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. A modified version of this article is on Common Dreams: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1011-33.htm.
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Summary: U.S. A team of American and Iraqi public health researchers has estimated that 600,000 civilians have died in violence across Iraq since the American invasion. The estimates suggest that official stasistics and Western press accounts severely understate Iraq deaths due to the invasion and occupation.
Nearly one in five soldiers leaving the military after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan has been at least partly disabled as a result of service, according to documents of the Department of Veterans Affairs obtained by a Washington research group.The number suggests that taxpayers have only begun to pay the long-term financial cost of the two conflicts, the New York Times reports.
Following North Korea's claim that it detonated a nuclear device, Senator McCain sought to place blame on former President Clinton, calling the framework agreement Clinton negotiated a failure. Democrats pressed the argument that North Korea's claimed advance was a byproduct of Bush's decision to wage war against Iraq, which proved not to have any banned weapons, while doing too little about North Korea.
North Korea warned it would regard increased pressure from the US as a "declaration of war."
Secretary of State Rice said Tuesday the US did not intend to invade or attack North Korea, but she warned the North's leaders that they now risked sanctions "unlike anything that they have faced before." Sanctions sought by the US include international inspections of all cargo moving in and out of North Korea to detect weapons-related material. But that might prove difficult for China and Russia to accept, the New York Times reports.
Trying to force North Korea's leaders to abandon their nuclear program with military threats and a further tightening of the embargoes would increasing the suffering of its already starving people, Jimmy Carter writes. North Korean leaders have proven themselves almost impervious to outside pressure. The better option is to put into effect the September denuclearization agreement. The framework for agreement exists, with the US giving a firm statement of no hostile intent, and moving toward normal relations if North Korea forgoes any further nuclear weapons program and remains at peace.
Expanding missile defenses and ending humanitarian aid to North Korea are sure to destabilize the region, when what is needed is calm, smart diplomacy, writes Kevin Martin of Peace Action in a letter to the Times.
Iran Major powers are to discuss sanctions on Wednesday that could be imposed against Iran for its refusal to abandon uranium enrichment, the State Department said Tuesday. A spokesman predicted discussions would begin "in earnest'' later this week on a U.N. sanctions resolution against Iran, but said the Security Council would act more swiftly against North Korea.
The Bush administration is considering allowing an American company to export spare parts to repair Iranian planes because of concern the planes are not safe, the State Department said. A spokesman said the recommendation was based on a warning by the FAA that calls for the "immediate overhaul" of some American-made turbines on Airbus jets operated by Iran Air.
Iraq Many voters in Massachusetts will get to register their opinion on the war in Iraq next month when they consider a ballot question on whether the US should withdraw all troops, the Boston Globe reports. AFSC said more voters can consider the Nov. 7 ballot question than any other advisory policy issue in state history.
Israel A recent move by the Israeli Army to ban new Palestinian students from the West Bank and Gaza from Israeli universities for security reasons is causing controversy in Israel. On Tuesday, Gisha, an Israeli group that is an advocate for Palestinian rights, submitted a petition to the high court, calling the ban illegal. "Gisha calls upon Israel not to prevent Palestinian students from studying just because they are Palestinian," said the group's director, Sari Bashi. "No one should be denied access to education based on his or her national identity."
Lebanon "Little more than a week after Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon," a new fence around the northern portion of the village of Ghajar "to separate the northern side of the village from the rest of Lebanon," according to Lebanese, "amounts to a new occupation of their territory," the New York Times reports. The article reports that Israeli troops have not yet withdrawn from the northern part of the village, which is in Lebanon; thus contradicting the claim of the lead sentence of the article, that Israeli troops had withdrawn from Lebanon.
North Korea It is military insecurity, experts say, and not a desire to grab attention or gain leverage, that drove North Korea's decision to declare it had tested a nuclear weapon, the New York Times reports. Experts say North Korea wants an effective deterrent against the U.S. in case of war.
China China Tuesday expressed a rare willingness to support U.N. sanctions against its ally North Korea, but it said any punitive action would have to be narrowly targeted at the country's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs, the Washington Post reports. The US pressed the U.N. Security Council to support far stronger economic and trade measures that would permit international inspections of all North Korean cargo to search for weapons and to North Korea's ability to finance its nuclear program.
Haiti The US has partly lifted its arms embargo against Haiti, allowing Haiti to buy weapons for police battling gangs, AP reports. President Préval's government had complained the embargo was hampering its ability to restore order and confront the gangs.
OPEC OPEC ministers are still debating how to put a brake on falling oil prices, which have dropped nearly 25 percent since their high in mid-July, the New York Times reports. Iran and Venezuela want production cuts. Kuwait and Algeria agree but disagree on how to apportion the cuts. Saudi Arabia supports a production cut, OPEC watchers say, but wants to be discreet weeks before elections in the US.
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-------- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org
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