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Summary: U.S./Top News Juan Cole, interviewed on the Lehrer news hour, called for a phased withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. This is significant because he had previously opposed such a move on the grounds that it would expose the civilian population to unrestrained sectarian blood-letting. By his own account (www.juancole.com), the failure of the U.S. to intervene to stop the recent massacres in Balad was the last straw.
The Los Angeles Times reports on the expected recommendations of the Iraq Study Group. The two options under consideration both involve policies the Bush Administration has previously ruled out: phased withdrawal of U.S. troops and engagement with Syria and Iran.
Following an explosion of sectarian violence over the weekend that left dozens dead in Balad, some residents asked why American troops had not intervened when the killings began in earnest on Saturday, the New York Times reports. One of the largest American military bases in Iraq, Camp Anaconda, is nearby.
American intelligence agencies have concluded that North Korea's test explosion last week was powered by plutonium that North Korea harvested from its small nuclear reactor, the New York Times reports. Nuclear experts said that the use of plutonium to make the bomb was important because it suggested that North Korea probably had only one nuclear program mature enough to produce weapons.
Iran The EU backed limited UN sanctions against Iran's nuclear program on Tuesday, Reuters reports. The EU's foreign ministers called for incremental measures targeted first at individuals and materials involved in Iranian uranium enrichment activities. Spanish Secretary of State for European Affairs Alberto Navarro said sanctions would be gradual because Europe, unlike the US, needed Iran as an oil supplier. Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies noted that while North Korea openly affirmed its nuclear weapons intentions, Iran insisted its program was peaceful. There was no conclusive proof that Iran sought an atom bomb, he said.
Russia demanded Monday the US lift sanctions against two Russian companies accused of making deals with Iran involving sensitive technology and suggested a U.S. refusal could affect negotiations on a U.N. sanctions resolution against Iran, AP reports. If Russia is asked to vote on a Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment at the same time that Russian companies are subject to U.S. sanctions, it would be voting on a measure "which at least by implication supports sanctions which have already been imposed on us," he said.
Iraq Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki told President Bush Monday that U.S. officials have been undermining his government, and sought reassurance that the administration was not preparing to abandon him, the Los Angeles Times reports. Maliki said he was concerned that U.S. officials had openly suggested imposing a two-month deadline for him to gain control of militias and quell sectarian violence, said White House Press Secretary Tony Snow.
Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq's million or so Christians for the most part coexisted peacefully with Muslims, the New York Times reports. But since Hussein's ouster, their status here has become increasingly uncertain. Over the past three and a half years, Christians have been subjected to a steady stream of church bombings, assassinations, kidnappings and threatening letters slipped under their doors. Estimates of the resulting Christian exodus vary from the tens of thousands to more than 100,000, with most heading for Syria, Jordan and Turkey.
Families fled in search of safety Monday as open warfare raged for a fourth day between Shiite militias and armed Sunnis in towns north of Baghdad, the Washington Post reports. Militias allied with Iraq's Shiite-led government held sway in Balad, forcing out Sunni families, according to police, residents and hospital officials. Local police officers accused Shiite-dominated government police forces of working alongside Shiite militias in executing Sunnis and appealed for more help.
Israel Prime Minister Olmert told the Israeli Parliament Monday that he was willing to meet the leaders of Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority in an effort to ease regional tensions, the New York Times reports. "I want to take this opportunity to call on Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to meet with me face to face," Olmert said. Siniora's office issued a statement saying that he had "announced more than once that Lebanon will be the last Arab country to sign a peace deal with Israel." Olmert made no mention of his plan to withdraw from some Jewish settlements in the West Bank. His failure to mention the West Bank withdrawal plan appeared to confirm the widespread belief that it was on hold indefinitely.
Lebanon Commanders of the French contingent of the UN force in Lebanon have warned that they might have to open fire if Israel Air Force warplanes continue their overflights in Lebanon, Defense Minister Peretz said, according to Haaretz.
Palestine A senior figure in Hamas published an article Tuesday condemning internal Palestinian violence and questioning whether it had become a "Palestinian disease," Reuters reports.
Hamas accused the US of fomenting internal strife among Palestinians as new details emerged of a campaign to funnel millions of dollars in funds to its opponents and provide weapons and military training for rival forces, the Observer reported Sunday.
Colombia Colombia's government and the Bush administration are hailing the demobilization of 32,000 fighters from right-wing paramilitary groups, reports Juan Forero for the Washington Post. But a more critical picture has emerged from the accounts of rights groups, victims of Colombia's conflict, and a report from the Attorney General's office. Paramilitary commanders, according to these accounts, have killed hundreds of people in violation of a cease-fire, trafficked cocaine and stolen millions of dollars from state institutions they had infiltrated.
Ecuador Rafael Correa, who garnered a weak showing Sunday in the first round of voting for president, finds himself in a situation that has plagued leftists in other Latin American elections this year: defending his ties to President Chávez of Venezuela, the New York Times reports. The article says that Álvaro Noboa, surged ahead by attacking Correa's advocacy of nationalistic economic proposals that seemed inspired by Chávez's policies. It's not clear why Correa's proposals should be described this way by the Times. An article yesterday by Juan Forero in the Washington Post described Correa as inspired by the economists John Maynard Keynes and Joseph Stiglitz, both of whom advocated stronger government intervention in managing the economy than the Bush Administration and the Washington-based international financial institutions have prescribed for Latin America.
Microcredit Walden Bello, commenting in the Nation on the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Muhammad Yunus, cautions against the religious belief that microcredit finance will bring development in poor countries. Microcredit is a great tool as a survival strategy, he writes, but it is not the key to development, which involves not only massive capital-intensive, state-directed investments to build industries but also an assault on the structures of inequality such as concentrated land ownership that systematically deprive the poor of resources to escape poverty.
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-------- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org
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