APS Diplomat News Service articles from August 2007

APS Diplomat News Service archives from August 2007

Palestine State Talks Have Serious Implications For The World's Biggest Energy Spot.
August 6, 2007... *** Arab Defence Specialists Tell BBC Iran's Strategic Depth Has Never Been As Vulnerable To Concentrated Attack As Many Had Thought, Because Tehran Has Been More Convinced Than In 2004 That The US Is Far Too Bogged Down In Iraq To Take The...

The Palestine Track.(talks between the Palestinian Territories and Israel)
August 6, 2007... PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli PM Olmert have spoken of the need to define the final outcome of renewed talks. Abbas calls it an "end game". Olmert considers it "an agreement of principles". In Ramallah Ms Rice on Aug. 2 told Abbas...

Saudi Engagement.(Saudi Arabia participation in peace talks)
August 6, 2007... At a press conference in Jeddah with Rice and Gates on Aug. 1, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Riyadh would consider attending the meeting in the autumn. This would put Saudis at the same table as Israelis for the first time...

The US View On Iran.
August 6, 2007... US Undersecretary of State for Political affairs Nicholas Burns on July 30 told reporters Iran's nuclear and geo-political ambitions and financial support for terrorist groups had "worried everybody in the region", and that the US arms sales...

Russia Downgrades Ties To Hamas.
August 6, 2007... After PA President Abbas met with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on July 31, Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov at a news conference said his country had "downgraded" its ties with Hamas - a significant move as Russia is...

Israeli-Iranian Intelligence War.
August 6, 2007... Arab News on Aug. 1 pointed to an "intelligence war" between Iran and Israel, which it said was "gaining momentum, as both countries' intelligence services are increasing efforts to recruit Hebrew and Persian speakers to their ranks". The...

The Iran Drift & Rafsanjani's Effort To Reverse It.
August 6, 2007... Iran, meanwhile, is drifting on a dangerous course which could lead to a military confrontation with the US. The camp riding the wave for such a confrontation belongs to the supremacists, those who believe they enjoy "divine support" against...

US Financial Squeeze.(business transaction with Tehran)
August 6, 2007... Washington's campaign to persuade financial institutions to break ties with Tehran gained another coup on July 31 when Deutsche Bank confirmed it had decided to cease doing business in Iran. The bank said it had told clients in Iran on July 20...

EU Warns US On Iran Sanctions.
August 6, 2007... EU governments are warning Congress that US legislation aimed at Iran could hit European energy groups, undermine trans-Atlantic unity on Tehran's nuclear programme and provoke a dispute at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Diplomats from...

Tehran Says US Too Stretched To Attack.
August 6, 2007... Iran Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has told a German magazine that the US has too many problems in Iraq to become involved in armed conflict with Iran. Military action is sometimes discussed in Washington as an option in trying to...

Bush Freezes Assets Of Persons Undermining Beirut Govt.(George W. Bush)
August 6, 2007... In a message to Congress, President Bush on Aug. 2 declared a national emergency to deal with the threat to undermine Lebanon's legitimate government. The message reads: "I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, determine...

Sudan & Somalia Are Potential Oil Export Majors; China Sets Scene For Geo-Politics.
August 13, 2007... *** China's Motor Vehicle Population Is Growing 9M/Y & Is Second Only To US's; Beijing On July 1 Missed A Deadline For New National Standards On Sulphur Limits For Gasoline & Diesel; This Would Have Put The Country's Fuel Specs In Line With...

SPLA Warns Khartoum.(Sudan People's Liberation Army)
August 13, 2007... SPLA spokesman Kuol Diem Kuol on Aug. 6 said North Sudanese troops still in the south's oil areas were now "occupation forces" since they had not left the region as agreed under a 2005 peace pact. He said SPLA's southern forces had almost...

China In Darfur.(Brief article)
August 13, 2007... The potentially oil and water-rich Darfur, off limits to Western IOCs, is the province into which Chinese firms are preparing to move in a big way. Despite the conflict there, which Washington has branded genocide, the Chinese are ready to pour...

Rebels Agree To Peace Talks.
August 13, 2007... After an unprecedented meeting of rebel groups from Darfur, leaders representing more than a dozen militias agreed on a "common platform" for negotiations with the Khartoum government. The four-day talks held in Arusha, Tanzania, ended on Aug....

Darfur Development Needs.(Sudan)
August 13, 2007... The following are extracts from a commentary by Jeffrey Sachs, a professor of economics and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, published in late July: "[The new] United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report...[on Sudan]...

Chinese After Oil In Somalia.
August 13, 2007... CNOOC's willingness to strike an oil deal with the fragile government of Somalia, which has been a failed state for more than a decade, has provided stark evidence of China's willingness to brave terrain which Western oil majors deem too...

Afghanistan & Pakistan To Co-operate In US Offensive On Taliban-Led Groups & Al-Qaeda.
August 20, 2007... *** The US State Dept. Is To Put Iran's IRGC On Its List Of Terrorists - This Is The 1st Time That Washington Blacklists A State's Armed Force - Does It Mean Bush Is Preparing A War On The Shi'ite Theocracy, Or On A Part Of It? *** Tehran...

Ahmadi-Nejad In Central Asia.(Iraninan president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad)
August 20, 2007... On Aug. 14, Iranian President Ahmadi-Nejad began a tour of neighbouring states of Central Asia with a trip which began in Kabul and ended in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where he attended the summit of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) on...

Iran On US Missile Shield; Putin For Multi-Polar Order.(Vladimir Putin)
August 20, 2007... Ahmadi-Nejad on Aug. 16 used the Bishkek SCO summit to lash out at US plans for a missile defence shield in Central Europe, while Putin took an indirect swipe at Washington's "unilateral" foreign policy. Ahmadi-Nejad said the planned defence...

Tehran-Beijing Strain.(Brief article)
August 20, 2007... Two Chinese nationals have been arrested for taking photographs of military and nuclear installations. Iran's judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi on Aug. 15 said their case was under review by officials in the region of Arak, a town about 190...

The Fiasco In Afghanistan.
August 20, 2007... The New York Times on Aug. 12 published a long article on what went wrong in Afghanistan. It said that, two years after the Taliban fell to a US-led coalition in late 2001, a group of NATO ambassadors landed in Kabul to survey what appeared to...

A Piecemeal Operation.(Afghanistan)
August 20, 2007... "As White House officials put together plans in the spring of 2003 for Bush to land on the deck of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and declare the end of major combat operations in Iraq, the Pentagon decided to make a similar, if less...

A Lingering Threat.(Taliban in Pakistan)
August 20, 2007... "Before departing Afghanistan, Khalilzad fought a final battle within the administration. It revealed divisions within the American government over Pakistan's role in aiding the Taliban, a delicate subject as the administration tried to coax...

Saudi Involvement In US-Iran Talks For Iraq's Stabilisation Is Urged.(Suadi Arabia)
August 27, 2007... *** Assad, Whose Critics Call An 'Alawite/Ba'th Dictator, Is More Determined Than Ever Before To Kill The UN Tribunal In The Hariri Case And Wants Hizbullah To Take Over Power In Lebanon Through March 8 Forces Who May Block Election Of A...

Maliki's Chances.(Nouri al-Maliki's replacement)
August 27, 2007... Maliki has lost the support of the largest Shi'ite, Sunni and secular parties in parliament. Roughly half his cabinet ministers have quit in protest, and US officials privately describe him as paranoid and failing. And yet, Maliki remains. That...

Allawi's View.(Iyad Allawi on the Iraq War)
August 27, 2007... In an article published on Aug. 19 by The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, Allawi - four of his five ministers on Aug. 24 quit from Maliki's cabinet - said responsibility for the current mess in Iraq rested primarily with Maliki, not...

Tehran Rebuffs Banks' Boycott.
August 27, 2007... The FT on Aug. 22 quoted Iran's Bank Markazi (central bank) Deputy Governor Mohammad-Jaafar Mojarrad as saying Tehran was overcoming short-term damage from international banks reducing their involvement with his country. He said the Iranian...

Moscow Orders Long-Range Bomber Flights.(Russia)
August 27, 2007... President Vladimir Putin announced on Aug. 17 that Russia would immediately resume the Soviet-era practice of sending strategic bombers on long-range flights well beyond its borders. Speaking as he and Chinese President Hu Jintao wrapped up...

Saudi Media At War With Syrian Regime.(Saudi Arabia)
August 27, 2007... In a media war against the Syrian regime, the Saudi daily Okaz on Aug. 21 said Bashar al-Assad, like his late father Gen. Hafez al-Assad, was engaged in a "systematic assassination of Lebanese leaders opposed to policies dictated by Damascus"....