[lbo-talk] Just Foreign Policy News, January 18, 2007

Robert Naiman naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
Fri Jan 19 15:39:51 PST 2007


Just Foreign Policy News January 18, 2007 http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/newsroom/blog/

Ask your Representative to Co-Sponsor the DeFazio and Jones "Iran War Powers" Resolutions Representative DeFazio (D) and Representive Jones (R) have introduced resolutions re-affirming that President Bush cannot attack Iran without Congressional authorization. Ask your Representative to support them. http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/involved/warpowers.html

Just Foreign Policy on Daily Kos Just Foreign Policy, writing on Daily Kos, encourages people to support the DeFazio and Jones "Iran War Powers" resolutions. If you're on Daily Kos, recommend this diary if you want others to see it. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/19/10113/1791

January 27-29: March on Washington and Lobby Day UFPJ, MoveOn, Win Without War, many other groups and coalitions. http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3468

Support the Work of Just Foreign Policy http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate.html

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Summary: U.S./Top News 1) The Iraqi president says Iranian leaders told him they are ready to reach an understanding with the US over Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon, al-Hayat reports in Beirut.

2) In a thorough article on Democracy Rising, Arash Norouzi of the Mossadegh Project explains the controversy over Western press reports that Iranian President Ahmedinijad called for Israel to be "wiped off the map." The article explains that the mistranslation originated with Iran's news agency, but when Iranian officials corrected its report, Western media did not follow suit. Norouzi notes that Ahmedinijad has contributed significantly to the misunderstanding by repeatedly failing to explicitly disavow the mistranslation when confronted by Western reporters. He also notes that some Western media and politicians, not content with the original mistranslation, have further distorted the quote in the service of an agenda of confrontation.

3) Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday played down the possibility of American military action against Iran but said it was not the right time for diplomatic engagement, the New York Times reports, since "there's really nothing the Iranians want from us."

4) The cost of the Iraq war will reach about $8.4 billion a month this year, Pentagon spokesmen said Thursday, Reuters reports. When U.S. combat costs in Afghanistan are factored in, the Pentagon will spend about $9.7 billion a month during the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, Pentagon spokesmen said.

5) The Bush administration will abandon the practice of financing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through emergency spending requests that have relatively little supporting detail, Pentagon officials said Thursday, AP reports. The day-to-day cost of Pentagon operations in Iraq and Afghanistan has reached almost $10 billion a month, according to Tina Jonas, the Pentagon's top budget officer. That is up from an average of $8 billion per month for 2006, Jonas told the committee.

Iran 6) Iraq is carrying out an extensive review of its diplomatic protocols with Iran and may place new restrictions on them, the New York Times reports.

7) Iraq Study Group co-chair Lee Hamilton met a skeptical response from leaders of the House International Relations Committee as he argued for engagement with Iran, the New York Times reports. "Talking is not appeasement. It's diplomacy," said Hamilton. "Conversation with a country is not capitulation." Hamilton noted that Washington negotiated with Moscow throughout the cold war era. "All kinds of things can happen when diplomats get together and begin talking about the relationships," he said.

Iraq 8) U.S. intelligence leaders told Congress Moqtada al-Sadr will probably lower the profile of his militia and watch to see if the new U.S. strategy of placing more troops in the city is aimed at uncontrolled violence or specifically at him and his organization, the Washington Post reports.

Venezuela 9) Chavez's 21st-century socialism is different in one chief respect: It's been rather polite, writes columnist Marcela Sanchez for the Washington Post. Land reform in Venezuela, for example, has been accomplished with compensation, not expropriation.

Bolivia 10) Bolivia's government will move ahead with plans to nationalize the mining industry, President Morales said Friday, Reuters reports. Morales said it would not be a "full nationalization," referring to "deep reforms that will allow investors to recover their investments" but require investors to "make an economic contribution to the state."

Contents: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/newsroom/blog/

- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org



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