APS Diplomat News Service articles from October 2005

APS Diplomat News Service archives from October 2005

Syria's Baathist Regime Is In Grave Danger; Is It Too Late For Bashar Al-Assad?
October 3, 2005... *** Will The US Give Bashar The Chance To Follow The Libyan Model Or Will He Have The Saddam Fate? *** What Will The US Do If The Yugoslav Model Prevails In A Land The Romans Called Syria? *** Assad Flew To Cairo Sept. 25 To Tell Mubarak On...

A Warning To Washington.
October 3, 2005... Joshua Landis, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at the University of Oklahoma and a Fulbright scholar in Damascus, wrote in The New York Times of Sept. 19 arguing against regime change in Syria. Assad's regime, he said, "is certainly no...

The Arab Earthquake.
October 3, 2005... When Lebanese police arrested the four former top army and intelligence chiefs in August, Arab commentators quickly concluded that something profoundly significant was happening - not just for Lebanon, but for the whole Arab world. Although...

The Libya Model.
October 3, 2005... For Syria, the US could repeat the Libyan model - political and economic isolation to compel a U-turn in regime behaviour. The Christian Science Monitor on Sept. 21 quoted Landis as saying: "They are going to grab Syria by the throat and...

New Syrian Parties Bet On Bashar's Collapse.
October 3, 2005... Political life in Syria has been dominated by the ruling Baath Party since the 1960s. In June the Baath Party Congress recommended establishment of a new political party law that would allow the creation of new non-ethnic and non-religious...

Iran Brandishes The Energy Weapon To States Backing US-Led Moves On The Nuclear Front.
October 10, 2005... *** The EU Hopes To Resume Nuke Negotiations And USA Now Wants A Tougher Line In Referring The Issue To The UN Security Council If Iran Is To Begin Conversion Of Uranium; ElBaradei, Now With A Nobel Peace Prize For Him & The IAEA, Is...

Israel In A Nuclear/WMD-Free Greater Middle East, Is It Possible.
October 17, 2005... *** Bush's Team Is Actively Seeking An Alternative To Bashar Assad, Perhaps A Man From The Ba'th Military Wing Willing To Let The Syrians Democratise At The Iraqi Pace, With Lebanon Setting The Pluralist Trend *** Iran Theocracy Is...

Bush On Saudi & Pakistani WMD.
October 17, 2005... Two months before the invasion of Iraq, President Bush told UK Prime Minister Tony Blair he "wanted to go beyond Iraq" in dealing with the spread of WMD, and mentioned Saudi Arabia and Pakistan on a list of countries posing particular problems,...

Neo-Salafi_Plans For Caliphate From Iraq & Beyond Are Questioned.
October 24, 2005... *** Arab League's Amr Moussa Is Set To Hold A Conference In Cairo For Accord Among Iraq's Various Ethnic, Sectarian And Nationalist Factions - With An American Blessing And Special Care From The Saudis *** The Mehlis UN Report On The...

Spread Of Terrorists Beyond Iraq Feared.
October 24, 2005... The Toronto Star newspaper on Oct. 20 quoted Jim Judd, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, as saying a new generation of Islamic militants was using the war in Iraq to get first-hand experience, adding: "We all obviously...

Iran Is Changing Yet Again As Rafsanjani Returns To Power Through The Back Door.
October 31, 2005... *** USA, France And The UK Table A UN Resolution Demanding Assad Detain Officials Suspected In The Hariri Murder; This Is Under Chapter VII Provisions; So It's Far More Serious Than First Calculated *** IISS Says USA Will Retain A Sizeable...

Russian Mediation.
October 31, 2005... Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Oct. 25 said Moscow would seek to resolve the impasse over the nuclear issue, in a sign of Russia's increasing importance in international attempts to broker a deal with Iran. On Oct. 25, a day of...

Regional Arms Race.
October 31, 2005... John Chipman, director of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), on Oct. 25 told a news conference if Iran developed nuclear weapons it could spark a regional arms race because Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt...

US Staying In Iraq Beyond Bush Term.
October 31, 2005... Patrick Cronin, director of studies at the IISS, said US President George W. Bush would strive to build up the new Iraqi government and its armed forces so that US troops could be withdrawn by late 2006. But Cronin doubted whether Washington...