News & Politics - News from the Middle East #1

**sunnykerr** · 06-09-2010, 04:54 PM

Someone can post OP art at some later date here... If someone wants to volunteer something...

Just a point that I wish I didn't have to make, but in the spirit of prevention... this is a discussion website. We will welcome topics that generate discussion. Attacks, personal insults and the like will, however, not be tolerated.

I know full well that the Middle East is a sensitive area and that opinions on issues of the region are as divisive as they are passionate. Let's just remember that this is a forum for mutual respect and that we will be discussing issues and not personal preferences or whatever...

And, should the thread get out of hand, we will close it down.

**Wildfire Girl** · 06-09-2010, 04:56 PM

Thanks for the thread, Sunny.

**sunnykerr** · 06-09-2010, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Ahmadinejad: New UN Iran sanctions 'fit for dustbin'

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed the new UN sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme as a "used handkerchief" fit for the dustbin.

Earlier, the UN Security Council voted to impose a fourth round of sanctions on Tehran for failing to halt its nuclear enrichment programme.

They include tighter finance curbs and an expanded arms embargo, but not the crippling sanctions the US had wanted.

Iran denies building nuclear weapons, insisting it seeks only atomic energy.

US President Barack Obama said the sanctions sent an unmistakable message about the determination to stop the spread of nuclear arms.

Fourth round

At a meeting at the UN in New York on Wednesday, the Security Council voted by 12 votes to two in favour of a fourth round of coercive measures.

Brazil and Turkey voted against the sanctions, while Lebanon abstained. They argued that the sanctions were counter-productive and endangered a diplomatic solution.

Later, Mr Ahmadinejad was quoted by Iran's Isna news agency as saying: "I gave one of the [world powers] a message that the resolutions you issue are like a used handkerchief which should be thrown in the dustbin.

"They are not capable of hurting Iranians," he added.

The most significant parts of the resolution create a legal basis to restrict the supply of goods that Iran wants for its nuclear missile programmes, says the BBC's Middle East editor, Jeremy Bowen.

Out correspondent says the resolution singles out the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, who run much of the economy - including the national shipping line which Western diplomats say is trying to evade sanctions by setting up front companies.

The sanctions also prohibit Iran from buying heavy weapons such as attack helicopters and missiles.

They toughen rules on financial transactions with Iranian banks, and increase the number of Iranian individuals and companies that are targeted by asset freezes and travel bans.

But the sanctions were passed after being watered down during negotiations with Russia and China on Tuesday.

In the end there were no crippling economic sanctions and no oil embargo.

'Little effect'

The vote for sanctions came almost 18 months after US President Barack Obama promised a new strategy of engagement with Iran when he took office.

Yet the US eventually pushed for tougher sanctions.

Mr Obama said the sanctions did "not close the door on diplomacy" and he urged Iran to "choose a different and better path".

China's UN ambassador Zhang Yesui said the sanctions were trying to prevent nuclear proliferation and would not hurt "the normal life of the Iranian people".

However, both Turkey and Brazil spoke out in opposition.

They insisted Iran had made concessions in a recent nuclear fuel exchange agreement they brokered, which they see as a pathway to negotiations.

"[The sanctions] will most probably lead to the suffering of the people of Iran and will play into the hands of people on all sides who do not want dialogue to prevail," said the Brazilian ambassador to the UN, Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti.

The two "no" votes were the strongest opposition yet in four rounds of sanctions, weakening the international unity the Americans have tried to build to isolate Iran.

The BBC News website's world affairs correspondent, Paul Reynolds, says this fourth round of sanctions is unlikely to have any more effect on Iranian policy than the first three.

Iran's vital economic interests have not been targeted and Tehran has already developed systems of evasion, he says.

Three earlier rounds of UN sanctions blocked trade of "sensitive nuclear material", froze the financial assets of those involved in Iran's nuclear activities, banned all of Iran's arms exports and encouraged scrutiny of the dealings of Iranian banks.

BBC News - Ahmadinejad: New UN Iran sanctions 'fit for dustbin'

So, what do you all think? Do sanctions work? Has Iran made any significant gestures to show its willingness to discuss things? Should the world get to tell Iran what to do? And do sanctions impeded the diplomatic process?

My main concern is that I do think the Iranian people are the ones who truly suffer as the result of the economic sanctions and not the government. And if we're in the fourth round of such sanctions, than obviously they don't seem to be working...

But I'm looking forward to hearing from the different perspectives on the issue...

**sunnykerr** · 06-09-2010, 05:52 PM

**sunnykerr** · 06-19-2010, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Yemen gunmen in deadly raid on Aden security service HQ

Gunmen have attacked the headquarters of Yemen's domestic intelligence agency in the city of Aden, killing at least 10 security officers, officials say.

There were heavy exchanges of gunfire and plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the building afterwards.

The attackers escaped with several suspected militants detained there.

Local officials blamed the raid on al-Qaeda, which has urged supporters to take up arms against the government in response to a crackdown in the east.

Escape

The assailants - dressed in military uniforms - pulled up outside the heavily guarded compound, which is situated in the al-Tawahi district near the city's port, in two cars at around 0740 local time (0440 GMT), officials said.

They then opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, before storming the central courtyard and setting free several suspected militants, the officials added.

The attack came amid a flag ceremony at the Political Security Organisation (PSO) headquarters, one security official told Reuters news agency

"The high number of casualties was due to the fact that the attack came during the morning flag salute," the official said.

Witnesses told the AFP news agency that the assailants were later "seen leaving the building in a bus, taking people who had been detained there with them".

Medics told the agency that three female cleaners had also died during the raid.

In 2003, 10 men escaped from the same building, including one later convicted of involvement in the plot to blow up the USS Cole in Aden's harbour in 2000.

Saturday's attack caused a fire at the compound, which officials said was being brought under control. The military has sent troops to the area to secure it.

Yemen's government is facing three different threats - from al-Qaeda, southern secessionists, and a rebel movement in the north - although it has it has called a truce with the latter.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), formed in 2009 by a merger between two regional offshoots of the Islamist militant network in Yemen and neighbouring Saudi Arabia, has taken advantage of the instability and established strongholds in the country's largely autonomous tribal regions.

It has claimed to have been behind a number of attacks in the two countries over the past year, and has been blamed for attempting to blow up a US passenger jet as it flew into Detroit on Christmas Day.

Earlier this week, the group called on tribes in eastern Yemen to help it "light up the ground with fire under the tyrants of infidelity in the regime" in retaliation for alleged air strikes in the region.

BBC News - Yemen gunmen in deadly raid on Aden security service HQ

This civil war has got to end. Right now, it seems to be going around and around in circles and all it's creating is destruction and rage.

**sunnykerr** · 07-04-2010, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Gen Petraeus formally takes over Afghanistan campaign

US Gen David Petraeus has formally taken command of the 130,000-strong international force battling insurgents in Afghanistan.

The general, whose strategy in Iraq won praise and reduced violence, took over at a modest military ceremony in Kabul.

Hoping to repeat his Iraq success, the general insists Nato and the Afghan government must work hand-in-hand.

As an indication of his task, June was the deadliest month for foreign troops since 2001, with 102 killed.

Gen Petraeus has already warned that Taliban militants are confident and resilient, and he takes command at a time when the war is entering a difficult phase, the BBC's Quentin Sommerville reports from Kabul.

The general arrived in Afghanistan on Friday night and spent Saturday meeting US, Afghan and other officials.

Determination

Sunday's ceremony saw Gen Petraeus assume command under the gaze of troops from the more than 40 nations that make up the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).

"We are engaged in a tough fight. After years of war we have arrived at a critical moment," he told those assembled just outside the coalition's headquarters.

Calling the battle in Afghanistan "a contest of wills", Gen Petraeus said the coalition would not back down against the Taliban, despite a number of gloomy analyses of the war's progress.

"We are in this to win," the new commander said.

He paid tribute to his predecessor, Gen Stanley McChrystal, who was sacked after he and his aides mocked and criticised political leaders in Washington and Kabul.

He made "enormous contributions" in Afghanistan, Gen Petraeus said, praising the outgoing commander's "vision, energy and leadership".

'Tough mission'

Gen Petraeus has already warned that the conflict may become more difficult before major improvements are won.

He and US President Barack Obama have both insisted a change of personnel at the top does not mean a change in strategy.

"This is a tough mission, there is nothing easy about it," the general said on Saturday, at a US embassy event.

"But working together we can achieve progress and we can achieve our mutual objective."

The gathering on the lawn was upbeat with a rock band playing while dignitaries sat in tents eating popcorn, hamburgers and ice cream, the Associated Press reports.

But the positive tone was dampened by talk of Friday's deadly attack on a house used by an American aid organisation in the northern city of Kunduz, and the accidental killing of two Afghan civilians during a raid in the south, the news agency adds.

US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry welcomed Gen Petraeus at the embassy gathering, saying: "Welcome aboard. You are welcome at this embassy 24-7."

Mr Eikenberry was one of the US officials criticised by Gen McChrystal in the Rolling Stone article that led to his sacking.

Kandahar challenge

The general also met Afghan President Hamid Karzai to discuss corruption among other issues, according to a statement issued by the presidential palace.

Mr Karzai used the meeting to complain about what he said were "baseless" allegations made by Congresswoman Nita Lowey, a Democrat from New York, who suggested Afghan government officials had misused or pocketed donor funds.

One of the general's impending tasks is to step up operations against the Taliban in Kandahar province.

The campaign has been postponed until September.

He has promised to use the same counter-insurgency tactics he used in Iraq and that Gen McChrystal introduced in Afghanistan earlier this year.

Gen Petraeus has also pledged to look at the application of the current rules of engagement.

These are designed to reduce civilian casualties but some US troops believe they put them at too great a risk.

BBC News - Gen Petraeus formally takes over Afghanistan campaign

Good luck, I guess.

**sunnykerr** · 07-05-2010, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Iran says its passenger jets were refused fuel abroad

Iran has accused the UK, Germany and the UAE of refusing to provide fuel to Iranian passenger planes.

The allegation came days after the US enacted unilateral sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme, to penalise foreign companies trading with Tehran.

Britain said it was not aware of any refusal to refuel Iranian planes, and Germany stressed there was no ban.

Oil firms contacted by the BBC said they could not comment on individual contracts.

Tehran says its nuclear industry is for peaceful purposes but Western powers fear it is trying to develop a bomb.

"Since last week, our planes have been refused fuel at airports in Britain, Germany and UAE because of the sanctions imposed by America," Mehdi Aliyari, secretary of the Iranian Airlines Union, told Iranian media.

He said the national carrier Iran Air and a private airline, Mahan Air, had both run into refuelling problems.

"Refusing to provide fuel to Iranian passenger planes by these countries is a violation of international conventions," he added.

'Retaliation'

Iranian lawmaker Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh said Iran would retaliate.

"Iran will do the same to ships and planes of those countries that cause problems for us," Iran's Isna news agency quoted him as saying.

A spokeswoman for the Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC), which manages the airports in the UAE cities of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, told Reuters news agency the company was continuing to refuel Iranian jets.

"We have contracts with Iranian passenger flights and continue to allow refuelling," she added.

But AFP news agency quoted "a source close to the aviation sector in the UAE" as saying there had been a problem with an unnamed international fuel supplier.

"A servicing company which provides fuelling at several airports around the world has refused to provide Iranian planes with fuel, including at UAE terminals," the source said on condition of anonymity.

A spokesman for the UK's Civil Aviation Authority told the BBC any move to withhold fuel would be down to individual fuel companies.

Germany's transport ministry said the refuelling of Iranian planes was not banned under EU or UN sanctions but it would not comment on whether any individual providers were refusing to fuel Iranian aircraft.

The US sanctions prohibit the sale or provision to Iran of refined petroleum products worth more than $5m (£3.3m) over a year.

Paul Reynolds, world affairs correspondent for the BBC News website, said it might be that fuel companies are worried that their sales over a year might add up to $5m, in which case they could face a possible ban on doing business in the US.

An Iranian aviation official said Iranian airliners were filling up with as much fuel as possible inside Iran.

But they were also having to refuel in countries along their route not imposing a ban, a move which the official said was doubling costs.

The new US sanctions were signed into law by President Barack Obama last week.

Last month, the UN Security Council voted to impose a fourth round of sanctions on Tehran for failing to halt its nuclear enrichment programme.

BBC News - Iran says its passenger jets were refused fuel abroad

To me, this sounds like a preposterous, ridiculous claim. I don't care how many embargoes there may be on Iran, no way does an international airport anywhere in the world (except possibly in Iran) refuse to fuel a plane! Just, no way!

**sunnykerr** · 08-15-2010, 07:05 PM

Quote:

raqi police targeted in a spate of checkpoint killings

Gunmen have killed four Iraqi police officers in a spate of shootings at security checkpoints in Baghdad.

Two members of a government-supported militia have also been killed in a checkpoint attack.

In one of the attacks, two officers were shot dead as they slept in their car and their vehicle was set on fire.

There are thousands of policemen in Baghdad so the overall effect on security is not huge. But the point of these attacks is to spread fear.

One of the latest attacks was particularly chilling - men with pistols fitted with silencers shot dead two policemen while they were off duty, asleep in their car, according to one report. The gunmen then set fire to their bodies.

Two more policemen were killed when gunmen attacked another checkpoint.

Two members of the official Sahwa militia were also killed in a checkpoint attack.

The Sahwa are known as "awakening groups" - mostly Sunni Iraqis who once supported al-Qaeda in Iraq, but then changed sides.

Al-Qaeda militants are believed to be behind numerous such revenge attacks over the past few months.

These events, though relatively minor compared with the routine suicide car and truck bomb attacks of a few years ago, may be designed to unsettle the Americans as they prepare to conclude what they call "combat operations" at the end of this month.

On Saturday, two American generals told the Los Angeles Times that it was inconceivable that the Iraqi security forces would be ready to stand alone after all American troops leave at the end of next year.

Source

Oh, this is going to end well...

fetch · 08-16-2010, 03:32 AM

Thanks for this thread.

**sunnykerr** · 08-16-2010, 04:10 PM

Oh, you're quite welcome.

As you can see from our opening post, we only delayed a bit because I was afraid there would be too much contention on a thread about the Middle East.

Obviously, that was a lot of worry for no reason.

**sunnykerr** · 08-24-2010, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Arabic to become compulsory in Israeli schools

The Israeli authorities are introducing a new scheme to make Arabic-language classes compulsory in state schools.

The programme, which will start in 170 schools in northern Israel, will make lessons mandatory for fifth graders.

Education officials hope the scheme, called "Ya Salam", will turn language into a cultural bridge and promote tolerance between Jews and Arabs.

Arab students currently are required to learn Hebrew while Jewish children can take Arabic as an additional language.

But increasing demand from students to study Arabic as part of their school matriculation certificate, the Bagrut, had prompted changes to the national curriculum, officials said.

"We live in a country that has two official languages," Shlomo Alon, head of Arabic and Islamic Education at the ministry of education, was quoted as saying by Haaretz newspaper.

"Studying Arabic will promote tolerance and convey a message of acceptance."

Mr Alon said the ministry was interested in recognising all of the state's citizens and providing opportunities for Arab teachers within Israeli education. There are some 1,000 Arabic teachers, most of them Jewish.

"The state aspires to complete equality of citizenship. We will not deal with conflicts based on cultural identity," he added.

Source

Considering the geographical location of Israel, I do believe this is a good decision.

About time, really.

fetch · 08-27-2010, 08:12 AM

As of right now, students in most public Jewish schools start English in around fourth grade, and Arabic in seventh grade. Sometimes students have a choice between the language they can take in seventh grade, usually French.

**sunnykerr** · 08-30-2010, 07:02 PM

So they all study Arabic? 'Cause that would make a LOT of sense to me, just from a geographical standpoint.

I wonder why this story made the news, though.

Well, either way, it's all good stuff.

**sunnykerr** · 09-11-2010, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Iran 'delays release of US hiker Sarah Shourd'

(She's the one in the middle)

Iran has delayed the release of a US hiker held for more than a year on suspicion of spying, officials say.

Tehran's prosecutor general said Sarah Shourd, one of three detained Americans, would not be freed because legal procedures were not complete.

Officials had previously said the 31-year-old would be freed on Saturday.

Ms Shourd and two other hikers, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, were arrested in July 2009 after they crossed the Iran-Iraq border.

Iran initially said the three would be put on trial for espionage - an offence that can be punishable by death.

The US says they have committed no crime, and has appealed for their immediate release.

In a text message on Thursday, the Iranian Culture Ministry invited journalists to a hotel in Tehran to witness the release of the American woman.

She is believed to be suffering from potentially serious health problems, and the authorities had said she would be freed as a goodwill gesture for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

But Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said her release had been cancelled.

"The published reports have not been confirmed by the judiciary," he told semi-official news agency Ilna.

"Clearly any decision regarding the mentioned accused will be made after the completion of the legal procedure."

A presidential official later confirmed the delay to the official Irna news agency.

Neither man gave a date for her eventual release, and neither mentioned the other two detainees.

The BBC's Middle East correspondent Jon Leyne says it sounds ominously as if her case has fallen victim to the increasingly bitter power struggle between elites in Iran.

But he says Ms Shourd's family will be hoping that a decision that can be reversed once can be reversed again.

Source

I can't imagine the emotional turmoil the families of these three individuals must be going through.

At this point, it almost feels like they're being toyed with, though I'm sure that's no one's express intention.

But I agree, a decision that was once reversed can hopefully be reversed again.

**sunnykerr** · 09-14-2010, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Freed US hiker vows to help friends still held by Iran

A US hiker, freed after spending more than a year in jail in Iran, has promised to lobby for the release of the two men she was arrested with.

Sarah Shourd, who was flown to Oman, urged Iran to free her fiance Shane Bauer and friend Josh Fattal.

All three were arrested near the Iran-Iraq border last year and accused of spying. The two men still face trial.

US President Barack Obama renewed his call for the pair's release, saying they had done nothing wrong.

"We remain hopeful that Iran will demonstrate renewed compassion by ensuring the return of Shane, Josh and all the other missing or detained Americans in Iran," Mr Obama said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also urged the release of the men, telling the Associated Press news agency he "appreciated the flexibility" of the Iranian government.

But Tehran's chief prosecutor Jafari Dolatabadi was quoted as saying that the two men's detention had been extended by two months.

"Therefore there is no talk of the release of the two," Iran's English language Press TV quoted him as saying.

Battle of elites

The three Americans deny spying, saying they accidentally strayed into Iranian territory while on a hike in Iraq when they were arrested on 31 July 2009.

Their families say they have been kept in solitary confinement, and Ms Shourd's mother Nora, who was reunited with her daughter in Oman, has said she was being denied treatment for potentially serious health issues.

Speaking before she left Iran, Ms Shourd described her release as a "huge relief" and thanked "every country, every official and individual" involved in the process.

"I feel myself I have a huge debt to repay the world for what it's done for me," she said.

"My first priority is to help my fiance Shane Bauer and my friend Josh Fattal to gain their freedom because they don't deserve to be in prison any more.

"And even when that's finished I feel like my work has just begun repaying the world for what it's done for me."

US officials said Ms Shourd, 32, would be spending at least a day in Oman, but gave no details of her future plans.

The Iranian authorities said a bail of $500,000 (£325,000) had been posted, but it is unclear who paid, with US officials denying they had handed over any money.

Analysts say the Americans appear to have been caught up in a power struggle among Iranian elites.

While Ms Shourd's release was initially proposed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the country's powerful judges delayed the release and stamped their authority by demanding a huge bail payment.

Source

I keep hearing about her potentially life-threatening health issues. And I don't want to say that she shouldn't have been released. I do think it's the right thing to do. I hope her two colleagues are swiftly released as well as it seems clear that the only reason any of them remain in prison is because the local authorities in Iran are having a pissing contest.

But these life-threatening health issues... what are they? This morning on the news they mentionned how she has a genetic predisposition for certain cancers... if that's what it is, that's awfully vague.

But, hey, she didn't belong in jail, so whatever gets her out is awesome.


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