APS Diplomat News Service articles from May 2005

APS Diplomat News Service archives from May 2005

Saudi-US Friendship Restored; Riyadh Will Speed Up Expansion Of Oil Output Capacity.
May 2, 2005... *** The Insurgency In Iraq Remains Strong, With The Salafi Suicide Bombers Having Shifted Away From US Troops To Iraqi Targets Including Shiites And Zarqawi's Qaeda Has Warned It Will Kill Sunnis Joining The Govt. Which Dr. Ja'fari Has Formed &...

Saudi-US Relations.(Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal)(Transcript)
May 2, 2005... Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal, who was in Prince Abdullah's delegation in the US, on April 27 gave an address to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Among many other things, he said: "For us reform is an absolute...

Damascus Faces 'Constructive Instability' As USA Says Syria Keeps Agents In Lebanon.
May 9, 2005... *** When Syria Moved To Lebanon In The Spring Of 1976, Many In Beirut Said It Will Never Leave This Country; Some Predicted In Sept. 2004, When Syria Got The Leb. Parliament To Amend The Constitution To Extend Lahoud's Term To Another 3 Years,...

Lebanon's Aoun Returns.(Michel Aoun)
May 9, 2005... Retired General Michel Aoun, Lebanon's most prominent anti-Syria politician, returned to his country as a liberator on May 7 after 14 years of exile in France. He was welcomed at Beirut airport by huge crowds, with other huge crowds greeting...

Iran Pressed To Keep Nuclear Experiments Frozen; US Tenders Regime Change:.
May 16, 2005... *** The Ja'fari Theocracy Has Managed Its Nuke Diplomacy Effectively; Despite Bouts Of Incendiary Rhetoric, Iran Quickly Came To Terms With The UN's IAEA, Accepting Its Intrusive Regime Of Inspections And Limiting Its Claims To U. Enrichment...

US Grants To Theocracy Opponents.
May 16, 2005... The US has put the democratisation of Iran and Syria out to tender, offering money to opposition groups and individuals. A tender notice posted on the US State Department website is soliciting bids for grants totalling $3m in the case of Iran....

Rafsanjani Running For President.
May 16, 2005... Registration for Iran's presidential election began on May 10 with a final confirmation that Rasfanjani will stand again for the post he held between 1989 and 1997. Candidates had until May 14 to register for the June 17 election. ...

Montazeri & Sanei Blast Theocracy.
May 16, 2005... The French news agency AFP on May 12 quoted two of Iran's most senior dissident Shiite religious men, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri and Grand Ayatollah Yusef Sanei, as hitting hit out at the theocracy, accusing hardliners of failing to...

Iraq Peace Depends On A US-Backed Sunni Agreement; Salafi Insurgents Keep Fighting:.
May 23, 2005... *** US-Led Forces In Iraq Concentrate On The Salafi Insurgents As The Number Of Baath Military And Intelligence Officers Who Are Joining The State's Army & Security Network Has Begun To Increase In A Steady Process *** It Will Take Time...

Jordanian Role.
May 23, 2005... The US and members of Ja'fari's government have also sought the help of Jordan, whose close ties with influential Sunni Arabs in Iraq can ensure greater political participation from this one-time most dominant community. The effort from...

Al-Qaeda Is Retreating But Remains Dangerous; Musharraf Insists On Iranian Gas P/L.
May 30, 2005... *** Musharraf Says May Arrest Of Abu Faraj Al-Liby Has Broken The Back Of Al-Qaeda & Led To A Severing Of Links Between Its Central Command And The Networks' Members On The Ground In Various Parts Of The World; If This Proves To Be True, Then...

CIA Drone Kills Qaeda Operative.
May 30, 2005... The New York Times on May 17 pointed to a May 7 killing of a Qaeda operative, Haitham Al-Yemeni in Pakistan with a missile launched from a Predator aircraft operated by the CIA from a base hundreds of kilometers from the target. This was first...

Iran-India Gas Pipeline.
May 30, 2005... Gen. Musharraf was adamant that he would not be persuaded by the US to drop plans to have a natural gas pipeline built from Iran. This would cross Pakistan and India and is seen as a cornerstone of a two-year-old peace process between the two...