Saturday morning roundup

Gregg Carlstrom | August 29, 2009 10:58 AM | 0 | recommend (0) |   |      

Iranian officials said today that the latest report on their nuclear program, released yesterday by the IAEA, "confirmed" that the program is peaceful.

"The report emphasized ... that Iran's nuclear activities are peaceful," said Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the IAEA. "It shows Iran has continued its cooperation with the agency ... but at the same time will not accept any political pressure to take measures beyond its legal commitments," he said.

Our analysis of the reports took a more skeptical view. The report concluded that Iran has slowed its uranium enrichment, and gave IAEA inspectors access to the Arak heavy water reactor. But it said Iran still refused to answer questions about the possible military applications of its nuclear technology.

The IAEA report will be used in September negotiations about possible economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

Other headlines

The Pakistani military says it destroyed a Taliban suicide bomber training camp in the Swat valley last night. Six Taliban militants were killed in the helicopter gunship attack.

A suicide bomber in Afghanistan's southern Zabul province attacked a convoy of NATO troops, killing two civilians and wounding at least 21 other people.

38 people were killed in southern Sudan by fighting between two tribes. Gunmen also kidnapped two Sudanese staff members of the U.N.-African Union mission in the region.

A Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in the Sdot Negev region of Israel last night. It caused no injuries. The rocket was fired a day after U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon called on Hamas and Fatah to restart peace talks with Israel.

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Categories: News Roundups

Tags: African Union, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Ban Ki-moon, Hamas, IAEA, Qassam rockets, South Sudan, suicide bombers, Taliban, United Nations

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IAEA draft: Mixed reactions from Tehran

Mohammad Reza Bahonar, Iran's deputy parliament speaker, told Iran's official IRNA news agency that Iran doesn't accept yesterday's draft deal with the IAEA. Discouraging -- but Bahonar doesn't speak for the government.

World leaders steer clear of Bashir's inauguration

Only seven other presidents attended the inauguration, including such democratic stalwarts as the leaders of Ethiopia, Eritrea and the Central African Republic.

B'Tselem: Settlements occupy 42 percent of West Bank

Ben-Eliezer makes "secret trip" to Turkey: Israeli TV

CENTCOM talking sense on Hamas and Hizballah

Al-Akhbar: Our weekly brief

Peace Processing

Talking about direct talks: Netanyahu returns to the White House

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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