Month: March 2006

Releasing the latest edition of its annual human rights "Country Reports," the U.S. State Department Wednesday named Iran and China as among the world’s "most systematic human rights violators" in 2005, along with North Korea, Burma, Zimbabwe, Cuba, and Belarus. In a 16-page introduction, the report also singled out the human rights performances of Syria, … Continue reading “State Dept Lauds Iraq, Slams Iran in Rights Reports”

Is the IOB DOA? As the originator of the “Iran Oil Bourse” I hope you can spare me some space to comment in relation to Ms. Berg’s recent articles. The original concept five or so years ago was not of an “Iran Oil Bourse” but of a “Middle East Energy Exchange” providing a new Gulf … Continue reading “Backtalk, March 9, 2006”

Promoting Terrorists, Again Milan Babic, onetime president of the breakaway Republic of Serb Krajina (in today’s Croatia), was found dead in his temporary cell at the Hague Inquisition’s Scheveningen prison on Monday, having reportedly committed suicide. Two years ago, Babic had copped a deal with the Inquisition, confessing to one charge of (unspecified) crimes against … Continue reading “Democracy in Action”

We already have “stealth” aircraft, but what about a little of the stealth that only nature can provide? Navy SEALs, move over – here come the Navy sharks. According to the latest New Scientist magazine, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, the blue-sky wing of the Pentagon, has set yet another group of … Continue reading “Shark and Awe”

In Iraq, defeat stares us in the face. Efforts to “Iraq-ize” the campaign to crush the Sunni insurgency have the U.S. war effort sinking under the weight of its own implausibility, and American policymakers are flailing around in search of an alternative. As U.S. casualties mount and the specter of civil war materializes into a … Continue reading “Biddle’s Pivot”

Standing beside Pervez Musharraf, an ally in the war on terror, President Bush explained how he told him Pakistan would not be getting the same aid in developing peaceful nuclear power that Bush had just promised to India: “I explained that Pakistan and India are different countries with different needs and different histories. So as … Continue reading “What the Indian Giver Got”

WASHINGTON – Fifteen years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, bilateral ties between Russia, its successor state, and the United States are "headed in the wrong direction," according to a new report [.pdf] released here this week by the influential Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). In addition to disagreements over a growing number of … Continue reading “Report: Relations with Russia Moving in ‘Wrong Direction’”

With Arkan Hamed BAGHDAD – As violence continues throughout much of Iraq, many Sunni political and religious leaders continue to urge their followers to resist launching reprisal attacks. Scores of Iraqis, Sunni and Shia alike, are being killed daily. Recent incidents of violence included an assassination attempt on senior Sunni leader Adnan al-Dulaimi, who leads … Continue reading “Amid Iraq Carnage, Sunnis Press for Peace”

The sectarian violence that has swept across Iraq following last month’s terrorist bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samara is yet another example of the tragic consequences of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Until the 2003 U.S. invasion and occupation, Iraq had maintained a long-standing history of secularism and a strong national identity … Continue reading “The US Role in Iraq’s Sectarian Violence”

At the insistence of the Cheney cabal, the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency had a "special" meeting a month ago and passed a resolution [.pdf] requesting that the IAEA director-general: "[C]ontinue with his efforts to implement the Agency’s Safeguards Agreement with Iran, to implement the Additional Protocol to that Agreement pending … Continue reading “ElBaradei’s Swan Song?”