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By John Ross
$19.11
By John W. Dean
$15.00
$24
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By Robert Fisk — “You in the West have a moral duty in Europe to educate the United States more about the Middle East. If they don’t listen to you, they will not listen to us. They will continue with their mistakes.” I don’t think they’re going to listen, I mutter.
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Flickr / throwthedamnthing
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Taking a move from the McCain playbook and latching on to the bogeyman that is Iran, Barack Obama responded to Tehran’s long-range weapons tests Wednesday with calls for tougher economic sanctions against the country, whose missiles are now deemed capable of hitting American bases in the region.
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AP Photo/Vahid Salemi
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By Robert Fisk — What is it about threats? What possesses half the Middle East to shout abuse all the time? First we have Ahmadinejad, one of the most crackpot presidents in the world, raving away about annihilating Israel. Then we have Shaul Mofaz, the deputy Israeli prime minister, telling the world that there would have to be attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
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In this clip from The Real News, featuring an interview with Colin Powell’s former chief of staff, Larry Wilkerson, we learn that Iranian officials made an offer back in 2003 to negotiate with the Bush administration about all the important issues causing friction between Tehran and Washington. But we also learn that Dick Cheney was opposed to “talking to evil, period”— and had certain other reasons for refusing Iran’s overture.
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Sen. John McCain spoke in Albuquerque, N.M., on Monday, defending his position against the Jim Webb GI bill, which offers college tuition coverage in exchange for three years of service in the U.S. military, and drawing distinctions between himself and his opponents in terms of plans for withdrawal from Iraq.
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The Mosaic Intelligence Report looks at two welcome developments in the Middle East: On Wednesday, Israel and Syria said they had begun indirect talks in Turkey, the first confirmation in eight years of negotiations between the long-time enemies. On that same day, the Gulf state of Qatar scored a diplomatic coup by pulling off a deal intended to end Lebanon’s protracted crisis.
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AP photo / Hasan Jamali
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The Lebanese government and the Hezbollah opposition group came to a power-sharing agreement Wednesday, potentially marking the end to the country’s two-year-old political crisis, which only weeks ago erupted in clashes that left 65 people dead. The move, which some analysts say may benefit Hezbollah more than the Western-backed government, has been hailed by the parties directly involved and others, including the U.S. as well.
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AP photo / Lisa Poole
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By Robert Scheer — What’s it got to do with the price of gas? Would some reporter with access to the Republican presidential candidate please ask John McCain why he wants to continue President Bush’s Mideast policy when it has proved so ruinous for American taxpayers?
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ideologyofantiterrorism.blogtownhall.com
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Here’s a statement that should be preserved for posterity: Defense Secretary Robert Gates told an audience at West Point that, although he believes Iran is “hellbent” on developing nuclear weapons, the last thing the U.S. needs is to get into another war in the Middle East. Gates got misty toward the end of his speech, telling cadets he feels “personally responsible” for their lives.
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Is former President Jimmy Carter on a peace mission or a mission impossible? As this Mosaic Intelligence Report explains, Carter will try to mediate the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit as a goodwill gesture on the part of Hamas, which is reported to be seriously considering Carter’s proposal.
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AP photo / Walter Petruska
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The State Department says it has twice asked Jimmy Carter not to meet with Hamas leaders, but the former president says he feels “quite at ease” in going ahead with a scheduled meeting because “Hamas will have to be included” if there is to be peace in the region.
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Presidential contender John McCain took a trip to the Middle East to showcase his foreign policy chops, so the opposition was particularly delighted that it was during such a demonstration that he committed this gaffe.
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AP photo / Oded Balilty
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By Chris Hedges — War creates a world without empathy. Those who have empathy cannot, as did Palestinian gunman Alaa Hisham Abu Dheim, coldly murder students in a Jerusalem library. Those who have empathy cannot drop tons of iron fragmentation bombs on crowded Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza, killing more than 120 Palestinians in a week, of whom one in five were children and more than half were civilians.
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AP photo / Gerald Herbert
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In keeping with the tradition of U.S. presidents attempting to forge peace agreements during their last years in office, President Bush remains optimistic about securing an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal in the final 10 months of his administration despite the recent outbreak of violence in the Middle East.
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Petar Pismestrovic, Kleine Zeitung, Austria —
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The Mosaic Intelligence Report examines several statements from Palestinian officials and asks whether the Palestinians, with their own unique problems, are planning to follow Kosovo’s example by making a unilateral declaration of independence.
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The Mosaic Intelligence Report investigates France’s aggressive new push to involve itself in the Middle East. The French have signed a deal to set up a permanent military base in the Persian Gulf region, the first such facility controlled by a Western nation that isn’t led by George W. Bush.
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The Mosaic Intelligence Report follows the Middle Eastern media as they report on the U.S. presidential campaign with rapt attention. After all, this is the future head of the world’s only superpower (one that has taken a keen interest in the neighborhood) we’re talking about here.
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The Mosaic Intelligence Report notes that with tensions inflamed throughout the Middle East, a recent string of violent attacks in Lebanon has gone mostly unnoticed. Combined with reports of increased arms shipments to various factions, does it mean another civil war is in the offing?
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news.google.com
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Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has decided to temporarily ease a blockade on Gaza after international organizations showered Israel with warnings and condemnation. Israel has promised not to allow Gaza to turn into a humanitarian crisis, but that’s exactly what our own Chris Hedges calls it in his latest column.
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The Mosaic Intelligence Report looks at Bush’s rosy predictions for peace in the Middle East and explains why his optimism is unwarranted.
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rubinsville.com
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During his just-completed tour of the Middle East, President Bush made no secret of his belief that Iran poses the biggest threat to the security of the region and beyond, but Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has his own ideas about Bush’s statements and Mideast allegiances, which he was equally willing to air on the heels of Bush’s visit.
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