APS Diplomat News Service articles from October 2006

APS Diplomat News Service archives from October 2006

Islam & Christianity In A Developing Cold War; Post-9/11 Events Are Moving Fast.
October 2, 2006... *** Nuclear Bomb-Making Has Become Private Business Just As Terrorism Is Privatised; The Fear Is That A Neo-Salafi Can Bring A Dirty-Bomb Brief Case To Any Western City And Thus Kill Many Thousands *** Rafsanjani Has Revealed A '88 Letter...

How Lebanese & Non-Sectarian Is Hizbullah.
October 2, 2006... Amir Taheri, a prominent Iranian journalist based in Europe and critical of the theocracy, said in an article published on Sept. 27 by Gulf News that Hizbullah was not just a Lebanese group but "part of a global Shiite movement" with a...

Egypt Mufti Urges Muslim Unity.(Shaikh Ali Jum'a )
October 2, 2006... The Grand Mufti of Egypt Shaikh Ali Jum'a has called on Muslims to stand firm and united in protecting Islam against all challenges. Jum'a was on Sept. 30 quoted as telling a gathering of 300: "The Muslim world is facing many critical...

Beating War Drums.
October 2, 2006... In a poll published on Sept. 27, most Palestinians favour launching rockets at Israeli cities the way Hizbullah did during the recent war with Israel. Some 63% think Palestinians should emulate Hizbullah's methods compared with 35% who...

US-Russia Effort To Contain Nuke Experts Fades.
October 2, 2006... At a Moscow conference in 2000 on stopping the global migration of nuclear-weapons know-how, a Russian security official revealed that Taliban envoys had tried to recruit a Russian nuclear expert. That expert did not go to work for the Afghan...

Arab-Iran Confrontation With Honesty Being A Cultural Barrier Between Islam & Others.
October 9, 2006... *** Bashar Al-Assad, Who Only Knows About Honesty From What He Learned From His Machiavellian Father, Says No Army In The World Can Prevent Him From Sending Weapons Across The Border To Hizbullah; And He Orders Forces On The Border With Iraq...

Rice's Mission.(Condoleezza Rice)
October 9, 2006... US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began a Middle East tour in Jeddah on Oct. 2 for six main objectives - all dependent on the way honesty is perceived by the US and its Middle East partners, including Israel and Saudi Arabia - as follows:...

The Honesty About Iran's Nuke Plan.
October 9, 2006... While President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Mejad keeps denying Iran is developing nuclear weapons, his defeated rival in the June 2005 presidential election recently made revelations portraying a different Iran. The disclosures by Ali Akbar Hashemi...

Honesty In Internationalising Palestinian Security As In Lebanon.
October 9, 2006... International observers could be deployed at the main cargo crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip as part of proposals by Ms Rice to loosen the economic siege of the Palestinian territory (see above). This would be somewhat similar...

Honesty In Qatar-Jordan Ties.
October 9, 2006... A diplomatic row over Doha's decision to back a South Korean candidate ahead of Amman's to succeed UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has caused Jordan to recall its ambassador from Qatar. Jordan's state-run Petra news agency on Oct. 4 quoted an...

Lebanon Is Poised To Play A Bigger Regional Role With Implications For Neighbours.
October 16, 2006... *** Saudi Arabia & UAE Are To Fund The Lebanese Army's Upgrading And Modernisation So That It Can Become The Only Armed Force In A Country With 18 Different Sects *** Iran, Transiting From Clientelism To Militarism, Consists Of Thousands...

Berri Says Saudi Clout Is Key.
October 16, 2006... Speaker Berri, a Shi'ite now favoured by Beirut and the US, on Oct. 9 said Lebanon was in dire need of Saudi Arabia's political clout to face the upcoming challenges. Berri returned to Beirut on Oct. 9 after a three-day visit to Jeddah, where...

GCC Cash To Boost Lebanese Army.(Gulf Cooperation Council)
October 16, 2006... With US blessing, GCC states are promising financial help for Lebanon's armed forces. Strengthening the 60,000-strong but poorly equipped Lebanese Army is crucial to efforts to stabilise the country and eventually convince Hizbullah to disarm....

Israeli Fence At Ghajar.
October 16, 2006... Little more than a week after Israeli troops officially withdrew from Lebanon, the shiny new fence around the northern portion of Ghajar, a village on the border with the Jewish state, is a reminder of the possible flash points which remain as...

Rice Opens New Arab Cold War Phase.(Condoleezza Rice )
October 16, 2006... During her Oct. 2-6 tour of the Middle East, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in Cairo for a meeting with foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan, and the six GCC states - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Rice's...

Saudi-Israeli Dialogue?(Brief article)
October 16, 2006... Crown Prince Sultan on Oct. 11 dismissed as "ridiculous" Israeli press reports that secret talks had taken place between PM Olmert and senior Saudi officials. "It is ridiculous to think that a Saudi met with an Israeli, and even more ridiculous...

Honesty - Bashir Rejects Arab Peace Plan.(Omar Hassan al-Bashir )(Brief article)
October 16, 2006... Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has turned down a proposal from Arab and Muslim states to send Arab forces to bolster the African Union's peacekeepers now in war-torn Darfur. But he promised to look into ways to let the UNSC play a role...

The Mahdi Is Returning In Iran.
October 16, 2006... The semiofficial ILNA press agency on Oct. 8 reported that about 1,000 supporters of anti-theocracy Ayatollah Muhammad Kazemeni Boroujerdi who had gathered outside his home and on the streets leading to his home in Tehran clashed with riot...

Islam Faces War Between Moderates & Extremists - With Iraq & Iran At The Centre.
October 23, 2006... *** A Critic Likens Hamas, The Islamist Group Which Refuses To Recognise Israel's Right To Exist, To That Innocent Muslim Woman In Lebanon Who Lifted Her Dress To Cover Her Head As She Was Taken By Surprise By A Male Stranger Who Came To...

Israeli War On Hamas.
October 23, 2006... In their deepest incursion into the Gaza Strip for more than a year, Israeli soldiers on Oct. 19 dug up the ground and destroyed tunnels allegedly used to smuggle arms from Egypt. They operated up to four kilometres inside Palestinian territory...

Implications Of Hizbullah Feat.
October 23, 2006... To Arabs in particular and Muslims in general, Hizbullah has provided a model for the defeat of a modern army. The tactics are simple: ride out the first wave of a Western air campaign, then deploy rocket forces targeting key military and...

The Fear Of Christians In Iraq.
October 23, 2006... The New York Times on Oct. 16 pointed the blackened carcasses of five cars still sitting in front of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Baghdad, "stark reminders of a bomb blast" which killed two people after a recent Sunday Mass. The paper also...

Damascus Bent On Destabilising Beirut.(Brief article)
October 23, 2006... Reuters on Oct. 16 quoted Acting Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat as saying the Ba'thist dictatorship of Syria was bent on destabilising Lebanon, whose security forces are not yet strong enough to prevent more possible assassination attempts....

Nasrallah Steals The Show At Bahrain Book Fair.(Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah)
October 23, 2006... Al-Ayam book fair in Manama was a great celebration of creativity, knowledge and wisdom, according to international TV producer Pat Chen, who on Oct. 16 was quoted as saying: "It was a wonderful assertion of human and civilisational diversity....

Tunis Cracks Down On Hijab Wearers.
October 23, 2006... Tunisian authorities have launched a campaign against the Islamic headscarf, with senior officials criticising it as a "sectarian" form of dress and police stopping women on the street and asking them to uncover their hair. The FT on Oct. 16...

The West Is Stoking Muslim Anger.
October 23, 2006... The following is an article by Dr. Fawaz A. Gerges, a Carnegie Scholar and visiting professor at the American University in Cairo, published on Oct. 13 by the International Herald Tribune: "While the US debate over Iraq focuses mainly on the...

Saudis Say Islam Will Remain Strong Despite Attacks.
October 23, 2006... King Abdullah ibn Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia, who holds the title of "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques", on Oct. 13 stated that the Muslim faith would remain strong despite the efforts by "enemies" to weaken the religion and its followers. The...

US Scholars For Engaging Iran.
October 23, 2006... Three political science professors at Stanford University in California are floating a new proposal on how the US should deal with the Iran nuclear issue. Michael McFaul, Abbas Milani and Larry Diamond are political science professors and...

The Price Of Enlightened Discourse.(Ralf Dahrendorf's writings)
October 23, 2006... These are extracts from a commentary by Ralf Dahrendorf, a former European commissioner from Germany who is a member of the British House of Lords, a former rector of the London School of Economics, and a former warden of St. Antony's College,...

Saudi Succession Issue Eased As New Panel Will Vet Candidates To Monarch After Sultan.
October 30, 2006... *** In The Course Of Founding The Current Royal Saudi Dynasty - Which Is The 3rd Since The Pact Between Prince Saud & Shaikh Muhammad Ibn Abdul-Wahhab More Than 250 Years Ago - Abdul-Aziz 'Ibn Saud' Married The Daughter Of The Chief Of Every...

Mubarak On Islam.(Hosni Mubarak )
October 30, 2006... In a speech marking Laylat al-Qadr (in Islam the night of destiny), Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak on Oct. 19 questioned whether Muslims had done enough to change the West's "wrong perceptions" about Islam, which he said was under "ferocious...

Abdullah - 'We Don't Want Outsiders to Interfere In Iraq'.(King Abdullah )(Brief article)
October 30, 2006... Saudi King Abdullah on Oct. 20 received the scholars taking part in the Iraqi conference in Makkah and told them: "I welcome you in your second country and wish you every success in your efforts as you are brothers in Islam and we don't want...

Iraqi Developments.
October 30, 2006... Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in a combative briefing, on Oct. 26 said the US planned no penalties if the Iraqi government failed to meet the benchmarks or deadlines for progress which the Bush administration says the two governments have...

Iran, Syria & Al-Qaeda Tearing Iraq Apart.
October 30, 2006... Khalilzad and Casey linked Iran and Syria with the Neo-Salafis of al-Qaeda as forces trying to tear Iraq apart and preventing the US from establishing a stable democracy. Their comments were among the strongest US officials had levelled against...

Save Baghdad.
October 30, 2006... After three years of trying to thwart a potent insurgency and tamp down the violence in Iraq, the US military is playing its last hand: the Baghdad security plan. The plan will be tweaked, adjusted and modified in the weeks ahead, as American...

Musharraf Against Hasty Pullout.(Pervez Musharraf )
October 30, 2006... Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said an unplanned pullout of troops from Iraq would plunge the country into chaos and have negative effects on other countries in the region. Musharraf made his comments in relation to remarks made by...

Russia Blocks UNSC Move On Iran.(United Nations Security Council)
October 30, 2006... Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Oct 26 said Moscow could not approve a draft UNSC resolution circulated by France, Germany and the UK on Oct. 25. The draft would ban or restrict missile sales, the transfer of nuclear technology and...

Ahmadi-Nejad Warns West On Backing Israel.(Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad )(Brief article)
October 30, 2006... Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad on Oct. 20 warned Western states and particularly Europe would be hurt by popular fury against their support of Israel. In a speech carried live by Iranian radio, he European states: "People in the region...

Iran 'Bribes' Hamas To Keep Hostage In Gaza.(Brief article)
October 30, 2006... Israel's UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman on Oct. 19 told the UNSC of speculation that Tehran paid $50m to Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mesh'al "to sabotage the negotiations on the release of [Israeli] Corporal Gilad Shalit and prevent his...

Gaza Toll High; Lieberman Gets Iran Nuke File.(Avigdor Lieberman)
October 30, 2006... Writing in Gulf News of Oct. 27, prominent UK journalist and author Patrick Seale said Israel had killed 2,300 Gazans over the past six years, including 300 in the four months since Shalit was captured. He said the wounded could be counted in...