APS Diplomat Recorder articles from June 2008

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from June 2008

ARAB AFFAIRS - June 2 - Al Maliki To Discuss Iran Role In Iraq During Talks.
June 7, 2008... Iraq wants to discuss evidence of Iranian intervention in Iraq and the two countries' overall relationship during a visit to Tehran this week by PM Nouri Al Maliki. It will be Al Maliki's second visit to Tehran after he travelled to Iran in...

ARAB AFFAIRS - June 6 - Qatari Leaders Lend Backing For New Cabinet.
June 7, 2008... President Michel Sleiman receives a phone call from Qatari Emir Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who reiterated his support for efforts aimed at implementing the Arab-brokered Doha agreement, which ended an 18-month political crisis in...

ARAB-ISRAEL RELATIONS - June 1 - Israel Hands Over Hizbullah Spy, Gets Soldiers' Remains.
June 7, 2008... Israel hands over a convicted Hizbullah spy to Lebanon, and in a surprise move, the Islamic guerrilla group turned over what it said were the body parts of Israeli soldiers killed in a 2006 war. The Hizbullah gesture, along with recent comments...

ARAB-ISRAEL RELATIONS - June 1 - Olmert Stalls Talks With Hamas.(Ehud Olmert )
June 7, 2008... Israeli PM Ehud Olmert delays a key Cabinet decision on an Egyptian-mediated truce with the Hamas in and around the Gaza Strip. "This is an issue that has to go through the security Cabinet", Olmert was quoted as saying by a senior official....

ARAB-ISRAEL RELATIONS - June 6 - Israeli Leader Hints At Possible Gaza Attack.
June 7, 2008... PM Ehud Olmert warns that Israel could soon opt for a major military operation in Gaza to try to stop rocket and mortar fire from the area that has killed three Israelis in the past month. Landing in Israel after a brief visit to Washington,...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 1 - US And Libya Agree To Speed Settlements.
June 7, 2008... The US and Libya agreed to seek quick compensation for families of American victims of three terrorist attacks attributed to Libyan agents in the 1980s. The two countries pledged to work together for a comprehensive settlement that would speed...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 3 -Iran Talks Useless Unless Conditions Met, Rice Says.
June 7, 2008... Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says that there is no point in talking to Iran unless the clerical regime changed its behavior and gave up what Washington suspects are ambitions to possess nuclear weapons. Rice said true diplomacy was "not...

IRAN - June 2 - Ahmadi-Nejad Says Israel Will Soon Disappear.(Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad)(Brief article)
June 7, 2008... President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad predicts that Muslims would uproot "satanic powers" and repeated his controversial belief that Israel will soon disappear. "I must announce that the Zionist regime [Israel], with a 60-year record of genocide,...

IRAN - June 3 - Iran's Religious Leader Says Nuclear Program Is Peaceful.(Ayatollah Ali Khamenei )
June 7, 2008... Iran's supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vows that his country will pursue a peaceful atomic energy program and had no interest in nuclear weapons, calling them expensive and useless. The remarks by the leader, Ayatollah Ali...

IRAQ - June 4 - Lethal Truck Explosion Hits Shi'ite District Of Baghdad.
June 7, 2008... A truck carrying explosives blows up in a Shi'ite neighborhood of the Iraqi capital, killing at least 18 people and flattening a half dozen homes, in the most lethal such incident in Baghdad in months. Also June 4, three American soldiers were...

IRAQ - June 4 - 2 Shi'ite Militia Leaders Surrender In Iraq.
June 7, 2008... Two Shi'ite militia leaders surrender to American soldiers, while tens of thousands of supporters of hard-line Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr streamed out of mosques to protest against an agreement which could keep US troops here for years. The...

LEBANON - June 6 - Siniora Juggles Portfolios Among Lebanese Parties.(Fouad Siniora )
June 7, 2008... Lebanese President Michel Sulaiman is pushing hard so that PM-designate Fouad Siniora forms a new Cabinet this day. Tomorrow, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to arrive on a day's visit to Beirut, with a senior political and...

PALESTINE - June 4 - Palestinian Appeal To EU Angers Israel.
June 7, 2008... PM Salam Fayyad, infuriates Israel by calling on the EU to refuse a request by Israel to upgrade its ties with the 27-member bloc. Fayyad, an internationally respected economist, said that the EU should not accede to the request until Israel...

SYRIA - June 6 - Inspectors Can Only Visit Bombed Site, Says Syria.
June 7, 2008... Syria tells a 35-nation meeting on June 5 that it will limit what UN nuclear inspectors can see when they check allegations that Damascus has a hidden atomic programme, diplomats said. The main purpose of a planned June 22-24 visit by IAEA...

TURKEY - June 5 - Iran And Turkey Co-ordinate Strikes In Iraq.
June 7, 2008... Turkey and Iran have been carrying out co-ordinated strikes on Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq, a top Turkish general said June 5 in the first military confirmation of Iranian-Turkish co-operation in the fight against separatists there....

ARAB AFFAIRS - June 7 - Maliki Allays Iran Fears On US Presence.
June 14, 2008... Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki, tries to allay Iranian concerns about a possible US-Iraqi treaty that might provide for a long-term US troop presence in Iraq. "We will not let Iraq become a base for hurting Iran's security", he is quoted as saying....

ARAB AFFAIRS - June 12 - Abdullah Vows Full Support In Talks With Al-Maliki.
June 14, 2008... Jordanian King Abdullah hold talks with the visiting Iraqi PM Nuri Al-Maliki and pledged Jordan would extend all possible help to the Iraqi government to enable it restore security and stability to the violence-torn country. "Jordan puts all...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - June 11 - Merkel Backs Bush On Iran Sanctions.
June 14, 2008... Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany joins President George W. Bush in calling for further sanctions against Iran if it did not suspend its uranium enrichment program. But their news conference here, a day after Bush won general European support...

AFGHANISTAN - June 10 - US Marines Apply Lessons Learned In Iraq To Afghanistan.
June 14, 2008... US marines pushed the Taliban out of this village and the surrounding district in southern Helmand Province so quickly in recent weeks that they called the operation a "catastrophic success Yet NATO troops conducted similar operations here in...

AFGHANISTAN - June 12 - Militants Attack Afghan Prison, Freeing Hundreds Of Inmates.
June 14, 2008... Taliban militants attack the main prison in southern Afghanistan, exploding a car bomb at the main gate in a multi-pronged assault that freed hundreds of militant prisoners, officials said. The complex attack included a car bomb, suicide...

IRAN - June 10 - US Is Iraq's Main Problem.
June 14, 2008... Khamenei Iran's supreme leader told visiting Iraqi PM Nuri Al-Maliki that the presence of US forces in Iraq is the biggest obstacle to its development as a united country. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hit out at the "occupiers" in Iraq at a time...

IRAN - June 11 - Ahmadi-Nejad Defiant Over Nuclear Plans.
June 14, 2008... Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad pledged that Iran will not retreat from its nuclear ambitions and insisted the west "cannot do a damn thing" about it. The Iranian president's defiant comments came a day after the US and EU warned Iran to suspend its...

IRAQ - June 10 - Bomb Kills Leader Of Saddam Hussein's Tribe.
June 14, 2008... The leader of Saddam Hussein's tribe is killed by a bomb after speaking publicly in favor of reconciliation with the government in Baghdad. Sheik Ali al-Nida, head of the Bani al-Nasiri tribe, which dominated the government under Saddam, was...

IRAQ - June 12 - Iraqi PM Says Talks On Security Deal With Us Are At An Impasse.(Nuri Kamal al-Maliki)
June 14, 2008... Maliki says negotiations with the US for a security agreement governing America's long-term involvement in Iraq are at an impasse because US demands infringe upon Iraqi sovereignty. The comments were the first by PM Nuri Kamal al-Maliki in...

ISRAEL - June 8 - Jerusalem Issue Likely To Prevent Accord This Year, Israeli Says.
June 14, 2008... An Israeli government official has acknowledged that the crucial issue of the future status of Jerusalem is unlikely to be resolved in negotiations with Palestinians this year, reflecting the abiding gaps between the sides. Mark Regev, a...

ISRAEL - June 10 - Israeli Troops Kill 3 Hamas Fighters.
June 14, 2008... Israeli troops kill three Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip as PM Ehud Olmert met with top ministers to weigh up a possible military offensive on the besieged territory. The meeting came a day after the parents of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit,...

ISRAEL - June 11 - Israel To Seek Gaza Peace Deal.
June 14, 2008... The Israeli security cabinet votes to pursue an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire with Palestinian militant groups in Gaza, while leaving open the possibility of a military offensive should the truce talks fail. "The security cabinet decided this...

ISRAEL - June 12 - Olmert Faces More Pressure To Quit.(Ehud Olmert )
June 14, 2008... Ehud Olmert comes under fresh pressure to resign as Israel's PM when his principal coalition ally warned it would back an early election should Olmert's Kadima party fail to replace him with a new leader soon. Ehud Barak, the defence minister,...

LEBANON - June 8 - Sleiman Sees 'No Problems' In Forming Unity Government.(Michel Sleiman )
June 14, 2008... President Michel Sleiman says that there are no obstacles hindering the formation of the new unity government. "There are no problems in forming the new cabinet", Sleiman said during his first visit as head of state to Maronite Patriarch...

LEBANON - June 13 - Fadlallah Tears Strip Off 'Selfish' Politicians.(Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah )
June 14, 2008... Senior Shi'ite theologian Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah says that the confessional regime in Lebanon cannot build a state, "particularly when the majority of the political class is only concerned about its personal interests In his weekly...

PALESTINE - June 12 - Palestinians Bombard Israel After Blast Kills 7.
June 14, 2008... Palestinian gunmen bombard southern Israel after a Hamas commander's house in northern Gaza was blown up in a blast that killed seven people, including a four-month-old baby. The attacks started immediately after the explosion which Palestinian...

ARAB AFFAIRS - June 18 - Israel Calls On Lebanon To Start Peace Talks.
June 21, 2008... Israel urges Lebanon to open peace talks, the latest move in a flurry of developments aimed at easing the multiple conflicts in the region. Government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel was interested in 'direct, bilateral' talks and ready to put...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - June 16 - Britain And Europe To Tighten Economic Sanctions On Iran.
June 21, 2008... PM Gordon Brown announces that Britain and Europe would freeze the overseas assets of Iran's largest commercial bank, joining the US in intensifying financial pressure against Iran over its refusal to address international concern over its...

ARAB ISRAEL RELATIONS - June 15 - Israeli Plan Threatens Peace Talks, Says Rice.
June 21, 2008... Israel confirms plans to build 1,300 homes in the ultraorthodox Ramat Shlomo area of East Jerusalem Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, warns that the Israeli government's plan to build hundreds of new housing units in the occupied...

ARAB ISRAEL RELATIONS - June 16 - Israel Ignores US Pressure.
June 21, 2008... Israel seek to lower US expectations for any deal with the Palestinians this year, brushing aside pressure over settlements and calling for decisions on Jerusalem's future to be deferred. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ended her sixth...

ARAB ISRAEL RELATIONS - June 17 - Israel And Hamas 'Call Ceasefire'.
June 21, 2008... Israel and Hamas have agreed to begin a truce tomorrow, the first since the Islamist group's takeover of the Gaza Strip a year ago, said Egyptian officials who mediated in the ceasefire. Barring last-minute complications, the truce, set to...

AFGHANISTAN - June 15 - Afghan President Threatens To Pursue Taliban.(Hamid Karzai )
June 21, 2008... Afghan President Hamid Karzai threatens to send troops into neighbouring Pakistan to kill Taliban militants if they pursue cross-border attacks into Afghanistan. Self-proclaimed Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and other Taliban...

IRAN - June 15 - Iran Shows Interest In Nuclear Compromise.
June 21, 2008... Senior diplomats from the world's big powers said they had received an unexpectedly positive response from Iran at the weekend when the international community presented Tehran with a fresh package of proposals aimed at settling the dispute...

IRAN - June 20 - Ahmadi-Nejad Says "Enemies" Tried To Kill Him.(Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad)
June 21, 2008... President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad accuses the US and its allies of plotting to assassinate him during a visit to neighbouring Iraq in March. "Based on reliable intelligence, our enemies had plans to kidnap and kill your servant (Ahmadi-Nejad). But...

IRAQ - June 15 - Iraqi Forces Mass Outside Southern City Of Amara.
June 21, 2008... In an operation with military and political objectives, the Iraqi Army continues to assemble troops in and around the southern city of Amara. PM Nuri Kamal al-Maliki offered an amnesty to militants in the city who were willing to surrender, and...

LEBANON - June 15 - Moussa Sees 'Glimmer Of Hope' In Forming Cabinet.(Amr Moussa)
June 21, 2008... Arab League chief AMoussa expresses hope that a new national unity government will be formed soon in Lebanon. Moussa spoke to reporters after talks with PM Fouad Siniora and top leaders from the opposition. The talks focused on attempts to form...

TURKEY - June 16 - Turkish Governing Party Challenges 'Anti-Secular' Charge.
June 21, 2008... The governing party of Turkey, facing closure after the country's highest court charged it with engaging in anti-secular activity, rejects accusations that it had steered Turkey toward Islamic rule. Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, the top prosecutor in...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - June 23 - EU States Back Tighter Iran Sanctions.
June 28, 2008... EU states agree to impose new sanctions against Iran, including an asset freeze on its biggest bank, over its refusal to meet demands to curb its nuclear programme. But the EU said the door remained open to possible talks over an international...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - June 22-24 - Sarkozy Hits Israel Where It Hurts.
June 28, 2008... France's President Nicolas Sarkozy's state visit to Israel was striking for the candour with which he addressed his hosts. He spoke as an intimate friend - certainly Israel's best friend in Europe - but he did not mince his words, both on his...

ARAB ISRAEL RELATIONS - June 24 - Raid And Rockets Hit Gaza Truce.
June 28, 2008... The ceasefire agreed last week between Israel and Hamas suffers a violent setback, after Palestinian militants fired four rockets and one mortar from the Gaza Strip and Israeli forces launched a deadly incursion into the West Bank city of...

AFGHANISTAN - June 24 - More German Troops To Afghanistan.
June 28, 2008... Under pressure from NATO, Germany announces that it will increase the number of soldiers available for duty in Afghanistan by almost one-third to 4,500, but that it would maintain its policy of keeping the bulk of them away from the relatively...

AFGHANISTAN - June 26 - Mahdi Army Militia 'Going Underground'.
June 28, 2008... The Mahdi Army, the staunchly anti-American militia currently on the run after successive Iraqi military campaign to dismantle its network, is increasingly going underground. The Mahdi Army, considered the military wing of the Sadrist Movement...

IRAN - June 25 - Europe Warned Not To Provoke Tehran.
June 28, 2008... Ali Larijani warns Europe that imposing tighter sanctions immediately after offering incentives might only provoke Iran. The country's new parliamentary speaker instead urged world powers to send more positive signals. Speaking on the...

IRAQ - June 22 - Iraq Needs Foreign Troops.
June 28, 2008... Talking to Sami Al Askari, an Iraqi member of parliament and adviser to the PM, about the ongoing debate on shaping the future of Iraq's relations with the US, the conversation led to a number of points that seemed very much in line with the...

IRAQ - June 24 - 10 Killed In Sadr City Bombing.
June 28, 2008... An explosion apparently caused by a bomb in a district council building in the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad killed two American soldiers, at least six Iraqis and two civilians working for the US military. Iraqi council members who were at...

IRAQ - June 26 - 3 US Marines Among 30 Killed In 2 Iraq Bombings.
June 28, 2008... Two insurgent bomb blasts strike at pro-American Iraqi targets in Anbar province just west of Baghdad and in the northern city of Mosul, and the police said at least 30 people had been killed and 80 wounded. Iraqi police officials said three US...

LEBANON - June 23 - Lebanese Army Attempts To Stem Fighting.
June 28, 2008... Lebanon's army move to quell two days of fighting between sectarian and political groups in the northern port of Tripoli. The clashes, in which at least eight people were killed, represent the worst violence since fighting in May that centred...

LEBANON - June 24 - Lebanese Spiritual Summit Yields Joint Call For Peace.
June 28, 2008... President Michel Sleiman and Lebanese spiritual leaders sent a message of peace after several days of violence in the country. Leaders of Lebanon's religious groups met at the Presidential Palace to try to boost national reconciliation after...

PALESTINE - June 22 - Hamas To Back Truce If Israel Remains True To It.(Brief article)
June 28, 2008... The exiled leader of the Palestinian group Hamas says the group is committed to the recent truce with Israel as long as the Jewish state is. But Khalid Mesha'al warned that if the truce fails, Hamas will move back toward resistance against...

SAUDI ARABIA - June 25 - Saudi Arabia Detains 520 Terror Suspects.
June 28, 2008... Saudi Arabia has detained 520 people suspected of involvement in terrorism. General Mansour al-Turki, interior ministry spokesman, told the Financial Times that 701 people had been arrested during the past six months for alleged terror...

SYRIA - June 22 - Syria Upbeat On Nuclear Probe.(Brief article)
June 28, 2008... Syria has signalled that it is confident of the outcome of a probe into an alleged nuclear installation begun by the International Atomic Energy Agency. President Bashar al-Assad promised full co-operation with the IAEA and called American...