Archives for December 2007

10. Helping broker a deal in Lebanon between the March 14 Movement and the Shiites so that a new president can be elected and a national unity government can be formed. Lebanon’s economy was badly damaged by the Israeli war on the poor little country in summer of 2006. Tourism is a big part of […]

McClatchy has a new Iowa poll out, taken Dec. 26-28. It shows that there was no spike among Iowa voters in concern for international affairs or terrorism in the wake of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan. The poll shows that Mitt Romney has a significant lead, 27% to 23% for former Arkansas governor […]

The Pakistan People’s Party movers and shakers have annointed Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, 19, the son of slain Benazir Bhutto, as its next leader. He will continue his studies at Oxford while his father, Asif Zardari, acts as regent. The PPP will run Makhdum Amin Fahim as its candidate for prime minister, and will contest the […]

Violence continued in Pakistan on Saturday, as did a virtual shut-down of the country, with most shops and businesses shuttered. In the US, Sen. Hillary Clinton provoked controversy when she said, according to Newsday: ‘ “There are those saying that al-Qaida did it. Others are saying it looked like it was an inside job — […]

The USG Open Source Center summarizes and partially translates the new audio release by Usama Bin Laden. He urges a focus on Iraq and Israel, and he praises the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi for having attacked the Shiites. He also pledges to attack Israel and accused HAMAS of selling out. Bin Laden sounds increasingly desperate, […]

The USG Open Source Center excerpts and paraphrases editorials in the major Urdu-language Pakistani newspapers concerning the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Pakistan: Urdu Press Roundup on Reaction to Benazir Bhutto AssassinationPakistan — OSC SummarySaturday, December 29, 2007 Note: I decided to file the full text of this report at the Global Affairs blog (click on […]

Mike Huckabee is a smooth-talking, fanatical country preacher who has learned to make himself likeable on camera but who spews all kinds of hateful nonsense when among like-minded devotees. The dark side of Huckabee, the anti-science and anti-gay side of Huckabee, and the anti-Palestinian genocidal side of Huckabee, are all much more dangerous than the […]

Benazir Bhutto was buried in her ancestral village near Larkana in Sindh Province on Friday. Her widower, Asif Ali Zardari and 19-year-old son Bilawal helped lower her coffin into the grave. The Pakistani government predictably blamed the assassination on “al-Qaeda,” but Hillary Clinton and other US politicians rightly called for an independent United Nations commission […]

My column, “With Bhutto gone, does Bush have a Plan B?” is online at Salon.com. Excerpt: ‘ Pakistan’s future is now murky, and to the extent that this nation of 160 million buttresses the eastern flank of American security in the greater Middle East, its fate is profoundly intertwined with America’s own. The money for […]