APS Diplomat News Service articles from September 2008

APS Diplomat News Service archives from September 2008

Afghans' May Become A World War As NATO Is Threatened; Pakistani Splits R Troubling.(North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
September 1, 2008... *** An Aug. 26 Beirut Court Document Seeks Arrest Of Libyan Ruler Qadhafi Over The 1978 Disappearance Of Lebanese Shi'ite Religious Head Imam Musa Al-Sadr And Two Aides During Their Visit To That Arab State *** But Libya Says The Cleric...

Moscow Maintains NATO Supply Routes To Afghanistan.(Russia, North Atlantic Treaty Organization )(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Russia's Ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin on Aug. 26 told journalists in Moscow: "As far as overland transport to Afghanistan is concerned...we do not plan to touch this". Rogozin listed a number of areas of co-operation with NATO which will...

New US-Pakistani Approach.
September 1, 2008... A joint US-Pakistani military campaign against the Taliban and its allies has inflicted heavy casualties on the Neo-Salafi militants. Amid the growing militant threat, The New York Times on Aug. 29 reported that the Chairman of the US Joint...

Taliban's Puzzling Popularity Rise Despite Its Atrocities.
September 1, 2008... Like al-Qaeda, the Taliban follow the most extreme ideology in Sunni Islam - Neo-Salafism - and have all along committed a number of atrocities. Yet their popularity in both Afghanistan and Pakistan has been on the rise in recent months. This...

Syria Counts On Russia's Muscle To Soften Israel & The Next US Administration.
September 8, 2008... *** Hizbullah's VP Shaikh Na'im Qassem Has Just Put Forward Two Scenarios: An Israeli Attack In Retaliation To An Operation Avenging The Feb. 12 Murder Of The Shi'ite Group's Military Commander 'Imad Mughniyeh & The More Recent Killing Of...

Peres For Direct Talks.(Shimon Peres)
September 8, 2008... At the annual Ambrosetti conference of political and business leaders in Cernobbio on the shores of Italy's Lake Como, which debated Middle East peace prospects, Israeli President Shimon Peres on Sept. 5 proposed that Syria and Israel hold...

Russia On Ties With Syria, Israel, Saudis & Turks.
September 8, 2008... Since Assad's visit to Sochi, Israeli leaders have said Russia assured them Moscow would maintain a balance in its ties with Syria and the Jewish state. This would be in line with a balance between the US and Russia which, apart from the crises...

Background Of Syrian Overtures.
September 8, 2008... Writing in Asia Times Online of Aug. 23, Syrian analyst Sami Moubayed said (with minor editing by APS): "When the armies of Israel, France and Britain began a massive operation on Egypt in October 1956, to punish Gamal 'Abdul-Nasser for...

The Lebanese Factor To Syria's Isolation.
September 8, 2008... The "Greater Syria" project includes Lebanon, Palestine and parts of Iraq and Jordan. Lebanon has never been properly recognised by successive Syrian regimes. But it was Assad's 2004 insistence on extending the term of Lebanese President Emile...

Khaddam Scoffs At Life Jail Term Handed Down By Syrian Court.('Abdul-Halim Khaddam)
September 8, 2008... Rif'at al-Assad, US-based former Syrian Chief of Staff Gen Hikmat al-Shihabi and former Syrian Vice-President 'Abdul-Halim Khaddam are among key figures in a Syrian opposition movement bent on taking over power in Damascus. Khaddam, now based...

Syrian Dissidents On Trial.
September 8, 2008... The National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria was on Aug. 27 quoted as saying that 12 jailed Syrian dissidents on trial for acting against the state had briefly appeared in court in Damascus on Aug. 26 to hear charges against them. The 12...

GCC-Iran Confrontation Vs Reconciliation - US, French, Turkish & Russian Roles.(Gulf Cooperation Council)
September 15, 2008... *** The Widower Of The Late Former PM Ms Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari Was On Sept. 9 Sworn In As Pakistan's 12th President In An Event Attended By Afghan Pres. Hamid Karzai But Boycotted By Ex- PM Nawaz Sharif Who Left For London - Opposed To A...

The Larger US Perspective - A Japan-India-6+2+1 Arab-Black Sea Triangle.
September 15, 2008... The Iran-led axis is trying to compete with the US in what Washington has, for years, planned to evolve into a super-triangle stretching from Japan to India, the Arab 6+2+1 (i.e., including Iraq), the Black Sea region and the Caucasus/Central...

Focus On Turkey & Energy Options.
September 15, 2008... Turkey has re-emerged as a stable power at the edge of Europe and Asia after months of struggle between a powerful and mainly urban segment of society which upholds a secular ideology established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk upon the collapse of...

Iranian Economy Worsens.
September 15, 2008... Under US-led Western and GCC pressures and UNSC sanctions, Iran's economy is in bad shape, with inflation now running at the rate of 27.6% - the highest in the Middle East. While no major investment in Iran has been made by foreign companies...

GCC States Bar Iran Fund.(Gulf Cooperation Council, First Persia Equity Fund )
September 15, 2008... The First Persia Equity Fund (FPEF) had sought to gain a financial services licence in 2007 at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). But Stephen Austen, managing director of the fund, an affiliate of the Iran's Bank Melli's equity...

US Extends Sanctions To Iran Shipping.(Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines)
September 15, 2008... Washington on Sept. 10 announced sanctions against Iran's main shipping company - the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and 18 other affiliated entities - broadening its campaign against Tehran's regional and nuclear ambitions....

Domestic Pressure Mounts On Ahmadi-Nejad.(Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad)
September 15, 2008... At least 40 MPs have called for President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad to be summoned to parliament over pro-Israel comments by a close aide. No parliament has used this constitutional right against the head of the government since 1981. Local...

Israeli Bid To Kidnap Ahmadi-Nejad?(Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad)
September 15, 2008... Israeli Pensioners Minister and former Mossad agent Rafi Eitan said in an interview to German magazine Der Spiegel last week that the same tactics to capture Nazi Holocaust mastermind Adolf Eichmann could be used to sieze Ahmadi-Nejad and haul...

Al-Qaeda In Gaza.(Brief article)
September 15, 2008... It is said that, through the Neo-Salafi-Shi'ite alliance, Iran got Hamas to allow a branch of al-Qaeda to be active in the Gaza Strip. But Hamas arrested the leader of this branch, Abu Hafs, in what proved that al-Qaeda was active in the Gaza...

Lebanon Now Is The Scene For Bigger Game Than Syria's, Iran's, Israel's & Others'.
September 22, 2008... *** Russia Now Holds $560 Bn Worth Of Liquid Assets, Thanks To Paper WTI Having Risen Seven-Fold From 2002 To July 11, 2008; But The US Financial Crisis, Which Last Week Spread To The Other Parts Of The Globe, Caused Moscow's Stock Exchange To...

Focus On Lebanon's National Dialogue.
September 22, 2008... Opening a national dialogue among 14 Lebanese faction leaders at the Presidential Palace of B'abda, with Arab League Secretary-General 'Amr Moussa attending, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman on Sept. 16 urged these figures to unite. The...

Back To The Unrest In Lebanon.
September 22, 2008... The Daily Star on Sept. 18 said there was an increasing number of stories circulating in West Beirut describing nightly incidents of Shi'ite Amal elements (with Syria-guided Amal being an ally of Hizbullah) attacking Sunnis, adding: "In Ras...

Euro-MPs Bid To Have Hizbullah Listed As Terrorist.(members of parliament)
September 22, 2008... Members of the EU Parliament (MEPs) on Sept. 16 launched a campaign to have Hizbullah listed as a terrorist group by the 27-statebloc. They circulated a "written declaration" seeking to have Hizbullah added to the EU terror list, which includes...

US Hits Russia.
September 22, 2008... US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sept. 18 issued her most stinging criticism of Russia yet, accusing Moscow of being authoritarian at home, "paranoid aggressive" abroad and on a "one-way path" to international isolation. Her comments,...

Israel's & French Aims Behind Syria Peace Talks.(Brief article)
September 22, 2008... In a recent interview with The Washington Times, Israeli Ambassador to Washington Sallai Meridor said: "By far, the first reason to engage with the Syrians is to explore whether there is a chance for a strategic U-turn, and to have them...

Assad Softens On Iraq & Names Sunni Tribal Chief As Baghdad Envoy.(Bashar al-Assad, Nawaf al-Fares)(Brief article)
September 22, 2008... Assad has distanced himself from violence in Iraq and, for the first time since August 1980, has name an ambassador to Baghdad - Nawaf al-Fares, sworn in last week. A former head of the Ba'th Party in Deir ez-Zour, Fares was governor of Qnaitra...

Syria's Secular/Totalitarian Regime.
September 22, 2008... The contrast between Assad's 'Alawite/Ba'thist regime and the Shi'ite theocracy of Iran is increasingly showing the fragility of the commitments of Damascus to the policies of the Tehran-led axis in the GME. Apart from its talks with Israel -...

Damascus Spring Fades From Memory.
September 22, 2008... 'Aref Dalila, an 'Alawite, was not alone in thinking that change was on the horizon in Syria where political freedoms are non-existent and its human rights record notorious. Intellectuals and activists hoped it would as they met for debates and...

Israel Had A 'Partner' When It Hit Syrian Nuke Reactor.(Brief article)
September 22, 2008... CIA Director Gen Michael Hayden on Sept. 16 Israel's Sept. 6, 2007, destruction of a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor was the result of an intelligence collaboration which included a "foreign partner" who first identified the facility's...

Livni Set To Lead Next Israeli Govt.(Tzipi Livni)(Brief article)
September 22, 2008... Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, 50 and mother of two, on Sept. 17 emerged victorious from a crucial Kadima party primary, putting her in position to become Israel's next PM. She trounced her closest rival, the more right-wing and hardline Deputy...

India In Talks With Israel, Turkey For Oil & Gas P/L.
September 22, 2008... Senior Indian officials met their Turkish and Israeli counterparts in Ankara recently to work out the technical details of an offshore pipeline project to bring Central Asian and Russian crude oil and LNG to India. The project, essentially a...

Are Iran & US Imposing Hormuz Blockade?
September 22, 2008... Former IRGC commander and now top military adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatullah 'Ali Khamenei, Gen Yahya Rahim Safavi, on Sept. 18 said IRGC's missiles were already trained against any ship passing through Hormuz, implying a virtual...

GCC Leaders Unify Stand On The World's Financial Crisis & Iran's Growing Threats.(Gulf Cooperation Council)
September 29, 2008... *** The US Govt's $700 Bn Rescue Plan (In Defence Of Which Bush Last Week Used Panic And Other Shocking Words) Is Seen To Be Too Late And Too Little; The Crisis Had Been Building Up For Years - Mainly Of Greed - With Huge WS Banks Taking Bigger...

GCC Warnings To Iran.(Gulf Cooperation Council)
September 29, 2008... In remarks reported by Gulf News of Sept. 23, Dubai Police Chief Dhahi Khalfan Tamim warned Iran not to drag its GCC neighbours into any conflict, saying: "Our strong relations with Iranians don't mean that [GCC] governments...will not react...

Ahmadi-Nejad Raises Spending In Further Drain Of Iran Resources.
September 29, 2008... As Mahmoud Bahmani last week became Iran's third central bank governor in three years, attention turned to Ahmadi-Nejad's big spending plans and his inability to hang on to senior officials. Tahmasb Mazaheri, Bahmani's predecessor, on Sept. 22...

The Saudi/GCC Financial Positions.(Gulf Cooperation Council )
September 29, 2008... Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) Governor Hamad al-Sayari says the world financial turmoil will have minimal effects on the kingdom's economy, citing the country's conservative fiscal stance, overseas assets and plentiful oil revenue...

UN On Syrian Troop Build-Up On Lebanese Border.
September 29, 2008... The UN is calling for more clarity from Damascus on the reasons behind the sudden stationing of 10,000 Syrian Special Forces on Lebanon's northern border, a move which has raised anxieties in Beirut. The Western backed March 14 Coalition,...