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May 25, 2010 Setting The Sanctions Agenda If sanctions are to remain the main tool to confront Iran, America and its allies need to rethink the overall goals of their policy and adopt suitable measures to increase the likelihood of its... May 25, 2010 Whither Iran Policy? Could it be true? According to the Los Angeles Times, the U.S. administration may have changed its mind on the virtues of engaging Iran's regime while giving the cold shoulder to its street... May 25, 2010 Iran’s Game of Negotiations One unanswered question about the nuclear-swap deal: who provides the 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium fuel rods to Iran? Because that is what swapping means — Iran gives Turkey 1,200... May 25, 2010 Iran’s Oppressed Workers Today, progressives across the world mark the international labor movement's official holiday. As trade unions celebrate their remarkable conquests with parades, demonstrations, and speeches, their... May 25, 2010 Procrastination on Iran At a weekend retreat in Finland, the foreign ministers of the EU met alongside the Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu. Among the topics discussed was Iran. And among the conclusions emerging... May 25, 2010 Iran Draws Closer to Nuclear Capability as World Watches Last Friday, the New York Times ran an interesting piece by David Sanger about a puzzling element that emerged in the latest IAEA report on Iran — namely Iran's decision to bring most of i... May 25, 2010 Congress Pushes Forward on Bill Amid Possible Deal on U.N. Sanctions House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Tuesday that he wants Congress to complete action on new Iran sanctions legislation before leaving for the Memorial Day recess, even as Secretary of State... May 25, 2010 The Other Mideast Conflict Earlier this year, the government of Canada announced it would discontinue its long-standing financial contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and redirect those funds... May 25, 2010 Moscow’s Opportunism in The Middle East After a deliberately much-trumpeted visit by its president to Syria last week, Russia has been heralded, for the umpteenth time in recent years, as making a Middle Eastern comeback through Damasc... May 24, 2010 Pakistan hits Taliban in Arakzai The Pakistani military pounded Taliban positions Sunday during the latest round of fighting in the lawless tribal agency of Arakzai. Pakistani Air Force attack aircraft and Army helicopt... May 24, 2010 Haqqani Network executed Kabul suicide attack The Pakistan-based Haqqani Network carried out last week's deadly suicide attack in Kabul that killed 18 people, including six Coalition soldiers. US military intelligence of... May 24, 2010 American Interests Targetted by Iran and Al-Qaeda By Dr. Walid Phares In an article published in the weekly review al Watan al al Arabi, I outlined what I believe are America's permanent strategic positions in the Middle E... May 23, 2010 Declassify Intelligence On Anwar al Awlaki’s “Students” Al Qaeda cleric Anwar al Awlaki described both the Fort Hood Shooter and the Christmas Day bomber as his “students” in a tape released this weekend, according to press reports. This i... May 22, 2010 Taliban attack Kandahar Airfield The Taliban launched yet another ground attack on a major Coalition military base in Afghanistan. A Taliban force launched a coordinated attack today against Kandahar Airfield, th... May 21, 2010 Taliban suicide assault squad attacks police outpost in eastern Afghanistan A Taliban suicide assault squad was repelled as it tried to overrun an Afghan police outpost today in the Urgun district in Paktika province. Four Taliban fighters and one policeman were r... May 21, 2010 The Spy Swap that Really Happened: The Case of Agent ‘Lily’ I’ve of course been following the story of the French release of Ali Vakili-Rod, the Iranian assassin of former Prime Minister Shahpour Bakhtiar. If you like assassinati... May 21, 2010 New Nuclear Deal is An Iranian Triumph Brazil's President Ignazio Lula da Silva and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan have emerged as big global players after delivering a compromise over Iran's nuclear fuel follow... May 21, 2010 A Quisling Turkey Beware. With stunts such as this week's bid to deflect further sanctions on Iran, Turkey's leaders like to boast that they are creating a new role for their nation as a rising regional... May 20, 2010 The Afghanistan-Pakistan Theater: Militant Islam, Security & Stability What is the optimal strategy for the United States and its allies to pursue in Afghanistan? Observers across the political spectrum agree that military operations alone are not enough to secure Afghan... May 20, 2010 Don’ t You Just Love Hezbollah? It’ s So Interesting’Like Freddie Kruger As the extraordinary Andy McCarthy points out on The Corner, White House terror “expert” John Brennan–and his boss, President Obama– seem to think that we should be cultiv... May 20, 2010 The Flight of the Intellectuals Paul Berman is someone who takes ideas - especially pernicious and toxic ones - very seriously. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Berman wrote a penetrating work, Terror and Liberalism... May 20, 2010 Afghan forces capture northern shadow governor Afghanistan's intelligence service has detained the Taliban's top leader for the northern province of Samangan. The National Directorate of Security said that Mullah Gul... May 20, 2010 A Gitmo Detainee’s Tall Tale More often than not, Guantanamo detainees’ claims are repeated verbatim, and uncritically, by the press. This is true both here in the U.S. and abroad. And it leads to some curious stories.... May 20, 2010 Kurdistan Notebook Erbil, Iraq - More than two months after elections, Iraq's parliamentarians have yet to cobble together a new government. Is this just the messiness that has to be expected in a fledgl... May 19, 2010 US troops repel complex Taliban assault on Bagram Aifrield US troops beat back a complex Taliban assault on the largest Coalition base in Afghanistan, killing an estimated 12 Taliban fighters. The Taliban launched the attack late at night... May 19, 2010 Next Up: Cultivating the Moderate Hezbos While the Obama administration’s foreign service team is out apologizing to Chinese Communist gulag-keepers over the human-rights violations of Arizona, the president’s crack national... May 19, 2010 The System Failed The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has released an unclassified summary of its investigation into the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day 2009. The committee’s bottom line... May 19, 2010 Pakistani troops beat back latest Taliban assualt in the northwest Pakistani troops beat back yet another massed Taliban assault on a military outpost in the lawless tribal agency of Arakzai. In today's attack, more than 200 Taliban fighters... May 19, 2010 Ignore Turkey and Brazil: Iran Sanctions Are A Go Just as the momentum behind U.S. energy sanctions against Iran shifted into high gear, Turkey and Brazil this week tried to downshift with a much ballyhooed nuclear-fuel swap deal. Could Iran&#03... May 18, 2010 Suicide bomber kills 12 in Pakistan’s northwest A Taliban suicide bomber killed 12 Pakistanis during an attack on police convoy in northwestern Pakistan. The suicide bomber detonated his car packed with explosives as a police van passed by in the settled district of Dera Ismail Khan. Three policemen and nine civilians were killed, and 10 Pakistanis were wounded, according to Reuters. Today's attack is the first major suicide strike in Pakistan since the April 28 bombing in Peshawar that targeted a police checkpoint. Four policemen were killed in the attack. Pakistan's security forces in the Taliban-plagued northwest are a common target of suicide and organized attacks. The Taliban also focuses their attacks on pro-governemnt tribes and politicians in effort to demoralize the opposition. Military strikes at Taliban in Arakzai Further north, in the tribal agency of Arakzai, the military claimed it killed 47 Taliban fighters during clashes over the past two days. Two soldiers were also reported killed during the fighting. The fighting broke out after the Taliban attacked military checkpoints and convoys throughout the region. The military said it killed the Taliban fighters during counterattacks. The heaviest fighting took place in the Dabori area; 28 Taliban were reported to have been killed there alone. Dabori was the scene of a large Taliban attack on May 10. Nine Pakistani Frontier Corps troops were killed during that attack that saw their outpost overrun by Taliban fighters. The military claimed that 37 Taliban fighters were killed in the counterstrike. The Pakistani military has claimed that more than 720 Taliban fighters have been killed in Arakzai since March 21, while only 19 soldiers, including two today, have been killed, according to reports compiled by The Long War Journal. A US military intelligence official contacted by The Long War Journal believes the Pakistani military reports of Taliban casualties are over-exaggerated. More than a month ago, Pakistani military officials claimed the Taliban was defeated in Arakzai and "fleeing" to the Tirah Valley in Khyber. Akhunzada Aslam Farooqui is the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in the Arakzai tribal agency. Farooqui took control of the Taliban after Hakeemullah Mehsud was promoted to lead the entire Taliban movement in Pakistan' s tribal areas and in the northwest. Farooqui was described as the "patron-in-chief" of the Taliban in Arakzai and a "close friend of Mullah Mohammad Omar" back in 2001. At the opening of Operation Enduring Freedom, Farooqui promised to have 12,000 tribesmen to battle US forces in Afghanistan and offered support such as sanctuary and weapons and ammunition. He claimed to lead 7,000 Taliban fighters. May 18, 2010 Taliban suicide bomber kills 18 in Kabul The Taliban claimed the deadly suicide attack that killed 18 people in the Afghan capital of Kabul today. The suicide bomber targeted and hit a Coalition convoy as it traveled on the Darulaman Road in Kabul at approximately 8 a.m. The International Security Assistance Force confirmed the attack and stated that six of its soldiers were killed in the blast. Twelve Afghan civilians who were on the road were also killed in the attack. "This sort of desperate brutality and aggression reminds us of the pessimism of an enemy who seek to kill the innocent and to stop the progress necessary for a better Afghanistan," ISAF spokesman Brigadier General Josef Blotz said in a press release. "This will not deter us from our mission of securing a better future for this country." The Taliban stated that one of its fighters carried out the attack, in a statement released on its website, the Voice of Jihad. The Taliban claimed that a suicide bomber named Mujahid Isamuddin, who is a resident of the Qara Bagh district in Kabul, detonated a car bomb packed with "about 750 kg explosives." The Voice of Jihad website has been hacked since the issuing of the press release. Images of Taliban atrocities, including public executions, hangings, and burying a woman alive are displayed on the Taliban's website and its sub-pages. The Taliban have been instructed not to launch suicide attacks that risk the lives of civilians. The order, which came from Taliban leader Mullah Omar Mohammed, has largely been ignored, and civilians are routinely killed during Taliban suicide and other attacks. Today's suicide attack is the second in Afghanistan in two days. Yesterday in Kandahar, a team of three suicide bombers armed with assault rifles attacked a border police headquarters. The first suicide bomber detonated at the outer wall, opening a hole that allowed the two other bombers to enter the compound. Police killed the two other bombers during a gunfight that lasted nearly an hour. May 18, 2010 Who Killed Daniel Pearl? At Commentary’s Contentions blog, Jen Rubin points out that President Barack Obama did not identify who killed Daniel Pearl at a signing ceremony for a bill that bears Pearl’s name &n... May 18, 2010 Italian Pols Urge Addition of Iranian Guard to EU’s Terror List BERLIN – A bipartisan group of legislators in Italy's Chamber of Deputies are seeking to have the country's Foreign Ministry put the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps on the EU's list of terroris... May 18, 2010 Stopgap Missile Amendment Is Critical House Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee will do their best Wednesday to ensure Americans are well-protected against an Iranian missile attack. They will offer up an amendment desi... May 17, 2010 The Pakistani Taliban’s top leaders After the failed car bomb attack in New York City's Times Square, the Pakistani Taliban have suddenly risen to the top of the list of concerns for Western intelligence and law enforcement of... May 17, 2010 Iran’s Game of Negotiations Give Iran credit then, as Jennifer and Jonathan note - it has just gained another few months. One unanswered question about the nuclear-swap deal: who provides the 120 kilograms of... May 17, 2010 Hot Tips on UN Waste, Fraud and Abuse: U.S. Mission Posts Scores of UN Internal Reports Hot tip for any reporters interested in newly disclosed documents on waste, fraud and abuse at the United Nations: Just days after I queried the U.S. Mission to the UN about its commitme... May 17, 2010 Holder Isn’t the Only One in the Administration Who Can’t Seem to Form the Words ‘Radical Islam’ As Jen Rubin points out, there is also The One himself. At the signing ceremony for the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act, the president couldn’t bring himself to mention who a... May 17, 2010 Sweet Home Iran This past week, Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman of the Associated Press reported a story that deserved to make a splash but didn’t. The CIA had a highly-classified program in place “to s... May 16, 2010 Time Square message: Many ‘lone wolves’ attempts makes it a terror campaign In the first few hours following the discovery of the car bomb in Time Square and the subsequent arrest of Faisal Shahzad at the airport, New York’s Governor David Patterson labeled the foi... May 15, 2010 US Predators carry out first strike in Khyber US Predators fired missiles a Taliban compound and a vehicle today in the first recorded airstrike in Pakistan's Khyber tribal agency. The unmanned Predators or the more deadly Reap... May 14, 2010 All You Need to Know About the UN: 155 Votes for Libya All you really need to know about the United Nations is that today, in the 192-member General Assembly, 155 member states – yes, 155 – voted in favor of giving Libya — yes, Liby... May 14, 2010 Al Qaeda appoints new ‘war minister’ for Iraq Al Qaeda in Iraq appointed a new 'war minister' for its Islamic State after the group's top two leaders were killed by Iraqi and US forces one month ago. Al Qaeda in Iraq... May 14, 2010 Re: The Battle for Islam I just watched the latest installment of Peter’s intriguing interview of Fouad Ajami. I’m sure Mark will have his own take on it, but, despite my admiration for Mr. Ajami, I was unimp... May 14, 2010 The State Department Can’t Be Trusted with Iran Sanctions The U.S. Congress is very close to sending President Barack Obama a bill designed to sanction Iran's energy industry -- and potentially stop Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his cot... May 14, 2010 Is The US Off-Target with its Focus on the IRGC? WASHINGTON – As the Obama administration presses ahead with imposing greater sanctions on Iran, designating Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps elements on Wednesday and pushing for the UN Security C... May 14, 2010 Fareed Zakaria GPS Iran's nuclear program and the green movement. Watch the video here.... May 13, 2010 The Middle East Vacuum The article is illuminating as a succinct but comprehensive summary of all that is wrong - and misunderstood - about present U.S. policies in the region: from the marginal relevance of the Palest... May 13, 2010 41 Taliban killed in heavy fighting in Afghan north Afghan security forces backed by US special operations teams killed 41 Taliban fighters during two raids last night in enemy strongholds in the northern province of Kunduz. Fighting brok... May 13, 2010 Al Qaeda Still in Iran A very significant piece of reporting from the Associated Press this morning. Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman report that Iran is allowing top al Qaeda leaders based in Iran to leave, "raising...

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