Sign the petition - No War with Iran! As Bush Administration officials claim vindication for their "no direct negotiations" policy with regard to North Korea, even though this policy has just led to a spectacular failure, Just Foreign Policy, in collaboration with Peace Action, is sponsoring a petition against war with Iran. To sign the petition, use this link: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/involved/iranpetition.html
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Just Foreign Policy now has a blog on Huffington Post. Our first post, "Yes, It Is Possible to Stop War with Iran," is still on the front page at this writing: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/; the direct URL is http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-weisbrot-and-robert-naiman/yes-it-is-possible-to-st_b_31402.html
Summary: U.S. North Korea's apparently successful explosion of a small nuclear device Monday illuminates a failure of nearly two decades of atomic diplomacy, writes David Sanger in the New York Times.
The Bush administration rejected anew Tuesday direct talks with North Korea, AP reports.
The US proposed tough new UN sanctions on North Korea Monday. At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, the US pressed for international inspections of all cargo moving into and out of North Korea, and a ban on all trading in military goods and services with the country. Russia and China, which have opposed tough sanctions, did not signal they were ready to go along with the American proposal.
North Korea's government is too erratic, too brutal, and too willing to sell what it has built to have a nuclear bomb, writes the New York Times in an editorial. But there is no military solution.
US military commanders and civilian policy makers are refining plans for a blockade of North Korean shipments to prevent the sale of a completed bomb or nuclear components, the Times reports. Officers say Navy and Air Force equipment are already in the region, and more could be deployed rapidly.
Iran The Bush Administration's rejection of security guarantees for Iran in exchange for suspending its uranium enrichment is counterproductive to any movement on the standoff over Iran's nuclear program, wrote Kevin Martin of Peace Action in a letter to the Washington Times. The Bush administration is clearly laying the groundwork for launching a military attack on Iran without explicit congressional or U.N. approval.
Iraq The shift of U.S. troops from Western Iraq to Baghdad risks undermining previous gains in the west, AP reports. "We do not have sufficient troop strength to secure the entire country simultaneously," a military analyst said.
Palestine Qatar, which has not traditionally played a major role in Palestinian affairs, tried Monday to revive negotiations on a national unity government between Fatah and Hamas.
China North Korea's action leaves Beijing little choice but to take a tougher approach, writes Joseph Kahn for the New York Times. But Chinese leaders still see highly punitive sanctions as unpalatable and counterproductive.
North Korea The North Korean test appears to have been a nuclear detonation but was fairly small by traditional standards, and possibly a failure or a partial success, federal and private analysts said yesterday.
South Korea South Korea warned Monday that it would "sternly deal" with North Korea's announcement that it conducted a nuclear test, saying the action could lead to a "nuclear arms buildup" in the region. But its president suggested that he was not ready to give up yet on his country's "sunshine policy" of engaging North Korea.
Burma Burma is staying pretty much where it has been since the military quashed a pro-democracy uprising by force in 1988, the New York Times reports. It remains one of the poorest and most repressed nations in Asia.
Mexico Leaders of protests trying to bring down a Mexican state governor they say is corrupt tentatively agreed late on Monday to scale back a months-old occupation of the tourist city of Oaxaca.
Contents: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/newsroom/index.html
-------- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org
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