[Peace-discuss] Just Foreign Policy News, October 12, 2006

[Robert Naiman]

Just Foreign Policy News
October 12, 2006

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Summary:
U.S.
The Army is gearing up to keep current troop levels in Iraq through
2010, AP reports. The announcement was the latest acknowledgment by
Pentagon officials that a significant withdrawal of troops from Iraq
is not likely in the immediate future.

In President Bush's imaginary world, Saddam Hussein defied UN demands
that he get rid of weapons of mass destruction and barred U.N.
inspectors; al-Qaeda's public statements must be believed; and U.S.
withdrawal from Iraq is unthinkable because it would let al-Qaeda
"extend the caliphate," a mythical state that doesn't exist, writes
Robert Parry.

John Bolton was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by Sweden's former
deputy Prime Minister for "exposing Iran's secret plans to develop
nuclear weapons," BBC reports.

President Bush said Wednesday he would not use force against North
Korea because "diplomacy hasn't run its course," but acknowledged many
Americans wonder why he invaded Iraq but has not taken military action
to head off North Korea's race for a bomb.

The American-financed rebuilding of an Iraqi police headquarters that
was meant to show a new approach to reconstruction has instead turned
out to be rife with shoddy construction and is exposing security
forces to unnecessary risk, a federal oversight agency said yesterday.

A former Pentagon employee accepted bribes worth thousands of dollars
for steering $6 million in contracts to an Iraqi company, according to
an indictment released yesterday by the Justice Department.

President Bush asserted yesterday the administration's strategy on
North Korea is superior to the one pursued by his predecessor, because
Clinton reached a bilateral agreement that failed, while the current
administration is trying to end North Korea's nuclear programs through
multi-nation talks. But the reality is more complicated, the
Washington Post reports. Bush's current policy envisions bilateral
negotiations with North Korea on certain issues, while it is not fully
accurate to describe the negotiations that led to a 1994 agreement
between the US and North Korea as purely the result of one-on-one
negotiations.

The US wants a vote on North Korea by Friday despite opposition from
China to some of the economic and weapons sanctions aimed at punishing
North Korea for its reported nuclear weapons test, Reuters reports.

Iran
The permanent members of the U.N. Security Council agreed Wednesday to
start working on U.N. sanctions against Iran, but failed to bridge
differences on how harsh the penalties should be, AP reports. While
the U.S. called for broad sanctions to punish Iran, Russia and China
favored less severe measures.

Iraq
Iraq's Shiite-dominated Parliament approved a law on Wednesday
enabling provinces to unite to form autonomous regions, in spite of
vehement opposition by Sunni Arab leaders. Juan Cole notes that Sunni
Arabs only agreed to run for office and participate in last December's
elections because they were promised an effective voice on this sort
of issue.

The senior American commander in Iraq said Wednesday violence in
Baghdad had reached its highest levels in recent weeks, despite the
assignment of thousands more American and Iraqi troops to the capital
in August.

Israel
Dovish members of the American Jewish community are planning to set up
a pro-Israel alternative to the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported. Among figures
behind the initiative are philanthropists George Soros, Edgar and
Charles Bronfman and former Democratic congressman Mel Levine.

Lebanon
Lebanese Prime Minister Siniora warned Wednesday Israeli military
flights over Lebanon were endangering the truce that ended this
summer's war, the Washington Post reports. The UN considers the
overflights a violation of the truce.

Turkey
Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel literature prize Thursday.
His trial for "insulting Turkishness" raised concerns about free
speech in Turkey. Turkey's Foreign Ministry congratulated Pamuk,
wishing him continued success and saying the prize would help give
Turkish literature a wider audience abroad.

Egypt
Former President Sadat's nephew Talaat was brought before a military
court Wednesday, charged with defaming the army for saying his uncle
had died because of military negligence. The case echoes other recent
efforts to silence criticism of Egypt's leadership. Talaat, a member
of Parliament, will be tried in secret with no right to appeal. If
convicted, he faces up to three years in prison.

North Korea
North Korea's second most powerful political figure threatened
Wednesday North Korea would carry out further nuclear tests if the US
did not change what he called its "hostile attitude." He dismissed the
impact economic sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council would
have. He said North Korea would refuse to return to six-party talks
unless the US dropped sanctions imposed in 2005. Analysts have said
the explosion Monday was small enough to suggest that the test
partially failed or was not in fact nuclear.

Colombia
A battle to wean Colombian farmers off of the cocaine trade is quietly
being cut back in a region where cocaine production is surging, AP
reports. The US Agency for International Development cites security
risks for its workers and a lack of private investment partners for
its pullout from Caquetá State. Six years and more than $4 billion in
American tax dollars after Plan Colombia began in Caquetá, coca is
still the region's No. 1 cash crop. But programs to provide farmers
with a profitable alternative to coca are vanishing.

Contents:
U.S.
1) Army: Troops to Stay in Iraq Until 2010
Robert Burns, Associated Press, Wednesday, October 11, 2006; 11:05 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/29/AR2006092900471.html
For planning purposes, the Army is gearing up to keep current troop
levels in Iraq for another four years, a new indication that
conditions there are too unstable to foresee an end to the war. Gen.
Schoomaker, Army chief of staff, cautioned against reading too much
into the planning, which is done far in advance to prepare the right
mix of combat units for expected deployments. He noted that it is
easier to scale back later if conditions allow, than to ramp up if
they don't. "This is not a prediction that things are going poorly or
better," Schoomaker said.

Even so, his comments were the latest acknowledgment by Pentagon
officials that a significant withdrawal of troops from Iraq is not
likely in the immediate future. There are now 141,000 U.S. troops
there.

2) Bush & His Dangerous Delusions
Robert Parry, Consortiumnews.com, October 12, 2006
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/101106.html
In George W. Bush's world, Saddam Hussein defied UN demands that he
get rid of his weapons of mass destruction and barred U.N. inspectors;
al-Qaeda's public statements must be believed even when contradicted
by its private comments; and U.S. withdrawal from Iraq is unthinkable
because it would let al-Qaeda "extend the caliphate," a mythical state
that doesn't really exist.

At his Oct. 11 news conference, Bush gave the country a peek into his
imaginary world, a bizarre place impenetrable by facts and logic,
where falsehoods, once stated, become landmarks. Bush maneuvered
casually through this world like an experienced guide making passing
references to favorite points of interest, such as Hussein's defiance
of U.N. resolutions banning WMD (when Hussein actually had eliminated
his WMD stockpiles).

"We tried the diplomacy," Bush said. "Remember it? We tried resolution
after resolution after resolution." Though the resolutions had worked
– and left Hussein stripped of his WMD arsenal – that isn't how it
looks in Bush's world, where the resolutions failed and there was no
choice but to invade.

3) Bolton Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
BBC News, Thursday, 12 October 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5398780.stm
The US Ambassador at the UN, John Bolton, and long-time Iran
investigator Kenneth Timmerman were formally nominated by Sweden's
former deputy Prime Minister Per Ahlmark, for what was described in a
press release in February as playing a major role in exposing Iran's
secret plans to develop nuclear weapons.

They documented Iran's secret nuclear build-up and revealed Iran's
"repeated lying" and false reports to the International Atomic Energy
Agency, a press release said. A Bush administration hawk, he has been
a long-time critic of the UN and his appointment there caused
considerable controversy. The US Senate has yet to confirm him in the
post.

4) For Bush, Many Questions on Iraq and North Korea
Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times, October 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/washington/12prexy.html
President Bush said Wednesday he would not use force against North
Korea because "diplomacy hasn't run its course," but acknowledged many
Americans wonder why he invaded Iraq but has not taken military action
to head off North Korea's race for a bomb. "I'm asked questions around
the country, 'Just go ahead and use the military,' " Bush said at a
morning news conference "And my answer is that I believe the commander
in chief must try all diplomatic measures before we commit our
military."

Then, without prompting, the president asked an obvious next question.
"I'll ask myself a follow-up," Bush said. " 'If that's the case, why
did you use military action in Iraq?' And the reason why is because we
tried the diplomacy."

Experts believe the nuclear buildup in the North dates back to the
early 1990's, when the first President Bush was in office. Under an
agreement Clinton struck in 1994, North Korea agreed to freeze its
production of plutonium in return for energy aid. North Korea abided
by the freeze, but starting around 1997, it took steps on a second,
secret nuclear program. In 2002, after South Korean and American
intelligence agencies found conclusive evidence of that program, the
Bush administration confronted the North with the evidence that it had
cheated while Clinton was in office. That led to the six-nation talks,
involving the US, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia.

"The Clinton administration was prepared to accept an imperfect
agreement in the interest of achieving limits," said Gary Samore, a
North Korea expert who helped negotiate the 1994 agreement. "The Bush
administration is not prepared to accept an imperfect agreement, and
the result is that we have no limits."

5) U.S. Agency Cites Flaws in Another Iraqi Construction Project
James Glanz, New York Times, October 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/world/middleeast/12reconstruct.html
The American-financed rebuilding of an Iraqi police headquarters that
was meant to show a new approach to reconstruction has instead turned
out to be rife with shoddy construction and is exposing security
forces to unnecessary risk, a federal oversight agency said yesterday.

The headquarters project, in the volatile northern city of Mosul, is
the second police-related contract to face harsh criticism recently.
Two weeks ago, the same oversight agency told Congress of grotesque
plumbing failures and other problems at a $72 million police college
in Baghdad.

In the earlier project, most of the criticism was directed at Parsons,
the American contractor hired by the Army Corps of Engineers to carry
out the work with the help of Iraqi subcontractors. But this time, in
a step the Army Corps has said will eliminate some of the construction
problems, the work was contracted directly to a local Iraqi company.

But the Mosul police headquarters project, a $988,000 contract that
was much smaller and presumably simpler than the earlier one, suffered
some of the same troubles, according to a report released yesterday by
the agency, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

Brian Flynn, assistant inspector general for inspections at the
oversight agency, said there had been no plans to look into the
headquarters, called One West, until an inspection team happened to be
in Mosul and was approached by the Iraqi police. The police "were so
upset with the quality of construction that they asked us to inspect
it while we were there," Flynn said.

Problems with the construction were not hard to find, the agency's
report said. One part of the contract called for the construction of
10 showers, 12 toilets, 10 urinals, 10 sinks and a changing room at
One West. Instead, just one shower and one toilet had been built, and
there was no changing room. A tree in the spot where the construction
took place was allowed to remain standing, and its trunk was cemented
into the building's structure. An electrical generator was delivered
but not installed and instead of installing fans in the guard houses,
as called for in the contract, workers installed extra windows,
leaving the guards exposed in a city where police stations have
frequently been attacked.

The problems stemmed from a poor Iraqi contractor and a lack of
inspection by Army engineers early in the project, said Stuart Bowen,
who runs the oversight agency. "The issue is oversight," Bowen said.
"Our experience is that where there is good oversight there are good
projects."

6) American Accused of Taking a Bribe for Work on Iraq
New York Times, October 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/world/middleeast/12bling.html
A former Pentagon employee accepted gold jewelry worth thousands of
dollars for illegally steering nearly $6 million in contracts to an
Iraqi company for work at a sprawling American military base adjacent
to Baghdad's main airport, according to an indictment released
yesterday by the Justice Department.

The indictment charges the former employee, Bonnie Murphy, with
accepting a bribe and illegally padding her federal salary. From July
to December 2004, court papers say, Murphy accepted gold jewelry worth
$9,000 from the owners of the company in exchange for ensuring that
they received lucrative contracts. Murphy, who worked for a Pentagon
office responsible for disposing of surplus and hazardous materials,
carefully followed through on her promises to the company, court
papers charge. They allege that before each contract was awarded, she
requested an outside contractor be used for the work and then
recommended that the company that had given her the jewelry be hired.

7) Bush Faults Clinton Policy, But the Debate is Complex
Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, Thursday, October 12, 2006; A23
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/11/AR2006101101793.html
President Bush asserted yesterday the administration's strategy on
North Korea is superior to the one pursued by his predecessor, because
Clinton reached a bilateral agreement that failed, while the current
administration is trying to end North Korea's nuclear programs through
multi-nation talks.

As Secretary of State Rice said Tuesday: "The US tried direct dialogue
with the North Koreans in the '90s, and that resulted in the North
Koreans signing onto agreements that they then didn't keep." But the
reality is more complicated, according to former and current U.S.
officials and a review of the diplomatic history.

Bush's current policy, in fact, envisions direct, bilateral
negotiations with North Korea on certain issues in the six-nation
talks, such as missile proliferation and normalizing relations. That
commitment to direct talks is enshrined in the agreement of principles
reached in September 2005. Rice was prepared to authorize her chief
negotiator to travel to Pyongyang in November 2005, provided North
Korea shut down its nuclear reactor as a sign of good faith. It
refused that condition, and the trip was scrubbed.

It is not fully accurate to describe the negotiations that led to a
1994 agreement between the US and North Korea as purely the result of
one-on-one negotiations. During talks that produced the Agreed
Framework, in which North Korea said it would freeze its nuclear
program, U.S. negotiators briefed Japanese and South Korean officials
every day. South Korea and Japan agreed to bankroll much of the cost
of the light-water reactors that were to be provided to North Korea
under the deal.

Robert Gallucci, chief negotiator of the accord and now dean of the
Georgetown School of Foreign Service, said it is "ludicrous" to say
the Clinton agreement failed. For eight years, the Agreed Framework
kept North Korea's five-megawatt plutonium reactor frozen and under
international inspection, while North Korea did not build planned 50-
and 200-megawatt reactors. If those reactors had been built and
running, he said, North Korea would now have enough plutonium for more
than 100 nuclear weapons.

By Gallucci's account, North Korea may have produced a small amount of
plutonium for one or two weapons before Clinton came into office -
during the administration of Bush's father - but "no more material was
created on his watch." When Clinton left office, officials saw signs
that North Korea may have been attempting to create a clandestine
uranium enrichment program, but nothing was definitive.

Such a program would violate the Agreed Framework. When the Bush
administration decided it had conclusive proof of that enrichment in
July 2002, it confronted North Korea and terminated fuel oil
deliveries promised under the Agreed Framework. In response, North
Korea evicted the inspectors, restarted the reactor and retrieved
weapons-grade plutonium from 8,000 fuel rods that had been kept in a
cooling pond. Intelligence analysts now think that, before Monday's
apparent nuclear test, North Korea had enough plutonium for as many as
a dozen weapons.

While the Bush administration accused Pyongyang, North Koreans
complained bitterly that the US was the chief violator of the pact
because the reactors were years behind in construction and because
promises to end hostile relations and normalize ties were not
fulfilled.

8) U.S. pushes for Friday U.N. vote on N. Korea sanctions
Evelyn Leopold, Reuters, Thursday, October 12, 2006; 8:40 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101200320.html
The US wants a vote on North Korea by Friday despite opposition from
China to some of the economic and weapons sanctions aimed at punishing
North Korea for its reported nuclear weapons test. A new draft
resolution is expected to be formally introduced to the U.N. Security
Council Thursday by the U.S., leaving members the usual minimum of 24
hours to consult before a vote.

China has agreed to some punitive measures against its ally. But the
new U.S.-drafted resolution changes few provisions China opposed
earlier, possibly delaying the U.N. timetable for a vote without
further revisions. The resolution would impose an arms embargo, a ban
on any transfer or development of weapons of mass destruction and a
ban on the sale of luxury goods to North Korea. It would freeze funds
overseas of people or businesses connected with North Korea's nuclear
and ballistic missile programs.

And it adds a proposal by Japan that would allow, but not require,
nations to bar the entry of individuals and their families connected
to or supporting the North's policies on weapons of mass destruction.
[This seems an odd provision for democracies to adopt. If your crazy
uncle writes a letter in support of North Korea's nuclear program, you
can be stopped at the border - JFP.] One controversial provision not
changed in the new draft is authorization for international
inspections of cargo moving in and out of North Korea to detect
weapons-related material. Diplomats said China had rejected this
earlier. [Without safeguards such a provision could be used to harass
shipping of non-military goods -JFP.]

Iran
9) U.N. Disagrees on Sanctions Against Iran
Associated Press, October 11, 2006, Filed at 10:08 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iran-Nuclear.html
The permanent members of the U.N. Security Council agreed Wednesday to
start working on U.N. sanctions against Iran next week, but failed to
bridge differences on how harsh the penalties should be, diplomats and
officials said. They told AP that while the U.S. called for broad
sanctions to punish Iran's defiance in pursuing its nuclear program,
Russian and Chinese representatives at a top-level Vienna meeting
favored less severe measures.

One of the diplomats said that while the US had urged broad sanctions
- such as a total ban on missile and nuclear technology sales - the
Russians and Chinese backed prohibitions of selected items as a first
step.He also said the Chinese and Russian envoys called for renewed
negotiations with the Iranians in parallel to working on sanctions.

Iran, OPEC's No. 2 producer of crude, is apparently ready to face the
threat of sanctions because it is confident they will be more symbolic
than damaging because of international concerns any tough penalties
could prompt Tehran to retaliate by cutting off oil exports. Restating
his country's defiance, President Ahmadinejad was quoted by state
television Wednesday as saying ''the day sanctions are imposed on Iran
by its enemies would be a day of national celebration for the Iranian
nation.''

Iraq
10) In Victory for Shiite Leader, Iraqi Parliament Approves Creating
Autonomous Regions
Kirk Semple, New York Times, October 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/world/middleeast/12iraq.html
Iraq's Shiite-dominated Parliament approved a law on Wednesday
enabling provinces to unite to form autonomous regions, in spite of
vehement opposition by Sunni Arab leaders who said it could splinter
the republic and disadvantage the minority Sunni population. The vote
was a victory for Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the dominant Shiite
bloc, who wants to form an autonomous state from nine predominantly
Shiite provinces of southern Iraq, a region that includes much of the
nation's oil and other natural resources.

The right to form semi-independent regions was guaranteed in the Iraqi
Constitution, which voters approved a year ago. The law passed
Wednesday defined the mechanisms of the process. The law allows
provinces to hold referendums on whether to merge into larger states,
but it imposes an 18-month moratorium on the process. Consent by a
third of a province's governing council or a tenth of its electorate
can prompt a referendum, which would then require approval by a
majority of voters to pass.

The Sunni Arab blocs and some Shiite and secular legislators, who had
united last month to block the legislation, boycotted the session on
Wednesday in an unsuccessful effort to prevent a quorum. But 140 of
the 275 members attended and voted unanimously for the bill, AP
reported. Sunni Arab leaders fear any plan to divide Iraq into regions
would eventually shift control of its oil wealth to the Kurds in the
north and the Shiites in the south, leaving them with the relatively
barren central and western regions.

"We had our objections, and when they were disregarded, we found that
the best way to deal with that was to boycott the session," said
Salman al-Jumaili, a legislator from the Iraqi Consensus Front, the
largest Sunni bloc. "We believe that implementing this law in its
present form will be a prescription for dividing Iraq." In the
governing Shiite coalition, which remains divided on the issue,
legislators loyal to Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr have demanded that
any discussion of federalism proceed only after American forces have
left Iraq.

Members of the Fadhila Party, a Shiite group wary of Hakim's power,
had opposed the law because it did not include clauses to prevent the
formation of one huge federation across southern Iraq. [Juan Cole
notes in his blog: "Sunni Arabs only agreed to run for office and
participate in last December's elections because they were promised an
effective voice on this sort of issue, over which they had rejected
the new constitution in all three provinces they dominate. This
parliamentary maneuver has left the Sunni Arabs looking like fools and
has left Iraq looking as though it has a tyranny of the Shiite
majority. Expect more Sunni Arab violence as a result."
http://www.juancole.com/ -JFP]

11) Top U.S. Officer in Iraq Sees Spike in Violence
David S. Cloud, New York Times, October 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/world/middleeast/12military.html
The senior American commander in Iraq said Wednesday violence in
Baghdad had reached its highest levels in recent weeks, despite the
assignment of thousands more American and Iraqi troops to the capital
in August. The comments, by Gen. George Casey, came as President Bush
said he was open to modifying strategy in Iraq if military commanders
determined that a new approach was required.

Bush was responding to questions about comments from, among others,
Senator Warner, chair of the Armed Services Committee, and James
Baker, co-chair of a panel reviewing Iraq policy, both of whom have
said some new approach may be needed.

General Casey said that the redeployment of troops to Baghdad in
August had initially reduced the number of killings and bombings but
that attacks had gone back up recently. "The levels of violence over
the last few weeks are as high as they have been," he said.

Israel
12) New pro-Israel lobby as alternative to AIPAC
Amiram Barkat, Haaretz,  02:28 12/10/2006
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/773520.html
Dovish pro-Israel members of the American Jewish community are
planning to set up a pro-Israel alternative to the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported
yesterday. Among figures behind the initiative are philanthropist
George Soros, who has not been involved with Israeli issues until now,
philanthropists Edgar and Charles Bronfman and Mel Levine, a former
Democratic congressman.

Meretz chairman Yossi Beilin commended the establishment of the new
lobby. Beilin told Haaretz the lobby would portray another facet of
American Jewry. "It's important for both the administration and
congress to know that AIPAC is a right- wing organization that
represents only part of the Jewish community in the US," Beilin said.

After meeting the lobby's other founders, Soros said he would take
part in its founding ceremony on October 26 in New York. The founders
have been discussing ways to persuade the Bush administration to
increase its involvement in finding a solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The initiative for the lobby is
spearheaded by David Elcott, executive director of the Israel Policy
Forum (IPF), an advocacy think tank founded to counter AIPAC's
objection to the Oslo Accords.

Lebanon
13) Overflights by Israel Said to Violate Truce
Anthony Shadid, Washington Post, Thursday, October 12, 2006; A24
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/11/AR2006101101633.html
Lebanese Prime Minister Siniora warned Wednesday Israeli military
flights over Lebanon were endangering the truce that ended this
summer's war. Siniora said the overflights were occurring daily. The
UN, which considers them a violation of the truce, said it recorded 10
overflights of warplanes and surveillance drones from Oct. 3 to
midnight Oct. 9. "I am willing to accept whatever any other sovereign
country would accept for itself. Would they allow it?" Siniora asked.
"I mean, would the US allow flyovers of Russian planes? If they would
allow it, I accept it."

Israel has said it will continue overflights of Lebanese territory
until U.N. Resolution 1701 is, in its view, implemented fully. It says
that would require the return of the two soldiers that Hezbollah
captured on July 12 and an inspection mechanism to ensure that no
weapons cross the Syrian border into Lebanon to resupply Hezbollah
guerrillas. The overflights pose a delicate issue for Siniora, whose
government has come under pressure from Hezbollah and followers of a
powerful Christian politician, Michel Aoun, to resign in favor of a
government they deem more representative.

Since 2000, Hezbollah had represented the main armed presence in south
Lebanon and had contended that the Lebanese army, vastly outgunned by
its Israeli equivalent, was too weak to protect the border. After the
August cease-fire, the Lebanese army was deployed to the south for the
first time in a generation, a move Siniora hailed as one of his
government's greatest achievements. Hezbollah has warned, however, it
might act if Israeli violations of the truce continue and the Lebanese
army and a newly strengthened U.N. force in the area do nothing to end
them.

Siniora said that, in time, the army might have to respond to Israel's
actions. "It is the duty of our army to defend the country," he said.
But he acknowledged the dispute would probably have to be resolved
diplomatically. "Now we are exhausting all diplomatic channels and
means, and this is how it should be done," he said. He noted that when
Hezbollah was effectively guarding the border from 2000 to 2006,
Israeli overflights were routine but the Shiite militia was largely
powerless to stop them.

Siniora's government, backed by the US and EU countries, is at the
center of a growing polarization in Lebanese politics. The tension,
often most pronounced between the country's Sunni and Shiite Muslim
communities, has left many here gloomy about what lies ahead. Aoun
and, to a lesser extent, Hezbollah have demanded Siniora's cabinet
resign in favor of a "national unity government" that would give them
more power. Corruption, rife in Lebanese public life, is one of their
biggest complaints. So is what they view as the government's
ineffectiveness.

Turkey
14) Turkish Writer Orhan Pamuk Wins Nobel
Matt Moore & Karl Ritter, Associated Press, Thursday, October 12, 2006; 11:38 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101200164.html
Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, whose lyrical gifts and uncompromising
politics have brought him acclaim worldwide and prosecution at home,
won the Nobel literature prize Thursday for his works dealing with the
symbols of clashing cultures. The selection of Pamuk, whose trial for
"insulting Turkishness" raised concerns about free speech in Turkey,
continues a trend among Nobel judges of picking writers in conflict
with their own governments. British playwright Harold Pinter, a strong
opponent of his country's involvement in the Iraq war, won last year.

Pamuk, currently visiting professor at Columbia, told AP he was
overjoyed by the award, saying remarks he made earlier referring to
the Nobel literature prize as "nonsense" were a mistranslation. He
told AP he accepted the prize as not "just a personal honor, but as an
honor bestowed upon the Turkish literature and culture I represent."

Pamuk, whose novels include "Snow" and "My Name is Red," was charged
last year for telling a Swiss newspaper Turkey was unwilling to deal
with two of the most painful episodes in recent Turkish history: the
massacre of Armenians during World War I, which Turkey insists was not
a planned genocide, and recent guerrilla fighting in Turkey's
overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast.

"Thirty-thousand Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed in these
lands, and nobody but me dares to talk about it," he told the
newspaper. The controversy came at a sensitive time. Turkey had
recently begun membership talks with the EU, which harshly criticized
the trial. The charges against Pamuk were dropped in January.

In Turkey, fellow novelists, poets and publishers were among the first
to congratulate Pamuk, but nationalists who regard the novelist as a
traitor accused the Swedish Academy of rewarding the author because he
had belittled Turks.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry congratulated Pamuk, wishing him continued
success and saying the prize would help give Turkish literature a
wider audience abroad. Prominent Armenian writers also hailed the
decision to award a Nobel to Pamuk.

Egypt
15) Remarks Land Sadat Nephew in Military Court
Michael Slackman, New York Times, October 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/world/africa/12sadat.html
25 years after President Anwar el-Sadat was assassinated, his nephew
Talaat was brought before a military court Wednesday, charged with
defaming the army for saying on television his uncle had died because
of military negligence. Sadat's case has attracted wide attention in
Egypt, because it has reopened a historical wound and because it
echoes other recent efforts to silence criticism of the nation's
leadership, political analysts and opposition Parliament members said.
Sadat, a member of Parliament, has a long history of sparring with
powerful people in the governing National Democratic Party.

The government moved fast and hard against Sadat after he criticized
the military for failing to protect his uncle and suggested there was
a broader conspiracy that had not been revealed. The next day, the
speaker of Parliament stripped Sadat of his parliamentary immunity,
allowing him to be brought before a military court, where he will be
tried in secret with no right to appeal. If convicted, he faces up to
three years in prison. "They want to get rid of me," Sadat said. "This
is an act directed at distancing me from political life."

North Korea
16) N. Korea's No. 2 Official Warns of Further Tests
Anthony Faiola, Washington Post, Thursday, October 12, 2006; A22
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/11/AR2006101100346.html
North Korea's second most powerful political figure, Kim Yong Nam,
indicated Wednesday North Korea would carry out further nuclear tests
if the US did not change what he called its "hostile attitude." Kim
dismissed the impact that economic sanctions imposed by the U.N.
Security Council would have on his impoverished country. "Even as
economic sanctions increase by day, our economy in general has entered
a rising trend," he was quoted as saying.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, declaring that his country is "in
gravest danger," moved Wednesday to ban imports from North Korea and
stop North Korean ships and citizens from coming to Japan.

Kim's remarks were the first public comment from a high-ranking North
Korean official since the government announced a nuclear test Monday.
He added that North Korea would refuse to return to stalled six-party
talks aimed at its nuclear disarmament unless the US dropped sanctions
imposed in September 2005 that target North Korea's alleged
counterfeiting and other illegal businesses.

Analysts have said the explosion detected in North Korea's barren
northeast on Monday was small enough to suggest that the test
partially failed or was not in fact nuclear. Japanese Foreign Minister
Taro Aso told a parliamentary panel that Japan had unconfirmed
information that another test might be coming.

Colombia
17) Less Aid for Colombian States Rich in Coca
Associated Press, October 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/world/americas/12Colombia.html
A $4 billion battle to wean Colombian farmers off the cocaine trade
through a combination of military might and American aid is quietly
being cut back in a region where cocaine production is surging. In an
internal memo, the US Agency for International Development cites
unacceptable security risks for its workers and a lack of private
investment partners for its pullout from Caquetá State.

Six years and more than $4 billion in American tax dollars after Plan
Colombia began in Caquetá, coca, the raw ingredient of cocaine, is
still the region's No. 1 cash crop. But the programs meant to provide
farmers with a profitable alternative to growing coca are vanishing.
Washington spends $70 million annually on development projects in
drug-producing areas of Colombia. But under AID's new five-year, $350
million plan for development projects, Caquetá and four other
Amazonian states where coca production is rising will not receive a
penny.

"Instead of investing generously to eliminate dependency on the
illegal drug trade, we're being shunned," said Luis Fernando Almario,
a congressman from Caquetá. An official at the US Embassy in Bogotá
said resources from Caquetá would be redirected to areas with a
greater likelihood of sustaining development.

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Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org

Just Foreign Policy is a membership organization devoted to reforming
U.S. foreign policy so that it reflects the values and interests of
the majority of Americans.