Month: December 2008

A few months ago, trucks loaded with goods crossed a border. All over the world, this kind of thing happens every day, but not here. October marked the first time in 60 years that Indian trucks loaded with apples and walnuts traveled to Pakistan. The trucks returned carrying a shipment of Pakistani rice and raisins. … Continue reading “Mumbai Wake-up Call”

TEHRAN – The main issue in Iran’s June 2009 presidential election is certain to be the country’s economic woes, but both candidates will be linking the economy to the issue of relations between Iran and the West, according to Iranian politicians and political analysts. Based on the bitter internal Iranian politics of the past three … Continue reading “Economy, Ties with West Are Key to Iran Polls”

The single omnipresent historical reference in the American media immediately in the wake of September 11, 2001, was, of course, “Pearl Harbor” – and those code words for it, “infamy” and “day of infamy,” splashed in mile-high letters across the front pages of papers. What we had experienced, it was commonly said then, was “the … Continue reading “9 Is Not 11”

General David Petraeus, the former military commander of US forces in Iraq and author of the military’s most recent counterinsurgency manual, learned the lessons of the successful British counterinsurgency experience in Malaya in the 1950s. He was able to reduce the violence in Iraq by instituting a policy of US military restraint in that country. … Continue reading “Lessons on the Battlefield Need to Be Learned at a Higher Level”

The only new casualty reported in Iraq was that of a British soldier who was killed in Basra yesterday. It is unlikely that all violence took a holiday for the Eid and today’s prayer day. Meanwhile, Iraqi President Talabani arrived in Kirkuk for meetings on reconciliation efforts, and the Iraqi oil minister urged government departments … Continue reading “Friday: 1 British Soldier Killed”

PESHAWAR – The past two months has seen an upsurge in violence unleashed by Pakistani Taliban in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the adjacent tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. The most recent was the brazen series of attacks on North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) supply containers, the most recent in Peshawar on Dec. 7, … Continue reading “Pro-Govt Fighters, Under Attack by Taliban, ‘Betrayed’ by Kabul”

Pundits these days warn of a Middle East arms race if Iran brings its alleged nuclear weapons program to fruition, while others fear that missile defense in Eastern Europe could spark escalation involving Russia. But despite all the fear in Washington, it turns out that the US need look no farther than its own shores … Continue reading “US Arms Deployed in Wars Around the Globe”

TEHRAN – In light of the Iranian presidential election coming in mid-2009 and the US distaste for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President-elect Barack Obama is being advised to avoid any communication with Tehran until after Iranians vote next June. But Iranian political analysts who are familiar with the thinking of both Ahmadinejad and Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah … Continue reading “Iranian Analysts Urge Obama Not to Delay Action on Talks”

How, one wonders, could President-elect Barack Obama possibly hope to implement his announced foreign policy goals when he’s entrusted his enemies – the Clntonites, and the Republicans – to implement them? I’ve wondered that myself, but now the mystery is cleared up by Robert Gates, the GOP defense secretary who says we’ll be in Iraq … Continue reading “Obama, Iraq, and the Cyprus Solution”

Panglossading through reality, the New York Times recently offered the sort of thoughtless sunny picture of the Obama administration’s security policy that lulls children to sleep but leaves adults restlessly wakeful. In a front-page story on December 1, "A Handpicked Team for a Foreign Policy Shift" by David Sanger, the Times reported that the new … Continue reading “Intervention: A Problem of Means?”