Saturday morning roundup

Gregg Carlstrom | July 11, 2009 10:33 AM | 0 | recommend (0) |   |      

An internal dispute is preventing the Israeli government from agreeing to a settlement freeze, according to French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner. Kouchner said the "central pillars" of the Israeli government didn't agree on how to proceed -- likely a reference to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman and defense minister Ehud Barak.

Get sick, go to jail? The governor of Egypt's Suez province said yesterday that his government will prosecute anyone who catches bird flu. They'll face the charge of "raising birds" -- which apparently carries fines and/or a jail sentence. Egypt has ordered citizens to destroy thousands of chickens after the most recent bird flu outbreak.

At least four people were killed when a car bomb went off in a market in Kukchali, a mixed Sunni/Shi'a area on the outskirts of Mosul. 40 were wounded, according to Iraqi police. It's at least the fifth attack in Mosul this week. (You can track the violence in Iraq on our interactive map.)

Israeli tourism on the Sinai is drying up. Just 66,000 Israelis have passed through the Taba border crossing this year, according to the Israeli Airports Authority, which manages the crossing. That's half as many as last year -- and less than one-third as many as 2004. Tourism has declined over fears of terrorism on the Sinai, which has seen several high-profile attacks -- in Taba, Sharm al-Shaikh and Dahab -- in the past five years.

Iraq won its first home football match since 2002, defeating the Palestinian team 3-0 in a friendly contest in Irbil. About 25,000 fans packed into Fransou Hariri Stadium to watch; others sat on the roofs of nearby buildings. Iraq's last home game was a 2-1 victory over Syria in 2002.

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Categories: Diplomacy, Health, Life and Culture, News Roundups, Sports, Tourism, War and Terrorism, War in Iraq

Tags: Avigdor Lieberman, Benjamin Netanyahu, bird flu, Ehud Barak, football, Sinai Peninsula, tourism

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Gregg Carlstrom | July 6, 2010 4:00 AM | 0 | recommend (0)
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivering a statement in Jerusalem on July 1, 2010. (Photo: AFP)
US president Barack Obama will use a White House meeting with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to push for an extended West Bank settlement freeze. If Netanyahu doesn't offer one - and the domestic politics are quite difficult for him - it's hard to see any possibility of direct talks with the Palestinian Authority later this year.

The Afghan Surge

Obama's southern strategy

Gregg Carlstrom | June 24, 2010 6:09 AM | 1 | recommend (0)
Gen. David Petraeus testifying on Capitol Hill. (Photo: Reuters)
The president's decision to nominate Gen. David Petraeus as the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan won't mean a major change in strategy. But there are mounting reasons for pessimism about current policy, particularly the relentless focus on southern Afghanistan. The deployment of tens of thousands of additional troops to Kandahar and Helmand serves few NATO objectives.

Freedom Flotilla Killings

Anticlimax: How much did the flotilla raid really change regional politics?

Gregg Carlstrom | June 17, 2010 7:35 AM | 4 | recommend (2)
A demonstration in London against the Israeli attack on the Gaza-bound flotilla. (Photo: AFP)
It has accelerated Israel's isolation from several of its neighbors and allies; it has sharpened divisions within Turkish domestic politics; it has deepened perceptions that the Obama administration as too close to Israel. And it seems to have had a remarkably minor impact on Palestinian domestic politics.

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