[Peace-discuss] Just Foreign Policy News, January 16, 2007

[Robert Naiman]

Just Foreign Policy News
January 16, 2007
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/newsroom/blog/

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Summary:
US/Top News
The US might launch a military strike on Iran before April 2007, the
Arab Times reported in Kuwait. The report said that the attack would
be launched from the sea, while Patriot missiles would guard Arab
countries in the Gulf. Reaction to the report in Kuwait suggested that
it was being taken seriously, with the speaker of the parliament
saying that Kuwait would not support a U.S. attack on Iran.

The U.S. media misrepresents the reality of Venezuela, writes Mark
Weisbrot on Huffington Post. Last week a Washington Post editorial
claimed that "despite a one-sided campaign that left a majority of
Venezuelans believing they might be punished if they did not cast
their ballots for him, Chávez received only 7 million votes." But
voting in Venezuela is by secret ballot, as any observer from the OAS
or EU could have told them. There was no reported evidence that this
secrecy was violated or that voters were intimidated into re-electing
Chavez. The 7 million votes constituted a 50-year record, in number
and percentage - 63 percent, the highest of 9 presidential elections
in Latin America last year. The Post description of the election was
ridiculous.

President Bush's address last week failed to move public opinion in
support of his plan to increase US troop levels in Iraq, USA Today
reports. More than 6 of 10 people back the idea of a non-binding
congressional resolution expressing opposition to Bush's plan to
commit additional troops. But those surveyed were split, 47%-50%, over
whether Congress should deny funding for the additional troops.

To pay for the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US has used
its credit card, the Christian Science Monitor reports. The US is
spending about $10 billion a month on Iraq and Afghanistan. By the end
of this year, the total funds appropriated will be nearly $600 billion
– approaching the amount spent on the Vietnam or Korean wars, when
adjusted for inflation.

Two Navy men have established a Web site, AppealforRedress.org, that
enables active-duty, reserve and National Guard troops to appeal
directly to Congress to withdraw military personnel from Iraq, the
Washington Post reports. Monday the group held its coming-out news
conference, announcing more than 1,000 people have signed appeals. On
Tuesday, the pleas will be presented to Rep. Dennis Kucinich on
Capitol Hill.

Iran
Defense Secretary Gates said Monday Iran was "acting in a very
negative way" and the US was building up its forces to demonstrate its
resolve to remain in the Persian Gulf, the New York Times reports.
Gates, who endorsed resuming diplomatic contacts with Iran in 2004,
said Iran's behavior had worsened and resuming diplomatic relations
would be possible only when Iran was "prepared to play a constructive
role."

The Iraqi government is moving to solidify relations with Iran, even
as the US turns up the rhetorical heat and bolsters its military
forces to confront Iran's influence in Iraq, the Los Angeles Times
reports. The US military is still holding five Iranians detained in a
raid on an Iranian office in northern Iraq last week. Iraqis, who have
echoed Iran's calls for the US to release the five men, say the
three-way standoff that has ensued reveals more about American
meddling in Iraqi affairs than about Iranian influence.

Diplomats in Vienna, where the International Atomic Energy Agency is
based, said Thursday that the enrichment program in Natanz had ground
to a halt, AP reports.

Iraq
The Kurdish makeup of two of the three Iraqi army brigades due to be
sent to Baghdad under President Bush's new strategic plan is drawing
concern from Iraqi and US experts, the Washington Post reports. Last
week a prominent member of the Iraqi Kurdish Coalition declared his
opposition to Kurds going into Baghdad. "There are fears that a fight
like this, pitting Kurds against the Arabs, is bound to add an ethnic
touch to the conflict," he said.

Somalia
Somalia's transitional government shut three of the country's biggest
radio stations on Monday, the New York Times reports. The government
also closed the Mogadishu office of Al Jazeera. Some accused the
government of being hypocritical because officials had criticized the
Islamists for not allowing radio stations to play Western music. Now
the government was going further by closing the same stations.

Afghanistan
NATO is fighting a war to eradicate opium from Afghanistan, writes
Anne Applebaum in the Washington Post. The current policy has failed.
It would make more sense to support a program for legal poppy
cultivation, like the successful program that the U.S. still supports
in Turkey.

Peru/Venezuela
Peruvian President García and Venezuelan President Chávez agreed to
reestablish diplomatic relations within a month, AP reports. The two
leaders said they would also discuss cooperation in the energy sector.

Brazil
A Brazilian government plan will bring large-scale logging deep into
the heart of the Amazon rain forest, in a calculated gamble that new
monitoring efforts can offset any danger of increased devastation, the
New York Times reports. The new system assumes that the world
community will also play a part and buy timber only from merchants who
are properly licensed and will avoid unscrupulous dealers.

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-
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org