Hydrablog

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/us/17plea.html
March 16, 2010
Terror Suspect Likely to Change Plea
By THE NEW YORK TIMES [obama white house] [residual issues from President Bush’s tenure] [gsave] [federal judiciary] [one of last year’s spate of home-grown jihadis] [use psci 355, 455, 469] [upcoming trial and information from same] [followup] [*]
WASHINGTON — A Chicago man accused of helping to scout out Mumbai, India, in preparation for a rampage by a Pakistani terrorist group that left 163 people dead in 2008 is expected to plead guilty on Thursday.
The man, David C. Headley, who was arrested in October, has also been charged with plotting to attack a Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005 that outraged many Muslims. [*]
Mr. Headley pleaded not guilty when charged, but he has since been cooperating with government officials. He has been tied to high-level figures in the Pakistan-based militant group responsible for the Mumbai attacks.
On Tuesday, an order was docketed in federal court in Chicago scheduling a change-of-plea

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:22 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/us/17pentagon.html
March 16, 2010
Obama Restores Former Pentagon Line of Succession
By THOM SHANKER [obama white house] [NSC and bureaucracy] [defense department] [surely the white house had NSC liaison with Pentagon on this] [transitions and successions in the age of global jihadi hydra] [what if defense effectively lost its leader for short time???] [how does it coordinate with branches enumerated in constitution for continuity?] [use psci 355, 455] [followup] [*]
WASHINGTON — It is a morbid theme, but one that no superpower can ignore. So the Obama administration has quietly reviewed, and revised, the sequence in which Pentagon civilian officials would take command should Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates die unexpectedly, say in a surprise attack. [I would have thought the deputy would simply take the reigns for interim period?] [deputy knows the system better than secdef and has position in deputies committee of NSC] [*]
An executive order published without fanfare this month does away with a system for Pentagon succession instituted by former President George W. Bush, which played down the

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:21 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/16/AR2010031603830.html
U.S. fights trainer shortage, illiteracy in Afghanistan
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 17, 2010; A02 [obama white house] [residual issues from President Bush’s tenure] [gsave] [AfPak] [defense dept, Pentagon, various branches of military] [“surge” needs more trainers surged in AfPak] [followup] [*]
Roughly 2,000 contractors are working to train the Afghan army, about the same as the number of military personnel doing the job, according to a senior U.S. military official, who cited a shortage of available service members. [the steady privitization of traditional military-intelligence functions since 9/11] [*]
"We don't have all the green-suiters [military personnel] we need," said Army Maj. Gen. David Hogg, deputy commander of the NATO training mission for the Afghan army, during a conference call from Kabul. Hogg said that his group is short more than 1,000 trainers, even counting personnel pledged by NATO countries, and that he is looking to fill the gap with the transfer of an American battalion. [*]
Contractors are used at every level of training, from those who teach recruits how to read and write to those teaching advanced English to cadets at the Afghan version of West Point

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:20 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/16/AR2010031603753.html
If bin Laden is found, he'll be killed, Holder says
Wednesday, March 17, 2010; A03
TERRORISM [Obama white house] [111th congress 2nd session] [gsave] [federally judiciary] [AG Holder on OBL] [interesting: sounds a bit as if he’s saying the US will hang him after it gives him fair trial?] [probably tempest in teapot but seems odd?] [*]
Holder: If bin Laden found, he’ll be killed
Osama bin Laden “will never appear in an American courtroom,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. told House members at a hearing Tuesday.
“Let’s deal with the reality here,” Holder said in response to questions from Rep. John Culberson (R-Tex.). “The reality is, we will be reading Miranda rights to a corpse.”
Members of an Appropriations subcommittee pressed Holder about the Justice Department’s response to the failed Christmas Day bombing plot and the abortive decision to try in Lower Manhattan the alleged masterminds of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
He grew most heated, however, amid GOP attacks over the hypothetical capture of bin Laden. No law enforcement response would be necessary, he said, because “he will be killed by us or

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:19 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/16/AR2010031602078.html
With subtle shift in nuance, Hillary Clinton reiterates U.S. stance on Israel
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 17, 2010; A08 [Obama white house] [NSC and bureaucracy] [111th congress 2nd session] [SecState Clinton and the department of state] [Israel] [[US-Israeli relations] [the normally close partners are a bit angry with one another] [unsurprisingly, this creates multiple disturbances in institution of politics-foreign policy in America] [“proximity talks”] [followup] [c.f., today’s societal for Kagan and Friedman pieces; c.f., external] [cross in societal since when Israel is involved, societal inputs are manifold] [*]
In the face of bipartisan concern over U.S. criticism of Israeli policies, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday reiterated the administration's demand for a "full commitment" to peace talks from Israel but also ever so slightly bolstered her rhetorical support for the Jewish state. [*]
Clinton told reporters in Washington that the United States has an “absolute commitment to Israel’s security” – a shift in nuance compared with her characterization Friday of the United States as a “strong supporter” of Israel’s security. She also hailed the “close, unshakable bond” between the two countries, in contrast to her comment Friday that “our

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:18 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/world/middleeast/17diplo.html
March 16, 2010
Opportunity in a Fight With Israel
By MARK LANDLER [Obama white house] [NSC and bureaucracy] [111th congress 2nd session] [Israel] [[US-Israeli relations] [the normally close partners are a bit angry with one another] [unsurprisingly, this creates multiple disturbances in institution of politics-foreign policy in America] [“proximity talks”] [followup] [c.f., today’s societal for Kagan and Friedman pieces; c.f., external] [cross in societal since when Israel is involved, societal inputs are manifold] [*]
WASHINGTON — For President Obama, getting into a serious fight with Israel carries obvious domestic and foreign political risks. But it may offer the administration a payoff it sees as worthwhile: shoring up Mr. Obama’s credibility as a Middle East peacemaker by showing doubtful Israelis and Palestinians that he has the fortitude to push the two sides toward an agreement. [*]
The risks at home were on display on Tuesday, as more than two dozen members of Congress, many of them Democrats, implored Mr. Obama to ease the tensions with the Israeli

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:17 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/16/AR2010031603322.html
Allies everywhere feeling snubbed by President Obama
By Robert Kagan
Wednesday, March 17, 2010; A21 [oped] [on Obama foreign policy] [last one was relatively kind to Obama—continuity oped] [this one a bit more critical and in particular of his disruption, as some see it, of Israel-US alliance] [I thought it was interesting piece] [sometime I want to take a year’s worth and check them top to bottom?] [*]
The contretemps between President Obama and Israel needs to be seen in a broader global context. The president who ran against "unilateralism" in the 2008 campaign has worse relations overall with American allies than George W. Bush did in his second term.
Israelis shouldn't feel that they have been singled out. In Britain, people are talking about the end of the "special relationship" with America and worrying that Obama has no great regard for the British, despite their ongoing sacrifices in Afghanistan. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy has openly criticized Obama for months (and is finally being rewarded with a private dinner, presumably to mend fences). In Eastern and Central Europe, there

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:16 PM | Permalink

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/16/AR2010031603302.html
Why the U.S. must talk to the Taliban
By Ahmed Rashid
Thursday, March 18, 2010;
LAHORE, PAKISTAN [oped] [Rashid (author of Taliban) on Washington’s need to talk with Taliban?] [use psci 469] [mark my words: global-jihadi hydra to attempt Mubai-like attack on India in next several months] [*]
While the Obama administration is watching the battlefield in Afghanistan, hoping for a quick weakening of the Taliban, regional powers are ratcheting up tensions in and outside that country. Pakistan and Iran in particular want to ensure that by the time the United States is ready to talk to the Taliban, the region's future will already be shaped by local powers, limiting Washington's options. Afghanistan's ethnic and sectarian divisions are being exacerbated in the process. [*]
The United States still sees the battle in Afghanistan as a two-sided counterinsurgency, and its focus is on the military situation. In fact, Afghanistan is facing multidimensional threats

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:14 PM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/opinion/17friedman.html
March 17, 2010
Op-Ed Columnist
Let’s Fight Over a Big Plan
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN [oped] [on Israeli-Palestinian conflict, of course] [what else?] [the US-Israeli relationship has recently been on the rocks: Obama demands, Israel’s diss of Veep Biden recently, Axelrod’s overreaction, and the rest of what passes for US-Israeli cooperation these days] [both Washington and Tel Aviv would be well served by taking time out and de personalizing things] [use psci 350, 355, 455] [*]
Underlying the latest U.S.-Israel spat over settlements is the deeper — real — problem: There are five key actors in the Israeli-Palestinian equation today. [*]Two of them — the Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and the alliance of Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah — have clear strategies. These two are actually opposed, but one of them will shape Israeli-Palestinian relations in the coming years; indeed, their showdown is nearing. I hope Fayyad wins. It would be good for Israel, America and the moderate Arabs. But those three need their

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:12 PM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/opinion/17wed1.html
March 17, 2010
Editorial
Will China Listen?
[editorial] [US-China relations on host of issues] [China’s currency, so forth] [*]
The drumbeat of complaints in Washington about China’s manipulation of its currency — and the deafening silence pretty much everywhere else — might lead one to think that this is just an American problem. It isn’t.
China’s decision to base its economic growth on exporting deliberately undervalued goods is threatening economies around the world. It is fueling huge trade deficits in the United States and Europe. Even worse, it is crowding out exports from other developing countries, threatening their hopes of recovery.
After treading lightly on the subject of China, President Obama vowed last month to “get much tougher” about China’s cheap currency. On Monday, 130 members of Congress sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, demanding that the Obama administration designate China as a currency manipulator in a report due to Congress next month. On Tuesday, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill aimed to force the administration’s

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:11 PM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/world/europe/17briefs-Ukraine.html
March 16, 2010
Ukraine: Bid to Ban Military Ties
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS [Ukraine] [former USSR] [Russia’s “Near Abroad”] [in new assertive Russia] [use psci350] [use ir text] [Ukraine’s continued turmoil in domestic politics and same being pulled between West (NATO, EU) and East (Russian Federation, etc)] [one result of election is this: Ukraine to move decisively to rebalance (“reset” in Obamaspeak) Ukraine’s relations with NATO and Russia Federation] [*]
Ukraine’s new governing coalition in Parliament says it will pass a law preventing the country from joining any military alliances, including NATO. The coalition supporting the new president, Viktor F. Yanukovich, says in a formal statement of intent released Tuesday that the legislation will “enshrine Ukraine’s nonaligned status in law.” The move would help

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:11 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/world/middleeast/17briefs-Egypt.html
March 16, 2010
Egypt: President Reappears
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS [Egypt] [broader middle east] [northern Africa to horn] [democratization] [President Mubarak’s makes appearences to undermine rumors of poor health, and the rest] [followup] [*]
President Hosni Mubarak appeared on Egyptian state television talking with his doctors on Tuesday — his first appearance since an operation in Germany 10 days earlier. The broadcast followed a swirl of rumors and speculation over the 81-year-old president’s health [*]since what doctors said was the removal of his gall bladder on March 6. The Information Ministry issued photographs and video of Mr. Mubarak, below, sitting and talking with his doctors at Heidelberg University Hospital. “He was upbeat and in very good spirits as usual,” Dr. Markus Buechler, who leads the physicians treating him, said in a televised statement. “His resolve and willpower that we have witnessed all this week was very obvious this morning as he looked forward to going back to his normal activity.” Mr.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:10 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/world/middleeast/17mideast.html
March 16, 2010
Israel Objects to U.S. Construction Demands
By ETHAN BRONNER [Israel] [domestic politics intersects foreign policy] [many things happening in Israel as Bibi attempts to move Israel toward “painful decisions”?] [for reasons that are not entirely clear, Obama continues to be exceptionally unpopular in Israel—it’s more than his attempts to treat Arabs evenhanded but that’s surely part] [followup] [see Kagan’s and Friedman’s respective opeds in today’s societal] [*]
JERUSALEM — The discord between the United States and Israel over Jewish building in East Jerusalem deepened Tuesday with Israeli officials saying they would reject demands by Washington and expressing anger over the public upbraiding of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the Obama administration. [first rule of politics: when in a hole stop digging] [in thbis case just the opposite—digging more furiously?] [*]
On a day of scattered disturbances by Palestinians in East Jerusalem, news emerged that

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:09 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/world/middleeast/17sadr.html
March 16, 2010
Followers of Sadr Emerge Stronger After Iraq Elections
By ANTHONY SHADID [-ir] [hydra] [insurgency] [renewed sectarian tensions and fault lines] [success of “surge”] [as well as it worked, the issue still looms regarding how the Awakening to be situated in government in future?] [elections appear to occur with little disruption despite the attempts] [good news for US and Iraq?] [followup] [Iraqis anxiously await the results] [two prominent Shi’a families—the Hakims and the Sadrs—continue to jockey while Maliki is marginalized a little?] [*]
BAGHDAD — The followers of Moktada al-Sadr, a radical cleric who led the Shiite insurgency against the American occupation, have emerged as Iraq’s equivalent of Lazarus in elections last week, defying ritual predictions of their demise and now threatening to realign the nation’s balance of power. [in fairness, Lazarus has been under virtual house arrest in Iran for years now] [pretty cost-free way of leading a movement?] [*]
Their apparent success in the March 7 vote for Parliament — perhaps second only to the followers of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki as the largest Shiite bloc — underscores a

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:08 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/world/middleeast/17iran.html
March 16, 2010
Iranians Defy a Ban in a Display of Dissent
By NAZILA FATHI [Iran] [confluence of June elections with Iran’s apparent drive for nuke weapon] [the intense internal dynamics of the various factions and Iran’s nuclear-enrichment processes-plants] [Tehran’s intense factionalism] [thugocracy readies to thwart another opposition use of traditional holiday for rally against regime] [this movement might really be something if it had some leadership?] [followup] [*]
Iranians defied a ban on events marking a traditional festival on Tuesday, turning an annual celebration into a show of antigovernment sentiment. [*]
Also Tuesday, the opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi appeared to challenge the authority of the supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, by assigning a name to the new Iranian year, a traditional prerogative of the ayatollah. [he seems to have become more comfortable in his mantle as leader—though it’s more symbolic than substantive, IMHO] [*]

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:07 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/world/asia/17briefs-Afghan.html
March 16, 2010
Afghanistan: Pledge for Kandahar
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Pakistan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban and other insurgencies] [spring offensive turned into major effort throughout year] [defense department’s continued use of contractors—one would think the Obama folks may wish to move this back into defense?] [use psci 469] [followup] [*]
Afghanistan’s government will provide more than 1,000 police reinforcements for the southern province of Kandahar in response to Taliban attacks that have killed dozens of people there before a long-awaited offensive on the insurgent stronghold, [*]an official said Tuesday. The Interior Ministry agreed with a provincial request for more security, according to Tooryalai Wesa, the governor of Kandahar. Mr. Wesa had asked for more police officers after several bombs over the weekend killed at least 35 people in the city of Kandahar. [*]The Taliban called the attacks a warning that they were prepared for the war’s next phase. Afghan and NATO troops are planning to move into Kandahar, the Taliban’s spiritual birthplace, later this year after securing another stronghold in neighboring

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:06 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/world/asia/18pstan.html
March 17, 2010
Pakistan Charges Americans With Terrorism
By WAQAR GILLANI and JACK HEALY [Pakistan] [Pakistan as central hub in AfPak wheel] [AfPak] [even as US commits much money and support to Pakistan’s govt] [mounting evidence that some of the more important insitutions in said govt—military and ISI—are fickle friends at best] [more on the 2nd … generation Muslim-Americans arrested in Pakistan over the holidays—charged with terrorism now] [followup] [*]
LAHORE, Pakistan — Five young American Muslims detained in Pakistan last December on suspicion of seeking to join jihadists in Afghanistan were formally charged [I don’t know much about them but it’s at least ironic that Pakistan is charging them when elements inside Pakistan’s govt (ISI, army, elsewhere) have done essentially same thing?] [*]Wednesday, in a case that added to fears that Westerners might increasingly be turning to Islamist-inspired terrorism. [*]
The five men, friends from the Washington suburbs in their late teens and early 20s, pleaded

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:05 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/world/asia/17briefs-dronebf.html
March 17, 2010
Pakistan: Drone Strikes Reported
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS [Pakistan] [Pakistan as central hub in AfPak wheel] [AfPak] [even as US commits much money and support to Pakistan’s govt] [mounting evidence that some of the more important insitutions in said govt—military and ISI—are fickle friends at best] [another UAV attack reported] [followup] [use psci 469] [*]
Two suspected American missile strikes killed at least seven militants in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, [*]Pakistani officials said. An intelligence official and an army official said some insurgents had also been wounded in the strikes, in two separate areas of the North Waziristan tribal region. They said the first strike was aimed at a vehicle near

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:04 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/business/global/15yuan.html
March 14, 2010
China Uses Rules on Global Trade to Its Advantage
By KEITH BRADSHER [China] [PRC] [US-Sino relations] [complex relationship that Obama admin appears to be willing to agitate slightly?] [use psci 350] [China’s monetary policies, the Yuan or renminbi, and trade imbalances] [followup] [cross in govt] [*]
HONG KONG — With China’s exports soaring, even as other major economies struggle to recover from the recession, evidence is mounting that Beijing is skillfully using inconsistencies in international trade rules to spur its own economy at the expense of others, including the United States.
Seeking to maintain its export dominance, China is engaged in a two-pronged effort: fighting protectionism among its trade partners and holding down the value of its currency.
China vigorously defends its economic policies. On Sunday, Premier Wen Jiabao

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 08:32 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/world/americas/15juarez.html
March 14, 2010
Two Drug Slayings in Mexico Rock U.S. Consulate
By MARC LACEY and GINGER THOMPSON [Mexico] [US-Mexico relations] [the Americas] [Latin America] [American-fueled drug wars] [consider this: Mexico is losing the equivalent of an –ir war of KIA each year in the drug war] [that’s all the 3-thousand-plus KIA since 2003 but in Mexico’s case they are losing those in a year’s time] [followup] [opening move in 2010’s violence?] [use psci 350] [use ir text] [cross in govt] [*]
LA UNIÓN, Mexico — Gunmen believed to be linked to drug traffickers shot a pregnant American consulate worker and her husband to death in the violence-racked border town of Ciudad Juárez over the weekend, leaving their baby wailing in the back seat of their car, the authorities said Sunday. The gunmen also killed the husband of another consular employee and wounded his two young children.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 08:31 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/world/middleeast/16mideast.html
March 15, 2010
Netanyahu Offers Apology, but No Shift in Policy
By ISABEL KERSHNER [Israel] [domestic politics intersects foreign policy] [many things happening in Israel as Bibi attempts to move Israel toward “painful decisions”?] [after Veep Biden long gone Bibi addresses the mess up that occurred] [followup] [not terribly surprising, his position?] [*]
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told his cabinet on Sunday that the ill-timed announcement of new housing plans for a Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem during a visit by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. last week had been “regrettable” and “hurtful.” [*]
Mr. Netanyahu also said that the government had set up a committee to “examine the chain of events and to ensure procedures” to prevent such an episode from happening again.
But he did not indicate that the building project would be canceled — a move that

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 08:30 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/world/middleeast/15egypt.html
March 14, 2010
Political Levers Lock Into Gear in Election Year
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN [Egypt] [broader middle east] [northern Africa to horn] [democratization] [President Mubarak’s govt has begun rounding up Muslim Brothers candidates well in advance of elections?] [followup] [*]
CAIRO — Egypt’s parliamentary elections are still months away, but the arrests have already started.
The authorities have locked up hundreds of members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a routine signal that votes will soon be counted. [*]However, what is different this year is that the arrests have begun much earlier than in years past, that they are aimed at a large number of the group’s leaders and that they follow a series of steps by the national leadership to limit the development of a strong political opposition, [*]said independent analysts, human rights groups and members of the Brotherhood.
“We see this as a continuation or intensification of a crackdown on dissent that

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 08:30 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/world/asia/15contractors.html
March 14, 2010
Contractors Tied to Effort to Track and Kill Militants
By DEXTER FILKINS and MARK MAZZETTI [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Pakistan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban and other insurgencies] [spring offensive turned into major effort throughout year] [defense department’s continued use of contractors—one would think the Obama folks may wish to move this back into defense?] [use psci 469] [followup] [*]
KABUL, Afghanistan — Under the cover of a benign government information-gathering program, a Defense Department official set up a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help track and kill suspected militants, [what happens if-when one is taken prisoner?] [will dod move heaven and earth?] [what classified info might contractor have?] [*] according to military officials and businessmen in Afghanistan and the United States.
The official, Michael D. Furlong, hired contractors from private security companies that employed former C.I.A. and Special Forces operatives. The

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 08:29 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/world/asia/15kandahar.html
March 14, 2010
Shaken Afghan City Seeks More Support From Kabul
By SANGAR RAHIMI and ALISSA J. RUBIN [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Pakistan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban and other insurgencies] [spring offensive turned into major effort throughout year] [Taliban and jihadi allies strike back in Kandahar] [use psci 469] [followup] [*]
KABUL, Afghanistan — A day after five lethal bombs shook Kandahar, officials appealed Sunday to the central government to send more security forces and expand intelligence gathering in the southern province, underscoring the increasing violence and lawlessness in the city. [looks kike it’s moving to Kandahar ahead of US plans to tackle Kandahar?] [*]
Although Kandahar has long had violent periods, a number of explosions and assassinations in recent weeks have suggested that it is entering an even more chaotic chapter, [*]with the authorities unable to ensure residents’ safety.
The bombs on Saturday evening, which exploded a few minutes apart, killed at least

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 08:28 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/66032/james-m-lindsay-and-ray-takeyh/after-iran-gets-the-bomb
Foreign Affairs
[accessed 3/14/10 10:13 AM]
Published by Council on Foreign Relations
ESSAY
After Iran Gets the Bomb
Containment and Its Complications
March/April 2010 [Obama white house] [NSC and bureaucracy] [111th congress 2nd session] [Iran] [confluence of June elections with Iran’s apparent drive for nuke weapon] [the intense internal dynamics of the various factions and Iran’s nuclear-enrichment processes-plants] [bureaucracy] [growing debate on whether Iran may be contained] [my position has been yes, not much different than Soviets or DPRK] [cross in societal] [use psci 355, 455] [*] [NOTE: get full from campus as member of consortium . . .]
James M. Lindsay and Ray Takeyh
JAMES M. LINDSAY is Senior Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair at the Council on Foreign Relations. RAY TAKEYH is a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of Guardians of the Revolution: Iran and the World in the Age of the Ayatollahs.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:37 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/weekinreview/14sanger.html
March 12, 2010
Debate Grows on Nuclear Containment of Iran
By DAVID E. SANGER [Obama white house] [NSC and bureaucracy] [111th congress 2nd session] [Iran] [confluence of June elections with Iran’s apparent drive for nuke weapon] [the intense internal dynamics of the various factions and Iran’s nuclear-enrichment processes-plants] [bureaucracy] [growing debate on whether Iran may be contained] [my position has been yes, not much different than Soviets or DPRK] [cross in societal] [use psci 355, 455] [*]
For a few months in the mid-1960s President Johnson and his aides secretly weighed bombing China’s nuclear sites — perhaps seeking Soviet help — rather than let Mao get the bomb. Then the costs of starting another war in Asia sank in and they decided to try containment — living with a threatening regime while deterring its most dangerous moves.
It worked. Nearly five decades later, more Americans wake up worried about our trillion-dollar debt to China than about China’s arsenal. China has evolved into a comparatively

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:36 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/13/AR2010031302252.html
Critics: Military trial of terror suspects could open cases to legal uncertainty
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 14, 2010; A02 [obama white house] [residual issues from President Bush’s tenure] [gsave] [federal judiciary] [America’s guests at gitmo] [groups such as gitmo 5 pr 7, gitmo 50 out of nearly 200?] [in past couple days, supremes declined to hear their case?] [problems ahead for military tribunals and why the US ought to be less dogmatic and more practical: use what works in given cases and what’s comports with basic rule of law] [use psci 355, 455, 469] [followup] [*]
Using a military commission to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants for their alleged role in the Sept. 11 attacks could open the case to significant legal uncertainty and expose fresh details of detainee abuse in a proceeding that might not get underway for two years or longer, [*]national security experts and plan critics say.
The heated political battle over where Mohammed will face U.S.-style justice continues to simmer as President Obama's legal advisers consider their options. But in the face of resistance from authorities in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania for a civilian trial, a

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:34 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/11/AR2010031103394.html
Five myths about the war in Afghanistan
By Michael O'Hanlon and Hassina Sherjan
Sunday, March 14, 2010; B02 [oped] [O’Hanlon and someone] [this guy co authors more stuff than anyone I know] [here’s a bit on US strategy in AfPak] [interesting] [is Obama’s “surge” working?] [perhaps]] [use psci 355, 455, 469] [*]
The war in Afghanistan is in its ninth year, and even officials supportive of the U.S. presence there acknowledge the challenges that remain. "People still need to understand there is some very hard fighting and very hard days ahead," Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said during his trip to Afghanistan last week. But the conflict is not hopeless, nor it is eternal. If we want to develop realistic expectations about the war -- how it might unfold from here and when it could begin to wind down -- it would help to dispel some of the popular mythologies that have emerged about the Afghans, the enemy we're fighting and the U.S. commitment. [*]
1. Afghans always hate and defeat their invaders.
The Afghans drove the British Empire out of their country in the 19th century and did the

Continue reading "Five myths about the war in Afghanistan" »

Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:33 AM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/opinion/14gorbachev.html
March 14, 2010
Op-Ed Contributor
Perestroika Lost
By MIKHAIL GORBACHEV
Moscow [Goby occasionally pens an oped, usually here in NNYTs] [another on what’s happened in Russian Federation under Putin] [use psci 350] [use ir text] [*]
PERESTROIKA, the series of political and economic reforms I undertook in the Soviet Union in 1985, has been the subject of heated debate ever since. Today the controversy has taken on a new urgency — not just because of the 25th anniversary, but also because Russia is again facing the challenge of change. In moments like this, it is appropriate and necessary to look back. [*]
We introduced perestroika because our people and the country’s leaders understood that we could no longer continue as we had. The Soviet system, created on the precepts of socialism amid great efforts and sacrifices, had made our country a major power with a strong industrial base. The Soviet Union was strong in emergencies, but in more normal circumstances, our system condemned us to inferiority. [but that spirit of banding together during crises stuck and became part of Russian foreberance] [*]

Continue reading "Perestroika Lost" »

Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:33 AM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/opinion/14friedman.html
March 14, 2010
Op-Ed Columnist
Driving Drunk in Jerusalem
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
[oped] [Friedman on recent brouhaha over Biden’s visit to Israel and govt’s apparent effort to embarrass the administration] [Obama unpopular among some Israelis because he’s tried to be more even handed to Palestinians, etc] [*]
I am a big Joe Biden fan. The vice president is an indefatigable defender of U.S. interests abroad. So it pains me to say that on his recent trip to Israel, when Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s government rubbed his nose in some new housing plans for contested East Jerusalem, the vice president missed a chance to send a powerful public signal: He should have snapped his notebook shut, gotten right back on Air Force Two, flown home and left the following scribbled note behind: “Message from America to the Israeli government: Friends don’t let friends drive drunk. And right now, you’re driving drunk. You think you can embarrass your only true ally in the world, to satisfy some domestic political need, with no

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:32 AM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/world/asia/15thai.html
March 14, 2010
Protesters Surge Into Bangkok, Urging New Election
By THOMAS FULLER Thailand] [SEAsia] [recent turmoil] [week or so ago protests resulted in cancellation of summit and deaths] [ramping back down?] [followup, from last summer or spring?] [*]
BANGKOK -- Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters poured into Bangkok on Sunday demanding that the government step down in what was one of the largest demonstrations in the recent tumultuous history of Thailand.[*]
Convoys of farmers in pickup trucks and busloads of families wearing the protesters’ trademark red shirts blanketed a district of ministries and government offices.
“We are here to announce class warfare, in peace and for democracy,” Nattawut Saikua, a charismatic protest leader, said to a roaring crowd not deterred by the scorching sun. [*]
Organizers estimated the crowd at 250,000 people and said more were on the way by road and riverboat. The police estimated the number of protesters at 55,000 but said the

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:31 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/us/14terror.html
March 13, 2010
U.S. Woman Held in Plot Is Released, Family Says
By KIRK JOHNSON and LIZ ROBBINS [Ireland] [earlier story had her involved in Sweden plot?] [no apparently releases?] [I think I had the original piece in govt or societal] [followup] [domestic jihadis in US] [*]
LEADVILLE, Colo. — An American woman whose family feared that she may have become a radicalized Muslim was detained in Ireland last week in connection with a plot to assassinate a Swedish cartoonist.
But her relatives said Saturday night that they had learned that the woman, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, 31, had been released. [*]
“She’s definitely been released,” said George Mott, 51, Ms. Paulin-Ramirez’s stepfather. But he said that the family was still concerned because they had not heard from her and did not know whether she had regained custody of her 6-year-old son, Christian. [*]
Ms. Paulin-Ramirez’s mother, Christine Mott, 59, said in a tear-filled interview at her home here that she had learned Thursday that her daughter was being held by Irish officials and that Christian was in state custody. [*]
“I am terrified for my daughter,” Ms. Mott said. “And that baby is my heart.”
Ms. Paulin-Ramirez had announced her conversion to Islam around last Easter, her mother

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:30 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/03/14/world/news-us-palestinians-israel-arrest.html
March 14, 2010
Israel Arrests Top Hamas Official
By REUTERS
Filed at 9:31 a.m. ET [Israeli-Palestinian conflict] [boiling resentment in Jerusalem] [anger is multi-faceted: Israelis angry at Obama and what they view as being too tough on them; well developed anger by Arabs over Israel’s treatment; so on] [Israel arrests a Hamas figure in Ramallah, West Bank] [that’s odd—what was he doing in Ramallah?] [*]
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli forces arrested a senior Hamas figure on Sunday after a raid in the town of Ramallah, the seat of the West Bank-based Palestinian government, the Israeli military said.
A military statement described Maher Audi as a founder of Hamas in the West Bank and said he was responsible for the death of 10 Israelis. [*]
There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas, an Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, has carried out dozens of suicide bombings against Israelis. It controls the Gaza Strip coastal enclave that is blockaded by

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:29 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/world/middleeast/14jordan.html
March 13, 2010
Some Palestinian Jordanians Lose Citizenship
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN [Jordan] [Middle East proper] [Arabia] [Jordan one of the few Arab countries with relations w/Israel] [Jordan’s ongoing struggle with Hashemite versus Palestinian priviledges] [Palestinians treated 2nd class even in Jordan with its sizable Palestinian population] [followup, Feb 2][*]
AMMAN, Jordan — Muhannad Haddad grew up here, went to school here, got a job in a bank here and traveled to foreign countries with a passport from here. Then one day the authorities said he was no longer Jordanian, and with that one stroke they took away his citizenship and compromised his ability to travel, study, work, seek health care, buy property or even drive. [*]
The authorities effectively told him they were doing it for his own good. They said that like thousands of other Jordanians of Palestinian descent, he was being stripped of his citizenship

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:29 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/world/middleeast/14iraq.html
March 13, 2010
Issue of Presidency Endangers Iraq’s Tenuous Balance
By ANTHONY SHADID and SAM DAGHER [-ir] [hydra] [insurgency] [renewed sectarian tensions and fault lines] [success of “surge”] [as well as it worked, the issue still looms regarding how the Awakening to be situated in government in future?] [elections appear to occur with little disruption despite the attempts] [good news for US and Iraq?] [followup] [Iraqis anxiously await the results] [early results suggest hardened positions instead of reconciliation but it takes time] [*]
BAGHDAD — Few doubted that the choice of the country’s next prime minister would prove to be one of the most intractable disputes in forging a new government to lead Iraq as the American military withdraws.
But in negotiations that could last months, the presidency, a largely ceremonial post, has emerged as a growing quarrel, threatening to upset Iraq’s still tenuous and ambiguous arrangements of sect, ethnicity and power.
It was the latest demarcation across a political map that grew more muddied on Saturday as early returns from last week’s election showed Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:28 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/world/asia/14kandahar.html
March 13, 2010
Explosions Rock Afghan City, Killing Dozens
By ALISSA J. RUBIN [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Pakistan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban and other insurgencies] [spring offensive turned into major effort throughout year] [Taliban and jihadi allies strike back in Kandahar] [use psci 469] [followup] [*]
KABUL, Afghanistan — At least four strong explosions rocked Kandahar on Saturday evening, causing buildings to collapse and killing dozens of people, according to Afghan and American officials.
The Kandahar authorities asked NATO forces to help in the rescue alongside Afghan soldiers and Afghan National Police. One of the attacks occurred near the city’s police headquarters and another near the Kandahar prison. The other targets were still unclear three hours after the explosions, [*]officials said. On Sunday, a roadside bomb killed a Pakistani construction worker and wounded six others near Pakistan’s consulate in the city, Reuters reported.
Ahmed Wali Karzai, the chairman of the Kandahar Provincial Council and President Hamid Karzai

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:27 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/13/AR2010031302258.html
Pakistani scientist Khan describes Iranian efforts to buy nuclear bombs
By R. Jeffrey Smith and Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 14, 2010; A14 [Pakistan] [Pakistan as central hub in AfPak wheel] [AfPak] [AQ Khan speaks up on his network and Iran’s purchases] [followup] [c.f., today’s govt where NYTs and FA pieces on Iran’s WMD featured] [*]
The father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program has written an official account that details an Iranian attempt to buy atomic bombs from Pakistan at the end of the 1980s. [*]
Bombmaker Abdul Qadeer Khan states in documents obtained by The Washington Post that in lieu of weapons, Pakistan gave Iran bomb-related drawings, parts for centrifuges to purify uranium and a secret worldwide list of suppliers. Iran's centrifuges, which are viewed as building blocks for a nuclear arsenal, are largely based on models and designs obtained from Pakistan. [hence called P1 and P2 after Pakistan’s design] [*]
Khan’s narrative calls into question Iran’s long-standing stance that it has not sought nuclear arms. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last month that “we won’t do that because we don’t believe in having them.” [certainly belies that claim] [*]
The account also conflicts with the Pakistani government's assertion that Khan proliferated nuclear know-how without government approval. [no one in West believes it was without Pakistan’s acquiescence, at minimum] [in particular then
General Musharraf and Ms. Bhutto allegedly knew] [*]
Pakistan has never disclosed Khan's written account. A summary of interrogations of Khan

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:26 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/world/asia/14pstan.html
March 13, 2010
Suicide Bomber Kills 13 at Checkpoint in Pakistan
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS [Pakistan] [Pakistan as central hub in AfPak wheel] [AfPak] [even as US commits much money and support to Pakistan’s govt] [mounting evidence that some of the more important insitutions in said govt—military and ISI—are fickle friends at best] [I believe this is same as one reported yesterday] [followup] [*]
SAIDU SHARIF, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber driving a motorized rickshaw blew himself up at a security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, officials said, underscoring the nation’s relentless security threat.
At least 13 people were killed and more than 50 were wounded in the blast here in the small town of Saidu Sharif in the Swat Valley. It was the second major attack in the country in less than 24 hours. Suicide bombers killed at least 55 people in near-simultaneous blasts on Friday in Lahore.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:25 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/world/middleeast/13terror.html
March 12, 2010
Arrest Stokes Concerns About Radicalized Muslims
By SCOTT SHANE [obama white house] [residual issues from President Bush’s tenure] [gsave] [federal judiciary] [domestic jihadis?] [the once-firm position that US did not have the Euro problem of domestic jihadis] [assimilation apparently only gets one so far?] [followup] [2009 forward was eye opener for many of us?] [use psci 355, 455, 469] [see Post’s entry on same in today’s external] [*]
WASHINGTON — The arrest in Yemen of a New Jersey man accused of joining Al Qaeda is the latest in an alarming string of cases involving radicalized American Muslims, a trend some experts link to the duration of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. [*]
Yemeni authorities said this week that the American, Sharif Mobley, 26, who had worked for six years as a laborer at nuclear plants in New Jersey, had been arrested last week in Sana, the Yemeni capital, in a sweep of militants tied to the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda and the Somali movement Al Shabab. [*]
Taken to a hospital for medical treatment, Mr. Mobley was said to have grabbed a security

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:22 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/13/us/AP-US-American-Terror-Plot.html
March 13, 2010
AP Source: Colo. Woman Held in Terror Probe
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 11:06 a.m. ET [obama white house] [residual issues from President Bush’s tenure] [gsave] [federal judiciary] [domestic jihadis?] [the once-firm position that US did not have the Euro problem of domestic jihadis] [assimilation apparently only gets one so far?] [followup] [2009 forward was eye opener for many of us?] [use psci 355, 455, 469] [*]
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A U.S. official says a Colorado woman has been detained in Ireland in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate a Swedish cartoonist whose sketch offended many Muslims.
Jamie Paulin-Ramirez was among seven people arrested in Ireland this week as authorities investigate an alleged plot to kill the cartoonist over a 2007 sketch depicting the head of the Muslim prophet Mohammed on a dog's body. [that’s two now] [I’d like to know more on her

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:21 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/world/asia/13prexy.html
March 12, 2010
White House Weighs Talks With Taliban After Afghan Successes
By HELENE COOPER and MARK LANDLER [Obama white house] [111th congress, 2nd session] [residuals from previous . . . ] [gsave and counterinsurgency strategy] [more on Obama admin and its substantial continuity with its predecessor] [specifically, what is coming in AfPak after Marja?] [Kandahar and beyond] [use psci 355, 455, 469] [*]
WASHINGTON — With American troops pouring into insurgent strongholds in Afghanistan and the United States succeeding in killing insurgent leaders with drone attacks in Pakistan, the Obama administration is beginning to consider whether it has gained the upper hand sufficiently to justify an effort to begin talks with the Taliban. [at some point it must decide how far it’s willing to offer reconciliation among Taliban] [*]
President Obama met with his war cabinet on Friday, and the issue of reconciling with the Taliban is gaining traction, even as administration officials debate whether the time is

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:20 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/12/AR2010031203570.html
Topic A
Sunday, March 14, 2010; A15 [special pundit edition of punditocracy’s take on the latest spat between Netanyahu and Obama administrations] [just looking at affiliations, clear it’s stacked with neconservatives] [Vulcan tend to support Israel even when it is in conflict with US interests] [the reasons are many and complex but among them most neocons believe Israel right on the issues and over time those postitions are in US interest, etc] [use psci 355, 455] [*]
The Post asked former officials and policy experts whether there is a divide between the Obama administration and the Jewish state. Below are responses from Elliott Abrams, David Makovsky, Aaron David Miller, Danielle Pletka, and Hussein Agha and Robert Malley. [multiple names of people whose notoriety is partly due to nearly unshakable support for

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:20 AM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/opinion/13sat2.html
March 13, 2010
Editorial
Something Worse Than Inaction
[editorial] [on climate change and US reluctance to do much] [use psci 350] [global commons issues] [*]
The Obama administration has always had a backup plan in case Congress failed to pass a broad climate change bill. The Environmental Protection Agency would use its Clean Air Act authority to regulate greenhouse gases. Regulation, or the threat of it, would goad Congress to act or provide a backstop if it did not. [*]
The House passed a bill last year seeking an economywide cap on emissions, but there has been no progress in the Senate. Now some senators seem determined to undercut the E.P.A.’s regulatory authority. These include not only Republicans who panic at any regulation, but also Democrats who say they worry about climate change but insist that the executive branch stand aside until Congress gets around to dealing with it. [*]
The most destructive idea is a “resolution of disapproval” concocted by Lisa Murkowski, a

Continue reading "Something Worse Than Inaction" »

Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:19 AM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/03/13/world/international-us-egypt-clashes.html
March 13, 2010
At Least 27 Arrested In Egypt Christian - Muslim Clash
By REUTERS
Filed at 11:05 a.m. ET [Egypt] [broader middle east] [northern Africa to horn] [democratization] [another round of sectarian violence] [this occurred over the Christmas Holidays as it often does] [but this time it lingers?] [*]
CAIRO (Reuters) - At least 27 people were arrested in northern Egypt Friday after fighting erupted between Muslims and Christians over land, security sources said on Saturday.
At least 24 people were hurt in the fighting in Marsa Matrouh governorate, including women and children, security sources said.
The dispute broke out after Coptic Christian villagers built a fence around land next to a church-run building, [*]the state news agency MENA reported.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:18 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/world/middleeast/13briefs-Yemen.html
March 12, 2010
Yemen: Al Jazeera’s Broadcast Equipment Is Seized
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS [Yemen] [Sana regime upset with al Jezzera’s coverage of the north-south problems] [followup] [*]
The television network Al Jazeera said Yemeni authorities confiscated broadcasting equipment from its offices in Sana, the capital, after complaining of its coverage of the country’s restive southern region. The station said security agents stormed its office late Thursday and seized the equipment after scuffling with the staff.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:17 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/world/middleeast/13diplo.html
March 12, 2010
Clinton Rebukes Israel on Housing Announcement
By MARK LANDLER [Obama white house] [US-Israeli relations] [are they on skids?] [perhaps but I suspect they still need each other more than their suspicions] [NSC principal and SecState Clinton speaks up: she and husband are long-time friends of Israel os this may be particularly important] [USFP] [cross in govt] [followup] [use psci 350, 355, 455] [*]
WASHINGTON — In a tense, 43-minute phone call on Friday morning, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel’s plan for new housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem sent a “deeply negative signal” [*]about Israeli-American relations, and not just because it spoiled a visit by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Mr. Biden, in Israel this week to declare American support for its security, had already condemned the move as undermining the peace process. But Mrs. Clinton went a good deal further in her conversation with Mr. Netanyahu, saying it had harmed “the bilateral relationship,” [frankly, I think this may have been necessary] [contrary to today’s societal, it only signals the US is trying to play honest broker for a change] [*] according to the State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley.
Such blunt language toward Israel is very rare from an American administration, [*]and

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:16 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/world/middleeast/13kirkuk.html
March 12, 2010
Iraq Election May Leave Kirkuk Status Uncertain
By SAM DAGHER [-ir] [hydra] [insurgency] [renewed sectarian tensions and fault lines] [success of “surge”] [as well as it worked, the issue still looms regarding how the Awakening to be situated in government in future?] [elections appear to occur with little disruption despite the attempts] [good news for US and Iraq?] [followup] [Iraqis anxiously await the results] [early results suggest hardened positions in Kirkuk] [*]
KIRKUK, Iraq — Early election results appear to reflect a hardening of divisions between Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens in northern Iraq, potentially complicating efforts by the United States and the United Nations to forge a compromise over the oil-rich city of Kirkuk — a prize claimed by both Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdistan region and the central government. [*]
According to unofficial results released earlier this week, the Kurdistan Alliance, a coalition of the two ruling Kurdish parties, received more than 50 percent of the votes cast in Tamim, the province that includes Kirkuk. [so the youth and “Change” didn’t come through?] [*]Iraq’s electoral commission was scheduled to release partial results over the weekend that were not expected to differ significantly from that outcome.
“This means the majority believe Kirkuk belongs to Kurdistan,” [*]said Khalid Shwani, a

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:15 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/13/world/AP-AS-Afghanistan.html
March 13, 2010
Afghan Leader to Allow Foreign Election Monitors
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:44 a.m. ET [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Pakistan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban and other insurgencies] [spring offensive turned into major effort throughout year] [example of US-coalition attempting to rebuild the police-guard as professional groups that aren’t rife with corruption] [use psci 469] [followup] [*]
KABUL (AP) -- Afghanistan's president has agreed to reverse an earlier decision and allow two foreigners on a commission that will monitor upcoming parliamentary elections, his spokesman said Saturday.
President Hamid Karzai's move comes amid pressure to avoid a repeat of last year's fraud-tainted presidential vote.
Last month, Karzai signed a decree allowing him to appoint all five members of the Electoral Complaints Commission in consultation with parliamentary leaders and the head of the

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:14 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/03/13/world/international-us-afghanistan-violence.html
March 13, 2010
Four Explosions In Southern Afghanistan's Kandahar
By REUTERS
Filed at 11:10 a.m. ET [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Pakistan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban and other insurgencies] [spring offensive turned into major effort throughout year] [Kandahar appears next big target for US toops?] [use psci 469] [followup] [*]
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Four loud explosions followed by gunfire were heard in the center of Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar on Saturday, a Reuters reporter in the city said.
Reuters reporter Ismail Sameem said the first explosion was near the police chief's compound and the second near the residence of President Hamid Karzai's half-brother Ahmad Wali Karzai who is the head of Kandahar's provincial council.
The other two explosions came shortly after in another central part of the city. Sameem said police at the scene of the first blast were shooting and windows in nearby buildings

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:13 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/world/asia/13waziristan.html
March 12, 2010
Pakistan Army Digs In on Turf of the Taliban
By JANE PERLEZ and PIR ZUBAIR SHAH [Pakistan] [Pakistan as central hub in AfPak wheel] [AfPak] [even as US commits much money and support to Pakistan’s govt] [mounting evidence that some of the more important insitutions in said govt—military and ISI—are fickle friends at best] [Pakistani troops carry battle to enemy] [followup] [*]
MAKEEN, Pakistan — From a forward base in the bare brown foothills of the soaring mountains of South Waziristan, Pakistani soldiers fired artillery at insurgents sheltering in scrub across the valley. Smoke blotted the sky as the soldiers set ablaze houses once used by the Taliban to hide caches of heavy weapons. [*]
In the Makeen bazaar, where the former leader of the Pakistani militants, Baitullah Mehsud, was once king, the army has flattened the jerry-built stores, including the ice cream parlor, scotching any idea of easy return.
Here in the heartland of the Pakistani Taliban, the army has fought for five months to claw back territory from its indigenous enemy. A rare trip under military escort revealed that the

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:13 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/13/world/AP-AS-Pakistan.html
March 13, 2010
Suicide Attack in Pakistan Kills 13
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:22 a.m. ET [Pakistan] [Pakistan as central hub in AfPak wheel] [AfPak] [even as US commits much money and support to Pakistan’s govt] [mounting evidence that some of the more important insitutions in said govt—military and ISI—are fickle friends at best] [now comes response to successful marja operation and Taliban-jihadis response thereto] [followup] [*]
SAIDU SHARIF, Pakistan (AP) -- A suicide bomber driving a motorized rickshaw blew himself up at a security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, officials said, killing at least 13 people, injuring 52 and underscoring the nation's relentless security threat. [*]
The blast in the small town of Saidu Sharif in Pakistan's violence-battered Swat Valley was the second major attack in the country in less than 24 hours, raising fears of a new wave of violence by anti-government militants. Suicide bombers killed 55 people in near-simultaneous blasts Friday in the eastern city of Lahore. [spasm of responses] [*]

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:11 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/12/AR2010031204241.html
U.S. citizen accused in Yemen killing had been under FBI watch
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 13, 2010; A02 [Yemen] [partial move of al Qaeda infrastructure, spring 2009] [has now become operational?] [US has maintained small footprint during Obama’s tenure] [use psci 469] [makes Yemen—along with proximity—inviting to global jihadis] [clearly demands attention that both Yemen authority and US (though largely quietly) are giving] [followup] [the problem of US homegrown jihadis?] [followup] [*]
Sharif Mobley, a U.S. citizen accused of killing a hospital guard in Yemen, is believed to be a homegrown radical who left this country to make direct contact with al-Qaeda, according to U.S. counterterrorism officials, making him the latest in a string of such suspects. [see US govt view in today’s govt] [*]

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:11 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/us/12border.html
March 11, 2010
U.S. Falters in Screening Border Patrol Near Mexico
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD [obama white house] [residual from bush white house] [111th congress, 2nd session] [bureaucracy] [DHS and others] [issues still surronding border patrol, screening entrants, so forth] [in early years after 9/11 the FBI and others circulated rumors about “Arabs” posing as Latinos and crossing border, etc] [followup] [*]
Federal anticorruption investigators continue to struggle to keep up with the screening of newly hired United States law enforcement officers working on the Mexican border and have fallen far behind in checking current employees as well, federal officials testified on Thursday. [*]
The testimony came during a hearing in Washington before a subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on rising corruption among the ranks of federal law enforcement officers who patrol the border and guard ports of entry.
Representatives from the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security painted a grave picture of drug trafficking organizations trying to recruit federal officers to work for them

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:33 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/us/politics/12holder.html
March 11, 2010
Holder Did Not Disclose Briefs on ‘Enemy Combatant’
By CHARLIE SAVAGE and BERNIE BECKER [Obama White House] [111th congress, 2nd session] [inherited President W. Bush TSPs and illegal enemy combatants and “enhanced-interrogation techniques”. . . ] [thought that is always the case following a transition] [AG Holder’s difficult choices on a variety of potentially criminal issues remaining from the last gang] [followup] [did he mislead senate confirmation hearings???] [cross in individual-role] [*]
WASHINGTON — During his confirmation last year, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. failed to notify the Senate that he had signed several briefs urging courts to reject President George W. Bush’s claim that he had the power to imprison an American citizen as an “enemy combatant,” the Justice Department acknowledged Thursday. [many have argued agains the expansive view of presidency known colloquially as unitary theory of executive power] [apparently, this goes well beyond in that he worked on brief(s) of same?] [*]
“The briefs should have been disclosed as part of the confirmation process,” said Matthew

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:32 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/world/asia/11cong.html
March 10, 2010
House Rejects Plan to Leave Afghanistan by Year’s End
By CARL HULSE [Obama white house] [111th congress, 2nd session] [residuals from previous . . . ] [gsave and counterinsurgency strategy] [liberal-progressives in house attempt to set deadline but bipartisan support now for Obama] [use psci 355, 455, 469] [*]
WASHINGTON — In a strong bipartisan endorsement of the Obama administration’s policy in Afghanistan, the House of Representatives on Wednesday soundly rejected a call to withdraw American troops by the end of the year.
After a three-hour debate held to allow antiwar Democrats to air their dissent, the House voted 356 to 65 to reject the withdrawal proposal. Five Republicans joined 60 Democrats in support of pulling out; 189 Democrats and 167 Republicans were opposed.
Although the outcome was never in doubt, debate on the resolution written by Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, Democrat of Ohio, offered a preview of Congressional

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:32 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/us/11pennsylvania.html
March 10, 2010
Views of ‘JihadJane’ Were Unknown to Neighbors
By IAN URBINA [obama white house] [residual issues from President Bush’s tenure] [gsave] [federal judiciary] [domestic jihadis?] [use psci 355, 455, 469] [I’ve heard of her case but confess I have little independent knowledge of what’s up?] [followup] [*]
The Pennsylvania woman linked this week to an alleged terrorist plot involving militant Muslims was not known in her neighborhood for extreme religious views. There were no religious books or hangings in her apartment, several neighbors said, and she never spoke about her religion.
But to the people monitoring her life online, the woman, Colleen R. LaRose, was a terrorist sympathizer known by her Internet name JihadJane who had expressed a desire to become a martyr for an Islamist cause. According to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday, Ms.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/opinion/11thu2.html
March 11, 2010
Editorial
What Ground Zero Needs
[editorial] [progress at ground zero?] [followup] [*]
Ground zero is no longer the depressing place it was a few years ago. The important public structures are starting to take shape — the memorial to the victims, Santiago Calatrava’s birdlike transportation hub, and 1 World Trade Center (the centerpiece once known as the Freedom Tower), 20 stories high and climbing.
But as has been true since the beginning, the commercial parts of the project — skyscrapers financed by both public and private money — remain mired in controversy. And at the heart of all this, not surprisingly, is the developer Larry Silverstein, whose powerful supporters now include Mayor Michael Bloomberg. [*]
Mr. Silverstein wants what he has always wanted: more money from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the owners of the site, to build three huge office buildings on

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:30 AM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/opinion/11thu1.html
March 11, 2010
Editorial
Diplomacy 102
[editorial] [Veep Biden’s visist to Jerusalem] [Israel’s announcement that was embarrassment] [what to do?] [*]
Vice President Joseph Biden Jr. used rare and decidedly undiplomatic language on Tuesday to upbraid Israel after it announced plans to build 1,600 new housing units in a Jewish neighborhood of East Jerusalem. “I condemn the decision. ...,” he said in a statement.
The Obama administration is understandably furious. Mr. Biden was in Israel working to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The word came after he had spent the day vowing the United States’ “absolute, total and unvarnished commitment to Israel’s security.” [*]
Aides say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was blindsided by the announcement from Israel’s Interior Ministry, led by the leader of right-wing Shas Party. But he didn’t disavow

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:29 AM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/world/africa/12briefs-Morocco.html
March 11, 2010
Morocco: 20 Foreign Missionaries Expelled
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE [Morocco] [Maghreb] [northern Africa] [jihadis] [hydra] [Islamists too] [Islamic culture in its northern Africa iteration] [it’s their country and they get to make the rules whether they are fair to Christians or not] [use psci469b] [Islam includes some substantial injunctions against conversion and proselytizing by Christians or others] [*]
The government has expelled 20 foreign Christian missionaries and warned Thursday it would take a tough line against proselytizers. The Christians were expelled after religious authorities accused them of proselytism, which is illegal in Morocco.

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http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/israelis-block-palestinians-from-holy-site/
The Lede
The New York Times News Blog
[accessed 3/12/10 7:34 AM]
March 12, 2010, 9:19 am
Israelis Block Palestinians From Holy Site
By ROBERT MACKEY [Israeli-Palestinian conflict] [boiling resentment in Jerusalem] [anger is multi-faceted: Israelis angry at Obama and what they view as being too tough on them; well developed anger by Arabs over Israel’s treatment; so on] [Israelis continue to deny Palestinians access to sites???] [to what purpose I’m not sure I fully understand] [*]
Tara Todras-Whitehill/Associated Press Palestinian medics who were not allowed to enter a site in Jerusalem holy to both Muslims and Jews prayed next to Israeli police officers in the city on Friday.
Updated | 10:24 a.m. On Friday, Israeli police prevented young Palestinian men from praying at a holy site in Jerusalem, and Israel’s military imposed a temporary ban on travel by Palestinians from the West Bank into Israel. The security crackdown comes after recent clashes following Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
The Associated Press reported that police would only allow Palestinian women and

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:27 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/11/AR2010031103489.html
Once-dominant Sunnis anxiously watch as Iraq votes are tallied
By Leila Fadel
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, March 12, 2010; A06
BAGHDAD -- For Raad Ali, the results of last weekend's elections will dictate whether men like him can survive in today's Iraq. [-ir] [hydra] [insurgency] [renewed sectarian tensions and fault lines] [success of “surge”] [as well as it worked, the issue still looms regarding how the Awakening to be situated in government in future?] [elections appear to occur with little disruption despite the attempts] [good news for US and Iraq?] [followup] [Iraqis anxiously await the results—big test; if results don’t go their way, will they still contest peacefully?] [*]
A Sunni Arab and a former officer in Saddam Hussein's special forces, Ali fled the capital months before the parliamentary vote in the face of apparent political persecution. Now, if the election results favor the Shiite-led coalition headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Ali fears that he and other members of the once-dominant minority will continue to be marginalized. [*]
"The future will be dark," said Ali, 45. "Violence will continue."

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:26 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/11/AR2010031103148.html
Program aims to rebuild Afghan police force, repair its image
By Greg Jaffe
Friday, March 12, 2010; A08 [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Pakistan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban and other insurgencies] [spring offensive turned into major effort throughout year] [example of US-coalition attempting to rebuild the police-guard as professional groups that aren’t rife with corruption] [use psci 469] [followup] [*]
KABUL -- U.S. and Afghan officials are beginning a major overhaul of the Afghan police with the goal of cleaning up a force whose recent history of corruption has undermined confidence in the Kabul government and fueled the insurgency.
The program, which will probably include sending thousands of officers abroad for training, is designed to rebuild a force of more than 90,000 Afghans who were dispatched to police stations with virtually no training and little supervision. After nearly nine years of war, senior U.S. and Afghan officials said they are essentially starting from scratch. [*]
"We weren't doing it right," said Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, who oversees the NATO

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:25 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/world/asia/12afghan.html
March 11, 2010
Afghan Tribal Rivalries Bedevil a U.S. Plan
By ALISSA J. RUBIN [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Pakistan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban and other insurgencies] [spring offensive turned into major effort throughout year] [unique tribal politics in AfPak] [followup] [*]
JALALABAD, Afghanistan — Six weeks ago, elders of the Shinwari tribe, which dominates a large area in southeastern Afghanistan, pledged that they would set aside internal differences to focus on fighting the Taliban. [just in past couple weeks] [*]
This week, that commitment seemed less important as two Shinwari subtribes took up arms to fight each other over an ancient land dispute, leaving at least 13 people dead, [*]according to local officials.
The fighting was a setback for American military officials, some of whom had hoped it would be possible to replicate the pledge elsewhere. It raised questions about how effectively the American military could use tribes as part of its counterinsurgency strategy,

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:24 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/world/asia/12afghan.html
March 11, 2010
Afghan Tribal Rivalries Bedevil a U.S. Plan
By ALISSA J. RUBIN [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Pakistan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban and other insurgencies] [spring offensive turned into major effort throughout year] [unique tribal politics in AfPak] [followup] [*]
JALALABAD, Afghanistan — Six weeks ago, elders of the Shinwari tribe, which dominates a large area in southeastern Afghanistan, pledged that they would set aside internal differences to focus on fighting the Taliban. [just in past couple weeks] [*]
This week, that commitment seemed less important as two Shinwari subtribes took up arms to fight each other over an ancient land dispute, leaving at least 13 people dead, [*]according to local officials.
The fighting was a setback for American military officials, some of whom had hoped it would be possible to replicate the pledge elsewhere. It raised questions about how effectively the American military could use tribes as part of its counterinsurgency strategy,

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:24 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/world/asia/12karzai.html
March 11, 2010
Karzai Meets With Top Officials in Pakistan
By SALMAN MASOOD [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Pakistan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban and other insurgencies] [spring offensive turned into major effort throughout year] [Karzai meets with Gilani and others in neighboring Paksitan—might bode well as former typically upset with latter’s meddling] [followup] [*]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan met with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani here on Thursday in a show of public friendship, even as the two sides tried to work through underlying tensions over how to deal with the Taliban militants who use the countries’ lawless border region as a sanctuary. [*]
Both leaders stressed that stability for their countries hinged on mutual cooperation, and

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:23 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/world/asia/13pstan.html
March 12, 2010
Twin Suicide Attacks Hit Military Sites in Pakistan
By WAQAR GILLANI [Pakistan] [Pakistan as central hub in AfPak wheel] [AfPak] [even as US commits much money and support to Pakistan’s govt] [mounting evidence that some of the more important insitutions in said govt—military and ISI—are fickle friends at best] [now comes response to successful marja operation] [followup] [*]
LAHORE, Pakistan — Two suicide bomb attacks aimed at an army convoy patrolling a busy market ripped through this city in quick succession on Friday, killing at least 39 people, including Pakistani soldiers, in the second assault on Lahore in less than a week, [*]police officials said.
The police inspector general, Tariq Saleem Dogar, said at least 100 people were also wounded in the two blasts.
A Lahore police officer, Sohail Sukhera, said this city in the Pakistani heartland was “in a state of war” after the explosions, which came despite what he called tight security in the

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:23 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/science/earth/11climate.html
March 10, 2010
Panel Will Review U.N. Climate Work
By JOHN M. BRODER [UN] [IPCC] [global climate change] [global commons] [another accusation of systemic exaggeration] [the consensus in scientific community is clearly that bad things loom due to climate change] [but it also appears that books were cooked here and there and/or sloppiness and outright laziness?] [use psci 350] [use ir text] [independent academic consortium to repeat the calculations and provide conclusions on same] [*]
A group of top scientists from around the world will review the research and management practices of the United Nations climate change panel so that it can try to avoid the kinds of errors that have brought its work into question in recent months, officials said Wednesday.
Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the United Nations, said that the InterAcademy Council, a consortium of the world’s most prestigious scientific societies, would name scientists to take a thorough look at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The panel has come under sharp attack after revelations of several mistakes in its most recent report

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:22 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/world/europe/11sweden.html
March 10, 2010
Swedish Artist Says Sketch of Prophet Aimed to Mock All Religions
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS [Sweden] [Europe] [Europe’s jihadis challenges] [why are they different than U.S.] [Europeans and others often cite Europe’s previous colonial subjects not well integrated in Europe] [the word used is assimilation] [followup] [one of the artists who participated in cartoon controversy a few years back speaks out!] [*]
STOCKHOLM (AP) — The point of a caricature depicting the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog was to show that artistic freedom allows mockery of all religions, including the most sacred symbols of Islam, the Swedish artist who created the depiction said [*]Wednesday.
The artist, Lars Vilks — who prosecutors said was the target of a murder plot involving an American woman who dubbed herself JihadJane — said in an interview that he had no regrets about the drawing, [*]which deeply offended many Muslims.
“I’m actually not interested in offending the prophet,” Mr. Vilks said. “The point is

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:21 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/world/africa/11nigeria.html
March 10, 2010
Nigerians Recount Night of Their Bloody Revenge
By ADAM NOSSITER [Nigeria] [Africa] [western, equatorial] [despite lush, verdant areas] [one or two mishaps and Nigeria is nearly in freefall in terms of producing enough food to feed its 140 million peoples] [it’s a messy confection as so many colonial nation-states are but it’s got most defects in spades: lack of infrastructure; north-eastern boundary that follows river system; drought conditions; ethnicities that truly hate each other; and more][recent sectarian night-of-the-long knives] [followup] [*]
JOS, Nigeria — Dispassionately, the baby-faced young man recounted his killings: two women and one man, first beaten senseless with a stick, then stabbed to death with a short knife.
The man, Dahiru Adamu, 25, was crouching on the floor in the sprawling police headquarters here, summoned to give an accounting of the terrible night of March 7, when, he said, he and dozens of other herdsmen descended on a slumbering village just south of here and slaughtered hundreds with machetes, knives and cutlasses in a brutal act of sectarian retribution. [*]
On Monday and Tuesday, 332 bodies were buried in a mass grave in the village of Dogo Na

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:14 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/11/world/AP-ML-Palestinians-British-Journalist.html
March 11, 2010
Hamas Releases British Journalist
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:55 a.m. ET [Palestine] [domestic politics intersects foreign policy] [UK journalist released] [followup] [*]
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Gaza's Hamas rulers on Thursday released a British journalist they had held for a month amid allegations that he endangered the Palestinian territory's security. [*]
Paul Martin said he was arrested because of his work as a journalist and called his release, with the help of the British and South African governments, a ''great victory for the freedom of the media.''
He said he ''has gone through a lot'' in the past month but did not elaborate.
A smiling Martin gave a thumbs-up after Hamas handed him over to British diplomats who drove him out of Gaza. In London, his wife, Anne, said she was ''extremely relieved'' and expected her husband home by the weekend.
Martin, a freelance journalist who has produced reports for the British Broadcasting Corp.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:13 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/03/11/world/international-us-palestinians-israel.html
March 11, 2010
Biden Appeals to Restart Peace Talks
By REUTERS
Filed at 8:21 a.m. ET [Israeli-Palestinian conflict] [boiling resentment in Jerusalem] [anger is multi-faceted: Israelis angry at Obama and what they view as being too tough on them; well developed anger by Arabs over Israel’s treatment; so on] [under Bibi, this has happened a couple times now: high-level US guest gets whacked with announcement of Bibi’s govt] [cross in govt] [*]
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden called on Thursday for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks to start without delay despite Palestinian insistence that Israel first cancel a settlement project condemned by Washington.
Israel's announcement this week, during Biden's visit, of plans to build 1,600 settler homes in an area of the occupied West Bank it annexed to Jerusalem, cast a shadow over U.S. efforts to relaunch Middle East peacemaking. [apparently minister

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:13 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/world/africa/12somalia.html
March 11, 2010
U.N. to End Some Somalia Contracts
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN and MOHAMED IBRAHIM [Somalia] [UN] [the chaos in Somalia] [East Africa; south of Horn] [relatively stable state until 2007-2008 when wheels came off] [looked somewhat like a state toying with failed-state status] [as preceded last major US intervention, insurgents attacking NGOs, others] [followup] [*]
KIGALI, Rwanda — The United Nations World Food Program announced Thursday that it would not give any new contracts to three Somali businessmen who have been accused of diverting food aid to Islamist militants and that the agency would welcome an independent investigation into its Somalia operations. [it’s beginning to sound a lot like 1992 (Nov-Dec)] [*]
For months, World Food Program officials had denied mounting allegations that the contractors they use to haul hundreds of millions of dollars of food into Somalia were

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:12 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/world/asia/11afghan.html
March 10, 2010
Iranian Leader and Gates Trade Jabs in Afghanistan
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and ABDUL WAHEED WAFA [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Pakistan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban and other insurgencies] [spring offensive turned into major effort throughout year] [as SecDef Gates made recent rounds, Pres Ahmadinejad follows with his responsive comments] [followup] [*]
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Iranian president visited Kabul on Wednesday and shot back at American allegations that Iran was providing support to Afghan insurgents, accusing the United States of playing its own “double game.”
The visit by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came on the heels of a trip by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who was still in Afghanistan on Wednesday even as Mr. Ahmadinejad predicted that American efforts here would fail. Later in the day, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan flew to Pakistan for a visit with the leadership there.
The cluster of diplomacy, while ostensibly coincidental, nevertheless is an indication of the intensifying dialogue as the United States, Afghanistan and its neighbors begin trying to put the pieces in place for an eventual resolution to the war and angle to protect their interests

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:11 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/10/AR2010031003975.html
Overworked U.S. Embassy in Kabul straining to meet administration's demands
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 11, 2010; A19 [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Pakistan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban and other insurgencies] [spring offensive turned into major effort throughout year] [civilian “surge” being tested as well] [use psci 469] [cross in govt] [followup] [*]
The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, which may soon overtake its counterpart in Iraq as the world's biggest diplomatic mission, is overworked, underappreciated and struggling to meet the demands placed on it by President Obama's new strategy, [*]according to the State Department's inspector general.
A report released last week praised the embassy's leaders for "impressive progress implementing the Administration's plans for a massive civilian plus up to support the large increases in assistance programs." [*]The embassy's work last year was particularly notable, the report said, because it took place amid an almost 100 percent turnover in staff, [*]

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:11 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/world/asia/11drone.html
March 10, 2010
Drone Strikes Kill 21 in Pakistan
By THE NEW YORK TIMES [Pakistan] [Pakistan as central hub in AfPak wheel] [AfPak] [even as US commits much money and support to Pakistan’s govt] [mounting evidence that some of the more important insitutions in said govt—military and ISI—are fickle friends at best] [Obama folks reportedly believe they have Taliban and jihadis on run] [followup] [*]
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Two drone strikes since Monday in North Waziristan have killed at least 21 people, possibly including a top local commander, said a Pakistan security official and residents of the area, a stronghold of Al Qaeda and the Taliban. [reportedly, the attacks have caused al Qaeda to reach out of affiliates and even send al Qaeda trainers to Somalia, Yemen, SEA, elsewhere, in order to continue attacks against West!] [NPR radio yesterday] [*]

Continue reading "Drone Strikes Kill 21 in Pakistan" »

Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:10 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/world/asia/11islamabad.html
March 10, 2010
Spy Chief in Pakistan to Stay On Another Year
By JANE PERLEZ [Pakistan] [Pakistan as central hub in AfPak wheel] [AfPak] [even as US commits much money and support to Pakistan’s govt] [mounting evidence that some of the more important insitutions in said govt—military and ISI—are fickle friends at best] [ISI chief, general Pasha to stay on another year] [*]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s spy chief has been granted an unusual one-year extension in his job, a move that may also pave the way for a longer term for the head of the army, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who is scheduled to step down this year. [*]
The announcement extending the tenure of Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha as director of the spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, was formally made Wednesday by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. [*]But it had been clear for weeks that General Kayani planned to keep General Pasha at his side, and that the weak civilian government would have little choice but to go along with it. [*]
The two generals have driven Pakistan’s strategic decisions in the past two years. [Pasha and

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 09:09 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)