APS Diplomat News Service articles from December 2006

APS Diplomat News Service archives from December 2006

Iraq, Lebanon & The Palestinians Face Civil War Prospects; But Bush Won't Rush Out.(George W. Bush)
December 4, 2006... *** Saudis Warn The Iran Theocracy They Will Launch An Oil Price War And Military Hostilities If The Shi'ites In Iraq Tried To Massacre The Sunnis In The Event of US Withdrawal; This Comes After VP Dick Cheney Had Talks In Riyadh With King...

The Unthinkable.(Lebanon, people fear of civil war )
December 4, 2006... For the first time in years, Lebanese have started to think the country could slide back to the dark days of the 1975-1991 civil war, when Christian and Muslim militias fought each other, with Christian militias having first fought also against...

Iraq Takes Over Army Division In Tikrit.
December 4, 2006... Iraq's government on Dec. 1 took command over another army division in the north, a US general announced, in an apparent demonstration of the US's commitment to accelerate the handover of military control to PM Maliki. Maliki said after his...

Afghanistan - The Taliban Will Try Again To Move On Kabul After Isolating Kandahar.
December 11, 2006... KABUL - The Taliban movement has re-emerged, mainly thanks to the ineffectiveness of the forces against which it is fighting. The Taliban strategy for the coming year is to isolate Kandahar by cutting off the Kandahar-Herat highway to the west,...

Iran Boosts Ties With Afghanistan.
December 11, 2006... From cheap ice cream to 24-hour electricity, Iran is strengthening economic ties with western Afghanistan which could undermine support for US and NATO forces. Western Afghanistan has a newly paved 75-mile stretch of highway between the Iranian...

US-Trained Afghan Police Force Is Failing.
December 11, 2006... Five years after the fall of the Taliban, a joint report by the Pentagon and the US State Department has found that the American-trained police force in Afghanistan is incapable of carrying out routine law enforcement work. The report has also...

Iran Influences Over Shi'ite Groups In Iraq Are Limited; US Can Only Get Little Help.
December 18, 2006... ** Muqtada al-Sadr Is To Be Sidelined In One Way Or Another ** Hakim Takes The Lead In Calling For All Militias In Iraq To Be Dissolved In Favour Of The Government ** But The Seeds Of Partition Are Beginning To Take Root In The Heart...

Bush Vows Not To Rush On Iraq Plans.(George Bush)
December 18, 2006... Visiting the Pentagon and winding up the semi-public portion of an intense Iraq policy review, President Bush on Dec. 13 said he would not be rushed into hastily rewriting US strategy, but added that he had already rejected "ideas such as...

Rice Lying Low At Middle East Crossroads.(Condoleezza Rice)
December 18, 2006... In an analysis, the Financial Times on Dec. 15 noted that, while US policy in the Middle East "stalled at multiple crossroads in the search for a 'new way forward' in Iraq", Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "has been notable only for her low...

Iran's Moderates Win AoE & City Council Elections; Rafsanjani Is Back In Power.(Assembly of Experts)(Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani)
December 25, 2006... *** The Arab World Is Split Just As The Middle East Is Divided Into An American-Led Alliance Versus An 'Axis Of Resistance' Headed By Iran *** Lebanon & Iraq Are The Main Battlefields - As Is The Case Of Palestine, Where Hamas Gets...

US-Led Naval Build-up Poses A New Challenge To Tehran.
December 25, 2006... The US and Britain will begin moving additional warships and aircraft into the Persian Gulf region in a display of military resolve towards Iran which would come as the UNSC debates possible sanctions against it. US military officials were on...

Western Politicians Try To Move Syria Out Of Iran-Led 'Axis Of Resistance'.
December 25, 2006... The Arab world is split as a result of a wider split in the Middle East between a US-led alliance and an "axis of resistance" players led by Iran. The US calls the latter part of the "axis of evil", while Iran leads the Ba'thist dictatorship of...