APS Diplomat Redrawing the Islamic Map articles from February 2009

APS Diplomat Redrawing the Islamic Map archives from February 2009

Resurgence In The Shi'ite World - Part 38 - Iraq Between Turkey & Iran.
February 16, 2009... With Iraq's Shi'ite PM Nuri al-Maleki having won big in Jan. 31 provincial elections to start a secular democracy similar to that of Turkey, the Shi'ite theocracy of Iran is using a more extremist version of political Islam to condemn...

Mottaki Visits.
February 16, 2009... Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Feb. 11 arrived in Baghdad on a three-day visit to appoint consuls in Erbil, Sulaimaniya and Karbala', and for a meeting of a joint trade committee. He ruled out talks with the US - i.e., Iran is...

Maleki's Victory & 'Obama Tremor".
February 16, 2009... Maleki's new bloc, The State of The Law (SoL), made sweeping gains at Iraq's Jan. 31 elections. These gave the Shi'ite PM-turned secular statesman a big boost ahead of parliamentary elections before end-2009 and could be the beginning of a...

Turkey & Saudis Back Arab Peace Plan & Maleki.
February 16, 2009... Addressing members of Saudi Arabia's Shura Council (an appointed consultative body) in Riyadh during his Feb. 3-6 visit to the Sunni/Wahhabi kingdom, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Ankara saw in the Saudi-authored Arab peace plan the key...

How Iran Sees Turkey.
February 16, 2009... While Turkey's Kemalists allege the AKP is a Neo-Ottoman movement and a "Trojan horse" of Salafi Sunnis whose members masquerade as democrats, Iran's supremacists say the AKP is so moderate that it might get ostracised as infidel if it were...

Neo-Salafi Female Kills 40 Shi'ite Pilgrims.
February 16, 2009... A Neo-Salafi woman with a vest of explosives on Feb. 13 killed at least 40 Shi'ite pilgrims at a check-point on the road to the holy shrine of Imam Hussein bin-'Ali in Karbala' south of Baghdad. It was the deadliest Neo-Salafi attack in Iraq...

Christopher Hill For US Ambassador To Baghdad.
February 16, 2009... Career US diplomat Chris Hill has been nominated for the post of ambassador to Baghdad. He has been the senior US envoy in negotiations over North Korea but has no Middle East experience. State Department spokesman Robert Wood on Feb. 6 said:...