Washington is waiting anxiously on the outcome of Friday’s Iranian presidential elections, as incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attempts to fend off challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi in a contest with significant implications for the diplomatic atmosphere between Iran and the U.S. Experts caution that the concrete policy impact of the elections may be particularly great from …
Continue reading “Iranian Elections Could Shape US Engagement”
Updated at 10:55 p.m. EDT, June 10, 2009
A rare car bombing at a marketplace in southern Iraq killed and wounded dozens of Iraq civilians. Although reports of large bombings can often mean an increase in reports from throughout Iraq, the rest of the country remained fairly quiet. Overall, at least 39 Iraqis were killed and 80 were wounded in these attacks. In an odd turn, five U.S. contractors accused of murdering a colleague will apparently be set free soon. Also, Turkey and Iraq have signed a military cooperation accord.
Bring on the sanctions, says Justin Raimondo
In Jayne Anne Phillips’ Lark and Termite, the skies over Korea in 1950 are described in this way: "The planes always come … like planets on rotation. A timed bloodletting, with different excuses." The most recent plane to attack the Pakistani village of Khaisor (according to a Waziristan resident who asked me to withhold his …
Continue reading “Visitors and Hosts in Pakistan”
Fears that the state apparatus controlled by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is laying the groundwork for possible fraud in Friday’s presidential election appear to be growing among his two reformist challengers and their supporters. While an incumbent has never lost a reelection bid since the creation of the Islamic Republic in 1979, many analysts believe …
Continue reading “Iran: Reformist Candidates Complain of Too Many Ballots”
Nebojsa Malic on the Kosovo armistice, 10 years later
Hilite title: Behind the Wire
Subhead: An insider’s reflections on Gitmo, by Daniel J. Lakemacher
It helps to have spent a childhood reading sci-fi. It means nothing bizarre really surprises you. In June 2008, TomDispatch regular William Astore wrote a post about how the Air Force had jumped big time into cyberspace. That service had even bigger dreams for a “$30 billion cyberspace boondoggle” that would theoretically have provided it …
Continue reading “Downloading Disaster”
Only seven Iraqis were reported wounded in light violence. No Coalition deaths were reported. Meanwhile, the U.S. military has released a Shi’ite militia leader believed responsible for the deaths of U.S. troops, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Iraqis to work together to promote reconciliation.
UNITED NATIONS – The world’s biggest military spenders last year were countries that were either permanent members of the Security Council or aspiring to hold that privileged rank, according to the latest figures released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The United States, China, France, Britain, and Russia – all veto-wielding members …
Continue reading “UN’s Big Powers World’s Top Military Spenders” 
