October 2009

Iran’s brilliant chessmanship

by Paul Woodward 10.04.2009

Brilliant chessmanship By Kaveh L. Afrasiabi, Washington Times, October 4, 2009 ike back-winding in a sailing race, Iran has gotten ahead of the United States and its allies that met for the nuclear talks in Geneva Thursday. Iran pulled a rabbit out of the diplomatic hat in the form of a self-disclosure to the International [...]

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What I saw at the Afghan election

by Paul Woodward 10.04.2009

What I saw at the Afghan election By Peter W. Galbraith, Washington Post, October 4, 2009 Before firing me last week from my post as his deputy special representative in Afghanistan, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon conveyed one last instruction: Do not talk to the press. In effect, I was being told to remain a [...]

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Real progress with Iran

by Paul Woodward 10.03.2009

Real progress with Iran By Gary Sick, The Daily Beast, October 2, 2009 The Geneva nuclear talks were just baby steps along a long and perilous path. Still, this was a historic moment after 30 years of mutual recriminations and hyperbole. If you have any doubt that the Geneva meetings with Iran were surprisingly productive, [...]

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Palestinians cry ‘blackmail’ over Israel phone service threat

by Paul Woodward 10.03.2009

Palestinians cry ‘blackmail’ over Israel phone service threat By Ben Lynfield, The Independent, October 1, 2009 Israel is threatening to kill off a crucial West Bank economic project unless the Palestinian Authority withdraws a request to the International Criminal Court to investigate alleged Israeli crimes during last winter’s Gaza war. Shalom Kital, an aide to [...]

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Report cites firefight as lesson on Afghan war

by Paul Woodward 10.03.2009

Report cites firefight as lesson on Afghan war By Thom Shanker, New York Times, October 3, 2009 The paratroopers of Chosen Company had plenty to worry about as they began digging in at their new outpost on the fringe of a hostile frontier village in eastern Afghanistan. Intelligence reports were warning of militants massing in [...]

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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed to have Jewish past

by Paul Woodward 10.03.2009

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed to have Jewish past By Damien McElroy and Ahmad Vahdat, Daily Telegraph, October 3, 2009 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s vitriolic attacks on the Jewish world hide an astonishing secret, evidence uncovered by The Daily Telegraph shows. A photograph of the Iranian president holding up his identity card during elections in March 2008 clearly shows [...]

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Swat Valley civilians turn to arms as uneasy peace takes hold

by Paul Woodward 10.03.2009

Swat Valley civilians turn to arms as uneasy peace takes hold By Declan Walsh, The Guardian, October 2, 2009 Dr Naeem Khan was taking no chances. Walking through streets once filled with Taliban gunmen, the amiable country doctor looked ready for battle – an AK-47 in his hand, ammunition across his chest, and a chunky [...]

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Obama pwns Bush-Cheney on Iran

by Paul Woodward 10.02.2009

Obama pwns Bush-Cheney on Iran By Juan Cole, October 2, 2009 For 8 years, Bush-Cheney practiced what I call “belligerent Ostrichism” toward Iran. They refused to talk to Tehran. They wanted to ratchet up sanctions on it. Bush sent 2 aircraft carriers to the Gulf to menace Iran. Bush’s spokesmen professed themselves afraid of Iran’s [...]

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Palestinians quislings halt push on Goldstone report

by Paul Woodward 10.02.2009

Palestinians quislings halt push on Goldstone report By Neil MacFurquhar, New York Times, October 2, 2009 In a startling shift, the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council dropped its efforts to forward a report accusing Israel of possible war crimes to the Security Council, under pressure from the United States, diplomats said [...]

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Obama agrees to keep Israel’s nukes secret

by Paul Woodward 10.02.2009

Obama agrees to keep Israel’s nukes secret By Eli Lake, Washington Times, October 2, 2009 President Obama has reaffirmed a 4-decade-old secret understanding that has allowed Israel to keep a nuclear arsenal without opening it to international inspections, three officials familiar with the understanding said. The officials, who spoke on the condition that they not [...]

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White House eyeing narrower Afghan war effort

by Paul Woodward 10.02.2009

White House eyeing narrower war effort By Scott Wilson and Anne E. Kornblut, Washington Post, October 2, 2009 Senior White House officials have begun to make the case for a policy shift in Afghanistan that would send few, if any, new combat troops to the country and instead focus on faster military training of Afghan [...]

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Video of Gilad Shalit

by Paul Woodward 10.02.2009

Video of Gilad Shalit Transcript of statement translated into English from Hebrew: I am Gilad, son of Aviva and Noam Shalit, brother of Hadas and Yoel, who lives in Mitzpe Hila. My identification number is 300097029. Today is Monday, September 14, 2009. As you can see, I am holding in my hand today’s edition of [...]

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It’s bomb, bomb, bomb Iran time

by Paul Woodward 10.01.2009

It’s bomb, bomb, bomb Iran time By Pepe Escobar, Asia Times, October 1, 2009 The United States and Western “bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” crowd – hysteria running at fever pitch ahead of Thursday’s multilateral nuclear talks in Geneva – could do worse than have a word with Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. Lula [...]

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Iran and the pipelineistan opera

by Paul Woodward 10.01.2009

Iran and the pipelineistan opera By Pepe Escobar, TomDispatch, October 1, 2009 Oil and natural gas prices may be relatively low right now, but don’t be fooled. The New Great Game of the twenty-first century is always over energy and it’s taking place on an immense chessboard called Eurasia. Its squares are defined by the [...]

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A fugitive in Iran

by Paul Woodward 10.01.2009

A fugitive in Iran By Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, September 30, 2009 Abdulrahman [David Belfield] shook his head in dismay and told me that, after thirty years in Iran, he was not surprised by much. He paraphrased Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” (1968): “If you undertake a revolution and it is not [...]

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After clash over Afghan election, U.N. fires a diplomat

by Paul Woodward 10.01.2009

After clash over Afghan election, U.N. fires a diplomat By Richard A Oppel Jr and Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times, October 1, 2009 The United Nations fired its No. 2 official in Afghanistan on Wednesday after the diplomat, Peter W. Galbraith, wrote a scathing letter accusing the head of the mission here of concealing election [...]

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