APS Diplomat News Service articles from May 2007

APS Diplomat News Service archives from May 2007

Iraqi Shi'ites & Iranian Moderates Need US Forces To Stay In Mesopotamia.
May 7, 2007... *** The Supremacists Of Iran Believe They Got Iraq And Want USA Out Of It Humiliated So That The Theocracy Can Spread Quickly Across The Muslim World, Where They Have Hizbullah or Equivalent Time-Bombs In Every Shi'ite Society, Including Those...

The Tehran Power-Struggle.
May 7, 2007... The rivalry between the supremacists and conservative pragmatists in Iran took a serious turn during the presidential elections on June 24, 2005, which were won by IRGC-backed Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad. His sudden appearance on the political scene...

Saudis & Egypt Compete In Sunni Arab Leadership.
May 7, 2007... Saudi Arabia and Egypt are competing for leadership of the Sunni Arab world and the US stands in the middle of this. Egypt has just hosted a top-level international conference on Iraq's future at Sharm el-Shaikh and the Bush administration had...

The US-Saudi Frictions.
May 7, 2007... Thus in February, King Abdullah effectively torpedoed plans by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for a high-profile meeting between Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, by brokering a power-sharing...

Abdullah's Priorities.(King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia)
May 7, 2007... At heart, King Abdullah is an Arab nationalist. But, like former Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri who as assassinated in Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005, Abdullah balances his regional priorities with the use of the strongest arguments among the most powerful...

The Hariri Case.(murder case of Saudi businessman)
May 7, 2007... In their subtle way, all the four most powerful men in Saudi Arabia - King Abdullah, Crown Prince Sultan and Princes Nayef and Salman - want to see the Hariri murder case being handled properly. Hariri, a billionaire Saudi businessman turned...

Syrian Ba'th Regime Concentrates On Its Strategic Priorities; National Implications.
May 14, 2007... *** The Secular Identity Of The Assad Regime Makes It A Target For The Islamist Militants, Most Notably Including The Muslim Brotherhood Of Syria Which Is Not Only Banned But Its Members Are Liable To Punishment By Death; The MB Is Now Part Of...

Islam & Secularism.(Jorgen S. Nielsen, Danish Institute of Damascus director)
May 14, 2007... The following are extracts from a commentary by Jorgen S. Nielsen, director of the Danish Institute of Damascus and a professor of Islamic studies at the University of Birmingham in the UK, published on May 7: "Some years ago, the exiled...

Syria's Regional Ambitions Have Not Changed - Lebanon & Palestine Are Part Of Them.
May 21, 2007... *** PM Maliki In Iraq Has A June Deadline To Ease De-Ba'thification And Secure An Amendment Of The Constitution & Reconciliation, As Well As Get Parliament To Pass A Petroleum Law Acceptable To All The Main Communities In The Country ***...

The Challenges Faced By Assad Regime.(Bashar al Assad)
May 21, 2007... The following are extracts from an article by prominent Syrian analyst Sami Moubayed published on May 8 by Asia Times Online (with underlining and some of the bracketed words or comments by APS): "Fifty years ago, alarmed that Syria was...

Enters Khalilzad.(Zalmay Khalilzad)
May 21, 2007... The new US Ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, will face one of the first tests of his diplomatic skills - a UNSC showdown on Lebanon which could have wide implications for the Middle East and the war on terror. The Afghan-born Khalilzad -...

Russian Energy - Resource Nationalism At Home Vs 'Downstream Imperialism' Abroad.
May 28, 2007... *** Bashar Al-Assad, Afraid Of A UN Tribunal In The Hariri Case, Is Insisting On Civil War In Lebanon, With Fatah Al-Islam Seen As A Puppet To Ignite This War; But The Int'l Community Is Focusing On The Syrian Problem Which Is Bound To Explode...

Russia's Marine Energy Tunnel To USA.(World Link tunnel to run from Siberia to Alaska)
May 28, 2007... Russia's Economy Ministry on April 18 said Moscow planned to build the world's longest undersea tunnel, a 64-mile transport and pipeline link which would run from Siberia to Alaska and supply the US with oil, natural gas and electricity. The...

Moscow For Global Energy Producer/Consumer Confederation.
May 28, 2007... Russia is preparing a strategy for the 16-state Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) whose next ministerial meeting is to be held in Moscow in 2008. But unlike OPEC, which controls 40% of the world's oil output, what Moscow has in mind will be...

Gazprom To Be World's Biggest Firm.
May 28, 2007... Gazprom, the state-controlled gas export monopoly, aims to quadruple its market value to $1 trillion within a decade. Bloomberg on April 10 quoted Gazprom Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev as saying: "We will reach a $1 trillion market...

Moscow's Focus On Asia.(to become major supplier of crude oil)(Brief article)
May 28, 2007... Russian Ambassador to Manila Vitaly Vorobiev on April 25 said Russia was laying the infrastructure to become a major crude oil supplier to Asian countries, including an ambitious pipeline being built from Siberia to the Pacific coast. Russia...

Gazprom Chief Says Nabucco Pipeline Unlikely.(Brief article)
May 28, 2007... Gazprom CEO Miller was on May 24 quoted as telling journalists in Vienna that it was unlikely the planned 30 BCM/y Nabucco gas pipeline project bound for Europe from the Caspian region and the Middle East (Iran) will be realised. He said: "we...

GazpromNeft Ups Oil Production.
May 28, 2007... JSC GazpromNeft, a unit of Gazprom which runs Sibneft's integrated oil E&P/refining and distribution operations acquired in 2005 by the gas monopoly, on May 24 reported that its crude oil production in January-April 2007 was 10,895,000 tons,...

Rosneft Selling Non-Core Yukos Assets.(OAO NK Yukos)(Brief article)
May 28, 2007... The state-controlled oil giant Rosneft on May 23 said it will sell off the assets of former private sector rival Yukos which are not core to its current activities, after purchasing the majority of Yukos' assets during a government auction...

Trutnev May Raise Gas Flaring Fines.(Yuri Trutnev)
May 28, 2007... The Minister of Natural Resources, Yuri Trutnev, on May 23 warned that Russia may introduce harsher sanctions on companies for flaring associated gas. He said: "In Russia, out of the 60 billion cubic meters of discovered associated gas, only...

Putin & Press Freedom.(Vladimir Putin)
May 28, 2007... Reporters from around the world who gather in Moscow on May 28 are poised to stand up for their colleagues in a country where the media and journalists are increasingly under attack. The 1,000 news media representatives plan to establish a...

Media Crack-Downs Follow Resources Nationalism In Venezuela & Co.(Radio Caracas Television banned )
May 28, 2007... This phenomenon is seen elsewhere in the petroleum producing world, particularly in countries like Venezuela where resource nationalism has been on a steady rise in recent years. More than two-thirds of the Venezuelan population approve of...

Iran Cracks Down On Academics.
May 28, 2007... Press freedom is usually one of the first rights to be curbed, but all types of freedoms are at stake. In Iran, recent crack-downs under populist/supremacist President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad have only sporadically focused on the media. But Iran's...