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Manan Ahmed at our Global Affairs Blog points out that Karachi has now joined New York, Madrid and London as a site of a major terrorist attack. Late reports say 136 are dead and over 500 wounded in a bombing aimed at assassinating former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto on her return after years […]

Farideh Farhi weighs in on the significance of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Iran, and the frustrations his olive branch to Tehran produced in Bush (who went a little crazy, talking about World War III if Iran gained the knowledge of how to produce a nuclear weapon.) The USG Open Source Center translates from […]

My column in Salon.com, “The War Hawks,” is now online. Excerpt: ‘ Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton think a tough line on Tehran will sell politically. They could be right. Future historians may conclude that the key issue in the 2008 presidential campaign was not Iraq, but whether the United States should go to war […]

The NYT has been pushing the story that the Israeli air strike on Syria on September 6 came in response to intelligence that Syria was building a nuclear reactor at the site with clandestine North Korean help. There are reasons to question the accuracy of the Israeli story, which at some points has included allegations […]

Courtesy R. J. Eidelson at YouTube.

The USG Open Source Center summarizes the statements of Lebanese Shiite leader Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah concerning what he sees as an American push to set Arab countries against Iran. Round-up of Middle East Friday Sermons 5 OctMiddle East — OSC SummarySunday, October 7, 2007 . . . At 0738 GMT, the news agency carries a […]

The USG Open Source Center has done a report on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s calls for Iran and Saudi Arabia to cooperate in filling the regional power vacuum. The Saudis do not seem eager for such cooperation and in fact have incisively criticized Iran’s new role in the region. Iran: Ahmadinezhad Calls for Saudi Support […]

The USG Open Source Center translates an Iranian newspaper article on the combat capabilities of Iranian military forces. ‘Article Examines Combat Capabilities of Iranian Military ForcesArticle by Ali Ghafuri: “A Glance at the Combat Capabilities of the Iranian Army,” page 15Iran (Internet Version-WWW)Wednesday, October 3, 2007 Document Type: OSC Translated Text A Powerful Army, Messenger […]

At the Global Affairs blog, Philip Cunningham, who teaches at Dosisha University in Japan considers the ways in which W.’s Iraq debacle has weakened the ability of the US to play a positive role in the Burma / Myanmar crisis. Susie Madrak links to a real soldier who upbraids the chickenhawk Rush Limbaugh for calling […]