APS Diplomat News Service articles from February 2007

APS Diplomat News Service archives from February 2007

Lebanon Politics - Syria Seen Wanting To Cause Another Civil War.
February 5, 2007... *** Chaired By Pres. Chirac, A Paris Donor Meeting On Jan. 25 Gave Lebanon $7.66 Bn In Rebuilding Assistance - The Move By Rich Powers And Saudi Was A Sign Of Confidence In The Beirut Govt. Despite The Dangerous Unrest On Jan. 23 & 25;...

Towards A Solution.(political conditions in Lebanon)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... One solution is a proposal made in 1986 by Lebanon's then President Amin Gemayel. At the time he proposed creation of the post of vice president and give it permanently to the Shi'ites who are the largest community in Lebanon. This would mean...

Hizbollah Blames Bush For Unrest.(Lebanon war)
February 5, 2007... Hizbullah Secretary-General Nasrallah on Jan. 30 used the Shi'ite Ashura commemoration to accuse the US and Israel of being responsible for the unrest in Lebanon. He told a rally in the southern suburbs of Beirut: "The one who fomented chaos in...

Iran-US Confrontation - EU Pressures Against American Military Action.
February 12, 2007... *** Ayat. Khamenei Is Said To Have Serious Health Problems; Ex- President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Is One Of The Few Key Players Trying To Secure The Top Post Of Supreme Leader To An Ally, While He Wants To Get Re-Elected President In '08...

Use Of The Saudi Oil Weapon.
February 12, 2007... The IHT report added: "Several European officials said in interviews that they believed that the United States and Saudi Arabia have an unwritten deal to keep oil production up, and prices down, to further squeeze Iran, which is dependent on...

Saudis Act To Counter Iran's Influence.
February 12, 2007... With three important parts of the Middle East on the boil and Iran poised to gain from them all, Saudi Arabia has abandoned its behind-the-scenes checkbook diplomacy and taken on a central role in reshaping the region's conflicts. On Feb....

The European angle.(US wants Europe to widen economic sanctions against Iran)
February 12, 2007... The US has called on Europe to do more economically as part of a two-year-old trans-Atlantic agreement in which the US agreed to support EU efforts to negotiate a resolution of the crisis over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Typically, European firms...

Tehran Seen Retreating.
February 12, 2007... Is Iran's Shi'ite theocracy preparing to retreat from confrontation over Tehran's nuclear ambitions? The answer, given by President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad until recently, is an emphatic no. According to Ahmadi-Nejad, such retreat would limit...

Khamenei Seen Having Health Problems.(Ayatollah Ali Khamenei)
February 12, 2007... There may be one more reason why the theocracy might wish to cool things down. According an article by London-based journalist Amir Taheri published in Gulf News of Jan. 31, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's "health is in decline". Taheri...

Tehran Accuses US Of Abducting Diplomat In Baghdad.(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... The Iranian government on Feb. 6 accused the US of complicity in the kidnap of one of its diplomats in Iraq, in an incident which might inflame already tense relations between Washington and Tehran. The Iranian government said Jalal Sharafi,...

Iran Tests Russian Missiles Near Strait Of Hormuz.
February 12, 2007... Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Feb. 7 test-fired its new Russian defence missile system near the strategically important Strait of Hormuz. The two-day manoeuvres are Iran's second since the UNSC approved economic...

The Palestinians - Hamas Wins Over Fatah In A Mecca Agreement Brokered By Saudis.
February 19, 2007... *** Iran's Nuclear Bomb Project Is Unstoppable, Says A Paper Prepared For EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana, Which Concludes That There Is Little Which Can Be Done To Prevent It - It Says The Programme Was Delayed Only By Some Technical...

Saudi Statesmanship.(Saudi Arabia stops civil war in Palestine)
February 19, 2007... Saudi Arabia, ruled by a one-family royal regime, is the ultimate status-quo power. It is in character for the Saudi royals to suffer an anxiety attack over events in their region - and to want the fires doused before they flare into an...

Saudi-Israeli Contacts.
February 19, 2007... Writing in The Boston Globe of Feb. 14, columnist HDS Greenway said: "Almost 30 years ago, after a reporting trip to Saudi Arabia, I visited Israel's statesman, Shimon Peres. It seemed to me, I said, that there were mutual concerns that might...

The Lebanese Crisis.
February 19, 2007... The head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, on Feb. 14 was in Saudi Arabia following up on a joint Saudi-Iranian effort to solve the Lebanese crisis. His Saudi counterpart, National...

Bush Is Most Disliked Global Leader Among Arabs.
February 19, 2007... A new poll on Feb. 8 underscored deep Arab unhappiness with the US but said the negative image could be repaired if Washington brokered a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace pact. The survey of 3,850 people in six Arab countries rated President...

Iran's Nuclear Bomb Unstoppable?
February 19, 2007... The Financial Times on Feb. 13 reported a document compiled by the staff of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana concluding that Iran will be able to develop enough weapons-grade material for a nuclear bomb and there is little that can be done...

EU To Punish Iran.
February 19, 2007... EU negotiators, yielding to US pressure, have agreed to widen a ban on financial transactions with Iran and on the export of materials and technology which Iran could use to develop nuclear weapons. EU officials were on Feb. 13 quoted as saying...

Iran Raises Hopes Of Nuke Deal.
February 19, 2007... Larijani on Feb. 11 held out hope for a "negotiated settlement" as he said Iran's nuclear programme would pose no threat to Israel or any other state. He told an international security conference in Munich his government was willing to discuss...

Gates On Putin's Anti-US Tirade.(Vladimir Putin)
February 19, 2007... At the Munich conference Gates on Feb. 11 brushed aside a blistering attack on US foreign policy by Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying "one cold war was quite enough". Putin lambasted US foreign policy in a theatrical display at the...

Zawahiri Hits USA.(Ayman al-Zawahiri's views)
February 19, 2007... In an audio tape posted on the internet on Feb. 13, al-Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri described the US plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq as a gamble bound to fail. He criticised the US Democratic Party for not changing US...

Africa Becomes Scene Of Western-Chinese Competition & Resource Nationalism.(petroleum reserves)
February 26, 2007... *** IAEA Says Iran Has Mastered Crucial Nuclear Technology Since August 2006 And Could Be As Little As Six Months Away From Being Able To Enrich Uranium On An Industrial Scale; ElBaradei Says Ther's No Going Back, 'You Cannot Bomb Knowledge'...

Crisis In Nigeria.(pertroleum pipeline accident)
February 26, 2007... The terrifying oil blast which engulfed a Lagos neighbourhood following Christmas Day - the death toll in early 2007 was almost 300 - says less about vandals who hot-tap exposed pipelines running through the city's slum world than the venality,...

Nigerian Presidential Hopeful Vows Reforms.(Umaru Yar'Adua)(Interview)
February 26, 2007... Umaru Yar'Adua, who emerged from relative obscurity in 2006 to become presidential candidate for Nigeria's ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), has vowed to institute meaningful reforms in Nigeria. But there are some in the PDP, bitterly...

Ghana's 'Secret' Oil Royalties.
February 26, 2007... Moses Asaga, a ranking National Democratic Congress (NDC) member on energy in Ghana, in late 2006 called on government to divulge information about its "obscure" oil activities at Saltpond field - which he said had been deliberately kept out of...

Uganda Oil Find.
February 26, 2007... In a vast western Ugandan plane stretching for several dozen miles up to the shores of lake Albert in Hoima, a number of newly-opened roads crisscross each other, leading to four exploration wells which in late 2006 had been officially...

Ugandan Fuel Shortage.(Brief article)
February 26, 2007... Fuel shortage in Kampala since late 2006 has forced prices to go up. Most Shell stations in the city raised the price of gasoline to Sh 1,950, up from Sh 1,845, and diesel to Sh 1,690, up from Sh 1,660. Others like Total increased the prices to...

Mozambique Steps Up Petroleum Search.
February 26, 2007... Mozambican Deputy Mineral Resources Minister Abdul Razak on Jan. 6 announced plans for intensive oil and gas exploration in northern and central areas and tenders could be offered by end-2007 if discoveries had been made. He said there was...

Tunisia Is Feared To Be New Base For Neo-Salafi Militants.
February 26, 2007... The New York Times on Feb. 20 pointed to a plan, hatched for months in the arid mountains of North Africa, and said it was to attack the American and British embassies in Tunis. It ended in a series of gun battles in January which killed a...

Somalia Closer To Collapse.
February 26, 2007... Fierce mortar attacks on Feb. 20 killed more than 10 civilians in Somalia, and that was virtually the new status quo. Nearly every day, government forces and insurgents shell each other across dilapidated neighbourhoods in the capital,...