Jim Lobe

Despite renewed U.S. efforts to achieve an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement this year, popular views of the United States in the Arab world have actually worsened since 2006, according to a major new survey [.pdf] of public opinion in six Arab states. Nearly two-thirds, or 64 percent, of more than 4,000 respondents in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, … Continue reading “Attitudes Toward US Worsen in Arab World”

"Tell me how this ends," Gen. David Petraeus, then commander of the 101st Airborne Division, asked a Washington Post reporter during the "liberation" of Iraq almost exactly five years ago. That neither Petraeus, now commander of all US forces in Iraq, nor his civilian counterpart, Washington’s ambassador to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, was able to offer … Continue reading “Running Out the Iraq Clock”

Despite a reduction in violence over the past 15 months, “the U.S. risks getting bogged down in Iraq for a long time to come, with serious consequences for its interests in other parts of the world,” according to a new assessment by the same group of experts who advised the bipartisan blue-ribbon Iraq Study Group … Continue reading “Iraq Still a Quagmire,
Say Experts”

While still distrustful of U.S. intentions, the Iranian public believes that the threat posed by Washington has diminished over the past year and favors increased exchanges between the two countries, including direct talks on stabilizing Iraq and other issues, according to a major new survey [.pdf] released here Monday by WorldPublicOpinion.org (WPO). The poll, which … Continue reading “Survey: Iranian Public Sees Reduced US Threat”

Growing tensions between North Korea and the new, more hawkish South Korean government are spurring concern among US experts that already halting progress toward implementation of a denuclearization deal with Pyongyang could unravel. US officials, notably Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Christopher Hill, whose dogged efforts to ensure that the deal goes forward … Continue reading “North Korean Nuclear Deal at Risk?”

So why, exactly, did the US invade Iraq five years ago this week? The official reasons – the threat posed to the US and its allies by Saddam Hussein’s alleged programs of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the possibility that he would pass along those arms to al-Qaeda – have long since been discarded … Continue reading “Why Did the US Invade Iraq?”

The global human rights panorama offered a decidedly mixed – if not mostly negative – picture in 2007, according to the latest edition of the State Department’s annual human rights Country Reports released Tuesday. Its 19-page introduction, the most closely read part of the reports, appeared to mute criticism of China compared to the editions … Continue reading “US State Dept. Found Little to Cheer in 2007”

Public support for stronger measures, including possible military strikes, to curb or destroy Iran’s nuclear program has declined significantly in most countries around the world compared to 18 months ago, according to a new survey of public opinion [.pdf] released Tuesday by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). In only three of 21 nations – Turkey, … Continue reading “Int’l Support Ebbs for West’s Nuclear Hard Line”