ISLAMABAD, Pakistan ‚ The Pakistani military said on Tuesday its troops would fire on foreign forces if they crossed the country's borders but denied that this was a change of policy. The comments came after the United States sent commandos into Pakistan to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda earlier this month, and as confusion […]
A series of explosions have killed at least eight people and injured close to a hundred during Independence Day Celebrations in Morelia, the capital city of the state of Michoacan. The General Attorney's Office has begun investigations of what is now the most serious attack against civilian population in decades.
which is to say, as US influence diminishes, Iran steps in to fill the vacuum, at least according to this piece in the LA Times. It certainly hasn't been a secret that Iran has been involved in events in Baghdad since the early days of the American presence there, but as Maliki asserts himself further […]
Pakistan's military has ordered its forces to open fire if U.S. troops launch another air or ground raid across the Afghan border, an army spokesman said Tuesday. The orders, which come in response to a highly unusual Sept. 3 ground attack by U.S. commandos, are certain to heighten tension between Washington and a key ally […]
A while ago I met Ayatollah Fadlallah. Definitely, an interesting experience. After the Khomeini revolution in Iran, the Shia and other Islamic parties supported the revolution extensively since it represented the fall of the American policy with the fall of the Shah. This doesn't mean that the Shia outside Iran are linked to Iran in […]
Ahhh! That's better! NOW FOR THE RUSSIA NEWS ROUNDUP! 1) Not to gloat or anything, but it seems the Brookings Institution has finally started reading FPA Russia Blog. Only a few days after we exposed the absurdity of Anders Aslund's disingenuous insinuation that Russia's economic downturn was somehow caused by the Georgia war, their Clifford […]
ISLAMABAD – President Asif Ali Zardari, who is leaving for New York on September 21, will face not only an enormous challenge to persuade his American counterpart George W Bush for the withdrawal of the latter's decision of launching missile strikes on Pakistan's tribal areas but also to restart the "stalled Indo-Pak' peace process as […]
You can download his farewell letter to the troops here. Current Lt. Gen, soon to be Gen. Raymond Odierno will take his place.
Tomorrow is Mexico's Independence Day. The usual events will include the President's "Shout of Independence" on the 15th of September, and a military parade on the 16th in Mexico City's main plaza. Across the planet, Mexican Embassies and Consulates will organize a series of events featuring Mexican artists or artists making a reference to Mexico […]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon on Monday denied reports that Pakistani troops fired on two U.S. military helicopters after they crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan and forced them to turn back. “I’ve checked into that and find it to be a spurious report,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters. “Did not happen. I’ve checked all […]
… for Mahmoud Abbas’ departure on 1/9/09. I am inclined to think that a man whose tenure may or may not end with tripartite violence between his party, the opposing party and an occupying force is not one on whom the US should rest their hopes for leaving a legacy of peace in the Middle […]
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization 8th annual summit in Dushanbe two weeks ago covered many issues and issued several decrees. We already discussed how the grouping did not give Russia the diplomatic support regarding the Georgian conflict as they hoped, but the conference also set up joint military manuevers, moved along the process of an Afghan […]
Having despatched his women vote, has Sarah Palin taken the fight to Obama's core demographic of pot-smoking hippie homosexual intellectuals? Compare and contrast Palin's recent interview with Charlie Gibson, in which she rails against a new cold war with Russia while refusing to rule out a hot one, and Allen Ginsberg's poem ‘America‘, in […]
Does the government have a plan to help people cope with the ever-rising cost of electricity? No, it doesn't. On the contrary, the government on Tuesday, September 9 (which, coincidentally, also happened to be the day on which Asif Ali Zardari took oath of office as president), increased the electricity tariff by up to an […]
Hizbullah's second-in-command Sheikh Naim Qassem has set three conditions for the “speedy success” of the national dialogue to be re-launched next Tuesday. 1- Participants should unanimously agree that Israel is the only enemy. 2- They should be convinced of building a capable, just, well-balanced, strong and clean state which would put an end to all […]