At the Global Affairs group blog: Farideh Farhi discusses negotiations between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency over inspections of the latter’s nuclear programs. She also tells us about the imminent release of Iranian-American intellectual Kian Tajbakhsh, from prison. Barnett Rubin discusses the collapse of the legitimacy of the Pakistani government in the wake […]
Subjects not Subjected
At the Napoleon’s Egypt blog, several letters are available on the early days of the occupation, some of them by members of the team of scientists Bonaparte brought with him. Excerpt: ‘ The port of Alexandria is divided into two very beautiful bays (with no great depth of water), separated by a dike or causeway […]
Iraqi Reactions to the Petraeus/ Crocker Testimony
The USG Open Source Center translates transcripts of Iraqi reactions to the testimony of Gen. David Petraeus and Ryan Crocker. Iraqi TVs Carry Further Reporting, Commentary on Congressional Testimonies 11 SepIraq — OSC SummaryTuesday, September 11, 2007 This summary highlights select Iraqi TV reporting and commentary on the testimonies before Congress made by General David […]
Can Gen. Petraeus and Ryan Crocker Save the Next Democratic President?
Despite what the pundits will say, I fear the testimony of Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker on the Hill Monday and Tuesday is not a turning point, does not give Bush breathing room, and is largely irrelevant. To any extent that what they do in Iraq ends up making a real positive difference, […]
McClatchy: Civilian Deaths Steady through Surge; August Secret Official Toll Staggering 2,890; Mahdi Army Continuing Ethnic Cleansing
Everybody’s got a status report on Iraq these days. The consistently best and most clear-eyed wire service on Iraq, whose Pentagon correspondents are pointedly not invited to fly with the Secretary of Defense, is McClatchy (formerly Knight-Ridder). It has a long article on Sunday on how the security situation is not in fact better in […]
Oil Bonanza for Hunt; Displacement, Hunger, Alcoholism, Addiction for Iraqis
My Texas oil theory of the Cheney wing’s decision to go to war against Iraq got some (admittedly ex post facto) support on Sunday when it was announced that Hunt Oil is doing a deal for petroleum development in Iraqi Kurdistan. (Such Kurdistan deals are not typically being put through the federal government in Baghdad, […]
Helman: Refugees a Measure of Security Conditions
Ambassador Gerald B. Helman writes: In current discussions of the situation in Iraq, insufficient attention is being paid to perhaps the most sensitive barometer available, that of refugee flows. To date, of Iraq’s pre-war population of about 30 million, about 13% have either fled their country or are internally displaced–a historically very large proportion of […]
Questions about Authenticity of Bin Laden Video
Some evidence that the audio track of the recent Osamah Bin Laden video was laid down over an older video has been given. If true, this manipulation would not in my view prove that the audio was fraudulent. One problem is that the video would have to be awfully old to have Osama with a […]
Cole on CSPAN-2 Tonight at 10 EDT
Note: My talk on Napoleon’s Egypt will be shown in the US on CSPAN-2 at 10 pm EDT on Sunday evening, September 9. At the Napoleon’s Egypt Blog, a letter from one of Bonaparte’s scientists (a botanist) exhibiting the disillusionment the invaders felt on seizing Egypt. My assistant said it reminded him of Conrad’s “Heart […]
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