APS Diplomat News Service articles from September 2007

APS Diplomat News Service archives from September 2007

Saudis Concentrate On Oil Security, But Confront Iranian & Syrian Challenges.(Saudi Arabia)
September 3, 2007... *** Abdullah Gul Was On Aug. 28 Elected Turkey's 11th President Of The Republic; The Very First Practicing Muslim To Take The Seat Of Ataturk In Eight Decades; In His Oath-Taking Address, He Pledged To Be The Head For All The Turks, To...

Greater Syria Concept Vs Velayat-E-Faqih.
September 3, 2007... Lebanon is regarded as a branch of both the pan-Arab Ba'thist regime of Syria and Iran's theocracy. It is against these two considerations that Saudi Arabia's pacifying role in Lebanon is being confronted by the local clients of the Ba'thist...

Damascus Overtures To Saudis & Israel.(Syrian foreign policy)(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... On Aug. 30, however, Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Meqdad was quoted as saying Damascus wanted to revive its co-operation with Riyadh and Cairo in restoring pan-Arab solidarity. This took the Arabs by surprise, in view of Syria...

Iran-US Tension.
September 3, 2007... Speaking on Aug. 28 in Tehran just hours before President Bush described the Shi'ite theocracy as the most dangerous of the world's terrorist states, President Ahmadi-Nejad dismissed the US as an empire in decline, with failure in Iraq leaving...

The US Move On IRGC.(Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps)
September 3, 2007... Washington's plan to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) will bring to an end a US-Iranian diplomatic dialogue over the future of Iraq. The IRGC controls Iran's expanding nuclear infrastructure and is busy training...

Iran's Revolutionary Guards Prepare For The Worst With USA; Rafsanjani Is Heads AoE:.(Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Assembly of Experts)
September 10, 2007... *** Tehran's Pincer Against Israel Is Projected As A Mere Deterrent, To Prevent An Attack On Iran's Underground Nuke Installations *** But The Assad Regime May Not Like A Resultant Prospect Of Being Tied Up To A Strategy In Which It May...

Iran's Option Of Moving Into Southern Iraq.
September 10, 2007... While it could take months before the fate of the UK military presence in southern Iraq is decided, with British PM Gordon Brown to outline his position on this to the House of Commons in October, a debate on whether or not Iran should move...

Israel & Egypt On Iran.(Brief article)
September 10, 2007... Israeli President Shimon Peres on Sept. 7 accused Iran of seeking to impose "religious hegemony" across the Middle East and urged the international community to take the "necessary steps" to stop the Shi'ite theocracy building a nuclear...

Iran Increases Its Isolation; Economic Problems Deteriorate.
September 10, 2007... Rents in this country's urban centres are soaring, inflation has been hovering around 17-24%, over 10m Iranians live below the poverty line and the country is losing 500,000 b/d of its crude oil production capacity, while its refining sector is...

Iran Claim To Bahrain Raised Again.
September 10, 2007... Bahrain's Foreign Minister Shaikh Khaled bin Ahmad al-Khalifa on Sept. 5 warned that "anomalous voices" emanating from Iran against his country were unacceptable. Addressing reporters on the sideline of the Arab foreign ministers' meeting in...

North Korean De-Nuclearisation.
September 10, 2007... US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and chief negotiator Christopher Hill on Sept. 6 said atomic experts from Russia, China and the US were in the coming week to travel to North Korea to inspect nuclear sites to...

Syria's Arab Challenges Get Bigger As National Opposition To Assad's Regime Grows.(Bashar al-Assad)
September 17, 2007... *** Khaddam And Bayanouni Tell A Berlin Meet Of Opposition Parties It Is Time To Change The System In Syria By 'Peaceful Means' And For The Sake Of A Viable Democracy *** But Rumours That The NSF Is Being Financed By GCC States Have Been...

Syria's Arab Dimension.
September 17, 2007... Syria has never recognised Lebanon as an independent state. This is despite the fact that Lebanon is a founding member of the UN and the League of Arab States. The Assad regime applies a Ba'thist ideology, which is pan-Arab nationalism but is...

Iran's Ambitions.
September 17, 2007... In their testimonies to Congress on Sept. 10-12, Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker tried to paint a rosy picture of the US performance in Iraq during the past six months. Their assessments has generated huge debate in the US media, among the...

Iran Is Under Renewed Western Pressure Over Nuclear & Regional Ambitions.
September 24, 2007... *** Ahmadi-Nejad Has Set 2010 As The Year When The US Empire Should Be Defeated In The Middle East By The Iran-Led Axis Of Forces 'Serving God' *** Israel Sept. 19 Declared Gaza Enemy Entity, A Move Which Could See It Not Only Shut Off...

French Investment Boycott.
September 24, 2007... Kouchner on Sept. 16 said: "We have asked a certain number of our big companies not to respond to Iranian tenders [in the petroleum sector]. I think this has been heard and we are not the only ones to have done so". This put pressure on...

Syria-North Korea Nuke Link.
September 24, 2007... Citing US government sources, The Washington Post on Sept. 21 reported that Israel's Sept. 6 air strikes on northern Syria's suspected nuclear site set up in apparent collaboration with North Korea came after Israel shared intelligence with...

Khatami Ponders '09 Poll.(Mohammad Khatami)
September 24, 2007... Iran's reform-minded former president, Mohammad Khatami, is considering running for the 2009 presidential elections in the apparent hope that he will be seen as a saviour who can extricate Iran from domestic and international troubles. The FT...

Olmert's Overture To Assad.(Ehud Olmert and Hafez Assad)
September 24, 2007... The mysterious Sept. 6 raid in the Syrian desert contributed to a surge in the popularity of Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, with an opinion poll showing a gain of up to 10 points. For nearly a fortnight Israel has pointedly declined to comment on the...