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Juan is traveling and will post later on Monday. Until then, have a look at Barnett Rubin’s important essay, “Afghanistan: Who is to Blame?”

The USG Open Source Center translates from Urdu a critical commentator on Pervez Musharraf’s ‘defacing’ of the Pakistan constitution. Musharraf has lifted the state of emergency in preparation for elections, but there are suspicions he will have them rigged. Press restrictions remain in effect. ‘Pakistan Commentary Criticizes Musharraf for Defacing Constitution, JudiciaryCommentary by Irfan Siddiqui: […]

Hillary Clinton fired the co-chair of her New Hampshire campaign, Bill Shaheen, because he speculated that Barack Obama would be attacked by Republicans for admitting youthful drug use,if he were the nominee. She then apologized to Obama. But in this controversy, what is forgotten is that our current incumbent also admitted to youthful drug use: […]

In Shiite Iran, only a Shiite may be president. Not a Sunni Muslim, not a Christian, and not a secularist. Article 115 of the current Iranian constitution says: ‘ Article 115 The President must be elected from among religious and political personalities possessing the following qualifications: Iranian origin; Iranian nationality; administrative capacity and resourcefulness; a […]

My column in Salon.com, “The GOP’s Iran option is off the table.” The subhead is: “Rudy Giuliani was counting on Iran as a weapon of mass distraction in the ’08 race. But the flailing Republican right has just been disarmed.” Excerpt: ‘ Republicans have used the alleged nuclear threat posed by Iran to scare the […]

I just saw this campaign ad for Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign. He says that Iran held US embassy hostages for 444 days. Then they were released within one hour. That was the hour after Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as president, succeeding Jimmy Carter. Giuliani goes on to tell us that this incident shows how you […]

The irony of the week is that Oprah Winfrey has come out strongly for Barack Obama as president. Why is that ironic? Because the subtext of Oprah’s television show is that men are unreliable and women have to stick together. So she supports a man for president in preference to another woman. I like Obama […]

At the NYT, Katherine Bouton reviews Nina Burleigh’s new book, “Mirage: Napoleon’s Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt,” which I’m eager to see. In the course of the review, she writes of the French invasion of Egypt in 1798: ‘ Some historians see this venture as an exploratory expedition gone wrong. Others, including the historian […]

The USG Open Source Center translates an article from an opposition Afghanistan newspaper alleging that Washington it deploying Pakistani tribal levies against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. ‘USA trying to use Pakistani insurgents against Al-Qa’idah – Afghan paperCheragh (Light)Saturday, December 8, 2007Document Type: OSC Translated Excerpt USA trying to use Pakistani insurgents against Al-Qa’idah – Afghan […]