APS Diplomat News Service articles from March 2008

APS Diplomat News Service archives from March 2008

Turkey, Under Uneasy Islamist/Kemalist Control, Can Bridge A Syrian-Arab Gap.
March 10, 2008... *** Assad Is Said To Have Complained To A Prominent Arab Visitor: 'OK, We Killed Hariri And We Have Paid The Price' - By Withdrawing From Lebanon - 'What More To They Want And Why Is The UN Pursuing Us With A Court Trial?' - The Visitor Said...

Arab Leaders Threaten To Boycott Damascus Summit.
March 10, 2008... Arab leaders, whose foreign ministers met at the Arab League in Cairo on March 5-6, say they may boycott the Damascus summit because of anger at Assad over his role in Lebanon and ongoing links to Iran. The measures are part of an intensified...

Qatar Is Trying To Lead The GCC Into 'Deal' With Iran's Axis; USA Is Seen In Decline.(Arab Gulf Co-operation Council)
March 17, 2008... *** Unwittingly Or By Design, The Iran-Led Axis Now Is Being Manipulated By A Weak Olmert Govt. In Israel To Kill The Palestine Cause, Simply By Letting Hamas' Syria-Based Political Head Khaled Mesh'al Keep The Gaza Strip Separate From The West...

Berri Hits The US.(Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri)(Brief article)
March 17, 2008... Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who heads the Shi'ite Amal party and is part of the Iran-led axis, on March 11 criticised the US for condemning his decision to postpone a scheduled house session to elect a new president to March 25....

Iran's Role In Regional Crises & Assad's Obsession With The Hariri Case.(Syrian President Bashar al-Assad)
March 17, 2008... Axis leader Iran is directly involved in crises from Iraq to Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Syria is playing a secondary role; but its main concern is to block a UN tribunal being formed to try the killers of PM Rafiq Hariri and other Lebanese...

US Sanctions On 3rd Iran Bank.(Future Bank)
March 17, 2008... The US Treasury on March 12 imposed sanctions against an Iranian-owned bank in Bahrain in an attempt to ratchet up the pressure on Tehran in the dispute about it nuclear and regional ambitions. It said it would freeze any assets belonging to...

Iran Parliamentary Election.
March 17, 2008... On March 14 Iranians went to the polls in parliamentary elections engineered by the IRGC. The result, IRGC control of parliament, had been known since the Guardians Council barred about 1,700 reformist candidates. The vote was a referendum on...

Syria Talking With Israel.
March 17, 2008... On March 14, the media quoted a former director-general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry as saying a new round of talks with envoys from President Assad was soon to begin in Europe. An APS source on March 15 said this will be a continuation of a...

Cheney's Middle East Tour.(US Vice President Dick Cheney)
March 17, 2008... Vice President Dick Cheney's trip to the Middle East, which was to begin on March 16, was to be the latest in a series of official US visits to pressure Israel and the Palestinians to make good on their promises to forge a peace agreement. The...

The Damascus Summit - Is It Arab Or Persian? - A Clash Is Coming After The Event.
March 24, 2008... *** In Preparing A Constitution For Libya, The Ruler's Son & CP Saif ul-Islam Qadhafi Has Said All Reforms Are Possible Except Two Things That Should Never Change: Islam And M. Qadhafi, Stressing They Are 'Red Lines' Which No One Will Be...

The Golan Deal & What Went Wrong With The Lebanon Prize.
March 24, 2008... The man who conceived that 1974 deal was Gen. Hafez al-Assad, who was in charge of the Syrian armed forces when the Golan fell to the Israelis during the June 1967 war. It took four years for the general to take power in Damascus - in a coup...

Kurdish Unrest In Syria & Turkey.
March 24, 2008... Syrian police on March 20 killed three Kurds in clashes which broke out as the Kurds celebrated their New Year - Nowruz - at Qameshli near the north-eastern borders with Iraq and Turkey. A spokesman the Kurdish Yakiti party in Qameshli on March...

Annan Warns Against War On Iran.(Kofi Annan)(Brief article)
March 24, 2008... Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on March 20 warned that military action against Iran would be "a real disaster" and the Middle East could explode if the international community did not handle the many conflicts in the region very...

Israel Warns Of Hizbullah Revenge Attacks.
March 24, 2008... Israel on March 21 warned its citizens of what it termed a high risk of being kidnapped when travelling outside the country following the assassination of Hizbullah commander Mughniyeh. "The Counter-Terrorism Bureau warns over kidnappings of...

Cheney In Saudi.(United States Vice-President Dick Cheney)
March 24, 2008... A part of a March 16-25 tour of the Middle East which began in Oman and featured a March 17-18 visit to Iraq (see ood3-Iraq5YearsAfterUSinvasionMar24-08), US Vice-President Dick Cheney arrived in Saudi Arabia on March 21 for a two-day visit....

Sadr's Rogue Militias In Iraq Hit Police.(Muqtada al-Sadr)(Brief article)
March 24, 2008... Rogue members of the Shi'ite Jaysh al-Mahdi (JaM) militia on March 20 attacked Iraqi police patrols in southern Baghdad's Shurta district, further fraying a seven-month-old truce called by Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to rein in his private...

Latent Saudi-Iran Oil Price War Seen.
March 24, 2008... An APS source in Riyadh on March 22 said Saudi Aramco was gradually raising its production by 300,000 b/d to 9.5m b/d in what could eventually develop into a latent price war between Riyadh and Tehran. Although Cheney's visit ended on March 22...

GCC Wealth Funds In Deal With Washington.(Gulf Cooperation Council)
March 24, 2008... The US on March 21 reached an agreement with Abu Dhabi and Singapore on a set of principles for investment by sovereign wealth funds. Washington hopes the move will help assuage concerns about such funds' transparency, while encouraging them to...

US Hits Iran Central Bank.
March 24, 2008... Washington has called on international financial institutions to steer clear of doing business with Bank Markazi (Iran's central bank), in the most wide-ranging US attempt yet to isolate Tehran financially. The Treasury Department has issued a...

Khomeini's Grandchildren Speak Up Against The Theocracy.
March 24, 2008... 'Ali Eshraghi, a grandson of the Iranian theocracy's founder, the late Imam Khomeini, is beginning to attack the regime for deviating from the teachings of his grandfather. Until recently 'Ali was barred from running in the March 14...

Pakistan Has A New Govt; Musharraf Faces Tough Times; Afghans Have Worrying Signs.(Pervez Musharraf)
March 31, 2008... *** The March 29-30 Arab Summit In Damascus Was Seen By Assad's Foes As The 'Most Divisive Event' In The History Of The League Of Arab States, With PM Siniora On March 28 Having Explained Why Syrian Meddling In Lebanon Led To Boycott By Beirut...

US Visitors.(Brief article)
March 31, 2008... US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Richard Boucher had arrived in Islamabad early on March 25 and held talks with Sharif just as the new PM was being sworn in. They then visited...

Gilani Profile.(Makhdoom Yousuf Reza Gilani)(Biography)
March 31, 2008... Gilani, the 26th PM of Pakistan, succeeded Muhammad Mian Soomro. Gilani was speaker of the National Assembly from Oct. 17, 1993, to Feb. 16, 1997. In 1998 Gilani became vice-chairman of the PPP, serving with then PM Makhdoom Amin Fahim. In...

PDA Pins Hope On ANP's Role As Tribal Moderator.(Pakistan Democratic Alliance on Awami National Party )
March 31, 2008... The ruling Pakistan Democratic Alliance (PDA) is hoping to broker a deal with moderate Pashtun tribal leaders against the Neo-Salafi Taliban and al-Qaeda as well as other Islamic extremist groups which have been running the North-West Frontier...

PPP Under A 'Street-Smart Manipulator'.
March 31, 2008... Musharraf has a card in Zardari, the co-chairman of the PPP who on March 14 emerged as one of the cleanest politicians in Pakistan after he was acquitted of all corruption cases against him as a result of a Washington-brokered deal between his...

Sharif's Position.
March 31, 2008... Leading the PML-N, Nawaz Sharif and Zardari have agreed that their PDA will negotiate with those militants who have staged attacks, and would use the military only as a last resort. They will do away with the approach of Musharraf who had given...

Afghan Trouble Ahead.
March 31, 2008... A planned Pakistani-NATO offensive against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the tribal areas on the border was delayed by the Feb. 18 elections and their aftermath. Now there is talk of a three-pronged offensive by the Taliban, al-Qaeda and...

Taliban Cut Cellphone Coverage.
March 31, 2008... The Associated Press on March 26 reported that Taliban attacks on telecom towers in Afghanistan had prompted cell phone companies to shut down service across the southern part of the country at night, angering 250,000 customers who had no other...