -- As reports on human rights abuses by the ruling government pile higher, a senior U.N. official will meet with authorities in Myanmar for the first time in years. U.N....

Atlantic Eye: Japan`s German Soul.
May 15, 2006... Byline: MARC S. ELLENBOGEN TOKYO, May 15 (UPI) -- More than 60 years ago, my father was stationed in Japan. During the war he had served on the Aircraft Carrier Lexington. Later he was assigned to the War Crimes Tribunal in Yokohama. He...

Analysis: Uganda reaches out to investors.
May 15, 2006... Byline: AMBIKA BEHAL WASHINGTON, May 15 (UPI) -- As Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni begins his third term, Asian investors driven away during the dark years of successive dictatorships are returning to stake their claim in a rising...

U.K.: Chavez issues warning over oil, Iran.
May 15, 2006... Byline: HANNAH K. STRANGE LONDON, May 15 (UPI) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the flamboyant foe of the U.S. administration, Monday warned that military action against Iran would send oil prices rocketing and destabilize the entire...

Analysis: Coalition of willing - and able.
May 16, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, May 16 (UPI) -- Lech Walesa was a guest of honor and a keynote speaker at the annual Arab American Kahlil Gibran Awards dinner in Washington earlier this month. For those too young to remember, or for the...

Outside View: Engage Iran directly.
May 16, 2006... Byline: ALON BEN-MEIR NEW YORK, May 15 (UPI) -- For the past five years the Bush administration has followed a failed policy toward Iran, leading to the current dangerous impasse. It is time for the administration to reassess its strategy,...

Review of the Arab press.
May 16, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, May 16 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for May 16: The Palestinian al-Hayat al-Jadeeda commented Tuesday on the 58th anniversary of the Palestinian "nakbah," or "catastrophe" when Palestinians lost their homes as the state of...

Israel court restricts family reunions.
May 16, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT JERUSALEM, May 16 (UPI) -- In the single most important moment in Israel's history, the then-Prime Minister David Ben Gurion read out a clause with which this country has been grappling ever since: "The State of...

German police challenge crime statistics.
May 16, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, May 16 (UPI) -- A top German official has said domestic crime rates are down, making the country one of the safest in the world, but police unions strongly disagree. In 2005, the total number of criminal...

Analysis: N.Korea aid dilemma.
May 16, 2006... Byline: JONG-HEON LEE SEOUL, May 16 (UPI) -- North Korea is set to receive United Nations food aid for the next two years and rival South Korea, which has donated grain and fertilizer for years, plans to increase economic assistance. ...

Analysis: EU hopefuls get cautious 'yes'.
May 16, 2006... Byline: HANNAH K. STRANGE LONDON, May 16 (UPI) -- Bulgaria and Romania will be granted entry to the European Union in January 2007 provided they fulfill a series of conditions related primarily to organized crime and corruption, the...

Facing fraud Egypt judge gets heart attack.
May 17, 2006... Byline: SHARON OTTERMAN CAIRO, May 17 (UPI) -- One of two Egyptian judges facing dismissal for alleging that fraud took place in last year's parliamentary elections had a serious heart attack last night and is in critical condition,...

Analysis: Damascus' spring cools further.
May 17, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, May 17 (UPI) -- While Washington remains preoccupied with Tehran's quest for nuclear advancement, Damascus has been quietly raising the ante as Syrian officials talk about examining "other options" to...