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Summary: U.S./Top News Instead of kvetching about the 'Israel Lobby', let's support the State Department when it does something right, writes Robert Naiman on Huffington Post. The State Department criticized Israeli government plans to build a new settlement in the West Bank. Since even Jimmy Carter says "It would be almost politically suicidal for members of Congress to espouse a balanced position," when the State Department does something right, we ought to ask Members of Congress to speak up. Is it political suicide to support the State Department?
President Bush seems to be laying the groundwork for a surge of additional troops in Iraq, the Washington Post reports. Two defense officials said Wednesday the specific size and nature of such a surge still has to be worked out.
Republican Senator Gordon Smith's Dec. 7 speech criticizing the Iraq war may have signaled that some moderate Republicans in the Senate are poised to break openly with the White House on the war, the New York Times reports.
Some Western analysts contend that Syria can be pried away from Iran's influence, the New York Times reports. But Washington has spent years trying to isolate Syria, while Iran has for decades moved to entwine itself with Syria on many levels - political, military, economic and religious. As a result, some Western diplomats in Iran say that, even if the US tried, it might be impossible to extricate Syria from Iran's orbit.
Democracy Now devoted a section of its broadcast today to the crisis in Somalia, interviewing Said Samatar of Rutgers, Nii Akuette of Africa Action and former UN official Salim Lone, whose International Herald Tribune piece critical of the US intervention was in yesterday's Just Foreign Policy News. . Iran Radio Free Europe interviewed Trita Parsi on the UN sanctions against Iran. Parsi argues that the UN sanctions have moved the US and Iran further away from a diplomatic solution.
Iraq A top deputy of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was killed Wednesday during a raid by U.S. and Iraqi troops in the southern holy city of Najaf, the Washington Post reports, leading to vigorous protests. The raid calls into question the claim that the US had "handed over control" of Najaf to Iraqi forces.
Iraqi politicians regularly interfere in US attempts to clamp down on sectarian violence, the New York Times reports. "I have come to the conclusion that this is no longer America's war in Iraq, but the Iraqi civil war where America is fighting," Maj. William Voorhies said. A reporting trip accompanying Voorhies's unit seemed to back his statement.
Somalia Militias loyal to the transitional government seized the Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, today, the New York Times reports. Witnesses said clan warlords had instantly reverted back to setting up roadside checkpoints and shaking down motorists for money. "No one is really in command," said one adviser to Western diplomats. "Chaos is in command."
Ethiopia Almost half of Ethiopia's children are malnourished, and most do not die, the New York Times reports. Some become intellectually stunted adults, unable to learn or even to concentrate, inclined to drop out of school early.
Liberia Firestone is under fire from human-rights advocates in Liberia and the US who say conditions of its workers in Liberia are a scandal, McLatchy News reports. The International Labor Rights Fund has filed a class-action suit against Firestone for what it calls "a gulag of misery" in what is believed to be the largest rubber plantation in the world.
Israel/Palestine The State Department, in a "rare public rebuke," criticized Israeli government plans to build a new settlement in the West Bank, the New York Times reports.
UAE The United Arab Emirates is converting 8 percent of its foreign exchange reserves from dollars into euros, AP reports. Other Gulf countries may follow suit, suggests AP, which may further drive down the dollar. Although many Americans would not suffer directly from a falling dollar - workers in trade-sensitive industries would actually benefit - a significant fall may encourage the Federal Reserve to pursue higher intrerest rates, since the US financial sector tends to prefer a strong dollar.
Ecuador President-elect Rafael Correa appointed seven women to his cabinet, including the first woman to become defense minister, saying he wanted to promote gender equality in Ecuador, AP reports. Correa takes office Jan. 15.
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- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org